l. 1. de Morib Eccl. c. 2. saith S. Augustine ut rationem praecedat autoritas that Authority should go before and have the preeminence of Reason that where Reason is weak Authority may come in as a supply to strengthen and settle it For what can Reason see in Bread and Wine to quicken or raise a Soul What is Bread to a wounded spirit 1 Cor. 8.8 or Wine to a sick soul For neither if we eat are we the better the more accepted nor if we eat not are we the worse saith S. Paul It is true the outward Elements are indifferent in themselves but Authority changeth and even transelementeth them giveth them virtue and efficacy a commanding power even the force of a Law He that put virtue into the Clay and Spittle to cure a bodily eye may do the same to Bread and Wine to heal our spiritual blindness He that made these a staff to our bodies may make them also a prop to our souls when they droop and sink And then if he say This do ye though our Reason should be at a stand and boggle at it as at a thing which holdeth no proportion with a Soul yet we must do it because he saith it It may be said Jam. 1.21 Is not his Word sufficient which is able to save our souls Is it not enough for me to beat down my body to pour forth my prayers to crucifie my flesh No Nothing is sufficient but what the authority of Christ hath made so Nescit judicare quisquis didicit perfectè obedire is true in matters of this nature We have no judgement of our own our wisdome is to obey and let him alone to judge what is fit who alone hath power to command Authority must not be disputed with nor can it hear Why should I do this For such a question denieth it to be Authority If it were possible that God to try our obedience should bid us sow the rocks or water a dry stick or teach a language we do not know as the Jesuites do their Novices a necessity would lie upon us and wo unto us if we did it not How much rather then should we obey when he commandeth for our advantage giveth us a law that he may give us more grace bindeth us to that which will raise us nearer to him when he spreadeth his table prepared his viands biddeth us eat and drink and then saith grace biddeth a blessing himself unto it that we may grow up in his favour and be placed amongst those great examples of eternal happiness Look not then on the Minister howsoever qualified For a brass-seal maketh the same impression which a ring of gold doth and it is not material whether the seal be of baser or purer metal so the image and character be authentick saith Nazianzene Look not on the outward Elements for of themselves they have no power at all no more than the water of Jordan had to cure a leper but their power and virtue is from above The force and virtue of a Sacrament lieth in the institution all the power it hath is from the Authour Before it was Bread but common Bread now it is Manna the Bread of strength the Bread of Angels And this truth thou maist build upon nor doth the Church of Rome deny it And though they have added five Sacraments and may add as many more as they please Quicquid arant homines navigant aedificant any thing we do may be made a Sacrament When the Phansie is working she may spin out what she please Yet they cannot deny that every Sacrament must have immediate institution from Christ himself from his own mouth or else it is of no validity and therefore they are forced to pretend it though they cannot prove it in those which themselves have added for their own advantage Think then when thou hearest these words Take eat This is my body which was broken thou hearest thy Saviour himself speaking from heaven Think not of the Minister or the meanness of the Elements but think of him who took thee out of thy blood and sanctified thee with his and by the same power is able to sanctifie these outward Elements 1 Cor. 10.16 by the virtue of whose institution the cup of blessing which we bless which he blessed first shall be to every one that cometh worthily the comunion of the bloud and the Bread which we break which he first brake the communion of the body of Christ And thus much of the Authour Let us now consider what he enjoyneth us to do The Command is to do this that is to do as he did though to another end to take Bread and to give thanks and eat it and so of the Cup to take and drink it And if this be done with an eye to the Authour and a lively faith in him this is all For this Table was spread not for the dead but for the living This I say is all But some have stretched this word beyond its proper and natural signification Others and that a multitude do rest under the shadow of the word content themselves in the outward action do do it and no more which indeed is not to do it For though this word to do be not of so large a significatton as the Church of Rome hath drawn it out in that they might build an Altar and offer up Christ again which they say is to remember him yet is it not so scant and narrow as Ignorance and Prophaneness make it Advers Const. Aug. Verba non sono sed sensu sapiunt saith Hilary We must not tie our selves to the sound but lay hold on the sense of the words And this word to do though it be less than the little cloud in the book of the Kings 1 Kings 18.44 nothing near so big as a mans hand yet if it be interpreted it will spread and be as large as Heaven it self and containeth within its sphere and compass all those stars those graces and virtues which will entitle us to bliss by fitting and qualifying of us to do it For indeed non fit quod non fit legitimè that is not done which is not done as it should be Those duties in Scripture which are shut up in a word are of a large and diffusive interpretation When God biddeth us hear he biddeth us obey When he biddeth us believe he biddeth us love When he awaketh our understanding he commandeth our Hand When he biddeth us do this he biddeth us perfect our work For Hearing is not Hearing without Obedience Faith is dead if it work not by Charity and Knowledge is but a dream without Practice and we do not that which we do not as we should To do this then is not barely to take the Bread and eat it This Judas himself might do this he doth that doth it to his own damnation And therefore though it be not now common Bread and common Wine but consecrated and set
Arts themselves are not liberal but when they make men so free and ingenuous Arithmetick and Geometry are but a kind of Legerdemain if they teach men onely metiri latifundia accommodare digitos avaritiae to measure Lordships and to tell money What need we instance in these The Word of God which bringeth salvation may bring death if it be not received with the meekness of a babe that we may grow thereby The Sacrament the blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which hath been magnified too much and yet cannot be magnified enough was ordained as Physick to renew and revive and quicken our souls but if it be not received to that end for which it was first instituted it is not Physick but damnation Non QUID sed QUEMADMODUM vers 29. It is not the bare Doing of a thing but the Manner of doing it the driving it on to its right end which giveth it its full beauty and perfection A sincere Heart and the Glory of God set the true image of Liberality on the gift of a mite Attention and Obedience make the Word the savour of life Humility and Repentance sanctifie a fast and Shewing of the death of the Lord maketh us truly partakers of his body and bloud Our Saviour Christ hath fully decided this controversie in a word and with one breath as it were hath said enough to still the tumults of the disputers which have been as the raging of the sea and to settle all the vain and needless controversies of this age John 6.63 even in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The flesh profiteth nothing it is the Spirit that quickeneth For to say his flesh profiteth nothing is a plain declaration that he meant not to give it us to eat That which is nourishment to the body is not proportioned to the soul nor will that which reneweth a soul restore the body to a healthful temper Who would go about to recover a sick man with an Oration of Tully's or set a joynt with an axiom of Philosophy Who can restore a sick soul with bread and wine with flesh or bloud Although these two parts the Soul and the Body are knit and united rogether and do sympathize so as that which refresheth the body doth affect and please the mind and that which cheareth the mind doth strengthen the body yet both the parts receive that which is proper to them the body that which is of a corporeal nature and the soul that which is spiritual and both mutually communicate to each other the fruit and benefit of both without the least confusion of their operations and proprieties Although we see the actions of the body as Hunger and Thirst many times attributed to the soul and the functions of the soul as to Will and the like to the body Therefore we must distinguish between the Meritorious cause and the Efficiency and Application of it which are both joyntly necessary but their manner of operation is diverse It was necessary that the flesh and bloud of Christ should be separated from each other in his violent death on the cross that his most precious bloud should be poured out for remission of sins but to make it a physical potion to make it nourishment to our souls it was not necessary that his bodily substance should be taken into ours For if it should our Saviout telleth us it would profit nothing And the reason is plain Because the merit and virtue of his death which is without us is made ours not by any fleshly conjunction or union with him who merited for us by offering himself but 1. by his Will by which he in a manner maketh it over unto us and 2. by our due receiving of it which is made complete by our Consent and Faith and Giving of thanks which is the work alone of that Spirit which quickeneth and giveth life The blessed Virgin did no doubt partake of the merit of Christ but not because she conceived and bore him nine moneths in her womb but in that she conceived him by faith in her heart Luke 11.27 28. The womb was blessed that bare him and the paps that gave him suck but they rather were blessed who heard his word and kept it The Flesh and Bloud of Christ doth truly quicken us as it was offered up for us a sacrifice on the cross as a meritorious cause and as he gave it for the salvation of the world But it doth not quicken by being received into our bodies