can imagine there can be any man that can so hate himself as deliberately to cast himself into hell and run from happiness when it appeareth in so much glory He cannot say Amen to Life who killeth himself For that which leaveth a soul in the grave is not Faith but Phansie When we are told that Honour cometh towards us that some Golden shower is ready to fall into our laps that Content and Pleasure will ever be near and wait upon us how loud and hearty is our Amen how do we set up an Assurance-office to our selves and yet that which seemeth to make its approach towards us is as uncertain as Uncertainty it self and when we have it passeth from us and as the ruder people say of the Devil leaveth a noysome and unsavoury sent behind it and we look after it and can see it no more But when we are told that Christ liveth for evermore and is coming is certainly coming with reward and punishment vox faucibus haeret we can scarce say Amen So be it To the World and the pomp thereof we can say Amen but to Heaven and Eternity we cannot say Amen or if we do we do but say it For conclusion then The best way is to draw the Ecce and the Amen the Behold and our Assurance together so to study the Death and the Life the eternal Life and the Power of our Saviour that we may be such Proficients as to be able with S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3.11 to meet the Resurrection to look for and hasten the coming of the Lord when his Life and Eternity and Power shall shine gloriously to the terrour of those who persecute his Church and to the comfort of those who suffer for Righteousness sake when that Head which was a forge of mischief and cruelty and that Hand which touched the Lords anointed Psal 105.15 and did his Prophets harm shall burn in hell for ever when that Eye which would not look on vanity shall be filled with glory when that Ear which hearkned to his voice shall hear nothing but Hallelujahs and the musick of Angels when that Head which was ready to be laid down for this living everling powerful Lord shall be lifted up and crowned with glory and honour for evermore Which God grant unto us for Christ's sake A SERMON Preached on Whitsunday JOHN XVI 13. Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth WHen the Spirit of truth is come c. And behold he is come already and the Church of Christ in all ages hath set apart this day for a memorial of his Coming a memorial of that miraculous and unusual sound Acts 2.2 3. that rushing wind those cloven tongues of fire And there is good reason for it that it should be had in everlasting remembrance For as the holy Ghost came then in solemn state upon the Disciples in a manner seen and heard so he cometh though not so visibly yet effectually to us upon whom the ends of the world are come that we may remember it though not in a mighty wind yet he rattleth our hearts together though no house totter at his descent yet the foundations of our very souls are shaken no fire appeareth yet our breasts are inflamed no cloven tongues yet our hearts are cloven asunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every day to a Christian is a day of Pentecost his whole life a continued holy-day wherein the holy Ghost descendeth both as an Instructer and as a Comforter secretly and sweetly by his word characterizing the soul and imprinting that saving knowledge which none of the Princes of this world had not forcing or drawing by violence but sweetly leading and guiding us into all truth In the words we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Epiphany or Apparition of the blessed Spirit as Nazianzene speaketh or rather the Promise of his coming and appearance And if we will weigh it there is great reason that the Spirit should have his Advent as well as Christ his that he should say Lo I come Psal 40.7 For in the volume of the book it is written of him that the Spirit of the Lord should rest upon him Isa 11.2 and I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh Joel 2.28 Christus Legis Spiritus Sanctus Evangelii complementum Christ's Advent for the fulfilling of the Law and the Spirit 's for the fulfilling and compleating of the Gospel Christ's Advent to redeem the Church and the Spirit 's to teach the Church Christ to shed his blood and the Spirit to wash and purge it in his blood Christ to pay down the ransome for us captives and the Spirit to work off our fetters Christ Isa 61.2 Luke 4.19 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and the Spirit to interpret it For we may soon see that the one will little avail without the other Christ's Birth Death and Passion and glorious Resurrection are but a story in Archivis good news sealed up a Gospel hid till the Spirit come and open it and teach us to know him and the virtue and power of his resurrection and make us conformable to his death Phil 3.10 This is the sum of these words And in this we shall pass by these steps or degrees First we will carry our thoughts to the promise of the Spirit 's Advent the miracle of this day Cùm venerit When he the Spirit of truth is come in a sound to awake the Apostles in wind to move them in fire to enlighten and warm them in tongues to make them speak Acts 2.2 3. Secondly we will consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work and employment of the Holy Ghost He shall lead you into all truth In the first we meet with 1. nomen Personae if we may so speak a word pointing out to his Person the demonstrative pronoun ILLE when He 2. nomen Naturae a name expressing his Nature He is the Spirit of truth and then we cannot be ignorant whose Spirit he is In the second we shall find nomen Officii a name of Office and Administration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a leader or conducter in the way For so the Holy Ghost vouchsafed to be the Apostles leader and conducter that they might not erre but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep on in a straight and even course in the way And in this great Office of the Holy Ghost we must first take notice of the Lesson he teacheth It is Truth Secondly of the large Extent of this Lesson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He leadeth into all truth Thirdly of the Method and Manner of his discipline It is a gentle and effectual leading He driveth us not he draweth us not by violence but he taketh us as it were by the hand and guideth and leadeth us into all truth Cùm venerit ille Spiritus veritatis First though we are told by some
man else They leap over all their Alphabet and are at their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their end before they begin They are at the top of the ladder before they have set a foot to the first step or round They study heaven but not the way to it Faith but not Good works Repentance without a Change or Restitution Religion without Order They are as high as Gods closet in heaven when they should be busie at his foot-stool They study Predestination but not Sanctity of life Assurance but not that Piety which should work it Heaven and not Grace and Grace but not their Duty And now no marvel if they meet not with saving Truth in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this so great disorder and confusion No marvel when we have broke all rules and order and not observed the method of the Spirit if the Spirit lead us not who is a Spirit that loveth order and in a right method and orderly course leadeth us into the truth 4. The last is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exercitation and Practice of the truths we learn This is so proper and necessary for a Christian that Christian Religion goeth under that name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Al. Strom. l. 4. and is called an exercise by Clemens Alexandrinus Nyssene Cyrill of Hierusalem and others And though they who lead a Monastical life have laid claim to it as their own they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet it may well belong to every one that is the Spirit 's Scholar who is as a Monk in the world shut up out of it even while he is in it exercising himself in those lessons which the Spirit teacheth and following as he leadeth Which is to make the World it self a Monastery A good Christian is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by this dayly exercise in the doctrines of the Spirit doth drive the Truth home and make it enter into the soul and spirit Talis quisque est qualibus delectatur Inter artificem artificium mira cognatio est Anaxagoras said well Manus causa sapientiae It is not the brain but the hand that causeth knowledge and worketh wisdome And true wisdome that which the Spirit teacheth consisteth not in being a good Critick and rightly judging of the sense of words or in being a good Logician drawing out a true and perfect definition of Faith and Charity or discoursing aptly and methodically of the Lessons of the Spirit or in being a good Oratour setting out the beauty and lustre of Religion to the very eye No saith the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 34.10 He that hath no experience knoweth little Ex mandato mandatum cernimus By practising the command we gain a kind of familiarity a more inward and certain knowledge of it If any man will do the will of God Joh 7.17 he shall know the Doctrine In Divinity and indeed in all knowledge whose end is practice that of Aristotle is true Those things we learn to do we learn by doing them We learn Devotion by prayer Charity by giving of alms Meekness by forgiving injuries Humility and Patience by suffering Temperance by every-day-fighting against our lusts As we know meat by the tast so do we the things of God by practice and experience and at last discover Heaven it self in piety And this is that which S. Paul calleth doctrine according to godliness We taste and see how gracious the Lord is 1 Tim. 6.3 Psal 34.8 1 Joh. 1.1 we do as it were see with our eyes and with our hands handle the word of truth In a word when we manifest the Truth and make it visible in our actions the Spirit is with us and ready in his office to lead us further even to the inner house and closet of Truth He displayeth his beams of light as we press forward and mend our pace He every day shineth upon us with more brightness as we every day strive to increase He teacheth us not so much by words as by actions and practice by the practice of those virtues which are his lessons and our duties We learn that we may practice and by practice we become as David speaketh Psal 119 99. Psal 19.2 wiser then our teachers To conclude Day unto day teacheth knowledge and every act of piety is apt to promote and produce a second to beget more light which may yet lead us further from truth to truth till at last we be strengthned and established in the Truth and brought to that happy estate which hath no shadow of falshood but like the Spirit of Truth endureth for evermore The First SERMON PART I. MICAH VI. 6 8. v. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God Shall I come before him with burnt offerings c. v. 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Psal 4.6 THere be many who say Who will shew us any good saith the Prophet David For Good is that which men naturally desire And here the Prophet Micah hath fitted an answer to this question He hath shewed thee O man what is good And in the discovery of this Good he useth the same method which the Philosopher doth in the description of his moral Happiness First he sheweth us what it is not and then what it is And as the Philosopher shutteth out Honour and Riches and Pleasure as being so little necessary that we may be happy without them so doth the Prophet in the verses going before my Text in a manner reject and cast by Burnt-offerings and all the cerimonial and typical part of Moses Law all that outward busie expensive and sacrificing Religion as no whit esseâ—tial to that Good which he here fixeth up as upon a pillar for all eyes to look upon as being of no great alliance or nearness nor fit to incorporate it self with that Piety which must commend us to God And as a true Prophet he doth not only discover to the Jews the common errour of their lives but sheweth them yet a more excellent way first asking the question Non satis est reprehendisse peccantem si non doceas recti viam Colum. de Re Rust l. 11. c 1. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams Whether Sacrifice be that part of Religion with which we may appear and bow before our God and be accepted and then in his answer in the words of my Text quite excluding it as not absolutely necessary and essential to that which is indeed Religion And here the Question Will the Lord be pleased with sacrifice addeth emphasis and energy and maketh the Denyal more strong and the Conclusion in the Text more positive and binding then if it had been in plain terms and formally denyed Then this Good had been shewed naked and alone and not brought in with
we have done what he required to present him with nothing but shews but good intentions but drowsie endeavours and feeble wishes when he cometh to ask for his talent to shew him a napkin is a plain forfeiture of our obligation and bringeth us under a worse and heavier bindeth us over to punishment Let us then ever fix our eye upon our obligation Let us consider that God made us that he upheld and protected us and so had power to oblige and bind us to him by a Law Let us admire his Wisdome and embrace his Love Let this double chain the strong iron chain of his infinite Power and universal Dominion and the glorious and golden chain of his superabundant Love bind and tye us unto him And when all other creatures are ready to bowe at Gods beck and follow constantly in that way which Nature hath allotted them and seldome or never turn aside when the Sun knoweth his setting and the Moon her seasons let not us forget our station and place but answer this Lord in every command as the Romane Centurions did their Emperours Factum est Imperator quod jussisti Behold thou art our Lord and we have done what thou requiredst In the last place Let us not set up those mountains in our way of Difficulty or Irksomness or Impossibility and then faint and lye down settle our selves upon our lees Zeph. 1.12 and wallow in our own blood upon a groundless fear that there is no passing out For why should we pretend and plead Difficulty and Impossibility when we our selves are an argument against our selves and our own practice every day confuteth us For how do we every day make a surrendry of our wills to those who have will indeed and proclaim their will but have neither might nor wisdome nor love to attend it Ibo licèt invita faciam omnia saith the woman in the Comedy Plaret Mil. Glor. act 4. sc 8 I will go although I go against my will To rise up early and lye down late are nothing pleasing to us yet for that which a wise man contemns for a little pelf we will do it To wait attendance to bowe and cringe and make great men Gods to give him a leg whom we wish on the gallows to engage our selves for the hardest task to be diminished and brought low to sweat and fight and dye cannot be delightful to flesh and blood yet for honour we will do it But then how do we bebauch our understandings and wits and bury them in other mens wills as in a Sepulchre there to rot and stink amidst those corrupt and loathsome imaginations which are as wings to carry them to their unwarrantable ends How ready are we to conclude that to be true which we know to be false that to be lawful which our Conscience condemneth It was a sin it is now a duty It was as abomination it is now a sign of Election It was Oppression Power hath set a mark upon the innocent and it is Justice It was an Idole it is now our God It was a Devil a black and ugly fiend it is now an Angel of light Thus we can ad omnem occursum majoris cujusque personae decrescere as Tertullian speaketh shrink our selves in and be in a manner annihilated at the appearance of any greater person When these sons of Anak shew themselves we are but grashoppers we are fools or slaves or worse any thing or nothing even what they will have us We are led captive according to the will of others and according to the will of our greatest enemy become the Devils enchanters making that appear which is not that seem white which is black and that good which is evil and the Devils musicians setting and tuning our notes our words and looks and actions to his will and pleasure nay the Devils fiddles to be wound up or let down to any pin or note to which the hand of Greatness or Power will set us We are as so many looking-glasses which reflect and present the actions of men in power back upon themselves laughing when they laugh and weeping when they weep striking as they strike planting as they plant and plucking up as they pluck up doing in all as they do when they are weary and faint falling to the ground along with them And all this to gain our peace or as the Apostle telleth the Galatians Gal. 6.12 lest we should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ I urge this by way of instance and exprobration to shew that the denial of our own will is not a thing of such difficulty as it is thought that we may do that for Gods cause which we do for our own that we may do that for him that we do for our lust unless we shall so far dishonour God and our selves as to make that most inglorious and false confession That we can do nothing but that which is evil and have strength to do nothing but that which will ruine us and so conclude against heaven and our own souls that we are good for nothing but damnation I have much wondred that men should be so willing to publish their weakness and disability in this and in other things to hide and masque it as they do their sin that they should be ready to brand him with the name of Heretick that shall tell them they may be just and honest men if they will that God will assist them if they put him not from them and yet be as forward to be parasites to that Parasite and reward him that shall commend their prudence and dextrous activity in the affairs of this world as if they were made for this world and no other and made able to raise a bank here but not to lay up for themselves any treasure in heaven Acts 26.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead saith S. Paul Why should any man think it impossible to do the will of God Matth. 19.24 It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of heaven True whilest he trusteth in his riches Mark 10.24 Eph. 5.5 Matth. 19.12 Matth. 5 3. And it is impossible for an unclean person to enter there True till he make himself an eunuch for that kingdome But is it impossible for a rich man to be made poor in spirit Is it impossible for a wanton to make a covenant with his eyes Job 31.1 Our Saviour hath fully determined that Matth. 19.26 That with men it is impossible but with God all things are possible possible for him in the barrennest ground to plant and gather fruit out of any crooked piece of wood to make a Mercury a statue for himself And this Omnipotency of God is referred not onely to the giving a being to all things but in fitting those helps and furtherances of piety which may enable and
defective in humanity Christians are the parts of the Church and all must sustein one another And this is the just and full interpretation of that of our Saviour Matth. 