wealth and glory of the world as drosse and dung in comparison of Jesus Christ A Believer is strong in Christ rich in faith because rich in Christ he is wise in Christ and noble in Christ he is nothing in himself and all things in Christ for Christ is all in all unto him Believers are the Members of Christ and the Apostle shews that the Head and Members make but one Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. and therefore all Believers must needs be Noble by their intimate relation to Christ this glorious Title of Christ being imposed upon them as united in one Body to their Head the Lord Jesus Christ This one Title of Honour doth outshine and eclipse all the admired Titles of Honour in the most flourishing Common-wealths Once more Faith i a noblegrace if it be faith of the right strain the faith of Gods elect a faith that is not built upon Quicksands upon Hearsays and Fancies upon the Authority of man much lesse upon the Authority of the Man of sin the Pope or Church of Rome nay the true Church the Church of Christ is not the foundation of our Noble faith for an Implicite faith though grounded upon the Authority of the true Church is but an Ignoble faith because it leads men hood winked to a blinde obedience The Disciples of Berea were noble Christians because they were endued with a faith that was truely Noble a searching faith a busie faith an examining faith they were ready to receive any Scripture-truth but they loved to be sure and therefore compared even the Apostles Doctrine with the written word You may read the story Acts 17. 11. These were {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} better born more Noble then those in Thessalâ—nica But wherein did their Noblenesse consist Why in that they received the Word with all rea linâ—…ssâ— of minde and searched the Scriptures dâ—…ly whether those things were so They were not slow to believe what the Apostles taught for they received the Word with all readinesse of minde but they made no more haste then good spâ—ed they searched the Scriptures and searchâ—d them daily there 's work for Noble-men that know not how to passe away their time Search the Scriptures that 's a Noble employment On that Noble-men would make it both their businesse and their recreation also that they might be fitted with the Noble Science of Christ and Heaven * I desire to close up this point in a word All reall Christians are spirituall Kings the Prince of the Kings of the earth loved us so well as to wash us in his own pretious blood that he might make us Kings unto God Revel. 1. 5 6. We are kings by birth born to a Kingdom by a new and miraculous birth We are kings by purchase the Kingdom cost Christ dear but it cost us nothing and therefore the Kingdom comes to us by deed of gift also We are kings by conquest our Lord and Master hath conquered principalities and powers for us he hath conquered the World and tâ—â— Devil for us nay he hath conquered even our own selves for us by mortifying our lusts within us and therefore we are more then conquerours thorow him that loved us and overcame our spirituall enemies for us Finally We are kings by marriage the soul of every beleever is married to the King of Kings and is attended with a guard of Angels This is not onely a Noble but a Royall marriage If a woman that was Noble by marriage marry a second husband that is no Nobleman she looses her nobilitie and becomes ignoble If our souls fall into a league with Sin and Satan Death and Hell our souls are made ignoble we are servants of sin slaves of Satan the undoubted heirs of Hell and damnation But if when Christ makes love to our souls we do with all humilitie and thankfulnesse embrace the offer and take him for our Lord and our Love our King and our Husband We have Heaven made over to our souls for ever not as a Joynture but an Inheritance We are Kings to God and Heirs Coheirs with Christ Such Honour have all the Saints for they are the men whom the King of Kings doth delight to honour and they shall continue in their honour because they understand their dependance and will continue in their adherence to the fountain of honour They shall not be like the Beasts of the field but like the Angels of Heaven satisfied with honour and crowned with glory And so I passe to my second observation which is briefly this Doctrine Men that are in Honour do too often behave themselves more like Beasts then Men They are Beasts for want of understanding and Beasts in regard of perishing as it is in my Text Man that is in Honour and understandeth not is like the Beasts that perish 1. They are Beasts for want of understanding or for want of consideration for they will not understand so Arias Montanus renders it They are so wilfully inconsiderate that they become like bruite Beasts that have no understanding Men in Honour are very bruitish if they understand nothing concerning the eternall welfare of their pretious soul nothing concerning Religon and Happinesse Heaven and Holinesse Surely saith that ingenuous man Prov. 30. 2 3. I am more brutish then any man I have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisedom nor have the knowledge of the holy Though a man hath a deep reach and be endued with strong and happy parts though he be an able Statesman a profound Politician yet if he hath not the knowledge of the holy a spirituall practicall experimentall saving knowledge the knowledge of a Christian the knowledge of a Saint he is but a brutish man he hath no knowledge of that grace and glory of which the pretious soul of a man is capable and therefore if he be a man he is but a brutish man nay he hath not the understanding of a man and therefore may well be compared to the Beasts that perish He that knows nothing after the right manner nothing as he ought to know it Is not he a Beast And doth not the Apostle point at such Beasts 1 Corinth 8. 2. How little is it that great men understand of those great Things of Eternitie And yet how many great men of the world who understand Religion no more then Beasts being steeled with ignorance impudence and Atheism do take the boldnesse to censure what they understand not These men should learn the wisedom and modesty of Socrates who when he met with an obscure Book passed his judgement thus The things in this Book saith be as far as I understand are generous and truely noble and for the rest I have no reason to censure it because I do not understand it Saint Jude gives two Characters of men that are transformed into Beasts The first is this They speak evil of those things they know not the second is this What they
