it quickeneth a bodie consisting of many different members all which it setteth on worke the eye to see the eare to heare the foot to goe c. euen so though the grace of God which is the soule of the soule of man be but one yet doth it animate the whole man and doth as truly communicate good manners to the parts as the Soule doth Life Titus 2. The grace of God which bringeth saluation vnto all mâ—n teacheth vs to denie all vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present world Ephes 6. hereupon Saint Paul biddeth vs put on the whole armour of God and to cast away all workes of darknesse and in another place Whatsoeuer things are iust whatsoeuer things are holy Rom. 13. Philip. 〈◊〉 whatsoeuer things are true whatsoeuer things are of good report thinke vpon these things Wee must haue not only a disposition to doe well but remember that wee are to doe well more wayes then one The same God that commandeth one vertue commandeth all and he will not haue any part or power of man exempted from his seruice Which must bee heeded by vs because there are few that are of Saint Pauls minde Philip. 3 13. to forget those things that are behind and make forward no sooner haue wee brought forth one good worke but we fall in loue with that and there take vp our rest and thinke that may serue insteed of all suffering Gods graces to be idle which are aswell able to make a chastâ—cie as a sober tongue and an obedient eare as a diligent hand Much more good might come from euery man if he did not thinke hee did good enough therefore let vs remember that nothing must bee accounted enough that is lesse then all and that wee set not straighter bounds to our duties then those which are in Gods Law But we haue not now to doe in generall with good workes my text restraineth me to workes of repentance I come then nearer to those And although I hane alreadie opened vnto you the nature of repentance yet must I wade a little farther in it and branch it as it were into its kinds The Law of God hath two parts the Precept and the Sanction The Sanction sheweth vnto vs the danger of sinne obliging vnto punishment from which wee are not free but by Iustification and this Iustification is attended with Repentance Repentance that looketh vnto the guilt of sinne which cleaueth vnto the Act thereof This Repentance is that which is practised in the times of Humiliation when we deprecate Gods wrath which is vpon vs or hangeth ouer vs by reason of enormous sinnes of the whole state and of particular persons 〈◊〉 2. Ionah 3. such is that which is called for in Ioel and whereof wee haue the practice in Ionah The Primitiue Church was well acquainted with it as appeareth by the Ecclesiasticall storie the Canons of the first Councels the writings of Tertullian Origen Cyprian and others our Church taketh notice of it in a part of the Liturgie and wisheth the publike restitution of it Tantae seueritati non sumus pares But it is rather to bee wished then hoped for Notwithstanding what is not done in publike by malefactors should be supplied by better obseruance of those dayes which are appointed weekly and of those weeks which are appointed yearely to be Poenitentiall to be dayes and weekes of Fasting and Praying Wee cannot denie but crying sinnes are daily committed and therefore Gods wrath might daily bee inflicted The way to stay it is to shew that wee are not guiltie thereof and as he is not guiltie by the Law of man which had no hand in sinne so by the Law of God none goe for not guiltie except they doe expresse a penitent sorrow that any should bee so wretched as to commit the sinne You remember how one Achan troubled all Israel and his sinne is layed to all their charge Ioshua the seuenth and they were all made to sanctifie themselues from that sinne and how the vnknowne murder was expiated wee reade Deut. 21. there must bee a feeling in vs of other mens sinnes a religious feeling seeing thereby they put not only themselues but vs to in danger of Gods wrath and therefore though our conscience haue no speciall burden of its owne yet must it haue of others and endeuour to ease both it selfe and the whole state thereof And how may priuate men better doe this then by those solemne acts of Humiliation the only attonement which by faith in Christ we can make with God But Saint Pauls complaint may be renewed 1. Cor. 5. It is reported commonly that there is fornication wee may adde Murder Adulterie and any other enormeous sinne the seates of Iudgement can witnesse that our Land is fertile of all sorts but as Saint Paul said so will I all men are puffed vp and who doth sorrow The emptinesse of our Churches vpon Fridayes and Wednesdayes and other Fasting dayes sheweth how litle feeling there is in vs of the crying sinnes of our State It were well if we had some feeling of our owne But where is that Drunkard where is that Adulterer where is that Murderer where is that Blasphemer that Vsurer that Oppressor that commeth into Gods House bathed in his teares broken in his heart stript of his pride humbled in his bodie and making a reall crie for mercie in the eares of God No wee come not so farre as a vocall our tongues crie not God bee mercifull to mee a Sinner which is but the voice of man much lesse doe our sighes doe it which are the voice of Gods Spirit we shame not to sinne Regis admirabilem virtutem fecit multò splendidiorem c. but to repent wee are ashamed Ashamed of that whereof we should glorie surely Theodoret thought better of King Dauids repentance when he pronounced of it There were many Heroicall vertues in King Dauid but for none is he so illustrious as for his repentance so much more illustrious by how much it is a rarer thing to see a King come from his Throne clothed in sackcloth sitting in dust and ashes feeding vpon the bread of sorrow and mingling his drinke with his teares then to see him in state either vttering Prouerbs like a Solomon or triumphing ouer his foes as at other times he also did Stultum est iâ—e eo statu viuere in quo non audet quis Mori or doing any other act in the maiestie of a King But most men are ashamed of this glorie and chose rather to glorie in their shame vnto whom I will vse Saint Austines words It is grosse folly to liue in that state in which a man would bee loth that death should take him hee addeth That the man which dareth goe to bed with a conscience charged with the guilt of one enormous sinne is much more desperate then he that dareth lie vnarmed with seuen
God then it can be by any man The second difference is in the measure a double measure of the stroake and of the time Touching the stroake Nazianzen obserues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naziá Orat. 15. p. 228. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in this world God doth allay his seueritie with mercie but they that shall be punished in the world to come shall drinke the very dregges of the cup of his wrath the iudgements in this life are but the smoke of wrath the preface vnto torments such stripes as Schoolemasters giue vnto little children that learn their A.B.C. But the iudgments in the world to come they are more then smoke they are the flaming fire it selfe read Mal. 3.4 they are more they the preface to torments they are the torments themselues so we read of the rich Glutton that he was in the torments Finally they are more then childrens smart they are the stripes of the oldest Truants such as are prouided for the Deuill and his Angels Eâ—eck 8.18 Then God will deale in his furie his mercie will not spare neither will hee haue pitie and though they crie in his eares with a loud voice hee will not heare them If any bodie desire to know more of the measure of the stroake let him reade the Prophets they are copious in amplifying the terrour of the Lords Day Besides this measure of the stroake there is a measure also of the time for in this world afflictions are but momentanie in the world to come they are eternall here heauinesse may continue for a night but ioy commeth againe in the morning as God doth not suffer all his indignation to arise so is he very quickly reconciled so quickly that it scarce can be remembred that he was offended certainly it is too vsually forgotten But in the world to come wrath is permanent Affliction as Nahum speaketh ariseth not the second time the worme neuer dieth neither doth the fire euer goe out This being the oddes in the measure it proueth that in comparison that which is inflicted in this life deserueth not the name of wrath especially if you adde the third difference the difference in the End Saint Austine doth giue vs a distinction of wrath Conâ— 2. â—â— Psal 58 â—a consunâ—ptiâ—nis Ira consummationis and telleth vs that there is a wrath consuming and a wrath consummating a wrath which God inflicts to make men the better and a wrath which God inflicts therewith vtterly to destroy men that is the wrath which he inflicteth in this life and this is the wrath which hee inflicteth in the life to come And indeed God in this life doth not punish man but the Deuill God reserueth mans punishment to the life to come The corruption that is in our nature is the Deuils possession in working out that God worketh out him and it is his intent to worke him out his stroakes here are like a physicall potion giuen to a sicke bodie not to abide in him but when it hath drawne vnto it selfe the matter of his disease to be cast out againe with the humour that did offend him This is the true end of Gods chastisements in this world But it is as true that this physicke doth not alwayes sort this effect the fault is not in the potion but in the stomacke that taketh it if the stomacke haue strength to make vse of the potion then doth it recouer thereby but if it want strength then doth the potion increase the peccant humours and augment the patients disease The wicked for want of grace are the worse for their punishment it proueth vnto them wrath of consumption but they that haue grace are the better wrath to them is better then laughter as the Preacher speaketh because by the sadnesse of the countenance the heart is made better â—celes 7. and chastisement bringeth forth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 yea Maior ira quädo Deus non requirit Saint Austine obserues well God is most displeased with vs in this world when hee is displeased least and his long patience here doth prognosticate his heauier vengeance hereafter it maketh it suspitious that we are bastards and no sonnes if seeing such is our infirmitie that wee cannot but sinne wee bee not timely reclaimed by chastisement of sinne But to shut vp this point that which proceedeth from loue and is executed with so tender a hand to so good a purpose as is our perfection doth not deserue the name of wrath this name belongeth more properly to that punishment which proceedeth from Gods hatred and is executed without mercie to the eternall destruction of man and that is The wrath to come therefore is the day thereof properly called The day of wrath and the persons that suffer then are properly The vessels of wrath In the number of which that we may not be we must harken to the Remedie And the Remedie is flying flie from the wrath to come if the Remedie be flying then there is no standing to it no trauersing of our indictment no bribing of our Iudge no priuiledge of our persons no reliefe from our strength no standing to it by these or any other meanes we must flie But flying is either corporall or spirituall the corporall will be attempted it should seeme so by Christs relation in the Gospel and Saint Iohn saith in the Reuelation Reuel 6 that Captaines and rich men and great men shall flie to the rockes to the hils and desire to be couered to be hid from the wrath of the Lambe but all in vaine for they are reiected by rocks and hilles And indeed whether should they flie then when all the world becommeth Gods jayle and euery creature becommeth his jaylour yea the showre that doth attend Christs comming to judgement is a showre of snares Psal 7. Amos 5.19 and the Prophets Amos especially doth excellently shew the vanitie of this flight It shall be as if a man did flie from a Lion and a Beare met him and he runneth from the Beare vnto a wall and there a Serpent biteth him that is whithersoeuer he turne he shall find those that will seize vpon him he cannot possibly escape not by flying corporally He must then flie spiritually and indeed it is spirituall flight that is the Remedie But what is spirituall flight Surely wee must conceiue and bee in trauell with amendment of our liues and neuer stop vntill we haue brought forth a compleate spirit of saluation that is we must flie from sinne and flie vnto grace in both which consisteth the flight from wrath Quem poenit et peccati iram Der mortalem facit Lactantius de ira Dâ—â— Hee that iudgeth himselfe in this world he whose heart is prickt with remorse of sinne whose heart trembleth melteth and is broken with the feare of Gods wrath hee that singeth the song of mercie and layeth hold vpon the Mercie-seat desiring
Saint Paul Rom. 6. speaking of Baptisme expresseth by Planting and he calls a Man newly baptised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 newly planted which word is frequent in the Councels Our note is We must acknowledge the prerogatiue of a Christian aboue other men which must carrie with it an acknowledgement of Gods speciall care vouchsafed the faithfull whereof Infidels haue no proofe they continue Wild whereas wee are Planted trees they lie in the dregs of Nature whereas we are brought to the state of Grace The second Good that is done to the Tree appeares in the Choice that is made of the Soyle It is no small benefit for a Tree to be planted but that is not enough it must also be fitted with conuenient ground otherwise much care might be ill spent here we haue choice ground it is locus irriguus well watered ground and such is commended for the growth of Trees especially if the waters bee artificially diuided and carried round about the Trees that they may yeeld nourishment to the root which way soeuer they spread and such is the site of our Tree it is not onely planted by the waters but also by the diuisions of waters it hath iuyce enough and that well disposed This is the outside of the resemblance but the inside teacheth vs that as we Christians are beholding to God the Father by whose care we are planted so are we to God the Sonne by whose Spirit wee are watered For indeed by Baptisme we are incorporated into Christ He is the soyle that beares the spirituall Trees Cap. 13. Hee is the Fountaine opened to the house of Israel for cleansing mentioned in Zacharie Cap. 4. He is a Well of liuing waters springing vnto eternall life whereof we read in Saint Iohn Hee is the waters that streaming from the Sanctuarie ran into the Dead Sea Ezek. 47. and were both Sanantes and Viuificantes healed the Trees that grew on the bankes thereof and made them beare fruit abundantly both which properties are necessarily required for a transplanted Tree that it may cease to bee what it was and become what it should be And wee doe finde a mortifying and a quickening grace in Christ abolishing our Old Man and reuiuing the New Finally there are in Christ Riui aquarum Ioh. 7. He that beleeueth in me saith Christ out of his belly shall flow riuers of waters of life yea as wee haue manifold diseases and wants so may wee finde manifold remedies and supplies in Christ His grace doth compasse vs on euerie side and is at hand euerie where to steed vs. So good choyce hath God made of the Soyle wherein to plant the Trees and so well are Christians prouided for that are made members of Christ And so haue I opened vnto you the good that is done for this Tree let vs now goe on and see what good comes of it And wee shall finde that as it receiued so it yeelds a double good for it proues welll and is well approued it proues well whether you looke to the Principall or to the Accessorie Good which is expected of a Tree The Principall Good is to beare good Fruit and so doth this it bringeth forth fruit Fructus comes from fruor it must bee such a thing as is vsefull not briers or thornes that scratch and spoile of which kinde there is more then enough appearing as well in mens liues as growing vpon Trees Whereupon it comes to passe that the Prouerbe is changed and in stead of Homo homini Deus wee may now say Homo homini Daemon Men liue not for their mutuall good but ruine As that which a Tree beares must be Fruit so must hee bring it forth Those that are planted in the Church must not conceale the grace they haue receiued no more then a Tree doth his sap Wee glorie in the discouerie of rich metals and precious stones that nature hath buried in the earth and the sea wee suffer nothing of this great world to lye hid we loue to bring it forth to behold to shew it so should we deale with the gifts and graces which God hath treasured vp in this our little world No Tree should striue more to send forth fruits then wee to bring forth workes But we must looke that the Works be good as the Fruit of this Tree is It hath the two markes of good Fruit set vpon it it is kindly it is timely Lignum rationale saith Hilarie dat fructum non confusè non importunè As the naturall so the spirituall Tree bringeth forth fruit neither confusedly nor vnseasonably Let vs behold these two properties first in the Naturall then in the Spirituall Tree First let vs see how kinde it is Profert fructum suum Suum is a Relatiue and lookes backe vnto the good that is done for the Tree the first appeares in the care of him that of a wilde Tree madâ— it a planted Tree and it must not degenerate againe and beare Fruit answerable to his former stocke being a generous Vine it must not beare wilde Grapes nor sower Oliues being made partaker of the Sweetnesse of the true Oliue Tree The Children of God must not liue like the Sonnes of men neither must the members of the second Adam liue as if they were members of the first We are offended when we see such degenerating in the Trees of our Orchard it were to be wished we dâ—d not approue it in our selues that are of the garden of God The ouerflowing of Atheismes Heresies and impurities doe testifie to the world that we beare vnkindly fruit But Suum His fruit refers not onely to the Husbandmans care but also to the fruitfulnesse of the soyle and so requires not onely a good nature but a good measure also For a Tree to beare scant fruit where there is good store of iuyce must needs be vnkindly and it is not kindly for men to be sparing in doing well who are rooted so neere vnto the Fountaine of grace For him that hath fiue talents to yeeld but two or him that hath ten to yeeld but fiue will make but a bad accompt seeing God expects that men shall render according to that which they doe receiue Moreouer Suum doth import a respect to the doer and also vnto others as it is ioyned with Profert Looke vpon it and you shall finde that grace gâ—ueâ— abilitie to doe well but the Faculties of our soule seasoned with grace are they that are exercised in well doing therefore is the worke reputed ours as the Fruit is reputed to be borne by the branch of the wilde Oliue though it be beholding to the new stocke of whose fatnesse and sweetnesse it doth partake for that it is able to beare such Fruit It is no small honour that God doth vs in that he makes his gifts so become ours But as Suum giues vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Possession and Proprietie of the worke so Prefert cals for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or