but by being received into our souls His merit was enough to save the whole world and yet his merit were nothing if not applied and that application is not wrought without but within us not by the Spirit of life but by the force and power of his death and passion the meritorious cause Rom. 8.2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death What need we hear stir this Water of life and turn it into gall and bitterness Why should this Bread be gravel between our teeth Why should Christ's love be made the matter of war and contention It is called the Body and Bloud of Christ and it is called Bread and Cup in my Text And it is a miserable servitude saith Augustine signa pro rebus accipere to take the signs of things for the things themselves and not to be able to lift up the eye of our mind a-above the corporeal creature to take in eternal light That we may lift up ours let us fix it upon the end for which Christ offered his body and bloud and upon the end for which we are to receive the Sacrament and signs of it And let one end be the measure and rule of the other Let Christ lifted upon the cross draw us after him to follow as he leadeth His body was bruised and his bloud shed to purge us from all iniquity and to make us a peculiar people unto himself That was Christ's end And our end must be proportioned to it So to receive the Sacrament of his body and bloud that it may be instrumental to that end Which cannot be by eating his flesh and bloud that flesh which was crucified and that bloud which was shed One would think it impossible that any should think our Saviour should command us that which is impossible or shew us a way which cannot lead to the end Flesh and Bloud taken down into the stomach can no more feed and quicken a Soul then it can enter into the Kingdom of heaven But his Obedience his Humility his Cross and Passion his meritorious Suffering and Satisfaction these have power and influence on the Soul These are here presented to us as Manna and better then Manna and if we take them down and digest them they will turn into good bloud and feed us to eternal life His Body and Bloud were thus given and thus we must receive them Our Saviour calleth it his
an Ear listening after lies are the faculties and passions and members or rather the marks and reproches of a stigmatized slave For can he be thought free who imployeth all the power he hath to make himself a prisoner No liberty then without subordination and subjection to this Law Behold I shew you a mystery which you may think rather a paradox A Christian a Gospeller is the freest and yet the most subject creature in the world the highest and yet the lowest delivered out of prison and yet confined set at liberty and yet kept under a Law S. Paul saith to the Galatians Brethren you have been called unto liberty Gal. 5.13 He meaneth Liberty in things indifferent neither good nor evil in their own nature There our fetters are broken off Onely use not your liberty as an occasion to the flesh There we are limited and confined So that Christian Liberty it self is under a Law which bindeth us ab illicitis semper quandoque à licitis from unlawful things alwayes and sometimes from that which is lawful Nay it is under many Laws 1. The Law of Sobriety and Temperance which must bound and limit the outward practice of it God hath given as I told you before every moving thing that liveth to be meat for us Gen. 9. â— All meats under the Gospel all drinks are lawful fish and flesh bread and herbs and the rest But there is a Law yet to bound us We are free but not so free as to surfeit and be drunken and to devour our souls with care for our bodies to make an art of eating and indulge so long to luxury till we can indulge no more Wine is from the vine In which saith S. Augustine God doth every year work a miracle and turn water into wine But if Sobriety be not the cup bearer if we look not on Temperance as a Law it may prove to us what the Manichees feigned it to be fel principis tenebrarum the gall of the Prince of darkness Again all apparel all stuff all cloth all colours are lawful Foâ— he that clotheth the grass of the field will doe much more for us But this Liberty doth not straight write us Gallants nor boulster out our excessive pride and vanity this doth not give us power to put the poor's and Christ's patrimony on our backs Modesty must be our Tire-woman to put on our dress and our garments and not Phansie and Pride Tertullian thought it not fit to supplicate God in silk or purple Cedò acum crinibus distinguendis Bring forth saith he your crisping-pins and your pomanders and wash your selves in costly baths and if any ask you why you do so Deliqui dicito in Deum say I have offended against God Itaque nunc maceror crucior ut reconciliam me Deo and therefore I thus macerate and afflict my self and am come in this gay and costly outside that I may reconcile my self to God Thus did he bitterly and sarcastically lâ—sh the luxury of his times What think you would he say if he saw what we see every day even when the dayes are gloomy and black Ecclesia in attonito when mens hearts even fail them for fear and Vengeance hovereth over us ready to fall upon our heads But if he were too streight-laced we ought to remember that Apparel was for covert and not for sight to warm the body that weareth it and not to take the eye of him that beholdeth it We have freedom to use but Modesty and Temperance must be as Tribunes and come in with their Veto and check and manage this Liberty that we abuse not the creature 2. Our Liberty is bounded with another Law even the Law of Charity Of Charity I say both to my self and to my brethren For our selves A right hand is to be cut off and a right eye plucked out if they offend us We must remove every thing out of the way which may prove a stone to stumble at though it be as useful as our Hand and as dear as our Eye at least make a covenant with our Eye and with our Hand to forbear those lawful things which may either endanger the body or occasion the ruine of the soul For what is an Eye a Hand to the whole And what a serpent is that occasion which If I touch it will sting me to death And as for our selves so also for others we must not use the creature with offence or scandal of our weaker brethren LICET It is lawful is the voice of Liberty but the Charity of the Gospel which is as a Law to a Christian bâ—â—ngeth in an EXPEDIT and maketh onely that lawful in this case which is expedient For as every thing which we please as Bernard speaketh is not lawful so every thing that is lawful is not expedient Nihil charitate imperiosius There is nothing more commanding then Charity and no command fuller of delight and profit then hers For how quickly doth she condescend to the weakness of others How willing is she to abridge her self rather then they should fall What delight doth she take to deny her self delight that she may please them She will not touch nor taste that they may not be offended And then thus in matters of this nature to restrain Liberty bringeth with it huge advantage For how will he flie with ease from that which â—e may not do who can for another's sake abstain from that which he may Liberty is a word of enlargement and giveth us line biddeth Rise and eat but a NON EXPEDIT It is not expedient which is the language of Charity putteth the knife to our throat cometh in case of scandal to pinion us that we reach not our hand to things otherwise lawful A NON EXPEDIT maketh a NON LICET It is not expedient in matters of this indifferencie is the same with It is not lawful The Gospel you see then is a Law of liberty but it is also a Law to moderate and restrain it Lastly as it is a Law of liberty so it limiteth and boundeth it in respect of those relations which are between man and man between Father and Son Master and Servant Superiour and Inferiour For Christ came not to shake these relations but to establish them He left the Servant the Son the Subject as he found them but taught them to bow yet a little lower before their Master their Father their Lord for the Gospel's sake to do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with fear and reverence as to the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as the heathen slaves in chains but in simplicity and truth as unto Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with good will not driven on with the goad and whip and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as servants not of men but of Christ He giveth them liberty yet tieth them up and confineth them in the Family in the Commonwealth in the Church A Christian is the most free and the most
enter but in that name and resemblance And when Truth appeareth in its rayes and glory and that light which doth most throughly and best discover it it runneth from Errour as from a monster and boweth to the Sceptre and command of Truth It is never so wedded to any conclusion though never so specious as not to be ready to put it by and forsake it when another presenteth it self which hath better evidence to speak for it and commend it to its choice and practice Thus S. Paul was a champion of the Law and after that a Martyr of the Gospel Thus he persecuted Christians and thus he dyed one Acts 10. Thus S. Peter would not converse and eat with the heathen as polluted and unclean yet when the sheet was let down and in it the will of Christ he preached unto them and baptized them This is the mother of all Repentance For what is Repentance but the changing of our mind upon better information This if it were well practised would fill the world which is now full of Errour with Recognitions and Recantations which are not only confessions but triumphs over a conquered Errour as the rejoycings and Jubilees of men who did fit in darkness but have now found the light This would be an amulet and sure preservative against Prejudice and those common and prevailing errours to which it giveth life and strength and which spread themselves as the Plague and infect whole families cities and nations In brief this would make our errours more venial and men more peaceable For he that seeketh the Truth with this impartial diligence is rather unfortunate then faulty if he miss it and men would never advance their opinion with that heat and malice against dissenters if they could once entertein this thought That it is possible that they themselves may erre and that that opinion in which they now say they will