reserving them with the Apostate Angels in eternall chains to the judgement of the great and terrible day And though this be a truth so clear that it needes no proofs yet we will instance in some few the better to set forth the necessary truth of this together with the longanimity and justice of Almighty God In the old World the sinnes of men were very great all the imaginations of their hearts corrupt and evill so that the very Sonnes of God were tempted to go in to the Daughters of men and yet God spared them a long time and added 120 yeeres unto the dayes of their repentance But when their sins were grown so ripe that God repented him at last of Mans creation he brought the flood upon them and destroyed them all but saved righteous Noah and his Houshold with him The Citizens of Sodom had long swelled in pride and surfeited on fulness of bread and abundance of idleness as the Prophet tells us and yet God suffered them to live and fulfill their lusts But when the voyce of their sins became so loud as to cry unto the Heavens for vengeance and to occasion God himself to come down and see majorne infamia vero whether their sins were answerable to the cry which was come unto him then were they ready for the sickle 't was high Harvest then and the Lord sent his Angels to consume their City and rained down fire from Heaven upon them but delivered Lot and his small Family like a fire-brand snatched out of the flames Passe we on forwards into Egypt and we shall finde how patiently the Lord expected that the proud Egyptians would at the last dismisse his people with peace and safety but when that did no good upon them when they had added tyranny unto oppression and unto both a proud contempt of his Word and Messengers he brought his people out with a mighty hand the Angel of the Lord going before the Camp of Israel but overwhelming Pharaoh and his Host in a second deluge And if God did not presently invest his people in the possession of the Land so often promised it was not only for their disobedience or their unbelief nor for their murmuring against God and groundless exclamations against Moses and Aaron though these did all concur to retard their entrance The Scriptures give another reason and questionless the true reason of that long suspension nondum completa est iniquitas Amorrhaeorum the wickedness of the Amorites was not yet full 't was not Harvest yet and therefore God had not given order to the Land to spew out her Inhabitants Thus do we read in holy Scripture of the Harvest of Babylon and of the Harvest of Damascus i. e. of those appointed times in which for their Idolatries and abominations they were to be delivered over to the hands of their severall enemies And for those very Jewes themselves though God spared them long notwithstanding all their provocations and only visited them sometimes with Warre or thraldom yet he stayed not there for when they had made up the measure of their Fathers sins and added to the same the blood of the Sonne of God more precious then the blood of Abel and of all the Prophets then did the Lord destroy their City and disperse their people making them that they were no longer to be called a Nation but a poor scattered remnant of what once they were But for the persecuted Saints of Christ which lived amongst them the Lord withdrew them from that plague warning them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Dream or Oracle to remove thence to Pella a small Town of Syria before the first approch of the Roman Armies Thus was it also with the Church since the time of the Gospel The Princes of the Earth sometimes raged against it and harried it with fire and sword and all kinde of torments And though the souls of them which were slain for the word of the Lord had cryed unto their God for vengeance yet was it said to them from above ut requiescerent adhuc modicum tempus that they should rest yet for a season and tarry till their Brethrens blood was cast into the ballance also to make up the weight Which time being come the Lord did plague the persecutors with such grievous plagues that in the anguish of their souls and guilt of conscience they cryed unto the Rocks to fall upon them on the hills to hide them Never Dog barked against the Crosse but he grew mad after it saith the Author of the Book of Martyrs So for those vile and wretched miscreants which did afflict the Church of Christ with Schismes and Heresies they did exalt their horns a while and bare all before them the Arians especially being so predominant ut jam non portiunculam quandam that they thought scorn to be confined to one Church or Nation but like a generall scab or Leprosie had invaded almost all the parts of the body mysticall yet when their pride was greatest and their power most formidable when their impieties and blasphemies were so strongly backed that these few Orthodox Professors which were left untainted did tremble at the apprehension of the present danger God then conceived them fit for vengeance and put in his sickle the time being come for him to reap and the Harvest ready so that of all those Sects and Heresies which did afflict the Church in her purest Ages there is scarce any thing remaining but the name and infamy And though the Christians of those times being delivered from the fear of their deadly enemies had surfeited on peace and prohibited pleasures yet God reprieved them a long time from the hand of punishment but when their sins were grown so publick and so full of scandall ut pateretur lex Christiana maledictum that even the Gospel grew to be ill reported of by the Jew and Gentile then poured he out the Nations of the North upon them who sacked their Cities and laid waste their Palaces and in conclusion dispossessed them of their Countries also Now by this Standard we may take the measure both of Gods patience and his justice in all parallel Cases If we see Sects and Heresies rise up to disturb the Church and not to rise up only but grow strong and prevalent and in a way like Pharaohs seven lean Kine to devoure the fat if we see wickedness grow successful and rebellion prosperous and the best men become a prey to the cruel spoylers we must not think that God is all this while asleep and regards it not not so the Lord that keepeth Israel neither sleepes nor slumbereth But when the sins of men be ripe and the time of wrath is come that they should be judged the God that dwelleth in the Heavens shall scourge them with a whip of Scorpions and break them into pieces like a Potters vessel And though some of them
