ask that Judge and it will be so and it will be so if you ask the Counsel on the other side Ask the Council of Trent it self and the Idolaters of that Council will not say that our Church affirmes any Errour neither can they say that we leave any truth unaffirmed which the Primitive Church affirm'd to be necessary to salvation For those things which the Schoole hath drawn into disputation since as their form is in the beginning of every question to say Videtur quod non one would think it were otherwise if when they have said all I return to the beginning again Videtur quod non I think it is otherwise still Must I be damned The evidence for my salvation is my Credo not their Probo And if I must get Heaven by a Syllogism John 10.29 my Major is Credo in Deum patrem I believe in God the Father for Pater major the Father is greater then all And my Minor shall be Credo in Deum Filium I believe in God the Son Qui exivit de patre he came from God And my Conclusion which must proceed from Major Minor shall be Credo in Spiritum Sanctum I believe in the Holy Ghost who proceeds from Father and Son And this Syllogisme brought me into the Militant Church in my Baptisme and this will carry me into the Triumphant in my Transmigration for doctrine of Salvation is matter without controversie Myster But yet as clear as it is it is a Mystery a Secret not that I cannot see it but that I cannot see it with any eyes that I can bring Mat. 16.16 not with the eye of Nature Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee sayes Christ to Peter not with the eye of Learning Thou hast hid these things from the wise sayes Christ to his Father not with the eye of State that wheresoever I see a good Government I should presume a good Religion for we do not admit the Church of Rome and yet we doe admire the Court of Rome nor with the eye of a private sence 2 Pet. 1.20 for no prophecy of any Scripture for Quod non nisi instinctu Dei scitur prophetia est that which I cannot understand by reason but by especiall assistance from God all that is Prophecy No Scripture is of private interpretation I see not this mystery by the eye of Nature of Learning of State of mine own private sence but I see it by the eye of the Church by the light of Faith that 's true but yet organically instrumentally by the eye of the Church And this Church is that which proposes to me all that is necessay to my salvation in the Word and seals all to me in the Sacraments If another man see or think he sees more then I if by the help of his Optick glasses or perchance but by his imagination he see a star or two more in any constellation then I do yet that starre becomes none of the constellation it addes no limb no member to the constellation that was perfect before so if other men see that some additional and traditional things may adde to the dignity of the Church let them say it conduces to the well-being not to the very being to the existence not to the essence of the Church for that 's onely things necessary to salvation And this mystery is Faith in a pure conscience 1 Tim. 3.9 for that 's the same thing that is called Godliness in this text and it is to profess the Gospel of Christ Jesus sincerely and intirely to have a conscience testifying to himself that he hath contributed nothing to the diminution of it that he labours to live by it that he hopes to die in it that he feares not to die for it This is Mysterium opertum apertum 2 Cor. 4.3 Col. 1.26 hid from those that are lost but manifested to his Saints It is a Mystery a great Mystery that 's next not that there is not a greater Magnum for the Mystery of Iniquity is greater then the Mystery of Godliness Compare Creeds to Creeds and the new Creed of the Trent Council is greater by many Articles then the Apostles Creed is Compare Oathes to Oathes and Berengarians old Oath in the Roman Church that he must sweare to the Frangitur teritur that he broke the flesh of Christ with his teeth and ground it with his jawes and the new Oath of the Council of Trent that he must sweare that all those subtill Schoole-points determined there in which a man might have believed the contrary a few dayes before and yet have been a good Roman Catholick too are true and true de fide so true as that he cannot be saved now except he believe them to be so the Berengarians Oath and the Trent-oath have much more difficulty in them then to swear that K. James is lawful King in all his Dominions therefore exempt from all forreign jurisdiction over him There is a Mystery of Iniquity declared in a Creed of Iniquity in an Oath of Iniquity greater then the Mystery of Godliness but yet this is great that is great enough he needs no more that hath this saith with a pure conscience he need not go up to heaven for more not to a Vice-god to an infallible Bishop of Rome Deut. 30.12 he need not go over-sea for more sayes Moses there not to the hills beyond-sea nor to the lake beyond-sea for God hath given him his station in a Church where this Mystery is sufficiently declared and explicated The Mystery of Iniquity may be great for it hath wrought a great while 2 Thes 2.7 Jam operatur sayes the Apostle in his time the Mystery of iniquity doth already work and it is likely to work still It is but a little while since we saw it work under ground in the vault But if as hath been lately royally and religiously intimated to us all their insolency have so far infatuated them In Parliam as to think themselves at an end of their work and promise themselves a holy-day our assurance is in this Pater operatur adhuc ego operor Joh. 5.17 sayes Christ My Father works yet and I work and if amongst us the Father work and the Son work for all the vain hopes of some and the vain feares of others the Mystery of godliness will stand and grow Part II. Now how far this Mystery this great Mystery this Mystery without controversie is revealed in this Text we are to look by the severall beames thereof of which the first is Manifestatus in carne God was manifested in the flesh Coeli enarrant sayes David The heavens declare the glory of God Psal 19.2 and that should be the harmony of the Spheares Invisibilia conspiciuntur sayes Saint Paul Invisible things of God are seen in the visible Rom. 1.20 and that should be the prospect of this world
then lastly The illusion upon this what a fearful state this shuts them up in That therefore their hearts are fully set in them to do evil And these three The perversness of colouring sins with Reasons and the impotency of making Gods mercy the Reason and the danger of obduration thereby will be the three parts in which we shall determine this Exercise Part I. First then in handling the perversness of assigning Reasons for sins we forbid no man the use of Reason in matters of Religion As S. August says Contra Scriptura nemo Christianus No man can pretend to be a Christian if he refuse to be tryed by the Scriptures And as he adds Contra Ecclesiam nemo pacificus No man can pretend to love order and Peace if he refuse to be tryed by the Church so he adds also Contra Rationem nemo sobrius No man can pretend to be in his wits if he refuse to be tryed by Reason He that believes any thing because the Church presents it he hath Reason to assure him that this Authority of the Church is founded in the Scriptures He that believeth the Scriptures hath Reasons that govern and assure him that those Scriptures are the Word of God Mysteries of Religion are not the less believ'd and embrac'd by Faith because they are presented and induc'd and apprehended by Reason But this must not enthrone this must not exalt any mans Reason so far as that there should lie an Appeal from Gods Judgements to any mans reason that if he see no reason why God should proceed so and so he will not believe that to be Gods Judgement or not believe that Judgement of God to be just For of the secret purposes of God Mat. 11.26 we have an Example what to say given us by Christ himself Ita est quia complacuit It is so O Father because thy good pleasure was such All was in his own breast and bosome in his own good will and pleasure before he Decreed it And as his Decree it self so the wayes and Executions of his Decrees are often unsearchable for the purpose and for the reason thereof though for the matter of fact they may be manifest They that think themselves sharp-sighted and wise enough to search into those unreveal'd Decrees they who being but worms will look into Heaven and being the last of Creatures who were made will needs enquire what was done by God before God did any thing for creating the World In ultimam dementiam reverant says S. Chrysost They are fallen into a mischievous madness Et ferrum ignitum quod forcipe deberent digitus accipiunt They will needs take up red hot Irons with their bare fingers without