not onely placeth us upon but as Solomon speaks makes us an everlasting foundation by raising up in us a good conscience And this it doth as necessarily as fire sendeth forth heat or the Sun light For it is impossible to love God sincerely and not to know it and it is as impossible to know it and not to speak it to our own heart and comfort our selves in it For Conscience follows Science A light it is which directs us in the course of our obedience and when we have finished our course by the Memory it is reflected back upon us It tells us what we are to do and what we have done We have a kind of short but useful Genealogy in S. Paul 1 Tim. 1.5 The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned From Faith unfeigned ariseth a good Conscience from that the Purity of the inward man from that that Peace which maketh us draw near with confidence to the throne of Grace A golden chain where every link fits us in some degree for a dissolution nay where every link is unseparably annexed to each other and with it we cannot but tend naturally and cheerfully yea and hasten to our place of rest For our Conscience is our Judge our God upon earth And if it be of this royal extraction the product of our Faith and Obedience it will judge aright it will draw the Euge to us and tell us what sentence the Judge will pass at the last day and we even now hear in our ears Well done good and faithful servant enter into thy masters joy And when our Conscience hath past this sentence upon us we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 boldness and confidence towards God This this is an everlasting foundation and upon it we build as high as Heaven Our thoughts and desires our longings and pantings soar up even to that which is within the vail which is yet hidden and we are earnest to look into Let us then exercise our selves to have alwaies a conscience void of offense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word intimates the clearness of a way where no spy can discover any thing amiss For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Suidas is speculator explorator a Scout a Spy So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a conscience clear and free from offense The want of this makes Death a King of terrours and puts more horrour in the Grave then it hath When Death comes towards wicked men on his pale horse it comes as a Serjeant to arrest them to put them out of possession of that which they had taken up as their habitation for ever to banish them out of the world which they made their paradise and to let them into eternity of torment If we love the world how can the love of God abide in us We plead for titles saith a learned Gentleman of our own who had large experience of the vanity and deceitfulness of the world and was exemplum utriusque fortunae an example of both fortunes good and evil We plead for titles till our breath fails us we dig for riches whilst strength enables us we exercise malice whilst we can revenge and then when Age hath beaten from us both youth and pleasure and health it s lf and Nature it self loatheth the House of old Age we then remember when our memory begins to fail that we must go the way from whence we must not return and that our bed is made ready for us in the grave At last looking too late into the bottom of our conscience which the Vanities of the world had lockt up from us all our lives we behold the fearful image of our actions past and withal this terrible inscription THAT GOD SHALL BRING EVERY WORK INTO JVDGMENT Thus he And this our vvay uttereth our foolishness in increasing the fear of Death and Judgment by striving to chase it away never thinking of Deaths sting till vve feel it putting by all sad and melancholy thoughts in our way till they meet us again vvith more horrour at our journeys end This is it which makes Death vvhich is but a messenger a King yea a King of terrours We can neither live nor are vvilling to dye vvith such a conscience vvhereas had vve learnt as Seneca speaks and studieâ— Death had vve not fed and supplyed this enemy with such vveapons a make him terrible had we cut from him now this now that desire an anon another for Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fights against us with our selves vvith our Wantonness and Luxury and Pride and Covetousness haâ— vve spoiled him of those things vvhich make Death terrible and the Dâ—â—vil our accuser vve might have boldly met him nay desired to meet him For vvhy should they fear Death vvho may present themselves vvith comâ—fort before God and shall meet Christ himself in all his glory coming iâ— the clouds To conclude Death shall be to them vvho love God and keep a good conscience a messenger of peace a gentle dismission into a better vvorld an Ostiary to let us in to the presence of God vvhere there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Our Apostle here calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but a departing or dissolution To vvhich vve should lead you but vve cannot now so fully speak of it as vve vvould and as the matter requires vve will therefore reserve it for some other time The Seven and Thirtieth SERMON 1 COR. XI 1. Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ. THat which the Philosopher telleth us in the first of his Ethicks that we must not look for that certainty in Moral Philosophy which we do in the Mathematicks is most true And the reason is as plain For the Mathematician separateth and abstracteth the forms and essences of things from all sensible matter And these forms are of that nature for the most part that they admit not of the interposition of any thing Inter rectum curvum nihil est medium Between that which is straight and that which is crooked there is no medium at all for there is no line which is not either straight or crooked But in Morality and in the duties of our life the least circumstance varieth and altereth the matter and the forms there handled have something which cometh between so that there is an inclination which draweth us near sometimes to the right hand sometimes to the left sometimes to one extreme sometimes to another And in respect of this variety of circumstances it is that the Philosopher telleth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a hard matter many times to make our choice or in our judgment to prefer one thing before another Therefore they who have given us precepts of good life have also delivered us rules to guid us in this variety of circumstances that we swerve neither to the right hand nor to the left For as in artificial works the
it self and vvill meet and cope vvith him though he cometh towards us on his pale horse vvith all his pomp and terrour Love saith a devout Writer is a Philosopher and can discover the nature and qualities the malignity and weakness of those evils which are set up to shake our constancy and strike us from that rock on which we are founded Who is a God like unto our God saith David What can be like to that we love what can be equal to it If our hearts be set on the Truth to it the whole World is not worth a thought Nullum spectac lum â—incâ—â—cussione spiritus Tert. de Spect. c. 15. nor can that shop of vanities shew forth any thing that can shake a soul or make the passions turbulent and unruly that can draw a tear or force a smile that can deject the soul with sorrow or make it mad with joy that can raise an Anger or strike a Fear or set a Desire on the wing Every object is dull and dead and hath nothing of temptation in it For to love the Truth is all in all and it bespeaketh the World as S. Paul did the Grave Where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15.55 Rom. 8 35-39 Nor height nor depth can separate us from that we love Love is a Sophister able to answer every argument wave every subtilty and defeat the Devils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his wiles and crafty enterprizes Nay Love is a Magician and can conjure down all the terrours and noyse of Persecution which are those evil Spirits that amaze and cow us Love can rowse and quicken our drooping and fainting spirits Heb. 12.12 and strengthen the most feeble knees and the hands that hang down If we love the Truth if Truth be the antecedent the consequent is most natural and necessary and it cannot but follow That therefore we will when there is reason lay down our lives for it For again what is said of Faith is true of Love It purifieth the conscience and when that is clean and pure the soul is in perfect health chearful and active full of courage either to do or suffer ready for that disgrace which bringeth honour for that smart which begetteth joy for that wound which shall heal for that death which is a gate opened to eternity ready to go out and joyn with that peace which a good conscience which is her Angelus custos her Angel to keep her in all her wayes hath sealed and assured unto her A good conscience is the foundation of that bliss which the noble army of Martyrs now enjoy But if in our whole course we have not hearkened to her voice when she bid us do this but have done the contrary if in our ruff and jollity we have thus slghted and baffled her it is not probable that we shall suffer for her sake but we shall willingly nay hastily throw her off and renounce her when to part with her is to escape the evil that we most fear and avoid the blow that is coming towards us We shall soon let go that which we hold but for fashions sake which we fight against while we defend it and which we tread under foot even then when we exalt it which hath no more credit with us then what our parents our education the voice of the people and the multitude of professours have even forced upon us If the Truth have no more power over us if we have no more love for the Truth but this which hath nothing but the name of Love and is indeed the contrary if we bless it with our tongue and fight against it with our lusts if at once we embrace and stifle it then we are Ishmaels and not Isaacs And can an Ishmael in the twinkling of an eye be made an Isaac I will not say it is impossible but it carrieth but little shew of probability and if it be ever done it is not to be brought in censum ordinariorum it falleth not out in the ordinary course that is set but is to be looked upon as a miracle which is not wrought every day but at certain times and upon some important occasion and to some especial end For it is very rare