it self to be an Immaterial substance a spark kindled in us by God from Reason and Will and Memory But what evidence is there that there is a Divine cause that worketh in and is more than these natural Faculties It is requisite to work close unto this question and I answer First because the bounds of nature are known beyond which nature cannot reach forth it self as it works in its own sphere to preserve it self in being and in well-being in health in wealth in fame and glory in extending our selves unto ages to come by leaving a posterity in preserving our Country where we are born and the like But to have our conversation in Heaven at this present in Heaven to ascend thither in our desires and in the tendencies of all our actions to aspire to live in blessedness for ever to long to be at that rest where there is no sin to look for a Church which hath neither spot nor wrinkle this could not enter into us to prosecute it all industriously constantly chearfully but by a supernatural elevation far above the vigour of a Soul prest down by a corruptible Body that is by the power of the Holy Ghost Secondly I feel the pulse of that Divine Spirit beating in me by delighting in tribulations for Christs sake and taking pleasure in infirmities upon the same score 2 Cor. 12.10 And again I am filled with consolation I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulations 2 Cor. 7.4 An obstinate Pagan might arm himself with patience and resolution to vex his persecutors and rather fall into them than decline them out of spight and contumacy But Self-love being spun out of our bowels bred in the bone who could rejoyce to endure anguish upon anguish that God might be glorified but by strength which we are not born unto but which is given us because we are born again of the Spirit Go farther yet How much is the content of a natural man laid aside when a good Christian in his deliberate thoughts sometimes prays to have the rebellions of his heart kept under by some expedient cross wisheth for wholsom correction to beat down the rankness of his sins expects God's fan to winnow the chaff from the wheat For he knows that as too much light dazles the Eyes so too much prosperitie surfeits the mind Therefore a good practitioner in Repentance perceives there is no better way to bring him in from his wandrings than to be scourged home with the gentle hand of God To which some Expositors say the Spouse alludes Cant. 6.5 reading one word as it is right in our Margent Turn away thine eyes from me for they have puffed me up If we be puffed up it is time to pray that the eye of God's outward mercy be for a little turned from us But where had nature learnt that Lesson if the Holy Ghost had never taught it Thirdly As the Apostle says No man hates his own flesh Every man not overcome with a phrenzy of melancholy loves his own being and would preserve his life The Devil that cannot die knows how loth we are to die All that a man hath will he give for his life Job 2.4 But how many Saints have undergone how many more are willing to undergo the fiery trial and offer up their bodies for the testimony of the Lord Jesus not to be cried up in popularity not to be enrolled in the same of an History as there was such a sprinkling among the Heathen But they have died like Lambs in the midst of Wolves when they have been hated and evil spoken of in excess because they would die for the truth of the Gospel which their persecutors accounted to be blasphemy against the Gods which they worshipped If Parents or Wives or Children hung upon their arms and besought them with tears to spare themselves they threw them off as Christ did Peter Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me Matth. 16. verse 22. To see a Martyr at the point of death feel no horror in his fleshly nature but to be raised up as high as the third Heavens with zeal what humane power could bring him to it nothing but the Holy Ghost did as I may say lure his Soul out of the Body with a bait of a Crown of Glory Fourthly The fruits of the Spirit are love joy peace goodness faith temperance c. Gal. 5.22 Is not the Tree known by the fruit Such a cluster hanging all together growing constantly and being fair and sound Tota in toto tempore cum toto corde it is not possible that they should grow like a Bull-rush out of the mud of corrupt nature No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 that is say it effectually and from true allegiance to serve him as a Lord for else Christ will say Why call you me Lord Lord and do not the thing which I say Luke 6.46 This is the Spirit that acts not only in prophesies and miraculous gifts but in every child of God Even in the old Testament Nehem. 9.20 Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them them that is those that were led out of Egypt by Moses and hearkened to him And much more in the state of the New Testament Rom. 5.5 The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us This might be extended into a great length that the Holy Ghost is the Comforter called so by appropriation though it belong to every person of the Holy Trinity and is well exprest in the first Divine Song which is Printed before the Psalms of David in Meeter Thou art the very Comsorter in all woe and distress The Heavenly gift of God most high which no tongue can express This is the Vnction which we have from the Holy One 1 Epist Jo. 2.20 The anointing which we have received of him that abideth in you Verse 27. Anointing-oil is an oil to cure the sick James 5. An oil of gladness Psalm 45. A fomentation to mitigate aches and torments in the bones and in the heart 2. And can the Fruits chuse but be answerable to the Root they must needs partake of it First because all that we do to the honour of God must be done with gladness willingly and chearfully else it comes not from the Spirit of sons but either from the Spirit of bondage or rather from the Spirit of the world The new Disciples received the word gladly and were baptized Acts 2.41 They continued with one accord daily in the Temple with gladness and simplicity of heart Verse 46. I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord Psalm 122.1 Sing Psalms make a joyful noise unto God Psalm 66.1 Let us come with assurance in our supplications that we shall be heard praying with Faith in the Holy Ghost Jud. verse 20. And then the prayer of the upright shall be Gods delight Prov.
