of God For this Life and Spirit is not drawn into the Soul but with the Body of Christ which is the Holy Temple of God Wherefore when we come to that Dispensation which we call the Living Law or the Law that giveth Life this is a main progress indeed in our Journey through the Valley of Baca and in this especially is that verify'd that it is turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a springing Well which as I intimated before is to be understood of the Spirit This Spirit of Life in us the Soul being one with it she will cleanse her self of all dirtiness and uncleanness like a bubling Spring into which if a man fling any dirt it will work it out again And so will this Spirit of Life work out all filth and falshood out of the Soul it not enduring any such heterogeneous stuff in it Here therefore the Vertues become Cathartical in an eminent degree But when Corruption is laid aside and kept at a distance when Regeneration is compleated and the new man well knit and compacted together then is the House or Temple of God built which these Travellers in Baca seek after And this degree of Vertue you may if you will in Plotinus his Phrase call Paradigmatical though not in his Sense who understands thereby a sensless 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Soul as if she had to do with no Matter at all and was to be reduced to a perfect Apathy But the Body of Christ and the Temple of God though they be very Pure Holy and Heavenly yet they are not perfectly Immaterial And it is that Idea or Example that we are to imitate and according to which our perfection is and therefore when Vertue has arrived to this degree it may well in this solid Sense be called Paradigmatical for all things are here according to the Pattern in the Mount And we have now brought our Travellers through the Valley of Baca to Mount Sion or rather to that part of that Tract so called in which the Temple was built which is Mount Moriah the Mountain of Myrrhe as some would have it signifie which implies the dryness and sterility of the Soil as well as the Notation of Sion does which has its name from aridity or dryness For this Temperature wherein the lubricous and luxuriant moisture of the Concupiscible or Desires of the Flesh of what nature soever and pleasures thereof are dry'd up and consumed by that more heavenly heat and zealous desire after the House of God This is the true Terra Sancta the Consecrated Ground in which the Temple of God will at last be erected and wherein those Travellers through the Valley of Baca will at last to their unspeakable comfort find it and with it the most solid Happiness the Soul of man is capable of which is the last particular 6. The Entertainment of these Travellers at their Iourneys end It is no less than a Beatifick Vision They shall every one of them appear before God in Sion For these are the generation of them that seek him even them that seek the face of the God of Iacob And here they are said to appear before the God of Gods in Sion and so to see his face which is the greatest satisfaction that the Soul of man can either desire or find according to that in the 17th Psalm As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake into thy likeness Which men can never do till they are brought into this Terra Sancta the moist fumes and vapours of a foul lushious Blood and unsanctify'd and unpurify'd Body will keep them fast in an heavy Sleep accompanied at the best but with vain and frivolous Dreams and the false Pleasures and Joyes of this perishing Life till they enter seriously into this Journey through the Valley of Baca and ascend into the Mountain of Myrrh which will prove to them the Mountain of the Vision of God which is an indubitable Etymology of Mount Moriah in which the Temple and Presence of God was amongst the Iews in which God exhibits himself visible to his People Blessed are the pure in heart which is the true Terra Sancta for they shall see God Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness whose Soul thirsts after God as a thirsty land as the Psalmist speaks for these shall be satisfied These are arriv'd to Mount Sion that dry hungry and thirsty Soil and consequently to the Holy Temple And therefore will not fail of being satisfied with the fatness of Gods house and of drinking plentifully of the river of pleasures that flows there For with thee is the fountain of life and in thy light shall we see light that is to say we shall see God who is light by his communicating his Image to us and making us Deiform This will be the Entertainment of these Travellers through Baca when they are come to Mount Moriah the Mountain of the Vision of God as the word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The God of Gods will appear to them in Sion The God of Gods the Summum Ronum O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but in this thy Holy Temple we will make mention of thy name only It was our ignorance of thee and because we had not seen the beauty and comfort of thy Countenance that we have served other Gods before thee that we have sought satisfaction in the power or riches of this World in the honour or applause of Men in the lust and pleasures of the Flesh in needless and fruitless subtilities of Knowledge or from any self-reflections on our own conceited worth or precellency before others or whatever else is rellish'd by the mere Natural man It was our ignorance that we were any time servants to these or that they were any way the guides of our Life or the joy of our Hearts But they are dead dry'd up and withered and shall not live they are deceased and shall not rise to lord it again over us For thou only art Holy thou only art the Lord and thou only oughtest to possess us who only art able to satisfie us and fill us and so to fill us and satisfie us as that as there is no need so there is no room left for any worldly or carnal satisfactions that nothing unholy or unclean may crowd into this thy Holy Temple or approach this thy Holy Mountain wherein thou hast appointed that day of Feasting that Feast of fat things that Feast of refined Wines and of fat things full of Marrow as the Prophet Esay speaks This is the entertainment of our Travellers through the Valley of Baca when they are once arrived to the House of God God does not only show himself unto them but welcome them after their long travel with a joyful Feast and all delicious refreshments Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and