and unusual that Conscience should be quiet and silent so long and then on the sudden be as the mighty voice of God that it should lie hid so long and then come forth and work a miracle Keep faith saith S. Paul and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 which some having put away concerning faith have made ship-wrack Faith will be lost in the wayes and floods of this present world if a good Conscience be not kept If then thou wilt stand up against Ishmael be sure to be an Isaac a child of promise and an heir to the faith of Abraham If thou wilt be secure from the flesh be renewed in the spirit If thou wilt be fit to take up the cross first crucifie thy self thy lusts and affections This is all the preparation that is required which every one that is born after the spirit doth make And there needeeh no more For he that is thus fitted to follow Christ in the regeneration against the Ishmaelites of this world is well qualified and will not be afraid to meet him in the clouds and in the air when he shall come in terrour to judge both the quick and the dead And now to conclude What saith the Scripture Cast out the bond woman and her son Gen 21.14 for the son of the bond woman shall not inherit with the son of the free-woman It is true Ishmael was cast out into the wilderness of Beersheba Advers Judaeos c. 13. Apolog 21. And the Jew is cast out ejectus saith Tertullian coeli soli extorris cast out of Jerusalem scattered and dispersed over the face of the earth and made a proverb of obstinate Impietiy so that when we call a man a Jew putamus sufficere convitium we think we have railed loud enough But now how shall the Church cast out those of her own bowels of her house and family And such enemies she may have which hang upon her breasts called by the same Word sealed with the same Sacraments and challenging a part in the same common salvation To cast out is an act of violence and the true Church evermore hath the suffering part But yet she may cast them out and that with violence but then it is with the same violence we take the kingdome of heaven Matth. 11.12 a violence upon our selves 1. By laying our selves prostrate by the vehemency of our devotion by our frequent prayers that God would either melt their hearts or shorten their hands either bring them into the right way Matth. 17 21. or strike off their chariot wheels For this kind of spirit these malignant spirits cannot be cast out but by prayer and fasting which is energetical and prevalent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Eusebius a most
3. My Factious humour will strike at the very life and heart of Religion in the name of Religion and God himself and destroy Christianity for the love of Christ Rom. 13. Resist not the power in one age t is glossed bound in with limitations and exceptions or rather let loose to run along with men of turbulent spirits against it self In another when the wind is turned it is a plain Text and needeth no interpreter Bid the angry Gallant bow to his enemy Luk. 18.22 he will count you a fool Bid the Covetous sell all that he hath he will think you none of the wisest and pity or scorn you Bid the Wanton forsake that strumpet which he calleth his Mistress and he will send you a challenge and for attempting to help him out of that deep ditch will send you to your grave Prov. 23.27 We may talk what we please of Marcion and Manes of Hereticks and of the Devil as interpolatours and corrupters of Scripture but it is the wickedness of mens hearts that hath cut and mangled it and made it what we please made it joyn and comply with that which it forbiddeth and severely threatneth Now to conclude this In the midst of so many passions and perturbations in the throng of so many vices and ill humours in this Chaos and confusion where is the Man There is a body left behind inutile pondus an unweildy and unprofitable outside of a Man the garment the picture or rather the shadow of a Man and we may say of him as Jacob did when he saw Josephs coat Gâ—n 37.33 It is my sons coat but evil beasts have devoured him Here is the shape the garment the outside of a Man but the Man without doubt is rent in pieces distracted and torn asunder by the Perturbations of his mind corrupted and annihilated and unmanned by his Vices and there is nothing left but his coat his body his carcass and the name of a Man This is not the Man and then no marvel if he do not see this great sight In his day whilest he was a Man his Reason not clouded his Understanding not darkned in this his day it was shewn to him and it was fair and radiant but now all is night about him and it is hid from his eyes For if it be hid 2 Cor. 4.3 it is hid to them that perish to them that will perish He hath shewed thee O man The Good inviteth the Man and the Man cannot but look upon that which is Good Draw then thy soul out of prison take the Man out of his grave draw him out of these clouds of Sloth of Passion of Prejudice and this Good here Piety and Religion will be as the Sun when it shineth in its strength For conclusion then Let us cleave fast to this Good and uphold it in its native and proper purity against all external rites and empty formalities and in the next place against all the pomp of the world against that which we call good when it maketh us evil I am almost ashamed to name this or make the comparison For what is Wealth to Righteousness What is Policy to Religion What is Earth to Heaven But I know not how men have been so vain as to attempt to draw them together and to shut up the world in this Good or rather this Good in the world to call down God from heaven not only to partake of our flesh but of our infirmities and sins and to draw down that which is truly good and make it an assistant and auxilary to that which is truly evil For how do mens countenances nay how doth their Religion alter as they see or hear how the world doth go Now they are of this faction and then of that anon of a third Now Protestants anon Brownists anon Papists anon but I cannot number the many Religions and the No-religions But wheresoever they fasten they see it and say it is Good It was observed of the Romanes that before the corruption and decay of manners they would not entertain a servant or officer but of a perfect and goodly shape but afterwards when luxury and riot had prevailed and were in credit with them they diligently sought out and counted it a kind of elegancy and state to take into their retinue dwarfs and monsters and men of prodigious appearance ludibria naturae those errours and mockeries of nature So hath it also fallen out with Religion At the first rise and dawning of it men did lay hold on that Faith alone which was once delivered to the Saints and went about doing good Jude 3. Acts 10.38 but when this light had passed more degrees men began to play the wantons in it and to seek out divers inventions and this Good the Doctrine of faith Eccl. 7.29 was made to give way to those sick and loathsome humours which did pollute and defile it and instead of following that which was shewn men set up something of their own to follow and countenance them in whatsoever they should undertake and then did look upon it alone and please and delight themselves in it although it was as different from the true pattern which was first shewn as a monster is from a man of perfect shape As Quintilian speaketh of some professours of his art Illa quaecunque deflexa tanquam exquisitiora mirabantur that was cryed up with admiration which had nothing in it marvellous or to be wondred at but its deformity We have a proverb that It is ill going in procession where the Devil saith Mass but most certain it is there be too many who never move nor walk but where he is the leader If the Prince of the ayre if the God of this world go before we follow nay we fly after If any child or slave of his hold out his sceptre we bow and kiss it The World the World is the mint where most mens Religion is coyned and if you well mark the stamp and superscription you may see the Prince of the ayr on one side and the World on the other the Devil on one side like an Angel of light and the World on the other with its pomp and glories And then when we have brought our desires home to their ends when we have raised our state and name how good how religious are we When the purse is full the conscience is quiet When we are laden with earthly blessings we take them as a fair pledge of eternal We say to our selves as Micah did Judg. 17.13 Now I know that the Lord will do me good because I have a Priest said he Because we have great possessions say we as great Idolaters as Micah For what are our shekels of silver but as his graven and molten image And thus we walk on securely all the dayes of our life not as the children of this world but as the children of light and out of our great abundance sometimes we
we have done what he required to present him with nothing but shews but good intentions but drowsie endeavours and feeble wishes when he cometh to ask for his talent to shew him a napkin is a plain forfeiture of our obligation and bringeth us under a worse and heavier bindeth us over to punishment Let us then ever fix our eye upon our obligation Let us consider that God made us that he upheld and protected us and so had power to oblige and bind us to him by a Law Let us admire his Wisdome and embrace his Love Let this double chain the strong iron chain of his infinite Power and universal Dominion and the glorious and golden chain of his superabundant Love bind and tye us unto him And when all other creatures are ready to bowe at Gods beck and follow constantly in that way which Nature hath allotted them and seldome or never turn aside when the Sun knoweth his setting and the Moon her seasons let not us forget our station and place but answer this Lord in every command as the Romane Centurions did their Emperours Factum est Imperator quod jussisti Behold thou art our Lord and we have done what thou requiredst In the last place Let us not set up those mountains in our way of Difficulty or Irksomness or Impossibility and then faint and lye down settle our selves upon our lees Zeph. 1.12 and wallow in our own blood upon a groundless fear that there is no passing out For why should we pretend and plead Difficulty and Impossibility when we our selves are an argument against our selves and our own practice every day confuteth us For how do we every day make a surrendry