to say after him The flesh profiteth nothing If you onely know Christ as dying and rising without you it will profit you nothing unlesse you know him as dying and rising within you Any man is capable of remembring the storie of Christ and rehearsing it if hee have but common reason and can say as well as another that Christ died for him and can throw himself upon Christ and can hang upon Christ this is not faith this is not salvation for saith James Faith without works is dead and Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath `made me free from the law of sin and death he doth not say that such a proposition or text of the Gospel did set him free he doth not say that the hearing that Christ died for the sins of men doth set him free No there was the Spirit of life in Christ as well as the law or letter it is that entails life upon Christ and his seed There is an outward Covenant and there is an inward Spirit The outward Covenant is this I will be thy God and the God of thy seed and may not any man pretend to be in this Covenant of this seed do not thousands professe themselvs to be so Do not thousands in the world say Lord Lord Lord and presse to enter into heaven We cannot put a difference betwixt one or other except we know this truth for they say they are within the Covenant and of Christs seed and what hold they forth for this they hold forth the confession of Christ and say that he died for their sin and rose for their justification and this they believe and upon this they lay their souls for salvation May not the veriest hypocrite do so as well as the truest Saint but here 's that which puts the difference when the spirit of Christ brings this Covenant to the heart of a poor creature when the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of son-ship revealing God as our Father revealing God in Union with us our righteousnesse our strength hee doth indeed seal us to the day of Redemption he sets apart Christs sheep and this distinguisheth them from the other So that if you lay salvation upon an historical Christ you 'l be deceived If you would have that in which you may confide you must have Christ revealed in you in the Spirit you must have the same Spirit of Faith that was in Christ and the same spirit of power that wrought in him you must have the same eternal spirit by which you must offer up your bodies offer up your flesh to God as a sacrifice yea your selves and your own righteousnesse this is true salvation this is salvation manifested unto life To make this yet more clear I shal shew you the difference between Christ in the flesh and Christ in the Saints between that work of God within us and that work of God in Christ the latter is the truth of the former Sanctifiethem through thy truth Joh. 17. 17. that is do thou act those things really in them which are done in a figure for them upon mee there is the truth I desire to clear this to you by some familiar experience You know that Jesus Christ is said to die for our sins and rise for our justification Here is now Christ in the flesh here is his ministration Why now hereupon salvation is preach'd to men and they are told that God is reconciled for he hath sent his Son there is nothing to be done God is reconciled his justice satitfied onely believ Here is the outward difpensation But now a poor soul notwithstanding all this lies under the guilt and weight of sin whereby he cannot believe or take comfort in these glad tidings Do you not see that there is need of another ministration Is there not need of the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus as well as the proposition of the Gospel You come and shew a poor soul the proposition of the Gospel that whosoever believeth in Christ shall have eternal life Yet all this while the poor soul lies dead till not onely the letter but the spirit of the Gospel comes and appears to him till Christ appears not onely in his first Court that is his own flesh or the letter of the Gospel but the inmost place of all that is in this man's conscience For wee may allude to Heb. 9. 24. That Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us These words are spoke figuratively It is true he went visibly into heaven that is a place remote from their sight a cloud received him out of their sight The true heaven and that heaven where Christ doth appeare to the comfort and releife of a poor soul is the conscience of a poor sinner and that is called heaven because as heaven is the place of God so is the heart of man He is sayd â—o be the searcher of the heart God sits there and wounds and heales there that is God's true place It is not in the understanding of a man in the Notions there but it is in the heart of man there it is gone Christ in the spirit is in the heart of his people that is Christs place and there it is that Christ Jesus speakes a word for a poor soul there it is that Christ Jesus sits as King in our conscience Christ may offer himself long enough in the letter in the history of the Gospel but if he appeare not in the spirit and sit in our consciences to quiet them we shall never have any true understanding of the word Now for this reason I shall desire you to looke within your selves and I make no question but if you do wait upon God without prejudicate spirits he will clear this truth unto you And now while I come to some application of this truth I shall desire you in the feare of God not to mistake me Let us take heed of idolizing even the humanity of Jesus Christ himselfe of idolizing his doings and his sufferings We see God through these doings and sufferings of Jesus Christ as through a glasse but it is not blasphemie to say that a believer may come to see a love born unto him above and before the manifestation of it in the sufferings of Jesus Christ he may see it in God himself though by Christ Do not think you know so much as you need to know in knowing the flesh of Christ in knowing the man Christ Jesus for unlesse you know God in his appearance under that form you mistake Christ and make him an Idol I am nothing saith Christ and hee that sends is greater then he that is sent If God be greater then Christ then Christ himselfe is but a medium through which you come to be acquainted with God and in which you must not rest Take
Secondly we must deny our selves as in our great places and honours and dignities so likewise in our profits pleasures in all our carnal worldly enjoiments Oh how hard is it for a poor crcature to deny himself in this How hard is it for a rich man saith our blessed Saviour to enter into the kingdom of heaven Luk. 18. 24. The world is a common bait wherewith the Divel enticeth men to fin as Judas Ananâ—as nay Christ himself is set upon with this temptation Mat. 4. But when Christ comes into a soul he teacheth that soul to deny it self to look upon the world as Christ did as a very emptie thing he gives power to overcome the world 1 Joh. 5. 4. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world All our worldly desires therefore and pleasures and enjoiments must be denied by us we must use the things of the world as though wee us'd them not We must be so dead to the world as to see all things that are now in our possession to be none of ours so that the very worst things in the world that can befall us will be good to us all that before were crosses and afflictions now will be joy and comfort ' cause wee shall see it to be the will of the Father and we shall have peace in every condition We shall have as much comfort in a dungeon as in the possession of the greatest state in the world We shall cast our care upon God and trust him as well with our bodies as with our souls We shall not so much care for to morrow we shall see enough in God to satisfie us both for to morrow and for ever For the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof saith the Psal 24. 1. All the labour of men under the Sun is but for two things food and raiment now when we are ascended to God by denying our selves we shall know that God is able to feed us and cloath us as miraculously as he did the children of Israel in the wildernesse And thus much shall suffice for our first step or stair of self-denial the denial of our honors preferments riches pleasures lusts all our carnal sinful enjoiments The second now followes which is the denyall of our will and affections First then for our will we must deny our selves in that as well as our Saviour did If we will come after Christ be followers of Christ we must tread in this step and follow him in this track and path as wel as the former And indeed our blessed Saviour began betimes in the denyall of his own will For when he was but twelve yeares old we find him at this work doing the will of his Father Luke 2. 