done which haue denied Originall Sinne. Their Sobrietie is tolerable who supposing the vndeniable truth of that Radicall sinne seeke only the waies of clearing Gods Iustice in this propagation wherein as in such darke and doubtfull cases it often falls out Saluà fide holding the fundamentall point they differ about that which is not necessarie vnto Saluation That which is most vsefull for vs is to know rather how we may be rid of it De Moribus 〈◊〉 c. â— 1. c. 22. â—pis 29. then how we doe contract it which Saint Austin expresseth in a fit Parable of a man fallen into a ditch to whom hee that findeth him there should rather lende a hand to helpe him out then tire him with inquiries how he came in Wee see that our ground is ouergrowne with briars thornes yet we know that God made the earth to beare better fruits doe good husbands mispend their time in reasoning how they came there or doe they not rather with their plough and other instruments seeke to rid them thence surely they doe and we in the case of our soules should imitate them so doing That Originall Sinne is in vs no man can doubt that seeth how children die euen in their mothers wombe or so soone as they come out of it and the wages of sinne is death in them of Actuall it cannot be Rom. 6.23 it must bee then of Originall if they liue wee make hast to baptize them and what doth Baptisme implie but that they need a new Birth vnto life seeing their first was no better then a Birth vnto death Add hereunto that our Sauiour Christs Conception had not needed to be by the Holy Ghost if so bee naturall generation did not enforce necessarily the propagation of Originall Sinne which they should consider that magnifie ouer much the Conception of the blessed mother of Christ Let it suffice vs that the Church Catholique of old and the Reformed Churches haue resolued vniformly that we are sinners so soone as we begin to bee and this Leprosie is hereditarie to vs all that our worser part hath gotten the vpper hand of our better and we are by nature no better then a masse of Corruption and the Serpents brood the sense whereof should make vs all cry out with the Apostle O wretch that I am Rom. 7.24 who shall deliuer mee from this Body of Death King Dauid doth not onely confesse that there is such a Sinne but also that himselfe is tainted therewith I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne my mother conceiued me The words must not be wrested some haue mistaken them as if Sinne were the cause of Generation That opinion though it bee found in some Ancients yet it is so grosse that it is not worth the refuting for we reade Gen. 1. Multiplie and increase Vers 28. spoken to mankind before euer Adam and Eue committed sinne except happily this were their meaning that before the Fall the lust of generation was in the power of man to fulfill or restraine it as reason saw fit but after the Fall reason became subiect vnto lust and man fulfilled it not when reason would but when lust vrged him and this opinion is not improbable A second mistake is that Dauid should lay the blame of his Sinne vpon his Parents and taxe their sinfull lusts in the act of generation but besides that he could not conceiue so ill of his vertuous and chast Parents this were to make Dauid a Cham and so to deserue a Curse while hee seeketh a Pardon for his Sinne. The Father 's abhorred this sense and obserue that King Dauid here speaketh not of the personall sinne of his Parents but the naturall which deriued from them he had in-herent in himselfe and that he was in the state of sinne before he saw light But this is strange his Parents were members of the Church circumcised not onely outwardly which is most certaine but inwardly also which is very probable and if circumcised then discharged from Originall Sin and in the state of Grace how commeth it about then that they should engender Children in the state of Corruption Saint Austin answereth briefly Parentes non ex principijs nouitatis De. Peecata Merit Remis L. 2. C. 2. sed ex reliquijs vetustatis generant liberos they that are regenerated doe beget Children not according to the new Adam but according to the old not according to Grace but according to nature for Grace is personall the corruption is naturall and God will that they shall only communicate their nature and leaue the dispensation of Grace vnto himselfe Saint Austin illustrateth it by those who being circumcised begat Children vncircumcised and Corne which being winnowed from Chaffe brings forth eares full of Chaffe And yet notwithstanding a Prerogatiue the Children of the faithfull haue Verse 16. which Saint Paul toucheth at Rom. 11. If the Roote be holy so are the branches But this Holinesse is in possibilitie rather then in possession and there is a distance betweene naturall Generation and spirituall Regeneration though by their naturall birth-right the Children of the faithfull haue a right vnto the blessings of Gods Couenant yet doe they not partake them but by their new birth which ordinarily they receiue in Baptisme â—it 3.5 which is therefore called the Bath of Regeneration Where hence we may gather the truth of Saint Hieromes saying Christiani non nascuntur sed siunt wee may not vainely boast with the Iewes we haue Abraham to our Father Ioh. 8.39 as if hee could not beget children in iniquitie but it must be our comfort that God corrects Nature by Grace and thereby maketh vs liuing members of the Church whereas such the best of naturall Parents cannot make vs to bee Wee owe this blessing to our Father in Heauen who conueieth it vnto vs by our Mother the Church our naturall Parents can yeeld no such benefit they yeeld the contrarie rather as is cleare in this Text. Ruffinvs giueth another good note hereof Qui ad munditiae locum iam peruenit c. He that is in the state of Grace must not forget the state of Nature if we remember whence we come we shall the better esteeme the estate whereunto we are brought No man can be so proud as to arrogate vnto himselfe the praise of that which he is if hee mind well what without Gods grace he was But King Dauid was long before Regenerated how comes he now to make mention of Originall sinne How comes hee now to lay the blame of his Actuall vpon that Surely not without good cause Circumcision in the Iew as Baptisme in the Christian did absolue from all the guilt of Originall sinne by meanes of Iustification and by meanes of Sanctification did impaire much of the strength thereof Much I say but not all there are still in vs reliques of the Old man a Law in our members rebelling against the Law of our mind Rom. 7.23
is not the first time that we are beholding to Gods grace the very word Regeneration may teach we had this cleane heart and right spirit when we were first created for wee were created after Gods image sinne lost it grace restored it now you know that if a Tenant forfeit his Lease and a Land-lord after re-entry restore it to him againe this is a worke of his goodnesse which is more then a worke of his ability for many are able and doe it not therefore if any being able doe it the inducement is not his ability but his goodnesse the like must we conceiue of God it was his pittying mercie that imployed his almighty power to repaire what we had ruined to recouer what we had lost to restore what we had forfeited a cleane heart and a right spirit Finally both the creating and the renewing are actus continui workes that God neuer intermitteth otherwise we should quickly come to nothing or rather which is worse then nothing become fire-brands of hell for wee dayly forfeit by sin and God may daily take aduantage of our breach of his Couenant Adde hereunto that our Regeneration is not in facto but in fieri and therefore needeth a perpetuall influence and supportance for this cause though Dauid were now in the state of grace yet doth he begge grace of God though God had created in him a cleane heart yet doth he desire that God would create a cleane heart in him and though he bad renewed in him a right Spirit yet doth he pray that God would renew a right Spirit within him so doth he wisely prouide against forfeitures and religiously beg the increase of that which he had receiued But I conclude sicut rogauit Dauid it a debet vnusquisque nostrûm saith S. Hierom Dauids prayer is a praier that beseems vs all we all beare about vs a body of sin and we should all desire that it might be abolished We should indeed but who doth who doth enquire into the vncleannesse of his heart and the crookednesse of his spirit or who taketh notice whether there be in him at all any part of Regeneration nay who doth shew that there is any Nazianzene Oratione 43. writing de Encaeâ—ijs doth giue a good obseruation how a man should know whether his heart haue any part in this Creation or his spirit in this Renouation yesterday thou wert a time seruer to day thou art not ashamed of thy Sauiour Christ yesterday thou didst affect the praise of men to day thou settest more by an honest life yesterday thou wert delighted with vain spectacles to day thou art giuen to diuine meditations c. if thou find such a change Haec mutatio dextrae excelsi God hath put to his mercifull power to make thee a new man if it be otherwise with thee and the day following find thee as bad as thou wert the day before thou hast no part in Regeneration A fearfull case because the Psalmist mouing the question to God Psal 24. Who shall ascend into the mountaine of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place answers Euen he that hath innocent hands and a pure heart Wherfore be ye renewed in the spirit of your minds put on the New-Man Eph. 4.25 which after God is created in righteousnes true holines or because this is a worke too hard for any one of vs Let vs euery one pray with K. Dauid in this place Create in me a clean heart ô God renew a right spirit within me AMEN PSAL. 51. VERS 11. Cast mee not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from mee KIng Dauids desire set forth in the first part of this Psalme is that hee may be restored vnto and preserued in the state of grace How he desires to bee restored you haue hitherto seene you haue seene how hee sueth first in generall that Gods Mercie would relieue his Miserie Gods great mercy his deepe miserie Secondly in speciall how hee brancheth his owne sinne and Gods grace hee confesseth sinne which himselfe committed and that which he inherited from his parents and hee beggeth a two-fold grace that the cure may be proper to each kind of sinne finally he would not haue a plaister narrower then his sore nor a medicine that could not throughly remedy his disease Thus he desires to be restored But to be restored is not enough a Penitents desire must carrie him farther for how shall it appeare that hee doth vnfainedly sorrow for sinne and affect goodnesse except he be as desirous to continue in as to bee brought vnto the state of grace 〈◊〉 Pet. 2. Nay Saint Peter will tell vs that it were better neuer to haue knowne the way of righteousnesse then after wee haue knowne it to returne like dogges to our vomit and like swine to our wallowing in the myre Wherefore the second desire was necessarie for King Dauid and must bee exemplarie vnto vs. Let vs come then to it It is set downe in this and the following Verse and conceiued in a double prayer first in deprecation and secondly in supplication a prayer against that which King Dauid deserued and a prayer for that without which King Dauid could not perseuere we will meddle now onely with the former prayer But in the passage I may not forget a good note of Saint Bernards where he commends King Dauids method Serm. 3. de Penticost and obserues that after hee hath prayed Create in me a cleane heart O Lord renew a right spirit within me he prayeth seasonably Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me When we offend we fall into sinne and out of fauour and when we repent wee must not desire to be receiued into fauour vntill we are first acquitted from sinne otherwise wee shall betray that we wish there were no Sanction of the Law but as for the transgression of the Law we are not much moued therwith wheras the least sinne must be more irkesome to a repenting soule then the most grieuous punishment But let vs breake vp this prayer wherein I will note two things 1. the Manner and 2. the Matter the manner is a prayer against the matter is that which King Dauid deserued Now that which he deserued comprehends two fearefull iudgements 1. Reiection and 2. Depriuation I will cleare these two tearmes vnto you While we are in the state of grace wee haue communion with God and God hath communion with vs God receiueth vs into his family and we attend him we weare his liuerie and are knowne to belong vnto him the first giueth vs free accesse vnto his presence and the second is a participation of his holy spirit Sinne as much as lieth in it dissolues both these communions for we deserue by it first that God discharge vs of his seruice giue vs no longer place in his family which is that which I called Reiection Secondly we deserue that God take from
vs his liuerie leaue vs no marke of our reference to him and this is that which I called depriuation But more distinctly in reiection we will obserue 1. from what Place and state both are included in Gods presence Secondly with what disgrace and danger a sinner deserues to bee reiected we may gather them both out of the words Cast out In the depriuation we will obserue first Whereof secondly how farre a sinner may be depriued Whereof first of what gift of the Holy spirit then What worth there is in the gift spiritus tuus thy holy Spirit or the Spirit of thy Holinesse a most precious gift of this a sinner deserueth to be depriued But how farre that appeareth in aufer as the taking away which wee will resolue into these two Notes the first is the taking backe of the spirit which God once gaue him and therefore some render it Ne recipias withdraw not secondly the spirit is so taken backe that nothing of it remaines with a sinner it is not a diminution but an ablation a stripping him wholy of the Spirit of God Finally both these reiection and depriuation must bee considered not in themselues but also in their consequences and the consequences are two and they much aggrauate the fearefulnesse of the iudgement The first is We cannot be reiected of our old good Master but wee shall fall into the hands of another who is much worse and wee shall be forced to weare a much worse Liuerie if we be stript of his Looke whatsoeuer good we lose we shall fall vnder the contrarie euill if we bee reiected if we be depriued This is the first Consequence A second is that such a sinners Case is desperate God will heare no mans praiers for him and he wil giue him no grace to pray for himselfe And what can follow but that being brought into so bad a case he senselesly runne a gracelesse course which commeth to the maine point of my Text which I told you was a desire of perseuerance in grace whereunto nothing can bee more opposite then this reiection and depriuation which is prayed against by our penitent King And so haue I broken vp this Text the parts whereof I shall now open farther vnto you God grant they may further our religious repentance First then of the manner of the Prayer I told you it is a deprecation a praying against When we are in danger we must not be senselesse bee it but corporall how much more if it be spirituall Now that we are sensible wee can giue no better proofe then if wee pray against the danger yea the more earnest wee are in prayer the more doe wee manifest the prouident feare of our soules Dauid had committed enormous sinnes adultery 1. Cor. â— 6 1. Iob. 3.15 murder of adulterers Saint Paul tels vs that none shall enter into the Kingdome of Heauen and of the murderer Saint Iohn tels vs that hee hath not eternall life abiding in him King Dauid finding himselfe in this danger had reason to fall vnto this kind of prayer especially hauing before his eyes the wofull example of his Predecessor Saul But what needed hee 1. Sam. â— God had promised that it should goe well with him and with his seed also and that when they sinne though hee will punish them he will not withdraw his Mercy as he did from Saul whom hee cast out from before his eyes yea and Dauid for his particular had his pardon brought vnto him by Nathan It is true But it is as true that he that doth recouer out of a desperate danger is not so soone secure as hee is safe behold it in a corporall danger If a man were ready to fall into a deepe pit and a stander by timely stretch out his hand and recouer him hee cannot so soone recouer his spirits as hee saued his life you shall see him looke wan feele his heart tremble scarce get a word from him or make him stand vpon his feet he will aske some pretty time before hee can come to himselfe againe And may we thinke that hee that found himselfe vpon the brinke of Hell that saw himselfe entring at the gates of aeternall death that was singed with the flames of that vnquenchable fire and felt the palpable darkenesse of that euerlasting night though by Gods mercy hee tumbled not into the pit came not into the Chambers of death was not deuoured of the fire nor cast into the vtter darknesse thinke wee I say that hee can soone forget those affrighting spectacles that hee can suddainly calme those stormes which they raised in his soule that hee can as soone be secured as hee is safe certainly he cannot they that haue beene exercised in such conflicts yeeld vndenyable proofe and therefore wonder not that King Dauid notwithstanding Gods gracious promise as if hee did forget it maketh this kind of prayer vnto God Adde hereunto that God doth not giue his promises to make vs idle but to exercise our faith in importuning God for a performance 1. â—im 4.8 Pietie hath the promise both of this life and of that which is to come yet doe wee not forbeare dayly to say the Lords Prayer that we may speed of both Our rule then is That wee must vse Gods Promises as directions in not as dispensations from the deuotion we owe vnto God And let this suffice touching the manner of the Prayer Let vs come now to the matter And first let vs looke to the Reiection wherein the first particular was the Place from whence a sinner deserueth to bee reiected that is here called the presence of God God from the beginning of the world had a speciall place whereat hee appeared to the Patriarkes and they performed their deuotions at it the learned gather it out of the 4. of Genesis where God threatneth that Cain should bee a vagabond and Cain complaineth that hee was cast from the presence of God that is excommunicated from the visible Church and the seuering of the sonnes of God from the sonnes of Men seemeth to haue bin in regard of the meeting in that speciall place But howsoeuer that may be doubted it is out of all question that when God made the Israelites a nationall Church hee had a visible presence amongst them hee commanded the Tabernacle to be built for that purpose whereinto he entred in the Cloud and rested betweene the Cherubims on the Mercy-seat This was the typicall presence of a spirituall residence of God of his gracious dwelling amongst his people This was a thing so much reuerenced by the Patriarkes Psal 27. that they held it a great blessing to enioy it Vnum petij aith King Dauid One thing haue I desired of the Lord and that will I still require that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the faire beauty of the Lord and to visit his holy Temple As it was a comfort to them to enioy
benè amatur quod amandum est vt sit in nobis virtus qua bene viuitur so that hee liueth iustly and holily which passeth a true iudgement vpon the obiects of Loue and such a one is hee onely that hath his Charitie well ordered for hee nec vtitur fruendis nec fruitur vtendis hee doth not mis-applie his Loue. But where is he In Cant. cap 2. vers 4. Nunc confusam in plerisque inordinatam licet videre Charitatem it is Gregorie Nyssens complaint and this inordinatenesse began very early Saint Iude telleth vs of the Angels that they kept not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Originall which is in effect they did not obserue the subordination of these Commandements they would haue no dependencie vpon God and so shut him out of their Loue Adam did no better who being made after the Image of God affected another likenesse and so cast off the first of these two Commandements The children of God that coupled themselues with the daughters of men were most infamous for this disorder of their Charitie And who is not guiltie of it where bee the Parents that begin not their loue at their Children and care for no more of the loue of God then may stand with their thriuing for them Saint Paul insinuates as much concerning man and wife when hee telleth vs that the vnmarried care for those things which belong vnto the Lord but the marryed take care for those things wherein they may please each the other as if that were ordinarily their principall care And how seruants forget their loue of God while they seeke to please their masters you may perceiue in euery shop where apprentises are inured to lying false-swearing deceiuing and all to aduance their masters commodity It were infinite to runne ouer all degrees of persons but if you list to doe it you shall finde that all their Charitie is out of order for want of this Order and that they place the precedencie of their loue amisse And it were well if men went no farther then to preferre Man before God there is as much disorder in our loue of Things yea the disorder in the loue of Persons groweth from the disorderly loue of Things O ciues ciues quaerenda pecuniaprimum est Virtus post nummos Prophane men thinke that gaine is the best godlinesse and couetous men will sell euen their soules for a morsell of bread Esau sold his birth-right for a messe of pottage yea Iudas sold our Sauiour Christ for thirtie pieces of siluer De doâ—â— Christ 〈◊〉 1 cap 23. Saint Austin distinguishing things telleth vs that some are supra aboue vs as God some intra within vs as our owne soules and selues some iuxta euen with vs as our neighbours some infra below vs as the world and worldly things wee may adde some contra our deadly enemies as are the Diuell and the powers of darknesse Of these Loue is due to God aboue vs to our Selues to our Neighbours wee finde them all three in the Commandement of Loue but we finde not there those things which are below vs much lesse those things which are opposite to vs. And yet when we come to consider what Order the world keepeth in Loue we shall finde that these two which God neuer thought worthy of our Loue haue the greatest share therein and wee haue no leasure to loue the other so great is our loue to these at least our forwardnesse in the loue of these maketh vs backward in the loue of the other our meate our money our pleasure our profit that were by the Creation subiected vnto vs are become masters of our affections yea the cursed serpent can so charme them that wee will denie him nothing and men like a generation of vipers doe his will as if the Diuell were their Father so farreis Charitie disordered The more reason haue we to listen to this Method of Lone which is here taught by our Sauiour Christ and thinke that there is more in these two words First and Second then wee did happly apprehend Certainly the knowledge of them is of great consequence for it is the true rule of vertue and the obseruance of them is of great difficultie for our corrupt nature can hardly be brought vnto it wherfore we must imprint deeply in our mindes that which wee haue heard and pray God that wee may haue grace to doe what we are taught LOrd wee confesse that our Loue hither to hath beene peruerse and that nothing can rectifie it but thy Spirit Wee beseech thee that hee may so informe our iudgement and reforme our affections that we consecrate the first fruits of our Charitie vnto thee and that thou mayest haue the precedencie therein But let not our Charitie rest there but descending from thee let it light on those to whom thou directest it yet so that but for thee and in thee we may loue nothing beside thee So shall wee bee thy beloued if wee bee such Louers and bee admitted into the blessed societie of those whom thou hast honoured with the name of thy friends in the Kingdome of Heauen The seuenth Sermon MATT. 22. VERSE 37. Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soule and with all thy strength This is the first and great Commandement IN bestowing our Charitie wee must obserue an Order and a Measure an Order because concerning it we find in this Text a First and Second commandement a Measure because of the two Commandements the one is great the other is but like vnto it Hauing the last Lords day opened the Order it followeth that this day the Measure be opened vnto you For entrance hereunto wee must take these two Rules First though Charitie bee a common due to God and our Neighbour yet must they not both bee serued by the same Measure and why the Persons are vnequall God is infinite our Neighbour is finite and wee may not dispense equall portions to vnequall persons The second Rule is That the Order layeth the foundation of the Measure and therefore is the Order correspondent vnto the Measure hee that hath the praecedencie in must haue the praeheminence of our Charity and whom wee must loue last wee must loue least God is first in Order therefore must hee haue the greatest measure thou must loue him with all thy heart all thy minde c. thy Neighbour is but second therefore hee must haue a lesser measure thou must loue him as thy selfe The time will not suffice me so farre as is meete to handle both these Measures wherefore I will confine my paines to the former and that is exprest in these words all thy heart minde soule If wee must loue the Lord our God with all these then wee must loue him perfectly but that perfection is no other then the perfection of a man for thou must loue him with heart mind and soule so that we haue two points to handle first the
the onely reason why I must loue my selfe And this will lead vs to another note Christ saith that wee must loue our neighbour as our selfe but not for our selfe that were amor concupiscentiae but ours must bee amor amicitiae hee that loueth for himselfe ceaseth to loue 2. Cor. 12. if he cannot and when he doth not speed of his owne benefit but hee that can say with Saint Paul Quaero vos non vestra will say with him Idem I will loue you though the more I loue the lesse I am beloued Such loue is a stable loue like that of Booz towards Ruth whereof Naomi said the man will not be at rest vntill he hath finished the matter But yet obserue that though a man must loue his neighbour rather for his neighbours sake then for his owne that loueth him yet must hee not doe it so much for his neighbours sake as for Gods towards whom hee must bend all his neighbours loue as being the vpshot of humane felicitie This which I haue obserued in thesi or in generall concerning our neighbour must bee applyed in hypothesi and fitted to euery degree of neighbours Though they be knit together by naturall or ciuill obligations which yeeld reason of lower degrees of loue yet must not Christians rest there they must improue their loue vntil they haue brought it as high as this measure of grace Parents loue their children Gouernours those that are commited to their charge Citizens Friends loue each the other but whatsoeuer else causeth this loue wee loue them not as our selues except first hauing qualified our selues with the loue of God we qualifie them therewith also It is a question whether As bee a note of similitude or equality so that it is enough to loue our neighbour with such a loue as wee loue our selues though not with so great A needlesse question if Christs words bee vnderstood as I haue opened them If you take them in the first sense as the measure of our mutuall loue is dictated by the light of Nature there can be no doubt but the measure must be equall for how can I suppose my selfe in another mans state and him in mine and in reason deale any iot worse with him then I would haue him leale with me if the case were altered to scant the measure if it were but in the least graine is plaine philautie or corrupt loue of a mans selfe Take the measure in that sense which is dictated by Grace and that will admit no inequalitie of loue for should I loue the loue of God in any man lesse then I doe in my selfe that would sauour of enuy at the least if not implerie for I should haue an euill eye when God is good yea I should not as I ought take comfort in the highest aduancement of the honour of God The Scripture teacheth vs to doe farre otherwise A new Commandement giue I vnto you saith Christ that you loue one another as I haue loued you that you also loue one another Ioh 13. Now you know how Christ loued vs and gaue himselfe for vs forgetting as it were all the content that hee tooke in his owne Holines and Happines that he might promote ours Saint Iohn applies it to vs 1. Ioh. 3. Hereby perceiue we the loue of God because hee laid downe his life for vs and we ought to lay downe our liues for the Brethren Take an instance in Saint Paul Phil. 2. If I be offered vpon the sacrifice and seruice of your faith that is in working and increasing it I ioy and reioyce with you all for the same cause also doe you ioy and reioyce with mee Or if this instance doe not satisfie because that Saint Pauls death which hee wished was a martyrdome and though hee preferred the loue of the Brethren before his corporall life yet therein he manifested the greater loue to God for higher in his loue to God during this life a man cannot ascend then willingly to bee a Martyr to to seale Gods truth with his bloud and confirme the faith of the Church Rom 9. S. Paul hath another of a higher straine concerning the loue of our neighbour which be vtterth with a sad Preface testifying that hee is earnest and well aduised I say the truth in Christ I lie not my Conscience also bearing me witnesse in the Holy Ghost that I haue great heauines and continuall sorrow in my heart for I could wish that my selfe were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the flesh Diuine brotherly Loue how dost thou transport the Apostle to whom Hell is not terrible nor the losse of Heauen grieuous so the Israelites might escape the one and obtaine the other And did hee not then loue them more then himselfe But might hee doe it and may wee imitate him herein Surely hee might without any offence to God testifie his wish because hee doth not contradict Gods decree which will not haue Holinesse vnhappie but supposing there were a posibility that a man hauing no sinne might bee subiected to those torments hee meanes that he could be contented to vndergoe euen the torments of Hell so the Israelites might haue the grace to belieue in Christ and to haue such a minde is no sinne but it bringeth Charitie to the highest pitch to which it can possibly be raised in a Creature Neither is there any reason why we may not imitate him herein seeing what was vertuous in him cannot be vicious in another man But indeed it is not to bee expected that our Charitie will euer fall into so heauenly an Ecstasis it is well if we come so farre as to loue our neighbour as our selfe although it is not improbably obserud by some vpon those passages which before I cited out of Saint Iohn that the Law which biddeth vs loue our Neighbour as our selfe could not teach perfect Charity because the Iewes being vnder age were not capable of so profound a doctrine and therefore Christ vnder the new Testament goeth farther with the Church being of ripe age and would haue Christians loue their neighbours more then themselves this is a new or Euangelicall Sicut Which being true Aquinas his conceipt followed by many Romanists must needs be false who teacheth that it is against nature moralitie and Charitie for a man to loue his neighbour more then himselfe except happily wee will distinguish betweene the inward affection and the outward action of Charitie the inward affection must be equall to all at least as great as to our selues but in outward action because it is impossible for vs to doe this good vnto all we must dispense it as farre as our abilitie will reach proportioning our indeauour according to the number and strictnesse of obligations whereby wee stand bound to persons for so is Pauls rule Galath 6. While we haue time let vs doe good to all men especially to those that are of the Houshold of faith and in
part of the commaundement there is perfectio viatoris and comprehensoris Perfectio comprehensoris the perfection of a man when hee commeth to heauen will bee this saith Saint Austin Non concupiscet hee will not there couet at all couet any thing against the prescript of Gods Law But wee may not exspect to haue that perfection in this life because God is pleased euen in his best Children to continue here Luctam inter spiritum carnem a conflict betweene the flesh and the spirit Onely in Baptisme hee taketh away reatum Concupiscentis and regnum Concupiscentiae those that are regenerated are not guiltie because sinfull Concupiscence is or stirreth in them neither doth Concupiscence continue her soueraigntie ouer them So that God vnto their perfection in the Church militant requires onely of his Children vt post Concupiscentias ne eant that they take no care for the flesh to sulfill the lusts thereof Rom 13 14. Rom 8. v. 1. And there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus that walke not after the flesh but after the spirit which is Saint Pauls conclusion vpon the conflict described Rom. 7. and he shewes plainely that hee would haue it vnderstood of the New and Old mans Conflict not of reason and sensualitie as the Arminians And can men performe so much as in the Apostles words is required The Romanists say they can but they say it vntruely For this contention of the spirit and the flesh is not duellum but Bellum it is not a single combat but a plaine warre And you know there is great ods betweene these for in a single combat a man is to ward but one and bee hath but one to wound But in the warre in a pitch't battaile Singuli pugnant contra omnes omnes contra singulos euerie man must take care of all his enemies that are in the field For there is not one of them but may giue him a wound eminus or cominus either buckling with him or striking him from aloofe So that when he gardeth his head from one another may smite him at the heart when he maketh all sure before he may be smitten behind or he may be pierced in the sides As hee is thus encumbred in the defensiue so is he in the offensiue also he may not thinke himselfe safe so long as any one of his enemies doth liue Behold here a liuely Image of the militant Souldiers of Christ they haue not to doe with one but with many enemies the flesh the world the diuell And these haue vnder them many desperate Souldiers The flesh as many as wee haue senses and affections parts of our bodies and powers of our Soules The world as many as there are creatures And the diuell is a Prince of many legions Wee must withstand them all and that at all times and not onely withstand them but also stand against them at all times wee must looke to be set vpon by them and we must set vpon them A very hard taske Pluribus intentus minor est ad singula sensus saith the prouerb and the more our strength is distracted by many the lesse must it needs be against any one Were I onely to defend my eye happily I might make my part good against the lust thereof but at the same instant that I turne them away least they behold vanitie I am assaulted with an itching in my eare that is exposed to flatterie Put the case I bestirre my selfe so well that I keepe the enemie out of both those inlets he will giue mee a fall by my tongue he will cast some firie Dart into that it shall be set on fire of Hell as Saint Iames speaketh to slander to blaspheme Iames 3.6 to speake some idle or euill words Neither are my hands secure at the very same time from being sollicited with briberie or vnto bloudshed It were infinite to goe ouer all the powers of my Soule all the parts of my body they are all at once and euer in the same danger and must all at once and euer be put vnto the same labour both defensiue and offensiue Adde hereunto three great disaduantages of the spirituall warfare aboue the corporall for in the corporall warfare as there are many enemies so those against whom they come being many distract them that they cannot all fall vpon one but in the spirituall warre it is not so all our spirituall foes at one time may set vpon euerie one of vs yea they neuer goe a sunder for our flesh euer ioyneth with the world and the diuell with them both The second disaduantage is that whereas open hostilitie in earthly warfare is not alwayes accompanied with treacherie in the spirituall it is For our selues hold secret intelligence with and yeeld assistance to our ghostly enemies we betray vnto them a propension that we haue to be conquered And when the battle ioynes our members become weapons of vnrighteousnesse and with our owne lusts wee fight against our owne soules The third disaduantage is that in earthly warfare when the souldiers come to execution they spare none and they goe vpon a good principle shall I spare his bloud that will be euer ready to spill mine 1. Sam. 15. Reg. 20. Saul in sparing Agag and Ahab who spared Benhadad were taxed and punished for their foolish pittie But of this foolish pittie there appeares too much in our spirituall warfare for if God bring the world vnder vs yea and our flesh too we are afraid to be hard hearted to either of them wee hold it too much spiritualtie to crucifie the world and wee hold it too much inhumanitie to crucifie our owne flesh And by reason of this indulgence euen when they are foyled they are still in heart still in hope to recouer the masterie and bring vs vnder againe This being the condition of sinfull man the Schoolemen hold that no man in the state of grace is of sufficient strength to ouer come all sin though they adde that there is no one sinne which hee may not ouercome they speake of actuall sinnes and they speake truely if they bee vnderstood of that which a man may doe For if a man be tempted vnto any sinne if hee pray vnto God for grace and make vse of that grace which God doth giue him hee may with-hold his consent and choose whether he will act it and if he doe consent and act it hee is without all excuse Tertullian hath a prettie simile when two striue oftentimes the one ouercommeth the other not because the conquerour was the stronger but because he that is conquered was the more cowardly and such cowards the best of men doe proue very often in their spirituall war are But it is in vaine to dispute what may be done by grace against all sin or any one sin otherwise then to shew al mens frailty For the least of the two was neuer so done as that any man can truely boast of perfectio
there bee different callings in the Church some are Pastors and some are people yet as the saluation is common vnto both so are also Faith Hope and Charitie In morall duties in workes of Pietie and Charitie the Priest must goe with the people and the people must goe with the Priest though the Priest must goe before the people in these things yet must hee not goe alone yea Moses himselfe though otherwise a Shepheard yet herein is a sheepe he that sanctified others must sanctifie himselfe A Gouernour must in vertue be exemplary to his charge These persons must be prepared And Sanctification is the best preparation the word signifieth also to be Confirmed And indeed Puritie is the ground of Confidence sinne is fearefull as you may perceiue by Esay's Wâ—e is me Chap. 6. and Saint Peters Goe from me Master Luke 6. reade Psal 1. Luke 21. Esay 58. and Wisdome 5. it appeares there that righteousnesse is confident in the presence of God and the enemies thereof I haue done with the persons whom this Sanctifying concerneth Let vs now come to the circumstance I will runne them ouer briefly The first is the place the place was the Tents the ordinarie abode of the Israelites thither Moses was sent Goe to the people and whether he was sent there is was to be done And indeed the Acts required could conueniently bee done no where else for where a man vsed his wife there he was to forbeare and where doe the people vse to wash their clothes but at home That which we must take notice of is this Before we come from home wee must thinke whither wee are going and fit our selues for Gods presence before we come at him We must not haue our worldly much lesse our wicked affections to put off when wee enter into Gods House our shooes must be put off before we tread vpon holy ground priuate meditations and deuotions must goe before the publike hearing of Gods Word and performing of diuine seruice and seldome doth hee serue God at Church that doth not beginne his pietie at home And the reason why our deuotion is so often interrupted by vnseasonable and vnreasonable thoughts and desires in the Church is because we doe not rid our selues as we ought of them by preparing Sanctification before wee come there Wherefore that wee may bee much more religious when we come into this place let euery man begin the practice of his religion in his owne house The second circumstance is the circumstance of Time this I told you is twofold First here is set downe a time during which this Sanctifying was a doing that is to day and to morrow The time allowed for Sanctifying varieth much in Moses Law in some cases it was but one day in some seuen dayes in some fortie dayes in some eightie dayes you may read it in Leuiticus I will not now enquire into the reason of the varietie That which I will obserue is this our Clensing or Sanctifying is not perfected in an instant As wounds are easily taken but not easily cured so are sinnes quickly contracted but not quickly purged Sinnes are compared vnto scumme and you know meate will aske some good boyling before all the scumme will come out of it it is compared to drosse and you know metals must be long in the fire before they will bee refined from their drosse or to keepe my selfe to my text staines if they bee deepe in a garment will not bee fetcht out without the fullers sope and he doth not scoure garments without a great deale of toile Dauid therefore desirous to be rid of his sinne prayeth thus Multiplica laua wash mee againe and againe wash mee throughly from my sinne And the old Canons required that Penitents should spend a good deale of time to scoure off their contracted guiltinesse and corruption Ester 2. If the women that were to be ioyned with the Kings of Persia were to be so many moneths a purifying shall it bee much that wee take this time to be purified that must be ioyned with the King of Heauen A time there was of purifying before all the Iewes Feasts Iohn 1â— the Iewes prepare before they goe to their Synagogue so doe the Turkes it was one of the Lawes of the twelue Tables Deos castè adeunto procul hinc procul este profani and sancta sanctè was the admonition giuen to the people in the Christian Churches the Fasts that went before all solemne Feasts the forbidding of mariage for certaine time which some without cause except against although we cannot denie that Dispensations are growne to an abuse tend to this purpose Finally the old Vigils and the ordinarie Eues of Sundayes and Holy dayes shew the Churches desire herein to imitate God and to appoint a moderate time to dispose vs to diuine seruice and the Commemoration of Gods blessings A time is here appointed by God but it is a very moderate time God doth not tire vs out in our Preparation 2 Cor. 2 v. 7. And Saint Paul that would not haue the incestuous Corinthian swallowed vp of sorrow by reason of an ouer-long Penance doth bid man and wife for deuotion not to forbeare companie ouer-long lest Satan tempt them 1. Cor. 7. v. â— The Church is to be discreet in appointing and Christians in vndertaking this time of washing lest that which otherwise is good may bee turned into euill If the Law required three dayes preparation for hearing how many more for obscruing it If the Law required preparation how much more the Gospel Iosepus saith that the Iewes during these two dayes did feast Huge de Sancto Victore saith that they fasted And verily the latter opinion is much more probable for surely mysticall washing of Garments and forbearing of wiues are workes fitter for fasting then feasting But I will not trouble you with that I come to the last point which is the Time against which this worke was to be done and this is the third day the day wherein God would vouchsase his presence and they were to giue their attendance and this will bring vs to the complement of Sanctification For God delighteth not in our separation from sinne and the world except it be to remoue them as impediments that so we may be capable of Him his Spirit his Word and his Grace Wisd 1.4 For wisdome will not enter into a wicked or worldly soule God will not put new wine into old vessels nor new cloth into an old garment hee will not cast pearle before swine nor holy things vnto dogges The children of Israel borrowed of the Egyptians rich clothes when they went to sacrifice to God Exod. 13. Luke 1â— The prodigall child was not permitted to eate of the fat Calfe before hee was clothed with the chiefe Robe and a Ring vpon his finger Iacob before his going vnto Bethel Gen. 35. Gods House purged his Family Iob 1. Iob sanctified his children before he sacrificed
the Trumpet sounding in his eare Surgite mortui venite ad iudicium I will not stand to allegorize the two siluer Trumpets still sounded while the Sacrifice was burning at the Altar Verse 7. I will only bid you remember Saint Iudes note of Sodome and Gomorrah whose perpetuall burning God hath left as a remembrance of the euerlasting fire of Hell Some are yet more desperate and call for the Day of the Lord Let it come Let vs see it as you may read in the Prophets Foole hardie wretches that desire that which they will neuer be able to endure Luke 23.30 Vpon the first ouerture of it their hearts will faile them they will bee at their wits end they will call to the Hils and Rockes to couer them The Kings of the earth the great men the mightie men bond and free all sorts of men shall then crie out The great day of the Lambes wrath is come Reue. 6 1 Pet. 4.18 and who is able to stand And indeed If the righteous scarcely be saued where shall the wicked and vngodly appeare But to leaue them The last obseruation that I will giue vpon this dreadfull state shall be That wee are much bound vnto God that wee liue not vnder the Old Testament but vnder the New that God hath brought vs not vnto Mount Sinai but vnto Mount Sion Where God appeares in our nature and commeth meeke and in the forme of a seruant so sensible of our infirmities that hee cryeth not Esay 42.2 his voice is not heard in the street hee will not breake a bruised reed nor quench smoking flaxe He putteth vpon vs a light yoke and an easie burden his doctrine is a Gospel their feet are beautifull that bring it Esay 52 â— 7 this yeara is an yeare of Iubile his Trumpet soundeth nothing but deliuerance his Light is comfortable like the Sunne Psal 45.2 Cant. 5. v. 16 for he is the Sonne of Righteousnesse his lips are full of Grace his Mouth is most sweet In this Hill all things are louely there is nothing dreadfull at all And why God hath giuen vs the Spirit of Adoption which is the Spirit of Loue Rom 6 2. Tim 1. and of a sound minde so that wee can indure the very top of Mount Ston whereas they could not endure the bottome of Mount Sinai Time will not giue me leaue to pursue this comparison you may amplifie it out of Saint Paul 2. Cor. 3. Heb. 12. And if you will haue it to the full you must paralell the whole Oeconomic of the New Testament with that of the Old Only let me giue you this note for a farewell to this point That as the Patriarkes that were brought vnto Mount Sinai did beare themselues out vnder those terrors by casting their eyes forward vnto Mount Sion the place of comfort So wee lest we grow carnally secure during our abode at Mount Sion and surfet vpon the comforts thereof must cast our eyes backward vpon Mount Sinai and rowse our selues with the terrours thereof The solace of Sion is to none so pleasant as to him that commeth newly from Sinai their soules doe best rellish the Gospel whose consciences haue first sinarted from the Law or that haue beene exercised by that hopefull feare the point that commeth next to be handled in my text Hopefull feare then is the impression that was made on the Israelites by the dreadfull Harbingers of God First Feare Feare is argued from quaking For wee vsually say that men quake for feare And indeed what is quaking of the bodie but a consequent of feare in the soule For the spirits are conueyed by the arteries the sinewes and the veines into the outward parts to sustaine confirme them inable them to their functions and the vitall parts send them forth abundantly while themselues are secure But while we are or suppose our selues to be in any great danger all those forces repaire vnto and endeuour to safegard those principall inward fortresses especially the heart Whereupon the outward parts being vnfurnished fall as it were into a shaking Palsie and so Quaking is a consequent of feare But let vs fit this impression vnto the apparition and so you shall find that it followeth thereupon If there were nothing in these Harbingers but an Image of Gods Maiestie yet you shall not find in all the Bible that euer any man had any extraordinarie glimpse of Gods glory that did not vpon the apprehension thereof become as it were dead and giue himselfe ouer for a dead man Reade the storie of Gedeon and Maneah in the Booke of Iudges and of the Prophets whose inspirations were accompanied with Visions Ezechiel Daniel others the generall rule is Si te nouerim Domine me ipsum nouerim I shall neuer know how vile how fraile I am by any thing so well as by presenting my selfe before the glorious Maiestie of God Let vs descend to the second Image that is to bee beheld in these dreadfull Harbingers the Image of the Law and let vs see how that worketh feare The Image of the Precept I told you it is scarching and you cannot therewith search a man but you make him feare Aske Saint Paul he tried it and will tell you so he found by surueying himselfe That the Law was spirituall and hee was carnall and out of a sensible acknowledgement that his strength was nothing proportionable to the Law 〈◊〉 7. 〈◊〉 19. he brake out into those passionate words O wretch that I am who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death King Dauid surueyed the Law and the excellent properties of the Law but what is the vpshot of his meditation Euen this Who knoweth how oft he offendeth Lord cleanse me from my secret faults keepe thy seruant from presumptuous sinnes lest they haue dominion ouer me And verily no man can behold himselfe in that glasse and consider what manner of person he is but hee will bee driuen to that prayer in the last Penitentiall 〈◊〉 143 Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant O Lord for in thy sight shall no flesh liuing be iustified The Precept then maketh afraid And doth not the Sanction also Certainly it doth The Prophets that had a sight of God armed with vengeance against sinners how doe we find them affected and affrighted Câ—ap 6. Esay saw the Lord sitting vpon a Throne high and lifted vp his traine filled the Temple aboue it stood the six winged Seraphins c. it is a Vision of iudgement and it made Esay crie out Woe is me for I am vndone 〈◊〉 3.2.16 c. Habakuk had a Vision of the like argument which he describeth more at large and heare what was the effect When I heard it my belly trembled my lips quiuered at the voice rottennesse entred into my bones Psal 119 Dauid confesseth of himselfe My flesh trembleth for feare of thee O Lord and I am afraid of thy iudgements But you will say
Malum culpae and Malum paenae Sinne and the wages thereof hee telleth them that they were free from neither deepe in sinne for they were a generation of Vipers in danger of the wages of sinne which is the wrath to come In danger they were of it and yet they were not aware for Who had forewarned them to â—ite from the wrath to come No master as yet had taught them that leison So he opened their case But here to haue ended his Sermon had beene to leaue them to an vn 〈…〉 end euen to desperation but hee doth not leaue them so as 〈◊〉 would haue them throughly to vnderstand their owne case So doth 〈…〉 prescribe them a good course his words are plaine but 〈…〉 of them is darke by a few propositions I will make it 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 was to haue a double being in the Couenant an here 〈…〉 the hereditarie was nothing but the birth-righ which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad rem be that lineally descended from Abraham might claâ—me to bee admitted into the Couenant which God made with him The posseâ—â—orte consisted in his personall grace which gaue him Ius inre when hee did not onely descend from Abraham according to the flesh but communicated also with him in the graces of the spirit These two beings in the Couenant were to concurre in euerie Iew and they could not bee scuered without danger danger not to the Couâ—nant but to the Iew. Now marke Saint Iohns words hee sheweth that the Iewes did separate the Personallgrace from their Birth right wherefore he calleth vpon them to remedie that bring forth fruites worthy of Repentance This is the Personall grace which Saint Iohn will haue the Iewes adde to their Buth right and which hee telleth them they cannot separate without danger danger to themselues not to the Couenant To themselues Begin not to say with your selues We haue Abraham to 〈◊〉 father We haue Abraham to our father is too single a plea it pleadâ—â—h onely the birth right God can deriue that vnto others without 〈◊〉 This Couenant he can raise children vnto Abraham of the verie steres And he can â—ustly according to his Couenant reward you as you deserue roote you out of that family Now â—â—the 〈◊〉 c. You see what is the substance of this Scripture and the 〈◊〉 that I shall handle thereon not all at this time but so many as the time will permâ—â— Consider what I say and the Lord giue vs vnderstanding in all things I begin at the persons and of them first consider the Number the naâ—â—â— great a Multitude in the originall it is Multitudes Saint Matthâ—â— conâ—â—â—imes it by particularising the seuerall companies But whereas the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie either the qualitie or the quantitie of persons the qualitie and so is vsed for the vulgar people whom in English wee call the Multitude or else may signifie their quantitie here it is taken not for qualitie but quantitie For the persons are many in number Ierusalem came out all Iudaea came out and so did all the confines of Iordan Matth. 3. so saith S. Matthew and he saith also that amongst them that came out there were more then vulgar persons for there were Pharisees Saduces Antiq. lib. 3. cap. 14 de Bellâ— Iudaic. lib. 2. c. â— persons of principall note amongst the Iews as appeares not only in the Gospel but also in Iosephus And of those there came a great many so many as that some would haue the word Multitude in Saint Luke to be restrained vnto them according to the direction of Saint Matthew in whom this sharpe Sermon seemeth to be made onely vnto the Pharisees and Saduces But because hypocrisie might bee common vnto more we will take the words at large and concerning the Multitude obserue this that though they had lost the true knowledge of the Messias yet the hope of a Messias they had not lost they hearkned diligently after him Their calamitie sharpned their desire such was their miserie vnder the Romanes that no person either seditious or superstitious promised newes of the Messias but he was flockt vnto by men of all sorts we haue a touch at it in the Acts but in Iosephus it is deliuered more at large Acts 5. The same God that in punishment of their grosse mistake of the Messias suffered them to bee abused by Impostors honoured the comming of the true Messias with resort of no small numbers to his harbinger And this agreeth well with those titles that the Scripture giueth vnto Saint Iohn he is called the voice of a crier he was heard farre and rowsed many he was a burning Lampe he shined cleare and drew many his doctrine his life were both such and so powerfull as be seemed the harbinger of Christ that harbinger that was to take vp many lodgings for him by them Saint Iohn preuailed And Ministers must herein imitate him and the people must imitate these multitudes they must learne of them to come forth And so from the persons I come to their disposition They seeme well disposed first in their Paines they came from home vnto Saint Iohn and some of them came somewhat farre The principle is good and ancient that men that will serue God must goe from their owne home though a man may serue God at home yet the sollemne place of worship was commonly distinct from the priuate home so was it euen in the dayes of Adam as Bertram obserueth it is more cleare in the dayes of the Patriarches but most of all in the time of the Tabernacle and Temple to say nothing of the Synagogues and the most Christian Emperours did not disdaine to come into publique assemblies of the Church As Religion grew cold so priuate Oratories were â—rected at first onely for Kings afterward for Peeres and now scarce any man of more then ordinarie ranke that must not haue a Church in his owne house Men thinke themselues too good to sort with the common assembly But though their bee a subordination of States in the Common-weale yet this subordination ceaseth when we come into the Church where all should alike bow and pray heare and obey as hauing but one God one Sauiour one Faith one Hope and all these farre from respect of persons whereupon Saint Paul grounded his exhortation Heb. 10 15. which I also renue vnto you Forsake not the assembly as some doe In a word wee must goe out to Saint Iohn Baptist not from our home only wee must goe from our state also these Iewes did goe out from their houses indeed but not from themselues and so their paines was rather great then good not like Abraham that did not only come out from his fathers house but from his Idolatrie also especially if wee come to receiue sacred things wee must forsake our former euill wayes Let vs vs see their pretence That cannot be disliked they went to be baptized Baptisme was a Sacrament wherewith God began the New
to loose all those that will make vse of the flight amongst which these Iewes were none For who hath forewarned you saith Saint Iohn vnto them Before I come to the question I must a little describe the persons they were Sadduces and Pharisees There are but two extremities of Religion into which men run Superstition and Atheisme these fell the one that is the Pharisees into the one extremitie and the other that is the Saduces into the other extremitie Now sinnes are of two sorts some whose nature is in opposition to the flying from the wrath to come and some which are such as they doe not exclude the same A Drunkard an Adulterer a Murderer are grieuous sinners and in danger of the wrath to come but the Principles are not corrupted vpon which the forewarner must worke when hee perswadeth then to flie they doe beleeue the iudgement to come and in cold bloud will easily belieue that there is euill in their liues therefore vpon such good counsell may worke and wee see daily that many such are reclaimed But there are many whose sinnes are opposite vnto this counsell of flying either because they thinke there is no wrath to come as the Saducee or that they are out of danger of it as the Pharisee vpon such it is hard working Now come to the question Who hath forewarned you I am not ignorant that sundrie Writers ancient and later suppose that this is Quaestio admirantis and make Saint Iohn Baptist who receiued all others quietly when these persons came to stand amazed and wondring Is it possible hath Gods grace preuailed with Saduces with Pharisees and will they also bee Christs Disciples Is Saul among the Prophets Can hee that thought there was no Hell be brought to flie from Hell and hee that thought himselfe righteous prouide against the Iudgement day Surely such examples are rare not that God doth not yeil◠some to shew nothing is impossible to his grace but he yeildeth but few because men should take heed of such sinnes and wee see by experience how Pharisaisme in Papists and in Atheists Saducisme frustrate the labours of many painfull Forewarners the corrupt Principles of their conscience hinder their preuayling Who forewarne them to flie from the wrath to come But I take the Question rather to bee Negatiue and that as Christ often so Saint Iohn here doth detect their hypocrisie and telleth them that they aimed little at that which was intended by Baptisme The Kingdome of God happily in their sense they could bee content to enter into by the Baptisme of Saint Iohn for their Messias was to bee a worldly King or if so be they thought vpon wrath which they desired to escape it was wrath present not wrath to come the wrath of men not the wrath of God they would shake off the yoke of the Romanes they feared not the paines of Hell when they perceiued that Saint Iohns Baptisme sorted not with their desire it is obserued that they despised it to their destruction and when Christ asked them Whether it were of heauen or of men they durst not answere him from Heauen least Christ should come vpon them with Why did you not then belieue it Adde hereunto that it is not likely Saint Iohn would haue reproched them with these words generation of Vipers had there not bin hypocrisie in them I conclude then that the Question containeth a negation and that S. Iohn herein doth set forth the second euill of these Iewes They wanted meanes of forewarning which might apply to them the Remedie which God hath appointed against the wrath to come Matth. 21. v 25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 31. p. 501. Nazianzen obserueth well It is not the Nation but the disposition that maketh a Pharisee euery Countrie may haue Pharisees and Saduces for it is not the name of a Nation but a conuersation and therefore this question may concerne vs and we must inquire into our selues whether wee haue either a Pharisees or a Saduces disposition And indeed wee shall find too many of both Heretickes Atheists vpon whom Forewarners cannot worke and if we be better disposed wee must acknowledge Gods great mercie that as hee hath appointed wrath so hee hath appointed a Remedie wee must learne both of our Forewarners and so learne both that we be the better for them and scape the vengeance that is to come The summe of all is sinnes and punishments are not inseparable God hath set a space betweene them and appointed a Remedie to the one for the auoyding of the other for the knowledge hereof hee referres vs to our spirituall Pastors and we must take heed we haue neither Saduces nor Pharisees eares which may make vs vncapable of their forewarnings O Lord that hast appointed Forwarners to thy Church so blesse their paines that they may fixe our thoughts on and resolue our reason of that wrath which is to come not only the sight of it but also the flight from it Let vs not despise the riches of thy goodnesse forbearance and long-suffering nor with hard and impenitent hearts treasure vp vnto our selues wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. Eccles 18. but knowing that thy goodnesse leadeth vs to repentance let vs so thinke vpon the wrath that shall be at the end that we may flie from sinne to grace and so bee thought worthy to escape this euill and stand in the last day with comfort before the Sonne of man stand for euer to giue glorie vnto thee the Father of mercie through Iesus Christ our only meanes to obtaine this mercie in the Communion of the holy spirit who only teacheth vs to make the right vse of this mercie Amen The third Sermon LVKE 3. VERSE 8. Bring forth therefore fruites worthy of Repentance SAint Iohn Baptist hath in his Sermon hitherto shewed the Iewes of their bad case in regard both of sinne and woe If he had here ended he should rather haue seemed to bee a minister of Moses then an harbinger of Christ and although happily he might haue awakned the worme of Conscience to bite them with the terrours of the Law yet should hee not haue answered his fathers prophecie by giuing light to them that sit darknesse Luke 1. and in the shaddow of death and guiding their feete into the way of peace wherefore to shew that hee came indeed in the spirit of Elias and meant to turne the hearts of the fathers towards their children Malachi 4.6 and the children towards their fathers before the Lord came and smote the earth with cursing as he vnpartially gaue the Iewes to vnderstand the euill of their case so doth he carefully endeauour to set them in a better course The ground and scope of his words is in effect this Euerie Iew is to haue a double being in the Couenant an hereditarie a possessorie in that he is the of spring of Abraham he hath a title to the promises but possession of that whereunto
must not onely cease for to hate him but beginne to Loue him also Secondly Christ founded both these partes in our Redemption for Hee dyed and rose againe Saint Paul telleth vs there is a morall in that mysterie it lessoneth vs to dye vnto sinne and to rise vnto righteousnesse finally the Sacrament of Baptisme which in the Scripture is called the Baptisme of repentance Symbolically preacheth both vnto vnto vs the dipping into the water and the taking out of the water what doth it figure but the drowning of sin and the recouering of a sinner The vse that wee must make hereof is that we must not onely desire to be rid of the vncleane spirit but also to be possest of the holy Ghost if wee doe not change one for the other we are not changed so fully as we ought to bee and we must feare his doome out of whom the vncleane spirit was cast in the Gospell whom because the holy Ghost succeeded not the foule spirit repossest the person with seuen worse then himselfe Matth. 12. and made the latter end of that man worse then his beginning And thus much of the nature of Repentance which is the first worke Gods worke which changeth vs from bad to good not onely cleansing sinne but also giuing grace I come now to the second worke which is mans worke in handling whereof we must consider the Order and the Nature of it A word of the order Gods worke goeth before mans man could neuer doe good if God did not first make him good as truely as the dew doth first fall from heauen before there can bee fatnesse in the earth Psal 1. euen so must Gods grace change man before any alteration will appeare in the conuersation of man the tree must be planted by the Riuers of waters Ephes 2.10 before it can bring forth her fruites and we must bee Gods workmanship created vnto good workes before we can walke in them Wee must not therefore take such pleasure in beholding the Tree bee it neuer so richly loaden with fruites as to forget the roote which yeeldeth the iuice without which the Tree could beare no fruit we must so regard mans worke that wee giue the precedencie alwayes to Gods and acknowledge this to bee the off spring of that but enough of the Order I come now to the Worke which is bearing of fruites That which is here called fruites Acts 26. is called workes whereby we gather that good workes are fruites and indeed onely good workes deserue this name for if Saint Austins definition bee true Fructus est quo quis cum gaudio fruitur That is fruit which a man may with comfort enioy how should sinne be reputed fruites Who can take any content in it Not the sinner himselfe for though it be sweete in his mouth as Iob speaketh yet when it commeth downe into his maw Iob 20. it turneth into gall of Aspes Deut 22. well doth Moses compare it to the fruites of Sodome and Gomorrah for as the Booke of Wisedome describeth that fruit faire on the out side but the in-side nothing else but cinders euen so the appearance of sinne is pleasant but the substance of it is very vnsauorie If onely our lustes should be iudges howsoeuer at first they taste it as fruit yet euen they also loath it if they bee long vsed to it but if they swallow it and find no offence in it as too often they doe yet when it commeth to our conscience and thither sooner or later it must come Saint Pauls question will then come seasonably Tom. 6.21 What fruit had yee then in those things whereof yee are now ashamed Sinnes then may not passe for fruits fruits properly so called this title belongeth only to good workes they are fruits indeed they may say as the Vine in the Iudgess They cheare God and Men Chap. 9. God taketh delight in them they are to him a sacrifice of a sweet smell yea hee taketh as much content in them as if he did feed vpon them we learne it in the fiftieth Psalme Thinkest thou saith God that I will eat Buls flesh and drinke the bloud of Goats Offer vnto God praise and call vpon his Name in denying the former he acknowledgeth the later to be his food not that God is the better for ought we doe but so is hee pleased for to honour our workes as the Angels that came to Abraham did partake of his meâ—te not to refresh themselues but to doe him honour As God accepts them for fruits so are they fruits vnto men also vnto others and vnto our selues but with this difference that whereas God was not the better for them men are other men by our good workes are either brought to goodnesse or confirmed therein and as for our selues wee grow thereby in grace and fauour with God and feele more comfortable ioy in our owne soules therefore well may good workes beare the name of fruits And I the very name of fruits distinguishing good workes from bad containeth a good motiue to doe well and forbeare sinne for Who would labour for nought and spend his strength in vaine being not to haue so much as his labour for his paine for he must write vpon his wages not only vanitie but also vexation of spirit And againe Who would bee wearie of well doing that knoweth his labour is not in vaine but that in good time he shall eate the fruit of his labours O well is hee and happie shall he be But wee must marke that our worke is called fruit and not flowers not but that the flower goeth before the fruit but it is the hope of the fruit that maketh the flower to bee esteemed and God counteth that flower little worth that neuer commeth to be fruit we see this in the parable of the seed where that ground only goeth for good in which the feed giueth not ouer vntill it be fit for the Barne and hee that puiteth his hand to the Plough saith Christ in the Gospel Luke 9 6â— and looketh backe is not fit for the Kingdome of Heauen I obserue this the rather because here we may see many faire flowers which in their youth shew good effects of their Gouernours care and paines who no sooner are set at libertie as too often they are before the flowers become fruit but they wither and faile neither Church nor Common-wealth nor themselues are the better for their breeding whom I would haue to carrie this Lesson with them That Goodnesse is not a flower it is fruit and they must aswell ripen as blossome otherwise it will appeare that God in them hath done his worke but they come short of their owne Neither is Goodnesse only called Fruit in the singular number but the word is plurall our worke is many workes wee must beare Fruits we must as the Apostle speaketh be fruitfull in all good workes Col 1.10 The soule of a man is but one but
