endless miseries they may wander many years in the Tents of Kedar where there is nothing but blackness and darkness not the least glimmering of joy yet still he will bring them at length to the Mountains of joy and gladness Thus the Prophet assureth us He gives them beauty for ashes Isa 61.3 the oil of joy for mourning and the garments of gladness for the spirit of heaviness 'T is the method of Heaven to place mourning before joy as Night before Day I will smite and I will make whole First the punishment then the blessing Who would have thought when the Israelites were Forty years in the Wilderness they should ever have came into the Land flowing with Milk and Honey Who would have thought when Jonah was cast into the Sea to have met him again preaching at Nineveh who would have thought when Nebuchadnezzar was grasing in the Forrest to have seen him again governing in Babel who would have thought when Joseph was on Prison to have seen him advanced Lord over Pharaoh's house who would have thought when Job was in the Dunghil that he should be happier and richer then before his misfortunes These are the great acts of mercy which make the faithful sing with Miriam the Lord hath triumphed valiantly Exod. 15.21 did not the fire that insatiable and gluttonous Element loose its devouring nature when the three Judaean Youths were cast into the Chaldaean Furnace though it consumed their enemies who threw them in yet it hurted not them but caressed them with amorous embraces as if they had been flames of love insomuch there was neither an hair of their head perished nor the smell of fire upon their cloaths for thou O thou mighty God of Jacob didst deliver them Nay thus he brought Jacob from Exile thus he delivered St. Peter from the hands of King Herod and all the expectation of the Jews Why art thou then afraid O my Soul and why art thou so disquieted within me O still put thy confidence in God for he will deliver thee When Herod sent forth his Troop of Horse to slay the poor innocent Infantry of Bethlehem to the end he might destroy him who was born King of the Jews tydings came at last to Mary and Joseph in Aegypt that he was dead who sought the young Child's life Even so when our Banishment and Sickness bondage and scarcity are fully compleated Tydings shall come that our troubles are dead Exod. 34.6 and the heart shall dance and sing that Song of Moses The Lord the Lord Strong Merciful and Gracious Slow to Anger but abounding in Goodness and Truth The same hand that woundeth cureth it is God who maketh the wound and bindeth it up He smiteth and the powder of his mercy maketh it whole Had David put a stop and period at troubles discoursing of nothing but Rods than might have the Righteous have complained I have cleansed my heart in vain but as there is a flux and reflux of the waters of the Sea so are there the ebbings as well as the flowings of sorrows here lies Joseph in the Prison and Jeremiah in the Dungeon Job in ashes Jacob in the Field David in the Wilderness and Abraham in Exile Daniel in the Den and the three Children in the Furnace but at last comes the year of Jubilee and the Prisoners of hope are no longer in Chains Zach. 9.12 but freed from Captivity and Thraldom Upon which account they are stiled Prisoners of hope because they may confidently rely upon God to deliver them for rather than Elijah shall starve the Ravens shall feed him rather then Jonah shall drown a Whale shall swallow him up if the Glutton be cruel and pitiless doggs shall be kind and compassionate For can a Mother commiserate the trickling tears of her crying Infant and will the Father of mercy be obdure to thee are the tears of an infirm Lazaro so eloquent and Rhetorical that they will force compassion from the beholders eyes and will not thy wounds seconded with the intercession of a crucified Jesus move the God of Heaven doth he cloath the Lilly and the Rose which neither spinn nor toyl with such beauty and glory and will not he adorn thy head with hallowed flames which was environed with Thorns for the maintaining of his Truth and Religion hath not God promised to deliver thee and will he break his Vows Is not a martyred soul a friend of Gods and is he wont to forsake his Favourites did he not once speak peace unto thee and is it usual for him to recall his words Nay in a word did not he smile upon thee when thou wert in the greatest agonies and are his smiles deceitful Rest satisfied therefore and quiet thy self with the rich expressions of his love and full assurance of obtaining the promise to set with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God We are not healed so soon as we are bruised but our deliverance is deferred for a while to see how patiently we demean our selves waiting the Lords leisure as it is said of the Prophets Vision though it tarry Hab. 2.3 wait for it for it will most assuredly come it will not tarry and so in the text Ps 55. though the Righteous have troubles yet they are not everlasting ones and so again he will not suffer the Righteous to fall for ever Whilst the Righteous are in trouble they seem as it were in a trance dead for a while but at length they shall come forth as Lazarus from the grave mourning may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning how shall this therefore content the afflicted soul that he shall be delivered when made perfect through tribulation How may this cordial revive a wounded and drooping spirit making it to burst forth in the expressions of David By this I know that thou favourest me Ps 41.11 for my enemies dont triumph over me When old Eli heard the sad threatnings of God against him the destruction of his Family the loss of the Priest-hood the cutting off both his Sons in one day all which were afflictions of the heaviest nature neverthe less the sole consideration that it was the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 made him cry out Let him do what seemeth him good If an excess of joy be ever allowable certain it is when we fall into divers temptations of tryal otherwise Mirth what meaneth it and laughter it is madness Is the Lilly less fair or the Rose not so odoriferous and fragrant when environed with thornes neither is the Spouse of Christ his Church less beautiful and comely because she is militant and always in warfare Why art thou then afraid O my Soul or why dost thou repine at adversity especially since God hath laid it as the foundation at least medium to eternal felicity art thou poor alas how canst thou want if God be with thee or the rich what have they in possession when God is afar off St. Paul
