〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our Regeneration which from the beginning stirred our hearts gives that great and powerful lift which doth the deed Here and not before now that Faith in the Gospel which applies and reaches hold of Christ first comes in to give life unto Repentance as a Soul unto a Body Which union of Faith and Repentance as I said in the beginning of this Discourse makes the Regeneration of a spiritual man as the union of the Soul with the Body makes the generation of a natural man And as in natural generation the Soul is not infused at the first conception but after the Body hath been in some measure fashioned and formed So in our Regeneration or generation spiritual Iustifying Faith or that Faith whereby the Soul flies unto and relies upon Christ hath no place till Repentance be come to the last degree of Contrition For then our Saviour inviteth a sinner to come unto him and not till then Come unto me saith he all ye that labour and are heavie laden that is all ye that are contrite and groan under the burthen of your sins and I will ease you Till then he invites them not as being not till then fit to be eased For the whole hath no need of the Physician but the sick I speak not of an Historical faith whereby a man believes in general that Christ is the Saviour of mankind nor of a Legal wherewith a man believes the punishments and threatnings of the Law for these may be yea are before Repentance but of a Saving faith which applies Christ as a salve to a sick and wounded soul. BUT now to dwell no longer upon the connexion of the two parts let us see what are the degrees also of this second part namely of Turning and Living unto God by a new and reformed life answerable to the degrees of the former part which was Dying and Turning from sin Where first we are to know that because Turning to a thing and Turning from a thing are motions of a contrary nature therefore the degrees of our Turning unto God are to be ranked in a clean contrary order to those of our Turning from sin For the first degree here is the Act of the Will which as it concluded our Turning from sin by resolving to forsake it so it begins our Turning unto God by a firm purpose of Heart to serve him thenceforth in newness of life After this the Affections begin to act their parts answerably and as it were to eccho the good choice the Will hath made First Love when a man begins to find himself affected and enamoured with this change of life After Love comes Delight when the Penitent takes some pleasure in doing the duties whereby God is served and finds joy and comfort in his favour From whence in the third place springs Hope of the reward namely to be partaker of the glory and life to come promised unto all those who unfeignedly turn to God and set themselves to do his will But we must know that these Affections appear not all at once nor in like measure but according as a mans growth and proficiency in Conversion is more or less Howsoever the inseparable Effects of this second part of Repentance are good works or as the Scripture calls them works worthy of or meet for or beseeming Repentance that is works of Religion towards God and of Righteousness towards men I shewed saith S. Paul Acts 26. 20. first to the Iews and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance Without such works he that saith he is turned unto God and yet doth them not is a lier and deceives his own soul. THUS much of the second part of Repentance I will conclude this whole Discourse with these two excellent descriptions of Repentance in the Prophets Esay and Ezekiel which contain the Sum of what I have hitherto spoken concerning the same For thus saith Esay chap. 1. 16. Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from mine eyes saith the Lord cease to do evil This is the first part of Repentance V. 17. Learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow This is the second part Ezek. ch 33. v. 14 15. thus When I say unto the wicked saith the Lord Thou shal◠surely die if he turn from his sin there is Contrition the first part and do that which is lawful and right If he restore the pledge give again that he had robbed walk in the Statutes of life without committing iniquity here ye fee the fruit of a New life the second part he shall surely live he shall not die Believe the Gospel THUS much shall suffice to have spoken of Repentance the first part of our Regeneration I come to the second Faith in the Gospel Repent and believe the Gospel Where first I will shew What this Gospel is secondly What it is to believe it or What is that Faith concerning it which our Saviour here requires For the First The Gospel is the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ who by taking away of sin reconciles us unto his Father that through him we might turn unto God and perform service and obedience acceptable unto eternal life Before I prove every part of this Description out of Scripture and explain the same as shall be needful for your understanding we will first speak of the Antiquity of this Gospel and shew when these glad tidings were made known to the sons of men Know therefore that albeit the Fulfilling and solemn publication thereof were not until our Saviour's coming yet the Promise of the same was from the daies of old even as ancient as the time of man's sin and afterwards continued and repeated all the time of the Covenant of the Law until the Mediatour of the New Covenant came in the flesh For when the Devil abusing the shape of a Serpent had seduced our first Parents unto sin and so had gotten dominion over them and theirs by this title the Gospel or Promise of a Redeemer that they might not be without all comfort was given them in these words The seed of the woman shall break the Serpent's head The Serpent's head is Satan's soveraignty which is Principatus mortis the soveraignty or principality of death a Soveraignty that whosoever is under is liable to death both temporal and eternal the power thereof consisting not in saving and giving life but in destroying both of body and Soul The Sword whereby this dominion is obtained the Sceptre whereby it is maintained or as S. Paul speaks the Sting of this Serpent's head is Sin This is that which got this dominion at the first and the title whereby he still maintaineth the remainder of his jurisdiction in the world This Soveraignty this Headship of the Devil One to be born of mankind the Seed of the woman which is Christ our
when there is no benefit by it but if it chance to be once beneficial to our selves then we love it Here is the trial of a Loyal heart to God to prefer vertue before vice then when in humane reason vertue shall be the loser vice the gainer This note discovered Iehu who destroyed the worship of Baal with a great shew of zeal but when it came to Ieroboam's Calves he dispensed with them lest it might prove dangerous to his Kingdom if the Israelites should go worship at Ierusalem 4. To conclude A Loyal heart is that which the Scripture calls in the old Testament A perfect heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not perfect in respect of degrees for such a perfection is not attainable in this life but perfect in respect of parts Cor integrum a heart wherein no part is wholly wanting howsoever weak and a great deal short of due proportion 1 Kings 11. 4. when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other Gods and his heart was not perfect with his God as was the Heart of David his Father not because he served not the Lord at all but that he served him not only and intirely Ioshua 24. 14. Now therefore saith he fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in perfectness and truth and put away the Gods which your Fathers served which was as much as to say Serve the Lord wholly and quite renounce all service to others 2 Kings 20. 3. Hezekiah prayes in his sickness Lord I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight He saith not he had done perfect Actions or performed perfect service for who can do such but yet that he walked with a perfect heart that is with a loyal heart before God So 1 Kings 15. 14. it is said That though Asa failed in his Reformation and the high places were not removed nevertheless his heart was perfect that is loyal with the Lord all his dayes THUS much shall suffice to have spoken of the Act Keep and of the Heart the Object of our keeping which are the two first things I considered in this Admonition The Third remains which is the Manner or Means how our heart is to be kept viz. with all diligence or above all keeping saith the Text that is with the best the surest the chiefest kind of keeping which is not only now and then to look unto it but to set a continual guard about it Nature hath placed the Heart in the most fenced part of the body having the Breast as a natural Corslet to defend it If the Heart be in fear or danger all the bloud and spirits in the body will forsake the outward parts and run to preserve and succour it If Nature be so provident for that which is but the Fountain of a natural life what care should the spiritual man have to keep his heart and soul guarded and fortified against all annoiances spiritual The life we lose if this be wounded or poisoned is inestimable the other of Nature is of no great value Yea but perhaps a natural man's heart is liable to more natural dangers than the heart of a man that lives to God-ward is to spiritual annoiances I answer The contrary is true For the Heart we speak of whence the Issues of the life of grace proceed is like a City every moment liable both to inward commotion and outward assault Within the fountain of original Impurity is continually more or less bubbling with rebellion Without the World and the Devil continually either assault it or lye in Ambuscado to surprise it The world batters it with three great and dangerous Engines of Pleasures Riches and Honours wherewith she endeavoureth to lay it waste and rob it of all heavenly treasure The Devil watcheth every opportunity to hurl in his fiery darts to cast all into a combustion and thereby farther to invenome and enrage the already-too-much impoisoned vitiousness and impetuousness of our corrupt nature How needful a thing is it therefore to follow this precept of Solomon to keep our hearts with all diligence or above all keeping to keep them with a continual guard to keep a continual watch and ward left the enemies surprise them Watch and pray saith our Saviour Matt. 26. 41. that ye enter not into temptation Watch in all things saith S. Paul to Timothy 2 Tim. 4. 5. Be sober be vigilant saith S. Peter 1 Pet. 5. 8. because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour If the heart be to be kept with all diligence or above the keeping of any thing else then is this Watch we hear commanded and this Guard of Prayer and this is a strong Guard to be chiefly and above all applied unto it But for a more particular direction of this guarding of the Heart we must be careful to observe this order following 1. As those who keep a City attempted or besieged by an Enemy have special care of the Gates and Posterns whereat the Enemie may get in So must we in this Guard of the Heart watch especially over the Gates and Windows of the Soul the Senses and above all the Eye and the Ear whereat the Devil is wont to convey the most of those pollutions wherewith the Heart is wasted First concerning the Eye David's example may warn the holiest men to the world's end to keep a watchful jealousie over it What a number of Cut-throats did one idle glance upon Bathsheba let in who made that Royal Heart whose uprightness God so much approved to become a sty of uncleanness and robbed it of those heavenly ornaments wherewith it was so plentifully adorned For the Ear take heed of obscene and wanton talk which by those Doors or Windows entring like Balls of Wild-fire inflame the Heart with lust We must beware also of the slanderer's mouth and backbiters tongue whose lying reports and malicious tales if they get in would sow in thine heart the seeds of heart-burning spight and mental murther which in that sinful soil will fructifie very rankly And think them no small sins which make thee guilty of innocent bloud for thine heart and tongue may kill thy brother as well as thy hand 2. As those who keep and defend a City make much of such as are faithful trusty and serviceable and if any such come will entertain and welcom them with much kindness but a Traitor or one of the enemie's party they presently cut short as soon as they discover him So must we make exceedingly much of all good motions put into our hearts by God's Spirit howsoever occasioned whether by the Word of God mindfulness of death good Admonition some special cross or extraordinary mercy any way at any time These are our Hearts friends we must cherish encrease and improve them to the
utmost with meditation prayer and practice But on the contrary we must resist and crush every exorbitant thought which draws to sin at the first rising Tutissimum est It is most safe saith S. Austin Epist. 142. for the Soul to accustom it self to discern of its thoughts ad primum animi motum vel probare vel reprobare quid cogitat ut vel bonas cognationes alat vel statim extinguat malas and at the first motion thereof either to approve or else to disallow what the Mind is thinking of and so either to cherish and improve the thoughts and motions of the Mind if goodâ— or presently to extinguish them if evil 3. Lastly Let him that will indeed guard his Heart as it should be take heed of familiar and friendly converse with lewd prophane and ungracious company There is a strange attraction in ill company to poison and pervert even the best dispositions He that toucheth pitch saith the Son of Sirach shall be defiled therewith Can a man take fire in his bosom saith Solomen and his clothes not be burnt For believe it when a man is accustomed once and wonted to behold lewd and ungodly behaviour there steals upon him insensibly first a dislike of sober courses next a pleasing approbation of the contrary and so presently an habitual change of affections and demeanour into the manners and conditions of our companions It is a point that many will not believe but few or none did ever try but to their cost It was wise counsel had it not been in a sinful business which Ieroboam advised If this people saith he go up to sacrifice at Ierusalem then shall the heart of this people turn again to their lord even to Rehoboam king of Iudah and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Iudah O that some men would be as wise for their good as he was for his sin THUS I have done with the first part of my Text The Admonition Keep thy heart with all diligence or above all keeping Now I proceed to the Motive For out of it are the issues of life that is All spiritual life and living actions issue from thence All living devotion all living service and worship of God issues from the Heart from those cleansed and loyal affections and dispositions of the Soul and inward man whereof I spake before Where such a Heart is not the Fountain there no action to God-ward liveth but is spiritually dead how gay and glorious soever it may outwardly seem No outward performance whatsoever be it never so conformable and like unto a godly man's action yet if it be not rooted in the Heart inwardly sanctified it is no issue of spiritual life nor acceptable with God Even as Statues and Puppets do move their eyes their hands their feet like unto living men yet are they not living actions because they come not from an inward Soul the fountain of life but from the artificial poise of weights and device of wheels set by the workman So is it here with heartless actions they are like the actions of true Christians but not Christian actions because they issue not from a Heart sanctified with purity and loyalty in the presence of God who tries the heart and reins but from the poise of vain-glory from the wheels of some external respects and advantages from a rotten heart which wrought not for the love of God but for the praise of men As therefore we judge of the state of natural life by the Pulse and beating of the Heart so must we do of spiritual No member of the body performs any action of natural life wherein a Pulse derived from the Heart beats not So is it in the spiritual man and the actions of Grace That lives not which some gracious and affectionate influence from the Heart quickens not Now this Issuing of our works and actions from the Heart is that which is called Sincerity and Truth so much commended unto us in Scripture For this Sincerity and Truth which is said to be in the works and actions of all such as fear and serve the Lord with acceptance is nothing else but an agreement of the outward work seen of men with the inward and sutable affection and meaning of the heart which God and our selves alone are privie to For as our words and speeches have truth in them when we speak as we think so our works and actions are done in sincerity and truth when they are done according to our heart's affection Sincerity therefore and Truth is the life of all our works of devotion and obedience unto God without this they are nothing but a carkase they are dead they live not neither doth God accept them For he desireth truth in the inward parts Psal. 51. 