For a Debt and a Forfeiture may be paid at last and if the debtor be not able to pay he may give his service his body some satisfaction and some satisfaction is better then none But he that committeth Sin is the servant of sin for ever and can never redeem it if for no other reason yet for this alone that he did commit it For not a myriad of vertues can satisfie for any one breach of our obligation and no hand but that of Mercy can cancell and make it void If we be in debt with God nothing can quit us but forgiveness And therefore we pray Forgive us our debts And so we fall upon our next part What is meant by Remission of sins or Forgiveness of debts And here we lie prostrate before the throne of God and desire forgiveness And what that is we cannot be to seek if we consider those judicial terms which the Scripture useth For we read of a a 1 Cor. 4.4 Judge of a b 2 Cor. 5.10 judgment seat of a c Rom. 2.15 witness of a d Rom. 3.19 conviction of a e Col. 2.14 hand-writing of an f 1 John 2.1 Advocate and in this Petition our sins are delivered in the notion of debts So that when we pray for the forgiveness of our sins we do as it were stand at the bar of God's justice and plead for mercy acknowledge the hand-writing but beseech him to cancel it confess our sins but sue out our pardon that we may be justified from those things from which by the Law we could not and though we are not yet for his sake who is our Surety and Advocate to count us righteous and pronounce us innocent This is all we learn in Scripture concerning Remission of sins Et quicquid à Deo discitur totum est as the Father speaketh That which we learn from God is all we can learn But as the Philosophers agreed there was a chief good and happiness which man might attain unto but could not agree what it was so it hath fallen out with Christians They all consent that there is mercy with God that we may be saved they make Remission of sins an article of their Creed but then they rest not here but to the covering of their sins require a garment of righteousness of their own thread and spinning to the blotting out of their sins some bloud and some virtue of their own and to the purging them out some infused habit of herent righteousness and so by their interpretations and additions and glosses they leave this Article in a cloud then which the day it self is not clearer As Astronomers when a new star appeareth in their Hemisphere dispute and altercate till that star go out and remove it self out of their sight so have we disputed and talked Justification and Remission of sins almost out of sight For there is nothing more plain and even without rub or difficulty nothing more open to the eye and yet nothing at which the quickest apprehensions have been more dazled Not to speak of the heathen who counted it a folly to believe there were any such thing and could not see how he that killed a man should not be a homicide or he no adulterer who had defiled a woman quibus melius fide quam ratione respondetur whom we may give leave to reason whilest we believe It hath been the fault of Christians when the truth lay in their way to pass it by or leap over it and to follow some phansies and imaginations of their own How many combates had S. Paul with the false brethren who would bring in the observation of the Ceremonial and Moral Law as sufficient to salvation How did he travel in birth again of the Galatians that Christ might be truly formed in them And yet how many afterwards did Galaticari as Tertullian speaketh were as foolish as the Galatians How many made no better use of it then to open a gap and make a way to let in all licentiousness and profaneness of life nay went so far as to think it most necessary as if Remission of sins were not a medicine to purge but a provocative to inerease sin Nor was this doctrine onely blemished by those monsters of men who sate down and consulted and did deliberately give sentence against the Truth but received some blot and stain from their hands who were the stoutest champions for it who though they saw the Truth and did acknowledge it yet let that fall from their pens which posterity after took up to obscure this doctrine and would not rest content with that which is as much as we can desire and more then we can deserve Remission of sins Hence it was that we were taught in the Schools That Justification is a change from a state of unrighteousness to a state of righteousness That as in every motion there is a leaving of one term to acquire another so in Justification there is expulsion of sin and infusion of grace Which is most true in the concrete but not in the abstract in the Justified person but not in Justification which is an act of God alone From hence those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those unsavoury and undigested conclusions of the Church of Rome That to justifie a sinner is not to pronounce but to make him just That the formal cause of Justification is inherent sanctity That our righteousness before God consisteth not onely in remission of sins That we may redeem our sins as well as Christ we from temporal as he from eternal pain And then this Petition must run thus FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES that is Make us so just that we may need no forgiveness Forgive us the breach of the Law because we have kept the Law Forgive us our sins for our good works Forgive me my intemperance for my often fasting my incontinency for my zeal my oppression for my alms my murther for the Abby and Hospital which I built my fraud my malice my oppression for the many Sermons I have heard A conceit which I fear findeth room and friendly enterteinment in those hearts which are soon hot at the very mery mention of Popery or Merit In a word they say and unsay sometimes bring in Remission of sins and sometimes their own Satisfaction and so set S. Paul and their Church at such a distance that neither St. Peter himself nor all the Angels and Saints she prayeth to will be able to reconcile them and make his Gratis and their Merits meet in one It is true every good act doth justifie a man so far as it is good and God so far esteemeth them holy and good and taketh notice of his graces in his â—â—â—ldren he registereth the Patience of Job the Zeal of Phinehas the Devotion of David not a cup of cold water not a mite flung into the Treasury but shall have its reward But yet all the works of all the Saints in the world cannot satisfie
then evident that it is one thing to say that Christ's righteousness is imputed to us another that faith is imputed for righteousness or which is the very same our sins are not imputed unto us Which two Imputation of faith for righteousness and Not-imputation of sin make up that which we call the Justification of a sinner For therefore are our sins blotted out by the hand of God because we believe in Christ and Christ in God 1 Cor. 1.30 That place where we are told that Christ of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification is not such a pillar of Christ's Imputed righteousness in that sense which they take it as they phansied when they first set it up For the sense of the Apostle is plain and can be no more then this That Christ by the will of God was the onely cause of our righteousness and justification and that for his sake God will justifie and absolve us from all our sins and will reckon or account us holy and just and wise not that he who hath loved the error of his life is wise or he that hath been unjust is righteous in that wherein he was unjust or he that was impure in that he was impure is holy because Christ was so but because God will for Christ's sake accept receive and embrace us as if we were so Unless we shall say that as we are wise with Christ and holy and righteous so with Christ also we do redeem our selves For he who is said to be our righteousness is said also to be our redemption in the next words I would not once have thought this worth so much as a salute by the way but because I see many understand not what they speak so confidently and many more and those the worst are too ready to misapply it are will be every thing in Christ when they are not in him and well content he should fight it out in his own gore then they though they fall under the enemy in him may be styled conquerours Why should not we content our selves with the language of the Holy Ghost That certainly is enough to quiet any troubled conscience unless you will say it is not enough for a sinner to be forgiven not enough to be justified not enough to be made heir of the kingdom of heaven But yet I am not so out of love with the phrase as utterly to cast it out but wish rather that it might either be laid aside or not so grosly misapplied as it is many times by those presumptuous sinners who die in their sins If any eye can pierce further