more Depunge ubi sistam Injustice hath the same subsistence and measures with our Covetousnesse and Lust and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knows neither bounds nor end So that those Lawes by which Humane Societies are managed and upheld are rather occasioned by that which is past then that which is to come and they that make them take their aim by their eye and some sensible inconvenience which is either visible in it self or in that which may cause it but cannot provide against that which is removed so far as that neither the eye nor thoaght neither wisdome nor suspicion can reach it but is to them as if it would never be in that darknesse and obscurity which it was before they were born And therefore the rule of those duties which we owe one to anothyer is of a larger extent then that of the Law Sâ—n. 2. ale Ira. c. 27. Angusta est innocentia ad legem probum esse saith the Philosopher that honesty is but of a narrow compasse which measures it self out by that rule and reacheth no further then to that point which the Laws of men have set up and makes that its Non ultra Fost verb. Pictas Piety constrains us to do many things where the Law leaves us free what Law did force that pious Daughter to suckle her old Father in prison and nourish him with the milk from her own breasts Spâ—ritanus or Antonine the Emperour to lead his aged Father-in-law and ease and support him with his hand Againe Humanity binds us where the Law is silent for where was it enacted Hunâ—…nitâ—…tis esâ—…quae lam nesâ—… velle that we should not open the letters no not of our enemies yet Julius Caesar burnt those which he found in their tents whom he had conquered and the Athenians and Pompey did the like Liberality hath no Law and yet it is a debt Beati divites quiet caeteris prodesse possunt achent Alcint de verb. Sigaifificat Fides juramentum aequiparam 7 thoc serva iâ—…hâ—t Ua illa Menoch cap. 367. No law enjoynes me to keep my promise and make good my faith and yet my promise binds me as firmly and should be as sacred as an oath All these are extra publicas tabulas and are not to be found in our statutebooks and he that confines his studies and endeavours to these he that hath no other compasse to steere by in the course of his life then that which he there finds written cannot take this honour to himself this Honorable title of a Just and Honest man For how many inventions and wiles have men found out to act iniquity as by a Law to drive the proprietary out of his possessions before the Sun and the people and then wipe their mouthes and proclaim it as Just to all the world How many Eat no other Bread but that which is kneaded by craft and oppression and sometimes with blood and yet count it as Manna sent down from Heaven How short is the hand of the Law to reach these Nay how doth the Law it self many times enable them to invade the Territories of others and to riot it at pleasure How is it made their musick by which they dance in other mens blood Justice Consensere jura pâ—ceatis c. Cypl ad Donat. or common Honesty is but one word but of a larger compasse then Ambition and Covetousnesse are willing to walk in In a word I tmay not be just and Honest and yet there may be no Law to punish it Cicer. 2. de Fimb 93. Lex Stagaritarum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aeâ—ian var. Hâ—st l. 3. c. 46. Clem. Alex. 2. strom 398. Dolus quidam in contractu est non indicare crronem Hermias a pud Damas in Plut. Bibl. or no man that dare reprehend it saith â—ully Take not up that which thou laidst not down count that which thou findest in the way but as a pledge to be returned upon demand said the Stagarites If thou sell a thing declare the fault of it If thou underbuy a thing upon the discovery pay the full price These no Humane Law but Justice and Honesty and the Law of nature requires To collect and draw out a catologue of all those irregularities in Behaviour which will not consist with Justice and Honesty as it is a thing not necessary to be done so is it impossible to do it for as day unto day teacheth the knowledge of that which is good so day unto day and hour unto hour teacheth the knowledge of that which is evil and it is not easie to open those Mysteries of iniquity The mind of man when it is corrupted is restlesse in finding out new and untroden paths which may lead to its desired end and is wheel'd about from one falshood to another begets a second lye to defend the first and draws in cheat upon cheat that it may have at least the shadow of Justice and Honesty to vaile and obscure it and so long he is an Honest man that is not a detected knave as he is counted a good Lawyer who can find out something in fraudem legis some hansome colour or fetch to delude the Law He that hath the sentence on his side is Just and he that is fallen from his cause is fallen from the truth and so honesty is bound up in the verdict of the Jury and twelve perjured men may make an oppressor honest when they please We will not therefore go in Hue and Cry after every theef nor follow the deceitfull person in those rounds in those windings and turnings which he makes and I can truly say non multùm incola fuit anima mea I have been but a stranger and sojourner in these tents of Mesech and have not so much conversed in these waies of thrift and arts of living as to read a lecture upon them and discover the Method and course of them It may so fall out and doth too often that they who are the best artists in these are the worst of men For the wisdome of this world is not like that in Aristotle which rests in it self and never seeks an other end but in this the theory and the practice goe hand in hand and advance one another nor do we make use of it onely to preserve and defend our selves but we let it out to disquiet and diminish others and they that tread these hidden and indirect wayes though they hide themselves from others yet seldome do they so far deceive themselves as not to know they walk deceitfully for they check and comfort themselves at once they know they do not justly and yet this thought sets them forward in their course even this poor and unworthy thought that It is good to be rich and so the light which they see is somewhat offensive but the love of gain is both a provocative and a cordiall We will therefore bring Justice to the line and Righteousnesse to