19.19 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self then thou wilt pity him as thy self Tolle invidiam tuum est quod habet Take away Envy and all that he hath is thine And take away Hardness of heart and all that thou hast is his Take away Malice and all his virtues are thine and take away Pride and thy glories are his Art thou a part of the Church Thou hast a part in every part and every part hath a portion in thee Eph. 4.16 We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compacted together by that which every joynt supplies A similitude and resemblance taken from the Curtains of the Tabernacle saith learned Grotius whereof every one hath its measure Exod. 26.2 3 5. but yet they are all coupled together one to another by their loops which lay hold one of another And like those curtains we are not to be drawn but together not to rejoyce not to weep not to suffer but together The word Church is but a second notion and it is made a term of art and every man almost saith Luther abuseth it draweth it forth after his own image taketh it commonly in that sense which may favour him so far as to leave in him a perswasion that he is a true part of it and thus many enter the Church and are shut out of heaven We are told of a Visible Church and the Church in some sense is visible But that the greatest part of this Church hath wanted bowels that some parts of it have been without sense or feeling besmeared and defiled with the bloud of their brethren is as visible as the Church We have heard of an Infallible Church we have heard it and believe it not for how can she be infallible who is so ready to design all those to death and hell who deny it If it be a Church it is a Church with horns to push at the nations or an army with banners and swords We have long talked of a Reformed Church and we make it our crown and rejoycing But it would concern us to look about us and take heed that we do not reform so as to purge out all Compassion also For certainly to put off all bowells is not as some zealots have easily perswaded themselves to put on the new man Talk not of a Visible Infallible or a Reformed Church God send us a Compassionate Church a title which will more fit and become her then those names which do not beautifie and adorn but accuse and condemn her when she hath no Heart What Visible Church is that which is seen in blood What Infallible Church is that whose very bowels are cruel What Reformed Church is that which hath purged out all Compassion Visible and yet not seen Infallible and deceived Reformed and yet in its filth Monstrum horrendum informe This is a mis-shapen monster not a Church The true Church is made up of bowels Every part of it is tender and relenting not onely when it self is touched but when others are moved as you see in a well-set instrument if you touch but one string the others will tremble and shake And this Sense and this Fellow-feeling is the fountain from whence this silver stream of Mercy floweth the spring and first mover of those outward acts which are seen in that bread of ours which floats upon the waters in the face and on the backs of the poor Luk. 10.31 c. For not then when we see our brethren in affliction when we look upon them and pass by them but when we see them and have compassion on them we shall bind up their wounds and pour in oil and wine and take care for them For till the heart be melted there will nothing flow We see almes given every day and we call them acts of piety but whether the hand of Mercy reach them forth or no we know not Our motions all of them are not from a right spring Vain-glory may be liberal Intemperance may be liberal Pride may be a benefactour Ambition must not be a niggard Covetousness it self sometimes yieldeth droppeth a peny and Importunity is a wind which will set that wheel a going which had otherwise stood still We may read large catalogues of munificent men but many names which we read there may be but the names of Men not of the Merciful Compassion is the inward true principle begetting in us the Love of Mercy which completeth and perfecteth crowneth every act giveth it its true form denomination giveth a sweet smel and fragrant savour to Maries oyntment Luk. 7.47 for she that poured it forth loved much I may say Compassion is the love of Mercy Et plus est diligere quà m facere saith Hilary It is a great deal more to love a good work then to do it to love Virtue then to bring it into act to love Mercy then to shew it It doth supply many times the place of the outward act but without it the act is nothing or something worse It hath a privilege to bring that upon account which was never done to be entitled to that which we do not which we cannot do to make the weak man strong the poor man liberal and the ignorant man a counsellor For he that loveth Mercy would do and therefore doth more then he can do As David may be said to build the Temple though he laid not a stone of it for God telleth him he did well that he had it in his heart 1 Kings 8.18 Thus our Love may build a Temple though we fall and dye before a stone be laid Now this Love of Mercy is not so soon wrought in the heart as we may imagin as every glimering of light doth not make it day It is a work of labour and travel of curious observance and watchfulness over our selves It will cost us many a combat and luctation with the World and the Flesh and many a falling out with our selves Many a Love must be digged up by the roots before we can plant this Love in our hearts It will not grow up with Luxury and Wantonness with Pride or Self-love you never see these together in the same soyl The Apostle telleth us we must put it on Col. 3.12 And the garments which adorn the soul are not so soon put on as those which clothe the body We do not put on Mercy as we do our mantle for when we do every puff of wind every distast bloweth it away But Mercy must be so put on that it may even cleave to the soul and be a part of it that every thought may be a melting thought every word as oyl and every work a blessing Then we love Mercy when we fling off all other respects whatsoever may either shrink up or
The unbelieving man that dwelleth not in Christ hath either no place to fly to or else that he flyeth to is as full of molestation and torment as that he did fly from He flieth to himself from himself He flieth to his wit and that befooleth him he flieth to his strength and that overthroweth him he flieth to his friend and he faileth him He asketh himself counsel and mistrusteth it He asketh his friend counsel and is afraid of it He flieth to a Reed for a staff to Impotency and Folly and hath not what he looked for when he hath what he looked for He is ever seeking ease and never at rest And vvhen these evils vvithout him stir up a worse evil within him a conscience which calleth his sins to remembrance vvhat a perplexed and distracting thing is he what shifts and evasions doth he catch at He runneth from room to room from excuse to excuse from comfort to comfort He fluttreth and flieth to and fro as the Raven and would rest though it vvere on the outside of the Ark. This is the condition of those vvho are not in Christ But he that dwelleth in him that abideth in him knoweth not vvhat Fear is Col. 2.3 because he is in him in whom all the treasures of wisdome and power are hid and so hath ever his protection about him He knoweth not vvhat danger is for Wisdome it self conducteth him He knoweth not what an enemy is for power guardeth him He knoweth not vvhat misery is for he liveth in the region of happiness He that dwelleth in him cannot fear what Man vvhat Devil vvhat Sin can do unto him because he is in his armory abideth safely as in a Sanctuary 2 Tim. 1.12 under his wing I know whom I have trusted saith S. Paul not the World not my friends not my Riches not my Self Not onely the World and Riches and Friends are a thin shelter to keep off a storm but I know nothing in my self to uphold my self but I know whom I have trusted my Christ my King my Governour and Counsellor who hath taken me under his roof who cannot deny himself but in these evil dayes in that great day will be my patrone my defence my protection Thus doth the true Christian dwell abide in Christ 1. admiring his majesty 2. loving his command 3. depending vvholly upon his protection These three fill up our first part our first proposition That some act is required on our parts here expressed by dwelling in him We pass now to our second That something is also done by Christ in us some virtue proceedeth from him vvhich is here called dwelling in us There goeth forth virtue and power from him from his promises from his precepts from his life from his passion and death from vvhat he did from vvhat he suffered as there did to the vvoman who touching the hem of his garment was healed of her bloody issue Mark 5. Luke 8. a power by which he sweetly and secretly and powerfully characterizeth our hearts and writeth his mind in our minds and so taketh possession of them and draweth them into himself The Apostle telleth us he dwelleth in us by his spirit Rom. 8 11 14 and that we are led by the spirit in the whole course of our life Eph. 2.22 and that we are the habitation of God through the spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his tabernacle his temple which he consecrateth and setteth apart to his own use and service There is no doubt but a power cometh from him but I am almost afraid to say it there having been such ill use made of it For though it be come already Rom. 1.16 for the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation yet is it still expected expected indeed rather then hoped for For when it doth come we shut the door and set up our will against it and then look faintly after it and perswade our selves it will come at last once for all There is power in his Precepts for our Reason subscribeth and signeth them for true There is power in his Promises they shine in glory These are the power of Christ to every one that believeth And how can we be Christians if we believe not But this is his ordinary power which like the Sun in commune profertur is shewn on all at once There yet goeth a more immediate power and virtue from him we deny it not which like the wind worketh wonderful effects but we see not whence it cometh John 3.8 nor whither it goeth neither the beginning nor the end of it which is in another world The operations of the Spirit by reason they are of another condition then any other thought or working in us whatsoever are very difficult and obscure as Scotus observeth upon the Prologue to the Sentences for the manner not to be perceived no not by that soul wherein they are wrought Profuisse deprehendas quomodo profuerunt non deprehendes as Seneca in another case That they have wrought you shall find but the secret and retired passages by which they wrought are impossible to be brought to demonstration But though we cannot discern the manner of his working yet we may observe that in his actions and operations on the soul of man he holdeth the course even of natural agents in this respect that they strive to bring in their similitude and likeness into those things on which they work by a kind of force driving out one contrary with another to make way for their own form So Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac Jacob and every creature begetteth according to its own kind Plato said of Socrates's wise sayings that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the children of his mind so resembling him that you might see all Socrates in them So it is with Christ Where he dwelleth he worketh by his spirit something like unto himself He altereth the whole frame of the heart driveth out all that is contrary to him 2 Cor. 10.5 all imaginations which exalt themselves against him and never leaveth purging and fashioning us till a new creature like himself be wrought till Christ be fully formed in us Gal. 4.19 So it is with every one in vvhom Christ dwelleth And this he doth by the power of his Spirit 1. by quickning our Knowledge by shewing us the riches of his Gospel his beauty and majesty the glory and order of his house and that vvith that convincing evidence that vve are forced to fall dovvn and vvorship by filling our soul vvith the glory of it as God filled the tabernacle vvith his Exod. 40. that all the powers and faculties of the soul are ravisht vvith the sight and come vvillingly as the Psalmist speaketh fall down vvillingly before him by moving our soul as our Soul doth our Body that when he saith Go vve go and vvhen he saith Do this vve do it So it is in every one in vvhom Christ dwelleth 2. He dwelleth in us
