the punies against the common sort as Abner said to Ahazel that followed him as a nimble Roe and thought to have wearied him and then to have surprized him Abner bids him follow the young men and not the Captaine himselfe which he would not heare and therefore Abner thrust his speare into him So if men would be content to spend their wits to spend their time and their arguments against the common adversaries against the heretiques against the Pelagians against the Marcionites and those that have been outed from the Church in former times the common adversaries of the faith this were a sweet and gracious kind of combat and that the Church might take great comfort in but when men will set themselves one against another as the fashion is growne now too grosse when one Protestant Preacher is set to dispute that which another teacheth to pull down that which another buildeth this of all other is most dangerous and a fore-runner of a great and fearfull calamity that must befall the whole house But this will never be otherwise although the reverend Prelates of the land have gone about by all meanes to stop the course yet it will not be but still there will be a heart burning and breaking out and some men will be catching and wresting other mens works and writings that a man shall be driven to an extacie and almost to desperation in knowing the truth There are many adversaries And never more than there are now when the world is growne to take a pride in being adversaries and think themselves base and idle except they can contradict the common rules of religion He that preacheth no other thing than was taught by the Fathers he is accounted a silly fellow he that goes the ordinary tract and high way and hath not some fetches and revolts of his owne that hath not a maze of his owne devising a labyrinth of his owne invention he is no singular man If he can contradict Calvin and Beza and the Fathers of the Church and his fellow Preachers he is a rare fellow now adaies These are the most terrible adversaries of all and there are none so dangerous as these and these at the last they will make the Word but a mockerie and all religion uncertaine that no man can ground upon it but as the ball of fortune that reeles and turnes every where Therefore wee ought to be wise concerning these kinds of mountebanks to understand where they be to search them that wee be not deceived by them for assuredly if any thing take away the light of the Gospel and remove the lanterne it will bee this The itching eares and uncessant desires that men have to broach novelties to bring new things into the Church of God these be adversaries as well as the Iewes that would suffer no new thing to come in The Iewes thought that their religion was the old religion and that Christs religion was new and therfore they would not keepe it they would not suffer it to come in howbeit there is not any thing in it that is a novelty for from the beginning of the world there hath beene the same faith The same faith that St. Paul preached in the same faith Adam died Abel died in the same faith and Noah and Abraham Isaac and Iacob and all the Patriarchs in former time they died in the same profession of Christ in the same maner as the Apostle preached but because they thought it was a new thing they thought it was new come up therefore they opposed it as a novelty as a new and quaint device obscuring thereby the glorious antiquity of the Gospel by which it is more strong then by any argument in the world for it is the prime truth Prima veritas and therefore it shall stand for ever as it hath beene ever since the beginning of the world Last part The last thing to bee considered in the words is this that hee saith There be many adversaries Not enemies but adversaries hee doth not call them by the name of enemies directly such enemies as were to bee despaired of but onely adversaries such as may be won in time such as may come in this is a thing to bee observed we see it in Paul in another place in 2 Thess 3.15 2 Thess 3.15 when hee speakes of them that were to be excommunicated because they had given themselves over to all uncleane and vile examples saith hee Doe not keep company with such a one how be it doe not hate him doe not repute him as an enemy but instruct him as a brother Whence the Apostle makes this wonderfull mitigation belonging to the sweetnesse of Gods Spirit still in reproving mens faults to have a love still to their persons although wee detest their sinnes though wee are not to grace them with our company being persons excommunicate yet wee are to instruct them to doe the best we can to save their soules to win them as being brethren That place doth illustrate and set forth this For the Apostle calls these adversaries hee saith the adversaries are strong and many that are set against me they come as a mighty Army of men they come as the Philistins against Samson yet hee doth acknowledge them to be such as were not directly enemies no desperate men but such as the word may conquer they may bee brought in and become of adversaries friends and turne their hands and give a supply to the Gospel of Christ Therefore he gives them a gentle Terme and hath a favourable conceit of them hee saith they be adversaries for the present it may bee hereafter they will become friends and compliers to the Gospel Vse Not to judge peremptorily of adversaries This moderation of the Spirit should keepe us within our compasse wee should not judge peremptorily of any that seeme adversaries to the faith till wee have sought by all meanes to reclaime them for there is no enemy but hee that is an enemy finally It is the common course that God takes to make friends of enemies for there is no man that can come to be Gods friend but hee is a reconciled friend he comes by way of reconciliation for hee was first an enemy every man is borne the enemy of God and his owne enemy and it is the grace of God that brings us into friendship it is the grace of God that brings men to comportment that they lay aside their enmity and take unto them bowels of amity and concord that God should enlighten them to doe this Therefore we doe not pray as the Popish Church doth they pray against Protestants and against Turks and against all that are not of their religion and with bell booke and candle they excommunicate them and send them downe to hell to the Devill this is not the course that God hath sanctified it is not the course that the Apostle takes but they must bee accounted men reclaimable there is no man that
