A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HAL April the 12 th 1674. BY THE Right Reverend Father in GOD HERBERT Lord Bishop of Hereford LONDON Printed for Charles Harper at the Flower-de-Luce over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet 1676. PHIL. 1. 21. For to me to live is Christ and to dye is gain HE that ponders well this saying and the Author of it will stand amazed at the strange and miraculous Operation of the Grace of God To me to live is Christ c. I have no other thought no other delight but Christ. As the Hart desireth the Water-Brooks so longeth my Soul after Christ My life without him is worse than death and death with him is a gain beyond life A very passionate and wonderful Affection And who is this so passionately in love with Christ 'T is Paul the Apostle Where 's then the Wonder Who more full of fervent Expressions towards Christ Wherefore I tell you 't is Saul the Persecutor he that but even now breathed nothing but Wrath and Vengeance against the Servants of Christ now breathes nothing but the love of Christ. Is not this a wonderful change But the manner of this change is yet more wonderful For how was he reconcil'd and so firmly united to Christ Was it after the manner of men by Gifts Honours Advancements Possessions c. This is our way especially with men of Spirit and Resolution violent and compulsary ways do but exasperate and harden such and the Rule is general Oderunt quem timent Men hate whom they fear But let us see how Christ deals with Saul who was riding on as furiously as Iehu to Damascus to oppose Christ and destroy his Disciples Christ at first dash tumbles him down to the Earth strikes him blind And though afterwards he restored him his sight yet 't was as a Worldling would think on very hard Conditions to forsake all Wealth Honour Friends Country and go preach the Gospel to Infidels And what 's his Reward for his great Labour and Travel Reproaches Fetters Whips Stones And is this the way to beget Love or rather to convert great Love into great hatred Is it not then very true which the Lord said Isa. 55. 8. My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways Christ casts Saul's body to the Earth but elevates his Soul to Heaven covers his corporal eyes with blinding scales but takes the darkening veil from his spiritual eye discovers unto him the infinite Love and Goodness of his Saviour whom he so blindly persecuted and giving him a ravishing taste of his Divine Sweetness Saul is become Paul the Persecutor an Apostle and so zealous a Disciple as he knows no other delight no other joy but Christ for his sake he gladly quits all gladly suffers all And now to him to live was Christ and to die for Christ was a gain beyond all To me to live is Christ c. I have hitherto by way of Preface shewed you the wonderful love of St. Paul to Christ which was not a languishing idle Passion but Amor efficax An efficacious operating Love like active Fire which converts every thing into the same nature So this Divine Flame infused into the breast of Saul converted the whole man into a new Creature His earthly carnal Nature is now become spiritual and divine for so St. Peter expresses it That by Grace we are partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. This seems to carnal men a thing wonderful and incredible and yet we have daily before our eyes effects in some measure as wonderful but the frequency of them takes away the wonder and instead of admirable renders them scarce considerable Do not we see the same earth converted into various substances by the diversity of Seed cast into it and from thence spring up Corn Tares Flowers Weeds Grass Thistles all out of the same Earth Such is the efficacious power of the little Seed as each one works such a total change in the Earth that our Brain would never conceive it possible were not our eyes daily convinc'd of this Truth Should any man come and tell us That in the Indies 't is common to file Iron into dust and to sow it and from thence in a short time to spring forth a plentiful Crop of Iron-bars should not we esteem him a large talking Traveller and let this pass for a mere Fable And I pray why Is it not more probable from Iron-dust to spring up Iron than from a little dry black Kernel to sprout forth a tall moist green Twig thence bud forth Leaves then curious Blossoms then lovely pleasant fruit Certainly this in appearance is a much more improbable change and would be less credible were it not daily visible So should I come to some carnal covetous Wretches or to some debaucht lustful Youths and tell them That would God be so gracious as to sow in their corrupted earthly hearts the Seeds of his Divine Grace there would spring forth from thence most vigorous Branches laden with rich and lovely Fruits of Temperance Chastity Meekness Mercy Charity the money they now hug so close they would then scatter abroad among the poor the Epicurean delights they now greedily hunt