parts which make up the Syntaxis of a Republick And he that endeavoureth not the advancement of the whole is a letter too much fit to be expunged and blotted out But in the Church whose maker and builder is God Heb. 11.10 this is required in the highest degree especially in those transactions which may enlarge the circuit and glory of it Here every man must be his own and under Christ his brothers Saviour For as between these two Cities so between the happiness of the one and the happiness of the other there is no comparison As therefore every Bishop in the former ages called himself Episcopum Catholicae Ecclesiae a Bishop of the Catholick Church although he had jurisdiction but over one Diocess so the care and piety of every particular Christian in respect of its diffusive operation is as Catholick as the Church Every soul he meeteth with is under his charge and he is the care of every soul Jam. 5.20 In saving a soul from death every man is a Priest and a Bishop although he may neither invade the Pulpit nor ascend the Chair I may be eyes unto him as it was said of Hobab Numb 10.31 I may take him from his errour and put him into the way of truth If he fear I may scatter his fear if he grieve I may wipe off his tears if he presume I may teach him to fear and if he despair I may lift him up to a lively hope that neither Fear nor Grief neither Presumption nor Despair swallow him up Thus may I raise a dead man from the grave a sinner from his sin and by that example many may rise with him who are as dead as he and so by this friendly communication we may transfuse our selves into others and receive others into our selves and so run hand in hand from the chambers of Death And thus far we dare extend the Communion of Saints place it in a House a Family a Society of men called and gathered together by Christ raise it to the participation of the privileges and Charters granted by Christ calling us to the same faith leading us by the same rule filling us with the same grace endowing us with several gifts that we may guard and secure each other and so settle it in those Offices and Duties which Christianity maketh common and God hath registred in his Church which is the pillar of truth 1 Tim. 3.15 where all mens Joyes and Sorrows and Fears and Hopes should be one and the same And then to die surrounded with all these helps and advantages of God above ready to help us of Men like unto our selves prest out as auxiliaries to succour and relieve us of Precepts to guide us of Promises to encourage us of Heaven even opening it self to receive us then to die 2 Sam 3.33 34. is to die as fools die to suffer their hands to be bound and their feet put in fetters and to open their breast to the sword For to die alone is not so grievous not so imputable as to die in such company to die where it is no more but to will it and I might live for ever Oh how were it to be wisht that we well understood this one Article of our Faith the Communion of Saints that we knew to be Vessels to receive the Water of life and Conduits to convey it that we would remember that by every sin we bring trouble to a million of Saints and by our obedience make as many Angels merry Luk. 15.13 30. that when we spend our portion amongst harlots we do not onely begger our selves but rob and spoil our brethren that when we yield our selves to the enemy we betray an Army Oh that we knew what it were to give counsel and what it were to receive it what it were to shine upon others and to walk by their light Oh that we knew the power and the necessity of a Precept the riches and glory of a Promise that we would consider our selves as men amongst men invited to happiness invited to the same royal feast If this were rightly considered we should then ask our selves the question Why should we die Why shâ—uld we die not in the wilderness amongst beasts upon our turf or stone where there is none to help but in domo Israelis in a house and in the house of Israel where Health and Safety appear in every room and corner Why should we fall like Samson with the house upon us and so endanger and bruise others with our fall If I be a string why should I jarre and spoil the harmony If I be a part why should I be made a schisme from the body If I be under command why should I beat my fellow-servants If a member why should I walk disorderly in the family Why should I why should any die in the house of Israel And now to reassume the Text Why will ye die O house of Israel What a fearful exprobration is it What can it work in us but shame and confusion of face Why will ye die ye that have Christ for your Physician the Angels for your Ministers the Saints for your example the Church a common shop of precious balm and antidotes ye who are in the House of Israel where you may learn from the Priest learn from the oracles of God learn from one another learn from Death it self not to die In this House in this Order in this Union in this Communion in the midst of all these auxiliary troops to fall and miscarry To have the Light but not to see it the bread of Life but not to tast it To die with our antidotes about us Quale est de Ecclesiâ Dei in Ecclesiam Diaboli tendere de coelo in coenum Tert. De spect c. 25. Aug. De Civ Dei l. 14. c. 15. to go per portâ—â— coeli in gehennam thorow the house of Israel into Tophet thorow the Church of Christ into hell may well put God to ask questions and expostulate and can argue no less then a stubborn and relentless heart and not onely a defect but a distast and hatred of that piety quae una est sapientia in hac domo which is the onely wisdome and most useful in the house of Israel which is our best strength against our enemy Death And here to apply this to our selves Let us compare the state of the house of Israel with the state of the people of this Nation and Jerusalem with this City Isa 5.4 and we may say What could God have done more for us which he hath not done Onely his blessings and privileges will rise and swell and exceed on our side and so make our ingratitude and guilt the greater They had their Priests and Levites we have our Pastours and Ministers They had their Temple and Synagogues we our Parochial Churches They had their Sacraments Circumcision and the Paschal Lamb Acts 15.21 we Baptism and the Lords
Supper They had Moses preacht in their Synagogues every Sabbath day so have we I speak like a fool we have more the Gospel interpreted or abused every Sabbath-day nay every day of the week I had almost said every hour of the day We are baptized with a Sermon and we are married with a Sermon and we are buried with a Sermon When we take our journey a Sermon is our farewell and when we return it is our welcome home If we feast a Sermon is the Grace before it If we sayl a Sermon must weigh ancor And if we fight a Sermon is the alarum to battel If we rejoyce we call to the Preacher to pipe to us that we may dance for many times we chuse our Preachers as we do our Musicians by the ear and phansie not by judgment And it must needs be a rare choice which a Woman and Ignorance makes and such an one is to us as a lovely song of one that hath a very pleasant voice And if we be in grief he must turn the key Ezek. 33.32 and change his note and mourn to as that we may lament A Sermon is the grand Sallet to usher in every dish like Sosia or Davus in the Comedy scarce any scene or part of our life without it It is Prologus galeatus a Prologue that will fit either Comedy or Tragedy every purpose every action every business of our life In a word What had the House of Israel which we have not in measure pressed down They had the favour and countenance of God they had the blessings of the Basket So had we if we could have pinned it and kept them in and not plaid the wantons in this light and so let them fly away from us that we can but look after them and sadly say We had them They had Temporal blessings we have Graces and Spiritual endowments more Light richer Promises mo and more gracious Privileges then they Their administration was with glory but ours is more glorious 2 Cor. 3.7 c Glorious things are spoken of this City glorious things are seen amongst us able to deceive a Prophet nay if it were possible the very Elect. For he that shall see our outward formality the earnestness the demureness the talkativeness of our looks and behaviour when we flock and press to Sermons he that shall hear our noyse and zeal for Religion our anger and detestation against Idolatry even where it is not he that shall scarcely hear a word from us which soundeth not as the word of God he that shall see us such Saints abroad will little mistrust we come so short of the honesty of the Pagans in our shops and dealings He that shall see such a promising form of godliness cannot presently discover the malice the fraud the uncleanness the cruelty that lieth wrapt up in it like a Devil in light He that shall see this in the City cannot but say of it as the Prophet Samuel did of Eliab Surely the Lords anointed is here This is the faithful City 1 Sam. 16.7 This is the City of the Lord. But God who seeth not as man seeth nor looketh on the outward appearance but on the heart may account us dead for all these glories this pageantry this noise which to him is but noise as the found of their trumpet who will not fight his battels but fall off and run to the enemy as a song of Sion in a strange land psal 137.3 4. even in the midst of Babylon We read in our books that it was a custome amongst the Romanes when the Emperour was dead in honour of him to frame his image of wax and to perform to it all