parts of this text and to all that the Holy Ghost is to do upon the world for howsoever he may rebuke the world of sin he cannot be said to rebuke it of righteousnesse and of judgement according to S. Augustines later interpretation of these words for in one place of his workes he takes this word Reproofe in the harder sense for rebuke but in another in the milder we have and must pursue the second signification of the word That the Holy Ghost shall reprove the world of sin of righteousnesse of judgement by convincing the world by making the world confesse and acknowledge all that that the Holy Ghost intends in all these And this manifestation and this conviction in these three will be our parts In the first of which That the Holy Ghost shall Reprove that is convince the world of sin we shall first looke how all the world is under sin and then whether the Holy Ghost being come have convinced all the world made all the world see that it is so and in these two inquisitions we shall determine that first branch For the first for of the other two we shall reach you the boughes anon 1 Part. Mundus sub peccato when you come to gather the fruit and lay open the particulars then when we come to handle them That all the world is under sin and knowes it not for this Reproofe Elenchus is sayes the Philosopher Syllogismus contra contraria opinantem An argument against him that is of a contrary opinion we condole first the misery of this Ignorance for August Quid miserius misero non miser ante seipsum What misery can be so great as to be ignorant insensible of our owne misery Every act done in such an ignorance as we might overcome is a new sin And it is not onely a new practise from the Devill but it is a new punishment from God August Iussisti Domine sic est ut poena sit sibi omnis inordinatus animus Every sinner is an Executioner upon himselfe and he is so by Gods appointment who punishes former sins with future This then is the miserable state of the world It might know and does not that it is wholly under an inundation a deluge of sin For sin is a transgression of some Law which he that sins may know himselfe to be bound by For if any man could be exempt from all Law he were impeccable he could not sin And if he could not possibly have any knowledge of the Law it were no Law to him Now under the transgression of what Law lyes all the World Lex Humana For the positive Laws of the States in which we live a man may keepe them according to the intention of them that made those Laws which is all that is required in any humane Law to keepe it if not according to the letter yet according to the intention of the Law-maker Nay it is not onely possible Seneca but easie to do so Angusta innocentia ad legem bonum esse sayes the morall mans holy Ghost Seneca It is but a narrow and a shallow honesty to be no honester then the Law forces him to be Thus then in violating the Laws of the State all the World is not under sin If we passe from Laws meerely humane Ceremonialia though in truth scarce any just Law is so meerely humane for God that commands obedience to humane Laws hath a hand in the making of them to those ceremoniall and judiciall Laws which the Jews received immediately from God in which respect they may be called divine Laws though they were but locall and but temporary which were in such a number as that though penall Laws in some States be so many and so heavy as that they serve onely for snares and springes upon the people yet they are no where equall to the ceremoniall and judiciall Laws Psal â— 6 which lay upon the Jews yet even for these Laws S. Paul sayes of himselfe That touching that righteousnesse which is in the Law he was blamelesse Thus therefore in violating ceremoniall or judiciall Laws all the World is not under sin both because all the World was not bound by that Law and some in the World did keepe it But in two other respects it is Lex Naturae first That there is a Law of Nature that passes through all the World a Law in the heart and of the breach of this no man can be alwayes ignorant As every man hath a devill in himselfe Chrysost Spontaneum Daemonem A Devill of his owne making some particular sin that transports him so every man hath a kinde of God in himselfe such a conscience as sometimes reproves him Carry we this consideration a little higher and we may see herein some verification at least some usefull application of Origens extreme error Origen He thought that at last after infinite revolutions as all other substances should be even the Devill himselfe should be as it were sucked and swallowed into God and there should remaine nothing at last as there was nothing else at first but onely God not by an annihilation of the Creature that any thing should come to nothing but by this absorption by a transmigration of all Creatures into God that God should be all and all should be God So in our case That which is the sinners devill becomes his God That very sin which hath possessed him by the excesse of that sin or by some losse or paine or shame following that sin occasions that reproofe and remorse that withdraws him from that sin So all the world is under sin because they have a Law in themselves and a light in themselves And it is so in a second respect Originale peecatum Esay 1.4 Wisd 2.23 That all being derived from Adam Adams sin is derived upon all Onely that one man that was not naturally deduced from Adam Christ Jesus was guilty of no sin All others are subject to that malediction Vae genti peccatrici Wo to this sinfull World God made man Inexterminabilem sayes the Wiseman undisseisible unexpellible such as he could not be thrust out of his Immortality whether he would or no August for that was mans first immortality Posse non mori That he needed not have dyed When man killed himselfe and threw upon all his posterity the morte morieris that we must dye and that Death is Stipendium peccati The wages of sin and that Anima quae peccaverit Ezech. 18.4 ipsa morietur that That soule and onely that soule that sins shall dye Since we see the punishment fall upon all we are sure the fault cleaves to all too all do dye therefore all do sin And though this Originall sin that over-flowes us all may in some sense be called peccatum involuntarium a sin without any elicite act of the Will for so it must needs be in Children and so properly no sin yet as
