of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews The wiseman saith Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles c. To be nobly born is naturale medium stimulus ad virtutem gloriam as one saith it is a natural help and a singular incitation and provocation to riches and glory When Bathshebah would disswade Solomon her Son from intemperancy in drinking she brings an Argument from the nobleness of his birth Prov. 31. 4. It is not for Kings O Lemuel It is not for Kings to drink Wine nor for Princes strong drink It is not fit for any to drink immoderately much less for Kings and Princes Alexander scorned to run a Race with any who were not Kings because he himself was a Kings Son And because Themistocles was a great General therfore he would not stoop to take up a rich Booty but bids a common Souldier do it Nobility is a great spur to vertue The very Heathen could say Fortes creantur fortibus bonis Virtue when it is joyned with Nobility is much more glorious and illustrious than when joyned with poverty It is like a Diamond in a Golden Ring It is much more beautiful and much more useful and serviceable And therefore it is reckoned as a great judgement when the Nobles are cut off from a Nation Isaiah 39. 12. They shall call the Nobles thereof to the Kingdom but none shall be there and all their Princes shall be nothing 3. To be born in a rich fruitfull and religious Nation is no inconsiderable privilege For that God which sets bounds to our lives which we cannot pass doth also set bounds to our habitations Act. 17. 26. And hath made of one bloud all Nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation That one man is born in Spain another in France another in Turks non fit Casu sed à Deo desinitur It is not by Chance and Fortune but by the wise ordering of God When God first scattered men over the face of the earth it was divino ductu distributione by divine guidance and distribution and as some think saith Streso by the Ministry of Angels As Joshua distributed the Land of Canaan by a divine lot So doth God by his Providence appoint in what places of the world every man shall dwell It is no little happiness to us that are now assembled this day that wee are by Nation Englishmen When Julius Caesar first came into Britain which we now call England hee thought he had found out another world Aristides a Greek Author cals it by way of excellency The great Island Charles the Great stiles it The granary and Storehouse for the Western world Matth. Parisiensis calls it hortus deliciarum puteus inexhaustus c. A Paradise of pleasures a well which can never be drawn dry Iosephus saith That if God had made the world round like a Ring as he hath done like a Globe Britain might most worthily have been the gem of it If all the world were made into a Ring Britain the Gem and grace thereto should bring There are four other considerations may be added in commendation of this fortunate Island as it hath anciently been called of great Britain 1. It was one of the first Nations that were converted from heathenism unto Christianity the learned Arch-bishop of Armagh proveth by undeniable Arguments that Ioseph of Arimathea Preached and Planted the Gospel in Britain The Apostle 2 Tim. 4. 21. makes mention of Claudia and Pudens her Husband That this Claudia was of the British Nation the same Authour proves by an Epigram in Martial Claudia caeruleis cum sit Ruffina Britannis Edita cur Latiae pectora plebis habet c. 2. The first King that ever professed Christian Religion was King Lucius born here in this Nation 3. The first Emperor that ever owned Christ and his Gospell was Constantine the great born in England 4. The first King that ever renounced the Popes Supremacy was King Henry the Eight and the first King that ever wrote against the Pope to prove him to be the Antichrist and the whore of Babylon was King Iames of famous memory And therefore I may safely say That it is a providence not to be slighted and disregarded that we are by Nation Englishmen Fourthly to be born in a Noble and famous City is a desirable privilege Paul reckoneth it as a mercy that hee was born in Tarsus and that he was a Citizen of no mean City There is I confess some contention amongst learned men about the place of Pauls birth As seven Cities strove about Homers birth so there are many places which challenge an interest in this holy Apostle Hierome brings it as the common opinion of his time that he was born in Giscalis a Town in Iudaea and bred up in Tarsus But in another place he recants this opinion and yet it is revived by Beda Masius and Arias Montanus Some say hee was born in Graecia others that hee was a Citizen of Rome But as Lorinus well saith Paulo ipsi natale suum prodenti solum credendum est Wee must believe Paul above all other witnesses He saith expresly That hee was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Born in Tarsus indeed he saith of himself that he was a Roman But how Not by birth but because Tarsus was invested with the Roman privileges There was a time when it was a singular Prerogative to be a Citizen of Rome Haec vox civis Romanus sum saepe in ultimis Terris c. This word I am a Roman Citizen relieved and rescued many in the utmost parts of the Earth It was terror mundi saith Cicero It was not lawfull to binde or scourge a Roman Citizen the chief Captain paid dear for this freedom but Paul was free-born because born in Tarsus which was a Roman Colony and made free of Rome by M. Antonius It is no contemptible Prerogative to us here present that we were born in London a City famous in Nero's time which is almost 1600. yeares ago for concourse of Merchants and of great renowne for provision of all things necessary Ammianus Marcellinus gives it a glorious Title calling it Augusta a stately and magnificent City This was 1200 years ago Cornelius Tacitus 300. years before him saith that it was valde celebre copiâ negotiatorum commeatu very renowned for commerce and multitude of Merchants It is the Metropolis and Mother-City of the Nation If England be a Paradise of pleasure London is as the Tree of life in this Paradise And surely if Plato accounted it a great honour that he was a Grecian born and not a Barbarian and that he was not onely a Grecian but an Athenian it must needs be an honour to
