Sunday or Holy day without cause approved by the Curate And is it not a shame that an abuse should grow to a custom which every curate may remedy When Demetrius called in question the dishonour of Diana and the despising of her magnificence as hee calls it the multitude made an outcry no lesse then two hours long Great is Diana of the Ephesians Act. 19.27 And shall we see the dishonour of God and the despising of his magnificence and munificence in that Image which is not from Jupiter but of Jehovah grow into a custom and shall we keep silence Enough of this for I know to whom I speak The other abuse which I complain of is to the dishonour of the other Sacrament Namely it is as it seems a custom or fashion in these parts to bring Joy sops as they call them cups of Wire and Sops to the Communion table at the time of Weddings and to fill the same table with pots and cakes immediately after the end of the marriage that the Bridegroom and Bride and their company may eat drink and be merry But what hath carnal eating and drinking to doe with that table which is provided onely for the soules fast Yea the Canon forbids any Feasts banquets or drinkings to be kept in the Church Chappel or Church-yard much more at the Communion table except the Communion feast onely proper thereto Yea in the Common Prayer book the Communion is appointed to be ministred and celebrated in or with the Marriage businesse and the Bridegroom and Bride are then also injoyned to receive the same It is no good fashion then that Christs cup should give place and be forgotten for Joy sops sake and that this should come in use instead of that is a soul mistake These abuses I desire may be reformed yet withall I crave favour that I may not be in this as an informer to bring any one in question at this time for any thing past but that upon this warning there may bee future reformation wherein if I speed then I have not said nothing concerning a Visitation The rest I leave to God and you beseeching the Lord so to enlighten our heads and sanctifie our hearts and strengthen our hands that we may both know and doe our duties effectually to the obtaining of everlasting blessednesse thorough Jesus Christ c. Finis Serm. 3. Trino-uni gloria Three SERMONS here put together in one continued Tract upon Mat. 13.47 48. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Net that that was cast into the Sea and gathered of every kind which when it was full they drew to shore and sate down and gathered the good into vessels but cast the bad away IT is sayd of our Saviour Rev. 3.7 that he hath the key of David and openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth And it seemeth he did this much in his time by Parables For in them he was most frequent and familiar as appeareth here ver 34. All these things spake Iesus unto the multitude in Parables and without a Parable spake he not unto them And the end and reason he sheweth ver 11. namely for opening to his disciples but for shutting to others Therefore his Parables are in this Chapter especially concerning the Kingdom of Heaven Now the Kingdome of Heaven is diversly taken sometimes for the Church Triumphant and state of glory as Mat. 5.20 Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Sometimes for the Church Militant and state of Grace as Mat. 19.14 Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Sometimes for the gathering of the Church the Ministry of the Word the very Kingdom of the Gospel as Mat. 21.43 The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation that shall bring forth the fruits thereof And so it is in this and most of the other Parables of this Chapter Lutz Har. Evang. Regnum coelorum in praesenti non significat vitam faelicitatem beatam sed totum mysterium five negotium Evangelii The Kingdom of Heaven in this place doth not signifie the life of blessednesse but the whole businesse and mystery of the Gospel Theophylact. Sagena est doctrina piscatorum The draw-net doth signifie the Doctrine of Christs Fishermen Here then we have an excellent description and expression of the publishing of the Gospel the very Ministeriall work of Preaching It is expressed by its dignity and honour it is the Kingdome of Heaven 2. By its property or effect it is a draw-net cast into the sea for so the word may be read Sagena a draw-net 3. By its end upshot or issue it hath first its fulnesse which when it was full and then its tryal they drew to shore and sate down and gathered the good into vessels but cast the bad away The first part of this description of the Ministerial work is by its honour or dignity it is the Kingdom of Heaven Behold its honour yea indeed its double honour It is a Kingdom and it is a heavenly Kingdome First it is a Kingdom For it hath been the work of Kings and it is still a work that worketh upon Kings It hath