God against sin and sinners Vt erubescatis that we might see blood in your faces the blood of your Saviour working in that shame for sin That that question of the Prophet might not confound you Were they ashamed when they committed abomination nay they were not ashamed Ier. 6.15 Erubescere nesciebāt they were never used to shame they knew not how to be ashamed Therefore sayes he they shall fall amongst them that fall they shall do as the world does sin as their neighbours sin and fall as they fall irrepentantly here and hereafter irrecoverably And then Vt conturbati sitis that you may be troubled in your hearts and not cry Peace Peace where there is no peace and flatter your selves because you are in a true Religion and in the right way for a Child may drowne in a Font and a Man may be poysoned in the Sacrament much more perish though in a true Church And also Vt revertamini that you may returne againe to the Lord returne to that state of purenesse which God gave you in Baptisme to that state which God gave you the last time you received his body and blood so as became you And then lastly Vt erubescatis velociter that you may come to the beginning of this and to all this quickly and not to defer it because God defers the judgement For to end this with S. Augustines words upon this word Velociter Quandocunque venit celerrimè venit quod desperatur esse venturum How late soever it come that comes quickly if it come at all which we beleeved would never come How long soever it be before that judgement come yet it comes quickly if it come before thou looke for it or be ready for it Whosoever labours to sleepe out the thought of that day His damnation sleepeth not sayes the Apostle It is not onely that his damnation is not dead that there shall never be any such day but that it is no day asleepe every midnight shall be a day of judgement to him and keepe him awake and when consternation and lassitude lend him or conterfait to him a sleep as S. Basil sayes of the righteous Etiam somnia justorum preces sunt That even their Dreames are prayers so this incorrigible sinners Dreames shall be not onely presages of his future but acts of his present condemnation SERM. LVI Preached upon the Penitentiall Psalmes PSAL. 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose trangression is forgiven whose sinne is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquitie and in whose spirit there is no guile THis that I have read to you can scarce be called all the Text I proposed for the Text the first and second verses and there belongs more to the first then I have delivered in it for in all those Translators and Expositors who apply themselves exactly to the Originall to the Hebrew the Title of the Psalme is part of the first verse of the Psalme S. Augustine gives somewhat a strange reason why the Booke of Enoch cited by S. Iude in his Epistle and some other such ancient Books as that were never received into the body of Canonicall Scriptures Vt in Authoritate apud nos non essent nimia fecit eorum Antiquitas The Church suspected them because they were too Ancient sayes S. Augustine But that reason alone is so far from being enough to exclude any thing from being part of the Scriptures as that we make it justly an argument for the receiving the Titles of the Psalmes into the Body of Canonicall Scriptures that they are as ancient as the Psalmes themselves So then the Title of this Psalme enters into our Text as a part of the first verse And the Title is Davidis Erudiens where we need not insert as our Translators in all languages and Editions have conceived a necessity to do any word for the cleering of the Text more then is in the Text it selfe And therefore Tremellius hath inserted that word An Ode of David we A Psalme of David others others for the words themselves yeeld a perfect sense in themselves Le David Maschil is Davidis Erudiens that is Davidis Eruditio Davids Institution Davids Catechisme And so our Text which is the first and second verse taking in all the first verse in all accounts is now Davids Catechisme Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven c. In these words Divisio our parts shall be these first That so great a Master as David proceeded by way of Catechisme of instruction in fundamentall things and Doctrines of edification Secondly That the foundation of this Building the first lesson in this Art the first letter in this Alphabet is Blessednesse for Primus actus voluntatis est Amor Man is not man till he have produced some acts of the faculties of that soule that makes him man till he understand something and will something Till he know and till he would have something he is no man Now The first Act of the will is love and no man can love any thing but in the likenesse and in the notion of Happinesse of Blessednesse or of some degree thereof and therefore David proposes that for the foundation of his Catechisme Blessednesse The Catechisme of David Blessed is the Man But then in a third Consideration we lay hold upon S. Augustins Aphorisme Amare nisi nota non possumus We cannot truly love any thing but that we know And therefore David being to proceede Catechistically and for Instruction proposes this Blessednesse which as it is in Heaven and reserved for our possession there is in-intelligible as Tertullian speaks unconceivable he purposes it in such notions and by such lights as may enable us to see it and know it in this life And those lights are in this Text Three for The forgivenesse of Transgressions And then The Covering of sinnes And lastly The not imputing of Iniquity which three David proposes here are not a threefold repeating of one and the same thing But this Blessednesse consisting in our Reconciliation to God for we were created in a state of friendship with God our rebellion put us into a state of hostility and now we need a Reconciliation because we are not able to maintaine a war against God no nor against any other enemy of man without God this Blessednesse David doth not deliver us all at once in three expressings of the same thing but he gives us one light thereof in the knowledge that there is a Forgiving of Transgressions another in the Covering of sinnes and a third in the not Imputing of Iniquity But then that which will constitute a fourth Consideration when God hath presented himselfe and offered his peace in all these there is also something to be done on our part for though the Forgiving of Transgression The Covering of sinne The not Imputing of Iniquity proceed onely from God yet God affords these to none but him In whose spirit there is no guile And