us here assembled not onely that we are Englishmen but Englishmen born in the Noble and famous City of London That we are Citizens of no mean City If any here desire to be farther informed of the excellency of this City let me intreat him to peruse a Booke printed this year composed by Mr. James Howel called Londinopolis Thus you have the PropositioÌ„ explained in all the four Branches of it But now I must adde That though the things forementioned be considerable Privileges yet they are but outward and temporal privileges common to the worst as well as the best of men Cateline was born in Rome as well as Caesar Caligula and Nero as well as Augustus and Trajan They are but fleshly and carnal prerogatives which a man may enjoy and yet be under the wrath of God and guilt of eternal damnation They are the Privileges of Paul a Pharisee and of Paul a Persecutor they are such Privileges which after he was converted he accounted but as dung and dross in comparison of and competition with the Lord Jesus Christ But yet howsoever they are privileges passages of Divine Providence not to be sleighted And therefore in the Application I shall first improve this PropositioÌ„ as it is a desirable privilege secondly as it is but an outward common and temporal privilege First As it is a considerable and desirable privilege and upon this account alone it will afford us three profitable and seasonable Exhortations Let us this day bless the Lord for this mercy that we are Englishmen and Londoners born and especially that we were born in England since it became Christian and since it was reformed from Popish Superstition There was a time when Britain was tristissimum superstitionum chaos when London was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as Paul saith of Athens a City wholly given to idolatry when we offered our sons and daughters alive in Sacrifice to those that were no Gods non ad honorem sed ad injuriaâ—s religionis not as an honour but as a shame to Religion The time was when we were drowned in popish superstition when England was the Popes Vassail and the Popes Asse as it was called to bear all his burdens but God out of his infinite mercy hath freed us of those burdens and we have enjoyed the Protestant reformed Religion for an hundred years together O let us bless God that we were born in England since it was reformed from Heathenism and Popery that we were born not in Egypt but in Goshen not in a valley of darkness but in a valley of vision not in Babylon but in Sion as you heard excellently the last year Leâ— us bless God that we were born in London not onely because of the excellency of the situation of it and the many outward accommodations to be found in it above other Cities but because of the abundance of the Gospel of salvation herein dispensed It is said of the Isle of Rhodes that it is fo happy an Island that there is not one day in the year in which the Sun doth not shine upon it this is true of London in a spiritual sense there is not one day in the year in which you do not enjoy the sunâ—shine of the Gospel This is the glory of London without this London is no more than Ligorn or Constantinople or Paris or any other City And this is one main end of our meeting this day to praise the Lord for this happy providence that we were born in London where we enjoy more of the purity plenty power and liberty of the Gospel than any other City in the world Besides this Let us this day bless God that London is yet a City and that it hath not long ago been made like unto Sodom and Gomorrha It is most certain that we are a sinfull City a City laden with iniquity a seed of evil doers children that are corrupters that are miserably apostatised both in doctrine worship and conversation as the sinnes of Niniveh cried aloud to God for vengeance so do the sins of London the pride the hypocrisie the covetousness the injustice the contempt of the Gospel the profanation of the Sabbath the drunkenness perjury whoredoms of London these and such like sins cry to God for vengeance Now that God should not onely not destroy us but multiply his blessings upon us as appears by our meeting this day That God should preserve us so many years from the man devouring plague that in all the time of the late unhappy wars God should preserve us from being plundered from popular tumults and insurrections from being burnt with fire and turned into an heap of ashes this heightens the mercy of God and makes it a blessing in folio Let us praise God exceedingly for it This is a Duty belonging to all that live in the City but more especially to us who are Native Citizens 2. Let us labour to be a credit and an ornament to the place where we were born as we are Citizens of no mean City so let not our conversation be low and mean but holy and honorable this was Paul's commendation he was a greater credit to Tarsus than Tarsus was to him Therefore Ignatius writing in one of his Epistles to the Tarsenses calls them Pauli cines discipulos Pauls fellow-Citizens and Disciples as accounting it a great honor to them that so famous a man as Paul was born in their City Thus Austin was a greater credit to Hippo than Hippo was to him and