knew not what to say but in admiration of his mercy lift up his eyes to heaven as if these thoughts did rise up in Abrahams fancy Sarah the Mother of my Son did muse how a Child could be born unto her in her old age but she did ill to laugh because the Lord had spoke it then give me leave to ponder how this Child can live any more when the mouth of God hath spoken that he must be sacrificed for a burnt offering Nay O Lord Non unum redimis sed unitatem In this act thou dost not so much redeem this one from death as the unity of all the faithful in this one all those Nations that shall be blessed in my name wilt thou spare them all as thou sparest Isaac What are our merits What justice is in us What is man that thou wilt not visit him with indignation Thus the soul of Abraham was in an extasie to consider the mercy of God wonder had possessed him we see it in this cast of his eye that he looked up to heaven When the Lord turned the Captivity of Sion then we were like unto them that dream says the Prophet The deliverance was so fortunate so much it did out-strip their hope that they did receive it at first not as that which was done indeed but as a delightful dream As Livie relating how the Graecians were strangly strucken with sudden joy upon the day when the Romans sent them unexpected liberty says he Mirabundi velut somni speciem arbitrabantur they thought it was a pleasing vision in their sleep and not the happiness of them that were broad awake So when God did really make good that Promise which the Devil pretended that he would bring about Non moriemini You shall not die The faithful Patriarch knew not how to apprehend it at the first but his eye did testifie that his soul was ravished with the mercies of the Lord. The wicked shall not end half his days the seed of the ungodly shall be rooted out eternal fire is prepared hereafter for them that shall be turned over to the Devil and his Angels there shall be much wrath and vengeance every where among the dwelling places of the unrighteous but as for Isaac and they that are born according to the Spirit Noli tangere says the Angel the hand of violence shall not come near them as the Poet in his Eclogue brings in Melibaeus wondring at the clemency of Cesar to his fellow-shepherd when all the neighbour-Cottages were burnt and wasted Vndique totis usque adeò turbatur agris So when God shall work so much destruction in the world redemption is an admirable thing where it lights John Baptist as we read it in the vulgar Latine blazeth out with two notes of astonishment one upon another Ecce Agnus Dei ecce qui tollit peccata mundi Behold the Lamb of God I and again Behold him that taketh away the sins of the world In two respects it is to be wondred at without any prejudice to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fulness of our faith as I will shew by the examples of two memorable women in holy Scripture Whence is it that the mother of my Lord comes unto me says Elizabeth Why did she marvel at it Quia non sui meriti sed divini fatetur esse muneris says Beda because it was a favour of mere grace and not a recompence of merit And again the blessed mother of our Saviour astonished at the Angels message that she should conceive and bear a Son Quomodo says she How shall these things come to pass Tanquam certa de facto querit de modo fiendi as it is the common answer She was sure it should be so she marvelled how it should be so and that was a blameless admiration Both these passions did Abraham suffer he knew there was no worth in man that God should release him from condemnation he knew not the manner what should be paid for his ransom his eye did fix it self upon the throne of God to find the mystery out and so you see it was Gestus admirantis the expression of wonder and astonishment that Abraham lifted up his eyes Thirdly It is Gestus inquirentis besides that he lifted up his eyes he look'd about him from the tops of Moriah it is the demeanour of him that did seek out for a Sacrifice to be offered up unto the Lord. Reges Parthes non potest quisquam salutare sine munere says he No man was admitted to salute the Parthian Kings unless he brought some Present in his hands so because Abraham came to this Mountain to worship before the Angel of the Lord he look'd and enquired for some Oblation that he might not turn back until he had laid a gift upon the Altar Many will lift up their eyes but they list not to seek an Offering for the Lord. Such are best pleased with devotion when it comes off with as little cost as may be Nay says David when Araunah would have born his charges I will not sacrifice to God of that which shall cost me nothing An Objection is framed in the School that the Piety of the Jews was more acceptable to God than the piety of Christians because they in their daily Service were at great expense to provide beasts for the Altar we are at no such charge in our Spiritual Worship it is enough if we offer up a broken heart in mortification a thankful heart in Praise and a devout heart in Prayer But this puts not our Purse to any trial like the Oblations of the Jews To cancel and wipe out this opposition it is answered that we supply that charge of the Sacrifice of beasts In Sacrificio Eleemosynarum in the Sacrifice of Alms to the poor The hand must look about it where to give as well as the eye look upward where to be thankful A distribution to the wants of the needy it is Pro sacrificio and prae sacrificio in place of sacrifice and to be preferred before all sacrifices Mercy is a better Oblation than a Beast that is slain this day you know how much was paid for the price of your redemption but not the price of corruptible things as Silver and Gold Spare O spare some portion of that which you spend profusely in the consumption of vanity at this solemn time of redemption to redeem the distressed in Prisons that are fast bound in misery and iron Look about you as Abraham did and you shall find I assure you Arietes prehensos in Vepribus Rams shall I say Nay they have scarce any fleece upon their back but they are catch'd fast poor Souls by the horns in the Thicket thence they cannot stir unlâ—ss Abraham will take them and offer them up for an Oblation to the Lord. Above all other casts of the eye this same Gestus inquirentis pleaseth me best to look about that we may present some gift upon the Altar