appeared unto him under a Cloud of troubles He changed his note for having received a fall out of his Chariot and his Insolency curbed by an immediate blow from Heaven He could say Justum est hominem mortalem subditum esse Deo It is meet and requisite for Mortal Men to be Subject to the Immortal God So likewise Nâ—buchadnezzar in his carier of impiety defied the Lord of Hosts and proudly vaunted himself against the Almighty until he enter'd into the Armory of his wrath and Metamorphosed this proud King into a base beast and then he could confess the Lord was able to abase all them that walk in pride Dan. 4. last v. For when God perceives a constant course of his kindness cannot wean us from our sins he then applyes the Ministers of his Fury the storms and tempests of afflictions to ruffle us out of them 'T is true great prosperities do not easily corrupt the souls which have taken a good temper in the fear of God nevertheless they wound and in some sort change them A little Bee sometimes playeth so long upon her hony that by much walking there she entangleth her wings So a Soul yea one of those most eminent for devotion and piety being continually soothed with a long sequel of the good successes of the affairs of the World taketh some small flight out of it self seeking recreation in a smiling and delicate air which affords nothing but objects of pleasure and delight But so soon as adversity hath given her blow it reentreth into it self it foldeth it self within it self it fasteth it self it knoweth it self it findeth God in the bottom of her heart afflicted and perplext with the revolutions of the World she raises and darts her self above the ways of the Moon and Tracks of the Sun to that goodly Temple of Eternity where Spirits dwell disrobed of these garments of flesh and bones which we dragg along with us in this mortal life This is that High-Rode the devout soul journeys in so soon as she is alienated from the Court of prosperity and disentangled from the affairs of the World She then enters into a sweet retirement and looks on the embroideries of nature in the Mountains and Vallies Forrests and Rivers as a Theater declaring the glory of God and shewing his Handy-work She relisheth this retreat from the World as Manna from Heaven and tasts the deep silence of sorrow with incredible delight Oh! how will she be delighted How will she be ravished when she shall reflect on the marvelous kindness of God towards her that he should chasten her here least she should be chastised for ever that she should be afflicted with sorrows in this life to free her from eternal gnashings of teeth that he should deprive her of the gilded nothings of this World that she may enjoy an everlasting and supream good That he should make her unfortunate here least she should be eternally unhappy amidst the tortures of Brimstone and Fire hereafter In a word How happy will she be when she shall consider how God hath made her smart under the light afflictions of an adverse fortune on earth to adopt her for an eternal and exceeding weight of glory in Heaven Her adversity will make her imagine as if she were discoursing with God face to face This gall will make her open her eyes and see that it is the hand of God which presseth her fore and the consideration that it is the Lord will make her to say cheerfully with old Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 Let him do what seemeth him good But indeed until we be thus varnish'd and brightned till we be refined by this fire of affliction until we have whitened our souls by the tears of sorrow our affections will espouse the quarrel of the World and wholly declare in favour of it God therefore to curb us that we may not stray beyond our limits keeps us in a vale of tears often leading us through an Aceldema a field of bloud and persecution that with Jacob we may long for our Fathers house not saying with St. Peter it is good for us to be here but rather with St. Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ For if like the Moon in the Eclypse we fail not to appear dark on that side which looketh towards earth we shall most assuredly appear radiant and bright on that which tends towards Heaven for it is to withdraw our affections from of the World that Great are the troubles of the Righteous A Second Reason why God visits us with afflictions may be to draw us to amendment of life Thus the Royal Prophet Before I was troubled I went wrong but now have I known thy Law As the eyes of Tobit were opened by the gall of the Fish so the judgments of Heaven inflicted on us make us to reflect on the past actions of our life that we may correct and reform all the errataes and misdemeanors thereof For as the Rod of Moses stricken on the Stony Rock caused whole Buckets of water to issue out thence in like manner the Rod of afflictions smiting on our flinty and obdurate hearts forceth whole Rivers of tears to flow from our eyes for our sins committed For what is more natural to every one when he is in distress than to call to remembrance those sins which he concludes the occasion thereof When Heaven is pouring forth its vials of wrath and vengeance upon us can we act so insensibly as well as irrationally as not to commune with our hearts and ask our souls what have we done How have I deserved this what notorious crime have I committed that I have made my God who delighteth not in the misery of his people so highly displeased with me as to afflict my body with this disease and that distemper Is it not for the Plague of the heart that I am now tormented with the Plague in my Body was not I afflicted with this tumour because I was so affected with the tympany of pride How come I dismembred in my Limbs but because I did not set the broken bones of my soul together Had I been afflicted with Strangury or Stone had I dissolved the Stone in my heart by the tears of a really godly sorrow I had never been oppressed with this Calenture had not that more fatal one of anger needed a cure was not this Feaver this Sickness or that Disease prescribed by God as medicinal for this or that Sin And when he hath ransacked his soul to the botom and found out the troubler of Israel the Fonah who raiseth these Storms and Tempests the Rebel who disquiets him in his peace what can be the issue of it but that he bring him forth and stone him to death I mean that he should be perfectly sorry for his sin and make an absolute reformation least if he return to his wickedness a worse thing fall unto him We must imagine him only the shape of a man who
