Day of Salvation says Isaiah and that day reacheth from the time that Remission of sins is preached in the bloud of Christ unto the end of the world Now as the Text is common to all Evangelical Days so there is one Day that lifts up its head above them all the most memorable Day of our Saviour's Resurrection then it was verily fulfilled as Peter urg'd it that the Stone which the Builders refused became the head of the corner St. Chrysostom Nyssen and almost who not pitch upon Easter-day for the particular application of this Text that was the Day wherein God did bring forth a more eminent work than in other common days and upon every Sunday in the year for that Day 's sake the Church hath appointed sacred Assemblies that we may rejoyce and be glad Well then of Davids Day first and from thence how particular Holidays may be ordeined to magnifie Gods extraordinary benefits next of the blessed Age of the Gospel wherein we have great cause to rejoyce and be comforted for Christ hath wiped away all tears from our eyes And last of all I shall take the right opportunity to speak of the glorious Feast of the Resurrection and how the Church doth keep the weekly Feast of the Lords day to rejoyce and be glad in it And first the Holy Ghost hath left it written for the honor of the Lords Anointed This is the Day which the Lord hath made There is one thing in that form of speech which jarrs a little against the ear how can it be said that God did make one day more than another for he hath framed all Times and Seasons alike the Sun knoweth his going down and he maketh it return again every morning to give light unto the World In the Hymns of the Heathen he is called Diespiter the Father of all days indifferently it is he that sets the Heavens in perpetual motion and makes the hours run on and when he calls back his word the Plumbets shall go down and time shall be no more It is granted therefore that he giveth continuance and being to all days after one sort and for the Phrase of my Text a new Writer hath well exprest himself Non includitur mensura temporis sed conditiones tempori incidentes it is not meant of the Day which the Sun makes with his diurnal motion but of the great Work which was wrought in that Day that is not that God made that Day more than others but that He made more in that Day than in others It is vulgar to impute the condition of things which fall out in some certain dayes to the days themselves per metonymiam adjuncti although a day as it is meerly a space of time cannot possibly be capable of such Attributes We take liberty to call this a cold or a moist day not for its own sake but because coldness and moisture happen in the day so for the contingency of glorious things we call the day it self glorious and to renown the memorable acts of the Lord we have got a use to speak thus This is the day which the Lord hath made In 1 Sam. 12.6 according to the Original and that 's pointed at in our Margent it is said that the Lord made Moses and Aaron why are not all that are born of a woman the works of his hands as well as Moses and Aaron therefore our Translation hath rendred the sense rather than the word that the Lord advanced Moses and Aaron In like manner we may read my Text thus This is the Day which the Lord advanced for he made it remarkable with an extraordinary favour and thereby gave it a Dignity and Exaltation above its fellows The going out and the return of every year are from the Almighty with the store and abundance that it brings forth but when the clouds drop fatness with unusual plenty then the Prophet says that he crowns that year with his goodness Psal lxv 11. So some principal Days are crowned above the rest as this Day wherein through the sun shine of his mercy he set a Crown of pure Gold upon the head of David his Servant Piety forbid that we should not thankfully receive the most vulgar benefits I know that common things are commonly neglected but learn to see God in small things or you shall never see him in greater If I had learnt it of no other yet I find enough in Seneca for that use Communia negligenda non sunt c. neglect not to give thanks for common and quotidian favours for life and health and suppeditation of food that the Sun doth shine upon us that we have the air to breath in that the Sea doth ebb and flow for navigation There are days of small things as Zachary calls them chap. iv 10. but those small things are to be consider'd of us with a grateful heart who are less than the least of all his mercies but how much more requisite is it then to observe those days wherein some eminent blessings are confer'd upon us what a behooveful thing it is every man for his own part to keep a Calender of the famous Acts of the Lord for our Birth for our Baptism for great Preservations and to represent them before us at the return of every year with grateful acknowledgment from the bottom of our heart and when God doth see that we are so mindful of a prosperous Day he will grant us many prosperous Years and for the period of joy a most prosperous Eternity that shall never have a period This is made as plane then as you can wish upon what special Prerogative the Lord is said to make a particular day because he doth appoint some special favour to fall out upon it and the Wise-mans Question is answered Ecclus. xxxiii 7. Why doth one day excel another when as all the light of every day of the year is of the Sun It is not the material light which distinguisheth the nobleness of Dayes but he that made the Sun more excellent than the other Stars of the Firmament hath made Princes glorious as the Sun in the Orb of the Common-wealth and a Day of a Princes Exaltation is like a Prince among Days and in that capacity to be magnified Such a day is said to be made by God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because God himself and none else is the Author of the Power of Kings He and none but He took David from following the Ews great with young and set him over the Princes of his People In a word since the Day is taken for the Work of the Day the real meaning of the first words of my Text is this is the King which the Lord hath made Samuel anointed him the People shouted and cried God save him but the Lord did constitute him the Ruler of the Twelve Tribes and gave him his Sovereign Authority the Crowns of Glory in Heaven and the Crowns of Dignity upon Earth are both held by
labour and not provide them honest fare to strengthen them when they follow their Masters negotiations Says Christ to the Seventy Disciples When I sent you forth without Scrip or Shooes or Money did you want any thing They answered not any thing for they went upon their Masters Message and they liv'd upon that word which proceeded out of the mouth of God The Priests indeed that serve at the Altar are to live by the Altar in their case it will be granted that they shall live by that word which proceedeth out of the mouth of Christ but it sorts as well to those that supply any other honest Vocation which God hath allotted if they will bound their desires to moderate sufficiency and not to supersluity Socrates an Heathen could cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he suffered extreme poverty for defending the Worship of God as well as he could against the Idolatry of the Heathen so much more the true Champions of Christs honour may take up the same complaint yet the Lord is innocent of the bloud of those just men he never failed to afford them a sufficient vital proportion if their enemies would let them enjoy it The Heathen Morals are like the base Court by which we have the next entrance to the glorious Courts of God and those Heathen conject their shot to the use of this Point in a Story or a Fable which you will Comates a young Shepherd tended the Flocks of a hard Master but the Stock increased exceedingly under his hand for Comates sacrificed one Ram every month to his God to preserve the Cattel which damage being known to the Owner the churlish man imprisoned him in a hollow tree with intention to starve him But his God provided for him that the weeping of the tree should quench his thirst and that Bees should swarm in the hollow trunk with the help of the Honey-Combs Comates kept life which being perceived the anger of his Master relented Godliness hath the promise of this life and of a better says St. Paul And this tradition of the Jews to which I am credulous doth confirm it You know in 2 King iv there is a Widow much in debt whose Sons should have been sold for bondmen but Elisha multiplied her Pot of Oyl into many Vessels which yielded sufficient moneys to satisfie her Creditors This woman says the Text ver 1. was a Wife to one of the Prophets and she tells Elisha he knew that her husband feared the Lord. The Jews say this woman was the Wife of Obadiah who at his own cost and peril kept the Prophets of the Lord in Caves and fed them at his own charge so long that all his means were wasted This may be for Obadiah could not choose but be at great expence and was not only a keeper of the Prophets but a Prophet himself and see how the Lord did ransom his Sons from slavery by a mighty Miracle it was Gods pleasure Obadiah should cherish his Servants and he would not suffer him or his Posterity to be losers by their Piety There are such that do not set themselves on work according to the word which proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord and as for them need and wretchedness shall vex their souls There are runnagates says David that shall continue in scarceness Let me put you in mind of a runnagate bred in our Kingdom one upon whom God did let his anger fall for a thousand Lies Forgeries Rebellions Calumnies it was the Romish Priest Sanders whose brains beat at nothing but to dishonour a Royal Queen a true Religion and to set the whole Realm of Ireland in combustion This Cative says the most learned Historiographer of this Kingdom being disapointed and forsaken ran mad and wild into the fastnesses of the woods and there ended his life in most miserable famine So says he that Divine Justice closed up that mouth with Famine which was ever open to slanders and rebellions for Letters and Orations were found about him being dead to stir up treasons and seditions God can nourish by every word that proceedeth out of his mouth and they that walk not after his word but would root it out shall perish in their scarcity The hour passing away calls for the third Proposition which is Nothing can nourish unless God bless it for man liveth not by the bread only which he cheweth in his mouth but by that word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God to bless it and give it the vertue of sustenance As if Christ had said Though these stones miraculously be made bread yet hunger would continue if God were displeased at it All the sustenance in the world shall not nourish if he curse it When a fruitful Land becomes barren and a fat soyl well tilled and sowed doth not yield increase every man will be ready to take up Davids Psalm It is for the wickedness of them that dwell therein Like Sodom and Gomorrah like Abnah and Zeboim where not any grass groweth but the whole Land is Brimstone and Salt and Burning Deut. xxix 23. And why will you not mark as well how God chastiseth some for their secret sins so that their food gives them no strength but they pine away in the midst of plenty God gave bread to the Israelites but sent leanness withal into their soul So Haggai upbraided the people Ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled It is the grace of God which gives meat in due season so that health and comfort go together with it And heretofore I have used this similitude to give it light Sometimes when we apply Physick for any disease we are bid to seeth such and such herbs in running water and then to drink the water If this help us we all know it was not the water which did the sick man good but the decoction of the infusion So it is not bread or drink considered barely in it self which doth nourish the body but the blessing of God infused into it Daniel and the three Children of the Captivity that were with him prospered better with Pulse and water than any of the Babylonians with the continual portion of the Kings meat What was Adam the better for eating the forbidden fruit Or were the Jews one whit the worse in health and good plight because many sorts of meats were interdicted them As the Land of Canaan was made double fruitful every sixth year and brought forth a double proportion by the blessing of heaven because in the seventh year it lay fallow So where Gods benediction is upon you though the poor have but a little yet every morsel shall have a double benediction The hungry shall be filled with good things and the rich shall be sent empty away Therefore look up to heaven and give thanks as the little birds do when they sip a drop of water If thou obeyest the Lord thou shalt be blessed in the City and blessed
hand when so malicious a burden hung upon it yet I do not see how he shook off the Viper but I believe and know that it was the voice of the Lord which shaketh the wilderness yea the Lord that shaketh the wilderness of Cades Excussit What no more words concerning this great deliverance So great a work contracted into so small an Epitome If the Children of men work deliverances and strange ones too the relation will ask a Book perchance a Volume or a Legend to record it but it is a blessing so frequent with God that the world would not hold the Books of his preservations if it were not for excussit and tetigit he touch'd the sore and dixit he said the word as short as may be And yet to shake off a beast is such a sudden rescue in the turning of an hand that it is a most complete and more comfortable salvation Monstra superavit priùs quà m nosse possit as Seneca said of Hercules that he slew a Serpent before he knew what a Serpent was What a gentle cure it is As easie as a slumber For the most part it is sickness enough to be diseased with remedies Like as a Philosopher said being made whole after much Physick that it was with him as with a pestilent air cleansed by a clap of thunder And I make a doubt whose fortune was the worse whether the poor womans that took Physick but twelve years together for an issue of bloud or the sick man 's that in thirty eight years sought after no help but from the Pool of Bethesda Wherefore this is the sweetest mercy not to cast off the Viper by loathsom Potions but with no more hurt than Aaron cast forth his rod before Pharaoh from his hand which became a Serpent Gen. vii 10. This deliverance from a Viper makes good the Promise of the Lord Mar. xvi If you take up Serpents they shall not hurt you But as God was the chief Author so Paul had the glory of the execution What Paul himself and no other Indeed there was scarce a friend by to do it for him Hasty Souldiers that even now would have killed him and pitiless Barbarians and Malefactors his fellow Prisoners none of these were likely to relieve him the honour was his own to shake off the beast and yet enquire among all the other Apostles and you shall not find that any one was made an instrument to preserve himself St. Peter could not enter into the High Priests Hall but by a Damosel nor get out of Prison but by an Angel The ignominy was cast upon our Saviours self He saved others himself he cannot save He saved others bear with him in that I pray you though he did not save himself and perchance could not St. Peter As it was said of Mucianus the Roman Facilius erat ei dare imperium quà m accipere it was easier for him to advance another man to the Empire than to exalt himself so God hath ordained to the end that Charity might abound in all things even in the gift of Miracles to give the Apostles the power of healing not to cure themselves but to cure their Brethren No man must buy long life at so base a rate as Herodicus did of whom Aristotle reports that he rended nothing all his days but his own health Of many examples we have but this one in holy Scripture where the Physician did cure himself Paul then did heal himself But advise we well with every circumstance about the Text and then I ask did he not heal the infirmities of many more Yes and there were more Vipers than one in Melita so many Barbarians as thought in their heart but they were cruel thoughts that Paul was a murderer so many Vipers every evil censure against our neighbour it is Venenum charitatis the poyson of our charity shake it off a Gods name before it fasten Qui istoc credis de homine potes facere even for this hard opinion of Paul I doubt Melita had many murderers Yea I am perswaded that this their uncharicableness did more afflict St. Paul than any evil Serpent could as a more tender affection touch'd the heart of Romanus the Martyr to see the cruelty of Heathen Tyrants than to feel his own pain Quod lancinamur non dolet dolet quod error pectori insedit suo Thus the sin of the Barbarians hung upon the heart of the Apostle the Viper only upon his hand but one excussit did serve for both the beast was cast into the fire and then the uncharitable thoughts did vanish Well I see there was some divinity in those hands which were so often lifted up to God in Prayer those hands which wrote such divine Epistles to so many Churches those hands which consecrated the two famous Bishops Titus and Timothy those hands which gathered Alms for the poor Saints at Jerusalem O those hands were blessed no Serpent could envenom them The first office that the courteous fire did afford to Fructuosus the Martyr was to burn the cords which bound up his zealous arms which fain he would lift up to heaven Non ausa est cohibere paena palmas in morem crucis ad patrem levandas solvit brachia qâ—a Deum precentur so sung Prudentius And St. Hierom writes that Julian the wicked took up the body of John the Baptist and burnt it to ashes but his Head wherein the voice of a Crier spake and the Finger wherewith he pointed out Ecce agnus Dei Behold the Lamb of God those could not be consumed And I dare report it after so many Writers that the heart of our most reverend Cranmer was preserved by Gods Providence from the fire in honour of his integrity like the three Children in the Furnace O why should we doubt when God doth thus miraculously save the particular member of our body from harm but that the whole man in the whole entire body our corruptible shall put on incorruption If some should answer to these examples as Diagoras in Tully said to one that presented many Pictures before him of those who had escaped Sea-danger by calling upon Neptune Nusquam esse pictos qui in mari perierant naufragium fecerant There were more examples of them if they could be seen who were drowned in the Sea and yet called upon Neptune So perhaps many faithful men may be named who were not always fortunate in their deliverance Beloved what deliverance do you mean All this while you do not reckon how many miseries they prevent who are dispatch'd by one is it no excussit Do we shake off no small store of mischief when the soul doth uncase it self of this body of sin that with good King Josiah we may not see the evil to come Death is like the Angel set before the Garden of Eden which with one blow lets him that passeth by into Paradise When sinners and uncircumcised feel the wrath of God their
the bones of them that have been or shall be interred here rest in peace untill a joyful resurrection Let heavenly goodness be on all those that shall here be wedded in lawful Matrimony remembring it is the mystery of Christ and his Church made one with him O let the most Divine Sacrament of Christs Body broken and his Bloud shed for us be the savour of life unto all that receive it Sanctify to holy Calling such as shall be ordained Priests and Deacons by Imposition of hands And we heartily pray that thy Word preached within these walls may be delivered with that truth sincerity zeal and efficacy that it may reclaim the ungodly confirm the righteous and draw many to salvation through Jesus Christ c. BLessed and immortal Lord who stirrest up the hearts of thy faithful people to do unto thee true and laudable service we magnifie thy Grace and the inward working of thy holy Spirit upon the heart of our gracious Soveraign Lord King CHARLES his Highness James Duke of York and his most Religious Dutchess and all Dukes Dutchesses Nobles and Peers of this Realm with our most gracious Metropolitan and all Bishops and others of the holy Orders of the Clergy all Baronets Knights and Gentry Ladies and devout persons of that Sex and for all the Gentry and godly Commonalty for all Cities Burrows Towns and Villages who have bountifully contributed to re-edify and repair this ancient and beautiful Cathedral which was almost demolished by Sons of Belial But these thy large-hearted and bountiful servants have raised up this Holy Place to its former beauty and comliness again Lord recompence them all sevenfold into their bosom As they have bestowed their temporal things willingly and largely upon this holy place so recompence them with eternal things and with increase of earthly abundance as thou knowest to be most expedient for them Let the Generation of the faithful be blessed and let their memories be precious to all posterity O Lord this is thy Tabernacle it is thy House and not mans perfect it we beseech thee in that which is wanting to accomplish it And for all those thy choice servants whose charitable hands have given their oblation to raise up again this sacred Habitation which was pulled down by impious hands give them all thine eternal Kingdom for their Habitation Amen O Thou Holy One who dwellest in the highest Heavens and lookest down upon all thy servants and considerest the condition of all men now we have begun to speak to our Lord God who are but dust and ashes permit us to continue our prayers for the souls health and external prosperity of all those that are concerned in this place Be favourable and merciful to the most reverend Father in God Gilbert Lord Archbishop of Canterbury our most munificent Benefactor under whose Government we reap much peace good order and happiness O Lord be merciful to me thy Servant the most unworthy of them that wear a linnen Ephod yet by thy providence and his Majesties favour the Bishop of this Church and of the Diocess to which it belongs Be a loving God to the Dean Archdeacons Canon Residentiaries Prebendaries Vicars Coral and to all that belong to this Christian Foundation Bless them that live and are encompassed in the Close and Ground of this Cathedral Pour down the plentiful showers of thy bounteous goodness upon this neighbour City of Litchfield the Bailiffs Sheriff Aldermen all the Magistrates and all the Inhabitants thereof Lord we extend our petitions further that thou wilt please to bless all that pertain to this large Diocess for all the Clergy of it that they may be godly examples to their Flock that they may attend to Prayer to Preaching and to administer thy holy Sacraments and diligently to do all duties to those under their charge that are in health or sickness O Lord multiply thy blessings upon all Christian people in the several Shires and Districts belonging to the Government of this Bishoprick and keep us all O Lord in faith and obedience to thee in loyalty to our Soveraign in charity one toward another in submission to the good and orderly Discipline of the Church And save us from Heresies Schisms Fanatical separations and all scandals against the Gospel And guide us all to live as becometh us in the true Communion of Saints Grant all this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake To whom with Thee and thy Holy Spirit be ascribed and given c. PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Then the Bishop pronounced a solemn Blessing upon the whole Administration performed and upon all that were present Then followed the Service of Morning Prayer for that day two especial Anthems in extraordinary being added Provision was made instantly for Alms to the Poor And in a very stately Gallery which the Bishop erected in the House where he lived his Lordship annexed to the precedent Solemnity a Feast for three days First to feast all that belonged to the Choir and the Church together with the Proctors and other Officers of the Ecclesiastical Courts On a second day to remember God's great goodness in the restauration and reconciliation of the Church He feasted the Bailiffs Sheriff and all the Aldermen of the City of Lichfield On a third day to the same purpose in the same place He feasted all the Gentry Male and Female of the Close and City He would often afterwards give God thanks who had accepted him as an unworthy Instrument to build him an House that what he could not accomplish at Holbourn in his younger years when he was more able to take pains yet He had now enabled him to do in his old age and far worse times when he found by experience the Wars had exhausted not only the Wealth but Piety of the Nation and that it was far easier under Charles the First his Reign to raise an hundred pound to Pious Vses than now ten pounds So some observe that in the Primitive Church Charity ebb'd lower and lower till the stream quite dried up the first examples thereof were most bountiful to provoke the liberality of following Ages Barnabas gave all his Possessions and so did many others Ananias divided half or thereabouts but the next Age minced it to a considerable Legacy and then it fell to Charity in small money afterwards to good words only as St. James sayes and I pray be comforted sed ecquid tinnit Dolabella seldom one cross or coyn dropt from them the like he observ'd in our own Church in the Ages past and present when Christianity was first planted among us our glorious Founders built Colledges and Cathedral Churches the next rank of Benefactors endowed Schools and Parishes after Ages gave
semblance hath shined upon some faces when it redounded from no inward fountain as in the Transfiguration of Christ from the personal union of the Divinity or as in the beatitude of the Saints from their Glorification But God cast a beam of honour upon them from the comfort of his own presence So in the forty days that Moses was upon the Mount twice he came down to commune with the Children of Israel and there was no alteration in him he lookt as one of the other people But when the Almighty passed by him and proclaimed his mighty name in his ears then when Moses came down the skin of his face did shine and the people were afraid to come nigh him Exod. 34 30. as the purple of one ripe grape doth tincture that which is next it with the same colour so that flaming Majesty wherein the Lord appear'd did cast a new die of awfulness upon the forehead of Moses And S. Stephen the Martyr had a glimpse of the Glory of Christ which like a ray of the Sun darted upon his face and all that sate in the Council saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel Acts 6. ult 4. A lightsomness and coruscation hath been shewn from heaven not resting upon the persons nothing was chang'd about them but upon the place where they stood in the day time when it appear'd it was more glorious than the day and when it appear'd in the night it turn'd the night into day So it happened unto Paul at noon-tide as he journeyed unto Damascus hear his own testimony to Agrippa Acts 26.13 At mid-day O King I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the Sun shining round about me and them that journeyed with me So it happened to the Shepherds upon Christmas-day as they kept watch over their flocks by night when the nights are at the darkest according to the season of the year the heavens were spread above them like a glistering Canopy the glory of the Lord shone round about them and so many ways in Scripture four in all God hath communicated light to glorifie his own works and his Saints that praise him You shall hear some opinions what kind of light this was which did spangle in the field when the Angel came unto the Shepherds St. Ambrose thinks it was some fulgure of the Stars Angels says he and Shepherds had a voice and a tongue to publish their joy but the constellations of heaven Quia voce non poterant gaudia sua officio protestantur because they could not utter their joy by a tongue they express it by their duty to start like lightning into the fields which were near to Bethlehem And whether he speak it by a figurative amplification or not I know not but the same Author hath these words Sol praeter consuetudinem in hac festivitate matutinus illuxit the Sun prevented the morning watch and peept upon the earth earlier than he should to guild all those fields with his light which were adjoyning to the Stable where Christ was born For. says he why might not the Sun make more haste than natural to offer service to the Son of God as well as stand still in the firmament to attend a petty Jesus Joshuah the Captain of the Israelites But with the leave of that holy man I conceive if the Sun had rose miraculously before the time the Scripture would have express'd it even as we find it mentioned that the Sun was eclipsed and the heavens darkened at the Passion of our Lord. Others are conceited because an Angel is a glorified creature therefore the body which he took upon him did shine triumphantly as if he had stood in a cloud of light Hence it comes says the Cardinal that among other honours which are decreed to Saints in their Canonization this is one Pinguntur eorum imagines addito certo quodam lumine in signum gloriae quam habent in coelis Their images are painted with resplendent rays about them to signifie the light of that glory which they enjoy in heaven But beloved my Text says not glory did shine about the Angel or that the glory of the Angel did hallow the place but the Glory of the Lord did shine about the Shepherds Therefore I adhere to that learned Author who says it was Claritas creata prae se ferens divinam majestatem a clarity of light newly created which bare the evident shew of no created Spirit but of a Divine Majesty and some are bold to say that this white glorious cloud which dazled the Shepherds afterward being compacted into one body it made that blazing Star which went before the Wisemen from the East unto Bethlehem and I leave it indifferent to you as you think fit to believe them But I leave to agitate this point any more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what this shining Glory was and for some profitable use and application I come to the next thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what use there was of it to celebrate our Saviours Nativity First The Lord did put on this glorious apparel even a robe of light to express the Majesty of his Son who was born to save the world Mis-conceive not his excellent greatness because he lies in a Manner but estimate him by this sign from Heaven that the glory of the Lord did shine round about to honour his Nativity Christ is obscur'd in the Stable says St. Austin but his messenger shines in the field Sic opera humilitatis apud nos contemptibilia illustria sunt in conspectu Dei so humility may appear contemptible to us but it is glorious in the sight of God In the old Testament says Hugo though Angels were sent to men upon sundry occasions yet they never came with this propertie as far as we read that glory did shine about them Nunc exorto Sole justitiae tanquam solares radii lucidi fulgentes apparent but now the Sun of Righteousness did rise upon the earth they appear conspicuous in their colours like the beams of the Sun Nothing could resemble Christ so well as this Claritas Domini the brightness and splendor of the Lord because he is the brightness of the Fathers Glory Heb. 1.3 it is a similitude which gives ample occasion unto faith to make fit constructions The Father is compar'd to the Sun in the firmament and Christ his only begotten to the light of the Sun 1. Non libere à patre procedit sed naturaliter says St. Cyril he comes out from the Father not of free choice as if the Father had power not to beget him but naturally as the light hath an emanation from the body of the Sun so that the Sun cannot choose but give light 2. The generation of God the Son is eternal even as the Father is eternal we cannot say there was a time when he was not no more then we can say there was a time when the Sun had
earthen pitcher if martyrdom burn in it like a lamp and the pitcher be broken to pieces then we shall have victory against our spiritual enemies and peace with God Fourthly Let us make that use of our Saviours first coming into the world in flesh which St. Paul doth of his second coming in glory 1 Cor. 4.5 The Lord cometh who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God The most obscure things shall be made manifest unto his light and the thoughts of all hearts shall be revealed unto him The righteous Lord trieth the very hearts and reins Psal 7.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to try the heart is verbum forense as when Magistrates examine the truth not by questions only but by rack and torments they will have all out in confession so God is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to draw out all secrets from our inward breast And it is impossible to keep the subtilest thred of iniquity concealed When he came to judgment against Egypt and sent his Angel to kill their first-born yet at midnight he knew which was an Egyptian and which was an Israelite so though we carry our sins with a demure countenance and smooth it with subtile hypocrisie yet his knowledge shineth in the darkness of our hearts as if it were light and he can distinguish between our inward affections our thoughts our fancies our sighs and yearnings that this is an Israelite born of the will of God and this an Egyptian born of the will of flesh Laban could not find his Idols because Rachael had laid them privily in her stuff but the Lord can detect that Idolatry which we keep close in our hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Grammarian the Greeks denominate God from penetrating all things with his eye and when Christ could see into the profoundness of Nathanaels thoughts behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile Nathanael instantly confest Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel Alas that we go on still in darkness and do not understand are you in your wits that think iniquity is farther from judgment because it is farther from appearance do you forget the discoverie of Achans wedge and Gehazi's briberie do you not recal how the Priests of Bel were detected for gluttons and impostors creeping in at secret doors to gurmandize the junkets prepared for the Idol deal squarely and without dissimulation for you think it is night and no man sees but the glory of the Lord is round about you Fifthly No sooner was the world blest with the Birth of this holy Child God and Man but the Angels put on white apparel the air grows clear and bright darkness is dispell'd therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and walk as children of the light the earth should be more innocently walkt on too and fro because Christ hath trod upon it our bodies kept clean in chastity because he hath assum'd our nature and blest it Gods word should be heard more respectfully because he hath preacht it finally our conversation should be honest as in the day because the day-spring from on high hath visited us Wicked men are groping like the Sodomites to find out mischief though God have hid it out of the way The Saints and Angels are in a state of light wherein they know as they are known perfectly partaking of the beatifical vision between these two there is a middle condition of godly men who see into the way of righteousness though it be darkly as in a glass but they that dress them by a glass can discern how to mend any thing that mis-becomes them So the Gospel of Grace is a mirror of the light of Glory it is not the fault of the Gospel but of our own darkness if we learn not of it to put on the true wedding garment The Apostle calls it the putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ Vbi animus tenebrescere tentationum caligine coeperit ad lucem gratiae reformatur When the conscience is overcast with the darkness of temptation it flies to the looking-glass of Grace and reforms it self by looking into it This is to vindicate our selves from the powers of darkness and to walk decently as in the day Works of lewdness come from the darkness of our understanding they love to be done in privacy and not before the eyes of men abjiciamus says St. Paul as if he would have you fling them away to the Devil and bid him take his own As a wise servant would not be found with folly in his hand if he knew his Master were near so because our salvation is come as this day in humility and we know not how little he will defer to come in Majesty therefore abjiciamus throw away his filthiness from you lest Christ should come and find profanation in your mouth oppression in your purse false tinctures of art and pride in your face and disobedience in your heart Every child of light will have his lamp burning in his hand and by this he will know you whether you be his Disciple if you speak the truth and come to the light as if the glory of the Lord were round about you Lastly A glimpse of some celestial light did sparkle at his Birth to set our teeth on edge to enjoy him who is light of lights very God of very God and to dwell with him in that City which hath no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God did enlighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof I conclude with St. Paul Col. 1.12 Let us give thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Amen THE FOURTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 10. And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring yon good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people THat which is every mans salutation wherewith he greets his neighbour at this time of the year is the subject of my Text a merry Christmas it is it which we wish one to another among our friends and familiers and it is it which the Angel in my Text wisheth to all kindreds of the world as if we were all become his friends and familiers good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people And surely were it not that the Birth of Jesus made us merry at this season and put gladness into our hearts all the year beside would be louring and lumpish without all manner of consolation Until God sent forth his Son made of a woman we might not receive the adoption of Sons Without adoption we had no part in the inheritance without hope of the inheritance what
perfume the sweetness overcomes our sence Here 's one line for a copy and enough to be taken out at one time Vnto you is born this day c. The Text cannot be divided into equal parts for here is one word among them which not only in this place but wheresoever you find it it is like Saul higher by head and shoulders then all the rest As Painters and Guilders write the names of God in glass or upon the walls with many rays and flaming beams to beautifie it round about so the name of Saviour is the great word in my Text and all that is added beside in other circumstances is a trail of golden beams to beautifie it First then with reverend lips and circumcised ears let us begin with the joyful tidings of a Saviour 2. Here 's our participation of him in his Nature natus he is born and made like unto us 3. It is honourable to be made like us but it is beneficial to be made for us and natus vobis unto you is born a Saviour 4. Is not the use of his Birth superannuated the virtue of it long since expir'd no 't is fresh and new as a man is most active when he begins first to run hodie natus he is born this day 5. Is he not like the King in the Gospel who journeyed into a far Country extra orbem solisque vias quite out of the way in another world no the circumstance of place points his dwelling to be near in civitate David he is born in the City of David 6. Perhaps to make him man is to quite unmake him shall we find him able to subdue our enemies and save us since he hath taken upon him the condition of humane fragility yes the last words speak his excellency and power for he is Christus Dominus such a Saviour as is Christ the Lord for unto you is born this day in the City of David c. The beginning of our days work is from that word which magnifies him that is the word of God above all things for he is a Saviour Time was when the children of Israel had rather Moses should speak unto them than God Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we dye Exod. xx 19. Now let Israel say let not Moses speak with us nor the Law for then we shall surely die Above all tongues let the Angel speak with us that proclaims a Saviour and we shall surely live If all comfort in the world were forgotten nothing but darkness and weeping and captivity over all the earth yet here 's a word which is enough to turn all that sorrow into gladness yea to turn Hell it self into Heaven This day is born unto you a Saviour it comprehends all other names of Grace and blessing as Manna is said to have all kind of sapors in it to please the taste When you have call'd him the glass in which we see all truth the fountain in which we taste all sweetness the ark in which all precious things are laid up the pearl which is worth all other riches the flower of Jesse which hath the savour of life unto life the bread that satisfieth all hunger the medicine that healeth all sickness the light that dispelleth all darkness when you have run over all these and as many more glorious titles as you can lay on this one word is above them and you may pick them all out of these syllables a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Abraham could endure to live in a strange Land nay he could endure to want his only Son Isaac if God pleas'd Elias could want his bodily sustenance for forty days John Baptist could want the comfort of all society in the Wilderness Peter could leave all he had and want his substance Paul could live in bonds and want his liberty Paphnutius could want his eyes yea the Martyrs for Christs sake could want their lives but they could not be without the redemption of their soul they could not want a Saviour The Prophet Isaiah hath foretold that the heaven and earth should joyn their strength together to make a Saviour Isa xlv 8. Drop down the heavens from above and let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation that 's the effect and the 15. verse speaks of the person O God of Israel the Saviour The heavens must drop down from above and the earth must open and concur beneath the whole universe must be put together the Divine Nature and the Humane tantae molis erat to make a Saviour To confuse the Jews with this place I have read of a learned Scribe of theirs one Rabbi Accados who wrote thus before the coming of Christ that the Messias should come into the world to save men and the Gentiles should call him Jesus or the Saviour of the world Indeed the Gentiles did not only do so after our Saviours ascension into Heaven being taught unto it by the Apostolical preaching but in the time of Idolatry which is very strange Tully says in the 4. Oration against Verres that he saw an Image at Syracuse in Sicily with this Inscription upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saviour and he admires at the strong significancy of the word Hoc quantum est magnum est ut latine exprimi uno verbo non possit to give salvation or to be a Saviour is such an appellative that all the Latine tongue was not furnished with a word to set it forth But what if their language could have fit it that 's nothing unless the soul do unite it to it self and write it upon the tables of the heart But that the name may not be an empty sound to us as it was to them consider these three things 1. With what honour it was impos'd 2. What excellency it includes 3. What reverence it deserves For the first of these an honour in the imposition of a name will ever stick by the person and the origen hereof came from the chiefest that is above all Phil. ii 9. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name It was ever of old in the right of the Father to give a name unto his child Zachary when he could not speak call'd for writing tables to appoint the name of John the Baptist therefore Christ having no Father on earth his Father gave him a name from Heaven His Father gave it but he did commit it to the trust of an Angel to bring it for the Angel was the first that ever mention'd it to Joseph the husband of Mary in a dream Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Matth. i. 21. God gave it the Angel brought it and men did assign it the eighth day when he was circumcised his name was called Jesus which was so named of the Angel before he was conceived in the Womb. Hereupon Bernard casts in
without a Lutrum or satisfaction This stops the mouth of the Devil that he cannot calumniate and it resounds the praise of God that the iniquity of the world did not escape unrevenged Caiaphas meant to speak bitterly and to blaspheme but the Lord turned the curse of his mouth into the words of blessing It is expedient for us that one man die for the people and that the whole Nation perish not Joh. xi 50. Secondly They divulge the honour of Christ unto the ends of the world for the mercy that came down with him upon all those that should believe in his name if his Justice was not forgotten in their Song surely his Mercy should be much more solemnized The Angels for their own share were unacquainted with mercy 't was news in heaven till this occasion hapned they had felt gratiam confirmantem but not gratiam condonantem that is the Lord bestowed upon the good Angels grace to confirm them in grace but for those rebellious ones of their Order that had sinned they found no grace to remit their trespasses properly that is called mercy but a thing so rare and unheard of in heaven that as soon as ever they saw it stirring in the earth they sing Glory to God in the highest Thirdly They praise the Lord on high for the Incarnation of his Son because the dignity of the work was so from himself that no Creature did merit it none did beseech or intercede unto him for it before he had destinate it nothing but his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and compassion could move him to it Nemo in hoc opere glorietur nullius merito ascribatur no man can ascribe it to his deserts no man can partake in the glory What was man that the Son of God did visit him For him we shall be glorified by him we have obtained peace through him good will hath shined upon men therefore unto him be all the glory This was the Angels Congratulation and no doubt God shall be glorified in his holy places on high but shall that God who is most high be worshipped and glorified by us below That is it the Angels pray for and wish for our sakes and for our Salvation that we of the Militant Church beneath may extol the name of the Lord and give him glory Among men sinners pray for sinners and it is but one for another the People pray for the Prince and the Prince for the People The Priest for the Congregation and the Congregation for the Priest Great and small there are no odds in that they requite one another with their mutual Charity the head cannot say unto the feet I have no need of your Prayers nor the feet unto the head Dum singuli orant pro omnibus omnes orant pro singulis while every particular man prays for all Christians in the Church all Christians in the Church pray for every particular man but as I said this is sinners for sinners quid pro quo But when the Angels are sollicitous in Hymns and Supplications for us it is not that we should pray to them or pray for them again but shew charity that cannot be requited They know that many Sacrifices of Prayers are requisite to bless any Congregation on earth that God may have his due honour from it and therefore all the powers in heaven above assist us with their intercession And especially they are mindful over us to make that Petition on our behalf that we may never forget that our condition is base and as low as the clay and dust of the earth and that God is highly exalted above all the world therefore that we are made to worship him and to fall down before him and to render the homage of our humility to our Chief that is dominion and glory to him that is the highest We find this title of most high in Melchisedechs title Gen. xiv 18. and never before There it comes in as some say whom I approve for this reason Melchisedech is the first in holy Scripture that is called a King that being the greatest name of pre-eminency among men God blazons his own honour just at the first discovery of that name to shew how far it exceeds all earthly Principality and calls him Melchisedech King of Salem a Priest of the most high God And indeed there was a glory due to that Melchisedech and to every one in his rank that is set on high above the people but take heed we let not our Worship and Service rest in them and in the admiration of their outward Pomp and go no higher God set Princes in their Thrones of Majesty to be bowed unto and obeyed that we may rise up in our Meditations and consider how excellent and superlative he is that gave such power and dominion to men Before Christ came into the world it was Gloria in excelsis men worshipt their Idols in every high place as the Prophets did greatly complain of it but it was not Deo in altissimis they worshipt the Host of heaven and things above but they did not lift up their hearts to him that sitteth above the heavens Therefore this is the sum of the Angels Prayer that men may give dominion and praise and thanksgiving to the true God and their wish was as effectual as they could desire for even immediately upon the Birth of Christ Idolatry went down the heathen Gods were discovered more and more to be but Wood and Stone the work of mens hands and the praise of the true God began to be sounded forth in all places The next issue of this first Point is the Angels teach us by the contents of their Prayer that Gods glory is to be sought before all things Nihil aequius est quam ut pro quo quis oret pro eo etiam laboret says St. Austin Whatsoever we pray for we must not only stand wishing it but as much as in us lies endeavour it also First repeating often the marvelous works which he hath done for the conservation of those that praise him and for the destruction of his enemies O God we have heard with our ears and our Fathers have declared unto us the noble works that thou didst in their days and in the old time before them Secondly By confessing of our grievous sins which makes his mercy and his grace so excellent throughout all the world and depressing our best works to be as ineffectual as our sins unto Salvation unless the Lord will cover the stains that are in them with the bloud of Christ Surely the reward which he brings with him is much exalted when we deny not but the best thing we do is less than the least of all his mercies Thirdly by defying by shunning by resisting nay by rooting out the children of Belial that blaspheme his glory for God will avenge himself of them that are tame and patient when his name is violated and his honour prophaned it is the glory of humane Laws
passengers because he came into the world for a publick benefit The time most seasonable and accommodate the very fulness of time as the Apostle says Whereupon St. Ambrose Christus tanquam maturitas advenit ut nihil acerbum nihil immaturum nihil immite sit he came when all the fruits of comfort were mellow ripe and delicious that nothing might be sower or harsh or distasteful to us Tardius enascitur cupressus seris umbram factura nepotibus says Pliny the Cypress tree is long a growing yet when it is grown up to a tree the shade of it serves for an harbour to the child unborn So the long expectation of Christs coming is requited with those blessings that grow up more and more and spread wider and wider for all generations to come The company that came from heaven to congratulate this day most glorious and chearful a multitude of heavenly host and what a mighty army hath he levied to take our part in respect of those few scattered forces which are against us The manner of his birth most edifying and instructive in all abjectness and low estate in all poverty and humility A magnificent pompous Saviour would have been a scandalous example as we may well mistrust it to the high imaginations of our hearts and might sooner have destroyed this proud world than redeem'd it we did not want a Champion in arms but an Infant in swadling clouts We did not need a Prince guarded with his Peers but one in the form of a servant whose best companions that came about him were silly Shepherds It was not for our turn to have one that would keep state and ruffle Superbia non est magnitudo sed tumor Pride is not greatness verily and in truth nay but a tumor that is blown up with appearance It was for our profit to have one that did empty himself of his glory and make himself of low degree that man may blush away his own pride when he sees the Son of God invested with humility Finally the fruit of this Nativity O the fruit of it is passing delectable and unutterable grace illumination vacancy from fear of condemnation tranquility of conscience angelical protection here angelical society hereafter to know the rigor of the Law was the old lesson to know the Covenant of Grace the new to live and dye were vulgar things to rise from death and to live for ever came by him who being our head was made mortal that we might be immortal members of his body So I have pointed only to severals as in a map to the felicity of the Womb he chose of the place that received him of the time that exactly fitted him of the company that congratulated him of the humility that adorn'd him of the precious fruit that grew from him that the Sum might redound to make up this principal point of my Text everlasting blessing is the free gift of God to this whole world through the Incarnation c. The second Evangelical observation above that which the woman conceived that spake these words is thus Both the Womb and the Paps also of common Mothers are obnoxious to many miseries and to such great ones sometimes that they prove mortal The subtilty of the Serpent brought this curse upon the Womb of mothers Gen. iii. 16. I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and conception in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children That calamity is a common wound to that tender sex not so apt to bear any sore affliction But the birth of Christ was without the pangs and hard travail of the Mother The malediction was not upon Mary but Blessed was the womb that bare him Ipsa genetrix fuit obstetrix says St. Cyprian Mary was both the Mother and the Midwife of the Child Far be it from us to think that the weak hand of any woman could facilitate that work which was guided only by the miraculous hand of God The Lord did do his own work so great so transcendent without all humane assistance And mark another reason of St. Austins if any should headily contradict it Quod sine voluptate carnis concepit sine dolore peperit The Virgin conceived our Lord without the lusts of the flesh and therefore she brought him forth without the dolour without the curse of the flesh And many other of the Fathers for it was their common tradition have these similitudes upon it As a Bee draws hony from the flower without offending it as Eve was taken out Adams side without any grief to him as a Sprig opens the bark of a tree to grow out of it as the light sparkles from the light of a Star such ease it was to Mary to bring forth her first born Son Gravida sed non gravabatur says Bernard Shee had a burden in her Womb before she was delivered yet she was not burdened that lies upon this proof that shee took a journey instantly before she was delivered from Nazareth to Bethlehem above forty miles and yet she suffered it without weariness or complaint For such was the power of the Babe that he did rather support the Mothers weakness than was supported And as he lightned his Mothers travail by t he way that it was not tedious to her tender age so he took away all dolour and imbecillity from her travail in Child-birth This was a benediction upon her Womb Blessed is the Womb c. Thirdly In this the woman prophesied more than shee understood that whereas nature is like Hagar that bringeth forth children unto bondage and all the off-springs which Mothers bring forth are in themselves accursed from the womb for we are all born and conceived in sin Prius reati quam nati only this child this Immanuel this holy of holies was a righteous branch that knew no sin that had no part in iniquity and therefore exempted from that malediction which lies upon our shoulders from the first hour wherein we are born According to the strictness of the Law by which no flesh is justified that sentence is most righteous against us all Deut. xxviii 18. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body Therefore Job sell out with his birth-day and so did Jeremy for until the time that we are regenerate and born anew 't is most true which they perhaps disgusted in discontent Cursed be the day wherein I was born let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed St. Ambrose reduceth it very well to this moral application let the day of my first birth perish that I may be accounted to live from the day of my regeneration Pereat dies secularis ut dies spiritualis oriatur vanish those days of sin that none but spiritual days may shine upon me But all that bitter mourning came from hence that nothing but wrath and rejection belongs unto us as we are born in original depravation This is true in all one only excepted who in the similitude of sinful flesh took our nature upon him
humors then have with you they will be present in the Congregation Whereas our Saviour hath abstracted from all such humane qualifications and scandalous niceties that the sound of his Ministers should go forth into all the world and he that hath ears to hear let him not be so scrupulous in his choice but let him hear Paul was pleased to have Christ preached either through contention or sincerely all manner of ways says he I rejoyce Phil. i. 18. They that came to mock the Apostles as men drunk were caught by hearing them They that came to take our Saviour themselves were taken by hearing John vii 37. Many of the negligent rank that come to gaze about rather than to attend many that come hither with affections worse than beasts depart converted and repentant with a new heart and a new spirit more like Angels than men In brief let the Heathen that communicate not in the Gospel enjoy all that this earth and the plenty thereof can afford yet they and none but they are blessed that hear the word of God And if you will make a good man ply him apace with this exhortation to hear yet know now that is but the first rude draught of him till you finish him with that which follows he must hear and keep that which he hears Let him hear the sayings of Christ and do them then he shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock Mat. vii 24. Custodia Sermonis Dei est ejus adimpletio says Euthymius upon my Text to keep the word is to do as we are taught and to endeavour to fulfil the royal Law This is the very concluding promise which God did send to Israel by his messenger Moses If thou shalt hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day blessed shalt thou be in the City and blessed in the field Deut. xxviii most divinely the Psalmist Psal cxi 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have all they that do thereafter So that the understanding of the law of God consists not in knowledge and speculation but in practice and execution We must be Servants as well as Disciples The work of a Disciple is to hear and conceive aright but the work of a Servant is to do and obey and though dissimulation will intrude it self into every good thing yet there may be nay there is ten thousand times more hypocrisie in hearing than there can be in doing Imperfect fruits are more pleasing to God than bare leaves A sorry doer such a one as Ahab was in his sullen and crude repentance shall have more recompence from God than a barren unprofitable hearer that thrusts in at all the Lectures and Exercises that City and Country affords Live so that all men may see you have often talkt with God and God hath spoken often to you from this holy place else I must leave you among those that are censur'd by St. Paul 2 Tim. iii. 7. Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth I told you before that Mary sate at our Saviours feet to hear his Sermon when Martha minded other domestical business between those two Maries choice was much more transcendent and unum necessarium but not unicum one necessary duty but not the only a part of Religion but not the whole for in another place Maries part of doing was far better than her part of hearing I mean her anointing of Christs head with a box of precious oyntment For this that she hath done shall be spoken of throughout the world Mat. xxvi 13. Let me make a summary application of all and so conclude This day we begin to solemnize the Incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and continue it with a Festival dedication for twelve days following There are three sorts of men that make most different uses of it some that are Epicures and never consider what great work the Lord wrought at this time that we have an Advocate with the Father who is the propitiation for our sins but they consider that feasting and freedom are vulgar in these days and they take their fill of that but according to their riotous manners you cannot conceive that they keep the Birth of Christ holy but that they celebrate a wakes for the making of some golden Calf for they sit down to eat and to drink and rise up to play Secondly There are others that honour God with their lips that will say this is an happy season wherein a Redeemer came down among us God hath raised up a mighty salvation for us all because he hath sent his Son to take our nature upon him And as Micah said being a most idolatrous sinner Now know I that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest Judg. xvii 11. So these men flatter themselves in their impenitent lives Now know I that the Lord will be merciful and spare me since the word became flesh and dwelt among us But I hope there are many of the third sort that conceive unutterrable gladness for the Nativity of their Saviour but they know withal that as Christ is the meritorious cause of all blessedness so it is a most barren faith to rest only in the contemplation of that for as all mankind are blessed that the womb did bear him and that the paps did give him suck so it must be accomplisht by this obedience Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Do you love him for his Incarnation then keep his sayings If a man love me he will keep my sayings Do you wonder that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son then take heed of maligning and hating one another He that says he loves God and hateth his brother is a lyar and there is no truth in him Do you honour his humility then command your self to imitate him in lowliness of heart would you do all due celebration to his sacred Birth frequent his holy Temple and hear his word and observe it 'T is much in every ones talk who keeps a good house in Christmass Beloved you are now at this present in the best that is Can any man keep a better house than God would you wish a more delicious banquet then such Confessions such Collects such Litanies such heavenly Prayers as our Church hath appointed in which there is nothing wanting but company to attend them what delicacies are contained in the holy Scriptures both read and preacht unto you what edifying Doctrine in the Homilies which are read on the Saints days together with the Divine Service and above all what Nectar what Manna what restoring Cordials are received in the Blessed Sacrament This is the house which God keeps who also allows you to be chearful at home at this season and commends it to you
