may plant Apollo water but the increase is this Spirit of Gods when all is done that man can do he must have his act or it will not be done 3. He leads on fair and easily for diducet it is no Iehu's pace that pace is only for an earthly kingdom not an heavenly The Spirit leads softly on like Iacob Gen. xxxiv 14. according as the Cattel and Children are able to endure according as our inferiour powers signified by the Cattel and our new begun piety and capacities intimated by the Children are able to follow 'T is danger else we lose them by the way He that presses even truth and piety too fast upon us is liker to tire us and make us give out by the way than to lead us out to our journeys end By degrees it is that even the greatest perfection must be come to Truths are to be scattered as men are able to bear them Christs own method in the verse before The way into all truth is by some and some 4. This guiding is by teaching one Translation has docebit shall teach and Chap. xiv 26. it is so too he shall teach you teach us the necessity of a Teacher How shall they hear without a Preacher Rom. x. 14. To this purpose the Spirit set Teachers in the Church 1 Cor. xii 28. Pastours and Teachers Eph. iv 11. Pastors to rule Teachers to teach both to guide us into the truth Yea but Teachers we now have store that to be sure guide not into the truth for they teach contraries and contradictions What Teachers then are they that teach the truth Such as be sent says St. Paul Rom. x. 15. sent by them that have authority to send them if they come without authority or from a false one from them that never receive'd power themselves to send others though they were sent themselves they are not sent by the Spirit and though they may guide now and then into a truth teach something that is true into all they cannot their very Function is a lie and their preaching of it 5. Leading or guiding into all truth as one omnem veritatem in the Singular will tell us that unity is his way of guiding No truth in division we cannot so much as see our faces true in the clearest water if it be troubled cast but a stone in and divide its surface and you spoil your seeing true cast but a stone of division into the Church and no seeing truth 'T is the spiritual man that only truly discerns and sees the truth the natural and carnal man he cannot 1 Cor. ii 14 15. And if there be Divisions or Schisms among you are you not carnal says St. Paul in the next Chapter 1 Cor. iii. 3. Yes you are so the Schismatick or he that causes rents and divisions in the Church is but a carnal man for all his brags and cannot see the truth how much soever he pretend it 'T were well if men would think of this we were likely then the sooner to see truth to be guided into all truth if we could once keep all together peace and truth go both together Thus far one word has led you The Connexion of that and the other with the former of his guiding with his coming will lead you further When He the Spirit of truth is come then he will guide you When he is come is when he is so grounded and setled in us that we can say he is come indeed he is in us of a truth then all truth will follow presently When the holy Spirit has once taken up his lodging in us that we also begin to be holy Spirits too then truth comes on a main If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God St. Ioh. vii 17. till our hearts be well fram'd to the obedience of Gods Commandments no truly knowing truth Divine knowledge is contrary to other knowledges they begin in speculation and end in action this begins with action and ends in speculation seeing and knowing God What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose Psal. xxv 11. When the Spirits holiness is come into us his truth will follow as fast as we can bear it till we come to the fulness of the measure of the stature of Christ to Christ himself that is the Truth the way now to come to the knowledge of truth is by holiness and true obedience Nor yet so to be understood as if the good man only knew the truth or that every one that has Christ or the Spirit dwelling in them were the only knowing men and therefore fit only to teach others Indeed if you take knowledge for practical and saving knowledge so it is no man knows God but he that loves him no man so knows truth but he that loves and follows it and no man is saved by knowing but by doing it But that which may serve to save a mans self will not serve to save others to bring them to salvation 'T was one of Corah Dathan and Abirams Doctrines indeed Numb xvi 3. All the Congregation is holy every one of them wherefore then do you Moses and Aaron lift up your selves above the Congregation of the Lord Why do you Priests lift up your selves