better tidings to you Israelites than to any other Nation if you will accept them The Son of God came of their Fathers according to the flesh in their Country he came to preach daily and no where in the world beside in their eyes he wrought his Miracles and upon their bodies he practis'd his wonderful power to cure their Diseases to make their Blind to see and their Lame to walk He professed himself to be more devoted to their welfare than to all the earth beside before the Canaanitish woman I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel They were his he did acknowledge it he was theirs but they denied it he came to his own but his own received him not To abreviate my discourse in this point Evangelizo vobis they are glad tidings to you because it is given to you to hear the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven for blessed is the ear that heareth the things which you hear Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God It is flat cheating in the Devil to put dubitation into mans fancy on this wise I am partaker of the outward word but I know not whether God have gone any further with me to give me his inward Spirit to quicken that seed unto immortal life Beloved as Christ did institute both Bread and Wine to be the outward Elements of the Sacrament of his Body and Blood Bread is the substance of food Wine causeth the concoction and makes it comfortable food So the word preacht is the food of life and God never lets it go alone without some drops of the Wine of his Grace to make it nourishing and beneficial Jude xiii 23. Manoah the Father of Sampson cries out to his Wife we shall surely die because we have seen God Nay says she If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not receive a burnt-offering at our hand Neither would he have shewed us all these things nor would at this time have told us such things as these So let me answer all dubitative Christians unless the Lord did desire thy salvation he would not put his Word into thy ear nor his Sacrament into thy mouth The Gospel is an happy annuntiation to every one that hears it unless he quench the Grace which is offered unto him Evangelium omni populo the tidings are auspicious to all people To all people Trahit sua quemque voluptas There are so innumerous many fond pleasures desires vanities affections in several appetites can any thing satisfie them all yes it is relishable to every palat that will taste it though the true delight apprehended is included among the small number of the Elect yet it is given to all and no man shall say he is lost for want of a Redeemer and a sacrifice for his sins Cum omnibus scriptus significavit omnes says Origen He was taxed in his Mothers Womb by Augustus Caesar when all the world was taxed to intimate that he did communicate himself to all the world that after that conscription of their names in Caesars enrollment whosoever believed in him his name might be written among the Saints in the book of Life In the first lesson read upon Christmas-day thus you have it Isa ix 3. They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest and as men rejoyce when they divide the spoil A good Harvest is not welcome to one Village but it is gladsome to the whole Country round about and when spoils are divided after the vanquishing of an Enemy every Souldier is enricht and hath his share Such a communicative blessing is our Saviours Incarnation every man fills his bosom with the sheaves of the harvest every Christian Souldier that fights a good warfare plucks somewhat from the spoils of the Enemy The dew of thy birth is as the womb of the morning A learned Father of our own Church transposeth the Versicle on this wise Thy birth from the Womb is as the morning dew which waters the whole earth As the walls of Jericho fell down before the sound of the rams horns so the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile methinks it fell down flat to the ground at this blast of the Angels trumpet in my Text that these were glad tidings not toti populo but omni populo not to the whole people of the Jews but to all the people of the world The wall of discord is taken away in the universe which parted those two great houses and shall not the sweet welcome of the Birth of Christ take away a wall of partition between thee and thy neighbour which is in thy heart Can you out of enmity and hatred wish sorrow unto any when God wisheth joy great joy unto all dost thou envy at the prosperity of thy brother when the Lord would have the same glad tidings common to you both Lay down old grudgings and quarrels with the old year and begin the new year with a new reconciliation in love unfeigned and true meaning Charity and the Lord renew a right spirit in us all Amen THE SIXTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 11. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. THE Angel hath made a brief Sermon upon a great occasion The occasion is the Incarnation of our Lord and who can be so copious upon that subject as the Mystery requires yet the Sermon which the Angel preacheth is neither a whole Chapter nor a whole Gospel but three verses of a Gospel In the multitude of words a great deal is lost unto the hearer the good application of a little whatsoever we think will yield the best fruits of increase But for such divine joy as is here proclaimed it was fit to roul it up in a small pill and to minister it to the audience in a little quantity How is it possible for frail flesh to subsist and not to be dissolv'd for gladness if the Angel had continued his tidings with such matter as he begun a Saviour is born unto you a Saviour is born no petty redeemer but the Lord strong and mighty a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. O it was provident care after the Shepherds had heard a little to tell them no more at once but rather to send them away into the City that they might see the rest After Israel had shaken off the Chaldean slavery and the Lord had turned the captivity of Sion David knew not how to express their astonisht joy but thus they were like unto them that dream as Livie says of the Grecians when the Romans that conquer'd them sent them unexpected liberty Mirabundi velut somni speciem arbitrabantur they received the tidings as if it had been a pleasing dream and themselves scarce awake So our sins have so much discomforted our hearts that our spirits are confus'd and faint if we receive all the comfort that God sends at once like a strong
is in the new Temple of Jerusalem above the Stars that doth secretly teach the heart As the times go the efficacy of grace had need be stiffly maintained against bare outward means Mark the consent of antiquity upon this Point Non satis fuisset stella nisi adfuisset fides illustratio sancti spiritus says St. Ambrose they had never moved so far for the Star alone without the illumination of faith and the holy Spirit Fulgentior veritatis radius eorum corda perdocuit says Leo certain impulsions and illustrations of the holy Spirit gave them understanding and will to come to Christ Deus direxit eos tam in viâ morum quà m in viâ pedum says Chrysologus God did direct them both in their inward and in their outward ways The natural man is not able to discern the things that belong to God let these alone to themselves and shew them a bright Lamp from heaven and they would have thought of any thing as soon as of this question Where is he that is born the King of the Jews Suppose they had certain Traditions in their Schools that when such a Star was seen the Messias was come into the world yet no man could apply himself to seek out Christ and worship him but by the Spirit of God Every man is full of his conjectures who should deliver the expectation of the Messias to those remote Gentiles whether Daniel or some other Prophet that was in the Chaldean Captivity Or whether Balaam who lived in the Mountains of the East a thousand years before Daniel Nay another Author puts it upon Seth that he left a Prophesie concerning such an occasion which should fall out against the birth of Christ and that the Wise-men of the East appointed twelve men of their Colledge to watch that Star every year from the beginning of Autumn to the Winter and when one of those twelve died they supplied the number that their Watchmen might never fail Some Predictions they had I will not contend about it preacht to the outward ear yet this had been but sounding brass and empty words if the Lord had not secretly moved their heart What you will say and was the Spirit diffused even among the disperced of the Nations that lived without the Law Yes Beloved that was more than seldom seen as the spirit of grace was in Cornelius to send up Prayers and Alms to heaven before he knew what it was to be baptized unto remission of sins in the bloud of Christ The spirit of direction was upon Cyrus an heathen 2 Chron. c. ult 22. he was admonisht from God to build the Temple The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus the King of Persia And the spirit of Divination or Prophesie was upon the wicked Soothsayers of the Philistins 1 Sam. vi 9. they divined if the Cart in which they put the Ark of the Lord went up straight to Bethshemesh to its own Coast then the Lord had laid evil upon them for detaining it and so it came to pass 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom God did make the Event answer to the Prediction of those wicked Soothsayers No opposition therefore in this but the Spirit bloweth where it listeth even among the dispersed of the heathen even among these Wise-men of the East Dedit aspicientibus intellectum qui prestitit signum The grace of God was in their understanding and his signs and wonders in their outward eye And so much of their first Assertion what God had wrought for them We have seen c. Said I even now that the benediction of the Spirit was upon them So it is evident by the last part of my Text their second Assersion what God had wrought in them and are come to worship him Many might come a journey to see him as well as they for that Herod that cut off John Baptist his head desired of a long time to see him Many might see the Star as well as they and be never the better for sundry saw as great signs and miracles that never believed Many of the Scribes knew where he was to be born and were able to tell the Wise-men when they knew not the matter lies not therefore in venimus or in vidimus but in adoramus this is their praise and this is their piety that they came to worship him and that they profess they will worship him though they knew him to be but an Infant new born and never scan the case in what condition they may find him The Queen of the South came as far as these men did but she found a King in all Royalty and such a glorious Court as never was the like these men found a Child in a Cratch the poorest and most unlikely birth that ever was to prove a King no sight to comfort them not a word that came from him for which they were the wiser and yet they were as good as their word they did fall down and worship him and more than worship him present him with their gifts Why should not they humble themselves to the earth when they saw the Stars above did obey him and wait his attendance You will say If we could see such a Star as they did the obstinate would be more convinced to do him worship but it will be more acceptable to worship him though we have not seen Beside They adored him when he was so little in his humiliation who will be slack to perform that homage now he is so great in his glorification I will rather regard the time than dispatch all that remains But one thing is to be spoken of that some take the very foundation of this Point from us namely that the worship of the Wise-men was no religious worship they came not to exhibit a pious veneration to Christ as to the Eternal Son of God but they saluted him with their bended knee as the Persian manner was to behave themselves before their Kings But why should Persians tender such civil worship to one that was none of their own Kings but the King of the Jews One would answer it thus to ingratiate themselves into him betimes if happily he should become the Oriental Monarch in his elder years A conjecture too slight for his great judgment that uttered it Is it possible that wise men should conceive in him no more than a man and yet do him all Princely honour lying in the Cratch of a Stable Are they such men as were admonisht in a dream by the divine Oracles which way to return home and yet shall we interpret their actions politically and not after a divine manner St. Chrysostom says They did both adore him in Bethlehem and preach of his heavenly Kingdom when they came home into Persia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Ambrose is for the same they worshipped him being a little babe in swadling clouts Vtique parvulum non adorassent si parvulum tantum credidissent But
thirty he drew in his head and in the fulness of ripe years he came to be baptized in Jordan Dion accounts it an happiness in Trajan that he began to govern the Roman Empire in his staid years I think he was then forty years old Vt neque per juventutem quicquam temere aggrederetur neque per senectutem languesceret that he was neither rash in execution by the heat of youth nor slow and timorous by the infirmity of age But the sacred story of the Scripture will give us instances that accord more aptly with our Saviour Joseph was thirty years old when he began to govern Egypt as who shoul say he was in the flower of abilities Joseph rul'd in another mans right David the best King of Israel in his own and he was thirty years old when be began to reign in Judah But because our Saviour offered himself to be known in my Text not in his Kingly but in his Priestly Office to be baptized for the washing away of our sins therefore the the best application will be to find the manner and custom of the Priests in the old Law and then for your satisfaction consult with the fourth of Numbers and it is ten times exprest in that Chapter that the Levites were to wait upon the work of the Tabernacle from thirty years upward and not before and at that very age Christ came to the waters of Jordan to be anointed an high Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech From this example some Canons have issued out in ancient Councils that none should take the Orders of a Priest before this age wherein our Saviour began to preach Afterward some years were abated for taking Priesthood yet peremptorily it was defin'd and never recalled that I know by any other Council that none should be allowed for a Bishop under the age of thirty So the Church of England hath appointed and commanded in the Book of Ordination of Priests and Consecration of Bishops which Book is confirm'd and ratified by Act of Parliament and yet it is sometimes dispensed withal in Rome that Children may hold the Title of the richest Archbishoprick in the world Viderit utilitas judge whether it be meant for the honour of God or for the profit of man Nazianzen urgeth it stiffly that the measure of this age of Christ is to be respected in every man before he negotiate in sacred Function to teach the Word of God Gregory collects the same from my Text Perfectae vitae gratiam non nisi perfectâ aetate praedicavit He taught his Disciples how to obtain the perfect life of glory when himself was gone on in his race to the perfect life of nature and like a good Master-builder he directs Novices as St. Paul calls them 1 Tim. iii. 6. to forbear a while and to give place to well-season'd Timber to make Pillars for the Church of God I have heard of a more satyrical similitude but a very true one that the Kine which gave milk drew the Ark to Bethshemesh and the young Calves were shut up in their Stalls at home I could not but give this instruction by the way taken from the complete age wherein our Saviour began to execute his Priestly Office There is a rub cast in my way by the Anabaptists which I must remove and so conclude this Point an exception against the Baptism of Infants because our Saviour was baptized in his manly stature Nay rather this collection is to be warranted that the children of faithful Parents are to be baptized in infancy even as Christ was circumcised an infant the eighth day And if any be converted to the Faith in their grown years it is not too late to come to that Sacrament for the washing away of their sins because Christ himself and many multitudes of elder people were baptized of John Surely Circumcision in the old Law doth so expresly answer to Baptism in the Gospel both being the first seals of the righteousness of faith that it stands uncontroulable that little ones are to be baptized as well as they were circumcized and the Ordinance of Circumcision being once appointed to belong to Infants the Holy Ghost hath spared the labour to appoint any other age for the Baptism of Christian Children as if no reasonable man could make a question of it And as all Israel that came out of Egypt men women and children were baptized that is had the figure of Baptism in the Cloud and in the Sea through which they marcht and escapt the pursuit of Pharoah so in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile Bond nor Free Male nor Female Young nor Old no difference of Nations Age or Sex but all are baptized unto the Remission of sins Our Saviour suffered his disciples to doubt somewhat concerning Infants for our better resolution for when they rebuked such as brought Babes unto him Jesus called them and said Suffer little Children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God Suffer them to come why we cannot put them into Christs arms where he sits in glory how shall they come unto him then unless we present them in the Sacrament Besides that which follows presseth further Theirs is the kingdom of heaven it is not theirs by such right as the Angels hold their place in heaven because they are free from sin And how can it be theirs since they are dead in Adam unless it be theirs by the seal of some Covenant And that is the Fountain of Regeneration I call them regenerate in that Fountain for as Christ blessed them when he took them up in his own arms so he blesseth them in our arms and if they be blest they are regenerate And so likewise they are made believers but after what sort they believe I know not St. Austin hath two opinions The first on this wise Accommodat mater Ecclesia aliorum pedes ut veniant aliorum cor â—t credant c. The Church our mother helps babes with other folks feet to bring them to the Font with other mens hearts to believe with other mens tongues to confess the truth so he means they are called Believers by the faith of the Congregation till they come to age to know Christ themselves His other opinion grants that Infants themselves are believers even as faith is in men that sleep who do not perceive it Aqua forinsecus exhibet sacramentum gratiae spiritus sanctus intrinsecus operatur beneficium gratiae The water sprinkles them with the outward Sacrament of grace and the Spirit breaths upon them the inward blessing of grace I see no cause why we may not apprehend this and assent unto it 1. It is as easie to apprehend they have a faith which they cannot use as to know they have an intellectual reason which they cannot employ And to facilitate our assent one urgeth it modestly thus it was passing strange that
corruption that is in us and to be the Sons of God Because there is mention of a good Spirit immediately before my Text that descended from heaven upon him in the shape of a Dove and all the business after my Text concerns an evil Spirit that assaulted him with many tentations therefore the quaere ariseth which of these did lead him into the Wilderness The Syriack determines it plainly Ductus â spiritu sancto he was led by the Holy Ghost And it is of more moment that certainly the Syriack Paraphrase took it from St. Luke Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that understand Grammer and the original Text do easily discern that the same word in the same sentence implies one and the same thing the latter being an effect of the former for being full of the Holy Spirit he was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness And I will parallel it plainly anon with that of St. Paul Acts xx 22 Behold I go bound in spirit to Jerusalem Moreover the Devil approached not unto him till after he had fasted forty days he began to be an hungry for he had no motive to begin his tentations till he perceiv'd he was in the distress of hunger like a weak man Therfore it was not Satan that carried him into this place where he fasted for then the tentation had begun before he had set foot in the Wilderness The case is clear to say no more of the first Point that the Spirit which led him was the influence and impulsion of the Holy Ghost The second thing to be askt is how the Spirit did lead him This can be conceived but two ways Either by inward instigation or removing him suddenly from one place to another which is called outward translocation Each way may be admitted for both are according to Analogy of Faith and both are favoured out of the Greek Text of sundry Evangelists You shall read in St. Luke Chap. iv 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was led by the Spirit which doth imply that the Holy Ghost did inwardly inspire that resolution into him and did assist continually while he abode in the Wilderness You shall read in St. Mark Chap. i. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness as if he had been transported thither in some wonderful rapture And my Text is read thus in St. Mathew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was led up of the Spirit The Proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sursum to lead up hath either regard to the situation of the Desart which was by far the higher ground in respect of Jordan where our Saviour was before Or else that he was exalted from the earth and carried away by the Spirit through the air untill he came unto that place where he spent forty days in Prayer Fasting and Meditation I dare not contend out of the Scriptures but that the Spirit wrought both ways upon Christ both carrying his body into the Wilderness and instigating his mind No unusual thing in the first sense for the Spirit to transport a body suddenly through the air without the motion of the feet to a place of far distance And although the whole Trinity God the Father the Son and Holy Ghost concur to that action and produce it or perhaps appoint an Angel to be the instrument yet it goes under the name of the Spirit because that Miracle impresseth a strange vertue into a material body as if it were spiritual How Enoch and Elias were translated on high in their bodies I have declared my mind not long since And surely before Elias his last translation into heaven this did befall him often times Obadiah was jealous of it 1 King xviii 13. It shall come to pass when I am gone from thee the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not What Ezekiel reports of himself I cannot say but it was rather an imaginary than a real rapture but thus he Ezek. viii 3. The hand of God took me by a lock of mine head and the Spirit lift me up between the earth and the heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem This could not be imprinted in his imagination but that it was possible to be done really And Gregory meditates well upon it Every regenerate person during the time of this mortal flesh is so lifted up between heaven and earth Adhuc ad superna plene non pervenit sed tamen ima dereliquit His conversation and his heart are not altogether in heaven but they are higher than the earth What a direct instance is that of the Prophet Habakkuk He was carrying food to the Reapers in the Land of Jury and the Angel of the Lord took him by the crown and bare him by the hair of his head and through the vehemency of the Spirit set him in Babylon Neither need this be rejected for Apocryphal since there is an example to match it Acts viii 39. The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip who was then at Gaza and he was found at Azotus which two are forty miles distance after the best descriptions of the Holy Land A Faith that is but linum fumigans a dusky faith and shines not clearly may easily admit this for if the birds can cut the air with their gross wings naturally who will not be perswaded that God can make the body of man more nimble and fit for such a motion by his supernatural power But I marvel at those Expositors who are squemishly conceited against that opinion that they did not frame this objection God doth not use to work Miracles only to shew tricks as one would say no necessity requiring Then cui bono Why might not Christ have gone into the Wilderness step by step What occasion of moment should urge the Spirit to transport him Beloved it was thus far expedient that Christ should vanish and no man know which way he was departed that he might avoid the honour which the multitude would have done him upon that voice which came from heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased So in the sixth of St. John after the miracle of feeding some thousands with a little bread and a few fishes Christ perceived that they would take him by force and make him a King therefore he made a sudden departure none knew whither till his Disciples met him walking upon the Sea in a dark night and a great storm Mat. xiv 23. This is reason then sufficient to decline the people who were astonished at the testimony which was given him from heaven that the Spirit snatcht him away in a rapture into the Wilderness Why this interpretation of the word should not take with you I know not but I am sure the next must take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was led by the Spirit that is the Holy Ghost did inspire this heroical
the same end to make us magnifie God for his Wisdom Goodness and Justice Nay I add compare the Law of Works imposed upon Adam and the Law of Faith imposed upon Christians and both of them are possible to be done For the first man according to the integrity wherein he was created and by the virtue of supernatural Grace bestowed upon him might have obeyed the Commandement given if he had not turned to disobedience and by the Divine help of the same grace we to whom God hath preached the glad tidings of his Son are endewed with power to believe that we may be saved Now in a word let us lay the difference of these two one against another God gave the Law in Paradise as a King in his Justice but he gave the Gospel in Sion as a Father of Grace and Mercy according to that Law the reward had been given ex debito by debt and due say the Schoolmen but to him that believes the reward is given by mere Grace which excludes boasting He that disobey'd that Law was to look for the most strict severity of Justice so condemnation belongs likewise to the unbeliever according to Justice but perhaps it shall be temper'd with some moderation for Christs sake Finally this is the main disagreement the first Covenant made with Adam did exclude all hope of remission of sins but the second Covenant made in Christ runs in this tenour to them that live by Faith your sins shall be blotted out and your iniquities forgotten After you have understood the first point how there was a Law imposed upon Adam when he was created and endewed with original Justice you must now give ear to the next thing in order what heavy and astonishing matter is contained in that Law which was given by Moses to the Children of Israel and remember that I consider the Law deliver'd in the two Tables at Mount Sinai Seorsim and by it self separated from all the promises contained in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David These then are the remarkable differences between the Covenant written in Tables of stone and this Covenant of the New Testament in the Blood of Christ First God gave the Law at Sinai being wrath with our sins for whereas we had lost both the wisdom of our understanding and the loyal obedience of our will by the transgression of our first parent yet God impos'd his Commandement upon us and exacts such measure of holiness which we are not able to perform Therefore that Law was given in the barren Wilderness because it is not able to bring one soul unto God likewise it was delivered with signs full of wrath thunder and lightning and a dreadful noise to shew that God was full of indignation when he laid it upon us On the contrary he made the new Covenant of peace being reconciled to them that were lost or at least proffering reconciliation in his beloved Son Read this Doctrine Heb. xii from the 18. to the 24. verse Ye are not come to the Mount that might not be touched and that burnt with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which they that heard entreated they might hear it no more They could not endure that which was commanded And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake but ye are come to Mount Sion and to the City of the living God c. Wherefore the Gospel was presented with manifest tokens of love and benevolence Ecce Evangelizo behold I bring you good tidings 2. There 's a difference arising between the first Testament and the last from the several Mediators that came between God and the people Moses was a servant faithful in the Family and he was the Mediator of the Old Testament Christ is the Son and Heir of all he was the Mediator of the New The Law was given by Moses Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ 3. The old Covenant was ratified with the blood of Beasts but loe the New Covenant doth much surpass it which was ratified with the precious Blood of that immaculate Lamb which took away the sins of the world which is therefore called the Blood of the New Testament 4. The old Law in St. Paul's phrase contained poor and beggerly rudiments not able to bring to life It was a killing letter the ministry of death and condemnation it worketh wrath it entred that sin might abound it is like Hagar which gendreth children unto bondage Gal. iv 24. The Gospel is the power of salvation to every one that believeth a quickening Spirit it purgeth us from our sins it speaketh better things than the blood of Abel 5. That which Moses brought was an heavy burden which neither the Fathers nor the Children could bear but of the Gospel Christ saith his yoke is easie and his burden is light and in it you shall find rest for your souls Lastly the Old Testament endured unto Christ and no longer wherefore because it passed away it is called the Old the New Testament remaineth for ever so says St. Paul of our Blessed Saviour taking flesh who is not made after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless life No passage or comparison can be made between them but the Law given at Mount Sinai will appear to be an harsh and most unwelcome injunction and that which doth clear us from the curse thereof is Evangelium the best tidings that ever arriv'd at the ear of man Hitherto I have consider'd the Old Testament in no respect but as it contains the killing letter of the Law but you must not mistake that the Holy Spirit hath interlaced many fast-holdings of Faith and promises Evangelical almost every where in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David Nay the Old Testament is rather Promise than Law yet it was fit the rigour of the Law should be repeated that it might more appear how necessary the promise of Grace was that we could not live without it and that every man being convicted in his conscience by the sentence of the Law we might more ardently fly to Grace for the end of the Moral Law is double to set us a rule what we should endeavour to do and to discover our own impotency unto us what we are not able to do that we may seek a remedy in the satisfaction of Christ But this I say that the darkness and obscurity of the Old Testament was enlightned with many excellent promises that the believing Israelites might be partakers of Faith and of everlasting life they had the same Gospel which we have the same Christ the same Faith the same Spirit sealing the truth of promise unto them Where is then the priviledge you will say that the tidings are better to us then unto them or far surpassing on our side every way Israel that believed in the promised seed was an heir but under age
nothing different from a servant The faithful since the coming of Christ are adulti heirs come to age such I may say as have sued out their livery past pupillage past the pedagogie of Ceremonies for the yoke of Ceremonies was most troublesome that the coming of Christ which cancelled such things might the more be desired Then they beheld a Messias in types and shadows now he is manifest in his own person then Faith was obscurer now it is more clear then the Spirit was given scantily now it is poured out in full abundance Abundantia spiritus est elogium regni Christi then the preaching of Faith was included in the Kingdom of Israel now it is diffused throughout all the world Mark it now I beseech you how these three do differ The Law did terrifie and astonish there were no good tidings in that The promise of Grace and Mercy was an annuntiation of good news worth the hearing and it was fit that a promise should go before that the day of Christ might be long'd for and much desired before he came yet this did cool the comfort that hope deferred doth afflict the soul Wherefore when the desire of our eyes did come into the world to satisfie the Law for us and to satisfie he expectation of all promises then it became Evangelium good tidings happy news nothing shall be heard any more to vex us or to trouble us unless for want of Faith we would vex our selves And what ear will not listen to good tidings when old Jacob heard that Joseph was living his spirit reviv'd and Israel said it is enough Joseph my son is yet alive Joseph was advanc'd in Egypt by the wonderful providence of God that he might receive his brethren in the great distress of famine these were good tidings to Israel but is it not much better to hear of this sound out of Ephrata that Christ is come into the world to feed his brethren in the time of dearth with the bread of life O quoties quae nobis Galataea locuta est as a passionate woer longs to hear of a sweet message from the party whom he loves so the Spouse which is the Church rejoyceth to hear glad tidings from the Bridegroom that so it might enjoy his presence here that she might dwell with him hereafter for ever Calisthenes approacht towards Alexander the Great portending much alacrity in his countenance what says Alexander An Homerus revixit iterum are there any tidings to be brought which make you so merry unless Homer were alive again all that he could pitch upon for good news was if that divine Poet were alive again to record his story in a long lasting Poem O how infinitely do these good tidings surpass that ambitious fancy Christus natus est a Saviour is born to write our names for ever in the book of life St. Paul took out this lesson from hence Quam speciosi pedes Rom. x. 15. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of things The Prophet Isaiah spoke of them that foretold of the delivery of Israel out of the Babylonish captivity and if those messengers were welcome that uttered things concerning bodily felicity much more shall their coming be acceptable that solace the inward man the heart and soul Beauty is that which attracts affections to it so the Apostles are said to be beautiful because they drew the world unto them and it was proper concerning them to say how beautiful are their feet rather than their lips for they did not rest in one place but took the whole world for their circuit from City to City and because of their dangerous and painful travel by Sea and Land the Prophet said How beautiful are their feet Despise not therefore such as succeed them though much unworthy in the same errand but have them in honour for their welcome message Though Christ hath not washt our feet to make them beautiful as he did his Disciples yet the very word that we have to say doth honour our lips for they are good tidings no things in the world compar'd to the comfort of the Gospel they are good tidings c. The main drift of the Text did hang upon this word how the Angel did Evangelize that is to say bring good tidings now we are clear'd and come off from that and although there are many things in the Gospel very harsh to flesh and blood as to leave all and follow Christ to suffer persecution c. Yet these things as I noted in the third place produce joy joy of a grand size in the intention great joy joy of an infinite measure in the extension everlasting joy joy that shall be says the Text and these are now to be consider'd together and first that the Birth of Christ bids us rejoyce and be glad Can the Children of the Bride-chamber mourn when such a Bridegroom is come unto them he came unto the world like ripe fruit in the fulness of time whereupon says St. Ambrose Christus tanquum maturitas advenit ut nihil acerbum nihil immaturum nihil immite sit He came when all the fruits of comfort were mellow and delicious that nothing might be sower or harsh or distastful to his beloved I alledged the Text of Isaiah before How beautiful are the feet of them that brought tidings of him The Septuagint according to some Editions read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what a spring there was in the Mountains when he was preacht whereupon says S. Cyril as the Spring chears up the hearts of men beautifies the earth and the fields after the desolating frosts of a wastful Winter so the preaching of this Nativity made every thing to flourish after the bitter blasting frosts of the Law If there were such joy at the birth of Isaac that they call'd him Isaac from laughter then let all the earth clap their hands and rejoyce when he was manifested in the flesh that made the laughter of Isaac For our more orderly proceeding I must consider joy three manner of ways 1. What true joy doth properly result from the Birth of Christ 2. What joy may be allowed and indulg'd to Christians 3. What joy is condemnable For the first that joy which doth properly result from the Birth of Christ is Risus ex serenitate conscientiae the mirth and delight of a good conscience for he that hath given us his only Son how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. viii 32. The Israelites were confident of victorious success when the Ark of God was in their Camp The Ephesians thought themselves safe and secure when they had but an Image which fell down from Heaven This was but a fiction like him that dreams of comfort and loe he is in desperate extremities but our case is most clear and happy to whom the God of Gods made his approach as one friend that visits another who