is so opposite but God can reclaime him This appeares by many examples in the Scripture Saul was a ravening Wolfe against the flocke of Christ hee came afterward to be a gracious Pastor and feeder of the flock of Christ Manasses caused the streets of Ierusalem to runne with blood afterward he came in and was a true convert to God These things are commonly knowne unto us for if sinners had beene desperate wee had never beene saved being all sinners We know by experience of our selves that there is no man desperate because the grace of God hath abounded to us wee know that the hand of God is not shortned but the same grace that enlightned us it will enlighten them in due time if it please him to call them Therefore in the middest of all hostile opinion we should still maintaine peace and a good hope of those that are our very adversaries God may call them and make them better if they be enemies now God may make them friends if he see good for the Lord can turn the hearts of men The hearts of men are in the hand of the Lord he turnes them as it pleaseth him Though they be professed enemies of religion the Lord can turne them there is no man so wild but the Lord can put a snaffle in his nose and a hooke in his jawes and bring him back againe there is no heart so stubborn but the Lord is able to make it yeeld he can bring water out of the flint stone and can make the wildernesse a standing well There is nothing impossible to the Lord the mighty Cedars of Lebanon are at his command although they stand so proudly as though they would stand there in despight of their Creator yet the Lord can dismount them and bring them low as the bramble of the field The mighty hand of the Lord works all things according to his power and according to his blessed will We must not therefore think peremptorily of any man we must indeed think him for the present to be wicked and ungodly and a vagabond as long as he is thus but still reserve our thoughts with a condition of changeing and hope for it for the Lord is able to change even the wild branches that are planted into the naturall olive tree that as they came in beyond all hope so the branches that are lopped off that a man would think could never receive juice or nourishment againe the arme of the Lord is able to plant them Iewes shall be called The Jewes that are the enemies of Christ they shall be replanted againe and set in their native stock and bring forth fruit in such abundance and glory as no nation under heaven shall be compared with the Iewes The summe of all is this A Christian must know that he hath to buckle in the world with adversaries he must not dreame of peace he must not promise quietnesse to himselfe but where he doth best there he must looke for most opposition hee must looke for the devill in the middest of his auditory in the middest of the Church where prayer and preaching is Where Iehoiada the High-priest stands at the Altar there sathan stands at his right hand and though the Angel say The Lord rebuke thee the Lord rebuke thee yet he will not leave his station for all that Therefore a man must take up his resolution and say This I will doe though all the powers of hell resist it or else he layes his hand to the plough and looks back and makes himselfe unworthy of the Gospell Simile It is the nature of Camomile the more men tread upon it the more and the better it growes so the Word and the Gospell of Christ it grows the better where there are more adversaries it grows never so well as when it is imbrued in bloud The bloud of the Martyrs being the seed of the Church The Saints of God are never so high in spirit nor never so well affected to salvation and to heaven as when they are most incumbred with stumbling blocks in the world happy is he that can leap over them or else passe by them for none shall be so happy as not to meet with them It was the condition of Christ and the Prophets before us and it shall be the condition of all after us Therefore we must desire God to sanctifie our adversities and that which shall oppose us for we are sure to have them onely let us desire God to turne them to good as all things work to the best to those that love and fear the Lord which the Lord grant unto us for Iesus Christ his sake To whom c. FINIS
I must labour to bring them in and call them home if they be bruitish already I must seeke to make them men to reduce them backe againe But especially I speake according to the custome of men for your sakes for your weakenesse for your better understanding that you may know the greatnesse of my trouble which I sustained at Ephesus I speake after the manner of men as they use to call wicked men beasts so give me leave also to call these who have made themselves so by their malice and persecution 2 Where the place was Concerning the place it was at Ephesus and when this persecution was there is great dissention among Writers some thinke it to be that persecution that Saint Luke mentions Acts 19.24 Acts 19. Paul being at Ephesus and preaching against Idolatry there riseth up Demetrius the silver Smith and all the trade comes with him he being as it were the Master of his Company he brings his livery after him a whole army of divellish beasts were raised against Paul Demetrius being the principall man that led all the heard after him and so the whole forrest was in a tumult and uproare Tertul. Beza So Tertullian and Beza after him with divers other of the Fathers But certainly this cannot be so for we reade that Saint Luke sets it downe directly that Saint Paul as soone as he had received that affront at Corinth that great danger when Sosthenes was beaten and that Gallio cared for none of these things Acts 18.17 he after a while quitted the Citie and went from Ephesus to Macedonia Acts 18.18.19 and it is certaine when Saint Paul wrote this he was at Ephesus and saith he will stay there till Pentecost 1 Cor. 16.8 as he saith Cap. 16.8 Therefore it cannot be that hee speakes of that sedition that Demetrius raysed against him that being the last period of his stay at Ephesus he went thence presently upon it he knew that Christ gave him a commission when they persecuted and beate him away Math. 10.14 to shake the dust off his feete against them Therefore this cannot be admitted Another Company expound it thus that it was the trouble that happened to him from the sonnes of Sceva Acts 19.16 Acts 19.16 And the sonnes of Sceva cast out divels in the name of Iesus whom Paul preached There were seven sonnes of Sceva and they tooke upon them to cast out divels and the manner of their conjuration was this We adiure you by IESVS Acts 19.13 whom Paul preacheth to come forth Verse 14. Now the divell replyed Iesus I know and Paul I know but who are ye and so he ranne upon them and prevailed against them and tare and rent them Hereupon some thinke the sons of Sceva raised persecution against him of envy because they suffered that great hurt by the divell But this is more uncertaine then the former It cannot be thus for we know that the sonnes of Sceva invocated the name of Christ and nominated Christ whom Paul preacheth wherein they shewed themselves rather friends and allies to Paul then enemies and so we have a direct rule and Canon of Christ Math. 10. Matth. 