so much to think you only are fit to teach and rule the people But the earth opened her mouth ver 30. and confuted the madness of these men Be the person never so holy if he have no Function to it he must not presume to teach others though he must teach himself Holiness is one gift the power of teaching is another though both from the same Spirit and no venturing upon Aarons St. Pauls or St. Peters Office unless the Spirit has set us apart to that end and purpose 'T is enough for any other that he has truth enough to save himself and 't is but Ambition Presumption and Sacriledge and by that a lessening of his goodness to pretend to that which God has not call'd him to but his own preposterous zeal or too high conceit of his own holiness and abilities and so far from being like to guide into all truth that our own days are sufficient witnesses all Errors and Heresies have sprung from it The way that the Spirit guides into all his truth is by the Scripture interpreted by the Church by the decrees and determinations and customs of it by the hand of our lawful Pastors and Teachers himself inwardly acting and moving in us inwardly working and perswading us outwardly ministring opportunities and occasions to us leading us by degrees preserving us in peace keeping us in obedience and holiness and charity Thus he guides into all truth ordinarily and no way else VII And to be sure lastly thus he will Christ here promises for him him that he shall for so we may render it He shall And he is the Spirit of truth says the Text. So
Court of Heaven than the greatest Emperours Cup-bearer or the Viceroy of Iudea nay of Emperour of East and West This only by the way that He forgets himself and God will not remember him who thinks his Honour and greatness exempt him from the service of Gods House or values any beyond it King David himself had rather be a door-keeper there than dwell any where else One day there better says he than a thousand Psal. lxxxiv 9 10. And one poor Me is worth as many Worships and Honours that single Syllable of as few Letters as you can make it with a few good deeds to back it better than all glorious Titles without them But enough of so small a Particle Enough too here of the Person considered in himself because I shall speak of him all the way in his good deeds To which now I pass and enquire 1. What he did to the House of God and then 2. What to the Offices thereof And the several readings give us them under two Heads Misericordias and Beneficentiam His Mercy and his Bounty to them both both House and Offices His Mercy to the House that I begin with and that take in these particulars In his Compassion towards it his Petitioning for it his Repairing his Cleansing his Protecting it Give me leave to trace the Story as 't is fit I should and I shall shew you them in some or other of the neighbouring Chapters as they rise 1. His Compassion towards it that we may easily see in his sitting down and weeping over the ruines in his fasting and sadly praying for it Chap. i. 4. For 't is not Hierusalem only or principally either though first mentioned for which he does so but Sion the place that God had chosen to put his Name there ver 9. For that it is because of the House of the Lord his God that he thus seeks O Hierusalem to do thee good David plainly professes so for himself Psal. cxxii 9. And for Sion Thy servants says he they think upon her stones and it pittieth them to see her in the dust Psal. cii 14. All good men still it does as much they more bewail the ruines of God's houses than of their own Alas Hierusalem is but a sad dwelling without Sion no more than any other City any ordinary Heathen City not the City of the great King or a sure refuge without that Even a Fox as Tobiah the Ammonite jeer'd it Chap. iv 3. if he go up shall break down the wall if the wall of the House be not joyn'd to it and built with it 'T is for this principally Nehemiah mourn's and maks as it were a Cement for it out of the rubbish by the mixture of his tears 'T is a Tender mercy that first 2. But he does not meerly and dully sit down and weep end the business there Up he gets 2. and to the King he goes and petitions him for a Commission to repair it Chap. ii 7. Begs of him some supplies and materials towards it Good it is to do good to the House our selves but 't is doubled when we can work others to it too when we promote it with our friends and put our selves as it were to the blush to beg for it 'T is yet a mercy we need not blush at a holy impudence in doing good a very serviceable mercy a mercy not ashamed of any thing to do good to Gods house or any thing that is his That 's a second 3. These yet are but the Proems of his mercy He thirdly sets closely to the work