dye may be false if they did not rest in the first evidence as best and so suffer it to pass unquestioned 2 Pet. 1.19 and never seek for a sure word of prophesie or a well grounded assurance that this is one For if this were done as it should either Errour would not overtake or if it did it could not hurt us But this is an argument of a large compass a subject full and yielding much matter and I was but to declare my mind and intention which may better thrive and be more seen under the manage of more nimble and ready wits and the activity of a better penne Secondly as I thought it worth my pains and endeavour to strike at those common errours at which so many stumble and into which they willingly fall and with great complacency so did I set up in the course of my office and ministery this desire and I could not bring much more then desire to present in as fair an appearance as I could those more necessary and essential truths by the embracing of which we lay hold on happiness and come nearest to it and to set them up as a mark at which all mens actions should especially aim For if this be once obtained the other will follow of it self because these truths are not so obnoxious and open to prejudice and men would not run into so many obliquities if they did principally and earnestly intend that to which they are everlastingly and indispensably bound nor could they so often erre if they were willing to be good It was as wise counsel as could have been given to those who sat to solve knotty doubts and to determin controversies in Religion in the Council at Dort and it was given by a King and it would have made good his Motto and styled him a Peacemaker BEATI PACIFICI King James his Motto or Dicton though there had been nothing else to contribute to that title Paucissima definienda quia paucissima necessaria That they should not be too busie and earnest in defining and determining many things because so few were necessary Which counsel if men had thought it worth their ear and favour and willingly bowed to it had made the Church as Jerusalem a City compact within it self and there would have been abundance of peace so long as the Moon endureth Psal 122 3. Psal 72.7 For Questions in Divinity are like Meats in this The more delicate and subtile they are the sooner they putrifie and by too much agitation and sifting annoy and corrupt the rule whilest men are more swift and eager in the pursuit and advance of that humour that raised them then in following those truths which are but few and easie Jude 19. and with which they might build themselves up in their holy faith Lex nos innocentes esse jubet non curiosos Senec. Controv Innocency and not Curiosity is the fulfilling of the Law as it is not Luxury which raiseth an healthful constitution but Temperance and those meats which are as wholesome as common The sum of all Christianity is made up in this To level and place all our hope where it should be on God through Jesus Christ our Lord to love him and keep his commandments which are both open and easie when we are willing In other more nice then useful disquisitions I am well pleased to be puzzled and to be at loss and yet am not at loss because I cannot lose that which I would not which I cannot have and resolve for God and not my self or indeed for my self because for God And my answer is most satisfactory That I believe the thing and God only knoweth the manner how it is and doth not therefore reveal it because it is not fit for me to know When I am to appear before God in his House and at his Table I recollect my thoughts and turn them upon my self I severely enquire in what terms I stand with God and my Neighbour whether there be nothing in me no imagination which standeth in opposition with Christ and so is not suitable with the feast nor with him that maketh it And when this is done my business is at an end for to attempt more is to do nothing or rather that which I should not do But I do not ask with the Schools How the ten Predicaments are in the Eucharist How the Bread is con-or transubstantiated or How the body of Christ is there For they who speak at distance most modestly and tell us it is not corporally but yet really there do not so define as to ascertain the manner but leave it in a cloud and out of sight Job 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he will raise me up at the last day 1 Cor. 15.19 for he hath promised who raised himself and is the first fruits of them that slept But I do not enquire What manner of Trumpet it shall be that shall then sound nor of the Solemnity and manner of the proceeding at that day or How the body which shall rise
Heaven before the tribunal of Christ let us change our plea and let us answer the last part of the Text with the first the Moriemini with the Convertimini answer God that we will turn and then he will never ask any more Why will ye die but change his language and assure us we shall not die at all And our answer is penned to our hands by the Prophet Behold Jer. 3.22 23. we come we turn unto thee for in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel And our Saviour hath registred his in his Gospel and left it as an invitation to turn Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that be weary of your evil wayes and are heavy laden feel the burden you did sweat under whilest you were in them and I will ease you that is I will deliver you from this body of Sin Rom. 7.24 fill you with my Grace enlighten your Understandings Hebr. 10.22 sprinkle your hearts from an evil Conscience direct your Eye level your Intentions lead you in the wayes of life and so fit and prepare you for my kingdom in Heaven To which he bring us c. The Four and Twentieth SERMON 1 COR. XI 25. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me THat which is made to degenerate from its first institution is so much the worse by how much the better it would have been if it had been levelled and carried on to that end for which it was ordained The truth of this is plain and visible as in many others so in this great business of the Administration of the Lords Supper Which in its right and proper use might have been as Physick to purge and as Manna to feed the soul to eternal life but being either raised higher or brought lower than it self either made more or less then it is either made miraculous or nothing hath become fatall and destructive and hath left most men guilty of the body and blood of our Lord. 1 Cor. 11.27 Some we see have quite changed and perverted the Ordinance of Christ scarce left any shadow or sign of its first institution have made of a Supper for the living a Sacrifice for the dead turned the Minister into a sacrificing Priest Bread and Wine into very Flesh and Blood and Bones the Remembrance of Christs death into the Adoration of the outward elements have written books filled many volumes in setting out the miraculous virtue it hath of which we may say as Pliny did of the writings of those magical Physicians that they have been published non sine contemtu irrisu generis humani not without a kind of contempt and derision of all the world as if there breathed not in it any but such who were either so brutish as not to know or such fools as to believe whatsoever fell from the pen of such idle dreamers Others fall short are more coldly affected and lose themselves in a strange indifferency as not fully resolved whether it be an institution that bindeth or no and look upon it rather as an invention of man than the word and command of Christ Others run far enough from Superstition as they think and are great enemies to Popery and yet unawares carry a Pope with them in their belly lean too much to the opus operatum to the bare outward action think what they will not say that if they come to the Feast it is not much material what garment they come in the outward elements are of virtue to sanctifie the profaner himself that though they have been haters of God yet they may come to his Table though they have crucified Christ yet here they may taste and see how gracious he is These extremes have men run upon whilst they did neglect the plain and easie rule by which they were to walk the one upon the rock of Superstition the other as it fâ—lleâ—h out most commonly not only from the Errour which they were afraid of but from the Truth it self which should be set up in its place We see at the first institution almost and when this blessed Table was as it were first spread that many abuses crept in to poyson the Feast Some by factiousness others by partiality and some by drunkenness profaned it v. 21. did come and sit down and eat and drink but to their punishment and damnation Therefore S. Paul having laid open their gross errours and profanations and set their irregularities in order before them prescribeth the remedy and calleth them back to the first institution and the example of Christ himself First he sheweth the Manner of Christs institution v. 23-25 He took the bread and gave thanks brake it and gave it them and secondly the Mystery signified thereby The breaking of the Bread and pouring out of the Wine represent the bruising of his Body and shedding of his Bloud for the remission of sins Last of all the End of the institution and celebration of the Lord's Supper in the words of my Text This do ye as oft as ye do it in remembrance of me These vvords I read to you as S. Pauls but indeed they are Christ's delivered by Paul but received from Christ as he telleth us v. 23. In them you may behold Christ's Love streaming forth as his bloud did on the cross For not content once to die for us he vvill appear unto us as a crucified Saviour to the end of the vvorld and calleth upon us to look upon him and remember him whom our sins have pierced presenteth himself unto us in these outvvard elements of Bread and Wine and in the breaking of the one and pouring out of the other is evidently set forth before our eyes Gal. 3.1 and even crucified amongst us as S. Paul speaketh thus condescending and applying himself to our infirmities that he may heal us of our sins and make and keep us a peculiar people to himself And since the vvords are Christ's vve must in the first place look up and hearken to him who breatheth forth this Love secondly consider what task his Love hath set us what we are to do thirdly ex praescripto agere since it is an injunction whose every accent is Love do it after that form which he hath set down after the manner which he hath prescribed So the parts are four 1. the Authour of the institution 2. the Duty enjoyned to do this 3. to do it often 4. Lastly the End of the institution or the Manner how we must do it we must do it in remembrance of him i. e. of all those benefits and graces and promises which flowed with his bloud from his very heart which was sick with Love And with these we shall exercise your Christian Devotion at this time First we must look upon the Authour of the institution For in every action we do it is good to know by what authority we dot it And this is the very order of Nature Lib