49. And he said unto them how is it that ye sought me wist yee not that I must be about my Fathers businesse not fulfilling his own will or doing his own businesse but both were his Fathers And as he began this course betimes when he was but twelve yeares old so he continued it likewise through the whole course of his life In his preaching as you heard before he did not his own worke nor fulfilled his own will but his Fathers and as in his preaching so in his praying like-wise one of his first petitions was Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven and this petition was made good even through his whole life and death Through his life John 4. 34. Jesus saith unto them My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his woâ—k And Secondly in his very death Passion which was full of this self-denying Spirit For even there also his saying was Not my will but thine be done Luke 22. 42. Thus you see that our Saviour both praying preaching living and dying denied himselfe and his â—own will now let us go and do so likewise let us learn â—ather to deny our selves and our own wils then Gods Christ who is the Saints patterne did alwaies so walke as to please God John 8. 29. And hee that sent mee is with me the Father hath not left me alone for I do always those things that please him And as he was our pattern so he teacheth us by his Apostle the same lesson 1 Thess 4. 1. Furthermore then wee beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye Would abound more and more As if the Apostle had said that which you receive of us is that you ought to walk according to the example of Christ to please God though you thereby should displease your selves And this is a soul taught by Gods Spirit when he prefers the pleasing of the Lord before himselfe the fulfilling of his will before his own This being once learned is that which would carry you along through all oppsition in a way of truth Perhaps the poor creature resolving with flesh blood may be reedy to conclude somtimes if I submit to this way to this truth I must expect reproach persecution Now it would wonderfully please carnall will and reason to conceal such a truth in unrighteousoesse but when a Soul comes to this it is my duty to fulfil Gods will and not my own O then I dare not but do it come what will come I cannot but do it Truely you who indeed love the Lord Jesus that love will constrain you to please him though you displease your selves to fulfill his will by denying your own This Christ himselfe teacheth and by his own example hath given us an example so to do John 4. 34. Jesus saith unto them My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work Oh blessed example to be imitated by all the Saints what shal Jesus Christ when he was but twelve yeares old dony himselfe his own will and shall not the Saints do it his disciples his followers at fiftie and sixtie and eighty do as much But Christ hath not onely given us his example and paterne but hath enjoyned us thereunto also under penalty of damnation Matt 7 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven And the Apostle Ephe. 6. 6. exhorting servants to be obedient to their Masters saies Not with eye-service as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart This selfe-will is the cause of much stir and division in the world What is the cause of this war among us but selfe-will One will establish one religion another another religion or else the Nation must rue it This selfe-will is it that causes discontents and troubles in Families The husband will have his will and the wife her will This causes contention in Churches among the Saints when every one will have his own mind his own way his own
troubles in the outward form as the experience of Saints can witnesse But the life above is the day of his rest wherein hee studies all things and sees them to be very good yea and ceaseth from his works as God did from his But did not God himself ordain Form and where did he abrogate it you will say I answer As there was a time to plant so there is a time to pluck up what was planted For Form was never created as a standing rule but as a temporarie help to serve a turn which when it is once accomplished the means cease as having usher'd in the end Neither is the abrogation of Form onely in the letter but in the discovery of an higher glory which darkens the first as the Sun darkens the starrs So that the discovery of Gospel-forms is the abrogation of Legal and the Gospel administration in external rites gives way to an higher glory And yet there are some hints in the letter of this glorious state as Isa 25. and Rev. 21. 2 Pet. 3. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness Though the glorie of the mysteries contained in it are to be experimented in us You 'l say Christ and his Apostles submitted to the outward Form 'T is true Christ in the flesh was made under the Law and submitted to Circumcision as well as Baptisme he under-went the state of death or sorrow and the state of flesh or form Heb. 5. 7. Who in the daies of his flesh when he had offered up praiers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared Wherein he praied and at the last was raised up to the state of mirth or immediate discovery wherein he did rejoice So that Christ in the flesh is the figure of several administrations and every Christian is an embleme in one stage or another of his life Some live in a crucified some in a glorified Jesus some live in his life some in his death some live in Christ after the flesh others in Christ after the spirit And amongst these the highest pitch of a Christian is Christ risen or rather sitting at God's right hand for here is immediatenesse of favour and enjoiment But in the mean time Ordinances and Administrations take place after one sort or other till this state come For as the appearances of God are stronger or weaker so administrations are of several sorts the most eminent are Paradifical Legal and Evangelical Paradifical administrations then took place when the angelical nature being clothed upon with a humane appearance did contemplate its Maker in things below himself the clear stream of the whole creation and the heavenly spirit being likewise clothed upon was a proportionated subject to entertain that discovery This administration did not contein the most compleat enjoiment For here the vail was first set up and man of necessitie must have ceased to his being or form though he had never sinn'd that so he might bee raised up to an higher enjoiment This administration was but for a season for when flesh and self had defiled the stream the glory crept inward and was withdrawn from our view and in came a multitude of helps to usher in but a review of the same glory this was the original of legal sacrifices and administrations But as the fountain was clear'd by degrees and the imagerendred more perspicuous so Gospel administrations succeeded in the place of the Legal as differing onely from them in degrees of light These administrations are not distinguish'd by fleshly Epoches or Periods of time but are interchangeably managed within the Saints according to their degrees of light as being partly bond and partly free partly in the flesh form and letter partly in the spirit and power Which state is a state of confusion and mixture not of puritie The death of Christ himself did not straitwaies determine the Legal administration for the Apostles and Believers did continue to observe them until such time as an higher discovery was made known within them and even then when an higher discovery was made known unto them when they were perfectly under a Gospel state yet had they but the first fruits of the spirit and were in the dark in many things Yea Saint Paul holds forth a state atteinable by the Saints which he himself came short of Phil. 4. which John saw by the spirit of prophesie Rev. 21. And if any shall deny this new state let us reason a little from concessions and grants and see what the enjoiment of a Christian may amount to It is granted by all and cannot be denied that the letter of the word holds forth more glory then is yet attain'd and that many prophesies are to be fulfilled relating to that glory of the Saints among which that in the Revelations is one as likewise that perfection is to be press'd after Heb. 6. which certainly is more then uprightnesse for the Apostle speaks to upright Saints Now what this glory these new heavens this state of perfection is the dispute and question of these daies which to me is resolved thus That there is a glorious state of the Saints to be discovered in the last daies consisting not in a fleshly paradise or material enjoiment but in the true vision of God in the spirit and high light of heavenly glory This state was the hope and joy of the Prophets Apostles and other Christians who foresaw the day thereof And well might it bee so considering the many mysteries contein'd therein which no other state can attein unto For here the Christian sees all things in the light of God Here is opened unchangeable glory and essential will perfect freedom restitution of all things heavenly rest There man ceaseth questions are resolved union clear'd and all expectations satisfied And thus have you seen the first particular wherein wee must deny our Religion it is in relation to Ordinances and Forms and administrations Secondly in the second place we must deny our religion in respect of the Scriptures so as to rest upon the letter and to prefer it above the teaching of the spirit in it Heare this all you that idolize Scripture so much as to prefer those writings before the God of the Apostles and Prophets it is very possible that a man may attain to the litteral knowledge of the Scriptures and may speak largely of the history thereof and draw conclusions and raise many uses for the present support of a troubled soul or for the restraining of lewd practises and direction of a civil conversation and yet they that speake and they that heare may be not only unacquainted with but enemies to that spirit of truth by which those Prophets and Apostles write For it is not the Apostles writings but the spirit that dwelleth in them that did inspire their hearts that gives life and peace to us all And
