when we awake we watch to look about and see what danger is neere when we work wee watch till our work be brought to perfection That no Trumpet scatter our Alms no Hypocrisy corrupt our Fast no unrepented sinne denie our prayers no wandring Thought defile our Chastity no false fire kindle our zeal no Lukewarmnes dead our Devotion when we strive we watch that lust which is most predominant and Faith if it be not Dead hath a restless Eye an eye that never sleeps which makes us even here on Earth like unto the Angels for so Anastasius defining an Angel calls him a reasonable Creature but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a one as ver sleeps Corde vigila Fide vigila spe vigila charitate vigila saith St. August an active Faith a waking Heart a lively hope a spreading Charity assiduity and perseverance in the work of this Lord these make up the vigilate the watching here These are the seales Faith Hope and Charity set them on and the Watch is sure But this is to Generall To give you yet a more particular acaccount we must consider 1. That God hath made man a Judge and Lord of all his Actions and given him that freedom and Power which is Libripens emancipatià Deo Boni Tert. l. 2. cont Marcion which doth hold as it were the ballance and weigh and poyse both good and evill and may touch or strike which Scale it please that either Good shall out-weigh Evill or Evill good for man is not evill by Necessity or Chance but by his will alone See I have set before thee this Day Life and Good Death and Evill Therefore chuse Life Deut. 30.19 Secondly he hath placed an apparency of some good on that which is evill by which he may be wooed and enticed to it and an apparency of smart and evill on that which is Good Difficulty Calamity persecution by which he may be frighted from it But then thirdly he hath given him an understanding by which he may discover the horror of Evill though colour'd over and drest with the best advantage to Deceive and behold the Beauty and Glory of that which is good though it be discolour'd and defaced with the blacknesse and Darkness of this world He hath given him a Spirit Prov. 20.27 which the Wise man calls the Candle of the Lord searching the inward parts of the belly his Reason that should sway and govern all the parts of the body and faculties of the Soule by which he may see to eschew evill and chuse that which is good adhere to the Good though it distast the sense and fly from evill though it flatter it By this we discover he Enemy and by this we conquer him By this we see danger and by this we avoid it By this we see Beauty in Ashes and vanity in Glory And as other Creatures are so made and framed that without any guide or Leader without any agitation or business of the mind they turn from that which is Hurtfull and chuse that which is Agreeable with their Nature as the Cocles which saith Pliny carent omni alto sensu quam Câ—bi periculi C. 9. N. 1 Q. c. 30. have no sense at all but of their food and of Danger and naturally seek the one and fly the other So this Light this Power is set up in man which by discourse and comparing one thing with another the beginning with the end and shewes with Realities and faire Promises with bitter effects may shew him a way to escape the one and pursue life through rough and rugged wayes even through the valley of Death it self And this is it which we call vigilancy or watchfulness Attende tibi ipsi saith Moses Deut. 4.9 Tom. 1. Take heed to thy self and Basil wrote a whole Oration or Sermon on that Text and considers man as if he were nothing else but mind and soul and the Flesh were the Garment which cloth'd and coverd it and that it was compast about with Beauty and Health Sicknesse and deformity Friends and Enemies Riches and Poverty from which the mind is to guard and defend it self that neither the Gloty nor Terror of outward Objects have any power or influence on the mind to make a way through the flesh to deface and ruine it and put out its light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed to thy self prae omni custodiâ serva cor tuum Keep thy heart with Diligence ab omni cautione so 't is rendered by Mercer out of the Hebrew from every thing that is to be avoided ab omni vinculo so others from every tye or bond which may shackle or hinder thee in the performance of that Duty to which thou art obliged whether it be a chain of Gold or of Iron of pleasure or paine whether it be a fayre and well promising or a black Temptation keep it with diligence and keep it from these Incumbrances and the reason is given For out of it are the Issues of Life processiones vitarum the Issues and Proceedings of many lives for so many Conquests as we gaine over Temptations so many lively motions we feele animated and full of God which increase our Crown of joy All is comprehended in that of our Saviour Math. 26.41 Watch and pray lest you enter into Tentation If you watch not your heart will lie open and Tentations will Enter and as many Deaths will issue forth Evill Thoughts Fornications Murders Adulteries Blasphemy as so many Locusts out of the Bottomlesse Pit To watch then Philip. 2. is to fixe our mind on that which concernes our Peace To work out our Salvation with fear and trembling to perfect holiness in the Feare of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Heb. 12.28 2 ep John 8. to serve him with Reverence and Godly Feare That we lose not those things which we have wrought so that by the Apostle our Caution and watchfulness is made up of Reverence and Feare and these two are like the two Pillars in the Porch of the Temple of Solomon Jachin and Boaz. 1. of Kings and the second to establish and strengthen our Watch For this certainly must needs be a Soveraign Antidote against sinne and a forcible motive to make us look about our selves when we shall Think that our Lord is present every where and seeth and knoweth all Things when we consider him as a witness who shall be our Judge That all we doe we doe as Hilary speaks in Divinitatis sinu in his very presence and Bosome when we deceive our selves and when we deceive our brethren when we sell our Lord to our Feares or our Hopes when we betray him in our craft crucify him in our Revenge defile and spit upon him in our uncleanness we are even then in his Presence if we did firmly beleeve it we would not suffer our eyes to sleep nor our eye-lids to slumber For how carefull are we how anxious how sollicitous in our behaviour how
attributes he hath he is called the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4.13 the Spirit of Grace of Love of Joy of Zeale for where he worketh Grace is operative our Love is without dissimulation our Joy is like the joy of heaven as true though not so great our Faith a working faith and our Zeal a coale from the Altar kindled from his fire not mad and raging but according to knowledge he makes no shadowes but substances no pictures but realities no appearances but truths a Grace that makes us highly favoured a precious and holy Faith full and unspeakable Love ready to spend it self and zeal to consume us of a true existence being from the spirit of God who alone truly is but here the spirit of Truth yet the same spirit that planteth grace and faith in our hearts that begets our Faith cilates our Love works our Joy kindles our Zeal and adopts us in Regiam familiam into the Royall Family of the first-born in Heaven but now the spirit of Truth was more proper for to tell men perplext with doubts that were ever and anon and sometimes when they should not asking questions of such a Teacher was a seal to the promise a good assurance they should be well taught that no difficulty should be too hard no knowledge too high no mystery too dark and obscure for them but Omnis veritas all truth should be brought forth and unfolded to them and have the vayle taken from it and be laid open and naked to their understanding Let us then look up upon and worship this spirit of Truth as he thus