into the letter and find more then Imputation of faith for righteousness and Not imputation of sins for Christ's righteousness sake let him follow it as he please to the glory but not to the dishonour of Christ let him attribute what he will unto Christ so that by his unseasonable piety he lose not his Saviour so that he neglect not his own soul because Christ was innocent nor take no care to bring so much as a mite into the Treasury because Christ hath flung in that talent which at the great day of accounts shall be reckoned as his So that men be wary of those dangerous consequences which may issue from such a conceit quisque abundet sensu suo let every man think and speak as he please and add this Imputation of Christ's righteousness to this which I am sure is enough and which is all we find in Scripture Forgiveness and Not-imputation of sins and the Imputation of faith for righteousness I pass then to this Righteousness the Righteousness of Faith which indeed is properly called Evangelical Righteousness because Christ who was the publisher of the Gospel was also authour and finisher of our Faith And here we may sit down and not move any further and call all eyes to behold it and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is it Nec curiositate opus est post Jesum Christum When Christ hath spoken and told us what it is our curiosity need not make any further search The Righteousness of faith is that which justifieth a sinner Rom. 1.17 For the just shall live by faith or as some render it the just by faith shall live Mar. 9.23 If thou canst believe saith our Saviour and Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Acts 16.31 and thou shalt be saved and thy houshould saith S. Paul to the Gaoler Isa 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to these waters yea come buy wine and milk without money or money-worth I doubt not but every man is ready to come every man is ready to say I believe Lord help my unbelief But here it fareth with many men as it doth with those who first hear of some great place fallen unto them but afterwards find it is as painful as great The later part of the news sowreth and deadeth the joy of the former and the trouble taketh off the glory and dignity Believe and be saved is a messuage of joy but Believe and repent or Repent and believe is a bitter pill But we must joyn them together nor is it possible to separate them they both must meet and kiss each other in that Righteousness which is the way to the Kingdom of God It is true Faith is imputed for righteousness but it is imputed to those who forsake all unrighteousness Faith justifieth a sinner but a repentant sinner It must be vera fides quae hoc quod verbis dicit moribus non contradicit a faith which leaveth not our manners and actions as so many contradictions to that which we profess Faith is the cause and original of good actions and naturally will produce them and if we hinder not its casuality in this respect it will have its proper effect which is to Justifie a sinner This effect I say is proper to Faith alone and it hath this royal prerogative by the ordinance of God but it hath not this operation but in subjecto capaci in a subject which is capable of it In a word it is the Righteousness of a sinner but not of a sinner who continueth in his sin It is a soveraign medicine but will not cure his wounds who resolveth to bleed to death For to conceive otherwise were to entitle God to all the uncleanness and sins of our life past to make him a lover of iniquity and the justifier not of the sinner but of our sins Christ was the Lamb of God which took away our sins John 1.29 And he took them away not onely by a plaister but also by a purge not onely by forgiveness but also by restraint of sin He suffered those unknown pains that we should be forgiven and sin no more not that we should sin again and be forgiven He fulfilled the Law but not to the end that we should take the more heart break it at pleasure and adde rebâ—â—lion to rebellion because
see the pit opening her mouth and even speaking to them to fly and save themselves from destruction I may appeal to your eye and tender you that which your observation must needs have taken up before both at home in your selves and abroad in others for he that doth but open his eyes and look into the world will soon conceive it as a common stage where every man treadeth his measures for approbation and applause where every man acteth his part walketh as a Parasite to himself and all men one to another that is do the same which the Israelites did after the molten calf slay every man his brother Exod. 32 27. and every man his companion and every man his neighbour every man being a ready executioner in this kind and every man ready and willing to die We will therefore in the next place search this evil humour this desire of being pleased And we shall be the willinger to be purged of it if either we consider the causes from which it proceedeth or the bitter effects which it produceth And first it hath no better original then Defect then a wilfull and negligent Fayling in those duties to which Nature and Religion have obliged us a Leanness and Emptiness of the soul which not willing to fill it self with Righteousness filleth it self with air with false counsels and false attestations with miserable comforts In time of necessity when we have nothing to eat Luke 15.16 Prov. 28.1 we fall to with the Prodigal and fill our belly with husks The wicked flie when none pursueth fly from themselves to others and from others to themselves chide themselves and flatter themselves are troubled and soon at rest fly to the Rule which condemneth them to absolve them and suborn one Text to infringe and overthrow another as he that hath no good Title is bold on a false one Citò nobis placemus It is a thing soon done and requireth no labour nor study to be pleased We desire it as sick men do health as prisoners do liberty as men on the rack do ease For a troubled spirit is an ill disease not to have our will is the worst imprisonment and to condemn a mans self in that which he alloweth and maketh his choice Rom. 14.22 is to put himself upon the rack We may see it in our civil affairs and matters of lesser allay When any thing lyeth upon us as a burden how willing are we to cast it off how do we strive to pluck the sting out of every serpent that may bite us how do we study to work out the venom out of the worst of evils When we are poor we dream of riches and make up that which is not with that which may be Prov. 23.5 When we have no house to hide our hâ—â—ds we build a palace in the air When we are sick this thought turneth our bed That we may recover and if the Physician cannot heal us yet his very name is to us as a promise of health We are unwilling to suffer but we are willing nay desirous to be eased Basil telleth us of young men that when they are alone or in some solitary place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feign unto themselves strange Chimeras suppose themselves Lords of countreys and favourites of Kings and which is yet more though they know all this to be but phansie and a lye yet please themselves in it as if it were true indeed We all are like Aristotle's young man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of hope Rhetor. l. 2. c. 14. and when there is no door of hope left we make one And so it falleth out in the managing of our spiritual estate we do as the Apostle exhorteth though not to this end cast away every thing that presseth down but so cast it away as to leave it heavier then before prefer a momentary ease which we beg or borrow or force from things without us before that peace which nothing can bring in but that grief and serious repentance which we put off with hands and words as a thing irksome and unpleasing For could we be sick we might be well did not we love our disease we might shake it off But we are sick and will be so There is something wanting and a supply is our shame being an argument of that defect which we are unwilling to acknowledge A Physician doth but upbraid us and Truth doth but rob us of our content and therefore we please our selves in our disease as in health it self and had rather languish and dye then be told we are sick And this in the second place proceedeth even from the force and power of Conscience within us which if we will not hearken to as a friend will turn Fury and pursue and lash us and if we will not obey her dictates will make us feel her whip This is our Judge and our Executioner She whippeth the Sluggard stoneth the Adulterer hangeth and quartereth the Traytour bloweth upon the Misers store and maketh the lips of the Harlot bite like a cockatrice Psal 139.7 Whither shall they go from her spirit and power whither shall they flie from her presence The Philosopher will tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they flie from themselves Aristot. l. 9. Eth. c. 4. yet carry themselves about with them whithersoever they go Now every thing that is oppressed doth naturally desire ease and so do we but finding it a laborious thing to quiet the Conscience and that it cannot be done but by yielding and bowing our backs to her whip by running from our selves and from those sins which pleased our Sense but enraged our Conscience we seek out many inventions and advance our sins against her till they prevail and even put her to silence For in evil men the worst part doth the office of the better corrupteth the records mitigateth the sentence pronounceth life in death The Sensual part is their Conscience their God It biddeth them do this and they do it and when it is done it is a ready Advocate to plead for it and defend it It conceiveth and bringeth forth the Monster and then giveth it what name it please It was a crying sin it hath now lost its voice It was Uncleanness it is now Frailty It was Treason it is now the love of our Countrey It was Perjury It is now Prudence Riches commend Covetousness Honour Treason Pleasure Wantonness That which begetteth Sin nurseth it up till it grow up to strength to oppose it self to Conscience and degrade and put her from her office and bring in a thousand sory excuses to take her place in the midst of which she cannot be heard not heard against Riches whose Sophistry is preferred before her Demonstrations not heard against Beauty which bewitcheth us and makes us fools not heard against Honour which lifteth us up so high that we cannot hear her not heard against Power which is the greatest Parasite in the world and
calleth in a world of Parasites to bow before us and bless us in the Name of the Lord. And thus we are first pleased to sin and then are easily pleased in it We are in danger and will not know it and when the God of Israel is angry 2 Kings 1.2 3. we will hear what the God of Ekron will say In a word we raise a storm in our selves whistle it down we wound our selves and skin it over we are too soon troubled and too soon eased might recover were not our remedy more fatal then our disease Thus you see this humor of being pleased is very predominant in most men In the third place as it proceedeth from the power and force of Conscience which will speak it she may be heard and doth speak even when she is not heard so it doth from the lustre and glory of Piety and Holiness which spreadeth her beams and darteth her light in the very face of them who have proscribed her sent her a bill of divorce and put her away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Goodness is equally venerable to all men Not onely good men speak well of her but her enemies praise her in the gates Who is so evil that he is willing to go under that name How angry will a Strumpet be if you call her so Call a Pharisee a Hypocrite and he will thrust you out of the Synagogue Though I bow down before an image yet I am not an Idolater though I break the bonds of peace yet I am not factious though I never have enough yet I am not covetous I am not evil though I do those things for which we justly call men so Our rule here is quite contrary to that known and received axiome of the world Malo me divitem esse quà m haberi In the managing of our worldly affairs we had rather be rich then be accounted so but in the course of our Religion we are rich enough we are good enough if we have but the name that we are so we are good enough if none dare call us evil And thus it is both in the errours of our Understanding and of our Will In the one we think it better to pretend to knowledge and rest our selves in that then to be taught to alter our mind Quintil. l. 3. Instit. c. 1. Malumus didicisse quà m discere That we know something already is our glory but to submit our selves to instruction is an argument of imperfection and therefore we account it a punishment to be taught And this is the reason why so few have retracted their errours and why most have stoutly defended them even a Loathness to seem to have erred which mightily reigneth in most men but especially in all pretenders unto knowledge Nature it self having annexed a shame unto these two above all other things which naturally befal us Lust and Ignorance For as the Italian proverb is A learned fool will be a fool ever And so it is in the errours of the Will In the practick errours of our life we would not know our selves nor have others know Eccles 1.18 that we have done any thing amiss He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow When the knowledge of the Truth inciteth us to follow after it and the force of Custome draweth us back we are as it were at war and divided in our selves our motion is unquiet as the bounding of a heady steed with the bit in his mouth We are in our own way and impatient of a check and we hate those counsellers which are willing to be eyes to us and lead us out of danger Tell a Heretick he is so he will anathematize you Tell a Schismatick he is so he will fly from you as from the plague Tell a Persecuter he is so and he will rage more and make it good upon your self deny it and yet make it too manifest that he is so For the Will of man loveth the channel which it hath chosen and would run on smoothly and evenly without interruption But when it meeteth with any stop or bank it beginneth to rage and fome and cast up mire and dirt in their faces who do attempt to stop its course Volumus errare we will erre and he is an enemy that telleth us the truth Volumus peccare we will sin but he that telleth the Sinner Thou art the man shall not be received as a Prophet but be defied as an adversary Sin is of a monstrous appearance who can stand before it and therefore we either cloud and hide it with an excuse or dress it up in the mantle of Virtue in the habit and beauty of Holiness as Pompey to commend the theatre which he built called it a Temple And these are the causes which beget and nurse up this evil humour in us this Desire to be pleased this Unwillingness to be troubled though it be to be pluckt out of the fire 1. a Defect in our selves which when we cannot fill up with righteousness we do with the shadow of it 2. the power of Conscience which when we cannot quiet we slumber and cast into a deep sleep and 3. the glory and beauty of Goodness which forceth from us though not a complacency yet an approbation and maketh them lay claim unto her who have violently thrust her out of doors He that loveth to erre loveth not to be told so he that is not righteous will Justifie himself and the worst of men desire to bear up their head and esteem with the best Let us now see the danger of this humour and the bitter effects it doth produce And first this Desire to be pleased placeth us out of all hope of succour leaveth us like an army besieged when the enemy hath cut off all relief It is a curse it self and carrieth a train of curses with it It maketh us blind to our selves and not fit to make use of other mens eyes It maketh our rain powder and dust Deut. 28.24 corrupteth all that counsel and instruction which as moisture should make us fruitful It maketh us like to to the Idoles of the Heathen to have eyes and see not to have ears Psal 115. and not to hear living dead men such as those to whom the Pythagoreans set up a sepulcral pillar such as Plato saith do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sleep in hell men made up of contradictions in health and therefore desperately sick strong and therefore weak and never more fools then when they are most wise Plus quà m oportet sapiunt plùs quà m dici potest desipiunt saith Bernard They are wiser then they should be and more deceived then we can express Look on the Galatians in this Epistle and you shall see how this humour did bewitch them and what fools it made them They had received the spirit by the hearing of faith Gal. 3.2 but this spirit did shake and trouble them frowned upon that which they too much inclined to and
