body to life againe as Peter did Dorcas Acts 9. but it was a greater power for a dead body to raise up a dead body to life as the bones of the dead Prophet Elisha the dead man that was cast in haste and by chance into his grave 2 Kings 13.7 but it was the greatest power of all for a dead man to raise up himselfe unto life againe and so did Christ and so did never any but Christ neither shall any ever doe it againe he onely had power to lay downe his life and he onely had power to take it up againe Iohn 10. and he rose againe from the dead nunquam moriturus never to dye any more death hath no more dominion over him so then I may truly say with Saint Austine Non babuit divinitas quò se demitteret humiliùs neque habuit humanitas quò se attolleret altiùs the Godhead could not possibly descend any lower then to take the weake nature of man and the manhood could not possibly ascend any higher then to be united personally unto the Sonne of God And so I come to the power of Gods Grace which is made perfect in the weaknesse of mans sufferings here in this life which is my second point Which that you may the better understand I will shew you how the power of Gods grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of mankinde and of the weakest of mankinde and in the greatest sufferings that the weake nature of man can beare I will touch upon all the severall kindes of weaknesse vvherein the power of Gods grace is made perfect And first this power of Gods Grace is perfected in the weaknesse of mankinde no creature under heaven is capable of Gods Grace but only man men made of flesh and bloud made of dust and slime sinfull men have this treasure of Gods Grace in vasis testaceis in earthen vessells that the excellency of the povver may be of God and not of men 2 Cor. 4.7 We are cophini seminis coelestis the baskets vvherein the seed of Gods word is put vvhich is able to save our soules vve are the cabinets wherein the pretious jewells of the blessed Spirit of God are kept and what singular lights of Grace hath God made many men in the knowledge of his sacred Word in vvorkes of piety and charity and in holinesse of life 2. This power of Gods Grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of young children for unto many of them God gave wisdome before years and grace before discretion and the Spirit of God before the understanding of a man Daniel a young youth inspired by God convinced and condemned to death the two lust-breathing Elders for their false witnesse against chaste Susanna and Samuel a younger then he in his little coat ministred before the Lord being girded with a linnen Ephod unto whom the Lord revealed himselfe in a vision and told the young childe what he meant to doe against old Ely the Priest for the iniquity of his house but children younger then these cried in the Temple when Christ came into it Hosanna to the sonne of David which when the chiefe Priests and Scribes heard and saw they said unto Christ in a mocking manner hearest thou what these say and Jesus replied unto them yea have ye never read out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise Matth. 21.15.16 which words cannot be meant of babes and sucklings in Christ as many Divines would have them for it is no wonder that they being of yeares doe praise God but they are to be understood of babes and sucklings in nature as Calvin rightly expounds and so they agree very well with Christs answer to the mocking Priests and Scribes as if he should have said it is no wonder that little children that can speake and goe up and downe doe praise God when as out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings who cannot goe nor speake God hath perfected his praise but when and how this was so I can better beleeve then understand and more easily admire then expresse Thirdly the power of Gods Grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of the weaker sex of mankinde you shall finde in the Old Testament as many holy women as men and in the New Testament as many women beleevers as men and in the Church Calenders as many women Saints and Martyrs as men who shall be renowned in the Church for their faith holinesse and other Christian vertues as long as the Gospell shall be preached in the world and Christ appeared first after his resurrection unto women and by them declared his resurrection unto men dum Apostoli dubitant faeminae credunt saith Saint Ierome and while the Apostles were incredulous the women beleeved thus hath God shewed the strength of his Grace in their infirmity and the power of his Spirit in the weaknesse of their nature that they should glory not in themselves but in the grace of God and in his mercy and goodnesse Fourthly the power of Gods Grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of the lowest condition of men in the weaknesse of ignorance basenesse and poverty there are three things which the world admires Wisdome Power Riches all which God neglected in the calling of men to the Gospell of Christ in the infancy thereof for not many wisemen after the flesh not many mighty not many noble were called at the first but God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the vvise and God chose the weak things of the vvorld to confound the mighty and base things of the vvorld and things which are despised did God chuse and things vvhich were not to bring to nought things that were that no flesh should glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1. Deus ab infirmioribus incaepit and therefore Christ chose to be his Apostles no disputing Logicians no witty Poets no eloquent Orators no subtlie Mathamatitians no deep Philosophers no wise States-man no mighty Princes but poore simple and unlearned fishermen and by them he drew whole nations of men into the net of the Church scientia piscatorum stultam fecit scientiam Philosophorum saith Saint Ambrose the preaching of Christ crucified not by great scholars but by ignorant men not with wit and eloquence but with simplenesse and plainnesse not pleasing to flesh and bloud but contrary to nature and reason and therby to perswade Orators and Phiosophers and the mighty men of the world yea the very enemies and perfecutors of Christian Religion in the height of all their menacies and most cruell torments to beleive and to imbrace the Gospell of Christ and in so short a time too declared plainly to all the world that the power of Gods grace was made perfect in the weaknesse of ignoance basenesse and poverty And all this was done thus that the conversion of the world unto Christ might not be ascribed to the wisdome of man but to the power of Gods grace But there are
Saint Austines docta ignorantia learned ignorance in this who ingeniously confesseth that he knew not particularly what this thing was which so troubled this Apostle but sure he was it was some sore temptation or other affliction and in this all Divines agree You see then here that an Apostle and such an Apostle as Saint Paul was and after so many Visions and Revelations of the Lord had a thorne in the flesh given him a sore affliction from God and no marvell for the better the man the sharper and the deeper the thorne it must be so As the Church of God in generall so every childe of God in his Church is sicut lilium inter spinas as a lilly among thornes 2. Cant. 2. the thornes of troubles and afflictions Non decet sub spinoso capite membrum esse delicatum saith Saint Bernard he is not worthy to be a member of the mysticall body of Christ upon whose glorious head was platted a crowne of many thornes for the sinnes of other men who cannot endure the pricking of one thorne some light affliction if not for his Saviours sake yet for his owne sinnes Hath our blessed Saviour dranke so deepe of the cup of afflictions before us and for us and shall we be unwilling to pledge him a little to sip after him in the same cup Qui erat sine flagitio non erat sine flagello Since God spared not his owne and onely begotten Sonne who was without all spot of sin but delivered him up for us all shall wee who are but his adopted sonnes and altogether sinfull thinke to escape without any chastisement at all No no the Lord chasteneth every Son whom he receiveth and therefore qui non est in numero flagellatorum non est in numero filiorum saith St. Austin He that is without chastisement is a bastard and not a son Heb. 12.8 Give me the man saith St. Ambrose that was never troubled with any thorne of temptation or affliction and I will presently conclude that that man is not the child of God for every childe of God must have something one affliction or other to humble him and to bring him home to God in which he must take pleasure and rejoyce as St. Paul did We must not thinke to goe à deliciis ad delicias saith St. Ierom immediately from the pleasures of this world to the joyes of the next The children of Israel went not through gardens of flowers and Paradises of fruits but through uncouth deserts to the land of Candan this was a type of our pilgrimage through the afflictions of this world to the heavenly Canaan Afflictions are the infallible arguments and to kens of Gods favour unto us and therefore one who had beene a great while without any affliction said in his Prayer to God ergóne Domine non sun dignus qui patiar is it so Lord and I so much out of thy favour that I am not worthy of affliction What a large Catalogue doth St. Paul reckon up of his afflictions in the eleventh Chapter of this Epistle In stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft Of the Iewes five times received I forty stripes save one thrice was I beaten with rods once was I stoned thrice I suffered shipwracke a night and a day have I beene in the deepe in journying often in perills of waters in perills of robbers in perills by mine owne Countrimen in perills by the Heathen in perills in the City in perills in the wildernesse in perills in the sea in perills among false brethren in wearinesse and painfulnesse in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakednesse I am almost out of breath in rehearsing them and yet the Apostle was never out of breath in enduring them But here was his comfort and here is ours also All the afflictions of the servants of God they are but stimuli the prickings of thornes they are but colaphi the buffettings causing shame and smart onely they are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gentle punisnments of a loving father We are troubled but not altogether distressed perplexed but not in despaire persecuted but not forsaken cast downe but not destroied 2 Cor. 4.8.9 O welcome then yea thrice welcome to our soules these bitter sweets loving chastisements gentle corrections indulgent visitations pleasant crosses comfortable sorrowes wholesome calamities profitable miseries sanctifying distresses refining troubles joyfull temptations glorious trialls blessed revilings happy curses honourable reproaches all light and momentary afflictions which worke for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 By these we are humbled and seeke right early unto our God By these we are put in remembrance to sorrow for our sinnea past By these wee become more carefull of our waies hereafter By these Gods graces are exercised in us and our patience our faith and our love are tried By these wee are weaned from the pleasures and vanities of this life By these wee are prepared and fitted for the world to come By these our desires are inflamed to be dissolved and to be with Christ By these we are encouraged to embrace death with both our armes and therefore David said unto God I know that of very faithfulnesse that is in thy faithfull love to methou hast caused me to be troubled Psal 119. verse 75. I have been the longer upon this first branch the thing which troubled the Apostle because it is the thing upon which the whole frame of my Text doth turne I will therefore be the shorter in the rest But what did the Apostle here when the thorne of affliction began to vex him Why he went presently to his prayers the onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or soveraigne medicine to draw out the thorne of any temptation or affliction whatsoever For this thing rogavi I besought which is the second branch of the petition and comes in the next place to bee handled Is any man afflicted let him pray this was St. Iames his precept in the fifth Chapter of his Epistle verse 13. and this was Davids practice In my distresse I called upon the Lord and complained unto my God Psal 18. yea God himselfe saies wee will be sure to pray unto him when we are in trouble whatsoever wee doe at other times For in their affliction they will seek me early Hos 5.15 We use to make prayer the last remedy and refuge onely in our extremities when all other meanes faile then to our prayers but it ought to be the first too for God is a very present helpe in trouble saith David Psal 46.1 other helpes are not alwaies at hand but Gods helpe is But will not God helpe us without our praiers No and why so First because prayer is a part of the worship and service of God which we owe unto him The great men of the world will not bestow their favours nor grant deliverances untill they bee petitioned and shall the great
