crucified with Christ and so broken for sinne neverthelesse I live and so am broken from sinne In the first there is a true Humiliation in the second a reall Reformation In both together there is a present Change of the State of Nature into the State of Grace Yea he is so Changed that he is not himselfe any longer not the man he was but â— new man a new Creature and hence it is that he saith I livâ— 2 Cor. 5. 17. Galat. 6. 15. Yet not I non amplius ego not I any longer not I the same man I was but another Not Saul now but Paul Not a persecutour of the Gospel but a Preacher of it Not an Enemy to the Phil. 3. 18. 2 Cor. 11. 30. Crosse of Christ But a friend unto it A lover of it one that gloryeth in it God forbid that I should glory save in the Crosse of Christ by whom the world is crucified in me and I unto the World Gal. 6. 14. I am crucified with Christ that is baptized into the death of Rom. 6. 3 5 6 7. Christ or planted in the likenesse of his Death which was by crucifixion that the old Man might be crucified with him that the sinne of the body and the Body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth I might not serve sinne for he that is dead is freed from sinne Neverthelesse I live not the lesse but the more Coloss 2. 12 13 by being quickened with Christ and risen with him through the faith of the operation of God Transplanted in the likenesse of his Rom. 6. 4. 5. Resurrection to walke with him in newnesse of life Now the Rom. 7. 24. Body of Death being thus killed in this holy Apostle and the spirit of his minde being thus renewed hee reckons himselfe to â—e dead indeed unto sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Ephes 4. 23. Rom. 6. 12. Uno verbo dici potect concrucifixus Faber Stapulensis in Examin Lord which in other tearmes hee signifieth saying Christo concrucifixus suâ—â— vivo autem as Montanus has it I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am Crucified with Christ there 's his Mortification or the first pat of his Regeneration and in these words we may observe two Remarkables 1 Exemplum A Patterne  and 2 Exemplatum A Parallel The Patterne is our Saviours Crucifixion The Parallel in S. Pauls concrucifixion Our Saviours Crucifixion was in example to S. Pauls And S. Pauls concrucifixion was in imitation of our Saviours Christ was crucified for Paul and Paul was crucified with Christ and wee should all be crucified with both The crucifixion of our Saviours Body for sinne was a patterne to every one of us as well as to S. Paul that all wee might learne to crucifie the Body of sinne in our selves His dying upon the Christus crucifixuâ— est idaea nostrae mortificationis Climac Crosse for our sinnes should teach us all the Apostles way of dying unto sinne Christs crucifixion is the true Idaea of out mortification and a Christian truly mortified is to the life the likenesse of Christ crucified Christ was crucified for all true Christians and all true Christians are as Paul in this was crucified with Christ Our Saviours crucifixion and S. Pauls concrucifixion were both mysterious both full of Paradoxes and our Saviours Person was as paradoxicall as his Passion They are both the subjects of many and many seeming contradictions In his Person hee was made a very contradiction for sinners and at his Passion hee endured the contradictions of sinners In his Person hee Heb. 12. 3. was the great Creatour himselfe that formed every creature yet was a Creature formed by that Creatour His Body was made of his Mothers substance yet hee it was that made the substance of his Mothers Body of which hee was made Hee was made after the World was what hee was not before the World was made yet was hee still after hee was made what he was before the World was made or hee so in it Hee was begotten before his Mother was borne yet was hee borne of his Mother before hee was begotten of her As old hee was as Daniel 7. 9. John 1. 14. 3. 16. the ancient of dayes his Father that begat him and older hee was then his Virgin Mother that gave birth unto him Begotten hee was of his Father and borne hee was of his Mother yet was hee not begotten by his Father as hee was borne of his Mother not yet borne of his Mother as hee was begotten of his Father He was the onely begotten Sonne of his Father and he was begotten of his Father onely His Father begate him without Virgo Mater utiqâ—e admirabilis singularis a seculo non est auditum quod virgo esset quae pâ—perit Mater esset quae virgo permanfit S. Bernard Ser. 10. Isaiah 9. 6. the office of his Mother And hee was the onely Sonne of his Virgin Mother and the Sonne onely of his Mother as hee was her Sonne and borne of her His Mother did bear him without the office of a Father On his Fathers side hee was God and not Man and on his Mothers side he was Man and not God yet betwixt both hee was both God and Man to mediate betwixt both at his first comming and to arbitrate betwixt both at his second No wonder then it was that his Name was called Wonderfull for every thing in him was full of Wonder and his Passion was as wonderfull as any thing His comming into the world had a world of wonder in it and so had his being in it and his leaving of it did leave as many behind it Hee was crucified yet was not crucified Hee suffered yet did not suffer Hee dyed yet did not die and hee rose againe saith S. Ambrose yet did not rise againe And are not all these S. Ambros de Spirit sancto seeming contradictions Is not every period a very Paradox yet all very orthodox and easie to be unriddled Two Natures were united in that one Person of Christ And Christ endured that in one of his Natures which the other could not endure As Man or in his Manhood he suffered was crucified and dyed and rose from Death But as God or in his Deity he could doe neither Thus the Life and Death of Christ were very mysterious full of mysteries and so are the Life and Death of every mysticall Member of Christ Every true Christian is such a Member and this Vessell of Election our holy Apostle was such a Christian Hee was one that had the characters of Christs sufferings in his mortified Body I beare in my Body the markes of the Lord Iesus saith hee Galat. 6. 17. conformed to the mysticall Head of the Church in sufferings Christo concrucifixus crucified with Christ and his estate now was very Mysterious he was both dead and alive at once Crucified
saith our Apostle God forbid ye we establish the Rom 3. 31. law Indeed they that are in Christ and have Christ living in them are not under the law but under Grace But how Not Rom. 6. 14. under the law to seeke for justification by it but yet they are under it to encrease their sanctification by it They are not under the Curse of the law to Condemnation but under the Course of the law they are for Commendation Not under the Rigor of it but under the Rule of it And he can never be a true disciple of Christ that will not be ruled by it He that would live with Christ in Heaven must live with him on Earth first He that would be like him in the life of Glory must be like also in the life of Grace And he that would be so must labour to be like him in his Moralls He that is Crucified with Christ must live like one that is so Crucified like one that is dead to sinne like one that is dead unto himselfe like one that hath Christ living in him and that can never be untill the life of Christ be represented in his life in the manner or morality of it It is this that our Apostle S. August Serm. 13. de verb. Dom. cheifely points at in the Text when he sayes Christ liveth in him Vnumquodque secundùm hoc vivat unde vivit Saith Saint Austine every thing ought to live according to that by which it liveth The Body liveth of the Soule And the Soule liveth of Christ Let both then live according to those things that give them life let the Body live so after the Soule and the Soule so after Christ that both soule and body may live together with Christ for ever hereafter It is from this kinde of life that a man may have hope in death And it is by this kinde of life that a man may assure himselfe that he is dead Death unto sinne is best attested by the life of Grace It was by this that Saint Paul could ascertaine himselfe of his concrucifixion By this it was that he knew himselfe to be a Mortified member of the mysticall body of Christ He found Christ living in him and that made him say that he was crucified with Christ It is no easie matter for a man to be as this Apostle was a Mortified Man Crucified with Christ But easie it is for a Man to know he is so if he be so yet many are mistaken in this matter and take themselves to be so when they are not but the reason is they doe not observe the Manners of a Man concrucified They doe not observe how it was with Christ when he was crucified or with Saint Paul when he was crucified with Christ They doe not enquire whether it be so with themselves When Christ was crucified he was Patient and so was Paul Isal 53. 7. in all his sufferings for Christ when he was concrucified Are all we so Are we patient in tribulations Can we suffer our 1 Pet. 2. 23. losses and crosses with patience When our Saviour was reviled he revlied not againe When he suffered he threatned not but Committed himselfe to him that Judgeth righteously Doe we doe so So did S. Paul Being reviled we blesse saith he and being Persecuted we Suffer it and being defamed we intreate 1 Corinth 4. 12 13. Againe when Christ was crucified he was very pious Are we Luke 23. 34. so He prayed for the pardon of his Persecutors doe we so So did the Protomartyr Saint Steven and so did Paul and Acts 7. 60. so doe all that are conformed to our Crucified Saviour And if we do not so it is a signe we are not crucified with our Saviour Againe when Christ was crucified he left the world He neither reckoned of the Pompe nor of the Glory of it And so it was with Paul when he was crucified with Christ The world Gal. 6. 14. was crucified to him and he unto the world Now is it so with us If it be so the world may fawne upon us but we will not S. Aug. lib. de Salu. doc cap. 16. fancy it and it may frowne upon us but we will not feare it If we be crucified to that and that to us we will not Court it for any Pleasure nor Covet it for any Profit We will not Chrysost in Math. hom 55. flatter it nor yet be flattered by it We will not seeke to win nor suffer our selves to be wonne by the alurements of it With Paul concrucified we will esteeme all worldly things as Phil. 3. 