meant to take The servants were hot upon the spur had not patience to defer the action till a fitter time but would have fallen upon it instantly with more hast then speed Vis imus colligimus in the present Tense without deliberation or delay at all And they intended to have gone in so sharp a way which in the heat and violence of ungoverned zeal must of necessity have been dangerous to the Lords good Seed and pulled up many a man for suspected Tares which either were right Wheat of the Lords own sowing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in due time according to the course and seasons of the heavenly Husbandry might have been changed unto the better and become good grain How did the Lord approve this project What comfort did he give them to pursue their Counsels No saith the Lord as to the time there is no such hast Sinite utraque simul crescere let both grow together till the Harvest till their fruits be ripe until they may be gathered up in a safer way more to the glory of the Lord and lesse unto the hurt of his faithful people If they desired to have these Tares destroyed as no doubt they did and to destroy them in a way which should bring neither wrong nor danger to the Wheat it self as was fit they should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they must expect a fitter and more proper time which the Lord had not yet bin pleased to make known unto them And No saith he as to themselves whom he intended not to use in so great a business knowing full well that if they did go on according to the proposition which they made unto him how much they would be biassed by their own affections what dammage might redound to his Church thereby We must saith he have care and patience towards these Tares of which you have complained in such sensible termes and let them grow until the Harvest in hope they may prove better then you are aware of But if this do no good upon them if they make no more use of this longanimity then to bring forth the fruits of customary unrepented sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vengeance and Hell shall overtake them at the last there 's no other remedy For then in the conjuncture of those circumstances in the time of Harvest I will cause the Ministers whom I mean to use to appear before me and say unto them being come My Reapers Colligite primum zizania Gather ye together first the Tares c. These words contain the full and finall resolution of the heavenly Husbandman in the disposing of the Tares so much so earnestly complained of In which we must behold him in the quality of a Judge or Magistrate pronouncing his determinate sentence in an open Court upon the pleadings and debate of the point before him And here we have two genenerall parts to be considered the Judgement and the Executioners The Executioners the Ministers rather of the Court are the Heavenly Angels though here represented to us by the name of Reapers to whom it appertaineth to bring forth the Prisoners and to see justice done upon them in the form pronounced The Judgement doth consist especially of these two Acts tâ—â— condemnation of the wicked the exaltation of the just The condemnation of the wicked the sentencing of the Tares to the fâ—re of Hell we finde delivered briefly in these three particulars Colligite colligate comburite Gather them first for they shall be no longer suffered in the field of God 2. Binde them and binde them in the chains of eternal darkness to let them know there is no hope no possibility to escape their punishment 3. And having bound then cast them presently into the everlasting flames to fire unquenchable This is the Judgement of the Tares of the wicked man In that which doth concern the Wheat we have these two parts an Action first and that is congregate gather Gather the several corns thereof in a Body or a Congregation next the Repository the place it self in which they are to be disposed of Horreum meum the Lords Barn the House or Habitation of his Heavenly glories There 's the condition of the Wheat of the righteous soul Of these I â—hall discourse in order as they lie before me beginning with the Executioners or the Ministers rather of the Court the Angels And in the time of Harvest I will say unto the Reapers Dicam messortbus that 's the first Eminentes viri magnis adjutoribus usi sunt The greatest persons have commonly the most able Ministers whether it is in point of Counsel or of execution And he that is well studied in the art of men will so imploy his Ministers and their abilities as may be fittest to advance the business which he hath in hand Every mans Talent lieth not in the Camp or Senate some are for the Ministerial or more servile Offices but yet as useful to the publick in their several places though not so honourable in themselves and these too have their proper and distinct Activities beyond the bounds whereof if they be commanded they become dull