Ahaz who said Because the Gods of the Kings of Syria help them 2 Chr. 28. 23. therefore will I sacrifice to them that they may help me by setting-up other Gods other helps and saying These be our Gods And this last is of so malignant an aspect that it makes the heavens of brass and that God to turn away his ears who is alwayes ready to hear and that which we call a prayer to be registred for a sin For by this we violate that Majesty before which we fall down we mock God and beseech him to do that which we are not perswaded he can do Which is to make him no better than an Idol which hath ears but hears not eyes but sees not hands but can do nothing And this is not to pray to God but to libel him to make him like unto our selves that there can be no trusting in him So that that of the Historian is here true Plura peccamus dum demoremur quà m dum offendimus Our Prayers are turned into sin and we never wrong God more then when we thus worship him Majestas injurias graviùs intelligit Kings are never more angry then when their Majesty is toucht then their wrath is as the roaring of a Lion Nor do we offend God so much when we doubt of his Will as when we distrust his Providence and his Power which are the parts of his Royalty And in this respect it is most true Magna est praesumptio de Deo quam non presumere It is a great presumption not to presume upon his Power non putare illum posse quod non putamus and not to think he can do what we cannot think And therefore that our prayers may ascend to that pitch we level them to even to the Throne of God We must consider him seated there as a King and as Omnipotent Which consists not in a bare apprehension or sense of the mind that there is a Divine Power greater and mightier than all nor in those common senses and notions as Tertullian calleth them which even the Heathen had They could say Deus videt omnia Deo me commendo God seeth all things and I commend my self to his protection Nay the Devils believe saith St. James and tremble They have a kind of belief and therefore have knowledge But here is requisite a full consent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens Alexandrinus speaketh a settled and full perswasion of heart touching the Providence and Power of God Upon this foundation we may build and settle our Devotion and raise it as high as heaven This makes our Prayer a Sacrifice this sets it on fire that the flame goes upward from off the altar of our hearts nay the Angel of the Lord ascends up with this flame and commonly returns back and descends with a message of comfort And although there may come upon us a fit of trembling when we look upon our selves yet if our prayer be formed according to Gods will we may draw near unto the throne of Grace in full assurance of faith that he will hear our prayers even then when he granteth not our requests and that he can do more for us than we can know how to desire Amongst other properties of Place the Philosopher requires Immobility If it be a Place it must be immoveable For if the body on which you place your self flit and glide away from under you you can never well rest and move upon it And certainly to go about to rest or settle our confidence on any other grounds but these is as if we should attempt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk on the air or tread the waters or build without foundation Put not your trust in Princes nor in the son of man for their breath goeth from them There the ground glideth away from under us Trust not on your own Wisdom and Power Your turning of devices shall be as the potters clay and shall break and crumble between your fingers There it flits away How can he help who hath no power how can he save who hath no arm or strength Nay we can find no stability in the Angels They are ministring spirits and their Elogium is They do Gods will But if he command not they have no sword to strike no buckler to defend And in Men we find less Vain is the help of Man Stas non stas cum in teipso stas For one man to put confidence in another is as if one begger should ask an alms of another or one cripple should carry another or the blind lead the blind It is very incident unto men in want not only to desire help but to doubt of the means which should help them A disease rising from their very want For it is natural to Desire to beget Fear and Doubting whilst the Phansie sets up morinos to fright us In us there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a flitting and unsatiable humor We cannot endure the deferring of our hopes But when God answereth us not neither by Urim nor by Prophets brings not in that aid we beg of him we presently droop and let go our confidence And if we speed not according to our desires we set-up some golden Calf straight Nor can we settle our Devotion till we have built and establisht our Confidence upon these two the Kingdom and the Power of God These are munimenta humanae imbecillitatis inexpugnabilia as Tertullian speaks impregnable fortresses of our humane weakness to keep us from that which we cannot withstand If God be with us who can be against us What is it we can desire which we may not find in the Fountain of Goodness What is there to be done which God cannot do There is no word no thing which shall be impossible unto him What thing soever we would have is but his Word If he speak the word it is done Art thou in darkness If he say Let there be light there shall be light Art thou in poverty If he say thy poverty shall be riches it shall be wealth Are thy sins more than the hairs of thy head If he say Thy sins are forgiven thee they are forgiven Here is the Power of God no sooner to speak but it is done His Power flows from his very Essence and whatsoever is done in heaven or in earth is done by his voice The voice of the Lord is upon the waters The voice of the Lord is powerful The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars yea the Lord breaketh the cedars Psal 29. of Lebanon I will not now speak any thing in particular of Gods Providence and Power by which he reigneth as King and governeth the world and every thing therein and doth whatsoever he will in heaven and in earth for of these I have spoken heretofore at large We will only at this time to remove our diffidence and distrust dig at the very root and cause of it and that is no less than a vile branch of