into the Memory where it is as operative to destroy as it was in the Affection to increase it self For but to remember sin and to contemplate the horrour of it and the Hell it deserveth is enough to bow our wills and break our hearts and lay them open that they may be fit receptacles of comfort He were a bold sinner that durst look his sin full in the face Now affliction and mourning bring us to this sight wipe off the paint of Sin strip her of her scutcheons and pendants of her glory and beauty and shew her openly in all her deformity not with Pleasure and Honour and Riches but with the Wrath of God Death and Hell waiting upon her that we may defie and mortifie Sin and then triumph over it And then we are brought back from the valley of the shadow of death into green pastures and led beside the still waters the waters of rest and refreshing for God is with us and his rod and his staff with which he guideth us comfort us as it is Psal 23. And now in the last place you see the rock out of which you must hew your Comfort even out of Sorrow it self Or you may see Joy and Comfort shoot forth from Mourning as lightning from a thick and dark cloud Or rather this Consolation ariseth not so much from Affliction and Mourning it self as from the cause of it Sometimes we mourn in prison and in torments for righteousness sake And there cannot be a greater argument out of which we may conclude in comfort then this that at once we are made witnesses and examples of righteousness at once glorifie God and purchase a crown of Glory for our selves And thus comfort is conveyed to us through our own bloud Sometimes we suffer disgrace and loss of goods because we had rather be poor then be as rich and evil as they that make us poor and sit in the lowest form then be higher and worse This troubleth us and this comforteth us For thus to be poor is to be in the Rich mans bosome thus to be in the dust is to be in Heaven Sometimes we mourn as under the rod and are brought to Affliction as to a School of discipline And if we can read and understand the mystery of Affliction as Nazianzene calleth it if we can see mercy in anger a Father in a Lord if we can behold him with a rod in his hand and healing under his wings and so learn the lesson which he would teach us learn by poverty to enrich our selves with grace by disgrace to honour our selves by imprisonment to seek liberty in Christ if we can learn by those evils which can but touch us to chase away those which will destroy us if we can be such proficients in this School this also may trouble us and this will comfort us If we hearken not to the rod it may prove a Scorpion But if we thus bow and kiss it it will not onely bud and blossome as Aaron's did but bring forth the sweet fruit of Consolation And thus this miracle of Consolation is wrought in us first by the power of God's Grace which maketh his smitings healings and his wounds kisses and then by a strong actuating and upholding our Reason in the contemplation of God's most fatherly power and wisdome which will check and give lawes to the inferiour powers and faculties of the soul and draw them in obedience unto it self that all melancholick fancies may vanish all sensual grief may be swallowed up in victory in this in the content and rest we find in the end which we obtain or for which we suffer and mourn So the blessed Virgin had comfort even when she stood by the Cross vveeping and her soul was filled with it even then when it was pierced through as with a sword In a word mourning is a remedy and all remedies bring comfort And this is of the number of those remedies quae potentiae suae qualitate consumptâ desinunt cùm profuerint which having consumed and spent its virtue vanisheth away and leaveth to be when it hath wrought its just effect For he that is comforted feeleth not what he feeleth but his contemplation carrieth his mind to heaven when his senses peradventure labour under those displeasing objects which are contrary to them At the same time Moses may be in the Mount and the common people rebell and commit idolatry below At the same time the Martyr may roar on the rack and yet in his heart sing an hymn of praise to the King of Glory Reason may so far subdue the Flesh as to make it suffer but it cannot make it senseless for then it could not suffer then it were not flesh Affliction will be heard and felt and seen in its violent operation seen in its terrour heard in contumelies and reproaches and felt in its smart but in all these the Spirit is more then conquerour and delighteth it self with terrour feedeth and feasteth on reproaches and findeth a complacency in smart and pain it self And then when we are under the rod and suffer for sin and not for piety as sensual grief may occasion spiritual so spiritual sorrow and displacency hath alwaies comfort attending it For sorrow and comfort in course affect the soul and with such dispatch and celerity that we rather feel then discern it The devout School-man giveth the instance in the quavering and trembling motion of a Bell after the stroke or of a Lute string after the touch and observeth such an Harmony in the heart by the mutual touch of Sorrow and Comfort And David hath joyned them together in the second Psalm Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling When Affliction striketh the heart the sound will end in Joy and Comfort will be the resultance Mourning is a dark and melancholick thing and maketh a kind of night about us but when the Spirit saith Let there be light there will be light light in the Understanding rectitude in the Will order and peace in the Passions serenity in the Soul sin not in the Affection but in the Memory where it is kept to be whipt and crucified health in the Soul strength in our spiritual Pulse chearfulness to run the wayes of God's commandments the best and onely comforts in the world true symptomes of a spiritual health and fair pledges and types of that everlasting comfort which the God of all consolation will give to those who thus mourn in Sion For conclusion to apply all to our selves in a word I need not exhort you to hang down the head and mourn and walk humbly before your God Behold God himself hath spoken to us in the whirlwind He hath spoken in thunder and shaken our Joyes beat down all before our eyes in which our eyes took pleasure and of which we could say we had a delight therein He hath shaken the pillars of the earth He hath shaken the pillar of Truth the Church He hath shaken
blessing Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake I have a large field to go over an Aceldama a field of bloud a Golgotha a place of dead mens skulls where you shall see some stoned some sawen asunder some slain with the sword others having tryal of cruel mockings and scourgings of bonds and imprisonment but withal that the eye of flesh cannot discover Blessedness waiting upon them and shadowing them in the midst of horrour Here is a fair inscription upon a bitter roule a pleasing preface to a tragical theme a promise of pleasure in misery of honour in dishonour of life in death of heaven in hell Here we may see persecution making us strong by making us weak making us rich my making us poor making us happy by making us miserable and driving us through this field of bloud into paradise The parts of the Text are manifestly but two a Blessing pronounced Blessed are they that suffer persecution and a Reason given For theirs is the kingdom of heaven But we may by a plain and natural deduction make them three 1. That they who begin in the other Virtues and Beatitudes must end in this or in the Apostle's words They that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 2. That Persecution bringeth no blessing but to those who suffer for righteousness sake 3. That to those it doth Which comprehendeth the Inscription Blessedness and the Reason of the inscription For theirs is the kingdom of heaven We find here Persecution and Blessedness joyned together wrought by the same hand a hand of mercy and like sweet and bitter water flowing from the same fountain a fountain of love For it is God's love and mercy to give us a kingdom and it is his love and mercy to bring us to it by sufferings to bring us as the Apostles speaketh Acts 12.22 through much tribulation through the noise and tumults of this world to a place of rest Agnosco haereditatem meam in cruce saith Bernard I am an heir to the Cross as well as to the Kingpom They are both entailed upon us both made over to us in the same patent or lease You may find it registred Mark 10.30 Houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands and eternal life but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with persecutions It is threatned 2 Tim. 3.12 I mistake it is promised All that will live godly shall suffer persecution And this cannot be a threat an angry denunciation For in God's anger is death When he striketh the righteous it is as fire to try them but when he smiteth the ungodly it is as fire to consume them It is permitted For without his will a hair cannot fall from our heads It is ordained Decernuntur ista non accidunt as Seneca speaketh These things come not by chance but by decree No sooner had God made Paul a chosen vessel but he doth in a manner expose him to the hammer Go he is a chosen vâ—ssel unto me and it followeth Acts â— 15 ver 16. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my names sake So that it is also a Prophesie prophesied here and chap. 21. Nam sicut verbis sic rebus prophetatum est saith Tertullian There is a prophesie by words and a prophesie by things Paul's girdle with which Agabus bound himself did plainly foretell that the Apostle should be bound at Jerusalem Acts 21.11 Matth. 