heels shall compasse them about vers. 5. And surely none have more cause to fear then the great ones of the world vers. 6. They that are so rich that they trust in their riches and boast of their riches which the wisest of men are forced to leave to others v 10. have a deep though vain conceit that their houses shall continue for ever and therefore call their lands by their own names v. 11. But alas not withstanding this their Atheisticall Dream they abide not in their Honour for they are like the Beasts that perish And yet though this their way is their folly undeniable folly their Posterity are such fools as to imitate their Practices and approve their Sayings Selah vers. 13. Oh look not upon this Censure as a Jerk of Wit for it is indeed A sad Preface to a black Sentence full of horrour For mark what follows When a man is made rich and the glory of his house is encreased he is usually so taken up with his wealth and glory that he forgets the mortality of his frail body and the eternity of his precious soul He doth not consider how he may be ransomed from the strength of sin the sting of death the hand of the grave the power of hell and therefore his body falls like the carcase of a Beast the Grave hath victory over him and Death feeds upon him Like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feed upon them vers. 14. And though whilst he lived he was applauded by others and he blessed hiâ— own soul vers. 18. yet his soul shall go to the Generation of his fathers he shall never see light Tell me tell me is not this 〈◊〉 black Sentence full of Horrour Menglory in their Pedigreâ— and are as it were damned ex traduce They take a pride in imitating the errours and vanity of their forefathers who lived in darker times and they shall go to the Generation of their fathers where they shall never see light for to such is reserved the blacknessâ— of darknesse for ever And then to close up all the Prophet warbles over the dark saying of the Text upon his dolâ—full Harp it is the Burden of the Psalm and the Burden of many a guilty consâ—ience which will one day sweaâ— and groan and sink under the weight of it Man that is in Honour and understandeth not falls like the Beasts that perish In the words be pleased to observe 1. The Honourable estate or in your own Language the precious Peerage of great men A Noble-man is homo in pretio as Junius hath it a man to be prized and honoured 2 The wilfull and dishonourable Inconsideratenesse of men in Honour Man that is in Honour and understands not 3. The lamentable Downfall and beastlike Ruine of such as fall from their Order from their God and from their Honour They are like the Beasts that perish First for your Honourable Estate without any Courtship or Complement I must observe That a Noble-man is Homo in pretio one that is prized and honoured in a Civill account Be pleased Brethren to suspend your Censure till I come to speak of the Christian account They that are truely-Noble are the a blâ—ssing and b glory of a Kingdom Their honourable men or their glory are men of famine Isa. 5. 13. And dignities are called glories in the eighth verse of the Epistle of Jude When men are not honoured according to the weight worth dignity of their Places and Persons they are as it were c blasphemed and cursed in the Scripture-phrase But that I may top the rising Errours of the time give me leave to distinguish of a threefold Honour Civill Philosophicall and Christian First for Civill Honour we must consider that it was purchased of old by the worth of renowned Ancestours who were the glory of their times and is it not fit that Posterity should enjoy the Purchase of their Forefathers Those Titles of Honour which help to set forth a son of mean parts and but ordinary abilities might cost the Father or Grandfather very dear he might forsake his meat break his sleep exercise his strong parts and put forth his eminent gifts for the Service of the Common-wealth of England and Church of God It is probable that he did lay out vast sums for the puâ—like good adventured his life for his Countrey and shall a Title of Honour purchased by gold laid out in an honourable way nay purchased by sweat and blood be taken away from the son of this Noble Progenitour The publike Faith of the Kingdom is virtually engaged for the Ennoblishment of his Posterity by Justice and Equity in all Nations thorowout the world the childe of such noble Ancestours ought to enjoy with honour what his Progenitours have purchased for him at so dear a Rate True it is that God hath made all Nations of men of one blood Acts 17. 26. and therefore as we are descended from Adam our blood is of the self-same complexion but the strength wisedom valour wealth vertue of Ancestours in succeeding Generations did purchase transcendent degrees of Honour for themselves and their Posterity The Titles of Dukes Marquesses Earles and Barons were anciently bestowed on them to whose Vertue Prowesse Wisedom the Kingdom was beholding both for Counsel and Assistance in times of War and Peace The first Dukes or a Duces undertook a great Charge their Office was full of Care and Trust and Danger Duke was a Title of Duty rather then Dignity as Master Cambden observes The Title of Lord b Marcher was accounted more honourable then that of Marquesse because it was more ancient and did import some honourable Service Barons were men of Valour Robora Belli and therfore are engaged to shew their Valour by their very Title Why were the Ensignes of Distinction first born upon Shields but because they who purchased them at first did use their own Bodies as a Shield to bear off those fatall Blowes which would otherwise have lighted upon the Body of the Common-wealth This may suffice to shew that noble-men of old did pay a valuable Consideration for those Titles of Honour which their Posterity enjoy But put the case that the son of noble Progenitours prove degenerate and hath nothing to ennoble him but an empty Title I answer that such a man hath nothing that should tempt a wise man to envie him What is an empty Title so great a Provocation Do not envie him that for his Forefathers sake who purchased it of the Common-wealth Ye ought to stand to that Bargain by which the Common-wealth is so great a gainer The Jews took their Kings and their Priests for better for worse as they arose by lineall descent God doth not onely shew mercy to the fourth Generation but to some hundreds of men for the forefathers sake Again consider whether this Heir be desperate may he not be recovered If not yet the Breed may mend
Phâ—losophicall Honour of which I shall give you if not a more rationall yet a more punctuall account The Philosophers shew a necessity of supporting that Civil Honour which is setled upon Noble Families by the Laws and Customes of Common-wealths Aristotle laughes at them as ignorant Politicians who divided a Common-wealth into Souldiers Husbandmen and Artificers because those Dignities which are necessary for the support of a Common-wealth could not be all conferred upon men of that quality unlesse you made all the rest slaves to those Souldiers whom they themselves maintain and then it would be no Common-wealth I finde a great deal of good Philosophie in Historians Poets and Oratours as well as in professed Philosophers they all agree my Lords that Nobility took its first rise a from Vertue and some of them are so strict as to maintain that sowre principle Vertue is the onely true Nobility and therefore they take their novus homo who can onely shew a broken spear a torn Ensign some Military Donatives and famous Skars to be truely noble Marius and Pompey were such Noble-men The soul of every man is in their judgement as nobly descended aâ— the soul of any man and they do not attribute much to the body nor will they give any man leave to arrogate the vertue of his Ancestours to himself They tell him sadly that unlesse he hath vertue of his own he doth dishonour his Ancestours discredit himself and shame his Posterity all at once Though he may be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} yet