worse than perdition to bee saved for ever in these flames to bee ever scorched and never consumed that is to bee ever dying and never dye Here as Saint g Aug. de civit Dei l 13. c. 11. Ibi non erunt homines ante mortem neque post mortem sed semper in morte atque per hoc nunquam viventes nunquam mortui sed sine fine morientes Austine acutely observeth wee can never bee sayd properly dying but either alive or dead for to the moment of giving up the ghost wee are alive and after that dead whereas on the contrary the damned in hell can never bee said to bee alive or dead but continually dying not dead because they have most quicke sense of paine not alive because they are in the pangs of the second death O miserable life where life is continually dying O more miserable death where death is eternally living Yea but shall all be salted with this fire the fire of hell God forbid Doth Christ say of this salt not of the earth but of hell that it is good ver 50. is this the meaning of his exhortation have salt in you that is procure the salt of hell fire to keep you alive in the torments of eternall death to preserve you to everlasting perdition By no meanes h In hunc locum Maldonat therefore and Barradius and all that are for this first interpretation are justly to bee blamed because they had an eye to the antecedents but not to the consequents of my text On the other side those who adhere to the second interpretation are not free from just exception because they had an eye to the consequents and not to the antecedents For wee ought to give such an interpretation of these words as may hold good correspondence both with the antecedents and consequents and either give light to both or receive it from them The elect to whom these latter restraine the word All have nothing to doe with the unquenchable fire of hell mentioned ver 48. neither have the reprobate to whom the former interpreters appropriate these words any thing to doe with the good salt ver 50. yet both have to doe with some kinde of salting and with some kinde of fire For every one shall bee salted one way or other either here with the fire of the spirit seasoning our nature and preserving it from corruption or hereafter with the fire of hell There is no meanes to escape the never dying worme of an evill conscience but by having salt in us nor to prevent the unquenchable fire of hell but by fire from heaven I meane heart-burning sorrow for our sinnes Dolor est medicina doloris That we may not bee hereafter salted with the fire of hell wee must be here salted with a threefold fire of 1 The word 2 The spirit 3 Affliction or persecution First with the fire of the word the word is a fire i Jer. 23.29 Is not my word like a fire saith the Lord It hath the three properties of fire 1 To give light 2 To burne 3 To search First it giveth light therefore Psal 119. it is called a lanthorn to our steps and a light to our paths Secondly it burneth 1 In the eare 2 In the mouth 3 In the heart First in the eare k 1 Sam. 3.11 Whosoever heareth my words saith God his eares shall tingle Secondly it burneth in the mouth l Jerem. 5.14 I will make my words fire in the mouth Thirdly it burneth in the heart m Luk. 24.32 Did not our heart burne within us when hee opened to us the scriptures Lastly it searcheth pierceth and tryeth like fire The n Heb. 4.12 word of God is mighty in operation and sharper than a two-edged sword c. Secondly with the fire of the spirit the spirit is a fire o Act. 1.5 You shall be baptized with the holy Ghost and with fire Water will wash out filthy spots and blots on the skinne onely but fire is more powerfull it will burne out rotten flesh and corrupt matter under the skinne This fire of the holy Ghost enlightneth the understanding with knowledge enflameth the will and affections with the love of God and zeale for his glory and purgeth out all our drossie corruptions Thirdly with the fire of persecution and affliction Persecution is called a p 1 Pet. 4.12 fiery tryall and all kinde of afflictions and temptations wherewith Gods Saints are tryed in Saint Austines judgement are the fire whereof Saint Paul speaketh q 1 Cor. 3.15 He shall be saved as it were through fire And of a truth whatsoever the meaning of that text bee certaine it is that the purest vessels of Gods sanctuary first in the Heathen next in the Arrian and last of all in the Antichristian persecution have beene purified and made glorious like gold tryed in the fire There is no torment can bee devised by man or divell whereof experiments have not beene made on the bodies of Christs martyrs yet the greater part of them especially in these later times have beene offered to God by fire as the Holocausts under the law Bloody persecutors of Gods Saints set on fire with hell of all torments most employed the fiery because they are most dreadfull to the eye of the beholders most painefull to the body of the sufferers and they leave nothing of the burned martyr save ashes which sometimes the adversaries maâ—ice outlasting the flames of fire cast into the river And many of Gods servants in this land as well as in other parts in the memory of our fathers have been salted with this fire call you it whether you please either the fire of martyrdome or martyrdome of fire And howsoever this fire in the dayes of Queen Mary was quenched especially by the blood of the slaine for the testimony of Jesus Christ as the fire in the city of the r Liv. decad 3. l. 8 Bruson facet exempl l. 1. Astapani as Livie observeth when no water could lave it our was extinguished with the blood of the citizens yet wee know not but that it may bee kindled againe unlesse wee blow out the coales of wrath against us with the breath of our prayers or dead them with our teares Admit that that fire should never bee kindled againe yet God hath many other fires to salt us withall burning feavers fiery serpents thunder and lightning heart-burning griefes and sorrowes losse of dearest friends wracke of our estates infamy disgrace vexations oppressions indignation at the prosperity of the wicked terrors of conscience and spirituall derelictions And God grant that either by the fire of the Word or of the Spirit or seasonable afflictions our fleshly corruptions may bee so burned out in this life that wee bee not salted hereafter with the fire of hell which burneth but lighteth not scorcheth but yet consumeth not worketh without end both upon soule and body yet maketh an end of neither O that
in principio erat Verbum and I am the last novissimus Adam manifested in novissimis diebus to come in novissimâ tubâ and take account of novissimus quadrans I am hee that liveth c. Here omitting the vaine glosses and collections of some who turne an history into a mystery and apply ridiculously S. Johns falling before Christs feet mentioned Ver. 17. to the kissing of the Popes Pantofle and the description Primus novissimus the first and the last to a Prelate or Pastour who ought to be primus ad laborem novissimus ad requiem first at his labour and last at his ease I take these words with Saint Austine to bee Symbolum abbreviatum wherein wee are to observe 1. The death 2. The resurrection of Christ 1. Prefaced with a note of attention Behold 2. Sealed with a note of certainty Amen 3. The fruits and issue of both 1. In us 1. Freedome from death 2. Assurance of life 2. In him the power of the keyes 1. Authoritativè 2. Possessivè I have I am alive and I was dead Et quando vixisti bone Jesu when didst thou live sweet Jesu from the time thou leftest thy Fathers bosome and satest on thy mothers knee jam extunc dura pati coepisti saith Saint Bernard Many a time have they fought against mee from my youth up may Israel nay the God of Israel say And this some will have to be signified in the phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was made dead not strucke downe at one blow that might have beene a favour Quid dabis ut uno ictu mortem afferam filio but hee was put to a tedious and lingring death Doctr. 1 Nay Saint Gregory saith Tota vita Christi crux fuit The Sonne of God humbled himselfe that is not enough 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee emptied himselfe made himselfe of no reputation and became Homo in homine infra hominem nam flagellari ingenui non est to bee scourged is no ingenuous punishment But it may bee the shame was lessened because of his Crowne What Crowne I pray you thornes platted upon his temples O Regem O Diadema O King O Crowne saith Bernard See O yee daughters of Jerusalem behold King Solomon with the Crowne wherewith his mother the Synagogue crowned him But the worst is behinde hee is condemned to dye Why what hath hee done Is hee a disturber of the peace who being scarce borne gave peace to all the world who himselfe is the Prince of peace and his word the Gospel of peace and his messengers the Angels of peace and his mandate the same with that of Theodosius to Demophilus Si tu pacem fugis ego te ab Ecclesiâ meâ fugere mando If thou flyest peace I command thee to get thee packing out of my Kingdome Did hee blaspheme because hee said I am the Sonne of God Si opera Dei facit quid prohibet Filium Dei appellari Was hee against the tradition of the Elders onely against such as annihilated the Law of God against such upon whom the name of blasphemy is written such as are those of the Church of Rome Traditio multis partibus superat Scripturas saith Costerus and Salvâ Ecclesiae traditione non multùm refert etiamsi Scripturae aboleantur Was hee a malefactour of whom all the people witnessed Rectè omnia fecit All this notwithstanding hee is condemned to dye and to that death which the Holy Ghost speakes not of without a gradation Mortem autem crucis nor the Heathen Oratour without a Quid dicam in crucem tollere Yet all this is but Joseph his coate torne with the teeth of wilde beasts Vasculum Anaxarchi non Anaxarchus Wee heare of the outward man in agone not the inward man in agoniâ I dare not set the paines of the damned Gods wrath and Christs body in a ballance Crux Christi statera est saith Saint Bernard I like in such points rather a Divine of the temper of the Lacedaemonians In ea quibus fidit vix ingredientem than an Athenian Supra vires audacem liable to Archidamus his checke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aut adde viribus aut adime animo Use 1 Is it so Beloved was Christ dead indeed here seemeth to be matter for them that are without to scoffe at Christian Religion Hominem colitis hominem Palaestinum crucifixum adoratis pro Deo and Deus vester patibulo affixus est say the Heathen Yee worship a God who was put to death and crucified Wee doe so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was necessary and expedient that hee should so dye If the wheat corne dye not in the earth it abideth alone but if it dye it bringeth forth much fruit Gratias ago tritico quòd sic mori voluit multiplicari Wee say with Tertullian Quòd Deo indignum est nobis expedit with Saint Jerome Injuria Domini nostra gloria and conclude with Saint Ambrose Quanto major injuria tanto major ei debetur gratia Use 2 Was Christ dead then was our old man crucified in him and wee are dead to sinne how then shall wee live therein I have put off my clothes saith the Spouse how should I put them on I have washed my feet how should I defile them To lay downe our sinnes or put them off is not sufficient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they must bee mortified and this is that death which Saint Leo saith is precious in the sight of God cùm occiditur homo non terminatione sensuum sed fine vitiorum Behold I am alive for evermore Of the divers significations of Ecce two serve for our purpose Ecce insultationis and Ecce consolationis Ecce insultationis as behold hee commeth with the clouds c. Ecce consolationis as behold the stone that the builders refused is become the head of the corner So here for the terrour of Infidels and Persecuters of Christs Church and for the comfort of the faithfull an Ecce is prefixed Behold hee that was dead is alive Behold the sweet flower of Jesse withered and defaced in his Passion but re-flourishing againe in his resurrection and in him is the blooming and springing of all that love his Name I am alive Other doctrine saith Tertullian Christ preached per semetipsum but this of the resurrection in semetipso Alive for ever The Scripture speaketh of some that rose mortui sed morituri Christ so rose ut nunquam cadere adjiciat being risen from the dead hee dyeth no more death hath no more power over him Amen is a note of certainty like Selah in the Psalmes which as a seale is put by the finger of the Holy Ghost to the words of that God who is Deus Amen and whose promises are Yea and Amen Doctr. 2 From this Amen and the former Ecce wee are taught That the Holy Ghost laboureth to secure us and confirme us in the certainty of the doctrine of the resurrection
exilium vita supplicium non sentire in illo igne quod illuminat sentire quod cruciat inefficacis poenitentiae igne exuri consumentis conscientiae verme immortaliter rodi inundantis incendii terribiles crepitus pati barathri fumantis amarâ caligine oculos obscurari profundo gehennae fluctuantis mergi Prosper with dry eyes To bee banished for ever from our celestiall countrey to bee dead to all joy and happinesse and to live to eternall death for ever to bee cast out with the Divell thither where the second death serveth for a banishment to the damned and life for a torment there to feele in that unquenchable fire the torment of heat and not receive any comfort of light to bee cruciated with heart burning sorrow and uneffectuall repentance to bee gnawne with the immortall worme of conscience to frye perpetually in crackling flames to have their eyes put out with the smoake of the river of brimstone to be drowned floating in the bottome of hell The end c. Understanding by end the finall effect not the finall cause of sinne by those things all those things hee spake of before and by death that death which is opposed to eternall life each of these words Finis Horum Mors yeeldeth a most wholesome and fruitfull observation 1 That all sinfull courses and wayes have an end Finis 2 That all sins are mortall of which before Horum 3 That eternall death of body and soule in hell is the wages which the impenitent and obstinate sinner shall receive to the uttermost farthing Mors. That all sinfull pleasures and delights have an end no man can doubt for they cannot survive our life here our life often surviveth them and what is our life but h Pind. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fumi umbra the shadow of smoake or dreame of a shadow that is lesse than nothing Seneca out of his owne experience found honour to bee of the nature of glasse quae cum splendet frangitur which when it most glowes and glisteneth in the furnace suddenly cracketh and pleasure to bee like a sparke quae cum accenditur extinguitur which is quenched in the kindling And surely all comforts and contentments of worldly men are like bubbles of soap blowne by children out of a wallnut-shell into the ayre which flye a little while and by the reflection of the sun beams make a glorious shew but with a small puffe of winde are broken and dissolved to nothing But alas it is not so with the paine of sin as it is with the pleasure that is as lasting as the other is durelesse Leve momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum est quod cruciat The delight of sinne is for a moment but the torment remaineth for ever Who will be content to fast all the weeke for one good meales meat to lye in prison all the dayes of his life for one houres liberty and jollity These similitudes fall short and reach not home to the representing of the sinners folly who for swimming an houre in the bath of pleasure incurreth the danger of boyling for ever in a river of brimstone and torrent of fire Momentaneum est quod delectat aeternum est quod cruciat Those things whereof yee are ashamed have an end and how soone yee know not but the death which is the end of them hath no end and this wee know That wee may more fully understand what is meant by this end wee are to take notice of a double death The first commonly called death temporall The second which is death eternall h Aug. de Civ Dei l. 21. Prima mors animam nolentem pellit de corpore secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore Idem de Civ Dei l. 13. Prima mors bonis bona est malis mala secunda ut nullorum bonorum est ita nulli bona The first death driveth the soule out of the body being unwilling to part with it the second death keepeth the soule against her will in the body the first death is the separation of the soule from the body the second death is the separation of body and soule from God and by how much God is more excellent than the soule by so much the second death is worse than the first The first death is good to good men because it endeth their sorrowes and beginneth their joyes but evill to evill men because it ends their joyes and beginneth their everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth the second at it belongeth to none that are good so it is good to none Both of these doubtlesse are due to sinne and shall bee paid at their day the sentence pronounced against Adam morte morieris by the reduplication of the word seemeth to imply as much as thou shalt dye againe and againe the first and second death the first death is as the earnest-penny the second as the whole hire both make up the wages of sinne the first is like the splitting of the ship and casting away all the goods and wares the latter as the burning both with unquenchable fire In this death which is the destruction of nature that Maxime of Philosophy holdeth not Omnis corruptio est in instanti for here is corruption in time nay which is more strange and to the reason of the naturall man involveth contradiction Corruptio aeterna mors immortalis an eternall corruption and an immortall death i Aug. loc sup Nemo hic propriè moriens seu in morte dicitur sed ante morté aut post mortem id est viventes aut mortui ibi è contrariò non erunt homines ante mortem aut post mortem sed sine fine morientes nunquam pejus erit homini in morte quam ubi erit mors ipsa sine morte In this life men cannot properly bee said to bee dying or in death but alive or dead for whilest the soule remaineth in the body wee are living and after the separation thereof wee are dead whereas they that are in hell cannot bee said properly to bee dead because they are most sensible of pain nor to be alive because they suffer the punishment of the second death but continually dying and never shall it be worse with man in death than where death it selfe is without death where life perpetually dyeth and death perpetually liveth Saint k Greg. l. 9. moral c. 45. Gregory sweetly quavereth upon this sad note Mors sine morte finis sine fine defectus fine defectu quia mors vivit finis incipit deficere nescit defectus The death of the damned is a deathlesse death an endlesse end and undefcizible defect for their death alwayes liveth and their end beginneth and their consumption lasteth And that this death is meant in my text either only or especially the correspondencie of this member to that which followeth but the gift of God is eternall life maketh it manifest Yet for further confirmation
terris the Earth trembled the Stones clave with indignation the vaile of the Temple rent it selfe the Heaven mourned in sables the Sunne that he might not behold such outrage done upon so sacred a person drew in his beams He who suffereth all this quatcheth not stirreth not nor discovereth his divine Majesty no not when death approached When all insensible creatures seemed to be sensible of the injury offered their Maker he who feeleth all seemeth to be insensible For hee maketh no resistance at all and though he were omnipotent yet his patience overcame his omnipotency and even to this day restraineth his justice from taking full revenge of them who were the authours of his death and of those who since crucifie againe the Lord of life and trample under their feet the bloud of the Covenant as a prophane thing Whose thoughts are not swallowed up in admiration at this that he who is adored in heaven is not yet revenged upon the earth You see meeknesse in his passions behold now this vertue expressed to the life in his life and actions Actions I say whether naturall or miraculous so indeed they are usually distinguished albeit Christs miraculous actions were naturall in him proceeding from his divine nature and most of his naturall actions as they are called proceeding from his humane nature were in him wonderfull and miraculous For instance to weep is a most naturall action but to weep in the midst of his triumph and that for their ruine who were the cause of all his woe to shed teares for them who thirsted after his bloud was after a sort miraculous Who ever did the like Indeed we reade that Marcellus wept over Syracuse and Scipio over Carthage and Titus over Jerusalem as our Saviour did but the cause was far different They shed teares for them whose bloud they were to shed but our Saviour for them who were ready to shed his Luke 19.41 His bowels earned for them who thought it long till they had pierced his heart with a launce When the high Priest commanded Paul to be smote on the face hee rebuked him saying The Lord shall smite thee thou painted wall Acts 23 3. but when the Lord himselfe was smitten by the high Priests servant he falls not foule upon him but returnes this milde answer If I have done evill John 18.23 beare witnesse of the evill but if I have done well why strikest thou me The servant thinketh much to endure that from the Master which the Master endures from the servant The Apostles on whom the Spirit descended in the likenesse of fiery tongues were often hot and inflamed with wrath against the enemies of God and brought downe fearfull judgements upon them but our Saviour on whom the Spirit descended in the likenesse of a Dove never hurt any by word or deed 2 Kin. 5.27 Matth. 8.2 Luke 4.27 17.12 Acts 13.11 Acts 5.5.10 Eliah inflicted leprosie upon Gehazi by miracle Christ by miracle cleansed divers lepers Saint Paul tooke away sight from Elymas Christ by miracle restored sight to many Saint Peter miraculously with a word strucke Ananias and Sapphira down dead Christ by miracle raised many from death insomuch that his very enemies gave this testimony of him Mark 7 37. Hee hath done all well giving to the lame feet to the maimed strength to the dumbe speech to the deafe eares to the blind sight to the sicke health to the dead life to the living everlasting joy and comfort I have proposed unto you a notable example shall I need to put to spurres of art to pricke on your desires to follow it the example is our Saviour and the vertue exemplified in him meeknesse How excellent must the picture be which is set in so rich a frame such a vertue were to be imitated in any person such a person to be imitated in any vertue how much more such a vertue in such a person It is hard to say whether ought to bee the stronger motive unto us to follow meeknesse either because it is the prince of vertues or the vertue of our Prince whose stile is Princeps pacis Where the prince is the Prince of peace and the kingdome the Kingdome of grace and the law the Law of love they must certainly be of a milde and loving disposition that are capable of preferment in it If the Spirit be an oyntment as S. a 1. John 2.20 But you have an oyntment from the Holy One and you know all things John calleth it it must needs supple If grace bee a dew it cannot but moisten and soften the heart and make it like Gedeons fleece Judges 6.37 which was full of moisture when all the ground about it was dry What can be said more in the commendation of any vertue than meeknesse and of it than this that God commandeth it in his Word Christ patterneth it in his life and death the holy Spirit produceth it in our hearts our very nature enclineth us to it and our condition requireth it of us No vertue so generally commended as meeknesse Follow after righteousnesse 1 Tim. 6.11 godlinesse faith love patience meeknesse bee no brawler Tit. 3.2 but gentle shewing all meeknesse to all men Walke worthy of the vocation whereunto you are called with all lowlinesse and meeknesse with long-suffering forbearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace James 3.17 18. The wisedome that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits and the fruit of righteousnesse is sowne in peace of them that make peace No fruit of the spirit so sweet and pleasant as this as on the contrary no fruit of the flesh so tart and bitter as jealousie and wrath which God curseth by the mouth of b Genes 40.7 Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell Jacob but blesseth meeknesse by the mouth of our Saviour Matth. 5.5 Blessed are the meeke for they shall inherit the earth The earth was cursed before it brought forth thornes and thistles and briars which are good for nothing but to bee burned Wherefore let us hearken to the counsell of St. c Cypr. de zelo bâ—â—ore Evellamus spinas de cordibus ut dâ—â—minicum semen nos fertili fruge locupletet Cyprian Let us weed out of our soules envie wrath and jealousie and other stinging and pricking passions And of the Apostle Let no root of d Heb. 12.15 Looking diligently lest any root of bitternesse springing up trouble you bitternesse remaine in us that we may receive with meeknesse the engraffed Word which is able to save our soules James 1.21 Our carnall lusts are like so many serpents and of all wrath is the most fiery which will set all in a combustion if it bee not either quenched by the teares of repentance or slacked by the infusion of divine
of the virgin conceived Christ quicke and accordingly brought him forth alive the wombe of the earth conceived him dead but brought him forth quicke uteri nova forma concepit mortuum parit vivum As we may behold the feature of a mans face either in the countenance it selfe or in a glasse set before it or in a picture drawne by it so wee may contemplate the resurrection either in the prophecies and types of the old law as in glasses or in the hystory of the new as it were in the face it selfe or in our spirituall resurrection from dead workes as in the picture A glasse sheweth the lineaments and proportion of a man but at a distance so wee may see Christ in the predictions visions and figures of the Old Testament as so many glasses but at a distance according to the words of that Seer c Num. 24.17 I shall see him but not neare So Hosea saw him insulting over death and hell and menacing them d Hos 13.14 O death I will bee thy death so Esay saw him risen from the dead and speaking to him sayd e Es 26.19 Thy dead shall live with my body shall they rise awake and sing ye that sit in dust So David in the Spirit saw the day of the resurrection and exceedingly rejoiced at it saying f Psal 16.9 my heart was glad my glory rejoyced my flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my soule in hell nor suffer thy holy One to see corruption So Adam saw him conquering death and triumphing over him that had the power of death to wit the Divell though more obscurely because at the farthest distance in the promise g Gen. 3.15 it shall breake thy head and thou shalt breake his heele the death and resurrection of Christ are mystically involved As the Poets fabled that Achilles after his Mother Thetis held him by the heele and dipt the rest of his body into the sea could bee hurt in no part but his heele so in a divine sense it may bee said of our Saviour that hee could be wounded by Sathan no where but in his heele that is in the lowest part of his humane nature his flesh This the serpent stung at his death but in his resurrection hee bruised the head thereof The Devill saith h Greg. Nyssen de resurrect ser 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nyssen in his sermon upon the resurrection going about to catch was caught for catching at the bait of Christs flesh hee was caught fast himselfe and wounded by the hooke of his divine nature Besides these predictions and promises wee have in the Old Testament the figure of our Lords resurrection in Adam a type in the scape goat a signe or embleme in Jonas and a vision in Ezekiel The figure may bee thus expounded As Adam rose out of his dead sleepe in which Eve was formed out of his ribbe so Christ after his slumber of death on the crosse in which his spouse the Church was formed out of his side as hath beene said awoke againe The type may bee thus exemplified as the scape-goate came neere to death being within the cast of a lot to it and yet avoiding it was presented alive to God to make an attonement so Christ who seemed to have beene conquered by death and swallowed up of the grave lying there three dayes and three nights yet escaped it and was presented on Easter day to his Father alive to make an attonement for all his brethren To the embleme of Jonas Christ himselfe giveth the word or Motto i Mat. 12.40 As Jonas was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly so shall the sonne of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth After three dayes Jonas came out of the bowels of the whale Christ out of the heart of the earth The vision of Ezekiel is so cleare that he that runneth may see in it a praeludium of the resurrection k Ezek 37.7 8 9 10. The Prophet saw in a valley a number of dry bones moving one to the other and suddenly they were tyed with sinewes and covered with flesh and the winde breathed into them the breath of life and they stood up like an army Wee have viewed the resurrection in the prophecies and figures of the Old Testament as so many severall glasses let us now contemplate it in the history of the New as it were in the face it selfe 1 Early in the morning while it was yet darke the Angel removed the stone that so Mary and the Apostles might looke into the sepulchre and unlesse the angell of the covenant remove the stone from our hearts wee can never looke into Christs sepulchre with an eye of faith nor undoubtedly beleeve the resurrection 2 Peter and John made hast to the sepulchre but they stayed not there Mary abideth there shee therefore seeth a vision of Angels the one standing at the head the other at the feet where Jesus had lyen either to signifie that the Angels of God attend as well on Christs feet the lowest members of his mysticall body as on his head that is the chiefest in the Church or that the angels smell a sweet savour from our workes of charity and therefore the one sate at the head the other at the feete where Mary had annointed our Lord. 3 A third Angell whereof mention is made in the Gospell of Saint l Mar. 16.5 Marke sitting on the right side appeared like a young man to signifie that in the resurrection our age shall bee renewed and our bodies shall bee in their full strenghth and vigor his rayment shined like lightning to represent the clarity and splendour of our bodies that after death shall be made conformable to Christs glorious body 4 Mary Magdalene hath the honour first to see our Saviour and to bee the first Preacher of the resurrection to the everlasting comfort of all true Penitents and as by the woman death came first so the first newes of life from death was brought by a woman 5 Till Christ called Mary by name shee knew him not but supposed him to have beene the Gardiner who indeed is the Planter of the celestiall Paradise neither can we know Christ till by a speciall and particular vocation hee make himselfe knowne to us 6 Christ appeared first to single witnesses as Mary apart and Peter apart and James apart then to double Cleophas and that other disciple afterwards to the eleven Apostles and last of all to more than 500. brethren at once If Maries testimony might bee excepted at because shee was but a woman what can they say to Saint Peter what to Saint James to whom Christ vouchsafed to shew himselfe in particular If they except against them as single witnesses what will they say to Cleophas and Saint Luke two contests of one and the selfe same apparition If their paucity be cavelled at what will they say to the
eleven Apostles or to more than five hundred brethren that saw him all at one time nay what to more than five millions of Confessors and Martyrs signing the truth of it with their blood and shewing the power of it as well by the wonders which they wrought in his name as the invincible patience wherewith they endured all sorts of torments and death it selfe for his name I might produce the testimony of Josephus the learned Jew and tell you of Paschasinus his holy Well that fils of his owne accord every Easter day and the annuall rising of certaine bodies of Martyrs in the sands of Egypt and likewise of a Phoenix in the dayes of Tyberius much about the time of our Lords resurrection rising out of her owne ashes m Lactant. in Poem Ipsa sibi proles suus pater suus haeres Nutrix ipsa sui semper alumna sibi Ipsa quidem sed non eadem quia ipsa nec ipsa Eternam vitam mortis adepta bono But because the authours of these relations and observations are not beyond exception I will rather conclude this point with an argument of Saint n De civit Dei l. 22. c. 5. Haec duo incredibilia scil resurrectionem nostri corporis rem â—am incredibilem mundum esse crediturum idem dominus antequam vel unum horuÌ„ fieret ambo futura esse praedixit unum duorum incredibilium jam factum videmus ut quod erat incredibile credeâ—et mundus curid quod reliquum est desperatur Austines to which our owne undoubted experience gives much strength The same Spirit of God saith hee which foretold the resurrection of Christ foretold also that the doctrine thereof should bee publickly professed and believed in the world and the one was altogether as unlikely as the other But the latter wee see in all ages since Christs death and at this day accomplished in the celebration of this feast why then should any man doubt of the former The Apostles saw the head living but not the mysticall body the Catholike Church of all places and ages We have read in the histories of all ages since Christ and at this day see the Catholike Church spread over the whole face of the earth which is Christs body how can wee then but believe the head to bee living which conveigheth life to all the members I have set before you the glasse of the resurrection in the figures of predictions of the Old Testament and the face it selfe in the history of the New may it please you now to cast a glance of your eye upon the Image or picture thereof in our rising from the death of sinne to the life of grace All Christs actions and passions as they are meritorious for us so they are some way exemplary unto us and as none can bee assured of the benefit of Christs birth unlesse hee bee borne againe by water and the Spirit nor of his death unlesse hee bee dead to sinne nor of his buriall unlesse hee have buried his old Adam so neither of his resurrection unlesse hee bee risen from dead workes and continually walketh in newnesse of life See you how the materiall colours in a glasse window when the sun-beames passe through it produce the like colours but lesse materiall and therefore called by the Philosophers intentionales spiritales on the next wall no otherwise doth the corporall resurrection of Christ produce in all true believers a representation thereof in their spirituall which Saint John calleth o Apoc. 20.5 the first resurrection Saint Paul p Heb. 6.1 repentance from dead workes Sinnes especially heinous and grievous proceeding from an evill habit are called dead workes and such sinners dead men because they are deprived of the life of God have no sense of true Religion they see not Gods workes they heare not his Word they savour not the things of God they feele no pricke of conscience they breath not out holy prayers to God nor move towards heaven in their desires but lye rotting in their owne filthinesse and corruption The causes which moved the Jewes so much to abhorre dead corpses ought to be more prevalent with us carefully to shunne and avoid those that are spiritually dead in sinnes and transgressions they were foure 1 Pollution 2 Horrour 3 Stench 4 Haunting with evill spirits 1 Pollution That which touched a dead corpse was by the law uncleane neither can any come nigh these men much lesse embrace them in their bosome without morall pollution and taking infection in their soules from them 2 Horrour Nothing so ghastly as the sight of a dead corpse the representation whereof oft-times in the Theater appalleth not onely the spectatours but also the actours and yet this sight is not so dreadfull to the carnall man as the sight of those that are spiritually dead I speake of foule notorious and scandalous offenders to them that feare God Saint John would not stay in the same bath with Cerinthus and certainely 't is a most fearefull thing to bee under the same roofe with blasphemous heretickes and profane persons who have no feare of God before their eyes 3 Stench The smell of a carkasse is not so offensive to the nostrils as the stench of gluttony drunkennesse and uncleannesse in which wicked men wallow is loathsome to God and all good men 4 Haunting with evil spirits We read in scriptures that the men that were possest of the divel came q Mat. 8.28 out of the tombs and graves and we find by dayly experience the like of these rather carkasses than men that the devill hankereth about them and entereth into their heart as he did into Judas filling them with all wickednesse and uncleannesse After they have exhausted their bodies with incontinency their estate with riotous living and have lost first their conscience and after their credit they fall into the deepest melancholy upon which Sathan works and puts them into desperate courses r Psal 73.19 O how suddenly doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end Me thinkes I heare some say wee heard of places haunted by evill spirits in time of popery are there now any such not such as then were solitary houses ruined pallaces or Churches in which fearefull noyses are said to have beene heard and walking spirits to have beene met For at the thunder of the Gospell Sathan fell like lightning from heaven and hath left those his old holds but places of a contrary condition such where is the greatest concourse of people I meane profane Theaters disorderly Tavernes Ale-houses places of gaming and lewdnesse yea prisons also which were intended for the restraint of wickednesse and punishment of vice are made refuges of Malefactors and schooles of all impiety and wickednesse Quis custodes custodiet ipsos As in the hot sands of Africa where wilde beasts of divers sorts meet to drinke strange monsters are begotten which gave occasion to that proverbe Å¿ Eras
saith he is not of those that take up their mansion or long home but of sojourners and factours who continue for a while in forraine countries till they have dispatched their affaires Adde lastly to all these the map of the whole earth in every leafe of grasse describing the truth of this doctrine inscripti nomine vitae nascuntur flores with those insufferable passions pangs and angariations which the common mother to us all is put unto till shee be rid of us as the Whale of Jonas A word of application and it shall be the explication which some very learned Expositors give upon cadaver meum Wee have hitherto taken it to be the word of Christ to his Father they say rather it is the word of the Prophet to his brethren as if in effect hee had said I preach to you no other doctrine than that I beleeve my selfe I teach that the dead shall live and I am assured that with my body shall they rise In which sense it is a parallel to that Magna Charta that great and memorable record which Job transmitteth to all posterity I know my Redeemer liveth and I my selfe shall see him with these eyes and no other concionantur profani homines the fashion of these worldly men is to prate of the life of the righteous as Balaam of their death like men in a trance without sense or affection after it The food of the soule is unto them as Barzillai his bodily food was unto him they eate it without any appetite or rellish Hath thy servant any taste in that he eateth saith he to David and the comforts of the Gospel to them as musicke to him Can I heare the voice of singing men or women They behold Canaan from the Mount and the goodnesse of God afarre off my meaning is they can talke of cadavera aliorum but minde not or at least hope not for cadaver meum Odi sapientem qui sibi non sapit qui sibi nequam cui bonus Nequam saith Saint Bernard is as much as nequaquam all that this man knoweth or doth is as much as nothing sith it availeth not himselfe his case is like that of Tantalus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato saith who hath apples at his lips and water at his chinne and yet pines for want O unhappy man goe to the prodigall childe he came to his father with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to that childe of the world who came to our Saviour Magister dic fratri ut dividat mecum haereditatem that is suffer not a goodly inheritance of a joyfull resurrection to be taken away by the violent but thrust thou in for thy part among them and when they shall say corpora nostra our bodies shall rise say thou with a fiduciall faith cadaver meum so shall my body rise and let every one that heareth mee this day say with the Prophet Remember mee O Lord with the favour of thy people and visit mee with thy salvation that I may see the felicity of thy chosen and rejoyce in the joy of thy people and glory with thine inheritance THE THIRD ROW And in the third row a Turkeys an Agate and an Amethyst FEw there are but know the Turkeys tanquam ungues digitosque suos wearing it usually in the pale of their rings An excellent property it is said to have of changing colour with the sick party that weareth it and thereby expressing a kinde of sympathy Rueus a great Lapidary averres upon his owne knowledge as much I was acquainted saith hee with a man whose Turkeys suddenly upon his death changed colour Rueus de gem Ego novi quendam quo mortuo Turcois apparuit obscurior and fell in the price The Agate is a gemme of divers colours spots and lines the concurse whereof is sometimes so happy that it representeth the lineaments of men beasts and other naturall bodies Nunc formas rerum dans nunc simulachra deorum Of all that of Pyrrhus was held by him in greatest estimation of others in admiration wherein the lines and spots were so drawne by nature Plin. l. 37. c. 1. In Pyrrhi Achate novem Musae Apollo citharam tenens spectabantur non arte sed sponte naturae ita discurrentibus maculis ut Mulis quoque singulis sua redderentur insignia that Apollo with the nine Muses and their severall instruments were conspicuous in it As for the Amethyst it is a gemme of a middle colour between wine and violets so named either because applyed to the navell it is a remedy against drunkennesse ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 steretico 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as saith Pliny quod ad vini colorem accedens priusquam degustet in violam desinat Of this third ranke of stones this may suffice for the application to the third Speaker and his doctrine himself touching the infirmities of the Clergy Laity so feelingly resembled the Turkeys which the Jewelists make the emblem of compassion His Sermon for the variety of good learning in it was a curious Agat most like that of Pyrrhus above mentioned wherein the nine Muses were pourtrayed the parts thereof were like the Amethyst parti-coloured partly like wine partly like violets like wine in his matter of confutation strong and searching like violets in his exhortation sweet and comfortable His description of Christs bloudy death was like wine the bloud of the grape but of the resurrection like violets the first-fruits of the Spring The embossment of gold wherein these gemmes of divine doctrine were set was his Text taken out of A Sermon preached on Easter Monday by Master Dunster fellow of Magdalen Colledge and Proctor of the University of Oxford APOC. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keyes of hell and of death THese words are a parcell of that booke the reading whereof the ancient Church esteemed so profitable and needfull that they enjoyned all upon paine of excommunication to reade it once a yeere between Easter and Whitsontide Qui eam à Paschate ad Pentecosten non legerit excommunicationis sententiam habeat The words of my Text in speciall are verba pronuntiata verbi annuntiati the words spoken of the word fore-spoken the Sonne of God who is so carefull not to breake the bruised reed that hee seeketh to expectorate all feare out of the mindes of all true beleevers by the force of many arguments The first is drawne à potentiâ Dei I am the Creatour and Judge of your persecuters therefore feare them not The second à praerogativâ Christi I am the first and the last and will take notice of every one that hath been unjustly put to death and make inquisition of bloud from the bloud of the righteous Abel to the bloud of the last Martyr that shall bee shed upon the earth and will require it of them that have spilt it I am the first for
uttered but it may by ignorance be depraved no action of vertue can be so exactly performed but it may through malice be mis-construed It is not more proper to God to bring light out of darknesse peace out of trouble joy out of sorrow and out of sinne the greatest of all evils to extract much good by governing and disposing it to the declaration of his mercy and justice than it is naturall to the Divell and his impes out of the light of truth to endeavour to draw darknesse of errour and out of the best speeches and actions to straine and force out somewhat to maintaine and nourish their corrupt humours and bosome sinnes And what marvell sith even in Paradise amidst the sweetest flowers and wholsomest herbes and plants a Serpent could live and find there something to feed upon Paradise was the seat of mans happinesse the garden of pleasure the soyle of the tree of life seated in the cleerest ayre watered and environed with sweetest rivers enamelled with pleasantest flowers set by God himselfe with the choicest plants and yet was it not free from the serpent which turned the juices of those soveraign and medicinall simples into poyson Aristotle writeth of the Cantharides that they are killed with the sent of the a Arist de mirabil aus cult sweetest and most fragrant oyntments and it is morally verified in those gracelesse hearers to whom the Word which is the b 2. Cor. 2.16 sweet smelling savour of God to life becommeth a savour of death Such hearers the blessed Apostle Saint Paul sharply censureth in this chapter Occas who when hee preached to them salvation by the free grace of Christ hence concluded free liberty of sinne when to the comfort of all that are heavie laden with the burden of sinne he set abroach that heavenly doctrine where sinne abounded there grace superabounded they subsumed Let us therefore continue in sinne that grace may more abound whereas indeed they should have inferred the cleane contrary conclusion thus Grace hath abounded much more to us therefore wee of all men should not continue in sinne because God offereth us so good meanes to escape out of it The dew of heaven hath fallen plentifully upon us therefore wee ought to be most fruitfull in good workes not only because God hath better enabled us to doe them but also in a duty of thankfulnesse wee are to offer him our best service who hath enriched us with the treasures of his grace Therefore to beat them and in them all carnall Gospellers from the former hold St. Paul in this chapter planteth ordnance of many most forcible arguments drawne from three principall heads Analys 1. Christ and his benefits 2. Themselves and their former condition 3. The comparison between a sinfull and a holy course of life and their contrary effects 1 From Christ and his benefits after this manner The effect of grace is to mortifie sinne how then can they who have received a greater measure of grace by the merit of Christs death and buriall continue in sinne How can they that are dead to sinne live therein Whereas they urged grace for liberty of sinne the Apostle from grace enforceth sanctity of life whereas they alledged their redemption for their exemption from all service Saint Paul strongly concludes from so great a benefit a greater tye and obligation to serve the Lord their Redeemer whereas they built a fort of sin with the wood of Christs crosse he maketh an engine of the same wood to overthrow it by grace we are united to Christ and planted in him therefore we must live the life of the root bring forth the fruit of the c Ver. 5. Ver. 6. spirit If we have been planted together in the likenesse of his death wee shall be also in the likenesse of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth wee should not serve sinne c. 2 From themselves and their former condition thus When yee were free from righteousnesse yee were servants unto sinne now therefore being freed from sinne yee ought to be servants unto righteousnesse As yee d Ver. 18 19. yeelded your members servants of uncleannesse and iniquity unto iniquity so now yeeld your members servants of righteousnesse unto holinesse c. 3 From the comparison between the state of sin and grace thus When you were in the state of sinne you had no profit at all of your workes and you were confounded with shame for them and by them were brought to the very brink of death Coharent but now being in the state of grace you reap fruit here in holinesse the fruit of peace and joy and hereafter you shall reap the fruit of everlasting life and glory Thus you see the scope of the Apostle the occasion and coherence of the words which carry this sense Tell mee Exposit Gen. yee unsettled and unstable Christians who have been delivered from the thraldome of sinne and Satan and have given your names unto Christ and your members as servants unto righteousnesse why goe yee about to enthrall your selves anew to your ghostly enemies or make your selves vassals to your fleshly lusts Observe yee not the heavie judgements of God lighting daily upon presumptuous sinners See yee not before your eyes continuall spectacles of Gods justice and marke yee not in them the fearfull ends of those courses which now yee begin to take againe after yee had long left them Beleeve yee not the words of God e Rom. 2 9. Tribulation and anguish upon every soule that sinneth for hee will f Psal 68.21 wound the hairy scalpe of every one that goeth on in his wickednesse Or if you turne away your eyes from beholding the vialls of wrath daily powred upon sinners and stop your eares that yee may not heare the dreadfull threats which God thundereth out in his Law against such backsliders and relapsers as yee are yet can yee stifle your owne hearts griefe can yee forget the wofull plight into which your former courses brought you when free from righteousnesse yee let loose the reines to all licentiousnesse that yee might worke wickednesse even with greedinesse yee glutted your selves with earthly vanities and tooke a surfeit of sinfull pleasures What gaine did yee not then greedily gape after what preferment did yee not ambitiously seek into what mire of impurity did not yee plunge your selves No sinfull pleasure but yee tooke your fill of no dish of Satan which yee left untouched yet speake the truth between God and your owne conscience what true delight or solid contentment tooke yee in those things I know yee are ashamed to speake of it and I will not wound modest eares to relate it and ought yee not much more to be ashamed to returne with the dogge to his former vomit and with the sow to her wallowing in the mire Your soules have been cleansed by
that any one Divell should get possession of our hearts yet seven nay a legion may be cast out by fasting and prayer God forbid that any of us should be long sicke of any spirituall disease yet those that have been sicke unto death have been restored yea those that have been long dead have been raised God forbid that wee should forsake our heavenly Fathers house and in a strange countrey waste his goods and consume our portion yet after we have run riot and spent all the gifts of nature and goods of this life and lavished out our time the most precious treasure of all yet in the end if we come to our selves and looke homewards our heavenly Father will meet us and kill the fat calfe for uâ— Therefore if wee have grievously provoked Gods justice by presumption let us not more wrong his mercy by despaire but hope even above hope in him whose mercy is over all his workes Against the number and weight of all our sinnes let us lay the infinitenesse of Gods mercy and Christ his merits and the certainty of his promise confirmed by oath As I live I desire not the death of a sinner if hee returne he shall live Oh saith Saint a Bern. in Cant. Quis dabit capiti meo aquam oculis meis fontem lachrymarum ut praeveniam fletibus fletum stridorem dentium Bernard that mine eyes were springs of teares that by my weeping here I might prevent everlasting weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell What pitie is it that we should fret and grieve and disquiet our selves and others for the losse of a Jewell from our eare or a ring from our finger and should take no thought at all for the losse of the Jewels of Gods grace out of our soules We are overwhelmed as it were in a deluge of teares at the death of our friends who yet are alive to God though dead to this world but have we not a thousand times greater reason to open those floodgates of salt waters which nature hath set in our eyes for our selves who are dead to God though alive to the world St. b De laps Si quem de tuis chatis mortalitatis exitu perdidisses ingemisceres dolenter fleres facie incultâ veste mutatâ neglecto capillo vultu nubilo ore dejecto indicia moeroris ostenderes animam tuam miser perdidisti spiritualitèr mortuus es supervivere hic tibi ipse ambulans funus tuum portare caepisti non acritèr plangis non â—ugitèr ingemiscis Cyprian hath a sweet touch on this string If any of thy deare friends were taken away from thee by death thou wouldst sigh thou wouldst sob thou wouldst put on blacks thou wouldst hang doâ—ne thy head thou wouldst dis-figure thy face thou wouldst let thy haire hang carelesly about thine eares thou wouldst wring thy hands thou wouldst knock thy breast thou wouldst throw thy selfe downe upon the ground thou wouldst expresse sorrow in all her gestures and postures O wretched man that thou art thou hast lost thy soule thou art spiritually dead thou survivest thy selfe and carriest a dead corps about thee and dost thou not take on dost thou not fetch a deepe sigh hast thou not a compassionate teare for thy selfe wilt thou not be thy owne mourner especially considering that all thy weeping and howling for thy friend cannot fetch him backe againe or restore him to life whereas thy weeping for thy selfe in this vale of tears and seriously bewailing thy sinnes may and by Gods grace shall revive thy soule and recover all thy spirituall losses and that with advantage Experience teacheth us that the presentest remedie for a man that is stung in any part of his body by a Scorpion is to take the oile of Scorpions and therewith oft to annoint the place sinne is the Scorpion that stingeth our soules even to death if we apply nothing to it yet out of this Scorpion sinne it selfe and the sorrow for it an oile or water may be drawne of penitent teares wherewith if we annoint or wash our soules we shall kill the venome of sinne and allay the swelling of our conscience c Pind. od 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a most soveraigne water which will fetch a sinner againe to the life of grace though never so farre gone It is not Well water springing out of the bowels of the earth nor raine powred out of the clouds of passion but rather like a d Cyp de card Chris op De interioribus fontibus egrediuntur torrentes super omnes delicias lachrymis nectareis anima delectatuâ— non illos imbres procellosae tempestates deponunt ros matutinus est de coelestibus stillans quasi unctio spiritus mentem deliniens post affectio se abluit lachrymis baptizat dew falling from heaven which softeneth and moisteneth the heart and is dried up by the beames of the Sun of righteousnesse Have not I a desire that the wicked should turne from his wayes and live When a subject hath rebelled against his naturall Soveraigne or a servant grievously provoked his master or a sonne behaved himselfe ungraciously towards his father will the Prince sue to his subject or a master to his servant or a father to his sonne for a reconciliation Will not an equall that hath a quarrell with his equall hold it a great disgrace and disparagement to make any meanes that the quarrell may be taken up will he not keepe out at full distance and looke that the partie who as he conceiveth hath wronged him should make first towards him and seeke to him Yet such an affection God beareth to us that though we silly wormes of the earth swell and rise against him yet he seeketh to us he sendeth Embassadours to e 2 Cor. 5.19 20. treat of peace and intreate and beseech us to be reconciled unto God For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation Now then we are Embassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be reconciled unto God Stand not out my deare brethren resigne the strong holds of your carnall imaginations and affections deliver up your members that they may serve as weapons of righteousnesse and yeeld your selves to his mercy and yee shall live Turne and live Should a prisoner led to execution heare the Judge or Sheriffe call to him and say Turne backe put in sureties for thy good behaviour hereafter and live would he not suddenly leap out of his fetters embrace the condition and thanke the Judge or Sheriffe upon his knees And what think ye if God should send a Prophet to preach a Sermon of repentance to the divels and damned ghosts in hell and say Knock off your bolts shake off your fetters and turne to the Lord and live would not hell be emptied and rid before
raise up the prostrate and dejected soule Be of good cheere ye that have received the sentence of death in your selves There is no malady of the soule so deadly against which the death of Christ is not a soveraigne remedy there is no sore so great nor so festering which a plaster of Christs bloud will not cleanse and heale if it be thereto applyed by a lively faith Thus as you see I have made of the bruised reed a staffe of comfort for a drouping conscience to stay it selfe upon extend but your patience to the length of the houre and I will make of it a strait rule for your actions and affections Though all the actions of our Saviour are beyond example yet ought they to be examples to us for our imitation and though we can never overtake him yet we ought to follow after him His life is a perfect samplar of all vertues out of which if we ought to take any flower especially this of meeknesse which himselfe hath pricked out for us saying Learne of me that I am meeke and lowly in heart Matth. 11.29 and you shall finde rest to your soules which also hee richly setteth forth with a title of blessednesse over it Matth. 5.5 and a large promise of great possessions by it Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Matth. 5.7 Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercy Neither is this vertue more acceptable in the sight of God than agreeable to the nature of man Witnesse our sleek and soft skin without scales or roughnesse witnesse our harmlesse members without hornes clawes or stings the offensive weapons of other creatures witnesse our tender and relenting heart apt to receive the least impression of griefe witnesse our moist eyes ready to shed teares upon any sad accident mollissima corda Humano generi dare se natura fatetur Quae lachrymas dedit haec nostri pars optima sensus Shall not grace imprint that vertue in our soules which nature hath expressed in the chiefe members of our bodies and exemplified in the best creatures almost in every kind Even among beasts the tamest and gentlest are the best the master Bee either hath no sting at all or as Aristotle testifieth never useth it The upper region of the ayre is alwaies calme and quiet inferiora fulminant saith Seneca men of baser and inferiour natures are boysterous and tempestuous The superiour spheres move regularly and uniformly and the first mover of them all is slow in his proceedings against rebellious sinners hee was longer in destroying Jericho than in creating the whole world And when Adam and Eve had sinned with a high hand reaching the forbidden fruit and eating it it was the coole of the evening before the voice of the Lord was heard in the garden and the voice that was heard was of God walking not running to verifie those many attributes of God Mercifull gracious long-suffering Exod. 34.6 7. and aboundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sinne Is God mercifull and shall man be cruell is the master meek and milde and shall the servant be fierce and furious shall hee give the Lambe in his Scutchion and they the Lion If hee who ruleth the Nations with a rod of iron and breaketh them in pieces like a potters vessell will not breake the bruised reed shall reeds breake reeds Martial Epigr. The Heathen Poet giving charge to his woodden god to looke to his garden useth this commination See thou looke well to my trees Alioqui ipse lignum es Otherwaies know that thou art wood thy selfe that is fit fuell for the fire Suffer I beseech you the word of exhortation Looke to it that you breake not Christs bruised reeds Alioqui ipsi estis arundines Otherwaies know that you your selves are but reeds and what measure you mete unto others shall be measured unto you againe Stand not too much upon your owne a Sen. de clem l. 1. Nec est quisquam cui tam valde innocentia sua placeat ut non stare in conspectu clementiam paratam humanis erroribus gaudeat innocency and integrity For b August confes l. 13. Vae laudabili vitae hominum si remot â misericordiâ discutias cam Wo be to the commendable life of men if it bee searcht into without mercy and scann'd exactly The Cherubins themselves continually looke towards the Mercy-seat and if we expect mercy at the hands of God or man we must show mercy for there shall be judgement without mercy to him that will shew no mercy which menacing to the unmercifull though it point to the last judgement and then take it's full effect yet to deterre men from this unnaturall sinne against their owne bowels it pleaseth God sometimes in this life to make even reckonings with hard hearted men and void of all compassion As he did with Appius Livius dec 1. of whom Livie reporteth that he was a great oppressor of the liberties of the commons and particularly that hee tooke away all appeales to the people in case of life and death But see how Justice revenged Mercies quarrell upon this unmercifull man soone after this his decree hee being called in question for forcing the wife of Virginius he found all the Bench of Judges against him and was constrained for saving his life to preferre an appeale to the people which was denied him with great shouts and out-cries of all saying Ecce provocat qui provocationem sustulit who sees not the hand of divine Justice herein He is forced to appeale who by barring all appeales in case of life and death was the death of many a man Let his owne measure be returned upon him And as Appius was denied the benefit of appeales whereof he deprived others and immediatly felt the stroke of justice so Eutropius who gave the Emperour counsell to shut up all Sanctuaries against capitall offenders afterwards being pursued himselfe for his life and flying to a Sanctuary for refuge was from thence drawne out by the command of S. Chrysostome and delivered to the ministers of justice who made him feele the smart of his owne pernicious counsell I need the lesse speake for mercy by how much the more wee all need it and therefore I passe from the act to the proper subject of mercy The bruised reed If * Sen. de cle l. 1. Tam omnibus ignoscere crudelitas est quam nulli Jude ver 22. mercy should be shewed unto all men no place would be left for justice therefore St. Jude restraineth mercy to some Of some have compassion making a difference The difference we are to make is of 1. Sinne. 2. Sinners For there are sinnes of ignorance and sinnes against conscience sinnes of infirmity and sinnes of presumption sudden passions and deliberate evill actions light staines and fowle spots some sinnes are secret and private others publike and scandalous some