tells us how the Hebrews with joy sustained the rapine of their goods Heb. 11.16 because they knew there was a more durable treasure and incomparably better inheritance prepared for them What is it therefore which troubles thy repose dost thou bewail the loss of a Parent Relation or Friend Oh consider with thy self he was not born to live always and perhaps like the Righteous was snatched away earlier from the evil to come Moreover If you truly love God as who cannot but love that which is nothing but essential purity it self How canst thou be afflicted at the dissolution of a man since if he perish not to God he perish not to thee and we must not be sorry as men without hope Why art thou then so sad oh my soul and why art thou so disquieted within me dost thou groan under the pressures of an infirm constitution remember with thy self we should not covet to enjoy life but according to the tenour of its grant we breath under constellations which by their variety of influences create variety of humors and distempers and if this be convenient for the good of the universe shall not private respects and particular interests give place thereunto shall I murmur against my God in grumbling at my sickness or rather ought I not thankfully accept it as a present from the most merciful and benign parent ordained either as a chastisement of my sins or tryal of my vertue and blessed is that sickness whose pains lead to salvation blessed is that war which ends in everlasting peace What is it then which makes thee thus disconsolate do the Walls of a Prison affright thee lift up thy eyes unto the Hills and view those immense spaces above the Heavens designed as a praemium of thy Restraint for the deprivation of a little fresh air and some other contentments depending on liberty what spiritual entertainments mayst thou hope to enjoy when Angels are recorded to have accompanied not only St. Peter but also Paul and Silas in the Prison there thou art free from envy and detraction opprobries and calumnies for where is that malice Oh! where is that cruelty will rage upon the prostrate however where is that wise Marchant who Trafficks for so rich a Pearl so great a purchase and will not venture something on the score of persecution Courage then O my soul and welcome the vexations of hunger cold bonds and imprisonments whips or scourges ship-wrecks or nakedness the perils of the Sea City or Wilderness as boni genii good Angels sent from God to minister for them Heb. 1. ult who are Heirs of Salvation For what saith the sincere Christian Nebe 6.11 with Nehemiah shall such a man as I lye shall such a man as I recant am I a child of God and shall not I fight his battels am I a Christian and shall not I fight under the Banner of the Captain of our Salvation how hath Solomon branded me for a Coward Pro. 24.10 and my strength small if I faint in the day of adversity How can I want comfort in the midst of adversity and trouble Pro. 15.15 when a good conscience is a continual Feast With what confidence therefore will I rely upon my God! Isa 28.16 how patiently will I wait the Lords leisure because faith maketh no hast I will pride my self in my Chains and will not be troubled at diseases for though this Sickness may be unto the first yet not unto the second death I will not flatter the Judge out of fear what man can do unto me for whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Pro. 29.25 Shall I betray the cause when God hath appointed it to try me shall I offend my bretheren when St. Paul had rather die than be guilty of being a stumbling block unto any Rom. 14. shall I charge my Conscience when its wounds are more intollerable then the tortures of the body shall I apostatize from my profession and turn from the faith when at my enrolment a member of Christ I so solemnly covenanted with him to maintain it unto my lives end No I will valiantly resist the temptations of the three Cardinal enemies of my Salvation the World Flesh and the Devil let my Friends tempt me like Job's Wife let my Flesh flatter me like Eve let my Persecutors bribe me like Balak let them who suffer with me revolt and abandon me yet like Joshua I will still serve the Lord Josh 24.14 and though every one be offended because of Christ yet will I never be offended for he is instead of comfort health and liberty unto me How great were the troubles of Joseph yet the Lord did deliver him out of all how many were the afflictions of Abraham how many were the sorrows both of David and Job yet thou O my God didst deliver them and therefore thou canst and wilt deliver me for thou art my Castle and strong Tower of defence Oh! hast thee to deliver me that my enemies may not triumph over me yet if thou dost not I will follow the examples of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and will not do evil to escape danger For shall I shrink at this when Christ hath done so much for me Oh! the blewness of the stripes and ghastliness of the wounds Oh the pricks of the thorns and piercings of the Nails all which and much more he patiently submitted to to excuse me from the misery I had justly deserved and what shall I deny my Saviour sopoor a kindness so small a request as to do something for him who hath done all things for me shall he give me his heart and his bowels and shall not I return him the same Is there a flame in him and no spark in me no reflecting of a Sun-beam or repairing of the Stream into the Ocean No with Hester if I perish I perish for I am purposed to observe his righteous judgments If my Purse suffer my mony doth but perish if my body be imprisoned my pleasures do but perish if sickness attend me Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me whole In whatsoever state or condition therefore I am as Holy David so will I comfort my self in the Lord my God 1 Sam. 30.6 this is the Staf on which I will lean for though earthly Crowns are made of Gold yet heavenly Diadems are made of the thorns of tribulation I will not therefore look for pleasures in my way till I have passed the narrow Gate and am arrived at the place where there shall be no more hunger thirst or cold but all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and the Robes of Scarlet washed white in the bloud of the Lamb who sitteth on the Throne for ever and ever To Whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be all Honour Glory Might Majesty and Dominion now and for evermore Amen GODS LOVE TO LAPS'D MAN John 3.16 For God so loved the World that he gave his