of our wills to those who have will indeed and proclaim their will but have neither might nor wisdome nor love to attend it Ibo licèt invita faciam omnia saith the woman in the Comedy Plaret Mil. Glor. act 4. sc 8 I will go although I go against my will To rise up early and lye down late are nothing pleasing to us yet for that which a wise man contemns for a little pelf we will do it To wait attendance to bowe and cringe and make great men Gods to give him a leg whom we wish on the gallows to engage our selves for the hardest task to be diminished and brought low to sweat and fight and dye cannot be delightful to flesh and blood yet for honour we will do it But then how do we bebauch our understandings and wits and bury them in other mens wills as in a Sepulchre there to rot and stink amidst those corrupt and loathsome imaginations which are as wings to carry them to their unwarrantable ends How ready are we to conclude that to be true which we know to be false that to be lawful which our Conscience condemneth It was a sin it is now a duty It was as abomination it is now a sign of Election It was Oppression Power hath set a mark upon the innocent and it is Justice It was an Idole it is now our God It was a Devil a black and ugly fiend it is now an Angel of light Thus we can ad omnem occursum majoris cujusque personae decrescere as Tertullian speaketh shrink our selves in and be in a manner annihilated at the appearance of any greater person When these sons of Anak shew themselves we are but grashoppers we are fools or slaves or worse any thing or nothing even what they will have us We are led captive according to the will of others and according to the will of our greatest enemy become the Devils enchanters making that appear which is not that seem white which is black and that good which is evil and the Devils musicians setting and tuning our notes our words and looks and actions to his will and pleasure nay the Devils fiddles to be wound up or let down to any pin or note to which the hand of Greatness or Power will set us We are as so many looking-glasses which reflect and present the actions of men in power back upon themselves laughing when they laugh and weeping when they weep striking as they strike planting as they plant and plucking up as they pluck up doing in all as they do when they are weary and faint falling to the ground along with them And all this to gain our peace or as the Apostle telleth the Galatians Gal. 6.12 lest we should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ I urge this by way of instance and exprobration to shew that the denial of our own will is not a thing of such difficulty as it is thought that we may do that for Gods cause which we do for our own that we may do that for him that we do for our lust unless we shall so far dishonour God and our selves as to make that most inglorious and false confession That we can do nothing but that which is evil and have strength to do nothing but that which will ruine us and so conclude against heaven and our own souls that we are good for nothing but damnation I have much wondred that men should be so willing to publish their weakness and disability in this and in other things to hide and masque it as they do their sin that they should be ready to brand him with the name of Heretick that shall tell them they may be just and honest men if they will that God will assist them if they put him not from them and yet be as forward to be parasites to that Parasite and reward him that shall commend their prudence and dextrous activity in the affairs of this world as if they were made for this world and no other and made able to raise a bank here but not to lay up for themselves any treasure in heaven Acts 26.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead saith S. Paul Why should any man think it impossible to do the will of God Matth. 19.24 It is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdome of heaven True whilest he trusteth in his riches Mark 10.24 Eph. 5.5 Matth. 19.12 Matth. 5 3. And it is impossible for an unclean person to enter there True till he make himself an eunuch for that kingdome But is it impossible for a rich man to be made poor in spirit Is it impossible for a wanton to make a covenant with his eyes Job 31.1 Our Saviour hath fully determined that Matth. 19.26 That with men it is impossible but with God all things are possible possible for him in the barrennest ground to plant and gather fruit out of any crooked piece of wood to make a Mercury a statue for himself And this Omnipotency of God is referred not onely to the giving a being to all things but in fitting those helps and furtherances of piety which may enable and
second Apol c. 4. Lycurgi leges emendatae saith Tertullian Lycurgus his Laws were so imperfect so ill fitting the Commonwealth that they were brought under the hammer and the file to be beat out and fashioned in another form more proportionable to that body for which they were made were corrected by the Lacedemonians Which undervaluing of his wisdom did so unman him that he would be a man no longer but starved himself to death Vetus squalens sylva legum edictorum securibus truncatae the whole wood of the old Laws now sullied and weakned with age was cut down by the edicts and escripts of after-Emperours at the very root as with an ax All of them are in the body of time and worn out with it either fail of themselves or else are cast aside humane Laws being but as shadows cast from men in power and when they fall to the ground are lost with them and are no more to be seen Gel. Noct. Att. l. 20. c. 1. nec uno statu consistunt sed ut coeli facies maris ità rerum atque fortunae tempestatibus variantur nor do they remain in one state but alter as the face of the Heavens and the Sea now smile anon frown now a calm and by and by a tempest Now the strong man saith Do this anon a stronger then he cometh and I forfeit my head if I do it Laws are too oft written with the point of the sword and then the character followeth the hand that beareth it Thus it is with the Laws of men But the Laws of this our Law-giver can no more change then he that made them No bribe can buy out their power no dispensations wound them no power can disannul them but they are the same Dispensationes vulnera legum and of the same countenance They moult not a feather they alter not in one circumstance but direct the obedient and stare the offender in the face and by the power of this Lord kindle a hell in him in this life and will appear at the great day to accuse him For we either stand or fall in judgment according to these Laws In a word humane Laws are made for certain climates and fitted to the complexion and temper of certain Commonwealths but these for the whole world Rome and Brittany and Jerusalem all places are bound alike and as his Dominion so his Laws reach from one end of the earth to another And these which he publisht at the first are not onely Laws but promises and pledges of his second coming For he made them not for nought but hath left them with us till he come again in glory to judge both the quick and the dead according to his Gospel Besides the Laws of men are too narrow and cannot reach the whole body of Sin cannot comprehend all not the inward man the thoughts and surmises of the heart no not every visible act Leges non omnia comprehendunt non omnia vetant nec absolvunt Sen. they forbid not all they absolve not all Some irregularities there be which these Laws look not upon nor have they any other punishment then the common hatred of men who can pass no other sentence upon them then this That they dislike them and we are forced to leave them to the censure and anger of the Highest saith Seneca Quoties licet non oportet Every thing that is lawful for me to do is not fit to be done And his integrity is but lame that walketh on at pleasure and knoweth no bounds but those which the Laws of men have set up and never questioneth any thing he doth till he meeteth with a check is honest no further then this that he feareth not a prison nor the gibbet is honest because he deserveth not to be hanged How many are there who are called Christians who yet have not made good their title to that honour which we give to a just man How many count themselves just men yet do those things which themselves if they would be themselves would condemn as most unjust and do so when others do them and how many have carried so much honesty with them into hell The Laws of men cannot reach home to carry us to that height of innocency to which no other Law but that within us might lift us up But the Laws of this Lord like his Power and Providence reach and comprehend all the very looks and profers and thoughts of the mind which no man seeth which we see not our selves which though they break not the peace nor shake any pillar of the Commonwealth for a thought troubleth no heart but that which conceiveth it yet stand in opposition to that policy which this our Lord hath drawn out and to that end for which he is our Lord and are louder in his ears then an evil word in ours and therefore he looketh not onely on our outward guilt but also on the conscience it self and pierceth to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit and regulateth the very thoughts and intents of the heart which he looketh upon not as fading and vanishing characters in the soul but as killing letters imprinted and engraven there as S. Basil speaketh De virgin as full and complete actions wrought out in the inward man S. Bernard calleth them passivas actiones passive actions which he will judge secundum evangelium according to these Laws which he hath published in his Gospel Secondly that he is a Lord appeareth by the virtue and power of his Dominion For whereas all the power on earth which so often dazleth us can but afflict the body this woundeth the soul rippeth up the very heart and bowels and when those Lords which we so tremble at till we fall from him Matth. 10.28 can but kill the body this Lord can cast both soul and body into hell nay can make us a hell unto our selves make us punish and torment our selves and being greater then our Conscience can multiply those strokes Humane Laws have been brought into disgrace because they had not power enough to attend and hold them up and even the common people who fear them most have by their own observation gathered the boldness to call them cobwebs for they see he that hath a full purse or a good sword will soon break through them or find a besome to sweap them away What speak you of the Laws I can have them and bind them up in sudariolo saith Petrus Damianus in the corner of my handkerchief Nay many times for want of power victae leges the Laws must submit as in conquest and though they have a tongue to speak yet they have not a hand to strike And as it is in punishment so it is sometimes in point of reward Men may raise their merit and deserts so high that the Exchequer it self shall not find a reward to equal them We have a story in our own Chronicles of a Noble-man who
