ignorance that all blessings spirituall and temporall too proceed from God and from God only and from God manifested in Christ and from Christ explicated in the Scriptures and from the Scriptures applyed in the Church which is the summe of all religion God hath given us this Legacy of knowledge Cognoscetis At that day you shall know as knowledge is opposed to ignorance As it is opposed to inconsideration Inconsideratio it is a great work that it doth too for as God hath made himself like man in many things in taking upon him in Scriptures our lineaments and proportion our affections and passions our apparell and garments so hath God made himself like man in this also that as man doth so he also takes it worse to be neglected then to be really injured Some of our sins do not offend God so much as our inconsideration a stupid passing him over as though that we did that which we had that which we were appertained not to him had no emanation from him no dependance upon him As God sayes in the Prophet of lame and blemished and unperfect Sacrifices Offer it unto any of your Princes and see if they will accept it at your hands So I say to them that passe their lives thus inconsiderately Offer that to any of your Princes any of your Superiours Dares an officer that receives instructions from his Prince when he leaves his commandements unperformed say I never thought of it Dares a Subject a Servant a Son say so Now beloved this knowledge as it is opposed to inconsideration is in this that God by breeding us in the visible Church multiplies unto us so many helps and assistances in the word preached in the Sacraments in other Sacramentall and Rituall and Ceremoniall things which are auxiliary subsidiary reliefes and refreshings to our consideration as that it is almost impossible to fall into this inconsideration Here God shewes this inconsiderate man his book of creatures which he may run and reade that is he may go forward in his vocation and yet see that every creature calls him to a consideration of God Every Ant that he sees askes him Where had I this providence and industry Every flowre that he sees asks him Where had I this beauty this fragrancy this medicinall vertue in me Every creature calls him to consider what great things God hath done in little subjects But God opens to him also here in his Church his Booke of Scriptures and in that Book every word cries out to him every mercifull promise cries to him Why am I here to meet thee to wait upon thee to performe Gods purpose towards thee if thou never consider me never apply me to thy selfe Every judgement of his anger cryes out Why am I here if thou respect me not if thou make not thy profit of performing those conditions which are annexed to those judgements and which thou mightest performe if thou wouldest consider it Yea here God opens another book to him his manuall his bosome his pocket book his Vade Mecum the Abridgement of all Nature and all Law his owne heart and conscience And this booke though he shut it up and clasp it never so hard yet it will sometimes burst open of it selfe though he interline it with other studies and knowledges yet the Text it selfe in the book it selfe the testimonies of the conscience will shine through and appeare Though he load it and choak it with Commentaries and questions that is perplexe it with Circumstances and Disputations yet the matter it selfe which is imprinted there will present it selfe yea though he teare some leaves out of the Book that is wilfully yea studiously forget some sins that he hath done and discontinue the reading of this book the survay and consideration of his conscience for some time yet he cannot lose he cannot cast away this book that is so in him as that it is himselfe and evermore calls upon him to deliver him from this inconsideration by this open and plentifull Library which he carries about him Consider beloved the great danger of this inconsideration by remembring That even that onely perfect man Christ Jesus who had that great way of making him a perfect man as that he was perfect God too even in that act of deepest devotion in his prayer in the garden by permitting himselfe out of that humane infirmity which he was pleased to admit in himselfe though farre from sin to passe one petition in that prayer without a debated and considered will in his Transeat Calix If it be possible let this Cup passe hee was put to a re-consideration and to correct his Prayer Veruntamen Yet not my will but thine bee done And if then our best acts of praying and hearing need such an exact consideration consider the richnesse and benefit of this Legacy knowledge as this knowledge is opposed to inconsideration It is also opposed to concealing and smothering Occultatio It must be published to the benefit of others Paulùm sepultae distat inertiae celata virtus sayes the Poet Vertue that is never produced into action is scarce worthy of that name For that is it which the Apostle in his Epistle to that Church which was in Philemons house Philem. 6. doth so much praise God for That the fellowship of thy faith may be made fruitfull and that whatsoever good thing is in you through Iesus Christ may be knowne That according to the nature of goodnesse and to the roote of goodnesse God himselfe this knowledge of God may be communicated and transfused and shed and spred and derived and digested upon others And therefore certainly as the Philosopher said of civill actions Etiam simulare Philosophiam Philosophia est That it was some degree of wisedome to be able to seeme wise so though it be no degree of religion to seeme religious yet even that may be a way of reducing others and perchance themselves when a man makes a publique an outward shew of being religious by comming ordinarily to Church and doing those outward duties though this be hypocrisie in him yet sometimes other men receive profit by his example and are religious in earnest and sometimes Appropinquat nescit as S. Augustine confesses that it was his case when he came out of curiosity and not out of devotion to heare S. Ambrose preach what respect soever brought that man hither yet when God findes him here in his house he takes hold of his conscience and shewes himselfe to him though he came not to see him And if God doe thus produce good out of the hypocrite and work good in him much more will he provide a plentifull harvest by their labours who having received this knowledge from God assist their weaker brethren both by the Example of their lives and the comfort of their Doctrine This knowledge then 2. Part. In die which to work the intended effect in us is thus opposed to ignorance and to inconsideration and to
