condition To these Dominus veniet the Lord will come and his coming is called the consummation of all things that which makes all things perfect and restores every thing to its proper and natural condition The creature shall have its rest the earth shall be no more wounded with our plowshares nor the bowels of it digg'd up with the mattock there shall be no forbidden fruit to be tasted no pleasant waters to be stolen no Manna to surfet on no Crowns to fight for no wedge of gold to be a prey no beauty to be a snare Dominus veniet the Lord will come and deliver his Creature from this bondage perfect and consummate all and at once set an end both to the world and vanity Lastly Dominus venit the Lord will come to men both good and evil he shall come in his glory Math. 25.31,32 and he shall gather all Nations and separate the one from another as a Shepherd divideth his sheep from his goats and by this make good his Justice and manifest his providence in the end for his Justice is that which when the world is out of order establisheth the pillars thereof for sin is an injury to the whole Creation and inverts that order which the Wisdom of God had first set up in the World My Adultery defileth my body my oppression grindeth the poor my malice vexes my brother my craft removes the Land-mark my particular sins have their particular objects but they all strike at the vniverse disturb and violate that order which wisdom it self first establisht and therefore the Lord comes to bring every thing back to its proper place to make all the wayes of his Providence consonant and agreeable to themselves to Crown the Repentant Sinner that recover'd his place and bind and setter the stubborn and obstinate offendor who could not be wrought upon by promises or by Threats to move in his own sphere Dominus veniet the Lord will come to shew what light he can strike out of Darkness what Harmony he can work out of the greatest disorder what beauty he can raise out of the deformed body of sinne for sinne is a foul deformity in Nature and therefore he comes in judgement to order and place it there where it may be forced to serve for the Grace and Beauty of the whole where the punishment of sinne may wipe out the disorder of sinne where every thing is plac'd as it should be and every man sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 1.25 Gers to his proper place nec pulchrius in coelo Angelus quant in Gehennâ Diabolus Heaven is a fit and proper place for an Angel of light for the Children of God and Hell is as fit and proper for the Devil and his Angels Now the wayes of men are crooâ—ed Intricate and their Actions carried on with that contrariety and contradiction that to quit and help himself out of them and take himself off from that Amazement Duos Ponticus deos tanquam duas Symplegadas naufragii sui adsert quem negare non potuit i.e. creatorem i. e. nostrum quem procare non poteâ—it i. e suum Tert c. 1. adv Marcion Marcion ran dangerously upon the greatest Blasphemy and brought in two Principles one of Good and another of Evill that is two Gods but when he shall come and lay Judgement to the line all things will be even and equall and the Heretick shall see that there is but one now all is jarring discord and confusion when he comes he makes an everlasting Harmony he will draw every thing to its right and proper end restore Order and beauty to his work fill up those breaches which sinne hath made and manifest his wisedome and Providence which here are lookt upon as hidden mysteries in a word to make his Glory shine out of Darkness as he did light when the earth was without forme That the Lord may be all in all Here in this world all lyes as in a night in darkness in a Chaos or confusion and we see neither what our selves nor others are we see indeed as we are seen see others as they see us with no other Eyes but those which the Prince of this world hath blinded Our Judgement is not the Result of our Reason but is rais'd from by and vile respects If it be a friend we are friends to his vice and study Apologies for it If it be an enemy we are Angry with his virtue and abuse our witts to disgrace it If he be in Power our eyes dazle and we see a God come downe to us in the shape of a man and worship this Meteor though exhaled and raised from the dung with as great Reverence and Ceremony as the Persians did the Sunne what he speaks is an Oracle and what he doth is an Example and the Coward the Mammonist or the Beast gives sentence in stead of the man which is lost and buried in these If he be small and of no repute in the world he is condemned already though he have reason enough to see the Folly of his Judges and with pitty can null the Censure which they passe If he be of our Faction we call him as the Manichees did the chiefest of their Sect one of the Elect but if his Charity will not suffer him to be of any we cast him out and count him a Reprobate The whole world is a Theatre or rather a Court of corrupt Judges which judge themselves one another but never judge righteous Judgement for as we Judge of others so we do of our selves Judicio favor officit our self-love puts out the eye of our Reason or rather diverts it from that which is good and imployes it in finding out many Inventions to set up Evill in its place as the Prophet Esay speaks wee feed on Ashes a deceived Heart hath Turned us aside Isa 44.20 that we cannot deliver our soul and say is there not a lie in our Right Hand Thus he that sows but sparingly is Liberall He that loves the world is not Covetous He whose eyes are full of the Adultress is chast He that sets up an Image and falls down before it is not an Idolater he that drinks down blood as an Oxe doth water is not a Murderer He that doth the works of his Father the Devill is a Saint Multa injustè fieri possunt quae nemo possit reprehendere Cic. de Finibus 93. Many things we see in the world most unjustly done which we call righteousnesse because no man can commence a suit against us or call us into question and we doubt not of Heaven if we fall not from our cause or be cast as they speak in Westminster Hall If Omri'â— statutes be kept we soon perswade our selves that the power of this Lord will not reach us and if our names hold faire amongst men we are too ready to tell our selves That they are written also in the Book of Life This is