tongs That which is in the Center which should rest and lie still in this peace That it is so because it is the will of God that it should be so they think to toss and tumble that up to the Circumference to the Light and Evidence of their Reason by their wrangling Disputations If then it be a presumpteous thing and a contempt against God to submit his Decrees to the Examination of humane reason it must be a high treason against the Majesty of God to find out a reason in him which should justifie our sins To conclude out of any thing which he does or leaves undone that either he doth not hate or cannot punish sinners For this destroys even the Nature of God and that which the Apostle lays for the foundation of all To believe that God is Heb. 11.6 and that he is a just Rewarder Adam's quia Mulier The woman whom thou gavest me gave me the Apple And Eve's quia Serpens Because the Serpent deceiv'd me and all such are poor and unallowable pleas which God would not admit For there is no Quia no Reason why any man at any time should do any sin God never permits any perplexity to fall upon us so as that we cannot avoyd one sin but by doing another or that we should think our self excusable by saying Quia inde minus malum There is less harm in a Concubine then in another wife Or Quia inde aliquod bonum That my incontinence hath produc'd a profitable man to the State or to the Church though a bastard much less to say Quia obdormivit Deus Tush God sees it not or cares not for it though he see it If thou ask then why thou should'st be bound to believe the Creation we say Quia unus Deus Because there can be but one God and if the World be eternal and so no Creature the World is God If thou ask why thou should'st be bound to believe Providence we say Quia Deus remunerator Because God is to give every man according to his merits If thou ask why thou should'st be bound to believe that when thou seest he doth not give every man according to his merits we say Quia inscrutabilia judicia ejus O how unsearchable are his Jugdements and his ways past finding out For thou art yet got no farther in measuring God but by thine own measure and thou hast found no other reason to lead thee to think that God doth not govern well but because he doth not govern so to thine understanding as thou shouldst if thou wert God So that thou dost not onely make thy weakness but thy wickedness that is thy hasty disposition to come to a present Revenge when any thing offends thee the Measure and the Model by which the frame of Gods Government should be erected and so thou comest to the worst distemper of all insanire cum ratione to go out of thy wits by having too much and to be mad with too much knowledge not to sin out of infirmity or tentation or heat of blood but to sin in cold blood and upon just reason and mature considerations and so deliberately and advisedly to continue to sin Part II. Now the particular reason which the perversness of these men produceth here in this Text is Because God is patient and long-suffering So he is so he will be still Their perversness shall not pervert his Nature his goodness As God bade the Prophet Osea do 1.2 he hath done himself Go says he and take to thee a wife of fornication and children of fornication so hath he taken us guilty of spiritual fornication But as in the fleshly fornications of an adulterous wife the husband is for the most part the last that hears of them so for our spiritual fornications such is the loathness the patience the longanimity of our good and gracious God that though he do know our sins as soon as they speak as soon as they are acted for that 's peccatum cum voco says S. Gregory A speaking sin when any sinful thought is produc'd into act yea before they speak as soon as they are conceiv'd yet he will not hear of our sins he takes no knowledge of them by punishing them till our brethren have
by the King to wait upon my L. of Doncaster in his Embassage to Germany First Sermon as we went out June 16. 1619. SERMON XX. Rom. 13.11 For now is our Salvation nearer then when we believed THere is not a more comprehensive a more embracing word in all Religion then the first word of this Text Now for the word before that For is but a word of connexion and rather appertains to that which was said before the Text then to the Text it self The Text begins with that important and considerable particle Now Now is salvation nearer c. This present word Now denotes an Advent a new coming or a new operation otherwise then it was before And therefore doth the Church appropriate this Scripture to the celebration of the Advent before the Feast of the Birth of our Saviour It is an extensive word Now for though we dispute whether this Now that is whether an instant be any part of time or no yet in truth it is all time for whatsoever is past was and whatsoever is future shall be an instant and did and shall fall within this Now. We consider in the Church four Advents or Comings of Christ of every one of which we may say Now now it is otherwise then before For first there is verbum in carne the word came in the flesh in the Incarnation and then there is caro in verbo he that is made flesh comes in the word that is Christ comes in the preaching thereof and he comes again in carne saluta when at our dissolution and transmigration at our death he comes by his spirit and testifies to our spirit that we die the Children of God And lastly he comes in carne reddita when he shall come at the Resurrection to redeliver our bodies to our souls and to deliver everlasting glory to both The Ancients for the most part understand the word of our Text of Christs first coming in the flesh to us in this world the latter Exposition understand them rather of his coming in glory But the Apostle could not properly use this present word Now with relation to that which is not now that is to future glory otherwise then as that future glory hath a preparation and an inchoation in present grace for so even the future glory of heaven hath a Now now the elect Children of God have by his powerfull grace a present possession of glory So then it will not be impertinent to suffer this flowing and extensive word Now to spread it self into all three for the whole duty of Christianity consists in these three things first in pietate erga Deum in religion towards God in which the Apostle had enlarged himself from the beginning to the twelfth chapter of his Epistle And secondly in charitate erga proximum in our mutual duties of society towards our Equals and Inferiors and of Subjection towards our Superiours in which that twelfth chapter and this to the eitghth verse is especially conversant And then thirdly in sanctimonia propria in the works of sanctification and holiness in our selves And this Text the Apostle presents as a forcible reason to induce us to that to those works of sanctification because Now our salvation is nearer us then when we believed Take then this now the first way of the coming Christ in person in the flesh into this world and then the Apostle of directs himself principally to the Jews converted to the faith of Christ and he tels them That their salvation is nearer them now now they had seen him come then when they did only believe that he would come Take the words the second way of his coming in grace into our hearts and so the Apostle directs himself to all Christians now now that you have bin bred in the Christian Church now that you are grown from Grace to grace from faith to faith now that God by his spirit strengthens and confirms you now is your salvation nearer then when ye believed that is when you began to believe either by the faith of your Parents or the faith of the Church or the faith of your Sureties at your Baptism or when you began to have some notions and impressions and apprehensions of faith in your self when you came to some degrees of understanding and discretion Take the word of Christs coming to us at the hour of death or of his coming to us at the day of Judgment for those two are all one to our present purpose because God never reverses any particular judgement given at a mans death at the day of the general Judgment take the word so this is the Apostles argument you have believed and you have lived accordingly and that faith and that good life hath brought salvation nearer you that is given you a fair and modest infallibility of salvation in the nature of reversion but now now that you are come to the approches of death which shall make your reversion a possession Now is salvation nearer you then when you believed Summarily the Text is a reason why we ought to proceed in good and holy wayes and it works in all the three acceptations of the word for whether salvation be said to be near us because we are Christians and so have advantage