8. dung and drosse in comparison of Christ Againe when Christ was crucified he was a dead Man and Crucifixum esse est mortuum esse Musculus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Photius Ephes 4. 19. so was Paul and a dead man does not sinne he that is crucified with Christ as Paul was is dead indeed unto sinne and alive unto God Though sin it self be not departed yet the life of sin is gone Sin is mortified in him Now how is it with us How is sin now committed by us Doe we still sinne with greedinesse Does sinne still live in us and we still love to live in sinne If so we are not yet concrucified True it is that the old sinnes of Man as well as the old man of sinnes must have a time to dy after they be crucified There will be sinne in any Regenerate Man as long as he liveth though he be never so long concrucified before his death For if we say we have no sinne we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Yet if we be truly Crucified with Christ the love of sinne will abate in us yea our loving will turne into a loathing of it and though we carry sinne every whither about with us yet we will not be carried every whither about with sinne There will appeare the power of godlinesse in us Counter-manding the Commanding power of sinne though it cannot alwayes prevaile The flesh lusteth against the spirit Gal. 5. 17. and the spirit against the flesh and these two are so contrary that a man cannot doe the things that he would There is a continuall See Perkins in his combate of the Flesh and Spirit Combate between the Regenerate and the Unregenerate parts of any Regenerate Person Such a Person is like that mysticall purse that has both old and new coyne in it The first and second Regenetatus duplici constat homine interiore nimirum ut â—xteriore Zanch. Miscellan lib. 3. Adams are both in the old new Man a living dead man a renewed man crucified with Christ and yet alive Such a person was S. Paul a person that had both sin and sanctitie at once A person crucified with Christ and so dying daily unto sin but not quitedead unto it or dead it may be unto many sins but not to all or dead to all it may
and the Grave and so doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Greeks Thirdly Damnation is like to Death in respect of Pain Quid sacient intime familiares quales sunt corpus anima quae ab ipso utero ita jucundissime vixerint The spirit may be willing but the flesh will be loath Manchest Al Mondâ— contemp mortis and Griefe Great are the pangs of Death and great the griefe of Man that 's dying and the griefe and pains of Hell are full as great and greater Fourthly and last Damnation is like to Death in respect of Horrour Death is called the King of feares the most terrible of terribles Nature abhorreth nothing more then Death there is nothing that is known to Man more terrible and therefore is Damnation called Death Indeed Damnation is beyond expression terrible yea beyond all apprehension we want words to expresse it by we want things more hideous to resemble it unto We mis-call it Death but it is not Death indeed The Damned may wish for Death but they must not dye The Damned souls are all immortal they are sent to Hell to live in misery yea to live in misery for ever yea for ever and for ever The expression is as useful as it is usual Mark it well for ever and for ever That which is but once for ever can never have an end But the living and lasting Miseries of Hell are said to be for ever and for ever to make us the more seriously to consider of them This Duplication intimateth thus much to us that when the poore damned soule hath passed a thousand years and ten thousands more and as many thousands more as the nimblest imagination can conceive of and more Millions of Ages more then the best Arithmetician can ever multiply yet then he shall be as if he were newly to begin he hath still and still another for ever to endure miseries This it is that does so aggravate the Misery of Man by his Worldly Merchandize If he must lose his Soul for his gaining of the World his losse is infinite because the Damnation of his Soul is endlesse It is for ever and ever It was the thought of this that caused that Right Reverend Parson of Bethlem Parish devout St Hierome to renounce this present World and retire into a Cell or Cave which he either found or founded in Bethlem lest he should lose his Soule for ever and ever in Hell by gaining the World for a time The feare of endlesse torments turn'd his Cell Dr Willans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Into a Jayle and made his Cave his Hell Propter metum Gehennae tali me carceri emancipaveram as he said himself to Heliodorus That good old Father was wont to be portraied with a young Lyon by his side partly to signifie how fiercely he cryed out against the Schismes and Heresies and other sins of others in his time and partly to signifie that he sometimes roared out for the very disquietnesse of his own heart at the sight of his own sin knowing that if his soule must be lost by them his losse would be intolerable because it would be the losse of an immortal substance A fourth Reason to raise the estimate of the Soul may be taken from the Reason in it It is a Reasonable Soul an Intellectual It is chiefly in respect thereof that we are called Reasonable Creatures Nemes of the Nature of Man cap. 14. Substance The richest Treasure of any that Man as man is entrusted with By this he comes to know himselfe By this he comes to know the way to save himselfe By this he comes to know the worth of this and other things If he loseth this he is but a lost man yea without this he is no man at all And therefore Man should value this above all A fifth Reason may be this that the losing or saving of the whole man depends upon the saving or losing of the soule If the Soule of man be turned into Hell at the first Judgement the whole man must be tumbled thither at the second Judgement But if it be translated to Heaven at the Night of Death the Body also shall have a removal thither at the Morning of the Resurrection It is a preposterous Care in many Great ones in this Multus Corporum Curationi impenditur usus multum huic operae in spem medâ—lae datur Nunquid medicinam anima non mâ—retur Etsi varia corpori auxiliae studio tuendae sanitatis adhibentur sas non est tamen animam velut exclusam jacere quasi neglectam morbis suis intabescere atque unam à propriis remediis exulare immo verè plura animae conserenda sunt si corpori tanta praestantur Nam si râ—cte quidam carnem famulam animam verò dominam esse dixerunt non oportet postâ—riâ—re lâ—co nos dominam ponere ac famulam iniquo jure praeferre Eucherius in Epist Paraenet ad Valerianum World to make great provision for their Bodies here before death and also after it but none at all or very little for their Soules Alas for them Let them provide what Physicians they can to prevent the Death of their Bodies yet are they mortal and so must dye And let them prepare what Tombs they will to preserve them after Death Yet if their soules be sent to Hell to be tormented for their sinnes done in their bodies their bodies must be sure they also shall be sent to suffer with their soules As they sinned together so must they suffer But whatever become of their Bodies after death if their Soules be saved when they die their Bodies also shall be saved at the second coming of our Saviour As they have served him together so shall they be saved together by him The happinesse or unhappinesse of the whole man depends upon the happinesse or unhappinesse of his Soule The sixth and last Reason to perswade this Merchant Totus quidem iste mundus ad unius animae pretium aestimari non potest non enim pro tolo mundo Deus animam suam dare voluit quam pro anima humanae dedit Sublimius ergo animae pretium quae non nisi sanguine Christi redimi potuit c. Agnosce homo quam nobilis est anima tua quam gravia suerunt ejus vulnera pro quibus necesse suit Christum Dominum vulnerari Noli ergo vilipendere animae tuae passionem cui à tanta Majestate tantam vides exhiberi compassionem S. Bern. Medit. Man to prize his Soul above the World may be taken from the consideration of that price which our Saviour paid for the redemption of it And was it not very considerable think you that the Sonne of God the welbeloved Sonne of God the onely begotten Sonne of God equal to the Father in goodnesse and power and glory and majesty should condescend so low as to become a Man a Man of no reputation the very scorn and
with Christ and yet alive neverthelesse But why should wee thinke it strange to heare of a Man alive and dead at the same time Are not all Men living ever so Is not every Man alwayes dead and living so long as hee is a Man or living Alive naturally and dead spiritually or Qui luxuriatur vivens mortuuâ— est S. Hieron ad matr filiam dead mystically and alive spiritually Dead in sinne and alive in Nature or dead unto sin and alive in Grace When Paul was in the state of Nature hee was both dead and alive hee was alive Naturally but dead spiritually But when he changed the state of Nature for the state of Grace he changed the Natures of his life and death He was dead in sinne before but now dead unto sinne or sinne is dead in him Hee lived as a Naturall Man before but now as a Spirituall He lived in sin before but now Grace lives in him Hee is now dead to himselfe dead to his sinnes but alive to his Saviour living to the Lord of life Crucified with Christ and living to him alive in him Now this his mysticall death is very desirable It is rather to be wished then any kinde of Death that Augustus thought of It is a Death that may be lawfully sought for yea it is a Death that men must pull upon themselves as soon as they can with a holy kinde of violence and the more earnest any man is in doing of it the more he is to be praised for it and more worthy of praise is hee that thus killeth the old Man in himselfe then ever Cleombrotus was or Cato or Lucretia for Plato in Phaedone S. August de Civitate Dei l. 1. ca. 19. 