by a sinister and unnecessary conceit of our own weakness rob and deprive our selves of that strength which might have defended us from Sin and Death which now is voluntary because we cannot derive it from any other fountain then our own Wills For Last of all be the blemishes in the Understanding and Will which we are said to receive by Adam's fall what they may be either by certain knowledge or conjecture yet we shall not die unless we will And if such we were all yet now we are washed now we are sanctified 1 Cor. 6.11 now we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Leper who is cleansed complaineth no more of his disease but returneth to give thanks The Blind man who is cured doth not run into the ditch and impute it to his former blindness but rejoyceth that he can now see the light and walketh by the light he seeth And we cannot without foul ingratitude deny but what we lost in Adam we recovered again in Christ and that improved and exalted many degrees For Not as the offense Rom. 5.15 19â— so is also the free gift saith the Apostle For as by the offense of one many were made sinners that is were under the wrath of God and so considered as if they had themselves committed that sin so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous made so not onely by imputation That we would have and nothing else have sin removed and be sinners still but made so that is supplyed with all helps and with all strength that is necessary and sufficient to forward and perfect those duties of piety which are required at the hands of a justified person For do we not magnifie the Gospel from the abundance of light and grace which it affordeth Do we not count the last Adam stronger then the first 2 Cor. 10.4.5 Is not he able to cast down all the strong holds all the towring imaginations which Flesh and Blood though tainted in the womb can set up against him And therefore if we be truly what we profess our selves Christians this Weakness cannot hurt us and if it hurt us it is because we are not Christians To conclude If in Adam we were all lost in Christ we are come home and brought nearer to heaven Et post Jesum Christum when we have given up our names unto Christ and profess our selves members of that mystical Body whereof he is the Head all our complaints of Weakness and disabilitie to move in our several places is vain and unprofitable and injurious to the Gospel of Christ Rom. 1.16 which is the power of God unto salvation And a gross and dangerous errour it is when we run on and please our selves in our evil wayes to complain of our hereditary infirmities and the weakness and imperfection of nature For God may yet breathe his complaints and expostulations against every son of Adam that will not turn Though you are weak though you have received a bruise by the fall of your first Parents yet in me is your strength and then Hos 13.9 Why will ye die O house of Israel We must now remove those other pretenses of Flesh and Blood But in our next and last Part. The Three and Twentieth SERMON PART VIII EZEKIEL XXXIII 11. Turn ye Turn ye from your evil wayes For why will ye die O house of Israel WE are told and can tell our selves that Sin is a burden and he that lieth under â— burden seeketh Ease Nor doth he alwaies ask counsel of his Reason to choose that which is made and fitted to remove it but oftentimes through the importunate irksomness of his pain he layeth hold on that which is next and that 's the best though it leave him under the same load and pressure and all his art and contrivance hath gained no more then this that he thinketh it lighter then it was when it is the same but with a large addition of weight And thus we sin but cannot perswade our selves we were willing to sin we run upon our death and yet it is that which both our eye and our will abhorreth We die for 1. we were born weak 2. we want means to avoid death 3. we want light to see our wayes 4. we walk on in them but we walk in pain and though we make no stop yet we have many a check We would not and yet we will go on we condemn our selves for what we do and do it And last of all we seek death but we mean life we do those things whose end is death but to a good end and so make our way to heaven through hell it self intend well and do those things which can have no other wages but death These are pillows which we sew under our own elbows Original weakness Want of grace Ignorance of our wayes the Reluctancy of our Conscience which we call Involuntariness And if these be not soft and easie enough to sleep on we bring in a good meaning and a good intention to stuff and fill them up And on these we sleep securely Judg. 16. as Samson did in the lap of Delilah till our strength go from us and we grow weak indeed fit for nothing but to grind in his prison and to do him service who put out our eyes able to die and perish but not able to live strong to do evil but faint and feeble and lost to that which is good For as we have sought for ease from the beginning of the world so have we also from the Beginning of the Gospel Mark 1.1 as S. Mark hath it As we have brought in the first Adam infecting and poysoning us so we would find some deficiency in the second as if that Grace which he plenteously spreadeth in our hearts had not virtue enough to expel the venome and purge it out As we pretend want of strength so we pretend want of help and succour the want of that Grace which we might have which we have but will not use And there is nothing more common in the world even in their mouthes who know not what it is What mention we the Many What talke we of those who like those narrow-mouthed vessels receive but little because it is powred out too fast and many times have as little feeling of what they receive as those earthen vessels to which we compared them Grace it is in every mans mouth the sound of it hath gone through the earth and they hear it and eccho it back again to one another They talk and discourse of it and yet all are not saved by that Grace they talk of Ebrius ad phialam mendicus ad januam August The Drunkard speaketh of it in his cups and by the Grace of God he will drink no more and yet drinketh drunk till there be no appearance in him either of Grace or Nature either of the Christian or the Man The Beggar he maketh it
delivered from this body of death Nor is it enough 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stoop and look into it as Peter and John did into our Saviours For quod ferè fit non fit A perfunctory and flight examination is none at all and that which is but almost done is not done No. Scelera propiùs admovet Thou must draw thy sin nearer and nearer unto thee that it may appear in its full horrour without its dress and paint that monster which it is that thou mayest revile and destroy it When the Patriarchs had sold their brother Joseph into Egypt for ten years space and above they saw it not to be a sin or at such a distance that it never troubled them but when affliction drew it nearer to them they then cried Guilty We are verily guilty said they of our bother's bloud How still and quiet are the most crying sins because we will not hearken to them and what a Nothing is the greatest sin because we will not look stedfastly upon it Nor is it enough to look upon it thy self with distaste as upon a loathsom and stinking carcase for Sin cannot but work some distaste if it be looked upon But thou must try it by all the killing circumstances which made it a sin and made it more sinful that Contrariety it beareth to God and his purity that huge Incongruity it carrieth to that image after which thou wert created that Opposition it standeth into a most just Law so fitted and proportioned to thee and that sting it hath nay that Sting it is for it is the very sting of Death And then if thou grone in the spirit and trouble thy selfe as thy Saviour did at Lazarus's tomb if thou cry loud unto the Lord and send up strong grones and supplications this Lazarus this dead sinner will come forth And this thou must do in every sin Find it out and so find out and deprehend thy self Not onely those grosser sins which are open as the Apostle speaketh and manifest to all men and carry shame in their very foreheads as Adultery Drunkenness Murther quae suâ se corpulentiâ produnt which betray themselves by their bulk and corpulency which are like those rocks that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminent in sight above the waters But those sins also which are as rocks covered with waves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 close and invisible as Malice Revenge Ambition Love of the world Evil thoughts Loose desires which are of a closer and more retired nature and so much the more dangerous by how much they are the less sensible even all those speculative sins which are acted within the compass of the heart and which no man can see and as they are espied by none so neither can they be restrained by any but our selves Those grosser sins which commonly disturb and break the peace of that Commonwealth whereof we are a part outward Laws and the authority of those who are set over us may cut down as the Angel did the branches and the body of the Tree Dan. 4. but we may bind the stump and preserve it in our hearts For to grub up the root to rectifie the heart to take away speculative and secret sins which no other eye can search and find out but our own this every man after due examination must do himself every man must be his own Angel For In the next place to draw out the full compass of this Duty and so give it you in its utmost extent and latitude this Examination reacheth further then the word in its native signification can import For To Examine is but To weigh and ponder To bring thy self and thy actions to a trial To behold thy own shape To see what thou