Supper They had Moses preacht in their Synagogues every Sabbath day so have we I speak like a fool we have more the Gospel interpreted or abused every Sabbath-day nay every day of the week I had almost said every hour of the day We are baptized with a Sermon and we are married with a Sermon and we are buried with a Sermon When we take our journey a Sermon is our farewell and when we return it is our welcome home If we feast a Sermon is the Grace before it If we sayl a Sermon must weigh ancor And if we fight a Sermon is the alarum to battel If we rejoyce we call to the Preacher to pipe to us that we may dance for many times we chuse our Preachers as we do our Musicians by the ear and phansie not by judgment And it must needs be a rare choice which a Woman and Ignorance makes and such an one is to us as a lovely song of one that hath a very pleasant voice And if we be in grief he must turn the key Ezek. 33.32 and change his note and mourn to as that we may lament A Sermon is the grand Sallet to usher in every dish like Sosia or Davus in the Comedy scarce any scene or part of our life without it It is Prologus galeatus a Prologue that will fit either Comedy or Tragedy every purpose every action every business of our life In a word What had the House of Israel which we have not in measure pressed down They had the favour and countenance of God they had the blessings of the Basket So had we if we could have pinned it and kept them in and not plaid the wantons in this light and so let them fly away from us that we can but look after them and sadly say We had them They had Temporal blessings we have Graces and Spiritual endowments more Light richer Promises mo and more gracious Privileges then they Their administration was with glory but ours is more glorious 2 Cor. 3.7 c Glorious things are spoken of this City glorious things are seen amongst us able to deceive a Prophet nay if it were possible the very Elect. For he that shall see our outward formality the earnestness the demureness the talkativeness of our looks and behaviour when we flock and press to Sermons he that shall hear our noyse and zeal for Religion our anger and detestation against Idolatry even where it is not he that shall scarcely hear a word from us which soundeth not as the word of God he that shall see us such Saints abroad will little mistrust we come so short of the honesty of the Pagans in our shops and dealings He that shall see such a promising form of godliness cannot presently discover the malice the fraud the uncleanness the cruelty that lieth wrapt up in it like a Devil in light He that shall see this in the City cannot but say of it as the Prophet Samuel did of Eliab Surely the Lords anointed is here This is the faithful City 1 Sam. 16.7 This is the City of the Lord. But God who seeth not as man seeth nor looketh on the outward appearance but on the heart may account us dead for all these glories this pageantry this noise which to him is but noise as the found of their trumpet who will not fight his battels but fall off and run to the enemy as a song of Sion in a strange land psal 137.3 4. even in the midst of Babylon We read in our books that it was a custome amongst the Romanes when the Emperour was dead in honour of him to frame his image of wax and to perform to it all ceremonies of state as if the image were the living Emperour The Senate and Ladies attended the Physicians resorted to him to feel his pulse and Doctorally resolved that he grew worse and worse and could not escape a Guard watcht him Nobles saluted him his dinner and supper at accustomed hours was served in with water with sewing and carving and taking away his Nobles and Gentlemen waited as if he had been alive there was no ceremony forgot which State might require Thus hath been done to a dead carcase and if we take not heed our case may be the same All our outward shews of Churches of Sermons of Sacraments our noyse and ostentation which should be arguments of life and antidotes against death may be no more then as funeral rites performed to a carcase to a Christian to a City whose iniquities are loathsome of an ill-smelling savour to God The great company of Preachers whereof every one choseth one according to his lusts may stand about it and do their duty but as to an image of wax or a dead carcase the Bread of life may be served in and divided to it by art and skill as every man phansieth it may be fitted and prepared for every palate when they have no tast nor relish of it and receive no more nourishment then they that have been dead long ago Be not deceived Psal 68.19 Benefits are burdens God loadeth us daily with benefits saith David burdens which if we bear not well and as we should do will grind us to pieces All prerogatives are with conditions and if the condition be not kept they turn to scorpions They either heal or kill us they either lift us up to bliss or throw us down to destruction There is heaven in a privilege and there is hell in a privilege and we make it either to us We may starve whilst we hang on the breasts of the Church we may be poisoned with antidotes Those mouthes that taught us may be opened to accuse us the many Sermons we have heard may be so many bills against us the Sacraments may condemn us the blood of Christ cry loud against us and our profession our holy profession put us to shame John 14.9 Have I been so long with you and knowest thou not me Philip saith our Saviour Hast thou had so good a Master and art thou yâ—t to learn Hast thou been so long with me and deniest thou me Peter Hast thou been so long with me and yet betrayest me Judas Hath Christ wrought so many works among us and do we go about to kill and crucify him Hath he planted Religion true Religion amongst us and do we go about to dig it up by the roots Hath the Gospel sounded so long in our ears and begot nothing but words words that are deceitful upon the balance words which are lies So many Sermons and so many Atheists So much Preaching and so much defrauding So many breathings and demonstrations of love and so much malice in the house of Israel So many Courts of justice and so much oppression So many Churches and so few Temples of the Holy Ghost What profess Religion and shame it cry it up and smother it in the noise and for a member of Christ make thy self the head of a
Therefore in the third place if we consider the Church which is at her best nothing else but a collection and a body of righteous men we shall find that whilest she is on the earth she is Militant And no other title doth so fully express her For do we say she is Visible The best and truest parts of her are not so 2 Tim. 2.19 For the Lord onely knoweth who are his Do we call her Catholick and Vniversal She is so when her number is but small she was so when Christ first built her as an house upon a rock open to all though not many rich not many noble entred Shall we give her the high and proud Title of Infallible Although she be so in many things without which she cannot be a Church yet in many things we erre all But when we draw her in her own bloud when we call her Militant when we bring her in fighting not onely against Flesh and Bloud against Men but against all the Powers of Darkness then we shew and describe her as she is To say she is the body of Christ filled with him who filleth all things is to set her up as a mark for the World and the Devil to shoot at and thus to set her up is to build her up into a Church So that though Persecution come forth with more or less horrour yet to say the Church is ever free from all persecution is as full of absurdity as to say a man may live without a Soul But now take it with all its terrour accompanied with whips and scorpions with fire and sword with banishment and with death it self yet is it so far from destroying this body of the righteous which we call the Church that it rather establisheth enlargeth and adorneth it For this is the Kingdom of Christ And Christ's Kingdom is not of this world but culled and chosen out of the world John 18.35 And in this the Kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of Christ differ That which doth ruine the one doth build up the other The sword and fire and persecution demolish the Kingdomes of this world but these evermore enlarge the Church and stretch forth the curtains of her habitation Those may perish and have their fatal period but this is everlasting as his love is that built it and shall stand fast for ever Those are worn out by time but this is but melted and purged in it and shall then be most glorious when Time shall be no more Therefore I may be bold to present you with a speculation which may seem a paradox but being well examined will be found a truth and it is this That persecution is so far from ruining the righteous that it is to them as peace For if Peace signifie the integrity and whole perfection of ones good estate as it doth in Scripture often then may Persecution well deserve that name which bringeth the righteous out of the shadow into the sun setteth them on the stage there to act their parts spectantibus Angelis Archangelis before God and Angels and men maketh them more glorious putteth them to their whole armoury their whole strength the whole substance of their faith as Tertullian calleth it that they may suffer and conquer which is indeed to build them up into a Church And therefore Nazianzene calleth it the mystery of persecution where one thing is seen and another done where glory lieth hid in disgrace increase in diminution and life in death it self ecclesiae in attonito the righteous stirring and moving in their place in the midst of all these amazements and terrours of the world And thus some analogy and resemblance there is between the persecution of the righteous and the peace of the world For as in times of peace we every one sit under his own vine and fig-tree every one walketh in his own calling the merchant trafficketh the trades-man selleth the husbandman tilleth and ploweth the ground and the scholar studieth so the time of persecution though it breatheth nothing but terrour is by God's grace made the accepted time to the godly and the day of salvation a day for them to work in their calling when they sit under the shadow of God's wings when they study patience and Christian resolution when they plough up their fallow ground and sowe the seeds of righteousness when they traffick for the rich pearl and buy it with their bloud when every one in his place acteth by the virtue and to the honour and glory of the Head who himself was consecrate and made perfect by sufferings We may demonstrate this to the very eye For never did the branches of the true Vine more flourish then when they were lopped and pruned never did they more multiply then when they were diminished Constantine we are told brought in the outword peace of the Church but it is plain and evident that Christianity did spread it self in Asia Africk and Europe in far greater proportion in three hundred years before that Emperour then it did many hundred years after For Persecution occasioneth dispersion and dispersion spreadeth the Gospel It is S. Hierom's observation in the life of Malchus That the Church of Christ was sub tyrannis aurea that under tyrants it was as gold tried in the fire giving forth the lustre of pure doctrine and faith Sed postquam coepit habere Christianos Imperatores but when the Emperours themselves were Christians she grew up in favour and outward state but fell short in piety and righteousness and as Cassander professeth of the Church of Rome Crescentibus divitiis decrevit pietas what she got in wealth and pomp she lost in devotion and at last grew rich in all things but good works In time of persecution and dispersion how many children were begot unto the Church When persecution was loudest then the righteous did grow up and flourish When tyrants forbad men to speak in the name of Christ then totius mundi vox una Christus then was Christ as the same Father speaketh become the voice and language of the whole world Plures efficimur quoties metimur saith Tertullian When the righteous are drove about the world and when they are drove out of the world then they multiply To conclude this So far as righteousness or the Graces of the Spirit from bringing any privilege to exempt men from persecution that through the malice of Satan and the corruption of men they are rather provocations to raise one and make Persecution it self a privilege For in the last place it cometh not by chance that the righteous are persecuted What hath Chance to do in the school of Providence No Persecution is brought towards the righteous by the providence and wisdome of a loving Father Tam pater nemo tam sapiens nemo No such Father and none so provident I say by the providence and wisdome of God which consisteth in well ordering and bringing every thing to its right end by