them with whom God is well pleased No sin is forgiven to him that is not in Christ and against him that is in Christ there is no condemnation They are the sons of God to whom the Lord doth graciously remit any fault but where any fault is not remitted they are his enemies He that is justified from any sin must be truly penitent but a true penitent is sorry for all sins together hates them eschews them all alike Then follows a plenary absolution from all iniquity through Christ our Lord. And beware that you over-look not these multitudes of sins of the under size as if little grief or anxiety would serve for them are they not numberless corns of sand and may not a weight of too much sand sink a ship as soon as a burden of too much iron The dailiness of sin must be bewailed with the dailiness of sorrow And then when thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet Prov. 3.24 Now tell me if this balm be not enough to heal the bleedings and bruisings of despair Talents of sin and sins in small mony you may hide them all in the wounds of Christ It is possible for God to do the benefit and possible for thee to receive it Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Psalm 130. verse ult 3. It must now be added how that which Hope waits for is possible since it may find satisfaction from long and constant experience In the yonger days of the world somewhat might be said to excuse the backwardness of Hope they wanted proof and demonstration in those times Even Cain was the sooner overtaken with despair crying out My sin is greater than can be forgiven me He had not lived so long to be taught the contrary by experience But every age hath given advantage to Hope to be satisfied better and better O God we have heard with our ears and our fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didst in their days and in the old time before them Psalm 44.1 The records of God do tell us how the Armies of aliens have been discomfited before his Children how the rocks have given them drink and the barren wilderness bread how the Church hath been scattered and recollected the righteous continually supported either with deliverance or patience that the dead have been raised up to life nay that Enoch and Elias were taken up alive into Heaven to implant into our minds that both they that are in the graves shall hear the voice of Christ and come forth and that such as shall be found living at that day shall be caught up in the clouds and be translated into Heaven And I challenge Hope to instance if it can surmise that any thing is impossible to be brought to pass since there is a president in every thing to demonstrate that the right hand of the Lord hath brought mighty things to pass There is one thing I confess for which there is no example neither can be evidenced till all things be accomplisht that is the coming of the Lord Christ with the new Heavens and the new Earth and yet to confirm us in that mystery to come St. John did see the Idea or glimpse of it in his Revelation The use of all this is to remember the transactions of God in the times that are gone before Who ever saw the righteous forsaken or the wicked flourish long was there ever any persecution of the Church which hath not ended in its triumph But stay for it and pray for it and condole for the delays of God's providence till you may say in earnest My soul fainteth for thy salvation Psalm 119.31 How easie is it for a Christian that hath any nostril to run after God in the odour of his sweet ointments and trace his steps from point to point and then to say with David I have remembred thy judgments of old O Lord and have comforted my self Psalm 119.52 and from another Prophet Ezek. 14.22 Ye shall see their way and their doings and shall be comsorted concerning all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem The great store-house of Consolation is Hope therefore all this and more must be said to keep it fresh like a green Olive-tree having never a sear or withered bough upon it I come now to complete it I have shewn it aims only at good and that which is only and excellently good at such a good whose harvest is not brought in all in a year but still there is more and more to be had and the most to come It is possible through the greatness of Gods power and mercy as all ages have witnessed IV. But lastly that which may seem to pinch is that it is Bonum arduum a good not easily attained but with great labour and diligence to give warning against sloth and security It were not worth our longing to say we hope for petty things easie and at hand but for things of value for which we must struggle with many lets and impediments to possess them No man need to hope to find Cockle-shells on the shore but to find