health of his Bodies sake when every such perception so heartily and feelingly taken in is either poyson or a stab to the life of the Soul But that will be more seasonably considered anon In the mean time I hope I have made it clear enough what is meant by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fleshly Lusts as also what it is to abstain from them WE come now to consider the Second part of our Discourse the means or artifice the Apostle uses to fasten this Duty I have described upon the Hearts and Consciences of his Auditors His humble Address I beseech you and that kind and friendly compellation Dearly beloved And indeed the one implies the other Non bene conveniunt nec in unâ sede mor antur Majest as Amor While he calls them Dearly beloved it is more comely and suitable to beseech them than command them But the Prudence and Discretion of the Apostle is very conspicuous in both thus to insinuate himself into the Affections of his Auditors by such sweet and wining Rhetorick he being to convey something to them which is over bitter and distastful to Flesh and Blood and therefore he does well to besmear the brim of this cup of Wormwood with the sweetness of Honey that his Patients may the better take this wholesome Potion as Lucretius uses this Similitude though in a subiect of less moment Sea veluti pueris absynthia tetra medentes Cum dare conantur priùs oras pocula circùm Contingunt meltis dulci flavuque liquore Hard commands given with an harsh imperiousness befits not the Spirit of the Gospel And it is not so much external force at the assurance of the kindness integrity and fidelity of the Instructer that can engage the Affections and Conscience of the Auditor to the observance of such Spiritual Precepts as these Indeed the falsly-pretended Successor of Peter may by law and force keep Men from eating Flesh in Lent and engage them to observe such Commandments of Men whereby they more easily make the Commandments of God of no effect But to win upon Mens Consciences indeed to set upon the true and real mortification of our Fleshly Lusts in such a sense as I have described this is more likely to proceed from the perswasion they have of him that gives this wholesome Counsel that it is out of sincere kindness and faithfulness to them for the safety of their Souls than if they discern it proceeds out of an affectation of dominion over their Consciences and of exposing them to unnecessary faults and mulcts While the Apostle therefore layes aside all imperiousness of Command he seems to insinuate his sensibleness of the hardness of the task and to suggest that it is not out of an affectation of dominion over their Christian Liberty that he offers this Advice but out of the mere indispensableness of the Duty in order to their Salvation For as he calls them Dearly beloved so he treats them as in that endearing respect and seems to profess that it is merely out of his Brotherly Love and Tenderness towards them and faithful care of their highest and most important concerns that constrains him to offer this severer Counsel unto them Those whom we dearly love we cannot endure to hurt or grieve any way And therefore professing this tender affection to them in the midst of severer Counsel it is a plain manifestation that nothing but the indispensableness thereof could extort from him the Advice as when a tender Mother perswades her Child to endure the Searing Iron or Incision-Knife and to be content to quit some festred or gangren'd part of the securing of the whole Body This is the genuine sense of this wise and discreet insinuation of the Apostle into the affections of his Auditors that his Exhortation to Abstinence from Fleshly Lusts may take the more certain effect with them WE proceed now to the last part of our Discourse which is to consider the Apostles Argumentation whereby he would engage them to this Duty Which Argumentation as I said was fetched from a two-fold Topick First From the dignity of an Humane Soul especially Christian. Secondly From that enmity or hostility of the Fleshly Lusts against her 1. The dignity and excellency of Humane Souls is intimated in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The former whereof signifies such Qui sedem habent extra Patriam the latter qui extra Patriam peregrinantur as Grotius notes upon the Text. So that according to the sense of either of these expressions it is manifest that we carry something about us that is of a far higher dignity than to be accounted a Citizen or Indigena of this Terrestrial Globe If this round Hillock of Earth can lay claim to any thing of us born therein or therefrom it is only this Earthly Body At verò animis aeterna Coeli sedes quaerenda eaque propriae illorum Patria as Cicero speaks And something like this is intimated by the Author to the Hebrews who according as Philo Judaeus also somewhere insinuates touching the Souls of the Patriarchs here upon Earth does declare them Pilgrims and Strangers in this present World upon their own confession which he will also have further to imply that in thus saying they are Pilgrims and Strangers that they seek a Country which belongs more peculiarly to them that they desired a better Country that is an Heavenly and adds Wherefore God is not ashawed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City namely in Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We come into his World to sojourn uot to dwell here for the soul of every wise man has Heaven for its Country but this Earth for its land of Pilgrimage as Philo speaks Like that of Cato in Tully Commorandi enim Natura diversorium nobis non habitandi locum dedit And Plato in his Axiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Philo de Somniis does expresly make the History of the Pilgrimages of Abraham and the Patriarchs a Type or Shadow of the Peregrination of Humane Souls here upon Earth but that they have their proper Country in Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which methinks with more elegancy the Holy Apostle calls his Tabernacle which alludes to the pilgrimage of the Israelites through the Wilderness into the Promised Land that illustrious Type of Heaven in which journey they liv'd in Tabernacles or Booths Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle Which Tabernacle being dissolved we have a building of God saith S. Paul an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens That was only commorandi diversorium This an everlasting habitation to dwell in Wherefore the littleness of the concerns of this Life being proportioned to our short stay here and the Soul of Man being capable of so high and lasting