David That little nest had hatcht many famous rulers Ibzan that ruled all Israel most righteously and prudently a true Ephrathite as fruitful in his loins as the Country was of all store He had thirty sons and thirty daughters Judg. xii 8. beside him Elimelech and Obed and Isai and David and all his valiant brethren Bethlehem had been an happy Seminary of renowned persons nunc aliquid supra heroas after all the former progeny it brought forth at last one of more heroical virtue even Christ the Lord. And see how many businesses are secretly and unawares administred for divine purposes Caesar Augustus taxeth all the world for acknowledgement of homage and to fill his Exchequer but God did drive it to a greater end that Mary might come with Joseph to the City of David and not be delivered of her Babe out of his own Country Coegit Deus imperatoris edictum prophetiae veritati servire God caused the Emperours Laws and Edicts to make way to the fulfilling of sacred Prophesies Pharaoh allotted the Children of Israel to the land of Goshen to attend his heards and flocks God had another more principal intention to advance his own glory by their abode in Egypt Pilate transmitted our Saviour to Herod and Herod to Pilate again Ad captandam benevolentiam to make themselves as good friends as great men use to be but the judge that sits above all made them both serve for this end that neither this nor that nor any other unrighteous ruler should be able to find any thing but innocency in him who was a â—aâ—b without blemish Gods ends are the magisterial and great ends that set even heathen Princes awork to bring them to pass so the commands of the Roman Caesar did instrumentally serve for this that Christ was born in Bethlehem I proceed to the next circumstance of this Nativity the time set down according to the Kings Reign wherein it fell out in the days of Herod the King To reckon mens Nativities from the years of Consuls or from the Reigns of Kings is a most usual computation their lives are marks of remembrance upon many casualties past to all succeeding ages So certain it is that the worst of Princes as well as the best shall never be forgotten Therefore it is a good advice which the Historian gives that Kings and Rulers have all things at their pleasure and live not in want of any thing while their breath lasts Sed unum insatiabiliter parandum prospera sui memoria but one thing must be studied with all providence that they leave a prosperous memory behind them The two and twenty years of Jeroboams reign the days of Herods reign were dismal times and happier for them to have been buried in silence But as a sulphurous light that smells ill will be seen as well as the sweetest because it is a light so the age of a wicked Prince is a perpetual mark of remembrance as well as better times The mention of Herod will come about though he have no fame but infamy though death gnaweth upon him yet he lives in this Text that Christ was born in the days of Herod the King But I pray you is this all no more but the time simply set down in such a reign when the Nativity fell out Majus opus moveo there goes much more to it than so and if one reason be not enough you shall have two to explicate it First To denote what calamities were in that wretched state of the Jews when Christ came into the world for Herod is remembred at his Birth as Pilate is brought into the Creed to fill up the Article of his Passion He could never have been born under a worse Tyrant than Herod nor likely have suffered under a more unjust Magistrate than Pilate The days of Herod the King those were evil days days of affliction days of taxes days of captivity their children were slain their glory was departed Juda's Scepter clean broken When their case was so pittiful then cometh the Redeemer when it was so dark then riseth the Star As his Birth fell out in the sharpest time of the year in the depth of Winter so it was every where thereabout the very depth of discontent and misery and this had lasted very long Hard affliction and long continuance what can be more intollerable Some Postillers shew their wit upon these words that they are called the days of Herod the King Obbrevitatem temporis in quo reges dominantur for the period of their reign comes quickly about and after a few days are over their glory departs with them and then dust to dust 'T is only God that reigns without computation of days for ever and ever This is a specious conceit but no comfort to Judah for Herod had crusht them under thraldom and slavery almost 30 years before Christ came to comfort them and yet they are called the days of Herod To make you a brief of a long story thus stood the case The Jews had rather have died than be driven from the letter of their Law especially in Ceremonies or judicious statutes Now one of their republick Laws and the very chief was this Deut. xvii 15. That their King must be chosen from among their brethren thou mayst not set a stranger over thee which is not thy Brother And they were so happy that their rulers were of their own stock from Moses to this man that then usurpt upon them But how was it then alter'd certain rulers called Hasamonei were Princes of that Commonwealth a hundred years together after the captivity Of that race one Hircanus at last a sluggish man being their Prince Antipater the Father of this Herod dispatcht many businesses for him and was employed in several Embassies from Jerusalem to Rome In a word Antipater and his Sons did all Hircanus dying Herod was constituted King of the whole land which belonged to all the tribes of Israel first by the gift of M. Antonie then by the power of Augustus and lastly by the confirmation of the whole Senate but the Jews strugled against Herods yoke almost 30 years to shake it off Much effusion of blood it caused and when it could not be remedied they endured it without hope ever to have it helpt So in the height of this sadness and desperation loe Christ was born in the days of Herod the King When all assistance of this world fails then God is nearest When the Seas work tempestuously then Christ is walking upon the waves When the Apostles labour'd hard and could get nothing to sustain them then God fills their nets with store that they are ready to break and when calamities are very bitter and the enemies of the Church in the heighth of their pride then what remains but to say nay to sing it with David The time is come that thou have mercy upon Sion yea O Lord the time is come One of our own Prelates lighted upon a most pithy observation that
Cross To this end our Church hath made this Chapter one of the Lessons for this day the first that was read in Morning Service and I have warrant that the practice was ancient because I find it was so in St. Austins days for excusing himself that he had not expounded this Scripture to his Auditors all the time of Lent He gives this reason In Vigiliis Paschae propter Sacramentum dominicae passionis reservatur it was ordained to be handled upon a Good Friday because of the mystery of our Saviours Passion There is a Text John viii 56. which Christ alledgeth to the Pharisees Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad Which of his days Or when did he see it It is not mentioned I confess and that makes a variance among Expositors St. Austin glosseth upon it that Abraham and all the Prophets had a Revelation of the Incarnation St. Hierom conceives it to be that day when the mystery of the Trinity was opened unto him Gen. xviii Tres vidit unum adoravit He saw three Angels and worshipped but one But divers whom I could name especially St. Ambrose that wrote whole Books upon the story of Abraham say that my Text was the glass wherein he saw that joyful day Vidit diem immolationis in Ariete He saw the day wherein Christ was crucified for our Redemption in this Ram that was burnt upon the wood instead of Isaac and shall not the Children of Abraham look so far into this Type to see the Oblation for our sins which is past and gone already when Father Abraham so many years before did discern the day to come Elevemus oculos as it is specified of him in my Text let us lift up our eyes and look about and we shall find it plainly dividing the whole Text into these three parts 1. Here is Studium sollicitum a careful and a sollicitous heart upon the matter Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked 2. Here is Presens auxilium help at an instant in the best opportunity behold behind him a Ram caught in a Thicket by his horns 3. Here is Sacrificium succedaneum one Sacrifice answering for another or coming in the place of another as it is in the words following and Abraham went and took the Ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his Son Every one of these shall be subdivided as we handle them in order the leading part of the three is Studium sollicitum the carefulness and sollicitousness of Abraham That he lifted up his eyes and looked Isaac was not nearer to be slaughtered when the Sacrificing knife was at his throat than we were to be condemned when God was wrath with all the Posterity of Adam for the disobedience of that one man but the timely voice of mercy was heard from heaven the Angel of the Covenant appeared as if he had said Miserebor cujus miserebor the remnant of the Election are appointed to be spared Isaac shall live God hath spoken it and he shall not see destruction then at the instant when the Angel bad Save the Child and lay no violent hands upon him then Abraham lifted up his eyes So that the first emergent observation is this It was Gestus benedicentis The gesture of him that blessed the Lord because his mercy was revealed Indeed if God had not said that Isaac and in him the promised seed should live our countenances would look like death and be cast down as Cains was guiltiness would not let the sinner look towards heaven for corruption cannot enter into these incorruptible places our transgressing Parents withdrew from the Lord into the thicket of the Garden and could not abide to appear Nuditatem non audebant ostendere talibus oculis quae displicebat suis They durst not shew their shame and nakedness to such glorious eyes which was irksome to themselves Hezekiah turned his face to the wall when his doom was told him that he must die and not live And our Saviour doth insert that passage into the story of the Publican surely afflicted for his sins that he would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven all did not please him that he saw there be it never so glorious a body As St Basil spake like an eloquent Orator in his Homily concerning Paradise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Rose was a delightful flower but it made him ashamed to use it because that thorns and pricks grew upon it Gods curse for the sin of man So the firmament of heaven sheweth the chief handy-work of the Maker yet to some it is a dreadful sight because the God of vengeance will shew himself from thence when he comes to judge the earth As David said to Absalon the Son of his displeasure let him turn to his own house and let him not see my face So the severity of God said unto man In terram reverteris turn again into your own place from whence you came into dust and clay but you shall not lift up your head to stand before me in the Kingdom of my glory O but mercy begg'd the life of Isaac Et levavit oculos And Abraham lifted up his eyes Anatomists say that there is one Nerve more descending from the brain to the eye of man than in any beast that it may turn up it seems with greater readiness and facility Now to stand gazing up into heaven a thing which the Angel reproved in the Disciples Acts i. 11. but as if the voice of the tongue and the affection of the heart were encircled in the eye to laud and magnifie his name that remitted vengeance and spared our soul from death I appove the old Philosophy Visus fit intramittendo species but allowing this divinity Visus fit extramittendo gratias if nothing else yet an eflux of thanks goes out of the eye when we look up to heaven At the cxx Psalm begin those Psalms of David which are called the Songs of degree And see by what steps he marcheth up in those degrees to the Mercy Seat of God In the cxx Psal I cryed unto the Lord in my distress there his voice ascended In the cxxi I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills there his eye ascended cxxii Our feet shall stand in the gates of Jerusalem there his feet ascended cxxiii Unto thee lift I up mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the heavens at every other step or degree his eyes are cast up for Christ hath not only opened the Kingdom of heaven but also opened our eyes and put courage into all believers to look up unto the Kingdom of heaven and therefore as I said it is gestus benedicentis the gesture of him that blesseth the name of the Lord. Secondly It is gestus admirantis an expression of wonder and astonishment Abrahams heart was full so overcome with the loving kindness of the Lord that he stood dumb and
