performances 4. It is not suitable to the Glory and Truth of Christ to delude men with shadows and empty Appearances He was most real as of himself handle me feel me All these are evidences for a real Appearance Now this reality of Appearance assures us of two Truths 1. Is Veritas Immortalitatis the truth of the Immortality of souls and spirits The spirits of these two holy men are living and immortal It is a wicked opinion of the Sadduces now raigning among the Jews that the souls are extinguished with the bodies Here is not onely Elias whom they rejected but Moses whom they believed is here really exhibited This is the assurance of our Faith Ye are come to the spirits of just men made perfect This is a foundation of Religion If no Immortality hereafter no Piety here How carnally drunk do many live as if there were no soul or no Immortality 2. Is Veritas the truth nay more facilitas Resurrectionis the easiness of the Resurrection Elias indeed in body was translated but Moses was dead and buried in the plain of Moab yet here his body is united to his soul and appears in Glory How easily can the Lord of our bodies and souls raise and place our bodies in Glory See he beckens Elias out of heaven Moses out of his grave Moses his body was not as Lazarus's four days but two thousand years in the grave yet at the nutus of Christ is it raised and united Our bodies and souls shall be in his hands not onely for safety and custody but for guidance and disposal Speak but the word Lord and thy servants shall revive That 's the first a real Appearance II. It is a glorious Appearance Appear'd in Glory Moses and Elias being attendants upon Christ appear in Glory as Noblemen appear in greatest Magnificence to attend the King 1. Here is the glory of the Saints to attend Christ in Glory The Jews thought if Christ were advanced Moses must down Whosoever preached Christ spake against Moses No Moses was never so glorious as in this Attendance It is otherwise with this Sun of righteousness and the Saints then with the body of the Sun and the Stars These do occidere heliace not appear when they come nearer to the Sun But our Sun of Glory makes these Stars the nearer they be to be the more glorious As in Ioseph's dream the Sun Moon and Stars were all shining together 2. Moses and Elias appear gloriously in Christ's presence Moses is then made manifest and clear when Christ comes Take Moses asunder and without Christ 1. He is obscure there is no luster no clearness he is under a vail but Christ he with his Coming if he appear with Moses he makes all gloriously clear and evident to us 2. He is imperfect nothing but emptiness and shadows Christ gives a fulness to Moses He is not so much the abolition as the consummation of the Law Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. Paul calls them beggerly rudiments void of Christ. 3. Moses apart from Christ he is fearful and terrible The Law causeth wrath Ay but look upon Moses standing with Christ then he is comfortable Make Moses a servant to Christ the Law to Faith and never look upon Moses but see Christ with him and above him and that will rejoyce thee That 's the second the manner of their appearance in Glory Thirdly see their Action and Employment They talked with him In it three things 1. The Action Collocuti 2. The Person Cum Christo. 3. The Matter de Exitu I. The Action Collocuti They talked It was no dumb shew and representation to gaze upon but an holy and heavenly communication Moses and Elias if they appear they appear as Prophets speaking and conferring either speaking of God or to God It is the life of a Prophet in heaven day and night without ceasing there is nothing but speaking We have here too Moses and the Prophets let us conferr with them and Christ it is a glimpse of Glory In the Scriptures we find Moses and the Prophets conferring with Christ which S. Peter preferrs before this Vision and calls 2 Pet. i. 19. A more sure word of Prophecy Now this Colloquium this Speaking implyes two things 1. Consensum 2. Familiaritatem 1. Consensum It teaches us That there is a sweet agreement betwixt Moses and Elias with our Saviour Christ that there is no repugnancy or contradiction 'twixt the Old and New Testament but a sweet harmony and agreement Here the Law and the Prophets like the two Cherubs are both compassing and looking upon the Mercy-Seat This Christ taught his Disciples All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalmes concerning me Luk. xxiv 44. There were certain Hereticks in S. Aug. time who professed themselves enemies to the Law and the Prophets But Non potes segregare Legem ab Evangelio ut nec umbram à corpore The Lord thy God will raise unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me saith Moses Deut. xviii 15. Like unto me not contrary to me The same Religion the same substantial Truth the same Grace and Salvation is in both Testaments There is a variety of Ceremonies but the same Truth and Substance there is the same Authour of both Thus S. Iames answers this doubt Known to the Lord are all his works from the beginning it is no change in God As the prescripts of the Physician are some of one kind to day to morrow of another both ayming at the health of the Patient Aug. The Gospel was comprehended in the Law the Law is explained and cleared in the Gospel The Law shews Moses vailed the Gospel unvails him 2. Denotat familiaritatem Their talk and conference betokeneth a sweet and holy familiarity and communion with God on earth As of Moses it was said The Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend Exod. xxxiii 11. Observe Moses and Elias were men of much communion with God upon earth many heavenly entercourses passed between them and now they are admitted into a near and sweet and familiar communication Men of communion with God here shall be received with more free access and familiar conversation with Christ in heaven They who never maintain speech with God here how can they look to have access in heaven They who love to come into his presence delight in hearing him speak to them and they to him by Prayer and Meditation they shall have nearest and freest and sweetest communion hereafter That 's the first the Action Collocuti sunt They talked II. The Person Cum Christo With Christ Not with the Apostles nor the Apostles with them Here was a miraculous Apparition but no parley nor entercourse Observe Here is no shew or appearance of any entercourse 'twixt Christians on earth and the Saints in heaven no invocation or salutation on the Apostles part
home with joy As every sin leaves a sting after it so the duties of Piety and Devotion calm the soul and fill it with much joy and glory even as if they heard an Euge from heaven Now that this glorious effect may follow our Prayers three conditions are required 1. They must be frequent To be strange with God to keep aloof from him and yet to think that our rare and disused Prayers shall find such success it is groundless Daniel who would not abstain thirty dayes but thrice every day prayed he had an Angel to assure him Knock Seek they are words of diligence Daniel's thrice David's seven times these find joy Thou who art strange to God canst thou wonder if he be strange to thee if he impart not those joyes that are for his Favourites 2. They must be cheerful We must delight in this communion God he delights to hear us pray Cant. ii 14. Let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voyce for sweet is thy voyce and thy countenance is comely If he delights to hear our Prayers how should we delight in offering them to him They who count it the burthen of their lives to pray irksome tedious can expect little sweetness in this communion No David is glad to put himself into this communion Psal. xxvii 8. My heart hath talked of thee Seek ye my face Thy face Lord will I seek 3. They must be fervent Our remiss feeble benummed suits what force have they to work upon God or upon our selves See here our Saviour prayes himself into heaven In the garden prayes himself into an Agony Paul praying was carried up into the third heaven S. Peter praying was cast into a trance S. Iohn was ravish'd in spirit Zeal it is the wing of Prayer the ladder of Heaven like Elijah's fiery Chariot Whereas our cold slumbering suits like Meteors in the Ayr vanish into nothing Nay so far are they from Intention and Zeal that they scarce have any Attention and Mind Can such cold formalities invite God home into their heart They at Emmaus were importunate with Christ constrain'd him to stay with them Lot urged the Angels to turn in to his house Use these violences and thou breakest open heaven David's heart panted for God Oh! When wilt thou come unto me Oh! keep this passage open 'twixt God and thee let no neglect stop or damm it up We have seen his disposition Oravit He prayed Now follows Secondly his glorious Transfiguration In it two things 1. The nature and condition of it 2. The reason and purpose of it First The nature and condition of it It is called here an Alteration S. Matthew calls it a Transfiguration or a Transformation In it three things 1. The Alteration it self 2. The Subject of it It was 1. In Vultu in his Countenance 2. In Vestitu in his Garments 3. The Manner Shining as the Sun that 's for his Countenance Exceeding white that 's for his Rayment 1. Ut Nix As the Snow 2. Ut Lux As the Light 3. Whiter then any Fuller on earth can white them I. For the Alteration it self He was Transfigured That implies two things 1. It was Passiva mutatio A passive Alteration Non Transfiguravit se sed Transfiguratus est He did not Transfigure himself but he was Transfigured 1. Because his Humanity was only patient and receptive in this glorious Alteration had no activity to infuse this glory That was but as a Lanthorn which gives not light of it self a Candle within it must shine and enlighten it 2. To intimate that it was the Action of God the Father putting Honour and Glory upon his Son and not so much the Action of the Son assuming Glory to himself Father Glorifie thy Son that thy Son may Glorifie thee The Merits were the Son 's the Rewards his Father's 2. It was Qualitativa mutatio A Transfiguration a glorious Alteration in the appearance and qualities of his Body not a substantial Alteration in the substance of it Assumpsit gloriam non deposuit naturam Hieron And from it gather these Corollaries 1. Haec fides nostra It is a rule for our Faith It was the same body of Christ in nature and substance before and in and after Glorification Ubiquitaries and so Papists make Christ's Glorification not to consist in investing of his body with glorious qualities but in the abolishing or turning his flesh into his Deity No Christ's body here and in heaven is not changed in the natural proportion but enriched and beautified with heavenly endowments His nature is not abolish'd but onely replenish'd with Glory Glory freed him from natural infirmities it doth not strip him of natural properties Still eadem quantitâ—…s Ubiquitaries say by virtue of Union and glorification it must be every where Papists say by virtue of glorification it may be any where in a thousand places at once Thus in the Sacrament they have built him a Tabernacle of accidents and shadowes No Glory as Grace perfects Nature it doth not destroy it It is a qualitative not a substantial alteration 2. Haec gloria nostra It was a qualitative alteration his body remaining the same this is our glory Our flesh is glorified in Christ and he communicates to it a glorious condition This is the advancement of our bodies He assumed our body not only for passion but for glorification Fond Hereticks say he left this body behind him No he hath united it undividedly to him dedicated it in himself to glory Securae estote caro sanguis occupâstis coelum in Christo Hieron 3. Haec spes nostra This is our hope that these our frail earthly bodies shall be in his good time transfigured and made like his glorious Body Anabaptists dream of new bodies to be made No what he hath shewed me in his own he can and will perform in ours Our vile bodies shall be made like his glorious body His glorified body was primitiae the First-fruits and they are pledges of the whole Crop So much for the first the kind or nature of this alteration Now II. For the Subject of it 1. It is Corpus not Anima his Body not his Soul this was not enriched with any new encrease of glory but his body only The Soul by virtue of the hypostatical Union was replenished with all grace and glory from his Conception Then he was annointed with the Oyl of gladness He was comprehensor quoad animam ab instanti but he was viator in corpore that was in a state of infirmity and so capable of increase of glory Addition of glory to his Soul 1. It was needless 2. It was useless This Transfiguration was purposed for the good and profit of the Apostles and so to be such as was observeable by them 2. It was vultus his Face or countenance No question all his Body was cloathed with Majesty but his Countenance was most Resplendent That is sedes majestatis What the natural beauty of our Saviour's countenance