Mother and in his own arms he might not live to see him hanging between two Thieves as if he had said O let me not survive to see the infidelity of mine own Nation O let me not live to see him crown'd with thorns Lastly A mans native Country can never deserve so ill but he will wish it subsistence that it may not utterly be ruined and albeit the sins of Jerusalem would call for vengeance and desolation upon it this loving Patriot desired to be called out of the way that he might not see her made an heap of stones As the Historian says that Anastasius a good Bishop of Rome gave up his breath with a broken heart immediately before the Goths had sackt that imperial City Ne orbis caput sub tali Episcopo truncaretur So Simeon saw that the sins of the Jews were not yet come to the worst but that their hardness of heart rejecting Christ would draw more grievous judgments upon them therefore he desired while matters were not yet come to their extremity now he might depart in peace I know 't is trivial with every rash spirit that is discontented with his fortune to say emori cupio like Clitipho in the Scene I would I were out of the world but it is a good corrective speech of the old mans Prius quaeso disce quid sit vivere learn first to live as you ought and so had Simeon done for in the fourth part of my Text he pleads that he was prepared to die in peace Lord now c. It cannot be conceiv'd of him since we must allow the best men some grains of infirmity but that his heart had been oppressed with many recurrent thoughts between that long space that God did first make the promise unto him unto the actual birth of Christ never did any Father expect the return of his only Son after twice seven years travail from month to month from day to day as he did watch the advent of the Lord continually when he should be presented in the Temple and surely it is likely that Hanna and divers more had heard from Simeons mouth what the Lord had revealed unto him and that his credit suffered a little with good people as if he had deluded them for the riff raff if such a thing were come to their ear no marvail if they taunted him that he was a lying Prophet and that he was possessed with a spirit of wicked divination These assaults from without and the revolvings of his heart from within did make his conscience boil like a troubled Sea because that gracious Oracle which he had received was not yet to come to pass nor like to be fulfilled in the short remainder of his days since his candle was burnt to the socket wherefore at the first glimpse that he viewed the holy one of God in swadling clouts this ejaculation starts from him as if his joy had burst the vessel like new liquors that swell'd within it as who should say I began to be troubled I began to distrust I was afraid that thy promises would fail and by so much the more I was afraid of death now come what will come I am secure and confirm'd my heart is quiet my Faith is built upon a rock Lord now c. just as old Jacob was ready to die for gladness when he saw that Joseph was alive says he now let me die since I have seen thy face because thou art yet alive Gen. xlvi 30. And the content which this holy Prophet took in embracing the Messias who had been so long waited for could not be better exprest than thus that his soul was ready to take leave of the world in peace for as bread imports all manner of sustenance in the phrase of the Hebrews so peace in their signification imports all manner of good that is desirable health plenty honour safety tranquility of conscience comfort in the Holy Ghost all sorts of prosperity heavenly and earthly are no more but peace in their acception therefore the interpretations what Simeon would have are many and all agreeable to pious analogy First Euthymius expounds it of the peace of his thoughts that he did fluctuate before and hang in suspence what God would do but when Christ was born he was resolv'd against all the slights and cavillations of Satan that the Lord was just in all his sayings and holy in all his works There may be security in a bad man I will not deny him that carnal priviledge who refresheth himself with the comforts of this life but there can be no stability in him no setledness against distraction and fluctuation unless by much meditation he do set Christ before his eyes as if he were born in him and endeavour to Incarnate the promises of the word in his soul by Faith as the blessed Virgin gave flesh to the eternal word by bearing him in her womb Secondly Others interpret this peace de pace intrepiditatis he did not fear to be dissolved though his decayed body lay even under the stroke of death he saw nothing why he should flinch but that he might say with David I will lay me down in peace and take my rest Before a Saviour was granted to mankind death was death and Hell to boot now it is but a sleep without all disturbance a repose without all annoyance a releasement out of bonds a transmigration to felicity He therefore that will not die in peace knowing that Christ stands at the right hand of God to make intercession for him and to purchase in his behalf instead of a transitory estate a far abundant exceeding weight of glory the fault is his own Vitam in manibus fero mori non timeo A strange darkness is before the eyes of unbelieving impenitent men at their last gasp their conscience knows not how to answer that objection which it makes to it self Quae nunc abibis in loca My soul whither art thou going in what woe or sorrow shalt thou be entertained hereafter Thus Cain was dejected Every one that findeth me will slay me Gen. iv 14. Thus Nabals dastardly spirit fainted and nothing brought him to death but the fear of death His sordid churlish inhospitable life here and the rest of his undeservings represented nothing but horrors to entertain him in the life to come Sed quis est iste qui de hoc seculo recedit in pace nisi is qui intelligit Deus erat in Christo mundum reconcilians sibi says St. Austin But who is the man that gathers up his feet into his bed sweet and placidly as old Jacob did and dies in peace but he that felt the consolation within him that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself Thirdly The sense holds very well to interpret it de pace gaudii he should be gathered to the dead in great joy because the troubles and thraldoms of his Nation should no more disquiet him For who could doubt of
gestemus he doth bear us up always in his hands let us bear him and enclasp him in our Faith and say as Israel did I will not let thee go till thou hast blessed me says Origen Was it so beneficial to a poor woman to touch the hem of Christs garment in the Gospel then how profitable will it be to hold him close in our embraces as this Father did And as Maldonat says very truly Non credentis est modo sed amantis complectimur quos amamus This doth not only betoken Faith but exceeding love we hug them in our arms whom we have in dear estimation we catch them in our arms as if we would grow together so if we love the Lord sincerely we are one with him and he with us we dwell in him and he in us This amplexus arctissimus and he that loves not our Lord Jesus let him be accursed Chiefly at this time in the holy Sacrament we see him upon the Lords Table we take him in our hands we incorporate him in our souls by a lively faith and at his mystical presence in these Elements let us say as it is reported of a Religious Votary called Maria Aegyptiaca when Zozimus the Abbat gave her the Bread of Life upon her sick bed she beheld the Sacrament wishly which is the seal of all Christs mercies towards us and brake out into this song of Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Amen THE ELEVENTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE i. 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people AMong all portions of Scripture that afford matter for Christmass day I have for the most part hitherto chosen those Texts to speak of before you which are extracted out of the Songs of the New Testament Our Proverb goes It is good to be merry and wise Every Section of the Gospel disposeth us to be wise unto eternal life but the Canticles which sing the birth of Christ they teach us to be merry and wise unto Salvation Nothing doth better agree with this day than a godly Song Sing we merrily unto God our strength make a chearful noise unto the God of Jacob. You have heard me divers times preach unto you out of the Angels Carol Luke ii The last year I made my Sermon out of the Song of Simeon Nunc dimittis and I am sure I could not furnish my self better this year than out of the Song of Zachary so appositely doth it serve our turn both for our spiritual benefit procured in our Saviours Nativity and for our temporal benefit God having repossessed us after a lingring and destructive contagion in health and safety to break out into this Thanksgiving Blessed be the Lord c. The Lord turn us unto him and bring us out of our evil ways for therefore he visited us The Lord make us his own peculiar people zealous of good works for therefore he hath redeemed us When you hear of a Visitation and Redemption I know your thoughts will carry you presently to your late sufferance under a bitter scourge and to Gods merciful deliverance This is not amiss and I wish it may be long in your mind to bring forth the fruit of righteousness But this Visitation whereof my Text speaks it invites you to look above you not about you it invites you to think of that heavenly Infant that was born unto us not of those Sucklings and Infants that were swept away with the late mortality and by all means let us prefer the rejoycing that we have in Christ at this time before that other gladness for our bodily prosperity intend that chiefly and the condition of our own particular welfare let that come behind in a latter regard so did Zachary the Priest from whose mouth my Text proceeded God did give him a Son for the comfort of his own Family and such a Son as a greater than he was not born of a woman John the Baptist God also gave him to understand by Prophetical illumination that the Messias the Redeemer of the World was in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mark now the Piety of this good old man first he praiseth God for the Incarnation of Jesus that he raised up an horn of salvation for them out of the house of David and in the last close of the Song he magnifies that blessing that such a Son should be born to him in his old age and thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest This is a fair direction for our use that this should be the first thing in our thoughts and in our thankfulness to say Blessed be the Lord that the Word was made Flesh and hath dwelt among us Having told you how well this Song doth become the day and that the chief note of the Song is in the word Visitavit the Son of God did visit his people in an humane body I will yet give you more content out of the Text by informing you that it is a most remarkable Prophesie from Malachy for the space of four hundred years there had been no Prophet in all the Land of Judaea and therefore we count all that Apocryphal Scripture which is thrust upon us from the days of Malachi to Christ because there was no Prophetical inspiration among the Jews Behold now when a Prophet was grown such a rare thing among them the Lord opens the mouth of Zachary the Priest and he begins to Prophesie It is well noted of Origen that after the blessed Virgin conceived our Saviour men and women wheresoever she came were all inspired with Prophesie Elizabeth the wife of Zachary breaks out into admiration and how is it that the Mother of my Lord doth come unto me And she Prophesies the Child sprang in the mothers womb for exultation that the Messias was under that Roofe that was a mighty Prophesie not in word but in deed When Mary came to the Temple and brought Jesus with her to be purified after the Law Simeon and Anna in their several turns gave thanks unto the Lord and Prophesied but Zachary though last named he is the first and most memorable of the rest that spake mighty things in the Spirit the reviver of Prophesie after a long time it had lain asleep and to set an Emphasis upon my Text the words of it are the first that came from him after he had been dumb and the first that he uttered after he became a Prophet In a word mark it that he is the first-born of the Sons of the Prophets in the New Testament and this Text is the first fruits of his Prophesie Christ was yet but an Embrio his mother but three months gone since she conceived and yet Zachary speaks with a most Prophetical confidence of things to come as if they were past already as if the sweet Babe were born who had not yet opened the womb He hath visited and he
was to be feared that he was to be admired for his excellency that he was increate immortal eternal and not like the Idols of the Heathen there was Grace and Religion other Nations knew not him therefore he puts them by as if he knew not them he is the God of Israel Secondly This whole World is made for no other end but that Christ may exalt his Dominion in it and therefore the Nation of whom he was to come according to the Flesh that is spoken of as if it belonged to God alone and all other People were quite forgotten Well therefore might Zachary say O thou God of Israel for upon the Nativity of Christ now it was fulfilled why long since he was called the God of Israel His Incarnation as old Simeon said it was the glory of his people Israel his conversation among them was their temporal protection that their enemies should not devour them while he was with them upon earth his word confirmed it that the children of the Bride-chamber should not mourn while the Bridegroom was with them Finally His appearance among them in the Flesh was their spiritual exaltation for he preacht to none other but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel But Israel doth now no longer stand for those that according to the Flesh descended out of the Loyns of Abraham as St. Paul says he is a Jew that is one inwardly Rom. ii 29. So he is an Israelite that is a true man like Nathanael that hath no guile in him he that believeth in Christ that visited and redeemed Israel And that you may know the term stands now for the Church of the Faithful and Elect St. Paul calls them that walk according to the rule of Jesus Christ the Israel of God Gal. vi 16. You know that Jacob wrestled with an Angel of God at Peniel and thereupon the Angel changed his name and called him Israel because as a Prince he had power with God and men and had prevailed Gen. xxxii 28. he prevailed over men that is over his Persecutors Esau and Laban He prevailed with God by tears and supplications and this is the exact description of all those that belong to the Church of Christ that is of the Israel of God Their outward foes shall be subdued unto them when God shall think it time to put an end to their sufferings they must overcome their spiritual Foes that is get the victory over the passions and lusts of their own flesh vanquish the Devil overcome the attractive delights of the world and then they shall be no more Jacob but Israel they shall prevail with God It is well noted by one that when the Church in holy Scripture speaks of her infirmity she is called Jacob when she speaks of her happiness she is called Israel Isa xli 14. Fear not thou worm Jacob and Amos vii 2. by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small but in a thousand places ye shall find thus saith the Lord God the King of Israel and never was the Church in more prosperity then when Christ came among us in the likeness of man then it was not Jacob the worm but it grew mighty indeed it prevailed with him that sits on high then it was fit the Song should run in the best title Blessed be the Lord God of Israel You have received the first part of the Text entirely in every particle the solemn praise of the Divine goodness now follows the reason in two most glorious acts why the God of Israel deserveth this praise For he hath visited and redeemed his people Blessed be his name for he hath visited blessed be the Lord for he hath done marvellous things We want not many of these fo rs when we ascribe excellency to the King of Heaven Fame is a good companion for Virtue I love to see them fast together let there want no praise if there be a quia visitavit a good reason for it a deserving action to advance it but to spend our good word upon them that have no merit to speak good of the covetous as David saith whom God abhorreth to cry up Absalom among the people for a little out-side formality such praise is most fulsom that 's broacht either by flattery or ignorance When renown is so ill bestowed upon the wicked it makes the righteous that they do not regard it But the object of Zachary's benediction is so gracious so full of perfection that when we say all we can in the honour thereof we shall say too little for he hath visited for he hath redeemed his people The first of these is that which makes this the double double Holy day above all the Feasts of the year visitavit he visited and it is once again repeated in this Hymn of Zachary's the day-spring from on high hath visited us ver 78. Some there be that collect the three capital works of Christs dispensation out of my Text and the verse that follows for that he visited us say they it denotes his Incarnation that he redeemed us it betokens his Death and Passion that the horn of salvation was raised up in the house of his servant David it implies his Resurrection I think these things are minc'd asunder that should not be divided but all agree that to visit is a word so proper to Christmas-day as none more namely to take flesh and to dwell among us Doth the same fountain says S. James send forth sweet waters and bitter why that 's no such marvail for this very word to visit is so diverse in holy Scripture that sometimes it relisheth as sweet as mercy can make it sometimes it is as bitter as the very gall of his anger can temper it Visitat quando flagellat quando miseretur says S. Austin God visiteth when he punisheth and he visits when he pittieth In the first acception nothing is better known than that of the Decalogue Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me And again I will visit their offences with the rod and their sins with scourges and in the Latin Translation Jer. xxvii 8. That Nation will I visit with sword with famine and with pestilence And Psal lix 5. Thou Lord of Hosts awake and visit the Heathen and be not merciful to any wicked transgressors From hence we have drawn it into our common phrase that we call the infliction of the contagious Pestilence the visitation of the Lord. God is ever present with us but when he shews himself to be present by some exterior and notable work bringing his Judgment or his Mercy in a conspicuous manner to our City or even to the doors of our own house then he is said to visit us And if it be a visitation of vengeance yet refrain not to say Blessed be the Lord God of Israel whether he send his Angel with a Sword to smite us or with a Song as at Christs Nativity
truth that the very God became a perfect man and was Immanuel God with us says David Psal viii 4. When I consider the heavens the work of thy hands the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him as who should say he that hath such rare and excellent heavenly bodies to delight in what should he do on earth what is the Son of man who is nothing but sin and misery that the Son of God should visit him O first let it be remembred with faith and thankfulness lest desolation come upon us as it did upon the Jews because we knew not the time of our visitation Luke xix 44. Secondly Let us answer the humility of our Saviour with all possible humility and say as the Centurion did Lord we are not worthy that thou shouldest come under our roof well deserved that all the succors of heaven should have fled from us and abhorred our face therefore blessed be his name for evermore that brought us peace from his Father sanctification from the Holy Ghost justification by his own merits humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in the day of his visitation as the vulgar Latin reads it 1 Pet. v. vi Thirdly Abraham made a feast to the three Angels when they visited him at his tent door Gen. xviii so let us prepare a table to entertain our blessed Lord that is come unto us not a feast of junckets and costly viands but let us receive him piously and devoutly as befitteth such a guest at his own Table Ipse est conviva convivium He is come to be feasted and he hath giuen us his own body to make us a feast and blessed be the Lord God of Israel that hath visited us and given himself to be the true spiritual food for the nourishment of our souls And so much of that act which is most conjunct with the festivity of this day Christ hath visited us yet peradventure we should esteem that work of courtesie and friendship but of no benefit at all unless it did extend it self to some further end and what can our desires wish to follow better than that which comes after in this place visitavit redemit by visiting he hath redeemed his people It is of such consequence above all things else that are needful to our well-being that St. Cyprian doth quite drown the former act in the latter and reads my Text thus Prospexit Deus redemptionem populo suo not a tittle about visiting but he hath provided redemption for his people Now captivity must be presupposed on our part because we did await and expect redemption Miseri sunt quos visitavit captivi quos redemit as I said before our soul was filled with a sore disease and therefore we were visited we were also under the captivity of sin and the Devil and lamentable were our case if we had not been redeemed Look upon the bondage out of which we were pluckt and it will make us more thankful for the freedom unto which we are called Ad servum rex descendisti ut servum redimeres says St. Austin thou didst descend to be a servant O King of Heaven to enfranchise a servant and to bring him out of thraldom Remember therefore at once for all since we all desire to have our part in this redemption we must all confess we were envassalled in a servitude So St. Austin against the Pelagians who denied the traduction of natural corruption from Adam says he How can Infants be said to be redeemed in Baptism unless they were captives before by original sin Therefore in imitation of our Saviours mercy as the Ancient Church 1200. years ago was copious in all deeds of Charity so their greatest care was to dispend their treasury to redeem captives and Paulinus a Pious Bishop as some stories say when all the stock of the Church was spent put himself into captivity to redeem a poor Christian miserably chained under the yoke of Infidels But this charitable deliverance of their brethren from temporal bondage was to shew how gratefully we should take it that Christ had redeemed all those that would lay hold of his mercies from eternal captivity Secondly As his goodness is amplified from our captivity so the redemption is the more valuable because none else could have pluckt us out of those fetters but the Holy One our Lord and Master Says David no man can deliver his Brother nor make a ransom to God for him for it cost more to redeem their souls so that he must let that alone for ever Psal xlix 7. when we had all incurred everlasting misery and mercy did so far prevail that the Divine Justice was content to forgive us the wisdom of God held the scale and arbitrated the case that when a law was broken and a mediation for pardon was entertained the best way was not to pass by the fault with a total indulgence but with a commutation of punishment And when men and Angels were unfit for that service then steps in the Son of God and undergoes the condition in his own person and became our brother flesh of our flesh that according to the Law being next of kindred to us he might redeem that which we had morgaged Lev. xxv 25. we had sinned and so needed a Redeemer and not so sinned but God the Father being placable a Redeemer would serve the turn And there the point had stuck for ever and we for ever had been helpless unless Christ had given himself a ransom for many Alius solvit pro debitore aliud solvitur quam debebatur one was the debtor and another satisfied one thing was owed to God I mean the life of sinners but another thing was payed I mean the life of an Innocent And let it make a third animadversion that the manner of our redemption doth greatly exaggerate the most meritorious compassion of the Redeemer there hath been redemption wrought by force and victory so Moses brought the Israelites with an high hand out of the slavery of Egypt There is a redemption which is wrought by intercession and supplication so Nehemiah prevailed with King Cyrus to dismiss the Jews out of the Babylonish captivity or thirdly either gold or silver or somewhat more precious is laid down to buy out the freedom of that which is in thraldom that 's the most costly and estimable way when value for value is payed or fourthly the body of one is surrendred up for the ransom of another life for life blood for blood and greater charity cannot be shewn than to bring redemption to pass by such a compensation So St. Peter extolls that act in our Saviour says he ye were not redeemed with corruptible things but with the Blood of Christ as a lamb undefiled So out of his own mouth Matth. xx 28. the Son of man came not
to believe in him nay if he had not given them his Body to be meat that whosoever eateth thereof might not die but live for ever they had never been his people Lord draw us and we will come unto thee visit us and we shall be healed redeem us and we shall be made free make us thy people and we will serve thee and praise thee and bless thee all the days of our life Amen THE TWELFTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE i. 69. And hath raised up an horn of Salvation for us in the house of his servant David THe Spirit of God is so constant to the same matter to the same phrase of speech in Holy Scripture that there is no Text of prime Doctrine in the New Testament but likely you may fit it as it were verbatim out of the Old I put you in mind of it at this time because David hath not only comprized my Text but all this Song of Zachary into one verse Zachary having been dumb for nine months his unspeakable joy at last burst out like a River which hath been stopt and flows forth in a full gush when the Sluce is open Now whereas when he found his tongue and began likewise to Prophesie his Wife and Kindred who were the Assembly that heard him expected no doubt that in the first instance after he broke silence he would speak of John the Baptist a child of much wonder and expectation whom the Lord had sent unto him in his old age yet he did not so but he took the rise of his Prophesie from a mightier work by far he begins with the Bridegroom and then proceeds to the friend of the Bridegroom He begins with the Saviour and then speaks of the Servant he begins with the bread of life and then goes on to the voice of the Crier he was sent unto the Jews to invite them to eat of it He begins with the glorius King sprung out of the house of David and concludes with his own Son that was the torch-bearer to carry the light before him Of both these thus the Psalmist with most admirable brevity Psal cxxxii 18. There will I make the horn of David to bud I have ordained a lanthorn for mine Anointed The horn or excellency of David is Christ Incarnate the Lamp ordained for that mighty King was John the Forerunner whom the Evangelist of his own name calls a burning and a shining light 'T is St. Austins Exposition and so natural to the sense of the Psalm that it hath gained upon me to follow it Yet there is great odds between Faith in spe in re between the prenuntion and the event of these mysteries between the promise of the Sun rising and the light which shines visibly upon the world between the knowledge of Salvation which was drawn nearer to the Church in Zacharies days than it was in Davids when it was further off In the one it is faciam I will make the horn of David to bud in the other it is feci the counsel of God is actuated he hath raised up an horn David was bold to sing it forth that God would perform his Promise Zachary was more bold to speak in the Preter-tense that he had performed when it was but in fieri when the Web was yet upon the Loom Christmas day was not yet come it was half a year off before the time was appointed that a Virgin should be delivered but Zachary knowing the certain execution of Gods Word hath made Christmass day in the Text. He doth not only bear witness to our Saviour though yet an imperfect feture after three months conception as if the Child were born but as if he were in his most able growth in perfect strength of years in perfect execution of his power in the perfect glory of his Kingdom And hath raised up an horn of Salvation for us in the house of his servant David Now to prepare you to receive the division of the words you may easily mark that whereas the former verse contains a general profession of Gods mercy to his Church he hath visited and redeemed his People this verse contracts it to the particular instrument through whom we are all blessed as who should say God hath given Redemption to his People yet there is no redemption to be lookt for but in Jesus Christ he hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David The principal word of the Text therefore is that which is in the midst An horn of salvation it is the Periphrasis of Christ I will begin from thence 2. I will declare how God did raise up this horn of salvation when Christ was born 3. Here is the Lineage of our Saviour according to the Flesh he was raised up in the house of David in the house of David his Servant Lastly Here is the use and fruit of his birth which belongs to us that is to as many as have the same faith in him that Zachary had when he opened his mouth to utter this Prophetical Song And hath raised up c. In the former verse Zachary says that he would bless that is praise and Magnifie the Lord God of Israel And hath he not made good his word Yes surely for the praise of the most high cannot be exalted in the tongue of a sinner more than in this attribute to call him an horn of salvation There was more obedience and faith in it I will not call it merit but I say it exprest more obedience and faith that this devout Priest should call a Child nay a feture but of three months conception as yet curdled like milk as Job says in his mothers womb the horn the strength of our salvation than for the Angels and Seraphins to sing continually before the Throne of heaven Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts the Angels extol that infinite Majesty which they behold in glory This person confest all that his tongue could utter to the honour of his Redeemer when nothing was actuated nothing yet in being to be seen and when the time came that it should be seen nothing could be more infirm in appearance Yet neither the inevidence of the object before he was incarnate nor the parvity and outward meanness of the object when he was to be incarnate do stumble his faith but he makes as great a noise to advance his dignity as words would give him leave an horn of salvation Salvation salvation is our tree of life restore the Church to that O Lord and there is Paradise enough in it though we be shut out of Paradise It is one beam and the very principal of that inward light in holy Scripture which shines in the Meridian of us Christians and makes us resolve by a secret contract between us and faith that it is the the Word of God because it treats constantly and in every part of it touching the means of salvation But the Volumes of heathen men
they are to be seen and testifie what I say do never aspire to that sublimity nay they that referred every thing they had to the gift and goodness of their Idols Riches to Plutus joyful Marriage to Juno Victory to Mars prosperous Navigation to Neptune all these and the very breath of their life to Jupiter yet the Devil was not suffered to fool them with this gross opinion that any of their adulterate Deities was worth the name of a Saviour Salvation belongeth to our God and his goodness upon his people says the Psalmist Salvation had never been known upon earth unless this day heaven had faln down upon the earth But though all comfort in this world were forgotten nothing but darkness and weeping and captivity over all the Universe yet this one word is enough to turn all the sorrow into gladness nay to turn hell into heaven Where art thou O Lord that we may find thee Wherein shall we enquire for thee that we may see thy love and glory If I look for thee in the work of Creation thou art Omnipotent if I consider thee in the work of Preservation thou art most vigilant if I seek thee in the store of all things wherewith thou hast filled Sea and Land thou art most indulgent but when the incarnation of my Lord Jesus and the mystery of Salvation comes into my thoughts then O God thou art most transcendent and I am lost in the Abyssus of thy goodness When I call him the Glass in which I see all truth the Fountain in which we taste all sweetness the Ark in which all precious things are laid up the Pearl which is worth all other Riches the Flower of Jessai which hath the savour of life unto life the Bread that satisfies all hunger the Medicine that healeth all sickness the Light that dispelleth all darkness when I have run over all these and as many more glorious Titles as I can lay on this description is above them and you may pick them all out of these Syllables our salvation much more when he is exalted with this adjunct in my Text an horn of salvation And can so great a thing as Salvation be amplified through so mean an Epithet Beside that it is a badg of a beast it is not of the choicest substance of nature for what is an horn but the excrement of the Nerves in the outward parts as Teeth proceed out of our gums within But as God did not abhor to be made man for our deliverance so he recoiles not from having his goodness compared to the grossest things for our better intelligence And yet to see the perverseness of the most learned Wits likely they intangle those Similitudes with intricate difficulties to which God hath mightily condescended and even abased himself for our better perspicuity Did not he intend to set up a plain and a sensible Sacrament before our eyes when his Evangelist hath thus described him an horn of salvation And yet what abstruce mistakes are some faln into that would be more subtil than the Spirit of God Abulensis says that this phrase is originally derived from the horn that shined upon the head of Moses when he came down from the Mount and had talkt with God forty days And there being this ample resemblance between Christ and Moses the one brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt the other acquits us from the bondage of sin and hell Therefore Christ should take this character from Moses that was his Type and be called an horn of salvation I like not this opinion for many reasons First Moses had no such disfigurement in his face as the appearance of horns when he came from God Ignorant Painters make us ridiculous to the Jews with their childish errors They know he put a vail on when his face shined and can they tell how horns branching out would admit of such a vail Some Limners conceived that the splendour of his face sent forth beams of light which indeed Rabby Solomon calls by a figure cornua magnificentiae others that were bunglers in the Art took these beams to be horns and with the help of the Vulgar Latine Translation they have made him of an holy Saint a prodigious monster Their error stops not here for this character doth so little agree with Moses that the Scriptuce is very wary never to call Moses the salvation of the people Why For salvation comes not by the Law but by Faith If eternal life could be attained by the works of the Law there had been no need of Christmas day our Mediator had been born in vain he had died in vain therefore mark it in Mat. xxii when the Pharisees askt our Saviour which was the great Commandment of the Law as if all their study all their hope and confidence were in the Law he answers them fully but immediately he calls them to another question What think ye of Christ whose Son is he As who should say by the works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified it were better for you to know and believe in Christ there is no other name under heaven through which you can be saved So I cast off this first opinion to impute horns unto Moses is a vanity to impute salvation to him is an Heresie Secondly Some would draw the Phrase from an heathen Proverb Delrio the Jesuit is not against it The heathen Jupiter as their Poets tell us in their raptures was nourisht by a Goat in his Infancy and for the memory of it that horn was endued with vertue to bring forth plenty of all things for the life of man and constantly they call that which exceeds with all abundance the horn of Amalthea Now Christ replinishing us with all good things supplying us with more than we can desire or deserve in whom we are complete as St. Paul says Col. ii 10. he is this celestial horn about which prophane Authors puzzled themselves and knew not what they said And shall I ever be perswaded that the Scripture hath borrowed terms of honour out of their Fables to give to the Son of God It sounds not well to my judgment yet I subscribe it was an eximious Title of great antiquity for when God raised up the fortunes of Job again he had three Daughters the name of the first was Jemima which is by interpretation day The second Kesia that is sweet Cassia The third Keren happuch that is the horn of plenty and the best Editions of the Septuagint have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the horn of Amalthea Yet to strike off that opinion that horn in the old Addage betokened an inexhaust Fountain of earthly felicity this horn in my Text is the staff and stay of heavenly salvation Therefore they differ as much in effect as finite and infinite Barradius observing that Christ accomplisht the work of our salvation upon his Cross would deduce that from thence he should be called the horn of salvation because the two
they believed him to be more than that little one or they had not worshipped him To make a full choir of consent thus St. Austin Adorant in carne verbum in infantiâ sapientiam in infirmitate virtutem They adored in the flesh that Word that was made flesh they adored in that Infant the Wisdom of the Father they adored in that infirmity the mighty power of God To whom c. SIX SERMONS UPON THE BAPTISM OF OUR SAVIOUR THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE Baptism of our Saviour MAT. iii. 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him YOU shall hear a Story beginning at this Verse and so ending with the Chapter how christ did enter into his Office of Mediatorship and how he began to make himself known to be the Promised Seed who should reconcile God and Men together It was as I have read unto you at a solemn Baptism which he received from the hand of John A happy beginning for us men and for our Salvation and a Baptism as useful for the spiritual liâ—e of all Christians as the Air conduceth to our natural conservation For as the same Air which God created in the beginning is the breath which our Fore-fathers did draw and which sustains us and shall serve the Generations of men which are yet unborn So the Baptism of our Saviour it purged all true believers that have gone before us it cleanseth us according to our Faith and shall work the same good work upon our childrens children for ever It stands us under the Gospel instead of the same comfort which the Rainbow afforded unto the old world The Rainbow is a reflexion of the Sun-beams in a watry cloud and was ordained as a sign of pacification that Gods anger should no more strive with man Such a Rainbow was Christ Jesus and therefore it encompasseth his Throne round about Apoc. 4. look upon him not standing majestically in a cloud above but wading like an humble servant into the waters of Jordan beneath look upon him how he sanctifies that Element which was once a means to drown the World and now is made a means to save it look upon him in that posture as a Rainbow in the water and you may read Gods sure Covenant made with his whole Church that his anger is pacified in his well beloved Son and that he will be gracious with his Inheritance A brave beginning and worthy to be the first work of his Mediatorship which is enough to say it will be most worthy your best attention Theodorus in Aristotle would never play a part in any histrionical sport unless he might be the first that came upon the stage He thought the first entrance in any person made the deepest impression in the Spectators And surely a good onset is no small grace to all that follows The first-born were sanctified to the Lord. God smelt a sweet savour out of the first Sacrifice that Noah offered unto him a distinct mark is set upon the first miracle which our Saviour wrought at Cana in Galilee by turning water into wine And this being the first work of his Prophetical Office is transcendently observable that he came from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him Which verse is but the preparatory to that which follows and therefore it affords no more than three circumstances of the main matter which lies behind at ver 16. First It refers us to inquire into the circumstance of time Then cometh Jesus from Galilee surely it was some very fit season and opportunity Secondly After what manner he would be baptized with the Baptism of John it will be necessary therefore to examine the dignity of Johns Baptism Thirdly The place must not be omitted which was the fortunate seat where this work was done not in Galilee but in Jordan Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan c. For the first of these we need not divine or follow conjectures of our own invention how seasonable it was for the Son of God to declare himself just at this present to be the Messias that would save his people three reasons may be drawn out of express Scripture and we can have no better 1. You may read in this Chapter the men of Judea and all Jerusalem round about were baptized in Jordan confessing their sins John preacht the doctrine of Repentance before them and wrought great compunction of heart in many that heard him they were afflicted for their sins and grieved for the days that were past Then did the Son of God present himself to be baptized in Jordan In the midst of their contrition when their souls were filled with the desire of grace Then said I loe I come Poor People they began to know themselves in what miserable condition they were even sick unto death and when their bowels did yearn O is there none to deliver us Then steps in the peace of heaven and earth as who should say Is it I that you look for Is there any beside me that can cure your miseries Observe my beloved how pat the comfort of Salvation comes in after true repentance David said unto Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said unto David in the same line The Lord also hath put away thy Sin As soon as ever Stephen was besmeared with the bloud of Martyrdom then he saw the heavens opened and Christ standing at the right hand of God And Repentance comes but thus short of Martyrdom that it fetcheth bloud from the soul and killeth the old man with his concupiscence When tears of godly sorrow trickle down or at such time as compunction hath a bleeding heart within though the eyes be dry without then it hath an imaginary vision that it sees the Son of God making intercession for us to his Father and beckoning with his right hand to our wounded conscience that we should be comforted No man can ever say he languisht long in desire to obtain Gods grace and could not find it Let Mary Magdalen weep and wring her hands that Christ is taken away and if she turn about glad woman she shall perceive how near he is unto her He was born indeed at Bethlehem Angelis cantantibus when the Angels of heaven did sing for joy But being lost as it were to the knowledge of the world for a long space at the end of thirty years he manifests himself again hominibus plorantibus when men were broken in heart with Mortification and Repentance at the preaching of John Then cometh Jesus from Galilee c. Secondly The austerity of Johns life and the divinity of his preaching did amuze the world therefore the Priests and Levites sent to him from Jerusalem to know if he were the Christ Joh. i. 19. And another Evangelist says all the people were in suspence in their hearts whether John were the Christ Luke iii. 15. Now at this instant that the servant might no longer rob the
John should leap at the presence of our Saviour in his mothers womb and though it were an extraordinary case yet it demonstrates that the Holy Ghost can inhabit in a babe that is yet unborn or newly brought forth into the world Choose ye which of these opinions you will or choose ye neither and only be contented to believe concerning little ones that theirs is the Kingdom of heaven and therefore they ought to be baptized for unless ye be born again of water and the holy Spirit ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven That is the stop of the first general Point the circumstance of time 1. Then when the people were full of repentance and did yearn for grace 2. Then when they began to conceit too much of John that he was the Christ 3. Then when our Saviour was of the ripe age of Priesthood and had seen thirty years in the world Then came c. It is time now to draw forward to the next general circumstance after what manner our Saviour would be baptized with the Baptism of John The Point is full of much matter even as Jordan it self in the time of harvest But I will obey the limits of the hour and handle two things briefly making my self your debter for the rest as God shall give occasion to pay it I frame therefore two questions on this sort 1. Upon what ground John did begin this new ceremony of Baptism never heard of before 2. What was the dignity or if you will call it so what was the vertue of Johns Baptism I address my self to the former To bring a new institution into the Church nay to bring in a new Sacrament of repentance for remission of sins this was more strange than if a new star had appeared in the Firmament What a confidence was in this great Prophet to call all Judea and the Regions round about unto him to receive Baptism And yet no print or footsteep in all the Law of Moses where such a Ceremony was commanded Nay if they had mark'd it it was to break the staff of the Law of Moses for upon the entertainment of a new Ceremony never heard of before it did betoken that old Rites and Customs were in their declination and near unto abolishing Besides is it not very strange that the learned Priests the wrangling Pharisees the ignorant people all with an unanimous consent should submit themselves to this new Ordinance and yet such an Ordinance as was confirmed by no miracle from heaven for John wrought no miracle the true wonder was that so many thousands should flock after him to be baptized without a miracle Yet the truth is that the most strict defenders of their own Law and the best Interpreters of it did not gainsay the new use of Baptism as unlawful for the Pharisees sent unto John and asked him Why baptisest thou if thou be not that Christ nor Elias nor that Prophet They do not quarrel the Ordinance of Baptism but what authority John had to baptize Two things are to be observed out of the forenamed Text for our satisfaction One that it was not belonging to the Office of any Priest or Prophet in the Old Testament to baptize unto remission of sins Another thing is that the Jews expected the washing of water to cleanse them from their sins under the Kingdom of Christ as S. Hierom thinks they collected it Isa iv 4. The Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion as who should say Circumcision was a seal upon Male children only the water of regeneration under Christ shall belong to Females also Again Ezekiel speaking of the blessings that shall abound in Christ Chap. xxxvi 25. seems clearly to express this new Sacrament Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness Moreover I cannot say whether the Rabbies of deep learning had the knowledge to understand that their Forefathers were by a figure baptized in the red Sea and in the Cloud which went along with them in the Wilderness So St. Paul expounded it by the Spirit of God But the Pharisees and it seems all the people were perswaded that when the Messias came they should be baptized for the remission of their sins either by himself or by some great Prophet who should be his Associate Therefore if John were the Christ they confess he may baptize or if he were Elias he might baptize For Malachy foretold Chap. iv 5. Behold I will send Eliah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Or if he were that Prophet he might baptize not any Prophet inspired from God that is not the meaning but the same whom Moses speaks of Deut. xviii 15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken The Jews had no particular name for this Prophet the plain meaning is that Prophet is Christ himself Now Johns answer to the Pharisees was twofold what he was not and what he was He denies that he was the Christ or Elias himself who shall come perhaps before Christ as an Apparitor at the day of Judgment or that Prophet Then they object that he must not baptize nothing must be innovated in the Church without divine authority but they wilfully forgat what he said he was The voice of a Crier to prepare the ways of the Lord why co jure as the fore-runner of Christs Kingdom he betokened a new work was beginning and a new Ceremony of grace appointed and he baptized as many as came to Jordan and did confess their sins Praecursionis ordinem servavit nascendo baptisando says Gregory he shewed himself to be Christs Harbinger that went before him in Birth in Preaching and in Baptism Now ye see by what priviledge John did quite alter the old Mosaical Rites and began to baptize and I cannot omit how graciously by these means God did turn their superstition into a blessing To begin with the heathen who perceived in natural causes that water gives growth to Plants and Seeds and fecundity to all things but they forgat God who made it a fruitful part of nature and conceited that there was somewhat divine in that Element more than in any other not could they be contented to rest upon that which every man knows that a clean river would wash the dust and sweat from their body but were so foolish to souze themselves every morning thrice over head and ears in some pure Fountain as if it had some inherent vertue to cleanse the filthiness of their souls The Pharisees being more superstitious in their generation than any other Jews followed the heathen close Mar. vii 3. They eat not except they wash often if they come from Market except they wash they eate not and therefore they quarrel some of the Disciples that they eat with defiled that is with unwashen
volume of thy book it is written of me that I should fulfill thy Law then said I loe I come 2. He fulfilled the Moral Law not only by giving it the right interpretation but by exact obedience whereupon he said Which of you can accuse me of sin 3. He gave life to the Ceremonies pointing to their true meaning as instead of the Circumcision of the flesh exhorting to the Circumcision of the heart 4. Whereas the judicial Law of the Jews did mention temporary and corporeal rewards and punishments Christ changed that stile of speech into spiritual and eternal No doubt but Christ did fulfil all righteousness for he came not to do his own will but the will of his Father his justice was multiformous in all the actions of his life from his Cratch to his Cross yet my Text says that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus by receiving Baptism by that one act fulfil all righteousness I know not one bad interpretation upon that Point which is rare among Expositors to be so divers in their judgments and yet all allowable One says it is meant quoad inchoationem justitiae that so it behoved him to begin the course of righteousness That was but one act of his humility but the first wherein he did manifest obedience So Baptism is the first step that we make into the Church of Christ therefore because light was the first thing that God made among his visible Creatures and Baptism is the first of his spiritual graces it hath ever been called in the Greek Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the illumination of a Christian it is the day of inauguration when we first claim right unto our title of the Kingdom because we are adopted the Sons of God Surely the ordinary gloss conceits the words otherwise but very profitably Righteousness is either Legal which consists in an exact obedience to all the Commandments of God Or else Evangelical which knows Salvation is not attained unto by the works of the Law but thus Repent and believe and thou shalt obtain remission of sins therefore Christ speaking in the person of us who are his members says to John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus must we fulfil all righteousness by calling upon men to repent and be baptized in the true faith and their sins shall be covered and blessed is that man or righteous is that man to whom the Lord imputeth no sin This was the Doctrine taught in the Church every where three hundred years past and more Omnis justitia impletur ex gratiâ All our righteousness is fulfilled through grace and not through works Ut nullus ex operibus neque ex arbitrio glorietur they are the words of the gloss to the end that none may boast of works or in the power of his own free will but acknowledge himself guilty of damnation and obnoxious to the dreadful justice of God let us fly to that grace which freely washeth away our sins Thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness Chemnitius makes this apprehension of the Text. Christ did omit no means to reconcile us to his Father that we might be justified before him and this he brought to pass two principal ways 1. When he gave himself an Oblation upon the Cross to take away our sins 2. When he did institute the means and instruments to apply that meritorious satisfaction unto us on this wise therefore he did fulfil righteousness by sanctifying the Sacrament unto us which is the especial medium to apply the righteousness of faith to every one that shall be saved Another and the last sense of this word that likes me also consists in these terms By receiving this Sacrament of Baptism we are tied as far as we are able to fulfil all righteousness It behoveth them that profess the true Faith to keep themselves undefiled from the world and to be holy unto the Lord. As Rachel cried out to Jacob Give me children or else I die so a sincere faith cries out unto the conscience Let me bring forth good works or else I shall be a dying faith and altogether unprofitable Do we make void the Law through faith Says St. Paul God forbid yea we establish the Law Rom. iii. 31. So it appears how righteousness buds forth from Baptism our conscience being watred with the heavenly dew of that Sacrament it makes us fruitful with good works Sed in istôc nequaquam sunt omnia will some man say Will that serve instead of all righteousness For our Saviour saith Thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness God gave the word great was the company of Interpreters and his Spirit is in them all You shall hear the several consolations which they pick out from hence 1. To be a perfect teacher and a perfect doer of Gods will these are Tabor and Hermon the two fruitful hills upon which the blessing of the Lord descends To be a Teacher and not to do well is very bad like Hophni and Phinehas those dissolute Priests who polluted the holy Sacrifice To do well and not to teach is laudable and good but it is not excellent for to be an instructer and a doer is a degree of perfection beyond it Omne tulit punctum it is more blessed to give instruction than to receive therefore our Saviour was abundant in both Praeivit in exemplo quod verbo docuit He did lead the way of obedience by example and afterward did preach it to the people Blessed is he therefore that is not only a teacher but a doer of the word this is to fulfil all righteousness 2. Suum cuique there are but three heads from whence all justice is distributed and they may be drawn out of this Baptism for by receiving Baptism we are obedient to the institution of God we provide a salutiferous medicine for our own soul and by letting our light shine before men we do edifie our brother But to render that which is due to God to our own soul to our brother is to be perfect in every line of justice therefore in the universality Christ might say thus he did fulfil all righteousness 3. Says St. Austin Quid est impleatur omnis justitia Impleatur omnis humilitas The Son of God had this meaning how he fulfilled all righteousness because he condescended to the lowest step of humility for there are these three fallings as I may say one lower than another To be subject to a Superiour and not to prefer himself before an equal is justitia sufficiens sufficient humility and no want To be subject to an equal and not to prefer himself before an inferiour is justitia abundans that is not only justice enough but large and abundant humility but to be subject to an inferiour yea the most mighty God to be subject in Baptism to his Creature this is justitia perfectissima most perfect lowliness none can submit it self more and thus indeed to make the pride of base man to blush who
is but dust and ashes Christ did empty himself of his glory and fulfilled all the righteousness of humility The fifth word of consideration is the plurality of persons spoken of in the Proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness It was fit indeed for our Lord Jesus to perform all obedience to the Law in every tittle and minim that is commanded because it lay upon his person to undo the curse of the Law Surely Johns name must stand for a cipher in that work for Christ alone trod the Wine-press of his Fathers wrath neither John nor any of the Saints were made co-partner with him in our redemption By his one Oblation of himself once offered he made a full perfect sufficient Sacrifice and Oblation for the sins of the world What means this saying therefore in the Plural Thus it behoveth us Take again what the Spirit hath supplied for exposition of this word in divers manners One way it is satisfied that Christ according to that excellent power which is in him speaks of himself regally as of many Joh. iii. 11. We speak that we know and we testifie what we have seen and yet Christ only spake to Nicodemus Again it is a sweet consolation that after the taking of any Sacrament we are no more one and one and so to be reckoned single by our selves but Baptism and the Lords Supper are the very bonds of perfection and make us all members of one mystical body the Scripture is admirably accurate in this particular as 1 Cor. xii 13. By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body and have been all made to drink into one spirit Here it appears that we are become one spirit by drinking one cup of the Lord and one holy lump because we are sprinkled with one spirit in the water in the name of the Lord so our Saviour phraseth the sentence of my Text according to this mystical union Thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness One other Paraphrase is very plain and literal and perhaps therefore the more natural John was loth to put his hand unto the water to cast it upon the head of Christ his Master rectifies his error and tells him it must be done it is expedient for both Obedience is required in the Servant humility in the Lord thus it behoveth us on both sides to fulfil all righteousness Take the last conjecture of the word with you and as I approve it the most useful Christ was made righteousness and sanctification for us by shedding his innocent bloud which is testified in the water of this Sacrament He alone is the meritorious cause of our Salvation But the application of this justice is not to be expected to fall upon our heads without ordinary means and such instruments as God hath appointed Ye are Gods Husbandry says St. Paul to them of Corinth but we are labourers together with God 1 Cor. iii. 9. He regenerates by his word which is committed to the lips of sinful men he cleanseth and sanctifieth his Church by the washing of water whereof we are made dispensers therefore our Saviour hath joyned this Prophet to himself not by way of merit God forbid but by way of instrument and ministry in the work of our redemption thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness Now I shall end this Text in a word that Christ did fulfil all righteousness at this time not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a strict necessary rigour but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for decency sake because it did become him Thus it becometh us c. Many abasements our Saviour did endure and became obedient in many parts of humility which could not be exacted at his hands in strict justice as he took our nature upon him but they were certain voluntary strains of lowliness which were full measure pressed down and running over As for his dolourous Passion of the Cross that could not be escaped it was the cup which he must drink to satisfie for the sins of the world therefore he preacht to his Disciples in this unavoidable expression Nonne oportuit c. Ought not Christ to have suffered and thus to enter into his glory But to stoop like one of the multitude to the Baptism of John was not of absolute necessity but a decency which did well befit his humiliation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus it becometh us c. A comliness in every one is to be observed according to his Christian calling and decency though necessity were set apart will prevail much with tractable and honest dispositions Some will bend to nothing but to that which is clearly exprest in so many words out of the sacred Text. But what if decorum require it to be done though it be not in specialty contained in Scripture but in general Maxims why surely then it cannot be neglected if we will offer up to God a perfect Sacrifice Whatsoever is fitting for an outward sanctification of a sincere heart you cannot omit it without maiming that ingenuous comliness which is required at our hands This is not my own fancy for I observe it frequently in St. Paul that he argues from that which becometh a Christian 1 Cor. xi 13. Judge in your selves is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered 1 Tim. ii 10. Let the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefastness and sobriety not with broidered hair But as becometh women professing godliness Eph. v. 3. Fornication uncleanness let it not once be named among you as becometh Saints Where is that wrangling excuse now for all your pride and bravery Will you be stiff in your opinion that you may paint and powder and crisp and clip hair and use all those Island dog tricks about your head because the Bible doth in no place by name condemn these things Beloved if the Spirit of God had penn'd a thousand Bibles more they could not have contain'd the Catalogue of all those Peacock fashions into which you transform your selves from time to time therefore one rule stands for all that you must do as becometh women professing godliness and remember that there is a decency to be attended in Christianity I will not say to you as St. Paul did to the women of Corinth Judge in your selves if this be comly We should have wise reformation for all faults if you were made the judges who are quite addicted to vanities Who shall tell you then what is decent for Christians Will you rather believe the handmaid that attires you Or the Waiting-woman that hath wages to flatter you Or those Gallants that call themselves your servants and would have you proud that they may idolize you Will you believe these rather than the Priest of God whose soul must answer for every word he teacheth you Learn from him what it is that becometh you to fulfil righteousness Much might be enforced from hence likewise to commend unto you all the Ceremonies so exactly
