Aprilis aerae Christianae An. Dom. 1615. Johan 21.15 16 17. 15. Quum ergo prandissent dicit Simoni Petro Jesus Simon fili Jonae diligis me plùs quà m hi dicit ei Certè Domine tu nosti quòd amem te dicit ei Pasce agnos meos 16. Dicit ei rursum secundo Simon fili Jonae diligis me ait illi Certè Domine tu nosti quod amem te dicit ei Pasce oves meas 17. Dicit ei tertio Simon fili Jonae amas me tristitiâ fuit affectus Petrus quod tertio dixisset ipsi amas me dixitque ei Domine tu omnia nosti tu nosti quòd amem te dicit ei Jesus Pasce oves meas Sermons preached at Paris in the house of the right Honourable Sir Thomas Edmonds Lord Embassadour resident in France lying in the Fauxburge of St. Germans in the yeeres of our Lord 1610 1611 1612. The checke of Conscience page 609. Rom. 6.21 What fruit had yee in those things whereof yee are now ashamed for the end of those things is death The Vine of Sodome page 620. Rom. 6.21 What fruit had yee then in those things c. The Grapes of Gomorrah page 629. Rom. 6.21 What fruit had yee in those things c. The hiew of a Sinner page 638. Rom. 6.21 Whereof yee are now ashamed The wages of Sinne. page 645. Rom. 6.21 For the end of those things is death The gall of Aspes page 661. Rom. 6.21 For the end of those things is death Ferula Paterna page 672. Revel 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten I. The nurture of Children page 681. Apoc. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Chasten The lot of the Godly page 693. Apoc. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten As many The oyle of Thyme page 702. Revel 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten As I love The sweet Spring of the waters of Marah page 710. Apoc. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten I love The Patterne of Obedience page 719. Phil. 2.8 Hee humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse The reward of Patience page 725. Philip. 2.9 Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him Lowlinesse exalted page 735. Philip. 2.9 Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him A Summons to Repentance page 747. Ezek. 18.23 Have I any desire at all that the wicked should dye saith the Lord God The best Returne page 757. Ezek. 18.23 Not that he should returne from his wayes and live or If he returne from his evill wayes shall he not live The danger of Relapse page 765. Ezek. 18.24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall hee live all his righteousnesse that hee hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespasse that hee hath trespassed and in his sinne that hee hath sinned in them shall hee dye The deformity of Halting page 776. 1 Kings 18.21 And Elijah came to all the people and said How long halt yee between two opinions if the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him and the people answered not a word Old and new Idolatry paralleled page 784. 1 Kings 18.21 If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him One God one true Religion page 794. 1 Kings 18.21 If the Lord be God follow him but if Baal then follow him Bloudy Edome page 802. Psal 137.7 8. 7. Remember O Lord the children of Edome in the day of Jerusalem who said Raze it raze it even to the foundation thereof 8. O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed happy shall hee be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us Sermons preached in Lambeth Parish Church The watchfull Sentinell page 814. A Sermon preached the fifth of November Psal 121.4 Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep Abraham his Purchase page 825. A Sermon preached at the consecration of the Church-yard inclosed within the new wall at Lambeth Acts 7.19 And were carried over into Sechem and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a summe of mony of the sons of Emor of Sechem The Feast of Pentecost page 834. A Sermon preached on Whitsunday Acts 2.1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all together with one accord in one place The Symbole of the Spirit page 842. Acts 2.2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting The Mysterie of the fiery cloven Tongues page 850. Acts 2.3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sate upon each of them Christ his lasting Monument page 856. A Sermon preached on Maundy Thursday 1 Corinth 11.26 As often as yee eate of this bread and drinke of this cup ye doe shew the Lords death till he come The signe at the Heart page 864. A Sermon preached on the first Sunday in Lent Acts 2.37 And when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we doe Christian Brotherhood page 876. A Sermon preached on the second Sunday in Lent Acts 2.37 And they said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren c. The perplexed soules Quaere page 883. A Sermon preached on the third Sunday in Lent Acts 2.37 What shall wee doe The last offer of Peace page 891. A Sermon preached at a publike Fast Luke 19.41 42. 41. And when he was come neere he beheld the City and wept over it 42. Saying If thou hadst knowne even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes A Catalogue of the Authors cited in this Work with their severall Editions A. ABen Ezra Basil 1620. G. Abbot Lond. 1620. R. Abbot Lond. 1606. Aelianus Lugd. 1577. Aeneas Sylviue Col. 1535. Aesopus Venet. 1606. Agapetus Bib. pat T. 6. p. 1. Col. 1622. C. Agrippa Paris 1567. G. Alanus Antw. 1576. Albertus Mag. Basil 1506. Alcazar Lugd. 1618. P. de Alliaco Mogunt 1574. J. Almainus Paris 1512. Fr. Alvarez Lugd. 1608. Ambrosius Mediol Basil 1555. Ambrosius Ansbert Bib. par T. 9. p. 2. Col. 1622. Andradius Col. 1564. Amphilochius Bib. pat T. 4. Col. 1622. Anselmus Col. 1573. Antiphon Orat. Paris 1609. Anthologia Grec Epig. Franc. 1600. Apuleius Venet. 1504. Apollinarius Bib. pat T. 4. Col. 1622 Th. Aquinas Venet. 1594. Arboreus Paris 1540. Aretas Bib. pat T. 6. Col. 1622. B. Aretius Bern. 1604. Th. Argentinensis Gen. 1585. Gr. Ariminensis Venet. 1503. Aristophanes Francof 1597. Aristoteles Lugd. 1590. R. Armacanus Francof 1614. Arnobius Rom. 1562. Arnoldus Bib. pat T. 6. Col. 1622. Articuli Eccles Angl. Lond. 1628. Athanasius Alexandrinus Par. 1581. Avendanus Madrid 1593. Augustinus Hypponensis Par. 1586. P.
