and dy the Soul of the Receiver which must be made partaker or shall be made guilty either partaker of the vertue or guilty of the shedding thereof to his endless destruction that receives it unworthily The guilt you have in the precedent Verse He shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. The destruction in the subsequent he eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lords body The exhortation in my Text lies between both that it might be the more vehemently enforced and every man might know how much it behoveth him diligently to examine himself before he eat of that bread and drink of that Cup But let a man examine c. Wherein you see there are two general parts first a preparation then an admission unto the blessed Sacrament of the body and blood of our Saviour The Admission in the latter part Let him eat and the preparation in the former but first let a man examine c. Of the holy Sacrament it self and an admission unto it hereafter at this time only of the preparation that should go before it Wherein you may consider 1. The Act wherein it consists Examination and then the object of that Act himself Let a man c. But we shall run both together and out of both draw these points which we will commend to your observation 1. Because the end of examination is to prepare our selves we will shew the necessity of this preparation 2. That we may know wherein to examine our selves we will consider the quality and extent of that preparation which is necessary for the making and constituting of a worthy Receiver 3. We will shew that the best means to attain unto this due preparationâ— or qualification is the study and knowledge of our selves and our own ways 4. Because the heart of man is deceitful above all things and we are all apt to deceive our selves in judging of our selves that it is not a superficial view but a strict examination that must give the just and true knowledge of our selves 5. And lastly we will make and practise this examination in those points we have found necessary that after it they who are approved in their own Consciences may chearfully approach unto the sacred Mysteries and eat of that bread and drink of that Cup to their endless comfort and others that are not so as I think few are may first reform themselves lest they eat and drink as the Apostle here threatens damnation to themselves So these five The necessity of preparation and what the prepation is that is so necessary That the best means to attain it is the knowledge of our selves and the best way to come to this knowledge examination which examination because it is the chief point we will strictly make in the last place that according to it we may either approve or reform our selves before we presume to come to the dreadful Sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord These 5. I say we shall at this time as God shall inable prosecute in their order but plainly as desirous to leave you rather better than more learned And first of the first the necessity of preparation But let a man examine c. The end of examination is preparation for to examine and not to prepare our selves were but to see our own foulness and refuse to cleanse it to inquire into our Lords will and neglect it when we have done and that will only make us worthy of more stripes And therefore he that commands the one doth in the same words of necessity injoin the other And indeed holy and Divine Mysteries as in reason they require an holy and sanctified preparation so in Scripture hath it ever been prescribed and exacted at their hands that shall draw near unto them yea the very Heathen Priests would not enter upon their Superstitious Ceremonies to their false Gods without first proclaiming a procul este profani all profane and unhallowed persons be ye far away And it was the use in the Primitive Church for the Minister as it is in St. Basils Liturgy or the Deacon his Assistant as Chrysostom hath it To cry with a loud voice before the Communion Sancta Sanctis holy things pertain unto holy people And for this cause it was that the Lord gave such strict command in Law that no uncircumcised person should presume to eat of the Paschal Lamb nor yet any circumcised neither under four days preparation and sanctification of themselves With what reverence then and awful regard should we draw near unto the true Passover in the blessed Sacrament which succeeds in the room of that other and exceeds it too no less than the substance doth the shadow than the body and blood of the Son of God doth the flesh and blood of a Lamb taken from the flock To shew this our Saviour himself at his last supper ariseth from the Table takes the Bason and the Towel washes and wipes his Disciples feet before he would institute his blessed Sacrament or suffer them to be Communicants at it Now by the feet in holy Scripture are meant the affections of the heart for as by the feet the body walks so by the affections the Soul moves to whatsoever it desires They are the springs and Fountains of all her vital operations and as the Fountains are such are the streams if those be troubled these will be foul if they be cleansed the other will run clear And therefore these feet these affections of the heart being once washed the meditations of the head the words of the mouth and the actions of the hand which are but rivers flowing from the abundance of the heart and the hearts affections cannot but partake of the same purity For which reason when Peter who at the first was not willing to be washt at all afterwards was desirous to have all washt his head and his hands as well as his feet our Saviour replies he that is washed needeth not to wash save his feet only for then he is clean every whit Joh. xiii 10. The feet then the affections of the Soul on whose cleanness doth depend the purity of the whole man and all his actions these are they that our Saviour by this act of his own doth instruct us carefully to wash and cleanse before they tread a step towards his holy Table How can they there expect to be partakers of him who himself in that place told Peter that without this washing he could have no part in him They frustrate the end and benefit of the holy Sacrament they prostitute the blessed mysteries themselves they dishonour both them and the Majesty of that God who is present at and in them who presume with unwasht feet unhallowed affections to enter upon the sacred Symbols sanctified with the peculiar presence of the precious body and blood of the Son of the everliving God No marvel therefore if such profaners of this blood are held as guilty of the
Belial God and Baal is most insufferable yea more than the clear rejection of him Utinamcalidus esses aut frigidus I would you were hot or cold saith the Lord to some in the Revelations As if since they were not throughly hot he had rather by much they were utterly cold than in that faint temper between both fit for nought but evomition as is there threatned for the indignation of God riseth at nothing so much as when Men neither so cold as to contemn Religion nor yet so hot as to forsake their sins present him with a cooler mixture of both Better therefore be a pure Gentile or a graceless sinner than a compounded and perfunctory Christian worse than either and harder to be cured his mediocrity being grown venerable unto the world and himself under the shew and title of calmness and moderation For which cause that may be verified of these our Saviour said of others Publicans and harlots shall sooner enter the kingdom of heaven If we mean to find entrance there it may not be by the formal and falsehearted seeking seek the Lord and you shall find him but if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul otherwise instead of finding a Kingdom we may chance to fall upon a curse Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently Seek ye therefore first with all Industry and with all speed too that it may be the first thing you seek every way first in time as well as in intention Death is uncertain and delays are dangerous whilst we take farther day unto our selves enlarging our time as the rich Fool did his Barns God oftentimes derides us as he did him Stulte hac nocte Thou Fool this night shall thy soul be taken from thee And who in his own particular knows the length and date of this his day who can tell how many hours there are in it or how many of them are spent already How soon that now that henceforth of obstruction and blindness may come upon him and refusing to cleanse his Soul whilst the Spirit like that Angel in the Pool of Bethesda is moving the waters how suddenly he may fall under that fearful Sentence of the same Spirit in the Revelation He that is filthy let him be filthy still If that Fig-tree were cursed even before the time of fruit in comparison was come before the Gospel was throughly published may not those that have lived long under the bright beams and Sun-shine of it and still bring forth nought but leaves of shew and formality have just cause to fear every moment the approach and probation of that final and fatal doom Never fruit grow on thee more Whilst Men in their presumption are sporting themselves and grieving God with their sins God in his wrath in the mean while may be swearing they shall never enter into his rest Undoubtedly did the rays of true wisdom and divine pierce into the Soul had the heart any true impression of future things or of the vanity of the present did Men taste and relish the good gift of God and the powers of the world to come they would not permit any quiet to their Spirits or peace unto their Souls till their Souls had made and gained peace with their God and freed themselves from such uncertainties This is the Haven of our Rest and Heaven upon Earth and we that see it may well say unto our Souls better than he did say but saw it not O quid agis anima meâ— fortiter occupa portum what dost thou O my Soul the Port is before thee steer away before Sea and Wind manfully foul weather is behind thee make haste to escape the stormy Wind and Tempest And however there should chance not to be any for there may be room for misericordia Domini inter pontem fontem He hath not shut up life nor the gate of his mercy upon any yet it will concern wise men to fear the worst that is more likely and prevent it whilst they have time to work the work of the Lord whilst it is yet high day before that dreadful and terrible night approach wherein no man can work To defer it to the eleventh hour to the evening and twilight were a presumption too full of boldness especially since our Sun may set at noon and our light go out in the midst of our life For we are but dust as our Fathers were and the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with us Let us therefore laying aside all delays be resolute and vigilant attending speedily to open when it pleaseth him to knock when he calls instantly to answer Lo I come when he says seek ye my face to echo immediately thy face Lord will I seek So seeking his face in holiness here you may be sure to see it in glory hereafter In the mean time that God who hath added all things else plentifully unto you all abundantly unto one continue and multiply his favours unto all but principally and above all unto that one For since it is one of the last services your Majesty before your journey is to receive from this place I would not willingly leave it without one word of apprecation For though I may not bless yet I may pray God almighty whom you seek and serve hath blessed you ever hitherto and may his faithfulness and truth be your shield and protection ever hereafter He that went with Abraham in his Journey be with you in yours Let him lead you forth in peace and to the joy of all hearts return you again in safety May he carry you from Crown unto Crown from one Kingdome to another upon earth and having ministred all things else unto you according to your hearts desire here may he at last and let that be late minister an entrance unto you also abundantly into his own Kingdom this Kingdom of God Whereunto the same God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe to bring us all for and in the meritorious blood of his dearly beloved Son and our most blessed Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Laus Deo in aeternum A PREPARATION FOR THE Holy COMMUNION SERMON VIII Upon 1 COR. XI 28. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. THE holy but fearful Sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord as it is the highest and noblest Institution the Christian Religion hath so is it to be approached unto with the greatest reverence and regard For as it affords inestimable comfort to the worthy participant so not less danger and terrour to the unworthy Receiver He that takes it must know he takes a powerful medicine that will work one way or other either cure or kill prove wholsom Physick or deadly poyson As the patient is prepared so it works this way or that even either life or death For the blood which is received if it do not wash and cleanse it willâ— certainly stain
