word signifies 1 Kings 4. 29. Had they large broad hearts even as the sand on the Sea-shore as it 's there said so large and broad as must needs expatiate into humane and divine Writers of either more late or ancient standing whose vast apprehensions and readings cannot be terminated in the large Volumns of Divinity Physick Law-studies or the like would they but hear me I should now shew them a Field broad and large enough in which they might expatiate En latifundium A Sea broad and deep enough in which even such Leviathans may swim it 's no other than this Word of God which the Text saith is so exceeding Broad I confess it would cut off a great deal of that Babel's superfluous Learning but this you should be sure of you should in this Field meet with no poysoned Fountains as you do in theirs The thing therefore I exhort all especially such as are or may be Students is that of Paul to Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 13. To give You that are Librorum helluones here 's one to be eaten by you as John did the Roll. attendance to Reading even diligently and faithfully to read and study the Scriptures a thing which Men of great note in the Church thought not too mean for them They tell us of Basil and Nazianzen that thirteen years together laying aside all other Studies they set themselves to study the Scriptures and Luther makes it one of the things which he would require of a Minister often to turn over the Bible These belike looked at this 1. Biblia saepe volvere 2. Serio orare 3. Semper esse aâ—scipulum broad Commandment as new Planters would at a huge broad Continent which would require a great deal of both time and pains fully to discover it I assure you Gods Word will An Argument this is which I should think necessary to enlarge my self in were I in another place where other Books and it may be bad ones too are more read and studied than the Scripture I read of Carolostadius that he was nine years a Doctor before he had read the Scripture I my self have been present Anama in Antibarb when one answering his Act for the Degree next to a Doctor could not find the Epistle to the Colossians and was fain to excuse the matter by saying it was not in his Book And knew of another that had been seven years almost in the University and had not had all that while a Bible in his study but he afterward turned Papist as indeed it well agrees with Popery in which by their good wills Scripture should be laid aside and their Schoolmen and Decretals only studied A Popish frame it is to which I wish we even in this particular were not too much warping Papists care not for Scripture and Familists make Scripture-Learned as a term of Reproach But the Jews some tell us dividing their time into three parts would spend Drusius one of them in reading And another saith that they scarce read any other Book than the Scripture I would not straiten Christians so in either kind but truly I should desire you all to Sands inlarge your selves in reading and studying this Commandment which is so exceeding Broad Sure in this broad Field you should find something worth getting Oh then with other Books debt-Debt-Books and law-Law-Books and physick-Physick-Books and other good Books you are reading let God's Book be one especially Be reading here and gathering there here this word of Direction and there that promise for Comfort And if only one Promise as I have shewed may be of so great and manifold use what encouragement have we to gather when there are so many If that Field be worth going to in which I may get but one ear of Corn to satisfie the hunger of my Soul Oh then it is very good gleaning in a Boaz Field where we may glean even among the Sheaves and have whole handfuls let fall for us Ruth 2 15 16. I mean in the Word of God where we may not only pick by Corns but gather by Handfuls even get Bundles of Promises to lay up against an harder Time and therefore as poor Folks you know will let us glean and gather hard especially seeing God hinders us not to glean among the Sheaves As God said to Abraham in regard of Canaan his Inheritance Gen. 13. 17. Go walk up and down in the length and breadth of it So we that are Heirs of the Promises let us walk up and down in the breadth of this goodly Inheritance of ours of this exceeding broad Commandment As it is Rich so let it dwell in us richly Is the Commandment exceeding broad then search into it as for Vse 4 Knowledg so for Practice I beseech you let us make room for it in our Hearts for it comes with a breadth In this broad Commandment much to be done and more to Motive 1 be avoided In it many particular Graces and Duties c. to be looked to And as our Saviour in a like case said Mat. 10. 23. so truly we shall not have gone over all this broad Field till the Son of Man be come It 's broad and therefore not straitned the way is narrow at first Motive 2 entrance but the Commandment is broad when once entred that you may with enlarged Hearts walk in it It was a complaint which our Saviour took up against the Jews John 8. 37. that his Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did not take place or as the word is could not find room there Oh Brethren we have even strait hearts God knows for this broad Commandment But oh that we were enlarged Are we straitned Sure it is not the Word's fault It would enlarge us did we but receive it as Paul saith in another case 2 Cor. 6. 12. We are straitned in our own Bowels in our own Hearts The more the pity and the more our loss that so much precious Liquour runs beside And let me add that also and I pray you therefore take heed and remember what hath been said that as the Command and Promise is broad lasting to all Times and as Chrysostom expounds it bringing the Obedient to eternal Life so the Threat can reach as far to bring thee to endless Wo if thou beest disobedient The Promise broad reaching to and supplying of all our Wants And the Curse can be as broad too to cross thee in all thy Contentments to wound thee both in Body and Soul in every Joynt of the one and Faculty of the other See Zech. 5. 2 3. The flying roll of the Curse was twenty Cubits long and ten Cubits broad Truly God's Threat and Curse is as broad as all the miseries of this Life nay as broad as Hell And therefore get not a broad Conscience but a broad enlarged Heart in love and obedience to entertain this exceeding broad Commandment Else as the Lawyers term extream Carelesness it will be Lata negligentia But in the