and sluggish and unprofitable and rather do incumber then promote the service Thus it is also in the Oeconomy of the Heavenly Husbandman The Lord hath several sorts of Ministers some for cultivating and manuring of his holy Field others for bringing in the harvest That the imployment of the Prelates and inferior Clergy this of the holy Angels of the Hosts of Heaven Messores autem Angeli sunt the Reapers are the Angels v. 39. And 't is an excellent Rule which St. Hierome gives us in this business Quae exposita sunt à Domino his debeo accommodare fidem That in those things which are expounded by our Saviour it were absurd to look for any clearer Commentary Which makes me wonder by the way that Hierome should so easily forget himself and his own good rule as to expound the Servants of the 27. of the Angels also Assuredly the Servants of the 27. with whom the Master doth discourse throughout this Parable must needs be different from the Reapers of this present Text of whom he speaks unto those Servants as distinct Ministers designed to their severall Offices So then the Reapers are the Angels there 's no doubt of that And they we know are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ministring spirits saith the Scripture imployed by God as often as he sees occasion in his affaires of greatest moment in none more frequently then such as do relate to the Sonnes of men either in point of punishment or preservation We told you not long since of a double Harvest within the compasse and intention of the present verse an Harvest of Gods temporal judgements upon particular men and Nations and collective bodies an Harvest of Gods general judgement when all flesh shall appear before him to receive their sentence And in both these the Angels are the Ministers of
that dreadfull Court the ordinary Officers or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Almighty Judge and bound to execute the mandates which are issued thence whether mens sins be ripe for vengeance or that affliction and repentance make them fit for mercy First in the wayes of temporal punishment it is most clear and evident in holy Scripture that God sent down his Angels with a full Commission to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah two rich populous Cities after they had so long abused his patience and their own prosperities and that he sent his evil Angels amongst the Egyptians when neither signes nor wonders could prevail upon them by whom he gave their life over to the Pestilence slew the first-born in all their dwellings and finally overwhelmed them in the red Sea Where note that they are there called mali angeli or evill Angels not that they were so in themselves but ab effectu by reason of the several evils which they did inflict on that perishing and wretched people by the Lords appointment Thus do we also read of a destroying Angel by whom according to the Word and Command of God no fewer then 7000. of the Jewes were consumed in an instant when once they boasted in their numbers and did presume too farre in the arm of flesh and of another which went out and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians no lesse then 185000. men after they had blasphemed the Lord and put a scorn upon the holy one of Israel not to say any thing of Herod who when he had beheaded James imprisoned Peter and troubled certain of the Church was miserably smitten by an Angel and consumed by worms It pleased God to imploy them in these acts of vengeance though well affected in themselves to the good of mankind and a necessity was layd upon them to obey his pleasure Nec quicquam est in Angelis nisi parendi necessitas said Lactantius truly So farre the point is clear from the Book of God and if we will believe the Learned as I think we may there is no signall punishment of ungodly people ascribed to God in holy Scripture but what was executed by the Ministry of these blessed Spirits except some other meanes and Ministers be expresly named That great and universall deluge in the time of Noah was questionless the work of God Behold I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the Earth But this was done Ministerio Angelorum by the Ministry and service of the holy Angels whom God employed in breaking up the Fountain of the great deep and opening the Cataracts of Heaven for the destruction of that wicked unrepenting people Thus when it is affirmed in the 14. of Exod. That the Lord looked into the Host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and overthrew them in the midst of the Sea non intelligendum est de Deo sed de Angelo qui erat in nube we must not understand it of the Lord himself but only of the Angel or that ministring spirit of whose being in the Cloud we had heard before And when we read that in the Battel of the five Kings against the Israelites the Lord cast down great stones from Heaven upon them in the 10. of Josuah it is not to be thought as Tostatus notes it quòd Deus mitteret sed Angeli jubente Deo that this was done by Gods own hand but by the holy Angels at the Lords appointment The like may be observed of those other acts of power and punishment whereof we find such frequent mention in the holy Scripture that though they be ascribed to God as the principal agent yet were they generally effected by his heavenly Angels as the meanes and instrument But the most proper office of the holy Angels is not for punishment but preservation not for correction of the wicked but for the protection of the just and righteous not for the rooting up of the Tares but for the safety of the Wheat for they are ministring Spirits saith St. Paul sent out to minister unto them who shall be heirs of salvation That 's the chief part of their imployment