the wilderness to tremble the Lord maketh the wilderness of Kadesh to tremble The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to bring forth young and unbareth the thick bushes Every plant that my Heavenly Father hath not planted saith our Saviour shall be rooted out And indeed this was the end of his coming utterly to eradicate what so is evil And till he have his work in mans heart there be not a few ill Plants rather a Wilderness a Wood thick set with Trees not penetrable by any Star nothing capable of the light of Heaven But by the awful Voice of God the Hinds those fearful and timorous Creatures they bring forth the thick and shadowing Bushes are unbared And what follows In his Temple doth every man speak of his glory Now what is that Glory of God but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the glorious eradiation of the Father of Lights the Wisdom of God and the Power of God And the Hinds that is those that fear and tremble who they are and what they bring forth and how presently the thick Bushes are unbared so that they that were in darkness see a marvellous light I leave to any man to judge that is not as fraid of a Spiritual sense as of a Night-spirit But if they will in this Psalm so full of life and vigour have all Body and no Soul How shall we expound the next Verse The Lord sitteth upon the water-floods and shall sit King for ever What will you turn the God of Heaven and Earth to some Triton or Water-Nymph Or the great Pastour of Israel who feeds the Souls of his people like a Flock will you have him Proteus-like to feed Sea-monsters It is true that all things according to their several degrees have their dependance and expectancy from God Yet so narrow and straitend sense as the bare letter sutes not here I think with the Majesty and Divinity of the Spirit of David or rather the Spirit of God in David The Summe is this Fear and Honour goes before and the Light of God follows after 4. I will only add this Fourth Proof or Illustration more and so go on 1 Kings 19. And the Lord said unto Elias Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind came an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice the voice of him that spake as never man spake But I would not have any mistaken as if the Fear of God which is said to be the Beginning of Wisdom were but an hours amazement or at most but a wonder of nine dayes Tam de repente Which Errour will easily be wiped out of their phansie if they observe but the description of the Fear of God in Holy Scripture The Fear of the Lord is to hate evil as pride and arrogancy and the evil way Now that which a man truly hates he will do the utmost of his endeavour to destroy or else to sever himself from it and decline it So the Prophet David in Psal. 34. where he professeth the teaching of the Fear of the Lord Eschew evil and do good saith he So that a lazy inert sluggish hatred is not sufficient See how that Victorious King uses his enemies in Psal. 18. I have pursued mine enemies and taken them and have not returned again till I had consumed them I have wounded them that they are not able to rise they are fallen under my feet I did beat them small as the dust before the wind I did tread them flat as the clay in the streets Now a mans enemies are they of his own Houshold Corruption residing in a mans own breast which he will never leave fighting against till he have the victory if he truly hate them which he will truly hate if he unfeignedly fear God So that the Fear of God is the victory over Corruption Which victory over Corruption maketh us capable of the Divine Nature as S. Peter speaks which Divine Nature is nothing else but Christ the Wisdom of God Wherefore whosoever would attain unto Wisdom the way is laid open the Old way known to those Antients of Renown Trismegist long since could point it out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be Godly my Son for he that is Godly philosophizeth in the highest degree or most efficacious manner Which Sentence of Trismegist puts me in mind of the Septuagints Paraphrastical variation of the Text For beside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which variation that which is most remarkable is the substitution of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sense for Wisdom No man I believe is so devoid of Reason as to think the Prerogative of the Godly to be to have a more exquisite sense than others Though too too many gape after as a reward of obedience that which proves too oft the fewel of Sensuality sensible things What 's then meant by Sense There is a swimmering superficial Knowledge a light phantastical impression or abortive imagination engendered of aery words which many times neither the hearer nor speaker rightly understand false phantasms elicited out of misunderstood writings notional conjectures vain and temerarious efformations of that which we have not yet attained to so unlike the thing we would have it that if we did not do as the old bungling Painters did in their uuskilfully scralled pieces write on it Knowledge it would be hard to find what to call it But this false-nam'd Knowledge the Fear of God doth not begin but consume As clear Light makes all those shadows and resemblances to vanish that by the Opticks skill had been convey'd into a dark close room But the Fear of God is the beginning of Sense Which is to be understood according to that in S. Iohns Epistle That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life this declare we unto you This is true Science quieting and setling the moveable mind This is the right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even according to Aristotles Etymon which begets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rest and steddy standing in the Soul and therefore is not to be found in Cains Progeny nor to be light upon in all the Land of Nod. AND thus much of the first part of my Discourse That the Fear of God is the Beginning of Wisdom I will now enter upon the Reasons Why this is the only way that God hath pointed out for the attaining to Wisdom 1. One Reason may be the Falseness of mans Spirit The Heart is deceitful above all things So that God will not trust it with