prompt him with this remembrance be not a blemish to the glory of thy Father in Heaven So much for that part of the Testimony Christ is the eternal Son of God and by him we are called to adoption of Sons Now the Spirit could not stay here but proceeds to glorifie him further This is my beloved Son This is my beloved and thou art my beloved we read it both ways in several Evangelists Ne uno modo dictum minùs intelligatur says St. Austin that the words expressed two manner of ways might be more clearly intelligible Thou art my beloved Son and this is my beloved Son do admonish us two things out of this diversity both that the Father is highly pleased in his Son and that in him he is well pleased with us for his Sons sake For he hath accepted us in the beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. i. 6. This title of beloved is three ways agreeable to Christ 1. Super omnes dilectus est à patre That above all things he is beloved of the Father an infinite love must needs result upon the begetting of an infinite wisdom Amor Deum gubernat amoris omne regnum est the heathen were wont to sing it and knew no reason for it but we know why that God himself was ruled by love love swayed all things in the world God himself is ruled by love that is the Father is intreated by the merits of his Son to break the yoak of his own justice from off our necks and hath put the dominion of life and death into his hands that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow as if he chiefly delighted in the honour of his Son The Schoolmen acutely assign him the preheminence of the Father above all things with this distinction that he was Dilectus quia filius not Filius quia dilectus Beloved because he was a Son and not made a Son because he was beloved which is the condition of them that are adopted Secondly Christ is Paterni amoris erga nos argumentum the proof of Gods exceeding love to us for so God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that who so believeth in him should not perish but have life everlasting so he loved it that there is no measure or similitude to compare it The gradations of Bernard by which he draws up our soul higher and higher to meditate upon the divine love are these 1. Prius nos dilexit it were fit the Lord should be sought unto by such underlings as we are yet he began in way of affection and prevented us well contented if we would correspond and answer his offer 2. Tantillos dilexit he loved us and ordained to make us a people when as yet we were not 3. Tales he loved us again in his best beloved when we had defiled our creation 4. Tantus O the immenseness of his love he that is greater than the Heavens said unto us poor dust and ashes let me be your Saviour 5. Tantum dilexit so constant was the passion of his love that it brought him to the Passion of the Cross 6. Tam gratis of his own free love without merits foreseen in us to deserve it he bequeathed unto us an immortal inheritance this is the purchase of that well-beloved in whom he cannot but be well pleased As in the brestplate of Aaron there was holiness written to the Lord that the people might be accepted when he offered incense for them so the love of God is written with the pen of a Diamond in his Son never to be blotted out that looking upon him we might find grace and favour to be received into glory Thirdly Christ is beloved because he was obedient in all things we are all children of wrath that have rebelled against our Father God looked down from heaven to see if any would seek after him and we are all gone out of the way they were all become abominable usque ad unum and that one was Christ This voice prevents that infidelity which some might imagine upon his Passion for they that lookt with fleshly eyes might think he was one rejected and forsaken of God they might think him under the frown and malediction of his Father for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree but howsoever in the representation of our sins the Sun may discolour him and make him look black yet he is fair O daughters of Jerusalem and though we be prodigals that have wasted our Fathers goods and mis-imployed the portion of his grace yet the voice from heaven shall never be proved a liar concerning Christ This is my beloved Son Behold my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased Mat. xii 18. God is love and if the Son take the name from the Father may he not rightly be called the Beloved If I be a Master says our God where is my fear If I be a Father where is my honour And may he not add If I be the love of the Church where is the love to requite it For without love we may keep all the rest to our selves If we fear him without love it is abject and servil if we honour him without love it is flattery Love made the world of visible creatures and it must make the new world of Saints and Angels Truly did one say that the Emblem of a pious heart was Carbo ignitus divini amoris flammâ absorptus A firy coal wasting away all the gross and earthy parts of it with the flame of divine love Were never any tears better bestowed than one I read of in ancient times whose eyes did shed drops to see Gods glory scandalously abused by those that lived about him and being asked What ailed him to grieve so much for other mens sins It was his wonted answer Quia amor non amatur because love it self was not beloved again For if you loved me says Christ yo wo ld keep my Commandments Intimate love thinks nothing too much and too tedious to be done for the beloved yea it thinks nothing too bitter to be suffered no more did Christ for his Church The Spouse doth interlace it among her love-delights that she should suffer for the Lord so it is figuratively couched Cant. i. 13. My love is a bundle of Myrrh to me Says Bernard Myrrha amara aspera c. Myrrh is rugged and bitter yet of sweet fragrancy So tribulation is harsh but sweet for Christs sake And again Fasciculus Myrrhae dilectus mihi My Beloved is fasciculus but a little bundle of Myrrh but a little corrasive of affliction whatsoever we suffer Quia leve prae amore ipsius ducat quicquid asperi immineat If our affection be strong and entire to God a great deal of sorrow is nothing it is but a little bundle for I reckon that the sorrows of this life are not worthy the glory that shall be revealed Give me a resolute will ready to
before us Try all things and prove your own heart if you understand which way you walk unto the Lord. Ephraim feedeth on the wind and followeth after the East wind wherein the Prophet deciphers them that know not what they seek after or at least how they would comprehend it Some eat and drink their own damnation because they discern not the Lords body they come by custom to the Table of the Lord not with solemn and faithful preparation these are not led by the Spirit Some lay their hand to this Plow to preach the Kingdom of Christ but never bethought them seriously what it was to bear the Ark of God upon their shoulders they took the Priests Office upon them only for the hire and wages but never examined whether they were inwardly called these were not led by the Spirit The Widows in St. Pauls days who were to continue in supplications night and day these were not to be taken into that Society which attended the Church under threescore years of age and such as had been diligent in every good work In after Ages out of more presumption than due care some were accepted to take the vow of continency upon them at the age of forty Others more dangerously admitted Virgin Votaries at the age of twenty five And now every youngling at the age of fourteen is solemnly received to be incloystered in an unmaried estate for ever before they know the hazard of their own frailty the iron bondage of such a Vow or how to avoid the continual tentations of most discontenting melancholy these took their snare upon them by fond enticements and ignorant devotion they were not led by the Spirit This was St. Ambrose his reason of this phrase 2. The next owes it self to St. Hilary Non aliter tentatus est quà m spiritûs permissu auxilio He was led by the Spirit that is he maintained this quarrel against the Devil by the permission and assistance of the Holy Spirit The Holy Ghost is not an idle Spectator but a party that leads us by the hand and holds up our hands to conquer these Amalekites as Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses The Apostles were like things shut up that durst not come abroad till they were filled with the Spirit that had no heart to offer themselves to the trial of any affliction but kept out of the way But in Gods help as David says they leapt over the wall and ventured forth out of that narrow imprisonment and to make some satisfaction for that privacy when they lived as recluses they travelled boldly through all places of the world baptizing all Nations in the name of the Lord Jesus What durst they not do for the honour of God when they were led by the Spirit The Children of Israel made no scruple to pitch their Tents within the borders of their enemies if the Pillar of cloud did remove before them so wheresoever the grace of God doth carry a man Gods glory being his undoubted end without all vain delusions and carnal reservations he may be bold to venture As we read of Sampson that before he did those great and heroical exploits against the Philistines he was possessed with the Spirit of the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him when he slew a thousand of the Philistines with the jaw-bone of an Ass Judg. xv 14. So it holds in the works of Regeneration Patience Obedience denying of our selves taking up the Cross of Christ mortifying the body of Sin these cannot be done unless the Spirit of the Lord do move upon us But according to the method of the Psalm first we must trust in God to pluck our feet out of the snare before he lead us in the right way and set us upon a rock of stone where we shall not be moved First lead us not into tentation that is leave us not to our selves and then bear us on Eagles wings and bring us to himself Exod. xix 4. We do not so much deprecate in the Lords Prayer that we should not come near the assault of any tentations as that we may not be drawn into the midst of them and there left unto our selves Most excellently the Apostle Heb. xiii 20. The God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant he will bring us out of the Pit-falls of the Devil that is implied for it follows he will make us perfect in every good work to do his will Aristotle hath a rule in his Rhetoriques how that must needs be an excellent thing which the worst men desire they may seem to have though they want it As liberality must needs be a graceful vertue for few are so sordidly covetous but that they love to be accounted liberal So the guidance of the divine Spirit necessarily must be the most laudable principle of all humane actions for there is not so palpable an hypocrite that will confess he was led by his own Concupiscence or seduced by his Passions no he will pretend it is the fear of God and his Conscience that doth lead him in all things What wonder if Christian Hypocrites have such conceits For the King of Assyria a Most prophane Blasphemer thought it was the best way to make the same pretension when he came to pluck down the living God Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it The Lord said to me go up against this Land to destroy it And I would it were not the disgrace of these times that many such live among us who have their secret stratagems and desires to make havock of the small revenue of the Church and to pluck down the glory and dignity of it but with the same ungodly flourish that the King of Assyria made We are led by the Spirit the Lord said unto us go and destroy this as they most impudently and ignorantly call it Superstition I will give them the Prophet Ezekiels woe for their reward Ezek. xiii 3. Thus saith the Lord God woe unto the foolish Prophets that follow their own Spirit and have seen nothing These are led on by their fury to bring to pass the works of the evil one not led by the Spirit as our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Arch-leader was to overcome the tentations of the Devil The third reason is out of St. Chrysostoms Quiver and I cannot exceed beyond that at this time Non simpliciter profectus sed abductus God did inspire the Evangelists to write in this manner how Christ was led when he went into temptation rather than that he went of himself simply without more addition because no man should offer himself rashly and voluntarily to be tempted unless God did put some constraint and impulsion upon him It is a most cautilous note if you observe it for take the matter right and consider Christ in himself alone without respect of leaving an example
nature Non agunt sed aguntur So in the act of renovation we are not fellow-workers but are led and carried whither the Spirit will And as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God Rom. viii 14. 4. We know divine mysteries best by negative expressions and therefore I go on fourthly that this immission of efficacious grace is no violent compulsion upon the will Compulsion I said was a word of hostility and not of favour When God doth his work in us throughly energetically that it shall not fail by a Catachresis it is called a coaction So it is said in the Parable to them that were sent to bring in the blind and the lame Cogite intrare compel them to come in I say this is a Catachresis so Prosper the great director of this way that I take Hanc abundantiorem gratiam ita credimus potentem ut negemus violentam We believe this eminent abundant grace worketh with great power but not with violent compulsion For because of those previous preparations I spake of which make us know and have some desire of heavenly things God saves no man against his will therefore it is no violent attraction for no man is ordinarily saved that hath positive repugnancy though in the momentary act of conversion he doth add no auxiliary co-operancy Nay so far is this most abundant benediction of the Spirit from offering coaction and force to the will that the will of a regenerate man doth instantly shew its complacency and turn it self to God This efficacious motion is infused from God and in the same moment exercised and put into act by man for to that end it was inspired by God that man should produce the act of believing and adhering to Christ This is an Altitude for faith to look upon Voluntas est subjectum istius volitionis causa suae volitionis in eodem instanti I think verily the not marking of this hath caused much debate that the will of man in the act of conversion is the subject upon which God works faith and it self the cause which doth produce the act of faith in the same instant They have my suffrage that say how these two cannot well be divided in time one from another Gods operation converting a sinner to be his Son and the act of believing in that man converting himself to God no object can be for a moment in the will but it must affect it one way or other but in order of nature Gods inspiration is first to be conceived and then mans embracing and assent Thus it appears the agitation of this divine motion is not by force and compulsion but with a sweet and fatherly attraction and the effect is no way rough and against nature but above it For to limit and determine the indifferency of the will is not the destruction of free will but the perfection witness the Saints and Angels who are confirmed in grace that they cannot sin If the Son make you free then are ye free indeed which is thus expounded by the Apostle Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. iii. 17. Fifthly I annex that the powerfulness of this converting grace is not well expressed when it is entitled but a moral perswasion The hearts of Kings and surely of all other men whose power is less free are in the hand of God and he inclineth them which way he will perswasions may labour upon the affections it is the scope of an Orator but the most flexanimous Rhetorician that ever spake cannot be said to have the hearts of his Auditors in his hands that is a phrase out of humane capacity What moral perswasion was there in this Christ called Peter and Andrew James and John and Mathew from the receit of custom and they left all and followed him Shew me any ground here for moral perswasion that is probable allegation of reason Not a word more spoken than follow me or perhaps I will make you fishers of men few words God knows But a mighty efficacious impression was secretly instilled into the heart there it was it must needs be that celestial irradiation which made them leave all to follow Christ whose outward appearance was most contemptible and his society according to the wisdom of the world most dangerous Perswasion can but propound an end and as every man is affected so he likes the end which is offered We that disperse the Word have the Office to perswade you to the Kingdom of heaven but God forbid he should bring us no further The Devil can suggest and perswade likewise and prevail above his Makers perswasions as it appears Gen. iii. therefore ascribe the honour due unto the Lord that his Spirit is more efficacious to produce good than Satan to produce evil therefore his work consists not in perswading but in governing and inclining the heart Finally To dispatch this Point I said this potent and infallible assistance of converting grace doth well consist with the Promises and Threatnings and Exhortations of holy Scripture There are other matters objected against this but at the last you will find all sticks at this knot For after some wrangling in the end it is confest God can restrain the liberty and indifferency of the will and make it bring forth what act he please and it must be allowed that the taking away that liberty to work either good or evil is not the destruction but the perfection of the will The angry question is Whether the removing away that liberty and indifferency from the will in the act of conversion can consist with this order that a man shall be commanded to convert himself to God upon the condition of eternal life and upon the commination of Hell fire Now I must tell you this was the very thing that Pelagius quarrelled St. Austin for saying Da Domine quod jubes jube quod vis Give me to do what thou commandest O Lord and then command what thou pleasest But take all my answers like grapes upon a cluster 1. They that make this objection know we are commanded to have the first grace of illumination and they acknowledge it is freely and merely wrought by God Why then do they stumble at converting grace that conversion should be commanded us and God altogether cause it and yet allow it in preparatory grace 2. Doth not the Scripture frame our tongue to speak thus Make you a new heart and a new spirit Ezek. xviii 31. there is a command I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you Ezek. xxxvi 26. there he doth execute in us what himself commanded It is to be magnified and admired not to be disputed of when God will work that good by his Spirit within us which he might in rigour without that extraordinary help exact of us 3. Whither will Divinity be tost about if this be not certain That our just and omnipotent Lord commands
such excellent things which we cannot attain to perform that we may be excited to pray unto him for succour with a vehement and a flagrant devotion 4. He commands and he fulfils and he rewards crowning his own gifts and no works of ours that glory may be ascribed to his name for evermore The Synodal Epistle of all the Affrican Bishops St. Austin being one of the Society encourages me that these answers are far more reasonable than the objection Jubet Deus homini ut velit sed Dominus in homine operatur velle jubet ut facias sed operatur facere He hath charged us to will that which is good but he effecteth that willingness in man he says Do and thou shalt live his grace enables thee to do and thou shalt live for ever Let this suffice to teach you how we are led by the Holy Spirit in converting grace and I think it most comfortable to put our hope in God and not in our selves Cursed is every one that putteth his trust in man Jer. xvii 5. To dispach all I will be brief in the fifth Point how we are led by subsequent grace and sanctification which co-operates and assists us after our conversion this is that truth wherein all dissensious parts conjoyn and accord That Voluntas liberata concurrit ad bonum opus eliciendum cum gratiâ divinâ the will of man having conquered the dominion of sin by converting grace is made free and then it freely conjoyns it self with Gods grace to produce a good effect Then it lies upon our own diligence never wanting the directing vertue of the Spirit to increase the good gifts of Sanctification by acts of often doing well then we do further and promote those holy inspirations to a plentiful or unplentiful increase This is not passively to be led by the Spirit but to walk in the Spirit as it is Gal. v. 16. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh In a word this distinction reacheth over all which can be said upon this matter There are some actions which principally concern the well being of a justified man without which regeneration cannot consist these are they the turning of the heart to God a true belief a faithful conclusion of our life in the fear of God and the peace of a good conscience justifying grace doth so attend the production of these actions that the Lord in his own good time makes us able for these things willing to do and actually to perfect those necessary parts of salvation Other works of obedience as to do this or that good to shun this or that evil all these especilly and particularly considered do not concur to our saving health as to the very making or marring of it In the practice of all these particular good instances the motions and conduct of the Spirit are never wanting to them that are regenerate more or less but sufficient to have kept them blameless in every particular but in many of these we sin often and are wanting to the co-operation of grace through our own stubbornness in the will and sensuality in the affections I will conclude You see how diversly we are led by the Spirit how many sundry ways we are assoiled from Sin and Satan by the direction and efficacy of grace The natural man is able of himself to bring forth no spiritual good work The Lord doth totally and with no assistance of vitiated nature bring forth the first good preparatory grace in the will From thenceforth unto conversion this previous preparatory grace is made effectual or uneffectual by mans free-will In the act of conversion and renovation wherein all the controversie about free-will is moved the Lord doth turn our heart unto himself the will for the act being the passive subject and at the same instant it is the cause of a good action in turning it self to God in subsequent grace unto the end of our life the will being made free from the dominion of sin works together with the motions of celestial inspiration This is the sum of all If any thing be delivered too briefly impute it to the compass of the time If any thing be hard to be conceived impute it to the deep discourse of the matter If any thing be defective in the discourse give Gods grace the glory of all and impute it to my infirmity THE FOURTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 1 2. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterwards an hungry MAny things were rightly applied by him that compared the success of the Children of Israel upon their entrance into the Land of Canaan with the circumstances of this combate between Christ and Satan 1. the Israelites were miraculously brought through the Red Sea so the first glorious Apparition of our Saviour which went immediately before this business was the Baptism which he received of John in Jordan 2. The Israelites pass from the Red Sea into a great and solitary Wilderness So our Saviour was led after his Baptism into the greatest Wilderness of Judaea a place uninhabited by man for he was with the wild beasts Mar. i. 13. Then the Israelites were in great distress for foot hungry and thirsty their soul fainted in them And Christ had nothing to eat in that place he fasted forty days and forty nights and was afterward an hungry 4. As the Israelites were pined with hunger so they had bloudy Wars with all the Nations of Canaan many a time have they fought against me might Israel then say So many a time did the Legions of Hell attempt me might our Lord and Saviour say yea many times did the powers of darkness compass me about but they have not prevailed against me On the one side here was first the Red Sea then a journey into the Wilderness then scarcity of Food then War and fighting So on the other side here was first a Baptism then a sequestring into the Wilderness then a long Fast and then a long conflict with the Prince of Devils Moreover the men of Israel did appear in that forlorn and despicable fashion before the Canaanites that they were much scorn'd and vilified so God provided we seemed in their sight but as Grashoppers said Caleb and Josuah this drew the Kings of Canaan forth to beat them back and so were overwhelmed in their own pride and cruelty Thus in all points did our Saviour deal with Satan the Eternal wisdom against the wisdom of the Serpent He flies into the Wilderness as one abandoned of the World there he continues in great necessity as one whom none would succour not a morsel of food supplied him by God or man Adversarium non virtutis jactatione sed infirmitatis ostentione provocat thus he provokes and draws Satan out against himself not by a boasting challenge but by the appearance of
much infirmity No mans counsel at hand to comfort him for he was in the Wilderness nothing to strengthen his feebless for he was fasting and hungry much abated in the vigour of his body Christus non solùm provocat sed velut arma ministrat hosti says St. Austin this might seem as if he did lend his enemie weapons to overcome him But what the Apostle said of himself through the grace of Christ Christ might more truly say of himself by his own power When I am weak I am strong as will appear in the sequel This is premised to let you know that the present matter which I have in hand consists herein to unfold with what outward infirmity Christ addressed himself to this terrible bickering with the Devil and that in four Points 1. From the place it was the Wilderness the greater solitude the more dangerous the tentation 2. He was fasting the more feeble the body the more flat and dull are the operations of the Spirits 3. The continuance of the fasting was as great as ever was read Forty days and forty nights a large while to get nothing for bodily sustenance 4. The consequent is he was afterwards an hungry Though the divine power had underpropt nature a long time yet nature was now left to it self still the more advantage for the enemy This Wilderness whatsoever it was for a barren desolate place it deserves my labour to survey it because it received this guest for forty days our Lord and Saviour A worthless and therefore a nameless piece of ground unprofitable to bring store into the Barn but profitable to yield some pious meditations Some devout Christians who lov'd to visit those Countries and Regions which Christ frequented have given it a name which it holds in Cosmographical descriptions to this day Quarantena quaranta implying no more than Christs continuance there for forty days There are other small Desarts in Palestina the Desart of Maon the Desart of Ziph the Desart of Judaea this was distinguished from all these by being called the great Desart where there was no habitation They that retired thither unless they brought their provision must resolve to keep a fast At this day our faithful relators say nothing grows upon the ground but a few Dates and Christ was there at such a time when the trees did bear nothing His Baptism at Jordan is calculated to fall out at Twelfth-tide and his departure into the Wilderness being next after his Baptism those forty days were in the Months of January and February when above all other seasons the Trees of the field a few excepted have not so much as Leaves to hang upon them The Devil could not have offered the first tentation in the Cities or Villages or in the fruitful grounds neighbouring to any habitation a bare Heath that yielded nothing but Flints did occasion this Proposition Command that these stones be made bread The first emergent observation from hence is noted in the interlineal gloss Tunc maximè instat Diabolus ad tentandum cum viderit solitarios The Adversary doth especially take hold of a man to tempt him upon a melancholy solitariness beware of those sad oppressing thoughts which a man loves to keep to himself alone take advise of them whose judgment can direct you and whose charity can comfort you When you feel instigations of iniquity grow upon you the chief thing which Satan desires is that you would smother them and not reveal them that you would break off conversation from all your friends and avoid Society He knows his advantages when he gets a man into a wilderness I mean a melancholy retirement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Euripides one hand can fight but weakly As a Dear that is struck knows by instinct what a danger it is to be single and therefore will heard himself if he can so do not separate your self from the face of men upon tentation that is the way to betray your soul but unite your force against the Tempter by mixing your self with good men and praise the Lord as David said in the great Congregation Quae facilitas Quae securitas Quae jucunditas est habere cum quo aequè audeas loqui ut tibi As I read it in a certain work that carries St. Austins name What felicity What security What hearts ease it is to talk to another with as good confidence as thou wouldst unto thy self Two are better than one as Solomon shews it in a threefold similitude 1. If one fall dangerously into a pit a good companion will lend him his hand to raise him he that is alone hath not another to help him up 2. If two lie together they have heat St. Hierom makes an Allegory of it between David and Abisag Frigidiores ferventiorum societate in virtute incalescent They that are colder in Piety will be warmed by their Society that are more fervent in charity 3. If one prevail against one two shall help him united force is a strong safegard 2 Sam. x. 11. Joab divided the battel between him and Abishai his brother Says Joab to Abishai If the Syrians be too strong for me then thou shalt help me but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee then I will help thee Thus judgment will order the battel in our spiritual warfare I will not trust to my self alone lest tentation press me sore but I will have succours at need We are not like Eagles which never flie in a flush but one by one because no bird is so strong that it can prey upon it But we are compared to sheep that must be led to the Pastures in a flock and take heed of stragling This Doctrine is no way repugnant to that which I shall deliver by and by that it is profitable to abandon the contagion of the wicked world neither do I disrespect those tractates of the Fathers which extol the benefit that some have found by retiring for a while in to an Hermitage or the Cell of an Anchorite A few examples of some admirable men that have sped well in that fortune ought not to be a leading Card that it should be a condition of life to which weak ones should be exhorted What was good in a very few in times past says one with a good distinction it was Secundum preeminentiam gratiae non secundum congruentiam naturae It sorted well with the pre-eminence of the extraordinary grace which they had but it was not agreeable to the ordinary complexion of humane nature A man sequestred into a Desart and Solitude as he cannot always have his affections intent upon Prayer and divine Meditations so his vacant idle hours which must be very many will proffer him innumerable imaginations of the worst condition Grant says Chrysologus that for many hours he think of God yet for almost as many he hath nothing to think of but himself Si nihil excellens in seipso reperit tristatur de seipso
that they shall lose the fruition of Gods glory There is a Kingdom and a Treasure in Heaven where Christ says Thieves shall not break in and steal If I had leisure to accumulate many words I could say unto such no more in effect than St. Paul hath done 2 Thes iii. 12. We command them that with quietness they work and eat their own bread His meaning is plain that every man must eat such bread as he may call his own by honest and lawful possession if we will be fed with the blessing of heaven we must not scrape our goods together by the art of the Devil Da panem nostrum non alienum How absonant is their Prayer to their practise who pray for their own substance and yet make any mans substance their own according to the Devils counsel because they want it The next of kind to these are those that use a bad Calling that heathen Wise man hath named but three sorts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gamesters Vsurers and Pandars By the first he means such as drive no other trade or negotiation to maintain their livelihood but profuse Gaming Is it not a misery to see a great Patrimony upon a Table set ready to be adjudged who shall have it by so base and dull an Instrument as a bale of Dice I read in the life of Augustus Caesar when he recreated himself to deceive the tediousness of time with any Game such moderate Stakes were set between him and Mecaenas that the blowing up of a young Heir and all his Inheritance in one night must needs be reckoned by the Sages of good times for the exercise of a bad Calling The second limb of this division which is an Vsurer is so guilty in his own conscience of that bad opinion which the world hath of him that hitherto he durst never profess himself of any Calling as yet no Company was ever founded for that Profession in this City and I think it is your own rule no Company no Calling or at least a bad Calling This is not the right way certainly to better a mans estate command that this Wax and Parchment be made bread St. Basil is very confident in his opinion that it is the sin for which penury of food doth sometimes pinch the whole Land this is that iniquity which turns bread into stones Renounce your Usury says he that the Earth may bring forth her increase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is unnatural for Money to beget Money therefore while you make Money which should be barren to be fruitful the Earth which useth to be fruitful becomes barren The third sort of those in that Wise mans enumeration who live by a most reprobate gain are those accursed people that keep unclean Brothels and profess an Ordinary for the Devil These are they in St. Pauls phrase that sell the body of Christ to be made the body of an Harlot or the body of a Fornicator At this time of the year the devout and penitent time of Lent if you will make it so all the Churches in Italy which are under the Papacy do labour and perswade more than through all the year beside that those common Prostitutes will bewail their former life renounce the evil world and enter into the strictness of some Cloyster for ever whom they call their Convertitaes And God send our Labours and Preaching in this City a good harvest in this kind that these odious persons the names by which they are known are unfit for my mouth that all such I say may be touch'd in conscience lament their beastly life and never more make sale and merchandise of fleshly iniquity O Lord how long hast thou forborn thine anger and not utterly consumed us that this abominable sin is not more strictly look'd into in all places and utterly rooted out And yet for all they talk of their Convertitaes in Italy it is among them but like Hydra's heads when one is cut off three new ones grow up in the room and ever will be so while their great Prelate is at a certain price with them for toleration Is not this above all other trespasses forenamed the direct sin to which the Tempter exhorts to make mony by any wicked courses to take Gold out of the Devils bag The first that led the way to this covetousness that ever I read of was Caligula the Emperour the worst not only of men but even of four footed beasts Vectigala inaudita capiebat mark ye he took a Tribute that was never heard of before Ex capturis prostitutarum quantum quaeque uno concubitu mereret he was allowed from every Stews in his Dominion a most impious proportion to fill his Coffers The final branch of the Division is that they make bread of stones that is they get their living by the Art of the Devil that cheat and couzen in a lawful Calling If the Angel of the Lord were to sprinkle the bloud of an innocent Lamb upon every door-post where a true Israelite dwelt that was not faulty in this kind I fear he would have but little work among us Vel duo vel nemo There are not many of that mark Is not all kind of Manufacture grown more slight more vile by far than it was in the former Generations Compare any work which comes from your hands now adays with that which was wrought and done in the days of old and the extreme odds would make you ashamed if there were any conscience in your dealing And yet you will spend more Oaths to justifie your bad Wares than our Fore-fathers would spend words to commend their good As Usury is defended by some that the common Traffique of Nations depends upon it so Lying will be defended in time by the same rule there can be no Shops opened there can be no Merchandize without it 'T is grown a word of course like an Interjection without which you cannot breath to swear you cannot afford it so cheap when you equivocate most impudently And all being truly considered well may you swear it when you sell away your faith with your Ware for so little profit Let me but repeat that verse which St. Paul took up and do you apply it the Cretians were always Liars evil beasts and slow-bellies Tit. i. 12. Beloved there is not one cheat which you put upon your Chapmen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are your friends that come to lay out their money with you there is not one circumvention with which you abuse them not one false Weight or Measure not one deceitful word not one false Asseveration not one adulterated Oath not one unreasonable Item but God writes it down in his Book by which you shall be judged at the last day more carefully than you keep your Shop-books To end all do not make hast to be rich by unjust means for so you will fall into manifold snares of the Devil When you ingross thousands you can have but one mans meat
because they have rebelled against God and hated his Church What an honour what a prerogative is this not only to escape condemnation which our sins deserved but to have judgment committed to our power against our enemies and yet for all this promise how dissolutely how prophanely some live as if they would rather justifie than judge the wicked world and the evil Angels I cannot hold from interserting one thing what Lapide the Jesuite says upon that place of St. Paul that the righteous shall be Assessors with Christ and sit next him in judgment Vt Cardinales cum Papâ just as the Cardinals assist the Pope to judge all men so he marring a true Doctrine with a most vile Similitude I forget not that I am like to digress therefore I return that you may observe with me how nothing would choak Satan more than to baffle him with the infirmity of man and put this to it no Text more unwelcom to him than this to hear of Manna in the Wilderness 1. This was it which cherished their whole Host whom the Devil thought irrecoverably undone for want of sustenance 2. It stopt the mouth of discontent that there was no more murmuring 3. The ceasing of it on the Sabbath day was a most effectual motive that they should sanctifie that day unto the Lord. 4. It did not serve the body only but it was a spiritual refection likewise and a representation of the holy Communion of the Lords Table So St. Paul the old Fathers did all eat of the same spiritual meat and drank of the same spiritual drink 5. Manna was laid up in the Ark with the two Tables and the rod of Aaron that the Lord might be thanked for it by a perpetual Commemoration All these rubs were in Satans way when Christ cited this Text to expunge his tentation What should this Sophister do now The words of the Scripture are evident and unanswerable Why it is worth the while to mark it he had nothing to retort for the present but past on to another allurement but after a a while he provokes the Pharisees to make an objection against our Saviour upon the very same instance Joh. vi 31. What Sign shewest thou that we may see and believe What dost thou work Our Fathers did eat Manna in the Desart c. This was to turn Christs own weapon as he thought against himself but in that demand of the Pharisees and in this tentation of Satans there is the same sin of presumption who would dare to prescribe God the Jews would have had bread miraculously after the same way that their fore-fathers had when now there was no lack the Devil would have bread made after a new way which never was before as if Gods Providence were drawn dry unless the stones were mollified into loaves to be eaten No says out Saviour and now I come to the verybody of his answer man shall not live c. Which being divided into many Propositions this was the first that man is not necessarily bound to ordinary sustenance man shall not live by bread alone And that will bear a double construction First That God is able to preserve life in whom he pleaseth without all material Aliments So Calvin on this place Vt desint omnes cibi solam ejus benedictionem ad nos alendos sufficere His benediction is alimony enough though there were no meat in the world For he can preserve the body of man in such an orderly mixture of all parts that the elements shall be at peace in our body no quality shall feed upon another heat shall not dry up the moisture parch the juyce of the veins the pangs and girds of hunger and thirst shall not molest us But as the fire was inhibited that it should not burn the three Children that were cast into the Furnace so natural heat within us may be inhibited by Gods command that it shall waste nothing away in all our composition So St. Hierom Spiritus sanctus aliquando supplet locum cibi potus in corpore The Holy Ghost is called our food in the Book of God not only in a mystical sense but sometime the vertue of the Spirit supplies the place of bodily refection that we shall not need to ask for it Thus it must be if the stories of good Authors have not exceeded the truth that the devoutest Christians of the Greek Churches could hold out healthfully with such often and such long continued fasts that now adays I could promise them but short life that should follow their steps Moses was fed forty days with nothing but the Law Elias fed as long or rather fasted as long upon that zeal which he had for Gods glory Satan could not deny this for as we are created by a word which was Almighty so we may be kept alive by a word which is Almighty made of nothing and preserved out of nothing This is not to be resisted The Doctrine is as clear as day according to the Analogy of faith But if Christs answer had carried this sense I believe the Tempter would have cavill'd thus Right as you say bread is not absolutely necessary for life no nor any other victual God can sustain you as he hath done hitherto by his power but you see you are hungry and must have bread he hath forsaken you Beloved the most easie and literal sense of Scripture for the most part is the truest and surely because our Saviour likened his own case to the Israelites who though they had no bread wade of corn had Manna instead of it which came from heaven Therefore the answer is this plain passage what compels me to turn stones into bread There are innumerable helps beside to keep me from famishing Is there no way say you but this to do me good Yes God hath spread a Table in the Wilderness for Moses and all Israel and more instances might be added even as thick as stones The Widow of Sarepta kept house for her self her Son and the Prophet Elias a long time with a little meal in a barrel and a spoonful of oyl All the Markets in Samaria were suddenly stored with that which the Aramites their enemies had left behind them It was not yet revealed to Satan how many thousands were fed in a desart place with five loaves and two fishes and the fragments which remained did much exceed the quantity of the meat that was whole It is ancient story though it be not Canonical Scripture how the Angel took up Habakkuk by the hair of the head and carried him and the meat which he had in his hand for the Reapers to Daniel in Babylon I fear it will not deserve a memorial among these honest Records what some relate in the lives of the Eremites that Paul the Anchorite being solitary in the vast Sands of Egypt which yield not a morsel for the belly every day an Angel of heaven set half a loaf of bread before him and made it
make us his instruments to defile the holy Temple Gods glory is put to the greatest scandal and reproach And this is brought to pass so many ways that it is plain to see there hath been a most witty complotter in the treachery 1. When any Prelate is so puft up that he thinks himself too great to be a door-keeper in Gods house but will be higher than all the Church and seâ— on the top of the Pinacle who sitting in the Temple of God exalts himself above all that is called God 2. The Temple is defiled by setting up Idols in the Courts of our heavenly King even in the midst of thee O thou Sanctuary of the Lord. 3. By offering up unclean Sacrifice either false Doctrine or impious Prayers or superstitious Worship or corrupted Sacraments 4. When men set their foot within the sacred Tabernacle with carnal thoughts with worldly imaginations with no zeal or attention 5. To bring any prophane work any secular business within those walls which are consecrated to the name of the Lord. This is that Camel which the Jewish Priests did swallow when they strained at a Gnat. For they told our Saviour that he brake the Sabbath he did not keep the Law but they themselves did licence and allow the prophanation of the Temple by bringing Merchandize into it selling of Sheep and Oxen and changing money and you know how Christ revenged it even with anger and indignation I must borrow time to tell you how Christ did bestir himself in the reformation of that abuse more than in any thing else throughout all the Gospel For first he corrected that fault twice over in the second of St. Johns Gospel in the beginning of his Ministry and Mat. xxi toward the end of his life anon before he suffered You see what an obstinate evil it was which would not be redressed for one admonition 2. When he came to Jerusalem there were many other faults flagrant crimes wherewith the place abounded yet the first thing he reformed was the abuse of the Temple 3. He would not tolerate the least prophanation wink at no fault for he would not permit that any should carry so much as a Vessel through the Temple Mar. xi 16. 4. He reformed this trespass not only by preaching and quoating Scripture against it but by a scourge and by violence by word and deed And surely if words will not serve God will bring blows to maintain the reverence of his house that it be not contemned What a dissolute carriage it is to see a man step into a Church and neither veil his head nor bend his knee nor lift up his hands or eyes to heaven Who dwels there I pray you that you are so familiar in the house Could you be more saucy in a Tavern or in a Theater This is no other but the very gate of heaven says Jacob when he had but a vision of God and his Angels Brethren renounce the Devil let him not alienate your reverence from that place which God hath specially appointed for the saving of your soul Holiness becometh thine house for ever O holy blessed and glorious Trinity AMEN THE ELEVENTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 6. And saith unto him If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down For it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone IT is altogether unknown to man when a sin comes merely from the suggestion of his own heart and when it comes from the tentation of the Devil But in one case eminently above many others it is most likely that there is some hellish provocation when out of good principles and religious grounds our heart is quite turned out of the way to rebell against the Lord. Ely the High Priest had a tender fatherly affection Who could turn this wholsom water into poyson to make him wink at the vices and dissoluteness of his Sons but Satan David was a thankful Prince and loved to remember how God had multiplied his favours upon him yet upon this stock grew that evil fruit to number the people Why the Text says Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel King Josias was an enemy to the Heathen that knew not God and he that deludes good motions made him so irreconcilable that he would fight against Pharaoh Necho to his own destruction and harkened not to the word which came from the mouth of God Certainly the hand of Joab was in this and in all such fallacies where a good fountain is made to send forth sweet waters and bitter as to sin because grace abounds to neglect publick Prayer because faith comes by hearing to cark and care too much for the world because a man would provide for his Posterity And this master-wit of Hell laid this bait to make our Saviour swallow it in this present tentation For Christ being demanded to make bread of stones he replies that he was confident in his Fathers Promises Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Are you so confident Thinks the Tempter and upon this confidence I will thrust you on Have you appeal'd to Cesar And to Cesaer you shall go It is true that you say God is very gracious and will not destitute you in any want or danger you have answered very well therefore cast your self down from this Pinacle and be confident still God will look to it that you shall be supported This is the very train discovered and made as clear unto you as the light of the Sun In the former tentation he would drive Christ to unlawful means if that take not because he trusts in God then trust in him still and refrain from the use of things lawful so St. Austin distinguisheth that his first fallacy was Deum defuturum ubi promisit that God would not help where he had promised to assist and the second fallacy which now I am to handle is Deum adfuturum ubi non promisit that God would help where he had not promised to assist Where many things are to be found out in one verse they must be divided severally and in this order I take it to be expedient 1. Here is Satans demand Cast thy self down 2. Upon what supposition he demands it Why if thou be the Son of God 3. Upon what authority authority enough for it is written 4. Upon what assistance why the best in the world whether it is the supreme or the instrumental The supremeis God He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and the instrumental are the most glorious powerful and excellent creatures in all the world the whole Host of Angels in their hands they shall bear thee lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone These are such particulars as the wisdom of the Spirit hath left us
to consider upon these words and as I begin at Satans demand so I make two branches of it the Motion and the Mover The Motion is tumbling headlong to be cast down and the Mover must be himself Cast thy self down To the handling and use of these are required your ear my utterance and Gods grace to both I begin with the Motion and if the meaning of him that counselled it had been well carried it were a motion easily perswaded to him that is of an humble spirit a good man is ever ready to be directed to go and sit down in the lowest room and to be abased to the very center of humility When the heart is in good awe of God the joynts will bend unto the earth O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker This we are sure is far from Satans purpose and can be no construction of his words Optat omnes cadere qui se sentit prae omnibus cecidisse says St. Austin He would have all men fall in that sort as himself hath done with aspiring and presumption that they might never rise again The Beast in the Fable which had lost his tail made an Oration before all the Beasts of the Wood what a comly thing it was to want a tail and very useful and so concluded that they would all cut off theirs but the Fox made answer You intend not to make us decent like your self but to have us all as deformed After the same manner the Devil Preacheth unto Christ to descend from the top of the Pinacle to the bottom not to set him in the posture of an humble man but to make him arrogant like Lucifer for such a violent precipitation says he can do no hurt at all to such a one as you are a most holy one that are called the Son of God I will use Bonaventure's saying upon it Satan did interlace lofty pride with this lowly seeming motion Vt descendendo corporaeliter faceret cum superbire spiritualiter ut simul esset ascensus vanus descensus verus That he might fall down bodily and be proud spiritually and so he thrust together a frivolous presumption and a dangerous descension How much is humility abused when Pride will wear the colours of that good vertue to deceive the world There was grose ambition in Absalons stooping to steal the hearts of the people The Scribes and Pharisees would dop to the ground when they greeted their friends in the Market place The same Bishop that hath more Princely Augustious titles ascribed unto him then would fill up a Sermon by themselves subscribes himself very often Servus servorum Christ the servant of the servants of Christ As a Kite will sweep the earth with his wings that he may truss the Prey in his Talons and fly aloft to devour it So all the crouches and submissions which an ambitious man makes are to get somewhat which he seeks for and to clamber to promotion This is observed because Satan impels Christ to cast himself down not for true humility sake but upon vain glory to flutter in the Air that all Jerusalem might take notice how precious he was to the care and custody of all the Angels In the next place convert your thoughts to this see what kind of Miracles they are which the Devil delights in the working of Miracles is reduced to Gods Omnipotent Prerogative beyond the ordinary Law of Nature And Christ did often put it in act to save to revive to comfort the body to convert the soul Nay but these are no part of the Devils asking neither cure the sick nor give eyes to the blind nor raise the dead nor help up Eutiches again as Paul did when he fell from the upper window of the house to the ground none of these good offices of mercy doth he require but mitte te deorsum if you be the Son of God tumble down and confound your self Non signa humano generi salutaria sed perniciosa requirit says Bernard Do some pernicious Miracle and then you please him Beware of those men whose wit whose counsels whose directions tend to nothing but to some mens ruine and destruction Hic niger est hunc tu Romane caveto you see who is their Leader and whose steps they follow The Heathen could say how that Orator must needs have much malice in his complexion who was a better Accuser than a Defender that could sooner find a hole in his Adversaries cause than help his own Client so it is Satanissimum let me use a new word in this case he is a very Satanist upon whom that description of David lights Destruction and unhappiness is in their counsels and the way of peace they have not known The Magicians of Pharaoh could bring forth Frogs upon all the Land of Egypt as well as Aaron when he stretcht forth his rod but the Magicians with all their Inchantments could not rid the Land of those Frogs as Aaron did when he cried unto the Lord. Inchanters are permitted to work strange mischiefs but the Lord hath reserved it to himself to work strange mercies Ahitophel was exceeding wise no doubt accounted the Oracle of his age yet we know no instance of his wit in all the Scripture wherein he had his hand but in most turbulent and seditious propositions The Devil made use of his craft to serve his own turn but a wit that is sanctified with Gods grace know it by this character it had rather make than mar advance than pull down preserve than destroy reconcile than put at enmity When the voice from heaven spake to Peter as he was in a trance Arise Peter kill and eat the meaning was he should eat of such things as the Gentiles did which were prohibited before communicate with the Gentiles convert the Gentiles Now do you think that Cardinals mouth was not full of gall that made this Exposition of the Miracle Arise Bishop of Rome wage war with the Venetians and kill them because they will not obey yout Interdict Certainly this mans breath was like the strong East Wind that brought most of the grievous Plagues of the Land of Egypt I do not like such Prophets though Micaiah was wrongfully reputed such a one by Ahab that never prophesie good but evil nor such Disciples as would shew their authority by calling down fire from heaven nor such unlucky spirits that are like the malignant Planets which produce nothing but maleficous effects When Songs were sung in every Street of Greece that Philip had eraced the fair City of Olynthus O but when will he build up such a City Says a silly woman and then I would sing too An ill turn is quickly watcht for beside the venomous inclination of our own nature to do hurt You shall have the Devil to boot to help it on he counsels like an enemy no miracle which brings good with it to mankind but destruction Mitte te deorsum Cast
as they were bidden and that bidding made it no intrusion upon their Fathers Providence The Lord also bad Gideon bring his Souldiers down unto the water and he would try them by a sign which of them should go against the Madianites the Lord did say it and therefore it was fit for him to obey that miraculous direction And Divines agree that it was not a fair answer in King Ahaz when God bid him ask a sign either in the depth beneath or in the height above he answered I will not ask neither will I tempt the Lord for the favour was propounded unto him both for his own part to increase his faith and much more for the instruction of all the people therefore he should have ask'd it But sometimes though upon no express command yet holy Prophets upon some divine instinct have tempted God to grant them a sign above the common and ordinary way of nature and yet their asking was laudable as Gen. xv God is very gracious to Abraham in all the passages I and commends him for his faith yet Abraham says Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit this Land of Canaan And a miracle was wrought to establish the Promise unto him Thus you must interpret wheresoever in holy Scripture you find such eminent men ask a sign to whom God talkt familiarly or poured Revelations into them or spake unto them in Visions that they had a Prophetical instinct for it which maks their case different from us that walk by ordinary faith Now I pray you mark that many times wicked people undertake things of a strange condition by instinct and bring them to pass but it is not Prophetical for it is an instinct of which themselves are not aware as the Mariners were prompted by instinct no doubt to cast lots and the Lot fell right upon Jonas yet they had no feeling that the hand of the Lord was in it But it is a Prophetical instinct which makes the act warrantable when the party imployed in it by God knows it and understands it to be such and concurreth with God as well in will as in the work Eliezer Abrahams Servant was sent to provide a Wife for Isaac and coming to Mesopotamia to the City of Nahor he makes this Prayer O Lord God of my Master Abraham send me good speed this day Loe I stand by the Well of water grant that the Maid to whom I say bow down thy Pitcher I pray thee that I may drink if she say drink and I will give thy Camels drink also may be she that thou hast ordained for thy Servant Isaac And it was so in the event The Scripture makes no description of this Eliezer for a Prophet yet if he felt a motion from God to try the Marriage this way good and lawful if not howsoever God let it come to pass for Abraham and Isaacs sake the course was not excusable but superstitious The like judgment I pass upon Jonathan for God only knows by what inspiring or revelation he did this he went up against the Philistines with his Armour-bearer and he resolves if they say come up unto us we will go up For the Lord hath delivered them into our hand and this shall be a sign unto us Though some say this was not to doubt of Gods excellency but of their own act yet that distinction avails not to explore the success of your own act by means unordained for that use unless divine instinct do help it is a vicious tentation Yet this I will add Jonathans act may be rescued from being tax'd for a tempting of God and exposing themselves to most doubtful peril in that two of them fought with an whole Host for the place was narrow where they could grapple but one to one and Jonathan had the upper ground and the Promise was ratified in the Book of Moses That one of them should chase an hundred and two of them put a thousand to flight Therefore Gods Command or his Promise or a Prophetical instinct do qualifie those things to be vertuous actions which otherwise were tentations ill adventured to anger the Lord. Thirdly Weighty and extraordinary callings had need of a mighty faith to undergo them and such men of old had a liberty allowed unto them to try their Vocation by some sign or some powerful work of God both for themselves and principally for the people that were committed to their governance As Moses pleaded when he was destined to be the Captain that should bring Israel out of Egypt Loe they will not believe me nor hearken to my voice they will say the Lord hath not appeared unto thee presently he was satisfied God bad him cast forth his Rod and it became a Serpent This the Lord did bear withal and let him require an extraordinary Warrant for an extraordinary Function So Gideon being a poor Thresher was called upon by the Angel to sight for Israel against the Madianites he deprecates that the Angel would take it no offence if he desired the encouragement of a Miracle to raise his faith to an eminent pitch Be not angry with me let me prove thee once again with the Fleece let it now be dry only upon the Fleece and let dew be upon all the ground To a private man this demand had been sin but to Gideon to sustain that excellent person which the Angel imposed on him at least it was tollerable Fourthly and finally there is a speculative inquiry or Antecedent to prove Gods will and power by Signs and Tokens and that is unlawful and there is an experimental or consequent one to enquire after Gods goodness in a mans own self by descending into the effects and enumerations of his mercies and proving our own Spirit and that is lawful So Mal. iii. 10. Bring ye all the Tithes into the store-house and prove me therewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open the windows of heaven unto you It were sinful to pay Tythes to that end as if you would tempt God by that conclusion whether he could open the windows of heaven and help you with store but consecutivè the trial is good do you that and God will do this put it to the success if the Lord do not treble his bounty unto those that pay him his Tythes and Offerings this is to taste and try how gracious he will be to our obedience not to put him to such effects as we imagine in the capreols of our own fancy for that is a culpable tentation So this Point being traversed as much as I intend and the time will give me leave I leave it behind me and proceed to the next What are the general heads of those presumptuous ways wherein the party sins that tempts the Lord And surely one principal and notorious offence is committed when a man exposeth his life to unnecessary dangers upon an ill-grounded confidence that God will bring him off with safety Upon this