to help them Upon this little while depends eternity of punishment to the one and eternity of peace to the other Nor can we complain of the delay of that which will surely come to pass Beloved God hath these pauses and intervals and halts in all his proceedings in his punishments and in his deliverances He seems to study and meditate and use a kind of deliberation He works as it were by rule and line When God would build up Jerusalem he promiseth that a line should be stretched out upon her And when he would destroy Zech. 1. 16. the Idumaeans he threatens that he would stretch out upon them the line of Esa 34. 11. confusion So that when he will destroy and when he will build he stretcheth forth a line It is a Metaphor taken from Building which is a work of time and deliberation God is not sudden to lift up his hand to strike nor is he sudden to stretch forth his hand to help but as Builders do he first fits down and thinks he takes time as it were he fits and prepares his instruments he sets every thing in order and as wise artificers do he works by line and measure that he may make good his justice on the Wicked and magnify his mercy on the Meek How long did the Lord endure the old world even a hundred and twenty years while the Ark was a preparing And then there was a new Aera the Deluge brake in How long did he bear with the Amorites Even till their Wickedness was full and ripe for judgment as corn in harvest is for the sickle How long did he forbear his own people first the ten Tribes and then the other two Even till there was no remedie no hope of amendment till the Prophets cryed out HOASH It is desperate There is no hope All is lost Nor need we wonder at this his delay since the reason of it is plain and evident For God to manifest to the world that this wayes are not as our wayes but that he walks in a higher sphere beyond the reach of a carnal eye presenteth himself sometimes in a shape contrary to our expectation nay more doth those things which bear a resemblance of some opposition and repugnancy to his known and declared will And this he doth as it were on purpose to put our Faith and Constancy to a tryal to ask us the question and his afflictions are but questions Whether we will take him to be our God though he change his shape and worship him as well in his thunder as in his still voyce and call him Father in as loud an accent when he strikes us as we do when he favours us Or else on the other side he doth it to besiege and compass in obstinate offendors to shut the wicked up in their own net to bury them in their own pit and to strike them thorough with their own sword and as they have sported and trifled with his judgments so to mock and delude them that they shall not easily know when or how they are led to destruction or not know it till it be too late but run on in a merry dance to their ruine and into Hell at once God promises to love his Meek ones and to defend them as with a shield yet sometimes he so handles them as if he loved them not or had left off to love them or would not hear and help them stands as it were at a distance from them but even at this distance he is nigh to them that fear him Again though he have threatned to rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked yet many times he stays his Pasal 11. 6. hand and doth not strike he makes as if he would not punish them so that they walk delicately like Agag and say Surely the bitterness of 1 Sam. 15. 32. Death is past Nay often seems to cast an eye of favour upon them not to delay the blow it may fall yet heavier but which flesh and bloud too oft kindles at and frets it self to give them those rewards which are promised to Godliness He fills their Granaries he makes them mighty in power and to reign as Kings and would to God they did reign as Kings and not as Tyrants he crowneth them with happiness he seems to plead their cause as if it were just even against his own cause he makes them stronger than those whom he commands to oppose them and as bold and familiar with him as if they had him in a string But in this pleasant dream in this great security upon the sudden when their prosperity hath befooled them when they are ready to conclude they are good because they are temporally happy and that they have as good a title to Heaven as they have to the Earth and I fear indeed they have but as good a claim to the one as they have to the other in the midst of these big and triumphant thoughts God falls upon them and makes that which was their triumph their ruine He striks them at once for all he strikes the timbrel out of their hands and in the place thereof he leaves the cup of trembling He makes them see that they were the poorer for their riches the baser for their honour the weaker for their power and most wretched for their happiness that their successful proceedings which they boasted of were but as a beam darted from the Sun before a Tempest And now how fearfully and horribly are they consumed and brought to utter desolation Nor is this unjust with God For he comes not in this tempest till their obstinate impiety force him out of the cloud where he lay as hidden He doth not tell the Wicked that this PAULULUM this little while is theirs and that they may do what they will in it even beat their fellow-servant without fear of punishment that like Behemoth in the book of Job they may drink up a river and make it their sport to draw up Jordan even a whole Kingdom into their mouth I dare say there was never any PAULULUM never any so little little while in which God granted such a Commission But the Wicked abuse his long suffering and Divine indulgence They sport in this little while they send forth their edicts and make Orders against Law and Declarations against the Truth they teach God himself how to speak in Scripture and account that as an applause of their designs which was but an invitation to repentance And this is a bold Remonstrance against the King of Heaven himself And therefore this yet a little while this Divine Patience hath an effect answerable to the disposition and temper of those on whom it is shewed To them that make this PAULULUM God's PAULULUM that make use of this little while as of a little while and therefore make haste to be reconciled it is redemption and deliverance But to those who will be Domini rerum temporum will be Lords and
an angry Power and an offended Majesty Inviderat quia doluerat saith Tertullian He did envy us because he was grieved and his Pain increaseth with his Malice The first desire which threw him down was That he might be God and the next when he was fallen That there should be no God at all And being now in chains of everlasting darkness he hates that light which he cannot see And since God himself is at that infinite distance from him so full of power and majesty that his Malice cannot reach him he opposeth himself to the works of his hands and seeks to destroy him in his image as the poor man when he could not get his enemy into his hands whipt his statue Being much troubled saith Tertullian that God had given Man dominion over the works of his hands in Dei imagine quo sit in Deum odio ostendit he manifests his hatred to God in his image which he strives to deface Some think he envied the Hypostatical Union but this conjecture is not probable Most certain it is his extreme Misery enrageth his Malice and his Malice whets his Will and endeavors and maketh him very subtle to invent strange stratagems by which if we be not very wary he will steal our names from Christ to whom we have given them up and put them in his roll Nor is the working of his Malice hindred by the bad effect it produceth For the more he suffers the more malicious he is and the more malicious he is the more he suffers He grieves and is troubled that Men built up of flesh and bloud should keep the love of God on earth which he being a glorious Spirit lost in heaven that mortal Man should ascend to that pitch of happiness from whence he being an immortal Angel was flung down And though he know that his pains are increased by the condemnation of those whom he hath prevailed