truth Yes I trow Why then it is cleere I thinke how ever some heretickes have broached the contrary that the good benefit emolument which doth redound unto us by Christ his sacrifice must surely in reason bee somewhat else needs besides our confirmation in what hâ—e had taught Why and somewhat else also must it needs be besides our institution in holinesse and besides our instruction by his example in obedience patience and brotherly love For as St. Bernard sweetly Quid prodest saith hee quod nos instituit si non restituit wherein are we profited by Christ his instruction if wee bee not also rescued by him from destruction Indeed Christ his crosse I must confesse was our copie Christ his passion our patterne and therefore St. Peter tells us how that Christ did suffer for us 1 Pet. 2.21 leaving us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Example ut nos vestigia ipsius insequeremur that wee might tread in his steppes Phil. 2.5 both incheerfully submitting our selves unto Gods appointments and in enduring patiently all wrongs as also which St. John pointeth at in effectually loving one another even unto the death 1 John 3.16 Well but if Christ his passion doth no way benefit us at all but by way of patterne onely and ensample what then shall we say of infants very hard surely must it goe with them needs little fruit little profit will there from Christ his death here arise to them for can they conforme themselves unto Christ his death who have never heard as yet of Christ his life or can they imitate may wee thinke their Saviours vertues who have never imitated as yet their first parents sinne In all likelihood pro qualitate vulneris allata est medicina in all probabilitie by the nature of the wound it is that we can give the best ghesse at the plaister But now sure I am some way else it was that Adam damnified us by his transgression quà m ex sola ostensione peccati than only by opening a gap before us unto all lewdnesse and therefore questionlesse some way else it was that Christ did benefit us now by his passion quà m ex sola ostensione virtutum than onely by chalking out a way before us unto all goodnesse Why and so it was indeed for the truth is Christ our Passeover we may say was sacrificed for the remission of our sins for our reconciliation with the Father and which followeth necessarily upon these two for our redemption from hell Whence else is it I would faine know that Christ his bloud in holy scripture is stiled our ransome our attonement and the propitiation for our sinnes Is is not to make it plaine unto us how that Christ his death here was as well expiatorie as exemplarie and that Christ our Passeover was now slaine we must know as well ut daret justitiam as ut doceret as well ut infunderet charitatem as ut ostenderet pro nobis redimendis or as it is in one of our Church her collects if you have observed it that he might be a sacrifice for sinne 2. Sunday after Easter as well as pro nobis instituendis that he might be an ensample unto us of godly life But now if any shall question us how Christ his death here could be the expiation of our sinnes and not rather intruth being so execrable a sacriledge as it was a further aggravation of our guilt it cannot bee improbable since God was so highly offended with our first parents and in them with the whole world only for the eating of that forbidden fruit that he hath farre greater cause we must think in all likelihood to bee much more enraged now against mankind for this so horrid this so inhumane a murther acted upon the person of his only Sonne For answer hereunto know thus much that Christ his death here we say was our attonement not as out of malice and most unjustly it was procured by the Jewes but as most obediently and in meere love it was taken upon him by himselfe Christ his charitie being of more force we are sure to acquire and purchase for us Gods favour than the spite rancour of the whole world could be to incense against us Gods wrath To this purpose what saith S. Bernard in his 119. Epist against Abailardus Mary Non mors saith he sed voluntas placuit sponte morientis it was not simply death that did here so please God but the will of him that so freely died and that by death did both unsting death and work salvation and restore righteousnesse and ransack hell enrich heaven and vanquish principalities and subdue powers pacificantis omnia quae in coelo sunt quae in terra and that did gather together in one all things both which are in heaven and which are in earth By all this it is most cleere and evident as I suppose that Christ was sacrificed here for our good yea for our good not as some hell-bred hereticks have vented of edification only and instruction but of remission also and of reconciliation and of redemption from hell Yea but what then is this all you will say No marry is it not you must know this is not all yet for what thinke you I pray of that in Virgil Unum pro multis dabitur caput Is it not a phrase I beseech you of the same force with unum multorum loco dabitur caput What againe of that in Terence I will marry thee for him Is it not as much in every respect as if he had said in other words I will marrie thee in stead of him In the 9. to the Rom. St. Paul wisheth that for his brethren he were cursed for his brethren doth he say pro fratribus that is fratrum loco in his brethrens place Againe in the 2. to the Corinth S. Paul tells us how that for Christ wee are ambassadours for Christ doth hee say