presents and tenders himself unto us as he stands in opposition to two great enemies to Truth as 1. Dissimulation 2. Flattery and then as he is true in the lessons which he teacheth that we may pray for his Advent long for his coming and so receive him when he comes And first dissemble he doth not he cannot for dissimulation is a kind of cheat or jugling by which we cast a mist before mens eyes that they cannot see us it brings in the Divel in Samuel's mantle and an enemy in the smiles and smoothness of a friend it speakes the language of the Priest at Delphos playes in ambiguities promises life As to King 〈◊〉 who a 〈…〉 slew when death is neerest and bids us beware of a chariot when it means a sword No this spirit is an enemy to this because a spirit of truth and hates these in volucra dissimulationis this folding and involvednesse these clokes and coverts these crafty conveyances of our own desires to their end under the specious shew of intending good to others and they by whom he speaks are like him and speak the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3.12 in the simplicity and godly sincerity of the spirit not in craftinesse not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 handling the Word of God deceitfully 2 Cor. 4.2 Eph. 4.14 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in the slight of men throwing a Die what cast you would have them noting their Doctrine to men and the times that is not to men and the times but to their own ends telling them of Heaven Wisdom 1.5 when their thoughts are in their purse This holy spirit of Truth flies all such deceit and removes himself far from the thoughts which are without understanding and will not acquit a dissembler of his words there is nothing of the Divels method nothing of the Die or hand no windings nor turnings in what he teacheth but verus vera dicit being a spirit of truth he speaks the truth and nothing but he truth and for our behoof and advantage that we may believe it and build upon it and by his discipline raise our selves up to that end for which he is pleased to come and be our teacher And as he cannot dissemble so in the next place flatter us he cannot the inseparable mark and character of the evill spirit qui arridet ut saeviat who smiles upon us that he may rage against us lifts us up that he may cast us down whose exaltations are foiles whose favours are deceits whose smiles and kisses are wounds for flattery is as a glasse for a fool to look upon and so become more fool than before it is the fools eccho by which he hears himself at the rebound and thinks the wiseman spoke unto him and it proceeds from the father of lies not from the spirit of truth who is the same yesterday and to day and for ever who reproves drunkennesse though in a Noah adultery though in a David want of faith though in a Peter and layes our sins in order before us his precepts are plain his law is in thunder his threatnings earnest and vehement he calls Adam from behind the bush strikes Ananias dead for his hypocrisie and for lying to the holy Spirit deprives him of his own Thy excuse to him is a libell thy pretence fouler than thy sin thy false worship of him is blasphemy and thy form of godlinesse open impiety and where he enters the heart Sin which is the greatest errour the grossest lye removes it self heaves and pants to go out knocks at our breast and runs down at our eyes and we hear it speak in sighs and grones unspeakable and what was our delight becomes our torment In a word he is a spirit of truth and neither dissembles to decieve us nor flatters that we may deceive our selves but verus vera dicit being truth it self tells us what we shall find to be most true to keep us from the dangerous by-paths of errour and misprision in which we may lose our selves and be lost for ever And this appears is visible in those lessons and precepts which he gives which are so harmonious so consonant so agreeing with themselves and so consonant and agreeable to that Image after which we were made to fit and beautifie it when it is defaced and repaire it when it is decayed that so it may become in some proportion measure like unto him that made it for this spirit doth not set up one precept against another nor one text against another doth not disanul his promises in his threats nor check his threats with his promises doth not forbid all Feare in confidence nor shake our confidence when he bids us feare doth not set up meeknesse to abate our zeale nor kindles zeale to consume our meeknesse doth not teach Christian liberty to shake off obedience to Government nor prescribes obedience to infringe and weaken our Christian liberty This spirit is a spirit of truth and never different from himself never contradicts himself but is equall in all his wayes the same in that truth which pleaseth thee and that which pincheth thee in that which thou consentest to and that which thou runnâ—st from in that which will rayse thy spirit and that which will wound thy spirit And the reason why men who
eyes and with our hands handle the word of truth In a word we manifest the truth and make it visible in our actions and the Spirit is with us and ready in his office to lead us further even to the inner house and secret closet of truth displayes his beames of light as we press forward and mend our pace every day shining upon us with more brightnesse as we every day strive to increase teaching us not so much by words as by actions and practice by the practice of those vertues which are his lessons and our duties we learn that we may practice and by practice we become as David speaks Psal 119.99 wiser then our teachers to conclude day unto day teacheth knowledge and every act of piety is apt to promote and produce a second to beget more light which may yet lead into more which may at last strengthen establish us in the truth and so lead us from truth to truth to that happy estate which hath no shadow of falshood but like the Spirit of Truth endureth for evermore THE FIRST SERMON JAMES I. Vers ult Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is This to visite the fatherlesse and widdows in their affliction and to keep himselfe unspotted from the World NOthing more talkt of in the world then Religion nothing lesse understood nothing more neglected there being nothing more common with men then to be willing to mistake their way to withdraw themselves from that which is indeed Religion because it stands in opposition to some pleasing errour which they are not willing to shake off and by the help of an unsanctified complying fancy Multi fibi fidem ipsi potiut constitunut quam accipiunt dum quae velunt sapiunt nolunt sapepere quae vera sunt cum sapientiae haecveritas sit ea interdum sapere quae nolis Hilar. 8. de Trin. V. 22. to frame one of their own and call it by that name That which flatters their corrupt hearts That which is moulded and attempered to their bruitish desigus That which smiles upon them in all their purposes which favours them in their unwarrantable undertakings That which bids them Go on and prosper in the wayes which lead unto death That with them is True Religion In this Chapter and indeed in every Chapter of this Epistle our Apostle hath made this discovery to our hands Some there were as he observes that placed it in the ear did hear and not do and rested in that some did place it in a formall devotion did pray but pray amisse and therefore did not receive some that placed it in a shadow and appearance Verse 25. seemed to be very religious but could not bridle their tongue and were safe they thought under this shadow others there were that were partiall to themselves despisers of the poor that had faith and no works in the second Chapter and did boast of this others that had hell fire in their Tongue and carried about with them a world of iniquity which did set the wheel the whole course of Nature on fire in the third Chapter and last of all some he observed warring and fighting