Hippocrates was a greater blessing to the Island Coâ— where he was born than the Island was to him I here are some men who are curses and Plague soars to the places where they receive their first breath who Viper like tear in pieces the bowels of the Mother that bare them such a one was Nero who set his own City on fire and rejoyced to behold the flames of it such another was Caligula who wished that all Rome had but one neck that he might cut it off at once Many such Monsters there are in most Cities who are vomicae carcinomata civitatis diseases impostumations stains and blemishes to the places where they are born who are Citizens but drunken Citizens Citizens but adulterous Citizens Citizens but covetous and oppressing Citizens but I hope better things of you here present this day What must we do that we may be ornaments to the place where we were born You must do two things You must be just in your words and actions towards men and holy in your carriage towards God these are the two Poles upon which the happiness of London turns then is a City happy when Justice and holiness meet together when the men thereof make Conscience of their duty to God as well as to their Neighbour and of their duty to their Neighbour as well as of their duty towards God when there is a
of men or Devils 10. It exceeds all other Cities in the work imployment which the Citizens of this City have In earthly Cities men turmoil themselves with wordly businesses and are troubled about many things drowning themselves in the cares of the world c. But in Heaven there is no work but to sing Hallelujahs and to be alwayes praising God and rejoycing in his Presence 11. It exceeds all other Cities in the durableness eternity of it The pleasures of this City are everlasting and the Glory Honor Riches and Privileges c. of it are everlasting Therefore it is said to be a City which hath foundations The Apost. tels us That Abraham looked for a City which hath foundations This expressioÌ„ is put down in oppositioÌ„ to Abrahams dwelling in Tents Tabernacles A Tent is an house wch hath a covering but no foundation A Tent is a moveable house easily reared up and easily pull'd down But now the heaven of the blessed is a firm and an enduring City a City which hath foundations This Phrase signifieth Two things 1. The unchangeableness unalterableness of this Heavenly City 2. The everlastingnesse and eternity of it Both of them are expresly mentioned by the Apost. Peter 1 Pet. 1. 4. Where he calls heaven not only an immortal and undefiled but an inheritance that never fadeth away All Farthly Cities decay in time and need reparation But this is a City which never fadeth A place which needs no reparation And is as a Flower that is alwayes sweet and never withereth as excellent after 10000000. years as at the first moment of its creation It is unchangeable and unalterable And so also it is eternal and everlasting Earthly Cities have no foundation and therefore are fading and perishing They are like Cities made of wax or snow which quickly melt away like Nebucadnezzars Image whose head was of fine gold and breasts of silver but the feet which upheld it were composed of brittle clay that is easily dissolved Earthly happinesse like the earth is founded upon nothing And as the Cities we dwell in so we that dwell in these Cities have no foundation unlesse it be in the dust as Job speaks Therefore the Apostle saith We have here no abiding City but we seek one to come Heaven is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken A mansion-house as Christ saith In my Fathers house are many mansions so called from their perpetuity But we have no {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} no abiding city here Nature saith Cicero hath not given a dwelling place to us here upon earth but onely a lodging place as a guest in an Inne for a night and away Therefore it is that the Saints of God in all ages have acknowledged themselves to be sojourners pilgrims and strangers in this world traveling thorough it as thorough a strange Country unto their mansion-house in Heaven In a word All earthly Cities Persons and happinesse are subject First to alteration and next to dissolution The longest day hath its night and the longest life its death The famous Monarchies of the World have had their periods Kings dye and Kingdoms dye And great and famous Cities are in length of time ruinated and demolished We in this Nation have seen strange alterations changes and dissolutions All earthly Cities are changeable and perishing but Heaven is a City which hath foundations It is an unchangeable and everlasting City Lastly This City excells all other Cities in the builder and maker of it Earthly Cities are built by men but the builder of this City is God so saith the Apostle He looked for a City which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God There are some who think that the Heaven of the blessed is an uncreated place But this a great error For every thing in the world is either the Creator or the Creature â—f heaven were an uncreated place it should he a God and not a Creature We believe in our Creed That God is the Creator of all things visible and invisible And the forementioned text tells us That God was the builder and maker of it Here are two words used {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the last word signifieth that God made it summo artificio to set out his skill and workmanship When great men build great houses for their own dwelling they build them according to their greatnesse When Ahashuerosh made a feast to shew the riches and glory of his Kingdom it was a most magnificent feast Solomons Temple built by him was justly accounted the glory of the World Pliny calls it Orbis