was some curiously enquire and accordingly resolve it to be beyond all others even beyond Adams in Paradice But as Moses vayled his Face so the Scripture hath put a Vaile of silence and concealment upon this of Christ. It is best to resolve the habit of his Body as it was utterly free from the least blemish and deformity so was it also fitted and tempered to his state of humiliation and infirmity 3. It was vestitus his Garments that 's the other subject of this alteration And then follows III. The manner 1. His Countenance that was shining as the Sun Not but that Christ's glorified Body doth now surpass all created Glory all excellencies cannot equalize his Majesty But 1. This is the most glorious Creature to which we may resemble it 2. This Transfiguration was not a full representation of his Heavenly Glory but only a glimpse of it Non erat plenitudo gloriae sed similitudo Had this Sun of righteousness shined in his full glory the eyes of the Apostles could not have beheld it He dwells in that light that no eye can approach unto Now from this resemblance of Christ's glory as the Sun deduce it into these particulars 1. Sol it is origo lucis all light flows from the Sun and is derived from it The Starres shine by a borrowed light So Christ he is the original and Fons gloriae the Fountain of glory All his Saints and Angels are opace dark in themselves their light it is from him He is Fons gratiae gloriae as the King is Fons honoris From his fullness they receive all he cloaths them with light if he hide his face they are eclipsed 2. Solis splendor it is purissimus the light of the Sun it is most refulgent The Moon is waterish the Starres glimmering but the Sun is most pure So Christ he is not onely pure but purity it self No mixture or shadow of darkness or corruption is in him There are maculae in Luna sic in Ecclesia spots in the Moon and so there are in the Church The Starres are impure in his sight Cujus participatione sumus justi ejus comparatione sumus injusti 3. Solis splendor 't is vegetans the light of the Sun it enlivens and quickens and gives vivacity to all creatures Philosophers say without the influence of the Sun no creature can live This being eclipsed all things languish In its departure there is nothing but fading and dying in its return it gives vivacity So Christ he is the Fountain of spiritual and glorious life A gracious aspect from him enlivens us as it did S. Peter Malach. iv 2. The Sun of righteousness comes with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow as the Calves of the stall 4. Solis splendor it is laetificans the light of the Sun it is cheering and comforting It is a good thing to see the Sun darkness is sad and irksome So Christ refreshes and glads the Soul Ps. iv 7. the light of his countenance puts gladness in my heart more then in the time that their Corn and their Wine encreased The Church in persecution therefore prayes Ps. lxxx 7. Cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved We have seen his Countenance shining as the Sun See 2. His Garments these are shining and glorious And it is express'd three waies 1. White as the Light Matth. xvii 2. 2. Exceeding white as Snow Mark ix 3. 3. By a transcendency so as no Fuller upon earth can white them exceeding Art which is inferiour to Nature nay surpassing Nature Here are two Queries that may be put 1. Why are his garments glorious A gloryfied body shall have no other garments then the robes of immortality and glory True but Christ was 1. Not instatu gloriae but only in actu in a transeunt passage of glory 2. Not in the fullness of glory but in some resemblance In Heaven he cloaths himself with light as with a garment now he cloaths himself with garments as with light 3. Not inter glorificatos and so habituates his body to the decencie of humane conversation How irreligious are some of those disputes which the Jesuits have concerning the body of Christ 2. Whence arose this glory of his Garments From the glory and resplendency that was in his Body His Divinity that conveyed glory into his Soul and that transfused it into his Body and that transmits it into his Garments As his power of miracles was originally in his God-Head then in his Soul then in his Body then in his Garment The hemm of his Garment had virtue in it being instrumentum conjunctum Now from the glory of his Garments as Snow as Light 1. Gather what modell we must gather of Christ's glory and our glory with him Look upon all the Beauties that are in the world the most glorious and resplendent creatures and unite all their excellencies and raise up thy thoughts by them and from them to the contemplation of that glory which is in Heaven View the curious rarities of Art and Nature Is the Snow a vanishing Meteor so white The material Heavens so pure The Lilly so beautiful Oh! Our Solomon in his glory is cloath'd more richly then any of these Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard the Heart cannot conceive the Greatness of his glory 2. Consider Qualis sanctitas Christi Sanctorum How great is that glorious purity which is in Christ and which can stand before him It must be exact and pure without all stain and blemish Glory is nothing but Excellens Sanctitas Our white robes are the righteousness of the Saints David prayes to be whiter then Snow How should we buy of him fine Linnen and pure and wash our Robes in the bloud of the Lamb The Papist's they have their Fulling-Mills Purgatory Pennance No those are all polluted It must be Christ who must come with Fullers Sope Malach. 3. Consider are his Garments thus glorious How holy and glorious shall his Members be It is he that puts his own comeliness upon them See how he commends the several lineaments of his Church in the Canticles her Eyes her Lips her Nose c. If these outward applications of garments derive such beauty and glory from him how then shall not those neer intimate spiritual Unions As S. Paul speaks Upon our less honourable members we put more honour So much of the Nature and Condition of his Transfiguration See now Secondly the ground and reason why he was transfigured before them 1. Christ puts himself into this appearance of glory to testify and demonstrate the truth of his Divinity His Humanity did appear unto them now his glory gives evidence of his divine Nature Q. But how can this glory of his Face prove his Divinity seeing Moses his Face did shine A. Christ's glory came not from a gracious dispensation but from a substantial bodily inhabitation of the God-Head but Moses his shining was far inferiour 1. He had it
change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body Phil. iii. 21. Neither Lazarus nor the rest in Scripture are exact patterns of our resurrection They rose to dye again they were rather bayl'd and repriev'd from the grave for a time not fully discharged Lazarus rose with his grave-cloaths on him still cloath'd with mortality Christ left the grave-cloaths behind him he is the example of our resurrection An example is not a casual resemblance but that which hath a similitude drawn from it by an intended imitation So onely Christs Resurrection is the example of ours Hence S. Paul saith We are planted into the similitude of his Resurrection Rom. vi Christs Resurrection hath an assimilative virtue draws our resurrection into the similitude of it self As the Prophet Elijah applyed every member of his living body to those of the dead child and so recovered him 'T is Exemplum Resurrectionis 3. Christs Resurrection 't is a good ground of ours 't is Principium effectivum nostrae Resurrectionis Vivo ego vos vivetis there is the derivation of our living again Iohn xiv 19. The Jews fondly say that there is something in Spina dorsi that doth not putrefie in our dead bodies and that is the cause of our resurrection No 't is not Robur dorsi but Virtus Capitis the influence of our Head Christ that shall convey life to us We are to look upon Christs resurrection as the fountain and original of ours He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Basil. Christ did not rise as a private person for himself but as a publick principle of all our resurrections Hence he calls himself The Resurrection and the Life S. Paul calls him Primitias dormientium The First-fruits dedicate the whole Crop so our resurrection 't is dedicated by Christ. Tertullian calls our resurrections Appendices resurrectionis Dominicae It was represented as on this day When he rose the graves of many Saints were open'd and they rose with him As at Kings Coronations when they receive the Crown they enlarge prisoners dispense honours advance their favourites Non tam Christusin carne nostra quâm caro nostra in Christo. As Ioseph's advancement was the advancement and safety of all the Hebrews and all the Jews were honour'd in the preferment of Hester so all the body of the Church was raised in Christ. Indeed he entred the grave as our Surety and lay under the arrest of death for our debt that being discharged he hath effected not so much his own as our enlargement That 's the second Fundatio Resurrectionis 3. Here in this Profession of Iob's is Realitas Resurrectionis his Faith believes and expects a true real substantial bodily resurrection Nay here is not onely a reality but an identity he shall have a body and the very same body 1. He expects a true real body Not as some Hereticks that turn'd this high mysterie into a moral Allegory Why the soul by sinning neither dyes nor sleeps but is immortal not capable of a resurrection Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they rise saith the Prophet Esay Chap. xvi 19. 2. And as there is a reality so here is likewise a perfect identity we shall receive the same bodies not new bodies created for us In my flesh shall I see God these eyes shall behold him 1. Else it were not a resurrection Quod cecidit hoc resurgat quod mortuum est reviviscat saith the Father And 2. Justice and Equity would have it so The body is partaker in sin as well as the soul. Famula in culpa must be Socia in poena saith Salvian If the Master mourns the Servant that attends him follows him in black If the soul the principal in sin if that suffers the body that 's accessory must share in the punishment 3. The grand pattern and Example of our resurrection confirms it Christ rose not onely with a true body Feel me a spirit hath not flesh and bones but with the same body Cicatrices Corporis were Indices Resurrectionis 4. Mercy delights to have it so It will pour forth a redundant reward upon soul and body God will not forget the labour of love that the body hath undertaken That flesh which thou hast chastised and mortified those hands that have been lifted up in prayer reach'd out to the poor employed in good works those eyes that have shed tears of repentance He shall wipe tears from those eyes Utique iisdem oculis qui flebant quique adhuc flerent nisi indulgentia Divina siccaret Nay not an hair of our heads shall perish Si sic custodiuntur superflua tua in quanta securitate est Caro tua S. Augustine This flesh this body shall be raised and glorified We have seen the first thing observable the several Truths profess'd and acknowledged by Iob in this faith of the resurrection Now follows Secondly Pietas fidei the Motions and Evidences of Piety his faith expresses 1. Here is Fortitudo fidei here appears the great strength of his faith that foresees and forecasts all the future difficulties and hindrances of his expectation and overcomes them all and is resolute against them He considers death and the consequences of death rotttenness and corruption Can a body when it is wasted and consumed in the Grave ever rise again Yes yes saith Iob Nothing is impossible to an omnipotent God I know whom I have trusted and he is able to effect it A weak Faith is glad to look off from these difficulties and shrinks back at them As Martha considering Lazarus was four days dead and began to putrefie her faith began to fail her it was too late now to remove the Grave-stone But Faith in its strength considers all these urges these impossibilities 〈◊〉 and yet overcomes them As Elijah in his dispute with Baals Priests took all the disadvantages to himself Pour on water and again Pour on more water Faith shall fetch fire from Heaven to enflame the Sacrifice so saith Iob Let me die and not and putrefie in the Grave nay let the fire burn my body or the Sea swallow it or wilde Beasts devour it yet it shall be restored to me Death shall be praedae suae oustos like the Lion that kill'd the Prophet and then stood by his body and did not consume it Iob's faith laughs at impossibilities is asham'd to talk of difficulties with Abraham considers not his own dead body but believes above and against hope knew God would restore it 2. A second print of Piety is Alacritas fidei the great alacrity and cheerfulness of his faith against present discouragements See how cheerfully he views the horrid face of death now seizing upon him looks upon his ulcerous body the skin consumed and eaten with Worms Tertullian saith he play'd with the Worms he surveys all the ghastly appearances and approaches of death confidently comfortably through this faith of the Resurrection This blessed assurance