armed men that are his deadly foes for a sinner is lesse sure of his life then the other And yet how many such desperate ones are there in the world that sleepe securely vpon the brinke of Hell Yea how many that inuring not themselues daily to reconcile themselues to God make a comfortlesse end and are taken before euer they haue thought of making their peace My exhortation is that we presume not so farre vpon Gods patience as to neglect this kind of repentance But this is not an euery dayes repentance It hath his times appointed by the Church if it be publike or if it bee priuate the times are assigned by a mans owne conscience There is another Repentance which attendeth Sanctification inioyned by the precept of the Law vnto Sanctification wee make way by Mortification and this is an euery dayes Repentance which doth not looke to the Act of sinne as the former but to the Habit. Were it possible that there were no Act of sinne committed then we should not need the first kind of Repentance but yet this second we should need because the best beare about them a habit of sinne Cecidimus super aceruum lapidum in luto Bern. Serm. de Coena Domini Saint Bernard setteth it thus before our eyes When Adam fell and when euerie one of vs doth fall be may be compared vnto a man that falleth not only into the mire but also vpon a heape of stones hee may quickly be washed but not so quickly healed there is great time spent therein euen the whole time of our life we must begin our Repentance at Baptisme which we must continue vntill our death As there bee many other reasons why the Church is compared to the Moone and Christ to the Sunne so one may bee The oddes betweene Iustification and Sanctification Iustification maketh Christs righteousnesse ours and it is from the first moment at the full not capable of any increase but Sanctification is Righteousnesse in vs which if it haue not his waines certainly it hath its waxings and will not be at the full till the day of our death This fruit is nothing else but the putting off the old man 〈◊〉 4 â—2 Gâ—â— 5 24. Rom. 6 6. the crucifying of the flesh with the lusts thereof the casting away of the sinne which cleaueth on so fast the abolishing of the whole bodie of sinne Hee that neglecteth this Rom 12.1 forgetteth that a Christian must offer vp his bodie a liuing sacrifice holy acceptable vnto God that the name of a Christian is the name of Iustice Goodnesse Sinceritie Chastitie Humilitie for what else are these but drops of that Oile wherewith hee is anointed I might amplifie this point Rom 8 22. but I hasten to that which followeth only obseruing that of Saint Paul Euery creature groaneth desiring the libertie of the Sonnes of God and therefore it is a shame for the sonnes of God not to beare a part in this mourning but to stand still as if they made no haste to Heauen and had no desire to be that whereunto they are called It was not so with Christians of old I report mee to the Character of the Church as Epiphanius calleth it and describeth it in the last Chapter of his third Booke but specially to Gregorie Nyssenes Oration of Baptisme where he bringeth in a baptized Christian thus resisting the temptations of the Deuill A vaunt thou wicked fiend I am dead and can a dead man be moued with those things which hee affected when he was aliue When I was aliue I could riot I couldlie c. can a dead man doe these things Certainly when wee looke vpon our selues and see how common sinnes are amongst vs the ranknesse the plentie of the fruit that we beare sheweth that the sinfull root is not dead in vs and the scarcitie of good fruit sheweth that the root of grace is not aliue So that our Abrenunciation was but in word that it was not indeed it appeareth by the raritie of our Mortification I conclude with the exhortation of Saint Paul Câ—â—os 3.5 Let vs therefore mortifie our mâ—mbers which are vpon the earth formication vncleanesse inordinate affection Rom 13.14 euill concupiscence and couetousnesse which is Idolatrie and let vs take no more care for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof You haue heard what is our worke There remaine two things yet The one is the Commandement to doe it the other is the degree in which wee must performe it Men doe not light a Candle to put it vnder a bushell neither doth God giue grace but for the vse But the phrase in English is scant it seemeth only to call for workeâ— in the sight of men but the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of a larger extent and may reach those things which can bee discerned only by the sight of God And indeed the Fruits are inward or outward for there is a worke-house in the inward Closet of our heart where wee must fructifie and lay the foundation of those workes which wee doe in the outward man all our outward deeds should be but deeds of deeds the deeds outward haue no more value then they receiue from the inward Quâ—saluâ— mente peecat â—a 〈◊〉 venâ—â— in Ghâ—noam deâ—â—â—detur Tertullian Oâ—â—t de Baptismo But wee must not bee contented only with the inward wee must bring forth the outward also Hee that hath an inside for God and an outside for the Deuill may with his pardon be cast into Hell wee must therfore shew some outward euidence of the efficacie of grace Gregorie Nyssen setteth it forth excellently Come on you saith he which glorie in your Baptisme how shall it appeare that the mysticall grace hath altered you In your countenance there appeareth no change nor in your outward lineaments how then shall your friends perceiue that you are not the same I suppose no other way but by your manners they must shew that you are not what you were when you are tempted with the same sinnes whereunto before you were subiect and yet forbeare them It is reported of one of the worthiest of the Ancients that before his conuersion had kept companie with a strumpet when after his conuersion she came towards him he sted she calleth after him Whither flyest thou 〈…〉 2.10 It is 〈◊〉 his answere was But I am not I And indeed euerie one should say with Saint Paul I line yet not I now but Iesus Christ liueth in mee and let euery one that is in Iesus Christ become a new creature And so I come from the Commandement to the degree There must bee an answerablenesse betweene Gods worke and ours It is not enough to bring forth fruits they must be worthy of Repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith a learned Interpreter hath his name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is a Metaphor taken from ballances when one seale doth counterpoize another the Syriacke word seemeth to
sit hominem scire arbitror neminem nisi forter cui spiritus diuinitus estenderet Austin de Ciuit. Des lib. 2. cap 16. Non quareâ—dum vbi Gebennae ignis situs sit sed magis quo pacto enitari possit Chrysost Hom. do prâ—mys sanct â—om 1. pag 443. Cyril Alexanâ—in p. 710. and worse Historiographie haue deliuered a great deale of vngrounded stuffe concerning the nature and place of this sire but wee shall doe well to follow the sobrietie of the Fathers Greeke and Latin Touching Hell fire what kind it is of and where in what region of the earth I thinke no man can tell except hee to whom God will bee pleased to reueale it saith Austine and Chrysostome We must not be curious to know where is the place of Hell fire but studie rather how is auoid it Only let vs learne of Nazianzen that there is a double vse of fire for therewith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men are doomed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or they are purified We haue not now to doe with the purgatiue but with the correctiue vse of fire and seeing that fire is the symbol of plagning we must from our fire learne two properties of fire it searcheth most and spareth least it leaueth no part vnseized vpon and looke whereon it seizeth it afflicteth to the vttermost which Nabuchadnezer knew that chose that wherewith to torment the seruants of God yea God himselfe doth shew who therewith destroyed Sodome and Gomorra certainly in the Valley of Hinnom it was so dreadfull that the Holy Ghost was pleased to vse it as a symbole of the tortures of Hell which leaue no part of the tormented vnpained and paineth euery part extreamely Only when we looke vpon our fire wee must obserue two differences betweene that and the fire of Hell First Hell fire goeth farre beyond it in degree well may the torments be like they are not equall Secondly they are vnlike in durance for ours consumeth and is consumed but Hell fire neither wasteth his fuell nor is wasted it selfe both are euerlasting so that let ours afflict neuer so painfully Sie perit â—t possit saepe perâ—â—e Horaque erit tant is vltima nulla malâ—â— it cannot afflict long but hee that is in Hell fire endureth an euerliuing death The tree that growes in the field growes for fuell and it is no wonder to see it proue so but a heauie thing it is for a tree to to become fuell that grew to beare fruit But in this case the case of a barren fruit tree is worse then a tree of the field because a tree of the field may bee cut downe not for fuell but for building but fruit trees are not fit for building and nature hath made this their ineptnesse a priuiledge against the Axe when for the building of stately Palaces the trees of the field goe downe they stand and are not cut downe vntill they giue ouer-bearing fruit and then they are cut downe only for fuell for they are good for nothing else Ezechiel hath a whole Chapter of it wherein as in a glasse wee may behold the condition of a sinner If you put these parts of the Iudgement together you may easily perceiue that they amount to a totall a finall eradication It is totall for if a tree bee cut vp by the roots there is no hope of the branches because the branches haue no life but deriuatiue from the root cut a tree as close to the root as you will Iob will tell you there remayneth still hope of him but it is past hope when the root is dead As the Iudgement is totall so it is finall Chap. â—4 we neuer heard of the second grasting of a tree certainly not of these trees The Parable of the foolish Virgins sheweth that there is no getting in when the doores be shut and that there is no passage from Hell to Heauen Mâ—t. 25. Lâ—â—e 17. Abraham telleth the rich Glutton burning in those flames But of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reprobation of and Bill of Diuorce giuen to to the Iewes I spake enough when I spake of that which they were willed to flie which in former words of this Sermon is called wrath to come wherefore I forbeare to enlarge this point any farther only wishing vncurable Impenitents herein to behold what a feare full thing it is to sall into the hands of the liuing God You haue heard of the persons and the Iudgement that the one of them doth denounce against the other But the Iudgement is not onely threatned but threatned that it shall come vppon them speedily and ouertake them vniuersally the speed is intimated in the first word Now now is the Axe laid to the roote of the tree all the words are present Now is put Now is cut which carrie with them an Emphasis and hasten the repentance of the hearer Before it was calied Wrath to come least therefore they should put it farre from them as the wicked in Amos and the bad seruant in the Gospel and grow Atheisticall scoffers as some doe in Esay and others 2. Peter 3 he is instant wiih them and proposeth this Iudgement as imminent But this seemeth to be a Paradox Iohn was the Harbinger of Christ and with Christ began the Kingdome of grace and how doth he then make it the time of Iudgement so terrible a Iudgement We must therefore obserue that God neuer did any publike remarkable good to magnifie his mercie but he did withall shew the world some notable spectacle of his wrath therein to magnifie his Iustice when Noah was saued the world was drowned and fiue Cities burnt when Lot was deliuered how were the Egyptians destroyed when Israel was set free And when the Gentiles were receiued into the Church what a desolation did hee bring vpon the Iewes God will haue feare and hope still to liue in the hearts of the sonnes of men Adde hereunto that Christs comming is the last offer of Grace both to Iewes and Gentiles he that refuseth now shall neuer speed marke this point pressed by the Apostles both to the Iewes and to the Gentiles This is the reason why the Baptist Christ his Apostles beginne their Preaching with Repent Aâ—â— 13 Acts 14 17. this is as the greatest so the last manuring the tree that proueth not now must needs downe needs into the fire But is not God alwayes putting the Axe to the tree yea verily he maketh daily spectacles of them but to whole Nations he putteth not the Axe euery day hee forbeareth them vntill they haue filled vp the measure of their sinne But if they abuse his patience and long-suffering whereby hee laboureth to draw them to Repentance then they shall find that they haue treasured vnto themselues wrath against the day of wrath Rom 2 the Axe shall goe vnto the root But in this Iam there are two other remarkable things the one is noted by Saint Ambrose Hine disce quà m Philanthroâ—os
the naturall sense there is in the body but it is from the head intercept the insluence of the head and you extinguish the sense of the body And as it fareth with the body in regard of sense so doth it in regard of motion also The like appeares in the spirits that haue their original from the heart in the bloud that streameth from the veines In the great world you haue many like spectacles the Sun and the Light the Streames and the Fountaine the Rootes and the Trees euery one of these you may perceiue endure not if the effect be seuered from the cause How much lesse may wee expect any enduring in those spirituall effects did they not receiue continuance from this spirituall cause It is our comfort that considering there is a mutability in vs this mutability preuaileth not because of the Kings constant influence vpon vs. Wee sinne and recouer we are in danger and escape neyther our inward weakenesse nor our enemies outward mightinesse destroy Gods gifts in vs or so hinder their increase but that they become Catholick for all which we are beholding to the constant policie of the King who neuer faileth to support vs but continueth ours vnto the end But the Prophet speaketh of this policie as if it began when hee spake these words Christ was not borne till some hundreds of yeares after The answer is easie you had it before The efficacie of Christs birth wrought long before he was borne not only in the time of this Prophet but euen from the time of Adams fall A scruple there ariseth how these words can be true that our King shall so rule for euer seeing a time shall come as the Apostle teacheth 1 Cor. 15 when he shall giue vp his Kingdome to his Father The answer is if wee respect the Kingdome of Grace That as the effect shall not cease increasing till it become boundlesse that is haue attained all his parts and degrees so the cause shall worke till the consummation of that effect till all enemies be put downe and wee are throughly perfected And in this sense both cause and effect are termed endlesse because they shall continue till the worlds end If you extend it to the Kingdome of Glory it hath an eternity also though not of Restauration but of Conseruation though he shall cease restoring of vs further when we are fully restored yet shall hee neuer cease preseruing vs because wee can no longer be than wee are preserued You haue heard the constant Policie of the King wherein standeth the second branch of the Excellency of the State what remaineth but that if wee were affected with the growth and desired to bee partakers of it wee submit our selues vnto the cause thereof the Policie of the King that we yeeld our disorderly selues to be set in order by him and repose our weake selues to be supported on him who will prescribe no Lawes of order but those that spring from Iustice that spirituall Iustice which will abide the tryall at Gods barre and worke the highest kinde of righteousnesse in our liues Neyther doth he only prescribe it but possesse vs of it also and lest it should faile he supports it in vs his Iudgements are as watchfull ouer vs as his Iustice they rectifie vs when wee breake order and bridle vs that wee doe not breake it And this he doth vncessantly by bringing vs from growth to growth in the state of grace and prescruing vs in this growth in the state of glory Hee will bee vnto vs a lasting blessed cause that there may be in vs no end of that blessed effect O Lord I am out of order and I am very weake thon art that Counsellour that knowest how to set mee right againe and that Almighty God which onely canst sustaine me Lord rule me by thy lustice and by thy Iudgements bridle me that I may bee conformable to the holy members of thy Church and euer continue conformable vnto them Let thy worke neuer cease in mee so shall I neuer cease to bee thy Subiect if thy Policie faile me not I shall euery day grow on to the fulnesse ef grace and shall therehence proceede to the eternity of glory Which I beseech thee to grant vnto mee that art the fountaine both of Grace and Glory THE EIGHTH SERMON The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall performe this THese are the last words of that Text whereof you haue heard often but haue not yet heard all The whole Text was diuided into a Doctrine and a Warrant The Doctrine deliuered the Substance and Excellency of Christs Person and State both which I haue at sundry times so far vnfolded as the time would giue leaue it were tedious now to repeat were it onely the heads whereof I haue distinctly spoken In stead of that repetition I only recommend vnto you the laying together the parts and therehence the gathering of a description of the Catholicke Church Which what is it but a Kingdome such as I haue described growing in grace without stint of Place or term of Time vnder and by meanes of such a Person as being God and Man is called to be the King thereof royally endowed with Wisedome and Power eternall to worke an eternall good both which he employes ordering and stablishing by Iustice and Iudgement the disorderly and feeble members of his Church and that without intermission vntill he hath brought them to the fulnesse both of grace and glory More than this in the nature of that Catholicke Church which we beleeue in the Creede there is not neyther is there any thing more that we would desire to bee therein So that we may take this Text as a full Commentary thereupon and to our comfort vnderstand the riches that are treasured vp in that Article But to leaue the Doctrine and come to the Warrant The Doctrine containeth a large Promise the Warrant sheweth that it shall be performed and sheweth this by renewing those impediments that may crosse the performance thereof The impediments that stay a man from being as good as his word are of two sorts they proceede ab extra or ab intra from without or from within From without wee may bee ouer-ruled from within wee may change our minde Neyther of these can hinder God hee cannot bee ouer-ruled for he is the Lord of Hosts hee cannot vary in himselfe because of the greatnesse of his loue which is termed zeale So that the remouall of these two impediments from God are the principall argument of these words Let vs looke into them That Gods Word shall stand That his Counsell is immutable yea That heauen and earth shall passe and yet his Word neuer passe are Maximes in the Scripture and therfore haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credibility enough in themselues but yet so farre doth the holy Ghost condescend to the weakenesse of our Faith as to point vnto these grounds which will content euen reason it selfe Reason when it questioneth the word of