provides necessaries and materials for the House and begins the repairs completes the unfinished Walls and Turrets not of the City only but the Temple too where ere they wanted Chap. iii. It had been begun to be re-edified by Zerubbabel Ezra vi Where by the way take notice they began their building with Gods House then yet it seems it was not fully finished Great works are not the business of a little time not of days but years Above forty years in building was this House wherein we are Nor are such Houses at any time so perfect at the last but that a religious hand will easily find somewhat or other always to be added to their beauty and glory And this is a point of Nehemiahs mercy too A mercy that thinks no pains too much no time too long to continue doing good to the House of God a laborious and continued mercy That 's the third 4. Nay sometimes it seems and we have found it by our own experience that the House is not fully finished yer it is afresh polluted Nehemiah 4. is fain to cleanse it Tobiah the Ammonite his houshold-stuff was gotten into the House Chap. xiii 5. The High Priest his Allie had brought it thither When the Priest himself profanes the House le ts the Ammonite come in or suffers it God help us God help us indeed to some good Nehemiah to throw out that stuff as you may see ours does Chap. xiii 9. A cleansing purifying mercy the House needs sometimes needed it we remember too long Such is Nehemiahs too A clean pure mercy That 's the fourth 5. And yet the Ammonite is not so easily cast out Nehemiah must stand to what he has done and still protect it or Sanballat Tobiah and Geshem the Horonite the Ammonite and the Arabian all Sects Schism Atheism and Prophaneness will in again If the Princes Authority and the Magistrates Sword do not protect as well as recover it from unhallowed hands and Offices 1. From corrupt Priests such as Eliashib ver 7. 2. From false ones such as cannot prove their succession Chap. vii 64. 3. From such as pollute it with strange marriages as one of the Sons of Ioiada ver 28. strange mixtures suppose the waters of the Tiber the Frith or the Leman Lake with the Springs of Sion 4. From strange Levites too so strange that we know not whence they came nor what their Pedigree even in those mercies of the most Highest which he hath lately shewed us contrary to the Psalm we shall all miscarry 'T is the highest Commendation of Nehemiahs mercies that he does not forsake the House but strill protects it both from open enemies and from treacherous friends the one by his Sword and Spear Chap. iv 16. the other by the restoring good order and Discipline Chap. xii 24. And this is a couragious and constant mercy The Fifth Commendation of Nehemiahs And thus you have his Mercies to the House it self His compassion on the Ruines his soliciting the Repairs his setting himself upon the work his delivering the house from prophanation his protecting it from the prophaners 1. a tender 2. active 3. laborious 4. pure 5. constant goodness to the House of God These are the first branches of those Mercies which God here commends to us to be shewn by his to his House The Second sort are those to the Offices And Misericordias in Custodiis in
bear him yea a Virgin espous'd 1. To conceal the mystery of his Incarnation from the Devil 2. To take away all occasion of obloquy from devilish men 3. That the birth of our Saviour might be with all possible honour and 4. That his Genealogy might so be reckoned as all others regularly by the man as you see them both by St. Matthew and St. Luke Of a high and illustrious name besides Maria is Maris stella says St. Bede The star of the Sea a fit name for the mother of the bright morning star that rises out of the vast sea of God's infinite and endless love Maria 2. the Lyriack interprets Domina a Lady a name yet retain'd and given to her by all Christians our Lady or the Lady mother of our Lord. Marie 3. rendred by Petrus Damiani de monte altitudine Dei highly exalted as you would say like the Mountain of God in which he would vouchsafe to dwell after a more miraculous manner than in very Sion his own holy Mount. 4. St. Ambrose interprets it Deus ex genere meo God of my kin as if by her very name she was designed to have God born of her to be Deipara as the Church against all Hereticks has ever stil'd her the Mother of God you may well now fully conceive no Embassador so fit to come to such an one as her but some great Angel at the least And his coming to her comes next to be considered And the Angel came in unto her Where we are taught both how he came and where he found her By his coming or being said to come we are given to understand that it was in a bodily and humane shape So Angels often used to come in the likeness of men and at this time it was of all ways the most convenient that the Angels should come like men seeing their Lord was now to come so and one of them to come before him with the news When he himself would vouchsafe to wear the livery of our flesh 't is most convenient his servants sure that wait upon him whom he sends upon his errands should appear at least in the same Livery Nor could his Message easily be delivered in more sweetness nor the Blessed Maid entertain it with less terror or diffidence any other way For though it could not but trouble her as we see it did in the follovving verse to see a man at that time in her Closet ere she was aware yet his coming in so insensibly when the doors were shut upon her besides perhaps the brightness of his countenance and raiment could not but tell her it was an Angel and so abate her fear a little Yet observe here a difference between the Angels coming now and heretofore we never read of an Angels appearing but abroad or in the Temple till now Now they begin to grow more familiar with us come in into our Closets now Christ is coming the Kingdom of Heaven 't is a sign is come nigh unto us And 't is a good Item to us to keep much in our Closets seeing Angels are now to be met with there And 2. 't is an Item too for Virgins to keep within Dinah went out and met with you know whom came home ill-favouredly The blessed Virgin keeps in and meets with an holy Angel and the title of highly favoured and blessed for it The stragling gadding huswife meets no Angel to salute her whosoever does if we look for Angels company and salutations we must be much within A Garden enclosed is my Sister my Spouse a Spring shut up a Fountain sealed says Christ Cant. iv 12. The Spouse of Christ the Soul he loves and vouchsafes his company much private oft within Within and at her Prayers and Meditation too So was the blessed Virgin say the Fathers here blessedly employed watching at her devotions no way so sure to get an Angels company or hear good news from heaven to obtain a favour or a blessing thence as this as prayer and watching in our Closets This we piously believe of the blessed Virgin but we are sure she was within a true daughter of Sarah in it who it seems kept commonly within doors in her Tent Gen. xviii 10. whose daughters you are says St. Peter 1 Pet. 3. 6. as long as you do well must be too in this as well as other things if you vvould do vvell For lastly to shevv the truth of the Angels vvords that she vvas full of grace the Scripture tells us by the Angels coming into her that she vvas vvithin vvhere qui habeat abundantiam gratiae says Hugo they that are full of grace keep in as much as they can fearing the corrupt discourses and conversations of the World None so scrupulous of appearing abroad none more fear idle loose or vain discourses vvhich cannot be avoided by such vvho go often abroad than they that are fullest of grace and goodness Nor do they care for the salutation favours and complements of men vvho are highly favoured of the Lord. No matter at all vvith them to be neglected by men vvho desire only to be saluted by an Angel as vvas the Virgin here vvhich falls next to be considered The Angels Salutation Tvvo Points vve told you there vvere to be handled in it The form of it and the titles in it The form in vvhich it runs the Titles vvith vvhich it 's given The form is in three expressions Hail the Lord is with thee Thou art or be thou blessed Three several salutations as it vvere and that 1. for the greater reverence and honour to her so Kings and Queens are commonly saluted vvith three adorations 2. To shevv from vvhom he came from Father Son and Holy Ghost from all three persons in the Trinity That 3. she vvas so intent and busie at her devotions that she minded not perhaps his first and second Salutation he vvas fain to add a third To shevv lastly the triple blessing that he came vvith Peace and Grace and Blessedness that Heaven vvas novv at peace vvith us Grace vvas thence coming dovvn apace Heaven doors set open and very blessedness of Heaven clearly now propounded and proffered to us The first salutation is an Ave a salutation never heard from Angels mouth before And it speaks joy and peace and health and salvation both to her and us by her The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rejoyce rejoyce indeed at such a Child as now is to be born of thee O Virgin Daughter Behold I bring you tydings of great joy of a Child all our joy by him which is Christ the Lord 2. The Hebrew word speaks Peace be to thee A wish for peace the first news of Heaven reconciled the way to reconciliation being now in agitation and to be by her Peace from the Prince of Peace from the author of our peace now coming as joyful a salutation as we can wish all our peace from this Conception all begun with this message and