pro Christo that is Christi vice in Christ his stead But the truth is if in this my text here Christ were not sacrificed for us now in this sense how commeth it to passe then that by one of the Fathers he is said nostro nomine suscipere supplicia how that by an other he is said nostra pro nobis luere debita yea how commeth it to passe then that he is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pledge and hostage for our soules Doth not all this make plaine unto us what himselfe hath taught us in S. Matthewes Gospel viz. that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stake his soule downe in the roomth of ours and so by consequent that Christ was sacrificed we may say very well for us for us that is vice nostrâ by way of commutation in our stead But now that to be sacrificed in our stead is more than to be sacrificed for our good this is plaine because whereas hee that dieth for our good may yet not die perhaps in our stead
From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Bee God is called Jehovah because hee doth give a Being to All his Promises and maketh them All Yea and Amen He is known to us not onely by the Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God Almightie but also by the Name Jehovah that is he who Promiseth us Deliverance from Egypt and Pharaoh from the Spirituall Egypt and Eternall Pharaoh both from the Sinne of Man and from That Man of Sin And his Promises are like the Capitol built upon immobile Saxum a stone that will never shrink like the Center they are immovable like the Lawes of the Medes and Persians they can Never be Altered like the Angel to Sarah at the Time appointed they will come and like the Law not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one Jote or Title of them shall fall In thee O God Jehovah doe wee put our trust O Lord Jehovah let us never be put to confusion Here in the Greek he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Run or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Feare because in our Feare wee must run to Him He will be our Asylum our Sanctuarie none can pluck us out of his hand If God be on our Side we will not feare what man can doe unto us The Latins terme him Deus of Dedit hee Gave because hee Gave all things to all men Man is made by God like that Woman Pandora all indowments are his Gifts From the Haire on our Heads to the Bloud in our Hearts from the latches of our shooe to the Inheritance of our Ancestors from the Labour of of your Hands to the Studie of our Minds from the Policie of Statsemen to the Simplicitie of Christians both the Spirit of Wisedome and the Wisdome of the Spirit of All we must say what that Prophet did of his Hatchet Alas it is but Borrowed Deus Dedit God is the Fountaine of all our Abilities In our owne language his name is God because he is the Efficient of all Good God doth feed us with his Good Creatures guard us with his Good Angels instruct us with his Good Word comfort us by his Good Spirit and preserve prevent sanctifie and save us by his Good Grace This is our Good this is our God O my soule rest and rejoyce in him Since then God is Jehovah hee who is all Being Originally in Himselfe and Derivatively to all Persons by his Promises Hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom we must run in all our feares and afflictions He is Deus the Giver of all we have and Are And finally hee is our Good all the Good our head can looke after or our heart can long after oxternall internall eternall Certainely we should Pray and Pray perpetually to that Person proposed here in our text God yea God be mercifull to me a Sinner Now this God this Jehovah is One or rather very Onenesse and meere Unitie having nothing but is selfe in it selfe and not consisting as things doe besides God of many things Howbeit this One is Three One Substance Three Persons The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Co-equall and Co-eternall the Unitie in the Trinitie and the Trinitie in the Unitie to be worshipped and glorified If any would know more know moreover that God being a Pure Act is most knowable in Himselfe yet least knowable to us because he must be known to us by our Intellect or Understanding but the Object to be Understood by its excellence doth exceed our Facultie of Understanding As the Sunne is Visible in it selfe yet it maketh it Selfe to bee invisible and not to be seene or looked upon by Bats and Owles by the lustre and excellent Light thereof So both because of the Abstrusenesse of the Object and Obtusenesse of the Subject it is impossible that there should bee a perfect knowledge of God in Man I remember I have read that Hiero the King demanded of Simonides the Philosopher Quid est Deus what is God That learned man Petebat Diem craved a Day for to shape him answer The second day hee demands the second time Quid est Deus what is God He begg'd Biduum two dayes to answer him The third Day Three Daies till in the conclusion he ingenuously confessed that the More hee studied the Lesse he was inabled to declare What God it And indeed according to the Vision of that Father it is easier for a Child to take up the Ocean in a Shell than for any man to comprehend in his Scull What God is Tu es interior intimo meo superior summo meo said the holiest of the Fathers God is more inward than our most inward Cogitations God is more high than our most high Speculations The God of Peace is like the Peace of God Hee passeth all Understanding Wherefore our