heed of being offended when you shall hear such like doctrine as this that the sufferings of Christ for us were as it were but a parable in which God spake to us and that God's heart was not set upon the having of a little blood for the sins of the people but that herein he premeditately if wee look upon it in the original contrivance would commend his love to us and herein if we relate to the lapsed estate of man he considers us poor creatures as we are and speakes to our childishnesse and weaknesse who being made under such a Law and having incurr'd the curse could not see how there could be a reconciliation without blood-shedding Be not offended when you hear that there is a greater work done by the Spirit in the Saints then was the offering up the flesh of Christ That there is a greater sacrifice offered up to God when as the old Adam man 's own righteousnesse and strength is crucified and offered up to God I say a greater sacrifice then the sacrificing of the flesh of Christ himself if you take the flesh of Christ without the mysterie For that sacrifice was indeed the root as well as the figure of this sacrifice And in the second place if so be you need to bee warn'd of idolizing the humanitie of Christ much more of idolizing other forms There are two sort of forms wherein God appears to the world There is the humanitie of Christ which is the highest and most immediate form and appearance of God and there are ordinances in which God appears as it were at the second hand and by reflection as when the Sun appears by the Rainbow or when it makes another Sun like its self in a watery cloud which is but the Sun by reflection so Ordinances are but the shadow as it were of the image and thus Christ is the image of the Father but Ordinances are but shadows of that image therefore take heed of idolizing Formes Your interest lies in knowing the Father not in knowing any Form whatever And take heed of censuring and judging spiritual discoveries take heed of beeing offended if we say there is an higher thing then Ordinances then Fasting and Praying yea then Believing too and that is seeing the Father and knowing the Father without a Form manifesting and revealing himself in his own immediate light Now by the by let me give you this necessary caution let no man think that there is no use of Christ and no use of prayer and preaching and other Ordinances No this cannot be infer'd from the Doctrine this onely may be infer'd that this is not that glorious rest where a Christian is to sit down Formes are but helps and God doth by Formes bring us to know himselfe without a Forme and no man knowes the Father but he that knowes him by Christ whom he did send therefore you cannot cast away those Formes the Scriptures will last so long as there is ought of them to be fulfill'd But that which we are contending towards in all these meanes is the knowing of the Father and then we shall see that simplicity and unity that is in the truth then we shall see all those knots loosed and darke waies opened then we shall see that all those things of Christ coming and dying and suffering for us were but as it were parables Now this is the sum of the Gospel that God loves believers and is their righteousnesse and their strength and love and faith and all not thus resolved into the Father is but a parable that doth cloud the Father They were not ordained to cloud the Father but they do through our weaknesse cloud the Father from us They were ordain'd that they might insinuate and convey according to our capacities the knowledg of the Father into us But as I said before in all Formes there is weaknesse and Formes shall be done away as time hastens to be no more and then God shall be all in all I have already brought you up four of those five staires or degrees of Christian Selfe-denyall there remaines onely the last the Deniall of our salvation and heaven it's selfe for Christ of which but in a word Oh what a stirre there is with Christians to resigne up a few lusts to God! which notwithstanding they know and sensibly feel that it is their greatest happinesse to part with and yet how far are they from attaining even this also but who in this Nation dares resigne up his righteousnesse in Christ and go and lie in the grave with the wicked It is no very easie taske with Christians to give up themselves to God at present for him to do what he will with them so he will bring them to heaven at the last Thou can'st trust God O Christian in this present appearance of God to thee as a Saviour of thee thou can'st love this sweetnesse kindnesse grace and goodnesse of his to thee thou can'st give up thy selfe to him to do what he will with thee so hee he will bring thee to this salvation this thou hast attain'd to in some good measure with much difficulty and striving but who dares say unto God take me and throw me into hell and let me lit there till I fall in love with it for thy sake till I come to know and feel thee there till I can embrace thee and hugg thee there and fall in love with thee there and be able to enjoy thee in the mid'st of those everlasting torments Ah miserable is that man that is afraid of hell and is fain to court God to free him from hell and to crosse and deny himselfe for feare of being in danger of hell That life deserveth not the name of life that can loose any of it's strength vigour pleasure sweetnesse enjoyments in the mid'st of everlasting burnings For if sin could defile God where were his holinesse and if death or hell could entrench upon his life or joyes which life of his is also made our life by his Son any where to dampe or interrupt that life or those joyes that life would most certainly prove but a weake a perishing life and those joyes fraile momentary joyes obnoxious to the intermixtures of death and sorrow And just the very same may be said of our life and our joyes of our salvation and our heaven it's selfe If thou beest wise then deny thy selfe in all these things in thy will and affections in thy gifts and thy graces in thy religion and even in thy very salvation and heaven its selfe resigne them up all unto Christ lay them all at Christs feet Least whilest thou lookest for most happinesse from God for greatest neernesse to and intimacy with God thou should'st be cast behind his backe for too much prizing and over-valuing these things 'T is true perchance that thou hast sweetly enjoyed God not onely at a distance in longing desires but neerer at hand in close embraces gifts graces ordinances dueties spiritual-exercises of all kinds you have been well acquainted with and hast known how to sucke life from them but now you must deny all these you must follow Christ and learn to sucke life even from life it 's selfe being dead in your selves to all these you must have no party no interest no principle no will no desire no gift no grace no salvation no heaven of your own but you must lie like the clay before the Potter freely delivering up your selves into his hands to be new moulded any way into any forme he himselfe hath a mind to All the creatures must passe away and be denyed and whatsoever appeares in you and to you must be God the creature must be swallowed up there must be nothing left but the Lord in being the Lord in motion and operation even so Lord Jesus for thy mercy sake Amen FINIS Wright's 5 Sermons in five severall Styles or Waies of Preaching 1. Doctr 1. Reason â— Reason 1. Use 2. Use 3. Use 2. Doctr. Reason Use 3. Doctr. 4. Doctr. 1. Use 2. Use 1. Rule 1. Use â— Use 2. Rule 3. Rule 4. Rule 2. General 1. Use 2. Use 1. Doctr. 2. Doctr. 3. Doctrin 1. Use 2. Use 4. Doctrin 1. Reas 2. Reason 5. Doctr. 6. Doctrin 1. Position 2. Position 3. Position 1. Doctrin 2. Doctr. 1. Doctr. 2. Doctr.