to die because they will not Turne I will give you a remarkable instance and out of Mr. Calvin Quintinus Cont. Libertin And yet his own followers use the â—am words bring the same Lexis and Apply them as the Libertines did vide Piscat Aphorismos the Father of the Libertines as Calvin himself calls him as he rides in company by the way lights upon a man slaine and lying in his goare and one asking who did this bloody deed he readily replies I am he that did it if thou desire to know it and art thou such a Villaine saith the party againe to doe such an Act I did it not my self saith he but it was God that did it And being askt againe whether we may impute to God those hainous sinnes which in Justice he will and doth so severely punish So it is said he Thou didst it and I did it and God did it for what thou or I do God doth and what God doth that thou and I do for we are in him and he in us he worketh in us he worketh all in all Quintanus is long since dead but his error dyed not with him Fataliter constiâ—utam est quando quantâ—perè unusquisque nostrum pietatem colere vel non colere 〈◊〉 Piscator ad â—uplicat Vorstij p. 2â—8 for it is the policy of our common Enemy to remove our Eye as farre as he can from the Command and he cannot set it at a greater distance then by fixing it on Eternity that so whilst we think upon the Decree we may quite forget the Command and never fly from Death because for ought we know we are kill'd already never doe our Duty because God doth whatsoever he will in Heaven and in Earth never strive to be better then wee are because God is all in All. Let us then walk on in a middle way and neither flatter nor afflict our selves with the thought of what God may doe or what he hath done from all Eternity let us not busy our selves in the fruitlesse study of the Book of Life which no man in Heaven or in Earth is able to open and look into but only the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah Revel 5.3,5 in that Book saith Saint Basil Comment in 10. c. Isai no names are written but of them that Repent Let us not seek what God Decrees which we cannot find out but hearken to what he Commands which is nigh us even in our mouthes The Book of Life is shut and sealed up but he hath opened many other Books to us and bids us sit downe and read them The Book of his Works of which the Creatures are the leaves and the Characters the Goodnesse and Power and Glory of God and the Book of his Words the Book of the Generation of JESVS CHRIST to be known and read of all men and if these Words be written in thy Heart thy name is also written in the Book of Life And the Book of thy Conscience for the information of which all the Books in the world were made and if thou read and study this with care and diligence and an impartiall eye and then find there no Bill or Indictment against thee then thou maist have confidence towards God that he never past any Decree or Sentence of Death against thee and that thou art ordained to Life This is the true method of a Christian mans studies not to look too stedfastly backward upon Aeternity but to look down upon our selves and ponder and direct our paths and then look forward to eternity of Blisse For Conclusion we read of the Philosopher Thales that lifting up his eyes to observe the Course of the Starres he fell into the water which gave the occasion to a Damsell called Thressa of an ingenious and bitter scoffe That he who was so busy to see what was done in Heaven could not observe what was even before his feet and it is as true of them who are so bold and forward in the Contemplation of Gods Eternall Decree many times they fall dangerously into those Errours which swallow them up they are too bold with God and so negligent of themselves Talke more what he does or hath done or may doe then do what they should are so much in Heaven and to so little purpose that they lose it But the Apostles method is sure to use diligence to make our Election sure and so read the Decree in our Obedience and syncere conversation and if we can perswade our selves that our Names are written in the Book of Life yet so to behave our selves so to work on with Feare and Trembling as if it were yet to be done as it was told the Philosopher that he might have seen the figure of the Starres in the water but could not see the water in the starres All the knowledge we can gaine of the Decree is from our selves it is written in heaven and the Characters we read it by on Earth are Faith and Repentance if we beleeve and repent then God speaks to us from heaven and tells us we shall not die If we be dead to sinne and alive to Righteousnesse we are enrolled and our names are written in the book of Life here here alone is the Decree legible and if our eye faile not in the one it cannot be deceived in the other If we love Christ and keep his Commandements we are in the number of Elect and were chosen from all Eternity Be not then cast downe and dejected in thy self with what God hath done or may do by his absolute Power for thou maist build upon it He never saved an Impenitent nor will ever cast away a Repentant sinner Behold he calls to thee now by his Prophet Quare morieris Why wilt thou die didst thou ever heare from him or from any Prophet a morieris that thou shalt die or a Mortuus es that thou art dead already Thou hast his Prayers his intreaties and besseechings Expandit manus he spreads forth his hands all the day long Thou hast his wishes Oh that thou wert wise so wise as to look upon the moriemini to consider thy last end Thou hast his Covenant Deut. 23.29 which he sware to our fore-fathers Abraham and his seed for ever His Comminations his obtesTations his expostulations thou mayest read but didst thou ever read the book of life Look on the moriemini look on the deaths head in the Text look not into the book of life thou hast other care that lies upon thee thou hast other businesse to do thou hast an understanding to adorn a will to watch over affections to bridle the flesh to crucifie temptations to struggle with the devil to encounter Think then of thy duty not of the decree and the syncere performance of the duty will seal the decree and seal thee up to the day of redemption It is a good rule which Martin Luther gives us Dimitte Scripturam ubi obscura est tene ubi certa
God upon us makes us current money and that his Father may know us and not cast us off for refuse silver shewes him his face Lastly it reacheth the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the assimilation it self and layes hold on that too made like he was and debuit he ought to be so to satisfie in the same nature which had offended carnem gestare propter meam carnem to take flesh for my flesh and a soul for my soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to purge and refine me in my own to wash and cleanse the corruption of my flesh in the immense Ocean of his Divinity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all things to be made like unto his Brethren Debuit looks on all his Godhead on his Person on his Assimilation God no Man or Angell The second person in Trinity not the Father or the holy Spirit made like unto his Brethren his bare naked Divinity though it might have saved us yet it was not so fit and at too great a distance for us Debuit slumbers every storm answers every doubt scatters our feares removes our jealousies and builds us up in our most holy faith Though he be God though he be the wisdome of God though he be the Son of God yet debuit he ought to be made like unto us to restore his Creature to exalt his Nature and in our own shape and likeness in our own flesh to pay down the price of our Redemption So then debuit fieri here is an aptnesse and conveniency but debet he ought vox ista importat necessitatem it behoved him implyes also a kind of necessity That God could be made like mortall man is a strange Contemplation but that he would is a rise and exaltation of that but debuit that he ought superexalteth that and sets it at a higher pitch but that he must be so that necessity in a manner