volume of thy book it is written of me that I should fulfill thy Law then said I loe I come 2. He fulfilled the Moral Law not only by giving it the right interpretation but by exact obedience whereupon he said Which of you can accuse me of sin 3. He gave life to the Ceremonies pointing to their true meaning as instead of the Circumcision of the flesh exhorting to the Circumcision of the heart 4. Whereas the judicial Law of the Jews did mention temporary and corporeal rewards and punishments Christ changed that stile of speech into spiritual and eternal No doubt but Christ did fulfil all righteousness for he came not to do his own will but the will of his Father his justice was multiformous in all the actions of his life from his Cratch to his Cross yet my Text says that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus by receiving Baptism by that one act fulfil all righteousness I know not one bad interpretation upon that Point which is rare among Expositors to be so divers in their judgments and yet all allowable One says it is meant quoad inchoationem justitiae that so it behoved him to begin the course of righteousness That was but one act of his humility but the first wherein he did manifest obedience So Baptism is the first step that we make into the Church of Christ therefore because light was the first thing that God made among his visible Creatures and Baptism is the first of his spiritual graces it hath ever been called in the Greek Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the illumination of a Christian it is the day of inauguration when we first claim right unto our title of the Kingdom because we are adopted the Sons of God Surely the ordinary gloss conceits the words otherwise but very profitably Righteousness is either Legal which consists in an exact obedience to all the Commandments of God Or else Evangelical which knows Salvation is not attained unto by the works of the Law but thus Repent and believe and thou shalt obtain remission of sins therefore Christ speaking in the person of us who are his members says to John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus must we fulfil all righteousness by calling upon men to repent and be baptized in the true faith and their sins shall be covered and blessed is that man or righteous is that man to whom the Lord imputeth no sin This was the Doctrine taught in the Church every where three hundred years past and more Omnis justitia impletur ex gratiâ All our righteousness is fulfilled through grace and not through works Ut nullus ex operibus neque ex arbitrio glorietur they are the words of the gloss to the end that none may boast of works or in the power of his own free will but acknowledge himself guilty of damnation and obnoxious to the dreadful justice of God let us fly to that grace which freely washeth away our sins Thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness Chemnitius makes this apprehension of the Text. Christ did omit no means to reconcile us to his Father that we might be justified before him and this he brought to pass two principal ways 1. When he gave himself an Oblation upon the Cross to take away our sins 2. When he did institute the means and instruments to apply that meritorious satisfaction unto us on this wise therefore he did fulfil righteousness by sanctifying the Sacrament unto us which is the especial medium to apply the righteousness of faith to every one that shall be saved Another and the last sense of this word that likes me also consists in these terms By receiving this Sacrament of Baptism we are tied as far as we are able to fulfil all righteousness It behoveth them that profess the true Faith to keep themselves undefiled from the world and to be holy unto the Lord. As Rachel cried out to Jacob Give me children or else I die so a sincere faith cries out unto the conscience Let me bring forth good works or else I shall be a dying faith and altogether unprofitable Do we make void the Law through faith Says St. Paul God forbid yea we establish the Law Rom. iii. 31. So it appears how righteousness buds forth from Baptism our conscience being watred with the heavenly dew of that Sacrament it makes us fruitful with good works Sed in istôc nequaquam sunt omnia will some man say Will that serve instead of all righteousness For our Saviour saith Thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness God gave the word great was the company of Interpreters and his Spirit is in them all You shall hear the several consolations which they pick out from hence 1. To be a perfect teacher and a perfect doer of Gods will these are Tabor and Hermon the two fruitful hills upon which the blessing of the Lord descends To be a Teacher and not to do well is very bad like Hophni and Phinehas those dissolute Priests who polluted the holy Sacrifice To do well and not to teach is laudable and good but it is not excellent for to be an instructer and a doer is a degree of perfection beyond it Omne tulit punctum it is more blessed to give instruction than to receive therefore our Saviour was abundant in both Praeivit in exemplo quod verbo docuit He did lead the way of obedience by example and afterward did preach it to the people Blessed is he therefore that is not only a teacher but a doer of the word this is to fulfil all righteousness 2. Suum cuique there are but three heads from whence all justice is distributed and they may be drawn out of this Baptism for by receiving Baptism we are obedient to the institution of God we provide a salutiferous medicine for our own soul and by letting our light shine before men we do edifie our brother But to render that which is due to God to our own soul to our brother is to be perfect in every line of justice therefore in the universality Christ might say thus he did fulfil all righteousness 3. Says St. Austin Quid est impleatur omnis justitia Impleatur omnis humilitas The Son of God had this meaning how he fulfilled all righteousness because he condescended to the lowest step of humility for there are these three fallings as I may say one lower than another To be subject to a Superiour and not to prefer himself before an equal is justitia sufficiens sufficient humility and no want To be subject to an equal and not to prefer himself before an inferiour is justitia abundans that is not only justice enough but large and abundant humility but to be subject to an inferiour yea the most mighty God to be subject in Baptism to his Creature this is justitia perfectissima most perfect lowliness none can submit it self more and thus indeed to make the pride of base man to blush who
Receiver Also we apply general Promises to our selves by the word of absolution For although God only pardons sins yet he hath promised to his Priests if our hearts be well disposed to admit their work Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis What they loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven but the special motive is the inward testimony of the Holy Ghost speaking in the conscience of true believers by the effects of grace This last is it which is opposed by some namely that there is no assurance ordinarily begot by the Testimony of the Spirit to a mans private spirit that he is the child of God But this I will prove This is not denied that this is the faith of the Gospel on which we lay hold for eternal life whosoever truly believeth on Christ he shall be saved and cannot a man infallibly infer but I do through Gods grace truly believe in Christ Cannot a man search into his own heart that he doth receive Christ not only in his judgment by a firm willing and unfained assent but also by an earnest desire to be made partaker of him and by a setled resolution to acknowledge him to be his Saviour Surely the mind is not ignorant of its own actions when it understandeth when it assenteth it knoweth it self to assent when it desireth it knoweth it self to desire when it resolveth it knoweth it self to resolve Much more is it able to examine it self being holpen by the Spirit of God I may boldly say the Letter of the Scripture is not more plain for any point of Divinity than for this Rom. viii 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God Either we can feel this witness and make use of it or to what end is it given And why else are we bidden to feel and try that good work of the Spirit if it be in our selves Examine your selves whether you be in the faith 2 Cor. xiii 5. The true sorrowful penitent hath not less comfort now than if Christ were still upon the earth But to some of them while he lived in Jury it was graciously spoken Daughter be of good chear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be confident thy sins are forgiven thee And again I have prayed Peter that thy faith may not fail he let Peter know so much that he might enjoy that comfortable perswasion They that oppose frame this retorsion Some