after then offer'd they would reject the painted Beauty they now adore they would then contemn and in fine it would work so strange a Transformation in them as to make them love Lowliness and Poverty Hunger and Thirst Cold and Nakedness Imprisonment and Stripes any thing for Christ's sake and to rejoyce more in these than in any carnal Pleasure they ever enjoy'd Think you would they not rank me with the large talking Travellers and think this the veriest Fable in the World No doubt on 't Yet blessed be God such is the powerful Operation of his heavenly Grace as it hath often wrought these wonderful Conversions in men of the foulest carnal temper Zacheus a Publican to give half his Goods to the poor Matthew the Publican to forsake all Mary Magdalen the Sinner of the City made the Saintly Penitent of the World the furious Persecutor Saul the most fervent Apostle Paul who did neither care to enjoy nor so much as know any thing saving Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2. 2 And to gain Christ how readily did he quit all even in the Infancy of his Conversion yea counted all but as dung so he might gain Christ As dung which with loathing a man hastily casts from him far from affectionately seeking them This was the first step of his Giant-pace wherewith he began his course towards Christ. At the next stride he passes over Kindred and Friends his Brethren according to the flesh they are all now become his Enemies they daily plot mischief and muster up all their Forces against him and though Death like a Cannon planted in the Rear stands ready with open mouth to devour him yet he is less terrified with that grim Visage than Sampson with the Lyon which he
rent in pieces like a Kid and found honey in the jaw thereof So far was Death from being a terrour to St. Paul that it was his delight and could endure to be killed all the day long as he expresses Rom. 8. 36. And after all crys out We are more than Conquerers We not only overcome but rejoyce in that we are thought worthy to suffer for Christ. Christ is the Prize his heart is set upon to that he hastens Death it self stops not his course And now I come to that which far surpasses all I have yet said Such was the transcendent love of St. Paul as that Christ's glory might be encreased and many Souls gained unto Christ he was content to give up not only his Body unto Death but his Soul also even to eternal Death and become Anathama a Curse for them So high a pitch of Divine Love and Charity as never any man before but Moses arrived unto nor ever any man after as we find Hic terminus esto Had it not been for this the Jews might have out-bragg'd us with their great Captain and Deliverer from Egypt Moses who for the good of his People was content to be blotted out of the Book of Life How would they have triumphed could they have out-vyed us with a Saint of the Old Law boasting his Charity as far above any of ours as Saul was by the head and shoulders above all the People and insultingly cry Toto vertice supra est But God hath taken away this Reproach from us to whom he hath given not only a Chief Captain and Saviour Christ Jesus far to surpass their Deliverer Moses but another also to equal him this great Apostle of the Gentiles St. Paul who deliver'd more thousands from a far more miserable Thraldom captivated under Satan and brought them to the heavenly Ierusalem For the Salvation of whose Souls he was as ready as Moses to give up his own and be blotted out of the Book of Life And now if you please we will erect here two Tabernacles or two Pillars with a Ne plus ultra one for Moses and one for Paul But I pray let us take care to build them according to St. Paul's Directions who would have all done to Edification that these may be not only Trophies to them but Instructions to us to the end we may in some measure follow their godly example For I fear that many look on these stately Pillars of God's Church as we now a-days look on the Ancient Colossuses of Egypt They at first as Pierius and other Writers relate were erected full of Figures and Emblems to teach the People Morality and Divinity but this Emblematical Science being now antiquated and forgotten we gaze on them as Wonders only not one jot the better or the wiser by them And just so these goodly Pillars of the Church we much admire but learn very little from them and not at all endeavour to imitate them That 's beyond our power And why beyond our power Were not Moses and Paul men of the same flesh and blood with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men of like passions subject to the same infirmities with us Did not St. Paul Rom. 7. 18. confess That in his flesh dwelled no good thing And 2 Cor. 12. 