Church and we grope as in darkness and follow meteors and illusions and false lights That we should read of Joseph's Chastity and be caught with every smile of Mose's Meekness and storm at every breath that crosseth us of Job's Patience and when calamity is but in the approch roar as upon a rack of Paul's Beating down his body and pamper ours of Paul's Keeping a good conscience and lay down ours at every beck That we should read of the acts of so many Saints and do contrary and yet hope to be as good Saints as they That we should do the works of the Father of lyes and yet call him our Father who is the Good of Truth Beloved if we look upon the command we shall find that every man should be a Joseph a Moses a Job a Paul For it looketh alike upon all The same Law bindeth us the same reward inviteth us the same promises allure us the same heaven openeth to receive us if we obey Our God is the same and we are the same and heaven is the same Our great mistake is that we conceive that a demensum a certain measure of saving and sanctifying grace is given to every man and so no man can be better then he is that God hath set a bound to Piety as he hath done to the Sea Hitherto it shall go and no further Hereupon we lye down and comfort our selves and turn the grace of God into wantonness as if it were our duty not to be the best and God would take it ill at our hands if we were as good as S. Paul Be not deceived We are called here to follow S. Paul not as Peter did Christ a far off but to come up close to him as near as we can in all holiness and righteousness to stretch our endeavours to the farthest and with him to press on towards the mark We may come too short it is impossible we should exceed For though there be degrees of Holiness and the Saints as the Stars differ from each other in glory yet his light will soon be put out that maketh it not his ambition to be one of the greatest magnitude If we come short God will accept us but not if we fall short because we thought it as needless as troublesom to mend our pace consulting with flesh and bloud which soon concludeth It is enough and will teach us to ask our selves that unprofitable question What should we be as good as S. Paul Fear not It is no presumption to follow Paul in all the wayes of holiness it is no presumption to exceed him Not to follow him and expect the same crown is great presumption But to strive to follow him to the highest pitch is that holy Ambition which will fit our heads for a diadem And it was his wish whilst he was on earth that every man were as he was except his bonds To conclude then 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 in any Saint let us think on these things Let us chew and digest and turn them into good bloud let us shape and fashion them in our hearts till they break forth into the like actions that we acting the Saints and following them here on earth may with them follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth that our good works by which we resemble them whilest we live may follow us when we are dead and make us like unto the Angels of heaven blessed as they are and blessing God for evermore But so it is Good examples glitter in our eyes and we look up and gaze upon them as little children do upon a piece of gold which they are ready to exchange for a counter We are swift enough to follow the Saints of God in their errours and deviations but are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ill expressers of their piety and religion And there is as great danger in their examples where they betray themselves to be men as there is profit where they are led by the Spirit of God Therefore S Paul putteth in a Caution commendeth Imitation but limiteth it exhorteth the Corinthians to follow him but withall restraineth them with a SICUT Be ye followers of me but even as I also am of Christ My last Part Of which briefly Those things which degenerate are so much the worse by how much the more useful they had been if they had been levelled by the rule Therefore in Imitation besides the Persons we must also consider What it is we must imitate in them We must no farther follow them then they do the Rule Ut in pessimis aliquid optimi ita in optimis aliquid pessimi saith St. Hierom. The best men are not priviledged from sin and errour And as in the most men there is some good thing though clouded with much corruption so in the best Saints of God there may be something amiss though scarcely seen because of the splendor of those many vertues with which it is incompassed For as many vices do darken one single vertue so many vertues may cast a colour upon some one sin and errour and make it in appearance fair and beautiful even like unto them and commend it to our imitation Here then is need of a SICUT of a Caution and Limitation For proclivis malorum imitatio Men are too prone to follow that which is evil especially where the person by his other better endowments not onely palliateth but addeth authority to his fault or errour Examples of famous men are like unto two-edged swords which cut deep both wayes both for the good and for the bad Against good examples we too oft hold up some buckler of defence that they may not reach us but evil examples we receive toto corpore with an open body and with a willing mind and are well pleased they should wound us unto death The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many times of good men those actions which fall from them by chance or inadvertency we are more ready to take out then their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the works which made them famous to all the world and canonized them for Saints Saepe vitium pro exemplo est If there be any thing irregular in them that we set up for a patern and example Tully telleth us of Fusius that he fell short of those sinews and strength of eloquence which was in Caius Fimbria and atteined nothing but a bad gesture and the distortion of his countenance And Quintilian observeth that there were many in his time who thought they had gained a Kingdom in Eloquence if they shut up every period and clause with esse videatur But that is most remarkable which Gregory Nazianzene relateth of divers who were admirers of Basil that they did imitate in their behaviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his corporal defects and blemishes his paleness
