vanity or the next business will drive it away and take its place Nor let us make a room for it in our Phansie For it is an easie matter to think we are free when we are in chains Who is so wicked that he is not ready to persuade himself he is just And that false persuasion too shall go for the dictate of the Holy Ghost Paganism it self cannot shew such monsters as many of them are who call themselves Saints But let us gird up our loins and be up and doing the work those works of piety which the Gospel injoyneth It is Obedience alone that tieth us to God and maketh us free denisons of that Jerusalem which is above In it the Beauty the Liberty the Royalty the Kingdom of a Christian is visible and manifest For by it we sacrifice not our Flesh but our Will unto God and so have one and the same will with him and if we have his will we have his power also and his wisdom to accompany it and to to fulfil all that we can desire or expect Servire Deo regnare est To serve God is to reign as Kings here and will bring us to reign with him for evermore Let us then stand fast in our obedience which is our liberty against all the wiles and invasions of the enemy all those temptations which will shew themselves in power and craft to remove us from our station In a calm to steer our course is not so difficult but when the tempest beateth hard upon us not to dash against the rock will commend our skill Every man is ready to build a tabernacle for Christ when he is in his glory but not to leave him at the Cross is the glory and crown of a Christian And first let us not dare a temptation as Pliny dared the vapour at Mount Vesuvius and died for it Let us not offer and betray our selves to the Enemy For he that affecteth and loveth danger is in the ready way to be swallowed up in that gulf Valiant men saith the Philosopher are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quiet and silent before the combat but in the trial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ready and active But audacious daring men are commonly loud and talkative before encounters but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flag and fail in them The first weigh the danger and resolve by degrees the other are peremptory and resolve suddenly and talk their resolution away It is one thing to talk of a tempest at sea another to discourse of it leaning against a wall It is one thing to dispute of pain another to feel it Grief and Anguish hath not such a sting in the Stoicks gallery as it hath on the rack For there Reason doth fight but with a shadow and a representation here with the substance it self And when things shew themselves naked as they are they stir up the affections When the Whip speaketh by its smart not by my phansie when the Fire is in my flesh not my understanding when temptations are visible and sensible then they enter the soul and the spirit then they easily shake that resolution which was so soon built and soon beat down that which was made up in haste Therefore let us not rashly thrust our selves upon them But in the second place let us arm and prepare our selves against them For Preparation is half the conquest It looketh upon them handleth and weigheth them before hand seeeth where their great strength lieth and goeth forth in the power of the Spirit and in the name of Christ and so maketh us more then conquerers before the sight And this is our Martyrdom in peace For the practice of a Christian in the calmest times must nothing differ in readiness and resolution from times of rage and fire As Josephus speaketh of the military exercises practised amongst the Romans that they differed from a true battel only in this that their battel was a bloudy exercise and their exercise a bloudless battel So our preparation should make us martyrs before we come to resist ad sanguinem to shed a drop of bloud To conclude as the Apostle exhorteth let us take unto us the whole armour of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand to stand against the horrour of a prison against the glittering of the sword against the terrour of death to stand as expert souldiers of Christ and not to forsake our place to stand as mount Sion which cannot be moved in a word to be stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. For whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed The Seven and Fortieth SERMON PART VII JAMES I. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed TO Persevere or continue in the Gospel and To be blessed for ever are the two stages of a Christian the one here on earth the other in heaven and there is scarce a moment but a last breath between them nothing but a mouldering and decaying wall this tabernacle of flesh which falleth down suddenly and then we pass and enter And that we may persevere and continue means are here prescribed first assiduous Meditation in this Law we must not be forgetful hearers of it but look into it as into a glass vers 23 24. yet not as a man that beholdeth his natural face in a glass and then goeth away and forgetteth himself not as a man who looketh carelesly casteth an eye and thinketh no more of it but rather as a woman who looketh into her glass with intention of mind with a kind of curiosity and care stayeth and dwelleth upon it fitteth her attire and ornaments to her by a kind of method setteth every hair in its proper place and accurately dresseth and adorneth her self by it And sure there is more care and exactness due to the soul then to the body Secondly that we may continue and persevere we must not only hear and remember but do the work For Piety is confirmed by Practice To these we may now add a third which hath so near a relation to Practice that it is even included in it and carrried along with it And it is To be such students in Christ's School as S. Paul was Acts 24.16 To study and exercise our selves to have alwayes a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Not to triflle with our God or play the wanton with our Conscience Not to displease and wound her in one particular with a resolution to follow her in the rest Not to let our love of the world or fear of danger make that a truth which we formerly
by their words and by their works Let us think we hear him say Go and do likewise Did I say God speaketh by St. Paul and by all the Saints There be who will allow Paul holy but not Saint which is as if they should say he were a reasonable creature but not a Man But Saint is a name of danger and hath brought men on their knees to commit Idolatry By this argument the Sun must also lose its name and not be called the Sun because some have worshipped it But it hath been given to wicked men Saint Ignatius and Saint Garnet And I fear it is given at this day to those who are as wicked as they But God forbid that an honest man should lose his name because sometimes it is given to a Knave and because we call him Honest friend who is our deadly enemy What though the Pope have canonized them and wrote them down in red letters in the Kalender That I am sure cannot expunge their names out of the Book of life nor yet unsaint them unless you will say that a Virgin is no more a Virgin if once a strumpet call her so or that Christ was not the Son of the living God because he was called by that name by a Legion of Devils Such Gnats as these do these men strain at who every day before the sun and the people shallow down camels They check at every feather and pull milstones upon their heads They will not call Paul and the Apostles and the blessed Martyrs Saints oh take heed of that but they take that title to themselves and in that name work not wonders but commit those abominations which the blessed Saints of God abhorred They scruple at the name of Saint and triumph in that of a man of Belial They tremble at a shadow which themselves cast and court a monster They startle at a straw and play with a thunderbolt O beloved let not us be afraid of the name Saint not be afraid to give it to others though our Humility will not let us fix it on our selves There were Saints at Corinth and Saints at Philippi and Saints at Colosse and Saints at Ephesus St. Paul calleth them so And shall we be afraid to give him and the rest of the Apostles and the Martyrs of Christ that name Nay rather In the second place let us bless God for his Saints and look upon them and follow them in those wayes which made them Saints though honour and dishonour through fire and water through terrours and affrightments through the valley of death into the land of the living and the paradise of God Let their glory work in us an holy emulation Let us be sorry to see our selves at such a distance let us be angry at our own backwardness let us love that virtue which hath crowned them and let us labour in hope to overtake them and live with them in the same region of happiness Envy is a torment but Emulation filleth us with Hope which is a comforter Indeed when we speak of the glorious Saints of God we need make no mention of Envy we are free enough from that If any man be rich or mighty or honourable or learned we are presently on the rack But if any man be good we are well content he should be so alone Righteousness and Temperance and Martyrdom which are bought at a dear rate and cost us our very life and bloud are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without envy We look back upon those Worthies which were our fore-runners in the way to heaven as upon sad and uncouth spectacles We are ready to fright our selves with the conceit of impossibilities we talk of nothing else The Law we say is impossible and to follow the Saints is impossible And why is it not to reign with them also impossible And all this is for want of that Hope which we are as willing to stifle as the Examples of good men are active to kindle it in our hearts Beloved these great Ensamples are strong arguments against us nec tà m praecipiunt quà m convitium faciunt they do not only call after us but upbraid us if we follow not They have virtue and power in them to raise a hope within us which may stir us up to action and pull our hands out of our bosom Quid deficimus Quid desperamus Quicquid fieri potuit potest Why do we faint or despair Whatsoever hath been done by any Saint of God may be taken up by us and done again The very Heathen maketh it his argument Ignem Mutius exsilium Rutilius Mutius overcame the fire Socrates poison Rutilius banishment Cato death Singula vicerunt jam multi nos vincamus aliquid Many have overcome several evils let us overcome something Is obedience difficult Abraham would have sacrificed his son his only son at the command of God Is Patience a burthen Job blessed God when he lay on the dunghill Is Humility distasteful You may behold the King of Israel in a dance Is Martyrdom terrible We have a cloud of ensamples purpuratas nubes those purple clouds which have watered the field of Christ with showres of bloud that after them there may grow up Martyrs through all generations This power this influence have the Examples of the Saints if we will but receive it that we may grow up thereby Brethren I may boldly speak to you of the blessed Patriarchs Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob David and of the blessed Apostle S. Paul that they are both dead and buried And though we have not their Sepulcres with us yet we have their Inscriptions PERFECT NOAH FAITHFUL ABRAHAM DEVOUT DAVID PAUL THE SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST Which we should reade and translate into our selves to drive us to Perfection to confirm our Obedience to nourish our Faith and to raise the heat of our Devotion Therefore In the last place let us emulate the best Par est optimum quemque ad imitandum proponere saith the Philosopher It is fit we should propose the best paterns Nay Stultissimum est it is folly not to do so saith the Oratour Elige Catonem saith Seneca Chuse such a man as Cato for thy example Elige Paulum Chuse such a one as S. Paul S. Peter S. Stephen And when any difficulty or tentation assaulteth thee as S. Cyprian would often call for Tertullian's Works DA MAGISTRUM Give me my Master so do thou Da Magistros Give me the examplcs of those glorious Saints of God to settle and compose and establish me in all my wayes A shame it is that after so long a time after so many fair and bright examples after so great a multitude of Professors when all Arts and Sciences are advanced every day Grace and Holiness should suffer a kind of solstice nay go back more then ten degrees That so many Peters and Pauls should pass by us and not so much as their shadow reach us That so many examples of perfection should shine in the