brings him down were not his love as infinite as his power would stagger and amaze the strongest faith who would believe such a report But he speaks it himself and it was the fire of his love that kindled in him and then he spake it with his tongue oportet he must die and if die be born not onely is but would not would but ought not ought but of necessity must be made like unto his Brethren I say a strange contemplation it is for there need no such forcible tye no such chaine of necessity to hold him libere egit what he did he did freely nothing more free and voluntary more spontaneous then this his Assimilation for as if he had slacked his pace and delay'd his Fathers expectation and not come at the appointed period of time he suddenly cryes Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me that I should doe thy will oh God Psal 40.7.8 vers he calls it his desire and he had it written in his heart T is true libere fecit this condescension this his assimilation was free and voluntary with more cheerfulnesse and earnestnesse undertaken by him then 't is received now by us it is our shame and sinne that we dare not compare them that he should be so willing to be like us and we should be so unwilling to be like him but if we look back upon the precontract which past between his Father and him we shall then see a Debuit a kind of necessity laid upon him our Saviour himself speaks it to his Blessed mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 2.49 I must go about my Fathers businesse we may measure his love by the Decree that is we cannot measure it for the decree is eternall before the foundation of the world was laid was this foundation laid an everlasting foundation to lay Gold and Silver upon all the rich precious Promises of the Gospel to lay our obedience and conformity to him upon and upon them both upon his love and our obedience raise our selves up to that eternity which he hath purchased and promised to all his Brethren that are made like unto him Infinite love eternall love that which the eye of Flesh may count a dishonour was his joy his perfection his love which put a Debuit upon him a necessity and brought him after a manner under the strict and peremptory Terms of an obligation under a necessity of being borne a Necessity of obedience a Necessity of dying Debuit taketh in all and presenteth them to our Admiration our joy our love our obedience and Gratitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every way and in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren The application We have now run the full compasse of the Text and we find our Saviour in every point of it similem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like in all things and now to apply it If Christ be like unto us then we also ought to be like unto him and ought to have our Assimilation our Nativity by the way of Analogy and by the rules of proportion answerable to his For to this end was he made like unto us you will say That he may save us nay but that he may present us to his Father by the virtue of his assimilation made like unto him for without this he cannot save us Behold here am I and the Children which thou hast given me Holy as I am holy Just as I am just Humble as I was humble A man conformable to Christ is the glory of this Feast Father I will that they whom thou hast given me and he gives him none but those who are like him may be where I am Heaven hath received him and it will receive none but those who are like him not those that name him not those who set his name to their fraud to their malice to their perjury to their Oppression not those many Antichrists whose whole life is a contradiction to him All that he requires at our hands all our Gratitude all our duty is drawn together and consists in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be like unto him To be like unto him why who would not be like unto him who would not be drawn after his similitude Like him we all would be in his Glory in his Transfiguration on mount Tabor oh by all meanes build us here a Tabernacle but like him in the cratch like him in the wildernesse like him in his daily converse with men like him in the High priests Hall like him in the Garden like him on the Crosse here we start back and are afraid of his countenance In humility in hunger in sweat in colours of Bloud few there be that would be thus drawn But if we will be his Brethren this is the copy we must take out these be our postures these our Colours bathed in his Bloud t is true but withall bathed in the waters of Affliction bathed in our own teares and bathed in our own Bloud we meet and cope with the Devil in this our
wildernesse we walk honestly as in the day in that day which he hath made We have our Agony in our Contrition and in our Regeneration we hang upon the Crosse There our lusts and affections are fastned as it were with nayls their strength taken from them that they cannot move in any opposition to Christ but our anger turns from our brother who is like him and is levell'd on sin which is most unlike him our love shuts it self to the world and opens it self to receive him The hardship we undergoe brings in our fellowship with him our suffering with him doth assimilate us and in a manner Deify us our following him in all his wayes drawes us as neer to him as Flesh and Bloud can approch and our joy our greatest triumph is in this our Assimilation and thus we come forth like unto him And in the next place as he was factus made like unto us so are we facti similes made like unto him we are not borne so we are not so by chance we cannot think our selves we cannot talk our selves into his likenesse nor will he imprint it in us whilst we sleep or doe worse this picture this Resemblance is not drawn out with a thought or a word How many be there who take his name yet are not like unto him because they will not be made so Christians they are sine sanguine sudore without bloud or sweat drawn out not by an obedient will but a flattering fancy they struggle not with Temptation for they love it they fight not against their Flesh but nourish and cherish it make it their labour and ambition to please it they have no feare no Trembling no Agony no Crosse nay they beat their fellow servants and persecute them because they are like him crucifie him in his members every day and yet present themselves to the world as his children as the very pictures of our Saviour and so soon like him that they will never be made so When we see men fast and pray not that they have done evill but that they may do more the Pharisees did so when we see men bowing before him when they are ready to lift up their heele against him when we heare their Hosannas to day and their Crucifyes to morrow the Jewes did so when we see men follow him as his Disciples and call him their Master and then sell him for some pieces of silver deliver him to their Lusts their Ambition their Covetousnesse Judas did so the son of perdition and so nothing like unto a Saviour when we see men wash their hands as if they were clear of all guilt and yet in a Tumult leave Christ and his Religion to be tom in pieces and trod under feet and to make their peace care