of the Jews or near us because we have made some proficiency in holiness sanctimony or near us because we are near our end and thereby near a possession of our endless joy and glory Still from all these acceptations of the word arise religious provocations to perseverance in holiness of life and therefore we shall pursue the words in all three acceptations In all three acceptations we must consider three termes in the Text First Quid salus what this Salvation is that is intended here Part. 1. and then Quid prope what this Distance this nearness is and lastly Quid credere what Belief this is So then taking the words first the first way as spoken by the Apostles to the Jews newly converted to the Christian Faith salvation is the outward means of salvation which are more and more manifest to the Christians then they were to the Jews And then the second Term Nearness salvation is nearer is in this That salvation to the Christian is in things present or past in things already done and of which we are experimentally sure but to the Jews it was of future things of which howsoever they might assure themselves that they would be yet they had no assurance when And therefore in the third place their Believing was but a confident expectation and faithfull assenting to their Prophets quando credidistis when you believed that is when you did only believe and saw nothing First then the first Terme in the first acceptation Salvation Salus is the outward means of salvation Outward and visible means of knowing God God hath given to all Nations in the book of Creatures from the first leaf of that book the firmament above to
only in the earth nature and naturall reason do not produce grace but yet grace can take root in no other thing but in the nature and reason of man whether we consider Gods subsequent graces which grow out of his first grace formerly given to us and well employed by us or his first grace which works upon our natural faculties and grows there still this salvation that is this grace is near us for it is within us then the third term believing is either quando credidistis primum when you began to believe either in an imputative belief of others in your baptism or a faint belief upon your first Catechisings and Instrustions or quando credidistis tantum when you only professed a belief or faith and did nothing in declaration of that faith to the edification of others Salus First then salvation in this second sense is the internal operation of the holy Ghost in infusing grace for therefore doth St. Basil call the holy Ghost verbum Dei the word of God which is the name properly peculiar to the Son quia interpres filii sicut filius patris that as the Father had revealed his will in the Prophets and then the Son comes and interprets all that actually this prophecy is meant of my coming this of my dying and so makes a real comment and an actual interpretation of all the prophecies for he does come and he does die accordingly so the holy Ghost comes and comments upon this comment interprets this interpretation and tels thy soul that all this that the Father had promised and the Son had performed was intended by them and by the working of their spirit is now appropriated to thy particular soul In the constitution and making of a natural man the body is not the man nor the soul is not the man but the union of these two makes up the man the spirits in a man which are the thin and active part of the blood and so are of a kind of middle nature between soul and body those spirits are able to doe and they doe the office to unite and apply the faculties of the soul to the organs of the body and so there is a man so in a regenerate man a Christian man his being born of Christian Parents that gives him a body that makes him of the body of the Covenant it gives him a title an interest in the Covenant which is jus ad rem thereby he may make his claim to the seal of the Covenant to baptism and it cannot be denied him and then in his baptism that Sacrament gives him a soul a spiritual seal jus in re an actual possession of Grace but yet as there are spirits in us which unite body and soul so there must be subsequent acts and works of the blessed spirit that must unite and confirm all and make up this spiritual man in the wayes of sanctification for without that his body that is his being born within the Covenant and his soul that is his having received Grace in baptism do not make him up This Grace is this Salvation and when this Grace works powerfully in thee in the wayes of sanctification then is this Salvation neer thee which is our second term in this second acceptation propè neer This neerness which is the effectuall working of Grace Prope Heb. 4.12 the Apostle expresses fully That it pierceth to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit for though properly the soul and spirit of a man be all one yet divers faculties and operations give them somtimes divers names in the Scriptures Anima quia animat sayes St. Ambrose and spiritus quia spirat The quickning of the body is the soul but the quickning of the soul is the spirit If this Salvation be brought to this neerness that is this grace to this powerfulness thou shalt find it in anima in thy soul in those organs wherein thy soul uses thy body in thy senses and in the sensible things ordain'd by God in his Church Sacraments and Ceremonies and thou shalt find it neerer in spiritu as the spirit of God hath seal'd it to thy spirit invisibly inexpressibly It shall be neer to thee so as that thy reason shall apprehend it and neerer then that thy faith shall establish it and neerer then all this it shall create in thee a modest and sober but yet an infallible assurance that thy salvation shall never depart from thee Magnificabit anima tua Dominum as the B. Virgin speaks Thy soul shall magnifie the Lord all thy natural faculties shall be employed upon an assent to the Gospel thou shalt be able to prove it to thy self and to prove it to others to be the Gospel of Salvation And then Exultabit spiritus Thy spirit shall rejoyce in God thy Saviour because by the farther seal of sanctification thy spirit shall receive testimony from the spirit that as Christ is Idem homo cum te the same man that thou art so thou art Idem spiritus cum Domino the same spirit that he is so far as that as a spirit cannot be separated in it self so neither canst thou be separated from God in Christ And this this exaltation of Grace when it thus growes up to this height of sanctification is that neerness which brings Salvation farther than our believing does and that 's the last term in this part Believing Credidistis Now neerer then Believing neerer than Faith a man might well think nothing can bring Salvation for Faith is the hand that reaches it and takes hold of it But yet as though our bodily hand reach to our temporal food yet the mouth and the stomach must do their office too and so that meat must be distributed into all parts of the body and assimilated to them so though our faith draw this salvation neer us yet when our mouth is imployed that we have a delight to glorifie God in our discourses and to declare his wonderfull works to the sons of men in our thankfulness And when this faith of ours is distributed over all the body that the body of Christs Church is edified and alienated by our good life and sanctification then is this Salvation neerer us that is safelier seal'd to us then when we believed only Either then this quando credidistis when you believed may be refer'd to Infants or to the first faith and the first degrees thereof in men In Infants when that seminall faith or potentiall faith which is by some conceived to be in the Infants of Christian parents at their baptism or that actuall faith which from their parents or from the Church is thought to be applyed to them accepted in their behalf in that Sacrament when this faith growes up after by this new comming of Christ in the power of his Grace and his Spirit to be a lively faith expressed in charity then Salus proprior then is Salvation neerer than when they believed whether this belief were their