mystery of his Person that both these Natures should be so strangely and admirably united into one Person that God and Man should be personally one Christ 1. Not by a concord of wills 2. Or by a transfusion of properties 3. Or by assistance of grace but 4. By an inward union and conjunction in Person It is a mysterie that Divines have laboured to express by any possible similitudes and could not do it 2. 'T is Magnum Mysterium This of Christ's Incarnation 't is the grand Mysterie because all other mysteries are subordinate and serviceable to this all sacred truths point at this Truth all like lines meet in this center 'T is the end and drift of all the sacred Prophesies To him give all the Prophets witness Acts x. 43. It was the summe and scope of all their Predictions All the Prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have foretold his Coming Acts iii. 24. Of this Salvation all the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently He is Abraham's promised Seed Moses his great Prophet Samuel's anointed King Iacob's Shilo Esay's Immanuel Ieremy's Man compassed by a Woman Ezekiel's Shepherd Daniel's Holy One Zachary's Branch Solomon's Lilly David's Lord Malachy's Angel All that prophesied looked at him He is the end and body and substance of all their Rites and Ceremonies He was Abel's Sacrifice Abraham's First-fruits Isaac's Ram Iacob's Ladder Moses his Passover Aaron's Rod the Israelites Rock the Patriarchs Manna David's Tabernacle Solomon's Temple all types and representations of his Incarnation All their Kings were figures of this great King all their Deliverers and Judges types of this great Saviour all their Priests were Ushers to bring in this High-Priest of our profession All the mysteries in Scripture were serviceable to this mystery 3. 'T is Magnum Mysterium 't is a great mysterie far exceeding all mysteries in the world All secrets of nature are but elements and rudiments to this Oracle The learnedst men that can search into all natural knowledge stand gazing at this and cry out How can this thing be All mysteries of States they are but meer follies and dotages to this Wisdom The vanquishing of Satan What victory like this The birth of God What Prince's nativity so honourable The laws of the Church the heavenly Oracles What laws so righteous The priviledges of the Gospel What Prerogatives Charters Liberties so ample Other Kings saith S. Chrysostom they govern the bodies this King reigns in the souls of men Other Kings fight with bodily weapons this King with spiritual Other Kings fight against Barbarians Christ against Devils All subtilties of Art but meer daubings and botcheries to this great mysterie That Art can tame Lyons lead about Tygers How do we wonder at this This Mysterie here can change and alter brutish savage barbarous men reduce them to all sobriety and moderation Christs Incarnation shall make the Wolf dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard lye down with the Kid and the Calf and the young Lyon and the Fatling together and a little Child shall lead them c. Esay xi 6. That Art is curious that can drive away diseases lengthen and strengthen life How far exceeding is this mysterie that can cure soul-sickness not onely cure sickness but recover from death regenerate and renew a man old and withered nay dead and give life to him Other Arts can alter nature but this doth change it That may polish brass but not turn it into a purer metal Evangelium ferreum vas reddidit aureum 4. 'T is Magnum Mysterium a great mysterie because 't is a mysterie even to all men of the largest capacity the most clear understanding In other truths that may be a mysterie to one man which is but an easie ordinary truth to the mind of another As in Nature some things seem very mysterious and obscure to a vulgar understanding which a learned judicious man can presently comprehend As the Eclipse of the Sun an unlearned man wonders at it as a great secret of nature but a Scholar counts the knowledge of it easie and obvious So in works of Art Aliter judicat peritus Artifex aliter imperitus inspector An unskilful man will account that a curious piece of work which an expert Artificer will judge but ordinary But this Oracle and mysterie with which we have to do it poseth the greatest wits far exceeds the largest understanding Solomon who knew the secrets of nature his large head was too narrow for it He confesses I have not the understanding of a man I have not learned this wisdom It is hid even from the wise and prudent Matt. xi Where is the wise Where is the Scribe Where is the disputer of the world 1 Cor. i. 20. All their wisdom falls short of this It fares with the greatest Understanding as it doth with the bodily eye The sharpest eye-sight that can behold all earthly things clearly yet if it look up to the body of the â—…un it dazles and trembles and cannot behold it The least appearance of this mysterie it overwhelmed and surcharged the most enlightned understanding When Christ appeared to Abraham which was but praeludium Incarnationis he falls on his face and trembles When Moses had but a glimpse of this glory I tremble exceedingly saith he When Elijah saw but the back-parts of Christ he hid his face he durst not look on When Daniel approaches near it it layes him for dead It casts Paul into a rapture Peter into a trance Iohn lay as a dead man Excellens objectum destruit sensum This knowledge it is too high I cannot attain to it All humane understandings tremble adore are astonish'd at it 5. 'T is Magnum Mysterium a great mysterie not onely to humane but even to the highest Angelical understanding 't is a great deep mysterie even unto the Angels Those Stars of the morning as Iob calls them are overwhelmed with the splendor of this Sun 'T is a mysterie to them This great Work it was conceal'd from them it lay hid in the womb of Eternity and they still wonder and admire at the greatness of it See this in two places one is Ephes. iii. 10. Unto Principalities and Powers in heavenly places is made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Not onely some inferior Angels as Lombard conceits were ignorant of it but the most illuminated Angels it was a mysterie to them and by the Church they learn it as some conceive that they see and behold in the Church and wonder at the secrets of the Gospel which are there unfolded At the preaching of the Gospel the Angels flock to see the fulfilling of those mysteries represented in the Tabernacle all the curtains being adorned with Cherubs Another place is 1 Pet. i. 12. Which things the Angels desire to look into They do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stoop down and pry and desire to look into these glorious Mysteries This was prefigured in the two Cherubs on
and people Out of the bounds of the Church there is no redemption or salvation He who is out of this Ark perishes he who eats the Passeover out of this house is accursed he who lives out of this Hierusalem is an Heathen They erre who teach In any Religion there is possibility of salvation No Salvation is of the Iews sayd Christ so now Of the Christians Basan is an high Mountain but this is God's Mountain where it pleaseth him to dwell They erre too who teach that Christ's sufferings may profit even extra Ecclesiam and that there is a common grace beyond the pales of the Church No no sacrifice but in Hierusalem no grace but in the Church That is the place to which God hath respect There he hath commanded a blessing and life for evermore If Shimei peep in Hierusalem his lines pass but to Gath he dies for it Enough of the conference about Christ's decease Come we now to the Entertainment that the Apostles gave to this glorious Transfiguration v. 32. It represents the Apostles in three particularities 1. In a weakness and indisposition They were heavy with sleep 2. In a more attentive view and contemplation when they were awake They saw his glory and the two men that stood with him 3. In a sudden and passionate affection motion and petition v. 33. First here we see the Apostles in a great weakness and indisposition all fallen into a sleep That we may the better conceive the nature and original of this their condition at this time we may resolve it into these three considerable estimations of it 1. As a Natural infirmity 2. As a Carnal indisposition 3. As a Spiritual amazement and consternation I. Conceive it ut naturalis infirmitas as a natural Infirmity No doubt but they were bound to have attended with all vigilancy upon this manifestation of our Saviour exacting of them a stedfast watching and careful observation as Elijah to Elisha If thou seest me when I am taken from thee yet here these choyse Apostles are clogg'd with those humane imperfections and overtaken with sleep when they should have been awakned to most attention Nay the Evangelist singles out Peter as the chief Sleeper So in the Garden these when they should have assisted and refresh'd Christ in his Passion they were then fallen a sleep again And Christ singles out Peter Simon couldest thou not watch one hour It is true as Commentators conceive it was in the time of Sleep Peter and the rest were no Church-sleepers but being called to watch on Mount Tabor and Christ Praying all Night the weakness of Nature prevailed upon them This is the condition of the best Saints Corpus quod corrumpitur degravat animam We live here a life of necessities we should wish to have Evangelical bodies alwayes to attend his Glory and service But while we bear about us these clogs of corruption we are sunk downward even in our best performances This makes the Saints groan not only under sinful corruptions but natural necessities fain would they be freed from them that they might be alwayes exercised in heavenly performances A necessitatibus meis erue me Domine But are these three noted not without imputation that they are asleep although excuseable by those forenamed Circumstances it puts the occasion into my mouth to awaken our Church-sleepers and drousie Auditors A fault though pardonable if rarely and seldome and little done yet let us question their practice who like Solomon's sluggard Fold up themselves in sleep and like Esay's dogs Delight in sleeping 1. Whence may it arise 2. What may it procure 1. The evilness of the root 2. The bitterness of the fruit will condemn it as sinful 1. Quae radix What is the root whence it springs 1. Sometimes out of Infirmity and a child of God and one whose heart seeks the Lord may be overtaken That is my case saith every one it is mine Infirmity I wish it were otherwise But if it be an Infirmity we may know it by these signs 1. It will be counted an Infirmity if we grieve for it and be sorry and humbled and troubled at it Let the sin be never so small yet if thou continuest in it securely with delight or content if thy heart smite thee not for it thou art excluded from the plea of Infirmity 2. If it be to be accounted as a pardonable Infirmity then we will strive against it we shall find a contrary holy inclination a rousing us out of it Thus Christ excused his Apostles sleeping Matth. xxvi 41. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak He saw their desires were good Didst thou ever labour against it pray against it make a Covenant with thine eyes as Iob speaks 3. If we daily get some strength and prevailing against it If we live and lye in our Infirmity and after warning never improve it it ceases to be accounted an Infirmity 't is to be reckon'd a voluntary sin 2. Sometimes it arises from our immoderate labours defrauding our selves of a due refreshing and so enforcing us to make bold with God's house and day to take up our rest This makes it more sinful God appointed a preparation to his Sabbath that body and soul may be better fitted and enabled Have you not houses to eat and to drink in saith S. Paul Hath not God given you the night for to sleep say I and your houses and beds to rest in but you must despise the Church of God 3. Sometimes ignorance and deadness of understanding is the cause of it When the spirit of a man is unacquainted with what he hears when they are things that his understanding skills not of naturally the soul sinks into heedlesness and drowsiness of spirit Didst thou know the gift of God Didst thou consider that the word that is spoken is Life and Power Wert thou acquainted with the mysterie of Godliness it could not but extort attention But when we sit as meer Gallio's regarding nothing no wonder though we sleep 4. Sometimes prophaneness and neglect and contempt of Gods Ordinances that is the original They account the Sabbath a lost day What will this Babler speak They who see no beauty in Gods Sanctuary that say We know what the Preacher can say such unclean dogs delight in sleeping Oh! David had such delight in Gods word and calling upon him that he awakened at midnight thy dull prophaness makes thee sleep at noon-day Indecens Christiano si radius Solis inveniat dormientem Aug. How much more unbecoming is it that the Sun of righteousness should take us napping Awake therefore thou Sleeper and call upon thy God 5. Sometimes Satan works it in men As he is a dumb spirit or a deaf spirit so sometimes he is a sleepy drowsie spirit He hates to see us spiritually exercised And if he cannot other wayes yet this way he can prevent the working of Gods word He can like Mercury lay souls asleep lest they should hear with
have of those unconceivable joyes are like our selves low and unproportionable Ask the piercingest judgement of those After-joyes How must they stammer and fumble and bewray Ignorance If it should be asked 1. What is that Eternity of Being which we look for in heaven We cannot comprehend it 2. What are those heavenly Speeches that souls and spirits use in Glory We cannot conceive them 3. What is that Impassibility and Agility of our bodies in heaven We cannot imagine it 4. What is that Beatifical Vision and sight of the Essence of God We cannot attain to it As Christ to Nicodemus If we cannot understand more earthly things as The work of Grace Union with Christ The manner of Regeneration How can we understand him when he speaks of heavenly O! Eye hath not seen and that sees far Ear hath not heard and that receives much nay Heart hath not ability to imagine or conceive those hidden things In this case we are no more able to conceive what that life of Glory is then a child in the womb can conceive what is the condition of this present life Our discourses of heaven are like theirs who talk of Countreys they never saw Nay S. Paul who was there yet found them unutterable All other knowledge hath some help and hint from nature but this is a Mysterie hid from Generations and Ages and lock'd up in that store-house of Eternity This inconsiderate unadvised Motion of Peter He knew not what he said 3. It arose from the surcharge and overwhelming of this great Glory The exceeding Glory of Christ hath overwhelmed the soul and mind and capacity of Peter and overcomes his understanding Excellens objectum corrumpit Our understanding is shallow limited finite proportionable to these lower things but God and the fulness of his Glory are too high for us As it is with our Brains be we on the ground then they are steddy but upon some high mountain or steeple they fail us Bonorum quorundam sicut malorum intolerabilis magnitudo est Tertull. Not onely the torments of hell would consume us but if God should not put strength into our souls the very joyes of heaven would swallow us up Stay me with flagons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love