safest eloquence concerning God is silence when we confesse without confession that his goodnesse is inexplicable his greatnesse above our capacitie and reach He is above we upon earth there fore it behoveth our words to bee warie and few I soare too high I will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will stoope to the Ground and build the conclusion of this point upon the Grounds of Religion upon the Principles in our English Catechisme Quid Deus what is God God is our Father which is in Heaven God is the Almightie maker of heaven and earth O Father in heaven O Maker of heaven O God yea God be mercifull to mee a Sinner Here we may cast both our eies on two notes yet neither shall bee able to discerne whether is most noteable Our incomparable Necessitie To Pray and our incomparable Commoditie if we Doe Pray Both these are inferred from this that God is the Object of Prayer or the Person which is onely to be Prayed unto But let this Isis and Thame fall into one Thamisis let this Jor and Dan fall into one Jordan Let both these notes bee handled in one that their confluence may make the fuller fountaine streaming out the more plentifull instructions The ground worke whereof I suppose bee and so propose this proposition Jovis omnia Plena our God is in everie Place and therefore our Prayer should be so also 1 Our Prayer should bee as our God is in temple Cordis in corde Temple both in the Temple of our Heart and in the Heart of our Temple In our Heart God is inthroned tanquam Rex in Throno like a King in his Tribunall where each oppressed Subject ought to exhibite his Petition with all submissure supplication This place the Church is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here it tâ—â— chiefest part of Gods People and the chiefest part of Gods Temple here then we should especially indeavour to make our Prayers ascend like incense and the lifting up of our hands to be as the Evening sacrifice 2 In your Journies from the Church to your houses
Flockes over which the Holy Ghost hath made us Overseers If not so but that in this time of Plentie we bring our Corn into the Market but find it slighted both by Forreiners and Inhabitants then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poore despised Husbandmen we will carry it home to feed our owne Families Nay if Pride Idlenesse and Fulnesse of Bread should reigne under our owne roofes though a Minister cannot have Curam animarum yet if he can have but Curam Animae if through my Foolishnesse of Preaching I have saved but one Soule but mine Owne Soule this certainly is a precious Effect of a most pricelesse Vocation Now that in such a Calling there should be any such Defect of Conscience not to be instant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in season out of season of Commoditie not to conceive this Godlinesse to be great gaine of Content since God hath said it he will never Forsake us or of Courage God is on our side we need not care what Man can doe against us That we should but from a corner of our eye cast but a glaunce upon the Riches of the Citie the Honours of the Court the Reputation of the Lawyers Common or Civill the Esteeme of the Physicians or the Quiet of the Gentrie So that we should not commend this while we live as the only Treasure to our Soules and when we die as the principall Legacie Portion and Inheritance to our Sons That we should not Delight to discharge this blessed Function with all our Heart with all our Soule with all our Mind and with all our Strength but that we should leave any crannie in our Hearts either for Discontent at home or for Envie abroad either for Wishes of Additions to our Temporalls or for Feare of Opposition to our Ecclesiasticalls that we should not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Content and prompt and provided to publish Gods truth by our preaching pens and protestation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I confesse and professe it before God Men and Angels Here This is My Sin and herein God be mercifull to Me a Sinner Thus these three words minister to our notice two strange Extremes more distant than the Antipodes or than the Xenith and the Nadir than the most severed Paris of the Earth or the two more contrarie Points of Heaven God and sinfull Man And the word remaining Mercie is the Communis terminus is the Knot where these two termes doe meet Mercy is that miraculous Medium which doth alter the Colour yea and the Nature of the Visible Object Sinfull man in himselfe is Red red as Skarlet but God looking through Mercie apprehendeth him to be White white as the Snow in Salmon God in regard of Sinfull man is a Judge and Revenger but through Mercie even sinfull man looketh upon him as upon a Saviour a Redeemer yea as upon an indulgent Father This Collyrium cleared the dull sight of this devour Publican Being himselfe he did not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven but through this Medium he durst looke God in the very face saying God be mercifull to me a Sinner Mercifull to a Sinner Sin is the sicknesse of the Soule and Mercie is the Medicine thereof As a Medicine so Mercie is Sanativa Praeservativa Promotiva it is a Purge to Cure Sicknesse a Cordiall to Strengthen Weaknesse and an Antidote to Anticipate Relapses There is a Pardoning a Preserving and a Preventing Mercy a Mercy pardoning our sinnes Past preserving us against sinne Present and preventing us from sinne to Come 1 The first the Woman had taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the act of Uncleannesse I condemne thee not goe sin no more 2 The second God gave to Paul My Grace is sufficient for thee and my strength is made perfect in thy weaknesse 3. And the third rejoyced the Heart of holy David Blessed bee God and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from avenging my selfe with my owne hand And this Publican desired needed hoped all these three Mercie to pardon him for the time past to preserve him for the time present and to prevent him for the time to come This threefold mercy gave this prayer to the soule of the Publican and the soule to this prayer of the Publican Hence hee praied God be mercifull to me a Sinner Those are lame Christians who tread not in the foot-steps of this Publican Parallel the particulars First look back-ward Remember the mispending of our time meanes and callings 1 Our time was all from God But to God what time have we returned the seventh the seventeenth yea or the seventieth What one here dare say that in his whole life hee hath given but One whole imire yeere unto Gods service 2 Our meanes God i◠the Fountaine issuing forth those also But returne we any Rivers for the Oceans we have received the tenth nay the tenth of the tenth How much how much have we imploied on our selves How little how very little have wee set apart for our God 3 Our Callings Have we used them as Gods talents to Gods glory Have wee not used them as Rakes to draw riches to us or as Stirrups to raise us to promotion What then would become of us if it were not for Gods pardoning mercy if God would not be mercifull to us miserable Sinners Next let us looke inward indeed downward and blush at the infinite frailties of our best abilities 1 Our Faith is sicut Luna nunquam Una in many Warnes Cloudings and Eclipses 2 Our Hope is like an anchor of reed apt to bee torne up with every triviall temptation 3 And our Charitie like the Cypresse tree very tall but bearing little fruit Our soules have need of a Cordiall of a preserving mercy That God would bee Mercifull to us sinners by his strengthning Grace and gracious assistance Finally let us looke forward yea backeward yea inward also let all men at all times looke all waies And if we can let us turne our eye from some preventing mercie which is the mercy of mercies 1 Full often shall wee have wee doe we swell with prosperitie but that Gods mercy doth send us some moderate adversitie to prick that windie bladder and to prevent us from security 2 As often are wee dejected with adversitie but then Gods mercie doth raise us with some prosperitie to prevent as from impatience and blasphemie 3 Nature maketh us prone to superstition but Gods mercie hath given us birth in a blessed Land which is the kingdome of the Gospell and hath the Gospell of the kingdome to prevent us from Idolatrie 4 Company allureth us many times to bestow Gods Day on their Societie but Gods mercy in giving us customarie Sabbath Sermons doth draw us to Church for shame and preventeth us from that too frequent and publike profane impietie 5 Our people are apt enough to act the part of those
it was a sacrifice offered in remembrance of that same passage in the truth of the thing done Israels first-borne you see were preserved in figure of that same truth a certaine Lamb you see was slain Yea but in the meane while where is nostrum you will say Where is that same Passeover which I said was Ours For all this while have we been only in Israel you know and what is Israels I am sure is nought to us True it is not I must confesse but yet for all this have but patience I beseech you for a little time and I nothing doubt but with Gods assistance to repay with interest what erst I promised and to make it cleare unto you how that as well as Israel even we Christians also have a Passeover a passage over from as great an evill a passage over to as great a good For proofe hereof I pray tell me what think you I beseech you of our soule Is not that a thing we must needs grant every whit as deere unto us as our first borne Yea a thing in truth for whose salvation for whose safe passage I meane from hence to Heaven there is no man I thinke so devoid of reason that will not give both first borne and all hee hath too Againe what think you I beseech you of Gods vengeance continually hovering over us for our sinnes and every houre every moment ready to powre us downe to hell Is not that a thing as much to bee dreaded by us as that destroying Angell was by the Israelites yea and by so much the more too by how much wee are to feare eternall death more than temporall But now when by reason of Adams sinne we were all liable to condemnation expecting hourely when Gods justice should have ceazed upon our soules that God in mercy was then pleased not to destroy us with the Egyptians that is as S. Paul phraseth it not to condemn us with the world but to passe over us to spare us as he did his own children some times the Israelites not suffering the Exterminator to have any power at all upon us that thus it was what is more plaine I beseech you throughout the whole body of the New Testament Where read wee not if you have observed it in many places of our being delivered from wrath 1 Thess 1.10 Of our being freed from the Law Rom. 8.2 Gal. 3.13 Ephes 2.5 Of our being redeemed from the Curse Of being saved by Grace And in the fift of St. John the 24. vers where wee have both the terminos of this happy passage of ours reade we not