it self and fill the world with Atheists which will learn by no Masters but such as instruct fools nor acknowledge any Keyes but those which may break their head But indeed we have had these Keyes too long in our hands For though they concern us yet are they not the keyes in the Text nor had we lookt upon them but that those of the Romish party wheresoever they find keys mentioned take them up and hang them on their Church But we must observe a difference betwixt the keyes of the kingdome of heaven Matth. 16.19 which were given to Peter and the keyes of Hell and of Death although with them when the Keyes are seen Heaven and Hell are all one For the key of David Rev. 3.7 which openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth was not given to the Apostles but is a regality and prerogative of Christ who only hath power of Life and Death over Hell and the Grave who therefore calleth himself the first and the last because although when he first publisht his Gospel he died and was buried yet he rose again to live for ever so to perfect the great work of our salvation and by his power to bind those in everlasting chains who stood out against him and to bring those that bow to his sceptre out of prison into liberty and everlasting life The power is his alone and he made it his by his sufferings Phil. 2.8 9. He was obedient to death therefore God did highly exalt him Phil. 2.7 11. He became a Lord by putting on the form of a servant But he hath delegated his power to his Apostles and those that succeed them to make us capable and fit subjects for his power to work upon which nevertheless will have its operation and effect either let us out or shut us up for ever under the power of Hell and of Death Were not he alive and to live for evermore we had been shut up in darkness and oblivion for ever But Christ living infuseth life into us that the bands of Hell and of Death can no more hold us than they can him There is such a place as Hell but to the living members of Christ there is no such place For it is impossible it should hold them You may as well place Lucifer at the right hand of God as a true Christian in Hell For how can Light dwell in Darkness How can Purity mix with stench How can Beauty stay with Horrour If Nature could forget her course and suffer contradictories to be drawn together and be both true yet this is such a contradiction as unless Christ could die again which is impossible can never be reconciled Matth. 5.18 Heaven and earth may pass away but Christ liveth for evermore and the power and virtue of his Life is as everlasting as Everlastingness it self Rev. 6.8 And again There was a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death and he had power to kill with the sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth But now he doth not kill us he doth but stagger us and fling us down that we may rise again and tread him under our feet and by the power of an everliving Saviour be the death of Death it self Job 18.14 Death was the King of terrors and the fear of Death made us slaves Heb. 2.15 and kept us in servility and bondage all our life long made our pleasures less delightful and our virtues more tedious made us tremble and shrink from those Heroick undertakings for the truth of God But now they in whom Christ liveth and moveth and hath his being as in his own dare look upon Death in all his horror expeditum morti genus saith Tertullian and are ready to meet him in his most dreadful march with all his army of Diseases Racks and Tortures Man before he sinned knew not what Death meant then Eve familiarly conversed with the Serpent so do Christians with Death Having that Divine Image restored in them they are secure and fear it not For what can that Tyrant take from them Col. 3.3 Their life That is hid with Christ in God Psal 37.4 It cannot cut them off from pleasure for their delight is in the Lord. Matth. 6.20 It cannot rob them of their treasure for that is laid up in heaven It can take nothing from them but what themselves have already crucified Gal. 5.24 their Flesh It cannot cut off one hope one thought one purpose for all their thoughts purposes and hopes were leveld not on this but on another life And now Christ hath his keyes in his hand Death is but a name it is nothing or if it be something it is such a thing as troubled S Augustine to define what it is We call it a punishment but indeed it is a benefit a favour even such a favour that Christ who is as omnipotent as he is everlasting who can work all in all though he abolished the Law of Moses and of Ceremonies yet would not abrogate the law by which we are bound over unto death because it is so profitable and advantageous to us It was indeed threatned but it is now a promise or the way unto it for Death it is that letteth us into that which was promised It was an end of all it is now the beginning of all It was that which cut off life it is now that through which as through a gate we enter into it We may say it is the first point and moment of our after-eternity for it is so neer unto it that we can hardly sever them We live or rather labour and fight and strive with the World and with Life it self which is it self a temptation and whilst by the power of our everliving Christ we hold up and make good this glorious contention and fight and conquer and press forward towards the mark either nature faileth or is prest down with violence and we dye that is our language but the Spirit speaketh after another manner we sleep we are dissolved we fall in pieces our bodies from our souls and we from our miseries and temptations and this living everliving Christ gathereth us together again breatheth life and eternity into us that we may live and reign with him for evermore And so I have viewed all the parts of the Text being the main articles of our Faith 1 Christs Death 2. his Life 3. his eternal Life and last of all his Power of the Keyes his Dominion over Hell and Death We will but in a word fit the ECCE the Behold in the Text to every part of it and set the Seal Amen to it and so conclude And first we place the ECCE the Behold on his Death He suffered and dyed that he might learn to have compassion on thy miseries and on thy dust and raise thee from both and wilt thou learn nothing from his compassion
defective in humanity Christians are the parts of the Church and all must sustein one another And this is the just and full interpretation of that of our Saviour Matth. 19.19 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self then thou wilt pity him as thy self Tolle invidiam tuum est quod habet Take away Envy and all that he hath is thine And take away Hardness of heart and all that thou hast is his Take away Malice and all his virtues are thine and take away Pride and thy glories are his Art thou a part of the Church Thou hast a part in every part and every part hath a portion in thee Eph. 4.16 We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compacted together by that which every joynt supplies A similitude and resemblance taken from the Curtains of the Tabernacle saith learned Grotius whereof every one hath its measure Exod. 26.2 3 5. but yet they are all coupled together one to another by their loops which lay hold one of another And like those curtains we are not to be drawn but together not to rejoyce not to weep not to suffer but together The word Church is but a second notion and it is made a term of art and every man almost saith Luther abuseth it draweth it forth after his own image taketh it commonly in that sense which may favour him so far as to leave in him a perswasion that he is a true part of it and thus many enter the Church and are shut out of heaven We are told of a Visible Church and the Church in some sense is visible But that the greatest part of this Church hath wanted bowels that some parts of it have been without sense or feeling besmeared and defiled with the bloud of their brethren is as visible as the Church We have heard of an Infallible Church we have heard it and believe it not for how can she be infallible who is so ready to design all those to death and hell who deny it If it be a Church it is a Church with horns to push at the nations or an army with banners and swords We have long talked of a Reformed Church and we make it our crown and rejoycing But it would concern us to look about us and take heed that we do not reform so as to purge out all Compassion also For certainly to put off all bowells is not as some zealots have easily perswaded themselves to put on the new man Talk not of a Visible Infallible or a Reformed Church God send us a Compassionate Church a title which will more fit and become her then those names which do not beautifie and adorn but accuse and condemn her when she hath no Heart What Visible Church is that which is seen in blood What Infallible Church is that whose very bowels are cruel What Reformed Church is that which hath purged out all Compassion Visible and yet not seen Infallible and deceived Reformed and yet in its filth Monstrum horrendum informe This is a mis-shapen monster not a Church The true Church is made up of bowels Every part of it is tender and relenting not onely when it self is touched but when others are moved as you see in a well-set instrument if you touch but one string the others will tremble and shake And this Sense and this Fellow-feeling is the fountain from whence this silver stream of Mercy floweth the spring and first mover of those outward acts which are seen in that bread of ours which floats upon the waters in the face and on the backs of the poor Luk. 10.31 c. For not then when we see our brethren in affliction when we look upon them and pass by them but when we see them and have compassion on them we shall bind up their wounds and pour in oil and wine and take care for them For till the heart be melted there will nothing flow We see almes given every day and we call them acts of piety but whether the hand of Mercy reach them forth or no we know not Our motions all of them are not from a right spring Vain-glory may be liberal Intemperance may be liberal Pride may be a benefactour Ambition must not be a niggard Covetousness it self sometimes yieldeth droppeth a peny and Importunity is a wind which will set that wheel a going which had otherwise stood still We may read large catalogues of munificent men but many names which we read there may be but the names of Men not of the Merciful Compassion is the inward true principle begetting in us the Love of Mercy which completeth and perfecteth crowneth every act giveth it its true form denomination giveth a sweet smel and fragrant savour to Maries oyntment Luk. 7.47 for she that poured it forth loved much I may say Compassion is the love of Mercy Et plus est diligere quà m facere saith Hilary It is a great deal more to love a good work then to do it to love Virtue then to bring it into act to love Mercy then to shew it It doth supply many times the place of the outward act but without it the act is nothing or something worse It hath a privilege to bring that upon account which was never done to be entitled to that which we do not which we cannot do to make the weak man strong the poor man liberal and the ignorant man a counsellor For he that loveth Mercy would do and therefore doth more then he can do As David may be said to build the Temple though he laid not a stone of it for God telleth him he did well that he had it in his heart 1 Kings 8.18 Thus our Love may build a Temple though we fall and dye before a stone be laid Now this Love of Mercy is not so soon wrought in the heart as we may imagin as every glimering of light doth not make it day It is a work of labour and travel of curious observance and watchfulness over our selves It will cost us many a combat and luctation with the World and the Flesh and many a falling out with our selves Many a Love must be digged up by the roots before we can plant this Love in our hearts It will not grow up with Luxury and Wantonness with Pride or Self-love you never see these together in the same soyl The Apostle telleth us we must put it on Col. 3.12 And the garments which adorn the soul are not so soon put on as those which clothe the body We do not put on Mercy as we do our mantle for when we do every puff of wind every distast bloweth it away But Mercy must be so put on that it may even cleave to the soul and be a part of it that every thought may be a melting thought every word as oyl and every work a blessing Then we love Mercy when we fling off all other respects whatsoever may either shrink up or
and Jubilees within him In a word to love Mercy is to be in heaven Every man according as he purposeth in his heart let him give not grudgingly 2 Cor. 9.7 or of necessity for God loveth a chearful giver Such a Mercy is Gods Almoner here on earth and he loveth and blesseth it followeth it with his Providence and his infinite Mercy shall crown it That gift which the Love of Mercy offereth up is onely fit to be laid up in the Treasury of the Almighty And now I have set before you Mercy in her full beauty in all her glory You have seen her spreading her raies I might shew you her building of Hospitals visiting the sick giving eyes to the blind raising of Temples pitying the stones breathing forth oracles making the ignorant wise the sorrowful merry leading the wandring man into his way I might have shewed you her sealing of Pardons But we could not shew you all These are the miracles of Mercy and they are wrought by the power of Christ in us and by us but by his power The fairest spectacle in the world Let us then look upon it and love it What is Mercy when you need it Is it not as the opening of the heavens unto you And shall it then be a punishment and hell unto you when your afflicted brethren call for it Is it so glorious abroad and shall it be so foul an aspect as not to be thought worthy of enterteinment at home Shall it be a jewel in every cabinet but your own hearts Behold and lift up your eyes and you shall see objects enough for your Mercy to shine on Psal 42.7 If ever one depth called upon another Cant. 5.4 Isa 63.15 the depth of Calamity for the depth of our Compassion if ever our bowels should move and sound now now is the time I remember that Chrysologus observeth that God did on purpose lay Lazarus at the rich mans gate quasi pietatis conflatorium as a forge to melt his stony heart Lazarus had as many mouthes to speak and move him to compassion as he had ulcers and wounds And how many such forges hath God set before us how many mouthes to beseech us how many wounds wide open which speak loud for our pity how many fires to melt us Shall I shew you an ulcerous Lazar They are obvious to our eye Matth. 26.11 We shall have them alwaies with us saith our Saviour and we have them almost in every place Luke 10.30 Shall I shew you men stript and wounded and left half-dead That may be seen in our Cities as well as in the high waies between Jericho and Jerusalem Shall I shew you the tears drilling down the cheeks of the orphans and widows Shall I call you to hear the cry of the hire kept back by fraud or violence James 5.4 For that cryeth to you for compassion as Oppression doth to God for vengeance and it is a kind of oppression to deny it them Lam. 1.12 Have you not compassion all ye that pass by and every day behold such sad spectacles as these Shall I shew you Christ put again to open shame whipt and scorned and crucified and that which cannot be done to him in his person laid upon his Church Shall I shew you him now upon the cross and have you no regard all ye that pass by Shall I shew you the Church miserably torn in pieces Shall I shew you Religion I would I could shew you such a sight For scarce so much as her form is left What can I shew or what can move us when neither our own Misery nor the common Misery nor Sin nor Death nor Hell it self will move us If we were either good Men or good Citizens or good Christians our hearts would melt and gush forth at our eyes in rivers of water If we were truly affected with peace we should be troubled at war If we did love the City we should mourn over it If we did delight in the prosperity of Israel her affliction would wound us If Religion were our care her decay would be our sorrow For that which we love and delight in must needs leave a mournful heart behind it when it withdraweth it self But private interest maketh us regardless of the common and we do not pity Religion because we do not pity our own souls but drink deep of the pleasures of this world enlarge our territories fill our barns make hast to be rich when our soul is ready to be taken from us and nothing but a rotten mouldring wall a body of flesh which will soon fall to the ground between us and Hell I may well take off your eye from these sad and woful spectacles It had been enough but to have shewn you Mercy for she is a cloud of witnesses a cloud of arguments for her self and if we would but look upon her as we should there need no other oratour I beseech you look into your Lease look into your Covenant that Conveyance by which bliss and immortality are made over to you and you shall find that you hold all by this You hold it from the King of Kings and your quit-rent your acknowledgment for his great Mercy is your Mercy to others Pay it down or you have made a forfeiture of all If you be merciless all that labour as it is called of Charity is lost 1 Thes 1.3 Hebr. 6.10 1 Cor. 15.14 17. your loud Profession your forced Gravity your burning Zeal your Faith also is vain and you are yet in your sins For what are all these without Mercy but words and names And there is no name by which we can be saved but the name of Jesus Christ And all these Devotion Confession Abstinence Zeal Acts 4.12 Severity of life are as it were the letters of his Name and I am sure Mercy is one and of a fair character and if we expunge and blot it out it is not his Name Why boast we of our Zeal Without Mercy it is a consumeing fire It is true he that is not zealous doth not love but if my Love be counterfeit what a false fire is my Zeal And one mark of true Zeal is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it be kept within its bounds Naz. or 14. and Mercy is the best watch we can set over it to confine and keep it in The Church of Christ is not placed under the Torrid Zone that these cooler and more temporate Virtues may not dwell there Ignis zeli ardere debet oleo misericordiae Aquin. de Eruditione princip l. 2. c. 15 16. If you will have your Zeal burn kindly it must not be set on fire by any earthly matter but from Heaven where is the Mercy-seat and which is the seat of Mercy If you will be burning lamps you must pour in oleum misericordiae the oyl of Mercy as Bernard speaketh If this oyl fail you will rather be Beacons then Lamps to put all