recreates the Eyes of ordinary Mortals seem'd to him not a bright azure but a funeral black nor Sun nor Moon real and true Lights but two painted Scutcheons Or and Argent hung upon the Melancholly Tapestry of this House of Mourning Wherefore to be buried in the Body with him is a real Death and this Terrestrial Region wherein we seem to live but one great Caemeterium or Dormitory No life no joy no pleasure is here no not amongst those that seem to enjoy most that have the greatest portion in this Life nay their only portion therein Wherefore what expectation of Happiness before that blessed Resurrection When we shall see the Face of God and be satisfied with his Likeness in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore But for the present Interval that is the time of our Immersion into the Sense of this Body the Prophet David as well as Heraclitus does plainly deem it a state of Sleep or Death which are the same in Scripture every where as to any Mystical meanings or purposes As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Munster piously and I believe truly paraphrases thus upon the Text. Egó verò omnes electi tui Domine non ita quaeremus has temporarias transitorias divitias ut in illis deliciemur sed justè piè vivemus in hoc seculo ut aliquando in futuro seculo videamus faciem tuam eâ satiemur cum scilicet è pulvere evigilaverimus reformati fuerimus ad similitudinem Christi tui And this may go for the Philosophical sense of the Text. But there is a Moral sense thereof which Castellio seems to reach at and is indeed the most easie to the words of the Text which run thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of which the easie and accurate Sense is I will behold thy face in Righteousness at the awaking of thy image I shall be satisfied according as Castellio has also rendered it Tum satiandus cum tua experrecta fuerit imago And his Gloss is accordingly Per Christi resurrectionem qui Dei imago est plenam consecuturus justitiam foelicitatem For the Image of God is Christ who is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brightness of the Glory of God answerably to the LXX Translation of my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall be satisfied when I shall see thy Glory Which Glory like the beams of the Sun reach and touch the very eye-lids of him that is asleep but are not seen nor enjoy'd till he awake for then the image of the Sun is also awoke in him that is to say excited into actual being According to which Analogy is that Saying of the Apostle Awake thou that sleepest and Christ shall give thee light The Evigilation therefore or Resurrection of the Image of God in us is our Evigilation or Resurrection in a Mystical or Moral Sense into it which as soon as it does appear we also do appear in Glory with it but while Christ is thus hid or dead or asleep in us we are in a state of Death or Sleep and the true Life of our Soul is hid in him And this I would have the First Truth comprised in my Text viz. That the immersion of the Soul into the life of the Body and love of this present World which is the Image of the Earthly Adam is as it were the Sleep or Death of the Soul The Second That there is no true Satisfaction in this Worldly or Terrestrial Life which is but a torpid Sleep and the very shadow of Death The Third That the true Evigilation and real Life of the Soul is the recuperation of the Image of God the Resurrection of Christ in us according to the Spirit The Fourth That this Mystical Resurrection of Christ is the only solid Enjoyment and Satisfaction to the Souls of the Faithful even in this Life The Fifth and Last That the way to attain to this Satisfaction which arises from the Evigilation of that Divine Image in us which is also stiled the Face of God or if you will the Image thereof whereby we see his Face so far forth as he is visible to Man is Righteousness and Sincerity of Heart I shall behold thy face in righteousness These are the precious Truths comprized in the Text which I shall handle with all possible brevity 1. That the Image of the Earthly Adam is as it were the Sleep or Death of the Soul the very Text does apparently intimate especially that Translation in our Liturgy When I shall awake into thy Image which is the Image of the Heavenly Adam I shall be satisfied therewith which implies that till this awaking we are in a state of Sleep or Death For in that we can eat and drink and go up and down these are no Arguments that we are truly alive no more than the growing of the Hair and the Nails of them that have lain long buried in the ground is any Argument of Life in them I mean of the Sensitive Life Nor though the Flesh be full of Worms will the man be thought ever the more alive for that For neither is Sense the Life of a man nor meer Carnal and Worldly Reason the Life of the Child of God The Divine Image is the Soul of his Soul and the Life of his Life of which seeing every Soul is capable it is rightly deemed dead till it partake thereof till it be awaken'd into this Image of God But so long as the mind is addicted to the things of this World to the Law of the Body which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so long is she dead or asleep call it which you will Hierocles calls it Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Death of every Rational Essence sayes he is the loss or suppression of her Divine and Intellectual excellencies Plotinus Sleep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So far forth as the Soul is immerged into the Body so far she is asleep And therefore those that are wholly taken up with the concerns thereof as relishing nothing but what is Worldly and Carnal may justly be look'd upon as fallen into a deep Sleep And what if they can walk and talk and go up and down and do such things as men that are awake also do do not the Noctambuli do the same Whose eyes being shut yet unwittingly do they several exploits some hazardous others ridiculous other some as it some seldomer times happens safe and congruous if the chain of Phantasms that leads them attract luckily and to convenient Objects But in the mean time they know not what they do but without any free consultation or deliberation are carried out hoodwink'd to action by the meer suggestion of Dreams and Phansies And is not this the very condition of those who have arriv'd no higher than to the Image of the Earthly