miraculum The miracle of the World When Nebucadnezzar built a Palace for his own dwelling it was a sumptuous one The Heathens tell us of glorious structures made by earthly Kings of the Temple of Diana The Sepulcher of Mausolus The Walls of Babylon The Capitol of Rome c. and the Pyramids of Egypt one of which was twenty years building and three hundred threescore thousand men alwaies at work about it If all the Kings of the earth should joyn together to build a Palace surely it would be a rare building But if all the Angels in heaven should joyn and set their wisdom on work to build an house surely it would be an Angelical structure Much more when God himself who is an infinite Agent infinite in glory power and wisdom shall make an house to shew his skill wisdom glory and power this house surely must needs be superlatively excellent Such an house and such a City is Heaven whose Builder and curious Artificer was God And therefore it is said to be an house made without hands Not onely without earthly hands for so all the visible Heavens were made but without hands that is after a more excellent manner than the other Heavens The other Heavens are said to be made by the hand of God Psal. 19. 1. Psalm 102. 25. But this was made without hands that is after a more glorious and a more unconceiveable manner than all the other Heavens Q. But for what end did God build this glorious City A. For two ends First For his own dwelling-house Christ calls it His Fathers House God indeed dwells every where in regard of his Essence but in regard of the presence of his Glory he dwells onely in Heaven This sheweth the surpassing excellency of this Heavenly House It is an House fit for God to dwell in Secondly God made this City that it might be a place where the Saints of God shall live in the embraces of God for ever Come ye Blessed of my Father saith Christ inherit the Kingdom prepared for you c. It is a Kingdom of glory and happiness prepared for the Saints before the foundation of the world In a word God made this City to be the habitation of Angels and Saints after this life in which they shall see God face to
therefore you that are nobly born must labour to be nobly and vertuously minded Nobility without vertue is but as a scarlet-roabe upon a leprous body and like a jewel in a swines snout There are very many who are ignobly born and yet prove noble such was the Coblers son who grew to be a famous Captain and when he was upbraided by a noble man with his mean original wittily answered My nobility begins with me and thine ends in thee And there are many who are nobly born and yet prove ignoble to the dishonour of their progenitors Such were the children of Alcibiades Such was Hezekiah's son Such must not you be you must labour to be a credit to your Ancestors And you must not account it sufficient to be born of earthly Parents though never so noble but you must labour to be born of God and to be born from above for as Christ saith Except a man be born from above for so it is in the original He shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It is not your being born from below though your Parents be never so high which will intitle you to heaven unlesse you be born from above unless you be heaven-born Christians A true Christian is of a noble extraction he is the adopted son of God Brother to Jesus Christ heir of God and co-heir with Christ He is the noblest man in the world Such must you labour to be and in comparison of this all outward nobility is but as dung and drosse 3. Let us not rest satisfied in being Citizens of this famous City of London but let us labour to be Citizens of the new Jerusalem to be Citizens of that City which is made without hands eternal in the heavens Heaven in Scripture is often called a City and it is no mean City glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of the living God all earthly Cities aremean and poor in comparison of it and not worthy to be named that day in which we speak of this City the Scripture calls it A better Countrey that is an heavenly As far as heaven exceeds the earth so far doth thisCity exceed all earthly Cities It exceeds them 1. In its greatness and bigness and therefore it is called agreat City Revel 21. 10. And that great City by way of emphasis The holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven Our Saviour Christ saith That in his fathers house there are many Mansions Who can tell how many For there are in heaven a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kindreds and people and tongues If the Sun be 166times bigger than the Earth how big is this blessed City 2. In its sublimity and altitude It is a City seated above all visible heavens as the Apostle saith Ephes◠4. 10. Therefore it is called The highest Heaven and the third Heaven farre above the aëriall and aetheriall heavens And this sheweth the excellency of this City For in the Composition of the World the purest and the most excellent things are situated in the highest places The earth as the grossest is put in the lowest room the air above that and therefore purer than that the fire purer than the air the starry heaven above them and therefore of a more pure composition which Aristotle calls Quinta essentia But the heaven of the blessed is above the starry heaven and therefore of a far purer composition and as Zanchy saith It is inter omnia corpora simplicia simplicissimum 3. In its beauty and glory For this City hath no need of the Sun or Moon to shine in it But the glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof And herein also consisteth the excellency of this City because it is a place where we shall be filled with the glory of God The Lord God Almighty shall be the everlasting light of it