art and in what state and condition and in what relation towards thy God To open and spread thy conscience which S. Augustine calleth stolam animae the garment of the soul and observe what is loose and ravelled by negligence what is stained and defaced by luxury what is sindged by anger what is cut and mangled by envy what is sullied by covetousness This is a good and advantageous work But then this work must not end in it self but we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propose the true end and draw all up to it which is To purge the conscience To supply what is defective To repair what is defaced To beautifie what is slurred To complete what is imperfect which is to renew our selves in the inward man Finis specificat actionem It is the end that commendeth the action and giveth it its perfection Therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to prove and examine here in the Text the Apostle ver 31. interpreteth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is here to examine is there to judge our selves Which includeth Repentance Revenge on our selves Tears and Fasting and Contrition and Humiliation all that severe discipline of Striving and Fighting with our selves of Denying our selves of Demollishing imaginations and of Crucifying our flesh that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great Circumcision of the heart all this we must pass through before we have brought our Trial and Examination to an end before we can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect fit to be received into the presence of God and admitted to his Table For what a vain work were it to examine a thief if we do not judge him to implead him and bring witnesses if after the bill is found we proceed not to sentence and condemn him Or wouldest thou find a thief lurking in a corner of thy house and not drive him out Canst thou see a sin rising up in thy soul ready to devour thee and not drown it with thy tears behold Oppression and not strike out its teeth Adultery and not stone it Deceit and Fraud and not put it to shame Hast thou found out the Devil in a garment of light and wilt thou still be a Pharisee Or again after a survey hast thou found thy soul run to ruine and decay and wilt not thou take pains to repair it a feeble Faith and not strengthen it A wavering Hope and not uphold and support it Or canst thou see thy Charity waxing cold and not stir it up and enliven it Shall thy House the Temple of the holy Ghost fall upon thee whilest thou standest and lookest on and at last art sunk and lost in the ruines This were like that unwise builder to begin and not be able to make an end or as the custom at feasts was at the beginning to bring forth good wine and when we have well tasted of it then that which is worse Which is to make the beginning nothing nay worse then nothing For it is the greatest folly in the world to discover an ambush and yet fall into it to see an enemy and not avoid him The sin groweth greater if we look upon it and not run from it If we behold its ugly threatning countenance and not bid defiance to it
and rage of Lust And what a benefit is this If it be a benefit it is such a one as himself sometimes spake of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gift no gift a gift as good as none at all For a better then Sophocles S. Basil will tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperance in old age is not temperance it is impotency Old men are not temperate but they can be no longer intemperate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very carcase that lieth rotten in the grave hath as fair a title to Temperance as they Would you be righteous indeed Health is the time For in sickness you have nothing left you but a will and that many times as saint and sickly as your selves if not dead within you At best if you have the habit of Virtue it is there more like a faculty and power then a habit and is no more in respect of action You are but as artificers when their shop is shut up as Apelles without a hand or pencil or as a Musician that is dumb But in health a good lesson may be a sword to enter and divide asunder the soul and spirit and it may evaporate and break forth and triumph in action be heard from your tongue and felt from your hand and shew it self in every motion as you walk When there is bloud in your veins and marrow in your bones when you are in health then is the best time to conquer sin by strength of reason Domitius Afer a famous Orator being now grown old and his strength and memory decayed would needs still come to the bar and plead and therefore it was said of him malle eum deficere quà m desinere that he had rather fail through impotency then cease and leave off in time convenient Such may seem to be the resolution of most men They will rather fail through weakness then cease to sin whilst their strength lasteth and any oyle is left in their lamps How many do we see every day upon whom the evil dayes are come feeble and weak to all good purposes as those who have been dead long ago but ad peccandum fortes strong and active and youthful in sin having their hair white but their affections and ambition green violently framing and forcing themselves to be sportful and gamesome and peruking their age with youthful behaviour And yet these men peradventure at the last cast when their members are dried up and done can be content to offer them up to God as the old forworn fencers amongst the Romans were wont Herculis ad postem arma figere to offer up their weapons in Hercules Temple when they could make no further use of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 complained the God of War in the Poet when he saw such unbeseeming gifts and monuments offered up in his Temple And so may the Lord of hosts complain much more These darkened and distracted understandings these faultring memories these crooked wills these dulled and blurred senses these juyceless and exhausted and almost dead bodies these arms of statutes these pictures of men wasted and spent in the service of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are not the weapons and faculties I made Fit they are for the grave and rottenness but utterly unfit for the Temple of the Lord of hosts Behold thou art made whole That is the time that is God's time and thy time that is the accepted day the day in which thou must work out thy salvation To this end thou wert taken out of the porch by the pool's side and set on thy legs to this end thou art bid to walk that thou maist sin no more For in the second place if Health have not this end it will have a worse a contrary one As there are but two places Heaven and Hell so are there but two ends God's and the Devil's and we never stray from the one but we run to the other We never turn our back to Jerusalem but we make forwards towards a strange land It is as impossible to stand still between both and not move to one of them as for a man that hath the use of reason to be neither good nor evil For the mind of of man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ever in motion and if it do not follow those graces and favours which God affordeth for our viaticum and help in our way it will force them to a bad end and make that which might have been the savour of life unto life to become the savour of death unto death Health is the gift of God and should be used as his gift and returned back as a sacrifice to him crowned with the spoils of Satan and the triumphs over sin And if it be not thus used and offered it will be a sacrifice to Devils instrumental to all wickedness and advantage to Fraud a help to Ambition a bawd to Uncleanness the upholder of Revenge the nurse of Pride an assistant to Covetousness and the very life of War We may be evil on the bed of sickness but in health we publish and demonstrate it Then the deceitful coyneth his plots the ambitious soreth the wanton neigheth the revenger draweth his sword the proud lifteth up his head the miser toyleth and the souldier washeth his feet in the bloud of his enemies Quid non est Dei quod Deum offendit saith the Father There is nothing we receive from God but by it we may offend him Nihil tam sacrum quod non inveniat sacrilegum Nothing is so sacred but it may be sacrilegiously abused nothing is given us to a good end but it may be diverted and forced to a bad one Wit is the gift of God to this end Prov. 8.12 to find out knowledge of witty inventions to devise cunning works to work in gold and silver and brass Exod. 31.4 to find out arts to find out musical tunes Eccl 44. to the glory of him quia illa omniae quae possunt inveniri primus invenit as Lactantius speaketh who first shewed what was afterwards found out And we see it hath been brought down to endite for our lusts and malice for our sorrows and triumphs for every passion which transporteth us it hath wrought in Satyre and Elegy to feed our malice and to encourage our lust it hath made Philosophy perplexed Divinity a riddle and Trades mysterious and is a golden cup as Augustine speaketh in which we drink and carouse our selves to the Devil Again Riches are the gift of God And though he reacheth them forth but with his left hand Prov. 3.16 yet we may make of them a key to open the Kingdom of heaven And to that end they were given Yet the rich of this world too often make them the instruments of Pleasure the fuel of Vice a Patent and Prerogative to do what they please a Canopy to walk under and commit evil with more state and majesty a Supersedeas against Conscience in a word a