been the work of Kings for Melchisedeck a King was also a Priest and David a King was also a Prophet and Solomon a great King affected and adopted to himself the name of a Preacher And it also worketh upon Kings even to subdue and conquer them and in a sort to depose and put them down not temporally from their seats or thrones according to Popish presumption but spiritually from their sins according to Gods ordination Not peremptorily in pride commanding as if a Priest might beard a King but meekly in reverence exhorting as in the message of the King of Kings And that it hath this force in this nature to subdue Kings witness the many Kings and Kingdoms that have been drawn from heathenish superstition to Evangelicall profession by this silly net of simple Fishermen All which together do cry the truth of that which the Prophet spake concerning the Church Is 49.23 Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queens shall be thy nursing mothers and of that Psal 72.11 All Kings shall fall down before him all nations shall do him service Yea not onely it hath this power in this kind to put down but also in the same nature to set up and make to invest and to ordain Kings I mean spiritually to make spirituall Kings so that by meanes of this our Ministry that also is fulfilled and brought to passe Exod. 19.16 Ye shall be unto me a kingdome of Priests and that Rev. 5.10 Thou hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall reign on the earth This is armour of proof unto the Ministers and touch of proof unto the people It is armour of proof unto the Ministers
it in this our spirituall Net Here is force for it is the power of the Word that first worketh the wil and then also worketh upon it It is he that worketh both the will and the deed Phil. 2.13 It is Gods power that both beginneth and continueth all our motion in grace for no man can come to me saith Christ except the Father draw him Joh. 6.44 And with this force here is also lenity for this draught is neither violent nor sudden Not violent but mild and gentle My yoke is easie and my burthen is light saith our Saviour Mat. 11. I drew them with the cords of a man even with bands of love Hos 11.4 There is indeed constraint for whatsoever the Lord pleaseth that doth he in heaven and in earth in the sea and in all deep places Ps 135.6 even in the deep of mans heart But yet withall there is liberty even the glorious liberty of the sons of God even as the fishes are drawn but not without their own swimming Neither is this drawing sudden but moderate and by degrees Some indeed are as it were angled up to heaven even by sudden motion effectually called as Paul from a persecutor to a Preacher Act. 9. and the thief from a reviler to a confessor Mat. 27.44 Luk. 23.40 But this is but by ones now and then rare examples But the more ordinary way of Gods calling and taking is by leisurable knocking I stand at the door and knock Rev. 3.10 Gods Word is likened to an hammer that breaketh the stone Jer. 23.29 Yet it alwaies breaketh not the stony heart at the first blow but by degrees Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo The drop of rain holloweth the stone not by force but by often falling And so doth Christ usually prevaile by his spirit Hee shall come down like the rain even as the drops that water the earth Ps 72.6 Learn here first to bee humble to deny naturall strength and freedome of will and to acknowledge Gods power in drawing thee The hour cometh and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear it shall live Joh. 5.25 Thou art but a dead thing till this voice doth quicken thee St. Paul saith in another case Boast not thy self and if thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root thee Rom. 11.18 It may be truly also said in this case Boast not thy self and if thou boast thou drawest not the net but the net thee It is Christ that makes this beasting and justly for why we have compelled him even so to stop our presumption to take it wholly off from us Let him bee true therefore and every man a lyar for thus he boasteth I when I am lift up from the earth will draw all men unto me Joh. 12.32 There 's the primus and the ultimus motor the beginner and ender of this draught the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 Secondly learn also here to bee carefull and diligent and think not that the force of this draught doth priviledge thee to be idle Thou art drawn indeed by a superiour force and so as like the fish in the net thou haste thy swimming thine own motion Thou art first dead but Gods voice shall pierce thy deadness and make thee hear and then thou shalt not be dead still but live that is have thy motion God worketh thy will indeed but not to make it idle but to set it on work Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 Take therefore the