7. did he not complain to the Lord of a Thorn in his flesh and Satan given to buffet him sharp Temptations and great oppressions But what did the Lord answer him My Grace is sufficient for thee Let not thy weakness make thee despond and cause thy fall My strength shall be made perfect in thy weakness and shall bear thee up against all opposition And Paul confiding in this Promise of the Lord was kept up and overcame the Temptation surmounted all Difficulties whatsoever and no man ever met with more Therefore in another place Phil. 4. 13. he boasts THAT through Christ he could do all things Why then may not other men of the same corrupt flesh and weak infirmities with Paul through Christ do the same things which Paul did Do all things Is the Grace of God infeebled that it cannot strengthen Is the Arm of the Lord shortned that it cannot save Or is the hand of the Lord closed that he will not give Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Mat. 7. 7. said the same Lord that enabled Paul to do all things And can he deceive Will He fail to make his Promise good No certainly But we do ask and seek we daily pray yet we continue as frail and weak as ever And why Because we do not ask in Faith We do not believe God is now so bountiful to confer such wonderful Grace Why not now Is not God the same yesterday to day and for ever God is no Changeling but we are we are turned aside from the holy Commandment we do not love God with all our heart nor with half of it the World hath three quarters at least God but a small pittance the Pomp and Glory of this World the carnal desires of the Flesh have wholly possest our hearts Would God freely ask us as he did Solomon what we desired whether we would have Dignity and Wealth or Grace and Vertue whether we would be Croesus or Paul Croesus Croesus would be the loud cry and carry it clear from Paul a hundred for one Can we then expect that God will pour down his precious Grace on us to make us Pauls who care not to be Pauls but would cast away his heavenly Grace for worldly Wealth Really I fear there are not three persons here of all this Assembly that would be Pauls if they might No no the Pleasures the Riches which Paul chearfully abandoned and counted as dung we eagerly pursue and highly esteem the Sufferings and Afflictions which he rejoyced in we tremble at We are a faithless and faint-hearted Generation we will not fight the good Fight of Faith there is not one spark of Christian Ambition in us we are no way worthy to bear the name of Christian Souldiers much less of Captains and Pauls but deserve rather to have our names quite blotted out of the List. It was handsomly said of Henry the Fourth of France Did he know any Souldier in his Army that did not hope to be a Captain or any Captain that did not hope to be Captain-General he would presently cashier him But all can't be Captains 't is true but all may aim at it and then as Tully saith Honestum est prima sequentem in secundis tertiisve consistere 'T is honorable for him who aims at the Chief if he arrive to the second or third degree and there sit down This was the way St. Paul took as he tells us Phil. 3. 13. Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press towards the mark for the prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Iesus
impossible in nature that men should so unnaturally deny a thing attested by thousands of reasonable and credible men so that to reject their evidence is to reject the Evidence of Mankind And that which makes these Infidels most notoriously ridiculous is that they undoubtedly believe many things which have not the tenth part of this Evidence or scarce any at all But as it is 2 Thess. 2. 11. God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lye and not believe the truth Should I ask these men what farther Evidence they would have for a future life Doubtless they would require a sight of some half a score to come from the dead and assure them of it Our Saviour said it and therefore I believe it That if they will not hear Moses and the Prophets the Apostles and Martyrs neither will they hear though one or ten rose from the dead But put the case some should come from the dead to assure them of another life and these men having many children of their own should tell them what they saw and heard and their children should answer They would not believe unless they themselves also saw and heard the very same Would they not have great indignation at their childrens unbelief No doubt on 't And yet their children have the same reason for themselves to deny it And so by their Rule some must be daily coming from the dead into all parts of the World to satisfie men or else no belief Is not this a most extravagant thing We have had great patience to talk with these so unreasonable men so long I shall now make a short Reflexion on what I have said in this matter If we have not brought absolutely convincing proofs for a future Life yet sure they are very probable proofs So that considering our Assertion and Proofs and their Denial and no Proofs the Judgment stands fair for us But the more to confute them I will yield that we are upon equal terms nay what if I yield 't is two to one on their side and yet