against his owne body doth not his conscience tell him that God is highly displeased with him doth hee not feele the effects of his wrath in his soule and oftentimes in his body and estate also and if the hand of God upon him bring him not to a sight and a sense and an acknowledgement and a detestation also of his sinne dare any man secure his salvation On the contrary if after his relapse his heart smite him and hee feeles the pricke of conscience if there bee any sparke in the weeke any bitter fume drawing teares from his eyes any fervour of zeale any heate of love in him any vehement desire of saving grace though hee receive the sentence of death in himselfe and breathe out his last gaspe in a disconsolate sigh and with a lamentable groane yet none doubteth but that he may passe even by the gates of Hell into Heaven There is nothing so easie or frequent as for a man to slip or fall who walketh upon the ice and what is this world compared by Saint John to a sea of glasse Apoc. 15.2 but slippery ice in which though they who goe most warily slide often and receive grievous falls yet they may take such hold on the one side upon the promises of God Jer. 31.40 I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from mee and on the other side upon Christs praier I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not that they fall not irrecoverably or so dangerously as that they dye of their fall Luke 22.31 For whose comfort in their fearfullest conflicts with dispaire I will lay such grounds of confidence as will amount to a hope that maketh not ashamed and at least to a morall assurance of the recovery of their former estate In the ninth of Proverbs and the first wee have a description of a house built by Wisedome b Prov. 9.1 Wisedome saith hee hath built her an house shee hath hewen out her seven pillars By this house albeit some of the Ancients understand the incarnation of the Sonne of God who is the Wisedome of his Father and might bee said then to build him an house when hee framed a body to himselfe yet may it bee applyed to the spirituall house which every Christian buildeth by faith upon the rocke Christ Jesus for as that so this standeth upon seven pillars 1. The constancy of Gods love in Christ 2. The certainty of his decrees 3. The truth of his promises 4. The power of regenerating grace 5. The efficacy of Christs prayer and intercession for all Beleevers 6. The safegard of the Almighties protection 7. The testimony of the true ancient Church which the Apostle himselfe graceth with the title of the pillar and ground of truth The first pillar to support this building is the constancy of Gods love to all that are in Christ which may be thus hewen to our purpose They upon whom God setteth such an especiall affection in Christ that hee maketh a covenant of peace and entreth into a contract of marriage with them can never bee cast utterly out of favour much lesse grow into eternall hatred and detestation in such sort that they become the objects of endlesse misery and subjects of everlasting malediction For this kindnesse whereby the Lord our Redeemer hath mercy on us Esa 1.54.8 With everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Ver. 10. The mountains shal depart and the â—â—ls be removed but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed is everlasting The covenant of this peace is immoveable this contract is indissoluble * Hos 2.19 20. I will betroth thee unto mee for ever I will betroth thee unto mee in righteousnesse and in judgement and in loving kindnesse and in mercies I will betroth thee unto mee in faithfulnesse and thou shalt know the Lord. But all true beleevers are embraced with this love comprised within this covenant parties in this contract What then can steale their hearts from Christ or alienate his love from them z Rom. 8 35.38 What shal separate them from this love of God in Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill No neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That fire which generateth and produceth its owne fuell can never goe out and what is the fuell which nourisheth this heavenly flame but grace and vertue in us which it selfe continually worketh in all them that are new creatures in Christ Men affect others because of worth but contrariwise Gods affection causeth worth in all who are indeared unto him All the spirituall beauty they have wherewith he is enamoured is no other than the reflection and glisening of the beames of his grace which a Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the beginner and finisher of our faith beginneth and consummateth all good in us b Phil. 2.13 For it is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure working in us both the wil the deed Philosophy teacheth that the celestiall and superiour bodies work upon the terrestriall and inferiour but not on the contrary The stormes or calmes in the aire change not the motions or influence of the starres but contrariwise the motions conjunctions and influences of the Starres cause such variety in the ayre and earth The rayes of the visible Sunne are not moved at all by the motion of the object but immoveably flow from the body of that Planet and though blustering windes tyrannize in the ayre and remove it a thousand times out of its place in an houre yet they stirre not therewith in like manner though our affections are transported with every gale of prosperity and storme of adversity and our wills somewhat yeeld to every wind of temptation yet Gods affections like the beames of the Sunne remaine immoveable where they are once fixed Wee play fast and loose even with those oftentimes to whom wee are bound in the strongest bonds of duty and love wee praise and dispraise with a breath frowne and smile with a looke Esay 55.8 love and hate with a conceit but Gods affections are not like ours John 13.1 nor are his thoughts our thoughts For having loved his owne which were in the world 2 Tim. 2.13 hee loveth them unto the end and though we beleeve not yet hee abideth faithfull he cannot deny himselfe The second pillar is the certainty of Gods decree for the salvation of the Elect 2 Tim. 2 19. and thus I reare it up The foundation of God standeth sure having this seale The Lord knoweth them that
the Temple of Christs body and setting it up was there any noise or sound heard John 2.21 This privacy of his first entry into the world pleaseth not the carnall Jew whose thoughts are all upon a temporall Monarch that should buy out Croesus his wealth and obscure Solomon in all his royalty and extend his dominion as farre as the Sunne casteth his beames No Messiah will please him but such a one as comes in with great state and pompe yet was Christ his quiet seizing upon his Kingdome most correspondent to the prediction of the Prophet Psal 72.6 He shall come downe like raine into a fleece of wooll or upon the mowne grasse that is not heard and most agreeable to his title and kingdome For what more consentaneous to reason than that the Prince of peace should enter upon his Kingdome of grace in a quiet and silent manner Had hee come into the world like the two Scipio's which were termed fulmina belli with thundering and lightening or like the Roman Emperours or the grand Signiours in the most pompous manner with greatest ostentation of wealth and pride of worldly honour more feared hee might have been but lesse loved there had been more state in his comming but lesse merit for us and consequently lesse true comfort in it The note that we are to take from it is That Christs Kingdome is not of this World And the use we are to make of it is Not to looke for great estates large revenues or high preferments here but to be content with a competency of meanes not without a liberall allowance sometimes of afflictions crosses and troubles For delicate members and such as must be continually wrapt in soft raiment that can endure no hardnesse sort not well with a head crowned with thornes By the Law The feathers of such fowles as had been sacrificed were cast in locum cinerum into the place of ashes What are all the pompes and vanities of this world but like beautifull feathers Projiciamus ergo in locum cinerum Let us therefore strip us of them and by true mortification cast them into the place of ashes especially in this time of sorrow and penance when sackcloth is or should be in fashion for apparrell and ashes for couches Upon which when God seeth us he will have compassion on us and give us beauty for ashes and the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heavinesse 2 Cor. 5.7 Coloss 3.3 4. As we are Christians we walke by faith and not by sight our life is hid with Christ in God and when Christ which is our life shall appeare then shall we also appeare with him in glory Secondly we have here the picture of meeknesse in the pattern of all perfection Matth. 21.5 Christ Jesus drawne to the life for our imitation What the Prophet Zachary fore-told concerning the disposition and gracious temper of the Messias to come saying Tell the daughter of Sion behold the King commeth unto thee meeke Zach. 9.9 c. the same the Evangelist confirmeth through the whole Gospel by the speeches and silence actions and passions life and death of the Lord of life To begin with his speeches if ever that Eulogue of the Greeke Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the like of the Latine Vernas afflat ab ore rosas were verified if ever the tongue of any dropped honey and his breath were as sweet and savoury as Roses in the Spring it was certainly our Redeemers who is that hee spake and speaketh alwayes that he is the Word of God The Father is as the mouth the holy Spirit the breath and Christ the word Heare I beseech you verba Verbi the words of the Word of life Come unto mee all that are heavie laden and I will ease you Sonne be of good comfort thy faith hath made thee whole I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance The sonne of man came not to destroy but to save Goe in peace thy sinnes bee forgiven thee And Come yee blessed of my Father possesse the Kingdome prepared for you before the foundation of the world was laid c. Yea but these speeches hee uttered to penitent sinners or such as sued to him for favour and mercy how did hee demeane himselfe towards those uncivill and inhumane Samaritans who denied him lodging Against whom James and John the sonnes of thunder were so incensed that they would have called downe fire from heaven to destroy them by the example of Elias Doth he curse them doth he upbraid ingratitude and inhospitality unto them nay rather he rebuketh his Disciples whom zeale and love transported too farre and by telling them they knew not of what spirit they were Luke 9.55 he shewed apparently what spirit he was who when the Scribes and Pharisees laid Sorcery and Necromancy to his charge saying Say we not well thou art a Samaritane and hast a Divell he delivered them not to the Divell as they deserved for this their blasphemous slander nor sharply reproveth them John 8.49 but mildly answereth I have not a Divell but I honour my Father and yee have dishonoured mee Perhaps he pitied their ignorance or had respect to the dignity and place of the Scribes and Pharisees who bare the greatest sway among the people may some say But what was there in his owne Disciple Judas that he should grace that damned caitiffe that traiterous servant that sonne of perdition with the title of Friend when he came to play the most unfriendly and ungratefull part that ever was acted even to betray his Lord and Master Friend wherefore art thou come Matth. 26.50 doest thou betray the sonne of man with a kisse I have spoken of the speeches of our Saviour let me not passe in silence his meek silence when he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lambe before the shearers so opened hee not his mouth When hee was falsly slandered in the Judgement seat shamefully handled in the Hall most contumeliously reviled and cruelly tortured upon the crosse When the Judge of all flesh was condemned the beauty of Heaven spit upon the King of glory crowned with thornes the Maker of the world made a spectacle of misery to the whole world When his Disciples forsooke him his owne Nation accused him the Judge condemned him the servants buffeted him the souldiers deluded him the people exclaimed against him the Scribes and Pharisees scoffed at him the executioners tormented him in all parts of his body When the Starres were confounded with shame the Elements troubled Cypr. de bon pat Cùm confunderentur sidera elementa turbentur contremiscat terra nox diem claudat sol ne Judaeorum facinus aspicere cogatur radios subtrahat ille non loquitur nec movetur nec Majestatem suam sub ipsá saltem morte profitetur O qualis quanta est Christi patientia qui adoratur in coelis nondum vindicatur in
grace especially the grace of meeknesse which in the heart is tendernesse in the disposition softnesse in the affections temper in the minde calmenesse in the carriage sweetnesse Aristotle briefly defineth it Rhet. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bridle of wrath which because it is a passion of all other most head-strong it requireth both a strong curb and a skilfull rider for whose direction the Spirit of God in holy Scripture hath set downe divers rules The first rule is not to be suddenly or easily provoked This is laid downe for us by the Apostle St. James Let every man bee swift to heare James 1.19 slow to speake slow to wrath To follow this rule it will be behoofull according to the advice of a Hyper. citat à Lips Comment in Sen. de clem l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hyperides to prevent the occasion of quarrels and stop the passages of wrongs to nip the seeds of discords because if anger take root like an inveterate disease it will hardly bee cured b Senec. l. 1. de clem In primis finibus hostis arcendus est nam cum portis se intulit modum à captivis non capit Seneca strikes the same note though on a different string Above all things saith hee keep the enemy from entring the City for if hee once thrust his head into the gate he will give thee the law and not take it from thee Ovid giveth it as a character of a gracious Prince to be tardus ad iram Slow to wrath Certainly it is no strong piece that will suddenly bee out of frame the bone was never well set that easily slips out of joynt A man full of juice and sap of grace is like green wood which is long before it be kindled they who easily take fire seem rather to be annointed with brimstone than the sweet oyntment of the spirit above mentioned The second rule is to tolerate some infirmities in others as likewise others tolerate us in many things for as St. Austin speaketh Toleramus toleramur we tolerate and are tolerated our selves James 3.2 Galat. 6.2 because all offend in many things and many in all This rule is laid downe by St. Paul Be are yee one anothers burthens and so fulfill the law of Christ in which words hee enjoyneth us not onely to beare light injuries but those that are grievous and burthensome and the more burthens we beare in this kinde the lesse we have upon our owne conscience How can we expect that Christ should put his shoulders to our crosses if wee withdraw our necke from his yoke The third rule is to consider the nature of our brothers temptation and accordingly to deale with him This is laid down by the Apostle Galat. 6.1 If any man be overtaken in a fault restore such an one in the spirit of meeknesse considering thy selfe lest thou also be tempted Abraham lyed to Abimelech Peter denied his Master Job uttereth speeches of impatience Paul answereth very smartly to Ananias The Lord smite thee thou painted wall Acts 23.3 but this they did either transported in passion or upon great provocation or out of feare to save their lives The greater the temptation is and the more forcible the assault of Sathan upon the frailty of our nature the lesse the sinne is or at least more pardonable This sole consideration moved Saint Cyprian to take pity on some of them that in time of persecution denied their Master and were therefore deservedly excommunicated whom hee thus bringeth in pleading for themselves not with teares but with drops of bloud falling from their tortured members * Câ—pr de lapsis Manabat proffetibâ—s sanguis pro lachrymis câ—â—ot semâ—â—stulatis viscetibâ—â— defluebâ—t stâ—tit mens stabilis fide fortis cum torqâ—entibus pâ—â—nis â—mmobilis dâ—â— anima lactata est sed cum duâ—â—ssimi Judicis recrudescente saevituâ â—am fatigatum corpus nunc flagella scinderent nunc contunderent fustes c. caro nos in colluctatione destruit For a long time say they our resolution remained firme and our faith strong and we held out the fight against our tormenting paines but when the malice and cruelty of the Judge was exasperated against us and our savage tormentors fell afresh upon our wearied and worne-out bodie sometimes tearing it with whips sometimes bruising it with clubs sometimes stretching it upon the racke sometimes scorching it with fire our flesh forsooke us in the conflict the weaknesse of our bowels gave place and our body not our soule was in the end overcome with the violence of paine Beloved you were never yet brought to the fiery tryall that you might know how farre the extremity of torment might worke and prevaile upon the infirmity of your flesh thanke God for it and judge charitably of them whose faith and constancy shone not so cleerly in the middest of the fire but that they might be compared to the smoaking flaxe in the Verse following my Text. The fourth rule is to admonish before we punish and give warning before wee strike This is laid downe by a Deut. 12.10 Moses When thou commest nigh to a City to besiege it first offer conditions of peace to it This course God hath most strictly kept sending Noah to the old World Moses and Aaron to Egypt Lot to Sodome Obadiah to Edom Jonah to Nineveh the old Prophets and Christ himselfe to Jerusalem that they might prevent Gods judgements by repenting them of their sinne as the Ninevites had the grace to doe who had certainly been destroyed if destruction had not been threatned them by the Prophet Whereat Saint Chrysostome standeth amazed and in the end breakes out into this passionate exclamation O new and admirable thing the denuntiation of death brought forth life the prophecy of the overthrow overthrew the prophecy the sentence of destruction made a nullity in the sentence And if Jerusalem had knowne the things that belonged to her peace even in that day in which our Saviour fore-shewed her fatall doome his prophecy had fell and the City had stood For therefore God and man threaten to inflict severe punishment that they may not inflict what they threaten as b Phil â—ct l. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philostrates and c Nazian epist 194. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianzen observe The fifth rule is first to use faire and gentle meanes before wee take a more severe course This is laid downe by the Apostle 1 Corinth 4.21 What will you shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and the spirit of meeknesse You see the soft drops of raine pierce the hardest stones and the warme bloud of a Goat dissolveth the Adamant Nature seemeth to prescribe this method which alwayes sendeth a flash of lightening before we heare a clap of thunder Et afflatur omne priusquam percutitur And nothing is struck which is not blasted before And Art
accessary to the death of the Lord of life And not only those that committed high treason against the sacred person of the Lords Annointed and imbrued their hands and stained their consciences with that bloud which cleanseth us from all sinne 1 John 1.7 but also Nero and Domitian and Trajan and Antoninus and Severus and Maximinus and Decius and Valerianus and Dioclesianus and Maxentius and all other Emperours that employed their swords and Simon Magus and Cerinthus and Arrius and Nestorius and Manes and all other obstinate arch-Heretickes who employed their pens against him none have hitherto escaped the heavie judgement of God who have bid battell to the Christian Faith and have wilfully and of set malice given the Spouse of Christ the least wound or skarre either by a gash with their sword or a scratch with their pen. Bee wise now therefore O yee Kings Psal 2.10 11 12. bee instructed yee Judges of the earth Serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce with trembling Kisse the Sonne lest hee bee angry and yee perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Some Interpreters by Judgement understand the spirituall government of Christ which is managed in his Church with excellent wisedome and judgement and by Victory the prevalent power of grace in the faithfull wherby they are victorious in all temptations in such sort that though Sathan labour with all his might to blow out a poore sparke yet hee shall not be able to quench it and that the smallest degree of faith like a grain of mustard seed is stronger than the gates of hell and is able to remove mountaines of doubts and oppositions cast up by Sathan and our rebellious hearts between God and us And from hence they inforce the Apostles exhortation to all the souldiers of Christ to be strong in the Lord Ephes 6.10 and in the power of his might not to looke who are their enemies but who is our Captaine not what they threaten but what hee promiseth who hath taken upon him as to conquer for us so to conquer in us These are sweet and comfortable notes but as I conceive without the rule of this Text for questionlesse the Donec or Untill is not superfluous or to no purpose but hath reference to some future time when Christs mild proceedings shall be at a period and he shall take another course with his enemies such as I have before described in the particular judgement of the Jewish Nation and the generall judgement of the whole World But if Judgement and Victory bee taken in their sense there needed no untill to bee added For Christ even from the beginning of his preaching when he strived not nor cryed nor brake the bruised reed nor quenched the smoaking flaxe sent forth judgment unto victory according unto their interpretation that is wisely governed his Church and gave victory to the faithfull in their conflicts with sinne and Sathan That therefore the members of this sentence bee not co-incident and that the donec or untill may have his full force I conceive agreeably to the exposition of the ancient and the prime of the later Interpreters that in this clause Till hee bring forth judgement unto victory the Prophet determineth the limits of the time of grace Whosoever commeth In between the first and second comming of Christ shall be received into favour but after the gates of mercy shall bee locked up Yet our gracious Ahasuerus reacheth out his golden Scepter to all that have a hand of faith to lay hold on it but then he shall take his Iron mace or rod in his hand to bruise his enemies and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell I must sing therefore with holy David of Mercy and Judgement mercy in this life and judgement in the life to come mercy during the day of grace but judgement at the day of the Worlds doom For although sometimes God meets with the Reprobate in this life yet that judgement which they feele here may bee accounted mercy in comparison of that which shall be executed upon them hereafter without all mitigation of favour release of torments or limitation of time Now the vials drop on them but then they shall bee poured all out upon them Wherefore let us all like the bruised reed fall downe to the earth and humble our selves under the mighty hand of God Let us like smoaking flaxe send forth bitter fumes of sighes for our sinnes assuring our selves that now whilst the day of grace lasteth hee will not breake the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flaxe but if we neglect this time of grace and deferre our repentance till he send forth judgement unto victory we shall smoake for it Cogitemus fratres de tempore in tempore ne pereamus cum tempore Let us thinke of time in time lest we perish with time Let us imagine that we now saw the Angel standing upon the sea Apoc. 10 5 6. and upon the earth and lifting up his hand to heaven and swearing by him that liveth for ever who created heaven and the earth and the sea and the things that are therein that there should be time no longer Jonas 2.8 O let us not forsake our owne mercy but to day if wee will heare his voice harden not our hearts but mollifie them by laying them asoake in teares Let us breake off our sinnes suddenly by repentance and our iniquities by almes-deeds Now is the seed-time let us now therefore sow the seeds of faith hope mercy meeknesse temperance patience and all other divine Vertues and we shall reape a plentifull harvest in heaven Cypr. ad Dom. Hic vita aut amittitur aut tenetur hic saluti aeternae cultu Dei fructu fidei providetur Galat. 6.8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but hee that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life everlasting Which God of his infinite mercy grant that we may all do in heaven through the merits of his Sonne by the grace of the holy Spirit to whom c. THE TRAITORS GUERDON A Sermon preached on the Gowries conspiracy before his Grace and divers Lords and persons of eminent quality at Croydon August 5. Anno Dom. 1618. THE FIFTH SERMON PSAL. 63. VER 9 10 11. 9. But those that seeke my soule to destroy it shall goe into the lower parts of the earth 10. They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword they shall be a portion for Foxes 11. But the King shall rejoyce in God every one that sweareth by him shall glory but the mouth of them that speake lyes shall be stopped Most REVEREND Right Honr. Right Wor sh c. WEe are at this present assembled with religious Rites and sacred Ceremonies to celebrate the unfortunately fortunate Nones of August which are noted in red letters in the Romane Calendar as
part yet the Divell so hardened Ruthwen that he tooke out the other dagger and set the point thereof at his Majesties royall breast And now if ever any lay inter k Eras adag sacrum saxum betweene the axe and the blocke or l Theoâ—ri in dioscâ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the edge of the razor or in ipsis fati m Cic. Catilin â—â—ai 2. faucibus in the very chops of destinie or jawes of death it selfe at the point lay the hope then and now the joy and life of us all Alone in a remote place his servans and attendants barred from him by many doores locked and bolted himselfe destitute of all weapons betweene two Conspirators with a poynard bent to his heart O King live for ever is not thy God whom thou servest able to deliver thee from this perill of death Could hee not snatch thee out of the paw of the Lion Could hee not have strucke downe both the Conspirators dead to the floore with a thunderbolt from heaven or at the least taken away the use of Ruthwens limbes drying up that hand that presumed to touch the apple of his owne eye the sacred person of our Soveraigne With a word he could but it seemed best to his all-sweetly-disposing providence wonderfully to preserve his Majestie yet without a miracle For if he had rescued him by any such miraculous meanes as I named before there had beene no occasion offered nor place left for his Majesties faithfull servants to stake their lives for their Master neither had the world taken such notice of his Majesties rare gift of eloquence by the force whereof like another n Cic. de orat l. 3. Antonie intentos gladios jugulo retudit he stayed the Traitors hand and delayed the intended blow first clearing his owne innocencie from the aspersion of bloud in the execution of the Traitors father by course of justice in his Majesties minority then recounting to him the many princely favours he had conferred upon his brother himselfe and all their kindred but especially laying before his eyes the horrour of the guilt of embruing his hands in the bloud of the Lords annointed which said he if my children and subjects should not revenge the stones out of the wall and the beames of the timber conscious of such a villanie would execute vengeance upon thee for so unnaturall barbarous and bloudie an act In fine he promised in the word of a King pardon for all the violence he had hitherto offered him if he would yet relent and desist from his murtherous intent and attempt of spilling royall bloud At which words Ruthwens heart though of Adamant began to relent and give in in such sort that hee gave his Majestie a time to breathe and offer up prayers with strong cries to the God of his salvation who heard him in that hee feared as you shall heare anon In the interim Ruthwen consults with the Earle Gowrie his brother and according to the Latine o Eras adag Aspis a vipera sumit venenum proverbe the aspe suckes poyson from the viper wherewith he swelleth and brusling up himselfe flies at his Majestie the second time to sting him to death and wrapping about him begins to bind his royall hands who nothing appalled at the hideous shape of death within a fingers breadth of his heart answers like himselfe that he was borne free and would die free and unbound forthwith he unlooseth his hands and with one of them clasping the Traitors sword with the other he grapples with him and after much struggling his Majestie draweth the Traitor to the window by which it so pleased God to dispose for his Majesties safety that some of his Majesties servants passed at that very instant and both heard and saw in part in what distresse his Majestie was and made all possible speed to rescue him but before they could force a way through so many doores the King by power from above got the Traitor under him and drew him by maine force to the top of the staire-case where soone after the Kings servants forcibly breaking through all barres bolts and lockes met with him and throwing him downe staires sent him with many wounds to his owne place verifying the letter of this prophecie in the confusion of our Davids enemies qui quaerunt praecipitium animae meae they which seeke the downefall of my soule they shall goe or rather tumble downe with a witnesse And so I passe from the Traitors attempt to the event and happy catastrophe on the Kings part of this not fained Interlude They shall goe downe By this time as I intimated but now the Kings servants partly made and partly found their way into the study rushing in to save the life of their Soveraigne where they had no sooner dispatched one of the brothers Alexander Ruthwen but the other brother the Earle with seven of his servants well appointed encountreth them The skirmish growes hot betweene them these fighting for their lives they for their Soveraigne these animated by hope they whet on by desperation After many wounds given and received on both sides they of the Kings part according to the words of the tenth verse cast him down or as it is in the Hebrew make his bloud spin or run out like water on the ground his I say the arch-Traitor the Earle Gowrie who may be compared to Saul Davids chiefe enemie whose downefall the spirit in the pronoune in the singular number him pointeth at in many respects but especially in this that he tooke counsell of the Divell to murther the Lords Annointed For as Saul conferred with the Witch at Endor before he put himselfe into the field which he watered with his bloud so the Earle Gowrie before hee entred into this Acheldamah field of bloud pitched by himselfe hee made the Divell of his counsell and was found with many magicke characters about him when he fell by the edge of the sword If any man question how it could so fall out that Alexander Ruthwen being more nimble strong and expert in wrestling and having many wayes advantage on his Majestie should not throw him downe or get him under him I answer out of the words immediately going before my text dextra Jehovae sustentabat eum the right hand of the Lord supported him the King by whose speciall providence it was ordered that his Majesties servants should passe by the window at the very moment when his Majestie looked out as also that some of them should finde that blinde way by the turne-pecke into the studie which the Earle Gowrie caused to bee new made for this his divellish enterprise Therefore his Majestie as soone as the bloudie storme was blowne over kneeled downe in the middest of all his servants and offered up the calves of his lips to the God of his life promising a perpetuall memorie of this his deliverie and professing that hee assured himselfe that God had not preserved him
thy plagues O grave I will be thy destruction death with death and the grave with destruction Howbeit destruction here as it is applied to Israel seemeth not so much to signifie destruction in the vulgar acception that is the pulling downe of the houses or sacking of townes and villages as the dissolution of the state and downefall of the Kingdome of Israel and therefore the point herein to be seriously thought upon is the Soph Pasuck full point and fatall period of all earthly States Societies Common-wealths and Kingdomes All naturall things carry in their stile Corruptible all humane in their stile mortall all earthly in their stile Temporall to distinguish the first sort from things supernaturall which are incorruptible the second sort from things divine which are immortall the third sort from heavenly which are eternall The things which are seene saith the h 2. Cor. 4.18 Apostle are temporall but the things which are not seene are eternall It is the royall prerogative of him who i Apoc. 19.16 17.14 hath written upon his thigh and on his vesture King of Kings and Lord of Lords that his Kingdome is bounded with no limits nor confined to time the eternity whereof is proclaimed in holy Scriptures by five noble Heralds two Kings two Prophets and an Archangell The two Kings are k Psal 45 6. Thy throne O God is for ever David and l Dan. 4.32 Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion Nebuchadnezzar The two Prophets are m Cap. 17.14 His kingdome is that which shall not be destroyed Daniel and n Micah 4.7 The Lord shall reigne from henceforth even for ever Micah The Archangell is o Luke 1.31 32 33. Horat. car l. 1. od 3. Semotique prius tarda necessitas leti corripuit gradum Gabriel whose trumpet soundeth most shrill and giveth a most certaine sound Behold thou shalt conceive in thy wombe and bring forth a sonne and shalt call his name Jesus ver 31. He shall be great and shall be called the sonne of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David ver 32. And he shall reigne over the house of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shal be no end ver 33. Of all other there shal be For all politike bodies are in some sort subject to the condition of natural bodies As these so they have their beginning or birth growth perfection state decay and dissolution And as the statures of men in this decrepit and feeble age of the world are much diminished and their life shortened so even States and Empires fall short of their former greatnesse and are like sooner to arrive to their period naturall end or to speake more properly civill death and dissolution called in my text destruction Some who have taken upon them to calculate as it were the nativitie of the world and erect a scheme of all the living have set the utmost day of the duration of the one and life of all the other to fall within foure hundred yeares according to an ancient tradition of the Jewes fathered upon the house of p Melancthon in Chron. l. 1. p. 10. Sex millia annorum mundus duo millia inane duo millia lex duo millia dies Messiae propter peccata nostra quae multa magna sunt deerunt anni qui decrunt Elias The world shall last sixe thousand yeeres two thousand thereof there shall be a vacuitie or emptinesse two thousand the Law shall continue and the dayes of the Messiah shall make out two thousand more of which if any be lacking by reason of our many and grievous sinnes they shall be lacking The Cabalists favour this conceit and labour to wierdraw it out of the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis where because they finde sixe Alephs or A's which in numerall characters signifie so many thousand yeares conclude the duration of the world from the first creation to the end shall make up just that number of yeeres And many also of our Christian Chronologists streining the letter of q 2 Pet. 3.8 One day with the Lord is as a thousand yeeres and a thousand yeeres as one day St. Peter too farre allot precisely sixe thousand yeares for the continuance of the world at the seventh thousand they beleeve we shall all begin to keepe our everlasting Sabbath in heaven For the period of particular Kingdomes Gasper q Pâ—ucer praesat in Chron. Carion Hanc periodum lege quadam sancitam divinitâ—s magnis Impeâ—iis fatalem esse universales mutationes afferre ostendunt omnium temporum historiae Peucerus observeth that it seldome or never exceedeth 500. years which he proveth by these instances following From the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt to the building of the first Temple we finde much about five hundred yeeres run out the first as also the second Temple stood thereabouts the Assyrians ruled in Asia so long Athens was ruled by Kings Rome by Consuls just so many yeers From Augustus to Valentinian the last five hundred yeeres are reckoned all which time the seat of the fourth Monarchy of the world was fixed at Rome The Church of Rome in a sort continued in her puritie for five hundred yeeres After the Papacie and superstition grew to the height in the westerne parts before the thousanth yeere and five hundred yeeres after the happy reformation begun by Martin Luther Yet neither that tradition of the house of Elias nor the observation of Peucerus are of infallible certaintie r Acts 1.7 which the Father hath 〈◊〉 in his owne power It belongeth not to us to know times and seasons and though often God hath translated Kingdomes within the limits of five hundred yeeres yet not alwayes some have lasted longer as the Monarchy of the Assyrians some farre shorter as the monarchy of the Persians and after them of the Grecians The Christian Kings of Jerusalem finished their course within a hundred yeeres Men may probably ghesse at the circumvolution of great Empires and Kingdomes but neither can the Astrologers certainely foresee by the course of the starres nor Å¿ Bod. de rep l. 4. c. 2. ex Plat. pol. 8. Platonicks define by the accomplishment of the nuptiall number nor Politicians foretell by their intelligence with forreine States nor Magicians determine by conference with their familiar spirits but the Prophets of God onely forewarne by inspiration from him who hath decreed before all time the dayes of man and continuance of families and periods of Kingdomes and ages of the world and lasting of time it selfe That which Belshazzar saw t Dan. 5.25.26 a hand writing upon the wall all Princes and States may see and read in the records of heaven kept in holy Scripture Mene Mene thou art numbred thou art numbred thy yeares are summed thy dayes are appointed thine houre is set Be thou as great and glorious as Nebuchadnezzars Image
upon the wicked From the former spirituall wisdome gathereth the sweet fruit of comfort from the latter the bitter fruit of terror from both the most wholesome fruit of instruction The fruit of comfort she gathereth by using Jacobs ladder to rest upon when she is weary Hagars fountaine to quench her thirst the widowes meale to sustaine her in famine Jonah's gourd to shade her in heat Jonathans hony to cleere her eye-sight Hezekia's figs to heale her plague-sores the Samaritan's oyle to supple her wounds and Christs Crosse to support her in all The bitter fruit of terrour she gathereth when she maketh the drowning of the old world a warning to her for security the confusion of Languages at Babel for pride the burning of Sodome for unnaturall lust the pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned for backsliding and disobedience the plagues of Egypt for hardness of heart the captivity of Israel and Judah for Idolatry and the finall destruction of the City and Temple for infidelity and persecution of Christ and his Gospell When the Divell offereth us any forbidden fruit seem it never so pleasant to the eye let us thinke of Adam when a wedge of gold of Achan when red broth of Esau when a pleasant vineyard lying neere to our house of Ahab when a bribe of Gehazi when holy vessels to carouse in of Belshazzar when mony for the gifts of the holy Ghost of Simon Magus when the price of innocent bloud of Judas when a share in sacriledge of Ananias Let us learn by Adams fall to shut our eares against evill counsell by Noahs shame to abhorre drunkennesse by Davids adultery to fly idlenesse by Josephs swearing by the life of Pharaoh to avoid ill company by Peters deniall to beware of presuming on our owne strength by Pauls buffetting to take heed of spirituall pride Doe the students at the law follow all Courts and are ready at all assizes with their table-books to note what passeth in all trials to put downe the cases and take the sentences of the Judges and shall we neglect the judgements of the Almighty and not write downe in the tables of our memories such cases as are ruled in the Court of heaven There is nothing will more deject us in the opinion of our own wisdome and stir us up to the admiration of Gods wisedome justice and power than to observe how he compasseth the wise of the world in their owne wayes and shooteth beyond them in their owne bow and over-reacheth them in their highest designes how he chuseth the foolish things of the world to convince and rebuke the wise the weake things of the world to conquer the mighty the ignoble things of the world to obscure the glorious and the things that are not to confound the things that are When we see him draw light out of darknesse sweet out of sower comfort out of misery joy out of sorrow and life out of death how can we distrust his goodnesse Again when we see on the sudden how he turneth day into night liberty into captivity beauty into ashes joy into heavinesse honour into shame wealth into want rule into servitude life into death how can we but feare his power When we see Scepters made of mattocks and mattocks of Scepters hovils of Palaces and Palaces of hovils valleyes raised high and hils brought low Kings cast out of their thrones to the ground and poore raised out of the dunghill to sit with Princes how can we be proud When we observe the godly man like the Oxe that goeth to plow worn out with labour and pain and the wicked like beasts fatted for the slaughter abound with riotous superfluity how can we but be patient When we see daily stars rise and fall in the firmament of the Church how can we then but be solicitous Lastly when we see our wants as well as our wealth our defects as well as our exceedings our falls as well as our risings our sorrowes as well as our joyes our fasts as well as our feasts our sicknesse as well as our health our terrors as well as our comforts our crosses and afflictions as well as those we call blessings worke for the best for us how can we but be content This rule of wisedome every man by his experience can easily draw out at length and the time calls upon me to cut the threed of this discourse wherefore in a word I will now deliver that precept of wisedome in the last place which in practice must challenge the first viz. that in all serious and weighty affaires especially such as concerne our spirituall estate we aske counsell of God who among other glorious attributes described by the Prophet Isaiah is stiled the wonderfull p Esay 9.6 His name shal be called the wonderfull counseller Aâ—oc 3.18 I counsell thee to buy of me gold c. Counseller who freely gives us that counsell which cannot be got by any fee from mortall man Successe crowneth no great attempt which wisdome undertaketh not wisdome undertaketh nothing but by the advice of counsell and no counsell safe in deliberations of this kind but from the spirit of God The Israelites usually asked counsell of God by the Ephod the Grecians by their Oracles the Persians by their Magi the Egyptians by their Hirophantae the Indians by their Gymnosophistae the ancient Gaules and Brittaines by their Druides the Romans by their Augures or Soothsayers It was not lawfull to propose any matter of moment in the Senate q Cic. de Arusp resp priusquam de coelo servatum erat before their wisards had made their observations from the heaven or skie That which they did impiously and superstitiously we may nay we ought to doe in another sense piously viz. not to imbark our selves into any action of great importance and consequence priusquam de coelo servavimus before we have observed from heaven not the flight of birds or houses of planets or their aspects or conjunctiâ—ns such fowle or star-gazing is forbid by a voice from heaven but the countenance of God whether it shineth upon our enterprises or not whether he approve of our endeavours projects and designes or dislike them if he approve of them we need not feare the successe for if it be not good for the present it shall be good if he dislike them we may not hope for successe for if the issue be not bad for the present it shal be bad in the end Tullies resolution is good r Cic. ep ad Att. sapientis est nihil praestare praeter culpam a wise man is to looke to his intentions and to answer for his actions that they be without blame not to undertake for the events Let us make good our ends and the meanes we use and God will make good the issue and turne all to the best A Pilot as Quintilian observeth cannot be denied his lawfull plea dum clavum rectum teneam though the ship be cast away or drowned he is
thy noble Prophet of the royall race t Esa 53.8 5. He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgressions of my people was he stricken He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes wee are healed therefore was Barabbas acquitted and Jesus condemned to the scourge and the crosse Againe ver 12. hee powred his soule unto death and hee was numbred with the transgressors therefore Jesus was executed with two malefactors the one on the right hand the other on the left Againe hee bare the sinne of many and made intercession for the transgressors therefore Jesus when they crucified him said u Luk. 23.34 Father forgive them for they know not what they doe How readest thou in Moses law * Deut. 21.23 cursed is he that hangeth on a tree therefore Jesus who became a curse for us hung on the tree of the crosse Againe all things by the law are purged by sprinkling of blood with a bunch of Hyssope therefore Jesus blood was x Joh. 19.29 shed upon the crosse and a bunch of Hyssope there offered unto him How readest thou in the booke of Psalmes y Psal 22.21 they gave me gall to eate and when I was thirsty they gave mee vinegar to drinke therefore Jesus said on the crosse I thirst and they filled a spunge full of vinegar and put it on a reede and gave him to drinke Againe z Psal 22.18 they parted my garments among them saith David Christ his type and on my vesture did they cast lots therefore after Jesus * Mat. 27.35 gave up the Ghost the souldiers parted his garments and cast lots Christ was fastened to the wood of the crosse as a Gen. 22.9 Isaak was bound to the faggot Behold the type accomplished and the scripture fulfilled hee b Esa 53.10 made his soule an offering for sinne be not faithlesse but believe Christ was lift up c Num. 21.9 upon the crosse as the brazen serpent was set up upon a pole for a signe Behold the type accomplished and the scripture fulfilled d Zach. 12.10 they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced be not faithlesse but believe Christs flesh was torne bruised pierced and as it were broached on the crosse as the paschall Lambe yet without any bone broken Behold the type accomplished and the scripture fulfilled e Psal 22.16 they pierced my hands and feet and thou f Psal 34.20 keepest all my bones so that not one of them is broken Be not faithlesse but believe sith every circumstance of Christs passion is a substantiall proofe every indignity offered unto him is an Axiome every nayle and thorne a poignant argument every marke and scarre in his flesh a demonstration à signo and his extension on the crosse a declaration and ostension that hee is the true Messiah The Jew hath his payment I now take the Gentile to taske Vs 2 Contr. Graec. Gentiles who maketh a laughing stocke of the crosse O foolish Greeke why dost thou esteeme the doctrine of the crosse foolishnesse in which all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge are hid The Abderites tooke Democritus for a man besides himselfe but Hypocrates that great Physician made them know that they were out of their wits not the Philosopher The folly O Greeke is in thy judgment not in the doctrine of the crosse the shadow is in thine eye or the dust in thy spectacle and not in the object for hadst thou a single eye and a cleare spectacle thou mightst see the crosse beset with foure Jewels 1 Wisedome in the height and top 2 Humility in the depth and basis 3 Obedience on the right side 4 Patience on the left Thou mightest see by God his infinite wisedome light drawne out of darknesse and good out of evill and order out of confusion Thou mightest observe in it infinite justice and mercy reconciled thou mightest admire glory conquered by shame power overcome by weakenesse wisedome confounded by folly death killed by dying the grave destroyed by being buryed in it and hell by descending into it Yea but thy pride will not brooke to have any faith in a man crucified or to hope for salvation from him who could not save himselfe from the accursed tree Indeed if he had beene inforced thus to die if he had not laid downe his life of his owne accord and made his soule an offering for sinne thy objection had something in it considerable but sith he dyed by power and not of infirmity for though to dye simply be of infirmity yet so to dye to lay downe his life at his own pleasure and take it up again was of power sith being in the form of God he g Phil. 2.8 humbled himselfe to death even the death of the Crosse and in it triumphed over death hell and the Divell stop thy mouth for ever from blaspheming the crosse or rather open it to the everlasting praise of him that dyed on it whose misery if thou beleeve is thy happinesse his ignominy thy glory his death thy life his Crosse thy Crown Thou eternizest the memory of Codrus Curtius the Decii and D. Claudius for devoting and sacrificing themselves for their Country how canst thou then but much more love and honour yea and adore Jesus Christ who Codrus-like put on the habit of a common souldier or rather servant and dyed in the battaile to gaine us an everlasting victorie over all our enemies Curtius-like leapt into the Hiatus or gulfe of death and hell to save mankinde from it Decius and Claudius-like devovit se pro terrarum orbe gave himselfe up to death for the life of the whole world Use 3 And so I let the Greeke passe the Romanists turne is next who maketh an Idol of the Crosse Contra Papist O superstitious Papist why dost thou vow pilgrimages and creepe on all foure to the Crosse Why dost thou fall downe at it and often lash thy selfe before it Why dost thou kisse it and weepe upon it and make a woodden prayer to it saying Ave lignum spes unica all haile thou wood of the Crosse our onely hope Was the Crosse crucified for thee Did thy gilt crucifix die for thee Hast thou not heard how the Gentiles of old traduced the Christians quod h Minutius Fâ—elix 〈◊〉 Oâ—â— 12 10. Crucis erant religiosi that they religiously worshipped the Crosse and what answer the godly Fathers in those purest times returned unto them Cruces nec habemus nec optamus we neither have Crosses nor desire them Didst thou never heare what S. Helena the renowned mother of great Constantine did when she discovered the true Crosse to which our Lord was nailed by the inscription St. Ambrose telleth thee i Orat. de obit Theod. Invenit titulum Regem adoravit non utique lignum quia hic est
right string 't is worth your hearing Christus primus surrexit in incorruptione the rest before they were raised began at least to corrupt it is sayd of Lazarus expressely that he x Joh. 11.39 stanke but God suffered not his holy One to see corruption they rose in their naturall and corruptible bodies Christ in an incorruptible and as the Apostle calleth it a spirituall body ver 44. 2 That which Cornelius A lapide answereth is considerable that though Christ were not primus tempore the first that rose in time yet that he was primus in intentione Dei the first in Gods intention 3 Aquinas comes yet nearer the matter Christus primus sua virtute resurrexit Christ was the first that rose himselfe by his own power they before Christ were raysed by others If any thing be yet lacking S. Bernard and Beza will supply it alii suscitati sunt mortui sed iterum morituri other dead were raised but dyed againe like drowned men which rise up twice or thrice from under water but sinke againe to the bottome Christus simul resurrexit aeternam beatamque vitam recepit Christ at once rose and obtained an eternall and blessed life y Rom. 6.9 Christ being risen from the dead dieth no more death hath no more power over him Whereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may bee added that others rose as private men Christ as a publike person and the cause of all other mens rising either univocall as of all the Elect who rise as hee did to happy eternity or equivocall as of the reprobates who are raysed to eternall misery They who rose before Christ were either singular types of him or as common sheafes of the heape Christ was the first that ever rose in the nature and quality of the first fruits to sanctifie the whole harvest of the dead in him who are here called Them that slept z Aristot lib. de mirabil auscult Aristotle writeth of certaine serpents in Mesopotamia which doe great mischiefe to strangers but do no hurt at all to the inhabitants such is death it hath power to sting those that are strangers and aliens from the common-wealth of Israel it hurteth not at all the naturall Israelites which are fellow-citizens with the Saints of the houshold of faith Those which are without God in the world and without Christ though within the visible Church have cause to feare death because like the Phalangium in a Strab. l. 2. geog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strabo it stings them to death in such sort that they dye either laughing or madde that is either making a jest of judgement and hell and the life to come or distracted in some fearefull fit of desparation And as Diogenes when hee felt himselfe falling into a slumber a little before his death said pleasantly * Eras apoph Diog. Frater me mox est traditurus fratri suo one brother is now delivering mee to the other hee meant sleep to death so it is most true of these scoffers at God and all religion dying impenitently that their temporall death delivers them over to eternall death the elder death to the younger but longer liver the first death to the b Ubi mors vivit finis incipit Greg. Morah in Job second but upon those who are in Christ and have part in the first resurrection the second death hath no power and in that regard the first death is not terrible unto them nay so farre is it from being terrible that even lying on their death-beds they insult both upon death and the grave with holy sarcasmes c 1 Cor. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d Graec. liturg The immortall entred into a single combate with death on the crosse and gave death a death wound even by his death and now death is no more death to the godly but a sleep e Mat. 9.24 The damosell is not dead but asleepe our friend Lazarus is f Joh. 11.12 but asleepe Stephen though hee came to his end by a violent meanes yet it is said of him that g Act. 7.60 he fell asleep And I would not have you ignorant brethren saith S. Paul concerning them which are h 1 Thess 4.14 asleep and so in my text they who before were called the dead now after the mention of Christs resurrection are termed Them that slept Which words are not so to bee understood as if their soules slept with their bodies till the day of judgement That is a drowsie heresie out of which Calvin shaketh some in his time whom he calleth by the right name * Soule-all-night-sleepers Psychopamychistas but in three other respects 1 Because they rest from their toylesome labours as those that sleepe wee say are at their ease 2 Because they neither minde nor at all meddle with any affaires of this life either good or bad as those that are fast asleepe i Hom. Il. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the time neither thinke nor often so much as dreame of any thing in the world 3 Because they shall certainely be awaked by the shrill sound of the last Trumpet as those that sleepe at night are awaked againe in the morning by the Weytes your City musicke Do you believe all these things I know you do Why do you then take on in such grievous manner when your friends are taken away from you by corporall death Why doe you make their death-beds swimme with your teares non amisistis sed praemisistis you have not lost them but sent them to bed before you they are but asleepe they shall awake againe they are but as seede sowne in the earth they shall rise out of it againe Bern. in Cant. Occidit me Deus cum succidit Gervasium meum I know that where hearts have bin knit together they cannot be rent asunder without exceeding great pain and unexpressible griefe neither do I find fault with naturall affection much lesse condemne the Christian compassion of those who k Rom. 12.15 weepe with them that weepe It is for a Stoicke or rather a stocke to bee without all sympathy of others sorrow or sense of his owne losse l Cic. pro dom ad Pont. eam animi duritiam sicut corporis quod cum uritur non sentit stuporem potius quam virtutem puto Our Lord and Master reads us another lesson who himselfe m Joh. 11.35 wept for Lazarus and whosoever reades if yet for teares hee be able Davids lamentation for Jonathan Saint Ambroses for Satyrus Nyssens for Saint Basil Nazianzens for Gorgonia Augustines for Nebridius and Bernards for Gervasius will finde that the heat of love is contrary to all other For all other dryeth but this the greater it is in the heart the moister the eyes are Yet love must not exceede proportion nor teares measure n Hieron in epitaph Paulae grandis in
holy place the Temple I come to the Holy of holies the owner of this holy place the Doctr. 6 Living God The Apostle so stileth God here in my Text to terrifie the Corinthians from provoking him either to jealousie by their Idolatry or to anger by their impure conversation with the Gentiles whose gods were dead and senselesse stockes not able to apprehend much lesse revenge any wrong offered unto them by their worshippers and therefore they might bee bold with them as the Philosopher was with Hercules putting him to his thirteenth labour in seething his dinner and Martial with Priapus in threatning to throw him in the fire if hee looked not well to his trees and * Eras apoph l. 5. Jovi Olympio detraxit magni ponderis amiculum dicens aestare grave hyeme frigidum Aesculapii auream barbam detraxit quod negaret decorum patrem Apollinem imberbem ipsum barbatum conspici Dyonisius with Aesculapius in cutting off his golden beard alledging for it that it was not fit the sonne should have a beard seeing the Father had none but let Christians take heed of the least provocation of the living God x Heb. 12.29 for hee is a consuming fire A childe may play at the hole of a dead cockatrice and a silly woman may strike a dead lion but who dares handle a live serpent or play with the paw of a ramping and roaring lion how much more fearfull by infinite degrees a thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God who with the breath of his mouth is able to blow downe the whole frame of nature and destroy all creatures from the face of the earth There is spirit and life in this attribute living which comprehendeth in it all that wee can comprehend and all that wee cannot comprehend of the Deity For the life of God is his beeing and his beeing is his nature and his nature is all things When wee call upon the living God wee call upon the true God the everlasting God the Father of spirits the Author of life the Almighty All-sufficient All-working God and what is not comprised in all these The more excellent the nature is of any thing the more excellent is the life thereof as is the life of beasts than of trees of men than of beasts of Angels than of men What then may wee conceive of the life of God himselfe from whence hee hath his name in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and because it is his chiefest attribute hee most frequently sweareth by it in holy Scripture As I live saith the Lord. This attribute living is applyed to God in a threefold regard 1. To distinguish him from the false gods of the Gentiles which were dead and senselesse stockes bearing for the most part the image of a dead man deified after death 2. To represent unto us the sprightly and actuous nature of God which is alwayes in action and ever moving in it selfe 3. To direct us to the Fountaine of life from whom all life is derived into the creature by a threefold streame of 1 Nature 2 Grace 3 Glory 1 First the true God is stiled the living God in opposition to the heathen Idols which were without life sense or motion they had eyes and saw not eares and heard not hands and handled not whereas the true God hath no eyes yet seeth no eares yet heareth no hands yet worketh all things The heathen Idols were carried upon mens shoulders or camels backs as the Prophet y Esa 46.1.2.3 Esay excellently describeth the manner of their procession but contrariwise the true God beareth his children and supporteth them from the wombe even to their old age and gray haires Mothers and nurses carry children but for a short space God beareth his children all the dayes of their life The heathen gods as Saint z L. 1. de civit Dei Neque enim homines a simulachtis sed simulachra ab hominibus servabantur quomodo vero colebantur ut patriam custodirent cives quae suos non valuere custodire custodes Austine observeth in the siege of Troy saved not them that worshipped them but were saved by them from fire and spoyle whereupon hee inferreth What folly was it to worship such gods for the preservation of the city and countrey which were not able to keepe their owne keepers but the true God preserveth them that serve him and hideth them under the shadow of his wings 2 God is called the living God because hee is all life hee understandeth and willeth decreeth and executeth beginneth and endeth observeth and ordereth appointeth and effecteth all things hee whirleth about the heavens raiseth stormes and tempests thundering and lightning in the aire hee moveth upon the waters and shaketh the pillars of the earth hee turneth about the whole frame of nature and setteth all creatures on work in a word as Trismegistus excellently expresseth this truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He potentiateth all acts and actuateth all powers 3 Living because hee giveth life to all that enjoy it and preserveth also it in them to the period thereof set by himselfe All other living creatures as they have but one soule so they have but one life man to whom divers Philosophers assigne three soules hath a threefold kinde of life 1 Vegetative 2 Sensible 3 Reasonable But over and above every faithfull man hath an estate of three lives in Gods promises 1 The life of nature which implyeth the former three at our entrance into the world 2 The life of grace at our entrance into the Church 3 The life of glory at our entrance into Heaven Nature is the perfection of every creature grace the perfection of nature glory the perfection of grace The life of nature is given to us to seek the life of grace which bringeth us to the life of glory That God is the author of the life of nature nature her selfe teacheth a Act. 17.28 In him wee live c. as some of your Poets have sayd In ipso vivimus In him wee live move and have our being That hee is the author of the life of grace Saint John whose name signifieth grace testifieth b Joh. 1.2 In ipso vita erat In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shined in darkenesse and the darknesse comprehended it not Lastly that hee is the author of the life of glory Christ who is the way the truth and the life declareth sâ—ying c Joâ— 11.25 I am the resurrection and the life whosoever believeth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live There remaineth nothing to the illustration of this point but the removing of an objection which somewhat cloudeth the truth For thus a man may argue If God as the Prophet speaketh is the Well of life in which there are the three springs abovenamed one above the other then is life conveighed to all creatures according
Word sanctifie them with thy Spirit adorne them with thy gifts and fill them with thy glory O thou who dwellest in the highest heavens come downe and visit thy lower houses our bodies and soules dedicated unto thee take a lodging with us for a while in our earthly Tabernacles and when we must leave them receive thou us into thine everlasting habitations So be it c. THE GENERALL HIS COMMISSION A Sermon preached at S. Jones's before the right honourable the Earles of Oxford Exeter and Southampton and divers other Captaines and Commanders ready to take their journies into the Low-Countries in the yeere 1621. THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON JOSUAH 1.9 Have not I commmanded thee bee strong and of a good courage bee not afraid neither bee thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. I Find this Aphorisme in the prime Writers of our common laws Gladius gladium juvat the one sword steeds the other whereby is meant that the Ecclesiasticall and Temporall powers mutually ayde and assist each other that Canons improve lawes and lawes corroborate canons that where the arme of the secular Magistrate is short in civill punishments the ecclesiasticall lengtheneth it by inflicting Church censures and againe where the ecclesiastical arme is weak the secular strengtheneth it by executing corporall punishments upon such delinquents as stand out in contempt of spirituall The like may be said of the a Ephes 6.17 spirituall and military sword Gladius gladium exacuit the one whets sharpens the other For the word of God which is the sword of the spirit by divine exhortations and promises sets such an edge upon the material that Gods men of war therewith easily cut in pieces the armour and put to flight or death the armies of the b Heb. 11.34 Out of weaknesse were made strong waxed valiant in fight put to flight the armies of the Aliens Aliens The Jewes never acquitted themselves so worthily nor fought so victoriously as when they received their armour out of the Temple from the Priests hands and after Constantine the great having seen a vision in the ayre and heard a voice from Heaven In hoc signo vinces set the crosse upon the Eagle in his Ensigne his Christian souldiers marched on so courageously and drave with such speed before them the bloudy enemies of their faith that they might seem to bee carried by the wings of an Eagle The ancient Laced aemonians also before they put themselves in the field had a certaine Poem of Tyrtaeus read unto them but no Verses or Sonnets of Tyrtaeus Pindarus or Homer are comparable in this respect to the Songs of Sion no Cornets Fifes or Drummes in the campe sound so shrill in a Christian souldiers eares as the silver Trumpets of the Sanctuary no speech or oration like to a Sermon to rowze up their spirits and put courage and valour into their hearts who fight the Lords battels None putteth on so resolutely as hee who hath Gods command for his warrant and his presence for his encouragement and his Angels for his guard and a certaine expectation of a crowne of life after c Revel 2.10 Be faithfull unto death and I will give thee a crown of life death for his reward Hee cannot but be such as Josuah is here willed to be that is strong and of a good courage affraid of no adverse power dismayed with no preparations on the contrary part appaled at no colours no not at the wan and ghastly colours of death it selfe For if d Rom. 8.31 God be for us who can be against us or if they be against us hurt us Have not I commanded thee be strong therefore c. As God at the first by breathing into man the e Gen. 2.7 And he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soule spirit of life made him a man so here by breathing into Josuah the spirit of courage hee made him a man of warre Reason is the forme and specificall difference of a man and fortitude and valour of a souldier Be strong therefore and of a good courage This courage cannot be well grounded unlesse it have Gods command or at least warrant for the service Have not I commanded thee and his presence for our aide and assistance The Lord thy good is with thee If we have Gods command or allowance for the service we undertake if we fight under his Banner and follow his Colours we may well be strong and of a good courage The Heathen f Ovid. fast l. Tu pia tela feres sceleratas ille sagittas Stabit pro signis fasque piumque tuis Poet could say that those who have Religion and Justice on their side may promise themselves happy g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eras Adag successe A good cause maketh a good courage as wholesome meat breeds good bloud Have not I commanded thee be strong c. A good courage in a good quarrell cannot want Gods assistance The Lord thy God is with thee Behold here then noble Commanders and Souldiers in the Lords battels 1. Your commission Have not I commanded 2. Your duety Be strong 3. Your comfort and ground of confidence The Lord is with you Have Gods word for your warrant and his presence for your assistance and you cannot but bee valiant and courageous your commission will produce courage and your courage victory As you are to receive commission from God so bee strong in God and God will bee with you first have an eye to your commission Have not I commanded thee As Moses was a lively and living type of the Law so was Josuah of the Gospel Moses commendeth Gods people to Josuah the Law sendeth us to the Gospel Moses led the people through the Wildernesse and discovered the Land of promise from Mount Nebo and dyed but Josuah brought the people into it and put them in possession thereof The Law leadeth us in the way and giveth us a glimpse of the celestiall Canaan but the Gospel by our Josuah Christ Jesus bringeth us into it and possesseth us of it That which the Hebrew pronounce Josuah Saint Luke and the 70. Interpreters write h Acts 7.45 Hebr. 4.8 Jesus And i Elias l. vos Rabin Judaei nolunt dicere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia non confitentur ipsum esse salvatorem possumus etiam dicere id factum esse quia pronuntiatio literae ע difficilis est Gentibus Baal Aruch in lexic. talmud Mos linguae syrae est elidere ח ע literas Drusius in his Commentary upon the Hebrew words of the New Testament out of Baal Aruch and Elias proveth that Josuah and Jesus are all one name Josuah is Jesus in the history and Jesus is Josuah in the mystery Josuah is typicall Jesus and Jesus is mysticall Josuah Here then adamas insculpitur adamante one diamond cuts and