23. killing as they did themselves yea hee deserves no praise that does not thus crucifie himselfe This is an Euthanasy indeed and there can be none without it They never can die well that doe not die thus whilst they live Nor can they ever live well that are not thus dead When Paul was crucified with Christ then hee reckoned himselfe to be alive indeed Christo confixus sum cruci vivo autem jam saith hee as the vulgar translation has it I am crucified with Christ and now I live Jam vivâ— now I live as if hee had not lived indeed till now that hee was thus crucified with Christ As hee liveth after his crucifixion so hee liveth by it Hee that layes downe a Duplex hic est miraculum quòd mortuum vitae restituit quòd per mortem Theophil in locum temporall life for Christs sake shall take up one eternall for it and hee that with Paul does part with an evill life does gaine a good one by it yea hee gaines two good ones by it one here and one hereafter for hee shall raigne with Christ that is crucified with him as well as hee that is crucified for him I am crucified with Christ saith our Apostle Christ was crucified and so was Paul but severall wayes Christ was crucified for Paul but so was not Paul for Christ Yet sanâ— sensu in some sense Paul was crucified for Christ but not so as Christ for Paul Paul was crucified for Christs sake and Christ for Pauls But Christ was crucified for Pauls sinnes so was not Paul for Christs Christ had no sinnes of his owne to demerit any crucifixion in himselfe or in any other for him but so had Paul And Pauls crucifixion was for himselfe rather then his Saviour yet it was of the sinnes in himselfe rather then of himselfe in his sinnes It was a crucifying of sinâ—â— in his mortall Body Not a crucifying of his mortall Body in sinne Christ was crucified for Paul in Body and Paul for Christ Per crucem Christi remotus est à me proprius affectus Aquin. Commenta in locum 1 Cor. 9. 27. in Minde Mente orucifixus sum As Theophilact expounds it In minde I am crucified with Christ In minde with him not in person for him It was not a corporall but a spirituall concrucifixion Yet it was in Body as well as Minde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I beate my body downe saith hee and keepe in subjection And this subjection of the Body it selfe was spirituall It was not a crucifixion of flesh but of fleshly-mindednesse It was the suppressing of the Rebellions of Nature not the destroying of Nature it selfe The Nature of his life was altered by it But the Life of his Nature was not utterly abolished for still hee lived for all this kinde of Death This concrucifixion was not to Death but Life There are two kinds of concrucifixions 1. Corporall 2. Spirituall Those two Malefactours that dyed when Christ did upon Luke 23. 33. the Crosse were both crucified with Christ But not as Paul was in the Text for one of the two was never the better for that corporall concrucifixion Hee lost his temporall life upon the Crosse with Christ himselfe yet hee got not Life eternall for it from the Crosse of Christ Alas for him His was a Crosse indeed but none of Christs Hee suffered not for Christs sake but for his owne sinnes and there is seldome Life in such a Death A Crosse may be the Tree of Life unto a Penitent theefe But such Malefactours are seldome truely penitent Indeed the Crosse is vita justorum life to the Righteous but mors infidelium Death to the Wicked saith Cassiodorus The true Believer layes hold of an other a better Life then this present 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. Heb. 11. 35. as hee parts with this But the Infidell loseth this and gets no other for it The wretched and impenitent unbeliever by the Crosse of sufferings or by his sufferings upon the Crosse does lose even all his stock of Life and gaineth nothing The believing penitent loseth little and gaineth much hee parteth with a bad life and receives a better for it But our Apostle loseth nothing and gaineth all He gets a new life without giving the old away But his concrucifixion was of an other kinde It was not corporal but spiritual and such concrucifixions are twofold Primarie and Secondarie Now the first of these is that which every true Believer suffered in the Person of Christ when as Christ suffered in the Person of every true Believer For as all that fell by the sinne of the first Adam did sinne with that Adam in his person and Rom. 5. 12. fell in his Person with him So all that are saved by the sufferings of the second Adam did suffer with him in his person and are so saved with him Christiani omnes unà cum Christo tanquam illius membra in cruce pependerunt All Christians as the Musculus in locum members of Christ did suffer with him upon the Crosse The catholick Head of the Church was fastened to the Crosse and suffered for the whole Mysticall Body and all the mysticall Members that are fastened to the Body by
life of Nature But the second life being the life of Grace does give the Grace of life And this life of Grace is the only way unto the life of Glory and to the Glory of that life But first a Man must be crucified before he can be glorified he must die before hee can live and this his dying too must be before his death Hee must be as the Apostle was Dead and alive together Crucified with Christ and yet alive Dead and yet not dead Not dead in trespasses and sinnes and alive in Nature But dead unto sinne and alive in Grace and Nature A live unto God and dead unto the World Like Simon Mat. 19. 27. 2 Tim. 4. 10. Peter that forsooke the World for Christs sake Not like to Demas that forsooke S. Paul to imbrace the present World Like a dead man in the World hee must not doate upon it But live in it as if hee were departed from it Hee must not be like that younger Widdow that our Apostle wrote a warning of unto young Timothy that liveth in pleasure and is dead whilst 1 Tim. 5. 6. she liveth But like our holy Apostle himselfe that lived whilest hee was dead Hee must dy unto sinne before his Naturall Climac in scala Parad i. Death that hee may not dy in sinne when hee must needs dy a Naturall Death If hee suffereth sinne to live in him untill his Naturall Death hee must suffer a Death Eternall for living so in sinne Mans first Birth brings him forth a Sinner his second brings him forth a Saint By his first Birth hee is made what hee was not before his Generation By his Second hee is made againe what hee was not by his First and yet remaineth what hee was His Generation made him a Man His Regeneration makes him more it makes him a good Man a Man of God a Member of Christ This is that that this Apostle intended of himselfe in his state of Regeneration when hee said that hee did live and yet not he I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live yet not I. Now this may set our thoughts to the second Generall of the Text the Reading of the Riddle but I must deale with you as those are wont to doe with others that propose hard Riddles to them I must give you a longer time to consider of it then meerely this time of your hearing of it I must give you untill our meeting next in this place which must God willing be in the afternoone then I shall give you the reading of this Riddle but thus much for this Time S. PAULS CONCRUCIFIXION SERMON Second GAL. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ c. I Must beginne this After-noone abruptly as I ended in the Fore-noone lest I end this After-noone abruptly as I doe beginne and I shall beginne this After-noone where I ended in the Fore-noone that this After-noone I may end with this Text where in the Forenoone I did beginne In the Text I observed two Remarkables 1. The Propounding of a Riddle 2. The Expounding of the Riddle In the Fore-noone you heard the Riddle propounded This After-noone you are to heare it expounded The Riddle was propounded in these words I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live Now it is to be expounded by these words yet not I but Christ that liveth in me Not I but how doe these words Resolve or Reade the Riddle They rather seeme to make an other Riddle or to make the Text like the Prophets Mysticall Vision of a Wheele within a Wheele Here is one seeming contradiction upon an other a Riddle upon a Riddle for first hee sayes I live and then hee sayes not I and so seemes to say and unsay or to contradict himselfe Indeed had hee said no more but yet not I hee had not read the former but made an other But the clausile added in the close discloseth all not I but Christ that liveth in me This like a Key unlocks the Cabinet of the mystery This like an Oedipus unriddles all Like a Clue it guides the Reader thorow the Labyrinth of the Riddle to the Reading of it It shews what life it is that now hee liveth It speakes the change of his life from that of a Naturall man to that of a Christian He liveth now the life of one that is in Christ the Lord of life The life of one that hath the Lord of life Christ Jesus and the life of the Lord now in him not I now but Christ in me Hee cannot now say with the Heathenish Poet Ille ego qui quondam I the same Man that in time past did so and so but with the convert Ego non sum ego I am not I. I live yet not I Not I the same but I an other An other and yet I. I an other Man I a new Man Non amplins ego Not I a meere Man any longer but now a Christian Not I still contrary unto Christ but I a Convert now unto him and so I am not I and yet I am I am still but not still what I was I Acts 23. 6. Phil. 3. 5. Acts 9. 1. 1 Tim. 1. 13. Virgil. Aeneid l. 1. was a Pharisee but now I am not I was an enemy to the Crosse of Christ but now I am not I was a Blasphemer of his most blessed Name sed quantum mutatus ab illo But now how much am I altered from what I was So changed in my selfe I am that I cannot say I am my selfe Yea so unlike I am my selfe that I cannot but say that I am not my selfe It is not I Necesse est ut qui non vivit in se vivat Christus in illo Et hoc est quod â—it Apostolus vivo autem â—am non ego S. Bernard that liveth in my selfe But Christ my Saviour that liveth in mee Hee is not now the Man hee was and yet a Man hee is even as hee was Hee is now a new Man by his second Birth and yet hee is the same Man hee was by his first Hee is a Man still as hee was and still the same Man that hee was and yet hee is an other Man then hee was changed much from what hee was The same Man still in Person hee is and still the same in Parts But in Passions or Affections hee is now an other The same hee is in constitution of Body and in Quantity but in quality of Minde and in conditions hee is an other Man A new Creature It is the same Man that liveth still but he now liveth as an other Man He is not the same in Life His manner of Life is not the same A new Conversation does ever follow a true Conversion This Mutation aimes not at the Transformation of the Man But at the Reformation of his Manners It is not like the Poets Metamorphoses where Jupiter transformes Ovid Metamor lib. 3. Lib. 3. Lib. 4.