that Psalm they that are just and faithful in their sayings he that speaks the truth from his heart v. 2. he that hath used no deceit in his tongue v. 3. he that sweareth to his neighbour and disappointeth him not though it were to his own hinderance v. 5. David desired to know by some sign whether he should come into the presence of Saul or fly from him Why Jonathan kept his word with David Jonathan desired that David would be merciful to his Posterity after him David sware unto him and kept his word with Jonathan But be you just in your promises to your brother and God will make good unto you the promise of eternal life the Lord is faithful in all his sayings and holy in all his works The next collection from hence shall be this that the Devil would not offer less than all he had to win a Soul he would not offer a trifle for that which he knew was the most precious thing upon earth And it is a little excuse though far from a good answer when a man is fetcht into a sin for a great bewitching recompence pretio octuplicis stipendii illectus as that famous Renego pleaded for himself that he was enticed back to the Church of Rome with a stipend eight times greater than he had in England but to be enticed from our heavenly Father like a Child with toyes of no estimation it accuseth us that we do not value our own soul at so good a rate as the Devil doth What a narrow mean reward was that for which the lying Prophets did change the service of God Ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread Ezek. xiii 19. What will you give me sayes Judas and I will betray him And you do not find that he did drive the Market with the Priests and Elders but took the first sum that they appointed him Anima lucri cupida etiam pro exiguo perire non metuit sayes Leo. A greedy covetous mind will damn both body and soul for a little money What could Esau have taken less than a mess of pottage especially made of lentiles the meanest pittance of relief that a beggar looks for at every door and what had Esau in this world to exchange for it so precious and valuable as his Birthright the Law shews the dignity thereof that all the first-born were peculiarly consecrated and given unto God Exod. xxii 29. they were next in honor to their Parents they had a double portion of their Fathers goods Until the Law was given the first-born administred the Priesthood in the Family that was a sacred thing and yet more sacred he was a type of Christ for Christ is called the first-born among many brethren Rom. viii 29. Moreover and above it was a type of our adoption and being heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven See what a vile exchange Esau did make for all this heavenly dignity that the Holy Ghost for good cause calls him a prophane person who for one meals meat and for such a course meal sold his birthright Heb. xii 16. If we will prostitute our selves so cheaply to the Prince of darkness and ask less than for shame he can offer to put our selves into the bondage of iniquity mark what will follow the Lord will debase us as we have debased our selves thou sellest thy people for nought and takest no money for them sayes the sweet Singer of Israel or as Moses told the Israelites if they sold themselves to commit iniquity they should be sold for slaves and no man would buy them Deut. xxviii 68. But for all this I must give you to know in my next admonition though Satan offer'd all that is in this world yet he did not offer enough for that which he would gain namely to win a soul every thing under the Sun comes short of that appretiation much more in this case it is to be considered that if our Lord Jesus could have been supplanted which was impossible all mankind had perisht for upon his righteousness and upon his perfect obedience did depend our Crown and our Salvation if therefore one soul is worth the whole world and more what could be valued against all the souls in the world But I will instance upon this for our use there is nothing so valuable that should bribe a man to commit the least sin against our Heavenly Father You will smile at the Indian Savages that part with gold and spices and amber for glass beads and saffron brouches yet whosoever sins for the mammons of iniquity barters for a far more unequal merchandise you change immortality for death eternal joy for continual care a certain treasure for uncertain riches the most happy fruition of the Creator for less than the felicity of a dream aut transeunt nobis viventibus aut dimittuntur nobis dormientibus the living may lose all they have got by injustice but for certain the dead cannot keep it What is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away Luke ix 25. if he lose himself the word following is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vulgar read it detrimentum sui faciat from whence a good Expositor sayes there is no comparison in the purchasing of earthly things non solùm cum damnatione aeternâ sed etiam cum jacturâ gratiae Dei though damnation and hell fire were not incurr'd to suffer the loss of the Holy Spirit and of the Grace of God Wherefore all that Satan could shew and let him shew as many worlds as Alexander could wish all is not worth such a cringe as he would have the Son of God to make to bow down and commit Idolatry We read of one Apostle so abounding in charity to his own Nation that he could be content to lose his part of heaven cupio anathema esse pro fratribus it was St. Paul who was willing to be anathema for his brethren that God might be glorified in all the people of Israel but he would not exchange the least degree of his sanctity and faith in Christ for all the muck in the world Joseph had rather lose that was comfortable to him in this life liberty good name yea the garments from his back then be defil'd with lust I have no instance fit to come after that of Moses Hebr. xi 24. who by faith refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Philo sayes of him that Thermut the only child and daughter of Pharaoh being long married and quite barren wanting issue to succeed fained her self big and at last to be delivered of Moses whom she found in an ark of bulrushes exposed to be drown'd him she brought up for her adopted child to inherit all the Kingdoms of Egypt But because Idolatry reigned in that place he could not
rebellious terms ero similis altissimo I will be like the most high but this is more superlative a great deal let the Son of God fall down and worship me I will be a God above the Most High I do not wonder that some Expositors go about to mollifie the meaning of the words a little as it were impossible there could be a literal sense of such an horrid proposition But their endeavour me-thinks thrives not To adore Satan says one is any way to obey him and be subject unto him Adoratio Diaboli subjectionis est non devotionis He did not ask to be ador'd as if he were an eternal divine essence unto whose person the devotion of religion was to be directed but he would have Christ stoop and bow unto him and to acknowledge by that gesture that the honors and riches of the world depended on him or as another lays his meaning forth on this wise you are the Son of God that come to take my Kingdom from me do me homage for it and you shall have it without striving these are all the odds in the pretended interpretations these think he requir'd of Christ civil reverence and subjection such as great Emperors have from petty Princes that hold somewhat in homage and service under them Others much more congruously to the Scripture teach that he made a flat and plain demand to have religious adoration done unto him as to the God of this World whether he would have it done after St. Matthews phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that his own person should be the object worshipt or whether in St. Lukes phrase word for word if thou wilt worship before me that is worship God above in me who am his Vicegerent to communicate riches and honor these two wayes drive at one aim and do not differ for certain he would have no less than religious service done unto him for our Saviours answer questionless was ad oppositum and He controuls the Devil for asking that religious honor which was due to God Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve He had stept thus high before the coming of Christ to be supplicated by the Heathen Romans in their Idol Vejovis that he should not hurt the fruits of the earth Before Christ dissolv'd the works of the Devil he was sought to and consulted with in the Oracles of the Greeks in those days too he was worshipt in all the Idols of the Nations the antient godly men of the Church say that the wicked fiend lurkt substantially in all graven Images which were set up and when Idolaters bowed to stocks and stones he had their homage done unto him Nay he had purchased sacrifice to himself and of the dearest and most beloved things They sacrificed their Sons and Daughters unto Devils Psal cvi 37. Satan having been puft up so long with the Devotions and Ceremonies of a bewitched people he would not go less but demands more than ever he had before when even now he was upon the time to lose all If thou therefore wilt worship me all shall be thine What though Satan be incorrigible And the labour is lost to review and reform that blasphemy which he hath spoken for he will never retract it and confess his fault Yet some things may fall to our profit out of this wicked saying and those things which are written for his condemnation are written for our instruction I will follow St. Ambrose for my Leader who hath noted two things remarkable from hence for our use First that the beginning of this tentation is Covetousness All these things will I give the and the end of it is Idolatry if thou wilt fall down and worship me Who would think that these two sins Covetousness and Idolatry had such great affinity between them Idolatry averts the heart of man more than any sin from the Creator The stain of Covetousness is that it converts the heart more than any other sin to the immoderate love of the creature Great sins both and yet it appears by this they differ toto genere in their formalities They do so and so many Rivers which rise not from the same Spring-head flow for many miles in several Channels and at last close into one stream Thus Idolatry which riseth out of the sins of the first Table and Covetousness which is opposite to the Commandments of the Second Table yet both these glue together after a while as if they were inseparable St. Paul binds them both like tares in one bundle Eph. v. 5. No covetous man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of God and of Christ And as Pharaohs Dream was doubled twice because the thing was surely established So the Apostle doubles the same Lesson again because it was most true and most remarkable Col. iii. 5. mortifie your members upon earth Fornication Uncleanness c. and Covetousness which is Idolatry It is an Alchymy wherein Satan is skilful to turn Gold into Idolatry and Idolatry into Gold He put Nebuchadonosor to great cost and much expence of Gold to advance Idolatry But he is at fee with them that are poorer to give them Gold if they will turn Idolaters So the love of money begets the love of Idols and he laies his train in that order in my text to buy himself worship with his money All these things will I c. For Idolatry the Lord rooted out the Canaanites from the Land of their Fathers and when the Covetous shall know what affinity he hath with an Idolater it will reclaim him I hope lest he be rooted out like an accursed Canaanite from the Land of the Living Divine Expositors do sundry ways testifie to the truth of this Proposition that Covetousness is Idolatry several heads have their several opinions yet every opinion hath some sting and Acrimony in it Clemens of Alexandria begins Every mans last end he puts for is his happiness every mans happiness is his God And a money-scraper projects more for that than he doth for the grace of God Coelum apertum est Deum non quaerit aurum absconditum est terrae viscera recludit The heaven shuts not it self against them that call for grace that is easie he looks not after it the Ore is hidden in the dark veins of the earth and he will dig to Hell to find it St. Chrysostom says Id est cuique Deus quod maximè amat à quo vitam necessaria expectat He is an Idolater without an Hyperbole that will sin against Gods honour rather than offend his own heart in seeking profit from whom doth he expect relief help comfort in the time of trouble If he thinks the lining of his Purse is best able to administer these things he hath said unto his Riches you are my trust and my assurance he should have said so to God The same Father considering in another place that Christ admonisheth what a base Treasure
he is made a greater vassal than the poorest of his Subjects themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought in bondage 2 Pet. ii 19. What appearance of soveraignty was in the voluptuous Licinius Of whom Tacitus says Tanta torpedo invaserat animum ut si principem eum fuisse caeteri non meminissent ipse oblivisceretur Such a stupidness had possessed his mind that unless others had been mindful towards him that he was a Prince himself would have forgot it You see then there is no freedom but by killing the strength of sin and living unto God in new obedience if by one offence death reigned by one they that receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Rom. v. 17. Sin holds the sinner under tyranny grace makes the righteous man reign in this life it is the Apostles phrase Therefore Christ who gives us freedom despised not to be called a servant to his Father Thou art my servant O Israel in whom I will be glorified Isa xlix 3. Thirdly That fawning heathen did humour his Patron for this reason Et habet quod det dat nemo largius So the Lord hath all manner of riches in store and he withholdeth no good thing from those that serve him No Master in the world is so munificent to reward his Ministers Let me borrow it from the Queen of Sheba's mouth what she said of Solomons attendants to apply it to those of Gods houshold that perform the task he sets them Happy are these thy servants that stand continually before thee being now made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life Rom. vi 22. The poor bondman among the heathen had no more wages than food for all his drudgery the more hard-hearted they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Aristotle give a bond-slave provender like a beast and he is paid for his labour Did God ever use any of his retinue that serve him so hardly They have all their meat in due season and plenteously says he in the Parable How many hired servants are there in my Fathers house that have meat enough Yet this is nothing I may say to the remainder this is but the Alms-basket of his liberality What say you to this That he gave his only Son to redeem his servant and that the Servant might be spared even that most beloved Son did undergo the most bitter death of the Cross and all this that such servants as forgot the Lord who had done so great things for them and rebelled against him might be co-heirs with Christ in his Kingdom Who would not serve such a Master If he say go who would not make speed to follow If he say do this who would not do it He hath given us such hire more than all the world beside can lay down that we will worship the Lord our God and he only shall be served I should wrong the matter I handle if this question were not moved How we should feel the comfort in our selves that we serve the Lord I answer by a Negative by an Affirmative examination Negatively when we think that we have never laboured enough in our Lords Vineyard to earn our peny Or as it is elsewhere very clearly set down to take away all boasting from our works when we have done all we can say we are unprofitable servants The Affirmative Collection may be best drawn from a saying of Christs Mat. vi 24. No man can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will cleave to the one and despise the other Here I gather that the two notes of a good servant are deligere adhaerere to love and to cleave fast to his Master Those Servants that loved King David such as Hushai and Ittai and Ahimaaz would take part with him to the death in Absolons rebellion those were good Servants It was love that made Jacob such a diligent Shepherd under Laban to suffer heat and frost Laban never had the like to tend his flocks A servant that takes a delight to please you may trust him with any thing both for Faith and Diligence Nemo meliùs obtemperat quà m qui ex caritate obsequitur says St. Ambrose no man will obey God better or go further to discharge his Law then he that is rouzed up by the zeal of love and charity But he that doth the Lords work without pleasure and delight doth it with unwillingness unwillingness breeds sloath and between these all their service is left-handedly performed as if it were never intended Si quid invitus facis fit de te magis quà m id facis says Prosper Whatsoever you did grudgingly without love it was drawn from you but never done by you and as if you had not been the doer you shall never be rewarded Beside deligere I said there was adhaerere a good servant was no flincher but stuck close not a Fugitive as Jonas was not an Apostate as Demas was not one that began in the Spirit and ended in the Flesh the Galatians were thought to be bewitched that did so The Bond-man in the Old Law that loved his Master though the time of his releasement was come about would be bored through the ear for a ceremony that he would never part from him St. Paul was the fast man above all we read of that was glued unto the service of the Gospel Neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yet I will end this Point in the words of one of our own Prelates a faithful Minister of God bestirs himself with respect to that one Master to whom he cleaves in all the works of his Vocation Ac si nihil aliud esset in hôc mundo praeter illum ac Deum As if there was none in the world but himself and God himself to obey and God to be served with all possible diligence This cleaving fast unto one Master doth link it self in with the next Point that the Lord God is only to be worshipped and served Let it not start your patience that I name it now the time is past I am not about to huddle it up at this time being the most copious subject and of the choicest variety in my judgment in all Divine Learning But this Doctrine you shall carry away with you at this time It is no impediment for Servants to shew all diligent duty to their Masters on earth because one verse of the Gospel says No man can serve two Masters and because my Text says of our Lord in heaven him only shalt thou serve Him only indeed in Religious Service in Divine Worship and Adoration he
is the only Master that we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over our spirit and câ—nscience but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must be diligent to attend our governours according to the flesh in Temporal and Civil Offices and Functions Col. iii. 22. There St. Paul gives a Livery to all Servants to wear not upon their back but upon their heart Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh not with eye-service as men-pleasers but in singleness of heart as fearing God And whatsoever ye do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men knowing that of the Lord ye receive the reward of the Inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ Mark those last words we serve but one Master though we have one in earth and another in heaven for we serve him on earth for his sake and for his command that is in heaven When a petty Magistrate bids you do this or that in the Kings Name you obey not so much him that speaks unto you as the Kings Authority which he lays upon you So that service which is performed to man by the ordination of Christ is performed to Christ himself Servit Deo qui propter Deum servit homini as St. Hierom says upon that place of St. Paul The Lord hath set you on work to serve a Master upon earth it is his service and not mans do it diligently and faithfully and as your Masters on earth must justly give the hireling his or her Wages so over and above God will see it rewarded Vtilitas operis ad homines respicit animus operantis ad Deum The benefit of that outward work which a servant doth redounds materially to man The intention of his heart that works justly and truly is bent in conscience to God These Masters are not contrary one to another but subordinate and you shall be paid on both sides In as much as you did it to one of these you did it unto me See how God is willing to engage himself to owe us for all our Ministerial labour I know that Text was fitted by Christ to works of Charity that he who gave a cup of cold water to one of his little ones for his names sake gave it to himself but it is a general Axiom to be applied to all humane Uses and Offices which we do one to another under God In as much as you did it to one of these you did it unto me The Apostle goes so far in this Point that though a Christian were a bondman to an Infidel yet the Christian must do his task and submit himself unto him for temporal Authority and Dominion is not founded in grace And if Infidelity do not cast a man out of his Government in a private Family is there any shew or appearance that Heresie or Infidelity should make a Prince uncapable any longer to hold his Kingdom but lay him quite open to deposition from all his Dignity Neither Infidelity nor Tyranny can exempt Subjects or Servants from that homage which they owe their Superiours on earth because we are tied to subjection to these not for their own sakes but for Gods sake and he will not dispence with us Let St. Peter teach his Pro-Peter that would be 1 Ep. ii 18. Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the froward It follows For this is thanksworthy towards God Let me dispatch You hear it not written no man can have two Masters he may have two that are subordinate Gods Service being ever preferred before mans You hear indeed no man can serve two Masters that would be equal not subordinate or Contraria praecipientes such as call you contrary ways at once or bid you do contrary things for in that case one must be served and the other neglected They that are set over you on earth must command the same thing that Christ commends and then with the same pains you content them both But if the lesser power on earth shall say hearken to me for this time and to God at some other turn Nay said the mouth of the Apostles Whether it be fitter to obey God or you judge ye Iniquum est ut illis pareatur contra Christum quibus paretur propter Christum Says the just man we serve our Masters on earth for Christs sake otherwise all underlings would rise up and cry out for Anarchy and licence which they wrongfully call liberty but we submit unto you for Christs sake and would you be obeyed against Christ when you should never be obeyed but for Christs sake No in all things lawful and honest I subject my self so I make my self a Minister to God and man conjoyntly but not divided And thus Servants obey their Masters on earth and yet observe my Text most religiously Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve AMEN THE NINETEENTH SERMON UPON Our Saviours Tentation MAT. iv 10. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve AT the same time that our Saviour alleged these words out of holy Scripture against the Devil He bid him apage get thee hence as who should say this was true doctrin but no way for his turn Even as Elisha said to the Noble-man of Samaria there should be store of corn in the gates of Samaria tu tamen non gustabis but it shall do you no good you shall never taste of it Assuredly though Satan was sent away from this godly doctrine to his own place and this sentence of Holy Writ was thrown after him like a stone at a dog to make him be gone the faster yet it invites us to come about it as Wisdom says in Solomon Come near my children not get you hence hearken unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. For that proposition in Logick is a direct teacher which speaks positively as they say categorically what is to be done so doth this thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and then it is very satisfactory and leavs no question after it for it hath an express sign or note in it which every proposition should have which will be clear to the understanding and him Only shalt thou serve That particle of the Text is like the point of the Loadstone referring to whom all religious honour constantly and unchangeably is to be performed Do but imagin that word only were in another print from the rest or in capital letters as that which is the emphasis of the verse and whereupon all divine duty doth lean and there needs no more preface to prepare you for that which follows Upon this word I will speak now according to its own property that is of nothing else at this time That God is only to be worshipped and served shall be my only Treatise and I will go in hand with it two ways 1. Building up the true doctrine affirmatively 2. Beating down those
preacht upon the house top to all the world Secondly the Jesuit Valentia commends the doctrin of Aquinas that the Image and the Semplar is to be worshipped with the same act of adoration is most true most pious and very consonant to the decrees of faith and Azorius the Jesuit says that 's constant Theologorum sententia the most constant opinion of their Divines I am sure worse can hardly be Vasques the Jesuit thinks he hath cast on water to cool this hot opinion by saying that the Image of Christ and Christ himself are worshipped with the same worship together as Thomas says but the intention of the worship is meant not at all to the Image but to the Prototypon Suarez is of a third opinion and says to oppose Durandus that the act of worship is intended and directed to the Object before them that is to the Image yet to oppose Vasquez that it is homage inferior to that they do to Christ but some worship rests even in the very Image propter prototypon for Christs sake it is suppositum quod adoratur non ratio adorationis sed quoddam adjunctum Bellarmine is of this last opinion but involves his mind most intricately to avoid all opposition Says he we are indebted to some Images in a Religious Worship which is an imperfect form of worship and is reduced to that worship which is due to the substance for which they stand As Christs Image must have an honour reduced to latria but inferior to it The Images of the Saints not such worship as pertains to a Saint sed cultus inferior qui dici potest dulia secundum quid vel dulia anologicè reductivè dulia after a sort reductively and by proportion The best understanding of these quidlibets are that they were meant not to be understood We may profess ignorance of such minced meat without blushing when Vasquez says Mille modis difficultatem illius doctores explicare conantur their Doctors have tried a thousand waies to untie these knots and still questions start up to puzzle them I remember what Eutropeus says that when Irene the Empress had maintain'd the Worship of Images with horrid unnatural cruelty and murders for seventeen daies together the wether was most unusually dark certainly to notifie the blindess that was come into the world by the Doctrine of Images Let them varnish their cause with what art they will let us hear what they can say that their doctrine falls not foul upon the second Commandment marry that they have nothing to do with Idols which were the shapes of imaginary Gods such as never were extant how prove they that that an Idol is a resemblance of that which never had any true being because St. Paul says an Idol is nothing I am sure this shift is as good as nothing for properly in the Greek tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is any artificial resemblance of a bodily thing answering part by part unto it so that it hath a right in nature to stand for it but according to Scripture and the phrase of ancient holy Writers Idola fiunt ex simulacris quando adorantur any graven similitude or image when it is once adored it becomes an Idol The fashions of all things in all places are rehearsed in the second Commandement in heaven above in earth beneath in the water under the earth and yet if you make a Figure or Statue of any of these to worship it that 's an Idol and you an Idolater As Lucullus was asham'd to fight with the Asiatiques whom he vanquisht so easily so I am asham'd to toss an objection about which hath no tang of probability in it An Idol is nothing sayes the Scripture that is it hath nothing of divine Majesty in it to be ador'd As Euripides says elegantly of lazy men they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very nullety nothing Says St. Chrysostom upon it an Idol is nothing because there is but one God and none beside him The Sun the Moon and the Stars those are those nothings when they are idolized and St. Austin the Pagans worship those things which are but they are nothing to make Gods of they can not help us they can not save us St. Paul therefore adds 1 Cor. viii 4 an Idol is nothing in the world and there is none other Gods but one Our Adversaries must nock another arrow this was headless why it is pretended they do not leave God to worship Idols of wood or metals which the Law condemns but they worship God in the Image or the Image with God or the Image for God's sake let them vary it as they will 't is naught every way for where hath the Almighty condescended that such Concomitancies should be co-worshipt with him or for him never never there are no ligaments for such a conjunction Our Divines have often rubb'd the salt of some instances in their sores and yet they do not feel them The Children of Israel when they worshipped the similitude of an Ox that eateth hay do you think they cast away all thought of the Lord their God and went to it down right with that molten Effigies I believe the weaker capacities among them might do so as the Pontificians confess that the ruder and simpler among them fall down and worship the very substance of the Image that is before them but Aaron and the Princes of the people bowed not to the golden lump of their own Bracelets and Earerings but to God in that similitude of an Ox. The Lord had given them manna or food from heaven and an Ox among all the customs of the Heathen which they had seen was the Embleme of plenty so Joseph who was the Granary of Egypt by his providence Moses calls him the firstling of a Bullock and T. Livie says when Minutius had supplied Rome with corn in time of great necessity a golden Ox was set up in the Market-place to honour his memory that beast you know plows up the surrows of the earth to receive the seed which yields the increase of the year from this superstition a Calf or Ox for a Calf remember it is not the name of the age was the Object wherein they worshipped God Ferus a Roman Writer confesseth that the Israelites did honour God himself in their molten Image He had reason to say so for Aaron who best knew the meaning of it proclaimed against the morrow a Feast unto the Lord Jehovah And though the people were mad with their own inventions make them not so bad that when they cried out These are thy Gods which brought thee out of Egypt Exod. xxxii 4. they meant their Baby which they had made but yesterday That plural number is in the singular Nehem ix 18. They made them a molten Calf and said this is thy God that brought thee out of Egypt attributing that power to the sign for the thing signified Indeed the Psalmist says they forgat God who had done so
off and abandon their Society and he shall find heavenly comforters in his soul as if Angels ministred unto him Qui expellit à se Satanam allicit ad se Angelos Bid Satan get him hence and the Angels take it for an invitation that they should pitch their Pavilions round about you Lot lived like a stranger in his own City and conversed not with the men of Sodom they called him a stranger he shut himself up and barr'd his doors against those filthy people What could he do more to keep the ungodly from his very sight as David said Thus estranging himself from the conversation of pernicious sinners he made himself sit to give hospitality to Angels A good Lesson for these times wherein ribbald roaring company is rather sought for than declined A strange thing that a Christian who feels some comfort in Christ and desires salvation in his bloud should with so much affection and longing thrust himself among them whose desperate behaviour is easily perceived if repentance help not to tend to utter damnation St. Paul was weary of his own body called it a body of death and groaned to be delivered from it because the Flesh rebelled against the Spirit Did he loath himself that he might love Christ the more And will you invite those into your friendship and fellowship that blaspheme Christ Shake off this dust from your feet all prophane intemperate lascivious persons from your familiarity if either you expect that God should give his Angels charge of you in this life or make you partakers of their fellowship of heavenly glory in the life to come The next thing towards which we turn our eyes at this word behold is the alteration of rest and quietness before there were assaults and troubles and molestations all this is changed in a moment into peace and tranquillity which shall be the certain issue of all those that fight a good fight with patience Semper asperiora laetiorum vicissitudine mitigantur Rough beginnings have joyful events by the temperature and vicissitude of Gods gracious mercy Such as were called prosperous among the heathen most usually the best share of their fortune was in the forepart of their life and their end was lamentable the seven first years in Pharaohs dream did betoken plenty but the seven last years famine and scarcity the head of Nebuchadonosors Image was of Gold and the toes of Clay the rich man had a great time of gathering more than he knew where to bestow it but in one night lost his soul and all This is an unkind and an unnatural method to taste the sweetest at the top of the Cup and after a little sipping to have our teeth set on edge with Aloes Doth it not taste better when the gracious providence turns the lot thus First a Deluge and then a Rainbow First a Captivity and then a joyful return First a Dioclesian and then a Constantine First the impugnation of the Devil and then the Congratulation of Angels Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour untill the evening says the Psalmist There is a time to give the body a cessation from toil and do you think the Lord doth not measure out when he will give the soul and spirit relaxation from misery As a stranger is received at night and bids God b'you in the morning so indignation and the severity of chastisement are stangers unto the Lords clemency he calls vengeance Peregrinum opus his strange work Isa xxviii Therefore it shall be dismissed from him like a stranger after it hath staid a while Heaviness may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psal xxx 6. Tentations have their bout and the storms of hell their period but the good Angels know their qu when to enter and to turn the scene Behold the Angels came and ministred unto him And once more this note of admiration Behold bids us regard to what alteration of dignity the truly humble are called Recusavit dominatum in homines habet imperium in Angelos Our Saviour turn'd away from that ambitious suggestion All this power will I give thee and the glory of them He desired not to have a Kingdom in this world or to have the pre-eminence of men and loe the pre-eminence over Angels is given unto him And it is more dignity to have two Angels minister unto him than to have ten thousand Kingdoms Every part of Christs humility was inlaid with honour to recompence it To be laid in a Manger was not so vile as it was most magnificent to be adored of the Wisemen of the East to be visited by Shepherds was not so contemptible as it was most glorious to be proclaimed of Angels To ride upon an Ass was not of such debasement but the cry of the children made amends Hosanna blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord. It savoured not so much of infirmity to be tempted of the Devil but it is supplied as much with Majesty to be attended by the Cherubins No part of his humility went without a reward from the first to the last nay the last part had amends made for all He humbled himself unto the death even unto the death of the Cross propter quod wherefore God hath highly exalted him c. Humility was his direct way to glory but we think we are out of the way to promotion unless we shift and shuffle for the highest place and the chiefest room in the Synagogues The first shall be last and the last shall be first This is a riddle to them that love to set their feet upon a rising ground Yet David hath laid a curse upon preposterous ambition that it shall decline That which should have been for their wealth says he let it be unto them an occasion of falling The holy Father Basil lost no honour in this life by shunning the dignity which was intended him and flying away into obscurity when he was called to be a Bishop The Apostle Bartholomew is reported in some histories to have been of the bloud royal of the Kings of Egypt Was it any diminution to him to have left all to be a poor Disciple Is there any Christian King that doth not wish he had rather born his Office of Apostleship than have swayed a Scepter When Princes die their honour shall not follow after them but those twelve humble ones of our Saviours train shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel If spiritual thoughts will lift a man up to heaven an humble man is mounted above the earth all the while he seeks those things which are above Themislius an holy man put this Lesson in so pure a verse as it is beyond translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his heart sunk down when ambition puft him up but he felt his feet upon the Angels Ladder going up when humility cast him down Our Saviour despised all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory
to say what quarrels and exclamations there would have been if Luther or Calvin had said as much But Leo had tenter'd St. Peters praise to the height because he claimed himself to have a Prerogative by his succession Yet it is well to take off all claim of supremacy by this instance that John and James were in the company Non infra Charites said the Latin Proverb a good meeting was spoil'd if there were less than the number of three the number of the Graces but Christ did not choose so many because it was the fittest number but we must believe it was the fittest number because He chose so many neither was his force united by their company to do any thing the better as it useth to be among men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but being destinated to be witnesses of this same Miracle the Law had said it was a complete testimony to confirm any thing by the mouth of three and Christ was punctual that the Jews might not cavil as if He were defective in any circumstance of the Law St. Ambrose is very elegant in a mystical acuteness he says thus the glory of the Resurrection is that we hope for the way to that glory is to believe in the holy Trinity and to ground them in the belief of that Trinity Christ did not exceed that mystical number but assumed three Disciples to be present with him in Mount Tabor when Christ in visible splendour the Father in the voice the Holy Ghost in the bright cloud did manifest themselves upon the Mountain And when our Lord had chosen twelve Disciples out of all the people in Judaea it seems these three were the choice of that choice and the flower of that company selected for great matters If it be an honourable thing as St. Chrysostom rightly holds it to be in the List of those friends whom Paul saluted Rom. xvi then it cannot but be more renowned to be those egregii assumpti e grege those egregious servants whom Christ employed above all the rest all the Apostles Judas excepted were Davids Worthies but they attained not unto the first three Somewhat was in it that whereas it was usual for our Saviour to be followed with three attendants at least wheresoever He went to work a Miracle that we never find him vary but constantly to accept these same three and no other as when He raised up the Maiden to life Mark v. 37. and when He prayed and fell into his agony in the Garden before his Passion Matth. xxvi 37. and at this Miracle in my Text when He made his glory to appear That excellency paramount which some have observed in these three above their fellows is this In signis primus corruscavit Petrus sanguinem primus fudit Jacobus doctrinâ illustris fuit Johannes Peter is more noted in the book of the Acts than any of the Twelve for working Miracles James was the first among the Twelve that suffered Martyrdom and John was the Eagle that fored highest of them all in his Doctrin and Divinity What aptness there was in these three more than others I know not I leave it to God to give the grace of dispensation to one more than another who alone knoweth the heart and sees what is fittest for his own glory We see no outward sign to discover that they were better prepared to see this Vision than the rest of their fellows they slept when they should have watcht and they spake most ignorantly when they awoke as if they bad been still asleep therefore modesty will give no conjecture why they were prefer'd before their Brethren but the bare will of Christ who will exalt those more conspicuously than others whom He is pleased to honour As God said that He gave the Law to the Israelites not that they were better than their Neighbours but because the Lord had a pleasure in them and in their forefathers It is not obscurely taught in the verb assumpsit He assumed and took to him Peter and John and James what indisposition they had of themselves to receive such heavenly things and in all supernatural works we rather draw back than help on we had need to pray for Gods assumpsit to take us up unto it this corruptible body and corrupt affections press down the soul Nemo venit ad me nisi Pater traherit eum saith Christ no man cometh unto me unless the Father draw him There is a preparatory grace wherewith God invites us to salvation but his mercy staies not there for there is a special grace over and above that wherewith He draws us Draw me and I will run after thee says the Spouse Hale us un to thee O Lord and pluck us on with the cords of love our heart is heavy unto death and cannot follow unless the Father draw us unto him Coge nos intrare cum Coecis claudis We are those blind and lame in the Gospel I beseech thee O Father compel us to come unto thy Feast These three famous Apostles were not forward of themselves to ascend up to the holy Mountain but assumpsit their Lord and Saviour took them with him It were impertinent to observe some mens needless labour in their questions why Andrew was none of this Coram none of the three prime being the first of them all that followed Christ Joh. i. 40. and the instrument that brought Simon Peter his brother to see the Messias Why should it trouble us that he was omitted For we never read in the Gospel that it troubled him his eye was not evil because his Masters was good since the Holy Ghost fell down upon them all at the Feast of Whitsuntide it bred neither repining nor emulation that these three were partakers of some private mysteries St. Chrysostom commends the ingenuity of St. Matthew above all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He did not conceal the honor and priviledge of those Apostles that were prefer'd before him A brave Athenian offering himself in competition with divers to be one of their grand Council of 50 then newly to be chosen to govern that State and being left out of the number used this saying He was glad there were fifty more sufficient than himself to govern the Common-wealth So Matthew repin'd not that himself was not in the company but was glad that Christ had three more eximious than himself to be witnesses of the Transfiguration Yet there is a good crop to be reapt out of this question and no offence shall be committed through curiositie why the whole Company of the Apostles went not up into the Mountain with our Saviour they had all seen him work many miracles they had all seen him walk on the sea to let them know when he pleased his body was not gross and heavy they did all see him pass through the middest of the Jews untoucht when they sought to stone him to let them know his body had greater agility than ours when He pleased and could
I have read unto you I am proceeded in this subject and by so much as I have read in these two Verses St. Luke hath more than the other two Evangelists to wit that Moses and Elias talked about Christs sufferings in Jerusalem and that Peter James and John were asleep and waking of a sudden were startled at the transmutation I have spoke severally the last day in what bodies Moses and Elias did appear now I proceed to these persons that appear And because I must not break the joynts of an History I take the parts whole thus First With what fitness these two were presented rather than any other for celestial witnesses Moses and Elias Secondly What they meant by this communication to speak of his Passion and Sufferings They spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem Thirdly That the earthly Witnesses Peter James and John were asleep at the beginning of this Miracle But Peter and they that were with him were heavie with sleep Fourthly The mists of drowziness were dispelled they did awake and then they saw the Vision and as the next Verse will prove it they heard the conference To these do you give Attention and I my Exposition The Lord did not pick twain out of so great an host of blessed Spirits to stand upon Mount Thabor but that there was some hability and fitness in their persons rather than in any other And the first mark eminently stampt upon them for this work is this The Law and Prophets do equally and concordiously bear witness to Christ Moses the first handler and publisher of the Law Elias the greatest by far of all the Prophets O Elias how wast thou honoured in thy wondrous deeds And who may glory like unto thee Ecclus. xlviii 4. As the Kings Coin is stampt on both sides so the Gospel like a piece of currant Metal is engraven on the one side with the ancient testimony of the Law on the other side with the strong Predictions of the Prophets Says Philip to Nathanael We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Joseph Joh. i. 45. But Peter might go further and say We have seen him attended and waited on by Moses and the Prophets The Law and the Prophets and the Gospel make good Musick when they are three parts of one song but if you make several Airs or several Ditties of them you mar all good harmony We see Moses and the Son of God together says St. Ambrose so often as we read that portion of St. Matthew Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy might We see Elias and the Son of God together so often as we read that desire inflamed to maintain Gods honour I have been very zealous for the Lord of hosts 1 Kings xix 8. That zeal made Elias fast forty days and eat nothing And Christ doth answer it again The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up O how amiable it is to unite Moses and the Prophets and the grace of Christ all together to look upon them in one prospect to enterline the Old Testament with the New But if you part Moses from the Prophets or the Prophets from Moses or both from Christ you shall not find any glory in them The Samaritans received no Scripture but the Books of Moses The Jews receive none but Moses and the Prophets The Christian puts them all together and so Moses and Elias appear with Christ in glory And although many things are very difficult to be understood in the Old Testament in some places we do see Moses plainly in some places he is hard to be understood yet this Miracle gives us comfort that in the holy Hill of God in the glorification of heaven there we shall see Moses and Elias all that is wrote in the Law and the Prophets very clearly and that one jot or tittle is not perished which the Penmen of holy Writ did foretell should come to pass For example in Exod. xx 19. the Children of Israel cry out to Moses Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us least we die To this demand God makes a full and explicite answer Deut. xviii 18. They have well spoken I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee they shall hear him Here is a middle way difficult to be understood neither would God speak unto them in thunder to terrifie them and Moses could not abide always to be their Speaker as they would have it but a Prophet should come like unto Moses like unto him in humane nature but far more admirable in grace and power Why behold this dark mystery is expounded at this Transfiguration for Moses is brought to confess of Christ this is the Prophet spoken of like unto me whom you are bound to hear For the glory which was seen now the affrightment which took the Disciples the bright cloud which overshadowed the place all these hapned now even as it was at Mount Sinah call to mind what Covenant was then made and how this is the time to fulfil it Thus you see how Christs glory makes the Law and the Prophets intelligible which is the first reason why Moses and Elias did appear in glory Secondly These are they that had undergone many sorrows upon earth for the defence of their God and after much tribulation did win the crown of life in whose faces the Disciples might behold that through fire and water through cross and calamity through ignominy and dishonour we must enter into glory None so famous for exposing their lives to all dangers as Moses and Elias There was but a Bulrush between Moses and death when he was set afloat to be drowned in his tender infancy And if Jezebel and all her Gods could cut Elias throat she swore he should not have a day to live 1 Kings xix 2. What sharp encounters had the one with Pharaoh What dismal threatnings did the other denounce against Ahab The one was driven out rudely and violently from the presence of Pharaoh The other banished himself into the Wilderness and could not be found for three years Here were a fit couple that could shew their long Pedigrees of afflictions to be called the Sons of God These were fit indeed to preach of Christs Cross and of his sufferings at Jerusalem They that suffered much might aptly and confidently commend the sufferings of the body to the Disciples Si vis me flere dolendum est primùm ipsi tibi And here John and James the two ambitious brethren might see of what condition it behoved those men to be who in our Saviours Kingdom should sit the one at his right hand the other at his left What had they done for their Lords sake as yet when they askt that bold demand but to walk with him in Judea to travel from place
ended really and in truth his word was consummatum est all was finisht and at that stop he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost Inclinavit caput as if he had said I have held out thus long against the fury of man now I willingly die I will hold out no longer against the truth of God Very wittily the Author of the Questions to Antiochus whom I cited before all enemies were come about our Saviour on the Cross and had the foil only death hovered aloof and durst not approach ideo Christus inclinato capite vocavit eam antequam inclinaret caput propiùs accedere verebatur therefore when all things were accomplisht Christ nodded with his head and called death unto him which durst not approach unseasonably before He bowed down his head How sweet it is to sleep in death when we have accomplisht all things that are acceptable to God even so Christ did not decease till he had finisht all things which were due to his Father and then this world could not claim him a minute longer but woe and bitterness shall be in that mans end who hath been troubled about many things in this but in no one thing that is good can shew a dispatch much more how far is He from saying with St. Paul I have finished my course hence forth is laid up for me a Crown of life Sow your Seed ripen your Harvest that it may be gathered into the Barn Let not your conscience begin to lament about the last hour and say I have promised repentance to the Lord I have promised works of mercy to the poor I have promised reconciliation to my Brother these fruitless words will come in judgment against me for I have accomplished nothing This second general part sticks only at the last word the Place where Christ should suffer is designed by Moses and Elias they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem Jerusalem indeed was grown to be the Scaffold upon which the best blood on earth had been spilt for many ages It cannot be that a Prophet should perish out of Jerusalem Luke xiii 13. and Christ did them no wrong when he taxt them with that officious cruelty that they laboured to draw the execution of all the Prophets to themselves Nor yet is the meaning so universal that all the Martyrs had perisht within their Walls The greater part did and enow to dishonour all the daily Sacrifices which they offered up in the Temple when they polluted themselves with the Sacrifices of the Saints True indeed that Jeremy the Prophet as Epiphanius relates suffered in Egypt Ezechiel in Chaldaea Jezebel in her time put to death many excellent men in Samaria and Herod as Josephus says cut off John Baptists head at the Castle of Macheranta in the utmost confines of Galilee But Jerusalem was become the Gulf which had swallowed more holy blood than all other places And I mark it in St. Paul when Agabus told St. Paul by the spirit that he should be bound in chains and shortly after die for the confession of the faith as yet God had not revealed that he must go to Rome and testifie his name there but Paul makes haste to Jerusalem as if he would meet death in the face in that great Metropolis which was so infamous for many Martyrdoms Well this is that City which had so incurr'd the anger of the Lord that he suffered it to fill up the measure of all iniquity and be odious to all Generations for crucifying the Lord of Life Yet the Praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have fitly translated at Jerusalem For Christ did not suffer within the City but without the Gates I will take my thread from St. Paul to lead me in this way from the 11. to the end of the 13. verse The bodies of those Beasts whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the High Priest for sin are burnt without the Camp Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the Gate Let us go forth thereforce unto him without the Camp bearing his reproach Of those Beasts with whose blood the Sanctuary was expiated and their flesh burnt without the Camp you may read Levit. xvi 27. They that serv'd at the Tabernacle had no portion in this Sacrifice So Christ was carried out of the City to suffer and they that still retain the yoke of Ceremonies upon their neck have no part in him He suffered near to Jerusalem he came unto his own but they cast him forth He suffered not in the Temple for says Leo Crux Christi mundi est ara non templi Christs Cross was an Altar of which the whole world should partake and not that Temple only Nay to go further He was crucified out of the Privileges of that Jewish City to betoken that the blessing of his Passion would light upon the Gentiles The use which the Apostle makes is as he went forth of Jerusalem so let us go forth of the Camp to God Extra urbem extra mundum sequamur Christum let us leave our Pleasures our Riches our Country our Life and this whole World when it is requisite to do God honour by those means Quid est egredi ad eum videlicet communicemus cum eo passiones sayes St. Chrysostom What is it to go out to him but to follow the example of his patience humility and sufferings then we shall go out from our sins and come into his glory And so much briefly for every part of that Communication which Moses and Elias had in the Mount They spake of his decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem There is a whole verse yet remaining to be excussed which I read unto you I would not be prevented but to speak of that which follows entirely by it self yet I will so handle this with a short Paraphrase that I may not be tedious But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep This is right man and his regardlesness God shines in his works the Law and the Prophets preach daily and yet men sleep No nor the strong out-cries and exclamations of our Saviour in prayer could keep them awake Lord if thou shouldst not make intercession for us with strong cries and groans unutterable when we slumber and regard not our own misery what endless woe would fall upon us but here 's the difference between Moses and Elias immortalized in their body they talk divinely and between the best men Peter and the Apostles in their corruptible nature they are but drowsie lumps of flesh So it ought to be to impress this humility into our heart quod Apostoli dormiunt ignaviae est quid ipsis contigit spectaculum felicitatis Dei gratiae It is our own idleness that makes us sleep and when we slept in death it was Gods mere mercy no merit of ours that sent us happiness and glory it is not our vigilancy or our
is like Gods Rainbow in the Clouds not only a beautiful but a merciful Token a Bow with the string towards the earth so that it is not prepared to shoot arrows against us As Pliny said to Trajan of his virtuous Consort nihil sibi ex fortunâ tuâ nisi gaudium vendicat so all that a Christian challengeth for his own is the blessed Virgins solace My spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour Beloved they forget that God is called the Father of mercies and the God of all consolations they forget that since Christ is come in the flesh the Dove is returned with the Olive branch of peace in his mouth who fill the minds of men with melancholly desperate doubts and do oftner cast before them black stones of condemnation than white stones of absolution Chearfulness and a delightsom countenance becomes the Disciples of Christ howsoever the austere Pharisees censur'd our Saviour himself for a Winebibber and a Glutton because he was sociable and did not always lowr and pout after their hypocritical fashion St. Chrysostom neither lived with content to his own heart nor gave content to other because he was untractable to all manner of joyful familiarity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was so earnest for sobriety that he run into a Cynical austerity Some not unfitly I think contend so much that a Christian is to deport himself in a sweet consolatory fashion that they understand Solomon to that meaning Eccl. ix 8. Eat thy bread with joy and let thy garments be always white as if none should put on mournings for the Gospel sake unless they wanted a good conscience to rejoyce in Christ Though the splendour of the Law was terrible yet the glory of the New Testament is amiable bonum est says St. Peter it is a good thing to see the Majesty of our Saviour in perfect beauty Secondly Thus far the Apostle gave a right judgment upon the vision and thus much further that he said it was bonum nobis intended not so much for Christs exalted bravery as for our good When I began this Miracle I cited a rule out of Damascen and I repeat it again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the impulsive cause of all things that our Saviour did upon earth was the love which he did bear to the generation of men yea the Lord hath made man the scope of all his other works in a subordinate way to his own glory For man is made to serve the Lord and the earth is made to serve and supply the use of man and both ways man is made happy and not God says Lombard Et quod accepit obsequium à creaturis quod impendit Deo either to take homage from the Creature or to do homage to the glory of God All things are ours says St. Paul whether it be the world or life whether it be the World as the Vassal of our service or Life eternal as the Crown of our service When our Saviour did exhibit himself in this rare feature at Mount Thabor quorsum haec was it not to catch our hearts and affect them with the vision he did not present himself as Agrippa and Bernice did Act. xxv 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with great pomp and estate to shew the regal lustre of their Royalty no the very Heathen were contented to say that the supreme power of Heaven must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contented with himself and needed no accessories to set forth his honour as Caesar spake in a lofty contempt to his mutinous Souldiers an vos momenta putatis ulla dedisse mihi so it would sound better from Gods mouth All the creatures upon earth cannot confer a scruple or the least moment to advance his excellency Christ was not contemptible by being made humble nor more renowned than he was before by appearing in Majesty Every way he is unobnoxious to the censure of man because every way he made himself fit for the good of man and when he joyned both humility and glory in one act both were for us See his lowly modesty when he rode upon an Ass to Jerusalem see his triumphs of dignity at the same time in those popular acclamations Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. But all was to this end that we might see and hear the honor of God and the fruit of our own salvation all the brightness which shin'd upon him in Mount Thabor was to enlighten our darkness Bonum est nobis says Peter it is good for us 3. Yet once again I will speak that the Apostle did speak the very truth in a third Point it was good to be continually present with Christs glory and never part from it Bonum est esse hic there is no mutation in perfect joy but an abiding for ever We cannot change for the better to go from the beatifical presence of God how could Peter choose but desire to hold him to that when he had begun to taste of it I have read in some obsolete stories of Lazarus who was raised to life after he had been dead four days and some others of the like kind that their soul had seen a little of the happiness of the life to come and being brought again into the body by the word of Christ they were never seen to laugh or smile either because they knew better than others that there was no true joy upon earth or because they were melancholy to have their happiness interrupted My soul longeth and fainteth for the Courts of the Lord says David Psal lxxxiv 2. If he could faint with desire to obtain that which he had never seen how might this Disciple faint and languish to leave that which he had seen Old Anna the Widow departed not out of the Temple of God day nor night which is as much in effect as if St. Luke had said Whatsoever place is called by Gods name deserves our frequent company and I say unto you of this house where now we are which is called by his name Bonum est nos esse hic it is good for us to be here St. Chrysostome tells me of some great Princes in his time that desired upon their death-bed to be buried in the Porch of the Church that although they were taken away from being present at the holy Service which they were wont to love yet their bodies even in the Grave might as it were be door-keepers for ever in the house of God I will conclude this general part with Bernards words Quid aliud videtur bonum quam in bonis animam demorari quandoquidem adhuc corpus non potest What is good for a man but that his soul should abide and persevere in good meditations and good works since there is no good place of continuance upon earth to receive his body You have the flower of St. Peters Speech bolted out but there is more bran remaining in six Conclusions that
his own mouth and Oracle any mortal man to build a place for him but the most conspicuous Prophet and the most conspicuous King in all Israel Moses for the Tabernacle and Solomon for the Temple and therefore Peter asked no ignoble office from Christ when he would be appointed from him to make him a Tabernacle If thou wilt let us make here three Tabernacles he asked his leave Matt. xvii 4. Of that humble submission I will speak a word by and by one thing calls me to consider it first that here is an infallible note of a large and a vehement love affectus sine mensurâ propriarum virium an affection which never measured how it could perform that to which it offered true love doth not consider how it shall be able to finish that which it undertakes we undertake to renounce the Devil and all his works to keep all the Commandments which all our frailties will not permit but love adventures to try what it can do and therefore love is called the fulfilling of the Law Mary Magdalen came to enbalm our Saviour's body in the Sepulcher and never thought till she was hard by that there was a stone upon the Sepulcher which she could not roll away when Christ was risen and she took him for the Gardner Sir says she If thou hast born him hence tel me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away Why a dead body useth to be born by four strong men to the ground and this had need of more help when his body was wrapt up with an hundred pound weight of sweet spices yet out of more confidence than strength she said she would bring his corps again into the Grave So Peter and his helpers would raise up three Tabernacles in Mount Thabor having neither Workmens tools nor materials nor skill I think in that Trade yet he would dispatch a Building instantly that he would to receive his Lord and those two Gloriosoes that were with him if Christ let him alone what unartificial work he would have made But true love strides over all impossibilities nihil erubescit nisi nomen difficultatis it would be ashamed of it self to think any thing were difficult You see his aim was above his skill and will it fully excuse him to say all was out of love never lay it upon that love Christ loves well but if it be love that is right and considerate says a most accurate Father of our own Church St. Paul commends love on this wise 1 Cor. xiii 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nihil perperam facit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not behave it self unseemly keeps decorum forgets not what belongs to duty and decency then the Lord accepts it Love may and doth forget it self otherwhile and then the Heathen mans saying is true importunus amor parum distat a simultate he that loves God inconsiderately and perversely is a kind of enemy Peter thought let him work and then there they would stay and all should be happy whereas there can be no true happiness where there is so much as faciamus any bodily work Though there was a fault yet love makes it but a diminutive error in him and as in every Evangelists relation we may read his love so in St. Matthew his obedience if thou wilt let us make three Tabernacles and well remembred of him that Christ said I came from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me Joh. vi so though Peter thought himself in Heaven yet he must not do his own will but the will of the Lord Nay if it were not for doing our own will against his there would be nothing but Heaven Cesset propria voluntas infernus non erit says Bernard Give up your own will to the will of the Lord into his hands and direction and there would be no Hell in the world The chief part of our wisdom is not to lean upon our own wisdom Let his will guide all that cannot deceive us whose will it was to suffer death upon the Cross because our own will had destroyed us A Client will refer his Cause to the direction of his Counsel a Builder the Fabrique of his House to a Master of Architecture the Lord will plead our cause against them that strive against us the Lord will build up the decayed places of Jerusalem and make us polished stones for his own Temple except the Lord build the house their labour is but lost that build it si tu faciamus not our will but thy will be done if thou wilt let us make c. This makes for the Apostles defence but there is some coliquintida in all things that man can do or say for as Peter consulted with God so he consulted also with his own fancy But in spiritual things says the Apostle I consulted not with flesh and blood Galat. i. 16. Here is Peter holding God in one hand and his own carnal imagination in another and indeed this was not to ask if Christ would such a thing but to tempt him to be willing to that which was scandalous and inglorious to his Majesty say the Apostles Acts i. Lord wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom unto Israel Their question may seem to be submissive but it was not there was venom in those fair words for they would have him willing to establish a temporal Soveraignty in Israel I will conclude this first part with an exact rule of St. Pauls Be ye not unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is Ephes v. 17. So much for the Builders faciamus let us make I proceed to the Fabrique or Building tria Tabernacula three Tabernacles either Booths compacted of arms of trees lopt off from the trunck called attegias by the Old Latins or pleasant Arbors of living boughs which are writhed in arch-wise over head and every sprig close twisted in to fence off the weather called arbuscula topiaria the best Shelters to receive these great persons that the poor man could think of whether the Mountain could afford them or no we have no evidence to make it appear that was never thought of when he spoke it for he was so surpriz'd with joy that he had no leisure to recollect himself but herein his zeal was very generous he would fain build another world and never see this again Quem seculi hujus illecebrosa non caperent gratia resurrectionis allexit says St. Ambrose though the provocations of this world could not intangle Peter yet he was catcht with that fair sight how God will honour us in the Resurrection there he would build there he would fain set his rest to dwell in a Tabernacle made of boughs and bushes with Christ and Moses and Elias affected him better than to enjoy a Palace in this sinful World Exilium in Pompeii causâ est tanquam patria says a Roman that a man could not miss his native Country that endured banishment
he called unto Moses out of the midst of the Cloud Some more veneration certainly redounds to the Divine Majesty by drawing a Veil before him that his glory may be kept secret The Mercy-seat from whence God promised the Children of Israel to tell them all things whatsoever they should do it was covered with the wings of the Cherubins that every rash eye might not behold it But this was not all that a shadowed darkness should beget veneration there was another reason that men might see no manner of shape or resemblance to make them figure the Lord in any form and commit Idolatry I will take Salmeron the Jesuit at his word in this Notation Ne si aliqua effigies videretur Deus pingeretur a Cloud did invelop the glory of the Father whensoever he spake that men might not say they saw his likeness and therefore paint or carve an image like unto him And since the Lord continues to speak out of a Cloud as well in the New Testament as in the Old surely his purpose continues the same to bridle our inclinations to Idolatry O that men knew what this Cloud meant and they would never be so forward to make the Images of God and they that will not learn that wholsom lesson from the Pillar of Cloud shall be consum'd by the Pillar of Fire Let us come from the substance of it to the qualities and certainly St. Matthew hath left us matter to work upon that he says it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bright Cloud it seems it lookt like that part of Heaven which we see in a fair night and is called via lactea the Milky way which is the concurrence of the light of many small Stars as if it were a Lane made or paved with dimpling Stars Such a Cloud must needs be more delectable than the clearest Summer day which had no thickness in the air but were all serenity And such it must be in a great measure in Aquinas's interpretation for when Peter talkt of Tabernacles close shady Arbors to keep out the light of the Sun he was thus confuted says Aquinas that light did rather become the Saints than shady darkness Claritas mundi innovati erit sanctorum tabernaculum when there shall be a new Heaven and a new Earth bedeckt with infinite light that 's the Tabernacle of the Blessed which shall abide for ever But the chief reason was to fulfil that promise which David knew should be performed the Lord shall make my darkness to be light here was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Jesus Christ it is He that came to bring a Lantern to our feet and a Light unto our paths that we should not stumble and fall In the Old Testament the Clouds where God appeared were densissima tenebrosae thick and dark Clouds Exod. xix 16. vapours and pillars of smoak in the New Covenant the darkness is dispersed and the Cloud remaines white and of a pure lustre For the first Testament is full of Ceremonies and Shadows of things to come the Covenant of Faith in the Gospel exhibits the manifest and open truth says Paschasius Ratbertus it was neither a fiery Cloud nor a dark Cloud but a brightsom quia non in igne terroris nunc venit non in caligine caecitatis sed in lumine veritatis the terror of fire is overpast the mistiness of Clouds is cleared truth comes forth like the morning and is ascended to the height like the Sun at noon day Nay as the things to be believed are clear so there are no mists and fogginess in their affections where the spirit of grace will abide Non calligat affectibus hominum sed revelat occulta says St. Ambrose Our depraved imaginations shall not make the truth a lie but God shall bring to light the hidden things before the eyes of all men What 's the whole Gospel indeed but nubes lucida a very Cloud in it self but made lightsome and perspicuous by the gift of interpretation For although the Veil of the Law is removed away yet even among the Evangelical Writers there are says St. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain things hard to be understood the Incarnation of our Lord the Resurrection of the Dead the ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity still we are in nubibus these are thick Clouds and it is impossible for the natural man with the dim eye of nature to see through them without doubt great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh Faith is a very mysterious thing but that the cloud is illuminated by the revelation of the Holy Spirit and as he that sees through the Water or through a Cloud suppose an Oar through the Water or the Sun through a Cloud will rather trust to his judgment than to his outward sense which would much deceive him so because we do all see the secrets of God through a thick Cloud let us rather trust to our faith than to our reason there are many strong delusions incident to reason because it looks through the clouds of sin and infirmity And Beloved as for the Priests that should keep the Key of knowledge what is their Office and Calling but to make Clouds appear bright And therefore Christ said of his Apostles Vos estis lux mundi Ye are the light of the world Though now adays it is the fashion of many to make that which was lightsom before appear as duskie as a Cloud Such as especially about Gods unsearchable decrees tangle knots and ravel Divinity that you shall find no end And after much is spoken or written you may say Incertior sum multó quà m dudum I was in a Cloud before that was dark now I am in a smoak that puts out my eyes All the light which some voluminous Compilers afford which would teach men Gods secret purpose in their Election and the way of their own heart in their Conversion both which are inscrutable it is like a Candle in a Thieves Lanthorn perhaps they see a little themselves but I am sure no body else shall be the better for their light Finally to end this Point God who can colour a thick Cloud with whiteness and make it transparent is able to lay the dark conveyances of our hypocrisie conspicuous and naked before him Laban could not find his Idols because Rachel had hid them in her Tent but God can discover those sins which are our greatest Idols though we have set them up in the inmost corner of our heart If the Spirit of Elisha went along with Gehazi when Gehazi ran after Naaman to take a Bribe then the Lord that gave that Spirit to Elisha traceth along all the Compacts of Simony all the fine conveyances of Bribery all manner of Corruption though it be dark as midnight The fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is 1 Cor. iii. 13. When it once catcheth fire it will be
wouldst make an Advocate It is in his own power to raise up thy Brother after four days Two days our Saviour abode beyond Jordan after Lazarus was dead and after he set forward to Bethany he made two days Journey of it before he came to the place all this while the Prisoner was fast lockt up under the Gates of Death Belike Lazarus could not be released till Christ came unto the Cave where he was laid No such necessity Beloved Vbicunque Christus steterat patebant inferi Hell must open her mouth in any place where Christ did set his foot nay in any place where he should but say unto the Grave I will be thou opened Therefore another Reason must be given why Lazarus staid until the fourth day for his Enlargement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom Jonas and Lazarus both were Servants they must not jump with Christ in the same Privileges in every thing then the Servant should be equal with his Master Jonas came out of the Whales Belly the third day so did Christ out of the Tomb but Jonas was alive and Christ was dead there was the Difference between the Servant and the Master Christ rose from the dead and so did Lazarus but Christ the third day and Lazarus the fourth there 's the Difference between the Master and the Servant The Resurrection of the dead is an Article of the Creed ingendred in the heart by a very strong Faith 't is mirabilium mirificentia as one says The astonishment of all admiration and when it shall be reported by the Women that an Angel told them it the best of them all will doubt Thomas and many more will flatly deny it What deny that Christ could quicken himself the third day when he raised up Lazarus the fourth Lazarus was unto Christ as Aaron's Rod was unto Aaron The Sedition of Dathan and Abiram opposed Aaron and would not acknowledge him to be the High Priest That shall be tried says the Lord and Aaron's Rod which was a dry stick budded buds and bloomed blossoms as if it had been living more than all the other Rods of the Tribes of Israel So Lazarus was laid up in the Cave like the Rod of Aaron in the Tabernacle and when his life was restored the fourth day it proved that Christ could build up the Temple again in three days which they had pluckt down before What shall we say then That the Resurrection was more wonderful in Lazarus by one day than in Christ himself Nothing less For Christ was raised up by his own power and Lazarus by the power of Christ Christs death was violent his very heart as some think was digg'd through with the Souldiers Spear Lazarus his death was natural and no principal part of his body was wounded or impaired Si aliud videtur vobis mortuus aliud videtur occisus if it be one thing to die in the peace of nature and another thing to be made away by violence Ecce Dominus utrumque fecit here are examples of both that returned to life Christ the third day from the death of violence Lazarus the fourth day from the death of nature both are from the Lord. As a Servant said of an unlucky day wherein all things went cross huic diei oculos eruere vellem he vished the Sun had never shined upon it So this fourth day hath not a little troubled Satan Upon the fourth day Gen. i. 14. God set lights in the Firmament to what end to divide the day from the night and the light from the darkness Periisti Satana this is a fatal day with the Devil who would have mingled night with day and darkness with light but now his works are discovered The fourth year hath been as climacterical unto him and as much out of his way in the 13. of St. Luke and the 7. verse These three years says the Lord of the Vineyard I have lookt for fruit and find none now I will cut down the Vine nay says the Dresser of the Vineyard stay but this year also and the fourth there are hopes it will bring forth grapes and please the Lord. To say thus much for our Evangelist St. John the fourth Evangelist gave the shrewdest blow to the stratagems of Satan and hath so prov'd the Divinity of Christ almost in every verse that Ebion and Cerinthus were confounded and Heresie is proved a lyar to her face for ever Even so was this number critical unto death in the Resurrection of Lazarus three days he was given for lost and upon the fourth day Christ cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth There is a moral sense besides that whereof I have spoken and that is like fine flower boulted out of the Letter and it yields like the bread which our Saviour broke to the multitude and will satisfie thousands Death was the reward of sin In that Lazarus was dead and buried I read the Parable of a sinner upon his Sepulcher In that he was four days dead he must be magnus peccator says St. Austin no small offender can be meant by that but a grievous sinner Where have you laid him says Christ O what a dreadful question is that Lord know me for one of thy children but know me for a sinner rather than not know me at all Let it not be said unto me Depart from me I know you not Projectus sum à facie oculorum tuorum says David in the person of a castaway I am cast out of the sight of thine eyes Perditum nescit ubi sit it is Gods language he pretends he sees not them he knows not them that were lost Adam where art thou says God O Adam that question had confounded thee if Christ had not answer'd for thee Loe I come Where are the other nine says Christ of the Lepers de ingratis quasi ignotis loquitur ungrateful men were not in Christs Book he knows not what becoms of them nor whither they wander so to enquire of Lazarus as if he knew not where he was laid is to set him forth as the similitude of a great sinner ubi posuistis where have you laid him nay but this agrees not perchance with his Sisters message He whom thou lovest is sick and again See how he loved him Yes it agrees full well Si peccatores non amaret Deus de coelo non descenderet it was out of a most compassionate love that God descended from heaven to save sinners Behold he lov'd him and yet Lazarus stands for the Parable of a sinner That foundation is laid and then you shall know the better what is meant by lying four days in the Sepulcher First we are all dead born man as soon as he sees the light his heart is in darkness he brings the seeds of original sin with his frail flesh into the world and then he is dead one day 2. Nature hath dictated a Law unto us The Gentiles are a Law unto themselves sais St.
of Heaven and all the Stars thereof Moreover Vna Sabbati litterally rendred is not the first but one day of the Week because one is the first ground to begin numbring and Theophilact says the Lords day is called the one day of the Week either because it is the only day from whence the blessing is procured for all the rest or besides it is a figure of the life to come Quando una tantum dies est nequaquam nocte interpolata when there shall be but one day for ever and no night of darkness to interrupt it Thus much of the words The matter of the Point is of a more profitable use And hence I begin that as God the Father upon the first day did begin to make this visible world of Creatures so Christ rose the same day from the dead to signifie that a new Age was then begun Resurrectio est alterius mundi spiritualis creatio says Justin Martyr The Resurrection is well called a creation of a new spiritual world On the first day of the Week God said Let there be light and he divided between the light and the darkness Verily on that wise on the first day of the Week God brought the light of the world out of the darkness of the Grave and the life says St. John was the light of men Now this infinite work to tread death under feet and to bring all flesh out of corruption into the state of immortality being more eximious than to make man in a possibility at first to die and perish therefore all Christian Churches have desisted to meet together at holy exercises upon the Sabbath of the Jews and the first day of the Week is the day appointed to sanctifie out selves unto the Lord for what reason I will now unfold and it is a case of no small perplexity And let me auspicate from the Text and Authority of Holy Scripture and these places following do conspire to verifie the Truth Acts xx 7. Paul abode seven days at Troas the seventh day of his abode was the first day of the Week then and not before it seems upon the first day of the Week when the Disciples came together to break Bread that is to partake of the Lords Supper Paul preacht unto them This seems to approve that in the Apostles time it was no more in use for their Disciples to meet upon the Sabbath but as well to honor the Resurrection as to separate from the Rites and Customs of the Jews in the Spirit of God they did convene together on the first day of the Week From Preaching and Administring the Holy Communion let us come to Collection of Alms. 1 Cor. xvi 2. Vpon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come How can this be expounded but that distributions were made to the poor upon the first day of the Week in their most solemn Assemblies For if the meaning were that every man should set apart a share of his own gains upon that day in his private Coffers and not in the publick Treasury when their Congregations were together then Collections had been to be made from house to house when Paul was to come who desires it might be laid up in readiness as it were in one stock before 'T is pity we are faln from that good order but in the most antient Church I find that they never miss'd to carry the Poors Box about every Lords Day witness this place of St. Cyprian Locuples es dives Dominicam celebrare te credis quae Corbanam omnino non respicis Thou that art rich and wealthy dost thou imagin thou keepest the Lords Day as thou oughtest and dost cast nothing into the Treasury Thirdly as the last day of the Week when God rested from his works was called the Sabbath of the Lord so it is of much moment to the point that the first day of the Week is called the Day of the Lord or the Lords Day Rev. i. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lords Day as it appears Rev. i. 13. John was walking on the Sea shore meditating upon holy things in the Isle of Patmos Very probable that there was no solemn meeting to praise God as it ought to have been among those Pagan Islanders otherwise John had not betaken himself to solitary Meditations but see how he was recompensed Nactus est Doctorem ipsum Deum quando fortasse deessent quos ipse doceret when he was disconsolate because he wanted Auditors to teach God preached unto him the Mysteries of the Age to come But to enforce the Text forenamed for an Argument we have but two things in the New Testament called the Lords the Sacrament is called the Supper of the Lord 1 Cor. xi 20. and this day of Christian Assemblies is called the Lords Day the Lords Prayer and the Lords House are good Phrases but our own not the Scriptures but as we keep the Feast of Passeover no more but instead thereof eat the Lords Supper so neither do we observe the Jews Sabbath any more but instead thereof we keep the Lords Day Thus far I have prest the Authorities of Sacred Scripture The Authority of the Primitive Church and so downward to this Age will convince it clearly against any that is obstinate Ignatius was St. John's Scholar and as if he had learnt of his Teacher he writes thus Let every lover of Christ celebrate the Lords Day which is dedicated to the honor of his Resurrection the Queen and Princess of all days Justin Martyr commands the same day to be kept holy to the Lord every Week in his 2. Apolog. So doth Tertullian more than once and I cited St. Cyprian before The Council of Laodicea speaks thus resolutely Anathema to all those that rest upon the Sabbath let them keep the Lords Day when they observe a vacancy of labor and do as becometh Christians The great Council of Nice doth not command the first day of the Week to be kept holy but supposeth in the 20. Canon all good Christians would admit that without scruple and then appoints other significant Ceremonies to be kept upon the Lords Day from Easter to Whitsontide I need not reckon downward after the Nicen Council because in one word I have not heard or read that it was opposed by any of the Fathers They knew that an appointed time must be allotted for every necessary Duty and certainly upon the abrogation of the Old Sabbath not Man but God did appoint a time for so necessary a thing as the religious Service of his Name Christ made an end of all Sabbaths by his own Sabbath lying all that day and night in the Grave and to hold that the Sabbath which is but a Shadow is to continue is to hold that Christ the Body is not yet come yet that being laid apart let us
allow God a seventh day for sanctification so much is divine in the fourth Commandment and what seventh day but the same which Christ sanctified in his Resurrection which is the new Creation of the World the same which the Scriptures point at the same which the Church hath constantly kept in all successions Salve festa dies toto venerabilis anno says Lactantius and Origen says that Manna did begin to fall down about the Tents of the Israelites the first day of the Week and in the same day you are bound to bring your Omer to gather Spiritual Manna in your holy Assemblies that your Soul may eat and be satisfied When the Proconsuls of several Provinces enquired who were Christians to punish them you shall find in the Acts of the Martyrs this was their Question to descry them Dominicam servâsti What do you keep the Lords Day The good man being persecuted answers Christianus sum intermittere non possum I am a Christian and cannot intermit it Do we differ from the Jews then in nothing but exchanging day for day Yes Beloved as in sanctifying Gods name we are to go beyond them because the Spirit is given to us in more abundant measure than it was to them so in nice Points of rest and cessation from all bodily labour and exercise we are not tied so strictly as they were I wonder from whom they had their Doctrine that teach the contrary I know they will not say they had it from the Fathers I know they cannot say it justly I appeal to the best lights of this latter Age. Out of the French Reformed Churches I cite Beza Thus he The keeping of the Lords day is an Apostolical and a divine Tradition yet so that we are not tied he means by Gods Law to observe the Judaical cessation from all kind of work for to observe the Judaical rest were to change the day and not the Judaism Imperial Laws made by Constantine and other godly Princes did first interdict that no open and usual buying and selling or other Merchandise should be used for it is fit for the better sanctifying of the day that we should sequester worldly affairs and be altogether vacant to God Thus far he Out of the German Reformed Churches I will cite Paraeus This is his Argument Who first approves that the Lords day is to be kept with a decent cessation from manual labours and that it is very scandalous to pollute it with usual secular affairs but if any will run further to impose upon Christians the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jewish rest in their Sabbath thus he convinceth them The observation of the Jewish rest was figurative and typical and all those figures of truth were to be kept under pain of severe judgment because the figure was the pledge and Protestation of the truth which should come to pass now there being no such figurative dependence upon the sanctification of the Lords day we are tied only to such rest as shall adorn and beautifie our Worship of God upon that day I mean both our Morning and Evening Sacrifice Beware therefore to be a Jew in opinion but beware to be a dissolute Libertine in practice Violate not this day nor any the like in the whole year with Negligence Idleness Luxurious Pastimes or Riot give thy body rest that the soul may be more busie in the holy work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rest which is not imployed in the fear of God is the Mother of all wickedness I cannot end this Point better than with those words of St. Basil Let me adventure with your patience upon the next Point and I will defer the handling of the last That which I mean only to speak of is Mary Magdalens expedition her restless diligence her watchfulness without all sloath She came early when it was yet dark Every hour seemed seven to this pious Matron till she came to the body of Christ the Sabbath of the Jews was but now ended and she had much ado to refrain coming before it was done The Stars of the night had not yet run their courses when she set forth toward the Monument for it is probable she kept the Sabbath at her own Town and she dwelt at Bethany two miles from Jerusalem yet by Sun-rising when it was yet dark she was come to the Sepulcher a journey of two miles and had brought her Spices with her She had no sleep I believe fell upon her eyes for thinking of her Saviour I am sure she had no leisure to paint her face to powder her hair or to dress her self with finical curiosity We had divers I confess that came early this morning to the holy Sacrament when it was yet dark I praise them for it We have others that seldom or never find the way to Church till the Afternoon you may know by their vain Attire trickt up in Print what they were doing all the Morning At last we have their company scarce with half a thought to please God but with their whole heart to be praised of fools and to please such wanton and adulterous eyes that gaze upon them What a coil is here with this carion flesh Ye are but painted Sepulchers full of rotten bones and not worthy to come with Mary to the Sepulcher of Christ much less to come to the Communion of his body and bloud O proud mortality they that make their Looking-glass all the Text which they take out in the Morning little think that the Grave may be the Pew in the Church wherein they shall be placed before Evening Now they walk abroad so strong with sweet smells that they are able to perfume a Sepulcher with Spices in less than four days all this delicacy may turn to stink and rottenness Come early to the Sepulcher that is think of death in your young blossoming years how suddenly ye may be cut off then leave to fashion your selves after this French or that Italian dressing and spin a poor shrowding sheet which may wrap you up in the earth against the day of the Resurrection I hasten Was it yet dark when Mary came when St. Mark says punctually it was at the rising of the Sun What an intricate case some have made of this objection which is nothing in it self For the Evangelist doth not mean it was so dark that the women could not see about them for then all they reported would be taken to be fancy and not a known truth But the Sun newly rising some obscurity of darkness remains in some places especially it might be so about a Monument which was cut of a Rock in the Earth and the Monument in a Garden where shady trees do not suddenly admit light and the Garden perhaps lying under an Hill and compassed about with a Wall some dusky darkness may incloud such a place early in the Morning They shoot wide therefore that expound the darkness figuratively that the Scriptures were not opened as yet how
have taken away the Body of my Lord. It savours therefore of justice that she is the first that after his resurrection profest her self his Servant and said Rabboni which is Master Now in the manner of this appearance three things are eminent among many that may be observ'd First Christ was known by the tone of his voice when this holy Saint mistook his person Therefore you see by this where you shall always have Christ seek him in his Word and there you shall find him He sends us unto them Joh. v. 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye look to have eternal life and they do testifie of me In the works of nature we may understand that God is good by the crisis of reason we may beat it out that he is a rewarder of them that serve him by the tenour of the Law we may read what Ceremonies will please him but if you would meet with Christ look him out in the words of that sweet and blessed Covenant of our salvation the Gospel O how sweet is that word of God which is the only instrument and none but it to make us see Christ our Redeemer As we have heard so have we seen says David love to hear his word and then you shall see him see him here in his Sacraments of grace and hereafter face to face in his Kingdom of glory Secondly it lies in his own breast I may say and in the power of his own saving grace when his Word shall be effectual to bring us to the knowledg of him Mark it that Christ spake more largely and more distinctly one would think to this pious Matron when she mistook him than when she came to take notice of him He began thus with her Woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou Was not this Sermon enough to bring her into the right way yet the darkness of her mind continued and she had no stronger faith but that his sacred Body was transported out of the Sepulcher by some malicious injury and not revived by his omnipotent Divinity Yet after this he speaks unto her again speaks but a very little no more but Mary and her heart was opened Like that celebrated piece of Rhetorick which C. Caesar used to his Souldiers with no long oration but with one word Quirites he drew them to accord and appeased their mutiny So that there is hope as we pray and put our trust in God that although some have taken arms in this Island and will not lay them down notwithstanding much hath been said by way of treaty much hath been written by way of motive and perswasion yet God knows his own time and will bring it to pass we trust when some few lucky words to which the Lord will give his blessing shall distil down as a joyful rain to bring forth the sweet fruits of peace and obedience It is not line upon line word upon word but the assistance of the Divine Spirit with the Word that works knowledg and salvation With a short invitement follow me and I will make you Fishers of men Peter and Andrew left their Nets and followed their Master With a little call or beckning rather Matthew forsook the Custom-house and became an Apostle A little was said to Zacheus and it produced wonders in him Less was said to the Saint of my Text than to any of them all no more but Mary and she saw and believed Thirdly here the doctrin of St. John is verified chap. x. 14. I am the good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine Do you not spy an excellent order in the words the Sheep do not know him first but in the first place he knows the Sheep and then it follows that they know their Shepherd and his voice So he knew Mary Magdalen and called her aloud and then she was brought to confess the Lord. St. Paul corrected his own language to keep close to this method Gal. iv 9. Now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God our salvation begins at that end God hath chosen unto himself a people zealous of good works as who should say first he knows who are his but it is very preposterous to invert this as if first of all we did our endeavour to be known that is to be elected of God and to this is a witty allusion made Cant. ii 9. My beloved looketh forth at the window shewing himself through the lattess As if Christ did look through a Grate and saw us when we saw not him It is enough to have said thus much of the Apparition The remainder of my Doctrin must be raised out of the person of Mary Magdalen c. If this be the same Mary that was Sister to Lazarus of Bethany many learned Pens contend for it and let them for me but if it be the same woman Christ hath made good his promise to her and gone beyond it his promise was that wheresoever the Gospel was preached it should be told for a memorial of her how she had poured an Alabaster Box of Ointment upon his head to bury him but far more than so wheresoever the Resurrection is preached of she is enwrapt into the story and extol'd by a kind of singularity above all other persons he appear'd first to Mary Magdalen a thing which I dare say she did not request neither was that ambition in her to aspire to such a prayer that she might see the Lord before any of the faithful but it was a favour that was cast upon her Some immoderate zelots to the honor of the Blessed Virgin do little less than offer violence to the Evangelists for omitting that Christ declared himself immediately after he was risen to his Mother before Mary Magdalen saw him To prove it is impossible therefore to believe it is incredible None of the Ancients but Sedulius a Poet do adventure to affirm that Christ made any apparition to his Mother to shew he was no accepter of persons in way of carnal affinity He did appear to the Eleven and to those that were gathered together with them Luke xxiv 33. I suppose she was there at that time because she was St. Johns charge to take her with him He did appear to more than 500 Brethren at once it may conveniently be concluded she was one of that Assembly always preserving this priviledg to Mary Magdalen that he appeared first to her she was the first that saw Christ risen from the dead and the first that preached he was risen from the dead for she told it to the Apostles Yet that ye may know what soundness there is in Traditions Nicephorus pleads Tradition that after he rose to life first he made himself known to his Mother So Rupertus who allows to Mary Magdalen that she saw him first inter testes praeordinatos a Deo as a witness that should first preach him But the Blessed Virgin saw him before as one that did first rejoyce in him Bernard
the name of the whole Congregation to offer up two Lambs of the first year for a Sacrifice of Peace-offerings You will say that 's no strange matter to present a Peace-offering to the Lord true indeed particular persons did it often in their own behalf but Maimonides observes it that the publick Body the Vniversal Church of the Jews never offered any Peace-offering but at the Feast of Pentecost O who will work this work for the Militant Catholique Church that we may say of all the parts of it omnes unanimiter they conclude all for the Orthodox Faith with one accord Some strange salvation must drop out of the clouds we know not how to work this Attonement yet on both sides let every man take heed he make not the rent bigger with more obstinacy and greater separation sweetly did a meek Moses of our own Church write there will come a time when three words uttered with charity and meekness shall receive a far more blessed reward than three thousand Volumes written with disdainful sharpness of wit It may seem a wonderful and unanswerable scruple that many in the former Ages of the Church did so much transcend us in these dayes for gifts of Miracles gifts of Devotion and Learning for Watchings and Fastings for Industry and assiduous diligence for most prosperous success in winning many Souls to the Kingdom of Heaven but the true cause is that their unanimity and pious agreement opened a wide gate to admit sanctification into their breast and our discords exclude it No spirit can give life to Members dismembred unless they be first united and compact together Ezekiel knew not how scattered bones could live but the bones came together bone to his bone and then the breath of the Lord came into them and they lived and stood upon their feet Ezekiel xxxvii 10. The Scribes and Elders of the Jews in few years after our Saviour was crucified were like broken bones scattered and divided like as one breaketh and heweth wood every year by bribery or calumniations the High Priest lost his dignity and a new one was substituted Josephus most impartially hath related that there was no care of Religion no zeal for the Law among them because there was nothing but bandings and factions in their Synagogues Here was no accord and therefore no Holy Spirit came down into their habitations Against the Congregation of the famous first Nicene Council the Fathers that met together it is not to be concealed forgat themselves so far that they put up innumerous Bills of complaints one against another before the Emperor Constantine The Emperor knew this was a most repugnant beginning to the good work they had in hand to enter into the consideration of Christs business with distracted enmities therefore he threw all their bills and brables into the fire and then bad them proceed in the name of Christ and in the grace of his Holy Spirit Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty says the Prophet Hosea chap. x. 2. A contentious stickler that loves to be the head of a Faction and to disjoynt things out of peace and quietness I wonder whether ever he thinks how the Apostles were composed and prepared when they received the Holy Ghost Fuerunt omnes eâdem animatione simul in unam so St. Austin reads they had one heart and one mind and one inclination to advance the Kingdom of Christ they were all with one accord in one place I enter now upon the last part of all that I may find the way out of my Text and conclude it is the other Preparation for the coming of the Holy Ghost as all the Disciples were knit in vinculo pacis in the bond of peace and concord so they were united together in vinculo spei in the bond of hope by patience and expectation they were ejusdem unanimitatis and ejusdem longanimitatis they kept together for the promise of the Holy Ghost till fifty days were fulfilled God made the Israelites number fifty days after their coming out of Egypt before the Law was delivered ut adventus sui desiderium accenderet to make their hearts burn within them with longing for his coming so he put off the coming of the Holy Ghost for the same space of time to make them think of his promise with eager expectation The Jews called it the Feast of fifty days and the Feast of weeks for whether we reckon by days or weeks or years we must wait the Lords leisure and say expectans expectavi Psal xl 1. I have waited patiently for the Lord and say with our Saviour not my will but thy will be done that is not my time but thy time be fulfilled Where is the faith where is the humility of those rash spirits that will not tarry the fulness of time but have all things at their whistle by and by or quarrel with God as if he had forgot them They received this blessing of wonderful grace that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long abiders in the 13. verse of the former chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or perseverantes ver 14. such as continue till the day of promise was fully come He that believeth let him not make haste says the Prophet Isaiah God will do all things by his own leisure and maturity if he happen to stay stay for him Habak ii 3. for at last he that cometh will come and then he is no flitter his gifts are without repentance and he will abide with us for ever AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON THE Descent of the Holy Ghost ACTS ii 2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and filled all the house where they were sitting THE Feast of Christs Resurrection and the Feast of Whitsunday or coming of the Holy Ghost are distant one from another fifty days in space of time but are as near to themselves as the bark unto the tree in real substance and in spiritual conjunction In the Resurrection the strength of Hell was weakened for us In the descending of the Holy Ghost the vertue of Heaven was made powerful in us In the first the doors of the Grave were unlock'd that we might not be held in death In the other the windows of heaven were opened that we might be partakers of the life to come The Resurrection reduceth the soul into the body again which was dissolved by the sin of Adam The coming of the Holy Ghost doth again reduce grace into the Soul when original Justice had been taken from it by the same mans transgression These are parallell'd in primo gradu and the comparison may reach a little further to our present business that there was a great noise caused at Christs rising For behold there was an Earthquake Mat. xxviii 2. And loe as great a noise from above at the coming of the Holy Ghost for behold there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind These two honourable Feasts
utterance ALL the joy which we celebrate for the famous acts of Christ is irksom to the Devil and the particular Solemnities which we keep are grievous to those that shut their eyes against the truth Upon the yearly day of our Saviours Nativity the Jew is sad and displeas'd because he believes not that he that was born of Mary a pure Virgin was the Son of God and the Messias whom their Fathers lookt for that should sit upon the Throne of David for evermore Upon the high Feast of his Resurrection the Sadducee gnasheth with his teeth because he denieth that the dead can be raised to life So upon this triumphant Feast wherein we abound with comfort for the sending of the Holy Ghost the Pelagian is malecontented who is an enemy to the efficacy of Grace and the more cause we have to maintain the dignity of it and to be throughly disciplin'd what the Holy Ghost hath wrought for our Soul because the Church is miserably soured of late in all places with the leaven of Pelagius Again as all the parts of our Saviours Mediatorship were several degrees to advance our Salvation and like the several steps of Jacobs Ladder to bring us nearer and nearer to Heaven so in this comparison the sending of the Holy Ghost is the loftiest degree and as it were the top of the spire which is next neighbour to the Kingdom of Glory for as man in his first creation had but an incomplete being till the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so man in his reparation was but incompletely restored till Christ did send the Comforter to infuse into him the breath of sanctification This day therefore is the concluding Feast of all the great days wherein we rememorate the noble works of our Lord and to go further this Text is the upshot of all the blessings that were conferred upon the Church in this happy day Christ took our nature upon him that he might die for our sins he suffered and was crucified that he might reconcile all such to his Father as would repent and believe repentance and faith to please God cannot enter into the heart of the natural man by his own abilities a power from Heaven must be the means to bring that about which is so repugnant to our corrupt nature Traverse over the mystery of our Redemption and you shall find that the work is at a stand till supernal grace poured in do draw it forward as Physicians say that spiritus est ultimum alimenti the last concoction and the most refined part of our nourishment is that which makes the spirits so the donation of the Holy Spirit is the accomplishment and final resolution of all the benefits which we partake in Christ And the last payment collated by that precious liberality to enrich the Church for ever is here in my Text nay indeed it was but a preparation before the talent of grace was not tendred till now That which was set forth in figure in the former verses is here exhibited in real substance Before a rushing wind made a noise here was the very thing imparted which was shadowed by the wind before certain firy tongues made a glittering that sat upon their head now their own tongues became most fluent and voluble with wonderful eloquence In brief to the exact building up of the Church two things were requir'd which are not wanting but abound in this verse First that the Lord should speak unto the Heart Secondly that he should speak unto the Ear by an invisible word and by a visible He spake invisibly to the Heart when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost he spake visibly to the Ear when his Ministers began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance Nay more to gather a Society together whose Labours should be dispread over all the world it was expedient that the Lord should confer both ordinary and extraordinary Gifts upon them His ordinary Blessing and indeed nothing is blest without it is some quantity of Sanctification his extraordinary Blessing is twofold to send such as are not lightly sprinkled but filled with the Spirit and to speak with divers Tongues that their sound may go forth into all the World Yet again to shew the Amplitude of Gods allowance to his Primitive Church he makes a double provision first for every Disciple as he is one Member of this Body and so all and every one of them were filled with the Holy Ghost and then he provides for all the Members of his Body junctim in one union and communion they began c. so that here 's the inward and the outward blessing the ordinary and the extraordinary the particular and the universal The inward ordinary and particular blessing is this that they were all filled with the Holy Ghost If you look for the provision with which the Primitive Church was stored look for it in this Chapter and you will find out upon judicious survey that there are three things which make it plenteous with all manner of store Pastores Verbum and Spiritus First certain Pastors allotted to the sacred Function to guide the souls of the People 2. the Word of life which is put into their mouth to be preacht unto all Nations 3. The Spirit of grace accompanying the Word to make it fruitful and prolificous in the hearts of them that hear it and obey it That some were ordeined Pastors and Bishops to teach and rule the Church that 's clear the Apostles met together in Jerusalem with one accord as Christ had appointed and the Cloven Tongues which came from Heaven sat upon each of them that was their Commission to take their Bishoprick upon them that the Word was delivered unto them which they should preach and Elocution to impart that Word to every Kingdom and Language that 's as clear Eight times in this one Chapter St. Peter quotes the Scripture of the old Testament and with divers tongues according to the capacity of all the Nations and Languages that were met together and that the Holy Ghost was infused with much abundance at the same time that 's as clear and pregnant as the rest 't is twice gone over in my Text both in the beginning and in the end they were filled with the Holy Ghost and the Spirit gave them utterance A Church without lawful Pastors is but a Synagogue of Schismatiques a Pastor without a Tongue is but an Idol Shepherd or a dumb Dog a Tongue without the power of the Spirit is but sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal As St. Paul said of the three grand Theological Virtues Now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity so I say of these necessary parts that constitute the Church the Ministry the Word and the Spirit but the chiefest and most excellent of these is the Spirit In some strange manner God may have a Church without a consecrated Priesthood as when Adam and
Eve were first placed in Paradice he may have a Society of holy Servants without the Word taught and proclamed by the organ of a Tongue as the Angels are illuminated to know his will by immediate inspiration but with reverence let me speak it I cannot see which way the Lord can have a Church without the Gift of the Holy Spirit God may be known by his wonderful works and effects without his special grace but can he be present in the soul of man and make it blessed by knowing his Divine will to please him without his special grace Praesens est in quantum praesentem facit beatitudinem if he make all his good to pass before us it must be by these means I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious Exod. xxxiii 19. Those creatures that seek no higher perfection nor greater good than a temporal being and that which is found within the compass of their own nature they may attein thereunto by the strength of nature without any other help but Men and Angels that seek an infinite and Divine good that is everlasting happiness which consisteth in the vision of God they cannot attain their wished end which is so much removed from them and so far above them unless they be lifted up unto it by a supernatural force of grace Eternal felicity is the Haven to which they sail and it is no ordinary wind but the stiff gale of the Holy Spirit that must bring them to the Port of endless glory that is they cannot ascend of themselves they may be lifted up to the Vision of God especially Man since his woful fall they are the words of the tenth Article of our Church can have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing him that he may have a good will and without the same grace working with him when he hath a good will Natural habilities and inclinations at the best reach no further than to dispose all things well for the honor and preservation of the natural being but when we are put to it and become content yea and rejoyce to lay down our life for Christs sake which is the abolition of the natural being this vigor and strength must come from a supernatural influence that is from the fire of the Spirit which is predominant above the breath of nature This hath given you satisfaction I suppose that it did more import the Church to receive the Spirit than any other benefit I draw forward to a more distinct inspection of it and the first scruple about which I find a difference is this Whether the very Person of the Holy Ghost be meant in this place or only certain impressions of his Gifts and Graces I will streighten my self to a short answer both the Person of the Holy Ghost was here and the virtue of the Holy Ghost that which sat upon the head of each of them in cloven tongues as it were was the infinite Majesty of the third Person of Trinity in that apt and visible similitude but that which filled them was not the very essence but the operation of the Spirit Implet non seipso formaliter sed dono quod producit say the Schoolmen he that filleth all things with his presence cannot be said formally to fill one thing more than another but he that blows where he listeth with his inspiration is said to fill those whom he sanctifies not with his essence but with that inspiration The Founder of School Divinity is noted for one error above the rest that he makes the Grace of God to be no effect of the Holy Spirit but the essence of the very Spirit to purifie the thoughts and mind He stuck too litterally to St. Austin and so wandred from the right way For thus that Father preaching upon my Text Christ was present with his faithful Servants this day not by his Visiting Grace but by his Personal Majesty atque in vasa non jam odor balsami sed ipsa suba sacri defluxit unguenti their vessels were not only perfumed with the odour of the sweet Ointment but that fragrant Balsam the very Unction it self did flow abundantly into them To this it is most proper to rejoyn that St. Austin meant it of the extraordinary Apparition of the Holy Ghost upon this day not of his ordinary inspiration For in the same Sermon he says that the immortal Spirit is vicarius successor redemptoris the Deputy to succeed our Saviour in the Church now he is gone away on high But how is he Christs Deputy not as if by his personal communication he wrought his gifts in us but thus quod Salvator inchoavit peculiari virtute Spiritus Sanctus consummat the faith which Christ did begin in his Apostles by teaching them daily the Holy Ghost did perfect by the special virtue of sanctification No Text doth more evidently convince that the infinite and increated essence of the Spirit is to be distinguisht from the finite and created qualities which he infuseth then those words Jo. vii 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters but this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those are all the words in the Text for the Holy Ghost was not yet we make it up for the Holy Ghost was not yet given But stand we to the words of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost was not yet This will never hold without differencing the third Person of Trinity from his sanctifying effects the Person was before and had no beginning but nondum erat manifesti muneris efficacitate says Theophylact as yet he was not revealed in his plentiful efficacity The close of the Point is thus the very Person of the Holy Ghost came down into the place where they were gathered in an external visible form and his effects or efficacy was breathed into them in wonderful gifts But concerning those gifts wherewith they were filled there 's another scruple whether they were saving graces such as are collated upon them that are the Elect of God or whether they were only miraculous assistances as Prophecies Gifts of Tongues Gifts of Healing and the like which are impressions indeed of the Holy Ghost not that they sanctifie him which hath them but they are given to men for the confirmation of the holy Faith That which brings this into doubt is a Tradition that hath no good founder that some Apostates and Revolters as Nicolas the Deacon from whom the Nicolaitans are derived were some of this Assembly that are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost and it is not to be contradicted but that gratiae gratis datae habilities to work miracles may be in those that make shipwrack of a good conscience Yet that Exception though it may hold in others yet it is not to be applied to
speak the Oracles of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rational discourses 1 Pet. iv 11. So our Saviour promised his Disciples I will give you a mouth and wisdom not a mouth only but wisdom with it so that all your Adversaries shall not be able to gainsay it Luk. xxi 15. Finally the Prophet Isaiah speaking in the person of an Evangelical Priest The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should speak a word in season Isa l. 4. And so to end all let us send up our tongues of praise and thanksgiving to heaven to the gracious God that did send down the blessing of these Tongues to his Church upon earth And the same Lord Jesus exalt us to his Church Triumphant where with one song and with one voice we shall sing glory to him for evermore AMEN THE FIFTH SERMON UPON THE Descent of the Holy Ghost ACTS ii 12 13. And they were all amazed and were in doubt saying one to another what meaneth this Others mocking said these men are full of new wine MEntion being made in the former part of this Chapter what effects the Mission of the Holy Ghost as upon this day wrought in the Apostles the next thing which is disclosed in these two verses is what entertainment it found in the World What entertainment should it find but joy and gladness and thanksgiving it was a shower of grace that fell from Heaven and every drop of it more valuable than an Orient Pearl which made the whole earth barren and unfruitful before spring out with spiritual increase that from thenceforth the Wombs of Mothers should not bring out men but Saints It was not as upon the sixth day of the week in the Creation of the World that God did breath into man the breath of Life but upon this first day of the week he breathed into his Church the breath of Righteousness and filled it with the seeds of future Glory From the Feast of the Passover the Jews were to number seven weeks and then they kept a most solemn day called the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Pentecost that 's this very day instituted to recognize how at that time they came out of Egypt from the Bondage of Pharaoh and received the Law which was delivered upon Mount Horeb. But to expunge the memory of that occasion God did superinduct a far greater blessing upon this Festival day and poured out his Spirit in a bountiful and miraculous manner upon his Disciples at Jerusalem Was there a season appointed to congratulate the deliverance of the Jews from the Captivity of the Body and doth not this Mercy exalt it self above the other that they are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise to be enfranchised from the slavery of Sin and the Devil Was the remembrance of the Law a perpetual rejoycing though it were a killing Letter and is it not ten thousand times more comfortable to receive the power of the Holy Ghost which enabled them to keep the Law Did they take it kindly and chearfully to receive the Law written in Tables of Stone And is not the change a great deal better on this day to have it written in the fleshly Tables of their Heart Then the Lord gave them but one Talent and they made but small multiplication of it nay they were the Servants in the Parable and who but they that bound it up and buried it in a Napkin Lo here are five Talents delivered unto us a greater Sum than ever the Children of Men received before And answer me now in equity what entertainment the Mission of the Holy Ghost should receive in the World Not to deceive your expectation with many words the case is thus The best of the Jews that came to the God-speed of this days work profest ignorance and knew not what to make of it the worst of them exhaled envy and rancour out of their malignant minds and jeared at it And they were all amazed and were in doubt c. The parts must needs arise to these two heads Grande miraculum Grande ludibrium First a great Miracle for it wrought these three things first Amazement they were all amazed secondly Doubt they were in doubt thirdly earnest Search and Inquisition for they said one to another what meaneth this But though the greater part were thus affected and therefore it is said they were all amazed meaning the greater number yet divers turn'd it to mockery and said these men are full of new wine First the sending of the Holy Ghost was construed to be a great Miracle by all that saw the effects of it in the Apostles and in the beginning it is exprest by a passion that took away their reason for a time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were amazed then it troubled their reason they doubted and finally it exercised their reason for they asked after it Amazement is a word to express the highest and most sudden admiration that can take a man when astonishment doth seize upon the faculties of the mind and bind them up for a little space that they have no power to exercise themselves as if they were Planet-blasted The Latin word Attonitus is he that is scared with a sudden clap of thunder so that he is stupified for a while but the Greek word in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 goes further for the right signification is they were beside themselves or they were in an extasie So our Saviour's Kinsmen being themselves out of their wits with ignorance thought that our Saviour was transported when he preached the Gospel and knew not what he said therefore their opinion was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is beside himself Mark iii. 21. Ecstatici qui non sunt in potestate mentis they that are amazed have not their mind present for the time it is dizied and confounded so that this Miracle wrought upon the Jews after the highest pitch of admiration Let us interpret it to the best that joy did overcome them to see the riches of all goodness poured out upon the Sons of men Their Forefathers were astonisht with fear at the delivery of the Law and they are astonisht with joy at the coming of the Holy Ghost The Gift it self the Persons that received it the Operation which it did exercise in them to speak the glory of God in all Tongues and Languages all are transcendently wonderful that the wit of a natural man especially is not able to comprehend them The Gift it self in the first place is so celestial that the Lord himself is not more wonderful in all his works than in sending the Holy Ghost so hidden from the knowledg of the world so rare to be found so beneficial to mankind that he that marvels not at it is himself a Miracle Are you amazed at things which are secret and very abstruse in their nature none more close and unperceivable than this As the wind passeth by and is not perceived so God breaths the