and our God the glory of it 4. It exceeds all other Cities in the wealth and riches of it For it is a City of pure gold and the streets of it are of pure gold the walls of it and the foundations are garnished with all manner of precious stones and the twelve gates of it are made of twelve pearles c. These expressions are all of them Metaphorical borrowed from things that are most precious and of highest account with men upon earth to set out the incomparable wealth and riches of heaven And surely if the streets be of pure gold O how beautiful are the inner rooms How rich is the Chamber of Presence of the great King of Kings 5. In the pleasures of it There are many Cities which are pleasantly situated and wherein all earthly pleasures are to be enjoyed This famous City of London is deservedly stiled not onely The Store-House of profit but the Garden of pleasure But Heaven is a Paradise of all pleasure and therefore it is called Paradise Earthly Paradise was omnium voluptatum promptuarium A promptuary and store-house of all pleasures and delights much more is heavenly Paradise It is the Garden of the Lord wherein the Saints of God are satisfied with joyes and unspeakable delights 6. In the privileges and immunities of it Every City hath its privileges and immunities to invite men to dwell in it to be free of it But now the privileges and immunities of heaven are unexpressible There we shall all be Kings crowned with a crown of righteousness a crown of life and a crown of glory There we shall be free from all misery from the wicked and their persecutions from the Devil and his temptations and above all we shall be free from the body of sin and iniquity 7. In the necessary accommodations of it A City is a place where all things necessary for the comfort of mans life are to be found The whole Countrey round about bring in their Commodities to it We use to say of Cheap side in London That it is the best garden in England But now Heaven is a City wherein we shall have a perfect possession of all good things It is an happiness made up by the aggregation of all things desirable 8. In the excellency of the inhabitants It is one of the greatest commendations of a City when the Inhabitants of it are godly and religious But now in Heaven there are none but the Souls of just men made perfect in grace The People which dwell there are all righteous Therefore it is called A holy City because it consisteth onely of holy persons 9. In the safety and security of it It is a great commendation of a City when it is safe and secure from enemies There is hardly any City in the whole World which enjoyeth this happinesse But now in heaven there is perfect safety and security Therefore it is said That the gates of it shall never be shut They that dwell there are above the Fear and hurt
distresse and to poor Scholars in the Vniversities And my hope is That the next year you will double the summe above what you have given this year I am verily perswaded that what God said of Corinth is very true of London He hath much people in this City Though there are many wicked amongst us yet there are many yea very many both born andbrought up in London who truly fear God and for their sakes God hath hitherto spared us My prayers is that God would increasetheir number That this City may be a City of Refuge for distressed Christians not an oppressing or a bloudy City but a faithful and holy Citywherein God may delight to dwell and that Salvation may be appointed to her for Walls and Bulwarks So prayeth Your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and fellow servant in promoting the common good Edm. Calamy A SERMON PREACHED Before the Native CITIZENS OF LONDON The City Remembrancer Act. 21. 39. But Paul said I am a Man which am a Jew of Tarsus a City in Cilicia a Citizen of no mean City WE are here met this day not only as Christians but as fellow Citizens to bless the name of the Lord that we were born not only in England but in London That we are Native-Citizens of no mean City For the better Celebrating of this mercy I have chosen this suitable Text which contains Saint Pauls just and necessary defence of himself against the unjust accusation of the Chief Captain of the Roman Band The chief Captain accuseth him for being an Egyptian a Seducer and a Murderer Art not thou that Egyptian which before these dayes madest an uprore and leddest out to the wilderness four thousand men that were Murderers In this verse Saint Paul makes his Apology which consisteth of three parts 1. He describes his Original He was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} I am saith he a man which am a Jew I am not that wicked and cursed Egyptian you speak on but I am a Jew of a religious and noble extraction For though the Jewes are at this day the scorn and contempt of the world justly odious to all good Christians because of their murdering of Christ yet the time was when they were the only people God had upon earth when they were a Holy Nation when they were naturally holy as it is Gal. 2. 