Our Sins were they that crucified Christ 29. The Gospel is the sharpest curb of Sin 1065. Of Speculative Sins and Sinners 172. Sincerity necessary in all our actions 369. Slavery None comparable to that under Satan and Sin 740 741. v. Redemtion Sluggards awakened 220. Sobriety to be observed in our diet and Modestie in our attire 639. 1101 1102. Socrates how jeered by Aristophanes 372. Solitary Whether the solitary Retiredness of Monks be as they count it Perfection 1089. Solomon how painted 1069. Of his ECCLESIASTES 534. SON The Son of all the three Persons fittest to be our Mediatour 4. 13. God hath four sorts of Sons 4. Sophocles reproched Euripides 372. He thanked his Old age for freeing him from Lust 593. Sorrow good and bad 338. Worldly S. worketh death 564. Sometimes it ushereth-in Repentance and Comfort 564. Soul v. Body The Soul should be set on heavenly not earthly things 646 c. The Scripture commandeth so 646. The Soul is too noble to mind the earth 647. Nothing below proportionable to it nothing satisfactory 648 c. Every man ought to take care of his brother's Soul 576. The Soul is far more excellent then the Body and therefore chiefly to be cared for 886. Its riches and ornament what 78 79. It s original hard to know 94. Souldiers What S. should do what not 920 Speach The manner of ouâ— Speach varieth with our mind 385. Out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh 976. Many speak fair and mean foul 764 c. It is a shame to pretend Religion and to be ashamed to speak out 981 982. v. Confess Spirit That the SPIRIT worketh is evident but the manner of his working cannot be discerned 315. Some presume the Sp. teacheth them immediately without yea against the Word 683 684. What it is to Glorifie God in the Sp. 744. 748. A pretense of the Sp. and a pretended Zele the two grand impostures of the world 528. Many laying claim to the S. we are to try them by the Scripture 527 529. v. H. Ghost Spirits cannot be defiled by intermingling with bodies 166. The fight between the Spirit and the Flesh described 159. 312. 632. 707. Spiritual things far transcend temporal 884 c. 887 895. Stimula a Goddess among the Romans 341. Stoicks condemned for choosing Death rather then Miserie 1011. Strangers We all are but Strangers on earth 530 c. The Word of God is our best supply in this condition 531. That we are S. here proved by Scripture 536. and by reason drawn from the Insufficiency of all things here to satisfie Man's mind 537. Yet few believe the point 538 539. Our Enemies in this our Pilgrimage 539. Our provision and our defense 540. How we should behave our selves as S. 540. We ought to look on all things in the world with the suspicious and jealous ey of a Stranger 541. Strength Attempt nothing above thy Strength 249. 250. Student The Student's calling not so easy as other men think 223. SUB the Preposition much descanted upon 637 c. Subjection we like not but must yield it 637 c. Subordination necessary in Bodies natural Civile Ecclesiastical 640. Success many make an argument to prove themselves and their wayes good 684. But good or ill Success is not an argument of God's love or dislike 712. Sudden surprisalls what effect they have upon us 254. Sufferings for Christ's sake most comfortable 568. Suffering for Righteousness is the highest pitch of a Christian 695. One may suffer for one virtue neglect the rest 704 c. One may suffer for Pleasure for Profit for Humour for Fear for Honour and yet be no Martyr 705 706. v. Martyrdom What shall he do who having not yet repented of his grievous sins must either suffer present death or deny the Truth he believeth 707 c. Superiours v. Obedience Superstition what 462. We must not cry it down in others and cherish it in our selves 462. Many for fear of S. shipwreck on Profaneness 982. But we must shun them both 758. Supper the LORD's Supper not absolutely necessary 81. not to be given to Infants nor to the Dead 81. How slight a preparation serveth many mens turn 81. It is ridiculously abused by the Papists and very grosly by others 449. 462. In this Sacrament we must look I. on the Authour Christ 450. and not be offended at the meanness either of the Minister or of the Elements 451. II. on the Command of Christ 451. which must be so observed as not to rest in the outward action 452. Motives to invite us to the Lord's S. 452. This holy Sacrament fitteth our present condition 452. The manifold and great benefits we receive by it 453. 473. 490. 493. 495. The heavenly joy it putteth into our hearts 453 It is necessary for us to come and that often to the Lord's Table 454. How oft the primitive Christians did receive how oft we should now 454 455. Excuses for not communicating removed 456. He that loveth his sin and will live in it sinneth if he come and sinneth if he come not 456. Every Penitent is a fit Communicant 456. and so is every true Believer 456. Not onely great Proficients but even Beginners in Christ's School whatever some say to the contrary may yea ought to come to the holy Table 458. A conceit of our own Infirmity should not keep us away 456-459 463. Neither should a conceit of the high Dignity of the Sacrament do it 459 c. 476. They who abstein out of reverence seem to condemn them that are more forward 461. and their refraining may keep others away 462. How we ought to remember Christ at his Table 463 c. 473 c. Then especially is our Faith to be actuated 465. 