with to sin yet he strives to increase the number though with the increase of his pains and is content to suffer more so that more may suffer with him Nor need we wonder that the Devil who is so subtle a Serpent fails in such a point of wisdome For as his Subtlety and Wisdome is great so is his Malice which even in Man doth darken the eye of Reason and makes the Devil every day more a Devil to himself so that though he be very cunning to bring souls unto punishment yet he hath no wisdome to keep off the increase of it from himself Very busie he is to frame his accusations though when we come to the barr he must also be condemned as accessory Now as these two Malice and Envy which we have joyntly handled and together because they are so like are as inward incitements unto the Devil to accuse us so also is his Pride For he is king over all the children of pride as Job speaketh And this may be one cause though not the chief why he cannot repent Hoc vitio misericordiae medicina respuitur This is the sin which shuts down the portcullis to Mercy So that if God should have provided a plaster for his Malice his Pride would have refused it Infelix superbia dedignatur sub praeceptis coelestibus vivere Such is the infelicity of Pride that it can never be induced to be brought unto obedience of the heavenly commandments This was the sin which pluckt off his Angels wings and flung him down from heaven For not content to be no greater then he was he was made less then he was Ob hoc minus est quà m fuit quòd eo quod minus erat frui noluit saith Augustine Being not content to be an Angel of light he became a Devil and when heaven would not hold him unless he might be a God he was thrown into hell Nor is his Pride the less because his Malice is great For the Schools conclude that he preserved his naturals entire as his subtilty and agility He was a Spirit still and Pride as Malice proceeds from infirmity from decay And though we say that Pride as a moth will breed even in Humilities mantle yet it rather proceeds from our unnecessary gazing on it and misconstruing it then from the virtue it self The Devil is a spirit of an excellent essence and it cannot be said unto him saith the Father as it may be to Man Why art thou proud Dust and Ashes Again there be many sins which Men are subject to of which he cannot be actually guilty as Adultery Luxury Covetousness and the like therefore he is the bolder to accuse us And to this he incites us thinking his sin more hurtful to us then his punishment And this he is ready to lay to our charge that we as he have an ambition to be like unto the Highest and in every sin affect a kind of equality with God Still he would be as God our ruler and king the God of this world to lead or drive us at his pleasure And as God commands obedience that it may be well with us so doth he proclaim us rebels and since he cannot be our judge takes a pride in being our accuser Here his Art and Skill magnifieth it self that he can destroy what God was willing to save that he can make him hate what naturally he loved Here his Will and Eloquence is seen in drawing out arguments to which Man cannot answer in making our Sins our unrepented Sins cry louder then the Bloud of Christ in laying before Gods eyes those wounds which his mercy cannot heal Here he striveth to pluck God out of his throne by telling him he cannot be God and pardon such offenders Here he is wise and just still that Angel which would be equal with God Variis quisque causis ad accusandum compellitur There be divers causes saith Seneca which move men to accuse one another Some are spur'd on by Ambition others by Hatred some by Hope of reward But the Devils motives are his Malice and Envy to mankind and that which made him a Devil his Pride And now having shewed you the Devil as an Accuser we pass to the Application That we may learn to hate and detest that sin of Defamation lest if we leave our Brotherhood with our Advocate we get no better a Father then the Father of lies For we must not think the Devil is an Accuser only in defaming of us but also in teaching us to defame and accuse one another in speaking by us as he did by the Priests of his Temples and through our mouths breathing forth slanders as oracles He was an Accuser in the Jews and taught them to call Christ a wine-bibber a companion of publicanes and sinners to disgrace his Miracles and call them the works of Beelzebub He taught Elymas his own child as St. Paul calls him to pervert Acts 13. 10. the right wayes of the Lord. He taught the Heathen to call the first Christians Impostors and Traytors and Atheists to lay to
to a marriage-feast without a wedding-garment Yet we see many so come with their old cloaths and torn apparrel with the works of darkness not cast off but hanging still fast about them so that though they be there we may make a stand and doubt whether they be guests or no. We may doubt whether all be Christians in Christendome whether all in the Church be parts and members of the Church Did I say we might doubt Ecclesiam in Ecclesia quaerere Why no doubt Guests they are They were invited to the wedding and so guests They are in the company of those who were called to the feast and so of that Church and Congregation All this they may be even guests cum privilegio they may partake of all Church-prerogatives be washed in Christs laver frequent his house sit-down at his table and yet for all this be questioned nay be thrust out of doors and cast into utter darkness The Cardinal maketh it a controversie and methinks a needless one Whether magni manifesti peccatores great and open sinners and reprobates be not members of the true Church And it is the Heresie forsooth of Wickliff Hus and Calvin to deny it Novum crimen Cai Caesar Shall I say a new heresie and till of late unheard of No a plain truth it is and St. Augustine long since cryed it up with an Absit Absit ut monstra illa in membris illius Columbae computentur Lib. 2. contra Crescon Don. God forbid that these monsters should be reputed members of that innocent Dove Can we conceive Christs body with dry arms and dead parts and the City of God to be inhabited by devils Or is it possible Christs members should be thrown into hell Indeed let the Church be as he makes and presents it visibilis palpabilis a Church that may be seen and felt Let her have a body as well as a soul as St. Augustine gives her And then members they are but not intrinsecùs and in occulto intus as St. Augustine speaks not intrinsecally in that Collection of Saints not veritate finis as himself confesseth to that end and purpose they are called Nominals not Reals numero non merito in number not in weight equivocal members as we call a painted hand a Hand and a dead man a Man But we had rather let the Cardinal tell us what members they are Capilli sunt ungues mali humores they are his own words The true Christian is placed in the body as an Eye or an Ear or a Hand or a Foot But the wicked what are they Even as the Hair or Nayls or bad Humors in the body Cives non cives such members of Christs Church as Traitours are of a Common-wealth as Cataline and Cethegus were at Rome members that would eat-out the very bowels of their body and subvert Church and