was King of Cyprus Titulo Rex insulae animo autem pecuniae miserabile mancipium He was in title the King of the Cyprian-Isle but in truth he was a miserable Bondslave to his Pelf Now what profit is it to gain and increase that mony which begetteth and increaseth misery And if it be so little profit simply to gain the World certainly there is lesse profit in the gaining of it if a man must pay his own Soule for it And this brings us to the second Querie that Hypothetical Question that includes the whole Text What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soule And this Question sets us to consider of the second sort of Wares the Ware Exported concerning which three Circumstances were proposed to be considered 1. The Nature or Quality 2. The Number or Quantity 3. The Relation or Propriety First for the Nature or Quality we may observe that it See Nemesius of the Nature of Man is a Soul Yet not a Vegitative Soule such as is in the Plants Nor yet a Sensitive Soule such as is in Birds and Beasts But a Reasonable Soule such as is in Man such a Soule as makes him to be a Man It is is his Soule his owne Soule I shall It is the soule of man that makes him to be a man See Philip of Mornay's Trunesse of Christian Religion translated by St Phil. Sidney chap. 14. not tell you what Aristotle sayes of the Soule of Man nor yet how other Philosophers use to define it But let me tell you thus much of it that it is an Heavenly Jewell in a Câ—binet of Earth and a Jewel of that worth it is that not all the Diamonds in the World though never so curiously cut and never so artificially set in the richest Rings of the most refined gold may be valued with it though it be cabined in the most deformed lump of Red Earth There be many Reasons in it to raise the estimate of it I 'le name some of them As first it is the Medal of the Almighty The lively Image of the living God Or the Tablet upon which that King of Kings and Lord of Lords hath drawn his owne likenesse Now shall the Image of a Mortall King stamped on the substance of the Earth or the Earthly substance of Gold or Silver make man so to esteem it as to become an Idolater towards it and shall not the Image of the Immortal King of Kings imprinted in his own Workmanship upon the Heavenly substance of Mans soule perswade him far more highly to value that And a second reason why this Merchant Man should inhaunce Dei insignita imagine decorata similitudine St Bern. Medita de digniâ— animae Mens nostra Dei similis c. Gregor Nyss disputat de anima Resurr the price of his Soul may be this because it is a spirit an Immateriall substance It is indeed within the substance of the body but yet without a bodily substance And the more that any substance be spiritualized the more puâ— and precious it is and the more ennobled And the further that any substance be distanced from the nature of a body the nearer it drawes to the Nature of God For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is a Spirit And the spirituality of the Soule does far exalt it above the body as comming nearer to the purity of God who is a Spirit And therefore it is well asserted by St Bernard that the worst of soules in respect of substance is far more excellent then the best of bodies and ought to be valued far above them A third Reason to perswade this Merchant-man to value his Soul at a very dâ—ar rate may be the Immortality of it It is immortal as well as immaterial Indeed man dies at See the Immortality of the soul discoursed of largely and very learnedly by Philip of Mornay Lord of Plâ—ssie in the Truenesse of Christ Religion c. 14. 15. his appointed time but the soul of man does never die By death the whole man is dissolved but the whole of man is not destroyed by death The soul of man doth live when man is dead The soul is doomed at the instant of death either to enjoy everlasting felicity in Heaven or to endure everlasting misery in Hell And that endlesse misery is often called Mors secunda the second death Yet is it not so called that we should think that the Soul doth cease to live in hell but rather â—ecause it ceaseth to enjoy its life The damned Non enim quia solvitur compositum inde etiaÌ„ necessariò consequitur una cum composito dâ—ssolvi id quod compositum non est Greg. Nyssen disput de Anim. Resurr souls in Hell live not there to enjoy life but to endure grief And therefore their life there is said to be no life Simplex vita non est vivere sed valere meerly to live is no life but to live indeed is to enjoy life It is a kind of death for one to live in pain that hath lived at ease It is a kind of death for one to live in prison that hath lived at liberty A kind of death for one to live in penury that hath lived in plenty Those damned Souls that lie imprisoned in Hell do all live there in pain for living here in pleasure their joyes are turned into pains and their life now is worse then death Their Damnation in Hell is like to Death in four respects In damnatione novissima quaÌ„vis homo sentire non desinaâ— tamen quia sensus ipse nec voluptate suavis nec quiete salubris sed doâ—oâ—â— poenalis est non immeritò mors est potius appellaâ—a quam vita S. August and for its likenesse in each respect it is called Death First it is like it for Separation In temporal dâ—ath the Quamvis enim humana anima vâ—raciter immortalis perhibâ—tur habet tamen etiam ipsa mortem suam Soul which gave life to the Body is separated from it So in Damnation the Lord of life which gave life to the Soul is separated from that Mortâ—ae sunt animae hoc est à Deo desertâ— saith S. Austine The damned soules are dead that is forsaken of God For Sicut mors corporis est cum id deserit animâ— ita mors animae est cum eam deserit Deus As it is the death of S. Aug. de Civ Dei l. 13. c. 2. the body when it is forsaken of the soul so it is the death of the soul when it is forsaken of God Sicut enim anima discedente moritur corpus sic anima Deo dâ—sâ—rente mori credenda est Secondly Damnation is like to Death in respect of Place Hell is a place of Darknesse a place that is very disconsolate Primasius super Apocalyp cap. 18. so is the Grave And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sheol with the Hebrews signifiâ—s both Hell
of Water The graines of Sand are very small yet if many of them be put together into a Bag or Sack and laid upon the head or shoulders of a man they will presse him down And the drops of Raine are little by themselves yet when many meet together they may cause an inundation Many small sinnes may be as heavy as one great sinne saith S. Austine S. August Epistol 108. ad Seleusian And he fitly resembles the losse of a Soule to the losse of a Merchants ship upon the Sea Sometimes a Ship is lost by one great Wave that overwhelmes it and sinks it right downe and sometimes a Ship is lost by the Water that leaks in by some breach or breaches in the sides or bottome So some mens soules are lost by the sinnes that sue in through their leaking senses and sometimes they are lost by some great sinne that swells above them and sinks them right downe to the very bottome of perdition such was that grand Rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram and Num. 16. 1 2. 4. 31 32 33. their factious Complices that rose up against Moses and Aaren to pull them downe It was so heynous and so heavy a sinne that it sunk them all to the pit of destruction the very Earth was not able to bear them with that sinne upon them Some other trifled away theirs soules by little and little But these traded theirs away by whole-sale But which way so ever they be sold they are but lost And in both these wayes of selling them there are two things remarkable First the making of the Bargaine Secondly the performing of the Bargaine First the making of it And it may be made two wayes Explicitely or Implicitely that is Formally or by Consequence First Explicitely or Formally when both parties doe capitulate the Conditions and agree upon the Termes Thus Witches and Wizards and all Confederates with the Devil are said to sell their soules unto him Secondly Implicitely or by consequence and this is when the Devil or his Factors come into the Mart of this World and fall to chaffering for Mens Soules by cheapning of them and bidding like Chapmen for them The Devil comes to the Covetous man and asketh him the price of his Soule He comes to the Voluptuous man and asketh him the price of his And he comes to the Ambitious man and asketh him the price of his The price of the Covetous mans is Wealth the price of the Voluptuous mans is Pleasure and the price of the Ambitious mans is Honour The Devil knows their several prizes but knows not how to pay them downe Yet like himselfe he offers all they ask and promiseth in time to pay them all Matth. 