thing so much as their tiring In summe they spend all their time in a manner in beautifying and adorning their body to please their lovers but in comparison none at all in beautifying and adorning their soules to please their Maker and Husband Christ Jesus Of these Saint m James 5.5 James long ago gave us the character They live in pleasure in the earth and waxe wanton and are fatted for the day of slaughter I spare to rehearse other lavishing out of time lest the rehearsing thereof might seeme worthy to bee numbred among the idle expences thereof And now it is time to set the foot to the account of my meditations on this Scripture The Conclusion and draw neere to that which we all every day draw neerer unto an end The * 1 Pet. 4.7 end of all things is at hand be sober therefore watch unto prayer The day of the Lord will come as a theefe in the night in the which the heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the workes thereof shall be burned up This great Doomes-day cannot bee farre off as wee see by the fearfull fore-runners thereof howsoever the day of our death which may be called little doomes-day will soon overtake us peradventure before the Sunne yet set or this glasse be runne Wherefore I beseech you all that heare mee this day in the feare of God by occasion of the summons in my Text to enter into a more strict examination of your life than ever heretofore bring out all your thoughts words deeds projects councels and designes and lay them to the rule of Gods Law and if they swerve never so little from it reforme and amend them recount how you have bestowed the blessings of this life how you have imployed the gifts of nature how you have increased your talents of grace wherein the Church or Common-wealth hath been the better by you consider how you have carried your selves abroad in the world how at home in your private families but how especially in the closet of your owne heart You know out of the Gospel that a mans n Mat. 12.44 house may be swept and garnished that is his outward conversation civill and faire and yet harbour seven uncleane spirits within If lust and covetousnesse and pride and envie and malice and rancour and deceit and hypocrisie like so many serpents lye under the ground gnawing at the root of the tree be the leaves of your profession never so broad and seem the fruits of your actions never so faire the vine is the vine of Sodome and the grape the grape of Gomorrah There is nothing so easie as to put a fresh colour upon a rotten post and to set a faire glosse upon the fowlest matters to pretend conscience for most unconscionable proceedings and make religion it selfe a maske to hide the deformity of most irreligious practices But when the secrets of all hearts shall be opened and the intents and purposes of all our actions manifested and the most hidden workes of darknesse brought to light As it is to bee hoped that many that are infinitely wronged in the rash censures of men shall be justified in the sight of God and his Angels so it is to be feared that very many whom the world justifieth and canonizeth also for Saints shall be condemned at Christs barre and have their portion with hypocrites in hell there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Wherefore sith we shall all one day come to such a publike such an impartiall such a particular tryall of all that we have done in the body either good or evill let us looke more narrowly to all our wayes and see that they be streight and even 1. Let us search our heart with all diligence let us look into all the corners thereof and see there lurke no wickednesse nor filthinesse nor hypocrisie there let us looke to our thoughts that they be pure to our desires that they be lawfull to our affections that they be regular to our passions that they be moderate to our ends that they be good to our purposes that they be honest to our intentions that they be sincere to our resolutions that they be well grounded and firme 2. Next let us take our tongue to examination and weigh all our words in the ballance of the Sanctuary and try whether they have not been light and idle but grave and profitable not crafty and deceitfull but simple and plaine not false and lying but true and faithfull not outragious but sober not filthy but modest not prophane but holy not censorious but charitable not scurrilous but ponderous not insolent but lowly and courteous not any way offensive and unsavoury but such as might o Ephes 4.29 minister grace to the hearers 3. Lastly let us lay our hands upon our handy workes and examine our outward acts and deeds 1. Whether they have been alwayes justifiable in generall by the Law of God that is either commanded by it or at least warranted in it 2. Whether they have been and are conformable to the orders of the Church and lawes of the Land For wee must obey lawfull authority for conscience sake in all things that are not repugnant to the divine Law as Bernard piously resolveth saying Thou must yeeld obedience to him as to God who is in the place of God in those things that are not against God 3. Whether they have been agreeable to our particular calling For some things are justifiable by the Law of God and man in men of one state and calling which are hainous sinnes in another as we see in the cases of Uzza and Uzziah 4. Whether they have been answerable to our inward purposes intentions and dispositions For though they are otherwise lawfull and agreeable yet if they goe against the haire if they are done with grudging and repining and not heartily they are neither acceptable to God nor man 5. Whether they have been all things considered most expedient For as many things are profitable and expedient that are not lawfull so some things are lawfull that are not p 1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawfull unto me but all things are not expedient expedient and because they are not expedient if necessity beare them not out they become by consequent unlawfull For we are not onely bound to eschew all the evill we know but also at all times to doe the best good wee can else wee fulfill not the commandement of loving God with all our heart and all our soule and all our strength To summe up all I have discoursed unto you first of the Stewardship of the things of this life secondly of the account of this Stewardship thirdly of the time of this account The Stewardship most large the account most strict the time most uncertaine After the explication of these points in the application I arraigned foure Stewards before you first the sacred