Body and his Bloud and S. Paul calleth it the Bread and the Cup Nor is S. Paul contrary to Christ but determineth and reconcileth all in the end both of Christ's suffering and our receiving in the words of my Text As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew or shew ye the Lord's death till he come In which words the Death of the Lord of life is presented to us and we called to look up upon him whom our sins have pierced through to behold him wounded for our transgressions ex cujus latere aqua sanguis Isa 53.5 utriusque lavacri paratura manavit as Tertullian out of whose side came water and bloud to wash and purge us which make the two Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper And the effect of both is our Obedience in life and conversation that we should serve him with the whole heart who hath bought us at so dear a price that we should wash off all our spots and stains and foul pollutions in the laver of this Water and the laver of this Bloud And therefore as he offered himself for us on the Cross so he offereth himself to us in the Sacrament his Body in the Bread and his Bloud in the Cup that we may eat and drink and feed upon him and taste how gracious he is Which is the sum and complement and blessed effect of the duty here in the Text to shew the Lord's death till he come For he that sheweth it not manducans non manducat eating doth not as Ambrose doth eat the Bread but not feed on Christ But he that fully acquitteth himself in this shall be fed to eternal life Let us then take the words asunder And there we find What we are to do and How long we are to do it the Duty and the Continuation of it the Duty We must shew forth Christ's death the Continuation of it We must do it till he come again to judgment In the Duty we consider first an Object what it is we must shew the death of the Lord Secondly an Act what it is to shew and declare it The death of the Lord a sad but comfortable a bloudy but saving spectacle And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew a word of as large a compass as Christianity it self And the duration and continuation of it till he come that is to the end of the world Of these in their order The object is in nature first and first to be handled the death of the Lord. And this is most proper for us to consider For by his stripes we are healed and by his death we live And in this he hath not onely expressed his Love but made himself an example that we may take it out and so shew forth his death First it is his Love which joyned these two words together Death and the Lord which are farther removed then Heaven is from the Earth For can the Lord of life die Yes Amor de coelo demisit Dominum That Love which brought him down from his throne to his footstool that united the Godhead and Manhood in one Person hath also made these two terms Death and the Lord compatible and fastned the Son of God to the Cross hath exprest it self not onely in Beneficence but also in Patience not onely in Power but also in Humility and is most lively and visible in his Death the true authentick instrument of his Love He that is our Steward to provide for us who supplieth us out of his rich treasur◠who ripeneth the fruit on the trees and the corn in the fields who draweth us wine out of the vine and spinneth us garments out of the bowels of the worm and the fleece of the flock will also empty himself and pour forth his bloud He who giveth us balm for our bodies will give us physick for our souls will give up his ghost to give us breath and life And here his love is in its Zenith and vertical point and in a direct line casteth the rayes of comfort on his lost creature This Lord cometh not naked but clothed with blessings cometh not empty but with the rich treasuries of heaven cometh not alone but with troops of Angels with troops of promises and blessings Bonitas foecunda sui Goodness is fruitful and generative of it self gaineth by spending it self swelleth by overflowing and is increased by profusion When she poureth forth her self and breatheth forth that sweet exhalation she conveyeth it not poor and naked and solitary but with a troop and authority with ornament and pomp For Love bringeth with it whatsoever Goodness can imagine munera officia gifts and offices doth not onely give us the Lord but giveth us his sufferings his passion his death not onely his death but the virtue and power of it to raise us from the lethargy and death of Sin that we may be quick and active to shew and express it in our selves Olim morbo nunc remedio laboramus The remedy is so wonderful it confoundeth the patient and maketh health it self appear but fabulous Shall the Lord of Life die why may not Man whose breath is in his nostrils be immortal Yes he shall and for this reason Because it pleased the Lord of Life to die We need not adopt one in his place or substitute a creature a phantasm as did Arius and Marcion in his office For he took our sins and he will take the office himself Isa 63.3 he will tread the wine press alone and will admit none with him Nor doth this Humility impair his Majesty but rather exalt it Though he die yet he is the Lord still The Father will tell us that they who denied this for fear were worse then those who denied it out of stomach and the pretense of his honour is more dangerous then perversness For this is to confine and limit this Lord to shorten his hand palos terminales figere to set up bounds and limits against his infinite Love and absolute Will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shape and frame him out to their own phansie and indeed to blaspheme him with reverence to take from him his heavenly power and put into his hand a sceptre of reed His Love and his Will quiet all jealousies and answer all arguments whatsoeever It was his will to die and he that resteth in God's Will doth best acknowledge his Majesty For all even Majesty it self doth vail to his Will and is commanded by it What the Lord of life equal to the Father by whom all things were made shall he die Yes quia voluit because he would For as at the Creation he might have made Man as he made other creatures by his Word alone yet would not but wrought him out of the clay and fashioned him with his own hands so in the great work of our Redemption he did not send an Angel one of the Seraphim or Cherubim or any finite creature which he might have done
not dare so oft to offend and which is most strange had not Christ so loved us we had not persecuted him had he not been a sacrifice we had been more willing to have made him an ensample For we hope his Love that nailed him to the cross will be ready to meet and succour and embrace us in any posture in any temper whatsoever though we come towards him clothed with vengeance Zeph. 1.8 in anger and fury with strange apparel in wantonness and lust polluted and spotted with the world Thus doth the sophistry of our Sensual part prevail against the demonstrations of Reason which doth bring Christ in as dead for our sins but withall as a Lord to help us to destroy Sin by the power of his death For both these are friendly linked together in the Lord's Death his Love and his Ensample Et magnum nobis quà m parvo constat exemplum And this great example how little doth it cost us Not to be spit upon and buffeted and crucified not to suffer and die It is no more then this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew it forth in our selves till he come Which is the Act here required and my next Part. And this we must do if we will be fitted for this Feast and be welcome guests at the Lord's Table Divines have told us of a threefold manner of feeding on the flesh of Christ a Sacramental alone a Spiritual alone and a Sacramental and Spiritual both Which distinction may not be rejected if it be rightly understood 1. They that come to this Table and receive the Sacrament without faith and devotion may be said indeed to eat the Body of Christ as that name is usually given to the Sacrament and sign and the Sacrament of the body of Christ after a manner is the Body of Christ and yet that of S. Augustine is true He that sheweth not forth his death eateth not his flesh but is guilty of the body and bloud of Christ a Communicant and no Communicant an enemy and not a guest fitter to be dragged to the bar then to be placed at his Table And what a morsel is that with which we take down Death and the Devil together 2. Some there be whom not contempt and neglect but necessity the great patroness of humane infirmitie keepeth from the Lord's Table and Sacrament and yet they shew his death look up upon his cross draw it out in their heart in bleeding characters apply it by faith and make it their meditation day and night And these though they feed not on him Sacramentally yet spiritually are partakers of his body and bloud and so made heirs of salvation though they eat not this bread nor drink of this cup. For what cannot be done cannot bind Some Actions are counted as done though they be never brought forth into act If the heart be ready though the tongue be silent as a viol on the wall yet we sing and give praise Persecution may shut up the Church-doors yet I may love the place where God's honour dwelleth Persecution may seal up the Priest's lips shut me up in prison and feed me with no other bread then that of affliction yet even in the lowest dungeon I may feed on this Bread of life I may be valiant and not strike a blow I may be liberal and not give a mite hospital when I have not a hole to hide my head in He that taketh my purse from me doth not rob me of my piety he that sequestereth my estate yet leaveth me my charity and he that debarreth me the Table cannot keep me from Christ As I told you out of Ambrose Manducans non manducat I may eat the Bread and not be partaker of the Body so Non Manducans manducat Though I take not down the outward elements