For what can be a more Popular Argument to use for the seduction of soft-minded and weakly-principled Protestants and to draw them off from us than to extol and magnifie the perfect unity of their Church and to lament and pity the sad distractions and divisions of ours For though men of reading and consideration can easily disprove them and prove it a Church by far less at unity then our own yet still this Argument may be forcible with them who have not leisure and opportunity to come to know so much of them but they daily observe men endeavouring to rend our Church in pieces and cut it into little bits and mammocks Nevertheless I will not flatter my self that those who believe nothing but what themselves speak or own will consent to the Doctrine of this TRUTH to wit That they who pretend an inbred aversion to Popery and exclaim most against Rome are most instrumental in procuring our Slavery unto that see For they are generally so wedded to their Erroneous Opinions that none can behold the beauty and glory of an Object but those who borrow their Eyes to contemplate withal Nay had I not begg'd your Lordships Protection for who dare avow if a Person so honourable will be pleas'd to countenance I could have expected no better than my usual Entertainment the worst of their spleen and malice For if we will not stile Humour Conscience and Novelty Religion if we have not the precise Cut and walk in their Exact Geometrical Saintship or form of Godliness they presently conclude us scandalous and ungodly But let our Opinions and Judgements concentre with their Dictamens and then the Wind is presently turn'd for they will judge more candidly of our actions by blaming the infirmity of the Flesh and weakness of humane Nature for Actions of shame and debauchery because the construction of our Deeds must differ equally with those of our Principles Nay further they will wrest them with the same Licence they mis-interpret the Scriptures to make them speak according to their Sense and Opinion From such Persons I foretell an indifferent usage unless your Lordship favour what otherwise they will certainly disaffect which after your Lordships Pardon for the dedication of these Discourses so unworthy your Patronage is the Humble Request of Your Honours most faithfully devoted Servant R. Scamler THE STATE OF THE RIGHTEOUS Psalm 34.19 Great or many are the Troubles of the Righteous but the Lord will deliver him out of all WHEN the World was in its Cradle and Religion in her Swadling Clouts The Wisdom of Heaven thought it convenient to educate the tender years of Infant-Piety with the alluring hopes of a temporal Prosperity to prompt and encourage men to a ready entertainment of her Services For had Religion in her tender years appear'd with an austere look and morose behaviour she must of necessity have had fewer admirers of her Beauty Least therefore she should meet but with a slender respect and mean entertainment she came into the World with a mild aspect and for her dowry had all the advantages of a temporal felicity entituled upon her followers which was the state of her first manifestation or making her self known to the World But when she was grown somewhat elder and of a more strong constitution God desisted from courting men by the hopes of her portion of splendid preferments and goodly heritages that they might be enamoured of her Beauty and not of the Appendants that he might see whether it was out of pure and undefiled love to Religion or out of affection to the World which made them to comply with the observance of his Laws upon which account he did then command them to renounce the World and all their hopes therein that they should no longer live by sense but Faith that they must expect to be encountred with sorrows and afflictions calamities and crosses if they would be reputed his children and lead a vertuous and godly life And this is that condition of the Righteous Holy David describeth in the text where looking on the miseries they suffer he seemeth to cry Great are the troubles of the Righteous respecting the Promise he seemeth to sing the Lord will deliver them out of all Both which make our lives fitly compar'd to a Musick-book where we shall seldom observe many white notes but they art intermixed with black and both together compose the sweetest harmony God set's us our lesson in a little book it contains no more then two pages one stiled consolation the other dissolution 't is necessary for both to take their turns In the day of prosperity remember thy self of adversity In the day of adversity comfort thy self with the hopes of prosperity For the divine providence mingles our life as one would Wine and Water in the same Cup Some drink the purest others the most compound but all taste a commixtion for great are the troubles c. This Psalm the sweet Singer of Israel compos'd after he had chang'd his Behaviour and feigned himself mad in the Court of Abimelech his deadly enemy which dissimulation proved a means for happy deliverance from that imminent peril which otherwise had most infallibly proved fatal He therefore no sooner saw the net broken and himself escaped as a Bird from the hand of the Fowler but he tunes his instrument and falls a warbling forth the praises of the Almighty saying verse 1. I will always praise the Lord which may serve as a reproach to them who dayly observe the benigne providence of God in protecting them from those perils and dangers which are obvious to all amidst the changes and chances of this mortal life yet seldom or never send up their praises to him from whence cometh their help Nay they will scarce be brought to acknowledge 't is the hand of the Lord which hath brought such mighty things to pass But Holy David here thinks it too mean a performance for none but himself to sing the marvelous kindness of the Lord he therefore entreats others to bear a part with him in this consort of thanksgiving saying Oh magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together v. 3. But alas Men think they exceed in their duty if when Heav'n hath been concerned in procuring a deliverance they cry out with the Pharisee Lord I thank thee and conceit it too troublesome and tedious a service to be always telling forth his loving kindess unto others Our Psalmist therefore to prompt and encourage them to this holy duty and to incite them to piety reckons up a Catalogue of the many privileges of the Righteous How that their crys will pierce beyond the Clouds and sound in the ears of God for they are open to their complaint how that he is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit Yea let never so many sorrows and afflictions oppress the Righteous yet still in his appointed time
