both of S. Chrysostome and S. Ambrose to move every Christian to an annuall celebration of that day by Holy meditations of this promise of God by fervent prayers to God and Charity towards men which moved the late great Cardinall Borromaeus a man eminent in his way of Devotion in the last Council at Millane to injoyn all his Clergie in that province of which he was Arch-Bishop to move the people under their charge to the holy celebration of the day of their Baptizing But if a love of God will not move us let the feare of God move us the Originall of this Institution presenting unto us our own unworthinesse baptisme being not a new thing before the time of our Saviour though by him amplifyed and advanced by a new Institution It was a custome before his comming among the Jews when any of the Gentiles were converted to the Jewish worship to baptize them so to expresse a purifying of them from Idolatry as their great Master Ben-Maimon teaches But when the holy Baptist came he called to the like purifying the Iews themselves implying them to be as foule in God's sight as the very Gentiles and therefore to have need of a like yet a better purifying Such is the happy receivers baptisme into Christ whereby though he finds not Miracle he shall find Wounder it being to such an Illumination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers call it And speakes not the Apostle so Heb. 10.32 remember the former days in which after you were Illuminated ye indured a great fight of Afflictions whence S. Cyrill of Jerusalem calls his Instructions of Baptisme Catechismes of Illumination And as it is to such a purifying of the understanding so is it also a purifying of the Affections it is a cleansing without the mockery of a Pilate or the Hypocrisie of a Pharisie To such it is a Grace that bestows upon the soule a supernaturall being which is the beginning of spiritual operations and in its time truely powerfull To such it is Seale which he that sets upon the soule will own it is a Mystery which the soule more injoys than understands To such the calling unto Baptisme is a high calling a Spirituall Glory it is like the face of Moses when God had shined on him a brightnesse from a brightnesse To such it is also spirituall fruitfullnesse figur'd out at the Creation when the Spirit of God sate upon the waters to make them fruitfull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word he sate as the Henne upon the egge which she does warme with a lively heate This was the type of baptisme God's Spirit bestowing a warmth of Grace a regeneration of water and the Spirit And since that such doe put on Christ grant O Lord that blessing to thine own Ordinance that we may never defile our Christian Roabe but at last through thy Mercy through thy bounty we may be cloath'd with those white robes of Glory and Immortality which thou hast prepared in Heaven for such as shall keep their covenant with Thee here on Earth To which our God that has bestowed Baptisme upon us the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost in whose name it was bestow'd be ascribed all Holinesse Thanks for evermore FINIS OF The Bread of Life A SERMON BY BARTEN HOLYDAY Doctor of Divinity OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield 1657. Iohn 6.34 Lord evermore give us this Bread THE Lord as he is al-sufficient so is it He only that is al-sufficient yet has he made each creature and consequently man with a sufficiency but joyn'd with want the one being an act of his Bounty in the nature of the creature the other an act of his wisedome in the preservation of that nature For such want in man declares his perpetuall dependance upon God and such dependance makes him have perpetuall recourse to God For man then to aske of God is Naturall as it is most naturall to aske those things which most preserve nature Since then that God has given man Life Yet not without a conditionall necessity of Food it is as naturall to desire Food as to desire Life And since the desire of life is naturally perpetuall Man naturally would have both perpetuall life and perpetuall food Which food though it be always in the desire of Nature is never in the power of it all food of the Body which Nature knowes being as mortall as the Body Philosophy therefore never distinguished Men from Beasts by the appetite and nature of Food it being to the Philosopher beyond all Paradox to hold that a man may become immortall by Eating nay that he should be made more immortall by Food than by Fame No marvaile then is it here if the People as naturall men marvaile at our Saviour They could have said that Adam by Eating dyed but he only could say that man by Eating might Live for ever Yet this is the wonder which he tells them whiles he tells them of a Bread more wonderfull than the Manna which their fathers did eate That bread was the worke of God This bread