hands and pure hearts that lift not up their minds to vanity not their mouths to wickedness or deceit In Sum these are the only men that shall ascend those everlasting hills those eternal holy places that are only worthy to enter into Gods houses and holy places of the earth too obtain those admirable priviledges that are innocent and pure and just and true the only men worth the admiring as the Church and heaven the hill of the Lord and his holy place are the only things are worth it Heaven is for none but such and when we enter into the holy places we should all be such as none have right to enter them indeed but such Well now the business of the Text is in brief the way to Sion and to Heaven to the hill of the Lord and his holy place both that here and that hereafter where we have First the Condition of being admitted thither Then the Condition of them that are The first in the former of the two verses the second in the latter I. The Condition of being admitted or ascending into the hill of the Lord or standing up in his holy place what it is that is what or how great a business it is to be Gods peculiar people to be allow'd to enter into his Courts here and into Heaven at last what it is why 'T is 1. a priviledge some one not every one some few not all Who shall Is all shall not 'T is 2. a high one 'T is an ascent a rise 't is to a hill and the hill of the Lord who shall ascend who shall rise up Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord Who shall rise up 'T is 3. a holy one 't is to the hill of the Lord to a holy place 'T is 4. an admirable one the Prophet starts aside as it were from his discourse and wonders at it who it is should be so honoured 'T is 5. a glorious one For the hill of the Lord is not only an earthly hill his holy place not that only made with hands the words are as appliable to that of Heaven and Glory and so understood 'T is yet 6. hard to be come by 'T is an ascent hard and steep a high Hill no easie Plain raise and rouze our selves up we must to get it stand up to get and keep it And lastly that we may take in all the possible senses of the Text 't is Christs proper priviledge his prae aliis his first and above all others therefore delivered in the Singular Quis not Qui who is he not who are they that shall Though they others also shall yet they but by him he first they after he properly rises and ascends they more properly are rais'd and drawn after him II. The Condition now 2. of them that are so thus admitted to all these priviledges is 1. That they have clean hands That 2. they have pure hearts too That 3. they lift not up their mind to vanity That 4. they swear not deceitfully or to deceive The Priviledge we are to speak of is a real one a high one a holy one an admirable one a glorious one and though hard to be come by yet to be come by though through him The condition upon which we are to come by it 1. Innocency 2. Purity 3. Righteousness 4. Truth yet all too little without him He ascended to this purpose that we also might ascend after him that 's the Lesson we are now to teach you two parts it has the Condition of the Priviledge of the hill of the Lord and the Conditions of our Performance for it the one the Condition to be obtained and the other the Conditions to be performed the admission into the hill of the Lord and his holy place that the Condition to be obtained Innocence and Purity freeness from vanity and deceit they the Conditions to obtain it I now enter upon the first to shew what is the Condition we may ascend to what a great and glorious one it is to ascend into the hill of the Lord and to rise up in his holy place I. Several senses I intimated to you of the words 1. Some understanding by the hill of the Lord and his holy place the material hill and house of Sion and thence our Christian Churches 2. Others the spiritual house and building the faithful and true members of the Church 3. Others the eternal house of heaven the hill of Sion which is above Each of them is called Gods hill or holy place Sion Gods hill Psal. ii 6. and lxviii 15. The Temple his holy place Exod. xxvi 33. The Church the house of God not to be us'd like our own houses and therefore a holy place 1 Cor. xi 22. The Faithful the Temples the Dwellings the Buildings the House of God 1 Cor. iii. 17. 2 Tim. i. 14. 