not what becomes of him Pilate did so when we see men tempting Christ to turn stones into bread to do that by miracle for which he hath fitted its ordinary proper meanes the Devil did so when we see these men and the world is full of such shall we say that they are like unto Christ we may say as well that the Pharisees were like him and the Jewes were like him and Judas was like him and Pilate was like him and the Devil himselfe was like him as they No a Christian is not so soon made up does not grow up a perfect man in Christ in a moment For though our first conversion be in an instant yet it is not so in an instant but that it is wrought in us by meanes and a new making there is whensoever we are made Christians To be like unto Christ is a work of Time and we grow up to this similitude by degrees our Faith meets with many rubs and difficulties to passe over For how often doe we ask our selves the question How should this be and then when by prayer and meditation and our continued exercise in piety we have got the victory we build and establish our selves in our most holy Faith Our Hope what is it but a conclusion gathered by much pains and experience by curious and watchful observation by a painful peregrination through all the powers of our souls and actions of our life and when with great contention we have settled these and see an evenness and regularity in them all then we rest in hope And for our Charity it is called the labour and work of Charity for we must force out the love of the World before we bring in the love of our Brethren we must deny our covetousness before we can give a peny deny our appetite deny our selves before we can taste of the powers of the world to come we must maintain a tedious war against the flesh and be unlike our selves before we can be like unto Christ as he was made like unto us so must we be made like unto him and this is our union with him and we are made one even as he and his Father are one To draw the Parallel yet neerer as there was a debuit upon Christ so there is upon us as it behoved him to be made like unto us so it behoveth us to be like unto him In the volume of the book it is written of him and in the same volume we shall finde it written of us that we should doe his will and have his law in our heart and in this as in other things Nihil prius intuendum quam quod decet our first thought should be what will become us To see Nero an Emperour with his Fiddle or Harp or in his Buskins acting upon a Stage to see Domitian catching of Flyes or Hercules at the Distaffe what an incongruous thing is it An humble Christ and a proud Christian a meek Christ a bloody Christian an obedient Christ and a traiterous Christian Christ in an agony and a Christian in pleasure Christ fasting and a Christian rioting Christ on the Crosse and the Christian in a Mahometicall Paradise non bene conveniunt there is no decorum in it nothing but Soloecisme Absurdity which even offends their eyes who commit the same so boldly as if it carried with it some elegancy no debet and oportet we must act our parts with art and a decorum do that which behoveth us and it is a debt and a debt which we must be paying to our lives end to our last breath and then we shall take our Exit with applause Lastly to draw the Parallel to the full Oportet it is not onely becoming us but Necessary for if a kind of Necessity lay upon Christ by his contract with his Father to be made like unto us a great necessity will lie upon us by our covenant with him to be like unto him a Necessity and woe unto us if we be not It is unum necessarium it is that one thing Necessary and there is nothing Necessary for us but it For run to and fro the world and in that great Emporium and Mart of Toyes and
powerfull Lord shall be lifted up and crowned with glory and honour for evermore Which God grant c. HONI â—…T QVI MAL Y PENSE A SERMON Preached on Whitsunday JOHN 16.13 Howbeit when He the spirit of truth is come he will lead you into all truth WHen the spirit of truth is come c. and behold he is come already and the Church of Christ in all ages hath set apart this day for a memoriall of his coming a memoriall of that miraculous and unusuall sound that rushing wind those cloven tongues of fire And there is good reason for it that it should be had in everlasting remembrance For as he came then in solemn state upon the Disciples in a manner seen heard so he comes though not so visibly yet effectually to us upon whom the ends of the world are come that we may remember it though not it a mighty wind yet he rattles our hearts together though no house totter at his descent yet the foundations of our souls are shaken no fire appears yet our breasts are inflamed no cloven tongues yet our hearts are cloven asunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every day to a Christian is a day of Pentecost his whole life a continued holy-day wherein the Holy Ghost descends both as an Instructer and a Comforter secretly and sweetly by his word characterizing the soul imprinting that saving knowledge which none of the Princes of this world had not forcing not drawing by violence but sweetly leading and guiding us into all truth When He the spirit of truth is come c. In which words we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Epiphany or Apparition of the blessed Spirit as Nazianzen speaks or rather the promise of his coming and appearance and if we well weigh it there is great reason that the Spirit should have his Advent as well as Christ his that he should say Lo I come Psal 40. For in the volume of the book it is written of him that the spirit of the Lord should rest upon him Es 11.2 and I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh Joel 2.28 Christus legis Spiritus Sanctus Evangelii complementum Christs Advent for the fulfilling of the Law and the Spirits for the fulfilling and compleating of the Gospel Christs Advent to redeem the Church and the Spirits Advent to teach the Church Christ to shed his blood and the Spirit to wash and purge it in his blood Christ to pay down the ransome for us Captives and the Spirit to work off our fetters Christ to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and the Spirit to interpret it for we may soon see that the one will little availe without the other Christs Birth his Death and Passion Chists glorious Resurrection but a story in Archivis good newes sealed up a Gospel hid till the Spirit come and open it and teach us to know him Phil. 3.10 and the vertue and power of his Resurrection and make us conformable to his death This is the summe of these words and in this we shall passe by these steps or degrees First carry our thoughts to the promise of the Spirits Advent the miracle of this day cùm venerit when the spirit of truth comes in a sound to awake them in wind to move them in fire to enlighten and warm them in tongues to make them speak Secondly consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work and employment of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall lead you into all truth In the first we meet with 1. nomen personae if we may so speak a word pointing out to his person the demonstrative pronoune ille when he shall