season and who is so mad as to build and plant garnish and make great provision in an Inn in his passage and upon the way being to depart ere long peradventure the next morning For here we have no abiding place no permanent City but as strangers and pilgrims we look for one which hath a foundation And in such a Soul which is in it self as an Inn and esteems the world for no other and therefore void of all scraping and wretched desires the Son of God is ever most infallibly born and will as certainly bear it where are true riches and everlasting Now these three pleasure profit and pride that is the flesh the world and the Devil are the three heads whereunto all sins are reducible and as Christ cuts them all off in his birth so must we cut them off in our selves or he will never be born in us Carnal pleasure must depart he will be born of a Virgin Devilish pride abandoned he is born in a Stable worldly cares and covetous desires utterly discharged he is born in an Inn. And when the Soul is thus prepared by being truly cleansed from all these the time is at hand and then let him make hast and go up with confidence unto Bethlem for there he will be born that is the last and general place of his nativity born in Bethlem And Bethlem is domus panis so the name signifies the house of bread and never so truly as now when the bread of life was born in it And as then so will be still be born in Bethlem in the house of bread Of bread not corporal but spiritual and such as can nourish the Soul and what house think you is that surely Bethlem is nothing but Bethel the house of bread none other but the house of God Where Men eat Angels food and that bread of life is freely dispensed not only panis verbi but panis verbum the bread of the word but the bread which is the word the eternal word of God panis de Coelo bread from Heaven of which whosoever eateth shall never die And this is that house ecce and behold there is that heavenly bread indeed not so much bread as the body of thy Redeemer the bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Lords body the Communion sure of his body and blood too of himself and all that he did or suffered yea or purchased either For all are communicated in these the same Symbols of all and Conduits by which all are conveyed to us And therefore Christ Jesus himself is under this bread and comes down to thee as from Heaven in this shape that he might be at once both received in thy mouth and conceived in thy heart conceived and born live and inhabit therefor ever So justly was Bethlem the seat of his Nativity and therefore as Jacob said when he awoke out of sleep in that place where some suppose the Temple was afterwards built how fearful saith he is this place the Lord was in it and I was not aware this is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven if he said so of the Temple the house of that bread how much more justly may we say of the bread of this house How fearful is this bread the Lord is in it and much more especially than in the Temple and wo unto them that are not aware of it that discern it not for they do but eat damnation to themselves because they discern not the Lords body Take heed therefore above all things unto thy self when thou comest to this fearful twice fearful place this double Temple the Temple of his worship and Temple of his Body and so that thou make thy approach with due regard and diligent preparation with that deep sorrow as becometh thy sins that low reverence as becometh thy Saviour And so in the end think on the night wherein he was to be born and betake thee to thy sweet and silent meditations consider the deep of Winter and embrace thine afflictions Look upon the days of peace and let go wrath view the Stable and down with thy pride see the Inn and contemn the World contemplate the Virgin and cleanse thy self from all pollutions of the flesh so shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty and thy Virgin Soul come up safely into Bethlem and take of the bread of life freely and with it the blessed Lord of life himself who will make thy spirit another spiritual Bethlem or house for this living bread an habitation for this living Lord to be born and live in so long as thou livest and give thee everlasting life when thou canst live no longer Which God of his infinite mercy c. To whom c. Laus Deo in aeternum TWO FUNERAL SERMONS The FIRST for the MOTHER SERMON XII Upon PSAL. cxlii verse ult Bring my Soul out of Prison that I may give thanks unto thy Name which thing if thou wilt grant me then shall the Righteous resort unto my Company DO not marvel the Text may be fitter than you imagine or I could have made choice of for it is not I but another it was not taken but given me She that is now gone and at rest and may she rest for ever in peace she whose dissolved Tabernacle the prison of whose blessed Soul lies here before your eyes as a spectacle of mortality as a document of the frailty of our humane condition which I would if I might so wish it had this day appeared by some other example She this worthy and honoured Lady now glorious Saint in Heaven to whom we are at this time to perform our last office and Christian duty She it is who as she made it her frequent praise in her life so she desired it might be commended to your meditations in her death And you will anon perceive how justly when you shall see how well it sorted with the one and how fully it is now accomplished in the other But for this you must stay a little First therefore of her Theam then of her self Bring my Soul c. The whole Psalm is a prayer of Davids pursued by Saul and shut up in a Cave as appears by the Title but whether that of Adullam in the xxii of Samuel as Haimo and Remigius or else of the other of Engedi in the xxiv of the same book as Ambrose and Athanasius suppose is uncertain nor is it material to enquire In one of them it was and in this distress he flees unto the Lord for sucour in this whole Psalm the sum and substance of whose devout prayer you have in this last verse Bring my Soul c. This is the Historical truth and the literal sence of the Text which ariseth from thence is manifest Deliver my Soul out of Prison Espelunca out of this Cave and not so only not out of the Cave alone for so he might have fallen into the hands of Saul from whom it
1 Cor. xi 28. But let a Man examine himself and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup. SERMON IX X XI On Christmass day fol. 268 295 324. I. on Luke ii 10 11. And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring you tydings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. II. on Gal. iv 4 5. When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law That he might redeem them that are under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons III. on Esay liii 8. And who shall declare his Generation SERMON XII XIII Two Funeral Sermons fol. 356 384. I. For the Mother on Psal. cxlii verse ult Bring my Soul out of Prison that I may give thanks unto thy Name which thing if thou wilt grant me then shall the Righteous resort unto my Company II. For the Daughter on Rom viii 10. And if Christ be in you the Body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is life because of Righteousness A DISCOURSE OF OATHS SERMON I. Upon JER iv 2. And thou shalt swear The Lord liveth in Truth in Judgment and in Righteousness THough all Sins be dangerous unto the Soul of man and none so small as may be neglected since a man may be choaked under a heap of Sand as well as crushed to death by the fall of a Tower yet the greater a sin is and the more general it is grown the greater danger and more inevitable destruction doth attend it And therefore it doth require our chief labour and diligence both to avoid such in our selves and to give the best notice we can unto others of the peril By negligence the least Leak may drown the Ship but the Pilot's special care is of the Rock on which if his Vessel fall it certainly splits Now of all the Sins whereunto the Corruption of man is subject I think there is scarce any so great and so common so great in it self and so common in the world so injurious unto the Majesty of God and so frequent amongst the Sons of men as the sin of Swearing The vain and irreverent using rather abusing of that Sacred Name in our ordinary speech which if well considered we should tremble but to think on A sin which the Wise man tells us will bring a Curse upon the house where it is used and it is no less likely to bring a Curse upon a whole Land and Nation where it is universal So that this impiety of all other as it brings with it a greater and more general danger so it calls for from all especially from all us whom it most concerns a great and universal care All endeavours should run forth to the quenching of a common fire It is indeed often galled and sharply taxed from such places as these obviously and by the way But the point contains much and will require a set discourse of that and nothing else for we cannot be too industrious against a publick mischief For which reason I have now made it the subject of my discourse as it is of this Verse Wherein you have the whole Nature and full doctrine of an Oath and how prepared it may be wholesome which otherwise used is deadly poison For an Oath is not simply and utterly unlawful my Text says Thou shalt swear but then it must be qualifyed with the due form and matter and manner The form must be As the Lord liveth that is in the Name of the living Lord The matter Truth and Righteousness the manner or modification Judgment Thou shalt c. But before you may fully apprehend the division of the Text it will be requisite that I shew you some divisions of an Oath for there are divers sorts There is a bare and simple Oath and there is an Oath mixt with a Curse and execration The bare and simple Oath is only a plain and naked contestation wherein we call God to witness of what we say The execratory is when we bind over and oblige either our selves or something dear unto us unto some notorious punishment if so be that be not true which we say as when one swears by his Life Soul Salvation and the like Again there is an Oath wherein there is a manifest and express assumption of the Name of God which needs no instance we know it too well by daily and fearful example And there is an Oath wherein God is called to record tacitly and implicitly under the Name of those Creatures wherein his Glory doth especially shine and appear So he that sweareth by heaven sweareth both by heaven and by him that dwelleth therein And lastly which is specially material There is an Oath Assertory and an Oath Obligatory Assertory when we affirm or deny any thing past or present Obligatory when we promise or threaten something to come Which being observed you may easily make a fit Application of the three terms in my Text Truth Judgment and Righteousness Truth unto an assertory Oath Righteousness unto a promissory Judgment and discretion unto both For which cause it is placed in the midst between both For an Assertory oath must be True lest we swear falsly A Promissory Righteous lest we swear to do unjustly and both with discretion and judgment lest we swear lightly and rashly Thou shalt swear c. So then we may in some case swear but the Oath must have the right form it must be made in the name of the Lord And the due matter in Truth if Assertory in Righteousness if Promissory And then in a discreet manner with premeditation and judgment in both Wherein you see how we may swear and how we may not swear In Truth Judgment and Righteousness we may swear but falsly unjustly and rashly and vainly we may not swear Of these points in their order beginning with the first The Lawfulness of an Oath and that in case a man may swear Thou shalt c. 1. There are not wanting some and those even amongst the Fathers themselves who have censured all Oaths though permitted by the Law yet as condemned by the Gospel which contains they say a Doctrine of more than legal perfection of this opinion were St. Basil and Theophylact and it is the error of the Anabaptist unto this day Others have thought that an Oath may be lawful under the Gospel but then only before a Magistrate and when it is required by such as have authority thereunto But the common and more general opinion both of the Antient Fathers and Modern Divines is that it is not simply unlawful for a private man to swear and in a private action when some urgent cause either the honour and Glory of God or some great good and benefit of our Neighbour doth call for it at our hands since it is not the use of an Oath but