the Primitive Church when the followers of Christ left or discontinued their being called the Disciples and the Faithfull and the Brethren and the Professors as they had been called before and would bring the Name of their founder Christ Jesus into more evidence and manifestation yet they were not called by the Name of Iesus but from Christ at Antioch first they were called Christians For it is well distinguished Acts 11.26 That the Name of Iesus as it signifies a Saviour first contemplates God and the Divine nature Bonavent which onely could save us And then hath relation to Man and the Humane nature without assuming of which the Sonne of God could not have saved us that way that God had proposed The satisfaction of his Justice And then the Name of Christ as it signifies Anointed and appointed to a certaine purpose as to die for us first contemplates Man and the Humane nature which onely could die And then hath relation to God and the Divine nature So that Jesus is God and Man in Him And Christ is Man and God in Him So the Name Iesus seemes to taste of more Mystery and more Incomprehensiblenesse And the Name of Christ of more Humility and Appliablenesse And with this lower Name to be called Christians from Christ was the Church of God contented Whereas a later race of men in the Romane Church will needs take their Denomination from Iesus himselfe But I know not whether they meane our Iesus or no. Iosephus remembers two at least of that name Iesus Josephus that were infamous malefactors and men of blood and they may deduce themselves from such a Iesus And a Jesuit teaches us that it is the common opinion that Barrabas the murderer Lorinus Act. 13.6 was by his proper Name called Iesus that his name was Iesus Barrabas and that therefore Pilate made that difference upon our Saviour Iesus Nazarenus This is Iesus of Nazareth and not Iesus Barrabas and from that Iesus Iesus Barrabas they may deduce themselves And we know also that that mischievous sorcerer was called by that Name Bar-jesu Ibid. The Sonne of Jesus From which Iesus amongst these they will make their extraction let them chuse As amongst the Jesuits the bloodiest of them all even to the drawing of the sacred blood of Kings is by his name Mariana So all the rest of them both in that respect of sucking blood and occasioning massacres and other respects too are rather Marianits then Jesuits Idolaters of the blessed Virgin Mary then worshippers of Jesus We consist in the Humility of the Ancients we are Christians Iesus is meerly a Saviour A name of Mystery Christ is Anointed A name of Communication of Accommodation of Imitation Cant. 1.3 And so this name the name of Christ is Oleum effusum as the Spouse speaks An oyntment a perfume powred out upon us and we are Christians In the name of Iesus Corn. Lap. Eph. 1.10 S. Paul abounded but in the Name of Christ more for as a Jesuit gives us the account he repeats the name of Iesus almost three hundred times but the name of Christ more then foure hundred in his Epistles In this Church then which is gathered in the Name of Christ though in the power and merit of Iesus This light which we speake of This knowledge of God and means of salvation is in the highest exaltation In the state of nature we consider this light as the Sunne to be risen at the Moluccae in the farthest East In the state of the law we consider it as the Sunne come to Ormus the first Quadrant But in the Gospel to be come to the Canaries the fortunate Ilands the first Meridian Now whatsoever is beyond this is Westward towards a Declination If we will goe farther then to be Christians and those doctrines which the whole Christian Church hath ever beleeved 1 Cor. 1.12 if we will be of Cephas and of Apollos if we will call our selves or endanger and give occasion to others to call us from the Names of men Papists or Lutherans or Calvinists we depart from the true glory and serenity from the lustre and splendor of this Sunne This is Tabernaculum Solis Here in the Christian Church Psal 19.5 God hath set a Tabernacle for the Sunne And as in nature Man hath light enough to discerne the principles of Reason So in the Christian Church considered without subdivisions of Names and Sects a Christian hath light enough of all things necessary to salvation So then still roll thy wayes upon God Gather upon him nearer and nearer for all these are emanations of lights from him that he might be found and seen and knowne by thee The looking upon God by the first light of Nature is to catechize and examine thy selfe whether thou doe governe and employ thy naturall faculties to his glory whether thou doe shut thine eyes at a tentation stop thine eares at a blasphemy upon God or a defamation upon thy neighbour and withhold thy hand from blood and bribes and thy feet from fellowship in sin The looking upon God by the second light the light of the law is to discerne by that that God hath alwayes had a peculiar people of his own and gathered them and contained them in his worship by certaine visible sensible Ordinances and Institutions Sacraments and Sacrifices and rituall Ceremonies and to argue and conclude out of Gods former proceedings with them his greatnesse and his goodnesse towards the present world And then to see God by that last and best light the light of the Christian Church is to be content with so much of God as God hath revealed of himselfe to his Church And as it is expressed here to heare him answer thee By terrible things in righteousnesse for that he does as he is the God of our salvation that is as he works in the Christian Church which is our last Consideration By terrible c. In this Consideration Respondet ergo Orandum Gods proceeding with us in the Christian Church this observation meets us first That Gods conversation with us there is called an Answering He shall answer us Now if we looke that God should answer us we must say something to God and our way of speaking to God is by petition by prayer If we present no petition Rom. 10.20 if we pray not we can looke for no answer for we aske none Esaias is very bold saith S. Paul when he sayes That God was found of them that sought him not and made manifest to them that asked not after him Yet though it were boldly said it was truly said so early and so powerfull is Gods preventing grace towards us So it is a very ordinary phrase amongst the Prophets God answered and said thus and thus when the Prophet had asked nothing of God But here we are upon Gods proceeding with man in the Christian Church and so God answers not but to our petitions to