Pearls in the Sea that 's an object for the adventure of a Jeweller Neither is the Jewel of Christian Hope easily purchast But as Elijah said to Elisha Thou hast asked a hard thing nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee 2 Kings 2.10 Much after that sort I commune with my heart and say It is good to seek for eternal life pursue it as the Hart brayeth after the rivers of waters there will be much a-do to get it for many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Luke 13.24 Nevertheless if thou canst see the Lord as if he were continually before thee thou shalt not miss of that thou desirest for all things are possible to him whose eyes are ever toward the Lord. These difficulties upon which I strike are either in our selves or in our adventure in our selves partly through natural imbecillity partly through contracted impotency 1. Our natural languor is that of original contagion which makes us so weak that there is none that doth good no not one Which is not to be extenuated as if the malignity of it might be supprest with a little resistance It is good to know the power of so strong an enemy that we may be fortified against it It is a root of bitterness never to be digg'd up out of corrupt nature a coal of fire spitting out sparks of temptations continually as inward to us as the marrow is in our bones Yet there is hope in Christ to slake this fire though not utterly in this life to quench it It is a body of death a whole body consisting of all the members of sin yet a body is but
15.8 and why God's delight but because his servants delight in prayer He that sheweth mercy let him do it with chearfulness Rom. 12.8 And he that giveth offereth a blemisht sacrifice if he do it grudgingly For God loveth a chearful giver 2 Cor. 9.7 Not so much but our losses and tribulations must be sustained with gladness Thy rod and thy staff do comfort me Psalm 23.4 Enter into the combat willingly and the continuance will be a pleasure Our consolation aboundeth by Christ for as ye are partakers of the sufferings so shall ye be also of the consolation 2 Cor. 1.7 Therefore the Apostles did change the name of a famous Disciple called Joses into a notion of this Theme and called him Barnabas which is being interpreted The son of consolation Acts 4.36 The Rabbies of the Jews hold themselves very close to this doctrine and would have it observ'd that the merrier the heart is in the Lord the more capable it is of the Spirit of God Partly because Miriam when she prophesied of the mighty acts of Jehovah took a Timbrel in her hand and danced Exod. 15.20 Partly because that Samuel after he had anointed Saul to be King over Israel told Saul Thou shalt meet a company of Prophets coming down from the high place with a Psaltery a Tabret a Pipe and a Harp and they shall prophesie and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and thou shalt prophesie with them and shalt be turned into another man 1 Sam. 10. verses 5 6. More emphatically when Jehosaphat called for Elisha to enquire of the Lord says Elisha Bring me a Minstrel and it came to pass when the Minstrel played that the hand of the Lord came upon him 2 Kings 3.15 That by the ravishing strains of Musick his mind might be exalted into Heavenly contemplations Which is a great check to that drowsie dulness in devotion which our late Reformers have brought in and have excluded the solemn melody of the Organ and the raptures of warbling and sweet voices out of Cathedral Quires They that miss that harmony can best tell how it was wont to raise up their Spirit and as it were to carry it out of them to the Quire in Heaven And beside chearfulness is not only an adjunct or companion with all the works of grace in that time they are bringing forth but being done and finisht that which is post-nate the after-birth as I may call it comes with such a gleam gliding over all the Soul with such serenity and peace of mind as cannot be exprest our Conscience bearing us witness that we have been conversant in doing the pleasure of the Lord as it is 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience that in simplicity and Godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world Here I shall find work to heal the broken in heart who look upon the fruits of their lives with no content in themselves but are unsolaced and cast down because neither in number nor in weight have they brought in that which the Lord required they look on their ways and they find them crooked they look on their heart and they find it is not constant to good purposes To whom I rejoyn If this proceed from penitence from quick sense of sin from humility which is opposite to a self-justifying they have cause to praise God that they are thus affected Let them look narrowly if this Gold for it may prove no worse be currant when it is brought to the touch-stone then they may lift up their eyes and look chearfully towards Christ for it is no flattery to say they are under his grace and mercy Deal clearly that you are astonisht at your frailties because you think you can never work enough never shun sin enough and though your Conscience condemn you God will afford you equity against the rigour of Conscience for he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit Rom. 8.22 We are conceived in sin and it is so intimate unto us that we have no promise to be so spiritualized in this life that we shall not often trespass God hath concluded all in sin all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all Rom. 11.32 But it is one thing to fall into sin another thing to run