10. his Disciples tell him We saw one casting out divels in thy name and we forbade him saith Christ to them Forbid him not for he that is with mee is not against me Where Christ gave them to understand that as long as any man although hee were not of their company and Colledge yet as long as he profest the name of Christ and did their miracles in his name they were with him and not against him and though the sonnes of Sceva miscarried in their desire of lucre and that they did not their miracles for the good of the Church yet they pretended friendship to Saint Paul rather then any adverse disposition Therefore I say this cannot be But we must understand it of the totall troubles that hee found at Ephesus which hee expresseth 2 Cor. 1.8 2 Cor. 1.8 Brethren saith he I would not have you ignorant of the pressures and troubles that wee sustained in Asia how we were pressed and urged above strength that we even despaired of life in our owne selves This desperate life he was cast into by the malice of the men of Ephesus that studied Idolatry and for their Idoll Diana and would therefore have beate downe and destroyed Paul and the doctrine of Christ This sedition that they moved against him he cals fighting with beasts And so wee must take the sence to be this that seeing you know that at Ephesus I had such a world of adverse powers against me that I was pressed above measure urged and crushed even to death that I received the sentence of condemnation against my selfe 2 Cor. 1.9 that I thought there was no way for me but to bee devoured as with the teeth and fury of so many wilde beasts If you have heard of it or if you know it you may imagine that I have some reason to undergoe these troubles For I brought them upon mine owne head I might have avoyded them if I would but I would not doe it because of that abundant reward and consolation of Christ which shall raise this my body So that all the teeth of beasts shall not offer me more wrong and injury in tearing it then Christ shall give it honour and glory in saving it after it hath beene thus deformed and so he shall give honour to that part which most lacked which hath most suffered here 1 Cor. 12.24 For this cause I am thus ready to undergoe these dangers and to encounter againe with beast after beast as they shall bee singled out against me that drinking of that cup of affliction here I may receive that eternall cup of thanksgiving in the world to come This should teach us to conclude all in a word that we ought not to despise the passions of Gods children Vse It is a great misery that the world is usually blinded withall Whatsoever a man suffers they thinke he suffers it as a guilty person they take him as a malefactor and it is enough that hee is in misery to prove him also to bee in fault By this meanes there should no substantiall argument bee drawne from the martyrdome of Gods Saints for of all men to flesh and bloud and common sence they are most miserable and wretched and pronounced guilty at every tribunall and are accounted the malefactors of the world the plagues of the earth such as brought barrennesse upon the earth and other plagues from God because men were not enlightened by the spirit of grace therefore they fell to the condemnation of the righteous which is the greatest plague in the world to condemne the righteous for woe to them that call light darkenesse and darkenesse light Esay 5.20 Let us therefore have speciall regard when we see troubles fall upon men to keepe an upright heart to
of divers things in the body of nature yet it is true here there is no man that is a childe of the devill but he suffers him to ingender at his eare by hearing ill words and rotten communication Colos 3.8 Let no filthy communication come out of your mouthes saith the Apostle for this breeds embryos for the devill it breeds brats of perdition and confusion and so foulely corrupts the good manners of men that a man cannot tell whether the footsteps of God are left there or no. Lastly if evill words corrupt good manners what do ill manners then They are farre more attractive then evill words and more poysonous they must needs be more hurtfull to good manners for they are directly contrary Betweene words and manners a man would thinke there were small opposition for the one is setled the other flitting the one being grafted the other moveable As for evill manners they are more ingrafted and setled then good manners For there is no good man so good as a bad man is bad Therefore when a man sees ill examples then comes a fearfull corruption presently When a man sees another drunke before his face it is a greater invitation to him then when he heares a word spoken in the commendation of drunkennes When a man seeth another do a thing that is ungodly and wicked he is animated to it more then if hee onely heard of it or were counselled to it Let us take heed for our times are not onely full of evil words for the corrupting of our good manners but also full of evill examples of base manners that destroyes almost humane societie that onely among a few there is a reservation of the good seed of the Gospell among the rest it is scattered even among many that make a greater profession of it then others Therefore let us conclude that seeing evill words corrupt good manners much more do evill books evill writings evill shews and playes and theatricall pomps and most of all evill manners Let us take heed therefore and if we cannot command our mouthes from evill speeches corruption running so through the generation of men that none can free himselfe yet let us take heed that we do nothing before others that may give ill example for that is a great infection to their souls I should now come to the kindes of ill words for the Apostle excepts none And although a man cannot take notice of all the kindes of them yet the speecies of all the chiefe and common kindes our Religion and common understanding will suggest unto us namely what is good and what is bad the conscience is ruled by the word and the word of God shews what they are the word shews every thing that is hid in darknesse First therefore when men will give others ill counsell not to put up wrongs Many will say If it were my case I would follow it and not put up this wrong when they will incite a man to vengeance against his brother These are ill words for they corrupt good manners the good manners of patience and there is no sweeter manners in a childe of God then for a man to forgive another as he would bee forgiven It is that vertue wherein every Christian should possesse his soule And this patience the devill goes about to corrupt by this meanes Luk. 21.19 Therefore let us take heed of these ill words Againe those words that make for pride as flattery the most pestilent engine of the devill these words corrupt good manners even the good manners of modesty and makes a man so insolent that he knows not himselfe They so puffe him up to destruction that he prooves nothing but a bladder instead of a man a meere monster to men There is nothing more ridiculous then a proud supercilious man Therfore the words of flattery are to be weighed in the ballance of the sanctuary that they may be knowne and detested These be corrupt words as can be for they worke upon the good manners of humilitie which is the grace of graces they trouble and molest that and make a man forget both God and himselfe