was God This bread made that bread He that eate that bread Dyed he that eates This is made as immortall as the Author the Wonder At which news they call him Lord nor are asham'd to become beggars They saw it impossible that this bread should be sold since none that could provide it could have need to sell it nor if it could be bought could any be Equall to the price In this Marvaile we may see there marveiles the Giver the Lord the Guift in the Substance and the Excellency This Bread the Desire and the extent of the Desire Give us evermore of which the patron si the preface Lord. A strange request it may seem to beg a man of himselfe to make a patrone his own guift This implies that since our nature has been corrupted our naturall love of our selves is an unreasonable love of our selves when as for our own benefit we can be content that another we may say should be lost for us Our Saviour had said he was the bread of Life and yet of him they beg this bread that is Himselfe It was a bold request and yet a wise one They perceiv'd a wounder in it and they venter therefore to beg of Him that was able as they believe to performe a wonder He had indeed a little before performed a wonder a wonder in bread feeding five thousand with five loaves Manna was a wonderfull bread but every person had an Omer full when as here was but a loafe unto a thousand Then the miracle was prepared to their hands but now the miracle was performed in their hands nay in their mouthes then they were fed after the performance of a miracle but now they were fed with it They had before seen Corne grow but not till now beheld Bread grow This imbolden'd them to aske This bread of the Lord. And well might they orie Lord give us this bread for whom
Which literall interpretation if any man lesse like of he may take S. Anstin's who by the falling of the Starres understands the preparation that shall be against that day in the Aire For he thinkes it more probable that by this speech is meant that the Lightnings flames and fiery exhalations which shall be before the last day shall be so dreadfull that one would thinke the very Starres did fall from heaven And easily may the world be thus affrighted when as there shall be preparation in the very Powers of heaven which shall be shaken Matt. 24.29 The powers of heaven that is as the Holy Fathers teach us to expound it The blessed Angells of God in heaven shall tremble with reverent feare before the day of judgment at those dreadfull wonders which God will declare in the very heavens There shall be also preparation in the Seas The Sea and the waves shall roare Luk. 21.25 The height of the waves shall frighten those that dwell by the shoare and the Out-crie of the waves shall frighten those that dwell afarre off There shall be preparation also on the Earth The Sibylls tell us that at that time the beasts shall rune belowing and roaring through the fields and Cities that the Trees shall sweat blood and that the Sea shall throw-up fish on the drie ground Nay the Scripture tells us that Men shall be more amas'd that their hearts shall faile them for feare and for looking after those things that are comming on the earth Luk. 21.26 A sinner shall then be like a bird that has flowen about in the pleasure of the fields and at last falls into a nett So shall the sinner fall into a snare he shall be caught The pleasures of the wicked shall be like Jonah's gourd they shall for a time sit under the shadow of their honours of their wealth of their pleasure but these shall all passe away and leave them to the fury of the Sunne of righteousnesse God shall arme all heaven against them and a flood of fire after all shall be as a tenth wave for there shall come also a flood of fire unto which the Prophet David seem'd to allude Psal 50.3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devoure before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him But the Prophet Malachi is more evident cap. 3.1 Behold the day comes that shall burne as an oven and all the proud yea and all that doe wickedly shall be stubble and the day that comes shall burne them up sayes the Lord of hosts S. Paul told his Thessalonians as much 1 Epist. 