into it One thing to be carried away by the passions of it another to covet and desire it One thing to be overtaken in a fault another thing to abide in it without repentance And great odds between those that are given over to please themselves in filthiness and between them that labour and desire to please God though many times they attain not to perfect that willingness The scope of the Seventh Chapter to the Romans as I apprehend the mind of the Apostle is to refresh our guilty Consciences that a regenerate man is not obnoxious to condemnation though his flesh upon some temptations make him the servant of sin because still in his mind he serves the law of God And I am confirm'd in that sense because without all contradiction He teacheth the like doctrine Gal. 5.17 The flesh and the Spirit are contrary one to another so that we cannot do the things that we would And will the righteous God require more of a sick and feeble servant than his best endeavour Will not Christ accept from us the same that he did from Mary that broke the Box of Ointment over his head She hath done what she could Mark 14.8 Let a contrite heart that would fain be righteous remember the prayer of Nehemiah Chap. 1. verse 10. Let thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name or the protestation of St. Paul Heb. 13.18 We trust we have a good Conscience in all things willing to live honestly But this desire and willingness must be without hypocrisie not like iron that is gilded base mettal within and rich without It must be steddy industrious instant to perform Vehement holy desire is a great degree to perfection in our state For the beginning of wisdom is the desire of discipline Wisd 6.18 but a lazy careless desire is a great token of imperfection The Soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing Prov. 13.4 And again The desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labour Prov. 21.25 Like Vagabonds that when an Officer catcheth them will feign that they desire a service and to be set at work but take them at their word and they will run away that they may live in loitering and upon other mens labours St. Paul provoking both rich and poor to liberality according to their respective abilities frames a rule upon that occasion which is applicable to all good works 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be a willing mind it is accepted according to that which a man hath and not according to that which he hath not Yea in some cases when I desire a good thing
the most of our Collects through Christ our Lord. When we bring that Name in the rear and quote him for our Merit and Mediator then I know it will be well and that the Lord will hear the petitions of his servants Should we not put our requests into Christs hand to offer them to his Father Sion might spread forth her complaints and there would be none to comfort her and we might remain for ever in that heavy plight Psalm 77. verse 3. I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my Spirit was overwhelmed But if we renounce our wretched selves and imagine not the least intrinsecal perfection to be in our Prayers do we sail then by the Cape of Good Hope yes because God is contented to yield upon such addresses Jacob may wrestle with the Angel all night and protest he will not let him go till he have blessed him But Victus est quia voluit God was overcome because he would be overcome of Jacob he lets us prevail because he is willing to yield but there is no strength is us to win if he would not suffer himself to be vanquisht There is no other person but Christ in whom the Father I know not what kind of necessity to call it cannot but be well pleased Which made him say before his Disciples Jo. 11.41 Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me and I know that thou hearest me always As it is also Heb. 5.7 Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and tears was heard for his piety This is the preheminence of our High Priest who is an Orator for us all that the Lord cannot reject his Prayers Therefore committing our daily Oraisons to our High Priest to bear them into the Holy of Holies before his Father they are in a sure hand and they that know his Name will put their trust in thee Psalm 9.10 Much more they that know his Office perfectly Wherefore let Prayer carry on these considerations with it That we are invited by God to that duty That the Spirit instigates us unto it and helps our infirmities Rom. 8.26 That it is presented to the Father by the mediation of the Son then how canst thou be sad O my Soul and fear to miscarry Is not the lot fallen unto thee in a pleasant field and may'st thou not promise to thy self a very goodly heritage Without all dispute then proceed unto Prayer and for a beginning 1. Ask in Faith James 1.6 that is attribute unto God that he is Almighty and can do above all that we ask or think Consent to his truth that he is faithful in his promises for he that believeth not those makes God a lyar Acknowledge his goodness and mercy through Christ that He will withhold no good thing from them that lead a Godly life Let there be no wavering no disputing about these Attributes of God lest we be condemned out of our own mouth So much Faith so much efficacy so much confidence so much comfort in Prayer Then will a solicitous Christian reply What will become of me I have not that plenitude of Faith at least in sundry occasions I have it not to ascertain my self that I shall prevail with God No more had Abraham himself a perfect Faith without any flaw Excellent things are spoken