youth is frequently taken with and it were well if some that were more gtown up were wholly freed from But this is one kind of having fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness and which leads Ephes 5. 11. off from acquaintance with Christ For the Books which for the present we read are wont to leave a tincture and impression upon the spirit of the Reader especially if his judgment be weak as ours in younger years are not very strong And of this make this trial whether when you have been greedy in reading such Books you have thereby any great mind to read the Bible I am sure that when you have been seriously reading it you will have as little delight in reading them as Paul had in the thorn in his flesh when he had before been caught up to Paradise as Hierom saith Ama scientiam scripturarum vitia carnis non amabis 3. All vain and idle studies such were those sciences falsly so called 1 Tim. 6. 20. about Genealogies and questions and those old Wives Fables in the Apostles times answerable to which are our Romanza's too many of our silly Pamphlets and let none be displeased if I add not a few of our Criticks minutiae and argutiae no better than as Elian called some of the great Artists pretty little curious knacks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which shallow and light heads take up as Jet doth straws instead of what is more solid and substantial like Solomon's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 21. 6. a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death very feathers which we break our arm with by throwing them with our whole might make our spirits vain if not profane and so far from helping us to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 2. 7. this substantial knowledge of Christ that many of the plainest and strongest Scripture-proofs of the Doctrine of Christ are attempted to be evaded and enervated by these bold Criticisms 4. All over-bold and curious prying into the Ark of Gods secrets measuring his Counsels by our thoughts and his wisdom in them by our reason which instead of studying to know Christ hath stretched many mens wits into wild and tedious disputes and quite crackt others brains into blasphemy and distraction as men grow mad having their eyes long set open against the Sun This tree of Deut. 29. 29. knowledge a forbidden fruit which yet we have an itch and licorish appetite after whilst by being thankfully content with what Judg. 13. 17 18. God in Scripture reveals of Christ and his will we should be wise to sobriety Rom. 12. 3. But for Gods secrets Eorum fides salutem affert Periculum Inquisitio as Hesychius speaks To which let me add that of Scaliger Nescire velle quae magister maximus te scire non vult erudita inscitia est 1. Let this be the first Caveat in our learning to know Christ that we lay aside these and such like studies that either in their own nature estrange us from him or at least as we handle the matter hinder us in our search after him 2. Let the second Caveat be this that as to this end we must lay aside all unlawful studies so we must take heed that we do not overdo in our studies that are lawful Not that I would have you study them less but Christ more Nor them so much as Christ less And this 1. Either for time in spending it so wholly on them that there 's none left for those duties in which we should more immediately acquaint our selves with Christ Many a close student who hath stinted himself to study so many hours a day hath it may be forgotten to put into the account one half hour to pray and read the Scripture which is such a leaning to our own understanding that we acknowledge not God Prov. 3. 5 6. a proud Atheistical self sufficiency as though of themselves they could study it out by their own Candle whilst they shut their window against the light of Heaven Which therefore God may justly so blast and cross as that Either they never come to attain that knowledge they are so eager upon they had no knowledge that called not upon God Psal 14. 4. Such hardest Students have not always proved the best Scholars but have only studied themselves blind and put out their Eyes by their own Candle light Or if often they prove Scholars it 's as often that of all others they are furthest off from being Christs Disciples It hath been no news in the World both in present and former times to find greatest Scholars greatest Atheists The wisest of the World by their wisdom knew not God 1 Cor. 1. 