killing that they might take the prey and divide the spoil in the fourth Chapter And yet all religious Every one seeking out death in the errour of his life and yet every one seeming to presse forward towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus To these as to men ready to dash upon the rock and shipwrack doth our Apostle cry out as from the shore to turn their compasse and steer their course the right way and seeing them as it were run severall wayes all to meet at last in the common gulph of eternall destruction He calls and calls aloud after them To the superstitious and the prophane To the disputer and the scribe to them that do but hear and to them that do but babble To them that do but professe and to them that do but beleeve the word is Be not deceived This is not it but Haec est This is pure Religion is vox à Tergo as the Prophet speaks Esay 30. a voice behinde them saying This is the way walk in it This is as a light held forth to shew them where they are to walk as a royal Standard set up to bring them to their colours This doth Infinitatem rei ejicere as the Civilians speak Take them from the Devils latitudes and expatiations from frequent and fruitlesse hearing from loud but heartless prayer from their beloved but dead faith from undisciplined and malitious zeal From noise and blood from fighting and warring which could not but defile them and make them fit to receive nothing but the spots of the world from the infinite mazes and by-paths of Errour and brings them into the way where they should be where they may move with joy and safety looking stedfastly towards the End Let us now hear the conclusion of the whole matter whatsoever Divines have taught whatsoever Councels have determined or the schoolmen defined whatsoever God spake in the old times whatsoever he spake in these last dayes That which hath filled so many volumes and brought upon us Fatigationem Carnis that weariness of the flesh Ecclesia 1 2.12 which Solomon complains of in reading that multitude of Books with which the world doth now swarm with That which we study for which we contend for which we fight for as if it were in Democritus his Well or rather as the Apostle speaks in Hell it self quite out of our reach or if there be any truth that is necessary or any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this saying even in this of Saint James Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit c. I way call it the picture of Religion in little in a small compasse and yet presenting all the lines and dimensions the whole signature of Religion fit to be hung up in the Church of Christ and to be lookt upon by all that the people which are and shall be born may truly serve the Lord May it please you therefore a while to cast your eyes upon it and with me to view First The full proportion and severall lineaments of it as it were the essentiall parts which constitute and make it what it is and we may distinguish them as the Jew doth the Law by Do and Do not The first is Affirmative To do Good to visit the fatherlesse and widdows in their affliction The second not to do evil to keep our selves unspotted from the world And then secondly to look upon as it were the colours and beauty of it and to look upon it with delight as it consists First in its purity having no mixture Secondly in its undefilednesse having no pollution And then thirdly the Epigraph or title of it the Ratification or seal which is set to it to make it Authentick
sicuts all other Rules whatsoever and bids us beware of men beware of our selves and try every spirit for it is not sicut vidimus as we see others walke nor sicut visum est as it may seem good in our own eyes for no man more ready to put a cheat upon us then our selves nor sicut visum est spiritui as it may seeme good to every spirit for we are too prone to take every lying spirit even our owne which is but our Humour or Lust for our Holy Ghost what Saint Iohn said of Antichrist may also be said of the spirit we have heard that the spirit shall come and behold now there are many spirits the world is full of them so that there are as many Rules almost as men by which they walk severall wayes but to the same end pressing forward to the delights and glory of this world nothing doubting of their right and title to the next thus joyning together God and the World as Iulian the Apostate did his own statues Naz. Orat. 3. Invect prior and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may be worshipt both together None of these will fit us but sicut accepimus as we have received from Christ and his Apostles which is the onely sufficient Rule to guide us in our walke And first not sicut vidimus as we have seen others walke no though their praise be in the Gospel and they are numbred amongst the Saints of God For as St. Bern. calls the examples of the Saints condimentum vitae the sawce of our life to season and make pleasant what else may proue bitter to us as Iobs Dunghill may be a good sight for me to look upon in my low estate and his patience may uphold me Dauids Groanes and complaints may tune my sorrow Saint Pauls labours and stripes and Imprisonment may giue me an Issue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 10.13 a way a Power to escape the like Temptation by conquering it I may wash off all my Grief with their Teares wipe out all disgrace with their contumelies and bury the feare of Death in their graves so they may prove if we be not wary venenum vitae as poyson to our life and walke For I know not how we are readier to stumble with the Saints then to walke with them Readier to lie downe with David in his bed of lust then in his Couch of teares Readier to deny Crist with Peter upon a pretense of frailty then to weep bitterly out of a deep sense of our sinne In the errors and deviations of my life I am Noah and Abraham and David and Peter I am all the Patriarchs and all the Apostles but in that which made them Saints I have little skill and lesse minde to follow them It will concern us then to have one eye upon the Saint and another upon the rule that the Actions of good men may be as a prosperous Gale to drive us forward in our course and the rule the Compasse to steere by for it will neither help nor comfort me to say I shipwrackt with a Saint My Brethren saith Saint Iames have not the saith of Christ in respect of Persons Iam. 2.1 for it is too common a thing to take our eye from the rule and settle it upon the Person whom we gaze upon till we have lost our sight and can see nothing of man or infirmity in him His virtue and our esteeme shines and casts a colour and brightness upon the Evill which he doth upon whatsoever he saies though it be false or does though it be irregular that it is either lesse visible or if it be seene commends it self by the person that did it and so steales and wins upon us unawares and hath power with us as a Law Could St. Augustine erre There have been too many in the Church who thought he could not and to free him from error have made his errors greater then they were by large additions of their owne and fathered upon him those mishapen Births which were he now alive he would startle at and run from or stand up and use all his strength to destroy Could Calvin or Luther doe or speak any thing that was not right they that follow them and are proud of their Names willing to be distinguish'd from all others by them would be very Angry and hate you perfectly if you should say they could and we cannot but be sensible what strange effects this admiration of their Persons hath wrought upon the Earth what a fire it hath kindled hotter then that of the Tyrants Furnace Dan. 3. for the flames have raged even to our very doores Thus the Examples of good men like two-edged swords cut both wayes both for good and for bad and sinne and error may be conveighed to us not onely in the Cup of the Whore but in the Vessells of the Sanctuary They are as the Plague and infect wheresoever they