opposed to vertues but to vices also Our way to heaven is like the course of a ship in the Sicilian sea betweene two rockes called the Symplegades the one lying on the right hand the other on the left betweene which the channell is so narrow that few seeke to decline the one but they dash on the other Incidit in Scillam qui vult vitare Charybdim As those that goe upon ropes or passe over a narrow bridge if they be not exceeding carefull when the body swayeth or the foot slippeth one way by hastily leaning too far the other way they fall irrecoverably so if we be not very watchfull over our wayes in declining one vitious extremity ere we are aware we passe the middle and are upon the other I need not goe farre for an instance this Corinthian before he fell into this snare of Satan was puft up in pride and sinned presumptuously but after the heavie censure of the Church for his incestuous marriage and the remorse of his owne conscience for it he fell into the contrary extreme took on so far and plunged himselfe into so deepe sorrow that he was in great danger to be swallowed up in the gulfe of despaire Demea offended not so much in rigour towards his children at the the first as afterwards in indulgency when he felt the smart of his own rod. None usually so exceed in mirth and run into that riot of pleasure as melancholy men when they are out of that humour This stratagem serves Satans turne as well in matter of faith as maners For as vices are in both extremes and vertue in the middle so oftentimes errours in doctrine are in both extremes and truth in the middle by over-reaching against one heresie we wrong the truth hurt our selves and fall upon the errour in the other extreme St. p Vâ—◠〈◊〉 tâ—â— Câ—gâ—â—â— caâ—â— Jâ— Regis Basil in his heat of opposition to Sabellius his heresie was transported so farre that he came within the Verge of the opposite heresie and uttered some inconvenient speeches concerning the Trinity St. Austine likewise in his zeale against the Pelagians who sleightned baptisme went too farre in urging the necessity thereof pronouncing all children that died unbaptized to be damned And how many are there among us who out of hatred of the Antichristian tyranny condemne all Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy out of detestation of superstitious rites dislike even decent ceremonies in opposition to garish and idolatrous trimming of Temples are brought to dis-allow all cost in adorning and beautifying Christian Churches 6 The sixt stratagem policy or device of Satan is to turne himselfe into an Angell of light and thereby to perswade the children of light that his suggestions are the motions of Gods holy Spirit This he attempteth and often effecteth by observing what gifts and graces are most eminent in Gods children and to what actions of piety or charity they are most addicted and subtilly under the colour and resemblance of these drawing them to those neighbour vices that seeme to have most affinity with their Christian perfections like as if a cunning Lapidarie should insinuate into the company of a rich Merchant and getting a sight of his cabbinet of Jewels should cheat him with counterfeit stones in stead of them To discover this plot of Satan more apparently 1 Religion is a true jewell Superstition a counterfeit 2 Humility a jewell Pusillanimity a counterfeit 3 Spirituall wisedome a jewell Worldly policy a counterfeit 4 Magnificence a jewell Prodigality a counterfeit 5 Tendernesse of conscience a jewell Scrupulosity a counterfeit 6 Severity a jewell Cruelty a counterfeit 7 Clemency a jewell Indulgence a counterfeit 8 Zeale a jewell Indiscreet fervour a counterfeit 9 Diligent search into divine mysteries a jewell curiosity a counterfeit 10 Inward peace a jewell Carnall security a counterfeit 11 Confidence in God a jewell Presumption a counterfeit 12 Constancy a jewell Pertinacy a counterfeit Here then is Satans masterpiece to rob us of our precious jewels of grace and deceive us with counterfeit in their roome by name to adulterate and sophisticate the former vertues by the later vices 1 Religion by Superstition 2 Humility by Pusillanimity 3 Spirituall wisedome by Policy 4 Magnificence by Prodigality 5 Tendernesse of conscience by Scrupulosity 6 Severity by Cruelty 7 Clemency by Indulgence 8 Zeale by Indiscreet fervour 9 Diligence by Curiosity 10 Inward peace by Carnall security 11 Confidence by Presumption 12 Constancy by Pertinacy Saul was most zealous for the law of Moses this his fervour Satan inflaming enraged him against the Apostles and Disciples whom he as then thought to be capitall enemies to the law in this his rage hee makes havocke of the Church of God deeming that he could not doe better service to God than to be an instrument to put to death the dearest servants of Christ The great love St. Cyprian the Martyr bare to the Orthodoxe faith and the Professours thereof bred in him a vehement detestation of Heresie and Heretikes upon this Satan works and draweth him by degrees to question then to condemn their baptism and lastly to presse the necessity of rebaptizing those that were baptized by them Theodosius his infinite desire of the Church's peace was a most commendable and Christian vertue in him yet Satan made his advantage of it working him to some connivence at the Arrians which much prejudiced the Orthodoxe Professours Who can sufficiently extoll Constantine the great his love to Bishops and Church-men yet Satan abused this his pious respect to the Clergie in such sort that when divers Bishops brought inditements one against another for adultery and other foule crimes he never so much as looked upon their papers but presently burned them saying that rather than any should espie the nakednesse of those his spirituall Fathers he would cast his Princely robe over them to cover them Whosoever readeth the story of St. Monica would thinke that a sonne could never doe too much for such a mother who took so much pains and shed so many tears for his conversion Neither was she more carefull for him than he thankfull to her and would you thinke that Satan could sucke poyson out of so sweet a flower as is filiall obedience to a gracious mother yet he doth by inducing St. Austine to pray for her soule after she was dead How was he brought to this Did he beleeve that his mothers soule was in Purgatory or that she needed any prayer That conceit he disclaimeth in the very same place where he prayeth for her Credo quod jam feceris quod te rogo sed voluntaria oris mei opproba Domine For p Aug. Confes l. 9. c. 13. my mother on her death-bed desired but this one thing of me that I would remember her in my devotions at thine Altar 7 The seventh stratagem policy or device of Satan is to make advantage of time not only by alluring every age to the peculiar vices thereof as children to
the blessing of Abraham might come upon us let us enter into the Arke of our confidence and the Spirit of Christ like Noahs Dove shall bring unto us an Olive branch glad tidings of peace and true signes of rest to our tempest-tossed consciences let us draw neare to God and he will draw neare to us let us goe to Christ and he will draw God neare unto us let us goe unto him in feare and reverence and he will embrace us in faith and confiâ—ence and he will receive us though we have beene prodigall and runnagate children he will receive us into his favour he will reconcile us to his Father he will salve our wounds hee will quiet our hearts hee will mitigate our feare of death and destruction and hee will imparadise us with himselfe in glorie everlasting The spirituall and morall interpretation of the Rehearsers text with a conclusion of the whole THus have I now at length presented to your spirituall view the brest-plate of Aaron decked richly with foure rowes of precious stones set in bosses of gold To the foure rowes I have compared the foure methodicall Sermons which yee have heard the Jewels in the rowes both to the parts of the Speakers and to their precious doctrine the embossement of gold to their texts a Orat. pro Cluent now because as Cepasius in Tullie postquam diu ex intimo artificio dixisset respicite respicite tandem respexit ipse so it hath beene the manner of the Rehearsers after they had fitly resembled the Preachers to make some resemblance of themselves and their office Sacra haec non aliter constant I intreat you right worshipfull men