shew these great Wit-pretenders are Witless in their ways I propose to them a Parable A certain man brings them a Bottle of curious Wine to drink there come in presently three more wereof one crys out Sirs take heed what you do this man comes to poyson you I saw him put most deadly poyson into the Bottle The other two laugh at it as a Fable affirming both stood by when the Wine was drawn and they saw no poyson put in Some of my brave Youths say Come the Wine looks very clear tastes very pleasant away with these foolish fears Let us drink and be merry Others answer Hold my Masters let us not be so mad as to venture our lives for a glass of Wine though therebe two Witnesses to one that there 's no poyson in it yet this is but a Negative proof poyson might be put in and they not see it and then the loss of our lives is an hundred to one more than the gain will be in drinking it the pleasure is but for the twinkling of an eye the loss great and for ever I beseech you tell me which of these talk Reason which Madness Is it not then far greater Madness for the small and momentary pleasures of this life to venture the loss of an eternal Life of unspeakable Felicity And not only so but to plunge themselves headlong into eternal misery and all this not having two to one for them but an hundred to one against them If this be not desperate Madness I beseech you tell me what is Who can chuse but sadly lament the dangerous condition of these men My only comfort is That the mighty power of the Divine Grace is able from stones to raise up children to Abraham And therefore I will never cease to pray and hope that God of his infinite Goodness and Mercy will in his good time give a sensible Touch to their Faithless stony hearts And now for a Conclusion I will in few words address my self to all you who have faith in the promise of Christ for a future life and hope that death may be unto you gain The day is at hand when we are to celebrate the Resurrection of our Blessed Saviour which is the ground of this our hope and raises up in us fervent desires to live with St. Paul unto Christ that we may die in Christ rise again and reign with Christ. And for the encouragement and encrease of your desires I beseech you remember that St. Paul was by nature of the same flesh and blood with us of the same infirmities and weakness and of himself could do nothing no more then we but by Grace could do all things and so may we I beseech you also remember the faithful Promise of Christ. That if we ask seek and knock this Grace will be given unto us And never more seasonable than now to seek it for you know Lent is the holy time appointed by the Church for Fasting and Praying and this ensuing Week is the Holy of Holies and more especially requires it How you have spent the former part God and your own hearts best know but if amiss I with St. Peter beseech you That the time past may suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in Lasciviousness Lusts excess of Wine Revellings Banquettings and such like 1 Pet. 4. 3. Very unfit for Christians at any time much more in the holy time of Lent We must therefore according to St. Paul's Directions Ephes. 5. 15. earnestly endeavour to redeem the time past by great Humiliation and fervent Devotion this Week yet to come that so we may be meet partakers of the holy Mysteries at the approaching Feast and thereby partakers also of that powerful Grace which transform'd Saul into Paul and will likewise transform us Sinners into Saints if we receive those holy Mysteries worthily But if unworthily it will transform us great Sinners into great Devils eating and drinking our own Damnation which God forbid I have heard of some that have made a Covenant with the Devil and signed it with their own blood Who doth not abhor the Fact Surely then much more abhor to make a Covenant with the Devil to continue in sin and sign it with the precious blood of Christ. The very thought of it is dreadful Wherefore I most humbly and earnestly beseech you all with fear and trembling to consider the King of Glory the Judge of quick and dead we are to receive into our breasts and that you would with repenting tears so wash and make it clean with chastising Mortification so rub and polish with fervent Love and zealous Devotion so deck and adorn it that it may become a fit Tabernacle to receive the King of Glory our Saviour Christ and invite him to come in and sup with us and we with him as it is Revel 3. 20. That our Souls may be so refreshed and strengthened by this heavenly Food that henceforth we may live in Christ and Christ in us and then we shall be sure to die in Christ and that death will be unto us an unspeakable gain conveying us from a World of Misery to a Kingdom of everlasting Glory which Christ hath faithfully promised us and God of his infinite Mercy will give us And therefore unto him be ascribed as is most due all Honour Praise and Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS