he is likewise rewarded according to his Faith We may extend that Saying of our Saviour though spoken then but to one man unto all and every man According to their faith so shall it be done unto them And our Saviour in the Parable next before This Sentence expresly avoucheth that the Final Award or retribution shall be according to Faith Matth. 25. 23. Well done thou good and faithful servant thou hast been faithful over a few things I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. No man shall be rewarded for any Works unless they were the Works of Faith or done in Faith To speak properly it is the Fidelity of our Works or our Fidelity in Working which shall be rewarded As for those Hypocrites against whom St James disputes and from whose Notion or Conceit of Faith the Romish School-men for the most part take their Description of Faith they had altogether as little of Abrahams Faith as they had of Abrahams Works For if they had been partakers of Abrahams faith then as our Apostle infers Gal. 3. 7 They had been the sons of Abraham and if they had been the sons of Abraham they would by our Saviours Inference have done the works of Abraham Such faith as they made brags of could not justifie them because it was a dead and fruitlesse faith devoid of works Such works as the Romish Church doth magnifie in opposition to faith can neither justifie nor receive any Reward because they are no faithful Works but rather like seeming fruits without any Root They put their works upon their faith as we do sweet flowers upon dead Corpses Neither can give life or perfection to others The best Censure that Christian Faith or Charity will permit us to give of their doctrine Concerning the nature of faith and works is This That albeit they all profess to believe that which their Church believes yet the most of them do neither believe nor practise as the Church in these points teacheth Their ignorance in this particular is much better then their knowledge of most of the rest But to conclude the first Position Because some of our Writers exclude all works from the work of Justification some Roman Writers I dare not say all sought to be even with them by excluding faith from sharing with works in the Final Award or retribution For besides this Eagerness of extream Opposition or desire to be contrary unto us it is not imaginable what could move any learned Writer amongst them to Affirm that this final Retribution shall be according to VVorks and Deny it According to Faith 4. About the Second Position there is no Controversie betwixt us and the Romish Church we hold Good works to be as necessary to salvation as they do As necessary according to both Branches of Necessity Necessarie they are Necessitate praecepti and necessarie likewise Necessitate medii necessarie by Precept or duty for God hath commanded us to do them he hath redeemed us to the end that we should serve him in righteousness and holiness But many things which are in this sense necessary in that their Omission doth necessarily include a breach of Gods Commandement and by consequent a sin do not alwayes induce or argue a Forfeiture of our Estate in Grace or utter exclusion from the' Kingdom of heaven For this Reason we say That Good works are necessary not only Necessitate praecepti by way of Command but Necessitate medii as the way and means so necessary to salvation that without the practise of them no man can be admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven Through the Omission of Good works many do forfeit that Interest which they truly had in the promises of everlasting Life In the promise it self all that are partakers of the Word and Sacrament all that acknowledge the Word revealed to be the way unto everlasting life have A true Interest Of the pledge or earnest of the blessing promised that is of justifying or sanctifying Grace none are partakers but such as are fruitful in Good works according to the means or abilities which God hath bestowed upon them Whether it be possible for such as are once estated in Grace to give over the Practise of Good works that here we leave to such as desire to exercise their wits in the controversies about Falling from Grace and the rather because we have spoke a word of that Point in the 26. Chapter of this Book Let them determine of the Categorical Affirmative or Negative as they please This Conditional is most certain If it be possible for him that hath Grace or Faith in what measure soever inherent to give over the practise of Good Works he shall thereby forfeit his present estate in Gods promises and defeat his hopes of inheriting the Kingdom of God Whosoever saith our Saviour shall break one of these Commandements and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven For I say unto you that except your righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 5. 