goodness were remarkable for the quantity that he had an exceeding portion of the Spirit in which regard he was more than a Prophet for the time that he received it it was from the womb yea and in some signs before the womb had opened to bring him forth in which regard he was more than the child of any Prophet these two the Angel hath put together He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mothers womb This was inundatio spiritus the Spirit abounding in him as a River at high-water fills the banks but in the most probable opinion it was not emundatio spiritus it did not cleanse his soul from corruption in every part but it instructed him with vertue more than ordinary to do great works For God forbid but that a man may be said to be sanctified and to be full of the Holy Ghost although the infectious poyson of original sin do still remain in him Which original contagion raigns in the wicked is much abated and kept under in the Just was lessen'd by Gods especial favour more than usually in John but the malignity thereof is not quite taken away till our mortal have put on immortality The reason is very slender that the sin wherein his mother conceived him was taken away before he was born because he seemed to have a passion of faith before ever he saw the light when he leapt at the presence of our Saviour for that might be a transient passion and no doubt it was no more and nothing lets but sin may abide also where the Spirit of grace doth inhabit and continue That which is alledged to prove him to have some defilement like all the Sons of Adam is far more forcible namely where the Scripture says how all are conceived and born in sin Where it lets us know in another place how God hath concluded all under sin that he might have mercy upon all And St. Austin upholds this cause Nemo dici potest renatus nisi priùs sit natus Christ says Unless a man be born again he cannot be the child of God Surely common sense will lead us to this notion a man must be first born before he can be born again and if carnal birth go before Regeneration then no man can be cleansed from all sin before the birth of the womb Besides out of the same reason that St. Austin brings against the Pelagians to prove that the leprosie of Adams sin is in little Infants by the same I will prove it to be in John because the wages of sin is death Christ only excepted who took our sins upon him and the beheading of John is a remonstrance that the meritorious cause of death was in him I mean iniquity To give full measure to this Point and running over Mat. xi 11. Verely says Christ among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist yet he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he I leave the multipliciousness of Expositions upon that Text and betake me to St. Hieroms Aliud est coronam justitiae possidere aliud in acie pugnare The least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John because he was in his race and did struggle against sin and Satan the least in the kingdom of heaven hath his Crown upon his head and is past the fear of tentation So I have shewn that John had some frailties of flesh and bloud in him wherefore most submissively he flies to the true Altar of mercy for a pardon I have need to be baptized of thee Let the Saints of God have their due honour but let the mercies of Christ and the benefit of his bloud shed upon the Cross be dilated to every one that dies in the Lord which was the reason why I prosecuted the last Point And it is according to the humility of John to set forth his low estate when men would exalt him For the more the Embassadors of the Jews did magnifie him with Art thou the Christ Art thou Elias The more did he abase himself saying There is one among you whose shooes latchet I am not worthy to unloose Displiciat sibi unusquisque in se ut totus in Deo placeat Be displeased every man with himself and God will be pleased with thee This was of all comforts most intimate to the Prophets soul that he saw his own need and knew the right way to call for succour And the less hope he had of himself the more hope he had of God O how his hope quickned and exulted when he saw his Redeemer at Jordan whom he had never seen before He saw such comfort coming down with him as the Angel brought to Peter when he was in hold now the prison doors are opened get thee loose from thy sins But what speak I of Angels They had been sent indeed upon messages of joy there had been Patriarchs there had been Prophets in the world these were like fair diamonds whose light sparkles in the eye but gives no warmth to that which is cold But as the Psalmist says Except the Lord build the house the labourers labour but in vain Except the Son of God had vouchsafed in his own person to build the Church we had never reapt the fruit of eternal life John Baptist was an Israelite yet he trusts not to the Seed of Abraham Born under the Law but he knew it were death to rely upon that killing Letter He was a Prophet sanctified from the womb he cares not for that For what had he which he had not received and could he boast then as if he had not received it Finally He was full of fasting austerity preaching all manner of works yet he relies not upon them for when we have done all we can we are but unprofitable servants These are the strongest stays of humane trust that can be built upon yet he flies from them all and runs to the all-sufficient merits of Christ for succour This was a right aim taken Ac si oculo rubricam dirigat uno this was a straight line drawn bringing his hope just upon the Lord and giver of life I have need to be baptized of thee The time hath stopt me from proceeding to the last part which shall be made the beginning of our business upon the next occasion To God the Father c. THE THIRD SERMON UPON THE Baptism of our Saviour MAT. iii. 14 15. And comest thou to me And Jesus answering said unto him Suffer it to be so now For thus it becommeth us to fulfil all righteousness IF ever such an Argument could be laid before man wherein it might become his wit to dispute it with God I think verily it fell out in this Story which I continue in that Text that I have read unto you I will not except that instance which is able to amaze any Reader when the Lord spake unto Abraham to take his only Son Isaac and
gestemus he doth bear us up always in his hands let us bear him and enclasp him in our Faith and say as Israel did I will not let thee go till thou hast blessed me says Origen Was it so beneficial to a poor woman to touch the hem of Christs garment in the Gospel then how profitable will it be to hold him close in our embraces as this Father did And as Maldonat says very truly Non credentis est modo sed amantis complectimur quos amamus This doth not only betoken Faith but exceeding love we hug them in our arms whom we have in dear estimation we catch them in our arms as if we would grow together so if we love the Lord sincerely we are one with him and he with us we dwell in him and he in us This amplexus arctissimus and he that loves not our Lord Jesus let him be accursed Chiefly at this time in the holy Sacrament we see him upon the Lords Table we take him in our hands we incorporate him in our souls by a lively faith and at his mystical presence in these Elements let us say as it is reported of a Religious Votary called Maria Aegyptiaca when Zozimus the Abbat gave her the Bread of Life upon her sick bed she beheld the Sacrament wishly which is the seal of all Christs mercies towards us and brake out into this song of Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Amen THE ELEVENTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE i. 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people AMong all portions of Scripture that afford matter for Christmass day I have for the most part hitherto chosen those Texts to speak of before you which are extracted out of the Songs of the New Testament Our Proverb goes It is good to be merry and wise Every Section of the Gospel disposeth us to be wise unto eternal life but the Canticles which sing the birth of Christ they teach us to be merry and wise unto Salvation Nothing doth better agree with this day than a godly Song Sing we merrily unto God our strength make a chearful noise unto the God of Jacob. You have heard me divers times preach unto you out of the Angels Carol Luke ii The last year I made my Sermon out of the Song of Simeon Nunc dimittis and I am sure I could not furnish my self better this year than out of the Song of Zachary so appositely doth it serve our turn both for our spiritual benefit procured in our Saviours Nativity and for our temporal benefit God having repossessed us after a lingring and destructive contagion in health and safety to break out into this Thanksgiving Blessed be the Lord c. The Lord turn us unto him and bring us out of our evil ways for therefore he visited us The Lord make us his own peculiar people zealous of good works for therefore he hath redeemed us When you hear of a Visitation and Redemption I know your thoughts will carry you presently to your late sufferance under a bitter scourge and to Gods merciful deliverance This is not amiss and I wish it may be long in your mind to bring forth the fruit of righteousness But this Visitation whereof my Text speaks it invites you to look above you not about you it invites you to think of that heavenly Infant that was born unto us not of those Sucklings and Infants that were swept away with the late mortality and by all means let us prefer the rejoycing that we have in Christ at this time before that other gladness for our bodily prosperity intend that chiefly and the condition of our own particular welfare let that come behind in a latter regard so did Zachary the Priest from whose mouth my Text proceeded God did give him a Son for the comfort of his own Family and such a Son as a greater than he was not born of a woman John the Baptist God also gave him to understand by Prophetical illumination that the Messias the Redeemer of the World was in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mark now the Piety of this good old man first he praiseth God for the Incarnation of Jesus that he raised up an horn of salvation for them out of the house of David and in the last close of the Song he magnifies that blessing that such a Son should be born to him in his old age and thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest This is a fair direction for our use that this should be the first thing in our thoughts and in our thankfulness to say Blessed be the Lord that the Word was made Flesh and hath dwelt among us Having told you how well this Song doth become the day and that the chief note of the Song is in the word Visitavit the Son of God did visit his people in an humane body I will yet give you more content out of the Text by informing you that it is a most remarkable Prophesie from Malachy for the space of four hundred years there had been no Prophet in all the Land of Judaea and therefore we count all that Apocryphal Scripture which is thrust upon us from the days of Malachi to Christ because there was no Prophetical inspiration among the Jews Behold now when a Prophet was grown such a rare thing among them the Lord opens the mouth of Zachary the Priest and he begins to Prophesie It is well noted of Origen that after the blessed Virgin conceived our Saviour men and women wheresoever she came were all inspired with Prophesie Elizabeth the wife of Zachary breaks out into admiration and how is it that the Mother of my Lord doth come unto me And she Prophesies the Child sprang in the mothers womb for exultation that the Messias was under that Roofe that was a mighty Prophesie not in word but in deed When Mary came to the Temple and brought Jesus with her to be purified after the Law Simeon and Anna in their several turns gave thanks unto the Lord and Prophesied but Zachary though last named he is the first and most memorable of the rest that spake mighty things in the Spirit the reviver of Prophesie after a long time it had lain asleep and to set an Emphasis upon my Text the words of it are the first that came from him after he had been dumb and the first that he uttered after he became a Prophet In a word mark it that he is the first-born of the Sons of the Prophets in the New Testament and this Text is the first fruits of his Prophesie Christ was yet but an Embrio his mother but three months gone since she conceived and yet Zachary speaks with a most Prophetical confidence of things to come as if they were past already as if the sweet Babe were born who had not yet opened the womb He hath visited and he
shall be our only work when we have attained to blessedness for God doth bless man by pouring his benefits upon him and man doth bless God by confessing the good which he hath received Fifthly and lastly Whereas our Saviour did abase himself to become man and emptied himself of his glory for our sakes we set upon it to do him all possible honour that we may weigh up again the Scale of his glory which himself depressed for our advancement as Peter said unto him when he went about to do that work of a servant to his Disciples Dost thou wash my feet no thou shalt never wash my feet he contended with his Lord that he would not cast himself down so far So Zachary sings a triumphal ditty to bless his poor Nativity we do all bow at the name of Jesus who bowed the heavens and came down to visit us we advance his Cross in our forehead we erect our goodliest Churches in his name we make Christmas day the high Feast of the year the great holy day of Praise and thanksgiving as if the Saints of God had conspired not to let Christ be humbled though he would be humbled So when he came to Jerusalem with the meanest pomp that could be imagined riding upon an Ass they that had loyal and zealous hearts to him combined to conduct him into the great City in as Princely a manner as they could devise laying their garments under his feet and in a manner proclaiming my very Text before him Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. The sum of this first Point is thus much O sing unto the Lord for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God yea a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful So I have discharged the first Point that there is a comprehension of all praise in this word Blessed beside here is a comprehension of the chief divine titles the Lord God of Israel The names of the Lord do not consist in compound Epithets and magniloquous appellations The heathen did affect that bravery to set out the lustre of their Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as the Poet Callimachus expresseth it in his Hymn of Diana she desired an hundred brave names to be given her by her Priests as many attributes as Apollo had in his Temple Some will have these to be those vain repetitions of the Heathen which our Saviour reproves Mat. vi 7. taxing them that they thought they should be heard for their much speaking Sacred titles consist not in number but in weight and no words could be more ponderous and significative and yet contracted into fewer Syllables than these the Lord God of Israel A Law-giver will prefix his most ample attributes before the Pandect of his Laws and this is the Inscription over the two Tables Deut. xx I am the Lord thy God which is all one as to say I am the Lord God of Israel And the very words of my Text seem to be a current Eulogy in Davids time as it is Psal cvi 48. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and let all the people say Amen Which names must needs contain an infinite excellency when they march in a rank together since if you take them one by one they are most dreadful and venerable He is called the Lord because he is the supreme and highest above all things so every King in his Sphere is a Lord in chief as Joab said to David Why doth my Lord the King delight in this thing He is called Elohim or God because he is set over all his Creatures to judge and revenge their iniquities therefore the Princes of the people are nuncupative Gods in Scripture because they sit upon the Throne of Judgment on earth to judge between man and man Or rather he is called God from his infinite and incomprehensible Essence Lord from his power and dominion but Lord God of Israel by application of his mercy to his Church above all the Kingdoms of the World Therefore he is to be worshipped as God eternal to be obeyed in all his Commandments as the Lord Omnipotent and be magnified and blessed for Israels sake because he loved that people above all things whom he hath chosen to be his inheritance for ever St. Austin cast out the difference on this wise that the Creator of all things is stiled God and when he gave a Law unto mankind Gen. ii 15. then he was stiled a Lord. But the observation hath an oversight in it for he is called the Lord God four times in the same Chapter before he commanded Adam to dress the garden of Eden and to keep it The Annotation would run better thus that while all things were in making in the Creation the Creator is termed God and God said let there be Light and God said let there be a Firmament so in every work throughout all the first Chapter of Genesis When the Creation was quite finished and the whole Universe of Creatures set in order then in the second of Genesis he is called Lord. From whence a question is started much agitated in the School Whether the great Jehovah may be called Dominus ab aeterno The Lord from all eternity Thou art God from everlasting that is an Article of faith never doubted of Nebuchadonosor could see that by the wonders and tokens which were wrought for Daniels sake therefore he makes a Decree that men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel for he is the living God and stedfast for ever But the scruple is since he did not exercise his dominion before the works which he made were extant whether the title of Lord did not accrue unto him in the beginning of time and not from all Eternity St. Austin moved the Controversie but out of his wonted modesty passed it by undefined Tertullian against Hermogenes says It is none of the eternal Appellations of the Divine Nature for it belongs not to the Divine Essence but to the Power and the Power could not exercise it self before there was an Object created Many of the School-men are convicted in their judgment by this reason of Tertullian and hold to his opinion I think if St. Austin would have determined it he would have gone the other way and for my part I take it to be most probable that we may say God was the Lord from all eternity before the Creatures were existent and produced It is true that if we measure things by our own power or rather by our own infirmity we can command nothing but that which is and hath a being but God is the Lord of all things even before they are and when they yet are not he can command them to have a being he spake the word and all things were made he commanded and they were created Non possunt per mandatum fieri quae non erant nisi dominium praecederet things that have no being could not be
truth that the very God became a perfect man and was Immanuel God with us says David Psal viii 4. When I consider the heavens the work of thy hands the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him as who should say he that hath such rare and excellent heavenly bodies to delight in what should he do on earth what is the Son of man who is nothing but sin and misery that the Son of God should visit him O first let it be remembred with faith and thankfulness lest desolation come upon us as it did upon the Jews because we knew not the time of our visitation Luke xix 44. Secondly Let us answer the humility of our Saviour with all possible humility and say as the Centurion did Lord we are not worthy that thou shouldest come under our roof well deserved that all the succors of heaven should have fled from us and abhorred our face therefore blessed be his name for evermore that brought us peace from his Father sanctification from the Holy Ghost justification by his own merits humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in the day of his visitation as the vulgar Latin reads it 1 Pet. v. vi Thirdly Abraham made a feast to the three Angels when they visited him at his tent door Gen. xviii so let us prepare a table to entertain our blessed Lord that is come unto us not a feast of junckets and costly viands but let us receive him piously and devoutly as befitteth such a guest at his own Table Ipse est conviva convivium He is come to be feasted and he hath giuen us his own body to make us a feast and blessed be the Lord God of Israel that hath visited us and given himself to be the true spiritual food for the nourishment of our souls And so much of that act which is most conjunct with the festivity of this day Christ hath visited us yet peradventure we should esteem that work of courtesie and friendship but of no benefit at all unless it did extend it self to some further end and what can our desires wish to follow better than that which comes after in this place visitavit redemit by visiting he hath redeemed his people It is of such consequence above all things else that are needful to our well-being that St. Cyprian doth quite drown the former act in the latter and reads my Text thus Prospexit Deus redemptionem populo suo not a tittle about visiting but he hath provided redemption for his people Now captivity must be presupposed on our part because we did await and expect redemption Miseri sunt quos visitavit captivi quos redemit as I said before our soul was filled with a sore disease and therefore we were visited we were also under the captivity of sin and the Devil and lamentable were our case if we had not been redeemed Look upon the bondage out of which we were pluckt and it will make us more thankful for the freedom unto which we are called Ad servum rex descendisti ut servum redimeres says St. Austin thou didst descend to be a servant O King of Heaven to enfranchise a servant and to bring him out of thraldom Remember therefore at once for all since we all desire to have our part in this redemption we must all confess we were envassalled in a servitude So St. Austin against the Pelagians who denied the traduction of natural corruption from Adam says he How can Infants be said to be redeemed in Baptism unless they were captives before by original sin Therefore in imitation of our Saviours mercy as the Ancient Church 1200. years ago was copious in all deeds of Charity so their greatest care was to dispend their treasury to redeem captives and Paulinus a Pious Bishop as some stories say when all the stock of the Church was spent put himself into captivity to redeem a poor Christian miserably chained under the yoke of Infidels But this charitable deliverance of their brethren from temporal bondage was to shew how gratefully we should take it that Christ had redeemed all those that would lay hold of his mercies from eternal captivity Secondly As his goodness is amplified from our captivity so the redemption is the more valuable because none else could have pluckt us out of those fetters but the Holy One our Lord and Master Says David no man can deliver his Brother nor make a ransom to God for him for it cost more to redeem their souls so that he must let that alone for ever Psal xlix 7. when we had all incurred everlasting misery and mercy did so far prevail that the Divine Justice was content to forgive us the wisdom of God held the scale and arbitrated the case that when a law was broken and a mediation for pardon was entertained the best way was not to pass by the fault with a total indulgence but with a commutation of punishment And when men and Angels were unfit for that service then steps in the Son of God and undergoes the condition in his own person and became our brother flesh of our flesh that according to the Law being next of kindred to us he might redeem that which we had morgaged Lev. xxv 25. we had sinned and so needed a Redeemer and not so sinned but God the Father being placable a Redeemer would serve the turn And there the point had stuck for ever and we for ever had been helpless unless Christ had given himself a ransom for many Alius solvit pro debitore aliud solvitur quam debebatur one was the debtor and another satisfied one thing was owed to God I mean the life of sinners but another thing was payed I mean the life of an Innocent And let it make a third animadversion that the manner of our redemption doth greatly exaggerate the most meritorious compassion of the Redeemer there hath been redemption wrought by force and victory so Moses brought the Israelites with an high hand out of the slavery of Egypt There is a redemption which is wrought by intercession and supplication so Nehemiah prevailed with King Cyrus to dismiss the Jews out of the Babylonish captivity or thirdly either gold or silver or somewhat more precious is laid down to buy out the freedom of that which is in thraldom that 's the most costly and estimable way when value for value is payed or fourthly the body of one is surrendred up for the ransom of another life for life blood for blood and greater charity cannot be shewn than to bring redemption to pass by such a compensation So St. Peter extolls that act in our Saviour says he ye were not redeemed with corruptible things but with the Blood of Christ as a lamb undefiled So out of his own mouth Matth. xx 28. the Son of man came not
ended really and in truth his word was consummatum est all was finisht and at that stop he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost Inclinavit caput as if he had said I have held out thus long against the fury of man now I willingly die I will hold out no longer against the truth of God Very wittily the Author of the Questions to Antiochus whom I cited before all enemies were come about our Saviour on the Cross and had the foil only death hovered aloof and durst not approach ideo Christus inclinato capite vocavit eam antequam inclinaret caput propiùs accedere verebatur therefore when all things were accomplisht Christ nodded with his head and called death unto him which durst not approach unseasonably before He bowed down his head How sweet it is to sleep in death when we have accomplisht all things that are acceptable to God even so Christ did not decease till he had finisht all things which were due to his Father and then this world could not claim him a minute longer but woe and bitterness shall be in that mans end who hath been troubled about many things in this but in no one thing that is good can shew a dispatch much more how far is He from saying with St. Paul I have finished my course hence forth is laid up for me a Crown of life Sow your Seed ripen your Harvest that it may be gathered into the Barn Let not your conscience begin to lament about the last hour and say I have promised repentance to the Lord I have promised works of mercy to the poor I have promised reconciliation to my Brother these fruitless words will come in judgment against me for I have accomplished nothing This second general part sticks only at the last word the Place where Christ should suffer is designed by Moses and Elias they spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem Jerusalem indeed was grown to be the Scaffold upon which the best blood on earth had been spilt for many ages It cannot be that a Prophet should perish out of Jerusalem Luke xiii 13. and Christ did them no wrong when he taxt them with that officious cruelty that they laboured to draw the execution of all the Prophets to themselves Nor yet is the meaning so universal that all the Martyrs had perisht within their Walls The greater part did and enow to dishonour all the daily Sacrifices which they offered up in the Temple when they polluted themselves with the Sacrifices of the Saints True indeed that Jeremy the Prophet as Epiphanius relates suffered in Egypt Ezechiel in Chaldaea Jezebel in her time put to death many excellent men in Samaria and Herod as Josephus says cut off John Baptists head at the Castle of Macheranta in the utmost confines of Galilee But Jerusalem was become the Gulf which had swallowed more holy blood than all other places And I mark it in St. Paul when Agabus told St. Paul by the spirit that he should be bound in chains and shortly after die for the confession of the faith as yet God had not revealed that he must go to Rome and testifie his name there but Paul makes haste to Jerusalem as if he would meet death in the face in that great Metropolis which was so infamous for many Martyrdoms Well this is that City which had so incurr'd the anger of the Lord that he suffered it to fill up the measure of all iniquity and be odious to all Generations for crucifying the Lord of Life Yet the Praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have fitly translated at Jerusalem For Christ did not suffer within the City but without the Gates I will take my thread from St. Paul to lead me in this way from the 11. to the end of the 13. verse The bodies of those Beasts whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the High Priest for sin are burnt without the Camp Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the Gate Let us go forth thereforce unto him without the Camp bearing his reproach Of those Beasts with whose blood the Sanctuary was expiated and their flesh burnt without the Camp you may read Levit. xvi 27. They that serv'd at the Tabernacle had no portion in this Sacrifice So Christ was carried out of the City to suffer and they that still retain the yoke of Ceremonies upon their neck have no part in him He suffered near to Jerusalem he came unto his own but they cast him forth He suffered not in the Temple for says Leo Crux Christi mundi est ara non templi Christs Cross was an Altar of which the whole world should partake and not that Temple only Nay to go further He was crucified out of the Privileges of that Jewish City to betoken that the blessing of his Passion would light upon the Gentiles The use which the Apostle makes is as he went forth of Jerusalem so let us go forth of the Camp to God Extra urbem extra mundum sequamur Christum let us leave our Pleasures our Riches our Country our Life and this whole World when it is requisite to do God honour by those means Quid est egredi ad eum videlicet communicemus cum eo passiones sayes St. Chrysostom What is it to go out to him but to follow the example of his patience humility and sufferings then we shall go out from our sins and come into his glory And so much briefly for every part of that Communication which Moses and Elias had in the Mount They spake of his decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem There is a whole verse yet remaining to be excussed which I read unto you I would not be prevented but to speak of that which follows entirely by it self yet I will so handle this with a short Paraphrase that I may not be tedious But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep This is right man and his regardlesness God shines in his works the Law and the Prophets preach daily and yet men sleep No nor the strong out-cries and exclamations of our Saviour in prayer could keep them awake Lord if thou shouldst not make intercession for us with strong cries and groans unutterable when we slumber and regard not our own misery what endless woe would fall upon us but here 's the difference between Moses and Elias immortalized in their body they talk divinely and between the best men Peter and the Apostles in their corruptible nature they are but drowsie lumps of flesh So it ought to be to impress this humility into our heart quod Apostoli dormiunt ignaviae est quid ipsis contigit spectaculum felicitatis Dei gratiae It is our own idleness that makes us sleep and when we slept in death it was Gods mere mercy no merit of ours that sent us happiness and glory it is not our vigilancy or our