Cant. ii 5. As we say of crazy bodies Too pure an ayr and too accurate a diet will overthrow them So our crazy souls are not able to undergo the eminency of that Glory Such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain unto it Psal. cxxxix 6. Hence they say we must have Lumen Gloriae confortans elevans intellectum Our understandings enlarged and raised and strengthened to undergo that weight of Glory The Sun puts out a Candle So the light of Glory will soon damp our poor glimmering Spark This makes the very Angels stand aloof and cover their faces He dwelleth in that light that cannot be approached unto that light is like the Sun-beams to sore eys The Queen of Sheba 1 Kings x. 5. was overcome with the sight of Solomons magnificence she was spent with admiration There was no more spirit in her We have seen the nature and condition of this Motion whence it arises Secondly Consider the particular conviction of this rashness in S. Peter in the many particularities of his erroneous Motion Formerly we have seen what commendable things were contained in this his suit but we see it here censured as unadvised and imprudent Let us review these Motions of S. Peter and see his failings I. In his Motion of Continuance Master it is good being here 1. The first Error 'T is good being here He would fain abide here always He errs in desiring a perpetuity of that condition which was but transient and momentany This Vision was but a taste of Glory but a drop from the Honey-comb not a full repast of Glory intended onely to strengthen their Faith incourage their Diligence correct their Error quicken their Hope all these purposes are omitted and he must not part with this Vision of Christ but must have it perpetual As Mary she embraceth the feet of Christ would never have left him Christ bids us leave off these were but extraordinary Appearances not to be dwelt upon Besides the vileness of noysom lusts which still would be craying even the spirit of man loves to glut it self in spiritual refreshments How loath were the Apostles to part with Christ's bodily presence So in many extraordinary Appearances which are not intended as perpetual yet there is Libido and Luxuria spiritualis we would fain enjoy those ravishing joyes which are but for a time No as the Angel that refresh'd Elias said to him Feed and be walking thou must live in the strength of it forty dayes it may be all thy life time No stick to Faith that 's our Ordnary As Dives who lived deliciously every day so some Christians if they be not caught up into heaven do not see Visions of Angels they are discontent 2. A second Error is in that he places the fulness of joy in the view of the Humanity of Christ but gloriously Transfigured and can be content never to see more or go further but to behold this Glory True it is a great accomplishment to our bliss to see that price of our Redemption the Body of our Saviour in Glory but yet it is not the main and original No created Glory can be the fountain and fulness of Glory to us Even the Manhood of Christ is blessed by derivation and participation from an higher Fountain The Society of the Saints is comfortable the view of that Lamb of God most ravishing but yet it is the blessed God-head the face of God himself the adoring and enjoying an heavenly communion with the Sacred Trinity that is our true prime original happiness Shew us the Father and it sufficeth Ioh. xiv 8. The increated Glory of Christ's Deity that is the matter and summ of our blessedness Ioh. xvii Our happiness is to behold the Glory which Christ had with God not on Mount Tabor but before the world was This is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is Light 1 Ioh. i. 5. that we may have fellowship with the Father and with the Son vers 4. Our hearts are restless till setled upon this All our affections are flowing and running till they are swallowed up in this Ocean The eyes of our body indeed shall have Christs Body as the most glorious Spectacle of all Comfort but the eye of our soul that goes higher As the eye of Faith rests not upon the Humanity of Christ but upon his Divinity and so on the whole Trinity so doth the eye of Beatifical Vision that succeeds Faith 3. A third Error 'T is good being here He would settle his rest upon Mount Tabor This was an error to bring down heaven upon earth To enjoy Tabor he can be content to part with heaven and resign
as Christ's Prayer S. Steven's prayer procured Saul's conversion how much more shall Christs Father forgive them reconcile us to God recommend us to his mercy 2. By his Satisfaction he hath wrought this peace and made him well pleased having satisfied for us Satisfaction it is the making up of a wrong or injury or damage by the paying of a full recompensation Now the sufferings of Christ were 1. Of that Infinite value in their natural Dignity 2. Of that high esteem in God's valuation that by them the breach of Gods Law had a condign satisfaction by this performance Penal Statutes are never satisfied but by the mulct and forfeiture The Law of God that 's Penal the price of his Death the value of his Bloud that was laid down and in it God is pleased 3. By his Merit In him God is well pleased as Meriting for us Christ's actions had not onely the virtue of impetration or satisfaction but of abundant Merit to purchase favour for us Now the reason why Christs Merits do thus pacifie God is because his Merits do more please him then sin can displease him Praestando bonum acceptabilius Christs obedience gave God higher content then our disobedience can discontent him He is more delighted in his righteousness then he was offended by our unrighteousness This is like and beyond Noah's sacrifice A savour of rest in the nostrils of God I will curse the earth no more This is a main Argument against Despair Christ hath more pleas'd God then thou hast displeased him 4. By his Union God is pleased in him uniting us to him Not one hair of Christs head shall perish He is the Saviour of his Body Ephes. v. 23. When we are implanted into Christ then God looks graciously upon us As Isaac said unto Iacob Gen. xxvii 21. Come near I pray thee that I may feel thee my son whether thou be my very son Esau or not So when God feels us to be members and parts of his Son O 't is the voyce of my Son 't is a member of his Body then his Soul blesses us This Union makes us to enjoy a communion in all that Christ did As S. Bernard speaks Non alius qui foris-fecit alter qui satisfecit quia caput corpus unus est Christus Christus non potest habere membra damnata That 's the first Quibus modis See II. Quibus gradibus Take them in these three steps 1. In Christo placabilis Christs Mediation and Gods good pleasure in him makes him placable and appeasable and reconcileable Out of Christ God is a consuming fire Heb. xii 29. His thoughts towards us are onely thoughts of anger But his Son hath founded a new Covenant in which God is Intreatable sin Pardonable heaven Attainable This is one step of favour he hath wrought his Father to to enter a parley and treaty of Reconciliation He hath set up an Office to sue out our Pardon He hath set forth a gracious Remedy open'd a Fountain for sin and for uncleanness Non sic Diabolis God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. v. 19. and hath sent Ambassadours vers 20. to treat and intreat for Reconciliation 2. In Christo placatus That 's more Our Peace and Reconciliation is actually obtained in and for him onely He hath made us accepted in the Beloved Ephes. i. 6. Thus the Apostle Having slain enmity not only weakned it but overcome it He hath reconciled us unto God Ephes. ii 16. He presents us to God obtains our pardon knocks off our fetters discharges us out of prison cancels our bill seals up our pardon 3. In Christo continuo placandus Christ doth not onely set us in Statu quo and so leaves us but brings us into favour and holds us up in favour Christ is of perpetual use not at our first Reconciliation but in all our life This virtue of Christ 1. Makes our sins of another condition then when we were out of him They are not condemnatorta but our pardon shall be granted 2. Makes our actions though imperfect yet acceptable because done in him He is the Altar that sanctifies the Offering His Odours persume our Prayers In Numb vi 19 20. The Priest at the Offering was to lay his hands upon the hands of him who brought it and to wave it before the Lord So Christ he is to present our Prayers and all our Offerings and that makes them acceptable 3. Our persons they are look'd upon as in Christ and so with them God is well pleased Corollaries from hence let be these 1. In quo complacitum ergo non ex odio Patris morti tradendus Peter thought Christ must not dye We thought him forsaken of God No it was not hatred of his Son that brought him to death for he was most pleas'd with him in his death 2. In quo complacitum ergo gratuitum 'T is good pleasure and acceptation that 's all our tenure He had a Son who pleased him he needed not us 3. In quo complacitum ergo firma reconciliatio If Gods favour were in our selves we should soon forfeit all but our salvation is now put into Christs hands He is Sequester Dei hominum All 's entail'd upon him Oh let us bless Christ for making our peace Let us kiss him for whose sake God is well pleased with us 1. Osculo Fidei With the kiss of Faith Thankfulness Love 2. Osculo Gratitudinis With the kiss of Faith Thankfulness Love 3. Osculo Amoris With the kiss of Faith Thankfulness Love So much for the Excellency of his Mediation Now follows Thirdly The Authority of his Doctine Hear Him In it two things 1. The Designation of the Person Him 2. The Prescription of the Duty Hear First The Designation of the Person Him Christ he is appointed by God the Father to be the Prophet and Teacher of his Church Hence he is stiled in Scripture A Prophet Deut. xviii 15. A Prophet will the Lord your God raise up of your brethren like unto me Him shall you hear He assumes this Title to himself displaces all Rubbies One is your Doctour and Master even Christ Matth. xxiii So Heb. iii. 1. He is called The Apostle and High-Priest of our Profession Maâ—…ch iii. 1. The Angel of the Covenant Now this Prophetical Dignity of Christ that he is the grand Doctour of the Church will appear if we make these four Enquiries 1. Enquire into his Authority who hath authorized him 2. Into his Sufficiencies 3. Into his Priviledges 4. Into his Discharge 1. For his Authority that is most full and ample He hath a Commission from heaven Warranted 1. By Predictions and Prophecies I will give thee for a Covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles Isa. xlii 6. to open the blind eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house vers 7. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because
garments Renting of garments an usual and allowed Ceremony nay often exacted and required among the Jews Ier. xxâ—…vi 24. At the burning of the Book Iehoiakim and his Princes are charged That they rent not their garments Frequently it was practis'd in sign either of horror and detestation in case of Blasphemy of submission and humiliation upon any Calamity or as an evidence of sorrow and contrition and practice of Repentance And in this respect in the exercise and practice of Repentance we may conceive it either 1. As a real protestation and acknowledgment of our unworthiness by sin of the benefit and comfort of Apparel as fasting is a significant confession that our sins have made us unworthy of the least repast of a morsel of bread Or 2. As others will apprehend it As it is a voluntary stripping and laying our selves open to the stroaks and lashes of Gods wrath and vengeance As it was usual with the Lictores to rent off the clothes of notorious malefactours and we see it practis'd upon Paul and Silas Acts xvi 22. However let the intent and purpose be never so significant yet the Observation out of this negative prohibition is thus much That all outward ceremonious practice of Piety if divided and sever'd from inward Devotion 't is rejected of God without acceptance With the Superstitious Jew rent thy clothes the garments of thy body nay with the frantick Papist rent thy body the garment of thy soul they are both alike to my purpose yet if thy heart be free from compunction these outward Ceremonies though seemingly religious are to God abominable An hypocrite would these outsides of Piety and Devotion serve the turn would be a compleat Christian without exception In Repentance he can command his tongue by prayer and confession his face and countenance in heaviness and dâ—…jection his back with Ahab in wearing sackcloth his belly shall be afflicted with often fastings nay his eyes shall afford plenty of tears but his heart mean-while is as fat as brawn he is an utter stranger to a wounded spirit What is this but to deal with God as Michal with Saul When Saul requires David she sends him a Puppet stufft up with clothes As the Gibeonites with Ioshuah deluding him with worn shoes and ragged apparel in the habit of some travelling Pilgrims when they were borderers hard at hand hoping like Iacoâ—… to lurch away the blessing under the vizar of counterfeit garments At most if with the Patriarchs they can bring a garment rent in pieces and dipp'd in bloud their body lash'd and torn in penance Oh then Ioseph is dead the man surely is mortified Sub istis pietatis 〈◊〉 laâ—…et 〈◊〉 animus valde 〈◊〉 under these outsides and appearances of piety and mortification there harbours too often unsanctified worldly and carnal affections Not that outward Ceremonies and Appearances of our inward devotion are either superfluous or superstitious nay they are helpful and useful rather 1. By way of Expression As solemn Protestations in the face of the Church of that inward Disposition of our inner man 2. By way of Impression These outward signs of sorrow and remorse being duly considered reflect and work upon the