one and the same and therefore to rise upon another mans ruines to enrich our selves by fraud and deceit is as much against nature saith Tully as poverty which pincheth it or grief which afflicts it or death which dissolves it for poverty may strip the body Ibid. grief may trouble it and death may strike it to the ground but yet they have a soul but injustice is its destruction and leaves a dead soul in a living body For as we have already shewn man is naturally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sociable creature but violence and deceit quite destroy all Society and Lully gives the same reason in his Offices which Saint Paul doth against Schisme in his Epistles 1 Cor. 12. If one member suffer all the members suffer with it and therefore the intent and purpose of all must be saith the Orator ut eadem sit utilitas uniuscujusque singulorum that the benefit of one and every man may be the same so that what deceit hath purloyned of stollen away or violence snatcht from others is not Profit because it is not honest Res surtiva quousque redierit in Comini potestatem perpetuò vitiosa est and the Civilians will tell us that that which is unjustly detained is not valuable is of no worth till it return to the hands of the lawfull proprietary Again in the second place Justice and Honesty are more agreeable to the nature of men then Profit or4 Pleasure For these reason it self hath taught us to contemne and he most enjoys himself who desires not pleasure and he is the richest man who can be poore and we are never more men then when we lest regard them but if we forfeit our integrity and pervert the course of Justice we have left our selves nothing but the name of men Si quod absit spes foelicitatis nulla saith Saint Austin If we had no eye to eternity nor hope of future happinesse Tull. Off. 3. Si omnes Deos hominesque celare possimus saith Tully if we could make darknesse a pavilion round about us and lye skreend and hid from the eyes of God and man yet a necessity would lye upon us to be what we are made to observe the lessons and dictates of nature saith one Nihil injustè faciendum saith the other nothingmust be done unjustly though God had no eye to see it nor hand to punish it and this doctrine is current both at Athens and Jerusalem both in the Philosophers School and in the Church of God To give you yet another reason but yet of neere alliance to the first whatsoever we do or resolve upon must habere suas causas as Arnobius speaks must be commended by that cause which produceth it now what cause can move us to desire that which is not ours what cause can the oppressor shew that he grinds the face of the poore the theef that he divides the spoile The deceitfull tradesman that he hath false weights Pondus pondus a weight and a weight a weight to buy with and a weight sell with If you ask them what cause they will eitherlye and deny it or put their hand upon their mouth and be ashamed to answer here their wit will faile them which was so quick and active to bring that about for which they had no reason it may be the cause was an unnecessary feare of poverty as if it were a greater sin then cosenage It may be the love of their children saepe ad avaritiam cor parentis illicit Foecunditas prolis Gregan 1 Iob c. 4. saith Gregory many children are as many temptations and we are soon overcome and yield willing to be evil that they may be rich and calling it the duty of a Parent when we feed and cloth them with our sinne or indeed it is the love of the world and a desire to hold up our heads with the best which are no causes but defects and sinnes the blemishes and deformities of a soul transformed after the image of this world These are but sophismes and delusions and of no causality For ti 's better I were poore then fraudulent better that my children should be naked then my soul better want then be unjust better be in the lowest place then to swim in blood to the highest better be drove out of the world then shut out of heaven It is no sinne to be poor no sinne to be in dishonor no sinne to be on a dunghill or in a prison it is no sinne to be a slave but it is a sinne and a great sinne to rise out of my place or either flatter or shoulder my neighbour out of his and to take his roome It is no sin to be miserable in the highest degree but it is a sinne to be unjust or dishonest in the least Iniquity and injustice have nothing of reason to countenance them and therefore must run and shelter themselves in that thicket of excuses must pretend want and poverty and necessity and so the object of my concupiscence must Authorize my concupiscence and the wedg of gold warrant my theft and to gain something is my strongest argument to gain it unjustly Ibid. And therefore Tully saith well If any man will bring in and urge these for causes argue not against him nor vouchsafe him so much as a reply omnino enim hominem ex homine tollit for he hath most unnaturally divided man from himself and left nothing but the beast Nature it self our first School-mistris loaths and detests it nor will it suffer us by any means to add to our own by any defalkation from that which is anothers and such is the equity of this position that the Civil Law alwaies appeales unto it videtur dolum malum facere qui ex aliena jactura lucrum querit He is guilty of cosenage and fraud who seeks advantage by another mans losse where by Dolus malus is understood whatsoever is repugnant to the Law of nature or equity For with the beames of this Law as with the beames of the Sun were all Humane Laws written which whip idlenesse which pin the Papers of Ignominy the best hatchments of a knave in the hat of the common barretter which break the teeth of the oppressor and turn the bread of the deceitfull into Gall upon this Basis this principle of nature whatsoever you would that men should do unto you even so do unto them hang all the Law and the Prophets For the rule of behaviour which our Saviour set up is taken out of the Treasury of nature and for this is the Law and the Prophets Matth. 7.2 that is upon this Law of nature depend the Law and the Prophets or by the due and strict observing of this the Law is fulfilled as Saint Paul speaks Rom. 13.8 or this is the summe of all which the Law and the Prophets have taught to wit concerning Justice and Honesty and those mutuall offices All. Lamprid. and duties of