expresly how that each true beleever is already passed from death to life Well then that a Passeover we have that is most certaine you see even we Christians as well as the Jewes yea and that such a Passeover in truth if wee well examine it as wherewith the Jewish Passeover must not compare No neither in respects of that evill which in either Passeover was avoyded the evill in theirs being only a bodily danger wheras it was a spirituall danger you see that wee escaped in ours nor yet in respect of that good which in either Passeover was effected the good in theirs being only a temporall deliverance whereas it was an eternall deliverance you see that was wrought in ours What will you say now unto the meanes ordained by God in either Passeover for the effecting of this good for the avoiding of this evill for the working of this deliverance for the escaping of this danger Even in this respect too is not their Passeover far inferiour alas to ours even as farre as the earth is inferiour unto the heavens even as farre as the creature is inferiour to the Creator Yes for whereas the meanes in theirs was only agnus as saith Saint Ambrose irrationabilis naturae behold in ours it was agnus divinae potentiae whereas the meanes in theirs was only a lamb that was taken by them out of the fould behold in ours it was that Lambe that descended for us downe from heaven even that very Lamb which both S. Peter speakes of and S. John the Baptist points at namely Christ Pascha nostrum Christus est 1 Pet. 1.19 our Passeover saith my text is Christ 2 And the truth is if wee well consider with our selves what was to be done for us in our Passeover what the state we were to passe from what the state wee were to passe unto wee must needs grant how that in all reason none could have been our Passeover save onely Christ alone none the meanes of our passage from the state of wrath to the state of grace none the meanes of our passage from the state of death to the state of glory save onely that Lambe qui tollit peccata mundi even that Lamb of God Joh. 1.36 qui in sinu Patris est that most holy immaculate Lambe Christ For alas alas in the case wee were in could any other lamb have served the turne think you could a lamb out of the stock have beene a sufficient ransome for a mans soule for that which is of more worth than all the lambs in the whole world are yea in truth than the whole World it selfe is or a whole world of worlds besides Why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Proclus of Constantinople 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the redemption of a soule is a greater purchase than either the wealthiest Saint could have compassed or the mightiest Angell how much lesse then could a common lamb trow you have a considerable recompense and counterprice I say not for all the soules in this or that onely particular Kingdome but even for all the soules of all the people in all the Kingdomes under Heaven But now such a Lambe it was that wee wanted such a Lambe that we stood in need of even a Lambe by whose meanes and merit the destroying Angell might bee made passe over not the soules onely of some few Israelites in our little Angle only of the Land of Egypt but over all the soules of all mankinde that either are or have beene since the world began Why and blessed be God and we have cause to feast for it I think such a Paschal Lambe it is that we now have God in mercy having so provided for us that even his onely Son you see should be our Lambe for Pascha nostrum Christus est our Passeover saith my text is Christ Christ I say and in very deed such a true Paschal Lamb is Christ such a perfect Passeover our Passeover such a compleat Passeover ours as that to ours the Jewish Passeover was but as the shadow unto the substance the Jewish Lambe to ours but as the type unto the truth For proofe hereof doe but see the Parallels I beseech you betwixt their Passeover and ours betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betwixt our crucifigible Passeover and their legall one and I
saith every Creature Tu loquere ut te videam Shew it by thy works saith Christ to us Christians and we Christians should answer our Christ as the Israelites did Moses All that the Lord hath spoken will wee doe Exod. 19.8 7 But our consciences mille testes a great cloud of witnesses complaine to Us of Us that wee have not returned those thanks nor imbraced that love nor expressed that obedience to our blessed Creator It standeth us then in hand to repent us of those notorious Omissions But what is repentance onely mortification and vivification a putting off the old man and a putting on the new man Ephes 4.22 24. that is the eschewing of evill workes and the insuing of good workes We say we repent how doe we shew it It is possible that all our gestures postures sighs prayers and profession may be but Domestici testes partiall false witnesses or vaine-glorious Pseudo-Martyrs Deus testis that we doe truely repent if wee be not rotten hypocrites our good workes before God and man will witnesse it 8 Next no repentance no faith These twinnes like those of Hippocrates will thrive or pine together These 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Day starres will rise and set in the same minute Like Ruth and Naomi they will live and die together A carnall neglect of good workes will kill them both But for faith a wording professour as the Harlot used her Infant 1 King 3.16 doth smother it and take away the breath of