475 489. Then we must examin and renew our Repentance 465. 476. 489. This Sacrament if received to a wrong end is not food nor physick but poison 467. Christ's Body and Bloud are not received corporally but spiritually 468. To receive Christ's flesh corporally would profit us nothing 468. Three manners of eating Christ's Body Sacramental Spiritual Sacramental Spiritual 473. We must come with Faith Hope Love Repentance Reverence 475 c. 489 Preparation necessary 478. 487. How negligently and inconsiderately many come to this Sacrament 479. 487. v. Examination What our Preparation should be 485 c. 834. This Sacrament is a feast of Love â—92 and none but they that are in Charity should come to it 490 c. 834. whether some should be set apart to examin others before admission to the Lord's Supper 494. With what reverence the antient Christians received 768. Wretched we if feeding so oft on Christ in the Sacram. we continue in our sins 813. Coming to the Lord's Table is a protestation of Faith and Repentance 769. 814. What kind of Protestants then are they who neither repent nor believe 814. We should at the H. Table be like unto men on their death-beds 814. Suspicion We
691. We must meditate on it 691. pray for it 692. and exercise practice it 693. What a foolish bargain they make who sell the T. 693 694. T. is invincible will prevail at last against all enemies 963. 966. 971 972. Why T. findeth so difficult enterteinment among men 973. Tullie Of his son 987. Of his murderer 1121. The act of that unthankful bloudy villain Popilius applied 602. Turks An odd practice they use when they are going to fuddle themselves 916. Turning is the best fullest word to express Repentance by 329. It includeth Knowledge of Sin 329. v. Repentance Tyrants v. Quiet Tyridates 583. U. UNbelief maketh men cowardly restless succourless 314. Understanding v. Will. It s proper office 337 It is either the best counseller or the worst 689. Unity and Union v. One Wicked men and Hereticks may unite and combine to disturb the peace of the Church 855 856. Unjust men are enemies to God and others but to themselves most 119 120. Unworthiness alledged by many for an excuse of their keeping away from the Lord's Supper 456 460 c. Urim and Thummim The Conscience resembled to it 330. 1037. V. VAin God and Nature make nothing in vain 786 787. Vain-glory largely described 1054. How greedily it is sought for by most 318. Valentinus 12. 65. His opinion of Ch. 8. 11. Valiant Audacious how they differ 1118. Vice is troublesome Virtue onely pleasant 113. View The Authour's View and Censure of the Court Camp Temple City Countrey Church Christendome 920. A Virgin what 282. Virginity and Matrimony laid in the balance together 1090. Perfection is not tied and married to Virginity 1090 1091. Virginity is afraid of nothing more then it self 1114. Virtue v. Sinners Virtues both private publick necessary 196. 197. 224. 667. Virtue not acquired without study and difficulty 205. 335. It is the main end Of Man and may be exercised in any estate 620. It s praise consisteth in action 630. 757. Morall Virtues without Godliness little worth 663. v. Heathen Many commend Virtue and commit Vice 690. No Virtue is truly a Virtue if alone and without the rest 831. Volusian 11. W. WAlk What it is to Walk in Christ 520 To Walk with God what 164. Four sorts of men who walk not with God 170 c. A Christian man's life is a Walk 512. 516. It supposeth Knowledge Power Will 516 c. v. Way Want is not want if we want not righteousness 903. The Godly still complain of their spiritual Wants 881 882. War and Contention how mis-beseeming Christians 60 61. War some wayes advantageous to a Common-wealth 564. Though War sometimes be lawful it is safest for some to think otherwise 618. Wars would cease if true Religion once took place 286. Wary most are in things of this life but careless of what concerneth the other 319 VVatchfulness what 257 258. It conteineth the whole duty of man 256. No enemy could be too hard for us if we vvere watchful 259 261 262. 608. That vve may be watchful we must learn to know both our selves 259. and also our enemies 260. VVe must set a watch over our Senses 264. our Thoughts 264. our Phansie 265. our Inclinations Desires 265 c. Rules to confirm us in our Watch 267 c. That we may watch we must pray that the Lord will watch over us 271. And having prayed we our selves must do our utmost endeavour 271 272. Wavering Against wavering in Religion 558. v Inconstancie Whether the Mind can be free from Wavering 678. Way The Way to heaven should be made neither wider nor narrower then it is 607. Many know the W. of life 517. and approve it 518. and think they walk in it and yet do nothing less 519. Weights and Measures by whom first found out 131. Whitmore Sir George Whitmores Encomium at his Funeral 544. Wicked None so Wicked but he desireth to seem good 991. v. Sin How VVickedness destroyeth even the principles of Goodness 688 689. It is a laborious distracting thing 927. VVicked men rejoyce in the sins and miseries of others 862 863. VVhat we are to think of God's protecting them 115. They are the fittest instruments to chastise God's people 299. v. God's people They cannot inferre from God's employing them thus that themselves are his servants 300. The consideration That God chooseth Wicked men for his executioners should make us wary not to provoke him 300. Will. The Will is free 260. She is Queen of the other Faculties 516 517. The W. may be free when the Power is limited 927. It is the beginning of good and evil 337 338. No man is good or evil against his W 584 585. The best might have been bad if he would and the worst good 586. Man's Will is the cause of Sin and Death and neither God nor the Devil 424 c. No man that hath sinned can say he willed it not 440. The W. finisheth sin but provoketh it not 260. The W. especially is turned in Repentance 336 337. The renouncing of our W. is the best holocaust 789. 