a little extemporary acquaintance and no more with that to which they say Amen Next let every man preach that challengeth he hath the gift sorrily God knows and then he knows that Preaching will come to nothing as well as Prayer Beware that you let not our great Adversary subvert all Piety and Religion by these encroachments bad men may mock holy Ordinances but God is not mocked Fear the Lord reverence his ways receive the blessings of the Spirit with thanksgiving and praise rule the Tongue to glorifie him that made it to set forth his honour that gives it utterance AMEN THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE CORONATION PSAL. cxviii 24. This is the Day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and he glad in it THE words which I have selected to preach upon are part of a Psalm which excels both in the Letter and in the Spirit rich in the litteral sense copious in the spiritual the Kingdom of David set forth magnificently in the one the Kingdom of Christ glorified in the other Sometimes the ditty of the Song points directly at the Throne of David and sometimes at Christs Triumphs over his Death and his victorious Resurrection I cannot choose between them both but think of the Country of Mesopotamia the fruitful Garden of the world girt about with waters the Rivers did flow in and out in all quarters of the Land and the Land was much more pleasant for the windings and intricate Maeanders of the Rivers So this Hymn hath a most delightful alternation in it skipping often from Christ to David and from David to Christ with sundry melodious changes as if it purposed to make the Reader lose himself if he did not curiously note the Narration There hath been much ado among Expositors whether the Psalm should concern them both or only one of them choose you which you will Some refer it all to David and to the rejoycing of the People in his behalf that they saw him happily inaugurated King of Israel after he had been long kept back by the House of Saul and many other potent Enemies The Jewish Rabbins make no other construction of it and they follow the Chaldee Paraphrast who doth thus read the 22. verse of this Psalm the Builders did reject the youngest of the Sons of Jessai and would not let him reign over them but he hath deserved to be received for their Prince and Governor therefore we will keep holy day and rejoyce Thus Vatablus and Isidore Clarius and many others of this latter Age have dived no further than into the superficies of this Scripture that is into so much and no more than concerned the Monarchy of David But they did not see into the bottom that lookt no further for the Antient Fathers of the Church not one but all have discover'd so manifest a Prophesie concerning our Saviour that nothing can be clearer It is a general rule that David in most of his Psalms had more regard to Christ than to Himself in this more eminently than ordinary so that the New Testament is full of the application Pick out the 22. verse The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner according to three several Gospels our Saviour demonstrates that himself was the Stone which the Scribes and Pharisees refused but God had exalted him to be the Head of the Church both ih Heaven and Earth St. Peter proves as much in the audience of many thousands of the Jews and none of them did contradict him Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom ye crucified this is the Stone which is set at naught of you Builders which is become the head of the corner ver 26. of this Psalm Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord I doubt not but all the loyal hearts of Juda and Jerusalem did congratulate David in those words when he entred into the Royal City but all the Multitude of the People applied them to the Advent of the Messias Hosanna to the Son of David blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Matth. xxi 9. And indeed St. Hierom says that the Jews in their Liturgy of old were wont to read this Psalm in their Synagogues for the Messias sake and did put it among those Prayers in which they did heartily desire the coming of Christ the Lord Nay says Cajetan the 17. verse can become the mouth of no mortal man but it is the voice of the immortal Son of God to say I will not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. Therefore those Authors that had the most judicious Palat have acknowledged that sometimes Davids matters are brought into this Psalm and sometimes Christs nay sometimes both of them in one verse as in my Text. The begining of the Psalm says St. Chysostom was a Celebration for the setting on the Crown upon the head of the King of Israel but ex improviso mutavit argumentum in a sudden extasie the Prophet changeth his argument and speaks of Christ nay says Euthymius if a man will be acquainted with the stile of the Propets let him remember that this is their custom intercidere solent sermones in rem aliam transire ne adversarii manus injiciant they use to break off abruptly and fall from one thing to another lest if the Enemies of the Truth did understand them they would make away those holy Writings to the irrecoverable loss of the Church of Christ This was necessary to be premised that you might know what to look for out of my Text namely David's Day in the Letter and Christ's Day in the Spirit In the Case of David no man doubts what day is pointed at surely it is the day of his Inauguration when after much resistance made by his Enemies at last he did enjoy the Scepter of all Israel quietly and peaceably and there was an Holy-day instituted to remember it with sacred Solemnity The Lord had made that Day happy unto David and the People did celebrate it in a joyful and religious manner I need not to tell you how proper that construction of my Text is to this Day wherein God hath settled our Anointed Sovereign over all the Kingdoms of his Father and I trust you profess your due thankfulness to God for his most pious and religious Reign and that we have great cause to rejoyce and be glad in it But which is that among all the days of Christ which God did make more transcendently than the rest there 's a little scruple in that point I find one or two refer it to the day of his Nativity but their reasons are weak and they are no considerable number to be followed St. Hierom and St. Austin are in the right I think for they apply it to the whole time of the Gospel wherein the terrors of the Law are broken and all things are most sweet and pleasant to penitent Believers Behold now is the acceptable Time now is the
not hear you Hitherto I have made it good against Satan and all infernal Sorceries against Tyrants that attempt to exalt themselves and against all popular Factions that would seem to have an interest in the making and marring of Princes that God is the initial cause the conserving cause the sole Fountain and Author of all Supreme Sovereignty There is but one Adversary more to struggle with in this point that Hildibrand◠spirit in the Church of Rome who either directly or indirectly claims authority to himself to take account of the Government of Kings and when he pleaseth to break their Scepters with a Rod of Iron It is no toying in so main a Cause as this therefore I will demonstrate that I charge them right 1. The great number of the Canonists defend without any circumlocution that the Temporal Soveraignty of the whole world is inherent in the Office of Christs Vicar to give change alter or confirm the Titles of particular Princes as his infallible judgment shall lead him Thus Baronius who speaks his mind in these words for his Holy Father whom our Lord Jesus Christ the King of Glory hath constituted a Prince over all the Kingdoms of the World Says Augustinus Triumphus all Power and Royalty is subdelegated from the Pope to other Princes no man can give him any Soveraignty which he had not before nec Constantinus dedit quicquam Sylvestro quod non prius erat suum says he some talk of Constantines donation to Sylvester that he gave him the Temporal Principality of Romania he gave him nothing but that which was his own before that and all beside was St. Peters Patrimony But Practice is a plainer Argument than Book-words Alexander the Sixth a Giver that will do but small credit to his Gift but such as he is take him with all faults he bestowed the whole West-Indies to Ferdinand King of Spain ex merâ liberalitate motu proprio as it is in the words of the Bull. Their own Histories say that Athabaliba King of Peru maintained his Dominions by fighting against that Grant till he was taken prisoner in battel and then cried out That Pope could have no reverence to vertue or to the God of Heaven that took away another mans Kingdom from him You see now that this Successor of St. Peter as he would be stiled lays claim to that which St. Peter never dreamt of to belong to him for how could his imagination comprehend such things when he knew they were disclaimed by Christ Joh. xviii 36. My Kingdom is not of this world if it were my Servants would fight for me that I should not be delivered to the Jews but my Kingdom is not from hence God gave unto Christ the Heathen for his Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession that is to dilate his Spiritual Kingdom over all the world but neither that himself or his Apostles should excel in any Temporal Dignity It remains therefore against all opposite Parties that the Kingdoms of the World are the Lords and he doth set his Annointed in their Thrones out of his holy Hill and therefore when Popes of old did write to Kings their usual stile was to wish them health in eo per quem reges regnant in him by whom Kings do reign that is in God above And all this is to declare that David held his Crown from none but God because upon the Solemn Feast of his Inauguration it is said This is the Day which the Lord hath made All Kings are made by God yet not all alike there is more of the Divine mercy and favour in the making of David a man after Gods own heart than in making of Saul one whom it repented God that ever he made him more of his sacred workmanship in the making of Melchisedech a King of Righteousness than in the making of Nimrod a King of Violence They that sow the fruits of righteousness in peace those are reges primae intentionis Kings in whom God and Man do especially delight and they that have been compassed about with most cruel Wars abroad and with most terrible Enemies and Treasons at home and yet have waded prosperous out of all these dangers those are reges primae providentiae Kings of miraculous providence above the trivial current and you that have read the two Books of Samuel and the first Book of Chronicles meet with a thousand passages what memorable marks the Lord had set upon the person of David which of you doth note the mean condition out of which he did rise and the Throne to which he was exalted but you will say digitus Dei you do mark the print of Gods finger in the work collect the imminent dangers which he escaped the fury of Saul the Hosts of the Philistins the Duel with Goliah the Plots of Ahitophel the overawings of the Sons of Zeruiah the almost inevitable Conspiracy of Absalon and finally the Usurpation of his other Son Adonijah even while he was upon his Death-bed and you will say there was never any Potentate begirt with so many assaults and brought off with such safety that there was not an hair of his head did perish As David's Day hath these characters in it so we are to glorifie the sweet Providence of God that our Royal Sovereign's Day hath none of them For first the mean Parentage of David did much prejudice him it was a word of contempt that he could not claw off to be called the Son of Jessai the Son of a poor Yeoman in Bethlem But his Majesty's Throne hath been the Throne of his glorious Ancestors for many Generations and a concurrence of the best blood in the world doth meet in himself and in his Royal Progeny For domestical Enemies God be praised for the terms of eleven years of his most Religious Reign never any durst shew their faces if they should I trust we should see their heads shewn for a direful spectacle to after Ages But whereas the blessed Princes that upheld our Reformed Religion have been hemmed about with Treasons upon Treasons every one of them God hath so confounded them in their malicious devices that His Sacred Majesty hath hitherto gone in and out before us without the least whisper of any infernal attempt against him no Prince in this Island that profest the same Reformed Faith being able to say as he can that neither popular commotion nor secret conspiracy hath hitherto reacht itself against his Royal Person and God grant such safety to himself and such true and loyal hearts to his People and that gracious protection will make us see that the Buckler of the Most High is on every side of him and that his name is written in the Book of Life Another thing is David was very much exercised in wars against the Philistins and his Sword did never come out of the Field without a Conquest but the best Victory is bought with the price of much bloud and therefore
be our Intercessor with his Father and to prepare a place for us Whitsunday or the Coming of the Holy Ghost is like a fair Land-mark to instruct the most unlearned that though our nature is most corrupt and averse from all good motions yet the spirit is poured into us whereby in some weak measure we become obedient Children and cry Abba Father These are the Days which the Lord hath made and when we devote our selves to magnifie him upon these occasions they prove the best means to teach us the Catechetical and fundamental points of faith And as Christ was great in himself and in those works of grace so He is great in the Angels of Heaven great in the Apostles in the Evangelists in all Saints and Martyrs and the choice is made by our Church of the Flower of all occasions in this kind publickly to praise the Lord and it is very fit I say that there should be a sensible difference between these and common days both for our thanksgiving and for the profitableness of our piety Gods works are all worthy of observation but not at all times alike to be remembred for as the Lord by being every where doth not give unto all places one and the same degree of holiness but the Church is more sacred than the High-ways of the Field though Gods Immensity and Omnipotency is alike in both so neither is one and the same dignity competent to all times although the Omnipotency of God doth work in all times but as his extraordinary presence hath hallowed and sanctified certain places so they are his extraordinary works which have worthily advanced certain times for which cause they ought with all men that honour God to be in more honour than other dayes I should add two things more that are very ponderous to confirm this truth one from the practice of some holy persons in the Old Testament whose constitutions God approved the other from the practice of our Fore-fathers in all Ages and 't is fit to tread in their steps in things that are laudable honest and indifferent but this shall not be hudled up I will dilate it hereafter To dispatch all beside our holy due of the Lords Day we are now to celebrate the Kings Day and for good reason in all equity we ought to do some Religious Service on His Day who is the Defendor of our Religion Next under the Providence of God who but the King doth maintain the Truth among us therefore on what day of the week soever this Day lights it becoms us to set open the Door of the Church and to praise the Lord because we have freedom to come to Church all the year by his grace and protection We have no Romish Superstition no Anabaptistical or Presbyterian Anarchy to make this holy place irksom unto us God be praised that has given his Anointed a faithful heart to serve him and to uphold his People in the right way that they may hold up clean hands to Heaven I do read that Constantine celebrated an yearly Feast for his Victory against Licinius I read that the Church of Alexandria celebrated a Day yearly wherein the waters asswaged after a great Inundation I read that Alexius Comnenus appointed a perpetual Holiday for the memory of the famous Emperor and Lawgiver Justinian nay St. Ambrose calls to mind that Felix Bishop of Cuma kept that day every year in a magnificent manner to God wherein he was consecrated Bishop Thus former Ages have given us light that we keep in the Circle of that which is lawful when we adorn the Anniversary Day of the Inauguration of our most noble King with joy and festivity in the sight of God and first let us confess the Lords benefit towards us and say as the People did of Solomon Because thy God loved Israel to stablish them for ever therefore made he thee King over them to do judgment and justice 1 Chron. ix viii Secondly let as put up Prayers and Intercessions to the Divine Majesty to give great prosperity to our Anointed Sovereign to his Royal Consort and to their Posterity for ever AMEN A SERMON UPON THE RESURRECTION PSAL. cxviii 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it IF you have ever seen a piece of Coin stamp'd with one face upon the fore-side and with another upon the reverse then set that fancy before you to understand the double sense of this Text. First If you ask according to the Letter whose Image and Superscription is this I tell you and I have told it you once before it is Davids And this is the triumphant Hymn of the devout men of Israel exulting that God had given them such a King to go in and out before them If you ask according to the Spirit to whom this Verse belongs most certainly it aims at Christ and that two ways either calculating this Day for the whole Age of the Gospel that is the day which God hath made to put gladness into his chosen through the remission of our sins because the day-spring from on high hath visited us Or else in a more eminent sort it is the joyful acclamation of the Church upon the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus that being the most honourable and most welcome of days because the Resurrection hath ever been esteemed the most glorious of all the works of the Gospel I have spun out the first of these concerning David to the last thread now my Web which is upon the Loom is concerning Christ that is I have given unto Caesar that which is Caesars and it is very expedient as the more principal duty to give unto God that which is Gods Indeed I cannot say that I am come to the heart and to the vitals of the Text till now till now that I apply it not as formerly to the Lords Anointed but to Christ himself our Lord anointed And I have clear way made me for this interpretation as clear as I can wish for never any that have received the Book of the Psalms for spiritual and divine melody but do reckon this Psalm and especially this part of the Psalm to belong to Jesus the Author and finisher of our Salvation The Doctors of the Jews says St. Hierom did use to sing it in praise of the Messias And the Doctors of the Christians must be all of one Chorus to chant it merrily to the Son of God because four places of the New Testament that is witness enough have made a challenge unto it that this Psalm is an Allelujah or Hosannah to the Son of God And because the words of my Text are obvious to be recited upon any memorable and plausible occasion sometimes they have been drawn to congratulate humane affairs yet with this reservation that none under heaven hath a true interest in them I read that in the second Constant Council held under Justinian the Emperour Johannes Presbyter as he was
death the Sun rose earlier by certain hours than the natural season Vt redderet lucis horas quas terror Dominicae passionis invaserat to make restitution of those hours of light which were lost by the Eclipse of the Sun at our Saviours Passion and so it should be called a Day because it was miraculous and longer than the natural proportion of a Day But this is without the Book and rather Poetical than Theological But secondly to more purpose it justly bears the title of a Day for were it not for the benefit of Christ's Resurrection we had been buried in eternal night our bodies had gone down into the Sepulchre as into the Land of darkness to perish and rot and never to see the light more Nox est perpetuò una dormienda but through him who hath planted us into the similitude of his Resurrection we awake from sleep we stand up from the dead and Christ shall give us light 3. The claritude of those glorified Bodies which we shall put on in the General Resurrection will make us carry Day about with us whithersoever we go You know how Christ did look at his Transfiguration his face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light Mat. xvii 2. therefore it must needs be day with the Saints for ever after they are risen from the dead since according to the Pattern of their Masters beauty their faces shall shine like the Sun in the Firmament But fourthly whether these curiosities touch the Point I am not sure upon this I dare build that it is called the Day which the Lord made because no greater work than the Resurrection of Christ was made upon any day since the world began for two things are to be considered in it Quod apparuit in Christo quod nondum apparuit in nobis that which was wrought upon Christ's Body and was seen in him and by virtue of his rising from the dead that which shall appear in us hereafter O infinite Power which quickned Jesus again the life and soul of all the Members of his Body and would not let him see corruption I know not how to compare the noblest Acts of the Lord as many have done I dare not do it as whether it were more to create a man out of nothing or to recompose a man again when his Soul was flitted and the Substance of his Body passed about into innumerous Transmutations after the revolution of five or six thousand years This I know that on our part it had been better for us never to have been than not to have been restored to the Image of God which was defaced in us and simply to be is nothing so well as to be made incorruptible in the outward man and the inward man to be restored unto Righteousness and Holiness of life Besides after the Creation God did cease from his work and there is no new thing under the Sun but after the Resurrection of Christ God doth continually save his people from their Sins Or if you interpose that as the Father did rest the last day of the Week from the Works of the Creation so the Son did rest on the first day of the Week having absolutely accomplished the Work of our Redemption then I infer if the Rest of the Father ceasing from creating material things did sanctifie a Day then this greater Rest of the Son must much more sanctifie a Festival As the new Heavens and the new Earth shall be more glorious than the old which are subject to vanity so the Jewish Feast on the Sabbath for the Remembrance of the Creation is nothing so honourable as the Christian Feast of the Lords Day in Remembrance of the Resurrection Therefore at the close of the Benefit let me admonish you of the Duty We will c. When Israel came out of Egypt and the house of Jacob from a strange Land they came home again to the Land of Canaan from whence they were descended like men that had lien long among the dead and were quite forgotten But with so much mirth and joy as is unutterable their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue with joy This was but a Type of the Body brought back out of the Grave therefore this gladness will become us much better in the Substance than in the Figure Christ is returned victoriously out of the Sepulcher and in that victory hath redeemed us all from the captivity of the Grave then how requisite is it that our mouth should be filled with laughter and our tongue with singing for the Lord hath done very great things for us whereof we are glad There was never any Society I am perswaded more disconsolate more crest-faln than the Disciples were upon the Eve of this happy Resurrection their faith failed them and their courage failed them they lockt themselves up and sat drowzily like men that had lost the fairest expectation that heart could imagin and had neither life nor soul Heaviness did endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Jesus came into the midst of them the doors being shut and shewed them his feet and his hands Then were the Disciples glad when they saw the Lord Joh. xx 20. before the Lords Ascension though their minds were yet somewhat carnal yet they were glad that his sayings were verified in despight of the Jews that He was risen again the third day The old Father confuted his churlish Son with that principle of good nature it was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead and is alive again Luke xv 32. Again the Disciples were very frollick because when they saw the Lord revived again they were perswaded that He would restore the Temporal Kingdom unto Israel a thing which erroneously they had long lookt for but after his Ascension then their joy was high swoln and full to the brim for it was illuminated by faith they rejoyced that he was risen and gone up in glory to possess his Kingdom for when Christ our life shall appear again then shall we also appear in glory But because ancient Customs are things that will stick to the remembrance I will borrow a little time to impart unto you what glad remonstrances the Old Fathers of the Church were wont to make of it First their very outward Garments were of the best they had and full of splendor not out of pride and wantonness but to testifie that in every circumstance they did magnifie that holy Mystery of Christs rising from the dead and to witness in their outward habit that the resurrection of the dead is the cloathing of us with new and immortal apparel Therefore Nazianzen wishing for his own dissolution cries out take from me this ponderous Garment that is this sinful corruptible Body which makes me sweat and faint and give me a lighter that will never trouble me Secondly their Churches were trickt up with the best bravery that they could
get that the very Walls of Gods House might bear a part in their rejoycing As for Processions from one Church to another on this day I find no such Custom in the best Ages of Religion Although in some late hundred years it is in use at Rome that their chief Prelates visit the seven principal Churches in grand Procession because and alass for so poor a cause that Christ after He was risen bad his Disciples go before him into Galilee Thirdly the Word of God was preached laboriously and studied for that occasion Ex verbo illud potissimum quod est tempori convenientissimum says Nazianzen let that Scripture be handled which belongs to the Season and beside the Sermon their Service was set forth with all gravity and sweetness of Musick Laeti exultantesque celebremus says St. Ambrose c. let our shrill voices proclaim it that we are glad and Theodoret gives warning that this Panegyrical Day be kept honestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with drunkenness and riot and profuse laughter but singing Psalms and hearing the Word attentively Fourthly this Feast was the solemn time for receiving Baptism this and the Feast of Whitsuntide and unless in case of necessity it was never given of old at other times all that were presented at Baptism coming in white Garments professing thereby that they would keep their righteousness pure and immaculate until the second coming of the Lord. Fifthly as Baptism is the washing away of sins which could not choose but comfort their hearts over all the Church and make them chearful so the confirmation of that Faith was the receiving of the Holy Communion of Christs Body and Bloud which all did universally apply themselves to that could examin themselves and none did fail whereupon says Leo this is the peculiar Blessing of Easter-day ut in remissione peccatorum universa gaudeat Ecclesia that the whole Church had cause to rejoyce that remission of sins was sealed unto them that is either in the Sacrament of Baptism or in the Supper of the Lord. Sixthly whereas it was disputed and tossed about extremely at what time all Christians should keep their Easter the holy Bishops that were otherwise at odds consented in two things the one that it should begin immediately after the sorrowful affliction of Lent was laid aside The other that it should be appointed in the sweetness of the Spring when the year is most delightsom and beautiful Et laetitiam conciliat huic festo verna amaenitas says one the amiable verdure of the Spring is joyn'd unto it to make Easter more joyful Seventhly some did alter the year and set the beginning of it from the Feast of the Resurrection We come very near it in one computation our selves This I find that as some friends do send Presents one to the other at the beginning of the new year So Nazianzen says that at Easter all were wont to give either Oblations to God or Gifts to their Neighbours or Alms to the Poor For Festival Solemnities are a due mixture of Praise and Bounty The Jews at the Passover did offer to God the first fruits of their Barly at the Feast of Pentecost Loaves made of new Wheat at the Feast of Tabernacles the first fruits of other Fruits which they had gathered All pompous days had some mixture of liberality Eighthly in Theodosius the Emperors time a Law passed to the end that all might keep their Easter merrily without interruption that no Process or Arrest should go forth in any Court against any man from the Sunday before Easter to the Sunday after Easter that is for the space of fifteen days Ninthly as the Political Magistrate was so respectful of this Festival so was the Ecclesiastical For the ancient Council of Ancyra order'd that to the end all might rejoyce and be glad this day Excommunications Suspensions and all Censures should end at Easter nay the great Council of Nice took care that in every Province or Diocess a Synod of the Clergy should be held every Lent to set all matters strait against this time that there might be no variance no quarrel no complaint remaining As if this were our Jubilee wherein Servants were manumitted from Bondage Debts were remitted and Possessions restored to the owners that had sold them Certainly the holy Fathers meant that above all the Feasts of the year this was our joyful Jubilee Tenthly and lastly the principal stamp of gladness set upon this day was that the first day of the week namely Sunday is kept holy every day of the week for Easter-days sake of which I will make a larger work hereafter But every Sunday was strictly kept with such solemn postures of joy that the last Canon of the Nicene Council interdicted all Christians from kneeling on those days they must pray standing that is chearfully and kneeling was supposed to be the gesture of affliction and humiliation The end of all these Edicts and Ceremonies was to let us know that the Lord had done great things for us for which we ought to rejoyce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even to skip for joy for true joy will break forth as John did in the womb of Elizabeth Death is a comfort against all sorrows and the Resurrection is a comfort against Death and Christ is our comfort that we shall have a joyful resurrection and the holy Sacrament is our visible comfort that we still live in Christ for evermore AMEN A SERMON UPON THE Church Festivals PSAL. cxviii 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it THE Substance of Religion is to fear God and to praise him The Circumstances thereof are to perform this in fit time and place and to do all things belonging to his Worship decently and in order It is for the sutableness of time that I continue my Meditations upon this Text for there are many things which are but accidentary to the main and yet of such forcible consequence that nothing can stand without them So opportunity of time is such a forcible annexion to the performance of Divine Service as no external thing is more available The sweet tongue of Musick would be unpleasant if it kept not time so the Christian Melody which we make to God would want the grace and delight that is in it if days and times were not solemnly and prudently divided to call holy Assemblies together for the work of the Lord. If I speak of time like a Naturalist it is but the measure of the continuance of things that have a being given unto them and it neither works in them any real effect nor is it self capable of any But passing it by in this low regard and taking it in hand Theologically so the hours which are appointed to present our reasonable Sacrifice in the House of the Almighty are of such great consideration to the furtherance of Piety that they are woven into Religion like sinews into the body neither
can we spend our time more profitably than to speak of time as it is to be referred and allotted to the glory of him that made all time But that I may leave no part of my Treatise naked but cover that which I shall run through with some portion of my Text I must put you to call to mind what I delivered in general in two Sermons that these words excel both in the Letter and in the Spirit In the Letter they are part of a Psalm which was sung for Davids sake and for that Festival which the People kept to God for his Inauguration when he was made King over Israel In the Spirit they reach to Christ as David in most of his Psalms had more regard to Christ than to himself and that with two interpretations By some the whole Age of the Gospel is entituled the day of Christ for through the Gospel the terrours of Sin and Death and Hell are broken and we are comforted on every side to rejoyce and be glad By others among all Evangelical days the Feast of the Resurrection is pickt out by way of eminency for never did the Sun shine upon any day wherein we had more cause to triumph and be joyful than when the Son of God having been crucified for our sins did rise from death the third day to conquer mortality and corruption that we might live forever These Points being dispatcht in their proper season what is left to be handled Two things of great moment Beloved First the Resurrection of Christ did not only sanctifie that one day wherein he rose but occasion was taken from thence to sanctifie the first day of every Week to the Lord because Christ rose on the first day Hence I am your debtor to shew how this and every Sunday is the day which the Lord hath made and we must rejoyce and be glad in it Secondly Forasmuch as an holy day was appointed that all Israel might worship Jehovah for that precious benefit that so good a King as David was reigned over them therefore the Ordination of Festival days to profess thanksgiving for the high and excellent works of God becometh the Church for so good a sanction and becometh the righteous to be joyful in them Then of the Lords day for our ordinary Assemblies in Gods House and of holy Festivals for our extraordinary Assemblies these are the matter of my ensuing Discourse which I will follow upon the touchstone of truth and for the benefit of your edification Concerning the day which we keep weekly in the name of the Lord I must speak of it two ways in reference to Gods making and our rejoycing in reference to the Divine Sanction and out Sanctification The Divine Sanction of the day must be traversed in four Points 1. What ground we have for keeping the Lords day in the fourth Commandment 2. What ground we have for it from the Resurrection of Christ 3. What ground we have for it in the Gospel from the Precept of Christ or his Apostles And 4. What ground we have for it from the practise of the Apostles and from the practise of the Church in all ages In this piece of a Sermon I will deliver you my mind upon this Controversie which now adays makes voluminous disputes First It is manifest that the Fourth Commandment hath another air and Constitution in it than the other Nine Those Nine being consonant to the light of natural reason so that they bind the Conscience without a Law-giver this is neither principle or necessary conclusion of natural reason in such a clear manner as that a judicious man shall be forced upon understanding the terms to yield assent unto it And I wonder that any one should stumble so grosly to say that it is natural Law to keep every seventh day that is the last day or the first day of the Week holy when the distribution of time into Weeks is arbitrary and not natural This Commandment therefore having a composition in it diverse from the rest it hath somewhat in it particular to the state of the Jewish Synagogue and somewhat that binds the Christian Church For it doth not stand for a Cypher in the two Tables at this time as if the force of it were expired but there is somewhat in it which is Moral and obligeth mankind unto the end of the world The enforcement of the seventh day in strict and Sabbatical rest is out of date as well as the rest of the Pedagogical Ordinances of Moses But there is this Kernel within the shell that holy Assemblies are for ever to be called together at fit and convenient times to praise the Lord nay further reason and gratitude cannot imagine a more fit and convenient time than the constant solemnizing of a Seventh day nay than the constant observation of this Seventh day the first day of the Week Therefore I determine that we ground the keeping of the Lords day upon the fourth Commandment not upon the Letter of it for that were Jewish but upon the natural equity or moral contents of it We recede from the Letter as much as can be for they rested and we work on their Sabbath but to rest on the seventh day and to work on the seventh day cannot flow out of the same Statute For the moral equity we give all diligence to obey it and he that rejects the Lords Day or violates it transgresseth the Fourth Commandment because though neither that day there mentioned nor the determination of a Seventh day is absolutely commanded yet it is deduced out of it by consequence It is enough to have general and common Rules for Ecclesiastical Orders of time and place under the liberty of the Gospel And God gives us the light of discretion to draw out special rules at what time in what place with what Decorum and Order to meet together and if the governance of this discretion be not observed the Spirit of the Lord is disobeyed The Lord hath not given over his interest in our time but that we must allot some days and hours to his Service as it were for the redemption of all our time which is due unto him Neither hath he given us a vagrant liberty to serve him when we will but the out-goings of the Morning and Evening must praise him and we must often throng together at solemn times to worship him To go further though the Commandment hath not prefixt us a day for it prefixt no definite day but the Sabbath to the Jews yet it hath given us light what ought to be done by way of prudent Constitution viz. that we of the Evangelical Kingdom should grievously sin if we did not voluntarily devote as much time to the honour of God as the Jews were bound to do And then since the Lord did enforce why that day was enjoyned to them it was the day wherein the Lord did rest from his work and it was most pious that they should remember the benefit
of the Creation This doth unavoidably suggest unto us that no day of the seven is fitter for our celebration than Sunday or the first day of the Week when Christ rose from the dead he having dispatcht all the works of exinanition and given us manifest assurance and joy for our eternal redemption And so I fall into the next member propounded what ground we have for keeping this day weekly to the service of God in the Resurrection of Christ Some what have been heedless in their assertions have confidently delivered that the Lords day is clearly instituted in the work of Christs Resurrection nay that the Resurrection did apply and determine the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment to the Lords day These go so far that all proof and reason forsakes them It is true that our Saviours victorious rising from the dead was a good occasion which the Church took to celebrate this day but that act of his rising from the dead was not instead of a Law to appoint the day They are not the works of God but his words that institute Laws and where there is no Imperative act of the Law-giver there can be no Law to bind In six days the Lord made heaven and earth and all things therein and rested the seventh day yet that Cessation of God from his works had not made that seventh day in every week holy to the Jews without his pleasure signified to keep it So the Resurrection of the Lord doth not make the Lords day a solemn day for Divine Service in all our Generations by a compulsory Statute unless it were said in the Gospel and so it was never said you shall keep the first day of the Week holy in honour of the Resurrection Without some imperative word or sentence to declare Gods pleasure we cannot deduce a Law And if the Resurrection of itself without a Precept annexed had exalted it to be an holy day St. Paul would never have agreed with them that esteemed all days alike Rom. xiv Out of this perverse zeal to make a rule out of Christs works without a Precept some would not be baptized till the age of thirty years because Christ was baptized no sooner Others stood nicely upon it that Orders of Priesthood were to be given to none before that age and for no other cause but because he preach'd no sooner Infinite fancies would be multiplied if these ways were allowed for good Divinity It is safe and true to say that the day is kept congruously but not necessarily for the Resurrection sake And surely the Primitive Church could have made choice of no day of the Week more proper and convenient for the Religious Worship of God in honour of that principal Article of our belief and the corner stone of all the rest Ignatius calls every Sunday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Resurrection day St. Austin says Dominicus dies Christi resurrectione declaratus est ex illo coepit habere festivitatem suam Words which will bear no other construction howsoever some do torture them but thus that the Lords day is published by Christs Resurrection and from thenceforth began to be a Festival And again Domini resuscitatio consecravit nobis Dominicum diem promisit nobis aeternum diem The resuscitation of Christ hath consecrated for us the Lords day and doth promise us an eternal day yet there is no Imperative Edict from heaven to make it so but the light of holy discretion did guide the Church to appoint it so St. Austin hath clustered together many other admirable works of God done upon the first day of the Week in which God did make his first Creature of Light In which the Israelites went through the Red-Sea upon dry Land In which Manna did first fall from heaven In it was the first miracle of water turned into Wine Of the five loaves and two fishes In it Christ was baptized rose from the dead appeared often to his Disciples sent down the Holy Ghost and wherein we expect that at the last day he will come to judgment But the Resurrection is pre-eminent above all things else that hapned in it and that blessing though it do not ratifie a Law yet it is the occasion why this day is Weekly celebrated But I must tell you that one Analogy is ill prosecuted by some though it be vulgar in mens Writings That the Lords rest must be sanctified on what day soever it falleth that is not true unless there be a Law to enforce it therefore as the Sabbath was held holy when God rested from the works of the Creation so Sunday must be kept holy wherein the Son of God after his rising from the Grave rested gloriously from the work of our Redemption That last clause is falsly presumed for he made perfect our Redemption at his death and the price was paid for our sins not by his Resurrection but by his Sacrifice on the Cross and then he gave up the Ghost and said It is finished The day of the Passion therefore if you respect it as a resting from satisfying for our sins deserved to be made a continual Holy day but it was not meet to be kept with joy And mark it I pray you that we honour the day of his rising every Week rather than that of his suffering not because it is a better day or the day of his rest for he rested in the Grave and did spend his Resurrection day in much action but because it is the first day unto the Church of joy and gladness And a chief ingredient in an holy day dedicated to God is to rejoyce and be glad I proceed to the third thing to be inquired into what ground we have to keep the Lords day from any Precept mentioned in the Gospel either delivered by Christ himself or by his Apostles Certainly it never proceeded out of our Saviours mouth to appropriate this designed day to his honour and we must take heed to thrust Laws upon him of our own invention which he never imposed If such a thing had come from him no time had been fitter to express it than when the Pharisees cavilled at his Disciples for plucking the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath day Mat. xii Then he might have retorted that the observation of the Sabbath was expiring but he would constitute the first day of the Week to be the heir of the Sabbath Yet our Lord was so far from such a motion that whereas he reproved the Pharisees with much indignation Mat. v. and vi Chapters for their lax and dissolute interpretations of many moral Laws he corrects them often in the Gospel for being so strict in the rigid performance of the Sabbath which he would never have done if it had totally consisted of moral duties But about the definite appointment of a day Christ is silent for his Precepts in the New Testament are altogether touching spiritual worship And says St. Paul Carnal ordinances were imposed
many Ages that went before you I see a spectacle to be commiserated in this old Fabrick before mine eyes O that God would stir up many Nehemiahs among you to re-edifie his Temples and Churches which are decaied and impoverished Hearken to another Proposition In the Republick of the Jews in the Fiftieth year the year of Jubilee the Land which was sold away from any Tribe returned again to the Tribe and to his Family that sold it You see and I hope do pity it at least into how many Tribes the portion of the Church is divided how many Impropriations have almost laid waste the dwelling places of God God stir up a religious heart in many of you to imitate those Worthies who have bequeathed of their Wealth to regain unto the Tribe of Levi that which was so sinfully alienated from them Fifty and fifty years and more to them are run out and still our Inheritance is in the hand of Srangers and there will remain unless by your bounty you will repossess the Church again in those holy demeans which by divine right belong unto it It is worth your knowledge to give you notice how riches came first into the world says Abulensis in his question upon Genesis Cain and Abel and Seth burnt whole burnt-offerings in the open field upon the floor of the earth unto the Lord the great fire of those Sacrifices melted Gold and Silver in the veines of the earth lying near unto the Superficies and purged it from dross as in a refining Furnace which being congealed men found out the use of it and how precious it was and so by this mans conjecture Riches were first found out by doing Honour unto God and is it not most natural to repay them back again for Gods honour and to expect a better recompence The Text I confess doth most properly touch upon the Cleargy themselves upon the Priests of God Honorantes Honorabo they may claim it especially as their due for I told you the Message was delivered by an Angel to Eli the High Priest and to his Sons who had succeeded him in the Priesthood if they had been righteous Let the Sons of Aaron especially praise the Lord with the two Silver Trumpets Verbo vita their painful doctrine and their pious and peaceable life and then if all other honour fail they shall be thrice honoured when the Archangel shall call them out of the Grave with his Trumpet to the Resurrection of the Just If you will see an honourable Priest indeed read the Ninth Chapter of Ecclesiasticus It is the praise of Simon the Son of Onias What a declaration is there What a Description of his glory Beyond all the Eloquence that ever I met with in humane Oratory if the delight of the Subject do not deceive my judgment Such Honour in his Robes when he was cloathed with the perfection of Glory such Majesty in the manner of his Sacrificing such shouting with the Musick of the Temple how the High Priest stretcht his hands over the Congregation and gave them the blessing of the Lord with his lips then how the People bowed their face to the ground and worshipped the Lord lastly how Simon himself was honoured in the Congregation shining like a Rainbow in a cloud of dew They that will please themselves let them read it and learn both what it is for the Bishop to ravish the People with devotion and for the people to return all reverence and honour to the Bishop I know this Doctrine is against the stomach of a troublesom Faction in the Church If God and the King should give Honour unto his Priests every day they would grudge against it every hour No Honour or Lordship for that Coat say they as if because our Saviour called the Disciples the Salt of the earth we must be all set like the Salt at the lower end of the Table If Joseph were honoured in the sight of all the Egyptians that laid up food in Pharaohs Granary shall no honourable place belong unto them that lay up spiritual food in the Temple for the people of the Lord Can you turn this Text and say it was not preach'd to Eli Them that Honour me I will Honour Let me answer one Objection and so I will end this first part What is this that God saith Honorantes Honorabo he will Honour his Saints when such as have filled the Commonwealth with outcries and the Church with abominations are Rulers and Potentates in every Age When the rich Glutton is cloathed with Purple and fine Linnen every day they that make this complaint let them turn about and look where they are in Earth or in Heaven One asked Aesop why the Weeds grew faster than the Flowers in his Garden says the wise man Quia terra est horum Noverca illorum Mater The Earth is own-Mother to my Weeds and Stepmother to my Flowers So says Christ to his Disciples Doth the World hate you And no marvel you are not of the World your Conversation is in Heaven But will you have a Paradox indeed God never gave honours to a wicked and pestilent person Why but how came he to have them Is not all Honour from God Yes but they were not given to him Dati sunt Avo Proavoque dati seris nepotibus says Seneca they were given to the good Grandfathers or Forefathers that used them well or they are prepared for the Sons or Nephews who will use them better hereafter Mamercus Scaurus was a known Adulterer and yet the Romans chose him Consul not intending to give him Honour but forsooth his Father had been an excellent Senator Et indigne fert populus Romanus sobolem ejus jacere they were loth to disgrace his dissolute Son And surely God will much more respect the thousand Generations of them that love him and keep his Commandments for the honours which a dangerous person hath are not his own they are hatcht for the Children yet unborn that the promise may coextend only to the just Them that honour me I will honour All this while we have been in the first part of Pharaohs Dream among the goodly Kine and in a golden Harvest now we come to the second to the lank ears of Corn to the ill-favoured Cattle to those that cast Gods honour behind their backs till he cast them away into utter darkness for so says the other member of the Text They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Theodoret in his Ecclesiastical History having discoursed briefly upon the life of Julian the Apostate brake off abruptly and would not speak of his Successor the Christian Emperour Jovinian till he had begun a new Book and a new Treatise it were a great Trespass says he to write their Acts and Monuments upon the same Paper So I affected this method I confess to spin a new Web as it were and to frame a new discourse when I came to them who are the contemners of Gods
Christ had all effects and operations of grace and goodness from the beginning of the world The other answer is no man hath ascended into heaven but Christ but Enoch Elias and those that rose out of their graves and appeared in the holy City these were translated into heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 negatur non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one distinguisheth To ascend is to exalt himself by his own power to be translated is to be carried away by the power of God So Gregory says upon Elias his triumphant departure out of this world Ligitur in curru ascendisse quia homo purus adiutorio indiget alieno He is described to be mounted in a Chariot for it is not in man to reach up to heaven without divine assistance Wherefore I conclude this Point that nothing is repugnant to the dignity and priority of Christ but that Enoch was carried away to heaven in the hand of God And surely as the Apostle says the gifts of God are without repentance he took him not away from the state of corruption here to kill him hereafter As he saved him from death once and translated him so he will keep him from death for ever I confess it is strange to me that the greatest part of the Fathers should be of another mind but I confess the most ancient and the best part of them are of another mind Justin Martyr Tertullian and so downward to St. Austin Vivunt Enoch Elias sed reddituri ut morti debitum solverent Enoch and Elias are alive but the time is to come that they will return and pay the debt of nature and die Such learned judgments had carried me clear along with them but that the foundation upon which they built was evidently rotten The obstreperous Jews I dare avouch it laid the first stone of that error to oppose the true Messias that came to save them for whereas Malachi concludes the Old Testament with a Prediction that the next Prophet after him should be John the Baptist who should prepare the way unto Christ the Lord behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. The Jewish Septuagint would make the world believe that the very Elias should personally appear against the Apparition of Messias and have cogged in a word to that purpose Behold I will send Elijah the Thisbite before the great day of the Lord. Upon this Tryphon the Jew being put to it learnedly by Justin Martyr falls at last into this cavil for his part he knew not whether the Messias were come or no but he knew he should have no power or authority till Elias anointed him What doth Justin Martyr reply to this We have not wanted one Elias already meaning John the Baptist and we shall see the true Elias himself going before the second coming of Christ Thus the good Fathers of the Christian Church were mistaken by the fraud of that addition Elias the Thisbite And since they lookt for Elias to come again they thought it as expedient that Enoch his pew-fellow and associate should joyn with him in the same fortune Well this comes not yet home to our Point for the Jews did not meddle or make with that question whether Elias and by consequent Enoch should die when he came again No that was brought in by Christian Disciples who were much stunned with an hard place in the Revelation in Chap. xi The two Witnesses that should fight with the Beast and be slain by the Beast the two Olive trees the two Candlesticks standing before the God of the earth Some ancient Writers have distorted this place to Enoch and Elias that they should preach against Antichrist three years and an half cloathed in Sackcloth be slain in Jerusalem and rise again in the face of all people before the general Resurrection Venerable Bede was the first whom I light upon that expounds it of the two Testaments of the Scripture which openly convince all false Prophets by the evidence of truth In this latter Age divers adhere to that exposition among the rest the Learned and Princely Pen of King James of blessed memory I believe many of those excellent Fathers if they had lived in these times would have approved the ingenuous collection of a late Writer how nothing is proved but that certain men in the last days shall preach against Antichrist and his Idolatries Now two Witnesses are spoken of that is very few if they be compared with the great numbers of their enemies but Witnesses must be two at least according to the Law therefore by the two Olive trees and two Candlesticks are meant Zorubabel and Joshua in the Prophet Zachary By them that have power to shut heaven in the days of their Prophesie that it rain not Elias and Elisha by them that have power to turn waters into bloud and to smite them with Plagues when they will Moses and Aaron But none of those are meant definitively and personally but that the Lord shall have powerful Witnesses to preach against false Prophets such as these and not any colour of intimation to bring in Enoch who is not glanced at in any description of the Text Many Writers opposite unto us are confident that if any Witnesses come from Heaven to fight against Antichrist they shall be Moses and Elias and Enoch shall continue where he is for ought they know Nay their judgments are so various herein that some follow St. Hilary and say the Witnesses shall be Moses and Elias One Hippolytus thrusts in St. John the Evangelist because it is said of him Thou must prophesie again Some say as much for the Prophet Jeremy because the time of his death is unrecorded locus est pluribus umbris it may be we shall hear of more hereafter For they have a wild and large field to run in that will interpret Prophesies unfulfilled Now if our Adversaries will be so resolute in their curiosities to define who these Witnesses are and be angry with them that dissent from them they for their part have less cause to blame them who will be so confident in their Expositions about the Beast his number the City on seven hills c. For their part they are well requited though I commend neither the secret things belong to thee O God the revealed unto us And it is revealed to us that God took Enoch to himself not that he will return him to us again But as David said after the departure of his Child We shall go to him he shall not come again to us And the Lord grant us all an happy passage out of this life to live with him for ever AMEN O Lord help thy Servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud and make us to be numbred with thy Saints in glory everlasting through Jesus Christ c. THE FIRST SERMON UPON NOAH GEN. viii 20 21. And Noah builded an Altar unto the
Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered burnt offerings on the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet savour IT is impossible to choose a better method than Elihu did to find out wisdom Repetam scientiam meam à principio Job xxxvi 3. I will fetch my knowledge from far or from the very beginning But why do I call it Elihu's method When behold a greater than Elihu impugning the frivolous divorcements of marriages among the Jews which then had common passage doth thus overthrow them Ab initio non fuit sic It was not so from the beginning From which words I am bold to pronounce that this must be the leading rule of Divine Learning that all Religion must be tried and allowed from the first and most ancient Ordinations Now we have four Ages to run through upon that examination First for the Age before the Floud whereof Almighty God hath left us a very short and confused memorial I will not say as some do that the Church began when Enos was born to Seth although we find it written Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord Gen. iv ult Nor from the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel for the tradition of the Hebrews hath reason in it that Adam himself had often sacrificed before but the first hint of Religion in that Age is at this mark where the Lord made woman and brought her unto man which was a mystery of Christ and his Church Eph. v. 12. Secondly if you will know how the fear of God was first professed after the Floud it is written in my Text. Thirdly If you will be acquainted with the first institution of the Mosaical Law enquire for it at that time when God appeared in glory at Mount Sinai And fourthly If you will search to the bottom when the Law was quite abrogated and the Gospel was purely in force reckon from the coming down of the Holy Ghost at the Feast of Whitsontide Among these four I have wittingly light upon the second that I may entreat before you how Religion was first managed presently after the Deluge under the Law ot Nature For this seems to me to borrow somewhat of all the rest so that speaking of this one they will all be remembred The Mystery of Christ and his Church knit together is not here forgotten where the clean Beasts and the clean Fowls are laid upon the Altar The Sacrifices of Moses Law certainly were patterned by this example and the inspiration of the holy Spirit must needs be in the Sacrifices work from whence the Lord smelt a sweet savour If your attention be now ready to receive the distribution of these words into their several parts they may thus be divided into two principal branches here is the material part and the formal part the body and the soul of that Divine Worship which Noah performed unto the Lord. He builded an Altar unto the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered burnt offerings on the Altar that is the matter the visible body of his good work And the Lord smelled a sweet savour there is the invisible part or the Soul The material outward work contains these three things 1. That he offered burnt offerings 2. Of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl 3. Vpon an Altar which he built And Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings on the Altar In the formal part there are two things to be spoken of sensibile and sensus The sensibile that this Sacrifice had a sweet savour 2. There was a quick sense that took it and that is the Lords the Lord smelled a sweet savour And Noah builded an Altar c. I take the material part first in hand and this is the principal composition in the matter that Noah offered burnt-offerings to the Lord. This was it I perceive why Noah thought it long till the Floud were asswaged and sent one bird after another to learn if the waters were faln that he might come forth and worship him with an holy Worship that made both the Flouds and the dry Land As a conscionable man recovering from a perilous sickness which brought him even to deaths door thinks every hour seven till he present himself in the Church before the Lord that he may praise his name in the Congregation So the heart of this Patriarch had been so long full of meditations all those days that he was shut up in the Ark how he and his Posterity alone were preserved from the common Deluge that his desires grew restless and he sent forth the Dove three several times and no less to bring him better news if he might come forth and do his homage for the possession of the Earth upon an Altar of earth and that the Incense of his devotion might smoke up to heaven in Sacrifice Now I lift up this example before you to let you behold why we are born and for what use we have our Station in this Globe of Creatures The Lord hath opened our Mothers Womb to bring us forth into the light as he opened the door of the Ark to set Noahs feet in a large room We were shut up in a place which God had appointed for us till our passage was made into the world almost as long as he now we have our egress and the liberty of the Earth and Air. To what end all this What is appointed for man Which way should his business tend To enjoy the pleasures of the Age To extend our appetite over the abundance of all things which the earth affords To build and plant To be renowned and leave a Posterity behind us No that account is ill cast up for you may see in this condition of Noah that he and all that were with him were let forth of the Ark as a people then born again into a new world and the end was to offer up spiritual Sacrifices with a clean heart and while we have any being to praise the Lord. When the Angel had delivered the Apostles out of the common-Prison into which they were cast says he Go stand and speak to the people in the Temple all the words of this life So we are set at liberty from our Mothers Womb from that Ark to which we were committed for a time that we may go to the Courts of the house of our God even as Noah came abroad and took seisin of the earth immediately to make an Altar thereof and thereon to offer Sacrifice to the strength of his deliverance The question will be what direction the holy man had to worship the Lord with this kind of Service Lay it down for that which must be granted He that makes his own brain the model of his Religion shall have little thanks for his forwardness Ascribe unto the Lord the honour due unto his name honour of Duty and Precept is best that which is redundant and of
Creature rather than a worshiping of the Creator that he esteemed it was granted the Ceremonial Church because it could not be shifted For since it was to be feared that the Israelites had cast their eye upon those fond customs of the Gentiles and did affect to imitate them rather than they should sacrifice to false Gods God did permit they should sacrifice to his name to prevent Idolatry But I answer The most ancient and primitive use of sacrificing such as Noahs was in my Text is not so to be slighted For a bad thing by a toleration is not made half a vertue nay after toleration it still remains more than half a Vice Moses did allow a Bill of divorce for the hardness of mens hearts but that which is allowed for the hardness of the heart is yet a sin after the allowance the connivance of the Law cannot make any fashions of pride excusable and the farming out of Stews for Pensions cannot make Fornication venial But I pray you what Idolatry was suspicious in Abels time or at this time when Noah came new out of the Ark And yet even then Sacrifice was and was a sweet savour And the ground of the objection is mistaken for who can ever prove that the Children of Israel had learnt the formes of sacrificing in the Land of Egypt It is impossible For the Egyptians hated sacrificing and killing of Cattel wherefore Moses would not consent to Pharaoh to sacrifice to God in that Land Says he Shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes and will they not stone us And the Egyptians continued such long after Christ when the Satyrist fell thus upon them Nefas illic foetum jugulare capellae carnibus humanis vesci licet c. This hath declared that the Ordinance of Sacrificing from the beginning was not a bare toleration to divert men from laying their Offering upon the Altars of their Idols But to make all perspicuous we are to harken to the judgment of Irenaeus and St. Hierom that Sacrificing was an holy Worship which God did like and allow from the beginning of the world and for many Ages there was no prescription for the manner all holy men had their freedom for quantùm and quomodo for how much for when it should be done but when the seed of Abraham proved recreants and fell in love with the superstition and worse than superstition then and not before was the Levitical Law drawn out at large to command all the true Worshipers of God to follow that written prescription in all their Sacrifices That is when the Molten Calf was set up by Aaron and the People to provoke God when they offered burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings unto it the Lord saw it was time no more to leave them to themselves to offer indefinitely and indeterminately how they list but after that he bound them to those Levitical rules whereof Moses made an entire book Says God ye shall break down the Altars and Groves of the Gods of the heathen but the Lord will chuse a place for you and thither ye shall bring your burnt-offerings ye shall not do after all things that we do here this day every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes That is their ancient liberty in sacrificing after what manner they pleased was restrained after the adoration of the Calf for fear of further Idolatry Sacrifice therefore was not barely a toleration for avoidance of Idolatry in the first institution but properly had many parts of Religious Worship in it which are these First the mind of him that brought the offering was bent to honour God that he was the giver of all things and the end to which all things were to be referred Which reason the Schoolmen very well put into this Proposition Emanant ex fide sacrificia quae amplissimè de Deo sentit The Religion of Sacrificing proceeds out of Faith which esteems most devotionately of Gods excellent greatness and in the act of Sacrificing it is carried up to worship God in his invisible glory And surely some Litany or Collects of Prayers were said at the same time with such like Ejaculations in them as these We lay this gift on thy Altar O Lord to acknowledge that every living thing is thine this is a Testimony that thine is the Power and the Dominion over all things let every thing do thee service for thou art the Saviour both of Man and Beast the life of every thing upon earth is in thy hand but thou alone art immortal thou art the same and endurest for ever or such a form of supplication as came from Davids mouth when he offered for the building of the Temple Who am I and what is my people that we shall be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own hand have we given thee Now the rudeness of the old World I may say did require these lessons to be taught and repeated often in visible figures in lessons that might be felt as well as heard which were fit to be written not in ink alone but even in the bloud of Sheep and of Goats A visible sign is a fair mark of remembrance for them that are slow to learn They that distrust their memory will wear a gimmal ring nay a thread or a rush about the finger to bring business into mind which might have been forgotten And God distrusting mans memory put him into the way of sacrificing a good shore or support for such a use so by that object which did incur into all the senses the Divine honour was kept in an everlasting remembrance Well then in this very service wherein they brought somewhat unto the Altar yet it was the Lords purpose to give and not to take Nothing is left to him in an whole Burnt-offering no more than a Prince gets when his Subjects make Bonfires at or upon the memory of his Inauguration Julian the Emperor scoffing at all the Royal Cesars that had been before him gives Antoninus Pius the praise before them all for this saying He being askt by Silenus what was the end of his life and of all his actions he answered to imitate the Gods And wherein consists that imitation says Silenus Antoninus rejoyns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stand in need of little and to be beneficial to many that 's the true blazon indeed of the Divine dignity to want nothing and to do good to all Gods honour was recognized in sacrifice that was the end of it but our Goods and Oblations were nothing to him and therefore the elementary part of their gratitude was consum'd to nothing It was a Law not to be broken for the bloud of every Sacrifice to be spilt before the Altar and the fat to be burnt in the fire the bloud stood for the life which we breath the fat for the abundance of all increase which we enjoy now we ought to
Adversary But why should the Messias do all the Creatures that honour to be esteemed clean Hath God care of Oxen The Jewish Rabbi ventur'd not upon that question but Irenaeus answers it omnia purificata sunt per sanguinem Christi Christ hath set the Church at liberty to be debarred from nothing which God hath made and the uncleanness of the beasts is now accounted cleanness because our filthiness is washed away and made clean in his most precious bloud That which was commonly usurped among the Gentiles throughout all the world was branded for unclean and therefore Peter said Lord I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean but now the stile is chang'd and that which is most common is most clean Our riches are made clean by being scattered abroad and communicated in charity the Word of God is most clean and undefiled whose sound is gone forth into all Worlds Prayer and Preaching are best when they are performed in the Congregation and are most publick The holy Eucharist is cibus communis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Communion of the body of Christ and yet it is so pure a food that being eaten by faith it purifieth the heart and conscience above all things To the clean all things are clean but because we live in the contagion of the evil World and he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled and because our own heart is an impure fountain from which the streams of bitterness do continually flow Cleanse the thoughts of our heart O Lord by the inspiration of thy holy Spirit that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy Name by Christ our Lord. AMEN THE SECOND SERMON UPON NOAH GEN. viii 20 21. And Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered burnt offerings on the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet savour THis is our Sacrifice which we offer unto God at this time to preach of Sacrifice and Preaching hath a great similitude with the Law of the Peace-offering Deut. xxvii 7. Thou shalt offer Peace-offerings and shalt eat thereof and rejoyce before the Lord thy God So we are come together to speak unto the honour of God and to make our selves perfect in his ways and Testimonies to do them We offer unto the honour of our Saviour and eat of our own Offering which is the very condition of a Pacificatory Sacrifice Now that I may bring nothing unto the Altar but that which is pure and clean the Lord grant that he will circumcise my lips and put a right Spirit into my Meditations Among the Beasts such a one was clean that parted the Hoof and chewed the Cud upon which St. Chrysostome deviseth this interpretation to divide the Hoof is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to divide the Word of God aright in St. Pauls Phrase To chew the Cud is to ruminate upon sacred things to roul them in our understanding and to examine them maturely not to admit or swallow down Divine Mysteries rashly with slight and undiscoursed credulity That we may chew the Cud in this Fathers sense I take these words upon which I have lately spoken again into my mouth to make further proof what is contained in them And lest confusion should make all that is to be said unprofitable I will divide the Hoof after the condition required in a clean Sacrifice I have declared before that there are two principal branches to be noted in the Text the material part and the formal the body and the soul of that Divine Worship which Noah offered unto the Lord. In the material part again are two contents the Gift and the place which sanctified the Gift The Gift was an whole burnt-offering of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl the place was the Altar which he made and Noah built an Altar to the Lord. These are the visible body of the work The invisible part or the soul consists herein that the Lord smelt a sweet savour and that hath two members in it sensum and sensibile first the sweet Odour which did exhale from the Sacrifice what it was secondly a quick sense that took it the Lord smelled a sweet savour I did not dispatch all the material part when I first handled these words for accounting it a less fault to be abrupt than tedious I proceeded upon no more than the consideration of the bare Gift a Burnt-offering of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl At this time I have measured to go a little further without prolixity I shall speak God willing upon the place that sanctified the Gift and Noah builded an Altar unto the Lord and upon the quick sense which did apprehend the sweet Odour it was even he who is present at every part of clean devotion and delighteth in it the Lord smelled a sweet savour From whence I will meditate 1. That the time was but new over that God destroyed almost the whole World see how soon he is pleased after his great wrath and with what small seeking 2. When we do any thing well there is joy in heaven 3. Many pious offices which stink in the Worlds opinion are sweet before God 4. There is no greater encouragement to do well than that we are sure it finds grace in the eyes of our heavenly Master it is sweet in his nostrils and he will reward it Of these as I have divided them And Noah builded an Altar c. The whole Earth had been overwhelmed for a long space with the waters of the Deluge in plain terms it was all under malediction but Noah builded an Altar of the tuâ—f and mold of the earth and so brought it again into good use and service and sanctified the whole Element to the Lord. Truly God that revealed unto Noah that he should make an Ark and be saved in the common Calamity deserved to have an Altar erected at his hands that thereon he might adore his Saviour The Jewish Rabbines are so punctual in their curiosities that they go about to tell us the very Plot of ground on which this Altar was raised and many things more of great fame to happen in the same place I am sure you will say the report is very strange if it be credible But this Ben-Maimon adventures to say that it is a Tradition by the hand of all where David built an Altar on the Threshing Flore of Araunah Solomon built a Temple and Abraham made ready there to offer up Isaac and Noah built this Altar in the same standing when he came out of the Ark that there was the Altar where Cain and Abel did first offer before Noah nay that the first man did offer an Offering there soon after he was created and yet he goes further our Wisemen say Adam was created out of the very earth of the same place There is no mediocrity in these mens conjectures and therefore I give them over without commending them Wheresoever
in the Reign of Edward the Sixth the name of Altar is throughout retained to comply with the Figurative phrase of good Antiquity and the next Edition of Liturgies to keep an wholsom form of words as St. Paul says and to give no place to misconstruction doth every where throughout call it the Lords Table And in the Injunctions of another blessed Prince whereas by order of Law Altars were to be removed and Tables placed for the ministration of the holy Communion it is said saving for Uniformity sake there was no matter of great moment so the Sacrament was duly and reverently celebrated and that the holy Table in every Church should be set in the place where the Altar stood We dare therefore and will speak according to Antiquity in the Figurative meaning of Antiquity calling it an Altar but lest the Supper of the Lord should be called the external and real crucifying of our Lord again we neither dare nor will speak after the sense of the Roman novelty to call it an Altar but we come to that holy Supper to be partakers of the Table of the Lord. These are not times to offer Sacrifice as Noah did and therefore not to build an Altar but only to commemorate that Sacrifice after which all true Sacrifices ceased and all properly called Altars fell to the ground And so much for the place which Noah sanctified he builded an Altar to the Lord. I am past the visible part of this good work I come now to the invisible part the life the soul of it And the Lord smelled a sweet savour What this delicate Odour and fragrancy was which the Sacrifice did exhale up to heaven I will not defraud you of it hereafter but I will defer it now and make my self room enough to speak of that quick sense which did apprehend this sweet Odour the Lord smelled a sweet savour A remnant or portion of living things had entred into the Ark to escape those were given unto the new World to multiply but Noah would be more severe against the sins of the World than the Lord was he would not spare so much as the merciful God had spared Nay the Lord thought it enough to overwhelm the iniquities of men with water but Noah presented Burnt-offerings on the Altar to confess that the wicked works of the World deserved likewise to be consumed with Fire A most depressing humility in the good Patriarch a most mortified Confession This won far upon the Lords compassion and changed the rugged brow of Justice into the smiles of mercy and benevolence It grieved him before that he had made man now he rejoyceth for the Remnant alive that he had preserved them As a Kingly Expositor said upon the Lords Prayer the most generous are the most gentle and a magnanimous courage is never vindicative of a wrong never retentive The time was but even now over that God had destroyed the whole World and see how placable he is from what a little pittance of true devotion he smelled a sweet savour Before the King of Ninivey had worn out his Sackcloth nay almost before he had put it on God saw their works and repented of the evil which he said he would do unto them and did it not Zachaeus did but profess to make restitution of all things ill-gotten and before he had made restitution of one peny says Christ this day yea Lord what if thou hadst said this minute is salvation come into thy house Nathan charged David with most bitter offences Lord keep us from the like David begins to reply I have sinned against the Lord it was but a beginning surely he would have said more but Nathan takes him off at a few words the Lord also hath taken away thy sin thou shalt not die It is accounted so great a matter to follow and sollicit Christ thrice together like she of Canaan that she had her Garland for it O woman great is thy faith Our loving Father will wait long for our Repentance but we shall not wait long for his Forgiveness As the Historian noted in Romulus that inveagled the Sabines with such courteous usage Quod eodem die hostes cives habuit in the Morning they came against him with hostility before Evening he had incorporated them all into his City So the Lord upon good tokens of their humiliation looked upon some in the Morning as excluses from the upper Jerusalem and presently he enroles their names in the Book of life Upon that mournful cry of David Have mercy upon me O Lord according to thy great goodness Thus Cassiodor Vox est quae nunquam discutitur sed tranquille semper auditur It is a voice which is never examined never suspended or delaid never deliberated upon it penetrates far it will be heard and it shall be answered It meets with Gods mercy as quick as a strong Perfume comes to the Nostril and therefore his complacency so ready to forgive is called smelling a sweet savour nay let me not forget that the Hebrew read it Odorem quietis the Lord smelled a savour of rest All sensible smells be it the Rose among the Flowers or Cassia among the Spices must be often put to the sense and often taken away to please it hold them long to the Nostril and they will prove faint and tedious Nullus odor sensibilis est odor quietis bodily sents are not sents of rest and quietness but to shew that our gracious Father is suddenly reconciled and long pleased very tenacious of his mercy our Sacrifice our Prayers our Alms all our Christian Offices are odores quietis their smell stays long with God they are an odour of rest he never loaths or disdains them O Lord thy placable compassions are exceeding sweet ten thousand times sweeter than the Sacrifice of Noah It should be thus with all that will follow Christ like Lord like Servants but it seems it is not David had no heart to stand to any bodies courtesie but the good God's O let me not fall into the hands of men We smother rancour in our breast like fire in touchwood or like fire in iron touch and you shall feel it burn though you cannot see it We are the Children of Eve and our great Mother you know was made of a stiff and a crooked rib we take after it too much We must be courted rather like Mistresses than Christians be wooed be presented be supplicated and after all this may be scarce obtain so much kindness as a merciful man would shew to his Beast Like the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa his humiliation he stood at doors three days barefoot for an apparition of his Holiness and the favour which all this patience and expectation procured was to stoop to the earth and to have his neck trode upon by Pope Alexander the Third a disdain which the Royal spirit of Alexander the Great did never put upon Darius Some do keep such long distance from this Doctrin that I may
that Judith and her Maid should pray together every night make a conscience therefore what you condemn and reprove it out of judgment flout not at tolerable things out of levity There shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts 2 Pet. iii. 3. These say the ancient Expositers were the Gnosticks that traduced the faithful for living chastly and austerely to avoid the judgment to come and to inherit a Crown of life But what are these scoffers in the very word of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as play the child and no better Such were the Massalians that condemned Fasting I and Baptism because they said all good things might be brought to pass by Prayer And the Arrians that were ill affected to singing of Psalms because the Orthodox used it much and they that can find no just fault with the decent Habit that our Church-men wear and yet bespatter it with ill words because some of our Opposites do wear the like Livery Vestitum non nuditatem patris rident C ham laughed at the nakedness of Noah but these not at the nakedness but at the Garments of their spiritual Fathers judg between them and Cham then who was the greater scoffer Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are lovely or of good report the Lord applauds them and says they have a sweet savour if the detestation and scorn of evil men shall light upon such things their smell will be more aromatical to the Lord like those Allies of herbs that give a better sent when the foot doth trample upon them Anciently the wages of virtue was praise at least but the saying was it might be praised and in the mean time starve for cold now it may starve and be quite obscur'd it is so coldly praised but in the last annotation of my Text I will raise up the righteousness of the just to some comfort and expectation for we are sure our good works find grace in the eyes of our heavenly Father and He is present at them all as the sense is near at hand to that it smells both his presence and his liking and his remuneration are all in this Allegory that when Noah offered a clean Sacrifice the Lord smelled a sweet savour Nehemiah's eye was almost never off from the building of the Temple and the work was therefore rid out of the way with incredible expedition So the Lord having a present sense of every thing that man doth well it will make man if he have sense of Gods presence instant devout patient sow plentifully that he may reap abundantly It is a great motive to be watchful to say Dominus venit the Lord is coming what will you say then to Dominus videt Dominus audit Dominus odoratur the Lord sees you the Lord hears you the Lord smells your savour nihil illustre nisi coram in oculis Caesaris says Tacitus the mirth of the Roman Theaters was flat and their pomp nothing illustrious unless Cesar were a spectator so the spirit of a Christian would be obtuse and nothing so well excited to be dutiful but that we know all the thoughts words and works of piety are within the look of God and that He is such a looker on as St. Austin speaks of qui spectat certantes adjuvat invocantes whose aspect doth fortify and animate our strength like Plants that open themselves to the Sun and revive when his light is cast upon them Nay if you be in perfect charity ye dwell in God and God in you there can be no closer conjunction that 's nearer than the object to the eye or the sent unto the nose Yet this is more measure superadded that the great King of Heaven both knows our works and tribulation which is to smell our savour and He loves and likes it also He calls it a sweet savour If we had such a Master as Nabal was so crooked and unpropitious that none could speak to him or please him if we served under the Lord as Jacob did under Laban who had nothing but murmuring and persecution for all his fidelity then we might cross our arms and say we had lost our oil and our labour but our service is full of benevolence and encouragement Euge bone serve well done good and faithful servant every title chimes alacrity Duo cum faeciunt idem non est idem the same work being done by two several hands so much only shall take as comes from Gods chosen Ministers and so much as came from an unacceptable person shall be clean discountenanced Nazianzen tells a story that Gallus and Julianus the two Nephews of Constantius built a Temple where Mamantis the good Martyr had suffered so much as Gallus was the Founder of stood all that Julian was at charge for fell to the ground the wisest of men of that age concluded God accepted the dedication of Gallus but not of Julian Saul sacrificed at Gilgal and came under the ban of Samuel for doing it Samuel sacrificed at Bethlem and the savour was so sweet that it run down from Samuel unto the skirt of Jesse the Lord accepted of the offering and David was then anointed King in token of a sweet savour Finally the love and complacency of God is not a bare affection like mans amor Dei non in affectu sed in effectu situs est Where God is said to love or to smell some sweetness in a thing this is not to affect it theorically but to effect some good for it As Aeneas said of his followers Nemo ex hoc numero mihi non donatus abibit all that pleased him in his Games should have a reward for their labour so every one whose works exhale a sweet odour to God the dew of his liberality shall drop down upon them God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which you have shewed toward his name Heb. vi 10. The best sent that is though it have that in it which is truly sweet hath some vapor that is faint and fulsom in it so the best actions of men which are good verily and properly called have yet some ill adjunction in them or somewhat that is imperfect but that which St. Paul speaks of the works of charity may be referred to all the works of the light if there be a willing mind it is accepted according to that which a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. viii 12. More pressely to the cause In some sense all the creatures and their natural operations do please God but in a supernatural order nothing doth please him but that into which he hath put supernatural bonity and those effects He doth not only love and like but will remunerate them with this sober restriction bona opera non habent condignitatem ad proemium coeleste sed quandam ordinabilitatem That is good works have no intrinsecal worth or
value to claim eternal life but through the gracious promise of God they are ordained unto it From hence Valentia and some others of that part do paralogize that they may truly say that a condignity doth amount to the works of pious men upon the obligation of Gods promise I answer that the promise of God doth make our good endeavours remunerable with the Kingdom of Heaven not that the Promise changeth the work into a better quality than it hath of it self as to make charity of two degrees become charity of two hundred no for the Promise is but an extrinsecal acceptation but it must be some intrinsecal perfection infused into a good work that shall make it commensurable and worth the reward How then doth the Promise knit our works and the reward together why thus God casts his eyes upon his beloved Son in whom and for whose sake all those Promises are ratified Now this must altogether imply a great indignity and not any condignity in our righteousness All the favour which we obtein at Gods hands above the inherent bonity which is in our works it is meerly for Christs sake and for his obedience imputed to us Examin in the weight of a reason what I give to a man above the value of his labour for a friends sake doth it make the reward meritoriously due The terms cannot consist together If God should promise the same reward of glory to him that died for Christ and to him that gave a cup of cold water for his sake the reward upon this supposition is equally due to both and then these two agreeing in uno tertio that is in the same promise should be equal in goodness between themselves which none will admit whose judgment is not quite perisht To conclude then that Noah brought so sweet a gift to the Lord it came from a supernatural infusion that so directed him That which is inspired from a supernatural virtue doth please the Lord though it be much attainted with humane infirmity that which He is pleased so to accept in mercy He hath promised to remunerate it with eternal glory for Christ Jesus sake who is a Sacrifice of the sweetest favour and to whom be all honour c. THE THIRD SERMON UPON NOAH GEN. viii 21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour THe former Verse brings in this Text Noah builded an Altar to the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered Burnt-offerings on the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet savour A work well managed and the end was happy We compose our selves in this devout time of Lent especially to be very conversant in the service of the Lord Prayer Preaching Fasting Alms come into practice or should do more than at other times It were pitty so much labour should be spent to little profit so much business be driven to Gods glory and to his small content so much doing rather to our undoing than to our salvation I have chosen this Text therefore for a seasonable subject to be insisted upon how this frequent Worship and all the fruits of our Religion may be an odour of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God Whom if we do not serve the omission will make him punish us and if he be ill served the neglect will make him punish us All the works of Piety which the Church of Israel brought forth were quarrelled by the Prophets as much as the worst Profanations They fasted but for strife and debate They repented but with sullenness hanging down their heads like a Bullrush They gave Alms sounding them abroad to be popular They Prayed but honoured God with their lips and their heart was far from him They chanted sweet Musick but with no devotion Amos v. 23. Take away from me the noise of thy Songs for I will not hear the melody of thy Viols And they sacrificed but with so much ill relish as he that killed an Oxe was as if he had killed a man he that burnt Incense as if he had blessed an Idol The course of godly Service is easily mistaken It is possible for a man to do good and to mar it in the doing it is possible for a man to wander in the right way It is possible for a man to bring a Sacrifice to God and to give high offence because it hath not a sweet savour I regard your spiritual profit that you may have a reward for your work in the Lord for which I refer you to the record of old Father Noah when he began a new World and how far are we from that Not four years in whose Piety the Lord delighted and therefore called it a sweet savour And what sweetness was this that exhaled up to heaven The resolution of that question shall make up my whole Sermon and divide the parts And I answer to the Question Negatively and Affirmatively Negatively in two Points First That the integrity or well-meaning of Noah is not said to give a sweet savour till he added a Sacrifice Secondly That a bare Sacrifice cannot be commended for a sweet savour Affirmatively The composition of the sweetness consists in five particulars First In the devotion of Noah Secondly In the instauration of true Religion Thirdly In his thankfulness for his preservation Fourthly In his endeavour to procure God to be gracious to all succeeding Generations Fifthly In his faith that had an eye unto a better Sacrifice Here are many granes of Incense in this sweet savour which shall not trouble you with length though they do with multitude What the sweet savour in my Text doth mean I like the method best to assign what it is not before I resolve what it is First It will be allowed that there were Faith Piety Sincerity in Noahs heart all the while he was shut up in the Ark yet they are not commended for sending up a delightful fragrancy to God till he brought his gift unto the Altar The reason is that God useth to prove the integrity of the heart by some outward sign before he commends it Abraham sought the Lord with all his soul since he came out of Vr of the Chaldaeans yet his faith was not extolled till he was ready to offer up his only Son then he received the Promise that the blessing should abide upon him and upon his Seed for ever The life of a Slip is in the root but the sweetness is in the Flower when it opens So the Just doth live by faith but he shall be loved for the fruits of holiness Adam was created after Gods Image yet he required cloaths to cover him that he might not be ashamed of his nakedness So a good Conscience is an heavenly thing the likeness of the Holy Ghost yet unless it be cloathed with outward effects of obedience it may be ashamed of its nakedness Faith should say to God as Achsah did to her Father Caleb Judg. i. 15. Thou hast given me a South
Father Vasarenes as Agathias reports the Soothsayers foretold that his Mother should bring forth a Male child and he was crowned in her Womb his honour began the soonest I ever read of any and his guiltiness of sin and obligement to Gods wrath began as soon as the soul did inform the body If ever there were a Paradox in the world which Turks and Infidels hitherto have shamed to maintain it is the contrary to this doctrine that some iniquity is not the cause of perishing before the wrath of God Peribit in iniquitate it was ever good Divinity before Mariana and some Jesuits have perswaded desperate cast-aways to be saved by iniquity Saved did they say And for working abomination O are not the tender mercies of the wicked cruel St. Paul comforted our Mothers in their travel that the woman should be saved by bearing Children into the world they teach Reprobates to purchase a Saintship by murdering such whom the world is not worthy of Slaughter and bloudshed says our Philosopher Rhet. 1. lib. are not fit to make a question for discourse because it was never disputed by some either to be lawful or tolerable Nay in the second Eth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing can make Murder a good action much less Treason But this was the pity of a Philosopher and Alexanders Courtier not the stomach of a Jesuit and a grand Inquisitor If all the Saints should appear before God with the Instruments of their Piety Moses with the two Tables Aaron with his Rod David with his Psaltery Dorcas with the Garments of her Charity would you look for a Priest among them girded with a bloudy knife Or a Villain provided with fire and Gunpowder Who would look for it Except as when the Sons of God stood before the Lord Job i and Satan also was among them Nay heaven and earth shall pass away before Peribit in iniquitate become Apocryphal before the Wormwood of sin become the Palm of immortality Thus much for the cause in general but what offence his iniquity did give the sin of Achan will ask a peculiar and a larger trial You are deceived if you think it was but Larceny or greedy pilfering if a Thief steal he shall restore fourfold says the Law or seven fold says Solomon when stealing grew worse and worse that was the most of it But God saw more pernicious faults in Achan for his justice is not fidelis in minimo sharpest against small offences like the Popes Decretals which enjoyn a Priest forty days penance if he spill one drop of the Cup of the Lords Table and but seven days penance for Fornication But hainous was the fact of Achan first in scandal that an Israelite preserved so long in the Wilderness one that fought the Lords Battels and came always home with victory that he should be the first that trespassed among the Canaanites the heathen that would blaspheme the living God Secondly In disobedience that Joshuah his noble General made the head of all the Tribes by Gods appointment and Moses good liking and Eleazars Unction could not command to be obeyed Thirdly In faithless covetousness That since Manna did fall no more from heaven about their Tents the Lord did heed his people no longer every man must catch what come to his hands so Achan took the accursed c. Here is scandal to them that were without within themselves contempt of the Lord and his servant Joshuah in his own heart an inordinate desire to grow rich and sumptuous I do not make Achans fault the greater that Gods vengeance may be more plausible as St Austin spake of disgracing Cacus to honour Hercules the more Nisi nimis accusaretur Cacus parum Hercules laudaretur but remember my scope is all one with S. Pauls Interrogatories With whom was he grieved And to whom did he swear in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest If there be any delight in comparing sins as the Prophets use to dash the Idols of Jerusalem with the Idols of Samaria me thinks the first transgression of the Garden of Eden and the pleasant Land of Canaan almost another Eden are very semblable Eve walking in Paradise saw the fruits and her eye enticed her to take that which was forbidden and then she hid her self out of Gods sight So Achan treading upon the soil of Canaan saw a Babylonish Garment and his eye enticed him and he took it when it was forbidden and accursed and hid both the Garment and his sin from the sight of Joshuah But those are impudent crimes like the forehead of an Harlot that leave their memory to the evil world to be the first examples of transgressions cursed be that sin for it festers into scandal and unhappy shall be their end that fly from the Lord till they be left as a Beacon on the top of a Mountain and as an Ensign on a Hill says the Prophet Isaiah Many offences had never been committed or else brought forth by a worse Generation long after unless an evil Author had made the way known and easie for our corrupt nature therefore the first that gathered sticks and broke the Sabbath the Shilonites Son the first that cursed impious Gehazi the first that took sinful wages for the gift of God Ananias and Saphira the first dissemblers in the Primitive Church Achan the first Malefactor in the Land of Canaan these had their portion suddenly and drunk the Cup of Gods fury unto the dregs thereof I know not how fatal it is but since the small trenches of Rome were filled with too much bloud of Rhemus anon after they were digg'd massacres and persecutions have never departed from that unlucky building As the heavens are spread above us and seem to speak like the Statue of the King of Egypt In me quis intuens pius esto So the ground whereon we tread sometimes quakes and seems to be too holy to be defiled But if ever there were an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or incongruity of place to say unto sin exiforas this is no ground for sinners was it not the Land of Promise A small sin in Canaan was greater than a fornication in Egypt a trespass in Jerusalem is worse than an Idol in Samaria Had this deed been done in the Wilderness or in the paths of the Red Sea it had been more tolerable as one speaks of Pompeys obscure death in Egypt a thousand Leagues from Rome Procul hoc ut in orbe remoto abscondat fortuna nefas the offence had not been so notorious But the Angels themselves do wonder in a field of choice Wheat Vnde zizania Lord whence come Tares Will you resolve the Prophet Jeremy the same question He makes very strange fidelis civitas How is the faithful City become an Harlot To use the Lords own Sacrifice with the Sons of Eli for Riot and Extortion his own Supper for drunkenness with the bad Corinthians to employ the soyl of his own
in holy Scripture both how the Devil tempted Christ to see if He were God and how the Pharisees brought a case before him to try if He were Messias Cast thy self down from the Pinacle of the Temple says Satan if thou be the Son of God No that were cruelty against his own person and charity begins at home Then the Pharisees brought a sinner before him taken in adultery Joh. viii Their fingers itcht to be casting stones at her but he would not suffer them And this mercy proved him both to be Messias and the Son of God If men and Angels had kept good we had only known the friendship of God what it was and not his anger that was natural unto him We provoked justice violently and wrung it out of his hands And as the King of Israel said to Elisha when his enemies were inclosed within his power Shall I smite them my Father shall I smite them No says the Prophet but set bread and water before them So Justice said to God when we had transgressed Shall I smite them Shall I consume them at once O no says our Saviour but set bread and wine before them the Sacrament of his body and bloud which being eaten by faith will save our souls Christ wept but twice in all once over his friend Lazarus that was a natural grief and once over Jerusalem that sought his bloud that was a coelestial passion Nay though he went but a foot pace from one City to another to preach the Gospel yet he would needs ride to Jerusalem so to make haste to suffer longing till the work of our Redemption was finished St. Ambrose says he groaned as well to have the bitter Cup come quickly as to have it pass away and grew weary of delay till He had paid the Hand-writing which was against us There passed but a little time from midnight to midday betwixt his Attachment his Arraignment and his Execution as if his feet had stood upon thorns until his head was crowned with them Now tell me how you will look upon this Christ O ye malicious hearted whose feet are swift to shed bloud in Duels and fierce Encounters your hatred and his pitty your desire to destroy your enemies and his good will to recover them and bless them they savour undoubtedly of two sort of Serpents Christ is the Brazen Serpent lifted up who cured the infirmities of the People they are like the fiery Vermin which stung Gods Travellers in the Wilderness And when God was put to it to punish see how Mercy wrestled with Indignation Ah I will be avenged of mine enemies says the Prophet Isaiah he sighed because he must be wrathful as it was said of the mild Emperor Vespasian Indoluit quoties debuit esse ferox When he destroyed Sodom with an heayy wrath his justice came down but in slow drops of fire but his mercy is a full torrent like Jordan in a time of Harvest it brought Israel to a Land flowing with milk and honey for his mercy endureth for ever His goodness is swifter than Eagles for in six dayes he framed the World and all that is therein But he took forty days to destroy one City of Nineveh and then he spared it When he was first angry with man he did but walk in the cool says the Text to chide Adam but the Father of the Prodigal you know who I mean ran in haste to meet his Son and pardon him when he was yet far from him Finally it is written in Mat. xxv that benediction is from God Come ye blessed of my Father But malediction and cursing are not from him Go ye cursed but not cursed of my Father no such word in the Text he has no hand in that It was Gods Dialogue with Jonas Shouldst thou grieve that the Gourd of herbs is decayed and should not compassion touch me much more for this mighty People true Lord but if thou pardonest man for sin who in thy sight is but as a flower of the field less than the Gourd of Jonas should not man much more remit the offence of his Brother which is done against him I say much more it behoveth man and I will hold my self to that For first there is somewhat in our eyes that blinds them it is pulvis humanitatis the dust of our humane nature that makes us when we are the most sharp censurers of other mens faults not to discern truly the filth of their sin but the eyes of the Lord are bright as a couple of flaming Torches in the Revelation and offences appear before them more ghastly and tragical than our dim Candle half put out can enlighten us to perceive For instance hereof To morrow there is a Feast unto Jehovah says Aaron but the Lord could see that the Feast was luxury they rose up to play and the Sport was flat Idolatry So Saul could discern no harm in himself but a little foolish pitty when he spared Agag but the flaming eye saw it was Rebellion as foul as the sin of Witchcraft And is the Lord merciful to our transgressions when they cry unto him like the sound of many waters and should not Man much more acquit the World of every offence done against him for as much as we conceive not what is evil because our selves are evil Secondly among men a gift pleaseth the eyes and a recompence is a safe correcting of an injury but that were peccatum bis tinctum a sin died in scarlet to think to blot out sins before the Lord with the Fruit of our Body or with Rivers of Oil And can this God be reconciled then and should not man much more be merciful Beloved in the third place We are all full of our own infirmities Who knows whose turn it may be next to fly unto the Altar for a pardon Two that grind in the same Mill and two that walk in the same Field nay Barnabas and Paul fellow Labourers in the same Gospel may daily stumble one at another Our communication together cannot choose but be offensive as the earth licks up the water and the water devours the earth but who is the churlish Labourer to whom God cannot say Friend I do thee no wrong O can the just one have mercy upon us and should not offenders between themselves sinners unto sinners much more be charitable But there is one thing more in mercy than forgiveness alms and bounty to do good and distribute to be Oil and Physick to the wounded like the good Samaritan this is also a full Plume in the Wing of Charity like that other Mat. xxiii how often would I have gathered thee under my wings as a Hen doth her Chickens but thou wouldest not Beloved God hath suffered his fire to be unmerciful to sweep away the Habitation of the fatherless and innocent that our hands might build it up again And we shall not only build up houses of clay the reward
Brethren let your word be pure able to endure the fiery trial even for his sake who in the beginning was the Word and that Word was God As for such double tongues whose Heart is a Jew and their Tongue a Christian and for those aequivocating Jesuits who teach you to adulterate Truth in mental reservation let them have their portion with Sisera that told a lie and so spake his last for he warned Jael to deny him if any did enquire for him and then says the Text he slept and then he perished So much hath been spoken for these Celestial Graces Truth and Mercy considered in disjunction but as the Wings of the Cherubins touched one another in the midst of the House so there must be a copulation of these spiritual Blessings for Mercy and Truth are such a Pair as will either lodg together or leave together There was such a similitude of nature between the Twins of Love Eros Anteros that at once they wept and at once they smil'd they fell sick together and they recovered joyntly Such are the Twins of Grace Truth and Mercy she that would have them cut in twain and parted is an Harlot she that cries spare and preserve them whole she is the Mother and must enjoy them Look upon them in a state of policy Mercy without Truth is a sweet shower dropping on the barren sands quite spilt and no blessing follows it Truth without Mercy is extreme right and extreme injury Mercy without Truth is a dangerous pitty Truth without Mercy is not verity but severity Consider them towards God and Heaven and then most unfit it is that either should be alone A Faith of meer Protestation without Good Works such is Truth without Mercy it might have been in the Gergasens Swine for such a Faith is in the Devil says St. James and therefore might have been in the Gergasens Swine to bear him company and all the integrity of the Heathen all the goodness that Socrates could teach because it is not in Christ such is Mercy without Truth it comes tardy like Esaus Venison and the Blessing is remov'd upon the head of Jacob. St. Austin compares them thus A Pagan living without blame before men is a man with his eyes open in the dark midnight and he that professeth Christ and not mercy but is sold to commit iniquity is one with his eyes shut in the clear day and he sees as little Such an unadorned Faith is like a fair Shield which the Tyroes among the Romans carried to the battel it is a piece of Harness indeed as Faith is called by St. Paul but it makes no shew it hath not the imprese of any Stratagem upon it Our holy Life and conscionable Conversation must be engraven upon our Faith like the Posie of the Lover upon the Tree Crescetis amores as the bark grew so the letters waxed bigger if the one prospered the other thrived as well For the whole Jury of our Creed the twelve Articles will not save us unless the Law be on our side Though not altogether that is impossible yet by endeavour and pious industry to acquit our selves of many trespasses The sum of all is Two are better than one I know that some rely too much upon the Example of the Penitent Thief the eyes of whose Faith were not opened until his hands and feet were pierced with the nails of death but look a little better into his Practice and you shall see that he prov'd himself so good a Christian in the last hour as if he had been reprieved from the Cross for another Assizes First he reproved the scorner Secondly he preached Moses Dost thou not fear God Thirdly he confessed his guiltiness But we suffer justly Fourthly he justified the innocent This man hath done nothing amiss Fifthly he consented to the power of the Magistrate We receive the reward of our deeds Sixthly he acknowledged Christs Divinity as he did his Humanity before saying that Heaven was his Kingdom Lastly he prayed and believed Lord remember me in thy Kingdom See what a Swarm of Bees hang upon his lips in a few words lest in this one Example the mercies of Christ might be made an occasion to excuse the mercy of man But Faith and Truth are our Wedding Garment Good Works and Mercy are the Broidering upon it Haec est tunica filii mei this is my Sons Coat says the Lord and the Spouses Cloathing is of wrought needle-work Psal xlv Let them hear of this especially who by their Profession are the Pillars of Truth in the Church and should be the Censors of sweet Perfume also let them look to it that these Wings of Truth and Mercy be equally poised that their knowledg preach continually in their holy life lest it prove with us as St. Austin spake of Antony the Eremite that grew exceeding devout when all the Cloisters were idle and lascivious and the Eremite being so ignorant that he knew not letters rapiunt indocti regnum coelorum literati excluduntur the great Clerks studied for Heaven but the simple People took it by violence and possessed it What should I speak more If Man be a little World and his Soul a great Heaven in it then these are duo magna luminaria Truth is the Orient Star of the Understanding and Mercy is the bâ—ightness of the Will like the Sun and Moon in the Firmament like the faithful Witness in Heaven But take heed that the Stars themselves be not swept away from the Sky with the Tail of the Dragon take heed lest like the dastard Ephramites being harnessed and carrying Bows we turn our backs in the day of battel for so it follows in the fourth part of my Text there is a deserant Gods Gifts may forsake us and let him that standeth take heed lest he fall Mercy and Truth they may forsake us What will some man say our Justification our Righteousness in Christ may that forsake us Superbia quo ascendis Why doth the presumption of man move such angry questions But Beloved I have no such uncomfortable Doctrine at this time to deliver I wish it prosperously that the head of the Serpent may be bruised that there be no leading the free-born into Captivity and no complaining in our streets But Sanctification shakes her leaves sometimes like the accursed Figtree Mercy in King David spilt the bloud of an innocent truth forsook truth with a curse in the mouth of St. Peter Now every quality may cease to be and grow to nothing three ways as it is distinguished in Philosopny 1. Defectu firmae inhaesionis seu radicationis 2. Admotione contrarii 3. Desitione subjeoti I will explain them in order First I say defectu firmae inhaesionis When Truth and Mercy want root and have no hold to stay long As a luke-warm heat quickly evaporates out of the water if the fire be not maintained An Inceptor that proceeded not was a fool among the Galatians and with
a square body throw it as you will it lies flat and firm every way it keeps the same decent posture And so much for the second inducement which Jonadab had to ordain this Vow of Tabernacles and abstemiousness it was for the better preparation against Captivity In communi fame atque obsidione quà m utilis fuit frugalitas c. When Famine and Wars were in the City great advantage had the Rechabites above other men by their temperance and hard lodging in Tents says Calvin upon this place Lastly Jonadabs counsel was as an Oracle of God to frame such a Vow at this season Because the riches of the Land did exceedingly multiply above all Nations from the Reign of Solomon and to profess so much contempt of the world when all Jury was like a rich Exchequer full of Silver and Gold what an honour was this to the Rechabites that they durst be poor when all the Kingdom surfeited of plenty Quid habere nobis turpe sit quaeris Nihil says the Poet. Nothing was shame-worthy in that place but to be poor and have nothing Yet nothing they possess but such a quantity of substance as might best serve them to praise the Lord. Cattel they had and Lambs they had wherewith the Priests might make attonement for their sins and the sins of Judah Goods and substance which was not useful to the Temple of God to them such Riches were Apocryphal Some bring Censors of Gold some sweet Odours to the Altar They have no such Offerings But as it was said of Epictetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 None so poor in the riches of this world none so rich in the expectation of the next world The children of the true Church are compared to sheep coming from the shearer Cant. i. Whereupon says one Christianus est ovis detonsa hoc est omnibus mundanis spoliata A Christian is a sheep that stands dumb and is willing to part with all his Fleece and to lay it at the feet of the Shearer The Lord is merciful calcantibus terram says the Prophet Isaiah to them that spurn the earth From whence St. Austin raised this Meditation Est iis misericors qui amore coelestium terrena contemnunt He is merciful to men who trample the riches of the earth under feet and meditate upon the Kingdom of Heaven For as the Fathers observe upon St. Peters words Depart from me for I am a sinful man that such a depart was a Fishers hook to draw Christ nearer unto him So for these men to plant neither Vine nor Olive nor to so Seed in the Canaan beneath was to purchase the holy Paradise of happiness which remains for ever O let me oppose the life of these men to the covetous death of many in our Age that put out money upon Usury after they are buried like him in the Poet having his deaths wound Terram ore momordit he would carry his mouth full of earth away with him as if he should not have enough in his grave Had not the Israelites been too richly furnished with golden Ear-rings they had never had stuff to make an Idol there had been no Calf in Horeb. Had not Hezekiah been exalted with the pomp of so great a Treasury the Messengers of the King of Babylon had not known the riches of the Kings Palace an Army had not been brought against the Kingdom Methinks says Seneca the Romans should tremble at nothing more than to see Plate in their Streets and Jewels in their Chains and Gold upon the Posts of their doors Cogitet Romanus has apud victos se reperisse When they were first Conquerours they had none of these but they found them among their vanquished Captives So let Judah remember that they found their Gold and Silver among the Canaanites who were slain and rooted out And are they not fair baits to fall again into the hands of Conquerours Now alas says Synesius no man can think he is enthralled in the Fetters of Captivity as long as his Fetters be of Gold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are not wary of mischief being in a glorious misfortune Had they been all as wise as the Rechabites their abundance had not dazled the eyes of their enemies but now like Fowls which shed their feathers about their Nest they betray themselves by their own superfluity I have read of an Advocate of Rome that professed himself to be able to teach any man the Law to save his Lands from all question that he might be disquieted by no impleadment I do not value that cunning says Seneca but teach me to lose all I have and not to be moved with the misfortune and then I will pay you for my learning In like manner had Jonadab left a great volume of Precepts behind him how to teach his Kindred thrift and husbandry had he bequeathed to them the magisterium of the Philosophers Stone why all this labour had only made them worldly and avaritious But to institute a course and to put them in practise how to want and suffer scarcity as many as walk in that rule may have bodies that can live without this world as they have souls that can live without these bodies And so much for the three laudable inducements unto which Jonadab did respect when he made his Children vow a Vow unto the Lord. 1. It was expedient for strangers 2 It was a Cordial to comfort them in the Captivity of Babylon 3. It was an occasion both to withdraw the fuel which kindled the love of the world in their souls and it extinguished the envy of their Adversaries who were about to subdue their Country Now I follow my own method to handle the second consideration of this Vow that these circumstances were not only well foreseen but that the conditions of the thing vowed are just and lawful Not to tumble over all the distinctions of the Schoolmen which are as multiplicious in this cause as in any of Vows some are singular in uno individuo which concern one man and no more as when David vowed to build an house unto the Lord this was not a Vow of many associated in that pious work but of David only Some are publick when there is an unity of consent in divers persons to obtest the same thing before the presence of God And such was this Vow in my Text it concerned the whole Family of the Rechabites Again some Vows are private not in regard of the persons which may be numerous but in respect of the place some Vows are solemn when the protestation is made unto the Church So was not this Vow it was not solemn it was no Church matter To say that the Rechabites lived about the Temple and were a kind of Monks I know not what could be spoken more ignorantly by our Adversaries and yet it hath been written in defiance of our Religion None lived about the Temple but Priests and Levites except some great Prophetical Spirit was discerned in