ceremonies of state as if the image were the living Emperour The Senate and Ladies attended the Physicians resorted to him to feel his pulse and Doctorally resolved that he grew worse and worse and could not escape a Guard watcht him Nobles saluted him his dinner and supper at accustomed hours was served in with water with sewing and carving and taking away his Nobles and Gentlemen waited as if he had been alive there was no ceremony forgot which State might require Thus hath been done to a dead carcase and if we take not heed our case may be the same All our outward shews of Churches of Sermons of Sacraments our noyse and ostentation which should be arguments of life and antidotes against death may be no more then as funeral rites performed to a carcase to a Christian to a City whose iniquities are loathsome of an ill-smelling savour to God The great company of Preachers whereof every one choseth one according to his lusts may stand about it and do their duty but as to an image of wax or a dead carcase the Bread of life may be served in and divided to it by art and skill as every man phansieth it may be fitted and prepared for every palate when they have no tast nor relish of it and receive no more nourishment then they that have been dead long ago Be not deceived Psal 68.19 Benefits are burdens God loadeth us daily with benefits saith David burdens which if we bear not well and as we should do will grind us to pieces All prerogatives are with conditions and if the condition be not kept they turn to scorpions They either heal or kill us they either lift us up to bliss or throw us down to destruction There is heaven in a privilege and there is hell in a privilege and we make it either to us We may starve whilst we hang on the breasts of the Church we may be poisoned with antidotes Those mouthes that taught us may be opened to accuse us the many Sermons we have heard may be so many bills against us the Sacraments may condemn us the blood of Christ cry loud against us and our profession our holy profession put us to shame John 14.9 Have I been so long with you and knowest thou not me Philip saith our Saviour Hast thou had so good a Master and art thou yâ—t to learn Hast thou been so long with me and deniest thou me Peter Hast thou been so long with me and yet betrayest me Judas Hath Christ wrought so many works among us and do we go about to kill and crucify him Hath he planted Religion true Religion amongst us and do we go about to dig it up by the roots Hath the Gospel sounded so long in our ears and begot nothing but words words that are deceitful upon the balance words which are lies So many Sermons and so many Atheists So much Preaching and so much defrauding So many breathings and demonstrations of love and so much malice in the house of Israel So many Courts of justice and so much oppression So many Churches and so few Temples of the Holy Ghost What profess Religion and shame it cry it up and smother it in the noise and for a member of Christ make thy self the head of a
of themselves but he that thus findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it The loss of our lives for righteousness sake is a purchase Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven For this Stephen was stoned Paul beheaded the Martyrs tortured So persecuted they the Prophets which were before you In the next place as a good Cause so a good Life doth fit and qualifie us to suffer for righteousness sake Non habent martyrum mortem qui non habent Christianorum vitam saith Augustine He dieth not the death of a Martyr who liveth not the life of a Christian An unclean beast is not fit to make a sacrifice Nor will the crown of Martyrdome sit upon his head who goeth on in his sin It is to the wicked that God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes and What hast thou to do to suffer for them For he that suffereth for them declareth them Therefore S. Augustine calleth the Donatists who in a perverse emulation of the glory of the true Martyrs leapt down from rocks and flung themselves into the water and were drowned sceleratos homicidas wicked homicides and unnatural murtherers of themselves What Cyprian speaketh of Schism is as true of other mortal sins not repented of Non Martyrium tollit not Martyrdom it self can expiate or blot it out For can we think that he that hath taken his fill in sin all his life long and still made his strength the law of unrighteousness should in a moment wash away all his filth and pollutions baptismo sanguinis with his own bloud It may supply for those other pious souls who were never washed in the other laver that of Baptism because persecution or death deprived them of that benefit for what cannot be done cannot oblige But how a man should draw out his life in an open hostility to Christ and trifle with him and contemn him all his dayes and then before repentance and reconciliation which indeed is in the very act of hostility bow to him and die for him I cannot see Take S. Pauls black catalogue of the works of the flesh Adultery Gal. 3. fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murthers drunkenness revellings and not one of these but will infringe and weaken the testimony of any man and render him a suspected witness in our Courts on Earth And shall the truth of Christ stand in need of such Knights of the post who will speak for her when they oppose her Take that bed-roll of wicked men which the Apostle prophesied should come in these last and perilous times 2 Tim. 3 1-5 Lovers of their own selves Covetous Boasters Proud Blasphemers Disobedient to parents Vnthankful Vnholy Without natural affection Truce-breakers False accusers Incontinent Fierce Despisers of those that are good Traitors Heady High minded Lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof and may not the Gospel be ashamed of such Professors and Martyrs as these Or shall we look for heaven in hell and hope to find a Martyr amongst a generation of vipers Or is he fit to be advocate for any truth who hath the faith of Christ with respect of persons Then we shall have factious Martyrs seditious Martyrs malicious Martyrs profane Martyrs sacrilegious Martyrs And if these be Martyrs we may say of them as Tertullian did of the Heathen Gods Potiores apud inferos There be honester men in hell then these No a good Cause and a good Life must be our conductors to the Cross must lead us by the hand to the fiery trial must as it were anoint us to our graves and prepare us for this great work Otherwise whatsoever we suffer is not properly Persecution but an execution of justice It may be here perhaps demanded What then shall he do who having fettered himself in the snare of the Devil hath not yet shaken it off by true repentance whose conscience condemneth him of many gross and grievous sins which yet himself hath not condemned in his flesh by practising the contrary vertues What shall a notorious sinner do if he be called to this great office if his fortunes and life be brought in hazard for the profession of some article of faith or some truth which he believeth is necessary to salvation What shall he do being shut up between these three a bad conscience assurance of that truth he professeth and the terrour of death Shall he hold fast the truth or subscribe to the contrary Shall he suffer without true repentance of his former sins or repent of the truth which he professeth Shall he deny against his conscience what he knoweth to be true or shall he suffer and comfort himself in this one act as a foundation firm enough to raise a hope on of remission of sin Here is a great streight a sad Dilemma like that of the servant in the Comedy Si faxit perit si non faxit vapulat If he do it he may perish and if he do it not he may be beaten He may suffer for the truth and yet suffer for his sins and if he do it not he hath denied the faith and is worse then an infidel But beloved this is an instance like that of Buridan's ass between two bottles of hay knowing not which to chuse an instance of what peradventure never or very seldom cometh to pass We may suppose what we please we may suppose the heavens to stand still and the earth to move and some have thought so we may suppose what in nature is impossible And this if it be not impossible yet is so improbable that it hardly can gain so much credit as to win an assent For that he who all his life long hath cast Christ's word 's behind him should now seal them with his bloud that they are true that a conscience so beaten so wasted so overwhelmed with the habit of sins should now take in and entertain a fear of so little a sin as the denial of one truth in respect of the contempt of all that he that hath swallowed this monstrous camel should strain at this gnat that he that hath trampled Christ's bloud under his feet should shed his own for some one dictate of his is a thing which we may suppose but hardly believe Or tell me Where should this sting and power of conscience lye hid Or can conscience drive us to the confession of one truth which had no power to withhold us from polluting our selves with so many sins Holding faith saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 1.19 and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made ship-wreck So near an alliance there is between Faith and a good Conscience that we must either keep them both or lose them both Faith as Saint Paul intimateth in that Text is as the