21. The Creature terminated their sight which should have been a transparent glass in and through which they should have seen God and so by poring on it they lost him even there where he was to be found when our other studies so wholly take up our time that our addresses to Christ are either wholly excluded or curtailed he who is thereby so much undervalued cannot but be very much offended It 's a sad story that you read of Origen who in his Lamentation confesseth that he fell into Satan's Snare by his not saying out his Prayers Do not therefore so over-study other matters that Christ be wronged in point of time 2. Nor in point of intention of mind and heart by being eager on them but remiss toward him wearing out the body and beating our brains in boulting out some nice subtilty or knotty difficulty in other Arts and mean while never know what Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fourteenth verse of this Chapter means never acquainted with that giving all diligence which the Apostle Peter calls for in clearing up our interest in Christ and making our Calling and Election sure Solomon indeed would have thee whatever in thy ordinary calling thy hand finds to do that thou do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with thy might but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All thy might Moses would have thee reserve for God as his due Deut. 6. 5. Such Holocausts are God's Royalty only Such an one David offered to God 2 Sam. 6. 14. where it 's said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and v. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words that both in their rise signify strength and duplicated words to express his double diligence and earnestness putting out all his strength when it is before the Lord according to the Apostles general injunction though we should not be slothful in any other service yet we should be then especially fervent in spirit when it is in serving the Lord. Rom. 12. 12. This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might justly challenge an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our diligence to be as much more intent in studying of him as the contemplation and knowledge of him exceeds both in its sublime excellency and profitableness all other speculations However it would be well if we did
Conference may help on learned Junius his Conversion You know who * Ben. Zoma said it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is a wise man that can learn something of every man and there is no such Idiot amongst all those that are made wise to salvation but in some thing or other by what he is saith or doth the ablest Christian may learn Saepè olitor c. Agur saith there are four things that are little upon the earth and yet very wise and none of so little esteem Prov. 30. 24 25 c. in the Church but may teach the best of us wisdom The little finger may in some posture reach that which the greatest cannot If thou wouldst be rich thou wouldst receive a Jewel from a weak hand and therefore if either thou beest wise or wouldst be wise Converse with them that are made wise to salvation with them most of whom we may gain most even with the poorest and meanest because there 's none of whom thou maist not learn something 4. Nay learn by teaching and get by giving for that 's one way better to see and know Christ and our selves by shewing and holding him out to others The Master while he teacheth his Scholar improves himself It 's so in the nature of the thing but over and besides by reason of Gods Blessing As the Nurses Breasts grow bigger and fuller by giving suck and we use to feed them well that our Children might fare the better And therefore 1. In private converse let all Christians be imparting something of their knowledge of Christ that they may receive it back again with advantage Here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Christians commutative justice In this kind to lend that we may have our own with interest is honest usury At such meetings when every one brings his Symbol all are feasted and he that invites and entertains others is himself a gainer It 's but putting a little water into the Pump that brings up more When we are most free and communicative we drive the best trade are never more helped of God than when we help our Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 11. 25. holds as true in spirituals as temporals The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be also watered himself 2. In publick administrations let such as God hath fitted and called as they are more desirous to know be more careful to preach Jesus Christ They have his promise for their incouragement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that are wise or rather that make others wise shall themselves understand And therefore although I am very far from either countenancing the Lay-Preachers of our days who pretending most to the knowledge of Christ are such Ministers of the spirit that they have all good letters in abomination Or from hastning others that are of themselves too hasty to fly from the University before they be fledg'd whom not God's call but their own self-conceit and oftentimes penury makes Preachers and speak Paul's words but far from his meaning Necessity is 1. Car. 9. 16. laid upon me and wo to me if I preach not the Gospel Or from the least undervaluing of the Blessed Advantages which by continuance in the University such as wait for a call from God do in the mean time enjoy of storing up knowledge as of other things so especially of Jesus Christ that when called forth like good Scribes instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven they may bring out of their treasure things both new and old Matth. 13. 