condition of the child Et illa peperit promigenitum c. It was Nicodemus his problem which he propounded to our Saviour Iterum potest homo nasci Can a man be born again or the second time that which is impossible to Nicodemus is true in the person of our Saviour for he that was the first begotten of God before all worlds is Ejus primogenitus at a second birth he is become the first born Son of Mary De victo genere sumsit hominem per quem generis humani vinceret inimicum says St. Austin The Devil thought that at one skirmish in the Garden of Eden he had made a perfect conquest over the poor nature of man flesh and blood could never rise up again to take arms against him His malice was like Caligula's that wisht all the subjects of the Roman Empire had but one head upon their shoulders that at one blow he might destroy the whole generation but de Victo genere as the Father said Christ mannageth the quarrel between us and Satan so fairly and indifferently that he took upon him not the substance of Angels but even the flesh which was overcome that in the same Nature he might destroy our enemies The Potter may make what vessels do like him best out of his own clay But how strangely was the wheel turn'd about when the Clay did make the Potter was it not enough to make man after the image of God but moreover to make God after the image and likeness of man was it not enough that the breath of the Lord should be made a living soul for man but that the eternal word of God should be made Flesh Vtinam sicut verbum caro factum est ita cor nostrum fiat carneum O that as the word was made flesh so our stony hearts as the Prophet says may be made flesh that we may believe and glorifie this wonderful generation but the manner of this generation is a secret of God within the rail and I will not touch it Let it suffice us to know concerning her first-born 1. That he was never called the Son of the Holy Ghost though he were conceived by him 2. That among all those of the genealogy from whom he descended especially he is called the Son of David and Abraham But 3. by the nearest interest he was Ejus primogenitus the first-born Son of Mary Touching the first it is an Article of our Creed that the Holy Ghost was the active principle of the generation of Christ and why then was he not called his Father because to be the father of another thing is not enough to be the active principle of it for even the Sun is the active cause that produceth Worms and Flies and all those which are called insecta animalia and yet it is not called the father of those creatures but a father must beget a thing according to his own kind and species and therefore Christ was born after the species and nature of the Woman whereby he is called not the Son of the Holy Ghost but the Son of Mary Again as for the next thine observed in the Preface of St. Matthew's Gospel among all those that belong to the line of our Saviours Parentage the persons especially pickt out are David and Abraham which was the Son of David which was the Son of Abraham and that for this reason though Christ came from the loins of many others St. Luke counts 77 descents between Adam and Christ yet the words of promise benedicentur in semine tuo it was only spoke unto Abraham and David that in their seed that is in Christ all the Kingdoms of the earth should be blessed And therefore Abraham and David were known by name above others It was in every mans mouth that the Messias should come out of their stock the Oath which he swore to our fore-father Abraham says Zachary in his Song and blind men and beggars had it at their fingers end Son of David have mercy on us The more to illustrate this you must know that there was a twofold root or foundation of the Children of Israel for their temporal being Abraham was the root of the people the Kingdom was rent from Saul and therefore David was the root of the Kingdom among all the Kings in the Pedigree none but He hath the name and Jesse begat David the King and David the King begat Solomon and therefore so often as God did profess to spare the people though He were angry He says he would do it for Abrahams sake So often as He professeth to spare the Kingdom of Judah He says he would do it for his Servant Davids sake So that ratione radicis as Abraham and David are roots of the People and Kingdom especially Christ is called the Son of David the Son of Abraham and to say no more their Faith in the Incarnation of Christ is of some moment in this point David having obtained the name to be called the Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he doth so fully express the Birth and Passion of our Saviour and Abrahams faith is most notable in that one instance says Fulgentius when He made Eleezer his Steward put his hand under his thigh and take an oath in the name of the Lord not that he thought there was any connexion between his own flesh and the God of heaven Sed ut ostenderet Deum coeli ex eâ carne nasciturum but to shew that the blessed Babe of Mary should descend lineally from his Loyns Who in the third place by the nearest interest is called Ejus primogenitus the first-born Son of Mary Non quod post eum alius sed quod ante eum nemo says St. Austin not called the first-born Son as the eldest of them Sons that followed but as being the first fruits of a Virgin-womb that had none before nor after here is Isaiahs Prophesie Puer natus nobis a Child born unto us Natus est non sibi Christus sed mihi for He was born not for himself but for me and for all the Faithful Here is Jeremies Prophesie Mulier circundabit virum that a woman shall compass a man Jer. 31.22 The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth a woman shall compass a man For Isaiahs Child is called a Man in Jeremiah Insinuans ei nunquam defuisse virtutem because in the very swadling clouts he came forth not as a weak Infant but full of power and virtue as a Giant to run his course He grew on indeed says St. Austin from an infant to a man but never to be an old man Crescat fides tua robur inveniat vetustatem nesciat So let thy faith wax more and more let it come to perfection and maturity but never unto old age as if it droopt and were declining I come to the third strange condition of the Birth it was without travel or the pangs of woman as I