they have not those sins These are great possessions and men do much more easily part with Christ then with these sins But then there are lesse sins light sins vanities and yet even these come to possesse us and separate us from Christ How many men negiect this ordinary meanes of their Salvation the comming to these Exercises not because their undoing lyes on it or their discountenancing but meerely out of levity of vanity of nothing they know not what to do else and yet do not this You heare of one man that was drowned in a vessell of Wine but how many thousands in ordinary water And he was no more drowned in that precious liquor then they in that common water A gad of steele does no more choake a man then a feather then a haire Men perish with whispering sins nay with silent sins sins that never tell the conscience they are sins as often as with crying sins And in hell there shall meet as many men that never thought what was sin as that spent all their thoughts in the compassing of sin as many who in a slack in consideration never cast a thought upon that place as that by searing their conscience overcame the sense and feare of the place Great sins are great possessions but levities and vanities possesse us too and men had rather part with Christ then with any possessions which is all we will note out of this first part The Context the situation and prospect of the house the coherence and connexion of the Text. The second part 2 Part. Pretext is the pretext that is the pretense the purpose the disposition of him that moved this question to Christ and occasioned this answer Upon which we make this stop because it hath been variously apprehended by the Expositors for some think he came in an humble disposition to learn of Christ and others think he came in a Pharisaicall confidence in himself with which Epiphanius first and then S. Ierome charge him But in such doubtful cases in other mens actions when it appeares not evidently whether it were well or ill done where the balance is eaven alwayes put you in your charity and that will turne the scale the best way Things which are in themselves but mis-interpretable doe not you presently mis-interpret you allow some graines to your gold before you call it light allow some infirmities to any man before you call him ill For this man in the Text venit sayes this Euangelist he came to Christ he came of himselfe S. Peter himself came not so S. Peter came not till his brother Andrew brought him none of the twelve Apostles came to Christ so they came not till Christ called them Here we heare of no calling no inviting no mention of any motion towards him no intimation of any intimation to him and yet he came Blessed are they that come to Christ Jesus before any collaterall respects draw them before the Laws compell them before calamities drive them to him He onely comes hither that comes voluntarily and is glad he is here He that comes so as that he had rather he were away is not here Venit sayes our Euangelist of this man And then sayes S. Mark Mark 10.17 handling the same story Venit procurrens He came running nicodemus came not so Nicodemus durst not avow his comming and therefore he came creeping and he came softly and he came seldome and he came by night Blessed are they who make haste to Christ and publish their zeale to the encouragement of others For let no man promise himself a religious constancy in the time of his triall that doth not his part in establishing the religious constancy of other men Of all proofes Demonstration is the powerfullest when I have just reason to think my superious would have it thus this is Musique to my soul When I heare them say they would have it thus this is Rhetorique to my soule When I see their Laws enjoyne it to be thus this is Logick to my soul but when I see them actually really clearely constantly do thus this is a Demonstration to my soule and Demonstration is the powerfullest proofe The eloquence of inferiours is in words the eloquence of superiours is in action He came to Christ hee ran to him and when he was come as S. Mark relates it He fell upon his knees to Christ He stood not then Pharisaically upon his own legs his own merits though he had been a diligent observer of the Commandements before Blessed are they who bring the testimony of a forme zeale to Gods service and yet make that no excuse for their present or future slacknesst The benefit of our former goodnesse is that that enables us to be the better still for as all example is powerfull upon us so our own example most of all in this case we are most immediately bound by ourselves still to be so good as we our selves have been before There was a time when I was nothing but there shall never be any time when I shall be nothing and therefore I am most to respect the future The good services that a man hath done to God by pen or sword are wings and they exalt him if he would go forward but they are waights and depresse him and aggravate his condemnation if his presumption upon the merit of those former services retard him for the future This man had done well but he stood not upon that he kneeled to Christ and he said to him Magister bone Good master He was no ignorant man and yet he acknowledged that he had somewhat more to learn of Christ then he knew yet Blessed are they that inanimate all their knowledge consummate all in Christ Jesus The University is a Paradise Rivers of knowledge are there Arts and Sciences flow from thence Counsell Tables are Horti conclusi as it is said in the Canticles Gardens that are walled in and they are Fontes signati Wells that are sealed up bottomlesse depths of unsearchable Counsels there But those Aquae quietudinum which the Prophet speaks of The waters of rest they flow à magistro bono from this good master and flow into him again All knowledge that begins not and ends not with his glory is but a giddy but a vertiginous circle but an elaborate and exquisite ignorance He would learn of him and what Quid boni faciam What good thing shall I do Blessed are they that bring their knowledge into practise and blessed again that crown their former practise with future perseverance This was his disposition that came His though he were a youn man for so he is said to be in the 22. ver and yong men are not ofter so forward in such wayes I remember one of the Panegyriques celebrates magnifies one of the Romane Emperors for is that he would marry when he was yong that he would so soon confine and limit his pleasures so soon determine his affections in one person When