The Jewes shall be under a heavier condemnation then the natural man because they had more liberty that is more means of avoyding sin then the natural man had and upon the same reason the Christian under a heavier condemnation then either because he shall be judged by this law of Liberty What judgement then gives this law This Qui non crediderit Mark 16.16 damnabitur and so sayes this Law in the Law-makers mouth He that believes not shall be damned And as no lesse light then Faith it selfe can shew you what Faith is what it is to believe so no lesse time then Damnation shall last can shew you what Damnation is for the very form of Damnation is the everlastingness of it and Qui non crediderit He that believeth not shall be damned there 's no commutation of penance nor beheading after a sentence of a more ignominious death in that court Dost thou believe that thou dost believe yet this law takes not that answer This law of Liberty takes the liberty to look farther Through faith into works for so sayes the Law in the mouth of the Law-maker To whom much is given of him much shall be required Luke 12.48 Hast thou considered every new title of Honour and every new addition of Office every new step into higher places to have laid new Duties and new obligations upon thee Hast thou doubled the hours of thy Prayers when thy Preferments are doubled and encreased thine Almes according as thy Revenues are encreased Hast thou done something done much in this kinde this law will not be answer'd so this law of Liberty takes the liberty to call upon thee for all Here also the Law sayes in the mouth of the Law-maker If thou have agreed with many adversaries sayes Christ Mat 5.25 let that be If thou have satisfied many duties for duties are adversaries that is temptations upon us yet as long as thou hast one adversary agree with that adversary quickly in the way leave no duty undischarged or unrepented in this life Beloved we have well delivered our selves of the feare of Purgatory none of us feare that but another mistaking hath overtaken us and we flatter our selves with another danger that is Compensation that by doing well in one place our ill doing in another is recompenced an ill Officer looks to be sav'd because he is a good husband to his wife a good father to his children a good master to his servants and he thinks he hath three to one for his salvation But as nature requires the qualities of every element which thou art composed of so this law of Liberty calls upon thee for the exercises of all those vertues that appertain to every particular place thou hold'st This liberty this law of Liberty takes It binds thee to believe Christ All Christ Gods Christ as he was the eternal Son of the Father God of God our Christ as he was made man for our salvation and thy Christ as his blessed Spirit in this his Ordinance applies him to thee and offers him into thine armes this minute And then to know that he looks for a retribution from thee in that measure in which he hath dealt with thee much for much and for several kinds of good according to those several good things which he hath done for thee And if thou be first defective in these and then defective in laying hold upon him who is the propitiation and satisfaction for thy defects in these this law of Liberty returnes to her liberty to pronounce and he Judge to his liberty to execute that sentence Damnaberis thou wilt be cast into that prison where thou must pay the last farthing thou must for Christ dyes not there and therefore there they must lie till there come such another ransome as Christ nay a greater ransome then Christ was for Christ paid no debts in that prison This then is the Christians case and this is the Abridgement of his Religion Sic loquimini sic facite to speak aright and to doe aright to profess the truth and not be afraid nor ashamed of that and to live according to that profession for no man can make God the author of sin but that man comes as near it as he can that makes Gods Religion a cloke for his sin To this God proceeds not meerly and onely by commadment but by perswasion too And though he be not bound to do so yet he does give a reason The reason is because he must give account of both both of Actions and of Words of both we shall be judged but judged by a Law a Law which excludes on Gods part any secret ill purpose upon us if we keep his Law a Law which excludes on our part all pretence of Ignorance for no man can plead ignorance of a Law And then a law of Liberty of liberty to God for God was not bound to save a man because he made him but of his own goodness he vouchsafed him a Law by which he may be saved a law of Liberty to us so that there is no Epicurism to doe what we list no such liberty as makes us Libertines for then there were no Law nor Stoicism nor fatality that constraines us to doe that we would not do for then there were no Liberty But the Gospel is such a law of Liberty as delivers us upon whom it works Serm. 4. from the necessity of falling into the bondage of sin before and from the impossibility of recovering after if we be falne into that bondage And this is liberty enough and of this liberty our blessed God give us the right use for his Son Christ Jesus sake by the operation of that Holy Ghost that proceeds from both Amen A Lent-SERMON Preached before the KING At WHITE-HALL February 16. 1620. SERMON IV. 1 Tim. 3.16 And without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into Glory THis is no Text for an Houre-glasse if God would afford me Ezekiah's signe Ut revertatur umbra 2 Reg. 20.9 Josh 10.11 that the shadow might go backward upon the Dial or Joshuah's signe Ut sistat Sol That the Sun might stand still all the day this were text enough to employ all the day and all the dayes of our life The Lent which we begin now is a full Tythe of the year but the houre which we begin now is not a full tythe of this day and therefore we should not grudge all that But payment of Tythes is growne matter of controversie and we by our Text are directed onely upon matter without controversie And without controversie c. Here is the compass that the essential Word of God the Son of God Christ Jesus went He was God humbled in the flesh he was Man received into glory Here is the compasse that the written Word of God went the Bible
shall be stability of thy times strength salvation wisdom and knowledge for the fear of the Lord shall be thy treasure It is our supply if we should fear want and it is our reason that we cannot fear want for he that fears God fears nothing else As therefore the Holy Ghost hath placed the beginning of wisdom in this fear so hath he the consummation and perfection of this wisdom even in the perfect pattern of all wisdom Esai 11.3 in the person of Christ himself The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon thee the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and of might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of God For without this fear there is no courage no confidence no assurance And therefore Christ begun his Passion with a fear in his Agony Tristis anima My soul his heavie but that fear delivered him over to a present conformity to the will of God in his Veruntamen Yet not my will but thine be done And he ended his Passion with a fear Eli Eli My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and that fear deliver'd him over to a present assurance In manus tuas Domine confidently to commend his spirit into his hands whom he seem'd to be afraid of Since then the Holy Ghost whose name is Love since God who is Love it self disposes us to this fear we may see in that That neither God himself nor those of whom God said Ye are gods that is all those who have Authority over others can be lov'd so as they should except they be fear'd so as they should be too If you take away due Fear you take away true Love Even that fear of God which we use to call servile fear which is but an apprehension of punishment and is not the noblest the perfectest kinde of fear yet it is a fear which our Saviour counsels us to entertain Matth. 10. Fear him that can cast soul and body into hell even that fear is some beginning of wisdom That fear Job had use of when he said 31. Quid faciam cum surrexerit ad judicandum Deus Here I may lay hold upon means of Restitution but when the Lord shall raise himself to judgement how shall I stand So also had David use of this fear Psal 119. A judiciis tuis timui However I was ever confident in thy mercy yet I was in fear of thy judgement It is that fear which St. Basil directs us to upon those words Psal 33. Timorem Domini docebo vos I will teach you the fear of the Lord Cogita profundum barathrum To learn to fear God he sends us to the meditation of the torments of hell And so it is that fear which wrought that effect in St. Hierome Ego ob Gehennae metum carcere isto me damnavi For fear of that execution I have shut my self up in this prison for fear of perishing in the next world I banish my self from this There is a beginning there is a great degree of wisdom even in this fear Now as the fear of Gods punishments disposes us to love him so that fear which the Magistrate imprints by the execution of his Laws establishes that love which preserves him from all disestimation and irreverence for whom the Enemy does not fear the Subject does not love As no Peace is safe enough where there is no thought of War so the love of man towards God and those who represent