6. that is truth which proceedeth or issueth from the inward parts The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him that call upon him in truth Psal. 145. 18. For God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Iohn 4. 24. Whatsoever ye do saith S. Paul Col. 3. 23. do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men Our faith must be unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. that is in truth and in sincerity Also our Love must not be in speech and tongue only but in deed and truth 1 Iohn 3. 18. And this is the highest Perfection attainable in this life for which God accepteth of our obedience as perfect which springeth from it though it be stained with much corruption and full of imperfection That which is wanting in the measure of obedience and holiness is made up in the truth and sincerity thereof If it have not this whatsoever it be it is good for nothing because it wants the Issue of life And such Actions are all the Actions of Hypocrites For Hypocrisie is the contrary to Sincerity and wheresoever Sincerity and Truth is not there Hypocrisie is being nothing else but a counterfeiting and falsehood of our actions when they come not from a Heart sutably affected and therefore is otherwise in Scripture understood by the name of Guile when those who serve God in sincerity and truth are said to be without guile that is without hypocrisie So Nathanael Iohn 1. 47. is called an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile And of the Virgin-Saints Rev. 14. 5. it is said that in their mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the Throne of God that is they served God without hypocrisie in sincerity and truth and therefore God accepted of their obedience as if it were without fault and imperfection as he is wont to do the works of those who serve him in that manner If therefore Sincerity be the life of our obedience and that which makes it graceful in the eyes of God then is Hypocrisie the death thereof which makes him loath and abhor it as a stinking carkase Hitherto have I
spoken of the Influence of life into a Christian's actions in general But as in natural life so in spiritual are many Branches as the words of my Text imply speaking not singularly of one Issue but plurally of many Issues of life For that which lives exerciseth many living acts as so many streams flowing from the Fountain of life none of which belong unto that which liveth not These Issues in Nature are five Health Nourishment Growth Sense and Motion and the Heart is the Fountain of them all without it they are not they cannot be but as it fareth so fare they all The like unto these are to be found in our spiritual life of which I will speak somewhat in special the rather because every of them are as so many Motives to incite us to the attainment of this life to God-ward by serving him in Sincerity and Truth 1. The first Issue of Spiritual life flowing from the Heart is spiritual Health For the curing of our Souls of their Spiritual diseases must begin at the Hearts and the inward causes of corruption must thence be purged before there can be any true Reformation or sound Health in the outward parts Even as the heat of the Face is not much abated by casting water and cooling things upon it but by allaying inwardly the heat of the Liver Again That which seems to spring and flourish in our lives unless it be rooted in the Heart will wither and die The Fig-tree that only made a shew with leaves having no fruit in the end being cursed lost the leaves too wherewith it deceived our Saviour So the Seed which sprouted upon the stony ground is said to have withered because it had no root And if an Apple seem never so beautiful yet if it be rotten at the core it will quickly putrifie 2. The second Issue of spiritual life is spiritual Nutrition whereby the Soul continually feeds upon Christ in his Word and Sacraments But this is in none whose works and actions issue not from the Heart by Sincerity and Truth For where Hunger and Thirst is not the body is not nourished He must have a stomach to his meat that will have good by it Chewing in his mouth will not do it though he swallow it if his stomach be against it he will vomit it up again And can this spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst be where the inward man is not sanctified Can he have a Spiritual stomach whose heart is not cleansed 3. The third Issue of Spiritual life is spiritual Growth It is God's wont to reward the sincerity of a little grace with abundance of great graces Nathanael a man of no great knowledg yet being a true Israelite void of guile is further enlightened by our Saviour who gives him a sight of the true Messiah endues him with true faith and promises him still greater matters A weak and dim knowledg had the Eunuch and Cornelius in the Mystery of Godliness yet because they worshipped God sincerely an Evangelist was sent to the one and an Angel and an Apostle to the other to give them clearer light of the Gospel and a fuller largess of spiritual gifts The curse of God is upon Hypocrisie to destroy a great deal a great stock of grace but his blessing is upon Sincerity to improve a little portion to a greater measure A little Spring is better than a great Pond for in Summer when Ponds are dried up little Springs will still hold out 4. The fourth Issue of Spiritual life is spiritual Sense the Sense and feeling of the favour of God This no man shall ever find who lives not the life of sincerity For this is the most found and undeceivable evidence of our portion and interest in the power and purity of Christ's saving passion and sanctifying bloudshed 5. The fifth Issue of Spiritual life is spiritual Motion such I call Alacrity and Courage Sincerity is the cause of these It makes us chearful in all duties of service and obedience unto God it makes us valiant and courageous in all dangers trials and temptations begetting in us a true manly generous and heroical spirit The wicked saith Solomon Prov. 28. 1. flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a Lion DISCOURSE XXXVIII ISAIAH 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon I Will not speak of the coherence of these words for they are an entire sense of themselves and contain in them two parts First The Conversion of a sinner Secondly The Condition of one so converted The Conversion of a sinner is exprest in three degrees In the forsaking of wicked wayes In the forsaking of evil thoughts and thirdly In returning again unto the Lord. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord. The Condition or State wherein he stands who hath done all this is no state of Merit but of Mercy no not so much as a little Merit but even abundant Mercy If the Lord after all this accepts him it is because he will have mercy upon him if our God forgive he doth even abundantly pardon Of these I intend to speak in order and first of the First which is The Conversion of a sinner which is as I have said laid down in three degrees or steps the latter always excelling the former Even as in the Temple of Solomon he that would approach the Mercy-seat of God must ascend through three parts of the Temple the Court the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies So must he that will attain this Condition of Mercy mount these three steps of Repentance that he may enter into that glorious Sanctuary which is not made with hands where the great God that â—hews mercy unto thousands lives for ever and ever The first two of these forementioned degrees To forsake a wicked way To rid the heart of evil thoughts lest they seem but one thing expressed in many words I must handle both together that by comparing I may the better distinguish them As for the latter therefore of these words they have no great difficulty and therefore will not need much explication but in the former Let the wicked man forsake his way the Metaphor of way causeth some obscurity which I think is thus to be unfolded Every way implies a walking a way being that wherein men use to walk In whatsoever sense therefore the Metaphor of walking is taken elsewhere in Scripture in the same is way taken here But To walk in Scripture seems in a special and proper sense to signifie the outward life and conversation of men For as in the natural man the act of progression or moving to and fro is the most external act of all others and the most obvious to the sense of every one So in a man
nor Riches was the top and utmost of his desires And yet when he spake thus he would add not that he should be restless or discontented till he could obtain some such thing but to shew what kind of life he did affect and in how low an Orb of this world's Preferments he would have been content to be placed This sense of his mind is clearly express'd by himself in a Letter of his to a worthy Friend written upon occasion of certain ungrounded conjectures made by some upon his being by the then Archbishop of Canterbury admitted into the number of his Chaplains in which he affirms That he had lived till the best of his time was spent in tranquillitate secessu and now that there is but a little left should I saith he be so unwise suppose there were nothing else as to enter now into a tumultuous life where I should not have time to think my own thoughts and must of necessity displease others or my self Those who think so know not my disposition in this kind to be as averse as some perhaps would be ambitious 28. This inward sense of his Soul which was also his most deliberate choice did not arise from any sad melancholy or sour discontent upon some great disappointment for he that had no great Ambitions could have no great Disappointments nor did it spring out of a fond and over-dear affection to Privacy or from an unfitness for business and converse with the world the property of some who are styl'd Mere Scholars for his Collegues and others who had the happiness to be acquainted with him knew him to be a person of singular Prudence and admirable abilities both for giving pertinent directions and advice in any important case as a Friend and for the managing of Colledge-affairs as Fellow and for discharge of his particular Trust as Tutor He was wont indeed to call his Study his Cell but not as if he meant according to the lazy and useless Monastick way of life to immure and shut up himself there from converse with others He was far from affecting such an unprofitable unactive Solitude for none was more free and open for Converse especially with ingenuous and inquiring Scholars Let who would repair to him provided they were not captious and impertinent he would give them their fill of discourse and enlarge to ample satisfaction yea he would farther take the pains if so much were desired to give his full mind in writing even himself would do it without the help of an Amanuensis 29. There is one thing more to this purpose which here offers it self to be considered That though our Author loved a retired studious life yet his Thoughts were not shut up within his Cell but his Soul covered the whole Earth to borrow that expression of Siracides concerning Solomon his Heart was as large and wide as the Universe He so lived and was affected as became a Citizen of the World More especially as became a Christian and a member of the Church Catholick his Thoughts and Cares were particularly concern'd in the affairs of Christendom And accordingly for the gaining of forein Intelligence besides his Letters from some knowing Friends with whom he kept correspondence he was not unwilling to expend yearly something out of his small Incomes and when he sent it to such as were at charge to furnish him weekly for the most part with Intelligence he us'd in his Letters to them to call it His Tribute that was his word implying his ingenuity and withal his respect not Wages or any the like word of a mercenary or servile signification and to one of them he was pleas'd once pleasantly to say I am neither Dean nor Bishop but thus much I am willing to set apart to know how the World goes adding that if it were with him as it is with some whose Incomes were greater and who wanted neither Riches nor Honour but a good Heart and the power to do good with them in the world he should do a great deal more than that he did as numbering the affairs of Christendom amongst his best concernments and the gaining a more particular acquaintance therewith by helping to maintain correspondencies amongst Learned and wise men in distant Countries amongst the best uses he could make of that estate which God had given him Herein he also verified that of the Psalmist The works of the Lord are Great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein 30. But yet more particularly he had a very pious solicitude for the affairs of the Protestant Reformed Churches being heartily desirous that the Design then on foot for procuring Peace amongst Protestants might take effect And therefore he could not but greatly wonder to see so little life and affection toward this negotiation for Peace in too many of the Protestant profession yea even in some who would seem best affected to the forein Churches these he observ'd would profess a desire that such a Pacification could be accomplish'd but yet with a kind of heaviness and deadness as he thought who in the mean time was not so coldly and indifferently affected it being his heart's desire and prayer to God that all Protestants would follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith each might edifie the other then would not those who were come out of Babylon be so unwise and desperate as manifestly to weaken the Protestant Interest by their fierce animosities and violent contests about some Doctrines neither Fundamental nor Necessary to Salvation and consequently expose themselves as a prey to the common Enemy that breaths out nothing but threatnings and slaughter against the true Worshippers the faithful Servants of Christ and would triumphantly rejoyce to see their memorial cut off from the earth that the Name of Protestants may be no more in remembrance This truly Heroick Design for Peace that was the Epithet our Author gave it he foresaw would prove Difficult but yet he judged it Fecible and the enterprise was the more Heroick because accompanied with Difficulties That which made it Difficult was as he well observ'd Prejudice and Studium partium and a fond esteem of some Opinions peculiar to each side or contended for by some of note amongst them who having once drawn bloud in such Controversies that was his apt expression whereby he meant their having publickly engaged and declar'd themselves therein were therefore the more averse from hearkening to any Overtures of Peace as fearing some beloved Dogmata and consequently their Reputation should thereby receive no little prejudice But that this Pacifick design was Fecible he nothing doubted and that it might the better attain an happy issue he thought in general this was the most compendious and effectual way viz. That neither side should be roughly press'd or urged to relinquish presently their Opinions of difference but rather all fair and calm endeavours should first be us'd to perswade both parties That the difference