20. Yet did these Scribes and Pharisees many Good Works and made conscience of many Duties which many Precise Ones in our dayes do not trouble their Consciences withal This notwithstanding These Scribes and Pharisees did exclude themselves from the Kingdom of Heaven as here established on earth by leaving other Good Works altogether or for the most part undone which the Law of God did no lesse require at their hands Even the Good Works which they did were not well done by them because they were not done in Faith they never came so near unto the Kingdom of Heaven as to acknowledge Christ for their Lord much lesse to be partakers of those Gifts and Graces of the Spirit which after his Ascension were bestowed on men Nor shall all they which were partakers of those Gifts and which did still acknowledge him for their Lord enter into the Kingdom which is here prepared for such as continue in well doing So saith our Saviour Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom but he that doth c. Many will then say Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out divels and in thy name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie Matth. 7. 21 22. 5. But in this place We see the Sentence is not awarded for Positive Works of iniquitie but for Omission of the duties of charitie He saith not Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Because ye have oppressed the poor and stranger or for that ye have robbed the Fatherless and made a prey of
grow unto an holy Temple in the Lord. 9. Christ as you heard before is not the Corner-stone or Foundation only but the Temple of God A Greater and more spacious Temple then all the building which is erected upon him which groweth up in him We must be living stones we must be Pillars in the house of God we must be Temples of God that is an habitation of God through the Spirit but no Foundations no chief corner-stones these are Christs prerogatives Behold I have graven thee to wit the Spiritual Sion saith the Prophet Isa 49. 16. upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me that is as a late Interpreter of the Romish Church saith I have pitched thy foundations in my hands by the wounds which I received in them By whose diduction or rent a place was opened for this future edifice to be erected in him And for this cause Christ who is the Rock was every way digged into in his side in his hands in his feet The mysterie whereof is that he might exhibit a firm foundation out of which the fabrick of the Church should grow That we then become living stones in this edifice it is from our immediate Union with this chief corner-stone being united to him he is fashioned in us and by him fashioned in us we become living stones growing stones we grow from living stones to living pillars from living pillars to living Temples or habitations for our God That the children of God are not onely living stones but from living stones grow into pillars our Saviour himselfe hath taught us by S. John Rev. 3. 12. Him that overcometh will I make A Pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out and if wee be pillars in the temple of God we must be as immediately placed on the foundation or chief corner-stone as S. Peter or Christs other Apostles were We must be as intire Temples as they were And for this reason our Saviour adds upon every one whom he makes a pillar the name of God and the name of the City of God the new Jerusalem which cometh out of Heaven Know ye not saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 19. That your bodie is the temple of the Holy Ghost As wee say the Kings presence makes the Court So it is Gods Holy Spirits extraordinary presence in man which makes him his Temple And the Reason why Christ is called The Temple of God is because the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily And for the like reason every one in whom Christ dwelleth by faith is in a participated sense called The Temple of God And as visible Cities consist of severall houses and as the beautie of every Citie consists in the Uniformitie of houses well built and joyned together so the heavenly Jerusalem consists of several Temples whose beautie or Uniformitie consists in this that Christ Jesus is the life and light of every severall Temple and that his spirit is uniformely diffused through all 10. Christ as you have read before Communicates his Titles unto his Saints but not the Reall Prerogative of his Titles He is The Rock so was Peter a rock so are wee rocks but not The rock on which the Church is built He is the Chiefe Corner-stone we are living stones he is the temple and the Priest of the most high God and he makes us both temples and Priests unto his God So saith S. Peter 1. Ep. cap. 2. vers 5. Yee all as lively stones are built up a spirituall house an holy Priest-hood to offer up Spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ The Modell of this spirituall Temple and Priest-hood that is of the new Jerusalem and the service of God performed in it was exhibited by Moses Exod. 24. 