him is not permanently setled if there be not a reverential fear a due consideration of greatness a distance a distinction a respect of Rank and Order and Majestie If there be not a little fear by Justice at home and by power and strength abroad mingled in it it is not that love which God requires to be first directed upon himself and then reflected upon his Stewards and Vice-gerents for as every Society is not Friendship so every Familiarity is not Love But to conclude As he will be fear'd so he will be fear'd no otherwise then as he is God Non timuerunt Deum is the increpation of the Text They feared not God It is timor Dei and not timor Jehovae God is not here expressed by the name of Jehovah that unexpressible and unutterable that incomprehensible and unimaginable name of Jehovah God calls not upon us to be consider'd as God in himself but as God towards us not as he is in heaven but as he works upon earth And here not in the School but in the Pulpit not in Disputation but in Application It is not timor Jehovae nor it is not timor Adonai God does not call himself in this place The Lord for to be Lord to be proprietary of all this is potestas tam utendi quam abutendi It gives the Lord of that thing power to do absolutely what he will with that which is his And so God as absolute Lord may damn without respect of sin if he will and save without respect of faith if he will But God is pleased to proceed with us according to that Contract which he hath made with us and that Law which he hath given to us in those two Tables Tantummodo crede Onely believe and thy faith shall save thee and Fac hoc vives Live well and thy good works shall make sure thy salvation Lastly God does not call himself here Dominum exercituum The Lord of hosts God would not onely be consider'd and serv'd by us when he afflicts us with any of his swords Famine War Pestilence Malice or the like but the fear requir'd here is to fear him as God and as God presented in this name Elohim which though it be a name primarily rooted in power and strength for El is Deus fortis The powerful God and as there is no love without fear so there is no fear without power yet properly it signifies his Judgment and Order and Providence and Dispensation and Government of his creatures It is that name which goes thorow all Gods whole work of the Creation and disposition of all creatures in the first of Genesis in all that he is call'd by no other name then this the name God not by Jehovah to present an infinite Majestie nor by Adonai to present an absolute power nor by Tzebaoth to present a Force or Conquest but onely in the name of God his name of Government All ends in this To fear God is to adhere to him in his way as he hath dispensed and notified himself to us that is as God is manifested in Christ in the Scriptures and applied to us out of those Scriptures by the Church not to rest in Nature without God nor in God without Christ nor in Christ without the Scriptures nor in our private interpretation of Scripture without the Church Almighty God fill us with these fears these reverences that we may reverence him who shall at last bring us where there shall be no more
even by the reward which accompany it in this life he uses this addition this confirmation For this is a true saying and worthy to bee received 1 Tim. 4 9. when he gives a dignity to the function and office of the Ministery he proposes it so It is a true saying If any man desire the Office of a Bishop 1 Tim. 3.5 he desireth a good worke it is a worke not an occasion and oportunity of ease And lastly when he provokes men to glorify God by good works he labors to be beleeved by the same phrase still This is a true saying and these things I would thou shouldst affirme Tit. 3.8 That they which have beleeved in God might be carefull to shew forth good works Till he have found faith and beleefe in God he never calls upon good works he never calls them good but when we have Faith he would not have us stop nor determine there but proceed to works too It is a phrase which the Apostle does frequently and almost proverbially use in these many places but in all these places upon particular and lesser occasions but here preparing the doctrine of the whole Gospell this phrase admits a larger extent That as it is grounded upon the Word that is we must have somthing to shew for it so it is upon a faithfull word upon that which is cleerly and without the encumbrance of disputation the infallible word of God no traditionall word no apocryphall word but the cleere and faithfull word Now of all the attributes of all the qualities that can be ascribed to the word of God this is most proper to it selfe and most available and most comfortable to us that it is fidelis a faithfull word For this being a word that hath principally respect and relation to the fidelity of God it implies necessarily a Covenant a Contract with us which God hath bound himselfe faithfully to perform unto us and therefore God calls his Covenant with David by this name fideles miserecordias David An everlasting Covenant Esai 55.3 15.11 even the sure mercies of David And when the Prophet Jeremy apprehended a feare that God would breake that Covenant which hee had made with that Nation which had broken with him he expresses that passion in a word contrary to this and imputes out of his hasty feare even infidelity to God Why art thou unto mee sayes hee there as a Lyar sicut aquae infideles as unfaithfull water that I cannot trust to or Aquae mendaces as it is in the Originall lying waters deceitfull waters that promise a continuance and doe not perform it Why dost thou pretend to make a Covenant with thy people and wilt not perform it faithfully Most of Gods other attributes are accompanied with this in the Scriptures whatsoever God is called besides he is called fidelis faithfull too In one place he is fortis fidelis Deut. 7 9. he is powerfull but if he turne his power vindicatively upon me I were better if he were lesse powerfull but he hath made a Covenant with me that he will turn his power upon those whom he hath called his Enemies because they are mine and therein lies my comfort that he is a powerfull and a faithfull God In another place Esay 49 7. he is fidelis sanctus he is a holy God but if he be so and but so how shall I who am unholy stand in his sight He hath made a Covenant with me that as they who look'd upon the Serpent in the Wildernesse shed and cast out the venom of that serpent who had stung them before so when I look'd faithfully upon my Saviour all my unholinesse falls off as rags and I shall be invested in his Righteousnesse in his Holynesse and so in that lies my comfort that he is a Holy and a Faithfull God Howsoever wee consider God in the Schools in his other attributes yet here is my University and my Chair here I must take my Degree in my Heart in my Conscience and this is that that brings God home and applies him closs to me that he is fidelis a faithfull God that in his mercy he hath made a Covenant with us and in his faithfulnesse hee will performe it And therefore consider God in his first great worke 1 Pet. 4.19 his Creation so he is fidelis Creator let them that suffer according to the will of God commit their Souls to him in well doing as unto a faithfull Creator He had gracious purposes upon us in our Creation and he is faithfull to his purposes and so this faithfull God is God the Father Consider God in his next great worke the Redemption Heb. 2.17 and so he is fidelis Pontifex a faithfull high-Priest in things concerning God that he might make reconciliation for the sins of the People and so this faithfull God is God the Son Consider God in his continuance and dwelling in the Church usque ad consummationem Apocal. 1.5 till the end of the world so he is fidelis Testis He shall be evermore presenting to God and testifying in our behalfe the Covenant which he hath sealed to the Church in his blood and testifying to our spirit that that seale belongs unto us and so this faithfull God is God the holy-Ghost so that when we consider our Creation we are not to consider a Creation to condemnation God forbid When we consider a Redemption we are not to consider it exclusively as not intended to us God forbid And when we consider Gods presence and government in the Church we are not to consider it in a Church whose dores are shut up against any of us so as that we can have no Repentance no absolution God forbid we are not to consider God in those Decrees wherein we cannot consider him as fidelem Deum In those Decrees which are not revealed to us we know not whether he be faithfull or no for we know not what his promise what his purpose was But as he hath manifested himself in his Word as he hath made a conditionall contract with us so as that if we performe our part he will performe his and not otherwise so we may be sure that he is fidelis Deus a God that will stand to his word a God that will performe his promises faithfully for though it were meerly his Mercy that made those promises yet it is his fidelity his Truth his faithfulnesse that binds him to the performance of them Psal 31.4 Rom. 3.9 The faithfull word of God hath said it in the old-Testament and in the New too Let God be true and every man a Lyar. The word of the man of Sinne the God of Rome is a ly Pope Stephen abrogates all the Decrees of Pope Formosus and so gives that ly to him Next yeere Pope Romanus abrogates all his and so gives that ly to him and within seven yeers Servius all his and where was fidelis sermo the