Christ and all But we will not funem contentionis ducere as Tertullian speaks teaseout the controversie too far Upon the upshot we shall find that we are fallen upon that fallacy which by the Logicians is called Ignoratio elenchi We fight in a mist and mistake the question quite Let us joyn issue agree upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the matter in hand let the face of the Church be the same and not vary and change colour in our alteration and the question is stated the controversie at an end For it is agreed upon on all hands That Christ hath a Floor to be purged That there are Tares amongst his Wheat That at the marriage of the Kings Sons though the guests perceive it not the King when he comes will spy some one or other that hath not on his wedding-garment That in the Church of God mali miscentur bonis the Evil are mingled with the Good to file them to an edge and brightness saith Gregory Call them Guests Friends Christians Members of the Church give them what titles you please syllabae non salvant Heaven we may gain by violence but not by spells and inchantment Names and titles will not save us Write the Devil saith Bede calculo candido in a fair character in white silver letters yet he is a Devil still and his signification is Darkness Write out an Aegyptians name with chalk yet who will say an Aethiopian is white Paint Thersites in Achilles 's armor will it stile him valiant A lame commendation it is to be a Christian in a picture to have a name only that we live to give-up no more than our names to Christ and take no more from him than his to come into the Church by the water of Baptism and to go-out by a deluge of sin A poor comfort to be the Kings guest and be questioned intrare ut exeamus to enter into his courts and then be turned out of doors This is the cafe of the Guest here who in a throng was as good as the best as well apparelled as well prepared as any but coram Deo in the Kings eyes naked and miserable and is therefore questioned Quomodo HUC INTRASTI How camest thou in hither Which is our next Part. The King is moved at the sight of the guests and one of them he questions Affections are commotions saith the Philosopher They make an earth-quake in us they move us to speak oftentimes what otherwise we would not Commonly then the language is violent and peremptory not in cold terms and by way of a plain declaration of our mind but by a sudden and abrupt interrogation Thus in Fear What shall I do saith the Steward in Love How fair art thou oh my beloved saith Christ to Luke 16. his Church in Anger Who made thee a judge say the to Moses in Acts 6. Admiration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostles of the Temple Mark 13. 1. What stones and what buildings are these And here the King comes-in one would think to welcome his guests but upon the sight of an unpleasing object he is moved spying one there who had not on a wedding-garment he is quick and round with him He says not It is not well done to come naked If you will taste of my dainties you must bring your garment with you but How cam'st thou in hither But what moved the King What raised the storm May we not set up a Quare against the Kings Quomodo May we not ask why the King asketh how he came thither How came he thither Why he was invited to come he was sent for and intreated kindly to come and he had been very unadvised if he had stayed behind We know it cost some their lives slain they were that refused Quomodo in the dining-room is a strange question v. 7. but a cold welcome to invite a guest and then ask him how he came thither But this King we know is never angry without cause He is not as Man Numb 23. 19. that he should lye is not as some men are qui irascuntur quia
irascuntur who are angry because they are angry whose Anger runneth round in a circle and begins and ends in it self Much less is God angry to shew his power and to make his Anger the herald of his Autoritie as it is observable in some men who have crept into some place and power more than they merited Angry they will be angry they must be if it be but to shew what mischief they can do what wonders they can work with a frown No this King non nisi laesus irascitur If he be angry he is provoked If he be moved there is cause for it And here is good cause indeed we have toucht upon it before It is not in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his being there it is in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his not having on a wedding-garment This moved the King this forced him to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his harsh interrogation this call'd up the tempest the wind a wind that blows out of the Divels treasury O quale spectaculum malus in Ecclesia Oh what a horrid spectacle is an ill-apparelled an unprepared at a wedding in the bride-chamber a bad Christian in the Church of God God cannot come near him but a tempest is moved round about him At the very sight of him he begins to ask questions he is at QUOMODO streight And we cannot easily say whether it be QUOMODO exprobrantis or indignantis or dolentis or admirantis or accusantis Indeed it includes all For by way of upbraiding in grief and anger full of admiration at so strange neglect the King proceeds against the Guest ex formula formally and legally as we use in our Courts of Justice Quomodo huc intrasti it is stilus curiae the set-form he useth at that great day of Judicature at that day of wrath and retribution It is a plain inditement Quomodo huc intrasti is the bill of accusation and non habens vestem nuptialem the main article We have now brought this Guest to his tryal and must plead against him Therefore we will resolve this Question for so a Question may be resolved into a Syllogisme And here the conclusion is primae veritatis very evident No man ought to come thus torn and ragged into the Kings court No man to come to this marriage-feast without a wedding-garment No execrable thing to be in Israel no wicked profane person in the Church A very principle in Divinity one would think undenyable unquestionable and which needs no demonstration Saul amongst the Prophets is not so absur'd and strange a sight as Judas amongst the Disciples of Christ or an Infidel amongst Christians I say a principle it is in Divinity No coming to Christ without Faith and Charity But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such is the unreasonableness of Sin and Impiety that it denyeth principles corrups and perverts the Gospel rejects the truth gives the lye to Scripture contradicts Christ and would overthrow the whole body of Christian policie The guest here no doubt knew the Kings coat and colours what garments he was to come in But in an obstinate rudeness he thinks them not worth the wearing To the King he goes in his old rags to the feast with his rebellion and ingratitude about him How camest thou in hither Why ask we him the question He is condemned already Let the next Verse take hold of him TOLLE ET LIGA Take him away bind him hand and foot cast him into utter darkness But we must follow the Kings method here The King we see doth not punish before he questions nor doth he question without reason There is a QUARE to this QUOMODO a Why