yet I may feed on Christ But happy yea thrice happy is their condition who can do both so receive panem Domini the Lord's bread that they may receive also pane 〈◊〉 Dominum be partakers of the Lord himself who is the Bread of life Blessed is he that thus eateth Bread with him at his Table For he feedeth on him Sacramentally and spiritually both Here he findeth those gracious advantages his Faith actuated his Hope exalted his Charity dilated the Covenant renewed the Promises and Love of Christ sealed and ratified to him with his bloud And this we shall do this comfort and joy we shall find even a new heaven in our souls if we shew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preach and publish his death Which we may look upon at first as a duty of quick dispatch but if we look upon it again well weigh and consider it we shall find that it calleth for and requireth our greatest care and industry For it is not to turn the story of Christ's passion into a Tragedy to make a scenical representation of his death with all the art and colours of Rhetorick to declaim against the Jews malice or Judas's treason or Pilate's in justice but rather to declaim preach against our selves to hate and abhor crucifie our selves Nos nos homicidae We we alone are the murtherers Our Treachery was the Judas that betrayed him our Malice the Jew which accused him our Perjury the false witness against him our Injustice the Pilate that condemned him Our Pride scorned him our Envy grinned at him our Luxury â—pit upon him our Covetousness sold him Our corrupt bloud was drawn out of his wounds our swellings pricked with his thorns our sores lanced with his spear and the whole body of Sin stretched out and crucified with the Lord of life This indeed doth shew his death This consideration doth present the Passion but in a rude and imperfect piece The death of the Lord is shewn almost by every man and every day Some shew it but withal shew their vanity and make it manifest to all men Some shew it by shewing the Cross by signing themselves with the sign of it Some to shew it shew a Body which cannot be seen being hid under the accidents of Bread and Wine Some shew their wit instead of Christ's Passion lift it up as he was upon the cross shew it with ostentation Some shew their rancour and malice about a feast of Love and so draw out Christ with the claw of a Devil Phil. 1.15 Some preach it as S Paul speaketh out of envy and strife and some also of good will Some preach it and preach against it Some draw out Christ's Passion and their Religion together and all is but a picture and then sound a trumpet make a great cry as the painter who had drawn a Souldier with a sword in his hand did sound an alarm that he might seem to fight But this doth not shew the Lord's death but as Tertullian speaketh id negat quod ostendit denieth what it sheweth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew to preach the death of the Lord is more We may observe that
There is danger in giving Alms danger in a Fast danger in Prayer And as there is danger in forbearing so there is danger also in coming to the Lord's Table And the reason why vve do not perfect every good vvork is because vve do not reverence it as vve should not gird up our loins and lift up our hearts vvith that devotion and preperation vvhich is due unto it We think to Give an alms is but to fling a mite into the treasury to Fast but to abstain for a day to Pray but to say Lord hear me and to shew Christ's death till he come but to sit down at his Table and eat of his bread and drink of his cup. But this is to dishonour and undervalue those duties which duly performed would honour and glorifie us This is to be officiperdae in this sense also to destroy our work before we begin it For what place can a strict obedience have amongst those thoughts which choke and stifle it Or what welcome is he like to find at such a Feast that cometh as the Corinthians did drunk to the Table Where the birth is so sudden so immature how can it chuse but prove abortive No He that will offer up his prayers must offer up more then the calves of his lips He that will have an open hand must first have a melting heart He that will fast must first feed on himself eat and work out all the corruption of his heart Behold here God hath spred his Table and invited you to a Feast to a feast of the Body and Bloud of his Son And the Spirit and the Bride say Come And let him that is athirst come and take of this Bread of life and Water of life freely But what Vers 18 19. shall we come as Schismaticks or Hereticks Shall we come with pride and malice with contempt of the Church and bringing shame to our brethren Shall we come drunken This is not to discern the Lord's body not to discern the Bread which in the Sacrament is to him the Lord's body from common bread He that thus cometh and eateth and drinketh is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord as guilty as those Jews that crucified him For this is to put him to open shame Hebr. 6.6 to count of him no more then as if he had been an Impostor and so to tread him under foot Here certainly no caution can be enough though we look about us as he speaketh with a thousand eyes This consideration should work and imprint in us such a care and solicitude as should severely and impartially weigh what on either side either fear of danger or hope of advantage love of a Saviour or terrour of a Judge may suggest how better then Manna this spiritual refreshment may be and how it may be turned into poison This the Corinthians laid not to heart And on the same pillow of supine negligence and inconsideration do too many Christians at this day lie and sleep And as men in passion or some sudden amaze cannot have leisure to believe what they feel and suffer so do they not believe what they cannot but know or not consider what they believe which is far worse then to be ignorant They discern not the Lord's body mistake the shadow for the substance rest in the outward act of eating and drinking look upon nothing but that which is visible in the ceremony think not on the end to which it tendeth and so use it not with that spiritual sense and feeling which is answerable to the institution Therefore against this wilfull blindness and ignorance this supine and profane negligence doth our Apostle here draw up his whole force and strength to demolish it He blameth them and he directeth them he useth his rod and he bespeaketh them in the spirit of meekness and like a skilful artist he first openeth and searcheth the wound and then with a gentle hand a hand of love he applieth this soveraign plaister in my Text To avoid this evil Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup. The words are plain and we need not descant upon them nor labour in dividing of them Here are two things presented to us 1. Our Qualification for and 2. our Admission to the Feast 1. a Duty To examine our selves 2. a Grant or Privilege To eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Or 1. our Preparation and 2. our Welcome Or 1. our Initiation and 2. our Consignation First we must examine ourselves and then we are received and admitted in Sanctum Sanctorum into the Holy of Holies unto the participation of these Mysteries to eat of this Bread and to drink of this Cup. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of this Bread and drink of this Cup. Examination is in order first and therefore first to be handled And this we shall find to be a duty of no quick dispatch but which requireth care and a curious and diligent observation whether we look upon it in the generality or in its particular application and reference to the blessed Sacrament Examine our selves Why that is assoon done almost as said We can do it in the twinkling of an eye some few dayes before the eve before the hour before the time We think we do it though we never do it But if we look nearer on it we shall find it business enough for our whole life For to examine our selves is to take a true and strict survey of all the passages of our life to follow our Thoughts which have wings and flie in and flie out bring in and drive out one another to call to remembrance our Words which have wings too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flie from us but leave an impression and guilt in the soul and to number our Actions and weigh them all in the balance of the Sanctuary to gain a distinct knowledge of our spiritual estate to read an Anatomy-lecture on our selves to anatomize and dissect our Hearts which are deceitful above all things to follow Sin in all the Meanders and Labyrinths it maketh to pluck off its dress to wash off its paint to drive it out of the thicket of excuses and by the light of Scripture to take a full view of our selves Psal 119.59 in a word to consider our wayes to consider not to glance upon them but to look upon them again and again to look through them to look stedfastly and with an impartial eye so to fix our thoughts on them that we may turn our feet unto God's testimonies And by this course we shall find in what Grace we are defective with what Sin we are most stained what is to be mortified and destroyed and what is to be exalted and improved in us And to the right performance of this duty there is I say great care and diligence required because we are to deal with our selves who are commonly the greatest