4 9. Haec omnia vobis dabo all these things will I give unto you And then for Earnest or in part of payment he puts a penny or a Teston of unlawful gains into the hands of the Covetous man to conclude the Bargaine with him He procures an opportunity of unlawful Pleasure according to the Voluptuous mans desire to conclude the Bargain with him And by a small Bribe he sets the Ambitious man upon the first step to preferment to conclude with him These men cannot be ignorant of the Devils aims they must needs know that what he offers is but in earnest or in part of payment for their souls yet they take his offers or rather are taken with his temptations and what call you this but a striking up of the bargaine Now the bargain being made the performance is expected But here men think to be too cunning for the Devil himself They never intend to perform the bargain they think to put him off by denying of it They intend to put him to prove it by sufficient witnesses which they think he cannot doe before the Judge at the great Assize But alas for them before it comes to that they may be sure to be Arrâ—sted at the Devils Suit by that bold that inexorable that impartial Serjeant Death Executions will be granted out against them and those not of goods onely nor yet of bodies and goods but of goods and bodies and soules And Death's Warrants run very high Non omittas propter ullam libertatem Attach them where-ever thou findest them There are no places in this world that are priviledged from the Arrests of Death When once this Serjeant Death hath arrested their Bodies their Soules must presently be sent to the Barre of Judgement for particular Sentences Then actum erit the matter will be past cure the bargain will be proved against them by credible witnesses For first the Devils payments will be proved by that Coyn of his those peeces of Devillisme found in their possessions at the time of their attachments Those sinnes which the Devil brought to them or them unto will all be witnesses against them Secondly the Day-book of their own Consciences will be produced as a thousand Witnesses against them for there the Debt of Sin is scored up and never can be crossed untill it be expunged by repentance And now shall not the Judge of all the World do right Yes surely and he will give the Devil his due There is no remedy now the bargain must be performed The Devil bought their Souls and he must have them The Devil is the Jailour of Hell and thither the Judge commands them Take them Jailour saith the Judge that is take them Devil and keep them fast till the general Judgement They might have been wiser before but now there is no help for them It is now too late to repent let Merchantmen beware in time then let no man think to cheat the Devil lest he cheats himself Let no man think himself secure in the middest of danger Think not your selves by the African Promontory the Cape of good Hope when ye are very neer the Magillanean Straights Mistake not those unfortunate Caput bouâ— spâ—t Abbots description of the VVorld Islands neer the Molucco's for the very Canaries If you be not yet arrived at Lucians Island of Dreams doe not dream broad-waking do not imagine your soules to be in safe habours when they are in the midst of Hellish Pyrates This World is like a Sea a dangerous Sea and that Arch-Pyrate the Devll and many Scouts from Hell are coasting this Sea of the World from place to place And the Devil can play the Merchant as well as the Pyrate if he cannot take men in the World he will try to take them by it If he cannot surprize them in it he 'le offer it as a prize unto them and many are taken by it Many sell themselves unto him for it and so undoe themselves for ever for they lose their Souls by the sale which are more worth then all the World And so much they must confesse if they ballance the Trade What is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his own soule i. e. Ballance the Trade compare and compute
such Live ye ever so and so ye shall live for evâ—â— Living without Turning is impossible and Turning without Living is unprofitable Indeed there is no Living without Turning nor any Turning indeed without Livinâ— He that would live must turn himself And he that doâ— turn himself must live too And he shall live that so dâ—â— turn himself Wherefore turn your selves and live ye Reâ—â— facite vivetis saith Montanus Do your endeavours to be Ari. Mont. Bibl. secund Zantiâ— Pagnini interpretationem turned and ye shall live And so Montanus seems to part the Text into a Precept and a Promise First into a Precept of Turning Secondly into a Promise of Living Turn and Live As much as to say Repent and so be reprieved Forsake your sinnes and so save your souls Be but penitent and ye shall be pardoned The last is hinted as a Promise to perswade men to the Performance of the first The Promise commendeth the End the Precept commandeth the Means Life is offered in the Promise as the End and Repentance is required in the Precept as the Meanes He that would obtain the End must use the Means and he that doth use the Means shall obtain the End He that would live must turn himself and he that doth turn himself shall live Wherefore turn your selves and live ye Thus some have taken both parts of the Text as mandatory And others have taken onely the first part to be mandatory and the second to be promissory So that some have taken the last part as an Injunction and some have taken it as an Invitation Some as a Precept and some as a Promise Let us now take it as both As a Precept and as a Promise too As a Precept to live And As a Promise of Life First as a precept of Living after turning And secondly Dr. Donne Seâ—m 7. on the Nativity as a promise after both As a Precept enjoyning the Life of Grace and as a Promise of enjoying the Life of Glory As a Precept requiring a Spiritual life which is the life of life And as a Promise of requiting it with Life Eternal which is as One calls it the Exaltation of Life Spiritual Yea the Promise is not only of enjoying the Life of Glory with the Glory of Life hereafter But of enjoying the Life of Grace here with the Grace of Life here also Turn your selves and live here Turn your selves and live hereafter The promise is of the lesse saâ—vation as well as of the greater and no lesse of the greater then of the lesse Temporal life may be prolonged and Eternal life may be procured by that Turning here required Eternal judgments may be prevented and temporal judgments may be diverted or turned away by turning here according to the Text. Wherefore turn your selves and live ye Wherefore is a Note of Inference and it doth referre the Text to that which goes before it Now here to take in that before it which relateth chiefly to it we must take our rist at the Verse before it And in that we may note two things very considerable 1. An Exhortation 2. An Expostulation The Exhortation is very passionate The Expostulation very compassionate The first in these words Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a a new heart and a new spirit The second in these words For why will ye die O house of Israel The first is moving but the second urging Expostulatio pungit A zealous Exppostulation doth infuse the spirit of Compunction it hath the quickest touch of any kind of speech it often toucheth to the quick And God himself doth here expostulate the cause with dying Sinners to make them sensible of their dangers and to quicken them in their seeking of deliverance First he exhorts them to forsake their sinnes to save their soules And then seeing his Exhortation to work but little upon them though it were pathetical and paraenetical He falls to expostulate the reason with them For why will ye die As if he should have said If ye will but cast away your sinnes from you ye shall not be cast away for your sinnes But if ye will not ye must If ye will not leave them whilest ye live ye must die for them whether ye will or no and they must leave you when ye die Why will ye die Why will ye As much as to say I must needs demand the reason or ask the cause of you in whom the Provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands and I will doe you no hurt Jer. 25. 6. cause of dying is Ye die because ye will die Why will ye die As much as to say I would not have you die it is not meerly from my will that ye die but from your own Doe not say then that ye must needs die because I will have ye die and that I will have ye die because I will I have no such will I would have you live and therefore have exhorted you and intreated you again and again to turn from your evil wayes the wayes of sinne which are the wayes of death And I have promised to you that if ye will repent iniquity ver 30. shall not be your ruine And my meaning is very sincere and real I will be as good as my promise if ye will be but as good as I desire you And because I see mine Exhortation to be neglected of you therfore do I come thus home unto you with an Expostulation to make you sensible of your fault and folly and to make you see that the cause of death is in your selves in your own wills or rather in your wilfulnesse Ye will die Why will ye die Ye will do that for which ye must die Ye will needs sinne to die for it Ye will not avoid it by resisting the Temptation nor make it void by repenting of it and therefore ye must die for it For the wages of sinne is death I must needs say unto you Why will ye die Why will ye not return and live Why will ye not be perswaded why not intreated why not commanded Why can no means no mercies no promises no threatenings prevail with you Will ye sinne wilfully will ye die sinfully And yet will ye say that it is my will that ye should so doe and so die Ye do that which is quite against my mind against my Word which is my will If ye die then thank your selves for all your sufferings or rather blame your selves for all your sinnes Let this then serve as a Caveat to every Sinner to admonish him to take good heed that he doth not charge God foolishly and falsely with the impulsive and originall cause of his eternal death Nefas est Deo ascribere causas peccatorum ruinarum omnium saith S. Austine It is a funerious crime S. Aug. Resp. ad articulos sibi false impositos to fasten the cause of all evils upon
God himselfe Let no man therefore say that he must needs sin unto death and die in sinne because it is Gods will and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or good Or had I not rather that he should be converted from his evil wayes and live Diodat pleasure that it should be so for God himself doth say the contrary and that with a kind of indignation For saith he have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die and not that he should return from his wayes and live v. 23. His Interrogation does import a vehement Negation In saying Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should dy He sayes as much as I have no pleasure at all that the wicked should die And so he saies very positively in the words before the Text. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth So far he is from taking Nolo mortem morientis quantum ut convertatur vivat Pamelius in Tertull. de Paeniten pleasure in the death of Penitent sinners that the death of Impenitent sinners is no pleasure to him He hath no pleasure in the death of such as dye naturally in their sinnes or for their not repenting of their sinnes before they die I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth If ye dy then the fault 's your own It is your wilfulnesse in sinning or your unwillingnesse to repent you of your sinning Ye will not be perswaded to forsake your sinnes before ye dye and therefore ye must needs die and suffer for their sakes Perditio tua ex te O Israel thy destruction is of thy self saith God Hos 13. 9. The same may be said to any damned soule or dying sinner The Lord is very desirous to clear himself from all aspersions in this particular and therefore does not onely say it but swear it too that he would not the death of the wicked As I live is an Oath and a great one too Yet God himself doth take it to attest this Truth As I live saith the â—cut verum est quod sum vita per essentiam it a verum est quod nolo mortem impii c. Nicho. de Lyra ad locum Psal 89. 35. Gen. 17. 1. Luke 1. 73. Numb 20. 12. Exod. 14. 11. Psal 50. 21. Ezek. 18. 25 29. Psal 78. 19 20 Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked But that the wicked turn from his evill way and live Ezek. 33. 11. For the Lord of life to say As I live is an oath by the life of the Lord. And that is as high an oath as can be invented Had he sworn by his Truth as he doth sometimes or by his Holinesse as he did to David or by his Omnipotencie as he did to Abraham his engagement had been very great But this by his Life is deemed greater for his Truth hath been questioned by divers and so hath his Holinesse and his Almighty Power hath been doubted of by as many But who did ever question his Life Now it is his very Life that he doth engage for the clearing of this Truth As I live saith the Lord c. He is the Living God And he is the God of the Living not of the Dead And therefore would not have the wicked Die Matth. 22. 32. Tertull. l. de Paenit but Live And this he sweareth by his Life that we might believe him Jurat Deus cupit sibi credi saith Tertullian When God doth swear we must believe him for he swears to be believed Ideirco jurat saith St. Hierome ut si non credimus Deo S. Hieron To. 2. Epist 46. promitteâ—â—i credamus saltem pro salute juranti God therefore swears that we may believe him upon his oath when we Magnum est loquâ— domâ—num quanto magis jurare Deum St. August in Psal 49. will not believe him upon his word It is much for God to speak but more to swear By speaking a word he made the World for he did but speak the word and it was made But he that could create the World with a Word could not be credited in the World upon his Word and therefore was forced to binde it with an Oath Now though we doe not believe him upon his Word yet let us believe him upon his Oath We may believe his bare Word for it is the God of Truth Deutr. 32. 4. Isai 65. 16. that speaketh in his Word and it is nothing but the Truth of God which is spoken We will believe an honest man upon his word and shall we not believe the most holy God Durum est It is very hard if we shall not give as much credit to God as we do to an honest man as saith Vincentius very divinely Gen. 3. 4. Durum est cum non tantum tribuamus Deo quantum diabolo Vincent An non hac ratione Deum in animo tuo perstringis mendacii qui verbo quidem dicat te velle servare c. interim tamen licet tu velis in Christum credere ipse tamen nolit Zanch. de natur Dei l. 5. Numb 23. 19. Rom. 3. 4. 2 Cor. 1. 20. Hebr. 6. 18. 1 John 3. 3. Our first Parents believed the father of lyes when he did but say ye shall not surely die And shall not we believe the father of mercies the God of Truth when he does not onely say it but swear it too that he would not have us die He swears that he would not the death of the wicked And shall we still say that he would their death Or that he would have them wicked that so they might die Absit absit God forbid that we should harbour such a thought of our most holy God! The truth is Gods Word in it self is as sure as his Oath for he is not a man that he should lie Let God be true and every man a lyar All his promises are yea and in him amen Heaven and Earth shall passe away but not one tittle of his word shall faile So that for the certainty of what he speaketh there needs no such religious Contestations Yet for our sakes the Oath of God is added to his Word that we might thereby have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strong consolation That we might believe a possibility of repenting And a probability yea an infallibility of Pardon upon our repentance That we might have hopes of life and purge our selves upon our hopes Debile fundamentum fallit opus A weak foundation Nemo potest bene agere paenitentiam nisi qui speraverit indulgentiam St. Ambr. de Paenit dist 1. cap. Nem. fails the building But here is a sure foundation for us to build our hopes upon as high as heaven Dei juramentum eâ—â— fideâ— nostrae fundamentum Gods oath may surely ground us in our holy faith Doth he swear it O then let us believe it O beatos nos quorum causa jurat Deus O miserrimos si nec
is a signal Conquest for a Man of a fiery Spirit to suppresse his Anger It is with Hercules to conquer one of the furies of Hell It was but Inhumanely spoken by Vitellius upon the Death of Otho as he viewed the Carcasses on the place where they fought the Battail O how sweet a perfume is a dead Enemie But it may be Divinely spoken by one that hath Conquered himselfe or Mortified his sinfull affections O what a savor of life unto life is the Death of such a Mortal sinne Such a bosome Enemy The Sinnes of every Man are every Mans greatest Enemies And the Kingdomes greatest Enemies are the greatest sins of the Kingdome I have been ever more afraid of the Sins of this our Nation then of any Souldiers from forreigne Nations Great talking there hath been of Danish Fleets and other Out-landish Forces But we have more cause to fear our Sea-mens sinnes and the sinnes of our owne Land If God be for us who can be against us And he will be for us if our sins be not against him but our Rom. 8. 31. sinnes are all against him and for their sakes he is against us Were it not for them we need not feare any Danish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St Chrysost Nemo leditur nisi à seipso Fleets or Spanish Armados or Turkish Navies nor all the Pyrates and Powers of Hell We have most cause then to be afraid of our selves to feare our owne sinnes Every Man may well pray as some of old were wont to do Ame Domine serva me Lord save me from my selfe In the Common Prayers when the Minister said Give peace in our time O Lord the People were wont to answer Because there is none other that fighteth for us but onely thou O. God A very strange Reply but not more strange then true for true it is that it is God alone that fighteth for us The Devill he fighteth against us The World that fighteth against us And the Flesh as much as either of both So that we our selves are enemies Quo sugiam poenitendo nisi ad ejus misericordiam cujus potestatem contempseram peccando Tertul. to our selves and fight against our selves And so may fitly pray Lord save us from our selves Now there is no way for us to save our selves from our selves but by turning of our selves to him that fighteth for us Wherefore turne your selves But it is not every turning that will serve the turne There is ease indeed to be had by this turning but this turning is not to be had with ease It is not turning with the Time nor turning to the Time that can turne the Time No but our turning of our selves in time from the sinnes of the Time God himselfe will turne unto our side and When a mans wayes please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him Prov. 16. 7. make us all to turne unto one side or rather turne away all this siding would men on all sides but turne themselves to him Wherefore turne your selves And how ever the Times turne this way and that way backward and foreward Yet let not us turn meer Cameleons in Religion as if we had no colour for it but what we borrow of those which are nearest to us Neither let us be turned about like Weather-cocks with every Wind of New Doctrine Let us not turne and turne and turne with every Polypus and every Proteus and every fantastical Changeling which turne to every new Religion Proteo mutabilior Eras Adag untill they have no Religion left to turne unto Turne not with them that are ever turning their old Religions out of themselves untill they have turned all Religion out of themselves and themselves out of all Religion There need but these two moving in our turning of our selves 1. Downwards 2. Vpwards First Downwards by Mortification Secondly Upwards by Vivification Downwards by a Death unto sinne Upwards by a New Birth unto Righteousnesse Downwards by an Humiliation Upwards by a Reformation And if we thus draw nigh to God he will draw nigh to us He will return to us with much Compassion towards our soules if Jam. 4. 8. Zach. 1. 3. we will turne to him with true Compunction for our sinnes He will be displeased with us for our sinnes till we be displeased with our selves for them For he can never take pleasure in us so long as we take pleasure in that which is so displeasing as sinne is unto him But when we are displeased with sinne in our selves then he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menand Hug. Cardin. l. 3 de Myster Ecclesiast pleased with us When we condemne our selves for sinning so against him we save him a labour we prevent him for condemning of us Paenitentia quasipâ—nientia saith Hugo Cardinalis True Penitency is a punishing of sinne in our selves to save our selves from Gods punishments For God will not for ever punish that which hath been once punished Poenitentia est quaedam doloris vindicta puniens in se quod se dolet commisisse St August Poenitentia quasi paenae tentio Guido de Monte Rocherii in Manipulo Curatorum God hath promised Remission of sinne to those that have Contrition for sinne At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sinne from the bottome of his heart I will put all his wickednesse out of my remembrance saith the Lord. But observe it well He that hath promised to pardon a sinner at what time soever he doth turne himselfe or truly repent him of his sinnes doth not promise that he shall repent or turne whensoever he will We cannot repent when we would therefore let us repent when we can We are not sure of time hereafter therefore let us take the present Repentance is a due debt and there is no longer day given in the Bond and therefore the payment must be presently And that 's the third Conclusion We must all turn our selves without delay Therefore also now saith the Lord Turne ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning Joel 2. 12. As it is never too late to amend so it is never Nâ—m sera nunquam est ad bonos more 's via Seneca Tragaed 8. too soon to be good Better late then never but the sooner the better They do well that do amend though it be at the very last But they better that amend sooner And they best of all that amend first of all The sooner men be good the easier it is unto them to grow better And the later they amend the harder it is unto them to grow better or continue good At this time there are many who might by this time have been better then they are had they been good but sooner then they were And would by this time have been worse then ever they were had they not grown better then they were untill this time The evill
