immortal And as the nature so the desires of the Soul are unsatisfied here the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing nor the understanding with knowledg nor the heart with the best and choicest delights of it We are soon wearied and tir'd with what we have and are as thirsty of that we have not In our plenty as craving as others in their greatest wants The goods of this world are Hydropick all quo plus bibuntur plus sitiuntur They that have the greatest share and portion in them of Wealth of Honour of Power do not sleep the better nor are their bodies less comber'd with diseases nor their minds freer from vexations and troubles And therefore as the Saints I nam'd before did by what they willingly suffer'd here shew plainly that they sought another Countrey so by this is shewn as plainly that they had cause to do so Now here lies the fatal necessity of erring they seek a Countrey and City that is invisible and unknown to nature either what the state of that Countrey is or by what laws the Citizens thereof are to be govern'd And when we walk in the dark it is not strange we should lose our way A chief part of that way lies first in the knowledg and worship of that God who had prepar'd for them a City by what Sacrifices Rites and Ceremonies he will be serv'd How much of that may be had by nature we learn by those who were most likely to know but did not who were the masters of knowledge to most other Nations Rom. 1. for of such S. Paaul speaks Rom. 1. Who when they profess'd themselves to be wise as well they might in many other things yet in this of Gods worship they became fools For they turned the glory of the uncorruptible God Rom. 1.23 into the similitude and image of corruptible Man and of birds and four footed beasts and of creeping things The right way of worshipping God since reveal'd to us to be by Jesus Christ was not only unknown to them but to those to whom God had more peculiarly imparted himself Ephes 3.5 The mysterie of Christ Ephes 3.5 in other ages was not made known to the Sons of men untill he was reveal'd unto his holy Apostles and Prophets by his Spirit Yea it was unknown to the very Angels who when it was first reveal'd in a kind of admiration and curiosity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.12 desir'd to look the word signifies earnestly to pry into And that which the Angels of Heaven did not know certainly the sons of men could not The other part of the way to that heavenly Countrey in which we may naturally seem to have some skill the way of vertue that is in the stile of Scripture Tit. 2.12 to live godly righteously and soberly in this present world appeared to the very Heathen to be the only way to happiness Yet these natural impressions were so dim and imperfect both through Originaly corruption and the over-ruling power of passion and lust that of those things they knew they held the truth in unrighteousness even to the very perverting of the course of nature as the Apostle observes of them in the same place Rom. 1. Rom. 1. Besides many vertues they knew not which are the glory of Christianity as Humility Denying our selves Taking up the Cross Forgiving and Loving our enemies in their eyes looked more like follies then vertues and so they would have done in ours too if we had had no better guide then our selves to lead us By this we may see the necessity we have of Leading let us now see the accommodation we have for it in the Leader Our blessed Lord Jesus Christ a person every way fitted for the purpose both for his skill and good will He knew best the Heavenly Countrey whither we are going and the way to it for he came from thence from the bosom of his Father And for his good will to his own we cannot doubt they are the Sheep which he had purchased with his blood and by that had a just title to govern in what Lordly way of Secular domination he pleased yet chose that easie gentle way as Shepherds use to lead their Sheep And such he professed himself to be John 10.11 I am the good Shepherd the good Shepherd giveth his life for the Sheep and He made it good in every point while he was upon carth He went about doing good preaching the Gospel healing the diseases of the Sheep forgiving their sins till he came to the last and hardest work of a good Shepherd He laid down his life for his Sheep Yet his Pastoral care died not with him As he was a Priest for ever so he was a Shepherd for ever for after he had in person ascended into Heaven he took care for his flock that he left behind Him that they might not be as Sheep without a Shepherd And from thence gave gifts unto men some Apostles some Prophets Ephes 4. some Pastors and Teachers c. to continue still his Pastoral charge upon earth and they were the same persons which before he went he had designed for it and for the same reason that the Father sent Him Mat. 15.24 to seek and save the Sheep that were lost as appears in the preamble to the commission given to the Apostles Mat. 9.36 Mat. 9.36 When he saw the multitude he had compassion on them because they were dispersed and scattered abroad like Sheep having no Shepherd This commission indeed was only to the lost Sheep of the house of Israel while he was alive but when he rose again from the dead He renewed and enlarged it to the lost Sheep of all the world Mat. â—8 1â— Go and teach all Nations And as he assigned the persons sicut misit me Pater As the Father sent me so send I you Joh. 20.21 He Instituted likewise the office it self in all the points and parts of it 1. Go and teach all Nations baptizing Mat. 2â— 1â— c. there he gave the power of preaching and baptizing 2. He commands a perpetual memorial of his death in the Sacrament of his blessed body and blood Hoc facite 1 Cor. 11.24 c. 3. He gave them at the same time the power of the Keyes Joh. 20.23 Whose sins ye remit they are remitted c. 4. And before that in case of contumacy he gave power to excommunicate offenders If he will not hear the Church Mat. 18.17 let him be as a heathen and publican 5. He ordered them how and what to pray When ye pray say Mat. â— 9â— c. 6. He gave them power and jurisdiction over false Shepherds to expel them from the flock Mat. 7.19 Beware of false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly are ravening VVolves These and the like are the parts of the Shepherds office And to all
