King Agrippa's leave almost a Christian was three parts an Atheist Such a glimmering light of zeal is like a Morning mist which quickly vanisheth away and it is Christus suffuratus as the Souldiers said Christ stoln away and pilfered out of our heart I know not how He that never saw the Sea is as near his journeys end to pass it over as he that wades but to the ankles The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundation of this house and his hands shall finish it Zach. iv 9. that was a blessing from the Lord. To be of Caesars mind Nil actum credens cum quid superesset agendum to think nothing done when any thing was undone that was a Spirit to make a Conquerour My love is a bundle of Myrrh Cant. xiii As if she were like Seleucus shafts which could not be broken in the cluster Such a bundle of Myrrh is in St. Peter 2 Epist i. 5. Give all diligence and add to your faith vertue to your vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to all these charity What will all these serve the turn when they stand as thick as corn in harvest Yes says the Apostle Si abundaverint if they abound in you they will make you you shall not be barren and fruitless Thus then Truth and Mercy will forsake us if we do not further the gift of God take away the single Talent and give it to him that hath ten more The next way to make our heart cast this happy brood and to miscarry when it travels with Truth and Mercy is admotione contrarii by taking part both with God and Belial Asahal was not more nimble than St. John to fly away when he spied Cerinthus the eldest Son of Satan in the same Bath with him and therefore do not think to make your soul an Ark for the clean and unclean beasts to lie together A little frosty air is so forcible that it bursts the clouds and forceth out the hot exhalation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is spirted out between the fingers and gone before you can think of it Beloved that field in Israel was hated like Aceldama which was sown with divers seeds and Nehemiah cursed the children that spake one half in the Hebrew Tongue and another part in the Language of Ashdod Covetousness is so wealthy and it thrives so fast that it easily purchaseth the whole heart of man and whom at first you entertained like a foreiner to have one moyety in your heart it buys the whole possession over Mercies head Veios migrate coloni and so casts it forth And likewise so incompatible is truth with the least falshood that the haters of the Lord were found liars at our Saviours arraignment when he spake nothing Is it not strange Very strange That Christ should come before unrighteous Judges be impeached by malicious Adversaries all this while hold his peace and yet the Witness not agree Will you know the reason There came two false Witnesses Mat. xxvi Averring that this fellow said I am able to destroy the Temple of God and to build it again in three days There is another tale told Mar. xiv We heard him say I will destroy this Temple made with hands and will build another without hands But what said our Saviour in very deed You shall find his saying Joh. ii 19. Neither I can destroy with the former nor I will destroy with the latter But vos solvite do you destroy and solvite templum hoc the Temple of his body and in three days I will raise it up You cannot clap good and bad together but with waxen pins if you move them a little they fly asunder the wax melteth and it confounds the Chariot and his Rider For what agreement hath light with darkness or the Temple of the Lord with Idols Touching the third manner and the last how a quality may cease to be desitione subjecti when that faileth wherein it is it hath no place only in Truth and Mercy Other things indeed we can expect to remain no longer than the house of our body lasteth beauty ceaseth with the bloud and strength faileth with the sinews nay tongues shall cease and knowledge shall vanish away but mercy and charity abideth for ever Yea and truth also but veritas in visione not in fide Truth in the clear vision of God and not darkly in faith In a word as Joseph furnished his Brethren both with food for their travel and Corn to keep house with in the Land of Canaan So there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. James gifts for our Pilgrimage in this life and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gifts to abide with us in our Country above perfect gifts descending from the Father of lights So some endowments drop away with this house of flesh but after glorification this voice shall no more be heard in our ears let not Mercy and Truth forsake thee But this uncomfortable deserant that Gods gifts may forsake us is to view Jacob but as a Criple halting and failing in his combate but nè deserant let them not forsake thee shews Israel wrestling with the Angel and keeping God as I may speak it with reverence fast unto him with a chain of Faith To begin therefore with Mercy there are two ways to keep a firm possession of it by Meditation and by Petition The Meditations also shall be twain and very short ones for the time sake First Consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers call it the deep engagement of our Charity in the Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our brethren and no otherwise Lord what a deep curse do we bring upon our soul if this be not said in earnest Secondly Consider the compassion of all the Members in that mystical body whereof Christ is the head He that is hard hearted against a Christian is cruel against a part of himself Nero might fill the streets with the slaughtered bodies of the Saints For why he was none of ours but a Lion in the Sheepfold but a little bitterness a disdaining contempt a reviling malediction the neglect of the misery of a Christian at the hands of a Christian is more unnatural It was St. Basils counsel and most elegant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as he that looks upon the sore eye of another man may chance to provoke the rheum in his own eyes so our eyes should grow feeble and conceive tears when we see the tears of our brother If we chance to offend against Mercy and to forget one of these Meditations it is very likely that it will stop at the other but if both fail then we must fly unto uncessant Prayer and Petition That is Anchora sacra for the last refuge let us fall down before his footstool and confirm Gods grace to our soul as Elias made the heavens of brass I do not mean so
to believe in him nay if he had not given them his Body to be meat that whosoever eateth thereof might not die but live for ever they had never been his people Lord draw us and we will come unto thee visit us and we shall be healed redeem us and we shall be made free make us thy people and we will serve thee and praise thee and bless thee all the days of our life Amen THE TWELFTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE i. 69. And hath raised up an horn of Salvation for us in the house of his servant David THe Spirit of God is so constant to the same matter to the same phrase of speech in Holy Scripture that there is no Text of prime Doctrine in the New Testament but likely you may fit it as it were verbatim out of the Old I put you in mind of it at this time because David hath not only comprized my Text but all this Song of Zachary into one verse Zachary having been dumb for nine months his unspeakable joy at last burst out like a River which hath been stopt and flows forth in a full gush when the Sluce is open Now whereas when he found his tongue and began likewise to Prophesie his Wife and Kindred who were the Assembly that heard him expected no doubt that in the first instance after he broke silence he would speak of John the Baptist a child of much wonder and expectation whom the Lord had sent unto him in his old age yet he did not so but he took the rise of his Prophesie from a mightier work by far he begins with the Bridegroom and then proceeds to the friend of the Bridegroom He begins with the Saviour and then speaks of the Servant he begins with the bread of life and then goes on to the voice of the Crier he was sent unto the Jews to invite them to eat of it He begins with the glorius King sprung out of the house of David and concludes with his own Son that was the torch-bearer to carry the light before him Of both these thus the Psalmist with most admirable brevity Psal cxxxii 18. There will I make the horn of David to bud I have ordained a lanthorn for mine Anointed The horn or excellency of David is Christ Incarnate the Lamp ordained for that mighty King was John the Forerunner whom the Evangelist of his own name calls a burning and a shining light 'T is St. Austins Exposition and so natural to the sense of the Psalm that it hath gained upon me to follow it Yet there is great odds between Faith in spe in re between the prenuntion and the event of these mysteries between the promise of the Sun rising and the light which shines visibly upon the world between the knowledge of Salvation which was drawn nearer to the Church in Zacharies days than it was in Davids when it was further off In the one it is faciam I will make the horn of David to bud in the other it is feci the counsel of God is actuated he hath raised up an horn David was bold to sing it forth that God would perform his Promise Zachary was more bold to speak in the Preter-tense that he had performed when it was but in fieri when the Web was yet upon the Loom Christmas day was not yet come it was half a year off before the time was appointed that a Virgin should be delivered but Zachary knowing the certain execution of Gods Word hath made Christmass day in the Text. He doth not only bear witness to our Saviour though yet an imperfect feture after three months conception as if the Child were born but as if he were in his most able growth in perfect strength of years in perfect execution of his power in the perfect glory of his Kingdom And hath raised up an horn of Salvation for us in the house of his servant David Now to prepare you to receive the division of the words you may easily mark that whereas the former verse contains a general profession of Gods mercy to his Church he hath visited and redeemed his People this verse contracts it to the particular instrument through whom we are all blessed as who should say God hath given Redemption to his People yet there is no redemption to be lookt for but in Jesus Christ he hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David The principal word of the Text therefore