For nihil aequalitate ipsâ inaequalius There is no greater inequality in the world then in a body politick where all the parts are equal That Equality which commendeth and upholdeth a Commonwealth ariseth from the difference of its parts moving in their several measures and proportions as Musick doth from discords When every part answereth in its place and raiseth it self no higher then that will bear when the Magistrate speaketh by nothing but the Laws and the Subject answereth by nothing but his obedience when the greater shadow the less and the less help to fortifie the greater when every part doth its part and every member its office then there is an equality and an harmony and we call it Peace For if we move and move chearfully in our own sphere and calling we shall not start forth to discompose and disorder the motion of others in theirs If we fill our own place we shall not leap over into anothers our Desires will dwel at home our Covetousness and Ambition die our Malice cease our Suspicion end our Discontent vanish or else be soon changed and spiritualized our Desires will be levelled on Happiness we shall covet the best things be ambitious of Heaven malice nothing but Malice and destroy it suspect nothing but our Suspicion and be discontent with nothing but that we are discontent and so in this be like unto God himself have our centre in our selves or rather make Peace our centre that every motion may be drawn from it that in the compass and circumference of our behaviour with others all our actions as so many lines may be drawn out and meet and be united in Peace And this is not onely enjoyned by Religion and the Gospel but it is also the method of Nature it self which hath so ordered it that every thing in its own place is at quiet and rest and no where else The Earth moves not in its place Water is not ponderous in its proper place The Fire burneth not in its sphere but out of it it hath voracitatem toto mundo avidissimam saith Pliny it spreadeth it self most violently and devoureth every thing it meeteth with Nay Poyson is not hurtful to those tempers that breed it Epist. 81. Illud venenum quod serpentes in alienam perniciem proferunt sine suâ continent saith Seneca The venome of the Scorpion doth not kill the Scorpion and that poyson which serpents cast out with danger and hurt to others they keep without any to themselves And as it is in Nature so is it in the Society of men Our diligence in our own business is soveraign and connatural to our estates and conditions but most times poysonous abroad and dangerous and fatal to our selves and others 2 Sam. 6.6 7. When Vzzah put forth his hand to hold up the Ark of God and keep it from falling though his intention were good yet God struck him for his errour and rashness in moving out of his place and struck him dead because he did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do his own business When Uzziah invaded the Priests office 2 Chron. 26 16-21 and would burn incense and Azariah the Priest told him It pertaineth not to thee It is not thy business even while the censer was yet in his hand his sin was writ in his forehead he was struck with a leprosie and cut off from the house of the Lord. When Peter was busie to enquire concerning John Joh 21.21 22. What shall this man do our Saviour was ready with a sharp reply What is that to thee thy business is to follow me When Christians out of a wanton and irregular zeal did throw down Images and were slain by the Heathen in the very fact the Church censured them as Disturbers of the peace rather then Martyrs and though they suffered death in defiance of Idolatry yet allowed them no place in the Diptychs in the Catalogue of those who laid down their lives for the Truth Dathan and Abiram rise out of their place Numb 16 1-30 2 Sam. 20.1 22. 2 Sam. 15. c. and the earth swalloweth them up Sheba is up and bloweth a Trumpet and his head flyeth over the wall Absalom would up into the tribunal which was none of his place and was hanged in the Oak which was fitter for him And if any have risen out of their place as we use to say on the right side and been fortunate villains their purchase was not great Honey mingled with Gall Honour drugged with the Hatred and Curses of men with Fears and Cares with Gnawings within and Terrours without All the content and pleasure they had by their great leap out of their place was but as musick to one stretcht out on the rack or as that little light which is let in through the crack or flaw of a wall into him that lyeth fettered in a loathsome dungeon And at last their wages was Death eternal Death and Howling for ever Nay when we are out of our place and busie in that which concerneth us not though what we do may be in it self lawful and most expedient to be done yet we make that act a sin in us which is another mans duty and so shipwrack at that point to which another was bound perish in the doing of that which he shall perish for not doing The best excuse that we can take up is That we did honestâ mente peccare That we did that which is evil as we say for the best That we did sin and offend God with a good intention and pious mind Which Gloss may be fitted to the greatest sin and is the fairest chariot the Devil hath to carry us to hell If we would be particular the instances in this kind would be but too many For such Agents the Enemy of the Truth hath alwayes had in all the ages of the Church who have unseasonably disturbed the publick peace and their own whose business it was and sure it could be none of their own to teach Pastours to govern and Divines how to preach every day to make a new coat for the Church to hammer and shape out a new form and discipline as if nothing could be done well because they stood not by and had a hand in the doing it and so make the Church not so fair but certainly as changeable as the Moon One Sect disliketh this and another that and a third quarrelleth at them both and every one of them if their own phansie had been set up and establisht by another hand would have kickt it down For this humour is restless and endless and for want of matter will at last feed on him that nourisheth it As it was in that experiment of the Egyptians in Epiphanius who filled a bag with serpents and when afterwards they opened it found that the greatest had eat up the rest and half of it self We may well say of them as Gregory the great doth Illos alienorum actuum sagax cogitatio
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that they may be holy and without blemish To turn from one sin to another as from Prodigality to Sordedness and love of the world from extreme to extreme Amos 5.19 is to flee from a lion to meet a bear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Extremities are equalities Though they are extremes and distant yet in this they agree that they are extremes and though our evil wayes be never so far asunder yet in this they meet that they are evil Superstition doteth Profaneness is mad Covetousness gathereth all Prodigality scattereth all Rash Anger destroyeth the innocent foolish Compassion spareth the guilty We need not ask which is worst when both are evil for Sin and Destruction lie at the door of the one as well as of the other To despise prophesying 1 Thess 5.20 Ezek. 33.32 and To hear a Sermon as I would a song Not to hear and To do nothing else but hear To worship the walls and To beat down a Church To be superstitious and To be profane are extremes which we must equally turn from Down with Superstition on the one side and down with Profaneness on the other down with both even to the ground Because some are bad let not us be worse and make their sin a motive and inducement to run upon a greater Because some talk of Merits let not us be afraid of Good works because they vow Chastity let not us pollute our selves because they vow Poverty let not us make haste to be rich Prov. 28.22 2 Pet. 2.10 Jude 8. because they vow Obedience let not us speak evil of dignities It is good to shun one rock but there is as great danger if we dash upon another Superstition hath devoured many but Profaneness is a gulf which hath swallowed up more Phot cod 177. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Photius in his censure of Theodorus Antiochenus For that which is opposite to that which is worse is not good for one evil standeth in opposition to another and both at their several distance are contrary to that which is good Nor can I hope to expiate one sin with another to make amends for my oppression by my wastful expenses to satisfy for my bowing to an idole by robbing a Church for my contemning a Priest by my hearing a Sermon for my standing in the way of sinners by running into a conventicle Psal 1.1 for I am still in the seat of the scornful This were first to make our selves worthy of death and then to run to Rome or Geneva for sanctuary first to be villains and men of Belial and at last turn from Papists or Schismaticks In both we are what we should not be nor are our sins lost in a faction This were nothing else but to think to remove one disease with another and to cure the cramp with a Fever Turn ye turn ye Whither should we turn but to God Gerson In hoc motu convertit se anima ad unitatem identitatem in this motion of turning the soul striveth forward through the vanities of the world through all extremes through all that is evil though the branches of it look contrary wayes to Unity and Identity to that Good which is ever like it self the same in every part of it and never contrary to it self We must strive to be one with God as God is one with us As he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one and the same in all his commands not forbidding one sin and permitting another but his wayes are equal so must our turn be equal Ezec. 28.25 not from the right hand to the left not from Superstition to Profaneness not from Despising of prophesie to Sermon-hypocrisie not from Uncleanness to Faction not from Riot to Rebellion but a Turn from all extremes from all evil a collection and levelling the soul which before looked divers wayes and turning her face upon the way of truth upon God alone If we turn as we should if we will answer this earnest and vehement call we must turn from all our evil wayes We use to say that there is as great a miracle wrought in our conversion as in the creation of the world but this is not true in every respect For Man though he be a sinner yet is something hath an understanding will affections to be wrought upon Yet as it is one condition required in a true miracle that it be perfect so that there be not onely a change but such a change as is absolute and exact that it may seem to be as it were a new creation that water which is changed into wine may be no more water but wine that the blind man may truly see the lame man truly walk and the dead man truly live So is it in our Turn and conversion there is a total and perfect change The Adulterer is made an Eunuch for the kingdom of heaven Matth. 19.12 Prov. 23.2 the Intemperate cometh forth with a knife at his throat the Revenger kisseth the hand that striketh him When we turn sin vanisheth the Old man is dead and in its place there standeth up a new creature Gal. 5.19 20 21. S. Paul speaking of the works of the flesh which are nothing but sins and having given us a catalogue and reckoned up many of them by which we might know the rest at last concludeth Of which I tell you before as I have also told you often that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Where the Apostle's meaning is not that they who do all these or most of these or many of these or more then one of these but they who die possest of any one of these shall have no place in the kingdom of God and of Christ For what profit is there to turn from one sin and not all when one sin is enough to make us breakers of the whole Law and so liable to eternal death It is a conclusion in the Schools That whosoever is in the state of any one mortal sin and turneth not from it whatsoever he doth whether pray or give almes bow the knee before God or open his hand to his brother be it what it will be in it self never so fair and commendable it is forthwith blasted and defaced and it is so far from deserving commendations that it hath no other wages due to it but death I cannot say this is true for so far as any work is agreeable with Reason so far it must needs be pleasing to the God of Reason so far as it answereth the Rule so far is it accepted of him that made it Nor can I think that Regulus Fabricius Cato and the rest qui convitium faciunt Christianis who upbraid and shame many of us Christians were damned for their justice integrity honesty Hell is no receptacle for men so qualified were there nothing else to prepare and fit them for that place But yet