Churches resolution Can. 1.4 Draw me and we will run after thee and that of the Psalmist I will run the way of thy Commandements when thou hast set my heart at liberty Psal 119.32 Thirdly learn here also to be fearfull be not high minded but fear Rom. 11.20 Blessed is the man that feareth alway Prov. 28.14 Thou must not think thy self to be caught at the first pull much lesse mayst thou presume on thy taking when thou hast yet felt no pulling or tugging or drawing at all but with much patience thou must endure and with perseverance expect the accomplishment of Gods work upon thee Giving diligence to make thy calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Proving thy self whether thou art in the faith or no 2 Cor. 13.5 The sprouting blade of corn upon the house top comes to no timely harvest it filleth not the mowers hand nor the binders bosom Psal 129.7 And they that are most rash and sudden in profession commonly prove to have no root and to endure but a season Mat. 7. For as not every calling to the Lord-doth make repentance Not every one that saith to me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven Mat. 7. So neither doth every calling from the Lord make faith Samuel was called the fourth time before he was sped of his errand 1 Sam. 3. Yea Judas after all his illumination proved but a lost child Joh. 17.20 Be sober therefore in the beginning that thou mayst hold out unto the ending and so run that thou mayst obtain 1 Cor. 9.24 for the hasty runner commonly is soonest out of breath St. John did outrun St. Peter and yet went last into the sepulcher Joh. 20.4 The work of the spirit by the Ministry of the Word is no violent or sudden hoysing like to Elijahs whirlwind 2 King 2.11 but a moderate drawing like to a draw-net And so much of the particulars observed in that it is compared to a draw-net 3. In the third place I observed painfulness and danger in that it is said to be cast into the sea First painfulnesse For the word cast implyeth not only the bare casting in but also the drawing and the whole managing of the work of Fishing which is the main matter of the Fishers labour For though it costeth him a great deal of pains to knit his net and to contrive it in its fashion for he is no right Fisherman that cannot knit his own net yet is it much more paines and labour to exercise it in the sea without which all is in vain And this also is the main matter of our calling even this very labour and exercise of spirituall fishing I mean the very exercise of Preaching it is laborious as well in practising as in preparing Yea without this all skill in contriving all art all learning all knowledge is all shall I say nothing yea worse then nothing instead of honouring us it will but condemn us For not to be able to labour is miserable but not to be willing is punishable therefore St. Paul confesseth Necessity is layd upon me and woe is me if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 Let no man therefore that undertaketh this Net think that he taketh a cushion or couch to sleep on a soft means of sweet ease but rather a labour of little ease a work that will require the straining of all his strength the striving
sometimes from the East sometimes from the West sometimes from the North sometimes from the South It alwaies cooleth and for the most part cleareth the air And this activenesse is also proper to the Holy Ghost in all these kinds He worketh first Constantly for what is true of the Son is also true of the Holy Ghost My Father worketh hitherto and I work Joh. 5.17 For in all works ad extra the Trinity is undivided He was active in the Creation The spirit of God moved upon the waters Gen. 1.2 He is active also in the Regeneration Joh 3.5 Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven 2. Strongly for he plyeth the humble to the bent of his will and breaketh the stubborn from the strength of their own will Is 42.1 I have put my spirit upon him What then A bruised reed shall he not break He shall but bend the humble yet he shall bring forth judgement unto victory he shall overthrow the stubborn This wind breaketh the Cedars even the Cedars of Lebanon Ps 29.5 3. Subtilly for he purgeth both the companies and the consciences of men evill persons outwardly evill desires inwardly are the chaffe which this wind scattereth away His fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor Mat. 3.12 4. Variously for he bringeth sometimes flashes of elevation Elijahs Chariot sometimes showers of humiliation Peters tears He bringeth forth the lightning with the rain Ps 135.7 He bloweth with his wind and the waters flow Psal 147.8 Sometimes from the East by opening the bloody rising of originall sin sometimes from the West by reflecting the bloody setting of the Sun of righteousness sometimes from the South through the warm and calm gale