take no pity on him To silence these curious questionists the most judicious Divines teach that albeit God hath speciall reasons of his will for every thing he determineth yet to us his will must stand for the last and best reason The fullest answer that can be given to that demand why Christ was borne in the dayes of the Roman Augustus about the two and fourtieth yeere of his reigne is that then was the fulnesse of time that is the time was fully come which God appointed before all time for the comming of his Sonne in the flesh And surely a fitter time could hardly have beene chosen whether we respect the condition of the patient or the quality of the Physician or the state of Judaea or of the whole world at that time First if we regard the condition of the patient before Adam fell and by his fall tooke his deaths wound there was no need of a Chirurgian or a Physician and after he was wounded it was fit that he should feele the smart of his wounds a while and by wofull experience find that he was not able to help himselfe With this reason d Summ. p. 3. q. 1. art 5. Non decuit à principio humani generis ante peccatum Deum incarnari non enim datur medicina nisi infirmis nec statim post peccatum conveniens fuit Deumincarnari propter conditionem primi peccati quod a superbia pervenerat unde comodo homo erat liberandus ut recognosceret se indigere liberatore Aquinas rested satisfied Secondly if we regard the quality of the Physician For no man sendeth for the greatest Doctour especially if he be farre off before he hath tried others that are neere at hand or the cure grow dangerous if not desperate Before the King commeth himselfe many Embassadours and Noble men are sent Nature and Art observe the like method proceeding from lesse noble to more noble workes from the egge to the chicke from the seed to the fruit from the kernell to the apple from the dawning to the day from childhood to youth and from youth to perfect age The painter in like manner first maketh a rude draught of a face after perfectly pourtrayeth it and last of all casteth beautifull colours upon it the Chirurgian first washeth the wound then poureth in wine to search it and after oile to supple and heale it in like manner the providence of God proceeded in the dispensing the meanes of mans salvation after the twylight of nature and dawning as it were of the day the day starre appeared more obscurely in the publishing of the law but manifestly in Saint John Baptists doctrine and then the Sunne arose in the preaching of the Gospell first God sent Priests and Prophets as messengers then Angels and the Archangell as it were Princes and Peeres of heaven and last of all he sent his Sonne the heire of all things Like a Chirurgian he first cleansed the sores of wounded man by pouring in the wine of the Law after he suppled and healed them by pouring in the oyle of the Gospell first he rough hewed us by Moses and after plained and smoothed us by Christ that we might be as the polished corners of the Temple Thirdly if we regard the state of Judaea which was now most deplorate being destitute both of King and Law-giver for Herod a stranger usurped the Crowne and destroyed the Sanedrim or great Councell they had now no Prophet or Seer to lead them in this time of thickest darknesse now therefore if ever the Messiah must come to set all right Fourthly if we regard the state of the whole world which at this time was most learned and thereby most capable of the doctrine of the Gospell Besides it being reduced to a Monarchy and the parts thereupon holding better correspondency one with the other a greater advantage was given for the dispreading of Christian doctrine through all the Provinces of the Roman Empire 2 Of the yeere of the age As God crowned the age in which our Lord tooke flesh with many remarkeable accidents so also the yeere of that age 1 First Herod this very yeere bereaving the Tribe of Judah of King and Lawgiver utterly abolished their grand Councell and thereby the Prophesie of Jacob was verified that c Gen. 49.10 the Scepter should not depart from Judah nor a Lawgiver from betweene his feet till Shilo come The substance of the Scepter if I may so speake was departed before and this yeere the shadow also remaining hitherto in the Sanedrim which had a kind of sovereign power to make lawes and execute them vanished away now therefore Shilo commeth 2 Secondly Moreover this very yeere Augustus Caesar d Luke 2.1 sent forth a Decree that the whole world should be taxed which was not without a mystery viz. that this yeere the world should be prized and an estimate made thereof when our Lord came into the world to redeeme it Little thought Augustus when he gave order for drawing that Proclamation of drawing Marie to Bethlehem that she might there be delivered according to the prophesie of e Micah 5.2 Micah yet so did Augustus his temporall Decree make way for Gods eternall determination of Christs birth in Bethlehem 3 Thirdly this very yeere the same Emperour shut up the Temple of f Functius in Chron. Janus where all the Roman warlike provision lay and established a peace through the whole world that so the Prince of peace might be borne in the dayes of peace 4 Fourthly this yeere also he enacted a law g Sethus Calvisius ex Dione Cassio De manumissione servorum of setting servants at liberty which might have some reference to the spirituall freedome which h John 8.36 Christ purchased for us whereof hee himselfe saith If the Sonne make you free you shall bee free indeed 5 Fiftly this yeere in a certaine Shop or Inne to be let in Rome a i Plat ex Eutrop paulo diac fountaine of oyle sprang out of the earth and flowed a whole day without intermission Magna taberna fuit tunc emeritoria dicta De qua fons olei fluxerat in Tiberim Which may seeme literally to verifie those words of the Prophet k Esay 10.27 It shall come to passe in that day that his burden shall be taken off thy shoulder and his yoake from off thy necke and the yoake shall be destroyed because of the oyle or annointing 6 Sixtly what should I speake of the falling downe of the Temple of l Magdeburg ex Petro comest Templum pacis corruit Romae ne alibi quam in Messiâ pax quaereretur peace in Rome about this time Might not that be an item that true peace was no where now to bee sought save in Jesus Christ our onely Peace-maker now come into the world to reconcile Heaven and Earth and establish a covenant of grace betweene God and man for ever 7 Seventhly neither is m Calvis