come 2. Nomen naturae a name expressing his nature he is a spirit of truth and then we cannot be ignorant whose spirit it is In the second we shall find Nomen officii a name of office and administration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word from whence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a leader or conducter in the way for so the Holy Ghost vouchsafed to be their leader and conducter that they might not erre but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep on in a strait and even course in the way And in this great office of the Holy Ghost we must first take notice of the lesson he teacheth it is Truth Secondly the large extent of this lesson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he leads into all truth Thirdly The method and manner of his discipline which will neerly concern us to take notice of it is ductus a gentle and effectuall leading he drives us not he drawes us not by violence but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word here he takes as it were by the hand and guides and leads us into all truth Cùm venerit ille spiritus veritatis When He the spirit of truth c. And first though we are told by some that where the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added to fo there we are to understand the person of the Holy Ghost yet we rather lay hold on the pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ille when he the spirit of truth shall come he shall lead you which points out to a distinct person For if with Sabellius he had onely meant some new motion in the Disciples hearts or some effect of the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been enough but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He designes a certain person and ille he in Christs mouth a distinct person from himself Besides we are taught in the Schools Actiones sunt suppositorum actions and operations are of persons now in this verse Christ sayes that he shall lead them and before he shall reprove the world and in the precedent chapter he shall testifie of me which are proper and peculiar operations of the blessed Spirit and bring him in a distinct person from the Father and the Son And therefore S. Augustine rests upon this dark and generall expression The Holy Ghost communicates both of the Father and the Son is something of them both whatsoever we may call it whether we call him the Consubstantiall and Coeternall communion and friendship of the Father and the Son or with Gerson and others of the Schools Nexum Amorosum the Essentiall Love and Love-knot of the undivided Trinity But we will wave these more abstruse and deeper speculations in which if we speak not in the Spirits language we may sooner lose than profit our selves and speak more than we should whilest we are busie to raise our thoughts and words up to that which is but enough It will be safer walking below amongst those observations which as they are more familiar and easy so are they more usefull and take what oare we can find with ease than to dig deeper in this dark mine where if we walk not warily we may meet with poysonous fogs and damps instead of treasure We will therefore in the next place enquire why he is called the Spirit of Truth for divers
way and through all the surges of this present world brings us to the presence of God who is truth is self a truth which leads us to our Originall to the Rock out of which we were hewen and brings us back to our God who made us not for the vanities of this world but for himself an Art to cast down all Babells all towring and lofty imaginations which present unto us falshoods for truths appearances for realities plagues for peace which scatter and divide our soules powre them out upon variety of unlawfull objects which deceive us in the very nature and end of things For as this spirit brought life and immortality to light 2 Time 1.10 for whatsoever the prophets and great Rabbies had spoken of immortality was but darknesse in comparison of this great light so it also discovered the errors and horror of those follies which we lookt upon with love and admiration as upon heaven it self What a price doth luxury place on wealth and riches what horror on nakednesse and poverty How doth a jewell glitter in my eyes and what a slurr is there upon virtue what Glory doth the pomp of the world present and what a sad and sullen aspect hath righteousnesse How is God thrust out and every Idol every vanity made a God but the truth here which the spirit teacheth discovers all pulls off the vayle shewes us the true countenance and face of things that we may not be deceived shewes us vanity in riches folly in honour death and destruction in the pomp of this world makes poverty a blessing and misery happinesse and death it self a passage to eternity placeth God in his Throne and man where he should be at his footstoole bowing before him which is the readiest way to be lifted up unto him and to be with him for evermore In a word a truth of power to unite us to our God that brings with it the knowledge of Christ the wisdome of God which presents those precepts and doctrines which lead to happinesse a truth that goes along with us in all our wayes waits on us on our bed of sicknesse leaves us not at our death but followes us and will rise again with us unto judgement and there either acquit or condemn us either be our Judge or Advocate For if we make it our friend here it shall then look lovely on us and speak good things for us but if we despise it and put it under our basest desires and vile affections it will then fight against us and triumph over us and tread us down into the lowest pit Christ is not more gracious then this truth to them that love it but to those who will not learne shall be Tribulation and anguish the Sun turn'd into Bloud the world on fire the voyce of the Archangel the Trump of God the severe countenance of the Judge will not be more terrible then this truth to them that have despised it For Christ Jesus shall judge the secrets of the heart acquit the just condemn the impenitent according to this truth which the spirit teacheth according saith Saint Paul to my Gospel Rom. 2.16 The large extent of this lesson This is the lesson The spirit teacheth truth let us now see the extent of it which is large and universall for the spirit doth not teach us by halves doth not teach some truths and conceal others but teacheth all truth makes his disciples and followers free from all errors that are dangerous and full of saving knowledge For saving knowledge is all indeed that truth which brings me to my end is all and there is nothing more to be known I desired to know nothing but Christ and him crucified saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 2.2 here his desire hath a Non ultra this truth is all this joyns heaven and earth together God and man mortality and immortality misery and happiness in one drawes us neer unto God and makes us one with him This is the Spirits lesson Commentum Divinitatis the invention of the divine Spirit as faith is called the gift of God not onely because it is given to every believer and too many are too willing to stay till it be given but because this spirit