works may glorifie your father which is in heaven Hence doth shine out the Praise and Glory of God even from our outward real good Life But to turn the Sacrifice of the Old Law into a Ceremony of Words would not be the turning of the type or shadow into the truth or reality but the substitution of a lighter shadow for one of more solid subsistence For words are but imagines rerum the showes or shadows of things and the faintest flittingst shadows of all shadows next to vanity it self But seni verba dare difficile est If we offer empty words to the ancient of dayes he will not be so deceived Wherefore it behoveth us to serve him in the truth of his Worship which is in the acts of Charity lest we be found as mockers of God and fire come from his presence not to consume our Sacrifice which so easily vanisheth of it self but to blast our selves and so we perish irrecoverably The Summ is this If sacrificing praise that is giving of Alms or doing any manner of good to our Neighbour out of the holy spring of lively Charity in our compassionate hearts succeed the Sacrifices of the Old Law then must these Sacrifices of doing good be more really and truly a Sacrifice than those of the Old Law by how much more the Anti-type is more really such than the Type and every body more really that body or being suppose man beast or tree than the shadow or image thereof is such 2. This scruple removed I will pass on to the second thing propounded which is the comparing this true and Christian Sacrifice with that description of a Sacrifice that commonly men give Learned Mr. Calvin in the Fourth Book of his Institutions speaketh thus Nos perpetuo Scripturae usu Sacrificium appellari scimus quod Graeci nunc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nunc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nunc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicunt quod generaliter acceptum complectitur quicquid omnino Deo offertur We know saith he that Sacrifice in continual use of Scripture is called that which the Greeks name sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in a general conception comprehends whatsoever is offered to God So he And according to this sense it is very plain and evident that Alms or any manner of doing good especially to the members of Christ is a Sacrifice In as much as you did it to one of these little ones you did it unto me Matth. 25. They that are united to God and Christ the Spirit of God being shed abroad in their hearts and so they becoming one with God and God one with them surely our Sacrifice of Alms offered to these doth as immediately approach to God nay nearer and more immediately than when a Sacrifice lyeth upon a sensless stone and the smoak vanisheth into the empty air Or suppose a Turk or Infidel to receive these Alms if they be given in reference to the honour of God and in obedience to the Almighty they are Oblations or Sacrifices to God as before And what great matter whether an outward fire upon an Altar or the inward heat of an hungry stomach consume them But that I may satisfie all apprehensions concerning the nature of a Sacrifice let us now take it in a more proper and restricted sense according to which some define it thus A Sacrifice is an external Oblation made to God alone whereby some sensible thing being Consecrated by a Lawful Minister with some Mystical Rite is consumed or changed to the acknowledgment of our humane infirmity and the praise and profession of the Divine Majesty That all these requisites are found in the true Christian Sacrifice of doing good I will both briefly and clearly shew That it is an Oblation external 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Gift or Offering sensible or external is evident to every mans apprehension it needs no proof or manifestation But that it is an Offering made to God alone seems more difficult Yet that is true too As true as in those Sacrifices of the Old Law For neither in those of the Old Law was God alone served others partaked of the Sacrifice or the fire or mens mouths fed upon them or both Indeed to say the truth in the matter of the Sacrifice God was not so much as a partaker Will I eat the Flesh of Bulls or drink the Blood of Goats Can the fume of frying Flesh be so acceptable to him when the vapour thereof is so displeasant to men Or can he take any delight in the smoak of Frankincense the breath of whose spirit gives life and motion to those sweet odours of Paradise Surely no. Why then when others partake of the Sacrifice and he not should a Sacrifice be an Offering to him alone and not to others Surely not because he enjoyed any emolument from them but because the minds of the offerers passing through all sensible objects and actions fixed themselves in God and witnessed before him their obedience and thankfulness in an humble devotion of Soul and this was the only thing that passed to God alone And thus may the Christian Offering be offered to God alone When this action of communicating is resolved ultimately into obedience and inward sensible Worship of the Almighty not by watery and cold Reason but by a fervent vigour of Life When out of a quick and lively apprehension of the Will and Nature of God which is Goodness it self and all-embracing Love we to our power work according to that principle and so exhibit to God an action most consonant to his own Nature an action of Bounty and Goodness neither the applause of men nor hope of requital nor any other sinister respect sharing therein but God alone being the end and beginning whereby we move and in whom alone we rest in this holy action And this unfolds the following words of this description of a Sacrifice Some sensible thing consecrated Consecration you know appropriates a thing to God And our action of communication is appropriated to God if we seek not any thing for our selves in this action but do it simply in obedience to the Will of God But now that this action of doing good whither by hand or tongue is not without an outward mystical Ceremony is hence plain For whether it be the munificence of our hands they are but a resemblance of his munificence that openeth his hands and filleth with good every living thing Or if of tongue whereby we do beget the holy life in others or direct in doubt or danger this is an emblem of the eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the everlasting word whereby all things were made and are now governed and directed The next term that I shall explain in this definition is a legitimate Priest or Minister And surely every true Christian is truly such Christ hath made us kings and priests unto God his father Rev. 1. 6. And 1