must be velle fortiter integre no cold and faint desire but a strong a total and a resolute will The sluggard may be willing to rise and yet for all that lie still in his warm Bed but it is not a Will that he hath but only a Velleity or willingness for when he will he riseth yea when he wills he cannot possibly choose but rise for the body doth naturally obey the mind so easily and readily ut vix à servitio discernatur imperium that the wit of man saith St. Austin can hardly discern between the command of the one and the execution of the other And therefore to will is to do and he that doth not do did never will he that doth not do what is possible for him to do did never will since if he will such things it is impossible for him not to do So that rightly in this Velle sufficit there is nothing required but thy Will yet thy full and total Will not a saint and lazy Velleity but a resolved Will that is ever accompanied with watchful and diligent endeavour which the Tongue of all other doth especially require of us as the same Father elsewhere speaks Lingua facilitatem habet motûs in udo posita est facile labitur in lubrico The Tongue hath a great facility in motion and is seated in a moist and slippery place where it is easy to slide of it self but much more through Custom And therefore quanto illa cilius movetur tanto tu adversus illam fixus esto The more movable the Tongue is the more immovable and fixt must be thy resolution and Care and the longer the Custom the greater thine intention to break it For vigilance will conquer it and the fear of God will beget vigilance and the meditation that thou art a Christian that must render an account of all at the last day is able to instil the fear of God into thy heart saith the same St. Austin who doth also incourage us not only by his exhortation but even by his own example who seems to have been as deeply engaged in this evil habit as another but how freed he himself Timendo Deum Jurationem abstulimus de ore nostro The fear of God saith he stripped it from my Tongue Luctatus sum c. For I wrestled with the evil use and wrestling I called upon God and Gods assistance delivered me from the Custom And now nihil mihi facilius quam non jurare there is nothing so easy to me as not to swear Beloved let us imitate the holy Father and we shall also as easily vanquish he hath beaten out a straight and plain path to victory and we need only to tread in his steps And therefore with him Let us cast up our eyes upon that sacred and dreadful Majesty which we offend and then fear and fearing wrestle and wrestling call and calling we shall certainly receive assistance undoubtedly to conquer yea and to insult over it conquered with a Nihil mihi facilius nothing is now so easy unto me as not to swear And sure the fear of God is ever the beginning of Wisdom especially here where the sin is the direct opposite to it as being a presumptuous irreverence in the very face and against the very honour of the Almighty which cannot possibly consist with his fear which is the surest bank and bulwork against all ungodliness And therefore when that like a Flood-hatch is plucked up and cast aside no marvel if dishonour be presently poured forth upon God and men become filled and overflown with Iniquity And as little marvel that the Lord for both respects as well for our benefit and good as for the fear and reverence of his own Name injoineth this as the very first thing we should beg of him in our prayers Sanctificetur Nomen tuum hallowed be thy Name and as the first thing inhibited with a special note of revenge for he will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain and as a prime instruction of the first Sermon that ever he preached I say unto you swear not at all That which he was so careful as to make the Instruction of his first Sermon the first petition in his prayer and the first revenge in the Decalogue cannot be thought a matter of light importance but must needs argue it a sin no less odious unto himself than pernicious unto man for which reason St. James seems worthily to inlarge our Saviour's instruction swear not at all with an Ante omnia above all things my brethren swear not at all To whose exhortation we may all yet well add another Ante omnia of Prayer above all things O Lord plant thy fear in our hearts that we swear not at all If the awful fear of thy Majesty may not deter us at least let the dreadful fear of thy Judgments terrify us from this presumptuous sin that it get not the dominion over us So shall we be innocent from the great offence and freed from the great malediction Thy curse upon our selves and houses whilest we live and destruction of Body and Soul in everlasting sorrow when we die Which the Lord of his infinite mercy avert and instead thereof grant unto us so to Reverence his holy Name now as we may be admitted with Saints and Angels everlastingly to magnify and adore it in thy Eternal Kingdom hereafter Whereunto God of the same infinite Goodness c. Amen A SERMON OF THE DUTY of MAN SERMON II. Upon ECCLES xii 13. Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments For this is the whole Duty of Man For God c. THIS whole Book is nothing else but a Search and Enquiry of King Solomon into that grand and famous Question de Summo Bono what may be the chief Wisdom and happiness of Man in this Mortality And this Verse with that other which follows as they close up the Book so they contain the Conclusion of the point a full discovery and resolution of that which in the former Chapters was but fearched after and enquired into whereunto his answer is short and plain but thus Fear God and keep his Commandments This only the whole matter of his Conclusion and that we may take it for full satisfaction to the Question he assures us that it is the Conclusion too of the whole matter Let us hear c. A Conclusion then we may be bold to term it for so it is and so it terms it self A Conclusion that hath two parts Fear God and keep his Commandments And both backt with two Reasons He will not beg the Conclusion but prove it For this is the duty the whole duty not of the Priest or some of the People but universally of Man Every Mans Duty and the whole Duty of every Man That is the first Reason There is a second in the next Verse and I may mention it though at this time not meddle
joyned too in man their subject the ywill make up that compleat fear which indeed is the full and compleat worship internal worship and service of God And therefore in the Scripture it is usually taken even for our whole Religion Piety and Adoration of the Divinity according to that of David O come hither and I will teach you the fear of the Lord that is the worship of the Lord. So Jonah unto the Mariners that enquired of him I am an Hebrew saith he and I fear the God of heaven and that made the Sea and the dry land So Jacob in like manner when he sware unto Laban he swore by the fear of his Father Isaac to wit by that God whom his Father Isaac feared that is worshiped and served Whence it is that what Moses terms fear Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God that the Septuagint and our Saviour himself renders by worship Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve And therefore we shall not need to scruple much at the enquiry why the Text saith not Believe or Love or the like but rather Fear God and keep his Commndments for he that hath said Fear hath said all no word can go beyond this It includes both faith and hope and love and all yea something more than all Not the meanest of these fears the fear of punishment but implies faith and the fear of offence both faith and hope and love also but the reverential fear is love and something more than love even Veneration too as acknowledging the love to be not like that of ordinary friendships inter Pares between Companions but at a distance and such an infinite distance on Gods part as requires the lowest Reverence and Adoration from all that love him For though it hath pleased his goodness to make and stile us his friends yet I hope we do not cease to be his servants nor he to be our Lord every way our Supream and Soveraign Lord So indeed our Lips stile him at every word and by that stile and Title too he himself requires his fear at our hands if I be your Lord ubi Timor meus where is my fear Where indeed his fear of Reverence for he is Lord of Majesty and Glory Where the fear of offence for he is the Lord no less good than glorious and as terrible as either to his contemners where then the fear of his wrath And sure the question is pertinent enough and it is but right that he demands where it is or what may become of it It seems to be fled with Astraea to Heaven sure I am it may trouble a man to find it out any where upon earth His judgments are far off as David speaks even out of our sight at least they seem yet to be beheld with such security as a Man would think most Men were in a league with death and at a Covenant with Hell as the Prophet speaks so little fear is there of his revenge And sure they that fear not punishment will hardly be restrained by any filial the fear of offence Indeed it were something well if we did not offend with less trouble than any thing else And as for the other the fear of reverence and that principally in the holy place where his special presence hath made it especially due that is so far from regard as it seems to have gotten an ill name of late we are grown some of us into such a familiarity with God as the reverence of his Sanctuary or of him in it or any decency or dignity that may serve thereunto is suspected now a days for an out-work of Popery God grant we do not make it Idolatry too to reverence even God himself in his Temple Is not the question just then in these times also ubi timor meus where is his fear indeed where any of his fears sure they have all left this world and it seems left in it little but worldly fear behind them That indeed and that alone runs through the world and only prevails For her we duck like Die-dappers at every Pebble that is thrown at us by a powerful hand and yet can stand up sturdily like Capaneus upon the walls of Thebes against the Thunderbolts of the Almighty we are become as he said well Gyants yea even Gods against God but Slaves unto Men whose Bodies and Consciences are sometimes equally rotten The revenge of the Law and shame of the world is for the most part all our fear so we may avoid these save our goods from loss our names from disgrace our skin from hurt our bodies from death we can sin on merrily it little matters for him that can cast both body and soul into Hell fire This is the whole of most mens fears but fear not ye their fear neither be afraid but sanctify the Lord himself Is metus vester is pavor esto let him be your fear let him be your dread But what then is God only to be feared and nothing besides surely yes God and not any thing else if any thing shall stand in competition or opposition with God but yet under God and in subordination unto him we are to fear God and others too for Gods sake And all the people feared exceedingly God and his servant Moses So the Apostle fear to whom fear and honour to whom honour appertaineth and both sure appertain to all Superiors but eminently above all to him that is Supream Reverential fear for he hath a character of the Divinity upon him Fear obediential and filial fear too for he is Pater Patriae And fear of his wrath also for he is Gods Minister for vengeance And therefore fear the King for he carrieth not the sword in vain Yea and I must tell you fear the Church too and those in the Church that have power over us also another kind of power indeed but yet such as renders them Gods Ministers in like manner and your Ghostly Fathers and therefore will require in their degree obedience and reverence too yea and fear of their wrath also for they want it not for the wicked when occasions serve and therefore fear these too for they carry not the Keys in vain The Powers that are they are all of God and he that resisteth the power whether Temporal or Spiritual resisteth the ordinance of God and receiveth damnation unto himself It is true these are two distinct powers yet is it as true also they are not simply collateral but subordinate ever subordinate when the Prince is Christian as having though not all power in himself yet a Princely dominion over all Persons and that in all Causes whatsoever neither is more claimed and less cannot be denied For two Supremacies in a Kingdom are no less inconsistent than two Omnipotencies in the world And therefore the Apostle gives unto him universal subjection and conscientious too Let every one yea omnis anima let every soul