requisite additions and put it out of question The Wisemen adored him with costly Gifts after the manner of an earthly Prince The Angels glorifie him with Hymns and Praises after the Majesty of God In every respect this is the greatest testimony of Christ in all the Scripture excepting where God used his own voice immediately from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased These things are but said now I will prove it in the prosecuting of the parts which are these The Messengers the preparation to the Message and the Message it self or the Choristers the preparation to their Musick and then the Anthem The Choristers are 1. Heavenly ones 2. A multitude 3. An Host or an Army of them Their preparation is twofold With much suddenness suddenly there was with the Angel and with much chearfulness for they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 singing praise unto God The Anthem it self hath three rests in it Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will towards men And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Host these are the Choristers that sung the Carol and the first thing we note in them is that they were heavenly ones Many things in the former Verses of this Chapter were exceeding mean if I may not say vile and sordid touching our Saviours Nativity but this portion of the story is of another nature and very honourable the more his Divinity had hid it self in Clouts in Flesh in a Manger the more it is illustrated by a glorious testimony The Earth afforded him one of the worst places it had the Heavens afforded him their very best attendance the Angels These heavenly Spirits you see gaze not upon the Work of our Redemption nor upon the Oeconomy of the Church as idle Spectators but they were imployed from the beginning in all the works of the Lord Job xxxviii 7. Who laid the corner stone of the earth when the morning Stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for joy Some Expositors infer from hence that the Angels applauded and praised the Lord for the Creation of the world for the Chaldee Paraphrase instead of the Sons of God reads it Acies Angelorum the Army of Angels And the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the corner stone of the earth was laid all my Angels praised me with a loud voice St. Chrysostome says upon it that the Angels admired to see the beauty of the world beneath they were astonished to behold the degrees of the Elements the multitude of all sorts of Creatures their Order Number and measure And by so much were they transported with the beauty of Gods Excellency more than we and of all his Works by how much they did better perceive that they were wrought with infinite and inexplicable wisdom This apprehension of the Fathers upon those words of Job I think is not to be refused Anastasius Sinaita is cited to go a great deal further that on the fourth day of the Creation the Angels saw the Sun rise in the morning from under the interposition of the Earth and presently they bethought them how Christ Sol justitiae should be born of a pure Virgin and dwell upon the earth and immediately they sung this very Song Gloria in excelsis as a prevention or prediction what should be sang upon this day almost four thousand years before it came to pass But this conjecture supposeth one of these two things scarce to be admitted either that these heavenly ones foresaw the fall of Adam before it came to pass as well as God and that the Son of God should be given in the flesh for a Propitiation to be the remedy or else another scholastic quidlibet must be received that Christ was so the head of the Angels that he should have been Incarnate and the Angels saved by faith in that Incarnation though Adam had never faln which is but harsh in the delivery This is the true Doctrine and the right descant upon the Point these Spirits that dwell in Heaven rejoyced for the Creation of the Earth when the Foundations of it were laid as Job says how much more would they bear a part and triumph for our sakes at the Restauration and the Redemption of the Earth Yet now we are at the truth mistake not the reason of their joy as some have done let me but touch upon a petty error and so proceed to the true causes It is supposed by many that the Angels are ready to attend the Church with all their help and diligence and exceeding glad in our prosperity because they receive an augmentation of their blessedness by their pious Ministry towards the Sons of men Now this savours of a little servility me thinks as if those holy ones did not communicate themselves to be safeguards and watchmen over us without expectation of reward but Biel presseth it further Tum sequitur si homo non fuisset creandus Angelus non habuisset beatitudinem It would follow that Angels had never come to the height of their beatitude unless men had been created nay it will follow further they should come short of their full beatitude unless man had sinned and disobeyed Gods Commandment Let me lay down more sufficient reasons therefore for your further satisfaction First The Angels had always done their best to pitch their Pavilions round about us and to keep us from the tyranny of the Devil but they perceived that their protection was not a saving Medicine it would not cure it would not keep us in life but it bred them great content and joy when Christ did manifest himself in flesh upon the earth to heal our sores and bruises and to overcome that strong man for us and spoil him generally to supply in himself whatsoever was defective in their abilities This is Origens reason and his Simile follows as if many unexpert but well affected Physicians should spend their pains to no profit about a sick person whom they would fain recover and hearing that one of renowned skill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was come into the City who would undoubtedly restore the languishing party all the rest that had attempted it did much congratulate his coming So our heavenly Friends the Angels could not speed us as they desired but as soon as they saw the Prince of Physicians was come into the world first one Angel appeared the Prolocutor of the whole Host and he broke with the Shepherds about good tidings of great joy to all People This day is born c. All this while the rest of his consort hovered in the air and at last became visible and discovered themselves in a Volley Apparuerunt cum illo Angeli says the Syrian Paraphrast exulting and praising God that the Lamb was yeaned that should take away the sins of the World Secondly The fruit of this birth came to us and not to them Nusquam Angelos Christ took not on him the
Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps whcih thou hast sucked But he said Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it THis is the Sons day and not the Mothers This is Christs own day and not Maries Therefore it is not for the Wombs sake but for the Fruit of the Womb not for the Paps of a mortal woman but for the Infants sake an immortal God that I have chosen this Text. A good Israelitess she was that magnified Christ on this manner though she was not spoken to yet her heart was full and she must speak for her joy would have stifled her if she had not uttered it If you mark the Context of the Chapter immediately before these words our Saviour had taught his Disciples to pray most divinely he had cast out devils most triumphantly he had answered the Calumniations of the Pharisees most rationally he had put on glorious apparel as the Psalmist says and girded himself with strength While these wonderful works were fresh in memory the Lord from on high could have sent Legions of Angels to magnifie his Son and to praise him with celestial Canticles But to strike the greater shame into the Pharisees that had blasphemed him he stirs up a woman a nameless one a poor Plebeian one not admitted near him she stood afar off and was fain to speak aloud to be heard Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps which thou hast sucked It was a free acclamation a sudden start a passion that came from her spirit ex tempore and that I may give Christ his full honour and attribute no more to the woman than is truth she prophesied in this saying of greater things than at that time she understood The Holy Ghost gave her the priviledge to be the tongue that delivered this Congratulation but it remains to us to lend it an heart that we may truly conceive it For the inward sense of it is the gladsom contents of this day blessed be the Father of all mercies for the Incarnation of his Son that he was made of a woman for our sakes and blessed are all mankind that he hath taken flesh of our flesh and that he is made partaker of our humane nature But because it would not prove our benefit that he was born for us unless he be born in us likewise by faith and obedience it follows to make our joy and crown complete yea rather blessed are they that hear c. The parts are as manifestly two as the two hands wherewith we handle First Blessedness offered to us in Christs Incarnation Secondly Blessedness made complete in our own application The woman begins the Text in the first part Christ finished in the second She said well for his Incarnation Blessed is the Womb that bare thee He makes it much better by stirrig us up to the use and fruit of it yea rather c. She blesseth Christ and Christ blesseth us she would have all felicity to rest in him he would have a share of felicity to be derived to us A pretty strife between a devout Creature and a merciful Creator between an humble Servant and a bountiful Master between a true faith that heaps all honour upon God and between a gracious God that heaps the treasures of his riches upon a true faith To begin with that which the woman said it must be considered two ways in a Litteral sense such as flesh and bloud revealed to her And in a Prophetical sense above her understanding such as the Spirit of God hath revealed to us Blessed is the Womb that bare thee And so it was indeed according to the Latitude of this womans natural understanding For first she knew at large that it was a blessed thing to be an Instrument or conveyance of any great good unto others Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber be blessed shall she be above women in the Tent Judg. v. 24. Shee had done her part to work deliverance for Israel And when Judith had sped in her adventure to cut off the head of Holofernes says Oziah Blessed art thou of the most high God above all the women upon earth Judith xiii 18. A good Messenger is called an happy and the feet of those are pronounced beautiful that bring glad tidings of peace It is a narrow and an abject conceit of some that think themselves fortunate and at the best when they receive and take in all that can be heapt upon them These men measure felicity backward for beatius est dare quam accipere it is more blessed to give than to receive Though that Maxim be not extant in any of the Evangelists St. Paul tells us upon his credit it was our Saviours The souls of them that are converted to true holiness shall bless the lips of the Priest the poor shall bless the liberal after Ages shall bless publick Spirits that do famous things and are provident for Posterity A Cistern that contains the waters poured into it is much inferiour to a Fountain that sends them forth It is nothing so laudible to be wrought upon as to work that which is honourable Even the Parents that have enricht the world with such as are ornaments unto it benediction reflects upon them for it because they are Conduit pipes of publick felicity Yet all those that have made others happy by their gifts and qualities had been for ever unhappy themselves if the Child that was born this day had not suckt the breasts of a Virgin O happy Parent whose Womb contained all the treasure that maintains the whole earth Somewhat she collineated at this meaning that said unto our Saviour Blessed c. And each Parent partakes in this reason that it is joy and honour to them to have a renowned Son and it may be this woman was partial to her own Sex that contented her self to speak of no more than the womb of the Mother In strict Divinity indeed her words are admirable for Christ had no Father according to the flesh but that is more than I collect out of St. Luke that she mentioned not his Father for that reason But in all humane births that prove successful and glorious the loyns of the Father are blessed as well as the womb of the Mother and the glory of children are their Fathers Prov. xvii 6. Yet in the next construction of mere natural capacity it was proper to say for his sake blessed is the womb because barrenness was a curse and fruitfulness of children a blessing They that propagate a faithful seed upon earth give the means to replenish heaven with Saints it is that wherein we exceed Angels to beget Sons and Daughters in our own likeness and to continue a Generation like our selves makes mankind by succession as incorruptible as the Angels God blessed all living Creatures mark that God blessed them and said unto them be fruitful and multiply Gen. i. 28. Though the Lord said
to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many Unto us therefore the mercy of God is most frank and liberal a gratuitous blessing a good turn as freely bestowed as ever was any so that we who received it conferr'd nothing unto it but on Christ's part he laid down a ransom of a most just compensation Fourthly As all mankind that is flesh and blood in every man and woman is honoured by his Visitation so all without exceptions are beholding to his Redemption Zachary the Priest with all his innocency who is said to have been blameless and righteous before God yet he blesseth God that he was redeemed Job a man so holy that God bears witness to him so upright that the Devil could not except against him yet glad he was to take notice of a Redeemer that was his anchor upon which he stayed himself I know that my redeemer liveth The blessed Virgin no doubt as holy a creature as ever walked upon the earth yet her Spirit rejoyced chiefly in this that she had a Saviour Great is thy benignity O Lord that thou hast given us a joyful recovery from an oppressing pestilence that thou hast given us all things necessary for life and sustenance greater is thy goodness that thou hast given us grace to repent to call upon thee to direct our heart in thy command and to believe in thy saving health but this is the most superabundant blessing of them all that since we are odious and unprofitable in thy sight with all our imperfect righteousness thou hast repaired us again by giving thy self a redemption for us Thrice happy therefore that we know with Job that our Redeemer liveth and comfort your hearts thus he came to redeem that which was lost therefore he will not let that be lost which he hath redeemed Having thus spoken of the benefits of Visitation and Redemption I should leave my Treatise very imperfect if I should not speak of the Receivers very briefly therefore concerning them upon whom all was conferr'd he hath visited and redeemed his people It is certain that the generations of mankind are meant by this word the Sons and Daughters of Adam and none others The Angels are called his servants his ministring spirits his messengers c. but they are never called his people Godly Bishops and Fathers of the Church have drawn out certain streams from the love of Christ by which the Angels should receive some utility St. Austin says his light did shine before them his example did kindle a desire in them to excel in zeal and obedience Bernard says Qui evexit hominem lapsum dedit Angelis ne laberentur that is he whose redemption prevailed to raise up man after he had fallen it confirmed the Angels in grace that they should never fall He brought us out of captivity he preserved them that they never came into captivity but that which these speak of that should turn to the utility of Angels it came from the power and good will of his God-head not by virtue of his mediatorship being made God and man to reconcile those to his Father who had offended The Schoolmen say though he was not Incarnate for the Angels nor shed his Blood for their sakes yet the fruit of his redemption did in some wise redound to them because it compounded the friendship between Angels and men whereas they were our enemies in Gods quarrel before our peace was procured by our Saviour Well this comes to nothing on the Angels part it is neither dignity nor commodity to them but unto us therefore we are the clear gainers by all the profit that my Text brings in he hath c. In a strict phrase we know who they were that had the happiness to be called his people for many ages his covenant was made with the seed of Abraham and with the children of Jacob but when they ceased to know the Lord and to obey him this Covenant was broken and it is very remarkable how zealously God did manifest it that his love was turned away from that Nation Hosea i. he made the children of that Prophet signs and tokens unto them calling his Daughters lo-ruhamah I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel and he called his Son loammi for says he ye are not my people and I will not be your God ver 9. You see in that place that God hath as it were torn the hand-writing wherein the Covenant was made it is cancell'd and it will not profit them That people lost their share in this redemption because they knew not the true redeemer nor minded the true redemption Light came into the world and they loved darkness more than light they knew not their Redeemer the holy One of Israel In the matter of redemption also they were quite mistaken never drawing their care inward to the use of their soul but gaping for a Champion that should fight for them against the Romans so they were neither delivered from the bondage of the Romans nor from the power of the Devil Where then shall we look for his people beloved not in one angle of the world but among all Nations both Jews and Gentiles God spake once and twice says the Psalmist first to the old Church of the Jews than to the new Church of the Gentiles and as many as call upon him faithfully they are his people and he is their King And that you may be sure the Gentiles have their interest in him the first in all the holy Scripture that calls him a Redeemer is Job and Job is a Gentile In every Nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him says St. Peter Acts x. 35. Nay that which Zachary utters restrictively he hath visited and redeemed his people the Angel as one more indifferent to all parties says I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people So St. John as liberally and largely as the Angel he is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole world 1 Epist chap. ii ver 2. says Prosper very well a Father that was very cunning in this point Poculum immortalitatis habet in se ut omnibus prosit sed si non bibitur non medetur The cup of immortality is in his hand to bring all men to eternal life but it will cure none of their sins but those that drink of it To conclude all Christ came especially into the world for his Church sake and more especially in his Church for those that are called according to his purpose he came to purchase unto himself a people zealous of good works They were to be purchased and made his people they were not his people before he came unto them Non veniens suam invenit plebem sed visitando eam fecit if he had not visited them and redeemed them and taught them and given them of his spirit
so notorious that all heathen Histories which toucht upon those times would have spoken of it Secondly At the ninth verse of this Chapter we read Lo the Star which they saw in the East not low the Star which ushered them through all their journey And thirdly When they came to Judea they took in at Jerusalem to seek Christ there but what probability is there that the light of God could carry them to a wrong place Thus far upon one opinion You shall now hair what some say and almost all of the best antiquity for the other conclusion Namely that the Star was their constant companion all their journey and that it rested over all places where they rested till they came to Jerusalem First As the manner of the Fathers is to illustrate the New Testament with the Old they consider that the Pillar of the cloud went along with the Children of Israel wheresoever they removed and rested in the place where they pitched their Camps but this Star attended the Gospel as thaâ— Cloud attended the Law and God was as constant in his favour to the one as to the other And some go further that an Angel of the Lord did always remove the Cloud with his motion when the Israelites marched away mine Angel shall go before thee and bring thee into the Land of the Amorites and Hittites Exod. xxiii So an Angel did move this Star from the East to Jerusalem for says St. Austin Mark how that light vanisht not away till they took in at Jerusalem Hoc non cogit motus sideris sed virtus plena rationis I will never say an inanimate Star could so guide it self but by Angelical vertue No bright Star did shine upon that City where the Scribes and stiff-necked Jews were congregated for their hearts were blind and their understanding did not see the Nativity of Christ So at his Passion there was thick darkness over all the Land of Judah for they resisted the truth and would neither know the mysteries of his Death nor of his Incarnation If this were portended it was an intelligent Star that went with the Magi all the way till they were housed in Jerusalem as the Cloud passed on before the Tribes of Israel from Mount Sinah till they came to Canaan Thus far upon collation between the Old Testament and New there are other reasons assayed to be drawn out of the Text that the Star kept way with them to their journeys end as at the ninth verse of this Chapter Loe the Star which they saw in the East went before them till it came and stood over where the Child was If it marshall'd them which way to go from Jerusalem to Bethlehem why not also from their own Country to Jerusalem At the next verse When they saw the Star they rejoyced with exceeding great joy The Scribes had told them where they should find Christ why then should they rejoyce so much to see the Star again but because it was a new thing to have it vanish Moreover the Star vanishing when they went into Jerusalem they suspected Christ might be there and askt for him but if their Leader had forsaken them as soon as ever it first shined they would have askt in many other places And by what art could they collect that a Star glaring in their eyes in the East and wagging no further should notifie unto them the Land of Judea rather than any other neighbouring Country And what skills it that all Histories are silent and take no notice that there was such a wonder in the World Though many holy things were common in those days and well known yet the Lord chose not the heathen to be witnesses of his glory and so they over-pass'd them Or perhaps the Star was visible to these Wise-men and the eyes of others were held that they should not see it John Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove upon Christ He saw it says the Text Mat. iii. 16. it is uncertain if any beside did see it Paul heard a voice from heaven but they that were with him heard it not Acts xxii 9. Or be it so that many others might behold this Star yet they knew not to what end it was sent but made some constructions of humane reason upon it wide mistakes upon heavenly tokens as when God answered Christs Prayer from heaven that He had both glorified his name and would glorifie it the people said it thundred Not to be long in this point because faith is bound to neither opinion this is sure the Star hid it self away for a time but they recovered sight of it again before their journeys end so the Spirit may draw back his comfort and illumination for a time from those that are graciously called to come to Christ their sins deserve it and God will make them more careful to stand sure because they have stumbled but at last before their journey be done before they end their days the light shall be renewed again to guide their feet into the land of the living The third question of enquiry is what aptitude there was in such a sign or miracle to bring the Wise men unto Christ Outward aptitude is not always discerned in the means of a mans Conversion nay sometimes the means used seem most repugnant to bring that end to pass Who would have imagined that the way to make a Publican a Disciple had been to call him from the receipt of Custom and quite to give over his traffique yet this wrought well with St. Matthew or that the Woman of Samaria would the sooner have believed Christ to be the Messias because she was upbraided to be a Concubine He whom thou now hast is not thy Husband yet this way did take with her These are courses to pose natural reason in the work of Regeneration But with sundry other persons the Lord did descend in a familiar way to their capacity and drew them to heaven by things that were obvious to their notion Baptism or washing often was a thing most ordinary with the Jews the more ordinary the sooner did Christ use it to be the initial Sacrament that should bring them unto life Fishermen were put into admiration of Christs power by a mighty draught of fish and the Text whereupon St. Paul preach'd to the Athenians was their own Altar of the unknown God So the Eastern Philosophers who were skilful in the Sphere and in the course of the Stars are attracted by a wonderful Star to the first taste of Christianity Vt per Christum materia erroris fieret occasiâ— salutis says St. Austin That contemplation of Stars which lead them out of the way of truth doth now bring them to him who is the way the truth and the life You see what aptitude there was in a Star to be an instrument of the conversion of these Wise-men There are other apt proportions in it which Piety and good Meditation hath framed First to shew that God
hands Defiled hands in the original are common hands for whatsoever was commonly touched by them and the Gentiles they called it defiled and in suspicion they might touch meat or vessels or apparel which was unclean by the Law they washed often to purge themselves from that defilement This is well illustrated Joh. ii where we read that at the marriage in Cana of Galilee there were ready standing six water-pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews containing two or three Firkins a piece these have reference to that Pharisaical tradition of washing often lest they should be defiled Now mark how God observes both the heathen and the Pharisees in their own weakness and out of that which they made a vain tradition he makes a gracious Sacrament A good Author cites out of the Rabbins that the Jews had added over and above Moses his institution of the Passeover first these words in eating the sower herbs with the Lamb Take and eat these in remembrance of our deliverance from bondage And likewise they gave a cup of Wine one to another with these words Take and drink this in remembrance of the same c. And from hence according to a Custom of their own our Saviour did break bread and give wine and use the same words in his holy Supper Thus both the Sacraments to please them the better had their original from some of their own Ordinances but cast in a new mold so the heathen Temples were changed to be houses of Prayer The Cross which was no better than their Gallows is made a significant and laudable Ceremony in Christian Baptism And lastly Their superstitious bathings were turn'd by John and confirm'd by Christ to be an immortal Laver. This I hope satisfies the first question how this Institution of Baptism began being never heard of untill the days of John The dignity of Johns Baptism is now to be examined It is grown like many things more to be full of difficulty because of mens contentions and without discussion of these three things it cannot be understood 1 What is the vertue of a Sacrament 2. That Johns Baptism had the same substantial vertue with the Baptism of Christ that it now hath 3. That in some respects both Baptisms being one and the same the Baptism of Christ doth exceed the Baptism of John Sacraments are thus distinguished into such as went before the fall of Adam and such as went after Before the Fall there was one Sacrament and no more that was the Tree of Life ordained to be a sign of the Covenant of Works After the Fall God did not make a Covenant of Works but of Grace with man and ever since the Sacraments are Covenants of Grace and seals of the same And they of the Old Testament betoken the Covenant promised to our Fore-fathers they of the New Testament do imply the Covenant performed Let me distinguish again that in the Old Testament all the Sacrifices and a great part of the shadows and Types are sometimes in the Fathers called Sacraments because they had a signification of Christ to come but Circumcision and the Paschal Lamb they only had the Promise of Grace and Reconciliation annexed unto them which is a great deal more than bare signification And as St. Paul speaks honourably of Circumcision that it was a Seal of the righteousness of Faith so our Church thinks it not fit to speak contemptibly of the faith of the righteous men under the Law nor of those visible signs which God appointed to establish his Promise unto them but we make them equal in efficacy with Baptism and the Lords Supper That according as their faith did apply the Promise unto them their Sacraments were as profitable for Salvation as ours Only these are Circumstantial differences 1. That our Sacraments are meerly spiritual which betoken nothing of this world The Jews Sacraments had somewhat in them both which belong'd to the body as well as to the soul for Abraham received the sign of Circumcision that he should be the Father of many Nations and the Paschal Lamb was a remembrance that they came out of Egypt out of the house of bondage 2. As the light of Faith is brighter with us the measure of the Spirit more abundant so our Sacraments are justly said to to be Virtute majora more efficacious because we are endued with better means of application 3. Our Sacraments are actu faciliora to wash and be clean and to eat bread and drink wine are performed with more facility than the cutting the foreskin of Infants or the slaying of a Lamb to eat it with sower herbs 4. Take all the Types and Sacrifices of the Jews together which were an heavy burden because of their multitude then our Sacraments are numero pauciora we have but twain and so their number is not troublesom These are accidental differences but otherwise as St. Austin said of Manna that it was to them as the Lords Supper is to us In signis diversis fides eadem the Elements were divers but such as begot the same faith and are tokens of the same Lord Jesus Christ and beget the same Salvation That which thwarts this Doctrine is the distinction of the Schoolmen that the Sacraments ordained in Moses Law were significancies of Grace but the Sacraments of Christ did exhibit and confer Grace What means that Surely he that did eat the Paschal Lamb by faith to him it was spiritual nourishment and he that eats the Lords Supper to him only it is spiritual nourishment I can see no odds The late Romish Writers disclaim their gross opinion maintained long ago that in men capable of reason and knowledge for we set Infants aside the taking of the Sacrament should add a benefit to the Receiver Ex opere operato externo sine motu interno says Biel by the meer outward act without an inward preparation This opinion their Cardinal Controverser disavows for he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks his own damnation Then if Faith be requisite in the Participant I cannot see how one Sacrament exhibits Grace more than another It is far from my meaning to diminish the excellency and vertue of our Sacraments No I had rather set all disputations aside and say with St. Austin Quorum vis inenarrabiliter valet plurimum that is their power prevails in such a sort as we cannot utter how it is Yet this may be safely taught that they are not helping and partial causes of Salvation to be joyned in office with the merit of Christ but only Instruments ordained to work Salvation by the Promise of God and the application of a lively faith Origens words express much if I could explain them Non sunt justitiae sed conditurae justitiarum The Sacraments are not our righteousness but as sauce makes meat fit to be eaten so they make righteousness fit to be put upon us The Word preacht is the power
of God to every man that believeth not as if there were any Magical power in the pronunciation of the Syllables but because it prepares ye to faith and is a means by which the Spirit works his efficacy So the Sacraments setting aside the merit of Christ and the Sanctification of the Spirit are not available but by those Instruments the Father hath promised to work the Son to communicate the merit of his Passion and the Holy Ghost to sanctifie us I am sure it is no disparagement to compare him that hath received a Sacrament with the blessed Virgin that received our Saviour in her womb yet when one cried out Blessed is she that bare thee and the Paps which gave thee suck Yea says Christ Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it So the Sacraments are wonderful helps great trials of obedience Seales of mercy increasers of charity the best comforts of the soul in the world they are all this I confess if they be received in faith So I have spoken of the vertue which is in all kind of Sacraments the next part of my remonstrance is that the Baptism of John hath the same vertue with the Baptism of Christ Take my reasons briefly 1. It was the Baptism of Repentance and Repentance cannot be taught without faith in Christ and Remission of sins in his bloud take them two away and Repentance is but a lesson of heathen Philisophy Put them both together and is there not all the benefit of Christs Baptism faith and forgiveness of sins Nay directly Mar. i. 4. John did preach the Baptism of repentance for the remission of sins And indeed no man can separate true repentance from remission of sins At what time soever a sinner doth repent him c. 2. The scope of his Baptism was to warn men to fly from the wrath to come that is the true washing of the Spirit Says he to the Pharisees when they came to him to Jordan O ye generation of vipers who hath warned ye to fly from the wrath to come 3. Our Saviour fortelling to his Disciples that the time was coming at the feast of Pentecost when they should have a greater blessing from heaven than ever they had before Acts xv John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence Then the Disciples had no other Baptism but Johns untill they were baptized with fire and surely they had a true and an efficacious baptism So Apollos knew of no other baptism but Johns Acts xviii 25. and yet we do not find that he was sprinkled with any other baptism 4. This reason is of great weight if Johns were not the true baptism of the Spirit which Christ received then either all we have received a baptism divers from our Saviour which were very comfortless or else we have not received the baptism of the Spirit which were every whit as comfortless 5. John baptized at the same time while the Disciples of Christ did baptize even till the time that he was shut up in prison by Herod And this he ought not to have done if his washing had been uneffectual but to have it laid down when a more perfect Sacrament was a foot These are the reasons sufficient as I suppose to prove that the Baptism of John had the same substantial vertue with the Baptism of Christ This is that opinion against which the Tridentine Council doth thunder forth Anathema 1. Because it is called the Baptism of John and therefore a mere external Ceremony which is distinguisht from Christs Baptism that is accompanied with internal Grace Beloved I conceive it was called Johns Baptism not as if it wanted the grace of God from above for the Pharisees durst not reply to our Saviours question that the Baptism of John was from heaven and not from men but because it began with John even as the Law of God is called Moses Law because Moses was the first Mediator of it Sacraments are of three sorts Praenuntiativa venturi Messiae Some that promised a Messias to come as Circumcision and the Paschal Lamb Some that promise the Messias now a coming monstrativa venientis as the Baptism of John Some that promise the Messias is come already annuntiativa exhibiti Baptism and the Lords Supper these meet all in one center of faith and have the same efficacy 2. It is urged that John puts a difference between his baptizing and Christs I baptize you with water he shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire I answer with St. Hierom Ex quo discimus homo tantùm aquam tribuit Deus spiritum sanctum From whence we learn that the Ministry of man suppeditates only water the power of God suppeditates the Holy Ghost wherefore one sign is not opposed to another but the Ministry of man to the authority of Christ otherwise it will follow that now the Holy Ghost is given by him that baptizeth The baptism of the Spirit is not another Baptism but an heavenly blessing upon the baptism of water and it comprehends all the benefits of the New Testament that is all the merit of Christ 3. I confess this is strongly opposed Acts xix 3. that some Disciples of Ephesus who were baptized unto the Baptism of John were baptized again in the name of the Lord Jesus as if Johns washing had been a watry Meteor rather than a Baptism Of many answers I like but two to this place First says Lombard all were not rebaptized whom John had baptized before the Disciples were not for whatsoever some Apocryphal stories say that Christ baptized his Mother St. Peter yea and John Baptist himself yet the Scripture says he baptized no man but where a substantial error might be committed or apprehended in Johns Baptism there the parties were re-baptized Now it is my own conjecture out of the Text that these men were baptized after our Saviours Passion In nomine venturi Messiae in the name of Christ to come who was come and had suffered for mankind therefore to correct that fundamental error it may be the Disciples of Ephesus were baptized again Secondly I see no exceptions at this answer that the Disciples of Ephesus were only baptized in Johns Baptism and Paul teacheth that all whom John baptized were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Therefore at your leasure mark the fifth verse of that Chapter Act xix that they are the words of Paul preaching how John baptized not the words of St. Luke how they of Ephesus were rebaptized and that very difficult place is easily answered Wherefore it stands I am sure as most probable of two opinions that the Baptism of John to which Christ came is the same with the Baptism of Christ and as for these that curse our opinion with Anathema I say unto them Woe unto those that call light darkness and make the truth a lye Though so ancient Fathers may seem to dissent from