to this How Why he came thither and How he came thither Upon just calculation we shall find there be many arguments and unavoidable reasons against him why he should not thus have come And we draw them first from the Persons the Person inviting a King and the Persons invited no Kings I am sure but beggars rather poor and maimed taken out of the high-wayes and streets places of no refuge or shelter And these lead us to the rest the invitation gracious and by an honorable way his servants the Feast a royal feast the Place the Bridegroom's chamber lastly the Garment an honorable wear taken out of the Kings own wardrobe The King came-in That is the first A working word full of efficacy able to becalm a storm to allay a tumult to quench rebellion It is the KING The very word strikes revenge thorough us and remembers us of our duty and allegiance The Stoick tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All duties are measured by relations And of all relations the first and highest is that of a Subject to a King If I be a King where is my honour saith God And if God saith it who is King of Kings not to fall down is Treason to neglect him Rebellion and Rebellion is Witchcraft and Witchcraft implies a compact with the Devil the enemy of God and all Goodness And such a league is Treason Where Nazianzene tells us that Christ is a King he adds withall Ecquis hoc nomen incassum audierit Shall any hear or take this name in vain Is God our King Then every word of his must be our motion and drive us about If he say Come we must come and if he say Go we must go and if he say Do this we must do it Now his word is CUSTODI VESTIMENTA That we should keep our garments and look what apparel we come in If when the Devil hath stript us or hath put upon us strange apparel upon I know Zeph. 1. 8. not what presumption we approach God's courts it is a slight and a Slight is Treason It is a plain NOLUMUS HUNC REGNARE We will not that this King should raign over us We will not admit of his absolute power that he shall enjoyn us what apparel he please and entertain us upon conditions If we may not break our fast with God and surfet at the Devils Table if we may not come to his feast with the Devils livery then nolumus hunc regnare we groan under him as under a cruel Tyrant we cast-off our allegiance and un-king him his requests and his commands his letters and his proclamations his counsels and his precepts all are hard and harsh sayings who can bear them And now tell me Is not this to decree for Satan to prefer Sin before Grace and the Devil before God and in a strange contempt to declare the precedencie for our adversary Is not this in Clemen 's phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make God contemptible Sure this argument à personâ will reach home and warrant us to meet the Guest with a Quomodo and ask him the question How he dareth thus come to a King It makes up the Imprimis against him and brings him in guilty of no less crime then Treason and Rebellion But we may exalt this consideration and re-inforce the
which is streight doth manifest not it self only but that also which is irregular After this manner pray ye denyes and forbids any other manner which is opposite to it Here by the way give me leave to tell you that Christ gives no direction for our Gesture He teacheth us not in what posture we should pray but what the subject of our prayer must be Religion and Reason both teach us that Prayer is an act of adoration and must be done with reverence Where these fail Profaneness and Self-will soon rise up against Religion and Reason quarrel with those things which no Wiseman would ever call into dispute The manner of gesture hath been various in all ages yet all ages have acknowledged Reverence an inseparable companion of Prayer When the Christians prayed toward the East the Heathens said that they worshipped the Sun But the Fathers reasons were these which are not indeed reasons of a necessitating force but only motives and inducements In honour to our Saviour they look that way because when He was on the Cross his face was turned toward the West saith Justin Martyr Divinis rebus operantes in eam coeli plagam convertimus à qua lucis exordium saith Ambrose In our Devotions we turn our eyes to that part of the heavens from whence we have the beginning of light Lastly they prayed that way not to adore the Eucharist but Christ himself These reasons although not convincing to demonstrate that it must be thus yet to quiet and devout minds are sufficient motives to perswade that God will rather approve than dislike it if it be thus We may use any lawful means to express our affection to God and to our blessed Saviour and these things can trouble none but those qui erubescunt Deum revereri who are ashamed and afraid to do too much reverence to God I need not mention the Elevation of their eyes to heaven which the Heathen derided also and said they did but number the clouds nor the Expansion and Spreading abroad of their hands for which they give no other reason but this They did it that by this gesture they might confess the passion of Christ who was stretched upon the Cross a reason of no more force than the former which yet prevailed with the blessed Saints and Martyrs and the wisest of the Church The Ethnicks prayed with their heads covered as Plutarch observes The Christians uncovered theirs because they were not ashamed to pray unto God The most common gesture amongst Christians was projici in genua to fall upon their knees And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the very Apostles times saith Justine and memoris ecclesiastici saith Hierome the perpetual practice of the Church To this they added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cast themselves upon their face and this was used in rebus attonitis saith Tertullian when the Church was astonisht with the rage of persecutions and to shew how unworthy they were to appear before the great Majesty of heaven and earth These and what other gestures soever which Reason or Reverence commend we may safely use and it will prove but a weak Apology for our neglect to say they are superstitious Suppose the very Pagans used the same yet this will be no good argument to make us abhor them For if they thought that by these they did best express their reverence why may not we civitate nay ecclesià donare admit them into the Church and exhibit as great reverence to the true God as they did to the false If our Saviour when he bids us not be like the Gentiles had meant Matth. 6. 8. we should not be like them in any thing he had also excluded Prayer it self I will insist no longer upon this but conclude with him in Plantus qui nihil facit nisi quod sibi placet nugas agit He is a very trifler which will do nothing but what pleaseth himself at the very first sight or rather with St. Paul If any man mind to be contentious we have no such custome neither 1 Cor. 11. 