be subject to the higher powers But however this Spiritual power be not collateral simply but subordinate unto the Royal yet is it in regard of its original and derivation clearly independent as being not derivable into the Priesthood from any Prince or Potentate upon earth but immediately from him who hath it written on his Garment and on his Thigh The Lord of Lords and King of Kings And being thus distinct without derivation it is not possible the censures of the one should come forth in the name of the other but only indeed in Christs name and in their own persons who in this are the Ministers not of the King but of Christ as exercising no part of the power belonging to the Sword but only of those Keys that properly are their own and underivable too from any upon earth but those of their own Order However therefore these powers are subordinate yet two distinct powers they are and both as was said immediately from God and both therefore to be feared of men And sure this latter though the lesser yet not a little to be feared neither for though the Kings Laws bind the Conscience yet his revenge for the breaches of them cannot reach home unto the Soul His Sword is material and can but lash the Body though so lash it as sometimes to divide it from the Soul but St. Pauls Sword is spiritual and reacheth directly to the spirit dividing the Soul not indeed from its own Body but from the Church the Body of Christ and so from Christ too the head of the Body a power therefore in it self no way contemptible it is Christs own and he the more careful to vindicate it from contempt yea not it only but the power and person too of the meanest Priest amongst us for that of his concerns all He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me But yet all this were not that other Royal Power propitious upon earth I think would be of little force in these days to preserve them from contempt or confusion crushing confusion For did not the Sword of the Prince defend the Keys of the Priest they might well put them under their girdle if not under the door and be gone But blessed be God he that is the defender of the Faith and Doctrine of the Church in his Piety and Princely Goodness is pleased to be the Defender also of her Jurisdiction and Discipline Et defensoribus istis tempus eget for otherwise the Antihierarchical of these times and indeed Antimonarchical too as not well affecting any either Power or Prerogative but their own were it not for this would soon level all by their own Rule that is level with the ground lay all Power Ecclesiastick and Honour too like Davids in the dust if not rubbish even Monasterial But then they may do well to think of another dust too the dust of our heels which if but justly shaken there is one that assures us the sorrows of such Contemners will prove more insufferable than those of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of Judgment It is but right therefore and well too that the Regal Power is the Superior that so as it is the Moderator and Governour of the temporal it might be also the Protector of the spiritual causing that fear and reverence which is due unto both to be paid also respectively unto either Neither in requiring this unto them do we divert from the right object of fear in my Text for it is but fear God still For God himself hath in a sort Deified Authority He hath given them of his own power and imparted his very Name unto their Persons I have said ye are Gods and ye are all sons of the most high And Gods indeed not only by appellation but in effect also for the great and universal benefit which they bring unto mankind For were not Man thus made a God unto Man Men would soon become Wolves unto themselves and devour one another And therefore to fear such Men is not to fear Men but God since the fear is not so much exhibited unto their naked persons as unto those beams and participations of the Divinity wherewith they are clothed And in this sort it is not amiss to say that God and not any thing else is to be feared And indeed he that thus fears God he only fears nothing else though the waves of the Sea rage horribly and though the Hills of the Earth be carried into the midst of the Sea nay as the Poet Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae though the whole world should disjoint and fall he would be buried in the ruines of it without fear for he fears none but God and the offending of that God whom he fears That indeed he doth as desirous to obey him too as well as fear him and so we must all it is our Duty also for so it follows Fear God and keep his Commandments the second Part of our Conclusion keep his Commandments These two are inseparable ever and it is but just that they are not here only but so often joined together in Scripture The fear of the Lord saith David is the beginning of Wisdom and he subjoins but a good understanding have all they that do thereafter So God himself as Job testifies And unto man he said as if it were the product and total of all that is or may be said unto him the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil that is understanding The self same in substance with Solomon here Fear God and keep his Commandments Neither may it possibly be otherwise Nature hath linked them as close as Scripture for no man departs or can depart from the one the Law of God that doth not first depart from the other the Fear of God The soul and body of man have not a stricter union than these two the one the body the other the very soul of the new and interiour man And therefore the original hath it col ha adam for this is not the whole duty but the whole man the whole spiritual man indeed The outward works of the Law are wrought by the body and such righteousness of the body is but the body of righteousness but the fear of the Lord sanctifies the soul and the righteousness of the soul is the very soul of righteousness And the spiritual man created in holiness and true righteousness must have both these parts as well as the animal a soul and a body too Some mens righteousness indeed is all body do many things good and commanded but for ends upon by and vitious respects here is a Carcase of holiness but no soul to inform it only hypocrisy inhabits and gives it motion as the Devil sometimes they say doth the body of a dead man Others will be altogether Soul Fear God as much as you will every man likes it well and thinks he doth it
and all other the sordid Factors that truck and traffick between them truss't up on an instant in a third fardle and as nasty as any of the other All indeed and many more the like fit Faggots and Fuel for those devouring but not consuming flames Their time is come and thither they must to receive the just recompence of their ways for that is the end of Christs coming who now comes for general Retribution and due reward unto all Et tunc reddet unicuique c. And then shall he reward c. The Then here was omitted in the division but may not be so in our discourse for there seems to be an Emphasis a strong Accent on it on this particle of time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then he shall render unto every man according to his works And sure it is something well yet a comfortable hearing to those that have clear bosoms that yet there is a Then in store a time that will come at last when every one shall receive a reward according to his works Here on earth the Babel of confusion where all things are mixed and blended togetherâ— no mans works can well be discerned or judged of by the reward he receiveth The reward of the righteous sometimes happens to the wicked saith Solomon and the reward of the wicked is sometimes given to the righteous No man can know either good or evil by all that is before him Some rare examples indeed there now and then fall out when evil men are filled with their own devices and made to eat the fruits of their own planting As I have done saith Adonibezeck unto others so God hath requiâ—ed me and so he requites many more hangs them up sometimes like Haman on their own Gallows or buries them in the pit which themselves have digged This God sometimes doth that we may know his providence sleepeth not even for the present Yet this he doth but seldom saith St. Augustine that we may consider there is a day of judgement to come and the nearer that day approacheth the more rare and seldom are exhibited such remarkable examples The indignation of the Almighty that was wont in former Ages to follow notorious wickedness at the heels with as notable and exemplary revenge now in these latter times the day of final accounts draws nigh on seems to slacken the pace and come leisurely after at a distance God inhibiting as it were the inferiour Courts of his Justice upon earth against the approach of the great day of his general visitation in the Clouds In the mean time because it is mans day this he permits men for the most part unto themselves steers the line of his providence suffers them to run on at pleasure in their own courses and men thus permitted to themselves are oftentimes sure but ill Judges and worse rewarders of their brethren For the malevolent and malignant world prone to calumniate the noblest actions doth usually reward men not according to their works but it s own malignancy It is not judgment but fancy and faction that now adays gives a sutable censure on all mens ways and actions But it is little material for benefacere male audire Regium est That of the Poet is most true and will be ever virtutem praesentem odimus envy never fails to attend on present vertue urit enim fulgore suo and the more eminent it is the more it provokes unto envy but yet that which follows is true also sublatam ex oculis quaerimus invidi future times when it is gone will do it right and reward it with honour But however if they do not yet it is but fit that virtue should be put to the true Test and give proof of her sincerity Every man can easily pursue those attempts that are seconded with vulgar applause but to go on with courage though met in the face and followed at the heels with storms of reproaches and unsavory calumniations in this case non se subducere nimbo not to decline those showers run to every bush for shelter but to bear up manfully notwithstanding into the very eye of the wind and weather Hoc demum est pietas hoc quoque fortis amor this is virtue indeed true and approved love unto God and goodness removed utterly from the danger of those by-respects of Pride and vain-glory the cruel Widwifes of Egypt appointed by the infernal Pharaoh to stifle and smother the Children of the Israelites in the very day of their birth No matter therefore how it goes here with men that judge secundùm faciem according to appearance as St. John speaks or rather sometimes without any appearance at all That which is the stay and solid comfort of every man is within him in his own bosome where he is assured his work is with his God that judgeth righteous judgment and will have his time at last to make all things manifest and reveal the secrets of all hearts when smotherâ—d righteousness shall break forth as the light and just dealing as the noon day For as Solomon rightly he that ponders the heart doth consider it and he that keepeth thy Soul doth know it and he it is that shall reward every man according to his works In the mean time that of the Apostle is seasonable Patientes estote fraâ—res usque in adventum dominis be ye patient â—â—til the coming of the Lord for when he doth come then every mans works shall appear and then indeed he will reward every man according to his works But what is not the reward given until then not until the coming of the Lord A reward sure there is even in the present life but it lies secret in the Conscience a greater reward unto the separated Soul after death yet the fulness of reward I conceive though I contend with no man not until the day of resurrection In the mean time the departed Soul lives it doth not die to be raised again like the body as the Socinian would have it nor yet sleep out the time in a Tâ—ance as others affirm but this is certain the Soulâ— of the righteous are in the hand of God so saith the Wise man yea more they are thus far blessed that die in the Lord far they rest from their labours so saith the Spirit nay farther yet they are in refrigerio in a joyful freshing with Abraham so saith the Paâ—able of Laâ—â—â—â—â—â— yea in a Paradise of delight so saith Christ unto the good Thief upon the Cross. And therefore where-ever they are be the place what or where it will Abrahams bosom or Paradise or under the Altar there they are undoubtedly where the glory of Chirst shines unto then and on them with full assurance of the like glory shortly to be rewealed and wherre with themselves shall be indeâ—ssibly invested In the presentation and contemplation whereof miâ—abili quadam volupt ate afficiunt up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their affections saith Gregory Nazianzeâ— even 〈◊〉 with marvellous