me yet they are not so uncharitable to bid Anathema to any in so disputable a point I am sure St. Austin having disputed on both sides concludes he would not strive eagerly with him that should say sins were remitted in the Baptism of John meaning it did not essentially differ from the Baptism of Christ yet I will end with this third observation that in some less principal respects the Baptism of Christ doth exceed the Baptism of John I will name five distinctions 1. In formâ verborum John baptized in the name of the Messias that came after him Acts xix 4. and it was more advantage to teach it to every of the Jews as he baptized them one by one than to proclaim it to the whole multitude But Christ bade his Disciples choose another form and for that he would not take all honour to himself it must be in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 2. They differ in amplitudine nationum John medled with none but such as were within the Regions of Judea Christ bad his Disciples to except no people but to wash all Nations from their sins 3. Christs Baptism transcends Johns in varietate personarum for it sounds not to likelihood that John baptized Infants they could not confess their sins nor learn the doctrine of Repentance nor be taught the coming of the Messias such only came to him But Christs Baptism pertains to little ones and his spirit was poured out upon all flesh your Sons and Daughters shall Prophesie and your young men see visions 4. Christs Baptism hath the upper hand in gradibus efficaciae the Spirit is more operative in Baptism since Christ did go to his Father to send us the Comforter than ever it was before 5. It is greater than Johns baptism in modo necessitatis The Sacraments of the New Testament had the seeds of life in them from the first institution and they were good to the receiver but they were not imposed by necessary commandment till the old Law was quite abolished and that was at the Resurrection says Leo or at the farthest in other mens opinions at the feast of Pentecost So Johns baptism was always good never necessary Christs baptism is always good is and ever will be necessary unto the end of the world These are less principal differences the substance of both being the same for one thing yet remains to be proposed that the Baptism of John opened the gate unto everlasting life as some have shewed by an Allegorical reason taken from the place where John did baptize Christ in Jordan says this Text not a private dipping in a Chamber and of all other places of Jordan it was Bethabara Joh. i. 28. which is being interpreted Domus transitus the house of passing over even in all likelihood where Joshuah divided Jordan and passed over into the Land of Promise this is the circumstance of place which I propounded the fortunate seat where this work was done to betoken that as Joshuah brought the twelve Tribes at that very standing through the River into that pleasant Land which was promised to Abraham so Jesus will bring us through the sprinkling of water into the Kingdom of heaven AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE Baptism of our Saviour MAT. iii. 14. But John forbad him saying I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me IN which Text you may see that ancient Sentence verified how an ambitious man is afraid left too little honour be cast upon him and an humble man is afraid of too much Our blessed Saviour saw multitudes of Penitents coming to John to be baptized and to confess their sins Among these people whose iniquities stood in need of cleansing he steps in for one into the River Jordan not to receive Sanctification unto himself but to sanctifie the waters unto others O exceeding dignity far above all honour that ever was vouchsafed to any Prophet for to which of them was it said at any time Dip thine hand in water and anoint the head of my Son And therefore Christ was pleased to give this Character of John that he was more than a Prophet More than a Prophet not only in the Office which he sustained to be the immediate fore-runner of the Messias but more than any Prophet or Patriarch in the expression of his humility Jacob wrestled with God but it was to get a blessing from his Angel he would not be denied John the Baptist wrestles with the Son of God to decline the blessing which was brought before him and fain he would be denied His hand shrunk up and durst not attempt to pour water upon his head who is the immortal head of the Church visible and invisible both of men and Angels He thought it no sin to disobey when he was required to such a work which in his eyes appeared far too excellent for any creature Therefore conceive him modestly starting back and making this reply to our Saviour Lord why dost thou tempt thy servant Why wouldst thou put the Potter into the hand of the Clay What is it to thee to be dipt in water Whose precious Bloud shall wash away all sins and mine in the reckoning among the rest Behold this exact humility more than any Prophet exprest how John forbad him to be baptized saying I have need to be baptized c. The matter of the Text may be handled in these three several Points 1. The Baptist did declare how jealous he was of Gods honour therefore the Text says he forbad Christ to come under the Ministry of a Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he would fain have put him by thinking it ignoble for the Lord of all Lords to descend so low 2. He disables himself and makes profession of his own vileness and infirmity I have need to be baptized of thee 3. He ends with the admiration of his Saviours humility And comest thou to me Yet again I will consider him in the exercise of the three spiritual vertues Faith Hope and Charity 1. He believed this was the Christ as soon as ever he saw him and that made him interpose to forbid him stoop so low as to be baptized there was his faith 2. He confesseth that he relies upon him to be baptised with his Spirit and to be saved through his merits there is his hope Lastly he breaks out into an extasie of admiration as soon as ever he saw him like old Simeon that sung a Canticle for joy Comest thou to me O thou expectation of the World O thou desire of our eyes There was his ardent love these are his Faith his Hope his Love and remember that every tittle of his praise is the rule of your practise Set your attentions now upon the first part of the Text that John was jealous of our Saviours honour and forbad him to be baptized The interpretation of the word certainly is not so harsh as it may be thought to
of his faith and they are spiritual qualities wonted to go hand in hand Take the Centurion for an example who protested against our Saviours coming under the roof of such an abject sinner and incontinently Christ gave him this Encomium I have not found so great faith no not in Israel Attend to this comparison What means our Saviour That this Centurion was the most faithful of all believers Cajetan I think puts home to the true sense of the words 1. Non dicit non inveniam sed adhuc non inveni He doth not say I shall not find so great faith when after my Ascension the whole mysteries of salvation shall be revealed but as yet in the beginning of my manifestation I have not found so great faith 2. Christ did seek for increase of faith among the Jews by Preaching by Signs and Miracles and he found more in this Centurion than in any other since the time of his Preaching whereof the second year did run on but those words are no denial that there was not greater faith in the blessed Virgin his Mother and in John the Baptist for they believed before he began to Preach and before he began to do Signs and Wonders in Israel Therefore the Centurions faith was greater than any that were drawn to believe by Doctrine and the power of Miracles in which respect John the Baptist transcends the Centurion for he had not heard a word fall from our Saviour's mouth he had neither seen nor heard of any mighty work wrought by his hand nay he did not so much as know his face till even now that he came to Jordan and yet he knows and confesseth that he was the Lamb without spot and wondred that he should come to be wash'd in the Baptism of Repentance Bernard speaks to these words upon it Valde humiliaris Domine Lord thou wert marvellously humbled almost so far that thou couldst not be discerned only John perceived thee who thou wert Qui per utriusque mater ni uteri parietes te cognovit Yet he knew thee through the womb of his own mother Elizabeth through the womb of thy blessed Mother Mary thou couldst not be unknown to him through those double walls but he leapt for joy Here Expositors have made some work for our resolution upon a double doubt I have told you that our Prophet gave Christ a welcom into the world by springing in his mothers womb Yet he professeth that when he came to Jordan he knew him not but he that sent him to baptize told him it was he upon whom the Spirit should descend from heaven like a dove Joh. i. 33. Yet we see in this Text he knew him and forbad him to be baptized before the Spirit descended upon him in any bodily shape St. Hierom hath not waded to the depth of the answer for here he sticks that John at the first view perceived he was the Son of God yet knew not till he saw the visible sign of the Holy Ghost upon him that he should save the world through the cleansing of water This cannot hold for before John had seen him this was part of his Doctrine He that commeth after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost S. Austin was troubled with an error of the Donatists that the Baptism of an Heretick or wicked person had no efficacy to cleanse the party baptized This pestilent opinion was fresh in his days to be refuted and very strongly he proves this conclusion That Baptism is of soveraign vertue by the power of him into whose name we are baptized neither is it corrupted through his fault by whom it is administred Therefore as most men use to do he draws this Text to his purpose Innotuit per columbam Dominus non â—â— qui se non norât sed qui in â—o aliquid non noverat John knew the Messias by the token of the Dove not simply for he knew somewhat before but respectively through that sign He learnt somewhat which he knew not before namely that the vertue of Baptism was not imputed to the Servant but to the Son of God by whom we receive the Holy Ghost This exposition supposeth what we must not grant that so great a Prophet as John was not ignorant how the gift of God which sanctifieth the heart cometh only from the Lord of light St. Chrysostoms answer me seems is best both for soundness and perspicuity When Jesus came to John John did apprehend him by a double knowledge both by a sudden inspiration and afterward by the sluttering of the bird upon his head The infinite wisdom of the Father had so disposed that Christ after his coming out of Egypt lived at Nazareth till about thirty years of age All this while John lived in the Wilderness of Judea had contracted no familiar acquaintance with our Saviour nay had never seen his face till they meet at Jordan left the Pharisees should say when John bare testimony of him all was devised between them as plots use to be laid by them who are of intimate familiarity But as soon as ever the Eternal Son of God shewed his head at the brink of waters the Spirit suggested unto John This is he whose way thou art sent to prepare as when David came out of the field and was brought before Samuel the Lord said in secret to Samuel Arise anoint him this is he And for his further confirmation the Promise was kept which was made unto him about the descending of the Dove whereby he had an experimental object to strengthen his faith and a warrant from that illustrious miracle to preach him to the Jews with greater confidence and authority Therefore he knew him not till even hard before the Dove came down and was completely confirmed when the Dove fate upon him O great faith which embraced the Lamb of God and fell down at his feet in all humility as soon as one spark of illumination was kindled in his spirit before a visible sign appeared and to shew that here after faith shall be rewarded with the vision of God it was given to him to see the Spirit in the form of a Dove Let this be the end of the first general part of the Text. In the next part this holy Saint makes profession of his own vileness and infirmity I have need to be baptized of thee From which words I will speak to these three particulars 1. How far forth it is to be understood that there is a need to be baptized 2. That John was not clean from sin for he makes his moan that he had need to be baptized 3. He looks for that Baptism from none but Christ a testimony of the next Theological vertue As if he had said And now Lord what is my hope Truly my hope is even in thee I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me For the first of these we have need of that which God hath set down by his own
goodness were remarkable for the quantity that he had an exceeding portion of the Spirit in which regard he was more than a Prophet for the time that he received it it was from the womb yea and in some signs before the womb had opened to bring him forth in which regard he was more than the child of any Prophet these two the Angel hath put together He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mothers womb This was inundatio spiritus the Spirit abounding in him as a River at high-water fills the banks but in the most probable opinion it was not emundatio spiritus it did not cleanse his soul from corruption in every part but it instructed him with vertue more than ordinary to do great works For God forbid but that a man may be said to be sanctified and to be full of the Holy Ghost although the infectious poyson of original sin do still remain in him Which original contagion raigns in the wicked is much abated and kept under in the Just was lessen'd by Gods especial favour more than usually in John but the malignity thereof is not quite taken away till our mortal have put on immortality The reason is very slender that the sin wherein his mother conceived him was taken away before he was born because he seemed to have a passion of faith before ever he saw the light when he leapt at the presence of our Saviour for that might be a transient passion and no doubt it was no more and nothing lets but sin may abide also where the Spirit of grace doth inhabit and continue That which is alledged to prove him to have some defilement like all the Sons of Adam is far more forcible namely where the Scripture says how all are conceived and born in sin Where it lets us know in another place how God hath concluded all under sin that he might have mercy upon all And St. Austin upholds this cause Nemo dici potest renatus nisi priùs sit natus Christ says Unless a man be born again he cannot be the child of God Surely common sense will lead us to this notion a man must be first born before he can be born again and if carnal birth go before Regeneration then no man can be cleansed from all sin before the birth of the womb Besides out of the same reason that St. Austin brings against the Pelagians to prove that the leprosie of Adams sin is in little Infants by the same I will prove it to be in John because the wages of sin is death Christ only excepted who took our sins upon him and the beheading of John is a remonstrance that the meritorious cause of death was in him I mean iniquity To give full measure to this Point and running over Mat. xi 11. Verely says Christ among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist yet he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he I leave the multipliciousness of Expositions upon that Text and betake me to St. Hieroms Aliud est coronam justitiae possidere aliud in acie pugnare The least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John because he was in his race and did struggle against sin and Satan the least in the kingdom of heaven hath his Crown upon his head and is past the fear of tentation So I have shewn that John had some frailties of flesh and bloud in him wherefore most submissively he flies to the true Altar of mercy for a pardon I have need to be baptized of thee Let the Saints of God have their due honour but let the mercies of Christ and the benefit of his bloud shed upon the Cross be dilated to every one that dies in the Lord which was the reason why I prosecuted the last Point And it is according to the humility of John to set forth his low estate when men would exalt him For the more the Embassadors of the Jews did magnifie him with Art thou the Christ Art thou Elias The more did he abase himself saying There is one among you whose shooes latchet I am not worthy to unloose Displiciat sibi unusquisque in se ut totus in Deo placeat Be displeased every man with himself and God will be pleased with thee This was of all comforts most intimate to the Prophets soul that he saw his own need and knew the right way to call for succour And the less hope he had of himself the more hope he had of God O how his hope quickned and exulted when he saw his Redeemer at Jordan whom he had never seen before He saw such comfort coming down with him as the Angel brought to Peter when he was in hold now the prison doors are opened get thee loose from thy sins But what speak I of Angels They had been sent indeed upon messages of joy there had been Patriarchs there had been Prophets in the world these were like fair diamonds whose light sparkles in the eye but gives no warmth to that which is cold But as the Psalmist says Except the Lord build the house the labourers labour but in vain Except the Son of God had vouchsafed in his own person to build the Church we had never reapt the fruit of eternal life John Baptist was an Israelite yet he trusts not to the Seed of Abraham Born under the Law but he knew it were death to rely upon that killing Letter He was a Prophet sanctified from the womb he cares not for that For what had he which he had not received and could he boast then as if he had not received it Finally He was full of fasting austerity preaching all manner of works yet he relies not upon them for when we have done all we can we are but unprofitable servants These are the strongest stays of humane trust that can be built upon yet he flies from them all and runs to the all-sufficient merits of Christ for succour This was a right aim taken Ac si oculo rubricam dirigat uno this was a straight line drawn bringing his hope just upon the Lord and giver of life I have need to be baptized of thee The time hath stopt me from proceeding to the last part which shall be made the beginning of our business upon the next occasion To God the Father c. THE THIRD SERMON UPON THE Baptism of our Saviour MAT. iii. 14 15. And comest thou to me And Jesus answering said unto him Suffer it to be so now For thus it becommeth us to fulfil all righteousness IF ever such an Argument could be laid before man wherein it might become his wit to dispute it with God I think verily it fell out in this Story which I continue in that Text that I have read unto you I will not except that instance which is able to amaze any Reader when the Lord spake unto Abraham to take his only Son Isaac and
increase will soon follow when you have begun happily God will teach you to proceed and to put your Talent into the way of increase The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob says David that is he loveth the perfect Sacraments of the New Testament better than the types and shadows of the Old Now Baptism is called especially one of the gates of Sion for that it is but the first door to let us into the Church The Church it self is an upper Chamber as Christ is said to eat his Passeover with his Disciples in superiori caenaculo the highest in the world next to heaven it self there are many stairs and degrees of vertues upon which we must climb till we come to the top of the hill In Baptism we go down as it were into the River and sit in the lowest room of humility but as speedily as we can we must advance our soul and go up from grace to grace from vertue to vertue and you shall hear that voice of joy from Christ himself Friends sit up higher AMEN THE FIFTH SERMON UPON THE Baptism of our Saviour MAT. iii. 16. And loe the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him AS Moses said unto himself when he saw the splendor of a bright fire in the bush so do I say unto you Let us now turn aside and see this great sight Great in the Object great in the Persons and great in the Mysteries Great in the Object to be seen for loe the heavens were opened And what mean trash was that which Satan did offer to the view of our Saviour in respect of this all the Kingdoms of the world made visible in the twinckling of an eye Great in the Persons to be understood in their several apparitions for these are the great Estates that rule the world God the Son manifested at the Baptism of water God the Holy Ghost to be discerned in the sensible shape of a Dove and God the Father whose glory was heard in the voice This is my well beloved Son This is no usual matter it must be some extraordinary solemnity which is graced by the full concourse of the Trinity I find it so once at the Creation Gen. i. and I find it at this time when Christ is baptized Man was created a brittle vessel for the Potters use without a Metaphor the servant of his Lord and to let him know to whom he owes his Creation every fountain of life is recited in the Story The Father the Word which was in the beginning and the Spirit which moved upon the face of the waters But in the New Testament we rise up higher from the state of Servants and become the Sons of our heavenly Father and that we may know to whom we owe our adoption and grace once again in this place Christ comes to Jordan the Holy Ghost descends in the bodily shape of a Dove and the Father utters himself in a voice from heaven Now for the mysteries I am bold to say the Church is capable of no greater than are here contained First Here are all the causes and instruments of our Salvation implied The Sacraments which are the Seals of righteousness the word taught which begets faith and the Spirit which moves upon them and puts life into them both The Father is in the Word the Son sanctifieth the Sacrament and the influence which blesseth them both unto us is the Dove which rested upon that sacred head unto whom all the members are fitly compacted And besides all these primary causes and instrumental helps of salvation here is an Epitomy of all those benefits which the Mediatorship of Christ will procure unto us The Heavens which were shut before set open to receive us the Spirit of Sanctification to be poured out upon us and that God will be pleased in us through his only beloved Son To recapitulate these things premised briefly the Mysteries are so great as none so superlative The Persons manifested infinitely glorious as none so excellent the Object so delightful to the eye of the soul as none so amiable And loe the heavens were opened unto him c. Of three immortal benefits which our Redeemer hath procured for us this Text contains a couple and both declared in no ordinary fashion but by the wonderful power of God First Here is a wonder wrought above Loe the heavens were opened unto him Secondly Here is another wonder come down below to the world beneath And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him These are the two members of the Text the first part whereof is opened already for how could we unlock that hidden Mystery unless the Key of David had unbarred it And loe the heavens c. Take notice in the first part of the Text that here is a word of invitement to draw our eyes upon it Loe the heavens were opened Nature hath made man with that erection of face to look upward that he must often view the heavens but the sight is never clear enough without abundance of grace to see them open Wherefore without the advantage of the second Miracle in the Text we should never be capable to conceive the first Christ procures the Dove to descend he makes the holy Spirit light among his Saints and then our eyes which were be-darkned before shall be ready to look up and perceive Loe the heavens were opened In this order I shall briefly discourse upon it 1. What is meant by the heavens standing open 2. What did procure and obtain it 3. How this Miracle fell out to glorifie Christ 4. What joy and comfort it implies to all those that are of the houshold of our Saviour The first inquiry is to this purpose what is meant and exprest by the heavens standing open We do but grope in the dark for such notions as this and mens opinions are divided into five several conjectures First When the true glory of the heavens is made visible to the eye of a man upon earth God imparting and revealing to the senses of his body a taste of that happiness which is laid up for them that fear him So Stephen was ravisht with such a sight and cried out I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God It is not needful to say that the parts of heaven were set open like a window to let him look in but as it is concluded in fairest probability Oculus ejus porrectus fuit usque ad coelum empyreum The glance of his eye was endowed with vertue to penetrate through the clouds and through the spheres unto the Throne of God This acception doth no way agree with my Text for the heavens are said to be opened in this Scripture that all the multitude might behold the miracle but you must not think it was given to them all good and
Saints but would not have them forget Zeal Ne dolum habeas in columba demonstratum est ne simplicitas frigida remaneat in igne demonstratum est Guile and circumvention are to be banisht from Christianity if the Dove sit upon your head it will instill simplicity but simplicity may be chil and faint in a good cause therefore if a Pillar of fire sit upon your head it will infuse fervency There was no fire wanting in Stephen the Martyr when he did asperse the Jews with all manner of disdainful reproaches because they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart There was no Dove-like simplicity wanting because he prayed for them that stoned him And so far of the second point how aptly the Spirit came like a Dove upon Christ at his Baptism in cloven tongues and in fire upon the Apostles at the Feast of Whitsontide The conclusion of the Text rests now upon this Point that the figure of the Dove sweetly doth admonish us concerning many properties of the Holy Ghost It sate upon Christs head not to enrich him with any heavenly treasure which he wanted before but to derive the manifold issues of sanctification into our heart Solus injuriis se subdidit Dominus sed solus gratiam non quaesivit says St. Ambrose all manner of ignominies and buffetings all manner of injuries upon the Cross our Lord and Saviour took them to himself alone but the coming down of the Spirit that he took not to himself alone I will pray unto the Father and he will send you another Comforter Open your heart wide therefore and this Dove will fill it A dumb creature ye know and may signifie many things and because I am perswaded the Holy Ghost came down in that shape which had the largest number of significations for the advancement of piety therefore I will hold me to my task to collect all that are profitable and omit none And because it bears a similitude which will increase into many applications I will enter upon that occasion first therefore it is animal foecundum it is a bird of a most teaming fertility and whether any bird that flies doth breed oftner I am not certain I believe not many such fecundity there is always in a lively faith Like the trees of Eden always bearing fruit never without some good work either the tongue is praying or the ear is hearing or the heart is meditating or the eye is weeping or the hand is giving or the soul is thirsting for remission of sins and every pious action is like a Pomgranate in Aarons garment full of kernels to betoken it will seed farther and spread in infinitum This is faiths fertility therefore the Spirit harboured himself in the shape of a Dove Secondly The Gall is the drought of cholerical matter in mans body out of that distemper proceed anger revenge and malice but the Dove hath no gall or if Aristotle hath observed it better than others so small a one that it can scarce be perceived So the Spirit loves to inhabit in a mild and gentle soul without wrath and fury The wrath of man worketh not the will of God for his will is mercy and forgiveness The Dove will intreat for Miriam as Moses did and sheild off the revenge of David from Nabals folly as Abigail did and crave pardon of Philemon for his fugitive servant Onesiphorus as Paul did The bruised reed shall not be broken and the smoaking flax shall not be quenched therefore when James and John called for fire from heaven upon the Samaratans their check was Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of as who should say ye have forgot the coming down of the Dove Thirdly The harmlesness of that bird is notable it hath neither beak nor talons to tyrannize over smaller Creatures Sine armis extra sine felle intus the smallest flies or gnats may hum about it and take no harm for it devours nothing wherein there is life There is not I dare pronounce it a more Saint-like ornament in any Christian than a Dove-like innocency Devour not one another by greedy gaining by racking oppression by strict advantages by extortion by treacherous blind informations He that wrongfully fleeceth his neighbour of all his substance to increase his own store would eat the flesh likewise from his brothers arm like a savage Cannibal if he wanted sustenance The spoyls which you have robb'd from others perhaps they shall be found upon thy back at the dreadful hour of judgment but wil our Saviour say thou didst not learn this thou extortioner from the Dove that sate upon me Fourthly The Dove feeds cleanly not upon Carrion like Vultures Corvi de morte pascuntur Crows peck upon dead carkasses but it picks up grains of corn and the purest fruits of the field Me thinks in this propertie I see the Spirit invite us to the Table of the Lord What corn-food so pure as that which our Saviour brake and gave to his Disciples saying Take eat this is my body Non hoc corpus quod crucifigetur c. not as St. Austin glosseth my very body which shall be crucified and my very bloud which shall be spilt that was the gross understanding of the sapernaits to think our Saviour meant his fleshly body The Dove is no devourer of that fleshly body of Christ which he assumed from the Virgin Mary but it satisfies its spiritual hunger with those pure crums of bread which are the Sacrament of his body Fifthly It is impossible to teach a Dove to sing a chearful tune for nature hath ingrafted in it a solemn mourning Gemitus pro cantu and it is the Spirit that puts compunction into our spirit with groans unutterable Sometime hang up the Harps of mirth and sit down and weep You never read that God will honour your joy in his eternal remembrance you are sure he will not forget your mourning says David Psal lvi 8. Thou tellest my slittings put my tears into thy bottle are not these things noted in thy book Yea not only doth he bear them in mind and keep them in register but if some Interpreters erre not he wears them upon his head Cant. v. 2 My head is filled with dew says Christ and my locks with the drops of the night as if he wore our tears says the Paraphrast like drops of Pearl upon his head Dry eyes and unrelenting hearts are the curse of God Ezek. xxiv 23. Ye shall not mourn nor weep but ye shall pine away for your iniquities Sixthly The Holy Ghost useth the wings of Angels the wings of the wind the wings of the Dove a bird of strong flight for the Spirit is swift in operation what he doth he doth it quickly Nescit tarda molimina Abraham ran forth to meet the Angels that drew to his Tent Sarah made ready quickly three measures of fine meal Abrahams young man ran to the Herd to fetch a Calf tender and good Nemo piger est
for the value of the benefit would compel us to love our Redeemer better than our Maker So Bernard Plus nos ad charitatem excitat redemptio quam creatio Therefore God could not so dispose for our souls that occasion should be given to love an Angel or Saint better than himself the King of glory The Son that sits at his right hand is the Person in whom he is well pleased who thought it no robbery to be equal with God He alone was fit for this dispensation who by an exceeding mystery did receive and accept the Sacrifice of reconciliation as God offended in his divine nature and yet did offer up that Sacrifice to the divine nature being the Mediator God-Man The close of all is sweet like the rest that the Father is pleased in all things both in heaven and earth by the reconciliation of his Son Reconciliation is the knitting up of Friends into amity again and reducing them to concord that were enemies Then how can it fitly be said that God is reconciled with his Sons whom he loved from everlasting Says Beda to it Deus miro modo quando nos oderat diligebat He loved us according to that nature which he had made and hated us according to that sin which we had made Neither is the Father so said to be reconciled to us upon earth as if he loved us at any time now when before he did not Sed quia per hanc reconciliationem sublata est omnis odii causa says Aquinas but because by this act of reconciliation all cause of anger and displeasure was taken away I mean our sins were covered and the righteousness of Christ imputed to us And as the Angels minister to us so let me minister one speculation about them to the Text. God is pleased in Christ both with things in earth and with things in heaven No question but Christ is head of the Angels as well as of men for they as well as other members receive direction from Christ and are illuminated by him so that an influence is poured on them from Christ as members take from the head but as one distinguisheth judiciously Influens in Angelis non est finis incarnationis sed quiddam incarnationem consequens It was not put into the ends why he was incarnate to infuse vertue into the Angels but it is a gracious consequent which fell out upon it This perhaps will not be doubted of But how can it be said that he did reconcile unto himself things in heaven that is the Angels by the bloud of Christ They had never made any rupture with the friendship of God as men had and could they be reconciled Certainly the word Reconciliation properly taken is only agreeable to us who were Sons of wrath but are become elect and precious through Christ But Analogically it is truly said the Angels were reconciled in Christ because he obtained for them to be confirmed in grace and to be so established in the divine favour that it was impossible any breach or rupture should come between therefore this establishment in grace to them is the same that reconciliation to us That beatifical and glorious eternal life which the Angels have with God is a reward far above the merit of any Creature Therefore Angels are admitted into that glory not by condignity but as they challenge Christ for their head and themselves members of his triumphant body Paul therefore adjures Timothy before God and the elect Angels There is no election either of Angels or men but with respect unto Christ and the good Angels are called the Sons of God Job xxxviii not as begotten of him for Christ is the only natural Son as I have said before but because they are adopted through Christ therefore this is the beloved Son in whom with Men and Angels God is well pleased But to us especially this benefit is extended who were perfect enemies but being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN XXI SERMONS UPON THE TENTATION OF OUR SAVIOUR THE FIRST SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the VVilderness to be tempted of the Devil I Have already entreated before you of many things concerning our Lord and Saviour his Incarnation Circumcision Adoration by the Wise-men about his Baptism in Jordan Let us not rest here but say as that devout man did unto him Luk. ix 57. Lord I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest Therefore I invite your attention to go with me into the Wilderness another passage of his pomp and victories and to see him tempted of the Devil In Num. xxi 14. a Book is mentioned which was called the wars of the Lord. Rupertus says very well that the whole Scripture will not unfitly bear that name Quid aliud continetur vel agitur in sacrâ Scripturâ nisi bellum certamen verbi ad destructionem peccati mortis What is contained and agitated throughout all the contents of that divine Book but Christ warring and striving to destroy sin and death And if the whole Scripture were summed up into one Chapter you might draw out this Verse for the Contents Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between her seed and thy seed As if the Lord had said the Devil hath drawn my servants to consent to him Facti sunt socii consentanei rebellionis they are agreed like friends and have conspired in one rebellion against me but I will dissolve this friendship and turn it into hatred I will break this agreement and turn it into opposition I will divide them into an enmity that shall never be reconciled Three things I admire especially in the dispensation of Gods providence herein First We were his enemies rather than the Devils yet when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. v. 10. Secondly It is well for us that the Lord said ponam inimicitias he would make the quarrel between us and Satan break out into an open enmity It is an act of his most gracious wisdom to take away those weapons from the Devil wherein he was so cunning Leave the Devil to his wiles and deceipts and he goes away a conquerour proclaim him an open enemy and we have far more advantage against him Thirdly To the end this great Adversary might be beaten and vanquished to our hand our Saviour fought a combat with him in the Wilderness and overthrew him the narration of which great enterprise begins thus as I have read unto you Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil In the handling of which verse it will be worth the labour to insist upon these five things 1. Here is the hinge upon which all the story turns Christ was tempted 2. We must work somewhat out of the consideration of the Tempter the Devil 3. The