no destroying nor cutting off from eating now Thus was it before the Law and no otherwise under it for you shall finde Moses commanding the children of Israel and that twice in one book to keep a strict fast every year on the tenth day of the seventh month and a strict Fast it was even like unto that in Paradice In the day thereof that he eats the partie must die the death Levit. 16. Now more then this one day though wee read not that Moses ordained yet Prophet Zechary in his 8 Chap. has his Fast of the fourth his Fast of the fifth and his Fast of the tenth month and not onely Prophet Zechary but Prophet Elias and Prophet Daniel may be brought in for fasters this last for his three full weeks of abstinence Eliah for his 40 daies for which act alone he might very well be interpreted by Christ of John the Baptist they both being our Saviours fore-runners John in his Doctrine Eliah in his Fast Now for the quid sit what fasting is all that I have met with define it to be An abstinence from meat and drink joined with an inward grief and sorrow of heart which last part is made good from the very text Our Saviour was ask'd Why fast not thy disciples and he said Can the children of the Bride-chamber mourn The question was of Fasting his answer of Mourning as if fasting and mourning had been all one and that this outward fast of the bodie is an abstinence from all natural food clearly appears out of Esthers 3 daies fast a long Lent for a Queen Now least any should say we are the children of grace as little bound to your old Testament Fasts as your old Testament meats let such but turn over their Bibles and they shall meet one bringing both Ashwednesday and Lent home to them in the Gospel I mean the Baptist coming with his leathern girdle and garment of Camels hair a habit very well agreeing with the humiliation of this day as also neither eating nor drinking saies the text an abstinence â—it for the following fourtie Fasting then is a with-holding of meat and drink even under the Gospel But now non omnes capium sormoâ—â—m hâ—nc all are not capable of this precept and therefore our indulgent mother the Church that none might complâ—ine of wrong doâ—e to Christian liberty or the weake stomack of any weak brother remits all she can of this rigour and enjoins not for a fast either that of Esthers or this of Johns and yet qui porest capere capâ—at he that can fast so let him fast a Gods name but if he must needs eate then let him sit down with Daniel and fall to his pulse our Church forbidbing onely that panâ—m desider abileâ— the pleasant bread there mention'd your Lents of sweet-meats Eâ—ber-weeks of preservs all high-feeding dishes and in parler flesh and yet even this also doth our Church allow to such as are in Timothies case that have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often infirmities and to them is permitted flesh and wine but it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is there in Timothie a little to suffice nature 't is not the â—illing of our selvs but our lusts no deâ—ay of nature but chastisement of sin that shee aims at and therefore forbids all dieâ— nourishing blood with blood not through a â—uperstitious abstinence as it she did judaize in consecrating meaâ—s and placing more holinesse in one dish then another but onely that by the waterish and flaccid diet of fish and so unapt for nourishmenâ— we might keep our bodies low but our souls high the flesh in subjection to the spirit and the appeâ—iâ—â— to the minde hungring and thirsting after righteousnesse and lusting no more after flesh-pots and onions but Mannah which brings me to my third Quaere the cur sit the reasons why we should fast tunc jejunabunt and then shall they fast Though according to our Church Homily the civil respects of the Common-wealth may require a faâ—t the narrow â—eas and shambles exact their Ember-weeks Lents to increase the breed of cattel and maintein certain fish-trades yet according to the Scriptures intent and the Churches we must sanctifie a fast prescribe these fourtie daies to a religious end to bridle and keep in the lusts of the flesh so to prevent sins to come and punish our selvs for those already past And this last S. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an holy chastising and afflicting himself for that thorn in his flesh which forc'd him to his watchings often and his fastings often to his castigo corpus meum to correct the outward man and bring his bodie under the lash and certainly to be abridged of that which otherwise we might freely use has in it the nature of a punishment they are the very words of the Psalmist I wept and chastned my self with fasting chastned himself a chastisement then it it is And as it punishes for sin past so it prevents also for sins to com and this was Christs time of fasting before temptation who fasted to so good purpose that the Tempter like the Pharisees from that day forward never durst ask him any more questions but this onely What have we to do with thee thou Jesus of Nazareth there was no medling no doing with him after his fasting Now Christ abstein'd thus not for himself for the Divel could not have prevailed had he not fasted there were no faultie desires of the flesh to be tamed no possibilitie of a freer and more easie assent and compliance of his soul with God who was already perfectly united to the Deity But as for us hee would suffer death so for us he would suffer hunger that first as our Saviour this last as our example pointing us that had need for hee had none the best way to encounter the evil spirit of concupiscence which is not cast out no not kept out neither but by fasting Saturitas ventris seminâ—rium libidinis a â—ulâ— bellie and a foul heart scarce go uncoupled for indeed how should they per membrâ—rum ordinem saies S. August in his 65 de tempore ordo vitiorum intelligitur as in the Anatomie of our bodies the parts of gluttonie and lust are link'd together so are the sins themselvs And therefore the Apostle ioynes them rioting and drunkennesse chambering and wantonnesse first rioting and then wantonness that leads on this and not only this but a whole troope of rebellious actions security disobedience idolatry Thus when the fools barns in the gospell were filled with corn there was no thought of God the benefactor all the care was about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soul take thy case eat drink and bemerry And indeed this eating quite takes away our stomacke from all holy duties I need not tell you of Adams surfet the Isralites in their paradice of Canaan fell to eating 100 and by eating fell as hee did from their God and this
cannot nay were it possible wee could I beleeve wee would not for were wee left to our selves our then would be then when wee list and if wee list and not else I say therefore cause wee neither can fast alwaies neither will fast of our selves scarce at any time the primitive Church thought it fit to enioyne the people their set there their solemn daies of fasting which are these fortie daies now at hand the wednesdays fridaies of every weeke tunc jejunabant and then saies the Church they shall fast And this is the Churches then the Churches yes and the Scriptures then too some of these dayes if not all comming under the jurisdiction of this then in the text for as for the wednesday and friday in that magnâ sanctâ hebdomadâ that great and holy week as the Fathers call it the Passion-week the weeke next before Easter 't is confess'd on every side the bridegroome was taken from them for on wednesday counsel was taken against him money was taken for him and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saies the Evangelist he was taken as good as taken away then but upon the friday following as we all know he was taken and taken away quite and therefore then in a more especial manner they did fast and not onely then in the Passion-week but then on those daies at least one of those daies the friday ever after For this then must be interpreted of the whole time after the taking away of the bridegrooms bodily presence tum tamdiu then all that time and course of years till his second coming Now for this time of Lent something may be said to bring it near the text as that then when we fast for the Bridegroom we should fast w th the Bridegroom as he did fourtie daies thus applying that precept of our Saviour that we shall fast to his own example how we should fast And this example both the Apostles after Christ and the Church after the Apostles have strictly followed whose intent it ever was in the celebration of these her holy Solemnities not onely to inform us in the mysteries commemorated but also and that chiefly to conforme us thereby unto him who is our head and the substance of all our rites and customs Let us therefore who professe our selvs members of the Church be like affected with the same Church in this holy exercise of Fasting and Pennance the onely way to render us conformable to our great example in his sufferings For repentance is the agonie the bloodie sweat the crosse of every