It was the design of his Spirit to imprint his Image in their Hearts which consisted in true holiness and righteousness But how could that Image be imprinted on them till they were first adopted his Children Or how could they be owned for his Children but in and through Christ his only begotten and beloved Son That Peace which his Holy Spirit brings into and settles in our Consciences is founded in that other which our Mediator hath procured and merited for us by his Death and Sufferings nor could our Minds ever have been calmed had not the Lamb of God taken away the sins of the World Our Peace was to be prepared by the Father ere it could be purchased by the Son and purchased by the Son ere it could have been applied by the Spirit The Gift of the Comforter was an effect of Christ's Intercession I will pray the Father and He shall send you another Comforter And it was requisite that He should go away to send that Comforter since he was the Effect of his Intercession and that Intercession the last Act of his Sacrifice in the Heavenly Sanctuary But then 2dly it was not fit that Christ should bestow his best and most excellent Gifts on us till he had recovered his first Majesty or that the Members should be thus adorned till the Head was perfectly glorious 'T is at the time of their Coronation and Triumph that Kings and Emperors scatter their Largesses When our Lord had ascended up on high and had led Captivity captive then was it a proper time for him to give gifts unto men and among the rest of his Gifts the Fountain and Giver of all Gifts and Graces the Holy Spirit it self This St. Peter tells his Auditors Act. 2. 33. That Christ being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear Christ was first to rise from the dead and to be glorified before he could send down the Spirit And this we learn from Joh. 7. 39. where 't is said That the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified nor could he be fully glorify'd without the descent and testimony of the Spirit For 1. It had been some impeachment to Christ's equality with the Father had our Lord still remained on Earth for as much as the sending of the Spirit would have been ascribed to the Father alone as his sole Act. This would have been the most That the Father for his sake had sent Him but He as God had had no honour of sending Him 2. Nor indeed till he ascended up to Heaven could he have been fully glorified on Earth his appearance here having been very mean void of all pomp and state nothing about Him to strike men's Senses nothing of worldly grandeur to affect them who conversed with him neither wealth nor honour exposed he was to want and other inconveniencies of life and put at last to a cruel and an ignominious Death What strong prejudices had both Jews and Gentiles against Him upon this account And how could those prejudices be removed so long as he continued in that low state and condition But they were now quite taken away by the descent of the Holy Ghost which he had so often promised to send after his departure and which when they saw he made good their mean opinion of him was soon changed into veneration when they saw him who was made a little lower than the Angels nay who had appeared on Earth lower than the lowest of Men for the suffering of death crowned with such glory and honour And how can we but adore Him as God when we now behold Him that once stood before Herod and Pilate as a criminal exalted above all the Kings and Potentates of the Earth whose pride and glory now it is to be his Disciples to doe him homage and to lay down their Crowns and Scepters at the foot of his Cross We now see Temples every-where erected to his honour The most remote obscure Regions of the World enlightned by his beams That Jesus once so much despised become now the glory of the Earth His Name dreadfull to Devils adored by Turks and Infidels so that his Kingdom knows no bounds as it shall never have an end Had he still remained here below he had been lookt upon as no better than what the Arrians once styled Him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But now his Godhead is as visible to each Christian as his Manhood heretofore was to each Man the Spirit of God whom He sent down having born witness to Him in all those wonderfull Signs and Miracles that were wrought by his Apostles through his Name And thus we see how that Christ could not have been glorify'd on Earth as God had he not ascended up into Heaven and from thence sent down the Holy Ghost Nor 3. could the Holy Ghost himself otherwise have been discovered Christ's stay here would have been a lett to the manifestation of his Godhead also which appearing in those many great signs and wonders done by Him had not our Lord gone away those glorious Works would in all probability have been wholly ascribed unto him and so the Holy Ghost should have lost that honour which was due to him while his Deity should have been concealed from the notice of the World 4. A fourth reason of the necessity of Christ's departure respects his Apostles and all other his Disciples 1. His Apostles who we know were to be sent abroad into all Coasts to be dispersed over the whole Earth to preach the Gospel and not to stay in one place Now Christ's corporal Presence could herein have availed them little in order to this purpose He could not have been with St. James at Jerusalem and St. John at Ephesus whatever Ubiquitaries Papists or Lutherans say to the contrary in flat contradiction to all Philosophy and Scripture too which allows not this priviledge to Christ's Body now glorified Whom the Heavens must receive saith St. Peter untill the times of Restitution of all things Act. 3. 21. There He must be till He comes to fetch us to Him and when He promised his Apostles to be with them always even to the end of the World Mat. 28. 20. He meant no otherwise than by his Holy Spirit who should comfort and guide them into all Truth And therefore it was expedient for them as our Lord says here in the Text that himself should go away to make room for the Spirit as fitter for his Disciples in their dispersed disconsolate condition since He could be and was present with them all and with every one of them by himself as filling the compass of the whole World which cannot be affirmed of our Lord 's bodily Presence 2. Besides had this manner of Christ's Presence been possible without confounding the Properties of his humane and divine Nature it had been very
therefore this truth for granted I shall only speak to his Office described here by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies two things 1. A Comforter 2. An Advocate 1. A Comforter and such He was to be 1. To the Apostles themselves 2. To the whole Church 3. To each faithfull Believer 1. To the Apostles themselves It was indeed a seasonable time to talk to them of a Comforter when sorrow and distress were coming upon them and they were to be as sheep without a shepherd They had left all for Christ but while he was with them they found all in Him who was dearer to them than all their possessions While He lived with them their joy and satisfaction was full and compleat but a joy that was to last no longer than his Corporal presence which the Holy Spirit was to supply and that abundantly For although they could no longer have recourse to their Lord for Resolution of Doubts or Protection from Dangers yet should they not want an Oracle to clear the one nor a Sanctuary to secure them from the other The Holy Ghost should both enlighten their Understandings and dispell their Fears Being endewed with power from on high Afflictions themselves should prove Consolations unto them and they should find more satisfaction in their very Sufferings than worldly Men in their highest Enjoyments as we find they did Act. 5. 41. when departing from the presence of the Counsel they rejoyced and that with joy unspeakable that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ's Name But then 2. The Holy Ghost was to be a Comforter not only to the Apostles but to the whole Church of God The Father under the ancient legal Dispensation was a severe Law-giver rewarding Obedience and strictly punishing Rebellion He appeared terrible on Mount Sinai Nothing was to be seen there but Fire and Smoak and thick Darkness Nothing to be heard but Thunder and the Trump of an Angel insomuch that Moses himself trembled and quaked Such an Appearance suiting well with the Promulgation of the Law as denouncing nothing but Woes and Curses to Offenders But under the Gospel-Oeconomy there was another face of things The Son of God while in the Flesh had no such marks of terror and severity attending him more proper to a Creator than a Redeemer He came not with a Rod but in the Spirit of Meekness His condition was a condition of Humility agreeable to one whose Kingdom was not of this World and suitable to his appearance in the Flesh was that of the Holy Ghost whose descent was indeed in Fire but to warm and cherish not to consume In a mighty rushing Wind to represent his divine Power and Efficacy not his Impetuosity 'T was not such a Wind as God came to Elijah in which rent the Mountains and brake the Rocks in pieces The motions of the Holy Spirit are not violent He does not affright those He lights on nor create Fear but Love in that Heart he fills 'T is He that makes us cry Abba Father That begets in us a holy generous Confidence and speaks peace to his People The cords he brings with Him are those of a Man such as chain and captivate Hearts The Oeconomy of the Divine Spirit was to be an Oeconomy of Sweetness and Consolation to the Church becoming the Gospel of Peace and the God of all Consolation 3. The Holy Ghost was to be a Comforter to all true Believers not only as begetting Faith in their Hearts and dispelling that Darkness which naturally possesseth their Understandings but as giving them Peace of Conscience and that unspeakable joy which the World is unacquainted with and cannot take from them Hence He is said to seal them unto the day of their Redemption Ephes. 4. 30. To be the Earnest of their heavenly Inheritance and to make them fore-tast the joys of Heaven here on Earth What comfort what ravishing joys does he still raise in the Souls of all the Faithfull by the apprehension and sense he gives them of the Love of God and that certain hope they have by him of enjoying Him in Heaven Grace is the Paradise of the Soul Holiness its Crown and the assurance it has of God's Love to it the choicest flower of that Crown Nor is he thus only a Comforter to each true Believer but he is so too as his Teacher and another-guess Teacher than Men are to one another For let their Methods of Teaching be never so perspicuous and their care and pains to inform us never so great yet when all is done they cannot communicate unto us either clearness of Apprehension faithfulness of Memory or soundness of Judgment and where they find us dull or stupid all their pains and skill are but thrown away upon us But the Holy Ghost does so teach as withall to change the natural temper and disposition of men's Minds working so upon their Understandings by the clearness and evidence of those Reasons he proposeth that they are not able to resist or stand out against the force of his Demonstrations drawing them to Him in so sweet and yet effectual a manner that although sensible of the effect yet the way of his Attraction is as imperceptible to them as the power thereof is uncontroulable The Manner of the Holy Spirit 's operation on Believers now is very different from that on the Prophets of old which was so forcible that Elisha could not Prophecy without the help of Musick to compose and tune his Spirit But under the Gospel-Dispensation the Holy Ghost deals otherwise with his Servants No such Enthusiasms or Transports here Their Understandings are enlightned without any disturbance to their Bodies They receive the Holy Ghost's Inspirations without the least astonishment or discomposure while he gently glides and descends into them like rain into a fleece of wool in the Prophet David's expression Psal. 72. 6. And thus the Holy Ghost is a Comforter But then 2dly He is withall an Advocate The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies so much one that maintains the Cause of a Criminal or at least of an Accused Person Now the Spirit does so by justifying our Persons and pleading our Causes against the Accusations of our Spiritual Enemies 1. Against the Severity of God's Law and that most righteous undeniable Charge of Sin laid thereby upon us 2dly Against the Devil who we know is styled the Accuser of the Brethren and doth not only load our Sins upon our Consciences but farther endeavoureth to exclude us from the benefit of Christ by charging us with Impenitency and Unbelief Here the Spirit enableth us to clear our selves against this Father of lyes to secure our Title to Heaven against the Sophistical Exceptions of this our subtle Adversary and when by Temptations our Eye is dimmed or by the mixture of Corruptions our Evidences defaced he by his Skill helpeth our infirmities and bringeth those things which are blotted out and forgotten into our