of the most excellent Saints as Peter and Paul knew that Christ did live in them and that they were living members of his body for whom God had received the Crown of life yet this they attained unto not by the ordinary strength of faith but by extraordinary revelation No such matter for says St. Peter Give deligence to make your Calling and Election sure This exhortation were frustrate to stir up our diligence for that work if certitude of salvation come only by extraordinary revelation and St. Paul protesting that neither life nor death could separate not himself only but us many more of the Elect from the love of God draws his perswasion from such reasons as were common to him with all the Saints Rom. viii 32. to the end of the Chapter Because God hath not spared his own Son for our sakes because with him he would freely give us all things because Christ is risen from the dead because he sits at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us And now I will draw up my meaning in this first conclusion 1. Nothing but true faith can breed this particular application that any regenerate person should have affiance for his own salvation 2. That true faith doth not attain it in all but is kept back in many by tentations afflictions weakness want of instruction 3. Every good Christian ought to endeavour to get this assurance 4. Many without presumption have that stedfast and infallible comfort of Christs mercies applied unto themselves 5. In all that are truly justified it hath a sure foundation to beget it if they would well examine it Let no man therefore cavil upon any of these Points single unless he remember them all together The second conclusion follows the Holy Ghost doth beget this certitude of salvation in some measure in the faithful by causing them to examine what good fruits they have produced already from a lively faith and do firmly resolve to produce hereafter Let a well-guided conscience search how contritely we have repented us of those sins which we have committed What good works we have brought forth I mean good in their kind according to the manifold imperfections of our frailty examine whether they were done to be praised of men for fear of the Magistrate for fear of infamy or for Gods glory Whether we would not willingly leave all we have life and all rather than lose our integrity Examine all these things after Gods Word and not after the fashion of the world and what strong and serious resolutions you have for the time to come and upon strict inquiry if you find a good account then conclude I feel the Lord dwell in me by his holy Spirit I feel by these good effects he will not forsake me If any look for Enthusiasms as if God should whisper this to them in their ear they are much deceived Mark by what Index St. Paul directs us by the marks of sanctification There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit And St. John clean throughout his first Epistle Hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments And by this we know we are translated from death to life if we love the brethren St. Austin thus upon it for an interpreter Let every man enter into his own heart and if he find there brotherly charity let him be secure for he is passed from death to life I confess it and I admonish you upon it it is no such easie thing as the most imagine to try and find out whether our charity be rooted in a lively faith And in examination of particular actions from whence it must be manifested there may be much deceit much mistaking this causeth doubtings and fears and suppositions and intermissions of confidence Yet this is a possibility to sound the depth of a mans own heart and so St. Austin pleads on my side again A man may know the charity wherewith he loveth his brother better then he knoweth his brother Some there are and not a few who would cloy the Doctrine of special faith with this absurdity That many are encouraged thereby to run on in all manner of iniquity as if it were no matter how many and how grievous sins they committed so long as they were assured by this special application of Christ that all their sins were remitted But mark this second conclusion and it is abundantly enough to put to silence this cavillation
value to claim eternal life but through the gracious promise of God they are ordained unto it From hence Valentia and some others of that part do paralogize that they may truly say that a condignity doth amount to the works of pious men upon the obligation of Gods promise I answer that the promise of God doth make our good endeavours remunerable with the Kingdom of Heaven not that the Promise changeth the work into a better quality than it hath of it self as to make charity of two degrees become charity of two hundred no for the Promise is but an extrinsecal acceptation but it must be some intrinsecal perfection infused into a good work that shall make it commensurable and worth the reward How then doth the Promise knit our works and the reward together why thus God casts his eyes upon his beloved Son in whom and for whose sake all those Promises are ratified Now this must altogether imply a great indignity and not any condignity in our righteousness All the favour which we obtein at Gods hands above the inherent bonity which is in our works it is meerly for Christs sake and for his obedience imputed to us Examin in the weight of a reason what I give to a man above the value of his labour for a friends sake doth it make the reward meritoriously due The terms cannot consist together If God should promise the same reward of glory to him that died for Christ and to him that gave a cup of cold water for his sake the reward upon this supposition is equally due to both and then these two agreeing in uno tertio that is in the same promise should be equal in goodness between themselves which none will admit whose judgment is not quite perisht To conclude then that Noah brought so sweet a gift to the Lord it came from a supernatural infusion that so directed him That which is inspired from a supernatural virtue doth please the Lord though it be much attainted with humane infirmity that which He is pleased so to accept in mercy He hath promised to remunerate it with eternal glory for Christ Jesus sake who is a Sacrifice of the sweetest favour and to whom be all honour c. THE THIRD SERMON UPON NOAH GEN. viii 21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour THe former Verse brings in this Text Noah builded an Altar to the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered Burnt-offerings on the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet savour A work well managed and the end was happy We compose our selves in this devout time of Lent especially to be very conversant in the service of the Lord Prayer Preaching Fasting Alms come into practice or should do more than at other times It were pitty so much labour should be spent to little profit so much business be driven to Gods glory and to his small content so much doing rather to our undoing than to our salvation I have chosen this Text therefore for a seasonable subject to be insisted upon how this frequent Worship and all the fruits of our Religion may be an odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God Whom if we do not serve the omission will make him punish us and if he be ill served the neglect will make him punish us All the works of Piety which the Church of Israel brought forth were quarrelled by the Prophets as much as the worst Profanations They fasted but for strife and debate They repented but with sullenness hanging down their heads like a Bullrush They gave Alms sounding them abroad to be popular They Prayed but honoured God with their lips and their heart was far from him They chanted sweet Musick but with no devotion Amos v. 23. Take away from me the noise of thy Songs for I will not hear the melody of thy Viols And they sacrificed but with so much ill relish as he that killed an Oxe was as if he had killed a man he that burnt Incense as if he had blessed an Idol The course of godly Service is easily mistaken It is possible for a man to do good and to mar it in the doing it is possible for a man to wander in the right way It is possible for a man to bring a Sacrifice to God and to give high offence because it hath not a sweet savour I regard your spiritual profit that you may have a reward for your work in the Lord for which I refer you to the record of old Father Noah when he began a new World and how far are we from that Not four years in whose Piety the Lord delighted and therefore called it a sweet savour And what sweetness was this that exhaled up to heaven The resolution of that question shall make up my whole Sermon and divide the parts And I answer to the Question Negatively and Affirmatively Negatively in two Points First That the integrity or well-meaning of Noah is not said to give a sweet savour till