makes no serious reflexion on his ways when the hand of God presseth him sore This was the case of the Israelites for when he slew them Ps 78.34 then they sought him early Nay when God chastens man for sin will it not make him to bind himself by most solemn vows and promises that if he will remove this burthen from his Shoulders he will utterly renounce those sins which have made him so miserable and live hereafter in a stricter observance of his commands What multitudes had infallibly perished had not afflictions preserved them from it This is that Shepherds Crook whereby God returns his wandring Sheep to the Fold Thus the Prodigal Son was brought back again to his Fathers house he had never thought of the great plenty in his Fathers Family had he not been constrained to feed on Husks Thus the Prophet Jonah when he was in the belly of the Whale poured forth his prayers unto God Thus Susanna cryed unto the Lord in her distress And thus the Disciples in a Storm implor'd the assistance of Christ Master save us we perish What School more proper for the instruction of men then that of affliction when his Judgments are in the Land the Inhabitants of the world shall learn Righteousness for those evils he inflicts upon others are warning-peices for all For as the indulgent Mother loves not to behold a mote on the face of her beloved Infant but will immediately wipe the same away So neither can our heavenly Father endure the least blemish of sin on the Souls of his dear Children but will presently cleanse it with the water of affliction If thou sin to day he will afflict to morrow For great are c. The Third Reason why the Lord visits us with afflictions is to make tryal whether with the Silver-smith we had rather make Shrines for Diana and well paid for our labour then to erect Temples for the worship of a crucified Jesus to meet with his Cross for our pains Yes and thus the goodly fellowship of the Prophets and noble Army of Martyrs were tryed who were so far from denying the truth that they did couragiously abide the stroak of death and choose to loose their lives in tribulation For this Rod and this Staff comforted them with the hopes of their deliverance from the servitude of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Children of God This was that which comforted these defenders of Christianity that whereon they cast their eye in the midst of all the unexpressible tortures the powerful witty malice of the World was able to inflict With what incomparable violence were their Souls separated from their bodies Nevertheless when mortal members yielded to the Sword of Persecution then they beheld though with an eye drenched in bloud and tears the bright glory which attended them Yes and saw as in a mirrour the Thorns of those prodigious sufferings disposed into Lawrels and Crowns There the Proto-Martyr St. Stephen saw the Stones which pelted him into Heaven as so many Rubies and pretious Stones to adorn that Crown which was to begirt his Brows By this fiery tryal of Persecution are the Children of God and Sons of Belial distinguished for the former will become red with bloud to preserve devotion but the latter will betray it for they depart from God in the time of Tribulation Many may with that Rock St. Peter make solemn Protestations to follow Christ and stick close to him but when they come to Pilat's Hall the faint blasts of a Virgins breath will shake the Rock and stagger their resolution But he who follows Christ for the Miracles and not for the Loaves who courts Religion for her Beauty and not for her dowry will not be ashamed to confess his Master though he is most certainly assured to be mounted on Gibbets and undergo the most rigid Tortures power is able to invent Tribulation is Vertues Furnace the stouter and more masculine it is the more it glittereth in affliction This is that rich Diamond which can endure the Wheel whilst all other things are like Pebbles somewhat glittering but little worth Let any one judge how noble and glorious a spectacle it is to behold an invincible courage counterbuffl'd with Storms and Tempests on whom it seemeth Heaven would burst and fall in peices Is it not admirable to behold him amidst the ruins of the World and threats of the Air always standing like to a great Brazen Colossus valuing them at no higher rate then Mists and small Flakes of Snow because he is compleatly taught that in the School of Vertue we learn to despise temporal pleasures and to trample on those vanities which others have so much laboured and hunted after Here we are taught mortification and the exercise of those godly and Heroick Actions which give the Soul an antepast of Heaven in this mortal life and an enfranchisement from the fear of death Jovinian a King having two Vessels of Wine in his Pallace the one sweet the other sowr Decreed that whosoever would tast of the sweet wine should first drink of the sowr whosoever in like manner would drink of those Rivers of Pleasures streaming at Gods Right Hand must not refuse to pledge Christ first in his bitter cup of afflictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Get thee behind me Satan Mat. 16.23 for thou art an offence was the rebuke the Son of God gave St. Peter when he would have disswaded him from suffering both the most cruel and ignominious death of the Cross and then assembling his whole Colledge of Disciples together solemnly declared that as they had been the companions of his life so also must they go share with him in his sorrows as he so they likewise must suffer when the Bridegroom is gone the Children of the Bridegroom must weep as well as fast For what can be more rude and unhandsome what can we stile more unbecoming and undecent than to see the head crowned with Thorns and the Servants enwrapped with softness To see our Jesus in his Agony and Good-Friday-apparel and our selves in our jollity or Easter Robes To see Christ toyling under the burthen of the Cross and we dancing in our Sports To see him drinking Vinegar and Gall and we pleasing our foolish appetites To see Christ of his Cross make a Ladder to ascend his Throne of Glory and we to stand here with folded arms To see him travailing through Briars and Thornes and we unwilling to tread on any thing but Roses Is not this as incongruous as to see Princes walking on their feet and Servants riding on Horseback Is not this as great a disunion as to see the Master in Russet and the Servant in Purple faring deliciously every day If therefore we desire to spell out our names amongst his Servants we must learn Christs Cross over and not be ashamed of his Livery the Purple Robe but must tread the path marked out with that bloud shed for our Redemption For observe that