us made like unto God exalted by his Humiliation raysed by his descent magnified by his minoration Candidati Angelorum lifted up on high to a sacred emulation of an Angelicall estate with songs of joy and Triumph we remember it and it is the joy of this Feast fratres Domini the Brethren of Christ Thus with a mutual aspect Christs humility looks upon the exaltation of our Nature and our exaltation looks back again upon Christ and as a well made picture lookes upon him that looks upon it so Christ drawn forth in the similitude of our flesh looks upon us whilst we with joy and Gratitude have our eyes set upon him They answer each other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and are parallels Christ made like unto men and again men made like unto him so like that they are his Brethren Christ made like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all things will fill up the office of a Redeemer and men made like unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all things which may be required at the hands of those who are Redeemed his obedience lifted him up to the crosse and ours must lift us after him and be carried on by his to the End of the world And as we find it in Relatives they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is a kind of Convertency in these Terms Christ and his Brethren Christ like unto his Brethren and these Brethren like unto Christ Christ is ours and we are Christs saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. and Christ Gods And in the last place the modification the Debuit It behoved him carries our thoughts to those two common Heads or places the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Convenience and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Necessitie of it and these two in Civil Acts are one for what becomes us to doe we must doe and t is necessary we should doe it what should be done is done and it is impossible it should be otherwise say the Civilians because the law supposeth obedience Impossibilitas juris which is the Complement and perfection of the law and this Debuit looks equally on both both on Christ and his Brethren if in all things it behoved Christ to be like unto his Brethren which is the benefit Heaven and Earth will conclude men and Angels will inferre Debemus that it behoveth us to be made like unto Christ which is the Duty My Text then is divided equally between these two Termes Christ and his Brethren That which our devotion must contemplate in Christ is First his Divine 2. his Humane Nature 3. the union of them both for 1. we cannot but make a stand and enquire quis ille who he was who ought to doe this and in the 2. place enquire of his Humane nature For we find him here flesh of our flesh and Bone of our Bone Assimilatum made like unto us what can we say more Our Apostle tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all things and then will follow the union of them both exprest in this passive fieri in this his assimilation and the Assumption of our Nature which all fill us with admiration but the last rayseth it yet higher and should rayse our love to follow him in his Obedience quod debuit that it behoved him that the dispensation of so wonderfull and Catholique a benefit must be Translated tanquam ex officio as a matter of Duty The end of all is the end of all Our salvation the end of our Creation the end of our Redemption the end of this assimilation and the last end of all the glory of God which sets an oportet upon Man as well as upon Christ and then his Brethren and he will dwell together in unity Onely here is the difference our obligation is the easiest t is but this to be bound and obliged with Christ to set our hands to that bond which he hath sealed with his Bloud no heavy Debet to be like unto him and by his condescension so low to us to raise our selves neerer to him by a holy and diligent imitation of his obedience which will make up our last part and serve for application And in the first place we aske with the Prophet quis ille who is he that cometh who is he that must be made like unto us what is done and who did it of so neere a relation that we can hardly abstract the one from the other and if one eye be leveld on the fact the other commonly is fixed on the hand that did it Magnis negotiis ut magnis Comediis edecumati apponuntur actores Great Burdens require equall strength to beare them matters of moment are not for men of weak abilities and slight performance nor every Actor for all parts To lead Captivity Captive to bring prisoners to Glory to destroy Death to shut up the gates and mouth of Hell these are Magnalia wonderfull things not within the sphere of common Activity We see here many sonnes there were to be brought unto Glory at the 10. v. but in the way there stood sinne to Intercept us the feare of Death to Enthrall us and the Divell ready to devour us and we what were we Rottennesse our mother and wormes our Brethren lay us in the ballance lighter then vanity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men fallen below the condition of men lame and impotent not able to move one step in these wayes of Glory living Dead men quis novus Hercules who will now stand up for us who will be our Captaine we may well demand quis ille who he is Some Angel we may think sent from Heaven or some great Prophet No inquest is made in this Epistle neither the Angels nor Moses returned The Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in no wise Glorious Creatures indeed they are Caelestiall spirits but yet Ministring spirits in all purity serving the God of purity saith Naz not fit to intercede but ready at his Beck o Nazianz. Orat. 43. with wings indeed but not with Healing under them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but second lights too weak to enlighten so great a Darknesse their light is their Obedience and their fairest Elogium Ye Angels that doe his will they were but finite Agents and so not able to make good an infinite losse they are in their own Nature mutable and so not fit agents to settle them who were more mutable more subject to change then they not able to change our vile bodies much lesse able to change our soules which are as immortall as they but are lodgd in a Tabernacle of Flesh which will fall of it self and cannot be raised againe but by his power whom the Angels worship In prison we were and Cui Angelorum written on the doore miserable Captives so deplorably lost that the whole Hierarchie of Angels could not help us And if not the Angels not Moses sure though he were neerest to God and saw as much of his Majesty as Mortality was able to bear
the Apostle tells us he was Faithfull in his House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a servant but Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a sonne smite he did the Aegyptians Heb. 3.5 and led the people like sheep through the wildernesse but he who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Captaine of our salvation as he is stiled at the 10. v. was to cope with one more terrible then Pharoah and all his Host to put a Hook into the Nostrills of that great Leviathan to lead not the people alone but Moyses himself through darknesse and death it self able to uphold and settle an Angel in his Glorious estate and to rayse Moyses from the dead Not Moyses then but one greater then Moyses not the Angels but one whom the Angels worship who could command a whole Legion of them or if a Prophet the great Prophet which was to come if an Angel the Angel of the Covenant Certe hic Deus est Ask the Divells themselves and when he lived they roard it out Ask the Centurion and they that watched him at his Death and they speak it with Feare and Trembling Truly this was the Sonne of God Christ then our Captaine is the Sonne of God but God hath divers sonnes some by Adoption and then he is made so some by Nuncupation and then he is but called so and some by Creation and then he is created so for they who rob and devest him of his Essence yet will yeild him his Title and though they deny him to be God yet will call him his Sonne We must follow then the Philosophers Method in his description of morall happinesse proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of Negation and to establish him in his right of filiation tell you he is not a Sonne not Adoptivus filius his Adopted sonne who by some great merit of his could so dignifie himself as to deserve that Title which was the Dreame or rather Invention of Photinus Imitatur adoptio prolem Adoption is but a supply a grafting of a strange Branch into another stock but he whose name is the Branch growes up of himself of the same stock and root Deus de Deo God of God very God of very God made manifest in the flesh 2. not Nuncupativus his son by Nuncupation his Nominall sonne such a one as Sabellius and the Patro-passiani fancied as if the Father had been assimilated and so called the sonne impiously making the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost not three persons but three names Lastly not filius Creatus his Created Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meere Creature and of a distiraâ—t Essence from his Father as the more riged Arians nor the most excellent Creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in substance like unto the Father but not consubstantiall with him as the more moderate whom the Father 's called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 halfe Arians conceived To these Heretiques we reply non est Filius Dei he is not thus the sonne of God and as Aristotle tells us that his Morall happinesse is the chiefest good but not that good which the voluptuary fancieth the Epicures good nor that which ambition flyes to the Politicians good nor that which the contemplative man abstracteth an universal Notion and Idea of Good so may the Christian by the same Method consider his Saviour his chiefest blisse and happinesse and by way of Negation draw him out of these foggs and mists where the wanton and unsanctified wits of men have placed him and bring him into the bosome of his Father and fall down and worship God and man Christ Jesus Behold a voyce from Heaven spake it This is my beloved sonne we may suspect that voyce when Photinus is the Echo an Angel from Heaven said vocabitur he shall be called the sonne of the most High Our Faith starts back and will not receive it if Sabellius make the Glosse our Saviour himself speaks it Ego pater unum sumus I and the Father am one The truth it self will be corrupted if Arius be the Commentator to these we say he is not thus the Sonne of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Or. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to contract the personality with Sabellius or to divide the Deity with Arius are blaspemies in themselves Diametritrically opposed but equally to the truth The Captaine of our salvation is the sonne of God begotten not made the brightnesse of his Father streaming from him as light from light his Image not according to his humane Nature but according to his divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Image and Character not of any qualities in God but of his person the true stamp of his substance begotten as brightnesse from the light as the Character from the Type as the word from the mind which yet doe not fully declare him quis enarrabit saith the prophet who shall declare his generation And who more fit to teach us then he who came out of the bosome of God who more fit to give us laws then God himself what tongue of men or Angels can so well expresse his will as the word which was made flesh and pitcht his tent dwelt amongst us opened a Schoole as it were to teach all that would learn the way unto Happinesse or what expectient could Wisdome have found out so apt and powerfull to draw our Love out of these labyrinths and mazes wherein it wanders and divides it self to take it from these painted and false Glories and bring it back and fix it on that which is eternall as this to bow the Heavens and come down and in our flesh and as man to instruct men to gaine them in their own likenesse to tell them he was not that onely which they saw but of the same essence with his Father which they could not see so that here is Majesty and Humility joyned and united in one to draw them out of darknesse into that great light which shall discover and lay open unto them the deformity the ugliness the deceitfulness of those flattering objects in which our thoughts desires and endeavours met as in their center And if this infinite and unconceivable love of God in manifesting himself in our flesh doe not draw and oblige us if these bonds of love will not hold and fetter us to a regular obedience which must begin and perfect our peace then we are past the reach of any Argument which men or Angels can bring and no chaines can hold us but those of Everlasting Darknesse And indeed his eternall Generation by it selfe would but little avail us for Majesty is no medicine for our Malady we who are children of the Time have need of a Captaine which must be born in Time we were sick of an Eritis sicut Dii a bold and foolish ambition and affectation to be Gods and this disease became Epidemicall we all would be Independent be our owne Law-givers our owne God Pride threw us down and Nothing but