not please and flatter our selves in our formalities in a lazy and unsignificant devotion cast-down looks forced sighs open confessions some-few dayes sequestration of our selves from the noise and business of the world which we delight in from those sins which we carry about with us when we seem to leave them and which we cast a look of love back upon when we renounce them Be not deceived God is the purest essence Heaven and Happiness are realities the Lord's Table is not a phantasm or apparition but presenteth that food which will feed and nourish us all God's promises gifts and blessings whatsoever he speaketh whatsoever he doth are real and will not enter the heart which is not like them and fitted for them These realities are not bought with shews and shadows this dew from heaven will not fall upon the hairy scalp of him that goeth on still in his sins A thousand looks and trials are not so effectual as one single victory over one single lust Examination is but lost labour without amendment A survey is the extremity of folly if I look and search and see the errours and faults in my spiritual building and then let it sink and fall to the ground Realities must be answered with realities We must be good ground for the good seed If it fall upon stony places a look of the Sun will scorch it and having no roâ—t it will soon wither away Not a drop of mercy can fall but into a broken heart The Sacrament is but the sign of the thing and yet it conveyeth the thing it self into a prepared heart For as the Priest consecrateth and setteth apart the Bread and Wine to this holy use so doth the Receiver after a manner consecrate them to himself and by complete and perfect Examination and Approving of himself receiveth the outward signs and with them Christ and all the riches and glories of the Gospel all the blessings and comforts it affordeth This is the true Examination this is the true preparation Silent and hearty Devotion receiveth the promises and blessings sealeth the promises maketh them blessings when they withdraw themselves or rather prove curses to them who fill up their Examination and Trial of themselves with noise and shews I urge this the rather because we see some care taken for the one but the other laid aside and buried in the land of oblivion We can forbear for a time our common imployments nay our common delights We can enter our chamber and commune with our hearts but leave off before the Dialogue be perfect We can confess and fast and pray go mournfully and hang down our heads like a bulrush And all this is requisite and praise-worthy but all this doth not fill up nor fully express the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not bring our Examination home to its end The main is a Good Christian a Just man The sum and end of all is Eecl 12.13 the fear of God and Obedience to his commandements Let the bridegroom go out of his chamber and the bride out of her closet as the Prophet Joel exhorteth let us take off our thoughts from lawful contents but we then approve and prepare our selves for that mercy of God which shineth in these pledges of his love casteth its beams upon us even from these outward Elements when we sequester our selves from our selves Let the bridegroom go out of his chamber yea and let the sinner go out of himself Let the Bloud thirsty man stifle murther his malice and crucifie his lusts and affections Let the Covetous rise from the dead rouse himself from the earth wherein he lieth buried and tread it under his feet Let the Proud degrade himself and make himself equal to them of low degree Let the Contentious bind himself in the bond of peace Let the Wanton make himself an eunuch for the kingdome of heaven Let every man fight against that lust which is predominant and prevaileth in him And then he hath past and gone through his Trial he hath duely examined and approved himself and may eat of this bread and drink of this cup. This is as that clean linen cloth in which the body of Jesus must be wrapped It will not lie in noise and shews and shadows in the thin cobwebs of our own spinning much less will it abide in a soul torn and distracted or bespotted with the world and the flesh To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices Isai 1. saith the Lord. To what purpose is this outward pomp and formality Why do we send out our thoughts and fasten them upon these and not imploy them on that which will take them up and exercise them to their utmost extent and which indeed deserveth our greatest care These things we ought to do and not to leave the other undone Let me tell you A good Christian is fitted and prepared for the Lord's Table at all times And accordingly in the first and purest times they did receive almost at every meeting and refreshment This was their practice till Iniquity broke in and made Religion a trade and merchandise to promote mens ends to fill their purses not to purifie their souls Nor did they forget that other ceremonious preparation nor was it possible they should For he that hath sweat in the heat of the day will not fail or fall short to perform those offices which may be done in the cool He that stood out and shewed his strength in that great work of mortification will not shrink in or contract himself and neglect that part of piety which is more easie and not so terrible to flesh and bloud He that can deny himself can deny his affairs He that flieth from sin may easily abstain from meat He that can shut himself out of the world will find it no hard task to retire for a while from the business of the world He whose whole life is a seeking of God or as the Father speaketh one continued prayer cannot but lift up his heart and pour forth his soul in earnest supplications on this solemn occasion In a word they are both necessary the one as the end the other as the means We must trouble our selves in those things but one thing is necessary indeed Holiness of life without which we cannot see God and with which we shall see him with which we receive Christ in the Sacrament and without which we receive but a sop but bread and with it the Devil our own condemnation The other without this are but the noise of those who cry Lord Lord open unto us and receive no other answer from him but this I know you not This is the main the chief ingredient I may say the very essence of our Preparation He is most meet to receive Christ who carrieth him alwaies about with him but into a froward heart into a heart fiâ—led with nothing but sin and formality into a hollow heart he will not enter The Love
down to meat and will come forth and sâ—rve thee that is will fill thee with all those comforts enrich thee with all those blessings give thee all that honour which he hath promised to those who trie and examine and make themselves fit to be guests at his Table I must conclude though I should proceed to the second Part the Grant and the Privilege But he that hath performed the first is already intitled to the second and may nay ought to eat of that bread â—nd drink of that cup For even the Privilege it self is a Duty But the time is spent and I fear your patience I will but re-assume my Text and there needeth no more Use For you see my Text it self is an Exhortation Let a man examine himself A man that is every man Let him that taketh the tribunal and sitteth upon the life and death of his brethren that exalteth himself as God and taketh the keyes out of his hand and bindeth and looseth at pleasure that wondereth how such or such a man who is not his brother in evil as factious as himself dareth approch the Table of the Lord let him examine himself Let him look into himself and there he shall see a great wonder a Wolf and a Lamb a John Baptist and a Herod a Devil and a Saint bound up together in one man the greatest prodigy in the world and as ominous as any ominous to his neighbours ominous to Commonwealths and ominous to all that live in the same coasts And let them examine themselves who with their Tribunitial VETO forbid all to come to this Feast who will not submit to their Examination Young men and maids old men as well as children they that have been catechised and instructed in season and out of season whom they themselves have taught for many years all must pass by this door of Trial to the Table of the Lord. I shall be bold to ask them a question since they ask so many WHERE IS IT WRITTEN Ostendat scriptum Hermogenis officina It is plain in my Text that we are bound to examine our selves but that some should be set apart to examine others we do not read And quorsum docemur si semper docendi simus why are we taught so much if we are ever to learn Certainly that Charity believeth little which will suspect that a man full of years and who hath sate at his feet many of them should now in his old age and gray hairs be to be instructed in the principles of faith It is true we cannot be too diligent in instructing one another in the common salvation we cannot labour enough in this work of building up one another in our holy faith and it concerneth every man to seek knowledge at those lips that preserve it and if he doubt to make them his oracle who are set over him in the Lord For Ignorance as well as Profaneness maketh us uncapable of this Privilege unfit to come to this Feast But this formal and magisterial Examination for ought we can judge can proceed from no other Spirit then that which was sent from Rome to Trent in a Cloke-bag and there at the XIII Session made Auricular Confession a necessary preparative for the receiving of the Sacrament Sacramental Confession and Sacramental Examination may have the same ends and the same effects and there may be as idle and as fruitless questions asked at the one as at the other But I judge them not onely call upon them in the Apostle's words Let them examine themselves whether Love of the world Love of preeminence or Love of mens souls do fan that fiery zele which is so hot in the defence of it Let them also examine themselves who are God's familiars and yet fight against him who know what is done in his closet and do what they please at his footstool and so upon a feigned assurance of life build nothing but a certainty of death who think nay profess and write it that the Elect of which number you may be sure they make themselves may fall into the greatest sins Adultery Murther and Treason and yet still remain men after God's heart and the members of Christ and that to think the contrary is an opinion Stygiae infernalis incredulitatis which upholdeth a Stygian and hellish incredulity and can proceed from none but the Devil himself Let these I say examine themselves And if this Luciferian pride will once bow to look into this charnel-house of rotten bones if the hypocrite will pluck off his visour and behold his face naked as it is in the glass of God's Word we need not call so loud on open and notorious offenders Intestinum malum periculosius These intestine secret applauded errours are most dangerous and that wound which is least visible must be most searched But the exhortation concerneth all Let the Pharisee examine himself and let the Publican examine himself Let the Oppressour examine himself and melt in compassion to the poor Let the Intemperate examine himself and wage war with his appetite Let the Covetous person examine himself and tread Mammon under his feet Let the Deceitful man examine himself and do that which is just Let him that is secure and let him that feareth Let him that is confident and let him that wavereth Let the proud spirit and let the drooping spirit examine himself Let every man examine himself Let every man that nameth Christ and in that Name draweth near to his Table depart from all iniquity And then behold here is a Grant passed over to them a Privilege enrolled and upon record They may eat of this bread and drink of thiâ— cup taste and see how gracious the Lord is be partakers of his body and bloud that is of all the benefits of his Cross Redemption Justification his continued and uninterrupted Intercession for us Peace of conscience unspeakable Joy in the holy Ghost And when he shall come again in glory they shall have a gracious reception and admittance to sit down at his Table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Patriarchs and all the Apostles and that noble army of Martyrs in the Kingdom of heaven And with these ravishing thoughts I shut up all and leave them with you to dwell and continue and abound in you and to bring you with comfort on the next great Lord's day to the Table of the Lord. The Seven and Twentieth SERMON GAL. I. 10. The last part of the Verse For do I now perswade men or God or do I seek to please men For if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ WHich words admit a double sense but not contrary for the one is virtually included in the other As first If I should yet do as I did when I was a Jew seek to please men and to gain repute and honour and wealth fit my doctrine to their corrupt disposition I should never have entred into Christs service which setteth