790. If the W. turn the Understanding and all the other Faculties turn to their proper functions 337 338. When the W. is overlaid with Passions it cloudeth and blindeth the Understanding 959. 972 973. The W. Understanding both must be captivated 160 c. 633. There is variance often between them 662. Our W. should ever be the same with God's 305. To Will that which is good is more then to Approve 878 c. The W. passeth current with God when the Deed cannot be had 118. 149 150. 473. How God willeth what wicked men do 301. Wisdome v. GOD Knowledge Truth Be not wise in thine own conceit 160 c. 633. To be so is the greatest folly 501. The world still accounteth rich men wisest 534 535. The W. of the World how it befooleth men 904. They are not wise who are wise to do evil 131. 136. True W. is to be wise against our selves 867. Wit It s right use and its abuse 594. Woman sometimes signifieth Infirmity 971. Women of strong affections but weak understanding 393. Wonder v. Admiration Word Some Words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfit to be spoken 409. W. and Works must go together in a Christian 767 c. Good Works are our best expressions 766 c. The W. of God commended by many obeyed by few 970. slighted by Papists Libertines 1079 c. 1085. He that will not believe Christ's W. would not have believed his Works 970. The W. of God will not deceive us unless we deceive our selves first 524. The W. and Sacraments are highly to be honoured but not so as to be made the NON ULTRA of our worship 303. v. Hearing Works v. Word World God was not forced to make it nor is the better for it 404. Worldly things have no worth but what our opinion desires set upon them 32. 85. Yet with Christ they become something 32. v. CHRIST They serve both to support the outward man 896. to be weapons of Righteousness 897 898. God promiseth them to win our love to himself 899. What is the best course to get them 900. No true comfort to be found in the W. this shop of Vanity 948. Nothing in the W. no nor all of it can satisfie Man's heart 90 91. There is no proportion between any Worldly thing and the Soul 87. The W. cannot make one happy 619. nor rich 86. v. Riches He that doth most good receiveth least of this W. good is the most happy 619. With what ey we should look upon the W. 625. We should be jealous of every thing in it 541. All in this W. is deceitful 674. all vain transitory 887. v. Spiritual These things are nothing like when we have them to what they were before 888. There is great danger in seeking them 888 889. They are not to be loved 49. Love of the W. is a dangerous guide 653. 892 893. It seduceth more then all Hereticks Schismaticks 665. We cannot love the W. God both at once 509 510. 890 891. Who fittest to teach the Contempt of the W. 533 Many cry-out upon the World whose hearts are set upon it 533. The W. without us could not pollute us were it not for the W. within us 279 280. Worship Reason teacheth to set apart places for God's W. 581 582. 846. v. Church and to W. God with our bodies 756. 981. No Religion whether true or false can be without outward W. 757. Some Questions put to such as will not w. God with a bare Head and a bended Knee 757. Though inward Devotion be the chief yet outward W. must not be neglected 160-163 632-635 744 c. 755 c. 980 c. Why many are for outward W. few for inward spiritual 108 109. Outward W. when rested in is most odious to God 74 c. v. Formality Wrong He that wrongeth either God or his Neighbour wrongeth himself most 119. 125. maketh himself debtour to the wronged party 716. v. Injustice Z. Zele Our Z. should burn but with the oil of Mercy 155. v. Spirit We must be careful our Z. be rightly kindled 558 c. Speculative phantastick Z. how to be accounted of 528. Hereticks may be as Zelous as the Orthodox 679. Zeph. i. 7. 299. FINIS
and rage of Lust And what a benefit is this If it be a benefit it is such a one as himself sometimes spake of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gift no gift a gift as good as none at all For a better then Sophocles S. Basil will tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperance in old age is not temperance it is impotency Old men are not temperate but they can be no longer intemperate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very carcase that lieth rotten in the grave hath as fair a title to Temperance as they Would you be righteous indeed Health is the time For in sickness you have nothing left you but a will and that many times as saint and sickly as your selves if not dead within you At best if you have the habit of Virtue it is there more like a faculty and power then a habit and is no more in respect of action You are but as artificers when their shop is shut up as Apelles without a hand or pencil or as a Musician that is dumb But in health a good lesson may be a sword to enter and divide asunder the soul and spirit and it may evaporate and break forth and triumph in action be heard from your tongue and felt from your hand and shew it self in every motion as you walk When there is bloud in your veins and marrow in your bones when you are in health then is the best time to conquer sin by strength of reason Domitius Afer a famous Orator being now grown old and his strength and memory decayed would needs still come to the bar and plead and therefore it was said of him malle eum deficere quà m desinere that he had rather fail through impotency then cease and leave off in time convenient Such may seem to be the resolution of most men They will rather fail through weakness then cease to sin whilst their strength lasteth and any oyle is left in their lamps How many do we see every day upon whom the evil dayes are come feeble and weak to all good purposes as those who have been dead long ago