shedding of it which was purposely shed to cleanse them from the guilt of their sins if instead of sealing salvation to their own Souls they do but eat damnation to themselves for not discerning the body of their Lord. For did they discern it did they understand and conceive it to be there they could not but approach unto it with greater reverence with much more heed and awful regard When it was at the worst and lowest estate the malicious Jews could bring it to bereaved of all form and beauty yea and of that blessed Soul which dwelt within it and now remained only a dead and crucified Carkase all over gaping with wounds and gored with blood yet even then with what care and reverent respect was it handled by the good Arimathean It was wrapt up in fine and clean Linnen imbalmed with sweet Oyntmens and perfumes and laid in a new Sepulcher hewen out of the Rock How then and with what high esteem should we we that are to be made not Sepulchers but Shrines and Temples not of his ignominious but glorified body not of his body only but of his whole person of his body and blood and Soul and Divinity and all how I say and with what diligent preparation should we see that all things be pure and clean and sweet and new where such a guest is to be entertained where he is not to be lodged for a night or two but to inhabit where he is not to lye a while as in the grave but to dwell and live for ever This were something to the purpose and we should then shew we discerned the Lords body which now we seem not at all to regard eating and drinking of his flesh and blood with no more reverence and respect than if we were at an ordinary Table of Bread and Wine Nay I assure my self many of us make more preparation being but to dine with some Neighbour than they do to come to the great Kings supper They can with all diligence apparel and trim up the outward man against every ordinary feast in the mean time neglecting the inward man of the Soul little regarding how foul and slovenly that comes to the holy Banquet But let such careless men in time take heed the wrath of the Lord hath never shown it self more terribly than on the profaners of holy things especially his own holy presence Many and fearful are the examples in this kind The great King of Babel no sooner polluted the Sanctified Vessels but even whilst he is carrouzing in the bowls of the Temple a strange hand from heaven writes his doom on the wall before him the terror whereof looseth the joints of his loyns and makes his knees knock one against another which was but a forerunner of his ruine who that night lost at once both his Kingdom and his life But how dreadful was that judgment in the 1 of Sam. vi where fifty thousand Souls are suddenly struck dead for but looking irreverently into the holy Ark and Uzzah instantly smitten with the like vengeance for but touching it with profane hands though with a good intent to hold it up when in his judgment it was like to fall And shall we who are permitted I say not to touch or to look into the moveable but to walk into the standing Ark the Temple of the Lord yea to enter in within the Vail and approach up even to the Mercy-seat and eat of the holy shew bread that stands before the Lord if we continue to pollute that sacred place and banquet with our unwasht feet unclean and impure affections shall we think to escape alone without wrath from Heaven Let no Soul flatter it self with such a bold and mad presumption The divine indignation that in former times was wont ever almost to follow such profanations at the heels though in these later ages the great day of final accounts drawing on it seem to slacken the pace yet it will certainly overtake them one time or other if not here in this world yet infallibly in that other hereafter though oftentimes even in this also Even at this instant when the Apostle wrote this very Chapter the Lord had sent a fearful sickness amongst the Corinthians and that for this very cause their profaning of the Sacrament as you may read the words immediately following my Text. For this cause saith he some are even now sick others weak and many amongst you fallen asleep that is taken away by bodily death But however it go with us now yet at that day when the great King shall come to take a particular view of his guests he will not fail to find out all those careless people that have presumed to sit down at his table without their wedding garments and pronounce upon them that heavy doom in the Gospel take them bind them hand and foot and cast them into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth So necessary is this duty of reverent preparation and so great the necessity urged upon the high terms of no less than plagues and punishments here and destruction for ever hereafter So true is that of our Apostle he that eateth unworthily doth but eat judgment unto himself so the word imports judgment temporal though he repent and without repentance damnation eternal and that in so heinous a manner as if he were guilty of the very body and blood of the Lord no less than the cruel Jews that shed the one and crucified the other or treacherous Judas that betrayed both Well then necessary it is and highly But to come to the second point let us now see what the preparation is that is so necessary wherein it consists and how far it extends that must denominate and make a worthy Receiver Surely though no Man living be absolute worthy in himself or can by any means attain unto that entire and compleat worth which is fully answerable unto the dignity and holiness of those sacred mysteries yet it pleaseth God of his grace to accept of him for a worthy Receiver of them that doth truly and faithfully endeavour to receive them with a competent measure of that reverence and those qualifications which he hath prescribed in his word amongst which Knowledge Faith Repentance Love and Charity Love to God and Charity to our Brethren I suppose are the chief if not all And these sure at least are simply necessary by them we must examine and with them we must prepare our selves whosoever will be worthy Receivers First with Knowledge an honest degree of knowledge what the mysteries are what they signifie and exhibite for what purpose they were ordained of God and are received by our selves Thus much seems requisite in the meanest capacity for so long as we are ignorant of the substantial parts and fundamental doctrine of the Sacrament so long as we neither know nor consider the main ends and purposes for which it was instituted how can we possibly prepare our selves worthily to
receive it we shall fall short for want of discerning the body of the Lord. And in this every Man ought to examine himself and many Men others too as well as themselves It is not the proper duty of the Minister of God only to Catechise every Father and Mother of a Family is or ought to be in this regard as a Minister within his own charge It is our part not to be still laying of the Foundations and Principles of the Doctrine of Christ but to lead you on towards perfection Heb. vi 1. As St. Peter the Apostle said of ministring at Tables nay as St. Paul of Baptism it self I was not sent to baptise but to preach So we may much more say of Catechizing We were not sent to Catechise but to preach the Gospel our office is to dispense the Word and Sacraments yours it is properly to prepare yours it is to teach and instruct your Children and Servants that they may be fit and capable to receive both though the sloth and ignorance of these times to your sin and shame hath cast this burden wholly upon our shoulders most Fathers for the want of willingness or knowledge deserving to be Catechised no less than the Children that are under them yea in my understanding much more having lost in their age that little which they learned in their youth The second qualification is Faith without it it is impossible to please God as in any other duties we can exhibite unto him so especially in this of the Sacrament It is the eye of the Soul by which we behold and look upon the hand by which we lay hold and apprehend the very mouth by which we eat and receive the Body and Blood of our Redeemer given and applied unto us in these mystical figures Non dentes sed fidem prepare not therefore thy teeth but thy Faith saith St. Aug. for crede manducasti believe and thou hast eaten And for this duty we suppose there needs little preparation or tryal every Man thinks he can readily assure and acquit himself in the performance but when we come to examination anon we shall find it a harder matter than we imagine to believe aright and as we ought The third of these preparatory qualifications is Repentance which though it be also generally required as precedaneous unto all sacrifices and services which we offer unto God according to that of the Apostle Let him depart front iniquity whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord yet the more holy and sacred the actions are the more especially ought we to cleanse our selves and purge our sins and corruptions before we go about them for I will be sanctified saith the Lord in those that draw near unto me And nearer well we cannot draw unto God or God unto us than in this Sacrament ordained of purpose to joyn and unite both in one But do we think his pure and precious body will vouchsafe to be received and dwell in an unclean and polluted Soul shall this bread panis de Coelo bread from Heaven the Childrens bread as it is in the Gospel and indeed the food of Angels shall it be given do we imagine unto whelps shall these precious Pearls of the Gospel shell'd up in Divine Mysteries be opened and cast unto Swine shall the cup of the Testament be given unto him that hath nothing to do with the Covenant surely no What hast thou to do saith God in the Psalms to take my Covenant in thy mouth so long as thou hatest to be reformed to take it in thy mouth so much as by naming of it how much less hast thou to do to take the blood of the Covenant in thy mouth by receiving it so long as thou refusest to reform thy self by true Repentance This therefore is the main and principal part of our qualification wherein we cannot be too diligent and careful and the other of Love is like unto it Of Love first unto God who hath shewn such marvellous Love unto us and from us should receive all Love and thankfulness again And then unto our brethren that as God hath loved us so should we also shew Love and Mercy unto one another In regard of the first this blessed Sacrament is well termed the Eucharist that is the Sacrament of thanksgiving wherein by the assistance of the blessed Spirit we do in all thankfulness and grateful return of our best affections solemnly commemorate the wonderful Love of the Son that suffered and the infinite goodness and mercy of the Father that gave him to death for the sins of the world In regard of the other the Love of our brethren it is as rightly stiled a Communion that is a common union for so it is doubly a common union of our selves amongst our selves and of all unto our Saviour But first we must be united unto one another before we be united unto him as we drink of one cup and eat of one bread so we must be knit into one body mystical by Love or we shall never be knit unto our head Christ Jesus by Faith What union canst thou expect with him so long as thou art at variance with those for whom he died His blood was shed for us all whilst we were yet enemies and shall we think we may drink it and in it remission of sins to our selves so long as we refuse to remit the sins of another can we hope or expect that mercy from God which we will not shew to our own flesh No no if without this thou thinkest to receive any favour from him or look he should receive or accept any sacrifice from thee thou deceivest thy self It is his rule in the Gospel If when thou comest to offer at his Altar thou remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave thy gift there go and first be reconciled to him then come and offer thine oblation Ecce honorem suum despicit dum in proximo charitatem requirit Behold saith Chrysost. how he preferreth thy Charity before his own honour who will not accept of any sacrifice to himself till thou hast shown love to thy neighbour And so here these four Knowledge Faith Repentance and Love are as you see the principal qualifications wherewith due preparation must of necessity adorn and beautifie the Soul they are the several parts whereof that Wedding-garment must be made up wherewith it is to be arrayed and wherein every one must appear that would be held and accepted of God for a worthy Receiver And thus much of the first points the preparation and the necessity of it drawn from the phrase and commanding force of the Text Let a man examine himself for this Let is not permissive let him do it if he will or if he will not let him chuse but mandatory and imperative let him see and be sure that he doth it and that under pain of damnation as it follows in the next verse Proceed we now in