expressed it for according to the Originall word Galal it is in the Margin not Commit but Roll thy way upon the Lord which may very well imply and intend this precept Carry thy Rolling trench up to God and gather upon him Gen. 18.23 As Abraham when he beat the price with God for Sodom from fifty to ten rolled his Petition upon God fo roll thy wayes upon him come up to him in a thankfull acknowledgement what he hath done for thee in the Gospel in the Law and in Nature And then as Tertullian sayes of publique Prayers Obsidemus Deum In the Prayers of the Congregation wee besiege God So this way wee entrench our selves before God so as that nothing can beat us out of our trenches for if all the Canons of the Church beat upon me so that I be by Excommunication removed from the assistances of the Church though I be inexcusable if I labour not my Reconciliation and my Absolution yet before that be effected I am still in my first trench still I am a man still I have a soule capable of Grace still I have the light of Nature and some presence of God in that though I be attenuated I am not annihilated though by my former abuses of Gods graces and my contumacy I be cast back to the ends of the earth and a far off upon the Sea yet even there God is the confidence of all them As long as I consider that I have such a soule capable of Grace and Glory I cannot despaire Thus Nature makes Pearls Thus Grace makes Saints A drop of dew hardens and then another drop fals and spreads it selfe and cloathes that former drop and then another and another and become so many shels and films that invest that first feminall drop and so they say there is a pearle in Nature A good foule takes first Gods first drop into his consideration what he hath shed upon him in Nature and then his second coate what in the Law and successively his other manifold graces as so many shels and films in the Christian Church and so we are sure there is a Saint Roll thy wayes upon God And as it followes in the same verse Spera in eo ipse faciet we translate it Trust in him and he shall bring it to passe Begin at Alpha and hee shall bring it to Omega Consider thy selfe but in the state of Hope for the state of Nature is but a state of Hope a state of Capablenesse In Nature wee have the capacity of Grace but not Grace in possession in Nature Et ipse faciet sayes that Text God shall doe God shall work There is no more in the Originall but so Ipse faciet Not God shall doe it or doe this or doe that but doe all doe but consider that God hath done something for thee and he shall doe all for He is the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are a farre off upon the Sea Here is a new Mathematiques without change of Elevation or parallax I that live in this Climate and stand under this Meridian looke up and fixe my self upon God And they that are under my feete looke up to that place which is above them And as divers as contrary as our places are we all fixe at once upon one God and meet in one Center but we doe not so upon one Sunne nor upon one constellation or configuration in the Heavens when we see it those Antipodes doe not but they and we see God at once How various formes of Religion soever passe us through divers wayes yet by the very light and power of Nature we meet in one God and for so much as may make God accessible to us and make us inexcusable towards him there is light enough in this dawning of the day refection enough in this first meale The knowledge of God which we have in Nature That alone discharges God and condemns us for by that He is that is He offers himselfe to be The confidence of all the ends of the Earth and of them who are a far of upon the Sea that is of all mankinde But then Lunae radiis non matureseit botrus fruits may be seene by the Mooneshine but the Mooneshine will not ripen them Therefore a Sunne rises unto us in the law and in the Prophets and gives us another manner of light then we had in nature Prov. 4.19 The way of the wicked is as Darknesse sayes Solomon Wherein It follows They know not at what they stumble A man that calls himselfe to no kinde of account that takes no candle into his hand never knowes at what he stumbles not what occasions his sin But by the light of nature if he will looke upon his owne infirmities his own deformities his own inclinations he may know at what he stumbles what that is that leads him into tentation For though S. Paul say That by the law is the knowledge of sin And Rom. 3.20 Rom. 5.13 Rom. 7.7 Sin is not imputed when there is no law And againe I had not knowne sin but by the law in some of these places the law is not intended onely of the law of the Jews but of the law of nature in our hearts for by that law every man knows that he sins And then sin is not onely intended of sin produced into act but sin in the heart as the Apostle instances there I had not knowne lust except the law had said Thou shalt not covet Of some sinnes there is no cleare evidence given by the light of nature That the law supplied and more then that The law did not onely shew what was sin but gave some light of remedy against sin and restitution after sin by those sacrifices which though they were ineffectuall in themselves yet involved and represented Christ who was their salvation So then God was to the Jews in generall as he was to his principall servant amongst them Moses He saw the land of promise but he entred not into it The Jews saw Christ Deut. 34.1 but embraced him not Abraham saw his day and rejoyced They saw it that is they might have seen it but winked at it Luther sayes well Iudaei habuere jus mendicandi The Jews had a licence to beg They had a Breve and might gather They had a Covenant and might plead with God But they did not and therefore though they were inexcusable for their neglect of the light of Nature and more inexcusable for resisting the light of the law That they and we might be absolutely inexcusable if we continued in darknesse after that God set up another light the light of the Gospel which is our third and last part wrapped up in those first words of our Text By terrible things in righteousnesse wilt thou answer us O God of our salvation This word Salvation Iashang is the roote of the name of Iesus 3 Part. Ecclesia Christiana In the beginning of
into the Manichees error to make an Evill God So farre doth the Schoole follow this as that there one Archbishop of Canterbury out of another that is Bradwardin out of Anselme pronounces it Haereticum esse dicere Malum esse aliquid To say that any thing is naturally evill is an heresie But if I cannot finde a foundation for my comfort in this subtilty of the Schoole That sin is nothing no such thing as was created or induced by God much lesse forced upon me by him in any coactive Decree yet I can raise a second step for my consolation in this that be sin what it will in the nature thereof yet my sin shall conduce and cooperate to my good So Ioseph saies to his Brethren You thought evill against me Gen. 51.20 but God meant it unto good which is not onely good to Ioseph who was no partaker in the evill but good even to them who meant nothing but evill And therefore as Origen said Etsi novum Though it be strangely said yet I say it That Gods anger is good so saies S. Augustine Audeo dicere Though it be boldly said yet I must say it Vtile esse cadere in aliquod manifestum peccatum Many sinners would never have beene saved if they had not committed some greater sin at last then before for the punishment of that sin hath brought them to a remorse of all their other sins formerly neglected If neither of these will serve my turne neither that sin is nothing in it selfe and therefore not put upon me by God nor that my sin having occasioned my repentance hath done me good and established me in a better state with God then I was in before that sin yet this shall fully rectifie me and assure my consolation that in a pious sense I may say Christ Jesus is the sinner and not I. For though in the two and twentieth Session of the Councell of Basil that proposition were condemned as scandalous in the mouth of a Bishop of Nazareth Augustinus de Roma Christus quotidie peccat That Christ does sin every day yet Gregory Nazianzen expresses the same intention in equivalent termes when he saies Quamdiu inobediens ego tamdiu quantum ad me attinet inobediens Christus As long as I sin for so much as concernes me me who am incorporated in Christ me who by my true repentance have discharged my selfe upon Christ Christ is the sinner even in the sight and justice of his Father and not I. And as this consideration That the goodnesse of God in Christ is thus spread upon all persons and all actions takes me off from my aptnesse to mis-interpret other mens actions not to be hasty to call indifferent things sins not to call hardnesse of accesse in great Persons pride not to call sociablenesse of conversation in women prostitution not to call accommodation of Civill businesses in States prevarication or dereliction and abandoning of God and toleration of Religion as it takes me off from this mis-interpreting of others so for my selfe it puts me upon an ability to chide and yet to cheare my soule with those words of David O my Soule why art thou so sad why art thou so disquieted within me Since sin is nothing no such thing as is forced upon thee by God by which thy damnation should be inevitable or thy reconciliation impossible since of what nature soever sin be in it selfe thy sins being truly repented have advanced and emproved thy state in the favour of God since thy sin being by that repentance discharged upon Christ Christ is now the sinner and not thou O my Soule why art thou so sad why art thou disquieted within me And this consideration of Gods goodnesse thus derived upon me and made mine in Christ ratifies and establishes such a holy confidence in me as that all the morall constancy in the world is but a bulrush to this bulwark and therefore we end all with that historicall but yet usefull note That that Duke of Burgundy who was sirnamed Carolus Audax Charles the Bold was Son to that Duke who was sirnamed Bonus The Good Duke A Good one produced a Bold one True confidence proceeds onely out of true Goodnesse for The wicked shall flye Prov. 28.1 when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a Lion This constancy and this confidence and upon this ground Holy courage in a holy feare of him Almighty God infuse and imprint in you all for his Son Christ Jesus sake And to this glorious Son of God c. SERMONS Preached upon EASTER-DAY SERMON XVIII Preached at S. Pauls in the Evening upon Easter-day 1623. ACTS 2.36 Part of the second Lesson of that Evening Prayer Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly That God hath made that same Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ THe first word of the Text must be the last part of the Sermon Divisio Therefore Therefore let all know it Here is something necessary to be knowne And the Meanes by which we are to know it And these will be our two parts Scientia Modus Knowledge and the way to it For Qui testatur de scientia testatur de modo scientiae is a good rule in all Laws He that will testifie any thing upon his knowledge must declare how he came by that knowledge So then what we must conclude and upon what premisses what we must resolve and what must lead us to that resolution are our two stages our two resting places And to those two our severall steps are these In the first Let all the house of Israel know c. we shall consider first The Manner of S. Peter for the Text is part of a Sermon of S. Peters in imprinting this Knowledge in his Auditory which is first in that Compellation of love and honour Domus Israel The house of Israel But yet when hee hath raised them to a sense of their dignity in that attribute he doth not pamper them with an over-value of them he lets them know their worst as well as their best Though you be the house of Israel yet it is you that have crucified Christ Jesus That Iesus whom ye have crucified And from this his Manner of preparing them we shall passe to the Matter that he proposes to them When he had remembred them what God had done for them You are the house of Israel and what they had done against God You have crucified that Iesus He imparts a blessed message to them all Let all know it Let them know it and know it assuredly He exhibits it to their reason to their naturall understanding And what The greatest mystery the entire mystery of our salvation That that Iesus is both Lord and Christ But he is made so Made so by God Made both Made Christ that is anointed embalmed preserved from corruption even in the grave And made Lord by his triumph and by being made Head of the Church in the
