these persons and to this season not to these persons for it is most likely that none but the Apostles were partakers of the Divine illumination which came from Heaven upon this day and the Apostles no man calls it in question had the talents of that grace delivered unto them which saved their souls Ir is a masterless and a false fame that any castaways were in the number of these that were filled with the Holy Ghost Christ himself is said to be full of the Holy Ghost Luke iv 1. and the Blessed Virgin gratiâplena full of grace and St. Stephen the Captain of all Martyrs full of the Holy Ghost Acts vi and Barnabas the Son of Consolation full of the Holy Ghost Acts xi None but such as were peerless Saints are deigned with that praise to give this scruple a full satisfaction regard the time and season wherein this dew of heaven did drop down into the Fleece of wooll it is the day so long before promised wherein the Spirit should be poured out upon all flesh the scaturigo the first spouting out of the Spirit and do you think that this being the original from whence the spring began that all the best Balsams and Liquors did not flow into them that received it I resolved therefore that these persons in my Text did not only partake such gifts as made them wonderful in the eyes of the world but such also as made them holy and acceptable in the sight of God that is it did not only speak in their tongues but it was diffused in their hearts To end this matter remember what manner of spirit that is which God bestows it is from above it is holy it is not our own but Christs a Spirit from above and not from beneath as St. Paul says Now we have received not the spirit of this world but of God 1 Cor. ii 12. Spiritus mundi est per quem arripiuntur phanatici says St. Ambrose that 's the spirit of this world with which phanatical men are led which drives them into contention or vain glory but they are enemies to peace and savour not the things which belong to God And since we are bidden to deny our selves if we will be Christs Disciples we must also deny our own private Spirit and submit our selves to the Spirit of the Church which is the Spirit of God for our Saviour hath promised to be with it unto the end of the world Take heed of this hot windy humour which makes some cleave pertinaciously to their own imagination and attribute far more to their own ignorant judgment than becomes them The Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets but if any one think that some new mysteries are revealed to him which the Church never heard of before and begin to trouble our peace with his falsesly pretended raptures and enthusiasms I say unto such in Ezekiels words Woe unto the foolish Prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing Thus far I have spoken of the Gift which was given to the Apostles to supply the room of Christ himself now he was gone and ascended into Heaven Hominem portavit in coelum Deum misit in terram says St. Austin he carried away his Manhood into Heaven and instead thereof he sent down God unto the Earth I mean the Holy Ghost and this Gift more worth than all the world beside is his usual and continual favour but the measure of it is more than ordinary repleti sunt omnes they were all filled with the Holy Ghost And Leo did very well to mark it that this was not spiritus inchoans but cumulans not the initiation but the accumulation of the Spirit the augmenting of the old stock which the Apostles had in a good quantity before not the beginning of a new They had the Spirit before as appears particularly in St. Peter when Christ told him he had prayed that his faith might not fail therefore he had a portion of faith In general it is most manifest that Christ breathed on them all and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost But as it appears by Elisha's request to his Master Elias there are single and there are double Portions of the Spirit there is a single Talent of Grace given to one Servant two to a second and five Talents committed to him that was most entrusted by his Master there are such as have a little of this Manna in their Omer and them that have it top full And these that received the Holy Ghost at this Feast were such as were not sprinkled but replenished with it quibus nulla pars animae mansit carens spiritu sancto says Cajetan the fruits of sanctification did not grow thinly in them here a berry and there a berry upon the top of a bough but pious conformity to Gods will obedience and the fear of the Lord were in every faculty of their soul and body The Romanists oftentimes put in such impertinent cautions that their bedging in of some needless exception lays waste the truth of God Among others of that bad stamp this is one that the Apostles and other holy men are said to be filled at this time with the Holy Ghost because an Increase was put to that which they had before but the Blessed Virgin was so full before that she received not any new addition or if she received a new distillation of it now illud erat ut in nos tantum effunderet says Lorinus it was for our sakes that it might overflow and be transfused from her to us even as Christ was full of grace and truth from the first moment that he was incarnate and yet for our sakes the Spirit came upon him when he was baptized in Jordan Matth. iii. a most scandalous comparison between the Infinite and the Finite between the Creator and the Creature for though Christ thought it no robbery to be equall with God Philip. ii yet it is a great robbery of the Divine honor to make the Blessed Virgin equal with Christ But to keep to mine own work the Apostles had an earnest penny of the Spirit before but they came to the fulness of it by degrees first they were baptized and so had an introduction unto sanctity afterward Christ breathed on them that was their proficiency last of all came this mighty rushing and cloven tongues as it were fire and sat upon each of them that 's their perfection by nature and of themselves they were of the earth earthly but they were regenerate and born again in Baptism that 's an Element above the Earth The next step of their heavenly promotion was that the Lord breathed on them so the Air is above the Water In conclusion the Holy Ghost came down upon them in fire this is a sign that they were now full to the brim for that 's the Element which is above the Water and the Air and is the next to Heaven And well may it be called a
earthen pitcher if martyrdom burn in it like a lamp and the pitcher be broken to pieces then we shall have victory against our spiritual enemies and peace with God Fourthly Let us make that use of our Saviours first coming into the world in flesh which St. Paul doth of his second coming in glory 1 Cor. 4.5 The Lord cometh who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God The most obscure things shall be made manifest unto his light and the thoughts of all hearts shall be revealed unto him The righteous Lord trieth the very hearts and reins Psal 7.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to try the heart is verbum forense as when Magistrates examine the truth not by questions only but by rack and torments they will have all out in confession so God is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to draw out all secrets from our inward breast And it is impossible to keep the subtilest thred of iniquity concealed When he came to judgment against Egypt and sent his Angel to kill their first-born yet at midnight he knew which was an Egyptian and which was an Israelite so though we carry our sins with a demure countenance and smooth it with subtile hypocrisie yet his knowledge shineth in the darkness of our hearts as if it were light and he can distinguish between our inward affections our thoughts our fancies our sighs and yearnings that this is an Israelite born of the will of God and this an Egyptian born of the will of flesh Laban could not find his Idols because Rachael had laid them privily in her stuff but the Lord can detect that Idolatry which we keep close in our hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Grammarian the Greeks denominate God from penetrating all things with his eye and when Christ could see into the profoundness of Nathanaels thoughts behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile Nathanael instantly confest Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel Alas that we go on still in darkness and do not understand are you in your wits that think iniquity is farther from judgment because it is farther from appearance do you forget the discoverie of Achans wedge and Gehazi's briberie do you not recal how the Priests of Bel were detected for gluttons and impostors creeping in at secret doors to gurmandize the junkets prepared for the Idol deal squarely and without dissimulation for you think it is night and no man sees but the glory of the Lord is round about you Fifthly No sooner was the world blest with the Birth of this holy Child God and Man but the Angels put on white apparel the air grows clear and bright darkness is dispell'd therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and walk as children of the light the earth should be more innocently walkt on too and fro because Christ hath trod upon it our bodies kept clean in chastity because he hath assum'd our nature and blest it Gods word should be heard more respectfully because he hath preacht it finally our conversation should be honest as in the day because the day-spring from on high hath visited us Wicked men are groping like the Sodomites to find out mischief though God have hid it out of the way The Saints and Angels are in a state of light wherein they know as they are known perfectly partaking of the beatifical vision between these two there is a middle condition of godly men who see into the way of righteousness though it be darkly as in a glass but they that dress them by a glass can discern how to mend any thing that mis-becomes them So the Gospel of Grace is a mirror of the light of Glory it is not the fault of the Gospel but of our own darkness if we learn not of it to put on the true wedding garment The Apostle calls it the putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ Vbi animus tenebrescere tentationum caligine coeperit ad lucem gratiae reformatur When the conscience is overcast with the darkness of temptation it flies to the looking-glass of Grace and reforms it self by looking into it This is to vindicate our selves from the powers of darkness and to walk decently as in the day Works of lewdness come from the darkness of our understanding they love to be done in privacy and not before the eyes of men abjiciamus says St. Paul as if he would have you fling them away to the Devil and bid him take his own As a wise servant would not be found with folly in his hand if he knew his Master were near so because our salvation is come as this day in humility and we know not how little he will defer to come in Majesty therefore abjiciamus throw away his filthiness from you lest Christ should come and find profanation in your mouth oppression in your purse false tinctures of art and pride in your face and disobedience in your heart Every child of light will have his lamp burning in his hand and by this he will know you whether you be his Disciple if you speak the truth and come to the light as if the glory of the Lord were round about you Lastly A glimpse of some celestial light did sparkle at his Birth to set our teeth on edge to enjoy him who is light of lights very God of very God and to dwell with him in that City which hath no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God did enlighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof I conclude with St. Paul Col. 1.12 Let us give thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Amen THE FOURTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION LUKE ii 10. And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring yon good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people THat which is every mans salutation wherewith he greets his neighbour at this time of the year is the subject of my Text a merry Christmas it is it which we wish one to another among our friends and familiers and it is it which the Angel in my Text wisheth to all kindreds of the world as if we were all become his friends and familiers good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people And surely were it not that the Birth of Jesus made us merry at this season and put gladness into our hearts all the year beside would be louring and lumpish without all manner of consolation Until God sent forth his Son made of a woman we might not receive the adoption of Sons Without adoption we had no part in the inheritance without hope of the inheritance what
bad to pry as far as to the highest and most secret Ark of glory above Secondly Sometimes the heavens are said to be opened Non reseratione elementorum sed spiritualibus oculis says St. Hierom not by a real apparition in the heavens but the intellectual fancy travels in child-birth with a divine passion and it seems to be opened to our soul when it is wrapt as it were with an extasie sent from God So Ezekiel being ravisht from himself in the Spirit saw the heavens opened and the visions of God In like manner Paul was wrapt up into the third heavens and saw unutterable strange things but he could not resolve himself whether he were in the body when he saw them This is intellectual Vision which cannot agree with my Text for the rarity of the wonder is that divine things became obvious to men in a visible manifestation the Son of God in the flesh the Holy Ghost in the shape of a Dove the voice of the Father brought sensibly to the ear Then surely this apparition of the heaven opened came not secretly to the understanding but openly to the eye of man They that go the third way bind themselves to the plain Letter of the Scripture that some part of the heaven was drawn open like a Curtain that a prospect of glory might be seen to enamour the soul of all Spectators Others reject it and say that it were superfluous to make a rupture in the heaven if not impossible Thou hast molted the heavens and founded them like brass Job xxxvii Suppose that true in the Literal sense it follows that it is therefore inviolable to be broken asunder by any natural cause howsoever God can crack their solidity and rent them asunder Yet hear with what subtilty it is pleaded that this were superfluous for Heaven is a Diaphanous body you may see through it we behold the Sun and fixed Stars so many thousand thousand cubits distant from us above the Spheres why then should the junctures of the Orbs be opened to shew an Object when they are more transparent than the air But admit the heaven is opened what shall fill the Hiatus or vacuity All the Element of fire and air would not suffice to replenish a breach from the concave of the Moon to the highest Orb. You must not say the space is left void Vacuum was never heard of in nature besides unless the space of the rupture were filled up no species could be conveyed unto the eye to make an Object visible For when some Philosophers delivered that if it were not for the interposition of the Element of Air a Fly might be seen as far as heaven Aristotle shews their error that if it were not for the medium of the air no man could see a Milstone at the distance of an inch These reasons according to nature are undeniable that the heavens need not be really opened to discover any thing above but if God would have it so to make it a complete evident sign that by our Saviours mediation the heavens shall open and receive our bodies hereafter into glory then is it frivolous in man to dispute that it must be superfluous Fourthly Lira when he had studied upon it how the heaven was opened says it was no more but that the Air was disparted by a great glance of lightning The Heathen indeed called that the opening of the heaven Ruptoque polo micat igneus aether It was a lightning from heaven that cast Saul upon his face unto the ground Acts ix 3. And among other terrors of Gods Majesty David rehearseth this Psal xviii 13. The Lord thundred from heaven his lightnings gave shine unto the world the earth saw it and was afraid By the rule of these instances this opinion should be discarded because this opening of the heaven was sweet and amiable to the beholders no ways terrible yet since it is obvious in heathen Writings especially among their Poets to allow some flashes of bright lightning for fortunate and auspicious therefore I do not disprove nor yet greedily embrace this conjecture Fifthly The Air is so often taken for the lowest heaven as nothing more usual he rained Manna upon them and gave them food from heaven Psal lxxviii 25. And when the Deluge did drown the world it is said when the Air poured forth rain that the windows of heaven were opened Gen. vii 11. Wherefore a mutation in the Air above might be a representment in this place that the heavens were opened as thus a fair and delightful passage might seem to be spread abroad by the condensation or thickning together of the upper part of the Air making it a shining body and by the rarefaction of the lower part of the Air through which the object might be conveyed with much grace and beauty to the beholders Now out of these three last conjectures how the heavens were opened choose ye which ye will The first is literal but full of difficulty the second not improbable the last without exception and above all the rest most usual Being past the first consideration what is meant by the opening of the heavens which I acknowledge is not clear from all uncertainty the next Point I am sure is most certain what did procure such a Miracle that the glory from heaven did appear to men upon earth for it is evidently certified Luk. iii. 21. Jesus being baptized and praying the heaven was opened Elias shut up the heaven by the word of the Lord and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain unto the earth If the supplication of the Servant was in such force with the Master then how forcible must the Prayer of the Son be of the well beloved Son before his Father He shall not only bring down the rain upon us like Elias but the waters above the heavens to fall down upon our heads all the searching graces of the Holy Ghost But from each of those examples you may see what part of Religion that is which is clavis coeli the Key to open the gate of heaven it is Prayer For how should God open the heaven to you if you will not open your lips to God I return to the pattern of Elias whose words were commendatory to close or unclose the skie according as he made intercession to God Well did Elisha entitle him the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof Quia magis juvabat Israelem oratione zelo quà m magna curruum equitum multitudo Out of the Chaldee Paraphrase for his Prayer and Zeal did stand Israel in better stead than a multitude of horsemen and Chariots Observe with me two things most remarkable in his Prayer and then think if he were not a man like to prevail in his intercessions 1. He cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees as if by that strange humble miserable gesture he would compel God to hear him 2. He rose from his Prayers
sidepieces of the tree do resemble horns he might as well have said that the Metaphor was taken from the Altar in the Old Law upon which the Sacrifices were presented because the Psalmist says bind the Sacrifice with cords unto the horns or extremities of the Altar Into the number of these that are more elegant than litteral in their allusions let me cast in Lombard thus he an horn is an altitude above the flesh and because it grows higher than the flesh therefore Christ is called an horn rather than a buckler of salvation because our hope in him is not carnal but spiritual and it is he that gives us grace and power to overcome the flesh These and such like subtilties I think it fit rather to name than to prosecute But Theophylact hath collected the solid reasons of this Appellation into few words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it betokens either the mighty power or the Kingdom of salvation An horn is the weapon and strength of that Creature out of which it brancheth and therefore it is usual almost in every book of Scripture to borrow a Metaphor from it as the Lord shall give strength to his King and exalt the horn that is the power of his Anointed 1 Sam. ii 10 and Psal lxxxviii In my name shall his horn that is his strength and fortitude be exalted and to break the horns of sinners is to pull down their pride and dominion Psal lxxiv. I spare to recite innumerous quotations which are extant every where in Scripture but in this phrase the Holy Ghost intends that according to the translation which is in our Morning Service God hath raised up a mighty salvation in the house of his servant David O puissant Lord and Saviour who is able to comprehend what infinite power did concur to this effect that the everlasting God should be incarnate and become man This birth may seem to the outward man to be nothing but a spectacle of weakness and misery Look upon an Infant laid in a Manger wrapt in swadling clouts the Son of a poor Maid espoused to a Carpenter and from these circumstances the question might be askt Where is this horn Where is this strength which Zachary hath laboured to express so emphatically I answer That the Nativity of Jesus was the greatest demonstration of the power of God that ever the world received The Virgin Mary hath commended it to be very true in her Song verse 49 of this Chapter He that is mighty hath done unto me great things And St. Basil says that the Incarnation was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evidence of the Divine Omnipotency It is a strange efficacy of nature to conjoyn repugnant Elements in the composition of our flesh as fire and water It is yet more strange to put an Elementary body and an immaterial soul into one composition but to joyn an increated and eternal God in one union of person with these things it exceeds all other marvels Neque Adami de limo terrae formatio neque Evae de viri carne plasmatio Iesu Christi potest ortui comparari says Leo the creation of Adam from the dust of the earth the efformation of Eve from the rib of Adam both are things to astonish our weak understanding but neither of these are comparable to his Nativity that was the Son of God and the Son of Mary this is the very firmitude of the horn whereof I am to speak there are other rights and branches of it For as Gods power doth astonish us that the Word should be made Flesh so it brings our admiration to more excess that he should become a Saviour he did overcome his own justice in that act and an Orator would say he grew mightier than himself if it were possible by sparing us Certainly there is good reason in that Axiom of the School that it was more to save a sinner than to create a world The heathen had their Saviours from wasteful diseases and pestilentious contagions as Pandion and Esculapius the Israelites had their Saviours from thraldom and the peril of the Sword as Moses and Joshuah But he that delivers us from the wrath of God and from the pit of hell he is the strong deliverer he is the horn of salvation Finally The Salvation which he hath brought us hath not only set us free but it hath put vigour and animosity in us to subdue our Adversaries that held us in thraldom What the Heathen spake of another thing I may fitly apply to Christ Tu spem reducis mentibus anxiis viresque addis cornua pauperi such as were poor and in misery being fast bound in the fetters of their sins thou hast refresht them with joy and given them horns to push down their enemies The dominion of sin is abated the edge of infernal tentations is rebated Death is swallowed up in victory the Devil cries out in the Gospel that he is tormented the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church this is salvation obtained for us not by compounding with our Foes and asking their leave but by strong force and puissant victory Cornu salutare nobis sed impiis terrificum It is a soveraign horn to us but an instrument of offence against the wicked His horns are the horns of an Vnicorn with them shall he smite the heathen even the ends of the world Deut. xxxiii 17. the false flattering Prophet Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah put on horns to sooth up Ahab Antichrist is described with ten horns and seven heads Revel xvii 3. to denote that he is armed to bring destruction upon those that cleave in sincerity of truth unto the Lord. The Goat and the Ram which Daniel saw in his Vision chap. viii had terrible horns rising up between their eyes These were outragious tyrants whom God permitted to goar the innocent like mad Oxen but here 's an horn in my Text to break their malice as if it were but a slender reed The Judge that trieth the cause of the helpless against oppressors and casts them down for ever but our horn of salvation Indeed that 's his proper work to save and help his chosen it is by accident that for their sakes he wounds and offends their enemies he came not to destroy but to seek and to save that which is lost he would not the death of a sinner but that he should repent and be saved therefore it is due to be called not an horn of mischief but an horn of salvation Nor doth this word betoken his power only but his kingdom likewise as if Zachary had said God hath raised up a King of salvation to us in the house of his servant David So said St. Peter before the Council of the Scribes Acts v. 31. Him hath God lift up with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour The Chaldee Paraphrast who is very ancient agrees greatly with this for what the Psalm hath I will make the horn of David to flourish
John should leap at the presence of our Saviour in his mothers womb and though it were an extraordinary case yet it demonstrates that the Holy Ghost can inhabit in a babe that is yet unborn or newly brought forth into the world Choose ye which of these opinions you will or choose ye neither and only be contented to believe concerning little ones that theirs is the Kingdom of heaven and therefore they ought to be baptized for unless ye be born again of water and the holy Spirit ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven That is the stop of the first general Point the circumstance of time 1. Then when the people were full of repentance and did yearn for grace 2. Then when they began to conceit too much of John that he was the Christ 3. Then when our Saviour was of the ripe age of Priesthood and had seen thirty years in the world Then came c. It is time now to draw forward to the next general circumstance after what manner our Saviour would be baptized with the Baptism of John The Point is full of much matter even as Jordan it self in the time of harvest But I will obey the limits of the hour and handle two things briefly making my self your debter for the rest as God shall give occasion to pay it I frame therefore two questions on this sort 1. Upon what ground John did begin this new ceremony of Baptism never heard of before 2. What was the dignity or if you will call it so what was the vertue of Johns Baptism I address my self to the former To bring a new institution into the Church nay to bring in a new Sacrament of repentance for remission of sins this was more strange than if a new star had appeared in the Firmament What a confidence was in this great Prophet to call all Judea and the Regions round about unto him to receive Baptism And yet no print or footsteep in all the Law of Moses where such a Ceremony was commanded Nay if they had mark'd it it was to break the staff of the Law of Moses for upon the entertainment of a new Ceremony never heard of before it did betoken that old Rites and Customs were in their declination and near unto abolishing Besides is it not very strange that the learned Priests the wrangling Pharisees the ignorant people all with an unanimous consent should submit themselves to this new Ordinance and yet such an Ordinance as was confirmed by no miracle from heaven for John wrought no miracle the true wonder was that so many thousands should flock after him to be baptized without a miracle Yet the truth is that the most strict defenders of their own Law and the best Interpreters of it did not gainsay the new use of Baptism as unlawful for the Pharisees sent unto John and asked him Why baptisest thou if thou be not that Christ nor Elias nor that Prophet They do not quarrel the Ordinance of Baptism but what authority John had to baptize Two things are to be observed out of the forenamed Text for our satisfaction One that it was not belonging to the Office of any Priest or Prophet in the Old Testament to baptize unto remission of sins Another thing is that the Jews expected the washing of water to cleanse them from their sins under the Kingdom of Christ as S. Hierom thinks they collected it Isa iv 4. The Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion as who should say Circumcision was a seal upon Male children only the water of regeneration under Christ shall belong to Females also Again Ezekiel speaking of the blessings that shall abound in Christ Chap. xxxvi 25. seems clearly to express this new Sacrament Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness Moreover I cannot say whether the Rabbies of deep learning had the knowledge to understand that their Forefathers were by a figure baptized in the red Sea and in the Cloud which went along with them in the Wilderness So St. Paul expounded it by the Spirit of God But the Pharisees and it seems all the people were perswaded that when the Messias came they should be baptized for the remission of their sins either by himself or by some great Prophet who should be his Associate Therefore if John were the Christ they confess he may baptize or if he were Elias he might baptize For Malachy foretold Chap. iv 5. Behold I will send Eliah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Or if he were that Prophet he might baptize not any Prophet inspired from God that is not the meaning but the same whom Moses speaks of Deut. xviii 15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken The Jews had no particular name for this Prophet the plain meaning is that Prophet is Christ himself Now Johns answer to the Pharisees was twofold what he was not and what he was He denies that he was the Christ or Elias himself who shall come perhaps before Christ as an Apparitor at the day of Judgment or that Prophet Then they object that he must not baptize nothing must be innovated in the Church without divine authority but they wilfully forgat what he said he was The voice of a Crier to prepare the ways of the Lord why co jure as the fore-runner of Christs Kingdom he betokened a new work was beginning and a new Ceremony of grace appointed and he baptized as many as came to Jordan and did confess their sins Praecursionis ordinem servavit nascendo baptisando says Gregory he shewed himself to be Christs Harbinger that went before him in Birth in Preaching and in Baptism Now ye see by what priviledge John did quite alter the old Mosaical Rites and began to baptize and I cannot omit how graciously by these means God did turn their superstition into a blessing To begin with the heathen who perceived in natural causes that water gives growth to Plants and Seeds and fecundity to all things but they forgat God who made it a fruitful part of nature and conceited that there was somewhat divine in that Element more than in any other not could they be contented to rest upon that which every man knows that a clean river would wash the dust and sweat from their body but were so foolish to souze themselves every morning thrice over head and ears in some pure Fountain as if it had some inherent vertue to cleanse the filthiness of their souls The Pharisees being more superstitious in their generation than any other Jews followed the heathen close Mar. vii 3. They eat not except they wash often if they come from Market except they wash they eate not and therefore they quarrel some of the Disciples that they eat with defiled that is with unwashen
is in his own house and may lurk there safe and secure but when he departs this life and comes out of doors Vae capiti woe be to him then his torment was deferred to be increased When Hagar and Ismael had spent their bottle of water and were ready to give up the Ghost for thirst was not this a good time to remember how injuriously Sarah had been despised and Isaac mocked And that both he and she were the root and fruit of fornication He that in the distress of scarcity will smite his hand upon his breast and examine his secret faults and say I have sinned against the Lord this man hath made great gain of his poverty Quisque optat cum sanâ mente lamentari quà m cum insanâ perpetuò ridere says Gregory Who had not rather with the enjoying of his wits be weak than with the loss of his wits be strong and merry So who had not rather feel the Famine and misery of the world and repent than flow in the satiety of all things never feel the sting of his sins and die impenitent As one said that good Fathers sometimes have wicked Children lest vertue should seem to descend by natural inheritance and again wicked Fathers have sometimes vertuous Children that wickedness may not run on in a perpetual propagation so riches and abundance lest they should be thought to be no blessings at all now and then fall upon the best And yet lest you should think them the best of all things now and then they fall upon the worst men Or as another draws out the line of justice very well no man is absolutely good or absolutely evil but as the best have some evil in them so the worst have some good some talent of nature which serves for the use of Common-wealths encrease of Arts publick peace or some ornament of the Universe therefore the good of the worst men is rewarded with a gift of outward fortune and the evil of the best men is punished with scarcity no wonder therefore if he that is the Son of God do sometimes pine for lack of bread Fourthly Though a good man labour and watch and cannot earn the bread of his carefulness yet he shall fill his bosom with better fruits for occasion is given hereby to the righteous to exercise these three spiritual graces Prayer and Patience and Charity Prayer comes after trouble and necessity as Resurrection comes after death Even the very Philistins were driven to repentance to restitution to send back the Ark of God into his own Land when the Lord smote them with Emerauds and diseases If such fruits grew from an evil stock when a vengeance and calamity was in their Land then much better fruits of sighs and prayer will bud from them who are planted by the rivers of waters who weep and lament that their iniquities have deserved such great chastisement The Beasts and Fowls of the air do lack and suffer hunger that by the voice of nature they may call upon the Lord to be replenished then the young Ravens do call upon him and the Lions roaring after their prey do seek their meat of God He is the door which opens to let forth all blessings spiritual and temporal Quam nemo nisi ebrius ignorat as one says ' None but a reeling drunkard can miss the door into which he should pass David seems to utter a Paradox Psal xxxvii 25. I never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed beg their bread Surely experience is opposite to this and the Posterity of many have been in great want whose memory is blessed for their righteous conversation Some have very well turn'd the Verb beg into a Participle begging and then the construction is fair I never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed forsaken begging their bread for they are not forsaken to whom the Lord gives patience in the inward man though they be destitute and forsaken Let God wrestle as he will and cast us down yet we must pray and suffer and not let him go until he bless us But abundance of all things is a great slur unto devotion In Egypt where the River Nilus over-flows their grounds constantly instead of rain and where the heaven is clear continually above nemo oratorum coelos aspicit the heathen could say so God had fewer Prayers made unto him there than in any place of the world Therefore lay the beginning of this Point unto the end is not the soul better than the body Is not the spirit of Prayer better than a full barn Is not a little holiness better than all the Vintage of Abiezer Moreover we are commanded patience we promise patience and I hope we resolve patience now that we may draw this good motion out of the secret corners of our heart distress and penury will put it in practice This is it which St. Austin calls Gods great allowance above thousands of Gold and Silver Patrimonium fidei patientiae in corde Christ makes the righteous sole Executors and Administrators of his patience Be not tormented with emulation though you see another shine like a bigger Planet than your self though you see the most vicious man set over you in advancement Dabo huic novissimo sicut tibi The Owner of all the Earth may do what he will with his own he will give unto him that is last in his favour as unto thee nay more than unto thee in this life yet I cannot call it more if you will balance those light wares with the talent of your Patience When God took all from Job yet says Gregory Patientiae munere coronabatur He was crowned like a Saint in heaven with the victorious Crown of patience upon earth Is it not better to suffer in the present because we had not these things to use than suffer because we had them and did abuse them It is a saying attributed to the supposed Dionysius Divinae justitiae est non emollire optimorum fortitudinem materialium donationibus It suits well with the Divine Justice and Providence not to make the fortitude of his Saints effeminate with abundance And if they had always their Salary of earthly blessings here as upon compact their Religion would be more weighed down with Avarice than confirmed with patience The last spiritual exercise which is caused by the need and want of Gods beloved is this that merciful minded men may fill the bellies of the hungry with the bread of their charity God hath suffered his fire to wast away the habitation of the poor man that your contribution may build him up again a covering for his head and those good works shall receive you into the everlasting Mansions The waves of the Sea swallow up the substance of our brethren that our collections may restore it again and this is it which Solomon calls Casting our bread upon the waters Jacob and the Patriarches were well-nigh famished in the Land of Canaan that Pharaoh might relieve them
appointed Which is the fountain of all discontent not to stay Gods leisure and to complain of his Providence as if he had broke his day Such will fall into a passion as if they wanted ease and that the ground was not soft enough under their feet though the way should lead them to the Kingdom of Heaven But a true faith expects Gods leisure from day to day will neither faint nor fret that his suit hangs long in the Court of Requests Many sores will never be well healed unless they be long dressing and many deliverances will never be throughly perfect unless they be long settling and many mercies are like seed in the ground and will be long growing A second Instance of grudging is in the 5. verse Our soul loatheth this light bread Is that a fault in bread to be light see how they commend it in dispraising it I am sure they came lightly by it It fell like a hoar frost about their Tents they neither ploughed nor sowed nor reaped they did but stoop and gather it they lived as easily as young birds in the nest when the Dam puts meat into their mouths They did not see how God did take away the curse of Adam from them to eat bread in the sweat of their brows Let them look to this and make use of it that are of the best rank that God do not lay this sin to their charge on this wise you labour not at all yet you want not you have store enough and ease enough into the bargain yet never content They that work hard for one dayes food depend upon God and call upon him more than they that have before hand for a year nay sufficient for an age Now put both the exceptions of the Israelites together for their bones and their belly for their journey and their bread and you see a little painfulness was repined at as a great deal of misery and a great benefit slighted for but a little favour But was there so much evil in this sin to cause a flight of Serpents to fall upon the Camp I believe so and I will prove it First there are two sins so scandalous to the Jewish Nation that Philo conceals them nay Josephus out of more love to his Country then fidelity in History never remembers them those be the worshipping of the Golden Calf and this serpentine sin of murmuring at Salmonah Therefore this artifice of Josephus tells you that murmuring was one of the two sins of the first magnitude Secondly it is a filthy crime to obscure great benefits under a black cloud of unthankfulness They murmured at Moses whom no praises could sufficiently extol for his rare deservings He brought them out of Egypt and made them all free men that were slaves What recompence could they make him for their liberty They were beholding to him for one thing more which was greater than all the rest to uphold them in true Religion and the right Worship of God so that it was said of them and of no other Nation in the Earth Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God Deut. xii 2. In all things he ruled them with a faithful hand yet they were ever at this key O that it were otherwise that it were better thus and thus which were no better than Nebuchadonosor's Dreams he knew not himself what he had dreamt of when he was awake The use of it from their error is that we should sit down and count how many blessings we have received and be thankful rather than fret at a few imaginary inconveniences which I can puff away with a little breath as easily as a downy blow-ball O all ye works of the Lord which he hath wrought in England in less than two years praise him and magnify him for ever We have cause to frame a ditty balsamed all over with a perfume of thanksgiving for all things that God hath done for us from the center of the Earth to the top of Heaven Thirdly God hath laid a great burden upon the shoulders of the Ruler to provide for the safety of so many millions and what reward hath he in this World but acceptance and encouragement from his Lieges This was the comfort of David 2 Sam. iii. 36. Whatsoever the King did pleased the People But if so much merit meet with frowardness then says Moses I cannot bear your cumbrance burden and strife Deut. i. 12. And if they weary the good spirit of Moses doubtless they shall receive the recompence of their own bitter spirit Nay if the Ruler be not the better for your good word let him not be the worse for your undutiful language A reasonable thing as can be askt If you will not honour him do not murmur at him that 's the least that can be required and too little in conscience But we must get what we can from bad debtors To be short in this point if you speak evil of that which you are bound to praise if you fall foul on the ways of God because you will not wait his leisure if you pick quarrels at good things for which you are bound to give thanks I appeal not as I might to mans judgment to dry up the filth that runs from faction with the spunge of the Laws I refer them to God and to the Host of his venemous creatures which he will send to correct their poisonous tongues The sin is like to nothing more than an Asp or Viper no serpent so much a serpent as a murmuring spirit therefore such a punishment was a fit cover to clap upon such a sin The Lord sent serpents among them A Judgment 1. vile 2. painful 3. strong 4. incurable First a vile one to die serpent-bitten was inglorious to the warlike stomach of that People their sword could not help them and if they kept not in their Tents like Prisoners one of these Sergeants of God would shoot through the air and clap upon them Let no man say a woman slew me says Abimelech Judg ix 54. Let not the uncircumcised thrust me through says Saul 1 Sam. xxxi 4. But this was far below them both and most opprobrious to humane nature For as the Devil could not choose a viler creature wherein to tempt us so there is not a meaner on earth to chastise us They might be for ought we know created on purpose for this office of wrath as the Frogs and Locusts in Egypt or gathered from all quarters to fall thick upon their Camp as Quails were brought from all places to feed them there might be store of them in the Wilderness before now but never stirred up till now to do execution I define it not but which way soever they came they were never a whit the better It is a reproach upon man who had the dominion of the Creatures and saw them all put under his feet that every paultry worm is able to turn against him and bring him to the dust Marvel not
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
our Rulers have left us in the way of a good life and changed their own for a better We owe duty to our Rulers in all things honest and lawful in obeying Rites and Ceremonies indifferent in Laws Civil and Ecclesiastical Illis imperii jus concessum est nobis relicta est obsequii gloria But where God controuls or wherein our liberty cannot be enthralled we are bound ad patiendum and happy if we suffer for righteousness sake Now that the obedience of the Rechabites was lawful and religious and a thing wherein they might profitably dispence with freedom and liberty the third part of my Text that is their Temperance will make it manifest for in this they obeyed Jonadab non bibemus c. To spare somewhat which God hath given us for our sustenance is to restore a part of the plenty back again if we lay hands upon all that is set before us it is suspicious that we expected more and accused nature of frugality And though the Vine did boast in Jothams Parable that it cheared up the heart of God and Man though it be so useful a Creature for our preservation that no Carthusian or Coelestine Monk of the strictest Order did put this into their Vow to drink no Wine yet the Rechabites are contented to be more sober than any and lap the water of the Brook like Gideons Souldiers Which moderation of diet though as I said in the beginning as it is an extreme and as it is a Vow for ever to drink no Wine I do not urge it to your imitation yet it did enable them to avoid Luxury and swinish drunkenness into which sin whosoever falls makes himself subject to a fourfold punishment First The heat of too liberal a proportion kindles the lust of the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Poet calls it elegantly Wine is the milk of Venus Lot who was not consumed in Sodom with the fire of Brimstone drunkenness set him on fire with incestuous lust in Zoar. The Brimstone trickled down like rain but Luxury broke in upon him like a breach of the Sea And as Epaminondas said Modicum prandium non capit proditionem Treasons were never plotted at a frugal Table so Fornications and Adulteries were never hatcht in Cups of water but then they steal upon us where our Bowls are crowned with superfluity In jejuniis in castitate 2 Cor. vi What St. Paul hath coupled let us not divide fastings go first then follows pureness and chastity Secondly How many brawls and unmanly combates have we seen Nay how much bloud spilt under the Ensign of a Tavern Ivy bush Memento te sanguinem terrae bibere says Androcides in Pliny Wine is but the bloud of the earth and bloud toucheth bloud says the Prophet Hosea Antonius vino gravis sitiebat sanguinem says Seneca When Antonius his head turned round with drink he thirsted for the bloud of his enemies After Riot follows strife says St. Paul Rom. xiii I will fill them with wine and dash them one against another says the Prophet Jeremy Chap. xiii It is a sweet thing that men must fall at odds and stand nicely upon their terms of Honour in their drink when no man can disgrace them so much as their own intemperance which hath made them beasts Is that a time to strive for Mastery when they are the vilest servants upon earth to their own brutish appetite Thirdly Superfluity of drink it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the draught of foolishness Such a misery in my opinion that I would think men had rather lose their right arm than the government of their reason if they knew the Royalty thereof Wine and the foolishness of Idolatry were in the Feasts of Belshazzar And let St. Austin in his Epist 64. be well discussed and it will be found that quaffing which was used to be celebrated every year at the Tombs of the Martyrs was the first thing that brought in Offerings and Prayers for the dead a most erroneous Doctrine St. Basil calls Wine-bibbers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Idols of the Gentiles for as David describes Idols in the Psalms so they have eyes and see not ears and hear not hearts and understand not Lastly Whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sobriety is the sustentation of that which decays in man drunkenness is the utter decay of the body It was all the excuse that Callisthenes had for himself when he refused Alexanders drinking Feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I had rather want your Feast than stand in need of Aesculapius And when I see new Taverns multiply the next thing I look to see is to have more Apothecaries set up and more Physicians practise among us That then which bereaves our bodies of health and our minds of reason that which puts fury into our hands and fire into our breasts is that it which is grown the mean mans Recreation and the great mans Solemnity O ye Galatians who hath bewitched you Satisfie me in one question and I will ask no more To rob a man of his Garment or his Purse would you not think it dishonourable for you to do And Theft to be punished by the Kings Laws But I pray you which is the greater robbery to force or flatter your Friend to kindness whereby he loseth his reason which is the Vessel of Gods grace or to bereave him of a little money which is the instrument of fortune Whosoever hath been guilty of this crime to seduce another into weakness if his heart do not burn within him for shame know that Foelix the corrupt Governour was more conscionable for Foelix trembled when Paul did preach of temperance Of all other sins surfeiting of meats and drinks is a transgression of private flattery for every costly junquet is to content nature to perfect nature to strengthen nature and poor nature is as innocent of these things as the Idol Bel that had the name indeed but tasted not the Kings Provision Cum corpus impinguo hostem adversus meipsum nutrio says St. Bernard To cram up our body too much is to maintain a civil Rebel within our own skin and bone Si contenti erimus naturâ tam supervacuus est coquus quà m miles says Seneca In Peace what use have we of Souldiers God forbid but their service should be rewarded nobly but then we have no imployment for their service So if we go no further than the sustenance of mere Nature we shall have no use of Cookery Beasts and Fishes and the Fowls of the Air find that at hand which is fit for their sustenance Non fuit noverca natura ut homo sine tot artibus non possit vivere was Nature a Stepdame to man only that no less than two hundred Arts and Trades may be reckoned before his Table can be furnished Adam went out of Paradise with a full stomach he sunk like a Ship over-laden with Traffick but Lazarus went fasting to heaven scarce fraught with the crums of
Gregory frames this clear Meditation upon it Persecutionis tempore ponenda est anima pacis tempore frangenda sunt desideria In the time of persecution lose your life that you may gain Christ that Lesson God be praised is out of date with us in the time of peace lose your vast concupiscence that you may gain content Here comes in our part who have leisure to gather great store and peaceable security to enjoy and increase it for that we may lay our desires level with a moderate fortune it is fit above all things to know that you shall never measure these earthly things to the bottom and you cannot measure the joys of heaven to the top so said our Saviour to the Samaritan as I have read it unto you c. Now to bring on the division of the Text I lay this ground Man is a most desiring and a wishing creature his heart doth reach it self forth so much to get and gain that it resembles nothing better than an house with a deep Mote round about it but for the most part the mote is full of puddle water if that were cast out which is the first part to be handled a water which makes us always thirst there is a sluce to let in better which is contained in the second For these two shall be the general heads to which I will refer all that I shall speak the lading out of bad waters from our soul and the letting in of better I will not venture beyond the former of these two at this time Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again And St. Austin preaching upon those words did thus divide them Et verum est secundum hanc aquam verum est secundum quod significat haec aqua It is true being spoken upon those waters drawn out of Jacobs well and upon any other water and it is true being spoken upon that unto which the Element of water did allude that is the riches and glory of this world according to the very waters which our Saviour lookt upon when he preacht I will speak to these three points 1. That all the refection of our body is commended in the phrase of drinking waters 2. Heat consumes our moisture and makes us thirst which is the punishment of our nature 3. We thirst and thirst again which is the punishment of our sensual appetite According to the water unto which our Saviour alluded I have three things more to observe 1. That all these worldly things are compared to waters which slide away 2. Here is the greediness of our heart to be filled with them we would pour them in and drink them down 3. Here 's their emptiness they will never fill us for drink both much and often yet whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again And first a few words litterally of that outward Element which the Woman of Samaria came to draw in her Pitcher upon which this is the former observation that all the refection of our body especially that which cools our thirst is delivered in the phrase of drinking waters Indeed before temperance was perverted this phrase was well understood of all men to drink waters From the Creation to the Floud above sixteen hundred years it is affirmed by divers scarce denied by any that the World knew not what belonged to Wine or to any artificial liquor the great Rivers of the Earth were all their Sellarage and they filled their Cup from thence without cost or labour Therefore in the first of Genesis God stinted our first Parents and their Posterity what they should eat namely the fruits of several Trees all but one and the Herbs of the Field but they were not stinted what they should drink because their nature was inclined to nothing but to the Fountain Element And Noah having never perceived the malignity and headiness of too much Wine neither in himself nor any other person surely not out of intemperance we may well excuse him that but out of ignorance he became drunken It is too much perhaps to look back so far as before the Deluge now we are sure that every Creature of God is sanctified by Prayer and Thanksgiving to them that use it well it is the Lord that makes the Vine to swell with comfortable juyce that men may take it for infirmity of health and upon occasions of chearfulness yet the good Patriarchs would never lay down the primitive sobriety of the World I will go no further to shew it than the verse before my Text. Says the Woman Art thou greater than our Father Jacob who drank himself of this Well and his Children and his Cattle The Flocks and Herds quenched their thirst with no worse than their Master did according to which simplicity of diet God in the beginning allotted the same food for the Beasts that he made for Man Gen. i. 30. I have given you says He to Adam every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth c. and to every beast of the earth and to every foul of the air and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life I have given every green herb for meat and it was so We and the Cattle you see had once the same allowance or