heart and conscience as Anthony bringing out the bloudy garment of Câ—…sar inraged himself and his company against his Murderers Ceremonies if accompanied with the heart are useful and acceptable if divided from it sinful and abominable Outsides and Ceremonies they are not fructus but 〈◊〉 as leaves to the tree In infrugifera 〈◊〉 in frugiferâ—… maturitatem Leaves without fruit they bring a Curse Matth. xxi Leaves with fruit they ripen and help forward a seasonable maturity Ceremonies are Garments As Garments to a Body so 〈◊〉 Ceremonies to Religion Garments on a living body they 〈◊〉 and preserve the natural warmth put them on a dead body they never setch life And Ceremonies they help to cherish and increase devotion in a profane dead heart they cannot breed it These garments of religion upon an holy man they are like Christ's garments on his own holy Body they have a 〈◊〉 in them joyned with a profane heart they are Christ's garments on his crucifying Murderers Ceremonies are to Religion as the Body to the Soul A Body quickned and enlivened with the Soul t is comely and amiable and so are Ceremonies with inward Devotion most beautiful But if the soul be departed from the body it becomes presently ghastly and abominable The Lord loaths and rejects a dead carkass of outward Ceremonies without the soul and life of inward Sanctity Those cures prove healthy which are inward and remove the malady from the vital parts that 's dangerous and deadly which being outwardly applied onely smites it in again to the heart and spirits Contrition of the heart that heals inwardly outward Ceremonies Penance c. without the other it strikes and drives the disease inward Non sanat sed tegit doth not cure but heal and skin over our corruption That 's the first sense I observed As Garments are here Objectum solitarium as divided from heart and spirit so it is an absolute Prohibition Rent not your garments But Secondly Take them both together so 't is sensus comparativus rather your hearts then your garments by way of comparison And from this Exposition I deduce this Conclusion That the contrition and sorrow of the heart is more necessary and useful then any outward bodily affliction Repentance must rather work upon the heart then upon the body and outward man And that upon a double ground 1. Ratione majoris indigentiae The Heart needs it more 2. Ratione facilioriis consequentiae Outward Humiliation naturally follows upon inward Contrition 1. I say the Heart needs it more Deepest wounds must have speediest curing the wound of sin is deepest in the heart The body is but the weapon that gives this wound Membra sunt arma saith the Apostle and to inflict penance on the body for the sin of the soul 't is like those Mountebanks that lay the salve to the Weapon not to the Wound Membra sunt arma outward Members they are but the Weapons of Sin the Heart that is the chief Rebel and Plotter of Rebellion Rather stab thine Enemy then hack his Weapon Membra sunt arma the Members are but Weapons the Heart that is the chief Castle and Fortress of Sin 2 Cor. x. 4. Imaginations are called strong Holds The Victory is not ours till the Castle be taken The Body 1. Minùs peccat The Body even when it sins yet is not so sinful as the Heart and Spirit The Heart is the Fountain and Spring of Sin outward Transgressions are but Streams and Rivulets drained from that Head Every thing is more full and compleat in his Principle and Original Light in the Sun Heat in the fire is more intense and vehement then scattered abroad Cast the beam out of thine eye saith our Saviour Matth. vii 5. Oh! si trabs in oâ—…ulo strues in
corde if sin be as a beam in thine eye there is an huge stack piled up in thy heart nay sylva caedua a grown wood whence this beam first grew and sprouted The Body 2. Rariùs peccat It is not so often sinful It may be innocent from outward enormities when thy heart is guilty of inward rebellions The heart acts more in one instant then the outward man can in a long time perform as Basil in his Homilie on Attende tibi ipsi pag. 342. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All men have not outwardly committed all sins but every mans heart hath in it the seed and conception and so is guilty of all Transgressions Whence S. Paul Rom. iii. charges every man with every kind of sin because the original and spawn of all lay bred in the heart And for these the Heart must sue for and obtain pardon as Saint Aug. saith excellently of his own soul Tot sunt ei remissa quot non sunt commissa Or else for these though abortive conceptions 't is liable to judgment As we kill a Serpent for the venom within it though haply it never hurt any by poyson That 's the first reason why the Heart is Principal in this Contrition Ratione majoris indigentiae 2. Ratione facilioris consequentiae Humiliation of the Body naturally follows the Contrition of the Soul but not so on the contrary Thou mayest torture and macerate thy body long enough e're thou mortify thy soul. Remove Objects break off Instruments avoid Occasions yet thy Heart hath a self-sufficiency within it self to commit sin As a Mill 't is Saint Bernard's Similitude if you pour not in Grain and Corn to be grinded yet the Mill stands not still nor stayes but moves and grindes and works upon it self so the Heart of Man hath that restless motion to commit sin that deny it help from without it conceives and practises sin in it self Voluntas ipsa sibi imputatur saith Tertullian nec excusari poterit per illam perficiendi infelicitatem operata quod suum fuerat Outward Reformation neither mortifies nor yet excuses the Heart To which purpose S. Chrysostom sweetly alluding to those words of S. Paul Gal. vi 14. The world is crucified to me and I unto the world observes It is not sufficient to have the world and outward temptations mortified and crucified to us except our hearts be crucified to them If outward instruments and occasions of sin be dead to thee but thy sinful heart alive to them thou wilt long and love and desire and mourn for the World even after it is dead as the surviving Friend did for his dead Acquaintance Sed mortuus mortuum non luget Lay two dead friends together and there is no love or lamentation Thy heart must die unto the World as well as the World be crucified to thee Outward bodily Reformation affects not the soul. In this Case it fares with the body of sin as with the natural body if any outward member be dead or cut off the life and strength runs to another As the Athenian Souldier first grappled with his right hand when he lost that laid hold with his left after that was cut off fastned with his teeth his heart was not wounded So the body of Sin 'till the heart be crucified stop the issue of it in thine hand it breaks out in thine eye if thou pluck that out it will find vent in thy tongue A stab at the heart destroyes all presently Outward Humiliation naturally follows inward Contrition Physicians observe that Passions of the mind oft-times work more strongly on the body then corporal Diseases and so in Divinity Famula in culpa will be Socia in poenitentia The body that attended thee in sin will follow thee in sorrow If the Master mournâ—… the Servant that attends him follows him in black and if thy Soul the principal Mourner in true Repentance if that be sad thy Body the Servant of thy Soul is dejected and heavy Otherwise to injoyn penance to thy Body servâ—…m nay jumentum animae thy bestial and brute part and to solace thy soul is as if the Ninevites should have enjoyned Fasting and Sackcloth to their Beasts and Cattel and Themselves ruffled it in mirth and jollity Repentance observes the same Order in our Regeneration that the Life of Nature doth in our Generation Cor primum vivens When the Heart is formed and enlivened the Hands and Feet and outward man 't is shaped out presently Repentance observes the same Order in our Regeneration that the Life of Glory doth in our Glorification It is radicaliter in corde saith the Scholeman redundanter in corpore It rises in the heart then by a natural flux and redundation shews it self in the body 'T is so in the first motions and quicknings of repentance That 's the second ground why our hearts should rather be affected by Repentance Ratione consequentiae outward Contrition will naturally follow Thus having with Elias observed the former part of repentance Contrition like a mighty strong Wind renting the Rocks listen with patience to that gentle voice wherein the Lord is in the next part of my Text which is Secondly The duty of Conversion Return Without this latter Contrition 't is to no purpose As Luther said well of it It is fuga Dei and fremitus adversus Deum drives us further from God 'T is not every renting that God accepts The contrite heart must be a Sacrifice not any kind of wounding and killing but a religious devout tendring and offering it up unto the Lord. Cain and Iudas and Saul they rent their hearts but did not sacrifice them except to Devils This must be a sacrificing of them to God by a sorrowful conversion not a cruel murdering of them by horror and desperation But the time forbids any further enlargement Here we observe three things 1. Motum 2. Terminum 3. Habitudinem ad terminum First The kind of Motion Repentance 't is a Returning And that implies and inferrs these Observations 1. Return Ergo recessimus à Deo Sin it is a forsaking and fleeing and departing from the Lord. In every sin there is 1. Aversio A man turns his back upon God And then 2. Conversio sets his face towards the prosecution of sin With Cain we go out of the presence of Ged set out selves out of his view and observation As the Prodigal must into a far Country could not swagger and revel in his Father's company A Sinner must either securely put out his own eyes that he see not God or prophanely conceit he can put out God's eyes that He cannot see him Like him who drew the Curtain over his Father's Picture when he sat down to Carding or it is almost impossible to commit sin With Abraham walk before God With Enoch walk with God and keep close to him not take a turn or two and then part with him but walk constantly and converse with him and sin if thou canst In this
's store up then and provide against it lay up against a dear year fence out Gods Judgments when they shall besiege us keep them out from entring upon us These and such as these are the thoughts of carnal men Ey but this Scripture offers more grace The piety of the Prophet hath other apprehensions of Judgments and farr other resolutions for the undergoing of them And this Piety in the Prophet appears in two degrees that make it more remarkable 1. Here is the low degree of the affliction he takes it at the worst he supposeth himself not onely in some necessity but in extremity in want of all outward things He saith not Onely if I have food and raiment though but hard fare and coarse clothing it shall suffice He submits not onely to Agur's portion Neither riches nor poverty but food convenient to sustain nature He stops not at Micaiah's diet Bread of affliction and water of affliction No he knows how to undergo the loss of all things Let poverty come upon him as an armed man and spoil him of all yet his heart will hold up he is not dismayed Ey here is Piety in the strength and highest improvement That will not capitulate with God how much it will suffer and no more but will resolve to bear the heaviest burthen submit to the sharpest affliction and undergo it holily 2. The Prophets Piety is seen in another degree that 's the high degree of affection with which he will entertain this great affliction 1. He makes not onely use of his patience he will suffer patiently and meekly he will not murmure at it 2. He resolves not onely to be content with it and well pleased with this condition that 's a degree higher Patience suffers it but Contentment feels it not Contentment is an Autarchie it feels no want But the Prophet rises higher 3. He knows how to rejoyce in affliction Joy that 's the affection that belongs to happiness and felicity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost. In the day of prosperity rejoyce but in the day of adversity consider saith Solomon Eccles. vii 14. Sad thoughts one would think are then seasonable No here the Prophet can rejoyce in the day of adversity Nay more as S. Paul exhorts Rejoyce in the Lord always again I say rejoyce Phil. iv 4. So here this Feast of Joy hath two Courses 1. I will rejoyce in the Lord. 2. I will joy in the God of my salvation TWO SERMONS PREACHED UPON EASTER-DAY ON EASTER-DAY The First Sermon JOB xix 25 26 27. For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me THis Text is a Prophesie and Prediction of our Saviour Christs glorious Resurrection the great benefit and mysterie of our Religion which the Christian Church doth this day celebrate A Sacred Truth requiring not onely the Assent but the Devotion and Adoration of our Faith The work of this day layes the greatest proofs of Christs God-head and Divinity He was declared to be the Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. i. 4. And when God was to bring his Son back from the grave this and the like Prophesies as Ushers attended him and proclaimed before him as Pharaoh before Ioseph Abrech Bow the knee Let all the Angels of God worship him Let every knee bow before him Let every tongue confess him Let every soul receive and embrace him 'T is true the incredulous unbelieving Jews labour to obscure and deface this and all other Prophesies of Christs Resurrection and by a mis-construction to draw it away to another sense They answer all these Prophesies as Esay complains of them chap. xxx 10. They say to the Seers see not and to the Prophets prophesie not unto us right things but prophesie to us deceit The Jews they pervert the Text and some other Expositours mistake it and draw down the height and mysterie of this speech to an inferiour sense But generally the most Ancient and most Orthodox