of him Rom. 4.18 Who against hope believed in hope and that he staggered not at the promise but was strong in Faith Verse 20. Yet see how he stoopt a little Gen. 17.18 Shall a Son be born unto him that is an hundred years old and shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear O that Ishmael may live God is not extream to mark what is done amiss in every convulsion of Faith which appears Psalm 31. verse 22. I said in my haste I am cast out of thine eyes nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplication when I cried unto thee You must be sure that in general David subscribed to the power and truth and goodness of God but there was a temptation upon him at that time in some particular case in which he distrusted or doubted that there was no likelihood to prevail But if there be such a one that says I will pray but I know I shall be never the better he is an infidel and mocks God in that bad mind he did well to say he should be never the better for he did usurp a form of Godliness and denied the power thereof He is the right Supplicant but a very rare one that hath no staggering or diffidence in his heart that comes close up to our Saviour's rule Mark 11.24 What things soever ye desire when ye Pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them Yet the Lord will not cast them off who are but in the next form and do not resolutely promise success unto themselves in the instant of their present Supplications but bear it thus between Faith and doubting whether I shall succeed in this or that I am not confident but of this I am most assured that I shall be the better for my Prayers And I would it were thus and thus because I conceive it would be best for me but I am certain it will be better than the best that I can imagine which the Lord knows to be most expedient Another perhaps may wrangle himself into an error and say How do the Heathen and the wicked obtain good things if nothing will prevail with God but the Prayer of Faith Consider that even a Pagan and Idolater would ever Pray but that they have some kind of belief to obtain fruit by their Prayers The King of Nineveh bad a solemn Fast at the hearing of Jonah's prophesie For says he Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Jon. 3.9 None but a Lunatick would ask for relief from them that had neither knowledge of his case nor power to redress it O but the prayers of such are not grounded on the Faith that we speak of It is true such a Faith as possest Idolaters is not that which impetrates mercy from God Then I say neither Jews nor Mahumetans nor wicked men get any thing by that Prayer to which the promise is made Ask and ye shall have For whether they Pray or not all that they obtain had come to pass though they had held their peace It is for our sins and to scourge us that they have kingdoms and victories it is not their motley-faith that did purchase them And for all manner of store and plenty that the Earth yields to them it is but as God gives fodder to the Cattle and meat to the yong Ravens that call upon him 2. The Prayer of Faith then is only available but out of the mouth of an humble suiter For who will give an alms to a proud begger Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth
the Lions that devoured us This is Charity not only to have Communion with all the Saints but compassion for all the world Therein we follow the foot-steps of Christ in his mediatorship as far as we are able who hath an unchangeable Priesthood and ever lives to make Intercession for us Heb. 7.25 And who bare the sins of many and made Intercession for the transgressors Isa 53.12 Likewise it is the office of those that have great interest in God's favour to bless others with their Prayers as the Lord told Abimelech King of Gerar Abraham is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live Gen. 20.7 So he said to Eliphaz the Temanite and to his other two friends My servant Job shall Pray for you for him will I accept Job 42.8 All Israel had been destroyed for worshipping the Calf in Horeb had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath Psalm 106.23 What says an old writer art thou Moses more merciful than God art thou more pitiful to the people than he that saves us from all evil No says he thou art infinite short of the loving kindness of the Lord but he put thy Charity to the proof to see what vehement entreaties thou wouldst make for the deliverance of the Nation When the same people were like to be overrun by the Philistines what course did Samuel take says he Gather all Israel to Mizpah which was a Proseucha or place for publick Prayer and I will Pray for you to the Lord 1 Sam. 7.5 And you shall find most victorious success upon it Verse 10. What comfortable Orators are the mighty Saints of God what a safeguard it is unto us all when they live among us A wise man is the price and redemption of many fools says a Heathen so a Mediator that is very dear to God is a protection not only to the good but to the wicked that are about him Have we not cause then to Pray for the continuance of such that they may live long to Pray for us Should Paul need to desire the Prayers of the Thessalonians 1 Epist 5.25 or of the Hebrews Chap. 13.18 Could they forget that which so much concern'd their welfare Now the worthy servants of the Lord may prevail much one by one others of the common rank had need to meet by hundreds and by thousands in great congregations that every single mans Prayer may be a drop in a shower that while every man Prays for all all may Pray for every man So great is the opinion