glory unto him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb for evermore Who now shall mourn who shall weep for such a Soul none can sorrow for her unless they envy her happiness foelix illa anima imitationem desiderat nâ—n planctum that blessed Soul is no subject of grief but a pattern for imitation And therefore if any weep in her death they must be tears of joy not of sorrow and if they be of sorrow they must not be for her but for our selves and our own loss This indeed is great and invaluable and when you think on it weep a Gods name Quis natum in funere matris flere vetat he were barbarous that would forbid it you yet you shall not have all to your selves we 'll bear you company for she was a publick loss Such a Wife such a Mother such a Friend such a Mistriss such a Neighbour such and so good a Woman and so great an example of Virtue cannot should not go to the grave with dry eyes in whose loss so many have interest I would praise her if I could to make you weep more but she is beyond my commendations A Woman of her Wisdom and Judgment of her Wit and discourse so free and liberal and yet so prudent and provident withal for she was so in her self though misfortunes befel her so sweet so kind so mild so loving and respective to all and withal so charitable to the poor a Chirurgeon to the hurt and a Physician to the sick she eat not her morsels alone and their loins were warmed with her wooll as Job speaks such a Woman so well born and bred and of such a strain beyond ordinary as she seemed with the blood to inherit too the virtues of all her Ancestors so upright and clear and innocent in her whole course that the eye of envy nay were all the malice of the world infused into one eye it could not find any just stain to fasten on her such a one so every way compleat surely no Man unless he had her own or the wit and tongue of an Angel can sufficiently commend neither can we if we regard our own loss sufficiently bewail But the truth is she is not lost non amissa sed praemissa sent before she is lost she is not And therefore you whom it most concerns though you mourn mourn not as those without hope It is but a short separation and the time will come when you shall see her again though not with these earthly affections Pay the due tribute unto nature but then shut up the sluces for graces sake And the God of all grace give you comfort the Holy Ghost the Comforter himself replenish your heart with consolations And the blood of Jesus Christ wash us all from all our sins and strengthen us with the power of his might that we may so live whilst we remain here in this Prison of the Body that when it shall be dissolved we may obtain mercy from him to lead forth our Souls To lead them with his grace and then as he hath done to this blessed Saint receive them unto glory There with her and all the company of righteous spirits that are gone before us to sing praise and honour unto his holy name for evermore To this God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost c. Laus Deo in aeternum THE Second FUNERAL SERMON FOR THE DAUGHTER SERMON XIII Upon ROM viii 10. And if Christ be in you the Body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is life because of Righteousness MAN of all Gods Creatures is the strangest compounded the most marvellous mixture that ever was a very fardel of contrarieties wonderfully united and wrapt up in one bundle Heaven and Earth light and darkness Christ and Belial may seem to dwell together and man the house of their habitation what can be more directly opposite than Flesh and Spirit Life and Death Sin and Righteousness and lo all of them united here in one verse nay in one man For the Text is but the Anatomy of man and must therefore be composed of and divided into the same parts man himself is As his body is composed of contrary Elements heat and cold fire and water So his person is composed of contrary Natures Corporal and Spiritual Body and Soul His Natures again of contrary qualities Life and Death the Body is dead the Soul lives and lastly these qualities issuing from contrary causes sin and righteousness death from sin and life from righteousness The Body c. And though the sin by which the body dies is our own yet that we may know that the righteousness whereby the Soul lives is not of our selves but received from our Saviour there is a caution given in the entrance of the verse If Christ be in you So then here are three couples a Body and a Soul Sin and Righteousness Life and Death The body with her two attendants sin and death the Soul with her two endowments righteousness and life The former is universal and common to all the Sons of Adam according to the flesh the latter particular and proper only to the Children of the second Adam begotten by the Spirit If Christ c. I begin with the first part which is a meditation of death and our chief Christian comforts against death But yet before the Apostle brings in his consolations he premises a conditon If Christ be in you To teach us that the comforts of God belong not indifferently to all men He that is a stranger from Christ hath nothing to do with them What hast thou to do to take my Covenant into thy mouth so long as thou hatest to be reformed saith God in the Psalm I. When our Saviour commanded his Disciples to proclaim peace unto every house they came to he foretold them it should rest only on the Sons of peace He forbad them in like manner to give those things which were holy unto doggs or to cast pearls before Swine This stands a perpetual Law to all his messengers that they presume not to proclaim peace to the impenitent and unbelieving but as Jehu said unto Jehoram's horsman what hast thou to do with peace so are we to tell the wicked who walk on still in their sins that they have nothing to do with the peace or promises or priviledges of the Gospel If Christ be in you c. Secondly if we compare the verse immediately precedent or that which is subsequent with this between both you shall easily perceive after what manner Christ dwells in his Children Sometimes we are said to be in Christ and sometimes Christ is said again to be in us and both in effect come to one we are in Christ by faith and Christ is in us by his Spirit For so it follows If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies It is
memorable and exemplary couple I may well join them in my speech they were so many ways joined in themselves They were joined in affinity and alliance they were joined in affection and love they were joined in the quality and nature of their Disease and would not be severed till death did it in the time of their sickness they were joined in the comforts of death and now they are joined in the glory of an everlasting life But the formers rites are passed yet they might not be now passed over I cannot but give her a touch she desired it from me and I am sure she deserved it For the latter here now in your sight I shall not speak much because I can hardly speak enough with her former times I have had no acquaintance and therefore can make no relation of it only I assure my self that she who was so patient and penitent in her sickness so devout and cheerful in her death could not but be well and religiously disposed in the course of her life But for the latter part of her days them I have known and in them been an eye-witness of the expression of more goodness than I have often seen or from a Woman of her quality could have expected The things of note which I especially observed in her and shall commend unto you are principally these her willingness to entertain death and her deadness unto the world and worldly affairs her joy in spiritual discourses and her frequency and fervency in devout prayer For the first if we consider the impediments it was much she should do it so cheerfully she was but young and entring upon the prime of her years She had small and tender Infants of her own that went near her she was well bestowed where she found both youth and love and means too wanted nothing nor was likely to want haec sunt quae faciunt homines invitos mori and these are the things that make Men unwilling to die could the Philosopher say Yet notwithstanding all these she gently submitted her self unto it she resolutely went forth to meet it and lest he should miss her she call'd it unto her Come gentle death and even held forth her arms to receive and embrace it For the second I was with her often yet never heard a word of worldly matter or secular affair so much as fall from her tongue Her heart was bent on Heaven which made it delight so much in heavenly contemplations they came down upon her as the Scripture speaks like rain into a fleece of wooll and as a shower upon a thirsty land With what an open and greedy ear did she suck in celestial comforts which she shortly after vented out again in devout supplications wherein the mercy of the Lord did not forsake her even to the last gasp And then at last when her hands forsook her tongue and her tongue had almost forsaken her heart yet her heart did still adhere unto God in uncessant prayer and therefore she intreated others to hold her fainting hands that her tongue failing they at least might testify that her Soul did commune with her Maker It calls to mind the story of Moses having Aaron and Hur to support his arms for whilst he prayed Amalek fled and Joshua conquered Sure I am whilst she did in like manner the true Joshua conquered all the spiritual Amalekites and enemies of her Soul who only could batter down the prison of her body that her spirit being loose and at liberty might freely clear the air and mount up to the desired place of everlasting rest where she now is and where may she still in peace remain till another day shall invest both Body and Soul with unspeakable glory Who can now mourn who can weep for such a Soul if ye do they must be tears of joy not of sorrow at least they must be for your selves not for her You may bewail your own loss you cannot grieve at her death unless you envy her happiness foelix iss a anima imitationem desiderat non planctum that happy Soul is no subject of sorrow but a pattern of imitation And therefore I now leave the dead and conclude to the living that their Spirits may live in death as hers hath shown them the example For this should be the chief endeavour this should be the principal care of a Christian in his whole life that when his life shall end yet the life of his Soul may not end with the death of his body It little matters how it fares with us in the rest of our time so it go well with us here when if wrath overtake us it shall eleave unto us for ever but if peace end our days our days afterwards of peace shall never end For as the tree falleth there it shall lie Wretched Men that can willingly think of any thing save this that infinitely concerns them above all things else that can wish with Balaam let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his but never endeavour themselves in the works of righteousness whereby they may procure it as if they might be like them in their death whom they refused to imitate in their actions But they may wish like Solomons fool till their tongue cleave to their gums for so long as they live the life of Balaam loving the wages of iniquity they shall never die the death of the righteous nor have their last end like his whom they are nothing like in conversation No if the Soul then live it must be as my Text hath it for righteousness sake Set thy self therefore to it seriously and speedily Wise Princes make many days preparation for a field that must be fought in one Beloved let us be wise too and lay up something every day for the last when we shall wrestle with death If we win that skirmish we have enough but where or when or how soon we shall be called to the conflict who can tell be not secure therefore and presume not on the last hour it may come suddenly upon thee flatter not thy self and thy sins and frame not delay unto thine own Soul Send not Religion before thee unto thine old age whither peradventure thou shalt never come or else come hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Give not thy youth and strength unto Satan and then when thou art low drawn and upon the lees think to present God with the dregs of thy life What a folly were it for thee to adventure thy surest thy everlasting weal or wo making or marring on so sandy and sinking a foundation how much better were it for thee to remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth before the evil day come and thou say I have no delight herein that thy Creator may not forget thee in thine old age when strength faileth and Man returneth to his long home Sure in these great water-floods we shall hardly come nigh him and therefore let
as thy soul liveth so frequent amongst the holy men under the Law is to be received for they sware not by the soul alone but by that God whose image and likness it is for so it is to be understood As thy soul liveth by the power and providence of him that first made it to his likeness and doth still preseve it by his mercy The Third and last is when a man names a Creature in an Oath not as swearing by it but as exposing it by way of imprecation unto the judgment of that God who is the true witness of his speech which is the execratory Oath touched in the beginning so when a man swears by his own Soul it is not meant as if that were called to the record of that he speaks but as pledging and pawning unto God the welfare and Salvation of it upon the truth of his speech And therefore he that swears by his Soul doth in abbrevation say no other than what St. Paul did in plain and full terms I call God to record upon my Soul for that is the meaning of it and both the meaning and example are strong proofs that it cannot be simply understood Now that other of Joseph by the life of Pharaoh may be understood both these ways for either he calls that God to witness whose judgment by the ministry of Pharaoh was executed upon Earth or else by way of imprecation he doth upon the truth of the speech appignorate unto God the health and safety of Pharaoh as a thing of all other most dear unto him The Master of the Sentences is for the first and others for the latter both may be good but this in the Text the more probable So then there may be divers forms wherein the Creature is named and yet the Oath made only by the Creator for he doth still swear by him that swears by any excellent work or mercy of his with reference to him in which sort he that says as thy Soul liveth doth at the same time and in the same words swear as my Text requires At the Lord liveth for the full sense and meaning is as the Lord liveth by whom thy Soul hath life And though peradventure it may be better when just occasion doth require an Oath to make it clearly and expressly in the Name of the Lord yet the interpretation of our Saviour and the examples of so many holy men do forbid us utterly to condemn all such as do but implicitely call him to record under his Creatures And sure if they want not other necessary conditions of an Oath they will hardly be believed for this the form will free it self if they want not the right manner and matter if they be performed in truth judgment and righteousness the qualities and inseparable companions of a lawful Oath which now come to be considered in their order and first of the first Jurabis in Veritate Thou shalt swear The Lord liveth in Truth From the Form we come unto the Matter and having seen in whose Name an Oath is to be made we are now to consider with what Conditions it is to be qualified And they are but three in all whereof Truth hath the first place and most deservedly since nothing is so opposite to the very nature and essence of an Oath as falshood for the Person whose name in an Oath is assumed is the God of truth the end for which an Oath it self was ordained is the confirmation of truth and the perjurer by dishonouring that and frustrating this abuseth both oftentimes to the hurt and damage of his Neighbour but ever unto the great prejudice of his Creator And therefore the Egyptians saith Diodorus Siculus did ever punish the perjurer with death whereof they esteemed him twice worthy ut qui pietatem in deos violaret fidem inter homines tolleret maximum Societatis vinculum as one that did both violate his piety to God and his faith to men the greatest bond of Society But to omit these injurious effects of a false Oath unto man as depriving him sometimes of his Credit good name and reputation and sometimes even of his Goods and Life too do but only see and consider how impious it is against God and how infinitely he sins that shall call him who is not only true but truth it self to testify his falshoods and so as far as in him is make him a Lyar like himself for as Estius says in lib. 2. sent dist 39. 5 6. Qui falsum jurat quantum in se est Deum facit vel mendacem vel ignorantem he that swears falsly as much as in him lies makes God either ignorant or a liar Falshood is ever vile and odious in it self but when it is fastened upon God when we teach our own Inventions those spurious brats and bastards of our own Brain to call him Father it must needs be detestable For we cloath him with the Attribute of the Devil who is properly a liar and the Father of lies Job viii And therefore even we our selves though we be all liars yet we cannot endure to hear it and when we do nothing can satisfie but his blood that tells us so though never so truly How then may we think and with what indignation will God receive it when they are so unjustly pinned and stuck upon him who hates a lie more than we can love our selves And with what severity may we imagin he will revenge it what reward will he give unto such a false Tongue but sharp Arrows and hot burning Coles at the least even those Arrows in Job the Arrows of Gods wrath the venom whereof drink up the spirits of him in whom they stick and those Coles or rather Flames of St. John for all liars saith he shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. xxi 8. And if all Liars have a part then how great a portion will be assigned to the Perjurers for if God will not hold him guiltless that useth his holy Name but vainly how shall his guilt multiply and his Sin become exceeding sinful that doth abuse it falsly and if he will destroy those that do but speak out their lies as it is in the v. Psalm Thou shalt destroy those that speak Leasing how great shall their destruction be that fear not to swear them out and uphold them by the holiness of his name Certainly so great as I think the depth and bottom of Hell doth not know any greater for I assure my self that neither the Idolatrous Gentile nor the unbelieving A theist shall lie lower in that Pit of everlasting horror than the contemptuous Perjurer for the one doth worship no God the other a false God but this makes a false witness of the true God his Sin is Infidelity the others Idolatry but this man's is not without blasphemy which is worse than either for it may worthily be esteemed a less Crime to acknowledge any thing for God
in both and how short we have been of that due Reverence and regard those Sacred Mysteries require Shall I ask you then for so he must do that will examine what time you have taken from your earthly affairs to bestow on this holy imployment nay ask but your own hearts and they will quickly answer you for have you afforded your selves I say not a month or a week but a day or two or some hours of them to call your Souls to a strict account to strip your hearts of worldly cares and vanities and recal your wandering thoughts to those severe and serious cogitations as may become your own sanctification and the high and holy institution of your Saviour Consider well whether with David you have entred into the Chambers of your own bosoms and faithfully communed with your own Souls whether you have tryed out your hearts and reins and your spirit hath made diligent search as he both did and requires Observe heedfully whether casting off all masks and visors of Hypocrisy all Fig-leaves of diminution and excuse how thou hast exposed thy self and thy Soul naked unto the view of thy searching Conscience whether thy mortified heart beginning to thaw with remorse hath freely opened her pleits and folds wherein she hid her iniquity and presented thee with her sins in their true shape that thou mightest as truly detest and abhor them If it be so it is well if not take heed labour and strive weep cry pray do not cease be not satisfied till it be so for then it will never be right thy preparation will lack of his due and thy examination will be lame But I examine this examination no farther It is a secret act known only to their own reins and the searcher of them to whom therefore I remit it and pass on to the qualities and vertues wherewith you are to prepare and wherein I may more freely examine and evict your Souls as having outward and sensible effects whereby they may be judged And the first of these to omit knowledge whereof we have spoken sufficiently already is Faith but here examination thou thinkest altogether needless for thou art most sure and certain thou believest Yet what if one should tell thee thou didst not believe like enough thou wouldst tell him againâ— thou dost not believe him in that for thou wilt still say thou knowest nothing better than that thou believest why and I know it too and know more that the very Devils believe and tremble which is something farther and their Faith peradventure something better than thine who believest and dost not tremble which yet thou well mightest didst thou understand thy self or believe in God aright and as thou oughtest But the truth is most mens Faith as we shewed but now of the understanding follows their affections believing little more than what they desire Should a Man preach and maintain that the goods of this world ought not to be ingrossed into private and particular hands but that all things as it was in the primitive Church amongst Christians should be common who think you would believe this soonest the Rich or the Poor The Poor indeed would quickly embrace it because beneficient to them but the Rich that should be losers by it would hardly or never assent In like manner should we urge that precept under the Law that money should be lent freely to our brethren that want and not be put out to interest or inforce that Divine Precept of the Gospel to lend and look for nothing again Matth. vi the poor Creditor you may be sure will entertain this for his relief but the griping â—surer is deaf on that side and can easily find out shifts and distinctions to avoid his own inconvenience Search now and examine thy self narrowly and see if thy Faith doth not deal thus with God in the chief Articles of it scarce ever believing any thing but what it likes The object of Divine Faith is the word of God wherein besides Histories the chief things it proposeth to believe are but three Precepts Comminations and Promises Precepts of duty Comminations of punishments and Promises of reward to the observers or neglecters of them And all those equally to be assented unto because delivered by the word of the same God otherwise thy Faith is defective and maimed See then and consider truly whether thou dost adhere unto the one as to the other whether thy Faith doth not rest only upon the promises neglecting the duties and yet slighting the threatnings against those that neglect them The promises of Mercy indeed are sweet and comfortable who doth not willingly and gladly believe them but comminations and duties are terrible and troublesome and few will give them faithful entertainment That Christ suffered on the Cross and shed his blood for the sins of the whole world and every mans in particular is a pleasant and grateful Doctrine how doth our Faith hug and embrace it as if there were nothing else to be believed But should we once thunder out that of St. Paul That notwithstanding this blood no Lyer no Drunkard no Adulterer no covetous or unclean Person shall enter into the Kingdom of God here our Faith is at a stand and will be sure either not to believe it or never to acknowledge that themselves are such Again blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sin saith David yea marry blessed be that tongue for ever I believe it with all my heart nay read a little farther and in whose spirit there is no guile how now why dost thou stagger pish 't is impossible this seems to have crept into the Text no body knows how St. Paul when he cited it left it out and weare not bound to believe it or any thing else we cannot away with There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus saith St. Paul a gracious promise and aâ—very cordial to the Soul every Man is ready to lay hold of it before it be out of his mouth but to whom doth it appertain To them as it follows which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit This is a severe duty on our part and a very corrosive to the flesh which will hardly be brought in subjection to the law of God and therefore will not easily believe it should or possibly may be Thus thy fruitless and preposterous Faith is ever strong to lay hold on the promises though weak and of no power to work obedience to the commands or believe the judgments denounced against disobeyers For didst thou so truly thy belief would teach thee to tremble for which cause I told thee thy Faith which in this case is only a carnal confidence falls short of that which the Scripture tells us is found in Devils that believe and tremble Nay if we search and examine a little farther we shall find thy Faith failing even in the very promises For though in spiritual promises that concern mercy and remission of
meditations and ferventest prayers never cease till they break forth into a flame that may even scorch thy heart with compunction and penitent remorse and fire thy Soul with ardent and burning affections of love unto God and charity to thy Brother which are the rest of the qualifications wherewith you are to prepare your selves and wherein if we should proceed to search and continue a strict examination I am sure we should find them every way and every one as false as our Faith For Faith is the root and if that be corrupt these which are the branches cannot possibly be sound Such as our belief is such is our Love such ever our Repentance all these but Cakes of one piece of Dough and seasoned with the same leaven hypocrisy our repentance being but meer formality our love only verbal and our charity for the most part but pride or disguised malice Repentance sincere and true we may well say is fled with Astraea to Heaven or rather doubt whether there be any such matter Sure it is but a meer word that hath nothing to answer it Search thy self try others by their actions and see if thou canst almost any where find it A Man of an humble and a contrite heart broken and bruised with the sight and sense of his sins groaning and bleeding under the weight and burdens of his iniquities changed truly converted regenerate and reformed in the whole disposition of his Soul cast as it were in a new mould and become a new Man a new Creature such a one were worthy the seeing but our eyes may even look till they fail and no where behold him Behold indeed we may every where new things enough but not new men At these solemn feasts they can have all things new but their Souls these they can permit to go in their old cloaths yea to grow old in the same sins which they learnt and grew up with them in their youth The antient swearer we see is a swearer still receive he never so often The covetous man takes the Sacrament and goes away no less covetous than he was The malicious man can drink the blood of Christ which he shed for his enemies and yet continue in the same gall of bitterness as before lupi veniùnt lupi receduni Wolves they come though in Sheeps cloathing and Wolves they depart saith St. Austin For indeed they do but put on a seeming sanctity for the time and presently reassume again their old ways And do generally deal with their â—â—â—lice and the rest of their sins as men do with their beards shave them against a good time but leave the roots behind which afterwards shoot out the thicker And this is the repentance this is the love of which these times are full as the Moon but for that which is serious and sincere knock at your hearts and see if they do not sound as hollow as empty Casks And for the last our love and affection to Godâ— it is no less verbal than that unto our Brother is feigned or our repentance formal It is in every Mans mouth but no where else they draw near him with their lips but their heart is far from him that is wholly taken up with pleasure pride and profit the Trinity which the world worships that generally knows no other God but Mammon as it will appear if they search their thoughts for where our treasure is there are our cogitatlons But the due examination of these points will require a fuller discourse than this time will afford which is run out already and therefore we must refer it to another In the mean while beseeching God of his great goodness to give us clear eyes and understanding Spirits to discern and abhor the hypocrisie of the world and the deceitfulness of our own hearts that we be not counted amongst those formal Pharisees wherewith these times abound professing godliness but denying the power thereof in their actions which can have no part or communion with Christ but being inspired with a true and a living Faith rooted in love and built up in charity unfeigned we may be reckoned amongst those few which shall be held for worthy receivers of those pledges of his love in the holy mysteries now and be esteemed worthy to be received into the pleasures of his everlasting Kingdom hereafter whereunto the same God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe to bring us all c. Amen Laus Deo in aeternum A SERMON ON CHRISTMAS Day SERMON IX Upon LUK. ii 10 11. And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring you tydings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. IN the verses precedent the Nativity and birth of our Lord and Saviour is described in these here it is proved and publisht descried in them by an Evangelist preached and published in these by an Angel by an Angel unto Shepherds by an Angel the highest and most excellent workmanship of God unto Shepherds the meanest and sillyest people amongst all the fons of men So you see already the three general parts into which my Text doth branch it self The Preacher the Audience and the Sermon The Messenger They to whom the Message is sent and the Message it self The message or Sermon for so the Angels word imports Evangelizo vobis I preach or publish unto you is the birth of our Lord and Saviour The Audience Shepherds the messenger or publisher of it an Angel These are the main or principal parts Two other there are which are accessary for his message is high and of great importance his Audience mean and fearful affrighted with his presence the one deserves a preface of honour the other a word of comfort first therefore he chears up the Shepherds and magnifies his message before he will deliver it he chears up them Fear not and magnifies that behold I bring you tydings of great joy which shall be to all people So have you these Five 1. A. Message 2. And that Message magnified 3. An Auditory 4. And that Auditory comforted 5. Both performed by an Angel And the Angel said unto them c. there is the Preacher and his audience Fear not c. there is the Audience and their comfort Behold I bring c. there is the extolling of the Message For unto you is born this day there is the message it self And this message again hath divers parts some more substantial as the Birth it self and the Titles and Attributes of the person born Three in Number a Saviour Christ the Lord. Others it hath that are Circumstantial as the time when hodie to day the place where in the City of David and the persons for whom For you vobis for unto you c. These are the parts of the message and the Preface that magnifies it hath no fewer particulars 1. It is News 2. News of joy 3. Of great
consider what he suffered in the other that you may do also factus sub lege will give you both For what were the actions of his life but the keeping of the Law in himself or what was the passion of his death but the satisfying of the Law for others that had broken it and in regard of either made under the law under the law to fulfil the precepts which it commands and under the Law to satisfy the penalty which it injoins So by this time I think it is full filled with the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ whose natures person actions passion whose incarnation birth life and death it fully contains verè verbum abbreviatum it may well be termed and abbreviated word a viol of Spirits a very extract and quintessence drawn from four Evangelists and clapt up in two verses by an Apostle Two verses which as I said have but two general parts fulness of time and fulness of matter both tend to declare the greatness of the Fathers love the depth of the Son's humility and the height of mans happiness The Fathers love is full and grows unto its fulness by two degrees He sent and he sent his Son The Sons humility is full and it ariseth unto its fulness by two degrees made of a woman and made under the law Mans happiness is full and it cometh to its fulness also by two degrees Redemption and Adoption that he might or that we might c. If then the greatest thing the Father could send the Son or the worst thing the Son could suffer the malediction of the Law or the best thing men could receive or wish for adoption of Sons can make it full it is full indeed and to purpose for it is filled with all these And of this fulness we will now draw out unto you as much as the short time will permit beginning first with the fulness of the time When the fulness of time was come c. All the works of God saith the Wise man are done in number weight and measure and therefore questionless in a just and opportune time For time it is that doth both number and measure all his works yea and gives weight unto them too his weightiest works and greatest would be something the lighter and lesser were they not designed unto the fullest and fittest times This then as it exceeds all other in the greatness of the work so was it fit to receive an answerable fulness of the season And sure the season must needs be full when so great a work was poured into it when he came to fill it in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily True but yet the Text doth not so much derive the fulness of the time from his coming as apply his coming unto the fulness of the time as being full and fit to receive him Again the time appointed by the Father as it is a little before and foretold by his Prophets was now full come and expired this then must needs be the fulness of time True also they argue the fulness of time but short as we make it for had there not been a fulness and fitness in the time it self it had never been either appointed by the one or foretold by the other though without his appointment it came not to this fulness neither True it is that the wit of Man is too narrow a vessel fully to receive and comprehend all the reasons of this fulness yet sure in that which it doth apprehend it hath reason enough to admire the wisdom of the Lord in the fitness of his appointment not without special convenience chusing out neither the first beginning of the world nor the last end of it but a mid time as it were between both when the world should arrive at his just age Not a time of war but a time of universal peace Not the time of a Common-weal but the time of a general Monarchy not of the AEquinox but the Solstice not in the Summer but the Winter not in the day but in the night for all these may be comprehended within this fulness as not wanting their convenient fitness First then upon great reason the Lord chose not the first ages of the young world but deferred it for some thousands of years that being first shadowed in types and figures and promised by many and antient prophecies and predictions his coming might be the more desired and expected of Men and himself the better received and with less doubt entertained when he should come So great a mystery is the Incarnation of the Son of God that unless his person and actions his birth death and resurrection with all the particulars of either had been clearly and frequently for many ages foretold by the Prophets his forerunners we should have little means either to perswade it to others or at this day to believe it our selves And again upon as good reason he chose not the end and last age of the decrepit world lest all eyes should fail and hope faint in too long expectation with Where is the promise of his coming Rightly therefore in a point and period of time between both these neither when the world was too old and doting nor whilst it was too young and under tutorage as it is two verses before but when it came to full age and strength in the sight of him that made it Secondly he chose not a troublous time of war but of calm and settled peace as being the true Solomon and Prince of peace that came to no other end but to make and establish an everlasting peace between Heaven and Earth God and Man Man and his own Soul Thirdly he chose not a time of Republick neither of Aristocracy wherein few nor Democracy wherein the people have the chief power but a time of Monarchy when one Man Augustus Caesar had obtained the Dominion did sway the Scepter command and give law unto the whole world to shew that the universal Monarch of all Nations the Supream head of all Churches the Catholick Bishop and Pastor of all Souls was now born into the world Fourthly he chose not the AEquinox but the Solstice not the Summer Solstice when the Sun runs at his highest but the Winter Solstice when the days are at shortest because then the Sun first begins to return and the days to increase as in light so afterwards in heat So in like manner he chose the Meridian time not the diurnal Meridian when the Sun by his presence makes light more but the nocturnal when by his absence he makes the deep noon of night because at that time the Sun is in the furthest point he can go from us and first begins to ascend towards the morning And both to shew the true Son of Righteousness was now approaching and drawing near unto us by his comfortable presence to give new light unto our minds and divine heat unto our affections to unthaw our benum'd and frozen consciences and to
shall perceive the better and receive too the sooner for though it be powerful all do not always receive it if we be observant of the circumstances of this spiritual in the mind which for the quality of time place and person doth much resemble that other humane birth in the flesh For as then he was born in the night so still is he usually begotten in the nightly and silent meditations of the Soul When all things were in quiet silence and the night in her swift course then the Almighty word left the Royal Throne and leapt down from Heaven saith the Author in the book of Wisdom And sure then especially when all things are quiet and silent when the works and toils cares and labours of the day are laid aside and the Soul in sweet contemplation of the vanity of all her travel under the Sun then I say especially is Divine Wisdom preparing the place for the Son of God who though he leave not Heaven and his throne there yet by his spirit doth he vouchsafe to descend and live and dwell in this earth of ours for ever And as in the deep of night so for the most part is he born still in the depth of Winter For in the Summer and sun-shine of prosperity we are all apt to forget God and regard but little what he speaks unto us but in the cold and bitter storms of Winter when our Bark is tossed in a tempestuous Sea of afflictions then like other Mariners we can quickly pour out vows leave our canns and carouses and betake our selves to Supplication and Prayers and can attentively hearken also what the Lord God will say concerning our Souls Only take heed of the 3d. circumstance in this point and though he came in the last age of the world yet be sure not to defer thy entertaining of him till the last age of thy life For however he be sometimes and it may be usually as yet born spiritually in that point of Mans days as he was then of the world yet it cannot be safe yet it must be more than foolish to presume of it For we well know how frail we are and God knows how suddenly we shall be swept away in our sins when we would give the whole world if we had it for but one hour of that time we so foolishly neglected and may not have Remember therefore thy Creator in the days of thy youth before the eveil day come and give attentive consideration to the counsel of the Wiseman Defer not to do well and put not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth and in security thou shalt be destroyed But lastly and above all be most assured that as then so he will still be born in no other time but a time of peace Peace there was in the whole world when he was born in it and we must cease from wars and envies and hatreds and have peace every one with his Brother or he will never be born in us It was the Song and Anthem at his birth sung by Angels Glory be to God on high in earth peace good will towards men He is the great peacemaker that came of purpose to establish an everlasting peace between God and Man but on this condition that Man shall first be at peace with Man otherwise not to expect it from God of whom he may not so much as beg mercy for his offences but as himself remits the trespasses of others O take heed therefore flatter not thy self but search narrowly and be sure to strip all wrath and revenge from thine heart or be most assured Christ will never dwell and inhabit there who cannot but hate the very place where such odious and hateful sins make their abode Sins that bind all the rest of our iniquities on our Souls yea make whatsoever else is good sinful unto us Whereof so long as thou art guilty thou dost but curse thy self when thou prayest and damn thy own Soul when thou receivest This for the time see now how well the other circumstances agree which concern the place of his birth and especially the person of whom he was born For born he was not of any ordinary Woman at a venture but of a pure and chast Virgin and so will he still be both born and bred in a clean and unpolluted Soul Into a defiled heart full of noisom lusts and sordid affections he will not enter they must be first purged out and all the stains and pollutions of them washed away and cleansed in a bath of penitential tears then he will descend thither be born there and instead of those natural corruptions fill the place with all divine and supernatural Graces and so not find but make the Soul a Virgin by being begotten in it A Virgin full of virtue which he will espouse and marry unto himself for ever But yet of all virtues he most affects humility in her the first and laft of virtues the first begining and last consummation of whatsoever is virtuous For without it the Soul is not capable of virtue and had she never so many would spoil all by growing proud of the virtues which she hath And therefore as he was born of a Virgin so would he be born in no other but a Stable the meanest place and lowest in the house to shew us the condition of the mind the humility and lowliness of the spirit where he still is and ever will be spiritually brought forth For as the covetous Soul is but a Barn the Epicure's a Kitchen the Drunkard 's a Cellar the Ambitious a Chamber of State so the low and regardless Stable may well signify the humble spirit that both is and esteems it self a wretched sinner Not then in the Barn of Misers nor in the Kitchin of Belly-gods not in the Cellar of Winebibbers not in the great Chamber of Pride and Prodigals but in the despised Stable of humble and dejected spirits there is he there will he and no where else ever be born And every Soul wherein he is so born may be bold to say with the blessed Virgin that first saw him for thou regardest the lowliness of thy hand-maiden But yet humility is not more acceptable to him than worldly cares and covetousness displeasing than which nothing can more hinder his conception and generation in our Souls For God and Mammon cannot dwell together And for this cause as in a Stable so he would be born in an Inn For an Inn is domus populi free and open unto all comers and so must the Soul be wherein he will be the second time born free and generous holding nothing as it were in private and proper to it self but open and ready to communicate all things to those that want and are distressed and no less freely than the other for money And the sooner because he knows the world it self is but an Inn where we do not inhabit but lodge for a