better means of prevention before and of restitution after than the natural man or Jew had yet we consider that it is the law of liberty this law that hath afforded us these good helps by which we shall be judged And so though our case be better than theirs because we have this law of liberty which they wanted yet our case grows heavier than theirs if we use it not aright The Jews shall be under a heavier condemnation than the natural man because they had more liberty that is more means of avoyding sin than the naturall man had and upon the same reason the christian under a heavier condemnation than either because he shall be judged by the law of liberty What Judgement then gives this law This Mar. 16.16 Qui non crediderit damnabitur So sayes this law in the law-makers mouth He that believes not shall be damned And as no lesse light than faith it self can shew you what faith is what it is to believe so no lesse time than damnation shall last can shew you what damnation is For the very form of damnation is the everlastingness of it And qui non crediderit he that believeth not shall be damned there is no commutation of penance nor beheading after a sentence of a more ignominious death in that Court Doest thou believe that thou doest believe yet this law takes not that answer This law of liberty takes the liberty to look farther through faith into works for so sayes the law in the mouth of the law-maker To whom much is given Luc. 12.48 of him much shall be required Hast thou considered every new title of honor and every new addition of office every new step into higher places to have laid new duties and new obligations upon thee hast thou doubled the hours of thy prayers when thy preferments are doubled and encreased thine alms according as thy revenues are encreased hast thou done something done much in this kind this law will not be answered so this law of liberty takes the liberty to call upon thee for all Here also the law saies in the mouth of the law-maker If thou have agreed with many adversaries sayes Christ Mat. 5.25 let that be if thou have satisfied many duties for duties are adversaries that is tentations upon us yet as long as thou hast one adversary agree with that adversary quickly in the way leave no duty undischarged nor unrepented in this life Beloved we have well delivered our selves of the fear of Purgatory None of us fear that but another mistaking hath overtaken us and we flatter our selves with another danger that is compensation That by doing well in one place our ill doing in another is recompensed An ill officer looks to be saved because he is a good husband to his wife a good father to his children a good master to his servants and he thinks he hath three to one for his salvatien But as nature requires the qualities of every element which thou art composed of so this law of liberty calls upon thee for the exercises of all those vertues that appertain to every particular place thou holdst This liberty this law of liberty takes It binds thee to believe Christ all Christ Gods Christ as he was the eternal Son of the Father God of God our Christ as he was made man for our salvation and thy Christ as his blessed spirit in this his ordinance applies him to thee and offers him into thine armes this minute And then to know that he looks for a retribution from thee in that measure in which he dealt with thee much for much and for several kinds of good according to those several good things which he hath done for thee And if thou be first defective in these and then defective in laying hold upon him who is the propitiation and satisfaction for thy defects in these This law of liberty returns to her liberty to pronounce and the Judg to his liberty to execute that sentence Damnaberis thou wilt be cast into prison where thou must pay the last farthing thou must for Christ dyes not there and therefore there thou must lie till there come such another ransome as Christ nay a greater ransome than Christ was for Christ paid no debts in that prison This then is the christians case and this is the abridgment of his Religion Sic loquimini Sic facite To speak aright and to do aright to professe the truth and not be afraid nor ashamed of that and to live according to that profession For no man can make God the author of sin but that man comes as neer it as he can that makes Gods religion a cloak for his sin To this God proceeds not meerly and onely by commandment but by perswasion too and though he be not bound to do so yethe does give a reason The reason is because we must give account of both both of actions and of words of both we shall be judged But judged by a law a law which excludes on Gods part any secret ill purpose upon us if we keep his law A law which excludes on our part all pretence of ignorance for no man can plead ignorance of a law And then a law of liberty of liberty to God for God was not bound to save a man because he made him but of his own goodness he vouchsafed him a law by which he may be saved A law of liberty to us so that there is no Epicurism to do what we list no such liberty as makes us libertins for then there were no law nor Stoicism nor fatality that constrains us to do that we would not do for then there were no liberty But the Gospel is such a law of liberty as delivers us upon whom it works from the necessity of falling into the bondage of sin before and from the impossibility of recovering after if we be fallen into that bondage And this is liberty enough And of this liberty our blessed God give us the right use for his son Christ Jesus sake by the operation of that holy Ghost that proceeds from both Amen A SERMON Preached to Queen Anne at Denmarke-house Serm. 18. December 14. 1617. SERMON XVIII Proverbs 8.17 I love them that love me and they that seek me early shall find me AS the Prophets and the other Secretaries of the holy Ghost in penning the books of Scriptures do for the most part retain and express in their writings some impressions and some air of their former professions those that had been bred in Courts and Cities those that had been Shepheards and Heardsmen those that had been Fishers and so of the rest ever inserting into their writings some phrases some metaphors some allusions taken from that profession which they had exercised before so that soul that hath been transported upon any particular worldly pleasure when it is intirely turn'd upon God and the contemplation of his all-sufficiency and abundance doth find in God fit subject and
own or their parents or the Churches we have no ground to deny that Salvation is neer and present to all children rightly baptized but for those who have made sure their Salvation by a good use of Gods graces after we have another fair peece of evidence that Salvation is neerer them It is so to if this believing be refer'd to our first elements and beginnings of faith A man believes the history of Christ because it is matter of fact and a story probable and well testified A man may believe the Christian Religion or the Reformed Religion for his ease either because he cannot or will not debate controversies and reconcile differences or because he sees it best for order and quiet and civll ends which he hath in that state where he lives These be kinds of faith and morall assents and somtimes when a man is come thus far to a historical and a moral faith God super-infuses true faith for howsoever he wrought by reason and natural faculties and moral and civil wayes yet it was God that wrought from the beginning and produced this faith though but historical or moral And then if God do exalt this moral or historical faith farther then so to believe not only the History but the Gospel not only that such a Christ lived and did those miracles and dyed but that he was the Son of God and dyed for the redemption of the world this brings Salvation neerer him than when he believed but then when this grace comes to appropriate Christ to him and more than that to annunciate Christ by him when it makes him as John Baptist was a burning and a