is a great priviledge but if we honour not this priviledge so far as to make our deportment answerable even our priviledge it self being abused and forfeited will change its countenance and accuse and condemn us We find it as a positive truth laid down in the Schools and if it were not in our Books common Reason would have shewed it us in a character legible enough Aquia 2. 2. q. 10. art 3. Graviùs peccat fidelis quà m infidelis propter sacramenta fidei quibus contumeliam facit Of all Idolaters an Israelite is the worst and no swine to the unclean Christian no villain to him if he be one For here Sin maketh the deeper tincture and impression leaveth a stain not onely on his person but also on his profession flingeth contumely on the very Sacraments of his faith and casteth a blemish on his house and family whereas in an Infidel it hath not so deadly an effect but is vailed and shadowed by Ignorance and borroweth some excuse from Infidelity it self For first to speak a word of the house of Israel in the letter and so to pass from the Synagogue to the Church Apol. c. 18. The Jews were domestica Dei gens as Tertullian calleth them the domestick and peculiar people of God Judg. 6.37 38. like Gideon's fleece full of the dew of Divine benediction when all the world was dry besides Rom. 3.2 To them were the oracles given those oracles which did foretel the Messias and by which they might more easily know him then the Gentiles Rom 9.4 To them pertained the adoption for they were called the Children of God Deut. 14.1 They had the Covenant written in Tables of stone and the giving of the Law and constitutions which might link and unite them together into a body and society They had the service of God they had their sacrifices but especially the Paschal Lamb. For that their memory might not let slip his statutes and ordinances God did even catechize their eyes and make the least ceremony a busie remembrancer Behold a Tabernacle erected Aaron and his sons appointed Sacrifices slain Altars smoking all so many ocular Sermons They might behold Aaron and his sons ascending the Temple Levit. 16.21 22. laying all their sins upon the head of a sacred Goat that should carry them out of the City They might behold him entring the vail with reverence His garments his motion Ad Fabiol de vest sacerd his gesture all were vocal Quicquid agebat quicquid loquebatur doctrina erat populi saith S. Hierome His actions were didactical as well as his doctrine the Priest himself was a Sermon and these were as so many antidotes against Death v. 25.26 Our Prophet reproveth them for their capital and mortal sins adultery murder and idolatry and God had sufficiently instructed and fortified them against these He forbad Lust not onely in the Decalogue but in the Sparrow Murder in the Vulture and Raven and those birds of prey Novatian de cib Judaicis Vt Israelitae mundarentur pecora culpata sunt To sanctifie and cleanse his people he blameth the beasts as unclean which they could not be of themselves because he made them and layeth a blemish upon his other creatures to keep them undefiled And to keep out Idolatry he busied them in those many ceremonies which he ordained for that end 1 a. 1 ae nè vacaret idololatriae servire saith Aquinas that they might not have the least leisure to be Idolaters So that to draw up all they might learn from the Law they might learn from the Priest they might learn from the Sacrifice they might learn from each Ceremony they might learn from Men they might learn from Beasts Isai 5.4 to turn from their evil wayes and God might well cry out What could have been done more that I have not done and speak to them in his grief and wrath and indignation Why will ye die O house of Isreal But to pass from the Synagogue to the Church which excelleth merito fidei majoris scientiae in respect of a clearer faith and larger knowledge to come to the time of Reformation Heb. 9.10 in which all things which pertain to the full happiness of Gods people were to be raised to their last height and perfection to look into the Law of liberty Jam. 1.15 which letteth us not loose in our own evil wayes but maketh us most free by restraining and tying us up and withholding us from those sins which the Law of Moses did not punish And here Why will ye die If it were before an obtestation it is now a bitter sarcasme as bitter as Death it self It is improved and driven home à minori ad majus by the Apostle himself 2 Cor. 3.11 For if that which should be abolisht was glorious much more shall that which remaineth whose fruit is everlasting be glorious And again Hebr. 12.25 If they escaped not who refused him who speak on earth from mount Sinai by his Angel how shall we escape Acts 7.38 if we turn away from him who spake from heaven by his Son For the Church is a house but far more glorious Eph. 2.20 21. built upon the foundation of the Apostles Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the head corner-stone in whom all the building coupled together groweth into a Temple of the Lord. The whole world besides are but rubbage as bones scattered at the graves mouth The Church is compact knit and united into a house and in this house is the armoury of God Cant. 4.4 where are a thousand bucklers and all the weapons of the mighty to keep off Death the helmet of salvation the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of Satan as they be delivered into our hands Eph. 6.16 17. And as it is a House so is it a Familie of Christ Eph. 3.15 Of whom all the family of heaven and earth is named Who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great Master of the houshold For as the Pythagorean fitting and shaping out a Family by his Lute required 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the integrity of all the parts as it were the set number of the strings 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an apt composing and joyning them together as it were the tuning of the instrument and lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a skilful touch which maketh the harmony So in the Church if we take it in its latitude there be Saints Angels and Archangels if we contract it to the Militant as we usually take it there be some Apostles Eph. 4.11 some Prophets some Pastours and Teachers there be some to be taught and some to teach some to be governed and some to rule which maketh up the Integrity of the parts And then these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle coupled and knit together by every joynt by the bond
of Charity Eph. 4.16 which is the coupling and uniting virtue as Prosper calleth it Eph. 4.5 13. by the unity of faith by their agreement in holiness having one faith one baptisme one Lord. And at last every string being toucht in its right place begetteth Harmony which is delightful both to heaven and earth For when I name the Church I do not mean the stones and building some indeed would bring it down to this to stand for nothing but the walls but I suppose a subordination of parts which was never yet questioned in the Church but by those who would make it as invisible as their Charity not the Foot to see and the Eye to walk and the Tongue to hear and the Ear to speak not all Apostles not all Prophets not all Teachers but 1 Cor. 12.29 1 Cor. 15.23 Naz. Or. 26. as the Apostle saith it shall be at the resurrection every man in his own order For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Order is our security and safeguard In a rout every man is a child of death every throat open to the knife but when an army is drawn out by art and skill all hands are active for the victory Inequality indeed of persons is the ground of disunion and discord but Order draweth and worketh advantage out of Inequality it self When every man keepeth his station the common Souldier hath hi◠interest in the victory as the well as the Commander And when we walk orderly every man in his own place we walk hand in hand to heaven and happiness together For further yet in the Church of God there is not onely a Union and an Order but also as it is in our Creed a Communion of parts The glorious Angels as ministring Spirits are sent to guard us and no doubt do many and great services for us though we perceive it not The blessed Saints departed though we may not pray for them yet may pray for us though we hear it not And though the Church be scattered in its members through all the parts of the world yet their hearts meet in the same God Every man prayeth for himself and every man prayeth for every man Quod est omnium est singulorum That which is all mens is every mans and that which is every mans belongeth unto the whole For though we cannot speak in those high terms of the Church as the Church of Rome doth of her self yet we cannot but bless God and count it a great favour and privilege that we are filii Ecclesiae as the Father speaketh children of the Church and think our selves in a place of safety and advantage where we may find protection against Death it self We cannot speak loud with the Cardinal Bellarm. praefat ad Controv. Si Catholicus quisquam labitur in peccatum If a Catholick fall into a sin suppose it Theft or Adultery yet in that Church he walketh not in darkness but may see many helps to salvation by which he may soon quit himself out of the snare of the Devil Maternus ei non deest affectus She is still a Mother even to such Children Her shops of spiritual comfort lie open Isa 55.1 there you may buy wine and milk Indulgences and absolution but not without money or money-worth Be you as sick as you will and as oft as you will there is Physick there are cordials to refresh and restore you I dare not promise so much in the House of Israel in the Church of Christ for I had rather make the Church a school of Virtue then a sanctuary for offenders and wanton sinners We dare not give it that strength to carry up our Prayers to the Saints in heaven or to convey their Merits to us on earth We cannot work and temper it to that heat to draw up the blood of Martyrs or the works of supererogating Christians who have been such profitable servants that they did more in the service of God then they should into a common Treasury and then showre them down in Pardons and Indulgences But yet though we cannot find this power there which is a power to do nothing yet we may find strength enough in the Church to keep us from the Moriemini to save us from Death Though I cannot suffer for my brother Gal. 6.2 yet I may bear for him even bear my brothers burden Though I cannot merit for him yet I may work for him Though I cannot die for him I may pray for him Though there be no good in my death nor profit in my dust Psal 30.9 yet there may be in the memory of my good counsel my advise Consult c. de Relig. 5. my example which are verae sanctorum reliquiae saith Cassander the best and truest reliques of the Saints And though my death cannot satisfie for him yet it may catechize him and teach him how to die nay teach him how to overcome Death that he shall not die for ever And by this Communion it is that we work Miracles that in turning the Covetous turning his bowels in him we recover a dry hand and a narrow heart in teaching the Ignorant we give sight to the blind in setling the inconstant and wavering mind we cure the palsie We can well allow of such Miracles as these in the Church but not of lies For as there is an invisible union of the Saints with God so is there of Christians amongst themselves Which union though the eye of flesh cannot behold it yet it must appear and shine and be resplendent in those duties and offices which do attend this union which are so many hands by which we lift up one another to happiness As the Head infuseth life and vigour into the whole body so must the members also anoynt each other with this oyl of gladness Each member must be active and industrious to express that virtue without which it cannot be one Let no man seek his own but every man anothers wealth saith the Apostle Not seek his own 1 Cor. 10.24 what more natural to man or who is nearer to him then he himself but yet he must not seek his own but as it may bring advantage to and promote the good of others not press forward to the mark but with his hand stretcht forth to carry on others along with him not go to heaven but saving some with fear and pulling others out of the fire Jud. 23. and gathering up as many as his wisdome and care and zeal toward God and man can take up with him in the way And this is necessary even in humane societies and those politick bodies which men build up to themselves for their peace and security Turpis est pars quae toti suo non convenit That is a most unnecessary superfluous part or member for which the whole is not the better Vt in sermone literae saith Augustine as letters in a word or sentence so Men are elementa civitatis the principles and
parts which make up the Syntaxis of a Republick And he that endeavoureth not the advancement of the whole is a letter too much fit to be expunged and blotted out But in the Church whose maker and builder is God Heb. 11.10 this is required in the highest degree especially in those transactions which may enlarge the circuit and glory of it Here every man must be his own and under Christ his brothers Saviour For as between these two Cities so between the happiness of the one and the happiness of the other there is no comparison As therefore every Bishop in the former ages called himself Episcopum Catholicae Ecclesiae a Bishop of the Catholick Church although he had jurisdiction but over one Diocess so the care and piety of every particular Christian in respect of its diffusive operation is as Catholick as the Church Every soul he meeteth with is under his charge and he is the care of every soul Jam. 5.20 In saving a soul from death every man is a Priest and a Bishop although he may neither invade the Pulpit nor ascend the Chair I may be eyes unto him as it was said of Hobab Numb 10.31 I may take him from his errour and put him into the way of truth If he fear I may scatter his fear if he grieve I may wipe off his tears if he presume I may teach him to fear and if he despair I may lift him up to a lively hope that neither Fear nor Grief neither Presumption nor Despair swallow him up Thus may I raise a dead man from the grave a sinner from his sin and by that example many may rise with him who are as dead as he and so by this friendly communication we may transfuse our selves into others and receive others into our selves and so run hand in hand from the chambers of Death And thus far we dare extend the Communion of Saints place it in a House a Family a Society of men called and gathered together by Christ raise it to the participation of the privileges and Charters granted by Christ calling us to the same faith leading us by the same rule filling us with the same grace endowing us with several gifts that we may guard and secure each other and so settle it in those Offices and Duties which Christianity maketh common and God hath registred in his Church which is the pillar of truth 1 Tim. 3.15 where all mens Joyes and Sorrows and Fears and Hopes should be one and the same And then to die surrounded with all these helps and advantages of God above ready to help us of Men like unto our selves prest out as auxiliaries to succour and relieve us of Precepts to guide us of Promises to encourage us of Heaven even opening it self to receive us then to die 2 Sam 3.33 34. is to die as fools die to suffer their hands to be bound and their feet put in fetters and to open their breast to the sword For to die alone is not so grievous not so imputable as to die in such company to die where it is no more but to will it and I might live for ever Oh how were it to be wisht that we well understood this one Article of our Faith the Communion of Saints that we knew to be Vessels to receive the Water of life and Conduits to convey it that we would remember that by every sin we bring trouble to a million of Saints and by our obedience make as