spare of body but afterwards when he was full grown he became more fat and portly yet not to any such excess as did diminish but rather encreas'd the goodliness of his presence to a comely decorum His eye was full quick and sparkling His whole Countenance composed to a sedate seriousness and gravity Majestas Amor were well met here an awful Majesty but withal an inviting sweetness His Behaviour was friendly and affable intermixt with a becoming chearfulness and inoffensive pleasantry His Complexion was a little swarthy as if somewhat over-tinctur'd with Melancholy which yet rather seem'd to serve the design of his studious Mind than to clogg it with those Infirmities which commonly attend the predominancy of that Humour And as for the whole Constitution and Temperament of his Body it could not be observed but his Vitals were strong and yet it was noted of him that there was an asymmetry and disproportion in the subservient Faculties as not all duly performing their particular offices in so exact time and measure as ordinary and yet Nature was so faithful in her compensations that there were no such irregularities in her Oeconomy as made him fall short of that chief desire of all wise men the having Mentem sanam in Corpore sano 47. He was patient of Cold and well able to go through a Winter without much Fire so that his rule was for divers years together to have no Fire made in his Chamber before All-Saints day and then after that but some times now and then and not constantly as the weather did require But that year in which he died he found an alteration being somewhat chill and indisposed a moneth or two before so that he was forced to alter his custome and could not stay for a Fire till November because he found himself indisposed and not perfectly well His expectation was in the interim that Nature by some way or other would have relieved herself which encouraged him to go on in his attending upon those Offices which were performable in his place and the rather because his Aguish indisposition was not constant 48. Upon the 29 day of September being Saturday 1638. the day of the weekly Accounts when according to the laudable custome of that Colledge the Manciple after Dinner was to give up the particulars of all the Expences of the whole Colledge that week to the Master and Fellows then present amongst whom Mr. Mede never fail'd to be one unless detain'd by some extraordinary occasion he appear'd in the Hall at dinner-time as usually But before all was ended he was forced to rise up and to hast to his Chamber being sick and ill at ease Thither when he was come and set down in his chair he presently fainted away and sunk down upon the hearth and the posture that he was found lying in was not without some danger to one of his Leggs from the Fire A Master of Arts of that Colledge a Friend to Mr. Mede and who honoured him very much comes upon a particular occasion to his Chamber so the good Providence of God did order it who seeing him lie in that posture at which he was surpriz'd with no little astonishment put to all his strength to recover him to his seat and that he did indeed but with very much ado Being a little come to himself he complain'd he was ill And ill it proved for him or rather for the surviving that it happened to be so at a time when the best noted Physicians were from home the University being then the more thin by reason of the Plague which had been in Cambridge that Summer An Apothecary being sent for he went to Dr. N. an ancient learned and very judicious Physician but less fit for practice being gouty and bed-red He prescribed a Clyster to be presently administred him But the Apothecary unacquainted with the state of his Body not having that special regard to the tenderness of those parts which had he been acquainted with before he should reasonably have had did so irritate his Haemorrhoid Veins that they swell'd up immediately and so angry they grew that they shut up the passage And now this Good man began to be in extremity of pain for the Clyster working inwardly because no passage downward was to be found tormented him exceedingly But the next day being Sunday and the last of September the adventurous Apothecary whether with the foresaid Doctor 's advice or not it could not clearly be resolved adventured upon a farther experiment and so gave him a strong Purge imagining it's likely that this would force all downward But contrary to that fancy it wrought still but within and so procured more torment and sickness to the distressed Patient All that day he continued very ill and out of order worse and worse still as 't was easie to observe But to those that were Eye-witnesses of his pain and great affliction it was as easie to observe his Christian Patience at this time We may easily conceive the exquisiteness of the pain he endur'd by reason of the Physick tearing him within but some then present have profess'd that they could not but admire his Incomparable Patience under this sore trial and that he lay under the extremity of his distemper with so much Meekness and quiet Submission to the hand of God that they never knew the like Thus had Patience her perfect work in him and as he possess'd his Vessel his Body in sanctification and honour having lived a life of Chastity and Purity so he likewise possess'd his Soul in patience while he possess'd it in this earthen and brittle Vessel of the Body and hereby gave an illustrious proof that he had well learn'd that great Lesson of Self-denial and Resigning up himself to the Will of his Heavenly Father It was in the time of his Health his Meat and Drink to do his Will and now to be enabled meekly to submit to it was his Cordial Thus was he still and silent before God committing himself to him as unto a Faithful Creatour and unto Christ Iesus that Merciful and Faithful High-Priest who ever liveth to make intercession for us the Glory and Prerogative of whose Sole Mediation at the Right hand of God he had always faithfully asserted in his Discourses 49. In the Night following his spirits began to fail yet being in perfect memory an hour or two before day-break he desired to have Mr. Iohn Alsop sent for a most worthy Consocius of that Learned Society who being come Mr. Mede told him he hoped he should do well for that now he perceived his Physick to work downward But Mr. Alsop by what he saw was fearful of the work suspecting as it proved true that that purging downward proceeded not in that case from any activity or strength of Nature but rather from debility and weakness thereupon like a wise and good man he advised him however it might please God to deal with
Prophet in the name of a Prophet yet behind namely such as rob and spoil them of their livelihood and daily bread and not only themselves give nothing to enable and encourage them the better to perform their Ministery but take from them several ways that which the Piety and Bounty of their Ancestors hath allotted them yea to many if not to the most no gain or theft is more sweet than that which is gotten out of the Priest's portion But whether it will prove so at that day when the just God shall reward every man according to his works may be greatly feared I told you a little before that the reason why he that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall be partaker of a Prophet's reward is because he that supports and enables a Prophet to do his duty hath thereby an interest in his work and consequently in the reward due to the same If this be so what can they look for who by subtracting their daily bread from them hinder and disenable them from the free and chearful performance of their duty by distracting them with the cares of providing for their bodily life Do they not derive upon themselves the guilt of whatsoever impediment comes hereby to the propagation of the Kingdom of Christ Shall not the loss of every Soul that perisheth for want of due provision to maintain an able Minister be cast to their account at the last day I will speak nothing now of the burthen which Sacriledge it self as being a robbing of God carries with it See Prov. 20. 25. It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy and after vows to make enquiry nor of those dreadful execrations which the Donors of such things were wont antiquo ritu to lay upon the heads of all such as should divert them to prophane uses wherewith these men willingly and wilfully involve themselves I will I say not speak of these for the present occasion calls upon me and tells me that I came not hither to curse but to bless I therefore change my note and say Blessed be God our heavenly Father who notwithstanding the malignity of many hath not left us destitute but in every Age hath raised up some to shew kindness unto the Prophets and to provide entertainment for them Witness the goodly Buildings and liberal Endowments in our two Seminaries for the entertainment and education of Prophets and Prophets Sons more particularly the Bounty of those Worthies the fruits of whose Piety and Devotion we our selves here assembled by the Divine goodness enjoy Whose blessed names therefore as their deserts challenge at our hands let us remember with all due honour and thankfulness After the mention of the Names of the College-Benefactors this followes in the Authors own Manuscript These are the Names of our pious Founders and Benefactors let their Memory be blessed for ever And when Christ our Lord shall come in his Glory to render every one according to his works and their Bones flourish again out of their graves let all the benefit and enlargement which shall redound to the Church of God by this their Bounty be cast in their account and we with them and they with us hear that comfortable voice Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the World DISCOURSE XXIV S. LUKE 2. 13 14 And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory be to God on high or in the highest and on earth Peace Good-will towards men AT the Creation of the world when God laid the foundations of the Earth and stretched out his line thereon the Stars of the morning as God himself describes it Iob 38. 7. sang together and all the Sons of God that is the holy Angels shouted for joy This in my Text is so like it that a man would think some new Creation were in hand nor were it much wide of truth to affirm it for if ever there were a day wherein the Almighty Power the incomparable Wisdom the wonderful Goodness of God again the second time appeared as it did at the World's Creation it was this day whereof S. Luke our Evangelist now treateth when the Son of God took upon him our Flesh and was born of a Virgin to repair the breach between God and man and make all things new The news of which Restauration was no sooner heard and made known to the Shepherds by an Angel sent from heaven but suddenly the heavenly Host descended from their celestial mansions and sung this Carol of joy Glory be to God on high and welcome Peace on earth Good-will towards men A Song renowned both for the singularity of the first example for until this time unless it were once in a Prophetical Vision we shall not find a Song of Angels heard by men in all the Scripture and from the custom of the Church who afterward took it up in her Liturgy and hath continued the singing thereof ever since the dayes of the Apostles unto these of ours Yet perhaps it is not so commonly understood as usually said or chaunted and therefore will be worth our labour to enquire into the meaning thereof and hear such Instructions as may be learned therefrom Which that we may the better do I will consider First the Singers or Chaunters The heavenly Host Secondly the Carol or Hymn it self Glorid in excelsis Deo Glory be to God on high c. For the First The Heavenly Host here spoken of is an Army of holy Angels For the Host of heaven in the language of Scripture is twofold Visible or Invisible The Visible Host are the Stars which stand in their array like an Army Deut. 4. 19. Lest thou lift up thine eyes saith the Lord there unto heaven and when thou seest the Sun Moon and Stars even all the Host of heaven shouldst be driven to worship and serve them The Invisible Host are the Angels the heavenly Guard according to that of Micaiah 1 King 22 19. I saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne and all the Host of Heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left So. Psal. 103. 20 21. Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandments Bless the Lord all ye his Hosts ye ministers of his that do his pleasure Where the latter words do but vary that which is expressed in the former From this it is that the Lord Iehovah the true and only God is so often styled the Lord or God of Sabaoth or of Hosts that is King both of Stars and Angels according to that Nehem. 9. 6. Thou art God alone and the Host of Heaven worshippeth thee By which Title he is distinguished from the Gods of the Nations who were some of the Host to wit of the Stars or Angels but none of them The Lord of Hosts himself For the same reason and with the same meaning and sense in