is that which is in the midst An horn of salvation it is the Periphrasis of Christ I will begin from thence 2. I will declare how God did raise up this horn of salvation when Christ was born 3. Here is the Lineage of our Saviour according to the Flesh he was raised up in the house of David in the house of David his Servant Lastly Here is the use and fruit of his birth which belongs to us that is to as many as have the same faith in him that Zachary had when he opened his mouth to utter this Prophetical Song And hath raised up c. In the former verse Zachary says that he would bless that is praise and Magnifie the Lord God of Israel And hath he not made good his word Yes surely for the praise of the most high cannot be exalted in the tongue of a sinner more than in this attribute to call him an horn of salvation There was more obedience and faith in it I will not call it merit but I say it exprest more obedience and faith that this devout Priest should call a Child nay a feture but of three months conception as yet curdled like milk as Job says in his mothers womb the horn the strength of our salvation than for the Angels and Seraphins to sing continually before the Throne of heaven Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts the Angels extol that infinite Majesty which they behold in glory This person confest all that his tongue could utter to the honour of his Redeemer when nothing was actuated nothing yet in being to be seen and when the time came that it should be seen nothing could be more infirm in appearance Yet neither the inevidence of the object before he was incarnate nor the parvity and outward meanness of the object when he was to be incarnate do stumble his faith but he makes as great a noise to advance his dignity as words would give him leave an horn of salvation Salvation salvation is our tree of life restore the Church to that O Lord and there is Paradise enough in it though we be shut out of Paradise It is one beam and the very principal of that inward light in holy Scripture which shines in the Meridian of us Christians and makes us resolve by a secret contract between us and faith that it is the the Word of God because it treats constantly and in every part of it touching the means of salvation But the Volumes of heathen men
hands Defiled hands in the original are common hands for whatsoever was commonly touched by them and the Gentiles they called it defiled and in suspicion they might touch meat or vessels or apparel which was unclean by the Law they washed often to purge themselves from that defilement This is well illustrated Joh. ii where we read that at the marriage in Cana of Galilee there were ready standing six water-pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews containing two or three Firkins a piece these have reference to that Pharisaical tradition of washing often lest they should be defiled Now mark how God observes both the heathen and the Pharisees in their own weakness and out of that which they made a vain tradition he makes a gracious Sacrament A good Author cites out of the Rabbins that the Jews had added over and above Moses his institution of the Passeover first these words in eating the sower herbs with the Lamb Take and eat these in remembrance of our deliverance from bondage And likewise they gave a cup of Wine one to another with these words Take and drink this in remembrance of the same c. And from hence according to a Custom of their own our Saviour did break bread and give wine and use the same words in his holy Supper Thus both the Sacraments to please them the better had their original from some of their own Ordinances but cast in a new mold so the heathen Temples were changed to be houses of Prayer The Cross which was no better than their Gallows is made a significant and laudable Ceremony in Christian Baptism And lastly Their superstitious bathings were turn'd by John and confirm'd by Christ to be an immortal Laver. This I hope satisfies the first question how this Institution of Baptism began being never heard of untill the days of John The dignity of Johns Baptism is now to be examined It is grown like many things more to be full of difficulty because of mens contentions and without discussion of these three things it cannot be understood 1 What is the vertue of a Sacrament 2. That Johns Baptism had the same substantial vertue with the Baptism of Christ that it now hath 3. That in some respects both Baptisms being one and the same the Baptism of Christ doth exceed the Baptism of John Sacraments are thus distinguished into such as went before the fall of Adam and such as went after Before the Fall there was one Sacrament and no more that was the Tree of Life ordained to be a sign of the Covenant of Works After the Fall God did not make a Covenant of Works but of Grace with man and ever since the Sacraments are Covenants of Grace and seals of the same And they of the Old Testament betoken the Covenant promised to our Fore-fathers they of the New Testament do imply the Covenant performed Let me distinguish again that in the Old Testament all the Sacrifices and a great part of the shadows and Types are sometimes in the Fathers called Sacraments because they had a signification of Christ to come but Circumcision and the Paschal Lamb they only had the Promise of Grace and Reconciliation annexed unto them which is a great deal more than bare signification And as St. Paul speaks honourably of Circumcision that it was a Seal of the righteousness of Faith so our Church thinks it not fit to speak contemptibly of the faith of the righteous men under the Law nor of those visible signs which God appointed to establish his Promise unto them but we make them equal in efficacy with Baptism and the Lords Supper That according as their faith did apply the Promise unto them their Sacraments were as profitable for Salvation as ours Only these are Circumstantial differences 1. That our Sacraments are meerly spiritual which betoken nothing of this world The Jews Sacraments had somewhat in them both which belong'd to the body as well as to the soul for Abraham received the sign of Circumcision that he should be the Father of many Nations and the Paschal Lamb was a remembrance that they came out of Egypt out of the house of bondage 2. As the light of Faith is brighter with us the measure of the Spirit more abundant so our Sacraments are justly said to to be Virtute majora more efficacious because we are endued with better means of application 3. Our Sacraments are actu faciliora to wash and be clean and to eat bread and drink wine are performed with more facility than the cutting the foreskin of Infants or the slaying of a Lamb to eat it with sower herbs 4. Take all the Types and Sacrifices of the Jews together which were an heavy burden because of their multitude then our Sacraments are numero pauciora we have but twain and so their number is not troublesom These are accidental differences but otherwise as St. Austin said of Manna that it was to them as the Lords Supper is to us In signis diversis fides eadem the Elements were divers but such as begot the same faith and are tokens of the same Lord Jesus Christ and beget the same Salvation That which thwarts this Doctrine is the distinction of the Schoolmen that the Sacraments ordained in Moses Law were significancies of Grace but the Sacraments of Christ did exhibit and confer Grace What means that Surely he that did eat the Paschal Lamb by faith to him it was spiritual nourishment and he that eats the Lords Supper to him only it is spiritual nourishment I can see no odds The late Romish Writers disclaim their gross opinion maintained long ago that in men capable of reason and knowledge for we set Infants aside the taking of the Sacrament should add a benefit to the Receiver Ex opere operato externo sine motu interno says Biel by the meer outward act without an inward preparation This opinion their Cardinal Controverser disavows for he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks his own damnation Then if Faith be requisite in the Participant I cannot see how one Sacrament exhibits Grace more than another It is far from my meaning to diminish the excellency and vertue of our Sacraments No I had rather set all disputations aside and say with St. Austin Quorum vis inenarrabiliter valet plurimum that is their power prevails in such a sort as we cannot utter how it is Yet this may be safely taught that they are not helping and partial causes of Salvation to be joyned in office with the merit of Christ but only Instruments ordained to work Salvation by the Promise of God and the application of a lively faith Origens words express much if I could explain them Non sunt justitiae sed conditurae justitiarum The Sacraments are not our righteousness but as sauce makes meat fit to be eaten so they make righteousness fit to be put upon us The Word preacht is the power
but his illumination Wherefore the Church by way of external testimony was ever the best approved and most faithful witness of Christ yet this testimony so much beneath his Person were unauthorized and fruitless but that it is always governed by the inward Spirit of the Father Aquinas in a certain Sermon upon the Pentecost hath drawn up those things which bear witness of Christ into a certain number and that the verdict is given from twelve the most principal things in the world God the Father in this Proclamation God the Son in his own Confession God the Holy Ghost in the Dove-like Apparition the Angels at his Nativity the Saints that rose from the dead the Miracles which he wrought the Heaven which was darkned at his Passion the Fire when he sent the Comforter in that Element upon his Disciples the Air when he commanded the winds to be still the water when he made the Seas to be calm the Earth when it shook and quak'd at his Resurrection and lastly Hell it self when the Devils did acknowledge him calling him Jesus of Nazareth and saying We know thee who thou art But above all this testimony in my Text enforceth credence upon us more than any other as St. Ambrose thinks Si dubitatur de filio paterno non creditur testimonio If there be any spice of unbelief in your heart run hither to take it out for will you not take the Fathers word for the excellency of his Son that this is the Sacrifice in whom he is well pleased Shew us thy Father says Philip and it sufficeth Joh. xiv 8. Much more resolutely might the Church say Let us hear thy Father and it sufficeth We ask no surer warrant to confirm our