1 Cor. iii. 9. Heb. iii. 6. Heaven lastly is called Mount Sion Heb. xii 2. Rev. xiv 1. The holy place Heb. ix 12. The true Tabernacle and Sanctuary Heb. viii 2. Be it which of these it will or be it all to ascend into any of them is a condition worth the considering to be admitted into Gods House and Temple to be admitted into the Family of true Believers especially to be exalted so high as into heaven To be in any of these Conditions is to be in good condition a Condition which is 1. A Priviledge a peculiar favour not for every body to arrive at 't is a question who shall get it not every one says Christ. The faithful they are a little flock St. Luk. xii 32. A chosen Generation 1 Pet. ii 9. Few there are of such St. Mat. xx 16. only a parcel that Christ has given him by his Father St. Iohn vi 39. To you it is given says he himself St. Mat. xiii 11. to some it is given to some it is not So a priviledge it is to stand thus upon Mount Sion with the Lamb Rev. xiv 1. to be in the number of those that follow him whithersoever he goes And it will prove a Priviledge 2. to be of those that go up to the House of the Lord among them that keep holy day that is that go up to serve him there Now he has not dealt so with any Nation any but his own Psal. cxlvii 20. If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord then he will bring me again and shew me his Ark and his Habitation says David 2 Sam. 15. 25. And if a favour it be not to be debarr'd the House of God in Shiloh or Hierusalem is it less think we to be allowed the liberty of Christian Churches to praise God in the great Congregations St. Paul counts it a mercy 2 Thes. ii 1. this gathering together unto him much comfort in it as in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ which is there joyn'd with it Non omnis I am sure we find it all have not the Priviledge we are out of Gods favour
the while and he seems to have no delight in us when he denies us at least to suspend the shewing it as he did there to David when he fled from Absolom a Priviledge sure all count it to have a place to serve God in together there would not else be such contention for it who should and who should not But for that hill of hills 3. far exalted above all hills to ascend thither to be lift so high that 's a priviledge without contradiction 'T is given to none but for whom it is prepared St. Mat. xx 23. few there are that find it St. Mat. vii 14. 't is meerly at our Fathers good pleasure to give it St. Luke xii 32. neither of him that wills nor him that runs but of God that shews mercy we have no other claim but mercy to it Only fear not for all that says Christ St. Luke xii 32. he ushers in the priviledge so And 2. strive to enter too says he for all that though the gate be streight 't is not impassable for them that strive and labour for it And then 3. too admire his goodness say we who yet leaves ope the gate to enter to any penitent sinner that will strive and labour for it who sets up a Si quis in the Market-place sets it upon the doors and skreens of our Churches and Chappels sets his Prophets too to proclaim and cry it Who will ascend who will come and stand up in his holy place come serve him here a while and reign with him for ever This Priviledge though all attain not to is not such as any are absolutely excluded from that no more enjoy it is because they voluntarily exclude themselves they shall not because they will not take the pains 't is no Decree against any though a Priviledge for some Such a one indeed it is and a high one too a high Priviledge 2. to be Sons and Heirs to the most High can be no less to be raised so to the tops of the hills above all the Nations of the World You only have I known of all the Families of the earth Amos iii. 2. to be the only men that God knows that he takes notice of in the World to be a Kingly Priesthood 1 Pet. ii 9. made Kings and Priests Rev. i. 6. this is high And High it is 2. too to be admitted into his House and holy Temple Every one came not there not all the Levites not all the Priests A high favour it was allow'd to some only to enter there Why the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Iacob says the Psalmist all the high places and Palaces of the earth are not in so high esteem with God as the very Gates and Ports of Sion to be suffered but to peep in there is a higher honour to be a door-keeper in the House of God a greater happiness than to dwell in the most magnifique buildings of the World David a King himself had rather be there than any where And he that shall consider the Primitive Zeal of Christians to these hills how they never thought enough bestow'd upon them how often they frequented them how they would not pass without going in and worshipping how the pious and devout souls thought it a happiness to look that way and a great comfort in the midst of their desolations and captivity cannot but confess they all thought high enough of the favour that God allowed them in receiving them into those hills and holy places A higher Priviledge yet it is to