your Master hath dealt thus mercifully with you all that to you all all he sends a message Sciant omnes Let all the house of Israel know this Needs the house of Israel know any thing Needs there any learning in persons of Honour We know this characterizes this distinguishes some whole Nations In one Nation it is almost a scorn for a gentleman to be learned in another almost every gentleman is conveniently and in some measure learned But I enlarge not my self I pretend not to comprehend Nationall vertues or Nationall vices For this knowledge which is proclaimed here which is the knowledge that the true Messias is come and that there is no other to bee expected is such a knowledge as that even the house of Israel it self is without a Foundation if it be without this knowledge Is there any house that needs no reparations Is there a house of Israel let it be the Library the depositary of the Oracles of God a true Church that hath the true word of the true God let it be the house fed with Manna that hath the true administration of the true Sacraments of Christ Jesus is there any such house that needs not a farther knowledge that there are alwaies thieves about that house that would rob us of that Word and of those Sacraments The Holy Ghost is a Dove and the Dove couples paires is not alone Take heed of singular of schismatical opinions what is more singular more schismaticall then when all Religion is confined in one mans breast The Dove is animal sociale a sociable creature and not singular and the Holy Ghost is that And Christ is a Sheep animal gregale they flock together Embrace thou those truths which the whole flock of Christ Jesus the whole Christian Church hath from the beginning acknowledged to be truths and truths necessary to salvation for for other Traditionall and Conditionall and Occasionall and Collaterall and Circumstantiall points for Almanack Divinity that changes with the season with the time and Meridionall Divinity calculated to the heighth of such a place and Lunary Divinity that ebbes and flowes and State Divinity that obeyes affections of persons Domus Israel the true Church of God had need of a continuall succession of light a contiuall assistance of the Spirit of God and of her own industry to know those things that belong to her peace And therefore let no Church no man think that he hath done enough or knowes enough If the Devill thought so too we might the better think so but since we see that he is in continuall practise against us let us be in a continuall diligence and watchfulnesse to countermine him We are domus Israel the house of Israel and it is a great measure of knowledge that God hath afforded us but if every Pastor look into his Parish and every Master into his own Family and see what is practising there sciat domus Israel let all our Israel know that there is more knowledge and more wisdome necessary Be every man farre from calumniating his Superiours for that mercy which is used towards them that are fallen but be every man as far from remitting or slackning his diligence for the preserving of them that are not fallen The wisest must know more though you be domus Israel the house of Israel already Crucifixistis and then Etsi Crucifixistis though you have crucified the Lord Jesus you may know it sciant omnes let all know it S. Paul saies once If they had known it they would not have crucified the Lord of life but he never saies if they have crucified the Lord of life 1 Cor. 2.8 they are excluded from knowledge I meane no more but that the mercy of God in manifesting and applying himself to us is above all our sins No man knowes enough what measure of tentations soever he have now he may have tentations through which this knowledge and this grace will not carry him and therefore he must proceed from grace to grace So no man hath sinned so deeply but that God offers himself to him yet Sciant omnes the wisest man hath ever something to learn he must not presume the sinfullest man hath God ever ready to teach him he must not despaire Now the universality of this mercy Sciant hath God enlarged and extended very farre in that he proposes it even to our knowledge Sciant let all know it It is not only credant let all beleeve it for the infusing of faith is not in our power but God hath put it in our power to satisfie their reason and to chafe that waxe to which he himself vouchsafes to set to the great seale of faith And that S. Hierome takes to be most properly his Commission Tentemus animas quae deficiunt a fide natur alibus rationibus adjuvare Let us indevour to assist them who are weak in faith with the strength of reason And truly it is very well worthy of a serious consideration that whereas all the Articles of our Creed are objects of faith so as that we are bound to receive them de fide as matters of faith yet God hath left that out of which all these Articles are to be deduced and proved that is the Scripture to humane arguments It is not an Article of the Creed to beleeve these and these Books to be or not to be Canonicall Scripture but our arguments for the Scripture are humane arguments proportioned to the reason of a naturall man God does not seale in water in the fluid and transitory imaginations and opinions of men we never set the seale of faith to them But in Waxe in the rectified reason of man that reason that is ductile and flexible and pliant to the impressions that are naturally proportioned unto it God sets to his seale of faith They are not continuall but they are contiguous they flow not from one another but they touch one another they are not both of a peece but they enwrap one another Faith and Reason Faith it self by the Prophet Esay is called knowledge Esay 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many sayes God of Christ that is by that knowledge that men shall have of him So Zechary expresses it at the Circumcision of Iohn Baptist That hee was to give knowledge of salvation Luke 1.77 for the remission of sins As therefore it is not enough for us in our profession to tell you Qui non crediderit damnabitur Except you beleeve all this you shall be damned without we execute that Commission before Ite praedicate go and preach work upon their affections satisfie their reason so it is not enough for you to rest in an imaginary faith and easinesse in beleeving except you know also what and why and how you come to that beliefe Implicite beleevers ignorant beleevers the adversary may swallow but the understanding beleever he must chaw and pick bones before he come to assimilate him
thought or said or done any thing offensive to him It is therefore onely in the third sense of this word as it is Verbum Ecclesiasticum A word which S. Paul and the other Scriptures and the Church and Ecclesiasticall Writers have used to expresse our Righteousnesse our Justification by And that is onely by the way of pardon and remission of sins sealed to us in the blood of Christ Jesus that what kinde of sinners soever we were before yet that is applied to us Such and such you were before But ye are justified by the name of the Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6 11. Now the reproofe of the World the convincing of the World the bringing of the World to the knowledg that as they are all sub peccato under sin by the sin of another so there is a righteousnesse of another that must prevaile for all their Pardons this reproof this convincing this instruction of the World is thus wrought That the whole World consisting of Jews and Gentiles when the Holy Ghost had done enough for the convincing of both these enough for the overthrowing of all arguments which could either be brought by the Jew for the righteousnesse of the Law or by the Gentile for the righteousnesse of Works all which is abundantly done by the Holy Ghost in the Epistles of S. Paul and other Scriptures when the Holy Ghost had possessed the Church of God of these all-sufficient Scriptures Then the promise of Christ was performed and then though all the world were not presently converted yet it was presently convinced by the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost had provided in those Scriptures of which he is the Author that nothing could be said in the Worlds behalfe for any other Righteousnesse then by way of pardon in the blood of Christ Thus much the Holy Ghost tels us And if we will search after more then hee is pleased to tell us that is to rack the Holy Ghost to over-labour him to examine him upon such Intergatories as belongs not to us to minister unto him Curious men are not content to know That our debt is paid by Christ but they will know farther whether Christ have paid it with his owne hands or given us money to pay it our selves whether his Righteousness before it do us any good be not first made ours by Imputation or by Inhesion They must know whose money and then what money Gold or Silver whether his active obedience in fulfilling the Law or his passive obedience in shedding his blood But all the Commission of the Holy Ghost here is To reprove the World of righteousnesse To convince all Sects in the World that shall constitute any other righteousnesse then a free pardon by the incorruptible and invaluable and inexhaustible blood of Christ Jesus By that pardon his Righteousnesse is ours How it is made so or by what name we shall call our title or estate or interest in his Righteousnesse let us not enquire The termes of satisfaction in Christ of acceptation in the Father of imputation to us or inhesion in us are all pious and religious phrases and something they expresse but yet none of these Satisfaction Acceptation Imputation Inhesion will reach home to satisfie them that will needs inquire Quo modo by what meanes Christs Righteousnesse is made ours This is as far as we need go Ad eundem modum justi sumus coram Deo quo cor am eo Christus fuit peccator So as God made Christ sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 we are made the righteousnesse of God in him so but how was that He that can finde no comfort in this Doctrine till he finde How Christ was made sin and we righteousnesse till he can expresse Quo modo robs himself of a great deale of peacefull refreshing which his conscience might receive in tasting the thing it selfe in a holy and humble simplicity without vexing his owne or other mens consciences or troubling the peace of the Church with impertinent and inextricable curiosities Those questions are not so impertinent but they are in a great part unnecessary which are moved about the cause of our righteousnesse our justification Alas let us be content that God is the cause and seeke no other We must never slacken that protestation That good works are no cause of our justification But we must alwaies keepe up a right signification of that word Cause For Faith it selfe is no cause no such cause as that I can merit Heaven by faith What doe I merit of the King by beleeving that he is the undoubted Heire to all his Dominions or by beleeving that he governes well if I live not in obedience to his Laws If it were possible to beleeve aright and yet live ill my faith should doe me no good The best faith is not worth Heaven The value of it grows Ex pacto That God hath made that Covenant that Contract Crede vives onely beleeve and thou shalt be safe Faith is but one of those things which in severall senses are said to justifie us It is truly saîd of God Deus solus justificat God only justifies us Efficienter nothing can effect it nothing can worke towards it but onely the meere goodnesse of God And it is truly said of Christ Christus solus justificat Christ onely justifies us Materialiter nothing enters into the substance and body of the ransome for our sins but the obedience of Christ It is also truly said Sola fides justificat Onely faith justifies us Instrumentaliter nothing apprehends nothing applies the merit of Christ to thee but thy faith And lastly it is as truly said Sola opera justificant Onely our works justifie us Declaratoriè Only thy good life can assure thy conscience and the World that thou art justified As the efficient justification the gracious purpose of God had done us no good without the materiall satisfaction the death of Christ had followed And as that materiall satisfaction the death of Christ would do me no good without the instrumentall justification the apprehension by faith so neither would this profit without the declaratory justification by which all is pleaded and established God enters not into our materiall justification that is onely Christs Christ enters not into our instrumentall justification that is onely faiths Faith enters not into our declaratory justification for faith is secret and declaration belongs to workes Neither of these can be said to justifie us alone so as that we may take the chaine in pieces and thinke to be justified by any one link thereof by God without Christ by Christ without faith or by faith without works And yet every one of these justifies us alone so as that none of the rest enter into that way and that meanes by which any of these are said to justifie us Consider we then our selves as men fallen downe into a darke and deepe pit and justification as a chaine consisting of
to stand in these tentations and tribulations Deliver thou my soule Lord thou hast delivered me againe and againe and againe and againe I fall back to my former danger and therefore O Lord save me place me where I may be safe safe in a constant hope that the Saviour of the World intended that salvation to me And these three Petitions constitute our first part in Davids postulatory Prayer And then the second part which is also within the words of this text and consists of those reasons by which David inclines God to grant his three Petitions which are two first Propter misericordiam tuam Do this O Lord for thine own mercy sake And then Quia non in morte Doe it O Lord for thine owne honours sake Because in death there is no remembrance of thee that second part will be the subject of another exercise for that which belongs to the three Petitions will imploy the time allowed for this First then the first step in this Prayer Revertere O Lord return implies first a former presence Revertere and then a present absence and also a confidence for the future Whosoever saies O Lord returne sayes all this Lord thou wast here Lord thou art departed hence but yet Lord thou maiest returne hither againe God was with us all before we were any thing at all And ever since our making hath beene with us in his generall providence And so we cannot say O Lord Returne because so he was never gone from us But as God made the earth and the fruits thereof before he made the Sun whose force was to work upon that earth and upon the naturall fruits of that earth but before he made Paradise which was to have the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge he made the Sun to doe those offices of shining upon it and returning daily to it So God makes this earth of ours that is our selves by naturall wayes and sustaines us by generall providence before any Son of particular grace be seene to shine upon us But before man can be a Paradise possest of the Tree of life and of Knowledge this Sun is made and produced the particular graces of God rise to him and worke upon him and awaken and solicite and exalt those naturall faculties which were in him This Son fils him and fits him compasses him and disposes him and does all the offices of the Sun seasonably opportunely maturely for the nourishing of his soule according to the severall necessities thereof And this is Gods returning to us in a generall apprehension After he hath made us and blest us in our nature and by his naturall meanes he returnes to make us againe to make us better first by his first preventing grace and then by a succession of his particular graces And therefore we must returne to this Returning in some more particular considerations There are beside others three significations in the Scripture of this word Shubah which is here translated to Returne appliable to our present purpose The first is the naturall and native the primary and radicall signification of the word And so Shubah To Returne is Redire ad locum suum To returne to that place to which a thing is naturally affected So heavy things returne to the Center and light things returne to the Expansion So Mans breath departeth Psal 146.4 sayes David Et redit in terr am suam He returnes into his Earth That earth which is so much his as that it is he himselfe Of earth he was and therefore to earth he returnes But can God returne in such a sense as this Can we finde an Vbi for God A place that is his place Yes And an Earth which is his earth Surely the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts Esay 5. is the house of Israel and the men of Iudah are his pleasant plant So the Church which is his Vineyard is his Vbi his place his Center to which he is naturally affected And when he calls us hither and meets us here upon his Sabbaths and sheds the promises of his Gospel upon the Congregation in his Ordinance he returnes to us here as in his Vbi as in his own place And as he hath a place of his owne here so he hath an Earth of his owne in this place Our flesh is Earth and God hath invested our flesh and in that flesh of ours which suffered death for us he returnes to us in this place as often as he maketh us partakers of his flesh and his bloud in the blessed Sacrament So then though in my dayes of sinne God have absented himselfe from me for God is absent when I doe not discerne his presence yet if to day I can heare his voyce as God is returned to day to this place as to his Vbi as to his own place so in his entring into me in his flesh and bloud he returnes to me as to his Earth that Earth which he hath made his by assuming my nature I am become his Vbi his place Delitiae ejus His delight is to be with the sonnes of men and so with me and so in the Church in the Sermon in the Sacrament he returnes to us in the first signification of this word Shubah as to that place to which he is naturally affected and disposed In a second signification this word is referred not to the place of God not to the person of God but if we may so speake to the Passion of God to the Anger of God And so the Returning of God that is of Gods Anger is the allaying the becalming the departing of his Anger and so when God returnes God stayes his Anger is returned from us Esay 5.25 but God is still with us The wrath of the Lord was kindled sayes the Prophet Esay and He smote his people so that the mountaines trembled and their carkasses were torne in the midst of the streets Here is the tempest here is the visitation here is Gods comming to them He comes but in anger and we heare of no returne nay we heare the contrary Et non redibat furor For all this his wrath his fury did not returne that is did not depart from them for as God never comes in this manner till our multiplied sinnes call him and importune him so God never returnes in this sense in withdrawing his anger and judgements from us till both our words and our works our prayers and our amendment of life joyne in a Revertere Domine O Lord Returne withdraw this judgement from us for it hath effected thy purpose upon us And so the Originall which expresses neither signification of the word for it is neither Returne to me nor Returne from me but plainely and onely Returne leaves the sense indifferent Lord thou hast withdrawne thy selfe from me therefore in mercy returne to me or else Lord thy Judgements are heavy upon me and therefore returne withdraw these Judgements from me which shewes the ductilenesse the
edification to consider in some particulars in the Christian Church And first consider we it in our manners and conversation Christ sayes In moribus Iohn 15.14 Mat. 22.12 Henceforth I call you not servants but friends But howsoever Christ called him friend that was come to the feast without the wedding garment he cast him out because he made no difference of that place from another First then remember by what terrible things God answers thee in the Christian Church when he comes to that round and peremptory issue Marke 16.16 Qui non credider it damnabitur He that beleeves not every Article of the Christian faith with so stedfast a belief as that he would dye for it Damnabitur no modification no mollification no going lesse He shal be damned Consider too the nature of Excōmunication That it teares a man from the body of Christ Jesus That that man withers that is torne off and Christ himselfe is wounded in it Consider the insupportable penances that were laid upon sinners by those penitentiall Canons that went through the Church in those Primitive times when for many sins which we passe through now without so much as taking knowledge that they are sins men were not admitted to the Communion all their lives no nor easily upon their death-beds Consider how dangerously an abuse of that great doctrine of Predestination may bring thee to thinke that God is bound to thee and thou not bound to him That thou maiest renounce him and he must embrace thee and so make thee too familiar with God and too homely with Religion upon presumption of a Decree Consider that when thou preparest any uncleane action in any sinfull nakednesse God is not onely present with thee in that roome then but then tels thee That at the day of Judgement thou must stand in his presence and in the presence of all the World not onely naked but in that foule and sinfull and uncleane action of nakednesse which thou committedst then Consider all this and confesse that for matter of manners and conversation The God of thy Salvation answers thee by terrible things And so it is also if we consider Prayer in the Church God House is the house of Prayer In oratione It is his Court of Requests There he receives petitions there he gives Order upon them And you come to God in his House as though you came to keepe him company to sit downe and talke with him halfe an houre or you come as Ambassadors covered in his presence as though ye came from as great a Prince as he You meet below and there make your bargaines for biting for devouring Usury and then you come up hither to prayers and so make God your Broker You rob and spoile and eat his people as bread by Extortion and bribery and deceitfull waights and measures and deluding oathes in buying and selling and then come hither and so make God your Receiver and his house a den of Thieves His house is Sanctum Sanctorum The holiest of holies and you make it onely Sanctuarium It should be a place sanctified by your devotions and you make it onely a Sanctuary to priviledge Malefactors A place that may redeeme you from the ill opinion of men who must in charity be bound to thinke well of you because they see you here Offer this to one of your Princes as God argues in the Prophet and see if he will suffer his house to be prophaned by such uncivill abuses Psal 47.3 And Terribilis Rex The Lord most high is terrible and a great King over all the earth Psal 96.4 and Terribilis super omnes Deos More terrible then all other Gods Let thy Master be thy god or thy Mistresse thy god thy Belly be thy god or thy Back be thy god thy fields be thy god or thy chests be thy god Terribilis super omnes Deos The Lord is terrible above all gods Psal 95.3 Deut. 28.58 A great God and a great King above all gods You come and call upon him by his name here But Magnū terribile Glorious and fearefull is the name of the Lord thy God And as if the Son of God were but the Son of some Lord that had beene your Schoole-fellow in your youth and so you continued a boldnesse to him ever after so because you have beene brought up with Christ from your cradle and catechized in his name Psal 111.4 his name becomes lesse reverend unto you And Sanctum terribile Holy and reverend Holy and terrible should his name be Consider the resolution that God hath taken upon the Hypocrite and his prayer What is the hope of the Hypocrite Iob 27.8 Hos 7.14 when God taketh away his soule Will God heare his cry They have not cryed unto me with their hearts when they have howled upon their beds Consider that error in the matter of our prayer frustrates the prayer and makes it ineffectuall Zebedees Sons would have beene placed at the right hand Mat. 20.21 and at the left hand of Christ and were not heard Error in the manner may frustrate our prayer and make it ineffectuall too Iam. 4.3 Ye ask and are not heard because ye ask amisse It is amisse if it be not referred to his will Luke 5.12 Iam. 1.6 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean It is amisse if it be not asked in faith Let not him that wavereth thinke he shall receive any thing of the Lord. It is amisse if prayer be discontinued 1 Thes 5.17 Luke 22.44 Esay 1.15 intermitted done by fits Pray incessantly And it is so too if it be not vehement for Christ was in an Agony in his prayer and his sweat was as great drops of blood Of prayers without these conditions God sayes When you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes when you make many prayers I will not heare you Their prayer shall not only be ineffectuall Prov. 28.9 Psal 129.7 but even their prayer shall be an abomination And not only an abomination to God but destruction upon themselves for Their prayer shall be turned to sin And when they shall not be heard for themselves no body else shall be heard for them Though these three men Ezek. 14.14 Noah Iob Daniel stood for them they should not deliver thē Though the whole Congregation consisted of Saints they shall not be heard for him nay they shall be forbidden to pray for him forbidden to mentiō or mean him in their prayers as Ieremy was When God leaves you no way of reconciliation but prayer and then layes these heavy and terrible conditions upon prayer Confesse that though he be the God of your salvation and do answer you yet By terrible things doth the God of your salvation answer you And consider this againe as in manners and in prayer so in his other Ordinance of Preaching Thinke with your selves what God lookes for from you In
and in the Cup of Salvation in the Sacrament for so much as concernes him is but spilt upon the ground as though his honey his worldly greamesse were his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Prince and friends and all when that is lost by this vomit he mournes for all in a sad and everlasting mourning in such a disconsolate dejection of spirit as ends either in an utter inconsideration of God or in a desperation of his mercies This is that Incipiamte evomere as the Vulgat reads it in this vomit of worldly things Revel 3.16 God does begin to vomit him out of his mouth and then God does not returne to his vomit but leaves this impatient patient to his impenitiblenesse But we must not lanch into these wide Seas now to consider the scorne or the danger of this vomit but rather draw into the harbor and but repeat the text transferred from this world to the text from temporall to spirituall things Thus far we have beene In melle In honey upon honey but now Super mel Conclusio above honey Psal 19.10 The judgements of the Lord are Dulcia prae melle Sweeter then honey and the honey combe And the judgements of the Lord are that by which the Lord will judge us and this world it is his word His word the sincerity of the Gospel the truth of his Religion is our honey and honey combe our honey and our waxe our Covenant and our Seale we have him not if we have not his truth if we require other honey and wee trust him not if we require any other Seale if we thinke the word of God needs the traditions of men And Invenisti tu Hath God manifested to thee the truth of his Gospell Blesse thou the Lord praise him and magnifie him for ever whose day-spring from an high hath visited thee and left so many Nations in darknesse who shall never heare of Christ till they heare himselfe nor heare other voyce from him then then the Ite maledicti Pity them that have not this honey and confesse for thy selfe that though thou have it thou hast but found it couldst thou bespeake Christian Parents beforehand and say I will be borne of such Parents as shall give me a title to the Covenant to Baptisme or couldst thou procure Sureties that should bind themselves for thee at the entring into the Covenant in Baptisme Thou foundest thy selfe in the Christian Church and thou foundest meanes of salvation there thou broughtest none hither thou boughtest none here the Title of S. Andrew the first of the Apostles that came to Christ was but that Invenimus Mesiam We have found the Mesias It is onely Christ himselfe that sayes of himselfe Cant. 5.1 Comedi mel meum I have eat my honey his owne honey We have no grace no Gospel of our owne we find it here But since thou hast found it Comede Eat it do not drinke the cup of Babylon lest thou drink the cup of Gods wrath too but make this Honey Christs true Religion thy meate digest that assimilate that incorporate that and let Christ himself and his merit be as thy soul let the cleere and outward profession of his truth Religion be as thy body If thou give away that body be flattered out of thy Religion or threatned out of thy Religion If thou sell this body be bought and bribed out of thy Religion If thou lend this body discontinue thy Religion for a yeare or two to see how things will fall out if thou have no body thou shalt have no Resurrection and the cleere and undisguised profession of the truth is the body Eat therefore this honey Ad sufficientiam so much as is enough To beleeve implicitly as the Church beleeves and know nothing is not enough know thy foundations and who laid them Other foundations can no man lay then are laid Christ Jesus neither can other men lay those foundations otherwise then they are laid by the Apostles but eat Ad sufficientiam tuam that which is enough for thee for so much knowledge is not required in thee in those things as in them whose profession it is to teach them be content to leave a roome stil for the Apostles Aemulamini charismata meliora desire better gifts and ever think it a title of dignity which the Angel gave Daniel to be Vir desideriorum To have still some farther object of thy desires Do not thinke thou wantest all because thou hast not all for at the great last day we shall see more plead Catechismes for their salvation then the great volumes of Controversies more plead their pockets then their Libraries If S. Paul so great an Argosie held no more but Christum crucifixum what can thy Pinnace hold Let humility be thy ballast and necessary knowledge thy fraight for there is an over-fulnesse of knowledge which forces a vomit a vomit of opprobrious and contumelious speeches a belching and spitting of the name of Heretique and Schismatique and a losse of charity for matters that are not of faith and from this vomiting comes emptiness The more disputing Psal 90.14 the lesse beleeving but Saturasti nos benignitate tua Domine Thou hast satisfied us early with thy mercy Thou gavest us Christianity early and thou gavest us the Reformation early and therefore since in thee we have found this honey let us so eat it Levit. 18.25 and so hold it That the land do not vomit her Inhabitants nor spew us out as it spewed out the Nations that were before us Levit. 18.29 but that our dayes may be long in this land which the Lord our God hath given us and that with the Ancient of dayes we may have a day without any night in that land which his Son our Saviour hath purchased for us with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood To which glorious Son of God c. SERM. LXXI At the Haghe Decemb. 19. 1619. I Preached upon this Text. Since in my sicknesse at Abrey-hatche in Essex 1630. revising my short notes of that Sermon I digested them into these two MAT. 4.18 19 20. And Iesus walking by the Sea of Galile saw two brethren Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother casting a net into the Sea for they were fishers And he saith unto them Follow me and I will make you fishers of men And they straightway left their nets and followed him SOLOMON presenting our Saviour Christ in the name and person of Wisdome in the booke of Proverbs puts by instinct of the Holy Ghost these words into his mouth Prov. 8.30 Deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum Christs delight is to be with the children of men And in satisfaction of that delight he sayes in the same verse in the person of Christ That he rejoyced to be in the habitable parts of the Earth that is where he might converse with men Ludens in orbe terrarum so the Vulgat reads