Good spell that is the good speak or say the good tidings the word of good news Under which name it was revealed by the Angel to the Shepherds who were watching their flock in the fields the night our Saviour was born Behold saith the Angel I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luk. 2. 10 11. I call it the glad tidings of Salvation to be attained by Christ for so much the name of Saviour implies And saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners Neither is there saith S. Peter Acts 4. 12. Salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved The next words I used shew the way and manner how and whereby Christ purchased this Salvation unto men and the means whereby it is attained through him namely by cancelling of sin by his alonement made he reconciles us to his Father that we through him might turn unto God and perform works of obedience acceptable unto eternal life All which was foretold by Daniel chap. 9. 24. where prophesying of the time of Messiah's coming he said Seventy weeks were determined upon the people and upon the holy city to finish transgression and to make an end of sin and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness To prove in particular that Christ dyed for sin I shall not need No man that ever read the Gospel but knows it That by the atonement he made for sin by death he hath reconciled us to his Father is as evident by what S. Paul tells us 2 Cor. 5. 19. That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses to them That the ministery of the Gospel is the Ministery of reconciliation v. 18. whose Ministers as Embassadors for Christ beseech men in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God v. 20. For by reason of Sin all mankind is at enmity with God and liable to eternal wrath Christ by taking our sins upon him abolished this enmity and set us at peace with God his Father according to that the Quire of Angels sang at his blessed Birth Glory be to God on high and on earth Peace Good-will towards men that is Glory be ascribed to God forasmuch as Peace was come upon earth and Good-will towards men All this is plain But that which the greatest part of men as may be guessed by their practice seem to make question of is that last parcel of my Description That therefore Christ took away sin and reconciled us to his Father that we might through him whose righteousness is imputed to us perform works of piety and obedience which God should accept and crown with eternal life But that this is also a part of the Gospel as well as the former is plain and evident First by that of S. Peter 1 Ep. ch 2. ver 24. where he tells us That Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin might live unto righteousness Secondly by that of the Apostle Paul to Titus ch 2. 11 c. The grace of God saith he that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all men Wherefore Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Is not this plain Thirdly by that of the same Apostle Eph. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us v. 8 9. that we are saved by grace through faith and not of works that is not according to the Covenant of works wherein the exact performance was required lest any man should boast namely that he was not beholden to God for grace and favour in rewarding him he adds presently lest his meaning might be mistaken That we are God's workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works which God hath before ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should walk in them As if he should say Though of our selves we are no ways able to perform those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his Law for us to walk in yet now God hath as it were new created us in Christ that we might perform them in him namely by way of acceptation though they come short of that exactness which the Law requireth And thus to be saved is to be saved by grace and favour and not by the merit of works because the foundation whereby our selves and services are approved in the eyes of God and have promise of reward is the mere favour of God in Iesus Christ and not any thing in us or them Agreeable to these Scriptures is that in the Revelation where glory is ascribed to Iesus Christ who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloud and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God his Father that is that he might make us kings and Priests unto God his Father For and is here to be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that Kings to subdue the world the flesh and the Devil Priests to offer Sacrifices of prayer thanksgiving works of mercy and other acceptable services to our heavenly Father Moreover and besides these express Scriptures this Truth may be yet further confirmed by Demonstration and Reason Repentance is a forsaking of sin to serve God in newness of life Now the Gospel includes Repentance as the subject wherein it worketh as the Body which it enliveneth as a Soul Or to use a similitude from weaving Repentance is the warp of the Gospel and the Gospel the woof of Repentance Repentance is as the warp which the Gospel by the shuttle of Faith runs through as the woof whence proceeds the web of Regeneration Therefore is Repentance everywhere joyned with the Gospel Both Iohn Baptist and our Saviour so published it Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Repent and believe the Gospel Our Saviour in his last words or commission to his Disciples tells them Luk. 24. 47. that Repentance and Remission of sins which is the Gospel should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem All which is elsewhere comprised in the sole name of preaching the Gospel which argues that the Gospel of Christ and consequently our Faith in the same supposeth Repentance as the ground to do its work upon So S. Peter in his first Sermon Acts 2. 38. conjoyns them Repent saith he and be baptized in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins as if he had said Repent and that thy Repentance may be available betake
in regard of Nature If Agur be a Master of a Family then that is his Competency which is convenient to maintain his wife children and houshold If Agur be a Publick person a Prince or a Ruler of the people then that is Agur's Sufficiency which will conveniently maintain him in that condition For the Competency which Agur prays for is that which if he want he is in poverty if he exceed he is rich Now our own Reason will inform us that those means which would make a private man rich a King may have a Peer may have and more too and yet be exceeding poor In a word therefore as Zeba and Zalmunna said to Gideon Iud. 8. 21. As is the man so is his strength the like may I say here As is the man so is his Competency And in whatsoever condition God hath placed thee thou mayest yea thou oughtest to pray for a convenient Food to maintain the same but to ask more thou hast no pattern neither in this nor in the Prayer which Christ himself hath taught thee HAVING thus fully explicated as I think these first words of Agur's Prayer let us now see what Observations they will afford us before we come to the Reason in the words following where indeed is the marrow of the Text. First therefore If we ought with Agur to pray against Poverty Then is that Monkish affecting of Poverty no point of Piety their voluntary and vowed Poverty as they would make us believe neither a State of Perfection nor a Religion acceptable to God We know well enough what the Poverty of Monks and Friers hath been for many hundred years not a State of Perfection God knows but a State of Hypocrisie For what Poverty is that I pray you where a man is said to be poor and to have forsaken all because he hath nothing in proper and yet hath a rich and plentiful share in the common But suppose it were as they say it is and as amongst the ancient Monks it was indeed and perhaps still among some of their begging Friers yet I say such a wilful Poverty is neither a State of Perfection nor a Religion acceptable to God For if it were it could not be lawfully prayed against nor a competent sufficiency prayed for But Give me not poverty saith Agur but seed me with food sufficient for me But they alledge the Counsel of our Saviour to the young man in the Gospel Matth. 19. 21. If thou wilt be perfect go sell that thou hast and give it to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven Doth not Christ prescribe Poverty here as the way to eternal life A Ship in a storm is sometimes in that danger as there is no way to save her but to throw her lading into the Sea The Body sometime cannot be saved unless an arm or a leg be cut off If this young man's Soul were in danger of some such spiritual Gangrene through his great possessions then was this counsel of our Saviour a personal and particular advice unto him but extraordinary cases are not to be made an ordinary practice But I think this was not this young man's case for the Text saith Our Saviour loved him when he heard his replies c. And therefore I answer that our Saviour spake this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trial-wise as he did to the woman of Canaan when to prove her constant Faith he told her He was not sent but to the lost sheep of Israel and as he did to Moses Numb 14. 12. when to prove or stir up his zeal in praying he threatned utterly to destroy his people Israel I will saith he smite them with pestilence and disiâ—herit them and will make of thee a greater Nation than they So our Saviour spake here to the young man by way of Trial to prove him and to make him see and acknowledge how much he was deceived how far short he was of that Perfectness of heart he deemed to be in himself who thought he could have been willing and ready to do any thing for the attainment of everlasting life Master saith he what shall I do that I may inherit everlasting life I have done all I know command me any thing else what thou wilt I am ready to undertake it Our Saviour answers By this shalt thou approve thy perfectness with God if thou canst be willing for his sake to sell all that thou hast and give it unto the poor And this was a Touchstone indeed for the Text says He went away sorrowful And I make no doubt but if many among us who think themselves some-body would examine themselves upon this point they would find their hearts deceive them egregiously and that they were not the men they took themselves to be Art thou rich and yet couldst thou be willing to forsake all thou hast to follow Christ This is a scouring Trial indeed And yet should every true Christian be thus affected to forsake all in the purpose and estimation of his heart that he may be one of Christ's For He that loveth father and mother houses and lands better than him he that hath not forsaken them in his estimation and resolution is not worthy of him And this is that forsaking of the world in purpose and affection to prefer Christ before the world whereof S. Peter chiefly spake Luke 18. 28. Loe we have left all and followed thee that is we have set all at nought to follow thee and yet Peter kept his house still at Capernaum I leave it to be considered whether such as these be not the poor in spirit Matth. 5. 3. that is who in spirit and affection have renounced the world and esteem of Christ above all riches For these words are but once found in Scripture and S. Luke seems to imply as much as I say when he relateth the words as spoken to and of the Apostles only Blessed be ye poor for yours is the Kingdom of God But I will not contend for it Secondly The Patrons of Monkery alledge the Practice of the Primitive Church Acts 2. 45. chap. 4. 34 35. who sold their lands and possessions and laid down the money at the Apostles feet I answer They were Iews that did so and none but Iews that did so Shew me the like done among the Gentiles when the Gospel came amongst them Which of all S. Paul's Epistles give any such Precept or intimate any such thing But as for the Iews those who once believed in Christ believed also the woful destruction of their own Nation to be within a few years after and therefore they thought good while there was yet time to improve their Lands and Possessions to the best use which they should not many years enjoy And the occasion was now fit at the first preaching of the Gospel and gathering of a Church to Christ to furnish the Apostles and others for this service and employment And therefore when the
the Lord's and the fulness thereof and he requires this as a Tribute whereby we may acknowledge him to be the Giver of what we have Away with words or mere verbal thanksgivings God is thy Landlord he requires a Lords Rent those who use not to pay it will soon forget who is their Landlord which is the proper fountain of all the evil that comes by Abundance Nay he that thinks this Tribute of his goods is not due doth already disclaim his Landlord and deny God to be his Lord. When David made that bountiful and glorious offering for the building of the Temple 1 Chron. 29. 10 11 14. he blessed him in this manner Thine O Lord is the kingdom and thou art exalted over all Both riches and honour come of thee and thou raignest over all and in thine hand is power and might and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee If thou wouldst have the grace to say as David said thou must do as David did THUS we have considered the First part of the Reason of Agur's Prayer Why he prayed against Riches let us next examine the Second which moved him to pray against Poverty also Lest saith he I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain Poverty we see and want of things needful hath her dangers and evils as well as Riches and Abundance First Stealing Lest I be poor and steal Where by Stealing we must understand as much as is forbidden in the eighth Commandment not only Stealing by force and violence which we call Robbery but Stealing by fraud consenage or detention of anothers due though not so much punished by the Laws of Man yet as great a Sin before God as forcible robbing You may find all these kinds of Stealing reckoned up together Levit. 6. and one and the same Sacrifice appointed by God for atonement of them whereby it appears their guilt is the same in his estimation whatsoever men think of them Lev. 6. 2. If a Soul sin and commit a trespass against the Lord and lye unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep or in fellowship or dealing or in things taken by violence or hath deceived his neighbour Ver. 3. Or hath found that which was lost and lieth concerning it and sweareth falsly in any of all these that a man doth sinning therein Ver. 4. Then it shall be because he hath sinned and is guilty that he shall restore that which he took violently away or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten or that which was delivered him to keep or the lost thing which he found Ver. 5. Or all that about which he hath sworn falsly he shall even restore it in the principal and add the fifth part more thereto Then followeth the Sacrifice for atonement Here you may easily see how far this sin of Stealing extends And there is none of all these but a poor man in extremity of want is in danger to fall into as not only Agur's fear but daily experience may tell us and therefore it needs no further proof The second danger that Agur nameth is of Taking the Name of God in vain that is of perjury and false swearing as that which would follow upon Stealing as Stealing doth upon Poverty The danger of Perjury upon committing of Theft was greater among the Iews than amongst us by reason of a Custom and Law amongst them to tender an oath to those who were accused or suspected of Theft to clear and purge themselves For because Theft was not punished by death according to the Divine Law but by restitution and recompence this course with them was just and reasonable when no other evidence sufficient could be brought to give an oath to the accused it being supposed that the guilty party where the punishment for Theft was but restitution would rather confess his offence than incur so hainous a sin as the sin of Perjury But with us who punish Theft with death this way of trial by oath would be most unreasonable it being most true though spoken by the father of lies that Skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life But that this manner of trial was practised among the Iews the place I even now quoted out of Leviticus for the kinds of Theft doth sufficiently manifest where it is said If a soul have committed such or such a kind of theft and lieth concerning it and sweareth falsly and again it is said he shall restore all that about which he hath sworn falsly And Exod. 22. 