remembrance again Joh. 14. 26. He admonisheth and directeth us his Clients how to order and solicit our own business what Evidences to produce how to manage and plead them making up our failings by his Wisdom and not only so but as the word Paraclete here imports he intercedeth also with God for us not in such a manner as Christ is said to doe whom St. John also calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2. 1. For as much as that Bloud which He shed for us on the Cross speaks for us better things than that of Abel and continually pleads our Pardon before the Tribunal of God but the Holy Ghost is said to make intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered because he stirreth us up to Prayer prompting and teaching us also how to pray as we ought to doe in all our Necessities So that as Christ is the first Advocate by working our Reconciliation with God so is the Spirit our other or second one by testifying and applying the same unto our Souls 2dly He is our Advocate not only in respect of God but of Men too by maintaining our Cause against the World against Tyrants and Persecutors 1. Against the World as oft as it accuseth us by false and slanderous Calumniators laying to our charge things we never did The Spirit in this case maketh us not only plead our Innocency but rejoyce in the Reproaches of Christ count our selves happy in this that it is not such low marks as we are which the malice of the World aimeth at but the Spirit of glory and of God which resteth upon us who is on their part evil spoken of 1 Pet. 4. 14. 2dly Against Tyrants and Persecutors Whence it is that our Saviour Mat. 10. 19. bids his Disciples not be concern'd what they should speak when they should be delivered up to Men because it should be given them in that same hour what they should speak And he adds vers 20. It is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you And we know how that God in all Ages did by the mouths of Infants maintain his Truths to the shame and confusion of Tyrants who endeavour'd to suppress them But here it may be objected Was not the Holy Ghost given to the Jewish Church before the coming of Christ Did He not comfort and support them under a long and tedious expectation of his appearance Was He not then a Teacher of the Faithfull and when that Cloud of Witnesses suffered for the Cause of the God of Jacob when they were sawn in pieces and stoned was not the Holy Ghost their Advocate as well as the Martyrs under the Gospel Did He not speak by the Mouth of Daniel when cast to the Lions and of the three Children who chanted out the Praises of God in the midst of the flames of the firey furnace How then does our Lord say here If I go not away the Comforter will not come to you since so many Ages before He was come and as a Comforter too For Resolution hereof we are to observe That although the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity be equally the Principles of all those Acts they produce without according to the received Maxim of the Schools yet with a considerable difference in relation to those three distinct Oeconomies or Dispensations towards the Church That of the Father lasted till the Coming of Christ in the Flesh yet so as that in that space of time 't is generally believed that the Son of God did sometimes appear as to Abraham Jacob and Joshua being a kind of Essay or Prelude to his Incarnation and the Holy Ghost did then also impart some degree of Efficacy to the Faithfull However This is properly to be reckoned the Oeconomy of the Father The second was That of the Son from his Incarnation to his Ascension yet so as that the Father made his voice to be heard at Jordan and Mount Tabor This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased hear ye Him As at another time in the Audience of the People Joh. 12. 28. I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again Then also did the Holy Ghost appear in the form of a Dove yet still this is to be accounted the Oeconomy of the Son That of the Holy Spirit commenced from his Descent upon the Apostles and shall last unto the end of all things Differing herein from the other two That in the two first Dispensations Men's senses were usually affected with some extraordinary miraculous and sensible Objects God the Father shewing himself in a Cloud and Pillar of Fire giving out his Oracles from between the Cherubins consuming the burnt-offerings with Fire from Heaven and filling the Sanctuary with his Glory And the Son of God conversing so familiarly with Men that it made St. John say That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life declare we unto you Whereas I say All was as it were visible and palpable here 'T was far otherwise in the Dispensation of the Spirit The Heavens were not seen to part nor was God's terrible Voice heard in the Air no Shechinah no Glory or sensible Mark of the Presence of the living God in his Temple For which reason the third Person in the Trinity has the Special Name of Spirit given Him For as He is styled Holy in respect of that Sanctification he worketh in us though that same Title belongs also to the other two Persons as having the same Spiritual Essence yet the Holy Ghost bears the name of Spirit in regard of his altogether Spiritual Dispensation and those Graces he imparts to each faithfull Soul which are Heavenly and Spiritual such as are the Knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven and his inward Vertues and Consolations As for Knowledge it was so weak and imperfect under the Ancient Oeconomy that in respect of that our Lord preferrs the least in the Kingdom of Heaven i. e. the meanest Christian to all the Prophets not excepting the Baptist himself Nor can it be deny'd but that the very first Principles and Rudiments of Christianity do far surpass the highest Attainments of the Law The Jews were under a Cloud and the Doctrine of the Prophets was but as a light shining in a dark place All was then Shadow or rather Night and Moses his Veil was over the Eyes of the whole Nation God made himself known to the Jews as the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob not as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom They had a very wrong Notion looking upon him as the Conqueror of the World such was the very Apostle's fancy of him and that even after his Resurrection Act. 1. The ineffable Mystery of the Trinity that of Godliness which without controversie is great God manifested
in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory were then all riddle And as our Knowledge now is far clearer than that of God's ancient People was so is our Consolation and Joy also being established on better Promises revealed with more Evidence and embraced with more Firmness and Certitude Death is now swallowed up in victory and hath lost its sting so that our Fears are less as our Hopes are stronger sweeter and more comfortable being now not under the Spirit of Bondage but of Adoption which makes us go boldly to the Throne of Grace The Result of all is this That the Oeconomy of the Spirit followed that of the Father and of the Son That the Holy Ghost was not properly to be styled a Comforter till Christ went up from Earth to Heaven and that if our Lord had remained here below the blessed Comforter would not have come down in that plentifull Effusion of his Gifts and Graces as he did after our Lord's departure which is the Third thing proposed But before I enter upon this subject I shall first take notice of the sender of Him which our Lord says was Himself I will send him unto you Christ had before told his Disciples That He would pray the Father that He would send them another Comforter Joh. 14. 16. v. 26. That the Father would send Him in his Name But chap. 15. 26. as here in the Text He takes it upon Himself to send him I will send Him unto you from the Father And both with Truth For the Father and the Son sent and had an equal share in sending Him He is therefore called The Spirit of the Father Mat. 10. 20. and The Spirit of the Son Gal. 4. 6. For he proceedeth from both From the Father 't is said expresly Joh. 15. 26. and from the Son if not in express terms yet virtually imply'd in that He is said to be the Spirit of Christ as well as of the Father and must therefore come from Him because sent from Him too The only difference being this That the Holy Ghost is sent by the Father as from Him who hath by the Original Communication a right of Mission which denotes only distinction of Order The Father being as the Spring the Son as the Fountain and the Holy Ghost as the Stream flowing from both From whence we may collect two Things 1. That the Holy Ghost is a real distinct Person from the Father and the Son in as much as He is sent by them For how can He be the same with them that send Him If he proceed from the Father he must be distinct in subsistence and if his Coming depended on the Son 's going away and sending Him after he was gone He cannot be the Son who therefore departed that He might send Him 2. It follows hence That the Holy Ghost is equal to the Father and the Son For whatsoever proceedeth from God must be God whatsoever partakes of his Essence must be equal with Him And surely if the Son have the same right of Mission with the Father as we learn from the Text he must be acknowledged to have the same Essence with him too And had not the Holy Ghost been Equal with the Son as with the Father how could He have supplied his Place Or what Expediency could there have been in the Holy Spirit 's coming when being less than Christ he could have never been able to doe as much as Christ did and so the exchange must needs have been to the Apostle's loss and not as Christ himself had told them it should prove to their benefit and advantage St. Augustine's Prayer then was not impertinent Domine da mihi alium Te alioqui non dimittam Te Give me Lord another as good as thy self or I will never leave Thee nor ever consent that Thou shouldst leave me Nor is it any diminution to the Deity of the Holy Ghost that He is said here to be sent by the Son These Expressions To be sent or To come and the like being not Expressions of disparagement For He was so sent as to come too and to come of his own accord His coming being free and voluntary He came in no servile manner but as a Lord as a friend from a friend in a Letter the very Mind of him that sent it which shews an agreement indeed and concord with Him that sent him but implies no Inferiority nor any the least degree of Subjection 'T is the Spirits honour to be sent to be a Leader and though sent He be yet is He as free an Agent as He that sent him Tertullian calls Him Christi Vicarium Christ's Vicar on Earth But if that argued any inequality in the Spirit it might as well in the Son too who is styled in Scripture the Angel and Messenger of God and is said to go about his Father's business that sent Him But to leave this Argument as more proper to convince a Macedonian Heretick than needfull for any true Believer I shall proceed to the third Thing namely The time when the Holy Ghost was to be sent and that was after our Lord's departure If I depart I will send him unto you But what necessity was there may some say of Christ's departing in order to the Spirit 's Coming Might He not have tarried here and the Spirit have come for all that Was the stay of the one any lett or hinderance to the coming of the other Or might not Christ have sent for as well as go away himself to send him To this I say 1. That it was decreed from all Eternity That God the Father should draw us to his Son Joh. 6. 44. 2dly That God the Son should instruct us chap. 17. 6 8. And 3dly That God the Holy Ghost should assist and establish us in all Truth And so the whole Work of our Redemption should be ascribed to the Father as electing To the Son as consummating and to the Holy Ghost as applying it God the Father had done his part God the Son was at this instant doing his too It remained only that the Comforter should come to perfect both which could not be till the Son had performed his Task here on Earth and should go away to Heaven For the Acts of the Holy Ghost pre-suppose those of a Redeemer 'T is the part of that Blessed Spirit to inflame our Souls with the Love of God but in order to this effect 't is absolutely necessary that the Redeemer should first appease God Our first Parent was not able to endure the terror of the voice of his provoked Majesty but was forc'd to hide his head And what is each Sinner but as Flax before the consuming fire of his Justice Till our Redeemer then had disarm'd that Justice till he had made men's Peace and Reconciliation the Holy Ghost could not excite any motions of Love in them