of peace and prosperity sometimes from the North thorough the blustering blasts of persecution and tryall It cooleth and refresheth the conscience by quenching the scalding heat of concupiscence and cleareth it from clouds mists and fogs of sin and from ignorance the cause from fear the effect thereof by bringing in true light the Sun of Faith the Moon of Hope the Stars of Charitie O hearken then for the motion of this active wind It is not idle in it self let it not be idle unto thee Receive not the grace of God in vain but rather cry and call Arise O North and come O South and blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow forth Can. 4. that so awaiting and desiring it thou mayst not onely hear the sound of it but be carried away in the force of it yea be turned into it for that which is born of the spirit is spirit That thou mayst be made active as it is active Constantly that thou bee not weary of well doing Gal. 6. Strongly that in all things thou be more then conqueror Rom. 8. Subtilly that thou try all things and choose that which is best Phil. 1. Variously that thy love may abound yet more and more that thou mayst sowe liberally and reap also liberally 2 Cor. 9. And so much of the first signe or symbole The wind the second is the Fire As in the wind so in the fire also I observe two properties well agreeing to the Holy Ghost namely light and heat First Light is a naturall property of the fire of our common fire For indeed the elementary fire in its own sphere shineth not because of its subtilnesse and the infernal fire of hell shineth not because of its grossnesse yet our fire being of a mixt nature hath light as well as heat Light to shew it self to us us to our selves others to us us to others and to discover and manifest all And this also is proper to this Heavenly fire even Light The holy Spirit though in his own sphere he is so subtile in his own nature so pure that he cannot be visible for No man hath seen God at any time yet is he come down to us in light and hath brought us Lumen superius Interius Exterius Upper Inner Outward light 1. Lumen superius light to see God that is Faith The naturall light can shew to the eye but colours or superficies not substances But this light sheweth to the Soul him that is the substance of all things In whom we live and move and have our being Act. 27.28 In whom all things consist Col. 1.17 For by this light Moses saw him who is invisible Heb. 11.27 and by this light all the godly doe walk We walk by faith not by sight 2 Cor 5.7 2. Lumen interius Inner light that is Conscience Ye were once darknesse but now are light in the Lord. Eph. 5.8 Why The reason goes before there ver 5. for this ye know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Ye were darknesse when ye knew not that now are yee light now yee do know it This is that light which God sent by Saint Paul To open their eyes that they might turn from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God Act. 26.18 This is that rejoycing light 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our Conscience This is that humbling light that sheweth the vileness of our condition naturall Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. And the miserablenesse of our condition spirituall I was shapen in wickednesse and in sin hath my mother conceived me Ps 51. 3. Lumen exterius Outer light that is charity He that saith he is in the light and yet hateth his brother is in darknesse untill this time he that loveth his brother abideth in the light 1. Joh. 2.9 This light maketh us see all men alike so that we have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons Jam. 2.1 that we be ready to honor all men and to despise none This light helpeth us to see the necessities of our brethren that we may relieve them Charity is bountifull 1 Cor 13.4 To take notice of the infirmities of our brethren that wee may bear them Restore such a one in the spirit of meeknesse bear yee one anothers burthen Gal. 6.1 To observe the faults of our brethren that we may reprove them Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darknsse but even reprove them rather Eph. 5.11 Yea this light will guide us so to look on and to follow the foremost that wee our selves shall become lights and leaders of the hindmost Phil. 3.17 Shining as lights in the world and holding forth the word of life Phil. 2.13 Yea this light will keep us from glosing and colouring and make us shine clearly and truly even to be indeed what we seem in shew For all things when they are reproved of this light are manifest for it is this light that maketh all things manifest Eph. 5.13 What then Seeing that this light is come into the world let
