Isa 11. 6. the Kid and the Calf with the young Lyon but it is when they are so cicurated and tame that a little Child shall lead them It is true the visible Church is made up of both For not only without as St. John speaketh but within are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murtherers and idolaters Rev. 22. 15. as there were in the Ark of Noah both clean and unclean beasts In this Church is Cain as well as Abel Esau as well as Jacob Judas as well as Peter but they are no parts of that general Assembly no parts of the Church of the first-born which are written in heaven nor to be numbred amongst the spirits of just men made perfect That part of the Church which is thus militant in Earth shall never be triumphant in heaven Cruel Dives shall never be seen in Abraham's bosom nor the bloud-thirstie man in his armes who shed no bloud but his own and that for the sins of the world The Church which shall be saved was not planted in bloud or if it were it was in the bloud of a Lamb. It was built upon the Faith of Peter not upon his Sword When he used his sword he was commanded to put it up but his Faith was to be published to the whole World And if he had any grant or title to be the Head of the Church it was not for cutting off Malchas's ear but for laying down his own life for the Faith Many Notes have been given of the true Church by those who acknowledge none but their own notes which shew her not Multitude of true believers Why the number is but small Infallibility It is an error to think so Antiquity The Church that is now ancient was once new and by this note when it was so it was no Church Continuance to the end of the world We believe it but it is no note for we cannot see it Temporal felicity This is oftner seen in the Tents of Kedar than at Jerusalem in a band of Souldiers than in the Church which winneth more conquests in adversity than in prosperity and worketh out her way to glory in her own bloud These are Notes quae nihil indicant which shew nothing Trumpets that give an uncertain sound But if I should name Meekness as a note of the true Church I should have a fairer probability to speak for me than they For meek men if they be not of the Church yet are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven But a meek Christian is entitled not only to the earth but to heaven also The Church is a Church though her Professours be but of yesterday and though they fall into error And though it be in tribulation yet still it is a Church yea it is never more glorious then in persecution But without meekness it cannot be a Christian Church no more then a man can be a man without a soul For Meekness if it be not the essence of the Church yet is a property which floweth from its very essence For that Faith is vain which leaveth malice or rancour in the heart A Christian and a Revenger if they meet together in the same person the one is a Box of poyson the other but a title Again in the second place our Reason will tell us that Meekness is most proper to Christianity and the Church because humane Reason was too weak to discover the benefit the pleasure the glory of it Nor was it seen in its full beauty till that Light came into the world which did improve and sublime and perfect our Reason To humane Reason nothing can seem more unreasonable more unjust then To love an enemy To surrender our coat to him that hath stript us of our cloak To return a blessing for a reproach and anoint his head with oyl who hath stricken us to the ground This is a new Philosophy not heard of on earth till she was sent down from heaven On earth it was A blow for a blow and a curse for a curse Dixerit insanum qui me totidem audiet If injuries be meted out unto us we mete them back again in full measure pressed down and running over Revenge is counted an act of Justice the Pythagoreans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reciprocation of injuries And what need any other law then our Grief or our Anger or where should Justice dwell but on the point of our Sword 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was the law of Rhadamanthus It is equity that he that doth should suffer what he doth and he that suffereth should return it in the same kind When those brethren in evil having slain Hamor and Shechem and spoiled their City were rebuked by their Father Jacob they were ready with this plea Should he deal with our Sister as with a Harlot No sooner is the blow given Gen. 34. 31. but the first thought is to second and return it and Nature looks upon it as upon an act of Justice In the world it goeth thus All Power and Dominion and Justice is tyed to the hilts of our Sword which if we can wield and manage dextrously with skill and success that which otherwise had been an injury is made a law The Turk to settle and establish his Religion as he first built it in bloud so giveth way to every thing that best sorteth with humane corruption to make it easie that men may not start back for fear of difficulties and as he wrought it out with his Sword so his best argument for it as it is most times in a bad cause is his Sword The Philosophers cryed down Revenge yet gave way to it chid their Anger yet gave it line thus far And both Tully and Aristotle approve it But Munit nos Christus adversus Diaboli latitudines saith Tertullian Christian discipline is a fense to keep us from these latitudes and exspatiations and pointeth out to the danger of those sins which the Heathen commended for virtues Many indeed have dealt with these precepts of our Saviour as skilful cooks do by some kind of meats which of themselves are but harsh and unpleasant cooked and sawced them to make them savoury dishes For when we see our journey long and full of rubs and difficulties we phansie something that may both shorten and level it and make it more plain and easie then indeed it is Christ our Master is so great an enemy to Murder and would have us so far detest it that he hath not suffered us to be angry Now the interpretation is We must not be angry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without a cause And this emboldneth us to plead for our Wrath as Jacob's sons did when it is cruel and upon this very colour that there is good reason we should be angry For be the storm never so high be our anger never so raging yet we can pretend a cause and that cause we pretend as just otherwise we would not pretend it For who would pretend
office The Angel intrudes not into the office of an Archangel nor doth an Archangel usurp the place of a Cherubin or Throne but every one is perpetually constant in his office and never fails We cannot say our Pater noster but we must needs conceive that these blessed Spirits do their duties orderly For there can be no confusion in heaven Nor indeed should there be any disorder in the Church of Christ whose government by Bishops Priests and Deacons St. Maximus calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an imitation and fair resemblance of the coelestial Hierarchy As it is in the Church triumphant in heaven so should it be in the Church militant here on earth Order doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preserve and keep together both heaven and earth saith Nazianzene And therefore we may observe that all duties do not concern all men Some duties there are which are as oecumenical as the whole world others more personal Some which if Corah attempt to do he shall be buried alive if Uzzah he shall be struck dead Why should Sheba blow a trumpet or Absalom pull at his Fathers crown Why should every artisan meddle in matters of Divinity every Mechanick teach Bishops how to govern and Divines how to preach Why should he that handles the awl or the shuttle stand up and controul the Miter Private persons who converse within a narrow sphere must needs be unskilfull in things which fall not within the compass of their experience Men that meddle but with few things must needs be ignorant of much and therefore can never frame canons and rules Paucorum est ut literati sint omnium ut boni Few men are fit for government but there is scarce any of so shallow conceit but he may be an honest man Doth any man go to a Physician to ask advise in a point of Law or to a Lawyer when he is sick Episcopus episcopum non conculcet That one Bishop should not usurp or meddle in another Bishops Diocess was one of the ancient Canon of the Church and ought never to be antiquated Than Peace will crown the Church and Plenty the Commonwealth when every man understands what is his place and station and is not ready to leap over it and start into anothers function when every Star knows his own magnitude and sphere This indeed were sicut in coelo a heaven upon earth For the least place in the Church of Christ is a high preferment Nor is there any so low who may not be an Angel in his place to do Gods will an Angel though not for power and dominion yet an Angel for obedience And it is not much material if I do the will of God whether I do it as a Lay-man or as a Clergy-man as poor Lazarus or as rich Abraham as a Peasant or as a Prince at the Mill or in the Throne Only here is the difference That duty which concerns the Clergy-man the Lay-man must not tamper with nor must the Peasant teach the King to reign and govern Remember what I told you out of St. Augustine Angelus non invidet Archangelo The Angel doth not envy to see another Angel more glorious nor doth he desire a higher place No Superné omnia serena sunt in inferioribus fulminatur All is serene and quiet above Thunders and disorders are in the lower region here in terrâ on the earth And we have too much reason in the last and worst dayes to pray and pray again Fiat volunt as tua sicut in coelis That God's will may be done on earth in that peaceable order and quietness as it is in heaven Will you know the reason of these tumults and disorders The reason is evident and plain No man is content with an Angels place but would be an Archangel a Throne a Cherubim and yet neither Angel nor Throne nor Cherubim for their obedience but only for their power Men desire saith Austine to imitate those deeds of Angels which beget wonder but not that piety which gains eternal rest Malunt enim superbè hoc posse quod Angelus quà m devotè hoc esse quod Angelus Lib. 8. De Trinit c. 7. Their Pride affects to do that which Angels do but their Devotion hath not strength enough to beget any desire in them to be what the Angels are humble reverent obedient Such Angels they would be as may be Devils but not such Angels as stand about Gods throne to praise him for evermore We conclude and contract all in one word If we bring weak desires of doing Gods will and think he will be well content with them we have as good reason to think that all the reward which we shall have from God will be only a desire to do us good If we be not active and speedy in the performance of his will why should he make haste to help us Our Inconstancie is his repentance and when we fall from him he is forced to break his word If we do it by halves we have no reason to look for a full reward If our obedience be disorderly we cannot hope to be companions of those Angels who do hate confusion But if we be chearful and constant and perfect in our obedience if we abide in our own callings and do the will of God orderly in that place where he hath ranked us the Lord will come and make no long tarrying he hath sworn nor will he go from it and he will bring his reward with him MERCEDEM NIMIS MAGNAM an exceeding great reward and at last translate us from earth to heaven where we shall be made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to the Angels in equality of grace though not of nature I might have drawn-in many more particulars concerning the Angels by which to direct our Obedience But I never loved to lease out a discourse malens totum dicere quam omnia desiring rather to speak that which is most fit and pertinent than to take in all that might be said I shall now pass to the next Petition Give us this day our daily bread The Six and Thirtieth SERMON PART I. MATTH VI. 11. Give us this day our daily Bread WE pass now from the three first Petitions which looked up directly into heaven upon the face of God unto the three last which look up indeed to heaven also upon the Giver of all things but withal reflect upon our selves and on our present necessities The first whereof is that I have read unto you GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD Before we come to handle which words be pleased to take notice of the method here laid down by our Saviour for us to regulate our Devotion by Order and Method as it makes the way easie and plain to every design we take in hand so it poises our Devotion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Historian There is nothing so fair nothing so commodious for use as Order This is it which hath given praeeminence to Aristotle above all