but ad peccandum fortes strong and active and youthful in sin having their hair white but their affections and ambition green violently framing and forcing themselves to be sportful and gamesome and peruking their age with youthful behaviour And yet these men peradventure at the last cast when their members are dried up and done can be content to offer them up to God as the old forworn fencers amongst the Romans were wont Herculis ad postem arma figere to offer up their weapons in Hercules Temple when they could make no further use of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 complained the God of War in the Poet when he saw such unbeseeming gifts and monuments offered up in his Temple And so may the Lord of hosts complain much more These darkened and distracted understandings these faultring memories these crooked wills these dulled and blurred senses these juyceless and exhausted and almost dead bodies these arms of statutes these pictures of men wasted and spent in the service of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are not the weapons and faculties I made Fit they are for the grave and rottenness but utterly unfit for the Temple of the Lord of hosts Behold thou art made whole That is the time that is God's time and thy time that is the accepted day the day in which thou must work out thy salvation To this end thou wert taken out of the porch by the pool's side and set on thy legs to this end thou art bid to walk that thou maist sin no more For in the second place if Health have not this end it will have a worse a contrary one As there are but two places Heaven and Hell so are there but two ends God's and the Devil's and we never stray from the one but we run to the other We never turn our back to Jerusalem but we make forwards towards a strange land It is as impossible to stand still between both and not move to one of them as for a man that hath the use of reason to be neither good nor evil For the mind of of man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ever in motion and if it do not follow those graces and favours which God affordeth for our viaticum and help in our way it will force them to a bad end and make that which might have been the savour of life unto life to become the savour of death unto death Health is the gift of God and should be used as his gift and returned back as a sacrifice to him crowned with the spoils of Satan and the triumphs over sin And if it be not thus used and offered it will be a sacrifice to Devils instrumental to all wickedness and advantage to Fraud a help to Ambition a bawd to Uncleanness the upholder of Revenge the nurse of Pride an assistant to Covetousness and the very life of War We may be evil on the bed of sickness but in health we publish and demonstrate it Then the deceitful coyneth his plots the ambitious soreth the wanton neigheth the revenger draweth his sword the proud lifteth up his head the miser toyleth and the souldier washeth his feet in the bloud of his enemies Quid non est Dei quod Deum offendit saith the Father There is nothing we receive from God but by it we may offend him Nihil tam sacrum quod non inveniat sacrilegum Nothing is so sacred but it may be sacrilegiously abused nothing is given us to a good end but it may be diverted and forced to a bad one Wit is the gift of God to this end Prov. 8.12 to find out knowledge of witty inventions to devise cunning works to work in gold and silver and brass Exod. 31.4 to find out arts to find out musical tunes Eccl 44. to the glory of him quia illa omniae quae possunt inveniri primus invenit as Lactantius speaketh who first shewed what was afterwards found out And we see it hath been brought down to endite for our lusts and malice for our sorrows and triumphs for every passion which transporteth us it hath wrought in Satyre and Elegy to feed our malice and to encourage our lust it hath made Philosophy perplexed Divinity a riddle and Trades mysterious and is a golden cup as Augustine speaketh in which we drink and carouse our selves to the Devil Again Riches are the gift of God And though he reacheth them forth but with his left hand Prov. 3.16 yet we may make of them a key to open the Kingdom of heaven And to that end they were given Yet the rich of this world too often make them the instruments of Pleasure the fuel of Vice a Patent and Prerogative to do what they please a Canopy to walk under and commit evil with more state and majesty a Supersedeas against Conscience in a word a
bargain who wanteth his eye-sight Again let not the authority of any man be the compass by which we steer For it may point to Beth-aven and call it Beth-el present us with a box whose title is TRUTH when it containeth nothing but the poyson of Falshood Why should there be such power such a spell such witchcraft in a name Why should the Truth be built upon a Church which must be built upon it or else it is not a Church Or why upon a name which though it be glorious in the world is but the name of a man who is subject to errour Tolle mihi è causa nomen Catonis saith Tully Cato was a name of virtue and that carried authority with it and therefore the Oratour thought him not a fit witness in that cause against Muraena So tolle è causa nomen Augustini Take away the name of Augustine of Luther Acts 4.12 of Calvine of Arminius when ye come to this mart There is but one name by which we can be saved and his name alone must prevail with us Hebr. 12.2 He onely hath authority who is the Authour and Finisher of our faith Let us honour others but not deifie them not pull Christ out of his throne and place them in his room There is not there cannot be any influence at all in a name to make a conclusion true or false If we have fixed it on high in our mind as in its firmament it will sooner dazle then enlighten us And it is not of so great use as men imagine For they that read or hear can either judge or are weak in understanding To those who are able to judge and discern Errour from Truth a Name is but a name and is no more esteemed For such look upon the Truth as it is and receive it for it self But as for those who are of a narrow capacity a Name is more likely to lead them into errour then into truth or if into Truth it is but by chance for it should have found the same welcome and entertainment had it been an errour for the Names sake All that such gain is They fall with more credit into the ditch Wherefore in our pursuit of Truth we must fling from us all Prejudice and keep our mind even after sentence past free and entire to change it upon better evidence and not tye our faith to any man though his rich endowments have raised his name above his brethren follow no guide but him that followeth right Reason and the Rule not be servants of men for though they be great yet there is a greater then they though they be wise yet there is a wiser then they even he that is the Truth it self Let Augustine be a friend and Luther a friend and Calvine a friend but the Truth is the greatest friend without which there is no such thing as a friend in the world When the rule is fixed up in a plain and legible character though we may and must admit of the help of advice and the wisdome of the learned yet nothing can fix us to it but right Reason He who maketh Reason useless in the purchase of Truth maketh a Divine and a Christian a beast or a mad man Suprae hoc non potest procedere insania It is the height and extremity of madness to judge that to be true and reasonable which is against my Reason For thus we walk amongst Errours as Ajax did amongst the Sheep and take this or that Errour for this or that Truth as he did the Rams one for Menelaus another for Ulysses and a third for Agamemnon It hath been said indeed that right Reason is not alwaies one and the same but varieth and differeth from it self according to the different complexions of times and places But this even Reason it self confuteth For that which is true at Rome is true at Jerusalem and that which was true in the first age of the world is true in this and will be true in the last though it bind not alike That Truth which concerneth our everlasting peace Hebr. 13.8 that which we must buy is the same yesterday and to day and for ever And as the Truth so our Reason is the same even like the decrees proposed to it Prov. 20.27 it never changeth This candle which God hath kindled in us is never quite put out Whatsoever agreeth with it is true and whatsoever dissenteth from it is false Affectus citò cadunt aequalis est ratio saith the Stoick The Affections alter and change every day but Reason is alwaies equal and like unto it self or else it is not Reason The Affections like the Moon now wax anon wane and at length are nothing They are contrary one to another and they fall and end one into another What I loved yesterday I lothe to day and what now I tremble at anon I embrace What at the first presentment cast me down in sorrow at the next may transport me with joy But the judgement of right Reason is still the same She is fixed in her tabernacle as the Sun still casteth the same light spreadeth the same beams rejoyceth to run her race from one object to another and discovereth every one of them as it is When we erre it is not Reason that speaketh within us but Passion If Pleasure have a fair face it is our Passion that painteth it If the world appear in glory it is our Passion that maketh it a God If Death be the terriblest thing in the world it is our Fear and a bad Conscience that make it so Right Reason can see through all these and behold Riches as a snare Pleasure as deceitful and Death though terrible to some yet to others to be a passage into endless life We may erre with Plato and we may erre with Socrates we may erre out of Passion and Prejudice these being the Mother and Nurse of Errour But that we should erre and yet have right Reason on our side is an errour of the foulest aspect for it placeth errour in Truth it self which is not Truth but as it agreeth with right Reason It is true indeed right Reason hath not power enough of it self to find out every Truth For as Faith Eph. 2.8 so all the precepts of Truth are the gift of God commentum Divinitatis saith Tertullian the invention of the Deity But it is true also that Reason is sufficient to judge and discern them when they are revealed according to his mind who revealed them and set up this light within us to this end Though the thing be above Reason yet Reason can judge it true because God who is Truth it self revealed it Take away the use of Reason ye take away all election and choice all obedience all virtue and vice all reward and punishment For we are not carried about in our obedience as the Sphears are in their motions or the brute creatures in theirs as natural or irrational
of themselves but he that thus findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it The loss of our lives for righteousness sake is a purchase Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven For this Stephen was stoned Paul beheaded the Martyrs tortured So persecuted they the Prophets which were before you In the next place as a good Cause so a good Life doth fit and qualifie us to suffer for righteousness sake Non habent martyrum mortem qui non habent Christianorum vitam saith Augustine He dieth not the death of a Martyr who liveth not the life of a Christian An unclean beast is not fit to make a sacrifice Nor will the crown of Martyrdome sit upon his head who goeth on in his sin It is to the wicked that God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes and What hast thou to do to suffer for them For he that suffereth for them declareth them Therefore S. Augustine calleth the Donatists who in a perverse emulation of the glory of the