ingrafted into Christ by Baptism before they can perceive their insition and do not say this reason holds not in us we are of age to understand our own belief It is not our understanding that makes God gracious unto us but his own free mercy And in this respect many like new-born babes receive the kingdom of heaven I mean that divers go out of this World into Abrahams bosom who never overcome distrusts and tentations at least till they are even going out of the World But this charitable and most true assertion were invalid if particular application of Christs mercies by firm assurance did justifie a sinner I resolve it therefore unto you that general assent goes first in order that Christ perfect man and perfect God is the Saviour of all those that believe then we draw a particular assent that he is my God and my Saviour then our boldness and assurance that by him we shall pass from death and reign with him in glory is the effect of that particular assent and so the Scripture speaketh Eph. iii. 12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which causeth us to speak with alacrity to God here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may assure it self any thing and these are effects produced by faith in him that is by justifying faith Not to cloy you with more than one other quotation 1 Tim. iii. 13. They purchase themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus The object of faith is verum the object of certitude and assurance is bonum Faith is a perswasion or assurance of the mind though working upon the heart Affiance is an affection of the heart though proceeding from the assurance of the mind Now hear the fourth Conclusion speak This affiance or special assurance is not alike in all that are justified nor at all times alike in any man This Conclusion will serve to quiet the troubles of the Conscience two ways First When the same man at sundry times finds himself so divers from himself now full of spiritual Consolation a few days after that his comfort is but luke-warm at another season almost stark cold let no man think his case remediless because of these alterations in his Spirit Many times doubts will arise and continue long with a terrible perplexity Nevertheless though I am sometime afraid yet put I my trust in thee says Dauid Psal lvi 11. When these flat contrary perswasions come into your mind yet God will never leave you so destitute of his grace but that you shall have some strength left to pray to be delivered out of those tentations that the bones which he hath broken may rejoyce and a happy wading out of those doubts may prove to be the greater confirmation The spirit of a good man is sometimes well enlightned with assurance sometime a little obscured sometime very dark after there shall be a long and a lasting serenity in his Conscience As a woman that hath newly conceived begins to suspect her conception by and by some other signs cast into her mind that she is deluded Afterwards she feels the fruit of her womb quicken and then her opinion is constantly confirmed Faith after the manner of alterative qualities hath its growth its declension its reparation It grows to an infancy then to youthfulness then to a stronger age and the more it lays hold of the Promise for its own blessing the more it cleaves fast to the foundation Besides this should procure them peace of mind who cannot alledge that great confidence for their own part and strength of assurance that others seem to challenge to themselves yea and truly have Every tree doth not shoot out his root so far as another and yet may be firm in the ground and live as well as that whose root is largest So every faith stretcheth not forth the arms of particular assurance to embrace Christ alike and yet it may be a true faith that lives by charity repentance and good works some faith abounds with one sort of fruits some with another God is delighted with all that are good and he will reward them In all kind of Divine Conclusions some are more doubtful spirited than others In our very meats one believeth that he may eat all things another eateth herbs Rom. xiv One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth all days alike Let not him that is strong in faith despise him that is weak So one hath examined himself is perswaded especially by his good endeavours to please the Lord and by the redemption of Christs bloud which he felt effectual in him in the Sacraments rests every way assured that Christ will glorifie him at his second appearance Another dares not take such solid comfort for he is more oppressed with tentations more afflictions come upon him and chiefly perhaps ignorance darkens his understanding give this man leave to say and he shall be heard Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Because I said that ignorance especially darkens the understanding of them that are so weak in faith you shall know wherein Many are pluckt back from particular affiance in Christ because they know not the method how to proceed For they are taught that nothing is to be believed with the certainty of faith unless it be contained in the Creed or in holy Scripture but they cannot find this or that mans Salvation written there therefore they are posed how to apprehend it with the certainty of faith I make my answer First how easie it is to reduce it to one of the Articles of the Creed or more than one but especially to this that we believe the forgiveness of sins But to the main Objection all the Doctrine of Faith which we believe is written or deduced out of holy Scripture but the act wherewith we believe is in our selves and not to be lookt for in Paper and Ink No but that is wrot in our own hearts through the testimony of the Spirit by good examination Now the Major Proposition is Whosoever believeth stedfastly shall be saved in Scripture The Minor Proposition but I believe stedfastly is wrote by the Spirit in our own heart therefore the Conclusion is divine and good And because it dependeth upon an Argument whereof the principal part which draws on all the rest is totally and immediately revealed in Scripture therefore the assurance of a mans particular Justification is lawfully reduced to the assurance and certainty of Faith Another fair pretence causeth divers men rather to leave place in themselves for some distrust than to aim at strong assurance because it relisheth much more of humility to be cast down at the recognition of our manifold sins Indeed it is good to ponder our own unworthiness and imbecillity so far as to make us humble and to acknowledge no good can come to us from any thing that is in our selves but it