advantage 3. Besides to make our Estate good is required Investiture so that although Christ hath made a purchase and paid a price for us yet what would this advantage us without Livery and Seizin which the same Apostle calls The Earnest of the Spirit 2 Cor. 5. 5. Lastly What are we at all the better for what Christ did for us if we be not joined to Him as He was to us and 't is by his Spirit that we are joined unto Him For he that hath not Christ's Spirit is none of his Rom. 8. 9. and then Christ will profit him nothing From whence it plainly appears That what the Father and the Son did for us could not be compleat or available without the concurrence of the Holy Ghost They could doe nothing for us without Him nor we any thing for our selves in order to our Salvation For first without Holiness we cannot see God who is therefore called Holy because he is the cause of Holiness in us his Office consisting in the sanctifying of us We are by Nature void of all saving Truth 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. None knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God And 't is the Spirit that searcheth all things and revealeth them unto the Sons of Men That dispells their Darkness enlightens their Understandings with the knowledge of God and works in them an assent unto that which by the Word is propounded unto them Again 2dly Unless they be regenerate and renewed they are still in a state of natural Corruption Now 't is the Holy Spirit that regenerates and renews us According to his mercy he saveth us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. And Except a man be born again of Water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3. 5. We are all at first defiled by the corruption of our Nature and the pollution of our Sins but we are washed but we are sanctified but we are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. Thirdly We are not able to guide our selves and 't is the Spirit that leads directs and governs us in our Actions and Conversations that we may perform what is acceptable in the sight of God 'T is He that giveth both to will and to doe and As many as are thus led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God Rom. 8. 14. Fourthly If we be separate from Christ we are as branches cut off from the Tree which presently wither away for want of sap to nourish them Now 't is the Spirit that joins us to Christ and makes us Members of that Body whereof he is the Head For by one Spirit we are all baptized into that one Body 1 Cor. 12. 13. And hereby we know that God abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us 1 Joh. 3. 24. Fifthly Till we be assured of the Adoption of Sons we have no comfort no hope for 't is that which creates in us a sense of the Paternal love of God towards us The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us Rom. 5. 5. And the Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God Rom. 8. 16. who is therefore said to be the Pledge and the Earnest of our Inheritance In a word had not the Holy Ghost been sent to us we could have done nothing to any purpose no means on our part would have availed us Not Baptism which might wash spots from our Skins nor stains from our Souls No laver of Regeneration without renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3. 5. Not the Word which without the Spirit would have proved but a killing letter Not the Sacrament The Flesh profiteth nothing 't is the Spirit that quickneth Joh. 6. 63. Lastly Not Prayer which without the Spirit is but lip-labour For unless he help our infirmities and make intercession for and with us we know not what we should pray for as we ought Rom. 8. 26. To summ up all It was expedient nay absolutely necessary that the Spirit should have his Advent as well as Christ. Christ's Advent was necessary for the fulfilling of the Law and the Spirit 's for the compleating of the Gospel Christ's to redeem the Church and the Spirit 's to teach it Christ's to shed his bloud for it and the Spirit 's to wash and purge it in that bloud Christ's to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and the Spirit 's to interpret it The one without the other is imperfect Christ's Birth Death Passion Resurrection are good news but sealed up a Gospel hid till the Spirit come and open it Of such importance was his coming and so expedient yea and necessary for us it was that our Lord should go away to send Him to us And as he did send Him to the Apostles in an extraordinary manner in cloven tongues like as of fire as at this time so all Christians have a promise of the Comforter though not of the firey tongues The promise is to you and to your Children and to all that are a-far off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Act. 2. 39. That is To all that wait for and are in such a fit posture and condition to receive Him as the Apostles themselves were To all that are like Him Holy Pure Charitable Peaceable That have those fruits of the Spirit mentioned Gal. 5. 22 23. That are void of carnal sensual Affections than which nothing will more obstruct his entrance He being a Spirit and having therefore no commerce with the Flesh. Christ carnally apprehended we see could not avail any thing and so long as our Thoughts and Desires run after things here below his Spirit from above will not fill or inflame them Therefore sur sum corda let us lift up our hearts towards Him He will meet us and Christ will send Him to us if we meet Him in his way Send Him if we send for Him too if we send up our Prayers to fetch Him down For being a Spirit of supplication Zach. 12. 10. the proper means to obtain Him is Prayer And surely He is worth the asking for being the greatest gift God can give us or we receive In giving whereof He is said to give us all things Mat. 7. 11. In whom we have a Teacher to instruct The Spirit of Truth to lead us into all Truth necessary for us An Advocate to plead for and defend us A Comforter in all our outward and inward distresses so that Direction Protection Consolation and all that is beneficial to us or we can desire we have in Him But then when we have got let us be sure to retain and to cherish Him not chase Him away for then we had better never to have had Him Be sure not to resist Him by our Pride quench Him by our Carnality and so grieve Him
the work of Man's Redemption which could not have been perform'd but in such a Body as his own nor could the Seed of the Woman be said to bruise the Serpent's head had not Christ been conceived of that Seed nor the Promise renew'd to Abraham Gen. 22. 18. In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed have been made good had not the Mother of our Lord descended from his loins too And surely well may she be call'd Blessed without whom we could never have been so since 't was she that furnish'd those Materials that repair'd our ruines from whose Bloud also flow'd that most pretious One which alone can cleanse and redeem us Our Mother Eve could brag when she had brought forth her first-begotten and he but an untoward Child for St. John tells us he was of that wicked one the Devil 1 John 3. 12. as all other Reprobates are there said to be vers 10. I have gotten a Man from the Lord Gen. 4. 1. i. e. as some interpret the words That famous Man the Lord fancying Cain to be that Seed of the Woman that should bruise the Serpent's head But how truly may each of us now say Possedi Deum per Virginem I have gotten the Lord my Redeemer by the means of a pure Virgin of whom my Saviour was made Man that I might be made the Son of God How much better may the Virgin Mary deserve the name of the Mother of all the Living than Eve did Gen. 3. 20. who at best convey'd unto us but a Natural whereas the former a Spiritual life in giving us Him who is the Life so far was Eve from being Mater Viventium in this sense that she brought forth all her Posterity still-born into the World dead in trespasses and sins She indeed hearkned to the Suggestions of an evil Spirit but the Holy Virgin to the Message of a good one If she were the Mother of the Living then this of the Predestinate and if by the former Satan bruised our heel by this Anti-Eve we crush his head being instated in a better condition than we had forfeited Now if they who were the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benefactors to Mankind were thought worthy of divine Honours the first occasion of Idolatry there being nothing that renders a person more like God than to doe good especially to oblige all Manking nothing that could raise such Persons so high in the Esteem of Mortals as such a large and comprehensive Goodness surely none came so near the Almighty in this so divine a quality as the Holy Virgin did by whose means not only the Inhabitants of the Earth but in some sort too those of Heaven became certainly and immutably Blessed confirm'd in such a state of happiness by her Son as they are uncapable of losing And therefore well might the Angel pronounce her Blessed who with the rest of his Order were so much obliged by her And surely all generations of Men much more who in part owe unto her their recovery and those hopes they have of being one day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alike Blessed with them and if St. Paul was Blessed in being a chosen Vessel to bear Christ's name then the Holy Virgin much more by conveying a humane Nature to him who alone makes us partakers of the divine one All these advantages had the Mother of God glorious indeed but not the chiefest part of her happiness nor was she to value her self for her relation purely considered in its self Yea rather Blessed are they says our Lord who hear the Word of God and keep it Whereby it appears how little he set by any carnal propinquity and how much nearer and dearer to him the Righteous are than his own bloud not that he did in the least despise his Parents for his own Example preaches Subjection to them Luke 2. 51. but only preferr Spiritual kindred to Carnal as he often does letting us know That to doe the will of his Father which is in Heaven is to be his Brother Sister and Mother Matth. 12. 50. That true Christian Heraldry is founded in Grace and not in Bloud That to be joined unto him in one Spirit is a closer Union than to be united to him in the flesh and to be obedient to his Commands far more advantageous than to relate to his Person Nay so little would our Lord have us too to prize such outward things as these that unless in some cases we hate Father and Mother Wife and Children Brethren and our selves too he plainly tells us we cannot be his Disciples Luke 14. 26. And for this reason Moses blessed Levi Deut. 33. 9. Who said unto his Father and to his Mother I have not seen him neither did he acknowledge his Brethren nor knew his own Children but observed God's Word and kept his Covenant This is certain that all outward favours and privileges how pompous soever in themselves are wholly insignificant and ineffectual without the grace of Obedience being at best but gratioe gratis datoe non gratum facientes rather ornaments than benefits which as we are not thanklesly to over-slip so neither presumptuously to over-ween See how little account St. Paul makes of them 2 Cor. 5. 16. Though we have known Christ after the flesh have familiarly convers'd with him been eye-witnesses of all those glorious things he did as his Apostles yet now henceforth know we him no more we disclaim all such carnal acquaintance and if we should know Christ no better he would not know us nor own us for his we might be nearly related to him and yet be far enough from him and without him for so 't is expresly recorded of some of his Brethren that they did not believe in him Joh. 7. 5. So far were they from looking upon him as their Saviour that they took him for no better than a mad-man one besides himself Mark 3. 21. though in process of time some of them indeed became his disciples and no doubt of Christ's Genealogy not a few were eternally lost The Jews much prided themselves in being Abraham's sons and yet one of them that calls himself so fryes in Hell What did it avail Saul to be a Prophet or Judas an Apostle when such privileges serv'd them for no other purpose but to enhanse their damnation We reade not of any dignified with more glorious Prerogatives than these two the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Evangelist the one for bearing our Saviour in her Womb and the other for leaning on his Breast yet how little had these things benefited them had not Faith and Piety seasoned such outward privileges and made them as gracious as they were glorious Happier Mary for bearing Christ's Sayings in her Heart than Himself in her Womb in that she partook of the Merit than imparted the Matter and Substance of his bloud 'T was not so much the loveliness of her Motherhood as the lowliness of her Handmaidship that He regarded