first took upon him the Kingdom Prohibition upon prohibition against Nehemiah when he laid the first stone to re-edifie the Temple When the first foundations of heaven were laid the proud Angels themselves fell upon the first plantation of Paradise Adam fell upon the first promulgation of the Law the Israelites worshipt a Calf in Horeb. Because the first fruits are the Lords therefore this rebellious monster would corrupt them Be not troubled therefore so St. Chrysostom comforts if you be infested with perilous tentations after Baptism after receiving the Lords Supper after your Prayers after your being at Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This follows of course it will often be so If you seek to quench the Devil he is nothing but fire and flame But especially a Jew or Pagan being of ripe years renouncing Infidelity and receiving the waters of Baptism for the remission of sins in the bloud of Christ they are the persons at whom the Adversary will strike with all his force after the similitude of this tentation There is a Text somewhat obscure Luk. xi 24. That an unclean Spirit walkes through dry places seeking rest and finds none St. Hierom doth thus interpret those dry places Loca inaquosa sunt gentes aridae nondum aquâ baptismi irrigatae Towns and Villages are scited by springs and rivers for the most part dry places where no waters are want the frequency of men and thither the unclean Spirit resorts these dry places says he are those barbarous heathen upon whom the dew of heaven did never fall I mean the sprinkling of Baptism But among these the malicious one finds no rest Non invenit requiem quia non habet cui noceat these alas for them are quite lost already he finds no rest among these for he wants matter to work upon therefore he returns to the house from whence he came to the house newly swept to them who were lately baptized and had put on Christ Secondly Just before the Spirit of God came down upon Christ in the shape of a Dove and although that Spirit was upon him in all fulness and abundance ever since he was made man yet that apparition did manifest him to have received the rich talents of grace in most plentiful measure Hereupon was the envy of the Devil enflamed In majorigratiâ major tentatio Where there is the most sanctification it falls out very often that there is the most tentation The Devil is like a thief who will venter for the greatest booty they that beset an house to rob it says St. Chrysostom look for cash and where tentations beat hard against a man it is to be granted that there are good gifts in the soul of which the envious man would bereave us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is evident that there is a great treasure committed unto thee because Satan would break in and steal If you ask who are most empestered with the assaults of the wicked one the question says Aquinas is to be divided with this distinction Potentia Diaboli est respectu infirmorum fervor respectu perfectorum the weakest and worst of men are most obnoxious to his power and domination the strongest and best of men are most obnoxious to his assault and fury Among all the twelve Disciples he can easiest possess the heart of Judas but among all the Twelve he did most desire to winnow Peter Where God gives a man a large measure of grace withall he gives the Devil the larger Patent Do not say I am cast out of the sight of the Lord and faith is much weakned within me for the provocations of ungodliness vex me sore It is quite otherwise Christ will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able to bear but a stiff knot can endure a more massie wedge and a strong defendant shall have a strong Antagonist Faith is called a Shield the Word of God a Sword Righteousness a Brest-plate is not such Artillery as this fit for an hot skirmish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that hath the weapons of the Spirit let him gird them about him to fight And this is it that I say why Christ was now tempted upon the manifestation of the Holy Ghost for the more grace the more tentation Thirdly There is no bait at which the old Serpent will bite sooner than the lofty commendations of the Saints At the Baptism of our Saviour and the descension of the Holy Ghost there came a voice from heaven that did resound his glory far and wide This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil The heathen were wont to say be moderate in the commendation of any man whatsoever was over-praised was obnoxious to the envy of the Gods Indeed as for the Gods of the Heathen they were but Spirits of damnation And whatsoever is highly praised an hellish envy dogs and follows it to take away the Garland from it Breves infausti populi Romani amores says the Historian Those whom the people of Rome did much prosecute with their love and applause they were never long prosperous What was the begining of Jobs affliction But those words wherewith God did so graciously testifie to his integrity Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth Job i. 8. Some that are bold to conjecture say as much for David the envie of the Devil was stirred up against him because he was called a man after Gods own heart They carry the same conceit upon the first time that Peter was smartly rebuked Get thee behind me Satan immediately in a few verses before that Encomium was given him Thou art Peter and upon this rock well I build my Church Nectens ipsis ex vincula sertis As the Poet says the waggish Boys took Silenus his Garland and made fetters therewith to bind him So Satan contrives mischief out of the Garlands out of the praise of the Saints And certainly too much elevation of praise is a dangerous precipice to be tumbled into temptation or if it do not work to the ruine of the living this wolvish projector can bring his ends about to the injury of the dead For certainly the large Panegyricks and Commemorations made yearly upon the Festival of the Saints and Martyrs whereof I spake in the beginning stirred up the envy of the Devil to sow Tares among the Wheat to beget invocations of Saints prostration before their Images adoration of Reliques and the whole spawn of Idolatry If God lend his own voice to the praise of Christ this infamous Lucifer attends close to blot it out and to make God a liar like himself for if he could have entred the tentation of any sin into Christ he had not been the Son in whom the Father was well pleased Fourthly Christ had spent thirty years of his life in Judaea and it is most probable to
hold that in all that space Satan did not cast the least tentation before him Was this the time for the powers of darkness to begin their fury more than ever before So it seems and for this reason for those thirty years he was obedient to his Parents without the least noise made that he was the eternal Son of God that came to save the world and passed away his time in such obscurity that there is no print or footstep of any rare action that he did save that he disputed with the Doctors at twelve years old in the Temple But as soon as he began the work of his Mediatorship in open publication as soon as ever he began to advance the Banner of faith that all that believed in his name should be saved Hell could contain it self no longer but belch'd out defiance against him The Heathen had a common Maxim which Plutarch liked not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apparitions of evil Spirits never infested any one that was wise and judicious This did not relish with that Author because Dion and Brutus a pair of most renowned Captains were even distracted with Phantasms and visions that haunted them So he whose opinion is good but upon another ground and it is thus Satan hath ever strived to set shoulder to shoulder against them who have either been the beginners or the restaurators of the Doctrine of the Kingdom of heaven That word of the Angel set him on fire worse than Hell it self Evangelizo vobis I come not with the Law but I do Evangelize I bring good tidings of great joy to all people and when Christ began to set that Gospel on foot it was insufferable to the Devil he must tempt him in the Wilderness Remember the tempest which was raised when Christ was embark'd to sail over the Lake of Genazeret to the Gaderens It was a tempest conjur'd up I suppose by means Diabolical that the Gaderens who were the most part Gentiles might not hear of Righteousness and Salvation The Spirit cried out to Paul to come over to Macedonia and help them He and Silas found no better entertainment than to be scourged for coming to Macedonia Acts xvi 9. How long how many hundred years were all the skilful men in the world deluded nay how long bewitcht I may well use that word that neither by the Sphere nor by Navigation nor by any other conjecture so many nimble wits and industrious men could not find out so large a portion of the world as America We were all so long held in ignorance that those miserable and vast multitudes of Nations might be held in infidelity And our late Stories report that many dear Servants of God who have sailed thither as well to enlarge Christs Kingdom as their own means have suffered most unusual wrecks and storms at Sea nay that they have encountred Phantasms and Apparitions in all likelihood Diabolical I will make no long excursion here but a short Apology for one that deserved well of the reformed Religion Many of our Adversaries have aspersed Luther with ill words but none so violent as our English Fugitives because he doth confess it that the Devil did encounter him very frequently and familiarly when he first put Pen to Paper against the corruptions of the Church of Rome In whose behalf I answer Much of that which is objected I cannot find in the Latin Editions of his works which himself corrected although it appears by the quotations some such things were in his first Writings set forth in the Dutch Language 2. I say no more than he confesseth ingenuously of himself in an Epistle to Brentius his meaning was good but his words came from him very unskilfully and his stile was most rough and unsavoury St. Paul says of himself that he was rudis sermone rude in speech But Luther was not so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word used in Paul as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after his Dutch Monastical breeding and his own hot freedom by nature he had a boisterous clownish expression but for the most part very good Jewels of Doctrine in the dunghils of his Language 3. If the Devil did imploy himself to delude and vex that heroical Servant of God who took such a task upon him being a simple Monk to inveigh against Errors and Superstitions which had so long prevailed why should it seem strange to any man Ribadenira sticks it among the praises of his Founder Ignatius Loiola that the Devil did declame and cry out against him believe it every one of you at your leisure and why might not the Devil draw near to vex Luther as well as roar out a great way off against Loiola I have digrest a little with your patience to make Luthers case appear to be no outragious thing that weak ones may not be offended when they hear such stuff objected out of Parsons or Barclay or Walsingham or out of Bellarmine himself If Beelzebub was busie with the Master what will he be with the Servants When Christ did begin to lay the first corner stone of the Gospel then he was led into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil I will suffer a reason of Tolets to make up the fifth place before I leave this Point Christ presented himself upon the desart of the Wilderness to undergo his tentation before he had wrought many Signs and Miracles to put a mist before the Devils eyes that when he did not ween him to be the eternal Son of God he might give the onset without distrust not as Ahab went disguised into the field lest the Army of the Syrians should bend their forces against him but to delude the great Adversary lest he should retire when he suspected to be over-mastered Sicut luctator inclinat corpus suum ut supplantet alium Bernards similitude I think Our Saviour omitted no evidence of humility and infirmity to win the day of Satan by this abasement As a cunning wrastler dops downward as low as he can that he may fetch over his Antagonist But this Point will meet us again upon a larger entreaty These five reasons if you can remember them will give you satisfaction I suppose what time and opportunity this was which Satan chose with all despight to set upon our Lord and Saviour the word of time is very emphatical Then was c. The next general part comes now to be handled how the Spirit like a Grand Marshal brought Christ into the field to combate with the Devil He was led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness I will deliver my mind upon this hint in these four particulars 1. Of what Spirit this place is to be understood 2. How the Spirit did lead him 3. Why this passage is inserted into the Story that he was led up of the Spirit 4. It will be expedient to annex unto these How the grace of God doth lead us and draw us on to vanquish the Devil and all the
resolution into his humane nature to fight with and to overthrow the tentations of the Devil I shall reach this doctrine unto you the better upon certain questions And first what needed this Preface of all other before this mighty work that he was guided by the Spirit What action throughout all his life did not deserve the same commendation A young Rhetorician dedicated an Oration to one Antalcidas What is the subject of your Oration quoth he Says the young Orator the praise of Hercules Fie man says Antalcidas what needless pains have you taken Who did ever dispraise Hercules So it may seem as redundant an expression to say that Christ was led by the Spirit at this time for through the grace of Union and the grace of Unction he was always conducted by the Spirit It is sufficient for answer to this that this was the first exploit of those that Christ did act to shew he was the Christ and the Mediator of God and man therefore this clause being prefixt to the formost of his actions is a title to all the rest he was led of the Spirit 2. It is not to be taken per modum inhaerentiae that he was now full of the Holy Ghost as if he had received a larger measure than he had before but by way of manifestation for the Spirit even now had visibly descended upon him in the shape of a Dove Semper fuit actus à spiritu sed jam maximè ejus vis apparuit the common gloss of the best Writers The Spirit did always lead him and dwel in him but now it did appear and put forth its strength I move another question be not offended that I move these hard things as it were by way of Catechism are the leadings of the Spirit of more sorts than one Yea these two are degrees one above another The first is general to all the Sons of God for they are all stirred up to faith and hope and good works by a divine illumination If ye be led by the Spirit then are ye not under the Law of the flesh Gal. v. 18. The second is special to the chiefest and principal Ministers of God as Kings Prophets and Apostles when Saul was anointed King over Israel the Lord gave him another heart his Spirit came upon him and he Prophesied So Christ our anointed Prophet prepared himself for a famous enterprize and he had the badge of Gods good liking The Spirit came upon him or he was led by the Spirit Suffer but one interrogatory more and it is this Did the Spirit thrust on Christ and as it were hale him with compulsion at this time So a man might hap to fall into that error by St. Marks words The Spirit driveth him into the Wilderness And the Vulgar Latine gives the same offence Luk. iv 1. Agebatur a spiritu he was pusht on by the Spirit For answer hard words are soon mollified by good construction The very Heathen could say Generosus est animus hominis magisque ducitur quà m trahitur Mans will is a free generous thing and had rather be led fairly than drawn forcibly Therefore the other Evangelists must be expounded by St. Matthew that the Spirit led him by illumination and propounding the will of his Father unto him not by violence and coaction So Cajetan Non vis significatur sed efficientia impulsus spiritus All was done by the efficacy and motion of the Spirit nothing by compulsion Some there are who care not what old Pillars of Divinity they pull down to set up their new devises that hold that Christ did obey his Father and the Divine Law with so much liberty and freedom that it were no offence to say Christ could not have obeyed his Father not have kept the Law and so by consequent have sinned and whereas it is certain he did not sin they will neither allow that the Hypostatical Union was the cause of it O strange Theologie nor yet the grace of Unction wherewith he was anointed above his fellows O strange impudency Neither of these was fundamentum impeccabilitatis And all this to maintain that because he did merit by his obedience his will was not determined to do good but left indifferent to good or evil Away with this over audatious disputing Christ could not but fulfil all righteousness I must do the works of him that sent me Joh. iv 9. All good things conducible to the work of a Mediator were necessary to be done And it was necessary Gods will being declared that it should be fulfilled of Christ although he was not necessitated by a violent determination but moved willingly and obediently unto it by a certain perswasion Non necessitatus erat sed propter illud quod necessarium erat sponte motus says Abulensis The object propounded was necessary to be done of him though he accepted it with much alacrity and desire and no way driven by constrainment Therefore this was not like Peters case Another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not Joh. xxi 18. But the hand of the Lord was with him and carried him whither he liked himself Non invitus aut captus sed sponte liberè venit says St. Hierom He was not drawn on as if his own will drew back but rejoyced as a Giant to run his course To say no more but this Oblatus est quia voluit It was his own good will that he was slain for the sins of the world it was his own pleasure not to dread death and it was as much his own pleasure to grapple with tentations And so much for that question how the Spirit did lead him into the Wilderness You shall now be partakers of the third thing why this passage is inserted into the story that he was led up of the Spirit Good reasons are rather to be esteemed by their weight than their multitude take these few to content you 1. The Spirit is said to lead him because de did not run on blindfold but knew the task which he undertook he foresaw the difficulties that he would meet and weighed them in the balance of judgment and discretion Non ignarus sed consilio ducebatur says St. Ambrose The counsel of the Spirit did enlighten him to see what he had in hand Saul thought that David was but a fool-hardy Stripling and knew not what a perilous thing it was to fight with such a Giant as Goliah Thou art but a youth and he a man of War from his youth thou art not able to go against this Philistine But David shewed the reason of his confidence the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the Lion and out of the paw of the Bear he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine He had considered Gods mercies and protection therefore he was led by the Spirit into that noble action Beware to plod on like Balaam with our eyes shut never discerning what is
called to hear the word of faith and of none other God might have left them in their bloud as the Prophet Ezekiel speaks and given them over to the reprobate sense of their own mind but because he requires a new Covenant from all those to whom Christ is preached therefore he gives them new abilities lest he should seem to invite them in vain but being supplied with these internal excitations of supernatural help they are unexcusable This is the way to give God the glory and to make all the hearers of the Word know what talent they have received But the force of exhortations and expostulations were taken away if a sinner were converted by Enthusiasms and sudden inspirations If God would immediately bring a man to himself without feeling of his sin without hating it without desiring pardon it were superfluous to say We beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain I marvel you are so soon removed from him that called you to the grace of Christ Gal. i. 6. They that heard St. Peters Sermon Acts ii 37. at the beginning of it were unbelieving and rebellious Jews before he had ended they were terrified felt the guiltiness of innocent bloud upon themselves desired freedom submitted themselves to direction Men brethren what shall we do All these were good internal effects but as yet they were not converted and regenerate as yet unbelievers for had they believed they had never made that question What shall we do They come to that in the next verse says Peter Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Well they followed this counsel and then at the soonest and not before they were justified in Christ for thereupon it is said There were added unto the Church above three thousand souls So I have made that conclusion undeniable I think that Christ doth produce some effects of initial grace before conversion The next conclusion is that since the natural man hath no powers in the freedom of his will to do good therefore the first effects of grace that are brought forth in us the Holy Ghost doth produce them solely and intirely the will of man conferring no strength at all As the ground receives the seed which is cast into it so a natural man takes the good seed from God which he casts into him passivè receptivè only passively and by way of reception Even they that will not be beaten off from their tenet but that the will of man hath some cooperancy with Gods grace in the act of conversion yet they give their suffrage to this doctrine that this preventing grace or grace of preparation is res infusa not comparata a thing infused from above not gotten by our diligence or acquired even as the air doth not dispose it self to admit the light of the Sun but is illuminated by the presence of the Sun They are best known by the name of Semi-pelagians who would not admit this truth for it was taught in their School that the beginning of faith was from man and the increase from the power of the Holy Ghost But why did they teach that the beginning of faith was from man Because they imagined that the talent of grace was promised to them that used the talent of nature well Habenti dabitur to him that hath it shall be given But I would have them find me any such Covenant in all the Scripture which God made with man that such as negotiated the talent of nature well should have an increase of grace for their reward It is a trespass and a foul one to bely a man and to father Covenants upon him which he never made the offence is greater to alledge Covenants from God and yet no tittle leaning that way in all his Testament The powers of nature are blindness of understanding obdurateness of will perverseness of affections what reward can be due to these but eternal death When thou wert in thy bloud Ezek. xvi that is when thou wert under the loathsom filthiness of sin and under the condemnation of death I said unto thee live that is I began to extend my mercy of vivification upon thee The beginning and introduction of all Christian vertue is to think of God From whence comes this From any good parts wherewith we were born Go to the fountain of wisdom and ask there We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing of our selves but our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. iii. 5. The next a b c and first rudiment of goodness is to pray to God Is nature a sufficient Mistris to teach you that Is it not the Spirit which the Lord sends into us crying Abba Father I will pour upon the house of David the Spirit of grace and supplications and upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Zach. xii 10. Thus St. Austin proves that the very firstlings and proems of all our Christian dispensations are from God because St. Paul said I obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful 1 Cor. vii 25. Misericordiam consecutus sum ut fidelis essem non ut fidelior essem That I was made faithful or had any faith it was the benefit of God and not only by way of increase or augmentation that I was made more faithful otherwise we should lead the Spirit to take his aim from us and not be led by the Spirit a Passive Verb and fit to express that we are merely passive in the first preparations of faith I shall speak anon touching that efficacy of the Spirit upon the heart of man But touching the work of preparatory grace in the first onset it brings illumination with it it dispels darkness from our understanding it makes us perceive we are gone astray in our sins like sheep that are lost it makes us know God is to be feared it makes us discern that we are in a wretched estate this illumination cannot be resisted Mens nostra ipsum scire effugere non potest Philosophy doth dictate that we cannot repel the knowledge of a thing palpably demonstrated before us though we would it pierceth as easily into the mind as a needle through a thin cloath Yet I do not say this grace which first possesseth the soul and makes it willing to good motions which was most averse before doth compel a man or force him compulsion is a word of hostility rather than of favour It comes with that sweetness and authority together that it will not be said nay Thus we are led by the Spirit in the first introduction of preparatory grace The third thing to be considered is how the Spirit doth lead us all the while we use this preparatory grace before conversion St. Austin comprehended all in this short rule Primùm gratia Dei operatur bonam voluntatem deinde per eam First Gods grace doth effect a good will in us and then by that will so illuminated and excited it produceth
ingrafted into Christ by Baptism before they can perceive their insition and do not say this reason holds not in us we are of age to understand our own belief It is not our understanding that makes God gracious unto us but his own free mercy And in this respect many like new-born babes receive the kingdom of heaven I mean that divers go out of this World into Abrahams bosom who never overcome distrusts and tentations at least till they are even going out of the World But this charitable and most true assertion were invalid if particular application of Christs mercies by firm assurance did justifie a sinner I resolve it therefore unto you that general assent goes first in order that Christ perfect man and perfect God is the Saviour of all those that believe then we draw a particular assent that he is my God and my Saviour then our boldness and assurance that by him we shall pass from death and reign with him in glory is the effect of that particular assent and so the Scripture speaketh Eph. iii. 12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which causeth us to speak with alacrity to God here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may assure it self any thing and these are effects produced by faith in him that is by justifying faith Not to cloy you with more than one other quotation 1 Tim. iii. 13. They purchase themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus The object of faith is verum the object of certitude and assurance is bonum Faith is a perswasion or assurance of the mind though working upon the heart Affiance is an affection of the heart though proceeding from the assurance of the mind Now hear the fourth Conclusion speak This affiance or special assurance is not alike in all that are justified nor at all times alike in any man This Conclusion will serve to quiet the troubles of the Conscience two ways First When the same man at sundry times finds himself so divers from himself now full of spiritual Consolation a few days after that his comfort is but luke-warm at another season almost stark cold let no man think his case remediless because of these alterations in his Spirit Many times doubts will arise and continue long with a terrible perplexity Nevertheless though I am sometime afraid yet put I my trust in thee says Dauid Psal lvi 11. When these flat contrary perswasions come into your mind yet God will never leave you so destitute of his grace but that you shall have some strength left to pray to be delivered out of those tentations that the bones which he hath broken may rejoyce and a happy wading out of those doubts may prove to be the greater confirmation The spirit of a good man is sometimes well enlightned with assurance sometime a little obscured sometime very dark after there shall be a long and a lasting serenity in his Conscience As a woman that hath newly conceived begins to suspect her conception by and by some other signs cast into her mind that she is deluded Afterwards she feels the fruit of her womb quicken and then her opinion is constantly confirmed Faith after the manner of alterative qualities hath its growth its declension its reparation It grows to an infancy then to youthfulness then to a stronger age and the more it lays hold of the Promise for its own blessing the more it cleaves fast to the foundation Besides this should procure them peace of mind who cannot alledge that great confidence for their own part and strength of assurance that others seem to challenge to themselves yea and truly have Every tree doth not shoot out his root so far as another and yet may be firm in the ground and live as well as that whose root is largest So every faith stretcheth not forth the arms of particular assurance to embrace Christ alike and yet it may be a true faith that lives by charity repentance and good works some faith abounds with one sort of fruits some with another God is delighted with all that are good and he will reward them In all kind of Divine Conclusions some are more doubtful spirited than others In our very meats one believeth that he may eat all things another eateth herbs Rom. xiv One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth all days alike Let not him that is strong in faith despise him that is weak So one hath examined himself is perswaded especially by his good endeavours to please the Lord and by the redemption of Christs bloud which he felt effectual in him in the Sacraments rests every way assured that Christ will glorifie him at his second appearance Another dares not take such solid comfort for he is more oppressed with tentations more afflictions come upon him and chiefly perhaps ignorance darkens his understanding give this man leave to say and he shall be heard Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Because I said that ignorance especially darkens the understanding of them that are so weak in faith you shall know wherein Many are pluckt back from particular affiance in Christ because they know not the method how to proceed For they are taught that nothing is to be believed with the certainty of faith unless it be contained in the Creed or in holy Scripture but they cannot find this or that mans Salvation written there therefore they are posed how to apprehend it with the certainty of faith I make my answer First how easie it is to reduce it to one of the Articles of the Creed or more than one but especially to this that we believe the forgiveness of sins But to the main Objection all the Doctrine of Faith which we believe is written or deduced out of holy Scripture but the act wherewith we believe is in our selves and not to be lookt for in Paper and Ink No but that is wrot in our own hearts through the testimony of the Spirit by good examination Now the Major Proposition is Whosoever believeth stedfastly shall be saved in Scripture The Minor Proposition but I believe stedfastly is wrote by the Spirit in our own heart therefore the Conclusion is divine and good And because it dependeth upon an Argument whereof the principal part which draws on all the rest is totally and immediately revealed in Scripture therefore the assurance of a mans particular Justification is lawfully reduced to the assurance and certainty of Faith Another fair pretence causeth divers men rather to leave place in themselves for some distrust than to aim at strong assurance because it relisheth much more of humility to be cast down at the recognition of our manifold sins Indeed it is good to ponder our own unworthiness and imbecillity so far as to make us humble and to acknowledge no good can come to us from any thing that is in our selves but it
is a false humility which makes us doubt of the faithfulness of Gods Promises So to be humbled is a fearful sin and perhaps a greater sin than any for which a man is humbled If we stay more upon our selves than upon God we shall distrust if more upon God than upon our selves we shall believe If you say you cannot believe because of your own unaptness and unworthiness I instance with St. Paul So did not Abraham Rom. iv 19. Being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead when he was about an hundreed years old nor the deadness of Sarahs womb Therefore keep your humility you speak of and lose it not yet rule it by this oppose not any difficulty in your self as if it could make frustrate the power and goodness of God The fifth Conclusion is a true and I suppose a very comfortable farewel to this Point no mortified humble Christian must despair or afflict his heart though he cannot attain to a strong confidence or assurance in Christs mercies he that can proceed but to a conjectural hope or some beginnings of gracious comfort shall receive the reward for Christ will not break a bruised reed or quench the smoaking flax Every may is bound to assent to the Promise of the Gospel upon pain of damnation for that is it which is called justifying Faith but it is no where threatned be thou certified of thy Salvation in particular or thou shalt perish everlastingly Whosoever doth truly believe shall not perish but have everlasting life Joh. iii. 6. It is not said Whosoever hath not examined himself in the reflexed act and knows not that he believes shall endure the wrath of God Let every man pray for it labour for it not shut his ears against good comfort let a weak Christian at the weakest estate believe his sins may be remitted let him desire remission and he shall receive forgiveness though he have a conjectural hope only and no infallible assurance It is not necessary in a true justifying Faith that all dubitation should be quite excluded it is well if at last it be overcome especially in the last enlightning before death Let such as have the drawings-back of infirmity chear up their spirit that many are undoubtedly received into glory who can say no more but I suppose the fruits of my faith though they were imperfect are without hypocrisie I suppose I believe therefore I suppose I shall be saved When we talk of Certitude and Assurance of Salvation in this life I am afraid the Ignorant extend the word so far as if they must be as secure and perswaded as that we see one another with our eyes Whereas indeed the word may well import no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spei as a learned Prelate of this Church did stile it a full comprehension by hope And mark how in two several Points much must be abated from that which we call a plain sensible evidence For first The Key which opens to all is to believe the Evangelical Promise made in Christ to all that believe And this we are certain of But how As we speak by the certainty of adherence not by the certainty of evidence Now that doth argue an imperfection in our faith Secondly A good Christian applies the general Promise to himself by a reflexed act and examining how he hath served the Lord with zeal and sincerity Now the circumstances of particular actions have much uncertainty in them howsoever this application being not pure Scripture is no way so certain and indubitable as the Articles of the Creed Therefore such sauciness is to be controuled if any say I know I shall be saved as certainly as I know Christ died for the sins of the World That Article of faith is immediately and totally revealed in Scripture this other Collection riseth out of the observation of a mans own qualities and actions Catharinus says That the Tridentine Council doth not gainsay but a man may know by faith that he is in the state of grace but it denieth only that this can be known by the certainty of faith And he that depends upon Christ for his mercies towards him by a lively comfortable hope may undoubtedly be said to depend upon his mercies by faith for all good graces grow from faith and Faith is called the substance of hope that is of things hoped for Heb. xi 1. Now I will take up and conclude Assurance or Affiance that we are born of the Spirit and are the Sons of God is that which we must labour which we must pray for which we must hope which we must believe Distrust and despair is the Devils engine to subvert this true Consolation and Rock of our Salvation therefore he did insinuate this mistruct or scruple to our Saviour If thou be the Son of God But From all evil and mischief from sin from the crafts and assaults of the Devil good Lord deliver us AMEN THE EIGHTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 3. If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread A Roman Orator in the days of Tiberius the Emperour Afer by name had so often taken in hand the worst part of every Plea to defend it that at last his credit was prejudicated and it was enough to say Afer pleads on this side therefore the justice of the cause is on the other side So all that Satan can propound or alledge I damn it every syllable all that he exhorts unto is impiety all that he counsels is treachery if he say the Son of God should command that stones be made bread I say the contradictory is true and he should not And this I have proved before by discovering that this motion contained two great sins in it Gluttonny and Infidelity Gluttony obliquely Infidelity manifestly And already I have replied against this distrustful voice If thou be the Son of God and have proved that we must all labour for a fiducial assurance that God is our Father and we are his Children by adoption and grace that we must apply Christ unto our selves without suspicions and hesitations without the Devils I F If thou be the Son of God But as the later the night grows the darker it is so the further I go on to reveal the sinful mystery of this saying the blacker is the tentation and the more deformed It is either known unto you already or will appear manifestly unto you when this hour comes about that there are two opinions of which carnal men do especially surfeit Epidemical diseases which slay as many souls as any two vices you can name you may smell them in my Text out of the strong breath of the Devil First that every Son of God is always provided of bread and hath sufficiency if not satiety of all worldly necessaries and therefore if any man be in distress and want let him take it to heart that God hath cast him off he is none of