God's benefits whether Beauty or Wit or Riches or Health is to make them benefits indeed But if we turn them into wantonness they will be turned into judgements we shall be the verier fools for our Wit the poorer for our Riches the more deformed for our Beauty the more despicable for our Power our Health shall be worse then a disease and Miracles themselves shall stand up to condemn us But if we behold that is consider them they will be as the influences of heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defluxions from God himself distilling upon us to refresh and quicken us and make us active in those duties which return them back again with praise unto their Fountain And in the strength of them we shall walk on from faith to virtue from virtue to knowledge from knowledge to temperance from temperance to patience till we are brought into the presence of God who is the giver of all things In a word If we thus behold and consider God's benefits we shall sin no more nor shall a worse thing come unto us Which is our third and last part and cometh next to be handled The Fifth SERMON PART III. JOHN V. 14. Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee MAN hath not found out more wayes to destroy himself then God hath to save him You shall find God's preventing mercy his following mercy Psal 59.10 Psal 23.6 Psal 119. Psal 6.2 his reviving and quickening mercy his healing mercy Here they are all even a multitude of mercies Healing Preventing Following and Reviving Here I told you is 1. Misericordia solicita Mercy sollicitous to perfect and complete the cure The healing of this impotent mans body was but as a glimmering light as the dawning of the day Mercy will yet shine brighter upon him 2. Misericordia excitans Mercy rousing him up to remember what he was by the pool's side and to consider what he now is in the Temple And these two we have already displayed before you 3. The last now sheweth it self in rayes and light and full beauty Misericordia praecipiens Mercy teaching and prescribing for the future I may call it a Logical Rational Concluding Mercy making the miracle as the Premisses and drawing from it Salvation as the Conclusion Behold thou art made whole Therefore sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee The words are plain and need not the gloss of any learned Interpreter And we find that those lessons which are most plain are most necessary as those things which are most common are most useful When we are to build an house we do not go to the mines for gold or to the rocks for perle but to the quarry for stone Corn which feedeth us groweth almost in every field and Sheep which clothe us grase in flocks upon the mountains But those things quibus luxuria Pretium fecit which would be of little esteem did not our luxury set a price upon them are remote and in a manner hidden from us and we find them out with labour and hazard of our lives So it is in spiritual matters Those truths which are necessary lie open and naked to the understanding so that he that runneth may read them But more abstruse and subtle speculations as they are not necessary so are they set at distance and are hard to find out For it is not Curiosity but Humility that must build us up in our most holy Faith And yet the plainest truths in Scripture require our pains and labour as much as the obscurest We may observe that in the winter-season when the Sun is far removed from us we lay our selves open and walk the fields and use means to receive the light and heat of it but in the summer when it is almost over our heads we retire our selves and draw a curtain to exclude both light and heat The same behaviour we put on in our Christian walk When the Sun of righteousness cometh near us and shineth in our very faces we run with Adam into the thicket and hide our selves in excuses but when he withdraweth and as it were hideth himself and will not tell us what is not necessary for us to know we gaze after him and are most busie to walk where we have no light The obscurer places in Scripture are like unto the Sun in winter We delight to use all means to gain the light and meaning of them But the plainest are like the Sun in summer They come too near our Zenith their light and heat offend us they scald and trouble us by telling us plainly of our duty and therefore we use art and draw the curtain against them to keep off their heat As we have heard of the people of Africk that they every morning curse the Sun because the heat of it annoyeth them These plain words of the Text are a notable instance For to defeat the true meaning of them what art do we use what curtains do we draw When we should sin no more we question the possibility of the precept and whether there be any such estate or no As if Christ did bid us sin no more when he knew we could not but sin again and again And then we multiply our sins as we do our dayes and make them keep time almost with every hour and moment of our life And to this end we draw distinctions before the words to keep of their light SIN NO MORE that is Not unto death or SIN NO MORE that is Not with a full consent Not without some reluctancy or strugling of conscience And now where is this Text Even lost and swallowed up and buried in the glosses of flesh and bloud We may we think observe it and yet sin as oft as the flesh or the world shall require it Let us then take some pains to raise the Text from this grave and take off those cloths in which it is enwrapped let us draw it from those clouds and curtains wherewith it is obscured In the course of our speech we shall meet with some of them Now we shall take the words in their natural meaning as they lie And in them you may observe 1. the Prescript or Caution Sin no more 2. the Danger of not observing it If we sin again a worse thing will come unto us And by these we may try our selves as the Eagle doth her young ones If with open eyes w◠can look upon the Text as it lies in its full strength and meaning then are we of the true airy but if we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we be weak sighted and cannot endure the light and heat of it we may then justly suspect our selves to be but bastard and counterfeit Christians First of all we shall consider how far the words Sin no more do extend and stretch themselves secondly the Possibility of keeping of them The first is a consideration of some consequence that we may not violate the word of God nor do the Scripture any
yet the profit of them is in a manner quite lost and they are of little or no use to the mere natural man who hath not yet ventured at this mart For that is of small use which bringeth us not to the main end It is a wonder to observe what gifts of Wisdom Temperance moral and natural Conscience do not onely appear in the books but also appeared in the lives of many heathen men utterly void of the knowledge of this Truth Yet what advantage were those things to them since without the Truth all the good that remaineth in the natural man can never help him one foot toward the atteinment of eternal happiness Take we the wisest and honestest Heathen that ever was a Socrates or an Epictetus a Fabricius or a Cato let him have all the graces that are this Truth onely excepted let him not onely be morally vertuous but also endure all disgrace and torment for vertue 's sake and not onely Christianity but even moral goodness hath sometimes been persecuted let him be a Regulus and undergo what so many Christians refuse to do onely because he dareth not break his oath let us I say set before our selves a man in whom all moral excellencies concur and then judge what a purchase that of Truth is For what shall all those endowments profit him when having put off his body of flesh he shall find one and the same place provided for him that is for the wickedest wretch that ever lived Then what is the Christians Hearing and Fasting and Praying if this Truth do not seal and ratifie them Shall I say Not so good as the virtues of the Heathen Nay far worse If their virtues were splendida peccata shining and glorious sins as S. Augustine censureth them what then is our ceremonious hypocrisy Certainly a sin as great as theirs but not so glorious the foul face of deceit and rapine shewing it self through all the paint Nor will it stand us in so much stead as their graces do them which serve to lighten the weight of their punishment and to diminish the number of their stripes For sure there is not the same degree of torment inflicted upon Regulus and Epictetus that is upon Nero and Julian But our abuse of the duties which are servants unto Truth our form of godliness working with the power of iniquity maketh abomination it self more abominable and hell hotter then it otherwise would be It is Truth which casteth a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a loveliness both on natutal graces and outward performances and so doth attract and draw the favour of God unto them These are as it were the matter and body of a Christian a thing of it self dead without life the soul that quickneth this body is the Truth This maketh Hearing a religious duty sanctifieth a Fast presenteth Almes as a sacrifice giveth beauty and lustre to every virtue All the virtues which commend us to God are of the same kindred and of near relation to this Truth but without this they shall never come to have any part of the vision of God as Joseph said unto his brethren Ye shall not see my face Gen. 43.5 except your brother be with you This is the high prerogative of Truth That it commendeth all our endeavours and beautifieth all our actions That it is the pillar of our Hope the life of our Faith and the soul and spirit of our Charity For what is a failing Hope a dead Faith a cold Charity good for What advantage is there in a feigned Temperance a forced Sorrow a superficial Repentance Certainly none at all They are of no value not markable because the feal of Truth is not upon them 5. Though it be exceeding rich yet the purchase of it will put us to no expense It is bought without money or money-worth Censum non requirit nudo homine contenta est It requireth nothing but a man God doth not set it to sale to put us to charges nor is it reason he should For although those things we buy in the world become our own and we have power to dispose of them as we please yet the Truth is exposed to sale as Diogenes was with this question Who will buy a Master He that buyeth the Truth selleth not his estate but his liberty and buyeth a Lord and Master to whom he must bow and to whose disposal he must submit himself He that buyeth the Truth must be servant to the Truth and not the Truth to him Yea the Truth may as well be said to buy us as we it For it cometh with its reward in its hand It commandeth and withal promiseth which is a kind of bargain and contract Do this and live Be my servants and ye shall reign for evermore 6. That we may not be mistaken in our bargain take dross for silver embrace a cloud for Juno shades and phantasmes and darkness for light falshood for Truth this merchandise is set forth to sale in its own shape and face not masqued or veiled with riddles and obscurity Though some places of Scripture be as Gregory observeth like meat which by long meditation and study must be broken and chewed before they can be taken down yet the