this whole Trinity in our Lord 1. Rationale the Rationall part for he teacheth what he learnt disputes with the Pharisees and instructeth the people in those wayes which reason commends as the best and readiest to lead them to the End 2. Indignativum the Irascible power which breaths it self forth in woes and bitter Invectives against the Scribes and Pharisees 3. Concupiscentivum the Concupiscible Appetite for he desires he earnestly desires to eat the Passeover with his Disciples We may be bold to say and it is Gratitude and not Blasphemy to say it angry he was and joy he did and breath forth his desires and grieve and feare similis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like in all things but with this huge difference In all these no ataxie or disorder not the least stoop nor declination from reason no storme in his Anger no frensie in his joy no woman in his Teares no wanton in his Love no coward in his Feare like unto us in passion but not bowed or misled by passion like unto us In us they are as so many severall winds driving us to severall points and almost at the same time our Fear hath a relish of Hope and our Hope is allayed with some Fear our desires contradict themselves we would and we would not and we know not what we would have our sorrow will ebbe out into Anger our Anger flowes uncertainly sometimes it swells into Joy if it be not checkt and if it be and we misse our end it frets and wasts and consumes it self and is neer lost in that flood of sorrow which it brought in nunquam sumus singuli we are never long the same men but one passion or another rises in us troubles us a while and so makes way for another such a perplexed middle such a lump of contradictions is man Thus it is in us but in him they are straight and even lines drawn to their right center his anger on Sin his love on Piety his joy on the great Work he had to doe his Feare was his Jealousie lest we should fall from him when he grieved it was that others did not so when he seemed most moved in better temper than we are when we pray All our qualities he had which were indetectabiles as the Schooles speak which implyed no defect of Grace nor detracted from his all-sufficient satisfactory righteousnesse poenam sine culpa those affections which might make him sensible of Smart but not obnoxious to Sin and in him they were not properly passions Euseb Episc Thessal apud Phot. Biblioth cod CLXII saith Eusebius Bishop of Thessalonica but rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naturall operations which did shew him to all the world as it were with an Ecce Behold the man and thus he condemned sin in the flesh Rom. v. 3. that is in those punishments which his flesh endured he that tells us he was like unto us in all things brings in his exception at the fourth chap. v. 3 yet without sin for his miraculous conception by the holy Ghost was a sure and invincible Antidote against that poyson of the Serpent and so presented him an innocent and spotlesse Lambe fit for a Sacrifice We have now filled up S. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and found our Captaine God and Man Christ Jesus like unto us in all things we have beheld him in intimis naturae in the very bowels as it were and entrailes of our nature nay in sordibus naturae in the vilenesse of our Nature searching and purging the whole Circle and compasse of it and working out our corruption from the very root we have consider'd him in that height which no mortall eye can reach in his Divine nature and we have lookt upon him where he might be seen and heard and felt in his Humane nature we must now with a reverent and fearfull hand but touch at the passive sieri which points out to the union of both the Natures in one Person the Apostle tels us Debuit fieri similis That it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren And to the apprehension of this union as to the knowledge of God we are led by weak and faint representations drawn from sensible things and we are led by negations the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the quomodo is best answered by non hoc modo not after this manner Factus est he was made like unto us t is true but not so as flesh and Bloud may imagine or a wanton and busie wit conceive not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil not by any mutation of his divine essence Basil de Hum. Christi Gen. sine periculo status sui saith Tertull. without any danger of the least alteration of his state his glory did not take from him the forme of a servant nor did this Assimilation lessen or alter him in that by which he was equall to his Father nor did the mystery of godlinesse bring any detriment to the Deity G. Nyssen calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Tertullian Deum carne mixtum in his Apologie and Austin Greg. Nyssen Cath. or c. 27. and Cyprian and Irenaeus use the same phrase a God mixt with our nature but not so as a drop of water cast into a vessel of wine and turned into that substance in which it is lost as Eutyches fancied but as the soule and body though two distinct Natures grow into one man so did the Godhead assume the manhood without confusion of the Nature or distinction of the persons united as the Sunne and the light saith Justin Martyr as a graft to a plant say others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil as in a fiery sword there are two distinct Natures the fire and the sword two distinct acts to cut and to burne and two distinct effects cutting and Burning from whence ariseth one common effect to cut burning and to burne cutting all which with all the representations which the wit of man can find out cannot expresse it but leave us in our gaze and wonder whilst the manner of it is hid from our eyes and removed further out of sight then when we first lookt after it Those beasts which came too neer to this mountaine this high mystery were strucken through with a Dart and staggerd in the very attempt and left to walk uncertainly in that mist and darknesse which their too daring curiosity had cast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. saith Nazianzen Naz. orat 26. hot and busie wits they were Arius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a subtill sophister Nestorius of a quick wit and voluble tongue Apollinarius the stoutest Champion the Church had against Arius in comparison of whom some thought the great Athanasius to be but a child in understanding not to mention Cer inthus Valentinus Eutiches these pressing too forward upon this great mystery were struck blind at the doore and running contrary wayes met all in this that they ran