God's Forgiveness is free and voluntary He looketh for no motives abroad but forgiveth us secundùm misericordiam according to his mercy according to that which is in God not according to that which is in man Ex se sumit seminarium miserendi saith the Father He hath the seminary of mercy in himself and borroweth not the seeds of it from any other Nothing to move God but the mercy of God If we will seek the true cause we must go out of the world for all that is in the world is enmity with God All the benefits which his hand of mercy reacheth forth are tendered to us with this inscription Ipse quia voluit Jam. 1. Because he will he giveth them us And he forgiveth us for no other reason but because he will And this is the right SICUT by which we must set our Forgiveness Our Forgiveness must flow from a melting heart For that Forgiveness which hath need of so many motives so many allurements so many submissions to uphold it in life and being cannot be divine or from the heaven heavenly but will soon fall to the ground and vanish What Forgiveness is that which is bought with the knee and with a tear which modesty draweth on which humility beggeth Most men saith Aristotle forgive those who fall at their feet who confess an injury and repent of it We willingly lift them up who cast themselves down and submit themselves quia hoc facere tanquam majores videmur because Forgiveness is an act of a Superiour and when Emulation is wasted and spent Humanity groweth up in its room And therefore to me it is a most unnecessary question Whether a man be bound to forgive an injury before he that hath done the wrong doth acknowledge it although it be grounded upon that of our Saviour If thy brother trespass against thee seven times in a day Luke 17 4. and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying I repent thou shalt forgive him For Remission is an act of Charity which hath no limitation of time or person For we are not onely commanded to forgive others but to do them good and to pray for them But here Christ speaketh of our brother whom we must rebuke and reprehend ver 3. that if we could we should not give him open indications of a reconciled mind till we had reproved and gained him but then if he will not suffer a word of exhortation if he withdraw himself from us as unwilling to be shewed his errour our charity must follow him still nor must we be unmerciful because he is stubborn and because he turneth his back unto us withdraw our bowels from him What talk we of preparation of mind for even bitterness it self may consist with such preparation For by this it seemeth I may hate my brother before reconciliation and prepare nay resolve to forgive him when I see him upon his knees These distinctions of preparation and the act of general Love and particular of inward Forgiveness and outward are but commenta humani ingenii the work of our phansie or rather of our malice and serve for no other use but to make our Forgiveness less voluntary yea to make it none at all For thus I may be prepared to love my brother and yet hate him all the dayes of my life I may love him as my brother and hate him as my enemy I may love him in my heart and pursue him with my sword and so excuse my uncharitableness by my brother's rancor which my charity should cover Then our Forgiveness is set at the true SICUT when we have gained that God-like disposition to multiply it and make it keep time with our brother's offences when we are as active to forgive as he is to offend This sheweth that Charity is even in a manner natural to us and floweth sweetly from us as waters from their fountain so that there need no submissions or deprecations no tears nor beseechings to draw them from us nor can any frowardness or obstinacy in our brother stop their course This giveth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of ascent to draw near to â—â—d and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of Deification and maketh us children like to 〈◊〉 Father which is in heaven Again as God's Forgiveness is free and voluntary so is it full and plenary He hath made Christ a propitiation for our sins nay not onely for our sins but for the sins of the whole world He casteth them behind him never again to behold them he burieth them in oblivion that he may never remember them He passeth them by as if he saw them not putteth them away that they hurt us not casteth them into the sea that they drown us not washeth them away that they defile us not covereth them that they appear not And thus he presenteth us at once both with physick and instruction with a pardon and a precept and by giving us a plenary indulgence teacheth us a duty And how sweet should that command be which is thus presented in an hony-comb He teacheth us and that we may learn we have motives from his Mercy-seat not onely to forgive offences but so to esteem them as if they had never been done And indeed to make our Forgiveness of them complete and level it by the true SICUT the best way is to cast them out of our thoughts For whilest they lodge there they are but tentations and may renew that flame which is now well abated and having the same aspect in which they first appeared cannot be looked upon often but with danger These we best overcome as the Parthians did their enemies fugiendo by flying from them For how great a matter will a little fire kindle In other things tanta injuria oblivio quanta est gloria ejus cujus est injuria oblivion and forgetfulness is as hurtful and injurious to us as that is praise-worthy which it removeth out of our sight Memory is the health of the Vnderstanding saith Plato but in respect of injuries Oblivion is a benefit because it freeth us not onely from evil but from the danger of it leaveth it not as a coal ill-quenched which every puff of air every occasion may fanne and kindle again but doth utterly extinguish it For as it is well said Pax non est si veteres ad bellum causas relinquat That peace deserveth not the name of peace which leaveth any way open for war to break in again so Forgiveness is not forgiveness when we do but forgive and are willing to look back upon the injury which is passed and to converse familiarly with that which is as apt to provoke us to wrath now it is past as when it was first done For these representations present it to our mind not as past but as now done As when Antony brought Caesar's bloudy robe into the market-place the Oratour telleth us the people were so affected ut non occisus
esse Caesar sed tunc maximè occidi videretur that they conceived it not as a thing done and past as if he were killed already but as if he were now under the parricides hands Certainly no blot can be great enough for injuries nor are they truly and sincerely forgiven till we are willing till we study to forget them Nemo diu tutus periculo proximus There is no long safety to be expected where danger is at hand Therefore we must in this as in all other duties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 follow God as the Pythagoreans counselled For if we measure our selves by our selves if we raise not the SICUT as high as our Father of whom we beg mercy we shall fail of the condition and so bring upon our selves an uncapability of pardon But to forgive freely and voluntarily to forgive sincerely and fully to take off not onely our anger from injuries but to drive them out of our memory is Divino more ignoscere to forgive as God And indeed in the next place this maketh us like unto God and investeth us with his power by which we overcome all injuries whatsoever and scatter them as dust before the wind By this we break the cedars of Libanon in pieces the tallest enemies we have by this we â—ill the raging of the sea and the madness of the people Fot who would 〈◊〉 forgive a bedlam by this we pour coals of fire upon our most obdurate enemies and melt and thaw them by this we work miracles And indeed Mercy is a great miracle For Beloved that power which we use in resistance and revenge is not power but weakness Vera magnitudo est non posse nocere verior nolle The true power by which a Christian prevaileth is seen in this not to be able to do hurt the greatest power not to be willing And if we will make a truce with our Passions and a while consult with Reason we shall soon discover that the desire to shew our power in revenge of an injury hath its beginning from extreme weakness Omnis ex infirmitate feritas saith Seneca All fierceness and desire of revenge is from infirmity and proceedeth from that womanish and brutish part of man nay from those vices which make us worse then the beasts that perish Chap. 4.1 From whence come wars and fightings saith S. James from whence contentions and strifes come they not from hence even from your lusts which war in your members from Pride Covetousness Luxury Ambition and Self-love In urbe luxuria creatur saith Tully ex luxuria exsisttat avaritia necesse est ex avaritia erumpat audacia unde omnia scelera gignuntur In the city Luxury is begot and that calleth in Covetousness as a necessary supply to feed and nourish it Covetousness bringeth in Audacious and impudent behaviour and this filleth all with Bloud and Oppression Ambition giveth the stab for a lye Covetousness layeth hold on the throat for a peny Luxury will wade to pleasure though it be through bloud and Self-love maketh every look a frown every frown a blow and every blow death And this is extreme weakness and infirmity We may think indeed we have done wonders when we have laid our brother at our feet when we have put him in fetters and ript up his bowels and made him pay his debt with his bloud but in all this our glory is our shame For in this contention we never triumph till we yield When we are weak then are we strong when we suffer disgrace then are we honourable and we overcome not when we resist but when we dye By this an enemy is a friend By this saith the Father the Mother in the Macchabees priùs viscera carnifici quam verba impendit gave the executioner her bowels but not a word This restoreth what was stoln from me bringeth back what the robber taketh keepeth my name when it is most defiled as a precious ointment and maketh the day of death better then the day of my birth In a word this Deus averruncus chaseth away all evil whatsoever cancelleth all debts is a severe act and the onely antidote against Malice which cannot be overcome saith the Apostle but with good and sheweth from whence it hath its original by manifesting it self in a full and plenary forgiveness of all injury and oppression and contumely of all that cometh under the name of debt I may now seem perhaps to have stretched this Condition too far For we are very willing that God should enlarge his mercy but that ours be drawn into as narrow a compass as may be We would clip our wings to cover but a few but call upon him to spread his wings to cover all offences And therefore it is safer to stretch the condition then to contract and confine it because we are so ready transilire lineas to leap over the bounds which are set us and so take line and liberty to exact some debts and at last break loose upon all and when our revenge hath its full swinge say we seek but our own I had rather therefore tell you what you may not do then what you may And if you shall ask me whether it be not lawful in some cases to fetch back and exact your own I shall say as St. Augustine do of Time If you ask me once I can tell you but if you ask me again I can give you no answer For I fear such a question proceedeth from an evil disposition which would fain break its bounds For can Charity ask how far she may molest a brother and be Charity Would Mercy which should run like a river and overflow to refresh every dry place seek out inventions to divert or dam up her self Shall we strive to make the condition easier which in respect of the promise would be very easie though it were much harder then it is But yet by this I neither strike the sword out of the Magistrate's hand nor make the Laws of men void and of no effect For the Condition here is put in respect of injuries For though it be far better I should lose my coat then revenge my self because by the law of equity no man can be judge in his own cause yet let the Magistrate restore my coat to me and the act is not revenge but justice Justice saith Plutarch accompanieth God himself and breatheth revenge against those who break his Law which men also by the light of nature use against one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they are citizens and members of a body politick This SICUT therefore this Condition is laid down to order and compose our minds to the pardon of those wrongs which are offered to our private persons but it bindeth not the Judge who is a publick person and standeth in the midst as it were between two opposite sides to draw them together and make them one again to use his power not onely rescindendo peccatori to cut of the wicked