1.7 8. That when the Lord Iesus shall be reveal'd from heaven he shall take vengeance in flaming fire S. Peter is more particular The earth and the workes that are therein shall be burnt-up 2 Pet. 3.10 and the elements shall melt with fervent heat And the heaven it selfe is reserv'd unto fire against the day of judgment 2 Pet. 3.7 nay that the heaven shall be sett on fire and be dissolv'd vers 12. and that the heavens shall passe away with a great noise vers 10. well therfore may we remember what the Lord said by the Prophet Joel 2.30 I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoake Yet concerning the order of this flood of fire S. Austin places it in the end of the day of Judgment though others would have it before that this face of the world may be destroyd before that great Session And then shall the signe of the Sonne of man appeare in heaven which some thinke shall be some insigne of our Saviour's Victory Some more particularly though without warrant thinke that it shall be the signe of the Crosse and that when darknesse shall have overcast the world there shall appeare in the East a Crosse of Light to foreshew the comming of the Lord. Others thinke this signe shall be the glorious wounds in our Saviour's body at which sight in the day of Judgment the Jews especially may be confounded Yet some others thinke it shall be that Prerogative Glory with which our Saviour shall then appeare But since the interpretation of this signe is kept as secret as the day in which it shall appeare Let us consider how dreadfull the Session it selfe shall be A Session which shall be usherd with the mighty voice of an Archangell and of a Trumpet It was the voice of a Trumpet which the Jews did use in their warres in their Temple in their Feasts in their Assemblies Numb 10. It was with the voice of a Trumpet that the Law was given at Mount Sinai but here the dead shall heare this Trumpet and this voice calling them unto judgment And then shall they see the Sonne of man comming in the Clouds with power and great Glory Matt. 24.30 They shall see that humane nature which was prophan'd on earth they shall see him come to be their Judge whom once they judg'd The Jewes that would not know him and the Heathen and wicked Christians that car'd not to know him shall now behold him not without horrour whom once they beheld not without hate or neglect But now they shall see him come in the cloudes with power and glory with glory for he shall come upon a throne of cloudes with power for he shall come upon a throne of cloudes the worke of his own hands yea all the wonders of that day shall be the works of his power and he shall come with power to judge the quicke and the dead He shall come with glory such glory that all the Angels shall with reverent obedience waite upon him upon him whom none but impudent and obdurate sinners durst contemne Will you see his glory Moses shall shew it to you as it appear'd to the Elders of Israel who saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved worke of a Saphire stone and as it were the body of heaven in his clearnesse Fxod 24.10 Will you see his glory S. John shall shew it to you as it appear'd to Him who saw a great white throne and him that sate on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them Rev. 20.11 Will you see his glory you shall see his Kingdome for then shall be fullfill'd that petition in our prayer Thy Kingdome come That shall be the first day of his glorious Reigne Behold his Assistants Angells Saints more especially the Apostles He shall come with all his holy Angells Matt. 25.31 Heaven shall be empty sayes S. Chrysostome in the day of judgment when all the Angells and the Saints of heaven shall descend from heaven to attend the Lord Iesus unto judgment O glorious judgment O dreadfull Judge before whom all the persons that have been from the creation and shall be till that day shall in that day all at once appeare when sinne shall have no cloake
nay when the body shall have no covering but all the whole world shall stand naked trembling either with horrour or reverence looking-up unto the Lord of glory He shall come with all his Saints who shall assist him in judging the world Doe ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world 1 Cor. 6.2 They shall assist him by their holy lives compar'd with the abhominations of the wicked They shall assist him by their consent and applause of his sentence against the wicked They shall assist him with honourable attendance being taken up into the aire at the time of this judgment and placed at his right hand The Apostles more especially shall assist him in this judgment Our Saviour himself told them as much Matt. 19.28 When the Sonne of man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel And peradventure as some reverently thinke their seats shall be glorious cloudes proportion'd to their excellency who though they shall judge the World which resisted or despis'd their Doctrine yet more particularly shall they judge the twelve Tribes of Israel For when the Jewes shall be about to say for themselves that they could not beleeve in Christ because they were commanded to keep the Law of Moses the Apostles sayes S. Chrysostome shall judge them because they likewise did first obey the Law of Moses and afterwards chang'd that obedience into Faith in Christ So also meditates S. Jerom. Nor shall they only judge Men but also Angells Know you not sayes S. Paul that we shall judge Angells 1 Cor. 6.3 those wicked Angells that would have exalted themselves against the