Christ in his shame in his sorrow in his agony take him hanging on the cross take him and take a pattern by him that as he was so we may be troubled for our sins that we may mingle our tears with his blood drag Sin to the bar accuse and condemn it revile and spit in its face at the fairest presentment it can make and then nail it to the cross that it may languish and faint by degrees till it give up the ghost and die in us Then lye we down in peace in the grave and expect a glorious resurrection when we shall receive Christ not in humility but in Majesty and with him all his riches and abundance all his promises even Glory and Immortality and Eternal life A SERMON Preached on Easter-Day REV. I. 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 WE do not ask Of whom speaketh S. John this or Who is he that speaketh it For we have his character drawn out in lively colours in the verses going before my Text. The Divine calls him a voyce ver 12. when he meaneth the man who spake it I turned to see the voyce that spoke with me and in the next verse telleth us he was like to the Son of man in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks governing his Church Lev. 26.11 12. setting his Tabernacle amongst men not abhorring to walk amongst them and to be their God that they might be his people Will you see his robes and attire Clothed he was with a garment down to the foot v. 13. which was the garment of the High Priest Hebr. 7.24 And his was an unchangeable Priesthood He had also a golden girdle or belt as a King For he is a King for ever and of his kingdome there shall be no end Luk. 1.33 Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loyns and faithfulness the girdle of his reins Isa 11.5 His head and his hairs were white as woll and as white as snow v. 14. his Judgment pure and uncorrupt not byassed by outward respects not tainted or corrupted by any turbulent affection but smooth and even as waters are when no wind troubleth them His eyes as a flame of fire piercing the inward man searching the secrets of the heart nor is there any action word or thought which is not manifest in his sight His feet like unto fine brass v. 15. sincere and constant like unto himself in all his proceedings in every part of his Oeconomy His voyce as the sound of many waters declaring his Fathers will with power and authority sounding out the Gospel of peace to all the world And last of all out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword v. 16. not onely dividing asunder the soul and the spirit Hebr. 4.12 but discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart and taking vengeance on those who persecute his Church His Majesty dazled every mortal eye his countenance was as the Sun shineth in his strength And now of him who walketh in the midst of his Church whose Mercy is a large robe reaching down to the feet who is girt with Power and clothed with Justice whose Wisdome pierceth even into darkness it self whose Word is heard from one end of the world to the other whose Majesty displayeth its beams through every corner of it we cannot but confess with Peter This is Christ Matth. 16.16 John 6.69 Hagg. 2.7 the Son of the living God And can the Saviour of the world the Desire of all nations the Glory of his Father Beauty it self appear in such a shape of terrour Shall we draw out a merciful Redeemer with a warriours belt with eyes of fire with feet of brass with a voyce of terrour with a sharp two-edged sword in his mouth Yes Such a High Priest became us Hebr. 7.26 who is not onely merciful but just not onely meek but powerful not only fair but terrible not onely clothed with the darkness of Humility but with the shining robes of Majesty who can dye and can live again and live for evermore who suffered himself to be judged and condemned and shall judge and condemn the world it self S. John indeed was troubled at this sight and fell down as dead but Christ rouzeth him up and biddeth him shake of that fear For he is terrible to none but those who make him so to Hereticks and Hypocrites and Persecutors of his Church to those who would have him neither wise nor just nor powerful Non accepimus iratum sed fecimus He is not angry till we force him It is rather our sins that run back again upon us as Furies than his wrath These make him clothe himself with vengeance and draw his sword To S. John to those that bow before him he is all sweetness all grace all salvation and upon these as upon S. John he layeth his right hand quickneth and rouzeth them up Fear not v. 17. neither my girdle of Justice nor my eyes of fire nor my feet of brass nor my mighty voyce nor my two-edged sword for my Wisdom shall guide you my Power shall defend you my Majesty shall uphold you and my Mercy shall crown you Fear not I am the first and the last more humble than any more powerful than any scorned whipped crucified and now highly exalted and Lord of all the world I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore c. These words I may call as Tertullian doth the Lord's Prayer breviarium Evangelii the Breviary or Sum of the whole Gospel or with Augustine Symbolum abbreviatum the Epitome or Abridgement of our Creed And such a short Creed we find in Tertullian which he calls Regulam veram immobilem irreformabilem the sole immutable and unalterable rule of Faith And then the Articles or parts will be 1. The Death of Christ I was dead 2. The Resurrection of Christ with the effect and power of it I am he that liveth 3. The Duration and continuance of his life It is to all eternity I am alive for evermore 4. The Power of Christ which he purchased by his death the Power of the keyes I have the keyes of Hell and of Death And all these are 1. ushered in with an ECCE Behold that we may consider it and 2. sealed and ratified with an AMEN that we may believe it that there be not in any of us as the Apostle speaketh an unbelieving heart to depart from the living God Hebr. 3.11 I am he that liveth and was dead Of the Death of Christ we spake the last day Par. 1. We shall onely now look upon it in reference to the Resurrection and consider it as past For it is FVI MORTVVS I was dead And in this we may see the method and proceeding of our Saviour which he drew out in his blood which must sprinkle those who are to be
it self and fill the world with Atheists which will learn by no Masters but such as instruct fools nor acknowledge any Keyes but those which may break their head But indeed we have had these Keyes too long in our hands For though they concern us yet are they not the keyes in the Text nor had we lookt upon them but that those of the Romish party wheresoever they find keys mentioned take them up and hang them on their Church But we must observe a difference betwixt the keyes of the kingdome of heaven Matth. 16.19 which were given to Peter and the keyes of Hell and of Death although with them when the Keyes are seen Heaven and Hell are all one For the key of David Rev. 3.7 which openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth was not given to the Apostles but is a regality and prerogative of Christ who only hath power of Life and Death over Hell and the Grave who therefore calleth himself the first and the last because although when he first publisht his Gospel he died and was buried yet he rose again to live for ever so to perfect the great work of our salvation and by his power to bind those in everlasting chains who stood out against him and to bring those that bow to his sceptre out of prison into liberty and everlasting life The power is his alone and he made it his by his sufferings Phil. 2.8 9. He was obedient to death therefore God did highly exalt him Phil. 2.7 11. He became a Lord by putting on the form of a servant But he hath delegated his power to his Apostles and those that succeed them to make us capable and fit subjects for his power to work upon which nevertheless will have its operation and effect either let us out or shut us up for ever under the power of Hell and of Death Were not he alive and to live for evermore we had been shut up in darkness and oblivion for ever But Christ living infuseth life into us that the bands of Hell and of Death can no more hold us than they can him There is such a place as Hell but to the living members of Christ there is no such place For it is impossible it should hold them You may as well place Lucifer at the right hand of God as a true Christian in Hell For how can Light dwell in Darkness How can Purity mix with stench How can Beauty stay with Horrour If Nature could forget her course and suffer contradictories to be drawn together and be both true yet this is such a contradiction as unless Christ could die again which is impossible can never be reconciled Matth. 5.18 Heaven and earth may pass away but Christ liveth for evermore and the power and virtue of his Life is as everlasting as Everlastingness it self Rev. 6.8 And again There was a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death and he had power to kill with the sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth But now he doth not kill us he doth but stagger us and fling us down that we may rise again and tread him under our feet and by the power of an everliving Saviour be the death of Death it self Job 18.14 Death was the King of terrors and the fear of Death made us slaves Heb. 2.15 and kept us in servility and bondage all our life long made our pleasures less delightful and our virtues more tedious made us tremble and shrink from those Heroick undertakings for the truth of God But now they in whom Christ liveth and moveth and hath his being as in his own dare look upon Death in all his horror expeditum morti genus saith Tertullian and are ready to meet him in his most dreadful march with all his army of Diseases Racks and Tortures Man before he sinned knew not what Death meant then Eve familiarly conversed with the Serpent so do Christians with Death Having that Divine Image restored in them they are secure and fear it not For what can that Tyrant take from them Col. 3.3 Their life That is hid with Christ in God Psal 37.4 It cannot cut them off from pleasure for their delight is in the Lord. Matth. 