shining lamp That Christ is shewed to him and by him to others in a holy life Then is Salvation neerer him than when he believed either as it is credidit primum when he began to believe but had some scruples or credidit tantum that he laid all upon faith but had no care of works To end this this neerness of Salvation is that union with God which may be had in this life It is the peace of conscience the undoubting trust and assurance of Salvation This assurance so far as they will confess it may be had the Roman Church places in faith and so far well but then In fide formata and so far well enough too In those works which declare and testifie that faith for though this good work do nothing toward my Salvation it does much towards this neerness that is towards my assurance of this Salvation but herein they lead us out of the way that they call these works the soul the form of faith for though a good tree cannot be without good fruits yet it were a strange manner of speech to call that good fruit the life or the soul or the form of that tree so is it to call works which are the fruits of faith the life or soul or form of faith for that is proper to grace only which infuses faith They would acknowledge this neerness of salvation this assurance in good works but say they man cannot be sure that their works is good and therefore they can have no such assurance They who undertook the reformation of Religion in our Fathers dayes observing that there was no peace without this assurance expressed this assurance thus That when a man is sure that he believes aright that he hath no scruples of God no diffidence in God and uses all endeavors to continue it and to express it in his life as long as he continues so he is sure of Salvation and farther they went not And then there arose men which would reform the Reformers and refine Salvation and bring it into a lesse room They would take away the condition if you hold fast if you express it and so came up roundly and presently to that If ever you did believe if ever you had faith you are safe for ever and upon that assurance you may rest Now I make no doubt but that both these sought the truth that truth which concerns us peace and assurance and I dispute not their resolutions now only I say for these words which we have in hand now there is a conditional assurance implyed in them for when it is said now now that you are in this state Salvation is neer you thus much is pugnantly intimated that if you were not in this state Salvation were farther removed from you howsoever you pretend to believe Now this hath brought us to our third and last sense and acceptation of these words as they are spoken of Christs last comming 3 Part. his comming in glory which is to us at our deaths and that judgment which we receive then And in this acceptation of the word these three terms Salvation Neerness and Believing are thus to be understood Salvation is Salvation perfected consummated Salvation which was brought neer baptism neerer in outward holyness must be brought neerer than that And this prope this neerness is that now being neer death you are neer the last seal of your perseverance and so the credidistis the believing amounts to this though you have believed and liv'd accordingly believed with the belief of a Jew believed all the Prophets and with the beliefe of a Christian believed all the Gospel believed with a seminal belief of your own or an actuall belief of others at your baptism with a historical belief and with an Evangelical belief too with a belief in your root in the heart and a belief in the fruits expressed in a good life too yet there is a continuance and a perseverance that must crown all this and because that cannot be discern'd till thine end then only is it safely pronounced Now is Salvation neerer you than when you believed Salus Here then Salvation is eternall Salvation not the outward seals of the Church upon the person not visible Sacraments nor the outward seal of the person to the Church visible works nor the inward seal of the Spirit assurance here but fruition possession of glory in the Kingdome of Heaven where we shall be infinitely rich and that without labor in getting or care in keeping or fear in loosing and fully wise and that without ignorance of necessary or study of unnecessary knowledge where we shal not measure our portion by acres for all heaven shall be all ours nor our term by yeers for it is life and everlasting life nor our assurance by precedent for we shal be safer then the Angels themselves were in the creation where our exaltation shal be to have a crown of righteousness and our possession of that crown shal be even the throwing it down at the feet of the Lamb where we shal leav off all those petitions of Adveniat regnum thy Kingdom come for it shal be come in abundant power and the da nobis hodiè give us this day our dayly bread for we shal have all that which we can desire now and shall have a
power to desire more then have that desire so enlarged satisfied And the Libera nos we shall not pray to be delivered from evil for no evil culpae or poenae either of sin to deserve punishment or of punishment for our former sins shal offer at us where we shall see God face to face for we shall have such notions and apprehensions as shall enable us to see him and he shall afford such an imparting such a manifestation of himself as he shall be seen by us and where we shall be as inseparably united to our Saviour as his humanity and divinity are united together This unspeakable this unimaginable happiness is this Salvation and therefore let us be glad when this is brought neer us Prope And this is brought neerer neerer unto us as we come neerer neerer to our end As he that travails weary and late towards a great City is glad when he comes to a place of execution becaus he knows be that is neer the town so when thou comest to the gate of death glad of that for it is but one step from that to thy Jerusalem Christ hath brought us in some neerness to Salvation as he is vere Salvator mundi in that we know that this is indeed the Christ Jo. 4.42 the Saviour of the world and he hath brought it neerer than that Eph. 5.23 as he is Salvator corporis sui in that we know That Christ is the head of the Church and the Saviour of that body And neerer than that Esay 43.3 as he is Salvator tuus sanctus In that we know He is the Lord our God the holy One of Israel our Saviour But neerest of all in the Ecce Salvator tuus venit Esa 62.11 Behold thy Salvation commeth It is not only promised in the Prophets nor only writ in the Gospel nor only seal'd in the Sacraments nor only prepared in the visitations of the holy Ghost but Ecce behold it now when thou canst behold nothing else The sun is setting to thee and that for ever thy houses and furnitures thy gardens and orchards thy titles and offices thy wife and children are departing from thee and that for ever a cloud of faintnesse is come over thine eyes and a cloud of sorrow over all theirs when his hand that loves thee best hangs tremblingly over thee to close thine eyes Ecce Salvator tuus venit behold then a new light thy Saviours hand shall open thine eyes and in his light thou shalt see light and thus shalt see that though in the eyes of men thou lye upon that bed as a Statue on a Tomb yet in the eyes of God thou standest as a Colossus one foot in one another in another land one foot in the grave but the other in heaven one hand in the womb of the earth and the other in Abrahams bosome And then vere prope Salvation is truly neer thee and neerer than when thou believedst which is our last word Take this Belief in the largest extent Credidistis a patient assent to all foretold of Christ and of Salvation by the Prophets a historical assent to all that is written of Christ in the Gospel an humble and supple and applyable assent to the Ordinances of the Church a faithful application of all this to thine own soul a fruitful declaration of all that to the whole world in thy life yet all this though this be inestimable riches is but the earnest of the holy Ghost it is not the full payment it is but the first fruits it is not the harvest it is but a truce it is not an inviolable peace There remaineth a rest to the people of God Heb. 4.9 sayes the Apostle they were the people of God before and yet there remained a rest which they had not yet not that there is not a blessed degree of rest in the Credidi a happy assurance in the strength of faith here but yet there remaineth a rest better than that And therefore sayes that Apostle there Let us labor to enter into that rest as though we have rest in our consciences all the six dayes of the week if we do the works of our callings sincerely yet all that while we labor and there remains a Sabbath which we have not all