in and drown the Soul and choak all Life of Vertue and Goodness This is that great Deity of the Heaten This is the Idol of the Daughters of Moab whose stay and confidence is in this visible World whose joy and pleasure is in the Life of the Flesh. I will conclude with the Conclusion of the Psalmist Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the Heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen Praise ye the Lord. DISCOURSE XV. COL iii. 1. If you then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God THIS Text contains in it that precious mystery of the internal or inward Resurrection of Christ in our Hearts or Souls which is the chief if not only saving Knowledge of that part of our Christian Religion For alas Beloved what will that outward Resurrection of our Saviour according to the flesh profit us though we have the History of it never so accurately nay though we had seen it with our own eyes We may lye in the grave of sin our selves for all that We may sink like a dead stone into the bottomless pit and have our portion with the damned Devils who have an Historical Faith of all the passages of Christs doings or sufferings here on Earth it may be better than our selves And those wicked Souldiers that watched his Sepulchre were perfectly convinced that he had escaped the jawes of Death But what was this to them who were yet dead in their trespasses and sins Surely nothing at all And as little is it to us Beloved if we be dead in sin and have not risen from the strong holding bands of iniquity and vanity Wherefore it is not enough to say Christ dyed for our sins and rose again for our justification and so to imagine his Resurrection to be our raising from wickedness and corruption But we our selves also really and in truth are to rise from the grave of sin by the power of the enlivening Spirit of Jesus Christ. And whether we be thus risen indeed or no this present Text of Scripture will teach us If you be risen with Christ seek those things or you do seek those things which are above For the Greek Text will bear both senses I will first briefly run through the Sense of the words and then raise such Doctrines and Uses as shall most naturally flow from the Text and shall be most profitable for the promotion of that main work of our Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If then you be risen with Christ That is If you be risen in your Souls as Christ in Body rose from the grave If your Souls have scaped the bands of the Spiritual Death which is the nature and life of Sin for that maketh us truly dead unto Righteousness and unto God as Christs Body broke from the Prison of the Sepulchre Then you seek those things that are above It must needs be understood of the Resurrection of the Soul from Sin because the Apostle did not Preach to dead men departed this Life once and again clothed with this Fleshly Tabernacle but to men who were alwayes alive from their first being born into this visible World In vain then had he taught them a sign of that which he knew would never come to pass till the Colossians were past his Preaching to to wit at the last day the time of the Resurrection of our Bodies And according to this manner doth the Apostle speak also of the Crucifixion of Christ making the outward Passion and Death of Christ a sign or resemblance of something in our Souls viz. our dying to Sin as here he hath made his Resurrection an emblem of our rising to Righteousness Rom. 6. 2 c.. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein Know you not that all we that have been baptised into Iesus Christ have been baptised into his death We are buried then with him by baptism into his death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father so we also should walk in newness of life For if we be grafted with him into the similitude of his death even so shall we be into the similitude of his resurrection Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin The Apostle there plainly compares our dying to Sin to the Crucifixion of our Saviour and that as he dyed on the Cross Corporally so we ought to crucifie the body of Sin in us by the power of God in our Spirits Thus have we good warrant from the example of the Apostle to look upon the Mystery of Christianity with Spiritual eyes The Birth the Death the Resurrection and Ascension of our Saviour Bodily have their similitude Spiritually in our Souls The Birth of Christ a resemblance of Christs being born in us Gal. 4. 19. My little children of whom I travail in the birth again till Christ be formed in you His Death of our dying to Sin as I have already declared Or of Christs being dead in us For we are also said to crucifie Christ by our ungodliness and by extinguishing his Spirit of power and illumination in us Heb. 6. 4. For it is impossible that they which were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God and of the powers of the world to come If they fall away that they should be renewed by repentance seeing they have crucified again to themselves the Son of God and put him to an open shame Crucified again For verily Beloved from our very youth up we have laid dead the Son of God the suggestions of the Holy Life in our Consciences But yet it pleaseth God to raise his Son in us and recover him to Life by the Preaching of the powerful Messengers of God and the secret working of his Holy Spirit upon the Heart And here is Christ risen as it were from the grave But if we by loose and negligent courses destroy this Life of Christ in us and extinguish the Spirit of God in our Souls then do we crucifie the Son of God afresh and shame the profession of Regeneration and the Spirit of God and the true and living Christianism by our open revolting from the living God and taking part with the wicked of this World and their ungodly and sensual courses But now as Christ is thus in a Spiritual manner killed and crucified so when he is in us restor'd to Life it must needs be fittingly termed his Resurrection from Death And according to this sense may those words of my Text be understood also If you be risen with Christ That is If your Souls have become living