are but spread more contagion from a Saint then from a man of Belial in the one they are scarce seene in the other they are seen with horror in the one we hate not the sinne so much as the person and in the other we are favourable to the sinne for the persons sake and at last grow familiar with it as with our freind Nihil perniciosius Gestis sanctorum Luther de Abrog priv Miss said Luther himself There is nothing more dangerous then the Actions of the Saints not strengthened by the Testimony of Scripture and it is farre safer to count that a sinne in them which hath not its warrant from Scripture then to fix it up for an ensample for it is not good to follow a Saint into the Ditch Let us take them not whom men for men may Canonize themselves and others as they please but whom God himself as it were with his owne hand hath registred for Saints Sampson was a good man and hath his name in the catalogue of beleevers Numb 25. Phinehas a zealous man who staid the Plague by executing of judgement but I can neither make Sampson an argument to kill my self nor Phinehas to shed the blood of an Adulerer Lib. 2. de Baptismo q 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.24 Saint Basil observes that amongst those many seeming contradictions in Scripture one is of a fact or worke done to the Precept The command is Thou shalt not kill Sampson killed himself Phinehas with his speare nailes the adulterous couple to the earth but every man hath not Sampson's spirit nor Phinehas commission The Fathers rule is the rule of wisdome it self when we read in Scripture a fact commended which falls crosse with the Precept we must leave the Fact and cleave to the Precept for examples are not rules of life but provocations to good works sicut vidimus as we have seene is not a right sicut sicut Elias like as Elias but not to consume men with fire like unto Peter
himself out of the snare of the Devill maternus ei non deest assectus she is still a Mother even to such Children her shops of spirituall comfort lie open there you may buy Wine and Milk Indulgences and Absolution but not without money or money-worth be you as sick as you will and as oft as you will There is Physick there are Cordialls to refresh and restore you I dare not promise so much in the House of Israel in the Church of Christ for I had rather make the Church a Schoole of Virtue then a Sanctuary for Offenders and wanton sinners We dare not give it that strength to carry up our Prayers to the Saints in heaven or to conveigh their Merits to us on Earth wee cannot work and temper it to that heat to draw up the blood of Martyrs or the works of supererogating Christians who have been such profitable servants that they did more in the service of God then they should into a common Treasury and then showre them downe in Pardons and Indulgences but yet though we cannot finde this power the re which is a Power to doe nothing yet we may find strength enough in the Church to keep us from the Moriemini to save us from Death Though I cannot suffer for my Brother yet I may beare for him Gal. 6.2 even portare onus fratris beare my brothers burden Though I cannot merit for him yet I may work for him though I cannot die for him I may pray for him Though there be no good in my Death nor profit in my Dust yet there may be in my memory of my good Counsel my Advice my Example which are verae sanctorum reliquiae Consult Cass c. de Relig. 5. saith Cassander the best and truest reliques of the Saints and though my Death cannot satisfy for him yet it may Catechize him and teach him how to die nay teach him how to overcome Death that he shall not die for ever and by this Communion it is that we work Miracles that in Turning the Covetous turning his bowels in him we recover a dry Hand and a narrow Heart in teaching the Ignorant we give sight to the blind in setling the inconstant wavering mind we cure the palsie for we can well allow of such Miracles as these in the Church but not of Lyes For as there is an Invisible union of the Saints with God so is there of Christians amongst themselves which union though the Eye of flesh cannot behold it yet it must appeare and shine and be resplendent in those duties and offices which doe attend this union which are as so many Hands by which we lift up one another to happiness As the Head infuseth life and vigor into the whole body so must the members also annoynt each other with this Oyle of Gladnesse Each member must be Active and Industrious to expresse that Virtue without which it cannot be one Let no man seek his owne but every man anothers Wealth saith the Apostle not seek his own 1 Cor. 10.24 what more naturall to man or who is neerer to him then he himself but yet he must not seek his owne but as it may bring advantage and promote the Good of others not presse forward to the mark but with his hand stretcht forth to carry on others along with him not goe to Heaven but saving some with feare and pulling others out of the fire Ep. Iud. 23. and gathering up as many as his Wisedome and care and zeal towards God and man can take up with him in the way And this is necessary even in humane Societies and those Politick Bodies which men build up to themselves for their Peace and security Turpis est pars quae toti suo non Convenit that is a most unnecessary superfluous part or Member for which the whole is not the better ut in sermone literae saith Austin as letters in a word or Sentence so men are Elementa Civitatis the principles and parts which make up the Syntaxis of a Republique and he that endeavours not the advancement of the whole is a Letter too much fitt to be expung'd and blotted out but in the Church whose maker and Builder is God it is required in the highest degree especially in those transactions which may enlarge the Circuit and glory of it here every man must be his own and under Christ his Brothers Saviour for as between these two Cities so between the happinesse of the one and the happinesse of the other there is no Comparison As therefore every Bishop in the former Ages called himself Episcopum Catholicae Ecclesiae a Bishop of the Catholick Church although he had Jurisdiction but over one Diocesse so the care and Piety of every particular Christian in respect of its diffusive Operation is as Catholick as the Church every soul he meets with is under his charge and he is the care of every soul in saving a soul from Death every man is a Priest and a Bishop although he may neither invade the Pulpit or ascend the Chaire I may be eyes unto him Numb 10.31 as it was said of Hobab I may take him from his Error and put him into the way of truth if he feare I may scatter it If he grieve I may wipe off his Teares If he presume I may teach him to feare and if he despaire I may lift him up to a lively Hope that neither feare nor grief neither Presumption nor despaire swallow him up thus may I raise a dead man from the grave a sinner from his sinne and by that example many may rise with him who are as dead as he and so by his friendly communication transfuse our selves into others and receive others into our selves and so runne hand in hand from the Chambers of Death And thus farr we dare extend the Communion of Saints place it in a House a Family a society of men called and gathered together by Christ raise it to the participation of the Priviledges and Charters granted by Christ calling us to the same faith leading us by the same rule filling us with the same Grace endowing us with severall Gifts that we may guard and secure each other and so settle it in thoe Offices and Duties which Christianity makes common and God hath registred in his Church which is the Pillar of Truth where all mens Joyes and Sorrows and Feares and Hopes should be one and the same And then to die surrounded with all these Helpes and Advantages of God above ready to Help us of men like unto our selves prest out as auxiliaries to succour and relieve us of Precepts to guide us of Promises to encourage us of Heaven even opening it self to recerve us then to die is to die as fools die to suffer their hands to be bound and their feet put in fetters and to open their Breast to the sword for to die alone is not so grievous not so imputable as to die in such Company