possession of the Kingdome of grace and 2. Spe in the certaine expectation of the Kingdome of glory O how is the world out in her accompt She esteemeth them the onely miserable who indeed are the onely happy she deemeth them the off-scouring of all things who shall shine as starres in the Firmament shee accounteth them beggars and forlorne men who are d Apoc. 1.6 And hath made us Kings and Priests unto God Kings to God and so assured of a celestiall Crowne that Christ saith not theirs shall bee but theirs is the kingdome of Heaven as if they now ware it When one of Apelles his scholars had drawne Helena in costly and gorgeous apparell hung all over with orient pearle and resplendent stones O young man saith he because thou couldest not paint Helena faire her naturall feature being above thy art thou hast drawne her rich in like manner may we say truely that because the Heathen Philosophers whose severall opinions amount unto the number of some hundreds as Saint Austin relateth in his bookes of the City of God and striketh a dash of his pen through them all could not describe their summum bonum or chiefe happinesse beautifull because they wanted the eye of faith to descry the beauty of the e 1 Pet. 3.4 hidden man of the heart they like the young man thought to make amends by painting her rich abounding with all outward comforts and contentments houses possessions treasures attendants pleasures honours but our blessed Saviour contrariwise because he could not set her forth rich in estate here for f Mat. 8.20 The son of man hath not where to â—â—y his head hee had not himselfe to lay his head upon hee describeth her most faire and beautifull like * Psal 45.13 Solomons Queen all glorious within Hath not God chosen the g Jam. 2.5 poore of this world rich in faith to bee heires of his Kingdome Yes certainly for Christ not onely affirmeth them to bee blessed saying Blessed are the poore but also confirmes it with a most forcible reason For theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven Upon which Scripture all my observations for the present shall levell at three points 1. Blessednesse 2. Poverty in spirit 3. Kingdome of Heaven First I will demonstrate that the Saints of God enjoy a kinde of blessednesse in this life Secondly that this blessednesse consisteth especially in their right to a crowne in heaven Thirdly that this right is in the poore in spirit Blessed are They who observe the changings and turnings of this mortall life and in them consider how wretched man like a Tennis-ball is beat from wall to wall as it were racketted from one trouble to another from one care to another from one exigent to another may easily ghesse at the reason why the ancient Sages termed him h Melancthon chron ludum deorum the gods game or sport For as Tiberus Constantinus in the yeer of our Lord 577. i John Don psed Mart commanding a golden cross set in Marble to be digged up that it might not be trod upon found under it a second and under the second a third and under the third a fourth so the dearest servants of God in this world digging for the hidden treasure of the Gospel find crosse under crosse and losse upon losse sorrowes after sorrowes Looke how the waves in the sea ride one upon the necke of the other and like as Jobs messengers trod one upon the heeles of another so miseries and calamities and vexations in the course of this life follow close one upon the other The vanity of youth presseth upon the folly of childhood and the ambition of ripe yeers immediately succeedeth the folly of youth and infirmities of old age seize on the ambition of perfect age and the terrours of death make haste after all Wee runne in the race of our life as it were in a ring of misery from inward evills to outward and from outward to inward from diseases of body to maladies of minde and from those to these from feares to cares and from cares to feares from temporall losses to spirituall and from spirituall backe againe to temporall which are so many and so grievous that whosoever is sensible of them cannot but acknowledge this present life to bee miserable and if hee bee not sensible of them hee is to be accounted so much the more miserable because hee hath lost common sense as Saint k Aug. de civit Dei l. 19. c. 7. Haec mala tam magna tam horrenda tam saeva quisquis cum dolore considerat miseriam necesse est fateatur quisquis autem considerat vel patitur ca sine animi dolote multo utique miserius ideò se putat beatum quia humanum perdidit sensum Austin nimbly wieldeth this two-edged sword against the Heathen Philosophers that doted upon worldly happinesse Polycrates who would not seale the truth concerning the vanity and uncertainty of worldly happinesse with his ring which hee purposely threw in the sea that hee might lose it but regained it againe out of the mouth of a fish sold in the Market and brought into his Kitchin yet afterwards hee signed it with his bloud when the date of his happy fortunes were out and the crosse fell in the end to bee his lot And Croesus who derided Solon preaching to him this doctrine as hee sate upon his throne at Sardis afterwards taken prisoner by Cyrus and condemned to the fire proclaimed it upon the pile now ready to bee kindled crying out upon Solon l Herod Clio. O Solon Solon I finde thy words to bee Oracles and thy Paradox to bee an Axiome dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet that no man ought to bee entred in the Kalendar of the Blessed before we see what end hee maketh whether the glorious light of his temporall prosperity goe not out in an obscure and stinking snuffe of a miserable and infamous death Reason easily perswadeth but Religion compelleth our assent to this truth For Christianity is a m Tertulâ—n a olog Hoc quod Christiani sumus fidei speires est meer matter of faith and hope Wee walke n 2 Cor. 5.7 here by faith and not by sight our life is hid * Colos 3.3 4. with Christ in God when Christ who is our life shall appeare then shall wee also appeare with him in glory By hope wee are saved but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why should he hope for it If this hope were confined to this life then were the best Christians of all men the most o 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this life o ely we have hope in Christ then are we of all men most m serable miserable How then doth our Saviour here crown eight sorts of Christians with a title of Blessedness and those who make least shew of it viz. the poore in spirit mourners hungry thirsty persecuted reviled
teach us as Saint Austine noteth that neither the poverty of the one brought him thither nor the wealth of the other kept him from thence y John 14.2 In my Fathers house saith our Saviour there are many mansions some for the rich some for the poore some for noble some for ignoble some for z Agapet ad Justin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kings some for beggars and it is hard to say whethers crowne in Heaven shall be more massie and be set with more orient jewells the rich mans who is also rich in God or the poore mans who is poore for God the wealthy who hath given much to Christ or the needy who hath lost all for his sake the noble and honourable man who by his birth and place hath innobled the Christian faith or the ignoble who hath preferred the ignominy of Christs crosse to all the honours of this world the King who layeth downe his scepter at the foot of Christs crosse or the Beggar who taketh up his crosse and readily followeth Christ It is true which Saint a Cypr. de laps Multos patrimonia pondere suo depresserunt in terâ—am Cyprian chargeth many of the rich in his time with that their great patrimonies and large revenues of their lands with the weight thereof pressed them downe to the earth nay some to hell But the fault was in their minde not in their meanes in their desires not in their fortunes or estates For as when a man taketh a heavie Trunke full of plate or mony upon his shoulders it crooketh his back and boweth him down toward the earth but if the same weight be put under his feet it lifteth him above ground in like maner if we put our wealth and riches above us preferring them to our salvation they will presse us downe to the ground if not to hell with their weight but if wee put them under our feet and tread upon them as slaves to us and quite contemne them in respect of heavenly treasure they will raise us up towards heaven As they did Job who made so many friends of unrighteous Mammon that every eye that saw him blessed him As they did Mary Magdalen whose name is and shall bee like an oyntment powred out to the end of the world because shee brake an Alabaster boxe of most costly b Matth. 26.12 13. Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memoriall of her oyntment upon the head of our Saviour As they did Cornelius whose almes-deeds were a forcible meanes to carry up his prayers into Heaven Acts 10.31 Thy prayer is heard and thine almes-deeds are had in remembrance As they did Dorcas whom the clothes which shee made for the widowes and poore orphants kept warme in her death bed The c Acts 9.39 widowes stood by her weeping and shewing the coates and garments which Dorcas made whilest shee was with them and were motives to Saint Peter by miracle to restore her to life As they did Constantine the great who made his crown the basis of Christs crosse As they did Ludovicus who by continuall largesse turned all his state into obligations The meaning then is not that none are blessed but poore for d 1 Tim. 4.8 Godlinesse is profitable unto all things c. Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and the life to come But to make up the harmony of the Evangelicall doctrine in this place wee must take one note from the words as they are related by Saint Luke and another from the words as they are recorded by Saint Matthew in my Text. The note from Saint Luke is That the worlds miserable man is for the most part Christs blessed man Christs words in Saint Luke are these e Luke 6.20 21 24 25. Blessed be yee poore for yours is the Kingdome of God Blessed are yee that hunger now for yee shall be filled Blessed are yee that weep now for yee shall laugh But woe unto you that are rich for you have received your consolation Woe be unto you that are full for you shall hunger Woe unto you that laugh now for you shall mourne and weep Vicibus res disposita est Happinesse goes by turnes Dives shall be Lazarus hereafter and Lazarus on earth shall be Dives in Heaven those who laugh here shall weep there and those who weep here shall laugh there those who feast continually and riot in pleasures in this world shall fast in the other and those who fast upon earth shall feast with the Lambe in Heaven But the note which we are to take from Saint Matthew is That affliction and penury unlesse it be sanctified to us by God no way maketh us happy Blessed are the poore not simply but with an addition in spirit The poore are blessed if poore in spirit that is humble Blessed are they that mourn if their mourning be a godly mourning either out of sense of their owne sinne or compassion of their brethrens miseries For godly f 2 Cor. 7.10 sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to bee repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death Blessed are they that hunger and thirst if it be for righteousnesse for there are that hunger for the flesh-pots of Egypt and there are that thirst after bloud or after g Prov. 9.17 Stolne waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant but hee knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of hell stolne waters which are sweet in the mouth but poyson in the belly and rottennesse in the bones And neither of these are blessed All that are in want are not Christs poore neither are all that weare blackes his mourners Saint Luke saith in effect not many rich are blessed Saint Matthew addeth nor all poore but the poore in spirit onely that is such as are of an humble spirit or a h Prov. 16.19 Esay 57 15. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit contrite spirit Those i Beza in Mat. 5. Qui sive paupertate sive aliis calamitatibus domiti sive ultro peccatorum suorum sensu tacti ab omni superbiâ remoti sese Deo subjiciunt who by any affliction outward or inward are so thoroughly tamed and subdued that they humble themselves under the mighty hand of God wholly relying upon his providence for their estate and upon his mercy for their salvation None is poore in spirit saith k Calvin harm Nemo spiritu pauper est nisi qui in nihilum apud se redactus in Dei misericordiâ recumbit namque desperatione fracti cum adversus Deum fremunt elato superboque spiritu esse oportet Calvin but he who being brought to nothing in himselfe casteth himselfe wholly upon Gods mercy For hee who groweth into desperate fits and murmureth against the most
secondly the civill thirdly the wealthy fourthly the ordinary and found them all very tardy and imperfect in their accounts which that you might not be I but even now delivered unto you the rule of three or golden rule as it is called in sacred algebray whereby you may easily number your dayes and cast up your accounts and infallibly perfect the bookes of your conscience What remaineth but that at your first and best opportunity you fall on this worke cast your accounts privately in the chamber of your heart peruse the booke of your conscience mend what is amisse by unfained and hearty repentance fetch out all the blots and blurres there with the aqua fortis of your teares and if yet there remaine any thing which you cannot well account for to meet your Master before hand upon your knees and beseech him to put it upon his Sonnes score and to satisfie himselfe out of the infinite treasury of his merits or to wipe it out with the spunge that was offered him on the Crosse This if yee practise daily and make even with God every night you shall be perfect and ready when your Master shall call for your accounts and you shall be found of him in peace and he shall then say unto you Well done good and faithfull Stewards yee have been faithfull in a little I will set you over much yee have been faithfull in temporall I will trust you with eternall goods yee have been faithfull in earthly I will commit to you heavenly treasures yee have been faithfull in a Stewardship I will give you a Kingdome enter into your Masters joy Into which God grant we may all enter when we are passed out of this vale of teares through the merits of Christs death and passion by the conduct of his holy Spirit To whom three persons and one God c. PHILIP HIS MEMENTO MORI OR The Passing Bell. A Sermon preached in Mercers Chappell at the Funerall of Master Benet Merchant THE XXII SERMON DEUT. 32.29 O that they were wise then they would understand this they would consider their later end Right Worshipfull c. HEnoch lived by just computation so many yeeres as there are dayes in the yeere viz. 365. and he was the seventh man from Adam and dyed in anno a Sethus Calvis in Chron. Sabbathico the Sabbathick yeere and thereby became a lively Embleme both of this life and the life to come For the labours of this life are governed by the course of the Sunne which is finished in that period of time and the rest of the life to come is evidently prefigured in the Sabbath It is farther written of him in the holy Records of eternity that he b Heb. 11.5 Gen. 5.24 walked with God and was therefore translated that hee should not see death to teach us that they who walke with God all the dayes of their life as he did shall come into no condemnation but immediately passe from death to life from death temporall to life eternall which was not obscurely disciphered unto us in the narration of the seventh dayes creation After the mention of every day in the weeke and the worke thereof wee reade so the evening and the morning were the first day and so the c Gen. 1.5 8 13.19 23 31. second and the rest but after the relation of the seventh dayes creation on which God rested and blessed and sanctified it the former clause is quite d Gen 2.1 2 3. omitted It is not added as in the rest so the morning and the evening were the seventh day because in Heaven whereof the Sabbath was a type there is no morning and evening much lesse night but as it were perpetuall high-noon For the e Apoc. 21.23 Lambe is the light thereof and this Lambe is the f Mal. 4.2 Sunne of righteousnesse which never riseth nor setteth but keepeth still in the midst of the Empyreall Heaven and Throne of God as on the contrary in Hell there is nothing but continuall midnight and everlasting darknesse Thus the wisedome of God justly and the justice of God wisely hath proportioned the rewards in the life to come to the workes of men in this life they that cast off the works of darknesse and put on the armour of light and walk in the light as children of the light here shall hereafter possesse the inheritance of the g Colos 1.12 Saints in light but they who love darknes more than light and have fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse and continually walke as in the darke in grosse and palpable ignorance in gluttony and drunkennesse in chambering and wantonnesse and the like sinnes of darknesse here shall hereafter inhabit the region of perpetuall darknesse and never vanishing shadowes of death O that we were wise then we would understand these things and in the beginning of our race in this world thinke of our h â—â—n ep 30. Ut mortem nunquam timeâ—s semper cogita later end For the beginning of wisedome is the consideration of our end and a forcible meanes to bring us to everlasting life is to meditate continually upon our death To thinke what wee shall be stench and rottennesse and worse if we be not better ashes and cinders of hell will through the power of Christs death make us what we should be that is dead to sinne dead to the world dead in our selves but alive in God How can hee live in sinne who perpetually apprehendeth that hee shall dye eternally for his sinne how can he make a trade of iniquity and a sport of religion and a mock of God and a god of his belly who hath hell torments alwayes before the eyes of his minde i Lament 1.9 Jerusalem remembred not her last end therefore shee came downe fearfully and because wee put from us the evill day it commeth fast upon us It were unpossible to goe on forward as wee doe in the wayes of sinne and pathes of death if wee would dwell but a little while upon these or the like thoughts After a few dayes perhaps this very day yea this houre I shall be called to a strict account of my whole life charged with all the sinnes open and secret that ever I have committed accused by the Divell convicted by mine owne conscience condemned by the dreadfull Judge of quicke and dead to be cast into utter darknesse in hell there to endure such torments for ever as it would breake the strongest heart and conquer all humane patience to feele but for an houre Haec cogitare est vitiis omnibus renunciare to enter into a serious consideration of these things is to chase away all wanton and wicked thoughts and to send a bill of divorce to the world and all her minions the mistresses of our carnall affections but this is the mischiefe as S. k Cyp. de mortal Aeterna tormenta nemo cogitat quae metueret conscientia si crederet si metueret
caveret si caveret evaderet Cyprian pricking the right veine telleth us it is a thing to be bewailed with teares of bloud that none almost mindeth everlasting torments For did they minde them and beleeve them they could not but feare them and if they feared them â—â—â—y would beware of them and if they would beware of them they might escape them O that men therefore were wise to thinke upon hell before they rushed on the brinke of it and enter into a serious consideration of Gods fearfull judgements upon obstinate and impenitent sinners before they were overtaken by them This is the scope and effect of these words and I pray God they may worke this effect in us that laying before our eyes the fearfull ends of the wicked and their damnation wee may learne from henceforth to be wise unto salvation The unum necessarium and chiefe point of all to be thought upon in this life is what shall become of us after wee goe from hence for here God knowes we have but a short time to stay We reade in King l Eccles 3.1.2 Solomons distribution of time according to the severall occasions of mans life to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven a time to be borne and a time to dye but wee reade of no time to live as if our death bordered upon our birth and our cradle stood in our grave yet upon this moment rather than time of our life dependeth eternity Division The greatest perfection attainable by man in this life is wisedome and the most proper act of wisedome is consideration and the chiefest point of consideration is our later end First therefore the Spirit of God in this Text commendeth wisedome to their desires Secondly consideration to their wisedome Thirdly their later end to their consideration and the more to stirre up their affections and expresse his he delivereth this his advice in a wish and accompanieth it with a deep sigh saying O that they were wise they would understand this that it is not for their sakes that they might bragge but for their enemies sake that they might not bragge that I have thus long spared them For I had long ere this scattered them abroad and made their remembrance cease from amongst men but that I knew their adversaries would take advantage thereat and waxe proud upon it Verse 27. and say our high hand and not the Lord hath done it For they are a Nation void of councell neither is there any understanding in them Which words beare a light before the words of my Text Coherence and thus bring them in O that they were wise then they would understand this viz. that nothing standeth between them and my wrath my wrath and their destruction but the pride of their enemies they are indebted to the fury malice and insolency of the Heathen who seeke utterly to destroy them and by proudly treading upon their neckes to trample true religion under feet that hell raines not downe upon them from heaven and they not burnt like Sodome and consumed like Gomorrah Were they wise they would understand it and understanding consider how neere they are to their end and considering it meet the Lord upon their knees to prevent their utter overthrow Observ 1. O that they were so wise If those words wherewith Moses beginneth his Swan-like song immediately before his death Verse 2. My doctrine shall drop as the raine and my speech shall distill as the dew as the small raine upon the tender herbe and as the showers upon the grasse were verified of any of his words they are certainly of these in my Text which drop like raine or rather like hoâ—y from his mouth whereby wee may taste how sweet the Lord is in his speeches how milde in his proceedings how passionate in his perswasions what force of art eloquence he useth to draw us unto him without force violence Are not sighes the very breath of love are not sobs the accents of grief are not groanes fetched deep the long periods of sorrowes ravishing eloquence which Almighty God breathes out of the boyling heat of his affection both here and elsewhere O m Hos 6.4 Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O Judah how shall I intreat thee for your righteousnesse is as a morning cloud your goodnes as an earthly dew vanisheth away O that n Psal 81.13 14 15 16. my people had hearkened unto mee and Israel had walked in my wayes I should soone have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever Hee should have fed them with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rocke would I have satisfied thee And O o Mat. 23.37 Jerusalem Jerusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest those that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings but yee would not How can the affection more outwardly enlarge or the heart open it selfe than by opening the bosome and stretching out the armes to imbrace Behold the p Esay 65.2 armes of Almighty God stretched all the day long to a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was not good after their owne thoughts What truer Embassadours of a bleeding heart than weeping eyes behold the teares of our Saviour over Jerusalem and reach your hand and thrust it into the hole of his side and you shall feele drops from his heart bleeding afresh for your ungratefull refusall of his love and despite of his grace If drops of raine pierce the stones and drops of warme Goats bloud crumble the Adamant into pieces shall not Christs teares sinke into our affections and the drops of his heart bloud breake our hearts with godly sorrow and make them so thorougly contrite by unfained repentance that they may be an acceptable sacrifice unto him according to the words of the Psalmist q Psal 51.17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou shalt not despise Were not that City very unwise that would refuse any tolerable conditions of peace offered by a potent enemy against whâ—m shee could not make her party good in warre Beloved are wee able to hold out warre with Almighty God to maintaine a fight against his plagues and judgements what are we but dead men if hee lay hold on his glittering sword why then doe wee not come in whilest hee holdeth out his golden Scepter of mercy why sue wee not to him for a treatie of peace It can be no disparagement to us to seeke to him first yet we need not he seeketh to us first he maketh an overture of his desire for peace he draweth conditions with his owne hand and offereth them to us as wee heard before out
City here present were wise then would wee understand this this spectacle of our nature this embleme of our frailty this mirrour of our mortality Applicat ad defunct and in it consider our later end which cannot bee farre off For our deceased brother is here arrested before our eyes for a debt of nature in which wee are as deeply ingaged as hee and if either the wealth of the world or gifts of nature or jewels of grace might have redeemed him if either skill of Physicians or love and care of his friends or prayers and teares of his kindred and his dearest second selfe could have bayled him hee had not been laid up as now you see him But let no man sell you smoake to dazâ— your eyes in such sort but that you may all see your owne faces in thiâ— broken glasse There is no protection to bee got from King or Nobles iâ— this case no rescuing any by force from this Sergeant of God death aâ—â— baile or mainprise from this common prison of all mankinde the grave all our comfort is that we may hereafter sue out an habeas corpus which the Judge of all flesh will not deny us at the generall Assizes that we may make our corporall appearance at his barre in the clouds and there have our cause tryed Doe you desire to know how this debt with infinite arrerages groweth upon us and all mankinde Saint Austin giveth you a good account the woman tooke up sinne from the Serpent as it were by loane consensu Adam fecit cautionem usura crevit posteritati Adam by consenting sealed the band the interest hath runne upon all his posterity and the interest that death had in him by sinne and upon us by him and the interest upon interest by numberlesse actuall sinnes eateth us out one by one till death that swalloweth us up all in the end be swallowed up into b 1 Cor. 15.15 victory and then shall be fulfilled that prophesie O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory At which Goale-delivery of all deaths prisoners wee that are living shall not prevent our brother that lyeth asleep before us in his winding sheet upon whose hearse after I have strowed a few flowers I will commit him to the earth and you to God 1. The first flower is a Rose the embleme of charity For a Rose is hot in nature it spreadeth it selfe abroad and after it is full blowne shattereth both leaves and seeds so charity is hot in the affection spreadeth it selfe abroad by compassion and scattereth seeds by almes-deeds Our deceased brother like a provence or double Rose for God doubled the blessings of this life upon him spread himselfe abroad every way by largesse and shed seeds plentifully but withall so secretly that his left hand knew not what his right hand did his Legacies by his death were not great because his will was in this kind to be his owne executor by his life time 2. The second flower is the Lilly the embleme of purity and chastity For the Lilly is perfect white in colour and cold in operation and thereby representeth pure chastity which cooleth the heat of lust this flower he kept unblasted in the time and place of most danger in the prime of his youth and in his travels beyond the sea where hee chose his consort out of pure love and ever loved his choice with a constant and loyall affection unto death 3. The third flower is the Violet the embleme of humility For the Violet is little as the humble is in his owne eyes and groweth neere the ground from whence the humble taketh his name humilis ab humo and of all other flowers it yeeldeth the sweetest savour as humility doth in the nostrils of God and man Of his humility hee gave good proofe in his lovely and lowly carriage towards all in his refusing places of eminency in renouncing all confidence in his owne merits at his death and forbidding that a Trumpet should bee blowne before his workes of piety or charity Wherefore I must be silent of the dead by the command of the dead with whose Christian and happy end I will conclude I was the happinesse of Homer to bee borne in Rhodes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rosa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viola a place taâ—â—â—g the name from Roses and to bee buried in Chios taking the name â—â—â—m Violets this was the happinesse of our brother who was borne and buried in the garden of Christs Spouse where he drew in his first and let out his last breath in the sincere profession of the Gospel which is the savour of life unto life which happinesse God grant unto us all for his Son Jesus Christ his sake To whom c. THE EMBLEME OF THE CHURCH MILITANT A Sermon preached in Mercers Chappell THE XXIII SERMON APOC. 12.6 And the woman fled into the wildernesse where shee hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes Right Honourable right Worshipfull c. THe a Caussin parab hist Ceraunias in locis fulmine tactis invenitur Naturalists write of a precious stone called Ceraunias that it is found only in a day of thunder glistering when the skie is overcast with darknes With these gems the Spouse of Christ is adorned whose faith constancy and patience shine most brightly in time of adversity and persecution when all the earth is full of darknesse and cruell habitations As b Plin. nat hist l. 2. In Troglodytis fons solis circa meâ—idiem maximè frigidus mox paulatim tepescens ad noctis medium ferventissimus est c. 103. the fountaine of the sunne in the country of the Troglodytes is cold or lukewarme at mid-day but most extreme hot at mid-night such is the nature of zeale in the day of prosperity and high noone of temporall glory it is cold or at the best luke-warme but in the night of adversity and dead time of persecution it is most fervent and flagrant Then the sincere professors open their hearts most freely in prayer to God and their bowels of Christian charity and compassion to their afflicted brethren the feare of their enemies husheth their private differences their losse of goods and lands is an inducement to them to contemne the world and as having little or no comfort in this life to set their hearts wholly upon Heaven On the contrary peace usually breeds carnall security abundance luxury wealth pride honour ambition power oppression pleasure sensuality and earthly contentments worldlinesse the bane of Religion In which consideration especially we may conceive it is that our blessed Lord the Husband of the Church who loveth her more than all the world besides which hee preserveth onely for her sake yet seldome crowneth her in this world with worldly happinesse and eminent greatnesse but exerciseth her now under the crosse as hee did under the bondage of Egypt and captivity of
teares from their eyes These are they that came out of great tribulation Great tribulation in the judgement of Marlorat is a periphrasis of the last persecution of the Church by Antichrist which shall be the hottest service the souldiers of Christ shall ever be put to As the last endevour of nature before death putteth the patient to most paine and the last assault of Pharaoh put the Israelites to the greatest extremity so the last persecution of the Church by Antichrist shall exceed all the former i Mat. 24.29 For then the sunne that is the knowledge of the truth or the light of Gods countenance shall be darkned and the moon that is the beauty of the Church shal be obscured turned into bloud that is deformed by bloudy persecutions and the stars shall fall from heaven that is the greatest lights of the Church shall fall from it and there shal be such perplexity and distresse of nations as never was before then as k Aug. ep 80. Tunc Ecclesia non apparebit impiis ultra modum persequentibus St. Augustine inferreth the Church shall have no outward appearance wicked men raging and cruelly persecuting her above measure But I see no reason why we should restraine tribulation to persecution or persecution to that of Antichrist For every great affliction and heavie crosse which the faithfull beare in this world be it losse of goods or of friends banishment imprisonment infamy torture of body or vexation of mind is great tribulation through which any elect child of God may enter into heaven Albeit we yeeld Martyrs a precedency amongst Saints yet they alone enter not into their masters joy Let their garlands have a red rose added unto it and their crowne a rubie above the rest yet assuredly all other that are l Apoc. 2.10 faithfull unto death shall receive the crowne of life all that fight a good fight and keepe the faith after they have finished their course shall receive a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give at that day to all that love his appearing The article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not demonstrative pointing to any singular persecution but intensive intimating that many and very great tribulations abide the faithfull servants of God and they must through them enter into the kingdome of heaven their life is nothing else but a m Hieron ep ad Heliodor Etras frateâ— erras si unquam putas Christianum persecutionem non pati tunc maximè oppugnatis si te oppâ—gnati nescis race of patience through many tribulations and a battell of faith against all kind of temptations A Christian is never without an enemy to persecute him inwardly or outwardly even this is a temptation of the Divell to thinke that wee are at any time free from all temptation For either wee are in warre with the World Flesh and the Divell or God will fight against us either we are afflicted for our sinnes or afflicted with our sinnes and if God for a long time spare us even this afflicteth us that we are not afflicted For sith God afflicteth them whom he affecteth we have just cause to feare because wee are not under his rod we are out of his care and that therefore he chasteneth us not here because he reserveth us to eternall torments If any demand why God carrieth a more severe hand over his children than over the wicked that deserve lesse favour I answer by propounding them the like questions Why doth a father when hee seeth two boyes fighting in the street correct his sonne and not the other Why doth the Schoolemaster take a stricter account of the Scholar hee best affecteth than of others whom hee suffereth often to play the trewants Why doth the husbandman let unfruitfull and unsavory trees grow out at length without any cutting or pruning but pruneth the fragrant roses and pricketh the fruitfull vines till they bleed Why doth the Physician when hee seeth his patient desperate give order to them that are about him to deny him nothing that he hath a mind unto but if he hath any hope of recovery of any patient of his he keepeth him in diet forbiddeth him such things as he most desireth and prescribeth for him many meats drinkes and potions which goe against his stomacke Lastly why doth a Captaine set the best Souldiers in the forefront of a battell and appointeth them to enter at a breach with apparent hazzard of their lives To the first question they will answer that a wise father taketh up his son sharply and correcteth him for his misdemeanour and not the other because he hath a speciall care of his sonnes behaviour and not of the other thus let them thinke of the Father of Spirits his dealing with his children who chasteneth those faults in them which he seemeth to winke at in others because he beareth a singular affection to his owne and hath a speciall care of their nurture To the second they will answer that a good schoolemaster taketh a more strict account of his best scholar and more often plyeth him with the rod or feruler than any other because he most desireth his profit let them thinke so of our heavenly Teacher that hee holds a stricter hand over those in Christs schoole who outstrip others that they may more profit by him To the third they will answer that an understanding husbandman letteth other trees grow to their full length without cutting or pruning them because they are good for nothing but for fire wood but he pruneth the roses to make them more savoury and the vines to make them more fruitfull let them thus conceive of themselves that they are like vines that runne into luxuriant stemmes and roses apt to grow wilde therefore God the Father who o John 5.1 is an husbandman pruneth them to make them more savourie in their prayers and meditations and more fruitfull in good workes To the fourth they will answer that the Physician doth according to his art to cure the body and God doth the like in wisedome to cure the soule they whom he ordereth not setting them in a course of physick but letteth them doe what they will and have what they call for are in a desperate case To the last they will answer that the experienced Captaine setteth the most valiant souldiers in places of greatest danger that they may get the greater honour so doth God set the most valiant Christian upon the most dangerous service that thereby he may gaine greater honour and a more massie crowne of glory Moreover sinne taketh us oftentimes after the nature of a falling sicknesse out of which our heavenly Father awaketh us by the stroake of his rod. Whereby also hee beateth downe the pride of our flesh and keepeth us alwayes in awe and constraineth us to cry aloud unto him in our prayers he maketh us sensible of our sinnes
and compassionate of our brethrens misery and conformable to the image of his Sonne Hee weaneth us from this world and breedeth in us a longing desire to exchange this vale of teares with the river of pleasures springing at his right hand in Heaven If God should not send us sometimes crosses and afflictions and sawce our joyes with sorrowes wee would often surfet of them we would take too great liking to this world and say with Peter It is good being here let us pitch our tents and take up our rest here This might suffice for the clearing of the first doctrine of this Text but that I fore-see an objection that may be made against it How say I tribulation or afflictions are markes of Gods children sith wee see the wickedest men that breath sometimes full of them Are not notorious malefactors often apprehended cast in prison scourged to death tortured upon the rack broken upon the wheele and executed with other most exquisite torments Do not all the plagues threatned in the Law fall upon some of Gods enemies in this life Are not the very dregges of his vialls of vengeance poured upon them For your full satisfaction herein I propound these ensuing observations to your serious thoughts 1. Albeit the judgements of God fall heavily in this life upon some notorious obstinate and impenitent sinners yet for the most part the rod of God falleth to the lot of the righteous more of them are afflicted and they more afflicted than usually the wicked are who with Dives take their pleasure here because as the Psalmist speaketh their n Psal 17.14 portion is in this life 2. Though afflictions in some sort are common to all sorts of men yet chastisements and corrections meant by the word tribulation in my Text are proper to the godly The calamities and afflictions that befall the ungodly are punishments for their sinnes not chastisements for their good effects of Gods justice not tokens of his love they are sent to them for their ruine and destruction not for their amendment and instruction 3. Afflictions taken by themselves are not notes or markes of Gods children but afflictions with patience and tribulation with joy crosses heavier or lighter are laid upon all men but none bear them chearfully save Gods children The wicked when they feele the hand of God upon them rise up against him but the godly submit themselves under his mighty hand and commit their soules to him as their faithfull Creatour the wicked o Revel 16.12 gnaw their tongues and curse but the godly p Job 1.21 blesse and praise God the wicked have little or no sense of the wrath of God or their sinne but of their punishment but the godly are much more grieved at the wrath of God and their sinne than their punishment the wicked have alwayes their eyes upon their wounds stripes and sores but the godly on the hand that smiteth them which when they see to be the hand of their heavenly Father they compose themselves to patience they humble themselves before him and confesse their sinne they open all their wounds and sores crying with that religious Father hic ure hic seca here burne here lance here pricke my veines here feed me with the bread of affliction here give me my full draught of the cup of teares that all teares may be wiped from my eyes hereafter chasten and judge me here that I be not condemned with the world This holy q Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 1. c. 8. Manet dissimilitudo passorum etiam in similitudine passionis et licet sub eodem tormento non est idem virtus atque vitium nam sicut sub codum igne aurum rutilat palea fumat sub eâdem tribulâ stipulae comminuuntur frumenta purgantur c. ita una eademque vis irruens bonos probat purificat eliquat malos damnat vastat exterminat Father elsewhere lively expresseth the difference betweene the godly in their sufferings and the wicked by the similitude of the same flayle that striketh the corne out of the eare but bruiseth the stubble the same fire that purgeth the gold but consumeth the drosse the same motion that causeth an ointment to send forth a most fragrant smell but a sinke to exhale a most noysome savour The godly are whole under the flayle of tribulation their faith like gold shineth in that fire in which the hypocrites smoake like chaffe their devotion sendeth forth a most sweet savour when they poure out their soules before God but the wickeds consciences being troubled like sinkes that are stirred exhale most pestilent aires breathing out blasphemies and execrations In a word the wicked and godly come out of great tribulation but the godly come out of it cleane the wicked foule the one with their garments soyled and rayed the other with their garments washed and made white They washed their garments and made them white Thus having descried all holy ones by their blew marke let us now view the white they have washed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pareus acutely notes that it is not here said that the Saints r Comment in Apoc. c. 7. doe wash but have or had washed their garments For indeed there is no washing in heaven because there can no impure thing enter there he that is uncleane at his death remaines uncleane still For as St. ſ Cypr. ad Demet. Postquam hinc excessum fuerit nullus est jam poenitentiae locus nullus est satisfactionis effectus hic vita aut amittitur aut tenetur Cyprian truely informeth Demetrian After we are gone from hence there is no place for repentance no effect of satisfaction here eternall life is got or lost Here one drop from our eyes can fetch out that spot which an ocean cannot doe hereafter Let us seeke God therefore while he may be found strive to enter in before the gate of mercy be locked up worke while we have day wash while we have water and soape doe good while we have time breake off our sinnes and wash our polluted consciences with our penitent teares and purge them with hyssop dipt in Christs bloud before we heare that dreadfull order read in our eares t Apoc. 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still behold I come and my reward is with me to give every man according as his workes shall be The whitenesse here of the garments of them whom Saint John saw invested signifieth the candor and purity of their life without spot of foule sinne or staine of infamy This is a conspicuous note of Gods children u Phil. 2.15 16. who shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation holding forth the word of life It is not enough to have a cleere conscience within us we must see that our x Mat. 5.16 workes so shine before men that they may see them and
his bloud f Ephes 2.14 For he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken downe the middle wall of partition betweene us Through him we have an accesse by one Spirit unto the Father ver 18. Now therefore we are no more strangers and forreiners ver 19. but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God g Ephes 3.6 Fellow heires and of the same body and partakers of God his promise in Christ by the Gospell Now as there is one shepheard so but one sheepfold and for this very cause Christ is called Lapis angularis the corner stone because the Gentiles and Jewes like two sides of a wall joyne in him and are built up to make a holy Temple unto the Lord which is his visible Church Neither are the Gentiles onely admitted into the terrestriall Jerusalem and Church militant but also into the celestiall and Church triumphant For so we reade that after there h Apoc 7.4.9 were sealed an hundreth and fourty and foure thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel Loe a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lambe cloathed with white robes and palmes in their hands Before Christ came into the flesh there was as it were a small wicket open in heaven for the Gentiles at which some few entered one by one as Jethro and Job and Melchizedeck and the King of Nineveh and the Queene of the South and some other but since the death resurrection and ascension of our Lord wee reade of a i Apoc. 4.1 great doore opened in heaven at which great multitudes may enter together Even from the beginning of Christs comming into the flesh the Gentiles went in equipage with the Jewes For when the Angell preached the incarnation of Christ to the Jewes a new Starre preached it to the heathen Sages that all men might know according to Simeon his prophesie that k Luke 2.32 he was no lesse a light to lighten the Gentiles than the glory of his people Israel For this cause we may conceive it was that he was borne in an Inne not in a private house and baptized in the river Jordan not in a peculiar font and suffered without the walls of the City to make it manifest unto us that the benefit of his incarnation baptisme death and passion is not impropriated to any sort of people nor inclosed within the pale of Palestine but like the beames of the Sunne diffused through the whole world Thus farre we all teach universall grace that is the grace and favour of God offered unto all by the preaching of the Gospell not the grace they call sufficient conferred upon all since Adam's fall This secret belongeth unto God to whom he will make this offer of grace effectuall but that which he hath revealed belongeth to us and our children that l Tit. 2.11 12 13. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and wordly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ The m 2. Tim. 2.19 foundation of God remaineth firme having this seal God knoweth who are his not we We therefore who are dispensers of the mysteries of salvation must be open handed unto all and indifferently tender unto them the pretious pearle which the rich Merchant man sold all that he had to buy First because it is Christs expresse command that we should doe so Goe saith Christ preach to all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost Or as we finde his words related by Saint Marke n Marke 16.15 Goe yee into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature He that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved but he that beleeveth not shall be damned 2 Next Because the Elect could not be called by us who cannot discerne them from the reprobate if we preached not the Gospell to all without exception Howsoever therefore our preaching to the reprobate doth them little good proving no better unto them than a savour of death unto death yet our labour is not in vaine in the Lord because in every assembly we may piously hope there may be some if not many of the Elect to whom the Word will prove a savour of life unto life 3. Lastly By thus propounding conditions of peace and a desire of reconciliation on Gods part through Christ unto all the reprobate are debarred of that excuse which otherwise they might use viz. that they would have embraced Christ if he had beene offered unto them and have walked in the light of the Gospel if it had shined upon them Tullie speaketh of a Panchrestum medicamentum a remedy for all diseases and Plinie of Panaches a salve for every sore Such a catholike medicine such an universall salve is the death and passion of Christ not only sufficient for all but also soveraigne and effectuall unto all but then this potion must be taken this salve must be applied Obser 2 And so I fall upon my second note that though the promises of the Gospel are generall without exception yet they are not absolute without condition The hidden Manna and the white stone and the new name are promised to every one that is so qualified The promises of the Gospel are generall that none should dispaire but yet conditionall that none should presume Eternall life by the ministery of the Gospel is offered unto all but upon condition of faith o John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have life everlasting Pardon and remission of sinnes is promised unto all but upon condition of repentance and new obedience p Ezek. 18.21.22 If the wicked will turne from all his sinnes that he hath committed and keepe all my statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely live hee shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shal not be mentioned unto him in his righteousnesse that he hath done he shall live Rest is offered unto all but upon condition of submission to Christs yoake q Mat. 11.29 Take my yoake upon you and learne of me for I am meeke and lowly in heart and you shall finde rest unto your soules Salvation is offered unto all but upon condition of r Mat. 13.13 perseverance he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved An incorruptible crowne is promised unto all but upon condition of faithfulnesse Be Å¿ Apoc. 2.10 thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee the crowne of life Fishermen in their draw-nets use both lead and corke lead to pull downe some part of it under water corke to
the race of a Christian life yet perseverance alone obtaineth the garland Suppose a ship to be fraught with rich merchandise to have held a prosperous course all the way and escaped both rockes and Pyrats yet if it bee cast away in the haven the owner is nothing the better for it but loseth his goods fraight and hope also For this cause it is that in all the promises in these letters of the hidden Manna the white Stone the water of Life the tree of Life the crowne of Life c. the onely condition that is exprest is perseverance To him that overcommeth I will give c. for without it faith is not faith but a wavering opinion hope is not hope but a golden dreame zeale is not zeale but a sudden heat joy but a flash love but a passion temperance but a physicke diet for a time valour but a bravado patience but weake armour notable to hold out All therefore who expect to eat of the hidden Manna and receive the white stone with the new name must get unto themselves and put on the whole armour of God and be daily trained in Christs schoole and when they are called to joyne battell out of an exasperated hatred against the enemies of their soule with great confidence and courage fight against Satan and his temptations the world and all the sinfull allurements in it the flesh and the noysome lusts thereof strenuously valiantly and constantly never putting off their armour till they put off their bodies nor quitting the field till they enter into the celestiall Canaan whereof the terrestriall was a type and what title the Jewes had to the one wee have to the other not by purchase but by promise yet as the recovery of that Land cost the Jewes so the recovery of this costeth the Saints of God much sweat and blood too sometimes but neither that sweat nor that blood is the price of the Land of Promise but the m Joh. 7.29 blood of the immaculate Lamb of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world In which regard the Prophet n Hos 10.12 Hosea having exhorted the people to sow in righteousnesse varieth the phrase and saith not yee shall reape in righteousnesse but yee shall reape in mercy Why not reape in righteousnesse as well as sow in righteousnesse because mans righteousnesse is not answerable to Gods and therefore hee must plead for his reward at the throne of mercy not at the barre of justice For though the wages of sinne is death yet eternall life is the gift of God by Jesus Christ to whom bee ascribed c. THE HIDDEN MANNA THE XXVI SERMON APOC. 2.17 I will give to eat of the hidden Manna Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. IN the Old Testament we heare Sic ait Jehovah So saith the Lord God the Father in the Gospell Thus spake Jesus but in this booke for the most part Thus writeth the Spirit as in this verse Wherein you are to observe 1 Literam Spiritus The letter of the Spirit 2 Spiritum Literae The Spirit of the letter Or to use rather the Allegory in the text fixe the eye of your coonsideration upon 1 The golden Pot the elegant and figurative expression 2 The hidden Manna the abstruse and spirituall meaning To him that overcommeth Hee who biddeth us stand upon the highest staire consequently commandeth us to runne up all the rest so hee that would have us to overcome implicitely comandeth us 1. To have our names enrolled in our Captaines booke 2. To bee trained in military exercise 3 To follow our Generall into the field 4. To endure hardnesse and inure our selves to difficult labour 5. When battell is joyned to stand to our tacklings and acquit our selves like men never giving over till wee have 1. repelled next chased lastly discomfited and utterly destroyed our ghostly enemies and when wee are in the hottest brunt and most dreadfull conflict of all by faith to looke upon Christ holding out a crowne from heaven unto us and after wee have overcome in some great temptation and seeme to be at rest to looke upon the labell of this crowne and there wee shall finde it written Vincenti dabo To him that overcommeth indefinitely not in one but in all assaults of temptation not in one but in all spirituall conflicts till hee have overcome the last enemy which is death There are many too many in the militant Church who drinke wine in bowles and sing to the pipe and violl and never listen to Christs alarum others there are who hearing the alarum desire to be entertained in his service and give their names unto him but are not like Timothy trained up in Martiall discipline a third sort like of training well where there is little danger but when they are to put themselves into the field like the children of Ephraim turne backe in the day of battell lastly many like the ancient Gauls begin furiously but end cowardly in the first assault they are more than men in the second lesse than women None of these shall taste of the hidden Manna nor handle the white stone nor read the new name but they who by a timely resolution give their names to Christ by private mortification fasting watching and prayer are trained for this service by faith grapple with their ghostly enemies and by constancy hold out to the end For as Hannibal spake sometime to his souldiers Qui hostem vicerit mihi erit Carthaginensis hee that conquereth his enemy what countrey man soever hee bee hee shall bee unto mee a Carthaginian that is I will hold him for such and give him the priviledge of such an one so Christ speaketh here to all that serve in his warres Hee that overcommeth his enemie of what countrey or nation soever hee bee I will make him free of the celestiall Jerusalem I will naturalize him in my kingdome in heaven In other kingdomes there are severall orders of a Discourse l. origin des ordores milit p. 49. Knights as of Malta of the Garter of the Golden Fleece of Saint John of Jerusalem of Saint Saviour of Saint James of the holy Ghost and divers others but in the kingdome of Christ wee finde but one onely sort viz. the order of Saint Vincents In all other orders some have beene found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 white-livered souldiers or carpet-Knights that either never drew sword nor saw battell or basely fled from their colours but of this order never any either fled from his colours or returned from battell without the spoiles of his ghostly enemies Hee therefore that will bee of this order must bee of good strength and courage well armed continually exercised in Martiall discipline vigilant to take all advantages inured to endure all hardnesse to strength hee must adde skill to skill valour to valour industry to industry patience to patience constancy and to all humility not to challenge the rewards here proposed as due to his service
but onely by vertue of the promise of him who here saith To him that overcommeth I will give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will render or repay for it is not so in this warre as in others wherein the souldier who carrieth himselfe valiantly in warre and ventureth his life for his Prince and countrey may challenge his pay of desert because wee beare not our owne armour nor fight by our owne strength nor conquer by our owne valour nor have any colour for our service on earth to pretend to a crowne in heaven In which regard though wee may expect yet not challenge looke for yet not sue for desire yet not require as due the reward here promised b Luk. 12.32 Feare not little flock saith our Saviour for it is your fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome it is not his bargaine to sell you it Albeit the wages of sinne is death and there we may plead merit yet the Apostle teacheth us that eternall life is the gift of God Upon which words Saint c L. de grat lib. arbit c. 9. Cum posset dicere recte dicere stipendium justitiae vita aeterna maluit dicere gratia autem vita aeterna ut hinc intelligeremus non pro meritis nostris Deum nos ad aeternam vitam sed pro sua miseratione vocare unde dicitur in psalmo coronat te in miseratione Austines observation is very remarkeable Whereas the Apostle might have continued his Metaphor and said the wages of righteousnesse is eternall life because eternall life is the reward of righteousnesse as death is of sinne yet hee purposely put the word gift in stead of wages that wee might learne this most wholesome lesson that God hath predestinated and called us to eternall life not for our merits but of his mercy according to those words of the Psalmist He crowneth thee in compassion If there be any merit in S. Bernards judgement it is in denying all merit Sufficit ad meritum scire quod non sufficiant merita And verily had the Church of Rome all faith as her proselytes suppose that she hath all the good works yet her standing upon tearms with God pleading merit would mar all her merit and justly fasten upon her the ill name of Meretrix Babylonica the whore of Babylon For Meretrix saith Calepine à merendo sic dicta est hath her name from meriting When wee have done all that wee can d Luk. 17.10 Christ teacheth us to say wee are unprofitable servants we have done but that which was our duty to doe Nay have wee done so much as wee ought to doe Venerable Bede to checke our pride who are apt to take upon us for the least good work we doe telleth us no quod debuimus facere non fecimus we have not done what was our duty to do and if the best of us have not done what was our duty to doe wee merit nothing at our Masters hands but many stripes Yet the Church of Rome blusheth not to define it as a doctrine of faith in her conventicle at Trent that our e Concil Trid. sess 6. Can. 32. Si quis dixerit hominis justificati bona opera ita esse dona Dei ut non sint etiam bona ipsius justificati merita aut non vere merere augmentum gratiae vitam aeternam anathema sit good workes doe truely merit eternall life In which assertion as Tertullian spake of venemous flowers quot colores tot dolores so many colours so many dolours or mischiefes to man so wee may of the tearmes of this proposition quot verba tot haereses so many words so many heresies for First it is faith which intituleth us to heaven not workes by grace wee are saved f Ephes 2.8.9 through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Fides impetrat quod lex imperat Faith obtaineth that which the Law commandeth Secondly if workes had any share in our justification yet we could not merit by them because as they are ours they are not good as they are good they are not ours but Gods g Phil. 2.13 who worketh in us both the will and the deed it is God which worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure for h 2 Cor. 3.5 we are not sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God Whence St. i de lib. arbit c. 7. Si bona sunt Dei dona sunt si Dei dona sunt non coronat Deus tanquam merita tua sed tanquam dona sua Austin strongly inferreth against all plea of mans merit If thy works are good they are Gods gifts if they are evill God crowneth them not if therefore God crowneth thy workes he crownes them not as thy merits but as his owne gifts Thirdly the workes that may challenge a reward as due unto them in strict justice must be exactly and perfectly good but such are not ours k 1 Joh. 1.8 For if we say that we have no sinne or that our best works are not some way tainted we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us Woe saith St. l Confes l. 13. Vae hominum vitae laudabili si remota misericordia discutias eam Austine to the commendable life of men if thou examine it in rigour without mercy In which passionate straine he seemeth to take the note from m Psal 130.3 David If thou Lord shouldest marke iniquities O Lord who should stand and hee from n Job 9.2.3 Job How should man be just before God if he contend with him he cannot answer one of a thousand Fourthly were our workes free from all aspersion of impurity and suspition of hypocrisie yet could they not merit at Gods hands any thing to whom we owe all that we can or are Dei omne est quod possumus quod sumus The greatest Champion of merit Vasques the Jesuit here yeelds the bucklers because we can give nothing to God which he may not exact of us by the right of his dominion we cannot merit any thing at his hand by way of justice For o Vasques in Thom. disput Non meremur in via justitiae quia pro eo quod alteri redditranquam debitum nihil accipere quis debet ideo servi inâ—tiles dici possumus quod nihil quasi sponte Deo demus sed demus ea quae in re dominii ex praecepto exigere possit no man can demand any thing as his due for meerly discharging his debt no not so much as thankes Luke 17.9 Doth hee thanke that servant because he did the things that were commanded him I trow not Fiftly might our workes taken at the best merit something at Gods hands yet not eternall life For there is no proportion betweene our finite workes and such