15. We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles They were not sinners by nature as the Gentiles but holy by nature I do not mean with the holyness of regeneration but with a federall holyness They were all in Covenant with God and their very Land was holy It was Immanuels Land The time was when they were not onely a holy but a noble people The honourablest Nation under the whole heavens For to them as the Apostles saith pertained the adoption and the glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the promises Whose are the Fathers those noble and honourable Patriarcks and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Jesus Christ was not only the Son of man but the Seed of Abraham This is the first part of Pauls Apology He was a Jew of a godly and noble original Secondly He describes the Country where he was born He was not only a Jew as to his original but as to his Country he was a Cilician which is a Province in Anatolia or Asia minor a Country saith Ammianus Marcellinus dives omnibus bonis wealthy and fruitfull of all necessaries He was born in a rich and fruitfull Countrey Thirdly He describes his Native City the dignity and excellency of it He was a Jew of Tarsus that is born in Tarsus of Cilicia so called in opposition saith Cajetan to another Tarsus in Bythinia He was a Citizen of no mean City {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} In these words there is a {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} where more is to be understood than is expressed He was a Citizen of no mean City that is He was a Citizen of a Famous City Josephus calls it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Stephanus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} It was urbs celebratissima a most renowned and celebrious City It was the Metropolis of all Cilicia Solinus saith it was mater urbium The Mother of Cities Diodorus Siculus saith That for the kindness it shew-to Julius Caesar and after him to Augustus Caesar it was called Juliopolis In this famous City was Paul born The words thus expounded may be handled two manner of wayes 1. Relatively as they are purely Apologetical and satissactory answers to the unjust accusations laid to Pauls charge by the chief Captain I shall not meddle with them in this sense because it would lead me to a discourse Heterogeneal to the occasion of this dayes meeting 2. Absolutely as they are an Historical Narraration of Pauls extraction Countrey and native City In this sense I shall speak to them I shall sum up all that I have to say into this Doctrinal conclusion Doct. That to be descended from religious and noble ancestors and to be born in a famous Country and City are considerable privileges and passages of Divine Providence not to be slighted or disregarded This proposition consisteth offour branches of which I shall speak in order 1. To be descended from godly and religious Ancestors is a desirable privilege and no small honour This was Pauls prerogative He was a Jew descended from the holy Patriarcks It is a great happiness when a man can truly say O God thou art my God and my Fathers God as it is Exod. 15. 2. And with Jacob O God of my Father Abraham and my Father Isaac For God hath promised not onely to be the God of the righteous but of their Seed and David saith That the generation of the righteous shall be blessed There is a saying amongst some men Happy is the Child whose Father goeth to the Devil But this is a wicked and cursed Speech For God punisheth the sins of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him But I rather say Happy is the child whose Father goeth to Heaven For God sheweth mercy unto thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandements God promiseth to bless Isaac and to multiply his seed as the Stars of heaven because that Abraham his Father obeyed his voyce and kept his Statutes and Laws Gen. 26. 3 4 5. And the Apostle commends Marcus to the Colosstans to be regarded and respected by them because he was Barnabas Sisters Son he was the Sisters Son of a godly man 2. To be descended from noble and illustrious Progenitors is a considerable privilege This was also Pauls Prerogative He was of the stock of Israel of the Tribe
his people till there was no remedy When Hanun the Ammonite abused Davids Ambassadors this affront made him to stink before David as it is expresly said 2 Sam. 10. 6. and brought destruction upon him and all his people Ministers rightly called and ordained are the Ambassadors of Jesus Christ when you despise them you despise Christ when you starve them for want of maintenance Christ takes it as an injury against himself and he will revenge their quarrel One great reason why God destroyed Jerusalem was because she killed the Prophets and stoned them that were sent to her And the reason why Heidelberg that famous City was laid wast was as I was told by a Reverend and learned Minister there dwelling for the contempt of the Ministry O Let not this be your sin lest you also perish as they have done 5. By your constancy in the faith in these Apostatizing dayes It will not it cannot be denied but that London is miserably infected and beleapred with errors and heresies And what is said of Poland and Amsterdam may be as truly said of this City That if a man had lost his Religion he should be sure to find it be it what it will be amongst as here We are a Cage of unclean Birds A receptacle for Hereticks of all kinds Heresie is gone forth from London into all parts of the Land Now you must know That Heresie will quickly bring ruine upon a City Pezelius upon Sleidan tells us that the dissentions of the Christians in the East brought in the Saracens and Mahumetans They were divided into ten severall Religions and their divisions did armare Saracenos in ecclesiae perniciem did Arm the Saracens to destroy the Christians and therefore if you would seek the good of the place of your Nativity you must be valiant for the truth you must indeavour according to the station in which God hath set you to purge the City of these Augaean stables to hinder the growth of Heresie You must not be like Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrin You must in malice be children but in understanding be men You must be stedfast and immoveable in the truth that so at last God who is a God of truth may delight to dwell in the midst of us and this City may be called as Jerusalem was A City of Truth 6. By your