These evill words are to be shunned and hated which are too common in these times for no man can indure that a man should tell him his owne that he should tell him the truth but he shall be accounted an enemie for it But those that can soothe men up with words smooth as oyle they shall be best welcome but such clawbacks and flatterers are carefully to be avoided Thirdly Evill words corrupt good manners Therefore words that tend to scandall words of information and detrâ—ction these corrupt the good manners of love which is the noblest grace that Gods childe hath When friends shall continue in love and concord many yeares together and a fellow shall come and worke them at oddes by carrying a tale of this man to the other and of the other to him these words are no sooner drunke in but poyson is taken the parties corrupted instantly and those that were intimate friends fall to be deadly and mortall enemies Take heed of these and account them in the number of evill words for they corrupt the good manners whereby the Disciples of Christ are knowne For by this Ioh. 13.35 saith Christ shall all men know that they are my Disciples if ye love one another Fourthly Evill words corrupt good manners therefore all words that tend to lasciviousnesse that idle talke that is used at Tables concerning the love of women concerning the order of that blessing that God hath appointed for the multiplying of mankind these are common evils every man gives himselfe libertie to talke and jest of such things But these jests are evill words And whatsoever colour of phrase and figure they seeke as figge-leaves to cover this nakednesse before men yet it appeares through and through in the sight of God who cannot endure that such idle words should come froÌ„ those that should work out their salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 Let us take heed of these idle jests wherein men and women strive who shall go formost and who shall go out of the way furthest but when they will come in againe God knows Lastly Evill words corrupt good manners therefore those words that tend to idlenesse of life or that make men idle for the life to come which are chiefly intended here all these are damnable instigations and suggestions of the devill As when a man shall say Take thy time Enjoy thy pleasure Pay no debts Live upon that thou hast Provide for thy self Break and be bankrupt Have no care of these things for thou mayest safely crave pardon of God for this sinne as for thy other God forgives sinnes and therefore will remit this This is a damnable corruption of good manners it corrupts the good manners of justice and equity even that justice and true dealing that should be betweene brethren which is the life of all societie and
spirit but the body This is the great mercie and blessing of God that although the body be never so naked yet the promise of the Resurrection is made unto that For the spirit needs no Resurrection the spirit cannot rise for it never falleth And as Saint Chrysostome saith the Resurrection must be of that which fals but the spirit never fell otherwise then by sinne and it is not otherwise raised then by repentance a spirituall kinde of resurrection But the Apostle meddles not with that here but he cals it the resurrection of the body and he shews that this comfort the body hath that although it be never so poore and never so bare though it bee cast into the furrows of the earth never so forlorne and forsaken and be stripped of all the glorious weedes that it had before yet it hath a promise that it shall resume unto it its former glory nay a farre greater glory a glory that shall indure for ever Indeed the corne when it comes out of the earth againe it flourisheth for a time and then afterward is resolved into the old corne againe and becomes like it selfe all the greennesse and goodlines of it with two or three moneths drying Sunne fades away or with the blast of a tempest it perisheth But these bodies when they shall be raised againe God shall give them that singular beautie that he intends to bring them to hee shall give them that durability that duration that no winde shall weather-beat them no Sunne shall scorch them the Sunne shall not hurt them by day Psal 121.6 nor the Moone by night for the Lord is their protection and their candle for evermore 2. Part. Gods part I come now to the second part of the Text which is Gods part He denyes it to man and saith that he doth not sow that which shall be but he saith God gives it a body that is that body that God meanes to give it man doth not sowe actually How comes it then By the hand of him that guides and governs all things he gives to every seed a body as he pleaseth and to every seed his owne proper body Where first the Apostle would reduce the glory of all the action of this creation to God all the operation in this great worke it is of God And to make us to settle onely in that he useth a phrase that is most sweet and gentle when he saith God gives it a body He doth not say God creates and makes it a body for those are works of labour we understand and conceive alwayes by those works something that is painfull and hard to be gotten And although God take no paines in the worke of creation yet it is so propounded to us as a matter of great difficultie Therefore he tooke sixe dayes to make the world in to raise our intentions to understand the greatnesse of the worke and the order that God tooke it was not a confusion therefore hee did not all things at once as he might have done but in succession of time But I say those words when they are used in Scripture they are spoken still in the sence and notion of labour But the word giving is alway taken in another sence as a matter of facilitie and easinesse to shew both the quicknesse and facilitie and also the goodnesse of the giver So in this that hee saith that God gives it a body he shews that it is a customarie thing for him out of his hidden treasures still to draw forth and to poure downe his benefits upon mankinde with chearfulnesse and good will his minde is set to do it not onely to his friends but to his enemies Mat. 5.45 for he makes his Sunne to shine and his raine to fall upon the just and unjust and hee makes that corne to grow even the corne of Infidels as well as Christians So great is his goodnesse to mankinde Vse And withall in that he saith God gives it a body It should teach us alway to receive these creatures as gifts from God as earnests of Gods love unto us A man that useth these temporall things either hee must make them assurances of things eternall or else he must abuse them And being the gifts of God of whom we receive every thing therefore they must be used to the honour of God which is the donour Our bread and food and all the parts of our maintenance as they spring and issue from him so they should be returned to him with a retribution of thankfulnesse and a gracious conversation God gives it a body and to every seed his owne body This is the maine point with which the Apostle intends to comfort the present body