many Angels merry Luk. 15.13 30. that when we spend our portion amongst harlots we do not onely begger our selves but rob and spoil our brethren that when we yield our selves to the enemy we betray an Army Oh that we knew what it were to give counsel and what it were to receive it what it were to shine upon others and to walk by their light Oh that we knew the power and the necessity of a Precept the riches and glory of a Promise that we would consider our selves as men amongst men invited to happiness invited to the same royal feast If this were rightly considered we should then ask our selves the question Why should we die Why shâ—uld we die not in the wilderness amongst beasts upon our turf or stone where there is none to help but in domo Israelis in a house and in the house of Israel where Health and Safety appear in every room and corner Why should we fall like Samson with the house upon us and so endanger and bruise others with our fall If I be a string why should I jarre and spoil the harmony If I be a part why should I be made a schisme from the body If I be under command why should I beat my fellow-servants If a member why should I walk disorderly in the family Why should I why should any die in the house of Israel And now to reassume the Text Why will ye die O house of Israel What a fearful exprobration is it What can it work in us but shame and confusion of face Why will ye die ye that have Christ for your Physician the Angels for your Ministers the Saints for your example the Church a common shop of precious balm and antidotes ye who are in the House of Israel where you may learn from the Priest learn from the oracles of God learn from one another learn from Death it self not to die In this House in this Order in this Union in this Communion in the midst of all these auxiliary troops to fall and miscarry To have the Light but not to see it the bread of Life but not to tast it To die with our antidotes about us Quale est de Ecclesiâ Dei in Ecclesiam Diaboli tendere de coelo in coenum Tert. De spect c. 25. Aug. De Civ Dei l. 14. c. 15. to go per portâ—â— coeli in gehennam thorow the house of Israel into Tophet thorow the Church of Christ into hell may well put God to ask questions and expostulate and can argue no less then a stubborn and relentless heart and not onely a defect but a distast and hatred of that piety quae una est sapientia in hac domo which is the onely wisdome and most useful in the house of Israel which is our best strength against our enemy Death And here to apply this to our selves Let us compare the state of the house of Israel with the state of the people of this Nation and Jerusalem with this City Isa 5.4 and we may say What could God have done more for us which he hath not done Onely his blessings and privileges will rise and swell and exceed on our side and so make our ingratitude and guilt the greater They had their Priests and Levites we have our Pastours and Ministers They had their Temple and Synagogues we our Parochial Churches They had their Sacraments Circumcision and the Paschal Lamb Acts 15.21 we Baptism and the Lords
faction What press on to make thy self better and make thy self worse go up to the Temple to pray and profane it What go to Church and there learn to pull it down Why Oh why will ye thus die O house of Israel Oh then let us look about us with a thousand eyes let us be wise and consider what we are and where we are that we are a House and so ought every man to fill and make good his place and mutually support each other that we are a Family and must be active in those offices which are proper to us and so with united forces keep Death from entring in that we are the Israel of God his chosen people chosen therefore that we may not cast away our selves 1 Tim. 3.15 that we are his Church which is the pillar and ground of truth a pillar to lean on that we fall not and holding out and urging the truth which is able to save us that we may not die We have God's Word to quicken us his Sacraments to strengthen and confirm us his Grace to prevent and follow us We have many helps and huge advantages And if we look up upon them and lay hold on them if we hearken to his Word resist not his Grace neither idolize nor profane his Sacraments but receive them with reverence as they were instituted in love if we hear the Church if we hear one another if we confirm one another Rom. 6.9 Gal. 7.16 if we watch over our selves and one another Death shall have can have no more dominion over us we shall not we cannot die at all but as many as thus walk in the common light of the house of Israel peace shall be upon them and mercy and upon the Israel of God And now we must draw towards a conclusion and we must conclude and shut up all in nobis ipsis in our selves If we die it is quia volumus because we will die For look above us and there is God the living God the God of life saying to us Live Look before us and there is Death breathing terrour to drive us from it shewing us his dart that we may hold up our buckler Look about us and there are armouries of weapons treasuries of wisdome shops of physick balm and ointments helps and advantages pillars and supporters to uphold us that we may stand and not fall into the pit which openeth its mouth but will shut it again if we flie from it which is not cannot be is nothing if we do not dig it our selves The Church exhorteth instructeth correcteth God calleth inviteth expostulateth Death it self threatneth us that we may not come near Thus are we compassed about auxiliorum nube with a cloud of helps and advantages The Church is loud Death is terrible God's Nolo is loud I will not the death of a sinner Ezek. 33.11 and confirmed with an oath As he liveth He would not have us die And it is plain enough in his lightning and in his thunder in his expostulations and wishes in his anger in his grief in his spreading out his hands in his administration of all means sufficient to protect and guard us from it And it excludeth all Stoical Fate all necessity of sinning or dying There is nothing above us nothing before us nothing about us which can necessitate or bind us over to Death so that if we die it is in our volo in our Will we die for no other reason but that which is not reason Quia volumus Because we will die We have now brought you to the very cell and den of Death where this monster was framed and fashioned where it was first conceived brought forth and nursed up I have discovered to you the original and beginnings of Sin whose natural issue is Death and shut it up in one word the Will That which hath so troubled and amused men in all the ages of the Church to find out that which some have sought in heaven in the bosome of God as if his Providence had a hand in it and others have raked hell and made the Devil the authour of who is but a perswader and a soliciter to promote it that which others have tied to the chain of Destiny whose links are filed by the phansie alone and made up of air and so not strong enough to bind men much less the Gods themselves as it is said that which many have busied themselves in a painful and unnecessary search to find out openiâ—g the windows of Heaven to find it there running to and fro about the Universe to find it there and searching Hell it self to discover it we may discover in our own breasts in our own heart The Will is the womb that conceiveth this monster this viper which eateth through it and destroyeth the mother in the birth For that which is the beginning of action is the beginning of Sin and that which is the beginning of Sin is the cause of Death In homine quicquid est sibi proficit saith Hilary In Psal 118 There is nothing in Man nothing in the world which he may not make use of to avoid and prevent Death And in homine quicquid est sibi nocet There is nothing in Man nothing in the world which he may not make an occasion and instrument of sin That which hurteth him may help him That which circumspection and diligence may make an antidote neglect and carelesness may turn into poyson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil As Goodness so Sin is the work of our Will not of Necessity If they were wrought in us against our will there could be neither good nor evil I call heaven and earth to witness Deut. 30.19 said GOD by his servant Moses I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing And what is it to set it before them but to put it to themselves to put it into their own hands to put it to their choice Chuse then which you will The Devil may tempt the Law occasion sin Rom. 7.11 the Flesh may be weak Temptations may shew themselves but not any of these not all of these can bring in a necessity of dying For the Question or Expostulation doth not run thus Why are you under a Law Why are you weak or Why are you dead for reasons may be given for all these and the Justice and Wisdome of God will stand up to defend them But the Question is Why will ye die for which there can be no other reason given but our Will And here we must make a stand and take our rise from this one word this one syllable our Will For upon no larger foundation then this we either build our selves up into a temple of the Lord or into that tower of Babel and Confusion which God will destroy We see here all is laid upon the Will But such is our folly and madness so full of contradictions is a wilfull sinner Wisd 1.16 that
and bring forth fruit Matth. 13 5-8 For that is good ground not onely where Truth groweth but which is fit to receive it All forestalled imaginations and prejudicate opinions are as thorns to choke it up or they make the heart as stony ground in which if the Truth spring up it is soon parched for lack of rooting and withereth away What can that heart bring forth or what can it receive which is full already Ye have heard what Prejudice is In the next place consider the danger of it how it obstructeth and shutteth up the wayes of Truth and leaveth them unoccupied or to allude to the words of my Text how it spoileth the market I have shewed you the Serpent I must now shew you its Sting And indeed as the Serpent deceived Eve Gen. 3 1-5 so Prejudice deceiveth us It giveth a No to God's Yea maketh Men true and God a liar nulleth the sentence of death and telleth us we shall not die at all Ye shall die if this be the interpreter is Your eyes shall be opened and to deceive our selves is to be as Gods knowing good and evil I do not much mistake in calling Prejudice a Serpent For the biting of it is like that of the Tarantula the working of its venome maketh men dance and laugh themselves to death How do we delight our selves in errour and pity those who are in the Truth How do we lift up our heads in the wayes that lead unto death and contemn yea persecute them that will not follow us What a paradise is our ditch and what an hell do we behold them in who are not fallen into it Our flint is a diamond and a diamond is a flint Virtue is vice and vice virtue Errour is truth and truth errour Heaven is covered with darkness and hell is the kingdome of light Nothing appeareth to us as it is in its own shape but Prejudice turneth day into night and the light it self into darkness A setled prejudicate though false opinion will build up as strong resolutions as a true one Saul was as zelous for the Law as Paul was for the Gospel Hereticks are as loud for a fiction as the Orthodox for the Truth the Turk as violent for his Mahomet as the Christian for Christ Habet Diabolus suos martyres Even the Devil hath his Martyrs as well as God Mark 9.22 And it is Prejudice that is that evil Spirit that casteth them into fire and into water that consumeth or drowneth them 1 Sam. 15.32 that leadeth them forth like Agag delicately to their death If this poison will not fright us if these bitings be insensible and we will yet play with this Serpent let us behold it as a fiery Serpent stinging men to death enraging them to wash their hands in one anothers bloud turning plow shares into swords and fithes into spears making that desolation which we see on the earth beating down Churches grinding the facc of the innocent smoking like the bottomless pit breathing forth Anathemaes proscriptions banishment death If there be war this beateth up the drum If there be persecution this raised it If a deluge of iniquity cover the face of the earth this brought it in Is there any evil in the City which this hath not done This poison hath spread it self through the greatest part of mankind yea even Christendome is tainted with it and the effects have been deadly Errour hath gained a kingdome and in the mean while Truth like Psyche in Apuleius is commended of all yet refused of most is counted a pearl and a rich merchandise yet few buy it Ye have seen it already in general and in gross We will make it yet more visible by pointing as it were with the finger and shewing you it in particulars And first its biting is most visible and eminent in those of the Church of Rome For ye may even see the marks upon them Obstinacy Perverseness Insolency Scorn and Contempt a proud and high Disdain of any thing that appeareth like reason or of any man that shall be so charitable as to teach them which are certainly the signs of the bitings of this Serpent Prejudice if not the marks of the Beast Quà m gravis incubat How heavy doth Prejudice lie upon them who have renounced their very Sense and are taught to mistrust yea deny their Reason Who see with other mens eyes and hear with other mens ears nec animo sed auribus cogitant do not judge with their mind but with their ears Not the Scripture but the Church is their oracle And whatsoever that speaketh though it were a congregation of hereticks is truth And so it may be for ought they can discover For that theirs is the true Catholick Church is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which must be granted and not further sought into Once to doubt of it is heresie This prejudice once taken in That that Church cannot erre and though not well digested yet in a manner consubstantiated and connaturalized with them frustrateth yet forbiddeth all future judgment yea inhibiteth all further search or enquiry which may uncloud the Reason and bring her into that region of light where she may see the very face of Truth and so regain her proper place her office and dignity and condemn that which she bowed and submitted to when she was made a servant and slave of men and taught to conclude with the Church though against her self to say what that saith to do what that biddeth to be but as the echo of her decrees and canons though it be but in one as in her Bishop in many as in the Consistory in more as in a general Councel though it be but a name For they that lie under this prejudice in a manner do profess to all the world that they have unmanned themselves Prov. 20.27 blown out that candle of the Lord which was kindled in them that they received eyes but not to see ears but not to hear and reason but not to understand and judge that they are ready to believe that that which is black is white and that snow it self is as black as ink as the Academick thought if the Pope shall think good so to determine it To dispute with these is operam ludere to lose our labour and mispend our time It is altogether vain to seek to perswade those who will not be perswaded though they be convinced nor yield when they are overcome Though seven yea seventy times seven wisemen bring reason and arguments against them they do but beat the air What speak we to him of colours who must not see or urge him with reason who hath renounced it There cannot be a more prevalent reason given then that which Sense and Experience bring yet we see Bread and it is flesh we see Wine and it is very Bloud because the Church saith it There cannot be a more reasonable thing then that Reason should be our judge yet Reason