get up the other hill to be admitted into heaven when all is done so high that Christ says it is not his to give St. Mat. xx 23. the Father hath reserved it to himself and there is nothing higher situated than it The very name of hill the Phrase of the Text sufficiently shews if it be a priviledge it is a high one Hills are the highest places of the earth the Church is a beacon upon a hill every true Disciple a light there at least The Houses of God used to be thought high places too and so had in honour And for Heaven 't is stil'd the everlasting hills So to be admitted to the priviledge of any of them must needs be a high one 3. High and holy too that 's a third addition to the Priviledge Many high Priviledges that are not so Holy is the highest most like to the most High To be Saints to be called to holiness as St. Paul say we are to be a holy Nation as St. Peter says 1 Pet. ii 9. to be Priests as you heard before to have holiness engraved upon our foreheads is to be holy persons every Pot in Hierusalem to be holiness to the Lord Zech. xiv 21. is a priviledge and a holy one too To go up like Saints to the hill of Sion to keep holy-day there to worship before the holy Altars of the Lord of Hosts to drink and eat in holy vessels to be part of his holy portion to be made partakers of his holy Word and there praise the God of holiness in his holy Congregation is a holy honour that is done us The highest Priviledge that wants this the highest Palace that is without this is but the Tents of ungodliness and they says David will but make us afraid Let my Priviledge O God be holy or I care for none that 's that must bring me to his holy hill and to his dwelling that hill in which he dwells amidst Cherubims and Seraphims and all his Host. Whither thirdly to ascend is the height of the holy Priviledge 3. His holy heaven that 's the stile the Holy of Holies St. Paul calls it the very Seat of the most holy God and holy Angels and holy Saints It cannot there sure be suspected to be the holy Priviledge and the Priviledge of the holy only to come thither 4. This holiness must needs make it to be admired too An admirable Priviledge we told you it was 't is our fourth Point now And David as if he had been all this while in a kind of swoon at the contemplation of it breaks out now upon a sudden with a Who is he and what a thing is this to ascend into the Hill of the Lord and to rise up in his holy place Indeed we cannot sufficiently admire it that God should raise up dust and ashes to such a height as to make it a coheir with Christ as to make a Hill and holy Place of it for himself to dwell in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Apostle O the depth Who can find it out Who who can reach it That he should pitch his place and dwell among us give us free access liberty to come and go unto him to approach him when we will speak to him what we will eat and drink with him when we will too what can be stranger Who can wonder at it enough How terrible is this place it put poor Iacob into
the Spirit appears but why the Spirit appears now now first and not before now first visibly to the world is worth enquiry And 't is to shew the preheminence of the Gospel above the Law That stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances says the Apostle Heb. ix 10. was but the Law of a carnal Commandment Heb. vii 16. The Gospel is a Law of spirit and life the Law of Moses a dead a killing Letter but the Gospel of Christ a quickning Spirit 2 Cor. iii. 6. the Law a course of shadows the Gospel only the true light It will appear so by the next Particular we are to handle the manner of his appearing In tongues in cloven tongues in tongues as it were of fire I shall invert the order for the fire it is that gives light unto the tongues to make them for to appear of the fire then first to shew them the better For the Spirit to appear as wind or breath is nothing strange It carries them in its name Spiritus à spirando every one can tell you But that this breath should not only blow up a fire but be it self also blown into it the Spirit here appear as fire that 's somewhat hard at first perhaps to understand Yet you shall see many good reasons for it Four great ones I shall give you which comprehend more under them 1. To shew the Analogy and correspondence of Gods dealings and dispensations how they agree both with themselves and with one another 2. To insinuate to us the nature and condition of the holy Spirit 3. To signifie the several gifts and graces of it 4. To declare its operations also and effects 1. The Holy Ghost here appear'd like fire that we might see it is the same God that gave both Law and Gospel the same Spirit in both Testaments The Law was promulgated by fire