of good consequents from the Intercession of Gods servants that infidels and ungodly who thought it would be labour in vain to speak to God for themselves have sued unto the Saints on Earth to prefer petitions for them Darius that worshipt false Gods sent to the Jews at Hierusalem to Pray for the life of the King and his Sons Ezra 6.10 And they that persecuted Jeremy besought him Pray for us unto the Lord our God Jer. 42.20 And Simon Magus turn'd himself to Peter and the Apostles to intercede for him Pray unto the Lord for me that none of these things which you have spoken come upon me Acts 8.24 This is the summ that Intercession of Prayer whether active or Passive whether it be to give or to receive a blessing is exceeding full of Consolation II. To go in order to the next Head Who they be that shall get benefit and comfort by Prayer is quickly defined We know that all things work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8.28 to none other you may be sure He that doth not truly call the God of Heaven his Father as Christ begins his Prayer shall have no share in the portion of Sons We may intercede for prophane and impenitent men and our Prayer shall return into our own bosom But while they remain such the mercies of the Lord will be strange unto them They are not of the body of the mystical Church and all the fresh Springs are derived unto them that are within the Sanctuary While the Jews continued under the hardness of their heart God discharged the Prophet for appearing in their behalf Pray not thou for this people neither lift up cry nor Prayer for them neither make Intercession to me for I will not hear thee Jer. 7.16 And with no less or rather more severity Ezek. 14.14 Though these three men Noah Job and Daniel were in the land they should deliver none but their own Souls And if the wicked commence a suit in their own name the Lord will not be entreated of them What have they to do with holy Ordinances that have no fellowship with holy practices To come before the Lord with a lap full of sins and a mouth full of prayers what an Heterogeneal Sacrifice is it will the Mediator Christ Jesus bring it for them before his Father If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Psalm 66.18 And the throne of iniquity shall have no fellowship with thee Psalm 99. verse 20. Many in our land and in our days Pray for the confusion of them that brought all to confusion but themselves are in pursuance of notorious crimes and rebellion against God They would advance that government to which we have sworn to be faithful by the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance but they make no conscience to break their Oaths and Covenants which they have made to God It is not to suppress sin and tyranny and injustice that they are instant with God but to be revenged for their own injuries and losses Their Prayers are compounded with such sins as quite marre them So many a pair of Beads have been dropt in corners for the extirpation of the Protestant Religion Many a Mass hath been said for the good success of Jesuitical Treasons Many a Rosary was run over to bring the Powder-treason to its bloudy birth If they have no better stuff than this in their Mattins they had as good Pray to Devils as to Saints I will that men Pray always or every where lifting up holy hands without wrath 1 Tim. 2.8 Let go wrath and malice and bitterness Holiness becometh the house of Prayer and holiness becometh the mouth of Prayer If any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth Jo. 9.31 Do justly live chastly give charitably walk circumspectly and then Pray confidently For whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his Commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight 1 Epist Jo. 3.22 But then will the trembling Christian say wo is me for I am a great sinner wo is me for I am filthy and polluted and of unclean lips Isa 6.5 then how shall I turn me to my God in Prayer O thou that fallest low upon the Earth oppressed with the burden of thy sins stand up and be chearful before God none is fit for Prayer in the Militant
that is the Lord's Supper I will not promise a precise testimony out of Antiquity which shall say there are but two Sacraments under the Gospel and no more but learned men have produced out of the Fathers as much as amounts unto it to them that will not be contentious Justin Martyr 2. Apol. to the Emperor speaks of these Two marks or professed signs of Christianity and no other Tertullian against Marcion lib. 3. c. 51. bring them that are married to Baptism and the Lords Supper St. Cyprian lib. 2. Ep. 1. to Stephen Then they are sanctified when they are born again by both Sacraments St. Cyril and St. Ambrose writing purposely of Sacraments speak but of Two St Austin Ep. 118. to Januarius Christ hath subjected us to a light yoke to Sacraments of the smallest number easie in observation excellent in dignity Baptism in the Name of the Holy Trinity and the Communion of Christs Body and Bloud and if any thing else be commanded in Scripture And many allude to that number from Cant. 4.5 Thy breasts are like two young Roes that are twins Here is a brief survey how God in all Ages hath Communicated with us in Sacraments May the reason of it be discovered nay Who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellor Rom. 11.34 Yet it is no trespass against the sobriety of wisdom to ask why Christian Religion depends so much upon visible Sacraments 1. First it is to give Faith a third manner of corroboration and a threefold cord is not easily broken First