faith For as Abraham answered the rich man concerning his brethren that did not believe If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one arose from the dead So I may say to all that receive not the faith If they will not believe the Father in whom all the treasures of knowledge are hidden then they may question if there be light in the Heavens perspicuity in the Air life in their own souls every thing that flesh and bloud can alledge must be dark and doubtful to their capacity God spoke from above through the air and it received his voice and when he speaks in our hearts shall not we receive his testimony Thus St. Ambrose in a sweet strain upon it Credidit mundus in Elementis credat in hominibus credidit in exanimis credat in viventibus credidit in mutis credat in loquentibus The rude Elements of the world were taught to admit the doctrine of Faith then much more let men embrace it inanimate things took the Symphony from the Fathers mouth let things which live much more receive it the dumb things of nature were taught to embrace the voice let those things which have tongues much more praise God for glorifying his Son To the upshot of the Point I add this and have done John Baptist did bear witness to our Saviour but his witness was too mean for so great a Person Quo ad nos in regard of our apprehension the testimony and approbation of holy men is a great matter but in regard of the honour of Christ it was fit that the Father who is coequal should testifie of the Son and so doth the Son of the Father which is excellently knit up in one Text Joh. v. 32. There is another that beareth witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true So by the voice of the Father we know the excellency of the Son and by the preaching of the Son we know the truth of the Father This is their mutual testimony In the second place the manner follows how the Father testified to the honour of his Son and that is by a voice Every Creature whether it live or whether it be inanimate every season of the year every blessing for our use that the earth brings forth though it be dumb yet I am not ashamed to say that it speaks aloud how there is a God that made us and preserved us To this purpose St. Paul spake to the Lycaonians Actc xiv 17. The living God left not himself without witness in that he gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Since therefore all the Elements continually are dumb witnesses of the glory of God how easie is it for the Father Almighty to put a tongue into the air and make it speak I will not argue upon the strict terms of Logick how this can be called a voice being not uttered by the Throat and Palate and other Instruments of a rational Creature God is a transcendent above all the Arts in the world and many things proceeding from him are not to be examined by such rules this I may definitively say it was sonus articulatus an articulate intelligible sound of words as if it had come from the tongue of man And I would pass by this Point but that two things come in my way 1. How properly the Father is known by a voice 2. How well it expresseth the comforts of the Gospel Upon the first the School doth distinguish Efficientia vocis erat à totâ Trinitate declaratio spectat ad solum patrem Every effect belongs equally to the whole Trinity therefore this voice was as well the work of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as it was of the Father For so St. Austin beat down the blasphemy of the Arians who taught that the Father gave some honour to the Son which he had not nay says he Ille transeuntium verborum sonus non sine filio factus est alioquin non omnia per ipsum facta sunt That transient voice which was intended to glorifie the Son was made by the Son otherwise the Scriptures had not said All things were made by him and without him nothing was made But though the efficiency of the voice be common to every Person of the Trinity yet the signification of it was appropriated to the Father for he said the word and by it he made the worlds he spake and all things were created The Lord said indeed let the Firmament be made let the light be made and all things else not by oral prolocution but by the Decree of his holy will and as one said Facilius est Deo facere quam nobis dicere God can sooner make all things visible and invisible than we speak of it therefore the Phrase runs as if all things were existent at the uttering of a word And I know not if any similitude do speak that ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity better than this from the manifest pronunciation of a speech wherein are these three things together which cannot be parted The voice begets a word spoken and there is truth in that word which was spoken by the voice
consists herein to refute one of the Devils Arguments When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own when we oppose him with the truth we speak from God And God give us understanding in all things for it is no easie task to bolt out the mischievous imaginations of this Adversary As it is accounted the chief Art of an Orator that his words may seem to be but plain Narration and no Art at all So it is the sharpest strain of Wit which makes it appear to be nothing less than wit but plain simplicity Take heed and beware of this deceit in Satan But as David enquired of the Lord how he should go to battel against the Philistins and the Lord said Thou shalt fetch a compass behind them and so smite the Philistins So we must not view this tentation of Satans in the front and seek after no more then all the said will appear to be full of faith and full of pitty but let us fetch a compass behind him and you shall find strange iniquity covered under the cloake of simplicity They that will craftily infer some falshood will tell some truth but this subtil Disputer hath conveyed his words with those artificial colours that he hath spoken nothing but falshood and yet nothing but truth If you will take him in this sense thou art the Son of God and thou canst make bread of these stones both parts of the speech are very true Or if you put it into one Sentence the Son of God can turn stones into bread that is very certain the Lord can bring forth effects above nature that shall astonish us Nay take it hypothetically as if he would know Christ better by a sign from heaven if thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread it is the voice indeed of a weak faith to require a sign but of a faith that fain would be strengthned Quo teneam noo mutantem Protea formas None of these ways can you say this is falshood or this is a Diabolical stratagem therefore we must fetch a compass behind him or look through his secret intentions to discover the worst for their inward parts are full of wickedness says the Psalmist First If thou be the Son of God includes a negation upon a false perswasive his meaning is you are not the Son of God you are not his beloved the voice which spake from heaven at your Baptism did but flout you you want the very necessaries of life and sustenance doth God deal thus with his Sons No ground your distrust upon this penury and scarcity you are not the Son of God Secondly The other part of the tentation Command that these stones be made bread it is not spoken to extoll his excellency as who should say do this miracle because you have the power of God but thus provide for your self by any means lawful or unlawful rather than starve that you may not die like man This is the enemies Chain-shot two deadly bullets made fast together discharged out of one Canon two such impious rules that I may well call them the two Tables of the Devils Law This is the first whosoever is in distress let him think himself to be none of Gods children for God doth not care for him The second on this wise whosoever is in want let him raise his own fortune by hook or by crook and as it were in despight of God let him care for himself You do not read indeed that the Tempter himself spoke so broadly no there were no policy in that but this is the very fetch of his grave seeming counsel when you have transposed all his words in their right place Now to make all fit for your instruction by severing one part from another observe these four things 1. That the Devils dubitative is a Negative if thou be the Son of a God is a deceitful perswasion we are not his Sons he would dissolve the confidence we have in God 2. To resist the Devil we must labour to take away this Spirit of distrust and have affiance that we are the Sons of God 3. Much less must we leave our trust in him because we are driven to hard necessity and want bread 4. Though we should want and somewhat distrust yet lest of all must we fly to projecting to couzenage to extraordinary devices to help our necessities which impiety the Devil covers with a neat finical phrase Command that these stones be made bread All this Preface must needs go before and now I think the sequel will be very perspicuous My door of entrance is at this Point the Devils supposition was more than half a denial that Christ was not the Son of God Therefore we gather from the first fruits of his Temptation that he would extinguish our faith and fill us with doubts and objections that we might not trust in the rock of our salvation You know what your Adversary useth to suggest upon every small trouble upon every slight occasion you are not the Son of God you are not in the state of grace his providence sleepeth his eye of compassion is not upon you If he can but loosen your faith by this murmuring and diffidence he is sure he hath stopt the way against you for entring into your Fathers glory The Lords of the Philistines had two Pillars to bear up their house we have but one to bear up all the spiritual building of Christianity and that is faith if that be bowed down better the roof of our house had faln upon our head for the wrath of God will fall upon us All Metaphors all Figures all Words were too few for St. Paul to commend unto us a stedfast belief As ye have received Christ the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith If Satan take away our root how can our branch flourish If he break our band all that is bound up will shatter in pieces If he cut off our Anchor our Vessel will be driven upon the Rocks If he overcome our trust in God he will subdue all unto himself for this is the victory that overcometh the World or we shall never overcome it even our faith 1 Joh. iv 5. How did the Serpent fasten his sting in our first Parents But by perswading them that God cared not for them he had created them to be base and ignorant and dishonourable He would not let them eat of the tree of Knowledge that they might better their condition How did he expose the Israelites to shame and nakedness but by disclosing their distrustful and rebellious heart At Massah and Meribah they chid with Moses and tempted the Lord saying Is the Lord amongst us or not Exod. xvii 7. The Devil knows when we fall out with God we will the sooner serve him and retain to the contrary faction You see Beloved our whole fortune is embarked in one bottom in this resolute affiance