of Sheba to draw near unto it and prove it in your selves And when you shall have practiced it in your selves you will say it was true indeed that you heard but you will feel more then you have heard or could hear by report We will therefore yet awhile longer detain you You have beheld the face of Meekness in her proper Subject which is every private man and in her proper Object which is as large as the whole world and takes in not only the Israel of God but the Amorite the Hittite the Amalekite not only the Christian but the Turk the Jew and the Pagan any man that is subject to the same passions any man that can suffer any man that can do an injury For Meekness runs round the whole circle and compass of mankind and binds every evil spirit conjures down every Devil she meets with Lastly we presented unto your view the Fitness and the Applicableness of this virtue to the Gospel and Church of Christ and told you that it is as it were the very breath of the Gospel the echo of that good news the best gloss and comment on a silent weeping crucified Saviour the best explanation of his last Prayer Father forgive them For the notes and characters of a Christian as they are described in the Gospel are Patience are easie putting up and digesting of injuries Humility a preferring of all before our selves And St. James tells us that the wisdom which is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated where he giveth the first place unto Purity It would be a sin almost to compare Christian virtues together and make them strive for precedency and place yet he that shall mark how every where the Scripture strives to commend unto us Gentleness and Meekness and that Peace is it quam nobis Apostoli totis viribus Spiritûs Sancti commendant as Tertullian speaks which the Apostles endeavour with all the strength and force of the Holy Ghost to plant amongst us might be bold a little to invert the words of St. James and read them thus The wisdom which is from above is first peaceable gentle easie to be intreated then pure For the Son of God who is the Wisdom of the Father and who for us men came down from above first and above all other virtues commended this unto the world At his birth the Song of the Angels was Peace on earth and Good-will towards men All his Doctrine was Peace his whole life was Peace and no man heard his voice in the streets And as Christ so Christians For as in the building of Solomons Temple there was no noise of any hammer or other instrument of iron so in the spiritual building and frame of a Christian there is no sound of any iron no noise of weapons nothing but Peace and Gentleness and Meekness Ex praecepto fidei non minùs rea est Ira sine ratione suscepta quà m in operibus legis Homicidium saith Augustine Unadvised Anger by the law of Faith and the Gospel is as great a sin as Murder was in the Law of Moses Thus you have seen how proper Meekness is to the Gospel and Church of Christ Now in the last place we shall draw this Virtue forth to you as most necessary to the well-being not only of a Church but of every particular member of it necessary to lift us up to the Reward the inheritance of the earth Which whither you take for that Earth which is but earth or that Earth which by interpretation is Heaven ad omnia occurrit mansuetudo Meekness reacheth both both the Footstool and the Throne of God it gives us title to the things below and it makes us heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven Without this we can have no mansion in Heaven nor any quiet and peaceable possession of the earth And thus with our last hand we shall set you up that copy which you may draw out in your selves For Meekness in character in leaves of paper in our books is rather a shadow than a picture and soon vanisheth away but being drawn out in the soul and practice of a Christian it is a fair and lasting piece even the image of Christ himself which the Angels and God himself desire to look upon And with these we shall exercise your Christian Devotion at this time And first Meekness may seem most necessary to Christians if we consider the nature of Christianity it self which stands in opposition to all other Professions in the world confutes the Philosopher silenceth the Scribe strikes Oracles dumb cryes to every man in the world to go out of it Behold saith our Saviour to his Disciples I send you forth as sheep in the Matth. 10 16. midst of wolves which will tear you to pieces for no other reason but because you are sheep It is a disease very incident to men to be jealous of every breath which blows in opposition to that which they have already received to swell against that which is contrary to them and though it be true to suspect it to wonder what it should mean to be troubled and affraid of it as Herode and all Jerusalem were when the new Star appear'd and though it be as visible to any wise man as the Star was in the East yet to seek to put it out or if they cannot to destroy those over whom it stands And therefore Tertullian tells us Cum odio sui coepit that Christianity was hated as soon as known and did no sooner shew it self in the world but it found enemies who were ready to suppress and cast it out men that could hate it for no other reason but because it taught to love that could be angry with the Christian because he was meek and destroy him because he made it his profession to forgive men who counted Revenge no sin as the ancient Grecians did sometimes Theevery because it was so commonly practis'd amongst them Again as it was planted in rerum colluvie in the corruption of men and manners so it doth in a manner bid defiance to the whole world It tells the Jew his Ceremonies are beggerly the wise man of this world that his Philosophy is but deceit and his wisdom madness It plucks the Wanton from the harlots lips tumbles down the Ambitious from his pinacle disarms the Revenger strips the Rich. It writes over the Rich mans Gates Blessed are the poor over the Doctor 's Chair Where is the disputer of this world over the Temple NON LAPIS SUPER LAPIDEM That not a stone shall be left upon a stone which shall not be thrown down For a NON OCCIDES it brought down a NE IRASCARIS and made Anger Murder for a NON MAECHABERIS a NON CONCUPISCES and made Desire adultery It brought down sin to a look to a thought and therefore no marvell if there arose against Christians tot hostes quot extranei as many enemies as there were Heathen or Jews
and Preferments in the Kingdome of Christ Let us not fit Religion to our carnal desires but lay them down at the foot of Religion Make not Christianity to lacquey it after the World but let Christianity swallow up the World in victory Let us clip the wing of our Ambition and the more beware of it because it carries with it the shape and shew of Virtue For as we are told in Philosophy In habentibus symbolum facilior transmutatio amongst the Elements those two which have a quality common to both are easiliest changed one into the other so above all Vices we are most apt to fall into those which have some symbolizing quality some face and countenance of Goodness which are better drest and better clothed and bespeak us in the name of Virtue it self like a strumpet in a matrons stool Let us shun this as a most dangerous rock against which many a vessel of burden after a prosperous voyage hath dasht and sunk By Desire of honor and vain glory it comes to pass that many goodly and specious monuments which were dedicated rather to Honor then to God have destroyed and ruined their Founders who like unfortunate mothers have brought forth beautiful issues but themselves have dyed in the birth of them They have proved but like the ropes of silk and daggers of gold which Heliogabalus prepared to stab and strangle himself withall adding pretiosiorem mortem suam esse debere that his death ought to be more costly then other mens and they have served to no other end but this ut cariùs pereant that the workers of them might dye with greater state then other men and might fall to the lowest pit as the sword-players did in the Theater with noyse and applause I have spoken of the Occasion of the Question and of the Persons who put it Come we now in the last place to the Question it self Who is the greatest in the kingdome of heaven The Disciples here were mistaken in terminis in the very terms of their Question For neither is Greatness that which they supposed nor the Kingdome of heaven of that nature as to admit of that Greatness which their phansie had set up For by the Kingdome of heaven is meant in Scripture not the Kingdome of Glory but the Kingdome of Grace by which Christ sits and rules in the hearts of his Saints When John the Baptist preacht Repentance he told the Jews that the Kingdome of heaven is at hand When our Saviour tells us that it is like seed sowen in good ground like a net cast into the sea like a pearl like a treasure hid in the field what else can he mean but his Kingdome of Grace on earth not his Kingdome of Glory in heaven So that for the Disciples to ask Who is greatest in this kingdome was to shape out the Church of God by the World Much like to that which we read in Lucian of Priams young son who being taken up into heaven is brought-in calling for milk and cheese and such country cates as were his wonted food on earth For in the Kingdome of Grace that is in the Congregation of Gods Saints and the elect Members of Christ there is no such difference of degrees as Ambition taught the Disciples to imagine Not that we deny Order and Government in the Church of God No without these his Church could not subsist but would be like Aristotles army without discipline 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unprofitable rout To this end Christ gave Apostles and Teachers and Pastors for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ His Teachers call us his Governors direct us to this Kingdome But the Disciples being brought up in the world thought of that Greatness which they saw did bear the sway amongst men Much like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who thought that God bare the shape of a Man because they read in Scripture of his Feet and Hands and Eyes and the like But that it was not so in Christs Kingdome may appear by our Saviour's Answer to the Question For he takes a Child and tells them that if they will be of his Kingdome they must be like unto it By which he choaks and kills in them all conceit of Ambition and Greatness For as Plato most truly said that those that dye do find a state of things beyond all expectation diverse from that which they left behind so when we are dead to the World and true Citizens of the Kingdome of Christ we shall find there is neither Jew nor Greek neither bond nor free neither male nor female but all are one in Christ Gal. 3. 28. Jesus God looks not what bloud runs in thy veins he observes not thy Heraldry If Greatness could have purchased heaven Lazarus had been in hell and Dives in Abrahams bosome Earl and Knight and Peasant are tearms of distinction on earth in the Kingdome of heaven there is no such distinction Faith makes us all one in Christ and the Crown of glory shall be set upon the head of him that grindeth at the mill as well as upon his that sitteth on the throne Christ requires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the nobility of the Soul and he is the greatest in his Kingdome who hath the true and inward worth of Honesty and Sanctity of life though in this world he lye buried in obscurity and silence Here Lazarus may be richer then Dives the beggar higher then the King and a Child the least is greatest in this Kingdome A main difference we may see between this Kingdome and the Kingdomes of the world if we compare them First the Subjects of this Kingdome are unknown to any but to God himself The foundation of the Lord standeth sure saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 2. 19. having this seal The Lord knowes who are his And if they be unknown who then can range them into orders and degrees Secondly of this Kingdome there is no end Thirdly the seat of this Kingdome is the hearts of the faithful Cathedram habet in Coelo qui domat corda His chair is in heaven that rules the hearts of the sons of men here on earth This earth that is this body of clay hath God given to the sons of men to the Princes of the earth under whose government we live But our Heaven our better part our inward and spiritual man he reserves to himself Kings and Princes can restrain the outward man and moderate our outward actions by their laws and edicts Illa se jactat in aulâ Aeolus Thus far can they go They can tye our Hands and Tongues and they can go no further For to set up an imperial throne in our Understandings and our Wills belongs to Christ alone He teacheth the lame to go and the blind to see and recovers the dry hand He makes us active in this Kingdome of Grace Lastly as their Subjects and Seat are different so are
to help them Upon this little while depends eternity of punishment to the one and eternity of peace to the other Nor can we complain of the delay of that which will surely come to pass Beloved God hath these pauses and intervals and halts in all his proceedings in his punishments and in his deliverances He seems to study and meditate and use a kind of deliberation He works as it were by rule and line When God would build up Jerusalem he promiseth that a line should be stretched out upon her And when he would destroy Zech. 1. 16. the Idumaeans he threatens that he would stretch out upon them the line of Esa 34. 11. confusion So that when he will destroy and when he will build he stretcheth forth a line It is a Metaphor taken from Building which is a work of time and deliberation God is not sudden to lift up his hand to strike nor is he sudden to stretch forth his hand to help but as Builders do he first fits down and thinks he takes time as it were he fits and prepares his instruments he sets every thing in order and as wise artificers do he works by line and measure that he may make good his justice on the Wicked and magnify his mercy on the Meek How long did the Lord endure the old world even a hundred and twenty years while the Ark was a preparing And then there was a new Aera the Deluge brake in How long did he bear with the Amorites Even till their Wickedness was full and ripe for judgment as corn in harvest is for the sickle How long did he forbear his own people first the ten Tribes and then the other two Even till there was no remedie no hope of amendment till the Prophets cryed out HOASH It is desperate There is no hope All is lost Nor need we wonder at this his delay since the reason of it is plain and evident For God to manifest to the world that this wayes are not as our wayes but that he walks in a higher sphere beyond the reach of a carnal eye presenteth himself sometimes in a shape contrary to our expectation nay more doth those things which bear a resemblance of some opposition and repugnancy to his known and declared will And this he doth as it were on purpose to put our Faith and Constancy to a tryal to ask us the question and his afflictions are but questions Whether we will take him to be our God though he change his shape and worship him as well in his thunder as in his still voyce and call him Father in as loud an accent when he strikes us as we do when he favours us Or else on the other side he doth it to besiege and compass in obstinate offendors to shut the wicked up in their own net to bury them in their own pit and to strike them thorough with their own sword and as they have sported and trifled with his judgments so to mock and delude them that they shall not easily know when or how they are led to destruction or not know it till it be too late but run on in a merry dance to their ruine and into Hell at once God promises to love his Meek ones and to defend them as with a shield yet sometimes he so handles them as if he loved them not or had left off to love them or would not hear and help them stands as it were at a distance from them but even at this distance he is nigh to them that fear him Again though he have threatned to rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked yet many times he stays his Pasal 11. 