the week so though we have peace and rest in the testimony of our faith and obedience in this life yet there remains a rest a Sabbath for which we must labor for the Apostle in that place adds the danger Labor to enter into that rest sayes he lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief v. 11. He speaks of the people of God and yet they might fall He speaks of such as bad believed and yet they might fall after the example of unbelief as far as they that never believed if they labored not to the last and set the seal of final perseverance to their former faith To conclude all with the force of the Apostles argument in urging the words of this text since God hath brought salvation nearer to you then to them that believed nearer to you in the Gospel when you have seen Christ come there to the Jews in the Prophets where they only read that he should come and nearer to you then where you believed either seminally potentially and imputatively at our baptism or actually and declaratorily in some parts of your life by having persisted therein thus far and since he is now bringing it nearer to you then when you believed at best because your end grows nearer Eccles 12. now whilst the evill daies come not nor the year approach wherein thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them before the grinders cease because they are few and they wax dark that look out at the windows before thou go to the house of thine age and the mourners go about in the streets prepare thy self by casting off thy sins and all that is gotten by thy sins for as the plague is got as soon in linings as in the outside of a garment salvation is lost as far by retaining ill gotten goods as by ill getting forget not thy past sins so far as not to repent them but remember not thy repented sins so far as to delight in remembring them or to doubt that God hath not fully forgiven them and whether God have brought this salvation near thee by sickness or by age or by general dangers put off the consideration of the incomodies of that age or that sickness and that danger and fill thy self with the consideration of the nearness of thy salvation which that age and sickness and danger minister to thee that so when the best Instrument and the best song shall meet together thy bell shall towl and thy soul shall hear that voice Ecce salvator behold thy Saviour cometh thou maist bear a part and chearfully make up that musick with a veni Domine Jesu Come Lord Jesu come quickly
fixt the Almighty and immoveable God if it can be content to inquire after it self and take knowledge where it is and in what way it will finde the means of cleansing And so this second consideration The placing of this pureness in the heart enlarges it self also into the third branch of this part which is De Modo by what means this pureness is fix'd in the heart in which is involved the Affection with which it must be embrac'd Love He that loveth pureness of heart Both these then are setled Our heart is naturally foul Modus And our heart may be cleansed But how is our present disquisition Who can bring a clean thing out of filthiness There is not one Job 14.4 Adam foul'd my heart and all yours nor can we make it clean our selves Who can say I have made clean my heart There is but one way Prov. 20.9 a poor beggarly way but easie and sure to ask it of God And even to God himself it seems a hard work to cleanse this heart and therefore our prayer must be with David Cor mundum crea Create Psal 51.12 O Lord a pure heart in me And then comes Gods part not that Gods part begun but then for it was his doing that thou madest this prayer but because it is a work that God does especially delight in to build upon his own foundations when he hath disposed thee to pray and upon that prayer created a new heart in thee then God works upon that new heart and By faith purifyes it Act. 15.9 enables it to preserve the pureness as Saint Peter speaks He had kindled some sparks of this faith in thee before thou askedst that new heart else the prayer had not been of faith but now finding thee obsequious to his beginnings he fuels this fire and purifies thee as Gold and Silver in all his furnaces through Believing and Doing and suffering through faith and works and tribulation we come to this pureness of heart And truely he that lacks but the last but Tribulation as fain as we would be without it lacks one concoction one refining of this heart But in this great work the first act is a Renovation a new heart Coâ— Novâ—m and the other That we keep clean that heart by a continual diligence and vigilancy over all our particular actions In these two consists the whole work of purifying the heart first an Annihilating of the former heart which was all sin And then a holy superintendency over that new heart which God vouchsafes to create in us to keep it as he gives it clean pure It is in a word a Detestation of former sins and a prevention of future And for the first Chromakus Anno 390. Mundi corde sunt qui deposuere cor peccati That 's the new heart that hath disseised expelled the heart of sin There is in us a heart of sin which must be cast up for whilst the heart is under the habits of sin we are not onely sinful but we are all sin as it is truly said that land overflow'd with sea is all sea And when sin hath got a heart in us it will quickly come to be that whole Body of Death Rom. 7.24 which Saint Paul complains of who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death when it is a heart it will get a Braine a Brain that shall minister all Sense and Delight in sin That 's the office of the Brain A Brain which shall send for the sinews and ligaments to tye sins together and pith and marrow to give a succulencie and nourishment even to the bones to the strength and obduration of sin and so it shall do all those services and offices for sin that the brain does to the natural body So also if sin get to be a heart it will get a liver to carry blood and life through all the body of our sinful actions That 's the office of the liver And whilst we dispute whether the throne and seat of the soul be in the Heart or Brain or Liver this tyrant sin will praeoccupate all and become all so as that we shall finde nothing in us without sin nothing in us but sin if our heart be possest inhabited by it And if it be true in our natural bodies that the heart is that part that lives first and dyes last it is much truer of this Cor peccati this heart of sin for this hearty sinner that hath given his heart to his sin doth no more foresee a Death of that sin in himself then he remembers the Birth of it and because he remembers not or understands not how his soul contracted sin by coming into his body he leaves her to the same ignorance how she shall discharge her self of sin when she goes out of that body But as his sin is elder then himself for Adams sin is his sin so is it longer liv'd then his body for it shall cleave everlastingly to his soul too God asks no more of thee but fili da mihi cor Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy heart Because when God gave it thee it was but one heart But since thou hast made it Cor cor as the Prophet speaks a Heart and a Heart a double Heart give both thy Hearts to God thy natural weakness and disposition to sin The inclinations of thy heart And thy habitual practise of sin The obduration of thy heart cor peccans and Cor peccati and he shall create a new heart in thee which is the first way of attaining this pureness of heart to become once in a good state to have as it were paid all thy former debts and so to be the better able to look about thee for the future for prevention of subsequent sins which is the other way that we proposed for attaining this pureness detestation of former habits watchfulness upon particular actions Till this be done till this Cor peccati Peccata Minutiora this hearty habitualness in sin be devested there is no room no footing to stand and sweep it a heart so filled with foulness will admit no counsel no reproof The great Engineir would have undertaken to have removed the World with his Engine if there had been any place to fix his Engine upon out of the World I would undertake by Gods blessing upon his Ordinance to cleanse the foulest heart that is if that Engine which God hath put into my hands might enter into his heart if there were room for the renouncing Gods Judgements and for the application of Gods mercies in the merits of Christ Jesus in his heart they would infallibly work upon him But he hath petrified his heart in sin and then he hath immur'd it wall'd it with a delight in sin and fortified it with a justifying of his sin and adds daily more and more out-works by more and more daily sins so that the denouncing of Judgement the application of Mercies