18.7 and delivered over into the hands of the Gentiles For as our Saviour speaketh of Offences so may we of Persecution It must needs be that it will come not onely necessitate consequentiae by a necessity of consequence supposing the frail condition of our nature and the changes and chances of a wicked world but necessitate finis in respect of the end for which it is sent for which God in whose power both men and their actions are doth not onely not hinder it by his mighty hand for God's Omnipotence waiteth as it were upon his Wisdom and he cannot do what is not fit to do but permitteth it and by a kind of providence letteth the storm fall on the head of the righteous for their tryal and his glory We know Rom 8.28 saith S. Paul that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose We know that all those evils which every day affront and assault them befall them not onely by the general permission of God but by a special decree which tendeth to their good For they who are called according to his purpose that is who are odedient unto his call may draw life it self out of these waters of Marah and upon these evils raise themselves nearer to God For it followeth Whom he did fore-know that is ver 29. whom he approved as true believers in his Son for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Rom. 11.2 them also did he predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son those did he constitute ordain and set up to be like unto his Son to suffer as he did upon the Cross to be partakers of his sufferings and to go the same way which he did to glory seculi fluctus Christo praeeunte calcare to tread upon the proud waves of this world Christ leading the way before them For as it became him iâ— whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings and because they suffer with him he is not ashamed to call them brethren Hebr. 2.10 11. so it becometh us to look upon Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith and with him to endure the cross Moreover whom he did predestinate Rom. 8.30 that is ordain and constitute to be conformable to the example of his Son them he also called to suffer persecution For hereunto are ye called 1 Pet. 2.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word S Paul there useth because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps And so Let no man be moved by these afflictions 1 Thes 3.3 for your selves know that we are appointed thereunto that they are ordained by God who doth not onely not hinder but order and dispose the causes of them And then whom he thus calleth those he justifieth he strengthneth and assisteth them that they persevere in the obedience of righteousness and so are made the more just And those who are thus justified who persevere to the end those he glorifieth And this may seem more agreeable to the mind and scope of the Apostle if we either observe what goeth before or what followeth after then that phansie which hath found materials here to file out a Chain of Decrees and yet hath left men doubtful and to seek which is the first link Let every man abound in his own sense so it be not to the prejudice of the
world of our name or credit above the truth of Christ which calleth us out of the world Again this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this full persuasion of mind is prevalent on both sides both in good and evil both for truth and errour A thief may go as chearfully to his death as a martyr The Egyptians saith Tully would endure any torture rather then violate their Ibis or an Aspe or a Dog or a Crocodile The Priests of Mithras passed the sword the fire and famine even fourscore several torments and that with ostentation of alacrity onely that they might be his Priests We have read of Hereticks who have sung in the midst of the flames Nay of Atheists as Scipio Tettus who now burning for setting up a school of Atheism clapped his hands in the midst of his torments Such strength hath persuasion on both sides In illis pietas in istis cordis duritia operatur The love of the truth prevaileth in the righteous and the love of errour in the other Such a power hath the Devil over those hearts which by God's permission he possesseth He can perswade Judas to deny his Master and he can perswade him to hang himself He can drive men into errour and lead them along in triumph rejoycing to their death He can teach men first to kill others then themselves He can first make the grossest errour delightful and then death it self Habet Diabolus suos martyres For the Devil hath his martyrs as well as God The Manichees were Martyrs for they boasted that they suffered persecution and yet did those outrages which none but persecutours could do The Donatists were Martyrs and yet did ravish virgins break open prisons fling the Communion-bread to dogs Garnet was a Martyr and Faux a Martyr when they would have blown up a Kingdom which may be done without gunpowder The Massalians in Epiphanius buried their bodies who were killed for despising and denying the Law and for worshipping of Idols and sung hymns and made panegyricks on them and called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sect of Martyrs So that you see every man is ready to say he is persecuted every man suffereth for righteousness sake every man is a Martyr In every nation and in every people in every sect and in every conventicle we may find Martyrs But this is not the noble army of Martyrs where none are listed but those who suffer for righteousness sake It is not pretense but Truth that must set this crown upon our heads This is praise worthy saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 2.19.20 if a man for conscience toward God endure grief and that not an erring conscience it is very strange we should erre in any of those things for which we must suffer For what glory is it if when you are buffetted for your faults you take it patiently but if when you do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God St. Bernard determineth all in brief proposing to us two things which make death precious and persecution a blessing vitam causam sed ampliùs causam quà m vitam the life of them that suffer and the cause for which they are persecuted but the cause more then the life For seldom will an evil man suffer in a good cause and he is not good who suffereth in a bad for that for which he suffereth maketh him evil If he suffer as a malefactour he is one But when both commend our sufferings then are they praise-worthy That sacrifice is of a sweet-smelling savour which both a good cause and a good life offer up And first the Cause it must be the love of Righteousness For we see as I told you men will suffer for their lusts suffer for their profit suffer for fear suffer for disdain as Cato is blamed by Augustine for killing himself because the haughtiness of his mind could not stoop to be beholden to Caesar and therefore cùm non potuit pedibus fugit manibus whom he could not fly from with his feet he did with his hands and killed himself Which argued a lower spirit and was an act of more dejection and baseness then it would have been to have kissed the foot of Caesar Some we see will venture themselves for their name and hazard their souls for reputation which is but another man's thought But neither are these our pleasure our profit our honour causes why we should suffer death or venture our lives To be willing rather to lose my goods then my humour and my life then my reputation is not to set a right estimate upon them For my goods are God's blessings and I must not exchange them but for better My life is that moment on which eternity dependeth and we should not look back upon that opinion of honour which remaineth behind us but rather look forward upon that infinite space that eternity of bliss or pain which befalleth us immediately after our last breath Be sure your cause be good or else to venture goods or life upon it is the worst kind of prodigality in the world For he that knoweth what life is and the true use of it had he many lives to spare yet would be loth to part with any one of them but upon the best terms We must deal with our life as we do with our money We must not be covetous of it desire life for no other use but to live as covetous persons desire money onely to have it Neither ought we to be prodigal of life and trifle it away upon every occasion To know when and in what cases to offer our selves to suffer and die is a great part of our spiritual wisdom Nam impetu quodam instinctu currere ad mortem cum multis commune Brutishly to run upon and hasten our death is a thing that many men may do as we see brute beasts many times run upon the spears of such as pursue them Sed deliberare causas expendere utque suaserit ratio vitae mortisque consilium suscipere vel ponere ingentis est animi Wisely to look into and weigh every occasion and as judgment and true discretion shall direct so to entertain a resolution either of life or death this is indeed true fortitude and magnanimity Every low and light consideration is not to hold esteem and keep equipage with that Truth which must save us There is nothing but Righteousness which hath this prerogative to call for our lives and it will pay them back with eternity Righteousness which is nothing else but our obedience to the Gospel of Christ and those precepts which he hath left behind to draw us after him We must rather renounce our lives and goods then these rather not be men then not be good Christians Matth. 10.39 Here that is true He that findeth his life for they who to escape danger deny the truth count that escape a thing found and gained look upon it as a new purchase
of themselves but he that thus findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it The loss of our lives for righteousness sake is a purchase Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven For this Stephen was stoned Paul beheaded the Martyrs tortured So persecuted they the Prophets which were before you In the next place as a good Cause so a good Life doth fit and qualifie us to suffer for righteousness sake Non habent martyrum mortem qui non habent Christianorum vitam saith Augustine He dieth not the death of a Martyr who liveth not the life of a Christian An unclean beast is not fit to make a sacrifice Nor will the crown of Martyrdome sit upon his head who goeth on in his sin It is to the wicked that God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes and What hast thou to do to suffer for them For he that suffereth for them declareth them Therefore S. Augustine calleth the Donatists who in a perverse emulation of the glory of the true Martyrs leapt down from rocks and flung themselves into the water and were drowned sceleratos homicidas wicked homicides and unnatural murtherers of themselves What Cyprian speaketh of Schism is as true of other mortal sins not repented of Non Martyrium tollit not Martyrdom it self can expiate or blot it out For can we think that he that hath taken his fill in sin all his life long and still made his strength the law of unrighteousness should in a moment wash away all his filth and pollutions baptismo sanguinis with his own bloud It may supply for those other pious souls who were never washed in the other laver that of Baptism because persecution or death deprived them of that benefit for what cannot be done cannot oblige But how a man should draw out his life in an open hostility to Christ and trifle with him and contemn him all his dayes and then before repentance and reconciliation which indeed is in the very act of hostility bow to him and die for him I cannot see Take S. Pauls black catalogue of the works of the flesh Adultery Gal. 3. fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murthers drunkenness revellings and not one of these but will infringe and weaken the testimony of any man and render him a suspected witness in our Courts on Earth And shall the truth of Christ stand in need of such Knights of the post who will speak for her when they oppose her Take that bed-roll of wicked men which the Apostle prophesied should come in these last and perilous times 2 Tim. 3 1-5 Lovers of their own selves Covetous Boasters Proud Blasphemers Disobedient to parents Vnthankful Vnholy Without natural affection Truce-breakers False accusers Incontinent Fierce Despisers of those that are good Traitors Heady High minded Lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof and may not the Gospel be ashamed of such Professors and Martyrs as these Or shall we look for heaven in hell and hope to find a Martyr amongst a generation of vipers Or is he fit to be advocate for any truth who hath the faith of Christ with respect of persons Then we shall have factious Martyrs seditious Martyrs malicious Martyrs profane Martyrs sacrilegious Martyrs And if these be Martyrs we may say of them as Tertullian did of the Heathen Gods Potiores apud inferos There be honester men in hell then these No a good Cause and a good Life must be our conductors to the Cross must lead us by the hand to the fiery trial must as it were anoint us to our graves and prepare us for this great work Otherwise whatsoever we suffer is not properly Persecution but an execution of justice It may be here perhaps demanded What then shall he do who having fettered himself in the snare of the Devil hath not yet shaken it off by true repentance whose conscience condemneth him of many gross and grievous sins which yet himself hath not condemned in his flesh by practising the contrary vertues What shall a notorious sinner do if he be called to this great office if his fortunes and life be brought in hazard for the profession of some article of faith or some truth which he believeth is necessary to salvation What shall he do being shut up between these three a bad conscience assurance of that truth he professeth and the terrour of death Shall he hold fast the truth or subscribe to the contrary Shall he suffer without true repentance of his former sins or repent of the truth which he professeth Shall he deny against his conscience what he knoweth to be true or shall he suffer and comfort himself in this one act as a foundation firm enough to raise a hope on of remission of sin Here is a great streight a sad Dilemma like that of the servant in the Comedy Si faxit perit si non faxit vapulat If he do it he may perish and if he do it not he may be beaten He may suffer for the truth and yet suffer for his sins and if he do it not he hath denied the faith and is worse then an infidel But beloved this is an instance like that of Buridan's ass between two bottles of hay knowing not which to chuse an instance of what peradventure never or very seldom cometh to pass We may suppose what we please we may suppose the heavens to stand still and the earth to move and some have thought so we may suppose what in nature is impossible And this if it be not impossible yet is so improbable that it hardly can gain so much credit as to win an assent For that he who all his life long hath cast Christ's word 's behind him should now seal them with his bloud that they are true that a conscience so beaten so wasted so overwhelmed with the habit of sins should now take in and entertain a fear of so little a sin as the denial of one truth in respect of the contempt of all that he that hath swallowed this monstrous camel should strain at this gnat that he that hath trampled Christ's bloud under his feet should shed his own for some one dictate of his is a thing which we may suppose but hardly believe Or tell me Where should this sting and power of conscience lye hid Or can conscience drive us to the confession of one truth which had no power to withhold us from polluting our selves with so many sins Holding faith saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 1.19 and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made ship-wreck So near an alliance there is between Faith and a good Conscience that we must either keep them both or lose them both Faith as Saint Paul intimateth in that Text is as the
from the earth but also communi dividundo to divide every man his own right his own possessions and he looketh upon the offender vultu legis with no other countenance then that of the Law In my own cause it is lawful for me to do what I will with my own I may give it I may suffer it to be torn from me and thus to do may be my virtue which may crown me but when I sit on the tribunal as a Judge the cause is not my own and to pardon injuries which are done to other men may be injustice or corruption at least groundless and inconsiderate pity but a virtue it cannot be And as we pull not down tribunals so neither do we disannul Laws Sunt jura sunt formulae saith the Oratour There be laws and forms prescribed almost for every thing that no man may erre or mistake himself either in genere injuriae or ratione actionis either in the nature of the injury or of his action expressae sunt ex uniuscujusque damno dolore incommodo and they are drawn out and fitted to the grievance the incommodation the injury of any man And by these we may contestari litem declare and make protestation of our suit before the Judge and as the town clerk of Ephesus telleth Demetrius the crafts-men Acts 19.58 if we have a matter against any man the Law is open we may implead one another Both are true we must forgive our brother and we may implead him It is true the rules of Charity are of a larger extent then those of the Law If thou owe an hundred measures of oyl Charity taketh the bill and sitteth down quickly and