Charity and Liberality This doth especially concern such of you upon whom God hath bestowed the Riches of this World A poor Citizen may do good to his native-City by his prayers and holy life but you must also do good to it by your bounty and liberality Charity is the Queen of Graces without which all other graces are but cyphers and shadows Faith without charity is nothing worth if a man gives his body to be burnt and hath not charity it profiteth him nothing The Protestant Religion as it teacheth us not to trust to good works so also it teacheth us to be full of good works you have often heard us say that though faith alone justifieth yet the faith that justifieth is never alone though faith justifieth separatim à bonis operibus yet not separata à bonis operibus though good works be not necessary in the act of justification yet they are necessary in the person justified though good works be not the cause why we go to heaven yet they are the way to heaven Thus wee Preach Let it appear this day that you are real Protestants by practâ—sing this Doctrine Let the proud Papists trust to the merit of their works but let us Protestants trust in Christ onely and his righteousness and let us manifest the truth of our faith in Christ by our good works to the members of Christ alwaies remembring that laying of Christ Whatsoever you do to any of the least of my Brethren you do unto me You have many glorious precedents and put ternes left you by your predecessors whose hearts God hath stirred up to build many famous Hospitalls and to endow them with large revenews and to erect Free-Schools for the education of Youth and herein they become examples to you to follow their steps and as you inherit their Estates so also to inherit their vertues But I shall not press you any farther to charity in general I shall confine my Discourse to one little piece and parcel of charity towards your fellow-Citizens that are in want and necessity You are this day to dine together my hearts desire is that this dinner may be a Feast of Charity In the Primitive times the Christians had their {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} their Love-feasts on purpose to maintain Brotherly love these Feasts Jude calls according to our translation Feasts of Charity because in such Feasts the poor were alwaies remembred my humble sute is that this dinner may be a Feast of Love and Charity that some real good may be done at it that you may not onely feast as good Citizens but as good Christians and therefore you have a Sermon here this morning on purpose to prepare you for this Feast that so it may not onely be a civil but a religious meeting The Apostle Jude tells us of spots that were in the Primitive Feasts of Charity these spots were certain wicked and heretical persons which crept into their Feasts and defiled and polluted them I hope their will be no such spots amongst us this day The last year there were spots in our Feast of Charity mistake me not I do not mean it in Judes sense I am far from thinking that there were wicked and heretical men amongst us my meaning onely is that there were defects and blemishes in our last years meeting The Reverend Brother that Preach'd here the last year hath told the World thus much in Print But he addes very wisely and discreetly and I hope truly that this was not for want of affection but of contrivance not for want of liquor but vent not matter but method not conception but obstetrication you did not want a fountain of charity but onely a chanel cut out wherein your charity might stream it self This channel is now cut out for you there are indeed four chanels four glorious designes proposed by the Stewards for to draw out your charity and liberality towards your fellow-Citizens give me leave to read them to you as they were sent me in writing 1. For the relief of Ministers in distresse born in the freedom ofLondon 2. For relief of Ministers Widdows in want whose husbands were born in the freedom of London 3. For putting forth of poor Children to be Apprentises whose Fathers are or were freemen and which Children were born in the City of London or Liberties thereof 4. That relief may be made for poor Scholars Students in the Vniversity and there resident who are unable to subsist of themselves and who were Sons of freemen
face and be made like to Christ in glory and enjoy such pleasures and delights which eye never saw nor ear never heard nor ever entred into the heart of man to conceive But here I shall draw a veil not forgetting what the ancient Fathers usually say when they speak of Heaven Experimento opus est We shall never perfectly understand the excellency of this City till we come to be dwellers in it O let us all labour to be Citizens and Free-men of this blessed City Here are this day assembled multitudes of Citizens and Free-men of London How happy would it be if all here present were Citizens and Freemen of Heaven If there were a City in this world in which whosoever dwelt should be alwayes rich and healthfull and young and happy what flocking would be to such a City Such a City is heaven it is a City in which the Saints of God shall all be Kings and shall bee perfectly and perpetually happy Let us bind our selves Apprentices to God in this life and when our short time is out he will make us Freemen of that City which hath Foundations whose builder and maker is God Wee must not think to be the Devils slaves here and Gods Freemen in heaven but we must be Gods faithfull servants here and wee shall be his Freemen hereafter Heaven is not onely an excellent City but a holy City into which no unclean person shall in any wise enter In earthly Cities wicked men dwell as well as righteous and more wicked than righteous but in this City the people shall all be righteous as it is Isaiah 60. 