first found out the way to save us by so weak a means as Faith And as he first found it out so he teacheth it and leaves out nothing not a tittle not an Iota which may serve to compleat perfect this Divine Science In the book of God are all our members written All the members yea and all the faculties of our soul and in his Gospel his Spirit hath framed rules and precepts to order and regulate them all in every act in every motion and inclination which if the Eye offend pluck it out if the Hand cut it off which limit the understanding to the knowledg of God which bind the will to obedience and moderate confine our Affections level our hope fix our joy stint our sorrow which frame our speech compose our gesture fashion our Apparel set and methodize our outward behaviour Instances in Scripture in every particular are many and obvious and what should I more say for the time would faile me to mention them all In a word then this truth which the spirit teacheth is fitted to the whole man fitted to every member of the body to every faculty of the soule fitted to us in every condition in every relation it will reign with thee it will serve with thee it will manage thy riches it will comfort thy poverty ascend the throne with thee and sit down with thee on the dunghill it will pray with thee it will fast with thee it will labour with thee it will rest and keep a Sabbath with thee it will govern a Church it will order thy Family it will raise a kingdome within thee it will be thy Angel to carry thee into Abrahams bosome and set a crown of glory upon thy head And is there yet any more or what need more than that which is necessary There can be but one God one Heaven one Religion one way to blessednesse and there is but one Truth and that is it which the Spirit teacheth and this runs the whole compass of it directs us not onely ad ultimum sed usque ad ultimum not onely to that which is the end but to the means to every step and passage and approch to every help and advantage towards it and so unites us to this one God gives us right to this one Heaven and brings us home to that one end for which we were made And is there yet any more Yes particular cases may be so many and various that they cannot all come within the compass of this truth which the spirit hath plainly taught 't is true but then for the most part they are cases of our own making cases which we need not make cases sometimes raised by weakness sometimes by wilfulness sometimes even by sin it self which
so resembles that God which breathed it into us For as Lactantius said God is not hungry that you need set him meat nor thirsty that you should poure out drink unto him he is not in the dark that you need light up candles And what is beauty what is the wedg of gold to the soul The one is from the earth earthy the other is from the Lord of heaven The world is the Lords and the world is the soules and all that therein is and to behold the creature and in the world as in a book to study and find out the Creator to contemplate his majesty his goodnesse his wisdome and to discover that happinesse which is prepared for it to behold the heavens the works of Gods hand and purchase a place there to converse with Seraphim and Cherubim This is the proper act of the soul for which it was made this this alone was proportioned to it And herein consists the excellency and very essence of Religion and the Good which is here shewed us in exalting the soul in drawing it back from mixing with the creature and in bringing it into subjection under God the first and onely good in uniting it to its proper object in making that which was the breath of God breath nothing but God the soul being as the matter and this Good here that is piety and religion the form the soul being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so Plato calls matter the receptacle of this Good as the matter is of the form and never right and of a persect being till it receive it this good being as the seed and the soul the ground Math. 13. the matrix and the womb and there is a kind of sympathy between this good this immortall seed and the heart and mind of man as there is between seed and the womb of the earth for the soul no sooner sees it unclouded unvailed not disguised and made terrible by the intervention of things not truely good but upon a full manifestation she is taken as the bridegroome in the Canticles with its eye and beauty Heaven is a faire sight even in their eyes who tend to destruction so that there is a kind of neernesse and alliance between this good and those notions and principles which God imprinted in us at the first And therefore even nature it self had a glimpse a weak imperfect sight of this good and saw a further mark to aime at then this world in this span of time could set up Tertull. 2. de Finib whence Tully calls man a mortall God and Seneca tells us That by that which is best in man we go before other creatures Sen. ep 76. In homine quid optimumâ—ratio hac antecedit animalia deos sequitur but follow to joyne with that which is truely good by which we may be carried along to the fountain of good even God himself For again as this good here that is piety and religion beare a sympathy and correspondence with the mind of man so hath the soul of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a formative quality a power to shape and fashion it and by the sweet influence and kindly aspect of Gods quickening grace to bring forth something of the same nature some heavenly creature the new man which is made up in holinesse and righteousnesse in Justice and mercy and humility which are the good in the text the beauty of which may beget and raise up that violence in us which may break open the gates of heaven beget a congregation of Saints of just and honest men a numerous posterity to Abraham of hospitall and mercifull men and an army of martyrs which shall in all humility lay down their lives for his sake that gave them and forsake all to joyne and adhere to this Good And now in the second place as it is fitted and proportioned to the soul of man so is it to every soul of man to all sorts and conditions of men it is fitted to the Jew and to the Gentile to the bond and to the free to the rich and to the poore to the scribe and to the Idiot to the young and to the aged no man so much a Jew no man such a bored slave no man such a Lazar none so dull and slow of understanding no such Barzillai which may not receive it Freedom and slavery circumcision and uncircumcision riches and poverty quicknesse and slownesse of understanding in respect of this Good of Piety and Religion are all alike Religion is no peculiar but the most common the most communicative thing that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Law the Prophets Naz. Orat. 26. the Oracles Grace Faith Hope and Charity these saith Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ib. are common to all as common as the Sunne are the goods and possessions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of the mightiest or the wisest but of those who are willing to receive them Nor were there any thing more unjust then our Faith and Religion saith he if it were entail'd onely on some