is risen indeed risen of himself as the word sounds yet that phrase and expression He is risen if there were no more in it but that expression and that phrase would not conclude Christs rising to have been in virtute propria in his own power For of Dorcas who was raised from the dead Aâ—â— 9 4◠〈◊〉 11. it is said Resedit she sate up and of Lazarus Prodiit he came forth and yet these actions thus ascribed to themselves were done in virtute aliena in the power of another Christs Resurrection was not so In virtute aliena in the power of another if you consider his whole person God and Man but it was aliena à filio Mariae Christ as the Son of Mary rose not by his own power It was by his own but his own because he was God as well as man Nor could all the Magick in the world have raised him sooner then by that his power his as God he that is that person God and man was pleased to rise So sits he now at the right hand of his Father in heaven nor can all the Consecrations of the Romane Priests either remove him from thence or multiply him to a bodily being any where else till his time of comming to Judgment come Then and not till then The Lord himself shall descend from heaven in clamore sayes the Text in a shout with the voyce of the Arch-angell and with the Trumpet of God which circumstances constitute our third and last Branch of this first Part The dead shall rise first They shall rise in the power of Christ therefore Christ is God for Christ himself rose in the power of God and that power shall be thus declared In a shout in the voyce of the Arch-Angell in the Trumpet of God The dead heare not Thunder nor feele they an Earth quake In clamore If the Canon batter that Church walls in which they lye buryed it wakes not them nor does it shake or affect them if that dust which they are be thrown out but yet there is a voyce which the dead shall heare The dead shall heare the voyce of the Son of God Iohn 5.25 sayes the Son of God himself and they that heare shall live And that is the voyce of our Text. It is here called a clamour a vociferation a shout and varied by our Translators and Expositors according to the origination of the word to be clamor hortatorius and suasorius and jussorins A voyce that carries with it a penetration all shall heare it and a perswasion all shall beleeve it and be glad of it and a power a command all shall obey it Since that voyce at the Creation Fiat Let there be a world was never heard such a voyce as this Surgite mortui Arise ye dead That was spoken to that that was meerely nothing and this to them who in themselves shall have no cooperation no concurrence to the hearing or answering this voyce The power of this voyce is exalted in that it is said to be the voyce of the Archangel In voce Archangeli Though legions of Angels millions of Angels shall be employed about the Resurrection to recollect their scattered dust and recompact their ruined bodies yet those bodies so recompact shall not be able to heare a voyce They shall be then but such bodies as they were when they were laid downe in the grave when though they were intire bodies they could not heare the voice of the mourner But this voyce of the Archangel shall enable them to heare The Archangel shall re-infuse the severall soules into their bodies and so they shall heare that voyce Surgite mortui Arise ye that were dead and they shall arise And here we are eased of that disputation whether there be many Archangels or no for if there be but one yet this in our text is he for it is not said In the voyce of An Archangell but of The Archangell if not the Onely yet he who comprehends them all Colos 1.16 and in whom they all consist Christ Jesus And then the power of this voyce is exalted to the highest in the last word that it is Tuba Dei Tuba Dei The Trumpet of God For that is an Hebraisme and in that language it constitutes a superlative to adde the name of God to any thing As in Sauls case when David surprised him in his dead sleepe it is said that Sopor Domini 2 Sam. 26.12 The sleepe of the Lord was upon him that is the heaviest the deadest sleepe that could be imagined so here The Trumpet of God is the loudest voice that we conceive God to speake in All these pieces that it is In clamore In a cry in a shout that it is In the voyce of the Archangell that it is In the Trumpet of God make up this Conclusion That all Resurrections from the dead must be from the voice of God and from his loud voice In clamore It must be so even in thy first Resurrection thy resurrection from sin by grace here here thou needest the voice of God and his loud voyce And therefore though thou thinke thou heare sometimes Gods sibilations as the Prophet Zechary speaks Gods soft and whispering voyce in ward remorses of thine owne and motions of the Spirit of God to thy spirit yet thinke not thy spirituall resurrection accomplished till in this place thou heare his loud voyce Till thou heare Christ descending from Heaven as the text sayes that is working in his Church Till thou heare him In clamore in this cry in this shout in this voyce of Penetration of perswasion of power that is till thou feele in thy selfe in this place a liquefaction a colliquation a melting of thy bowels under the commination of the Judgements of God upon thy sin and the application of his mercy to thy Repentance And then In voce Archangeli this thou must heare In voce Archangeli In the voice of the Archangel S. Iohn in the beginning of the Revelation cals every Governour of a Church an Angel And much respect and reverence much faith and credit behoves it thee to give to thine Angell to the Pastour of that Church in which God hath given thee thy station for he is thine Angel Mal. 2.7 thy Tutelar thy guardian Angell Men should seeke the Law at the mouth of the Priest saies God in Malachi of that Priest that is set over him For the lips of the Priest of every Priest to whom the soules of others are committed should preserve knowledge should be able to instruct and rectifie his flock Quia Angelus Domini Exercituum because every such Priest is the Angell of the Lord of Hosts Hearken thou therefore to that Angel thine Angel But here thou art directed above thine Angell to the Archangell Acts 20.28 Ephes 5.23 Now not the governour of any particular Church but he Who hath purchased the whole Church with his blood
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