righteous and while that garment lasted he needed no other covering For having not as yet by any abuse dishonoured his body or any part thereof he had no need to be ashamed thereof for all was holy But Sathans thorny temptations having rent his robe of righteousness and made him sinfull he presently became shamefull and then he seeketh other coverings Fig-tree leaves slender coverings for his outside Shifts and excuses more slender coverings for his inside So was simplicity turned into subtilty and the cleare stream of sinceritie perspicuous to the bottom mudded with the filth of false and foul hypocrifie So began it in him and so it continueth in all us In all us for so saith St. Bernard super Cant. serm 82. Omnem posteritatem hereditarium hypocrisis virus infecit The hereditary poyson of Adams hypocrisie hath infected all his posterity Quem dabis saith he de filiis Adami qui quod est non dico velit sed vel patiatur videri Whom canst thou shew me amongst the sons of Adam which hath I say not a will but so much as the patience to be seen as he is And if his witnesse be not enough hear what David also saith namely that All men are lyars Psal 116.10 Thus wretched man is fallen from his honour and hath lost his understanding and is made comparable to the beasts that perish For as the beast that is taken in a snare hampereth and strangleth himself the more by his own strugling to get loose so man insnared in sin the more intangleth himself therein by endeavouring to make evasion for when he sinneth he is trapped but when he hideth or excuseth his sin then he is wrapped in the snare of Satan and in the wrath of God In the former he disobeyeth but in the latter he mocketh and derideth God as if he might be deceived But be ye not deceived for God is not mocked he knows all our deceivings And as he knows them so he hates them Yea it hath a twofold degree of his hatred because it is a twofold sin Therefore Christ giveth many sharp reproofs thereof in the Gospel Among which this Text is one Take heed to your selves of the leaven c. Which though it be but one single precept yet for orders sake we may consider it in two parts The first is a warning Take heed to your selves The second is the thing forewarned the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie First for the warning it self Beware ye or take heed to your selves This may be doubly taken or admit a double construction the one passive the other active the one of suffering hurt the other of doing hurt the one of being infested and molested outwardly the other of being infected and tainted inwardly Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees that is that they mischief not you by it Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees that is that ye mischief not others by it Take heed of it both in respect of their practise and of your own The former construction I gather from the premises or precedence Namely because in the end of the former Chapter the malice of the Pharisees is expressed how they layd wait for Christ and sought to entangle him whereupon this precept following so immediately to the Disciples implyeth no doubt that they should bee carefull to avoyd that danger The other construction I gather out of the consequence or words next following For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed Whereby it appeareth that Christs warning is that they should take heed of doing or saying any thing which they would not have to be revealed And the rather may I presume upon this double interpretation because it suteth with that which Christ elswhere uttereth Namely Mat. 10.16 Be ye wise as serpents and innocent as doves Wise as serpents that ye take no harm Innocent as doves that ye doe no harm Wise as serpents that ye be not beguiled by others Innocent as doves that others be not beguiled by you Wise as serpents to shun offence that may be offered to you Innocent as doves to shun offence that may be offered by you From which interpretation do arise two doctrines to be observed First we may see that it is not an unlawfull but a necessary and needfull thing for Christians to provide for their temporal estate and worldly wel-being both by shunning of evill and seeking of good 1. By shunning of evill this the Text expresseth being so understood as aforesaid Namely as a warning against temporal danger And Mat. 10.23 Christ bids his disciples when they are persecuted in one city to flee to another And Prov. 22.3 A prudent man seeth the plague and hideth himself but the foolish goe on still and are punished 2. By seeking of good This followeth out of the former for the shunning of evill implyeth and includeth the seeking of good for one cannot be done without the other And yet more plainly Rom. 12.17 Provide things honest in the sight of all men Here then the heresie of the Familists that would have no proprietie but all things common is reproved We are taught to love our neighbour as our self therefore we must love our self and provide for our self The Scripture plentifully exhorteth us to giving and that implyeth a necessity of possessing there can be no giving where there is no owning A man cannot give that which he hath not What though the Disciples in time of persecution had all things common their community did not extinguish propriety Or if it did it was but voluntary not of necessity For St. Peter tels Ananias that his land before he sold it pertained unto him and the price after he sold it was in his own power he might have kept it if hee would Act. 5.4 2. This condemneth also the superstitious conceit of Popery that maketh wilfull poverty a work of perfection yea of superfection if I may so speak that is of supererogation as they call it We have many exhortations and precepts to make us exercised in giving but none to move us to make an exercise of receiving Yea Christ hath pronounced it to be a blessed thing to give rather then receive as it is witnessed Act. 20.35 What though he bade the young man sell that he had and give unto the poor if he would be perfect that was to discover to him his imperfection in having not any perfection in wanting of riches What though he affirmeth it to be easier for a camel to goe thorough the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven That is to shew us our great corruption that we cannot of our selves make them good in our using not to prove any such corruption in them as if they could not be made good to us by Gods blessing No the contrary to that is cleared by Gods giving them as to many others so expresly to Solomon in the name and nature of a blessing 1 King
having now given himself wholly to us we may also give our selves fully and wholly unto him That that which was the true successe of this feast in the Apostles though wrongfully objected may be verifyed in us What They are full of wine Act. 2.13 Jam enim fuerat magnus ille botrus calcatus Aug. Ser. 2. in 2. fer Pent. in Ps 63.8 This is that wine that floweth from that heavenly Vine the Son of God I am the true vine Joh. 15.1 He is the true Vine and this is the true wine even which truly maketh glad the heart of man It is the true Vine and it is the new wine whereof that old bottle the Jewish Synagogue was not capable With this holy wine the influence and affluence or rather the superfluence of the holy spirit were the Apostles drunken and so should we endeavour to be God hath fulfilled his promise Inebriabuntur as the vulgar hath it they shall be drunken or abundantly filled with the plenteousnesse of thy house and thou shalt give them drink of thy pleasures as out of the River Ps 36.8 It behooveth us then to fulfill this precept Comedite amici bibite inebriamini charissimi Eat O friends drink and be drunken O well beloved Can 5.1 Drink and be drunken how Be not drunken with wine wherein is excesse saith the Apostle Eph. 5.18 but be ye filled with the spirit I may adde wherein is no excesse No excesse No for Amoris in Deum modus sine modo sit the measure of our love to God must be without measure Rise up early therefore to follow this drunkennesse and continue till night till this wine doth inflame thee Is 5. Be mighty to drink this wine be strong to powre in this strong drink Look upon this wine because it is red and sheweth its colour in the cuppe and goeth down pleasantly For Quicquid boni in malo falso quaeritur in Deo vere reperitur Aug. co li. 2 ca. 6. What good soever men falsely seek in sinne in God it is truly to be found Here your Carowses will be true healths health of soul eternall health and that both to the giver and to the taker and therefore the more it is used the more truly it will prove you to be true good-fellowes Suck therefore and soak your selves in this Divine Wine-cellar of grace by invocation by gratulation by contemplation by all holy devotion untill the signes of true spirituall drunkennesse do appear in you For it hath also its signes and though they be supernaturall yet may they go under naturall names and namely these Vomiting stammering reeling 1. Vomiting for there is a holy vomiting belongeth to this heavenly drunkennesse Namely of sin For if thou eat at the table of the evill man thou shalt vomit thy morsells saith Solomon Pro. 23.8 And that we all doe In many things we sin all And this surfet is so strong that a little portion of this heavenly wine of grace a little measure of this holy drunkennesse will quickly turn our stomacks and set us a vomiting By confession by contrition by reformation by restitution which implyeth all the rest So Zachee when that heavenly Vine the Son of God had drop't a little of this his juice into him he presently fell into this happy fit Behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation I restore him fourfold Lu. 19.8 And if thou take not this spirituall then beware of that naturall vomit which ariseth from the surfet it self for that is a bursting one as that of Judas which proceeding not from this divine but from his naturall or rather from the infernall spirit made him overstrain himself and burst asunder in the midst Act. 1.18 Secondly the stammering or faultering or idle talking or failing of the tongue is a necessary token of our spirituall drunkennesse And it is shewed sometimes in fear sometimes in joy sometimes in fervencie of zeale Sometimes in fear as in Hezekiah Like a Crane or a swallow so did I chatter Is 38.14 Sometime in joy as in St. Peter Master saith he let us make here three Tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias And wist not what he said Lu. 9. Sometimes in fervencie of zeale As in Moses first making a stoppe to his words If thou wilt pardon their sinne and then a greater stop to himself but if thou wilt not I pray thee-raze me out of the book which thou hast written Exo. 32.32 Such another kind of holy idle talking was that of St. Paul Rom. 9.3 Pro Christo velle anathema esse a Christo wishing for Christs sake to be separated from Christ I could wish my selfe saith he to be separated from Christ for my brethren And no marvell that this divers failing of the tongue should appear in our spirituall drunkennesse for St. Paul ravished in the spirit heard conceived apprehended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unspeakable words not possible to be uttered 2 Cor. 12.4 And the spirit maketh request as for us so no doubt in us gemitibus ineffabilibus with sighs and groans which cannot be expressed Rom. 8.26 3. A third token to be shewed of our spirituall drunkenness is Reeling not of the body but of the mind when between grace and nature yea between grace and grace the love of God and of our neighbour we cannot go stedfastly without reeling sometimes to heaven-ward sometimes to earth-ward sometimes to our own advantage sometimes to our masters and fellows advantage sometimes wishing our work were done that we might receive our reward sometimes for the greatness of the reward rejoycing in the doing and continuing of our work Such a reeling was St. Paul possest withall Phil. 1. being in a strait between two and not knowing what to choose desiring to depart and to be with Christ which is far better yet having confidence to abide and continue for the good of his people They that sail at sea are subject to reeling but how Not unlesse the winds doe blow in the calm they feel it not for at his word the stormy wind ariseth which lifteth up the waves thereof then they are carried up to the heaven and down again to the deep they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end This world is our sea and we are all sailers in it And so long as we are becalm'd of grace we feel no reeling but we are as one that sleepeth in the midst of the sea like him that sleepeth on the top of the mast Prov. 23. But when that holy wind doth blow then we are up and down we know not whether heaven or earth should hold us All this while I have but stood at the door of my Text and no marvail that I have stood so long having so glorious a fabrick to behold Now let us reverently enter as into the house of God For we
may truly use Jacobs words here and say This is none other but the house of God and this is the gatef heaven Gen. 28.17 Two things we may especially observe in the Text the matter and the manner the substance and the circumstance of the businesse here related The matter and substance is the coming and appearing of the Holy Ghost in sensible forms The circumstance is manifold chiefly it may be referred to the time when and the persons to whom this apparition was made With these points of the circumstance I will begin so to make way to the substance of the matter which is the larger and weighter point and part First then for the time And when the day of Pentecost was fully come This day as it is commonly held was the day of the publishing the Law upon Mount Smai In memory whereof the Jews kept a solemn feast which they commonly called The feast of weeks Deut. 16.10 It got also this name Pentecost because of the number of fifty being fifty daies after their Pascha the fiftieth day after their coming out of Egypt they received the Law and that day they kept this holy feast in remembrance thereof And this day was the fiftieth after Christs resurrection For it is plain that Christ suffered on the Jews preparation day of their Passeover and that the Passeover that year fell on the Sabbath which is therefore called An high day or the great Sabbath Joh. 19.31 and that they reckoned their fifty daies from the first of or after the Sabbath Lev. 23.11 15. which was Christs rising day the first day of their week So then this Pentecost was the fiftieth day from their Passeover exclusively and the fiftieth