52. Yet are we not to stand here all the day idle and scarce at the eleventh hour go into Christs Vineyard Though we should be Concha not Canalis yet not mean while let the water corrupt in the Cistern and the well-fitted weapon rust for want of using and all upon pretence of furnishing our selves with a greater measure of knowledge But God forbid that we should be able to learn to know Christ only in the University The Ministers of Christ in this kind have also their advantages in the Country 1. They there meet with many exercises and afflictions which whilst here in the nest many of us are not exposed to and so vexatio dat intellectum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that some could then say with Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatever I learnt before I began then to be Christs Disciple 2. Thereby they are the more driven very near to God in Prayers and it is the Key of this Treasury and hence come to more near views in those nearer approaches 3. They have there much to do with men's Souls and Consciences which much advantageth their experience and advanceth their skill in that spiritual Anatomy 4. They have in that their great work for which none is sufficient frequent occasions of seeing and acknowledging their great weakness and emptiness and thereby an advantage of discovering 2 Cor. 12. 9. Christs greater strength and fulness 5. And lastly to return to the thing in hand they are engaged in teaching of others and thereby Christ is engaged to teach them as Paul was therefore comforted of God that with those consolations he might better comfort his people 2 Cor. 1. 4. Teach that you may learn But study that you may do both for however now adays every fool will be babling yet unstudied men are but bad learners and worse Teachers For wisdom must be searched and digged for as silver Prov. 2. 4. and although our poring of it self will not find out such a treasure yet God is ready to shew it when we are earnest to seek it Philip was sent to preach Christ to the Eunuch when he was at his Book Act 8. 26 28. and when Mary is weeping and seeking Christ appears to her John 20. 13 14 15. Seek Hebr. 3. 1. therefore if you would find and study Christ if you would know him view him as you use to do him whom you would know and as the stung man did the brazen serpent Many have laid down Rules for your better profiting in other studies Give me leave to point at a few directions for the more sure attaining to this excellent knowledge in your studying of Christ 1. Lay aside all vain and unlawful studies which do not only take up the time which should be better spent in the studying of Christ but do so either intangle or debase the Soul that they keep out the light of the sun of Righteousness Such are 1. All black Arts which the Children of light have no insight into The sun of Righteousness its beams when they break out burn such books It 's no right course by digging in Hell to find the way to Heaven or to have acquaintance with Christ by having as you are wont to call it a Familiar 2. All Arts of Love all profane and lascivious speculations and studying of such Books which are incentives of Lust and by which the Student becomes ingeniosissimè nequam a snare which
next place it 's a word of both comfort and direction Vse 5 in the end of all other Perfections that God 's Commandment is exceeding broad I say first Comfort that whereas all other imperfect Contentments are but short and narrow if I have but my share in God's Word and Promise I have that which in the loss of all them will reach me comfort to all Times and in all Wants Truly Brethren all outward Contentments be they never so glorious and comfortable they will not last long nor reach far not longer than Life not so far as Heaven no not so far as mine inward Man Babylon's broad Walls are thrown down Jer. 51. 58. they are unstedfast as Waters and as it is said in anokind the face of such Waters is soon straitned Fair large Job 37. 10. Estates soon brought into a narrow compass great Families soon reduced to a small number To speak to the present occasion pretty little Children are like pretty little Books in which a Parent sometimes reads much that very well likes him But it may be he cannot read long for tears when the Book is taken away and at best he cannot read much because it is but a little one But blessed be God may a Child of God say who is sure that he hath part in God and his Promise that I have another Book of a larger Volumn of a far broader Page than all these outward comforts come to They are but narrow Rivers at the best and they soon dried up too But God in his Word in his Kingdom hath broad Rivers that you read of Isa 33. 21. and they deep ones too in which I may bathe and not be straitned and out of which I may drink for ever and yet they never dried up but spring up to everlasting life This is a Christian's comfort in such cases and it should be his direction too in them that when he sees an end come of this perfection and of that to be still thinking that there will at last come an end of all and yet in the end of all even then to look unto this Commandment and word and promise of God which the Text saith is so exceeding broad As Hath God straitned me in my estate Take that out of the breadth of Gods Word Hath he taken this pretty little child this pretty little book out of my hand that I cannot read in it as formerly Truly let us get a better a bigger a broader book into our hands God's book and see what we can read there if not enough to make a full supply of all such wants that whereas other men shuffle and shift have this fetch and that reach and as they use to say when the Lion's skin is not big enough to cover all they sew the Fox skin to it to make it broad enough and yet all will not do because there will be an end of all perfection a Christian is or at least should be able out of God's Word and Promises as out of a rich Treasury to make a supply of all such wants Here he gets a promise for himself and there another for his friend Here one for a live-dead parent and there another for himself though his child be dead In a word that 's it I call for as much as we are straitned in outward comforts let us labour to be so much enlarged in God and as much as he takes from us of outward contentments to get as much and more from him in this broad Commandment and large Promises and then we shall be no losers This one word also that Gods Commandment is exceeding broad Vse 6 is ground of great comfort to other of God's children in other cases as much satisfying them in two main doubts they stick at 1. The first is They are so sinful and so unworthy and set so far off and estranged from God that his mercy they think will never reach them But let such think then of this exceeding broad Commandment There is breadth and length and heighth and depth in Gods love passing knowledge Ephes 3. 