the businesse which they most delight in and God accordingly both hath and doth employ them from time to time For by the Ministry of his Angels did he deliver Ishmael from the extremities of thirst and Daniel from the fury of hunger Lot from the fire and trembling Isaac from the Sword our Infant-Saviour from one Herod his chief Apostle from another all of them from the common prison into the which they had been cast by the Priests and Sadduces But these were only personal and particular Graces Look we on those which were more publick and such as did concern his whole people generally and we shall find an Angel of the Lord encamping between the Host of Israel and the Host of Egypt to make good the passage at their backs till they were gotten safe to the other side of the Sea Another Angel marching in the front of their Armies as soon as they had entred the Land of Canaan and he the Captain of the Lords Host Princeps Exercitus Domini the vulgar reads it some great and eminent Angel doubtless but whether Michael Gabriel or who else it was the Rabbins may dispute at leisure and to them I leave it More then so yet That wall of waters which they had both on the right hand and upon the left when they passed thorow the Sea as upon dry ground facta est à Deo per Angelos exequentes as learned Abulensis hath it was the work of Angels directed and employed by Almighty God Which also is affirmed by the Jewish Doctors of the dividing of the waters of Jordan to make the like safe passage for them into the promised Land which the Lord had given them The like saith Peter Martyr of the raising of the Syrians from before Samaria when the Lord made them hear the noyse of Charets and the noyse of Horsmen that this was Ministerio Angelorum effected by the Ministry of the holy Angels whom he employed in saving that distressed City from the hands of their enemies And by an Angel or at least an Angelical vision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Dream or Oracle delivered unto them in their sleep as Eusebius tells us did he forewarn the Christians dwelling in the Land of Palestine to remove thence to Pella a small Town of Syria and so preserved them from the spoyl and fury of the Roman Armies This was Gods way of preservation in the times before us and for his way of preservation in all Ages since God is the same God now as then his holy Angels no lesse diligent in their attendance on our persons then they have been formerly Let us but make our selves by our faith and piety worthy to be accounted the Sonnes of God and the Heires of salvation and doubt we not
repaires it also and calls it flammam nutricem a fire which so devoures as it also nourisheth with whom Lactantius doth consent so also doth Minutius Fel. Prudentius Casâ—iodorus and indeed who not And why should this be thought a wonder so farre beyond the reason and belief of a meer natural man or such who taking on themselves the name of Christians will yet believe no more then may stand with reason Doth not the Scripture tell us of a burning bush a bush that burned with the fire and was not consumed and the Historians of the Hills of Aetna and Vesuvius which do almost continually send out dreadful flames and yet never wast and the Philosophers of a Worm or Beast which they call the Salamander whose natural Habitation is in the midst of the fire and the Poets of Prometheus and Titius Vultures which having fed so many hundreds of yeers upon their bowels had not yet devoured them Doth not experience tell us daily that the lightning glanceth on our bodies often but doth seldom hurt us and doth not Ovid say expresly Nec mortis poenas mors altera finiet hujus that there 's a second death which shall never end yet I confess that the prevailing Heresie which pretends to such wit piety hath no small reason to declare interire posse animas aut ab exitio liberari that the souls of wicked and impenitent men shall either be annihilated or in fine released for we may safely say of those new pretenders as once Minutius did of the old Philosophers malunt extingui penitus quà m ad supplicia revocari Considering how they have subverted all the fundamentals of the Christian faith 't is all the reason in the world that they should rather wish the soul annihilated then survive to torments such torments as do know neither end nor measure O the most sad condition of the soul condemned which being cast into the lake of fire and brimston shall be alwayes burning and yet never consumed continually falling yet never come to the bottom perpetually dying and yet never dead where he shall hear no noyse but weeping howling and gnashing of teeth nor voyces but of blasphemy and execrations nor musick but the woful tune of lamentation where he shall see no light but the fire which burns him nor company but that of the Devil and his Angels which take a pleasure to torment him where he shall have no other food then hot burning coals nor drink but from a stream of fire and brimston nor comforts but variety and change of torments which howsoever they be dressed in several fashions yet are they still but torments everlasting torments tormenta quibus nec modus ullus nec terminus torments which never know any ease of pain nor ever shall admit any end of time of which the least which can be said is this that they are unsufferable and the most this that they are unspeakable And yet unto this miserable and calamitous end come the Tares at last after so long a flourishing in the field of God They had been cunningly sowen at first cùm dormirent homines whilest the servants were supine and careless and looked not to their Masters business as they ought to do Being sowen they passed a long time undiscovered and went for very