Almighty Behold also the Solemnity of this judgment in the Continuance of it For to the glory of this Session and of the Saints before the face of the wicked S. Austin thinks that it shall continue at least the length of a day Unto which some would extend the meaning of those words Matt. 24.27 As the Lightning comes out of the East and shines even unto the West so shall also the comming of the Sonne of man be As if our Saviour should spend the length of a day in passing from the East unto the West that so he might be beheld of all the world But the safest knowledge of these Circumstances must be obtaind not by the bold inquiry of study but by the modest expectation of experience The method of the actions in that day being chiefly to be learn'd in that day in which the sinnes of the whole world shall be reveal'd Which Manifestation of sinnes shall be one of the most wonderfull actions of our Saviours power in that day in which the Lord will search the World as he said he would search Ierusalem Zeph. 1.12 he will search it with candles there is light in the search he will not only search but also discover Thou didst it secretly said the Lord by Nathan unto David but I will doe this thing before all Israel and before the Sunne But how will the Lord in that day discover sinne even as the Sunne-beame pearcing into a room discovers the dusty atoms which before we saw not he will discover them as easily as he can discover the multitude of fishes now hid in the Sea if it should but please him as he speakes by the Prophet Isaiah 50.2 to drie-up the Sea and make the rivers a wildernesse and make their fish die for thirst But how will the Lord in that day discover sinne why S. Paul tels us 1 Cor. 4.5 that the Lord at his comming will both bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the counsailes of the heart It shall be donne by the power of God by the light of Revelation Yet how will the Lord in that day discover sinne why the bookes shall be open'd the bookes of men's consciences shall be open'd they shall be open'd whether they will or no and they shall be read not only by every man's ownselfe but also by all others not only every man's sinnes shall be made known to himselfe but also to every man els by the power of God and the miraculous light of revelation to every particular man as S. Chrysostome teaches us and S. Anselm who sayes that men's sinnes shall be seen as the Sunne is seen by every eie S. Basil sayes they shall be so revealed that they shall be heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all Angels and men And then will the Almighty pronounce Sentence upon the workes of men In the last day of the Creation God examin'd all his own workes and pronounc'd them all to be very good and in the last day of judgment he will examine all the works of men but what judgment will he pronounce of Them Surely he will say They are almost all very bad Yea he will pronounce a more dreadfull judgment upon the Authours of them who shall beginne their pain before their judgment is pronounc'd For as S. Bernard sayes The just shall be call'd first Christ shall first say unto the righteous come ye blessed of my Father that so the wicked sayes he may be the more tormented according to that of the Prophet David Ps 112.10 The wicked shall see it and be greiv'd he shall gnash with his teeth and melt away the desire of the wicked shall perish And then shall that burden of the wicked be layd upon them Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire O what a separation will that bee when the holy angells shall catch-up the Godly to meet Christ in the aire 1 Thes 4.17 then the wicked shall be cast into a furnace of fire In the beginning God divided between the light and the darknesse So will he doe at the last day What is the light in figure but the Just what the darknesse but the wicked So speakes the Apostle Eph. 5.8 Yee were sometimes darkness but now are yee light in the Lord that is you were once wicked but now are righteous In this world there is both light darknesse but in the end of the world the light and darknesse shall be separated In this world there are both good and bad but in the end of the world the bad shall be separated from the good Which separation is a part of the Execution for which this judgment is so dreadfull They shall depart from the face of the Lord but O whither shall they depart shall they depart as Cain to be vagabonds upon the face of the earth No there is no returne unto the earth though some have thought but never prov'd that the place of torment shall be on the earth and in the channels where the Seas now swell But this is oppos'd not only by truth but also by errour that errour of some who because it is said there shall be a new earth wherein dwels righteousnesse have therfore beleev'd that the godly at least a great part of them shall even here injoy for