This last is chiefly the Word The other but dead signs or shadows of it differing as much from this as a picture of a man from a living man nay much more as much at least as the shadow of the Garland hanging on a Sign-post and projected on the ground differs from the best Wine in the Inne The Word spoken perisheth with the speaking Vox audita perit The written Word is indeed longer-liv'd but Paper and Ink is not incorruptible and immortal For the heavens shall melt away with a noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3. 10. The Word of God then is safe no where but in his own bosom cypher'd within himself in his own mind This is his eternal Wisdom and incorruptible Word the only incorruptible Seed Preaching and hearing and reading and discoursing they may be a kind of plowing or harrowing or some such piece of Husbandry But it is an hand out of the Clouds that sets this Seed of everlasting Life in our hearts Those are but some hungry talk of the best dishes or spreading the table This is the real food Those but a note under the Physitians hand This is the very Physick that restores to health Doct. IV. That this Word of God which is the Seed of the Soul is a living and everlasting Word This Word is no other than the inward Word of God which is his first-born Son the everlasting Wisdom of the Father which sat in Counsel with him when he made the World Prov. 8. Iohn 1. This Second Hypostasis is so acknowledged by the Heathen to be everlasting they make it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Life That it is a living Word we have an ample testimony Heb. 4. 12 13. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Can these Attributes be given to any dead letter or any transient hand Can Words or Writings be so penetrating as to divied asunder the Soul and Spirit c. 'T is true Authors both Divine and Profane give very quick operations to the Words of the Tongue Prov. 25. 15. By long forbearing is a prince perswaded and a soft tongue breaketh the bone Psal. 57. 4. My soul is among lions and I lie even among them that are set on fire even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword Psal. 64. 3. Who whet their tongue like a sword and bend their bows to shoot their arrows even bitter words And in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to speak words that cut to the heart But for this consider that it is not the words that do then so wound the mind as the mind launceth it self and plagues it self by those unruly phantasms she then occasionally creates in her self upon such speeches One man being jear'd at a Comedy bears himself so carelesly and jollily that he walks cross the stage that all the people may take notice that he was the man that was so abused Another so used goes home and hangs himself which is a sure experiment to prove that it is not words but the Souls own thoughts that so wound and scorch her self Words of themselves are but empty shells and husks and can give no greater blow than the shadow of Hercule's Club lifted up in the Sun nor can no more administer comfort than an Ivy-bush can quench our thirst Wherefore it is plain that 't is the Soul her self that creates these joys or disturbances in things Natural or Moral But in real Conversion to God in unfeigned Repentance in the New Birth as the Letter or outward Word is excluded as has been cleared so the Soul her self is excluded as being unable to regenerate her self therefore what is left but God himself by his living Word That 's the immediate cause of Conversion and Regeneration the other but occasions If not there is no supernatural act at all in Conversion and Regeneration Again this Word of God is said to be a discerner of the thoughts c. all which are manifest Properties of Life Compareing therefore this place of the Hebrews with the Text it is plain that there is a living and everlasting Word and that that Word is meant in both these places And if so then it s the same with S. Iohns words In him was life and the life was the light of men THUS much for the Doctrines or Truths which are as so many enforcements to the great Duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The substance of the Duty is mutual Love which is charged with a double modification viz. of quality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of quantity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies extension and is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or intension and is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or extension is either in reference to the object or else duration and implies an universal Love and continued But no English word will fully answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore our Interpreters have been forc'd to make use but of one of these senses fervently And they have with more judgment pitcht upon the sense of intension than extension because that intension in some measure implies extension but not è contra for that which is ex gr very hot has also a further extended sphear of calefaction and doth last longer hot than that which is at first but more remisly heated as is manifested in heated Irons To make any subtle disquisition of the nature of Love is not much to the purpose Every one knows what it is to love himself how he is affected towards himself Let him but transfer that affection which he is so sensible of in himself to his Neighbour and the Duty is done more substantially and completely than all Scholastical definitions and curious circumscriptions can be able to set it out Be so affected to other men as you would they should be to you or as you are affected to your self This is the Law and the Prophets THE Incitements to this Duty are many But I will confine my self to the Text and cull out some three As 1. From the Seed of the New Birth For what is this Seed but the Son of God by union with whom we also become the Sons of God petty Deities But sith that the Deity it self is nothing else but a sufficient and overflowing Goodness creating all things and sustaining them from no other principle than the Spirit of Goodness though we cannot act as this absolute Deity yet we may will according