good Wheat even with knowing men till they came unto fecissent fructum till their fruits betrayed them and that they neither would nor could be concealed longer and by this time were grown to so great an height and threatned so much danger to Gods sacred Field that the awakened servants thought there was no other way to secure the same then by a quick and general extirpation of them all together Which though the Lord refused to give eare unto but was resolved to suffer them to grow till the Harvest came yet when their time was come and their fruits were ripe he brought some of them to the Harvest of his temporal judgements and for the rest condems them as we see to everlasting and unquenchable flames Farre otherwise is it with the Wheat with the Lords good seed which though it do endure some danger and oppressions here sometimes in fear to be destroyed and brought to nothing by the growth and spreading of these Tares yet in the end shall be preserved and layd up safely in the barn of the heavenly husbandman which is the exaltation of the just and my next particular Congregate triticum in horreum meum Gather ye the Wheat into my Barn Deus adversus impios rectissimus Judex ita erga pios indulgentissimus Pater God saith Lactantius as he is a just and terrible Judge towards the wicked and ungodly so towards his conformable and vertuous Children a most gracious and indulgent Father And if a Father a gracious and indulgent Father as no doubt he is no question but he will provide his Children of all things necessary in this life and settle them in an inheritance immortal undefiled and which never fadeth in the life to come Though he do sometimes feed them with the bread of sorrows chastning those most frequently whom he loves most fervently expose them unto many dangers and suffer them to be affronted and despised by the worldly wicked yet by those wayes though they may seem to lead to the vale of misery doth he conduct them at the last to the hill of mercy and lets them see there is no readier way to the Land of Canaan then thorow a Wilderness of trouble and a Land of enemies Per varios casus tot discrimina rerum as Aeneas travelled into Italy In prosecution of which Journey as he vouchsafes them the assistance of his holy Angels whom he hath given in charge to encamp about them and to defend them in all their wayes so when the time is come that they must be gathered to their Fathers they shall be carried on the wings of Angels into Abrahams bosom and layd up safely at the last in the Lords Repository in the Heaven of Glories whether we look on Congregate or on horreum meum they both say the same Congregate that 's the action here and the first word to be considered which though our English rendreth Gather yet is it a farre different gathering from that which did occur before Before it was colligite congregate here gather them into a Church or a Congregation Before it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pluck them up together but here 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 draw them into a Synagogue a place of general Assembly This is the old word by which the Fathers used to denote the Church of God amongst the Jews before the coming of our Saviour and that the new by which they many times express the Church of God amongst us Christians since our Saviours passion Both of them words of Ecclesiastical use and notion and both do signifie the same though in diverse Languages They which
of the assistance of those ministring Spirits in all the times of personal or publick dangers It 's true the apparition of the Angels in these latter times hath been very rare and God dealt very graciously with the sonnes of men that they come so seldom for being too many are so prone to give divine honours to the Images of the Saints departed how easily might they deceive themselves of their reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels which was the fault of the Colossians and after the Heresie of those whom Epiphanius and St. Austin call Angelici did they appear unto us ordinarily in some visible glorious form But then it is as true withall one of the most eternal truths of holy Scripture That the Angel of the Lord encampeth about them that fear him and delivereth them Whether we see or see them not it comes all to one and so resolved by Clemens of Alexandria an old Christian Writer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord saith he doth still preserve us by the Ministry of his holy Angels though we behold them not in any visible shape as the Antients did When therefore and as often as we fall into any danger let us address our prayers to the Lord our God that he would please to give command unto his Angels to come in to help us that he would make our enemies like the chaffe before the wind and the Angel of the Lord scattering them and having so made known our desires unto him to look for their assistance accordingly This is warranted unto us in the words of Calvin Ut in periculis constituti à Deo petamus protectionem Angelorum confidamus eos ex mandato Dei praestò fore But behold a greater then Calvin here for we are warranted as much both by the Doctrine and the practice of the Church of England who teacheth us to pray and we pray accordingly That God who hath ordained and constituted the service of Angels and men in a wonderful order would mercifully grant that they which do him service in Heaven may by his appointmâ—nt succour and defend us upon the Eaâ—th as in the Collect for the day of St. Michael the Archangel But this is but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the main design for though these temporal judgements and deliverances may come within the compass of the Harvest which