have the Reason why all this Therefore and that sends us back to the Twelfth Verse Wherefore Jesus that he might sanctifie the people by his Blood suffered without the Gate That he suffered for us and that he suffered without the Gate are the reasons why by him and why of us By him because by the sacrificing of himself he made our peace with God By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God for it And why of us Because he suffered without the Gate whither the Jews that were within the Gate must go out and follow him in the next Verse leaving their City and Sanctuary And we the Gentiles that are without the Gate already may find him in our own Territories that so both Jew and Gentile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyntly together as the word imports May confess to the honour of his Name And as Therefore carries in it the reason of our duty so it doth in that same accommodation it hath to the time For this is Passion Sunday and why so called we learn from Rupertus and others because the Jews on this day met together to consult of and contrive the death of our Lord which not many days after they effected It will not be fit I confess for that reason to anticipate the Meditations proper to that Solemnity Yet as now the Passion was in preparation and conception by them it will be so far a keeping of time with it if we also now shall prepare a Sacrifice of praise for it that we may be fit then to honor God by confessing to his Name the wonderful mercies and unspeakable benefits we receive by the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord. By him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is the Fruit of our lips confessing to his Name And that we may the better perform our Sacrifice of Praise Let us by him also offer a Sacrifice of Prayer c. THat we are to offer a SACRIFICE to God is here so plainly enjoyned and so punctually described both for matter and manner in every circumstance that one would think it strange it should be neglected and more strange it should be contemned by any But for our selves if we would be clear in this matter as every good man should desire to be it is fit we call our selves to account when and how we perform it The Ancient and Primitive Church of whom this may best be learned did in conscience of their duty herein compose several Liturgies that by them they might have a Publick daily Sacrifice for the honor and worship of God as that of St. James at Jerusalem St. Marks at Alexandria after that St. Chrysostoms at Antioch St. Basils at Caesaria St. Gregories at Rome and indeed there was no Church without one They that wrote Apologies for the Christians being of the Heathen accused of Atheism because they were never seen to offer sacrifice to the Gods for answer to that had recourse to this Sacrifice of Praise in the Text. The Copies of those Ancient Liturgies as they come now to our hands have no doubt suffered the fate of time that is some changes by which the preposterous zeal of some hath overcharged them with numerous and sometimes superstitious Additions yet the substance and intendment of them was to perform this duty And therefore our Church that never was of the mind to fling away Chaff and Corn both at once That they might not want what all Churches ever had so ordered our Liturgie that by it we might with safety and true devotion daily Sacrifice to the praise and honor of God Wherein they have followed not only the Precept but Patern also from this Text as by a short parallel between them may visibly appear as first The Text calls us to a Sacrifice and the Liturgie is that Sacrifice Antioch was the place where Christs Disciples were first called Christians and Antioch is the place where the Christian Service is first called a Liturgie Acts 13. We find the Disciples met together at their Liturgie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 2. which we translate Fasting and Ministring to the Lord for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a Publick Ministration to which the word used by the Church fits well calling it Common Prayer and is so expounded by St. Luke himself in the next Verse VVhen they had Fasted and Prayed Verse 3. This Liturgie or Ministring to God must needs be in something for His honor and service which is properly a Sacrifice Secondly As it is a Sacrifice to God so to none but God We call it Divine Service and so we use it No Creature Saint or Angel hath any part in it as in some they have Praise them we may for the good service they have done the Church but offer a Sacrifice of Praise we may not It was never heard saith St. Augustine Offero tibi Sacrificium Petre or Paule or Cypriane And though the invocation of them simply be not a Sacrifice yet it is such when used in Divine Service in the place of one And that it is not heard in our Liturgie it is no doubt with their good leave and liking too The Angel Rev. 19. will answer for that Order When St. John would have worshipp'd him Do it not says he I am your fellow servant And the Apostles Paul and Barnabas for their Order when the men of Lystra would have sacrificed to them they cried out Sirs why do you these things Acts 14.15 we also are men of the like Passions with you That they are Gods friends intitles them to no more than a place in his Court to do him service not in his Throne to receive any And therefore that honor which God hath not given to another we have not given to them in our Liturgie Thirdly The Sacrifice of the Text is Eucharistical a Sacrifice of Praise and so is our Liturgie We pretend to no expiation or satisfaction for sins either of quick or dead We owe that to a better Sacrifice The price of Redemption is greater than any service we can do It cost more to redeem our souls we must let that alone for ever and therefore in the Liturgie our Sacrifice is set to no higher key than VVe praise thee O God c. Psal 49. Fourthly In every Sacrifice there must be something offered and that in the Text is the fruit of our Lips For though the Root of this and every good service must be in the heart yet the fruit must sprout outwardly in the lips For though a vertue may sometimes be accomplished in the heart only yet neither this nor Prayer it self if private or mental only though otherwise of excellent use will amount to a Sacrifice till it come into the lips for no proper Sacrifice is invisible And therefore in our Liturgie as we pray that God would open our lips so we practise when we joyn with the Priest in the