God qui sibi sufficit ad beatitudinem who is all-sufficient and Happinesse it self and therefore was placed in an Estate where he might work out his owne Happinesse but still with a Possibility of being miserable And herein was the Goodnesse and Wisedome of God made visible and as from his goodnesse it is that he loved his Creature so in his goodnesse and Wisedome he placed before him Good and evill that he might lay hold on Happinesse and be good willingly and not of Necessity For it is Impossible for any Finite Creature who hath not his completenes his perfection in himself to purchase heaven but upon such termes as that he might have lost it nor to lose it but upon such Termes as that he might have took it by violence For every Law as it supposeth a possibility of being kept so doth it also a possibility of being broken which cannot be without permission of sinne Lex justo non est posita if Goodnesse had been as Essentiall to man as his Nature and soule by which he is if God had interceded by his Omnipotency and by an irresistible force kept sinne from entring into the world The Jewes had not heard the noise of the Trumpet under the Law nor the Disciples the Sermon on the Mount under the Gospel there had been no use of the Comfortable breath of his Promises nor the Terror of his Threatnings for who would make a Law against that which he knows will never come to passe a Law against sinne supposeth a permission to sinne and a possibility of sinning Lastly it stands in no shew of opposition to his occasion'd and consequent will for we must suppose sinne before we can take up the least conceit of of any will in God to punish Omnis poena si justa est peccati poena est saith Austin in his Retractations all punishment that is just is the punishment of sinne and therefore God who of his Naturall Goodnesse would not have man commit sinne out of his Justice wills man's Destruction and will not repent Sic totus Deus bonus est dum pro bono omnia est Tert. l. 2. adv Marcion saith Tertullian Thus God is entirely good whilst all he is whether Mercifull or severe is for Good minus est tantummodò prodesse quia non aliud quid possit quam prodesse his reward might seem too loose and not carry with it that Intinite valew and weight if he could not reach out his hand to punish as well as to reward and some distrust it might work in the creature That he could not doe the one if he could not doe both So â—…en sinne is permitted though God hate sinne that which brings us to the gates of Death is permitted though God hath tendered â—…s will with an Oath That he will not have us die Though he forbids sinne though he punish it yet he permitts it I have said too little Nay he could nor forbid and punish it if he did not permit it Yet permission is permission and no more nor is it such a Trojan Horse nor can it swell to that bulke and Greatnesse as to hide and conteine within it those Monsters of Fate and Necessity of Excaecation and excitation of inclination and induration which devoure a soule and cannot be resisted which bind us over unto Death when the noise is loud about us why will ye die For this permissive Will of God or his will of permission is not operative nor efficacious neither is it a remitting or slackning of the will of God upon which sinne as some pretend must necessarily follow nor is it Terminated in the thing permitted but in the permission it self alone for to permit sinne is one Thing and to be willing that sinne should be committed is another for it is written in the leaves of Aeternity That God will not have sinne committed as being most abhorrent and Contrary to his Nature and will and yet this permission of sinne is a positive Act of his will for he will permit sinne though he hath clothed it with Death to make us afraid of it and upon paine of Eternall Damnation forbids us to sinne though it were his will to permitt it These two To be willing to permit sinne and to be willing that sinne should be committed are as different in sense as in sound unless we will say That he who permits me to be wounded when I would not look to my self and hold up my buckler â—id cast that Dart at me which sticks in my sides we have been told indeed Qui volens permittit peccata certè vult voluntate permissivâ ab alijs fieri That he that is willing to permit sinne by that permissive will is willing also to have that sinne committed but it is so unsavoury so thin and empty a Speech that the least cast of the Eye pierceth through it a rotten stick whitled by unskilfull hands to make a Pillar to uphold that Fabrick of the Fancy The absolute Decree of Reprobation Take away this supporter That God will have that to be done which he permits that is That he will have that to be done which he forbids and down falls this Babel of Confusion to the ground And now what is God's will Haec est voluntus Dei sanctificatio vestra This is his will even your sanctification Saint Luke calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Counsell of God and so doth Saint Matthew 1 Thess 4.3 Luk. 7.30 his counsell his wish his desire his will his naturall syncere and constant will and it savours of much vanity and weakness to talke and dispute of his Decree which in respect of particulars must needs be to us most uncertaine when we certainly know his will when he cries to day if you will heare his voice when his Precepts his Laws are promulg'd hodie To Day to enquire what he did before all Eternity we may rest on the Goodnesse of God who would not have created us Isa 43.7 if he had not loved us I have made thee I have formed thee I have Created thee saith God for my Glory on the Mercy of God with which it could not consist to precondemne so many to Misery before they were upon the Justice of God which cannot punish without desert which could not be in the Creature before he was and on the Wisedom of God which doth nothing much lesse doth make man for nought stamp his Image upon him to deface it nor useth to make and unmake to build and pull down to plant and to digge up and to the grace of God which hath appeared unto all men that they may know him to be the True God and him whom he hath sent Christ Jesus But now we are told that some places of Scripture there are which seem to give God a greater hand in sinne then a bare and feeble and uneffective permission for in the 6. of Esay 9 10. vers God bids the Prophet Goe tell the