fathers and brethren not to think that I have so far forgotten modesty as to ranke my selfe with the meanest of the Jewels in these rowes nor the texture of my discourse to the embossements of gold wherein they were set yet not quite to change the allegory I finde among the Lapidaries a stone which seemes to me a fit embleme of a Rehearser it is no precious stone though it be reckoned with them by b Plin. l. 37. c. 9. Pliny and others because at some times it representeth the colours of the rainebow non ut in se habeat colores arcus coelestis sed ut repercussu parietum illidat the name of the stone is Iris whereunto I may make bold to compare my selfe because in some sort I have represented unto you the beautifull colours of these twelve precious stones as the Iris doth the colours of the Rainebow non per inhaerentiam sed per referentiam and therefore I reflect all the lustre splendour and glorie of them first upon Almighty God next upon the Jewels the Preachers themselves Pliny maketh mention of a strange c Nat. hist l. 2. c. 105. Pluvius in Hispania est qui omnes aurei coloris ostendit pisces nihil extra illam aquam caeteris differentes River in Spaine wherein all the fish while they swim in it have a golden colour but if you take them out of it nothing at all differ in colour from other in like manner I doubt not but that many things seemed excellent and truely golden in the torrent of the Preachers eloquence which taken out thence and exhibited to you in my rehearsall seeme but ordinary Howbeit the whole blame hereof lieth not upon me but a great part of it upon the very nature of this exercise to which it is d Mat. 3.3 essentiall to be defective The Preachers were voyces like St. John Baptist the Rehearser is but the Eccho Who ever expected of an Eccho to repeat the whole voyce or entire speech sufficient it is that it resound some of the last words and them imperfectly it implyeth a contradiction that a faire and goodly picture should be drawne at length in a short table e Quintil. instit orat l. 10. c. 2. Quicquid alteri simile est necesse est ut sit minus eo quod imitatur ut umbra corpore imago facie actus histrionum veris affectibus necesse est ut semper sit posterior qui sequitur The shadow alwayes comes short of the body the image of the face imitation of nature If I should have given due accents to each of their words and sentences I should long agoe have lost my spirits and I may truely say with St. Paul though in another sense f 2 Cor. 2.10 What I have spared herein for your sake have I spared as well as for mine owne to ease you of much trouble and now after a very short explication and application of mine owne text I will ease you of all g Joseph antiq Jud. l. 3. c. 8. Josephus worketh with his wit a glorious allegorie upon Aarons garments The Miter saith he represented the Heaven the two Onyxes the Sunne and Moone the foure colours in the embroidered Ephod the foure Elements the Girdle the Ocean the Bells and Pomegranates thundering and lightening in the aire the foure rowes of stones the foure parts of the yeare the twelve stones the twelve signes in the Zodiacke or the twelve moneths in the yeare St. h Ep. 128. Quatuor ordines quatuor puto esse virtutes Prudentiam Fortitudinem Justitiam Temperantiam c. Jerome taketh the foure rowes for the foure cardinall vertues which subdivided into their severall species make up the full number of twelve Although I dare not with Origen runne ryot in allegories yet I make no question but that we ought to conceive of the Ephod not as of a vestment onely covering the Priests breast but as of a holy type or figure vailing under it many celestiall mysteries and esteeme the stones set in these rowes upon the Ephod as precious or rather more in their signification than they are in their nature In which respect they may be termed after a sort so many glorious Sacraments sith they are visible signes of invisible mysteries which I am now to declare unto you St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrewes proveth manifestly Aaron to be a type of Christ his actions of Christs passion whereunto we may adde his ornaments of Christs offices Kingly Priestly and Propheticall For he is our Hermes Trismegistus Mercurius Termaximus Hermes because he is the Interpreter and Declarer of Gods will and Trismegistus that is thrice greatest because he is the greatest King the greatest Priest and the greatest Prophet that ever came into the world The Mitre Diadem-like compassed as Josephus writeth with three circles like a triple Crowne apparently seemeth to me to prefigure the Kingly office of our Saviour whereby he sitteth gloriously in the heart of all the Elect ruling them by the golden Scepter of his word As evidently the front-plate of pure gold engraven with holinesse to the Lord and breast-plate with Urim and Thummim representeth Christs Priestly function according to which he beareth the twelve Tribes representing all his Elect before God for a remembrance
for but what he loveth A man may beleeve the truth and be a false man he may hope for good things and yet be exceeding bad himselfe but he cannot love the best things but he must needs be good he cannot affect grace if hee have not received some measure thereof he cannot highly esteeme of God and not be high in Gods esteeme As the love of the world maketh a man worldly and the love of the flesh fleshly so the love of the Spirit makes the children of God spirituall and the love of God partaker of the divine g 2 Pet. 1.4 nature for God is love Now saith Saint Paul that is in this life abideth h 1 Cor. 13.13 faith hope and charity but after this life of these three charity onely remaineth For when we have received the end of our faith which is the salvation of our soules and taken possession of the inheritance which we have so long expected by hope faith shall be swallowed up in vision and hope in fruition but then love shall be in greatest perfection Our trust is that we shall not alwayes walk by faith and our hope is that we shall one day hope no more we beleeve the end of faith and hope for the end of hope but love no end of our love but contrariwise desire that it may bee like the soveraigne object thereof that is eternall and infinite To leap over this large field at once and comprise all in one sentence concerning this vertue of which never enough can be said Love brought God from heaven to earth love bringeth men from earth to heaven In which regard it may not be unfitly compared to the ladder at the foot whereof i Gen. 28.12 Jacob slept sweetly and in his dreame saw Angels climbing up by it to heaven For upon it the religious soule of a devout Christian resteth and reposeth her selfe and by it in her thoughts and desires she ascendeth up to heaven as it were by foure steps or rounds which are the foure degrees of divine love 1. To love God for our selves 2. To love God for himselfe 3. To love God above all things 4. To love nothing but God or in a reference to him First to love God for our selves or our owne respect whereunto wee are induced by the consideration of his benefits and blessings bestowed upon us and continued unto us The second is to love God for himselfe whereunto wee are moved by the contemplation of the divine essence and his most amiable nature The third is to love God above all things whereunto we are enclined by observation of the difference between God and all things else The fourth is to love nothing but God that is to settle our