there was very little to choose between our Pasture and theirs I will wind about no longer the scope is to let you see the difference between the frugal institutions of nature and the monstrous inventions of that luxury which at this time prevails among us Why doth the Scripture express all manner of Beverage in forty places by the name of water but to insinuate sobriety Why doth Gods word in an hundred places call the whole repast of the belly by the name of bread but to insinuate frugality The Scripture makes but two words of that whereof affected gluttony hath made twenty thousand The Apostles did break bread from house to house and eat their meat with gladness Acts 2.46 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alimentum non delicias says St. Chrysostom plain necessary nourishment is meant which nature earns for and cannot want not piled dishes one upon another to the intolerable scorn of God Almighty's first Laws as if you did not set but build a Banquet Our Saviour will condemn you out of your own mouth if you pray his Prayer as you ought Give us this day our daily bread if the word be a Synechdoche one part of sustenance for all Gods gifts I know it is so yet it circumscribes our desires to ask a little and no excess and if you pray with Christs words and not with Christs meaning God will not bless but curse your supplications As the Fable goes of Dido that she asked no more Land than an Ox Hide would compass but she cut that Hide into small thongs and took in as much ground as to build a City so it is a cheat to ask God for bread and water and to mean all
this Text before you To treat upon a Text of multiplying and increase it may be it hath some influence upon the words of the speaker Or if not so yet it being a branch of a famous Story out of which our Church hath compiled three several Gospels observe your Common-prayer Book and you will find no less I say that which hath supplied us with three Gospels may easily afford us occasion of two Sermons It is so circumstanced with mysteries that as twelve Baskets did no more than contein that which was left of five loavs and two fishes so when I have spoken once and again upon this Theme the remainder which I must omit will be manifold more than I shall be able to deliver It came to pass at such an opportunity as in reason you may be confirmed that our Saviour meditated some great matter for setting all occurences in right order John the Baptist was newly beheaded and his bloud yet warm Matth. xiv It was as the Devil would have it the burning Light was put out the Forerunner cut off the mouth of the great Witness was stopt he that divulged Christs glory over all Judea Now his fame will be less bruited abroad than it was before not a whit for immediately as it were on purpose to supply the place of that mighty Prophet Christ amazeth the people with this Table that he spread in the Wilderness the rumour of it filled Jerusalem and all Judea so that Satan might say with Herod this is John the Baptist that is risen from the dead And it hapned to the greater glory of the Son of God that all parties were never so generally pleased with any wonder that he did In this Gospel of St. John he healed a man that had been infirm eight and thirty years It liked them not because it was done on the Sabbath day He told the Pharisees their secret sins they told him he was a Samaritan and had a Devil He gave eyes to one that was born blind but who durst confess it for he that did was sure to be excommunicated He raised Lazarus to life after he had been dead four days This made the High-Priests broil with anger that they concluded in their Council it was expedient to put him to death Onely this Miracle was taken with the right hand and for ought appears escaped all malignancy and sinister interpretation If it sped so well with them that observed no more from it but that they did eat and were filled I speak it upon good authority the Lord rebukes them for it in this Chapter ver 27. That they laboured for the meat that perished and not for meat that endured to everlasting life If these had such liking to it how much more considerable is it to us who may collect the highest mysteries of Religion out of these lowly figures First you may discern in this the communicableness of charity which passeth the good things of fortune from hand to hand to those that need as these barley loaves were derived from the Fountain to the River and from the River to the smaller Brooks Secondly you may see no less than Christ and his Church knit together by fit junctures and sinews his influence moves in his Apostles the Apostles dispense his gifts unto the people which is the harmony that keeps all in tune in the house of God Nay thirdly here is the very Sacrament of the Sacrament As the bread in this Miracle was blessed from Christs lips and drew vertue from thence above its nature so in the Lords Supper the Word infuseth it self into the Element and it becomes a Sacrament These things without peradventure the Jews did not wot of but we have light enough to discry them from this Story He distributed to the Disciples c. I am constant to that partition of the whole verse which I delivered heretofore a preparation to a Miracle and the Miracle it self The preparation as I noted I dispatched it was bodily and ghostly bodily in assumpsit Jesus took the loaves ghostly in gratias egit or benedixit he gave thanks The Miracle consists plainly of these three Members Here is the distribution which is Christs act He distributed to the Disciples 2. The subdistribution that was the Disciples Office They distributed to them that were set down 3. Here is the reception that did belong to the People They did all eat and were filled they had as much as they would Distinctly upon these three in their order There is but one giver in the Text the rest that are mentioned are all borrowers to him therefore as to the Patron of the Miracle give we the precedency in this Narration He distributed That Pronoun and Verb together make a rich conjunction and yield such an ample Revenue as the whole earth cannot receive For all the wealth of this World and our Portion of glory in the Text is lodged in the room of these few syllables He distributed But to lay hold of it with the right hand and as it belongs to the matter which is before me I consider it as it conducts us to the two regent Attributes of the Divine nature Power and goodness or in terms as easie to be remembred as a Miracle or as a Benefit First as a Miracle If the Son of God had communicated all that was before him and no more as far as it would reach the Company that was with him had barely seen his courtesie but since it pleased him to increase the loaves more than a thousand fold above their natural quantity it was an argument of his Majesty and Omnipotency Mighty things are those which thou hast done O Lord and who is like unto thee What a memorable Feast was here set forth out of an handful of meat Was ever hunger conquered with such small provision Were ever five thousand persons tabled at so cheap a rate nothing was made ready and yet nothing wanted no Ovens were heated yet they had their fill of bread without scarcity no nets were cast to drag the Seas yet fish abounded with them to their utmost satiety In brief a Child did keep and carry all the food that was among them and yet here was an open House for all comers Julian that great Apostate studied Magick and all secret unlawful Arts under that great Sorcerer Jamblichus the Philosopher His desires were to make the Scriptures and in them the Miracles of our Saviour suspected or despicable Well when he and his infernal Partners had tried all their cunning what could they produce correspondent to this unquestionable increase of five loaves and two fishes why it was too manifest to be impeached and too great to be imitated Cast seeds of corn into the ground and we look for an augmentation but with many conditions and after much leisure First the bosom of the earth after it is well manured must take it the dews and rain must liquor it the Sun must cherish it the seasons