Merciful Father that the perfect Image of this thy Son may be so formed in our hearts that we may live the life of Christ serving him in righteousness and holiness all the days of our Pilgrimage here that we may not defeat the ends of his death but strive to compleat the joy of our Lord. To which end we see God spared not his Son but a Manger is his Cradle behold the Bread of life appointed for the Provision and nourishment of our souls he came to fetch home the lost Sheep and to cure and heal the infirm and weak He came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance And what shall we rob our selves of our share in this so glorious an enterprise shall we ruinate the purposes of Christ in delivering us out of that misery wherein we were so unhappily plunged For had not the Father sent him on that errand how had we been broken in peices like a Potters Vessel Whips Scourges and Scorpions had been our portion had not a Rod sprung from the Root of Jesse to save Sinners from the lash Let us then return our thanks to this Redeemer of Israel and say O blessed Jesu who about this time was born of a pure Virgin we return thee our praises and thanksgivings for that thou would be pleased to subject thy self to the miseries of flesh that flesh might be capacitated for the joy of eternal bliss It was our gluttony O Bread of Life which caused thee to hunger our intemperance O fountain of living water which caused thee to cry out I am athirst thou wert made as we are that we might be made as thou art with all the powers and faculties of our souls and bodies we return thee all honour and praise singing with the heavenly quire All glory power and dominion be ascribed to the Lamb and him that sitteth on the Throne for ever and ever Amen And so I descend in the Second place to consider their quantity whom God so loved that he gave his only begotten Son for them God so loved the World He did not give his Son for some choice and select persons only the glorious Son of Righteousness did not dart his radiant beams on the Land of Goshen only but he arose with healing in his wings over the superficies of the whole earth that all mankind might receive benefit by his influence For by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text is meant all the world both Jew and Gentile and so St. Paul useth it saying that God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 2 Cor. 5.18 now what is signified by reconciling the Word is interpreted by St. Paul Rom. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Creation or all the Gentile World in opposition to the Jewish Enclosure not all the creatures absolutely but all men of all sorts particularly those Gentile Idolators mentioned by the same Apostle whom he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you who were alienated and strangers to God hath he reconciled to himself Colos 1.21 for he sent him into the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to save all men that were lost to ave all men that were lost to heal the smarting sores not of some few polluted souls only but of all descended from the loyns of Adam For by Adams offence God had concluded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things all his posterity under the guilt of sin Ephes 1.10 and therefore to satisfie his Justice and to manifest his Mercy he hath given us his Son that in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather into one all things both which are in Heaven and Earth where is intimated no more then the people who dwell under the Canopy of Heaven For though the mercy of God and the Merits of our Saviour hath so confirmed and established the Angels in their Stations of glory that it is impossible for them to fall and slide away yet this cannot be said to be by Redemption but by Christs gratious uniting them to God so that I conceive the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot refer to them but only to men because Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did not come to take hold of reduce or reconcile the Angels but only mankind for the Angels in Heaven never fell and therefore what need had they of a Reconciliation so that the Apostle only endeavours to explain to us that Christ is the universal Redeemer of Man-kind of the Gentiles as well asof the Jews which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an act of free undeserved mercy imputable to nothing but Gods meer grace For by our Original depravation we became prone to do evil and are not able to think a good thought insomuch the most righteous of the Sons of men had need of a Saviour to make an Attonement and Expiation for them For the Royal Prophet informs us God looked down from Heaven Ps 14. and none did good no not one Shall the disease then he epidemical and common to all and shall not the cure be the same shall Eves transgression be capable of ruining and destroying all and what hath not Christs all-healing bloud virtue enough to save all Is God a respecter of persons or if we do well shall we not be accepted is not he willing that all should come to salvation why do the Church stile Adams sin an happy sin if our Redemption and the Merits of Christs Sacred Passion was not extended to all even the greatest criminal and highest offendor if he seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him whilst he is near For as by the offence of one Rom. 5.18 death came upon all men unto condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life whence it is clear the remedy brought to us by Christ reached as far as the disease How doth St. John entitle him a Sun which giveth light to every one that cometh into the World John 1.9 There is none overshadowed with so dismal a Cloud of sins who may not if they will take in the rays of his mercy the blackest soul may find the bloud of Christ ready to cleanse her stains and exchange them for a pure die of innocencie if she can with a sincere heart and tongue cry out Have Mercy upon me O God For by the bloud of Christ is conveyed to all men a capacity of Salvation but if they neglect so great Salvation and afterwards come to perish it is through their own default in misusing his gracious endearments and proving refractory to his commands For this is a faithful saying 1 Tim. 1.1 and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners Sinners indefinitely without the exclusion of any And so again He tasted death for every man Heb. 1.9 and is risen again for their Justification that is as verily as all men have sinned by