of them and behold Angels came and ministred unto him From this note or preface of attention I pass on to their person that came to minister unto Christ and they are Angels As the Philistins stood on a Mountain on the one side and Israel on a Mountain on the other side and there was a Valley between them from whence both the Armies might behold their two Champions David and Goliah fight it out So I dispute not against their conjecture that say the good Angels stood gazing from one prospect and the bad Angels from another to mark which way the Victory of this Duel would incline between Christ and Satan On the good Angels part this is certain we are put to no trial by our enemies visible or invisible but they come gladly to the speed of it and look upon us both with compassion and admiration We are made a spectacle unto the world and to Angels and to men says St. Paul As the Heathen did flock in multitudes to the Theaters to see the Christians cast unto wild beasts to be eaten which was no little part of their persecution that their enemies fed their eyes in sport with their misery So the blessed powers of heaven came to behold the same spectacle to compassionate that cruelty and to fortifie the sufferance of the Saints And if they can be content to be present at the skirmishes of the Scholars can it be supposed they would be away at this time when the Master of the fence was to play his Prize Beloved to put this further sometimes the Angels gave attendance to Moses Law and the Law it self was delivered by a Mediator in the hands of Angels But their study and delight was such in the Gospel of Christ that they gave all diligence to learn and understand it in all the mysteries St. Paul says that he was a Minister to preach the grace of God and to teach the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ says he To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Eph. iii. 10. A most observable Text of Scripture that the Angels of heaven are the learneder for noting those passages which are taught touching the Mysteries of our salvation in this Church on earth And St. Chrysostom the loudest Trumpet of that Apostles glory among all the Fathers cries out See if Paul be not an Evangelist as well unto Angels as unto men This is marvellous and not to be admitted as if the good Angels knew not the Incarnation of Christ before and the calling of the Gentiles For how could they be ignorant of those divine Lessons which were so obvious and common in all the Prophets Admitting then that the whole substance of that Doctrine was known unto them long before yet many circumstances were revealed unto them by the actions and passions of the Church in after-time What then Was Paul or are we able to explain any thing for the better capacity of Angels No certainly Non addiscunt per Ecclesiam docentem sed per ea quae geruntur in Ecclesiâ Those principal intellectual spirits do not profit by the preaching of our Ministry but by things managed experimentally in the Church which were not so clear in Prophesie or speculation as when time revealed them They knew that Christ should bruise the Serpents head but when they saw it actually performed in repelling the three antecedent temptations then the mystery of God was made known unto them experimentally by the Church Those significations of the Gospel which the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven even those things the Angels desire to look into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stoop down and look into as Peter and John stoopt to look into the Sepulchre that is bowed down in humility to look into the great mystery of the Resurrection They are not inanes speculatores fond and curious gazers but most observant and most humble learners they will stoop unto the knowledge of the wisdom of God And that the Angels did note and pry into all things which our Saviour did in the dispensation of his Mediatorship the posture of the Cherubins upon the Ark is no unsignificant Figure Says God The faces of the Cherubins shall be toward the mercy seat Exod. xxv 20. As if the Angels did never cast their eye off from Christ our Propitiator from the Mercy Seat but did continually desire him in the fulness of time to have mercy upon Sion So I have made it known that such diligent attendants who listned faithfully to all the occurrencies of the Gospel must needs be at hand when Christ had ended his combate vvith the Devil And so ready at hand that it is noted these Angels are not said to descend from heaven as if they had been far off in another world but to come and minister which betokens a near attendance They came and ministred unto him And now Satan sees more by the event by this officious service of the Angels than he could extort by all his temptations Homo est quem ipse tentat Deus cui ab Angelis ministratur He must be a man that suffered such temptations but he must be a God that had such Ministers Christ came not to be ministred unto but to minister Mat. xx 28. That is in St. Pauls words He took upon him the form of a servant Phil. ii 7. For the very form of a man is the form of a servant Yet this servant thinks it no robbery to be equal with that God to whom all the powers in heaven and in earth do bow and obey But wherefore came the Angels now Do they come to bring assistance when the Devil was vanquished and had left our Saviour This were as the Adagie goes Post bellum auxilium Choraebus brought succours to the Siege of Troy when the fray was ended They miss of the right intention that think the Angels came for this end It was not to strengthen him against his enemy that was beaten and vanquished but to minister and stand before him for these reasons First possibly to spread a Table for him in the Wilderness and bring him meat because he had now fasted forty days and forty nights without intermission Not as if he could not be supplied without their provision but it was his pleasure they should attend upon his diet to let his enemy see there was another way to feed his body than to make stones of bread And this was it it may be that plurally many Angels came to minister unto him Had they been required barely to provide him necessaries one Angel could have brought enough of sustenance to give one man a meal but because this was intended not for any necessary relief towards his person but to shew his excellency above those heavenly hosts Behold a multitude stood round about him and Angels came and ministred unto him Secondly they might come to comfort him after
time why God will provide himself a Lamb says Abraham He was more cunning in the mysteries of faith futura respondet filio de presentibus requirenti says Origen he put off his Son to the future age to the times to come then there would be a propitiatory Oblation worth all the bloud beside which was spilt in the world This was Abrahams Prophesie of Christ he saw a Ram behind him And I will tell you why it likes me to expound post eum behind him rather to time than place rather post seculum than post tergum for St. Austin tells it for news upon St. Hierom's credit that the Jews with whom St. Hierom spake in Palestina confessed unto him Vbi immolatus est Aries ibi postea crucifixus est Christus that by infallible tokens they know that Christ was crucified in the very plot of ground where the Ram was offered for a Burnt-offering as for the place then Abraham stood by the Pile of Wood and lookt upon it but it is a mystery in time that the Oblation for Isaac and for all the Elect was bound unto the Cross in after ages Vnus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem Mercy was sudden and ready to promise that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpents head but the Divine Wisdom for the exercise of faith made the World look many a long look before the thing was accomplisht It was afternoon says Irenaeus as we read the cool of the day when the Gospel was preached to Adam that there should be a Saviour Quod adventus redemptoris ad mundi vesperam factus sit because time was far spent and the Evening of the World approached before the Advent of the Redeemer the Dove came in the Evening with an Olive branch in his mouth to the Ark of Noah Simeon was grown old at the very brink of the Grave Anna was far stricken in years before the Light of Israel did shine upon them in the Temple the revolutions of Heaven had had their courses for many ages before the Star appeared at Bethlem But because the case is altered in our days and the Ram is as much before our times as it was behind the time of Abraham Let this Mark pass as an obscure one the next is printed and engraven in him by which he may easily be known for he was caught in a thicket by his horns S. Austin writing upon the Prophecy of David concerning Christ I will open my mouth in Parables Psal 78. meditates thus upon it there would be no perplexity in it Si sicut os suum aperuit in parabolis ita aperiret etiam ipsas parabolas if he had opened the sense of the Parable as he did open his mouth in Parables but the sense of this mystery which I have read stands so direct before us as the Angel did in Balams way that we cannot turn aside and miss it If there be any variance it lies in a word and in the upshot that will make no variance at all The Septuagint and all the Fathers that follow the Translation read it Video arietem prehensum in arbore Sabec he saw a Ram intangled by the horns in a tree which is called Sabec the Interpreter forbore to give the Tree any other name but Sabec as it is in the Hebrew and since the whole Ram was held fast in a Tree well might St. Chrysostom say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see the Lamb of God fastned by the two hands to the Tree of the Cross upon that accursed Tree his arms were pluckt out at length as if you might have seen him beckning with his hands to both ends of the World to the furthermost places of the Earth to come unto him and to be Members of his Church which He had watered with his bloud When the left hand as the Tradition goes when that hand which is next his heart was first driven through with a nail unto the Beam then you might have seen nature shrinking at it for pain and the body contracting it self when you might have seen the other hand reacht too far and pluckt out with violence here we must conceive the immensity of his griefs the veins bleeding the nerves rackt and distented the bones disjoynted the wounds of the stripes made wider the wood of the Tree unsquared and the rough bark upon it chafing the tender flesh the weight of his body oppressing him downward as he hung and the harmony of all the ribs about his breast dissolved In a word as Tully said of Milo the Wrestler that his arms were deteined so fast in the cleft of a tree that there he remained to be eaten up by the Wolves of the Forrest so my Saviour hung by the arms upon the Cross while the Wolvish Jews gaped upon him with odious revilings and at length devoured him One thing I cannot omit what kind of death more like unto this in all the Scripture than the death of Absalon caught fast by the head in the arms of an Oak tree thrust through the heart with Joabs darts as Christs side was pierced with the Souldiers Spear is Absalon therefore justified is it enough to boast of likeness of punishment without likeness of innocency Martyrem causa facit non poena they are not Martyrs that dy for errors in Religion not the sufferance of death but the sufferance for a good cause that makes a Martyr But this Thicket as Aquila reads it and as all the later Writers do follow it is no Tree properly but spinarum perplexitas an intricate Hedg of thorns wherein the Ram was entangled retentus in rete cornibus as Symmachus hath it as if he were catcht like a Bird in a Snare among the bushes it is as much in a Parable as the Gospel speaks directly that they platted a Crown of thorns upon his head who is our strength our might the horn also of our salvation and our refuge Victimae coronabantur as Pliny says Sacrifices were brought to the Altar with Crowns of flowers and Garlands upon their heads The Priest of Jupiter brought out Oxen and Garlands Acts xiv 12. and therefore it came to pass that the Ram had his Garland upon his head before he was burnt upon the wood but it was a twist of thorns Let us insist upon it a little that we may gather grapes from these thorns which prickt our Saviour that we may see the good will of him that dwelt in the Bush First no measure of affliction should seem too much for a Christian sorrows if they be without number should not be accounted too grievous a chastisement since Christ was prickt with as many thorns as his head could bear Vidit haerentem in spinis says my Text Abraham saw the Ram sticking in the thorns not the thorns sticking in him Qualis est haec praedicatio what manner of saying is this but an expression that there were more wounds in his body than sound flesh that was not mangled