few if God whose Property whose Nature it is to doe Good should dispense that Good most sparingly which doth most please him if he should shut it up as he doth Gold and other Metals in the bowels of the earth and seale a patent but to some few to find and dig it out if it should be left as the things of this world are in the uncertain and inequal hand of Chance or looking alike on all should withdraw and hide it self from the most or be unatchievable not to be attained to by some when it is bound up as it were in the bosome of others No the most excellent things are most common and offered and presented to all nothing is so common as this good and when other things fly from us and as we follow after them remove themselves farther off and mock our endeavours this is alwaies neere us shines upon us invites and solicits us to take it for our guide which will lead us in a certain and unerring course through the false shews and deceitfulnesse of this world through blacknesse and darknesse to the end for which we were made This Good is every mans good that will as Aquinas is said to have replyed to his sister when she askt him how she might be saved si velis if you are willing you may every covetous person is not rich every ambitious man hath not the highest place every student is not a great clerk but piety opens the gate to every man that knocks and he that will enters in and takes possession of her Fastidiosior est scientia quà m virtus paucorum est ut literati sint omnium ut bonì That which is best is most accessable and when other things Petrarch l. 7. Re. Fam. op 17. knowledge and wealth and honor are coy and keep a distance and when we have them are desultorious and ready in the midst of
onely in this sense said to have an end when indeed it is in its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perfection when there will be no enemy stirring to subdue no use of Laws when the Subjects are now made perfect when this Lord shall make his subjects Kings and Crowne them with Glory and Honor for ever Here 's no weaknesse no Infirmity no abjuration no resignation of the Crowne and Power but all things are at an end his enemies in Chaines and his subjects free free from the feare of Hell or Temptations of the Devill the World or the flesh and though there be an end yet he reignes still though he be subject yet he is as high as ever he was Though he hath delivered up his Kingdome yet he hath not lost it but remaines a Lord and King for Evermore And now you have seen this Lord that is to come you have seen him sitting at the right hand of God His right and Power of Government his Laws just and Holy and wise the virtue and Power the largeness and the duration of his Government a sight fit for those to look on who love and look for the comming of this Lord for they that long to meet him in the Clouds cannot but delight to behold him at the right Hand of God Look upon him then sitting in Majesty and Power and think you now saw him moving towards you and were now descending with a shout for his very sitting there should be to us as his comming it being but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the preparation to that great Day Look upon him and think not that he there sits Idle but beholds the Children of men those that wait for him and those that Think not of him and he will come down with a shout not fall as a Timber-logge for every Frogg every wanton sinner to leap upon and croake about but come as a Lord with a Reward in one hand and a Vengeance in the other Oh 't is farre better to fall down and worship him now then not to know him to be a Lord till that time that in his wrath he shall manifest his Power and fall upon us and break us in pieces Look then upon this Lord and look upon his Lawes and write them in your hearts for the Philosopher will tell us that the strength and perfection of Law consists not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the wise and discreet framing of them but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the right and due performance of them for obedience is the best seal and Ratification of a Law He is Lord from all eternity and cannot be divested of his royal office yet he counts his kingdom most compleat when we are subject and obedient unto him when he hath taken possession of our hearts where he may walk not as he did in Paradise terrible to Adam who had forfeited his allegiance but as in a garden of pleasures to delight himself with the sons of men Behold he commands threatens beseeches calls upon us again and again and the beseechings of Lords are commands preces armatae armed prayers backt with power and therefore next consider the vertue and power of his dominion and bow before him do what he commands with fear and trembling let this power walk along with thee in all thy wayes when thou art giving an almes let it strike the trumpet out of thy hand when thou fastest let it be in capite jejunii let it begin and end it when thou art strugling with a tentation let it drive thee on that thou faint not and fall back and do the work of the Lord negligently Jer. 48.10 when thou art adding vertue to vertue let it be before they eyes that thou mayest double thy diligence and make it up compleat in every circumstance and when thou thinkest of evil let it joyn with that thought that thou mayest hate the very appearance of it and chace it away why should dust ashes more awe thee then Omnipotency why should thy eye be stronger then thy faith not onely the frown but the look of thy Superior composeth and models thee puts thee into any fashion or form thou wilt go or run or sit down thou wilt venture thy body would that were all nay thou wilt venture thy soul do any thing be any thing what his beck doth but intimate but thy faith is fearlesse as bold as blind and will venture on on the point of the sword fears what man not what this Lord can do to him fears him more that sits on the bench than him that sits at the right hand of God If we did beleeve as we professe we could not but more lay it to our hearts even lay it so as to break them for who can stand up when he is angry let us next view the largenesse and compasse of his Dominion which takes in all that will come and reacheth those who refuse to come and is not contracted in its compasse if none should come and why shouldest thou turn a Saviour into a destroyer why should'st thou die in thy Physitians armes with thy cordials about thee why shouldest thou behold him as a Lord 'till he be angry he caleth all inviteth all that come why should Publicans and sinners enter and thy disobedience shut thee out Lastly consider the duration of his Dominion which shall not end but with the world nor end then when it doth end for the vertue of it shall reach to all eternity and then think that under this Lord thou must either be eternally happy or eternally miserable and let not a flattering but a fading world thy rebellious and traiterous flesh let not the father of lies a gilded temptation an apparition a vain shadow thrust thee on his left hand for both at his right and left there is power which works to all eternity The second his Advent or coming Venit he will come And now we have walkt about this Sion and told the towers thereof shewed you Christs territories and Dominion the nature of his laws the vertue and power the largenesse and compasse the duration of his kingdom we must in the next place consider his Advent his coming consider him as now coming for we cannot imagine as was said before that he sat there idle like Epicurus his God nec sibi facessens negotium nec alteri not regarding what is done below but like true Prometheus governing and disposing the state of times and actions of men M. Sen. Contr. Divinum numen etiam qua non apparet rebus humanis intervenit his power insinuates it self and even works there where it doth not appear Though he be in heaven yet he can work at this distance for he fills the heaven and the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he beholdeth all things he heareth all things he speaks to thee and he speaks in thee he hears thee when thou speakest and he hears thee when thou speakest not in his book are