affections and repose our desires and place our felicity wholly and solely in him To which highest round or step of divine love and top of Christian perfection we aspire by fixing our thoughts upon the all-sufficiency of God who hath in him infinite delights and contentments to satisfie all the appetites of the soule whereof the Kingly Prophet David was fully perswaded when lifting up his heart to God and his eyes to heaven he calleth God himselfe to witnesse that he desired no other happinesse than what he enjoyed in him saying Whom have I in heaven but thee These words may admit â—f a double construction 1 Either that David maketh God his sole refuge and trust 2 Or that he maketh him his chiefe joy and whole hearts delight For the first sense viz. Whom have I in heaven but thee for my refuge and strength of my confidence we are to know that in heaven and in earth there are other besides God in heaven the elect Angels and the spirits of k Heb. 12.23 just men made perfect in earth there are men and the creatures yet a religious soule reposeth no confidence in any of these First not in the creature in generall for it is l Rom. 8.20 subject to vanity not in riches for m 1 Tim. 6.17 they are uncertaine Charge the rich in this world that they trust not in uncertaine riches not in n Jer. 9.23 wisedome or strength or power nor in the favour of o Psal 146.3 Princes nor any childe of man for there is no helpe in them I will yet ascend higher even to heaven and to the Angels and soules there For whatsoever power or strength or helpe may be in them we may not put our trust in them 1 Not in the soules of Saints departed for they p Esay 63.16 take no notice of our affaires here neither have we any order to addresse our selves to them Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel acknowledgeth us not q 2 Kin. 22.20 Good Josiah seeth not the evill which befell his subjects after his death 2 Not in Angels for though they excell in strength and are ministring r Heb. 1.14 Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of salvation yet we have no charge to worship them or relie upon them for our salvation Nay wee are charged to the contrary both from God and from themselves from God Å¿ Mat. 4.10 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve and t Col. 2.18 Let no man beguile you in voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels and from themselves also u Apoc. 19.10 22.9 And I fell downe at the feet of the Angel that shewed me these things and he said unto me See thou doe it not I am thy fellow servant worship God For the second sense viz. Whom have I in heaven but thee for my chiefe joy and sole hearts delight we are to know that the faithfull soule is wedded to God and like a loyall Spouse casteth no part of her conjugall affection upon any but him Love she may whom he loveth and what he commandeth her to love for him and in him but not as him if she doth so shee becommeth Adultera Christo as St. Cyprian speaketh and may not be admitted to sing in Davids quire or at least not to bear a part in this Antheme Whom have I in heaven but thee O Lord No more than the life of the body can bee maintained without naturall heat and moisture can the life of grace be preserved in the soule without continuall supply of the moisture of penitent teares and a great measure of the heat of divine love wherewith we are to consume those spirituall sacrifices of prayer and praises which we are now and at all times to offer lifting up pure hands and hearts unto God To kindle this sacred fire I have brought you a live coale from the Altar of incense Davids heart sending up sweetest perfumes of most fragrant and savourie meditations This coale the best Interpreters ancient and later conspiring in their expositions blow after this manner St. u Hier. in hunc locum Neque in coelo neque in terrâ alium praeter
whom that great Patriarch should doe homage and pay tythes save Sem. Lastly those prerogatives of Melchizedek without father without mother without beginning of dayes or end of life agree best to Sem who might be said to be without these either in the notice of the text or in the speech of men because he was now so aged and had lived so long after the Floud that no man then living remembred his Parents He might likewise be said to be without beginning of dayes in respect of the new world after the Floud and without end of life in respect of the old world before the Floud Refut 5 Notwithstanding all these allegations in the behalfe of Sem the truth goeth not so cleare for him but that it is encountred with many and great difficulties For there is no ground to beleeve that Sem left the East and set up his rest in g Calvin in Gen. 14. Neque enim virum aeternâ memoriâ dignum Dominus novo tantum obscuro nomine indicasset ut maneret ignotus neque probabile est Semum ex Oriente migrasse in Judaeam Judea neither is it likely that the Spirit would have described a man worth eternall memorie in such an obscure manner and under such a new name that he remaines yet unknowne Were he Sem why should Moses conceale his name Moreover the Apostle in the seventh of the h Ver. 6. Hebrewes saith in expresse words that the pedegree of Melchizedek is not accounted among men but Sems is as we reade in i Gen. 10.22 Genesis neither is it a solid answer which yet is given by many learned men to say that Sems genealogie is not accounted by the name of Melchizedek For no more is Jacobs accounted by the name of Israel yet none thereupon would say that Jacobs genealogie is not set downe by Moses The Apostles comparison standeth not in the bare name but in the person of Melchizedek whether by the name of Melchizedek or by the name of Sem his pedegree be set downe it is certaine hee cannot be that man whom St. Paul in this resembleth to Christ that he was without father or mother accounted among men for his Parents are upon record 6 What then shall we conclude Either that he was a Ruler of Canaan Confirm 6. whose genealogie is no where set downe nor the day of his birth nor death or that he was a man immediately sent from God and shewed onely to the earth and afterwards taken away after the maner of Enoch or Elias that he might be likened in all things to the Sonne of God or that the Apostle hath an eye onely to Moses his relation in that place where Melchizedek is brought in by him blessing Abraham and receiving tithes from him without any mention there of his Parents in the flesh or successour in his office or day of his birth or death So are wee to conceive of our high Priest who was without father according to his manhood without mother touching his Godhead and in his person which was meerely divine without beginning of dayes or end of yeeres 3 Touching his order or offices it is certaine that he was both King and Priest For he was King of Salem and Priest of the most high God the conjunction of which two offices was not unusuall in those elder times among the heathen for by the light of nature they saw such majestie in the person of a King and eminencie in the office of a Priest that they judged none so worthy of the Priesthood as their Kings nor any so capable of the Kingdome as their Priests and therefore in most places they either crowned their Priests and gave them power or sacred their Kings and gave them orders Right so doth Virgil describe Anius as Moses doth Melchizedek invested with both dignities k Virg. Aen. 3. Rex idem Anius Phoebique Sacerdos At this day the Kings of the East Indians