8 11. there is an express commandment to give an oath in a case of Theft there mentioned Hence it is that the prohibition of Theft and Perjury are joyned together Lev. 19. 11 12 13. because the one depended of the other Ye shall not steal neither deal falsly neither lie one to another And ye shall not swear by my Name falsly neither shalt thou prophane the Name of thy God I am the Lord. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour neither rob him The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning The Perjury and false swearing here mentioned the Iews understood to be specially intended in case of Theft For the same reason Theft and Swearing are coupled together Zech. 5. 3 4. and a curse pronounced against them both The curse saith the Lord of Hosts shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house of him that sweareth falsly by my Name and it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume it And thus you see what special reason Agur had in regard of the custom of his Nation to add to the first evil of Stealing this second danger of Taking God's Name in vain because the one was like to bring on the other Yet I would not have you so to take me as if I thought that we were altogether exempt from this danger for through the occasion be less yet we find by experience that our Thieves will also forswear themselves though no Law or Iudge constrains them to swear at all And for Lying the next neighbour to it we find that to be the ordinary and almost unavoidable consequent of this sin So that Agur's reason will fit us well enough THUS much shall serve for the Explication of the words that ye might understand Agur's meaning Now let us see what Lessons and Observations we may gather from them which are these First That it is not lawful to steal no not in a case of want and necessity For though Agur were poor and wanted food convenient for him yet were it a sin for him to steal which makes him pray against it Lest I be poor and steal For that which is of it self unjust and sinful no necessity can make lawful or dispensable Indeed in Ceremonies and things by
Meekness in the special sense is a vertue exercised only towards men so in this general notion thereof I extend it no farther making as I told you Lowliness and Meekness to share the Decalogue betwixt them Here now I might observe at large How Meekness seasoneth all our actions and carriage towards men giving that genuine sweetness and relish of Vertue to them all this being the reason of that so general acception of the word in the phrase of Scripture I might also inlarge my self unto all the several offices and duties of this Vertue But let me commend unto you those two which are most principal and immediate and therefore expresly required in our Liturgie as the truest tokens of Repentance namely forgiving of offences and satisfaction of injuries both of them genuine off-springs of this Meekness And ye shall find rest unto your souls HERE is that inestimable Benefit which befalleth those who take up Christ's yoke and learn of him to be meek and lowly They shall find rest unto their souls For the understanding whereof we must know that there is a twofold Ease mentioned in this Invitation of our Saviour The one to those who come unto him by Faith Come unto me c. and I will ease you or give you rest The second to those who take upon them his yoke that is the yoke of obedience to God's commandments a yoke which Christ first wore for our sakes and made it his that so he might make it possible for us to wear it whilest the main weight still rests upon his shoulders Those who put their necks to this yoke shall find rest unto their souls These two Rests are near of kin but not the same The first Rest is that which Christ gives the second the Rest which we shall find All those who come and by Faith apply themselves to Christ shall have Ease But there is something else to be done before our selves shall find and know it we must put our necks into the collar and take his yoke upon us and then there shall not only be Rest obtained for us but we shall find and feel our selves eased For a Sinner hath a twofold Burthen 1. The weight of his sin and 2. The pain he feels thereby for such is the condition we know of every one that is laden Answerable therefore to this twofold Burthen there is a twofold Rest and Ease to be attained The first is by taking off the burthen by remission of our sin in our Iustification when Christ discharges those who come unto him of their load and beareth it upon his own back by justifying and acquitting them of sin The second is the ceasing of the pain which the pressure of sin hath caused when a sinner by wearing of the yoke of Christ finds peace of conscience and ease and rest unto his soul. For the pain and aking of the Soul for sin doth not presently cease though sin be taken off A man condemned to die doth not presently feel the comfort of his pardon as soon as it is obtained for it may be gotten many daies before he knows it and till then his pain and discomfort will be as if it were not gotten at all Also a man that hath overlong born a burthen too heavie for him is often we know so benummed that he thinks he feels the pressure of his burthen still some while after it is taken off his back So is the ease here the pain of the soul will not presently cease when Christ hath taken off our sin nor will the joy and comfort of our pardon be so soon found as our pardon is obtained Let this then be the first Observation That as those only are justified and discharged of their sin by remission who flee unto Christ by Faith So only those have promise of rest and peace of conscience who take his yoke upon them and being as he was meek and lowly stoop unto God and submit their lives unto his Commandments Art thou heavy-laden and wouldst thou be discharged of thy sin Go unto Christ and he will ease thee Wouldst thou know thy sins are acquitted wouldst thou have peace and feel thy conscience sweetly comforted Take this yoke upon thee learn of him to be yokeable to be meek and lowly to walk in the waies of God and thou shalt find rest to thy soul. By this saith S. Iohn we know that we know him namely to be our Advocate and the propitiation for our sins if we keep his Commandments There is no way but this to feel and have notice thy sins are forgiven thee Many do trust all to a supposed Faith as a short and compendious cut to quiet their conscience But never look to find peace with God so long as thou hast peace with sin There is no peace unto the wicked saith the Prophet What Iehoram 2 King 9. 22. asked Iehu Is there peace Iehu What peace saith Iehu so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Iezebel and her witchcrafts are so many So saith God to all such whose life and conversation is unreformed What peace can be unto thy soul so long as contempt of his worship extortion defrauding of thy neighbour covetousness drunkenness backwardness to all good duties reign still within thee If thou wouldst have peace in thy soul if thou wouldst have the wringing torments of a troubled conscience to be calmed within thee If thou wouldst find out that peace of God which passeth all understanding let thy whole life and conversation as far as thou art able be ruled by the Law of God wear that yoke which Christ thy Saviour hath made so easie learn of him to be meek and lowly and thou shalt find rest unto thy soul. But some perhaps will say What needs so much preciseness and strictness of life For my part I do as other men do I can dispense sometime and take my pleasure in sin and am not thus yoked as you speak but take my liberty according as I see advantage either for my profit or contentment and yet am not disquieted but find my soul at rest and ease without thus much ado I answer It is hard to conceive that a man should give himself the reins to commit sin and his Conscience not to twitch him more or less though he useth all the means he can to smother it But if it doth not thy case is so much the more woful and dangerous For alas it is not a rest and ease of soul as thou misdeemest but hardness and deadness of heart which thou mistakest for rest and quietness A condition than which there cannot be a worse and of all estates of the soul the most hopeless And this is the fruit of a customary violation of the Conscience which being often bruised scratched at first with smaller sins and at length rent and torn with greater contracts one scar and brawn all over and so becomes senseless and unfeeling How dreadful therefore is it if men
would consider it to adventure the Conscience upon the least violence if it endure but a scratching once or twice it is secretly and before a man is aware hardned to endure a wound O let us be then tender to keep our Conscience tender else we are undone Is it therefore indeed so with thee that thou canst take thy sinful liberty and yet find no scruple check thee Canst thou cast off the yoke of Christ and yet thy heart be at rest within thee or at the worst if it pants a little it will soon have done O rouse it up in time else the time will come when thy Conscience will be so awaked that all the world cannot quiet and still it The longer it hath been smothered the more dreadful and unquenchable will the flame be when it once breaketh out No tongue of mortal man is able to express the terrors which then shall overwhelm thee In the day-time we know Spirits and Hobgoblins usually walk not but in the night-time when darkness covereth the face of the earth So in the brightness and Sun-shine of health and proâ—perity what marvel though this terrible Fiend an evil Conscience doth not much haunt a dull and stupid heart but in the darkness of sickness in the midnight of death when the black times of calamity shall surprise thee then will this grifly and gastly Spirit begin to affright and scare thee then will he roar in the chamber of thy soul and most hideously rattle his chains about thine ears As the blows and bruises received in the flower of our youth though then we feel them not will pain us in the decay of our strength in our declining years So the blows and bruises given the Soul by sin in the days of our jollity and prosperity will most grievously torment us when by sickness fear of death or other calamity our wonted mirth and transitory contentment shall be eclipsed Then as the carkass of him that is slain though it seemed stark and stiff is said to bleed afresh at the presence of the murtherer So when our former and unfelt sins whereby the Soul was wounded and murthered shall present themselves unto our view as at such times they use to do then our stark and benummed Conscience will gush out streams of bloud and be in danger to bleed unto eternal death What would a man then give for this Rest unto his soul even all the gold of Ophir all the riches of the East and West Indies yea he would be content never to have had ease never to have enjoyed any contentment no not lawful in these worldly and transitory things all the days of his life so he might have but one dram of that comfortable quietness of Soul which a good conscience bringeth A good conscience therefore from a life well led is a Iewel unvaluable for which a man should undergo the hardest task and forgo all the contentments of the world if it could not otherwise be gotten Which is the Second thing I here observe For our Saviour we see propounds it as a Reward and Prize such as he thought sufficient to allure any reasonable man even to abandon his liberty and freedom and to enter a bondage and to take a yoke upon his neck a yoke the sweetest that ever was worn and far surpassing the greatest liberty in the world A good conscience saith Solomon Prov. 15. 15. is a continual Feast that is an everlasting Christmas The twelve-days-Feast of our Blessed Saviours Nativity how is it longed for before-hand how welcomed when it comes and yet it lasts but a short time But a good conscience is a Feast that lasts all the year yea all a mans life long and that too without satiety without fulness without the least wearisomness There are three things in a Feast which make it so pleasing and desirable Mirth good Company and good Chear In this Feast all three of them are superlative 1. For Mirth all the merriment and Musick all the wine and good chear in the world will not make a man's heart so light and merry as the wine which is drunk at the Feast of a good conscience This is no superficial matter but rooted in the very Centre of the Soul Whereas your Wine-mirth is but the smothering sometimes if not drowning of a deeper grief like the lustick fit in some Countries of such as are going to execution Give strong drink saith Solomon unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts 2. For Society and Company what Feast in the world can afford the like this doth For it hath not only exceeding good but all suitable and homogeneal where is no admixture of ill Here you shall have no unruly persons blaspheming God or men to make themselves or others pastime no unsavoury communication to stain and pollute by degrees the purity of the Soul and make a reckoning unsupportable when the day shall come wherein we must give accompt of every idle word But a good Conscience hath ever good Company and so good as will admit no ill For the Father is with it that great and mighty God who made us The Son is with it even Christ himself who redeemed us they sup and feast together The Holy Ghost is with it who chears up and sanctifies the hearts of all who come to this Table What Feast in the world can shew so honourable so loving so chearful company as this 3. And for the last thing which makes a Feast desirable good Chear it is a Table richly furnished with all Varieties and Dainties a collection of all the Rarities and Delicacies not which Sea and Land only but which Heaven it self affords Who would not come upon any invitation to partake of such a Feast as this DISCOURSE XXXIII ACTS 10. 4. And he said unto him Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial before God or as it is ver 31. are had in remembrance c. WHEN the Iews had crucified our Blessed Saviour the Lord and Prince of Life though their impiety were most horrible and such as might seem to admit of no expiation or atonement yet would not God for that reject them but after he was risen from the dead his Apostles and Messengers were sent to offer and tender him once more unto them if so be they would yet receive him as their Messiah and Redeemer which was promised to come telling them that what they had formerly done unto him God would namely according to our Saviour's prayer upon the Cross Father forgive them for they know not what they do pass by it as done of Ignorance on their part whilest himself was by the disposition of his Providence fulfilling that which was long before spoken by the mouth of all his Prophets That Christ or Messiah should suffer death All which you may read in the Sermon which S. Peter preached unto them in the Temple Acts 3. 12 c. Thus the Lord
the Creation of the world Why do ye saith he these things we are also men of like passions with you and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein As it is with diverse Sects in Religion so is it with divers sorts and conditions of men an Argument or Motive sutable to one sort is altogether unfit for another All Vessels are best handled by their ansae or ears on what part soever they stand he that handleth them otherwise handleth them but aukwardly So it is with mens minds there are in every man's opinion or affections certain ansae or ears whereon a wise perswader should lay his hold to draw men unto him For this cause Aristotle in his Rhetoricks describes the several dispositions of several sorts of men of men of women of young of old of rich of poor of noble and ignoble that a Rhetorician might sute his motives accordingly A Dog is toll'd with a bone a worm is a bait to catch a fish a pigeon brings the hawk unto the Falconer's lure So must every wise fisher of men every wise angler of souls make choice of Motives according to the several dispositions and conditions of the hearers according to that of S. Paul 1 Cor. 9. 20 21 c. Vnto the Iews I became as a Iew that I might save the Iews to them which are without the Law as without the Law that I might gain them that are without the Law To the weak I became as weak that I might gain the weak I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some And thus much shall suffice for this first Observation My second Observation from these words is this That the true God may be known by the Principles of Nature or the Creation of the Heaven and Earth For that which is a character or note of false Gods must needs likewise imply an argument for the true Rectum est index sui obliqui If those who made not the Heaven and the Earth are false Gods he then that made them is the true This is that which some call Natural Theologie others the Ascent of the Soul to God by the Scale of the creatures the steps whereof are to be ordered as followeth 1. All men by God do understand some Person or a living and Reasonable Essence 2. All men will grant that which is God to be the most excellent of all Persons or Living Essences 3. The Perfections of a Living and Reasonable Essence are threefold In the Understanding In the Will and In the Faculties of working In the Understanding is Wisdom In the Will Goodness In the Faculties Power Whatsoever therefore hath a Soveraignty in these three is the most excellent of Living and Reasonable Essences All men therefore if they want not the ordinary use of Reason will assent That under the name of God they mean Him to whom belongs a Soveraignty of Wisdom a Soveraignty of Goodness and a Soveraignty of Power and Might Thus far we agree and walk together But the error of the Nations hath been in the Application namely To whom belonged this Soveraignty and whether it belonged to many or to one alone But howsoever the Gentiles in this Application became vain in their Imaginations and transformed the glory of this incorruptible Soveraignty into the image of corruptibility yet as the Apostle saith God left them not without a witness in that those invisible things of him are seen by the creation of the world For a workman is known by his work The greatest work and the goodliest work that ever was is the Creation of the world He then that made the Heaven and the Earth is he alone to whom this threefold Soveraignty belongeth He alone is Almighty He alone is All-good He alone is All-wise What greater Power can there be than to make the Heaven and the Earth of nothing what Might so mighty as that which made whatsoever else is mighty even so many millions of powers as are in the Heavens above so admirable variety of faculties as are found in the Earth below Is there any Wisdom like unto his who in so manifold a work made nothing superfluous or vain but all things for their end who ordered and appointed such means for every end as better could not be devised who settled so goodly an Order and gave to every thing a Law and Rule which it should observe What Goodness so unspeakable as to have bestowed upon every thing some portion of goodness and to have sufficiently furnished them with endowments to attain and preserve the same What Goodness can be like unto that which he hath shewn unto us in making and ordaining all that ever he made for out use and service Thus we see the admirable Power the incomparable Wisdom and unspeakable Goodness of him that made the Heavens and the Earth He therefore is the true and living God and lives for ever Those Gods which made not the heavens and the earth are no Gods and shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens Thus have I let you see one part of The Scale of the creatures by which the Soul ascends unto God But there is another half yet behind to make a compleat Iacob's ladder For the Ascent of the Soul unto God by the comtemplation of the creatures is either the Ascent of the Vnderstanding to know him or the Ascent of our Will through obedience to worship him The first is that which I have hitherto spoken of The second though it be not here used and applied by our Prophet yet it is implied by his example in the former in that he hath therein taught us what use to make of the consideration of the creation of the world and creatures of God The Ascent therefore of the Will consists in its conformity and the conformity of all our Affections and Actions to the Will of God so far as it may be seen in the works of the creatures For God in that he hath given them a Law hath as it were stamped in them the character of his Will which is the Law and Rule they observe in working By this Ladder we may ascend two ways either by express Example or by Analogie By express Example where the Law which the Creatures observe in their workings is the very same which we ought to express in our actions By Analogie when the properties or actions of the Creatures especially if they be otherwise unsutable unto our nature are emblematically and by way of resemblance applied to admonish us of our duties To this kind belong Parable-similies framed according to the will of the applier whereof we shall find examples in the Scripture But because the Ascent by Example is the firmer and surer I will only shew some few Examples of it We see all Natural agents neglect their private good and
sacrifices for expiation and cleansing of sin whereas in the New he writes his Law only upon the Soul and Spirit in that he now stipulates only the service of Faith which is an action of the inward man and not of the outward not of the hand or bodily members but of the Soul within For by Law here I suppose is meant the condition which God stipulates in the Covenant and through which he makes good his promise unto us Not as though this spiritual condition was not also required under the Law in the Covenant of Grace then but because it was not only nor so openly therefore is it made as a formal difference of the New Covenant and the Old Secondly On God's part the Scripture shews the difference of the Covenants thus The Old Covenant was a Covenant of worser promises the New a Covenant of better Promises and so a better Covenant Heb. 8. 6. Indeed they in the Old Covenant had the same Spiritual Promises we have and so it was one and the same Covenant but they had them not open and uncovered as we have and so our Covenant is not the same but a better Covenant So S. Paul makes his comparison in the same argument 2 Cor. 3. 11. If that saith he which is done away was so glorious much more that which remaineth As if he had said If the Cover seemed so glorious much more shall the Iewel within so seem when the cover is taken from it as now it is For all the open Promises in the Old Covenant seem to be no other than Temporal blessings as for Spiritual they had them only as enwrapped in them so that they could look for them no otherwise but in and through the Temporal which they had as Pledges of the Spiritual veiled under them But in the New these are all revealed and no longer hid from us by such curtains the veil is taken from the face of Moses and we behold with open face the glory of the Lord as the Apostle speaketh 2 Cor. 3. 14 18. Remission of sins Reconciliation with God Everlasting life these are our Promises not deliverance from Temporal enemies worldly prosperity nor the land of Canaan or long life in the land the Lord hath given us So the case here is quite altered For then Earthly blessings were as Pledges of Spiritual but now unto us Spiritual are Pledges of Temporal so far as God sees good for us For the tenour of the Gospel now is Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you And it is now time we should say with S. Paul Rom. 11. 33. O the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! and with David Psal. 40. 5. Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward and Psal. 92. 5. O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep THUS I come to a second Observation which these words afford us namely If the Fathers ate the same Spiritual Meat and drank the same Spiritual Drink which we do then eat we not the real Body nor drink the real Bloud of Christ For the Manna they ate was the same Manna still though a Sacrament of Christ the Water of the Rock was verily Water still though a Sacrament of his Bloud If then we eat the same Spiritual Bread we eat Bread still though Spiritual Bread If we drink the same Spiritual Drink our Drink is Wine still though Spiritual Wine Yea S. Paul himself calls them as they are 1 Cor. 10. 16. The Bread we break is the communion of the Body of Christ Ergo That which is the communion of the Body of Christ is Bread still And unless it should be so how could there be a Sacrament which must consist of a Sign and a thing signified of an Earthly thing and a Heavenly thing For if the Sign once becomes the thing signified it is no more a Sign and so then is no more a Sacrament If it be urged That Christ himself saies plainly of the Bread Hoc est corpus meum This is my Body of the Wine Hic est sanguis meus This is my Bloud I answer He saies also I am the Door and in my Text is as expresly said The Rock was Christ. If therefore it be absurd from hence to infer the Rock left being a Rock and was made the real Person of Christ so will it be of our Spiritual Bread and Wine For the manner of these speeches is nothing but a Figure of certainty or assurance He that receiveth the Bread as assuredly receiveth Christ Body as if the Bread were his Body He that receiveth the Wine as assuredly enjoyeth the Bloud of Christ as if this Wine were his very Bloud indeed A predication in casu recto is a predication of sameness and therefore is used properly in things which are in a manner the same as Genus and Species Homo est animal but in things which are disparate and of several natures we speak usually in concreto or obliquo and from hâ—â—ce arises a Scheme or Figure of speech when we would express a most near union of things even different yet to speak them in casu recto which is the predication of sameness as it were to express they were as nearly link'd together as if they were the very same So we are wont to say a man is Virtue or Piety it self meaning they are throughly link'd unto him And because of all other things the things in the Sacraments are so assuredly and throughly link'd together the Holy Ghost used this Scheme for a Sacramental speech Hoc est corpus meum and Hic est sanguis meus that is a Sign so sure as if it were the very same AND so I will come to a third Observation The Fathers saith my Text ate the same Spiritual Meat and drank the same Spiritual Drink therefore is our Sacrament also to be eaten and drunk of us and not only offered for us Except we eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud we have no life in us And very fitly For as our Bodies are nourished by eating of corporal meats so our Souls are nourished by the Spiritual feeding upon Christ. This condemns that lurching Sacrifice of the Mass where the Bread and Wine are offered as a Sacrifice for the people but they receive no one jot thereof they are invited to a Banquet but eat never a bit Even like the unbelieving Ruler spoken of 2 Kings 7. 19. who saw all the plenty foretold by Elisha but ate no whit thereof And what is it but as Christ said to light a Candle and put it under a Bushel Matt. 5. 15. They think it is enough if the Priest eats all himself though he gives no body else any with him But it is no less absurd to affirm that another should receive good by the Priest's receiving
Spirit The rising of the Sun is known by the shining beams the Fire is known by its burning the Life of the Body is known by its moving Even so certainly is the presence of God's Spirit known by the shining light of an holy conversation even so certainly the purging Fire of Grace is known by the burning Zeal against sin and a servent desire to keep God's Commandments even so certainly the Life and liveliness of Faith is known by the good motions of the Heart by the bestirring of all the powers both of Soul and Body to do whatsoever God wills us to be doing as soon as we once know he would have us do it He that hath this Evidence hath a bulwark against Despair and may dare the Devil to his face He that hath this hath the Broad Seal of Eternal life and such a man shall live for ever But on the contrary He that walks not in the ways of Obedience to God's Commandments whatsoever conceit he hath of God's favour toward him without all doubt he knows not Christ to be his Redeemer he hath not nor cannot have any Assurance of Salvation for how should a man be assured of that which is not His Hope is Presumption his Faith is nothing but Security his Comfort if he feels any a mere imagination His Hope his Faith his Comfort are all delusions of the Devil For if we say saith our Apostle chap. 1. ver 6. that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we are lyars yea and the Devil the Father of lies is in us Here therefore is a good Caveat for us all Let us not deceive our selves without Holiness no man shall see God Beware of Presumption for Presumption sends more to Hell than Desperation Let us never think we have Faith to be saved by or acknowledge Christ throughly till we may see and know it by keeping his Commandments For hereby we know that we know him c. But you may say Alas this is an hard saying If none have true Faith or know Christ aright but those who keep the Law of God who then can be saved For what man is he who hath such a Faith For there is no man living which sins not and who can say his Heart is clean the best of us all hath need to pray unto God daily and hourly Lord forgive our trespasses 1. I answer It is true that an absolute and perfect Obedience to the Law of God is not attainable in this life For the best that are though not in a current and constant course yet ever and anon offend both in doing what they ought not and omitting what they should do yea some mixture of infirmity and imperfections will cleave unto the face of the fairest action So incompatible is an uninterrupted and unstained purity with this unglorified state of mortality 2. All this is true and cannot be denied For our Apostle himself saith chap. 1. 8. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us But the same Apostle in chap. 3. 8. of this Epistle saith also That he which commits sin is of the Devil There is therefore some measure of holiness and obedience and that more than ordinary required of those who are the Sons of God That ours may be such we must know the requisites thereof are three To be Cordial Resolved and Vniversal 1. It must be Cordial that is Conscionable and Sincere it must be internal proceeding from the Heart not external only in the appearance of the outward work God looks for fruit and not for leaves therefore the Fig-tree in the Gospel which had nothing but leaves we know was accursed But blessed are they saith David that keep his Testimonies and seek him with their whole heart For true Faith not only restrains the actions of the outward man for that Humane laws and other respects may do but it purifies the Heart also from the reigning allowance of any lust or lewd course of sin There is abhorring as well as abstaining loathing as well as leaving for else a chained Lion though he abstain from devouring hath his Lionish nature still 2. It must be Resolved that is out of a full and setled purpose to conform our selves to the Law of God That howsoever we often fail in the execution yet this Root may still keep life within us For good actions which come only by fits and occasions are no part of true Obedience nor where such a Resolution is are failings and slips more a sign of a disobedient child than the missing of a mark argues he that shot never aimed to hit it but only is a sign either of weakness want of skill or good heed or some impediment 3. It must be Vniversal I say not absolute and perfect for no man can keep the Law of God absolutely and perfectly yet it must be Vniversal that is to one Commandment as well as to another True Obedience knows no exception no reservation nor can any such stand with a true Faith and allegiance to Christ our Lord. First therefore there must no darling no bosome sin no Herodias be cherished such a dead fly as this will marre the whole box of ointment For how should he take himself for a faithful servant of Christ who still holds correspondence with his Arch-enemy the Devil It were treason in an earthly subject to do it how serviceable soever he might otherwise be unto his Prince One breach in the walls of a City exposeth it to the surprise of the Enemy one leak in a Ship neglected will sink it at last into the bottom of the Sea the stab of a Pen-knife to the Heart will as well speed a man as twenty Rapiers run through him If thou hedge thy close as high as the middle region of the Air in all other places and leave but one gap all thy grass will be gone If the Fowler catch the Bird either by the head or the foot or the wing she is sure his own So in the present case If Satan keep possession but by one reigning sin it will be thine everlasting ruine If thou live and die with allowance and delight in any one known sin without resolution to part with it thou art none of Christ's servants thou as yet carriest the Devil's brand he hath thereby markt thee out for his own Secondly An Vniversal obedience submits not only to Prohibitions of not doing evil but puts in practice the Injunctions of doing good Many think they keep the Commandments well so they do nothing which they forbid But the not doing good is a sin as well as the doing of evil Dives fries in Hell not for robbing but for not relieving Lazarus The unprofitable servant was cast into outer darkness not for spending but for not bestowing his Master's talent The five foolish Virgins were shut out of doors not for wasting but for not having oil in their Lamps And the wicked shall be
the Iacobite sect may have the like custom as it is certain that in most of their Rites they agree with them Now the religious guise of the Iews and other Nations of the Orient having anciently been and still being such as you have heard when they entered into their Temples or remained in them the words of my Text Look to thy Foot or feet being taken for an expression borrowed from and alluding thereto will have the same sense as if we inflecting them to our manners should say Look unto thy Head that is have a care thy Head be fitted as it ought to be when thou comest into the House of God meaning that he should put off his hat or be uncovered when he comes thither and use such other reverence as is wont to accompany it For know that the Holy Ghost mentioning or specifying but one Rite is yet so to be understood as implying therewith the rest of the same order accustomed to go with it according to that usual Trope of Scripture by a part or that which is more notable or obvious in any kind or rank of things to imply the rest the rule whereby we interpret the Decalogue and is the more fitly appliable here because this guise of Discalceation was a leading Ceremonie to the other gestures of Sacred veneration then used as that of putting off the hat in civil use at least is wont to be with us Nor as if Solomon or the Holy Ghost in this Admonition intended the outward Ceremonie only and no no more that were ridiculous to imagine but the whole act of Sacred reverence commenced in the heart and affection whereof this was the accustomed and leading gesture to wit the very same and all that which the Lord commandeth in that original law Lev. 19. 30. Sanctuarium meum reveremini Reverence my Sanctuary which Ionathan's Targum explaineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye shall go to the House of my Sanctuary with reverence Solomon paralleleth here with Look to thy foot when thou goest to the House of God For so is the manner of Scripture almost every where under the name of the Gesture only to understand and imply the whole dutie of Veneration which such Gesture representeth and importeth But as this is most true so is it on the other side as false if any shall from hence collect That therefore the Outward worship may securely be neglected in Time and Place where and when it may be done so the Inward be performed Nay the contrary follows For if the Inward worship be chiefly intended when the Outward or Bodily is only named as it is granted is it not then absurd to imagine that where that which is not expresly named is meant there that which is only mentioned should be excluded Nay surely where the Outward is mentioned as here in my Text there no doubt but the Outward in one kind or other is a part of the dutie commanded whatsoever besides it be intended And because it is a disease almost proper to our time for our forefathers were mostly sick of the other extreme so far to slight and disesteem that I may not say disdain the worship of God by the Body as to think it may be omitted and neglected even in Time and Place convenient as in God's House and publick service without all guilt of sin give me therefore leave to propound a few Considerations for the Cure of such as are sick of that maladie For as that which seems but some lighter Symptome at the first if the cure thereof be neglected and contemned oftentimes proves fatal and destroys life it self so may this I would have them therefore consider 1. That we all look not only for the Glorification of our Souls but of our Bodies in the life to come Now a Reward presupposeth a Work It is meet and right therefore we should worship and glorifie God here in this life with the Body as well as the Soul if we look that God should one day glorifie both 2. That as the Outward worship without the Inward is dead so the Inward without the Outward is not complete even as the Glorification of the Soul separate from the Bodie is not nor shall be consummate till the Body be again united unto it 3. That those who derogate so much from Bodily worship in the service of the true God as kneeling bowing and the like make by consequent Idolatrie a sin far less hainous in degree than it is For is not Idolatrie to communicate that honour with a creature which is due unto the Creator alone By how much therefore the worship of gesture and posture is less due unto God when we do our homage unto him by so much is the sin the less hainous and grievous when the same is given unto an Idol For I believe they will not deny but part of the sin of Idolatrie consists even in the outward worship given unto an Idol as kneeling bowing and falling down before it and the like 4. Lastly That although Bodily worship being considered in it self be one of the minora Legis of the lesser things of the Law and the honour done unto God thereby of no great value though not of none in his sight yet may a voluntary and presumptuous neglect even of so small a duty be a great and hainous sin because such a neglect proceeds from a prophane disposition and election of the heart For a sin is not always to be esteemed according to the value of the duty omitted but from the heart's election in omitting it Non est bonum per se saith Seneca munda vestis sed mundae vestis electio quia non in rebonum est sed in electione that is A clean garment hath no goodness of it self but it is the election of a clean garment which is commended because the goodness consists not in the thing but in the election thereof So say I here It is not the value or merit of the work which aggravates the sin in omitting the doing thereof but the Election not to do it Now therefore to return to my Hypothesis By that which hath been delivered it appears That it is not only lawful to use some Reverential gesture when we come into God's House which yet some think they are very liberal if they grant but that it is a duty commanded by God himself and so no Will-worship as namely in that Divine admonition given first to Moses and afterward to Iosua Put thy shoes from off thy feet c. in that Law Reverence my Sanctuary in this Instruction by Solomon Look to thy feet when thou comest to the house of God That the Saints and people of God in the Old Testament and Christians in the New have used such Reverence That the neglect thereof is condemned of Prophaneness by the practice of Iews Gentiles Pagans Mahumetans all Religions whatsoever if any be to be excepted proh pudor dolor it is our selves But without doubt in
find out a way to make Gods Yet because saith he our Forefathers erred much through unbelief concerning Deities and had small regard of Religion and Divine worship therefore they devised an art to make Gods he meaneth Images And because they could not make Souls he means to these senseless bodies therefore they called the Souls of Daemons and Angels and put them into their Images and holy Mysteries by which means alone these Images have power of helping and hurting which thus incorporated he saith are called by the AEgyptians Animalia sancta And in another place That kind of Gods saith he which men make is composed of two natures of a Divine which is first and more sacred and of that which is amongst men namely the matter whereof they are made The summe of all this Mystery is That Images were made as Bodies to be informed with Daemons as with Souls For an Image was as a Trap to catch Daemons and a device to tie them to a place and to keep them from flitting The like hath Eusebius out of Porphyrie That the Gods did exceedingly delight in consecrated Images and were circumscribed and enclosed therein as in a sacred place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Image being taken away that is dissolved which detained the Deity upon earth This is that which Psellus calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Approachings or Presencings of Daemons And Iamblichus termeth these consecrated Idols 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Images filled with divine fellowship or with divine society And our forementioned Hermes calleth them Statuos animatas sensu spiritu plenas animated Statues full of sense and spirit Hence came that answer or defence of the Gentiles as Arnobius Lib. 6. advers Gent. makes them speak Neque nos aera neque auri argentique materias neque alias quibus signa confiunt eas esseper se Deos religiosa decernimus numina sed eos in his colimus cósque veneramur quos dedicatio infert sacra fabrilibus efficit habitare simulachris We do not think brass and gold and silver and other materials of Images to be of themselves Gods and holy Powers but in these we worship and reverence the Gods brought into these Images by sacred dedication and keeping their residence there And in another place he makes this Objection for their behalf An numquid dicitis fortè praesentiam vobis quandam sub his numinum exhiberi simulachris quia Deos videri non datum est eos ità coli iis munia officiosa praestari But you say perhaps the Deities present themselves unto you in some sort under these Images and because the Gods cannot be seen they are thus worshipped and have religious service done unto them And thus have we seen the ground of the Idolatrous use of Images and found that the Worship of them also is a Doctrine of Daemons For as at first they were ordained for Daemons so whatsoever Deity is worshipped in this manner though it were the true and Sovereign God is thereby made a Daemon What I say of Images must be understood also of Pillars or Columns whereof we read Levit. 26. 1. Ye shall make no Idols nor graven Images nor rear you up a Pillar to bow down unto it For howsoever Pillars and Images through some confusion at length surprising the Gentiles superstition may afterwards seem to be ascribed to other Deities besides Daemons yet by original institution they were proper unto Daemons no other The Sovereign and Celestial Gods they were worshipped in the Sun Moon and Stars where they were supposed to dwell But Images and Columns were for Daemons and if they seemed to be made for any other Plutarch's Eremite would resolve us that they were but Daemons called by the name of some Sovereign Gods whose Agents they were The truth of this the History of the beginning of Idolatry by Images makes evident For that Images and Pillars were at first devised and erected to the Honour and Memory of dead men this the fourteenth Chapter of the Book of Wisdom will tell us and that by the vain-glory of men they first entred into the world no less will the long-continuing custom of the world using thus to honour not only their dead but since also the living be sufficient to perswade the truth Minutius Felix in his Octavius will put us forth of doubt Majores nostri saith he dum Reges suos colunt religiosè dum defunctos eos desiderant in Imaginibus videre dum gestiunt eorum memorias in Statuis detinere sacra facta sunt quae fuerant assumpta solatia Our Ancestors while they religiously honour their Kings while they desire after their departure to behold them in their Images and delight to preserve their memory in Statues what was at first taken up for their own solace was at length made a matter of Religion When therefore those whom they thus honoured and remembred were canonized for Daemons then were these Memorials also worshipped for some supposed presence or divine respect of such Daemons in or to them The worshipping therefore of Images and Columns is by its original and institution a piece of the Doctrine of Daemons so that whatsoever is thus worshipped yea the glory of the incorruptible God himself is thereby changed into a Daemon THUS much of Images and Idol-Pillars of the reason of their supposed Divinity and of the original and first occasion of worshipping them But yet we have not done there is another piece of Daemon-devotion yet behind namely The worshipping of Daemons in their Reliques Shrines and Sepulchres for this was also a part of the Doctrine and Theology of Daemons Plato whom before we quoted for the Canonizing for Daemons of the Ghosts of such as died valiantly in the field would have their Shrines and Coffins to be worshipped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the coffins of Daemons Hear also what Clemens Alexandrinus speaks of this Daemon-doctrine Sotrm lib. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They that is the Greeks are of opinion that it matters not whether we call those Souls viz. the Daemons whom they invocate Gods or Angels But the more skilful Theologists place the coffins of the deceased in many of their Temples as so many Statues of the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. calling their Souls Daemons and withall teaching that they ought to be worshipped by men as being for the holiness of their lives intrusted by Divine Providence to be employ'd about this earth for the service of men For they well knew that some Souls were naturally tied to the Body Out of which words observe That they supposed the like presence and power of Daemons at their Coffins and Sepulchres which before we observed and heard of in their Images as though there always remained some natural tye between the Souls deceased and their Reliques and therefore they there builded Temples unto them where their bodies and ashes were entombed And