and in the eyes of God doth grace and commend vs as if it were ours But if you looke to sanctification that redounds from Christ vnto vs it maketh vs starres in the spirituall firmament though of vnequall magnitude and vnequall glory St. Paul is cleare for it 1 Cor. 3. Wee with open face behold the glorie of God and are transformed into the same image from glorie vnto glory euen by the powerfull spirit of Christ. When the Apostles did but see Christs transformation in the Mount though themselues were not transfigured yet they thought it so happy a sight that they cryed out Bonum est esse hìc Let vs pitch our Tabernacles here And what would they haue thought if themselues also might haue been partakers of the same glorie if themselues might haue appeared like vnto him if they might haue beene as he was yet such is our condition in Christ The last morall shall be that whereas other things that fill vs proportion themselues vnto and take vp whatsoeuer capacity they finde it is not so with Christ whatsoeuer he filleth that he enlargeth Aug. Confes and the more we haue of him the more capacity we haue the more capacity of glory for that is that wherewith he filleth all other things deale worse with vs they straighten our capacitie or fill vs with vanitie Wherefore were we as wise as we should be wee would suffer no bodie to take vp any roome in vs but only Christ wee would leaue no corner for the diuell or the world or our corrupt lusts And indeede who would with-hold any part from him to continue a straight a darke a filthy dungeon that by his presence may bee made a large a light a glorious habitation And yet so it is some of vs steale our heads from him and entertaine errour some steale their hearts from him and therein lodge sinnefull lusts there is no man that doth not with-hold some part and keep that part the worse for it But this should bee to euery one of vs his votiue prayer To thee O Christ I consecrate totum me and totum mei my whole selfe and all that is in me humbly desiring that nothing may inhabit me but thy selfe and that which commeth from thee This is that whereunto I aduise my selfe as I aduise you And that I aduise not in vaine let vs lay this text to the former there we heard of a desire here of a filling Salomon hath a good rule A desire accomplished delighteth the soule So that if we profited so much by the last sermon as to make Christ our desire we may be comforted by this which assures vs that our desire shall be filled Yea whereas desire is sinus cordis the bosome or lappe as it were of the heart if we doe enlarge it God will replenish it But let vs bee sure that this sermon doth little concerne vs if the former tooke no place in vs. Dauid no sooner heard that Obed Edoms house prospered by hauing the Arke but hee was stirred vp with a godly zeale to bring it vnto Sion to bring it to his owne Citie What shall I wish vnto you but that hauing heard the blessing that Christs presence brought to Zorobabels Temple euery one of you would striue to lodge him in your Temples the temples of your bodies the temples of your soules So may he fill these mysticall as he did that typicall Temple so fill them here with the glory of his grace that they may bee hereafter filled with the grace of his glorie Psal 24. Wherefore lift vp your heads O yee gates and bee yee lift vp yee euerlasting doores and the King of glorie shall come in 85. Saluation is near them that feare him that glory may dwell in their Land LEt thy worke O Lord be seene towards thy seruants and thy glorie vpon their children that in the sensible sweet comfort thereof wee may all now and euer sing Glory bee to thee O Lord most high Blessing honour glory and power bee vnto him that sitteth vpon the throne and vnto the Lambe for euer and euer Amen THE FOVRTH SERMON The siluer is mine and the gold is mine The glorie of this later house shall bee greater than the glory of the former THe bountie which Christ vouchsafed that Temple which was built by Zorobabel is by this our Porphet set forth absolutely and comparatiuely Of the absolute consideration thereof I spake last I will passe now on to the comparatiue exprest in those words which now I haue read vnto you Of this comparison we must obserue 1 the preface and 2 the contents The preface will teach vs what Christ can the contents what hee will doe Christ can in point of bountie doe as much as he will so much the words of the preface import The siluer is mine the gold is mine And he will doe more than the Iewes doe desire for they would haue beene contented if they might haue had a Temple but as goodly as that of Salomon Christ will doe more for them The glory of the later house shall be greater than the glorie of the former But more distinctly These points of Christs power and his will must be opened first seuerally then ioyntly If wee looke into them seuerally then wee shall finde that the preface which sets forth Christs power doth in the outside of the words entitle him to these earthly mettals gold and siluer but the inside will informe vs that he is owner of much more precious mettals of gold and siluer that are heauenly As for the contents the comparison therein presented vnto vs may be conceiued eyther of fabricke to fabricke or furniture to furniture I will touch at both that so you may the better see of whether and how far my text may be iustified Hauing thus opened the points seuerally I will ioyne them together and shew you that first Christs power is set downe before his will that the Iewes should not thinke he doth promise more than hee can performe secondly that his will beareth correspondencie to his power and he giueth gifts not sutable to the narrownesse of our desire but to the widenesse of his owne store Of these particulars I shall now God willing speake briefly and in their order God grant we may so listen to and profit by that which shall be said concerning Christs power and will that it may bee his gracious will alwaies to sustaine and blesse vs according to his all sufficient power Come we then to the preface and first to the outside of the words The siluer is mine the gold is mine If so we reade the preface it doth entitle Christ to these earthly mettals gold siluer and his title is iust and clear he that made all is owner of all now all things were made by Christ and without him nothing was made that was made Iohn 1. therefore wee may conclude with the Psalmist Psal 24. The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof the
forward our spirituall Secondly our eating and drinking must not onely feed vpon Christs body and bloud but vpon them as the one was broken and the other was shed as they were the propitiatory Sacrifice And then thirdly wee must draw out of them and digest in our soules the two comfortable ends of the Sacrament that is first our assurance that wee are in the new Couenant secondly that our sinnes are pardoned If wee doe not take all these things in our eating and drinking we doe not take all that which is set before vs and offered vnto vs. And here we must marke a difference betweene our corporall and spirituall food Non ego mutabor in te sed tu mutaberis in me as St. Austin bringeth Christ speaking When we eate corporally our food is turned into vs but when we eate spiritually we must be turned into our foode we must be transformed into Christ First into his Grace wee must bee liuely Images of his heauenly Vertues of his Patience of his Obedience of his Humility of his Charity of whatsoeuer other Vertue shined in his mortall life And then wee shall be sure to be transformed into his Glory and by vertue of this food hee will change these our vile bodies and make them conformable vnto his glorious body And indeede this conformity doe the Fathers make a principall effect of this our spirituall foode Whom doth this feeding concerne I told you the Disciples here are two other words that may not be neglected and they are all and manie all that are Disciples and of age and those all are many for Christs bloud was shed for many Of the Poole of Bethesda it was said that it could cure but one at a time and that one which first went into the water after the Angell had stirred it but Christs Sacraments are like vnto his garments Matth. 14. of them we reade in the Gospell that as many as touched them were made whole Matth. 14. and of these it is true that as many as faithfully partake them shall as truely bee made whole spiritually as the other were corporally As many The Sacraments are sufficiently soueraigne for all not so efficiently and yet efficiently for many For although in comparison of vnbeleeuers beleeuers are but few yet considered in themselues beleeuers are many Reuel 7. both Iewes and Gentiles I will not trouble you with a dispute Whether in this place as in some other the word many is put for all I will rather obserue vnto you that this same feeding is not a thing arbitrary but enioyned the Disciples neither may they hope to haue any part in the new Couenant or Remission of sinnes except they performe this commandement And the commandement is not more than needs for whereas wee need no incitement for to take our corporall food yet were wee not incited wee would pine away for want of our spirituall therefore is God in the Prophet faine to call vpon vs Esay 55. Hoe all ye that thirst come to the waters c. and Wisedome in the Prouerbes is faine to send her Maides and say Come eate of my bread and drinke of my wine Prou. 9. so likewise doth the King at the Marriage Feast Matth. 22. and so is Christ faine to importune the Church of Laodicea Reuel 3. But remember that it is an affirmatiue commandement and so doth tye semper though not ad semper I will dwell no longer vpon the practice let vs come now briefly and see the precept The precept is not here exprest but implyed for seeing here is the Institution of a Sacrament it is the Institution of that that must be as lasting as the Doctrine whereunto it is annexed For a Sacrament is an annexe vnto Doctrine euen as a seale is set vnto a Pardon The Sacraments of the Old Testament were so annext vnto the ceremoniall Law so are the Sacraments of the New Testament vnto the Gospell As he that taketh the Charter of Pardon without the Kings seale when hee may haue it loseth the benefit of his Pardon so hee will haue but little benefit of the Gospell that is a contemner of the Sacraments they must both goe together vntill the worlds end or as S. Paul speaketh vntill the Lords comming againe 1. Cor. 11. This Institution of Christ is like that of the Creation not to bee stinted by this present act but extended to euery of the like as it doth in the other Sacrament of Baptisme yea and of Ordination and Absolution The first of euery of them was seminall and to bring out others according to its kinde Whereupon it followeth that the words of Christ in his practice are vsed by the Pastors not onely as historicall but also as operatiue And this is the ground of our faith and security in the effect of these and other sacred Rites But touching this Sacrament the precept is cleare in St. Luke Doe this in remembrance of mee Wherein there are two markable things which the precept doth require I will touch them in a word the first is Imitation Doe this the other is Commemoration in remembrance of me Doe this that calleth for the worke of the Pastour in imitation of Iesus and the worke of the people in imitation of the Disciples both must be doing in this Sacrament and except they be both doing it is no Communion Priuate Masses are a direct peruerting of Christs Institution where the Priest onely is doing but the People doe nothing at least they doe not what they should there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas the precept doth not onely require that we doe but that wee doe this the Priest must precisely doe that which Iesus did he must take the same Elements the same in nature the same in number and when he hath taken them he must vse them as Christ did consecrate them with blessing and thanksgiuing to the end and for the vses before specified according to that of St. Paul Quod accepi à Domino tradidi vobis 1. Cor. 11. And what he hath consecrated that must he distribute and withhold no part not the Cup as the Church of Rome doth Christ gaue that and for many hundred yeares the Church imitated him so doing and now they reserue it onely to the Priest that doth execute or doe the honour to Monarches to giue them the Cup. And that may worse be withheld from the people than the body For the new Couenant and the Remission of sinnes is in the Text annext vnto the bloud as if Christ would haue them especially remember it in that Concomitancy is an idle shift for seeing a Sacrament is the participation of the sacrifice they confesse that they cannot make vp the sacrifice without consecrating both bread and wine how doe they not then defraud the people of a part of the sacrifice if they giue them the bread and not the wine or which is most absurd the Priest receiueth Christs body as it was crucified because he receiueth
onely knowledge but acknowledgement Knowledge without acknowledgement is of little regard with God auailes vs but little he knoweth his wounds as a penitent that by searching sindeth what cuill he hath done and though to his owne confusion yet layeth it open before the tender eyes of God and so qui addit scientiae addit dolori Eccles 1. the penitents knowledge is the fountaine of his forrow Saint Austin wittily wresteth those words of the Preacher to this purpose Marke moreouer the word his owne for men are most willing to know and make knowne other mens wounds but vt nemo in sese tentat descendere nemo Men loue not to bee knowne to themselues yet many a man hath inward plagues which none knowes but God and himselfe But it is an absurd thing to passe ouer our owne wounds and inquire into other mens It is much to be wisht therefore that we would translate this scrutinie and spend it vpon our selues take pity vpon our owne selues Nazianz Orat. 26. and let the sense of our owne ill deseruings open a passage to the relieuing bowels of our most mercifull Father who relieueth none but those which know the euill which they haue done and suffer Esay 26. When wee come according to the Ordinance of the Church to make confession either at the entrance to common Prayer or the Eucharist euery man should haue premeditated his owne sinnes and acknowledge them vnto God in the secret of his heart and craue pardon for them But though a man must haue this passion in regard of his owne case yet must he not be without compassion toward the ill case of others If it be but a priuate mans case we must be compassionate towards him because he is a member of the same body We know the Parable of the man that went from Ierusalem to Ierico and fell amongst Theeues who stript him and wounded him the Priest and the Leuite are taxed for want of compassion towards him as the Samaritane is commended for hauing it And if we must shew compassion towards priuate mens cases how much more towards the publicke It is a grieuous complaint that God maketh against the great men of Israel Amos 6. who stretch themselues vpon Iuorie beds eate the Lambes of the flocke c. but were not grieued for the affliction of Ioseph if the whole feele the distresses of euery part of our body should any part be so senslesse as not to suffer for the whole especially seeing if the whole perish euery part perisheth whereas the whole may subsist though this or that part doe perish and fall away The miserable estate of Christendome especially the Orthodoxe Church and our own generall calamities importune mee to recommend this compassion vnto you and beseech you to include it in this dayes Humiliation and to let the one be as long liued as the other to let neither of them decay much lesse dye till God returne to his Church and this State in his wonted mercy and with his wonted blessing You haue heard the first inward act of a Penitent There is another act here specified which is outward Penitent Deuotion must be accompanied with conuenient ceremonies here are two mentioned one of the hands they must be stretcht out this is a naturall ceremony for marke a childe when he hath offended his parents as hee falleth vpon his knees so he lifteth vp his hands so doth a seruant to his master a subiect to his Soueraigne and the conquered to the Conquerour and it importeth as much as Do victas in tua vincla manus Sir I am at your mercy The word Supplicium hath its name hence because it humbleth the weaker vnder the hand of the stronger the inferiour to the superiour and maketh him supplicare submit vnto him From hence it is translated vnto Praier and made a ceremony thereof both in the Old Testament let the lifting vp of my hands bee as an euening Sacrifice Psal 141. and in the New Testament I will that men pray in all places lifting vp pure hands 1. Tim. 2. This is the first meaning of this ceremony when it is applyed to penitency As God stretcheth out his hand to strike so the Penitent stretcheth out his hand for mercy Though I am not ignorant that it may also signifie the correspondency of the inward to the outward man that as the heart lifteth it selfe vp to God so must the body also by the hands This is excellently set forth in the Psalme I stretch forth my hands to thee my heart thirsteth for thee as a thirsty Land Psal 143. and in this sense Moses in the warre against Amalecke Salomon in this Dedicatory and others may bee thought in their prayers to haue stretcht forth their hands vnto God The former sense doth not exclude this The second ceremony is of the Eye that is mysticall the Eye must look towards the Temple of Salomon that is the place where God put his Name and where the cloud representing God resided betweene the Cherubins vpon the Mercy seate This brings it home to that which before I told you was to be done by the Suppliant who hath recourse to the Throne of Grace and as Tephillah the prayer made vnto the Iudge did require a ceremony of submissiue stretching out of the hand so Techinnah the prayer of Mercy requires a cast of our eye vpon the Mercy seate the ceremonies fit well the Deuotion The riches of Gods nature are infinite but wee vse to single out such of Gods Attributes as are most fit for our Deuotion to behold not excluding the rest but desiring that the rest may not hinder but further rather that Attribute vpon which wee lay hold Salomons Temple is long since ruined there is now no typicall Mercy seate whereunto wee should looke according to the example of Daniel and others But the truth abideth for euer God that was in Christ reconciling the world doth accept our prayers if wee offer them though Iesus Christ where Christ then is thither must we bend our eyes euen to the right hand of God whereat he sitteth to make intercession for vs. Out of both ceremonies ioyntly gather that the place whither we direct our Deuotion sheweth from whom the plagues come and that is from God and he sendeth them for sinne the confession thereof is plain in the acts of the Deuotion the plagues come not by chance neither are they sent without a cause The Heathen did acknowledge the Author and therefore pacified God with their solemne Supplications Christians knew him and propitiated him much better as appeares by the ancient Letanies To say nothing of the Law and the Prophets which are plentifull in teaching that all plagues come from God As God sendeth them so he sendeth plagues for sinnes being offended with our crying sinnes he poureth vpon the world grieuous plagues Maledicta terra propter te the first Curse was for mans sinne The Law runnes in the same tenour
their message plainely and roundly and renued it more than once so resolute did Gods presence make them Whereas afterward when God threatned to withdraw his presence by reason of the vntowardlines of the Israelites cariage Moses speaketh plainly to God If thou wilt not go with vs send vs not hence and yet then he had 600000. men with him and more notwithstanding all that ayde he had no heart to enter vpon Canaan till God promised againe that hee would goe with him as also his being with Iosua made Iosua valiant and of a good courage To passe ouer the like promise made to Gedeon and others not so pertinent to our purpose though shewing how auaileable Gods presence is Cap. ◠Cap. 3. Ieremie and Ezekiel that were Prophets had an employment in nature much like vnto this of the Apostles and wee finde that both of them startled at their message and held backe till God drew them on with a promise of being with them But of all promises that is most markeable which is made to Zorobabel Zachary 4. Who art thou O great Mountaine before Zorobabel thou shalt become a plaine hee shall bring forth the head stone thereof with shoutings crying grace grace vnto it This is the worke that Zorohabel shall doe but what is the meanes not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord. Mat. 10. In this sense our Sauiour Christ when he sendeth the Apostles hee biddeth them not to take care what they should speake for that not they but the spirit of their Father should speake in them and Christ promised to giue them such a mouth and wisedome Luke 81. as all their Aduersaries should not be able to gain-say nor resist By this you may perceiue that it is not a generall presence that is promised which is common to the good and the bad but a speciall and that a gracious Presence a Presence which hee to whom it is vouchsafed may well ioy in and be comforted by for what good shall he want what euill neede he feare with whom Christ is so present But you may resolue Christs presence with his Apostles into the Protection of their persons and Cooperation in their worke Prosp ib. 2. de wocat Gent. The protection of their persons Non vt nihil patiantur sed vt non superentur Christ did not protect them so as that they should not suffer the Crosse but that they should conquer by it as himselfe had done their Martyrdome was their conquest and they most aduanced the Gospel when they sealed it with their bloud As for Christs Cooperation it is plaine that the conuersion of the world was Mutatio dextrae Altissimi that in such a moment of time the Gentiles in all knowne parts of the world should bee so brought to entertaine the Gospell was a worke of no weaker power than that of the Almighty it was his worke Qui facit mirabilia magna solus that onely doth great Wonders But what is this to vs that are Ministers now wee are not Apostles True but wee are the Successors of the Apostles and Christ promiseth not onely a powerfull but a perpetuall Presence he promiseth to be with them alwayes vnto the worlds end I might tell you that the Apostles liue in their writings to which all succeeding Pastors are tyed and the miracles which they wrought are to Posteritie the warrant that their worke was Christs and so Christ in vs is with them But more distinctly If hee had said vnto them onely alwayes wee might haue vnderstood it as of a personall Promise a Promise proper vnto them but when he addeth to the worlds end others are comprehended also euen the succession of Pastors wee also must comfort our selues with the promise of Gods protexion we shall neuer want crosses in the world but we must hope that God will make perfect his strength in our weaknesse And we must comfort our selues with the Cooperation of Christ and acknowledge that wheresoeuer Paul planteth and Apollo watereth it is God that giueth the increase it is not we but the Grace of God with vs that doth produce these supernaturall effects in the people their Regeneration their Absolution their ghostly Consolation c. Vnder Vobiscum With you you must comprehend not onely Pastors but People also for Where two or three are gathered together in my name saith Christ I am in the middest of them and in the Reuelation Christ appeareth walking in the middest of the golden Candlesticks In regard of protection Zach 12. he promiseth to bee a wall of fire vnto his people and in regard of cooperation he promiseth that they shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God and they haue an Vnction that teacheth them all things Finally the phrase I am is not to bee neglected in this perpetuity for it doth not onely suite well with Christ who is alwayes the same and changeth not but it noteth also the constancie of his operation whether he defend or worke by the Pastors and in the People Oh would to God wee did all acknowledge this presence of Christ in his Church it would make vs carry our selues more holily and more readily doe our duety and in so doing continue alwayes the same Before I leaue this point of Perpetuity I must refute a Calumnie of the Church of Rome and correct their Arrogancie First to meete with their Calumnie They charge vs that contrary to this text we hold the Church hath failed and may faile but certainely they can name no Author of ours that euer deliuered such an opinion wee beleeue and confesse that Christ hath built his Church vpon a Rocke Matth. 16. and that the gates of bell shall neuer preuatle against it that there shall not want Christian Pastors and People in the Church Ephes 9. vntill Christ shall come to Iudgement But this wee say that there is no branch of the Church Militant which is not subiect to corruption in opinion and in conuersation yea many degenerate so farre herein that they may be lopped off from Gods Vine and cease to bee a Church wee haue many wofull examples hereof in Africa in Asia in Europe long since swallowed vp by Mahumetans yet the body of the Church hath continued still though it haue lost many of its branches God was neuer pleased to suffer corruption so farre to preuaile but that he prouided a new Plant to shoote out before he forsooke that which degenerated You see how the Church was continued till the floud in Noah who succeeded the Patriarches that descended from Seth after the floud God preserued a Sem at the least vntill the Church was setled in Abraham in whose posterity hee did continue it vntill Christ came in the flesh neither did he vtterly forsake the Iewes till the Church was rooted in the Gentiles amongst the Gentiles he hath continued it notwithstanding Tyrants Hereticks c. but not without the spirituall husbandry
a commendable highth than by profitably reading of those places You shall learne thus much also that factus Christianus is much more pious than is natus he that out of a forlorne state is by the mercie of God brought to the state of grace when he is come to the yeares of discretion doth abound much more in the fruits of righteousnesse than he that is borne in the state of grace and so will euerie true conuerted sinner abound more than he that neuer tooke a grieuous fall But I must hasten to the preheminencie of Grace a preheminencie beyond St. Pauls preheminency euen by the testimonie of St. Paul himselfe Not I but the grace of God that is with me he correcteth himselfe as if he had presumed too farre Where marke that though a man worke with grace not only per effectum but also per consensum not only to the producing of the effect but also vnderstanding and willing it for hee is instrumentum rationale and God doth not deale with men as with blockes and bruit beasts yet is a man but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Instrument the principall Agent is the grace of God And although there be two workers yet must they not be reputed coordinate but subordinate neither doth man worke otherwise than as hee is moued by grace and the children of God are led by his spirit Whereby you may gather how wicked a doubt that is which now doth perplexe the Church Whether forsooth our will determines Gods grace or Gods grace determines our will in the point of iustification Certainly St. Paul thought the point out of question when he vsed this correctiue Not I but the grace of God that is with me mecum or quae in me The grace of God doth not cooperate with our free will except it bee first regenerated by grace Therefore the defence of free will is idly gathered hence seeing Papists meane it in actu primo and St. Paul speakes here de actusecundo He is most vnthankefull then and so vnworthy of grace that doth not giue the preheminence to the grace of Adoption cooperant in all his workes of pietie And so to the cooperant grace of Edification must we giue the glorie of all the workes of our Ministrie Paul planteth and Apollo watereth it is God that giueth the increase wee haue heauenly treasures but we conuey them in earthen vessels the foolishnesse of preaching is ours the demonstration of the Spirit is from Heauen Non vos estis qu◠loquimini sed Spiritus Patris Matth. 10. wee speake the words God openeth the heart wee wash with water Christ with the Holy Ghost we giue the bread and wine Christ his body and blood Ros coelestis sacit messem terrestrem wee may not thinke better of our selues than of Ministers the power of whose worke dependeth on the Spirit of our Master wee are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Christi a second grace is the cause why our first is not frustrate so was it before the fall much more is it so now I haue done with the particulars of my text two things I gathered out or the whole bodie of it which I will note in a word The first is St. Pauls sinceritie who giueth the glorie vnto God of the originall of the gifts and of the vse of the gifts wherewith he was endowed condemning all sacriledge of this kinde What God told Zorobabel re-edifying the Temple of the earthly Hierusalem the same is fulfilled in the restauration of our heauenly neyther by armie nor strength but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts men shall bring forth all the stones thereof with shouting crying grace grace Zach. 4. Therefore let vs say Not vnto vs O Lord not vnto vs but vnto thy name giue the praise for of thee and through thee and for thee are all things all things that belong to the being of thy Church the being both of Pastor and People Let him that glories glorie in the Lord. As St. Paul dealeth sincerely in regard of Gods glorie so doth he also modestly in regard of himselfe as he extolleth God so doth he abase himselfe witnesse the extenuation of his endowment of his employment and the correction of that speech wherein hee might seeme to value himselfe at too high a rate I cannot stand to amplifie this vertue of his though the pride of our nature deserues to haue it amplified that it may be admonished thereby I will onely commend vnto your meditation King Dauids Psalme Lord I am not high minded I haue no proud looks c. and Christs exhortation to vs to become as little children hee that exalteth himselfe shall bee humbled and that humbleth himselfe shall bee exalted Let vs not therefore bee ashamed to cast downe our selues that the Lord may lift vs vp and seeing our helpe standeth in the Name of the Lord and without Christ we can doe nothing for quis te discreuit and what hast thou that thou hast not receiued because it is hee that worketh in vs both to will and to doe let vs continually pray Lord make speed to saue vs Lord make haste to helpe vs saue and helpe both Pastor and People that both may truly say with St. Paul By the grace of God I am that I am and euery one may haue this sweet repose of conscience Gods grace was not bestowed on me in vaine Finally the Apostle ascribing before his sinnes to himselfe and his vertue to God doth teach that we are sufficient to our owne ruine not so to our rising according to that of Hosea Destructio tua ex te c. Therefore the Minister must with meeknesse teach the contrary minded 2 Timothie 2. I haue set before you an exact patterne of a good Pastor and Christian wee should all endeauour to conforme thereto but this is rather to bee wished than hoped because of the frailtie of our nature Wherefore a timely suruey of the Church is requisite to make such a suruey is the reason of this meeting The world hath many Saules blasphemers oppressors wicked liuers but you vse to present All as Pauls you say All is well when euery man may see that much is amisse Remember that this is Iudicium ante iudicium a medicinall Iudgement before a mortall the iudgement of man to preuent the iudgement of God Doe not by cruell indulgence exempt any from the iust censure of the Church to expose your selues and them to the intolerable vengeance of God Rather let vs all ioyne of Saules to make Paules that so wee may repaire the decayes of the Church and heare a comfortable doome when we all come before the Tribunall seat of Christ THe Lord giue vs all this effectuall grace the vndoubted pledge of eternall glorie Hee that hath begunne in you a good worke perfect it till the day of the Lord. Amen IHS A SERMON PREACHED IN TRINITY CHVRCH IN WINCHESTER AT An ASSIZES 1610. EZRA 7. vers 26. And whosoeuer will not doe
that we should bow before him the knees of our hearts no lesse then the knees of our bodies when we lift vp our hands vnto GOD we should lift vp our Soules also and our eyes should not behold Heauen but our faith should pierce vnto the Throne of GOD. Finally there is no Ceremoniall Law which should not attend some Morall as the shadow doth the body or the body should the soule the Sonne of SYRACH hath made a whole Chapter that teacheth this Lesson But the Iewes put a sunder what GOD had conioyned Cap. 35 they shewed much zeale for the Ceremoniall but were carelesse of the Morall Law expressed much submission of their bodyes but little deuotion of their Soules and drew neere with their lips but their hearts were farre from God Of this GOD complaineth ESAY 1. and doth passionately vary tearmes to expresse his dislike thereof they solemnized their Feasts and offered Sacrifices and assembled themselues in his House Esay 1 But what saith GOD To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices Who required your presence to tread in my Courts I hate your solemne Feasts The cause of all is Your hands are full of blood In the last of ESAY GOD is much sharper He that killeth an oxe is as if he slew a man Cap. 66. he that sacrificeth a lambe as if he cut off a dogs necke he that offereth an oblation is as if he offered swines blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol Marke the Reason They haue chosen their owne wayes and their soule delighted in their owne abominations You see then that in seruing GOD we may offend him grieuously if we seuer those things which he hath coupled for our seruice then will be plaine hypocrisie and Hypocrifie is by a Prouerbe noted to be double iniquitie And iustly is it so noted for therein we do first Interpretatiuè deny that GOD is the Searcher of the heart in that we doe not approue our heart to him Secondly we doe expresly preferre the Diuell before GOD in that we giue the better part I meane our Soule to the Diuell and reserue onely the worser part that is our bodyes for GOD. This should all that present themselues in GODS House seriously thinke on especially you that make shew of a solemne Penitent but such a shew as betrayeth that there is no broken heart within you nor contrite spirit seeing there appeareth so little euidence thereof in the outward man Be you assured that so repenting for sinne you doe but add vnto your sinne you are a transgressor of the Law in regard of your Separation of the Ceremoniall from the Morall Law But there is an other transgression of the Law which is the direct and immediate violation of the Morall part thereof This is the greater sinne and doth more apparently deserue such a name for the former though it be a sinne yet it is a cloaked sinne it maketh some faire shew in the eyes of men how vgly soeuer it is in the eyes of GOD but this walketh vnmasked and appeareth as it is Secondly the former is Malum quia prohibitum euill vpon no other ground but because by a positiue Law it is forbidden it is onely extrinsically euil the other is prohibitum quia malum by no meanes to be done though there were no positiue Law that did forbid it the euill thereof is intrinsicall for it is the violation of the Image of GOD according to which man was made and according to which he should liue In the particular Case that concernes this Penitent GOD that gaue a rationall facultie vnto the soule of man whereby he should order the sensitiue in the vse thereof would haue a man shew himselfe to be better then a beast And how doth a man differ from a beast that hath vnbridled lusts and neglect not onely sacred wedlocke but the degrees of Affinitie and Consanguinitie within which GOD and Nature require that his lusts be stinted This should you that are the Penetent seriously thinke on and measure the grieuousnesse of your sinne by this these things as well the transgression of the Morall as the seperation thereof from the Ceremoniall But the grieuousnesse of sinne is argued not only from what is done but also from the doing of the same Aliud est peccare aliud peccatum facere saith St AVGVSTINE It is one thing to sinne another thing to be giuen ouer to sinne and his distinction is not idle for it is grounded not onely vpon St IOHNS phrase 1 Iohn 3. but also vpon St IAMES his gradation Men are first inticed by their lusts Cap. 1. then lust conceaueth and brings forth sinne and sinne being perfected brings forth death and this perfecting of sinne is properly the doing of sinne All men sinne but they that haue grace take heed of doing sinne feare and shame are both shaken off by those that goe so farre they endeauour not so much as to hide their sinnes Of these Iewes our Psalme saith They sate they spake they ran they wrought euill they consented one with another and were professors of a wicked life And little better is the case of this Penitent who for many yeeres hath openly in the eyes of the world notwithstanding the clamor of many that iustly did detest it liued in abominable Incest which doth much aggrauate his sinne There is a third Aggrauation in my Text taken from the Person that doth commit the sinne Thou hast done these things And the circumstance of the Person doth much improue the foulenesse of a fault No man should sinne against GOD but they that are most bound should forbeare most Now the Iewes had a double Obligation one by Nature the other by the Couenant They were GODS Creatures and GOD vouchsafed to contract with them Not to performe the dutie which we owe especially when we haue solemnly vowed it maketh vs guiltie in a high degree And euerie one within the Church if he doe sinne is so farre guiltie his Vow in Baptisme will presse him no lesse then the Condition of his Nature And this must you that are the Penitent ponder in your Soule that you may answerably hereunto feele the burden of your sinne I doe not amplifie these things without Cause they must be the rather marked because the deeper the Iewe was in guilt the greater was GODS Patience Notwithstanding their double offence their Seperation and Transgression their double Obligation of Nature and Vow their double sinning in that they did not onely act but professe sin yet did GOD hold his peace he proceeded not against them but with great Patience GODS Patience is noted by his Silence the word signifieth to be deafe and dumbe and putteth vs in mind of a double voyce a voyce of sinne and a voyce of Iudgement That sinnes haue a Voyce you may read Gen. 4. where ABELS blood doth cry and in the Storie of Sodome Gen. 18. the voyce of whose sin came vp to
may read enough in the life of SOLOMON to iustifie this point But this was not the sinne onely of the Old Testament it quickly entred vpon the New no sooner had the Apostles planted the Christian Faith but impure Heretickes poysoned the Religion at the root and by wicked notions of God and Goodnesse seduced many simple ones vnto all dissolutenesse of life as we read in IRENIE and EPIPHANIVS Yea no sooner was the Gospel restored in these latter dayes but Anabaptists and Libertines trod the very same steps and turned Heauen into Hell and God into the Diuell As for our selues Beloued our Positions are sound and good but our Conuersation should be answerable otherwise the Apostle will tell vs That we denie God euen when we professe him deny him in deeds when we professe him in word yea whereas GODS Image is not Verball but Reall if we will goe for GODS Children and doe the workes of the Diuel how farre are we from this sinne of the Iewes You that are the Penitent should especially lay this to your heart for this brings your sinne vnto his heighth and if you thinke how prophane it is to beare our Incest with Periurie you may haue grace to acknowledge your guilt guilt of supposing GOD to be like vnto your selfe for such doing can hardly goe without such thinking especially if a man continue long therein When a sinner is come to this passe GOD can hold no longer he ceaseth his patience which the Iewes abuse and proceedeth to vengance against which they cannot except He that toucheth GOD in his Wisedome as doth the first kind of Atheist toucheth him neare but GOD beares it He that toucheth him in his Prouidence as doth the second kind of Atheist toucheth him nearer yet can GOD endure that also But he that toucheth him in his Holinesse as doth the third kind of Atheist toucheth him nearest his wrath for such a touch must needs breake out As the Will is the supremest facultie of the reasonable Soule so Holinesse the perfection of the Will is the chiefest of vertues therefore man should be certainly GOD is most tender of it if any impeach that he will certainly reproue them Reprofe is either verball or reall GOD reproues verbally or in word by his Ministers of that we heare as often as we heare from them the doome of sinne for it is Praeiudicium ante iudicium they tell vs what we are and how we shall faire and GOD will make good their words when he entreth into Iudgement But when we are not the better for the Verball then GOD commeth to the reall Ps 29. and then we shall find that Dei dicere is facere The voyce of the Lord is a glorious voyce mightie in operation it breaketh the Cedars of Libanus Hebr. 4. and diuideth betweene the sinnewes and the marrow it not onely rips a man vp to the verie heart root but is able to crush him all to pieces King DAVID describeth the effects of it Psal 39. When thou ô Lord with rebukes doest chasten man for sinne thou as a moath makest his beautie to consume This he vttereth more at large in the 90 Psalme yea read all the Psalmes that are Penitentiall and you shall find vpon the rebuke of GOD what a comfortlesse Soule what a healthlesse Body King DAVID had And if the Children of GOD feele such effects at GODS rebuke which notwithstanding haue euer some sparkes of comfort how doth it crush nay grind forlorne wicked ones If the voyce of Sion the rod of a man the correction of a father be so terrible that DAVID cryeth out O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger â—s 6. neither chasten me in thy heauy displeasure how dreadfull is the voyce of Sina the iron rod the destructiue wrath of GOD to whom shall wretched man flye what shelter shall he take there is no vmpier to qualifie the doome nor any defender to beare off the stroake certainly it is a fearefull thing so to fall into the hands of the liuing God You that are the Penitent are yet but vnder the verball you are not come to the reall reproofe happy shall you be if you make so good vse of this as to preuent that But be sure that the neglect of correction doth vndoubtedly prognosticate destruction to a sinner such destruction as shall not onely be iust but also take away whatsoeuer exception for God will set mans sinnes before his eyes The Hebrew hath nothing but I will order or marshall before thy face the Septuagint supply out of the first clause These things hast thou done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy sinnes St HIEROME out of the second clause thou thoughtest me like vnto thy selfe supplyes Thy selfe Proponam tibi te I will set Thee before thy selfe they are easily reconciled for the person is vnderstood in regard of his sin so that Thee and thine iniquitie is all one In professed wicked men there is not the distinction that is in the Regenerate of Ego Rom â— Peccatum the Old and the New man such a one is not a double but a single man But to come to the point the word ordering or marshalling doth giue vs to vnderstand that we delight in doing of sinne but not in beholding of it behold we can the seeming profit and pleasure that doth accompanie it but the breach of the Law or wound of our Soule we endure not to behold because there is pleasure in the act and remorse in the remembrance thereof But what we cast behind vs GOD will set before vs. The word marshalling importeth two things First that the sinnes are many but confused so that we doe not discerne either the great number or the vnequall measure of them whereupon it followeth that we cannot iudge either how grieuous or how vgly they are but GOD will so dispose them that we shall take notice of euerie one and euerie one according to his pitch Good things well digested are the better discerned and yeeld the more content and euill things displayed will the more vndeniably conuict vs of folly and more vncomfortably distresse vs with our want of grace These two conuiction and confusion doe necessarily accompanie the marshalling of our sinnes and if one sinne of murder wrought so vpon CAIN one sinne of treason vpon IVDAS that the one could not rest the other hanged himselfe in what case thinke we shall the wicked be when GOD shall set all their sinnes before them It is good then for men to vnburden themselues as neare as they can of all sinne seeing there is so much euill in the sight of any one sinne and we cannot auoid the fight of any especially if it be such as this Penitents sinne an enormous sinne and a crying sinne See it therefore now and let repentant teares wash out the characters thereof least remaining of record you be forced to see it when there will be no meanes of blotting it out A second thing that