world of our name or credit above the truth of Christ which calleth us out of the world Again this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this full persuasion of mind is prevalent on both sides both in good and evil both for truth and errour A thief may go as chearfully to his death as a martyr The Egyptians saith Tully would endure any torture rather then violate their Ibis or an Aspe or a Dog or a Crocodile The Priests of Mithras passed the sword the fire and famine even fourscore several torments and that with ostentation of alacrity onely that they might be his Priests We have read of Hereticks who have sung in the midst of the flames Nay of Atheists as Scipio Tettus who now burning for setting up a school of Atheism clapped his hands in the midst of his torments Such strength hath persuasion on both sides In illis pietas in istis cordis duritia operatur The love of the truth prevaileth in the righteous and the love of errour in the other Such a power hath the Devil over those hearts which by God's permission he possesseth He can perswade Judas to deny his Master and he can perswade him to hang himself He can drive men into errour and lead them along in triumph rejoycing to their death He can teach men first to kill others then themselves He can first make the grossest errour delightful and then death it self Habet Diabolus suos martyres For the Devil hath his martyrs as well as God The Manichees were Martyrs for they boasted that they suffered persecution and yet did those outrages which none but persecutours could do The Donatists were Martyrs and yet did ravish virgins break open prisons fling the communion-Communion-bread to dogs Garnet was a Martyr and Faux a Martyr when they would have blown up a Kingdom which may be done without gunpowder The Massalians in Epiphanius buried their bodies who were killed for despising and denying the Law and for worshipping of Idols and sung hymns and made panegyricks on them and called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sect of Martyrs So that you see every man is ready to say he is persecuted every man suffereth for righteousness sake every man is a Martyr In every nation and in every people in every sect and in every conventicle we may find Martyrs But this is not the noble army of Martyrs where none are listed but those who suffer for righteousness sake It is not pretense but Truth that must set this crown upon our heads This is praise worthy saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 2.19.20 if a man for conscience toward God endure grief and that not an erring conscience it is very strange we should erre in any of those things for which we must suffer For what glory is it if when you are buffetted for your faults you take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God St. Bernard determineth all in brief proposing to us two things which make death precious and persecution a blessing vitam causam sed ampliùs causam quà m vitam the life of them that suffer and the cause for which they are persecuted but the cause more then the life For seldom will an evil man suffer in a good cause and he is not good who suffereth in a bad for that for which he suffereth maketh him evil If he suffer as a malefactour he is one But when both commend our sufferings then are they praise-worthy That sacrifice is of a sweet-smelling savour which both a good cause and a good life offer up And first the Cause it must be the love of Righteousness For we see as I told you men will suffer for their lusts suffer for their profit suffer for fear suffer for disdain as Cato is blamed by Augustine for killing himself because the haughtiness of his mind could not stoop to be beholden to Caesar and therefore cùm non potuit pedibus fugit manibus whom he could not fly from with his feet he did with his hands and killed himself Which argued a lower spirit and was an act of more dejection and baseness then it would have been to have kissed the foot of Caesar Some we see will venture themselves for their name and hazard their souls for reputation which is but another man's thought But neither are these our pleasure our profit our honour causes why we should suffer death or venture our lives To be willing rather to lose my goods then my humour and my life then my reputation is not to set a right estimate upon them For my goods are God's blessings and I must not exchange them but for better My life is that moment on which eternity dependeth and we should not look back upon that opinion of honour which remaineth behind us but rather look forward upon that infinite space that eternity of bliss or pain which befalleth us immediately after our last breath Be sure your cause be good or else to venture goods or life upon it is the worst kind of prodigality in the world For he that knoweth what life is and the true use of it had he many lives to spare yet would be loth to part with any one of them but upon the best terms We must deal with our life as we do with our money We must not be covetous of it desire life for no other use but to live as covetous persons desire money onely to have it Neither ought we to be prodigal of life and trifle it away upon every occasion To know when and in what cases to offer our selves to suffer and die is a great part of our spiritual wisdom Nam impetu quodam instinctu currere ad mortem cum multis commune Brutishly to run upon and hasten our death is a thing that many men may do as we see brute beasts many times run upon the spears of such as pursue them Sed deliberare causas expendere utque suaserit ratio vitae mortisque consilium suscipere vel ponere ingentis est animi Wisely to look into and weigh every occasion and as judgment and true discretion shall direct so to entertain a resolution either of life or death this is indeed true fortitude and magnanimity Every low and light consideration is not to hold esteem and keep equipage with that Truth which must save us There is nothing but Righteousness which hath this prerogative to call for our lives and it will pay them back with eternity Righteousness which is nothing else but our obedience to the Gospel of Christ and those precepts which he hath left behind to draw us after him We must rather renounce our lives and goods then these rather not be men then not be good Christians Matth. 10.39 Here that is true He that findeth his life for they who to escape danger deny the truth count that escape a thing found and gained look upon it as a new purchase
I had pity on thee This is the natural and most necessary inference that can be drawn from these premisses What a sick soul then is that which when Mercy overshadoweth her bringeth forth a monster breathing forth hail stones and coals of fire even that cruelty which devoureth those she should foster This is the most false illation can be made For God freely profereth remission of sins to work in us the like mind and affection and pardoneth all by proclamation that we may forgive one another To conclude this It is with this great example of God's Goodness to us as it is with his Word and Spirit and other benefits They are powerful to work miracles to heal the sick to give eyes to the blind to give life to the dead to remove mountains any difficulty whatsoever but they do not necessarily produce these effects because there still remaineth an indifferency in the will of man and a possibility to resist It is the office of the Spirit to seal us to the day of our redemption and he is powerful to do it but he doth not seal a stone which will take no impression or water which will hold no figure His Word is his hammer but it doth not batter nor soften every heart How often is his Word in their mouth how often do they publish his mercies his wonderful mercies to the world whose very mercy notwithstanding is cruelty His Benefits are lively in themselves but dead and buried in an ungrateful breast Therefore to make his Mercy efficacious to let it work what it is very apt to work let us not onely hear God when he speaketh to us by it and go out to meet him when he cometh towards us by his exemplary goodness put off our shooes from our feet at the appearance of this great light to wit all our turbulent motions beat down all the contradictions of our mind and take the veil from before our eyes that we may discern his Mercy as it is working remission of sins but withall planting that love in our hearts which must grow up to shadow all the trespasses of our brethren And this power and influence the Mercy of God hath to work in us the like softness and tenderness of heart to others if we hinder it not if Covetousness and the Love of the world and that False love of our selves and other vile affections stand not up and oppose it We must now in the next place weigh the Force and Power which our forgiveness of our brethren hath to move God to shew mercy unto us And indeed it may seem to have some causality in it For as I told you the SICUT in S. Matthew