that is afflicted in this world For there were certaine Heretiques that said there was one body that fel and another body that rose that there was one body that rotted and corrupted in the grave and instead of that God gave another body And so there was a kinde of mutation or substitution to let one body dye but another to be raised out of the ashes as the Phoenix is said to rise out of the ashes of her mother But it is not so saith the Apostle There is no substitution there is onely by the blessing of God a restitution of the same thing unto a higher and a better and a more beautifull estate There is not one body that dyes and another body that is raised for then there could be no resurrection For what kinde of victory can this be said to be over death if the same thing that was foyled and conquered be not conquerour againe by the powerfull hand of God Therefore Christ is so carefull to prove this point unto us that it was the same body of Christ that rose that suffered upon the crosse hee was so carefull I say that wee should know this that he ordained it so that Thomas should be so distrustfull that he should gage his wounds Joh. 20.27 and finde the print of the nayles that he might looke on them that he might touch them and handle them that he might see that it was the same identicall body that he had before he went to the grave For he foresaw that there would such a doctrine of devils arise in the latter end of the world to say that Christ both in his body personall and in his body mysticall that there was a mutation of bodies that one body should dye and another rise in the place of it But against this the Apostle saith He gives to every seed his owne body In the body of nature the corne doth oftentimes so degenerate that wheat will turne to barley and barley to oates the better corne will turne to worser by reason of the badnesse and hungrinesse of the ground or by reason of the weaknesse of the seed or the unseasonablenesse of the times or the indiligence of the husbandman These things oft times cause these mutations But in this seed our bodies
will of God It is true thou art alone the onely man that hath overcome mee by thy justice and righteousnesse But this justice and righteousnesse is in thy selfe Escape therefore with thine owne life goe with thine owne priviledge trouble me not and that which belongs unto mee enter not into my possession the Lord hath given mee these sinners as hee gave thee to be no sinner What is thy holinesse to them that are unholy what is thy righteousnesse to them that are ungodly and sinners what passage can there be betweene thee and them to bring them out of my hands Yes the plea is to contention as St. Ierom saith They shall contend who shall have their spoiles and the Lord shall answer that he came not as a private man and that his works were not done personally for himselfe but they were publique actions for the redemption of mankind Therefore whatsoever hee did hee communicates it to his followers whatsoever he did it was for his subjects and servants If he overcame death in his owne person he hath done it not so much for himselfe as for those that beleeve in him that they might partake of his victory and that they might rejoyce for his victory that hee hath had over the world the flesh and the devill So the contention as St. Ierom saith comes upon Christs side by all reason because he hath satisfied the justice of God the Father because hee was offered a sacrifice of a sweet smell which shall be ever in record before God because his suffering was of an infinite nature being the second Person in the Trinity and the actions are alway given to the subject and to the principall the actions of Christ are not attributed to his humane nature but to his person and so also his merits and although he suffered in his humane nature properly and not in his Divine yet the merit and the glory of that suffering reflexed upon the Divine nature For not onely the blood but the blood of God was spilt for the satisfaction of the wrath of God and for the reconciliation of the world Therefore the Lord Iesus shall answer again in the plea that whatsoever he did he did it for the good of all them that belong to him I had never tooke flesh but to make all flesh blessed by my Incarnation I had never entred within the verge and list of my mortall body but to make all their bodies immortall so great is the benefit that I avow to man-kind that not onely my friends but also my enemies have that benefit by mee to have their bodies immortall whatsoever I have done either by way of suffering by way of merit by my miracles by my death and passion by my Resurrection and ascension into heaven I have done it not to reside onely in my owne nature but to communicate it that it may reside in my followers for I have made all the world of beleevers to partake of it This shall be the contestation as St. Ierome saith as if the Lord should heare the just plea of Christ and also the unjust wrangling of the death of nature he shall heare the cause and judge the matter on the part of our blessed Saviour which hath deserved by his death and passion to open the booke and to unloose the seales and to make good the promises to indow himself and all his followers in eternall possessions in that holy and heavenly city which is the Mother of us all Death is swallowed up into victory Now it followes concerning the time when this must be expected then shall be fulfilled this saying for these things be in order to be discussed It is true these things are accomplished now in some degree but the full accomplishment shall be then when wee shall be consummate then when Christ shall be consummate Christ is never full till his body be full hee beares such love to his Church that he is said yet to have reliques of passion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 1.24 the reliques of the passions of Christ The glory that Christ possesseth and is capable of which he is advanced unto in the highest perfection by his incarnation which the Lord stands now in possession of and he shall have no more glory conferred upon him then hee hath and hath had for these sixteene hundred yeares been possessed of but for the infinite love that hee beares to his children to those that are of his body he is said then to be compleat not before when all his members shall be completed then death shall be swallowed up into victory Death was swallowed up in victory when Christ rose againe when hee brought the spoyles of the grave away with him when the Lord raised him and when many bodies of the Saints which slept were carryed up with him to his Kingdome where he hath them now in heaven to converse with him and keepe him company then the Lord gave a gage and pawne of this that now shall be fulfilled but because those were but a few and because the fulnesse of the Church is that which Christ delights in the Apostle refers us to the hope and expectation of that time when we shall get the garment of immortality when we shall have that new coat of incorruption then we shall see