true Martyrs leapt down from rocks and flung themselves into the water and were drowned sceleratos homicidas wicked homicides and unnatural murtherers of themselves What Cyprian speaketh of Schism is as true of other mortal sins not repented of Non Martyrium tollit not Martyrdom it self can expiate or blot it out For can we think that he that hath taken his fill in sin all his life long and still made his strength the law of unrighteousness should in a moment wash away all his filth and pollutions baptismo sanguinis with his own bloud It may supply for those other pious souls who were never washed in the other laver that of Baptism because persecution or death deprived them of that benefit for what cannot be done cannot oblige But how a man should draw out his life in an open hostility to Christ and trifle with him and contemn him all his dayes and then before repentance and reconciliation which indeed is in the very act of hostility bow to him and die for him I cannot see Take S. Pauls black catalogue of the works of the flesh Adultery Gal. 3. fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murthers drunkenness revellings and not one of these but will infringe and weaken the testimony of any man and render him a suspected witness in our Courts on Earth And shall the truth of Christ stand in need of such Knights of the post who will speak for her when they oppose her Take that bed-roll of wicked men which the Apostle prophesied should come in these last and perilous times 2 Tim. 3 1-5 Lovers of their own selves Covetous Boasters Proud Blasphemers Disobedient to parents Vnthankful Vnholy Without natural affection Truce-breakers False accusers Incontinent Fierce Despisers of those that are good Traitors Heady High minded Lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof and may not the Gospel be ashamed of such Professors and Martyrs as these Or shall we look for heaven in hell and hope to find a Martyr amongst a generation of vipers Or is he fit to be advocate for any truth who hath the faith of Christ with respect of persons Then we shall have factious Martyrs seditious Martyrs malicious Martyrs profane Martyrs sacrilegious Martyrs And if these be Martyrs we may say of them as Tertullian did of the Heathen Gods Potiores apud inferos There be honester men in hell then these No a good Cause and a good Life must be our conductors to the Cross must lead us by the hand to the fiery trial must as it were anoint us to our graves and prepare us for this great work Otherwise whatsoever we suffer is not properly Persecution but an execution of justice It may be here perhaps demanded What then shall he do who having fettered himself in the snare of the Devil hath not yet shaken it off by true repentance whose conscience condemneth him of many gross and grievous sins which yet himself hath not condemned in his flesh by practising the contrary vertues What shall a notorious sinner do if he be called to this great office if his fortunes and life be brought in hazard for the profession of some article of faith or some truth which he believeth is necessary to salvation What shall he do being shut up between these three a bad conscience assurance of that truth he professeth and the terrour of death Shall he hold fast the truth or subscribe to the contrary Shall he suffer without true repentance of his former sins or repent of the truth which he professeth Shall he deny against his conscience what he knoweth to be true or shall he suffer and comfort himself in this one act as a foundation firm enough to raise a hope on of remission of sin Here is a great streight a sad Dilemma like that of the servant in the Comedy Si faxit perit si non faxit vapulat If he do it he may perish and if he do it not he may be beaten He may suffer for the truth and yet suffer for his sins and if he do it not he hath denied the faith and is worse then an infidel But beloved this is an instance like that of Buridan's ass between two bottles of hay knowing not which to chuse an instance of what peradventure never or very seldom cometh to pass We may suppose what we please we may suppose the heavens to stand still and the earth to move and some have thought so we may suppose what in nature is impossible And this if it be not impossible yet is so improbable that it hardly can gain so much credit as to win an assent For that he who all his life long hath cast Christ's word 's behind him should now seal them with his bloud that they are true that a conscience so beaten so wasted so overwhelmed with the habit of sins should now take in and entertain a fear of so little a sin as the denial of one truth in respect of the contempt of all that he that hath swallowed this monstrous camel should strain at this gnat that he that hath trampled Christ's bloud under his feet should shed his own for some one dictate of his is a thing which we may suppose but hardly believe Or tell me Where should this sting and power of conscience lye hid Or can conscience drive us to the confession of one truth which had no power to withhold us from polluting our selves with so many sins Holding faith saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 1.19 and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made ship-wreck So near an alliance there is between Faith and a good Conscience that we must either keep them both or lose them both Faith as Saint Paul intimateth in that Text is as the