Christian whereby he dies unto sin and is crucified with his Saviour Each circumstance then of Christ's Passion each bloodie Scene in this Tragedie must be re-acted on our own bodies which are to be spread upon the crosse as the Prophet was on the dead child in answerable extention to â—ll parts First then the remembranâ—e oâ— oâ—r sins and holy cares for a better life must be the thorns and when our ill thoughts are mortified then is our head crowned with them Severe Christian rigour is the gall and vineger and when by an holy abstinence we came our wanton and rebellious flesh then drink we the bitter cup. Restraint from wonted courses of sin is the hammer and nails and the curbing of licentious actions is the striking through our hands and our feet In a word deep remorse is the fatal spear and when the life-blood of our reigning corruptions is let out then are our hearts pearc'd and we crucified with our Saviour Which if we indeavour to be the same blessing shal be pronounc'd from Christ to us which was from Christ to his Disciples Blessed are yee that weep now for yee shall laugh blessed are yee that hunger now for you shall be satisfied and that with an everlasting Passeover the Lamb of God at the great Easter day the day of the general â—â—esurrection tunc non jejuntibunt and then there shall be no mourning nor fasting any more but perpetual Halelujahs and fulnesse of joy for ever of which fulnesse God of his infinite mercie make us all partakers To which God c. FINIS THE Second Sermon Which is that in B p HALL'S Style or Way of Preaching Delivered before the Clergie at the AUTHORS own Ordination in Christ-Church Oxford 1 TIM 4. 16. Take heed unto thy self and unto the doctrine continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee LONDON Printed for Edward Archer at the Adam and Eve in Little Britain Anno Dom. 1656. DEUT. 33. VER 8. the former part And of Levi he said Let thy Thummim and thine Vrim be with thy holy One AFter the sufferance of a fourtie years wildernesse-journey and the more rugged waies of a perverse people now was Moses drawing to his long home He had brought the Israelites within sight of their long-look'd for inheritance but himself must enjoy the beatifical vision and that Jerusalem whereof the promised was but a type The governors of God's Church would be thought but poorly rewarded were their wages onely the milk and honie of a temporal Canaan He that sends them to dresse his Vineyard is pleased to stand indebted for a better peny then this earth is master of To receive this our Prophet must ascend Mount Nebo and die And here since God had so well provided for Moses Moses will do his best for God's people being not satisfied with his own happinesse unlesse his charge may prosper nor content to have been their convoy all his life except he might direct the way at his death also 'T is a clear Sun-set that commends the day and the chief grace of the Theater is a good com off wherefore our Prophet reservs his best Scene for the last Act and in in the evening of his life shines most gloriously breaking forth upon the Tribes with a double ray of counsel and blessing Counsel in the former Chap. Set your hearts to do all the words of the Law c. How divine a care it is while we are on earth to improve others for heaven and after the assurance of our own eternitie to help our brother to the same happinesse But counsel is little worth unlesse a blessing follow it as that Sermon is unedifying â—hat is not seconded with a benediction Now this is given in the Chapâ— of my text so fit withall and pertinent to the Tribes that each had a blessing proper to its self For of Reuben it is said Let not his men be few of Benjamin that he was the beloved of the Lord. Thus still the retinue the servants are entail'd upon the first-born but the last is heir to his parent's love that is the young master this the darling All but Levi were for temporal ends their legacies are answerable Moses gives them as much as they cared for Zebulun Issachar shal be fill'd with the treasures of sea land that 's enough to
my Text were not spoken as if the poor were able of themselves to bee our friends but God undertakes for them hee hath given his word and entered bond for every act of Charitie whether i bee a work of pietie to his Church or mercie to the poor And first for pietie He that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet saith our Saviour Matth. 10. shall â—…eive a Prophets reward either in the bâ—â—ssinâ—s of earth with the widow of Sarepta 1 King 17. 14. whose cruse and meale did not waste of which the Man of God had a cake or in the blessings of the wombe with the Shunamite who for her Candlestick and Stool received life from the deadnesâ—e of her womb a son when shee was barren 2 King 4. there 's for pietie Secondly for mercie give and it shall be given unto you saith the 6 of Saint Luke He that commands the one promiseth the other Alms never undid their owner nor is Charitie so ill a servant as to leave the master a beggar And again Hee that gives to the poor lends to the Lord Pro. 19 and if God freely gives us what wee may lend will he not much more pay us what wee have lent and give us because we have given that first is his bountie this last but his justice Now from this last Observation may be gathered by way of Use the happinesse both of Poor and Rich. And first of the Poor when he shall consider himself God's seed-plot his plow'd-land which God hath so bless'd and improved with the showers and dew of heaven that if you chance but to throw in a single grain even one poor mite of your charitie it shall return an hundred fold low earth and you shall reap heaven Secondly from hence appears the blessed condition of the Rich. Oh how happie is that man that may be a creditor to his Maker heaven and earth shall become empty before he shall want a roial paiment never any was a looser by God For God returns large consideration and interest for what he takes up and paics not the use for the principal but the principal for the use not six in the hundred but an hundred for six and who then would not be an usurer to the Almightie But you 'l reply I have talents committed to my charge knew I but the best way to improve them I would willingly give but I see my alms abused To direct you therefore in this great and necessary duty of Christianity I shall hold out unto you 4. generall rules of giving almes and out of each of these 4. generall rules draw out severall particular directions The 4. generall rules are these First the unjust stewards rule in my text Secondly Solomons rule Thirdly Christs rule Fourthly Gods rule For the first the unjust stewards rule that will teach you how to give almes from these particular directions First saith the 5. ver of this Chap. he called his masters debtors and stayed not till they call'd him Abraham and Lot are said to fit in the doore of the Tent to call in strangers they need not knock commonly they that crave least have the most need For there are many persons that have nothing left them but misery and modesty and towards such we must add two circumstances of Charity First to enquire them out Secondly to convey our reliefe so to them as we do not make them ashamed Secondly the second particular direction from this unjust steward was this that what he did was with dispatch he called his Masters debtors and bid them sit downe quickly verse 6. vt hilarem it a celerom datorem diligit Deus God delights in expedition as well as cheerfulnesse give almes with a cheerful heart and countenance not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver 2 Cor 2. 7 and therefore give quickly when the power is in thine hand and the need is in thy neighbour and thy neighbour at the door He gives twice that relieves speedily The more speed the more comfort Neither the times are in our own disposing nor our selves If God had see us a day and made our wealth inseparable there were no danger in delay But now our incertainty if it quickens not deceivs us How many have meant well done nothing loosing their crown with lingring to whom that they would have done good it is nâ—t â—o great praise as it is dishonour that they might have done it their deaths oft-times preventing their desires and making their good incentions the Wards of their Executors who many times prove the executioners of their wills and estates From hence then take a word of advice and caution let their wracksbe ourwarning who are equally mortall equally fickle It is a wofull and remediless complaint that the end of our dayes should out-run the beginning of our good workes which are commonly so don as the poor may thank our death-beds for them and not us our disease rather then our Charitie For he that gives not till he dies shewes that he would not give then if he could keep it and they that give thus give by their testaments it is true but I can scarce say they give by their wills the good mans praise Psal 112. was that himself dispersed his goods and not left them behind him and his distribution is seconded with this retribution of Gods his righteousnesse indureth for ever The Saints of God are like Dorcas in the Acts rich in good works which shee did herselfe and not entrusted others to do them being her own executrix Secondly let this be an use of exhortation and encouragement to do good in your life time Our Saviour tells us Mat. 5. that our good workes are our lights Let your light so shine as mâ—n may see your good works and glorifie your father which is in heaven Now which of you will have his candle brought behind him and not rather carried before that he may see which way it goes and which way himself goes by it Do good therefore in your life early beneficence hath no danger many joyes Isa 58. 8. For first the conscience of good don Secondly the praiers and blessings of the relieved Thirdly the gratulations of the Saints are as so many perpetuall comforters which will make your life pleasant and your death happy when every one of you may say to his Soule with that rich man in the Gospel but upon better grounds Soul take thine case for thou hast treasure laid up not for many yeares but for ever Thirdly as this unjust steward dealt his almes speedily so also bountifully ver 6. For which divinity hath no particular and set rule because Charity is not â—â—t by a thred as justice but only in generall and at large that it be proportionable to our ability parallel to our meanes according to what a man hath was Saint Pauls to them of Corinth 1 Cor. 8. Liberality is as well seene in a little
fire the aire of that brimstone the anguish of that worme the discord of that howling the gnashing of those teeh is no comparable no considerable part of the torment in respect of this departing from Christ Which is the privation of the sight of God the banishment from the presence of God an absolute hopelesnesse an utter impossibility of ever coming to that which sustaines the miserable in this world who though they see no sun here yet they shall see the sonne of God there This depart from me then is the perfection of horror the very essentiall forme and quiddity of damnation it self The righteous they depart they go toâ— but they go with Christ into heaven the other must go from Christ into hell Into hell did I say why that is not so much neither It were an hapinesse to go to hell with Christ no joy no blisseat all to the righteous to go without Christ into heaven For heaven is hell without Christ and hell with Christ is heaven and the reason of this is because the happinesse of the Saints doth not consist in the place where they are but in the company which they injoy their beatitude is not bounded and terminated by any etheriall dimensions of space any supernaturall localities but it is comprehended in the Beatificall Vision of the Fathers power the Sons wisedome the Holy-Ghosts goodnesse it is swallowed up in that extatiâ—all ravishing contemplation of the incomparable beauty the unutterable and unconceivable glory of the blessed Trinity the privation of which Beatificall Vision exceeds the miseries and torments those matchless those endless miseries and torments even of hell it selfe And thus have I given you a generall description of this privation of the Beatifical Vision what it is in the general notion of it But then in the second place to come as I promised to the several particular degrees of this privation there is comprehended in this privation of the Beatifical Vision in the first place a privation of the care of God that a damned sinner is out of his care out of his thought It is a fearful thing saith the Apostle to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10. 13. Yet there was a case in which David found it an ease to fal into the hands of the living God but to fall out of the hands of the living God is an horrour beyond our expression beyond our imagination that God should let my soul fal out of his hands into a bottomlesse pit and roul an unremoveable stone upon it and leave it to that which iâ— findes there and it shal finde that there which it never imagined till it came there never think any more of that soul never have any more to do withit Then secondly a second degree of this privation of the Beatifical Vision iâ— that herein doth consist a privation of the general providence of God that such an one is out of his general providence as wel as his particular care that of that Providence of God that studies the life of every Weed and Worm and Ant of every Spider and Toad and Viper there should never any beam flow out upon me never any ray dart upon mee never any line center in mee That the most contemptible creatures under heaven and the most loathsom creatures under heaven and the most venemous creatures under heaven should be entertain'd and protected under the shadow of his wing and I onely I excluded as a certain prey for the Raven and Dragon of the bottomlesse pit Thirdly here is a privation of the power of God that that God who look'd upon me when I was nothing and cal'd me by his omnipotent power when I was not as though I had been out of the wombe depth of darknesse will not look upon me now when though amiserable a banish'd and a damned creature yet I am his creature stil contribute something to his glorie even in my damnation Lastly which is the highest degree of this Privation here is an eternal privation of the mercie of God That that God who hath often look'd upon me even in my foulest uncleannesse and vilest sins who when I had shut out the eye of the day the Sun and the eye of the night the taper and the eies of all the world with curtains and windows and doors did yet see me and see me in mercie too by making me see that he saw me and sometimes brought me to a present remorse and for that time to a forbearing of that sin I was then acting should now so turn himself from me to his glorious Saints and Angels as that no Saint nor Angel nor Christ Jesus himself should ever pray him to look towards me more never remember him that such a soul there is That that God who hath so often said to my soul Why wilt thou die and so often sworn to my soul As the Lord liveth I would not have thee die but live wil nether let me die nor live but die an everlasting life and live an everlasting death That that God who when he could not get into me by standing and knocking at my heart by his ordinarie means of entring by his Word Ministershis mercies hath applied his judgments and hath shak'd the house this bodie with Agues and Palsies and hath set this house on fire with Fevers and calentures and frighted the master of the house my soul with horrors and heavie apprehensions and so made and forc'd an entrance into me That that God should frustrate all his own purposes and practises upon me and leave me and cast me away as though I had cost him nothing that this God at last at the houre of death should let this Soul go away as a smoake as a vapour as a bubble and that then this Soul cannot be so happy as to be a smoake a vapour nor a bubble but must lie in darknesse as long as the Lord of light is light it's selfe and never spark of that lighe reach to my Soul what Tophet is not Paradise what brimstone is not amber what gnashing of teeth is not musick what gnawing of the worm is not a tickling what torment is not a mariage bed to this damnation to be secluded eternally eternally eternally from the sight of God And thus have I shewn you what this eternal life is by the privation of it what the life of heaven is by the life of hell I will now endeavour to give you a glimpse for a full sight it is impossible of these everlasting habitations this eternal life in it self And here in my expressions of these everlasting habitations I will take a new course and onely tell you this of them that they cannot be expressed For if that beloved aisciple whose head lay neer his Masters heart who from the bosom of his Lord drank deep of the heavenly wisdome if Saint John I say brake of his Revelation with a nemo scit no man knowes Apoca 2. 17. needs must
Now in the second place as we must deny all false Christs so we must likewise deny all false opinions of the true Christ To this purpose is that Matt 24. 23. Then if any man shall say unto you Lo here is Christ or there beleeve it not The sum is this Christ will be spoken by no man no man will be able to speake Christ to say here is Christ Christ will be understood and known by no man while we are men we cannot understand and know Christ till we are raised up in Christ we understand not Christ None but Christ can speake Christ non but Christ can declare Christ It is not the Kingdome of God if man be able to declare it and utter it Let no man say lo here or lo there This is the wretchednesse of man to be something in himselfe to take part himselfe and to give part to Christ or to say here I am when he is not or this is Christ when it is not Christ It is the speech of some I am in Christ and Christ in me He is in spiritual things he is in preaching and in praying but he is not in outward things Lo here he is when I am wrapt up in heavenly enjoyments but when I am in my businesse in my calling I cannot say he is here This voice is the same with that in Luke 17. 21. Neither shall they say Lo here or lo there for behold the kingdome of God is within you Lo here is Christ and there is Christ and here he is not and there he is not To shut Christ out of any place out of any thing these are false opinions of Christ This is the wickednesse of man to exclude or include Christ to make him be one where and not another where For Christ is weaknesse as well as strength darknesse as well as light Christ in me Christ in all The Lord in triumph the Lord crucified the Lord exalting the Lord humbling the Lord in life the Lord in death the Lord here blessing the Lord there cursing this is Christ If you cannot see him in one thing as well as in another in wicked men as well as in good men you cannot see him at all Here 's the narrownesse of the heart of every man a sensible creature full of observation and his own reason saying Lo here is Christ lo there is Christ here he is not there he is not narrowing of him in their own observation hee is in me when I am so qualified and he is not in me when I am not so qualified not knowing that hee is in some trampled on under the feet of his enemies and yet there in glorie In some he is at the top in some he is at the bottom in some withering in some bringing forth fruit in some sweetening and moderateing their natures in som letting forth wrath and enmitie In the third place as we must denie all false Christs and all false opinions of the true Christ so thirdly must we deny but in a Christian qualified sence even the true Christ himself As thus for instance The Saints and children of God shall not enjoy Christ till they have denied Christ and rejected him You must forsake him and leave him and be Pharisees and persecute him before you can be crown'd with him that which is in a high degree malignity in the Pharisees is in a less degree in the Disciples the Pharisees killing and the Disciples departing it 's all flesh man-weaknesse and ignorance Before any man see the kingdome of God he must first reject it Yee shall be offended at Christ you shall stumble and fall and reject him before you find him You shall never be acquainted with Christ till you have denied him and murthered him I know you are ready to say What must we be guilty of this wickedness is there such wretchednesse in the heart of man to do thus Thus speaks the flesh but thâ—s saith the Lord the Son of man must suffer many things from this generation Christ must suffer by some and be rejected by others Some are so wicked as to kill him others so unbelieving as to forsake him some revile him others shake their heads and cannot tell what to think of him some crie out violently against him others are not able to speak a word son him you shall never see the Lord till you can say This is he whom I have denied this is he whom I have pierced this is hee whom I have reviled and hated Thus speaks Christ if you stand upon terms and say What wee crucifie Christ God forbid what we that are his own people Jews and Disciples we that are his own dear children and shall be saved by him To whom Christ will say if I suffer not by you I will not be a deliverer to you I will save none but those that kill me If you will not own that you have slain me you shall not enjoy me you shall never eat my flesh and drink my blood unlesse you slay my flesh and spill my blood Jesus Christ suffers by all men which is clear in this that in all yee have in all that yee do in all that yee are in all that yee speak nothing is free from the blood of Jesus nothing that you do speak or act in the highest devoutest and most glorious way is any thing else but murther and blood killing the Lord of life Yea it is necessary he must suffer by you he will not finde a throne in you till he hath found a grave in you hee will not be rais'd in you till hee hath been dead and buried in you You shall never see him in the Resurrection till you see him kill'd and then hee will rise again in your hearts with healing in his wings to your everlasting joy and comfort Then secondly we must deny Christ according to the ministration of the flesh according to the historie and the reason is because that the whole historie of Christ will profit you nothing nor all that you know except you finde experimentally the same things done in you by the Spirit I beseech you therefore be not offended when as we say that Christ according to the history of him onely and according to his ministration in the flesh is but a form in which God doth appear to us and in which God doth give us a map of salvation thou knowest it not to be thy real salvation except it be revealed within thee by the Spirit Jesus Christ is called the image of the invisible God God comes forth to be seen in the flesh of Christ as in an image it is not the naked appearance of God but it is an image or representation of God Now wee know the image serves in the absence of the lively face of the living person and so do all these same transactions of Jesus Christ they serve till the kingdom of God become to us in the spirit And therefore as Christ said wee may be bold
said to give almes of what they have cheated and robbed unlesse they cannot tell the persons whom they have injured or the proportions in such cases they are to give those unknown portions to the poore by way of restitution for it is no almes Onely God is the supreme Lord to whom those escheats devolue and the poor are his receivers And therefore are said in my Text to receive you into everlasting habitations which is my last generall part of the division beeing the end and motive to good works That when yee fail c. In the handling of which part I shall First propose to your consideration three brief positions and then proceed to a more full explication of this generall head For the Positions the First is this that if men were their own friends they would make others so with their Mammon and while they are on earth provide for heaven Blessed are the mercifull for they shall receive mercy was our Saviours in the Gospell God's promises though they be gracious yet they are confined and he onely shall receive mercy that shewes it The Almighty being therefore bountifull to us that we might be so to others promising that if we feast those that cannot bid us againe and build for those that cannot lodge us againe We shal be made partakers of that Mariage-feast and those habitations whose maker and builder is God If men then were their owne friends they would make others so with this Mammon Why should the rust of that gold rise up in judgment against thee the right use of which will place thee with those that shall sit in judgment Turning thy Talents into Cities and saying the foundation of that building whose walls reach up to heaven And that is our First Poâ—ition But can good workes purchase these eternall habitations By no meanes And therefore Our Second Position is this That not our good workes But Christ's merits are the formall cause of our Salvation For neither the vertue of the works they bee but the fruits of charity nor the vertue of charity that is but the fruit of faith nor the vertue of faith that 's but an instrument to apprehend Christ but he alone our Saviour alone by his merits hath made this purchase and prepared those mansions for us And yet mistake me not there is no lesse necessity of good workes then if you should be saved by them that though you cannot be saved by them as the meritorious causes of your glory yet that you cannot be saved without them as the necessary effects and arguments of that grace which brings glory Which is our Second Position upon the point Our third runns thus The poor by their praiers receive us into those eternall habitations which Christ bestowes and confers upon us Now the poor here meant in the Text are either Pauperes spiritu the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God Mat 5. or Pauperes sacculo the poor in purse and these by their prayers shall receive thee into heaven For as Christ is said to receive those almes on earth which the poor put up and not he so the poor in heaven are said to receive us into everlasting habitations which Christ shall bestow and not they Can you conceive how the Queen of Sheba and men of Nineve shall rise up at the last day In the same manner but for a better end shal the men women and children of your Hospitals rise up and testify on your behalf saying Sweet Jesus had it not been for these and these Benefactors we had perished for want As therefore Saint Paul said to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 1. Ye are our hope cause these at the last day would witnesse how he had laboured for their salvation so may every one of you say of all those to whom you have done good You are our hope for that they shall testifie your good works before men and Angels justifie that sentence which shal receiv you into everlasting habitations These are the three brief Positions I mentioned Now that we may come to a more full explication of the point these everlasting habitations according to several Expositors are severally interpreted for first to be received into these everlasting habitations is to be taken into the protection of God according to Psal 90. 