one should perish and so again God himself hath sworn that he delighteth not in the death of a sinner But perhaps some may contest that if it be the intention and will of God that all should be saved how comes it to pass so many fall short and miss of the reward designed by God glory everlasting I answer The Holy Scriptures have recorded Gods will to be two-fold his Absolute and his Conditional Will The former God used when he framed the goodly Structure of the World and said let there be light and there was light let there be a Firmament and there was a Firmament So likewise when he created those incorporeal intelligencers the Angels he spake the Word and they were made he commanded and they were created This is the absolute and only irresistable Will of God But in matters relating to the Salvation of Men he made use of the Second his Conditional Will And those Conditions were three The First was in Paradise eat not and thou shalt live but how soon did we forfeit this Covenant by an hankering and prurient desire after the Tree of Knowledge The Second was under the Law do this and thou shalt live And here though the spirit was never so willing yet so many were the weaknesses and infirmities of the flesh that we groaned under its weight and were not able to perform it until Christ the fulfiller of the Law came to ease us of its burthen and then he made a third and new agreement with us under the Gospel and that is believe on the Son of God and thou shalt be saved To the performance of which he hath afforded such powerful aids and encouragements that we may observe the tenour of his Laws and live for ever For the ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace But if we will not observe his Laws but break our bonds asunder we justly forfeit our right in Christ and may charge God foolishly but thank our selves for damnation For though our Creation was the work of Omnipotency alone yet the salvation of our souls can never be effected without our endeavours He hath opened a fountain for us to bath in but if we refuse to wash and be clean who is to blame for the continuance of our Leprosie Nay further he doth not only to our Justification add the invitations of his grace and holy Spirit to dispose our selves for it promising to ease and refresh such as are weary and heavy laden with the burthen of their sins but positively declares he stands at the door of our hearts knocks and solicites to enter but if we will not fuffer the King of glory to come in may not he justly defie the World to object the least fault and blame on his side since he hath done to his Vineyard whatever could be thought requisite to make it thrive and prosper and if they finally perish as I shall shew more at large by and by are they not the authors of their own perdition by their rejecting those abundantly sufficient graces he hath offered them to accept So that in the extremity of their misery they will be forced to confess thou art Righteous O Lord and thy judgments are just But some further object that though the satisfaction Christ made was sufficient for the whole World yet say they it was not effectual that is I conceive he did not intend all should participate of the benefit thereof And what is this but by the worst kind of enclosure to circumscribe his All-sufficient goodness to set banks and shores to that unlimited Ocean of mercy which cannot consist with the wisdom and goodness of Christ for if he paid a full and plenary satisfaction for the offences of all men was it not as easie and more agreeable to his mercy to communicate the benefits to all than to appropriate them only to a few and little parcel of men Any in the shape of a man would censure it a meer delusion for the King of Great Britain to proclaim himself Redeemer of all the captivated Christians under the Tyrany of Ziim and Ochim Turks and Infidels if he should send over Ransom large enough for all yet afterwards cashiere the poor Captives hopes of liberty by interpreting himself though I proclaimed and sent sufficiently for all yet I meant Redemption only to a few Would not this renew our griefs and augment our sorrows and if it was so with God what anxieties and fears what troubles and scruples would it move in our minds whether we were the persons whom the King delighted to honour for if we conceited we were the Children elected by God and God had resolved from eternity to save us what licence would it give to our unbridled desires by presuming too much on the Patience and long-suffering of God when we believe we cannot be dis-inherited from being Coheirs with the Son of God and so make us neglect the working out our salvation knowing that our labour is in vain because before we were God had determined we should not miss of our Diadem of glory But blessed be God no mans state is fixed or unalterable before he hath a Being much less from eternity or before the foundations of the earth were laid nay now we have a being it is possible to pass from the state of death to the life of grace 'T is true when we are cut off from the Land of the living and are arrived at our long home then our condition and the decree of God is unchangeable for where the Tree falleth there it lyeth Eccles 11.3 They that die in peace shall arise in glory with the King of Peace and they who die in their sins shall be raised 't is true but receive small comfort from the Sun of glory for they shall be banished from his presence Let this consideration rouze us from the Lethargy of sin that we may work whilst the day of salvation lasteth before the night cometh when no man can work What we do let us do quickly for though the marrow may seem to swell in our bones our bloud hot and boyl in our veins though we pride our selves in the strength and flower of nature yet still is not our time in the hand of God who can tell what a day may bring forth Seeing then God hath expressed so high a Love to us let us not turn his grace into wantonness for he that believeth on him that sent me saith Christ hath everlasting life And St. John tells us He is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world This was an Act of Oblivion out of which none was excepted He came to revoke the general Sentence the Decree gone out against all men For as I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the Death of the wicked but that he turn and live He hath set before us life and death Oh! let us choose life that we may