writeth fifty but the Law observeth a just Arithmetical proportion a talent for a talent measure for measure And it is as true that Charity beginneth at home and that he that provideth not for his family is worse then an infidel A truth it is but much mistaken and misapplied and pulled on like a buskin by the Love of the world on every angry design and purpose and so maketh men far worse then infidels But in another kind Non est plena humanitas te excluso saith the Father Charity is not full and complete if it reach all men but thy self and we subscribe and shut up our bowels to all but our selves Cùm omnes te habeant esto tu de habentibus unus When all partake of thy goodness be thou one of that All and we like it so well that that one is all We will not lay a clog upon the consciences of private men nor deterre them from imploring the aid of the Magistrate for this were to cut off the fairest piece of wisdom which sheweth it self in justice and executing judgment which checketh the course of the violent and stoppeth him in his full career The sword of Justice is both a sword and a buckler too if it be not in the hand of a man of Belial for then none fall down by it but the innocent And to deny or stop the course of Justice were mutare regna in magna latrocinia to let in oppression and violence and make Commonwealths the receptacles and congregation of thieves and every City like to the hills of the robbers But yet let me tell you that good and holy men have been alwayes jealous of it Augustine in his Enchiridion telleth us that the justice of our cause which we pretend and bring in to safeguard our charity is commonly but an excuse For so to go to Law with a brother omnino delictum est is utterly a fault Yet saith he since the Apostle permiteth the judgments of things pertaining to this life in the Church of Christ but forbiddeth it with great vehemency before the unbelievers manifestum est quòd secundùm veniam concedatur infirmis it is plain enough that he doth but indulge thus much to the weaker sort Bonus non rectè vindictam injuriae petit quam tamen judex rectè infligit A good man may not alwayes seek that revenge and punishment which yet the Law and Judge may most justly inflict And we know the Poetry of the Schools Expedit infirmis licet absque dolo sine lite Praelatis licet hoc non expedit Anachoretae It is lawful for weaker Christians lawful if there be neither fraud nor deceit which maketh the Law a rock to true men an haven for pirats a castle for thieves and a prison for the innocent And to establish this law and course of proceeding we have all the four Causes brought in 1. the Efficient or Impulsive cause Lawful it is if neither envy nor hatred nor covetousness nor desire of revenge draw it on 2. the Material cause if we do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contend for smoke for matters of nought and which can be nothing worth but to the Lawyer qui alienum jurgium praedam suam putat who rejoyceth at a needless quarrel and contention as at a great spoil 3. the Formal cause that we go to Law legally that we lay no snares suborn no false witness study not to entangle the cause or to obscure the truth 4. and lastly the End or Final cause It must not be to the loss or infamy of our brother but the recovering of that which is ours and to the glory of God who as he is the giver so is he the preserver of all things All this is true but we must consider that many truths are very dangerous as even good meats are to sick and queasie stomachs Because there are Laws we count it little less then a virtue to implead our brother according to those Laws And for those precepts of giving up our coat of turning the other cheek of being ready rather to receive a wrong then return it we can wind and shift our selves out of them as we please We can be angry and sin we can weary the Magistrate with our suits and call upon him for revenge and though we ruine one another yet all is but play as Abner calleth it when all fall down together 2 Sam. 2.14 Thus upon that which is lawful we build many times that which is unjust upon a good foundation lay hay and stubble Et unde possumus esse boni qui in bonis sic sumus mali Why should we flatter our selves that we are good who can thus turn good into evil and are very wise and cunning to deceive and cheat our selves Again it is not safe to let the reins too loose and to measure out to men that Charity which should diffuse and pour it self abroad and say Thus much is Enough For what Aristotle speaketh of the common people is most true of the common sort of Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Though they be never filled with Pleasures and never satisfied with increase of Wealth yet they are content with a small portion of Virtue willing to take that as it were on the point of a knife
I had pity on thee This is the natural and most necessary inference that can be drawn from these premisses What a sick soul then is that which when Mercy overshadoweth her bringeth forth a monster breathing forth hail stones and coals of fire even that cruelty which devoureth those she should foster This is the most false illation can be made For God freely profereth remission of sins to work in us the like mind and affection and pardoneth all by proclamation that we may forgive one another To conclude this It is with this great example of God's Goodness to us as it is with his Word and Spirit and other benefits They are powerful to work miracles to heal the sick to give eyes to the blind to give life to the dead to remove mountains any difficulty whatsoever but they do not necessarily produce these effects because there still remaineth an indifferency in the will of man and a possibility to resist It is the office of the Spirit to seal us to the day of our redemption and he is powerful to do it but he doth not seal a stone which will take no impression or water which will hold no figure His Word is his hammer but it doth not batter nor soften every heart How often is his Word in their mouth how often do they publish his mercies his wonderful mercies to the world whose very mercy notwithstanding is cruelty His Benefits are lively in themselves but dead and buried in an ungrateful breast Therefore to make his Mercy efficacious to let it work what it is very apt to work let us not onely hear God when he speaketh to us by it and go out to meet him when he cometh towards us by his exemplary goodness put off our shooes from our feet at the appearance of this great light to wit all our turbulent motions beat down all the contradictions of our mind and take the veil from before our eyes that we may discern his Mercy as it is working remission of sins but withall planting that love in our hearts which must grow up to shadow all the trespasses of our brethren And this power and influence the Mercy of God hath to work in us the like softness and tenderness of heart to others if we hinder it not if Covetousness and the Love of the world and that False love of our selves and other vile affections stand not up and oppose it We must now in the next place weigh the Force and Power which our forgiveness of our brethren hath to move God to shew mercy unto us And indeed it may seem to have some causality in it For as I told you the SICUT in S. Matthew is ETENIM in S. Luke as we forgive saith the one for we forgive saith the other But indeed they are both one and ETENIM is no more then SICUT And it is observed that this conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it carry with it the appearance of a Causal yet both in the New Testament and in humane Authours serves sometimes for nothing else but to make up the connexion For take Compassion and all the vertues which are commended to our practice take that Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law yet all will not make up a Cause either efficient or formal Rom. 3.24 of Remission of sins which is the free gift of God But because our Saviour hath told us that if we forgive men their trespasses our heavenly Father will forgive us we may say it is a Cause a cause so far as without it there is no remission of sins For though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains though I give my bread to the poor and my body to be burnt yet if I have not charity if I do not forgive my enemies there is no hope of remission Or it is as I told you causa removens prohibens a cause in this respect that it removeth that hindrance that obstacle that mountain which standeth between us and the Mercy-seat For God's Goodness is larger then his Beneficence He doth not do what good he can he doth not do what good he would because we are uncapable He doth not shine in full beauty upon us because we are nothing but deformity We will not suffer him to be good we will not suffer him to be merciful we will