mistaking of any other man should not take off the edge of our desires to gaine an invaluable jewell but whet our diligence the more to observe more accurately the notes of difference betweene the true and counterfeit stone upon which I shall touch anon after I have convinced our Romish sceptickes by evidence from the nature of faith the profession of Gods Saints the testimony of the Spirit and undeniable signes and effects that all that are called by the word effectually have this white stone in my text given unto them whereby they are assured of their present estate of grace and future of glory Doct. 1 The faith of Gods e Tit. 1.1 Elect is not a bare assent to supernaturall verities revealed in Scripture which may bee in a Reprobate and is in the f Jam. 2.19 Devils themselves Thou beleevest there is one God thou doest well the Devils also beleeve and tremble but a divine grace whereby being fully assured of Gods favour to us wee trust him with our soules and wholly rely on him for salvation through the merits of his sonne The sure promises of the Gospell are like a strong cable let downe to a man in a deepe pit or dungeon on which hee doth not onely lay hand by faith but hangeth and resteth himselfe upon it and thereby is drawne out of darkenesse to see and possesse the inheritance of the Saints in light To beleeve the communion of Saints is not onely to bee perswaded that there is a communion of Saints in the world remission of sinnes in the Church resurrection of the flesh at the last day and life everlasting in heaven but to bee assured by faith that wee have an interest in this communion benefit by this remission and shall partake the glory of this resurrection and the happinesse of life everlasting They who had beene stung by fiery serpents and were healed by looking upon the brazen serpent did not onely beleeve that it had cured many but that it would cure them Here the Logicians rule holdeth Medicina curat Socratem non hominem physicke is not given to mans nature to cure the species but to every man in individuo to heale his person and to every sicke soule that applieth unto it selfe the promises of the Gospell Christ saith g Mat. 9.22.29 Bee it unto thee as thou beleevest thy faith hath made thee whole goe in peace Hereupon Saint h Fides dicit aeternabona reposita sunt spes dicit mihi teposita sunt charitas dicit ego curro post ea Bernard bringeth in the three divine graces Faith Hope and Charity singing as it were a catch and taking the word one from another Faith beginneth saying everlasting treasures are layd up in heaven Hope followeth saying they are layd up for mee Charity concludeth I will seeke after them And verily no man by a generall Romish credulity but by a speciall faith in Christ can say with Job My redeemer with David My salvation with the Spouse My beloved with the blessed Virgin My Saviour with Thomas My Lord and my God much lesse can hee warrant these possessives with a scio i Job 19.25.26.27 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall see him stand up at the last day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my selfe And k Psal 45.11.12 I know that thou favourest me thou upholdest mee in my integrity and fettest me before thy face for ever And l Rom. 8.28 Wee know that all things worke for the best to them that love God We know that when m 2 Cor. 5.1 our earthly tabernacle is dissolved wee shall have an eternall in the heavens n 1 Joh. 2.5 Wee know that wee are translated from death to life because we love the brethren Opinion and science a conjecturall hope and an assured beliefe as much differ as a shaken reed and a well growne oake which no winde can stirre To know any thing saith o L. 1 posterior c. 2. Scire est causam rei cognoscere quod illius causa sit quod res illa aliter se habere non posset Aristotle is to know the cause and that this cause is the cause of such an effect and that the thing it selfe cannot bee otherwise than wee conceive of it in which regard the Greeke Etymologist deriveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because opinion waggeth and inclineth the mind by probabilities on both sides but science fasteneth it and maketh it stand unmoveable With these texts of scripture attributing knowledge of salvation to all beleevers our Trent Merchants are manifestly gravelled and sticke in the mud yet they endevour to boye up their sunke vessell by a distinction of a double knowledge 1 By common faith 2 By speciall revelation They yeeld that some who have been admitted to Gods privie Councell by speciall revelation have been assured of their crowne of glory but they will by no meanes grant that beleevers can attain to this certainty by their common faith yet such is the clearnesse of the texts above alledged for the point in question that they easily like the beames of the sunne breake through this popish mist For Job speaketh not of any speciall secret revealed unto him but of the common article of all our faith concerning the resurrection of the flesh I know that my Redeemer liveth and hee shall stand up and I shall see him with these eyes And what David speaketh of his knowledge of Gods favour and stedfast beliefe of his future happinesse p Ad Monim l. 1. â—ustus ex fide vivens fiducialiter dicit credo videre bona domini in terra viventium Fulgentius applyeth to every beleever The just man living by faith speaketh confidently I beleeve that I shall see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living And S. John ascribeth this knowledge not to any singular revelation but to charity the common effect of faith We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren whereupon S. q Tract 5. in ep Joh. Nemo interroget hominem redeat ad cor suum si ibi invenerit charitatem securus sit quia transiit à morte ad vitam Austin giveth this sage advice Let no man enquire of man let him have recourse to his owne heart if he find there charity let him rest assured that he is passed from death to life And S. Paul joyneth all the faithfull with him saying We know that all things worke for the best to them that love God and There is layd up a crown of righteousnesse which the righteous Judge shall give mee at that day and not to mee onely but to all them also that love his appearing In like manner Saint r Ep. ex regist l. 6. Hac fulti certitudine de ejusdem redemptoris nostri misericordiá nihil ambigere
giving sentences or making decrees The Judges among the Romanes when they acquitted any man cast in a white stone into an urne or pot according to that of the Poet Mos erat antiquis niveis atrisque lapillis His damnare reos illis absolvere culpâ And likewise the Citizens of Rome in choosing their Magistrates wrote his name to whom they gave their voice in a white stone By allusion to which two customes I conceive the Spirit in this place promiseth to every one that shall overcome the lusts of the flesh by the Spirit the assaults of the Devill by faith and the persecutions and troubles of the world by his constancy calculum absolutorium suffragatorium an infallible token of his absolution from death and election to a crowne of life an assurance of present justification and future glorification Thus I take the Quid nominis to bee cleare the greatest controversie is about the Quid rei what that gift or grace is what that signe or token what that proofe or testimony whereby our present estate of grace and future of glory are secured unto us Some ghesse not farre off the truth That it is testimonium renovatae conscientiae the testimony of a renewed conscience For as the eye in a glasse by reflection seeth it selfe looking so the conscience by a reflection upon it selfe knoweth that it knoweth God and beleeveth that it beleeveth in Christ and feeleth that it hath a new feeling sense and life The eye of faith in the regenerate seeth himselfe sealed to the day of redemption and observeth the print of the seale in himselfe and the image of the heavenly which it beareth I shall speake nothing to disparage this testimony of conscience which affordeth to every true beleever singular contentment in life and comfort in death The nearer the voice is the briefer and more certainely wee heare it and therefore wee cannot but distinctly take that deposition for us which conscience speaketh in the eare of the heart And yet wee have a nearer and surer voice to settle our heart in the knowledge of our spirituall estate the testimony of Gods Spirit which is nearer and more inward to our soules than our soules to our bodies and the witnesse thereof may be as great or a greater joy to us than if God had sent an Angell to us as hee did to Daniel to shew unto us that wee were beloved of him or an Archangel as hee did to the Virgin k Luke 1.28 Mary to salute us Haile thou that art highly favoured of God If any demand as shee did not out of any doubt but out of a desire of farther information quomodo that is how doth the Spirit testifie to our spirits that we are the sonnes of God To speake nothing of elevations of Spirit and raptures and speciall revelations which are not now so frequent and so certaine as in former ages I answer The Spirit testifieth this unto us two manner of wayes by Motions or Words Effects or Deeds By words so are the expresse words of Saint l Prolog card vert 1. Dicuntur tibi verba quaedam arcana intrinsecus ut dubitare non possis quin juxta te fit Cyprian As when lightning breaketh the cloud and the suddaine splendour thereof doth not so much enlighten as dazle the eyes so sometimes thou art touched with I know not what motion and feelest thy selfe to bee touched and yet seest not him that toucheth thee there are inwardly spoken unto thee certaine secret words so as thou canst not doubt that hee is neare thee even within thee who doth solicite thee yet doth hee not let thee see him as hee is These secret words Saint m Serm. 1. in annunc Hoc est testimonium quod perhibet Spiritus sanctus dimissa sunt tibi peccata tua Bernard uttereth This is the testimony or record which the Spirit beareth unto thee Thy sinnes are forgiven thee I take it the meaning of the words of these Fathers is not that the holy Ghost doth sound these formall words in our bodily eares but that as God once n 1 Kin. 19.12 spake in a still small voice so in it still hee speaketh to the faithfull by the Spirit verbis mentalibus by mentall words or notions by which hee continually inciteth us to good restraines us from evill forewarneth us of danger and comforteth us in trouble And whilest wee listen to these notions or rather motions of the spirit within us wee heare this testimony often and distinctly But when wee give eare to the motions of the evill Spirit and entertaine him and delight in his society and thereby grieve and despite the Spirit of grace hee being thus grieved by us speaketh no more words of comfort in us but withdrawes his gracious presence and leaveth us in horrour of conscience and darknesse of minde In this time of spirituall desertion wee thinke wee have lost this white stone though indeed wee have not lost it but it is hid from us for a while for afterwards wee shall finde it having first felt the Spirit moving upon the waters of our penitent teares and in our powring out our soules before God assisting us with sighes and groanes that cannot be expressed then after we renewing our covenant with him our sins are blowne away like a thicke mist and light from heaven breaketh in againe upon us and with this light assurance and with assurance peace and with peace joy in the holy Ghost Yea but a weake Christian may yet demand How may I bee assured that my stone is not a counterfeit that my gold is not alchymy that my pearle is not glasse that my Edenis not a fooles Paradise that this testimony in my soule is not a suggestion of Sathan to tempt mee to presumption and thereby drowne mee in perdition The Spirit of God commanding mee to o 1 Joh. 4.1 Beleeve not every spirit but try the spirit whether they are of God Try the Spirits whether they are of God or no implyeth that there are Spirits which are not of God how then may I certainly know that this motion within mee is from the good and not rather from the evill Spirit By this if it accord with the word and the testimony of thine own conscience but if it vary from either thou hast just cause to suspect it If any Spirit shall tell thee that thou art lockt in the armes of Gods mercy and canst not fall from him though thou huggest some vice in thy bosome and lettest loose the reines to some evill concupiscence give that Spirit the lye because it accordeth not with the word of God testifying expressely that p Eph. 5.5 no whoremonger nor uncleane person nor covetous man which it an Idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdome of God and of Christ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously
and godly in this present world Againe if any Spirit tell thee that thou art rich in spirituall graces and lackest nothing when thine owne Spirit testifieth within thee that thou art blinde and naked and miserable and poore beleeve not that Spirit For the Spirit of God is a contest with our spirit q Rom. 8.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee beareth witnesse with our spirit that wee are the sonnes of God and when they both sweetly accord we may without presumption conclude with Saint r Tract 22. in Joh Veritas pollicetur qui credit habet vitam aeternam ego audivi verba Domini credidit infidelis cum essem factus sum fidelis sicut ipse monuit transii de morte ad vitam in judicium non venio non praesumptione meâ sed promissione ipsius Austine The truth promiseth whosoever beleeveth in mee hath eternall life I have heard the words of the Lord I have beleeved whereas I was before an Infidell I am now made faithfull and according to his promise have passed from death to life and shall come into no condemnation It is no presumption to ground assured confidence upon Christs promise Hereunto let us adde the testimony of the effects of saving grace As the testimony of the Spirit confirmeth the testimony of the Word so the effects of saving grace confirme both unto us These Saint Bernard reckoneth to bee Hatred of sinne Contempt of the world Desire of heaven Hatred of our unregenerate estate past contempt of present vanities desire of future felicity And doubtlesse if our hatred of sinne bee universall our contempt of worldly vanities constant and our desire of heavenly joyes fervent wee may build upon them a strong perswasion that we are in the favour of God because we hate all evill that we are espoused to Christ because wee are divorced from the world and that heaven belongeth unto us because wee long for it Howbeit these seeme to bee rather characters of christian perfection than common workes of an effectuall vocation Though wee arrive not to so high a degree of Angelicall rather than humane perfection yet through Gods mercy wee may bee assured of our election by other more easie and common workes of the Spirit in us I meane true faith sincere love of goodnesse in our selves and others hungring and thirsting after righteousnesse striving against our fleshly corruptions godly sorrow filiall feare comfortable patience and continuall growth in grace and godlinesse Tully writeth of l Cic. Verr. 5. Syracuse That there is no day through the whole yeere so stormy and tempestuous in which they have not some glympse of the sunne neither undoubtedly after the travels of our new birth are past is there any day so overcast with the clouds of temptation in the soule of a Christian in which the Sunne of righteousnesse doth not shine upon him and some of these graces appeare in him For if hee decay in one grace hee may increase in another if hee finde not in himselfe sensible growing in any grace hee may feele in himselfe an unfained desire of such growth and godly sorrow for want of it and though hee conquer not all sinne yet hee alloweth not himselfe in any sinne and though he may have lost the sense yet not the essence of faith and though hee bee not assured in his owne apprehension of remission of sinnes yet hee may bee sure of his adhesion to God and relying upon him for the forgivenesse of them with a resolution like that of Job Though he kill me yet will I put my trust in him And this is the summe and effect of what our Christian casuists answere to the second question Quid sit what is the white stone whereby as a certaine pledge grace and glory are secured unto us The third question yet remains Propter quid sit to what end this white stone is given In the maine point of difference betweene the reformed and the Romane Church concerning assurance of salvation that wee bee not mis-led wee must distinguish of a double certainty The one of the subject or of The person The other of the object or of The thing it selfe The certainty of the one never varieth because it dependeth upon Gods election the certainty of the other often varieth because it dependeth upon the vivacity of our faith Even as the apple in the eye of many creatures waxeth and waineth with the Moone and as t Solin Poly-hist c. 56. Uniones quoties excipiunt matutini aeris semen fit clarius margaritum quoties vespertini fit obscurius Solinus writeth that the Margarite is clearer or duskier according to the temper of the aire and face of the skie in which the shell-fish openeth it selfe so this latter assurance waxeth and waineth with our faith and is more evident or more obscure as our conscience is more or lesse purged from dead workes If our faith be lively our assurance is strong if our faith faile our assurance flagges and in some fearfull temptation is so farre lost that wee are brought to the very brinke of despaire partly to chasten us for our former presumption partly to abate our spirituall pride and humble us before God and in our owne spirits but especially to improve the value of this jewell of assurance and stirre us up to more diligence in using all possible meanes to regaine it and keep it more carefully after we have recovered it By the causes of Gods taking away of this white stone from us or at the least hiding it out of our sight for a while wee may ghesse at the reasons why hee imparteth it unto us 1. First to endeare his love unto us and enflame ours to him For how can wee but infinitely and eternally love him who hath assured us of infinite joyes eternall salvation an indefeizable inheritance everlasting habitations and an incorruptible crowne 2. Secondly to incourage us to finish our christian race through many afflictions and persecutions for the Gospels sake which we could never do if this crowne of glory were not hung out from heaven and manifestly exhibited to the eye of our faith with assurance to winne it by our patience 3. Thirdly but especially to kindle in us a most ardent desire and continuall longing to arrive at our heavenly countrey where wee shall possesse that inheritance of a kingdome which is as surely conveighed unto us by the Word and Sacraments as if Almighty God should presently cause a speciall deed to bee made or patent to bee drawne for it and set his hand and seale to it in our sight To knit up all that hath beene delivered that it may take up lesse roome in your memory and bee more easily borne away let mee entreat you to set before your eyes the custome of the Romanes in the entertainment of any great personage whom after they had feasted with rare dainties served in covered dishes at the end of the banquet they gave unto him an Apophoreton or
faire havens in heaven let us perfectly learne our way and all points of the Compasse and carefully steere by the Card of Gods Word and keepe in the streight and middle way of Gods commandements neither declining to the right hand nor to the left 6. Sixtly doth Satan play the crafty Merchant and cheate us with counterfeit stones for jewels with shewes of vertues for true graces let us also imitate the wisedome of Merchants who will bee perfect Lapidaries before they deale in pearles and pretious stones let us study the difference between true and seeming graces and pray continually to God that we may abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgement that wee may bee able to discerne things that differ and try Spirits whether they are of God or no. 7. Lastly doth Satan play the temporizer and time all his suggestions let us also in a pious sense be time-servers let us performe all holy duties in the fittest season let us omit no opportunity of doing good let us take advantage of all occasions to glorifie God and helpe on our eternall salvation If wee heare a bell toll let us meditate on our end and pray for the sicke lying at Gods mercy if wee see an execution let us meditate on our frailty and reflecting upon our owne as grievous sinnes though not comming within the walke of mans justice have compassion on our brother if wee see Lazarus lying in the street let us meditate upon the sores of our conscience and our poverty in spirituall graces and extend our charity to him finally sith wee know at what time Satan most assaulteth us let us be best provided at those times especially at the houre of our death let us follow the advice of Seneca though a Heathen r Sen. ep 2. Quotidiè aliquid adversus mortem auxilii compara cum multa percurreris unum excerpe quod illo die concoquas lay up store for that day every day gather one flower of Paradise at least that even when the fatall houre is come and the stench of death and rottennesse is in our nostrils we may have a posie by us in which wee may smell a savour of life unto life which God grant c. SERMONS PREACHED AT SAINT PAULSCROSSE OR IN THE CHURCH THE BELOVED DISCIPLE THE XXX SERMON JOH 21. 20. The Disciple whom Jesus loved which also leaned on his breast at Supper IF wee must abstaine from all appearance of evill in our civill conversation much more certainly in our religious devotion For God is most jealous of his honour which is all he hath from us for all we hold of him Praef. Apolog. fest eccles and the streight rule of religion will in no wise bend to any obliquity on either side either by attributing any true worship to a false or any false worship to the true God From both which aspersions hee that seeth not the Liturgy established by law in the Church of England to bee most cleare and free either is short-sighted or looketh on her through a foule paire of spectacles and thereby ignorantly imagineth that dust to bee in her sacred Canons and Constitutions which indeed is not in them but sticketh in his glassie eyes let him but rub his spectacles and he shall see all faire and without any the least deformity or filth of superstition as well in the Service appointed for the Lords day as for the Saints feasts For though wee adorne our Calendar with the names of some eminent Saints and make honourable mention of them in our Liturgy as the ancient Church did of her Martyrs a Austin de civ Dei l. 22. c. 10. non tamen invocamus yet wee call not upon them wee lift not up our hands wee bow not our knees wee present not our offerings wee direct not our prayers wee intend not any part of religious worship to them sed uni Deo martyrum nostrum but to their God and ours as Saint Austine answereth for the practice of the Church in his time Which may serve as a buckler to beare off all those poysonous darts of calumny which those of the concision cast at that part of our Church-service wherein upon the yeerly returne of the Feast of the blessed Virgin the Archangell Apostles Evangelists Protomartyr Innocents and All-holy-ones wee remember the Saints of God but in no wise make Gods of Saints sanctificamus Deum non deificamus Sanctos wee blesse God for them wee worship not them for God Although our devotion glanceth by their names yet it pitcheth and is fixed upon the Angel of the covenant and sanctum sanctorum the holy of all holy ones our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ On the blessed Virgins anniversary wee honour him in his Mother on Saint John Baptists wee honour him in his forerunner on Saint Michaels we honour him in his Archangel the Captaine of his celestiall squadron on the Apostles wee honour him in his Ambassadours on the Evangelists wee honour him in his Chroniclers on Saint Stevens wee honour him in his Martyr on S. John the Divine his day wee honour him in his beloved Disciple who also leaned on his breast at Supper 1 The Disciple 2 The Disciple beloved 3 Beloved of Jesus 4 In Jesus bosome All Christians are not Disciples this is the Disciple all the Disciples were not beloved this is the beloved Disciple all that are beloved are not beloved of Jesus this is he whom Jesus loved lastly all whom Jesus loved were not so familiar with him or neare unto him that they leaned on his breast this was his bosome friend and as the text saith at supper leaned on his breast Every word is here a beame and every beame is reflected and every reflection is an intention of the heat of Christs affection to Saint John Divis 1 A Disciple there is the beame 2 Ille the or that Disciple there is the reflection 1 Beloved there is the beame 2 Beloved of Jesus there is the reflection 1 Leaning there is the beame 2 Leaning on his breast there is the reflection It is a great honour to bee a Disciple but a greater to bee the Disciple a great honour to bee beloved a greater to bee beloved of Jesus a great honour to leane on such a personage a greater to leane on his breast Thus I might with an exact division cut the bread of life but I choose rather after the manner of our Saviour to breake it and that into three pieces onely viz. John his 1 Calling in Christ 2 Favour with Christ 3 Nearenesse unto Christ 1 His calling in Christ The Disciple 2 His grace and favour with Christ whom Jesus loved 3 His nearenesse unto Christ who also leaned on his breast The Disciple The Spouse in the Canticles setting out her husband in his proper colours saith b Cant. 5.10 My beloved is white and ruddy that is of admirable and perfect beauty or white in the purity of his conversation and
of taste bitterish at first and sweetish at last Whether is it a sweet or a bitter fruit To the first we must not answer simply that he was a right handed or left handed man but as the Historian termeth him an Ambodexter To the second we must not answer simply that it is a noune or a verbe but as the Grammarians call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 participium a participle To the third we must not answer simply that it is a maid or a fish but with the Poet a Syren in some respect a maid in some a fish Prima hominis facies pulchro corpore virgo Pube tenus postremâ immani corpore pistrix To the fourth we must not answer simply that it is a plant or a beast but with the Geographer a Plantanimall To the fift we must not answer simply that it is a man or a woman but with the naturall Philosopher an Hermaphrodite To the sixt we must not answer simply that it is a sweeting or a bitter apple but with Seneca that it is pomum suave-amarum a bitter-sweet So if the question be of a Christian by profession of all or the most fundamentall points who yet holdeth some hereticall opinion wee must not answer simply that he is a Christian or a Miscreant but a Miscreant or mis-beleeving Christian Some write of the River Jordane that the water thereof is sweet and that store of fish breed and live in it others that it is brackish yea and venemous also in such sort that no fish can live in it and both write most truly in a reference to divers parts thereof For all that is behether the lake Asphaltites is most sweet and wholesome all that is beyond it is salt and brackish and in some places poysonous and accordingly the fish that swim not beyond the lake or tasting the water salt return speedily back to the sweet springs live but if they are carried farther with a full streame into Mare mortuum or the dead sea they instantly perish What then shall wee deny Jordan in which Christ himself was baptized to be a sweet river or do we doubt but that the doctrine of the Church of Rome like the river Jordan is sweet in the spring I mean the Font of baptisme in which so many thousands of our fathers were christened or that good Christians may live the life of grace there so long as they keepe within the bounds of the common Principles of Christianity or if they have tasted some of the brackish waters the errours of popery if yet they returne back to the springs of holy Scripture may they not recover questionlesse they may but if they passe over the lake Asphaltites and swimme with the full current into the midst of the Mare mortuum of Antichristian errours superstitions and Idolatries and are not taken up in the net of the Gospell before the venemous water hath sunke into their heart and bowels and corrupted all their blood wee can have little if any hope of their safety Those that are such and have a resolution to continue such I leave In mari mortuo in the sea of death and come to the Disciple in the bosome of Jesus the Fountaine of life even that Disciple Object Whom Jesus loved Did Jesus love him onely did hee not love all his Apostles save Judas to the end nay doth hee not love us all with an endlesse love z Joh. 10.11 Surely greater love than this can no man shew to lay downe his life for his friend Is not hee the good Shepheard that gave his life for the sheepe did he not lay down his life for us all did one of us cost him more than another shed he not as much and as pure life blood for one as for another doth the Sunne of righteousnesse shine brighter upon one than another in perfection of love can there be any remission or intention in that which is infinite are there any degrees can any thing be said to bee more or lesse infinite The determination of this point dependeth upon the consideration of our blessed Saviour 1 As God 2 As Man 3 As Mediatour As God his love is his nature and his nature is himselfe Solut. and himselfe is infinite and in that which is infinite no degrees can bee distinguished As Mediatour hee seemeth to bee like the Center from which all lines drawne to the circumference are equall hee casteth the like beames of affection if not upon all yet certainly upon all his Elect for whom hee prayed jointly and satisfied entirely whom hee washeth equally in the same Font of Baptisme feedeth equally with his blood incorporateth equally in his body and maketh equally coheires with him of his kingdome in heaven Notwithstanding as man hee might and did affect one more than another and in particular hee loved John more than the rest of his Disciples Neither is it any disparagement at all to our discretion or charity to enlarge our hearts more to one than another if the cause bee not a by or carnall respect but a different measure of gifts if those bee more in our grace in whom Gods graces shine brighter Saint Paul had his Barnabas Saint Austine his Alypius Saint Jerome his Heliodorus Saint Bernard his Gervafius Saint Basil his Nazianzene Eusebius his Pamphilus David his Jonathan and Jesus here in my text his beloved Disciple But here Saint Austine putteth in a curious Quere Why did Jesus love John best sith it should seeme Peter loved Jesus best else why doth Christ say unto him * Tract 124. in Joh. lovest thou mee more than these Hee who more loved Jesus is the better but he whom Jesus more loveth is the happier To avoid this seeming jarre in Christs affections S. Austin streineth up the plaine history to a mystery Saint Peter saith hee was a type of the Church militant Saint John of the triumphant now the Church militant expresseth more love to Christ in fighting his battailes and suffering for him but Christ manifesteth more love to the Church triumphant crowning her with celestiall glory in this life like Peter we more shew our love to Christ in the other Christ sheweth more love to us as he did here to Saint John These conceptions of that seraphicall Doctour like a waxe light newly blowne out yeeld a sweet savour and have much heat in them of pious affection but little light of knowledge For as Christs love to us is consummate in heaven at the Lambes marriage so is then our love most complete in him And for the two Disciples Saint Peter and Saint John betweene whom there was never any contention greater than this Whether should more love our Saviour wee may safely resolve that though both exceedingly loved him yet if wee must needs enter into a comparison betweene them that the oddes is on Saint Johns side For doubtlesse hee whom Christ more loved hee found or made him more thankefull the ground of our Saviours love could
of our religion dare tell the world that wee are all for faith and that wee hold workes to salvation as a parenthesis to a sentence Heaven and earth shall witnesse the injustice of this calumniation and your consciences shall be our compurgatours this day which shall testifie to you both now and on your death-bed that wee have taught you there is no lesse necessitie of good workes than if you should bee saved by them and that though you cannot be saved by them as the meritorious causes of your glory yet that you cannot be saved without them as the necessary effects of that grace which brings glory Indeed we doe not hover over your expiring soules at your death beds as Ravens over a carkasse we doe not beg for a covent nor fright you with Purgatorie nor chaffer with you for that invisible treasure of the Church whereof there is but one key keeper at Rome but we tell you that the making of friends with this Mammon of unrighteousnesse is the way to eternall habitations They say of Cyrus that he was wont to say He layd up treasure for himselfe when hee made his friends rich but we say to you that you lay up treasures for your selves in heaven whilest you make the poore your friends on earth Hee shall never be Gods heire in heaven who lendeth him nothing on earth As the wittie Poet sayd of extreme tall men that they were like Cypresse trees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so may I say of a straithanded rich man and these Cypresses are not for the Garden of Paradise None shall be ever planted there but the fruitfull and if the first Paradise had any trees in it onely for pleasure I am sure the second which is in the midst of the new Jerusalem shall have no tree that beares not twelve fruits yea whose very leaves are not beneficiall Doe good therefore O yee rich and shew your wealth to be not in having but in doing good and so doe it that wee may thanke you not your death-bed for it Late beneficence is better than none but so much as early beneficence is better than late He that gives not till he dies shewes that he would not give if he could keepe it That which you give thus you give it by your testament I can scarce say you give it by your will The good mans praise is dispersit dedit he disperses his goods not he left them behinde him and his distribution is seconded with the retribution of God His righteousnesse endureth for ever Psal 112.9 Our Saviour tells us that our good workes are our light Let your light so shine that men may see your good workes Which of you lets his light goe behind him and hath it not rather carried before him that he may see which way it goes and which way himselfe goes by it Doe good therefore in your life that you may have comfort in your death and a crowne of life after death Here the Preacher filled up his border with the gifts of this Citie as it were so many precious stones in stead whereof because I am not appointed to rehearse your deeds but the Preachers Sermon I will fill it up with the praises of the Speaker His sentences were verè lineae aureae according to Junius his translation of my text cum punctis argenteis the latter whereof interlaced his whole discourse It remaineth that as I have done in the former so I worke the embleme of the giver in his gift The Image shall be Marcus Callidius the Motto or words the words of Tullie De claris Oratoribus Orator non unus è multis sed inter multos singularis reconditas exquisitasque sententias mollis perlucens vestiebat oratio Nihil tam tenerum quam illius comprehensio verborum quae ita pura erat ut nihil liquidius ita liberè fluebat ut nusquam adhaeresceret nullum nisi in loco positum tanquam emblemate vermiculato verbum structum videres accedebat ordo rerum plenus artis actio liberalis totumque dicendi genus placidum sanum THE THIRD BORDER OR HORTUS DELICIARUM The third border of gold with studs of silver which the third Speaker offered to the Spouse was wrought upon those texts Gen. 2.15 16 17. And the Lord God tooke the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dresse it and to keepe it And the Lord God commanded the man saying Of every tree of the Garden thou mayest freely eate But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evill thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die And thus he put it on THis Scripture containeth in it seven particulars of which by Gods assistance in order The third Sermon preached by Dr. Hacket sometimes fellow of new Colledge in Oxon abridged 1 Who tooke The Lord God 2 Whom The man Adam 3 What he did with him He placed him in Paradise 4 To what end To dresse and keepe it 5 God his large permission to the man To eat of all other trees 6 His restraint from the tree of knowledge 7 His punishment if he refraine it not Thou shalt die the death 1. Who tooke The Lord God Jehovah Elohim In Jehovah note the Unitie Elohim the Trinitie of persons Jehovah signifieth that he is of himselfe and giveth to all other to be for he is as Damascene teacheth the beeing of them that be the life of all that live Elohim signifieth which ruleth and disposeth all Of this Almighty Maker and Disposer of all the more wee speake the more we have to speake the more we thinke of him the more wee finde him greater than our thoughts and therefore with silence admiring that majesty which neither tongue of men nor Angels can expresse I passe to the second particular The Man Man consisteth of a body and a soule 2. Whom his body was made of the earth his soule was inspired by God not propagated by generation The soule doth neither beget nor is begotten saith Chrysostome but is infused by God who is said by the Preacher to give the soule a Eccl. 12.7 The Spirit shall returne to God that gave it and in this respect is called by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes The b Heb. 12 9. Father of Spirits Upon which words St. Jerome inferreth Ridendi sunt qui putant animas cum corporibus seri and St. Austine refelleth that opinion by Adams words concerning Eve This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh he saith not soule of my soule In this part of man man is said to be made according to Gods own Image for the c Epiphan haeres 70. Audians heresie which attributed the corporall lineaments of man to God is long agoe exploded and that in a threefold respect 1. In respect of the faculties of the soule 1. Understanding 2. Will. 2. In regard of the qualities of the soule
descried even so the leaders of Papists deale with them they will not suffer them to heare our Sermons or consult with our Divines not for love to their followers lest they should be insnared by us but lest their falshood should be discovered 2 Of Puritanisme By Puritans the Preacher professed that hee understood not those who are usually branded with that name but a sect of impure Catharists or Donatists stiled The Brethren of the Separation who refuse to partake with us in our Prayers and Sacraments whose God is their fancie and Religion the dreame of their owne heart who seeke to build a Babel of confusion among us but the God of heaven confound their tongues Was not the Church of Corinth more corrupted in Doctrine and Manners than they pretend ours to be yet Saint Paul calleth it a Church Doth not Christ call it his field where there grew many tares Did not Christ suffer Judas whom hee knew to bee a Theefe and a Traitour to partake of the Sacrament with his Disciples Yet these pure Sectaries will none of our Communion for that some uncleane persons presume to come thither To whom wee answer as Saint r Lib. 3. c. 50. ep 48. Austine doth to Cresconius These evills are displeasing to the good wee forbid and restraine them what wee can what wee cannot wee suffer but wee doe not for the tares sake forsake the field for the chaffe leave the floore of Christ for the evill fish breake the net for the Goats sake refuse the fold of Christ When Religion was partly corrupted partly contemned in Israel and the Prophets cryed Goe out from them and touch no uncleane thing did they then sever themselves from them I finde no such thing saith Saint Å¿ In Evang. Serm. 8. Austine yet doubtlesse they did themselves what they willed others to doe Hoc ergo est exire ore non parcere hoc immundum non tangere voluntate non consentire liber in conspectu Dei est cui nec Deus sua peccata imputat quae non fecit neque aliena quae non approbavit neque negligentiam quia non tacuit neque superbiam quia ab unitate Ecclesiae non recessit 3 To nourish the tender and feeble plants that is to shew mercy on them that are in need When I call to minde your Almes-houses for the poore your Hospitalls for the maimed your houses of correction for idle persons I cannot but commend your care in this behalfe this Citie may be a president for all other places the Garden of Eden never smelt so sweet in the nostrils of Adam as the remembrance of these your workes of mercy in the nostrils of Almighty God Nunquam veterascet haec manus t Eccles 11.1 Cast thy bread upon the waters and after many dayes thou shalt finde it but see thou cast the bread thou hast justly gotten Quicquid enim saith St. Gregory ex scelere in Dei sacrificio affertur non placat Dei iracundiam sed irritat Secondly Cave ne rem pauperum non pauperibus tribuas liberalitas liberalitate pereat Thirdly give that thou intendest whilest thou livest For thou knowest not how thy Will will be performed Heare what St. Basil saith When thou shalt have no name among the living thou saist I will be liberall Is not this to say in effect I would live alwaies and enjoy my substance but if I die then I give Wee may thanke thy death for thy bounty 2 Cor. 9.7 not thee Be not deceived God would have a living not a dead sacrifice Lastly you must continue in good order the severall places of your charge the cursed earth will still bring forth weeds wherewith your garden for want of care will be soone over-growne Remember Saint Pauls cursum consummavi non cepisse sed perfecisse virtutis est nec inchoantibus sed perseverantibus datur proemium And so I fall upon my fift point 5 Touching the reward Yee shall not dresse Paradise in vaine God will be unto you as unto Abraham a buckler and exceeding great reward he will build up your house and blesse you in all your wayes yea he will give you to feed on the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God 6 Touching the prohibition Sith God is so bountifull to permit you to eat of all other trees eate not of the tree of knowledge you shall not be as Gods though the Divell tell it you nor gaine heaven by it but lose Paradise Naboth's vineyard Uriah's wife Achan's golden wedge Belshazzar's quaffing bowles Gehazi's bribes were forbidden fruit sweet in the taste but death in the stomacke 7 Touching the punishment Although corporall death seizeth not forthwith upon offenders yet the sentence is passed against them the life of grace is departed from them and except by repentance they seeke to have part in the first resurrection they shall be cast into the lake of fire without redemption To conclude all let us that are desirous to walke with God as our callings require seeke to dresse and keepe the garden our mother Church and Countrey let us not make our selves like briars to scratch her or thornes to pricke her or weeds to annoy her but as blessed plants let us beare plentifull fruits to comfort and nourish her Thus this Speaker as if he had tasted of the tree of life which as Josephus writeth prohibuit senium mortem this aged Paul discoursed unto you of the Garden of Eden in a flourishing stile he as the former two presented the Spouse with a precious border wherein I am now to work his embleme consisting as the former of an Image and a Motto the Image is Triarius the Motto the words of Tullie de claris Oratoribus Me delectabat Triarii in illa aetate plena literatae senectutis oratio quanta severitas in vultu quantum pondus in verbis quam nihil non consideratum exibat ex ore I was much taken with the learned oration of Triarius that ancient Oratour what gravitie was in his countenance what weight in his speech how did he ponder every word that proceeded out of his mouth THE FOURTH BORDER OR THE SACRIFICE OF RIGHTEOUSNES The fourth border of gold with studs of silver which the fourth Speaker offred to the Spouse was wrought upon that text Psal 4.5 Offer the sacrifice of righteousnesse and put your trust in the Lord. And thus he put it on Right Honourable c. GOd hath made us a feast of many dayes The fourth Sermon preached by master Francis White now L. Bishop of Ely and L. Almoner to his Majestie that we be not unthankfull unto him let us offer him a sacrifice especially that which is prescribed in the words of my text Wherein you have a double precept 1 Of righteousnesse Wherein observe 1 The act Offer 2 The matter a sacrifice 2 Of hope and confidence Wherein observe 1 The act Trust 2 The object in the Lord. 1
and as the Å¿ Pro. 14.18 But the path of the just is aâ— the shining light that shineth more and more untill the perâ—ect day light of the Sun shineth more and more till it be perfect day as the branches of the true vine bearing fruit in Christ are purged and pruned by the Father that they may bring forth more fruit Å¿ John 15.2 Herein the supernaturall motions of the Spirit resemble all naturall motions which as the Philosopher teacheth us are velociores in fine quam in principio swifter in the end than in the beginning Of all the proper markes of the elect children of God this is the most certaine and therefore St. t Phil. 3.13 14. Paul instanceth in it onely This one thing I doe forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before I presse towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus And St. u 2 Pet. 3.18 Peter closeth with it as the upshot of all Ye therefore beloved beware lest ye fall from your own stedfastnesse but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ It is not so in the spiritual as in the corporall augmentation for the body groweth according to all dimensions but to a certain age but the soule may must grow in spiritual graces till the houre of death and the reason of the difference is because the aetas consistentiae of our body is in this life but of our soul in the life to come Here the body arriveth to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 highest pitch of perfection but the soule arriveth not to hers til we come to the heavenly Jerusalem and to the x Heb. 12.23 Church of the first borne and to the spirits of just men made perfect O that our blessed Redeemer had here made an end of his letter and sealed up all the Angels praises with this sweet close what an admirable president should we have had of a perfect Pastour what joy should have beene in the presence of the Angels for the unspotted integrity and absolute perfection of this Angell But because as St. y Ep. ad â—ust Apud Deum nihil tantum suave placet nisi quod habet in se aliquid mordacis veritatis Jerome acutely observeth that there was no use of hony in the sacrifices of the old law because nothing pleaseth God which is onely sweet and hath not in it somewhat of biting truth therefore after the sweet insinuation I know c. there followeth a sharpe reprehension there is a Notwithstanding that standeth in this Angels light and obscureth the lustre of all his former vertues Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee Origen handling those word z Cant. 1.5 Nigra sum sed formosa I am blacke but comely draweth the face and lineaments of Christs Spouse if I may so speake with a blacke coale a Orig. in Cant. hom 1. Quaerimus quomodo nigra sine candore sit pulchra poenitentiam egit a peccatis speciem ei largita est conversio nigra est propter antiqua peccata sed propter poenitentiam habet aliquid quasi Aethiopici decoris How saith he can she be faire that is all blacke I answer she hath repented her of her sinnes and her repentance hath given her beautie but such as may be in a Negro or Blackmoore Philosophie teacheth that there is no pure metall to be found in the Mines of the earth nor unmixed element in the world What speak I of the earth the starres of the skie are not cleane nor the Angels of heaven pure in Gods eyes Job 25.5 Behold even to the moone and it shineth not yea the starres are not pure in his sight how much lesse sinfull man whose conception is lust and birth shame and life frailty and death corruption After St. Austine had blazoned his mothers vertues as Christ doth here the Angels he presently dasheth them all through with a blacke line b Aug. confes l. 9. c. 13. Attamen vae laudibili vitae hominum si remotâ miserecordiâ discutias eum Woe be to the most righteous upon earth if God deale with them in strict justice c Aug. l. 10. c. 28. Contendunt laetitiae meae flendae cum laetandis moeroribus ex qua parte stet victoria nescio hei mihi Domine miserere mei Contendunt moerores mei mali cum gaudiis bonis ex qua parte stet victoria nescio hei mihi Domine miserere mei Ecce vulnera mea non obscondo medicus es aeger sum misericors es miser sum As for me saith that humble Saint I confesse my sinnes to thy glory but my owne shame my sinfull delights contend with my godly sorrowes and on whether side standeth the victorie I know not woe is me Lord have mercy upon me Againe my ungodly sorrowes contend with my holy joyes and on which side standeth the victorie I know not woe is me Lord have mercy on me Behold I hide not my wounds thou art a Physician I am sicke thou art a Surgeon I am thy Patient thou art pitifull I am in miserie If the light be darknesse how great is the darknesse If our righteousnesse be as menstruous clouts Esay 64.6 what are our monstrous sinnes Yet the Prophet saith not that the covers of our sinnes but the robes of our righteousnesse are as filthy rags Whereupon b Origen in ep ad Rom. c. 3. Quis vel super justitia â—uá gloriabitur cum audiat Deum per Prophetam dicentem quia omnis iustitia vestra sicut pannus menstruatae Origen groundeth that question which may gravell all those that build upon the sinking sands of their owne merits Who dare brag of his righteousnesse when he heareth God saying by his Prophet All our righteousnesse is as filthy rags Surely Pope Gregorie was no Papist at least in this point for he prizeth the best endeavours of grace in us at a lower rate than Luther or Calvin they say our purest coyne is allayed with some quantity of baser metall he that it is no better than drosse c Greg. mor. l. 9. c. 11. Omnis humana iustitia injustitia esse convincituâ— si districtâ— judicetur All humane justice saith he examined according to Gods strict justice is injustice Therefore if we say or thinke God hath nothing against us he hath much against us for so saying or thinking For d Psal 19.12 who knoweth how oft he offendeth O cleanse thou us all from our secret faults Had we arrived to the perfection of this Angel in my text and could exhibite letters testimoniall signed by our Saviour such as this Angel of Thyatira might yet were it not safe to capitulate with God notwithstanding all our vertues and graces he hath somewhat against us either for sinnes of omission or sinnes of commission or at least sinnes of permission I
one field tares and wheat out of one mouth proceeds cursing and blessing Behold an ambitious simoniacall Priest of the Romane constitution and that but for a yeer vaunt over him that is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek Behold bloudy Caiphas consulting nay determining to put Christ to death not for any fault of his but because it was profitable to the Priests it is expedient for us yet doth hee colour his bloud-thirsty appetite with a varnish of common good If wee let him alone all men will beleeve in him and beleeving him to be a God will advance him to be a King the Romans will come take away this place and our Nation He is but one man what is the bloud of one man to the quiet of a publike state Melius est ut pereat unus quà m unitas let one man dye that the whole Nation perish not This is Caiphas his meaning vouchsafe we a look to it before we consider the meaning of a much better spirit Solomon his Lilly is most beautifull among thornes The Rose sayes Plutarch is never so fragrant as when it is planted by the Nettle the doctrine of the Holy Ghost seemeth never more excellent than when it is compared with the doctrine of Divels It is expedient he should dye he saith not it is just or lawfull Bonum commodis non honestate metitur Caiphas profit is become the rule of justice in whose hands now it is not only to judge according to the rule of law but to over-rule the law also In imitation of whom I verily thinke it was that Clemens the fifth being demanded how the Templer Knights might be cut off made this answer Si non licet per viam justitiae licet saltem per viam expedientiae But if it be profitable to whom cui bono to whom is it so to us now hee speakes like himselfe To S. Paul all things were lawfull yet many things did not seem expedient to Caiphas that is expedient which is not lawfull But shall a just innocent man a Prophet nay more than hee that was more than a Prophet lose his life for nothing but your commodity the answer is that though he be all these yet in a manner he is but unus one man and we are many better it were that he suffer a mischiefe than we an inconvenience therefore be his quality what it may be let him dye Ne saevi magne Sacerdos Let not the high Priest be angry will nothing but his death appease you You have a guard keep him sure manacle his hands fetter his feet only spare his life bring not his bloud upon your head Tush it is for our profit His bloud be upon us Thus crudelitas vertitur in voluptatem jam occidere hominem juvat it was meat drink to them to spill the bloud of Christ Jesus and being pleased to consider him but as a man they trampled on him as a worme and no man Ystel in Exod. Behold here in another sense Caiphas a bloudy Ruby yet as the Rubies about Egypt aureâ bracteâ sublinuntur so hath he gold foyle Scripture in his mouth the words of the Holy Ghost who not only out of the mouth of babes and sucklings will have his praise out of the mouth of asses and brute beasts will have his power to be knowne but also out of the mouth of reprobates and incarnate divels will have the same truth in the same words confirmed which holy Prophets and the holy Spirit by which they spake would have revealed For not onely holy men as the Preacher observed but sometimes also unholy men speake as they are moved by the Holy Ghost Agit Spiritus Dei per bonos per malos per scientes per nescientes quod agendum novit statuit but in a different manner The Holy Ghost so touched the hearts of holy Prophets that their hearts enditing this matter of Christs passion their tongues became the pen of ready writers but on the contrary as Caiphas did honour God with his lips while his heart was farre from him so saith Saint Chrysostome the Spirit of God touched his lips but came not neere his heart It is expedient In the exposition of Caiphas the meaning is it is good for us pretending common good to kill Jesus but the sense of the Holy Ghost is that the precious death of our Saviour would be expedient for us and his alone bloud once shed for his people an all-sufficient ransome for their soules Expedient it was and behoovefull in the first place that he who should satisfie for sinne the wages whereof is death should bee a man subject to death Secondly that he should dye Thirdly inasmuch as with respect to his people he became a man subject to death so that hee should in the end lay downe his life for the people Fourthly that he should be sufficient by his alone death to satisfie in their behalfe for whom he dyed Lastly we must enquire whether the profit of his passion be such as extendeth to our selves or not we shall find it doth for so are the words of the Text It is expedient for us Expedient it was that the Saviour of man should be a man Ecce homo behold he is so for comming to save man suscepit naturam quam judicavit salvandam he became in all things sinne only excepted like unto us It was fit it should be so for if the Deity had opposed it selfe non tam ratio quà m potestas Diabolum vicisset what mystery had there bin for God to vanquish the Divell how should the Scripture have bin fulfilled The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head yet there is an experiment beyond all this Experiar Deus hic discrimine aperto an sit mortalis saith the spirituall Lycaon if hee carry about with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a body subject to dissolution doubtlesse hee is a man Thus therefore that hee might shew himselfe a man it was expedient that hee should die Is this thy reward O sweet Saviour for stouping thine infinite majesty so low as to become earth and thirty three yeeres to converse amongst us must thou dye It must bee so yet not for any necessity of justice in respect of himselfe for never Lambe more innocent nor of constraint for at the very time of his apprehension when hee had lesse than twelve Apostles hee had more than twelve Legions of Angels at his becke at the breath of his mouth the majesty of his countenance the force of those his words I am hee a whole troupe of his persecuters fell backwards but it must bee so because the determination of the Trinity and the conformity of his owne will thereunto will have it so Oblatus est quia voluit saith the Prophet I lay down my life saith himselfe Yea Caiphas said as much in effect It is meet not that one should be put to death but that he
should dye Mori infirmitatis est sic mori virtutis infinitae There wanted not other meanes to redeeme man but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was meet that by the death of the Sonne of God wee should bee redeemed Sanguine quaerendi reditus animâque litandum No escaping the stroake of the Angel but by sprinkling the Lambes life bloud no meanes to returne from exile till the death of the high Priest Must hee dye then and are the Scriptures so strait in this point O death how bitter is thy remembrance witnesse our Saviour Si fieri potest transeat hic calix but sith for the reasons before named that was neither possible nor expedient sith dye hee must what death doth the Holy Ghost thinke to bee most expedient If hee may not yeeld to nature as a ripe apple falleth from the tree but must be plucked thence there are deaths no lesse honourable than violent shall he dye an honourable death No hee must bee reckoned among the malefactors and dye a shamefull death In shamefull deaths there is a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rid him quickly out of his paine Misericordiae genus est citò occidere No that was not expedient Feri ut se sentiat mori it was expedient that hee should dye a tedious and most painfull death wherein a tract of lingering misery and lasting torment was to bee endured What death is that I need not amplifie even by the testimony of the Holy Ghost the death of the Crosse was for the torture most grievous for the shame most infamous He humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death Could his humility goe on one step further Yes one step even to the death of the Crosse that is a death beyond death the utmost and highest of all punishments saith Ulpian Having in it the extent of torture saith Apuleius The quintessence of cruelty saith the Roman Oratour It is not amisse to know the manner of the execution of this death First after sentence given the prisoner was whipped then forced to carry his Crosse to the place of execution there in the most tender and sinewie parts of the body nailed to the Crosse then lifted up into the ayre there with cruell mercy for a long while preserved alive after all this when cruelty was satisfied with bloud for the close of all his joynts were broken and his soule beat out of his body This was part of his paine I say part I cannot expresse the whole the shame was much more Infoelix Lignum saith Seneca truly and unhappy for untill this time the curse of God was upon him that was hanged It is a trespasse to bind 't is wickednes to beat it is murder to kill Quid dicam in crucem tollere Look we to the originall it was first devised by Tarquinius as the most infamous punishment of all against such as laid violent hands upon themselves Look we to the use of it they accounted it a slaves nay a dogs death for in memory that the Dogge slept when the Geese defended the Capitoll every yeer in great solemnity they carried a Goose in triumph softly laid upon a rich carpet and a Dogge hanging upon a crosse Looke wee to the concomitancy Non solent suspensi lugeri saith the Civilian no teare was wont to be shed for such as were crucified And was it expedient that our Saviour should dye this death It was expedient that the prophesie of Esay might be verified We saw him made as the basest of men and of David A scorne of men and the out-cast of the people and of himselfe They shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock scourge and crucifie him These were prophesies that it should be so yet we want a prophesie that saith It is expedient That we doe not Oportet filium hominis exaltari ut Moses extulit Serpentem for that Serpent lifted up to cure all that looked upon it was an embleme of Christ Thus himselfe who was a high Priest for ever did prophesie of himselfe being now both priest and sacrifice It was expedient that he should dye thus dye to be forsaken of his friends falsly accused by his enemies to be sold like a slave mocked like a foole spit upon like a made man whipt like a theefe crucified like a traitour make up a misery that the sun shamed the earth trembled to behold it yet it was expedient it must be done God hath said it Mee thinkes I heare our Saviour say in this baptisme of bloud as he said in his baptisme of water Thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousnes and thus it became him for whom by whom are all things to consecrate the Prince of our salvation through afflictions The prophesies had said it it should be so and it was expedient that he to whom they pointed should fulfill them that so in fulness of truth he might take his leave of the crosse and say Consummatum est those things which were written of mee have an end All this while we see not the reason why he should be thus tormented Goe to Pilate his answer will be I am innocent of the bloud of this man Enquire you of the Scribes and Pharisees their answer will be We have a law and by this law he must dye because he made himselfe the Son of God This was no fault he was so and therefore without robbery or blasphemy might both think and declare himselfe to be so Goe wee further from popular Pilate and the cruell Jewes to God himselfe and though we be but dust and ashes for the knowledge of this truth presume we to aske Cur fecisti filio sic How may it stand with thy justice that he should dye in whom there was found no fault worthy death nay no fault at all the unswer is Expedit mori pro populo yet O Lord wilt thou slay the righteous with the wicked nay which is more wilt thou slay the righteous and spare the wicked nay which is yet more wilt thou slay the righteous for the wicked shall not the Judge of all the world doe right God cannot chuse but do right the wages of sin is death though he have not sinned the people have If the principall debtour cannot pay the surety must if the prisoner dare not appeare the baile must Christ was the surety the baile of the people and so God might permit his justice against sin to take hold on him and hee must dye for the people if he will not have the people dye It being knowne that he dyed for the people it is worth the while to know who these people were for whom he dyed Caiphas had respect to the Jewes only and their temporall good but the Holy Ghost intended the spirituall good of the Jewes primarily though not of them alone but of the people also through the world But is it possible that of all people he should dye for the Jewes Ab ipsis pro ipsis these were they
that spit upon him whipped him smote him on the face crowned him with thornes tare him with nailes these were they who in the act of his bitter passion when his soule bereft of all comfort laden with the sinne of all the world and fiercenesse of his Fathers wrath enforced from him that speech than which the world never heard a more lamentable My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee then in stead of comfort they reviled him If thou be the Son of God come downe from the crosse all this notwithstanding though they persecuted him hee loved them though they cryed Away with him he dyed for them at his death prayed for them Father forgive and pleaded for them they know not what they doe and wept for them offering supplications in their behalfe with prayers strong cries Greater love than this can no man shew to lay downe his life for his friend yet thou O blessed Saviour art a patterne of greater love laying downe thy life for this people whilest they were thine enemies but not for this people only the Holy Ghost so speakes O Lord we were thine enemies as well as they and whilest we were thine enemies we were reconciled to God the Father by the precious death of thee his Son For the Scripture setteth forth his love to us that whilest we were yet sinners he dyed for us He for us alone for us all the same spirit which set before him expedit mori did sweeten the brim of that sowre cup with this promise that when hee should make his soule an offering for sin hee should see his seed that as the whole earth was planted so it might be redeemed by one bloud as by one offence condemnation seized upon all so by the justification of one the benefit might redound unto all to the justification of life And this bloud thirsty Caiphas unwittingly intimated saying Expedit unum mori pro populo If one and he then dead could do thus much what can he not do now now that he liveth for ever He trod the wine-presse alone neither is there salvation in any other S. Stephen was stoned S. Paul beheaded Nunquid pro nobis No it cost more than so it is done to their hands there is one who by the oblation of himselfe alone once offered hath made a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world And that whilest it is a world for our Saviour that stood in the gap betwixt Gods wrath us catching the blow in his own body hath by his bloud purchased an eternal redemption every one that beleeveth in him shal not perish but have life everlasting In the number of which beleevers if we be then is the fruit of his meritorious passion extended to us we may challenge our interest therein and in our persons the Prophet speaketh He bare our infirmities and carried our sorrowes he was wounded for our transgressions the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes are we healed Which great benefit as it is our bounden duty to remember at all times so this time this day Vivaciorem animi sensum puriorem mentis exigit intuitum recursus temporis textus lectionis as S. Leo speaketh The annuall recourse of the day and this text fitted to it calleth to our minde the worke wrought the means by which it was wrought on this day to him a day of wrath of darknesse of blacknesse heavie vengeance but to us a good day a good Friday a day of deliverance freedome a day of jubilee and triumph For as on this day by the power of his Crosse were we delivered from the sting of sin and tyranny of Satan so that whereas we might for ever have sung that mournfull Elegy O wretched men that we are who shal deliver us from death hell we are now enabled to insult over both O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory Which victory of our Saviour and ours through him so dearly purchased when we call to mind let us consider withall that as the cause of this conflict on his part was his love to us so on our parts it was the hainousness of our sinne not otherwise to be expiated than by his death And as the first ought to raise us up to give annuall daily continuall thankes to him who did and suffered so much for us so the second should withhold us keep us back from sin that since our Saviour dyed for our sin we should dye to sin rather dye than sin This bloud once shed is good to us Expedit nobis if to faith in that bloud we joyn a life beseeming Christianity but if by our crying sins trespasses we crucifie him againe we make even that bloud which of it selfe speaketh for us better things than the bloud of Abel in stead of pardon to cry for vengeance against us Let us therfore looke up to him the author and finisher of our salvation beseeching him who with the bloud of his passion clave rockes stones asunder with the same bloud which is not yet nor ever will be dry to mollifie and soften our hard hearts that seriously considering the hainousnesse of our sins which put him to death and his unexpressible unconceivable love that for us he would dye the death even the death of the Crosse we may in token of our thankfulness endeavour to offer up our soules and bodies as a reasonable sacrifice to him that offered himselfe a sacrifice for us and now sitteth at the right hand of God to this end that where he our Redeemer is there wee his people and dearest purchase may be for ever THE SECOND ROW And in the second row thou shalt set a Carbuncle a Saphir and a Diamond THat the second Speaker that sweet singer of Israel whose ditty was Awake sing ye that sleep in dust made according to my Text a row or Canticum graduum a Psalme of ascents or degrees I cannot but even in a duty of thankfulnesse acknowledge for the help of memory I received from it had not he made a row that is digested disposed his matter in excellent order I should never have bin able to present to you the jewels set in this row which are all as you see most orient Of all red stones the Carbuncle of all blew the Saphir Plin. nat hist l. 37. of all simply the Diamond hath been ever held in highest esteem Maximum in rebus humanis pretium adamas habet non tantum inter gemmas Comment in Esay Carbunculus saith S. Jerome videtur mihi sermo doctrinae qui fugato errore tenebrarum illuminat corda credentium hic est quem unus de Seraphim tulit farcipe comprehensum ad Esayae labra purganda Whether this second Preacher in S. Pauls phrase a Prophet his tongue were not touched with such a coale I referre my selfe to your hearts and consciences Nonne
usque complectitur Aquinas equally joyneth them both Hìc est propositio resurrectionis vel corporalis in die novissimo vel à miseriâ captivitatis To conclude then as in the 37. chapter of Ezekiel the resurrection of the dead is brought in as an argument by God himselfe to ascertaine the people of their delivery from thraldome an argument à majore ad minus Can he raise and revive the dead and can he not much more restore the distressed yet I will be bold to say that the proper resurrection of the dead without the vaile of a metaphor in the hardest construction that can be made of the words is either the scope of the Prophet or his proofe his intent or his argument his maine and principal conclusion or his strongest principle to demonstrate his conclusion And Mr. Gualter giveth a good reason why all other comforts are sealed up with this doctrine and promise of the universall resurrection Quòd nulla alia sit certa solida consolatio because all other calmes are temporary fluxe and mutable from which there are recidivations and relapses into subsequent stormes By this time I am secure that no mist of an allegory can so trouble or dimme your eyes but that you clearly behold in the true glasse of my Text a faire and undoubted image of the resurrection of the dead which being the proper subject of this feast I hope I have sufficiently warranted the choice of my theame and so I proceed to the explication Thy dead shall live with my body shall they rise awake and sing Analysis Textus partium ordo divisio c. Yee see how many members there are in the body of my Text yet in resolution and in issue they are all but one It is a totum similare As the whole water of the sea is but water and yet every drop of the sea is water too so the whole bulke and shocke of my Text is the resurrection and yet every part and parcell thereof is the resurrection also for marke the words Vivent resurgent evigilabunt cantabunt germinabunt projicientur mortui cadaver pulvis habitatores pulveris herbae inferi seu manes What is this in the whole composition what in every limb joynt apari but the ecchoing and resounding from one to the other the doctrine of the resurrection To omit besides all these which have their tabernacle in the sun and are evident and apert professions thereof many secret minerall arguments couched in the bowels and bosome of my Text which shall be extracted in their due time Bees are not so like Bees but that there are individuall differences between them neither are the members of my Text so like but that they may bee distinguished Thus then by way of objection and answer you may perceive their distinction and order as also the maine scope to which they tend Doth any object Nihil est post mortem death is an utter extinction It is answered not so for thy dead shall live Doth he goe on and say they may live in their spirits which never dye but what for their bodies It is answered With my body shall they rise Rise doe you say but by what authority what shall be the instrument and meanes thereof The shrill sound of the last Trump awaking them out of their sleep and the voice of God Awake yee that dwell in dust Awake they may and rise but to no lesse wretchednesse and misery than before Answer They shall awake and sing it shall be a triumphant and joyfull resurrection Yea but shew us any signe thereof and we will beleeve it Answer Thy dew is the dew of herbs nature hath printed this truth in every garden thou walkest in Lastly if they say the earth hath devoured our bodies how shall we then arise It is answered Terra projiciet the earth shall bee driven to disgorge and cast them up againe There are degrees and ascents in my Text 1. Vivent may be in soule but 2. Resurgent must be in body 3. Evigilabunt may be to sorrow but 4. Cantabunt must be to joy 5. Ros herbarum is but a light from nature but 6. Terra projiciet is an act of irrisistible compulsory power The first is the fundamentall proposition and sheweth the entity what is and shall be Vivent mortui The second is exposition and sheweth the manner Resurgent The third is confirmation and sheweth the efficiency Evigilabunt The fourth is congratulation and sheweth the quality Cantabunt The fifth is illustration and sheweth the probability Ros herbarum The sixth and last is conclusion and sheweth the necessity Terra projiciet There is a time of gathering and a time of scattering These sixe either members or remarkable points and joynts of my Text hitherto severed sith the Prophet hath construed together I will reduce to three combinations and so handle them The 1. Vivent and resurgent 2. Evigilate and cantate 3. Ros tuus and terra projiciet The first combination or conjugation is Vivent and Resurgent There is a difference between them the former is partiall incompleat Abraham Isaac and Jacob were alive as is proved by our Saviours argument Deus non est Deus mortuorum sed viventium when their bodies were not living the latter is totall and absolute and addeth the life of the body to the life of the soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of that whereof before there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shal live therfore rise but who Mortui the dead the dead is the common genus sagena that comprehends all sorts good and bad Moritur pariter doctus indoctus in hoc tertio we all agree In the first and archetypall world when one man was as nine men had nine mens ages yet the end period of all their acts is Et mortuus est and whatsoever the chronicles of the Kings of Judah and Israel omit besides they omit not this Et dormivit cum patribus Death is that Syncope or Elision that cutteth not out letters or leaves but lives and which not Grammar but nature shall cause us to understand Mors ultima linea rerum our whole life being but linea circumducta rediens ad idem punctum à pulvere ad pulverem the assured period and full point after all other points pawses sections and intersections changes and vicissitudes of this mortall life after all our eatings and drinkings the symbolum or shot that must be paid the centre to which our corruptible body which presseth downe the soule doth by its weight and pronenesse forcibly tend Mortui Consider once for all the subject of this clause and all the proposition how it climbeth first mortui secondly cadaver thirdly pulvis fourthly habitatores pulveris fifthly inferi and manes free Denizons among the dead such as might say to corruption thou art our father and to wormes dust yee are our brothers and sisters Yet these dead carkasses
carrion dust inveterate dust netherlanders shall live and rise Non obstat potentiae Dei diuturna putredo walke but a pace or two backward yee shall find a negative to this affirmative the dead shall not live Is there yea and nay in the Holy Ghost Yea and both true For elucidation whereof take the rule of Brentius in his Nominibus meum tuum â—ita est tota vis concionis Thy dead shall rise that is the Lords dead either mortui propter Dominum as Martyrs or in Domino as all beleevers or quorum tota vita martyrium whether they live or dye they are the Lords Interfecti mei in some readings in the genuine cadaver meum the dead being or which are my body and then by collection as Junius well observeth cadavera mea quoque all the bodies of my Saints which are as it were mine because they belong to my mysticall body Now then when it was said Mortui non resurgent Mortui was put simply and without addition as Hyperius saith but in these propositions mortui vivent cadaver resurget you have a specificall difference not omnes mortui but tui that is Gods cadaver non omne sed meum that is Christs opposite whereunto are mortui Satanae cadaver Antichristi Hence commeth that seeming antilogie or contradictio linguarum strife of tongues Resurgent non resurgent they shall they shall not rise But shall not all live and rise againe Doubtlesse they shall the righteous in a right and reall acception their life is a life indeed vitall immortall Angelicall nourished at the tree and fountaine of life animated and perpetuated from the Lord of life and they rise as the morning Sunne fairer and fairer to a glorious joyfull incorruptible and celestiall resurrection Non sic impii non sic they live or rather dye a death and that the second and that second a thousand fold or rather they live a life a terme without terme of beeing and not being corrupting and not ceasing burning and not consuming Ignis eorum non interit they shall never be able to extinguish their fire nor their fire them absumit ut servet servat ut cruciet the Salamanders of hell fire are kept in torment and vexation for evermore and they rise ut lapsu graviore ruant as Jezebel was mounted to the window to be cast downe to the dogs as Herod to his throne for a more wofull and spectable ruine as Lucifer or rather Tenebrifer as Bernard calleth him to the side of the mountaine for a more astonishable confusion Our Saviour knits up both in two words Some shall rise to the resurrection of life there is the true vivent resurgent some to the resurrection of condemnation there is the opposite The second combination is Evigilate cantate yee shall observe in this and divers other passages in this Prophet divers interlocutions prosopopeia's and changing of persons First here the Prophet speaketh to God or God to Christ Thy dead shall live Secondly Christ to his Father With my body shall they rise Thirdly here is Gods apostrophe to the dead Awake and sing Fourthly the answer of the dead to God Ros tuus that is quem tu irrorasti or Gods apostrophe to his Church Ros tuus id est qui super te cadet O Ecclesia mea Last of all as it were the chorus and consent of all Terra projiciet Awake and sing are Gods alarum to the dead habitatores pulveris the houshold and meniall to dust Now what voice but the voice of God shall I say like a Trumpet or the roaring of a Lion or the sound of many waters or a clap or crack of thunder all come too short were able to enforme and actuate dust and rubble to audience Loquor ad Dominum might they say with Abraham cùm sim pulvis cinis Howsoever pulvis cinis in synthesi may doe it I am sure pulvis cinis in analysi cannot Wee attempt not to rowze up those that are in a dead sleep without loud cries but is any man so mad as to spend his voice though a stentorian and rend his throat against deafe rockes Behold God doth more than this by that powerfull instrument of his glorious Word that gladius delphicus that is more than Moses rod wherewith hee wrought wonders more than Jacobs staffe wherewith hee prospered more than Judah's scepter wherewith hee governed more than Joseph's cup wherewith hee divined I say by that powerfull instrument by which hee said Fiant to heaven and earth and they were created Effata to deafe eares and they were opened Tace to the raging of the sea and it was stilled Obmutesce to the crying Divell he was silenced Exi foras to the dead carkasses they came forth by that doth he say to these dead and moultred in the earth Awake and sing Awake but with what eyes to behold the light of heaven when the windowes of their bodies have bin long since shut downe their chrystall glasses of nature broken their seers sunke into the holes of their head clay dwelleth in their tabernacles and rottennesse in their circles and the scorne of the Idoll in Baruch is fallen upon them They cannot wipe the dust from their eyes And sing How shall they sing in a strange land what be their instruments to sing to where is their living harpe and well tuned cymball is it hung upon the willowes of Babylon or rather tyed to the roofe of their mouth where are their songs of praise and thanksgiving which they sang in the land of the living Olim ego longas Cantando memini solitum consumere noctes Nunc oblita mihi tot carmina We are now laid in the land of forgetfulnesse we have taken up and made our beds in the darke our mouth is filled with gravell and the slime of the pit sticketh in our throats all this notwithstanding they that are in their tombes graves shall heare the voice of the Son of man earth earth earth in Jeremy winnowed and boulted by death into the smallest dust shall be effigiated and shaped anew into living men Et ex his vermiculis pulvere saith Saint Bernard instaurabuntur muri coelistis Jerusalem Before I end this second combination I remember that I noted unto you two things first the efficiency in the exuscitation Awake where forget not in the meane while to reserve for a latter meditation that death by the phrase of my Text is a sleep secondly the quality for sith they are willed to sing that imports a joyfull resurrection Musica in luctu importuna and it must be a most joyfull resurrection when such as shall partake thereof not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Seventy but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquilas and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symmachus and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodotian Agreeable hereunto is that of our Saviour Lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh And here
once more to the wicked we send libellum repudii Non est vobis pars neque sors yee may not consort with us in our blessed harmony the voices of Ashdod and Canaan cannot tune together to you belongeth plangent tribus terrae tribulabitur ibi fortis your singing shall be turned to sighing your Tabrets Shaumes into everlasting beatings and hammerings on the anviles of your breast your showting into howling and yelling your clapping of hands into gnashing of teeth your praising into blaspheming cursing all your rejoycing shall be as the mourning of Hadradrimmon in the valley of Megiddo yea much more than of Hadradrimmon because in the valley of Hinnon is the lake and fornace of endlesse disconsolation This Prophet shall conclude Behold my servants shall rejoyce and ye shall be ashamed my servants shall sing for joy of heart and ye shall cry for sorrow and howle for vexation of mind The third combination is Ros tuus terra projiciet which giveth a double proofe of the former doctrine the one as it were of course nature and common sense teacheth the other of force the creature must and shall accomplish it Terra projiciet that is saith Rabbie David Thou O God shalt command it The learned in their Commentaries distinguish these proofes by a discrepancy of words Elicere proper to the dew and projicere fatall to the earth the dew gently allureth and calleth forth the herbes so doth the Word Spirit of God sweetly and easily bring up may I say these embryo's of death But say that the earth withhold them opposing her lockes and barres and pleading perhaps the prescription of hundreds or thousands of yeeres there is then place for projiciet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 angry and impatient though she be reddet non sua she must cast them up as the stomach a surfeit and a woman an abortive fruit See how God hath furnished us with all sorts of arguments if Liber foederis will not serve wee may reade in the booke of nature or rather Bibliotheca librorum described with a text hand in faire and capitall letters the resurrection of the dead Interroga jumenta saith Job Interroga olera saith my Prophet Considera Lilia agri saith our Saviour looke into the fields or sit still in your gardens every one under his owne vine and behold the growth of the plants and flowers how after the cold of Winter when the deadnesse of the yeere had blotted and blurred as it were the face of the earth and the print of nature seemeth to bee quite razed out yet as Esay speaketh of the Oake and Elme there is a substance in them and by the comfort of the vernall sun-shine and fatnesse of the clouds dropping on them they garnish and cover the earth againe as with the carpets of Egypt and clothe it as with a Josephs coate with all the variety of colours nature can invent Nature is full of such demonstrations I could bring you a band of creatures to strengthen this point The bird of Arabia that riseth out of her owne ashes the insecta animalia that spend the Winter season in a shadow of death the seed that lyeth and dyeth in the earth our sleepings and awakings nights and dayes winters and summers autumnes and springs but I leave them all and cleave to the resemblance in my Text Thy dew is as the dew of herbes but when this dew and soft distillation is too weake to worke this effect God hath a torrent and floud to doe it Terra ejiciet contermina terrae the sea that is married to the earth lyeth in her armes bosome He shall say to the sea Give and to the earth Restore and all creatures in them and in all the world besides that have devoured and swallowed the flesh of his chosen when that day commeth shall find that they have eaten morsels like aspes and dranke a draught of deadly poyson too strong and hard of digestion for their over weak stomachs I end with the words of this Prophet chapt 66. Quis audivit unquam tale quis vidit huic simile nunquid parturiet terra in die unâ tota gens parietur simul at this day it shall be so Saphirus aureis punctis collucet the best kind of Saphir The recapitulation with addition of appendant arguments saith the Naturalist hath something like points of gold in it Such were these we now handled give mee leave to use the Speakers phrase though not in his sense spare mee to recapitulate or rather from recapitulation for what have I done else all this while Mee thinkes the sixe parts of this Text are like the six cities of refuge Deut. 19. to which those that had slain shall I say nay rather those that are slain may flye to save shall I say nay but to recover and restore their lives and they are all like the wheeles in Ezekiels vision Rota in rotâ or as the celestiall Spheres one in the other all moving alike to the same purpose all striving for an Article of faith one of the twelve flowers in the garland of our Creed one of the twelve stones in the foundation of the holy City I remember in the inheritance of Judah among the rest there fell to their share sex civitates villae earum Is there any such a desart so barren so hopelesse so waste as death and the grave desertion of life and beeing when milke forsaketh the breasts marrow the bones bloud the veines spirit the arteries and the soule the body yet when you are brought to this desart of desarts you shall find sex civitates villas earum six maine and eminent proofes of the resurrection with as many lesse like suburbs granges and appertinent villages For first Mortui vivent is a maine argument grounded upon the Word and Promise like civitas but mortui tui is civitas villa a maine with an appendant argument drawne from the propriety that God hath in us Secondly Cadaver resurget is civitas but cadaver meum is civitas villa a maine argument with an appendant drawn from the society between the head the members he that raised Christ shall quicken us Thirdly Awake sing are civitates main arguments drawn from the command power of God who saith Returne ye sons of Adam and they return but that the nature of the phrase should import a sleep no death no privation of speech but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pythagoricam for a while till God loosen the strings of the tongue and put breath into the organ againe these are civitates villae earum Yet further by Montanus his collection pulvis habitatores pulveris are villae appendant arguments the one from the matter of our creation when we are at the worst we are but dust from which our creation was and why may not from thence our recreation be the other from the terme of our abode habitatio which
Neither doe they stand much upon it for another of them saith Dicit Doctor meus citat divum Thomam quòd quando Apostoli erant ordinati Sacerdotes erant sine scientiâ Yet Bernard in his Epistle ad Eugenium maketh knowledge one of the keyes Claves vestras qui sanùm sapiunt alteram in discretione alteram in potestate collocant Doctr. 3 The most received opinion of the reformed Churches is That there is but one key in essence and that is Ministerium Verbi The Kingdome of God is compared to a house the doore of this house is Christ John 10.7 the key to open and shut this doore is the preaching of the Word Wee are the savour of death unto death unto some there is the power of binding to others of life unto life there is the power of loosing Hee that refuseth mee the word which I have spoken shall judge him there is the power of binding againe The truth shall make you free there is loosing But how many soever the keyes bee Christ hath them Non solùm authoritativè sed etiam possessivè What meaneth then Bellarmine in his bookes de Romano Pontifice to imply that the keyes remaine in Christs hands onely at the vacancy of the Popedome What a blasphemy is that of Cusanus who saith that potestas ligandi solvendi non minor est in Ecclesiâ quà m fuit in Christo and that of Maldonatus Christus Petro vices suas tradidit ipsamque clavem excellentiae that key of David which openeth and no man shutteth Or if hee have not this key so absolutely as Christ yet beyond all comparison above other Bishops they have the keyes of Heaven sed quodam modo and with an huc usque licet Whereupon Petrus de palude observeth that it was said of them Quaecunque solveritis in terrâ erunt soluta in coelo but of Saint Peter Brunt soluta in coelis Pardon I beseech you the enlargement of this point Blasphemiae dies haec est Rabsakeh hath blasphemed the living God The Pharisees and Scribes accounted it blasphemy to attribute forgivenesse of sinnes to any but God I am hee that blotteth out thine iniquity saith God by the Prophet Esay Whereupon Saint Jerome commenting saith Solus peccata dimittit qui pro peccatis mortuus est and Saint Austine accordeth with him Nemo tollit peccata nisi solus Deus tollit autem dimittendo quae facta sunt adjuvando ne fiant perducendo ad locum ubi fieri non possunt What then doth the Minister upon confession and contrition Hee pronounceth the penitent absolved or to attribute the most unto him hee absolveth the person in facie Ecclesiae remitteth not the sinne absolutely before God Saint Ambrose shall make up the reckoning Verbum Dei dimittit peccata Sacerdos est Judex Sacerdos officium exhibet sed nullius potestatis jura exercet Use 1 1. Hath Christ the keyes of death and hell O then let us kisse the Sonne lest hee bee angry and so wee perish out of the right way 2. Hath Christ the keyes of hell and death if then wee belong to Christ and follow his banner let us not care what death or hell man or divell can doe against us Transvectus vada Tartari Pacatis redit inferis Jam nullus superest timor Nil ultrà jacet inferos Jesus of Nazareth is returned from hell not as Theseus and Hercules with a Crosse and a Flagge but with principalities and powers chained before his triumphant chariot he doth not now threaten death as before O mors ero tua mors but insulteth over it O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Thankes bee unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Cui c. THE FOURTH ROW And in the fourth row a Chrysolite an Onyx and a Jasper A Jasper is a mixt stone consisting at least of two kinds of gemmes and therefore may not unfitly decipher our Saviour consisting of two natures who by inviting all to come unto him animi constantiam promovet comforteth fainting spirits which as Rueus saith is the vertue of the Chrysolite after his invitation promising to secure and rest all burthened and weary soules hee proveth himselfe an Onyx wherewith as Nilus saith the Nobles of Egypt made supporters for their beds If wee admit the Beryll into this fourth ranke because it is mentioned with the rest in the Apocalypse and set here in the first place by Saint Jerome Junius Tostatus and the Kings Translatours wee shall lose nothing by the change for the Beryll as Abulensis and others affirme is of singuâ—â—â—â—ertue to cure waterish and running eyes True it very well may bee in the stone but true I am sure i◠〈◊〉 â—â—e doctrine which this stone according to his ranke and myâ—â—â— her division standeth for This promise of our Saviour I will easâ— you is the onely Beryll in the world which can stay the water of their running eyes who weep for and sigh under the heavie burthen of sinne Yee see this fourth order is not out of order but sorteth well with the doctrine of the fourth Speaker and doth it not as well sort with the parts of the Preacher The Chrysolite is a solid stone not spangled or spotted with golden points as other gems but as it were gilt all over which may well represent the solidity of his proofes and uniformity of his whole discourse The Onyx a transparent gemme resembleth the perspicuity of his stile and the Jasper a stone full of veines setteth before us the plenty of Scripture sentences which like little veines were diffused through the whole body of his Sermon and in respect of these we may more truly say of it than To status of the Jasper Quot venae tot virtutes so many veines so many vertues The embossment of gold wherein these gemmes of divine doctrine were set was his Text taken out of A Sermon preached on Easter Tuesday by Master Bates fellow of Trinity Colledge afterwards Parson of S Clements and Prebend of Westminster MATTH 11.28 Come unto mee all yee that are weary and heavie laden and I will ease you MAn at the first was made a goodly creature in the image of his Maker having so neere neighbourhood with the eternall Majesty that hee dwelt in God and God in him but by his woefull revolt hee deprived himselfe of that sweet contentment hee still should have enjoyed in God and by his proud rebellion erected a Babel and partition wall whereby hee debarred himselfe of the fruition of him whom to behold is the height of all that good any creature can desire But mans Creatour retaining his love to that which hee had made though altogether blemished with that which wee had done looked downe upon us with a compassionate eye of his tender mercie suffered us not being desirous of the meanes of salvation with bootlesse travells still to wander in darknesse as strangers from the
an ornament to beautifie us well may we like the Church of Sardis have a name that we live but we are dead we are in the gall of bitternesse and the burden of sinne hath pressed us downe to the bottomlesse pit which is now ready to shut her mouth upon us O then let us cr◠out of the depth abyssus abyssum invocet let the depth of our misery implore the depth of his bottomlesse mercy and behold the Angel of peace is at hand for now and never before are we fit subjects for this good Samaritan to worke upon Come unto mee all that are heavie laden The Spirit of God is upon mee to preach health to those that are broken in heart liberty to the captives and to them that mourne beauty for ashes and the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heavinesse whence you see that none are admitted into Christs Hospitall but lame sicke and distressed wretches for whom hee hath received grace above measure that where sinne appeared above measure sinfull grace might appeare without measure pitifull Wilt thou then have thy wounds healed open them Wilt thou that I raise thee up to heaven deject thy selfe downe to hell Ille laudabilior qui humilior justior qui sibi abjectior Use 2 As this may serve to rebuke such Seers as labour not to discover the filthinesse that lyeth in the skirts of Jerusalem but sow pillowes under mens elbowes and dawbe up with untempered mortar the breach of sinne in our soules Use 3 so may it lesson all hearers as patiently to abide the sharpe wine of the Law as the supple oyle of the Gospel as well the shepheards rod of correction as his staffe of comfort in a word to endure Bezaliel and Aholiab to cut off the rough and ragged knobs as they desire to be smooth timber in that building wherein Christ Jesus is the corner-stone poenitentia istius temporis dolor medicinalis est poenitentia illius temporis dolor poenalis est now our sorrow for our sinnes will prove a repentance not to be repented of then shall our sorrow be remedilesse our repentance fruitlesse our misery endlesse Wherefore I say with Bernard Illius Doctoris vocem libenter audio qui non sibi plausum sed mihi planctum moveat I like him that will set the worme of conscience on gnawing while there is time to choake it rodat putredinem ut codendo consumat ipse pariter consumatur In the meane time let this bee our comfort that God will not suffer the sting of conscience too much to torment us but with the oyle of his grace will mitigate the rage of the paine and heale the festred sore which it hath made with the plaister of his owne bloud And I will ease you Thus farre you have traversed the wildernesse of Sin tired out in that desart and languishing in that dry land and shadow of death now behold gaudium in fine sed sine fine Happy your departure out of Egypt and blessed your travell and obedience you are now to drinke of the comfortable waters that issue out of the spirituall rocke in Horeb Christ Jesus and to refresh your wearied limbes and tired soules therewith I will ease you Doctr. 4 I. Man cannot for man is a sinner and a sinner cannot be a Saviour Angels cannot for man in Angels nature cannot bee punished God cannot for he is impassible Saints neither may nor can for they need a Saviour but I will For I am man and in your nature can dye I am God and by any infinite merits can satisfie and so by my means Gods mercy and justice may stand together righteousnesse and peace may kisse each other Thus that faith may looke out of the earth to embrace you the day-springing from on high hath visited you Thrice blessed then must poore hunger-bit and distressed soules bee who have not a churlish Nabal with power wanting will nor a King of Samaria with will wanting power but Elshaddai a God all-sufficient to relieve and satisfie them and for his will no Assuerus so ready to cheare up a dolefull Hester as he a drouping soule no Joseph so ready to sustaine his father in famine and death as he is ready with pitty to save a soule from death Noli fugere Adam quia nobiscum est Deus Who shall lay any thing to our charge sith it is God that doth justifie Pleasant and sweet were the waters of Meribah to the thirstie Israelites of Aenochore to Sampsons fainting spirits gratefull the newes of life to sicke Hezekiah but our Saviours Epiphonema thy sinnes are forgiven thee goe in peace is mel in ore melos in aure jubilum in corde The strings of my tongue cannot be so loosened that I may expresse the extasie of joy which every sin-burdened soule feeleth whether in the body or out of the body shee cannot tell in that by assurance of faith shee can say My Justifier is with mee who being Emmanuel God with us is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man with God one with God in will and power and wholly for us in power and will Use 1 Woe worth then all such as forsaking the fountaine of living water dig to themselves broken pits of their owne merits Saints intercession and the Churches treasurie Is there no balme in Gilead to cure us no God in Israel to help us Si verax Deus qui promittit mendax utique homo qui diffidit saith St. Bernard For I demand Doe they distrust his power All power is given him in heaven and in earth Matth. 28.18 Doe they doubt his will Behold he saith Come unto me before we offer our selves and I will ease you not do my best or endeavour it is no presumption to beleeve Christ on his word and rest on it with full assurance Use 2 Againe can none say but Christ I will ease you How hopelesse then is their travell how endlesse their paine who seeke for hearts-ease in any garden but the Paradise of God or hope for contentment in any transitorie object the world affordeth To see Asses feed upon thistles for grapes were enough to move the spleene of an Agelastus they have a faire shew like flowers but pricke in the mouth Alas what anguish and horrour must there needs be Cum domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu Miscetur when their consciences like Sauls evill spirit haunteth and vexeth them at the heart when they brave it out in the face and what is their foolish laughter among their boone associates but the cracking of thornes under a pot suddenly extinguished and turned into ashes and mourning Well may they like the heathenish Romans of old have their gods of feare and terrour but sure they can have none of ease comfort or quiet O let not our soule enter into their secrets but let our peace be still as it is in God and the repose of our troubled conscience in our Saviours love who was made a curse for us that
for one Starre differeth from another in glory and so shall be the resurrection of the dead 5. Fifthly looke yee yet neerer upon these shining stones and yee shall finde that they will not onely delight and lighten the eyes of your understanding but also heate and enflame your devout affections They are as twelve precious bookes wherein you may reade many excellent lessons printed with indeleble characters You see cleerly here the names of each of the Tribes in severall engraven let your marginall note be God hath from all eternity decreed a certaine number of Elect to bee saved and hee hath written their names in severall in the booke of life 6. Sixthly observe that the names of the Tribes are not written in paper nor carved in wood but engraven in solid and precious stones with the point of a Diamond never to be razed out let your interlineary glosse be None of those whose names are written in the book of life can be stricken out For there is no blotting interlining nor variae lectiones in that booke stars there are but no obeliskes the Elect therefore though they may fall grievously and dangerously yet not totally nor finally Stella cadens non est stella cometa fuit Were you beloved but embossed or enammeled in the ring upon our Saviours finger you were safe enough for no man can plucke any thing out of our Saviours hand but now that you are engraven as signets on our Saviours heart what can be your feare what may be your joy Is it so doth our high Priest set us on his heart and shall not wee set our heart on him shall we esteem any thing too deare for him who esteemeth us so deare unto him Hee who once upon the Crosse shed his heart bloud for us still beareth us upon his heart and esteemeth of us as Cornelia did of her Gracchi and presenteth us as it were in her words to his Father Haec sunt ornamenta mea these be my jewels Doth he make such reckoning of us and is it our desire he should doe so then for the love of our Redeemer let us not so dishonour him as to fill the rowes of his breast-plate with glasse in stead of jewels let us not make him present to his Father either counterfeit stones through our hypocrisie or dusky through earthlinesse and worldly corruption let us rub scowre and brighten the good graces of God in us that they may shine in us we may be such as our Saviour esteemeth us to be that is orient and glorious jewels The summe of all is this Yee have heard of foure rowes of precious stones set in bosses of gold upon Aarons breast-plate and by the foure rowes you understand the foure well ordered methodicall Sermons by me rehearsed by the jewels either the eminent parts of the Preachers or their precious doctrines by the embossments of gold in which these precious gems of divine doctrine were set their texts nothing remaineth but that the breast-plate being made you put it on and as Aaron did beare it on your hearts By wearing bearing it there you shall receive vertue from it and in some sort participate of the nature of these jewels in modesty of the Ruby in chastity of the Emrald in purity of the Onyx in temperance of the Amethyst in ardent love of the Carbuncle in invincible constancy of the Adamant in sacrificing your dearest hearts bloud and affections to Christ in passion for him if you be called thereunto of the Hematite You shall gloriously beautifie the brest-plate of our Aaron who hath put on his glorious apparrell and sacred robes and is entred into the Sanctum Sanctorum in heaven and at this time beareth our names on his breast for a remembrance before God his father and long it shall not be ere he come from thence and all eyes shall t Apoc. 1.7 see him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him then shall he say to us Lift up your heads looke upon my breast reade every one your name engraven in a rich jewell You were faithfull unto death therefore see here now I give you a crowne of life behold in it for every Christian vertue a jewel for every penitent teare Chrystall Pearle for every green blew wound or stripe endured for me an Emrald and a Saphir for every drop of bloud shed for the Gospel a Ruby and an Hematite weare this for my sake and reigne with mee for evermore Cui c. THE DEVOUT SOULES MOTTO A Sermon preached in Saint Peters Church in Lent Anno 1613. THE XXXVI SERMON PSAL. 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee O Lord and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee Right Worshipfull c. THe words which our a Luke 12.49 Saviour spake concerning the issue and successe of his preaching may serve fitly for a preface to my intended discourse upon this Text Ignem veni missurus inter vos quid volo nisi ut accendatur I come to put fire among you or rather in you and what is my desire but that by the blasts and motions of Gods Spirit and the breath of my mouth it may presently bee kindled and burne in your hearts Burne it will not without fuell take heed therefore saith b In opusc Cave ne injicias quod fumum aut foetorem ministret Bonaventure what you cast into this fire to feed the flame for if it be grosse impure and earthy matter the flame will be obscure and the fume unsavoury but if it be refined pure and celestiall the flame will be cleare and the fume a sweet perfume in the nostrils of Almighty God Nadab and c Levit. 10.1 Abihu smoaked themselves for offering strange fire upon Gods Altar but wee are like to burne in unquenchable fire if wee offer not continually the fire I am now to treat of upon the Altar of our hearts and yet it is a strange fire too for it giveth light yet burneth not or rather it burnes yet consumeth not or rather it consumes yet impaires not but dilateth and enlargeth the heart Other fire burnes blacke and marreth the beauty of the body but this contrariwise giveth beauty to the soule for as Saint d Mor. in Job l. 18. Non clarescit anima fulgore aeternae pulchritudinis nisi hic arserit in officinâ charitatis Gregory rightly observeth the soule shineth not with the brightnesse of everlasting beauty that burneth not in the forge of charity With this beauty God is so enamoured that Saint e De dilig Deo Major est in amore Dei qui plures traxerit ad amorem Dei Bernards observation is true that he is greatest in favour and in the love of God who draweth most to the love of God If we desire to know saith Saint f Aug. Enchirid ad Laurent c. 117. Austine what a man is wee enquire not what he beleeveth or what he hopeth
all spirituall graces necessary to the salvation of the Elect some things conditionally as the blessings of this life so farre as they tend to the attaining of a better hereafter In like manner some judgements he denounceth absolutely as the destruction of the kingdome of Satan and Antichrist others upon condition expressed or understood as the subversion of Niniveh the present death of Hezekiah To apply these distinctions to our purpose and close upon the very point in question when any order set downe by God for a time altereth at the time the date being expired or any Prophesie depending upon a condition falleth with it God is said to repent though he indeed doe nothing lesse the change that appeares in the things themselves being nothing else but the execution of an unchangeable decree of God for their change The meaning then of this phrase will not repent is that the Priesthood of Christ is not like that of Aaron which was after a time to expire and is now actually with all the ceremoniall law abolished but a Priesthood never to be altered or changed The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest There are three things that especially appertained to the office of Aaron and his Successours 1 To keepe the originall and authenticall copie of the law together with the golden pot of Manna and the two tables written with the finger of God and the Rod that budded 2. To offer sacrifices both ordinary every day and upon their set feasts and sabbaths and extraordinary upon speciall occasions 1. Either to professe their thankfulnesse to God and magnifie his goodnesse which may be called gratulatory or eucharisticall 2. Or to confesse their sins and appease his wrath which are called expiatory or propitiatory 3. To present themselves before God for the people to assure on their part obedience to God by way of promise or stipulation and procure Gods favour to them by way of mediation All which parts of their Priestly function they performed but typically and imperfectly for neither did they keep the Law entirely nor so much as the copy of it in later times neither did their sacrifices purge thoroughly neither did their prayers prevaile effectually but our high Priest hath fulfilled all righteousnesse and by one oblation of himselfe hath made a perfect satisfaction for the sins of the whole world and he is in that grace and favour with God that he putteth up no petition on our behalfe but hee getteth it signed by his Father The Leviticall Priests laid up the true originall of the Law both written in the bookes of Moses and engraven in the two Tables in the Arke as a jewell in a sacred casket but our high Priest both kept the Law it selfe and perfectly fulfilled it and writeth it also in the tables of our hearts they presented offerings for the sin of the soule but he made his soule an offering for sinne Esay 53.10 they appeared but once a yeere in the Holy of holies for the people but hee being entred into the Sanctum sanctorum the Heaven of heavens sits at the right hand of his Father and perpetually by the merits of his passion intercedeth for us Now the reasons which moved him to take upon him this office of a Priest are conceived to be these 1. Because the salvation and redemption of mankind wrought by the sacrifice of his Priesthood being a most noble worke and not inferiour to the creation it was not fit that any should have the honour of it but the Son of God 2. Neither was it agreeable that any should offer him who was the only sacrifice that could expiate the sinnes of the whole world but himselfe therefore by offering himselfe he added infinite worth to the sacrifice and great honour to the Priesthood of the Gospel For as the gold sanctified not the altar but the altar the gold so it may be truly said without impeachment to the dignity of that calling that Christ was rather an honour to the Priesthood than the Priesthood an addition unto him For what got he by the Priesthood which cost him his life what preferment could it be to him to take upon him an office whereby hee was to abase himselfe below himself and be put to an ignominious and accursed death What were we vile miscreants conceived and borne in originall sinne and soyled with the filth of numberlesse actuall transgressions that to purge and cleanse our polluted soules and defiled consciences the second person in Trinity should be made a Priest It was wonderfull humility in him to wash his Disciples feet but in his divine person to wash our uncleane soules is as farre above humane conceit as it seemeth below divine majesty There is nothing so impure as a fowle conscience no matter so filthy no corruption so rotten and unsavoury as is found in the sores of an exulcerated mind yet the Sonne of God vouchsafed to wash and bathe them in his owne bloud O bottomlesse depth of humility and mercy other Priests were appointed by men for the service of God but hee was appointed by God for the service and salvation of men other Priests spilt the bloud of beasts to save men but he shed his owne bloud to save us more like beasts than men other Priests offered sacrifice for themselves he offered himselfe for a sacrifice other Priests were fed by the sacrifices which the people brought but he feeds us with the sacrifice of his owne body and bloud Lastly others were appointed Priests but for a time hee was ordained a Priest For ever The rod of Aaron was a type of the Priesthood of Christ which shooteth forth three buds or blossomes 1. Obedience the fruit whereof is our righteousnesse 2. Sacrifice the fruit whereof is our satisfaction 3. Intercession the fruit whereof is our confidence and bold accesse to the throne of grace The two first buds seemed to wither at our Saviours death though the fruit thereof be still preserved but the third though it put it selfe forth in his life time yet it more flourished after his ascension For although our blessed Redeemer now no more observe the ceremoniall Law to which he gave a period at his consummatum est nor offer any more sacrifice of his owne yet he still offereth up our sacrifices of praises and thanksgiving he still presenteth us unto God and laboureth to reconcile God unto us hee layes open before his Father his bloudy wounds and stripes and by them beseecheth him to have mercy upon us and in this respect as well because the dignity of his Priesthood still remaines in himselfe and the effect in us as because continually he blesseth us and mediateth for us he is stiled a Priest for ever not such a Priest as the Levites were who held their office for their life and after left it to their successors who were in the end to resigne it into the hands of a Mediatour but such a Priest as Melchizedek was a
after what order our Popist Priests are made whether after the order of Aaron or Melchizedek If after the order of Aaron then are they to offer bloudie sacrifices and performe other carnall rites long agoe abrogated if after the order of Melchizedek then they are very happie For then they are to be Kings and Priests then they are not to succeed any other nor any other them then as hath beene shewed they are singular everlasting and royall Priests We may put a like interrogatorie to many of our Brownists or Anabaptisticall Teachers who run before they are sent and answer before they are called being like wandering starres fixed in no certaine course or wilde corne growing where they were not sowne or like unserviceable pieces of Ordnance which flie off before they are discharged If men though endowed with gifts might discharge a Pastorall function or doe the worke of an Evangelist without a lawfull mission St. Pauls question had beene to little purpose u Rom. 10.15 How shall they preach unlesse they be sent What calling have these men ordinarie or extraordinarie If ordinarie where are their orders if extraordinarie where are their miracles If Christ himselfe would not take upon him the Priesthood till he was called thereunto as Aaron what intolerable presumption is it in these not to take but to make their owne commission and to call men by the Gospell without a calling according to the Gospell It is not more unnaturall for a man to beget himselfe than to ordaine himselfe a Priest But because these men will not be ordered by reason I leave them to authority and come to the Sixth observation which is the Prerogative of Christ Obs 6. who was ordained a Priest of Melchizedeks order whereby he was qualified to beare both offices Kingly and Priestly For that Christ alone may execute both charges besides the faire evidence of this Scripture Uzziahs judgement maketh it a ruled case who presuming to burne incense to the Lord incensed the wrath of God against himselfe A rare and singular judgement and worthy perpetuall memorie he who not content to sway the royall Scepter would lay hold on the Censer and discharge both offices was for ever discharged of both and even then when he tooke upon him to cleanse the people was smitten with a foule and unclean x 2 Chr. 26.20 disease So dangerous a thing is it even for Soveraigne Princes the Lords Annointed to encroach upon the Church and assume unto themselves and usurpe Christs prerogative Whereof the Bishops of Roane and Rhemes were bold to bid their Sovereigne Lewis the then French King beware informing him Quod solus Christus fieri potuit Rex Sacerdos that it was the prerogative of Christ alone to beare both offices And Pope y Causab l. de libert Eccles Gratian. dist 96. cum ad verum Nicolas himselfe concurreth with them in judgement When the truth that was Christ saith he was once come after that neither did the Emperour take upon him the Bishops right nor the Bishop usurp the Emperours because the same Mediatour of God and man the man Christ Jesus distinguisheth the offices of each power assigning unto them proper actions to the end that the Bishop which is a souldier of Christ should not wholly intangle himselfe in worldly affaires and againe the Prince which is occupied in earthly matters should not be ruler of divine things viz. the preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments To make a medley saith z Syn. â—p Synesius of spirituall and temporall power is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is great difference between the Scepter and the Censer the Chaire of Moses and the Throne of David the tongue of the Minister and the hand of the Magistrate the materiall sword that killeth and the spirituall that quickeneth To the King saith St. a De verb. Esa Chrysostome are the bodies of men committed to the Priest their soules the King pardoneth civill offences and crimes the Priest remitteth the guilt of sinne in the conscience the King compelleth the Priest exhorteth the Kings weapons are outward and materiall the Priests inward and spirituall A like distinction St. b Hieron ad Heliod Rex nolentibus praeest Episcopus volentibus c. Jerome maketh betweene them The King ruleth men though unwilling the Bishop can doe good upon none but those that are willing the King holdeth his subjects in awe with feare and terrour the Priest is appointed for the service of his flocke the King mastereth their bodies with death the Priest preserveth their soules to life But the farthest of any St. c Bern. de consid ad Eugen. Reges gentium dominanturâ—â—s vos non sic aude ergo usurpare aut Dominus Apostolatum aut Apostolicus Dominatum Bernard presseth this point and toucheth Pope Eugenius to the quicke It is the voice of the Lord Kings of the Nations rule over them c. But it shall not be so with you goe to then usurp if thou dare either an Apostleship if thou art a Lord or Lordlike dominion if thou art an Apostle thou art expressely forbid both if thou wilt have both thou shalt lose both But why doe I prosecute this point Doth it concerne any now adayes Doth any one man beare both these offices I answer affirmatively the High-priest at Rome doth For he compasseth his Mitre with a triple Crown and as if he bare this name written upon his thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords challengeth to himselfe a power to depose Kings and dispose of their Kingdomes Doth any one desire to know who is that man of sinne spoken of by the d 2 Thes 2.3 Apostle who opposeth and exalteth himselfe above all that is called God Let him learne of the Prophet who are called gods Dixi dii estis e Psal 82.6 I have said ye are gods and it will be no matter of great difficultie to point at him who accounteth that hee doth Kings a great honour when he admitteth them to kisse his feet hold his stirrop serve him at table and performe other baser offices prescribed in their booke of ceremonies I can tell you who it was that made the Emperour Henrie the fourth with his Queene and young Prince in extreme frost and snow to waite his leisure three dayes barefooted and in woollen apparell at the gates of Canusium it was Gregory the seventh otherwise called Hildebrand I can shew you who set the Imperiall Crowne upon the head of Henrie the sixt not with his hand but with his foot and with the same foot kicked it off againe saying I have power to make Emperours and unmake them at my pleasure it was Pope Coelestine I can bring good proofe who it was that would not make peace with Frederick the first till in the presence of all the people at the doore of St. Markes Church in Venice the Prince had cast his body flâ—t on the ground and the Pope
in his office as for our sakes to assure us of the remission of our sinnes purchased by the bloud which Christ as a Priest offered upon the Crosse How are we assured hereof what security doth he give us The greatest that ever was taken or given the oath of Almighty God If the bare word of God is able to sustaine this whole frame of nature shall not his oath be able to support a weake Christian in the hottest skirmish with Satan and most dreadfull conflict with despaire What though our consciences be so polluted that we abhorre our selves yet let us not languish in despaire for we have a Priest that can cleanse them there is no staine so fowle which the bloud of Christ will not fetch out If we have but so much faith as a graine of mustard seed we may say with q Mors Christi mors meae mortis quia ille mortuus est ut ego vivâ—m quopacto enim non vivat pro quo moritur vita Bernard in his divine rapture The death of Christ is the death of my death because he dyed that I might live for how should he not live for whom life dyed O then in a spirituall dereliction when our heart is as cold as a stone and we are at the very brinke of despaire apprehending the full wrath of God against us for all our sinnes let us not say to the mountaines Cover us and to the hills Fall upon us but flie to the rocke in Horeb Christ Jesus and hide our selves in the holes thereof Foramina petrae sunt vulnera Christi The holes of this rocke are the wounds of our Saviour let us by faith run into the holes of this rocke and feare nothing Yea but even there wee heare the cry of our sins like the cry of Sodome and therefore how can we be safe Listen wee but a while and wee shall heare another cry farre lowder the cry of Christs bloud which speaketh better things for us than the bloud of Abel Yea but how may wee be assured that his bloud speaketh for us and maketh continuall intercession to his Father to be reconciled unto us By his owne promise and his Fathers oath If he should neglect to solicite for them who truly repenting of their sins by faith relye upon him he should breake his owne word and neglect the office to the discharge whereof his Father hath sworne him saying Thou art a Priest for ever How can we ever thinke that hee will refuse us who gave us himselfe Will he spare breath for us who breathed out his soule for us Yea but we sinne continually and he intercedeth perpetually he is a Priest for ever Yea but we are weake and our enemies strong what can a Priest stead us he may purge our sinnes but can he save our persons he may appease the wrath of God but can he rescue us from the violence of man he may stand in the gap between God and us but can he stand in the field for our defence against our enemies That hee can for hee is a Priest after the order of Melchizedek a Kingly Priest a Priest to instruct us and a King to protect us a Priest to reconcile us to God and a King to subdue our enemies unto us a Priest to cloth us with his righteousnesse and a King to arme us with his power a Priest to consecrate us Priests and a King to crowne us Kings To whom King and Priest and to the Father who ordained him not by imposition of hands but by deposition of oath and to the holy Spirit who made the instrument and sealed it three persons and one everliving and everloving God let us as Kings command the utmost service of our bodies and soules and as Priests offer them both intirely for living sacrifices most agreeable and acceptable to him Amen THE ARKE UNDER THE CURTAINES A Sermon preached in Oxford at the Act July 12. Anno 1613. THE XXXVIII SERMON 2 SAM 7.2 The King said unto Nathan the Prophet See now I dwell in an house of Cedar but the Arke of the Lord dwelleth within curtaines Right Worshipfull c. WEe reade of small or no raine that falls at any time on divers parts of Africa and the cause is supposed to bee the sandy nature of the soyle from whence the Sun can draw no vapours or exhalations which ascending from other parts in great abundance resolve themselves into kinde showres refreshing the earth This beloved is the true reason why God powreth not down his benefits in such plentifull manner as he was wont upon us because our hearts like the dry and barren sands of Africa send up no vapours of divine meditations melting into teares no exhalation or breath of praise or thanksgiving backe to heaven Undoubtedly if wee were thankfull to God for his benefits hee would be alwayes beneficiall to us for our thankfulnesse and account himselfe indebted unto us for such acknowledgement of our debt For there is nothing that obtaineth more of him or deserveth better of men than a thankfull agnition of favours received and a present commemoration of benefits past It is the easie taske and imposition which the supreme Lord of all layeth upon all the goods we possesse blessings of this life which we receive from his bountifull hands and if we be not behind with him in this tribute of our lips he will see that all creatures in heaven and earth shall pay their severall tributes unto us the sun of his heat the moon of her light the starres of their influence the clouds of their moisture the sea and rivers of their fish the land of her fruits the mynes of their treasure and all things living of their homage and service But if wee keep backe this duty from him which the poorest may pay as well as the rich out of the treasuries of their owne heart no marvell if hee sometimes make fast the windowes of heaven and locke up the treasures of his bounty to make us cry to him in our wants and necessities who would not sing to him in our wealth and prosperity Upon this or the like consideration good King David as soone as God had given him rest from all his enemies thought presently of preparing a resting place for the Arke Having therefore a holy purpose to consecrate the spoyles he tooke from his enemies to him that gave him victory over them and to build a stately and magnificent Temple to the honour of the God of his salvation and desirous to receive some encouragement from him to set to so noble a worke hee calleth for Nathan the Prophet and breaketh his minde unto him in the words whereof I have made choice for my Text which containe in them 1. A godly resolution 2. A forcible motive The resolution is implyed viz. to build God an house the reason is expressed the consideration of his own royall palace A reason drawn à dissentaneis I dwell in a house of Cedar but
the bloud of your Redeemer from all spots of impurity will yee againe pollute and soile them It is folly eagerly to pursue that which will bring you no profit at all and greater to follow afresh those things whereof ye were not only ashamed in the enjoying them but also are now confounded at the very mention of them yet this is not the worst shame is but the beginning of your woe For the end is death yea death without end Will yee then forsake the waies of Gods Commandements leading to endlesse felicity and weary your selves in the by-pathes of wickednesse in the pursuit of worldly vanities without hope of gaine with certaine losse of your good name nay of your life will yee sell heaven for the mucke of the earth set yee so much by the transitory pleasures of sinne mixed with much anguish and bitternesse attended on with shame that for them yee will be content to be deprived of celestiall joyes the society of Archangels and Angels and the fruition of God himselfe for ever nay to be cast into the darke and hideous dungeon of hell to frie in eternall flames to be companions of ghastly fiends and damned ghosts howling and shreeking without ceasing complaining without hope lamenting without end living yet without life dying yet without death because living in the torments of everlasting death Divis explicat verb. Having taken a generall survey of the whole let us come to a more particular handling of the parts which are three forcible arguments to deterre all men from all vicious and sinfull courses 1. The first ab inutili What fruit had yee 2. The second ab infami Whereof yee are now ashamed 3. The third à pernicioso or mortifero The end of these things is death 1. Fruit. What fruit This word fruit is fruitfull in significations it is taken 1 Properly for the last issue of trees and so it is opposed to leaves or blossomes for nature adorneth trees with three sorts of hangings as it were the first leaves the second blossomes the third fruits in this sense the word is taken in the first of Genesis and in the parable of the figge-tree cursed by our Saviour because hee found no fruit thereon 2 Improperly either for inward habits which are the fruits either of the spirit whereof the Apostle speaketh The g Gal. 5.22 fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance or of the flesh reckoned up by the same h Ver. 19 20. Apostle or for outward workes which are the fruits of the former habits whereof we reade Being i Phil. 1.11 filled with the fruits of righteousnesse and in the Epistle of S. k Jam. 3.15 James Full of mercy and good fruits Or for the reward of these works either inward as peace joy and contentment whereof those words of S. l Ver. 18. James are to be meant The fruit of righteousnes is sowne in peace of them that make peace and those of S. Paul No m Heb. 12.11 affliction for the time is joyous but grievous but in the end it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse to those that are exercised thereby Or lastly for outward blessings wherewith God even in this life recompenseth those who are fruitfull in good workes as the Prophet Esay and David assure them Surely it shall be n Esay 3.10 Psal 58.11 well with the just for they shall eate the fruits of their workes Utique est fructus justo Verily there is fruit for the righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the earth 2. Had. Had. It is written of the Lynx that he never looketh backe but Homer contrarily describeth a wise man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking both forward and backward forward to things to come and backward to things past for by remembring what is past and fore-casting things future he ordereth things present and in speciall what advantage a Christian maketh of the memory of his former sinnes and the sad farewell they have left in the conscience I shall speake more largely hereafter for the present in this cursory interpretation of the words it shall suffice to observe from the pretertense habuistis had ye not habetis have ye that sin like the trees of Sodome if it beare any fruit at all yet that it abideth not but assoone as it is touched falls to ashes Musonius the Philosopher out of his owne experience teacheth us and that truely that if we doe any good thing with paine the paine is soone over but the pleasure remaineth but on the contrarie if we doe any evill thing with pleasure the pleasure is soone over but the paine remaineth In those things whereof yee are now ashamed 3. Those things As after the wound is healed there remaines a scar in the flesh so after sinne is healed in the conscience there remaines as it were a scarre of infamie in our good name and of shame also in the inward man The act of sinne is transcunt yet shame the effect or rather proper passion of it is permanent sinne is more ancient than shame but shame out liveth sinne It is as impossible that fire should be without scorching heat or a blow without paine or a feaver without shaking as sinne especially heinous and grievous without a trembling in the minde and shame and confusion in the soule For as o In Saturnal Macrobius well observeth when the soule hath defiled her selfe with the turpitude of sinne pudore suffunditur sanguinem obtendit pro velamento she is ashamed of her selfe and sends forth bloud into the outward parts and spreadeth â—t like a vaile before her just as the Sepia or Cuttle fish when she is afraid to be taken p Plin. nat hist l. 9. c. 29. Sepiae ubi sensere se apprehendi offuso atramento quod illis pro sanguine est absconduntur sends from her bloud like inke whereby she so obscureth the water that the angler cannot see her If it be objected that some men as they are past grace so past shame also and some foreheads of that metall that will receive no tincture of modestie such as Zeno was in q L. 16. Si clam scelera perpetrasser obscurum minus gloriosum putabat sin publicitùs apertè in conspectu omnium absque pudore flegitiosus esset id dâ—mùm Principe Imperatore dignum putabat Nicephorus his story who held it a disparagement to himselfe to commit wickednesse in secret and cover his filthinesse with the darke shadow of the night for that it became not soveraigne majestie to feare any thing he thought he could not shew himselfe a Prince unlesse without feare or shame he committed outrages in the face of the sunne Such were those Jewes whom the Prophet Jeremie brands in the forehead with the marke of a Strumpet that cannot blush r Jer 8.12 Were they ashamed when they committed abominations nay Å¿ Jer.
3.3 Thou hadst a whores forehead thou refusedst to be ashamed they were not ashamed neither could they blush I answer 1 By distinguishing of shame which is sometimes taken for the inward affection and irksome passion of a sinner that hath cast any foule staine upon his conscience sometimes for the outward expression by dejection in the countenance faultring in the speech a cloud in the eye and flushing in the forehead and cheekes No sinner is without shame in the first sense though many by custome in sinne grow senselesse thereof and consequently shamelesse in the latter sense and in the end they come to that height of impudencie that they blush for it if they blush and are ashamed of their shamefacednesse pudet non esse impudentem But this hardinesse doth them no good at all for they doe but stop the mouth of the wound that it bleed not outwardly it bleedeth inwardly the faster and much more dangerously 2 A sinner may be considered either before or after his regeneration before his regeneration he committeth many sinnes whereof he is not then ashamed either because he accounteth them no sins or not such sinnes as may any wayes trench upon his reputation For though the dim light of corrupt nature discovereth some workes of darkenesse yet not all nor any in the right hiew As a man that is in the water feeleth not the weight of it so the sinner whilest he is in the state of corruption feeleth not the weight of sinne For he accounteth great sinnes small and small none at all but when he is out of that state then he feeleth the smallest sinne unrepented of as heavie as a talent of lead able to drowne his soule in eternall perdition as it followeth For the end For the end of these things is death That is the end of all these things By end here the Apostle meaneth not the finall cause moving the sinner but the finall effect of sinne for the sinner propoundeth to himselfe a divers end either gaine which the covetous man shooteth at or glorie which the ambitious or pleasure which the voluptuous but they misse their marke and in stead of gaine which the covetous man promised himselfe in his sinfull course of life in his returne by weeping crosse he findeth irrecoverable losses for what fruit had yee in stead of glorie and honour which the ambitious aimeth at shame and infamie whereof yee are now ashamed in stead of a pleasant temporall life which the voluptuous shot at a painefull and eternall death For the end of these things Is death Is death That is death temporall which is the sinners earnest as it were and death eternall which is his full hire and wages death corporall which is the separation of the soule from the body is hastened by sinne death spirituall which is the separation of the soule from God is sinne and death eternall in Scripture termed the second death which is the tormenting of body and soule for ever in the lake of fire and brimstone is the full reward of sinne and this death is here principally meant as may be gathered from the words ensuing my text but the gift of God is eternall life for that death which is opposed to eternall life can be no other than eternall death Obser The meaning of the text being thus cleared the speciall points of observation are easily discerned the first is That the smart of the wound of conscience for sinnes past is a speciall meanes through grace to keepe us from sinne to come Upon this the Apostle worketh in the words of my text What fruit had yee in those things whereof ye are now ashamed The burnt child doth not more dread the fire nor the scholar severely corrected beware the fault for which he smarted nor the Pilot keep off from the rock at which he formerly dashed his bark and hazzarded his life and goods nor the intemperate gallant tormented with an extreme fit of a burning feaver forbeare the pouring in of wine and strong drinkes which were the oyle that kindled and maintained the flame within his bowels than he that hath felt the sting of sinne in his conscience and beene formerly confounded with the shame thereof dreadeth and flieth and seeketh by all meanes to shunne those sinnes which have left so sad a remembrance behind them As some parts of our bodies are more sensible than others the sinewie parts more than the fleshly yet all that have life in them have some sense of paine so some consciences are more tender that feele the least pricke of sin some harder and more stupid and benummed like the u Solin c. 29. Matres Ursorum diebus primis 14. in â—omnum ita concidunt ut ne vulneribus pridem excitati queant Numidian Beares which scarce feele stripes or wounds yet all that have any life of grace in them or use of reason have some touch of conscience at some times which marreth all their mirth and overcasteth their faire weather with clouds of griefe powring downe showres of teares I know the wicked seeke to dissemble it like the man in Plutarch who having a foxe under his cloake never quatched though the beast bit through his sides and devoured his bowels The * Pro. 14.13 foole saith Solomon maketh a mocke of sinne but the heart knoweth the bitternesse of his soule for even in laughing the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is mourning I speake not of a melancholy dumpe but of an habituall and constant pensivenesse arising from the sting of sinne left in the soule No tongue can sufficiently expresse it onely the heart that feeleth it can conceive the nature of this griefe and smart of this paine which the lash of conscience imprinteth x Juven sat 13. Mens habet attonitos surdo verbere caedit Occulto quatiente animum tortore flagello Yet some sense wee may have of it by the similitudes whereby it is expressed It is called a y Act. 2.37 pricking of the heart and lest that wee should imagine it to bee as it were a pricke with a small pinne or needle it is called a wound in the heart My z Psal 109.22 heart was wounded within me O what paine must a wound in the heart needs be where the least prick is death Yet farther that wee might not thinke this wound might bee drawne together it is called the cutting asunder of the heart * Joel 2.13 Rent your hearts and not your garments yet farther that wee might not thinke any part of the heart to remaine entire it is called the a Psal 51.17 breaking of it into small pieces and b Psal 22.14 melting these also and can there bee any sorrow like unto this sorrow which pricketh the heart nay woundeth it being pricked nay rents it being wounded nay breaketh it being rent nay melteth it being broken This pricking wounding renting breaking melting the heart is nothing else
it be a bad thing to seem bad why are they bad For if it bee a good thing to seeme good it cannot but bee much better to bee so If it bee a bad thing to seeme bad it cannot but bee worse to bee so Videre ergo quod es vel esto quod videris seem therefore what thou art or bee what thou seemest especially considering that as r Cyr. poed l. 2. Astyages in Xenophon wisely adviseth the best meanes to seeme learned is to bee learned to seeme wise is to bee wise to seeme religious is to bee religious Hee that is not so cannot long seeme so and hee that is so cannot but seem so Fraud and guile cannot goe long but it will bee espied No Stage-player can so act anothers part but that hee may bee discerned to bee a player dissembling will not alwayes bee dissembled and when it is once detected it disableth the dissembler from ever after using his cousening trade 2. It is not to be omitted that fraud guile and deceit beare no fruits of themselves but gather them from the honesty and simplicity of others whom they circumvent If all were such as themselves lying upon the catch they would make little advantage of their cheating trade neither could there be any true friendship or society among men and is that the best policy that overthroweth all policy and civill conversation 3. Lastly faithfulnesse and honesty are like naturall beauty and strength of body which preserve themselves but all fraudulent and deceitfull dealing and cunning fetches like complexion where nature is much decayed must bee daily laid on or like physicke potions continually taken and yet will not long helpe All devices plots and fabrickes in the minde for advancing our estate which are not built upon the foundation of faithfulnesse and integrity continually need repairing and upon a strong assault are easily cast downe and fall upon the builders themselves It will not bee amisse to consider the ends of some of these men Of two that were most famous in this politicke craft Achitophel and Hannibal the one hanged the other poysoned himselfe Theramenes who in the civill dissensions at Athens dealt under hand on all sides in the end was discovered and all parts joyning against him made a spectacle of misery and scorne A singular Artificer in this kinde who put trickes upon all men was sent for by Lewis the French King saying that hee had need of such an head and when hee came to him upon detection of divers of his cunning prankes he was condemned by him to be beheaded I should much wrong Alexander the sixth and Borgias his sonne not to put them in this Catalogue for it was the common voice of all men as Å¿ Bodin de rep sup cit Bodine writeth that the father never spake what hee meant the sonne never did what hee spake both held it for a Maxime Fidem omnibus dandam servandam nemini According to which rule when Borgias the sonne by fairest promises and deepest protestations of amity and burying all former injuries had drawne in the Captaines of the opposite faction as soone as hee had them in his power contrary to all promises and oathes put them all to death whereof the Pope his father having notice could not conceale his joy but brake out into that execrable exclamation O factum bene Well done thou art a sonne after mine owne heart But hee escaped not the heavie judgement of God for shortly after having caused a poysonous cup to bee tempered for some of the Cardinalls whose deaths he had vowed through a mistake hee dranke off the same cup himselfe and so ended his wretched life I seale up this whole discourse with the words of the blessed Apostle sith all dishonest false and unjust courses of thriving are not onely disgracefull and shamefull but also all things considered disadvantageous Finally t Phil. 4.8 brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise thinke on these things and the God of peace shall be with you To whom c. THE HIEW OF A SINNER THE XLIII SERMON ROM 6.21 Whereof ye are now ashamed Right Honourable c. I Have long dwelt upon this text of Scripture because I finde it richly stored with spirituall armour and all necessary provision for our Christian warfare against sinne and Satan Here wee may furnish our selves with those weapons against our ghostly enemies that will pierce the strongest proofe of impudency and draw blood even from a seared conscience There is none so hardy and insensible whom the losse of invaluable treasures will not touch to the quicke present shame and future infamy wound at the heart but eternall death kils outright In comparison of these all the weapons which Philosophy forgeth upon the anvile of reason are but like arrowes with blunt heads or blades with a soft edge Irrita tela cadunt Cic. de Off. c. lib. 3. The Stoicks devised many witty arguments to prove that profit and honesty could not bee severed and that dishonesty was alwayes joyned with disadvantage but they were never able to maintaine them against infinite examples and instances every where occurring of sundry sorts of men enriched by spoiling relieved by oppressing absolved by calumniating advanced by depressing raised by undermining others in a word building their fortunes upon the ruines of other mens estates and their owne fidelity and honesty Howbeit it is true that in their morall considerations they glanced at those very Topickes from whence the Apostle draweth his arguments the unprofitablenesse of dishonest courses and the ill ends of wicked persons For the more to scare and deterre their hearers from by-wayes to honour and wealth they set before their eyes the penalty of humane lawes losse of goods and life with shame and infamy the perill whereof they incurred if they swerved any whit in their actions from the faire and straight path of vertue and morall honesty and the consideration of these things might bee some restraint of outward acts and open crimes but no way of such wickednesse as is brought forth in secret or rather not brought forth at all but onely conceived in the heart Mutinous or murmuring thoughts unchaste lusts of the heart ambitious desires execrable projects and purposes treasonable plots and the like stood in no awe of mans justice or feare of ignominy and shame the light reproveth those things only that are brought to it justice must proceed secundum allegata probata they are but few offences that come within the Magistrates walk all that come are not taken of those that are taken hold of the greater part either breake away by force or escape by favour If Anacharsis were alive hee would spye b 1 Plut. Apopth Leges dixit aranearum telis similes cobwebbe lawes in every
Court of justice in which the lesser flyes are strangled but the greater easily breake through them And bee the lawes of any Commonwealth or Kingdome never so exact yet Seneca his observation will bee true Angusta est justitia ad legem justum esse it is but narrow and scanty justice which extendeth no further than mans law A man may be ill enough and yet keepe out of the danger of the lawes of men which are many wayes imperfect and defective but the law of God is no way subject to this imputation it is perfect and as the Prophet David speaketh c Psal 119.96 exceeding broad it reacheth to all the actions words and imaginations of all the sonnes of Adam not a by syllable can passe not a thought stray not a desire swerve from the right way but it falleth within the danger and is lyable to the penalties annexed to it which are most certaine and most grievous 1 Externall in the world 2 Internall in the conscience 3 Eternall in hell The arguments that are hence drawne to deterre men from sinne and wickednesse are of a stronger metall and have another manner of edge than reason can set upon them d Heb. 4 12. For the word of God is quick and powerfull sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart The Hyperbolicall commendation which the e Cic. de orat l. 1. Fremant licet omnes dicam quod sentio bibliothecas omnes Philosophorum unus mihi videtur duodecim tabularum libellus si quis legum fontes capita viderit autoritatis pondere utilitatis ubertate superare Orator giveth of the Romane lawes published in twelve Tables of right belongeth to this member of the Apostles exhortation it hath more weight of reason and forcible arguments of perswasion to holinesse of life and detestation of vice in it than all the discourses of morall Philosophers extant in the world Hence we learn that their losses who trade with Satan are inestimable and irrecoverable that wicked and ungodly courses and means to gain thrive by not onely deprive us of the comfortable fruition of all earthly but also of the possession of all heavenly blessings that even small offences when they come to light are sufficient to cover the sinner with shame and confusion that all the filthinesse that lyeth in the skirts of the soule shall be discovered in the face of the sun before men Angels that not only outward acts but inward motions and intentions not only loud crying sins but also still and quiet that lye asleep as it were in the lap of our conscience not only hainous crimes and transgressions of an high nature but also those seeming good actions that have any secret filthinesse or staine in them if it bee not washed away with the teares of our repentance and blood of our Redeemer shall bee brought into judgement against us and wee for them condemned to death both of body and soule in hell No tragicall vociferation nor the howling and shricking of damned ghosts can sufficiently expresse the horrour and torments of that endlesse death which is the end of sinne What sinne hath proved for the time past yee have heard wee are at this present to consider what it is for the present it hath beene unfruitfull what fruit had yee it is shamefull whereof ye are now ashamed Shame is defined by f L. 2. Rhet. c. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle Agriefe and trouble of minde arising from such evils as seeme to tend to our infamy and disgrace somewhat more fully it may bee described A checke of conscience condemning us for some intention speech or action whereby wee have defiled our conscience before God or stained our credits before men This affection is in all men even in those that are shamelesse and impudent who are not so called because they are without this irkesome passion but because they shew no signe thereof in their countenance nor effects in their lives As impossible it is that in the conscience of a sinner g Rom. 2.15 thoughts should not arise accusing him as that there should bee a fire kindled and no sparks flye up To pollute the conscience with foule sin and not to be ashamed is all one as to prick the tenderest part of the body and to feele no paine h Suet. in Tib. Tiberius who let loose the raines to all licentiousnesse yet when hee gave himselfe to his impure pleasures caused all the pictures to bee removed out of the roome and Alexander Phereus that cruell tyrant when hee beheld a bloody Tragedy in the Theater and therein the ugly and monstrous image of his barbarous cruelty drawne to the life was so confounded therewith that hee could no longer dissemble his terrour of minde nor expect the end of that dismall Scene Now how deepe an impression shame and infamy make in the soule wee may perceive by those who preferred death before it i Xen. l. 7. Cyr. Paed. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Panthea solemnly wished that shee might bee buried alive rather than constrained to staine her blood and good name by keeping company with any how great soever hee were contrary to her vow to her dearest Abradatus And k Ovid. Epist Phillis Demophoonti Phillis having lost her honour voweth to make amends for it by her voluntary death Stat necis electu tenerum pensare pudorem Which Lucretia also practised flying out of the world to shun the shame thereof and spilling her blood which the tyrant had a little before stayned and Europa thought one death too light a revenge for wronged chastity Levis una mors est Virginum culpae If shame and infamy were not the sharpest corrasives to a guilty conscience the Prophet David would not so oft use these and the like imprecations against the enemies of God Let them be confounded and perish that are l Psal 71.11 83.17 against my soule and let them bee counfounded and vexed evermore let them bee put to shame and perish let mine adversaries bee clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their owne confusion as with a cloake Yea but if shame and confusion are the very gall and wormewood of Gods vengeance against the wicked most bitter to the taste of the soule what construction are wee to make of those words of the Prophet m Ezek. 36.32 O yee house of Israel bee ashamed and confounded for your owne wayes doth the Prophet here give them counsell to pull down Gods vengeance upon themselves Nothing lesse To cleare this point therefore wee must distinguish of shame which is taken 1 Sometimes for a vertuous habit and disposition of the minde consisting in a mediocrity betweene two extremes impudency in the defect reproved in the Jewes by the Prophet n Jer. 8.12
to heale a time to breake downe and a time to build up A time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourne and a time to dance c. In which distribution of time according to the severall affaires of our life all actions and accidents all intents and events all counsels and acts all words and workes all motions and cessations businesses and recreations beginnings and endings inchoations and perfections yea affections also as joy and griefe love and hatred have some part and portion of time laid out for them sinne only is exempted that is never in season As the Apostle spake to Simon b Acts 8.21 Magus Non est tibi pars neque sors it hath neither part nor lot in this partition and yet it intrudeth upon us and usurpeth upon either the whole or the greatest part of our demised time We heare of a time to build and a time to pull downe a time to spare and a time to spend but not in like manner a time to doe good and a time to doe ill a time to live godly and a time to sinne a time well to imploy and a time to mispend neither God nor Nature hath bequeathed any legacie of time to sinne Sinne should have no existence at all and therefore no time no estate and therefore neither terme Sinne is none of Gods creatures nor the issue of nature therefore hath no just claime or title to time the best of Natures temporall goods much lesse to happy eternity which is the purchase of the Sonne of God to the price whereof Nature cannot come neere Moreover sinne mis-spendeth spoyleth maketh havocke of our time abridgeth it and often cutteth it off and therefore deserveth that not a moment of time should be given to it Will you have yet more reasons ye have them in the Text drawne from all the differences of time sin hath been unfruitfull is shamefull and will prove pernicious and deadly therefore no portion or part of time is to be allowed to it against which all times give in evidence The time past brings in against it all sorts of dammages and losses sustained by it What fruit had yee The present time layeth open the shame filthinesse of sinne Whereof yee are now ashamed The future produceth the great and grievous penalties which the sinner by the breach of the eternall Law incurreth The end of those things is death A wise man holdeth intelligence with the time past by memory with the present by prudent circumspection with the time to come by providence by re-calling that which was fore-casting what will be he ordereth that which is and therefore he cannot but be sufficiently advertised of those hainous and grievous imputations laid upon sinne by the Spirit of God in my Text. It is altogether unfruitfull and unprofitable good for nothing What fruit had yee It is shamefull and infamous Whereof yee are now ashamed Nay it is pestilent and pernicious For the end of those things is death If this forcible interrogatory of the Apostle so full of spirit of perswasion worke not in us newnesse of life and a detestation of our former sinfull courses we are not only insensible of our profit prodigall of our credit and reputation but also altogether carelesse of our life Nihili est saith the c Plaut in Pers Certè nihili est qui nihil amat quid ei homini opus est vitâ Poet qui nihil amat he is of no account who makes account of nothing Non spirat qui non aspirat he breathes not who gaspeth not after something What then is that ye desire How bestow ye your affections What object hath the command of your thoughts and soveraignty over your wills and desires Is it gaine wealth and affluence of all things flye then sinne for it is altogether unfruitfull and unprofitable Is it glory honour and reputation eschue then vice for it bringeth shame and infamy upon you and your posterity Is it long life nay with Melchizedek to have no end of your dayes abandon all wicked courses for they have an end and that end is death and that death hath no end That sinne is unfruitfull not only formaliter but also effectivè not only negatively by bringing forth no fruit but also positively by bringing forth evill corrupt fruit by making the soule of man barren of the fruits of righteousnesse yea and the earth also and trees barren of the fruit which they would otherwise have brought forth to our great joy and comfort hath been the subject of our former discourses spent especially in the proofe of these particulars That sinne eclipseth the light of our understanding disordereth the desires of the will weakneth the faculties of the soule distempereth the organs of our body disturbeth the peace of our conscience choaketh the motions of the spirit in us killeth the fruits of grace inthralleth the soule to the body and the body and soule to Sathan lastly depriveth us of the comfortable fruition of all temporall and the fruition and possessions of all eternall blessings All which laid together will make a weighty argument bearing downe and forcing our assent to this conclusion That sinne is sterill and barren and consequently that every sinner is an unthrift and in the end will prove bank-rupt how gainfull a trade soever hee seeme to drive with Satan for as Christ cursed the figge-tree in the Gospell so God curseth all trees that beare the forbidden fruit of sinne and therefore the Apostle truly tearmeth the works of darknesse unfruitfull saying d Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darknesse but reprove them rather The godly man whose delight is in the law of the Lord is likened e Psal 1.3 4. to a tree planted by the rivers of waters which bringeth forth fruit in due season but the wicked to chaffe which the winde scattereth abroad For although they may sometimes build palaces upon the ruines of the Church and fill their houses with the treasures of wickednesse and their coffers with the Mammon of unrighteousnesse yet in the end they will appeare to bee no gainers no nor savers neither by their trafficke with the Devill For if they gain wealth they lose grace if they gaine glasse they lose pearle if they gaine earth they lose heaven if they gaine an estate for tearme of yeares among sinners they lose an eternall inheritance with the Saints in light if they gaine a small portion of the world they f Mar. 8.36 lose their whole soule and what advantageth it a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his owne soule Alas what gained g Josh 7.25 Achan by his Babylonish garment and wedge of gold nothing but a heape of stones wherewith hee was battered in pieces What gained Gehezi h 2 Kin. 5.27 by his great bribe a leprosie that cleaved to him and his posterity after him What gained i Judg. 8.27 Zeba and Zalmunna by
taking the houses of God in their owne possession a fearfull and most shamefull end What gained k 1 Kin. 22.31 2 Kin. 9.33 Ahab and Jezabel by Naboths vineyard the vine of Sodom and the grapes of Gomorrah it cost them their lives and their kingdomes What gained l Dan. 5.28 Balthasar by the plate of the Temple the division of his crown betweene the Medes and Persians What gained m Act. 5.5 10. Ananias and Sapphira by their fraudulent keeping backe part of the price for which they sold their possessions a sudden and most fearfull death What gained n Mat. 27.5 Judas by his thirty pieces of silver which hee received to betray innocent blood a halter to hang himselfe As Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar o Dan. 4.19 this dreame bee to the Kings enemies so I will be bold to say such gaine as is made by commerce with Satan be to Gods enemies Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and the life to come ungodlinesse of neither but contrariwise threats of judgements in both which sometimes fall upon the estate of those that are rich and not in God sometimes upon their bodies but alwayes upon their soules either God suddenly bloweth them away from their great estates or hee bloweth upon their estates and the fruits of their labours and they subscribe probatum est to the Latine proverbs Malè part a malè dilabuntur and De malè quaesitis non gaudet tertius haeres ill gotten goods prosper not The officers whom p Suet. in Vesp. Vespasian employed like spunges to sucke in the blood of the subjects he after they were full squiezed them till they were dry And how often doe we see the great spoylers of others spoyled themselves and the secret underminers of other mens fortunes undermined themselves the cruellest exacters upon their tenants exacted upon by their superiour Lords In the second place I treated of the second attribute or consequent of sin shame and by evidence of Scripture and testimony of every ones conscience proved that sin shameth us three manner of waies 1 Within our selves making us seeme most vile filthy lothsome and odious to our selves 2 In the world staining our credit and branding us with a note of infamy 3 At the tribunall of Christ before God Angels and men when our consciences which now like a scrole of parchment lye folded together shall bee opened and spread abroad that all men may read what is written there If the consideration of the unfruitfulnesse and shame of sinne affect us not much nor make any sensible alteration in our lives and conversations behold yet stronger physicke which will worke with us if we be not dead already The end of those things is death Here are three bitter pills that are to bee taken by all them that surfeit in sinfull pleasures and worldly vanities whether they bee lusts of the flesh or lusts of the eye or appertaine to the pride of life 1 These things will have an end The end 2 The end of these things is fearfull Death 3 This death is the second death and hath no end I see saith David q Psal 119.96 that all things come to an end but thy commandements are exceeding broad yea so broad that all wayes and courses besides the path of Gods lawes come to a speedy end and very short period What the Historian observed concerning the race of men Vita hominum brevit principum brevior pontificum brevissima that the life of man is shorter than of other creatures of Princes than of other men of Popes than of Princes may be applied thus to our present purpose The lives of men are but short their actions and endevours of a shorter date but indirect and sinfull courses of the shortest duration of all All the fruit that comes of them like the fig-tree cursed by our Saviour withers suddenly Crassus enjoyed not long the fruit of his covetousnesse but was slain in war and had melted gold poured into his mouth by the Parthians Julius Caesar enjoyed not long the fruit of his ambition but was stabbed with twenty five wounds in the Senate Heliogabalus enjoyed not long the fruit of his pleasure but was slaine and throwne into a jakes Dionysius enjoyed not long the fruit of his sacriledge and tyrannie but was constrained to change his scepter for a ferular and teach Scholars for a small stipend to keepe him from starving If the prosperity of the wicked be an eye-sore unto us as it was sometimes unto David r Psal 73.17 18 19. Let us enter into the sanctuary of God and wee shall see the end of these men namely that God doth set them in slippery places and casteth them downe to destruction How are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrours Achan spent not his wedge of gold nor ware out his Babylonish garment but was soone discovered and stripped of all hee had and came to a fearfull end It was not long after Ahab and Jezabel purchased a vineyard at the deare rate of the blood of the owner but they watered it with their owne blood Belshazzar had scarce concocted the wine in his stomacke which hee carowsed in the bowles of the Sanctuary before hee saw a hand writing his doome on the wall and soone after felt the arme of Cyrus executing it upon him Achitophel his policy tooke not long for within a short space after he had animated the sonne against the father his counsell was rejected and hee hanged himselfe The price of innocent blood was not long in Judas his hands before with the same hands hee fitted his owne halter Titus exhibited to the people stately pageants pompes carosels and triumphant festivities for an hundred dayes Asuerus kept royall feasts for halfe a yeere together of both after the prefixed tearm was expired nothing remained but infinite spoile of Gods creatures and an excessive bill of charge Hee that thriveth most by sinfull courses and gurmandizeth all sorts of pleasures and keepeth continuall holy-dayes a great part of his life yet before hee goeth out of the light of this world seeth an end of all his worldly happinesse and there remaines nothing unto him but a sad remembrance distempers in his body wounds in his conscience and a fearfull account to bee given to his Lord and Master for thus lavishing out his goods and wasting his substance in riotous living Pleasures like blossomes soone fall the garlands of honour are withered in a few yeeres the treasures of wickednes soon rust all lewd and sensual all base and covetous all proud and ambitious all false and deceitfull wayes have a short period and a downfall into a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone ſ In ep ad Rom. Servitutis culpae triplex est incommoditas primo quia cum damno multo secundo quia cum fructu nullo tertiò quia cum fine malo Gorrhan summeth up all briefly thus There is
a threefold inconvenience of sinfull courses because they who pursue them reape no fruit from them sustaine much losse by them come to an evill end through them for the End The end is taken 1 Either physically 2 Or morally Either for the finall cause or for the finall effect Death is not the finall cause of sin but the finall effect for no man sinneth for death but dieth for sinne Others distinguish of ends which are 1 Intermediate as wealth honour or pleasure 2 Ultimate as happinesse Death say they is not the intermediate end but profit or delight but it is alwayes the ultimate end of sinne unrepented of A third sort make a difference betweene the end 1 Peccantis of the sinner that is the end which the sinner intendeth 2 Peccati of sinne that is the end to which sinne tendeth this distinction seemeth to mee coincident with the first Death say they is not the end of the sinner but of the sinne not the end which the sinner propoundeth to himselfe but the end which his sinne bringeth him unto Withall they acutely observe that the Apostle saith not the end of those men is death but the end Of those things By those things hee understandeth the state of the unregenerate or those sinnes which were rife among the Romanes and are reckoned up chap. 1. which may bee reduced to three heads 1 Impiety against God 2 Iniquity against their neighbours 3 Impurity against their owne body and soule yea and against nature also 1 Impiety with this hee brandeth them vers 21. 2 Iniquity with this hee chargeth them vers 29. 3 Impurity with this hee shameth them vers 24 27. Of those things the end is Death The second death say some for he that hath no part in the first resurrection hath his portion in the second death A double death saith Saint Ambrose à morte enim ad mortem transitur for a sinner from one death passeth to another Others more fully thus The end of those things is death 1 Of your estate by ruine of your fortunes 2 Of your good name by tainting your reputation 3 Of your body by separation from the soule 4 Of your soule by separation from God The most naturall interpretation and most agreeable to this place is That by continuing in a sinfull course all our life wee incurre the sentence penalty and torment of eternall death for that death is meant here which is opposed to eternall life Verse 23. which can bee no other than eternall Yea but is sinne in generall so strong a poyson that the least quantity of it bringeth death and that eternall are all sinnes mortall that is in their owne nature deserving eternall death It seemeth so for hee speaketh indefinitely and without any limitation and as before hee implyed all sinne to bee unfruitfull and shamefull so also now to bee deadly What fruit had ye in those things that is in any of those things whereof ye are now ashamed Now it is certain that the regenerate are ashamed of all sins therefore in like manner it followeth that the end of all sinnes is death For the Apostle here compareth the state of sinne and state of grace in generall and as hee exhorteth to all good workes so hee endevoureth to beat downe all sinne as unfruitfull shamefull and deadly See what will ensue hereupon first that there are no veniall sinnes secondly no pardons for them in purgatory thirdly no fee for pardons If all sinnes are mortall and which all Papists will they nill they must confesse no man is free from all sinne for t Jam. 3. ◠in many things wee offend all saith Saint James and u 1 Joh. 1.10 if we say that we have no sin wee deceive our selves saith Saint John what will become of their Romish doctrines concerning the possibility of fulfilling the law the merit of congruity or condignity and works of supererogation Si nulla peccata venialia nulla venalia if no sinnes are veniall then no sale to bee made of sinnes no utterance of pardons no use of the Church treasury no gold to bee got by the Monks new found Alchymy Yee will say this is but a flourish let us therefore come to the sharpe Mitte hebetes gladios pugnetur acutis The speech of Cornelius Celsus the Physitian is much commended by Bodine Nec aegrotorum morbi nec languentium vulnera dicendi luminibus curantur Soft words cure no wounds wee may say more truely soft words give no wounds and therefore are not for this service of truth against errour and heresie up in armes against her * Hom. Il. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hector truely told Paris that his golden harpe and purfled haire and beautifull painting would stand him in no stead in the x Sen. ep 51. In primo deficit pulvere ille unctus et nitidus field it is not the wrought scabbard but the strong blade nor the bright colour but the sharpe edge of it that helpeth in danger and hurteth the enemy In which regard I hold it fittest to handle schoole points scholastically in tearmes rather significant than elegant and labour more for force of argument than ornaments of speech First then after their plaine method I will explicate the state of the question next meet with the adversaries objections and last of all produce arguments for the truth and make them good against all contrary cavils and frivolous exceptions Sins may bee tearmed veniall or mortall two manner of wayes 1 Either comparatè in comparison of others 2 Or simplicitèr simply and in themselves and that three manner of wayes Either 1 Ex naturâsuâ of their owne nature 2 Ex gratiâ by favour or indulgence 3 Ex eventu in the issue or event Wee deny not but that sinnes may bee tearmed veniall comparatè that is more veniall than others and if not deserving favour and pardon yet lesse deserving punishment than others Secondly veniall ex eventu or in the issue wee acknowledge all the sinnes of the Elect to bee and some sinnes of the Reprobate also or veniall ex gratiâ that is by Gods favour and clemency all the question is whether any sinne of the Elect or Reprobate bee veniall ex suâ naturâ that is such as in its owne nature deserveth not the punishment of death but either no punishment at all or at least temporary onely The reformed Churches generally resolve that all sinnes in their owne nature are mortall the y Bellar. de amis grat stat pec c. 9. Qui dixerit fatue reus erit gehennae ignis ex his tale conficitur argumentum manifestum convitium facit reum gehennae ignis non item subita iracundia c. Romanists will have very many to be veniall Their allegations are chiefly these the first out of Matthew 5.22 Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Racha shall bee in
tender the life of your bodies and soules hearken to a word of exhortation Taste not the least drop of the poyson of sinne for though it put you not to so great torment and be not so present death yet deadly it is and without repentance and saving grace will kill your soules Destroy the Cockatrice in the shell breake the smallest seeds of sinne in your soule as the Emmet biteth the seeds which she layeth up for her selfe that they may not grow againe in the earth Parvulos Babylonis allidite ad petram in quâ serpentis vestigia non reperiuntur Dash the Babylonish babes against that rocke into which no serpent can enter I know not how it commeth to passe that as in nature we see the Adamant which nothing relenteth at the stroake of the hammer is dissolved with the warme bloud of a Goate the Elephant which no great beast dare encounter is killed by a small Mouse creeping in at his truncke and eating his braines and the Lions in Mesopotamia are so pestered with a kind of Gnat flying into their eyes that to be rid of the paine they sometimes teare them out with their clawes and sometimes drowne themselves so the strongest Christians are often over-taken with the least temptations and conquered with a reed nay with a bull-rush To forbeare more examples David was taken by a look only Peter affrighted by the speech of a Damsell Alipius was overthrowne by a shout in the Theater The breach of the Commandement in lesse things even because they are lesse and so might more easily be avoided maketh the disobedience the greater and all sinne is the more dangerous by how much the lesse it is feared Saint Austine maketh mention of certaine flies in Africa so small that they can scarce be discerned from moates in the ayre Quae tamen cum insederint corpori acerbissimo fodiunt aculeo which yet are armed with a most venemous sting those little sins that are so small that we can scarce discerne them to be sinnes are like those Cynifes Saint Austine speaketh of they pricke the conscience with a most venemous sting Now if the sting of these small Flies put the conscience to such paine and affect it with such anguish who will be able to endure the teeth of the Adder or the taile of the Scorpion If whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgement and whosoever shall say unto his brother Racha shall be in danger of the Councell and whosoever shall say Thou foole shall be in danger of hell fire what punishment is he like to endure who beareth malice in his heart against his brother envieth his prosperity undermineth his estate woundeth his good name nay spilleth his bloud this is a crimson sinne and mortall in a double sense not onely because it slayeth the soule but also because it killeth the body If we shall give an account at the day of judgement for every idle word what answer shall we make for irreligious and blasphemous words for calumnious and detractious speeches for uncharitable and unchristian censures for false witnesse for oathes for perjury I am loth harder to rub on the sores and galls of your consciences and leave them raw therefore my conclusion shall be the application of a plaister unto them which will certainly heale them That which our Saviour after his resurrection promised to those that should beleeve on his Name that if they z Mar. 16.18 dranke any deadly thing it should not hurt them was performed according to the letter to the Disciples in the first ages but in the spirituall sense to all of us at this day If we have drunke any deadly poyson of sinne as who hath not yet through repentance and faith in Christs bloud it shall not hurt us The nature of poyson is to work upon the bloud and to venome that humour but contrariwise the bloud of our Saviour worketh upon the poyson of sinne and killeth the venemous malignity thereof Though the most veniall sins in mens esteeme are mortall in their owne nature yet the most mortall are made veniall by grace No sin mortall but to the reprobate and infidell no sinne veniall but to the elect and faithfull nay no sinne but mortall to the reprobate and infidell no sinne but veniall to the faithfull and penitent Nothing deadly to Gods chosen nay not death it selfe For the sting thereof is plucked out by Christ O death a 1 Cor. 15.57 where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thanks be unto thee O b Hieron epit Nepot Gratias tibi Christe Salvator nos tua agimus creatura quòd tam potentem adversarium dum occideris occidisti Saviour who hast given death his deaths wound by thy death Beloved Christians so many sins as we have committed so many deaths eternall wee have deserved from so many deaths Christ hath delivered us and therefore so many lives if we had them we owe unto him and shall we not willingly render him this one for which hee will give us immortality blisse and glory in heaven with himselfe Cui c. THE GALL OF ASPES OR THE PANGS OF THE SECOND DEATH THE XLV SERMON ROM 6.21 For the end of those things it death Right Honourable c. I Hope time hath not razed those characters out of your memory which I borrowed from time it selfe to imprint my observations upon this Text in your mind Sinne as yee have heard may be considered in a reference to a three-fold time 1. Past 2. Present 3. Future In relation to the first it is unfruitfull to the second shamefull to the third pernicious and deadly The unfruitfulnesse of sinne cannot but worke upon all that have regard to their estate in this world the shamefulnesse of sinne cannot but touch neere and affect deeply all that stand upon their reputation and good name but the deadlinesse or pernicious nature thereof cannot but prevaile with all to beware of it that tender their life here or immortality hereafter If sinne be unfruitfull have no fellowship with the workes of darknesse but reprove them rather If sinne be shamefull hate even the garments spotted by the flesh let not such things be named among you much lesse practised which cast a blurre upon your good name and fame among the Saints of God If sinne be pernicious and deadly flye from it as from a Serpent taste not the wine of Sodome nor presse the grapes of Gomorrah for their wine is the bloud of the Dragon a Job 20.14 and the gall of Aspes which we know is present death The end of those things That is all the pompe and vanity of this world the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eye the pride of life all sinfull pleasures wherewith yee surfeit your senses shall have an end and this end is death and this death
shall have no end This is the last and most forcible argument of the three wherewith the Apostle laboureth with might and maine to beat downe sinne and put to flight even whole armies of temptations Yee may observe a perfect gradation in the arguments the first though strong and forcible drawne from the unfruitfulnesse of sinne is not so necessary and constraining as the second drawne from the shame and infamy thereof nor that as the third drawn from the wages thereof which is everlasting death As honour and glory is to be more set by than gaine and commodity life than honour immortality than life so shame and infamy is worse than losse and disadvantage death than shame hell than death The holy Apostle hath now made three offers unto us and put us to a three-fold choice First he laid before us the faire fruits of Paradise to bee gathered from the tree of life and corrupt rotten fruit from the forbidden tree that is invaluable treasures to be got and inestimable profit to be made by godlinesse and irrecoverable losses to be sustained by ungodly and sinfull courses of thriving Secondly he tendered unto you glory and honour to be purchased by the service of God as on the contrary shame and infamy by retaining upon Sathan and pursuing sinfull pleasures Now in the third place hee setteth before you life and death life by the gift of God and death for the hire of sinne Shall I need to exhort you in the words of b Deut. 30.19 Moses Chuse life how can ye doe otherwise Is the flesh appalled at the death of the body though the paine thereof endure but for a moment and shall not the spirit be much more affrighted at the death of the soule the pangs and paines whereof never have an end If there be any so retchlesse and carelesse of his estate that hee passeth not for great and irrecoverable dammages and losses so foolish that hee esteemes not of inestimable treasures if any be so infamous that he hath no credit to lose or so armed with proofe of impudency that hee can receive no wound from shame yet I am sure there is none that liveth who is not in some feare of death especially a tormenting death and that of the soule and that which striketh all dead everlasting Therefore it is as I conceive that the Apostle according to the precept of Rhetoricians c Cic. de orat l. 2. Puncta caeterorum argumentorum occulit coucheth as it were and hideth the points of other arguments but thrusteth out this putting upon it the signe and marke of a reason For. For the end of those things is death And this hee doth for good reason because this last argument is worth all the former and enforceth them all it not only sharpneth the point of them but draweth them up to the head at the sinner For therefore are lewd and wicked courses unprofitable therefore we may be ashamed of them because their end is so bad For the end Why doth the Apostle skip over the middle and come presently to the end why layeth hee the whole force of his argument upon the end 1. Because there is nothing in sinne upon which wee may build or have any assurance thereof but the end as there is nothing certaine of this our present life but the incertainty thereof Sin somtimes hath no middle as wee see in those fearfull examples of Corah Dathan and Abiram who had no sooner opened their mouths against Moses but the earth opened her mouth to swallow them up quicke of Achan who had no sooner devoured the accursed thing but it was drawne out of his belly with bowels heart and all of Herod who had no sooner heard the people cry The voice of God and not of man but hee felt himselfe a worme and no man of Zimri and Cozbi who had no sooner received the dart of lust in their heart than they felt a javelin in their bodies of Ananias and Sapphira who no sooner kept backe part of the price for which they sold their possessions but death seized upon them and they gave up the ghost and of many others whose deaths wounds yet bleed afresh in sacred and profane stories 2 Because there is nothing permanent of sinne but the end the duration if it have any is very short like to that of Jonahs gourd d Jonah 3.7 which rose up in a night and was eaten up with a worme in the morning 3 Because nothing is so much to bee regarded in any thing as the end for fines principia actionum the end setteth the efficient on worke and all is well that endeth well as wee say in the Proverbe e Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise saith God by Moses then they would consider their latter end If wee invert the speech it will bee as true O that men would consider their latter end and then they would be wise For assuredly he that in his serious contemplation beginneth at the end of sinne in his practise will end at the beginning To consider the end of sinne is to take a survey of all the miseries and calamities incident to intelligent natures of all the plagues that light upon the bodies and soules and estates of impenitent sinners in this life with a fearfull expectation of hellish torments then a violent separation of the soule from the body which is no sooner made but the soule is presented before the dreadfull Judge of quicke and dead arraigned condemned and immediately upon sentence haled and dragged by ugly fiends to the darke and lothsome dungeon of hell there in all extremity of paines and tortures without any ease or mitigation to continue till the generall day of the worlds doom when meeting again with the body her companion in all filthinesse iniquity and ungodlinesse they are both summoned to the last judgement where all their open and secret sinnes are laid open to the view of men and Angels to their inexpressible and astonishable confusion after conviction the sentence at which not the eares onely shall tingle the teeth chatter the knees smite one the other but the heart also melt the sentence I say of eternall damnation shall bee pronounced in their hearing f Mat. 25.41 Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divell and his Angels A most heavie sentence never to bee recalled and presently to bee put in execution the Devill with reviling and insultation carrying them with all their wicked friends and associates to the place of endlesse torments to endure the full wrath of God and the paines of everlasting fire O what will it bee to feele the second death which it is death to thinke or speake of who can read the description thereof in Saint g De vit contemp l. 3. c. 12. Fieri patriae coelestis extorrem mori vitae beatae morti vivere sempiternae in aeternum cum diabolo expelli ubi sit mors secunda damnatis
night and are very earnest at their game but in the midst of it the candle goeth out they perforce give over who no doubt if the light had lasted would have played all night This inch of candle is the time of life allotted to a wicked man who is resolved to spend it all in sinfull pleasures and pastimes and if it would last perpetually he would never leave his play and therefore sith he would sin eternally though by reason that the light of his life goeth out hee cannot he deserveth eternall punishment 4. Though the sins of the reprobate are finite in respect of the time and the agents yet as they are committed against an infinite Majesty the guilt of them is infinite Here it will be objected That if sinnes be infinite in any respect they must needs be all equall because infinity admitteth no degrees nothing can be more or lesse infinite I answer that although b Camp rat 8. Paradox Campian and other Papists charge the reformed Churches with that absurd Paradoxe of the Stoickes That all sinnes are equall and consequently that it is as great a wickednesse to kill a Capon to furnish a luxurious feast as to kill a man yet their heart cannot but smite them for so notorious a calumny for they themselves teach That mortall sinnes as they are committed against God are of infinite guilt and deserve infinite and eternall punishments and yet they hold not that all mortall sinnes are equall their Casuists teaching that parricide is a greater sinne than murder incest than adultery blasphemy than perjury all of them being mortall As for the knot of the former objection it is thus easily untyed That sinnes may be considered either in a genericall notion as they are breaches of the eternall Law offend an infinite Majesty in which respect as they are infinite so they are equall or in a specificall reason as they are of this or that kind clothed with such such circumstances as they are breaches of the first or second Table as they are committed immediately against God or mediately once or often on the sudden or unadvisedly ignorantly or wilfully out of infirmity or presumptuously tending much or little to the hurt or prejudice of our neighbour In all which and divers like respects the guilt of sinne is improved or diminished and one sinne is more hainous and lesse pardonable than another We have said enough to these words for their coherence sense and construction let us now see what they say to us for our further use and instruction There is no physicke but if it worke maketh the patient sicker for the present and for the most part the smarting plaister most speedily cureth the wound These observations are true in corporall physicke and much more in spirituall because the smart of sinne and trouble of conscience for it are not so much signes and symptomes of maladies as the beginning of cures Some say the feare of the plague bringeth it but if we speake of this plague and other judgements of God for sinne it is certaine that the feare of them is the best preservative against them he onely may be secure of the avoiding Hell torments and escaping the pangs of eternall death who feareth them as he ought and he that feareth them not is in a most fearfull case O c Ecclus. 41.1 death how bitter is the remembrance of thee It was spoken of the first death but may with greater reason of the second some tastes whereof I wil give you at this present as well to make you loath the morsels of Sathan as the better to rellish the fruits of the tree of life The first shall be out of Saint Matthew d Mat. 25.10 Clausae sunt fores the doores were shut Conceive ye that to be now which if ye prevent it not certainly shall be that after ye have heard the Archangel sound the last Trump and with him a Quire of heavenly spirits singing an Epithalamium or marriage song ye should see the gates of Heaven opened and the Sonne of man marching out of them with an innumerable company of Angels presently sent abroad to gather the Elect from the foure windes and soone after infinite troupes of them assembled from all parts in goodly order and glorious armour accompanying our Saviour in his triumphant returne into heaven to receive each of them a crowne of glory and you caught up into the clouds pressing hard after them to enter with them into heaven should be presently stayed and the gates shut against you and fastened with everlasting barres O! what a corrasive would this be what a disgrace what an unspeakable griefe to have a glimpse of the celestiall Jerusalem and to be excluded for ever out of it to see those whom ye sometimes scorned reviled and trod under foot admitted into Christs Kingdome before your face and you repelled with a non novivos Away from mee I know you not Have ye enough of this taste or doe ye yet desire a second ye have it in Saint Matthew e Mat. 25.30 Projicite in tenebras exteriores Cast the unprofitable servant into utter darknesse there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Suppose ye were stripped stark naked and then bound hand and foot with iron chaines and throwne into a deep darke loathsome and hideous dungeon full of Adders Vipers Basiliskes and Scorpions hissing croaking biting stinging you in all parts of your body you being not able to stirre a joynt or make any resistance at all Are yee affrighted at this The torment of the damned is farre worse for the stinging of Serpents is nothing to the tormenting with Divels nor the darknesse of a dungeon to the horrour of Hell For though there be fire there yet it yeeldeth no comfortable light but as the flame in the bush had the f Exod. 3.2 light of fire yet not the consuming heat so on the contrary the flames of Hell have the scorching heat but not the comfortable light of fire As ye like this take another taste g Mar. 9.44 Vermis eorum non interit Imagine that whilest ye lye in the darke dungeon bit stung in your outward parts there should be a venemous worme within your bowels gnawing at your very heart and upon remembrance of every hainous sinne giving you a deadly bite what paine and torment might this be yet it is nothing to that which Christ there addeth Ignis eorum non extinguitur Their fire is not quenched There is none such a blocke but apprehendeth what unsufferable paine it is to lye soultering in the fire or boyling in a river of brimstone or frying in the flames of a furnace and crying but for one drop of water to coole the tip of the tongue and not obtaining it If these tastes affect you not take you yet a fourth made of the very gall of Aspes h Apoc. 20.10 They shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone and shall
serious lesson of the vanity of earthly delights worldly comforts we reade in many Texts of Scriptures heare in divers Sermons see in daily spectacles of men troubled in mind at their death yet we never thoroughly apprehend it till Gods rod hath imprinted it in our bodies and soules then finding by our wofull experience that earthly felicity is nothing but misery masked in gaudy shewes and that all the wealth of the world together with all carnall delights cannot ease a burthened conscience nor abate any whit of our paine we begin to distaste them all we grow out of love with this life and entertaine death in our most serious thoughts Here the eye of faith enlightened by divine revelation seeth beyond death the celestiall Paradise in it a chrystall ſ Apoc. 22.1 2. river of the water of life by it a tree of life which beares twelve sorts of fruits and besides these a heavenly City shining with t Apoc. 21.18 19. streets of gold and foundations of pearle and precious stones the sight wherof leaveth an unspeakable delight in the soule which sweetneth all temporall afflictions and stirreth up in us an unspeakable desire of those solid comforts and substantiall joyes u Ramus in orat Heliogabalus was wont to set before his parasites a banquet painted on cloth or carved in wood or cut in stone and whatsoever hee fed upon in truth they had drawne before them in pictures and images such are the joyes and delights which the Divell the World presenteth unto us false shadowie vaine The true are to be found no where but in heaven where those joyes are in substance which we have here but in shadowes x Aug. confes l. 2. c. 5. Fornicatur anima quae avertitur abs te quaerit extra te ea quae pura liquida non invenit nisi cùm redit ad te pure which we have here polluted full which we have here empty sincere which wee have here mixt perpetually flourishing which we have here continually fading to these substantiall full pure sincere everlasting joyes God bring us for his Son Jesus Christ his sake Cui c. THE NURTURE OF CHILDREN THE XLVII SERMON APOC. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Right Honourable c. THat which Pliny writeth and experience confirmeth concerning hony-combes that the thinner and weaker hony runs out of them at the first but the thickest and best is pressed squeezed out of them at the last we find for the most part in handling Texts of holy Scripture compared by the Prophet a Psal 19.10 David to hony-combs the easier more vulgar observations flow out of them upon the lightest touch but we are to presse each phrase and circumstance before we can get out the thickest hony the choicest and most usefull doctrines of inspired wisedome The more we sucke these combes the more we may the hony proveth the sweeter the combe the moister and which is nothing lesse to be admired the spirituall taste is no way cloyed therewith Wherefore with your good liking and approbation I will presse again and againe these mellifluous combes in our Saviours lips dropping celestiall doctrine sweeter than hony to delight the most distempered taste and sharper than it to cleanse the most putrefied sore I rebuke and chasten there is the sharpnesse and as it were the searching vertue of hony As many as I love there is the sweetnesse Parallel Texts of Scripture like glasses set one against another cast a mutuall light such is this Text and that Deut. 8.5 Thou shalt also consider in thy heart that as a man chasteneth his sonne so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee and Job 5.17 Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty and Prov. 3.11 12. My sonne despise not the chastening of the Lord neither bee weary of his correction for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a father doth the sonne in whom he delighteth and Hebr. 12.7 If yee endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sonnes for what sonne is he whom the father chasteneth not As a Musician often toucheth upon the sweetest note in his song Paven or Galliard so doth the holy Spirit upon this and therefore we ought more especially to listen to it For 1. It convinceth the Papists who over-value crosses and afflictions accounting the bearing of them satisfactions for sinnes For with a like pride whereby they cry up their actions to be meritorious they would improve their passions to be workes satisfactory by satisfactory intending such as make amends unto the justice of God wherein they as much over-reach as they supererogate or rather superarrogate in the former Satisfactions to our brethren for wrongs done unto them by restitution mulct or acknowledgement of our fault with asking forgivenesse for it we both teach and practise but they shall never be able to satisfie us in this point that any thing they can doe or suffer can satisfie God Neither can our actions satisfie his law nor our penall sufferings his justice none can satisfie for sinne but he that was without sinne nothing can recompence an infinite transgression but an infinite submission or to speake more properly the submission and passion of him that was infinite It cost more to redeem sinnes than the world is worth and therefore they must let that alone for him who f Esay 63.3 trod the wine-presse alone Before I noted the difference between chastisement and punishment in the one a compensation of wrong done to the person or law is intended in the other a testifying of love and a care of amendment of the party chastened Who would ever be so unreasonable as to thinke that a few stripes given by a tender-hearted father to the childe whom he most dearly affecteth were a satisfaction for the losse of a Diamond of great price yet our sufferings hold not such a proportion For what are our finite and momentary sufferings to the offence given to an infinite Majesty Nothing can be set in the other scale against it to weigh it downe but the manifold sufferings of an equall and infinite person the eternall Sonne of God Neither will it help our adversaries any whit to say that Christ satisfied for the eternall but not for the temporall punishment of our sinnes For this is all one as to say that our Redeemer laid downe a talent of gold for us yet not a brasse token or payd many millions of pounds yet not a piece The Apostle said hee gave himselfe a g 1 Tim. 2.6 ransome for all will they deny it to be a sufficient one or was there any defect in his good intention They have not rubbed their foreheads so hard as to affirme any such thing Well then let them tell us how that man is perfectly ransomed by another who is still kept in prison till he have discharged part of his ransome himselfe This very conceit that they merit by
the first law of equity to heare both the plaintiffe and defendant with indifferency For as q Senec. in Trag. Qui aliquid statuerit parte inauditâ alterâ aequum licet statuerit haud aequus est Seneca saith truely Hee that giveth a right judgement without hearing both parties is no righteous Judge and therefore r Suet. in Claud. Pronunciabat saepè alterâ parte auditâ saepè neutrâ Suetonius justly chargeth Claudius with injustice for precipitating his sentence before hee had given a full hearing to both parties nay sometimes to either 2 They must lay all that they heare and what is brought on both sides in an even ballance and poyse them together Res cum re causa cum causâ ratio cum ratione concertet by the collision of arguments on both sides the fire of truth is struck out Protagoras his exception was good against them who to prove the providence of their paynim gods brought a number painted in a Table of them that calling upon them escaped shipwracke At picti non sunt inquit qui naufragio perierunt True saith he but none of those who notwithstanding their prayers to them suffered shipwracke are any where painted neither is there any register kept of them 3 They must maturely advise and seriously consider of the matter before they passe sentence The eye unlesse it bee fixed upon the object cannot perfectly discerne it nor distinguish it from things that are neare and like unto it And howsoever in a cleare water we may easily perceive any thing that is in the bottome yet if it bee troubled wee cannot and in every Court there are many troublers of the water the Lawyers by their wrangling and the witnesses by their varying the Judges by their different opinions to speake nothing of Angels also troubling the cleere streame of justice at certaine times 4 The eyes of their judgement must bee free from all mists of prejudice and clouds of affection For as that which a man looketh upon through red or greene glasse seemeth to bee of that colour the glasse is of though it bee of a far different if not a contrary so that which wee judge out of a forestalled conceit or prejudicate opinion seemeth to answer to our opinion of it how contrary soever it bee The Romane souldiers as t Div. instit l. 1. Lactantius noteth thought verily that the goddesse worshipped at Syracuse being demanded whether shee would bee carryed by them to Rome answered that shee would not that the image spake any such word but because they were before strongly perswaded that the goddesse would give such an answere Unlesse those that sit in judgement observe these rules they may easily take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fallacy for a demonstration and a malitious calumniation for a legall conviction If their eyes be either dimme with private affection or blinded with rewards or wink through carelesnesse or are shut through wilfulnesse that will fall out which S. u L. 2. ep 2. Inter leges ipsas delinquitur inter jura peccatur innocentia nec illic ubi defenditur reservatur qui sedet crimina vindicaturus admittit ut reus innocens pereat sit nocens judex Cyprian so grievously complaineth of Injustice sitteth in the place of justice and even in the sight of the lawes hanging about the judgement seat the lawes are broken the Judge who sitteth to revenge wrongs offered offereth that which hee should revenge and committeth that which hee should punish and hath his conscience coloured with sinnes of a deeper dye than the scarlet of his robes The Empresse wisely advised her husband when sitting at play and minding as it seemes that more than the cause before him hee rashly pronounced sentence Non est vita hominum ludus talorum The sitting upon life and death is not like the playing a game at Tables where a Table-man of wood is taken up by a blot and throwne aside without any great losse the life of man is of more worth than so Though all men detested Seianus and that most deservedly yet when they heard him adjudged to a most cruell and infamous death by no legall proceedings or course of justice the hate of all men recoyled backe upon the Judges and the people began to pity that great favourite who before was most odious Crepat ingens Seianus great Seianus is drawn upon an hurdle and hee suffereth for too much abusing his Princes favour * Juven sat 9. Sed quo cecidit sub crimine quisnam Delator quibus indiciic quo teste probavit c. Nil horum Verbosa grandis epistola venit A Capreis Benè habet nil plus interrogo What crime was laid to his charge what evidence was given in against him what witnesses were sworne I heare of none onely I heare of a long letter sent from the Emperour taking his pastime at the Capreae Hush not a word more Who doth not observe in our owne Chronicles how God met to Hastings his owne measure who the same day that the Earle Rivers Gray and others in the reigne of Edward the fourth without triall of law were by his advice executed at Pomfret had his head strucken off in the same manner in the Tower of London Such as Tiberius his Judges or Edward the fourth's are no fit Presidents for Christian Magistrates this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my text will evidently convince them at Christs tribunall in the clouds for not looking better to their evidence when they sate on the bench here below let them therefore take judicii praefidem for a president in their judgements even God himselfe who as wee x Gen. 18.20 reade though the sinne of Sodome were exceeding great and the cry of it went up to heaven yet came downe from heaven to see whether they had done according to that cry Chrys in Gen. before hee rained down fire and brimstone to burn their bodies with unnaturall fire whose soules burned with unnaturall lust As the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I rebuke rebuketh the carelesnesse rashnesse of Judges and Magistrates in giving sentence upon the life or state of any in question before them so the other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I instruct by chastening instructeth fathers and mothers to performe that duty which they owe to God and must performe to their children viz. before them continually to rehearse the law of God y Deut. 11.19 4 10. To talke of it when they are in their house and when they walke abroad when they lye down and when they rise up Above all things they must take care to season their young and tender years with pure and incorrupt religion and bring them up in the feare of God otherwise they are but halfe parents if they have not as well a care of their soules as of their bodies if they pamper the flesh in them but starve the spirit if they labour