id incertum an ipso die Cicero de Senectute Mat. 28. 5 6. Mark 16. 6. Acts 2. 24 25. Rev. 1. 18. Rom. 1. 1. or alive we cannot say And that we shall all die we all know But how many here amongst us all are now both dead and alive together God knowes Indeed S. Paul was so He was both dead and alive indeed and so may some here be But it may be all here are not so Saint Pauls Condition was never Common Our Lord and Saviour dyed once and lived againe But his Servant Paul was dead and alive at once The Lord of life our Saviour Christ was crucified for Paul and lost his life But Paul the Servant of Christ was crucified with Christ his Lord and lived neverthelesse Some men have lived here the lesse by being crucified for Gal. 2. 7. Linus Episcopus de passione Petri. Eusebius Pamphil Ecclesi Histor lib. 2. 25. Christ But others much the more for being crucified with Christ The great Apostle of the Jewes was crucified for Christ and dyed But the great Apostle of the Gentiles was crucified with Christ and lived The Crosse of Christ did bring that one to death but not this other It brought Death to Saint Peter but life unto Saint Paul It can bring life as well as death It giveth life sometimes and sometimes it taketh life away It taketh life away sometimes that it may give it It taketh one away to give another It taketh this away to give a better And sometimes it kills and saves alive together It can doe both at Severall times and it can doe both at once It can doe both to severall men and it can doe both to one It can doe both by severall wayes and it can doe both by one sometimes it bringeth Life with Death and sometimes after Death it bringeth Life With the Death of sinne it brings the Life of Grace And after the Death of Nature it brings the Life of Glory True it is that the End of Life is ever by Death And yet it is as true that Death is not ever at the end of Life The Apostle dyed before his life was ended In the midst of Death a Man may be in Life And in the midst Life a Man may be in Death 1 Cor. 15. 31. I dye dayly sayd this Apostle when as yet he lived He had both Life and Death together in him He was in Death and Life at once A living dead man vivus crucifixus Crucifi'd with Christ and yet alive I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ c. This Text you see is full of turnings The Apostles Conversion is the Subject of it and well may it be the Subject of many conversions to quicken my discourse upon it Would my discourse upon it might quicken as many Conversions by it Now the Chiefe Considerables in it are these two 1. A Contradiction in Seeme 2. A Reconciliation in Substance In the first we have a Riddle Propounded In the Second we have the Riddle Expounded And in both together we may both Read the Riddle and the Reading of the Riddle I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live there 's the Riddle Yet not I but Christ that liveth in me there 's the Reading of the Riddle In the Riddle there are two Remarkables 1. The Mannr of it 2. The Matter in it It is the Manner of it that makes it seem so intricate a Riddle as indeed it is for it is proposed in a seeming Contradiction First the Apostle sayes that he is crucified with Christ and thereby seemes to say as much as that he is not living but dead For Christ was crucified to Death And then he sayes that he is neverthelesse alive and thereby seemes to say and sayes it in more then seemes that he is not dead but living Now thus to say it and to unsay it is to make a contradiction of it at least in seeme It is to speak a Paradox in it And all Paradoxes are admirable Propositions saith the Romane Oratour And this Text for a Paradox is as admirable as any other Every Riddle hath something mysticall in it But this Paradoxicall Riddle is a very mystery Yea whole Armies of Mysteries do keep their Randezvous within the quarters of this grand Paradox I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live And for the Matter in it it could not be more clearely expressed then it is by this very Manner of expression The Subject matter of it is S. Pauls Regeneration And that 's a matter very Mysterious It is mirabile magnum as Musculus calls it a John 3. 1. great Wonder When our Saviour first propounded the Doctrine of Regeneration to Master Nicodemus that great Ruler of the 3. Jewes and Master in Israel 10. it seemed a very Riddle to him and such a Riddle as he neither apprehended nor beleeved And therefore his Reply was not by unriddling but rejecting of it with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How can these things be It did so 9. puzle his Reason and so perplex his Faith that it seemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing impossible a thing incredible though it were proposed by Truth it selfe in the plainest Dialect of the Gospell John 14. 6. What would it have done if it had beene lapped up in Aenigmaticall Language like this of Saint Paul How would Rationis humanae in mysteriis regni dei caecitas in Nicodemo apparet cui omnia ista quae de regeneratione proponuntur absurda apparent Theodoricus in Analys Evangel Domin Trinit 1 Cor. 15. 45. it have posed his Mastership had it beene proposed in the Wonderment of a Riddle or seeming contradiction Yet in this Seeming Contradiction we may plainely see the parts of Saint Pauls Conversion and in that the parts of a perfect Regeneration The first part is Mortification The second is Vivification The first is a Death unto Sinne The Second is a New Birth â—nto Sanctimonie The first is the killing of the first Adam The Second is the Quickning of the Second in him I am crucified with Christ there 's his Mortification His Death unto sinne The killing of the first Adam in him Neverthelesse I live there 's his Vivification His New Birth unto Righteousnesse The quickning of the Second Adam I an crucified with Christ there 's his putting off of the Old Man which Ephes 4. 22. is corrupt concerning the former Conversation Neverthelesse I live there 's the putting on of the New-Man which after God â—â— Ephes 4. 24. created in righteousnesse and true holinesse I am crucified 〈◊〉 Christ there 's the Mortifying of the flesh The members upon the Coloss 3. 5. Rom. 8. 13. 4. Earth The deedes of the Body Neverthelesse I live there 's the Quickning of the Spirit The walking after the Spirit The life of righteousnesse by the Spirit for the spirit is life because of righteousnesse Rom. 8. 10. I am
love and to the Head by faith must needs be sensible of the sufferings of the 1 Cor. 12. 26 27. Head Whereas one member suffers all the members suffer with it by way or sympathy and therefore surely when as the Head suffers which is the fountaine of sense there must needs be a Catholike Compassion in all the Members Those are not living Members of Christs Mysticall Body that do not sympathize with him in the biternesse of his passion The very Remembrance of his grievous sufferings upon the Crosse for their sakes does make make them grieve for his sake And that 's their first Concrucifixion Now the second followes this and is twofold 1. Mysticall 2. Morall And the first of these is in the Sacrament of Baptisme For that Christens a man and makes him a member of Christ So many as are baptized into Christ they put on Christ And they put Galat. 3. 27. on Christ crucified that put him on by baptizme It is into the Death of Christ that they are Baptised And the Death of Christ was upon the Crosse by crucifixion And this laver of Signum est exhibitivum Regeneration the Sacrament of Baptisme does both signe and seale the Benefits of Christs crucifixion to a Christian And from this sacramentall or mysticall concrucifixion must we all derive that concrucifixion which is Morall And the Morall Concrucifixion does Crowne the Mysticall The Sacrament of Baptisme does begin the life of Christianity but it is the Christianity of life that does compleate a Christian and fits him for the Crowne of life Non quaeritur in Christianis S. Gregor l. 28. Moral initium sed finis saith S. Gregory The initiation of Christianity in any man is nothing so remarkable as the consummation of it Alas what is it to begin to be a Christian unlesse a man goes on to the perfection of Christianity I meane what profit is it to be baptized into Christ unlesse a man does live like a Christian Quid enim tibi prodect vocari quod non es nomen usurpare alienum sed si Christianum te esse delectat quae Christianitatis sunt gere S. August de doctrinâ Christianâ What benefit can there be in putting on of Christ by Baptisme unlesse we keepe him on in our lives and weare him in our Conversations Christiani nomen ille frustra sortitur qui Christum minimè imitatur saith S. Austine It s a frivolous thing to be a Nominall and not a Reall Christian to have the Name of a Christian and not be a follower of Christ Christianus à Christo A man is called a Christian from Christ whose follower he professes himselfe to be as those Disciples did which were first called so at Antioch Act. 11. 