is here mentioned yet is the Harvest chiefly meant of the general Judgement when all flesh shall be brought before Gods Tribunal and brought before it by the Ministry of the holy Angels who are the Reapers of my Text the Ministers or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that dreadful Court. For proof whereof we need but look into the process of St. Matthewes Gospel in which we find That the Lord shall come to judgement riding on the Clouds with great power and glory accompanied with Angels and Archangels and the sound of the Trumpet So great a Judge coming to hold his grand Assises cannot be ushered in with lesse Pomp and Majesty And to what purpose serve those Angels Assuredly not only to fill up the Train to make the manner of his coming the more brave and glorious but for some other special and more weighty use And therefore when our Saviour hath informed us this That the Sonne of man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him he tells us in the following words That before him shall all the Nations of the World be gathered Gathered together but by whom by these very Angels Then saith he shall he send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together the Elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven unto the other What the Elect and none but they Not so These Reapers must root up the Tares as well as gather in the Wheat Our Saviours Exposition of the Text makes that clear enough where we shall find that at the end of the world the Sonne of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity And in the Parable of the casting Net That the Angels shall come forth at the end of the World and sever the wicked from the just There are two sorts of men to be brought together the Elect and Reprobate two sorts of Grain which must be gathered by these Reapers but how they must be ordered being brought together and what the Angels have to do in execution of those orders we shall soon find by looking over the particulars of the second generall where we have first the condemnation of the wicked represented to us in three words Colligite Colligate Comburite Gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in bundles to burn them Of this next in order In Patrefamilias habemus quâ—d amemus imitemur There are four things remarkable in the Heavenly Husbandman as he is represented to us in this present Parable worthy of our applause and imitation His goodness first Seminando bona in that he sowed his field with the good seed only his patience next tolerando mala in suffering the Tares though otherwise a corrupt and adulterate seed to remain ungathered till the Harvest came In the next place we have his wisdom praecavendo pericula in taking such especial care to preserve his Wheat which doubtless had been subject to some notable mischief had he imbraced the other which his Servants made the imus colligimus of the 28. And last of all we have his justice reddendo secundum merita in giving unto every one as he had deserved according to the works which he hath wrought in the flesh whether good or bad Praemium Poena Reward and punishment have in all Ages been esteemed the Rule and measure not only of all Earthly Governments but the Heavenly also Who would endeavour piety and the works of vertue were there not some reward to allure him to it or rob his Genius of the dalliances of this present life and not give way unto the sensuality of his lusts and Appetite were there not punishments in store to affright him from it were not the punishments so grievous and of such eternity as farre surmount the sweetness of these sinful pleasures which in themselves are short and momentany and enjoyed only for a season The fear of punishment and Hell are of greatest efficacy to affright many a man from sin whom the love of God and godlinesse will hardly work on and well it were if the consideration of it would prevail so farre Of this the condemnation of the wicked I am first to speak the method of my Text doth invite me to it and the first word we meet with is Colligite gather ye together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Text hath it and that doth signifie such a kind of gathering as intimates a plucking up by the
be true and faithful members of the Church of God whether it be under the Law or under the Gospel shall all be drawn into one Synagogue or Congregation in the day of the Lord and all together with the holy Patriarchs before Moses time shall make up that one glorious Church which is entituled in the Scriptures Universalem Congregationem the general Assembly the Church of the first-born whose names are written in the Heavens We have the word thus used as in other places so in the 24. of St. Matthews Gospel where it is told us of these Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 congregabunt electos that they shall gather the Elect out of every corner of the world i. e. that they shall gather them in sacram Synaxin in sanctam congregationem into an holy Congregation a religious Assembly So that the gathering of the Saints together in the day of Judgement is but a Translation of them from one Church to another or rather from that part of the same one Church which is here militant on the Earth to that which is triumphant in the Heaven of glories The Saints both here and there make but one Communion we praising God for manifesting his great power and Grace on them they praying unto God to send his choycest blessings of grace and mercy upon us The difference is no more then this that here it is exposed to disgrace and ignominy sorrows age have ploughed deep wrinkles on her face too many spots there are in her feasts of charity and sometimes she takes cold in her affections like the