of the Council of Ephesus intended to prescribe to any other Council of like Authority not to explicate or improve the Creed of Nice as they did that of the Apostles but that no private Bishop should compose any other Formula Fidei to be a Rule and Symbolum of Communion than that of Nice Thus with my Prayers and best affection I remain Christ's Colledge ult Iuly 1637. Your assured Friend Ioseph Mede EPISTLE LXXXVII Another Letter more fully treating about the defining the Ratio of Fundamental Articles Mr. Hartlib YOU wish I had declared my self more largely But what needed it you had the substance of all I had to say But if you would have it more fully then thus 1. By Fundamental Articles in the inquiry we mean such as are Necessarii cognitu creditu ad Salutem that is Fundamenta Salutis Fundamental to Salvation not Fundamenta Theologicarum Veritatum Principles whence Theological Verities are deduced For these though they may be sometimes coincident are not the same 2. What then though the Term Fundamental be Metaphorical and improper yet we see it may easily if we understand our own meaning be expressed in clear and proper terms And therefore this can be no impediment to the finding or defining the Ratio of such Articles whereby they may be known and distinguished from others 3. And what though the whole Scripture be Fundamentum or Principium Veritatum Theologicarum or Dogmatum Fidei Yet is not every content in Scripture necessary to be known and believed explicitely unto Salvation and therefore this Notion of Fundamentum nothing to the purpose since as I said Principia Theologica or Fundamentalia dogmatum and Fundamentalia Salutis are not the same but differ formally though some of them may be materially coincident 4. But the Definition of such Fundamental Articles would be dangerous inconvenient and subject to much reprehension yea in respect of the diversity of mens judgments is in a manner impossible This methinks is very strange That any who acknowledge there be some Truths necessary to be known and explicitely believed unto Salvation should yet deny there can be any Ratio or Character given whereby to know them yea affirm it to be unsafe to determine any such if it might be found or that any enumeration of such Articles should be made What Cannot or may not those Truths be defined and known without an explicite belief whereof we cannot be saved What will follow upon this Neither when we speak of defining here do we mean any such matter as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or exactness of a Logical definition which might entangle us in School-niceties and janglings but any description or designation of that Ratio or distinguishing Character whereby such Truths as are cognitu creditu necessaria ad Salutem might be known from others And this sure might be done without any such engagement in Logical scrupulosity 5. As for the Objection of the Canon of the Oeeumenical Council of Ephesus Certainly that Council never intended to restrain the power of any Council or other publick Ecclesiastical Authority like it self but only private Persons from attempting to make any such Creed Formula or Confession of Faith besides that of Nice This I suppose may be gathered from those words Si Episcopi c. Si Clerici c. Si Laici c. and the Censure to be laid upon them Nor does it seem simply and altogether to forbid them neither to compose any such for private instruction or use but only for a publick intent to be tendered as a Form of Confession of Faith to Pagans or Iews at their Baptism or to Hereticks when they were again received into the Church For why should not the Churches now as well as then have the like power upon the like occasion further to explicate or make more explicite the former Symbols of Faith as the Council of Nice did that of the Apostles yea or any Church or Churches that are or would be of the same Communion to do it for themselves For then we know the Churches were all of one Communion now they are not and therefore may provide for themselves according to their condition Besides how came the Creed of Athanasius to be since publickly received in the Church or the Council of Chalcedon after this of Ephesus to make a new Exposition of Faith unless this Canon were understood as aforesaid since neither of them are the same with that of Nice Or how could the Reformed Churches make such publick Confessions for themselves as they have done Thus I think I have declared my self largely enough now and perhaps more largely than befitted me when I consider to whom it hath reference But my hope is you will conceal the Author's name from any man and not reveal it save to Mr. Dury alone And so with my best affection I remain Your assured Friend without subscription of my name EPISTLE LXXXVIII Mr. Mede's Letter to Mr. Hartlib containing his advice for framing a Fundamental Confession agreeably to the practice of the Ancient Church in composing their Creeds or Symbols of Faith Mr. Hartlib WHen I read over Mr. Dury's Consultation before his Discourse ad Dominum Forbesium came to my hands I perceived he aimed at the self-same ground for the discovery and discerning of Fundamental Verities from not-Fundamental that I had formerly done in mine to you though in a differing way of expression as men that conceive apart are wont to do I made them to be such Truths as have necessary influence upon the Acts and Functions of Christian life or without the explicite knowledge whereof those Acts and Functions cannot be exercised He goes further and specifies wherein this Christian life consisteth namely As Natural life consists in the conjunction of the Soul with the Body so doth Spiritual life in the conjunction of Men with God that is in being in Covenant with him All those Verities therefore the knowledge and belief whereof is necessary to the Acts and Functions requisite to the being and continuation in the Covenant with God in Iesus Christ are Fundamental Verities without the explicite knowledge and belief of which a man cannot be saved But for the framing or composing such a Fundamental Confession as is sought for let me discover my Opinion Fancy or whatsoever it be I observe That the Confessions or Creeds of the Ancient Church which were their Symbols of Communion were always the former Creeds or Confessions enlarged with such further additions or explanations subjoyned to the former Articles respectively as the Heresies of the Times made requisite for the distinction of Orthodox Believers So the Nicene Creed was the Creed of the Apostles enlarged in the Articles of the Father and Son and one or two other The Creed of Constantinople added to the Article of the Holy Ghost in that of Nice those words The Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who with the
seems to signifie only Contrition or the act of aversion and turning away from sin Otherwise as I have already said it signifies the whole act of our turning from the beginning to the end as appears plainly either when both terms are mentioned or but the thing or term to be turned unto as Acts 20. 21. Repentance unto God and Act. 26. 20. where S. Paul saith that he preached both to the Iews and Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God For no man can turn unto God unless he first have turned from the Devil But to leave words and come to the matter Contrition or Dying unto sin is such a Compunction of the Heart for the same as is joyned with a purpose to leave and forsake it Not every Compunction for sin is true Contrition but such a Compunction only as is joyned with a purpose to leave and forsake it Contrition hath therefore as you see two parts or degrees The first is A Compunction of the Heart for sin the second A Purpose to forsake and renounce sin The one is a turning away from sin in the affections or passions of the Mind the other is a turning of the Will Compunction is a turning in the affections and passions of the Mind and that not of one passion only but of every passion wherewith we abhor and fly a thing as evil as Fear Grief and Hate for we must turn with our whole hearts Fear leads the rank and trembles at the wrath of God and dreadful Iudgment to come when it shall be said to every unrepentant sinner Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels there to be tormented for ever and ever For Fear is of an evil to come Next comes Grief and laments that ever it was committed whereby we have incurred so great an evil as to become vassals of Satan and the loss of so great a good as the favour of Almighty God yea of so good and gracious a God as saith again and again As I live I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his ways and live What wretch would have lost the favour of such a God as this O that it were to do again I would never do it For we grieve at the presence of evil and absence of good as we joy in the contrary Thirdly comes Hate and begins to loath and detest sin as a thing not only hurtful but ugly and abominable a soul and beastly thing most contrary to and unbefitting the nature and excellency of a Reasonable creature as man is For we hate that which is contrary and love what is agreeable to us These are the several motions and degrees of that Compunction of Heart whereby a Repentant Soul turneth from his sin And that this is the order of them may appear because that is always first which may be without the rest Now a man may tremble at God's judgments for sin and wrath to come and yet not grieve for them yea a man may tremble and grieve too for his sins and yet not hate and loath them But all these repentant passions of Compunction though diverse in themselves yet are wont to be comprehended under the name of Sorrow and Remorse for sin Not as though that were the only passion in our Compunction but because all passions of the Mind which spring from the apprehension and sense of evil are grievous and painful and so may as by a general name be comprehended under the word Sorrow as the contrary passions being pleasing and delightful to nature may be and are wont to be comprehended under the name of Pleasure For Dolor and Voluptas Pain and Pleasure divide all our Passions between them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every action of ours is attended with some either pleasure or pain Though yet there be among the doleful passions a passion peculiarly called Tristitia or Sorrow and among the delightful passions one likewise in special called Laetitia or Ioy. But all this Fear and Trembling at the wrath of God to come for sin this Sorrow for sin this Hating and Loathing of sin will not make our Contrition full and perfect unless our Will also do his part and resolve to forsake and leave it For so I defined true Contrition or Dying to sin to be A compunction of the Heart for sin joyned with a will and resolution to forsake it Hath then the wrath of God Almighty and the everlasting woe denounced to all impenitent sinners made thee fear and tremble Hath thy trembling been seconded with a true and hearty sorrow for thy sins Hath thy sorrow been such as brought forth hate and loathing of sin so that sin appeared ugly and abominable unto thee Hath there then followed a Will to be rid of it a Purpose to forsake and leave it Then art thou truly contrite and dead to sin-ward With this last act thy service of sin gave up the ghost Thou hast turned away bidden farewel and shaken hands with Sin and Satan An Effect of this Contrition is Confession when out of a contrite and wounded heart we acknowledge and lay open our sins before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father begging pardon and forgiveness for them A Duty always necessary to be performed to God himself whom we have chiefly and principally offended and in some cases also convenient to be made unto his Ministers not only for advice but for consolation by that power and authority which God hath given them to exercise in his name according to that Whose sins ye remit shall be remitted For if we confess our sins saith S. Iohn 1 Epist. 1. 9. he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and Proverb 28. 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whose confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy THUS have we seen the several degrees and steps of Contrition and Dying to sin Trembling at the fearful doom and vengeance due unto it Grieving for it Hating and loathing of it a Will and Purpose to forsake and leave it together with the common Effect of them Confession And so now we are arrived at the main Cardo and hinge of Repentance the Ioynt where the two parts thereof Aversion and Conversion meet and are knit together For where the Act of Aversion from sin endeth there Conversion unto God begins The last Act of turning from sin was that of the Will to forsake and leave it The same Act is the beginning of our turning unto God For no man can resolve to forsake and leave sin but he must purpose also to lead a new life to God Nor can any man have a purpose to lead a new life but he must withal resolve to leave sin This is then the main Ioynt of Repentance where the Spirit and Grace of God the vis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