relate but that he finished this life I cannot say it His years are numbred before my Text like other mens three hundred sixty five just as many years as there be days in an usual year after the motion of the Sun not that this reckoning is the term of his life but the term of that time that he conversed with men As Tertullian glosseth upon St. Pauls words I am crucified with Christ How crucified and yet live Per emendationem vitae non per interitum substantia by the reformation of his life not by the loss of his life So Enoch had a period when he left to be with men Per emendationem vitae non per interitum substantia By an exaltation to a better life not by the corruption of his body As the men of Israel would not let Jonathan suffer death though Saul had given Sentence against him What say they shall Jonathan die that hath wrought such great salvation in Israel So when the Spirit of the Lord had testified what a Prophet Enoch was a perfect obedient that abhorred Will-worship a stiff maintainer of Gods part against the Devil and all his Instruments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a friend a familiar acquaintance a walker with God Upon this testimony Mercy opposeth Justice and though the Lord had said to Adam and to all that were in his loyns Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return What says Mercy shall Enoch die an example of repentance to all Generations So the stroke of death was diverted that he saw not the Grave and Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him The partition which I framed upon the whole Verse was on this wise first how uncorrupt Enoch was in his ways he walked with God and secondly that he did not see corruption And this second Point which is reserved for this hours labour is to be handled in two several heads the former I will call Enoch's passage out of this world He was not The latter his reposure in another world For God took him His place was left empty among the Patriarchs below and he filled a room among the Thrones and Angels above Upon these two I shall handle many particular Doctrines before you And he was not a concise phrase you see and brevity will breed obscurity especially put this unto it that it is a form of speech which is not used again in this sense to my remembrance in all the Scripture But the sense is made plain by St. Paul Heb. xi 5. By Faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death He had a passage out of this world without any dissolution of the soul from the body In the same body that he pleased God says Irenaeus he was translated being never uncloathed of the flesh that he might put on immortality That this truth may be carried the clearer I will debate it a little with them that oppose it and with them that qualifie it Some of the Hebrew Rabbines as I find them quoted because they consult not with the authority of the New Testament think they are not convicted by the Old Testament but that they may conclude how Enoch died and was taken away in an early Age as those times went much sooner than his Forefathers As if this Verse did rather bemoan him for his untimely departure than renown him for some glorious favour which did befal him The phrase indeed if we look no farther will bear it both in sacred and in heathen Writings to say of one departed fuit he was but is not this was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fair way of language to avoid an unpleasing word Yet the phrase doth not always stand in that sense but hath a double acception and both in one verse that you may the better carry it away Gen. xlii 36. Jacob there bemoans himself for the waat of two Children Joseph is not and Simeon is not the one he took to be dead indeed the other to be in fast hold and taken from his eyes removed where he could not come at him as Enoch was but no more So the Chaldee Paraphrase explains the meaning of Jacob Joseph non superest Simeon non est hic Joseph is quite lost and Simeon is not here The phrase then accords very well with that place of the Hebrews by faith Enoch was translanted that he saw not death And my Text must incline to that exposition for two reasons First that the Lord took him stands for a consequent that he was pleased in him it is the reward as you would say that he walked with God not that there is a necessary and perpetual coherency in it that whosoever walks with God should be exalted into Paradise and not see corruption but Enochs righteousness by a priviledge of favour was so requited a favour then being understood in those words it cannot be the sentence of death upon him it is impossible Secondly in this Chapter the last word that the Holy Ghost gives of Adam is Et mortuus est and he died so of Seth so of Enos so of Cainan so of all the Antecessors of Enoch wherefore unless Enoch had some other issue out of this world diverse from the rest which was by translation without death why should it be said of him so differently from all others he was not for the Lord took him So I have corrected the great error of those Hebrew Doctors who would lay Enochs honour in the dust But I suppose the general Exposition of the Jews was right and according to St. Pauls doctrine For Paul wrote to the Hebrews that he saw not death knowing the tradition was commonly so received among them and the Chaldee Paraphrast who lived straight after Christ was of the same judgment beside one of great note among them says he was disarrayed of the foundation corporal and cloathed with the foundation spiritual which words I conceive do jump with those who oppose not the Scripture that he saw not death far be it from them but they have a qualification for the meaning of it that death is taken two ways most properly for the separation of one essential part of man from the other the body from the soul a loath to depart it is a most unwelcom dissolution a punishment upon the sin of our first Father which was remitted to Enoch improperly it is no more but the separation or extinction of corruptible qualities from the soul and body one whom I named even now called it the disarraying of a man from the foundation corporal and so Enoch was purified altered made quite another man in the very moment that he was wrapt up to heaven This evacuation of corruptible qualities from the flesh is called death by some very good Authors in our own Church and so Procopius much more ancient than they Mirabili modo mortis defunctus est ad vitam coelestem translatus it was a rare and admirable kind of death he suffered
are the words of Calvin To call a Publick Fast is to draw a solemn profession from the tongues of all men in the behalf of all men So do we for those who out of stubbornness and frivolous exceptions against our Liturgy will not joyn with us in this Church duty So we do for those who out of blindness in a superstitious breeding had rather mutter they know not what in an unknown Tongue than pray with us in that Language wherein they may be comforted and edified So we do for those who out of profaneness and Atheism think not of these things and have no affection to bear a part in common Supplications We fast for all these to day as for our selves desiring God as it is in our Litany that he will have mercy upon all men The sick that desire to joyn with us in Prayer and cannot come Infants and Sucklings whose tongues are not yet framed to magnifie the Lord we represent all these and include them in our faithful and charitable Supplications for our selves and for all these we pray to our heavenly Father that as we spread not our Table this Noon so he will fit us against Night to eat our meal with a good conscience with confidence and comfort that he hath restored us to all his blessings again And though we have been Prodigal Children yet we shall be brought into our Fathers house to eat the bread of life and the fatted Calf even Jesus Christ A Fast is commonly the Eve before some Holy-day and I pray to God that this Publick Fast may be such the Eve or forerunning day to joyful times to come and so it will be if as sure as this is a Fast the time to come be observed with all diligence as holy to the Lord. And now in the conclusion of all that you may know that Nebemiah fulfilled all righteousness for Jerusalems sake when so many exercises of humiliation had gone before in the upshot he prayed before the God of heaven Weeping and Mourning and Fasting are about Prayer like prickles about a Rose But as no sweet Rose is without prickles so no powerful Prayer is without these or some of these But this is the Rose this is the flower of Religion this is the Odour of sweet Incense that ascends up before the Lord. Ibi nuntius noster oratio mandatum per agit quò caro pervenire non potest says St. Austin It delivers our Message like an Embassadour in the Sanctuary of God whither corruptible flesh and bloud cannot enter For as the Winds and Air have free access unto those places which are immured and watcht that no foot of man can approach unto them So though a Cherubim brandish a flaming Sword before Paradise that the Seed of mortal man cannot come to it without destruction yet our Prayers are Spirits and Angels that fly upon the wings of the wind and come boldly to that place where God is wonderful in light inaccessible A poor whelp hath found out a way by nature to lick it self whole with its tongue when it is bitten or wounded So when we are oppressed with any evil of sin or of punishment our tongue is our instrument to lick the sore Call upon the Lord in the time of trouble and he will hear thee and help thee Yet very much goes to it to make Prayer speeding and effectual Go unto the House of the Lord as often as you can and joyn in humble Petition with the Spirit of the whole Church with the Congregation of Saints and bring your mind with you as well as your body your zeal as well as your voice Observe your constant times of private Prayer at least every Morning and every Evening if oftener the better Cast your self upon your knees with a resolved preparation to be a faithful a penitent an earnest Supplicant Intermit not this practice for any worldly avocation either to serve your self or to serve your friends and I can tell you this will bring such admirable effects to pass when you have got the habit and perseverance of that vertue as I durst not name but that the Spirit of God hath got assurance of it It will give you knowledge of divine things when you will wonder how you learnt them It will pick the thorns of Concupiscence out of your flesh when you will marvel how you were rid of them It will give you courage in dangers when there is small hope to escape And content when desire is not obtained And chearfulness when every thing that should procure joy is far from you It is grace and peace health and wealth and every good thing that concerns this life and a better Only ask seek and knock ask with confidence seek with diligence knocb with perseverance No Father if his Child ask him bread will give him a stone or if he ask a fish will give him a Scorpion If they that are evil give good things how much more will your heavenly Father If we ask him Victory he will not give us a Defeat If we ask him Peace he will not give us continuance of War If we ask him for Justice he will not give us Oppression If we ask him for the continuance of true Religion he will not give us Idolatry and Superstition But ask zealously faithfully devoutly with love unfeigned with a clean heart as becometh Saints For if you ask amiss you shall go without Look towards the pattern of Nehemiah he was one of great integrity and uprightness and therefore fit to carry the Petitions of all the people in his lips to God He prayed before God not like an Hypocrite to be seen of men He set God always before him assured that he was present to hear his words and to see his ways But they that have the itch of the Pharisees to draw the eyes of men upon them the Lord will turn away his face and reject their Prayers He prayed before the God of heaven he did not pray to the Saints in heaven No says Friar Walden we confess that none of the just men in the Old Testament did ever pray to any Saint departed partly because the souls of the righteous were not admitted unto the Vision of God in heaven before Christ by his Ascension did open the Kingdom of heaven to all believers Even as much then as now for ought he knows and how much or how little either then or now it is hard for him or us to know But his second reason is that the Jews were kept from the custom of praying to Saints least they should run into Idolatry I thank him for that caution for that mis led practice of praying to Saints is a symptome of Idolatry Let us direct our Petitions to the Lord alone in whom we have assurance that he doth hear us and will help us I have said unto the Lord thou art my God hear the voice of my Prayer O Lord Psal xl 6. Is there any Precept in Scripture
neither thrive abroad nor at home Pyrrho haec Samnitibus I can wish our Enemies no greater harm than such corrupted minds That Pyrrhus it is in Plutarch was a rambling Warriour and cared not whom he oppressed Says Cyneas to him his best Counsellor Shall we live thus always No says Pyrrhus when we have vanquished the Romans Compotabimus in otio vivemus We will drink stoutly and live merrily His Horse would have said as much if he could have spoken that when his service was done he would stand in the Stable and eat his Provender But the end of War is Peace and the end of Peace is to die unto Sin and to live unto Righteousness These are the last words I have to say now In the justness of our Cause confidence of Faith fervour of Prayer amendment of our Lives United Hearts and in our Religious and Noble ends we commend our most serene and excellent Admiral the whole Royal and gallant Expedition which he manageth to God In whom alone is our help For there is none that fights for us powerfully and irresistably but only thou O God To which God c. A SERMON UPON PROV iii. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee THE Children of Israel were exhorted from their Prophet Moses to write the Law upon the Posts of their doors and to have Copies of it in the Fringes of their Garments as if the whole Land of Jury had been bound into one Sacred Volume to make a Bible for them This was Mandatum latissimum as David said a Commandment exceeding broad but a Proverb being by the very interpretation of the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Basil says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quaint speech used in every street of the City and every high way of the field it is more vulgar and common than the Law it self that thou maist be unexcusable O man when his words are gone forth into the ends of the world Now in this brief essay which I have read unto you as the Heathen were wont to set up the Image of Mercury in the turnings of high-ways to direct Passengers their journey which was called Mercurialis acervus so King Solomon in these words hath reared up a Pillar in the broad way to instruct our ignorance which is ready to turn aside and wander like the lost sheep that whithersoever we set our face we keep this Via Regia the Kings high way Let not c. Mercy and truth so excellent a workmanship that I reverse what I said before it is not like a Pillar set up for an heathen Idol but rather Solomon hath made a new Cherubin for a new Temple a Cherubin with two wings stretched out upon our soul The wings are Mercy and Truth which either bear up the body to heaven as David says My soul flieth unto the Lord before the morning watch I say before the morning watch Or if it grow laden with sin that so great a burden cannot be supported these wings can fly away alone these vertues will be gone like Elias in his firy Chariot for a wounded Conscience who can bear it But if it be true that Tertullian says Omnis spiritus ales est Every Spirit is winged to fly much more let the Spirit of every regenerate man be this Avis Paradisi that our soul may say as David the Sparrow hath found her a nest and the Swallow a place to lay her young ones even thine Altar O Lord of Hosts and being thus fledg'd Mercy and Truth shall not forsake us Out of which words I collect these parts in order The first wing of a Christian soul is Mercy He shall protect me under his wings and I shall be safe under his feathers so God was merciful unto David and mercy is a Wing