this lower Region God hath committed the Children to the nurture of the Parents the Woman to the safeguard of her Husband the Subject injured to the justice of the Magistrate the Sick and Impotent to the refection of them that are whole the Poor and Naked to the liberality of the Rich. Every weak and distressed is appointed his Protector by Gods Ordinance that is strong and whole and that Patron that looks not to those poor Clients with whom he stands incharged let him take heed that himself wants not a Patron when he looks for Christ to be his Advocate But when a whole Nation of true Believers nay when a whole world of Christians have been persecuted all at once Who looks to that God And will give them the wages of wicked Servants that should have been nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers to his precious Portion and yet had their chief hand in the Tragedy against it And because the whole earth sometimes fails of their duty towards the Church therefore the Lord hath his Angels in store as the last and infallible refuge that the less we are beholding to the Earth we may acknowledge our selves the more beholding to Heaven If Davids bowels earned for a rebellious Son and gave all the Captains charge Deal gently for my sake with the young man even with Absalon Verily the Lord will put his Ministers upon that good Office to be a Wall of protection to his obedient Sons Aut eripient periculum aut eripient animam Either they will take your afflictions from you or take you from your afflictions The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him and will deliver them And though the Devil meant nothing less than truth in his Sermon since he would needs preach let us lay hold of this for a true ground that the good Angels are very certain to keep their charge as they are commanded they are like the diligent Souldiers under the Centurions authority He says unto one go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh But their charge is set and appointed them it is not in their own free choice to lend their assistance where they please So the Schoolmen draw many questions to this Principle Non sunt liber â potestate praediti sed ministri ad nutum Domini The reason is twofold First All things must be done in order and without direction and appointment whom the Hosts of heaven should guard how far and at what time the Discipline would be altogether confused in that heavenly custody Secondly The knowledge of those blessed Spirits is finite they are not present at all our troubles which we suffer on earth they being far remote in heaven they know not the groanings of the heart it is out of their Sphere to apprehend what succour is needful for Infants that cannot moan themselves that cannot ask it of all these things they must be made acquainted and then their Province is allotted unto them by the especial Commission of God Wherefore as they are given by nature and grace to love Mankind so by a special Mandate and charge they are bound unto it Peter imputes his deliverance out of Prison to the Angels Ministry but principally to the Lords word and authority he doth not say that the Angel pull'd him out of danger of his own motion but now know I that the Lord hath sent his Angel and hath delivered me from the hand of Herod and from the expectation of all the people Acts xii 11. It was a good speech of Jonathans 1 Sam. xiv 6. There is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few Had he but added one thing more the speech had been complete and full of faith there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few or by none at all Then to what use serves the Auxiliary custody of Angels when the strength of all protection is in God alone without the subordinate performance of any Creature To dissolve this Question into many Answers First They that say their Creed and understand it that God is the Father Almighty and have the Theorie that his vertue by it self is all-sufficient yet when it comes to the experience and practice they will boggle and be much unconfident of their own security if some powers which are ordained of God and more familiar to us than his infinite Essence be not promised to relieve us in the day of our Visitation Israel had great cause to have strong affiance in him that had brought them out of the Land of Egypt yet a weak Plant had need of a Prop to be bound unto it and therefore their Charter was thus enlarged Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared Exod. xxiii 20. This was ex abundanti somewhat given above that which needed for the rudeness and infirmity of our faith Secondly The Ministry of those blessed Spirits is used here below not for the defect of the supreme power but to shew his Majesty and Dignity as earthly Princes have their Stipatores some bands of Noble Gentlemen to stand about their Person rather for Pomp than necessity Yet it begets obsequiousness and awe unto their Majesty Pavorinus a man of rare skill in Learning whensoever Hadrian the Emperour discoursed with him condescended in all things to let the Emperour overmatch him and when his friends thought it too much obsequiousness Favorinus thus excused himself I will permit him to be more learned that hath thirty Legions of Souldiers under his command So the imployment of that heavenly Host lends no assistance to God but proclaims him that hath so many terrible Ministers to command to be most dreadful and glorious and who is able to stand before his Host Thirdly The Angels and Saints shall make up one Triumphant Church in heaven the whole body of things in heaven and things on earth being gathered under Christ the head therefore they are knit together in these good Offices of defence and guardianship as a taste of that unity which shall be complete hereafter And indeed it is through Christ that these parts are recollected together which were disjoyned before It pleased the Father to reconcile all things unto himself in him whether they were things in heaven or things in earth He is that Ladder upon which Jacob saw Angels ascend and descend and so Christ speaking of that reconciliation which he had wrought told the High Priests Hereafter ye shall see the heavens open and Angels ascending and descending Fourthly Aquinas doth thus excogitate There are two ways wherein man stands in need of help to have grace infused into him and to be guided and assisted in perfecting that which is good Deus immediate hominem inclinat ad bonum infundendo ei gratiam God only and immediately doth infuse supernatural grace into the heart Sed inveniendae sunt
he called unto Moses out of the midst of the Cloud Some more veneration certainly redounds to the Divine Majesty by drawing a Veil before him that his glory may be kept secret The Mercy-seat from whence God promised the Children of Israel to tell them all things whatsoever they should do it was covered with the wings of the Cherubins that every rash eye might not behold it But this was not all that a shadowed darkness should beget veneration there was another reason that men might see no manner of shape or resemblance to make them figure the Lord in any form and commit Idolatry I will take Salmeron the Jesuit at his word in this Notation Ne si aliqua effigies videretur Deus pingeretur a Cloud did invelop the glory of the Father whensoever he spake that men might not say they saw his likeness and therefore paint or carve an image like unto him And since the Lord continues to speak out of a Cloud as well in the New Testament as in the Old surely his purpose continues the same to bridle our inclinations to Idolatry O that men knew what this Cloud meant and they would never be so forward to make the Images of God and they that will not learn that wholsom lesson from the Pillar of Cloud shall be consum'd by the Pillar of Fire Let us come from the substance of it to the qualities and certainly St. Matthew hath left us matter to work upon that he says it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bright Cloud it seems it lookt like that part of Heaven which we see in a fair night and is called via lactea the Milky way which is the concurrence of the light of many small Stars as if it were a Lane made or paved with dimpling Stars Such a Cloud must needs be more delectable than the clearest Summer day which had no thickness in the air but were all serenity And such it must be in a great measure in Aquinas's interpretation for when Peter talkt of Tabernacles close shady Arbors to keep out the light of the Sun he was thus confuted says Aquinas that light did rather become the Saints than shady darkness Claritas mundi innovati erit sanctorum tabernaculum when there shall be a new Heaven and a new Earth bedeckt with infinite light that 's the Tabernacle of the Blessed which shall abide for ever But the chief reason was to fulfil that promise which David knew should be performed the Lord shall make my darkness to be light here was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Jesus Christ it is He that came to bring a Lantern to our feet and a Light unto our paths that we should not stumble and fall In the Old Testament the Clouds where God appeared were densissima tenebrosae thick and dark Clouds Exod. xix 16. vapours and pillars of smoak in the New Covenant the darkness is dispersed and the Cloud remaines white and of a pure lustre For the first Testament is full of Ceremonies and Shadows of things to come the Covenant of Faith in the Gospel exhibits the manifest and open truth says Paschasius Ratbertus it was neither a fiery Cloud nor a dark Cloud but a brightsom quia non in igne terroris nunc venit non in caligine caecitatis sed in lumine veritatis the terror of fire is overpast the mistiness of Clouds is cleared truth comes forth like the morning and is ascended to the height like the Sun at noon day Nay as the things to be believed are clear so there are no mists and fogginess in their affections where the spirit of grace will abide Non calligat affectibus hominum sed revelat occulta says St. Ambrose Our depraved imaginations shall not make the truth a lie but God shall bring to light the hidden things before the eyes of all men What 's the whole Gospel indeed but nubes lucida a very Cloud in it self but made lightsome and perspicuous by the gift of interpretation For although the Veil of the Law is removed away yet even among the Evangelical Writers there are says St. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain things hard to be understood the Incarnation of our Lord the Resurrection of the Dead the ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity still we are in nubibus these are thick Clouds and it is impossible for the natural man with the dim eye of nature to see through them without doubt great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh Faith is a very mysterious thing but that the cloud is illuminated by the revelation of the Holy Spirit and as he that sees through the Water or through a Cloud suppose an Oar through the Water or the Sun through a Cloud will rather trust to his judgment than to his outward sense which would much deceive him so because we do all see the secrets of God through a thick Cloud let us rather trust to our faith than to our reason there are many strong delusions incident to reason because it looks through the clouds of sin and infirmity And Beloved as for the Priests that should keep the Key of knowledge what is their Office and Calling but to make Clouds appear bright And therefore Christ said of his Apostles Vos estis lux mundi Ye are the light of the world Though now adays it is the fashion of many to make that which was lightsom before appear as duskie as a Cloud Such as especially about Gods unsearchable decrees tangle knots and ravel Divinity that you shall find no end And after much is spoken or written you may say Incertior sum multó quà m dudum I was in a Cloud before that was dark now I am in a smoak that puts out my eyes All the light which some voluminous Compilers afford which would teach men Gods secret purpose in their Election and the way of their own heart in their Conversion both which are inscrutable it is like a Candle in a Thieves Lanthorn perhaps they see a little themselves but I am sure no body else shall be the better for their light Finally to end this Point God who can colour a thick Cloud with whiteness and make it transparent is able to lay the dark conveyances of our hypocrisie conspicuous and naked before him Laban could not find his Idols because Rachel had hid them in her Tent but God can discover those sins which are our greatest Idols though we have set them up in the inmost corner of our heart If the Spirit of Elisha went along with Gehazi when Gehazi ran after Naaman to take a Bribe then the Lord that gave that Spirit to Elisha traceth along all the Compacts of Simony all the fine conveyances of Bribery all manner of Corruption though it be dark as midnight The fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is 1 Cor. iii. 13. When it once catcheth fire it will be
could be suspected like Cato that came into the Theater at one door and went out at another Ideo tantum intrarunt ut exirent Surely the Disciples thought if these would have staid they could have hung at their lips and heard the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven from their mouth No says the voice let them go here is one that is the chief Master in Israel far above Moses and Elias hear him Moses will stand dumb while he speaks and this is Moses his own Doctrine concerning Christ A Prophet will the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me hear him Deut. xviii Moses confesseth of himself O Lord I am not eloquent I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue therefore hear not him Exod. iv 10. Elias is rigid and severe and will call down fire from heaven hear not him Peter knew not what he said in this very story David said it in his haste but it is very true upon deliberation all men are liars Lying is not all that is naught in the mouth of man filthiness and blasphemies issue from some uncircumcised lips no ways fit to be heard as Eliakim the servant of Hezekiah besought that odious tongued Rabshekah to speak in such a language as few or none might understand him The talk of him that sweareth much maketh the hair stand upright and their brawls make one stop his ears Ecclus. xxvii 14. In a word men may bewitch us with their fair words not to obey the truth but we are sure how all that Christ speaketh is just and righteous therefore let men vanish away the truth of the Lord abideth for ever hear him Again the Disciples might be confused not only for the departure of Moses and Elias but because the form and fashion of Christ did return to his wonted humility the fashion of his countenance did no more look like the Sun neither was his rayment white and glistering what amends can be made for this loss But that God declares our happiness consists not in seeing but in hearing His Person must ascend unto the Father and his glory dwell there but his Word abideth for ever if we keep his sayings we are Christs and Christ is one with us hear him Be it the abrogation of Moses Law be it the contempt of the world the denying of our selves the sufferance of the Cross the losing of our life all is one his roughest Precepts are to be obeyed hear him indefinitely without restriction or exception As the Blessed Virgin his Mother said unto the Servants at Cana in Galilee Whatsoever he saith unto you do it Joh. ii 5. Be the Commandment great or small it claims obedience whosoever breaketh one of the least Commandments and doth not repent him shall be counted the least in the Kingdom of heaven Some man I know hath framed this cavillation already in his own heart if Jesus Christ were now upon the earth as sometimes he was in the Land of Jury who would not travel over Sea and Land to hear him This Precept should be kept with all alacrity Indeed the words which dropt from his own lips were most winning and pathetical Therefore this voice might justly challenge the Jews to give him fair audience and hear him speak and they could not refuse him If Tertullian presumed in his Apologetick to the Emperor that the Christian cause in his days had never been cried down if it might have been heard speak in the trial of judgment much more must it hold in the person of Christ himself Nolentes audire quod auditum damnare non possunt The Judges would not hear our Plea says Tertullian for had they heard us with patience they knew they could not cast us so the gracious words which fell from our Saviour made those Officers relent at least if not repent that were sent to betray him Never man spake like this man Joh. vii 46. They brake out into that passion before the Pharisees They had heard but little from Christ says St. Chysostome yet enough to turn their hearts from that purpose which they were sent to execute Cum mens fuerit incorrupta non longis sermonibus opus est Few words will prevail where the mind brings no corrupt passions to hold off the truth This is to shew that the Oracles which the Son of God spake from his own mouth were most moving and gracious that tongue was able to charm the very Devils to obey him Why Beloved we do hear him speak continually in the Church as verily as if he were now among us and preach'd daily as sometimes he did in the Temple at Jerusalem So St. Paul commends the Thessalonians that his Doctrine took with them as if they had heard Christ himself Ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the Word of God For whatsoever we believe if you ask after the formal cause of faith the answer is neither because the Apostles writ it or the Church delivered it or such to whom God hath commited the dispensation of the Word do preach it but because God reveals it the formal cause of all faith is divine revelation therefore hear Christ speaking among you to this day not by the instrument of his own tongue but by the revelation of his Spirit I say the formal cause of faith is divine revelation but the Church is the mouth that utters it And therefore because the Church is the Pipe which conveys those sacred mysteries which Christ reveals our Lords own sentence was If he will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as an Ethnick The meaning is while the Church directs you in a right line The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Chair all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe observe and do You hear what awful submission is due to them who are sent from God to teach you Perhaps you will demur upon those words of our Saviour For in that same Chap. Mat. xxiii 16. Christ calls the Pharisees blind guides reproves their interpretation of Scripture for saying If a man swore by the Temple it was nothing if he swore by the Gold of the Temple he was a debtor Generally he gave his Apostles a caveat Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees not meaning their Bread but their false Traditions But take our Saviours exhortation in a right construction and thus it is all that the Scribes and Pharisees recite out of Moses and the Law observe and do They are the mouth of God by their place and calling When they speak the truth all is one whether you hear them or Christ or God speak from heaven it is the same Gospel and all have but one intendment He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that heareth me heareth him that sent me you know who spake it This voice did not purpose the present Age should hear Christ only but that the future Ages should hear his Priests when they speak like
faciem Because in this life we see darkly as in a glass but hereafter we shall see God face to face As concerning natural Causes and Effects says Aristotle we see into them but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Owles eyes by day that discern nothing clearly but as concerning the Mysteries of Godliness we look upon them as Moses did upon the Land of Canaan when Jordan was between we are in one Country and see afar off indistinctly the prospect of another As Rebecca took away her vail when Isaac came toward her that she might see his face so this vail shall be taken from the Church which is the Spouse of God when he draws near unto it Now Lazarus his Napkin is about our face O that thou wouldst rent away this vail O Lord that we might see thy glory Behold as the eyes of Servants look unto the hand of their Masters and as the eyes of a Maiden unto the hand of her Mistress even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us AMEN THE FOURTH SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION JOHN XX. I. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark unto the Sepulcher and seeth the stone taken away from the Sepulcher THis is the day which the Lord hath made and thus begins the Gospel appointed for this great day of the Lord. A Gospel of which I may say it is full even to the brims of Divine Meditations For here are those two Christian Pillars that uphold the Church of God such as shall never be removed Fides Fidelis the faith of the Elect and relatively an elect Vessel that receiv'd the faith a principal Article of our Creed that Christ rose again the third day from the dead and a very illustrious instance of Mary Magdalene who was brought to believe in that Article 1. The Faith which must be believ'd to sanctifie our contemplations 2. The Faithful that did believe to bring us to a godly practice So the Spirit of God hath led Mary Magdalene to the Sepulcher to see that Christ was risen from the dead and the self-same Spirit hath led us to see the love and piety of Mary Magdalene And as this devout woman hath obtained a place of memorial for her name among the blessed of the New Testament because the example of her zeal did shine before us So our names shall find a place among those that are recorded in the Book of Life such honor shall they have that follow after My Text begins a story concerning that first witness to whom our Lord and Saviour's Resurrection was revealed Now upon so much of the Story as is recorded in this verse five things shall be handled First the Condition of that Witness before whom our Lord did first appear after he came out of the Grave Mary Magdalene 2. You may note the Constancy of her love that she remembred him after death and came unto his Sepulcher 3. It is to be ascribed to her Faith that she chose the right season the first day of the week 4. The Expedition which she made is a token of restless diligence that she came early when it was yet dark 5. An Accident of admiration encounters her that she seeth the stone taken away from the Sepulcher No Witness more classical for Gods use than Mary Magdalene a repentant Sinner No love more expressive than to shew affection even after death no season so fit to be watcht as the same which Christ foretold how the third day he would rise which fell out on the first day of the week no fruit that doth better become Faith and Love than vigilant diligence without sloth Repentance Love Faith Diligence shall ever be thus requited that God will shew them a sign from Heaven beyond their expectation The condition of the person is the first thing that we encounter Mary Magdalene cometh unto the Sepulcher She came not alone but other Associates did bear her company such as were devout women and loved our Lord. But our Evangelist knew a reason that she alone was worth the mentioning instead of all besides and upon her name only his Narration runs that Mary Magdalen came unto the Sepulcher The Scripture hath not forgot some of those that were her Associates in other Gospels St. Matthew says Mary Magdalen went forth as it began to dawn and the other Mary St. Mark names three Mary Magdalen and Mary the Mother of James and Salome St. Luke speaks of an indefinite number but every Divine Writer begins with Mary Magdalen she and Joanna and Mary the Mother of James and other Women that were with them But this Woman in my Text was more fervent and passionate in the cause she incited all the rest to go with her to the Sepulcher wherefore she is remembred by our Evangelist in a kind of singularity above all the rest John himself was the Disciple of Love and was careful to eternize her name in this story which did abound in Love above all her Fellows Some antient Writers knew not how so good a Work could be done wherein many religious Women conspired together without the most Blessed Mary the mother of our Lord. Rather than it should turn to her disesteem to stay behind Sedulius Nyssen and Nicephorus were willing I think to mistake that the Woman whom St. Matthew calls the other Mary was the Holy Virgin The disadvantages which this Opinion brings with it were not thought upon that another name should stand before hers to be past over with such an easie mention as the other Mary and not the mother of our Lord a thing which especially St. Luke useth not to forget And what an instance of moment were this that among all others our Lord did first appear to Mary Magdalen after he was risen from the dead Surely his mother had been partaker of that sweet Vision as soon as any if she had been in place to behold him Bernard invents a reason to satisfie himself though perhaps it will not satisfie all men why the Blessed Virgin did willingly absent herself from coming to the Sepulcher the first day of the Week because her Faith abounded more than all the rest She was constantly persuaded that Christ was risen upon the third day even as he had spoken before and she would not go to the Sepulcher to seek the living among the dead But if any man should cast a doubt that the Holy Scriptures would not have concealed such a superexcellent strain of Faith in the Blessed Virgin if she had believed the Mystery of the Resurrection when the Disciples and all other were mistaken besides that none of the Church did perfectly understand the Scriptures until the Holy Ghost fell down upon them at the Feast of Pentecost I say if any should cast in such a doubt I know not how it would be resolved I have no Warrant to affirm any thing in this point neither doth the Scripture
Article of truth in all the Gospel to do their friends a favour Secondly See how soon the wicked forget into what great fear they were put it was but even now that they quaked and became as dead men at the Apparition of an Angel their sin was before their eyes that they should watch his Sepulchre of whom the Prophet had said Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption the guiltiness of this took all their courage from them yet within two hours after at the most they are deeper in the same wickedness than ever they were before as if the terrible admonition they had early in the Morning had been seven years since or before mans remembrance So let the Plague or Famine or Sword of the Enemy be removed from a Nation in one year nay in one month you shall see the sins of wont and custom as high and as rise as if that People had never been beaten with such calamity When Moses had interceded to God to rid away some sore judgment from Pharaoh after a little pause he was never the better But when Pharaoh saw there was respite he hardened his heart Exod. viii 15. So the Souldiers seeing there was respite and that the revenging Angel did not follow them at the heels fall immediately in a little space into a fouler service than before Thirdly As the saying is very true Facinus quos inquinat aequat great men lose much of their superiority and power when they match themselves with their underlings in a bad deed the basest servants are their equals when they have made them consorts in their iniquity The High Priests lost all their veneration in the esteem of these Souldiers when they were guilty one to another of a mutual Confederacy They should and would have been as fearful to do any wicked thing in the presence of the High Priests as in the presence of an Angel but now they carry no awe at all to them who had forgot their reverence to their God Fourthly We read at verse 11. they were but some of the Watch that concurred in this devillish stratagem against Christ and his Disciples but the Chief Priests are indefinitely named not some of them but the whole Fraternity for none are excepted So divers Synods of Christian Priests and Bishops have with one mouth protested against the Faith with one Pen subscribed to Heresie so that the unity of Priests let some say what they will is not always a token of Gods Spirit upon them but sometimes of Satanical Confederacy Of the Souldiers who watch'd the Sepulchre but one part only came into the City and of that part it may be but a few of the chief sticklers consented to evil the rest perhaps were like those two hundred in Jerusalem who were called by Absolon to Hebron of whom the Scripture witnesseth That they went in their simplicity knowing nothing Among this Band of Souldiers and among those that were tempted to tell the forgery he that writes the Calendar of the Greek Saints Simeon Metaphrastes nominates one Longinus and brings him in for a Saint on the Fifteenth of March the next day after Christ was crucified Metaphrastes hath patched together this Legend of him that it was he who pierced our Saviours side with a Spear and that a drop of the bloud which streamed out fell upon the eye of Longinus whereof he had lost the sight before by some mischance and this drop of bloud restored him to the sight yea and to the eyes of his mind presently to confess Christ and believe How will the next story hang with this That for all his conversion and belief he was by appointment of Pilate one of them that watch'd the Sepulchre of Christ surely all those were evil instruments and the Angel handled them accordingly by striking a fear into them like dead men But proceed we for Metaphrastes says that Longinus and two more with him refused the evil ways of the High Priests stiffly avouched the truth of the Resurrection for which he incurred the great hatred of Pilate and the Jews and when they despited him for it he gave up his Souldiers Cassock and Belt would serve the Romans no more went into Cappadocia to preach the Gospel and became a Martyr But that you may know Metaphrastes is no sure Author for Canonizing of Saints Baronius at the end of this and another story I shall tell you anon bids the Reader beware says he As Paul admonisheth prove all things hold that which is good But before I leave this first Point of my Text mark that which is most apparent how the Chief Priests and Souldiers pieced together why the Elders and the Council gave large money to the Souldiers like Claudius his Witnesses of whom Tully says they knew him to be a man of no faith for they would not speak one word of his side till their hire was in their Pocket Emitur à custodibus argento resurrectionis silentium The Jews gave money to the Souldiers to keep the truth of the Resurrection in silence and by so much the more is the Resurrection of Christ grown so famous because this Bribery is so infamous they offer a little Silver to them that will conceal it God doth infinitely out-bid them and offers the Kingdom of Heaven to them that preach it and publish it For the Pharisees who no doubt were the principal in this action were most greedy of gain and loth to part with their substance especially by the lump wherefore they would never have given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 large money much more than they covenanted for when they hired a Cohort to watch the Sepulchre I say they would never have given so much to the Souldiers to stop their mouth if there had been any probability left to out-face the truth no certainly if it had been possible they would have brought them in for carelesness or treachery but the matter was clear it could not be answered so they must poyson the whole Band with money or the truth would come out to their shame and infamy O what folly there is in the wisdom of the wicked What prudent man would ever hope that a Multitude would keep counsel That among so many Witnesses none would blab it out in a corner That no Scoffer in the ranks would take their money and laugh at them for their impiety Or that God would not raise up some other faithful Witnesses though all these did continue in Perjury It was a Proverb once in the Christian Church that it had Golden Priests when it had Woodden Chalices that is a brave Clergy in the times of poverty and persecution but when Riches flowed in that they had Golden Chalices they had for a great part but Woodden Priests I find this most true in the Synagogue of the Jews that in this Age they had more wealth than they knew how to use well for in these three last Chapters of St. Matthew
of First-fruits which at this time by the Levitical Sanctions were waved to the Lord are rendred after the spiritual gloss of our Church to be amor Dei proximi the love of God and the love of our Neighbour and these must be weaved or heaved up after their manner what 's that why our integrity and piety must shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father that is in heaven Beloved here 's the difference they gave first-fruits of earthly things this day unto God but this day we celebrate the memorial how God gave First-fruits of heavenly things unto man In Rom. viii 23. St. Paul speaks of the first-fruits of the spirit in a diminutive sense as the inchoation of grace the enlightning of faith the hope of better things that what he hath begun in us he will perfect but the first-fruits of the spirit which the Church reapt this day was that which sanctified the whole lump for ever after for this last correspondency and for the other forenamed the Apostles in a most acceptable time expected the Holy Ghost when the day c. A most delicious gift poured out from God in the very strength and deliciousness of the year A festival time it was you have heard and such a Festival as brought a Concourse of many Nations to Jerusalem so it appears in this chapter I have my authority from St. Ambrose that the Lord had this time much in mind to do it honor many years before for some Jewish Tradition hath encouraged him to say that the certain season when the Angel came down to the Pool of Bethesda to trouble the water that whosoever stepped in first might be made whole of his disease it was but once a year and that once was the Feast of Pentecost Mark how the Lord design'd out that day for his Angelical Miracle I will not engage my self into that Chronological question whether our first Whitsunday when the Holy Ghost appeared in firy tongues was the very Pentecost of the Jews or rather the day after To the latter opinion many incline upon that slight reason because St. Luke writ this Story of the Acts 28 years after Christ's ascension into heaven and then the Jews Pentecost was abolished the doubt is much uncertain wherefore I let it pass But I can assure you that in very ancient times of the Christian Faith yea in the most ancient if Clement his Constitutions were warrantable this day was kept with as high honour and devotion as the zeal of our Forefathers could excogitate Says Eusebius lamenting that his Master Constantine the Emperor died at the same time if I should call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holiday of Holidays we should not erre He adds that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it had honour done it seven weeks together This in my apprehension refers us to three things First the Church was wont to sing that chearful Anthem of Alleluia every Sunday from Easter to Whitsuntide an arbitrary Ceremony at the discretion of every particular Church and our Church of England since the Reformation continued the custom according to the first Liturgies set forth in Edward the sixth his Reign to sing or say alleluia from Easter to Whitsuntide at Morning Prayer 2. By the ancient Prescript no Fasts were bidden all those seven weeks nothing but joy and exultation was heard and practiced 3. During all that space they did not kneel at time of Prayer but stand upright looking towards Heaven from whence the Holy Ghost descended Nefas erat de geniculis adorare in Tertullian's time these were ancient Rites and Prescriptions to magnify this day in the beauty of holiness But whereas Eusebius adds that Christ ascended into Heaven the very same day the Holy Ghost descended this was his oversight though not his alone who would not pick the right sense Act. i. 3. that Christ was seen of his Disciples but fourty days speaking of the things of the Kingdom of Heaven therefore on the fourtieth day he was taken from them into Heaven and ten days after the plentiful showers of grace did rain down upon the Church the time is so precisely noted says Isidor Palcusiot to refute that proud Heretick Montanus who said the great promise of the Holy Spirit was not fulfill'd at the Feast of Pentecost but long after in his days This is the glorious day which the Lord hath made wherein he summ'd up the complement of all his benefits as the sixt day was the complement of the Creation All other preceding mercies were but words to this the Holy Ghost is the Seal or Signature of those words to make the deed the stronger in quo signati estis Eph. iv 30. in whom ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption Rejoyce in this day and keep it holy before the Lord not in decking the body in full diet in sport in idleness but in thankfulness in purity of mind in spiritual consolations in the feast of a good conscience and ever set before you at such seasons what Gregory said Quid prodest interesse festis hominum si contingat deesse festis Angelorum What profit is it to keep holiday with men if we should be excluded from keeping holiday with Angels for evermore So much for the time of the Holy Ghosts coming I repent me not that I have been long in it for it was most material The persons that received this power from on high are next in the way of my discourse omnes all of them Many there are that understand this note of Universality collectivè not as meant of all that were present but of all the Apostles The whole Church was gathered together for the Election of a new Apostle that 's apparent in the former chapter and the lot fell upon Matthias The number of names together were about an hundred and twenty Among these there were divers women Mary the Mother of our Lord is expresly mentioned for one of them these continued together in prayer and supplication even until the time that the Holy Ghost did fill the Room Now I would put the case into this distinction whether the spirit came down upon them all upon them all in some great measure no question but not upon them all with the same virtue and power and illumination Many talents of rare perfections were distributed among all the Believers that were present men and women for else Peter had not applied the place of the Prophet Joel so pertinently ver 17. of this chap. In the last days I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesie your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions St. Hierom leans to this side and says that the mighty gift of grace was given to all that believed even as God took the spirit of Moses and gave it to the 70 Elders and it came to pass when the spirit rested upon them