their Souls for ever which none of these Saviours could do And therefore a publick general and universal Saviour of whom all had need as being all sinners one much talked of and long expected the great and famous Saviour of all such a one was behind And now he is come this is he the Saviour which is Christ c. He of whom all Prophecies made mention and he the performance of them all of whom all the Types under the Law were shadows and he the substance of them all of whom all the Prophecies ran and he the fulfilling of them all he of whom all those inferiour Saviours were figures and forerunners and he the accomplishment of all that in them was wanting This is he Jacob's Shilo Esay's Emmanuel Jeremy's Branch Daniel's Messias Aggai's desideratus cunctis gentibus the desire of all the nations the desire of them then and now the joy of all nations Gaudium omni populo the joy of all people a Saviour which is Christ. And this this universality of joy is comprised in the very name for Christ signifies anointed and that is as much as S. John delivereth in other terms a Saviour sealed John vi 27. for by anointing Kings and Priests and Prophets in old time were deputed signed and sealed as it were to their several offices and received power and commission to execute those high functions So then a Saviour he is not as those others were raised up upon a sudden upon some occasion to serve the present and never heard of till they came but a Saviour in Gods forecounsel resolved on and given forth from the beginning promised and foretold and now anointed and sent with absolute commission and fulness of power to be a perfect and complete Saviour of all a Saviour which is Christ That is a Saviour ex officio whose office and very profession is to save that all may have right to repair unto him and find it at his hands not a Saviour incidently as it fell out but one ex professo anointed to that end and by vertue of his anointing appointed set forth and sent into the world of purpose to execute this function of a Saviour not to the Jews only as did the rest but to all the ends of the earth So runs his commission unto his Disciples ite in universum orbem go into the whole world and preach the Gospel omni Creaturae to every Creature so runs his own Proclamation venite ad me omnes come unto me and come all Matth. xi 28. and of them that do come I will cast none out Iohn vi 37. Servator omnium hominum the Saviour of all men 1. Tim. iv 4. and as the Samaritans said of him Servator mundi the Saviour of the world of Samaritans Jews and Gentiles of Kings and Shepherds and all And sure this is publick and universal joy gaudium omni populo joy unto all people indeed for whom there is now a saving office erected one anointed to that end a professed Saviour to whom all may resort None shall henceforth be to seek there is a name given under Heaven whereby we may be sure of Salvation and this is that name the name Christ A Saviour which is born c. Two of his Attributes then we have a Saviour which is Christ that is a Saviour and a publick Saviour but he must be a perpetual Saviour too otherwise our joy will not be full Though it be great though it be general though it be general to all people yet it will fade and perish it will not be gaudium quod erit joy which shall be lasting everlasting joy none can give that but an eternal and everlasting Saviour And he that will be such must be something more than Christ so therefore he is a great deal more Christus Dominus Christ the Lord. Not a Lord that is particular and hath reference to a private title whereof he is Lord Lord of this or that place or people and the like but the Lord which is absolute and universal without any addition you may put to it what you will Lord of Heaven and Earth of Men and Angels Dominus Christorum Dominus dominorum Lord paramount over all such was this Saviour and such it behoved him to be not only Christ that name will sort with Men yea it is his name as Man only for God cannot be anointed But he that would save the world must be more than Man and so more than Christ. Indeed Christ cannot save us he that must save us must be Christ the Lord and none but the Lord ego sum ego sum saith God himself and praeter me non est Servator it is I it is I who am the Saviour I am and besides me there is no Saviour none indeed no true Saviour but the Lord all other are short vana salus hominis Mans Salvation is vain saith the Psalmist any Salvation is vain if it be not the Lords though they be Christs as Kings and Princes are who are Gods anointed yet they cannot save Trust not in Kings and Princes for non est salus there is no salvation no no health nor help in them their breath departs and they return to the earth For though they are Christs yet they are but Christi Domini the Lord 's Christs and we shall never arrive at full and perfect Salvation till we come to Christus Dominus Christ the Lord. All the help and Salvation which those other Christs and Saviours can afford doth but concern the body that indeed they may sometimes kill or save at their pleasure but not one of them can quicken his own Soul much less give a ransome for anothers it cost more to redeem it than so and he must let that alone for ever let it alone for this Christ whose work it is Christ the Lord that only can save both Body and Soul his own and other Mens too Secondly those other Christs which are not the Lord as they save only the Body so can they save only from bodily and corporal enemies but we had need of a Saviour from ghostly adversaries from spiritual wickednesses in high places a Saviour that might wrastle with principalities and powers and triumph over them too and no Christ may do this but Christ the Lord the Lord of power and might only able to bind the strong Man in his own house and spoil him of his goods of power alone to destroy Abaddon the great destroyer of the bottomless pit Thirdly those other Christs as they save but from corporal enemies so but from worldly calamities from debts and arrests and prisons and the like penalties of their own Laws But who shall deliver us from sin and death and hell From sin the grand debt of mankind from death the universal Sergeant of all flesh and from Hell the everlasting prison of Body and Soul For these they can give no protection they are all subject unto them themselves
for breaking a higher law the eternal law of the Almighty which no other can satisfy for but a Christ as Almighty Christus Dominus Christ the Lord. Lastly all other Christs or Saviours whatsoever as they save but in few things and those only corporal and worldly so in them they save but for a little while which is but a reptieve rather than a saving for long they cannot save others that so quickly perish themselves Evermore they die they drop away still and leave their favourites and followers to seek but it is not a short rescue for a time but a permanent and perpetual Salvation that we expect for ever and for ever we might expect it at the hands of any other Christs and not find it because they cannot endure by reason of death Heb. vii 23. only this Christ because he is the Lord Dominus vitae the Lord of life indureth for ever hath an everlasting Kingdom wherein he dispenseth eternal Salvation which he purchased by his Priesthood The author of eternal Salvation to all that depend on him Heb. v. 9 and mark that well for none but the Lord can work eternal Salvation To save may agree unto men thus to save to none but Christ. To begin and to end to save Soul and Body from bodily and ghostly enemies from sin the offence and death the punishment from Hell the destruction and Satan the destroyer for a time and for ever Christ the Lord is all this and doth all this Now then we are right and never till now we have all his attributes a Saviour the word of benefit whereby he is to deliver us Christ his name of office whereby he is bound to undertake it the Lord his name of power whereby he is able to effect it Now our joy is full and never till now we have all the degrees of it whatsoever the Angel promised is here performed great joy he is a Saviour publick joy to all people a Saviour which is Christ perpetual joy joy which shall be even for ever and ever he is Christ the Lord the Lord who will not only free us from our misery and bring us to as good and better a condition as we forfeited and lost by our fall for else though we were saved we should not save by the match but that we may not be savers alone but gainers and great gainers by our Salvation estate us in all the bliss and happiness he is Lord of himself And Lord he is of life as I said Life then he will impart and he is Lord of glory 1 Cor. ii 8. and glory he will impart and he is Lord of joy Mat. xxv 21. Joy then he will impart life and glory and joy and make us Lord of them and of whatsoever is within the name and title of Lord even for ever and ever And then it will be perfect joy indeed when we shall enter into the joy of our Lord into that joy and life and glory and blessedness wherewith our Lord himself is eternally blessed Gaudium quod erit joy which shall be indeed and never cease to be everlasting for evermore So now we have all and never till now all his Attributes a Saviour Christ the Lord all our joy great publick and perpetual nay if you mark it we have yet more than this all his composition too two natures in one person his humanity in Christ his divinity in the Lord and but one Saviour of both one Saviour which is Christ the Lord and one person which is Man and God And just so it should be for of right none was to make satisfaction for Man but Man and in very deed none was able to give satisfaction to God but God So that being to satisfy God for Man he was to be God and Man and so he is A Saviour who is Christ the Lord. And so he became this day when though the Almighty God as this day he was born into the world in our nature and made Man The blessed birth of which thrice blessed person thus furnished in every point to save us throughly Body and Soul from sin and Satan the destroyers of both and that both here and for ever the blessed birth of this thrice blessed person for every word in his name is a several blessing is the very substance of this days solemnity of the Angels message and of our joy That which remains is but circumstance circumstance of persons time and place of the persons for whom of the time when and the place where yet not so light and trivial as may wholly be omitted the Angel the Holy Ghost would not leave them unmentioned and we may not pass them over untoucht yet we shall but touch them and so conclude but taking them in their order backward beginning with the place where where this Saviour was born In the City c. And where should the Son of David be born but in the City of David not in that City which David repaired and wherein he reigned that is Jerusalem a famous City indeed but in that City where David was born which is Bethlem a poor City a Village rather than a City And in this this little Town did this great Saviour this Christ the Lord vouchsafe to be born Indeed when he would die he would die at Jerusalem when he was to suffer shame and ignominy derision and disgrace and all manner of dishonour he would suffer it in the eye of the world in the great City but when he was to be born he would be born in Bethlem when he was to be glorified by Angels and receive gifts and worship from Kings and Princes he would receive it in an obscure and private place this little Village that so he might condemn the worlds pride at his first entrance into the world and teach men by his very birth the first point of Christianity to contemn honour and embrace contempt A doctrine which yet the particular place of his birth doth urge much more vehemently for it was not only in Bethlem a poor Town but in an Inn of Bethlem and a poor Inn so it seems for there was no room for them in it and not so only but in the poorest and basest part of the Inn in the Stable This was the Chamber of state for this great King instead of sweet odors perfumed with filth and hung with no other Arras but what was weaved by Spiders wherein he had only Littier for his Bed a Manger for his Cradle and an Oxe and an Ass for his attendants So low did he descend for our sakes by his own example utterly to cry down all the pomp and honour of the present life than which nothing is of more power to deprive us of the glory of the life to come What a deep humiliation hath he begun withal and how strange a disproportion is this between the titles of his person and places of his birth the Saviour Christ the Lord to be born in Bethlem in