Interpreters do fasten their Meditations upon this Text as a clear and undoubted prediction of our Saviours Resurrection And this sense we embrace and so apprehend the words as a Prophetical prediction and faithful confession of our Saviours victory and triumph over the power of death And it is of good use to look back to these Prophesies even after their fulfilling As the Angel spake this day to the women at the Sepulchre Come see the place where the Lord was laid The emptiness of the grave proved that he was risen So even after Christ is risen it is of use to our faith to review these Prophesies Come see the place that foretold his rising again the fulfilling of these Texts will greatly confirm our faith of his Resurrection As in your purchases and possessions though you be already seized and stated in them yet ye desire to get in all former Conveyances to strengthen your tenure So though you be possess'd of this dayes benefit yet these Prophesies are as our fore-fathers records we claim these Testimonies as our Inheritance our Faith holds by them To reflect upon these Prophesies will confirm our belief in all other Truths as yet to be fulfilled Impleta credimus impleri videmus implenda confidimus saith S. Augustine It will put Davids Song into our mouths As we have heard so have we seen Heard it foretold Seen it fulfill'd We may sing with the Psalmist All the wayes of the Lord are Mercy and Truth Mercy in Promising Truth in Performing We may confess with Solomon Blessed be the Lord who spake it with his mouth and hath with his hand fulfilled it We may open our Text as Christ did This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears our Faith may safely set to its Seal That God is true For the words themselves they report unto us a memorable remarkable Prophesie of the Resurrection of a double Resurrection 1. Here Iob fore-sees and fore-tells the Resurrection of Christ. He tells us That Christ who by his Death Redeem'd him hath again obtain'd an endless Life That after his fall by Death he is recovered and got up again stands and shall stand last upon the earth 2. He Prophesies of his own resurrection That though he were now in a dying condition death had already seiz'd upon him yet he knew there was hope in his death that he should be raised from the grave of corruption to an everliving and blessed state and condition Now surely this is a Text of Scripture worthy of all acceptation much to be set by both for the clearness and evidence of it and also for the date it bears and print of Antiquity 1. 'T is a clear Prophesie there is not a fuller more express description of the Resurrection in all
of Scripture the Apostle discourses the state and condition of a Christian. And having in the former part of this Epistle settled the truth of our Justification by the death of Christ now he layes down grounds of comfort against those infirmities and imperfections that Christians find and feel themselves to be subject to 1. He discovers these infirmities chap. vii I know that in me that is in my flesh there dwells no good thing Odi quod sum non sum quod amo Aug. Epist. 106. The good that I would I do not the evil which I would not do that do I. 'T is that which S. Augustine calls Rixa jurgium inter carnem spiritum Hannah and Peninnah under the same roof vexing each other the one provoking the other weeping both disquieting the peace of the soul. And he who is Spiritual like S. Paul will heed and observe them have his eye upon his thoughts and inward inclinations The Naturalists say that man hath two muscles in his eyes more then other creatures that make him look upward A Christian hath two more to make him look inward to search and descry the stirrings of his heart 2. As he discovers them so he bewayls and mourns for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death See the spirit of S. Paul he rejoyces in afflictions but he mourns for corruptions Vers. 35. Quis separabit He defies afflictions the greatest of them But chap. vii 24. he hath another exclamation Quis liberabit He groans under infirmities and corruptions the least of them Ey here is the true mark of a Spiritual man he chooseth affliction rather then iniquity Affliction sits light but sin sits heavy on him Tu nôsti gemitus cordis mei de hacre flumina oculorum meorum saith S. Augustine bewailing but one of his infirmities 3. He finds and layes hold upon help against them Faith represents Christ and his power ready to succour and deliver him I thank God through Iesus Christ my Lord. These infirmities fetch'd tears from S. Paul but yet he doth not weep out the eye of Faith looks up to Christ as to his soveraign Antidote to cure and recover him And then 4. He comforts himself against those many evils that are consequent fruits arising from these infirmities There are three main evils that arise from them 1. These sinful infirmities in themselves have a condemning power in them they deserve in justice no less then the curse of God and eternal damnation Papists and others may sleight these first motions and count them no sins S. Paul judges them damnable Sin is so strong a poyson that the least grain is deadly and the Gospel doth not make them no sins but makes them pardonable As God destroyed not the fiery Serpents but provided a cure and remedy against them in themselves damnable Against this evil consequent S. Paul finds a Consolation vers 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus that State and Condition brings with it Pardon and Absolution 2. A second evil consequent from these infirmities is that Thraldome and Captivity and Vexation which these remainders of sin bring upon the soul of a Christian. Though he hath his pardon yet his shackles and his bolts are still upon him Though he be freed from the condemning power of these infirmities yet still he suffers encumbrance and vexation from them It is matter of great heaviness to the Saints that they are thus hindred and encumbred that they find such strivings and rebellions in themselves against the law of God that the flesh should resist and oppress the spirit that Hagar should insult over Sarah the bond-woman over the free that Ishmael should over-top Isaac that Esau in the womb of grace should struggle with Iacob that the house of Saul should still be quarrelling with the house of David But against this he comforts himself and others The law of the Spirit hath made us free from the law of sin ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit vers 9. 3. A third evil is that these infirmities and remainders of sin have a malignant power to make us subject to the law of death Their very being in a Christian is the seed and original of mortality 1. Though sin be pardon'd by the death of Christ 2. Though the dominion and power of it be broken and subdued by the Spirit of Christ yet 3. As long as it remains in us in the least and lowest degree it makes us subject to the power of death Yet against this S. Paul finds a double comfort 1. This subjection to death is not total 't is but half a death the death of the body onely That indeed we are obnoxious to but the soul hath escaped free from the snares of death The body indeed is dead that is subject to death because of sin but the Spirit that is life because of righteousness vers 10. Our chiefest and best part the proper seat of misery or happiness that 's put into a state of spiritual and glorious immortality Fear not that that kills the body and can do no more It is not a total death 2. Even this bodily death to be undergone 't is not perpetual that 's a second comfort It hath a limit of time set to it Death shall not alwayes gnaw upon us in the grave The righteous shall have dominion over Death in the morning Our bodies in the holds of Death are Prisoners of Hope there will be an enlargement Death shall be swallowed up and abolish'd the Power and Spirit of God shall free these mortal bodies bring us like Peter asleep out of the dungeon If the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you The Text then 't is the blessed Assurance and Evidence of a Christians happy Resurrection In it observe these four particulars 1. Is the Condition upon which it is promised and we may expect it If the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you 2. Is the main Cause and Efficient of this our Resurrection 'T is he who raised up Christ from the dead 3. Is the Acting and Performing of it He shall quicken your mortal bodies 4. Is the Ground and Reason of it Because his Spirit dwells in you First for the Condition If. I call it a Condition and yet it carries a threefold force in it I. It hath the force of a Connexion it makes a Connexion with the former priviledges and comforts of a Christian. 1. No condemnation for sin vers 1. that 's one comfort 2. No dominion nor power nor absolute sway of sin that 's a second comfort 3. No total nor final nor utter destruction by sin Death is abolish'd that 's a third comfort It shews us a blessed concatenation and linck of a Christians priviledges Mercy it begins in Pardon and growes and diffuses it self in Grace and never
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bound in the Spirit carried by a strong guidance of the Holy-Ghost in all his conversation Hath he vouchsafed to dwell in thee Yield up thy self to his command and authority 4. Dwelling implies Care and Protection and Provision All that are within the Verge are under Protection The Master of the house is to see to all and to provide for them The good man of the house wakes soonest and watches longest Aristotle gives this rule in his Oeconomicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The care of his house belongs to him Nor is this Spirit of Christ wanting in this property A Christian possess'd by God hath a Patent of Protection a full supply of all comfortable provision He will safe-guard his house and protect it he withstands all assaults made upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he resists the assaults that Satan makes upon it He that destroyes the Temple of God him shall God destroy See the Patent of Provision that God grants to his houshold My servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty my servants shall rejoyce but ye shall be ashamed Isai. lxv 13. For use 1. It should teach us gladly to yield up our selves as Mansions for him to dwell and abide in us not onely to receive him guest-wise or at some good time onely as at a Communion but resign up all to him give him the keys let no room be shut up against him Invite him to come in unto us to own and possess us Turn in my Lord turn in to me 2. When he hath taken up his dwelling offend him not by any thing that may make him mislike much less give over and forsake his dwelling Res delicata est Spiritus Dei Tertul. 'T is not every rude and homely entertainment that will content him Nobilem hospitem habes O anima O man thou lodgest a glorious Inhabitant study to please him We must not grieve him Ephes. iv 30. much less resist him Actâ—… vii least of all despise him Heb. x. 29. He will abide no longer than where he is observed As the spirit of man stayes no longer in the body then it is pliant to him hinder it from working and it forsakes us presently 3. This Inhabitation of the Spirit in us challenges a reverence of the souls and bodies of Gods Saints as of the Mansion-place where God himself abides Violence to a Temple 't is counted Sacriledge such a Prophanation is no less then an Abomination to God Neither scorn nor cruelty nor any unworthy usage to these Temples of the living God but strikes at the face of God himself Do you despise the house of God saith S. Paul As Christ saith He that swears by the Temple swears by it and him that dwells in it so he that violates the body of a Saint offers indignity to that God that dwells in it Take heed of profaning your selves being dedicated and devoted to the Holy Ghost Thus S. Paul dehorts them from uncleanness The body is not for fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the body Portastis Dominum in corpore vestro as the old Translation hath it Possess them in Holinesse and Honour We have seen the particulars Now II. Briefly take notice of the summary intent and purpose of this Clause If the Spirit of him that raised Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised Iesus from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies The Exigence and Illation from this Conditional is thus much That Sanctification is a necessary Requisite to a glorious Resurrection The expectation of future Glory it must be founded upon present Grace Thou will not give thine holy One to see corruption saith David Psal. xvi Solum Sanctum non videbit corruptionem saith S. Bern. 'T is holiness that embalmes our dead bodies and will keep them from corruption The many habitudes and references that Holiness hath to Happiness Grace to Glory will confirm this truth 1. Grace in reference to Glory it hath Rationem seminis Everlasting life it is called the fruit of holiness Rom. vi 22. and Galat. vi 8. He that sowes to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Sementis hodie â—…ras messis saith S. Chrysostom This life is the Seed-time the next life is the Harvest If there be no Seed-time of Grace never expect any Harvest of Glory 2. Grace unto Glory hath the respect of a First-fruits to the whole Crop Rom. viii 23. We that have the first-fruits of the Spirit wait for the redemption of our bodies The First-fruits dedicated the whole Harvest These ripe Ears of Grace are a blessed assurance of the full Sheaves of Glory to be reaped hereafter 3. Grace unto Glory hath the respect of a Fountain to a Stream or River Ioh. iv 14. The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life And what that Well of water is he tells us chap. vii 39. This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive Damm or dry up the Spring-head and the Streams flow not we must begin at the Fountain of Grace if ever we mean to attain to the Ocean of Glory 4. Grace unto Glory hath the respect of a pledge or earnest or seal unto a full actual Possession 2 Cor. i. 2. Who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts And again Eph. i. 13. Ye are sealed with that holy Spirit of Promise which is the earnest of our inheritance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. saith S. Chrysost. It seals up all and is in stead of all Theodosius made it a Law That they who received not the Pledge of Matrimony should lose their Dowry Without this earnest of Grace we cannot expect the fruition of Glory 'T is like the red thread on Rahab's house if we part with that token we cannot escape 5. Indeed there is so near a Conjunction twixt Grace and Glory that the Scripture makes them both the same thing Saint Peter calls Grace The Spirit of Glory The Spirit of God and of Glory rests on you 1 Pet. iv 14. They differ but in degrees as the Morning-light doth to the light of the perfect-Day Prov. iv 18. Grace 't is the beginning and day-break and dawning of Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as there is some light before the Sun rises Glory 't is nothing but gratia consummata and the blessedness of Heaven 't is gloriosa sanctitas holiness in the brightest hue shining in its full lustre This makes the Scripture urge and enforce the necessity of Holiness Follow holiness without which none shall see the Lord Heb. xii 14. c. We have done with the first Particular The Condition upon which our Resurrection is promised If the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you Now follows Secondly The efficient cause