the name of the whole Congregation to offer up two Lambs of the first year for a Sacrifice of Peace-offerings You will say that 's no strange matter to present a Peace-offering to the Lord true indeed particular persons did it often in their own behalf but Maimonides observes it that the publick Body the Vniversal Church of the Jews never offered any Peace-offering but at the Feast of Pentecost O who will work this work for the Militant Catholique Church that we may say of all the parts of it omnes unanimiter they conclude all for the Orthodox Faith with one accord Some strange salvation must drop out of the clouds we know not how to work this Attonement yet on both sides let every man take heed he make not the rent bigger with more obstinacy and greater separation sweetly did a meek Moses of our own Church write there will come a time when three words uttered with charity and meekness shall receive a far more blessed reward than three thousand Volumes written with disdainful sharpness of wit It may seem a wonderful and unanswerable scruple that many in the former Ages of the Church did so much transcend us in these dayes for gifts of Miracles gifts of Devotion and Learning for Watchings and Fastings for Industry and assiduous diligence for most prosperous success in winning many Souls to the Kingdom of Heaven but the true cause is that their unanimity and pious agreement opened a wide gate to admit sanctification into their breast and our discords exclude it No spirit can give life to Members dismembred unless they be first united and compact together Ezekiel knew not how scattered bones could live but the bones came together bone to his bone and then the breath of the Lord came into them and they lived and stood upon their feet Ezekiel xxxvii 10. The Scribes and Elders of the Jews in few years after our Saviour was crucified were like broken bones scattered and divided like as one breaketh and heweth wood every year by bribery or calumniations the High Priest lost his dignity and a new one was substituted Josephus most impartially hath related that there was no care of Religion no zeal for the Law among them because there was nothing but bandings and factions in their Synagogues Here was no accord and therefore no Holy Spirit came down into their habitations Against the Congregation of the famous first Nicene Council the Fathers that met together it is not to be concealed forgat themselves so far that they put up innumerous Bills of complaints one against another before the Emperor Constantine The Emperor knew this was a most repugnant beginning to the good work they had in hand to enter into the consideration of Christs business with distracted enmities therefore he threw all their bills and brables into the fire and then bad them proceed in the name of Christ and in the grace of his Holy Spirit Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty says the Prophet Hosea chap. x. 2. A contentious stickler that loves to be the head of a Faction and to disjoynt things out of peace and quietness I wonder whether ever he thinks how the Apostles were composed and prepared when they received the Holy Ghost Fuerunt omnes eâdem animatione simul in unam so St. Austin reads they had one heart and one mind and one inclination to advance the Kingdom of Christ they were all with one accord in one place I enter now upon the last part of all that I may find the way out of my Text and conclude it is the other Preparation for the coming of the Holy Ghost as all the Disciples were knit in vinculo pacis in the bond of peace and concord so they were united together in vinculo spei in the bond of hope by patience and expectation they were ejusdem unanimitatis and ejusdem longanimitatis they kept together for the promise of the Holy Ghost till fifty days were fulfilled God made the Israelites number fifty days after their coming out of Egypt before the Law was delivered ut adventus sui desiderium accenderet to make their hearts burn within them with longing for his coming so he put off the coming of the Holy Ghost for the same space of time to make them think of his promise with eager expectation The Jews called it the Feast of fifty days and the Feast of weeks for whether we reckon by days or weeks or years we must wait the Lords leisure and say expectans expectavi Psal xl 1. I have waited patiently for the Lord and say with our Saviour not my will but thy will be done that is not my time but thy time be fulfilled Where is the faith where is the humility of those rash spirits that will not tarry the fulness of time but have all things at their whistle by and by or quarrel with God as if he had forgot them They received this blessing of wonderful grace that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long abiders in the 13. verse of the former chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or perseverantes ver 14. such as continue till the day of promise was fully come He that believeth let him not make haste says the Prophet Isaiah God will do all things by his own leisure and maturity if he happen to stay stay for him Habak ii 3. for at last he that cometh will come and then he is no flitter his gifts are without repentance and he will abide with us for ever AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE Descent of the Holy Ghost ACTS ii 2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and filled all the house where they were sitting THE Feast of Christs Resurrection and the Feast of Whitsunday or coming of the Holy Ghost are distant one from another fifty days in space of time but are as near to themselves as the bark unto the tree in real substance and in spiritual conjunction In the Resurrection the strength of Hell was weakened for us In the descending of the Holy Ghost the vertue of Heaven was made powerful in us In the first the doors of the Grave were unlock'd that we might not be held in death In the other the windows of heaven were opened that we might be partakers of the life to come The Resurrection reduceth the soul into the body again which was dissolved by the sin of Adam The coming of the Holy Ghost doth again reduce grace into the Soul when original Justice had been taken from it by the same mans transgression These are parallell'd in primo gradu and the comparison may reach a little further to our present business that there was a great noise caused at Christs rising For behold there was an Earthquake Mat. xxviii 2. And loe as great a noise from above at the coming of the Holy Ghost for behold there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind These two honourable Feasts
having such near relation I have found out most principal Texts for them both this year out of the same Chapter for Easter day Ver. 24. whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of death For Whitsunday in that notable portion of the story which I have read unto you And I told you upon the last great solemnity that Whitsunday was principally ordained for this end to make Easter day famous over all the world But the principal fruits of this day are three if we may comprehend an Ocean of graces in so small a number In the zeal of our Prayers we passed them over in the Morning Collect and that Collect extracted them from the Epistle and Gospel appointed Thus you may perceive that the Service of the Church of England is the treasure of my observations The Collect runs upon these three Points Teaching Illumination Consolation God which upon this day hath taught the hearts of thy faithful people for heavenly Doctrine began to be made common to all the world from this day Yet many hear the Word but most unprofitably therefore it follows that God hath sent us the light of his holy Spirit to have a right judgment in all things And many have the benefit of true Doctrine and the help of Illumination but with much sorrow and persecution therefore the Holy Ghost came down also that we might rejoyce in his holy comfort Thus far the contents of that short Prayer have helpt me The Gospel for the day runs altogether upon the last branch upon Consolation I will pray the Father and he will give you another Comforter The Epistle falls upon the two former upon Doctrine and Illumination and that in two sensible miracles For Doctrine that a sound came from heaven as of a mighty wind to foreshew that the sound of the Word should go forth into all Lands for Illumination that cloven tongues appeared and sate upon them as it were of fire The noise was as a Trumpet to wake the World the firy Tongues as so many lights to let them see their visitation Thus the Holy Ghost is presented to both the senses to the Ear as to the sense of faith to the Eye as to the sense of love The Ear is the ground of the Word and Doctrine and that gives the first admittance to Faith and therefore the Holy Ghost began his operation there according to my Text and that in these particulars to be considered 1. That God caused a sound to be heard upon the descending of the Holy Spirit 2. The manner of the sound is resembled to a Wind. 3. To a sudden wind 4. To a rushing mighty wind 5. It was from heaven 6. It filled all the house where they were sitting All these particulars are worthy of my labour and your attention That there came a sound from heaven at the mission of the Holy Ghost is the first thing remarkable A sound first to call in them that were without Secondly To demonstrate the Office of them that were within As the chiming of Bells calls us together to Church so an audible sound from heaven was a warning to the Jews to flock to that place where the Apostles were gathered together The Master of the Feast in the Gospel sent forth his Servants and invited the Guests and bad them be told what preparation he had made for their coming so the men of Jerusalem had as sensible an invitation to draw them to the great Feast of the Gospel as if a Canon had been discharged in their Ear. Or if they were yet unprepared to taste of such Manna as fell from heaven into their lap yet the Lords doings were so palpable before them that their consciences must be extremely stupified with malice if they made an ill interpretation of others that were then filled from above with the great power of God And indeed Oecumenius says that the sound did pierce the ears of all that were in the City that such as were curious to know the reason might come and see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the open manifestation of the miracle might preserve it from calumny But you will say it did not gain the good opinion of the Jews for all the gift of Tongues had such a forerunner not vox clamantis but sonus intonantis not the voice of a Crier but a peal of thunder to bring it into the world yet the people did disgrace it with a vile imputation of drunkenness True it proved as ill as could be expected but says St. Chrysostome if they said the Apostles were full of new Wine when these signs concurred what would they have said without them The most graceful and melodious sounds in the world are lost to deaf men and though a clamour and a cry from heaven were come down as it is in my Text yet it moved not those that like the deaf Adder had stopped their ears The Serpent in that place is called in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Antiphrasis or the contrary because it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unperswaded Creature all Art and Charming is spent in vain it will not listen it will not mitigate its venomous wrath and so the Translator Apollinarius says upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when the Adder is mischievously angry for the time of his violent anger and while that lasts he is stark deaf though he can hear by nature So such as are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. i. 16. Disobedient and reprobate to every good work though they have the sense of hearing by nature yet when they are violently set upon infidelity and stubbornness they give no more attention to the sound that comes from heaven than do the stones of the Temple When Stephen preached so divinely to the Jews that the heavens opened in the time of his Sermon Acts vii 56. as if way had been made for the Angels and Saints to be his Auditors even then when the gates of heaven stood wide open at the grace of his words they that should have given him best attention stopped their ears and ran upon him But the sin of them that will not hear let it lie upon their own head they cannot say but there hath been a Trumpet among them to awake them from the sleep of sin The sound which God hath sent forth is shrill and loud to call in those that are without And he that hath ears c. But secondly the Spirit came in a very audible sound to declare what a door of utterance should be opened from thenceforth to the Messengers of Christ That their sound should go out into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the World Rom. x. 18. The Gospel preached to every creature under heaven Col. i. 23. How many were in that lamentable condition like the Disciples at Ephesus that had not so much as heard whether there were an Holy Ghost Angels themselves began to be Preachers when a door of entrance was
Child of wrath and those laudable actions were but sins or imperfections with a good gloss Will you say they desire and pray for the holy Spirit and therefore this illumination comes not suddenly but with invitation O but says the Arausican Council which handled this Point of the grace of God more copiously and Orthodoxly than ever any Council did the utterance nay the very thought of every good Prayer it is instilled by the divine irradiation of Gods help and the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Prayer and if any man say that the grace of God is bestowed upon our Prayer and Invocation and that grace did not first enable us to make that Prayer he contradicts the Prophet Isaiah and the Apostle Paul who both have these same words I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not Thus that Council whereby you hear that we whose nature is rank corruption do not prepare and dispose the way to attract the blessing of heaven upon us by little and little upon congruity of Gods favour it comes suddenly and unawares when we least deserve it It must not be let alone without this addition to it which is S. Ambrose his descant on it Nescit tarda molimina spiritus sancti gratia the spirit of purity and renovation is quick and sudden in the work of conversion he doth not linger and mature his good effects by soft leisure he doth not creep like a snail or as a Father of our own Church says like a Serpent Serpentis est repere Commonly motions that come from the old Serpent the Devil creep upon us and men grow bold in iniquity by degrees Nemo repentè fit pessimus was the old Proverb but where the Lord loveth the man whom he chooseth he doth in an instant take away his stony heart and give him an heart of flesh And as the Resurrection of the dead shall be in an instant so in an instant he translates him from death to life It is done with such dispatch and celerity that the gift of Prophesie nay of Sanctification is called but the touch of the lips Says the Angel to Isaiah upon the living coal which he brought from the Altar This hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged Isa vi 7. The loyal Israelites that feared God and the King are called a band of men whose hearts God had touched 1 Sam. x. 26. O admirable workman says Gregory Mox ut tetigeret mentem docet solùmque tetigisse est docuisse He doth but touch and teach and the mind is reformed in a moment as soon as ever the finger of his Spirit is laid upon it An Apostolical Spirit came suddenly upon St. Matthew penitent restitution upon Zaccheus confession and grace upon the Thief on the Cross The Eunuch made haste to believe and as soon as he believed he would be baptized of Philip at the next water he came to and go no further Men must not neglect present motions of grace though suddenly rising in them Now the Lord moves my heart and now at the first touch I will obey the Spirit This is a brave and a pious resolution But if you let the grace of God knock at door once and twice and do not open it is to be feared that you will grow deaf after a while and never hear it Modo modò non habebant modum Anon and to morrow and hereafter at more leisure and as Festus said to Paul Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee these are not words of good manners to so great a King as the King of heaven Can Impenitancy or continuance in evil be good at any time Then break it off at the first pang and throw that the Conscience suffers for it The Spirit is a sudden wind he deceives his own soul that continues in a long consumption of any sin and thinks to be helpt out of it by a lingring remedy The description of the suddenness hath not been unuseful you see and we shall collect as much from that which follows that it was Flatus veniens vehemens a rushing mighty wind Methinks I see the Spirit of God set out here in his manifold strength and efficacy Is there any thing in it self so thin and poor as a puff of Air It is neither Iron nor Brass nor Bones and yet what strange effects it works Turns up Oaks and Cedars by the roots breaks the Ships of the Sea in pieces casts down Bulwarks and Fortresses so Epiphanius received it from some good hand that God overthrew the Tower of Babel with a violent wind So the principles of the Spirit seem to be very mean and foolishness to flesh and bloud the Instruments in which it wrought homely illiterate Fishermen yet the learning of five Synagogues putting their wits together was not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which Stephen spake Acts vi 10. It brings down strong Holds and high Imaginations it brings into Captivity every exalting thought to the obedience of Christ Wisdom Learning Might Majesty all have stoopt before it As the Scripture says often that the Spirit came mightily upon Samson and then his Foes were sure to fall before him so it rusheth upon some holy men with a gallant heroick zeal and then all the subtilties of Satan are not able to make a part against it No Fear can dismay them no Persecution can make them hide their head no Favour or Reward make them swerve from a good conscience no Discipline so strict that they will not undertake for the love of Christ The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Mat. xi 12. The Kingdom of heaven was among the Jews but Rapuit regnum coelorum Centurio The Centurion did as it were invade it and take it from them for upon his confession our Saviour said I have not found so great faith no not in Israel Neither is it only expedient to make it manifest that the Spirit is strong and mighty like a stiff vehement wind in actu exercito in the power of it which the Saints of God have to exercise to others but also in actu primo informante when it enters into the heart of them whom God converts it comes with a mighty force and will not be gainsaid with the opposition of our rebellious nature Neque resistere ultra potest cui velle resistere sublatum est says a Reverend Father of our own Church that is neither shall our vicious nature resist the mighty working of Gods converting grace since the first thing that such grace works is to conquer our perverseness in resisting I do not say but our will hath always a liberty and indifferency in it to do or not do To chuse or refuse but the act to resist is suspended for that time by the grace of God and though
utterance ALL the joy which we celebrate for the famous acts of Christ is irksom to the Devil and the particular Solemnities which we keep are grievous to those that shut their eyes against the truth Upon the yearly day of our Saviours Nativity the Jew is sad and displeas'd because he believes not that he that was born of Mary a pure Virgin was the Son of God and the Messias whom their Fathers lookt for that should sit upon the Throne of David for evermore Upon the high Feast of his Resurrection the Sadducee gnasheth with his teeth because he denieth that the dead can be raised to life So upon this triumphant Feast wherein we abound with comfort for the sending of the Holy Ghost the Pelagian is malecontented who is an enemy to the efficacy of Grace and the more cause we have to maintain the dignity of it and to be throughly disciplin'd what the Holy Ghost hath wrought for our Soul because the Church is miserably soured of late in all places with the leaven of Pelagius Again as all the parts of our Saviours Mediatorship were several degrees to advance our Salvation and like the several steps of Jacobs Ladder to bring us nearer and nearer to Heaven so in this comparison the sending of the Holy Ghost is the loftiest degree and as it were the top of the spire which is next neighbour to the Kingdom of Glory for as man in his first creation had but an incomplete being till the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so man in his reparation was but incompletely restored till Christ did send the Comforter to infuse into him the breath of sanctification This day therefore is the concluding Feast of all the great days wherein we rememorate the noble works of our Lord and to go further this Text is the upshot of all the blessings that were conferred upon the Church in this happy day Christ took our nature upon him that he might die for our sins he suffered and was crucified that he might reconcile all such to his Father as would repent and believe repentance and faith to please God cannot enter into the heart of the natural man by his own abilities a power from Heaven must be the means to bring that about which is so repugnant to our corrupt nature Traverse over the mystery of our Redemption and you shall find that the work is at a stand till supernal grace poured in do draw it forward as Physicians say that spiritus est ultimum alimenti the last concoction and the most refined part of our nourishment is that which makes the spirits so the donation of the Holy Spirit is the accomplishment and final resolution of all the benefits which we partake in Christ And the last payment collated by that precious liberality to enrich the Church for ever is here in my Text nay indeed it was but a preparation before the talent of grace was not tendred till now That which was set forth in figure in the former verses is here exhibited in real substance Before a rushing wind made a noise here was the very thing imparted which was shadowed by the wind before certain firy tongues made a glittering that sat upon their head now their own tongues became most fluent and voluble with wonderful eloquence In brief to the exact building up of the Church two things were requir'd which are not wanting but abound in this verse First that the Lord should speak unto the Heart Secondly that he should speak unto the Ear by an invisible word and by a visible He spake invisibly to the Heart when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost he spake visibly to the Ear when his Ministers began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance Nay more to gather a Society together whose Labours should be dispread over all the world it was expedient that the Lord should confer both ordinary and extraordinary Gifts upon them His ordinary Blessing and indeed nothing is blest without it is some quantity of Sanctification his extraordinary Blessing is twofold to send such as are not lightly sprinkled but filled with the Spirit and to speak with divers Tongues that their sound may go forth into all the World Yet again to shew the Amplitude of Gods allowance to his Primitive Church he makes a double provision first for every Disciple as he is one Member of this Body and so all and every one of them were filled with the Holy Ghost and then he provides for all the Members of his Body junctim in one union and communion they began c. so that here 's the inward and the outward blessing the ordinary and the extraordinary the particular and the universal The inward ordinary and particular blessing is this that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost If you look for the provision with which the Primitive Church was stored look for it in this Chapter and you will find out upon judicious survey that there are three things which make it plenteous with all manner of store Pastores Verbum and Spiritus First certain Pastors allotted to the sacred Function to guide the souls of the People 2. the Word of life which is put into their mouth to be preacht unto all Nations 3. The Spirit of grace accompanying the Word to make it fruitful and prolificous in the hearts of them that hear it and obey it That some were ordeined Pastors and Bishops to teach and rule the Church that 's clear the Apostles met together in Jerusalem with one accord as Christ had appointed and the Cloven Tongues which came from Heaven sat upon each of them that was their Commission to take their Bishoprick upon them that the Word was delivered unto them which they should preach and Elocution to impart that Word to every Kingdom and Language that 's as clear Eight times in this one Chapter St. Peter quotes the Scripture of the old Testament and with divers tongues according to the capacity of all the Nations and Languages that were met together and that the Holy Ghost was infused with much abundance at the same time that 's as clear and pregnant as the rest 't is twice gone over in my Text both in the beginning and in the end they were filled with the Holy Ghost and the Spirit gave them utterance A Church without lawful Pastors is but a Synagogue of Schismatiques a Pastor without a Tongue is but an Idol Shepherd or a dumb Dog a Tongue without the power of the Spirit is but sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal As St. Paul said of the three grand Theological Virtues Now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity so I say of these necessary parts that constitute the Church the Ministry the Word and the Spirit but the chiefest and most excellent of these is the Spirit In some strange manner God may have a Church without a consecrated Priesthood as when Adam and
Eve were first placed in Paradice he may have a Society of holy Servants without the Word taught and proclamed by the organ of a Tongue as the Angels are illuminated to know his will by immediate inspiration but with reverence let me speak it I cannot see which way the Lord can have a Church without the Gift of the Holy Spirit God may be known by his wonderful works and effects without his special grace but can he be present in the soul of man and make it blessed by knowing his Divine will to please him without his special grace Praesens est in quantum praesentem facit beatitudinem if he make all his good to pass before us it must be by these means I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious Exod. xxxiii 19. Those creatures that seek no higher perfection nor greater good than a temporal being and that which is found within the compass of their own nature they may attein thereunto by the strength of nature without any other help but Men and Angels that seek an infinite and Divine good that is everlasting happiness which consisteth in the vision of God they cannot attain their wished end which is so much removed from them and so far above them unless they be lifted up unto it by a supernatural force of grace Eternal felicity is the Haven to which they sail and it is no ordinary wind but the stiff gale of the Holy Spirit that must bring them to the Port of endless glory that is they cannot ascend of themselves they may be lifted up to the Vision of God especially Man since his woful fall they are the words of the tenth Article of our Church can have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing him that he may have a good will and without the same grace working with him when he hath a good will Natural habilities and inclinations at the best reach no further than to dispose all things well for the honor and preservation of the natural being but when we are put to it and become content yea and rejoyce to lay down our life for Christs sake which is the abolition of the natural being this vigor and strength must come from a supernatural influence that is from the fire of the Spirit which is predominant above the breath of nature This hath given you satisfaction I suppose that it did more import the Church to receive the Spirit than any other benefit I draw forward to a more distinct inspection of it and the first scruple about which I find a difference is this Whether the very Person of the Holy Ghost be meant in this place or only certain impressions of his Gifts and Graces I will streighten my self to a short answer both the Person of the Holy Ghost was here and the virtue of the Holy Ghost that which sat upon the head of each of them in cloven tongues as it were was the infinite Majesty of the third Person of Trinity in that apt and visible similitude but that which filled them was not the very essence but the operation of the Spirit Implet non seipso formaliter sed dono quod producit say the Schoolmen he that filleth all things with his presence cannot be said formally to fill one thing more than another but he that blows where he listeth with his inspiration is said to fill those whom he sanctifies not with his essence but with that inspiration The Founder of School Divinity is noted for one error above the rest that he makes the Grace of God to be no effect of the Holy Spirit but the essence of the very Spirit to purifie the thoughts and mind He stuck too litterally to St. Austin and so wandred from the right way For thus that Father preaching upon my Text Christ was present with his faithful Servants this day not by his Visiting Grace but by his Personal Majesty atque in vasa non jam odor balsami sed ipsa suba sacri defluxit unguenti their vessels were not only perfumed with the odour of the sweet Ointment but that fragrant Balsam the very Unction it self did flow abundantly into them To this it is most proper to rejoyn that St. Austin meant it of the extraordinary Apparition of the Holy Ghost upon this day not of his ordinary inspiration For in the same Sermon he says that the immortal Spirit is vicarius successor redemptoris the Deputy to succeed our Saviour in the Church now he is gone away on high But how is he Christs Deputy not as if by his personal communication he wrought his gifts in us but thus quod Salvator inchoavit peculiari virtute Spiritus Sanctus consummat the faith which Christ did begin in his Apostles by teaching them daily the Holy Ghost did perfect by the special virtue of sanctification No Text doth more evidently convince that the infinite and increated essence of the Spirit is to be distinguisht from the finite and created qualities which he infuseth then those words Jo. vii 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters but this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those are all the words in the Text for the Holy Ghost was not yet we make it up for the Holy Ghost was not yet given But stand we to the words of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost was not yet This will never hold without differencing the third Person of Trinity from his sanctifying effects the Person was before and had no beginning but nondum erat manifesti muneris efficacitate says Theophylact as yet he was not revealed in his plentiful efficacity The close of the Point is thus the very Person of the Holy Ghost came down into the place where they were gathered in an external visible form and his effects or efficacy was breathed into them in wonderful gifts But concerning those gifts wherewith they were filled there 's another scruple whether they were saving graces such as are collated upon them that are the Elect of God or whether they were only miraculous assistances as Prophecies Gifts of Tongues Gifts of Healing and the like which are impressions indeed of the Holy Ghost not that they sanctifie him which hath them but they are given to men for the confirmation of the holy Faith That which brings this into doubt is a Tradition that hath no good founder that some Apostates and Revolters as Nicolas the Deacon from whom the Nicolaitans are derived were some of this Assembly that are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and it is not to be contradicted but that gratiae gratis datae habilities to work miracles may be in those that make shipwrack of a good conscience Yet that Exception though it may hold in others yet it is not to be applied to
these persons and to this season not to these persons for it is most likely that none but the Apostles were partakers of the Divine illumination which came from Heaven upon this day and the Apostles no man calls it in question had the talents of that grace delivered unto them which saved their souls Ir is a masterless and a false fame that any castaways were in the number of these that were filled with the Holy Ghost Christ himself is said to be full of the Holy Ghost Luke iv 1. and the Blessed Virgin gratiâplena full of grace and St. Stephen the Captain of all Martyrs full of the Holy Ghost Acts vi and Barnabas the Son of Consolation full of the Holy Ghost Acts xi None but such as were peerless Saints are deigned with that praise to give this scruple a full satisfaction regard the time and season wherein this dew of heaven did drop down into the Fleece of wooll it is the day so long before promised wherein the Spirit should be poured out upon all flesh the scaturigo the first spouting out of the Spirit and do you think that this being the original from whence the spring began that all the best Balsams and Liquors did not flow into them that received it I resolved therefore that these persons in my Text did not only partake such gifts as made them wonderful in the eyes of the world but such also as made them holy and acceptable in the sight of God that is it did not only speak in their tongues but it was diffused in their hearts To end this matter remember what manner of spirit that is which God bestows it is from above it is holy it is not our own but Christs a Spirit from above and not from beneath as St. Paul says Now we have received not the spirit of this world but of God 1 Cor. ii 12. Spiritus mundi est per quem arripiuntur phanatici says St. Ambrose that 's the spirit of this world with which phanatical men are led which drives them into contention or vain glory but they are enemies to peace and savour not the things which belong to God And since we are bidden to deny our selves if we will be Christs Disciples we must also deny our own private Spirit and submit our selves to the Spirit of the Church which is the Spirit of God for our Saviour hath promised to be with it unto the end of the world Take heed of this hot windy humour which makes some cleave pertinaciously to their own imagination and attribute far more to their own ignorant judgment than becomes them The Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets but if any one think that some new mysteries are revealed to him which the Church never heard of before and begin to trouble our peace with his falsesly pretended raptures and enthusiasms I say unto such in Ezekiels words Woe unto the foolish Prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing Thus far I have spoken of the Gift which was given to the Apostles to supply the room of Christ himself now he was gone and ascended into Heaven Hominem portavit in coelum Deum misit in terram says St. Austin he carried away his Manhood into Heaven and instead thereof he sent down God unto the Earth I mean the Holy Ghost and this Gift more worth than all the world beside is his usual and continual favour but the measure of it is more than ordinary repleti sunt omnes they were all filled with the Holy Ghost And Leo did very well to mark it that this was not spiritus inchoans but cumulans not the initiation but the accumulation of the Spirit the augmenting of the old stock which the Apostles had in a good quantity before not the beginning of a new They had the Spirit before as appears particularly in St. Peter when Christ told him he had prayed that his faith might not fail therefore he had a portion of faith In general it is most manifest that Christ breathed on them all and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost But as it appears by Elisha's request to his Master Elias there are single and there are double Portions of the Spirit there is a single Talent of Grace given to one Servant two to a second and five Talents committed to him that was most entrusted by his Master there are such as have a little of this Manna in their Omer and them that have it top full And these that received the Holy Ghost at this Feast were such as were not sprinkled but replenished with it quibus nulla pars animae mansit carens spiritu sancto says Cajetan the fruits of sanctification did not grow thinly in them here a berry and there a berry upon the top of a bough but pious conformity to Gods will obedience and the fear of the Lord were in every faculty of their soul and body The Romanists oftentimes put in such impertinent cautions that their bedging in of some needless exception lays waste the truth of God Among others of that bad stamp this is one that the Apostles and other holy men are said to be filled at this time with the Holy Ghost because an Increase was put to that which they had before but the Blessed Virgin was so full before that she received not any new addition or if she received a new distillation of it now illud erat ut in nos tantum effunderet says Lorinus it was for our sakes that it might overflow and be transfused from her to us even as Christ was full of grace and truth from the first moment that he was incarnate and yet for our sakes the Spirit came upon him when he was baptized in Jordan Matth. iii. a most scandalous comparison between the Infinite and the Finite between the Creator and the Creature for though Christ thought it no robbery to be equall with God Philip. ii yet it is a great robbery of the Divine honor to make the Blessed Virgin equal with Christ But to keep to mine own work the Apostles had an earnest penny of the Spirit before but they came to the fulness of it by degrees first they were baptized and so had an introduction unto sanctity afterward Christ breathed on them that was their proficiency last of all came this mighty rushing and cloven tongues as it were fire and sat upon each of them that 's their perfection by nature and of themselves they were of the earth earthly but they were regenerate and born again in Baptism that 's an Element above the Earth The next step of their heavenly promotion was that the Lord breathed on them so the Air is above the Water In conclusion the Holy Ghost came down upon them in fire this is a sign that they were now full to the brim for that 's the Element which is above the Water and the Air and is the next to Heaven And well may it be called a