are stiled Brameres that is Priests and by the law are to die in a holy place as persons sacred to God l Arist pol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle remembreth such an ancient custome among the Grecians Res divinae committebantur Regibus and m Cic. pro dom ad Pontif. Cum multa divinitus a majoribus nostris inventa atque instituta sunt tum nihil praeâ—larius quam quod eosdem religionibus deorum immortalium summae reip prae esse voluerunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Lips polit l. 4 c. 1. Tullie among the Romans and Stobeus setteth a faire colour upon it The best of all that is God ought to be honoured and served by the best that is the Prince and the service of God which is or should be in all well ordered States the chiefest of all cares ought to be the care of the chiefest that is the King which made Lycurgus the Law-giver of the Lacedaemonians ambitious of the title of the Priest of Apollo and Solon of Priest of Minerva and induced Mercurius Trismegistus Augustus Titus and Trajan to assume this sacred title into their stile and annexe the Priesthood to the Crowne n Ovid. Fast l. 1. l. 3. Et fiunt ipso sacra colente Deo Accessit titulis Pontificalis honos Wherein they may all seeme to have taken Melchizedek for their patterne who the first of all that ever we reade mingled both oyles and compassed the Mitre with a Crowne bearing a Scepter in one hand and a Crozure in the other more fully to represent the Sonne of God who remaineth a Priest and reigneth a King for ever This resemblance betweene them satisfieth not our Adversaries they straine this text hard to draw bloud from it even the bloud of Christ sacrificed in the Masse If say they Christ be a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek then he must daily offer a sacrifice unto God under the formes of bread and wine as also did Melchizedek And this is the fairest evidence they bring out of Scripture for the sacrifice of the Masse Against which we object 1 That neither the Hebrew letter nor the vulgar Latine the authority whereof no Papist dare impeach importeth that Melchizedek offered bread and wine but o Gen. 4.18 brought forth protulit non obtulit 2 Admit of the word offered what say they to Rabbi Solomon Tertullian Ambrose yea Andradius also and other Papists of note who referre this offering to Abraham not to God the bread and wine he offered was a present to Abraham not a sacrifice to God Obtulit say they Abrahamo panem vinum and will they make no difference betweene an office of civility and a sacrifice of religion 3 Admit Melchizedek offered this bread and wine or some part of it to God yet doth not the Spirit of God recommend his Priesthood as being any way remarkable for the sacrifice he offered but for the blessing wherewith he blessed Abraham For so it followeth in the text ver
3.18 eye-salve of the Spirit and yee discover the workes of darknesse and cleerly see the filthinesse of your former unregenerate estate ye are now ashamed For now ye have some sense of the wrath of God ye have some remorse of conscience ye perceive what ye have lost ye see the marke of infamy burnt into your name and credit by the hot iron that hath scared your consciences To proceed from farther explication to a seasonable use and application The Apothecaries draw an oyle out of the Scorpion which overcommeth the poyson of that Serpent and applyed to the part that is stung giveth present ease Let us imitate them and of that which issueth from sin make a soveraigne antidote against it Let us lay open and naked before the eies of our mind the loathsome filthinesse and ougly deformity thereof that being agashed and confounded thereat we may turn away from it with greatest detestation Let us apprehend thoroughly as heretofore the unfruitfulnesse so now the odiousnesse loathsomenesse turpitude and shame of sinne A lewd conceit is an unconceivable pollution a profane or impure speech an unspeakable wrong to God a sudden joy a lasting griefe a tickling of the sense for a moment a perpetuall torment with a scar in the conscience and staine in our good name never to be fetched out The advice which e Epist 11. Aliquis vir bonus nobis eligendus est semper ante oculos habendus ut sic tanquam illo spectante vivamus c. Seneca giveth to Lucilius very sage and good Wheresover thou art and whatsoever thou art about suppose that Cato or Socrates is with thee or some such other reverend or grave personage before whom thou wouldest be ashamed to doe any thing that were unseemly Beloved Christians wee need not feigne to our selves or make in our thoughts an imaginary presence of any mortall man were he never so venerable grave or austere for we are alwayes in the presence of our Judge f Hesiod op dies l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wheresoever we are whatsoever we goe about we have a thousand witnesses thereof within us and the blessed Angels without us and which wee are to take speciall notice of malignant spirits our ghostly enemies observers and noters thereof They who tender their credit and estimation saith the g Arist l. 2. Rhetor. Oracle of reason if they imbarke themselves into any dangerous or questionable action most of all shunne and avoid the company of Poets Stage-players Libellers Registers Notaries Promoters and the like because if any thing should bee done amisse these kind of men were like to blab it out act it upon the stage or make a by-word of it to their utter disgrace Such we have alwaies about us when we are about any wickednesse I meane the accusers of the brethren fiends of Hell who keep a register of all our secret and open sins wherewith they will often upbraid us in our life grievously burthen us with them at our death and which is worst of all rip them up all at the day of judgement and insult upon us for them No women among the Romanes might under a great penalty prostitute their bodies for gaine except they first made open profession thereof before the Aediles and the reason of this law was because they thought the very shame of making open profession of such lewdnesse would deterre and keep back all of that sexe from such infamous courses of life Likewise I reade in the ancient Greek stories of the Milesian women that upon some discontent divers of them laid violent hands upon themselves and could not bee restrained from this desperate practice till a law was made that all they that in such sort made away themselves should bee carried naked with a halter about their neckes before the rest of their sexe after which law none were sound to attempt the like villany Those with whom neither love of life nor feare of death could prevaile shame yet manicled and kept perforce from that unnaturall and execrable crime of felony de se or selfe-homicide Deare Christians were Adam and Eve so ashamed to see the nakednesse of their bodies and the Milesian women to behold the naked carkasses of their sexe how then shall we be confounded with shame when our soules and consciences shall be laid open naked to the eyes of the whole world that all may see all our deformities sores markes botches blanes gashes scarres spots and abominable pollutions and uncleannesses When a godly father amplifying upon that Text of the Apostle We must all appeare before the judgement seat of Christ pricked the veines of his auditory in this manner How many things are there which we know by our selves but would not for all the world that two or three should know as much besides how then shall we looke how shall wee be covered with shame and confusion when all these things shall be laid out before the eyes of all men At these words observing divers of his hearers to blush and hide their faces he thus growes upon them Nunquid nunc erubescitit What and doe yee now blush are ye now ashamed at the hearing of these things what will ye be when ye see them how will ye blush and hang downe your heads when the bookes of your consciences shall be opened and men and Angels shall see and reade what is written in them Men and brethren what shall we do to avoid the terrour and horrour the shame and confusion of that day Let us now be ashamed of our sins that we may not then be for as Dolor est medicina doloris So Pudor est medicina pudoris O let us not cast more blots upon the booke of our conscience but rather fetch out those which are there with the aqua fortis of our teares let us open our wounds and sores full of corruption to our heavenly Chirurgian by confession of our sinnes that he may heale them let us make uncessant prayers to our Saviour h Psal 32.1 to cover all our imperfections with the robes of his righteousnesse so shall we be truly blessed For blessed are they whose unrighteousnesse is forgiven and whose sinnes are covered from the sight of the world that they shame them not from the sight of their consciences that they confound them not from the eyes of God that they condemne them not God the Father make us all so blessed for the merits of his Sonne through the powerfull operation of the Spirit to whom three persons and one God be ascribed c. Amen THE WAGES OF SINNE THE XLIV SERMON ROM 6.21 For the end of those things is death Right Honourable c. TO every thing there is a season a Eccles 3.1 2 3 4. and a time to every purpose under heaven A time to be borne and a time to dye a time to plant and a time to plucke up that which is planted A time to kill and a time
serious lesson of the vanity of earthly delights worldly comforts we reade in many Texts of Scriptures heare in divers Sermons see in daily spectacles of men troubled in mind at their death yet we never thoroughly apprehend it till Gods rod hath imprinted it in our bodies and soules then finding by our wofull experience that earthly felicity is nothing but misery masked in gaudy shewes and that all the wealth of the world together with all carnall delights cannot ease a burthened conscience nor abate any whit of our paine we begin to distaste them all we grow out of love with this life and entertaine death in our most serious thoughts Here the eye of faith enlightened by divine revelation seeth beyond death the celestiall Paradise in it a chrystall ſ Apoc. 22.1 2. river of the water of life by it a tree of life which beares twelve sorts of fruits and besides these a heavenly City shining with t Apoc. 21.18 19. streets of gold and foundations of pearle and precious stones the sight wherof leaveth an unspeakable delight in the soule which sweetneth all temporall afflictions and stirreth up in us an unspeakable desire of those solid comforts and substantiall joyes u Ramus in orat Heliogabalus was wont to set before his parasites a banquet painted on cloth or carved in wood or cut in stone and whatsoever hee fed upon in truth they had drawne before them in pictures and images such are the joyes and delights which the Divell the World presenteth unto us false shadowie vaine The true are to be found no where but in heaven where those joyes are in substance which we have here but in shadowes x Aug. confes l. 2. c. 5. Fornicatur anima quae avertitur abs te quaerit extra te ea quae pura liquida non invenit nisi cùm redit ad te pure which we have here polluted full which we have here empty sincere which wee have here mixt perpetually flourishing which we have here continually fading to these substantiall full pure sincere everlasting joyes God bring us for his Son Jesus Christ his sake Cui c. THE NURTURE OF CHILDREN THE XLVII SERMON APOC. 3.19 As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Right Honourable c. THat which Pliny writeth and experience confirmeth concerning hony-combes that the thinner and weaker hony runs out of them at the first but the thickest and best is pressed squeezed out of them at the last we find for the most part in handling Texts of holy Scripture compared by the Prophet a Psal 19.10 David to hony-combs the easier more vulgar observations flow out of them upon the lightest touch but we are to presse each phrase and circumstance before we can get out the thickest hony the choicest and most usefull doctrines of inspired wisedome The more we sucke these combes the more we may the hony proveth the sweeter the combe the moister and which is nothing lesse to be admired the spirituall taste is no way cloyed therewith Wherefore with your good liking and approbation I will presse again and againe these mellifluous combes in our Saviours lips dropping celestiall doctrine sweeter than hony to delight the most distempered taste and sharper than it to cleanse the most putrefied sore I rebuke and chasten there is the sharpnesse and as it were the searching vertue of hony As many as I love there is the sweetnesse Parallel Texts of Scripture like glasses set one against another cast a mutuall light such is this Text and that Deut. 8.5 Thou shalt also consider in thy heart that as a man chasteneth his sonne so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee and Job 5.17 Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty and Prov. 3.11 12. My sonne despise not the chastening of the Lord neither bee weary of his correction for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a father doth the sonne in whom he delighteth and Hebr. 12.7 If yee endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sonnes for what sonne is he whom the father chasteneth not As a Musician often toucheth upon the sweetest note in his song Paven or Galliard so doth the holy Spirit upon this and therefore we ought more especially to listen to it For 1. It convinceth the Papists who over-value crosses and afflictions accounting the bearing of them satisfactions for sinnes For with a like pride whereby they cry up their actions to be meritorious they would improve their passions to be workes satisfactory by satisfactory intending such as make amends unto the justice of God wherein they as much over-reach as they supererogate or rather superarrogate in the former Satisfactions to our brethren for wrongs done unto them by restitution mulct or acknowledgement of our fault with asking forgivenesse for it we both teach and practise but they shall never be able to satisfie us in this point that any thing they can doe or suffer can satisfie God Neither can our actions satisfie his law nor our penall sufferings his justice none can satisfie for sinne but he that was without sinne nothing can recompence an infinite transgression but an infinite submission or to speake more properly the submission and passion of him that was infinite It cost more to redeem sinnes than the world is worth and therefore they must let that alone for him who f Esay 63.3 trod the wine-presse alone Before I noted the difference between chastisement and punishment in the one a compensation of wrong done to the person or law is intended in the other a testifying of love and a care of amendment of the party chastened Who would ever be so unreasonable as to thinke that a few stripes given by a tender-hearted father to the childe whom he most dearly affecteth were a satisfaction for the losse of a Diamond of great price yet our sufferings hold not such a proportion For what are our finite and momentary sufferings to the offence given to an infinite Majesty Nothing can be set in the other scale against it to weigh it downe but the manifold sufferings of an equall and infinite person the eternall Sonne of God Neither will it help our adversaries any whit to say that Christ satisfied for the eternall but not for the temporall punishment of our sinnes For this is all one as to say that our Redeemer laid downe a talent of gold for us yet not a brasse token or payd many millions of pounds yet not a piece The Apostle said hee gave himselfe a g 1 Tim. 2.6 ransome for all will they deny it to be a sufficient one or was there any defect in his good intention They have not rubbed their foreheads so hard as to affirme any such thing Well then let them tell us how that man is perfectly ransomed by another who is still kept in prison till he have discharged part of his ransome himselfe This very conceit that they merit by