then our Conscience and seeth more of us then we do when we are most impartial to our selves and see most if we thus dally and trifle with Wisdome it self Mercy which tryumpheth over Justice will yield to Wisdome and if we cover our sins 1 Joh. 1.9 and not lay them open by Confession we shall find God just and faithful but not to forgive us our sins not to cleanse us from all unrighteousness We might here inlarge But we pass from the danger in respect of God to that in respect of our selves There is no one sin to which our Nature more strongly inclineth us then this of covering and excusing our sin So pleasing is excuse to our disposition so inseperable from Sin that cum ipso scelere nascitur soror filia it is both the daughter and sister of Sin We travel with Sin and Excuse as Thamar did with twins Excuse is not the first for Sin first maketh the breach and then calleth for Excuse but though it be not the first yet it followeth close at the Heels Now to give a reason for this First it is the very nature of Sin not onely to infect the soul but to bewitch it that it shall either not feel it or not be willing to evaporate and expel it It is compared to a Serpent and the poyson thereof is much like unto that of the Aspick which Cleopatra put to her arm It casteth us into a kind of sweet and pleasant slumber and killeth us without pain We are smitten and we feel it not we are stricken Prov. 23 35. and are not sick we are in the very mouth of Hell and yet secure It is called a burden and yet we feel it not nor doth it burden or lye heavy upon us But as it is with those who lye under the water they feel no weight though whole seas run over them fo is it with those who are overwhelmed and drowned in sin they feel no weight or if they do they soon relieve and ease themselves I say a burden it is and we are careful to cast it from us but not that way which God prescribeth but after a method forged and beaten out by our own irregular fancy we do not cast it away by loathing it and loathing our selves for it by resolving against it by fearing the return of it as we would the fall of a mountain upon our heads but we cast it upon our own Weakness and Infirmity which will not bear it upon God's Long-suffering and Mercy and presume to continue in it upon Christ Jesus and crucifie him again upon Excuse which is but sand and cannot bear that which pressed the Son of God himself to death Soli filii irae iram Dei non sentiunt They onely are insensible of the Anger of God who are the children of Wrath. Secondly though God hath set up a tribunal in our hearts and made every man a judge of his own actions yet there is no tribunal on earth so much corrupted and swayed from its power and jurisdiction as this No man is so partial a judge in another mans cause as in his own No man is so well pleased with any cheat as that which he putteth upon himself Though God hath placed a Conscience in us Exod. 28.30 as he put the Urim and the Thummim in the breast-plate of judgment by which he might give answer unto us what we are to do and what not to do what we have done well and what amiss as the High-priest by viewing his breast-plate saw whether the people might go up to War or not go up yet when we have once defiled our Conscience we care not much for looking upon it or if we do it giveth no certain answer but we lose the use of it in our slavery under sin as the Jews lost the use of their Urim and Thummim at the Captivity of Babylon as appeareth Ezr. 2.63 Neh. 7 65. The use of it I say which is to (a) Rom. 2.15 accuse to (b) 1 John 3.20 condemn to (c) Wisd 17.10 torment to make us have (d) Deut. 28.65 a trembling heart and (e) Levit. 26.36 a faint heart For it doth none of these offices neither accuse nor convince nor condemn nor afflict nor strike with fear At best it doth but shew the whip and then put it up again It changeth and altereth its complexion as our sins and hath as many names as there be evil dispositions in men Our conscience checketh us and we silence it Sin appeareth and we cover it Our conscience would speak more plainly if we did not teach it that broken and imperfect language to pronounce Sibboleth for Shibboleth to leave out some letter some aspiration some circumstance in sin Or rather to speak truth the Conscience cannot but speak out to the offender and tell him he hath broken the Law but as we will not hearken to Reason when she would restrain us from sin so we slight her when she checketh us for committing it We will neither give ear to her counsel and not sin nor yet hearken to her reproof when we have finned neither observe her as a Counseller nor as a Judge neither obey her as a friend nor as an enemy Hence it cometh to pass that at last in a manner it forgetteth its office and is negligent in its very property is a Conscience and yet knoweth nothing a Register yet recordeth nothing or if it do in so dark and obscure a character as is not legible a Glass and reflecteth nothing but a Saint for a man of Belial a Book of remembrance but containeth not our deceit and oppression and sacrilege but the number of Sermons we have heard the Fasts we have kept though for bloud the many good words we have spoke though from a hollow and unsanctified hart from our indignation against the world which hath nothing worse init then ourselves And this is the most miserable condition a sinner can fall into Rom. 1.18 This is saith St. Paul to hold the truth in unrighteousness by an habitual course of sin to depress and keep under the very principles of Goodness and Honesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hold and have full possession of the Truth Luk. 19. but make no use of it to hide and bury it as the bad servant did his pound in a Napkin bury it in the loathsome sepulchre of a rotten and corrupt soul as if having a medicine about me I should chuse to take down poison having plenty starve my self to death having Honey and Manna lay it by till it stink and feed on Husks having a Conscience not keep it suborn my Counsellour to be my Parasite be endued with Reason and use it only to make me more unreasonable neglect and slight it when it bids me not do this and when I have done it paint and disguise it that I may not know the work of mine own hands nor see that sin which
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