all our other faculties were August so omnium voluntates in Adam all our wils were in Adam and we sinned wilfully when he did so and so Originall sin is a voluntary sin Our will is poysoned in the fountaine and as soone as our will is able to exercise any election we are willing to sin as soone as we can and sorry we can sin no sooner and sorry no longer we are willing before the Devill is willing and willing after the Devill is weary and seek occasions of tentation when he presents none And so as the breach of the Law of Nature and as the deluge of Originall sin hath surrounded the whole world the whole world is under sinne That all the world is so requires not much proofe But then does the Holy Ghost An arguat Spiritus sanctus by his comming reprove that is convince the whole world that it is so The Holy Ghost is able to doe it and he hath good cause to doe it But does he doe it Is this Cum venerit when he comes come Is he come to this purpose to make all the world know their sinfull condition God knowes they know it not Howsoever they may have some knowledge of the breach of the Law of Nature yet they have no knowledge of any remedy after and so lack all comfort and therefore this is no knowledge from the Holy Ghost from the Comforter And for the knowledge of Originall sin which lies more heavy upon them then upon us who have the ease of Baptisme which slackens and weakens Originall sin in us they are so farre from knowing that that sin is derived from Adam as that they doe not know that they themselves are derived from Adam not that there is such a sin not that there was such an Adam How then doth the Holy Ghost who is come according to Christs promise according to his promise Reprove that is Convince the world of sinne since this being to bee done by the Holy Ghost implies a knowledge of Christ and a way of comfort in the doing thereof This one word Arguet He shall reprove convince admits three acceptations First Antequam abierit in the future as it is here presented He shall and so the Cum venerit When he comes signifies Antequam abierit Before he departs He came at Pentecost and presently set on foot his Commission by the Apostles to reprove convince the world of sin and hath proceeded ever since by their successors in reducing Nation after Nation and before the consummation of the world before he retire to rest eternally in the bosome of the Father and the Son from whom he proceeded he shall reprove the whole world of sin that is bring them to a knowledge That in the breach of the law of nature and in the guiltinesse of originall sin they are all under a burthen which none of them all of themselves can discharge This work S. Paul seemes to hasten sooner Rom. 10.18 To convince the Jews of their infidelity he argues thus Have not they heard the Gospell They that is the Gentiles and if They much more You And that They had heard it he proves by the application of those words In omnem terram Psal 19.3 Their voice is gone through all the earth and their words to the end of the world That is the voice of the Apostles in the preaching of the Gospell Hence grew that distraction and perplexity which we finde in the Fathers Whether it could be truly said that the Gospell had been preached over all the world in those times If we number the Fathers most are of that opinion That before the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem this was fulfilled Of those that think the contrary some proceed upon reasons ill grounded particularly Origen Quid de Britannis Germanis Origen qui nec adhuc audierunt verbum Euangelii What shall we say of Britanny and Germany who have not heard of the Gospell yet For before Origens time though Origen were 1400. yeares since in what darknesse soever he mistook us to be we had a blessed and a glorious discovery of the Gospell of Christ Jesus in this Iland S. Hierome Hierom. who denies this universall preaching of the Gospell before the destruction of the Temple yet doubts not but that the fulfilling of that prophecy was then in action and in a great forwardnesse I am completum aut brevi ternimus complendum Already we see it performed sayes he Or at least so earnestly pursued as that it must necessarily very soon be performed Nec puto aliquam remanere gentem quae Christi nomen ignor at I do not think sayes that Father more then 1200. yeares since that there is any nation that hath not heard of Christ Et quanquam non habuerit praedicatorem ex viciais c. If they have not had expresse Preachers themselves yet from their neighbours they have had some Echoes of this voice some reflexions of this light The later Divines and the School that finde not this early and generall preaching over the world to lye in proofe proceed to a more safe way That there was then Odor Euangelii A sweet savour of the Gospell issued though it were not yet arrived to all parts As if a plentifull and diffusive perfume were set up in a house we would say The house were perfumed though that perfume were not yet come to every corner of the house But not to thrust the world into so narrow a straite as it is when a Decree is said to have gone out from Augustus Luk. 2.1 Acts 2.5 to taxe all the world for this was but the Romane world Nor That there were men dwelling at Ierusalem devout men of every nation under heaven for this was but of nations discovered and traded withall then nor when S. Paul sayes Rom. 11.18 Mat. 24.14 That the faith of the Romanes was published to the world for that was as far as he had gone those words of our Saviour This Gospell of the kingdome shall be preached in all the world for a witnesse to all nations and then shall the end come have evermore by all Ancient and Modern Fathers and School Preachers and Writers Expositors and Controverters been literally understood that before the end of the world the Gospell shall be actually really evidently efectually preached to all nations and so Cum venerit When the holy Ghost comes that is Antequam abierit Before he go he shall reprove convince the whole world of sin and this as he is a Comforter by accompanying their knowledge of sin with the knowledge of the Gospell for the remission of sins It agrees with the nature of goodnesse to be so diffusive communicable to all It agrees with the nature of God Gen. 7.11 who is goodnesse That as all the fountaines of the great Deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened and so came the flood over all