18 19. And there is such a breadth and exent in Gods promises that they can cover our greatest sores reach the furthest out-liers if they would but come in Boaz hath a skirt to cast upon Ruth though a poor handmaid Ruth 3. 9. And much more hath Christ to cover the Ne cogitemus ad nos non pertinere promissionem sicut enim perpetuò durat et persistit verbum quod primum erat ita latum est valde i. e. undique ad omnia tempora aetates ad omnes homines qui fide hanc doctrinam amplectuntur se extendit M. nakedness of his poorest servants Mens blessings and favours are strait and when Jacob hath got away the blessing Esau may cry bitterly and say bless me even me also O my father and Isaac have it not for him But God hath for all that will unfeignedly ask and beg of him He hath a blessing for me and another for thee and a third for a third and even for them that are afar off Acts 2. 38 39. though never so far off yet if with the like bitterness but not the like profanesse that Esau had thou cryest blesse me even me also O my father If thou canst but call him Father thy Father hath a blessing for thee also for his Commandment is exceeding broad to reach to all thy needs and wants and sins 2. And to all times and by that a second trouble is removed for a child of God though he hath gotten beyond the former doubt that God hath had mercy for him to bring him at first to him yet he sees his weakness such and his lusts so strong that he fears he shall never hold out in grace to heaven but that there will be as well an end of this as of all other perfections but let such remember that however their strength reacheth not far is scant and soon spent yet that God's promise and truth and mercy ne cogitemus fieri posse ut nos in medio cursu destituamur Molerus is of a far broader extent and longer continuance for God's Word those that have had longest experience of it have yet cause to say as vers 152. Concerning thy testimonies thy promises I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever and in the end of health and peace and strength and life to end all with this word last in his mouth I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad SERMON XXIV EXOD. 28. 36. August 19. 1634. Before Sir Nathanael Brent Visitor for the Arch-Bishop of Cant erbury in his Metropolitical Visitation Holiness to the Lord. VErbum Diei in die suo A fit time had it been by an abler hand to bring forth the Priests garments out of the Scripture's vestry whilst the eye of Authority is present to see them put on and here the first peece
bodily Life Your Souls your selves your outward Life Patience as a sure guard keeps you in possession of all A word for natural Life which I exclude not in reference to 1 Life vers 18. they should not perish and here patience is a preservative As God gives us possession of it so patience helps to Doct. 1 keep it So we find in Scripture meek Moses and patient Job long-liv'd whilst bloody and violent Men live not out half their days Psal 55. 23. As stormy Winter days use to be short whilst it 's long before the Sun set in a serene calm Summer's day The Prophet said In quietness and confidence shall be your strength Isa 30. 15 and thereby also their safety whilst frowardness and hastiness makes haste only to destruction Job's Wife when she said Job 2. 9. Curse God and die spake truth when she gave bad counsel for it's curse and die there 's but a step between discontented cursing and dying But if there be any such thing in this frail fading World as via recta ad vitam longam which the Title of his Book promiseth amongst other Vertues and Graces Patience must be one of our Guides and Companions and this whether we consider either God or others or our selves First For God we read that with the froward he will deal Reas 1 frowardly Psal 18. 26. but he delighteth to beautifie the meek with Salvation The Lion of the Tribe of Judah tears his Prey when it struggles and resists but spares it when it lies quiet and prostrate so that if you be weary of your life you may go to it at sharp but if you mean to save it your wisest way is to submit and quietly to lay down your Weapons Crudelem medicum c. The unruly impatient Patient makes his Physician cruel and the Child's strugling doth but increase his stripes whilst a quiet kissing the Rod oft saveth the whipping Our God is our Physician and Father We provoke him to Wrath when we are provoked to impatience by what-ever correction is inflicted by him But it 's meet to be said to him by every dutiful Child and in such a Child's Language I have born chastisement and I will not offend any more if I have done iniquity I will do no more Job 34. 31 32. and that 's the way to prevent a second bout With the Bird of Paradise by a meekned moan to mourn it self out of the Snare not with the wild Bull in the Net Isa 51. 20. to tumble and rave and so the more to entangle himself in the Snare When God hears Ephraim bemoaning himself Ephraim hears God comforting him and telling him that he is his dear Son and pleasant Child that ever since he spake against him he did earnestly remember him that his Bowels were troubled for him and that he would surely have mercy upon him Jer. 31. 