not suffer him to wipe out our sins by forgiveness we set up our rampiers and bulworks against him and our Malice is strong against his Mercy But so far it is a cause and may be said to produce it as the effect is commonly attributed to such causes which though they have not any positive causality yet without them the effect cannot be accomplished Thus Blessedness is placed as a title and inscription upon every vertue Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are the merciful Every vertue maketh us blessed but not every vertue without all So naked and destitute is every vertue if it be not accompanied with all nor is any vertue truly a vertue if it do not savour and relish of the rest For it is universal obedience that God requireth at our hands And though forgiveness of sins go as it were hand in hand with every vertue yet it is so in every vertue that we cannot find it but in all We are baptized for remission of sins We believe to remission of sins We forgive that our sins may be forgiven Yet none of these are available alone not Baptism without Faith nor Faith without Love The profession of Christianity taketh in all that is praise-worthy all vertues whatsoever As the Oratour telleth us that to his art of Oratory not onely Wit and Pronunciation and Command of language but also the Knowledge of all the arts are necessary quae etiam aliud agentes ornat ubi minimè credas excellit which adorneth our speech when we do not intend it and is a grace which sheweth it self in every limme and part of it and is very eminent where we do not see it So though the habits of Vertues be as distinct as their names yet they all meet in that general Obedience and Sanctity of life which denominateth a Christian And there is not any vertue but hath some appearance and is in part visible in every one My Christian Fortitude sheweth it self in my Temperance my Temperance in my Bounty my Faith in my Charity and my Charity in my Hope And as in an army of men though the Captain and Leader be commonly entitled to the victory yet was it vvrought out by the several and particular hands of every common souldier and by the united force of the vvhole battalion so that vve truly say All did overcome and Every one did overcome So vve may attribute Remission of sins to every vertue vvhich vve can never obtain but by the embracement and practice of them all Our Saviour's words then If ye forgive ye
countrey it will not fit our Ambition in the eager pursuit of honour nor our Covetousness in grasping of wealth nor our Luxury in doting on pleasures Righteousness treadeth all these imaginations under her feet and will at last rise up against those Impostors which work these lying wonders in her name She changeth and transelementeth all into her self the love of the World the love of Honour the love of Pleasure into the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. To conclude This is the Object we are to look on and if we receive and embrace it if we seek it and seek it first it will supply us with all things necessary for us in the way and at last bring us to the Kingdom of God The Five and Twentieth SERMON PART II. MATTH VI. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you IN our former discourse we have lifted up the Object that you might behold the beauty and majesty of it and so fall in love vvith it that your desires may be on the vving and that you may seek it vvith your vvhole heart Which is my next part and cometh now to be handled But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness Let us now see what it is to seek it For as vve mistake one object for another set up Pleasure for an idol and Mammon for a God and call that Righteousness which is as distant from it as the heavens are from the lowest pit so vve are vvillingly deceived in our seeking of it and make it but the sudden flight of the soul the business of the phansie the labour or rather the lust of the ear As David speaketh there is Generatio quaerentium a generation of them that seek Righteousness Some seek it in their bed have peradventure a pleasant dream of it talk of it as men do in their sleep Some seek it and sit still and gaze Some seek it and are unwilling to find it bound and limit their desires vvhich in the pursuit of Righteousness should admit no bounds Our desires after it may be too vveak and faint they cannot be too vehement Some never think themselves vviser stewards for God and themselves then vvhen they favour themselves and say This is too much benigni Dei interpretes too too favourable interpreters of God and his commands boldly concluding he is not so hard a task-master as he maketh shew of and vvith the false Steward in the Gospel vvhen the debt is an hundred measures of oyl taking the bill and writing fifty Commonly when we fail and fall short in our performance we make not that use we ought of the rule to quicken and enliven our endeavours but by our weak endeavours judge the rule it self and whatsoever how little soever we do this is it which God requireth If we do but think of Righteousness if we do but speak of it if we do but look after it or faintly pray for it that with us is to seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness Every grone is Repentance Agrippa's modicum our Altogether every Lord Lord that Violence which taketh the Kingdom of heaven every look a liking every inclination a desire and every desire a seeking of Righteousness Now there are three duties in which the formal Christian seemeth so to please himself as if to pass over them were to finish his course and enter into heaven and of which he maketh his boast all his life long publick Profession of the Gospel hearing of the Word and tendring of his Prayers unto God Naming of Christ Hearing what he will say and Speaking to him that he may hear These three are all by which we can discover his desire or endeavour and in the strength of these he walketh on and that securely all the dayes of his life thinking not that bitterness will be at the end Let us stay a while and take a view of them And first if we send our eyes abroad and take a survey of the conversation of most Christians we may be persuaded that the mere profession and naming of Righteousness the speaking well of it is all the pains they take in seeking it For what can we discover in most mens lives but noise and words What a place is Heaven What Manna is Righteousness how happy are they that seek it and no more But this is too short so far from seeking that it may consist with loathing and it may proceed from some other cause then a desire or love of Righteousness Some speak well of it because they are convinced and cannot think otherwise For not onely out of the mouths of babes and sucklings but even out of the mouths of wicked men hath God ordained strength And Righteousness is justified not onely by her children but also by her enemies Again some are righteous in a throng applaud Righteousness for very shame dare not with open face oppose it left the multitude of those they live with should confute and silence them Si nomen Justitiae in tanto honore non esset tot professores hodie non haberet If the name of Righteousness were not glorious in the world she would fall short in her reckoning and number of professors whereof many make but a proffer approach towards her for companies sake Besides the Desire doth not alwayes sympathize and keep time with the Voice but often is dull and heavy when our songs of praises are loudest The voice may be for Diana the desire for gain the voice for a new discipline the desire for preeminence the voice for liberty the desire for dominion the voice for the glory of God the desire for our own the voice for the good of the Church the desire for the wealth of the Church the voice for Righteousness the desire for the things of this world O miserable disproportion and contradiction of Voice and Desire of what we approve and what we would have Foolish men that we are to say Righteousness is the fairest object and yet to loath it to profess the Gospel is true and yet to live as if we were certain it were false I did not well to mention this for this hath nothing of desire in it this is not to seek but to run from Righteousness At best it is but a beam cast from the light of reason an acknowledgement against our wills an echo from a hollow cave or sepulchre of rotten bones which when all the world crieth up Righteousness resoundeth it back again into the world of so little activity that we may truly say Vox est preterea nihil It is a voice an echo and no more This then is not to seek Righteousness In the second place S. Paul hath told us of itching ears 2 Tim. 4.3 And we may observe some to have a greedy desire to hear of Righteousness And their listning after it their attention may seem to come near it Yet Righteousness dwelleth