Secondly The next that answers unto it is Truth For the word of the Lord is that flying roul which Ezekiel saw and the Word of the Lord is the truth it self so that Truth is a wing Thirdly Note their conjunction Mercy and Truth they are coupled together Mercy and Truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other they met long ago in Christ the head and we must not part them in his members Fourthly You must know that we may be so careless in our holy Profession that we may be stript of all the good endowments which we had Mercy and Truth may forsake us and then say we had them Lastly If we look to our part the gifts of God are without repentance ne deserant let them not depart there is a careful way whereby we may imp these wings from flying that they shall not forsake us else ne deserant were sounding brass and no true doctrine these are the five Lamps it remains I put oyl into them I begin at Mercy the fairest Omen that ever the World had in it The unmerciful brethren of Joseph consulted to put the blame of their cruelty upon the beasts we will say a cruel beast hath devoured him It is very well that they durst not profess themselves to be men who were so barbarous But neither is â—t in every beast of the field to be stony hearted The fouls of the air are gentle in their kind witness the Ravens that fed Elias and for the Cattel upon the hills the Ass forsook not his old Master the Prophet that was rent by the Lion The meanest of Creatures then have mercy by instinct of nature yea and the most glorious also dread not the Angels though they be called flaming spirits but rather consider what pity they have shewn in their Function towards the Sons of men To execute Gods wrath few do always come down as loath to be Ministers of indignation One destroying Angel appeared to punish Jerusalem one alone brought weeping news to Bochim Jud. ii Three appeared unto Abraham to bring him the joyful Message of a Son but their company grew less by one and but two of them brought tidings to Lot of the vengeance of Sodom But Elishas Servant saw Chariots and Horsemen and thousands in the Mountain to protect them To publish peace and joy heaven it self as I may so speak it was empty and there appeared a multitude of the heavenly Host to the Shepherds and sang praises unto God surely then one of their wings is Mercy But we must fetch our example further than the Angels let us go boldly to the throne of grace and fetch it from the third heavens Be you merciful with a sicut says our Saviour as your heavenly Father is merciful And if we cast our eye upon that pattern it blossoms like the rod of Aaron into these two buds condonationem and donationem First To forgive and remit sins Secondly To give liberally as God hath enabled us In the first I will thus proceed First that it is Gods nature and property to forgive secondly that man should rather forgive than God It did well deserve record
of the Israelitish Midwifes but good deeds also which like the Alms of Cornelius shall reach up to Heaven The Sea hath raged horribly and swallowed the Innocent the Stream hath gone even over his Soul that we might restore it again as mercifully as the Whale did Jonas with the increase of our substance that we might cast our bread as Solomon preached upon the waters God hath suffered an heavy sickness to wast away the afflicted and to consume his bones not that the Dogs should be more merciful than Dives and lik the poor mans sores but that our liberality might make him whole Canaan and the Patriarchs were well nigh famished with hunger what because God had forgotten to be gracious and had shut up his loving kindness in displeasure Not so but that Egypt might relieve them with their Granaries The Husbandman soweth seed in the ground and the encrease comes up thereafter God giveth it a body and to every seed his own body but the merciful man soweth a Loaf of bread in the belly of the hungry and it shall rise up again unto a plentiful Harvest Christ was made poor says Paul that we might be made rich and for the good use of our riches he hath made many poor There are few so hard-hearted but will protest with an oath if our Saviour had been incarnate in these our days how they would have strived to make him welcom their choisest Palace should have received him and his Diet should have been whatsoever the Earth and Sea afforded I says Tertullian Porrigat manum Jupiter accipiat if Jupiter himself would ask alms he should have it every man can say so Alass to promise this excess to him who needs it not is a kind of spiritual bribery Keep your costly Mansions to your selves and afford him some sustenance in an Hospital Take the plenty of the Earth to your own Table in sobriety and temperance and feed him with your Alms Basket If he say loe here is Christ or loe there he is and that every distressed Christian is nourished for his sake you may believe him Haec est tunica quam dedisti mihi Martine it is an old Story in Sulpitius the good Bishop Martinus cloathed a Criple with his Coat in the day time and in the Dreams upon his Bed he saw Christ himself wear it and thank him for it Such there are whom otherwise we may call good men but spoil their good parts as Crassus did with the love of money and having closed their Ark will not suffer so much as a Crow to fly out of it they will not believe this Divinity that to spend well upon Earth is to lay up treasure in Heaven Such a mans eyes are made of Spittle and Clay but not by Christ and they love to behold nothing but Gold which is indeed a refined Clay burnt well like a Brick by the heat of the Sun and the influence of the other stars Now there are but two common pretendments to make us spare our Purse and keep our hand withered in our bosom Semper aliquid curtae deest rei we have nothing to spare we have but five loaves and two fishes and what are they among so many O can you forget those mighty Mites which the poor Widow cast into the Treasury Three things says St. Gregory are incruenta sacrificia Sacrifices well pleasing unto God without drop of bloud shed Castitas in juventute sobrietas in ubertate liberalitas in paupertate a Chast Youth unspotted touching the Flesh Sobriety in Plenty and Liberality in Poverty And this is the Devils Topicks to perswade us we must repay nothing back again unto God unless He would give us as much as we could wish for Plato thought he made a charitable Common Wealth when by his evil Law to permit promiscuous lust no man knew another whether he were Stranger or Brother or of nearer Consanguinity So hath God knitted his Church together that we are all Christs and Christ is ours and yet we feel not the afflictions of Joseph they are nothing to us Nay it were well if we were not readier to give Stones than Bread and for a Fish a Scorpion This was Nabals Largess to David he told him he was a Runnagate from Saul his Master The next excuse against Charity is the great abuse of all good deeds and the wrong employment But though men be evil and the dayes are evil and the bounty of holy men is oft times wrong employed yet the Churches of God are no Transgressors why do the Rich men of the World nothing for them Do you expect that the Holy Ghost should come down again like a mighty rushing wind and enter in that every Wall and Window is left naked and decayed especially in famous Cathedral Churches to the injuries of the weather Good God! what was the zeal of our Fore-fathers that they should build more unto Religion than we can keep in reparation When St. Paul pleaded for a Collection for the poor Saints of Jerusalem feed them says he with your plenty who are enriched with their abundance With what abundance did the Apostle mean O say the Friers with the abundance of their good works and zeal as a bought or borrowed sanctity No such matter but for the abundance of the Words sake which first came out of the bosom of Jerusalem But all the Gospel which is preached in our Cathedral Churches cannot procure them so much benevolence as to preserve them from the curse of desolation that one stone be not left upon another And I would the innocent stones could fall down from their high Pinacles into the bowels of the earth from whence they were digged then were they safe and would be at rest again but now great men take them up and we must say in charity that which made God a Chancel serves to build them up a Kitchen or a Stable O if you will not be so merciful as your Father which is in Heaven be but as merciful as your Forefathers upon Earth who were zealous for the House of the Lord. But these things should rather be done then spoken Therefore let this suffice for mercy which is the first part of my Text. Now a complete Christian is not like a small Vessel which recovers his Haven with one Sail alone with Mercy only If you will have Religion to be ponderibus librata suis full poised on every side magna est veritas praevalet truth also is a prevailing part let not mercy and truth forsake thee And what is truth says Pilate but he would not stay to take his answer Why the Spirit is truth says St. John 1. Ep. v. I am the truth says Christ John xiiii God is Truth and in him is no error In a word your holy Faith is the Truth that which is armatura lucis the Armour of Light with St. Paul Rom. xiii that which is stronger than all things says Zorobabel in his Parable But
Brethren let your word be pure able to endure the fiery trial even for his sake who in the beginning was the Word and that Word was God As for such double tongues whose Heart is a Jew and their Tongue a Christian and for those aequivocating Jesuits who teach you to adulterate Truth in mental reservation let them have their portion with Sisera that told a lie and so spake his last for he warned Jael to deny him if any did enquire for him and then says the Text he slept and then he perished So much hath been spoken for these Celestial Graces Truth and Mercy considered in disjunction but as the Wings of the Cherubins touched one another in the midst of the House so there must be a copulation of these spiritual Blessings for Mercy and Truth are such a Pair as will either lodg together or leave together There was such a similitude of nature between the Twins of Love Eros Anteros that at once they wept and at once they smil'd they fell sick together and they recovered joyntly Such are the Twins of Grace Truth and Mercy she that would have them cut in twain and parted is an Harlot she that cries spare and preserve them whole she is the Mother and must enjoy them Look upon them in a state of policy Mercy without Truth is a sweet shower dropping on the barren sands quite spilt and no blessing follows it Truth without Mercy is extreme right and extreme injury Mercy without Truth is a dangerous pitty Truth without Mercy is not verity but severity Consider them towards God and Heaven and then most unfit it is that either should be alone A Faith of meer Protestation without Good Works such is Truth without Mercy it might have been in the Gergasens Swine for such a Faith is in the Devil says St. James and therefore might have been in the Gergasens Swine to bear him company and all the integrity of the Heathen all the goodness that Socrates could teach because it is not in Christ such is Mercy without Truth it comes tardy like Esaus Venison and the Blessing is remov'd upon the head of Jacob. St. Austin compares them thus A Pagan living without blame before men is a man with his eyes open in the dark midnight and he that professeth Christ and not mercy but is sold to commit iniquity is one with his eyes shut in the clear day and he sees as little Such an unadorned Faith is like a fair Shield which the Tyroes among the Romans carried to the battel it is a piece of Harness indeed as Faith is called by St. Paul but it makes no shew it hath not the imprese of any Stratagem upon it Our holy Life and conscionable Conversation must be engraven upon our Faith like the Posie of the Lover upon the Tree Crescetis amores as the bark grew so the letters waxed bigger if the one prospered the other thrived as well For the whole Jury of our Creed the twelve Articles will not save us unless the Law be on our side Though not altogether that is impossible yet by endeavour and pious industry to acquit our selves of many trespasses The sum of all is Two are better than one I know that some rely too much upon the Example of the Penitent Thief the eyes of whose Faith were not opened until his hands and feet were pierced with the nails of death but look a little better into his Practice and you shall see that he prov'd himself so good a Christian in the last hour as if he had been reprieved from the Cross for another Assizes First he reproved the scorner Secondly he preached Moses Dost thou not fear God Thirdly he confessed his guiltiness But we suffer justly Fourthly he justified the innocent This man hath done nothing amiss Fifthly he consented to the power of the Magistrate We receive the reward of our deeds Sixthly he acknowledged Christs Divinity as he did his Humanity before saying that Heaven was his Kingdom Lastly he prayed and believed Lord remember me in thy Kingdom See what a Swarm of Bees hang upon his lips in a few words lest in this one Example the mercies of Christ might be made an occasion to excuse the mercy of man But Faith and Truth are our Wedding Garment Good Works and Mercy are the Broidering upon it Haec est tunica filii mei this is my Sons Coat says the Lord and the Spouses Cloathing is of wrought needle-work Psal xlv Let them hear of this especially who by their Profession are the Pillars of Truth in the Church and should be the Censors of sweet Perfume also let them look to it that these Wings of Truth and Mercy be equally poised that their knowledg preach continually in their holy life lest it prove with us as St. Austin spake of Antony the Eremite that grew exceeding devout when all the Cloisters were idle and lascivious and the Eremite being so ignorant that he knew not letters rapiunt indocti regnum coelorum literati excluduntur the great Clerks studied for Heaven but the simple People took it by violence and possessed it What should I speak more If Man be a little World and his Soul a great Heaven in it then these are duo magna luminaria Truth is the Orient Star of the Understanding and Mercy is the bâ—ightness of the Will like the Sun and Moon in the Firmament like the faithful Witness in Heaven But take heed that the Stars themselves be not swept away from the Sky with the Tail of the Dragon take heed lest like the dastard Ephramites being harnessed and carrying Bows we turn our backs in the day of battel for so it follows in the fourth part of my Text there is a deserant Gods Gifts may forsake us and let him that standeth take heed lest he fall Mercy and Truth they may forsake us What will some man say our Justification our Righteousness in Christ may that forsake us Superbia quo ascendis Why doth the presumption of man move such angry questions But Beloved I have no such uncomfortable Doctrine at this time to deliver I wish it prosperously that the head of the Serpent may be bruised that there be no leading the free-born into Captivity and no complaining in our streets But Sanctification shakes her leaves sometimes like the accursed Figtree Mercy in King David spilt the bloud of an innocent truth forsook truth with a curse in the mouth of St. Peter Now every quality may cease to be and grow to nothing three ways as it is distinguished in Philosopny 1. Defectu firmae inhaesionis seu radicationis 2. Admotione contrarii 3. Desitione subjeoti I will explain them in order First I say defectu firmae inhaesionis When Truth and Mercy want root and have no hold to stay long As a luke-warm heat quickly evaporates out of the water if the fire be not maintained An Inceptor that proceeded not was a fool among the Galatians and with