Church of Ephesus starting aside from her Redeemer like a broken bow but there shall Christ present her to himself a most glorious Church without spot or wrinkle and marry her to himself for ever Here we have Tares amongst the Wheat more Tares perhaps then Wheat in too many places but there shall be no place in Heaven but for Wheat alone no unclean thing shall enter into the new Hierusalem no Tares into the Barn of the heavenly Husbandman that was provided for the Wheat only and for none but that For so it followeth in the Text Congregate triticum in horreum meum Gather the Wheat into my Barn the place designed by all good Husbands for the disposing of the Wheat their best sort of grain Not in a Barn according to the literal sense we shall have too many Congregations held in Barns if this world go on but according to the mystical meaning In horreum meum into my Barn i. e. as he expounds himself in the 25. in gaudium Domini into the joy of the Lord regnum à constitutione mundi paratum the Kingdom prepared for the righteous from the foundations of the World i. e. as the Apostle tells us in requiem Domini into the rest of the Lord in civitatem Dei viventis the City of the living God So then it is a rest a joy a glorious City an eternall Kingdom and all of these may serve in part to set forth the condition of this heavenly dwelling A rest for them which die in the Lord in which they rest from all their labours And this sit of which St. Paul speaks in the 4th to the Hebrews There remains therefore a rest for the people of God a joy of so divine and sublime a nature that no tongue is able to express it nor heart so large as to conceive it for in his presence is the fulnesse of joy and at his right hand there is pleasure for evermore Et nunquam turbata quies gaudia fiâ—ma A City of pure Gold and as clear as Chrystal the Walls of Jasper-stone and the Gates of Pearl watered with the most pleasant Rivers of the waters of life according as it is described in the Revelation the man of God describing the full glories of the new Hierusalem in such a manner and by such materials as he conceived to be most estimable in the sight of men And finally a Kingdom an eternall Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdom as it is called by way of excellency in which each true believer shall receive his Crown according to the eminency of his faith and piety a Crown of martyrdom for those who patiently submit themselves to the hands of the persecutors in maintenance of Gods Church and the true Religion a Crown of Virginity for those who subdue concupiscence and give no entertainment to prohibited lusts a Crown of chastity and fidelity for those who have faithfully kept the vow of wedlock and the bed of Marriage undefiled a Crown of charity for those who have exhausted their estates in the works of mercy and the acts of piety in founding Temples for the Lord or Hospitals for relief of the poor and needy and finally a Crown of righteousness for all those who walk unblameably in their Conversation before God and man When all the Monarchs of the Earth have laid down their Scepters at the feet of Christ God shall be still a King of Kings a King to speak the truth of none but Kings Rex Regum Dominus dominantium alwayes but most amply then Never was corn so housed so laid up before Thus as before we brought the Tares the worst sort of weeds unto the fire of condemnation so have we brought the Wheat the best kind of grain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Galen calls it to the barn of glory A grain which as it doth require a ground well tilled and cultivated so lieth it longest buried in the earth of any before it spring into a blade and being sprung into a Blade doth endure much hardness congealed sometimes with snow sometimes nipped with Frost before it grow into a stalk and when the stalk is grown the ear is formed it is exposed to many hazards drencht with unseasonable showres and scorched with as intemperate heats laid flat upon the ground by tempestuous winds some of the grains thereof being scattered by those blasts over all the field before t is brought into the Barn Ecce jam seges cana imbre corrumpitur grandine caeditur as Cecilius noted in the Dialogue And so t is also with the just with the righteous person He doth require much Husbandry great care and Tillage in fitting him to receive the seeds of faith and piety and lyeth long strugling in the womb of regeneration before he doth come forth a spiritual man and is renatus born again advanced unto the state of a man regenerate Multa tulit fecitque puer Much must be suffered and much done before it come to that there 's no question of it Suppose him brought so farre in his way to Heaven as that he hath received the Seal of his regeneration and adoption the testimony of the Spirit that he endeavoureth nothing more then the advancement of Gods glory and increase of piety shall he not be reviled and howted at like the Owl among the wanton birds forsaken by his old acquaintance