6. hand and doth not strike he makes as if he would not punish them so that they walk delicately like Agag and say Surely the bitterness of 1 Sam. 15. 32. Death is past Nay often seems to cast an eye of favour upon them not to delay the blow it may fall yet heavier but which flesh and bloud too oft kindles at and frets it self to give them those rewards which are promised to Godliness He fills their Granaries he makes them mighty in power and to reign as Kings and would to God they did reign as Kings and not as Tyrants he crowneth them with happiness he seems to plead their cause as if it were just even against his own cause he makes them stronger than those whom he commands to oppose them and as bold and familiar with him as if they had him in a string But in this pleasant dream in this great security upon the sudden when their prosperity hath befooled them when they are ready to conclude they are good because they are temporally happy and that they have as good a title to Heaven as they have to the Earth and I fear indeed they have but as good a claim to the one as they have to the other in the midst of these big and triumphant thoughts God falls upon them and makes that which was their triumph their ruine He striks them at once for all he strikes the timbrel out of their hands and in the place thereof he leaves the cup of trembling He makes them see that they were the poorer for their riches the baser for their honour the weaker for their power and most wretched for their happiness that their successful proceedings which they boasted of were but as a beam darted from the Sun before a Tempest And now how fearfully and horribly are they consumed and brought to utter desolation Nor is this unjust with God For he comes not in this tempest till their obstinate impiety force him out of the cloud where he lay as hidden He doth not tell the Wicked that this PAULULUM this little while is theirs and that they may do what they will in it even beat their fellow-servant without fear of punishment that like Behemoth in the book of Job they may drink up a river and make it their sport to draw up Jordan even a whole Kingdom into their mouth I dare say there was never any PAULULUM never any so little little while in which God granted such a Commission But the Wicked abuse his long suffering and Divine indulgence They sport in this little while they send forth their edicts and make Orders against Law and Declarations against the Truth they teach God himself how to speak in Scripture and account that as an applause of their designs which was but an invitation to repentance And this is a bold Remonstrance against the King of Heaven himself And therefore this yet a little while this Divine Patience hath an effect answerable to the disposition and temper of those on whom it is shewed To them that make this PAULULUM God's PAULULUM that make use of this little while as of a little while and therefore make haste to be reconciled it is redemption and deliverance But to those who will be Domini rerum temporum will be Lords and
the next place as the observance of this duty hath promoted the Gospel so the neglect of it hath hindred the growth of Christianity and made those rents and schisms in the Church which good men may lament with tears of bloud but the wisest cannot make up again with all their care and endeavour which most times we see in stead of closing and healing such wounds do make them wider then before We see the undiscreet and unseasonable defense of the truth doth but call in more company to side with the opposer draws down even Zelotes themselves to an indifferency in which they do not long stand wavering but soon fall into error It is not noise but silence that prevaileth It is not the rough but tender hand that binds up these wounds It is not power nor subtilty of wit not disputation nor consultation not the tongue of the eloquent nor the pen of the ready writer which can compose these differences in the Church We cannot but observe that after all the labour and travel of the learned there is yet Altar against Altar Religion against Religion and Christ against Christ and the wounds the Church hath received bleed still afresh and are every day more inflamed more incurable What have all our prisons and whips and fire and sword done What one hair have they added to the stature of Christianity Is she not rather contracted and shrunk Is she now of so large a size and proportion as she was in her infancy and cradle Is she as powerful in her Catholick extent and universality as she was in a few Fishermen Certainly the best balm is this Wisdom of our Saviour by which we are directed to forgive injuries and errors to yield so far to our brethren as not to hate them not to be angry with them because they are not of our opinion The want of this temper of this softness and sweetness of disposition was the true Mother of Schisme which Meekness hath not edge enough to make It is but taking it up again and all this business will be at an end and conclude in peace Yet do I not here derogate from Counsels or Disputations These are the means appointed by God himself to settle men who doubt We must consult before we give sentence and he that instructs disputes No these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pillars and tropheys where all Heresies are hung up engraven and shewen openly to the Sun and the People I know they may be Antidotes against the poyson of the Serpent who is as ready to cast his mist about the Understanding part as to infect the Will and I may subscribe to that of Isidore Ideo Christi veritas in diversas haereses est scissa c. That Origin 6. Christianity had formerly been divided into so many Sects because before the times of Constantine and those halcyon-dayes the Bishops durst not meet together to consult This indeed may be a reason but not all the reason which may be given For even in Constantine's time did the Arian Heresie shew and vaunt it self and after the Council of Nice so famous over the world did so prevail that it was a doubt which way the Church did look and incline whether to the Arian tenents or the determination of that Councel because the Arians did almost equal the Orthodox in number and in eloquence and learning far exceed them Afterwards this Heresie was revived though with another name in the Origenists and not long after tot erant symbola quot professores there were almost as many Creeds as Professors And one main reason thereof I suppose was the want of Meekness and Moderation when the noyse and violence of the one party would not give the other so much leasure as to bethink themselves when men would raise tempests only for a thought which did not please them and most men were like Scaurus in the Oratour qui nullius unquam impunitam stultitiam transire passus est who would not suffer a soloecisme or any error to pass without a heavy censure when as Luther speaks for the omission of a syllable or of a letter they would novos infernos cudere make another Hell and devote their brethren to the Devil thundring out Anathema's one against the other which many times both deserved rather for their heat and bitterness then for their errors For the Church may erre but if she drive Charity and Meekness out of her quarters she is no longer a Church Ambition and Covetousness these break down her hedges and Malice is the wild Boare which destroyeth and eats up her grapes When this fire is once kindled in her bowels then ruit Ilium then her Pillars shake and she is ready to fall But as I remember I have spoken at large of this heretofore You see Beloved then that Meekness is necessary to the Church ad bene esse to keep its parts together from flying asunder and so to every Christian to keep him compact and at unity with himself and others But now in the next place I may say it is necessary to the very being of the Church as without which no man can be admitted into the Congregation of the first-born which are written in Heaven With wanton Christians that trifle away their souls and would walk to Heaven with earthly members and unwashen feet there is but unum necessarium one thing necessary and that is Faith which because it doth alone justifie we leave it alone naked and destitute or take it along with us as a comfort to us whilst we labour and sweat in a world of wickedness For what title to Heaven can the most Christians shew but this CREDO I believe The rest of the copy is Malice and Envy and Covetousness the black lines of reprobation Poverty and Mourning and Meekness are no part of their claim But let us look upon our Charter again and we shall find Meekness to be one of those paucissima necessaria of those few things necessary to give us right to our inheritance and that Faith is nothing is dead and so cannot give life if it do not work by Love even work out all our venom and malice and so leave us liable and open to receive reproaches and blows but without tongues or hands to return them as so many dead marks for every dart to stick in till by the power of Meekness they drop from us or by the hand of the highest are plucked out and shot back upon our enemies A truth so plain that I dare boldly say there is not a plainer in the whole Scripture For what can a guilty condemned person plead for himself that he should enter into this inheritance but forgiveness For this is the object of our Faith That God will be reconciled to us in his Son And then this is plain English I am sure That if we forgive God will also forgive us But if Mat. 6. 14 15. we forgive not men their trespasses neither
be thrown against them so communicate as it were with God and are assimilated to him may also by the grace and favour of God participate with him of the same lasting and unchangeable glory And now we should descend to shew the title the Meek have to the Earth as it is in the letter and signifies temporal happiness and the quiet possession of the things of this world but the time is well-near spent now therefore we will add but a word or two by way of Application of what hath been already spoken and so conclude And did I say that Meekness was a necessary virtue to the Church of Christ and that without it we cannot receive the Gospel nor be our selves received into the Kingdom of Heaven Certainly I mistook at least the greatest part of Christendom will rise up against me and arraign me as guilty of a dangerous heresie For in their practice they confute it every day It was indeed a necessary virtue for the infant baby Church when she could not move her arms nor her tongue but in prayers and blessings when Christians were ready to suffer but knew not what it was to strike when they were expeditum morti genus readier to breath forth their souls in the fire then to kindle one readier to receive the sword into their bowels then to draw it But now the Church is aged and forgetful and men have learnt to dispute and distinguish themselves out of their duty have found out a new light by the guidance of which they may walk on securely and follow their brutish passions and covetous desires to the mark they have set up and by this light wade on and wash their feet in the bloud of their brethren It was a virtue it is now the mark of a lukewarm Reprobate It was the beauty and glory of the Church but later times have looked upon it as a fowl dishonour It was the only buckler the former Christian had but those of after-times have thrown it away and for it took up the sword which they brandish with terror as that weapon which Christ himself hath put into their hands It was the proper virtue of Christians and most necessary for them it is now an Anathema Now not to curse deserves a curse The Church was a flock a little flock of sheep it is now become as terrible as an army with banners and Christ is already brought into the world in that posture in which the Jews expect their Messias with Drum and Colours Shall I tell you what is counted necessary now It is necessary to contend for the Faith to stand up against Error to be zealous for the glory of God And what man of Belial dare be so bold as to stand up and say this is not necessary God forbid that Faith should fail that Error should take the chair that the Glory of God should be trod under foot It is true but then though this be necessary it is necessary to do it in that way and order which Christ himself hath prescribed and not in that which our Malice and Covetousness and Ambition draws out in bloud And the Sword of the Lord the Word of God managed with the Spirit of Meekness is more apt and fit to enter the soul and the spirit then the Sword of Gideon Religionis non est cogere religionem saith Tertullian Religion cannot be forced which if it be not voluntary is not at all For there cannot be a grosser soloecism in Divinity then to say a man is good against his will And sad experience hath taught us that they who thus contend for the Faith with noyse and fury do name Christ indeed but mean themselves We may instance in the Church of Rome They who defend the Truth non syllogismis sed fustibus as St. Hierome speaks not with Reason and Scripture but with clubs and swords do but glance upon the Truth but press forward to some other mark And THE GLORY OF GOD is but written in their foreheads that whilst men look stedfastly upon that they may with more ease and less discerned lay hold on the prey and so be Villains with applause Yee suffer fools gladly 2 Cor. 11. 19 20. saith St. Paul such as boast and count themselves the Sages of the Age because you your selves are wise in your own conceit though as very fools as they Yee suffer if a man bring you into bondage what do not the Romish Proselites endure if a man devour you if a man take of you if a man exalt himself if a man smite you on the face For how willing have men been to be deceived and to canonize them for Saints who wrought the cheat to think them the best Pastors who devour them and them the humblest men who exalt themselves and them the most gentle friends who smite them on the face Such a Deity such an Idole such a Nothing is Religion and Christianity made in this world cried up with noyse and beat down with violence pretended in every thing and denied in every thing magnified in those actions which destroy her forced to draw that sword which she commanded her disciples to put up made a sanguinary and shedder of bloud of which could she prevail and have that power which God hath given her there would not one drop fall to the ground But the World is the World still and would make the Church like unto it And though it be Ambition or Covetousness or Malice yet we call it Religion and when that word is once spoken then down goes all Morality all Humanity all Meekness and Religion it self Is it not for her cruelty that we make the Church of Rome the seat of Antichrist and call her the BEAST And let it be the mark and character of the Beast still Let not that which a Turk or Jew would run from with disdain be fastned as an ornament of glory on the Christian who is better drawn and expressed in chains and fetters then with his feet on the neck of his enemies For where should a Christian be seen but under the Cross When he flings it upon others he may call himself by what name he please but he is not a Christian Do we not make this our plea against the Church of Rome That sentence of death was never past upon any of them for Religion and therefore let not our words anathematize and our actions justifie them Let us not do that which in a Papist we call an abomination Let us not name the Lord Jesus and then fall down and worship the Prince of this world when he lures us to him with the glory of it and those things which he will give us A strumpet is not a whit the less a strumpet because she calls her neighbour so and the name of Antichrist will belong to us as well as to that Church if we partake with her in those sins for which we call her so And it will little avail us to call
at Christs Matth. 20. 21 right hand the other at his left in his kingdome And can Christ do this and thus submit himself Can he be a King that thus pays tribute Some fit and pang of this distemper did no doubt trouble the Disciples minds at this time They had been often troubled with it and had sundry times discust amongst themselves as we have observed who should be the greatest And now upon this occasion seeing Christ bowing to Autority and submitting to them whom they thought he came to destroy the fire burned and they spake with their tongue Seeing the Lord of heaven and earth thus challeng'd for tribute and thus gently yielding to pay it they lost the sight of his Power in his Humility they forgot the miracle of the Money in the fishes mouth because it was tribute And being struck with Admiration they began to enquire what Honors and what degrees of Greatness were in his Kingdome which is his Church and observing the King of Heaven himself thus subject to command instead of learning Humility they foment their Pride they awake their Ambition and rowse it up to seek the glory of this world they are bold to ask him who was the Master and patern of Humility Who is the greatest in the kingdome of heaven This I take to be the Occasion of this Question And so I pass from it to the Persons who moved it The Disciples came unto Jesus And the Disciples we doubt not had been well and often instructed that the Kingdome of Christ was not of this world but spiritual yet the prejudicate conceit they had of the Messias did shut up their understanding against this truth the shape they had drawn in their minds of Christ made Christ less visible in his own shape So hard it is homini hominem exuere for a man to put off himself for a man that looks for a Pearl to interpret it Grace for a man that is ambitious of Honor on earth to look for it in heaven Such a damp and darkness doth Prejudice cast upon the minds and understandings even of the best men even of Disciples of Christ For the Devil fits himself to the nature and disposition of every man What he said of the Jesuite JESUITA EST OMNIS HOMO a Jesuite is every man to every man can apply himself to all humors all dispositions is most true of our common enemy Satan He is in a manner made all things to all men If he cannot cast us down into the mire of carnal and bruitish sin he is very active and cunning to lift us up on the wings of the wind and to whiff us about with the desire of honor and priority Etiam in sin◠discipulorum ambitio dormit saith Cyprian Ambition finds a pillow to sleep on even in the bosome of Disciples themselves There she lyes as in a shade lurks as in a bed-chamber and at last she comes forth and you may behold her raising of palaces and measuring out kingdomes and you may hear her asking of questions Who shall be the greatest Multimoda Satanae ingenia saith Hierome the craft of Satan is various and his wiles and devises manifold He knows in what breast to kindle Lust into which to breathe Ambition He knows whom to cast down with Sorrow whom to deceive with Joy whom to shake with Fear and whom to mislead with Admiration He searcheth our affections he fans and winnows our hearts and makes that a bait to catch us withal which we most love and most look upon He fights as the Father speaks with our selves against our selves he makes snares of our own desires and binds and fetters us up with our own love If he overcome us with his more gross tentations he insults but if he fail there he then comes towards us with those tentations which are better clothed and better spoken He maketh curious nets entangles our phansie and we strait dream of Kingdomes If our weakness overthrow us not tropheis triumphisque succumbemus saith the Father our own tropheys and triumphs shall destroy us Like a wise Captain he plants all his force and artillery at that place which is weakest and most attemptable We see the Disciples hearts were here weakest and here lay most open hither therefore the Devil directs his darts here he placeth his engines to make a breach So dangerous a vice is Ambition and so hard a thing it is even for good men for mortified persons for the Disciples of Christ to avoid it Who shall be the greatest they are not alwaies the worst men that put up that question Tully observes of the Philosophers that though they wrote books of the Contempt of Glory yet they would set their names to those books and so seek for Glory by oppugning it and even woo it in the way of a bold defiance And Plutarch speaking of the Philosopher whose Dictor it was LATENTER VIVENDUM That a concealed life was best yet adds withal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he would not have it concealed that this Dictor or speech was his What speak we of the Heathen Philosophers The Philosophers of God the Prophets of God have been much infested herewith Look upon Baruch When he thrived not in the King of Judah's Court he fell into discontent and repining so that the Prophet Jeremy is sent unto him with express message Seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not For I will bring evil upon the whole earth saith the Lord. Behold Jonah under his gourd What Jer. 45. 5. a pett and chafe is he in How irreverent to his God How doth he tell God even to his face that he did well to be angry even unto death And all this Anger from what fire was it kindled Certainly from no other then an overweaning conceit of his own reputation lest the sparing of Niniveh against which he had denounced ruin and destruction should disparage him with the people and lose him the name of a true Prophet And this we need not much marvail at if we consider the nature of this vice For first of all it is a choice vice preserved on purpose by the Divel to abuse the best nor will it grow in every soil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great and Noble natures the best capacities the most able wits these are the fat soil in which this weed grows Base and sordid natures seldom bear it What cares the Covetous person for Honor who will bow to durt What cares he for rising in repute who hath buried himself alive in the earth What cares he for a name that had rather see other mens names in his parchments then his own in the Book of Life What cares the Wanton for renown who had rather be crowned with roses then with a Diademe or will he desire to rise higher whose highest step is up to the bed of Lust and the embraces of a Strumpet These Swine love not such water as this nor such an oyntment as
probable conjecture And therefore I will give you a second reason Besides this natural Inclination God himself hath a further purpose in it He that observes the wayes of God as far as he hath exprest himself shall find that he hath a delight to shew unto the world those that are his to lift them up on high and mark and character them out by some notable tryal and temptation Thus he made tryal of Abrahams Faith by such a command as struck at the very foundation of his faith In Isaac shall thy seed be blessed and yet Take thy son thy only son thy son Isaac in whom alone all the Promises made to Abraham were to be made good Ill signs for Abraham to look upon signs that with him the world would soon be at an end yet God set them up before him to look upon but by looking upon them he became the Father of the faithful Thus God made tryal of Job by putting all that he had into the power of Satan who presently sent Sabaeans to fall upon his servants and oxen Fire upon his sheep Chaldeans upon his camels and a great wind to beat down the house upon his sonns â—ll signs for Job to look upon but by looking upon them he became operarius victoriae Dei as Tertullian speaketh Gods workman hired as it were and prest by God to gain a conquest for him and in him to triumph and erect a trophee over Satan To draw this down to our present purpose To try the Strength the Faith the Love the Perseverance of those who are his God is pleased to give way to this tumult and danger in the last dayes And as the Eagle brings out her young and then counts them hers if she can make them look up against the Sun so Christ here in my Text brings forth those who are his and proposeth before them the dreadful spectacles here mentioned to try whether they can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Text speaks whether they can out-look them and lift up their heads when all the world doth hang down theirs Or he deals with his as the Jesuites are said to deal with their Novices They are wont to try of what courage and heart they are by frighting them with feigned apparitions of Hobs and Bug-bears in the night And if they find them stout and fearless they entertain them as fit for their use if otherwise they dismiss them as not for their turn and purpose Even thus may God seem to deal with them whom he means to make his of the order and general assembly and church of the first-born who are written in heaven whom he means to place amongst the great and few examples of eternal happiness he scareth them with dreams and terrifieth them with visions He sets before us these terrors and affrightments to see whether we fear any thing more then him or whether any thing can shake the alliance and trust which we repose in him whether our Faith will be strong when the World is weak whether our Light will shine when the Sun is darkned whether we can establish our selves in the power of Gods Spirit when the powers of heaven are shaken And indeed what are all these signs here mentioned but Mormos meer toyes to fright children with if we could truly consider that if the world should sink and fall upon our heads it cannot hurt a soul nor yet so grind the body into dust that God cannot raise it up again Can the Heavens with all their blackness and darkness have any operation upon a Soul which is of a more noble essence than they Can the Waters drown or the Plague devour or Famine starve or Fire consume and waste a Soul Can an immortal Soul be lost in the noise and tumults of the people For all these signs and apparitions if we know whom we have believed or believe what we have read in St. Paul neither life nor death nor angels nor Rom. 8. 38 39 principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now in the third place I will adde one reason more and so make an end of this point If Fear will give us leave to consult with our Reason and with Scripture we shall find that all this army of dismal events are nothing else but the effects of that Love which God bears to the World especially to Man the creature which he made after his own image and therefore cannot hate him because he so made him As men are wont to say of sick persons that so long as there is breath be they never so sick there is hope of their recovery for our hope expires not but with our soul so though we be far gone though we be dead in sin though we be sick of a Consumption of grace yet God lays not down the expectation of our recovery so long as there is breath in us Many examples we have of Gods long-sufferance in Scripture Betwixt Niniveh and final Desolation there stood but forty dayes or as the Septuagint render it but three for whereas we read it fourty dayes they render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet three dayes and Niniveh shall be destroyed Yet God sent his Prophet unto them and upon their repentance turned away those evils which he had denounced against them and which were now in their approach even at their very doors Many messages had God sent unto King Ahab to reclaim him yet amongst them all none was more signal then that which was sent him immediately before his fall It should seem that God had already determined with himself the destruction of Ahab and that he should fight and fall at Ramoth-Gilead yet notwithstanding Micaiah the Son of Imlah a Prophet of God even against the Kings will is brought before him and telleth him to his head that he should go and fall at Ramoth-Gilead Nor can we now think that this was done by chance For notwithstanding four hundred Prophets of his own had smooth'd and flatter'd him with hopes of good success yet Micaiah one whom the King hated against the Kings will is constrained to come and when he seemed at first either to mock or fail in the delivery of his message he is deeply adjured to deliver the truth How many times saith the 1 Kings 22. 16. King shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord Now from whence did all this come but even from this that God had not laid down the care of Ahabs conversion but truly desired that he would return and live To apply now all this to our present purpose From hence even from Gods love it is that the last and worst age of the World is attended upon with dreadful signs and wonders For God who delights to be called a Preserver of men will