6.20 It cannot rob them of their treasure for that is laid up in heaven It can take nothing from them but what themselves have already crucified Gal. 5.24 their Flesh It cannot cut off one hope one thought one purpose for all their thoughts purposes and hopes were leveld not on this but on another life And now Christ hath his keyes in his hand Death is but a name it is nothing or if it be something it is such a thing as troubled S Augustine to define what it is We call it a punishment but indeed it is a benefit a favour even such a favour that Christ who is as omnipotent as he is everlasting who can work all in all though he abolished the Law of Moses and of Ceremonies yet would not abrogate the law by which we are bound over unto death because it is so profitable and advantageous to us It was indeed threatned but it is now a promise or the way unto it for Death it is that letteth us into that which was promised It was an end of all it is now the beginning of all It was that which cut off life it is now that through which as through a gate we enter into it We may say it is the first point and moment of our after-eternity for it is so neer unto it that we can hardly sever them We live or rather labour and fight and strive with the World and with Life it self which is it self a temptation and whilst by the power of our everliving Christ we hold up and make good this glorious contention and fight and conquer and press forward towards the mark either nature faileth or is prest down with violence and we dye that is our language but the Spirit speaketh after another manner we sleep we are dissolved we fall in pieces our bodies from our souls and we from our miseries and temptations and this living everliving Christ gathereth us together again breatheth life and eternity into us that we may live and reign with him for evermore And so I have viewed all the parts of the Text being the main articles of our Faith 1 Christs Death 2. his Life 3. his eternal Life and last of all his Power of the Keyes his Dominion over Hell and Death We will but in a word fit the ECCE the Behold in the Text to every part of it and set the Seal Amen to it and so conclude And first we place the ECCE the Behold on his Death He suffered and dyed that he might learn to have compassion on thy miseries and on thy dust and raise thee from both and wilt thou learn nothing from his compassion
of Charity Eph. 4.16 which is the coupling and uniting virtue as Prosper calleth it Eph. 4.5 13. by the unity of faith by their agreement in holiness having one faith one baptisme one Lord. And at last every string being toucht in its right place begetteth Harmony which is delightful both to heaven and earth For when I name the Church I do not mean the stones and building some indeed would bring it down to this to stand for nothing but the walls but I suppose a subordination of parts which was never yet questioned in the Church but by those who would make it as invisible as their Charity not the Foot to see and the Eye to walk and the Tongue to hear and the Ear to speak not all Apostles not all Prophets not all Teachers but 1 Cor. 12.29 1 Cor. 15.23 Naz. Or. 26. as the Apostle saith it shall be at the resurrection every man in his own order For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Order is our security and safeguard In a rout every man is a child of death every throat open to the knife but when an army is drawn out by art and skill all hands are active for the victory Inequality indeed of persons is the ground of disunion and discord but Order draweth and worketh advantage out of Inequality it self When every man keepeth his station the common Souldier hath hi◠interest in the victory as the well as the Commander And when we walk orderly every man in his own place we walk hand in hand to heaven and happiness together For further yet in the Church of God there is not onely a Union and an Order but also as it is in our Creed a Communion of parts The glorious Angels as ministring Spirits are sent to guard us and no doubt do many and great services for us though we perceive it not The blessed Saints departed though we may not pray for them yet may pray for us though we hear it not And though the Church be scattered in its members through all the parts of the world yet their hearts meet in the same God Every man prayeth for himself and every man prayeth for every man Quod est omnium est singulorum That which is all mens is every mans and that which is every mans belongeth unto the whole For though we cannot speak in those high terms of the Church as the Church of Rome doth of her self yet we cannot but bless God and count it a great favour and privilege that we are filii Ecclesiae as the Father speaketh children of the Church and think our selves in a place of safety and advantage where we may find protection against Death it self We cannot speak loud with the Cardinal Bellarm. praefat ad Controv. Si Catholicus quisquam labitur in peccatum If a Catholick fall into a sin suppose it Theft or Adultery yet in that Church he walketh not in darkness but may see many helps to salvation by which he may soon quit himself out of the snare of the Devil Maternus ei non deest affectus She is still a Mother even to such Children Her shops of spiritual comfort lie open Isa 55.1 there you may buy wine and milk Indulgences and absolution but not without money or money-worth Be you as sick as you will and as oft as you will there is Physick there are cordials to refresh and restore you I dare not promise so much in the House of Israel in the Church of Christ for I had rather make the Church a school of Virtue then a sanctuary for offenders and wanton sinners We dare not give it that strength to carry up our Prayers to the Saints in heaven or to convey their Merits to us on earth We cannot work and temper it to that heat to draw up the blood of Martyrs or the works of supererogating Christians who have been such profitable servants that they did more in the service of God then they should into a common Treasury and then showre them down in Pardons and Indulgences But yet though we cannot find this power there which is a power to do nothing yet we may find strength enough in the Church to keep us from the Moriemini to save us from Death Though I cannot suffer for my brother Gal. 6.2 yet I may bear for him even bear my brothers burden Though I cannot merit for him yet I may work for him Though I cannot die for him I may pray for him Though there be no good in my death nor profit in my dust Psal 30.9 yet there may be in the memory of my good counsel my advise Consult c. de Relig. 5. my example which are verae sanctorum reliquiae saith Cassander the best and truest reliques of the Saints And though my death cannot satisfie for him yet it may catechize him and teach him how to die nay teach him how to overcome Death that he shall not die for ever And by this Communion it is that we work Miracles that in turning the Covetous turning his bowels in him we recover a dry hand and a narrow heart in teaching the Ignorant we give sight to the blind in setling the inconstant and wavering mind we cure the palsie We can well allow of such Miracles as these in the Church but not of lies For as there is an invisible union of the Saints with God so is there of Christians amongst themselves Which union though the eye of flesh cannot behold it yet it must appear and shine and be resplendent in those duties and offices which do attend this union which are so many hands by which we lift up one another to happiness As the Head infuseth life and vigour into the whole body so must the members also anoynt each other with this oyl of gladness Each member must be active and industrious to express that virtue without which it cannot be one Let no man seek his own but every man anothers wealth saith the Apostle Not seek his own 1 Cor. 10.24 what more natural to man or who is nearer to him then he himself but yet he must not seek his own but as it may bring advantage to and promote the good of others not press forward to the mark but with his hand stretcht forth to carry on others along with him not go to heaven but saving some with fear and pulling others out of the fire Jud. 23. and gathering up as many as his wisdome and care and zeal toward God and man can take up with him in the way And this is necessary even in humane societies and those politick bodies which men build up to themselves for their peace and security Turpis est pars quae toti suo non convenit That is a most unnecessary superfluous part or member for which the whole is not the better Vt in sermone literae saith Augustine as letters in a word or sentence so Men are elementa civitatis the principles and
so have our Desires theirs which is their end And here we have them both the Object of our Knowledge delivered first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a generality UT COGNOSCAM ILLUM That I may know him that is Christ secondly dilated and enlarged in two main particulars 1. Resurrection 2. his Passion In the one he beholdeth power in the other fellowship and communion which includeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conformity to his death Christ indeed is risen but he suffered first so must we be conformable to his death if we will feel the power of his resurrection So these three are most considerable 1. Christ 2. the power of his resurrection 3. the fellowship of his sufferings these are three rich Diamonds and if they be well set if we take the words in their true Syntaxis and joyn configuratus to cognoscam our conformity to his death to our knowledge of his sufferings and resurrection we shall place them right even so fix them in the Understanding part that they will reflect or cast a lustre on the Heart even such a lustre as will light us through the midst of rocks and difficulties unto the end here aimed at the Resurrection of the dead Of these then in their order Of the Object first then of the Nature of our Knowledge which will bring us to the End though beset with words of fear and difficulty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if by any means We begin I say with the Object in general That I may know him We begin with Christ who is Α and Ω the beginning and the ending From whom we have saith the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to live and to live well and to live for ever If we begin without him we run into endless mazes of errour and delusion every on-set is danger every step an overthrow And if we end not in him we end indeed but it is in misery without an end John 17.3 To know him is life eternal Then our Ignorance must needs be fatal