the affections of misguided men Nay it is noted by Aquinas in nomine Ovis innocentiam simplicitatem per totam scripturam designari that through the whole body of the Scripture innocency and simplicity are expressed unto us under the notion of the sheep Which though perhaps it be not universally true as perhaps it may be yet doth it very well agree with the condition of the sheep which is not only molle pecus a creature of a mild and tender nature but for the most part white of color quam dives nivei pecoris as he in Virgil which is the sign or robe of innocence Such also are the sheep of our Saviours Pasture walking in their vocation as St. Paul adviseth with all lowliness and meekness washing their hands in innocence with the Prophet David putting away high mindedness and pride and arrogance as things which are not competible with their Christian Calling Our Saviour Christ hath not only taught us to be wise as Serpents but to be innocent as Doves also Nor hath he called upon us only that we be holy as he is holy and perâ—ect as our Father in Heaven is perfect but he would have us learn of him how to be meek and lowly of heart ut requiem inveniamus animabus nostris that we may finde rest unto our souls Humility is the first step in that sacred ladder which reacheth up from Earth to Heaven and there we must begin our rise if ever we intend to attain the top And for the Gates of Heaven they are strait and narrow and can be entred only by the meek in heart by the poor in spirit It was the lowliness of the Virgin Mary that the Lord regarded the humble and the meek that he exalteth The wise man Chilo though an Heathen could have taught us this Who being asked what Jupiter did use to do returned this answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the very same with that of the Magnificat Deposuit potentes de sede sua He doth put down the mighty from their Seat and doth exalt the humble and meek Exalt them then he will for himself hath said it and that not only in this world above their Brethren but in the world to come amongst the Angels That Christ who hath assured us this that blessed are the meek in heart for they shall inherit the Earth he also hath affirmed that blessed are the poor in spirit quoniam ipsorum est Regnum coelorum for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven These qualities of lowliness meekness and humility as they are at all times very necessary so most especially at that time when we come to hear to exercise that Office and perform that duty which is here required The proud man hates to be instructed and the impatient will not brook a reprehension The one thinks no man good enough to be his remembrancer the other storms and flies out into fury on the least reproof The one thinks scorn to come to Christ whâ—lest he is preaching in the Temple and such publick places They expect rather and King Herod did in the holy Gospel till he be brought unto their Houses and then too if they be not satisfied in their curiosities they set him at naught laugh at him to his very face veste albâ— indutum illudunt put the fools coat upon him and so send him going The other come about him like the Scribes and Pharisees and hearken greedily to his words But if he touch upon their vices if he denounce a woe against them for their pride and arrogance their covetousnâ—ss hypocrisie and desire of glory they then take counsel presently how they may destroy him Neither of these are in a fit condition to repair to Christ or if they do are like to get but little by their coming to him Dirigit mansuetos in judicio they are the meek only whom God guides in judgement the meek whom he instructeth in his holy wayes In vain do they resort unto him to hear his voyce who use to come with hardned not with humbled hearts But there 's another quality of the sheep as necessary to the work of hearing on the Postâ—fact as meekness and humility in the preparation or a parte ante which is the chewing of the Cud as we use to call it The Latines call it rumination Illice sub nigra pallentes ruminat herb as as the Poet hath it And they derive that terme from the old word rumen which signifies that little bag or ventricle into the which it is conveyed before the second chewing of it or else as Servius hath it in his notes on Virgil from the most prominent part of the throat called Ruma per quam demissus cibus revocatur by which they do recall that food into their mouthes which they had lodged within their stomacks The reason of this rumination I regard not here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It properly belongs to the Philosopher and to him we leave it All I shall note from hence is this that ruminare by a Metaphor is sometimes taken for in memoriam revocare to call again to our remembrance the recalling of such things into our memories which either have been lost out of them or mislaid in them being much of the same nature in a man as is the other in a Beast The sheep comes hastily to feed and in that hast doth not so thorowly chew and prepare their food and fit it for digestion as do other creatures but when the fury of their Appetite is a little slackned they bestow upon it as it were a second eating that it may be more perfectly concocted and made fit for nourishment Atque iterum pasto pascitur ante cibo as it is in Ovid. And this no question is required in every one who doth desire to be accounted for a sheep of our Saviours Pasture and comes with hast and hunger to hear his voyce It was the Precept given by David to the great Kings Daughter not to hear only but to consider hearken O Daughter and consider Psal 45. And ' â—was the greatest commendation of the Virgin Mary a Daughter of the great King also that she did keep the sayings of her Lord and Saviour conferens in corde suo and pondered them duly in her heart This is that commanded by the Lord to his people Israel that they should lay up his words in their hearts and meditate on the same both day and night commended by St. Luke in the Beroeans who did not only receive the Word with all readiness of mind but carefully compared it with the holy Scriptures and is indeed an excellent chewing of the cud a profitable art of benefiting by the word revealed For they who thus do chew the cud are of all others the most likely not only to preserve the word in their hearts and memories but to observe it also in their words and actions This is indeed the principal end both of