withdraw his grace that we might fall from him and perish And therefore Hilarie passeth this heavy censure upon it impiae est voluntatis it is the signe of a wicked Heart and one quite destitute of those graces and riches which are the proper Inheritance of beleeving Christians to pretend they therefore want them because they were not given them of God A dangerous errour it is and we have reason to fear hath sunk many a soul to that supine carelessnes to that deadnesse from whence they could never rise again for this is one of the wiles of our enemy not onely to make use of the flying and fading vanities of this world but of the best Graces of God to file and hath hammer them and make them snares and hath wrought temptations out of that which should strengthen us against them Faith is suborn'd to keep out Charity the spirit of truth is named to lead us into errour and the power of Gods Grace hath lost its authority and Energie in our unsavorie and fruitlesse Panegyricks we hear the sound and name of it we blesse and applaud it but the power of it is lost not visible in any motion in any Action in any progresse we make in those wayes in which along grace will assist us floats on the Tongue but never moves either heart or hand For do we not lie still in our graves expecting till this Trump will sound do we not cripple our selves in hope of a miracle Non est honae solidae fidei omnia ad volumatem Dei referre ut non intelligamus aliquid esse in Nobis ipsis Tertul. Exhort ad Castitatem do we not settle upon our lees and say God can draw us out wallow in our blood because he can wash us as white as snow do we not love our sickness because we have so skilful a Physitian and since God can do what he will doe what we please This is a great evil under the Sun and one principal cause of all that evil that is upon the earth and makes us stand still and look on and delight in it and leave it to God alone and his power to remove it as if it concern'd us not at all and it were too daring an attempt for us mortals the sons of Adam to purge and clense that Augaean stable which we our selves have filled with dung as if Gods wisdom and Justice did not move at all and his mercy and power were alone busie in the work of our salvation busie to save the adulterer for though he be the member of an Harlot yet when God will he shall be made a member of Christ to save the seditious For though he now breath nothing but Hail-stones and coals of fire yet a time will come where he shall be made peaceable whether he will or no to save them who resolve to go on in their sin for he can check them when he please and bring them back to Obedience and holinesse in a word to save them whose Damnation sleepeth not I may say with the Father utinam mentirer would to God in this I were a lier but we have too much probability to induce us to beleeve it as a truth that they who are so ready to publish the free and irresistible power of Gods Grace and call it his Honour dishonour him more by the Neglect of their duty which is quite lost and forgot in an unseasonable acknowledgement of what God can and a lazy expectation of what he will work in them and so make God Omnipotent to do what his Wisdom sorbids and themselves weak and impotent to do what by the same wisdom he commands and then when they commune with their heart and finde not there those longings and pantings after piety that true desire and endeavour to mortifie their earthly members which God requires when in this Dialogue between one and himself their hearts cannot tell them they have watched one houre with Christ flatter and comfort themselves that this emptinesse and nakednesse shall never be imputed to them by God who if he had pleased might have wrought all in them in a moment by that force which flesh and blood could never withstand And thus they sin and pray and pray and sin and their impiety and devotion like the Sun and the Moon have their interchangeable courses it is now night with them and anon 't is day and then night again and it is not easie to discern which is their day or which is their night for there is darknesse over them both They hear and commend vertue and piety and since they cannot but think that vertue is more then a breath and that it is not enough to commend it they pray and are frequent in it pray continually but do nothing pray but do not watch pray but not strive against a temptation but leave that to a mightier hand to do for them and without them whilst they pray and sin call upon God for help when they fight against him as if it were Gods will to have it so for if he would have had it otherwise he would have heard their prayers and wrought it in them and therefore will be content with his Talent though hid in a napkin which if he had pleased might have been made ten and with his seed again which if he had spoke the word had brought forth fruit a hundred fold Hence it comes to passe that though they be very evil yet they are very secure this being the triumph over their Faith not to conquer the world but to leave that work for the Lord of Hosts Himself and in all humility to stay till he do it for they can do nothing of themselves and they have done what they can which is nothing and now they are heartlesse feeble and if I may so speak this do-nothing devotion which may be as hot on the tongue of a Pharisee and tied to his Phylactery must be made a signe of their election before all times who in time do those things of which we have been told often that they that do them shall not inherit the kingdome of Heaven I do not derogate from the power of Gods grace they that do are not worthy to feel it but shall feel that power which shall crush them to pieces they rather derogate from its power who bring it in to raise that obedience which comming with that tempest and violence it must needs destroy and take away quite for what obedience is there where nothing is done where he that is under command doth nothing vis ergo ista non gratia saith Arnobius this were not grace or royal favour but a strange kinde of emulation to gain the upper hand We cannot magnifie the Grace of God enough which doth even expect and wait upon us John 1. ep 2 c. 27. v. wooe and serve us it is that unction that precious ointment Saint Iohn speaks of but we must not poure it forth upon the
heard of the name of Christ nay but with those who call upon it every day and call themselves the knowing men the Gnosticks of this age and whilst men love darknesse more then light with some men there will scarce be any sins upon that account as sins till the day of Judgement Next bring not in thy conscience to plead for that sin which did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beat and wound thy conscience for the offie of thy conscience is before the fact to inform thee and after the fact if it be evil to accuse thee and what comfort can there be in this thought that thou didst not sollow her information that she called it a sin and thou didst it that she pointed out to it as to a rock and thou wouldest needs chuse it for thy Heaven no commonly this is the plea of those whose hearts are hard and yet will tell you they have a tender conscience and so they have Tender in respect of a ceremony or thing indifferent here they are struck in a manner dead quite besides themselves as if it were a Basilisk here they are true and constant to their conscience which may erre but not tender in respect of an eternal Law where it cannot mistake here they too often leave their conscience and then excuse themselves that they did so in the one they are as bold as a Lion in the other they call it the frailty of a Saint this they do with regret and some reluctancy that is by interpretation