before King James I. Vpon Amos ix 2. Though they dig into Hell thence shall my hand take them p. 742 II. Vpon Acts xxviii 5. And he shook the beast into the fire and felt no harm p. 752 II Sermons preached at Whitehall upon Gen. v. 24. And Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him p. 762 Upon the same p. 771 III. Sermons preached at Whitehall upon Gen. viii 20 21. And Noah builded an Altar to the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered burnt offerings on the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet savour p. 780 Upon the same p. 789 Upon the same p. 798 II Sermons preached at Whitehall upon Gen. xix 26. But his Wife lookt back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt p. 896 Upon the same p. 815 A Sermon preached at Whitehall upon Numb xxi 7. Pray unto the Lord that he take the Serpents from us p. 823 A Sermon upon Joshua xxii 20. And that man perished not alone in his iniquity p. 831 A Fast Sermon preached at Whitehall upon Nehem. i. 4. And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven p. 849 A Sermon upon Prov. iii. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee p. 862 II Sermons concerning the Rechabites upon Jer. xxxv 6. But they said we will drink no wine p. 873 II Sermons preached at Whitehall upon John iv 13 14. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst p. 483 Upon the same p. 902 III Sermons preached at Whitehall upon John vi 11. And Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks distributed to the Disciples and the Disciples to them that were set down and likewise of the fishes as much as they would p. 911 Upon the same 921 Upon the same 931 A Sermon preached at Whitehall upon St. Lukes day upon Acts xi 26. And the Disciples were called Christians first in Antioch p. 941 A Commencement Sermon preached at Cambridge upon Acts xii 23. And immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory p. 952 III Sermons preached at Whitehall upon Gal. iv 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all p. 964 Upon the same 973 Upon the same 983 II Sermons preached upon All Saints day in Holbourn I. Upon Rev. vi 9. I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the Testimony which they held p. 992. II. Vpon Rev. vi 10. And they cried with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judg and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth p. 1003 AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE and DEATH OF THE AUTHOR THE Son of Sirach a renowned Preacher in his Generation has given us counsel to commend Famous Men and our Fathers of whom we are begotten and in the close of his excellent Book has presented us with a large Catalogue of them together with an Encomium of their Actions whose remembrance sayes he is sweet as Honey in all Mouths and pleasant as Musick at a Banquet of Wine St. Paul has directly imitated the Son of Sirach and enumerated many antient Heroes not without a due Commemoration and farther given us a Precept To remember our Governors or Guides in the Christian Faith holy Bishops and Martyrs after their death as appears plainly by the following words whose faith follow considering the end of their Conversation Accordingly in the Primitive times the Bishops of Rome took care that the lives and actions of all holy Men and Martyrs especially should be recorded For this purpose publick Notaries were appointed by S. Clement say some though Platina first ascribes their institution to Anterus whose Records were far more large than the present Roman Martyrology or that of Bede and Vsuardus or the Menologue of the Greeks which for the most part contain only the Names and Deaths of the Martyrs but those were a Narrative of their whole Lives and Doctrines and Speeches at large their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 famous Acts and Sufferings for the Christian Faith which were also read sometimes in their Religious Assemblies for the encouragement of others and are said to have converted many to the Christian Faith But these long since perished through the malice and cruelty of Dioclesian in those fires which consumed their Bodies and their Books together Afterwards when Christian Religion reflourished the Christian Church resumed these Studies again St Ambrose did right to the memory of Theodosius Paulinus of St. Ambrose Nazianzen to Athanasius St. Hierom to Nepotian Possidonius to St. Austin Amphilochius to St. Basil St. Hierom and Gennadius wrot of all Ecclesiastical Writers and illustrious men in the Christian Church from the beginning of it to their own times And after all these there wanted not Martyrologers and Writers of Lives but such as perhaps we had better have wanted than enjoyed their Writings insomuch that a great Lieutenant under the Papal Standard durst affirm that the Stories of the Heathen Captains and Philosophers were more excellently written then of Christs own Apostles and Martyrs For those were done so notably that they were like to live for ever whereas the lives of many Saints in the Christian Church were so corruptly and shamefully penn'd that they could no way advantage the Reader so that at this day we have two things to bewail not only that we have lost the true reports of the Primitive Christians but likewise that the lives of the Saints we have remaining have not been written by Saints and true men but by liars who have stufft their fastidious Writings with so many prodigious Tales as are more apt to beget infidelity than faith and all honest and judicious men are ashamed and grieved to read them For my own part I intend not in this tumultuary haste to write an absolute Life of the Author or recollect all his Actions praise-worthy but only for satisfaction of some importunate friends to represent quaedam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some few Memoirs and Passages of his Life which I have received from his Lordships most intimate acquaintance and for the most part from his own reports Tecum etenim longos memini consumere Soles and in them am resolved to sacrifice to Truth and not to Affection to the glory of God and not to humane fame to write nothing false or fictitious nor things true in an hyperbolical and flaunting manner as in a Panegyrick but only a Breviary of his most active and industrious life where the truth shall be recited without false Idea's and representations and his Lordship made to appear what really he was both in his Divine vertues and humane passions
with us than against us Our friends do exceed the number of our enemies therefore we may be couragious Besides the name of Gabriel supposed to be that Messenger that came to the Shepherds his name by interpretation is Fortitudo Domini the strength of God as if he were a great Bulwark on our side Quoniam bellum indictum est Daemonibus upon Christmas day began open hostility against the Devil therefore it is a good Omen a blessed presage that the trumpet of Gabriel blew these tidings abroad who is fortitudo Domini a valiant Prince such a one as Michael was that conquered the Dragon as his name is so is himself the strength of God Finally we may be sure that what he said to encourage us was solid comfort without flattery no false alarm no smoother of sweet words where there is no cause for there are Mountebanks in Divinity that will promise many sorts of remedies to a sin-sick soul where there is none at all As Jeremy describes those false blandishing Prophets They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying peace peace when there is no peace Slightly or verbis leviculis says Vatablus with gibing frumps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read the Septuagint scornful despising them whom they seduced with lying hopes Periculosiora sunt animae secura quà m corpori adversa says St. Austin security is more perillous to the soul than affliction to the body But such messengers as my Text speaks of cannot publish a falshood because they are ever enlightned with the spirit of truth we may build upon a rock of confidence if they say Nolite timere fear not One touch more and this Point is done You hear that the Tongues of Angels are chearful comfortable Tongues their tidings are no flattery yet they are words of mirth and gladness Then it were good me thinks that discretion and the consideration of Christs merciful Gospel did mitigate their zeal who think they are bound to thunder nothing so much to the people as fears and terrors like the writer of Iambiques that spote anger and poyson to put Archilochus into desperation Let Vices be threatned but let the hope that accompanies true repentance go together Let Judgment be put home to the obdurate conscience but let Mercy be an Advocate for the broken in heart Let the strictness of Law and the Curse thereof fetch a tear from our eyes but let the ransom of our sins be set before us and that Christ will wipe all tears from our eyes St. Paul wisht himself at Corinth not to affright them but to rejoyce with the Brethren as it was said of the mild nature of the Emperour Vespasian Neminem unquam dimisit tristem he never sent any man from him discontent but gave him some comfort and satisfaction So the Gospel is such a sweet demulcing Lesson that if it be truly preach'd it must always revive the heart it cannot leave a sting behind it You see the Angel delights not to scare but to comfort the Shepherds Fear not I shall lead your patience no further than one thing more why they should not fear Propter nuntiatum that 's the most principal regard because Christ was born to be their comfort This is to be descanted at large hereafter upon the remainder of this Text and for the present I will prevent what I shall say hereafter but with this one observation that concerning all such as are terrified and perplex'd in mind we can do no more than the Angel hath done preach Christ unto them for their comfort if the joy of his Nativity will not allay their disconsolate melancholy desperation then there is no Balm in Gilead to help them that 's all the infusion of solace which the Angel did pour into the world when it was cast down with sin Poor soul that art terrified with a condemning conscience tell me to what end was Christ born but to seek and to save them that were lost Was not he partaker of flesh and bloud as thou art And dost thou surmise that he made any for condemnation whose nature he took upon him unless by their own infidelity they make themselves reprobates Did he come among us to bring great joy unto all people And wilt thou thrust thy self out of the number Did not he weep in his Cratch that thou mightest sing in heaven Did not he fly from Herod that thou mightest fly from Satan Was not he brought forth amongst us in great humility and misery that thou mightest be translated out of misery into glory Be not like Rachel that would not be comforted Fear not little flock it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth who shall condemn us It is Christ that was born and died and rose again to deliver us from all evil it is he that was made man that thou mightest be made a glorious Saint a fellow Citizen with Angels AMEN THE FIFTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 10. Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people IN the same Text where we ended the old year let us begin the new Jesus Christ last year and this year and the same for ever To speak of our Saviours Nativity says Bernard is as new at these days as it was in the first Twelfth-tide after he was born Semper novum est quod semper innovat mentes nec unquam vetus est quod fructificare non cessat That 's justly esteemed a new meditation which prepares us to newness of life neither can we say a tree grows old by standing long in the soil which fructifies continually as much as ever it did before In the imagination of our Faith Christ seems to be offered up again so often as we remember his Death and Passion in the Sacrament so he seems as verily to be born again so often as we do faithfully annuntiate his Incarnation Once we have done that work already in the day it self the time is not yet expired which belongs to that Solemnity now we are come once more to the same business to dispatch it that you may see the difference between the antiquation of the Old Law plucking out the sting of fear and the publication of the new Covenant the Gospel which breaths unspeakable gladness First I have preacht upon these words how we should purge out the old leaven of distrustful fear now I come to shew what it is to have a new heart created full of spiritual joy I observed unto you upon the whole verse that as much might be said from hence to extol the benefit which we receive by Christs Nativity as is usually delivered to express that everlasting felicity which we shall enjoy with God in the highest Heavens to that beatitude of the Saints say the Schoolmen very rightly two things must concur Omnis miseria excluditur omne
David What 's this inclination of the ear we cannot bow or stir that part as we may the hand and the knee Aures hominum sunt immotae ut sit velox ad audiendum says one the ears of man are not to be wagg'd and mov'd like the ears of a beast to the end there may be no impediment in attention but that he may be swift to hear But he is said to incline his ear who hath a submissive heart and listens diligently to that which is spoken If a frivolous tale suppose the feigned pilgrimage of some Errant Knight be told us every syllable shall be markt so heedily that you will be able to repeat it Conticuere omnes intentique ora tenebant But if God do send his servants to narrate his will and pleasure how many disturbances shall they find in their relation of heavenly things Sarah laught at the Angel Pharoah chafed and interrupted Moses the Jews mis-interpreted Christ himself Gallio marks not a word that 's said Eutyches sleeps the Athenians flout at Paul and say what means this babler who will take the pains to tell a message any more to him that will abuse it so neglectfully and if God should take away the preaching of his word from this people let them thank themselves who were so defective in all due and reverent attention But says John the Baptist The Friend of the Bridegroom standeth and heareth him and rejoyceth greatly because of the Bridegrooms voice John iii. 29. And so much for this word behold as it is a note of admiration of demonstration and lastly of attention Behold I bring c. Now the first of seven things which are remarkable in the message is that which hath met us often before in all the Texts upon this Gospel the consideration of the person that the Angel is sent unto us upon a peaceable entreaty Ecce ego Behold I bring you good tidings The children of men have so often provoked God to send Angels with a sword of vengeance to the earth that no doubt Gabriel was pleased to bring a welcome message with him A messenger cannot help it if he come with sorrowful news and yet for the most part men will be displeased at such a one whose tongue doth bode discomfort and infelicity Joab did tender the welfare of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok when he would not let him be the first that should certifie David how Absalom was dead says he Thou shalt bear tidings another day but this day thou shalt bear no tidings because the Kings Son is dead Therefore if you mark it Angels that came to inflict punishment or to threaten some ensuing mischief came single for the most part or never above two at once but to do a good office to men upon earth to protect Elisha from the Aramites to annuntiate that the Messias was come into the world they came by troops and multitudes no less in this chapter then a multitude of the heavenly host There were three with Abraham in his tent to tell him that Isaac the son of promise should be born unto him of Sarah in their old age and we cannot but take notice how one of the three vanisht and was gone when they went into Lot's house to warn him that Sodom should be destroyed with fire and brimstone How far are they from this Angelical benevolence that gird other men with the remembrance of their misfortunes and insult over their miseries as Shimei us'd David in his affliction a curse will fall upon them that love to be instruments to undo men rather than to raise them up that delight in the crosses of their brother rather than in their consolation Miserable