and bring on a death as lasting For where can we be safe from the Deluge but in the Ark Where can we rest our feet but upon this Stone Where can we build but upon this Foundation For let Philosophie and the Law divide the world into Jew and Genâ—ile and then open those two great Books of God his Works and his Words and see the Philosopher hath so studied the Creature that he maketh his God one Rom. 1 23. and turneth his glory saith the Apostle into the similitude of corruptible Man nay into Birds and Beasts â—â—d Creeping things And the Jew's proficiency reached but so far as to know he was the worse for it On every letter he findeth gall and wormwood and the very bitterness of Death The Philosopher hath learned no more then this that he can be but happy here and the Jew that without a better guide he must be unhappy for ever Reason the best light the Heathen had could not shew them the unsteddy fluctuations of the mind the storms and tempests of the soul the weakness of nature and the dimness of her own light how faint her brightness is how she is eclipst with her own beams how Reason may behold indeed a supreme but not a saving Power because she will be Reason It is true the light of Reason is a light and from heaven too But every light doth not make it day nor is every star the Sun And though we are to follow this light which every man brought with him into the world yet if we look not on that greater Light the Sun of Righteousness which hath now spread his beams over the face of the earth we cannot but fall into the ditch even into the pit of destruction The light then of Reason will not guide us so far in the wayes of happiness as to let us know we stand in need of a surer guide and therefore the Gospel you know is called that wisdom which descended from above But now in the next place for the Jew Ye will say that the Law was the Law of God and so made to be a lantern to their feet and a light to their paths 'T is true it was so But the Apostle will tell us that by this light too we may miscarry as being not bright enough to direct us to our end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 7.18 because it giveth a weak and unprofitable light In the verse before my Text S. Paul seemeth to run away from it and utterly to renounce the Law not quoad substantiam not indeed in regard of the duties therein contained but quoad officium justificandi in that it could not justifie not make him perfect not lead him to his end It may threaten accuse contemn and kill and so in Scripture it is said to do And then what guilty person will sue for pardon from a dead letter which is inexorable We may say of the Law as S. Paul speaketh of the yearly sacrifice Heb. 10.1 that is did not make the comers thereto perfect but left behind it a conscience of sin not onely ex parte reatus a conscience that did testifie they sinned and affright them with the guilt but ex parte vindictae a conscience which questioned not onely their sin but their atonement and told them plainly that by the Law no man could be justified And therefore S. Chrysostom on that place will tell us In that the Jews did offer sacrifice it seemed they had conscience that accused them of sin but that they sacrificed continually argued that they had a conscience too which accused their sacrifice of imperfection Wherefore then served the Law The Apostle answereth well Gal. 3.19 It was added because of trangressions not to disannul the Covenant but as an attendant an additament as a glass to discover sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Clemens The Law doth not beget sin for that it cannot do but manifest it Non est in speculo quod ostenditur I may shew you a Death's head in a glass but there is no such horrid substance there And the Law which is most perfect in it self may represent my wants unto me and make me flie to some richer Treasury for a supply Now to draw this home When both Lights fail when the Law of Nature is so dim that it cannot bring us to our journey's end and the Law written is as loud to tell us of our leasings as to direct us in our way what should we do but look up upon the Sun if righteousness Christ Jesus who came to improve and perfect Nature and who is the end of the Law and the end of our hopes and the end of our faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father calleth him that great Sabbath in which the Jew and the Gentile may rest in which the Father resteth as well pleased and the holy Ghost resteth in whom the Saints and Martyrs and the whole Church have
their eternal rest For such an high Priest became us saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 separate from the Gentile's blindness and separate from the Jew's stubbornness and imperfection of a transient mortality and a permanent beatitude a God and a Man that he might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gather together into one both Jew and Gentile Law and Reason make the Law Natural useful and the Law written useful that so those fair whispers of Truth which mis-led the Gentile and that loud accusing Truth which affrighted the Jâ—w may be in subserviency and attendance on Christ himself that the light of Nature and the light of the Law which were but scattered beams from his eternal Brightness may be collected and united in Christ again who is Α and Ω the Beginning and the End in which Circle and Compass they are at home brought back again to their Original And do we not now begin to look upon our Reason as useful indeed but most insufficient to reach unto the End Do we not renounce the Law our selves all things Do we not melt in the same flame with our Apostle Is it not our ambition to be lost to all the world that we may be found in Christ Shall we not cast all things behind us that we may look forward upon him What would we not be ignorant of that we may know him That we may know him we will know nothing else Our understandings here are fixed and cannot be removed Nor shall our contemplation let him go till we have seen him rising from the dead and known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the power of his resurrection Which is the next Object we are to look upon and our next Part. That Christ is risen from the dead is an article of our Faith fundatissimae fidei saith the Father a principle of the Doctrine of Christ a truth so clear and evident that the malice and envy of the Jew cannot avoid it For let them be at charge to bribe the watchmen and let the watchmen sleep so soundly that an earthquake cannot wake them and then say his Disciples stole him away this poor shift is so far from shaking that it confirmeth our faith For if they were asleep how could they tell his Disciples stole him away Or if they did steal him what could they take away more then a carcase He is risen he is not here If an Angel had not said it yet the Earthquake the Clothes the Grave it self did speak without an epitaph Or if these were silent yet where such strange impossibilities are brought in to colour and promote it a Lie doth confute it self and Malice helpeth to confirm the Truth For it we have a verdict given up by Cephas and the twelve 1 Cor. 15.5 we have a cloud of witnesses even five hundred brethren and more who saw him We have a cloud of bloud too the testimony of Martyrs who took their death on it so certain of this Truth that they sealed to it with their bloud and because they could not live to publish it proclaimed it by the loss of life And can we have better evidence Yes we have a surer word the word of God himself a surer verdict then of a Jury a better witness then five hundred a louder testimony then the bloud of Martyrs And we have our Faith too which will make all difficulties easie and conquereth all And therefore we cannot complain of distance or that we are so many ages removed from the time wherein it was done For now Christ risen is become a more obvious object then before The diversity of the Mediums have increased and multiplied him We see him through the bloud of Martyrs and we see him in his Word and we see him by the eye of Faith Christ is risen according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15. Offenderunt Judaei in Christum lapidem saith S. Augustine When the Jews stumbled at him he presented but the bigness of a stone but our Infidelity can find no excuse if we see him not now he appeareth as visible as a mountain Christ then is risen from the dead And we have but touched upon it to give you one word of the day in the Day it self But that our Easter may be a feast indeed and our rejoycing not in vain let us as the Apostle speaketh go on to perfection and make a further search to find the reason of our joy in the power of his resurrection And what is the power of his resurrection The Apostle telleth us it was a mighty power Eph. 1.19 Indeed it rent the rocks and shook the earth and opened the graves and forced up the dead bodies of the Saints We may adde It made the Law give place and the Shadows vanish it abolished the Ceremonies broke down the Altars levelled the Temple with the ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great wonders all Magnitudo virtutis ostenditur in effectu The greatness of power is most legible in the effects it worketh And here the volume is so great that the world cannot contain it Come see saith the Angel the place where the Lord lay A Lord he was though in his grave And by the same power he raised both himself and us By the same power he shook the earth and will shake the heaven also Heb. 13. disannulled the Law and established the Gospel broke down one alter and set up another abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to light 2 Tim. 1.10 shall raise our vile bodies and shall raise our vile souls Shall raise them He hath done it already Conresuscitavit saith the Apostle Eph. 2.6 we are raised together with him both in soul and body and all by the power of his resurrection For 1. Christ's Resurrection is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at least an exemplary cause of our spiritual rising from the death of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene Christ is risen from the dead that we may follow after him we who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 planted together in the likeness of his death Rom. 6.5 dead to our lusts as he was to the functions and operations of life and planted with him in the likeness of his resurrection rising and exalting our selves and triumphing over Sin and Death so grafted in him that we may spring and grow green and blossom and bring forth fruit both alike and by the same power Now as Christ's Resurrection is a patern of our soul's resurrection so is it of our bodie 's also For we are not of Hymenaeus and Philetus mind to think the resurrection past already and make it but an Allegory No Christ hath cast the model of our bodie 's Resurrection also Plato's Idea and common Form by which he thought all other things had their exsistence was but a dream This is a real patern The Angel descended at his and shall at ours He is risen in our nature Isaac's figurative Resurrection
wherein Sin and Satan have laid us For this is the end of both For this end Christ suffered and for this end he rose again For this end he payed down a price even his bloud to strike off those chains and bring us back into the glorious liberty of the sons of God to gain a title in us to have a right to our souls to guide them and a right to our bodies to command them as he pleaseth But though the price be payed yet we may be prisoners still if we love our fetters and will not shake them off if we count our prison a paradise and had rather sport out our span here in the wayes of darkness then dwell for ever in the light Christ hath done whatsoever belongeth to a Redeemer but there is something required at their hands who are redeemed namely when he knocketh at our graves and biddeth us come forth to fling off our grave-clothes and follow him not to stay in our enemy's hands and love our captivity but to present our selves before our Captain and shew him his own purchase a soul that is his and a body that is his a soul purged and renewed and a body obedient and instrumental to the soul both chearful and active in setting forth his glory This is the conclusion of the whole matter this is the end of all not onely of our Creation which the Apostle doth not mention here although even by that God hath the right of dominion over us but also of our Redemption which is later and more special and more glorious as one star differeth from another in glory Take all the Articles of the Creed take Christ's Birth his Death his Resurrection his Glory is the Amen to all Take all God's Precepts all his Promises and let them stand as they are for the Premisses and no other Conclusion can be so properly drawn from them as this That we should glorifie God The Premisses are drawn together within the compass of the first words of my Text EMPTI ESTIS PRETIO Ye are bought with a price and the Conclusâ—â—n in the last ERGO GLORIFICATE Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's So the Parts you see are as the Persons are the Redeemer and the Redeemed two 1. a Benefit declared Ye are bought with a price 2. a Duty enjoyned Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's The first remembreth us what God hath done for us the second calleth upon us to remember what we are to do for him to give unto God those things which are God's to glorifie him in our body and in our spirit which are God's These are the parts and of these we shall speak in their order First of the Benefit Ye are bought with a price This Purchase this Redeeming us supposeth we were alienated from Christ and in our enemy's hand and power 2 Tim 2.26 in the snare of the Devil and taken captive by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken by him as it were in war And indeed till Christ bought us his we were even made servants to him as servants use to be venditione by sale and jure belli by right of war We had sold our selves as S. Paul speaketh unto him sold our birth-right for a mess of pottage sold our selves for that which is not bread for that Pleasure which is but a shadow for those Riches which are but dung for that Honour which is but air Every toy was the price of our bloud He opened his false wares and we pawned and prostituted our souls and gave up our hope of eternity for his pianted vanities and a glittering death His was but a profer and we might have refused it But we believed that Father of lies and so gave up our selves into his power and his we were by bargain and sale And as we were his by sale so we were his in a manner by right of war For he set upon us and overcame us not so much by valour as by stratagem by his wiles and devices as S. Paul calleth them For not onely the Sword but those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Polybius speaketh deceits and thefts of war work out a way to victory And he that faileth in the battel is as truly a captive when art and cunning as when force and violence maketh him bow the knee and yield This our enemy setteth upon a soul as a soul with forces proportioned to a soul which cannot be taken by force no though he were ten times more a Lion more roaring then he is He hath indeed rectas manus some blows he giveth directly striking at our very face And he hath aversas tectásque others he giveth cunningly and in secret But when we see the wounds and ulcers which he maketh we cannot be ignorant whose hand it is that smote us He is that great invisible Sophister of the world saith Basil He mingleth himself with our humour and inclination and so casteth a mist before us and cloudeth our understanding that we may be willing to lay hold of Falshood for Truth of Evil for Good and by a kind of legerdemain he maketh Vertue it self promote sin and Truth errour And as there so in his wiles and enterprises ipsa fallacia delectat we are willing to be deceived and taken because the sleights themselves are delightful to us The Devil's Temptations are in this like his Oracles full of ambiguities And as Demosthenes said of Apollo's Oracle that it did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak too much to the desire and mind of Philip so do these flatter each humour and inclination in us and at last persuade us that that which we would have true is true indeed And thus do we give up all into the Enemies hands and are taken captive and brought under the yoke sub reatu peccati under the guilt of sin which as a poisoned dart sticketh in our sides and galleth and troubleth us wheresoever we go I canâ—ot better call a bad conscience then flagellum Diaboli the Devil's whip with which he tormenteth his captives and maketh large furrows in their soul As the Roman lords did over their slaves in terga cervices saevire imprint marks and characters and as the Comedian speaketh letters on their backs so doth this laniatus ictus wounds and swellings and ulcers He is not so much a slave that is chained to an oar as he that liveth under a bad conscience Now empti estis From this slavery we are redeemed by Christ For being justified by faith we have peace with God and the noise of the whip is heard no more Next we were sub dominio peccati we were under the power and dominion of Sin so that it was a Tyrant and reigned in us If it did say Go we did go even in slippery places and dangerous precipices upon the point of the sword and death it self Like that evil spirit in the Gospel it rendeth and teareth us
world then a learned fool So the Church of Christ and Religion never suffered more then from carnal men who are thus Spirit-wise For by acknowledging the Spirit they gain a glorious pretence to work all wickedness and that with greediness which whilest others doubt of though their errour be dangerous and fatal yet parciùs insaniunt they cannot be so outragiously mad But yet it doth not follow because some men mistake the Spirit and abuse him that no man is taught by the holy Ghost The mad Athenian took every ship that came into the harbour to be his but it doth not follow hence that no wise and sober merchant knew his own To him that is drunk things appear in a double shape and proportion geminae Thebae gemini soles two cities for one and two Suns for one Can I hence conclude that all sober men are blind Because I will not learn doth not the Spirit therefore teach And if some men take Dreams for Revelations must the holy Ghost needs loose his office This were to run upon the fallacy non-causae pro causâ to deny an unquestionable and fundamental truth for an inconvenience to dig up the Foundation because men build hay and stubble upon it or because some men have sore eyes to pluck the Sun out of his sphere This were to dispossess us of one evil Spirit and leave us naked to be invaded by a Legion To make this yet a little plainer We confess the operations of the Spirit are in their own nature difficult and obscure and as Scotus observeth upon the Prologue to the Sentences because they are quite of another condition then any thought or working in us whatsoever imperceptibiles not to be suddenly perceived no not by that soul in which they are wrought In which speech of his doubtless if we weigh it with charity and moderation and not extremity of rigour there is much truth Seneca telleth us Quaedam animalia cùm mordent non sentiuntur adeò tenuis illis fallens in periculum vis est The deadly bitings of some creatures are not felt so secret and subtle a force they have to endanger a man So on the contrary the Spirit 's enlightning us and working life in our hearts can at first by no means be described so admirable and curious a force it hath in our illumination Non deprehendes quemadmodum aut quando tibi profuit profuisse deprehendes That it hath wrought you shall find but the secret and retired passages by which it wrought are impossible to be reduced to demonstration We read that Mark Antony when with his Oration he shewed unto the people the wounded coat wherein Caesar was slain populum Romanum egit in furorem he made the people almost mad So the power of the Spirit as it seemeth wrought the like affection in the people who when they had heard the Apostles set forth the passion of Christ Acts 2. and lay his wounds open before their eyes were wrapt as it were in a religious fury and in it suddenly cryed out Men and brethren what shall we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Text They were stung and as it were nettled in their hearts Now this could not be a thing done by chance or by any artificial energy and force in the Apostles speech this I say could not be For if we observe it Christ was slain amongst them and what was that to them or why should this hazard them more then the death of many other Prophets and holy men who through the violence of their Rulers had lost their lives And what necessity what coactive reason was there to make them believe that He was to save and redeem them who not long since had cruelly crucified him Dic Quintiliane colorem What art was there what strong bewitching power that should drive the people into such an ecstasie Or what could this be else but the effect of the operation of the holy Spirit which evermore leaveth the like impressions on those hearts on which he pleaseth to fasten the words of the wise Eccl. 12.11 which are like unto goads quae cum ictu quodam sentimus saith Seneca we hear them with a kind of smart as Pericles the Oratour is reproved to have spoken so that he left a sting behind in the minds of his Auditory And this putteth a difference betwixt natural and supernatural and spiritual Truths We see in natural Truths either the evidence and strength of Truth or the wit and subtilty of conceit or the quaintness of method and art may sometimes force our Understanding and lead captive our Affections but in sacred and Divine Truths such as is the knowledge of the Dominion and Kingdom of Christ the light of Reason is too dimme nor could it ever demonstrate this conclusion Jesus is the Lord which the brightest eye that ever the world had could of it self never see Besides the art by which it was delivered was nothing else but plainness and by S. Paul himself the worthiest Preacher it ever had except the Son of God himself it is called the foolishness of preaching But as it is observed that God in his works of wonder and his miracles brought his effects to purpose by means almost contrary to them so many times in his persuasions of men he draweth from them their assent against all rule and prescript of art and that where he pleaseth so powerfully that they who receive the impressions seem to think deliberation which in other cases is wisdom in this to be impiety But you will say perhaps that the holy Ghost was a Teacher in the Apostles times when S. Paul delivered this Christian axiom this principle this sum of Christianity when the Church was in sulco semine when the seeds of this Religion were first sown that then he did wonderfully water this plant that it might grow and increase But doth he still keep open School doth he still descend to teach and instruct us on whom the ends of the world are come Yes certainly he doth For if he did not teach us we could not vex him if he did not work in us we could not resist him if he did not speak unto us we could not lie unto him He is the God of all spirits to this day And uncti Christians we are And an anointment we have saith S. John and whilest this abideth in us we need not that any man teach us for this unction this discipline this Divine grace is sufficient And though this oyntment flow not so plenteously now as of old yet we have it and it distilleth from the Head to the skirts of the garment to the meanest member of the Church Though we be no Apostles yet we are Christians and the same Spirit teacheth both And by his light we avoid all by-paths of errour that are dangerous and discern though not all Truth yet all that is necessary They had an Ephah we an Hin yet our Hin is a measure
us be sure to keep our condition and God will make good his promise It is not our great care for them our early rising or late sitting up our sweating and thronging and bustling in the world that bringeth them in Christ's method certainly is the best nor can Wisdom it self erre The best and surest way to have these things is not to seek them not too earnestly to ask them For when our Saviour telleth us all these things shall be cast in upon us he chalketh out unto us the true way to make our selves possessours of them and in effect telleth us that if we ask as Solomon did we shall be rewarded as Solomon was When God 1 Kings 3. had said to Solomon Ask what I shall give thee and Solomon had asked onely an understanding heart to discern between good and evil Because saith God thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked for thy self long life or the life of thy enemies lo I have done according to thy words Thou hast thy desire But I will do more then this and give thee that which thou askedst not even riches and honour so that among the Kings there shall be none like unto thee all thy dayes Here then is the true method though little followed in the world of prevailing with God for temporal blessings As when Jacob had got him Leah and Rachel to be his wives Laban gave him Zilpah and Bilhah as handmaids to wait on them a gift which Jacob never requested so doth God give some blessings like to Leah and Rachel principal and excellent blessings some he addeth like Zilpah and Bilhah earthly blessings of an inferiour and baser nature as handmaids and attendants on the former If we sue unto him for the former for Leah and Rachel the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness he will give us the later Zilpah and Bilhah these earthly things these handmaids and servants to Piety though we never ask them I know it is a hard matter to persuade the world of the truth of this doctrine For what is Righteousness to the world Is it not as an art teaching not to be rich not to be great not to thrive in proportion to the rest of the world As S. Peter telleth us there would come mockers who should ask Where are the promises of his coming and Do not all things continue alike since the creation so there may be who will ask Where is this promise of adding these things made good to the righteous Is it not with them as it is with other men nay is it not worse with them then with any men Is any man poor and are not they poor Is any man weak and are not they weak Is any persecuted and are not they persecuted Are they not spoiled every day of these things and are they not spoiled because they are righteous We must then remove some errours which are like motes in the eyes of common Christians that they cannot see God's hand open and pouring down blessings even these things upon them 1. We are too prone to mistake the nature and quality of God's promises When he telleth us he will adde these things we presently conceive that he will come down unto us in a showre of gold that he will open the windows of heaven and fill our garners that he is obliged by this promise to exempt us from common casualties to alter the course of things for our sakes and when Poverty cometh towards us as an armed man to fight against it and tread it down under our feet when common calamities overflow as an inundation to provide for us an Ark as he did for Noah to flote in till the waters abate But the promise of God giveth us no ground thus far to presume Nor is there any way of avoiding common casualties but by preparing our selves to bear our part As the sword devoureth so poverty seizeth on one as well as an other Nor is it any new thing in the world to see that Lazar at the rich man's door who within a while shall be in Abraham's bosom Psal 34.19 Many are the troubles of the righteous but the Lord shall deliver him out of all This comfort the righteous have above all the world beside that in all general deluges of Famine Captivity Pestilence God doth extraordinarily take care of those which are his and that in such a manner as the world useth not to do When his own people were led into captivity the Psalmist telleth us Psal 106.46 that he gave them grace and favour in the eyes of their enemies and made all those who had led them away captive to pity them which was to make them mighty and victorious in their chains When the Goth had taken Rome he gave security by publick proclamation to all those who fled into the Temples of the blessed Apostles and made it death for any man to molest them In which example S. Augustine justly triumpheth and challengeth all the ethnick Antiquity of the world beside to shew where ever it was heard that the Temples of the Gods did give security to those who fled unto them And then he maketh it evident that all the distress and infelicity which befel the city of Rome at the time of sacking it was but out of the common casualties and custome of war but all the graces and mercies by which men found refuge and security came onely for righteousness sake and through the power of the name of Christ In these common miseries therefore which befal Cities and Common-wealths we may easily read not so much this edict of the Goth as the proclamation of God himself Touch not mine anointed Psal 105.15 and do my prophets no harm God can make good his promise when it seemeth to be broken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can find out means when all mens inventions fail He doth more then we can challenge when he seemeth to do less then he doth promise and sometimes secretly but alwayes most certainly is as good as his word 2. Many times this promise is made good unto the righteous when yet his present misery weakeneth his faith so and so dulleth its eye that he perceiveth it not For as the Jews would not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 receive Christ because he came not in that pomp and state in which they expected their Messias so if God come not home to our desires we are ready to think that his hand is shortned or that he hath withdrawn himself Whereas we ought to consider that be it little or much that he affordeth us it is sufficient to make good his promise For that a righteous man thriveth at all that he hath any footing in the world is meerly from God and not the will of the world For the righteous man like Scaeva must stand up against a whole host He hath the Prince of this world and all that is in the world for his enemy And if God should permit them once to their proper
welcome Come ye Blessed children of my Father receive the kingdome and Blessedness which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world The Five and Thirtieth SERMON COLOS. III. 1. If then you be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God THe Resurrection of the dead is the prop and stay the very life and soul of a Christian Illam credentes sumus saith Tertullian By believing this we have our being and are that which we are and without this it were better for us not to be If there be no resurrection of the dead saith the Apostle then are we of all men most miserable Now much better were it for us not to be at all then to be miserable For let us take a general survay not as Solomon doth in the book of the Preacher of all the pleasures in the world but of all the virtues of a Christian onely deny the Resurrection of the dead and what are they else but extreme vanity and vexation of the spirit To cleanse our hearts and wash our hands in innocency to hold a strict watch over all our ways to deny unto our selves the joyes and pleasures of the world to pine our bodies with fasting to bestow our hours on devotion our goods on the poor and our bodies on the fire this and whatsoever else is so full of terrour to the outward man and so full of irksomness to the flesh what may it seem to be but a kind of madness if when this little span of our life be measured out there remain no crown no reward of it if after so many strivings with our selves so many agonies so many crucifyings of our selves so many pantings for life we must in the end breath out our last But beloved Christ is risen and our faith in his Resurrection is an infallible demonstration and a most certain pledge to us that we shall rise as he hath done Of which that we may the better assure our selves we must observe that as S. Paul tells us As we have born the image of the earthy so must we bear the image of the heavenly so on the contrary we must make an account that as we hope to bear the image of the heavenly so must we first bear the image of the earthy and if we will bear a part in the resurrection to glory which is a heavenly resurrection we must have our part in a resurrection to grace which is a resurrection here on earth S. John distinguishes for me in his Revelation Ch. 20.5.6 Blessed is he that hath his part in the first resurrection And he that hath none there shall bear at all no part in the second resurrection As it is with us in nature at the end of our dayes there is a death and after that a resurrection so is it with us in grace yet the days of sin can have an end in us there is a death For the Apostle tells us we are dead to sin and we are buried with him in Baptisme Then after this death to sin cometh the resurrection to newness of life Mors perire est resurgere restingui nisi mors mortem resurrectio resurrectionem antecedat To die is quite to perish to rise again worse then to have lien for ever rotting in the grave if this first death go not before a second death and this first resurrection before the second Secondly as in our life time we die and rise again with Christ so do we likewise in a manner ascend with him into heaven For to seek those things which are above is a kind of flight and ascension of the Soul into heavenly places And as God commanded Moses before he died to ascend up into the mountain Deut. 32.49 to see a far off and discover that good land which he had promised to the Jews So it it his pleasure that through holy conversation and newness of life we should raise our selves far above the rest of the world and in this life time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzene speaks as it were from an exceeding high mountain discover and have some sight of that good land and of those good things which God hath laid up for those which are his Hebr. 6. So by the Apostle our regeneration and amendment of life that is our first resurrection is called a taste of the good spirit and word of God a relish and taste of the powers of the world to come Now of this first Resurrection doth our blessed Apostle speak in these words which I have read unto you If you be risen with Christ seek those things which are above Which speech though it go with an If and therefore seems to be conditional yet if we look neerer into it we shall find that indeed it is a peremptory and absolute command in effect as if he had said Rise with Christ and seek the things which are above Acts 12. And as the Angel said to Peter being in prison Arise up quickly at which words the chains fell off from Peters hands so God by his blessed Apostle comes to us who are in a stricter prison and commands us in the first words Arise quickly and in the next seek the things which are above and so makes as it were the chains fall off our hands and delivers us out of prison into the glorious liberty of the Saints of God For the things of this world and our love unto them are fetters to our feet and manacles to our hands holding us down groveling on the earth And except these chains fall off we can never Arise and follow the Angel as Peter did When Elias in a whirlwind went up to heaven the text tells us that his mantle fell from him And he that will go up into heaven with Elias 2 Kings 2. and seek the things that are above cannot go with his cloke thither he must be content to leave his mantle below forgo all things that are beneath and as S. Hierome speaks nudam crucem nudus sequi follow the naked cross naked and stript from all the glory and pomp of the world Now this part of Scripture which I have read is a part of the practice of our spiritual Logick for it teacheth us to frame an argument or reason by which we may conclude unto our selves that our first resurrection is past For if we seek the things which are above then are we risen with Christ if not we are in our graves still our souls are putrified and corrupt And again If we be risen with Christ then as Christ at his resurrection left in his grave the cloths wherein he was buried so these things of the world in which we lye as it were dead and buried at our resurrection to newness of life we must leave unto the world which was the grave in which we lay As it is in arched buildings all the stones do enterchangeably and mutually rest upon and hold
prince of this world above every high thing that exalteth it self against Christ and the knowledge of God He is not partiarius divinae sententiae a divider with God and the World in one part from the heaven heavenly and in the other part from the earth earthy but he is awake and alive and active in the performance of every good duty His obedience is universal and equal like unto a Circle and consists in an equality of life in every respect answering to the rule the command of God as a Circle doth in every part equally look upon the Point or Center And being thus qualified we may say of him as the Disciples did of Christ SVRREXIT VERE Luke 24.34 He is risen indeed Thus then you see our Regeneration is here expressed by our rising with Christ We might afford you many other resemblances but we must hasten But here some man may say How are the dead raised and by what power do their souls come to this state of life I will not say with the Apostle Thou fool But certainly there is no man so weak in faith but must confess that he that raiseth our vile bodies must also raise our vile and unclean souls he that calleth us from the dust of the grave must also call us from the death of sin he that changes our bodies must renew our minds In our corporal resurrection and in our spiritual resurrection God is all in all But yet the Soul doth not rise again as the Body which is dust and near to nothing but as a soul which hath an Understanding though darkned and a Will though perverted and Affections though disordered And as we pray Turn us so vve promise that vve vvill turn unto the Lord. He purgeth us and vve clense our selves He breaks our hearts and vve plow them up We are told that he createth a new heart in us and vve are exhorted to be renewed in our minds But solus Deus for all this God doth all For this New creature springeth up indeed out of the earth and groweth up and flourisheth illapsa maturantis gratia by the influence of Gods maturing and ripening grace vvhich drops upon our hearts as the rain and distills as the dew upon the tender herb Take if you please S. Bernards determination and it is this This our rising saith he is from God and from Man from Gods grace and from Mans will but not so as if these two were coordinate but subordinate Grace and our Will do not share the work between them sed totum singula peragunt but each of them perform the whole work Grace doth it wholly and our Will wholly God doth save us and vve vvork out our salvation sed ut totum in illo sic totum ex ipso but so that it is vvrought by the Will of man so is mans Will vvholly enabled thereunto by the Grace of God vvhich determineth the vvill if not physically at least morally And this may satisfie any but those qui vinci possunt persuaderi non possunt vvho may be overcome vvith the force of truth but not persuaded We may ask the question How we are raised Divines may dispute and determine at pleasure But it vvould be a more profitable question to ask our selves Whether we are willing to be raised Whether when God calls us and the Angel is ready to roll away the stone when his countenance shines upon us and when all lets and impediments are removed we had not rather still rot in our graves then be up and walking We may ask with the woman that went to the sepulchre Who shall roll away the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre but we must ask and examine our selves also Whether we are well content it should be removed and not rather defer our rising in hope that a time will come when we shall be pluckt out of our graves whether we will or no and vainly think that we had not lain so long in the dust had God been willing to raise us This is not to magnifie the Grace of God but to turn it as S. Jude speaks into wantonness v. 4. and in a manner to charge God with our death as if he were well pleased to see us in the grave who calleth on us and commands us to come out and threatens a worse place if we make not haste to come out To attribute good by our Rising to God is our duty and we deserve not his grace if we will not acknowledge it but to attribute our not Rising to him is a sin and a sin which we must rise from or we shall never rise Hos 13.14 Wherefore as he says I will ransome thee from the power of the grave I will redeem thee from death so he says also by the Prophet Esay and the Apostle repeats it Ephes 5. Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give the light That this our Conversion or our Rising with Christ must be like Christ's Resurrection early and without delay The Apostle's word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye are risen with Christ This manner of speech which the Apostle uses is a most effectual persuasion In civil business we have a rule Fides habita saepe obligat fidem It is a good means to make one an honest man to pretend that we take him to be a very honest man and deal with him as if indeed he were so For shame to fail of that expectation which goes of a man many times makes him do better then he would With this art doth S. Paul deal with his Colossians and by pretending that he supposeth them to be already risen he doth most effectually persuade them to rise For they cannot rise too soon they cannot rise soon enough For it is not here as it is in other affairs It is a property of things belonging to the world not to be seasonable but at certain times and there is nothing which doth so much commend our actions as the choice of fit times and seasons in which they are done Therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intempestivenes and to be ignorant of times and occasions fitting every business is counted amongst men a great vice and imperfection For the World is like a Theatre in which all things cannot come at once upon the stage and every thing hath but its part its proper scene and time of action It is with the things of this world as with harps and other curious instruments of musick which are put out of order with every change of weather So the alteration of every circumstance brings them out of tune But the things of God are of another nature As himself is such are they alwayes the same Pietas omnium horarum res est omnium aetatum The practice of Godliness is at all times seasonable That precept of S. Paul Be instant in season and out of season concerns not onely the Preacher of the word but also every person that
time of age it was best for men to marry it was answered That for old men it was too late and for young men too soon This was but a merry reply But the truth is many of our civil businesses whensoever they are done are either done too soon or too late for they are seldome done without some inconvenience But this our Rising may peradventure be too late for old men but it can never be too timely for the young It is a lesson in Husbandry Serere nè metuas Be not afraid to sow your seed when the time comes delay it not And it is a good lesson in Divinity Vivere nè metuas Be not afraid to live You cannot be alive too soon Vult non vult He wills and he wills not is the character of a Sluggard which would rise and yet loves his grave would see the light and yet loveth darkness better then light like the twin Gen. 38. puts forth his hand and then draws it back again doth make a shew of lifting up himself and sinks back again into his sepulchre Awake then from this sleep early and stand up from the dead at the first sound of the trump at the first call of grace But if any have let pass the first opportunity let him bewail his great unhappiness that he hath stayed longer in this place of horrour in these borders of hell then he should and as travellers which set out late moram celeritate compensare recompense and redeem his negligence by making greater speed And now we should pass to our last consideration That the manifestation of this our Conversion and Rising consists in the seeking of those things which are above But the time is welnear spent and the present occasion calls upon me to shorten my Discourse For conclusion Let me but remember you that this our Rising must have its manifestation and as S. James calls upon us to shew our faith by our works so must we shew and manifest our Resurrection by our seeking those things which are above It is not enough with S. Paul to rise into the third heaven but we must rise and ascend with Christ above all heavens Nor can we conceal our Resurrection and steal out of our graves but as Christ arose and was seen 1 Cor. 15. as S. Paul speaks of above five hundred brethren at once and as S. Luke having told us of Christ The Lord is risen presently adds and hath appeared unto Simon so there must be after our Resurrection an Apparuit we must appear unto our brethren appear in our Charity forgiving them in our Patience forbearing in our Holiness of life instructing them in our Hatred of the world and our Love of those things which are above Indeed some mens rising is but an apparition a phantasme a shadow a visour and no more But this hinders not us when we are risen but we may make our appearance nor must the Pharisee fright away the Christian Quaedam videntur non sunt Many things appear to be that which indeed they are not But this action cannot be if it do not appear If there be no apparition there is no Resurrection It is natural to us when we rise to shâ—w our selves If we rise to honour Acts 25. you may see us in the streets like Agrippa and Bernice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with great pomp If we rise in our Estates for that is the Worldlings Resurrection and not to rise thus with him is indeed to be dead you may see it in the next purchase If we rise and increase in knowledge which is a rising from the grave of Ignorance then scire meum nihil est we are even sick till we vent knowledge is nothing it the world cry us not up for men of knowledge And shall we be so ready to publish that which the world looks upon with an evil eye and conceal that from mens eyes which onely is worth the sight and by beholding of which even evil-doers may glorifie God in the day of visitation Shall Dives appear in his purple and Herod in his royal apparel and every scribler be in print and do we think that rising from sin is an action so low that it may be done in a corner that we may rise up and never go abroad to be seen in albis in our Easter-day-apparel in the white garment of Innocency and Newness of life never make any shew of the riches and glory of the Gospel have all our Goodness locked up in archivis in secret nothing set forth and publisht to the world What is this but to conceal nay to bury our Resurrection it self Nay rather since we are risen with Christ let us be seen in our march accoutred with the whole armour of God Ephes 2. â—0 Let us be full of those good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them for by these we appear to be risen and they make us shine as stars in the firmament We may pretend perhaps that God is the searcher and seer of the heart Well he is so sed tamen luceat opera saith the Father yet let thy light shine forth make thy apparition For as God looketh down into thy heart so will thy good works ascend and come before him and he hath pleasure in them Lift up your hearts They are the words we use before the Administration and you answer We lift them up unto the Lord. Let it appear that you do And therefore as you lift up your hearts so lift up your hands also Lift up pure and clean hands such hands as may be known for the hands of men risen from the dead Let us now begin to be that which we hope to be spiritual bodies that the Body being subdued to the Spirit we may rise with Christ here to newness of life which is our first Resurrection and when he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead we may have our second Resurrection to glory in that place of bliss where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God To which he bring us who is our Resurrection and Life even Jesus Christ the righteous who died for our sins and rose again for our justification To whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory for evermore The Six and Thirtieth SERMON PHILIPP I. 23. For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Or For I am greatly in doubt on both sides desiring to be loosed and to be with Christ which is best of all WE may here behold our blessed Apostle S. Paul as it were between heaven and earth doubtfully contemplating the happiness which his Death and the profit which his Life may bring perplexed and labouring between both and yet concluding for neither side To be with Christ is best for him to remain on earth is best for the Philippians
his gate his tardity and slowness of speech And when he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man collected in himself and much given to meditation they affecting the like deportment fell into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sad kind of melancholy and stupidity These defects many times overtake us because we look upon the person and never consider the Rule How many are Sarahs but to tell a lye Rebekahs but to deceive Davids but to revenge or worse Therefore St. Augustine speaking of the sin of David in the matter of Uriah observeth that many upon the reading of that story did aedificare in ruinam build their fall upon David's fall and framed unto themselves this reason Si David cur non ego If David did thus then why not I And as we erre in taking the Saints vices to be vertues so do we many times grosly mistake those graces which do most commend them Multos saepe fallunt quae similia sunt saith Hilarie Those things which are like one another do oft deceive us Multa quae tarditatis ignaviae sunt gravitati consilio tribuuntur That which was Gravity in the copy is but Sloth and Dulness in the transcript That which was Zele in Phinehas is Madness in another That which would have been Obedience in Abraham would be cruel Murther in any man else That may be Gravity in the Saint which is Stupidity and Senslesness in me Hope when transcribed by imitation may be Presumption Bounty Prodigality Peaceableness want of Courage Devotion Superstition The Orator faith well Multa fiunt eadem sed aliter Many do the same things but not after the same manner A thief fighteth stoutly but we call him not Valiant A bad servant complaineth not under the whip but we commend not his Patience A traiterous Jesuite may smile perhaps at the very ridge of the gallows but we do not call it Martyrdom How soon is the complexion of a good duty changed and altered How fair is it in one and what deformity hath it in another It is gold here and anon it is but a counter at one time sealed with an Expedit approved as very expedient at another checked with a Non licet forbid as altogether unlawful To draw towards a conclusion There are some duties which are local Not the same Ceremonies at Eugubium as at Rome There are duties fitted to the times Not the same Discipline in the Church in the time of peace and in the time of persecution Not the same face of the Church now that was in the Apostles time now were it fit that in all things it should be drawn like to that Lastly there be personal and occasional duties which in some persons and upon some occasions are praise-worthy but in others deserve no other reward but Death The command is Thou shalt not kill Samson killed himself but every man is not a Samson hath not Samson's spirit Phinehas with his spear slayeth the adulterous couple but every man is not a Phinehas nor hath Phinehas's Commission S. Basil's rule is most certain Where we find a contradiction between the Work and the Precept when we read a fact commended which falleth cross with the command we must leave the fact and adhere to the precept David was a good man but no Apology for adultery Solomon a wise man but no pretence for Idolatry S. Peter was a Rock but we may dash upon this Rock and shipwreck and if we follow him in all his wayes we may chance to hear a serious check from Christ himself Get thee behind me Satan Be followers of Elijah but not to consume men with fire Be followers of Peter but not into the High Priest's hall to deny our Master Be followers of S. Paul and of all the blessed Saints of God but with S. Paul's Correction As they were of Christ Christ is the great Exemplar the supreme and infallible Pattern which all are to conform unto a perfect Copy for every one to imitate a principal standard Rule by which all other rules are to be examined and according to which all our lives ought to be squared and sitted Put ye on saith the Apostle Rom. 13.14 the Lord Jesus Christ Which is according to Chrysostom's exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so to be clothed with him from top to toe that nothing appear in us but that which is of Christ All our affections must be sutable unto his Let the same mind be in you Phil. 2.5 saith S. Paul which was in Christ In all our actions we must tread in his steps I have given you an example saith he that ye should do as I have done unto you Joh. 13.15 In all our sufferings we must take up our cross and follow him Heb. 12.1 2. and as it is we must run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus Yet we must not here conceive that we are bound to walk in an universal conformity unto Christ in all things For there were many actions of his which as they far exceed our natural abilities so they require not our imitation It is not safe for us to follow him on the Sea lest we sink with Peter nor into the Wilderness to invite the Tempter by a solitary retiredness We are as unable to fast forty dayes and forty nights as we are to feed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes We cannot command the Winds to be still nor Devils to come out nor drive away Diseases with a word or with a touch In brief we cannot follow Christ in the way of his Miracles They afford us matter of wonder not of imitation Neither secondly must we think to imitate him in his works of Merit Luk. 17.10 Do well we must and suffer ill we may But when we have done all we are still unprofitable servants And though we suffer never so much yet are the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Therefore in the third place Rom. 8.18 we must follow Christ only in the works of his ordinary Obedience And thus he was unto us a living Commentary on his own written Law or rather a living and breathing Law for us to live by He was subject to his Parents obedient to the Magistrate assiduous in his calling painful in preaching frequent in praying zealous of God's glory and ever obedient to his will He was in his life an exact patern of Innocence He went about doing good and there was no guile found in his mouth at his death of Patience When he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not in both and in all of Piety and Humility Beloved we may assure ourselves that we do and walk aright when we frame and fashion our lives according to this Rule when we express and represent the life of Christ in our conversation when we so walk even as he walked 1