18 19 20. Whilst we frowardly struggle 1. our Hearts fret against God and 2. we would be our own Saviours and both these betray us to danger But by a patient lying under God's hand as we acknowledg his Sovereignty and righteous Proceedings so we resign up our selves to him who hath a surer hand than ours to keep that wherewith it is betrusted And thus Patience helps to hold our Souls in Life first in reference to God And secondly in reference to other Men whom we are at a Reas 2 contest with and it may be in danger of for with them though froward Solomon's observation holds good A soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger Prov. 15. 1. As the soft Wall damps the fiercest Shot whilst the clashing of two earthen Pitchers breaks either one or both Fatigatur De Patient c. 8. improbitas patientiâ tuâ saith Tertullian Patience either wins or wearies the most enraged Enemy so that either he will not or he cannot hurt How easily doth the weak Man when provoked by patient forbearing prevent his own mischief Whilst the passionate Male-content either by busie busling begins the Quarrel or by giving the second stroke makes the Fray and both ways as the furious Horse rusheth into the Battel and so too often sins against his own Life But were there none other to hurt us yet impatience can Reas 3 make our selves to be our own Executioners Whether Achitophel was strangled with an Halter or suffocated with some Humors raised by his grief some of late dispute The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie both But which soever of them it was I Henisius Grotius am sure his impatience of a neglect was the cause of it in him as in both kinds it hath been with divers others Impatience of Pain Poverty Disgrace and the like hath proved in this unhappy World one of the great Apollyons and Abaddons chief Engines in murdering not onely others but our selves also What sudden Inflammations what pining Consumptions Frenzies Lethargies and other splenetick Distempers hath it cast many a Man into and so betrayed them sometimes to more gentle and lingring sometimes to more sudden and violent deaths and that sometimes by their own hands Passions with a witness which make both Body and Soul joint-sufferers like blustering storms that dash these frail Vessels against the Rocks or like roaring and riotous Guests and Inmates that set on fire and pull down those Houses of Clay which they are in present possession of But on the contrary A patient or cool Spirit as Solomon phraseth it Prov. 17. 27. how timely doth it prevent these sparks from kindling or happily quench them when they begin to flame by composing the mind that it dare not quarrel with God nor pitch the Field with a Man 's own self and so quiets the Body that it either prevents Bodily Distempers or helps to bear them quietly that they do not prove deadly whilst the unruly sick Man by raving and tumbling kills himself another more patient by being quiet doth sopire morbum and by lying still makes haste to his recovery Possess but thy Soul with Patience and it Patientiae infirmum non extendit Tertul. c. 15. Centrae infirmus qui impatiens est ipsâ impatientâ—â citius devolvitur in mortens Cerda in locum will keep thee in longer possession of the frail Tabernacle of thy Body Indeed short-winded Men are soon at their Journies end but they that are longer breathed are so more ways than one able through many difficulties to run a longer race and at last in a late evening of a long day come to the end of it in peace Discontents I confess may be long-liv'd but so usually are not froward impatient discontented Men. But when the Psalmist tells us that the Meek shall inherit the Earth * Psal 37. 11. that Phrase expresseth as a surer title so a longer continuance and thus as our Souls are sometimes put for our Lives even so by our Patience we are kept in possession of them So 〈◊〉
of possessing the Soul betrays and enslaves it that it 's no more it self than the Galley slave his own Man The Coolest Spirit in its own Cause is warm in God's as we see in meek Moses Exod. 32. 19. Nor did Christ speak Contradictions Rev. 2. 2. when he said of the Church of Ephesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know thy patience and that thou canst not bear them which are evil But what cannot Patience bear Any thing for God but nothing against him It 's Impatient of that for which God is angry 2. There is a second kind of Patience which may be called Natural arising from the natural Constitution of the Body or Mind as in a Disease of the Body as a Lethargie or Palsie that feels nothing or from a natural Dulness and Brawniness that is not so sensible of pain and pressure as in the Brawniness of the Hand or Foot in an Ox patient of labour and the dull Ass under a heavy burden Or from the hardiness of the Body patient of Cold and other outward Grievances and from the courage and valour of the Mind patient of wounds and hardship But this is Tolerance rather than Patience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it will not possess the Soul 1. In greatest Extremities if long continued The Ox that stands the Butchers stroke with his Ax twice falls flat at the third The Brawn when cut through to the quick proves sensible And Saul though a Stout Man at last falls all along 1 Sam. 28. 20. 2. This Stoutness though it indure pain yet not disgrace but Christian patience can Acts 5. 41. 