that fulfilled and clearly accomplished which was spoken in former time Death is swallowed up into victory Not onely in the person of Christ but in thine and mine and all that have interest in Christ Death is swallowed up into victory that great swallower of all things in the world that consumes not onely the fraile bodies of men but the mighty monuments of marble and the greatest things that are most unlikely to be dissolved shaken asunder in the world the very earth it self the foundations of which we see oft stand trēbling and cast the firme continent into the great sea as it hath hapned to divers parts of the world Now this great swallower which was the destroyer and consumer of all things before and that never could meet with his match now he himselfe shall be swallowed up into compleat victory Therefore this must be our desire as souldiers after the victory we follow a master which is a victorious Captaine that was never foyled by any enemy but wheresoever hee goes he carries the field before him And souldiers wee know what great glory and glee they have what noysing of trumpets what erecting of spirits when they once come to be masters of their enemies there is not such a glorious sight under heaven as a victorious army returning from the spoile The Lord would teach us by this what wee should doe to lift up our spirits to prepare us for the insultation over this grisly enemy which is the devourer of all the voice of victory must be glorious as it is said of Lepanto when newes came to Venice that the Christians had the victory over the Turkes for three dayes together there was
by this that the Apostles purpose was that although hee went to Macedonia yet if newes were carried to him if there were any post sent to him as indeed he was but on the other side of the Sea in Asia if news I say were brought him that he must go with them he would dispence with the other action and intend this We see here the Spirit of God it tyes not a man to absolute necessities but it gives him libertie according to the circumstances to use his owne discretion for it seemeth that the collection which the Corinthians made although it were great yet it seemes that it was transported very quickly and finely or otherwise that Saint Paul did take it with him from Ephesus after the feast of Pentecost and so carried it for in these things no man can tell nor the particular place certainly from whence this Epistle was written Onely this is plaine and that I will insist on that when he should come to carry it he would not carry the money himselfe but he saith that those whom they should appoint should go with him And so hee puts from himselfe all suspition of double dealing S. Pauls care to avoid suspition hee would not have them thinke that he would intervert the money or that he would give it to some other purpose then they intended it or make himselfe rich of the poore mens stocke he is carefull of this this argued the sweetnesse and sinceritie of the Apostles minde and it makes a rule for all that come to Apostolicall place that deale with Apostolicall matters to take heed that the world have no ground to conceit that any thing in this kinde sticke to their fingers but that they may shake their hands and their garments and quit themselves in all causes wherein the world shall thinke they have too much interest or that they have beene unfaithfull and false stewards So Chrysostome and Saint Austin He doth not say saith Austin that if the collection come to a great summe I will carry it to Ierusalem my selfe for then some sycophants that were in Corinth some Adversaries that he had there would have objected and said that hee meant to make himselfe the better by it No saith he but those whom ye shall appoint and put in authoritie they shall go with me A man must wash his hands from all bribery and corruption that will be in any place of God that will be in the place of Paul or that hath any commission from God he must be like unto Samuel that he may say as he did Whose oxe have I taken or whose asse have I taken or who have I wronged or defrauded in judgement or any way in any intention let him speake And as Zacheus saith I will restore him foure fold Luk. 19 9. These men that meddle with holy things to make themselves somewhat the better or at the least to beare their charges upon Gods stocke and such a charge as perhaps the poore would be loath it should come to these are false brethren and no true Transporters of the heavenly treasure they should be such as do that which they do for the Lords sake and if they can disburthen and discharge the poore of all charges in the carriage they should take it upon themselves and do it for Religions sake Chrysostome it seemeth was troubled with such kinde of companions in his time for saith he the collection that we make for the poore and are alway calling upon you Give to the poore give to them that stand in need which saith hee I will never leave off but will speake it as long as God gives me my voyce This calling and crying for the poore it makes you thinke that we have a great stocke of treasure that we feed our selves in private with you thinke that the Priesthood lives upon this Nay saith he we defie all such cogitations we give you the Gospell freely without any charge And although we worke not as Saint Paul did with our hands yet you know that we have indowments to live upon of our owne We have so much Church-lands to maintaine us that we abound and we seeke not any thing from you for our owne selves but we seeke it for the indigent poore that are errant and go about the streets and for such as want upon casualtie by reason of fire by robbery or by drowning or by miscarriage in their trade or being captivated by Infidels or the like we labour onely to stirre up your bountie towards them This was the noble state of the Church in Saint Chrysostomes time We are content and satisfied with that which is our owne what is the Churches owne now adayes In those parts which I touched on before There is nothing left that the Church may call her owne except it be a poore rotten wall except it be an old Bible except it bee an handfull of thatch where that Bible lyes to save it that the raine come not upon it and so put them to new charges as for other things there is nothing that is her owne but the wilde Bore out of the forrest hath almost wasted and desolated the whole Congregation of God and hath made them as so many vagabonds in Israel that there is nothing but beggarly raggednesse both in the temporall and also in the spirituall body But it is to no purpose to complaine in a desperate condition Saint Chrysostome saith Whosoever thinks that there is any such men in the Church that make themselves rich or better themselves by the collections that are given to the poore let him come forth and shew it let him proove it and wee will confesse it and it shall appeare if these things can be proved and the man bee convinced of them that such a man is not onely worthy to be brought to shame but he is worthy that ten thousand thunderbolts should be shot against him he is not worthy to live and breathe in this common ayre which hath attempted such a monstrous robbery and invasion upon the people of God To conclude all in a word the Apostle saith concerning all for matter of giving to the poore for matter of doctrine for matter of manners he saith for all I will come And no doubt this word veniam it had a divers tone and sound a different tune to the Corinthians eares for Saint Paul had a great number of good friends in Corinth he had also a great number of pestilent enemies to the one this word sounded in a gentle and sweet harmonious tune it was certaine he came to them as friends he came as a Saint of God he came as an incomparable Iewell he came as one that brought the blessing of God where he came hee came as one whose feet were beautifull to bring the glad tydings of the Gospell of peace as one that came to the salvation of their soules as one that came to settle and to reare up the broken towers of David he