sake shall bee then their gaine every disgrace their honour for every teare they have shed they shall receive a pearle for every blew stripe a saphir for every green wound an emerald for every drop of bloud a ruby to bee set in their crowne of glory Secondly it serveth much for the terrour of the wicked who goe on confidently in their lewd courses and proceed from evill to worse adding drunkennesse to thirst let these know that o Rom. 2.5 they heape wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God and that as the farther backe the axe is fetched the heavier is the stroake so the longer their punishment is deferred the heavier in the end it will fall upon them Let them who feare not to doe wrong but carry their sinne with a high hand bearing themselves upon their wealth or some potent friend at Court know that they shall be brought to Christs barre ore tenus and that none upon earth shall be able to rescue them Let them who lay snares in the darke and looke for their prey in the twi-light and say in their hearts no eye seeth us know that God hath p Apoc. 1.14 eyes like a flaming fire enlightening the darkest corners of the inmost roomes and that hee q Psal 50.21 will reprove them and set their sinnes in order before their eyes and that what they commit in secret and would not for a world that any witnesses should be by shall bee brought to an open examination before men and Angels Thirdly to instruct all so to live that they may not feare to come before the face of God so to cleare their accounts here that they need not to dread their examination there To this use the holy Ghost pointeth r 2 Pet. 4.11 12 14. Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought yee to be in all holy conversation how diligent that wee may bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse When Alcibiades came to visit Å¿ Eras Apoph Atqui inquit potius quemadmodum rationem non redderes laborares Pericles and found him very busie about his accounts Why saith he doest thou thus trouble thy selfe in seeking to make up thy accounts thou shouldest rather use a meanes to put it off and thinke of a course to free thee from this care and take order that thou shouldest never bee called to an account I doubt not but that many Treasurers and Stewards of great Princes make good use of this advice and by friends and mony so bring it about that they are never brought to an account If wee have any such thought wee deceive our selves there is no dodging with God no delay no not for a moment when hee sendeth his Pursuivant for us from the high Court of Starre-chamber in Heaven as he in Saint Gregories dayes found by woefull experience who being summoned by death approaching to bring in his accounts before they were ready cryed out pitifully Inducias vel ad horam O reprivall but for a day truce but for an houre respite but for a minute but could not obtaine it but was suddenly posted away to the judgement seat of Christ and who of us knoweth whether he shall be the next to whom God will send a messenger to bring him before him to render an account of his Stewardship saying to him in the words of my Text Redde rationem dispensationis tuae Give an account Of thy Stewardship Thy. I know not how it commeth to passe that most men now a dayes are sicke of Saint Peters disease when Christ telleth them of their duty or fore-sheweth them their end they are inquisitive about others saying t John 21.21 What shall this man doe There are divers kindes of Stewards some of powers some of wealth some of knowledge some of the Word and Sacraments Kings dominions and Bishops diocesses and Lords lands and Rich mens mony and Clerkes writings and Merchants trades and Tradesmens shops and Husbandmens ploughes are their Stewardship of which they must give an account and yet few there are that minde their owne account to their Master for that wherewith they are trusted but every man looketh to anothers The Ploughman censureth the Tradesman the Tradesman the Merchant the Merchant the country Gentleman the country Gentleman the Courtier and all the Ministers of God as if to impeach others were to cleare themselves At the audit day they will finde that it will little availe them to say I am no tot quot I am no joyner of house to house or land to land I am no usurer oppressor or extortioner like other men when it will be replyed unto them but thou art like the Pharisee a deep dissembler a counterfeit saint a secret hypocrite a slanderous backbiter a busie-body an uncharitable censurer a streigner of a gnat in others when thy selfe eatest many a flye nay swallowest many a camell u Plut. tract de curiosit Plutarch rightly observeth that they who delight to gad abroad for the most part have smoaky nasty or dankish houses or at least ill rule no content at home so when men range abroad and play the spies and scouts and pry into other mens actions it is a signe that they have a foule house at home and ill rule in their owne conscience Wherefore * Stella in Luc. Observa etiam diligenter quod hic non dicit dominus Redde rationem villicationis alienae vel redde rationem villicationis alterius sed villicationis tuae pro priae enim vitae tuae factorumque tuorum non alienorum redditurus es rationem Deo unusquisque enim redditurus est de propriâ—s factis rationem Stella according to his name Starre well illustrateth this Text Give an account of thy Stewardship not of any other mans Pry not into his life set not his actions upon the racke reade not a lecture upon his manners but meditate and comment upon the booke of thine owne conscience that thou mayest make even reckonings there It is an uncivill part to over-looke other mens papers especially bills of account which no way concerne us yet there are those that take to themselves a liberty to looke into and examine the bookes of other mens conscience not being able to reade a letter in their owne herein resembling the crocodile which seeth nothing in the water which is his chiefest place of aboad yet is very quicke and sharpe sighted on the land out of his owne element to doe mischiefe I will undertake that any man shall have worke enough to cast up his owne accounts if hee looke into every particular for which hee is to reckon every stray thought every idle word every inconsiderate action sudden passion God is not herein like unto many great personages who seldome or never call their Stewards to an account or if they call them they looke over their bookes and bills but sleightly taking the
finde here casually in my Text what I so long sought for similitudines auri golden resemblances to wit borders of gold with studs of silver For as e Sanctius in hunc locum Aurum ut ait Aquinas significat sensum spiritualem argentum eloqum nitorem illud suppedi tat Scriptura hoc ars concionatoris Aquinas teacheth us the gold mystically signifieth the Spirits meaning the studs of silver the Preachers art gold representeth the precious doctrine they delivered silver the perspicuity of their speech and bright lustre of their stile As for the number the Text saith borders in the plurall number and if Solomon continue his former comparison of a troupe of horses in Pharaohs charret in the precedent Verse which were foure after the custome of all Nations when they rode in state Ergo erit ille dies quo tu pulcherrime rerum quatuor in niveis aureus ibis equis the borders by consequence must needs be foure And herein the mysticall ornaments of the Spouse are corresponding to the typicall ornaments of her Husband As the f Exod. 28.17 breast of Aaron a type of Christ was adorned with foure rowes of precious stones so the necke and breast of Solomons Queen the Churches type is decked here with foure borders of gold See then here as it were the modell of my intended frame The friends of the Spouse who present her with foure borders of gold with studs of silver are the foure Preachers whose Sermons may be compared to the borders in my text in a fourefold respect 1 Of the number foure Borders foure Sermons 2 Of the order the Borders were set immediatly one under another the Sermons preached one after another 3 Of the matter the Borders were made of gold the Sermons consisted of Scripture doctrine like unto g Apoc. 3.18 gold tryed in the fire 4 Of the forme the Borders were enameled with silver or set out with spangles of that metall and in the Sermons Scripture doctrine was beautified with variety of humane learning and adorned with short sentences of ancient Fathers like O's spangles or studs of silver Pomiferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant Omnia nos itidem depascimur aurea dicta Aurea perpetuâ semper dignissima vitâ THE FIRST BORDER OR THE PASSION SERMON The first presented the Spouse with a Border of gold with Studs of silver wrought upon the text Zech. 13.7 Awake O sword against my shepheard and against the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hostes smite the shepheard and the sheepe shall be scattered And thus he put it on ILlius Doctoris libentiùs audio vocem saith devout Bernard non qui sibi plausum sed qui mihi planctum movet The first Sermon preached on good Friday by master Warberton now Dean of Wels abridged Me thinkes whilest you are here assembled to celebrate the memorie of our Lords death I see a great concourse as it were to a funerall Sermon I shall therefore intreat you Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. to prepare rather your hearts to be wounded than your eares to be tickled and at this time to lay aside all expectation either of Art or Learning and yeeld your selves wholly to religious Passion It is the observation of St. Austine and Gregorie that the foure beasts mentioned by St. John mystically represent the foure maine acts of Christ a Apoc. 4.7 or workes of mans redemption His 1 Incarnation 2 Passion 3 Resurrection 4 Ascension For at his Incarnation he tooke our nature upon him and was found in shape as a Man In his passion as a Bullocke he was slaine for sacrifice In his resurrection he was a Lion In his ascension as an Eagle We here consider him as a Bullock sacrified upon the altar of the Crosse Which as it is the greatest mystery that ever was revealed to the world so the Pen-men of the holy Ghost have bin most laboriously employed to publish it in all ages figuring it in the Law foretelling it in the Prophesies of the Old Testament and representing it most lively in the history of the Gospell I have to doe with a Prophesie somewhat darke before the light of the Gospell shone upon it Awake O sword c. which words in the Prophet are a Prosopopaeia made by God or an Apostrophe to his sword to whet it selfe and be stirred up against a man of meane condition in the estimate of the world A shepheard yet in some relation to himselfe my shepheard of a strange composition and quality a man that is my fellow and it extendeth to the smiting of this shepheard and scattering his whole flocke The parts are two 1 The Speaker the Lord of hostes 2 The speech Wherein observe 1 Direction O sword 2 Matter Wherein 1 Incitation Wherein 1 The act Awake 2 The object described by 1 His office shepheard 2 Person which is my fellow 2 Commission Wherein 1 The act smite 2 The effect the sheep shal be scattered First we are to speake of the Speaker the Lord of hostes The Lord of hostes is a name of power and soundeth like a thunder his Generall is Death his great Captaines Plague Famine and the Sword his Arsenall the whole world and all creatures in heaven earth and hell his Souldiers ever ready pressed to fight his battailes Quantus Deus Dominus exercituum saith St. Bernard cui inservit universa creatura Onely rebellious man standeth out in such defiance to his Maker that the creatures which were ordained to be under his dominion are often awaked and summoned to be armed for his destruction Awake O sword As all the creatures are Gods souldiers so when hee imployeth them against man they are called his swords The wicked is said to be his h Psal 17.13 sword and the i 1 Chron. 21.27 pestilence also When the Lord is pleased to execute his wrath he never wanteth instruments or meanes he hath a sword for Saul and an oake for Absalom and a roape for Achitophel and a gibbet for Haman and a worme for Herod and thus for the generall The particular intent of the Spirit leadeth mee to another consideration viz. that of this great blow here threatned to the shepheard God himselfe is the Author Deus erat qui pastorem percuti jubebat saith Maldonat quod per alium facit ipse facit Yea but God never awaketh his sword to smite but for sinne and in this shepheard there was no sinne of his owne the sword therefore lies sleeping in the scabbard and must now bee summoned to awake Awake O sword Chereb gnuri To the act of mercy wee are all apt to importune God with clamours Up Lord but to the act of justice if we should provoke him who were able to stand before him To this he is enforced after a sort to provoke himselfe Wherein observe first his unwillingnesse to strike till he is provoked his sword sleepeth secondly his hast and resolution
of your superiours a crowne of thornes to his head every neglect of charity to his members new nailes to wound his hands and feet every blasphemous word a new spitting on his face every oath a speare to pierce his heart But what moved him to become our surety and sacrifice No reason can be given but his will Oblatus est quia voluit He was offered because hee would hee would because hee loved us and to the end hee might the better undergoe his office because it became us to have such an high Priest that had feeling of our wants and infirmities he became man The man The Hebrewes have foure severall words for a man Adam Enosh Ish Geber Adam signifying red earth Enosh a man of sorrow Ish a man of a noble spirit Geber a strong man wee have found a man here in all these senses Adam earth as wee Enosh a man of sorrowes Ish a man of a noble spirit to encounter all the powers of darkenesse Geber a strong man stronger than hee in the q Mat. 12.29 Gospell which first possessed the house Behold the man saith Pilat but a man of sorrow saith Esay nay a worme and no man saith David nay lesse resisting than a worme for a worme if it bee trod upon will turne againe but this man went like a lambe to the slaughter or if hee may rightly be termed a worme certainely a silke-worme spinning us a precious web of righteousnesse out of his owne bowels yet this worme and no man is Ish one of noble spirit and Geber a valiant man yea such an one as is Gods fellow My fellow For in him the Godhead dwelleth bodily and in him all the Saints are compleat he is the brightnesse of his Fathers glory and the engraven forme of his person ipse paterni Pectoris effigies lumenque a lumine vero Semper cum patre semper de patre semper in patre semper apud patrem semper quod pater saith Fulgentius ex ipso cum ipso hoc quod ipse saith Saint Austine who being in the forme of God thought it not r Phil. 2.6 robberie to bee equall with God and therefore God calleth him here his fellow Such a one i◠became him to be that was to encounter principalities to come upon the strong man whereby is meant the Divell and binde him and spoile his goods to grapple with the great King of feare Death to say to hell and the grave Effata to swallow up the swallower of all things to destroy destruction and to lead captivitie captive and to returne with glory from thence unde negant quenquam redire Againe my fellow yet a man creator matris creatus ex matre saith Saint Austine ipsum sanguinem quem pro matre obtulit ante de sanguine matris accepit saith Emissenus Hee that was the brightnesse of his Father and such a brightnesse as no man could behold and live hath now a traverse drawne over his glorie the word is made flesh sepositâ non depositâ majestate saith Emissenus naturam suscipiendo nostram non amittendo suam saith Saint Austine ad terrena descendit coelestia non deseruit hic affuit inde non defuit and so be became Emmanuel God with us perfect God and perfect man man to receive supplications from man God to deliver them to God man to suffer for man God to satisfie God Apparuit medius saith Saint Austine inter mortales peccatores immortalem justum mortalis justus mortalis cum hominibus justus cum Deo ne vel in utroque similis longè esset à Deo aut in utroque dissimilis longè esset ab hominibus To conclude this point Gods fellow to offer an infinite sacrifice for all mankinde and a man that he might be himselfe the sacrifice killed by the sword which is now awaked to smite him 1 Smite the Shepheard Hachharogneh hacke him hew him butcher him Now are the reines let loose to all the powers of darkenesse now is the sword flying about the Shepheards eares now have they power to hurrie him from Annas to Caiaphas from Caiaphas to Pilat from Pilat to Herod from Herod againe to Pilat and so to Calvarie and in every passage appears a sword that might cleave asunder a heart of Adamant yet the Lord of hostes saith still 2 Smite him Now hath Judas power to betray him the Priests to convent him the standers by to buffet him the officers to whip him the people to deride him Pilat to condemne him and in every act appeares a sword that might cleave in sunder a heart of rocke yet the Lord of hostes saith still 3 Smite him Now the thornes have power to goare him the whip to lash him the nailes to fasten him the speare to pierce him the Crosse to extend him the grave to swallow him and in every one appeares a sword that might cleave in sunder a heart of steele yet the Lord of hostes saith still 4 Smite him Let no part bee free from torment not his head from pricking nor his face from spitting nor his flesh from whipping nor his pallat from vinegar nor his hands and feet from piercing nor his heart from the speare yet still the Lord of hostes saith 5 Smite him The torment of his body was but the body of his torment the soule of his torment was his soules torment Now his soule is troubled saith John nay exceeding sorrowfull saith Marke nay heavie unto death saith Matthew all the streames of bloud that issued from him on the Crosse were nothing to his drops in the garden those were forced with outward violence these were drained out with inward sorrow Sure saith one he was neare some fornace that melted him Here was a blow that if he had not beene Gods fellow would have strucke him downe to hell yet the Lord of hostes saith 6 Smite him The sense of paine is not so grievous as the want of comfort Here all comfort is with-held the people deride him and preferre a murderer before him of his owne people and servants one betrayeth him another denies him all forsake him all this is nothing in comparison For friends are but earthly comforts but that his Father from heaven should forsake him here is the sword that cleaveth his heart and maketh up the full measure of the blow In the very heat of his passion hee tooke no notice of any other torment but this onely that his God had forsaken him It is wonderfull that never any Martyr brake forth into the like speech notwithstanding all their exquisite torments but the reason is assigned by St. Austine Martyres non eripuit nunquid deseruit By this time I know you expect the fulnesse of the blow vox faucibus haeret it is death the ignominious death of the Crosse Vexed he was before his death tortured in his death wounded after his death hic salus patitur fortitudo infirmatur vita moritur Now the Angels stand amazed at the
even as a good Carpenter in stead of a rotten groundsill layes a sound The same trust then must we give to God which we must not give to riches him must we esteeme above all things looke up to him in all things depend upon him for all things This is to trust in God which the Psalmist in his sweet dittie saith is a good thing good in respect of God for our trust in him is one of the best pieces of his glorie Joseph holds Potiphars trust a great honour 2. For us for what safety what unspeakable comfort is therein trusting to God Our Saviour in his farewell Sermon John 16. perswading to confidence saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word signifying boldnesse and what is there in all the world that can worke the heart to so comfortable and unconquerable resolution as our reposall upon God The Lord is my trust whom then can I feare They that put their trust in the Lord are as mount Sion that cannot be moved Oh cast your selves therefore into those almighty hands seeke him in whom you shall finde true rest and happinesse honour him with your substance that hath honoured you with it trust not in riches but trust in God Riches are but for this world the true God is Lord of the other therefore trust in him riches are uncertaine the true God is Amen ever like himselfe ergo trust in him riches are meere passive they cannot bestow so much as themselves much lesse ought besides themselves the true God gives you all things to enjoy riches are but a livelesse and senselesse metall God is The living God Life is an ancient and usuall title of God he for the most part sweares by it When Moses asked his name he described himselfe by I am He is he liveth and nothing is and nothing lives absolutely but he all other things by participation from him In all other things their life and they are two but God is his owne life and therefore as Aquinas acutely disputeth against the Gentiles must needs be eternall because beeing cannot be severed from it self Howbeit not only the life he hath in himselfe but the life which he giveth to his creatures challengeth a part in this title A glympse whereof the heathen had when they called Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those creatures which have life we esteem beyond those that have it not how noble soever other waies those things be Therfore he that hath the perfectest life must needs be the best God therefore who is life it self fountain of all that life which is in the world is most worthy of all the adoration joy love and confidence of our hearts and the best improvement of that life which he hath given us Trust therefore in the living God not in riches that is idolatrie yea madnesse What greater madnesse can there be than to bestow that life which we have from God upon a creature that hath no life in it selfe nor price but from men Let me then perswade every soule that heares me this day as Jacob did his houshold Put away the strange gods that are among you or as St. Paul did his Lystrians O turne away from these vanities to the living God who gives us richly All things to enjoy Every word would require not a severall houre but a life to meditate upon and the tongues not of men but of Angels to expresse it God not onely hath all in himselfe but he gives to us and gives us not somewhat but all things and not a little of all but richly and all this not to looke on but to enjoy Here the Preacher said it should content him to top the sheaves onely because he could not stand to thresh them out it shall content me with the Apostles to rub some few eares because I cannot stand to top the sheaves Whither can you turne your eyes to looke besides the bounty of God If you looke upwards his mercie reacheth to the heavens if downewards the earth is full of his goodnesse and so is the broad sea if you looke about you what is it that he hath not given us aire to breathe in fire to warme us water to coole us cloathes to cover us food to nourish us fruits to refresh us yea delicates to please us beasts to serve us Angels to attend us heaven to receive us and which is above all his sonne to redeeme us Lastly if we looke into our selves hath he not given us a soule rarely furnished with the faculties of understanding will memorie and judgement a body wonderfully accommodated to execute the charge of the soule and an estate that yeelds due conveniencies for both moreover seasonable times peace competencie if not plentie of all commodities good lawes religious wise just Governours happie and flourishing dayes and above all the liberty of the Gospell More particularly cast up your Bookes O yee Citizens and summe up your receits I am deceived if he that hath least shall not confesse his obligation to be infinite There are three things especially wherein yee are beyond others and must acknowledge your selves deeper in the bookes of God than the rest of the world First for your deliverance from that wofull judgement ef the Pestilence O remember those sorrowfull times when every moneth swept away thousands from among you when a man could not set forth his foot but into the jawes of death when piles of carcasses were carried to their pits as dung to the fields when it was crueltie in the sicke to admit visitation and love was little better than murderous Secondly for your wonderfull plentie of all provisions spirituall and bodily Yee are like the Sea all the Rivers of the land runne into you nay sea and land conspire to enrich you Thirdly for the priviledge of your governement your charters as they are large and strong so your forme of administration is excellent and the execution of justice exemplarie For all these you have reason to aske with David Quid retribuam and to trust in God who hath beene so gracious unto you And thus from the duty we owe to God in our confidence and his beneficence to us we descend to the beneficence which we owe to men expressed in the varietie of foure epithetes to one sense To doe good to be rich in good workes ready to distribute willing to communicate all is but beneficence This heape of words shewes the vehement intention of his desire of good workes and the important necessitie of the performance and the manner of this expression enforceth no lesse Charge the rich c. Hearken then yee rich men of the world it is not left arbitrarie to you that you may doe good if you will but it is layd upon you as your charge and dutie the same necessity there is of trusting in God is of doing good to men Let me fling this stone at the brasen forehead of our Romish Adversaries whom their shamelesse challenges
shall have no end This is the last and most forcible argument of the three wherewith the Apostle laboureth with might and maine to beat downe sinne and put to flight even whole armies of temptations Yee may observe a perfect gradation in the arguments the first though strong and forcible drawne from the unfruitfulnesse of sinne is not so necessary and constraining as the second drawne from the shame and infamy thereof nor that as the third drawn from the wages thereof which is everlasting death As honour and glory is to be more set by than gaine and commodity life than honour immortality than life so shame and infamy is worse than losse and disadvantage death than shame hell than death The holy Apostle hath now made three offers unto us and put us to a three-fold choice First he laid before us the faire fruits of Paradise to bee gathered from the tree of life and corrupt rotten fruit from the forbidden tree that is invaluable treasures to be got and inestimable profit to be made by godlinesse and irrecoverable losses to be sustained by ungodly and sinfull courses of thriving Secondly he tendered unto you glory and honour to be purchased by the service of God as on the contrary shame and infamy by retaining upon Sathan and pursuing sinfull pleasures Now in the third place hee setteth before you life and death life by the gift of God and death for the hire of sinne Shall I need to exhort you in the words of b Deut. 30.19 Moses Chuse life how can ye doe otherwise Is the flesh appalled at the death of the body though the paine thereof endure but for a moment and shall not the spirit be much more affrighted at the death