last of all by Antichrist and his adherents Yee see by this Epitomy of her story the reason of her complaints n Cant. 1.6 Regard mee not because I am blacke for the sunne hath looked upon mee the sonnes of my mother were angry against mee o Cant. 5.7 The watchmen that went about the City found me they smote mee and wounded mee and tooke away my vaile from me Stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sick for love Hereby also you may give a fit motto to those emblemes in holy Scripture A lilly among thornes A dove whose note is mourning A vine spoyled by little foxes and partly rooted out by the wild bore of the forrest A woman great with childe and a fiery dragon pursuing her According to which patternes Saint Jerome frameth his p Rubus ardens est figura ecclesiae quae flammis persecutionum non consumitur sed viret magis Hier. in verb. Exod. 3.2 A bush burning yet not consuming and as fitly Saint Gregory draweth her with Christs crosse in her hand with her challenge there unto Ecclesia haeres crucis The Church is an inheretrix of the crosse And it appeareth by all records hitherto that she hath possessed it and if wee examine the matter well wee shall finde that Christ had nothing else to leave her at his death For goods and lands upon earth hee never had q Mat. 8.20 The foxes saith hee have holes and the birds nests but the sonne of man hath not where to lay his head His soule hee bequeathed to his father his body was begged by Joseph of Arimathea his garments the souldiers tooke for their fee and cast lots upon his vestments onely the crosse together with the nailes and gall and vinegar bestowed upon him at his death hee left her as a Heriot For these withall the appurtenances scourges cryes sighes groanes stripes and wounds hee bequeathed to her by his life time in those words r Joh. 16.33 Mat. 10.17 18. 24.9 10 11. Joh. 16.10 In the world yee shall have troubles they shall persecute you in their Synagogues and scourge you and yee shall bee hated of all men for my names sake insomuch that they that kill you shall thinke they doe God good service Yee shall weepe and mourne but the world shall rejoice Upon which words Å¿ Lib. de spectac c. 28. Vicibus res disposita est lugeamus ergò dum ethnici gaudeÌ„t ut cum lugere coeperint gaudeamus ne paritèr nunc gaudentes cum quoque paritèr lugeamus delicatus es Christiane si in seculo voluptatem concupiscis imò niâ—iâ—is stultus si hoc existimas voluptatem Tertullian inferreth God hath disposed of joyes and sorrowes by turnes let us mourne when worldlings rejoice that when they mourne wee may rejoice Thou art too dainty and choice O Christian if besides the joyes of heaven laid up for thee thou lookest for a liberall portion of delights and pleasures in this world nay thou art too foolish if thou countest there is any true pleasure in such things wherein they place their happinesse I need not presse many texts of Scripture which yeeld this sharp juice as t Psal 34.19 Many are the troubles of the righteous u 2 Tim. 3.12 All that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution * 1 Pet. 4.17 Judgment begins at the house of God this verse alone which I now handle is sufficient to cleare Christs afflicted members from all note of heresie and imputation of reprobates For if afflictions are chastisements of Gods children and tokens of his love I rebuke and chasten as many as I love then are they not necessarily judgements for sinne messengers of wrath much lesse proper markes of heretickes and reprobates The kingdome of heaven is not necessarily annexed to earthly crownes nor is eternall glory any way an appendant to worldly pompe To conclude affluence of temporall blessings is no note of the true because store of afflictions is no note of the false Church Which truth is so apparent that many Papists of note have expresly delivered it in their annotations upon holy Scripture as u Stap. in verb Joh. In mundo pressuras habebitis Stapleton the Rhemists and x Mald. in Mat. 5. Facit solem orire supâ—r bonos malos unde perspicuum est hominum aut nationum prosperos successus nullum signum aut testimonium esse verioris aut purioris religionis Maldonate God causeth his Sunne to rise upon the just and upon the unjust whence saith the Jesuite it is evident that the prosperity of men or nations is no certaine signe or argument of the truth or purity of religion which they professe Howbeit as Praxiteles drew Venus after the picture of Cratina his Mistresse and all the Painters of Thebes after the similitude of Phryne a beautifull strumpet so Bellarmine being to paint and limme Christs Spouse took his notes from his own Mistresse the Romane Phryne the whore of Babylon and mother of fornications Looke upon the picture of that strumpet drawne to the life by Saint John Apoc. 17. and let your eyes bee Judges I saw saith hee a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast vers 3. full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten hornes vers 4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with gold and pretious stones and pearles what is this but Bellarmine his note of temporall felicity having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations of which it seemeth the Cardinall dranke deepe when he tooke the pencill in his hand to pourtray the true Church else hee could not be so out in his draught nor so utterly forget not only what others but himselfe also had formerly set downe in this point For in his solution of an objection of Martin Luther who stood in the opposite extreme affirming afflictions to bee an inseparable note of the Church hee confesseth freely that the Church in the beginning and in the end was in great straights and for this purpose to shew that persecutions though they eclipse the glory of the Church yet can never utterly extinguish it hee alledges such remarkable passages out of the ancient Fathers as these y Justin Mart. in apolog Persecution is but the pruning of Christs vine and z Tertul. in Apologet the blood of Martyrs is as seed and * Leo Ser. 1. de Pet. Paul the graines that fall one by one and dye in the earth rise up againe in great numbers If the Church runne into superfluous stemmes without the pruning knife of afflictions if the blood of martyrs turneth into seed to generate new Martyrs if the Church in her nonage had many sore conflicts and shall have greater in her old age certainly abundance ease pleasure and glory which make up temporall felicity are no notes of her for a L. 1. de
notis eccles c. 2. Notae debem esse inseparabiles the notes of any thing cannot bee severed from it as himselfe affirmeth By this I hope yee all perceive a great difference betweene the true lineaments of Christ his Spouse and Bellarmine his counterfeit draught betweene the Queene of Solomon all glorious within and the whore of Babylon all pompous without betweene the manicles and fetters of the one and the bracelets and chaines of the other between the cup of affliction in her hand and the cup of abominations in the hand of this and yee are perswaded that of all outward markes next to her speech the language of Canaan and her diet the blessed Sacrament the surest are some scars and cuts together with the print of stripes upon her otherwayes most faire and unspotted body Yet because the law condemneth no man before hee hath beene heard though perhaps hee hath nothing or as good as nothing to say for himselfe I will propose unto you his allegations which are principally the examples of Abraham Moses David Ezekiah and Josias and by these hee will bee tried whether temporall happinesse bee not a note of true professours To which instances I answer in generall that if these men had beene chosen out of God upon whom hee will shew the riches of his goodnesse in the blessings of this life yet their speciall priviledges were not to come into the account of common favours nor their particular examples to make generall rules The inward estate and life of the Church more dependeth upon the outward happinesse of Princes than the fortunes of private men neither can wee judge of a Play by one Scene nor of the happinesse of a mans life by one act or more but the whole current thereof But what if these Worthies of the world whom he singleth out for paragons of happinesse had no temporall felicity at all or none in comparison with their troubles and adversitie or at least in comparison with the prosperity of the heathen Emperors and persecuting Tyrants whose dominions were far larger estate securer victories incomparably greater Vouchsafe you a looke to his particulars First hee bringeth in Abraham as an example of the temporall felicity of true professors whom the Scripture rather proposeth as a patterne of patience and a spectacle of manifold adversity a pilgrim wandring from his owne countrey afflicted with famine in Egypt forced to forgoe his wife and deny her to save his life without any issue by her till his old age and when God gave him a sonne commanded to slay him with his owne hands Yet may it bee pleaded for Bellarmine that Abraham got a notable victory and wan the field of Kedarlaomer and other Kings and rescued his brother Lot Admit this but withall let it bee noted that in the selfe same story Lot was taken prisoner by Kedarlaomer and consequently that victory in warre is no certaine argument of the truth of religion Howsoever will they conclude it to be summer by the flight of one swallow or account it a faire day wherein the sun once sheweth himselfe I need not speake of Moses in whom hee secondly instanceth the Scripture is plaine b Heb. 11.25 That he chose rather to suffer affliction with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Who can be ignorant except peradventure some Lay Papist prohibited to read the sacred Scriptures how Moses was exposed by his parents put in an Ark of bulrushes into the river saved from drowning by Pharaohs daughter how he fled to save his life kept close forty yeers in the land of Madian And after he had led the children of Israel through infinite difficulties dangers notwithout many murmurings and conspiracies against his person when hee came to the very borders of Canaan was forbid to enter in and commanded by God himselfe to dye upon Mount Nebo What shall I speake of David and the rest did not forraine warres and home-bred seditions the conspiracy of his owne sonne Absolom against him together with infinite other troubles griefes and cares constraine him oftentimes to mingle his drinke with his teares and the songs of Sion with his sighes Was he a mirrour of temporall happinesse who complaineth in the bitternesse of his soule I am weary of my groaning every night wash I my bed and water my couch with my teares my beauty is gone for very trouble and worne away because of all my enemies I am a worme and no man the very scorne of men and out-cast of the people One depth of sorrow calleth upon another all thy waves stormes have gone over mee As for Hezekiah it cannot be denied that God richly rewarded his zeale and crowned the calendar of his life with many festivals yet Saint Bernards observation was verified in him that no man ever had such a prosperous course but that he received a rub before his death Fieri non potest ut in hoc seculo quisquam non gustet angustias For in his time Sennacharib besieged Jerusalem and put the good King in feare of his crowne and life and after his miraculous delivery from that danger he fell into a worse For he was smitten with a dangerous disease thought to bee the plague c Esay 38.1 the Text saith he was sicke unto death and in the bitternesse of his paine and feare of present death he cryeth out Ver. 17. Behold for felicity I had bitter griefe and misery But most of all is the Cardinall out in his last instance of Josiah of whom after the commendation of his zeale in reformation of Religion and taking away all abominations out of Israel and Judah we reade little but that fighting with Pharaoh Neco he was slaine at Megiddo and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him and the Prophet Jeremy and all singing men and singing women bewailed his death in their lamentations to this day Yee see how unhappy this great Advocate of Rome is in his instances of temporall happinesse yet had they been all happy whom he nameth and drunke their fill of the rivers of pleasure and never tasted the waters of Marah what are they to that great d Apoc. 7.9 multitude which no man can number of all nations and kinreds and people that stood before the Throne and the Lambe arrayed with long white robes having palmes in their hands concerning whom when one of the Elders asked what are these and whence came they and Saint John answered Lord thou knowest the Elder replyeth saying These are they that came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe therefore are they in the presence of the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that fitteth on the Throne will dwell among them I will conclude this point with that grave determination of S. e Lib. 1. de civit Dei c. 8. Placuit divinae providentiae
did his best to incline his will that way yet he could not keep it to that bent but that it slacked and bowed another way as Christs words imply Ducent te quo nolis They shall d John 21.18 lead thee whither thou wouldest not He saith not they shall draw thee but they shall lead thee Peter therefore was in some sort willing to goe with them that led him to the crosse yet hee somewhat shrinked at it though the spirit was strong in him yet the flesh was weake Who ever did or suffered more for the Gospel than Saint Paul yet he professeth that in regard of the law of sinne in his members the e Rom. 7.19 good which he would doe he did not and the evill which he would not doe that he did And being thus crossed in all his godly desires and endeavours hee cryeth out O * Rom. 7.24 wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee from this body of death Yee see now the root of bitternesse set so deep in our hearts that it cannot be pluck't up till wee are transplanted there is no hope in this life to purge out this matter of continuall diseases it is so mingled with our radicall moisture the balsamum of our lives only wee may abate it by subtracting nourishment from it and allay the force of it by strengthening nature against it by prayers godly instructions and continuall exercises of religious duties A neerer cause of our so great distemper in afflictions wee owe to the delights of our prosperity which as the pleasures of Capua did Hannibals souldiers so weaken our mindes and make us so choice and tender that we cannot beare the weight of our owne armour much lesse the stroakes of an enraged enemy The f Hieron ad Heliod Corpus assuetum tunicis loricae onus non fert caput opertum linteo galeam recusat mollem otio manum durus exasperat capulus body used to soft raiment cannot beare the weight of an helmet the head wrapped in silke night-caps cannot endure an iron head-piece the hard hilt hurteth the soft hand It was wisely observed by the g Senec. sent Res adversae non frangunt quos prosperae non corruperunt Heathen Sage that none are broken with adversity but such as were weakened before and made crazie by ease and prosperity Sound trees are not blowne downe with the wind but the rootes rather fastened thereby but corrupt trees eaten with wormes engendered of superfluous moisture are therefore throwne downe by the least blast because they had no strength to resist Why do losses of goods so vexe us but because we trusted in uncertaine riches Why is disgrace a Courtiers hell but because he deemed the favour of the Prince places of honourable employment his heaven We are therefore astonished at our fall because sometimes with David in the height of our worldly felicity we said Wee shall never bee h Psal 30.6 moved If when we had the world at will we had used the things of this life as if wee used them not now in the change of our estate our not using them would be all one as if we used them The best meanes to asswage the paines of affliction when it shall befall us will be in the time of our wealth to abate the pleasures of prosperity if we sawce all our earthly joyes with godly sorrow all our worldly sorrow shall be mixed with much spirituall joy and comfort Let us not over-greedily seeke nor highly esteem nor immoderately take nor intemperately joy in the delights and comforts which wealth and prosperity afford and the rod of Gods afflicting hand shall fall but lightly upon us Let us not so fill our hearts with temporary pleasures but that wee leave some place for these and the like sad and sober thoughts What are riches honours pleasures and all the contentments of this life that because I enjoy them for the present I should take so much upon mee The Divell offereth them the wicked have them Gods dearest children often want them therefore they are not eagerly to be sought They are not good but in their use nor things but for a moment nor ours but upon trust therefore not greatly to be esteemed They without store of grace in our selves and good counsels from others strengthen the flesh weaken the spirit nourish carnall lusts choake all good motions cloy our bodily and wholly stupifie our ghostly senses cast us into a dead sleep of security but awake Gods judgements against us therefore they are sparingly to be tasted not greedily to be devoured These and the like meditations are not only good preservatives in prosperity but also lenitives in adversity as they helpe us to digest and i Pind. od 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concoct felicity so they strengthen us to beare misery All that wee now possesse and the world so much doteth upon what are they in their nature and condition but things indifferent therefore wee ought to bee indifferently affected to them and the contrary they are transitory what strange thing then is it if they passe from us they are farre inferiour to the immortall spirit that quickneth our bodies therefore cannot the want of them deprive it of happinesse they are not our inheritance for ever nor our donatives or legacies for life but talents for a while committed to us to employ them to our Masters best advantage therefore the restoring them back is no mulct but a surrender no losse but a discharge The more of this sort wee are trusted with the more liable we are to an account how then are wee hurt or endammaged by the diminution of that which lessens our accounts Finally they are often effects of Gods wrath and their effects usually are sensuality security and stupidity against which afflictions are a speciall remedy To extract then the quintessence of the herbes and flowers of Paradise and make of them a cordiall to comfort us in worldly losses Nothing is absolutely good but God all other things respectively only temporall blessings as they proceed from his love and may be imployed to his glory in this respect only to be desired and loved If then wee affect God in them and enjoy them in God and it be made apparent unto us that afflictions and losses are sometimes more certaine tokens of Gods love and that they minister unto us more matter and greater occasion of testifying our love to him and meanes of setting forth his glory we should be rather glad than sorrowfull when God seeth it best for us to exchange the former for the latter Yea but the forlorne Christian out of all heart because in his conceit out of Gods favour will reply Shew mee that the countenance of God is not changed towards mee nor his affections estranged from mee and it sufficeth surely kissings and embracings not blowes and stroakes are love complements how may I be perswaded that God layeth his heavie crosse upon mee in
possible vehemency and earnestnesse yet presently he yeeldeth to forgoe his will and undergoe his passion Sed fiat voluntas tua non mea But thy will be done not mine or Neverthelesse not as I i Mat. 26.39 will but as thou wilt Not as I will these words imply an unwillingnesse Neverthelesse be it done as thou wilt sheweth a resolute will here is a consent of will without a will of consent a will against a will or a will and not a will Non mea sed tua As man he expressed a naturall feare of death and desire of life yet with a submission to the will of his Father it was not his will to take that cup for it selfe and antecedently and as he saw wrath in it yet as hee saw the salvation of man in it and greater glory it was his will to drink it off consequently because such was his Fathers good pleasure to which his will was alwayes subordinate Saint k Cyp. de bono patient Dominus secit voluntatem Patris sui nos non faciemus patiemur voluntatem Domini Cyprian speaketh home in this point to all that repine at what God sendeth them be it never so bitter to their carnall taste Our Lord did and suffered the will of his Father shall not we doe and suffer the will of our Lord he conformed his will to his Fathers shall not we ours to his If these inducements from the love of God and example of our Saviour which prevaile most with the best dispositions worke not kindly with us let vulgar and common discretion teach us to make a vertue of necessity Suffer we must what God layes upon us for who can l Rom. 9.19 resist his will If we suffer with our will wee gaine by our sufferings a heavenly vertue for a worldly losse or crosse we make a grace of a judgement if we suffer against our will we suffer neverthelesse and lose all benefit of our sufferings We adde drunkennesse to thirst and impatience to impenitence passive disobedience to active and what doth obstinacy and rebellion against the will of God availe us Doe the waves get by their furious beatings against the rockes whereby they are broken the bones in our body by resisting the lightening whereby they are bruised and consumed the soft and yeelding flesh being no way hurt The strong and tallest trees by their stiffe standing and setting themselves as it were against the wind give the wind more power over them to blow them downe to the ground and teare them up by the root whereas the reeds and bents by yeelding to every blast overcome the wind and in the greatest and most blustering storme keep their place and standing Alas the more we struggle and strive and tugge to plucke our necke out of Gods yoake the more paine we put our selves to the oftner and stronger we kicke at the prickes of Gods judgements the deeper they enter into our heeles m Vae oppositis voluntatibus quid tam poenale quà m semper velle quod nunquam erit semper nolle quod nunquam non erit inaeternum non obtinere quod vult quod non vult inaeternum sustinere Woe be to these crosse wills saith St. Bernard they shall never attaine what they would and they shall ever sustaine and endure what they would not As grace in the godly is a means to procure the increase of grace as the cymball of Africa sweetly tinckleth Ipsa meretur augeri ut aucta mereatur so punishment in the wicked through their impatience becommeth a meanes to improve both their sinnes and punishments for after they have suffered for not doing the will of God they are againe to suffer and that most deservedly for their not suffering patiently their most deserved punishments If any be so wedded to their wills that they will not be severed from it no not to joyne it and themselves to God let them in the last place consider that the only meanes to have their will perpetually is to resigne it to God not only because Voluntas inordinata est quae non est subordinata The will which is not subordinate to God is inordinate and therefore not to be termed will but lust but especially because such is the condition proposed to us by God either to suffer temporall chastisements for our sinnes with our wills or eternall punishments against our wills If we will have our will in all things here we shall want it for ever hereafter but if we will be content to want our wills here in some things for a time we shall have our will in all things and fill also of heavenly contentments for evermore hereafter And chasten If all afflictions of the godly are chastenings and all chastenings are for instruction then to make the right use of them we are not only in general but also in particular to search our selvs what those sins are in our soules which God seeketh to kill in us by smart afflictions If our affliction be worldly losses let us consider with our selvs whether our sin were not covetousnesse if disgrace and shame whether our sinne were not ambition if scarcity and famine whether the sinne were not luxury if bodily paines torments or aches whether wee offended not before in sinfull pleasures if a dangerous fall whether the fault were not confidence in our owne strength if trouble of mind and a fit of despaire whether before we provoked not God by security and presumption This to have bin the practice of Gods Saints as in other examples so we may cleerly see in the brethren of Joseph who impute the hard measure that was mett to them in Egypt to the like hard measure they had mett to their brother Joseph saying one to another n Gen. 42.21 We verily sinned against our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soule when he besought us and we would not heare therefore is this anguish come upon us We find it also in Saint Paul who conceived that the o 2 Cor. 12.7 messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet him that he might not be lifted up above measure with his so many graces and speciall revelations And when certain virgins ravished by barbarous souldiers in regard they found in themselves no spot of impurity before they suffered this violence called in question the justice of God for permitting those unclean persons to have their will of them who had all their life preserved their honour and reputation untainted and their bodies unspotted Saint p Lib. 1. de civit Dei c. 28. Austine wisely adviseth them to search their hearts whether those insolent indignities offered them by the worst of men might not be a punishment of some other sinne rather than unchastity and in particular whether their sinne were not their pride of this vertue and too highly prizing their virginity for pride even of virginity is as fowle a sinne before God as impurity As many
yet not willing to bee put to an infamous cruell and accursed death he became obedient to death even the death of the crosse The repeating the word death seemeth to argue an ingemination of the punishment a suffering death upon death It was wonderfull that hee which was highest in glory should humble himselfe yet it is more to bee obedient than to humble himselfe more to suffer death willingly or upon the command of another than to be obedient more to bee crucified than simply to die Hee was so humble that hee became obedient so obedient that hee yeelded to die so yeelded to die as to bee crucified his love wonderfully shewed it selfe in humbling himselfe to exalt us his humility in his obedience his obedience in his patience his patience in the death of the crosse His humility was a kinde of excesse of his love his obedience of his humility his death of his obedience his crosse of his death He humbled himselfe According to which nature divine or humane In some sort according to both according to his divine by assuming our nature according to his humane by taking upon him our miseries And became obedient It is not said hee made himselfe obedient because obedience presupposeth anothers command wee may indeed of our selves offer service to another but wee cannot performe obedience where there is no command of a Superiour parere and imperare are relatives To whom then became hee obedient To God saith Calvin to Herod and Pilate saith Zanchius the truth is to both to God as supreme Judge according to whose eternall decree to Pilate by whose immediate sentence hee was to suffer such things of sinners for sinners To death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether inclusivè or exclusivè whether is the meaning hee was obedient all his life even to his last gaspe or hee was so farre obedient that hee yeelded himselfe to the wrath of God to the scorn of men the power of darknesse the infamy of all punishments the shame of all disgraces the cruelty of all torments the death of the crosse The difference betweene these is in this that the former maketh death the limit and bound the latter an act of his obedience to which interpretation I rather subscribe because it is certaine that Christ was not onely obedient unto the houre of his death but in his death also and after his death lying three dayes and three nights in the grave Here then we have the sum of the whole Gospel the life and death of our Lord and Saviour his birth and life in the former words He humbled himselfe his death passion in the latter and became obedient unto death even the death of the crosse He humbled that is took on him our nature infirmities became obedient that is fulfilled the law for us by his active satisfied God for our transgressions by his passive obedience Obedience most shews it selfe in doing or suffering such things as are most crosse repugnant to our wil natural desires as to part with that which is most dear pretious to us and to entertain a liking of that which we otherwise most abhor Now the strongest bent of all mens desires is to life honor nothing men fear more than death especially a lingring painful death they are confounded at nothing more than open shame whereby our Saviours obedience appeares a non pareil who passed not for his life nor refused the torments of a cruel nor the shame of an ignominious death that he might fulfill his fathers will in laying down a sufficient ransom for all mankinde Even the death of the crosse As the sphere of the Sun or Saturn c. is named from the Planet which is the most eminent part of it so is the passion of Christ from his crosse the crosse was as the center in which all the bloody lines met He sweat in his agony bled in his scourging was pricked in his crowning with thornes scorned and derided in the judgement hall but all this and much more hee endured on the crosse Whence we may observe more particularly 1 The root 2 Branches 3 Fruit. Or 1 The cause 2 The parts 3 The end of all his sufferings on it 1 Of the cause S. a Aug. l. 3. de Civ Dei c. 15. Regularis defectio non nisi in lunae fine contingit Austin demonstrateth that the Eclipse of the sun at the death of our Saviour was miraculous because then the Moon was at the full Had it bin a regular Eclipse the Moon should have lost her light and not the Sun so in the regular course of justice the Church which is compared to the Moon in b Cant. 6.10 Scripture should have been eclipsed of the light of Gods countenance and not Christ who is by the Prophet Malachy stiled c Mal. 4.2 Sol justitiae the Sun of righteousnesse But as then the Sun was eclipsed in stead of the Moon so was Christ obscured in his passion for the Church he became a surety for us therfore God laid all our debts upon him to the uttermost farthing The Prophet Esay assureth us hereof d Esa 53.4 5. He bare our infirmities carried our sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him by his stripes we are all healed O the wonderfull wisdom justice of God! the just is reputed unjust that the unjust might be reputed just the innocent is condemned that the condemned might be found innocent the Conquerer is in bonds to loose the captive the Creditor in prison to satisfie for the debtour the Physitian taketh the bitter potion to cure the patient the Judge is executed to acquit the prisoner What did the welbeloved of his Father deserve that he should drink the dregs of the vials of wrath why should the immaculate Lamb be put to such torture in the end be slain but for a sacrifice why should the bread of life hunger but for our gluttony the fountain of grace thirst but for our intemperancy the word of God be speechlesse but for our crying sin truth it self be accused but for our errors innocency condemned but for our transgressions why should the King of glory endure such ignominy shame but for our shameful lives why should the Lord of life be put to death but for our hainous and most deadly sins what spots had he to be washed what lust to bee crucified what ulcers to bee pricked what sores to bee launced Doubtlesse none at all our corrupt blood was drawn out of his wounds our swellings pricked with his thornes our sores launced with his speare our lusts crucified on his crosse our staines washed away with his blood It was the weight of our sins that made his soule heavie unto death it was the unsupportable burden of our punishment that put him into a bloody sweat all our blood was corrupt all our flesh as it were in
was exalted according to both natures according to his humane by laying down all infirmities of mans nature and assuming to himself all qualities of glory according to his divine by the manifestation of the Godhead in the manhood which before seemed to lie hid But this seemeth not to be so proper an interpretation neither can it be well conceived how that which is highest can be said to be exalted but Christ according to his divine nature is and alwaies was together with the Holy Ghost most high in the glory of God the Father It is true which they affirme that the Deity more manifestly appeared in our Saviour after his resurrection than before the rayes of divine Majesty were more conspicuous in him than before but this commeth not home to the point For this manifestation of the Deity in the humane nature was no exaltation of the divine nature but of the humane As when the beames of the Sunne fall upon glasse the glasse is illustrated thereby not the beame so the manifestation of the Deity in the humane nature of Christ was the glory and exaltation of the manhood not of the Godhead I conclude this point therefore according to the mind of the ancient and most of the later Interpreters that God exalted Christ according to that nature which before was abased even unto the death of the Crosse and that was apparently his humane For according to his divine as he could not be humbled by any so neither be exalted as he could not die so neither be raised from death Having thus parced the words it remaineth that we make construction of the whole which confirmeth to us a principall article of our faith and giveth us thus much to understand concerning the present estate of our Lord and Saviour That because being in the forme of God clothed with majesty and honour adored by Cherubins Seraphins Archangels and Angels he dis-robed himselfe of his glorious attire and put upon him the habit and forme of a servant and in it to satisfie for the sins of the whole world endured all indignities disgraces vexations derisions tortures and torments and for the close of all death it selfe yea that cruell infamous and accursed death of the Crosse therefore God even his Father to whom he thus far obeyed and most humbly submitted himselfe hath accordingly exalted him raising him from the dead carrying him up in triumph into heaven setting him in a throne of Jasper at his right hand investing him with robes of majesty and glory conferring upon him all power and authority and giving him a name above all names and a stile above all earthly stiles King of Kings and Lord of Lords giving charge to all creatures of what rank or degree soever in heaven earth or under the earth to honour him as their King and God in such sort that they never speake or thinke of him without bowing the knee and doing him the greatest reverence and religious respect that is possibly to be expressed In this high mysterie of our faith five specialties are remarkable 1 The cause Wherefore 2 The person advancing God 3 The advancement it selfe exalted 4 The manner highly 5 The person advanced him Begin we with the cause Wherefore That which was elsewhere spoken by our Saviour h Luk. 14.11 He that humbleth himselfe shall bee exalted is here spoken of our Saviour hee humbled himselfe to suffer a most accursed death therefore God highly exalted him to a most blessed and glorious life We are too well conceited of our selves gather too much from Gods love and gracious promises to us if we expect that he should bring us by a nearer way and shorter cut to celestiall glory than he did his onely begotten Son who came not easily by his crowne but bought it dearly with a price not which he gave but rather for which hee was given himselfe His conquest over death and hell and the spoyles taken from them were not Salmacida spolia sine sanguine sudore spoyles got without sweat or blood-shed for he sweat and he bled nay he sweat blood in his striving and struggling for them Wherefore if God humble us by any grievous visitation if by sicknesse poverty disgrace or captivity wee are brought low in the world let us not bee too much dejected therewith we are not fallen nor can fall so low as our Saviour descended of himselfe immediately before his glorious exaltation The lower a former wave carrieth downe the ship the higher the later beareth it up the farther backe the arrow is drawn the farther forward it flyeth Our affections as our actions are altogether preposterous and wrong in the height of prosperity we are usually without feare in the depth of misery without hope Whereas if we weighed all things in an equall ballance and guided our judgement not by sight but by faith not by present probabilities but by antecedent certainties we should find no place more dangerous to build our confidence upon than the ridge of prosperity no ground surer to cast the anchor of our hope upon than the bottome of misery How suddenly was Herod who heard himself called a god and not a man deprived of his kingdome life by worms and no men whereas David who reputed himselfe a worm and no man was made a King over men Moses was taken from feeding sheepe to feed the people of God but on the contrary Nebuchadnezzar from feeding innumerable flockes of people shall I say to feed sheepe nay to be fed as a sheepe and graze among the beasts of the field O what a sudden change was here made in the state of this mighty Monarch How was hee that gloried in his building of great Babel brought to Babel that is confusion he that before dropp'd with sweet ointment feasted all his senses with the pleasures of a King hath the dew of heaven for his oyntment the flowry earth for his carpets the weeds for his sallets the lowing of beasts for his musick and the skie for his star-chamber How great a fall also had the pride of Antiochus who riding furiously in his chariot against Jerusalem was thrown out of it on the ground and with the fall so bruised his members that his flesh rotted and bred wormes in great abundance i 2 Mac. 9.8 9. Hee that a little before thought that hee might command the waves of the sea so proud was he beyond the condition of man and weigh the high mountaines in a ballance was now cast on the ground and carryed in an horse-litter declaring unto all the manifest power of God So that the wormes came out of the bowels of this wicked man in great abundance and while hee was yet alive his flesh fell off with paine and torments and all his army was grieved with the stench The k Xen. Cyr. paed l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. King of Armenia who had beene formerly tributary to Cyrus understanding that that puissant Prince was engaged
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he emptied himselfe word for word made himselfe of no reputation and took upon him the forme of a servant and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Wherefore God also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 highly exalted him Superexaltavit as if ye would say he highly raised him on high The stroake is doubled upon the naile to drive it in further the beame is reflected to give more light and heat the word is repeated for more significancy and efficacy as Visitando visitabo and desiderando desideravi and benedicendo benedicam and gavisi sunt gaudio magno a◠in c Exod. 32.34 visiting I will visit that is I will most surely visit and I have d Luke 22.15 desired with desire that is I have vehemently desired to eate this Passover and the wise men e Mat. 2.10 rejoyced with joy to see the starre that is they exceedingly rejoyced and in f Gen. 12.2 3. blessing will I blesse thee saith God to Abraham that is I will wonderfully I will extraordinarily blesse thee with store of blessings so here superexaltavit he highly raised on high signifieth he raised him by many degrees he exalted him to the highest honour he was capable of so highly that all creatures whatsoever are far below him In these two words highly exalted are wound up three Articles of our Christian Beliefe immediately following one the other in the Apostles Creed 1. Resurrection 2. Ascension 3. Session at the right hand of God When he was raised from the dead he was exalted but when he ascended and tooke his place at the right hand of God above all thrones dominions principalities and powers he was highly exalted As there are three descents in his humiliation his death his going downe to Hell his lying in the grave three dayes and three nights so there are three ascents in his exaltation correspondent unto them to the first degree of his humiliation his death answereth the first degree of his exaltation his resurrection to the second his descent into hell his ascension into heaven to the third his lying three dayes and three nights in the grave which was the lowest degree of his humiliation the highest degree of his exaltation his sitting at the right hand of God The sweet flower of Jesse which was set at his death and thrust deep into the ground at his buriall is now sprung up from the earth in his resurrection openeth his leaves and sends forth a savour of life unto life to all that by faith smell unto it But to keep to the words of my Text the parts whereof resemble insecta animalia those creeping things which if you cut them asunder will joyne againe therefore is as the communis terminus to them all because the Son of God was so farre humbled it was fit he should be exalted accordingly because he humbled himselfe therefore God exalted him because he humbled himselfe so low God exalted him so high where humility goes before there is a just cause of exaltation and where there is a cause God will exalt and where God exalteth he exalteth highly Wherefore It is hotly argued between the reformed Divines and Papists Utrum Christus sibi meruerit Whether Christ merited any thing for himselfe or only for us The Romanists stand for the first the Protestants for the second opinion I see no cause why this controversie should not be composed for questionlesse Christs humiliation deserved an exaltation neither can we attribute too much glory to our Redeemer Albeit therefore as Mediatour he merited for us yet as man he might also merit for himselfe and the word Quaproptet Wherefore seemeth rather to imply the meritorious cause of his exaltation than a consequence only of the hypostaticall union Where God exalteth there is alwayes some cause he advanced not his Son without merit Whose example if they in whose gifts the greatest preferments are did alwayes follow the garlands of honours should not be taken from them that winne the race and given to standers by Cato was in the right who said he had rather that men should aske why hath Cato no statue or monument rather than why should he have a monument And surely it is a greater honour that men should enquire why such a man of worth is not preferred than why is such a man of no worth preferred yet as in nature so in states the heaviest bodies will ascend ad supplendum vacuum to fill up a vacuity Worthlesse men like Apes and Monkies will not be quiet till they have got to the top of the house and when they are there what doe they but make mouthes and faces at passengers or breake glasses or play other ridiculous feats The old thorow-faire to the Temple of honour among the Romans was by the Temple of vertue but now it is said men have found a neerer way through the postern gate of Juno Moneta The ancient Philosophers did but dreame of a golden age but we see it Aurea nunc verê sunt secula plurimus auro Venit honos auro conciliatur amor This may be well esteemed the golden age in which gold is in greatest esteem Gold supplies all defects and answereth to all things A g Exod. 32.6 Calfe shall be worshipped with divine honour if he be of gold But the best is they that rise like Jonas gourd in a night are blasted in an houre and as they are raised no man knowes why so they fall no man knowes how It is not possible that a high and great building should stand without a foundation Now if we will beleeve Saint Austine the foundation of honour is worth and this must be laid deep in the ground of humility He humbled himselfe therefore God highly exalted him If Christ who humbled and abased himselfe so low be now so highly exalted above all principalities and powers and thrones and dominions there is no cause then why any of Gods children humbled under his hand how low soever they are brought should despaire of rising againe Looke they upward or downward they may fasten the anchor of their hope beneath them our Saviour was who now is above the heavens Are they spoiled of their goods he was stripped starke naked Have they left a great estate he left a Kingdome in Heaven Are they falsly accused he was condemned of blasphemy Are they railed at he was spit upon Are they pricked with griefes he was crowned with thornes Doe they lye hard he hung upon the crosse Doe they sigh for their grievous afflictions he gave up the ghost in torments Are they forsaken of their friends he was for a time of his Father My h Mat. 27.46 God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Have they things laid to their charge they never knew he was charged with the sins of the whole world which pressed him downe to the earth nay yet lower to the grave
grievous unto you to punish and d 2 Cor. 7.11 take revenge of your selves often who transgresse more often to afflict your soules often who e Eph. 4.30 grieve Gods holy spirit more often whereby yee are sealed to the day of redemption Sit par medicina vulneri let the remedy bee answerable to the malady let the plaister fit the wound if the wounds be many let the plaisters be divers if the wounds bee wide let the plaisters bee large Now to perswade all that heare mee this day willingly to apply these smarting plaisters to undertake joyfully this taske of godly sorrow and perform chearfully this necessary duety of mourning for our sinnes I have chosen this Text wherein God by expressing his desire of the life of a penitent sinner assureth us that wee shall obtaine our desires and recover the health of our soule if wee take the Physicke hee prescribeth Have I any desire that a sinner should dye and not that hee should returne from his wicked way and live Vers 22 24. If the wicked shall turne from all his sinnes that hee hath committed and keepe all my statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right hee shall surely live hee shall not dye All his transgressions that hee hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousnesse that hee hath done hee shall live But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall hee live All the righteousnesse that hee hath done shall not bee mentioned in his trespasse that hee hath trespassed and in his sinne that hee hath sinned in them hee shall dye That is briefly If repentance follow after sinne life shall follow after repentance if sinne follow finally after repentance death shall follow after sinne O presumptuous sinner despaire not for repentance without relapse is assured life O desperate sinner presume not for relapse without repentance is certaine death Art thou freed from desperation take heed how thou presumest hast thou presumed yet by no meanes despaire Nec spera ut pecces nec despera si peccasti Neither hope that thou maist continue in sinne neither despaire after thou hast sinned but pray and labour for repentance never to bee f 2 Cor. 7.10 repented of But before I pitch upon the interpretation of the words give mee leave to glance at the occasion which was a Proverbiall speech taken up by the Jewes in those dayes wherein Ezekiel prophecied Ch. 18..2 The g Jer. 31.29 In those dayes they shall say no more the fathers have eaten a sowre grape and the childrens teeth are set on edge fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge of which wee may say as h Vell. Pater hist l. 2. Disertus sed nequā facundus sed malo publico Velleius Paterculus doth of Curio It is a witty but a wicked Proverb casting a blot of injustice upon the proceedings of the Judge of all flesh i Aristot l. de mirabil auscul Aristotle reporteth it for a certaine truth That vulturs cannot away with sweet oyntments and that the Cantharides are killed and dye suddenly with the strong sent and smell of roses which makes it seeme lesse strange to mee that the doctrine of the Gospel which is a savour of life unto life should prove to some no better than a savour of death unto death and the judgements of God which were sweeter to Davids taste than the honey and the honey comb should taste so sower and sharpe in the mouthes of these Jewes with whom the Prophet had to doe that they set their teeth on edge and their tongue also against God himselfe whom they sticke not to charge with injustice for laying the fathers sinnes to the sonnes charge and requiring satisfaction of the one for the other Our fathers say they have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge What justice is there in this why should wee smart for our forefathers sinnes and lye by it for their debt The depulsion of which calumny is the argument of this Chapter wherin the Prophet cleareth the justice of God from the former foule aspersion both by denying the instance and disproving the inference upon it They were not saith hee the grapes your fathers ate that have set your teeth on edge but the sowre fruit of your owne sinne Neither doth God seeke occasion to punish you undeservedly who is willing to remit the most deserved punishments of your former sinnes upon your present sorrow and future amendment So far is he from laying the blame of your fathers sinnes upon you that he will not proceed against you for your owne sins if you take a course hereafter to discharge your consciences of them The sufficiency of which answer will appeare more fully by laying it to the former objection which may be thus propounded in forme He who punisheth the children for the fathers fault offereth hard and uneven measure to the children But God threateneth to doe so and he often k Plut. de ser num vind Antigonus propter Demetrium Phylenus propter Augaeum Nestor propter Neleum poenas sustinuere Hes op diei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 20.5 Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third fourth generation doth so For l Herod in Clio Croesus quintae retrò aetatis poenas luit hoc est Abavus qui cùm esset satelles Heraclidum Dominum interemit Croesus lost his kingdome for the sinne of his great great great grand-father Rhehoboam the ten Tribes for the sinnes of Solomon The posterity of Ahab was utterly destroyed for the sin of their parents and upon the Jewes forty yeeres after the death of our Saviour there came all the righteous bloud shed upon that land from the bloud of righteous Abel unto the bloud of Zacharias the sonne of Barachias whom they slew between the Temple and the Altar m Matth. 23.35 36. Verely saith our Saviour all these things shall come upon this generation Ergo God offereth hard and uneven measure to the children In which Syllogisme though the major or first proposition will hardly beare scale in the uneven ballances of mans judgement for in some case the sonne loseth his honour for his fathers sake as of treason yet the Prophet taketh no exception at it but shapes his answer to the assumption which is this in effect that their accusation is a false calumny that he that eateth the sowre grapes his teeth shall be set on edge that the sonne shall not beare the iniquity of his father but that the soule which sinneth shall dye For howsoever God may sometimes spare the father for many excellent vertues and yet cut off the sonne for the same sinne because he is heire of his fathers vices but not of his vertues or he may launce sometimes the sinne in the
sonne when it is ripe which he permitted to grow in the father without applying any such remedy outwardly unto it yet this is most certaine that he never visiteth the sinne of the father upon the children if the children tread not in the wicked steps of their father Thus much the words that follow in the second Commandement imply unto the n Exod. 20.5 third and fourth generation of them that hate mee He often sheweth mercy to the sonne for the fathers sake but never executeth justice upon any but for their owne sinnes The sinne of the sonne growes the more unpardonable because he would not take example by his father but abused the long-suffering of God which should have called him to repentance The Latine Proverb Aemilius fecit plectitur Rutilius Aemilius committeth the trespasse and Rutilius was merced for it hath no place in Gods proceedings neither is there any ground of the Poets commination o Hor. l. 3. od 6. lib. 1. od 28. Negligis immeritis nocituram postmodo te natis fraudem committer◠fo rs debita jura vicesque superbae te maneant ipsum Delicta majorum immeritus lues Romane For God is so far from inflicting punishment upon one for the sins of another that he inflicteth no punishment upon any for his own sinne or sins be they never so many and grievous if he turne from his wicked wayes and cry for mercy in time for God desireth not the death of a sinner but of sinne he would not that we should dye in our sinnes but our sinnes in us If we spare not our sinnes but slay them with the sword of the Spirit God will spare us This is the effect of the Prophets answer the summe of this chapter and the contents of this verse in which more particularly we are to observe 1. The person I. 2. The action or affection desire 3. The object death 4. The subject the wicked 1. The person soveraigne God 2. The action or affection amiable delight 3. The object dreadfull deprivation of life 4. The subject guilty the wicked The words are uttered by a figurative interrogation in which there is more evidence and efficacy more life and convincing force For it is as if he had said Know ye not that I have no such desire or thinke ye that I have any desire or dare it enter into your thoughts that I take any pleasure at all in the death of a sinner When the interrogation is figurative the rule is that if the question be affirmative the answer to it must be negative but if the question be negative the answer must be affirmative For example Who is like unto the Lord the meaning is none is like unto the Lord. Whom have I in heaven but thee that is I have none in heaven but thee On the other side when the question is negative the answer must be affirmative as Are not the Angels ministring spirits that is the Angels are ministring spirits and Shall the Son of man find faith that is the Son of man shall not find faith Here then apply the rule and shape a negative answer to the first member being affirmative thus I have no desire that a sinner should dye and an affirmative answer to the negative member thus I have a desire that the wicked should returne and live and ye have the true meaning and naturall exposition of this verse Have I any desire that the wicked should dye 1. God is not said properly to have any thing 2. if he may be said to have any thing yet not desires 3. if he may be said to have a desire of any thing yet not of death 4. if he desire the death of any yet not of the wicked in his sinne Have I As the habits of the body are not the body so neither the habits of the soule are the soule it selfe Now whatsoever is in God is God for he is a simple act and his qualities or attributes are not re ipsâ distinct from his essence and therefore he cannot be said properly to have any thing but to be all things Any desire Desires as Plato defineth them are vela animi the sailes of the mind which move it no other wayes than the saile doth a ship Desire of honour is the saile which moveth the ambitious of pleasure is the saile which moveth the voluptuous of gaine is the saile which moveth the covetous Others define them spurres of the soule to prick us on forwards to such things as are most agreeable to our naturall inclination and deliberate purposes Hence it appeares that properly there can be no desires in God because desire is of something we want but God wanteth nothing Desires are meanes to stirre us up but God is immoveable as he is immutable If then he be said to desire any thing the speech is borrowed and to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in such sort as may agree with the nature of God and it importeth no more than God liketh or approveth such things That the wicked should dye A sinner may be said to dye two manner of wayes either as a sinner or as a man as a sinner he dyeth when his sinne dyeth in him and he liveth as a man he dyeth either when his body is severed from his soule which is the first death or when both body and soule are for ever severed from God which is the second death God desireth the death of a sinner in the first sense but no way in the latter he desireth that sinne should dye in us but neither that we should dye the first death in sin nor dye the second death for sinne He is the author of life p Job 7.20 preserver of mankind He is the q 1 Tim. 4.10 Saviour of all especially them that beleeve Hee would not that any should r 2 Pet. 3.9 perish but all should come to repentance If he should desire the death of a sinner as he should gain-say his owne word so he should desire against his owne nature For beeing is the nature of God Sum qui sum I am that I am but death is the not beeing of the creature No more than light can be the cause of darknesse can God who is life be the cause of death If he should desire the death of a sinner he should destroy his principall attributes of wisedome goodnesse and mercy Of wisdome for what wisedome can it be to marre his chiefest worke Of goodnesse for how can it stand with goodnesse to desire that which is in it selfe evill Of mercy for how can it stand with mercy to desire or take pleasure in the misery of his creature Doth he desire the death of man who gave man warning of it at the first and meanes to escape it if he would and after that by his voluntary transgression he was liable to the censure of death provided him a Redeemer to ransome him from death calleth all men by the Gospel to
have read what S. Austine writeth touching these points to c Epist 105 lib. 1. ad simpl q. 2. Sixtus Prosper to Vincentius Falgentius to Monimus what the 4. Councels held at Arles Arausica Valentia Mentz decreed against or for Godescalcus what d Aquin. 1. q. 22. art 3. Aquinas Bonaventure Ariminensis Basolis Biel Banes Capreolus and Mediovillanus and the Dominicans resolve on the one side and what f Loc supr cit Potest dici dari reprobationis causam non quae producat reprobationem activè in Deo quia tum Deus esset passurus sed propter quam actio terminetur ad istud objectum c. Scotus Argentinensis Herveus Occham Cumel Molina e In 1. sent dist 41. and the Franciscans generally on the other side and lastly what the Remonstrants Contra-remonstrants in our age have published one against the other to the worlds view yet I professe I find many thorny difficulties which cannot be plucked out but with that strong hand of the Apostle O g Rom. 9.20 21. man who art thou that disputest with God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made mee thus Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessell unto honour and another unto dishonour When all mankind in Adam lay in the snares of death in which they intangled themselves to have left all in that woefull plight had been justice without mercy to have plucked all out had been mercy without justice but to draw out some and leave others in that doome which all had deserved declareth both the divine attributes of justice and mercy justice eternally shining in the deserved flames of the damned and mercy in the undeserved crownes of the elect But why more are not ordained to be saved than to be damned why of children yet unborne one should bee loved and another hated why the Infidels child sometimes comes to baptisme and the seed of the faithfull dyeth without it why Christ wrought not those i Mat. 11.20 miracles in Tyrus and Sidon which he did in Capernaum sith he knew they would have brought those Heathens to repentance in sackcloth and ashes whereas they took no good effect with the Capernaits why St. k Act. 16.6 7. Paul was forbid to preach in some places where they found no opposition in the people and commanded to preach in other places where the people shewed themselves l Act. 13.46 unworthy the means of salvation why it is given to some to know the m Mat. 11.25 13.11 mysteries of Christs Kingdome and they are hid from others why God is n Rom. 10.20 found of some who seeke him not and not found of others who seek him with teares why some of most harmlesse and innocent carriage yet live and dye in those places where they never can heare of any tidings of the Gospel others who have given scope to their vicious desires and for many yeeres continued in a most abominable estate of life defiling their mouthes with blasphemy their hands with theft and murder their whole body with uncleannesse yet before their death have the Gospel preached unto them and their hearts opened to give heed unto it and they sealed to the day of redemption I professe with Saint o Amb. l. de vocat gent. c. 5. Cur illorum sit misertus non horum quae scientia potest comprehendere liberatur pars hominum parte pereunte si hoc voluntatis meritis velimus ascribere resistet innumerabilium causa populorum Ambrose Latet discretionis ratio non latet ipsa discretio this difference which God maketh of men is apparent but the reason thereof is not apparent I confesse with S. * Qui in factis Dei rationem non invenit in infirmitate suâ rationem invenit quare rationem non inveniat Gregory he that findeth not a reason of the actions of God finds a reason in his owne infirmity why he cannot find it I resolve with Saint p Aug. de verb. Dom. serm 20. Quaeras tu rationem ego expavescam altitudinem tu ratiocinare ego credam Aug. ep 105. ad Sixt. Cur illum potiùs quà m illum liberet aut non liberet scrutetur qui potest judiciorum ejus tam magnum profundum veruntamen caveat praecipitium Et l. ad Simpl. q. 2. Si quia praesciebat opera Esaui mala proptereà praedestinavit ut serviret minori proptereà scil quia praescivit ejus opera bona praedestinavit Jacob ut ei maâ—or serviret c. Austine Seeke thou a reason I will tremble at the depth of Gods councels dispute thou I will beleeve I see depth I find no bottome Doest thou O man looke for a reason of mee I am a man as well as thou therefore let us both give eare to him who saith O homo O man what art thou who standeth upon termes with thy Maker and holdeth out argument against him If ever that censure of the Poet fell justly upon any Nae q Terent. in Andria intelligendo faciunt ut nihil intelligant they understand themselves out of their wits it most deservedly lighteth on those in our age who cast all Gods workes in the mould of their owne braine and take upon them to yeeld a reason of his eternall counsels as if they had been his r Rom. 11.33 34. counsellers who search into the unsearchable judgements of God and will seem to find those wayes which are past finding out r Rom. 11.33 34. O the deph of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Who hath knowne the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counseller These men resemble those that unskilfully handle knots of wier strings who by taking the wrong end the more they labour to untwist them the more they tangle them and in the end are forced to cast them away as unserviceable for their instruments wherefore leaving their curious speculations upon my Text I come to a briefe application 1. Doth God take no pleasure in the death of the wicked that daily transgresse his Law grievously provoke his wrath ungraciously abuse his mercy and sleightly regard his judgements Doth hee use all good meanes to reclaime them and save them from wrath to come Is the life of every man so precious in his eyes Doth he esteem of it as a rich jewell engraven with his owne image how carefull then and chary ought we to be who are put in trust with it locked up in the casket of our body that we lose it not by carelesse negligence much lesse expose it for a prey to others by duels either sending or accepting challenges Doe we set such an invaluable jewell as is the life of our bodies and soules at so low a rate that we will put it to the hazzard as it were
call us by thy spirit and wee shall heare thee and hearing thee turne from our wicked wayes and turning live a new life of grace here and an eternall life of glory hereafter in heaven with thee O Father the infuser O Son the purchaser O holy Spirit the preserver of this life Amen Cui c. THE BEST RETURNE THE LV. SERMON EZEK 18.23 Not that hee should returne from his wayes and live Or if hee returne from his evill wayes shall hee not live Right Honourable c. SAint a Possid in vit Austine lying on his death-bed caused divers verses of the penitentiall Psalmes to bee written on the walls of his chamber on which he still cast his eyes and commented upon them with the fluent Rhetoricke of his tears But I could wish of all texts of Scripture that this of the Prophet Ezekiel were still before all their eyes who mourn for their sins in private For nothing can raise the dejected soule but the lifting up of Gods countenance upon her nothing can dry her tears but the beams of his favour breaking out of the darke clouds of his wrath and shining upon her nothing can bring peace to an affrighted and troubled conscience but a free pardon of all sinnes whereby shee hath incurred the sentence of death which the Prophet tendereth in the words of the text Which are as the very heart of this chapter and every word thereof may serve as a principall veine to conveigh life-blood to all the languishing or benummed and deaded members of Christ his mysticall body Returne and live These words are spirit and life able to raise a sinner from the grave and set him on his feet to tread firmly upon the ground of Gods mercy as also to put strength and vigour into his feeble and heavie limbes 1. to creep then to walke and last of all to runne in the pathes of Gods commandements The explication whereof to our understanding and application to our wils and affections were the limits of my last Lords-dayes journey By the light which was then given you yee might easily discerne our lusts which are sudden motions from Gods desires which are eternall purposes and distinguish betweene a sinner who is not purged from all dregges of corruption and a wicked person who Moab-like is settled upon his lees between a common infirmity and a dangerous sickenesse betweene sin in the act and wickednesse in the habit Questionlesse there is more reason to pitty him that falleth or slippeth than him that leapeth into the sink of sinne and daily walloweth in the mire of sensuall pleasures Yet such is the mercy and goodnesse of almighty God that hee desireth not that the wicked such as make a trade of sinne and have a stiffe necke a hard heart a seared conscience that the wretchedst miscreants that breathe should either dye in their sinnes here or for their sinnes hereafter The former of the two is the death of life the latter wee may significantly tearme the life of death which exerciseth the damned with most unsufferable pangs and torments for evermore Here when wee part life dyeth but in hell death liveth and the terrours and pangs thereof are renewed and encreased daily the former death is given to the vessells of wrath for their earnest the latter is paid them for their wages This death is properly the wages of sinne which God cannot in justice with-hold from the servants of sinne and vassals of Satan For God whose infinite wisdom comprehends not only the necessity of all effects in their determined but also the possibility in their supposed causes foreseeing from all eternity what an intelligent nature endued with free-will left to himselfe would doe how hee would fall and wound himselfe by his fall and knowing how hee could so dispose of his fall and cure his wound that his the Creators glory might bee no whit impaired but rather encreased by not powerfully hindering it decreed to create this creature for his glory which he appointed to shew upon him by three meanes 1. By way of generall bounty in placing the first parents of mankinde in Paradise and in them giving all sufficient meanes to bring them to eternall happinesse an end infinitely elevated above the pitch of their owne nature and after the abuse of their free-will and losse of that happy estate in which they were created and bringing themselves into thraldome to sinne and Satan 2. By way of speciall mercy graciously freeing freely justifying justly glorifying some a Rom. 9.23 in and by Christ viz. the vessels of mercy prepared unto glory 3. By way of justice in utterly leaving or uneffectually calling and upon abuse or refusall of some measure of grace offered to them deservedly hardening and upon their finall incredulity and impenitency necessarily condemning and in the end eternally punishing others to wit the vessels of wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made up or fitted to destruction This fabricke of celestiall doctrine strongly built upon evident texts of Scriptures may serve for a fortresse to defend this text and the principall doctrines contained in it against all the batteries of Heretickes and Atheists made against it viz. 1. That God approveth not the death of the wicked in his sinne but on the contrary liketh and commandeth and taketh pleasure in his conversion 2. That he decreeth not or desireth the death of any wicked for it selfe as it is the misery and destruction of his creature but as a manifestation of his justice For he b Lam. 3.33 punisheth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his heart or willingly hee made not death nor delighteth in the c Wisd 1.13 Fulgent ad Mon. Mortem morienti non fecit qui mortem mortuo justè retribuit destruction of the living Thy destruction is from thy selfe d Hos 13.9 O Israel but in mee is thy helpe The wicked after his hardnesse and impenitent heart treasureth up unto himselfe wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God who rendreth to every man according to his workes Upon which texts the Fathers inferre that not onely the execution but the very decree of damnation of the reprobate passeth upon their sinne foreseene Saint e Ep. ad Sixt. Vasa irae homines sunt propter naturae bonu n creati propter vitia sâ—pplicio destinati si vasa sint perfecta in perditionem sibi hoc imputent Austine The vessels of wrath are wicked men created for the good of nature but destinated to punishment for their sinnes And againe If they are fitted to destruction let them thanke themselves Saint f Prosper ad object 3. Gal. Qui à sanctitate vitae per immunditiem labuntur non ex eo necessitatem pereundi habuerunt quia praedestinati non sunt sed quia tales futuri ex voluntariâ praevaricatione praesciti sunt Prosper They that fall away from holinesse through uncleanness lye not under a necessity of