and Political Priviledges made Satan desire to contaminate it with the greatest sins as with the Martyrdom of the Saints with the hypocrisie of the Pharisees with sundry other crimes and with this presumptuous precipitation if he could have drawn Christ unto it In Psalm cxxii there are three things which made very much to the praise of it 1. It was a City compact together the strongest Tower of defence in all the Kingdom 2. There sate the Thrones of Judgment even the Thrones of the house of David And 3. Thither went the Tribes up to give thanks to the name of the Lord so that for Fortitude for Civil Justice and for the use of Religion for being an holy City it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very eye of the Land of Canaan But especially the name of Jerusalem in holy Scripture is rather the name of Gods Church than of a place which contained material building and therefore very aptly called the holy City Nay there is not one word beside in all the Book of God which contains the whole threefold estate of the Church that I can remember namely both the Synagogue under the Law and the Gospel under Grace and the blessed Communion of the Saints in heaven For Jerusalem as the Grammarians note is a Noun of the dual number to signifie both the Militant part on earth and the Triumphant part in heaven of them that are sanctified and joyned to Christ the head No place so pregnant as Gal. iv 25. where St. Paul shews a double Jerusalem upon Earth the Synagogue and the Gospel Jerusalem which now is says the Apostle which desired to be under the Law under the rudiments of Moses was in bondage with her Children but Jerusalem which is above not meaning the Choirs of Angels in heaven but the Church Apostolical which is watered with the dew of heaven from above That is free which is the mother of us all Here are two Jerusalems one above another the Antitype above the Type the Substance above the Shadow the Son of God exhibited in the flesh above the Figures and Sacrifices of the Levitical Priesthood But in both respects it was called the holy City For as concerning the Law of Ceremonies there was no other place but it where they were purely exhibited to God and as concerning the New Testament or Faith in Christ there it began Repentance and Salvation were preached unto all Nations beginning at Jerusalem And for this relative holiness which that City had by being the chief and most ancient Seat of the Oracles of God even Heaven did borrow a name from Earth and hath not despised to be called the upper Jerusalem St. John says when the old Elements of the world did pass away there was a new Heaven and a new Earth and he saw the New Jerusalem coming down from God prepared as a Bride for her Husband Rev. xxi 1. For these causes it had Nomen super omne nomen A name above all names among all the dwellings upon earth even as Christ had a name above all names among the Sons of men But as the Serpent did find a way to come into Paradise so he resorted to this holy City It is his joy to make that a Cage of unclean birds which was the Sanctuary of God It is his industry to sow Tares in the midst of Wheat it is his envy to make an evil Leprosie rise up in those Walls where Christs name is praised it is his pastime to pollute the holy City that the Lord may abhor it And this was easily brought about by the Devil Jerusalem hath run his own fortune Gods honour did abide in it for a while and after a while it became an hissing to all the Earth Once there was no other place in all the world that was holy there was no other Metropolis no other Sanctuary all the habitations of the earth beside were Idolatrous therefore from that ancient purity wherein it excelled alone it is called Sancta an holy City The former renown did so remain upon it then when it had been guilty of the bloud of all the Prophets and had crucified Christ himself yet after all this the Spirit of God lets it retain a name fitter for its ancient Sanctity than for its present Iniquity Many dead bodies of the Saints arose and came into the holy City and appeared unto many Alas now it is neither holy nor yet a City but first a Theater upon which all wickedness was acted and then an heap of ruines Although after the change of many names which it hath suffered Adrichomius says that the Turks in their Language call it the holy City to this day How well doth this parallel the state of the Roman Pontificat at this day We are often told and the oftner the less reason here did the Apostles Peter and Paul preach and suffer Martyrdom here have thirty faithful Bishops successively suffered for the name of Christ here have the Arrian the Nestorian the Pelagian Heresies been refuted this is the holy City Yes as Jerusalem is so entitled for the pure Worship of God which was once professed there not for the present faith and sincerity all places have admitted impurity and corruption for it was denounced to man that the whole Earth and every part of it should bring forth thorns and thistles unto him All Kingdoms and Cities have their periods and shall have them to shew that Gods Kingdom only is perpetual All Nurseries and Seminaries of Faith have had their full Tides and their Ebbings their times of Grace and their aversions from it to shew that truth is only established in the heavens And I doubt not but after the revolution of those years and days which God hath prefixed in his secret knowledge it will be more easie for our Posterity than it is for us upon great alterations that happen in all places to prove that where the Papacy now reigns it suffers the same fate with Jerusalem was but is not the holy City Well to seek further into this Point the Tempter did devise rather to pollute Christ than the City of God to which he brought him yet certainly thither he brought him because that place did serve his turn better than the solitary Desart Our Saviours own Kindred were ambitious to have him manifested Shew thy self unto the world and this was the very Pin which Satan did drive at that Christ would affect to be gaz'd upon and admiâ—ed Digito monstrari dicier hic est to be pointed at for the mighty Prophet upon whom the Spirit descended at Jordan in the sight of all the people What went you out into the wilderness to see There is nothing to be seen in the Wilderness that is no place for pride to do its work in But come to Jerusalem and there are thousands of spectators to take notice of a Prophet This is the nature of vain-glory to mingle it self in a populous throng where it may be observed Ut
industry that can attain to such excellent things but by Gods grace and clemency Yet we must not think to fold onr arms together and sleep out our time with Solomons Sluggard and yet be made happy we must awake from sin before we receive the hope and comfort of that future glory in this life and we must awake from death before we can see God and his glory face to face hereafter O that we could awake from the sluggishness of the flesh and open our eyes illuminated by faith then we should see many admirable mysteries which now pass away from our knowledg and we never seek them out Wake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light There is an eye-salve of Prayer and humility and long-suffering in these dayes of trial to dispel the mists of darkness which obscure our faith and when we awake up after thy likeness O blessed Jesus we shall be satisfied with it AMEN THE FOURTH SERMON UPON The Transfiguration LUKE ix 33. And it came to pass as they departed from him Peter said unto Jesus Master it is good for us to be here and let us make three Tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias not knowing what he said UPon my entrance into the handling of this beautiful miracle of the Transfiguration we found Christ at Prayer and he continued in that exercise by himself alone for he needed not to have his Petition recommended to his Father by any other mouth by any Intercessor in Heaven or Earth He indeed prays for every mans wants but in all the Gospel throughout no man prays for him Pro quo nullus interpellat sed ipse pro omnibus hic unicus verusque mediator est says St. Austin He in whose behalf no man sollicits the Father to bless him and he whose Lips bless every man this is the true and only Mediator of Mankind But though we found Christ at Prayer yet we did not find his Apostles waking to say Amen If God be for us who can be against us Rom. viii 31. I answer the Apostle though God be for us all a man may be his own Enemy and fight against himself Christ was occupied in Prayer Who could be against Peter when his Master was on his side But Peter slept while his Master prayed therein he was against himself Thrice our Saviour rose from Prayer in the Garden and found him sleeping therefore the watchful Cock was a sign unto him soon after that he had denied his Master thrice So to lay this upon our own building if the three Disciples whom Christ took with him to Mount Thabor had imployed their time in watchfulness and Religion as their Master did doubtless the Lord had guided their understanding in the right way but because they laid them down to rest when they should have prayed and did not lift up their hands as an Evening Sacrifice therefore the Lord sent upon them the Spirit of slumber Rom. xi 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an imagination as dark as the darkness of Egypt in which they could discern nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aquila reads it Isa xxix 10. a strong drowziness which is in the manner of a Lethargy a Spirit of error and stupidity Loe what words do come from Peter in my Text let him shake himself as Samson did when he came out of sleep and he shall find that the Spirit of the Lord was gone from him He did not watch and pray that he might not fall into error therefore he slept and fell into error that he might pray to come out of it Because his tongue was tied when it ought to speak