is not Reason if the Church say it They that will not believe their Sense how can they believe their Reason And how can they believe their Reason who have debauched and prostituted it and bound it to the high Priests chair Do they give that honour unto the Saints which is due unto God alone and call upon them in the time of trouble Psal 50.15 It is very right and meet and our bounden duty so to do for the Church commandeth it Must there be a fire more then that of Hell The Church hath kindled it Must the Merits of the Saints be drawn up into a common treasury and thence showred down in Indulgences and supplies for them who are not so rich in Good works The Church is that treasury and her breath hath called them up Whatsoever is said or done must have a Bene dictum and a Bene factum subscribed under it is Truth and Righteousness if the Church say and do it So the Church is let down as the Tragedians used to do some God or Goddess when they were at a loss or stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as by slight and engine to solve the difficulty and untie the knot and so make up the Catastrophe Or it serveth them as Anaxagoras his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Metaphysicks to answer and defeat all arguments whatsoever And this prejudice of theirs they back and strengthen with many others Of Antiquity making that most true which is most antient and the Truth it self a lie if it shewed it self in glory but yesterday And yet omnia vetera nova fuere that which is now old was at first new and by this argument Truth was not Truth when it was new nor the Light Light when it first sprung from on high and visited us Truth though it find Professours but in its later age yet is the first born because Errour is nothing else but a deviation from it Errour cometh forth last and layeth hold on the heel of Truth to supplant it They have another prejudice of Councels as if the most were alway the best and Truth went by voices Nazianzen was bold to censure them as having seen no good effect of any of them And we our selves have seen and our eyes have dropped for it what a mere name what prejudice can do with the Many and what it can countenance Besides these they have others Of Miracles which were but lies Of Glory which is but vanity Of Universality which is bounded and confined to a certain place With these and the like that first prejudice That the Church cannot erre is underpropped And yet these depend upon that Such a mutual implication there is of Errours as in a bed of Snakes If the first be not true these are nothing And if these pillars be once shaken that Church will soon sink in its reputation and not sit so high as to dictate to all other Churches in the world And these are soon shaken for they are but problemes and may justly be called into question and brought to trial For if they have any thing of Truth it is rather verisimile then verum rather the resemblance of Truth then Truth it self And this a foul errour may have And to fix my judgement upon a resemblance is most prejudicial For a thing may be like the Truth and appear in that likeness which is not true and therefore must needs be false A resemblance or likeness participateth of both and may be either true or false I have looked too long abroad upon this Queen of Churches but it was to set her up as a glass to see our own She saith we are a schismatical we are bold upon it that we are a Reformed Church and so we are But may not Prejudice find a place even in Reformation it self May we not dote upon it as Pygmalion did upon the statue and so please and flatter and laugh our selves to death Illiacos intra muros peccatur extra Hor. l. 1. Ep. 2. Rome alone is not guilty of Prejudice but even some members of the Reformation also who think themselves most nearly united to Christ when they run furthest from that Church though sometimes by so doing they run from the Truth For what is this else but prejudice to judge all is well with us because the lines are fallen to us in so pleasant a place as a purged Church to be less reformed because that is Reformed or to think that an heaven and happiness will be raised up and rest upon a word a name What is this but to run round in a circle and to meet the Church of Rome where we left her What is this but to speak her very language That to be in this Ark this Church is to be safe and when a floud of Sin and Errour hath overwhelmed us to think we are securely sailing to our Ararat our eternal rest Or what hope is there that he should grow and encrease in grace who if he be planted once in this Church or that Sect counteth himself a perfect man in Christ Jesus Almost every Sect and every Congregation laboureth under this prejudice and feeleth it not but runneth away with its burden Oh unhappy men they that are not fellow-members with us though it be of such a body as hath but little Charity to quicken it and no Faith to move it but a phansie Yet these cannot but do all things well these cannot erre and they who will not cast in their lot with them Prov. 1.14 and have the same purse are quite out of the way can speak nothing that is true nor do any thing that is good Matth. 23.5 Do ye not see the Pharisees spread their phylacteries do ye not hear them utter the same dialect Luk. 18.11 We are not as those Publicanes I might enlarge my self but I know ye understand me and can tell your selves what might be said further by that which hath been said already To be yet more particular The Lutherane Church doth grant indeed that every particular Church may erre and so doth not exempt it self But do not many of them attribute as much to Luther as the other do to their Church Are they not ready to subscribe to whatsoever he said upon no other reason or motive but because he said it Do they not look upon him as upon a man raised up by God to redeem the Truth and shew it to the world again after it had been detained in unrighteousness and lost in ceremony and superstition And is not this Prejudice equal to the former Do not they depend as much upon a person as the Papists do upon their Church so that to them whatsoever he said is as true as an article of faith and whatsoever is not found in him is heretical quasi fas non sit dicere Lutherum errâsse as if it were unjust and an injury to think that Luther could erre in any thing I accuse him not of errour yet
and he reflecteth a blessing upon me Quod est omnium est singulorum That which is all mens is every mans and that which is every mans belongeth unto the whole Proprietas excommunicatio est saith Parisiensis Propriety is an excommunication When I appropriate my devotion to my self I do in a manner thrust my brother out of the Church nay I shut my self out of heaven I at once depose and exauctorate both my self and him Nay I cannot appropriate it for where it is it will spread It is my sorrow and thy sorrow my fear and thy fear my joy and thy joy Ye see here the Tribes go up to the house of the Lord with joy and this joy raiseth another or rather the same a joy of the same nature in David At the very apprehension of it he taketh down his harp from the wall and setteth his joy to a tune and committeth it to a song I was glad when they said c. And thus I am fallen upon 2. The second thing observable in the Psalmists joy the Publication thereof He setteth it to Musick he conveyeth it into a song and as the Chaldee Pharaphrast saith Adam did assoon as his sin was forgiven him he expresseth sabbatum suum his Sabbath his content and gladness in a Psalm that it might pass from generation to generation and never be forgotten but that this sacrifice of thanksgiving which himself here offereth might still upon the like occasion be offered by others unto the worlds end and that the people which should in after-ages be created might thus praise the Lord. Thus David hath passed over and entailed his joy to all posterity This is thanks and praise indeed when it floweth from an heart thus affected when it breaketh forth like light from the Sun and spreadeth it self like the heavens and declareth the glory of God Gratè ad nos beneficium pervenisse indicamus effusis affectibus saith Seneca Then a benefit meeteth with a greateful heart when it is ready to pour forth it self in joy and the affections not being able to contain themselves are seen and heard shine bright in the countenance and sound aloud in a song Certainly Gratitude is neither sullen nor silent Saul's evil melancholick Spirit cannot enter the heart of a David nor any heart in which the love of God's glory reigneth At the sight of any thing that may set it forth the pious soul is awaked and the melancholick and dumb spirit is cast out Psal 47.1 4. nor can it return whilest that love is in us When God hath chosen our inheritance for us then O clap your hands all ye people shout unto God with the voice of triumph To draw towards a conclusion By this rejoycing spirit of David's we may examine and judge of the temper of our own If we be of the same disposition with him no sight no object will delight us but that in which God is and in which his glory is seen We shall not make songs of other mens miseries nor keep holiday when they mourn We shall not like any thing either in our selves or others which dishonoureth God's name Prov. 2.14 In a word we shall not rejoyce to do evil nor take pleasure in the frowardness of the wicked But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our whole life will be one holiday one continued Sabbath and rest in good Of what spirit then are they who rejoyce not in their own miseries but in their sins who take great delight and complacency not onely in the calamities but also in the falls and miscarriages of others especially if they cast not in their lot and make one purse with them Prov. 1.14 who as Judas did carry their religion and their purse in the same hand whose religion is in their purse and openeth and shutteth with it who that they may triumph in the miseries rejoyce first in the defects whether seeming or real of their dissenting brethren Every man that looketh towards Jerusalem Luke 9.53 and will not stay with them at their Samaria must be cast out of doors Criminibus debent hortos praetoria campos They owe their wealth and possessions shall I say to other mens crimes no they owe them to their own For a great sin it is to delight in sin but to make that a crime which is not a sin is a greater What is it then to turn piety it self into sin To call an asseveration an oath is a fault at least And then what is it to call devotion superstition the house of God a sty and reverence idolatry Yet if these were sins why should my brothers ruine be my joy Why should I wish his fall delight in his fall follow him in his fall as the Romanes did their sword-players in the theatre with acclamation So so thus I would have it We cannot say this proceedeth from piety or is an effect of charity 1 Cor. 13.6 For Charity rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth Charity bindeth up wounds doth not make them wider And when people sin Charity maketh the head a fountain of tears but doth not fill the mouth with laughter Charity is no detractour no jester no Satyrist it thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13.5 it is not suspicious It cannot behold a Synagogue of Satan in the Temple of the Lord nor Superstition in a wall nor Idolatry in reverence This evil humour indeed proceedeth from Love but it is the love of the world which defameth every thing for advantage laugheth at Churches that it may pull them down maketh men odious that it may make them poor and dealeth with them as the Heathen did with the first Christians putteth them into bears skins that it may bait them to death This certainly is not from David's but from an evil spirit Nor can it be truly termed Joy unless we should look for joy in hell and content in a place of torment Rejoycings and jubilees of this sort are like unto the howlings of devils In the Devil there cannot be joy My drunkenness cannot quench the flames he burneth in my evil conscience cannot kill that worm which gnaweth him my ignorance cannot lighten his darkness my loss of heaven cannot bring him back thither Should he conquer the whole world he would still be a slave But yet in the Devil though properly there be no joy there is quasi gaudium that which is like our joy in evil which we call Joy though it be not so And it is in him saith Aquinas not as a passion but as an act of his will When we do well that is done which he would not and that is his grief and when we sin we are led captive according to his will and that is his joy 2 Tim. 2.26 And such is the joy of malicious wicked men for whom it is not expedient nor profitable that those who are not of the same mind with them should be good and therefore against their will And to this