against their will Last of all do not think thy action is not evil because thy intention was good for it is as easie to fix a good intention upon an evil action as 't is to set a fair and promising title on a box of poison hay and stubble may be laid upon a good foundation but it will neither head well or bed well as they say in the work of the Lord we must look as well to what we build as the Basis we raise and set it on or else it will not stand and abide we see what a fire good intentions have kindled on the earth and we are told that many of them burn in Hell I may intend to beat down Idolatry and bury Religion in the ruins of that which I beat down I may intend the establishing of a Conmmon-wealth and shake the foundation of it I may intend the Reformation of a Church and fill it with Locusts and Caterpillars innumerable I may intend the Glory of God and do that for which his Name shall be evil spoken of and it will prove but a poor plea when we blasphemed him to say we did it for his Glory Let us then lay aside these Apologies for they are not Apologies but Accusations and detain us longer in our evil wayes then the false beauty and deceitful promises of a temptation could which we should not yeeld to so often did not these betray us nor be fools so long if we had not something to say for our selves And since we cannot answer the expostulation with these since these will be no plea in the Court of heaven before the tribunal of Christ let us change our plea and let us answer the last part of the Text with the first the moriemini with the convertimini answer him that we will Turn and then he will never ask any more Why will ye die but change his Language and assure us we shall not die at all And our answer is penn'd to our hands by the Prophet Jerem. Ecce accedimus Behold we come we turn unto thee for in our God is the Salvation of Israel and our Saviour hath registred his in his Gospel and left it as an invitation to turn Come unto me all ye that be weary of your evil wayes and are heavie laden feel the burden you did sweat under whilest you were in them and I will ease you that is I will deliver you from this body of sin fill you with my Grace enlighten your understandings sprinckle your Hearts from an evil Conscience direct your eye level your intentions lead you in the wayes of life and so fit and prepare you for my kingdom in Heaven To which he bring us c. THE THIRTEENTH SERMON GAL. 4.39 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit even so is it now IN which words the Apostle doth present to our eye the true face of the Church in an Allegory of Sarah and Hagar of Ismacl and Isaac of mount Sinat and mount Sion which things are an Allegory verse 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it speaks one thing and means another and carries wrapt up â—n it a more excellent sense then the words at first hearing do promise Take the full scheme and delineation in brief 1. Here is Sarah and Hagar that is Servitude and Freedom 2. Here are two Cities Jerusalem that now is the Synagogue of the Jews and that Jerusalem which is above the vision of peace and mother of all the faithful for by the New Covenant we are made children unto God 3. Here is the Law promulged and thundered out on mount Sinai and the Gospel the Covenant of Grace which God published not from the mount but from Heaven it self by the voice of his Son In all you see a faire correspondence and agreement between the Type and the thing but so that Jerusalem our mother is still the Highest the Gospel glorious with the liberty it brought and the Law putting on a yoke breathing nothing but servitude and fear Isaac an heire and Ismael thrust out the Christian more honorable then the Jew The curtain is now drawn and we may enter in even within the vail and take that sense which the Apostle himself hath drawn out so plainly to us And indeed it is a good and pleasing sight to see our priviledge and priority in any figure to finde out our inheritance in such an Heire our liberty and freedom though in a woman who would not lay claim to so much peace and so much liberty who would not challenge kindred of Isaac and a Burgesseship in Jerusalem 't is true every Christian may But that we mistake not and think all is peace and liberty that we boast not against the branches that are cut off he brings in a corrective to check and keep down all swelling and lifting up our selves the adversative particle sed but But as then so now we are indeed of Sarah the free-woman we are children of the promise we are from Jerusalem which is from above sed but if we will inherit with Isaac we must be persecuted with Isaac if we will be of the Covenant of grace we must take up the Crosse if we look for a City whose maker and founder is God we must walk to it in our blood in other things we rise above the Type but here we fall and our condition is the same But as then he that was born after
That every thought may be a melting thought every word as oyle and every work a blessing Then we love mercy when we fling off all other respects and whatsoever may either shrink up or straiten our bowells or seale up our lips or wither our hands when we look upon the world but as our stage where we must act our parts and display the glories of mercy where we must waste our selves drop our teares run in to succour those who are roughly handled in it and thus tread it under our feet and then take our Exit and go out When we can forget our honour and remember the poore forsake all rather then our brethren and desire not to be rich but in good works when we have so incorporated out brethren into our selves that we stand and fall are happy and miserable together when we consider them as ingrafted into the same Christ and in him to be preferred before the whole world and to be lookt upon as those for whom we must dye Then we love mercy then we are mercifull as our heavenly Father is mercifull Thus if we be qualified we shall become the Temples and habitations of Mercy and as our bodies shall after their resurrection so our soules shall here have novas dotes shall be endowed with activity cheerfulnesse and purity And first our mercy will be in a manner Naturall unto us secondly it will be Constant thirdly it will be Sincere fourthly it will be Delightfull to us It will be Naturall not forced it will be Constant not flitting It will be Sincere not feigned and it will be Delightfull that we shall long to bring it into act And first we then love it when it is in a manner made naturall to us for we never fully see the beauty of it till we are made New Creatures and have new eyes then as the new creature cannot sin as Saint John speaks that is can doe nothing that is contrary and destructive to that forme which constitutes a new creature no more can a mercifull man doe any thing which will not savour of mercy and doth as naturally exercise himselfe in it as the Sunne doth send forth its beames or the Heavens their influence For the Spirit of God hath made his Heart a Fountain of Mercy as he made the Sun a Fountain of Light and if he break not forth into action it is from defect of means or occasion or some crosse accident which comes over him which doe but cloud and eclipse his mercy as the interposition of a grosse body doth the Sun but not put out its light at the very sight of Misery Mercy is awake up and either doing of suffering Who is weak 2 Cor. 11.29 and I am not weak saith Saint Paul who is offended and I burne not If I but see him weak I faint and if I see him vexed I am on fire Nature is active and will work to its end heavy bodies will descend and light bodies will mount upwards and Mercy will give and lend and forgive it cannot be idle Inquies opere suo pascitur Livi. pres it is restlesse and is made more restlesse by its work which is indeed its pleasure It is then most truly Mercy when it shews it self If occasion presents it selfe it soon layes hold of it If the object appeare it is carryed to it with the