God hath promised us all blessings in Christ Secondly he gave an Oath for it unto Abraham that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have a strong consolation Heb. 6.18 Thirdly after He had plighted both Oath and Promise he hath given us holy Signs to confirm it When God had both promised and sworn durst we of our selves have askt a Sign to confirm it to make us more believing No truly we durst not for an evil and an adulterous generation seeketh after a Sign It were a great blemish in Faith if we should appoint God to lend us a crutch to lean upon But God hath prevented us herein and as we say in the Common-Prayer That which for our unworthiness we durst not ask He hath supplied of his own accord and hath instituted Sacred Signs wrapt up in the Creatures of most ordinary use to make it more easie to lay hold of the Hope that is set before us 2. Secondly Every great deliverance in Gods Book was accompanied with some outward Sign to make it more comfortable upon so remarkable an impression As Moses being appointed to be the Captain to lead Israel out of Aegypt was bade to cast his Rod before the People and to let it turn into a Serpent and return into a Rod again to make his hand leprous and whole again in an instant by putting it into his bosom and by drawing it out And Moses shewed these Signs in the sight of the People and they believed Exod. 4.31 It would be tedious to recite the stories of Asa Hezekiah Joash c. these were perswaded by the Signs of God that he would visit them with a mighty deliverance But there is no deliverance like unto that which is brought to pass for us through the Death and bloudy Passion of Christ And the two Sacraments are the Remonstrance of that great Salvation which hath set us free out of the hands of all our enemies 3. Thirdly It is meet that great benefits should be fastned to our memories by a sure Nail Therefore God distrusting mans memory represents his greatest works of mercy in the Ordinances of manifest Signs to prevent forgetfulness The help of some outward mark doth avail by experience to bring that to mind that else would have slipt away As upon occasion we use to tye a thred about our fingers or to unloose the gemmal of a Ring to make us mindful of a promise or some weighty business 4. Fourthly though all our worship must hold its tenure as it were in capite from the Spirit if we hope to have it acceptable to God yet we are better capable of such worship by the opportunity of material conveyances Only Angels and Blessed Souls in Heaven can serve God in the pure and immaterial zeal of their mind But while we are cloathed with flesh the mind receives all it takes in from bodily objects and which passeth in by the pipes of the senses it is connatural to us to apprehend it with mare tenacity and fast-hold Finally As Christ descended into the womb of his Mother and to walk with us upon Earth so God hath vouchsafed to offer his Word and Promise to us in the Creatures of the Earth setting a Seal unto the Word which makes the Patent very valid and of force and comfort For if a Commandment of promise were remarkable that of honouring our Parents the first Commandment of promise in the second Table Ephes 6.2 much more is a Seal and Sacrament of promise remarkable Doubt not then but as Faith is our hand to receive Christ so the Sacraments are as it were God's hands to give Him unto us Being past the general Survey of visible Sacraments it is time to enter into the consideration of Baptism Which God hath exalted to marvellous Vertue and Consolation by his Omnipotent appointment The Jews that first received it will teach us that they expected this New and Gracious Ceremony upon the coming of Christ For Jo. 1.25 The Priests and Levites sent to ask John why Baptizest thou if thou be not the Christ c. It seems they had a Tradition that Baptism should come into the Church with the Messias which they learnt as I take it from two of the Prophets Isa 4. states out a famous praise of Christs Kingdom then it brings in this Verse 3. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion and shall have purged the bloud of Jerusalem from the midst thereof The other place is Ezek. 36. a plain prophesie of Christs Kingdom and Verse 25. he thus describes it Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be cleansed from all your filthiness John made way unto this Sacrament and it came from Heaven therefore the Pharisees rejected the counsel of God being not Baptized of John Luke 7.30 But in the fulness of the Gospel Christ confirm'd it For he that made them promise was the only able person to set the Seal to ratifie it Except his admired doctrine and his miracles all things else about Christ did make no shew to outward appearance so he would go no higher in the institution of an outward Sign of cleansing and regeneration than to bring the people to a River to be washt or to a Vessel of water to be sprinkled For