to that uncreated Will which is nothing else but pure overspreading Love Again this Seed as hath been shewed which is the Word is a living Seed But where Life is and Understanding or Sense there must needs be Love for it is the flower and sweet of all desire What then can be the desire of the living Word but Love and how can he want desire sith he is Life and what can he so much desire as the good and welfare of Mankind What therefore should that part of Mankind that partake of this Divine Nature desire more than the good of one another and of those also that as yet have not partaked of that Divine Nature For God also loves those or else how could ever any partake of it 2. From the Regeneration of the Soul It is the Holy Ghosts own arguing 1 Ioh. 4. 7. Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and loveth God Ver. 16. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him By Righteousness and Unrighteousness by Love and Hatred are the Children of God and the Children of the Devil manifested 1 Iohn 3. 10. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother Ver. 14. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren he that loveth not his brother abideth in death If Water or Earth be turn'd into Fire we expect it should burn and be hot How shall then a Son of Satan or the Earthly man be turn'd by Regeneration into the Son of God and not love 3. From the end of our Sanctification Love is the very End of it Shall Envy shall Hatred shall Lust Ambition Luxury c. shall all these enormous Desires and Affections be cast out of the Soul by Sanctity and Purity that she may be but a transparent piece of Ice or a spotless fleece of Show Shall she become so pure so pellucid so christalline so devoid of all stains that nothing but still shadows and night may possess that inward diaphanous Purity Thus would she be no better than the nocturnal Air no happier than a statue of Alabaster it would be but a more cleanly sepulchre of a dead starved Soul Nay certainly at this cleansing and preparing is for something well worth that labour The Stoicks themselves that were such severe Sentencers of Passion would retain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stoicism it self brings in upon that deadness and privation of other Passions that divine motion of the Soul which is Love or Goodwill to all Mankind And shall Christianity be but a cold grave to the mortified Soul of man No surely there is a Resurrection to Life Love and the Divinity as well as a Death of the enormous Affections of this Mortal Body Bitter Zeal harsh Censure busie Revenge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are so far from being able to supply the place of Charity that it 's a manifest sign that we are as yet carnal and unsanctified DISCOURSE XIV PSAL. cvi 28. They joined themselves also unto Baal-Peor and are the sacrifices of the dead THIS Psalm is a compendious commemoration of those many slips and falls the Children of Israel had in their Journey to the Land of Canaan As foul and as dangerous as any is this in my Text this business of the Baal-Peor In the handling whereof I will observe this method First I will explain what may seem difficult to understand or ambiguous Secondly I will further confirm out of Scripture the narration in this Particle of Scripture Thirdly and Lastly I will make some Observations or Deductions from the truth of this Text such as will come from it with as much ease as profit I. For the First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. They joyned themselves For although the word be in Niphal and may seem to signifie either Passively or Neutrally yet as Elias the Grammarian hath observed the Conjugation Niphal sometimes signifies as Hithpael which denotes a reflex act Tota actio ejus est retransitiva quum recipiatur ab ipso agente So he expounds that in 2 Kings 20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amasa non est custoditus that is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non custodivit se. So Lev. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et venditus tibi Vt dicunt sapientes bonae memoriae saith Elias upon this place loquitur hic versus de vendente seipsum necessitate cogente Other Examples this Grammarian brings for the further confirmation of the matter but I will omit them these being sufficient for proof According therefore to this Analogy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be interpreted as our Translators have expounded it They joined themselves also to Baal-Peor To Baal-Peor But what 's that Such an Abomination that I am loth to name it I am almost forced back at the evil sight of it and ill sent And well may be if we believe the Hebrew Writers Peor saith Vatablus testantibus Hebraeis spurcissimum Idolum Madianitarum fuit a denudando nempe nomen habens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enim aperire denudare significat I will not venture any further in this description The impure Dog hath more modesty than the Worshippers of that Deity For that which they hide by scraping over earth from the sight of men they lay open to the view of their God Yet as filthy Abomination as it is the Iews as Moses the Egytian for example and R. Salomon stick not to assert it as true Origen durst conclude that at least it is idolum turpitudinis though not define what kind of turpitude in his twentieth Homily upon Numbers Cum multae sint turpitudinum species una quaedam ex pluribus turpitudinis species Beelphegor appellatur S. Ierom ventures to parallel it with the Latines Priapus and makes it to be chiefly workshipped of Women Others I could bring in to confirm this of the turpitudo of this Idol But I lift not to dwell so long upon an history so foul It is enough and too much that it be true that all assent to that it was an Idol that Israel joined himself to Those things concerning it that be questionable and uncertain I will let go and will build nothing but upon a sure foundation Let the condition therefore of their transgression be set as low as Venerable Bede hath pitch'd it in his Exposition upon this Text Initiati junt saith he or consecraverunt se vel initiati sunt sacricaverunt Beel qui colebatur in Phegor Belus enim fuit Pater Nini in cujus honorem Filius Idolum fecit quod vocabatur Beel colebatur in regione Phegor cui isti in deserto sacricaverunt And hence we may have some little light to find