respect of himself but not of the precepts of Christ It trod down the Man but not the Christian under its feet It devoted the Honour and Repute and Esteem which he had in Christs Church to his brethren but not his Soul I could wish to be accursed to be Anathema i. e. to be in esteem as a sacrilegious person who for devouring holy things is Anathema cut off and separated from the society of men to suffer for them the most ignominious death for so the word doth often signifie to be separate from Christ from the body and Church of Christ and of his Apostle and Embassadour to be made the off-scouring of the world the most contemptible person on earth a spectacle to God and to men and to Angels And this could not but proceed from an high degree and excess of Love Love may break forth and pass over all privileges honours profits yea and life it self but it never leaves the Law of God behind it For the breach of Gods law is his dishonour and love if it be spiritual and heavenly is a better methodist then to seek to gain glory to God by that which takes it away at the same time to cry Haile to Christ and crucifie him It was indeed a high degree of the Love of Gods Glory and his brethrens salvation which exprest this wish here from the Apostle and which brought him into this strait but his wish was not irregular and his Doubt was not of that nature but he could make himself away to escape and did resolve at last against himself for the Glory of God and for the good of his brethren For the Glory of God first That that must be the first the first mover of our Christian obedience For though there be other motives and we do well to be moved by them the Perfecting of our reason the Beautifying of the Soul and the Reward it self yet this is first to be looked upon with that eye of our faith wherewith we look upon God Heaven is a great motive but the Glory of God is above the highest Heavens and for his Glories sake we have our conversation there We do not exclude other motives as unfit to be lookt upon For it is lawful saith Gregory for a Christian remunerationis linteo sudores laboris sui tergere to make the sight of the reward as a napkin to wipe off the sweat of his brows and comfort the labour of his obedience with hope But the chief and principal matter must be the Glory of God The other ends are involved in this sicut rota in rota as a wheel within a wheel a sphere within a sphere but the Glory of God is the first compassing wheel which must set all the rest a working We must neither live nor dye but to God's glory The Glory of God and our Happiness run round in the same cord or gyre but the Glory of God is primum mobile still on the top And then our Love to God comes nearest and hath the fairest resemblance to the Love God hath to us whose actions are right in themselves though they end in themselves whose glory is the good of his creature In a word he that loveth God perfectly cannot but deny himself neglect himself perish and be lost to himself but then he riseth again and is found in God whilst he thinks nothing but of him whilst he thinks he is loved of him and thus lives in him whilst he is thus lost Amor testamentum amantis Our Love to God should be as our last will and testament wherein we deliver up all to him our whole life on earth and some few years which we might have in heaven to him we thus love To this high pitch and unusual degree of love our Apostle had attained What is his desire but to be with Christ Oh for the wings of a Dove for he cannot be with him soon enough But then the desire of Gods Glory stays him in his flight and deteins him yet longer among the sons of men to make them the sons of God and so to glorifie God on earth And this inclination to glorifie God is in a manner natural to those who are made partakers of the Divine nature and the neerer we come to the nature of God the more do we devote and surrender our selves for his glory We will do any thing suffer any thing for the glory of God In the next place This Love of Gods Glory hath inseparably united to it the Love of our brethrens Good For wherein is Gods Glory more manifested then in the renewing of his image in men who are filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the glory and praise of God It is true Phil. 1.11 the Heavens declare the Glory of God But the glory of God is not so resplendent in the brightest Star in the Sun when he runneth his race as in the New creature in Man transformed by the renewing of his mind There is Gods image nay saith Tertullian his similitude and likeness There he appears in glory There is Wisdome his Justice his Mercy are displayed and made manifest There his glory appears as in his holy Temple For as the Woman is the glory of the Man in being subject to him so are we the glory of God when we are Deiformes when our Will is subject and conformed to him when our Will is bound up in his Will For then it may be said that God is in us of a truth shining in the perfection of beauty in those graces and perfections which are the beams of his in our Meekness and Liberality and Justice and Patience and Long-suffering which are the Christians Tongue and Glory and do more fully set forth Gods praise then the tongues of Men and Angels can do Thus Gods Glory is carried along in the continued stream and course of all our actions Thus doth it break forth and is seen in every work of our hand and is the eccho and resultance of every word we speak The eccho of every word nay the spring of every thought which begat that word and work Now to improve the Glory of God in his brethren to build them up in their most holy faith and upon that foundation to raise that Holiness and Righteousness which are the fairest representations of it did S. Paul after that contention and luctation in himself after he had lookt upon that place which was prepared for him in heaven and that place of trouble and anxiety to which he was called on earth determine for that which was not best for himself but most fit and necessary to promote Gods glory by the furtherance of the Philippians faith And thus as every creature doth by the sway of Nature strive to get something of the like kind something like unto it self as Fire by burning kindles and begets it self in every matter that is combustible so doth every true Disciple of
the living to preserve the memory of the dead For this were the Diptychs read in the Church which were two leaves or tables on the one whereof were written the names of those pious men and Confessors who were yet alive and on the other of those who had dyed in the Lord and were at rest To this end Churches were dedicate to God but bore the names of Saints to preserve their memory I might tell you and that truly if there be any truth in Story but I am unwilling to bring the Martyrs of Christ within the least suspicion of being superstitious but History hath told us that they hung up their pictures in their private shops and houses that they engraved the pictures of the Apostles in their very drinking-cups celebrated their feast-dayes honoured their memories framed Panegyricks of them wrote their Lives Basil wrote the Life of Barlaam who was but a poor Shepherd Nazianzene of Basil and of others which he saith he left to posterity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a common table of virtue for all the world to behold For since men are delighted in the imitation of others and led more easily by examples then laws what more profitable course could the Church of Christ have found out then the preservation of the acts and memory of the Saints and transmitting them to posterity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gregory Nyssene speaketh as provision to help and uphold us in our way How are we affected with these narrations What deep impressions do they make How do our minds naturally cleave unto them like stars fastned to their orbs and so move together with them We are on the dunghil with Job in a bed of tears with David on our knees with Daniel ready to be offered up with St. Paul at the stake and on the rack and at the block with the Martyrs The very remembrance of good men of the Saints of God is a degree and an approach unto Holiness To drive this yet a little more home The Apostle's counsel to the Hebrews is to consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 narrowly to mark and observe and to study Heb. 10.24 one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whet and sharpen each others affection now dulled perhaps with vain and impertinent speculations to provoke unto love and good works To this end God hath placed us in the Communion of Saints a benefit which we either understand not or undervalue and he hath ordained it that one Christian should be as a lesson to another which he should take out and learn and teach again and then strive to improve For it is in this as it is in Arts and Sciences Qui agit ut prior sit forsitan si non transierit aequabit He who stirred up with an holy ambition maketh it his industry to exceed his patern may become as glorious a star as he yea by his holy emulation peradventure far out-shine him Qui sequitur cupit consequi For he who followeth others maketh it his aim we may be sure if not to exceed yet to overtake them And this use we have of Examples They are set before us to raise up in us an holy emulation It is true Emulation hath this common with Envy that we sorrow and are angry but the Philosopher putteth the difference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We sorrow not that others are beautified with graces but that we our selves are not This Sorrow and Anger hath not the same rise and ground in the one as in the other For this godly Sorrow in holy emulation bringeth forth a repentance not to be repented of and our indignation is not on the Saint we look upon but on our selves and it proceedeth from a love and admiration of those Heroes whom virtue and piety have made glorious in our eyes Love and Hope are both antidotes against the venom and poison of Envy but are the ingredients which make up the wholsom composition of Emulation No such Sorrow and Anger in Emulation as that which setteth the teeth of Envy on edge but there is Love which carryeth fire in it and is full of activity and impatient of delay and Hope quae expeditam reddit operationem which setteth us forward in our way and maketh our feet like hinds feet not to follow but to run after those who are gone before and are now in termino at their journeys end Divina dispensatio quot justos exhibuit tot astra supra peccatorum tenebras misit saith Gregory As many just and holy men as the Providence of God hath shewed to the world so many Stars hath he fixed in the firmament of the Church to lighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Dionysius Longinus Such is the delight we take in example that we see many men are rapt and inspired with other mens spirits And as the Priests of Apollo at a chink or opening of the earth received a Divine breath and inspiration which so filled them that they could give answer to those who consulted the Oracle so from the virtues and holiness of good men if we look stedfastly upon them and consider them aright 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as by so many sacred doors and conveyances are derived those defluxions of piety which do so fill us that we are able with alacrity and a kind of tryumph to follow after In a word by the virtue of Imitation it is that we become meek with Moses patient with Job chaste with Joseph upright with David that we forget what is behind and press toward the mark with St. Paul who here calleth after us to be Followers of him My next part And here we have a hard task St. Paul an ensample which all men magnifie but few follow QUOTIDIE MORIOR I dye daily was his Motto and we had rather chuse another who tremble at the very thought that we must dye once St. Paul a mark for all the miseries in the world to shoot at In afflictions necessities distresses in stripes and imprisonment in watchings and fastings Who would be drawn out in these colours Who would be such a Paul though it were to be a Saint Follow him perhaps into the third heaven we would but we have no mind to follow him through tumults on earth and tempests at Sea before Tyrants and to the block here we turn countenance and cannot stir a foot But then I told you he taketh in all the Saints the glorious company of the Apostles the noble army of martyrs Menander fecit Andriam Perinthiam He that made one made both He that was glorious in St. Paul was glorious in all the rest St. Paul I think the best servant that ever Christ had upon the earth the Map of all the Saints And he that followeth him must follow all An ensample one would think not to be reached by imitation Difficulty is the great excuse of the world and because things are hard to be
his gate his tardity and slowness of speech And when he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man collected in himself and much given to meditation they affecting the like deportment fell into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sad kind of melancholy and stupidity These defects many times overtake us because we look upon the person and never consider the Rule How many are Sarahs but to tell a lye Rebekahs but to deceive Davids but to revenge or worse Therefore St. Augustine speaking of the sin of David in the matter of Uriah observeth that many upon the reading of that story did aedificare in ruinam build their fall upon David's fall and framed unto themselves this reason Si David cur non ego If David did thus then why not I And as we erre in taking the Saints vices to be vertues so do we many times grosly mistake those graces which do most commend them Multos saepe fallunt quae similia sunt saith Hilarie Those things which are like one another do oft deceive us Multa quae tarditatis ignaviae sunt gravitati consilio tribuuntur That which was Gravity in the copy is but Sloth and Dulness in the transcript That which was Zele in Phinehas is Madness in another That which would have been Obedience in Abraham would be cruel Murther in any man else That may be Gravity in the Saint which is Stupidity and Senslesness in me Hope when transcribed by imitation may be Presumption Bounty Prodigality Peaceableness want of Courage Devotion Superstition The Orator faith well Multa fiunt eadem sed aliter Many do the same things but not after the same manner A thief fighteth stoutly but we call him not Valiant A bad servant complaineth not under the whip but we commend not his Patience A traiterous Jesuite may smile perhaps at the very ridge of the gallows but we do not call it Martyrdom How soon is the complexion of a good duty changed and altered How fair is it in one and what deformity hath it in another It is gold here and anon it is but a counter at one time sealed with an Expedit approved as very expedient at another checked with a Non licet forbid as altogether unlawful To draw towards a conclusion There are some duties which are local Not the same Ceremonies at Eugubium as at Rome There are duties fitted to the times Not the same Discipline in the Church in the time of peace and in the time of persecution Not the same face of the Church now that was in the Apostles time now were it fit that in all things it should be drawn like to that Lastly there be personal and occasional duties which in some persons and upon some occasions are praise-worthy but in others deserve no other reward but Death The command is Thou shalt not kill Samson killed himself but every man is not a Samson hath not Samson's spirit Phinehas with his spear slayeth the adulterous couple but every man is not a Phinehas nor hath Phinehas's Commission S. Basil's rule is most certain Where we find a contradiction between the Work and the Precept when we read a fact commended which falleth cross with the command we must leave the fact and adhere to the precept David was a good man but no Apology for adultery Solomon a wise man but no pretence for Idolatry S. Peter was a Rock but we may dash upon this Rock and shipwreck and if we follow him in all his wayes we may chance to hear a serious check from Christ himself Get thee behind me Satan Be followers of Elijah but not to consume men with fire Be followers of Peter but not into the High Priest's hall to deny our Master Be followers of S. Paul and of all the blessed Saints of God but with S. Paul's Correction As they were of Christ Christ is the great Exemplar the supreme and infallible Pattern which all are to conform unto a perfect Copy for every one to imitate a principal standard Rule by which all other rules are to be examined and according to which all our lives ought to be