prevaile No he must back and strengthen it with the Judicial Sin must be brought forth and seen in its own shape Murder wallowing in the bloud she spilt Fornication in a whitesheet with shame upon her forehead Blasphemy with its brains dasht out Idleness starved Theft sub hasta brought to publick sale and condemned to slavery But under the Gospel Hell it self is unlockt her mouth open'd and all her terrors displaied Who would now think that this were not enough to stay our fliting humour to quell our raging temper to bind our unlimited desires Who would not think that this two-edged sword of the Word would frustrate and annihilate all other swords If I had set my face to Destruction this should turn me if I were rushing forward this should stay me But alass we break through these repagula we run over these sufflamina God speaks in us by the Law of Nature but we hear him not He writes to us by way of Letter and Epistle in his Divine Law but we answer him not Besides this we too often reject and reverberate his gracious instructions and incitements by the wise counsel and examples of good men In both God beckneth to us It is now high time he speak to us through a vaile of Bloud that he put the bridle into our mouths If Hell will not fright us then we must hear those more formidable words as S. Augustine saith more formidable to humane ears Occido Proscribo Mitto in exilium Death Proscription Banishment Tribuno opus carcere Lay the whip upon the fools back For to be thus question'd many times prevails more then a Catechisme Therefore Theodorete calls this Sword this Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most catholick and soveraign remedy and Luther necessarium corruptae naturae remedium a necessary remedy for weak decayed nature When the Fear of God boundeth us not imponit timorem humanum saith Irenaeus he aws us with the Sword and humane Authority When the destillation of his dew and small rain will not soften us down came his hailstones and coals of fire to break us A remedy it is our disposition and temper looks for and requires For we are led for the most part by the Sense We love and fear at a distance And as the object is either nigh or remote so it either affects or frights us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The greatest evils and so the greatest goods too are least sensible Villam malumus quam caelum saith Augustine We had rather have a Farme a Cottage than Paradise and three lives in that than eternity in Heaven We had rather be rich than good mighty then just Saint Ambrose gives the reason For saith he quis unquam justitiam contrectavit Who ever saw Virtue or felt and handled Justice And as our Love so stands our Fear Caesarem magis timemus quam Jovem We fear Man more than God and the shaking of his whip than the scorpions of a Deity A Dag at hand frights more than great Ordinance from the Mount and a Squib than a crack of Thunder He that could jest at a Deity trembled at a Thunder-bolt The Adulterer saith Job watcheth for his twilight as if God had his night And The ungodly lyeth in wait to spoil the poor saith David He seeketh a day and an opportunity as if God had not one every moment and he doth it secretly as if that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that revenging Eye were put out And though he stand as a butt for Gods Vengeance and a mark for his arrow and fuel for his fire the very centre wherein all Gods curses may meet yet he cleaves to his sin he hugs and embraces it Would you have a separation and divorce made It is more probable a Whip should do it then a Sermon an Officer then a Preacher a Warrant then an Anathema You must sue for it in the Court of Justice not in the Church So sensual so senseless many are Therefore the Holy Ghost in Scripture presents and fashions himself to the natural affections of men And that we may not turn bankrupts and sport or sell away our livelihood and estate in Heaven and so come to a spiritual nothing to bring us to the other world he tells us of something which we most fear in this To those who love liberty he speaks of a prison a jaylor an arrest Those who dare not step into the house of mourning he tells of weeping and gnashing of teeth and to those tender constitutions who can endure no smart he threatens many stripes NON SINE CAUSA GLADIUM is the servants and hirelings argument and many times it convinces and confutes him it dulls and deads the edge of his affection It destroys Murder in anger quenches Adultery in the desire sinks Pride in the rising binds Theft in the very purpose and ut seta filum as the bristle draweth the thread it fits and prepares a way for Charity and Religion it self We may now then engrave this NON FRUSTRA upon the Sword and settle it as an undoubted conclusion That Autority was not granted in vain Unless you will say that the Law was in vain and Reason in vain and Man in vain unless you will Put the FRUSTRA upon the Church the World Hell Heaven it self And if the Sword be not in vain then in the next place by an easie illation the Duty of the Magistrate will follow which is Operam fortem diligentem dare as the form runs Strenuously to contend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nè frustrà that he bear not the Sword in vain My third and last part There is no danger of a frustrà but here For potestas habet se indifferenter ad bonum malum saith Aquinas Autority though directed and ordained to good alone yet stands in an even aspect and indifferency to both good and evil In it is the life of the innocent and in it is the destruction of the wicked and it may be the flourishing of the wicked and the death of the innocent The Magistrate may as the Devil is said to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 invert the order of things put shame upon Integrity and security upon Sin The Sword is an instrument and he may use it as he will and so of a fiery and sharp sword he may make it gladium ficulneum a wooden and unprofitable sword and then the drunkard may reel in the streets and injury may rage at noon-day for all that or pictum gladium no better then a Sword in a painted cloth only to be lookt upon He may use it not like a Sword but like David's rasour to cut deceitfully or he may let it rust in his hands that as that Lawyer complained of the Sword in his time it may be fit for nothing but to cut a purse let out a bribe Thus it may be But our task is to keep off this Frustrà from the Magistrate And see in my Text they are severd
it is but a wind which at once blows us up and kindles the fire of Hell Strange contradictions but such are we made up of when we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 think highly of our selves when we remember what we are not what we may be and not what we are in whole but in part joyning together Weakness and Stability Sin and Security Mutability and Assurance than which nothing is more contrary more dissonant as in a strange dream where however the parts of it are incohaerent and contrary one to the other yet the dreamer thinks that all cleaves well enough together And now having shewed you the true cause of this disease of Haughtiness of mind we will in a word point out at one evil effect which naturally issues from it and but one because the rest we must necessarily touch upon when we prescribe the Remedie This is most proper here because our Apostle most points at this and we find it tu excidêris This V. 22. Haughtiness of mind doth not only hinder the progress but even the continuance of Goodness It doth not only slug and retard us in our course of piety but it also criples us that we can walk no more It doth not only wither the branch but it also cuts it off St. Paul speaks plainly The Christian may fall as the Jew and if he continue not in Gods goodness he also shall be cut off When we have gone but a sabbath-days journey with the Jew in the wayes of holiness when we have done but quod dictum est antiquis what was said to them of old when we have absteined but from those sins which even a Jew would hate and performed those duties only which will keep us from the lash of the Tongue do we not begin to raise and canonize our selves But if we forgive an enemie if we do good to an enemy if we faste a day and give our provision to the poor if we do any thing which Christ commanded with an Ego verò dico then streight with Absolom we raise up a pillar to ourselves and we write upon it NUNQUAM MOVEBOR We shall never be moved A Cup of cold water shall answer for our Oppression an Alms at our door for the fraud in our shop our frequenting of Sermons for our neglect of Prayer our Liberality to some factious Teacher for our Sacriledg to the Church an open Ear for a prophane Heart And all is now quiet within us we seem to walk on the pavement of Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fly in the air and from thence to behold our brethren who have more piety with less noyse as grashoppers as worms as wretches as nothing in respect of our selves When our Hypocrisie hath edg enough to cut us from the Olive our spiritual Pride keepeth us in When the least of our numerous backslidings are a fearful presage of eternal perdition upon one good deed upon one good intention upon one good thought nay upon a meer mistake of all we build the Assurance of our Salvation I deny not but that a good Christian may not only have confidence but may attein to that perfection as to assure himself that God will so guide and protect him that he shall never fall Yet this is very rare and peculiar to those happy Souls who enjoy it But to make it a question Whether every man ought to be assured of his Salvation I think it at the best most unnecessary And this Nature and common Experience will teach us Should I ask whether every man ought to grow to be in health to digest I cannot think but that you would judg it a ridiculous question seeing Nature it self hath secretly taught us to eat and to drink with temperance and sobriety and then Growth and Health will naturally follow You cannot but apply it your selves For Assurance of Salvation is no voluntary thing to be taken up at will upon command but the natural issue of something else of Faith and Obedience of Holiness of life and conversation Let us but believe and keep an upright conscience let us joyn together Piety towards God and Honesty towards men which can never be severed and Assurance will as certainly follow as Growth and Health upon Diet taken with Sobriety Talk what we please of Assurance it is not duty but the effect of all the performances of life We are no where comanded to be assured but we have divers precepts and commands to make our election sure Yet we see with what eagerness of spirit this question hath been kept afoot and how ready those are to talk of Assurance of whose Salvation Statu quo sunt Charity it self would make a doubt Tenemur esse certi We are bound to be assured that is the Doctrine And the Use is Many men make it an Article of their Creed to which they subscribe with hands full of bloud oppression and fraud And I am verily perswaded that in those who most boast of it it has no better ground than this spiritual Pride and Highness of mind For let them cry it up as long they will for an article of their Creed their own evil wayes do make it heretical And one day they will find it true that that Doubting out of Humility which is raysed from a diffidence in our selves may find heaven-geats wide open when bold Presumption shall be shut out of doors that it will concern every Christian not to be too bold and confident but to search his own heart and to try and examine his way to look narrowly into his life and conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Pelus speaks with ten thousand eyes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clear and free from all perturbation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thrice every day to take a survey of his words and actions as the Pythagoreans used when he is in his best estate compassed about with the graces of God in this his health and cheerfulness to take Saint Pauls prescript here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 TIMERE to fear nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SUPERTIMERE so Clemens renders it in this depth and uncertainty of Gods judgments to assume and exact absolute perfect fear a fear beyond all fear Which is the Remedy here prescribed and comes next to be handled Now to make way to our ensuing discourse we may guess what the nature of Fear is by Hope For Fear and Hope are hewed out of the same rock the common matter out of which they are framed being Expectation For according as the thing is which we expect so are we sayd to hope or to fear if good we call it Hope if evil we term it Fear As Hope is nothing else but an expectation of some good to come So Fear hath its beginning from the apprehension of some approaching evil And as Heat and Cold though contrary qualities yet are never solitary without admistion of either with the other so is it with Hope and Fear they are both mixed