he is not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and Philosophers will not count him truely noble who is welldescended unlesse he be well-affected It is confidently affirmed that if Noble-men look farre enough back upon their Progenitours they will finde some of them ignoble and if the ignoble look back upon their Progenitours they will finde some of them noble The Philosophers conceive it more noble for a man to give Honour to that House from which he received none then to eclipse that Honour which he received for this is to make the Sun go down at noon to make all the glory of his House fall into the Socket and die in a loathsom Snuff The Conclusion of all therefore doth amount to this He that is born well must either live well or die well that is It is far better to die honourably then live basely in sin and slavery by unworthy Compliances corrupt Arts and ignoble Flattery So much shall suffice to be said of Philosophicall Nobility I must go higher and open the rich treasure of Christian Nobility which to your Coronets of Nobility superaddes a Crown of glory 3. Christian Nobility is Nobility in the highest for never was the Humane nature so highly honoured as when it was assumed and hypostatically united with the Divine nature in one person the Person of the Lord Jesus the second Person in the holy Trinity and therefore they are ennobled in the highest degree according to the Christian account who are united unto Jesus Christ by a lively faith and made one Spirit with him I have done with the Civil account and speak now of Spirituall Honour and Christian Nobility Be pleased to consider that we are all Gentiles by nature and the more we have of the Gentile in us the lesse we have of the Noble-man We are not Jews by nature but poor miserable sinners of the Gentiles Gal. 2. 15. and as Gentiles we can never be justified we must therefore turn Christians and believe in Christ that we may be justified by the faith of Christ as the Apostle goes on vers. 16. No man can be truely and justly reputed to be in an Honourable estate unlesse he be in a Justified estate for all those Priviledges and Immunities whereby a Christian is ennobled are peculiar to a justified estate Noble-men are distinguished from other men by their long Robes and he is no Noble-man as yet in the true Christian account who hath not the long white Robe of Christs Righteousnesse girt about him by a lively faith If a Noble-man be condemned to a shamefull death for some ignoble and capitall Offence What priviledge or comfort hath he by all his Titles of Honour none of his Titles can purchase his Pardon or procure his Release My Lords we are all in a damnable estate till we are translated into a justified estate and the greatest Noble-man in the world must fall down upon his knees and cry out Lord I am guilty of base servile sins most ignoble practices and I am justly condemned by thy Law and my Conscience to a base and ignoble death to an accursed and tormenting death to an hellish and eternall death I have forfeited all to thee I have forfâ—ited my Temporall estate my Civill honour my precious life my more-precious soul Give mâ— Christ Lord whatever thou deniest me give me Christ give me Christ or I perish and that eternally This is ingenious this is noble The greatest Honour that we can attain to is To be of the off-spring of God {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Acts 17. 28. All men indeed are of the off-spring of God by Creation but the speciall peculiar Honour and therefore the highest Honour is to be his off-spring by Regeneration to be his sons by Adoption for then we are truely noble highly descended indeed more noble then the proudest of them that were termed {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for every regenerate man is born of God and bred of God and therefore it must be granted that he is well bred and born My Lords you may be more ennobled by a new-birth by a second-birth then you were by your first birth for in your second birth ye are born to an heavenly Kingdom and ye are born not of blood mark that nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of the will of God Joh. 1. 13. Be pleased to consider that you may be noble after the flesh and the flesh shew its frailty You may fall from all your Honour and become like the Beasts that perish The most noble Plants amongst us Gentiles are but Plants of the wilde Olive we must be engrafted into Jesus Christ the true Olive by a lively faith that we may partake of the sap and the fatnesse the noblenesse of Christ who was not onely the Off-spring but the Root of David Revel. 22. 16. We are but the degenerate Plants of a strange Vine we are not a Noble Vine wholly a right seed till we are engrafted into the True and Noble Vine Joh. 15. 1. Faith is a noble grace for it teaches a man to deny himself to crucifie his lusts to sacrifice his Estate Honour Life and All in the Service of Jesus Christ Faith doth exceedingly raise the Spirit and ennoble the Soul of man A Believer looks upon all the
Men in Honour are extremely degraded and debased when they are made slaves Jere. 2. 14. Is Israel a servant is he a Homâ—-born slave then he hath lost all his glory But consider I beseech you That a man of a slavish disposition is in a far more Honourable condition then a man of a bruitish disposition for a slave may be staved off from sin for fear of future evils but a Beast is not affected with things future Oh how many such Beasts do we meet with every day God threatens a man with Hell and damnation if they go on in any sinfull course and yet how common is it for men to practise these sins in the face of Heaven if they besins in request and fashion which God doth sentence and damn to the Pit of Hell Surely God will deal with these men according to their bruitish disposition he will powre some drops of his wrath scalding hot into their conscience or sting them to the quick with some present evil that they may be restrained by the smart and anguish of present evils since they will not be warned by the threatning of future evils Observe what a threatning message is sent to the house of Jeroboam 1 Kings 14. 14. Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a King over Israel who shall cut of the house of Jeroboam that day But what Even now very now As if he had said ye are not moved with the threats of future vengeance therefore I will spare you no longer but will cut you of presently even now very now It is a sad Text be pleased to think sadly of it in your cool blood and morning thoughts 5. As Beasts are not sensible of future evils so neither are they sensible of those traps and snares which are for the present laid to entrap and take them Men of Honour had need walk circumspectly there are traps and snares laid for them at their Tables in every tempting Dish nay in their Bedchambers in their very Closet every Counsellour Companion Friend Servant is made use of to ensnare them and how few are there that discover the snare before they are caught how many great men are surprized in this evill time and are as unexpectedly caught as fish in a net or birds in a snare Eccles. 9. 12. Nay as fish do catch at the bait and birds haste to the snare not knowing not suspecting that it is for their life so do men in Honour catch at those temptations whereby they are ensnared it is the comparison of the Wiseman the master of Similitudes Prov. 7. 