of the soule the pangs and paines whereof never have an end If there be any so retchlesse and carelesse of his estate that hee passeth not for great and irrecoverable dammages and losses so foolish that hee esteemes not of inestimable treasures if any be so infamous that he hath no credit to lose or so armed with proofe of impudency that hee can receive no wound from shame yet I am sure there is none that liveth who is not in some feare of death especially a tormenting death and that of the soule and that which striketh all dead everlasting Therefore it is as I conceive that the Apostle according to the precept of Rhetoricians c Cic. de orat l. 2. Puncta caeterorum argumentorum occulit coucheth as it were and hideth the points of other arguments but thrusteth out this putting upon it the signe and marke of a reason For. For the end of those things is death And this hee doth for good reason because this last argument is worth all the former and enforceth them all it not only sharpneth the point of them but draweth them up to the head at the sinner For therefore are lewd and wicked courses unprofitable therefore we may be ashamed of them because their end is so bad For the end Why doth the Apostle skip over the middle and come presently to the end why layeth hee the whole force of his argument upon the end 1. Because there is nothing in sinne upon which wee may build or have any assurance thereof but the end as there is nothing certaine of this our present life but the incertainty thereof Sin somtimes hath no middle as wee see in those fearfull examples of Corah Dathan and Abiram who had no sooner opened their mouths against Moses but the earth opened her mouth to swallow them up quicke of Achan who had no sooner devoured the accursed thing but it was drawne out of his belly with bowels heart and all of Herod who had no sooner heard the people cry The voice of God and not of man but hee felt himselfe a worme and no man of Zimri and Cozbi who had no sooner received the dart of lust in their heart than they felt a javelin in their bodies of Ananias and Sapphira who no sooner kept backe part of the price for which they sold their possessions but death seized upon them and they gave up the ghost and of many others whose deaths wounds yet bleed afresh in sacred and profane stories 2 Because there is nothing permanent of sinne but the end the duration if it have any is very short like to that of Jonahs gourd d Jonah 3.7 which rose up in a night and was eaten up with a worme in the morning 3 Because nothing is so much to bee regarded in any thing as the end for fines principia actionum the end setteth the efficient on worke and all is well that endeth well as wee say in the Proverbe e Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise saith God by Moses then they would consider their latter end If wee invert the speech it will bee as true O that men would consider their latter end and then they would be wise For assuredly he that in his serious contemplation beginneth at the end of sinne in his practise will end at the beginning To consider the end of sinne is to take a survey of all the miseries and calamities incident to intelligent natures of all the plagues that light upon the bodies and soules and estates of impenitent sinners in this life with a fearfull expectation of hellish torments then a violent separation of the soule from the body which is no sooner made but the soule is presented before the dreadfull Judge of quicke and dead arraigned condemned and immediately upon sentence haled and dragged by ugly fiends to the darke and lothsome dungeon of hell there in all extremity of paines and tortures without any ease or mitigation to continue till the generall day of the worlds doom when meeting again with the body her companion in all filthinesse iniquity and ungodlinesse they are both summoned to the last judgement where all their open and secret sinnes are laid open to the view of men and Angels to their inexpressible and astonishable confusion after conviction the sentence at which not the eares onely shall tingle the teeth chatter the knees smite one the other but the heart also melt the sentence I say of eternall damnation shall bee pronounced in their hearing f Mat. 25.41 Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divell and his Angels A most heavie sentence never to bee recalled and presently to bee put in execution the Devill with reviling and insultation carrying them with all their wicked friends and associates to the place of endlesse torments to endure the full wrath of God and the paines of everlasting fire O what will it bee to feele the second death which it is death to thinke or speake of who can read the description thereof in Saint g De vit contemp l. 3. c. 12. Fieri patriae coelestis extorrem mori vitae beatae morti vivere sempiternae in aeternum cum diabolo expelli ubi sit mors secunda damnatis