there is wholesome meat before too The cleare light is in the Gospel but there is light in Nature too Revel 19.9 At the last Supper the Supper of the Lambe in Heaven there is no bill of fare there are no particular dishes named there It is impossible to tell us what we shall feed upon what we shall be feasted with at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb Our way of knowing God there cannot be expressed At that Supper of the Lambe which is here here in our way homewards that is in the Sacramentall Supper of the Lambe it is very hard to tell what we feed upon How that meat is dressed how the Body and Blood of Christ is received by us at that Supper in that Sacrament is hard to be expressed hard to be conceived for the way and manner thereof So also in the former meale that which we have called the Dinner which is The knowledge which the Jews had in the Law it was not easie to distinguish the taste and the nature of every dish and to finde the signification in every Type and in every Ceremony There are some difficulties if curious men take the matter in hand and be too inquisitive even in the Gospel more in the Law most of all in Nature But yet even in this first refection this first meale that God sets before man which is our knowledge of God in Nature because wee are then in Gods House all this World and the next make God but one House though God doe not give Marrow and fatnesse Psal 63.6 81.16 as David speaks though he doe not feed them with the fat of the wheat nor satisfie them with honey out of the Rock for the Gospel is the honey and Christ is the Rock yet even in Nature hee gives sufficient meanes to know him though they come to neither of the other Meales neither to the Jews Dinner The benefit of the Law nor to the Christians Supper either when they feed upon the Lamb in the Sacrament or when they feed with the Lamb in the possession and fruition of Heaven Though therefore the Septuagint in their Translation of the Psalms have in the Title of this Psalme added this A Psalme of Ieremy and Ezekiel when they were departing out of the Captivity of Babylon intimating therein that it is a Psalme made in contemplation of that blessed place which we are to go to as literally it was of their happie state in their restitution from Babylon to Jerusalem And though the ancient Church by appropriating this Psalme to the office of the dead to the service at Burials intimate also that this Psalme is intended of that fulnesse of knowledge and Joy and Glory which they have that are departed in the Lord yet the Holy Ghost stops as upon the way before we come thither and since we must lie in an Inne that is Lodge in this World he enables the World to entertaine us as well as to lodge us and hath provided that the World the very world it selfe before wee consider the Law in the World or the Church in the World or Glory in the next World This very World that is Nature and no more should give such an universall light of the knowledge of God as that he should bee The confidence of all the ends of the Earth and of them that are a farre off upon the Sea And therefore as men that come to great places and preferments when they have entred by a faire and wide gate of Honour but yet are laid downe upon hard beds of trouble and anxiety in those places for when the body seemes in the sight of men to go on in an easie amble the minde is every day if not all day in a shrewd and diseasefull trot As those men will sometimes say It was better with me when I was in a lower place and fortune and will remember being Bishops the pleasures they had when they were Schoole-boyes and yet for all this intermit not their thankfulnesse to God who hath raised them to that height and those meanes of glorifying him so howsoever we abound with joy and thankfulnesse for these gracious and glorious Illustrations of the Law and the Gospel and beames of future Glory which we have in the Christian Church Let us reflect often upon our beginning upon the consideration of Gods first benefits which he hath given to us all in Nature That light Iohn 1.9 by which he enlighteneth every man that commeth into the World That he hath given us a reasonable soule capable of grace here that he hath denied no man and no other creature hath that That he hath given us an immortal soul capable of glory hereafter and that that immortality he hath denied no man and no other creature hath that Consider we alwaies the grace of God to be the Sun it selfe but the nature of man and his naturall faculties to be the Sphear in which that Sun that Grace moves Consider we the Grace of God to be the soule it self but the naturall faculties of man to be as a body which ministers Organs for that soule that Grace to worke by That so as how much soever I feare the hand of a mighty man that strikes yet I have a more immediate feare of the sword he strikes with So though I impute justly my sins and my feares of judgements for them to Gods withdrawing or to my neglecting his grace yet I looke also upon that which is next me Nature and naturall light and naturall faculties and that I consider how I use to use them whether I be as watchfull upon my tongue that that minister no tentation to others and upon mine eye that that receive no tentation from others as by the light of Nature I might and as some morall Men without addition of particular Grace have done That so first for my selfe I be not apt to lay any thing upon God and to say that hee starved me though he should not bid me to the Jews dinner in giving me the light of the Law nor bid me to the Christians Supper in giving me the light of the Gospell because he hath given me a competent refection even in Nature And then that for others I may first say with the Apostle Rom. 1.20 11.33 That they are without excuse who doe not see the invisible God in the visible Creature and may say also with him O altitudo The wayes of the Lord are past my finding out And therefore to those who doe open their eyes to that light of Nature in the best exaltation thereof God does not hide himselfe though he have not manifested to me by what way he manifests himselfe to them For God disappoints none and he is The confidence of all the ends of the Earth and of them who are a farre off upon the Sea Commit thy way unto the Lord Psal 37.5 sayes David And he sayes more then our Translation seemes to expresse The Margin hath