precepts of faith and good life which fill the whole compass of this Truth are like drink and may be received and digested as we find them Therefore here if we mistake we cannot plead excuse nor hope for pardon For this is as Hilary speaketh sub scientiae facultate nescire to grope at noon to be ignorant when God hath granted us the fairest possibility of knowledge hath plainly revealed his will and discovered not the hinder parts but the very face of Truth To be ignorant where the object inviteth and wooeth our understanding bringeth us in guilty not of ignorance but wilfulness not of an unhappy miss but contempt It is a common complaint And complaints for the most part are but apologies that the merchants of Truth hide their wares or shew them by an half-light that the Preacher is too deep that he flieth aloft beyond the reach of common capacities But as it is his duty to descend to them so it is not also their 's to make so fair a progress as to be able to rise up to him Quorsum docemus 2 Tim. 3.7 si semper docendi sitis as Quintilian told his scholars Why do we teach you if ye be alwaies learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth Why do we so often present the Truth before your eyes if ye will alwaies be Bats and never dare to look upon the Sun The Truth is the Preacher is not too deep but the Auditors will be dull and heavy And the reason why they are not taught is because they will not learn For if you do fontem à capite fodere lead them to the head of this fountain give them a reason for that easy truth which they acknowledge you are straight with them an
agents Nor can he who maketh not use of his Reason on earth be a Saint in heaven We are rewarded because we chose that which right Reason told us was best And we are punished because we would not discover that evil which we had light enough to see but did yield to our lusts and affections and called it Reason The whole power of Man is in Reason and the vigour and power of Reason is in Judgment Man is so built saith S. Augustine ut per id quod in eo praecellit attingat illud quod cuncta praecellit that by that which most excelleth in him Reason he may attain to that which is the best of all eternal happiness Ratio omnis honesti comes est saith Seneca Reason alwaies goeth along with Virtue But when we do evil we leave Reason behind us nor is it in any of our waies Who hath known the mind of the Lord at any time Rom. 11.34 or who hath been his counseller It is true here Reason is blind Though it be decked with excellency and array it self with glory and beauty Job 40.9 10. it hath not an eye like God nor can it make a law as he or foresee his mind But when God is pleased to open his treasury and display his Truth before us then Reason can behold apprehend and discern it and by discourse which is the inquisition of Reason judge of it how it is to be understood and embraced For God teacheth not the beasts of the field or stocks or stones but Men made after his own image Man indeed hath many other things common to him with other creatures but Reason is his peculiar Therefore God is pleased to hold a controversie with his people to argue and dispute it out with them and to appeal to their Reason 1 Cor. 11.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judge within your selves To judge what is said is a privilege granted to all the children of men to all who will venture for the Truth It is time for us now to proceed to the other hindrance of Truth Therefore II. We must cast away all Malice to the Truth all distasting of it all averseness from it Certainly this is a stone of offense a bulwork a mountain in our way which if we remove not we shall never enter our Canaan that floweth with milk and hony we shall never take possession of and dwell in the tabernacles of Truth Now Malice is either direct and downright or indirect and interpretative onely And both must be laid aside The former is an affected lothing of the Truth when the Will affecteth the ignorance of that which is right and will erre because it will erre when it shunneth yea hateth the Understanding when it presenteth it with such Truths as might regulate it and divert it from errour and this to the end that it may beat back all remorse silence the checks and chidings of Conscience and slumber those storms which she is wont to raise and then take its fill of sin lie down in it as in a bed of roses and solace it self and rejoyce and triumph therein Then we are embittered with hony hardened with mercy enraged by entreaties then we are angry at God's precepts despise his thunder-bolts slight his promises scoff at his miracles Then that which is wont to mollifie hardeneth us the more till at length our heart be like the heart of the Leviathan as firm as a stone Job 41.24 yea as hard as a piece of the nether mill stone Then satis nobis ad peccandum causa peccare it is a sufficient cause to do evil that we will do it And what impression can Truth make in such hearts What good can be wrought upon them to whom the Scripture attributeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.28 a reprobate mind who have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reverberating mind an heart of marble to beat back all the strength and power of Truth unto whom God hath sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thes 2.11 Rom. 1.18 strong delusion that they should believe a lie who hold the Truth in unrighteousness and suppress and captivate it that it cannot work its work who oppose their Wrath to that Truth which perswadeth patience and their Lust against that which would keep them chast who set up Baal against God and the world against Christ Eph. 4.19 These are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 past feeling and have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4.18 they have their understanding darkned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For wickedness by degrees doth destroy even the principles of goodness in us Hos 4.11 blindeth our eyes and taketh away our heart as the Prophet speaketh and maketh us as if we had no heart at all Either 1. by working out of the understanding the right apprehension of things For when the Will chuseth that which is opposite to the Truth non permittit Intellectum diu stare in dictamine recto it swayeth the Understanding taketh it off from its right dictates maketh it deny its own receptions so that it doth not consider that which it doth consider it averteth and turneth it to apply it self to something that is impertinent and maketh it find out reasons probable or apparent against that Truth which had its former assent that so that actual displacency which we found in the entertainment of the contrary may be cast out with the Truth it self We are willing to leave off to believe the Truth that we may leave off to condemn our selves When this light is dim the Conscience slumbreth but when it spreadeth it self then the sting is felt In our ruff and jollity we forget we have sinned but when the hand of vengeance removeth the veil and we see the Truth which we had hid from our eyes then we call our sins to remembrance and they are set in order before us Where there is knowledge of the Truth there will be conscience of sin but there will be none if we put that from us Or else 2. positively when the Will joyneth with Errour and embraceth that which is evil and then setteth the Understanding on work to find out the most probable means and the fairest and smoothest wayes to that which it hath set up for its end For the Understanding is both the best and the worst counseller When it commandeth the Will it speaketh the words of wisdome giveth counsel as an oracle of God and leadeth on in a certain way unto the Truth But when a perverse Will hath got the upper hand and brought it into a subserviency unto it then like the hand of a disordered dial it pointeth to any figure but that it should Then it attendeth upon our Revenge to undermine our enemy it teacheth our Lust to wait for the twilight it lackeyeth after our Ambition and helpeth us into the uppermost seat it is as active
behold God's precious promises but when we are urged with this undeniable Consequence That we must therefore forgive we start back and will not yield to the Conclusion nor be convinced by that evidence which is as clear as the day So prevalent is the flattery of this world above the Mercy of God! so powerful is a gilded vanity above the glory of the Mercy-seat It is argument of great force à majori ad minus If Christ forgave us who were his enemies then ought they that take his name upon them to forgive them who are their Brethren And he that is Christ's and truly religious must needs see the force of this argument and confirm and make it good by practice To this end in the next place we must make use of those helps which will draw this consequence out of these premisses which will so fit and prepare us that the Mercy of God may work kindly in us to bring its power into act that as God's Mercy is a convincing argument that we must be merciful so our Compassion to our brother may be as a strong confirmation and full assurance to us that God hath forgiven us First then as the Psalmist speaketh let us have God's Mercy in everlasting remembrance to curb our appetite to check our lusts to bridle our tongue to stay our hand to beat down all our animosity and to make our anger set before the Sun For the Memory saith S. Bernard is stomachus animi the stomach of the soul to make all God's benefits become food and nourishment to turn them into good bloud that we may be strong in the Lord and in the power of the Spirit strong to the casting down of all imaginations which may stand in opposition to the Mercy of God when it is begetting something in us like unto it self to turn them into the very bloud and substance of our soul that she shall not breath nor think nor speak nor actuate the hand but in a way of mercy And in this respect that of Plato may be true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We learn and are instructed by those notions which were formerly imprinted in our memory This is as it were parturire misericordiam to conceive and be in travel with Mercy till it be fully formed in us to work it out first in the elaboratory of our heart to have this article of our faith Remission of sins before our eyes that may check us at every turn that may break the bow and snap the spear asunder