all things written nay he keeps a book in the very closet of thy heart the onely book which shall go along with thee and when he comes it shall fly open every chapte revery letter every character of sin shall be as plain to thy eye as to his and though we here seal up this book he can read it when it is shut He sitteth there tanquam venturus as one coming Indeed to us who like those Philosophers in Tully seeing nothing with our minde refer all to our sense and scarce beleeve any thing but that for which we have an ocular demonstration the eye of whose faith is so dull and heavie that it cannot clearly discern that eye of our Lord which is ten thousand times brighter then the sun he is most times as lost like Epicuus his God doing nothing like Baal either in his journy or sleeping and as at his first coming he was had in no reputation so now he is at the right hand of God he is in a manner forgot We do not insult over him in plain termes as those did in Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what doth the Carpenters son now do but we are as slow of heart to beleeve what we are taught and what we say we beleeve as those disciples which went to Emaus We are told that he did rise again from the Dead and ascended and sitteth at the right hand of God and wil come again but 't is a long time since these things were done and he is long a coming To the Athiest to the prophane person to the Luke-warm Christian to the Hypocrite he is in a manner lost they have seald up his grave and he will come no more And this is one argument that he will come even this that we so little regard it for can a Lord that breathes nothing but love bear with such contempt can he whom the voice of God and man whom Scripture and Miracles and reason have placed on the Tribunal and made judge of all the world be kept back by these vain Imaginations which are nothing else but the steame and exhalations from our sensual and Bruitish part shall not he judge all the earth because we are guilty and deserve to be condemned no veniet veniet his etiamsi nolis veniet he will come August he wil certainly come whether thou wilt or no nor is delay in comming an Argument that he will not come For the Lord is not slack concerning his promise and Coming as some count slackness some scoffers who walk after their own lusts and ask where is the promise of his coming For sensuality is the Mother and nurse of unbeleefe and the sense flyes the Knowledge of that which is terrible to it and so we are as Saint Peter tels us 2 Pet. 3.3,4 willingly ignorant of that which we are Taught and will not consider that the world is made of corruptible parts and therefore must at last be dissolved and vers 12. that as the old world perished by water so this shall by fire For what guilty Person doth not study to drive the thought of a Judge coming out of his mind He that hath his delight his heaven in this world is not willing to heare of another to come venit the Lord comes is not in his Creed Sed nulla est mora ejus quod certò eveniet but the deferring or delay of that which will certainly come should not come into our Consideration for come he will though he come not yet and when he is come all the time past and before in which we grew wanton and presumptuous and beat our fellow servants is not in true esteeme so much as a moment or the twinkling of an eye 'T is not slackness 't is not delay That is our false Glosse who when we break the Law are as willing to misinterpret the Law-giver The Hypocrite thinks him as very a dissembler as himself and is well perswaded that though he threaten yet he meaneth it not though he hath denounced judgement against those that sinne and repent not yet he will not be so good or rather as bad as his word The sacrilegious person lookes upon him as an enemie to Churches and he it is that puts the hammer into his hand to beat down his own Temple Tertul. de Animâ The profane person would excaecare providentiam Dei would put out the eye of his Providence and the morall Atheist pull him from his Throne and thrust him out of the world Every man frames such a God as will fitt him and proportions him to his lusts we draw him out as the Painter did the Goddess in the likeness of those vanities which wee most dote on and so we entitle him to our fraud and Oppression Petrarch invenimus quomodo etiam Avarum facerem we have found an Art to bring him in as an Abbettor a Promoter of our Covetousness and Ambition and so as much as in us lies make him as Ambitious Psal 50.21 and Coveto us as our selves Thou thoughtest verily that I was like unto thee saith God to the Hypocrite behold Christ sits at the right hand of God in full power and Majesty ready to descend but he comes not yet and hence the scorner concludes he will never come This is a false Gloss and a false conclusion the result and Inference of flesh and blood for 't is not slackness that 's the dictate of our lusts but if Truth interpret it 2 Pet. 3.15 't is long suffering his long suffering should end and be eas'd in our repentance Saint Peter tells us It is Repentance It is what it should be if it be not Repentance we have drove it from it self and see now 't is nothing but wrath and Indignation his long suffering is either our Repentance or our Condemnation And this is the true reason Why hee comes not yet Isid l. V. why he is not yet come but as it were a comming For Time is nothing unto him nor is it any thing in it self nec intelligitur nisi per actus humanos nor can we conceive or understand it but by those Actions which we doe now and againe and which we cannot doe at once A Thousand years in his sight are but as yesterday but not so long not so long as a Thought he delays not but he beares with us in this our Time we look upon the Day of Judgement as upon a Day to come but to him it is present That he is not come to us is for our sakes For the Church of Christ till the consummation of all things is in Fluxu in Corpore Temporum as Tert. speaks is wrapt up in the Body of Time comes not simul semel at once but successively gaines the addition of parts St. Paul cals it a body and though it be not such a Body as the Stoicks fancied quod more Fluminum in assiduâ diminutione adjectione est which