But let vs take these Workes a little a sunder Christ turned vnto Peter then was CHRIST before turned from him And indeed so he was propter arrogantiam saith S. Basil by reason of his presumption who had vaunted that though all men were offended yet would not he be offended When children begin to goe they vse to be so well conceited of the strength of their legs that they need not any help of their Nurse to let them see their folly the Nurse will leaue them to themselues that so smarting by a fall they may the better be brought to find what need they haue of their Nurse The best of vs are but Babes in grace yet doe we thinke that we can stand of our selues yea and run the wayes of GOD also GOD doth refute vs by our owne experience and by this Mistris of fooles maketh vs better knowne to our selues But though he leaue vs for a time yet doth he not forsake vs for euer no more then a Nurse doth the weakling child she maketh vse of one fall to keepe the child from many and GOD doth make vse of our sinning to make vs see how prone we are to sinne And this is that which is meant by Christs turning his turning to vs is nothing else but his renewing of grace in vs Ps â—5 Ier. 31. it is a quickning Conuersion such a turning as worketh repentance As Christ turned Leo de Passione Serm. 9. so he looked that was spirituall and so this he not onely looked on but into S. Peter and it was an operatiue looke Before I told you that the crowing of the Cocke did fore-tell the approaching of the Sunne Now the looke of the corporall Sunne when it shineth vpon the Earth doth carrie with it a quickning influence it putteth life into the Earth and all things are the better for the looke thereof The same must you conceiue of the Sunne of Righteousnesse his looke gratious looke is such as that it infuseth grace into the soule and transformeth the person on whom he looketh You will easily acknowledge this truth if you looke to the Effects I come then to them The Meanes were two and so are the Effects that proceed from them each Meanes produceth its Effect for CHRIST doth not vse his Meanes in vaine The cocke did crow and presently Petr remembred the words which IESVS spake Plato in Crâ—t this was the Effect of the first Meanes Our memorie is a good Storehouse but no good Steward it layeth vp much but of it selfe dispendeth nothing it needeth some helpe to make vse of her store the speculatiue memorie doth but the practicke much more How many be there whose memories are richly stored with excellent rules of life whereof in their life they make no vse their memorie doth not offer them when they haue occasion to be doing as if they had neuer knowne Commandements or Creed they liue like Infidels and like sonnes of Belial Wherefore as the eye of the body needeth the light of the Sunne to rayse and conuey the visible species vnto it Euen so doth the eye of our vnderstanding need the light of the Sunne of Righteousnesse to stirre vp and present vnto it the Principles of Grace whereof it hath need in the ordering of our life without this actuall grace our memorie will neuer make vse of her habituall But there is a double vse of memorie the one is Praeueniens peccatum the other is Subueniens peccato The best vse of memorie were to suggest good rules by which we might auoid sinne and doe nothing which is displeasing vnto GOD. But this memorie doth often faile vs and it is too common a fault to set our selues on worke before euer we thinke whether the worke be such as is fit for vs to doe seldome doth our memorie serue vs to preuent sinne and wretched were our case if we had not memoriam subuenientem a memorie that doth call vs to an account and after-thoughts to reueiw our actions if the Cocke did not crow after we are downe and we were not thereby put in mind of our fall But GOD be thanked we haue the benefit of this after-memorie and it is the first step of our rising againe It was to St Peter he did not mind CHRISTS warning to keepe him vp but he called it to mind when he was downe then did he remember that he had beene fore-warned and gaue glorie vnto CHRISTS truth he acknowledged that the euent had proued him a true Propher You are bound to the Ministers not onely for their informing but for their reforming paines also not onely for teaching you what you should doe but also for laying to your consciences what you doe amisse we often tell you of your frailtie and that you are by nature prone vnto sinne but you heare vs with a deafe care euen as deafe an eare as St Peter heard CHRIST I would CHRIST would say vnto our memories Ephata as he did to St Peters and as he so we after we are downe would remember our selues and confesse that we are not challenged in vaine that we our selues are monuments of humane frailtie and they that tell vs when we are in the heighth of our selfe conceit that we will proue such doe not prophesie what our life doth not iustifie If we be so ingenuous such a Remembrance will set vs forward to performe the acts that are required in repentance which are the Effects of the second Meanes The second Meanes are CHRIST turned and looked and what followed thereupon Surely Peter presently became another man He had beene verie bold but now he began to find his owne weaknesse Praesumens Petrus ignorauit se negando didicit se cognoscere while Peter thought well of himselfe he was a verie stranger to himselfe but he grew better acquainted with himselfe after he had denyed CHRIST in witnesse whereof he went out he would no longer conflict with that by which he had beene foyled Occasions of euill are shrewd stumbling blockes he that will not fall must be afraid to come nigh them In this case Basils rule is true Nihil formidolosius quam nihil formidare none are in more fearfull case then they that are foole-hardy Et in securitate periclitatur fides he wrackes his faith that is bold when he may decline to put it in danger that will touch pitch and thinke he cannot be defiled carrie fire in his bosome and thinke he cannot be burnt Peter came into the High Priests house onely out of the loue of CHRIST and yet he fell And shall we be able to stand that out of a loue of the World thrust our selues into the temptations thereof I would all that dote vpon the baites of sinne were as timerous as St Peter was and would not so rashly hazard themselues men would not so often be ouertaken with the vanities of this life they would not so often relapse into sinne Peter went out not onely out of feare of that
be no worse then this that it is Vanitie that it is a Lie For what doe wee abhorre more in nature then vanitie which is the emptinesse of nature What in good manners more then a Lie which is the counterfeit of good manners We thinke nothing ought more to be endeauoured then sollidnesse in Being and sinceritie in Appearing and abhorre nothing more then the contrarie to them both So that to haue our state not onely paralleld with but to become Vanitie and a Lie we may deeme the greatest debasement that can be thereof And yet it is not the comparison doth vs too much honour we are not worthy to bee matched with these though these bee of so small waight yet they ouer-waigh vs in the scales of God if we both bee waighed our lightnesse will soone discouer the inequalitie And indeed no wonder for vanitie is nothing in comparison of sinne and a naturall Lie in comparison of a morall To be mortall taketh away much of that substance which we had in our Creation but to bee sinfull taketh away much more the Maxime Quod efficit tale illud ipsum est magis tale holdeth most true betweene sinne and vanitie for man becommeth subiect vnto vanitie through sinne and who doth not know how much lower sinne doth carrie vs then doth vanitie Vanitie lodgeth vs in the earth sinne tumbleth vs into hell and that is lightest that carrieth vs lowest the more sollid euery thing is the neerer to God and the farther from God it carrieth vs the lighter it must needs be And behold a Paradoxe Here grauia tendunt sursum and Leuia deorsum so that they that are light in the scales are out of the scales very heauie they sinke downe into Hell and they that are in the scales heauie are out of the scales verie light they so are as high as Heauen But it may be thought if men of low degree bee singled by them selues or men of high degree by themselues their waight is no greater yet if they bee ioyned each will helpe to augment the others waight and what they cannot a part they may doe going together at least counterpoyse if not ouerpoyse Vanitie and a Lie No verily for as a Cipher added to a Cipher maketh but a Cipher so Vanitie is no whit the heauier by the addition of a Lie nor a Lie by the addition of Vanitie Put high men and low men all sorts of men yea all persons into Gods ballance and you shall find that if they haue no other waight then that which is in men they cannot hold waight no not with vanitie it selfe then which you would thinke nothing can haue lesse waight and indeed nothing hath but sinne wherin standeth the chiefe lightnesse of man O Lord thou hast appointed a Day wherein thou wilt waigh all both things and persons and trie how much they haue lost of that sollidnesse which thou hast bestowed vpon them I confesse that I had lost much yea all true sollidnesse I brought none with me out of my mothers wombe but it hath pleased thee againe to repaire it in part and promise it in whole Grant that of whatsoeuer Degree I am I may thinke no better of my nature then it is and may value thy grace according to its worth make me which am a sonne of Adam a child of God and so free me from vanitie And if thou bee pleased to prosper me on earth yet Lord prosper mee much more towards Heauen and free my greatnesse from a Lie So shall I not be light in thy scales with that lightnesse that descends to Hell but heauie with that sollidnesse that ascends to Heauen Amen A Meditation vpon Hebr. 9. VERSE 27. It is appointed for all men once to die and after death commeth Iudgement O My Soule what now thou art thou canst not continue long and what thou shalt bee it is good thou timely doe consider Thou now dwellest in a body made of clay and daily mouldring into dust thou canst haue no surer prognostication that it will haue an end then thy continuall experience that it is mortall Were there nothing but Age that wrought vpon it it would wither but when sicknesse which speedeth sooner and spends faster conspires with Age to ruine thy habitation how canst thou be vnmindful of the fall thereof How canst thou but euery houre expect it But there is a higher remembrancer one of whom thou mayst lesse doubt in this case then of either sicknesse or Age and that is God hee hath decreed it All must die thou art one of that All and of All not one that can exempt himselfe from or except against Gods decree Especially so iust a decree no lesse iust then peremptorie no lesse peremptorie then iust God peremptorily threatned death before thou sinnedst and since thou hast sinned Iustice can doe no lesse then giue sentence against thee the sentence of death The Soule that sinneth must die thou art a sinfull soule and therefore thou must taste of death Thou must not looke that those eyes of thine which haue beene the windowes of lust shall alwayes gaze vpon this besotting world thou must not thinke that those eares of thine by whose gates haue entred so much vanitie shall still be inchaunted with the flatteries of thy deceitfull friends thou must not thinke that this taste of thine importunate sollicitor of thy appetite shall still serue to pamper thy body with delicacies These things haue had their time and it is but a time that is allowed them they were and the more they doe the lesse shall they be able to doe dimnesse casts a vaile vpon thine eyes and deafnesse lockes vp the doores of thy eares and thy taste forgets to discerne thy meates And iustly become they so infeebled that kept no measure in their strength what they should haue done they delighted least to doe though by doing it they might haue lasted long and what they should not haue done in doing that they tooke their greatest solace though in doing of it they wrought their owne decay Had not Eue beheld the forbidden fruit more willingly then God hadshee not listned to the Serpent more attentiuely then to his word had shee not tasted the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Euill more sweetly then the tree of life I had had immortall eyes eares and taste But because shee abused them I must loose the vse of them But why doe I deriue my fault vpon others Why doe I vncouer my Parents nakednesse Are my teeth set on edge onely because they did eate sower Grapes My selfe did eate in them and after them my selfe haue eaten like vnto them I doe not so much resemble them in nature as concupiscence what so euer they planted I haue watered and watered that often which they planted but once And as if I feared that their ill husbandrie would not proue fast enough my selfe haue beene a toylesome Husbandman in cherishing the briers and thornes that haue choked euen all
banes not of Learning only but of Religion also St. Paul is one worker but there is another also which is Gods grace God doth not endow vs and then leaue vs to our free will if hee did so our endowing grace would quickly perish or doe nothing therefore hee giues a second grace to the operant he addes a cooperant That must worke also The reason is euident whether you cast your eies vpon the common workes of pietie or else vpon the speciall workes of the Ministrie See it first in the speciall workes of Pietie If our vnderstanding and our heart be left in their pure naturals the one will neuer perceiue the other wil neuer sauour the things that are of God therefore must the one be lightned the other must bee purged by grace otherwise they will neuer comprehend their obiect they will neuer bee able to doe any supernaturall worke How much lesse will they bee able to doe it their naturals being corrupted as by sinne they are But before in the endowment we found a man indued with grace and here we finde mention made of grace againe wherefore wee must obserue that God vouchsafeth a man a double grace an habituall and an actuall a grace that giueth him abilitie and a grace that setteth his abilitie on worke Touching habituall grace that is true which St. Basil hath De Spiritu sancte c. 26. it is semper presens but not semper operans it may be in vs and yet be idle he expresseth it by a similitude of the eye sight wherewith a man may see oftner than he doth see De Natura gratia c. 26. St. Austin vseth that simile more fully to our purpose vt oculus corporis etiam plenissimè sanus nisi candore lucis adiutus non potest cernere c. as the sharpest eye-sight can discerne nothing except it haue the help of outward light no more can a man perfectly iustified liue well except he be holpen from aboue with the light of the eternall Iustice Neither is this cooperation of grace a transeunt but a permanent Act so the same Father teacheth Sicut Aer praesente lumine non factus est lucidus sed fit quia si factus esset non fieret sed etiam absente lumine lucidus maneret sic home Deo sibi praesente illuminatur absente autem continuo tenebratur Gods grace in man is like the light of the Ayre the one steeds our bodily eye so long as it is maintained by a perpetuall influence of the Sunne and the other steeds our soules so long as it is excited and helped by the holy spirit and grace will be as vnfruitfull without this helpe of the Spirit as the light of the ayre will be fading if you intercept the influence of the Sunne So that a mans soule must be like vnto the Land of Canaan vpon which the eyes of the Lord were from the beginning of the yeare to the ending to giue it the former and the later raine Deut. 11. our sufficiencie and our efficiencie must be both from God Neyther is this second grace needfull only for the work of Pietie but for the workes of the Ministrie also the Lampes that burne in the Temple must continually bee fedde with oyle St. Paul though hee calleth vs Labourers yet he calleth vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is another Labourer with vs. And indeed as Moses told God If thou wilt not goe with vs send vs not hence so vncomfortable were the worke of the Ministrie were it not for Christs promise Lo I am with you vntill the worlds end if he did not hold the starres in his hand they would quickly become wandring quickly become falling stars Besides our selues therfore we must acknowledge another Worker Hauing found the two workers wee must now see what was eyther of their preheminencie First the preheminencie of St. Paul He laboured more than all the word all must be vnderstood not collectiuely but distributiuely He was not so arrogant as to equall himselfe to the whole either Church or Ministrie but to any one he might wel equall himselfe he might well affirme that not any one did equall him in labour But it is a question whom he meaneth by All whether only false Apostles or also true There is no doubt but he went beyond all the false Apostles if he went beyond the true And he went beyond the true it is euident if you consider the circuit of his trauell which is described Rom. 15. and in the Acts especially if you adde that he planted Churches wheresoeuer he came and enlarged the Kingdome of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as himselfe speaketh Adde hereunto his many Epistles sent to so many remote places and persons so profoundly opening the mysteries of saluation and resoluing the hardest knots thereof But aboue all things take notice of the two Supporters of his paines with which no man euer bore himselfe out more resolutely they are the prouerbiall Sustine Abstine How did he despise all profit all pleasure that would take no salary for his paines but laboured with his owne hands that hee might make the Gospell of Christ free that when he might lead about a Wife a Sister as Cephas and the other Apostles did made himselfe an Eunuch for the Kingdome of heauen You see what his Abstine was or despising of profit and pleasure As for his Sustine enduring of afflictions that was no lesse remarkeable reade but the eleuenth of the second to the Corinths there we finde them collected to our hands and what kinde of Affliction is there which wee doe not finde there if you reade it you will say he was a manifold Martyr I cannot dwell longer vpon this point only this I obserue though no man can suffer or abstaine more than he should or labour beyond his dutie supererrogations of any of those kindes are Popish dreames as they expound them yet may one man goe farre beyond another and some there are which are Miracula hominum they may rather be admired than imitated And such was St. Paul Neither was he such a Pastor only but such a Christian also and indeed his Sustine and Abstine must be referred to his grace of Adoption though they did attend his grace of Edification But if that will not suffice see how he did buffet his bodie and keep it vnder lest while he preached to others himselfe should become a reprobate 1 Cor. 9. when he was buffeted with the messenger of Sathan 2 Cor. 12. hee neuer left importuning Christ with his prayers till Christ answered him My grace is sufficient for thee my strength is made perfect in weakenesse his constant care was to keepe an inoffensiue conscience towards God and men Acts 26. But aboue all places reade and exemplifie those two memorable descriptions of a true religious heart striuing against sinne Rom. 7. and making towards heauen Phil. 3. you cannot better see his Pietie and learne to bring your owne to