gave me not my outward senses to delude me I am sure that Christ is there and I partake the meritorious Passion of his Body crucified and his Bloud shed upon the Cross all that men controvert more than this is to beget sorrow to the Church and laughter to the Devil My soul dwelleth among them that are enemies unto peace but I am content to say this is my Saviour who offered himself up for me therefore I will not let thy truth forsake me Lastly In that great Controversie of Justification there is a way in which the mists of errour cannot arise and there is a way in which the substantial food is lost by striving to comprehend the shadow with it By vertue of the Law I know my duty that I must be a Doer and thereby I discern my infirmity that I must be a Debtor By vertue of the Lords Prayer I find my self arreraged in iniquities that are past my flesh trembling at tentations to come my soul and body gasping for deliverance from evil round about me I find not one line wherein I may obtest unto God by any part of my own Sanctification Thirdly By vertue of my Creed I find that my Saviour was incarnate suffered and rose again to purchase Redemption unto us and Remission of our sins The Angels are not more sure of their incorruptible glory than we may be to say As many as walk in this rule peace be to them and mercy and on the Israel of our God Cogita de Deo quicquid meliùs potes de teipso quod deterius vales says St. Bernard and then thy truth is like Mount Sion which cannot be removed But to go a little further and to creep into the Mediatorship of Jesus Christ there is no likelihood but it should prove an unthankful blasphemy Being rooted in this most holy Faith and in our active Mercy toward the whole body of Christs Church there remains for us a passive mercy which will not forsake us the sure mercies of David in our blessed Redeemer who is called Amen and in whom are all the Promises And there is a truth which will stick to us as fast and answer for us against the slanders of Satan who is the Reviler of the Brethren For he that confesseth me before men there is truth on our part I will confess him before my Father which is in heaven there is truth on Gods part to which God Father c. A SERMON UPON THE RECHABITES JEREM. xxxv 6. But they said we will drink no Wine AT the first hearing of these words I may conjecture that some men thought of no such Scripture and that most men look for a strange construction and you shall have a construction to mollify the Paradox since it was ever safe to decline extremes in all opinions for they are like Jehu in his furious march what have they to do with peace Indeed if you will recount among many who they were that have professed so much austerity as those that say in my Text We will drink no wine you will neither commend them for wisdom nor for piety Lycurgus in the Luxury of his Country cut up every Vine by the roots and destroyed the Vineyards like those inconsiderate men in our dayes superexcessive Reformers of Religion who think there is no way to amend that which is abused but with Hezekias Justice against the Brazen Serpent utterly to consume it The Manichees would not endure to taste the Cup at the holy Communion as if Christ had been too prodigal to bestow Wine at his last Supper upon his Disciples And you know who they are that want not much to be Manichees Tertullian mentions a most harsh Discipline among the Romans that no Woman might know the taste of Wine sed sub Romulo quae vinum tetigerat impunè à marito trucidata est that it was lawful for the Husband to shed his own Wifes bloud if she tasted of the bloud of the Grape So likewise there were certain Christians called Severiani by a nick name that grudged the whole World St. Pauls allowance that Modicum which he granted unto Timothy and Pharaohs Butler with these men had been kept for ever in prison had he pressed a few Grapes into the Kings own Cup. But for all these men who grudg Cato his draught of wine when he is wearied with the affairs of the Common-wealth I say their abstemious life is perverseness and such were not the Rechabites that say in my Text We will drink no wine In which Text barren as it may seem there are many things very Religious and profitable to make up my Treatise at this time And as boldly as Prudentius said by a Catachresis that there were jejuniorum victimae many Sacrifices offered up to God by fasting and abstaining from meats so say I that this Text is abstemiorum racematio there is a fruitful Vintage to be gathered out of non bibemus We will drink no wine This whole Chapter is but of one entire piece like the silver Trumpets of Moses Numb 10. so is the discourse thereof without interruption or almost without full point from the beginning to the end First God is provoked to wrath by the rebellions of Judah False Prophets were crept in that had taught strange Doctrin and the People had itching ears and were worse Disciples Now what instrument should the Lord choose to lay open his indignation whom but Jeremy the Propher and him God knew to be fit for the Errand not as he knew Nathaniel under the shade of his Fig-leaves sed sub carnis umbraculo in his Mothers Womb. Jeremy sets himself to the Task and lays open their sins not by revilings by menacies by zeal as hot as fire and who could do less they made Moses the meekest Soul alive throw stones at them and break the Tables but setting before them the Example of the Rechabites promising their obedience should be had in an everlasting remembrance and Judah his stubborn Son should see their happiness and want it Et spectet nostros jam plebs Romana triumphos Will it not grieve them to see Strangers and Aliens bear the Bell away and themselves look on and be quite neglected Lastly what was the Obligation that kept the Rechabites under such aw and duty for Jeremy spread a Table entreated them courteously and set Flagons of wine before them Why nothing but this their Father Jonadab had made them protest to take this austere life upon them that they would drink no wine A hard case between God and Israel if you mark it What was Jonadab or who was it that gave him wisdom no stedfast faith could be put in his Laws nor certainty in his Statutes nay upon this Text it is Calvins opinion laudatur obsequium filiorum non legi approbatum fuisse consilium paternum 't is true that Jeremy commends the Sons of Jonadab for their obedience but the Holy Ghost did no where commend Jonadab for making such