4 5. at the making of the first covenant Moses wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up earely in the morning and builded an altar under the Hill and twelve pillars according to the 12. tribes of Israel And he sent yong-men of the Children of Israel which offered burnt offrings and sacrificed peace offerings of Oxen unto the Lord. Immediately after this Moses and Aaron Nadab and Abihu saw the God of Israel and there was under his feete as it were a paved work of a saphire stone and as it were the bodie of Heaven in his clearnesse ver 9. The yong men which he sent to offer sacrifices as the best interpreters observe were the first-born of their families For till that time and at that time which was before the consecration of Aaron and his sonnes it was Lawfull for the First born male of every family to execute the office of the Priest This was his dutie So that every family was as a little parish-Church and had his Priest to performe this service of God Now though all that are built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles are not admitted to be Architects or master-builders though all be not publick teachers or pastors yet all that are or hope to be parts of this building have the same Prerogative which the First-born males of Israel had before Aaron was consecrated All must be Priests to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices unto God But seeing wee must grow unto an holy temple and growth as was said before supposeth nutrition let us now see what is the nourishment by which we must grow from living stones to be living pillars from pillars to be living Temples yea Kings and Priests unto our God 11. The nature and qualitie of the Nutriment by which wee must grow cannot in fewer words be more pithily exprest than it is by S. Peter 1 Pet. 2. cap. vers 2. It is the sincere milk of the word But how good soever the nutriment be it doth not kindly nourish unlesse wee have an appetite to it Therefore the same Apostle addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desire or long after the sincere milk of the word We must then desire to have the word dwell in us plentifully and wee must desire to have it sincere that is pure and unmingled Now this milk may become unsincere or mingled sometimes by the default of the Pastor or teacher sometimes by the default of the hearers The dutie which concernes us teachers is that wee do not mingle the word with the Traditions of men how ancient soever they be This is the fault of the Romish Church which the Church our mother hath sufficiently prevented by publick edicts or decrees But many otherwise averse enough from Traditions of the Romish or other ancient Church ofttimes corrupt it with their own Conceits or Phansies which will easily mingle themselves with the word unlesse we speak out of premeditation and have both art and leasure to revise and examine aswell our own meditations as the meditations or expositions of others whose help wee use Since the ordinary Gifts of the Spirit did cease there is no facultie under the sun which more requires the help of art and study than the
of sense into the Vine as it might continually tast the sweetness of that fruit which it beareth and wherewith as the Scripture saith it cheereth the heart of man How full would it be of gladnesse both root and branch would be as full of mirth and gladness as they are of life and sap How much more graciously doth God deal with those that hearken to his Word and obey the motions of his Spirit We being by nature more dead unto the Fruit of holinesse and more destitute of spiritual Life then the Vine or Fig-tree is of the Life sensitive he infuseth a new sense or Tast into our souls and makes them more fruitful then the Fig-tree which is never without fruit either ripe or green and makes us withall sensible partakers of the sweetness of all the Fruit which his Spirit bringeth forth in us and from the Tast of this Fruit of Holinesse ariseth that Joy and Gladnesse of spirit which is the pledge and earnest of Eternal Life 10. But have we this Joy whilst we sojourn here on earth in our selves or in our own souls or in Christ only So we be fraught with the Fruit of Holinesse we have this Ioy as truly in our selves as we have the Fruit Though we have neither of our selves or from our selves We have Both in our selves in such a manner as the Vine branch hath both Life and sap in it self though both originally from the Root So long as the Vine branch continues in the Vine it is really partaker of the Life and sweetness of the Root The similitude is our Saviours John 15. 1. c. I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman Every branch that beareth not fruit in me he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you for it is The Word which purgeth us and maketh us apt to bear fruit in our selves so long as we are in Christ For so he addeth ver 4. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit in it self except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me For I am the vine ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit ver 5. And where there is Much Fruit there is Plenty of Joy For contrary to the custome of other husbandmen or Vine dressers the sweetness of the Fruit redounds not to the Vine-dresser but to the branches that bear it The fruit is wholly Ours The glory is only Gods For so he adds ver 8. Herein is my Father glorified he doth not say profited that ye bear much fruit The more we bear the more we are benefited the more God is glorified by us for no man can truly glorifie God until his heart and spirit be cheered with that joy which is the fruit of peace and holiness God as the Apostle tels us did never leave himself without a witnesse All the good things which the Gentiles received even whilst they walked in their own wayes were so many witnesses of his Goodness though they perceived not it was he that did them good that gave them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladnesse Acts 14. 