down this natural desire under the will of his Father and would drink that cup Maxima chsequii gloria est in eo quod aequi minus velit I'lin Paneg. which his humane nature trembled at not my will but thine be done Herein is obedience if a man doth the will of God even against his will that is his natural desire When my breasts are full of milk and my blood dances in my veines and my natural inclination is strong within me when beauty not onely tempts but sollicits and opportunity and the twilight favour me when my natural desire is eager and vehement when I thus would and might and will not then am I chast an Eunuch for the kingdom of Heaven when my choler would draw my sword and my reason locks it in my Scabbard then am I meek when I am brought to the trial of my faith and my fear would carry me away from that persecution which rageth against me for the truthes sake and I cleave to the truth and chase this fear away which would carry away me or awe and over-match it by the readinesse and strength of the spirit and resolve against those terrours which would shake me from my rock for I may fear and yet suffer then am I a Souldier of Christ when I am fastned to the stake and am made a spectacle to thousands to some a spectacle of pitty to others of reproach when I see the light the joy of the whole earth the Heavens above me and the land of the living where I was wont to walk when I see all the ceremony and pomp of persecution and death when the executioner is ready to put fire to my funeral pile when my flesh trembles and nature shrinks from that which will abolish it when in this fit of trepidation a conditional pardon is offered and I would yet will not receive it because even the saving letters that are in it are killing when the outward man would not be thus sacrificed and yet I offer him up then the crown is ready for me and the flame of fire in which I shall be reduced almost to nothing is my Chariot to carry my soul up to receive it I cannot say that this strife and contention is in all for the grace of Gods spirit may so settle and quiet it that it shall scarce be sensible but where it is sensible it is no signe that the tentation hath prevailed but rather a strong argument that we are not as yet lead and shut up in it but forcing a way and passage out of it that though the strong man thus come against us yet there is something in us stronger then he something opposite and contrary to the tentation which will not suffer it to come so neer as to shake our constancy or drive us from our resolution it may lay hard at us to make us leave our hold and to represse and keep it back to strengthen and lift up our selves that we do not fall is the effect of our watchfulnesse and Christian fortitude by which we are more then Conquerors To conclude this though the sense and fancy receive the object which is a tentation though our natural temper incline to it and raise in us a kinde of desire to it which is but a resultancy from the flesh yet if we stand upon our guard and watch we shall be so far from sinning that we shall raise that obedience upon it which makes a way to happinesse and the soul shall be sospes et fidei calore fervens inter tentamenta Diaboli Hieron Apronio as Saint Jer. speaks safe and sound vigorous and lively in the midst of all these tentations shall be undefiled of that object which is fair and unshaken of that which is terrible to the sense Put on then the whole armour of God stand upon your guard set up the spirit against the flesh the reason against your sense watch one eye with another your carnal eye with a spiritual eye your carnal ear with a spiritual ear check your fancy bound your inclination if the flesh be weake let the spirit be ready if one raise a liking or desire let the other work the miracle and cast it out and this is to work light out of darknesse good out of that which might have bin evil life out of that which might have been death this is indeed to watch And to this end that we may thus watch let us out of that which hath been said gather such rules and directions which may settle and confirm us in our watch and carry on our care and sollicitude unto the end that we may watch and so not enter into temptation And first we must study the temptations themselves so study them as to wipe off their paint to strike off their illecebrae and beauty to behold them in their proper and native colours and representations optimus Imperator Veger qui habet cognitas res hostium he is the best Commander the best Watch-man who knows his enemy and can see through his disguise and vizor through his counterfeit terrours and lying boasts and knowes what he is For indeed nothing can make tentations of any force but the opinion we have of them it is not poverty that afflicts me but the opinion that poverty is evil 't is not the evil it self but my own thoughts which deserve this ill at my hands I am afraid of it because I think it horrid and whilst I think I make it so It is not the blow of the tongue that can hurt me for 't is but a word 't is not a Thunderbolt and if it were yet the Stoick will tell us inhonestius est dejectione animi perire quam fulmine Senc. Na. Question It is not so great an evil nor so dishonorable to be struck with a Thunderbolt as to be kill'd with fear far worse that my fancy should wound me then the tongue of an enemy For what secret force can there be in a calumniating tongue to pierce through our very hearts and shake and disturb our minds we can hear it thunder and not be cast down but so improvident and cruel we are to our selves that a breath from malice or envy will lay us on the ground Non ex eo quod est fallimur sed ex eo quod non est we are not deceived with the realities but with the disguises and appearances of things which those shapes which we have given them we first make them idols and then fall down and worship them we carelessly take in the object and let our fancy loose to work and hammer and polish it as Poets do make gods of men and Seas of little Rivers and in this fair out-side in which we have drest them they do deceive us if we would look neerer into them if we would desire them involutas evolvere unsold and lay them open take them out of that gaudinesse in which they are wrapt they could not have