16. the Churches of God After this manner pray ye was not spoken to teach us what gesture we should use For he that knows what Prayer is unless he mind to be perverse and obstinate cannot be in this to seek But it is opposed to the vain babling and multiplicity of words which the Heathen used as if God could not hear them nisi centies idem sit dictum unless they spake the same thing an hundred times Which Cyprian most properly says is not to pray but ventilare preces tumultuosâ loquacitate jactare to toss up and down our prayers and cast them as those that winnow use to do from one hand into another and Cyril 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but to make a noyse and babble The word in the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken as it may seem from Battus the herdsman in the Poet who took delight in such vain repetitions Sub illis Montibus inquit erant erant sub montibus illis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Prodicus in Aristotles Topicks divided Pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which three signifie one and the same thing This the Greek hath a proper word for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from one Dates a Persian who being in Greece and affecting the Greek tongue was wont to heap up Synonymas as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words are all one Two Interpretations we find of Christs words one That by this he forbids all vain repetition of the same words another That he cuts off all multiplying of words Which both may be well confest if we rightly consider our Saviours words where he gives the reason why we should not in this be like the Heathen For they think they shall be heard for v. 7. their much babling Now to have affected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theophylact speaketh long and inconsiderate expressions of their mind or vain iterations of the same words as if God were taken with such babling had been to be like the Heathen indeed For this Elijah mocked Baals Priests Cry aloud for he is a God Either he is talking or he is pursuing 1 Kings 18. 27 or he is in his journey or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked To this doth our Saviour oppose the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and commands us not to pray so but after this manner And this exposition is grounded upon the cause which our Saviour gives why we should not use such repetitions For your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask And if our heavenly Father can prevent our desires what need we speak so often when he can hear us before we speak This precept then non consistit in puncto is not to be strictly urged as opposed to all repetitions of the same words but we must weigh and rightly ponder our Saviours intent For
our Christian Philosophy We read no Acroamatical lectures but open all truths as far as it hath pleased the King of heaven to reveal them Nor must any man take them as things out of his sphere and above his reach Besides it is our duty to take from you all gross and carnal conceits of God And we have just cause to fear that some are little better perswaded of God than the ancient Anthropomorphites who thought that God hath hands and feet and is in outward shape proportioned unto us If you yet doubt of the use of this the Prophet David shall most pathetically apply it for me Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither Psal 139. 7. shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me Now nothing can be of greater force to restrain us from sin then a strong perswasion and assurance that whatsoever we do or think lyeth open to the view and survey of some Eye that is over us Secrecy is much desired amongst men and there is no such fomenter of evil actions as it is For what no man knows is accounted as not done But magna necessitas indicta probitatis saith Boetius There is a kind of necessity of doing well laid upon us when we know that God is a witness and observer of our actions What rocks canst thou call to cover thee what hills to hide thee from his eyes What night can veil thee Propè est à te Deus tecum est intus est saith Seneca God is near thee is with thee is within thee Cui obscura lucent muta respondent silentium confitetur saith Leo To him Darkness is as light as the Day the Dumb speak and Silence shriveth it self Think not because God is in heaven he cannot see thee at such a distance For he fills both the heaven and the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He beholds all things and heareth all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Basil calls him From heaven he beholds the children of men and considereth all Psal 33. 13 14 15. their wayes To him thy Complement is a lye thy Dissimulation open thy Hypocrisie unmaskt thy Thoughts as vocal as thy Words thy Whisper as loud as Thunder and thy Secresie as open as the Day All things are written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Gods Book Nay he keeps a Book in the very closet of thy soul the only Book of all thy Library saith Bernard which goes along with thee into the world to come He sees the Title of the Book SINS and the Dedication of it To the Prince of Sin The several Chapters so many several Sins and every Letter a character of Sin Quid prodest inclusam habere conscientiam patemus Deo saith Lactantius Why do we shut-up this Book God can read it when it is shut-up Why do we bribe our Conscience to be quiet God understands her language when she faulters Why do we lay these pillows to rest on We are awake to God when we are fast asleep The very strumpets of Rome who were wont to dance naked upon the stage to make the people sport yet would not do it whilst Cato was present Behold not Cato but God himself is in presence qui omnia novit omnia notat who knows all things and marks and observes all things Which are the two acts of his Providence We have still over us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Basil speaks a super-intending Eye which tryeth the sons of men and pondereth all their thoughts Therefore the Father said well Ubi est Dei memoria ibt peccatorum oblivium malorum interitus the very memory of God is an antidote against sin For the most secret Sin we commit is as open to him as that which is committed before the Sun and the People We read in Velleius Paterculus of Livius Drusus a great Gentleman of Rome who being about to build him an house his work-man told him that he could so cunningly contrive the windows the lights the doors of it that no man should be able to look in and see what he was a doing But Drusus answered him If you desire to give me content then so contrive the lights of my house that all may look in and see what I do St. Hilary doth make the application for me In omnibus vitae nostrae operibus circumspecti ad Deum patentes esse debemus This is the right fabrick of a Christian mans soul which being innocent still opens and unfolds it self unto God and is so much the better contrived by how much the more liberally it admits of light ut liberis per innocentiam patulis cordibus Deus dignetur lumen suum infundere that innocencie having broken down all the strong holds and fenses of Sin and laid open the gates of the Heart the King of glory may enter in and fill it with the light of his countenance Oh what a preservative against Sin is it to think that all that we do we do in Divinitatis sinu as the Father speaks in the bosome of the Divinity When I fast and when I surfet when I bless and