with the Silk-worm who may live longer in the dust of the earth Why he that is sanctified in Christ shall bequeath his body for a time to the dust but his spirit shall return to unspeakable glory Therefore envy not these Silk-worms which shall flourish for a short time perhaps for less than a month perhaps for less than an hour and then they shall howl and thirst for ever Say thou with Philip Ostende nobis patrem sufficit let these things pass away shew us thy Father and it sufficeth And as faith is sure of Promise so it is hot in Prayer tantò instantior in prece quantò certior in promissione because God is sure to give I will be sure to ask If thou wouldest ask of me says our Saviour to the Woman I would give thee living water The Holy Ghost is donum ex dono given to us not at the first hand but because Christ is given the gift of another gift because God gave his only Son unto the World As it is the natural condition of water to ascend as much as it descends so Christ descended with this grace of living water unto the earth therefore it will ascend again from the earth with us where Christ is gone into Heaven Behold I have set before you in the former verse and my Text vile waters and precious a terrestrial Globe upon which you might study the vanity of things beneath and a celestial Globe to study heaven and the things that are above The former verse begins like Solomon's Ecclesiastes Vanity of vanities and all is vanity This I end as the same Book doth The end of all is fear God and keep his Commandments Will you mind earthly things or is your conversation in Heaven Philip. iii. 19. Lo the Fountain of righteousness is open all that thirst by faith come and drink especially in the Supper of the Lord with humbleness and because we have not a Pitcher to draw and none can help us but Jesus Christ let us turn unto him in Prayer that he would open our mouth wide and fill it with his hidden grace that we may never thirst after the delightfulness of our former sins AMEN THE FIRST SERMON UPON JOHN vi 11. And Jesus took the Loaves and when he had given thanks he distributed to the Disciples and the Disciples to them that were set down and likewise of the Fishes as much as they would YOU can turn almost to no part of the whole Gospel but you shall light upon a Miracle They are well called the bright Constellations which shine in the Orbs of the New Testament Yet all Stars are not of the same Magnitude have not the same influence so the Miracles of our Saviour have not all the same remarkable lustre work not all alike upon the understanding and the conscience My Text is the main share of one that hath no little excellency in it Perhaps I may prefer it before the most or equal it with the best But I revere the Word of God I dare make no such comparisons This I may affirm preserving modesty and observing safety that it is of great conteinment It made the Divinity of Christ most conspicuous his power above Moses and the Prophets notorious and his tender compassion most gracious The Disciples were much edified by it the People greatly satisfied and which is the aim of all God was highly glorified It is not usual with our Saviour to upbraid his Apostles with his mighty works yet he did with this Do ye not understand neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets ye took up Mat. xvi 9. It is not usual for all the Four Evangelists to enter the same Story into their sacred Writings yet their Pens have all concurred to recite this miracle Commonly that which is recorded by one or two is omitted by the rest Or if three have endited the same thing the fourth leaves it out saving about the Passion and the Resurrection which are the Pole-stars of our faith and this wonderful multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes the Spirit of God hath inspired them all to make it most famous being so unanimously represented in all the Gospels Thirdly It is not usual to have the wonderful works of Christ anticipated in heathen Prophesies But the Sibyls have prenuntiated in express terms all the circumstances of this miracle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that the Son of God with five Loaves and two Fishes should feed five thousand in the Wilderness and twelve baskets should remain of the Fragments You will say perhaps this is a little too explicite in all points for a Prophesie It hath been doubted of I confess in all Ages And he was a learned man that thus censured these Sibylline Oracles Quo apertiora sunt eò mihi suspectiora The more clear they be the more to be suspected Yet Lactantius had no such jealousie of them but admires them that they so exactly foretold all the occurrencies of my Text. Yet in case those Verses were not the Sibyls but an interlineation of some Christian Poets it argues strongly that the Interliner thought this Miracle to be a glorious note of the Kingdom of our Saviour Finally It is not usual with the Jews to bear a Testimony to our Lord that his works did shew him to be the promised Messias Some things that he did made them say that he was Elias or John the Baptist or to defend him that he was a good man Other actions forced them to a demur When Christ cometh will he do more miracles But their judgments were quite captivated with this deed for they determine upon it in the fourteenth verse of this Chapter This is of a truth that Prophet which should come into the world This Scripture therefore made so notable by the finger of Christ by the Pen of all the Evangelists by the Oracles of the Gentiles by the Confession of the Jews this is it which I propound unto you and out of these particulars I shall draw forth my doctrine upon it Here are two things chiefly to be attended a preparation to a Miracle and the Miracle it self The preparation is Bodily and Ghostly Bodily in accepit Jesus took the Loaves and likewise the Fishes Ghostly in gratias egit or benedixit he gave thanks The Miracle consists 1. In the distribution that was Christs Act He distributed to the Disciples 2. In the subdistribution that was the Disciples Office The Disciples distributed to them that were set down 3. In the reception that was the Peoples part They did eat and were all filled they had as much as they would A better preparation to a Miracle cannot be imagined than this accepit If Jesus take the work in hand look for a round dispatch For the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand Joh. iii. 35. Had he laid his hand upon it or but touched the bread vertue would have gone out of him
Jerusalem our Mother hath indulgence to appoint all external administrations of holiness It is no small ease as I have shewed it to be disingaged from the incumbrance of the old Ceremonies but that which comes next in order is so essential to our happiness that from thence we may say truly and from nothing else the Lord turned the captivity of Sion The time is past when salvation was offered to them turned the captivity of Sion The time is past when salvation was offered to them that did the works of the Law O those were days of bitterness and desperation the Covenant is renewed unto us in another form through the promise of mercy to them that believe in Jesus Christ Now Sin that great Tyrant shall have no dominion over us for we are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. vi 14. Mark the two Covenants and the severe exaction in the one and the mild temperature of the other the one comes blustering like the whirlwind and breaks down Mountains before it the other is the still voice which beats sweetly upon the ear of Elias the one hath nothing but dayes of trouble and reproach the other is a continual Jubilee of rest and peace The Law may be compared to those wretched men that work at the Oar in a Gally they strein their sinews and their strength to plow the waves and yet they meet with such strong tempests that they cannot recover the Haven but the Gospel is a Ship whose sails are spread with faith and hope and the winds of mercy blow them fairly on that the Passengers are carried as in a dream to the Port with speed and tranquillity Hear them both speak Rom. x. 5. for that 's the clearest Scripture I take it for their distinction The righteousness of the Law saith the man that doth these things shall live by them but the righteousness which is by faith speaketh on this wise if thou shalt confess the Lord Jesus thou shalt be saved The man that doth these things shall live but the Lord looked down from Heaven and found no such man upon all the earth Be the imperfections in our manners that are not scandalously culpable yet the law hath not pardon for them that which must be weighed in Gods Balance it must not want a scruple Correct the wandring of your eye bridle your tongue watch your heart â—r servent in prayer be vigilant against tentations yet there is that repugnancy to the Law that unruliness in this body of death that the evil which you would not you shall do and then the Law turns to be that Adversary in St. Matthew which delivers you over to the Tormentor till you have paid the utmost farthing This was not only a bondage under a churlish Nabal that would not be satisfied with such diligence as a Servant could perform but the condition of a beast whose qualities cannot excuse him totally but that sometimes he shall be spurred and beaten Yet none were ever born that can impeach the Law of rigour no not in the equity of humane reason if you will examine them from first to last it will come but into the Margent of our Enditement that our actions have not been so pure and holy and fervent as the bounty of the Divine goodness towards us requires turpitudes of life abominable desires of the heart bruitish intemperance scalding malice unclean passions will fill up our accusations O what a perturbation what unquietness of consciences what a hell of fear it is to know that our Arraignment is just and to have nothing but the Law that inexorable letter of condemnation to comfort us Imus imus praecipites we should feel our selves tumbling down and see no bottom Sin is so ponderous that if the Ship had not been lightned of Jonas it had sunk the Heaven could not hold the Devil and his Angels from falling the Earth could not support Core and Dathan but it is more massy and leaden upon the conscience than in all the Elements What need I to tell you that God did give the Law in an angry form upon Mount Horeb or that he delivered it to Moses a Servant to bring to note the bondage of the Letter I have looked back enough to this let me bring you from this Ergastulum this Prison of Works into the Courts of Gods House into Jerusalem above which is free Jerusalem at the time when this Epistle was written to the Galatians was in bondage two ways in Civil servitude under the Romans in Legal servitude under Moses a miserable case that they should not feel the oppression they were in under Moses car'd not for a Deliverer nay did as much as in them lay to curse their Deliverer Christ that came to set them free they used him as a Servant in crucem servus they crucified him which was a most servile punishment Thus their stupidness in their bondage did make for our freedom and thereby was consummated the Covenant of Faith that we might believe in him who died to be a propitiation for our sins O what a pleasant condition it is what a free what a Princely state of life to wait upon Gods mercy and to be subject to the Ordinance of Faith Upon it depend Pardon Forgiveness Reconciliation Grace Adoption of Saints the Inheritance the Kingdom the Promise of everlasting life With how much diffidence did the Lawgiver intercede in the behalf of Israel Forgive the sin of the people if not blot me out of the book of life To supplicate forgiveness is a message sent from Faith but the Law plucks it back with this distrustful Omen if not if there be no hope then is my confusion before me for ever This is noted in the Generation of Ismael the Son of the Bond-woman Says Sarah to Abraham Go in to Hagar it may be I may obtain children by her This is the Law which despairs and doubts whether God will be gracious but Faith never speaks so faintly looks for no denial how unworthy soever to obtein its Petitions Publicans invite Christ home Adulteresses wash his feet Thieves recommend themselves to be received into his Kingdom and all this not because they are free from the Law but from the Covenant of it which is the bondage of the Law Had their conscience misdeemed that they must be saved by Works they had run away like Bond-men from an austere Lord their tongue had been tied that it durst not wag but light shining in their hearts revealed unto them that Jerusalem was free that the Inheritance came by the Promise of Grace they flock unto him who is the Mediatour of a better Covenant who vindicates his Portion from the bands of Sin and Death and Hell and hath given power to his Ministers to bring those that seek for mercy out of the prison and servitude of Satan for whatsoever they loose upon Earth shall be loosened in Heaven Hold here and stir not from this rock put not the point to
the old Greek Proverb goes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in every Pomgranat there are some corrupt kernels so there are some wicked ones in every Church 4. As the seeds of the Pomegranat are of a bloudy colour so the Robes of the Apostles and others the best kernels of the Church were red in the bloud of Martyrdom but made white in the bloud of the Lamb. The sum is in the whole Pomgranat in the lump we are the Body of Christ but take us one by one and consider us as sometimes we were darkness and now light in the Lord and that this fire was kindled in us all from the Altar of Christ Jesus and by them that minister at it so Jerusalem which is above is the Mother of us all For the most proper work of a Mother is to bring forth Children and the most proper work of a good Mother is to bring them up And because of these two Solomon in the same Canticle hath used this appellation which my Text doth I will bring thee into the House of my Mother that is the Church And though he were the greatest King one of them that ever the Earth saw yet it is no disparagement to him to call that his Mother which God calls his Spouse I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and faithfulness Hos ii 19. The Bridegroom hath taken this Bride unto him and their Offspring are multiplied and happy are those and none but they who are the legitimate Children of this sacred Marriage The Font of Baptism is the Womb of the Church the Spirit that moves upon the waters to sanctify them is the Father and from these two are brought forth the Sons of the Most High that shall dwell in glory for evermore And because of this indissoluble connexion between the Holy Ghost and this Spouse who is always present with it St. Austin notes that she must not only be a fruitful Mother in abundance of issue but also a pure Virgin because she knows none other Husband Ecclesia virgo est parit Mariam imitatur quae Dominum peperit the Church is both a Virgin and a Mother like the Mother of our Lord although a Mother yet of unquestioned virginity St. Ambrose runs more division upon the same string on this sort Sancta Ecclesia immaculata coit◠foecunda part◠virgo est castitate mater prole the holy Catholick Church keeps her Bed immaculate and yet her Offspring is innumerous a Mother by perpetual propagation and yet a Virgin by perpetual chastity Parit nos non dolore membrorum sed gaudio Angelorum nutrit nos non corporis lacte sed Apostolorum she is delivered of us with no pain or sorrow but with the joy of the Angels in Heaven she feeds us not with the breasts of a woman but the Milk of the Apostles which is better than Nectar to the Soul and the Manna that comes down from Heaven It is yet more admirable what God hath wrought upon this Jerusalem by demonstration of the Spirit and of power We are the dispersions of the Gentiles that are now the People of the Lord we were as a Strumpet that went a whoring after Idols and God hath betrothed this Church unto him and made it an unpolluted Virgin I deny not but lament it that there are some Christian stations affected towards Idolatry which renews the infamy of our ancient whoredoms But whatsoever our Mother is now our Grandmother was chaste and pure in Hegesippus dayes Take it in that sincerity of practice and Doctrin and then you may see the mighty works of Christ to turn an Harlot into a Virgin and a Virgin into a Mother Magna est sponsae singularis dignitas meretricem invenit virginem fecit says St. Austin this is the great and singular dignity of the Bride which hath prepared her self to meet the Bridegroom that comes from Heaven he hath changed her whoredom into virginity and multiplied her virginity into foecundity that she is the Mother of us all You see the Mother through whose Ministery every Christian is born again of water and of the Holy Spirt neque parcit unigenito pro sic genito the Father did not spare his only begotten Son that we might be thus begotten But is there no more that belongs to a Mother than to bring forth yes says Clemens Alexandrinus and I quote him because he speaks of the Church every thing that brings forth is obliged by nature to supply nourishment unto that which it brings forth I am not so rigid but I will grant that in cases of weakness and divers accidental indispositions that which nature doth ordinarily urge and provide for may be dispensed but this rule is born with every Female that which is so fruitful as to be a Mother should be so careful as to be a Nurse And so is the Church Not only Moses the Law-giver carried the People of Promise as a nursing Father carrieth his Child Num. xi 12. by tenderness by ordering their steps by breeding them in good Precepts and Laws but the Apostles were much more laborious to feed the Christian Proselytes with the Word of life that they might grow up from grace to grace unto the stature of perfect righteousness I have fed you with Milk says St. Paul to the newly converted Corinthians 1 Cor. iii. 2. and he suppeditated stronger meat to them that could digest it And for all manner of sweetness and forbearance he behaved himself gently among the Thessalonians as a Nurse cherisheth her Children 1 Thes ii 7. Every Rule and Doctrin which is delivered sincerely and in truth is Milk to those that thirst to drink of the Well of salvation Honey and Milk are under thy tongue says Solomon speaking of this Mother and Nurse Cant. iv xi Milk is a pleasant food so is the Gospel to them that have a spiritual taste there is no Aloes or bitterness in it but to them that have a carnal palat It is Antalcidas his answer in Plutarch to one that asked how he might speak that which might be accepted says he Si loquaris jucundissima praestes utilissima if you will deliver that which is most pleasant and season it with that which is most profitable so that which is sucked from the Breasts of this Parent arrides the taste with sweetness and it is as profitable as sweet and called Milk because it is a most growing nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Naturalists as they were accounted plain and innocent above all other People so they did excel for health and magnitude of body Be admonished therefore that such Christians as wax not better and better take some other thing for their nourishment than the Milk of the Church which doth not prosper in them If you do not grow and add virtue to virtue you have chosen a Nurse with dry breasts and whose complexion is diverse
denial but that they have brought the Point to the true Touchstone I quoated somewhat out of St. Ambrose before that the bodies of some who gave up their life for the Faith were interred in the Church under the Lords Table which with reference to the representation of the Sacrifice of Christ Crucified is figuratively called an Altar St. Austin confirms it There let their dead corpses be interred where the death of our Lord is continually celebrated And in later years when they studied for increase of Ceremonies every principal Church under the Pontifician command hath a Vault under the Altar where the supposed Reliques of the Martyrs or the Reliques of supposed Martyrs are reserved Out of these Ritual Forms the Jesuits interpret St. John that he saw the Souls of them that were slain for the word whose bodies lay encombed under the Altar and whose Reliques were kept there in custody They had need of a long Figure to bring these ends together Neither shall they ever perswade me that St. John bends his aim at a Custom of Sepulture which began above two hundred years after he wrote his Prophesie No toleration can be found for the burial of the Martyrs in those holy places till the Pacificous Reign of Constantine the Great And how did the Church understand this Scripture in the mean time A Modern Writer of our own handles it much more learnedly to the same relation He notes it very acutely that the Theater wherein St. John saw all his Visions hath a resemblance in every part to the Camp of Israel and to the Tabernacle of Moses in the Wilderness it is enough to have named it Now the Apostle being acquainted by the Spirit what innumerous Troops of Martyrs should be slaughtered he saw as it were the Altar of burnt-offerings belonging to the Tabernacle and the Saints that were sacrificed to God were under it not as ashes are underneath that fall through a grate but they lay like beasts newly slain at the foot of the Altar that is sprauling upon the ground before the Altar The Soul then is taken by Synechdoche here for the whole man or according to the usual style of Scripture for the body of the man The conjecture I think may pass for probable and judicious There is but one thing to disparage it it is but one mans conjecture But if you will hear that which hath judgment to commend it and multitude of Authors it is likely to be found among them that in the third place refer this figuratively to the condition of their Spirits Yet I mean not him that says the Ark and the Covering thereof did represent Gods Mercy Seat but the Altar did represent his Justice for it was the place of fire and bloudshed and that these souls were under the Altar that is under the Justice of God to be avenged of their Adversaries It is nothing so for as it appears by them that fled unto it for refuge the Altar was a place of Propitiation The Altar here by the greatest number of votes is He that mitigates the stern Justice of his Father Jesus Christus Agnus propter mactationem Altare propter propitiationem He is all by whatsoever we are reconciled to God the Altar the Priest and the Sacrifice St. Gregory proves it that the Altars of the Levitical Service were express Types of him for either they were to be made of rude earth Temeraria de sespite altaria in Tertullians words or of rough and unpolisht stones Exod. xx Wherefore of earth but to betoken the Incarnation of our Lord Quicquid offerimus Deo in altari terreo i. e. in fide Dominicae incarnationis solidamus Whatsoever we bring unto God lay it upon the earthen Altar upon this faith that Christ was incarnate to save his people from their sins When the Altar was made of stone it was rough and unpolisht and in those materials likewise we shall meet with Christ For he was the Living Stone in Daniel cut out of the Mountain without hands neither was he polisht by Art by Education or by any thing that man can put into him as he came from the Quarry from the Womb of his Mother he was full of Grace and Truth This standing is firm that the term of Altar agrees well with our Saviour many reasons may be easily rendred why the souls of the Blessed were under the Altar 1. Says Estius a little too slightly They have not yet attained to be like the glorious body of Christ they have not resumed their Carkasses as He is risen from the dead they are yet below His dignity and so under the Altar 2. The Just that died in the Lord in the Old Law are said to be in Abrahams bosom because they professed the Faith of Abraham so they that died in the Faith of the Gospel that Christ is the Altar upon whom all our works that please God are to be offered up their Souls are under that Altar 3. As Lazarus the poor man full of Piety is said to be in Abrahams bosom as if he were placed in heaven next to Abraham so the godly Martyrs are next to the Altar for dignity of glorification next to Christ himself and wheresoever the Carkass is thither will the Eagles be gathered together Luk. xvii Lastly Which takes me most the persecuted Saints had no shelter on earth to defend them now their souls are at rest disquieted with no fear under the protection and custody of Christ Under him we are in safety upon earth and no man can take his sheep out of his hand and under his Wings we shall be safe in Heaven for ever yea and though we have the faith of Martyrs to spend our life for the love of God yet our hope is not in ourselves but to be covered with the Altar to run to Christ as to our Shield and Buckler without his Merits to assoil us from our sins Martyrs cannot appear before the face of God O prepare your selves to come unto this holy Sanctuary He that comes with an hypocritical Conscience to partake of the Altar of the Lords Table he shall find no place for his Soul under that Altar which is above And take heed of high imaginations and exalted thoughts Our state in Heaven is subter and not super And all subters in this World are not worth a good mans thought to reflect upon them Let me be an underling let me be abased let me go down to the lowest Room let my Spirit aim at nothing but to be Templum sub altari the Temple of God here that hereafter I may rest under the Altar in life everlasting AMEN A SERMON UPON REVEL vi 10. And they cried with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the Earth NOthing may seem more out of order than these words are at the first reading but their true scope is to put that in
hath redeemed his people Take the whole verse now together which is the exordium of this Prophetical Song and it contains two parts the magnifying of the divine goodness and the reason rendred why it was fit to break out into that devotion In the first here is the comprehension of all praise in this word blessed Secondly the comprehension of the divine titles the Lord God of Israel The next general member why this praise is given is drawn from two acts that God hath visited and that he hath redeemed And the Object of both those acts is it which makes it praise-worthy and thanks worth he hath visited his People First of all here is a full ascribing of all glory to God in this word blessed O how Zachary did meditate this all the while he was dumb O how much he desired all the while his utterance was stopt to bring forth these good words to the honour of his Maker He kept silence a long time from this heavenly Canticle but it was pain and grief unto him Now his mouth was opened with the key of the Holy Spirit to discourse of the wonderful works of God and it was a blessed thing that as soon as he was able to talk this was the first language that flowed from him Blessed be the Lord. Two things are the grace and dignity of our Elocutions Deum laudare verum dicere to praise the great Majesty of Heaven and to tell the truth upon Earth but why do I divide them two which will most properly fall into one For no truth so clear and evident as that the name of Christ is blessed for evermore They that speak the truth of him must speak well of him and whosoever blasphemes his honour is a Liar and an Antichrist As Hezekiah paid the Tribute which Sennacherib imposed upon him out of the Treasure of the house of the Lord and out of the Gold which over-laid the doors of the Temple 2 Kings xviii 16. so the praise of God is the chief treasure of our heart the chief thing that belongs to this holy place the very Gold of the Temple therefore when we magnifie his name we pay him Tribute out of the best thing which the Church can afford Neither is there any good business of Religion whereof we may be so confident that we are in a right course and do not swerve Our Belief may be grounded upon strong errors as it is among Hereticks Our Zeal may be transported into Faction as it is among Schismaticks Our Repentance may be slight and superficial as it is among Hypocrites We may be too forward in our Hope having no firm assurance from the fruits of a good Conscience Too free of our Charity when we do not distinguish who are fit to receive it Too prodigal of our Commendations when we do not note mens Actions whether they deserve it but be as copious as you will in magnifying your Creator and Redeemer and you are certain the work is very good most certain that you cannot tread awry Yet Satan and our own negligence are able to frame an objection against any truth which is most demonstrative What will our sluggish spirit say The honour of God doth not depend upon the fame of this World His glory cannot be raised higher than it is by our Jubilees and Songs or by our Instruments of Musick no though we could praise him as loud as claps of Thunder But for all this will you be content to glorifie him if it will bring your self to honour though it be no amplification to the Majesty of God Agreed then And first it is an high advancement that he will permit us to do him that homage though we should have no recompence for our labour it is abundantly rewarded that he will give us leave to exalt him he hath not dealt so with all people Unto the ungodly said God Why dost thou take my name within thy lips As it is an honour to the Magistrate that God hath committed the Sword of Justice to their power so it is an honour to every Christian that he hath permitted unto us to talk of his honour it is an Angels life continually to bless him and sound forth his glory Therefore that parcel of the Psalm may look this way let the praise of God be in their mouth and a two edged Sword in their hand the one is as great a priviledge belonging to us as the other to a Magistrate Secondly St. Peter grants it generally to all godly people Yè are an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices to God 1 Pet. ii 5. What is the spiritual Sacrifice but Praise and Thanksgiving Therefore let us offer up the sacrifice of praise sweetly and devoutly and all Christians shall become Priests in that respect and the holy portion of God and having offered up this visible sacrifice of praise we our selves in our hearts shall become the invisible sacrifice of God and bring oblation upon oblation unto the Altar it is nothing worth unless your own soul be the principal Oblation I press this the rather because it is so ill forgotten in the Roman Missal For they that do so often trouble your ears with their sacrifice and their Altar have not one word in their Missal that we or our souls should be a reasonable holy and living sacrifice to God Thirdly In giving glory to the Lamb and to him that sits upon the Throne we do not give but receive for no man can ascribe much praise to God but out of a large capacity of faith no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost no man can speak of the King of Kings according to his due excellency but it will procreate devotion and reverence therefore though Gods honour be in the same state that it was before yet your soul is in better state than it was before by praise and glorification Fourthly We do all agree with St. Paul that Charity is greater than the two other Theological Vertues greater than Faith that believeth all mysteries greater than Hope that expecteth all Promises and therefore greater because it shall abide with us in the Kingdom of Heaven when the other two shall vanish away So to laud and magnifie our Omnipotent Creator is far above all other acts of Religion because nothing else shall abide with us when we see God face to face There shall be no confession of Christ our Mediator for none shall deny him there shall be no fasting for man shall eat Angels food and have no need of nourishment no Alms shall be given for it is life without want and scarcity no Prayer for forgiveness of sins no hearing of the Word no sufferance of the Cross no intercession for them that suffer but the praise of God continueth and supplieth all the rest uncessantly we shall cry out Holy holy Lord God of Hosts which was and is and is to come Therefore it is called blessing of God because it
shall be our only work when we have attained to blessedness for God doth bless man by pouring his benefits upon him and man doth bless God by confessing the good which he hath received Fifthly and lastly Whereas our Saviour did abase himself to become man and emptied himself of his glory for our sakes we set upon it to do him all possible honour that we may weigh up again the Scale of his glory which himself depressed for our advancement as Peter said unto him when he went about to do that work of a servant to his Disciples Dost thou wash my feet no thou shalt never wash my feet he contended with his Lord that he would not cast himself down so far So Zachary sings a triumphal ditty to bless his poor Nativity we do all bow at the name of Jesus who bowed the heavens and came down to visit us we advance his Cross in our forehead we erect our goodliest Churches in his name we make Christmas day the high Feast of the year the great holy day of Praise and thanksgiving as if the Saints of God had conspired not to let Christ be humbled though he would be humbled So when he came to Jerusalem with the meanest pomp that could be imagined riding upon an Ass they that had loyal and zealous hearts to him combined to conduct him into the great City in as Princely a manner as they could devise laying their garments under his feet and in a manner proclaiming my very Text before him Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. The sum of this first Point is thus much O sing unto the Lord for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God yea a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful So I have discharged the first Point that there is a comprehension of all praise in this word Blessed beside here is a comprehension of the chief divine titles the Lord God of Israel The names of the Lord do not consist in compound Epithets and magniloquous appellations The heathen did affect that bravery to set out the lustre of their Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as the Poet Callimachus expresseth it in his Hymn of Diana she desired an hundred brave names to be given her by her Priests as many attributes as Apollo had in his Temple Some will have these to be those vain repetitions of the Heathen which our Saviour reproves Mat. vi 7. taxing them that they thought they should be heard for their much speaking Sacred titles consist not in number but in weight and no words could be more ponderous and significative and yet contracted into fewer Syllables than these the Lord God of Israel A Law-giver will prefix his most ample attributes before the Pandect of his Laws and this is the Inscription over the two Tables Deut. xx I am the Lord thy God which is all one as to say I am the Lord God of Israel And the very words of my Text seem to be a current Eulogy in Davids time as it is Psal cvi 48. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and let all the people say Amen Which names must needs contain an infinite excellency when they march in a rank together since if you take them one by one they are most dreadful and venerable He is called the Lord because he is the supreme and highest above all things so every King in his Sphere is a Lord in chief as Joab said to David Why doth my Lord the King delight in this thing He is called Elohim or God because he is set over all his Creatures to judge and revenge their iniquities therefore the Princes of the people are nuncupative Gods in Scripture because they sit upon the Throne of Judgment on earth to judge between man and man Or rather he is called God from his infinite and incomprehensible Essence Lord from his power and dominion but Lord God of Israel by application of his mercy to his Church above all the Kingdoms of the World Therefore he is to be worshipped as God eternal to be obeyed in all his Commandments as the Lord Omnipotent and be magnified and blessed for Israels sake because he loved that people above all things whom he hath chosen to be his inheritance for ever St. Austin cast out the difference on this wise that the Creator of all things is stiled God and when he gave a Law unto mankind Gen. ii 15. then he was stiled a Lord. But the observation hath an oversight in it for he is called the Lord God four times in the same Chapter before he commanded Adam to dress the garden of Eden and to keep it The Annotation would run better thus that while all things were in making in the Creation the Creator is termed God and God said let there be Light and God said let there be a Firmament so in every work throughout all the first Chapter of Genesis When the Creation was quite finished and the whole Universe of Creatures set in order then in the second of Genesis he is called Lord. From whence a question is started much agitated in the School Whether the great Jehovah may be called Dominus ab aeterno The Lord from all eternity Thou art God from everlasting that is an Article of faith never doubted of Nebuchadonosor could see that by the wonders and tokens which were wrought for Daniels sake therefore he makes a Decree that men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God and stedfast for ever But the scruple is since he did not exercise his dominion before the works which he made were extant whether the title of Lord did not accrue unto him in the beginning of time and not from all Eternity St. Austin moved the Controversie but out of his wonted modesty passed it by undefined Tertullian against Hermogenes says It is none of the eternal Appellations of the Divine Nature for it belongs not to the Divine Essence but to the Power and the Power could not exercise it self before there was an Object created Many of the School-men are convicted in their judgment by this reason of Tertullian and hold to his opinion I think if St. Austin would have determined it he would have gone the other way and for my part I take it to be most probable that we may say God was the Lord from all eternity before the Creatures were existent and produced It is true that if we measure things by our own power or rather by our own infirmity we can command nothing but that which is and hath a being but God is the Lord of all things even before they are and when they yet are not he can command them to have a being he spake the word and all things were made he commanded and they were created Non possunt per mandatum fieri quae non erant nisi dominium praecederet things that have no being could not be
chief counsellors of Persia and with greatest trust that can be had to conjectures we may say they made a Voyage from Persia to Jerusalem to see our Saviour Now the nearest confines of Persia are but 200 leagues from Jerusalem and the Camels of those Countries as good Authors testifie upon their own experience will travel forty leagues a day by which proportion it may be collected how possible it is to come in twelve days from the most Eastern parts of Persia to Jerusalem In Divine matters even the smallest things should be diligently sifted therefore I would not let this circumstance go till I had vindicated it from obsâ—â—rity and now these Travellers deserve their commendation and we their imitation They liv'd in honour and safety in their own Country but Patria est ubicunquè est Christus that 's a man's Country and his home where Christ is reverently worshipped and where the fear of God is in the place Hearken O daughter and consider incline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy fathers house What is honour and safety to a man at home if true Religion be abroad God be thanked we have both therefore these honourable persons leave their own Country as Abraham did I will not extol their faith more than his or his more than theirs comparisons are odious they could not come from the East to Judea but by Arabia Petrea a most rocky cumbersom Country and by Arabia deserta a most thievish murdering Country and from the heavens above they could have no better comfort at this time of the year but either bitter frosts to travel in or foul winter weather and to continue thus for twelve days together it was a great proof of zeal and patience that would run through all difficulties to be satisfied in this one question Where is he that is born the King of the Jews twelve days journey do I speak of nay twelve furlongs are a great matter for persons of quality to come to Church if it mizzle with a little rain or the air be sharp or the place throng'd or any slight inconvenience to keep them away and yet I must tell you these were Wise men that came to Christ through thick and thin through dread and danger strid over all molestations therefore unless you will have me leave my Text I cannot call them wise that will spare themselves from Gods service for every trifle of inconveniency The cape from whence they came affords one short note more that they were Easterlings for in that capacity they were not only Gentiles but of such Gentiles as had provok'd God to anger more ab antiquo dierum from many ages before than any other Nation They were not only Gentiles but sinners of the Gentiles as St. Paul says Gal. ii 15. The tower of Babel was built in the East that tower whose builders erected it as it were in defiance of heaven from thence came tyranny with Nimrod that opprest his people and as Histories tell us the first invention of Images sprung from those parts in that Tomb which Belus made for the untimely departure of his Son and from the Mountains of the East came Balaam and the false Prophets that loved the wages of iniquity I cannot say it confidently as St. Chrysostom doth that these wise men were the best of all those sinners in the East 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that these were better composed to believe than any other It is manifest this Eastern part of the world was as full of sins as any and the Scripture placeth nothing in their person that they had better morality than their fellows it was the Lords free mercy and compassion that the Star of his Grace should shine upon them and that they were selected above many thousands where all of them some in greater measure some in less deserved to sit in the shadow of death and to die in eternal condemnation and when Christ was scarce born we see the largeness of his grace that it was diffused to the furthest parts of the world and the freeness of his grace that he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance A blessed Birth by which many were made alive unto God who were dead in sins and trespasses A blessed apparition by which the day-spring from on high hath visited us A blessed Incarnation by which the wicked mass of our nature is sanctified A blessed calling of the Gentiles by which all Tongues and Languages do praise the Lord from the East unto the West from the North unto the South O praise the Lord all ye kindreds of the earth for he hath done marvellous things for us in giving us his Child Jesus to be our sanctification and redemption Amen THE FOURTEENTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION MAT. ii 1 2. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem Saying where is he that is born King of the Jews For we have seen his Star in the East and are come to worship him SInce the Lords day and the Feast of the Epiphany do light together this holy day is sure to be observed with frequent Assemblies in all Christian Churches as it is at this time in this place But in former Ages and in the most devout times when religious men studied for the fittest occasions to praise the Lord this Epiphany which we call Twelfth-day though it fell upon any day of the week was kept with the presence of the noblest persons with as much outward honour with as solemn service with as many testifications of zeal and joy as any day in the year For to crown it with more blessings than one the memory of three illustrious manifestations of Christ were celebrated upon this feast First that which is rememorated in our Church and no more the bringing of the Gentiles to Bethlem to see the Lord by the assistance of a Star 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the most renowned apparition Secondly The Baptism of our Saviour was computed to this day when the Holy Ghost gave testimony who he was descending upon his head in the shape of a Dove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the honour of these two memorable accidents Nazianzen calls it festum sanctorum luminum the feast of sacred lights or illuminations for Baptism is called our illumination Thirdly The miracle of turning water into wine was remembred together for the third manifestation of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. John says this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Canae of Galilee and manifested forth his glory Leo and Chrysologus speak of these three glorious works to be solemnized at this one time and Bernard a much later man than they goes no further Tres apparitiones Domini legimus unâ quidem die sed non uno tempore factas We celebrate three mighty apparitions of our Lord all in one day though they fell not out all in one
time Therefore not St. Austin but some other forgetful Author said in 29 Serm. de Temp. that Christ was magnified for a fourth renowned work also upon that day namely for the first miracle of the loaves and fishes Concerning the first three I have authority enough in ancient Writers and three such miracles to be celebrated in the offices of one feast are enough to give it a principal reputation So gladsom a festival it was chiefly to sing praises to the Lord for the calling of the Gentiles that if either King or Potentate withdrew himself from Church on this day it was enough to tax him for a Pagan and that he did abhor the Gospel Therefore such as write of Julian the Emperour and his deep hypocrisie note in him that for many years he would come in all Princely pomp to Gods house at this feast lest he should have seemed openly and directly to have renounced all Christianity I have told you in what price and estimation this Festival was held of old because nothing was so precious to the Gentiles as their own salvation Therefore I hope you will do the day that common right to give diligent ear to some portion of the Scripture while I entreat upon it with what persons and miracles and other circumstances the preamble of our calling and illumination began In the Epistle for the day if you mark it we forget not Pauls kindness that he was a prisoner for us Gentiles Eph. 3.1 it is worth our thanks and remembrance much more is it worth the recitation in the Gospel what Christ became for our sakes a condition far meaner than for an Apostle to become a prisoner Paul from a sinful man became a diligent Apostle Christ being God came unto us in the shape of a sinful man of an impotent Babe and was bound though not in fetters yet in swadling clouts laid up in a Manger as contemptible a corner as a gaol and being all innocency reputed for our sakes worse than Barrabas the greatest scandal of the prison of him St. Paul did preach and the Prophets did preach and the Stars did preach and these Wise-men did preach that we Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of the same promise in Christ I have been copious upon the descent and stock and other qualities of these wise men upon their coming upon their journey so long and perilous from the East to Jerusalem Three things do equally divide my whole matter the doings and the sayings of these Pilgrims and the occasion of both For their doings and sayings to be equally regarded upon this Text I find that I concur with St. Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see the vertue of these Wise men both to come so far and to speak so far to come from home for Christs sake and to speak so home for Christs sake Where is he that is born c. The occasion of all is now to be handled Now when Jesus was born which is opened by two circumstances of the place that was in Bethlem and of the time In the days of Herod the King Now their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or boldness of speaking the truth is drawn to two heads by the Fathers Vnum quaerunt unum asserunt say they but here is one question and two assertions The confident question Where is he that is born King of the Jews The assertions first What God had wrought for them We have seen his Star in the East Secondly What God had wrought in them And are come to worship him And in the beginning I take the occasion in hand Now when Jesus was born Is that the Axel upon which all the business of these Eastern Travellers turns it self No wonder if that beget a great holy day for Christs birth is the occasion of all the holy days in the year If you keep some days festival for the Evangelists you know how they deserve it because they were his Penmen and Recorders if other times are celebrated for the Martyrdom of the Apostles because they were his Witnesses the Innocents of Bethlehem were slain in his quarrel and Michael and all the Angels fight for the Church because Christ is the head both of things in heaven and of things in earth All our joy all our triumphs all our glory move from hence and from this occasion Now when Jesus was born But to what end was all this hast Why should they make forward to see the Child as soon as ever he was born What could they report of him when they returned home but that they had seen an Infant His Tongue was not apt to speak as yet nor his hands to shew any proof of strength and mightiness They might have spared their labour one would think till he had been well grown to years of action and perfection nay but the Star calls them forth and will not let them loiter if they omit this opportunity God knows whether ever they have the benefit of a Star to usher them again The Lord above did know and the new Creature this strange Star did preach it and the hearts of the Wise-men were enlightened to understand it that there was occasion enough to call all the heathen or at least the wisest of the heathen or at least the Princes of the West I say to call them from the ends of the world to Judea to see this little Bethlemite lately born yet greater than all the Angels though they spring not from fleshly generation to see him suck at the breasts of Mary for a few drops of milk who feeds every living thing with plenteousness to see him supported in a Mothers arms who sustains the whole world by his power and founded the Elements upon nothing to see him cast his eyes about and newly peep out of those lidds of flesh to whom all things lie naked and discovered even the darkness of the pit and the secrets of the heart of man Nothing can be said nothing can be thought of this birth but is so mysterious and incomprehensible that the silly Shepherds who could not ponder those Magnalia Dei those Metaphysicks which the Angels told them made known abroad the things which they had heard concerning this Child but as for these Wise-men that could delve into a Mystery when they saw the young Child they fell down and worshipped him and presented him with their Treasures but we do not read of one word they spake either at Bethlem or when they returned home to their own Country the thing was ineffable and perhaps they praised God in silence and admiration that such a Child was born but could not utter it Such as would travel for wisdom had enough occasion for their journey were it never so far to behold the very Nativity though abstracted from the blessing that grows unto it Oritur origo rerum that he should have any kind of being in time who is Ens entium the cause and fountain of all
opened that the Word should run swiftly throughout all the world when good tidings were diffusive great joy unto all people The sound came flying upon the wings of the wind that there was neither Speech nor Language upon the earth but their voices were heard among them The Law made a great din when it was published there came thunder with it and the noise of a Trumpet louder and louder Yet this noise was spread in the Desart of Sinai in a desolate and uninhabited Region But this sound which hapned when the Gospel was authorized to be preached in every Nation it had audience in the most populous place of all Judaea in the City of Jerusalem As who should say it was a communicable sound which should be received into the Imperial Cities of all Kingdoms I draw this only observation from it to your holy practice that the Lord loveth fragorem vocis not a whispering silence but an exalted voice a loud exclamation to praise him Open confession of Gods name is an effect individually connex'd with a true lively faith so says David Psal cxvi I believed and therefore I spake There are three things hateful to God which jar against it 1. Hypocritical profession when the protestation of the mouth is not rooted in the heart 2. Abnegation of the Faith whether they deny the truth for fear or for resolved Apostasie 3. There is another way to sin against the confession of the Faith and that is malum silentium not to glorifie God openly in our profession when it concerns his honour in whose person the Psalmist speaks I kept silence yea even from good words but it was pain nay it will be pain and grief unto them St. Paul complains of those Christians that were of Rome in his days that none would openly declare themselves of his side in the time of persecution At my first answer none stood with me but all forsook me I pray God it may not be laid to their charge 1 Tim. iv 16. The Lord would not have it lurk only in the secrets of our breast that we are Christs Disciples but that it should resound abroad to his glory for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation And let Gods service be performed on all sides on the Priests part and on the peoples with fervor and strength of voice like the sound of many waters You may pray tacitly in the heart but sure the holy Spirit came not from heaven like a vehement sound to teach you to fumble in the mouth and scarce to open your lips when you are in Prayer Prayer is a calling upon God Call upon me in the time of trouble Psal l. Nay a roaring for very disquietness of heart says the same Prophet in another place Our humble Petitions are called Vituli labiorum Heb. xiii Their lips will offer their sacrifice aloud if the true incense of zeal do burn within for our Saviour says Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh A troubled soul I grant it sometimes cannot utter it self sometimes a dumb-born Prayer is very powerful as Hannah the Mother of Samuel is the great instance of it but in the ordinary way assuredly the more strength of voice we put to our Supplications the more we shake off the drowsiness of the flesh the more we stir up the grace of the holy Spirit which loves that the Eccho and chearful sounds of the voice should ascend up to heaven But the Scripture doth not leave at this that there came a sound from heaven it goes further and tells us the manner of the sound that it was like unto that noise which is caused by a vehement wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the wind had blown but it was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Oecumenius that you might not imagine the holy Spirit to be a corporeal breathing like the vaporous substance of the wind therefore the quasi is very significant that it had but the similitude of the wind Yet it is very inquirable why like that more than any thing else If we had been left to guess what sound it was why might not we have imagined it to be the purling of some soft streams Or the humming of Bees about their Hive Or the voice of harpers playing with their harps Rev. xiv 2. None of those it was but as the fragor of the wind And when God declares his vertue in some sensible object you must perswade your reason there is some great relation between the sign and the thing signified Did not our Saviour illustrate unto Nicodemus our Regeneration or new Birth from the blasts of the air Joh. iii. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the voice thereof and knowest not whence it cometh or whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit Yet more feelingly when he did infuse into his Apostles the power of the Holy Ghost bequeathing them that great Sacerdotal priviledge Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained Was it not conveyed by blowing upon them like the wind by insufflation Joh. xx 22. He breathed on them and saith unto them receive ye the Holy Ghost Now I will tell you together where both the mystery and the use of it do consist First As the breath which we send forth comes from the warmth of our Lungs and of our bowels within so the Spirit proceedeth from the substantial love of the Father and of the Son What was the meaning then of that sensible expiration But that as the breath which he vented out came from his Humane Nature so the Holy Ghost which he breathed on his Disciples came from his Divine Nature And this must follow to give it you by the way that Christ is very God for who but God can communicate the Holy Ghost For it was Gods Promise that He and none but He would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh Isa xliv And it stands as well proved that the Holy Ghost is God for the prime and supreme power to remit sins is the Holy Ghosts he was given to the Disciples for that end and none can forgive sins but God alone Secondly Christ communicated his spiritual gifts by breathing to shew that he even the same Lord was the Author both of our temporal and eternal life For in the Creation the Lord breathed into mans nostrils the breath of life Gen. ii 7. But this life shall pass away and the body shall crumble into dust Why behold the breath of the Lord will go forth again to cause a joyful Resurrection as it is in the Prophets vision of the dry bones Ezek. xxxvil 5. Thus saith the Lord unto these bones Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live Yet if this body wherein sin reigns and inclines it only to
dead works were not quickned by grace better it might be for us that we had never been born therefore the life of Sanctification was begun in the Church as it were with a gentle gust of wind when Christ breathed on his own and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost So you see this outward sign of insufflation was constantly used at our Creation at our Resurrection at our Sanctification to shew how it is the same God that worketh all in all Yet St. Ambrose comes in with a third Meditation upon it Says he God did give man a living soul at first by breathing or inspiration to let him see he did not only give him a temporal or carnal vivification but grace and sanctity to live for ever But when man had lost this primitive grace and original righteousness it was fit to let us know that such losses could be repaired by none but Christ therefore Christ breathed again upon man to demonstrate that he was the restorer of those immortal blessings which exceed our merits and pass all understanding But when Christ was ascended up on high the Spirit could not be infused immediately from the breath of his mouth but in Analogy to it it came into the place where the Apostles were gathered together like the murmuring wind or the breath of heaven As Solomon fore-told it in his Poetical Ode Cant. iv 16. Awake O North wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out And here again I shall pass through some humane Comparisons to the illustration of most divine Mysteries First of all Elementary Creatures the Wind is the most active thing in the world nothing so quick and active as it Vsque adeo agit ut nisi agat non sit when it is not active it is not at all no stirring of the air no wind So it is with the Spirit of faith and love the very being of it consists in being operative What shall I do to inherit eternal life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostome it impels the heart to be never out of motion in some spiritual exercise Either the Tongue is praying or the Ear is hearing or the Heart is meditating or the Hand is giving or the Soul is thirsting for remission of sins When the Spirit beats not in the Pulses there is no spirit in the body it is a dead Carkass and in whomsoever there is a cessation from all good works you may say it justly that there the Holy Ghost is extinguished there is no difference between a standing Puddle and a dead Sea And cozen not your selves with a vain confidence that albeit you be altogether barren and unprofitable no fruit of Sanctification budding from you yet Semen Dei manet the sap may be in the root the vertue in the Seed-corn though it do not put out These may-bees are pitiful Anchors of hope and miserable comforters Will you say the wind is up when there is a still Serena no puff of air moving Then think as little that God dwells in that brest where there are no tokens of Sanctification Secondly I have it from St. Austin Flatus ille à carnali palea corda mundabit The Wind is the advantage of the Husbandman to winnow Chaff from Wheat and where the Spirit blows upon the conscience it will purge it from all dead works The cares of this world the thought of getting Riches anxieties for honours and advancements these overspread the life of a natural man left to the ways of carnal reason but as soon as ever we begin to sift and discuss these cogitations by the doctrine of the Spirit they vanish and disperse Tradam protervis in mare Creticum portare ventis they are light and empty of true goodness and so are blown away to the Father of errors and delusions to the Devil himself from whence they came Thirdly Says St. Chrysostome Suppose a Ship be well appointed with Pilot Mariners Sails Cables Anchors and all convenient appurtenances to what use will all this serve if the winds stir not So let there be profound Judgment quick Invention neat Eloquence and all the graces of Art in a man these will not bring a man one whit onward in his Voyage to the haven of happiness to the kingdom of glory unless the sweet gales of the Spirit carry him forward those are the wings of the Dove upon which the Soul shall fly away and be at rest Another Author taken for St. Chrysostome writing upon St. Matthew composeth it thus As the ground doth not fructifie by rain alone but there is a prolificous vertue in the winds which blows upon the fields and makes the Spring to sprout So it is not our Doctrine alone which converts your Souls though it distill like the soft drops of rain upon the earth but benediction of inward grace that goes with the word breaths salvation upon our heart The Letter may kill but the Spirit quickneth and in our Evangelical Priesthood we are Ministers not of the Letter alone but of the Spirit also Qui instat praecepto praecurrit auxilio the words of Leo which I take to be solid truth in this Point when God presseth us with the outward instruction of his Word He impresseth the secret operation of his Spirit to make it fructifie And now to come to another portion of the Text it agrees very accurately with the nature of that supernal gift which God infuseth into his Saints that the Spirit came with a sudden flaw of wind And I am very willing to make that collection of it which divers have done before me Datur haec gratia ex improviso sine meritis Grace is a blessing that comes unlook'd for unawares nay it is impossible for an unconverted man to say now I am prepared for it now I expect it now my heart is ready to receive it for there is no good preparation for grace in the soul of man till some portion of it have entred before Natural dispositions cannot attain to bring in supernatural grace Therefore the first influx and admission of it must needs be sudden and unawares As you can make no rules for the Wind why it should blow South to day and North to morrow why from this Point of heaven at such a season rather than from another So there is no aim to be taken how this or that man was first partaker of the heavenly light which is thus couched in our Saviours words The kingdom of God cometh not with observation neither shall they say loe here or loe there for the Kingdom of God is within you Luk. xvii 20. For what observation can we make or through what tokens can we collect that God will begin to draw a sinner unto him Will you say he lives justly and chastely If they were Christian justice and chastity the seed of the Spirit was in his heart before If they be but moral conformities he is still the