comforters as Job said of his Friends that powred vinegar into his wounds to vex them not to heal them But these holy ones that are sent from above delight to be the Embassadors of joy the first of them all that I read of in holy Scripture came to administer help and succor to the distressed and that was the Angel that came to Hagar to chear up her drooping spirits and to put her into the way of safety when she and Ishmael the child were almost ready to perish And now one of them comes in my Text with good news to shew that a perfect friendship was made up between all parties in this verse between Angels and Men for Ego Evangelizo I come to rejoyce with you as a friend I bring you good news 2. A friendship between God and man for a Saviour is born unto you which is Christ the Lord. 3. Friendship and amity between man and man between Kingdom and Kingdom between one Nation and another people at the 14. verse On earth peace and good will towards men Yet when our sins cry out for vengeance this truce is broke of all sides The sword of our enemies shall be unsheath'd and all peace shall be dissolv'd between man and man our Saviour shall become our angry Judge neither shall the blessing descend from God to Man Lastly the Angel shall draw his sword and cause the pestilence to cut down thousands upon thousands as the Mower shears down the grass of the field I am sure the fury of such an angry Angel sticks still in our remembrance Therefore let every man for his part keep fast the bond of his tripartite friendship by sanctification and obedience then the Angels will come unto us not in fury but in mercy saying Ecce ego c. I proceed to the next circumstance Ecce Evangelizo we render it to bring good tidings but it is as if he had said I come to be an Evangelist I am no Law-giver whose voice was terrible I am a messenger of a better Covenant of the Gospel of Grace At this Text beloved the Spirit of God doth enter the word Gospel or Evangel quite to alter the state of the Church from what it had been before For the better understanding hereof I pray you mark it attentively in what manner God did dispence his will and pleasure to his Church from the beginning of the world to the end of all times And for order sake I will reduce it all to three heads to a Law which was given by God to Adam to a Law which was given by Moses to Israel and to these glad tidings to wit the Gospel of the New Testament which was given by Christ to all Nations from one end of the earth to the other 1. Now I buckle to the first of these a Law was given by God to Adam That Law was short and commandatory fac vive do this and live therefore that is rightly called the Law of Works but the Gospel says if thou believest thou shalt be saved therefore that 's called the Law of Faith The same God was the author of both these both were revealed to men and to no other creature both of them according as we perform them promise the same reward both of them have
the same end to make us magnifie God for his Wisdom Goodness and Justice Nay I add compare the Law of Works imposed upon Adam and the Law of Faith imposed upon Christians and both of them are possible to be done For the first man according to the integrity wherein he was created and by the virtue of supernatural Grace bestowed upon him might have obeyed the Commandement given if he had not turned to disobedience and by the Divine help of the same grace we to whom God hath preached the glad tidings of his Son are endewed with power to believe that we may be saved Now in a word let us lay the difference of these two one against another God gave the Law in Paradise as a King in his Justice but he gave the Gospel in Sion as a Father of Grace and Mercy according to that Law the reward had been given ex debito by debt and due say the Schoolmen but to him that believes the reward is given by mere Grace which excludes boasting He that disobey'd that Law was to look for the most strict severity of Justice so condemnation belongs likewise to the unbeliever according to Justice but perhaps it shall be temper'd with some moderation for Christs sake Finally this is the main disagreement the first Covenant made with Adam did exclude all hope of remission of sins but the second Covenant made in Christ runs in this tenour to them that live by Faith your sins shall be blotted out and your iniquities forgotten After you have understood the first point how there was a Law imposed upon Adam when he was created and endewed with original Justice you must now give ear to the next thing in order what heavy and astonishing matter is contained in that Law which was given by Moses to the Children of Israel and remember that I consider the Law deliver'd in the two Tables at Mount Sinai Seorsim and by it self separated from all the promises contained in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David These then are the remarkable differences between the Covenant written in Tables of stone and this Covenant of the New Testament in the Blood of Christ First God gave the Law at Sinai being wrath with our sins for whereas we had lost both the wisdom of our understanding and the loyal obedience of our will by the transgression of our first parent yet God impos'd his Commandement upon us and exacts such measure of holiness which we are not able to perform Therefore that Law was given in the barren Wilderness because it is not able to bring one soul unto God likewise it was delivered with signs full of wrath thunder and lightning and a dreadful noise to shew that God was full of indignation when he laid it upon us On the contrary he made the new Covenant of peace being reconciled to them that were lost or at least proffering reconciliation in his beloved Son Read this Doctrine Heb. xii from the 18. to the 24. verse Ye are not come to the Mount that might not be touched and that burnt with fire nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words which they that heard entreated they might hear it no more They could not endure that which was commanded And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake but ye are come to Mount Sion and to the City of the living God c. Wherefore the Gospel was presented with manifest tokens of love and benevolence Ecce Evangelizo behold I bring you good tidings 2. There 's a difference arising between the first Testament and the last from the several Mediators that came between God and the people Moses was a servant faithful in the Family and he was the Mediator of the Old Testament Christ is the Son and Heir of all he was the Mediator of the New The Law was given by Moses Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ 3. The old Covenant was ratified with the blood of Beasts but loe the New Covenant doth much surpass it which was ratified with the precious Blood of that immaculate Lamb which took away the sins of the world which is therefore called the Blood of the New Testament 4. The old Law in St. Paul's phrase contained poor and beggerly rudiments not able to bring to life It was a killing letter the ministry of death and condemnation it worketh wrath it entred that sin might abound it is like Hagar which gendreth children unto bondage Gal. iv 24. The Gospel is the power of salvation to every one that believeth a quickening Spirit it purgeth us from our sins it speaketh better things than the blood of Abel 5. That which Moses brought was an heavy burden which neither the Fathers nor the Children could bear but of the Gospel Christ saith his yoke is easie and his burden is light and in it you shall find rest for your souls Lastly the Old Testament endured unto Christ and no longer wherefore because it passed away it is called the Old the New Testament remaineth for ever so says St. Paul of our Blessed Saviour taking flesh who is not made after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless life No passage or comparison can be made between them but the Law given at Mount Sinai will appear to be an harsh and most unwelcome injunction and that which doth clear us from the curse thereof is Evangelium the best tidings that ever arriv'd at the ear of man Hitherto I have consider'd the Old Testament in no respect but as it contains the killing letter of the Law but you must not mistake that the Holy Spirit hath interlaced many fast-holdings of Faith and promises Evangelical almost every where in the Prophets and in the Psalms of David Nay the Old Testament is rather Promise than Law yet it was fit the rigour of the Law should be repeated that it might more appear how necessary the promise of Grace was that we could not live without it and that every man being convicted in his conscience by the sentence of the Law we might more ardently fly to Grace for the end of the Moral Law is double to set us a rule what we should endeavour to do and to discover our own impotency unto us what we are not able to do that we may seek a remedy in the satisfaction of Christ But this I say that the darkness and obscurity of the Old Testament was enlightned with many excellent promises that the believing Israelites might be partakers of Faith and of everlasting life they had the same Gospel which we have the same Christ the same Faith the same Spirit sealing the truth of promise unto them Where is then the priviledge you will say that the tidings are better to us then unto them or far surpassing on our side every way Israel that believed in the promised seed was an heir but under age
eldest Fathers that some may go out of the world without this Sacrament by unavoidable necessity and their faith shall suffice to save them as if they had been baptized his saying is very memorable Sola interdum sides sufficit ad salutem fine ipsâ nihil sufficit Sometimes faith alone is enough to bring salvation to a man and without it nothing is enough Valentinian the Emperour having given battel to the Sarmatians and other Scythian Rebels broke a vein with out-cries to his Captains and eager encouragement to his Souldiers and soon after died in his Tent unbaptized yet St. Ambrose comforts his Subjects in a Funeral Oration that their Emperours soul was with God because his life was religious and his heart desired the benediction of that Sacrament St. Austin enrolls all Martyrs in the Catalogue of the Saints of heaven albeit Persecution snatcht them away suddenly before they could be baptized And that God will remit their sins who lay down their lives for his sake Quantùm si sacro fonte abluerentur as if they had been washed at the sacred Font. Why this was well and charitably concluded not as if Martyrdom did equal the vertue of Baptism but because it was joyned with an eminent faith Now God may see as much faith in one dying as if he were to suffer Martyrdom Fides idonea martyrio licet non interrogata martyrio says Bernard Therefore that faith shall stand them in as much stead as if they had actually been brought to Martyrdom Finally Whereas John Baptist may seem to desire this Sacrament in my Text saying I have need to be baptized it appears not whatsoever some Apocryphal Stories say that Christ did baptize him in water but the Learned say the willingness of this confession and his Martydom which he suffered under Herod did supply the want thereof and his faith did save him A fourth Proposition follows that we have good reason to hope for the salvation of such Infants being born within a believing Church as were deprived of life before the outward Element could conveniently be applied unto them to wash them from their sins because some have gone too far in doubting against this take my reasons in order First It is never questioned in the old Law but that the Male children of the Jews were blessed in the Lord which died before the eighth day having not received the Seal of Circumcision I will not urge that Circumcision was omitted for forty years all the while they travelled in the Wilderness it was with Gods especial dispensation so that no detriment redounded to any soul because of Circumcision I instance in Davids child the first he begat of Bathsheba it died the seventh day and yet the King who doubted not to enjoy the Crown of a better life comforts himself and expects that his soul should rest with the Child after death I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Secondly We have no Promise for the Seed of Infidels but we have express testimony from the Spirit that the Seed of faithful Parentage is holy from the birth and if the root be holy so are the branches Rom. xi 16. Nay albeit one Parent be an unbeliever yet if either Father or Mother make but one believer the Children are sanctified and for that ones sake they are not unclean but holy It is true that we are all in our selves born children of wrath from our Mothers womb But God is gracious to the thousand Generations of them that fear him much more to their very next Generation and because their Infants are his Childrens Children the guilt of their sin is blotted out and he is pleased to give them adoption of Sons What else is the fruit of that Promise that the off-spring of the Faithful are in the same Covenant with the Fathers The Promise is made to you and to your Sons and to them that are far off Acts ii 39. The constancy of the eternal Covenant made to the Posterity of the Just appeared says one in those extraordinary motions of Jacob when he wrestled with Esa◠of John Baptist when he congratulated the coming of Christ into the world the spiritual extasies of both these before they were born Therefore it is no unjudicious opinion to say that Infants are brought to Baptism not to take them into the Covenant of Grace but being of the Covenant before to seal it unto them If any man make a Scruple whether the Covenant be made to the Infants of Christian Parents as fast and firm as to the Jews and their Children let him not doubt nay assuredly the Covenant is made unto us much stronger For Christ came into the World to confirm the Promise made from the beginning of the World and to turn over Gods mercies in a more ample manner unto the Gentiles Of his fulness we have received and grace for grace that is to say plenty of grace and benediction This was the second Reason thus I propound the third I have formerly proved and delivered this Doctrine that to such of riper years as desired Baptism and were unawares prevented the willingness of their faith was reputed to them for Baptism Why this shall also comfort us for the tender fruit of the womb which died without the Sacrament as soon as it yaun'd the first breath for when they are baptized the faith of the Church and of those that present them at the Font is by God reputed to be their own So if they be cut short before they be outwardly ingrafted into the Congregation of Christ the willingness and desire of the same Church and of their Parents shall be imputed by our merciful Father to be theirs also Lastly I will pawn the practice of the best Churches in the world to prove it when they were in their ancient purity It was a Ceremony both among the Greeks and Latines to appoint but two solemn times of the year for the Baptism of Infants Easter and Whitsontide Indeed leave was given to dispense with this Ceremony if Passengers unbaptized were like to be cast away at Sea If War Pestilence or Persecutipn threatned their imminent ruine if Infants did dangerously languish But I pray you how often do Infants die away in the turning of an hand before it can be perceived Therefore the Sacrament had not been deferred unto those two solemn times if either Greeks or Latines had thought that Infants deprived of the Laver of Regeneration should eternally be deprived of the glory of God The fifth Proposition dispatcheth the long discourse upon this Point It is thus We are to hope well of the safety of Infants not baptized yet we cannot be so confident of their welfare as when the Church hath prai'd for them and given them the blessing of the Sacrament Let the worst come that our children pass'd away without the sprinkling of water it is fit to be prevented in a due course as much as may