forget they are men in like manner it befalls these spiritualized men who build up to themselves a pillar of Assurance and lean and rest themselves upon it They loose their very nature and reason they forget to fear and become like those whom the Philosopher calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 madmen because their boast was they did not fear a thunderbolt For conclusion then Take comfort thou disconsolate Soul whosoever thou art that art stricken down into the place of Dragons and art in terror and anguish of heart For this Fear of thine is but a cloud and it will distill and drop down in blessings upon thy head This Anxiety is a benediction and will keep thee from falling when the Presumption of others shall lay them on the ground Thy cloud is more clear than their Sun thy Fear better than their Confidence thy Doubting better security than their Assurance Timor tuus securitas tua Thy Fear of being cut off will keep thee in the olive green and flourishing thy Fear of being cut off will end in expectation of eternal life Though thy ship be rent thy tackling crackt and thy mast spent yet thou shalt at last thrust into shore when those proud saylers shall shipwrack in a calme There is no better symptome that thou shalt never be cast away than this Fear that thou must be cut off For whatsoever the beginning be this Fear doth commonly end in righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost The Nineteenth SERMON ACTS XII 5. Peter therefore was kept in prison but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him WHEN the Devil draws his sword he flings the scabbard into the fire and though he strike not yet he hath it alwayes ready in his hand It was already dyed in the bloud of James the brother of John v. 2. and now he strives to latch it in the sides of St. Peter also We call this the Book of the Acts or Doings of the Apostles But indeed it is a history of their Passions and Sufferings every page opening almost some new scene and presenting some part of their Tragedy Chap. 2. 13. they are markt for Drunkards Chap. 4. 3. Peter and John are laid hold on and put into prison they are threatned and silenced v. 18. Peter and the rest are beaten Chap. 5. 40. Stephen is stoned Chap. 7. Persecution rageth Chap. 8. 1. Paul is laid wait for Chap. 9. Then had the Churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galile and Samaria and were multiplyed v. 31. For as it is reported of the Island of Rhodes that scarce there is any day so cloudy but at some time or other the Sun shews it self so it fares with the Church of God The blackness and darkness of persecution never so obscureth her but at some time or other she shews her self But it is but as the Sun peeping out of a cloud ready to be taken in and darkned with another Let Peter come up to Jerusalem Chap. 11. and he is accused for being at Caesaria and they of the Circumcision contend with him for his Sermon to the Gentiles v. 2. But this was rather an offer then a blow for all was laid and ended in a Gloria Deo v. 18. They held their peace and glorified God But here in this Chapter he is striken home by the hand of a Politician of Herodes Agrippa who being now restored to his Kingdome by Claudius the Emperor did strive to establish it with bloud He vext the Christians to please the Jews and had they all had but one neck he would have cut it off at one blow James already was sacrificed to their malice Which bathing it self with pleasure in his bloud bespake the Tyrant cruelly to offer more He proceeded farther therefore and took Peter also v. 3. But he sacrificed him not because of the feast for then were the dayes of unleavened bread saith the Text. But to make all sure he puts him in prison and to make the prison sure he delivers him to four quaternions of souldiers to keep him Where he lyes shackled with two chaines quasi sepulcro inclusus saith Calvin buried before he was slain Peter therefore was kept in prison c. These words present unto us the true face of the Church militant One member suffering and all the members suffering with it St. Peter in chains and the Church on their knees he ready to be bestowed for the Church and the Church emptying her bowels and compassion on him St. Peter suffering the Church praying Though they cannot help him yet they will pray for him and they will pray for him that they may help him Though they cannot break the prison they will weary heaven and pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without ceasing And this makes up a glorious harmony the groaning of a prisoner tempered with the prayers of the Church These ascending together and coming up to heaven before God commonly bring down some Angel from thence Now these two St. Peter and the Church divide the Text into two parts which we call St. Peters Passion and the Churches Compassion In the first we consider Peters Imprisonment and the Causes of it or the Motives which induced Herod to shut him up In the second the Churches Compassion Observe that it was not only in the inward man true and hearty but also expressed outwardly and made vocal in prayer which was first publick of the whole Church secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earnest and importunate and without ceasing Peter therefore was kept in prison but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him Of these in their order And a Prison one would think were not a fit place for St. Peter We should rather look to see him in his Chair For he had the Keys committed to him and a Commission to feed Christs sheep Will God suffer this great Light to be confined and this Pillar to be shaken with the stormes of persecution Shall he who was to teach and govern the Church now stand in need of the prayers of the Church Where is the providence of God may some say Why certainly even in this that he many times suffers his best Saints and his selected servants to be beat upon by the waves of affliction and to feel the lash of persecution Ordinis haec res est in hâc allegoricâ Aegypto ut Pharaoh incedat cum diademate Israel cum cophino saith Sidonius It is a common sight in this Aegypt of the world to see Pharaoh with his diademe and Israel with a basket Herod on his throne and St. Peter in prison And all this is saith St. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Gods own ordering and dispensation For what is a prison to St. Peter where he had not now been had not the Spirit enter'd with him You will say saith Tertullian it is domus Diaboli the Devils house for Villains and Ruffians Conculcabit in domo suâ He shall trample
hearts were enflamed with compassion and that did soon dictate an epistle of comfort That too much Chirity as Eusebius calls it lib. 7. of the Christians in Alexandria when the pestilence had spread its contagion in that city may in these times of ours which hath fulfilled the Apostles prophesie 2 Tim. 3. 1. move us to wonder though not to imitation The Pagans saith he forsook their friends though of nearest alliance upon a fit of shivering or a pale look when the Christians did diligently minister to their sick though they ran into the mouth of danger and to save their friends lives endanger'd their own yet they presumed their compassion might stile it Martyrdome If we now cast a look upon these our times we shall scarce find a spark of that fire which enflamed their breasts scarce a degree of that heat of Charity We have strangely degenerated from our forefathers and retained nothing of them but the name of Christians We have not compassion enough to follow St. Peter into prison But in the next place to make one step further Compassion if it be right is not an idle but a serious thing will not rest in the heart but will publish it self If you see it not active in the hand you shall hear it vocal in the tongue It will open the mouth and pant as David speaks and pour forth it self in prayer and supplications My Text tells us that prayer was made by the Church And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Epiphanius The prayers of the Church are the best weapons The Superstition of the Heathens framed their Auguries their Expiations their Sacrifices their Oracles their Omens their Rings their Inchantments their Supplications their Triumphs to keep off misery to procure happiness to begin to transact to end publick businesses Christiani unicum simplex habent remedium Christians have not so many remedies but one which is more soveraign and powerful then they all They plyed their superstitions as they did their Gods We have but one God and in all our miseries but one refuge our recourse by Prayer unto him I will not frame a panegyrick on Prayer but rather commend the Churches prayer here 1. Because it was of the whole Church and most likely met together in publick as many Interpreters collect For though private prayer be of singular use yet it cannot be of that force which Prayer hath when made in publick St. Chrysostome is peremptory Thou canst not pray so well at home as at Church There thou findst many fires to kindle thy zeal the Example of others the Reverence of ceremony the presence of God the Place it self Coimus quasi manu facta saith Tertullian We meet together as an army to besiege compass and invade the Majesty of heaven God requires not only private devotion that thou pray to him in thy closet but he farther requireth that prayers be made in publick by troops and assemblies of men Such was the force saith St. Chrysostome upon this place of publick prayer that it brought down an Angel from heaven broke St. Peters chains opened the prison doors and the city gates and led the Apostle to the very place where many were praying for him That which in the second place commends their Prayer is that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instant and earnest For fervent prayer prevaileth much saith St. James Otherwise if it be faint and heartless it is but breathed out into the ayr there to vanish it is lost in the very making and like a Glass in the very blowing falls to nothing yea which is worse it is turned into sin We may think perhaps that it is a great boldness thus to urge the Majesty of heaven But we much mistake the God we pray to He thirsts as it were to be thirsted after saith Nazianzene he loves to be intreated he commands us to be urgent and thus not to be bold is to be too familiar with him To think he will hear us at the first is to set up an Idole a God of our own making For what else is Idolatry but a mistake of that God whom we chuse to serve and worship God is a God of state and magnificence qui solet difficilem habere januam a God whose gates will not open so soon as we suppose We must knock and knock again Though he hear not we must call till he do hear and though he open not we must knock till he do open This is that welcome force by which the kingdome of heaven is taken by violence This is the way by which God delighteth to be wooed and won to be besieged and conquered For this very end doth God delay and doth not presently send his Angel Commendat dona non negat saith St. Augustine His delay is not a denyal but a commendation of his gift Thy hunger will make thy meat the sweeter and thy frequent prayer will not only obtain but enlarge thy soul and make it more capable of that good which thou dost long for Deus exercet desiderium quò poscimus capere quod praeparat dare God exercises our desire not to dead and destroy it but as the ayr doth fan a torch to make it burn the brighter so doth he kindle thy desire not extinguish it and so makes thee fit for that which he intends to give By this we learn more and more to stand in awe of his Majesty to love his goodness and our Piety hereby encreaseth as Heat doth by motion and agitation We learn to carry God about with us in every contemplation in all our thoughts as he that looks upon the Sun with a steddy eye though he remove his eye yet hath the image of the Sun presented in every object he beholds I might be infinite in this subject but this one example of the Church is enough to perswade you that God doth not only require modestiam fidei the modesty of your faith and private devotion but the urgency of your publique piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Luke calls it an holy impudence and violent importunity of prayer which may look upon the very face of God and stare upon him which will take no denyal but as the Fathers express it by a strange kind of phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even make God ashamed and so yield at last and grant you your requests When St. Peter is in prison when any affliction fetters our brother we must then pour forth our supplications and call up all the forces of our souls and pray not coldly and faintly as if we cared not whether we were heard or no but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earnestly and without ceasing as if we would not be denyed For conclusion then St. Peter is still in prison Many a Christian is in misery and irons many poor and naked and destitue quibus causa paupertatis probitas fuit the only cause of whose poverty is integrity of life and conversation who might have been rich
to a marriage-feast without a wedding-garment Yet we see many so come with their old cloaths and torn apparrel with the works of darkness not cast off but hanging still fast about them so that though they be there we may make a stand and doubt whether they be guests or no. We may doubt whether all be Christians in Christendome whether all in the Church be parts and members of the Church Did I say we might doubt Ecclesiam in Ecclesia quaerere Why no doubt Guests they are They were invited to the wedding and so guests They are in the company of those who were called to the feast and so of that Church and Congregation All this they may be even guests cum privilegio they may partake of all Church-prerogatives be washed in Christs laver frequent his house sit-down at his table and yet for all this be questioned nay be thrust out of doors and cast into utter darkness The Cardinal maketh it a controversie and methinks a needless one Whether magni manifesti peccatores great and open sinners and reprobates be not members of the true Church And it is the Heresie forsooth of Wickliff Hus and Calvin to deny it Novum crimen Cai Caesar Shall I say a new heresie and till of late unheard of No a plain truth it is and St. Augustine long since cryed it up with an Absit Absit ut monstra illa in membris illius Columbae computentur Lib. 2. contra Crescon Don. God forbid that these monsters should be reputed members of that innocent Dove Can we conceive Christs body with dry arms and dead parts and the City of God to be inhabited by devils Or is it possible Christs members should be thrown into hell Indeed let the Church be as he makes and presents it visibilis palpabilis a Church that may be seen and felt Let her have a body as well as a soul as St. Augustine gives her And then members they are but not intrinsecùs and in occulto intus as St. Augustine speaks not intrinsecally in that Collection of Saints not veritate finis as himself confesseth to that end and purpose they are called Nominals not Reals numero non merito in number not in weight equivocal members as we call a painted hand a Hand and a dead man a Man But we had rather let the Cardinal tell us what members they are Capilli sunt ungues mali humores they are his own words The true Christian is placed in the body as an Eye or an Ear or a Hand or a Foot But the wicked what are they Even as the Hair or Nayls or bad Humors in the body Cives non cives such members of Christs Church as Traitours are of a Common-wealth as Cataline and Cethegus were at Rome members that would eat-out the very bowels of their body and subvert Church and Christ and all But we will not funem contentionis ducere as Tertullian speaks teaseout the controversie too far Upon the upshot we shall find that we are fallen upon that fallacy which by the Logicians is called Ignoratio elenchi We fight in a mist and mistake the question quite Let us joyn issue agree upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the matter in hand let the face of the Church be the same and not vary and change colour in our alteration and the question is stated the controversie at an end For it is agreed upon on all hands That Christ hath a Floor to be purged That there are Tares amongst his Wheat That at the marriage of the Kings Sons though the guests perceive it not the King when he comes will spy some one or other that hath not on his wedding-garment That in the Church of God mali miscentur bonis the Evil are mingled with the Good to file them to an edge and brightness saith Gregory Call them Guests Friends Christians Members of the Church give them what titles you please syllabae non salvant Heaven we may gain by violence but not by spells and inchantment Names and titles will not save us Write the Devil saith Bede calculo candido in a fair character in white silver letters yet he is a Devil still and his signification is Darkness Write out an Aegyptians name with chalk yet who will say an Aethiopian is white Paint Thersites in Achilles 's armor will it stile him valiant A lame commendation it is to be a Christian in a picture to have a name only that we live to give-up no more than our names to Christ and take no more from him than his to come into the Church by the water of Baptism and to go-out by a deluge of sin A poor comfort to be the Kings guest and be questioned intrare ut exeamus to enter into his courts and then be turned out of doors This is the cafe of the Guest here who in a throng was as good as the best as well apparelled as well prepared as any but coram Deo in the Kings eyes naked and miserable and is therefore questioned Quomodo HUC INTRASTI How camest thou in hither Which is our next Part. The King is moved at the sight of the guests and one of them he questions Affections are commotions saith the Philosopher They make an earth-quake in us they move us to speak oftentimes what otherwise we would not Commonly then the language is violent and peremptory not in cold terms and by way of a plain declaration of our mind but by a sudden and abrupt interrogation Thus in Fear What shall I do saith the Steward in Love How fair art thou oh my beloved saith Christ to Luke 16. his Church in Anger Who made thee a judge say the to Moses in Acts 6. Admiration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostles of the Temple Mark 13. 