die quo fecerat sequenti die sabbatizavit in monumento Sabbaths rest in the grave Now above all the dayes of this holiest weeke this hath one priviledge that in it Christ made his last will and testament and instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist and administred it in his owne person delivering both the consecrated bread and cup of blessing to his Apostles with his owne hand Which mysterious actions of his were presidents in all succeeding ages and rules for the administration of that sacrament to the worlds end For Primum in unoquoque genere mensura est reliquorum the first action in any sacred or civill institution in respect of those that succeed is like the originall to all after draughts and the copy to all that write by it Such was the first institution of marriage in Paradise of circumcision in Abrahams family of the passover in Egypt of all the other types and figures of the Law on Mount Sinai and of the Lords Supper in this upper roome wherein all Christs speeches and actions may not unfitly bee termed Rubricks to direct the Christian Church in these mysterious rites For before the end of the next day they were all coloured in bloud What was done now in effigie was then done in personâ he that now tooke bread was taken himselfe he that brake it was broken on the crosse he that gave it to his Disciples was given up for our sinnes he who tooke the cup received from his Father a cup of trembling he who powred out the wine shed his owne bloud in memory of which reall effusion thereof unto death we celebrate this sacramentall effusion unto life For so he commanded us saying f Luke 22.19 Doe this in remembrance of mee and his faithfull Apostle fully declareth his meaning in the words of my Text As often c. As Christ g 1 John 5 6. came to us not by water only but by water and bloud so wee must come to him not by water only the water of regeneration in baptisme but also by the bloud of redemption which is drunke by us in this sacrament in obedience to his commandement and in acknowledgement of his love to us even to death and in death it selfe As a h Hieron in hunc locum Quemâ—dmodum si quis peregre proficisâ—â—ns aliquid pignoris ei quem diligit derelinquit ut quotiâ—scunque illud vid â—t possit ejus beneficia amicitias memorare quod ille si perfâ—ctè dilexit non potest sine ingente desidâ—rio videre vel â—etu man taking a long journie leaveth a pledge with his friend that whensoever he looketh upon it he should thinke upon him in his absence so Christ being to depart out of this world left these sacred elements of bread and wine with his Church to the end that as often as she seeth them she should thinke of him and his sufferings for her When Aeneas plucked a twigge of the tree under which Polydorus was buried the bough dropped bloud i Vâ—rg Aen 3. cruor de stipite manat so as soone as we plucke but a twigge of the tree of Christs crosse it will bleed a fresh in our thoughts shewing us to be guilty of the death of the Lord of life For though we never consulted with the chiefe Priests nor drave the bargaine with Judas nor pronounced sentence against him with Pilate nor touched his hand or foot with a naile yet sith hee was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and the k Esa 53.5 6. chastisement of our peace was upon him and the Lord laid on him the sinnes of us all we cannot plead not guilty inasmuch as our sinnes were the causes of all his sufferings The Passover by the Law was to be eaten with sowre herbes and in like manner the Christian passover which wee are now met to eate must bee eaten with sowre herbes that is pensive thoughts and a sad remembrance both of our sinfull actions and our Saviours bloudy passion For as oft as yee eate c. The coherence or rather consequence of this verse to the former is like to that of the Eccho to the voice the words of institution rehearsed in the former verses are as the voice the inference of the Apostle in this verse as the Eccho For as the Eccho soundeth out the last words of the voice so the Apostle here repeateth the last words of Christs institution Doe this in remembrance of mee and in effect explaineth them saying to do it in remembrance of Christ that is as oft as ye do it ye shew forth his death 1. We are but once born and therefore but once receive the sacrament of Baptism which is the seale of our regeneration but we feed often consequently are often to receive the sacrament which is the seale of our spirituall nourishment growth in Christ and therfore the Apostle saith As often as 2. Whensoever wee communicate wee must make an entire meale and refection thereof therefore he addeth Ye eate and drinke 3. In making this spirituall refection wee must thinke upon Christ his bloudy passion and declare it to others therefore he addeth Yee shew the Lords death 4. This commemoration of his death must continue till hee hath fully revenged his death and abolished death it selfe in all his mysticall members therefore he addeth Till he come As oft as ye are bid to the Lords Table and come prepared eate of this bread and as oft as ye eate of this bread drinke of this cup and when yee eate and drinke shew forth the Lords death and let this annuntiation continue till he come If ye take away this band of connexion the parts falling asunder will be these 1. The time when 2. The manner how 3. The end why 4. The terme how long wee are to celebrate this supper 1. The time frequent As often 2. The manner entire Eate and drinke 3. The end demonstrative Shew forth 4. The terme perpetuall Till he come that is to the end of the world As often Wee never reade of any saith l Praef. institut Nusquam legimus reprehensos qui nimium de fonte aquae vitae hauserint Calvin that were blamed for drawing too much water out of the Wells of salvation neither doe we find ever any taxed for too often but for too seldome communicating which is utterly a fault among many at this day who are bid shall I say thrice nay twelve times every moneth once before they come to the Lords Table and then they come it is to be feared more out of feare of the Law than love of the Gospel Surely as when the appetite of the stomach to wholsome meat faileth as in the disease called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the body pines and there is a sensible decay in all parts so it falleth out in the spirituall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the soule hath no appetite to this bread of life and food of