22 23. Tell me are not these men as naturall bruit Beasts made to be taken and destroyed As the Apostle presses it home 2 Pet. 2. 12. 6. He is a Beast who hath the minde of a Beast though he hath the shape of a man It would be a foul disgrace for a man to be transformed into the shape of a Beast though he retained the minde and reason of a man Quanto miserius est in hominis figurâ animo esse efferato saith Lactantius Lib. 5. cap. â— It is far more dishonourable to have the shape of a man and the minde of a beast then the shape of a beest and the minde of a man Every carnall man mindes the things of the flesh Rom. 8. 5. Mindes earthly things as if he had no other God then his belly Phil. 3. 19. And therefore he hath the minde of a Beast nay I do the beasts wrong men that are carnally minded are enemies to God Rom. 8. 7. and enemies to the crosse of Christ Phil. 3. 18. A sad truth not to be spoken without tears I tell you even weeping saith the Apostle they are so far from being Christians that they are enemies of the Crosse of Christ They live as if they had been born ventri corruptioni inservire to serve their paunch and their lusts I beleeve you 'l easily grant that drunkards and unclean persons are very Beasts they have not the minde or heart of a man in them Whoredom and Wine take away the â—eart Hos. 4. 11. Oh ye sons of Nobles give not your strength to women nor your heart to that which destroyes Kings that is to wine and strong drink Prov. 30. 3 4. least ye loose your reason forget the Law and pervert the judgement of the afflicted verse 5. 7. They who adhere to the Antichristian faction in minde and heart though they do yet keep company with men are to be ranked among the Beasts for their heart goes after the Beast and they have a minde to follow him onely they want a more powerfull temptation and fairer opportunity upon every considerable defeat that is given us these men wonder after the Beast nay are even ready to worship him and to cry out Who is like unto the Beast Who is able to make war with him Revel. 13 3 4. I doubt not but all of this temper will in good time be discovered and driven from among men by the power of them that are truely Noble For it is not fit that Beasts should be suffered amongst men let them follow the Heard It is not for Noble Lords and Counsellours to seek unto them or comply with them till they have the heart of a man and their reason be returned unto them My Lords we live under the glorious Ministery of the Gospel and therefore I dare not put a vail over the beautifull face of Truth The face of truth must shine that it may appear lovely and remain glorious and therefore I use great freedom plainnesse boldnesse of speech as it becometh a Minister of the Gospel of Christ The Holy Ghost commands me to be thus faithfull by irresistible Arguments in the third Chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians especially in the eleventh twelfth and thirteen Verses you may read the whole Chapter at your leasure My Text is a kinde of Paradox an harsh truth and therefore I have laboured to clear this truth unto you I learnt to Preach of the Apostle who assures me that they Preach deceitfully whâ— do not manifest the truth of God to the consciences of men 2 Cor. 4. 2. Iâ— my Sermon seem too precise give me leave to say that your conscience is as precise as my Sermon I have a friend in your bosome that joyns with me I speak to your conscience your conscience will clear both God and me for all that I have spoken tends to this end That the saying of God in my Text may be justified My designe is the same with the wisest of Kings Eccles. 3. 18. That the sons of men might clear God and see that they themselves are Beasts You may see the translation corrected to that effect in the Margine of your Bibles Your conscience bids me proceed and so I passe to that which it is high time for us all to come to and that is a Use of Humiliation When an Ambassadour of Rhodes asked a Lacedaemonian Why Lycurgus was so
to live and harden it self into a stone Unnaturall sins are punished with unheard of plagues with miraculous judgements Those Heathens Rom. 1. 27. who left the naturall use of the woman and did burn with unnaturall lusts were given over to reprobate mindes and seared consciences Nay to speak higher yet These unnaturall Beasts are as perfect in their beastlinesse and brutishnesse as if they were naturall brute Beasts 2 Pet. 2. 10 12. And they who are thus perfect in sin will be perfectly thorowly tormented for these unnaturall perfections 4. Consider That beastly men are wilfull beasts They are not Beasts by nature but Beasts by choice and therefore they have as it were faln from reason to phantasie by a kinde of phantasticall choice their rationall will is changed into a sensuall appetite And it is all the reason in the world That they who have renounced their reason and chosen to be beasts rather then men should be deposed from their honour and made like the Beasts that perish 5. Consider That great men have great advantages and opportunities to serve God and his Church They are even lifted up to Heaven by priviledges Oh what a misery were it for such men to be cast down to Hell for the abuse of their priviledges Consider how hard it is for a rich man to be saved how few noble men are effectually savingly called Consider That the best estate of a wicked noble-man is worse then the worst estate of a poor godly man because the poor godly man in his worst estate is travelling towards Heaven But the best estate of a wicked noble-man leads him to his worst estate it ripens his sin and hastens his damnation Sure I am great men cannot plead any exemption at the day of judgement if Christ give them leave to be tried by their Peers those nobles which sit crowned in glorious Robes will condemn all impenitent and unbeleeving Peers My Lords I had rather turn your hearts then overturn your brains I had rather drive you out of your sins then out of your wits Yet these terrible considerations are enough to terrifie any man out of his little wits who doth ponder them enough to be convinced if God do not give him the grace to be converted My Lords you are not told often enough of Hell and damnation and therefore I do so often thunder out damnation that I might keep you from being damned Tell me ye sons of Nobles Whether your delicate sences can endure the touch of fire or smell of brimstone can your souls dwell with everlasting burnings can you wade thorow a River of brimstone kindled with the wrath of God Oh the diversitie and eternitie of Hellish torments is unutterable unconceiveable In Hell death ever lives the damned cannot die but do eternally suffer a kinde of living death and the consideration of the eternitie of their torment is to them the greatest torment and therefore they are ready to complain that there is a thousand Hels and ten thousand Devils in this word eternitie In Hell there are no degrees of honour but there are degrees of torment there 's a black Prince of flames and Nobles of darknesse there 's weeping and houling and gnashing of teeth out of desperate indignation The tongue is parched in the mouth the marrow fried in the bones the darknesse