1. What stones and what buildings are these And here the King comes-in one would think to welcome his guests but upon the sight of an unpleasing object he is moved spying one there who had not on a wedding-garment he is quick and round with him He says not It is not well done to come naked If you will taste of my dainties you must bring your garment with you but How cam'st thou in hither But what moved the King What raised the storm May we not set up a Quare against the Kings Quomodo May we not ask why the King asketh how he came thither How came he thither Why he was invited to come he was sent for and intreated kindly to come and he had been very unadvised if he had stayed behind We know it cost some their lives slain they were that refused Quomodo in the dining-room is a strange question v. 7. but a cold welcome to invite a guest and then ask him how he came thither But this King we know is never angry without cause He is not as Man Numb 23. 19. that he should lye is not as some men are qui irascuntur quia
then it doth adorn and beautifie us indeed and God looks upon it as a glorious ornament and upon us as guest whose praise is not of men but of God Without this though we enlarge our phylacteries never so much though we have HOLINESS written in our foreheads all will be but like Bellerophon's letters We may take them for a pass-port or letters of commendation but in them our doom and our condemnation is written We are condemned by our wilfull neglect and contempt of the marriage-feast as by our own confession so condemned as that nothing remaineth but sentence and execution If it had been mine enemy saith David Psal 55. 12 â—3 I could have born it But it was thou my familiar friend If it were one who never had heard of the Feast one of the Heathen who knew not the name of the King the neglect would not have been so foul The times of their Acts 17. 30. ignorance God wincked at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saw as if he saw not he did not threaten eternal death as he doth now under the Gospel but now he commandeth every man every where to repent to fit and prepare himself for this great Feast And if we do not so we are the worse Christians by being so much Christians more guilty for our profession in more danger then Infidels in that we are not so and more unpardonable for our belief Irascitur Deus contumeliis misericordiae suae God is never more angry then when his Mercy is abused and his Grace turned into wantonness Let us then look-up to the Author Heb. 12. 2. and Finisher of our faith Hear his voice follow his direction I counsel Rev. 3. 18. thee saith he to buy of me white rayment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear And we may buy of him without Isa 55. 1. Heb. 2. 11. money or money-worth The Apostle saith Both he who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one Now Christ sanctifieth us by his doctrine and example And as he was conceived by the holy Ghost so are we made new creatures and clothed with the wedding garment by the vertue and power of the same Spirit And then Christ will not be ashamed of us not ashamed to call us Brethren when as brethren we wear the same apparel When he seeth our garment entire the same in every part universal uniform like it self throughout the whole of the same thread not here a piece of silk and there a menstruous rag not obedience to this command because it fitteth our humour and disobedience to another because it sitteth too close and is troublesome to flesh and bloud When he seeth us not bow in the house of Rimmon because our master doth so not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beat and wound our conscience for fear of those higher Powers who else will beat us with many stripes When he seeth not our Faith enfeebled by our Trust in uncertain Riches nor our Charity cooled by those tentations that blow from that treasury nor our Hope swallowed-up in victory by our Ambition When he seeth our Garment made by that patern which himself shewed shining not like the Pharisees fringed garments but like the pure fine linnen of the Saints well woven with spiritual wisdom and well worn with care and diligence When he seeth us according to the Greek proverb yea according to his own charge Quem mater amictum dedit solicitè custodire to Rev. 16. 15. keep that garment with which God our Father and the Church our Mother hath clothed us in the day of our mariage that garment for the making whereof He himself afforded materials and that è visceribus suis out of his own bowels When he seeth this I say he will change our wedding-garment into a robe of glory Coming thus apparalled like guests we may have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confidence and boldness towards God Then shall our mouths be filled with laughter and our tongues with joy Then shall we not as he here be speachless but speak unto the King and the King will speak unto us We shall speak to him as Children Abba Father as Subjects Let thy Kingdom come as Servants Master it is good for us to be here And the King's Son shall speak for us Behold I and the children which thou hast given me The Feast shall speak for us even the Bloud of Jesus shall speak good things for us And Hebr. 2. 13. the Garment shall speak for us our plea of Faith shall be more eloquent and powerful then the tongues of Men and of Angels And our plea shall be answered not with a QUOMODO but with an EUGE Well done my good and faithful guests Your wedding-garment is on Sit-down at my table sit-down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob with all the Patriarchs and with all the Apostles and with the whole Church in the kingdom of heaven Which happiness God grant unto us through Christ Jesus our Lord. The Nine and Twentieth SERMON PART I. MATTH VI. 9. After this manner therefore pray ye Our Father which art in heaven c. A Preface concerning Catechizing and Prayer BEfore I come to the plain and familiar explication of these words which I intend it may be expected perhaps that I should speak somthing by way of Preface For we live in that age wherein every man almost is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Sophister speaks malevolous and jealous making his surmise a formal endictment and sufficient testimony against Superiors whilst himself alone stands guilty and there can be no crime found but this that he is suspicious Nihil tam sacrum quod non inveniat sacrilegum What good order can there be I will not say establisht but revived which is not straight markt out as a novelty No sooner can it receive influence from Authority to grow up and shew it self in the Church but Malice layes its axe at the very root of it And where Power is wanting to digg it up by the roots there Ignorance and Clamor shall shake it as a plant that will not grow in any Christian ground because they suppose it was brought from Rome We cannot be so blind we cannot be so charitable as not to observe this in those things which the wisest in the Church have thought to be of great importance And it were to be wisht that it would rest there and rather spend it self upon some one particular then multiply it self by degrees and gather strength to quarrel and endanger all But as fire seizeth on all matters that are combustible without respect whither it be a palace or a cottage a stately oak or a neglected straw so this Jealousie which not Conscience but Self-will and wilfull Disobedience hath kindled in the Church feeds it self not only with mountains with matters of greater moment but atomos numerat takes-in even atomes themselves things which can have no shew of offense
which is streight doth manifest not it self only but that also which is irregular After this manner pray ye denyes and forbids any other manner which is opposite to it Here by the way give me leave to tell you that Christ gives no direction for our Gesture He teacheth us not in what posture we should pray but what the subject of our prayer must be Religion and Reason both teach us that Prayer is an act of adoration and must be done with reverence Where these fail Profaneness and Self-will soon rise up against Religion and Reason quarrel with those things which no Wiseman would ever call into dispute The manner of gesture hath been various in all ages yet all ages have acknowledged Reverence an inseparable companion of Prayer When the Christians prayed toward the East the Heathens said that they worshipped the Sun But the Fathers reasons were these which are not indeed reasons of a necessitating force but only motives and inducements In honour to our Saviour they look that way because when He was on the Cross his face was turned toward the West saith Justin Martyr Divinis rebus operantes in eam coeli plagam convertimus à qua lucis exordium saith Ambrose In our Devotions we turn our eyes to that part of the heavens from whence we have the beginning of light Lastly they prayed that way not to adore the Eucharist but Christ himself These reasons although not convincing to demonstrate that it must be thus yet to quiet and devout minds are sufficient motives to perswade that God will rather approve than dislike it if it be thus We may use any lawful means to express our affection to God and to our blessed Saviour and these things can trouble none but those qui erubescunt Deum revereri who are ashamed and afraid to do too much reverence to God I need not mention the Elevation of their eyes to heaven which the Heathen derided also and said they did but number the clouds nor the Expansion and Spreading abroad of their hands for which they give no other reason but this They did it that by this gesture they might confess the passion of Christ who was stretched upon the Cross a reason of no more force than the former which yet prevailed with the blessed Saints and Martyrs and the wisest of the Church The Ethnicks prayed with their heads covered as Plutarch observes The Christians uncovered theirs because they were not ashamed to pray unto God The most common gesture amongst Christians was projici in genua to fall upon their knees And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the very Apostles times saith Justine and memoris ecclesiastici saith Hierome the perpetual practice of the Church To this they added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cast themselves upon their face and this was used in rebus attonitis saith Tertullian when the Church was astonisht with the rage of persecutions and to shew how unworthy they were to appear before the great Majesty of heaven and earth These and what other gestures soever which Reason or Reverence commend we may safely use and it will prove but a weak Apology for our neglect to say they are superstitious Suppose the very Pagans used the same yet this will be no good argument to make us abhor them For if they thought that by these they did best express their reverence why may not we civitate nay ecclesià donare admit them into the Church and exhibit as great reverence to the true God as they did to the false If our Saviour when he bids us not be like the Gentiles had meant Matth. 6. 8. we should not be like them in any thing he had also excluded Prayer it self I will insist no longer upon this but conclude with him in Plantus qui nihil facit nisi quod sibi placet nugas agit He is a very trifler which will do nothing but what pleaseth himself at the very first sight or rather with St. Paul If any man mind to be contentious we have no such custome neither 1 Cor. 11. 16. the Churches of God After this manner pray ye was not spoken to teach us what gesture we should use For he that knows what Prayer is unless he mind to be perverse and obstinate cannot be in this to seek But it is opposed to the vain babling and multiplicity of words which the Heathen used as if God could not hear them nisi centies idem sit dictum unless they spake the same thing an hundred times Which Cyprian most properly says is not to pray but ventilare preces tumultuosâ loquacitate jactare to toss up and down our prayers and cast them as those that winnow use to do from one hand into another and Cyril 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but to make a noyse and babble The word in the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken as it may seem from Battus the herdsman in the Poet who took delight in such vain repetitions Sub illis Montibus inquit erant erant sub montibus illis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Prodicus in Aristotles Topicks divided Pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which three signifie one and the same thing This the Greek hath a proper word for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from one Dates a Persian who being in Greece and affecting the Greek tongue was wont to heap up Synonymas as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words are all one Two Interpretations we find of Christs words one That by this he forbids all vain repetition of the same words another That he cuts off all multiplying of words Which both may be well confest if we rightly consider our Saviours words where he gives the reason why we should not in this be like the Heathen For they think they shall be heard for v. 7. their much babling Now to have affected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theophylact speaketh long and inconsiderate expressions of their mind or vain iterations of the same words as if God were taken with such babling had been to be like the Heathen indeed For this Elijah mocked Baals Priests Cry aloud for he is a God Either he is talking or he is pursuing 1 Kings 18. 27 or he is in his journey or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked To this doth our Saviour oppose the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and commands us not to pray so but after this manner And this exposition is grounded upon the cause which our Saviour gives why we should not use such repetitions For your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask And if our heavenly Father can prevent our desires what need we speak so often when he can hear us before we speak This precept then non consistit in puncto is not to be strictly urged as opposed to all repetitions of the same words but we must weigh and rightly ponder our Saviours intent For