committing Treason against God that is repossession of mercy endanger'd to be forfeited But were it a new Covenant we should have some new visible Sign for it which never was Therefore this is the very Soul of mine and every ones Baptismal Consolation that being once done it Seals pardon for all our sins through Christs bloud unto our lifes end BUT as if many Spouts should open into one Cistern so all Comforts conspire to meet in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Nothing else but the actual enjoying of Heaven is above it The Church which dispenseth all the mysteries of salvation can bring forth no better Children that are come to Age can ask no more than the whole portion of their Father's goods that come unto them and what is that but the Bloud of Christ and this is the New Testament in that Bloud Christ is mine his Body is mine his Bloud is mine all is mine O be glad and rejoyce and give honour to the Lord God Omnipotent for the marriage of the Lamb is come Revel 19.7 And the Spirit saith write Blessed are they that are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb Verse 9. It is much to be received into a Covenant with God by the former Sacrament is it not more to be kept in Covenant by the other It is much in Baptism to be brought from death to life but what is life without nourishment to preserve it This keeps us in the Lease of the old Covenant that the Years of it shall never run out and expire This is food to keep us in health and strength that we never decay and faint By it we lay hold of the promise Isa 54.10 My kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Then why should I not embolden my heart with holy security against all fears for the Lord hath put himself into my hand and into my mouth and into my Spirit of what then should I be afraid This is that courage which our Liturgy sounds forth as with a shrill Trumpet to all that come to this Banquet well prepared It begins that it is a comfortable thing to all them that receive it worthily it bids us come with a full trust in Gods mercy and with a quiet Conscience it proclaims aloud Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly come unto him So God loved the world c. Come unto me all ye c. This is a true saying c. It hath gathered the Sallies of spiritual joy as it were into a bundle of Myrrhe It adds Christ hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries as pledges of his love and for a continual remembrance of his death to our great and endless comfort And if all this put together will not blandish our Conscience and stablish our joy we would be dull and spirit-broken though an Angel from Heaven should come and say unto us as he did unto Gideon The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour Jud. 6.12 For an Angel of the Lord cannot plead so much to the solace of the heart as the great Angel of the Covenant hath done in these great demonstrations of love as followeth 1. First As Baptism was the former so this is the second visible publication of God's apparent mercy It is not a bare message but a lively apprehension of them by palpable means not in a vision or a dream but in a real Object Call to mind that the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel who had appeared unto him twice 1 Kings 11.39 Once the Lord hath appeared unto us in the token of his love by Water and once again he appears unto us in the Elements of his Holy Table Twice he hath appeared to bless thee Therefore eat thy Bread with joy and drink thy Wine with a merry heart Eccles 9.7 For if you turn away from Comfort when the Lord hath appeared twice unto you to give it you he will be angry and leave you to a thick darkness of sorrow such as fell upon the land of Aegypt 2. Secondly The Lord can appear Comfortably unto us though with a Sword in his hand and in the midst of a Camp as he did to Josuah Jos 5.13 Or in a flame of fire as he did to Manoah Jud. 13.20 Or in a tempest upon the Sea as he did to the Apostles Matth. 14.27 Or at the Graves mouth as he did to Mary Magdalen Jo. 20.14 But here he appears unto us in a Feast which is a time of innocent delight The glory of God which we look for is set out unto us in that which our senses apprehend for sweetness and pleasure as Luke 22.29 I appoint unto you a Kingdom that ye may Eat and Drink at my Table in my Kingdom which is translated from bodily pleasure to spiritual that in the Heaven of blessedness the Soul shall feed continually as at a Banquet of which we have now a taste in the Kingly provision of Christs Supper It is a Kingly Feast although imparted in a little pittance of Bread and Wine yet it is more costly and precious to that which it signifies than Solomon and all his Court had for their diet day by day 1 Kings 4.22 We are brought to Eat at the King's Table as Mephibosheth was like one of the Kings Sons 2 Sam. 9.11 To Eat together is a Communion of more than ordinary acquaintance do you note the endearing favour of God in that And what are we that are not thrust as our kind might look for it to gather up Crums under the Board but to Eat our portion before the Lord with the Lord out of the hands of the Lord For he that brake Bread and gave it to the Apostles gives it to Us as our High Priest though he be in Heaven I exhort you therefore to enter into the Guest-chamber with a quiet and unshaken heart for the Lord hath not invited us as Absalom did Amnon to kill us nor as Esther did Haman to accuse us but as Melchisedech brought forth Bread and Wine to Abraham to bless us He gives us Asher's portion Bread that shall be fat and Royal dainties Gen. 49.20 Only the case is alter'd if Christ shall say the hand of him that betrays me the hand of him that loves me not the hand of him that believes not in me the hand of him that will not keep my sayings is on the Table That wretch shall be thrown out and be fed with Bread of sorrow and Water of affliction nay where there shall not be a drop of Water to cool his Tongue Thirdly That which astonisheth the Communicant and ravisheth his heart is that this Feast affords no worse meat than the Body and Bloud of our Saviour Those he gave for the life of the world these are the repast of this Supper and these we truly partake For