he added a Sacrifice Secondly That a bare Sacrifice cannot be commended for a sweet savour Affirmatively The composition of the sweetness consists in five particulars First In the devotion of Noah Secondly In the instauration of true Religion Thirdly In his thankfulness for his preservation Fourthly In his endeavour to procure God to be gracious to all succeeding Generations Fifthly In his faith that had an eye unto a better Sacrifice Here are many granes of Incense in this sweet savour which shall not trouble you with length though they do with multitude What the sweet savour in my Text doth mean I like the method best to assign what it is not before I resolve what it is First It will be allowed that there were Faith Piety Sincerity in Noahs heart all the while he was shut up in the Ark yet they are not commended for sending up a delightful fragrancy to God till he brought his gift unto the Altar The reason is that God useth to prove the integrity of the heart by some outward sign before he commends it Abraham sought the Lord with all his soul since he came out of Vr of the Chaldaeans yet his faith was not extolled till he was ready to offer up his only Son then he received the Promise that the blessing should abide upon him and upon his Seed for ever The life of a Slip is in the root but the sweetness is in the Flower when it opens So the Just doth live by faith but he shall be loved for the fruits of holiness Adam was created after Gods Image yet he required cloaths to cover him that he might not be ashamed of his nakedness So a good Conscience is an heavenly thing the likeness of the Holy Ghost yet unless it be cloathed with outward effects of obedience it may be ashamed of its nakedness Faith should say to God as Achsah did to her Father Caleb Judg. i. 15. Thou hast given me a South
And to be threatned to be little in Gods Kingdom is to loose it for ever whereas every one must be great who shall be rewarded with that immortality When the Heathen traduced the Christians that they debased their Emperour and made him less than the God of heaven Know you not says Tertullian that this is the eminency of your Emperour to be less than God Imperator ideo magnus est quia coelo minor est And as the Orator perswaded Caesar Dum Pompeii statuas ornat suas erigit While he took care to adorn Pompeys Statues he did advance his own so we build our selves a Throne by falling down low before the foor stool of the Lord and the hands which are lifted up to praise him shall one day stand at the right hand of his Majestly Somewhat was in it but the Heathen knew not what it was they called it abusively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that every thing which grew too tall was thunder-blasted and that great fortunes when they came to excess did end in some shameful ruine Wherefore the wise Historian said of Poppaeus Sabinus that when divers Senators were cut short he lived secure in the reign of three Tyrants Quòd par negotiis neque supra habebatur he was fit for the business he undertook and not too great for it St. Chrysostom observes it among St. Pauls Salutations to the Romans that no man was saluted by the name of honour as Lord and Master and the like but Andronicus his fellow-prisoner Amplias his beloved Epaenetus his well beloved these were Titles in which the Saints delighted expressing their glory to be the union of charity in the holy Spirit As Virgil says of his Bees that they are full of stomach and revenge and that one Hive will fight cruelly against another Atque haec certamina tanta pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescunt Cast a little dust into the air and the fray is parted So when the pride of man hath set up sails and swells with vain opinion Pulveris exigui jactu methinks the casting of a little dust should pluck down our stomach the base mould of which our flesh is made Tolle jactantiam quid sunt homines nisi homines says St. Austin Set aside this corrupt leaven of ostentation and all men are but men as naked in their pomp as when they were born or when they shall be buried It was pride that dethroned the bad Angels and it is that makes man stubborn against the Law and refractory against faith hence it passeth currently to be the root of evil Yet Covetousness also as if there were emulation among Vices is taxed by St. Paul for the root of all evil setting the soul to be a Vassal to the love of the world and deceitful riches This Controversie coming before the Schoolmen to be decided this is the judgment of Aquinas These two parts are in the nature of sin Aversio à bono incommutabili a departure from the love of the Creator and Conversio ad bonum commutabile an inclination to the love of the Creature In the inclination to the transitory good Covetousness is the root of all evil in the departure from the chief good Pride is the root and matter of all evil that as the Aegyptians at the burial of the dead were wont to tear out the dead mans belly and to cry over it Thou wert it that killedst this man so if we would dissect out Pride from the rest of our vices we might more justly make that invective over it Thou wert the fall of Man and the ruin of evil Angels The Devil would lead our Saviour into the Wilderness little manners to go before his Maker Sequitur superbos ulton says the Poet but it is with punishment The Adulterer is a sinner in secret the Covetous commits Idolatry iu his Cabinet the Slanderer is like Pestilence that flieth by night alia vitia fugiunt à Deo sola superbia se opponit other vices are afraid and keep out of the way only Pride spurs on like Balaam upon his Ass when God and his angry Angel stand before him Now there are four ways as the Schoolmen make the account whereby this daring vice of Pride doth diminish from that which should be given to Gods glory 1. Cum homo existimat à se habere bonum quod habet A sin no less ungrateful than presumptuous to enjoy wit and art and memory and the blessings of the best Portion but the founders name to he quite lost and God forgotten when the Romans began to insult over the world well says one if every Country had their own which they have seized upon by violence and robbery ad casas reducerentur they would have nothing left them but their Shepherds Cottages But should God have all his own restored unto him which we have received what should I fay Ad casas reduceremur our strength our honor wisdom and eloquence all must be returned nay we should not have so much left as the Cottage of our Body for we had it from the Lord every thing that renowns us that feeds us that preserves us is but mica sub mensa a crum that falls from our Masters Table Did not the Egyptians make themselves fools in their Phitosophy that thought their Country was not the clearer for the Sun and Stars but that the Sun and the Stars sucked up sweet vapours from their Rivers and were the clearer for their Country so abominable are they in the pride of their hearts who think they did not receive the spirit of Prayer and the gift of Faith and the peace of a good conscience from Heaven but that they do pay Prayers and Alms and Charity to Heaven which they never received Secondly Violence is done to Gods glory cum desuper datum credunt sed pro suis se accepisse meritis when conscience will acknowledg that God doth give all but arrogancy will infer that man deserves all The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the free Gift of God the Father the Unction of the Holy Spirit are turned quite aside like a river from his own true channel when it falls into such a Soil that thinks it deserves it As the Jews said unto our Saviour on the other side of Gehezareth Rabbi quà huc venisti Master how camest thou hither so let us say Sanctification quà huc venisti We did not shew the way with Palms neither did we lift up the Gates there was no entrance which our merits could prepare for sactification not by our ears which are profane not by our mouths which are blasphemous and as our Saviour said If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee so in another sense I may say if thy right eye do not offend thee if any part of thy body usurps that it is not sinful cut it off and cast it from
to the Members of his body and it was laudible in him to wish some trial that he might encounter the Devil and spoil him of his Kingdom Tentationem exoptare in eo qui succumbere nequit est laudabile say the Schoolmen It was an heroical magnanimity in Christ to wish tentations so might fall upon him because he could not be vanquished And therefore some gather an observation contrary to St. Chrysostom that our Saviour went into the Wilderness and fasted forty days and after was an hungry destinating that the Devil should find him out Obviam procedit Diabolo quem scit non pug naturum nisi lacessitum He went out to dare the Tempter because he knew he would not come on and fight unless he were provok'd yet it is the sounder way to collect that for our instruction when we should examine this Story Christ did not go in a bravado or a challenge to offer himself to be tempted but the Spirit led him as who should say this was not Curtius in foveam a precipitated intrusion Let not man expose himself to temptation Dubia est victoria who knows that carries the badge of Adams frailty in his body whether he shall come off with victory or captivity Happy is that man and the Lord shall bless his integrity who will not come near the suburbs of sin for no man can keep the Commandments unless he be careful to avoid the first invitations of evil and to shun the farthest and remotest impediments of obedience Have you seen little children dare one another which should go deepest into the mire But he is more childish that ventures further and further even to the brim of transgression and bids the Devil catch him if he can I will but look and like says the wanton where the object pleaseth me I keep company with some licentious persons says an easie nature but for no hurt because I would not offend our friendship I will but bend my body in the house of Rimmon when my Master bends his says Naaman I will but peep in to see the fashion of the Mass holding fast the former profession of my faith Beloved I do not like it when a mans conscience takes in these small leaks it is odds you will fill faster and faster and sink to the bottom of iniquity I have read of a Bishop that was performing the Office of Baptism to many that were converted from Gentilism and when a Virgin came near the Font of an extraordinary beauty he desired a substitute to discharge the place for he would not please his eyes no not for a few minutes to look upon such an object as allured his fancy What a careful Christian this was that kept off occasions of sin and would not suffer them before him as David charged his treacherous Son Absalom to keep a distance and not to come near Jerusalem Hannibal that approved Souldier placed himself in a battel where many Darts of the enemy flew round about him and when some commended him that he ventured his person upon the mouth of danger you mistake says Hannibal I am more ashamed of my self this day than ever I was in my life that being the General of the Field I came in peril to be wounded This is well applied to every Souldier that fights under Christs Banner when we are run into tentations it is good and blessed to come off with the least impairment to our innocency But why did you come so near the flame that you were in peril to be scorched Job comforted himself that he had kept his eyes from wandring Jeremy was careful neither to lend upon Usury nor to borrow upon Usury In a word when Tentations fall upon you by Gods permission resist them manfully but if you mean to be led by the Spirit do not wittingly and daringly fall upon tentations This is the sum of the third observation I defer the fourtn to a larger tractate To God the Father c. THE THIRD SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 1. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the VVilderness to be tempted of the Devil THis Text you see will not let me go I have been parting from it twice and still it invites me to stay As the Levite took his farewel at Bethlem sundry times and could not get away Judg. xix And now I have good cause to tarry being led by the leading of the Spirit Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile with him go with him twain says Christ Mat. v. 21. And if the Spirit of God compel us to go with him one Sermon we will go with him twain it cannot be irksom or weary to follow such contemplations But it is fit I should satisfie you where I stick in this verse for the present that I do not proceed how Christ was tempted wherefore he was tempted by whom he was tempted when he was tempted I have rid my hand of these discourses Likewise I have passed thus far how Christ was marshalled into the field by the divine impulsion of the Holy Ghost Here I resume my task into my hands where I left it That which remains for me to survey and for you to exercise your attentions upon is this First Since Christ himself was led by the Spirit when he went forth to fast and pray and to fight against the Devil therefore I will make enquiry how the grace of God doth lead us to eschew evil and to do good And secondly I will bring you along to consider the place whereon our Saviour planted himself to encounter his enemy it was the Wilderness How all men whom God calls to the saving truth by the preaching of the Spirit are led by the Spirit that is governed and directed by his grace is the Doctrine with which I begin in which intricate subject I confess my self to be in a Wilderness before I come to the last part of my Text if ever there were a question which troubled the whole world it is this How the will of man is guided unto Salvation by the supernatural help of God It is run into a Proverb that there are three things almost impossible to be traced The one how a King doth govern his Kingdom the secret reasons of state make the course of his actions so obscure Cor regis inperscrutabile says Solomon The other how grace doth govern the soul And the third how God doth govern the world We are sure divine motions move within us and yet we know not how they move Our Saviour did admonish us it would be a hard matter to understand when he spake of the Holy Ghost who doth regenerate us The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou knowest not whence it comes nor whither it goes What impression a spiritual quality doth or can make upon a spiritual substance Philosophy cannot judge of it but so far as the Scripture opens the mysterie Divinity may examine it and faith must believe it In these labyrinths
to them since some of their own do ingenuously confess of our Divines that we are Purioris antiquitatis retentissimi most retentive of purer antiquity In a word there is no necessity by Gods Word to keep a Lent of forty days therefore those Churches are not condemnable But because the use hath been propagated to us in so many Ages both in the Greek and Latine Churches I presume to say that our custom is more justifiable and more laudable One thing for the last relish the Quadragesimal Fast is grounded upon long custom of time upon Ecclesiastical Constitution and Political Confirmation therefore it is not like one of the arch Precepts of the Law fac vives do this and live man was made for those vertues of Faith and Charity to which Gods Laws do immutably bind him but the Lent was made for man and not man for it The Libertine is too scandalous that tusheth altogether at this Ordinance but they that terrifie weak consciences that do not punctually observed it at all times are too rigorous that I may not say too Pharisaical who lay such heavy burdens upon mens shoulders under pain of damnation The Laws of the King which belong to the especial good of the Kingdom or for advancement of piety cannot be broken without manifest incurring of a great offence before God but the Laws of Fasts concern not the main substance of Religion or the necessary welfare of the Common-wealth therefore according to the indulgence of the Supreme Magistrate it may well be thought that they are not rigorously to be understood but civilly that is we are to give heed unto them that we do not break them with open contempt or scandal or out of the humour of a Libertine or any such neglect for then it is sin unto thee But where such food cannot sufficiently be supplied or if infirmity grow upon us or where some honest or reasonable cause shall be offered neither contempt being in our hearts nor scandal given by our neglect they that do contrary are not held neglecters of their duty or contemners of the Magistrate As upon Feast-days we dispense with mens necessities for bodily labour so upon Fasts respect is had to our weakness lest we should suffer harm in doing good Thus much hath been spoken upon the continuance of Christs Fast forty days and forty nights I will be brief in the consequent He was afterwards an hungry The Devil is exceeding subtil and works much upon advantage no greater advantage for his tentations than penury and necessity Yet Christ would hunger when he was to be tempted as who should say I am in that plunge which the Devil wisheth and yet let him do his worst I know not how Satan came by the knowledge that he was an hungry unless Christ discovered himself by searching for food and making enquiry where it might be expected and finding none This is manifest his appetite was destitute and in some distress all the time of the forty days going before he was sustained by the divine vertue that he should not hunger afterwards he suffered nature to have its course This only may be thought a little strange that after Moses and Elias had ended their fast of forty days we do not read in Scripture that they were an hungry why should the Holy Ghost leave it written that there was more infirmity in Christ than there was in them Because no more is spoken of Moses and Elias than to shew how the divine vertue did manifest it self upon them but our Saviour did exhibite a proof that the vertue of God was in him and the infirmity of man Only remember that Christ had satiety and hunger in his own power to manifest them when he pleased Qui Dominus est totius terrae Dominus est naturae suae says St. Austin He that was Lord of the whole Earth know it and mistrust it not he was Lord also of his own nature it was in his power to lay down his life when he pleased therefore it must be in his power to hunger when he pleased Hunger and thirst pain and sorrow were as naturally in Christ as they are in us but with two marks of difference First Christus non contraxit defectus naturae sed assumpsit Christ took such defects upon him he yielded to undergo them but we do merit and contract them to deserve infirmity and to assume infirmity are two divers things Secondly Impotencies of nature do command us we cannot command them If we have watch'd and fasted any long time sleep and meat are tribute which nature calls for and must be paid but our Saviour had them under subjection quantum quando quomodo to take them not out of necessity but voluntarily in no measure but when he pleased at no time but when he thought fit in all respects according to his own wisdom and appointment Now to that God who was made poor that we might be made rich that was made exceeding sorrowful that we might rejoyce that did hunger and thirst that we might be filled with good things be Praise and Honour AMEN THE SIXTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 3. And when the Tempter came to him he said If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread OF four things hard to be understood one says Solomon is the way of a Serpent upon a stone or rock Via colubrina super petram Proverbs for the most part have some dark allusion in them rather than a literal meaning and so hath this Satan is the Serpent Christ is the Stone Tentation is the way of the Serpent and nothing more obscure than the way of that Serpents tentation upon this elect precious Stone in Sion the chief Stone in the corner as the Prophets call him Concerning this Verse which I have read it is debated by learned Authors what fetch the Tempter had Some say his scope was to satisfie his own distrust and to find out whether Christ were the very Son of God he found no sin in our Saviour he heard the voice from Heaven at his Baptism he had learnt what John Baptist testified of him behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world this was enough to convince all the Furies of Hell and to put it out of doubt yet Satan was extreme unwilling to be perswaded of that which would put him to so much sorrow and for all this he is no further than if If thou be the Son of God Some say the Devils drift was to draw Christ to offend God with some capital iniquity and if this project could possibly have succeeded the redemption of mankind had been utterly marred for no Sacrifice would serve our turn but a Lamb without spot that is undefiled Surely some sin or other was part of the intendment in this first Tentation because it is evident he counselled Christ to sin against heaven in the Tentations following Therefore in this
that God is with us from the beginning to the end of our life in want and in abundance in liberty and captivity in evil report and good report and he will never forsake us The words of the Prophet Isaiah are sweeter than the dropping of an honey-comb Isa xlix 14. Sion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me St. Austin attributes so much to the power of faith against all the machinations of hell that he says the very Lesson of it being said by rote is able to defend us Ipsa recitatio symboli retundit inimicum The very repetition of the Creed doth beat off the enemy How much more mighty is the true feeling of faith when it lives within us If thou canst believe saith Christ all things are possible to him that believeth Mar. ix 23. Let Satan therefore keep his demur his hesitation his If thou be the Son of God unto himself Let him not take away your Garland by wavering for he that wavereth is as a wave of the sea sometimes rising aloft sometimes carried down to the Deep Let him not dry up the very fountain of grace So the Greek Fathers did always entitle faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mother the spring of all celestial gifts If any man say what faith what spring is this so much commended Briefly I will borrow this description to make it facile No man can have so much as an historical faith and well attend it but he must taste of some fiducial application that he is under the wings of the Almighty and looks for safety under his custody Nemo rectè potest credere Deo quin in Deum is no bad rule but I stand not upon that The faith of the Elect by which we shall be able to overcome our Ghostly enemies is not that which taketh all the holy Scriptures in the lump to be true but it is a willing a lively and an effectual assent to the Promise of the Gospel that Jesus the Son of the blessed Virgin Mary is the Son of God and is the Saviour of all those that repent and believe I say it is a willing and approving a rejoycing assent not forced like that of the Devils and wicked men who are convicted by the evidence of truth and with great horror and disdain confess it Moreover I said it was an effectual assent not a knowledge swimming in the brain informing the judgment but not reforming the heart such as hypocrites have But the understanding being enlightned by the Holy Ghost the will embraceth that which is good the heart is purified by it it works by love and transforms us into a new conversation answerable to that which we believe Now this belief in Christ which is the keeping the condition of Gods Promise doth imply three acts The first of assent that he is the Saviour of all those that believe in him which assent when it is lively and effectual is the proper act of that faith whereby we are justified before God The second act is of application when believing truly he is the Saviour of all that believe I therefore believe that he is my Saviour which is the act of that special faith by which we are justified in our own conscience The third act is of trust and assurance that because I do believe not only that he is the Saviour of the World but also my Saviour therefore I rest upon him for salvation So says our Saviour to his Disciples Let not your hearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me Joh. xiv 1. But this is not the act of faith as it justifieth us before God nor yet the proper act of special faith which doth justifie us in our own conscience but a fruit and consequent thereof and such a fruit as the Devil would pluck from the tree with this scrupulous injection if thou be the Son of God Now I will let you see as in a Map by pointing at spots of ground for whole Countries how faith is the fountain of all divine graces and therefore when Satan can make us reel and totter in our opinion whether we are the Sons of God there is not one Christian function in us stands sure but all the parts of true Religion are out of frame For first how can a man hope and wait for the performance of the Promises that doth not believe that they belong unto him Faith being the substance of things hoped for How can a man have true peace of conscience who is not perswaded that God is reconciled to him How can a man rejoyce in God who is not assured of Gods favour towards him How can a man be thankful to God who is not perswaded of Gods love and bounty to him They that have sinned how shall they be perswaded to turn unto him if they be not perswaded that his mercy is ready to receive them No man can perform obedience who is not perswaded that his endeavours are accepted of him No man can pray fervently who doth not assure himself that he shall be heard For so the Apostle How shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed Rom. x. 14. Who can patiently bear afflictions who is not perswaded that those fatherly chastisements proceed from Gods love and and tend to purge him as the Chaff is Winnowed from the Wheat Who can worship God with zeal and devotion who is not resolved and comforted that his service is accepted of him Hope Joy Peace Thankfulness Repentance Obedience Prayer Patience Worship all these will vanish away like a morningmist before the Sun if the Devil can make you distrust with such a tentation as this If thou c. And no marvel if in the first place and before all other parts of sin Satan labours to fill the World with little faith he can spare enough of that out of his own store to infect all the earth for who so great an Infidel as himself in this very tentation The words indeed come off very roundly and confidently that the Son of God with one word can command all the stones in the Wilderness to be made bread But to what end I pray you Whether you say for Christs sake or for the Devils sake every way it will chime Infidelity Argue in the first place why it should be done for Christs sake For if he were God what need he make bread of a stone that could make it of nothing Or though he were hungry what need he make bread at all Is not the bread of heaven able to live without material bread And Chrysologus revies it with his objection Nonne potest panem vertere in saturitatem qui potest in famem lapides immutare He
inward man must exceed all natural similitudes lavabis me dealbabor supra nivem thou shalt wash me and I shall be whiter than the snow We come into the world odious and defiled therefore we wash in the Sacrament of Baptism that we may be cleansed yet again we grow obscene and wallow in the mire of this world therefore we do often crave the bloud of Christ in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to cleanse and purifie our conscience and after all this he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled he that useth this world shall be contaminated therefore repentance which sometimes I hope brings tears with it must stand us often in stead to purge out the spots of uncleanness and this is our pureness before God that we sorrow for our impurity But remember I beseech you to keep your vessel chaste and undefiled for as this Angel appeared white as snow when Christ rose from the dead so let us go to our Graves as white as Doves in innocency and simplicity of heart that 's the colour of hope and purity belongs to all those that have hope of a glorious resurrection Secondly this snowy resplendent Vesture in the Angel is the Ensign of great joy for joy had never so good reason to break out heartily and redundantly as that Christ was risen from the dead The Sun and Moon in the Firmament do set every day and rise again no great joy to see those bright Lamps again because we certainly expect them but all that retein'd upon Christ thought when he was crucified such was their little faith that he was lost for ever and therefore when he came unto them and shewed them his feet and hands they believed not for joy and wondred Luke xxiv 41. and afterward being throughly perswaded of it they returned to Jerusalem with great joy v. 52. O Lord who is able to express what triumphs there were in Heaven when the Souls of the Saints perceived that Death was overcome that Hell had lost the victory and that they should be cloathed with their bodies for ever on Good Friday the Heaven and the Earth mourned the Eclipse put all in black on Easter day the colour is changed Heaven and Angels are all in white From this great Festival to the end of the next Lords day they that were baptized went all in white for the ancient Church took a delight to be ceremonious in these things and therefore the next day called Low Sunday by us the Low Sunday in respect of this the highest day in all the year with them was known by this name Dominica in albis the Sunday for wearing of white Garments and this colour was so constantly observ'd for the figurative signification of exceeding joy When Israel came out of Egypt and the House of Jacob from a strange language the Mountains skipped like Rams and the little Hills like young Sheep Psal cxiv And why is that one of the proper Psalms appointed to be read on this day because if the joy could not be expressed but by such strange Hyperboles when the People of God came out of the Bondage of Egypt then what unutterable gladness it is that the Son of God broke the bondage of death asunder and by his own victory brought us all out of the captivity of the Grave for ever It was a Proverb in their Heathen Entertainments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a sign of good welcom when the Porter which lets you in is chearful the Cherubins are the Porters of Paradise in former times holding an Instrument of minacy in their hands to keep us back now they appear gladsom and will conduct us with joy to Christ I told you before that in all the other Evangelists the pious women that came with spices to the Sepulcher to embalm Christs Body did not see the afrightful rutilancy in the Angels face but only this fair gladsome Robe he lookt like a Priest to preach Christs Resurrection pur âque in veste Sacerdos a good decorum in the Heathen Poets verse although some are so foolish now-a-days that they had as live see lightning as a white Garment upon his back that supplies the place of the Angel But the Angel himself were not able to satisfie all such quarrelsom consciences therefore I let it pass The use of his coming was to stir us up to joy to rejoyce in God In the world we shall have tribulation but this is a blessing of which neither fire nor water nor any tyranny can prevent us we shall have a joyful resurrection And as the Jews had the Law written in the Fringe of their Garments so we may read this observation likewise in the long Robe of the Angel which was white as snow that it was idaea gloriae the Idaea of that triumphant glory which shall be in the bodies of the Elect when they are raised up in immortality Indeed if no such reason should be assigned it would be hard to answer this objection Quid facit indumentum ubi tegendi necessitas non habitat What should a Garment do where there is no need of covering neither heat nor cold Summer nor Winter Whether they that rise from the dead shall be naked in their bodies is a captious question to be propounded Nakedness had no shame in it I am sure in the days of innocency before Adam fell and then indubitably it will have less cause to blush in Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the opinion of the Greek Fathers and therefore the white Robe of this Celestial Messenger was rather figurative of the brightness of our glory than a description of our Vestiments And the Scripture is constant to that phrase to make us constant in our expectation Those few names in Sarda which had not defiled their Garments shall walk with me in white Revel iii. 4. and the President of all Patterns our blessed Saviour at his Transfiguration in which he shewed what manner of Citizens we should be in the Heavenly Jerusalem the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering The Pharisees required a sign and Christ told them they should have no sign but that of the Prophet Jonas for Jonas rose as it were out of the Whales belly to preach destruction against Nineveh so all that the Souldiers knew by Christs rising should be lightning to burn them up but the godly women that saw this Angel over and above the sign of the Prophet Jonas saw this glorious Apparel to betoken the dainty and delicate part of the resurrection In these our evil days our Soul is full of rebellious concupiscence and therefore our Body is made miserable hereafter the Soul will be enlightned with all kind of grace and the Body shall be changed to be incorruptible Equal or like to the Angels the Elect shall be Christ hath so promised and in a mutual assurance these Angels that came in white were made like to us Like to us I say but
dead works were not quickned by grace better it might be for us that we had never been born therefore the life of Sanctification was begun in the Church as it were with a gentle gust of wind when Christ breathed on his own and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost So you see this outward sign of insufflation was constantly used at our Creation at our Resurrection at our Sanctification to shew how it is the same God that worketh all in all Yet St. Ambrose comes in with a third Meditation upon it Says he God did give man a living soul at first by breathing or inspiration to let him see he did not only give him a temporal or carnal vivification but grace and sanctity to live for ever But when man had lost this primitive grace and original righteousness it was fit to let us know that such losses could be repaired by none but Christ therefore Christ breathed again upon man to demonstrate that he was the restorer of those immortal blessings which exceed our merits and pass all understanding But when Christ was ascended up on high the Spirit could not be infused immediately from the breath of his mouth but in Analogy to it it came into the place where the Apostles were gathered together like the murmuring wind or the breath of heaven As Solomon fore-told it in his Poetical Ode Cant. iv 16. Awake O North wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out And here again I shall pass through some humane Comparisons to the illustration of most divine Mysteries First of all Elementary Creatures the Wind is the most active thing in the world nothing so quick and active as it Vsque adeo agit ut nisi agat non sit when it is not active it is not at all no stirring of the air no wind So it is with the Spirit of faith and love the very being of it consists in being operative What shall I do to inherit eternal life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome it impels the heart to be never out of motion in some spiritual exercise Either the Tongue is praying or the Ear is hearing or the Heart is meditating or the Hand is giving or the Soul is thirsting for remission of sins When the Spirit beats not in the Pulses there is no spirit in the body it is a dead Carkass and in whomsoever there is a cessation from all good works you may say it justly that there the Holy Ghost is extinguished there is no difference between a standing Puddle and a dead Sea And cozen not your selves with a vain confidence that albeit you be altogether barren and unprofitable no fruit of Sanctification budding from you yet Semen Dei manet the sap may be in the root the vertue in the Seed-corn though it do not put out These may-bees are pitiful Anchors of hope and miserable comforters Will you say the wind is up when there is a still Serena no puff of air moving Then think as little that God dwells in that brest where there are no tokens of Sanctification Secondly I have it from St. Austin Flatus ille à carnali palea corda mundabit The Wind is the advantage of the Husbandman to winnow Chaff from Wheat and where the Spirit blows upon the conscience it will purge it from all dead works The cares of this world the thought of getting Riches anxieties for honours and advancements these overspread the life of a natural man left to the ways of carnal reason but as soon as ever we begin to sift and discuss these cogitations by the doctrine of the Spirit they vanish and disperse Tradam protervis in mare Creticum portare ventis they are light and empty of true goodness and so are blown away to the Father of errors and delusions to the Devil himself from whence they came Thirdly Says St. Chrysostome Suppose a Ship be well appointed with Pilot Mariners Sails Cables Anchors and all convenient appurtenances to what use will all this serve if the winds stir not So let there be profound Judgment quick Invention neat Eloquence and all the graces of Art in a man these will not bring a man one whit onward in his Voyage to the haven of happiness to the kingdom of glory unless the sweet gales of the Spirit carry him forward those are the wings of the Dove upon which the Soul shall fly away and be at rest Another Author taken for St. Chrysostome writing upon St. Matthew composeth it thus As the ground doth not fructifie by rain alone but there is a prolificous vertue in the winds which blows upon the fields and makes the Spring to sprout So it is not our Doctrine alone which converts your Souls though it distill like the soft drops of rain upon the earth but benediction of inward grace that goes with the word breaths salvation upon our heart The Letter may kill but the Spirit quickneth and in our Evangelical Priesthood we are Ministers not of the Letter alone but of the Spirit also Qui instat praecepto praecurrit auxilio the words of Leo which I take to be solid truth in this Point when God presseth us with the outward instruction of his Word He impresseth the secret operation of his Spirit to make it fructifie And now to come to another portion of the Text it agrees very accurately with the nature of that supernal gift which God infuseth into his Saints that the Spirit came with a sudden flaw of wind And I am very willing to make that collection of it which divers have done before me Datur haec gratia ex improviso sine meritis Grace is a blessing that comes unlook'd for unawares nay it is impossible for an unconverted man to say now I am prepared for it now I expect it now my heart is ready to receive it for there is no good preparation for grace in the soul of man till some portion of it have entred before Natural dispositions cannot attain to bring in supernatural grace Therefore the first influx and admission of it must needs be sudden and unawares As you can make no rules for the Wind why it should blow South to day and North to morrow why from this Point of heaven at such a season rather than from another So there is no aim to be taken how this or that man was first partaker of the heavenly light which is thus couched in our Saviours words The kingdom of God cometh not with observation neither shall they say loe here or loe there for the Kingdom of God is within you Luk. xvii 20. For what observation can we make or through what tokens can we collect that God will begin to draw a sinner unto him Will you say he lives justly and chastely If they were Christian justice and chastity the seed of the Spirit was in his heart before If they be but moral conformities he is still the
Adversary But why should the Messias do all the Creatures that honour to be esteemed clean Hath God care of Oxen The Jewish Rabbi ventur'd not upon that question but Irenaeus answers it omnia purificata sunt per sanguinem Christi Christ hath set the Church at liberty to be debarred from nothing which God hath made and the uncleanness of the beasts is now accounted cleanness because our filthiness is washed away and made clean in his most precious bloud That which was commonly usurped among the Gentiles throughout all the world was branded for unclean and therefore Peter said Lord I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean but now the stile is chang'd and that which is most common is most clean Our riches are made clean by being scattered abroad and communicated in charity the Word of God is most clean and undefiled whose sound is gone forth into all Worlds Prayer and Preaching are best when they are performed in the Congregation and are most publick The holy Eucharist is cibus communis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Communion of the body of Christ and yet it is so pure a food that being eaten by faith it purifieth the heart and conscience above all things To the clean all things are clean but because we live in the contagion of the evil World and he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled and because our own heart is an impure fountain from which the streams of bitterness do continually flow Cleanse the thoughts of our heart O Lord by the inspiration of thy holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy Name by Christ our Lord. AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON NOAH GEN. viii 20 21. And Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered burnt offerings on the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet savour THis is our Sacrifice which we offer unto God at this time to preach of Sacrifice and Preaching hath a great similitude with the Law of the Peace-offering Deut. xxvii 7. Thou shalt offer Peace-offerings and shalt eat thereof and rejoyce before the Lord thy God So we are come together to speak unto the honour of God and to make our selves perfect in his ways and Testimonies to do them We offer unto the honour of our Saviour and eat of our own Offering which is the very condition of a Pacificatory Sacrifice Now that I may bring nothing unto the Altar but that which is pure and clean the Lord grant that he will circumcise my lips and put a right Spirit into my Meditations Among the Beasts such a one was clean that parted the Hoof and chewed the Cud upon which St. Chrysostome deviseth this interpretation to divide the Hoof is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to divide the Word of God aright in St. Pauls Phrase To chew the Cud is to ruminate upon sacred things to roul them in our understanding and to examine them maturely not to admit or swallow down Divine Mysteries rashly with slight and undiscoursed credulity That we may chew the Cud in this Fathers sense I take these words upon which I have lately spoken again into my mouth to make further proof what is contained in them And lest confusion should make all that is to be said unprofitable I will divide the Hoof after the condition required in a clean Sacrifice I have declared before that there are two principal branches to be noted in the Text the material part and the formal the body and the soul of that Divine Worship which Noah offered unto the Lord. In the material part again are two contents the Gift and the place which sanctified the Gift The Gift was an whole burnt-offering of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl the place was the Altar which he made and Noah built an Altar to the Lord. These are the visible body of the work The invisible part or the soul consists herein that the Lord smelt a sweet savour and that hath two members in it sensum and sensibile first the sweet Odour which did exhale from the Sacrifice what it was secondly a quick sense that took it the Lord smelled a sweet savour I did not dispatch all the material part when I first handled these words for accounting it a less fault to