are Clavis Ecclesiae sera Coeli Baptism the Key to open a door and give us admittance into the Church of Christ and the Eucharist is such a confirmation of grace that it is like a bolt that shuts us up into Heaven What reverence what devotion can be too much for such blessed mysteries Mistake me not when I speak of Reverence and Devotion I mean nothing less than Adoration and Worship to the Elements I allow not nay I abhor Popish Elevation and Procession I fear this lifting up of the Host ever since the Devil took up Christ to a Pinacle of the Temple I detest their gamish and gaudy Procession as if our Saviour did think it an Honour to ride upon the Popes Palfrey as Haman did upon King Ahasuerus Horse away with such ridiculous gesticulations But I am ashamed on the other side that there should be such froward Persons such unthankful Receivers of the Sacrament of thankfulness in our Church that deny the duty of their knee to the Supper of the Lord their feet stand stiff like the two Pillars which upheld the Theatre of the Philistines and Samson can scarce pluck them to the ground The very Devil durst not deny the truth in this Point Ask him what it is to honour Mat. 4. to fall down and worship As Maecoenas spake of a Roman that being amazed forgot to kneel unto Caesar when he came in his presence Hic homo timet timere Caesarem so these men are afraid lest they should over-reach themselves and give God more honour than his due It was an excellent speech of Scipio Africanus who being to ride in honour refused to sit in an Arch Triumphal Quia seni praetereunti non potuit assurgere if an old man passed by he could not rise up and do him reverence Beloved the Table of the Lord is a time of great triumph and solemnity and God is not passing from us but coming to us and is this all the honour that we will do him to stand upon stilts rather than kneel Will neither the apprehension of Christs Passion move us at that time Nor that Prayer which is used that body and soul may be preserved unto everlasting life will not that make us fall down Nor the consideration how Christ did humble himself for us unto the death of the Cross will not that make us humble Let it be the reproach of such profane men that Manna is faln down from Heaven round about our Tents and they will not stoop to gather it The fourth and last Honour which redounds to God is to obey the powers which are ordained of God It is good Divinity every day it is the proper Theam of this day O Lord make it a victorious and joyful day to thine Anointed Servant and our most gacious Soveraign many and many years and make it an happy and a triumphant day to his People that are under him and to their Children that are yet unborn Nazianzen speaking of Kings and Rulers to be the Images of God says that Monarchs and Kings in respect of God were like Pictures drawn clean throughout to the Feet the middle sort of Governours to Pictures drawn to the Girdle the third rank and lowest in authority to Pictures drawn but to the neck and shoulders but all in some sort are the Images of God only Christ is the express Image of his Person that sate down at the right hand of his Majesty Heb. i. O let Man who is made according to the similitude and likeness of Gods own goodness be faithful and Loyal to obey Kings and Princes in whom he hath imprinted the Image of his power and authority Mary Magdalen sate at our Saviours feet his Disciple John came nearer to his head and leaned upon his breast so God hath put all the world under his feet but Kings and Rulers lean as it were upon his breast as coming nearer to his love Now as the Altar was a refuge for them that fled unto it so Kings being as it were united unto God by an invisible copulation they are like priviledged persons always next unto the Altar and the hand of violence must not hurt them He that despiseth you despiseth me and he that honoureth you honoureth me But the Jesuit is more subtle than any beast of the field and he puts in a quarrel against Gods Anointed that if any prove an Heretick or a scandalous person to the Church nolumus hunc regnare then he hath lost the privilege of his Unction and his Scepter shall be broken by the Popes effulminating Authority I cannot answer this traiterous opposition better than by an Embleme of a Diamond with this word dum formas minuis He that pares a Diamond to make it give a better lustre and to point it artificially impairs the worth and value of the Diamond so to cut such large allowance from the due which God hath granted without that qualification to his Vice-gerents under pretence to make their Kingdom more beautiful and religious is the next way to break the neck of all Soveraignty it were well we had less of their art and more of their honesty As Agesilaus wrote to the Judges in the behalf of Nicias if Nicias his Cause be good let justice prevail if his Cause be wrong let favour prevail but be sure that Nicias prevail So say I if the Scepter of the King be a Scepter of mercy and righteousness God be blessed it is then we will honour it for righteousness sake if it should go wrong and not as we would have it so it hath far'd with other Common-wealths the Throne of the King is established in heaven and we must honour it for Gods sake but be sure the King be honour'd and obeyed There is a Fable which Plutarch hath to this purpose the Tail of the Snake began to cavil with the Head because the Head did always lead the way and direct the Body which way it list The Tail would not be contented unless it might go formost by course and the Head come sometimes behind but what followed upon this new contrivance the Tail prickt it self in thorns the Body was bruised every part offended and at last the Head was intreated to take upon him to lead and then the whole body was contented Beloved our part is to pray to God that the Head may run on in the right way like the matchless Pair that went before the mirrour of women pious Queen Elizabeth and the most excellent and learned of all wise Princes that ever were or shall be blessed King James Our part is to submit our wisdom to the secret counsels of the King and to demonstrate our faithfulness and love more amply by how much the times are like to be dangerous and troublesome but for the Tail to go formost it is a dishonour to God who hath given the Crown and Scepter to the King and it can breed nothing but disorder and confusion To sum up these four
made him cry out These men came not in by Gods honorabo and therefore they went out with a mischief infelicity was the end of that honour which was not begun in humility Let my speech sink into the heart of all those whom God hath advanced to the rule of his People let the meanest find favour in their eyes as well as the greatest mercy and justice love and charity you owe them alike to all the world to Caius and Titius alike to Neighbour and Stranger An elegant Minstril if his Musick be delicious a sporting Stage-player and the like shall be admitted into the noblest Assemblies and I am sure it is better than sport and musick to a worthy Magistrate to hear a man oppressed with wrong relate his grievances and redress them Pudeat aspernari fratrem quem Deus non aspernatur filium says St. Austin Do not despise him for thy Brother whom God hath accepted for his Son This I have spoken for the first share of honour which God giveth in this life and that for these two ends in utilitatem humilitatem First to promote the publick good Secondly to be depress'd in humility But alas what do we speak of Promotions in great places this is small comfort to the poor man although it came from God A poor Philosopher told a rich man that invited him He was set at the lower end of the Table ut ultimum locum cohonestaret to bring the lowest room in credit So divers and very rare Personages are but underlings in this life ut ultimum locum cohonestarent but these may partake of honours in the second life from the voice of fame for the memorial of the just shall be blessed saith the Lord. Very briefly of this You have known loving Fathers bequeath somewhat to their Posthumi to their Babes which should be born after their decease in whom they could never take joy nor comfort so divers at the last gasp of their life have bequeathed Monuments and places of liberality to charitable uses to reap that glory after their decease which they should never hear of A question may be asked in this place if it be lawful to call Colleges or Free-Schools or Hospitals after the Founders names that posterity may know them and testifie their pious affection I must mollify the answer propter duritiam cordis vestri because of the hardness of mens hearts for I had rather allow it as good and give some indulgence to human infirmity which itcheth after praise than Structures of Charity should fail and the hands of the liberal should quite be dried up But this is truth without yielding one whit to mans frailty good works offend not because they are seen but when their upshot and scope is to be seen that their praise may be divulged Si times spectatores non habebis imitatores says Gregory as who should say it is good to have our light shine that men may behold and imitate it not that they may behold and applaud it as the Schoolmen express it ad profectum aliorum non ad ostentationem sui not for our own reputation but for our Brothers edification 'T is a sign of a generous and noble spirit to do good things among other scopes and intentions to purchase a good name contemptu famae contemnuntur virtutes Certainly the propagation of a good name when it is not ambitiously coveted and affected it is a leaf of Gods own Chronicle and a blessing of many days wrought by his power who is the Ancient of days He that compared glory unto vertue as the shadow unto the body hit of a good similitude sometimes the shadow is cast before the body as when our glory is reported in our own ears Sometimes the shadow is cast behind the body as when the memory of our good deeds remains after us and this is from the Lord. Oblivion cast upon some is like the Plague of darkness cast upon Egypt Three Kings of Judah sprung from a wicked Race of whom our Saviour came touching the flesh are quite omitted in his Pedigree Mat. i. as if they had never been and who they were it shall not be named for me since the Holy Ghost despised to reckon them Tola judged Israel twenty three years and all that he did is not so much remembred as that Paul left his Cloak at Troas Joabs valour is forgotten among the Worthies of David because of his cruelty It is Alexander Hales his observation that the Scripture doth spend some Chapters to relate the Fall of Adam because Man recovered himself by the Promise made in Christ But not a word is spoken concerning the Fall of Lucifer and the Evil Angels neither in Moses nor the Prophets except it be under Parables and since it was their sin to rise against God they could not procure such an instance of their memory in Gods Books as to have the story of their Fall But a good name is a precious ointment an Ointment which is consecrated and made holy by the blessing of God Well let us proceed to the third and last portion of Gods Honour in tertio seculo aeterno in the life everlasting and here is comfort in the end For let the worst be made of the good mans fortune his calling is not honourable but private and his infamy perchance not private but publick Naboth dies for Cursing and Stephen for Blaspheming and both were innocent Now where is Honorabo What is become of the Honour that God promised And yet who deserved it better than such a man Nemo virtutem Sanctius coluit quam qui boni viri famam perdidit ne conscientiam perderet No man loves Vertue more than he that had rather die with an ill name than with an ill conscience Where is such a mans Honour Where the Philosophers Country was when he pointed up to heaven Blessed are you says our Saviour when men revile you and speak all manner of evil falsly on you for my Names sake rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven There no Julian is an Emperour no Sanballat a Magistrate nor Caiphas an High Priest Si Honor diligitur illic quaeratur ubi nemo indignus honoratur says St. Austin Double my portion there O Lord and as Mephibosheth said Let Ziba take all and surely this Honour is best agreeable to the Text Honorabo I will honour him It is a blessing in future at such a time I may say when time shall be no more Not as the Gloss hath it Qui benè utitur dignitate conservabo eum in statu dignitatis suae He that manageth any promotion of Honour justly and faithfully I will keep him in it and not cast him down Nay admit that faithfulness and just dealing be an occasion to cast him down the sooner as it befel Aristides still Honorabo is a good promise when greatness is eclipsed upon Earth heaven stands sure and there the condition of this promise
King Agrippa's leave almost a Christian was three parts an Atheist Such a glimmering light of zeal is like a Morning mist which quickly vanisheth away and it is Christus suffuratus as the Souldiers said Christ stoln away and pilfered out of our heart I know not how He that never saw the Sea is as near his journeys end to pass it over as he that wades but to the ankles The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundation of this house and his hands shall finish it Zach. iv 9. that was a blessing from the Lord. To be of Caesars mind Nil actum credens cum quid superesset agendum to think nothing done when any thing was undone that was a Spirit to make a Conquerour My love is a bundle of Myrrh Cant. xiii As if she were like Seleucus shafts which could not be broken in the cluster Such a bundle of Myrrh is in St. Peter 2 Epist i. 5. Give all diligence and add to your faith vertue to your vertue knowledge to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to all these charity What will all these serve the turn when they stand as thick as corn in harvest Yes says the Apostle Si abundaverint if they abound in you they will make you you shall not be barren and fruitless Thus then Truth and Mercy will forsake us if we do not further the gift of God take away the single Talent and give it to him that hath ten more The next way to make our heart cast this happy brood and to miscarry when it travels with Truth and Mercy is admotione contrarii by taking part both with God and Belial Asahal was not more nimble than St. John to fly away when he spied Cerinthus the eldest Son of Satan in the same Bath with him and therefore do not think to make your soul an Ark for the clean and unclean beasts to lie together A little frosty air is so forcible that it bursts the clouds and forceth out the hot exhalation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is spirted out between the fingers and gone before you can think of it Beloved that field in Israel was hated like Aceldama which was sown with divers seeds and Nehemiah cursed the children that spake one half in the Hebrew Tongue and another part in the Language of Ashdod Covetousness is so wealthy and it thrives so fast that it easily purchaseth the whole heart of man and whom at first you entertained like a foreiner to have one moyety in your heart it buys the whole possession over Mercies head Veios migrate coloni and so casts it forth And likewise so incompatible is truth with the least falshood that the haters of the Lord were found liars at our Saviours arraignment when he spake nothing Is it not strange Very strange That Christ should come before unrighteous Judges be impeached by malicious Adversaries all this while hold his peace and yet the Witness not agree Will you know the reason There came two false Witnesses Mat. xxvi Averring that this fellow said I am able to destroy the Temple of God and to build it again in three days There is another tale told Mar. xiv We heard him say I will destroy this Temple made with hands and will build another without hands But what said our Saviour in very deed You shall find his saying Joh. ii 19. Neither I can destroy with the former nor I will destroy with the latter But vos solvite do you destroy and solvite templum hoc the Temple of his body and in three days I will raise it up You cannot