Spirit of grace into the Soul and is not discerned there it sanctifies there it reforms there it changeth the mind and yet we cannot understand what manner of quality it is a thing of no appearance and yet of infinite efficacy Our senses are the Cinque-ports of all humane knowledg if any thing come into us either it must enter by those passages or we have no means to know how it should enter without those passages But when we feel the agitation of grace in our heart nothing is left us but to say Lord how camest thou hither We know not which way thou camest The Jews were sealed outwardly in the Body with the Mark of Circumcision whereby every man knew his Brother but our Mark is privily imprinted upon the Soul the Holy Spirit whereby we are sealed unto the day of Redemption whereby God only knoweth his Elect. God knows it the Conscience of the faithful feels but if we go about to consider what manner of Essence or Influence it is it will amaze us that we cannot understand it Again do you wonder at things which are rarely found then marvel to see how sparingly the Grace of God doth grow upon the Earth To whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed and who hath believed our Report The Sun illuminates half the World at once with his Light and leaves the other half in Darkness but the tenth part of the Sons of Men are not beautified with the Light of Grace nay the sixth part of the Earth hath not heard whether there be an Holy Ghost It strikes me with Admiration how so many do want the Heavenly Calling for the Ravens and the Sparrows do not want the comfort of their daily Food Naturas rerum minimarum non destituit Deus the smallest things that be God doth not leave them destitute yet there are Millions of men and women that continue in a barbarous and unrepented life So that it turns to be the Subject of Admiration to find out those few that are the small Remnant of Jacob. Christ himself marvelled at the faith of the Centurion a Commander and so submissive a Gentile and so devout an Example seldom seen and the Lord did marvel at it So he lifted up his voice in Acclamation to the Canaanitish womans praise O woman great is thy faith a denied Supplicant and so constant a disgraced Supplicant and so patient Seldom doth the Grace of God inhabit where it proves so well But O love the Saints and magnifie God in their good success Such as serve God truly in spirit are no usual sight therefore the coming down of the Holy Ghost was matter of Amazement But above all the Effects and Benefits of it are so beneficial to mankind that it amounts to the highest admiration It opens unto us the meaning of the Scriptures without which the Eunuch may read but he knows not the interpretation it teacheth us to pray with zeal and faith without which our words are but babling it makes us hear the Word of God to our edifying and salvation without which it is lost in stony or thorny ground it puts the tast of Christs Body and Bloud into our mouths when we receive the Sacrament without which we eat and drink our own damnation it comforts us though we find the horror of sin in our conscience and tribulation in the world without which the vengeance of God and the wrath of man would overwhelm us it seasons our actions with piety and obedience without which nothing that we can do but is corrupted with the root of bitterness it intenerates the most stony Hearts it hath civilized the most barbarous Nations it hath brought in Nurture and the Use of Laws and Discipline among them that lived by nothing but rapine and robbery it hath made the Flesh of Man which was a Cage of uncleanness to be the Temple of God Upon whomsoever the Spirit of Grace doth rest the Lycaonians may say of them without offence Gods are come down unto us in the likeness of Men. You may justly extol it with a boundless Praise and a boundless Praise must needs close in with an Extasie of admiration You would bless your selves with wonder to see a mighty Cure wrought upon the Body by the Finger of God a Cure above nature and is it not more astonishable to see a supernatural Cure wrought upon the desperate Diseases and Distempers of the Soul If one that is born blind be made to see O then they cry out Never was the like seen from the beginning of the world Consider your selves I pray you in the better part are we not by nature blind and ignorant groping in darkness and cannot find a true step to Heaven The Spirit is eyes unto the understanding it makes us walk in marvelous light so that we shall not dash our foot against the stones and ruins of tentations which of these two is the greater Miracle To cast out a Devil from him that is possessed would make the Earth ring of the mighty virtue Doth not Grace cast out a Legion of Devils from the Soul To skip over all other instances but one no Miracle which Fame did publish with a lowder Trumpet than to raise the Dead chiefly to raise up Lazarus that had been four days dead Why a continuance in sin is the death of the Soul and no Paradox it is to say it is an immortal death Yet Christ rolls away the stone of impenitence under which it is buried looseth our hands and feet which were bound with the cords of Satan calls us forth from the Grave of Custom renews our spirit and makes us live unto holiness and you being dead in sins and trespasses hath he quickned Colos ii 13. So you see how hard it is to know the Spirit how rare to find it for totus mundus in maligno positus how copious and infinite in his Effects and Benefits it is above our capacity to measure it and most worthy of amazement to admire it Now as we know the Gift of the Holy Ghost better than these Jews so it is the more admirable to us by how much we know it the better but the persons of the Apostles were better known to the Jews than to us and that circumstance they fell upon as a strange thing which they could not dive into why the Lord did put so great a Treasure into such homely Vessels There was not a Moses among them skill'd in all the Learning of the Egyptians not a Joshua in all the cluster that could lead a Battel not a Samuel that had worn a Linnen Ephod from his childhood before the Lord not a Rabbi not a Pharisee not one of polite Education It is that which confounded the Multitude at the 7. verse Behold are not all these which speak Galilaeans There was some reverence done to them in that Character they might have said are not all these Fishermen Publicans and Ideots Truly if there were nothing else these
very Apostles were enough to prove the Majesty of God 't is strange to work good upon any of us all our will is knotty timber our heart hollow and unsound what can the Workman make of such stuff but to commit the Talents of the Holy Ghost to such as these and to make them the Bankers from whom we should borrow the stock of the Church this is his exploit alone who can make a graine of mustard seed dispread into a tree that the Fouls of the air may build their nests in it Lord what are we that thou hast given such power unto men But Lord what art thou that hast given such power to most homely and simple men O Lord how excellent is thy name in all the world Thou that out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast ordained praise and put the Eloquence of the earth to silence by such unlookt-for Instruments These were no men of spirit active and stirring in the world such busie heads would never be fortunate to propagate the Gospel of peace Again they were of no honourable Order the Spirit had more use of humility than of dignity Inspirat non inflat as one said very well it inspired them it did not puff them up To be short they were not of the Scribes and Doctors that were Proficients in Arts and Learning that the work of God might disperse the greater amazement through such who were noted for ignorance and infirmity Yet they were not sent forth like Ideots and Fishermen that knew nothing but their Mechanical trade but were endued with power from on high to teach the Mystery of Godliness in all the Tongues that could be spoken Which is the next provocation to transport them with wonder as we read it ver 9. How hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born It will ask travel and pains through the whole life of a man to be cunning in two or three Tongues good Linguists know what study it costs them to come to a Grammatical excellency in a few Languages much more to a voluble pronunciation of them But to preach Christ Jesus in all the borders of the earth required more dispatch than to begin to get the elements of learning therefore by a shorter cut God gives them an inspiration to speak all Tongues in a moment and to preach the true sense of the Scripture in all those Tongues Sentire quae velint loqui quae sentiant they had words to cloath their matter as they pleased and they had matter to utter as well as words Quid voveat dulci nutricula maejus alumno quà m sapere fari quae sentiat They needed no more abilities than wisdom to know the mind of God and a tongue to declare their wisdom As in the beginning when God created the Heaven and the Earth he spake what he pleased and it was done Let there be light and there was light Let there be a Sea and there was a Sea So in the first foundations of the Church it was no more but let there be a revelation of the mysteries of the Gospel and there was a Revelation Let there be Tongues and there were Tongues Let there be a fountain opened in Jerusalem whose several spouts may water all the quarters of the world and it was so in the twinkling of an eye If God himself had come from heaven in his own Majesty his Almighty Word could not have been clearer than in this miracle Such as have an incredulous grudge in their minds an Ague that will never leave some carnal hearts they are troubled with a longing when they hear of this O that we had lived in those days when the arm of power from on high was made so manifest We take things up as the long revolutions of time have committed them to us but we live not in the days of wonder we see nothing for us by this strange omnipotency Beloved if there were a new Gospel to be preached we should have new Tongues as the Apostles had to publish it but the truth hath been preached round about the world to all Nations the continuance is old therefore why should new Wine of new Miracles be put into old bottles Then it was meet I mean on the first Whitsunday that the Gentiles should understand that way was made to call them to Salvation which could not be confirmed better than to hear the Cross of Jesus Christ published in so many forein Dialects and that the Prediction of the Psalm is fulfilled His sound is gone forth into all the earth and his Word unto the ends of the world there is neither Speech nor Language but their voice is heard among them Now it is confessed that it is accomplished and were not a miracle a most unnecessary and supernumerary thing to confirm it Hold you content that the Spirit is yet upon your tongues the seal is printed upon them to pray to God to bless one another to comfort one another If any thing will amaze a man in these days it is the bitterness the murmuring the swearing the lying the slandering of the tongue that we should do God more dishonour with one tongue than the Apostles did him honour with twenty So much for that Passion which took away the reason of them that were present for a time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were in an extasie they were amazed Now follows that which troubled their reason and exercised their reason I will put them both in one they hang so close together They were in doubt saying one to another What meaneth this Doubting is the unquietness of the mind which proceeds from ignorance It flutters about like Noahs Dove and knows not where to set its foot they wanted the Anchor of faith to fasten them to some certain resolution for as yet they knew not the Scriptures of the Prophet Joel to which St. Peter directed them Ver. 17. It shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh Doubtfulness is the fruit of carnal wisdom it holds to nothing stedfastly it hath more faces than Janus looking every way and on every side and hath as many thoughts as there be minutes in the hour and it is impossible it should be fix'd until it pitch upon some clear Text of Scripture and say this is the truth I build upon it for so it is written in the Word of God The benefit of the holy Spirit descending as this day upon the Church was to bring us out of the windings and crooked Lanes of doubting and reduce all opinions to one setled conclusion that there was no salvation to be found but in the meritorious Passion of Jesus Christ The Academicks of Greece were so far from any certainty of knowledge that it was the perfection of their learning to doubt of every thing Whereupon an Egyptian Priest reproved them for that puerility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you that call your selves
Wise men of Greece you are always Children what God was what Beatitude was what the Soul was what the state of men in the next world was nay what Vertue was so many Philosophers so many minds As fast as one built an opinion another pulled it down with his objections doubt was both the pleasure and the torment of their wits It is the Christian faith alone rooted in us by the operation of the holy Spirit never to be shaken or removed which delivers us from all diffidence and inconstancy of doubts The more miserable is the condition of our times wherein wanton wits make Problems and Disputations of divers Points of Divinity which were embraced before by all the Worthies of the Church from the begining of Reformation Had we no Scriptures before Or no helps of learning to expound them Or no illumination of the Spirit to know the sense of them Or is this the Age of new Revelations To doubt of that which hath been in a good frame so long must needs put Unity into Multiplicity Charity into Discord Peace into War and Faith into Infidelity But upon the first Introduction of Christian Religion at the first Mission of the Holy Ghost humane infirmity had some leave to doubt that it might learn so these dubitants said one to another What meaneth this Many of those that flock'd about the Apostles and were amazed at the Tongues wherewith they spake are called devout men ver 5. of this Chapter so it seems because they desire to come out of their doubting by framing such a question whereby they might learn what the power of God did intend Ita cum stupore admirari Dei opera convenit ut simul accedat intelligendi studium says Calvin so wonder at the works of God that withal you express a desire to understand them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Proverb propound doubts with this modest submission that wise men may expound them unto you The error was that they asked one another the blind enquired of the blind which was the way out of the wood the ignorant conferred with the ignorant such as God had not revealed himself unto argue the Point among themselves and they omit the Apostles who were in place and could best resolve them When the people will be their own Teachers and never consult with them who are Gods Interpreters and Embassadors by their calling will not St. Pauls Prediction be fulfilled upon them Desiring to be Teachers they understand not what they say nor whereof they affirm 1 Tim. i. 7. Though their Counsellors were not the wisest a riff raff multitude of all sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Oecumenius a mixture of hot and weak heads yet their question tended to an occasion of knowledge What meaneth this Just so their Fore-fathers when they saw the Manna which fell from heaven asked one of another Manhu as we have it in the Margin of our Bibles What is this Exod. xvi 15. I will answer for both parts as Moses did both for that which rained from heaven then for the sustenance of their bodies and for this which was poured out for the blessing of our souls this is the bread which the Lord hath given you from heaven But Beza reads this question potentially Quid hoc rei esse possit What will this come to hereafter These unlearned men are furnished with abilities to talk with all the world It is not a seed or two which they have got but they received a strange gift from God above in the whole sheaf What will the Lord bring to pass from these beginnings That was well considered For God doth not work secundum ultimum potentiae all that he can do at once He began with an handful of men and the Church increased to as many as the Stars in heaven for multitude He gave them a Cup of new wine at this Feast he did not leave till they had a copious Vintage and the Presses overflowed with liquor of eternal life In one day he made this truth exalt it self above the opposition of the Jews in a few Ages he made it too strong for all the contradiction of the Heathen When Luther and a few that harkened to him began to burnish true and Orthodox Doctrine from the Rubbish of Popery the adjacent Kingdoms that heard of it looked for small propagation But they that yearned in their bowels to see the expulsion of superstition expected a large progress from that small beginning Their hope was upon this question Quid hoc rei esse possit What will this come to It is Gods manner to work himself mighty honour out of small appearance And although the advancement of Religion is hindred abroad and I would it were not stopt at home the Jews are obstinate Mahumetans are prepotent Adversaries the Heathen are wilfully addicted to worship strange Gods yet the leaven of the Spirit hath not lost its vertue it will in those seasons which God hath appointed breath through the whole lump And still my heart attends to the efficacy of the Gospel which may be kept back it cannot be suppressed what will this come to before the end of the world Thus far we have conversed with them that were much affected with the miracle that God bestowed as on this day an Ocean of the Holy Ghost upon a small Assembly of Saints Now you shall hear that there was an ignoble off-scum of the people that made but a mockery of it Others mocking said these men are full of new wine St. Basil says they were the Pharisees that made this derision of Gods power In a bad action where none are named the Pharisees above all others deserve to be suspected Their whole life was hypocrisie and what is that but a mockery of God and a Stage-play to personate holiness Oecumenius says they were the Plebeians as the most ignorant are the greatest Taunters flouting agrees best with foolery and base breeding For certain they were Jews for Peter turns his speech unto them ver 14. Ye men of Judaea and he confutes them with the testimony of the Prophet Joel ver 16. and that Prophesie was only in the hands of the Jews a scoffing Nation and now it is returned upon their own head For it is even to be pitied that they are hooted at and derided publickly as they walk in the streets in all Kingdoms where they have purchased to themselves an habitation How often did they gibe at our Saviour and his Miracles As when he said that Jairus daughter was not dead but slept they laught him to scorn When he preach'd that plain and evident Doctrine that men cannot serve God and Mammon the Pharisees who were covetous derided him Luk. xvi 14. And that you may know the Servants were used no worse than the Master they called our Saviour a Wine-bibber Luk. vii 34. And you may be sure at such a great occasion as this the devil would keep his wont and do all despight to
more with these bodily senses than with the inerrable light of Divine Truth is an extreme indignity A grave Patrician would be grieved that the deposition of a noted Varlet should be heard against his innocency And will you hear the objections of sense and reason against that sacred evidence Thus saith the Lord that were to trust to darkness before light the Flesh before the Spirit to lying vanities before unalterable and eternal truth But to her senses this Infidel would appeal and they would instruct her sufficiently whether it had gone with Sodom so ill as it was foretold And was she sure to be satisfied by looking back I greatly doubt it a mist might rise up like the smoak of a Furnace and she conceive it to come from fire when it did not Or the Sun might shine upon the waters in the Plain and she misdoubt that the waters were become bloud as the Moabites were so mistaken Doth not a late Historian tell us of the whole Watch of a City that misdoubted a Field of thistles a far off was a Troop of Pikemen that encamped there to besiege them Was ever man more cautious according to humane rules than St. Thomas the Apostle He would trust no mans reports that his Master was risen from the dead he would see somewhat neither would he trust his own eyes he would feel too nay he would not trust his fingers ends in small wounds but he would wallow his whole hand in the rent of his side For all this wariness he might have been deluded The Syrians saw Elisha and yet wist not it was he The Sodomites felt all night at Lots door and were still to seek Old Isaac held Jacob fast and was deluded the hands are Esau's hands says he and yet they were not And will this woman trust her eye-sight and at a distance rather than Gods peremptory assertion O trust not in man trust not in these fallible humane means Our senses are bruitish Nature is corrupt Philosophy is vain but Faith leans upon that strong pillar the revelation of the Spirit from above which cannot falter and to lie it is impossible And as this woman was called an incredulous Soul because she looked back to see whether vengeance had passed upon the Cities of the Plain as the Angel of the Lord had foretold so for want of faith touching the caution which was given to her own person she fell into presumption and by presumption into death it would not sink into her thoughts that God was in earnest that as many of their Troop as looked behind them should be consumed she thought they were big words to scare timerous persons such as Prophetical men in their zeal did every day denounce against sinners yet they liv'd and rub'd on that took their own liberty to disobey for God was gracious and would not suffer his whole displeasure to arise against miserable sinners Feel feel the pulse of your own conscience I beseech you tell me if it do not beat disorderly Doth it not confuse you to call to mind that this infidelity this in ipso genere hath betrayed you to the tentations of Satan more than all his snares beside that desperate courage which you assume to your selves upon some hope of impunity is it not the spur to all transgression God is gentle and of long suffering his minacies are terrible but his dearly beloved Son and our only Saviour is merciful sed exorabile numen fortasse experiar says the Heathen his loving kindness is soon entreated This is a bastard faith of our own to subvert the true faith which is begotten by the Spirit A Diabolical infusion that God doth menace out of policy that which He never meant to make us obsequious by the shadow of his scourge but remember that non moriemini was a lie 'T is the Serpents Master-piece to expel all faith and fear out of our mind for they go hand in hand together and to break our necks with confidence A barbarous beastly kind of life says Aristotle hardned the Scythians that they neither feared Thunder nor Earthquakes but it is infernal witchcraft that makes obdurate hearts believe that all the woes and curses in the Gospel are but a strong noise terrible while it is heard but comes to nothing Quotidie Diabolus quae Deus minatur levigat says Gregory God affirms the Woman doubts the Devil denies O unhappy they that think Truth it self may be deceived and give ear to a deceitful spirit If all the maledictions against Impenitents were not indubitably to be expected Christianity were but fainthearted superstition Religion nothing but panick fear Faith not the Evidence of things to come but a devised Fable and the sacred Scriptures in all penalties and threatnings a vizard of mockery But as sin brought punishment upon us so let the certain expectation of punishment bring us out of sin Remember Lots Wife the only memento that Christ fixeth upon any Story of the Old Testament The less she believed the less she feared but the less she feared the more she smarted What God hath threatned will not be declin'd by our contrary opinion Though Christ shed his bloud to save a sinner God will not lie to save a sinner No title of his Word shall fail no not to save an hundred thousand souls out of the infernal pit I am come to the utmost portion of the hour and not to the utmost of the first part of my Text by three points She fainted in well-doing she neglected mercy and was slow to save her self she contemned the benefit of preservation in respect of that which was taken from her But as Logick convinceth more than Rhetorick as the fist knit together is stronger than the hand spread abroad so all this will be most doctrinal in one point that she relapsed and sunk after she was in fair speed to obtain mercy because she fell in love with wicked Sodom again from whence God had withdrawn her This is her crime which Philo exaggerates more than once aestu refluo retrosum absorpta she was like a Ship sailing with full sails from the sinful delights of the World but the contrary winds and tides of concupiscence carried her clean back again Josephus accuseth her worse upon the same charge that though her feet came from that impious City yet her heart staid behind Et saepius tardavit vertendo se ad civitatem she stood still more than once to take her full view of that loss which she so much bemoaned nor was it at the first turning about as he says that she was turn'd into a pillar of salt The very Apples of Sodom remain as a token against her to this day which put forth at first as if they would grow to be very delicious in the taste and in conclusion they pulverize and become sooty ashes So Lots Wife ran well at first but in the midst of her course nay almost at the end she fainted and stuck fast
a Pillar of Salt But let us come from persons to things that concern Gods Worship and Honour and note how we defalk and rob God in them Of two Testaments of holy Scriptures the Manichaeans Hereticks in ancient times and now our modern Anabaptists do reject the Old Of two parts of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Bread and Wine to signifie the body of Christ crucified and his bloud spilt the Layty you know where have lost the use of the Cup. Of four Commandments in the First Table of the Law the Second among some is either snapt off for brevity sake or crouded into the First to make it lose its force and vigour Instead of Faith and good Works which are both necessary to salvation we are much too slow with our good Works and think to come off well enough with a dry barren Faith Instead of our Prayers early and late as a Morning and Evening Sacrifice dissolute men and women think a short good-night will serve the turn as they go to bed Instead of glorifying God in our bodies and in our spirits many do subtract their humility of bodily worship and suppose it is abundantly well done to serve him in Spirit Finally instead of devoting our whole Age to repentance and newness of life many will not abandon their sins till their sins are forsaking them in their last years nay perhaps in the last hour nay God help them perhaps but in the last gasp or two of that latest hour thus the Devil hath envenomed the World with a Sacrilegious Poyson and perswades us that all is well gotten which is lost to God But in deed and in truth God loseth nothing He will be honoured either in our Conversion or in our Confusion As his mercy was content to be glolified in the deliverance of Lots Wife so his justice was exalted in her punishment Thirdly This woman was come out of Sodom come out of the Plain hard by the Gates of Zoar at the very last Furlong of the way as Adrichomius describes it and cast her self wilfully away when she was almost past all danger as the Proverb is In portu naufragium she had pass'd the Waves of a perilous Journey but shipwrackt and lost all when she was come home to the Haven Quod quisque vitet nunquam homini satis cautum est in horas None perish so soon as they that think they cannot perish now they are past the worst and so become less wary of their safety When Caesar had it divin'd unto him that the Ides of March should be fatal to him he should never out-live that day he was jocund and secure about afternoon and frumpingly told his Wizzards the day was far-spent and he felt no sign of death O but says one that Prophesied evil to him the day is come but it is not pass'd yet and the event of the day was the slaughter of Caesar So many are wound up to the last minute of confidence and security and there began their ruine where they thought to consummate their felicity Abimelech marched against the City of Thebes he took it he besieged the Tower close to the Gates of the Tower and was about to set fire to the Gates thus he stood in limine victoriae as his Victory was come to the just complement a woman cast down a piece of a Mill stone and brake his skull that he died Judg. ix 22. Thus as a Gamesters whole Stake and winnings may be lost at the last cast so many men have had a long progress in prosperity and for want of due thankfulness of that they had received their conclusion and shutting up of their eyes hath been bitterness Relapsing in sickness a thing as frequent as the water that runs by us it is not unskilfully imputed to the heedlesness of him that was too adventurous upon recovery and some other indisposition of natural causes but when we see a man brought down to the Grave with infirmity and brought back again by Art and skil and yet in the midst of his joy to be strangely cast back into the former languishment Let not the sound judge anothers servant but let the sick party judge himself that either he returned to the vomit of his former sins which he did abandon upon fear of death or promised restitution of something got by fraud which afterwards he would not perform or forgave his enemies at the point of extremity and being restored renewed his old grudge or forgot his Vows which he had made or flubbered over the benefit which God had done for him with careless ingratitude Certainly some offence did intervene that when the bitterness of death did seem to be past the Lord should cause his very recovery to be his ruine For there is nothing more dangerous than deliverance out of danger if we do not use our fortune reverently and stand in awe of God even in the midst of his mercies And this is more conspicuous in the soul than in the body Gods grace leads a penitent man along by the hand in the narrow way of righteousness but if he begin to think that he can go alone without a supporter when he thinks he hath one foot in heaven he shall be thrown down to hell or as our Saviour speaks the latter end of that man shall be worse than the first How many have revolted from the true Faith through the deceivable wit of seducers even upon the last bed of their sickness How many have repulsed Satans tentations oftentimes and have yielded as you would say at the last time of asking As Samson denied Delilah sundry times but betrayed his life into her hands at the last onset and importunity What a courage had Peter against the whole band of the Priests servants And how much discouraged at the voice of a silly Damosel and made to forswear his Master This was in extremo actu deficere to be far from Sodom and almost at Zoar and yet to fall back from God when we are within sight and almost within touch of the Crown of life this is that turpitude which is most ignominious to our Christian Warfare With shame enough shall back-sliders hear that reproach from God You did run well who did hinder you You were almost at the top of my holy hill why did your feet slip Why did you look back to Sodom Wherefore my Beloved when your conscience tells you that hitherto your heart hath been right with the Lord you have plaid your part well to the last act why then be most sollicitous that you be not defective in the end and lose your reward and the fruit of all your labour that went before But pray with David Forsake me not O Lord in mine old age when I am gray-headed Let me not forget thee as Lots Wife did when I am almost at Zoar and then the Lord will say Even to your old age even to your hoary hairs will I carry you Isa xlvi 4. So much be
with the Silk-worm who may live longer in the dust of the earth Why he that is sanctified in Christ shall bequeath his body for a time to the dust but his spirit shall return to unspeakable glory Therefore envy not these Silk-worms which shall flourish for a short time perhaps for less than a month perhaps for less than an hour and then they shall howl and thirst for ever Say thou with Philip Ostende nobis patrem sufficit let these things pass away shew us thy Father and it sufficeth And as faith is sure of Promise so it is hot in Prayer tantò instantior in prece quantò certior in promissione because God is sure to give I will be sure to ask If thou wouldest ask of me says our Saviour to the Woman I would give thee living water The Holy Ghost is donum ex dono given to us not at the first hand but because Christ is given the gift of another gift because God gave his only Son unto the World As it is the natural condition of water to ascend as much as it descends so Christ descended with this grace of living water unto the earth therefore it will ascend again from the earth with us where Christ is gone into Heaven Behold I have set before you in the former verse and my Text vile waters and precious a terrestrial Globe upon which you might study the vanity of things beneath and a celestial Globe to study heaven and the things that are above The former verse begins like Solomon's Ecclesiastes Vanity of vanities and all is vanity This I end as the same Book doth The end of all is fear God and keep his Commandments Will you mind earthly things or is your conversation in Heaven Philip. iii. 19. Lo the Fountain of righteousness is open all that thirst by faith come and drink especially in the Supper of the Lord with humbleness and because we have not a Pitcher to draw and none can help us but Jesus Christ let us turn unto him in Prayer that he would open our mouth wide and fill it with his hidden grace that we may never thirst after the delightfulness of our former sins AMEN THE FIRST SERMON UPON JOHN vi 11. And Jesus took the Loaves and when he had given thanks he distributed to the Disciples and the Disciples to them that were set down and likewise of the Fishes as much as they would YOU can turn almost to no part of the whole Gospel but you shall light upon a Miracle They are well called the bright Constellations which shine in the Orbs of the New Testament Yet all Stars are not of the same Magnitude have not the same influence so the Miracles of our Saviour have not all the same remarkable lustre work not all alike upon the understanding and the conscience My Text is the main share of one that hath no little excellency in it Perhaps I may prefer it before the most or equal it with the best But I revere the Word of God I dare make no such comparisons This I may affirm preserving modesty and observing safety that it is of great conteinment It made the Divinity of Christ most conspicuous his power above Moses and the Prophets notorious and his tender compassion most gracious The Disciples were much edified by it the People greatly satisfied and which is the aim of all God was highly glorified It is not usual with our Saviour to upbraid his Apostles with his mighty works yet he did with this Do ye not understand neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets ye took up Mat. xvi 9. It is not usual for all the Four Evangelists to enter the same Story into their sacred Writings yet their Pens have all concurred to recite this miracle Commonly that which is recorded by one or two is omitted by the rest Or if three have endited the same thing the fourth leaves it out saving about the Passion and the Resurrection which are the Pole-stars of our faith and this wonderful multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes the Spirit of God hath inspired them all to make it most famous being so unanimously represented in all the Gospels Thirdly It is not usual to have the wonderful works of Christ anticipated in heathen Prophesies But the Sibyls have prenuntiated in express terms all the circumstances of this miracle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that the Son of God with five Loaves and two Fishes should feed five thousand in the Wilderness and twelve baskets should remain of the Fragments You will say perhaps this is a little too explicite in all points for a Prophesie It hath been doubted of I confess in all Ages And he was a learned man that thus censured these Sibylline Oracles Quo apertiora sunt eò mihi suspectiora The more clear they be the more to be suspected Yet Lactantius had no such jealousie of them but admires them that they so exactly foretold all the occurrencies of my Text. Yet in case those Verses were not the Sibyls but an interlineation of some Christian Poets it argues strongly that the Interliner thought this Miracle to be a glorious note of the Kingdom of our Saviour Finally It is not usual with the Jews to bear a Testimony to our Lord that his works did shew him to be the promised Messias Some things that he did made them say that he was Elias or John the Baptist or to defend him that he was a good man Other actions forced them to a demur When Christ cometh will he do more miracles But their judgments were quite captivated with this deed for they determine upon it in the fourteenth verse of this Chapter This is of a truth that Prophet which should come into the world This Scripture therefore made so notable by the finger of Christ by the Pen of all the Evangelists by the Oracles of the Gentiles by the Confession of the Jews this is it which I propound unto you and out of these particulars I shall draw forth my doctrine upon it Here are two things chiefly to be attended a preparation to a Miracle and the Miracle it self The preparation is Bodily and Ghostly Bodily in accepit Jesus took the Loaves and likewise the Fishes Ghostly in gratias egit or benedixit he gave thanks The Miracle consists 1. In the distribution that was Christs Act He distributed to the Disciples 2. In the subdistribution that was the Disciples Office The Disciples distributed to them that were set down 3. In the reception that was the Peoples part They did eat and were all filled they had as much as they would A better preparation to a Miracle cannot be imagined than this accepit If Jesus take the work in hand look for a round dispatch For the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand Joh. iii. 35. Had he laid his hand upon it or but touched the bread vertue would have gone out of him