these benefits To all three therefore to the Father that sent to the Son that came to the Holy Ghost that made him at his coming for by him he was conceived to the Father for his mission to the Son for his redemption to the Holy Ghost for his adoption for by him it is wrought he that made him the Son of man doth likewise regenerate us to the state of the Sons of God worthily therefore to all three is all thanks and praise and honour to be rendred for evermore But yet this thankfulness is but verbal and therefore not yet full for fulness of thanks would surely be exprest in something more than words and in what may that better be than in the holy Eucharist the Sacrament of thankfulness and is by interpretation thanksgiving it self When Davids zeal throughly warmed with the consideration of Gods mercies brake forth into that fiery demand quid retribuam Domino what shall I return unto the Lord for all his benefits he could find our nothing so full as this accipiam Calicem salutis I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Surely if our hearts be hot within us as his was and we meditate a return as he did Ecce calix salutis behold the Cup of salvation let us take it and with it in our hands call upon him render him our true Eucharist or real thanksgiving indeed The Cup of Salvation cannot but do well in the day of salvation In it is the blood of the Covenant the price upon Covenant to be laid down for us and therefore the Cup of Redemption In it is the blood of the Testament wherein our glorious inheritance is by way of legacy conveyed unto us and therefore the Cup of Adoption So that our freeing from under the Law and our investiture into our new adopted estate are not full nor fully consummate without it And yet this may not be all No when this is done there is an allowance of twelve days more for this fulness of time that we shrink not up our duty into this day alone but continue it throughout the whole Sure every good heart in this solemn commemoration of our Redemption and Adoption will himself remember to redeem some part of the time to adopt too some hour in the day at the least to think on him a little and bethink himself of the duty the time calls on him for That so no day be empty quite empty in this fulness of time but that fulness of time fulness of mercy and fulness of duty may all meet together and make a full union That as the time is filled with the compassion of the Father and the love of the Son so we may be filled with the grace of the Holy Ghost Then shall we be sure to pass on from one fulness to another from this here to another which is behind from the fulness of Grace to the fulness of Glory For all this is but the fulness of time that is the fulness of eternity when time shall be run out and his glass empty and tempus non erit amplius and shall be no more which will be at his next sending for yet once more shall God send him and he come again At which coming we shall then indeed receive the fulness of our Redemption not from the Law that we have already but from corruption to which our bodies are yet subject and receive the full fruition of the inheritance whereunto we are here but adopted And then it will be perfect compleat absolute fulness indeed when we shall all be filled with the fulness of him that filleth all in all Eph. i. 23. that is with the fulness of God himself For Deus erit omnia in omnibus God it is that shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15. and then sure all will be throughly full indeed To this we aspire and in the fulness appointed of every one of our times Almighty God bring us by him and for his sake that in this fulness of time was sent to work it for us in his person and work it in us by the operation of his blessed Spirit To whom with the Father and the Son be rendred all thanks c. Laus Deo in aeternum THE THIRD SERMON ON CHRISTMAS Day SERMON XI Upon ESAY liii 8. And who shall declare his Generation OF whom speaketh the Prophet this of himself or of some other man said the Queen Candace's Treasurer unto Philip and Philip saith the Text began at that scripture and preached unto him Jesus Act. viii And this is that self-same Scripture at least part of it which that Ethiopian Eunuch then read and Philip that we be not ignorant whom it concerns of Christ Jesus expounded And though he who was a stranger unto the Common-wealth of Israel and the Oracles of God could not understand it without a Teacher yet unto us that are conversant in the mystery of Christ it is manifest in it self there being no clearer nor more illustrious Prophecy of it than this whole Chapter wherein his birth passion death and resurrection are so fully and evidently described as it may well be termed an Evangel a Gospel rather than a Prophecy It begins first with his first birth and beginning He shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground v. 2. It goes on to his sorrows and sufferings and for whom he endured them He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief c. He suffers then and for us he suffers but he must suffer unto death and of that it will assure you too He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter c. But though he be mean slain and slaughtered yet he may not abide under death though judgment be passed on him and executed too and he imprisoned in the grave and jaws of the pit yet all the bands and cords of death cannot hold him he must up in despight of them all And therefore it follows he was taken from prison and from judgment which was verified in his resurrection from the dead wherein the judgment and sentence of death was disannulled and the Prison of the Grave broken up In contemplation of which high argument of his Divinity that could so arise the Prophet breaks forth into this admiration of his Celestial descent and off-spring Who shall declare his generation So then it is manifest not only by Philip's interpretation but by the Prophecies own clearness and fullness that the Prophet spake not this of himself but of some other man and that other man to be none other than Christ Jesus the Eternal Son of God whose Incarnation birth or generation we this day with all joy and thankfulness publickly Celebrate and are now as well as we can to discourse of yet not as thinking to express it but only to shew you how inexpressible it is for Generationem ejus c. Now
therefore in Gods account not right but even dissemblers in what they truly intended because they falsly forsook it Hypocrites then they are and with hypocrites they shall have their portion Consider therefore faithfully what thy lips spake when thy heart was in trouble and be sure that thy hand perform it when thou art released And yet if your lips spake nothing if you have no vow upon you thanksgiving is due without it pay that at least with cheerfulness No such Monster in the world not the Hypocrite himself as the unthankful Man he that hath said Ungrateful hath said all and the worst he can say And therefoer above all things if there be no vows to pay yet offer unto God thanksgiving next to that of a broken heart it is the best sacrifice thou canst offer him This shall please the Lord better than a bullock that hath horns and hoofes Psal. lxix 31. Nay not all those Hecatombs and millions of Sheep and Oxen which Solomon offered at the dedication of the Temple no nor thousands of Rams and Rivers of Oyl as Micah speaks can so glad the Altars of God as these Calves of our lips the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving but then it must be made a burnt-offering that is kindled with the fire of zeal and true devotion sing praises lustily saith our Prophet and with a good courage And as he gives us the instruction so let him be our example that you may know he did not promise more in this place than he was glad and willing to perform afterwards See how lustily and with what a good courage he doth perform it he doth not go about it drowsily but his very preparation to it is hasty even beyond expression by any Mans words but his own My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed awake up my â—uâ—e and glory â— my self wâ—â— awake right early My lips will be fain when I sing unto thee and so will my soul which thou hast redeemed nay my mouth shall be satisfied as it were with marrow and fatness when I shall praise thee with joyful lips words that have vigour and life and shew a good courage indeed but all this is but preparative for when he comes to performance see how he stirs up all the parts of his body and powers of his Soul to concur with him in the work Praise the Lord O my Soul and whatsoever is within me praise his holy name And yet it is not enough himself and all his faculties are too little this is still but private praise he must have it publick too and so it is to the purpose you may see him summon up not only righteous Men as here but all the creatures of Heaven and Earth to bear a part with him Angels Sun Moon Stars Fire Hail Snow Vapour Storm and Tempest too praise ye the name of the Lord. And as yet not satisfied he calls for all the Instruments of Musick Trumpets Psaltery Harp Timbrel Cymbals and the high tuned Cymbals to express and set it forth the more solemnly Neither is it a passionate flash like fire in Flax as quickly out as kindled but a constant and parmanent affection Whilst I live I will praise the Lord and as long as I have any being I will sing praises unto my God Ps. cxlvi How mightily doth this upbraid the dead and cold devotion of the present world scarce a spark of this holy fire to warm it can now be found in one bosom of a thousand we think we have performed a worthy sacrifice if with a barren and a dry heart we can only say with the Pharisee I thank thee O Lord that thou hast not made me like other men Superficial we are and perfunctory in all our service forward in nothing but to run on the point of that curse of the Prophet Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently And the reason is â—or that it all things do not run according to our desires we are insensible of the goodness of God in other matters and seldom meditate on it thoroughly But had we apprehensive spirits and could duly weigh and seriously consider the mercies of God not only to Man in general but every Man his special favours unto himself in particular a thousand ways when a thousand ways he deserved destruction he would soon find his breast straitned and too narrow for his swelling affections till he breath them out in our Prophets double expostulation of love not only Domine quid est Homo Lord what is Man that thou art so mindful of him but Domine quid sum ego what am I what is my Fathers house that thou so regardest me Let such meditations blow on the little fire that lies raked up in our embers and they will soon kindle into a flame wherein our devotions may ascend into Heaven like that Angel which went up playing in the flames of Manoabs sacrifice Judg. xiii And this shall suffice for this part for the thankfulness the Prophet promiseth both private and publick within himself and in the resort and company of the Righteous I now leave his praise and come to his prayer Bring my soul out of prison O Lord c. And being in prison in streights and pressures what should a good Soul do but pray If any man be merry let him sing if he be afflicted let him pray saith St. James For prayer it is the Souls Herald sent forth in extremity to parly and intreat for comfort And as nothing can relieve our distress better than prayer so nothing can again assist our prayer better than distresses They inflame our zeal and set an edge upon our devotions the cries of our own will are weak and feeble as cooled with success in respect of those which grief doth utter Sorrow is ingenious to pray and in an instant formeth the slowest tongues to an holy eloquence and furnisheth them with sighs and groans which cannot be expressed And sure those are the best and most piercing prayers of all other fidelis oratio plus gemitibus constat quà m sermonibus plus fletu quà m afflatu faithful prayers indeed consist rather of Tears and silent groans than many words And such a prayer is this to speak on it is but a groan very short but very pithy few words but fervent and full of substance including in it as an abstract of all prayer whatsoever conditions may seem necessary to a holy and devout supplication if you consider the object the manner and the matter of it The object the Lord so some Texts have it here but it is evident in the former verses I cried unto the Lord. The manner vehement by way of crying out as himself in the same Psalm testifies I cried unto the Lord. The matter or extent larger than we imagine even no less than deliverance from all evil that may any way inthral the Soul as will appear when we come to open this Prison from which he