of the fire affright them the heat of the fire torments them and yet they are more tormented with the curse and wrath of God then the fire of Hell Hell were no Hell if it were not for the wrath of God But oh the losse of Honour the losse of Heaven the losse of Glory the losse of the Favour of an infinite God to a soul capable of Grace and Glory that 's an unspeakable losse because an infinite losse an infinite dishonour to be thus dishonoured to all eternitie Who can sound the depth of this bottomlesse Pit Sure the worst hell is in the conscience and the schorching of the fire is more tolerable then the gnawing of the worm And yet I have not done Hell is not onely the Center of torment but the Sink of sin and this consideration is most terrible to a religious soul To say I would not be in Hell because I would not be tormented that is the voice of self-love but to say I would not be in Hell because I would not hear my God blasphemed nor blaspheme him my self that is the voice of Noble love Let that consideration sweeten all the rest and work upon your Noble spirits to hate sin more then Hell and damnation Come then and take an holy revenge upon your selves to day be grieved in your hearts and pierced in your reins for all your ignoble practises against the God of Heaven repent with a kinde of indignation as David did and cry out Oh what a fool was I what a beast was I to dishonour him who is the fountain of Honour Look upon your patern Psal. 73 21 22. Thus my hears was grieved and I was pricked in my reins So foolish was I and ignorant I was a beast before thee My greatest task by far is yet behinde and therefore I passe on to an Use of Direction My Lords Honour is a tender fickle thing it is hard to get it and harder to keep it It may break a mans brains to get it his back to bear it and his heart to loose it We live in an age full of uncertainties and sick of jealousies I shall therefore adventure and I may well call it an adventure in this jealous age to give you faithfull counsell in some ticklish points If your Honour be any whit empaired I le shew you how to recover it if you enjoy your Honour I le shew you how to preserve nay increase it but if by an over-ruling providence you must part with your worldly honour and there is no resisting of providence I le shew you how you may gain a better honour an immortall glorious Honour in the highest Heavens Truely My Lords I am of no faction at all and therefore I may speak more freely and impartially in these weighty points First If your Honour be empaired I le do my best to shew you how to recover your Honour I know I touch upon a jarring string but consider that wise men and valiant men men that have done great service to their Countrey may quickly empair their honour in a jealous age Scipio Africanus had done very great service for his Countrey and yet he was called into * question more then once Moreover in times of civil war * there are so many perplexed cases propounded on the sudden that even the wariest man may over-shoot himself he may be sometimes circumvented and sometimes surprized and by either means dishonoured And in times of civil war most men are too censorious some out of a sober providence and cautelous circumspection not looking upon miscarriages as matters of course and casualtie but as a train laid to some
God be not too hasty He that beleeveth maketh not haste Isai. 28. 16. Waite Gods leisure and God will in due time exalt you to such a degree of honour as will make most for his glory and yours God will do it in due time saith the Apostle but remember that God is the Judge and therfore that is the due time which he appoints Your time is in Gods hand Psal. 31. 15. If the time of your prefâ—rment were in your enemies hand it would be deferred too long if it were in your own hand it would be over-much hastned and come too soon Such green fruit would breed worms It is well your time is in Gods hand leave all to him beleeve and pray wâ—ite and pray pray to him that disposes of Honour and Power Victory and Glory make your acknowledgements in the words of David 1 Chro. 29. 11 12. Thine O Lord is the greatnesse and the power and the glory and the victory and the majestie for all that is in Heaven and Earth is thine Thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted aâ— head above all both riches and honour come of thee and thou reignest over all and in thy hand is power and might and in thy hand it is to make great We humble our souls before thee we cast our care upon thee Exalt uâ— in due time that we may exalt thee give us grace to serve thee with all our power wealth and strength and honour thee with all our honour that thy power majestie and glory may be made known unto men This this is the way to recover all your honour Sixthly It will make exceedingly for your Honour to do most service when you have least encouragement because then it will appear that you do service upon Noble principles and do not intend to serve your selves But it will be objected That the greatest triall to a man of noble endowments is to be laid aside for that doth not onely reflect upon his Honour but deny him opportunitie of doing farther service This is indeed the saddest objection but I hope to return a satisfying answer First then consider That every man is not laid aside who is not constantly employed in Military affairs In other Common-wealths it doth not reflect upon any mans Honour if the date of his employment expire within an yeer or two Such was the wisdom of the Roman State that they seldom gave any long leases of Honour unto men that were deeply entrusted in eminent places of authoritie and command When the State was even surprized by some unexpected danger the Senate or Consuls did create a Dictator or in the absence of the Consuls in after times the people named some Pro-dictator and a Magister Equitum who by the Senates approbation were to take care of the Common-wealth But the same person continued not Dictator above six moneths unlesse his lease were renued and that was rare But it was more rare that there should be two Dictators at once Sylla would â—ain have been Dictator for five yeers and pleaded that Lex Valeria would justifie his desire but the Oratour denied that there was any such Law It is safer in places of such great trust and command to limit the time becansc you cannot so well limit their power Secondly All that have performed considerable service heretofore have cause to blesse God who did them the Honour in times past to make use of them in any Noble and renowned atchievements All that are Emeriti have made the State nay the enemies of the State sensible of their worth and therefore they do not lay down their Arms but hang them up as Ensignes of Victory Thirdly God hath an absolute Power and Soveraign Command over the greatest men in the World and they owe Absolute subjection to the will pleasure providence of the God of Heaven Come acknowledge your subjection God is not bound to use the same Instruments still Instruments are no helps to him for he helps his Instruments and works all iâ— them and for them God loves to shew his Prerogative and make great ones know that he is not beholding to them to do his work he will let them see that he can do his work without them My Lords I dare not flatter you there are enough can do that who are onely men in black and no Divines I speak to you in the name of the mightie God who breaks in peices mightie men without number and sets others in their stead Job 34. 24. God having varietie of Instruments doth delight to use them by turns If any are unfaithfull they have been used too long but all that have faithfully performed their part of the service will not or need not repine if men of meaner abilities take their turn the meaner they are the more should God be glorified and you humbled Fourthly When God hath tried men in the duties of active obedience he doth usually call them to honour him farther by passive obedience and it is no easie matter to come off with honour in the passive part Great spirits will finde it task enough for to be patient they will have work enough to keep themselves humble in such a case and therefore they need not complain for want of work My Lords It is a Work indeed to mortifie self-love it is no easie matter for great men to take themselves off from self-confidence self-conceitednesse and self-ends that their hearts may be wrought unto a self-deniall which is the foundation of Christianitie and at this time the onely means in sight of our safetie Can you imitate David in one of the most royall services that ever we read of it was a self-denying service a royall and magnanimous but sweet submission to the Will of God If I finde favour in the eyes of God he will bring me back again and employ me farther that was his meaning But if he say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do unto me as seems good in his sight 2 Sam. 15. 25 26. My Lords Suffer me to deal freely and honestly with you It may be God sees that your hearts are like to be lifted up by too high an opinion of what God hath done by you in former times and therefore God would have you breath and rest a while that you may be sufficiently humbled and so fitted for some higher and nobler peece of active obedience and then you 'l shew more bright and glorious after this seeming sad eclipse At low water you have him to tread the banks whilest the ship is in the barbour you may dresse it and trim it and make it able to endure storms and tempests They that are employed will shew themselves men they adventure far and you have a full employment your votes have an influence into all affairs of high concernment Be not displeased but rest assured That your active spirits and inlarged hearts will by the blessing of Heaven have fairer opportunities and
heart even before the man hath any cleer bright evidence of his own election that there are better things laid up for the elect in Christ then any the world can bestow upon them better honour better riches better glory Christ is a pretious Christ to all true beleevers to you who beleeve he is an Honour 1 Pet. 2. 7. The originall will bear it for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is the word Would ye then my Lords and you dear Christians gain an immortall glorious Honour you see the ready way beleeve beleeve and Jesus Christ will be an Honour to you But remember that your Faith must be the Faith of Christians not the faith of Divels it must be such a pretious faith as purifies the heart purges the conscience assents and consents to Christ such a faith as overcomes the world and quenches the fiery darts of the divell by resting upon Christ and drawing vertue from him But I must not forget in the next place that your faith must work by love and therefore as you must have a victorious faith so you must have a transcendent an heroicall Love to the Lords Jesus you must love him better then your friends better then your estates better then your honour for you must lay down all your Coronets all your Honour at the feet of Christ nay you must love Christ better then your lives Christ turned to the great multitudes and said to them If any man come to me and hates not his own life in comparison of me for my sake and the Gospels he cannot be my Disciple Luke 14. 25 26. And again Verse 33. Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all he hath he cannot be my Disciple Our Saviour doth not mean such a Disciple as Peter and the rest but by Disciple he means Scholar Subject Member Servant Friend Heir for he speaks to the multitude and therefore the meaning is That one of the poorest and meanest men in the throng could not have any interest in Christ or benefit by him unlesse he love the Lord Jesus better then his estate and life better then all the world and can men in Honour think to go to Heaven upon cheaper and easier terms then one of the multitude No sure where God gives more he requires more Come then my Brethren Let this day of sorrow be a day of Love or else it will not be a day of godly sorrow for godly sorrow arises from the love of God from Faith working by love from Faith in Christ and love to him The bitterest tears flow from the sweetest Love Come you that have any tender hearts or rowling bowels let me this day speak to your hearts and bowels and cast you into the melting pangs of a divine and Christian love Consider your want of Christ and the worth of Christ Oh consider the benefits of Christs death the sweetnesse of Christs promises the pleasantnesse of his commands the pretiousnesse of his graces and above all the infinitenesse of his love And you cannot but love him your hearts must needs be ravished into an extasie if you consider that soul-ravishing Text Revel. 1. 5 6. And you cannot but cry out with the ardency of affection with the strength the zeal of love Oh to him to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion love and subjection for ever and ever Amen Come you that never studied the Art of spirituall love Consider that Jesus Christ saw your distressed souls weltring in blood and filthinesse and his bowels were turned his compassions were kindled within him and he said unto you even then when you were polluted in your own blood live yea when you were polluted in your own blood and filthinesse he said Live and Live eternally Was not that a time of love with him Why now turn your eyes inward and look upon your own souls sprinkled with the blood the heart-blood of Jesus Christ that they may be purged and you may be saved and tell me is it not a time of love now with your beloved souls Do you not feel your hearts begin to burn within you Are you not transported beyond your selves are you not even mounting up to Heaven and flying into the Arms and Bosome of your beloved Lord Come give up your hearts to Christ for I must prevail I am sure you are convinced that Jesus Christ is the best husband in the world for your pretious souls for he is the onely All-sufficient Saviour there is no choice you must have him or none Come be not thus dull of understanding or affection be not carelesse and peevish in a businesse which concerns the happy welfare of your eternall souls Away with all prejudicate opinions and vain conceits Come let us be setled men and spend some sad thoughts about the saving excellencies of Jesus Christ Be not so impudently presumptuous as to imagine That you love Christ well enough already if you have not as yet sufficiently known or judiciously considered what reason and equitie there iâ— that you should love Christ better then all the World Come let me close with you a little and speak home to every one of your souls in particular Friend be not such a sott as to doate upon trifles I le shew thee wonders The wonder of our redemption the most admirable and most astonishing Plot of the blessed Trinitie sitting in counsell about the Salvation of thy beloved soul A mystery which the Angels stoop down to pry into an Orient Pearl that will out-shine all the sparkling Jewels of the whole Creation if they should be digged out of Natures Cabinet and hung up with such advantage that they might all unite their beams upon some day of triumph Hear what a worthy Divine of ours saith Our slighting the offers of Grace and not laying to heart what God hath done for us is a sin next to wilfull apostasie and malicious blasphemy For he who doth not see such glorious miracles of love and inestimable treasures of grace in Christ as to take of his minde and heart from the glittering vanities of the world that he may fix his thoughts and setle his affections upon God in Christ as an all-sufficient Portion and Inheritance That man doth offer an affront to the majestie of Heaven he befools the Wisdom and scorns the love of the blessed Trinity for he slights the most excellent wonder that ever the Wisdom of God contrived or his power compassed or his goodnesse bestowed upon the sons of men And what reason hath such a soft to expect favour from God mercy from Christ or comfort from the Holy Ghost Do ye beleeve the Scriptures Why then tell me Whether the favour of God will not comfort the heart better then corn and wine Psal. 4 6 7. Then sheep and oxen strong sons and polished daughters full barns and
full bâ—gs Read and consider the four last verses of the 144. Psalm Is not the loving kindnesse of God better then life Psal. 63. 3. Can a man gain any thing though he gain the whole world if he loose his own soul Or is there any thing to be given in exchange for the soul Canst thou set thy heart upon that which thou beleevest to be drosse and dung Phil. 3. 8. And art thou not ashamed to prefer the â—asest trash and dung before Jesus Christ It is impossible that our affections should for any long time together stand in aequilibrio even-ballanced between Christ and the World Because every little trifle would turn the scales there being so many cases in which a man must either renounce Christ or the World and if there were but one thing in all the world which a man loves better then Christ if that come to stand in competition with Christ he will as basely deny and betray Christ for that one thing be it profit honour pleasure be it what it will as if he preferred many other things before him Beloved I propound these considerations to you That you may ponder them well in your cool blood and morning thoughts and so come on to firm purposes and stedfast resolutions to settle your affection upon Jesus Christ for beleeve it such thoughts as these must go before purposes and consultation before resolution or else all your good purposes without counsell will be vain they will be frustrated and disappointed as the Wise-man forâ—-warns you Prov. 15. 22. Go home then and read nay peruse the love-letters of Christ in his glorious Gospel and review all the love-tokens which he hath sent to thy dear soul and then fall in love with him nay before thou goest home let me gain a promise from thee That thou wilt have no other Saviour or Husband for thy soul but Jesus Christ that thou wilt receive him for thy Lord with the thankfull affections of Love and Reverence that thou wilt take an unmixed delight and compleat content in him as thy Treasure thy Happinesse thy All Suffer me now then even now whilest thy judgement is convinced and thy heart warmed to cast thee into a lovetrance into the Seraphicall flames of conjugall affections Come art thou ready is thy spirit raised thy heart enlarged thy minde fixed thy soul in tune to say after me O my blessed Lord I have been too proud and pervish heretofore but thy free-grace and undeserved love hath beaten me out of all my pride and naturall enmitie I fall down at thy foot-stool and lay my self flat before thee At first I wondered to hear Preachers talk so much of Christ and I was bold to ask thy friends What their beloved was more then another beloved But now I wonder that I could endure to be so long without thee my fervent desires of thee were at first grounded on a thorough sence of the extreme misery of all my happinesse without thee But now I have renounced all my self-love and abhor all self-ends as base and mercenary being fully convinced that thou hast bought me out of my selfe and all that I called mine and therefore out of a well-advised dislike and disesteem of all worldly profit honour pleasure or any other admired vanitie I make a full and absolute Resignation of my self and make over all that is dear and pretious to me in the world to thee my Lord and Saviour For truely Lord I am thine onely thine ever thine all that I am is at thy command and all I have is at thy disposing be pleased to command both it and me With all humilitie and thankfulnesse I accept thy pretious offers of grace and mercy and do confesse them to be offers worthy of all acceptation because I know that whatsoever I adventure or loose for thy sake I shall receive with infinite advantage in thy blessed Self I dare trust my dear Lord with the best thing that ever he gave me my pretious soul Oh my bleeding heart and broken spirit doth languish in a thirsty love panting and gasping after thee my beloved Saviour Oh let me taste how gracious thou art by some reall experiments in mine own heart smile upon me from Heaven answer me with some assuring whispers of the Spirit of Adoption Kisse me with the kisses of thy mouth for thy love is sweeter then the taste of wine or the love of women Oh let me bathe my soul in the delicious intimacies of a spirituall communion with thee my God and Saviour that I may for ever adhere unto thee with a sincere constancy and rest in thee with a love of complacencie for I feel I finde my soul cast into a longing sweat for thee and nothing can satisfie the importunate longing of my perplexed soul but thine onely Self for thou art my Lord my love my life and thou art altogether lovely And now Lord I have found thee whom my soul loves I will let go any thing in the world to take better hold of thee Now I have embraced thee I will not let thee go untill thou blesse me nay I will not let thee go then but hold thee fast for ever that thou maist for ever blesse me If thou killest me I will trust in thee nay I will love thee for thy love is better then life therefore my lips shall praise thee If I live I will live serving thee if I die I will die praising thee Whether I live or die let me be ever thine and then I know thou wilt be an advantage to me both in life and death To this effect the soul that is in love with Christ doth usually expresse it self for such souls are commonly cast into an agony into pangs of love and therefore the Scripture hath describ'd the out-goings of such a soul by severall similitudes By the gasping of the parched ground the panting of a chased Hart the longings of a teening woman by the fainting and swowning of one that is in good earnest sick of Love What say you then beloved Christians are you willing to live to him who died for you Will you indeed live to him and if he calls you to it die for him Beleeve it He dies the noblest death who dies a Martyr And if you talk of Honour you cannot be preferred to an higher degree of Honour then to be esteemed the Friends of Christ here and made Coheirs with Christ in glory Beloved Such as our affections are such are we It our affections be right set on things above we are Saints if they be set on the things below we are Beasts or Devils Come then ye men of Honour come set your affections upon the noblest and most honourable object the highest chiefest good God in Christ If you do not set your affections upon Christ you will have no place with Christ in glory and in Hell men loose the sweetest and comfortablest part of their affections or at least the use and exercise of them
there is nothing amiable or lovely in Hell therefore there is no use of love there is no joy or delight no good to be hoped for there onely the tormenting affections of grief shame despair and the rest of that black crue remain to vex and torture the soul though they cannot devour or consume it Let us then so place our affections here as that we may enjoy the comfort of them in another world let our love and confidence be placed on Christ let us delight and rejoyce in him and his service that our souls may be for ever satisfied with his goodnesse and even ravished with his love Remember that Faith and Love are both Active it is Faith working by Love you have heard of the obedience of Faith Rom. 16. 26. And if ye Love me keep my Commandments Joh. 14. 15. Consider that Jesus Christ is the Authour of eternall Salvation to all them and none but them that obey him Heb. 5. 9. Beloved in the Lord Jesus If you will learn to perform all your duties in faith and out of love trusting onely upon free grace and aiming onely at Gods glory My soul for yours you will be of the Christian circumcision you will worship God in the spirit rejoyce in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh You will be justified by free-grace acted and lead by effectuall Grace into all necessary Trueths and Holinesse of Trueth Faith and love will finde out their way to Heaven Faith and love will establish your hearts and mindes These graces will make you not onely patient and constant but zealous also For zeal can never boil high enough unlesse it be raised by Faith and enflamed by Love Zeal is the strength of affection and heighth of grace it is the heighth of knowledge the heighth of prudence and therefore not to be ordered by discretion as they talk who mistake policie for wiâ—dom and subject matters of Religion to reasons of State nay zeal is the heighth of Faith also When we read that something was imputed to Phinehas for righteousnesse Some say it was Justice others say Zeal but I say Faith for I know nothing else imputed for righteousnesse in any Scripture notion And Faith is said to be imputed for righteousnesse because the object of Faith the Lord Christ is Jehovah our righteousnesse Come then let your Faith and Love and Zeal kindle burn rise flame higher and higher Beleeve it you 'l be but uselesse men without zeal for your parts and gifts will be uselesse As a knife without an edge a ship without sails sails without winde a bird without wings wheels without oyl an horse without mettall such is a man any man a man in Honour without Zeal But a word or two more my Lords and I have done You must shew your selves noble Christians in your places relations correspondencies and improve all your Interests for the Honour of Jesus Christ and if you Honour God he will Honour you and your house 1 Sam. 2. 30. Honour God not onely with outward but inward worship honour him with your soul and body and substance Perform Honourable actions do not disdain to anoint the feet of our Saviour the lower you do stoop to serve Christ the higher you will be preferred for your humble service You may smell the perfume of that womans ointment that anointed the feet of Christ even to this very day wheresoever the Gospel is Preached Salvator noster faeminae monnumentum currâ— triumphali vel Statuâ Imperatoris illustrius erexit Study Honorabilia legis The great and honourable things of the Law and Gospel Consider that vile affections base lusts will dishonour your bodies and damn your souls Rom. 1. 24 26. O possesse your vessels in sanctification and honour 1 Thes. 4. 4. It will not be for your honour to be guiltie of those sins which ye ought to punish Jehu was a murtherer in the sight of God for slaying of Idolatours because he was an Idolatour himself Mordecai was next to the King great among the Jews and accepted of the people by doing what was right in the sight of the people Hester 10. 3. You shall be near to Jesus Christ and accepted of God if ye do what is right in the sight of God Glory and Honour and Peace shall rest upon you for to them who by Patient continuance in wel-doing seek for glory and honour and immortalitie God will give immortall honour eternall life Rom. 2. 7 10. You know that they are good men who are good in their places and they are men of Honour who keep a good conscience in places of honour My Lords I do not desire to deal with you in a full Body as you make an House of Peers but I consider you as you will be considered and dealt with at the day of judgement then Christ will take you out every Lord single by himself one by one and say Sir you had the honour to sit in the House of Peers why did you hold correspondence with my utter enemies the Antichristian faction and commonly give your Vote against me when the welfare of three Kingdoms the building up of my Church and the making of a new heaven upon earth did much depend upon your Vote When it was put to the Vote in the Senate at Rome Whether Christ should be worshipped as God in the Romane Territories It was carried against him by a major part of Votes But my Lords I hope nay I know better things of your House then of the Romane Senate for the House of Peers hath passed a Vote lately much conducing to the Honour of Jesus Christ and the Reformation of particular Congregations Be pleased to proceed and perfect the Work let the ignorant be better instructed and the scandalous better disciplined the Liberties and Priviledges of Gods people restored Heretikes Blasphemers Seducers severely punished Oh that you could form and new mould our Armies into Churches also Is it not possible that there should be a spirituall Militia a powerfull Ministery and some Ecclesiasticall as well as Military Discipline set up and countenanced amongst them I must acknowledge That when I had the honour to serve the Sate and attend the Army I received all encouragement from His Excellency the Noble Generall in the work of my Ministery But I beleeve the want of Ministers was one defective cause or at least occasion of many disorders in that Army and how highly God was provoked by those disorders we have all cause to acknowledge yet give me leave to say That your sins had an influence into that sad defeat as well as ours and notwithstanding all the faults of that Army Surely my Lords That Army which had borne the heat and burthen nay carried away the glory of the day in so many set-battles and solemn victories should not have been so much neglected but timely relieved You see my Lords I know not how to flatter you but I beseech you I beseech you That