when I curse when I praise God and when I blaspheme him I am still even in his very bosome When we behave our selves as in the bosome of our Father God handles us then as a Father as if we were in his bosome He gives us an EUGE Well done good children But when our behaviour is as if we were in a Wilderness or Grot or Cave or Theater rather rhen in the bosome of God majori contumelià ejus intra quem haec agimus peccamus we are most contumelious to him in whose bosome we are We have seen now some light in this cloud and have gained this observation That Gods all-seeing Eye will find us out when our curtains are drawn That what we dare not let others behold he looks upon That what we dare not behold our selves he sees ad nudum as the Schools speak naked as it is You will ask now Is not God in every place and if he be in the earth in hell beyond the seas why then are we bound to say Our Father which art in heaven Not because heaven doth contein him but because his Majesty and Glory is there most apparent God calls heaven his seat his holy habitation and he is every where in Scripture stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 66. 1. Deut. 26. 15. heavenly We will not here spin-out any curious discourse concerning Heaven as those did in St. Augustine who did so intently dispute of the caelestial Globe ut in coelo habitare se crederent de quo disputabant that to themselves they seemed to dwell there and to have made Heaven their Kingdome as well
it self or whatsoever may be disadvantageous unto us or that of St. Augustine who forgetting that he had made seven Petitions in his second Book upon the Sermon on the Mount makes this clause the same with the former bring nothing contrary to truth or indeed to this interpretation Having therefore shut-up and concluded all evil in him who is the Father of Evil we will 1. consider him first as an enemy to Mankind 2. lay-down reasons why he is so and why we should make preparation against him and 3. discover some Stratagems which he useth to bring his enterprises to pass And first that the Devil is our enemy we need not doubt For the Apostle hath openly proclaimed him so We wrestle not with flesh and Ephes 6. 12. bloud against Men as weak and mortal as our selves but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world that is against the Devil and his Angels against spiritual wickedness in high places that is as himself speaks in the second Chapter against those spirits which rule in the air And therefore St. Basil gives us 1. his Name which is SATANAS an adversary and DIABOLUS a Devil because he is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fellow-worker with us in sin and when it is committed an accuser 2. his Nature He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incorporeal 3. his Dignity It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a principality 4. the Place of his principality He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the air and is therefore called the Prince of this world His Anger is implacable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as immortal as himself not as Mans who is never angry but with particulars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as with Cleon and Socrates but not with man Satans Anger and Hatred is bent against the whole nature of Man Cùm sit ipse poenalis quaerit ad poenam comites Being even a punishment unto himself he would have all men with him come under the same lash And if he cannot win a Soul by invasion he attempts it by stratagem To this end as he makes use of Pleasure and Content so he doth of Affliction and Sorrow Operatio ejus est hominum eversio His very working and operation is nothing else but for the eversion and ruine of mankind Nec definit perditus perdere being fallen himself he would draw all men after him The bodies of men he plagueth with diseases and their souls with sudden and unusual distractions being able through the subtility and spirituality of his nature to work-upon both invisibilis in actu in effectu apparens invisible and insensible in the act but manifestly seen in the effect He cheated men with oracles struck them with diseases and pretended a cure desinens laedere curasse credebatur when he did not hurt them he was thought to have healed them By these arts he insinuated him self into the minds of ignorant men and at last was honoured with Temples and Altars and Sacrifices and gained a Principality and kind of Godhead in the world But now his Oracles are stilled his Altars beat down and he is driven out of his Temples But yet he is a Devil still and an Enemy and rules in the air and upon permission may make use of one creature to destroy another And his Power is just though his Will be malicious Quod ipse facere iniquè appetit hoc Deus fieri non nisi justè permittit What he wickedly desires to do that God may suffer justly to be done We will not not say that the evil Spirits visibly fight against us and try it out with fists as those foolish Monks in St. Hierom boasted of themselves that they had often tried this kind of hardiment with them to make themselves a miracle to the ignorant rout who are more taken with lies than with truth We are not apt to believe that story or rather fable in St. Hierome of Paul the Hermite who met the Devil first as a Hippocentaur next as a Satyr and last of all as a Shee-wolf or that of Hilarion to whom were presented many fearful things the roaring of Lions the noise of an Army and a chariot of fire coming upon him and Wolves and Foxes and Sword-players and wicked Women and I cannot tell what For it is scarce expressable what a creating faculty Melancholy and Solitariness and Phansie have ut non videant quae sunt videre se putent quae non sunt that when we do not see those things which are yet they make us believe we see those things which are not We will not speak of Spirits possessing the bodies of men Which power we cannot deny but they have Yet I am perswaded these after-ages have not frequently seen any such dismal effects The world hath been too much troubled with lies and many counterfeits have been discovered even in our times And for us Protestants we see no such signs no such wonders But these Devils are as common as Flies in Summer amongst them who boast of an art and skill they have in casting them out You would think they enterd men on purpose that these men might shew their activity in driving them away and so confirm and make good their Religion make themselves equal to those primitive Christians quorum verbis tanquam flagris verberati nomina aedebant who with their very words would make them roar as if they had been beaten with whips till they confest they were devils and did tell their names We may say of these in our daies as he doth of superstitious Dreams Ipsâ jam facilitate auctoritatem perdiderunt They are too common to be true And because so many of these strange relations have been manifestly false we may be pardoned if we detrect a little and believe not those few which are true For the mixture of fictions in many a good history hath many times made even Truth it self seem fabulous But yet though we suspend our belief and do not suddenly and hand over head subscribe unto these we are not like those Philosophers in Tully qui omnia ad sensus referebant who referred all to their senses and would believe no more than what they did see For these evil Spirits may be near us and we see them not they may be about our paths and we discern them not Many effects of theirs no doubt we may see and yet can have no assurance that they were theirs For that light of their intellectual nature is not put-out but they know how to apply active qualities to passive and diversly upon occasion to temper natural causes being well seen and versed in the book of Nature And this knowledge of theirs is enlarged and advanced by the experience of so many thousand years and their experience promoted and confirmed by an indefatigable and uncessant survey of the things of this world which is not stayed and held back by any pause or interval nor needs any repair or help by