meditating on the miseries of his peregrination on Earth and the joyes of the celestial Jerusalem above and as it were sighing in himself that he was detained so long from praising the name of God and singing hymns of thanksgiving and honour amidst all the company of the righteous there and congregation of the first-born both Saints and Angels he grieves at his absence and groans out the ferventness of his desire in this short Prayer Bring my Soul out of Prison that I may praise thy name A desire which he doth elsewhere often express As the Hart desireth the water-brooks so longeth my Soul after thee O God When shall I appear before the presence of the Lord Blessed be they that dwell in thy house they shall be always praising of thee from generation to generation and that he might be in the midst of them praising his name his desire in this Prayer is here Bring my Soul out of Prison c. And yet if we shall suppose he did not yet others may and no question but many do The Roman Catholicks report not without Joy that their holy St. Francis died with this very sentence in his mouth and this sence of it to be his mind which he had no sooner uttered but Anima à Corpore libera evolavit in coelum his Soul according to his request freed from his body flew away into Heaven And certainly whosoever hath but so much goodness as he can grieve to be detained from Heaven or desires to be freed from the molestations of sin upon Earth cannot but esteem of the body as a Prison which hinders him in both Nay the very Philosophers that knew neither of those respects out of moral regards could both perceive and acknowledge it for such Carcer sepulchrum Animae the Prison and Sepulcher of the Soul And so may we term them too only we must be careful we avoid the error of Origen That our Souls sinned in Heaven and are condemned to bodies but as to Gallies or Prisons where they are to do penance for former transgressions But as St. Austin doth well distinguish it is not the body in it self which was first built for a house of delight though sin committed in it but the corruption of it that makes it a Prison according to that in the Book of Wisdom Corpus corruptibile aggravat animam the corruptible bod◠presseth down the Soul and ceaseth not to fight against it with many noysome lusts in regard whereof the Apostle himself was inforced to cry out as even weary of his Prison quis liberabit who shall deliver me from this body of death why Thanks be unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ this is he that shall deliver us this is the Lord to whom David did and we all must pray that desire this benefit Bring my soul out of Prison O Lord. And yet though we may lawfully make this Prayer in this sence yet it must be as before with submission of our will unto his we must wait the Lords leisure with patience to whom only belong the issues of death and therefore not seek to break through the walls or throw our selves out at the windows but stay till he shall please to open the door and lead us forth in peace for it is Educ animam we may not thrust it out our selves but he must lead it forth or we shall but thrust it out of one prison into another infinitely worse Nay it seems by that word it should be no hasty desire that he himself should do it neither it doth not sound as if we would have him presently break down and demolish the building and so sweep us away in an instant that were Eripe animam pluck forth my Soul out of prison but it is Educ lead it forth and seems to import not so much an anticipation of our time as an humble Petition that when our time is come and this Tabernacle must needs be dissolved that then amidst all the conflicts and terrours of death he would be pleased to be with us to sustain and uphold us with his grace chean up and guide forth our Souls with his comforts for this is educere animam to lead the Soul out of Prison And happy thrice happy are those Souls that are thus led and conducted in this perillous time Every one indeed prays for it but every one shall not obtain it It is Educ animam meam and we must put an accent upon that meam on Davids Soul that faithful and penitent Soul indeed was and all others without fail shall be in their due time thus led and guided out of their Prisons in peace but those that have no part in his penitence they may say if they will but they shall have no part in his Prayer As they neglected God and all his ways in their life so God again will be as far from hearing or keeping them in their death but will rather laugh in their destruction and mock when their fear cometh as it is in the first of Proverbs And then on the otherside how miserable thrice miserable shall he be that must part with his Soul at a venture without any comfort to sustain it or light of grace to lead it through the fearful passages of death Look on him and you shall then see when after all his mirth and revels you shall find him at the last laid on his groaning pillow on the bed of languishing as David speaks O consider well how woful and disconsolate his estate must needs be when after all his former pleasures being worn out with his body the Soul begins to loath the ruinous house of age and sickness when it may not stay and yet knows not whither to go at what time those sad and severe cogitations formerly beaten from him through youth and felicity return to afflict and pay him home for all his vain and wanton delights yea peradventure when the terrours of God shall fight against him and the Arrows of the Almighty stick within him the venom whereof drinks up the spirit as it is in Job In this misery of his wounded in body through sickness and distressed in conscience through sin what shall lead him forth with comfort since God refuseth to do it shall his wife his sons or his friends his honours offices or wealth why the very thought of these and whatsoever else he hath that is good doth but double his afflicton since now he must part with them for ever and may well therefore say unto them as Job did unto his three friends miserable comforters are ye all what then shall he comfort himself as some of the servants of God have done by looking back on the ways of his life why nothing can possibly torment him more he now sees that he hath but wearied himself in the ways of Iniquity and perceives though too late what before he refused to believe that such paths lead down unto the Chambers of death Since then he can
habet all our time that is past death hath seised on it and so much of our life is consumed Let me then warn you and stir up your meditations of your mortality in the words of Moses Deut. xxxii 29. O that men were wise then would they understand this then would they consider their latter end Sure we are unwise that we consider not the things past the evil we have committed the good we have omitted the benefits of God we have abused the time we have mispent and yet we grieve not because we think not yet whether we shall die More unwise are we not to consider the things present the deadness of our Body and uncertainty of our death the difficulty of Salvation and the small number of such as shall be saved and yet we shame not because we think we shall not yet die But most unwise are we that we consider not the things to come Death Judgment Hell all to come and yet we fear not because we think we shall never die But O that we were wise then should we understand then should we consider our latter end and considering it we should both prepare for it now and more cheerfully entertain it when it comes memorare novissims remember thy end saith the Wiseman in aeternum non peccabis and thou shalt never offend never do amiss Ecclus vii 36. So universal is the goodness of this consideration and therefore I have stayed the longer on it But now I pass from mortality to the cause of it from death to sin that first brought it into the world The body is dead because of sin Sin it is and only sin which is as the cause of all our dolours and calamities so of death it self that follows them without this there never had been there never could have been any death in the world Death were not death had it not a sting to kill but the sting of death is sin as the strength of sin is the law saith our Apostle The cursed apple of disobedience which our first Parents would needs eat sticks still in all our teeth it was poyson unto his nature and infected his blood and he hath derived the contagion to all his posterity who still continuing to feed on forbidden fruit as he did do perpetually strengthen the original Disease and draw death upon themselves more hastily and violently than either that sin procured or the prime corruption of nature for it doth inforce Hence then we may perceive first how foolish they are who living still in sin yet never consider that they are the Butchers and Murtherers of themselves according to that of the Psalmist The malice of the wicked shall slay themselves xxxiv 21 his own sin which he hath conceived brought forth and nourished shall be his destruction Every Man judgeth Saul miserable that died upon his own Sword but what better are other wretched Men whose sins and iniquities are the cruel instruments of death wherewith they slay themselves Souls and Bodies too Thus are they twice miserable first that they must die and secondly that they are guilty of their own death O the lamentable blindness of Men who albeit in their life they fear nothing more than death yet do they entertain nothing more willingly than sin which causeth their death In bodily diseases Men are content to abstain even from ordinary food when they are informed it will but nourish their sickness and this they do to eschew death only herein they are so ignorant that notwithstanding they abhor death yet they take pleasure in unrighteousness that brings it upon them And secondly which shall be the last use we will make of this point Since sin it is that did first bring and doth still hasten on death upon wicked Men what marvel is it if in these last and worst days the Lord strike the bodies of Men with sundry sorts of diseases and sundry kinds of death seeing Man by sundry sorts of sins doth not cease to provoke him unto anger He frameth his Judgments proportionable to our iniquities if ye walk stubbornly against me and will not obey me I will then bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins Levit. xxvi 25. He hath a famine to punish intemperance and the abuse of his creatures if the memory of our own corrupt and putrifying bodies cannot do it he hath a devouring sword to bring down the pride of our hearts If we have fiery and unclean affections he doth not need burning Fevers and loathsome diseases to punish them And now if the Lord after that he hath stricken us with such a dreadful pestilence shall renew his Plague amongst us or go on to finish that former destruction with the Sword of our enemies what shall we say but the despising of his former fatherly corrections or our stubborn walking against the Lord our God hath procured it justly unto our selves Quid mirum in poenas generis humani crescere ir am Dei cùm crescat quotidie quod puniatur what marvel that the wrath of God increase every day to punish Man when that doth daily increase which deserves that God should punish it But enough of this part it is now time to pass on to the second and most worthy part as of Man so of my Text from the Body to the Soul from the memory of death to the comforts against death for though the body be dead yet it is but the body the spirit which is the highest consolation of a Christian is yet alive Mans life it self But the spirit is life I cannot now stand to discourse of the excellent Nature of Mans Spirit and the wonderful union of it with flesh and blood for Man you see is no simple creature but compounded of both both a Body and a Spirit He is the abstract and brief compendium of all the creatures of God The world was corporeal the Angels spiritual and both were united in Man and made as it were into one creature A creature which hath being with the elements life with plants sense with beasts reason and spiritual existence with Angels that so the Almighty God first uniting all his creatures in Man and then uniting Man unto himself in the person of Christ might in some sort through Man communicate himself to all his creatures Worthily therefore did the Naturalists term him a little world and as worthily did St. Austin say of him that of all the miracles that were ever wrought amongst Men Man himself is the greatest miracle and that not only in regard of his two substances but especially in regard of their marvellous union that a mass of clay should be quickened by a spirit of life and both united into one person That as God himself hath diverse persons in one Nature so man hath diverse and those contrary natures in one person Commonly says Bernard the honourable agrees not with the ignoble the strong overgoes the weak the living and the dead dwell not together