1. which is interpreted by the next Psal 1 ad 4. ver from which first interpretation our position shall be That it is better to give away all that wee have to the poor and have God with nothing then all the world without God To have God with nothing did I say Nay in having him wee have all things saith Saint Cyprian de Coen Dom. cum Dei sint omnia Since all things are God's to him that hath God nothing can be wanting except he be wanting unto God nothing saith the Father no good thing saith the Prophet the young Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psal 34. Though all earthly persecutions entrench thee and miserie seems to come upon thee like an armed man and thou art fallen into the jawes of those enemies whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword yet Angels shall encampe about thee and the Lord of Hosts shall be thy buckler and thy shield the neighing of the horse the noise of the trumpet shall not invade thee or if they do and at such a strait that the arme of flesh growes weak yet his mercie is great unto the heavens and his truth reacheth unto the clouds the glorious hoste above shall muster all their forces to assist thee the starrs shall fight for thee and thunder speak loud unto thy enemies Thus in the height of miseries God shall be thy castle and strong tower and under the shadow of his wings shall bee thy refuge till these calamities bee overpast God never leaveth his in their extremities whether in the Cave or in the Mountain in the Den or in the Dungeon hee is alwaies there both in his power and assistance and somtimes in his person too when all natural supplies grow hopelesse God purveies for his children by his miracles rocks shall burst with water and Ravens provide bread and clouds drop fatnesse and heavens shower mannah and Angels administer comforts which when we are naked shall cloath us and receive us or rather usher us into these everlasting habitations Now besides this exposition of the words these everlasting habitations may receive a double interpretation one in respect of the everlasting fame and glorie of your name in this world the other in regard of your everlasting reward in the next and that first branch hath a double relation one to your self the other to your posteritie truly even this part of the reward and retribution namely in this life is worth a great deal of your cost and alms that God shall establish your posteritie in the world and in the
good opinion of good men The righteous shall have hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. i. e. hope for himself in another world and hope of his posteritie in this world for saith hee hee leaveth an inheritance to his children's children Prov. 13. 22. i. e. an inheritance out of which he hath taken and restored all that was unjustly got from men and taken a bountiful part which he hath offered to God in pious uses that the rest may descend free from all claims and incumbrances upon his children's children The righteous is merciful and lendeth Psal 37. 26. merciful as his Father is merciful in perpetual not in transitorie endowments for God did not set up his lights his Sun and Moon for a day but for ever and such should our light our good works be He is mercifull and lendeth To whom for to the poor he giveth he looks for no return from them yet he lendeth he that hath pitie on the poor lendeth to the Lord Prov. 19. 17. The righteous is merciful and lendeth and then as David adds his seed is blessed blessed in this which follows there that he shall inherit the land and dwell therein for ever which he ratifies again Surely he shall not bee removed for ever i. e. he shall never be moved in his posteritie Secondly as he is blessed that way blessed in the establishment of his possession upon his childrens children so he is blessed in this that his honor and good name shall be powred out as a fragrant oyl upon his posteritie The righteous shall bee had in everlasting remembrance Psal 112. 6. Their memorie shall bee alwaies alive and alwaies fresh in their posteritie when the name of the wicked shall rot So then the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life Prov. 11. 30. i. e. the righteous shall produce plants that shal grow up and flourish so his posteritie shall bee a tree of life to many generations The other interpretation of everlasting habitations is in regard of your everlasting reward in the next world but before I speak of your reward in the next world I will speak a word or two of your reward in this world and shew you how God will reward you with grace in this world before he rewards you with glorie in the next by giving you the grace to use those temporal blessings which he hath given you to his glorie here and to your glorie both here and hereafter which shall bee cleared to you from Mat. 5. 16. Let your light so shine c. Your Father is not meant here as if men should glorifie God as the common Father of all by Creation nor as he is the Father of some in a more particular consideration in giving them large portions great patrimonies in this world for thus he may be my Father and yet dis-inherit me he may give me plentie of temporal blessings and withold from me spiritual and eternal blessings These are not the Paternities of the Text that men should glorifie God as the Father of all men by Creation nor as the Father of all rich men by their large patrimonies but as he is your Father as hee is made yours as he is becom yours by that particular grace of using the temporal blessings which he hath given you to his glory In letting your light shine before men Upon which our first doctrinal Observation shall bee That it were better God disinherited us so as to give us nothing then that he gave us not the grace to use that that hee gave us well Without this all his bread were stones all his fishes serpents all his temporall liberality and blessings a meer malediction and curse How much happier had that man been that hath wasted thousands in play in riot in wantonnesse in sinfull excesses if his parents had left him no more at first then he hath left himselfe at last how much neerer to the Kingdome of heaven had he been if he had been born a beggar here Nay though he have done no ill of such excessive kindes how much happier had he been if he had had nothing left him if he have don no good The second Observation in this particular shall bee That 't is a fearful thing for rich men not to use their riches for God's glorie There cannot be a more fearefull commination upon man nor a more dangerous dereliction from God then when God saies Psal 50 8 12. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices Though thou offer none I care not I 'le never tell thee of it nor reprove thee for it I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices And when he saith as he does there If I be hungry I will not tell thee I will not awake thy charity I will not excite thee nor provoke thee with any occasion of feeding me in feeding the poor When God shall say to thee I care not whether you come to Church or no whether you pray or noe repent or no confesse receive or no this is a fearefull dereliction so it is when he saith to a rich man I care not whether your light shine out or no whether men see your good workes or no I can provide for my Glory otherwise For certainly God hath not determined his glory and his purpose so much in that to make some men rich that the poore might be releeved for that ends in a bodily releife as in this that he hath made some men poor whereby the rich might have occasion to exercise their charity for that riches to spirituall happiness For which use the poor do not so much need the rich as the rich need the poore the poor may better be saved without the rich then the rich without the poore But when men shall see that that God who is the Father of us all by creating us and the Father of all the rich by enriching them is also become your Father yours by adoption yours by infusion of that particular grace to do good with your goods then are you made blessed instruments to that which God seekes here his glory they shall glorifie your father which is in heaven and then your Father which is in heaven will glorify you Herein is my Father glorified saith Christ John 15. 8. that ye beare much fruit The seed sowed in good ground bore some a Hundred fold the least Thirty Marke 4. 20. The seed in this case is the example that is before you of those good men whose life hath shined out so that you have seen their good workes Let this seede these good examples bring forth Hundreds and Sixties and Thirties in you much fruit for herein is your Father glorified that you beare much fruit Of which plentifull encrease I am afraid there is one great hindrance that passes through many of you i. e. that when your Will lies by you in which some little lamp of this light is set up something given to God in pious uses if a Ship miscarry if a