was most acceptable to them To others he came as welcome as water into the shippe nay they had a great hope that he would never come there but that his occasions would so intangle him that hee should never set foot that way So we see that Saint Pauls veniam is expounded according to the contrary dispositions and qualities of men and accordingly it occasioned matter of joy or sorrow in Corinth Now if Saint Pauls comming to visite were a matter of such emphasis Vse as to make his friends rejoyce and to cause his enemies to repine and murmure what then shall be the veniam of the Lord Iesus the master of Saint Paul and the master of us all which will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.37 which comes unto us every day and visites us every houre if we had but sence to perceive it whose footsteps are at our doores who comes in mercie giving us long peace from the broyles and garboyles of warre he comes unto us in his judgements in these unseasonable seasons threatning us with this abundance of raine and deluges he comes to us in the judgement of scarsitie and want and many kinde of defects whereof every man complaines and whines and is in misery and yet no man can tell the cause or reason why certainly it is a steppe of the comming of the Lord Iesus he comes also in the ratling and tumults of warre therein the Sonne of God seemes to have girt his sword upon his thigh as the Prophet saith Psal 45. And he will make head hee will march and go forward and never leave the field untill his horse goeth up to the bridle in bloud as Saint Iohn prophesieth in the Revelation Thus the Lord comes and draweth neare unto us any man of wit or understanding may easily see him and may heare the noyse of his horse heeles as the Prophet Isaiah saith concerning the King of Babylon But suppose he do not come thus or that men will be deafe that they will not heare this nor perceive it yet there is another veniam his comming to judgement which shall certainly be and wee know not how soone it shall be for these things are fore-runners and presages of that dismall comming and that comming shall be as this veniam of Saint Paul with acceptation to his friends but with terrour to his enemies the comming of Christ to them shall be more terrible then all the Armadoes and Invasions of the world if they were all joyned together they are nothing comparable to the comming of the Sonne of man in the clouds To those that are perfect and just men that waite for his comming he saith Behold I come and my reward is with me Revel 22. Hebr. 11.5 Behold he that shall come will come and will not tarry saith Saint Paul And to this the Church in an earnest eccho replyes Yea come and come quickly Lord Iesus for they waite and expect that great visitation of mankinde when he shall come to root all the weeds out of his garden and shall make an everlasting spring of grace and shall settle his plants so strongly that they shall no more be subject to extirpation On the other side his enemies shall have a fearfull sentence at that veniam the wicked men of this world they would then give all to avoyd that fearfull comming of the Lambe of God and wish that he might never appeare nor come to judgement As for the godly they know that when their glory When Christ which is their glory shall appeare Col 3.4 then they shall appeare with him in glory So the enemies of the Lord they know that when he which is judge both of the quicke and dead shall come that he shall passe a sentence of judgement against them Matth. 25. Go ye cursed into hell-fire prepared for the divell and his angels Let therefore this sound be alway in our eares that whether it be men as Saint Paul that come to visit us let that keepe us in awe if Saint Paul say he will come certainly it will make a man look to himselfe the better for there are many men that can indure no visitation a man that lives and goes on in sinne and impietie these sacrilegious patrons these Lords and Ladies that maintaine the Priests with old shoes as the Prophet speaks that take all his livelyhood from him these cannot endure to heare of a visitation they are afraid lest their sacrilegious acts should be called in question Although they be secure enough and carelesse in these kinde of acts and there is no law that can take hold of them for it yet they do not love to have the memorie of them rubbed afresh they do not love to have themselves proposed and traduced they cannot endure to have other men to blaze it There are many other simonicall contracts that are come into the Church not by the doore but they come another way they take downe the tiles as the men did for the poore man that came to bee healed of Christ they tooke downe the tyles of the house and so let him downe so there are a number of simonicall Priests that come not in by the doore but are entred into the Church another way they climbe in at the windowes like theeves and robbers and these cannot endure to be visited if Saint Paul say hee will come it is likely they will flee if Paul come they will go they cannot consist together in one place because they live in sinne and in open profession of their impenitency Therefore it is good whatsoever a man do in this life to thinke still that there will come a visitation upon him and he is an happie man that can endure the visitation although it be but the visitation of a mortall man But when Christ shall come to visite and to visite all the world when he shall come with his fanne in his hand he shall purge his floore and gather the corne into his garner he shall come to plucke the proud feathers of the potentates of this world that could not be quiet and peaceable but were still disturbing each other he shall then come and heare the cries and lamentations of the afflicted he shall come to redresse the cause of the fatherlesse and widdow he shall come to remove all scandalous doctrine from his Church and to plant his owne truth there to flourish for evermore This shall bee the great and wondrous apparition this is that admirable marching and procession this is that comming that shall worke wonders this comming shall bee more terrible to the consciences of wicked men then the comming of all the power and glory in the world if they should come all together Therefore let this sound in our eares as Hierome saith that he did alwayes thinke he heard the trumpet sound in his eares Surgite mortui Arise ye dead and come to judgement Certainly beloved we must looke for a visitation either from men or from God or