Exod. xix 18. the Lord descended on Mount Sinai then in fire The Gospel also here is first divulged by tongues as it were of fire in Mount Sion The difference only is that there were here no lightnings thunders clouds or smoke as there were there nothing terrible nothing dark or gloomy here all light and peace and glory 2. Under the Old Testament the Prophets oft were Commissionated by fire to their Offices the Angel takes a live coal from off the Altar and lays it upon Isaiah's mouth Isa. vi 7. Elijah the Prophet stood up as fire Ecclus. xlviii 1. Ezekiels first Vision was of appearances of fire Ezek. i. 4 13. The Commissions therefore of the Apostles were drawn here also as it were with pens of fire that they might the more lively answer and the better express the Spirit of the Prophets 3. That the nature of the Law they were to preach might be exprest too It was the Law of love and the holy fire of Charity was it they were sent to kindle in the World 4. It was to teach them what they were to expect in the World themselves fire and faggot affliction and tribulation the lot and portion both of them and of their followers ever since 5. It was to teach them what they were to be burning and shining lights to lead others into heaven Lastly That so all righteousness Law and Prophets might be fulfilled the types of the one and the promises of the other from the first of them to the last to St. Iohn Baptists that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire that the fire that Christ came to send into the earth and was then already kindled might now burn out into the World And all this to shew the Almighty Wisdom who thus agreeably orders all his doings from the first unto the last that we might with the greater confidence embrace the Doctrine of the Gospel which so evenly consented with the Law and was added only to bring it to perfection to raise up the fire of devotion and charity to the height 2. But not only to manifest the wisdom of the Father and perform the promise of the Son but secondly to intimate the nature of the holy Spirit Fire is the purest Element The holy Spirit is pure and incorruptible thine incorruptible Spirit says the Wise man Wisd. xii 1. No evill can dwell with it It will not mingle with humane interests By this you may know it from all other Spirits They intermix with private humours and self-respects and great ones fancies The holy Spirit is a fire and will not mix it must dwell alone has not a tongue now for this and then for that to please men and ease it self but is always pure and incorrupt Fire 2. is the subtilest Element it pierces into every part And whither can I go then from thy Spirit says holy David Psal. cxxxix 6. If I climb up into heaven thou art there If I go down to hell thou art there also If I take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there also will it find me out Darkness cannot cover me thick darkness cannot hide me night it self cannot conceal me from thee O thou divine Spirit O keep me therefore that I may do nothing that may make me ashamed and hide my self seeing thy eyes will quickly pierce into me 3. Fire is an active nature always stirring always moving Nothing can be found better to express the nature of the holy Spirit It mov'd from the beginning actuated the first matter into all the shapes we see breath'd an active principle into them all renew'd again the face of the Earth when the waters had defaced it blows and the waters flow blows again and dries them up guides the Patriarchs inspires the Prophets rests upon the Governours of the People from Moses to the seventy Elders gives spirit and courage to the Martyrs Non permanebit spiritus meus in vagina says God Gen. vi My Spirit will not endure to be always as in a rusty sheath it will be lightning the understanding it will be warming the affections it will be stirring of the passions it will be working in the heart it will be acting in the hand it will be moving in the feet it will be quickning all the powers to the service of the Almighty nothing so busie as this holy fire nothing so active as this Spirit Though the nature and essence of it cannot be full exprest it is thus very powerfully resembled 3. The gifts of it more easily by this fire Seven there are numbred of them out of Isa. xi 2. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding the Spirit of counsel and ghostly strength the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness and the Spirit of holy fear all very naturally represented to us by so many properties I shall observe to you of the fire Fire it ascends it penetrates it tries it hardens it enlightens it warms it melts You have all these again in the seven gifts of the Spirit For 1. the holy Spirit