from Christs resurrection inclusively What then Behold the truth answerable to the figure that shaddow fulfilled in this substance As on the fiftieth day after their Passeover and their deliverance from corporall bondage under Pharoah they received Legem timoris the Law of fear upon Mount Sinai so on the fiftieth after day the accomplishment of our Passeover the Lamb of God slain and risen and our deliverance from the spirituall bondage under Satan we received Legem amoris the Law of love upon Mount Sion For Christ also is a Law-giver even the giver of a new Law as he himself speaketh Joh. 13.34 A new commandement give I you What That ye love one another Which yet is not a new or another Law but the fulfilling and consummation of the old Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 The end of the commandement is love 1 Tim. 1.5 This Law was given when the Holy Ghost was given For the fruit of the spirit is love Gal. 5.22 The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of love 2 Tim. 1.7 This is that Law of liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free Gal. 5.1 Free in regard of the outward man because the inner man is accepted In my mind I serve the law of God though in my flesh the law of sin Rom. 7.25 Free not in the tie of obedience which is still upon us but in the tax of disobedience that is punishment which he hath taken from us Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 Well then brethren ye see your calling the sum of all is love Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart love thy neighbour as thy self the sincerity of the inside Truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 For he is an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile Joh. 3. 47. Truth of heart supplyeth defect of hand for ye are called into liberty Gal. 5.13 The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed us from the law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 And where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 Stand fast therefore in this liberty of love Gal. 5.1 As free and not having the liberty for a cloak of malitiousness but as the servants of God 1 Pet 2. Not usin your liberty as an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another Gal. 5 13. For indeed Love is the bond of perfectness Col. 3.14 binding not onely us one to another for the unity of the spirit is in the bond of peace Eph. 4.3 but binding us unto God and God unto us For he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 and that not for a time but for ever For this Law is not written with ink or in tables of stone corruptibly but in fleshly tables of the heart yea in the immortall table of the soul incorruptibly For though tongues cease or knowledge vanish away yet love never falleth away 1 Cor. 13. Now abideth Faith Hope Love but the chief of these is Love For Faith apprehendeth the promise hope attendeth the matter but Love sealeth and assureth confirmeth and strengtheneth both Again this coming of the Holy Ghost was the fiftieth day after Christs Resurrection and therefore the tenth day after his Ascension for he ascended not till the fortieth day Act. 1.3 and then he made his last promise of this which he now performed Ye shall be baptised with the holy Ghost not many daies hence Act. 1.5 He deferred it till the tenth day and on the tenth day he fulfilled it He deferred it till the tenth day that they might be exercised with expectation and whetted with delay For Gods delaies are nothing else but whettings His delay of judgements to the wicked is a whetting of his anger For if a man will not turn he will whet his sword Psal 7.13 Yea he will fourbish it that it may consume Ezek. 21.28 But his delay of grace to his children is a whetting to their zeal For the Physitian by restraint of dyet gaineth stomack health and strength unto his patient And God who best knoweth what is best for us by denying or by deferring grace oftentimes gives grace unto his children Else why did not St. Pauls threefold petition prevaile for his deliverance from that buffeting messenger of Satan but that he might receive a sufficiency of grace to strengthen him 2 Cor. 12. And else why did the prayer of the woman of Canaan suffer likewise a threefold repulse but even to whet her importunity and constancy that at the last she might receive that acclamation O woman great is thy faith Mat. 15.28 Again as untill the tenth day so no longer then the tenth day did Christ defer his promise but on that day he did fulfill it for God is not slack as some men count slackness 2 Pet. 3.9 Not so slack as to forget his promise Hath he said and shall he not doe it hath he spoken and shall he not accomplish it Numb 23.19 No but heaven and earth shall sooner passe away Patientia est non negligentia Aug. de ver ap ser 20. then one