clap good and bad together but with waxen pins if you move them a little they fly asunder the wax melteth and it confounds the Chariot and his Rider For what agreement hath light with darkness or the Temple of the Lord with Idols Touching the third manner and the last how a quality may cease to be desitione subjecti when that faileth wherein it is it hath no place only in Truth and Mercy Other things indeed we can expect to remain no longer than the house of our body lasteth beauty ceaseth with the bloud and strength faileth with the sinews nay tongues shall cease and knowledge shall vanish away but mercy and charity abideth for ever Yea and truth also but veritas in visione not in fide Truth in the clear vision of God and not darkly in faith In a word as Joseph furnished his Brethren both with food for their travel and Corn to keep house with in the Land of Canaan So there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. James gifts for our Pilgrimage in this life and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gifts to abide with us in our Country above perfect gifts descending from the Father of lights So some endowments drop away with this house of flesh but after glorification this voice shall no more be heard in our ears let not Mercy and Truth forsake thee But this uncomfortable deserant that Gods gifts may forsake us is to view Jacob but as a Criple halting and failing in his combate but nè deserant let them not forsake thee shews Israel wrestling with the Angel and keeping God as I may speak it with reverence fast unto him with a chain of Faith To begin therefore with Mercy there are two ways to keep a firm possession of it by Meditation and by Petition The Meditations also shall be twain and very short ones for the time sake First Consider that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Fathers call it the deep engagement of our Charity in the Lords Prayer Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our brethren and no otherwise Lord what a deep curse do we bring upon our soul if this be not said in earnest Secondly Consider the compassion of all the Members in that mystical body whereof Christ is the head He that is hard hearted against a Christian is cruel against a part of himself Nero might fill the streets with the slaughtered bodies of the Saints For why he was none of ours but a Lion in the Sheepfold but a little bitterness a disdaining contempt a reviling malediction the neglect of the misery of a Christian at the hands of a Christian is more unnatural It was St. Basils counsel and most elegant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that as he that looks upon the sore eye of another man may chance to provoke the rheum in his own eyes so our eyes should grow feeble and conceive tears when we see the tears of our brother If we chance to offend against Mercy and to forget one of these Meditations it is very likely that it will stop at the other but if both fail then we must fly unto uncessant Prayer and Petition That is Anchora sacra for the last refuge let us fall down before his footstool and confirm Gods grace to our soul as Elias made the heavens of brass I do not mean so
Parable But this Vow of the Rechabites may be discharged with facility Of their Pastoral life they had many examples in other Countries of men living in Woods as if they had been born of Trees and of their temperate life they had an instance in the Nazarites But nothing is more feizable in the World than evil therefore in the third place it concerns a Vow to be lawful To resolve upon evil is a defiance against God omnis promissio mali est comminatio Isaiah calls it an agreement with Hell and a Covenant with Death Lamech that swore in his wrath to kill a man the Mother of Michah who did solemnly dedicate her Silver for a molten Image the Swordmen that vowed the death of Paul these gave their faith in hostage to the Devil to work iniquity Put to these the revengeful Romanist that is sent to sea by his Ghostly Father with a worse Devil in him than was in the Gergasens Swine to set Kingdoms in combustion and to destroy the Lords Anointed There are also unlawful Votaries but not so bad as the former whose heart was right with the Lord in their Vow but being rash and sudden never considered that the issue might be dangerous Thus Jepthab returning from the slaughter of the Ammonites brought a deliberate curse upon his own Daughter And what justice was in the Oath of Saul that swore every man should die that tasted food that day as well he that heard the Law as Jonathan that did not These are Vows like sharp arrows shot up into Heaven soft enough while they are in the air but the danger is whose head they light upon when they return again Well I acquit the Vow of the Rechabites from any harm to drink or spare is lawful it is our freedom making no conscience Not one Expositor of many but conceive that Jonadab and his Children took this penance upon them because it grieved them to hear that Sion should be desolate and Jerusalem an heap of stones Let others feast it while destruction comes upon them unawares There are such lovers of themselves qui mallent stellam de coelo perire quà m vaccam de armento who had rather Heaven should lose a Star than himself be endamaged a Sheep the Vine will not leave his sweetness nor the Olive his fatness neither would put away private content for the publick good but a zealous Rechabite is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and leaves both the sweetness of the Wine and all power for ever to plant Vineyards the better to be prepared to pray for Jerusalem Lastly multa licent quae non expediunt May it be done safely that is some content but is it fit to be done faciens ad cultum Dei is it profitable for holiness that is the fourth Condition Every act of Divine Worship well placed raiseth up our melody unto God in a higher note the noise of every idle superstition drowns the Musick When David vowed an Habitation for the mighty God of Jacob Arise O Lord into thy resting place thou and the ark of thy strength then he fill'd Heaven and Earth with his Melody We heard of the same at Ephrata and found it in the woods But that rude noise Templum Domini Templum Domini to vow Pilgrimages and gadding about to I know not what it breeds no incensement of devotion a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like an Artist more busie than well occupied that made a Charriot for a Fly to draw it But that this Vow was of some moment in the practice of piety it appears by Gods benediction upon them in the last verse of this Chapter For as it was said of Socrates his goodness that it stood the Commonwealth of Athens in more stead than all their warlike Prowess by Sea and Land so that Religious life of the Rechabites was the best Wall and Fortress to keep Judah in peace and safety Those that like Thomas the Apostle would put their finger into the world and thrust their hand into riches and see the print of their nails or else they will not believe these would make you think that they were Disciples of Christ and yet indent to receive Tribute from him as if he were their Servant And almost who doth not follow Christ rather to be a gainer by him than a loser Ecce nos reliquimus omnia Behold we have left all and followed thee that was the perfection of the Apostles that was the state of the Rechabites not simply all every thing that belonged to the maintenance of a man and so to live upon beggery sed quid velle debeant didicerunt they have learned to ask nothing but a Gourd to cover their head a few Flocks of Sheep to imploy their hands the Spring water to quench their thirst They that must have no more have cut off superfluous desires that they can never ask more And so I have declared that piety and a godly life were chiefly aimed at in the Vow of the Rechabites But admit it had all in one Vow which could be good in any will it avail to license a Profession of Votaries in our Reformed Church my Text casts this Question in the way and I will remove it in a word If any man would make a single Vow for his own person by this Example let him go on and prosper Advice is necessary in so great a business and in the multitude of Counsellors there is safety A Vow of Private Devotion hath always been allowed in these cases following First when the heart of any humble Supplicant did earn to obtein some great mercy from God 2. When a terror of some imminent judgment did hang over the head of sinners and threaten destruction not to be fourty dayes distance off as in the case of the Ninevites 3. It may be a caveat to check concupiscence lest we sin over our enormous sins not once but often Lastly it kindles a frozen and benummed zeal and puts a flame into it as if it had been set afire by a Seraphin with a Coal from the Altar Now for publick Confederacy of many persons in one Order it is as lawful being well managed as it is full of exceptions before the institution Why may there not be holy Combinations to praise the Lord as there are Orders for Chivalry and Honour in divers Countries as the most noble Order of the Garter in our own Kingdom the Knights of the Golden Fleece and the like I know not any well advised man that can take exceptions at the Knights of the Sepulcher instituted in a strict Collegiate life covenanting to fight against Pagans for the Christian Faith upon their own charges and bearing Crosses about their neck in remembrance of our Saviours five wounds but if any other condition shall intervene to the affronting of Religion quae dederam supra repeto funemque reduco I will no more approve such knots of superstition than I would allow of Sheba the Son of Bichri
be yet it is a sweet consolation that we have a general taste of Gods Mercies and gracious Promises towards them but no good Christian can choose but think so divinely of the Sacraments that our comfort is more perfect and better satisfied when they had the special seal of grace before they departed And if any mans fancy lead him to hold that both shall be glorified yet where the honour of the Sacrament lights the greater glory shall follow I had rather assent to this opinion than gainsay it though I know not how to prove it And let me end this Point as he begins his Poem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Water is the best Element in the world The Air for natural life the Water for spiritual And my exhortation is that you endeavour to see the Sacrament conferred upon all Infants as far as it is possible because John says I have need to be baptized I must now proceed to shew that John found imperfection in his own heart and therefore thus bemoans himself I have need to be baptized Two Expositions I suppose are natural to this Point 1. I have need to be baptized with thy Spirit and to receive thy grace 2. I desire that the infinite merit of thy bloud-shedding may be applied to me for the washing away of my sins The Baptism of the Spirit is the infusion of heavenly grace into the soul and John confesseth he had need of it Need I mean of the increase thereof although he had it in great abundance as soon as he was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. Abraham was circumcised in his old age and yet was justified before he received Circumcision Rom iv Cornelius was baptized having received comfort before from the Angel that his Prayers and Alms were pleasing to God When great multitudes of the Gentiles had their hearts touch'd from heaven says Peter Can any forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we Acts x. 47. In these instances it is seen that some grace did prevent the Sacrament and yet the parties who had received the Holy Ghost came willingly to be baptized For God doth not give all his grace at once or twice but more and more is added and supplied to the former Dose and though the outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day therefore the holiest Prophet alive while he carries flesh upon his loyns may say and ought to say I have need to be baptized of the Spirit This interpretation is accepted of all sides and what rubs can the other find that John did implore the mercies of Christ for the washing away of his sins Though he in a mortifying phrase and most contrite humility may seem to put himself in the number of sinners and so I have cited St. Ambrose making that sense of his words Tu venis ad me peccatorem Dost thou come to me a sinner Yet there are some that say unto him as Peter did to our Saviour Master spare thy self So they to another purpose spare thy self do not condemn thine own innocency thou art not polluted neither hadst thou any corruption in thee which could extend unto a mortal sin for it is written Luke i. 15. He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mothers womb That John was sanctified before he was born is it which hath made the scruple This is the doubt then which I am to clear that a man sanctified from his nativity I before his nativity may be a sinner whose iniquities have need to be washt away in the bloud of Christ To be sanctified from the womb it is a word of divers constructions and when I have named them all choose ye which you will and my conclusion will be inviolable First It hath been usual to say such Infants were sanctified from the beginning of their life to whom God hath very soon demonstrated some extraordinary favour So St. Ambrose says of Jacob the Patriarch that it was a sign of grace in him before he was born that he wrestled with Esau in the womb of Rebecca Ephraim the Syrian says as much of Moses that a divine blessing was upon him as soon as he was exposed in the Ark of Bulrushes because Pharaohs Daughter when she lookt upon him could not choose but pitty him Yet neither of these were so undefiled in their way but that they had need of remission of sins Secondly St. Austin hath this interpretation that to sanctifie him from the womb is not to pour extraordinary grace into the Infant at that rawness of age but to ordain him in due time unto Sanctification Sanctificavi i. e. destinavi sanctificare it is spoken of as a thing done in the present because Gods Predestination is sure from the first conception As the Gentiles are called the children of God before the Doctrine of faith was preach'd among them because they should be made the children of God as it is written Joh. xi 52. that Christ died not only for that Nation of the Jews but for the children of God that were scattered abroad the instance is in Jer. i. 5. I knew thee before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified and ordained thee a Prophet unto the Nations Even Maldonat confesseth out of these words he was sanctified because from the first minute of life he was ordained to be sanctified Non per inspirationem Prophetiae sed per destinationem not as if he were inspired so young but so young in the eternal Council he was appointed to be inspired It is in effect as St. Paul offers himself to us in the like phrase Gal. i. 15. It pleased God who separated me from my mothers womb and called me by his grace To separate from the womb is the same as to sanctifie from the womb Separare est à patre matre rebusque terrenis rem segregare Deo consecrare It is to draw a thing from Father Mother and all earthly relations and to appropriate it to God And yet this Apostle sighs it forth that he is the greatest of sinners and yet separated or sanctified from the womb And surely it is a Text of validity to prove that Jeremy was not cleansed from the foulness of Original sin for he reviles the day of his birth because it brought forth nothing but a miserable sinner Cursed be the day wherein I was born let not the day wherein my Mother bare me be blessed Jer. xx 14. I am very loth to lay any faults to the Saints of God yet after all answers and shifts I cannot see but that Jeremy in those words is guilty of great impatiency Thirdly To be sanctified not only from the womb but even from the earliest minute of life in the conception is to be endowed with eminent motions of grace not usual to other Infants and so it was in John the Baptist in whom two things of Gods especial