that That he knows nothing S. Paul found that to be all knowledge To know Christ And Mahomet thinks himselfe wise therefore because he knows not acknowledges not Christ as S. Paul does Though a man knew not that every sin casts another shovell of Brimstone upon him in Hell yet if he knew that every riotous feast cuts off a year and every wanton night seaven years of his seventy in this world it were some degree towards perfection in knowledge He that purchases a Mannor will thinke to have an exact Survey of the Land But who thinks of taking so exact a survey of his Conscience how that money was got that purchased that Mannor We call that a mans meanes which he hath But that is truly his meanes what way he came by it And yet how few are there when a state comes to any great proportion that know that that know what they have what they are worth We have seen great Wills dilated into glorious uses and into pious uses and then too narrow an estate to reach to it And we have seen Wills where the Testator thinks he hath bequeathed all and he hath not knowne halfe his own worth When thou knowest a wife a sonne a servant a friend no better but that that wife betrayes thy bed and that sonne thine estate and that servant thy credit and that friend thy secret what canst thou say thou knowest But we must not insist upon this Consideration of knowledge for though knowledge be of a spirituall nature yet it is but as a terrestriall Spirit conversant upon Earth Spirituall things of a more rarified nature then knowledge even faith it selfe and all that grows from that in us falls within this Rule which we have in hand That even in spirituall things nothing is perfect We consider this therefore in Credendis Fides In things that we are bound to Beleeve there works our faith And then in Petendis In things that we are bound to pray for there works our hope And lastly in Agendis In things that we are bound to doe and there works our charity And there is nothing in any of these three perfect When you remember who they were Luk. 17.5 that made that prayer Domine adauge That the Apostles themselves prayed that their faith might receive an encrease Lord increase our faith you must necessarily second that consideration with a confession That no mans faith is perfect When you heare Christ so often upbraid sometimes whole Congregations with that Mat. 6.30 Modicae fidei O yee of little faith And sometimes his Disciples alone with the same reproach Mat. 8.26 Modicae fidei O yee of little faith when you may be perplexed with the variety of opinions amongst the ancient Interpreters whether Christ spoke but to the incredulous Jewes Mat. 17.17 or to his own Disciples when he said O faithlesse and perverse generation how long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you for many Interpreters goe one way and many the other And when you may be cleared without any colour of perplexity that to whom soever Christ spoke in that place he spoke plainly to his owne Disciples Vers 20. when he said Because of your unbeliefe you cannot doe this In which Disciples of his he denies also that there is such a proportion of faith as a graine of Mustard-seed can ye place a perfectnesse of faith in any When the Apostle takes knowledge of the good estate and condition of the Thessalonians and gave God thanks for their Workes of faith for their labours of love for their patience of hope in our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Thes 1.2.3.10 does he conclude them to be perfect No for after this he sayes Night and day we pray exceedingly that we may perfect that which is lacking in your faith And after this he sees the fruit of those prayers We are bound to thanke God alwayes 2 Thes 1.3 because your faith groweth exceedingly still at the best it is but a growing faith and it may be better There are men that are said to be Rich in faith Iames 2.5 men that are come from the weake and beggarly elements of Nature or of the Law to the knowledge of the precious and glorious Gospell Galat. 4.9 and so are Rich in faith enriched emproved by faith 2 Cor. 8.7 There are men that Abound in faith that is in comparison of the emptinesse of other men or of their owne emptinesse before they embraced the Gospell they abound now But still it is Rom. 12.3 As God hath given the measure of faith to every man Not as of his Manna a certaine measure and an equall measure and a full measure to every man no man hath such a measure of faith as that he needs no more or that he may not lose at least some of that When Christ speakes so doubtfully When the Son of man commeth shall he finde faith upon earth Luke 18. â— Any faith in any man If the Holy Ghost be come into this presence into this Congregation does he find faith in any A perfect faith he does not Deceive not your selves then with that new charme and flattery of the soule That if once you can say to your selves you have faith you need no more or that you shall alwaies keepe that alive The Apostle sayes All boasting that is all confidence Rom. 3.27 is excluded By what Law sayes he by the Law of faith Not by faith but by the Law of faith There is a Law of faith a rule that ordinates and regulates our faith by which law and rule the Apostle cals upon us To examine our selves whether we be in the faith or no 2 Cor. 13.5 not onely by the internall motions and private inspirations of his blessed Spirit but by the Law and the Rule which he hath delivered to us in the Gospell The Kings pardon flowes from his meere grace and from his brest but we must have the writing and the Seale that we may plead it So does faith from God But we must see it our selves and shew it to others or else we doe not observe the Law of faith Rom. 4.11 Abraham received the Seale of the righteousnesse of faith sayes the Apostle Hee had an outward testimony to proceed by And then Abraham became an outward testimony and Rule to the faithfull Walke in the steps of the faith of Abraham sayes that Apostle in that place Ver. 12. Not a faith conceived onely but a faith which you saw The faith of Abraham for so the Apostle proposing to us the example of other men sayes Their faith follow you Heb. 13.7 Not faith in generall but their faith So that it is not enough to say I feele the inspiration of the Spirit of God He infuses faith and faith infused cannot be withdrawne but as there is a Law of faith and a practise of faith a Rule of faith and an example of