16 17. He doth not say with Food and Ioy for Joy properly taken hath its seat in the mind and spirit of man nor is it there placed without the spirit of God whereas the gladnesse whereof the Apostle there speakes may harbour in the inferior or affective part This difference which we now observe between joy and gladnesse in our English The Greek writers curiously observe between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so do the Latines between Laetitia and Gaudium Every blessing of God though but a blessing temporal is matter of gladnesse even to such as know not or acknowledge not God to be the Author of such blessings but True Ioy alwayes presupposeth the knowledge of God in Christ and some acquaintance with the spirit 11. As it is said in this 22. verse that the End or issue of the fruits of Holinesse is Eternal life so our Savour tels us Iohn 17. 3. that the same Eternal Life is the effect or issue of the Knowledge of God and of Iesus Christ whom he hath sent These two then do reciprocate without the knowledge of God and of Christ there is no peace of Conscience no fruit of Holinesse no Joy in the Holy Ghost and yet the greater measure of such fruit we have the more we shall abound in the knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ in the knowledge of whom this Ioy in the Holy Ghost which can be had in this world and Life Eternal in the world to come doth consist So that the only way to attain unto this Ioy wherein the Kingdom of God doth consist is to be rightly instructed in the knowledge of God whose the Kingdom and glory is and of Jesus Christ who is Our King even the King of glory There is a kind of secret Joy in the knowledge or contemplation of every truth or true principle though of secular and humane Arts. And no marvel for as God is Righteousness and Holinesse it self So He is Truth it self The truth of all sciences is as truly derived from that Truth which He is as that Righteousnesse and Holiness whereof his Saints are made partakers is from his Holiness and Righteousness Now that Ioy which some heathen Philosophers or Artists did reap from contemplation of some Truths and Principles in themselves but dry and barren did oft-times more then counterpoize that inbred delight or pleasure in other secular vanities which usually missway us Christians to folly and lewdnesse yea this Joy did sometimes bring their souls into a kind of Rapture or forgetfulness of life natural or sensitive with their contentments Many of them in hope to find out the Causes of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea of the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon of other appearances in the heavens and the like have been more abstemious and moderate in their dyet and spent more time and hours in observing the motion of the Stars and in perusing Every leaf of the Book of Nature or of Gods visible creatures then we bestow in fasting and praying or in meditation upon The great Mystery of godliness God manifested in the Flesh and if they hapned to satisfie themselves in these points of truth which they most sought after the Expressions of their Joy and sometimes of their thankfulness to their Gods were oft-times more hearty and cheerful then most of us can give any just proof of for all the benefits which God hath bestowed upon us by his Gospel So * one of them having found out that Mathematical Principle concerning the equalitie between the Square of the base and of the sides
of quick and dead But he that by vertue of his Commission as Son of man did freely forgive all other sins did as my Text imports remit all personal offences as they only concerned himself and did not suffer the fruits or effects of these later Jews malice to come upon Jerusalems score for shedding of righteous blood It was not his Will to have any more greivously punished for being malitiously bent against him then they should otherwise have been for the unrelenting habitual bent of their malice against whomsoever it had beene set Never was bitter enmitie practised against any so little desirous of revenge or so unwilling to accuse his enemies as he was for so he protests unto the Jews which sought his life Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father there is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom ye trust John 5. v. 45. Moses though till Christ came the meekest man that had been on earth had foretold and solemnly threatned those plagues whose execution most of the Prophets had sollicited But this Great Prophet beyond all measure of meekness and patience whereof humanity so but meer humanity is capable seeks by prayer by reproof by admonitions and exhortations by all means justly possible to prevent them he often fore-warns what would be the issue of their stubbornness which he never mentions but with greif and sorrow of heart he often intimates that the most malicious murtherer amongst this people was not so desirous of his death as he was of all their lives witness his affectionate prayers