it For as the bodie without breath is dead so faith without works is dead also James 2.26 9 If our faith faile it is fit that we should fall to our prayers Lord increase our faith Luk. 17.5 Our prayers are heavie like Moses hand wee cannot hold them up against braving Amalek against our bold temptations our goods workes are Hur and Aaron to support them Our prayers are Sagittae Salutis 2 King 13.17 the arrowes of salvation goods works are our Elisha to teach us to shoote Good workes are the feathers to those arrowes which make them flie as high as heaven and like Jonathans Bow never to turn back emptie but ever to bring a blessing with them A voice was heard from Heaven saying Thy prayers and thine almes are come up for a memoriall before God Act. 10.4 10 Yea good works are not onely helps of prayers but they are prayers also I conceive prayers to bee vocall sacrifices and sacrifices to bee reall prayers Now good works are sacrifices therefore prayers I dispute not the distinctions whether good workes be sacrificia propitiatoria sacrifices to asswage Gods vengeance for our transgressions by our pietie for our sacriledge or by our charitie for our avarice whether goods works bee sacrificia impetrantia to beg a blessing upon our King and kingdome upon our families and persons or whether they be onely sacri ficia Eucharistica the tribute of our thankfulnes But this I know our good workes are sacrifices true sacrifices sacrifices wherewith God is pleased yea well pleased For S. Paul saith To do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices is God well pleased Heb. 13.16 11 Hereunto will I be bold to annex a transcendent goodnesse of good workes I must speake it truely you must heare it cautelously Good workes doe purge us from our sins I transgresse little from the phrase nothing from the sense of S. Pet. 1. Pet. 1.22 We purifie our selves in obeying the truth Indeed this property of purging sinnes properly by way of redemption is peculiar to the prerogative of Christ the blood of Jesus Christ doth cleanse us from all our sins saith S. Joh. 1. Joh. 1.7 but instrumentally and by way of mortification and repressing our concupiscence as it is mentioned by S. Paul to Col. 3.5 we may ascribe this good worke to good workes By mercy and truth iniquitie is purged Pro. 16.6 I will therefore presume to the best man under this roofe under heaven to come neer and say Father goe to Jordan wash and be cleane Cleanse your selves by good workes and a godly conversation 12 We are Gods servants do our fraile appetites invite us be hirelings will mercinarie motives make us to be good to do good our good works shall produce a good reward a double reward yea a treble temporall spirituall and eternall 1 Tim. 4.8 Doe not censure nor suspect this doctrine for Popish and implying merites no out of my judgement not affection I abhorre all Popery and of all Popery I abhorre this Heresie that proud presumptuous point of Merits But that good workes shall have their remard it is Saint Pauls doctrine Hebr. 11.6 and wee have Saint Pauls distinction to cleere it from Popery Rom. 4.4 our reward shall be of Grace not of Debt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith S. Basil and S. Ambrose seemeth to speake the same sentence in Latine Donum liberalitatis non stipendium virtutis a reward proceeding from the benignity of the rewarder not from the dignity of the rewarded hee can be no way meritorious I have heard that power belongeth unto God and that thou Lord art mercifull for thou rewardest every man according to his worke Psal 62.12 13 Moreover the good workes of good Christians shall have a reward according to the proportion of their goodnesse He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly and hee which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully 2. Cor. 9.6 They that be wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament but they that turne many to righteousnesse as the starres for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 The patient Innocents which start not and shrinke not at the groundlesse and endlesse barking of black-mouth'd slaunderers They are blessed and commanded joyfully to expect the augmentation of their blessings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reward even a great reward in the Kingdome of Heaven Math. 5.11.12 14 These many points are so many stems springing from one stalke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of our selves to our selves There remaine two maine motives whereof the one is comparable to any of these the other superlative to all of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our love to our brethren on earth and our love to our Father in heaven to edifie them and to glorifie him both in the Text. To draw men to Christ is Gods rovall Prerogative John 6.44 therefore to communicate this to Us must be a rare priviledge for such mortall miserable creatures But exempla trahunt mores exemplary good workes are an adamant very attractive and they are not iron of a heavie disposition who will not follow them Good workes doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 draw men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they make nolentem volentem such as are backward to religion to become forward in religion Thus homo generat hominem one good worke doth produce another Good workes are necessary to bee done by good men that by their example they may edifie their brethren 15 These many