whose Name he makes profession Adversarii multi the adversaries bee many adversaries without any cause adversaries to them that bee their friends this is the case of the Gospel as our Lord Christ saith I am come to save you I come to heale you I come to redeeme you from all misery and you seeke to kill me a man that hath done good to you And St. Paul saith Am I therefore your enemy because I tell you the truth Such grosse and senslesse adversaries the Gospel must looke for absurd men 2. Thess 2. 2 Thess 2. I beseech you brethren pray to God for us that wee may bee delivered from absurd men senslesse men that will not know their owne good men that know not who comes to doe them service strange adversaries that will fight against their benefactors such are the adversaries of the Gospel I paid that which I never tooke they rewarded me evill for good saith David to the great discomfort of my heart but the servant is not above his Master if our Lord have beene served thus we must not thinke much to taste of the same cup of which he hath drunke before us Againe this must teach all men that travaile in the cause of Christ to have the world in no estimation but to account it as an inraged beast that speaks and doth and kicks as a child that hath no wit nor sense that scratcheth the Nurses duggs from which it receives milkc Wee must thinke to be in the middest of Lions as our Lord Iesus saith in the middest of Wolves Behold I send you forth as Lambs in the middest of Wolves be yee therefore wise as Serpents and simple as Doves And here there are two sorts of men greatly to be blamed First those of former times that could not indure opposition but when the adversaries began to rise they would fall into the Wildernesse and live like Hermits men of great gifts and of excellent perfections yet they could not indure opposition being tender hearted and of weake spirits they could not beare the malice of the multitude but would keepe themselves away and would leave the places wherein they might have done great good they left them to be invaded by Foxes and Wolves to destroy the vineyard of the Lord. This I say was culpable in them because they came short of the spirit of St. Paul that was not daunted with the multitude of adversaries but he would goe so much the rather by how much the adversaries were greater and more in number for there bee many things in the world in the aboundant company of the adversaries which are so far from affrighting as that they give greater incouragement As the Poet saith the Shepheard speaking there of the cold Winter and of the North-wind hee saith that hee feared them as little as the Wolfe feares a number of sheepe or as the Land-flood doth feare the banks in a river So it was in the high and gracious spirit of the Apostle and those that were like unto him for St. Paul was called comparatively the Wolfe of Benjamin and in a good sense because the sacrifices were offered in the Tribe of Benjamin the Temple being in the Tribe of Benjamin it was called a ravening Wolfe because it devoured the bodies of the beasts that were offered in sacrifice So St. Paul that was of the Tribe of Benjamin was compared to a Wolfe as Gregory Gregory Augustine and Austin give the reason because he did eate up the sacrifices of the Heathen people as St. Peter in the vision was bid to Arise kill and eate this was the power that the Apostle had in the Church to devoure the wickednesse of the people and to change and digest it into their owne stomacks Now as the Wolfe cares not how many sheepe there be in a fold for when hee comes to steale if the shepherd and his dog be away hee takes more comfort in a great many then to see a handfull of sheepe he knowes that if their were ten times so many they could doe him no harme being fearefull creatures therefore he rejoyceth So the children of God are compared to Wolves to Lions to creatures that are victorious and conquering they are so farre from a sheepish and fearefull and base and cowardly disposition for the faculties and abilities of their adversaries that they take the more delight to see the adversaries many And as the great floods when the snow is melted upon the mountaines or when there hath beene a great Land-flood when it fâ—lls from the hills it scornes to be compassed in within banks but it overflowes and over-runnes all and makes new conduits new sourses and new channels where there was never any before So the mighty streame of the Gospel by the Apostles it could not bee contained within the banks and common limits that the Philosophers and naturall men could afford but it over-ranne all with a mighty current and flood upon the world with the sacred influence of it the hearts and mindes of them were watered that were never possessed of it before That kind of Monasticall Heremiticall life it is nothing agreeable to the profession of St. Paul in this place that for feare of danger will convey themselves into woods into caves and cells and alienate themselves from their worke and labour because they are afraid of opposition the spirit of St. Paul riseth the greater As the Palme-tree the more weight is laid upon it so much the more it strives and heaves against it so the Spirit of God in this Apostle and in all true Christians it is never so frolick nor they are never so high-spirited as when they see the malice of their adversaries most pregnant and most furious against them Secondly it blames those men much more 2 Sort blamed that in the time of prosperity when there are many adversaries yet they will not shew themselves but lie on their pillowes of pleasure and seeke to bee quiet they will have no man speake against them they will incurre no mans hatred or ill-will but they will hold the truth of God to themselves in the bosome of their owne conscience and never open it or stand for it These men are farre worse then the former for indeed the former had some good pretence because there was way-laying lying in wait for their lives and conspiracy against them to take them away from the earth therefore they thought it fittest to yeeld to the time and to reserve themselves unto a better occasion But when men shall live in their prosperity and have peace round about them and shall see the adversaries come and creep in craftily and sow false doctrine hereticall doctrine and things that savour of the old dregs and reliques of Antichristianisme and they themselves have excellent gifts and meanes to refute and confound these things and yet because they will not abridge themselves of their pleasure they will set some young novice in the place that is able to