therefore when he began to speak he knew not what he said And that shall appear unto you both this day and once again God willing upon this whole Verse which I have read At this present I have bounded my meditations to go but half way It came to pass as they departed from him Peter said unto Jesus Master it is good for us to be here All this matter must not be drawn into an heap but into this order 1. What came to pass which caused Peter to speak now when he had been silent before Why Moses and Elias were taking their leave and he would have retained them It came to pass as they departed from him Peter said 2. To whom he did direct his speech not to his fellow servants Moses and Elias but to his Master Peter said unto Jesus Master 3. That his Disciple went about to teach his Master in the words following Master it is good for us to be here Those being the words of especial use to spend our time upon I will enlarge my self to shew that they contain three things to be well allowed and six things to be doubted of that I may not say condemned 1. At the first blush that he saw Christ in glory he said it was bonum he was excellently delighted with it for the glory of the Gospel is no affrighting thing but a delectable object 2. He said true it was bonum nobis good for us for God doth shew his glory for us and for our satisfaction 3. It is as true that it is very good to be continually present with his glory and never part from it O it is the best of all goods to enter into the joy of our Master Thus far he built upon a Rock his foundation is infallible In the rest he builds upon the sands yet to censure the errors of so great an Apostle with modesty I will contrive all that is objected against him into six questions 1. An bonum non videre mortem Whether it were good for us not to see death 2. An bonum non affligi If it be good to remain in pleasure and not be afflicted 3. An bonum sit in terrâ manere Whether it could be good to dwell always upon the earth 4. An bonum sit quod paucis solummodo bonum Whether that can be a true good which is restrained to few Bonum nobis if it were not enlarged beyond those that were present 5. An bonum consistit in aspectu humanitatis Whether it could be the supreme good of man to behold the Humane Nature of Christ only beautified without the revelation of his divine glory 6. An bonum sit Christum non crucifigi If it could be good for them that Christ should entrench himself in Mount Tabor and never go to Mount Calvary to be crucified These are the parts of the Text not one to be spared They shall not trouble you with length though they do with multitude I begin with the occasion which moved Peter to speak it was the departure of the two Witnesses Factum est cum illi discederent ab eo dixit He was ever prompt to speak and now he could not hold when those two the most heroical Prophets that ever had lived did now come from another world and
Worship not one for Christ c. Herein as Peter knew not what he said so he said somewhat which Expositors wonder how he should know namely he calls these men Moses and Elias but how was it revealed to him The Text intimates how they spake to Christ but no where that Christ spake to them and used their names to make them familiar and well known And certainly he had never seen so much as their Pictures to make himself acquainted with the fashion of their countenance The Jews did hold themselves so strictly to the Letter of the Second Commandment that they made no Picture or Graven Image without Gods especial Commandment To resolve this doubt almost every Writer hath laboured to make his own ingenuous conjecture most probable Says Theophylact Moses might say Thou art the Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World whose Passion I prefigured in the institution of the Paschal Lamb And might Elias say Thou art the Christ whom we believe shall rise again from the dead and that thy power over death might be believed I raised up the Widows Son to life Another way says Christianus Druthmarus Elias might say ascend on high and lead Captivity Captive even as I mounted up to heaven before Elisha Then Moses might vie with him Do thou deliver thy Saints from Hell even as I brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt Did both express that they two had fasted forty days and that they alone above all others had that symbolical mark with Christ Might not the one bring the two Tables of the Law in his hand as if they were his Escutchion by which he would be known And the other perhaps came in his Chariot of fire that bore him up to heaven that is a fourth way So wise an Author as Tolet might have taken any of these conjectures rather than his own forsooth that Elias came as he is described 2 Kings i. 8. An hairy man with a girdle of leather about his Loins and Moses came as their vulgar Latine most ridiculously sets him forth Cum cornutâ facie with Horns for where we read his face shined according to the Hebrew they read his face had horns Indeed this would well become some of their late Canonized Worthies who do rather deserve horns to be fixed to their heads for Monsters than the irradiation of beams for glorified men Zachary Chrysopolitanus hath a Scholastique way by himself Nec probo nec improbo That Peter and the other two Apostles were partakers of some heavenly glory when they saw the Transfiguration and therefore had that spark of happiness to know all persons whom they saw intuitivè as if they had been glorified So he discerned these to be Moses and Elias whom he had never seen before by that gift of grace whereby every Saint shall know all the Society of Saints by name after the Resurrection I will not enter upon that Theme to enlarge this opinion whether we shall know one another perfectly in the life to come Luther very judiciously held the affirmative part the very same night that he gave up his Spirit to the Lord. But to Zacharies opinion I give this dash that Peter was no partaker of glorified qualities at this time especially by way of knowledge and the gift of discerning For he knew not what he said There are reasons to be glanced at before I leave this Point why Peter would impale Moses and Elias in Mount Thabor in his Tabernacles to keep his Master company First he thought says one that none were more gracious with God to be fed miraculously with corporal sustenance so that for their sakes they should all have food enough Moses obtained Manna to fall from heaven about the Tents of the Israelites for forty years at his desire he brought Quails and opened the hard Rock so that waters flowed out And the very Ravens that use to devour all they can get they did spread a Table for Elias and brought him bread and flesh Secondly Fain would Peter defend his Master that he might not be delivered up to the high Priests to be crucified Now he bethought how near Moses was to drowning and his life was preserved how near to be stoned by the people and yet protected Num. xiv How violent was Jezebel against Elias and yet he escaped These had been very fortunate in their preservation therefore he would make Tabernacles for these to dwell with Christ Thirdly If Mount Thabor should happen to be environed with enemies that came to hale them to judgment why Peter may surmise let Moses have a Tabernacle here and he can bring Plagues upon Plagues against them that will meddle with Christ as he did upon Pharaoh and all his Host Let Elias have a Tabernacle here and he will call for fire from heaven to devour their Captains These are the glosses of ancient Writers but I would not confidently say it that the Apostle had all or any of these weak policies in his head when he spake these words Surely he had not time to confer with John and James no nor upon the sudden starting of fear any leisure to roule things in his own reason much less to apply reason to Divine Faith It was an extemporary Ejaculation and a very infirm one not knowing what he said All the first part of my Text was zeal to Christs glory the next part shews it was Zeal not according to knowledge not knowing what he said Upon these words some have quite mistaken the fault some have aggravated it too much some have excused it too far some have delivered their mind as I conceive with reason and moderation The Historiographers of Magdeburg in the first place conceived the case amiss who thought that Peter would have three Tabernacles built upon that flore in memory of the Transfiguration whereas he would have made his Fabrick not for the remembrance of the work that was past but for their cohabitation for the time present and to come In the next place Origen lays so great a crime to the Apostles charge that he says a Diabolical Spirit seduced him to say these words to impedite his Masters Passion for in the sixteenth Chapter of St. Matthew when he disswaded Christ from his sufferings Christ said unto him Get thee behind me Satan therefore all such seducements as this was must be Satanical St. Mark knew the reason of Peters transgression better than Origen this is all that he says Mar. vi 9. He wist not what to say for they were sore afraid It was not the evil Spirit of darkness but the spirit of fear that misguided him And as for the Passion of our Lord who more ready than Satan to hasten it Did he not put it into the heart of Judas that he might procure the death of Christ Did not Christ say to the Jews You are of your father the Devil and you would fulfil his desires when they sought to kill him Joh. viii It was too
beat strong upon Elias his ear the whole Camp of the Aramites ran away when they did but think they heard a noise the figure of a mans hand dampt King Belshazzar a Whip of small cords shaken in our Saviours hand made the Mony-changers overturn their Tables for haste and run out of the Temple 2 Macch. iv the Author of that History says that the Lord made the Clouds in the air appear like a great Battail and like horse-men fighting to the terror of Jerusalem it is an easie thing therefore for him that dwells above to make a little Cloud seem a terrible spectacle And this which shook the Disciples had some extraordinary qualities in it to strike the outward senses with amazement it had not the conditions of a natural Meteor for it had much more brightness than any other part of the air it was a Cloud that rid close upon the earth and was not exalted as they use to be into the higher parts of the air it was framed like some beauteous Chamber to receive the Son of God in Majesty together with Moses and Elias it was dissolved at an instant as soon as ever this apparition was dispatcht This was enough then to cause astonishment that the finger of God was in this Cloud above the ordinary course of nature Now there is not the least empty Cloud which the wind blows about but the Lord appoints it for some end and service much more you will allow there were manifold causes for the sending of this Cloud and the judgments of the skilful conceit them to be these First the Lord did shew that He could frame a better piece of Architecture of a sudden than Peter could imagin to build he spake of three Tabernacles which would be long in piecing together God in a moment creates one Cloud to receive them all better than an hundred Tabernacles Such a one as Moses and the Israelites had in the Wilderness to shadow them against all offence Such things the Heathen did drive at in their Poetical Fictions but I am sure the Lord is able to pitch a Cloud between his chosen and their enemies that the hand of violence shall not touch them neither shall any evil come nigh their dwelling Trust in the Lord in the time of danger if ever our foes should rise up against us and say though we are not within the fence of strong Walls and Bulwarks yet if thou O God of Hosts will cast but a thin Cloud between us and our enemies we shall be safe under thy wings until their tyranny be over-past Secondly a Cloud did interpose it self to qualify the Object of the Transfiguration and to make it fit for the Disciples to behold it the Cloud indeed was very bright yet it was dark and opacous in respect of Christs body which did exceed the very light of the Sun Which St. Chysostom proves that I may add somewhat more than I have said before to this purpose in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his face was compared to shine as the Sun yet sayes he the Disciples bewray how it did exceed that example for they never fell down for fear to see the light of the Sun but they fell down to see the light of his body Therefore this Cloud did cast it self between as if Christ would put a Veil upon his face that their weak sight might the better behold him In this life we must look through a Cloud we must expect to see him as in a Glass darkly hereafter we shall see him face to face Mark the infirmity of mans nature in this sinful corruptible condition and let us learn humility it was not enough that Peter John and James were not transformed in the Mount as Christ was no nor as Moses and Elias were our vile flesh is not receptive of such celestial excellency but to abase them and us further a shady Cloud opposed it self before their eyes because we are not fit nor worthy to behold such pure happiness in these days of vanity Such knowledg is too excellent for me says David I cannot attain unto it Thirdly this Cloud was set up for a Land-mark to limit curiosity and to drive men off from approaching too near to pry into the Divine secrets where God sets up a Cloud it is a manifest sign that those are our bounds and we must not break them As when the Lord came down upon Mount Sinah it was full of smoak and vapour that his Majesty might be concealed in those thick mists and none of the people no not so much as a Beast durst come nearer under pain of death What a becoming thing it is to look no further into Gods secrets than he hath given us eyes to see and when there is a mystery which the wisest God hath given no charge to search into it to say I see a Cloud between me and this secret and I must go no further The Devil himself doth not envy us knowledg but he doth envy us obedience The ancient Apostolical Creed consists of twelve Articles to be believed as they are commonly divided Pope Pius the fourth made them twelve four and twenty such as they are and if we want more mysteries of faith and knowledg to work upon I doubt not but Satan would allow us a thousand But as the Romanists who have twelve Articles of Creed more than we yet have one Commandment less for the second is quite left out of their Portresses and Breviaries no nor the least mention of it made in the Expositions of the great Schoolman Aquinas so the restless wit of man runs presumptuously upon all uncouth paths of knowledg which he should not tread but he keeps off from the Law and Good Works as if there were a Cloud say I between them nay as if there were a Lion in the way and so there is but it is that Lion which goes about night and day seeking whom he may devour But as our Proverb is of speculative men that dare enquire into any thing though it be never so much above their capacity that they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sore aloft in the air and talk in the clouds so the Apostle intimates that they are not wise unto sobriety and being drunk with curious knowledg as the Jews very falsly said the Apostles were with new wine they must needs stumble and fall Fourthly and I am sure this reason searcheth the true cause of the Cloud as near as any God the Father in the Old Testament was wont to utter his voice out of the thick clouds of the air and so he continues his holy will in the Gospel and therefore prepared this Cloud to preach from thence the words which follow This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him It was thus when he spake unto Moses himself Exod. xxiv 16. the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai and the Cloud covered it six days and the seventh day
he called unto Moses out of the midst of the Cloud Some more veneration certainly redounds to the Divine Majesty by drawing a Veil before him that his glory may be kept secret The Mercy-seat from whence God promised the Children of Israel to tell them all things whatsoever they should do it was covered with the wings of the Cherubins that every rash eye might not behold it But this was not all that a shadowed darkness should beget veneration there was another reason that men might see no manner of shape or resemblance to make them figure the Lord in any form and commit Idolatry I will take Salmeron the Jesuit at his word in this Notation Ne si aliqua effigies videretur Deus pingeretur a Cloud did invelop the glory of the Father whensoever he spake that men might not say they saw his likeness and therefore paint or carve an image like unto him And since the Lord continues to speak out of a Cloud as well in the New Testament as in the Old surely his purpose continues the same to bridle our inclinations to Idolatry O that men knew what this Cloud meant and they would never be so forward to make the Images of God and they that will not learn that wholsom lesson from the Pillar of Cloud shall be consum'd by the Pillar of Fire Let us come from the substance of it to the qualities and certainly St. Matthew hath left us matter to work upon that he says it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bright Cloud it seems it lookt like that part of Heaven which we see in a fair night and is called via lactea the Milky way which is the concurrence of the light of many small Stars as if it were a Lane made or paved with dimpling Stars Such a Cloud must needs be more delectable than the clearest Summer day which had no thickness in the air but were all serenity And such it must be in a great measure in Aquinas's interpretation for when Peter talkt of Tabernacles close shady Arbors to keep out the light of the Sun he was thus confuted says Aquinas that light did rather become the Saints than shady darkness Claritas mundi innovati erit sanctorum tabernaculum when there shall be a new Heaven and a new Earth bedeckt with infinite light that 's the Tabernacle of the Blessed which shall abide for ever But the chief reason was to fulfil that promise which David knew should be performed the Lord shall make my darkness to be light here was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Jesus Christ it is He that came to bring a Lantern to our feet and a Light unto our paths that we should not stumble and fall In the Old Testament the Clouds where God appeared were densissima tenebrosae thick and dark Clouds Exod. xix 16. vapours and pillars of smoak in the New Covenant the darkness is dispersed and the Cloud remaines white and of a pure lustre For the first Testament is full of Ceremonies and Shadows of things to come the Covenant of Faith in the Gospel exhibits the manifest and open truth says Paschasius Ratbertus it was neither a fiery Cloud nor a dark Cloud but a brightsom quia non in igne terroris nunc venit non in caligine caecitatis sed in lumine veritatis the terror of fire is overpast the mistiness of Clouds is cleared truth comes forth like the morning and is ascended to the height like the Sun at noon day Nay as the things to be believed are clear so there are no mists and fogginess in their affections where the spirit of grace will abide Non calligat affectibus hominum sed revelat occulta says St. Ambrose Our depraved imaginations shall not make the truth a lie but God shall bring to light the hidden things before the eyes of all men What 's the whole Gospel indeed but nubes lucida a very Cloud in it self but made lightsome and perspicuous by the gift of interpretation For although the Veil of the Law is removed away yet even among the Evangelical Writers there are says St. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain things hard to be understood the Incarnation of our Lord the Resurrection of the Dead the ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity still we are in nubibus these are thick Clouds and it is impossible for the natural man with the dim eye of nature to see through them without doubt great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh Faith is a very mysterious thing but that the cloud is illuminated by the revelation of the Holy Spirit and as he that sees through the Water or through a Cloud suppose an Oar through the Water or the Sun through a Cloud will rather trust to his judgment than to his outward sense which would much deceive him so because we do all see the secrets of God through a thick Cloud let us rather trust to our faith than to our reason there are many strong delusions incident to reason because it looks through the clouds of sin and infirmity And Beloved as for the Priests that should keep the Key of knowledge what is their Office and Calling but to make Clouds appear bright And therefore Christ said of his Apostles Vos estis lux mundi Ye are the light of the world Though now adays it is the fashion of many to make that which was lightsom before appear as duskie as a Cloud Such as especially about Gods unsearchable decrees tangle knots and ravel Divinity that you shall find no end And after much is spoken or written you may say Incertior sum multó quà m dudum I was in a Cloud before that was dark now I am in a smoak that puts out my eyes All the light which some voluminous Compilers afford which would teach men Gods secret purpose in their Election and the way of their own heart in their Conversion both which are inscrutable it is like a Candle in a Thieves Lanthorn perhaps they see a little themselves but I am sure no body else shall be the better for their light Finally to end this Point God who can colour a thick Cloud with whiteness and make it transparent is able to lay the dark conveyances of our hypocrisie conspicuous and naked before him Laban could not find his Idols because Rachel had hid them in her Tent but God can discover those sins which are our greatest Idols though we have set them up in the inmost corner of our heart If the Spirit of Elisha went along with Gehazi when Gehazi ran after Naaman to take a Bribe then the Lord that gave that Spirit to Elisha traceth along all the Compacts of Simony all the fine conveyances of Bribery all manner of Corruption though it be dark as midnight The fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is 1 Cor. iii. 13. When it once catcheth fire it will be