disconsonant to the wayes of those who are deeply immerst and drencht in the world and which by them is in esteem as Madness or Drunkenness shall receive the reward of Soberness and Truth O how happy were it for these mockers if they were thus distempered thus superstitious if they took this cup of the Lord and did adde drunkenness to thirst and even fill and glut themselves with it They cannot be too reverent too spiritual too absurd and ridiculous to the world and worldly men He that seems wise to these must needs be neer of kin to a fool and he whom they admire must be ridiculous Aliud est judicium Christi aliud anguli susurronum Whom the world laughs at Christ will honour whom they make their slaves with Christ are Kings and whom they scorn he will crown And then these scoffers shall be had in derision and they who are filled with the Spirit shall for ever drink of the river of his pleasures and shall sit down with him at his table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and these Apostles here and drink that new wine with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that spiritual immortal joy in the kingdom of his Father in the presence of God where there are pleasures for evermore To which He bring us who sent his Spirit down upon us Jesus Christ the righteous The Three and Thirtieth SERMON PART I. LUKE XI 27 28. And it came to pass as he spake these things a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked But he said Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it WE cannot say more of our Saviour in the dayes of his flesh then this He went about doing good Acts 10.38 Job 29.15 He was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame and health to the sick And as he cured mens bodies of diseases so he purged their souls from sin As he went his steps dropped fatness Scarce proceeded there a word from his blessed lips that breathed not forth comfort In this chapter he cast out a devil which was dumb and the people wondred v. 14. But such is the rancour and venome of Envy and Malice that no vertue no miracle no demonstration of power can castigate or abate it What is Vertue to a Jew or what is a Miracle to a Pharisee When the devil was gone out saith the Text the dumb spake a work not to be wrought but by the finger of God But if a Pharisee look upon it it must change its name and be said to be done by the claw of the Devil For some of them said He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the prince of the devils Others tempting him sought from him a sign from heaven as if this were not such a one but rather proceeded from the pit of hell and from the power of darkness It is the character of an evil and envious eye to look outward extrà mittendo not to receive the true species and forms of things but to send out some noxious spirits from it self which discolour and deface the object Hence Envious men are thought as S. Basil saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to infect every thing they look upon and like the Basilisk to kill with a very look What do they cast their eye upon that they do not poison and corrupt Is it Temperance they call it Stupidity Is it Justice they call it Cruelty Is it Wisdome they call it Craft Is it Honesty they call it Folly and Want of foresight Is it a Miracle they call it Magick and Sorcery and a work of Beelzebub Wherefore saith the Father was our Saviour made a mark for every venemous dart wherefore was he so sorely laid at by the Jews by the Scribes and Pharisees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For nothing else but his wondrous works And what were they His curing of the sick feeding of the hungry restoring of the dead to life casting out of devils And therefore as he confirmed his doctrine by miracles so Malice putteth him to another task to make good his miracles by reason and argument And this he doth 1. argumento ducente ad absurdum by an argument which will either bind them to silence or drive them upon the face of an open absurdity For what an absurd thing were it for Satan to drive out himself and 2. argumento ducente ad impossibile For if Satan be divided against himself it is impossible his kingdome should stand Proficit semper contradictio stultorum ad stultitiae demonstrationem saith Hilary The contradiction of sinners and fools striveth and struggleth to gain ground and to over-run the Truth but the greatest proficiencie Folly maketh is but to make her self more open and manifest like Candaules's wife who was seen naked of all but her self But Truth is as unmovable as a rock which as the Father speaketh of the Church tunc vincit cùm laeditur tunc intelligitur cùm arguitur tunc obtinet cùm deseritur then conquereth when it receiveth a foil is then understood when it is opposed and is then safe when it is forsaken Let the Jews rage and the Pharisees imagin a vain thing let Envy cast a mist and let Malice smoke like a fornace yet Christ's miracles shall be as clear as the day wherein they were wrought and the mouth of Iniquity shall be stopped Out of his own mouth shall the Pharisee be convinced and Christ shall be as powerful in his words as in his works so powerfull in both that even è â—urba out of that multitude which did oppose him one witness or oâ—her shall rise to bear testimony to the truth to point out to the finger of God by which this miracle was wrought to magnifie and bless not onely our Saviour but even the very womb that bare him and the paps that he had sucked For it came to pass as he spake these things a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him Blessed c. My Text divideth it self between the Woman and Christ First the Woman taketh occasion from what she had heard and seen to magnifie Christ Then Christ taketh occasion from her speach to instruct her and let her at rights She calleth Christ's mother blessed He sheweth her a more excellent way by which she may come to be as blessed as his mother She talketh of Blessedness He telleth her what it is He condemneth not her affection but directeth and levelleth it to the right object and as the Pythagoreans method of teaching was he indulgeth something that he may gain the more Be it so Blessed is the womb that bare me and the paps that gave me suck QUINIMO But much rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it To be my Mother is but a temporal privilege but to hear and keep my word is eternal
the Son of God yet before he emptyed himself and took upon him the form of a servant sicut miseriam expertus non erat ita nec misericordiam experimento novit saith Hilary as he had no experience of sorrow so had he no experimental knowledge of mercy and compassion His own Hunger moved him to work that miracle of the Loaves for it is said in the Text Matth. 15.32 He had compassion on the multitude His Poverty made him an Orator for the poor and he beggeth with them to the end of the world He had not a hole to hide his head and his Compassion melted into tears at the sight of Jerusalem When he became a man of sorrows he became also a man of compassion And yet his experience of sorrow in truth added nothing to his knowledge but rayseth up a confidence in us to approach neer unto him who by his miserable experience is brought so neer unto us Col. 1.21 22. and hath reconciled us in the body of his flesh For he that suffered for us hath compassion on us and suffereth and is tempted with us even to the end of the world on the cross with S. Peter on the block with S. Paul in the fire with the Martyrs Hebr. 11.37 destitute afflicted tormented Would you take a view of Christ looking towards us with a melting eye You may see him in your own souls take him in a groan mark him in your sorrow behold him walking in the clefts of a broken heart bleeding in the gashes of a wounded spirit Or to make him an object more sensible you may see him every day begging in your streets When he telleth you He was dead he telleth you as much In as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood Hebr. 2.14 he also himself likewise took part of the same and in our flesh was hungry was spet upon was whipt was nayld to the cross which were as so many parts of that discipline which taught him to be merciful to be merciful to them who were tempted by hunger because he was hungry to be merciful to them who were tempted by poverty because he was poor to be merciful to those who tremble at disgrace because he was whipt to be merciful to them who will not yet will suffer for him who refuse and yet chuse tremble and yet venture are afraid and yet dye for him because as man he found it a bitter cup and would have had it pass from him who in the dayes of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears for mortal men Hebr. 5.7 for weak men for sinners Pertinacissimè durant quae discimus experientiâ This experimental knowledge is