perishing because they were not predestinated but therefore were not predestinated because they were foreknowne that they would be such by voluntary prevarication g Fulgent l. 1. ad Mon. Iniquos quos praescivit Deus hanc vitam in peccato terminaturos decrevit supplicio interminabili puniendos illos ad supplicium praedestinavit quos à se praescivit vitio malae voluntatis discessuros peccata hominum Deus praescivit quib sententiā praedestinatione dictavit Fulgentius Those unjust men whom God foresaw that they would end their life in sin hee decreed to punish in endlesse torments And againe hee predestinated them to punishment who he foresaw would depart from him by the fault of their evill will And againe God foresaw the sinnes of men against which hee pronounced a sentence in his decree of predestination And the Fathers in the Synode held at h Valent. can 2. Nec ipsos malos ideò perire quia boni esse non potuerunt sed quia boni esse noluerunt suoque vitio in massâ damnationis vel merito originali vel etiam actuali permanserunt Valentia The wicked perish not because they could not but because they would not bee good remaining in the masse of corruption by their owne fault originall or also actuall As likewise in the i Concil Arelat 3. Lucidi habetur confessio his verbis Profiteor aeternales flammas factis capitalibus praeparatas Synod at Arles 3. That hee no way desireth nor decreeth nor so much as permitteth the death of any of his Elect though before their calling to the knowledge of the truth and sometimes after also they so grievously transgresse his holy lawes that they may bee numbred at least for the time among the wicked For how farre soever they goe in the wayes of wickednesse they will turne at the last and if a sinner turne from his wayes even at the brinke of destruction and gate of hell hee shall live for Have I any desire at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God and not that hee should Returne There are many turnings in the life of a Christian The first turning or conversion is by a sanctified phrase called regeneration whereby wee are mortified in the flesh but renewed in the spirit of our minde wee cast off the old man and put on the new All after conversions are but so many particular acts of repentance and returnes from those courses which wee ordinarily fall into and follow if Gods preventing grace stop not the motions of our corrupt nature This first conversion is as it were a generall purgation of all the peccant humors of our soul is of that force that it changeth and altereth our temper and complexion After this all other aversions from sinne and returnes to God are but like speciall purgations prescribed by the Physitian of our soules to bee taken upon speciall occasion for the curing of some particular malady In the first non agimus sed agimur wee worke not but are wrought upon being as the reformed Divines speake meer passive in the other acti agimus being wrought upon wee worke like the wheeles in the vision of Ezekiel being moved by the spirit we move to God-ward At our first conversion the Scripture compareth us to dead men that are not able to stirre any joint but in all later conversions after God hat breathed into us the spirit of regeneration to sicke or weake men lying upon their bed that are able to turne themselves with some helpe This distinction of conversions is not new coyned by us but beareth the stampe of ancient truth and is current in the Scriptures in which wheresoever the faithfull speake thus to God Turne us and wee shall bee turned they aime at the first conversion but where God thus speaketh to his people Turne yee unto mee or turne from your wicked wayes we are to understand such texts of later conversions From his wayes Not from the wayes of God and pathes of righteousnesse but his owne wayes that is such courses as hee hath taken beside and against the direction of Gods Spirit More particularly thus Have I not a desire that the ambitious should leave his inordinate pursuit of honour the covetous of gaine the voluptuous of pleasure and all of vanity and that they should turne to mee with their whole heart with a perfect hatred of their former wickednesse and full and constant purpose of amendment and so Live That is escape eternall death the due wages of sinne and attaine everlasting life the undue reward of righteousnesse If the feare of hellish torments cannot make a separation betweene us and our beloved sinnes nor hope of heavenly joyes winne us unto God it will bee to small purpose to goe about to scare any with temporall plagues threatened in Gods law against sinne or pricke them with the sting of conscience or confound them with shame or amplifie upon the losses of spirituall graces which can never bee recovered but by speedy and hearty repentance The Spye of nature in his booke of the length and shortnesse of life demonstrateth naturall heat and radicall moisture to bee the sole preservers and maintainers of life and the store of both in due proportion to bee the cause of longer life As life is compared in Scripture so it is resembled in sculpture to a light or lampe burning the fire which kindleth the flame of this lampe is naturall heat and the oyle which feedeth it is radicall moisture without flame there is no light without oyle to maintaine it no flame in like manner if either naturall heat or radicall moisture faile life cannot last and as in a lampe if by reason of the thicknesse of the weeke the flame be too great it oversoon sucketh up the oyle if the oyle be poured in in too great abundance it choaketh the light so in us if naturall heat or radicall moisture exceed measure or proportion the lampe of our life burneth dimly and in a short space is extinguished Answerable to the naturall life in the body is the spirituall life of grace in the soule for as that is preserved calido humido by heat and moisture so is this also by the heat of love or zeale of devotion and the moisture of penitent teares Teares are the oyle which feed this flame for when wee pricke deepe the tenderest veines in our heart with remembrance of our manifold and grievous transgressions whereby wee have dishonoured God our Father displeased Christ our Redeemer and grieved the Spirit of grace our Comforter when wee take kindly to heart how that the better God hath beene unto us the worse wee have proved unto him the more grace hath abounded the more sinne hath super abounded when our hearts melt with these considerations and our eyes resolve into showres of teares then we perceive that as salt water cast into fire increaseth the heat so the salt water of our teares inflameth our devotion
ordinary Priests and Chemarims who were a peculiar order differing from the rest by their blacke habit so the Romish Clergie is evidently divided into ordinary Priests and Monks and Jesuites whose coat is of the same colour with Baals Chemarims 6. As the Priests of Baal used vaine repetitions of the name of their God in their prayers crying O Baal heare us Baal heare us c. so doe Papists in their Jesus and Ladies Psalters much more often repeat the name of Jesus and our Lady and which I never read of the Baalites they put a kind of religion in the number For yee shall reade in the Churches as yee passe by many hundred nay thousand yeeres of pardons liberally offered to all that devoutly say over so many Pater nosters or Ave Maries before such an Altar or Picture 7. As the Priests of Baal used many strange gestures at their Altars mentioned ver 26. so doe these at theirs and some more ridiculous than those of the Baalites 8. As the Priests of Baal cut themselves with knives and launcers till the bloud gushed out in great abundance so these at their solemne processions whip themselves till they are all bloudy These things being so is it possible that there should be any that have given their names to Christ and partake with us in the mysteries of salvation and seed at our Lords board should yet bow the knee to the Romish Baal and so fall within the stroake of Elijahs reproofe How long halt yee between two opinions Should wee not much wrong our reformed Church to surmise there should be any of her members subject to the infirmity or rather deformity of the Israelites here taxed by the Prophet Had they no meanes this sixty yeeres to strengthen the sinewes of their faith and cure their halting Are there any that follow Baalim or to speake more properly insist in the steps of Balaam and for the wages of unrighteousnesse will as much as in them lyeth curse those whom God hath blessed Are there any that lispe in the language of Canaan and speake plaine in the language of Ashdod frame and maintaine such opinions and tenets as like the ancient Tragedian Buskin which served indifferently for either foot left as well as right so these as passable in Rome as Geneva If there be any such I need not apply to them this reprehension of my Prophet How long halt yee between two opinions The dumbe beast and used to the yoke hath long agoe reproved the madnesse of such Prophets But I would that this larum of Elijah still rung in the eare of some of our great Statists About this time Doctor Carier who came over Chaplaine with the Lord Wotton preached a scandalous Sermon in Paris at Luxenburg house and not long after reconciled himselfe to the Romish Church and miscarrying first in his religion after in his hope of great preferments by the Cardinall Perons meanes in great discontent ended his wretched dayes who in the height of their policy over-reach their Religion and keep it so in awe that it shall not quatch against any of their projects for the raising their fortunes or put them to any trouble danger or inconvenience For as the Heliotropium turneth alwayes to the Sunne so they their opinions and practice in matter of Religion to the prevalent faction in State As the cunning Artizan in Macrobius about the time of the civill warre between Anthony and Augustus Caesar had two Crowes and with great labour and industry he taught one of them to say Salve Antoni Imperator God save Emperour Anthony and the other Salve Auguste Imperator All haile my Liege Augustus and thereby howsoever the world went he had a bird for the Conquerour so these if the reformed Religion prevaile their birds note is Ave Christe spes unica but if Popery be like to get the upper hand they have a bird then that can sing Ave Maria. Strange it is â—hat in the cleare light of the Gospel wee should see so many Batts flying which a man cannot tell what to make of whether birds or mice They are Zoophytes plant-animals like the wonderfull sheep in Muscovie Epicens amphibia animalia creatures that sometimes live in the water and sometimes on the land monsters bred of unlawfull conjunctions which should not see light If the image of this vice be so horrid and odious in nature what shall wee judge of the vice it selfe in religion I am sure God can better away with any sort of sinners than these for these he threatneth to spew out of his mouth To close up all My Beloved as yee tender the salvation of body and soule take heed of this Laodicean temper in religion if ye ever looke to be saved by your religion yee must save and preserve it entire and unmixed Take heed how ye familiarly converse with the Priests and Chemarims of Baal lest they draw you away from the living God to dumb dead Idols By no meanes bee brought to bow the knee to Baal or give any shew or countenance to idolatrous worship for God is a jealous God and will not give any part of his glory to graven Images Now the Lord who of his infinite mercy hath vouchsafed unto us the liberty of the Gospel and free preaching of his Word give a speciall blessing to that portion which hath been delivered to us at this present plant hee the true Religion in our hearts and daily water it both by hearing and reading his Word and meditating thereupon that it may bring forth plentifull fruit of righteousnesse in us all strengthen he the sinewes of our faith that we never halt between two opinions enflame he our zeale that we be never cold or lukewarme in the truth but in our understanding being rightly enformed and fully resolved of the orthodoxe faith we may in the whole course of our life be conformed to it reformed by it zealous for it and constant in it to death and so receive the crowne of life through Jesus Christ Cui cum Patre Spiritu sancto c. Amen Ambodexters Ambosinisters Or One God one true Religion THE LIX SERMON 1 KIN. 18.21 If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him Right Honourable c. NOt to suspect your memorie or wrong your patience by any needlesse repetition of what hath beene formerly observed out of the whole text joyntly or the parts severally considered the drift of the Prophet Elijah in this sprightly reproofe is to excite the King Nobles and Commons of Israel to resolution and zeale in the true and only worship of the true and only God and agreeably to this his maine scope and end hee bendeth all his strength and forces against those vices that bid battaile as it were to the former vertues These are two 1. Wavering unsettlednesse opposite to resolution 2. Timorous luke-warmnesse the sworne enemie to zeale To displace and utterly overthrow them and establish the contrarie
gate-houses which in all strong cities are best fenced by nature or art For which cause the spirit of God describeth the strength of any citie or countrey by the gates thereof He shall x Psal 147.13 make fast the barres of thy gates and Thy y Gen. 22.17 seed shall possesse the gate of the enemie that is thy seed shall take their garrisons and occupy their strongest holds If we like of the former interpretation Now Israel now England may say the gates of hell that is the deepe projects and counsels plots and machinations of the Miners of Antichrist as deepe as hell have not prevailed against mee Or if yee please yee may take the barrels of gun-powder laid in the vault of destruction and chambers of death for the gates of hell and the massie peeces of iron and wood for the barres of these gates which if the Divell or his instruments could have then broken open in a moment in the twinckling of an eye our King and Parliament Nobles and Commons Clergie and Gentrie with the chiefe records and monuments of this Kingdome had beene blowne up with the breath of Satan in a cloud of fire and brimstone into the aire That blast in all likelyhood would have proved the last gasp of our Church and Common-wealth If he that keepeth Israel first God next the King had slept or slumbred that night it is to be feared wee all here present had long ere this slept our last sleepe in the dust of the earth But blessed be the God of Israel who hath saved and redeemed his people from the paw of the Divell and jawes of death and hath raised up a mightie salvation for us in the hand of his servant James The Divell and his instruments doe not watch so narrowly to destroy us as God and his Angels to save and protect us Hee that saveth our life in effect giveth it and therefore Aristotle moveth a question whom wee are more bound to rescue though it bee with the perill of our lives our father or such a friend who hath ventured his life for us and saved us from certaine death The decision whereof may be this That we owe our life to both but it being impossible that we should pay it to both in all reason we are to lay it downe for him first to whom it was first due and that is our father Whereupon it ensueth that we owe God many lives if we had them because he not only gave us our life but also saveth us from manifold deaths both by ordinary and extradinary meanes both by generall and speciall providence His providence in generall looketh to all men good and bad yea to all creatures whatsoever which could not subsist for a moment if he kept them not in the course of their nature But above all creatures in speciall he is the z Job 7.20 preserver of men among men the children of * Deut. 32.11 Israel were his portion the lot of his inheritance whom he kept as the apple of his eye As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings so the Lord led Israel Wee must goe yet farther there is an Israel of Israel to wit the Elect in Israel which are as a Diamond in the ring on his finger as the a Zach. 2.8 apple of his eye He that toucheth you saith he toucheth the apple of mine eye To them hee vouchsafeth more speciall favours for them he blesseth the people where they are as he blessed Labans house for Jacobs sake and Pharaohs for Josephs sake To this Israel belong the promises He shall cover thee with his b Psal 91.4 10 11 12 13. feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust his truth shall be thy shield and buckler There shall no evill befall thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes They shall keep thee up in their hands that thou dash not thy foot against a stone Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and the Adder the young Lion and the Dragon shalt thou trample under feet And it is the keeper of this Israel which neither slumbereth nor sleepeth Ye may here object If he that keepeth Israel never slumbereth nor sleepeth what meane those expostulations and calling up if I may so speak of Almighty God Up c Psal 44.23 26. Lord why sleepest thou arise cast us not off for ever arise for our helpe and redeeme us for thy mercies sake If God hath need to be awaked he must needs be at least in a slumber If the loud cries of his afflicted children awake him and he standeth up like a Giant refreshed with wine to fight for them it should seem before he was asleep It may seeme so indeed because according to outward appearance and semblance hee was so When a man is asleep though any miscall him or make mouthes at him or put any indignity upon him he stirreth not nor hath any sense of any thing that is done to him Upon this ground the sweet singer of Israel runnes in descant Rise up d Psal 9.19 Lord let not man prevaile let the Heathen bee judged in thy sight Why e Psal 35.23 standest thou afarre off O Lord Why f Psal 44.23 hidest thou thy face in time of trouble Awake O g Psal 59 4. Lord why makest thou as if thou hearest not Awake to my judgement awake why sleepest thou Awake to my help and Behold let God arise and let his h Psal 68.1 enemies be scattered let them also that hate him flee before him c. The slumber of Almighty God is nothing else but the connivency of his justice for a time and it is mercy which casteth him into this sweet sleep which yet doth not so surprise his powers or any way bind his senses but that hee seeth the deepest plots of his enemies he heareth their secretest consultations and is sensible of the least wrong offered to his chosen Oculi ejus vident palpebrae ejus explorant filios hominum he looketh through his eye-lids and markes well enough though hee seem to neglect it As a fisher seeth a fish come to his hooke nibble at the bait bite it and swallow it downe and then he giveth a jerke with his angle-rod so Almighty God permits wicked purposes and enterprises to hold on in a straight course till they are even at the goale and then he turnes and overturneth them In foribus Hydriam he breaketh the pitcher at the doore cutteth downe the eare when it is full launceth the sore when it is ripe How did he suffer an invincible Navie as they termed it to be built and furnished for the invasion and utter subversion of our Israel and so great a designe to be carried so close that the Fleet was in sight of the haven before it was discovered but then
were the greatest pilgrims both in life and death for they spent all their life in wearisome and dangerous peregrinations and after their death their bodies went as it were in pilgrimage and there visited first Sechem and then Machpelah where they tooke up their rest It is the usuall wish and proverbiall speech of men Though I toile and moile here yet I hope one day I shall rest in my grave No man can promise himselfe so much for not only the bodies of men accursed of God have been digged out of their graves to teach us that there is no sanctuary for a wicked person living or dying but even Gods servants have been oftentimes removed out of their earthly beds some in honour to them and others out of malice againâ—â—â—em to dishonour and disgrace them The bodies of Gervasius and Protasius Martyrs were translated from a blind and obscure place in Millaine where they lay to a more celebrious and illustrous Church to doe them the greater honour on the contrary Eusebius writeth that divers Martyrs in France were by the Gentiles plucked out of their graves and burnt to ashes and their ashes cast into the river Roan and the Papists as if they would make it knowne to the world that no Painims or Gentiles should out-do them in wreaking their malice against the professors of the truth both digged up Wickliffes and Peter Martyrs wives and Paulus Fagius their bones after they had been long interred Nec livor post fata quievit The Tombe-stone is said to be the bound of malice and death a supersedeas for envie and all uncharitable proceedings yet blind zeale in persecuting the members of Christ Jesus exceeds these bounds and all termes of common humanity O unheard of cruelty saith the blessed Martyr Saint h Cyp. de laps Saevitum est in plagas jam in servis Dei non torquebantur membra sed vulnera Cyprian Their rage falleth upon the stripes of Gods servants and they now torture not so much their members as their wounds We may goe on further because Popish cruelty hath gone on further and say Saevitum est in cadavera saevitum est in ossa saevitum est in cineres saevitum est in manes the rage and malice of Papists against Protestants is not satisfied with their bloud nor expireth with their life they fall like savage Jackals upon their carkasses they digge up their graves they rifle their coffins they burne their bones they persecute their ghosts and this is their charity which they so much bragge of But I leave them and come to the sepulchre which Abraham bought where the Patriarchs were laid And were laid in the sepulchre Though it little import the soules of Gods Saints in heaven what becommeth of their dead corpse on earth no more than it concerneth a newly elected King when hee hath his Princely robes on him what becomes of his old cast suits of apparrell in which regard Saint i Aug. confes l. 9. c. 11. Nihil longé est à Deo nec timendum mihi ille ne agnoscat in fine saeculi unde resuscitet Monica told her sonne at her death that shee tooke no care where shee was interred yeelding this for a reason It is nothing to mee saith shee whether I lye farre from home or from any Church I am sure nothing is farre from God neither doe I feare but that hee will find mee at the last day and raise up my corpse wheresoever it lies Yet because the bodies of Gods Saints were temples of the holy Ghost and served as instruments in the performance of all duties of piety and charity our piety and charity in some respect extendeth to them piety I say not to worship them for that is idolatrie not to pray to them for that at the best is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will-worship and unwarrantable devotion not to pray for them for that is superstition but to give God thankes for them and to expect their and our joyfull resurrection charity to preserve their good name alive and to bury their dead corpses although I grant with Saint k Lib. 1. de civit Dei c. 12. Omnia ista curatio funeris conditio sepultuâ—ae pompa exequiaâ—um mâ—gis sunâ— solatia vivorum quà m subsidia mortuorum Et c. 13. Si enim paterna vestis annulus tantò charior est posteris quantò erga parentes major est affectus nullo modo spernanda sunt corpora quae utique multo familiarius atque conjunctius quà m quaelibet indumenta gestamus Austine that the care of funeralls and pompe of herses and rites of buriall are rather comforts of the living than helpes of the dead yet with the same Austine I cannot but acknowledge that the bodies of our parents or friends may challenge more affection and respect to them than the apparrell ring or jewell they wore which yet wee make great account of and carefully keep for their sake Doth not Nature her selfe teach us this worke of mercy to the dead Doe not some birds that are loving to man if they spy a dead corpse in the wood cover it over with leaves Doth the young Phenix as l Annal. l. 10. Phoenici cura primo sepeliendi patris sublato myrrhae pondere subit patrium corpus in Solis templum perfert Tacitus writeth as soone as ever it hath life take care of burying the parent carrying his corpse with a quantity of Myrrhe and laying it in the Temple of the Sunne and shall not men endued with reason and understanding doe the like not onely to their parents and friends but even to strangers and their very enemies especially if there bee worth in them Alexander the great opening Cyrus Tombe set a crowne upon his Herse and carefully shut it againe Hannibal gave Marcellus the Romane Consull an honourable buriall put his ashes in a silver pot and crowned it with a crowne of gold and sent it to his sonne to interre it To speake nothing of Cannibals man-eaters and other savages all civill people in the world bury their dead though in a different manner and with severall rites The Jewes washed the Egyptians embalmed the corpse the Romanes burnt them with sweet perfumes and kept the ashes in an urne or pot the Ethiopians curiously paint them and lay them in a glazed coffin the most common and most agreeable to Scripture is interring the corpse Moses alludeth to it m Gen 3.19 Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou returne and Solomon n Eccles 12.7 Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was and David o Psal 30.9 What profit is there then in my bloud when I goe downe to the pit shall the dust praise thee or shall it declare thy truth The Greekes for the most part and other Nations also excepting those above named interred their dead and therefore p Plin nat hist l. 2. c. 63. Haec nascentes excipit natos alit novissimè
her husband on the sudden loseth him which I call God to witnesse saith x Orig. in Cant. Conspicit Sponsa Sponsum qui conspectus statim abscessit frequenter hoc in toto carmine facit quod nisi quis patiatur non potest intelligere saepe Deus est testis Sponsum mihi adventate conspexi mecum esse subitò recedentem invenire non potui Origen I my selfe have sensible experience in my meditations upon this book And who of us in his private devotions findeth not the like Sometimes in our divine conceptions contemplations and prayers we are as it were on float sometimes on the sudden at an ebbe sometimes wee are carried with full saile sometimes we sticke as it were in the haven The use we are to make hereof is when we heare the gales of the Spirit rise to hoise up our sailes to listen to the sound when we first heare it because it will be soon blown over to cherish the sparkes of grace because if they be not cherished they will soone dye There came a sound Death entred in at the windowes that is the eyes saith Origen but life at the eares z Gal. 1.8 For the just shall live by faith and faith commeth by hearing The sound is not without the wind for the Spirit ordinarily accompanieth the preaching of the Word neither is the wind without the sound Away then with Anabaptisticall Enthustiasts try the spirits whether they be of God or no by the Word of God To the y Esay 8.20 Law and to the testimony saith the Prophet Esay If they speake not according to this word it is because there is no light in them And if we saith the Apostle or an Angel from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel than what ye have received that is saith St. * Aug. contr lit Petil. l. 3. c. 6. Praeterquam quod in Scripturis legalibus Evangelicis accepistis Anathema sit Austine than what is contained in the Propheticall and Apostolicall writings let him be accursed From heaven This circumstance affordeth us a threefold doctrine 1. That the Spirit hath a dependance on the Son and proceedeth from him for the Spirit descended not till after the Son ascended who both commanded his Disciples to stay at Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father which yee have a Act. 1.4 heard saith he from mee and promised after his departure to send the b John 15.26 When the comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father Act. 1.5 Yee shall be baptized with the holy Ghost not many dayes hence spirit and accordingly sent him ten dayes after his ascension with the sound of a mighty wind in the likenesse of fiery cloven tongues 2. That the Gospel is of divine authority As the Law came from heaven so the Gospel and so long as we preach Gods word ye still heare sonum de coelo a sound from heaven Thus c Lactan. instit l. 3. c. 30. Ecce vox de coelo veritatem docens sole ipso clarius lumen ostendens Lactantius concludes in the end of his third booke of divine institutions How long shall we stay saith he till Socrates will know any thing or Anaxagoras find light in darknesse or Democritus draw up the truth from the bottome of a deep Well or Empedocles enlarge the narrow pathes of his senses or Arcesilas and Carneades according to their sceptick doctrine see feele or perceive any thing Behold a voice from heaven teaching us the truth and discovering unto us a light brighter than the sunne 3. That the doctrine of the Gospel is not earthly but of a heavenly nature that it teacheth us to frame our lives to a heavenly conversation that it mortifieth our fleshly lusts stifleth ambitious desires raiseth our mind from the earth and maketh us heavenly in our thoughts heavenly in our affections heavenly in our hopes and desires For albeit there are excellent morall and politicke precepts in it directing us to manage our earthly affaires yet the maine scope and principall end thereof is to bring the Kingdome of heaven unto us by grace and us into it by glory This a meer sound cannot doe therefore it is added As of a rushing mighty wind This blast or wind is a sacred symbole of the Spirit and there is such a manifold resemblance between them that the same word in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine spiritus signifieth both what so like as wind to the Spirit 1. As the wind bloweth where it d John 3.8 listeth so the Spirit inspireth whom he pleaseth 2. As wee feele the wind and heare it yet see it not so wee heare of the Spirit in the word and feele him in our hearts yet see him not 3. As breath commeth from the heat of our bowells so the third person as the Schooles determine proceedeth from the heat of love in the Father and the Son 4. As the wind purgeth the floore and cleanseth the aire so the Spirit purifieth the heart 5. As in a hot summers day nothing so refresheth a traveller as a coole blast of wind so in the heat of persecutions and heart burning sorrow of afflictions nothing so refresheth the soule as the comfort of the Spirit who is therefore stiled Paracletus the Comforter 6. As the wind in an instant blowes downe the strongest towers and highest trees so the Spirit overthrowes the strongest holds of Sathan and humbleth the haughtiest spirit 7. As the wind blowing upon a garden carrieth a sweet smell to all parts whither it goeth so the Spirit bloweth upon and openeth the flowers of Paradise and diffuseth the savour of life unto life through the whole Church 8. As the wind driveth the ship through the waves of the sea carrieth it to land so the gales of Gods Spirit carrie us through the troublesome waves of this world and bring us into the haven where wee would bee Cui cum Patre Filio sit laus c. THE MYSTERIE OF THE FIERY CLOVEN TONGUES THE LXV SERMON ACTS 2.3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sate upon each of them AMong the golden rules of a Cael. Rodig lib. antiq lect Nunquam de Deo sine lumine loquendum Pythagoras so much admired by antiquity this was one that we ought not to speake of God without light the meaning of which precept was not that we ought not to pray to God or speake of him in the night or the darke but that the nature of God is dark to us and that we may not presume to speak thereof without some divine light from heaven Nothing may be confidently or safely spoken of him which hath not been spoken by him In which regard b Salv. de gubern lib. 1. Tanta est Majestatis sacrae tam tremenda reverentia ut non solùm illa quae
die quo fecerat sequenti die sabbatizavit in monumento Sabbaths rest in the grave Now above all the dayes of this holiest weeke this hath one priviledge that in it Christ made his last will and testament and instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist and administred it in his owne person delivering both the consecrated bread and cup of blessing to his Apostles with his owne hand Which mysterious actions of his were presidents in all succeeding ages and rules for the administration of that sacrament to the worlds end For Primum in unoquoque genere mensura est reliquorum the first action in any sacred or civill institution in respect of those that succeed is like the originall to all after draughts and the copy to all that write by it Such was the first institution of marriage in Paradise of circumcision in Abrahams family of the passover in Egypt of all the other types and figures of the Law on Mount Sinai and of the Lords Supper in this upper roome wherein all Christs speeches and actions may not unfitly bee termed Rubricks to direct the Christian Church in these mysterious rites For before the end of the next day they were all coloured in bloud What was done now in effigie was then done in personâ he that now tooke bread was taken himselfe he that brake it was broken on the crosse he that gave it to his Disciples was given up for our sinnes he who tooke the cup received from his Father a cup of trembling he who powred out the wine shed his owne bloud in memory of which reall effusion thereof unto death we celebrate this sacramentall effusion unto life For so he commanded us saying f Luke 22.19 Doe this in remembrance of mee and his faithfull Apostle fully declareth his meaning in the words of my Text As often c. As Christ g 1 John 5 6. came to us not by water only but by water and bloud so wee must come to him not by water only the water of regeneration in baptisme but also by the bloud of redemption which is drunke by us in this sacrament in obedience to his commandement and in acknowledgement of his love to us even to death and in death it selfe As a h Hieron in hunc locum Quemâ—dmodum si quis peregre proficisâ—â—ns aliquid pignoris ei quem diligit derelinquit ut quotiâ—scunque illud vid â—t possit ejus beneficia amicitias memorare quod ille si perfâ—ctè dilexit non potest sine ingente desidâ—rio videre vel â—etu man taking a long journie leaveth a pledge with his friend that whensoever he looketh upon it he should thinke upon him in his absence so Christ being to depart out of this world left these sacred elements of bread and wine with his Church to the end that as often as she seeth them she should thinke of him and his sufferings for her When Aeneas plucked a twigge of the tree under which Polydorus was buried the bough dropped bloud i Vâ—rg Aen 3. cruor de stipite manat so as soone as we plucke but a twigge of the tree of Christs crosse it will bleed a fresh in our thoughts shewing us to be guilty of the death of the Lord of life For though we never consulted with the chiefe Priests nor drave the bargaine with Judas nor pronounced sentence against him with Pilate nor touched his hand or foot with a naile yet sith hee was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and the k Esa 53.5 6. chastisement of our peace was upon him and the Lord laid on him the sinnes of us all we cannot plead not guilty inasmuch as our sinnes were the causes of all his sufferings The Passover by the Law was to be eaten with sowre herbes and in like manner the Christian passover which wee are now met to eate must bee eaten with sowre herbes that is pensive thoughts and a sad remembrance both of our sinfull actions and our Saviours bloudy passion For as oft as yee eate c. The coherence or rather consequence of this verse to the former is like to that of the Eccho to the voice the words of institution rehearsed in the former verses are as the voice the inference of the Apostle in this verse as the Eccho For as the Eccho soundeth out the last words of the voice so the Apostle here repeateth the last words of Christs institution Doe this in remembrance of mee and in effect explaineth them saying to do it in remembrance of Christ that is as oft as ye do it ye shew forth his death 1. We are but once born and therefore but once receive the sacrament of Baptism which is the seale of our regeneration but we feed often consequently are often to receive the sacrament which is the seale of our spirituall nourishment growth in Christ and therfore the Apostle saith As often as 2. Whensoever wee communicate wee must make an entire meale and refection thereof therefore he addeth Ye eate and drinke 3. In making this spirituall refection wee must thinke upon Christ his bloudy passion and declare it to others therefore he addeth Yee shew the Lords death 4. This commemoration of his death must continue till hee hath fully revenged his death and abolished death it selfe in all his mysticall members therefore he addeth Till he come As oft as ye are bid to the Lords Table and come prepared eate of this bread and as oft as ye eate of this bread drinke of this cup and when yee eate and drinke shew forth the Lords death and let this annuntiation continue till he come If ye take away this band of connexion the parts falling asunder will be these 1. The time when 2. The manner how 3. The end why 4. The terme how long wee are to celebrate this supper 1. The time frequent As often 2. The manner entire Eate and drinke 3. The end demonstrative Shew forth 4. The terme perpetuall Till he come that is to the end of the world As often Wee never reade of any saith l Praef. institut Nusquam legimus reprehensos qui nimium de fonte aquae vitae hauserint Calvin that were blamed for drawing too much water out of the Wells of salvation neither doe we find ever any taxed for too often but for too seldome communicating which is utterly a fault among many at this day who are bid shall I say thrice nay twelve times every moneth once before they come to the Lords Table and then they come it is to be feared more out of feare of the Law than love of the Gospel Surely as when the appetite of the stomach to wholsome meat faileth as in the disease called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the body pines and there is a sensible decay in all parts so it falleth out in the spirituall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the soule hath no appetite to this bread of life and food of
many jewells I make no doubt but that you will resolve with the Apostle to desire to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified Let Israel hope in the Lord saith the b Psal 130 7. Psalmist for with the Lord there is mecrcy and with him is plenteous redemption Plenteous for what store of bloud shed he in his agony in his crowning with thornes in his whipping in his nailing and lastly in the piercing of his side whereas one drop of his bloud in regard of the infinite dignity of his person might have served for the ransome of many worlds one drop of his bloud was more worth than all the precious things in the world As Pliny writeth of the herbe c Plin. l. 22. c. 15. Scorpius herba vâ—let adversus animal sui nominis Scorpius that it is a remedy against the poyson of a Scorpion so Christs death and crosse is a soveraigne remedy against all manner of deaths and crosses For all such crosses make a true beleever conformable to his Redeemers image and every conformity to him is a perfection and every such perfection shall adde a jewell to his crown of glory This death of Christ so precious so soveraigne we shew forth in shadow as it were and adumbration when either we discourse of the history of Christs passion or administer the Sacrament of his death but to the life when as Saint Francis is said to have had the print of Christs five wounds on his body so wee have the print of them in our soules when we expresse his death in our mortification when we tye our selves to our good behaviour and restraine our desires and affections as he was nailed to the crosse when we thirst after righteousnesse as he thirsted on the crosse for our salvation when we are pierced with godly sorrow as his soule was heavie unto death and when as his flesh so our carnall lusts are crucified when as hee commended his soule to his Father so we in our greatest extremities commit our soules to God as our faithfull Creatour Cui c. THE SIGNE AT THE HEART A Sermon preached on the first Sunday in Lent THE LXVII SERMON ACTS 2.37 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren What shall we do SInnes for repentance to worke upon and repentance for sinne take up in a manner our whole life Not onely the wicked in their endlesse mazes in the rode to hell but even the godly who endeavour to make the streightest steps they can to heaven Ambulant in circuitu walke in a kind of circuit From fasting to feasting and from feasting againe to fasting from Mount Gerizin to Mount Hebal and from Mount Hebal to Mount Gerizin from sinnes to repentance and from repentance backe againe though against their will to sin It is true that grace in the regenerate never quits the field but groweth more and more upon corrupt nature and in the end conquereth her yet so conquereth her as Lucullus and other Romane Captaines did a Cic. de leg Manil. Ita tamen superarunt ut ille pulsus superatusque regnaret Mithridates that nature still ruleth in the members and often putteth the mind to the worst alwaies to much trouble Wherfore as the Sea-mew that maketh her nest on the sea shore is forced daily to repaire it because every day the violent assault of the sea waves moulter away some part thereof so the regenerate and sanctified soule hath need to renew the inward man daily and repaire the conscience by repentance because every day nay almost every houre by the violent assaults of tentation and sinnes as they are termed of ordinary incursion some breach or other is made into it Now albeit private repentance hath no day set nor time prefixed to it but is alwayes in season yet now is the peculiar season of publike when the practice of the primitive and the sanction of the present Church calls us to watching and fasting to weeping and mourning to sackcloth and ashes to humiliation and contrition when in a manner the whole Christian world I except only some few Heteroclites accordeth with us in our groanes and consorteth with our sighes and keepeth stroake with us in the beating our breasts and setteth open the sluces to make a floud of teares and carry away the filth of the whole yeere past Abyssus abyssum invocet let this floud carry away the former deluge Verily such is the overflowing of iniquity and inundation of impurity in this last and worst age of the world that the most righteous among us can hardly keep up their head and hold out their hands above water to call to God for mercy for themselves others hath not then the Church of God great reason to oppose the Eves Embers Lent fasts as so many floud-gates if not quite to stay yet somewhat to stop the current of sin Anselme sometimes Archbishop of Canterbury whom the Church of Rome hath inserted into the Canon of Saints but he ranketh himselfe among the Apocrypha of sinners recounting with hearts griefe and sorrow the whole course of his life and finding the infancy of sinne in the sinnes of his infancy the youth and growth of sinne in the sinnes of his youth and the maturity and ripenesse of all sinne in the sinnes of his ripe and perfect age breaketh forth into this passionate speech Quid restat tibi O peccator nisi ut totâ vitâ deploret totam vitam What remaines for thee wretched man but that thou spend the remainder of thy whole life in bewailing thy whole life What should wee Beloved in a manner doe else considering that even when we pray against sin wee sin in praying when we have made holy vowes against sin our vowes by the breach of them turne into sinne after wee have repented of our sinnes we repent of our repentance and thereby increase our sinne In which consideration if all the time that is given us should be a b Hier. ep 7. In quadragesima abstinentiae vela pandenda sunt tota aurigae retinacula laxanda Lent of discipline if all weekes Embers if all daies of the weeke Ashwednesdayes how much more ought we to keep Lent in Lent now at least continually to call upon the name of God for our continuall blaspheming it Now to fast for our sinnes in feasting now to weep and mourne for our sinnes in laughing sporting and rioting in sinfull pleasures to this end our tender mother the Spouse of Christ debarreth us of all other delights that wee should make Gods statutes our delights for this cause shee subtracteth our bodily refection that wee may feast our soules therefore shee taketh away or diminisheth our portion in the comforts of this life that with holy David wee should take God for our c Psal 119.57 portion This is a time as the name importeth Lent of God to examine our
accounts and cleere them a holy tenth of the yeere to be offered to him the sacred Eve and Vigils to the great feast of our Chrisâ—â—an passover Your humbling your bodies by watching and fasting your souâ—es by weeping and mourning your rending your hearts with sighes the resolving your eyes into teares your continuall prostration before the throne of grace offering up prayers with strong cryes are at this time not only kind fruits of your devotion speciall exercises of your mortification necessary parts of contrition but also testimonies of obedience to the Law and duties of conformity to Christs sufferings and of preparation to our most publique and solemne Communions at Easter To pricke you on forward in this most necessarie dutie of pricking your hearts with godly sorrow for your sinnes I have made choyce of this verse wherein the Evangelist S. Luke relateth the effects of S. Peters Sermon in all his auditours 1. Inward impression they were pricked in heart 2. Outward expression men and brethren what shall we doe What Eupolis sometimes spake of Pericles that after his oration made to the people of Athens d Cic. de clar orat In animis auditorum aculeos reliquit he left certaine needles and stings in their mindes may be more truly affirmed of this Sermon of the Apostle which when the Jewes heard they were pricked at heart and not able to endure the paine cry out men and brethren what shall we doe The ancient painters to set forth the power of eloquence drew e Bodin l. 4. de rep c. 7. Majores Herculem Celticum senem effingebant ex cujus ore catenarum maxima vis ad aures infinitae multitudinis perveniret c. Hercules Celticus with an infinite number of chaines comming out of his mouth and reaching to the eares of great multitudes much after which manner S. Luke describeth S. Peter in my text with his words as it were so many golden chaines fastened first upon the eares and after upon the hearts of three thousand and drawing them up at once in the drag-net of the Gospell Now our blessed Saviour made good his promise to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt catch live men and this accesse of soules to the Church and happie successe in his ministeriall function seemeth to have beene fore-shewed to him by that great draught of fish taken after Christs resurrection the draught was an f John 21.11 hundred fiftie and three great fishes and for all there were so many yet saith the text the net was not broken The truth alwayes exceedeth the type for here were three thousand great and small taken and yet the net was not broken there was no schisme nor rupture thereby for all the converts were of one minde they were all affected with the same malady they feele the same paine at the heart and seeke for ease and help at the hands of the same Physitians Peter and the rest of the Apostles saying Men and brethren what shall we doe Now when they heard these things they were pricked Why what touched them so neere no doubt those words g Ver. 23 24. Him being delivered by the determinate counsell and fore-knowledge of God yee have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slaine whom God hath raised up having loosened the paines of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it This could not but touch the quickest veines in their heart that they should be the death of the Lord of life that they should slay their Messiah that they should destroy the Saviour of the world Of all sinnes murder cryeth the loudest in the eares of God and men of all murders the murder of an onely begotten sonne most enrageth a loving father and extimulateth him unto revenge in what wofull case then might they well suppose themselves to be who after S. Peter had opened their eyes saw that their hands 〈◊〉 beene deepe in the bloud of the Sonne of God Now their blasphemous words which they spake against him are sharp swords wounding deeply their soules the thornes wherewith they pricked his head and the nailes wherewith they pierced his hands and feet pricked and pierced their very heart They were pricked in heart That is they were pierced tho row with sorrow they tooke on most grievously Here lest wee mistake phrases of like sound though not of like sense we must distinguish of spiritus compunctionis and compunctio spiritus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h Rom. 11.8 a spirit of compunction reproved in the unbeleeving Jewes and compunction of spirit or of the heart here noted by S. Luke the former phrase signifieth slumber stupiditie or obstinacie in sinne this latter hearty sorrow for it the former is a malady for the most part incurable the latter is the cure of all our spirituall maladies Now godly sorrow is termed compunction of the heart for three reasons as i Lorin in Act. c. 2. Dicitur dolor de peccato admisso quod est compunctio vel quia aperitur cordis apostema vel quia vulneratur cor amore Dei vel quia daemon dolore invidiâ sauciatur Lorinus conceiveth 1. Because thereby the corruption of the heart is discovered as an aposteme is opened by the pricke of a sharp instrument 2. Because thereby like the Spouse in the Canticles wee become sicke of love as the least pricke at the heart causeth a present fit of sicknesse 3. Because thereby the Divell is as it were wounded with indignation and envie When they heard these things they were pricked in heart when they were pricked in heart They said As the stroakes in musicke answer the notes that are prickt in the rules so the words of the mouth answer k Cic. 3. de Ora. Totum corpus hominis omnes ejus vultus omnesque voces ut nervi infidibus ita sonant à motu quoque animi sint pulsae to the motions and affections of the heart The Anatomists teach that the heart tongue hang upon one string And hence it is that as in a clocke or watch when the first wheele is moved the hammer striketh so when the heart is moved with any passion or perturbation the hammer beats upon the bell and the mouth soundeth as we heard from David l Psal 45.1 My heart is enditing a good matter and my tongue is the pen of a ready writer And from S. Paul m Rom. 10.10 With the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse and with the tongue confession is made unto salvation And from our Saviour n Luke 6.45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evill man out of the evill treasure of his heart bringeth forth evill things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Many among us complaine that they are tongue-tied that when they are at their private devotions their words sticke
heart whether the reproofe were just or no and finding it just confesseth his sinne and seeketh for pardon and forgivenesse The Jewes here when they were charged by S. Peter with the murder of the sonne of God say not Quid hic sed quid nos not what hath this man to meddle with us but who can give us good counsell not what shall we say but what shall wee doe for words are too light a recompence for deeds 1. A word of the duty of faithfull teachers that with the cocke by clapping my wings upon my breast I may awake my selfe as well as others The salvation of the hearers much dependeth upon the gifts of the Preacher and the gifts of the Preacher much depend upon his sincere intention not to gaine profit or u Salvianus de gubernat Dei lib. 1. Utilia magis quam plausibilia sectari nec lenocinia quaerere sed remedia applause to himselfe but soules to God not to tickle their eares but to pricke their hearts Such a Preacher * Bern. in Cant. Illius doctoris vocem libentiùs audio non qui sibi plausum sed qui mihi planctum movet S. Bernard ever wished to heare at whose Sermon the people hemmed not but sighed clapped not their hands as at a play but knocked their breasts as at a funerall According to which patterne x Hieron Nepot Te docente in ecclesiâ non clamor populi sed gemitus suscipiatur lachrymae auditorum tuae laudes sint S. Jerome endevoureth to frame Nepotian his scholar When thou teachest in the Church saith hee let there bee heard no shouts of admiration but sobs of contrition let the fluencie of thy eloquence be seene in the cheekes of thy hearers This is not done by ostentation of art but by evidence of the spirit A painted fire heateth not nor doe the gestures and motions of an artificiall man destitute of soule and life any whit move our affections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are the graces of sanctification shining in the countenance gesture life of the Preacher and not the beauty and ornaments of speech which insinuate into the heart and multiply themselves there without which though wee speake with the tongues of men and Angels wee are but like sounding brasse or tinckling cymbals except the Lord touch the heart and the tongue of the Preacher with a coale from his Altar all the lustre of rhetoricall arguments and blaze of words will yeeld no more warmth to the conscience than a glow-worme Yee have heard briefly of the duty of Pastours reserve I pray you one eare to listen to your owne duty as hearers 2. It was the manner of the Jewes to bore thorow the eares of those servants that meant not to leave them till death and if yee desire to be in the lists of Gods servants yee must have your eares bored and the pearles of the Gospel hanging at them All shepherds set a marke upon their sheepe and so doth the good Shepherd that gave his life for his sheepe and this marke is in the eare y Joh. 10.3 27. My sheepe heare my voyce There is no doctrine in the word wee heare of more often than of hearing the word and keeping it We heare that we ought to heare the Father z Esay 1.1 Heare O heaven and hearken O earth for the Lord hath spoken we heare that we ought to heare the Son * Mat. 13.43 Mat. 17.5 He that hath eares to heare let him heare and This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased heare yee him we heare that wee ought to heare the Spirit a Apoc. 2.7 Let him that hath an eare to heare heare what the Spirit saith to the Churches All the venturers in the great ship called Argonavis bound for Colchis to fetch the golden fleece when they were assaulted by the Syrens endevouring to enchant them with their songs found no such help in any thing against them as in Orpheus his pipe wee are all venturers for a golden crowne in heaven and as the Grecians so wee are way-laid by Syrens evill spirits and their incantations from which we cannot be safe but by listening to the Preachers of the Gospel who when they pipe unto us out of the word our hearts dance for joy In that golden chaine of the Apostle the first linke is hung at the eare Faith commeth by b Rom. 10.14 17. hearing and hearing by the word of God How shall they call on him on whom they have not beleeved and how shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they heare without a Preacher Doe we think that God will heare us in our prayers if wee heare not him speaking to us in his Word The Prophet c Zach. 7.13 Zacharie assureth us hee will not When I cried they would not heare so they cried and I would not heare them saith the Lord of hosts If yee desire with S. Paul to heare in heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the d 2 Cor. 12.4 words that cannot be uttered ye must on earth be attentive hearers to the words uttered by our Peters and Pauls None was cured with more difficulty as it seemeth than the man that had a deafe and dumb spirit such are our obstinate Recusants and Seperatists who have not an eare to heare what God speaketh to them by the Ministers of the Word Religion is not unfitly compared to the Weasell e Adrian Jun. emblem Mustella concipit aure parit ore which as Adrianus Junius writeth conceiveth at the eare and brings forth her young ones at her mouth for the seed of Gods word is cast in at the eare and there having conceived divine thoughts and meditations she bringeth forth the fruit of devotion at her mouth praises and thanksgivings godly admonitions exhortations reprehensions and consolations Marke your Jaylers they often suffer their prisoners to have their hands and feet free neither are they in any feare that they will make an escape so long as the prison doores and gates are sure lockt and fast barred so dealeth Satan with those whom hee holdeth in captivity hee letteth them sometimes have their hands at liberty to reach out an almes to the poore and sometimes their feet to goe to Church to heare prayers but he will be sure to keepe the eares which are the gates and doores of their soule fast which he locks up with these or the like suggestions Christ saith that his house is Domus orationis not orationum an house of prayer not of sermons Few there are but know enough the greatest defect is in the practice of religious duties What can they heare which they have not often heard before which no sooner entreth in at one eare but runneth out at the other Give mee leave a little to lift these Adders from the ground whereby they stop the right eare and plucke their taile from the head whereby they stop
after the act of sinne is committed there is felt in all that have not seared consciences remorse sorrow feare and shame sorrow for the losse of Gods favour the jewels of his grace the comforts of the Spirit feare for the guilt of sinne and shame for the filthinesse and turpitude thereof Of these three consisteth compunction which y In verbo compunct Compunctio est humilitas mentis cum lachrymis veniens de recordatione peccati timore judicii S. Isidore defineth to be a dejection of the minde with teares caused by the remembrance of sinne and feare of judgement By z Ex Aquinate in supplement Humilitas mentis inter spem timorem annihilans peccatum nam ut vermis qui nascitur in ligno lignum exest ita dolor ex peccato peccatum ipsum absumit S. Gregorie thus A dejection of the mind full of anxietie betweene feare and hope annihilating or destroying sinne For as the worme which breedeth in the wood consumeth it so saith St Chrysostome the sorrow which ariseth from sinne consumeth and destroyeth it Pia proles hoc ipso quod devoret matrem An happie issue in this onely that it eateth out the heart of the parent Thus I have pricked you out to use the phrase of the Musitians a lesson of compunction which though it be a sad pavin to the outward man yet it is a merrie galliard to the inward The physicke which kindly worketh and maketh the patient heart-sicke for the present yet much comforteth him out of assured hope that the present pain will bring future ease help The smarting plaister is the most wholsome such is that I have spread by the amplification of my Text and now I am to lay it to by the application thereof If compunction of the heart be the true marke of a penitent let the eye of our soule look into our heart and see whether we can find it there If we find it we may take comfort in it if we find it not we may be sure we are no true converts There is no vertue in the physick if it paine us not no force in the plaister if it smart not the dis-located bone is not brought to his place if we felt no pain in the setting it As the colours and shapes which are burnt in glass cannot be obliterated unless the glass be broken all to pieces so neither can the ougly shapes of vices images of Sathan be razed out of the soule unlesse the heart be broken with true contrition Spices when they are bruised and pownded in a mortar yeeld a most fragrant smell O then let us bruise our hearts with true contrition Tertul. de poenitent Miserum est securi cauterio exuri pulvoris alicujus mordacitate cruciari attamen quae per insuaviem medentur emolumento curationis offensam sui excusant praesentem injuriam supervenientis utilitatis gratia commendat that our zealous meditations may be like fragrant spices in the nostrils of God If the Jewes were pricked in heart at the remembrance of Christs suffering if their hearts bled for once crucifying the Lord of life how much more ought ours for crucifying him daily O thinke upon this dearly beloved seriously both in the day and in the night and let it make your beds to swim with teares As often as ye sweare by the wounds of Christ ye teare them wider as often as ye belch out blasphemy against God ye spit upon your Saviours face as often as ye distemper your selves with strong wines ye give him vinegar to drink as often as ye grieve the holy spirit ye pricke his very heart as often as yee unworthily receive the sacrament ye tread his bloud under your feet Me thinks I hear you sobbing and sighing out the words of the Jewes in my Text If these things are so if those sins are so hainous and grievous which we have made so light of Men and brethren what shall we doe I answer you in the words of Saint Peter following Repent and be baptized every one of you not in the font of sweet water in the Church but in the salt water of your teares let your a Cypr. de laps Alto vulneri diligens longa medicina ne desit poenitentia crimine minor non sit sorrow be answerable to your sinfull pleasures and bring forth fruits meet for repentance The wound is deep thrust the tent to the bottome of it your sins have been many and grievous let your teares bee abundant and your sighes many Yee have had a long time of sinning give not over presently your exercises of mortification hold on your strict abstinence your devout prayers your frequent watchings your humble confessions and sad meditations the whole time which the Church hath prescribed you by your sorrow here prevent eternall b Tertul. de poenit Fletu fletum temporali afflictione aeterna supplicia expungite in quantum non peperceritis vobis in tantum vobis parcet Deus lamentations and woe by your remorse of conscience here prevent weeping and gnashing of teeth hereafter by your temporall affliction in this world prevent eternall malediction and endlesse torments of body and soule in hell the lesse you spare your selves in this kind God will spare you so much the more and so much the sooner and easier be reconciled unto you To whom c. CHRISTIAN BROTHER-HOOD A Sermon preached on the second Sunday in Lent THE LXVIII SERMON ACTS 2.37 And they said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren MAny of the ancients write that S. Luke was an excellent limmer and drew the blessed Virgin to the life how true it is that he tooke the picture of the mother of God I know not for the first relaters were Apocryphall writers but sure I am in this text as a table hee setteth forth the children of God in their colours and describeth them by their proper marks which are three 1. In the eare 2. In the heart 3. In the hand 1. The eare-marke is carefull attention when they heard 2. The heart-marke is deepe compunction they were pricked in heart 3. The hand-marke is sollicitous action Men and brethren what shall we doe Wee have already viewed the eares of these converts and found them bored thorow for the perpetuall service of God and hung with the jewels of the Gospel next we searched into their hearts and found them pierced with sorrow for being some way accessarie at least by consent to the death of the Lord of life and now wee are to looke to their hands and see what they will doe or rather what they will not bee willing to doe to make their peace with God and wash away the guilt of spilling his Sonnes bloud Men and brethren what shall we doe Ye heare men and brethren in this close of the verse 1. A courteous compellation which savoureth of 1. Humanity Men. Now they hold
faith and repentance unto life giveth charge to his Apostles and their successors to preach the Gospel unto every creature saying ſ Mar. 16.16 Whosoever beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved But here some cast a darke mist which hath caused many to lose their way How say they doe we maintaine that God desireth not the death of a sinner who before all time decreed death for sinne and sinne for death This mist in part is dispelled by distinguishing of three sorts of Gods decrees 1. There is an absolute decree and resolute purpose of God for those things which he determineth shall be 2. There is a decree of mandate or at least a warrant for those things which he desireth should be 3. There is a decree of permission for such things as if he powerfully stop them not will be Of the first kind of decree or will of God wee are to understand those words of the Psalmist Quaecunque voluit fecit Deus Whatsoever t Psal 135.6 God would that hath he done and of our Saviour Father u John 17.24 Rom. 9.19 Ephes 1.5 1 Tim. 2.4 I will that they also whom thou hast given mee be with mee where I am To the second we are to referre those words of the Apostle God would have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth God would that all should come to * 2 Pet. 3.9 repentance and This is the will of God even your x 1 Thes 4.3 sanctification and y Rom. 12.2 Be yee not conformed to this present world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is the acceptable and perfect * John 7.17 will of God In the last acception the Apostle seemeth to take the word will in those words It is better if the z 1 Pet. 3.17 will of God bee so that yee suffer for well doing than for evill doing and Saint Austine where he maintaineth that even those things that are most repugnant to the Law of God and so directly against his revealed will are not besides his will but in some sort fall within the compasse of his decrees The * Encharid ad Laurent c. 100. Hoc ipso quod contra Dei voluntatem fecerunt de ipsis facta est voluntas ejus miro inestabile modo non fit praeter ejus voluntatem quod etiam contra ejus voluntatem fit quia nec fieret nisi sineret nec utique nolens sed volens nec sineret bonus fieri male nisi omnipotens etiam de malo facere posset benè will of God is done by or upon them who seeme to crosse his will after a wonderfull and unspeakable manner that comes not to passe but by Gods will that is his secret decree which is done against his will that is his command For it could not be if he suffered it not neither doth he suffer it against his will but with his will neither would he who it good suffer evill to be but that by his omnipotency he can draw good out of evill The second distinction which much cleereth the point in question is of good things which may be sorted thus 1. Some are good formally good in themselves and by for selves as all divine graces and the salvation of the elect 2. Some things are good suppositively and consequently as warre is good not simply but when without it either the safety or the honour of the state cannot be preserved in like manner executions are nor good simply but upon presupposall of hainous crimes worthy of death in him that is executed especially for the terrour of others No man will say that it is simply good to launce or cut off a joynt yet is it good in case that otherwayes the sore cannot be healed or the sound parts preserved from a gangrene 3. Some things are good occasionally onely or by accident from whom some good may come or be made of them or out of them as treacle of poyson and wholsome pills of such ingredients as are enemies to nature If ye rightly apply these distinctions ye may without great difficulty loosen the knots above tyed the first whereof was whether God decreed sinne originall or actuall Ye may answer according to the former distinctions that he decreed effectually all the good that is joyned with it or may come by it or it may occasion but hee decreed permissively onely the a Al Monim Malum praescivit Deus non praedestinavit Anomy obliquity or malignity thereof he neither doth it nor approveth of it when it is done but only permitteth it and taketh advantage of it for the manifestation of his justice When Fulgentius denieth that God decreeth sinne and the b Concil Araus Ad malum divinâ potestate praedestinatos non modo non dicimus sed etiam siqui sint qui id affirmare ausint cum summâ execratione in eos anathema dicimus Arausican Councell thundereth out an anathema against any that dare maintaine such an impious assertion they are to bee understood of a decree of effecting or commanding or warranting it But when Calvin pleads hard for Adams fall to have not come to passe without a decree from God lest he should make God an idle spectatour of an event of so great consequence we are to interpret his words of a decree of permission of the event and disposing of the fall foreseen by him to the greater manifestation of his justice and mercy Ordinavit saith Junius id est statuit ordinem rei non rem ipsam decrevit To the second question which toucheth the apple of the eye of this Text whether God decreeth the death of any ye may answer briefly that he doth not decree it any way for it selfe as it is the destruction of his creature or a temporall or eternall torment thereof but as it is a manifestation of his justice Here I might take occasion as many doe to dispute divers intricate questions concerning the decrees of God especially of reprobation both absolute and comparative and the acts of it privative and positive whether it depend meerly upon the will of God or passe ex praevisis or propter praevisa peccata upon or for sinnes fore-seen originall or actuall as also concerning the object whether it be homo condendus conditus integer or lapsus whether man considered in fieri as clay or red earth in the hands of God out of which some vessels were to be made to honour some to dishonour or as created of God according to his image before his fall or as fallen in Adam tainted with originall sinne or lastly singular persons considered in the state of infidelity or impenitency and so dying sed b Scotus in 1. sent dist 41. nolo scrutari profundum ne eatur in profundum I will not approach too neere this deep whirle-poole lest with many through giddinesse of braine I fall into it For although I