men of what rank and condition soever are bound to perform it all are bound to pray This Form of prayer therefore was prescribed both to the Disciples and to the Multitude None so wise who must not none so ignorant who may not learn this Form Blanditur nostrae infirmitati It is fitted to the capacity of the weak Being a short form it is no burden to the Memory and being a plain form it brings no trouble to the Understanding He that cannot walk upon the pavement of heaven amongst the mysteries of his Faith may yet walk upon this earth this plain model of Devotion He that knows but little of the Trinity may yet cry Abba Father He that cannot dispute of God may yet sanctifie his Name He who is no Politician may have his Kingdom within him And he who cannot find out his wayes may yet do his Will Fastidiosior est scientia quà m virtus Paucorum est ut literati sint omnium ut pii Knowledge is more coy and hardly to be wooed than Devotion it makes its mansion but in a few But Piety forsakes no soul that will entertain her Every man cannot be a Scholar but every man may be devout Every man cannot preach but every man may pray Nemo ob imperitiam literarum à perfectione cordis excluditur saith John Cassian Antiquity confined Perfection to a Contemplative life to men of some eminence in the Church but a vain thing it is to imagine that none can reach perfection but the Learned Surgunt indocti rapiunt regnum coelorum saith Augustine Devout Ignorance many times taketh heaven by violence when our sluggish and unprofitable knowledge cannot lift up our hands by Devotion so much as to knock at the door Take then the Disciples and the Multitude together men of knowledge and men of no great reach and the Sic orate concerns them all and to them it is our Saviour gives this Command After this manner pray yee But now in the last place what shall we say to Sinners May they use this Form or can they pray without offense whose very prayer is an offense I should hardly have proposed so vain a question but that I find it made a question in the Schools and amongst the Casuists a Case of Conscience Indeed who can pray but Sinners Our very Pater Noster is a strong argument that every man is a sinner But yet some sins do not exclude the grace and favor of God as those of daily incursion Others of a higher nature may and so make us uncapable of this holy Duty This Doctrine like the Popes Interdict shuts-up the Church-doors and shutteth up our lips for ever that we may not open them no not to shew forth the praises of the Lord. A doctrine as full of danger as that from whence it sprung For do we not read it in terminis That the best actions of the unregenerate are sins We know who tells that opera bona optimè facta sunt venialia peccata That the best works of Saints are so also in some degree Which opinions though they have some truth if rightly understood yet so crudely proposed as many times they are are full of danger Who would not tremble to hear what I am sure hath been preached That the wicked are damned for eating and damned for drinking damned for labouring in their calling and damned for going to Church and damned for praying whereas all things work for the best to the godly even Sin it self But it is worth our observing that men of this opinion have a trick to shift themselves out of the tempest and to make themselves of the Elect. They deal as the Romans did who when two Cities contending for a piece of ground had taken them for their judge wisely gave sentence on their own behalf and took it from them both unto themselves But the truth is to say that the Alms and Prayers of wicked men are sin is a harsh saying and we must as Chrysostom speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mollifie it Shall I call the Temperance and Patience and Chastity of the Heathen sins That is too foul a reproach I will rather say that they were as the Rain-bow was before the Floud the same virtues with those which commend Christians but of no use because they were not seasoned with Faith which commends all virtues whatsoever and without which they cannot appear before the presence of the Lord. But to give instance to our purpose Cornelius was a Gentile and knew not Christ yet we read that his prayers came up for a memorial before God Simon Magus was in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity yea primogenitus Satanae as Ignatius calls him the first-born of Satan yet even in this bitterness even in this bond of sin St. Peters counsel is to pray God if perhaps the thoughts of his heart may be forgiven him Acts 8. 22. which after the thunder of his curse cleareth the air that he may see some hope of escaping destruction To make it a sin to pray in the state of sin is to deny physick to the sick and to destroy my Brother for whom Christ dyed I know the Schools determine the point thus That both these are false either that a sinner is alwayes heard of God or that he is never heard That God loves his nature but hates his fault That out of his exceeding mercy he will grant his request if his prayer be pious To those who walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by that light they have God is ready to send an Angel or an Apostle or to come himself When the Prodigal was yet a great way off his Father saw him and ran and fell on his Luke 15. 20. neck and kissed him The Return of the sinner is expressed by the word Going but God's Coming to the sinner by Running God maketh greater haste to the sinner then the sinner doth to God God maketh much of our first inclination and would not have it fall to the ground We need say no more to clear this point then what Gregory hath taught Fac boni quicquid potes In what state soever thou art whether in Gods favour or under his frown yet do all the good thou canst In puncto reversionis in the very point of thy turning to God God runneth to meet thee he watches each sigh and hearkens to each groan and thy Prayer is so far from being a sin that it shall wipe-out thy sin for ever And therefore Christ hath put this Form in thy mouth Which he hath prescribed to the learned and to the ignorant to Disciples and to the Multitude to perfect men and to sinners laying this command upon them all After this manner therefore pray ye Our Father c. This Form of Prayer is prescribed to all yet all will not receive it but many look upon it with scorn as if they thought themselves too wise to be taught by our Saviour What Seneca
Christum facimus saith Petrarch in another case It is not enough for us to set our hearts upon riches unless we make Christ himself Covetous also It is not enough for us to pursue honors and dignities unless we make Christ ambitious and so set up a temporal Monarchy in the Church We crown Christ but it is not with the crown wherewith his Father crowned him in the day of his espousals when he made him the Head of the Church In the world we are born in the world we are bread and hence it comes to pass that when we divert our industry unto Christian study to the knowledge of Christ and his Kingdome we still phansie something like unto the World Riches and Honor and a universal Monarchy But suppose that Christ had the politick government of the world given him as man yet he never exercised his Regal power in this kind He built no castles raised no armies trod not upon the necks of Emperors Suppose he had exercised his Regal power yet all this would hardly fasten the triple Crown on the high Priests head But we see himself renounce all such claim He complains he hath not what the Foxes have a hole to hide his head Being desired to divide the inheritance between two brothers he answers sharply Man who made Luke 9. 56. me a judge or a divider over you When Pilate asketh him Art thou the King Luke 12. 14. of the Jews Christ answereth Sayest thou this of thy self or did others tell it thee of me Dost thou object this crime or is it seigned to thy hands by others And at last he makes this plain confession before Pontius Pilate My kingdome is not of this world Which words like the Parthian horseman John 18. ride one way but look another are spoken to an Infidel to Pilate but are a lesson directed to the subjects of his spiritual Kingdome a Lesson teaching us not to dream of any honor in his kingdome but salvation nor any crown but the crown of life And therefore as Aristotle tells us of his moral Happiness that it is the chiefest good but not that which the Voluptuary phansieth the Epicures Good nor that which the Ambitious adoreth the Politicians Good nor that which the Contemplative man abstracteth a Universal notion and Idea of Good so may we say of this Kingdome that in respect of it all the Kingdoms of the earth are not worth a thought but it is not such a Kingdome as the Jews expect or the Chiliasts phansie or the Church of Rome dreams of And though commonly Negatives make nothing known yet we shall find that the nature of Christs Kingdome could not have been more lively and effectually exprest than by this plain negation My Kingdome is not of this world To come yet a little nearer to the light by which we may discover this Kingdome The School-men have raised up divers Kingdoms and built them all upon the same foundation the Word of God First his absolute Dominion over the creature in respect of which Christ is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords To this they have added Regnum Scripturae and Regnum Ecclesiae They call the Scripture and the Church Kingdoms Then they make Regnum Gratiae a Kingdom of Grace and Regnum Gloriae a Kingdome of Glory And by a figure they make the King Christ himself a Kingdome All these may be true and these appellations may have some warrant from Scripture it self and may have an ADVENIAT set to them When we rest upon that law of Providence by which in a wonderful manner God governeth the world we say ADVENIAT Let his absolute Kingdome come Let him dispose and order the actions of men and the events of things as he pleaseth When we make our selves Saints and strive to bring others into that fellowship and communion there is an ADVENIAT for we pray for the increase of the Church and the enlarging of her territories When we hunger and thirst after the water of life when we desire that wholsome doctrine may drop as the rain and saving truth distil as the dew there is an ADVENIAT a prayer which will open the windows of heaven Some are of opinion that by Kingdom come here Christ did mean the Gospel And this carries some probability in it For the Disciples and Apostles of Christ whose business it was to propagate the Gospel had this petition Thy Kingdom come so often in their mouths that they were accused affectati regni as Enemies to the State who did secretly undermine one Empire to set up another We cannot deny but that not only the manifestation of Gods will but the confirmation of it either by preaching or by miracle or by those gifts and effects which can proceed from no other cause but the power and efficacy of the Spirit are truly called the kingdome of Christ because they are instrumenta regni instruments and helps to advance his throne or Kingdome in our very hearts that as true Subjects we may obey his commands as true Souldiers fight under his banner that so we may suffer with him here and reign with him hereafter And in this sense we may call the Scripture a Kingdome and the Preaching of the Word the Administration of the Sacraments and the outward Government of the Church whether Political by the Magistrate or Ecclesiastical by the Bishops and Priests a Kingdome because both Powers both Ecclesiastical and Civil are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great helps and furtherances to advance Gods Kingdome But Aquinas shall give you a full resolution 1 a 2 ae Qu. 104. Regnum Dei in interioribus consistit principaliter sed ex consequenti ad regnum Dei pertinent omnia illa sine quibus interiores actus esse non possunt The Kingdome of God is within us and principally consists in the subduing of the inward man in taking the citadel of the Heart but by a plain and easie consequence all those things without which these inward acts are not ordinarily performed may be taken in within its verge and compass And when we pray for the supply and continuance of these helps we truly say Thy Kingdome come For Christ is not truly and properly said to reign till we have surrendered up unto him our very souls and hearts and laid them at his feet For as Cassian saith of Fasting and Watching and Nakedness that they are not perfection it self but the instruments to work it So may we say of these outward helps the Preaching of the Word the Administration of the Sacraments and the Watchfulness of Kings and Prelates and the like They are not the Kingdome of God but helps and instruments to set us up And his reason will hold here also In ipsis enim non consistit disciplinae finis sed per illa pervenitur ad finem For these are not the end but by these we are brought to the end to the Kingdome of Grace which will bring us to the Kingdome