Atheism by which we doubt of Gods approach because we cannot find-out his wayes and rely not upon his Power because we see not how it works but is many times as invisible as himself because this omnipotent and wise King never presents himself to the eye of mortal men nor doth so evidently manifest his power as to leave no place for doubting because he suffers fools to ride on horsback and wisemen to lacquey it by their sides because he thunders not upon the wicked but lets them rain-down hailstones and coals of fire upon the just And these are the complaints of weak and ignorant men who though they see miracles every day will not believe nor are content with those evident marks and impressions of Gods Power which are as legible in his works as if they had been written with the Sun-beams but must have him in a manner condescend to be incarnate again to become like unto themselves and perform his actions as a Man Now to these men qui contra se ingenio suo utuntur who use their wit and reason against themselves to destroy in themselves that Confidence without which they are worse than the beasts that perish we need say no more than this That in this dispute they do betray their ignorance of the nature of Faith upon which true Religion is builded For the force efficacie of Faith is seen where there be sufficient reasons to move us to believe but not such which will leave no room for doubting if men of a wicked stiff-neck do violently oppose the truth For that is true Religion which is freely and willingly enterteined by us not that which is forced upon us or extorted from us Therfore God doth not make himself visible to man For Majesty is no fit object for a mortal eye Nor doth he always follow the wicked with his rod that every man may see him strike nor fills he the righteous with good things before the Sun the people For thus to take away all occasion of doubting were in effect to take away Faith it self quae non nisi difficultate constat whose merit it is to believe more then can be seen or known by evidence of demonstration and by leaving no place for Infidelity leave no matter for our Faith Since God hath taught us more then the beasts of the field since that which may be known of God is manifest in the Creature since he hath made the World a book and each Creature a leaf wherein are written the lively characters of a Deity since he hath even shapen himself unto us as a God of mercy in his manifold blessings since many times he comes with a tempest and a fire before him that we may even see him in that tempest and that fire since he hath shewn himself in those effects of which we can give no reason but must cry out DIGITUS DEI EST HIC the finger of God is here since he hath given us so many strange deliverances from sins which we might have committed and from punishments which we might have suffered that we cannot but say MANUS DEI EST HIC the hand of God is here his right hand his powerful hand since he inspires us with so many good thoughts that enter into our souls invisibly insensibly that we must needs confess EST DEUS IN NOBIS God is even in us let us not make it a reason to doubt of his Power when our Reason is at a stand and cannot resolve every doubt or conceive he is not a powerful King because we do not touch and feel and handle him He is near unto us though we see him not he is about our paths when we perceive it not when we rove about the world he is our King and when we are in the dust he is as powerful as when he lifts us up into a throne It concerns not us to know how his Providence worketh It is enough for us to know that he is our King and our powerful God Which if we weigh it as we should will work in us that Assurance which is the stay and prop of our devotions Here we may rest and need seek no further This knowledge is sufficient for me when I know not the manner how he works to know that he worketh all in all and that wheresoever I am I am still under the protection of that King who governs the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the law of his Providence and of that God who is omnipotent Hence we may conclude with the Prophet Whatsoever we desire or request if it be marvellous in the eyes Zech. 8. 6. of the people yet there is no reason it should be marvellous in the eyes of the Lord of hosts And if those cursed Hereticks which Epiphanius calls the Satanicans who were almost the same with the Massalians were forward to worship the Devil upon no other motive than this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they conceived he was great and powerful and the Romans did worship their Goddess Febris ut minùs noceret because they thought she had power to hurt them then much rather let us make our address to the God of heaven who hath the Devil in a chain and hath beat down his temples and destroyed his altars and laid his honor in the dust and let us commence our suits unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly Eph. 3. 20. above all we can ask or think and in full assurance present our wants unto him who is our King and powerful God that as the kingdom and power is his so he may have the glory And having thus acknowledged the Kingdom and Power to be his we cannot but end in GLORIA ALTISSIMO Glory be to God on high and take them all three together and make up the-Doxologie Thus we must conclude But I told you that this Conclusion was but the collection of so many reasons or motives to make Prayer it self a conclusion The Glory of God is Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End This is it which makes us cry ABBA Father And when He hears us and grants us our requests this is the end this is the first wheel and this is the last So that take the whole subsistence of a Christian in the state of Grace and the state of Glory and it is but one continued and constant motion of Glorifying God GLORIA DEO Glory and God these two you cannot separate them because He is our King and our Lord. If we take Glory to our selves we loose it and our glory is our shame And this is a lesson which we learn from God himself and the first lesson that ever he taught For no sooner had he made the Creatures but he says of them that they were good that is he saw his own glory in them And if we pray as he commands our Prayers are his creatures and he will say of them that they are good and behold his glory in