produce in Europe When their Wonders are done so far from home it is a sign they would be trusted but not hazard examination 4. Where the Holy Ghost came down from Heaven it was fit that the Soil just under that Zenith should be the Cradle of the Church to receive its infancy Christ commanded his Disciples to tarry at Jerusalem till they were endued with power from above Act. i. 4. He would not send his Souldiers abroad unarm'd to fight his Battels the Spirit of Grace is medulla Ecclesiae the Pith the Marrow of it Our strength without it is but like that of dead bones where it descends plentifully there riseth up a Church to Christ And here the Apostles had it not inchoativè but cumulativè they were abundantly filled with it because they were to empty it out to all Nations Out of these Premises I proceed to the Conclusion Jerusalem was Ecclesia Primitivorum The Church of the First-born the Apostles the eldest Sons of their Mother did teach the first Alphabet of Christianity there and therefore by way of gratitude to so great a Benefactress the Catholick Church by way of Metonymy Causa pro causato will never be ashamed to be called Jerusalem Every Kingdom upon due right must bear a reverend respect to them from whom they received their happy conversion Some had the first knowledge of Salvation from Rome some from Constantinople some from Antioch some from France some from England but all from Jerusalem And yet none of these are to domineer over the faith of their Brethren They that have begotten us in Christ may teach another Gospel in the revolution of Ages than the Gospel of Christ and then are we bound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to labour to reduce them into the right way above all others who were the Parents of Religion It is a blessing sorted out to some whereof David speaks Thou hast made me wiser than my Teachers Jerusalem that drank the luke-warm bloud from Christs side and had the Prerogative of pure Doctrine without all mixture of insincerity it had a Bishop in the whirl of times John the Predecessor of Prailius who was an Origenist and a suspected Pelagian another of its Pastors was Gerontius a confessed Eutychian and divers others it had that were leavened with heretical contagion None would concur with these unless they would put out their eyes to wander for company because they were the chief Fathers of the City of God Imagine therefore that Alcasar the Jesuit had all tâ—at he could ask that the new Jerusalem that came from heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband was the Church of Rome yet his Reader must be very courteous that will admit that Exposition give them this moreover that Isaiah meant it Chap. lx 3. The Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightness of thy rising No proper name is specified there But what if it were Rome Although the seventy two and their own Vulgar Latine have added the word Jerusalem unto it Above all suppose it were possible to consist with my Text that it were the Roman Church which was opposed to Hagar the Bond-woman that these were her Epithets to be above and free and the Mother of us all which had it been Tu es Petrus had never been planted in the fore-front of their argument nor had it been their Dromedary ridden and jaded upon all Controversies this had been their Achilles in which they had boasted themselves invincible But if all this garnish had been the true beauty of that Church it would afford us no more than to meditate upon the Prophets question with wonder and commiseration How is the faithful City become an harlot The true Church upon earth is a Tabernacle portable hither and thither easily devolved from place to place When Abraham looked for a City that had foundations he expected it in heaven and not in earth Heb. xi I know what is ready to be caught hold of from hence by some and much good do them with it that the Church is compared here to no ignoble handful of people which a man must grope for in the dark but to an illustrious Commonweal famously known and conspicuous in a glorious manner to all the world Yet with their leave this Jerusalem which St. Paul prefers was in those days like a Pearl in the shell orient in it self but hidden from the world overspread with a multitude of gainsayers ten thousand Adversaries and ten thousand more to one Orthodox believer As the Historian says of C. Marius brought so low in his fortune that he hid himself from pursuers of Sylla in the flags of a fenny ditch Quis eum fuisse tum consulem aut futurum credere Who would have thought he had been Consul or should ever live to be Consul again So when the Apostles and a few persons more met in an upper Chamber at the feast of Pentecost who would have took them to be the Kingdom of God upon earth and none but they Or who would have divined that such as they begot in the truth should spread into all quarters as the Stars for multitude It is the Lords doing and it is marvelous in our eyes The Mountain of the Lord hath been notorious and a clear object unto innumerous eyes upon the top of the Mountains But is there any such promise that her outward splendour should be constant and her felicity perpetual Nay rather are we not threatned with such times when it shall be rare to find faith upon the earth with large Apostacies with flying away into the Wilderness with the Saints dispersed into private Corners Grant that this should be for one hard brunt and no more Dato non concesso yet if the small number of right Believers may be compelled at any time to exercise their Religion in private the reason falls which some do pertinaciously allege that the Church must be always well known over the greatest part of the Earth because her Doctrines and Traditions must be fair and open to all them that will come unto her to seek salvation or else such as continue in ignorance are excusable if sometimes it may be obscured by misery their mouth is stopt for making that objection and we are assured that the conversion of Unbelievers is not so plentifully brought to pass by the populous association of men professing faith and godliness as by the inward impulsion of the spirit where the Labourers pains do hit successfully by the hidden will of God But if the quarrel went no further than that the Church is a Jerusalem always well known and visible in some measure of manifestation it might quickly be compounded a Congregation there hath been ever since the Apostles whose report might come to the ears of natural men though their profession of supernatural verities was known only to spiritual men in this latitude we may believe upon historical faith that the City upon an hill was never
from thence he assists his Sacraments sanctifieth his Ministry gives grace unto his Word And if they did not escape who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn from him that speaketh from Heaven Secondly Our Jerusalem is above not only in the Head but in the Members I do not say in all the Members for the Church is that great House in which are Vessels of honour and dishonour Terms of Excellency though indistinctly attributed to the whole are agreeing oftentimes only to the chiefer or more refined part Some there are in this Body whom though we salute not by the proud word of their Sublimity yet in true possession which shall never be taken from them they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that are above Witness that the Angels make up one Church with us being the chief Citizens that are reckoned in the triumphant part fellow Servants with us under one Lord adopted Sons under one Father Elect under one Christ This is the language of the Scripture and surely Members of one Mystical Body for the same Jesus is the Head of all Principality and Power Colos ii 10. Of this Family also are the Saints departed even all those holy Spirits that obey God in heavenly places and do not imitate the Devil and his Angels This is that Church which hath neither spot nor wrinkle for when I speak of such a Church says St. Austin in his retractations I mean none but those in Heaven After these that make the front and first File of our March there are many among us I trust who have their part in this description Jerusalem which is above the Elect of God the Church invisible invisible I say not for their persons but for their qualites for who can see who hath an internal union with Christ the Head Who can tell whether this or that may be filled with his Grace and quickned with his Spirit Cusanus says very well that there is no certain judgment to be made by the outward fruits who are living Members of the Church but in Infants that are newly baptized With the mouth we confess the truth but with the heart man believes unto righteousness and only God can see the heart But these whose integrity their Master knows and loves no matter in what base condition they wander here they are greater by far than the ungodly that over-peer them in promotion they are above indeed for they are as high as the pinacle of blessedness and their names are written in the Book of Life for their sakes God hath dropt down the beautiful style of Jerusalem upon the Houshold of Christ but without these no name were so fit for it as Sodom or Samaria Such as will wrangle where no occasion is offered have carped at this as if we removed all from the Church but such as are Israel in occulto and have their sins forgiven in Christ It was never our meaning neither can we help it but that we must keep communion with all those that profess the common Faith But if the Church had known Hypocrites it had not admitted them into the Portion of the Lord or else it had excluded them Et quid prodest non ejici coetu piorum si mereris ejici says St. Cyprian What the better is it for an Hypocrite that he is not cast out of the Congregation since he deserves to be cast out he may abide with us in the outward Society of them that call upon Christ praesumptivè non veraciter as Spalatensis says because we presume he is faithful though indeed he is the Child of the Devil numero non merito he makes up one of the Multitude that go in the broad way he is none of the few that strive to enter in at the steight gate he keeps the formality of a Christian with others beneath he perteins not to Jerusalem which is above Thirdly We have obtained this dignity to be ranked as them that are above because our calling is very holy He hath saved us and called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. i. 9. called to Doctrin which is above which flesh and bloud did not reveal but the Father that giveth wisdom plentifully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Theophilact upon my Text God did preach the Gospel from on high with his own voice for take a Breviary of it and it is no more but that which he said from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased We are called to obey the truth by illumination from above from thence is sent the spirit of them that are baptized the spirit of the Apostles and Martyrs the spirit of Bishops and Doctors the spirit of all those that have lived in the Truth and shed their bloud for the Truth 's sake We are called to that Religion which consists in celestial Functions in Faith and Hope in Prayer and Charity not in a Religion which presseth them down that observe it with an insupportable weight of Shadows and Ceremonies but the hour is come when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth Beware of those of the Concision says St. Paul and among bad marks which they carry this is the conclusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they mind earthly things that is they are pleased with carnal Ordinances with these low and beggerly Observations of the Levitical Priesthood but immediately turning himself to the Fundamentals of the Gospel and the practice thereof says he nostra politeia our way of serving God our manner of worship is in Heaven So Bernard says that the Synagogue moved in a low Orb. But Solomon speaking of the New Testament says Quae est ista quae ascendit Cant. iii. 3. Who is she that cometh up from the Wilderness perfumed with mirrh and frankincense with all the powders of the Merchant Above all we are called to holy actions which savour not of mans passions and purposes but are qualified from above Our fortitude is heavenly fortitude our temperance heavenly temperance our liberality to the poor heavenly liberality but the moral deeds of the Heathen living out of the Church that had the best gloss upon them were smutcht with some bad vapour below and every grane of vertue that grew out of their stalks did abound with the chaff of vanity And what exceeds all that I have said beside to make our calling heavenly and holy God is so gracious to those things which are done in the Church in the name of his Son that where an unfit instrument may seem to marr all by his extravagant profaneness by his impenitent conscience nay by his heretical pravity yet Christs presence and assistance are not wanting to his Word and Sacraments but their efficacy is free and current to the people though they be performed by a crooked and an adulterous Generation As the Posterity of Jacobs Handmaid had a Princedom among their Brethren in the Land of Canaan
disputation but to inward examination how you look to be freed from the fire of Hell when you shall stand before the Judgment Seat of God Will you trust to inherent righteousness and say it will be well for me this good I have done Or to the imputed justice of Christ which is true and perfect justice and pleaseth the eyes of God O there is no ground can be laid for peace and salvation but in his righteousness that justifieth a sinner They that carp at this take them from their sentences and quodlibets and search what they say in their Books of Devotions Manuals of Prayer Graduals of love and repentance Meditations of Death then nothing comes from them but O Lord deliver us O Saviour redeem us O Son of God remember not that which is past then they never fly to the bloudy Altar of the Law but to the Sanctuary of the Gospel In a word whosoever refers his justification in any part to a legal righteousness is yet in bondage but Jerusalem which is above is free It is this Covenant of Faith that turneth away the captivity of Jacob. Now under the Discipline of Faith the Spirit attracts us by love and meek perswasions it doth not threaten and bend the fist at us as the Law did and that 's the third part of bondage which our Jerusalem hath escaped it is not awed with compulsion and fear but it follows the direction of the Spirit with gladness which is the next step to the state of Angels It is not good for a Child to be too much scar'd by Praeceptors and Governours such nipping weather is an enemy to a flourishing Spring Then imagine what a shivering Ague it was to the Israelites Sons of God but not yet come to age as St. Paul describes them to struggle with so many austere Statutes as Moses gave them Scourgings loss of eyes loss of limbs burning stoning forfeiting the life of a man for the trespass of a beast losing the right hand for a casualty a moral man that knew not the strictness of Gods Judgments would say for a trifle Add unto these so many pollutions circumstantial natural that could not be helpt to be expiated with continual cost and labour add above all these that noise of Malediction louder than thunder Cursed is he that doth not continue in all the words of this Law to do them amidst these terrours that came so thick as they were good to bridle stubbornness so many generous resolutions of the mind that would have put forth must needs be suffocated The Angel of God when he came with a message from heaven and would have it intelligently received likely he began with this Preface Fear not Nay God did deliver this People from the fear of Pharaoh and his Host before ever he would give them a Law to serve him Men that are held to their Tasque by minacies Magis aguntur quà m agunt He that doth a thing out of love is carried to it by an internal complacency he is a self mover and the action is his own he that goes forward to his Tasque because the scourge is behind him the action is not his own raptatur ad obsequium his will rows against the stream but the Tide is so strong that it carries him with it by Coaction And that harvest of obedience which is reapt with the Sickle of stern dominion and threatning when all is done it is not worth the bringing into the barn For it keeps a man that he dares not break out into a scandalous transgression of the Law Is not that all The External Act is smooth and conformable to justice But what reformation is there all that while in the heart It is not fear but love which takes upon it to cure the concupiscence which is in the mind If there be no better School-master than fear the body may worship God alone and the mind remain an Idolater A longer declaration of this there needs not We all know that a Palsie of fear will shake Judgment out of the wit The Oratour that pleaded upon peril of his life Lugdunensem rhetor dicturus ad aram he would pronounce but badly and surely much of the imperfections of the Jews may be imputed to this that the Law did subject them to the Spirit of Bondage It is the Spirit of the New Testament which turns us about and sets us free from the superciliousness of the Law and it would have us please the Lord for his mercies sake and out of the sense of his goodness it exhorts us that our service should grow out of his favours and our duty out of his bounty and benefits so shall there be alacrity and readiness in the soul to all manner of vertue as well as passive obsequiousness in the body The Schoolmen observe it rightly that filial fear which is the freedom and ingenuity of obedience riseth out of the love of God but servile fear which is a plain captivity of Spirit riseth out of the love of our selves The Servant who goes through his Tasque that he may not suffer correction would do as much as may keep his skin whole that is for love of himself A Son that honoureth his Father and rejoyceth to hear his voice seeks his Fathers glory that he may receive of his glory and this is purely out of the love of God No wonder therefore if this hath redounded to far more fruits than ever the tree of the Law did bear which was pelted and beaten For as one hath noted it well Gods Church hath increased more by the love of God than by the terrour which he sent in the old time but when persecutions were rife it increased more by the terrours of men than by their love The use of it is that we serve God as those that are past the Spirit of bondage reverently with fear and chearfully without fear Faith is the great promoter of reverential fear and breeds in us an awe of Gods Majesty and a dread of his glory as the Cherubins do cover their faces with their wings before him This is clean and pure refined in the flame of love caused neither by sin nor punishment but it reflects upon the baseness of our own substance the Creature compares its own vileness with the infinite excellency of the Creator and so approacheth with all due distance of humility But Faith again cools the inflammation of servile fear with the water of Baptism wherein we were sprinkled with the bloud of Christ It teacheth us to decline offences with all care and study not to escape punishment but out of gratitude to him who hath done so great things for us It ingenders an ardent sollicitousness to be unblameable not because the wrath of the Lord is terrible when he is displeased but because his Mercy and Redemption deserve to be recompenced with all manner of obedience Labour for that integrity which is expected from one that is free from sin but a servant to
being of our nature and yet I will tell you a vitious filthy sinner doth so ill become the name of a man that there is far more congruity between him and a Beast he is more Swine or Tyger or Fox or locust than man he is not four-footed but he is bruitish hearted in his inward parts he hath put off humanity But if repentance shall restore him out of this bestial conversation if God shall set good men at his right hand that by strength of reason force of perswasion timeliness of admonition yea or by sharpness of correction shall make him feel and know the beauty of an honest life he is redintegrated in the powers and faculties of a man which he had quite lost So that our being in the austerity of Philosophy is connexed with our well-being No good man and by consequent no not a man till he be governed by the Principality of reason civil Education and the conditement of Vertue is such a Parent as reposeth a vile person a transformed Monster into the proper line of his own Praedicament it makes him Man Not to flutter in the air as it were any longer with Paradoxes impious Catives I confess shall stand for men for they shall suffer the curses and punishment of men in Hell-fire What is it therefore which Jerusalem adds unto us that she is called our Mother why the renovation of the mind or the new man created after God in righteousness and true holiness And as the Birthright which Jacob obteined from Esau was instead of another birth unto Jacob so when such as were vessels of wrath became Heirs of the Promise by Baptism and the Ministry of the Church is not this a Mother that gives them a better life than they had before The Love of God is our life Faith conceives us Hope brings us forth Charity feeds us with her breasts Obedience wraps us in swadling bands and knowledg brings us up God doth inhabit our mind and understanding as the Soul doth inspire the Body As Abram was turned into Abraham and Simon into Peter when they pleased the Lord so take any one that is regenerate and chang'd from his vain conversation though his shape and substance continue as it was before yet the Angels that rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner behold him with their celestial eyes not as the same but as another Creature And no wonder if he become another object in the sight of Heaven the reasonable Soul is that which constitutes the natural man but Faith being superadded a better spirit possesseth him and Christ is the form of a Christian It is St. Paul's Phrase ver 19. of this Chapter My little children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you As Ananias travel'd and earned for a Child till Christ was formed in Paul so Paul travel'd and had the sorrows of a Mother when â—he brings forth in the anxiousness of his heart till Christ was formed in the Galatians First the Church brought him forth then he laboured abundantly and assisted the Church to bring forth others The true solution of the old Riddle Mater me genuit eadem mox gignitur ex me the Son of Grace is begotten of this Mother and afterward filling up a place in the Communion of Saints he is reckoned into the collective Body which is called Jerusalem our Mother But a late Writer puts in his judgment very well I think how far the Motherhood of the Church intends to make us Children of Adoption it travels in birth that by her work Christ may be formed in us The Members of our fleshly body are formed in our Mothers Womb by her natural faculties she can go further for the absolution of the work that is the inhabitation of the Soul is the act of God so the Church doth the part of a Mother it propounds repentance discloseth the mysteries of faith perswades us with the expectation of a great reward in Heaven offers us the use of both the salutiferous Sacraments thus a new fashion a new Creature even the form of Christ doth creep upon us but the life by which we live it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it comes from without from above from the inspiration of the spirit of Christ But without that efformation or effigeation in the Womb of the Mother never expect the vivification or information of the Holy Ghost a Doctrin best known in those trivial words of St. Austin he cannot have God for his Father that will not have the Church for his Mother Ascribe the top of the blessing to him from whom every good gift especially those which are supernatural descends Of his own good will He begat us with the word of truth Jam. 1.18 His good will moved him to pity us his vertue and power went out from him to beget us and his truth which shined in our hearts was the instrumental cause to convert us Carry it along with you therefore that the invisible Father that is in Heaven works by the visible Mother the Church that is on Earth As Eve was the Mother of all living so she is the Mother of all believing Crescite multiplicamini is spoken to one as well as to the other both were ordeined in their several sorts for that blessing increase and multiply Therefore St. James hath conjoyned the Word of Truth to the Will of God both are mixed together to regenerate a pious people And although some have been too nice in expounding the Phrase Of his own will he begat us with the word of truth not with the words of truth in the plural as if our salvation were effected by pronouncing one word as when first we were made Members of Christ by saying I baptize thee and when we have sinned and return again to the Lord by saying I absolve thee yet be it briefly or largely it is the word spoken and preached by the Church which gives us this heavenly feature to be the holy ones of God Briefly the Mother that doth beget us is the Church Militant but the Mother to whose filiation and inheritance we aspire is the Church Triumphant It is true that in relation to Christ the Church is his Body and all we are his Members and in that reference it doth not make the Elect Servants of God but rather it is compounded of those Servants for properly the Body is not the Mother of the Members the Members are not the effect of the Body but they constitute the Body as integral parts And so Solomon hath more aptly given it honour in those delicious Metaphors of a Bundle of Myrrh a Cluster of Grapes and a Pomegranat which I think is the best resemblance a Pomgranat contains many kernels under one Coat so many thousands of Disciples are under the covering of Christ 2. As many kernels are in the small Pomegranat as in the great so the Graces of Christ are in the little Churches as in the more spacious 3. As
moral just man may be carnal A moral chaste man may be covetous But if it be spiritual temperance or spiritual chastity coming from the grace of God it will be justice and peace and mercy and all the whole swarm of vertues that can be recited There is a difficult point in one of the Parables about a man that had not on a Wedding Garment What is this Wedding Garment One will have it to be Faith another to be Good Works a third to be spiritual Joy a fourth to be repentance Why Origen prevented all these controversies before they were moved if he had been mark'd Says he Vestis nuptialis est textura omnium virtutum The Wedding Garment is all these and more than these for it signifies that all vertue in the several threds should be woven into our heart Faith Hope and Charity are fruits that hang all upon a stalk three several divine graces yet they have but one soul Faith says there is a Kingdom prepared for the righteous Hope catcheth hold and says it is prepared for me Then Charity comes in for her part and says I will run to obtain it They are like the three principal vital parts in mans body the Heart the Brain and Liver One is as necessary as all three together for the decay of either is death without redemption No stragling single solitary vertue which hath no fellows comes from this coelestial watering The spiritual service of God says a learned Author may be measured three ways 1. Whether it come ex toto corde from all the heart from all the strength and from all the soul 2. Whether it be Cum totâ plenitudine with all the confluence of good works as it were in one fortunate conjunction 3. Whether it be in toto tempore continually and at all times alike Spiritus vivificat Joh. vi It is the Spirit that quickneth which makes a good man live and fructifie at one time as much as another It is no dead moisture which can do no good upon a Plant unless the Sun likewise be in a fit ascension to cherish it and make it spring This is living water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome It impels the Conscience to be never out of motion in some spiritual exercise The Son of God is called a living stone and the Spirit living water and man a living Sacrifice Righteousness is the savour of life unto life dead works are the savour of death unto death A tree that always bears is a Plant of Paradise Not a little Repentance or a little Charity once or twice a year at a Communion and then shake hands with Mortification till the next Christmass or Easter Among other reasons why the Holy Ghost assumed the shape of a Dove this is reckoned for one that it is a bird of a most teeming fecundity whether any bird that flies lay oftner I am not certain I believe not many such fecundity there is in a lively Faith it is never without some good Work either the Tongue is Praying or the Ear is Hearing or the Heart is Meditating or the Eye is Weeping or the Hand is Giving or the Soul is Thirsting for Remission of sins And this is enough to shew what fruitfulness is brought to pass by this heavenly moisture and for the first part of the Text. Yet it were an undervaluing and a diminution to so great a blessing to be called water unless the second part of my text did hold up the dignity let us come therefore to consider the rare vertue which is in it for it takes away the molestation of thirst for ever But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst Yet I will take in no more than the Text doth directly prove and leave that which some would draw in ex abundanti by the strength of their conjectures There are those that make this verse a convincing argument how a man that hath tasted the grace of God is never empty more but assuredly full and satisfied to the end of his life Which way soever the truth of that Controversie stands I wave it off but I think this Text is not to be charged with that meaning as if it proved it 'T is true he that drinks of this water shall never thirst but quousque bibendum how long must he drink let him drink all his days while his breath lasts and then he shall be satisfied with the goodness of the Lord as out of a River Again call to remembrance what is meant by this water every good and perfect gift which enricheth the Soul descending from the Father of lights but among all that heavenly Offspring perseverance is the fairest Nymphas supereminet omnes Perseverance must not be excluded from the Text. Then I have done with this rubb in a word he that drinks of this water and puts perseverance into the Cup he shall never thirst He shall never thirst Why then says the Son of Syrach concerning the wisdom which sanctifieth all things They that eat me shall yet be hungry and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty Ecclus xxiv 21. and very certain none so greedy to have more grace as he that hath some already none so instant to get ten Talents as he that hath received five Let Elisha be inspired with a competent measure for one of the Children of the Prophets and he will presume to ask that a double portion of Elias his spirit may rest upon him if it be possible Concerning all the fruits of the Spirit this judgment of Gregorie's is undoubted cum non habentur in falstidio sunt cum habentur in desiderio they that have them not think vilely of them they that have them do insatiably desire them Please you for the true explanation of the words to mark the Proposition must not be taken alone by it self but respectively to the Comparison that went before The water which the Woman of Samaria came for it consumes after you have tasted it and it is missed as if it never had been Therefore we call for Elementary drink every day for as much as drought is a torment to nature now when we are once made partakers of living waters we call for more and more not because want and driness doth afflict us but because desire doth please us So that distinction used by many will be clear to be understood sitis ariditati non desiderio opponitur he that drinks these waters of the Holy Spirit shall never after have a dry and a parched Soul but he shall ever have a thirsty affection to drink his fill The vertue therefore of the Spirit may be well drawn to these three heads First it moistens the Soul that it feels no driness like a barren Land which hath no natural humour in it there is no such thirst in him that hath a lively faith but it cannot choose but beget a thirsty affection and a longing to add more and more unto
it 2. It makes us leave to thirst after vain delights by little and little 3. He that satiates his spirit with it in this life shall be discharged from all manner of thirst hereafter when he changeth this life to live with God for ever The first of these Propositions begets this lesson where sanctification hath moistned the inward man to the bottom and to the root there the heart is restless till it obtain a larger abundance of the spirit After this manner a good Proficient gains upon Gods blessing step by step Thou hast given me to know thee O Lord but confirm my faith also to believe in thee nay give me not onely to believe but to suffer for thy Names sake so shalt thou try and examine if there be any way of wickedness in me or if thou hast not reserv'd me for the Cup of afflictions yet prove me throughly by obedience grant that my works may please thee that I may do thy will on earth as it is in heaven Make thy Laws sweet unto my mouth sweeter than the honey and the honey-comb Such a one is Marcianus the Anchorite chronicled by Theodoret One of his ancient acquaintance being in chase after his Game found him alone in a Desart What make you so far from your friends says the Huntsman and what make you so far in the Woods says Marcianus I am hunting for a Beast says he and I will not leave till I have taken it and I am hunting for my God says Marcianus and I will not leave till I have found him Such a one by Procopius his description was Justinian the Emperor and such an Example was worth a thousand nulla honorandi Dei satietas cum cepit he was never cloyed to do God honor he never thought his duty was enough in Religious service The more we bend our affection to heavenly things we shall be enflamed with more devotion as devotion encreaseth the more help shall be added the more help the more diligence and the more diligence the more glory Nemo primo statim die ad satietatem potatur says one of the Moderns No man is made Christian enough in a day to go to the Kingdom of Heaven unless it be in such a rare example as that was of the penitent Thief It is a false spirit that says unto any mortal man it is well if you can keep at this stay and prove no worse Yet I know the greatest part of indifferent Christians are so affected to the love of the World that if it were possible to measure out to a dram what quantity of righteousness would serve them to attain to salvation they would reach so far if the Grace of God would assist them but they would seek no further I say if they knew the trick how to make just a Saint and no more they would spare a labour for seeking beyond that point and for the rest sacrifice to carnal security Certainly there can be no living water already where there is no thirsting for more Whatsoever you know or hear of that any Saint living or departed hath done for Gods sake it is a shame for you if you do not covet to do as much or more than that at least if you be not sorry that your frailties make you come short of the best Speak thus to your own heart Should any of thy Servants love thee better than I should any of thy Disciples be more obedient than I for none of thine Elect is so much indebted to thy Passion as I am because none had so many sins to be forgiven Thus your Soul must thirst to be the nearest that shall stand before the presence of the Lord and count your self extreme lag in perfection until you desire to come equal with the principal Saints Lord let me love thee as Peter did Lord let me love thee more than these Some cried Hosanna and shouted for ioy when our Saviour went to Jerusalem some cut down branches of Palms that was a more real expression of his welcome some spared their Garments from their back and laid them in his way These were the formost in affection and what a becoming thing it was to be the best of all those that ran forth to meet our Saviour but as if one should wish always to be a Child and never come to manly growth so is a lumpish Christian who perswades himself that a moderate competency of righteousness is best let others if they will strive to be those green Olive trees that flourish in the House of the Lord. The learned among the Heathen love to talk of strange Creatures and Plutarch tells of a Fish of which to eat a little is hurtful to eat it up all is medicinal True or false be the Story it comes fit to be applied Christ promiseth no blessing to him that doth but wet his lips with this living water a little spattering holiness will turn to hypocrisy the vertue of it abides with those that drink deep for the preserving and cherishing of a spiritual life and the thirsty Soul the more it drinks up the more it will cry out give me ever of this water to drink The second Experiment is this the water which Christ gives turns the edg of the appetite quite from this world and makes us leave to thirst after all other delights he that drinketh of this water though concupiscence cannot quite be rooted out yet he shall never long greedily after carnal lusts He that doth not hate his own Soul cannot be my Disciple is not this a Paradox for what shall it profit me to love all things else if I hate it well love it as it is Christs Soul altogether ravished with the love of him hate it as it was thine own Soul altogether ravished with the love of the world Tunc animam nostram benè odimus cum ejus carnalibus desideriis non acquiescimus says Gregory as a man seems to be ill affected to another if he deny him that he sues for so such heavenly resolutions by a Catachresis are called the hate of the Soul when we deny it satisfaction in foolish and earthly inclinations He that hath called promotion to honour or the fatness of riches or luxury or any such thing the darling of his heart it was for want of this water in my Text to cool the inflammation of his fever but if ever he receive a dose of it the new Wine is put in a new Bottle and both shall be preserved The grace of God doth supply the place of a Cherubin that stood with a flaming sword to keep Adam out of Paradise so the Holy Spirit will give the watch-word and cry out in the time of tentation turn aside and enter not into the paths of these pleasures these are not the Paradise into which you should come if you do there is a Sword that will cut you in twain and give you your portion with Hypocrites St. Austin observs upon the