the eternal Word is incarnated in us and we become as much his Mothers in the Spirit as the Blessed Virgin was in the Flesh. And herein was it that the Mother of God was in the best and most advantageous sense Blessed as one in whom the Word was twice Incarnated her Lord and his Gospel much more Blessed in sucking the sincere Milk of the Word from her Sons Paps those golden ones Revel 1. 13. than in affording him her own 'T was her glory and her chiefest happiness that she kept all her Sons sayings and pondered them in her heart an Eulogy given her no less than twice in one Chapter of St. Luke ch 2. v. 19 51. This sacred Ark had the two Tables of the Law and the better Manna laid up in it which she continually treasur'd up in her heart feeding upon it in her private thoughts and digesting it in her practice being as well a Daughter as a Mother of God and her Soul more fruitfull than her Womb. So that this Mary too chose the better part It was I say her Choice this whereas to be the Mother of God but her Privilege In this latter capacity she only furnisht her Son with a humane Nature but in the former she procur'd her self a participation of his divine one There Christ was made her Son and here her Saviour and 't is upon the account of her Faith Elizabeth blesseth her Luke 1. 45. and so does St. Augustine pronounce her more happy Percipiendo fidem Christi quà m concipiendo carnem Christi nay he plainly tells us that this latter Conception had done her no good at all without the former Nihil Mariae profuisset says he nisi feliciùs Christum corde quam corpore gestâsset To bear Christ in her Womb was little to the having the Holy Ghost in her Soul and to conceive of him little to the bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit Faith Humility Patience Love and the like Graces whereof she was a sacred Repository like the Ark overlaid and in-laid with Gold adorn'd with outward Privileges and inward Graces nay like that King's daughter Psal. 45. 14. more glorious within than without This Spouse of God shining out radiis Mariti cloath'd with that Woman Revel 12. 1. with the Son of Righteousness who deckt her with his light as with a garment And how could it be otherwise How was it possible that He on whom the Spirit rested and abode should not impart of it to her in whom he so long dwelt and in greater measures than to any mortal He who himself received not the Spirit by measure If in him were hid all the Treasures of Wisedom and Knowledge surely the Blessed Virgin must needs have been highly enricht by them and while he sanctify'd the Baptist in his Mother's womb did he not think we much more sanctifie that Womb wherein with himself the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily where the whole Blessed Trinity met the Father being with her the Son in her and the Holy Ghost over-shaddowing her Surely being so near the Fountain of Grace and Glory nay having it in her Soul those single Perfections which singly meet in others all concenter'd in this great Saint Among which give me leave to propose some of the more eminent ones to your imitation as 1. Her Faith in crediting the Message of the Angel 2. Her entire Resignation of her self to the Will of God Ecce Ancilla Domini 3. Her Modesty in being troubled at the presence of a Man and those Praises he bestow'd on her being it seems unacquainted with such guests or addresses a thing which now-a-days would perhaps be constru'd ill breeding 4. Her Prudence in examining a Message which at first blush seem'd to look like a Temptation casting in her mind what manner of Salutation that should be so jealous was she of her honour that she durst not trust the divine Messenger with so choice a Jewel till she saw it should be safe till he could find out a way to reconcile her being a Mother with her Purity otherwise to her even an Angel of light had been but an Angel of darkness This was not Unbelief in her as 't was in Zachary but Caution He indeed requir'd a Sign for that which was within the ordinary course of nature She none at all though in a business far above nature not in the least questioning the thing its self but desirous only to be inform'd of the manner of it since she knew not a man 5. Add we to this her Devotion in constantly visiting God's Temple where after our Lord's Ascension we find her assembled with the Apostles and other Saints of God Acts 1. 14. as in the frequent exercise of the Acts thereof Meditation and Prayer It being a general Tradition that when the Angel delivered her his message he found her on her knees and if we may credit St. Bernard but how warrantably I know not at that very instant begging earnestly for the Salvation of the World and the Revelation of the Messiah 6. Lastly To crown all her profound Humility that heavenly Ladder whereby God descended to her and she mounted up to him and that even in the midst of far higher Ecstasies and Revelations than the great Apostle was afraid of And yet no pretence of Merit no assuming to her self any portion of that glory which belonged unto God and she wholly ascribes to him in these words He that is Mighty hath magnified me and Holy is his Name Which clearly shews how inconsistent with nay how diametrically opposite to her Modesty and Humility those praises are which Popish flatterers so frequently bestow upon the Blessed Virgin and how impossible 't is to excuse their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as they are pleas'd to explain it not so high a kind of worship as belongs unto God and yet higher than what is due to any other Creature besides her self A strange middle sort of Adoration that has no ground or foot-step in Scripture and no better than flat Idolatry Prayer and Invocation are the Almighty's Prerogative This Incense must not smoak but on his Altar and the calves of the lips are a sacrifice which must be offered to none but to a God that heareth prayer Psal. 65. 2. and can alone grant our requests This he challenges as his peculiar right Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the time of trouble so will I hear thee and thou shalt praise me And to him the Saints of God have always address'd their Petitions David for one who Psal. 5. 2 3. professes that unto him he would direct his Prayer And therefore 't is observable that the Angel here salutes the Holy Virgin but does not pray to her and her self says that all generations shall call her Blessed not invocate her for Blessings as the Papists doe and not only so but in other respects too equal her to God as by freeing her from
9 10. Nor could all their other Purifications doe much neither towards the cleansing of the Mind which might be still in the Mire while the Body was in the Laver and remain as bestial as those Creatures to which it was beholding for its cleansing Besides that the Jewish Promises being so remote and obscure so low and mean and relating so much to this life that 't is question'd by some whether they pointed at all to any other they could have but little influence on the more spiritual part of Man which can never rest satisfied with what is so unproportioned to and so much less than its self All which defects are abundantly supply'd by Christ who has not only given us better Precepts but as the Apostle says established them on better and clearer Promises such as in their nature are most apt to engage us to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in the fear of God To all which we may add the powerfull assistances of God's grace and the force and efficacy of Christ's example whereby He has not only pointed out the way to us but trac'd it Himself being both the way and the truth All such pressing Motives to Purity of life that 't is Morally impossible for any to name the name of Christ and not to depart from all Iniquity And therefore Athenagoras in his Apology for Christianity plainly tells us and 't is a great truth That no Christian can be a bad man unless he be a Hypocrite or pretend to so holy a Master and be so unlike Him To behold the Lamb of God without spot or blemish and be himself a Leopard And surely He that shall consider how that the whole Discipline of the Jewish Religion was but Purity in Type and all the Ceremonies of their Worship but so many Figures or rather Doctrines of Cleanness must needs grant that Purity which the Christian Religion advanc'd and which the Mosaical one did but adumbrate to have been of a far higher strain and cannot but in reason confess there lyes now upon him a much stronger obligation to Purity he being not only washt in Christ's own bloud that bloud which alone can purge his conscience from dead works to serve the ever-living God but baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire And now tell me whether any can well pretend to be redeemed by that bloud wherein he finds no power to sanctifie him Without doubt whatsoever Christ worketh for us He worketh in us too If he clear us from the guilt of sin he does likewise cleanse us from the pollution of it If he free us from the obligation and the punishment he does withall from the power and dominion of it and while he quenches Hell-fire without does at the same time quench that of Lust within us These things are not to be separated and when we find them so or find our selves the same men Christ found us still in our sins though he has used all possible means to draw us out of them we certainly frustrate all the ends of his Incarnation He is not born for us but against us This Child is not set for our rise but for our fall His taking our Flesh will doe us no good if we doe not walk by his Spirit and that we shall not doe if we be not Holy as well as Innocent and not only perform those excellent things He requires from us but love and become zealous of them that so we may be indeed his Peculiar People A Title which some in our days are pleased to appropriate to themselves who yet shew little of that which must secure it renouncing good works in their own practice and decrying them in others as the mark of Antichrist's rather than of Christ's People These are they who talk so much of Faith and set it up in opposition to good Works an error worse than theirs who make them joint Causes with Christ's Merits in our Justification such there were in our Apostle's time who because He did so much magnifie Faith to beat down the Jews conceit of being justified by the Works of the Law did so far Idolize it as to think all good works useless when once they had taken upon them the profession of Christianity And there are and too many among us who bury all thoughts of good works in a pleasing but deceitfull Contemplation of Faith as exclusive of those good works whereof 't is so naturally productive and which can no more be separated from it than heat from light 'T is Faith indeed which alone purifies the heart that is the very foundation and root of all other Graces without which our Profession is but an empty Name and our most glorious performances but so many glittering Sins But then 't is such a Faith as supposes good works or else 't is but a dead an invisible Faith good works being the only evidences of its reality whereby we approve our selves unto Men as well as glorifie God stop the mouths of the Enemies of the Gospel make our calling and election sure to our selves and our profession good in the sight of others by adorning the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things and by the practice thereof resembling Him who went about doing good And upon these and the like accounts we find our Apostle highly magnifying and earnestly calling upon Titus to press the necessity of them chap. 3. 8. This is a faithfull saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be carefull to maintain good works these things are good and profitable unto men so profitable that without them the Text expresly affirms they cannot be God's peculiar People And here we may see how strict an Exactor of them our Lord is who is not content with our performance of without our affection to them nay requires the very heat and fervor of that affection will have us doe and withall be zealous of them which is more than barely to doe them and cannot possibly consist with any coldness or indifferency to them Such a temper He requires whose Zeal did even eat him up that we should follow after righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word is eagerly pursue and even persecute it be active and violent in quest thereof never leaving off our pursuit till we have obtain'd it He who like Gallio cares for none of these things but is indifferent to them shall be as little car'd for by God and such as are neither hot nor cold in his service he will spew out of his mouth Nescit tarda molimina Spiritûs sancti gratia God's Spirit fires that Soul it does inspire making it active and industrious to improve his Graces to add one link or other still to the Chain of them To faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and so on To strive not only to be
them white in his bloud let us not defile them again but keep them unspotted from the World and hate even the garment spotted by the Flesh purifying our selves as He is pure that we may with comfort look for that blessed hope mentioned in the verse immediately preceding even the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ And when He shall appear follow that immaculate and unspotted Lamb into those Regions of Bliss where now He is and whither he has already exalted our nature To which place God in his good time bring us all for the Merits of his only beloved Son and our blessed Redeemer To whom with the Father c. Amen Soli Deo gloria A SERMON Preached on Candlemas-day St. LUKE II. 22. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished they brought him to Ierusalem to present him to the Lord. THere are not any Writings so harmonious and every-where consonant to themselves as the Holy Scriptures The Old and New Testament like Glasses set one against another reflect a mutual light so that as Moses and the Prophets testifie of Christ Christ bears witness to them and all the Types of the Law have their Anti-Types in the Gospel which directly answer them Thus the Gospel for this day is but the Eccho to the Epistle There the Prophet Malachi fore-tells That the Lord the Messias whom the Jewish Nation sought should suddenly come to his Temple and here we find Him with his Blessed Mother in that Temple each of them appearing there in obedience to the Mosaical Law the one to be purified the other to be presented And as this day's Festival takes its denomination from these two legal Rites so the Text expresly mentions each of them 1. The Purification of the Mother with the circumstance of its proper time in the former part of it When the days of her Purification were accomplished 2. The Presentation of her Child together with the several circumstances of the place where and the Persons that presented him in the latter They brought him to Jerusalem that is as 't is explain'd ver 27. His parents brought him into the Temple at Jerusalem to doe for him after the custom of the Law which was to present him to the Lord. Of these distinctly and first of the Purification of the Mother This we find expresly required by the Law of Moses Levit. 12. 2. where 't is said If a woman have conceived seed and born a man-child then she shall be unclean seven days according to the days of her separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean And 't is added ver 4. She shall then i. e. after the circumcision of her Male-child continue in the bloud of her purifying thirty-three days she shall touch no hallowed thing nor come into the sanctuary untill the days of her purifying be fulfilled Which legal Rite as it did no doubt point to that spiritual Purification which was to be made by the bloud of Christ the immaculate Lamb to be shed for all Mankind on the Altar of the Cross so did it insinuate to the Jews their Original corruption that they as well as other descendants of Adam were conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity For to what purpose should there be such care taken for the cleansing of the Vessel had it not before been tainted Or why should a Sin-offering be required where there was no sin to expiate The Law of Purification then evidently proclaims our uncleanness and tells us that our very Birth infects the Mother that bare us She might not we see till the seventh day converse with Men nor till the fortieth day appear before the Lord in the Sanctuary nor then without a burnt-offering for thanksgiving and a sin-offering for expiation and that of a double sin viz. of the Mother that conceived and as St. Paul tells us was first in the Transgression and of the Son that was conceived And this Rite without question the Holy Mother of God observ'd in conscience of that natural Corruption which was common to her with all other Men and Women propagated to her as a branch of the first stock and which by the Oblation made by her she publickly confessed to God and the Congregation From whence it will follow that as they are gross flatterers of Nature who tell us she is clean so they are no less Idolaters of the Virgin Mary who exempt her from all stain Original or Actual For besides that our Lord 's sharp rebuke Joh. 2. 3. implies some such fault as was inconsistent with a spotless impeccable condition her willing submission to the Mosaical Rite here and her professing her own need of a Saviour Luk. 1. 47. are sufficient Arguments to stop their mouths who will needs force those Eulogies upon her which her self utterly disclaim'd both by word and practice But whatever stain there might be in her own Conception 't is certain she was most free from any particular sin as to that of our Lord's and rather sanctified than polluted by bearing Him who could draw no infection from the loins of Adam as not conceived in the ordinary way of Mankind but by the vertue of the Holy Ghost over-shaddowing her Happy Mother Whatever impurity then there might be in others there could be none at all in the Son of God and if the best Substance of a pure Virgin had in it any spot it was sufficiently scowred off by that Holy thing which was conceived in her by the Holy Spirit and did in a far more extraordinary way sanctifie that Womb wherein Himself lay than that wherein the Baptist. Upon all which accounts the Holy Mother of God might well have challenged an Immunity from all Ceremonies of Purification she needed no purging since she had no stain This was for those Mothers whose Births were unclean hers was from God who is Purity its self The Law of Moses reach'd only to those Women which had conceived in sin she conceived not that Seed but by the Holy Ghost That extended to the Mothers of those Sons which were under the Law whereas hers was above it yet does she not wrangle with the Law upon any of these scores but cheerfully submits to a twofold Rite of Purification and Oblation waves all her Privileges and chuses Duty subscribes to the Law of that God whom she carried in her Womb and in her Heart the true Mother of Him who came to fulfill all Righteousness Legal as well as Moral and though he knew the Children of the Kingdom free would yet pay Tribute to Caesar. These Rites then she observ'd not for her self but for us to give us a fourfold Example of Charity Obedience Humility and Gratitude 1. Of Charity Among other Acts whereof this is not the least not to scandalize our Neighbours For as no man according to St. Paul's rule liveth to himself We are oblig'd in all our actions
that by the Merit and Excellency of this Oblation we may exhibit to God an Offertory in which he cannot but delight for the Combinations sake and Society of that his Holy Son in whom alone he is well pleased Appear then we must before him in this our Elder Brothers habit or we shall never steal away our Heavenly Father's blessing For all we have is by and through him and 't is with him God gives us all things Our Birth-right descends to us from this first-born of all the Creatures All the Privileges of it Our Kingdom and our Priesthood are derived from him who alone makes us Kings and Priests unto God But then 2dly if we doe not present our selves and all our Offerings with Christ in that manner whereby himself was presented we shall gain little by his own Presentation this day And here three things offer themselves to our direction how we may present our selves to God and all we have so as that our Presents may be acceptable to him This they will be 1. If they be pure 2. If early and of the best 3. If offered up in the Temple All coucht in the Mystery of this day First Our Presents must be pure and to this end we must purifie our selves before we presume to address our selves to God in his Holy Temple For if our Persons be not pure our Offerings will never be so since God looks not to the Hand but the Heart of the offerer And as his Eye is upon the Righteous and his Ear open to Their prayer so the best Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to him Cain's Present no doubt was as rich as Abel's but not so acceptable for the Donor's sake Come we then into the Temple of God but not till our selves be also his Temples and those Temples so well swept and garnisht that they may be a fit habitation for his Spirit I will wash mine hands in innocency aad so will I go to thine Altar says David Psal. 26. 6. There is none of us that can pretend to be as pure as the Mother much less as the Son of God yet each of them would be legally cleansed before they would appear in the Temple Nor was our blessed Lord brought thither till he had been circumcised to teach us that the spiritual Circumcision of our hearts is a most necessary qualification to make us fit presents for God And as his Example preaches Purity so doe his and the Blessed Virgin 's Offerings here proclaim the Necessity of it a Lamb and a pair of Turtle-Doves being the proper Emblems of Cleanness Secondly As our Presents must be pure and spotless so early ones And this not only the legal Offerings a Lamb of a year old and two young Pigeons did imply but our Saviour's Example declares who was no sooner born but presented to God Our young Services are most gratefull to the Almighty His Soul delights in the first ripe fruits Micah 7. 1. in the first-fruits of our Age not the remains of our Harvest Cain's Sacrifice He cares not for such Trees as St. Jude speaks of whose fruit withereth and which bud not till the Autumn verse 13. He who Jer. 1. 11. made choice of the Almond-tree because it blossom'd first 'T is true indeed that a late Sacrifice is not always refus'd but an early one sure is most pleasing to him and though the last Comers into the Vineyard had their penny yet doubtless the first were the most welcome and therefore Christ is said to have loved that young Man in the Gospel who had kept all God's Commandments from his youth up Besides a late conversion is seldom true for setting aside Abraham in the Old Testament and Nicodemus in the New we have not many instances of Men converted in their Old Age. And surely when we see how soon the Child Jesus was brought to the Temple we ought not to think it reasonable for us to stay so long from it till we must be fain to be carried thither like so many Carkasses to our Graves This is not that fat of the Sacrifice God requires of us The blind the lame and the decrepid are not fit Presents for him Thirdly and Lastly Our Presents will then be most acceptable when they are offered up in the Temple As Christ's first publick appearance was there so was his last too a little before his Passion Nor was it only in compliance to the Law that he first visited this place but withall to let us know where we are likeliest to find him The Temple at Jerusalem was then God's only House out of which no Sacrifice was acceptable and towards which Holy Persons address'd themselves where-ever they were their Faces and their Hearts too were still towards this place But our Devotion is not so limited Jerusalem is now every-where and every Christian Church as sacred as ever the Jewish Temple was where with Holy Simeon we may meet our Lord and embrace him admit him into our Heart as he took him up in his Arms. In this place does God more particularly exhibit Himself and Blessing to be sure will go along with him where-ever he goes In such Holy places as this as he has put his most Holy Name so does he usually manifest his choicest Mysteries to us and there is no doubt but he will doe so provided we come thither not with designs of Vanity and Curiosity Sensuality and Prophaneness but as Simeon and Anna did by the impulse and motion of his blessed Spirit Thus then let us come to the Temple and with Holy David wait for his loving-kindness in the midst of it not forsaking the assembling of our selves together in this House of God if we expect that Christ should make one of our number If we fly from his Presence here we shall withall run away from his Blessing St. Thomas we know was not with the other Apostles when Christ first appeard to them and to that his Absence some have imputed his Incredulity If Peter be out of the Ship he may sink and if Shimei out of Jerusalem he may dye for it The Church is our best Sanctuary and securest place of Refuge In this Ark we shall be safe Here let Christ find us and we shall find him especially if he finds us in such a way and equipage as he expects to find us in with that Evangelical Purity Obedience Humility Devotion and Gratitude he challenges from us He will then no doubt present us to his Father with himself give Merit and Value to our Persons and Offerings by vertue of his this day's Presentation Our Eyes shall then see his Salvation and we at last with Holy Simeon depart in peace to meet him in the Heavenly Jerusalem that Holy of Holies whereinto this our High Priest is now entred and where he ever liveth to present himself and his Merits and make continual intercession to God for us even the Church of the first-born
Christ by the instigation of the Devil shed tears by the effusion of the Holy Ghost and as they had cruelly wounded him to the death they were penitently and mercifully by his Word and Spirit themselves wounded with Repentance unto life Which piercing as it was in part accomplished in those few Converts fore-mentioned so shall it have its fuller and more perfect fulfilling on the whole Nation of the Jews when they shall see their error and be all turned unto Christ as St. Paul tells us Rom. 11. 11 32. I heartily wish it may as no doubt it was intended be fulfilled in us too and that my Sermon may have the same effect on you that it had on Peter's Auditors That looking on Him whom we also have pierced we may with them be pierced at the heart too We find that at our Lord's crucifixion all Nature mourned all the Creation groaned Rom. 8. 22. The Sun put on blacks the Earth trembled the Rocks cleft asunder and it were strange if we of all God's creatures should remain insensible and express no sorrow when we behold the Lord of Nature suffering and for us too What a shame were it for us that the dumb inanimate Creatures should upbraid us as the Children their fellows in the Market-place Matth. 11. 17. We have mourned to you and ye have not wept Let us then bear our part in this Quire of Mourners but with this difference that our Mourning be not so much outward as inward not so much in the face as in the heart a heart pricked with sorrow for having pierced Christ and not so much for the smart as out of the sense of our Sin not so much for our selves as for him for his sake whom we have crucified for no Tears prevail with God but such as are wept over Jesus Christ If he be not the flame in our Breasts that melts our Hearts if he be not the Object that draws forth our Tears though we should weep Bloud our Bloud shall be but as Water spilt upon the ground If we grieve and not in and for Christ our grief will be but Hypocrisie at least but Formality This is the Sorrow this the Mourning which our piercing of Christ calls for as a proper effect of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication and it must come in at the Eye For the way to be pierced with Christ is to look upon him Iisdem quibus videmus oculis flemus The Eye is the instrument both of Sight and Sorrow That must affect the Heart What the Eye never sees the Heart as we say never rues If the Understanding be not convinced of Sin our Hearts will never be moved at it Sight of Sin must precede Sorrow for it The Prodigal first came to himself ere he returned to his Father Look we then to Christ but let us reflect upon our selves too that our Eyes may dissolve into Tears without which Christ's Bloud shall not wash away our guilt of having spilled it Let us sorrow but with a sorrow according to God such as may work in us repentance unto Salvation for having crucified the Author of it and then we may look upon Him to our comfort 3. With an Eye of Faith which is another prospect here mainly intended For the looking on in the Text is an Allusion to the beholding of the brazen Serpent a Type of Christ crucified on the Cross as himself tells us Joh. 3. 16. It was not the brazen Serpent it self but their looking upon it that cured the bitten Israelites It was their Faith that did it which came in at their Eye though it usually does at the Ear and gave it a healing quality As it was not the Woman's touch but her Faith that drew out Vertue from Christ to stanch her issue of bloud It is the generally received opinion that the Souldier who pierced Christ one Longinus was when he did that act blind but by vertue of that pretious Bloud which sprang on his Eyes from our Saviour's side he had his Sight restored and was hereupon converted and after became a Bishop of Cappadocia and in the end died a Martyr What truth there is in the History I know not but very much surely there is in the Application If by Faith we will look upon him whom we have pierced that Sight shall not only clear our Eyes to discern but touch our Hearts and dispose them to embrace a Saviour No spiritual Cure to be wrought on us without our Faith We find that Christ in all his miraculous Cures of diseased Persons still required their Faith as a necessary preparative to their healing as if Omnipotency it self could doe nothing without the Patient's belief nor will the diseases of our Souls be ever remedied without the concurrence of ours too The Prophet Elijah by applying the Members of his Body to those of the dead Child fetcht it again to life Let us stretch every part of Christ pierced to our Souls and they will soon be revived be they never so dead in trespasses and sins 4. We are to look upon Christ pierced with an Eye of Love This we know naturally comes in at the Eye too Oculi sunt in amore duces Now as there is no such Attractive of Love as Love so never was there any such Love as that of Christ in dying for us It was our Sin that gave Him his Wounds but it was his Love that made him receive them And we may reade that Love to use the Prophet Esay's expression in the Palms of his hands that were stretcht out for us upon his Cross In the Prints of the nails which could never have enter'd Him had not his Love made them a passage And in the point of the Spear which lets our Eyes into the very Bowels of his tender Love and Compassion towards us Well may each of us say with the Holy Martyr Ignatius My Love was crucified for me If the Jews that stood by Him when he was about to raise Lazarus said truly Behold how he loved him when he shed but a few Tears out of his Eyes much more truly may we say of Him Behold how he loved us for whom He shed his very Heart-bloud the utmost Expression of Love as Himself tells us Joh. 15. 13. Greater Love than this hath no Man to bestow his life for his friends and yet greater love than this did he shew forth by laying down his life for us who were his Enemies I say by laying it down for no man had power to take it from him Joh. 10. 18. It was his own pure Love not any force that compell'd him to dye for us And therefore our Obligation to love him ought to be so much the stronger by how much his suffering for us was more free and voluntary 5. Lastly Let us look on Him whom we have pierced with infinite Joy and Exultation not for that we have pierced Him which ought to produce a quite contrary Passion in us
humanity they must needs have been highly concern'd to hear that He was to leave them Happy sure not only the Womb that bare and the Paps that gave him suck but the Ears which heard the Eyes which saw the Feet which followed and the Hands which ministred unto Him Abraham rejoyced to see the Lord's day though at a great distance and St. Augustine could not propose a greater satisfaction to himself next to the Beatifical Vision than to have seen Christ in the flesh But these Disciples had not only the happiness to see Him but withall to be of his train to be instructed by his Divine Lessons comforted by his Christian Promises animated and encouraged by his Example and fortify'd by his Aid and Assistance Upon all which accounts our Lord Himself pronounceth them Blessed above those Prophets and Righteous Men who wanted such advantages Mat. 13. 16 17. Blessed then they were in this as well as other respects and therefore by how much the enjoyment of Christ's presence was beneficial unto them by so much the more was the very apprehension of losing Him harsh and unpleasing For although our Lord's Ascension-day which was the day of his leaving the Earth was to Him a day of Glory yet to the Disciples it could not be but a day of Sorrow It was his going to the Father indeed but it was a going from them And how could it be but that these Children of the Bridegroom should mourn when the Bridegroom was to be taken from them This sole Consideration was enough to beget sorrow in them but there were other Circumstances which help'd to fill up the measure of it and the chiefest this That He was to forsake them in their greatest needs For troubles were now hard at hand persecutions were suddenly to arise a storm was coming and all lookt black they were to be put out of the Synagogues nay the time was now coming That whosoever should kill them should think that he did God good service v. 2. So that to lose a friend such a friend and at such a time was a very uncomfortable prospect and there was but too much reason that their hearts should be filled with sorrow Nor does our Lord altogether blame it 'T was not his business to root out those affections which Nature had given Men but to moderate them He that took our infirmities was not severe to those of his disciples It was indeed a mistake in them to think that their Lord's departure would be disadvantageous to them but a mistake of carnal Love to his Person that was so dear to them which he minds them of and rectifies Quam incertoe providentioe nostroe How short-sighted are the best of us even in those things which most nearly concern us How apt are we to fancy a loss in our greatest benefit How earnestly bent many times on that which would be inconvenient if not mischievous to us And how ill a Judge is flesh and bloud of what tends to God s glory and Man's good St. Peter had no sooner been allarm'd with the news of Christ's Passion but he presently suggests Be it far from thee O Lord Matth. 16. 21 22. And while He and the rest of the Disciples here were possessed with Carnal thoughts how ill did they relish Spiritual things Nothing so much barrs up Men's minds against God's truths as worldly prejudice While they thought Christ was to reign on Earth they could not so much as dream of Heaven Upon the strength of this fancy so deeply rooted in them they give all for lost if they lose their Master It was high time then for him to shew them their error to let them know That that supposed loss would be their gain and the cause of his absence if well understood would raise a joy in them above their present sorrow since his going away for a time was only to prepare a place for them to all Eternity where He and they should one day so meet as never more to be parted In the mean while He assures them That he would not leave them comfortless but after his departure send one from Heaven who should more than supply the defect of his Presence on Earth even the Comforter Himself who yet could not come till He were gone A truth which though never so ungratefull yet being profitable they must hear and that from the mouth of Truth it self Nevertheless I tell you c. In the handling of which words I shall briefly and plainly discourse of these following Heads Shew you 1. Who the Person promised here is and how described 2. Who was to send him 3. When not till Christ was gone away 4. How expedient it was that the Holy Ghost should come and that not only to the Apostles but to all faithfull Believers by representing to you the infinite Benefits we and all the Faithfull do reap by his coming Of these in their order and 1. Of the Person promised here and his Office It cannot be deny'd but that the knowledge of the Third Person in the Ever-blessed Trinity was a Mystery lockt up for many Ages Holy Men of old spake indeed as they were moved by the Holy Ghost but 't is to be question'd whether they were well acquainted with Him they spake by They were his Organs and Instruments but at that time perhaps little sensible of that divine Breath that did inspire them He was scarce at all known before under the legal Dispensations those passages of Scripture being dark and obscure which point at him and Men not ripe then for so high a Revelation Which is so true that till the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles and appeared in cloven tongues as of fire on their heads the knowledge of him was very imperfect It being reported of some who had been baptized into John's baptism Act. 19. that they had not so much as heard whether there were any Holy Ghost not that they had never heard any thing at all of his Being having been baptized by John who had seen him descend upon Christ at his baptism in the visible shape of a Dove Mat. 3. Joh. 1. but that they had not yet been so throughly acquainted with his Gifts and Graces as afterwards they were Our Blessed Lord then was the first who clearly revealed him in his Gospel especially in that of our Evangelist As Joh. 14. 26. he promiseth Him to his Disciples to be their Instructer But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name He shall teach you all things He repeats it again chap. 15. 26. When the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father He shall testifie of me And so here in the Text where there is such a manifest discovery both of his Person and Godhead that none but an Arrian or a Macedonian none but He that resists can doubt of his Existence Taking
who is our Comforter if so the following Verse here will tell us That He can Reprove as well as Comfort But on the other side if we obey his Motions submit to his Dictates follow his Guidance and Direction in a word be led by Him we shall then be the Sons of God and the only-begotten of the Father will not fail to send him to us as He did to his Apostles Then especially above all other times when we eat and drink his flesh and bloud in the Holy Sacrament For as his Bloud was the meritorious Cause to procure us his Spirit so is his Holy Sacrament the Pipe or Conduit to convey Him unto us For hereby we are all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. And then as there is plentifull Redemption here on Christ's part so if we duly partake of that Redemption there will be plentifull Effusion of his Spirit on us Which God of his infinite Mercy grant c. Amen Soli Deo gloria in aeternum A SERMON Preached on Michaelmas-day HEB. I. 14. Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation 'T IS the great happiness and priviledge of Saints to be under the care and protection of an Almighty God Others have the benefit of his general Providence These of his particular Love and Kindness The clearest Evidence of that his Love appears in sending his only beloved Son into the World to merit Salvation for them and next to that in employing Angels to further it He being our alone Saviour These our Guardians and Assistants Wherein the Almighty has abundantly provided as well for the honour as the security of his Servants For what greater honour next to the having Christ for our Brother than that we should have such glorious Creatures as Angels for our Ministers Their Nature we know places them above us and yet God's Love and their Humility sets them here below us Even while those excellent Spirits attend on the Throne of God we may see them waiting on us Men While they behold his Face there they cast a benign aspect on us here These bright Morning-stars do at the same time praise Him and assist and guide us Their Employment in Heaven does not exempt them from their Services on Earth dividing them as it were between those two places ever ascending and descending i. e. perpetually employ'd in discharging their Duties to their Creator and for his sake performing all good Offices to their fellow Creatures 2. And hence it is That in consideration of those great and various Benefits she receives by their appointed Aid and Ministration The Church has set apart this Day as to praise Him who makes use of such glorious Instruments for her safeguard and protection so gratefully to commemorate those advantageous Services they doe her And although the Title of this Festival carries but a particular denomination of St. Michael's Day yet does the Church herein celebrate the general Memorial of all Angels and the Text I have chosen leads us to it as the Scope thereof does to the whole Chapter wherein the Apostle's design is to compare Christ with Angels and to prove his Superiority over them which He does by several Arguments taken 1. From his Sonship He God's Son by Eternal generation These only by Creation and Resemblance v. 2. 2. From his Name more excellent than that of Angels v. 4. 3. From the Worship peculiarly due to Him even from Angels themselves v. 6. 4. From his being the Head of Angels who at best are but his Ministring spirits v. 7. 5. From his Kingly Authority over all Creatures Men and Angels too v. 8. 6. From his creating the Heavens and the Earth which Angels neither did nor could doe v. 10. 7. And lastly from his sitting as Equal with God at his right hand whereas the most glorious Angels doe but stand there as Ministers of his Will and Commands and to serve the necessities of his Chosen ones in the question here put Are they not all c. In which Words you may observe 1. Something imply'd or suppos'd and that is Their Existence Are they not c. The Apostle speaks of them as of persons really and actually subsisting 2. Something plainly exprest and those are four Particulars here mention'd 1. The Essence or Nature of Angels They are Spirits i. e. intellectual immortal and incorporeal Substances 2. Their Office Ministring spirits and that without any reserve All of them such none excepted not the most glorious not the most excellent of their Order 3. Their Commission from God who sends them forth deputing them their several Ministerial Charges and Employments 4. The End or Design for which they are employ'd viz. God's glory and the benefit of those who shall be heirs of Salvation These be the several Stages through which I shall lead you And first of the Existence or Being of Angels suppos'd in the question Are they not all c. 1. Since the Being of Angels is here suppos'd and taken for granted one would think there should need no farther proof of it and surely 't would be needless did not the Infidelity of some Men make it necessary And 't is strange that Divine Revelation should not be sufficient to settle this Truth among Christians which Heathens by the dim light of Nature have so clearly discern'd For what-ever mistakes they were guilty of as to the Nature they believ'd the Existence of spiritual Substances and we find them very curious in ranking and disposing them into their several Classes and describing the Hierarchy of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with as much exactness I had almost said as good ground as the pretended Dionyfius has done that of Angels whom the Schoolmen so passionately doat on And the same reason which taught Heathens so much Divinity fetches this Truth also from the Order of Nature which seems to require it For as here we find some things without life others living but without sense some again sensible and others rational yet so as to be of a mixt Nature partly Corporal and partly Spiritual there would want one main link in the Chain of Providence had not the Divine Power made some Creatures purely Intellectual such as might be a Mean between God and Man as Man is between them and Beasts to prevent a chasm or vacuum in Nature Besides since every part and place in the World is fill'd with Inhabitants proper for it it seems but requisite that the highest Heavens should not be left void of such as might be fit to dwell in those pure and glorious Mansions But not to build so necessary and important a Truth on meer rational Conjectures we have a more solid foundation for it which is Divine Revelation the Scriptures every-where not only mentioning the Being of Angels but giving us a clear account of their Creation of their manifold Apparitions and Discoveries to Men on Earth together
make nothing for it As first that they have often appeared to Men in visible forms and shapes and perform'd such actions as are proper to us as eating drinking and the like All which was by divine Dispensation for a time the better to accomplish their enjoyn'd Duties Yet were those Bodies whereby they perform'd such actions no other than assum'd ones they were no part of their Natures but only as Garments are to us and were laid aside when there was no farther use of them which being made of Air quickly resolv'd into it and vanisht away as their Meat also did One passage there is in the 6th of Genesis which being mistaken has occasion'd gross conceits in some of the Nature of Angels 't is on the second Verse of that Chapter where 't is said That the Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men that they were fair and took them Wives of all which they chose The not understanding of which place has betrayed many and among those some Ancient Fathers of the Church as Justin Martyr Tertullian Lactantius Ambrose and Sulpitius Severus into so foul an error as to conceit That those Sons of God were no other than Angels who being enamoured with the Beauty of Women and defiling themselves with Lust of Angels became Devils and which is yet as ridiculous a Paradox That those Gyants there mention'd were their Off-spring As if those blessed Angels who continually behold the Face of God could be taken with the Beauty of a little varnisht Dust and Ashes As if Spirits could beget Men or Holy Spirits wicked Men. Nay Tertullian who as he had greater Parts than most of the Fathers so had greater Errors too to establish one Error by another adds withall That for this reason the Apostle bids Women be Veil'd in the Church lest some of the Angels should once more be Captivated by them Thus does one gross mistake usually draw on another as gross and the first great one proceeds only from hence That in many Copies of the Seventy Interpreters heretofore the word Angel crept in as St. Augustine has observ'd But that those Sons of God were not Angels but Men and of the Posterity of Seth besides the express words of Moses both St. Cyril and St. Augustine have at large demonstrated And what some erroneously have fancy'd of the good others as ridiculously have done of bad Angels which Aquinas and Fr. Valesius maintain as a probable opinion and accordingly Bellarmine himself is not asham'd to affirm That Antichrist shall be born of the Devil and a Woman Surely none so fit to be his Father as the Devil the Father of Lies nor to be his Mother as the great Whore in the Revelations And therefore one of his Tribe in a book to the like purpose fraught with no less malice than absurdity endeavours to prove that Luther was so But 't is no marvel that they who hold that Accidents can subsist without their Subjects should also with equal contradiction to Philosophy affirm That Devils can be the Fathers of Men or they who can paint God the Father in a piece of Arras should make Angels corporeal All this I say proceeds from a false apprehension of the Nature of Spirits and Philastrius ranks such Opinions among his other Heresies which Wierus at large shows to be as void of Sense as they are full of evil Consequences For we find that Heathens who held the Corporeity of their Deities did withall render them obnoxious to all those vile Lusts and Impieties which the most profligate Wretches on Earth were capable of committing and found opportunity of doing so upon the strength of that prevailing fancy To which purpose I might produce several instances and among them one famous one recorded by Josephus of one Paulina the Wife of Saturninus in the Reign of Tiberius a noble beautifull and vertuous Lady whom one Dacius Mundus by the assistance of the Priests of Isis much abus'd upon such an account These are the wicked Consequents of drawing Spirits into a participation of our Natures and then of our Vices I shall not dwell any longer on this subject nor trouble my self to satisfie their curiosity who cannot understand how such incorporeal Beings can be capable of that punishment by Fire which the Scripture says shall be their as well as their associates portion Surely no Man ought to question how they can be lyable to such a punishment that finds a Soul within him troubled with Passion even while no offence or distemperature ariseth from that corporeal part nor how such spiritual Beings can be wrought on by material Fire till he can understand what nature Hell-fire is of That they shall suffer by it the Scripture assures us but how it tells us not nor can our best Reason tell us no more than St. Augustine's could tell him who plainly here confesses his ignorance Our care should be not to examine what Hell-fire is but to avoid it and though we cannot resolve all those difficulties which arise from the Nature of Angels yet since the Text here tells us they are Spirits we must have so much Faith as to believe it and consequently that they are Immortal it being impossible that Spirits as such should be Mortal since there can be no internal Cause of their corruption nor any external physical one but God who as he made them of nothing can indeed reduce them to nothing In which respect no Creature is Immortal none but the great Creator of all things who alone as the Apostle tells us hath immortality 1 Tim. 6. 16. as eternally subsisting by himself and by no other But not to speak of the absolute Power of God 't is certain that as to their Nature Angels are immortal and therefore by God's Decree too 't is said of them that have their share in a blessed Resurrection that they cannot dye for this reason because they shall then be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Angels in Heaven Luk. 20. 36. And this is a quality as proper to bad as good Angels who though Devils are still Spirits and shall remain objects of God's everlasting Justice as the elect Angels of his Love and Mercy For though they lost their Purity they can never lose their Nature All of them then are Spirits and so by Nature immortal and those good ones which kept their station glorious heavenly and elect ones and yet such noble Creatures as these has God design'd for the Ministry of his Saints The second Particular to be considered Ministring Spirits To God himself in the first and chiefest place They are his Creatures and consequently his Servants The Psalmist expresly calls them so Psal. 103. 21. O praise the Lord all ye his Hosts ye servants of his that doe his pleasure and Psal. 104. 4. his Ministers Such they are and Estius well observes it out of the Text Non dicit Apostolus says he eos mitti in Ministerium
sending them strong delusions because they receive not the love of the truth that they should believe a lie and delivering them up to those whose interest it is still to keep them in it and whose business to beguile unstable Souls that have no ballast in them Their Proselytes being usually such as are weak or loose men that have lost either their reason or their conscience This being the condition of the greatest part of mankind to be blinded with ignorance or prejudice against the Truth and of corrupt lives no marvel if they be so easily deluded by those who come with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness with their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their slight of hand and cunning craftiness creeping first into men's houses and then into their hearts and affections dazling the eyes of such silly people with glittering pretences of stricter severities with a shew of wisedom and neglect of the body of self-denial rigorous observances and mortifications of notions of a higher and sublimer strain oppositions of science falsly so called that puzzle their own and others understandings and of greater favour and liberty to nature while they promise liberty and allure through the Lusts of the flesh and a thousand such artifices No marvel I say if every one has not wit enough to discover such gaudy impostures nor grace to withstand them These are disguises able to deceive if it were possible the very Elect. But that they shall not we have our Saviour's warrant for it Matt. 24. 24. The gates of hell shall never finally prevail against the Church nor the true Members of it Their eyes can see through the sheeps-cloathing and pierce into that corruption which lies under the painted sepulchres In vain is the Net spread in the sight of these Birds not to be caught with such chaff Ad populum phaleras Christ's Disciples will soon smell out a Cheat be it never so well laid these Children of light being in their generation not be outwitted by the children of this world They will not dance after every Seducer's pipe nor be charmed by every Siren charm he never so wisely Christ's Sheep are rational and will not follow a Stranger They are all taught of God and have an Unction from above which teaches them all things to discover errour and truth that they may avoid the one and embrace the other True indeed the Apostles had a more extraordinary gift of discerning Spirits than others had and St. John upon the very sight of a Cerinthus could immediately pronounce him Satan's First-born But every true Disciple of Christ has as infallible a light to guide him which is a holy prudence and a sanctified reason that is as the Apostle phrases it senses exercized to discern good from evil Let him then make use of these and they will safely direct him in his choice nor will the Spirit of God be wanting to him if he be not wanting to himself Should an Angel from Heaven object against the truth he would not yield to him or Should an Angel of darkness transform himself into an Angel of light his own natural ugliness would soon betray him at last to the eye of a Disciple of Christ and his noisome stench to his Nose Satan and all his Minsters have a cloven foot that will shew them Be their leaves never so glorious or flourishing yet these trees shall be known by their fruits which is the Second thing to be considered By their Fruits Not by any secret character of Reprobation nor mark of the Beast stampt on their foreheads which some with the advantage of their Enthusiastical Spectacles can so plainly see when they are invisible to all other men's eyes not by the blossomes of good purposes nor the thin fig-leaves of a hollow profession For Satan may confess a Christ as well as a St. Peter and Pirates may hang out the Flaggs of those Princes whose Subjects they intend to rob every one can wear Christ's Livery and none boast more of it than they who are the Devil's servants as you may find these false prophets here did v. 21 22 23. 'T is not by such signs as these then that we must know them but by their fruits i. e. by their doctrines as some by their practices as others understand them or rather indeed by both of them joined together and so making up a full and complete Criterium whereby to judge of them And first We may know them by their doctrines For indeed these be the proper and genuine fruits of a Prophet Nor can we better judge of the quality of a Messenger than by the nature of that message he delivers They who make no other use of their being counted Prophets but to infuse higher degrees of all kind of Piety and Charity without doubt are sent from God for the Devil would never help them to credit and reputation in the World who should employ it only to the advancement of Piety On the other side if their design be to infuse into their Followers seeds of impiety and injustice of uncleanness and uncharitableness of fedition and rebellion be their pretences never so specious or their behaviour never so fair to be sure they are to be rankt among the false prophets The wisedom that is from above says S. James is first pure then peaceable easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie whereas that which descendeth not from above is earthly sensual and devilish always levelled at interest lust or pride And therefore St. Paul yokes seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils 1 Tim. 4. v. 1. To let us know that the latter is an infallible sign of the former But here it may be objected How can we know doctrines to be true or false To this I answer 1. Negatively Not by the maxims of natural reason which are so far from being infallible that if extended beyond the sphere of Philosophy for whose Meridian only they are calculated they are for the most part defective if not wholly false stretch them never so far they can never be adequate to those things which are to be believed nor any foundation for a divine Faith all assent wrought by them in the Soul being but opinion or science Nor 2. from Antiquity which is so far from being a certain rule that it can be no certain mark of Faith Nor 3. by the writings of learned men which at best can never pretend to infallibility and being humane judgments can make up no more but a humane testimony and which can never exactly be known by all men some having neither skill nor leisure to inquire much less ability to find it out 2. I answer Positively That the Scripture is that which must direct us in our search for Truth this alone being a Rule in it self infallible as dictated by an infallible Spirit in respect of us also clear and known and in
implies Tender compassions even beyond those of Mother Bowels of Mercies not one Mercy but a cluster of them nor those common ones promiscuously scattered on good and bad but such as concern our Souls and better life which the Illative Particle Therefore implies sending us back to the former part of this Epistle wherein the Apostle had at large discoursed of God's infinite Mercies from all Eternity prepared for us of our Predestination Election Justification in Christ and the like These are those Bowels of Mercies by which the Romans and we are conjured The Mercies of God indeed for who but He could bestow them And who so hard a Flint whom such soft Feathers cannot break Who such an Adamant whom the Bloud of God shed for him cannot soften Who as he gave Himself for us may well expect we should offer up our selves unto Him Which leads me to the main Duty of the Text in these words That ye present your Bodies c. And here the first thing to be considered is What we are to present unto God to wit Our Bodies and those first in the most strict and literal sense as being the most visible part of our Christian Sacrifice the Organs of our Souls whereby they both work and discover their Operations There is indeed a hidden man of the heart as St. Peter calls it 1 Pet. 3. 4. whose inward Oblations are as invisible as that God to whom they are made and only discernable by that Eye to whom all things are naked But there must be something visible that must take and affect ours The smoak of our Incense must yield a pleasing odour to Men as well as to God and the fire of our Sacrifice blaze out on the Altar There are who would exempt their Bodies from the Service of God God say they is a Spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth and Evangelical worship is Spiritual worship These Men are so Angelical that they forget themselves to be Men and yet St. Paul will tell them that the very Angels themselves have their knees Phil. 2. 10. and we find that Holy Men have ever employ'd them in the Worship of God and yet never thought their Worship the less spiritual for all that The Prophet David calls for falling down and worshipping and kneeling before the Lord Nay our Lord Himself in his prayers lay prostrate on his body and bowed his head on the Cross with adoration as much as languor thereby teaching us that our addresses to God are not the less spiritual for being mannerly 'T is true indeed that an humble Body and a stiff unpliant Soul doe ill suit together The service of That like the Mint and Cummin is not to be left out while the inward devotion of the Soul like the weightier matters of the Law claims the precedency and is the main part of our Sacrifice without this the bowels thereof will not be sound and entire but like Caesar's portentous Sacrifice want a heart or resembling that hypocritical one of him in Lucian who presented his Deity with an Oxes bones covered with the Hide when the Flesh and Entrails were gone But St. Paul has made up the Christian Sacrifice full and compleat 1 Cor. 6. 20. Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit and he has given us a very good reason why each of them should be employ'd because both are God's both bought with a price and therefore 't is no less than such a kind of Sacriledge as was that of Ananias and Saphyra to keep back any part of this price to make any reserve where all is God's Our Bodies and Souls cannot be parted here and 't is the Devil that would fain divide them And therefore well knowing that God would be glorified in both he required but one part of Christ for his share only the homage of his outward Man being assured that if God had not both he would have neither But not to trouble you with the proof of so clear a truth let it be our endeavour so to present each part to God that it may be acceptable And first Our Bodies The Psalmist prophetically bringing in Christ into the World shapes him a Body A Body hast thou prepared me Psal. 40. 5. For what end and purpose It follows ver 7. To doe thy will O God And we must endeavour so to fit and prepare ours that by them God's will may be done too And that we shall doe by making them as much as in us lyes Spiritual and Angelical active and nimble in the Service of God by laying aside every weight that clogs and renders them unapt for that service by keeping them under and making them servants to those Souls which have a natural right over them by preserving these garments of the Soul unspotted from the world and by the flesh so far should we be from presenting God with Bodies worn out in the drudgery of Sin and Satan and which have as it were pass'd through the fire to Moloch to whom our Souls like Mezentius guests in the Poet are ty'd as to so many loathsome Carkasses Bodies not of God's making but of our own ours indeed appropriated to us but not such as the Apostle here beseecheth us to offer up unto God But then 2. As our Souls doe as far exceed our Bodies as Jewels doe their Caskets so should our main care be for them so to adorn and enrich them with all spiritual graces that they may be fit presents for God For if our Souls which are but like Salt to keep our Bodies from Corruption shall themselves be rotten and unsavoury wherewith shall they be seasoned Now as these have their fleshly part too which must be mortified and consumed so have they their spiritual part which must be refined St. Paul calls it the spirit of our mind Eph. 4. 23. wherein we are chiefly to be renewed viz. the superior faculties of Reason and Understanding which we are to offer up unto God as the purest part of our Sacrifice and which is properly our Reasonable service For God who is a God of Understanding is to be worshipped purâ mente in those faculties which carry in them a more express character of his Image and whereby we doe in a more especial manner partake of the divine Nature as we doe by our Reason which in a Heathen's expression is nothing else but Deus in humano corpore hospitans And this we give up to Him when we wholly resign it up to his Wisedom when we sacrifice this our Isaac at the foot of his Altar We give Him our Wit by maintaining his Truths and our Memory by treasuring them up We give Him our Thoughts by meditating on his Word and Works Our Wills by thoroughly conforming them to his Will and our Affections by setting them on things above 3. And this is properly that Sacrifice which the Text enjoyns us alluding to that manner of Worship which was ever in