3. There is that which I called a Moral Patience such as the Though Aristotle counts it but a Demivertue Heathen Philosophers and the Stoicks especially gloried of by which they will tell you they attained to such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a tranquillity of Mind that no Injury could betide them See Seneca lib. Quod in sapientem non cadit injuria Maximus Tyrius dissert 2. Nothing could trouble them but that like the upper Region they were always serene Homines quadrati which way soever pitcht stood immoveable But as their wise Man was a Notion rather than a Reality so this steady evenness of Mind was sooner to be found in their Books and Disputes than in their Lives and Practices especially when it came to a pinch indeed in the Storm when the poor Skipper was chearful their great Philosopher's heart sunk within him The more Wise and Knowing they were the more sensible they were of their Danger and being always proudly conceited of their own Worth the more fearful they were of their Loss and so the more erect they stood upon their Tip-toes the more flat they fell under that burden which they cold not undergo As Saul higher by the Head than others when such a weight fell upon them with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they fell all along and there was no spirit in them 1 Sam. 28. 20. for although in ordinary cases the spirit of a Man can bear his Infirmities Prov. 18. 14. yet in extraordinary Stresses and Exigencies it 's not a natural Stoutness nor a moral Composedness of spirit but only Christian Faith and Patience that will be able to keep it up from sinking so that it 's indeed a great commendation of patience as Tertullian observes that these Heathen Grandees affected the Counterfeit of it as the chief piece of their Bravery yet in truth as Cyprian affirms it was only Insolens affectatae libertatis audacia De bono patientiae Affectatio caninae aequantmitatis a stupore formata Tertull. exerti seminudi pectoris inverecunda jactantia A vapouring humour rather than any solid settlement of Spirit because upon no good foundation Blown up by Pride in themselves and heartned by Applause of others and so not able to keep possession of the soul in all Emergencies though it may be sometimes parient of Loss and Pain yet usually impatient of Disgrace so that if cut in that Vein none bled more deadly 4. There is a Legal Patience such as the Law requires or rather which the Legal Paedagogie trained them up unto which I think Tertullian somewhat too boldly under-values nay accuses as that which trained them up to a kind of Revenge in allowing to take Eye for Eye and Tooth for Tooth c. Though And so Grotius often speaks that was in a way of Publick Justice and not of private Revenge Sure I am the Law of God was Holy Just and Good and could they have kept it it would have kept them so as to have possessed their Souls with patience This defect was not in the Law but them that lived under it in degree not in kind And accordingly Job then whom Chrysostom calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 6. p. 590. Fortissimus athleta Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the Apostle held forth to the whole World now in the time of the Gospel as a Mirrour of patience James 5. 11. And truly when we read and think of Abraham's faith and Job's patience and Moses his meekness c. the Eminency of some of them then may justly cast shame on the Deficiency of many of us now that their Twilight should out-shine our Noon-day as though they had lived under the Grace of the Gospel and not we who fall so exceedingly short of that Conformity to the Law which some of them in a greater measure attained to But yet to my purpose that of Illyricus is observable Quomodo autem V. T. Hebraei hanc patientiam vocant ignoro nec etiane locum novi ubi describatur Patience is seldom mentioned in the Old Testament and they scarce have a proper Name for it but when they speak of it most commonly make use of the word Silence to express it as though for the most part of Men it was then more rare and less known under the Law than it is or at least should be now under the Gospel And therefore although it was a great measure of Patience which the Lord enabled some of the Faithful then unto when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. when they were Stoned and Sawn asunder and Tempted c. Heb. 11. 36 37. Yet it was nothing to that which many Christian Martyrs by the Grace of the Gospel were raised up to under heavier Sufferings 5. And therefore in the last place it 's Christiana Patientia Gospel-Christian Patience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signanter dictum Your patience yours as Apostles as Followers as Servants of Jesus Christ by which when you are forced it may be to let all else go you may even then keep possession of your Souls Nothing else can do it But that can That whereas Impatience usurps a domineering power over the Man according to that of Tertullian speaking of Adam Facile usurpari ab impatientia caepit c. 5.