squared and sitted Put ye on saith the Apostle Rom. 13.14 the Lord Jesus Christ Which is according to Chrysostom's exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so to be clothed with him from top to toe that nothing appear in us but that which is of Christ All our affections must be sutable unto his Let the same mind be in you Phil. 2.5 saith S. Paul which was in Christ In all our actions we must tread in his steps I have given you an example saith he that ye should do as I have done unto you Joh. 13.15 In all our sufferings we must take up our cross and follow him Heb. 12.1 2. and as it is we must run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus Yet we must not here conceive that we are bound to walk in an universal conformity unto Christ in all things For there were many actions of his which as they far exceed our natural abilities so they require not our imitation It is not safe for us to follow him on the Sea lest we sink with Peter nor into the Wilderness to invite the Tempter by a solitary retiredness We are as unable to fast forty dayes and forty nights as we are to feed five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes We cannot command the Winds to be still nor Devils to come out nor drive away Diseases with a word or with a touch In brief we cannot follow Christ in the way of his Miracles They afford us matter of wonder not of imitation Neither secondly must we think to imitate him in his works of Merit Luk. 17.10 Do well we must and suffer ill we may But when we have done all we are still unprofitable servants And though we suffer never so much yet are the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Therefore in the third place Rom. 8.18 we must follow Christ only in the works of his ordinary Obedience And thus he was unto us a living Commentary on his own written Law or rather a living and breathing Law for us to live by He was subject to his Parents obedient to the Magistrate assiduous in his calling painful in preaching frequent in praying zealous of God's glory and ever obedient to his will He was in his life an exact patern of Innocence He went about doing good and there was no guile found in his mouth at his death of Patience When he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not in both and in all of Piety and Humility Beloved we may assure ourselves that we do and walk aright when we frame and fashion our lives according to this Rule when we express and represent the life of Christ in our conversation when we so walk even as he walked 1
and passive obedience of Christ The act of Justification is the act of a Judge and this cannot concern us so much as the benefit it self which is the greatest that can be given not so much as our duty to fit us for the act Oh that men would learn to speak of the acts of God in his own language and not seek out divers inventions which do not edifie but many times rend the Church in pieces and expose the truth it self to reproch which had triumphed gloriously over Errour had men contended only for that common faith which was once delivered to the Saints My sheep hear my voice saith Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil They hear and obey and do not dispute and ask questions They taste not trouble and mud that clear fountain of the water of life And as in Justification so in the point of Faith by which we are justified What profit is there so busily to enquire whether the nature of Faith consisteth in an obsequious assent or in the appropriation of the grace and mercy of God or in a meer fiducial apprehension and application of the merits of Christ What will this add to me what cubit what hair to my stature if so be I settle and rest upon this that the Faith by which I am justified must not be a dead faith but a faith working by charity Oh let me try and examine my Faith let me build my self up in it and upon it those actions of Obedience and Holiness which are the language of Faith and speak her to be alive and then I shall not trouble my self too much to determine utrùm fides quae viva or quà viva Whether a living Faith justifieth or whether it justifieth as a living Faith Whether Good works are necessary to Justification as Efficient or Concomitant For it is enough to know that a dead Faith is not sufficient for this work and that Faith void of good works is dead and therefore that must needs be a living Faith which worketh by charity Whether Charity concur with Faith to the act of Justification as some would have it Whether it have an equal efficacy or unequal or none at all Whether the power of justifying be attributed to Faith as the fountain and mother of all good works or as it bringeth these good works into act or it have this force by it self alone as it apprehendeth the merits of Christ although even in that act it is not alone In the midst of all this noise in the midst of all these doubts and disputations it is enongh for me to be justified And what is enough if it be not enough to be saved Which I may be by following in the way that is smooth and plain and not running out into the mazes and labyrinths of disputes It is the voice of the Gospel behind thee HAEC EST VIA This is the way FAITH WORKING BY CHARITY and thou mayest walk in it and never ask any more questions But if men will inquire let them inquire But let them take heed that they lose not themselves in their search and dispute away their Faith talk of Faith and be worse then Infidels of Justification and please themselves in unrighteousness of Christ's active obedience and be to every good work reprobate of his Passive obedience and deny him when they should suffer for him of the inconsistency of Faith and Good works in our justification and set them at as great a distance in their lives and conversation and because they do not help to justifie us think they have no concurrence at all in the work of our salvation For we are well assured of the one and fight for it and most men are too bold and confident in the other But the doctrine of the Cospel is a perfect Law and bindeth us to both both to believe and to do for it requireth a working and an active Faith In the book of God all our members were written All our members yea and all the faculties of our soul And in his Gospel he hath framed laws and precepts to order and regulate them all in every act in every motion and inclination which if the Eye offend pluck it out if the Hand cut it off limit the Understanding to the knowledge of God bind the Will to obedience moderate and confine those two Turbulent Tribunes of the soul the Concupiscible and Irascible appetites direct our Fear level our Hope fix our Joy restrain our Sorrow condescend to order our Speech frame our Gesture fashion our Apparel set and compose our outward Behaviour Instances in Scripture in every particular are many and obvious And the time would fail me to mention them all In a word then This Law is fitted to the whole man to every faculty of the soul to every member of the body fitted to us in every condition in every relation in every motion It will reign with thee it will serve with thee It will manage thy riches comfort thy poverty ascend the throne with thee sit down with thee on the dunghil It will pray with thee fast with thee labour with thee rest and keep a Sabbath with thee It will govern a Church it will order thy family It will raise a kingdom within thee not to be divided in it self free from mutinies and seditions and those tumults and disturbances which thy flesh with its lusts and affections may raise there It will live with thee stand by thee at thy death and be that Angel which shall carry thee into Abraham's bosom It will rise again with thee and set the crown of glory upon thy head And is there yet any more Or what need there more then that which is necessary There can be but one God one Heaven one Religion one way to Blessedness and there is but one Law And this runneth the whole compass directeth us not only ad ultimum sed usque ad ultimum not only to that which is the end but to the means to every passage and approch to every help and advantage towards it leadeth us through the manifold changes and chances of this world through fire and water through honour and dishonour through peace and persecution and uniteth us to that one God giveth us right and title to that one heaven and bringeth us home to that one end for which we were made And is there yet any more Yes Particular cases may be so many and various that they cannot all come within the compass of this Law It is true But then they are cases of our own making cases which we need not make sometimes raised by weakness sometimes by wilfulness sometimes even by that sin it self which reigneth in our mortal bodies And to such this Law is as an ax to cut them off But be their original what it will if this Law reach them not or if they bear no analogy or affinity with those cases which are contained in the Gospel nor depend upon them by any
vanity or the next business will drive it away and take its place Nor let us make a room for it in our Phansie For it is an easie matter to think we are free when we are in chains Who is so wicked that he is not ready to persuade himself he is just And that false persuasion too shall go for the dictate of the Holy Ghost Paganism it self cannot shew such monsters as many of them are who call themselves Saints But let us gird up our loins and be up and doing the work those works of piety which the Gospel injoyneth It is Obedience alone that tieth us to God and maketh us free denisons of that Jerusalem which is above In it the Beauty the Liberty the Royalty the Kingdom of a Christian is visible and manifest For by it we sacrifice not our Flesh but our Will unto God and so have one and the same will with him and if we have his will we have his power also and his wisdom to accompany it and to to fulfil all that we can desire or expect Servire Deo regnare est To serve God is to reign as Kings here and will bring us to reign with him for evermore Let us then stand fast in our obedience which is our liberty against all the wiles and invasions of the enemy all those temptations which will shew themselves in power and craft to remove us from our station In a calm to steer our course is not so difficult but when the tempest beateth hard upon us not to dash against the rock will commend our skill Every man is ready to build a tabernacle for Christ when he is in his glory but not to leave him at the Cross is the glory and crown of a Christian And first let us not dare a temptation as Pliny dared the vapour at Mount Vesuvius and died for it Let us not offer and betray our selves to the Enemy For he that affecteth and loveth danger is in the ready way to be swallowed up in that gulf Valiant men saith the Philosopher are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quiet and silent before the combat but in the trial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ready and active But audacious daring men are commonly loud and talkative before encounters but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flag and fail in them The first weigh the danger and resolve by degrees the other are peremptory and resolve suddenly and talk their resolution away It is one thing to talk of a tempest at sea another to discourse of it leaning against a wall It is one thing to dispute of pain another to feel it Grief and Anguish hath not such a sting in the Stoicks gallery as it hath on the rack For there Reason doth fight but with a shadow and a representation here with the substance it self And when things shew themselves naked as they are they stir up the affections When the Whip speaketh by its smart not by my phansie when the Fire is in my flesh not my understanding when temptations are visible and sensible then they enter the soul and the spirit then they easily shake that resolution which was so soon built and soon beat down that which was made up in haste Therefore let us not rashly thrust our selves upon them But in the second place let us arm and prepare our selves against them For Preparation is half the conquest It looketh upon them handleth and weigheth them before hand seeeth where their great strength lieth and goeth forth in the power of the Spirit and in the name of Christ and so maketh us more then conquerers before the sight And this is our Martyrdom in peace For the practice of a Christian in the calmest times must nothing differ in readiness and resolution from times of rage and fire As Josephus speaketh of the military exercises practised amongst the Romans that they differed from a true battel only in this that their battel was a bloudy exercise and their exercise a bloudless battel So our preparation should make us martyrs before we come to resist ad sanguinem to shed a drop of bloud To conclude as the Apostle exhorteth let us take unto us the whole armour of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand to stand against the horrour of a prison against the glittering of the sword against the terrour of death to stand as expert souldiers of Christ and not to forsake our place to stand as mount Sion which cannot be moved in a word to be stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. For whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed The Seven and Fortieth SERMON PART VII JAMES I. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed TO Persevere or continue in the Gospel and To be blessed for ever are the two stages of a Christian the one here on earth the other in heaven and there is scarce a moment but a last breath between them nothing but a mouldering and decaying wall this tabernacle of flesh which falleth down suddenly and then we pass and enter And that we may persevere and continue means are here prescribed first assiduous Meditation in this Law we must not be forgetful hearers of it but look into it as into a glass vers 23 24. yet not as a man that beholdeth his natural face in a glass and then goeth away and forgetteth himself not as a man who looketh carelesly casteth an eye and thinketh no more of it but rather as a woman who looketh into her glass with intention of mind with a kind of curiosity and care stayeth and dwelleth upon it fitteth her attire and ornaments to her by a kind of method setteth every hair in its proper place and accurately dresseth and adorneth her self by it And sure there is more care and exactness due to the soul then to the body Secondly that we may continue and persevere we must not only hear and remember but do the work For Piety is confirmed by Practice To these we may now add a third which hath so near a relation to Practice that it is even included in it and carrried along with it And it is To be such students in Christ's School as S. Paul was Acts 24.16 To study and exercise our selves to have alwayes a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Not to triflle with our God or play the wanton with our Conscience Not to displease and wound her in one particular with a resolution to follow her in the rest Not to let our love of the world or fear of danger make that a truth which we formerly