be who must be allowed to hold special intelligence with God and by private illumination from the Spirit see clearer and farther into the darkest Mysteries than any of the Doctors or Rabbies They put me in mind of some though not the best sort of Creatures yet in the dark see better than others as the Owle the Cat and the Bat of which I have known Philosophers give this reason That rays of light do naturally stream from their eyes by which the Medium and Air about is inlightned This at best if there be any such is a light which none sees but themselves Now if those illuminated seers be such that their light is not where Gods Word should be in a Candlestick where it may be seen of all it is indeed no better than Owles light that shines only out of their own eyes A light in a Candlestick doth not only enlighten all the persons but all the parts also of the room every corner the darkest and most secret places it shines not only upon our cloaths and faces i. e. our outward fashion and demeanor but as God requireth truth in the inwards parts Psal 51.6 thither must the light go too to the most retired Closets and Cabinets within to the very thoughts and intentions of the heart It is sharper than any two-edged Sword that enters between the joynt and the marrow Heb. 4.12 Light will pierce through where no Sword can go at the least hole and crevise If all our actions of greatest secrecy receive not light and direction from Gods Word we do not set it in a Candlestick for there nothing is hid from the light thereof A Candle in a Candlestick as it gives light to every part of the room so it doth to all the work and business in it It shews not only the end of all eternal rest and happiness but is a light unto the paths that lead to it It holds us not only upon the gaze of the glory and joys of Heaven but carries us through the darker mysteries of faith and the more unpleasing ways of Repentance and Mortification The Gospel is not the power of God to salvation unless it be also the power of God upon all the steps and degrees to it In a Candlestick it is a light all over from one side of the room to the other Lastly From Gods Word in a Candlestick we do Totam lucem recipere take the benefit of the whole light in all the effects and operations of it It is a word of instruction a word of exhortation a word of comfort a word of reproof a word of promise and a word of command and so serves us in all our necessities It instructs the ignorant corrects the obstinate comforts the dejected dejects the proud quiets the passions invites by promises binds by commands If we pick and chuse lay hold on the word of consolation not of correction of promises not of commands We take the light as men do out of a dark Lanthorn from one side only no more than looks towards our private ends and interest But in a Candlestick the light dilates if self impartially in all the several powers of it there is no parcelling or dividing in that all or none we must totam lucem recipere So much difference we see there is between Gods Word in a Candlestick and under a Bushel and how much benefit comes by the one and how little by the other If we take not heed to this we fall into the common but dangerous error That when we have heard the Sermon we have done our duty for that time though we neither heed what or how we hear And yet according to that only Sermons are as St. Paul speaks of them in the person of the Preacher A savour of life or a savour of death As the evil servant was judg'd out of his own mouth so shall the careless hearer out of his own ears And more I could not say if I had more time It is that whereon life or death depends therefore Take heed what you hear THE Study of Quiet In two SERMONS Vpon the same TEXT Fitted to give an allay to the Heats of these Unquiet Distemper'd times In which are particularly conteyn'd necessary Instructions to the Student about Way and Means of attaining the fruit of his Study and setting him out of the danger and necessity of seeking it by the New device of COMPREHENSION London Printed 1668. A SERMON Preached before His Majesty at Whitehall March 12. 1664 5. 1 THESS 4.11 And that ye study to be quiet AND is a word that takes hold of something that went before without which the sense of that which follows is not full That which went next before is We beseech you to increase more and more We beseech you is that we are to take into the Text and then it runs thus We beseech you to study to be quiet But all the use I shall make of it now we have it here is but to give you a taste before-hand of the nature and quality of this duty That it is no trivial thing little to be regarded but that which obliged S. Paul Sylvanus and Timotheus for they all joyn'd in it to be so earnest as to beseech them to study to be quiet 2. And that which commends this duty the more is as we use to say Men are best known by the company they keep And brings in this Duty in the company of the best of Vertues Charity for that place S. Paul gives it above all Col. 3.14 Above all things put on Charity which is the bond of perfection To study to be quiet and to increase in brotherly love and charity for that led the way before are two duties bound together in the same Exhortation 3. Quiet is not only a fit companion for Charity but an Allie to it and grows out of it as the branch out of the stock for where brotherly love is there will be alwayes quiet too 4. To make all suit the better with Charity the Exhortation is advanced by a Dialect of Love VVe beseech you Paul Sylvanus and Timotheus were all Apostolical men and might command as S. Paul of himself in another case to Philemon Though I might be bold to enjoyn thee yet for loves sake I rather beseech you And lastly that which might very well set this edge upon their affections was that which happened to the Thessalonians at their first conversion for this Epistle was written immediately after The story we have in the 17. chap. of the Acts When S. Paul had preach'd the Gospel to them and with good success for v. 4. Some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Salas and of the devout Greeks a great multitude and of the chief women not a few But v. 5. The Jews who believed not moved with envy took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a company and set all the City in an uproar and assaulted