the Sun was placed in the Firmament of Heaven that the whole World might be cherished by the influence of its heat and light yet how many are there to whom it is not much beneficial for are there not some of so reserv'd and melancholy a disposition that they are more affected with darkness upon which account they creep into Grots and Holes to hide themselves from the glory of his Beams In like manner light came into the World and was offer'd up for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Catholick good of all but some loving darkness rather then light keep themselves baricadoed from his benign influence resisting the light of faith for otherwise he should not perish but have everlasting life Heb. 5.9 which is best interpreted by that curt yet full expression of St. Paul he is the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him The Kingdom of Heaven is shut up against none though some are so unhappy as to exclude themselves for they are so far degenerated into Brutes that neither the dreadful apprehensions of an angry God a consuming fire or Worm that never dyes can frighten them into obedience or can the invitatory Charms of Holy things allure them thereunto or lastly can the modest shame of a base and ignoble action move them for like ill-distempered bodies they convert all wholsome food into their own corrupted humours saying unto God depart from us we desire not the knowledge of his ways who is the Almighty that we should serve him or what benefit accrues to us if we pray to him First they abhor the knowledge of his ways and commandments because they are contrary and speak against their works Secondly They refuse submission to his power perswading themselves he is not Almighty because sentence is not executed speedily but he is Merciful Long-suffering and Gracious And then lastly They will not pray unto him because they would ask that which is so repugnant to his supreme wisdom and goodness that they know he will not answer their petitions So that in short it is through themselves they perish and come not to bliss and glory because they decline the presence of God shutting up all the avenues of faith and charity through which he should come in unto them For God hath engaged his word not to be inexorable and the Creator hath protested and sworn that it is far from his thoughts to delight himself in the destruction of his Creature For can the charity of a grave and sober person upon earth pray for the conversion and salvation of all Nations and what shall the charity of Christ be limited or will they ravish him of his goodness No verily he would have none to perish but upon their submission he will embrace them with the arms of his mercy receive them for his own Children by Adoption give them the blessings of eternal life and make them partakers of his everlasting Kingdom Seeing then this was the end and drift of Christs Incarnation seeing God hath dealt thus graciously with us what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness How ought we to esteem and love him who so esteemed and loved us that he thought not his life and bloud too dear for us How ought we toesteem our selves since God hath thought us worthy to be esteemed of him Let us remember this and know that we are men How ought we to take heed that we neither spot or soil that flesh wherein God hath manifested himself For what are we the better that God hath given us his Son if there be not a mystical Incarnation in our hearts and his Nativity our spiritual Birth-day that being born anew Christ may dwell in us and we in him Was it not his purpose to be like us that we might be like him was he not born of a poor Virgin to teach us to be meek and lowly did he not take upon him the form of a Servant to teach us we must not Lord it over them who are beneath us How little did he value the pomp and grandeur of the World to set our affections on things above how contented was he in a mean condition to teach us not to take care for to Morrow How courteous was he to the meanest Clients to teach us humanity and brotherly kindness how liberal was he of doing good to teach us to be diligent in relieving the necessity of the Indigent How patient was he in suffering the the mockeries and scoffs of the ruder multitude to teach us not to pay evil for evil how patient was he amidst the sad tortures and pangs of the Cross to teach us not to repine at the chastisements and corrections of Heaven How little did he fancy the applauses of men to teach us not to court popularity or be fond of the praises of men How absolutely did he resign up his Will to the Will of his Father to teach us in every state to say Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven In a word how did he lay down his Life in full hopes of a glorious Resurrection to teach us to say Though after my Skin worms destroy my Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I my self shall behold and not another These are the Beauties of Jesus to be equally admir'd and practised by us This is a Transcript of the Deity which we must carry always in our hearts for by the copying of it Christ knows who are his Let us then endeavour to follow our Exemplar as close as we can in these steps of his Holy Life Let us not slight that Love which is gone to prepare us a place in his Fathers House Let us make all things conspire to proclaim his Glory Let us conceive Christ in our heart by our believing and hearing his word and let us bring him forth in our life by giving all diligence to practice and perform it Let us look on the Mercy of this day as an hopeful assurance that God will never end his Love and good Will towards Men till he hath brought us thither where Jesus is Let us earnestly beseech him to guide us in those steps whereby he did ascend from Earth to Heaven Let us desire him so earnestly to subdue our Wills to His that it may be our Meat and Drink to perform his Heavenly Pleasure Which that it may be more effectually wrought for the Eternal Interest of us all let us fall down and say in sincerity of heart ALmighty God who hast given us thy only Begotten Son to take our Nature upon him and as this day to be born of a pure Virgin Grant thas we being regenerate and made thy Children by Adoption and Grace may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit through the same Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be ascribed all Honour Glory Might Majesty and Dominion now and evermore Amen FINIS