speed of a Thought and reacheth it as soone If there be no object it creates one if there be no occasion it studyes one Is there yet any left of the house of Saul that I may shew kindnesse to for Jonathans sake And Is there no Lazar to feed no Widow to visit no Wounds to bind up no weak brother to be restored none that be in darknesse and error to be brought into the light These are the Quaeres the true dialect this is the Ambition of Mercy It longs more for an occasion to vent it self then the Adulterer doth for the twilight layes hold of the least as of a great one thinks nothing too high nothing too low which it can reach is still in motion because it moves not like those Artificiall bodies by art or outward force but by a principle of life the spirit of love and so moves not as a clock which will stand still when the plummet is on the ground but its motion is Naturall as that of the spheres which are wheel'd about without cessation and return by those points by which they past and indeed may be said rather to rest then to move because they move continually and in the same place Misery is the point the object of mercy and at that it toucheth everlastingly mercy and misery still go together and eye each other the eye of misery looks up upon mercy and the eye of mercy looks down upon misery they are the two cherubins that have ever their faces one towards another and they are both full and ready to drop and run down the eye of misery is ever open and mercy hideth not her eye Prov. 28.27 By this you may judge of your acts of liberality and look upon them as those sacrifices with which God is pleased when you find something within you that enlargeth you that opens your mouth and hand that you cannot but speak and do when you find a heat within you that thaws and melts you that you poure out your selves on your brethren then your works of mercy are of a sweet smelling savour when love sets them on fire For secondly being made Naturall unto us it will be also constant it will be fixt in the firmament of the soul and shine and derive its influence uncessantly and equally doing good unto all men while it hath time that is at all times When the heart dissents from it self for love onely unites and makes it one when it is divisum cor a divided heart divided between God and the world when it hath inconstant motions and changeable counsells when it joynes with the object and leaps from the object willing to day and lothing to morrow this day cleaving to it and even sick for love as Ammon was with Tamar and the next thrusting it out of doores chusing without judgement and then altering upon experience In such a heart mercy cannot dwell and from hence it is that we see men every day so unlike themselves now giving anon oppressing now reaching out an Almes and by and by threatning with the sword now giving their brother the right hand of fellowship and within a while with that hand plucking him by the throat now pittying him that lyes in the dust and anon crying out So So Thus we would have it For indeed their pity and their rage their mercy and their cruelty have the same originall are raised upon the same ground the love of themselves and not of mercy and thus they do some acts of mercy magno impetu sed semel with much earnestnesse and zeale but not often like some birds whose
within him In a word to love Mercy is to be in Heaven every man according as he purposeth in his heart let him give not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerfull giver such a mercy is Gods Almoner here on earth and he loves and blesseth it follows it with his providence and his infinite Mercy shall crown it That gift which the Love of Mercy offereth up is onely fit to be laid up in the Treasury of the Almighty And now I have set before you Mercy in its full beauty in all its glory Conclusion you have seen her spreading her raies I might shew you her building of Hospitalls visiting the sick giving eyes to the blind raising of Temples pittying the stones breathing forth Oracles making the ignorant wise the sorrowfull merry leading the wandring man into his way I might have shewed you her sealing of Pardons but we could not shew you all these are the miracles of Mercy and they are wrought by the power of Christ in us and by us but by his power the fairest spectacle in the world Let us then look upon it and love it what is mercy when you need it is it not as the opening of the heavens unto you and shall it then bea punishment and hell unto you when your afflicted brethren call for it Is it so glorious abroad and shall it be of so foul an aspect as not to be thought worthy of entertainment at home shall it be a Jewel in every Cabinet but your own hearts Behold and lift up your eyes and you shall see objects enough for your Mercy to shine on If ever one depth called upon another the depth of calamity for the depth of our compassion if ever our bowells should move and sound now now is the time I remember that Chrysologus observes that God did on purpose lay Lazarus at the rich mans Gate quasi pietatis conflatorium as a forge to melt his stony heart Lazarus had as many mouthes to speak and move him to compassion as he had ulcers and wounds and how many such forges hath God set before us how many mouthes to beseech us how many wounds wide open which speak loud for our pity how many fires to melt us shall I shew you an ulcerous Lazar They are obvious to our eye we shall have them alwaies with us saith our Saviour and we have them almost in every place Shall I shew you men Stript and wounded and left half dead that may be seen in our lives as well as in the high waies between Jericho and Jerusalem Shall I shew you the teares drilling down the cheeks of the orphans and widdows shall I call you to heare the cry of the hire kept back by fraud or violence for that cryes to you for compassion as oppression doth to God for vengeance and it is a kind of oppression to deny it them Have you no compassion all ye that passe by and every day behold such sad spectacles as these shall I shew you Christ put again to open shame whipt and scorned and crucified and that which cannot be done to him in his person laid upon his Church shall I shew you him now upon the crosse and have you no regard all you that passe by shall I shew you the Church miserably torn in pieces shall I shew you Religion I would I could shew you such a sight for scarce so much as her forme is left what can I shew or what can move us when neither our own misery nor the common misery nor sinne nor death nor hell it self will move us If we were either good Men or good Citizens or good Christians our hearts would melt and gush forth at our eyes in Rivers of water If we were truly affected with peace we should be troubled at war If we did love the City we should mourn over it if we did delight in the prosperity of Israel her affliction would wound us if Religion were our care her decay would be our sorrow for that which we love and delight in must needs leave a mournfull heart behind it when it withdraws it self But private interest makes us regardlesse of the common and we do not pity Religion because we do not pitty our own soules but drink deep of the pleasures of this world enlarge our Territories fill our barnes make haste to be rich when our soul is ready to be taken from us and nothing but a rotten mouldring wall a body of flesh which will soon fall to the ground between us and hell I may well take off your eye from these sad and wofull spectacles it had been enough but to have shewn you Mercy for she is a cloud of witnesses a cloud of Arguments for her self and if we would but look upon her as we should there need no other Orator I beseech you look into your Lease look into your Covenant that Conveyance by which blisse and immortality are made over to you and you shall find that you hold all by this you hold it from the King of Kings and your quit-rent your acknowledgement for his great Mercy is your Mercy to