be that seale it up and seare it as Saint Paul speaks as with a hot Iron If it speake to us we are deafe if it renew its clamours we are more averse and if it check us we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Paul beat and wound it more and more multi famam pauci conscientiam verentur saith Pliny the loudest noise our conscience can make is not heard but the censure of men which is not most times worth our thought is a thunder-clap we heare it and we tremble we are led like fooles with melody to the stocks what others say is our motion and turnes us about to any point but when we speak to our selves we heare it but believe it not fling it by and forget it The voice of conscience is defraud not your brother nay but we will over-reach him the voice of conscience is Love thy neighbour as thy self nay but we will oppresse him the voice of conscience is Love Mercy nay but we will love our selves what we speak to our selves our selves soon make hereticall How Ambitious are we to be accounted Just and how unwilling to be so How loud are we against sin in the presence of others and then make our selves as invisible as we can that we may commit it what a sin is uncleannesse in the Temple and what a blessing is it in the closet with what gravity and severity will a corrupt Judge threaten iniquity What a pilferer Let him be whipt What a murderer He shall dye the death he whips the theef and hangs the murderer and indeed whips and hangs himself by a Proxie So that we see neither the power of the Laws nor the respect and obedience we owe to our selves are of any great force to prevaile with us to order our steps aright walk with men or as before men That may have some force but it reacheth no further then the outward man Walk with our selves give eare to our selves This might do much more but we see the practice of it is very rare and unusuall That there is little hope that it will compleat and perfect our walk and make us Just and Mercifull men which is here required It will be easie then to infer that our safest conduct will be to walk with God and to secure both the Laws of men and that Law within us that they may have their full power and effect in us we must first raise and build up in our selves this firm perswasion that whatsoever we do or think is open to the eye of that God who is above us and yet with us That that discovery which he makes is infinitely and incomparably more cleare and certain then that which we make by our sences that we do not see our friend so plain as he seeth our hearts that thou seest not the birds fly in the ayre so distinctly as he sees thy thoughts fly about the world to those severall objects which we have set up for our delight that he sees and observes that irregularity and deformity in our actions which is hid from our eyes when our intention is serious and our search most accurate Yet neverthelesse though being as we are in the flesh and so led by sence were this belief rooted and confirmed in us That he did but see us as man sees us or were this as evident to our faith as that is to our sence we should be more watchfull over our selves more wary of the divels snares and baits then we commonly are magna necessitas indicta pietatis c. saith Hilary Hil. in Psal 178. for there is a necessity laid upon us of feare and reverence and circumspection when we know and believe That he now stands by as a witnesse who will come again and be our Judge What a Paradise would the world be what a heaven would there be upon earth if this were generally and stedfastly beleived Glorious things are spoken of faith we call it a full assent we call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full and certain perswasion It is the evidence of things not seen I ask is ours so would to God it were nay would for many of us we did but believe that he is present with us and sees what we do or think as firmly as we do a story out of our own Chronicles nay as many times we do believe a lye would our faith were but as a grain of mustard-seed even such a faith if it did not remove mountains yet would chide down many a swelling thought would silence many a proud word would restrain us from those actions which now we glory in but would run from as from serpents as from the divel himself if we could fully perswade our selves that a God of wisdome and Power were so neer And now in the last place Let us cast a look upon those who for want of this perswasion doe walk on in the haughtinesse of their hearts and neither bowe to the Laws of God or men nor hearken to the Law within them which notwithstanding could not be in them were not this bright Eye and powerfull Hand over them And this may serve for Use and Application Many walk saith Saint Paul to the Philippians of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping that they are enemies to God And first the presumptuous sinner walks not with God who hath first hardened his heart and then his face as Adamant whose very countenance doth witnesse against him who declares his sins as Sodome and hides them not and they who first contemn themselves and then scornfully reject what common Reason and Nature suggest to them and then at last trusting either to their wit or wealth conceive a proud disdain of all that are about them and not a negative but a positive contempt of God himself first lose their reason in their lusts and then their modesty which is the onely good thing that can find a place in evil who doe that upon the open stage which they did at first but behind the curtain who first make shipwrack of a good conscience and then with the swelling salies of Impudence hasten to that point and haven which their boundlesse lusts have made choice of as we should doe to eternall happinesse per calcatum patrem as Saint Jerome speaks over Father and Mother over all Relations and Religion it self forsake all these not for Christs sake and the Gospel but for Mammon and the world What foule pollutions that grinding and cruell oppressions what open profanenesse have there been in the world and we may ask wit the Prophet Ieremiah cap. 8.12 Confusi sunt Were they ashamed when they committed abomination Nay they were not ashamed neither could they have any shame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 4.18 for the hardnesse and blindnesse of their heart For in sin and by sin they at last grow familiar in sin clothe themselves with it as with a robe of Honour bring it forth into open view