from thee and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth But St. Paul doth not use to obscure plain Doctrin with strange Poetical Phrases and Estius hath requited Beza with another place out of the Psalms to confirm my Doctrin Psal lxiii 9. Those that seek my Soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth that is the enemies of the innocent should go into the place of the damned The other Testimony of Scripture for I will press no more is Psal xvi 10. and rehearsed by St. Peter in this Chapter Thou shalt not leave my Soul in hell c. What pains some men have taken to no fruitful end that I know to make these words bear any sense rather than that which is literal no man that marks their diligence must deny but the Soul in divers Authors is taken for the Body and Hell for the Grave and so they patch it up Thou wilt not leave my life in the Sepulcher but why should literal Scripture be so eluded St. Austins rule is that when the literal sense of the Text sounds somewhat that is sinful or impossible then discreet and learned Interpretations must mollifie the letter but it is not to be suffered where good divinity is conteined in the letter as there is in this the meaning is as no flesh in the Sepulcher was ever free from corruption but only Christs so no Soul in Hell was ever supported and assisted by God and not forsaken but only Christs So Fulgentius most divinely anima immunis à peccato non erat subdenda supplicio carnem sine peccato non debuit vitiare corruptio Christs Soul knowing no sin went not to Hell to pay any debt of punishment for an innocent could not be obnoxious to those flames and torments and his Body never executing any evil act could not be tainted with corruption and putrefaction Is it not therefore consonant to reason to stick to the letter of Scripture when it bears an Orthodox exposition of faith and whether we say that Christ being free among the dead to walk whither he would his Soul being separated in death first shewed it self to the Saints in Joy to their exceeding comfort then to the Unbelievers in Hell to their woe and confusion or whether we say He descended that such as believed may never be thrust into that infernal Prison or rather that He brought his triumph over death with him before the face of Hell and brought those unruly spirits under his yoke entred upon the strong mans house and spoiled his house as it is in the Parable Matth. xii All these ways are agreeable to Gods word and to be admitted without contention Thus far upon Scripture attended by reason Indeed Stapleton says that two Articles of the Creed are not to be found in Scripture this of Christs descent in to Hell the other of the Catholick Church I confess in his sense they are not to be found in Scripture but in ours they are But last of all attend what light the very Creed it self will give to the confirmation of this Doctrin The ground that a learned Father of our own Church lays I take to be most rational Thus take these words properly and not figuratively as it is fit in a short abstract of faith next let them have a sense different in matter from all other Articles or else they were a superfluous repetition then let every Article keep a true consequent order of time one after another or else it would make a strange confusion and all other Expositions will give place Some of the Romish and some of our own part have taught that when Christ was crucified he susteined the pains of Hell but observe against them how this Article should come in most preposterously after his death and burial which was in time before Others make this sense of it that he was dead and deteined in death others to be no more but that he was buried but according to these opinions there shall neither be property of phrase nor difference of matter in this Article from them that went before To be dead and buried are as plain speeches as be in all the Creed and should these be explained by an enigmatical Phrase to descend into Hell rather to obscure than to explain the former Observe how our Church of England hath differenced it from death and burial art 3. As Christ died for us and was buried so also it is believed mark that 's another point that He went down into Hell And the thirtieth Article of the Church of Ireland doth not satisfie me that this line is in one comma I know not whether by the negligence of the Printer He was buried and descended into Hell I cannot come to the third part of my Text and I have done as much as the time will permit upon the second only let me add let weak capacities be no ways discomforted though they cannot explicitly understand the meaning of this controverted Article of the Creed Christs descending into Hell they must believe that Christ vanquished the Devil for our sakes that 's necessary both for their comfort and salvation And all Articles of Faith are not equally necessary and fundamental Gregory Valenza and many others I think not imprudently hold that the main and necessary points for unlearned simple people to believe are the great works of God remembred in the principal Feasts of the year Christs Nativity his Passion Resurrection Ascension into Heaven and the coming of the Holy Ghost And though this Article of the Descent into Hell contein an excellent mystery of Faith yet it comes not near the excellent knowledg and use of the former Suarez the Jesuit writes confidently that if by an Article of Faith we understand a Truth which all faithful people are bound explicitly to believe so he did not think it necessary to reckon it among the Articles of Faith The Nicene Creed in our Common-prayer Book hath left it out Ruffinus says that after 400 years it came into the Latin Church and like enough for St. Austin expounds the Creed five times and Chrysologus of Ravenna ann 440. six times and never glance it For that Creed called the Apostles was not so drawn up by the Apostles for ought we can find in good antiquity but called so because it conteins the sum of all Apostolical Doctrin one part of it was laid too after another and this I believe was the last addition of all Therefore it is a main arm of faith that Christ loosed the sorrows of death and a Truth it is no doubt though not of such prime consequence that He descended into Hell to loose those sorrows for our liberty but the main Pillar of Faith is the first Comma of my Text that God raised up Jesus from death and it was impossible He should be holden of it AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION JOHN xi 43. And when he had thus spoken he cried with a
glory The former Promise honorantes honorabo was fit I told you for the day this latter minacy of Gods anger is rather fit for our Age and for the lamentable profanation of our times They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Which words as it seems to me will best bear this division of two parts 1. Here is ignominia indigna a disdain much undeserved that God should be despised in the opinion of man 2. Here is ignominia dignissima a scorn and disdain justly deserved such a man set at nought in the eyes of God First I note that here is a disdain much undeserved that God should be despised in the eyes of man As one said that there were no Adulterers in Lacaedemon and as Solon thought that there could be no Parricides in Athens so I ask are there any in the world guilty of this blemish to despise God There have been some men so compleatly furnisht with Heroical virtues that they were esteemed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men above the reach of obtrectation and envy surely then the mighty God whose glory is incomprehensible whose power is infinite his Majesty is far above contempt and disdain Beloved the enormity of this evil act to despise is not grosly against the Essence of God as if that could be contemned but by reducement it is a sin of so great extension and compass that it will be most necessary for your use and my orderly proceeding to confine our selves to a rule that hath certainty in it The properties of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or contempt are most distinctly set down in the 2. of the Philosophers Rhetor. as Artists know and them I will lay down before you by which when you examine your own practice you will know whether you be among those that despise God The first sign of despising is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we contemn that which we neglect to understand as when a prudent man will not beat his brains to study curious and unlawful Arts it is manifest he doth despise them so whomsoever thou art that art not painful to understand the Sum of thy faith and the mystery of thy salvation it must be granted that thou setst it at no price and estimation I do not say that every mans capacity will serve him to be a skilful Divine labour for so much knowledg as is referrâ—d to Gods Worship whatsoever the best enquire after beyond that Solomon calls it sorrow Eccl. i. I call it curiosity Brethren I beseech you be perswaded that ignorance is a fault for there is a Sacrifice appointed to make an attonement for it in the Old Law besides David had been uncharitable to pray to God to pour out his indignation upon