21. This City is the inheritance of the Saints and of all the Saints and onely of the Saints and unless we be born again we shall never enter into this City And therefore let us pray unto God that hee would make us meet fit to enter into this holy and heavenly City that he that made us creatures would make us new creatures that God by grace would make us fit to enter into glory In a word let us make it appear this day that we are not onely Citizens of London but of heaven by our deeds of charity distributed to Christs poor for Christs sake God hath entailed not only temporal and spiritual but eternal mercices upon charity and liberality and therefore let us make to our selves friends of the unrighteous Mammon that when we fail they may receive us into everlasting habitations Let us lay up our treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where theeves do not break thorough and steal Let me speak to you in the words of the Apostle Paul Charge them that are rich in this world A man may be rich in this world as Dives was and poor enough as hee was in the other world therefore if you would not only be rich here but rich in the other world you must not be high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us all things richly to enjoy you must do good and he rich in good works not only do good works but be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for your selves a good Foundation against the time to come that you may lay hold on eternal life The world foundation is not here to be understood in the builders sense but in the Lawyers sense who call the evidences upon which they ground their plea their foundation The merits of Christ are our onely foundation to build our hope of heaven upon but good works are the evidencing foundation Let us lay up for our selves in heaven a good foundation by works of Charity that at the great day of Judgement Jesus Christ may say unto us Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in I was naked and yee cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me So much for this Text and for this time FINIS Mat. 11 26 Luc. 19. 42. Luc. 4. 16. Elton upon Rom. 9. Act 22. 3. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Rom. 9. 2 3. Aristotelem haâ—d minus quam Patrem suum initio dilexit quod a Patre ut viveret a Praeceptore ut bene viveret accepisset Pezelius Ejus gratiâ Lacedaemonii in reliquam Baeotiam saevientes Thebanis pepercerunt Ita Alexander quum Thebas everteret in omnes saeviret sine discrimine Pindari Vatis penatibus familiaeque parci jussit Cicero contra Verrem Eph. 2. 19. Heb. 11. 10 Mat. 11. 23 Neh. 7. 2. Mat 5. 47. I received a Note of these particulars from the worthy Stewards of the late Feast Act. 18. 10. Zeph. 3. 1. Nah. 3. 1. Isa. 26. 1. Vers 38. First Isa. 8. 8. Rom. 9. Cajetan in locum Vbi minus dicitur plus intelligitur Ciliciae totius Princeps Caput The words may be handled two wayes Relatively Absolutely Doctrine The first branch of the Proposition Gen. 32. 9. Gen. 17 7. Psal. 112. 2. Col. 4. 10. The second branch the Proposition Phil. 3. 5. Eccl. 10. 17. Gaspar Streso in locum Et tu ea tibi accepe non es enim Themistocles The third branch of the Proposition Streso in Acta c. Gen. 11. In Panegyric Orat. to Constantius Speed This saying of Josephus is quoted by Speed in his History of great Britain 4. things in commendation of England De Britanni carum Eccleâ—â—arum primordiis The 4th branch of the Proposition Libr. de Scriptor Eccl. in Paulo In ep. ad Philem. Beda in c. 21. Act. Masius in c. 19. Josh. Arias Montanus in Apparatu c. Ebionaei apud Epiphan. haeres 30. Act. 22. 3. Act. 22. 27. Cicero Acts 22. 28. Speed Vse 1. Exh. 1. Cambden Act. 17. 16 Cambden Matth Parisiens Nulla digs tam nubilis in quâsol in hâc insulâ non conspiciatur Solinus Isa. 1. 4. Exh. 2. Two things are to be done that we may be a credit and an ornament to London Jer. 31. 23. Heb. 12. 14 Exhort 3. Neh 2. 10. Invenit late retiaâ— reliquit marmoream Six waies to make London happy Ezek. 48. 35. The 2d way to make London happy Psal. 133. Psalm 122 3. 3. The third way to make London happy {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The 4th way to make London happy Luc. 20. 16. Luc. 13. 34. Scultetus who afterward came over into England The fifth way to make London happy Jer. 9. 3. 1 Cor. 15. 58. Zech 8. 3. The sixth way to make London happy Jam. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 13. 3. Mat. 25. 40 Jude 12. Jude 12. Dr. Horton Four several sorts of persons upon whom the Charity gathered at the Londoners meeting is to be bestowed Luc. 12. 46. Matth. 5. 16. Gal. 6. 10. Vse 2. Exhort Prorsus felicem futurum fuisse inquit Ausoinius si hunc filium non generasset Exhort 2. Iphicoabes Genus meum à me incipit tuum in te desinit {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Joh. 3. 3. Exho 3. Heb. 11. 10 16. Heb. 13. 14 Psal. 87. Heb. 11. 16 Heaven is a City that exceeds all other Cities in in twelves respects Joh. 14. 2. Rev. 7. 9. Rev. 21. 23 Rev. 12. 5. Isa. 60. 19. Rev. 21. 18 19 21. 2 Tim. 4. 8 Rev. 2. 10. 1 Pet. 5. 4. Heb 12. 23 Isa. 60. 20. Rev. 21. 10 Rev. 21. 25 Heb. 11. 10 Tectum habet fundamentum non habet {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Job 4. 14. Heb. 12. 28 Joh. 14. Natura non habitandi sed commorandi diversorium hic nobis dedit Heb. 11 10 Heb. 11. 10. Nulla alia aedificandi Pyramidis causa quam vana stulta ostentatio ut scilicet nec pecunia ipsa nec etiam plebs otiosa esset Pancyrolla 2 Cor. 5. 1. Qeust Answ 1. John 14. 2 2. Rev. 21. 27. Col. 1. 12. John 3. 3 Col. 1. 12. Isaiah 58. 7 8 9 10 11 12. Luc. 6. 38 Luc. 16. 9 Mat. 6. 20 1 Tim. 6. 17 18 19. Mat. 25. 34 35 36.