the Text In your Patience possess ye your Souls Superaddenda Should our Spirits sometimes grow hasty and not willing patiently to wait God's leasure Consider 1. That God's Retribution will be full 2. The day of it certain Hab. 2. 3. Heb. 10. 36 37. 3. Though it stay yet let this stay our Stomachs That necdùm vindicatus est ipse qui vindicat Christ himself who hath been more wronged than we and who will at last fully vindicate both himself and us is not yet righted but to this day he waits till his Enemies become his Footstool Heb. 10. 13. And therefore be not so bold to desire that the Servant should be served before his Lord Nec defendi ante Dominum servi irreligiosa inverecundâ festinatione properemus Cyprian S. 15. Dr. Hammond on Matth. 10. Annot. f. makes not this a Precept but an Assertion or Prediction that there was no such way to keep or preserve their lives from that common destruction coming on the People of the Jews as persevering faithful adhering to Christ Patient Men are the only Free-holders Their Comforts forfeited to God their Lord Who can best keep them for them Surrendred by them Purchased by Christ And as the Philosopher's Scholar who having given himself to his Master to teach him when taught was by his Master given back again to be his own Man SERMON XXXIV GEN. 49. 18. I. Sermon Preached at St. Maries in Stur-bridg fair time Sept. 8. 1650. I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. THe dying Swan's Song though now found to be a Fable Brown's vulg Errours yet if moralized of a dying Christian may oftentimes prove a real Truth for whereas the dying Man's Breath useth to savour of the Earth whither he is going the believing Soul then especially breaths Heaven to which it is then ascending Some Books which contain Apophthegmata morientium tell us how when their Tongues Mylius faulter in their Mouthes they are wont to speak Apophthegmes but in God's Book we find them uttering Oracles What a sweet Breath and Divine Air was that in old Simeon's Nunc Dimittis Paul's farewell-Sermon Acts 20. had such a ravishing Luke 2. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in it that they could not then hear it without weeping nor can some yet read it heedfully with dry Eyes Above all in that ultimum vale of our Saviour's to his Disciples before his Passion John 14. 15 16 17. The Sun of Righteousness a little before its setting shone out most Gloriously This in the New Testament And for the Old what heavenly strain 's do you meet with in Hezekiah's ultimus singultus Isa 38. in David's verba novissima 2 Sam. 23. in Moses his Songs a little before his death Deut. 32 and 33. and in Jacob's before his as in this whole Chapter so especially in this Text in which the Divine Soul as the Bird before fainting in the snare breaks through it in an abrupt expression and having got it self a little upon the wing as it were on the sudden bolts up Heaven-ward in this Divine Ejaculation I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. Here in Jacob's blessing of Dan we find it but how it should come there what coherence it hath with the foregoing words that 's the question and some think a difficult one So Pererius Quae occasio hujus abrupti sermonis c. Calvin Perobscura est haec sententia multiplex interpretandi ejus ratio Some satisfy themselves with this that the Spirit of God will not be tied to our Artificial Methods as too low and pedantick for him to be confined to who both acts and speaks like himself like a God i. e. with greatest freedome And therefore as his Illapses are sudden and his impulses strong Act. 2. 2. so the ventings of them answerable as the Spirit gives utterance v. 4. and it may be never more abruptly than when those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 11. are utterred and so the Soul now full of God and breaking for the longing it hath to him as Psal 119. 20. cannot always keep rank and file but breaks out to him and is glad to get to him though not in a methodical way And so it is in all strong workings of Passion Love Fear Joy and Desire c. Expressions sudden abrupt for so Passions are and their Expressions accordingly So Judg. 5. 10. on those words Then shall the People of the Lord go down to the Gates Mais thus Videtur hoc hiare c. ut pote ex affectu dictum affectus enim non servat ordinem sed plerumque evagatur In such a rapture Jacob's Soul might here be caught snatcht to God without being led to him by coherence or the thred of the foregoing discourse Zuinglius thinks that this Text might be versus intercalaris and only added to make up the verse in this Divine Poem Others rather think that after the manner of weak fainting vide Pareum Oleastrum old Men or sick Men who are wont whilest they are speaking sometimes out of faintness and sometimes out of devotion to pause and to interpose sighs and prayers so old Jacob here spent with speaking relieves his spent Spirits or rather pours out his fainting Soul into God's Bosom in this parenthetical ejaculation I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. But the first verse of this Chapter tells us that the whole is Prophetical of what was to befal them in the latter days And accordingly some apply it to Judas whom they make Ambros de benedict Isidore Gregor Moral 34. that Serpent in the way in the foregoing verse Others to Antichrist whom so many of the Ancients thought should be of the Tribe of Dan and that Jacob foreseeing what havock he should make of the Israel of God as they expound the former verses cries out in this for Christ and his Salvation But this conceit of this Dan-Antichrist with due Reverence to those Ancient Authors by some of even the Papists themselves is held * Tostatus uncertain by others of them †Oleaster Bellarmine acknowledgeth this Text doth not evince it de Pontif. Rom. lib. 3. c. 12. fabulous and therefore seeing they are sick of it we have no cause to be fond of it To omit other particulars I insist on these two that Jacob 1. Foreseeing both the sins and miseries which his other posterity and especially this Tribe of Dan should fall into by Faith looks up to God for Salvation and Deliverance which was especially effected by Sampson a Judg of that Tribe and he very fitly compared to that Serpent in the way and Adder in the path c. 2. And yet foreseeing notwithstanding this that Sampson should dye and Israel should lye under captivity and affliction and so Sampson's but an half-Salvation he did but begin to save Israel Judg. 13. 5 After the manner of the Prophets who See Junii Annot. in loc Christ as Sampson conquered