Particulars 1. The dwelling of Gods Spirit in us is a ground of our resurrection because it is Vinculum Unionis the Spirit is the bond of our union and conjunction with Christ. By it we are incorporated into his holy Body and made members of it Now then if our head â—…ise all the members must rise with it If the Head be in Heaven the members shall not for ever perish in the Grave Not a bone of his was broken This union by the Spirit 't is like the touch of a Load-stone it will attract and draw us to him that where he is we shall be also It is spoken of his hypostatical but it is true also of his mystical union Quod semel assâ—…mpsit 〈◊〉 depâ—…suit Christ will part with none of his members Father I will that where I am they shall be also Because I live ye shall live also Iohn xiv 19. 2. This inhabitation of the Spirit grounds our resurrection ratione proprietatis Our bodies by this inhabitation are consecrated to be a possession of the Holy Ghost and the Temple of God must not be destroyed What Christ said of his own body it is true of ours Destroy this Temple and I will raise it up again Necesse est Spiritui reddatur Templum suum saith Tertul. Gods Spirit takes pleasure not onely in these living Temples but owns them when they are dead takes pleasure in the dead bones and favours the dust of them Psal. cii As Philosophers say of the Soul it is Artifex sui domiâ—…ilii it frames its own house of the body so the Spirit of God repairs re-edifies rears up this Fabrick after it is taken down 3. This Inhabitation of the Spirit works our resurrection as being the Auhor of both that initial grace that entitles us and gives us claim to the state of a resurrection Regeneration makes us Children of the Resurrection as also because it is the author of that final grace which plucks up the root eats out the core of our mortality Till then as there be Primitiae gratiae so there are Reliquiae peccati Those remainders of sin dispose us to death but our final and finishing grace roots up those Fibrae peccati and sin being abolish'd death hath no dominion over us So then for use of all 1. Is the Habitation of the Spirit the ground of our Resurrection doth that give us interest into the resurrection of Christ Sure then 1. The benefit of this resurrection belongs onely to them who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them The wicked and reprobate they have no share in Christs resurrection Not but that Christ raises the wicked at the last day but this he doth officio Iudicis not beneficio Mediatoris by the authority of his supreme Judicature All shall hear his voice his summons shall raise them out of their Grave but the fruit and benefit of his mediation or resurrection extends not to them 1. Not by way of Merit he communicates no merit in the world to come to those who have no interest in his merits in this present world 2. Not by way of any actual efficacie there 's no influence of Christ but into his own members all influence of grace and virtue either tends to union or flows from it 3. Not by way of Example Christs resurrection is not so much as the Pattern and Samplar of theirs there 's no assimilation 'twixt Christ and the wicked They do not bear the Image of the second Adam they are not planted into the Similitude of his death or resurrection He is the resurrection and the life to them that believe Iohn xi 2. Besides the Resurrection that Christ merited and communicates is a beneficial and beatifical Resurrection Meritum sonat in bonum the resurrection of the wicked tends to damnation Better not rise then rise to perdition Better stay in prison then to be brought to execution This rising destroys not death but increases and redoubles it In short 3. The Resurrection of the wicked 't is no fruit of the Gospel but a sequel of the Law not flowing from the second Adam but is consequent upon the first no part of the Promise The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head but a part of the Threatning Thou shalt die the death soul and body both to be destroyed 2. Shall we be raised because his Spirit dwells in us See the sweet fruit and benefit of giving place to Christ and his Spirit and devoting our selves to be an habitation to him he richly requites us for his habitation See how Satan uses the bodies he possesses Luke ix 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He rent and tore them Oh! the Spirit of God keeps and preserves them As men say of their houses Better Lett them Rent-free to some that will use them well and keep them in repair then for Rent to others that will havock and spoil them If Satan possess thy body besides the base usage he will put it to he will make it a sink of sin a dung-hill of corruption a rendevous of unclean Spirits all the Rent he pays thee will be ruine and destruction But if Christs Spirit possess thee besides the honour which his presence puts upon thee if the King be in a Cottage he makes it a Court he will secure it and maintain it and make it good to thee Use thy body and devote it to sensuality it will end in corruption devote it to God and his Spirit it will rise to immortality S. Paul speaks 1 Cor. vi 13. Meats for the belly and the belly for meats and what will become of it God shall destroy both it and them But the body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body and then what follows Vers. 14. God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power Dos immortalitatis Immortality 't is the Dowrie that God assures to the body The body is not for Fornication but for the Lord and he assures this Dowrie even a blessed Resurrection Which God grant for his sake who is the Resurrection and the Life To whom c. A SERMON PREACHED UPON WHIT-SUNDAY ON VVHIT-SUNDAY The First Sermon 2 KINGS ii 9. And it came to pass when they were gone over that Elijah said unto Elisha Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee And Elisha said I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me THe two Testaments have a mutual relation and reciprocal aspect and interview one with another Not any mysterie of the New but was shadowed out in the Old not any type of the Old but is represented and exhibited and fulfilled in the New They are placed about Christ as the two Cherubs upon the Mercy-seat looking each on other and both on Christ. The Faith of the Old Testament look'd forward expecting to behold the fulness of those types the Faith of the New Testament looks backward to see the sweet prefigurations
turnings of his life He must be good every way good 1. Christianity enjoyns him all kind of duties duties to God duties to Man duties to Himself makes him a servant to all lays upon him the whole Law of holiness and righteousness without the least dispensation or exemption from any 2. It furnishes him with all kind of graces it enlightens his understanding sanctifies his heart orders and composes and puts in tune all his affections At his Conversion the seeds of all graces are sown into him and then it expects from him every good work A good Christian turn him to what duty you will he hath skill to perform it For the worship of God he is prepared for that he will pray devoutly he will hear reverently converse with God spiritually Turn him to man he will submit obediently deal and trade justly converse innocently help others charitably In his work he will be diligent in his recreations he will be sober in prosperity humble in affliction patient He will be a good master a faithfull servant a good father an obedient son a loving husband as S. Paul describes him Ready to every good work 'T is not Christianity to hit upon some one duty and fail in all the rest No He must walk in all the commandments of God without reproof That 's for the matter Secondly Take notice of the Rule of Direction according to which a Christian must order his conversation it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as becomes the Gospel of Christ. The Rule 't is high and transcendent God intends a Christian should be an exact creature and so propounds to him an eminent Rule A Christian must not order his life after every inferiour square Other Rules there be which many set to themselves but they are not suitable to the state of a Christian. 1. There is the licentious Libertine's Rule and that is Quod libet licet to live as he list to do what is good in his own eyes so he can satisfie himself that 's all he cares for 2. There is the common mans Rule that 's Mos humanus that 's his square to do as his neighbours do live according to the custom of other men This sways with the most Vae torrenti consuetudinis humanae O this is as a mighty stream bears down all before it S. Paul calls it A walking according to the course of this world Ephes. ii 2. 3. There is the civil mans Rule that 's Lex humana to be as honest as civility and morality and mans law enjoyns us not to trespass against any Law of man more then so is more then needs No all these Rules are short and defective Mensura hominis est mensura Angeli even in this sense also Christianity sets us an higher pitch We must live answerable to the Gospel of Christ suitable and agreeable to that holy Profession Take the summ of it in these five Expressions 1. A Christian must live and order his conversation Secundum praecepta Evangelii according to the doctrine and commands of the Gospel Mans law is too short nay Moses his Law 't is too dark the Gospel doth clearly lay down the Law of holiness The love of God even to the loss of our lives the love of our neighbours even to the loving of our enemies these are for their clear propounding Praecepta Evangelica doctrines of the Gospel So meekness and patience and bearing of the cross they are in a special manner Evangelical precepts The two Disciples thought it enough to live as Elias did and to seek for vengeance upon their enemies No Christ tells them they are called to another spirit the Spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of meekness 2. A Christian must live Secundum beneficia Evangelii answerable to the high prerogatives and benefits of the Gospel The benefit of Redemption how should that oblige us We are bought with a price What use doth Paul make of that Glorifie God in your bodies and souls which are his Christ died for us that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but to him which died for them 2 Cor. iv 15. How doth Ieremiah upbraid the Jews Ier. vii 10. Will ye say we are delivered to commit all these abominations Do ye thus requite the Lord ye foolish people and unwise is not he thy father that hath bought thee Deut. xxxii Pater non tantum procreans sed redimens No our Redemption our holy Calling and Vocation calls unto holiness Our Adoption and being made not onely servants but Sons of God they all require answerable conversation it should beget in us S. Pauls resolution Whether we live we live unto the Lord Whether we die we die unto the Lord. 3. A Christian must live Secundum auxilia Evangelii answerable to those helps and supplies of grace which the Gospel affords us The Gospel 't is the ministration of the Spirit it enables us to do what it requires of us And a Christian is purposely intended by God to be to the praise of the glory of his grace Ephes. i. And so again We are his workmanship created to good works Ephes. ii We are his workmanship his choise master-piece wherein he would have the power of his grace to be most conspicuous And We are created to good works that is purpos'd and intended to abound in good works and again Created to them that is enabled and fitted for them as in the creation every created thing was enabled to live after the kind What saith S. Paul I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me 'T is a shame for a Christian not to exceed the scantling and abilities of other men How doth S. Paul check the Corinthiâ—… for their backwardness this way Are ye not carnal and walk like men 1 Cor. iii. 3. whereas they should be spiritual and walk like Christians 4. A Christian must live Secundum dignitatem Evangelii so as may make for the dignity and credit and honour of the Gospel The world judges of Religion by the lives of those who do profess it as is their conversation accordingly do they account of their Religion Wickedness in a Christian 't is blasphemy against God 't is as the sin of sacriledge he robs God of the honour due to his Name This is the aggravation of Davids sin in the matter of Uriah that he gave occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme 2 Sam. xiii 14. So likewise God charges it upon the Jews Mal. ii 11. Iudah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord. So S. Iames lays it to the charge of loose-living Christians Iames ii 7. Do they not blaspheme that worthy Name by which you are called The sins of Christians are much more scandalous then of other men They dishonour God bring an evil report upon his holy Profession shame the whole Church and expose it to reproach Thus S. Paul disswading the Corinthians from all uncleanness reminds them of that near relation that they have