and burn every instrument revenge that may scatter those thoughts which warm our bloud and raise our spirits and make our glory and triumph to tread down our enemies under our feet The frequent meditation of this begat a love in many which was stronger then death This was the chain which bound the Martyrs to the stake this sealed up their lips when they were laughed to scorn Sic posuerunt animas suas With the remembrance of God's mercy in Christ they laid down their lives praying for their enemies with their last breath as Christ did for his commending their souls to the mercy of God whose bloudy cruelty had devoted their bodies to the fire By frequent contemplation of God's love we draw our soul from out of those incumbrances which many times involve and fetter her we recollect our mind into it self and do not let it out to our passions to be torn and distracted but fasten it upon the Goodness of God where it resteth as upon a holy hill from whence looking down it beholdeth every object in its proper shape It looketh upon the World as upon a a shop of vanity upon Riches as that which may be lost and we never the worse upon Beauty as that which is lost whilest we look on it upon Honour as on a falling star which shineth and falleth and is turned into dung upon Injury as a benefit upon Persecution as a blessing upon Contempt as upon that sword which will slay none but the scornful upon Oppression as that which shall undoe none but the covetous Yea it seeth Life in the face and countenance of Death Oh it is a sad speculation that our Memory should keep its retentive faculty to preserve that which is poisonous and deleterial but that we should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leak and let out the water of life which should quicken and refresh the soul and make it grow in grace that at the impression of a wedge of gold our Memory should conceive theft or fraud or rapine at the sight of a face bring forth lust at the shew of an injury set the soul on fire but be as marble to receive the signature of God's goodness that it should be a well-lockt treasury to every fading vanity but a through-fare for those lasting and powerful objects which should work and fashion the soul to a mild and heavenly constitution Oh that we should never call our Memory good but in evil Therefore in the second place it is not enough to behold these glorious phantasms and for a while to carry them about with us as precious antidotes unless we mould and fashion and rightly apply them For many times nitimur infirmamur saith Hilary Contemplation bringeth us forward but then letteth us fall to the ground we profer and look back we put on resolutions and fling them off again before they are well on we remember God's mercy and when our bloud is a little chafed study to forget it The good which we would which we approve that do we not and soon learn not to think it good Et mentis judicium rectitudinem conspicit sed ad hoc operis fortitudo succumbit We fall short of that rectitude which the eye hath discovered and which we have but weakly framed and set up in our mind and so leave the truth behind us and go on undauntedly to that which our Anger or Lust doth hurry us to We do not so place God's Mercy before our eyes as to conceive something like unto it as Jacob's sheep did amongst the rods This hindereth the powerful operation of Mercy that we see it as the Jews did their Manna and know not what it meaneth But if we will put on the bowels of mercy we must contemplate Mercy in its own sphere in that site and aspect in which it looketh upon us deliberare causas expendere deliberate and question with our selves for what cause it was thus set up and draw it down to the right end and use of it Now to what end was the hand of Mercy reached out unto us Questionless to work in us peace of conscience and save us But if we look again and view it more nearly and considerately we shall find another use namely to make us fruitful in every good work O thou wicked servant saith the Lord in the Gospel Matth. 18. I forgave thee all thy debt shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as
end where they cannot find a fault they will make one And this fiction of theirs must be as a sheet let down from heaven Acts 11.01 13 with a command to arise and kill and eat And at the sight of a prodigy of their own begetting they rejoyce and divide the spoil For conclusion then Let us mark these men and avoid them And let us mourn and be sorry for their joy the issue not of Christian Love but of Pride and Covetousness and which hath not God's glory for its object but their own Let them murmure let us rejoyce let them reproch us let us pray let them break witless jests let us break our stony hearts let them detract let us sing praises let them cry Down with it Down with it even to the ground let us reverence God's Sanctuary let us remember the end for which it was built and draw all our thoughts words and gestures to that end let us so behave our selves in the Church that we may be Temples of the living God and worship God in the beauty of holiness Why should we not rejoyce with David and tune our harps by his our devotion by his songs of thanksgiving The same God reigneth still the same end is set up and the same means appointed for that end Let us press hard to the end and then no scruple can arise Let not our sins and evil conscience trouble us and nothing will trouble us Come let us worship and fall down that is one end and our everlasting happiness is another And these are so linked together that ye cannot sever them The end cannot be had without the means and the means rightly used never miss of their end And then God's glory and our happiness will meet and run on together in a continued course to all eternity Oh then let us so use the means ut profectum pariant non judicium as S. Augustine speaketh that they may have their end and not end in judgement Why should any benefit opportunity occasion that looketh this way be lost and so ly dead and buried why should it loose the effect it should have Why when God soweth his grace and favour should nothing grow up but wormwood and bitterness Why should Heaven bow it self and Earth withdraw Why should God honour us and we dishonour his gift Let us therefore put on David's spirit and enter God's courts with joy and his house with rejoycing let us come to Church with one heart and one soul Prov. 8.31 And as God's delight is to be with the children of men so let our delight be to converse with him in all humility And Humility is an helper of our Joy let us bow our knees and lift up our hearts and upon those altars burn the incense of our prayers and offer up the sacrifice of our praise and let our obedience keep time with our devotion Thus if we present our selves before God in his house he will rejoyce over us and his Angels will rejoyce with us and for us and we shall joy in one anothers joy and when all Temples shall be destroyed and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll Isa 34.34 we shall meet together in our Masters joy and there with Angels and Archangels and all the company of heaven sing praises to him for evermore To which joy he bring us who can hear from heaven and grant our requests and fill us with all joy even the God of love the Father of mercy and the Lord of heaven and earth Soli Deo Gloria The Four and Twentieth SERMON PART I. MATTH VI. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you THE Decalogue is an abridgment of Morality and of those precepts which direct us in the government of our selves and in our converse with others And this Sermon of our Saviour is an improvement of the Decalogue Herein you may discover Honesty of conversation Trust in God and the Love of his kingdom and his righteousness mutually depending on each other and linked together in one golden chain which reacheth from earth to heaven from the footstool to the throne of God Our conversation will be honest if we trust in God and we shall trust in God if we seek his kingdom and his righteousness For why is not our Yea Yea and our Nay Nay Why are not we so ready to resist evil Why do we not love our neighbour Why do we not love our enemy Why do we arm our selves with craft and violence Why do we first deceive our selves and then deceive others The reason is Because we love the world Why do we love the world Because we are unwilling to depend on the providence of God Why do we not trust in God Because we love not his kingdom and his righteousness He that loveth and seeketh this needeth no lie to make him rich feareth no enemy that can obstruct his way knoweth no man that is not his neighbour nor no neighbour that is not his friend layeth up no treasure for the moth or rust serveth not Mammon nor needeth to be sent to school to learn the providence of God from the fouls of the aire or the lilies of the field This is the summe and conclusion of the whole matter The kindgdom of God and his righteousness is all comprehendeth all is the sole and adequate object of our desires And therefore our Saviour calleth back our thoughts from wandring after false riches taketh off our care and solicitude from that vanity which is not worth a thought and levelleth them on that which hath not this deputative and borrowed title of Riches even that kingdom and righteousness which is riches and honour and pleasure and whatsoever is desirable For even these are of her retinue and train and she bringeth them along with her as a supplement or overplus Do you fear injury This shall protect you Do you fear disgrace This shall exalt you Do you fear nakedness and poverty This shall cloth and enrich you Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you In these words our Saviour setteth up an Object for his Disciples and all Christians to look on first the kingdom of God the price and prize of our high calling Which we need not speak of we cannot conceive it the tongue of men and Angels cannot express the glory of it Secondly his righteousness this is the way to God's Kingdom Next you have the Dignity of the Object it must be sought then the Preeminence of it it must be sought first and last of all the Motive or Promise or Encouragement to make us seek it which answereth all objections which the flesh or the world can put in All these other things shall be added to you These be the parts of the Text and of these in order The Kingdom of God is the end and we must look on