the Heathen that do not know him unless their slothfulness not to know him did deserve it For your better satisfaction there is a threefold ignorance the first is called invincible ignorance that could not be helpt I call it the ignorance of the Woman of Samaria how could she tell that Christ was the Messias until he revealed it unto her this was not to be blamed The second is called affectata ignorance that is wilful and affected I call it the ignorance of Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should let the people go He could not away with it to hear of the name of the Lord and therefore his opinion was that Religion was an idle mans exercise You are idle says he to Moses and therefore you say Let us go worship in the Wilderness A practised liar will not understand that every word of dissimulation in buying and selling is cosenage and hypocrisie A man that loves increase of wealth will not conceive that any usury is a gross sin and the bane of charity He that thinks a little is too much for the Church will not be informed that Sacrilege authorized by custom can be Sacrilege these proceed from stubborn and affected ignorance The third is called supina ignorance growing upon us by sloth and carelessness this I call the ignorance of Nicodemus he knew not the mystery of regeneration and what it was to be born again of the spirit simple education God knows for a Master in Israel I fear to speak it but it is most true there are many that know as little now adays with their Bibles open as our Forefathers knew in the time of Popery with their Bibles shut How many are there that pass for Believers like the men of Ephesus Act. xix and yet know not whether there be an Holy Ghost or no how many Anthropomorphites God help them that know not that God is an infinite Essence comprehended in no place but think he hath eyes and hands and feet according to the bare letter of the Scripture as whole Covents of Monks fell into that illiterate opinion says Socrates Your own regardlesness that you do not search into the ordinary discourses of Divinity it is the cause that most Sermons are obscure and fruitless to the hearers and that which we think is as easie as milk unto your Palats it is strong meat which cannot be digested because of your ignorance Thus when you set it so light whether you know the mystery of godliness or no is it not to despise the Lord Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those things which we despise we put out of mind and easily forget forgetfulness is a sign of contempt How many preservations how many strange deliverances have befaln us so apparently miraculous that our enemies were compell'd to say this was the finger of God and yet I am afraid most of us would seldom remember them if they were not printed in the Rubrick of our Almanack how much sooner is a sensless Winter tale remembred than a sacred story how new is that unto your ears this day in many things which perhaps you have heard from the Pulpit twenty times before that which we hear once a week concerning faith and good works is sooner out of our head than that which we hear but once in an age from a Proclamation as Tully said of old mens memories Nunquam quemquam audivi oblitum quo loco Thesaurum obruisset he never read of one that forgot where he had laid his treasure So those things only fix themselves in our head which are set in our heart and that only slides away like water which we regard not The first thing which the Devil stole from Eve was her memory God said in the day you eat you shall surely die she said she must not eat lest peradventure she should die Thus we forget instantly what God says like Eve nay we forget what our selves said like Peter he would not forsake his Master but hold out when all fail'd and alas he was the first that denied him how often is the next thing that follows our repentance fresh iniquity how often is the next thing after our prayers profaneness and then do we not forget what we said our selves Orlandine in
being of our nature and yet I will tell you a vitious filthy sinner doth so ill become the name of a man that there is far more congruity between him and a Beast he is more Swine or Tyger or Fox or locust than man he is not four-footed but he is bruitish hearted in his inward parts he hath put off humanity But if repentance shall restore him out of this bestial conversation if God shall set good men at his right hand that by strength of reason force of perswasion timeliness of admonition yea or by sharpness of correction shall make him feel and know the beauty of an honest life he is redintegrated in the powers and faculties of a man which he had quite lost So that our being in the austerity of Philosophy is connexed with our well-being No good man and by consequent no not a man till he be governed by the Principality of reason civil Education and the conditement of Vertue is such a Parent as reposeth a vile person a transformed Monster into the proper line of his own Praedicament it makes him Man Not to flutter in the air as it were any longer with Paradoxes impious Catives I confess shall stand for men for they shall suffer the curses and punishment of men in Hell-fire What is it therefore which Jerusalem adds unto us that she is called our Mother why the renovation of the mind or the new man created after God in righteousness and true holiness And as the Birthright which Jacob obteined from Esau was instead of another birth unto Jacob so when such as were vessels of wrath became Heirs of the Promise by Baptism and the Ministry of the Church is not this a Mother that gives them a better life than they had before The Love of God is our life Faith conceives us Hope brings us forth Charity feeds us with her breasts Obedience wraps us in swadling bands and knowledg brings us up God doth inhabit our mind and understanding as the Soul doth inspire the Body As Abram was turned into Abraham and Simon into Peter when they pleased the Lord so take any one that is regenerate and chang'd from his vain conversation though his shape and substance continue as it was before yet the Angels that rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner behold him with their celestial eyes not as the same but as another Creature And no wonder if he become another object in the sight of Heaven the reasonable Soul is that which constitutes the natural man but Faith being superadded a better spirit possesseth him and Christ is the form of a Christian It is St. Paul's Phrase ver 19. of this Chapter My little children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you As Ananias travel'd and earned for a Child till Christ was formed in Paul so Paul travel'd and had the sorrows of a Mother when â—he brings forth in the anxiousness of his heart till Christ was formed in the Galatians First the Church brought him forth then he laboured abundantly and assisted the Church to bring forth others The true solution of the old Riddle Mater me genuit eadem mox gignitur ex me the Son of Grace is begotten of this Mother and afterward filling up a place in the Communion of Saints he is reckoned into the collective Body which is called Jerusalem our Mother But a late Writer puts in his judgment very well I think how far the Motherhood of the Church intends to make us Children of Adoption it travels in birth that by her work Christ may be formed in us The Members of our fleshly body are formed in our Mothers Womb by her natural faculties she can go further for the absolution of the work that is the inhabitation of the Soul is the act of God so the Church doth the part of a Mother it propounds repentance discloseth the mysteries of faith perswades us with the expectation of a great reward in Heaven offers us the use of both the salutiferous Sacraments thus a new fashion a new Creature even the form of Christ doth creep upon us but the life by which we live it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it comes from without from above from the inspiration of the spirit of Christ But without that efformation or effigeation in the Womb of the Mother never expect the vivification or information of the Holy Ghost a Doctrin best known in those trivial words of St. Austin he cannot have God for his Father that will not have the Church for his Mother Ascribe the top of the blessing to him from whom every good gift especially those which are supernatural descends Of his own good will He begat us with the word of truth Jam. 1.18 His good will moved him to pity us his vertue and power went out from him to beget us and his truth which shined in our hearts was the instrumental cause to convert us Carry it along with you therefore that the invisible Father that is in Heaven works by the visible Mother the Church that is on Earth As Eve was the Mother of all living so she is the Mother of all believing Crescite multiplicamini is spoken to one as well as to the other both were ordeined in their several sorts for that blessing increase and multiply Therefore St. James hath conjoyned the Word of Truth to the Will of God both are mixed together to regenerate a pious people And although some have been too nice in expounding the Phrase Of his own will he begat us with the word of truth not with the words of truth in the plural as if our salvation were effected by pronouncing one word as when first we were made Members of Christ by saying I baptize thee and when we have sinned and return again to the Lord by saying I absolve thee yet be it briefly or largely it is the word spoken and preached by the Church which gives us this heavenly feature to be the holy ones of God Briefly the Mother that doth beget us is the Church Militant but the Mother to whose filiation and inheritance we aspire is the Church Triumphant It is true that in relation to Christ the Church is his Body and all we are his Members and in that reference it doth not make the Elect Servants of God but rather it is compounded of those Servants for properly the Body is not the Mother of the Members the Members are not the effect of the Body but they constitute the Body as integral parts And so Solomon hath more aptly given it honour in those delicious Metaphors of a Bundle of Myrrh a Cluster of Grapes and a Pomegranat which I think is the best resemblance a Pomgranat contains many kernels under one Coat so many thousands of Disciples are under the covering of Christ 2. As many kernels are in the small Pomegranat as in the great so the Graces of Christ are in the little Churches as in the more spacious 3. As