sonne when it is ripe which he permitted to grow in the father without applying any such remedy outwardly unto it yet this is most certaine that he never visiteth the sinne of the father upon the children if the children tread not in the wicked steps of their father Thus much the words that follow in the second Commandement imply unto the n Exod. 20.5 third and fourth generation of them that hate mee He often sheweth mercy to the sonne for the fathers sake but never executeth justice upon any but for their owne sinnes The sinne of the sonne growes the more unpardonable because he would not take example by his father but abused the long-suffering of God which should have called him to repentance The Latine Proverb Aemilius fecit plectitur Rutilius Aemilius committeth the trespasse and Rutilius was merced for it hath no place in Gods proceedings neither is there any ground of the Poets commination o Hor. l. 3. od 6. lib. 1. od 28. Negligis immeritis nocituram postmodo te natis fraudem committer◠fo rs debita jura vicesque superbae te maneant ipsum Delicta majorum immeritus lues Romane For God is so far from inflicting punishment upon one for the sins of another that he inflicteth no punishment upon any for his own sinne or sins be they never so many and grievous if he turne from his wicked wayes and cry for mercy in time for God desireth not the death of a sinner but of sinne he would not that we should dye in our sinnes but our sinnes in us If we spare not our sinnes but slay them with the sword of the Spirit God will spare us This is the effect of the Prophets answer the summe of this chapter and the contents of this verse in which more particularly we are to observe 1. The person I. 2. The action or affection desire 3. The object death 4. The subject the wicked 1. The person soveraigne God 2. The action or affection amiable delight 3. The object dreadfull deprivation of life 4. The subject guilty the wicked The words are uttered by a figurative interrogation in which there is more evidence and efficacy more life and convincing force For it is as if he had said Know ye not that I have no such desire or thinke ye that I have any desire or dare it enter into your thoughts that I take any pleasure at all in the death of a sinner When the interrogation is figurative the rule is that if the question be affirmative the answer to it must be negative but if the question be negative the answer must be affirmative For example Who is like unto the Lord the meaning is none is like unto the Lord. Whom have I in heaven but thee that is I have none in heaven but thee On the other side when the question is negative the answer must be affirmative as Are not the Angels ministring spirits that is the Angels are ministring spirits and Shall the Son of man find faith that is the Son of man shall not find faith Here then apply the rule and shape a negative answer to the first member being affirmative thus I have no desire that a sinner should dye and an affirmative answer to the negative member thus I have a desire that the wicked should returne and live and ye have the true meaning and naturall exposition of this verse Have I any desire that the wicked should dye 1. God is not said properly to have any thing 2. if he may be said to have any thing yet not desires 3. if he may be said to have a desire of any thing yet not of death 4. if he desire the death of any yet not of the wicked in his sinne Have I As the habits of the body are not the body so neither the habits of the soule are the soule it selfe Now whatsoever is in God is God for he is a simple act and his qualities or attributes are not re ipsâ distinct from his essence and therefore he cannot be said properly to have any thing but to be all things Any desire Desires as Plato defineth them are vela animi the sailes of the mind which move it no other wayes than the saile doth a ship Desire of honour is the saile which moveth the ambitious of pleasure is the saile which moveth the voluptuous of gaine is the saile which moveth the covetous Others define them spurres of the soule to prick us on forwards to such things as are most agreeable to our naturall inclination and deliberate purposes Hence it appeares that properly there can be no desires in God because desire is of something we want but God wanteth nothing Desires are meanes to stirre us up but God is immoveable as he is immutable If then he be said to desire any thing the speech is borrowed and to be understood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in such sort as may agree with the nature of God and it importeth no more than God liketh or approveth such things That the wicked should dye A sinner may be said to dye two manner of wayes either as a sinner or as a man as a sinner he dyeth when his sinne dyeth in him and he liveth as a man he dyeth either when his body is severed from his soule which is the first death or when both body and soule are for ever severed from God which is the second death God desireth the death of a sinner in the first sense but no way in the latter he desireth that sinne should dye in us but neither that we should dye the first death in sin nor dye the second death for sinne He is the author of life p Job 7.20 preserver of mankind He is the q 1 Tim. 4.10 Saviour of all especially them that beleeve Hee would not that any should r 2 Pet. 3.9 perish but all should come to repentance If he should desire the death of a sinner as he should gain-say his owne word so he should desire against his owne nature For beeing is the nature of God Sum qui sum I am that I am but death is the not beeing of the creature No more than light can be the cause of darknesse can God who is life be the cause of death If he should desire the death of a sinner he should destroy his principall attributes of wisedome goodnesse and mercy Of wisdome for what wisedome can it be to marre his chiefest worke Of goodnesse for how can it stand with goodnesse to desire that which is in it selfe evill Of mercy for how can it stand with mercy to desire or take pleasure in the misery of his creature Doth he desire the death of man who gave man warning of it at the first and meanes to escape it if he would and after that by his voluntary transgression he was liable to the censure of death provided him a Redeemer to ransome him from death calleth all men by the Gospel to