others pay it down or you have made a forfeiture of all if you be Mercilesse all that labour as 't is called of charity is lost your loud profession your forced gravity your burning zeal your faith also is vain and you are yet in your sinnes For what are all these without Mercy but words and names and there is no name by which we can be saved but the name of Jesus Christ and all these Devotion Confession Abstinence Zeal Severity of life are as it were the letters of his name and I am sure Mercy is one and of a faire character and if we expunge and blot it out it is not his name Why boast we of our zeal without mercy it is a consuming fire 'T is true he that is not zealous doth not love but if my love be counterfeit what a false fire is my zeal and one mark of true zeal is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. or 14. if it be kept within its bounds and mercy is the best watch we can set over it to confine and keep it in The Church of Christ is not placed under the Torrid Zone that these cooler and more temperate vertues may not dwell there if you will have your zeal burn kindly Ignis zeli ardere debet oleo misericordiae Aquâ—… de Eruditione princip l. 1. c. 15 16. it must not be set on fire by any earthy matter but from Heaven where is the Mercy-seat and which is the seat of Mercy if you will be burning lamps you must poure in oleum misericordiae the oyl of mercy as Bernard speaks if this oyl faile you will rather be Beacons then Lamps to put all round about you in Arms as we have seen in Germany and other places Men and Brethren I may speak to you of the Patriarch David who is dead and buried and though we
in their dialect and language Accolae sumus peregrini we are strangers and Pilgrimes on the earth And so we passe from the person I King David and come to take a neerer view of his condition and quality I am a stranger on the earth We passe now from the King to the stranger and Pilgrime and yet we cannot passe from the one to the other for they are ever together for there is so neer a conjunction between them that though the one appeare in glory the other in dishonour the one sits on a Throne the other lyes in the dust yet they can never be put asunder nor separated the one from the other for he that is a King is but a Pilgrime and he that is a stranger was born and designed unto a Kingdome and a greater Kingdome then Davids was Thou hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reigne upon the earth This is the song of Pilgrimes and they sing it to the Lamb in the fifth of the Revelation v. 10. The Kingdome of heaven is taken by violence and the violent take it by force Mat. 11.12 And these violent men are such as are Pilgrims and strangers to that place they travell endure many a storm many a fall and bruise in their way so that the immediate way to be a King is first to be a stranger in the earth Now that Man is naturally a stranger on the earth we have the Word of God written and the Word of God within us we have both the holy Scripture and right Reason to instruct us both these are as the voice of God and by these he speaks unto us and calls us by our name when he calls us strangers And first in the Old Testament the life of Man is every where almost term'd a pilgrimage so Jacob in the 47. of Genesis when Pharaoh asked him How long he hath lived in his answer doth as it were correct his language The dayes saith he not of my life but of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years So that in the language of Jacob Life and Pilgrimage are all one The same is the language of the New Testament Whilst we are in the flesh Peregrinamur à Domino saith Saint Paul 2 Cor. 5.6 we are absent we are travellers we are wanderers from God but we are returning to him on our way pressing forward to our home And though we make haste out of the world yet as S. Bernard observes some savour some taste something that is from the earth earthy we shall carry about with us till we come to our journeys end Not onely they are strangers who with the Prodigall take their journey into a far countrey and cleave to every vanity there but they who are shaking them off every day yet look more then they should and like more then they should and are not yet made perfect Not onely they are strangers from God who are Aliens from the house of Israel but they who with the Patriarchs in the 11. to the Heb. confesse themselves strangers in the land which is allotted them and look for a City whose Foundation and Builder is God It is the observation of S. Hierome in his Epistle to Dardanus That the Saints in Scripture were no where called Inhabitatores terrae the inhabitants of the earth There is a woe saith he denounced against sinners in the eighth of the Revelation and under that name vae habitatoribus terrae woe to the Inhabitants of the earth And Saint Austin almost speaks the same where he puts this difference and distinction between them that the righteous can onely be said esse in Tabernaculo carnis to be in this tabernacle of the flesh to be there as the Angels are said by the schoolmen to be in uno loco quòd non sint in alio to be in one place because they are not in another but to be circumscribed no where and they are onely said to be on the earth because they are not yet in heaven but neverthelesse have their conversation there but the wicked do habitare in Tabernaculo carnis do dwell on earth and have their residence in it and may passe into a worse but never into a better place and these though they will not be strangers to it yet are strangers on the earth and passe away from that to which their soul was knit on which they fixed their hope and glutted their desires and raised their joy which was their heaven they passe away and fall from it and shall see it no more This then is the voice and language of Scripture and in the second place this even common reason may teach us which is the voice of God and is our God upon earth and should be in his stead and place to command and regulate us here and if we were not first lost in our selves if we were not strangers to our selves we should not seek for a place of rest in that world whose fashion every day changeth and which must at last with its work be burnt with fire For do we not see by this common light that the mind of man is a thing of infinite capacity and utterly insatiable and here on earth never receives full content content is that which all men have desired but never yet any did attain but still as one desire is satisfied another riseth and when we have all that we desired we will have more now we would have but this and when we have it it is nothing for our measures are enlarged by being filled Are you learned enough nay but there be yet more conclusions to be tried Are you ever wise enough If but once you be deceived you will complain that a thousand things which might have been observed have past your sight But are you ever rich enough The fool in the Gospel was not till his soul was fetched away nor Dives till he was in hell Nay are you not most miserably poor when you are most abundantly rich do you not want most when you have most or was ever your heart so much set on riches as when they did increase or hath the Ambitious any highest place any verticall point one world was not enough for Alexander and had there been as many as those Atomes of which Democritus made it up he would have wished after more Our appetite comes by eating and our desires are made keen and earnest by enjoying majora cupere ex his discimus the obtaining of something doth but prompt us to desire more And now to draw this to our present purpose If the things of this world be not able to satisfie us if never man yet found full content if nothing on earth can allay this infinite hunger of the soul which certainly was not imprinted in us in vain If we cannot find it here though we should double and treble Methusalems age If we cannot find it in the world though we should live to the end of it we cannot