be abrupt than tedious I proceeded upon no more than the consideration of the bare Gift a Burnt-offering of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl At this time I have measured to go a little further without prolixity I shall speak God willing upon the place that sanctified the Gift and Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and upon the quick sense which did apprehend the sweet Odour it was even he who is present at every part of clean devotion and delighteth in it the Lord smelled a sweet savour From whence I will meditate 1. That the time was but new over that God destroyed almost the whole World see how soon he is pleased after his great wrath and with what small seeking 2. When we do any thing well there is joy in heaven 3. Many pious offices which stink in the Worlds opinion are sweet before God 4. There is no greater encouragement to do well than that we are sure it finds grace in the eyes of our heavenly Master it is sweet in his nostrils and he will reward it Of these as I have divided them And Noah builded an Altar c. The whole Earth had been overwhelmed for a long space with the waters of the Deluge in plain terms it was all under malediction but Noah builded an Altar of the tuâ—f and mold of the earth and so brought it again into good use and service and sanctified the whole Element to the Lord. Truly God that revealed unto Noah that he should make an Ark and be saved in the common Calamity deserved to have an Altar erected at his hands that thereon he might adore his Saviour The Jewish Rabbines are so punctual in their curiosities that they go about to tell us the very Plot of ground on which this Altar was raised and many things more of great fame to happen in the same place I am sure you will say the report is very strange if it be credible But this Ben-Maimon adventures to say that it is a Tradition by the hand of all where David built an Altar on the Threshing Flore of Araunah Solomon built a Temple and Abraham made ready there to offer up Isaac and Noah built this Altar in the same standing when he came out of the Ark that there was the Altar where Cain and Abel did first offer before Noah nay that the first man did offer an Offering there soon after he was created and yet he goes further our Wisemen say Adam was created out of the very earth of the same place There is no mediocrity in these mens conjectures and therefore I give them over without commending them Wheresoever
of the Spring and Harvest must give it blade and mature it but Christ had all these in the palm of his hand eminenter he took a fragment of a barly loaf into his hand and to teach his Church that his grasp had in it the fecundity of the earth the moisture of the showers the influence of the Sun the comprehension of all times and seasons and the excellency of all power as he broke it it enlarged it self far beyond those goodly ears of Wheat which Pharaoh saw in his Dream and every crum became an handful quinque panes erant quinque semina non terrae mandata sed ab illo qui terram fecit multiplicata says St. Austin the five loaves were after the manner of five seeds of corn not fructifying in the earth but multiplying in his hand that made the earth But because all kind of pulse and grane yea though it were Manna it self that came from Heaven is of that condition that it must run through much art before it be made bread but that which Christ brake and gave to his Disciples was bread in the first existence and production therefore St. Hilary had rather compare the loaves that swelled thus by Christs blessing to a River whose fountain supplies one wave to run after another with an indifferent succession and whatsoever the Cattle drink riseth again out of the Spring and the channel is always filled so the loaves received no diminution by the portions which were broken off sed quicquid aufertur usurario quodam meatu reparatur nay the principal was not only repaired but it was requited with interest Having stood at gaze a while to behold that which was done shall we walk round about it as it were to observe if we can after what manner it was done he that takes upon him to search into the modus how a Miracle was effected must beware of two rocks in his way that he do not distrust and say in his mind how is it possible to be and that he do not circumscribe the Divine power and say necessarily thus it must be Steering my self by these advisoes I say first Christ could amplify that little portion of bread into those great exceedings by creating some new substance to eek out that which was in his hand before qui sine seminibus operatur semina he spake the word and the first seeds that ever grew came out of nothing nothing is not removed at such vast distance from his power but that it may be made something because he is infinite in doing all things Secondly He that turned water into wine with the same vertue could turn the adjacent air into the substance of Bread and Fish Which sudden alteration in a thin and a fluid body unprepared to take such an impression was an action proper to God and no less transcendent than the principal Creation Thirdly Though growth be the affection only of a living thing yet he could make every fragment of those victuals to grow in an instant of time as the dry stick in Aarons hand did shoot out Leaves and Almonds Fourthly If he pleased it was not difficult to him but that he could distend and widen that small matter into a far broader substance as when a little water is rarified and boiles over a Cauldron when it is vehemently heated or as the Rib which was taken out of Adams side was extended to make a Woman which surpassed it self an hundred fold in magnitude Finally I may miss in all these for the ways of the Lord are past finding out and some other means may be used upon which the eye of Philosophy did never open You may as soon tell the number of the Stars as reckon in what divers fashions such an unwonted augmentation should come to pass and my Text is read in some old Copies very consonant hereunto that our Saviour distributed of both species Bread and Fish not quantum volebant as much as the five thousand desired but quantum volebat as much as he would Whatsoever his will affects his strength effects or else there were not only impotency but contristation in the Divine Nature but his goodness is not bounded by our imperfect desires nor his truth by our weak understanding In which title the Apostle had reason to glorifie him Eph. iii. 20. Vnto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think unto him be glory throughout all ages world without end The report which Pliny makes of the Lioness that she whelps but once in all her life perhaps is mistaken yet the principle toward which he lookt in that report is a good one that great births and great effects fall out but seldom Christ did not make many such distributions as this was and yet it was not like Plinies Lioness once more he brought forth the like First He shewed what strange things his Divinity could command among the Jews for first he was sent to them Soon after and in the very next Chapter after the order of St. Matthew he fed four thousand with seven Loaves and a few Fishes near to Decapolis among those of Tyre and Sidon and they were Gentiles If Miracles would prove infallible means to convert sinners commonly we think so but it is our ignorance if they were natural nourishment to beget sound and wholsom Faith they had seen them oftner But to lay it open to you that this Miracle upon which I preach did not take with them as it deserved the very same persons that had eat of his Banquet expostulate with Christ in the thirtieth verse of this Chapter What sign shewest thou that we may see and believe thee What dost thou work See what it is come to That which was done but the other day was forgotten and a Sign they ask for as if they had never seen any before Nay before the end of this Chapter Ver. 66. Many of these whom he had engaged unto him by his miraculous benefits they dropt off like withered Leaves from that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him No better came of his great work done upon the Loaves and Fishes no better came of Manna in the days of Moses which was every morning spread about their Tents And yet we are perswaded if God would shew such tokens among us it would make us such earnest such thankful Christians that the kindness would not be lost upon us And doth that conceit hold you that to see five thousand fed with a few fragments would do your Faith and Conscience such a pleasure Why then I tell you you see a greater Argument of Gods infinite power every day in the year Millions of People being in the world as many as there be drops in the Sea yet all these have their daily bread and the celestial benignity is never exhausted This is customary indeed but much more than the other Et insolita stupendo vident quibus quotidiana