is ETENIM in S. Luke as we forgive saith the one for we forgive saith the other But indeed they are both one and ETENIM is no more then SICUT And it is observed that this conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it carry with it the appearance of a Causal yet both in the New Testament and in humane Authours serves sometimes for nothing else but to make up the connexion For take Compassion and all the vertues which are commended to our practice take that Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law yet all will not make up a Cause either efficient or formal Rom. 3.24 of Remission of sins which is the free gift of God But because our Saviour hath told us that if we forgive men their trespasses our heavenly Father will forgive us we may say it is a Cause a cause so far as without it there is no remission of sins For though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains though I give my bread to the poor and my body to be burnt yet if I have not charity if I do not forgive my enemies there is no hope of remission Or it is as I told you causa removens prohibens a cause in this respect that it removeth that hindrance that obstacle that mountain which standeth between us and the Mercy-seat For God's Goodness is larger then his Beneficence He doth not do what good he can he doth not do what good he would because we are uncapable He doth not shine in full beauty upon us because we are nothing but deformity We will not suffer him to be good we will not suffer him to be merciful we will not suffer him to wipe out our sins by forgiveness we set up our rampiers and bulworks against him and our Malice is strong against his Mercy But so far it is a cause and may be said to produce it as the effect is commonly attributed to such causes which though they have not any positive causality yet without them the effect cannot be accomplished Thus Blessedness is placed as a title and inscription upon every vertue Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are the merciful Every vertue maketh us blessed but not every vertue without all So naked and destitute is every vertue if it be not accompanied with all nor is any vertue truly a vertue if it do not savour and relish of the rest For it is universal obedience that God requireth at our hands And though forgiveness of sins go as it were hand in hand with every vertue yet it is so in every vertue that we cannot find it but in all We are baptized for remission of sins We believe to remission of sins We forgive that our sins may be forgiven Yet none of these are available alone not Baptism without Faith nor Faith without Love The profession of Christianity taketh in all that is praise-worthy all vertues whatsoever As the Oratour telleth us that to his art of Oratory not onely Wit and Pronunciation and Command of language but also the Knowledge of all the arts are necessary quae etiam aliud agentes ornat ubi minimè credas excellit which adorneth our speech when we do not intend it and is a grace which sheweth it self in every limme and part of it and is very eminent where we do not see it So though the habits of Vertues be as distinct as their names yet they all meet in that general Obedience and Sanctity of life which denominateth a Christian And there is not any vertue but hath some appearance and is in part visible in every one My Christian Fortitude sheweth it self in my Temperance my Temperance in my Bounty my Faith in my Charity and my Charity in my Hope And as in an army of men though the Captain and Leader be commonly entitled to the victory yet was it vvrought out by the several and particular hands of every common souldier and by the united force of the vvhole battalion so that vve truly say All did overcome and Every one did overcome So vve may attribute Remission of sins to every vertue vvhich vve can never obtain but by the embracement and practice of them all Our Saviour's words then If ye forgive ye
without which it cannot be so Thy Charity must be active in thy Hands in casting thy bread upon the waters vocal in thy Tongue in ministring a word of comfort in due season compassionate in thy Heart leading thee to the House of mourning and making thee mourn with them that mourn and lament with them that lament It must be like the Sun which casts its beams and influence on every man Semper debio charitatem quae cùm impenditur debitur saith Augustine Love is a debt we owe one to another that we may be one a debt every man owes to every man a debt which though I alwayes pay I alwayes owe and even when I pay it I remain still a debtor For again if we be Christians then though we are many members yet are we many members of that body 1 Cor. 12.12 which is one partakers of the same bread of life 1 Cor. 10.17 nay being many we are one bread and one body That which was disperst into many being gathered thus is but one Partakers of the same Sacraments which our Saviour did not onely institute as memorials of his death and as channels and conveyances of comfort to our sick and weary souls but also as remembrances unto us of that debt of Charity which unless we will forfeit our title of Christian we are bound with cheerfulness to pay one to another Multa sunt sed illa multa sunt hoc unum ONE ANOTHER includes many but those Many are but this one mystical body Each member is lame and imperfect by it self and stands in need of this uniting What the Hand is that is the Foot and what the Eye is that is the Hand in that respect it is a member for all are members S. Paul in the Pulpit was no more a member then the Thessalonians to whom he writ He that is a perfect man is no more a member then he that is a new born babe in Christ and he that is least holds his relation as well as he that is greatest in the kingdome of Christ Now if all be members and the same body each must concur to cherish each other that the whole may be preserved Take but an Arm from the body but a Hand from that arm but a Finger from that hand and the blemish is of the whole In the Church of Christ communis metus gaudium timor here we are all one and all mens joys and sorrows and fears are one and the same As each Man as I told you before so each Christian is as a glass to another and they are mutually so I see my sorrow in my brothers tears and he sees his tears in my sorrow He sees my Charity in my alms and I see his Devotion in his prayers I cast a beam of comfort upon him and he reflects a blessing upon me There is a preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture which joyns men together makes ONE ANOTHER as one and draws a multitude to unity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. Let us weep with them that weep and lament with them that lament Luc. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the woman in the Parable Rejoyce together with me Eph. 2. for I have found my groat And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are fellow-citizens with the Saints They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together upholding and rejoycing one another in every function Phinehas is meek with Moses and Moses is zealous with Phinehas A Christian is chast with Joseph and repents with Peter is rich with his brothers wealth prudent with his brothers wisdome mighty with his power and immortalized with his eternity The Angels rejoyce at our conversion and we praise God for the Angels joy they ministring to us on earth and we converse with them to heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are together in what estate soever in joy together and in grief together rising and drooping both alike suffering together mourning together praying together And if we observe that form of prayer which Christ hath taught us our prayer is not then private when we pray in private OUR FATHER takes in ONE ANOTHER even the whole Church We cannot pray for our selves unless we pray for others also Nay he prayes not well saith Calvine that begins not with the Church The Church prayes for every man and every man for the whole Church Quod est omnium est singulorum that which is all mens is every mans and that which is every mans belongs unto the whole And thus much we have found in the Object in ONE ANOTHER even enough to draw on the Act For on these three our common Condition our Relation as Men and our Relation as Christians as on a sure foundation doth our Saviour and his blessed Apostles build us up in our holy love build us up as so many parts mutually upholding one another and growing up into a Temple of the Lord. These are the Principles and the Premises and from these they draw this Conclusion That being thus linked and united and built together we should uphold and comfort one another Which is my second part the Act it self to Comfort and offers it self next to your Christian consideration CONSOLEMINI ALII ALIOS Comfort one another To comfort is a word of a large and much extended sense and signification spreading it self equally with all the army of sorrows and with all the evils in the world and opposing it self to all To comfort may be to be eyes to the blind and feet to the lame to cloth the naked and feed the hungry and to put the hand to uphold that which is failing Sustentanda domus jam ruitura saith Tully It is as the underpropping of a house ready to sink Comfort you comfort you my people saith God Isa 40.1 speak comfortably to Jerusalem LOQUIMINI AD COR Speak to the heart of them Speak and do something which may heal a wounded heart rowse a drooping spirit give it a kind of resurrection and restore it to its former estate which may work light out of darkness content in poverty joy in persecution and life in Death it self To Renew Restore Quicken Lift up Refresh Encourage Sustein all those are in this one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comfort ye For Alass my brother or Ah his glory are but words verba sine penu pecuniâ as he in Claudius speaks words without help prescripts without medicine most unactive and unsignificant words To a man naked and destitute of food Depart in peace Be warmed Be filled are but words but faint and liveless wishes especially if they proceed from him who can do more and yet will do no more then speak and wish They are the dialect of the Hypocrite whose religion floats on his tongue or is written in his forehead whose heart is marble when his words are as soft as butter whose Charity is onely in picture and shew and whose very Mercy is cruelty For what greater