26. But those men bely A Christo Christiani â—umus â—uncupamur Athan. Orat. 2. contr Arian Gregor Nyss de profes Christianor S. Cypr. de 12. abusionib Greg. Naz. in Orat. funebri de S. Basilio the Name of Christ saith Gregory Nyssen that doe nor make their practice of Christianity to answer their profession of it Nemo Christianus verè dicitur nisi qui Christo moribus pro ut valet coaequatur saith S. Cyprian No man is rightly called a Christian unlesse he followeth Christ in his moralls as neere as he can S. Basil the Great and Gregory the Divine that were like Twinnes of Devotion in the Service of the Church did both rejoyce that they both were and were called Christians The putting on of Christ by Baptisme does give the Name but it is the keeping of him on in our moralls that speakes us Christians indeed It is not enough therefore to be crucified with Christ in Baptisme onely Ecce baptizati sunt homines See saith Saint S. Aug. Ser. 16. de verb. Apost Austine men are baptized and thereby their sinnes be washed away yet still something remaines on their parts to be performed Restat lucta cum carne restat lucta cum diabolo restat lucta cum mundo still there remaineth many Combates to Revel 2. 10. Mysterium hoc geritur in Christianis sacramentaliter efficaciter Sacramentaliter in Baptismo efficaciter in ipsa veteris nostri hominis mortificatione vitae novitate Musculus Dicendo simul cum Christo crucifixus sum Baptismum tecte significat diâ—â—do Vivo autem jam non ego sequemeÌ„ vitae rationeÌ„ significat per quam mortificantur membra S. Chrys in loc be maintained against our Ghostly Enemies the world the flesh and the Devil And indeed every Christian is engaged by his Baptisme to bid defiance unto these and to fight against them under the Banner of Christs Crosse to the utmost of his life We must be faithfull unto Death or never expect the Crowne of life Thus is this Mysterie begun and carried on in all true Christians as Saint Chrysostome hath observed and after him Theophilact and Musculus after both It begins in Baptisme and must be carried on in our lives It is this Morall concrucifixion that God expecteth and rewardeth But this is not easily and quickly finished Hic labor hoc opus it requires our greatest care and diligence to crucifie our selves with Christ in our lives This part of Christianisme is the hardest task that our Master Christ hath imposed upon us as his Disciples It is a worke that must be done so long as we live for that so long as we live we must never thinke we have done it But what is it that makes it so hard to be done there are many things that doe encrease the difficulty of it The first is that innate power or naturall strength that the Body of sinne hath in our Mortall Bodies I delight in the law Semper in nobis dum vivimus peccati Adami noÌ„nullae reliquiae manent Si enim ista semina sic omnino clui possit ut nullae in nobis restarent sordes vitiorum nec Paulus de legâ— membrorum mortisque corpore conquestus fuisset nec nos assidua spiritus renovatione opus haberemus Whitak â—â— 1. li. 8. of God after the inward man saith this Apostle But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the law of sinne which is in my members Rom. 7. 22 23. See here was law against law and members against minde in Paul himselfe The corrupted Principles of Nature opposing the reformed and refined Principles of Grace and somtimes prevailing to the conquering to the captivating of this great Apostle and compelling him to cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver â—â— from the body of this death Rom. 7. 24. Though man be renewed in his mind by the law of Grace or the Grace of the New man yet the Old man is still in him and the old man in him hath the law of Nature or the law of the Members on his side and the
Nature of that law is not easily overcome so soone as wee begin to kill or crucifie the old man in our bodies he presently layes the law to us and pleads the law of Nature against us and so makes us very remisse and it may be lay aside our work of morall Concrucifixion There was peccatum habitans sinne dwelling in Rom. 7. 15 16 17 18 19 20. Concupiscentia in renatis est peccatum Daven Determ Quaest pr. Paul himselfe and that sinne made him doe the evill which he hated and made him leave und one the good he greatly desired Such sin there is in every man though he be regenerate and that sinne in him does make his Concrucifixion very difficult The Second thing that greatens the difficulty of it is the Old mans easie Recovering or his speedy Recruting of his forces within us when we thinke we have so farre worsted them as that they must needs yeeld It is storyed of the Giant Antaeus Antaeus gigas ex terrae filiis cum Hercule congrediâ—â—s ut deprehensus est ex telluris tactu vires excrescere Volatera Paralipom Nat. Comes Mytholog l. 7. c. 1. 1 Cor. 15. 47. the sonne of Neptune by the Earth that when ever his strength began to faile him tactu terrae recreabatur it was recruted or renewed by his touching of the Earth And this made it so hard for Hercules to overcome and kill him Natales Comes seekes to verifie this fable by other allusions but it is most true of the Body of sinne which is indeed Terrae filius The sonne of the Earthie part which is in Man The Old man is of the Earth Earthie And sinne is the Sonne of the Old Man and like the Giant Antaeus it reneweth strength by touching of Earth and Earthly things which maketh it so hard a matter for the Body of sinne to be Mortified by us so long as we have our Conversations upon the Earth I remember a story which I have read in Neubrigensis it is Q ippe ex Alienora quondam Francorum Regina susceptis 4 siliis Henricum natu majorem Regni Anglici Ducatus Normanici cum Andegavensi Comitatu successorem relinqâ—cre Richardum vero Aquitaniae Galfridum Britanniae praesicere cogitabat quartum natu minimum Joannem sine terra cognominans c. Gulielm Neubrigen lib. 2. c. 18. of King Henry the Second who having bequeathed no Land of inheritance to John his fourth and youngest Sonne by Queene Elinor surnamed him Johannem sine terra John without Earth or Land to live upon It was his Fathers Pleasure so to deale with him and so to miscall him He wanted such a portion of Earth without him as was given by his Father to his other Brothers but he wanted not his portion of Earth within him He had the inheritance of an earthie part in his Mortall Body derived from the Old man in his Father He was not Johannes sine terra in respect of the body of sinne he was of the Earth Earthy and so is every man living upon the Earth and the Earth within us doth strengthen sinagainst us and makes it very hard for us to crucifie it in us A Third thing that makes our Mortification difficult is the Time that the Old Man in us must have to dye in He must needs dye a lingring death for he must be dying all the dayes of our Naturall life Those two Malefactours that were crucified corporally when Christ was had lingring Deaths yea so long they were in dying that the Souldiers had Orders given them to breake their legs for the hastening of their Deaths And he that begins to crucifie the Old Man in himselfe shall finde him so loath to dye and so long in dying that new violences must be offered to him to make him yeeld The fastening of him to the Crosse does make him sick and the breaking of his legs does make him weak Yet will he not dye so long as the man does live nor wholly yeeld to the spirituall man untill that ye yeelds up his spirit The nature of this mysticall death does differ much from the death of Nature this is mors sine morte a death without death That may be a lingring death sometimes but this is ever a living death a death in life It is Martyrium vivum as Tertullian phraseth it a living Martyrdome a killing of the flesh and a leaving of the man alive Martyrium sine sanguine S. Bern. inter Sententias saith S. Bernard A Martyrdome without any Bloudshed a Mortifying of the Body without killing of it Other Martyrdoms Duo sunt Martyrii genera unum in habitu alterum in actu c. Pâ—imasius in c. 7. in c. 11. Apocalyp Josua 9. 21. Carranza in Sum. Concilior Apostolor Canon 23 24. Concil Nicaen Can. 1. Concil Arelaten Can. 7. are either in Minde or Body this is in both without the destruction of either A man may Mortifie his members with S. Paul without cutting of them off with Origen Gods people the Israelites did not kill those enemies of theirs the Gibeonites but brought them into subjection and made them serviceable And such as are godly people need not destroy their bodies or their affections naturall but subdue them and make them spirituall and serviceable Thus much the Apostle intimated to the Romanes in saying As ye have yeelded your members servants to uncleannesse and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yeeld your members servants to righteousnesse unto holinesse Rom. 6. 19. Where observe that they still be members and still yours your members and still servants but not still in servitude to the same masters Their masters are newed and so is the manner of their service This Morall Concrucifixion may consist with Naturall Conservation This Mortification is not meant of the Common Death of Man saith Saint Chrysostome and S. Chrys Theophil in locum Quos Deus mortificat affligit postea vivificat Mendoza in lib. 1. Regum Tom. 1. after him Theophilact but of a Death unto sinne And with this Mortification of the Old man there must ever be the Vivification of the New man I am Crucified with Christ neverthelesse I live There is life with Death yea life by it When the Naturall Man beginnes to live then hee beginnes to die and when the Spirituall Man beginnes to die then hee begins to live Mans first Birth leads him unto Death His second lets him into Life Hee is borne at first to die But borne againe to live It is the beginning of Misery to be borne once But the beginning of Felicity to be borne againe The first Birth onely lets man into Naturall life and into that but onely for a time and that time but a short one too But the second Birth does let life into Man and that a Spirituall life and that 's the Pledge and Meanes of life eternall It is the Nature of mans first life to give him onely the