so rooted and fixed in him that it cannot be removed now no more then his natural knowledge He can as soon be ignorant of our actions as of our sufferings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot. Anal. post l. 2. c. 19. Hebr. 5.8 Isa 53.3 Experience saith the Philosopher is a collection of many particulars registred in our memory And this experience Christ had and our Apostle telleth us he learnt it and the Prophet telleth us he was vir sciens infirmitatum a man well read in sorrows acquainted with grief one who carryed it about with him from his cradle to his cross And by his Fasting and Tentation by his Agony and bloody sweat by his precious Death and Burial he remembreth us in famine in tentation in our agony he remembreth us in the hour of death and in our grave for he pitieth even our dust and will remember us in the day of judgment We have passed through the hardest part of this Method and yet it is as necessary as the End For there is no coming to the end without it no peace without trouble no life without death Not that Life is the proper effect of Death for this clear stream floweth from a higher and purer fountain even from the Will of God who is the fountain of life which meeting with our Obedience which is the conformity of our will to God's maketh its way with power through fire and water as the Psalmist speaketh through poverty and contumelies through every cloud and tempest through darkness and death it self and so carryeth it on to end and triumph in life I was dead that was his state of Humility but I am alive that is his state of Glory and is in the next place to be considered I am he that liveth Christ hath spoken it who is Truth it self and we may take his word for it And if we will not believe him when he sayth it neither should we believe if we should see him rising from the dead And this his life and resurrection is most conveniently placed in that Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy one to see corruption Psal 16.10 For what stronger reason can there be found out in matters of faith then the Will and Pleasure of that God who bringeth mighty things to pass To this end S. Paul citeth the second Psalm and S. Peter the sixteenth And in this the humble soul may rest and behold the object in its glory and so gather strength to rayse it self above the fading vanities of this world and reach and rise to immortality What fairer evidence then that of Scripture What surer word then the word of Christ He that cannot settle himself on this is but as S. Jude's cloud Jude 14. carryed about with every wind wheeled and circled about from imagination to imagination now raysed to a belief and anon cast down into the midst of darkness now assenting anon doubting and at last pressed down by his own unstableness into the pit of Infidelity He that will not walk by that light which shineth upon him whilst he seeketh for more must needs stumble and fall at those stones of offence which himself hath laid in his own way Acts 26.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead to life If such a thought arise in a Christian 9. Reason never set it up I verily thought with my self saith S. Paul but it was when he was under the Law And he whose thoughts are staggered here is under a worse law the law of his members his lusts by which his thoughts and actions are held up as by a law he is such a one as studieth to be an Atheist is ambitious to be like the beasts that perish and having nothing in himself but that which is worse than nothing is well content to be annihilated For why should such a temptation take any Christian Why should he desire clearer evidence Why should he seek for demonstration or that the Resurrection of Christ should be made manifest to the eye This is not to seek to confirm and establish but to destroy our faith For if these truths were as evident as it is that the Sun doth shine when it is day the apprehension of
them were not an act of our Faith but of our Knowledge Therefore Christ shewed not himself openly to all the people at his resurrection Tert. Apol. ut fides non mediocri praemio destinata non nisi difficultate constaret that faith by which we are destined to a crown might not consist without some difficulty but commend it self by our obedience the perfection and beauty whereof is best seen in making its way through difficulties And so Hilary Habet non tam veniam quà m praemium ignorare quod credis Lib. 8. De Trin Not perfectly to know what thou certainly believest doth so little stand in need of pardon that it is that alone which draweth on the reward For what obedience can it be for me to assent to this That the whole is greater then the part that the Sun doth shine or any of those truths which are visible to the eye What obedience it is to assent to that which I cannot deny But when the object is in part hidden in part seen when the truth we assent to hath more probability to establish it then can be brought to shake it then our Saviour himself pronounceth John 20.29 Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed Besides it were in vain he should afford us more light who hath given us enough For to him that will not rest in that which is enough nothing is enough When God had divided the Red sea when he rained down Manna upon the Israelites and wrought many wonders amongst them the Text saith For all this they sinned still Psal 78.31 and believed not his wondrous works The Pharisees saw Christ's miracles yet would have stoned him They saw him raise Lazarus from the dead and would have killed them both The people said He hath done all things well Mar. 7.37 John 7.48 yet these were they that crucified the Lord of life Did any of the Pharisees believe in him We might ask Did any of his Disciples believe in him Christ himself calleth them Fools and slow of heart to believe what the Prophets had foretold Luke 24.25 Their Fear had sullied the evidence that they could not see it the Text sayth they forsook him and fled Matth. 26.56 And the reason of this is plain For though Faith be an act of the Understanding yet it dependeth upon the Will and men are incredulous nor for want of those means which may raise a faith but for want of will to follow that light which leadeth unto it they do not believe because they will not and so bear themselves strongly upon opinion preconceived beyond the strength of all evidence whatsoever When our affections and lusts are high and stand out against it the evidence is put by and forgot and the object which calls for our eye and faith begins to disappear and vanish and at last is nothing Quot voluntates tot fides saith Hilary So many Wills so many Creeds For there is no man that believeth more than he will To make this good we may appeal to men of the slendrest observation and least experience we may appeal to our very eye which cannot but see those uncertain and uneven motions in which men are carried on in the course of their life For what else is that that turneth us about like the hand of a Dial from one point to another from one perswasion to a contrary How cometh it to pass that I now embrace what anon I tremble at What is the reason that our Belief shifteth so many scenes and presenteth it self in so many several shapes now in the indifferency of a Laodicean anon in the violence of a Zealot now in the gaudiness of Superstition anon in the proud and scornful slovenry of factious Profaneness that many make so painful a peregrination through so many modes and forms of Religion and at last end in Atheists What reason is there There can be none but this the prevalency and victory of our Sensitive part over our Reason and the mutability yea and stubbornness of our Will which cleaveth to that which it will soon forsake but is strongly set against the Truth which bringeth with it the fairest evidence but not so pleasing to the sense This is it which maketh so many impressions in the mind Self-love and the Love of the world these frame our Creeds these plant and build these root and pull down build up a faith and then beat it to the ground and then set up another in its place James 1.8 2 Tim. 2 8 A double-minded man saith S. James is unstable in all his wayes Remember saith S. Paul that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised up from the dead according to my Gospel That is a sure foundation for our faith to build on There we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fair and certain pledges of faith as it were a commentary upon EGO VIVO or as so many beams of light to make it open and manifest to every eye which give up so fair an evidence that the malice of the Jew cannot avoid it Matth. 28.13 Let them say His Disciples stole him away whilest their stout watchmen slept What stole him away and whilest they slept It is a dream and yet it is not a dream it is a studied lye and doth so little shake that it confirmeth our faith so transparent that through it we may behold more clearly the face of Truth which never shineth brighter than when a lye is drawn before it to vail and shadow it Matth. 28.6 He is not here he is risen if an Angel had not spoken it yet the Earthquake the Clothes the Clothes so diligently wrapt up the Grave it self did speak it And where such strange impossibilities are brought in to colour and promote a lye they help to confute it Id negant quod ostendunt They deny what they affirm and Malice it self is made an argument for the truth 1 Cor. 15.5 6. For it we have a better verdict given by Cephas and the twelve yea we have a cloud of witnesses above five hundred brethren at once who would not make themselves the fathers of a lye to propogate that Gospel which either maketh our yea yea and nay nay or damneth us Nor did they publish it to raise themselves in wealth and honour For it teacheth them to contemn these matters maketh Poverty a beatitude and sheweth them a sword and persecution which they were sure to meet with and did afterwards in the prosecution of their office and publication of that faith Nor could they take any delight in such a lye as would gather so many clouds over their heads which would at last dissolve in that bitterness that would make life it self a punishment and at last take it away And how could they hope that men would ever believe that which themselves knew to be a lye These witnesses then are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many and beyond exception