were cleft asunder when his breath was strange to his owne servants nay to his owne wife when his sighes were the musicke to his meate and his rorings were powred out like water then behold the power of Gods Grace was perfected indeed in weaknesse then ecce Margaritae in sterquilinio behold what inestimable pearles were found upon the muckhill what an eloquent and divine Preacher Iob was upon the dunghill what celestiall sermons did he then make of Gods power of his providence and of his Iustice of mans misery the shortnesse of this life and the resurrection after death all as full of sweet and heavenly consolation as his body was then of loathsome sores Anima morbo affecta Deo propinqua What Angelicall meditations what divine raptures what heavenly ejaculations what strong consolation what powerfull exhortations what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full assurance of faith what victories over temprations what swanlike songs what longings to be dissolved and to bee with Christ what imbracements of death have many heart-sick and dying Christians shewed upon t heir beds and dying Christians shewed upon their beds of languishing by the power of Gods grace even to the admiration of the standers by according to the saying of David Psal 138.3 In the day when I cried unto the Lord he indued my soule with much strength with what strength but onely with the strength of grace in his soule But questionlesse many of you that heare mee here this day have both seene these powers of Grace in them whom God hath brought low by sicknesse and also have felt the like in your own soules when the hand of God hath beene upon you and therefore I need not presse this point any further And this power of Gods Grace is not oney made perfect in the weaknesse of sicknesse by also in the weaknesse of the greatest sufferings of man When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up saith David Psal 27.10 that is when the neerest and dearest friends that we liave in this world either wil not or cannot come to helpe us when there is no man to comfort us then doth the power of Gods Grace begin to shew it selfe in us no distance of place no close prison no disconsolate dungeon no Guard no lockes no iron gates can keepe the power of the blessed Spirit of God the Comforter from us but he will come in to us wheresoever we are as he did unto Ionas in the belly of the Whale And if God shew the power of his Grace in the weaknesse of men when they suffer for their sinnes how much more will he shew the same when they suffer innocently and without cause but above all when they suffes for Gods cause and for the Gospells sake as the Martyrs did who when they heard the noise of whips and other instruments of cruelty prepared for them though they heard sweet and heavenly musicke founding in their eares who kisted and imbraced the stakes whereat they were burnt playing with the flames and trying the power thereof beforehand as that blessed Protestant Mattyr Archbishop Cranwer did who burned his recanting hand in the fire before his sould ascended towards heaven in the flames who laughed bloud-thirsty Tyrants to scorne even to their faces despising their cruelties while they were more wearied in devising new exquisite torments and practising strange kinds of deaths upon the Martyrs then the Martrys were in induring them yea while the tormentors were more vexed at the patience comfort courage faith and joy of the Martyrs then the Martyrs were with their tortures And what was the reason of all this why because the power of Gods Grace was made perfect in their weaknesse Et vilis est omnis poena ubi virtus Dei est gloriae culestis expectatio and all kinds of torments and of deaths are despised and contemned where the power of Gods Spiritis and the expectation of heavenly glory And here I pray see the difference betweene the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of the Martyrs of Christ when Christ suffered his soule was heavy unto death Deus subtraxit protectonem sed non dissolvit unionem God did not dissolve the union of the divine and humane nature but only withdrew his protection so that hee cried out upon the Crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me which was not vox desperantis the voice of one despairing for he called him his God twice together but vox admirantis the voice of one admiring that God this Father should with hold all the sweet influences of his heavenly assistance from him in his greatest extremity no helpe no ayd no succour no comfort at all then from heaven but the humane nature of Christ was then left naked to it selfe there was none to comfort me said David in the person of Christ Psal 69.21 none at all neither man nor God neither creature nor Creator but Christ as man was left alone to himselfe and all this was done that our Saviour might fully satisfie the justice of God for our sins But contrarily now the Martyrs of Christ went joyfully to their deathes because as their torments increased upon them so the power of Gods grace incleased in them and the more their sufferings did abound the more did Gods comforts superabound in them But if Almighty God had withdrawne the beames of his gratious assistance from them but a little while yea if God had but turned away his face from them but a moment they would not only have been troubled as the Psalmist speaketh but they would have trembled and their knees would have smitten one against another at the sight of an officers halbart bart and at the apprehension of death they would have sunke downe presently into the very gulfe of despaire And so I come to the third consideration of his power which is the power of Gods glory and this glorious power of God is made perfect in the weaknes of corruption consumption and as it were annihilation of bodies by the renovation of the creatures generally for the creature it selfe shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom 8.21 but especially the glorious resurrection of our bodies at the last day according to the working of Gods power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe Phil. 3. And in this weak base and ignominious condition of our bodies after death shall the power of Gods glory be made perfect yea though our bodies make such a strange and long Pilgrimage thorow corruption unto nothing as S. Cyrill speakes of though they bee devoured of fishes and those fishes be eaten up of men and those men be turned into dust and that dust be scattered by the foure winds yet god can picke up all our parts againe and give every one his owne body redhibentibus ea ignibus undis alxis ferarum lactibus piscium ipsorum