seasoned with sighs and tears even whiles they plotted the execution of their long-intended mischeif against him 4. That which first moved me to make and must justifie the interpretation of these words here made is a remarkable Opposition expresly recorded in Scripture betwixt our Saviours and his Disciples desires uttered at their death for this peoples good and the cry of Abels blood and Zachariah's dying voice both solliciting vengeance from Heaven against their persecutors When they were come to the place called Calvarie they crucified him Then said Iesus Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luke 23. ver 33. This Infinite Charity notwithstanding some alwayes jealous least God should shew any token of love towards such as they mislike or Christ manifest any desire of their salvation whom they have markt for Reprobates would have restrained unto the Garrison of Souldiers that conducted him to the Cross But Reasons we have many to think or rather firmly to believe that he uttered those Prayers Indefinitely for all that either were Actors in this business or Approvers of it whether Jews or Gentiles And if both his Doctrines and Miracles whiles he lived on earth as all must acknowledge did why should not his dying Prayers in the first place respect the lost sheep of Israel Roman Souldiers they were not but Jews of the most malignant stamp which martyred St. Stephen yet after he had commended his spirit unto Iesus in near the same terms that Jesus did his unto his Father he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice Lord lay not this sin to their charge And when he had said this he fell asleep Acts 7. 60. It is no sin I hope to suppose that the Master was every way as charitable at his death as his Disciple It is requisite that he which bids us bless our persecutors should set us a more exquisite patern then we are able to express His prayers for his greatest persecutors were more fervent and unfeigned then ours can be for our dearest friends St. Stephen in thus praying for his enemies did but imitate his Master and bear witness of his loving kindness towards all But when Cain had killed Abel the voice of his blood cried unto the Lord from the earth and the cry procured a curse upon him for the earth became barren unto him and he was a fugitive and vagabond from the Land wherein he lived before Herein as St. Augustine excellently observes a Type of the Jewish Nation who having the prerogative of birth-right amongst Gods People for the like sin became fugitives and vagabonds on the face of the earth whilest the good Land which God gave unto their fathers hath been curst with barrenness and desolation for their sakes And this Cry of Abels blood against his brother God would have registred in the beginning of his book as a Proclamation against all like impious and bloody Conspiracies until the worlds end Whereby the Iews to whom the manner of Gods process with Cain was sufficiently known were condemned Ipso Facto without any further folicitation of Gods judgments then their own attempts of like practises No marvel if his punishment foreshadow theirs when as never any did so manifestly and notoriously revive his sin as this Generation here spoken of did Cain saith St. Iohn was of that wicked one and slew his brother And wherefore slew he him Because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous 1 John 3. 12. Ye are of your father the divel saith our Saviour to these Iewes and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murtherer from the beginning Iohn 8. v. 44. And why did they go about to murther him Because he had told them the truth which he had heard of God ver 40. And as he had taught before in the third of S. John They would not receive him although he came as a light into the world because their deeds were evil Moses had foretold That the Great Prophet was to be this peoples Brother and in that they would not hearken to him they stood condemned by Moses's Sentence Deut. 18. 18. Whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name I will require it of him v. 19. Abel as pleasing God by his sacrifice and as being slain by his ungratious brother was the live Type of Christ as man whose murther by his brethren though most displeasant yet his sacrifice was most acceptable unto his God The same God which in the fourth of Genesis admonisheth Cain partly by threatning partly by promises to desist from his wicked purposes doth here in my Text as lovingly and yet as severely dehort these Jews from following his foot-steps least his punishments fall heavier upon them And they not taking warning by Cain's example to repent them of their envie and grudging against their brother the Crie not of Christs blood which they shed but of Abel's overtakes them for Christ was consecrated as the Sanctuary or place of Refuge whereto they should have fled And Abel was the Revenger of blood which did pursue them So likewise doth the Cry of Zacharias's at his death for that was quite contrary to our Saviours and St. Stephen's When he died he said The Lord look upon it and require it 2 Chron. 24. 22 The present Effect of this his dying speech compared with St. Lukes narration of Our Saviours Admonition affords the