he seems to part with his own right in it and sets it over to his Church If God so loved us What then The inference we should think were more natural Then we must love him again But God parts with his interest bestows it on his children Then ought we to love one another 1 Ioh. iv 11. He requires us to exhibit it to his Church 1. In signum amoris then 't is best tryed Every man will love God it is best discovered in our love to his Church 2. In fructum amoris the fruit of our charity cannot reach to him As David desiring to shew love to Ionathan even after his death inquires out Mephibosheth or any of his children that they might enjoy what Ionathan could not Quod homini proficit Deo servit saith Tertullian Then charity is most serviceable to God when it is profitable to his Church The Church that is commended especially to our love and charity As S. Bernard observes of Christs provision for his Mother at his death he commended her to S. Iohn his loving disciple and in terms of love Behold thy Mother and Behold thy Son so in the disposition that 's the principal affection to which Christ commits it Art thou a Minister conceive Christs voice from his Cross to thee Behold thy Mother behold thy Son This was the Preface to S. Peter's charge Peter lovest thou me then feed my flock Of both which Speeches to S. Peter and S. Iohn Aquinas conceits that answerable to their affection so was their commission Saint Peter loved Christum mysticum in membris Christ in his members to him therefore the Church was by name commended Saint Iohn loved Christum personalem Christ in his person to him therefore he committed the care of his Mother Love is the affection that 's principally required This we see typified in Aarons brest-plate the names of the Israelites they were ingraven and set upon the holy Pectoral not upon his shoulders onely for care and burden but upon his breast the seat of love they must be dear and tender to him It is a sin in any man to be void of Charity but it is an hainous impiety in a Priest It had been cruelty in any Jew not to regard his brother's wounded and bleeding body but for a Levite and a Priest to pass by and neglect the body nay the soul of their brother without charity and compassion what sin more abominable Without this gift all other graces they are fruitless and unprofitable sine hac nihil sum saith the Apostle not minor or parvus but nihil sum Had I all Languages even to the tongues of Angles had I all Miracles to remove Mountains had I all Patience even to the enduring of Martyrdom Quale crimen saith Cyprian quod nè Mariyrio quidem potest expiari sine hac nihil sum And cum hac omnia sum Charity bears all believes all hopes all Strange The act of Charity is onely to love Elicit suum actum imperat omnem As a spring in a clock sets all the wheeles going or the Primum mobile in Heaven carries all the Spheres with it Art thou to Prophesy Charitâ—… cogit saith the Apostle The love of Christ constrains Hast thou Languages they are unprofitable in themselves divided from Charity Charity directs and unites them together Ex una lingua factae sunt multae hoc superbia fecit ex multis facta est una hoc charitas facit Aug. Saint Iames speaking of malicious tongues saith They are set on fire of Hell and they set on fire the whole course of nature in strife and confusion so these gifts of tongues being set on fire by charity as by fire from Heaven they set on fire the whole course of nature in grace and conversion Not as if Charity were absolutely necessary as if none but a Convert could convert others Tongues and Miracles as we see in Iudas they may do good but not so kindly as when love imployes them As S. Augustine observes of Christ's Miracles they prevailed the more with his Auditours because they were not onely signa potentiae but fructus amoris They were miracula salutaria helpful and beneficial Had they been nociva as Moses his were in Egypt they would have bred hatred and terrour driven men farther from him or had they been innocua to remove Mountains to fly in the air they would have wrought wonder and astonishment but they were salutaria healing and feeding and raising from the dead these were beneficial and provoked love and affection As the Prophet when he laid his staff upon the child which was signum potentiae it never fetch'd life but the embracing of his arms that was fructus amoris that warm'd and enliven'd him Miracles and languages they may do good but not so kindly Much more Prophesying though divided from Charity hath its use and profit for the conversion of others To this purpose S. Augustine alluding to that of S. Paul Some preach Christ of good will others on by-respects Quidam saith he non castè praedicant Christum tamen his auditis fideles nascuntur As in natural generation so likewise in spiritual Quidam ad concubitum ingrediuntur non voluntate generandi sed luxuriandi libidiâ—…e in lust not in love and desire of posterity and yet they beget children ex fâ—…cunditate seminum non ex turpitudine vitiorum The seed of the word it hath vim plasticam prolificam a power of regenerating though dispensed and applied by one not-converted Let the seed be good that is sown in the furrows it skils not what the hand be that scatters it abroad Pastores mali saith S. Augustine against the Donatists bad Shepherds may feed the flock in good Pastures Prophecy without Charity hath a power of converting but not so kindly As a Chirurgeon or Physician is more affectionately careful of his own body then of a stranger's life The one he doth Ex Arte to shew his skill the other In Affectu in Sympathy of affection The one preaches Ut lucretur famam for credit and ostentation the other Ut lucretur fratrem Thou hast gained thy brother saith our Saviour accounting every Christian as S. Paul did Onesiâ—…us his own bowels and esteeming S. Iames his reward the best encouragement Hast thou converted a sinner Know thou hast saved a soul from death and hast hid a multitude of sins That 's a second Inforcement Ut Ecclesiae habeat Charity improves all his gifts for the benefit of the Church 3. Ut Sibi habeat Charity makes them comfortable and profitable to his own soul. That 's the excellency of Charity above these other Graces Tongues without Prophecy edifie no man Prophecie without Charity edifies others helps not himself Charitas alios seipsum He saves himself and those that hear him Tongues without Prophecie like Nimrod they build a Babel they confound themselves and bring confusion to others Prophecie without Charity like Noah's workmen they
must be provided for with fruitfulness That 's the second Not Spirituali annexum That 's the Kind I come II. To the Parts of them 1. It is Spirituale donum Seek and labour for spiritual enablements The inclinations of nature must be strengthened and elevated with gifts of grace The weightiest employments require the greatest enablements Those three great Callings Kings Priests Prophets they were all anointed to signifie that large measure of grace that those Callings required Nay the High-Priest had all the holy oyl poured out upon him to signifie his Calling required plenty of grace the inferiour Servitors were but onely sprinkled in a sparing manner Indeed to be gifted and fitted by the holy Spirit 't is the only comfortable assurance to thy conscience of thine inward Calling Gods Seal set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without which the warrant of the Church 't is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Ink and Paper as S. Paul distinguishes And yet how many run before they be sent suing like Ahimaaz to the Ioabs of Israel But what if I run though they have no tidings Who if they were questioned whether they have received the Holy Ghost in some competencie of gifts must return the answer of those uncatechiz'd Novices Act. xix We know not whether there be any Holy Ghost yea or no. No God never employs but he always enables as Saul did with David when he sent him to fight he put on his own Armour he will strengthen thee with his own Spirit to discharge His business That 's the first Spirituale donum 2. Is Spirituale ut officium Seek and labour for spiritual employments And indeed Donum obligat ad officium the conferring of a gift it is the exacting of a service 'T is like Press-money if once thou receivest it thou art bound to do service Thou art a servant and thou must and thou hast a Talent and thou mayst be profitable to thy Masters advantage To have the first Spirituale donum without this second it is to no advantage Donum in habitu 't is Talentum in sudario Donum in exercitio 't is Talentum in mensario it gains and increases Donum in habitu 't is a Candle in a bushel exercise and employ it 't is set on a Candlestick Without exercise and practice saith S. Bernard thou art Lux modii with it thou art Lux mundi Not onely the mispending but the neglecting of this gift condemns thee S. Paul bids Timothy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fire goes out for want of blowing as well as with quenching Mettal not onely wears out by use but is eaten with rust And what saith S. Iames The rust of your gold shall witness against you not onely the mispending The rust of our gifts as well as the mis-using shall rise up and condemn us To be able to preach and not to perform it S. Augustine counts it like the sin of Onan Maledictus qui non suscitat semen in Israel praedicando Christum generare Christianum Art thou invited to preach and yet refusest Art thou shod with this preparation of the Gospel and yet refusest when the Church calls for thine help thou shalt be discalceatus in Israel If thou wilt not raise up seed to thy elder brother Christ the Church may pull off thy shoes and spit in thy face Nè sis in eorum numero quorum pedes sunt speciosi 'T is S. Augustine's Allegory That 's the second Spirituale ut officium 3. Spiritualem potestatem Labour for and desire onely spiritual power and authority As in the first Donum obligat ad officium so here Officium disponit ad potestatem Our authority and power is onely spiritual The weapons of our warfare are divinitùs potentia Thus S. Chrysostom magnifying and preferring his spiritual power To a King are bodies committed to a Priest souls they fight with sensible armour we with spiritual They fight against Barbarians I fight against Devils as he speaks elswhere his doctrine is to him as fire and sword The censures are onely spiritual that the Church inflicts This thunder of the Church like that from Heaven melts the metal meddles not with the sheath works upon the soul. And yet what a stirr keeps that Priest of Rome for his temporal Power to be joyned with spiritual Joyning with his Pastoral Staff an Imperial Sword as we see some Rapiers sheathed up in Staves in censuring of the Church wishing as Balaam did in beating of his Ass I would my staff were a sword in my hand for then would I kill thee And yet we exclude not all temporal power as utterly unlawful 'T is not a consequent from our spiritual but yet it is compatible with it Christ doth not command it but the Prince may conferr it Onely of our selves 't is meerly spiritual That 's the third part Spiritualem potestatem a spiritual authority I come briefly to the Third Object propounded to them and that is Prophecy And by it I conceive with Expositors not any extraordinary miraculous Revelation but an ordinary set course of preaching and interpreting and opening the Mystery of the Gospel in S. Pauls description A speaking to men to edifying to exhortation and comfort And then take notice of the nature and honour of this holy function Preaching 't is Prophesying 1. It is loco Prophetiae 't is in the room and stead of Revelation and Prophecy As the Israelites were first fed with Mannah afterwards that ceasing they fed on the fruit of the Land Prophecy now ceasing we must wait for no more Visions but rest our selves on the set word of God See this observable in the closure of both the Testaments Malachi the last of the old Prophets shuts up the Old Testament with this Seal Remember ye the Law of Moses my servant which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel with the Statutes and Iudgments till Elias comes there were no more Prophets till Iohn at Christs first Coming S. Iohn the last of the Apostles he seals up the New Testament with the same Closure no more additions to the New Testament till Christs second Coming We have Moses and the Prophets Christ and the Apostles in stead of Revelation It is loco Prophetiae 2. It is aequale Prophetiae 't is as good as Prophecy of the same nature springing from the same Fountain and Original As the fire on the Altar though maintained and fed with ordinary fewel yet is counted heavenly because the first Original of it was from Heaven The Scriptures contain fully the marrow and pith of all former Prophecies in the Old Testament As at the first Creation the Lord made an extraordinary light but after conveyed it into the body of the Sun and Moon and all light now arises from them so in the beginnings of the Church God set up an extraordinary light of Prophecy now he conveys it all into the body of the Scripture comprehending all saving truths that they reveal It is aequale