quaerenda in hac vita what God is is a lesson for the life to come in this life it is enough for vs to learne what Gods will is A second mysterie in the Cloud is that it agreeth well with the reuelations of the Old Testament Gal. 4. for God appeared then in shadowes and figures there was a vaile cast ouer the Law which was figured in the vaile wherewith Moses couered his face 2. Cor. 3. So that though the Church in the Old Testament had much more knowledge then the rest of the world for they had sauing knowledge as appeareth Heb. 11. Yet he that is least in the Kingdome of God saith Christ is greater then Iohn Baptist notwithstanding that he was greater then any Prophet of the Old Testament A third mysterie is the condition of the Law Chap. 33. which in Deuteronomic is called a fierie Law very piercing and very scorching it enters farre in searching of a mans conscience it is a discerner of the thoughts I had neuer knowne Heb. 4.12 Rom. 7.7 saith Saint Paul that lust is sinne had not the Law said thou shalt not lust As the Law is piercing because fierie so is it scorching also it vexeth and tormenteth their consciences whom it findeth guiltie it is a burden too heauie for the best of vs to beare Acts 15. Saint Austine obserues well Breuis differentia Legis Euangelij timor amor although both these affections beseeme both Testaments and he that loueth must feare and he that feareth must loue yet Feare was preualent in the Old Testament and Loue is in the New We haue not saith Saint Paul receiued the spirit of bondage to feare Rom 8.15 which was the state of man vnder the Old Testament but we haue receiued the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father which is the libertie of the New Testament The same Apostle resembleth the different conditions of the Church vnder the two Testaments to the different conditions of a child when he is in nonage and when he is come to his full age Gal 4. while he is in his nonage though he be heire yet is he kept in awe and vnder a Pedagogue but when he commeth to full age his Father affords him a more chearefull countenance and more liberall maintenance Euen so vnder the Law the Church was kept vnder and scanted of grace but vnder the Gospel shee is more free and indued with a more plentifull measure of Gods holy Spirit Finally hereunto looketh the difference that Saint Paul maketh betweene Mount Sinai and Mount Sion Heb. 12. the terriblenesse of the one and the sweetnesse of the other I shall haue occasion to compare them before I come to the end of the Chapter By the mixture of the Cloud and of the Fire you may also conceiue a mixture of our knowledge of God as the light of the fire signifieth that he is in some good sort manifested vnto vs 1. Cor. 13 1◠so doth the Cloud signifie that out knowledge is very imperfect wee see but as through a glasse darkly that which we know not of God is much more then that which we doe know Let this suffice for the manner I come now to the End which is twofold for God came first to grace Moses whom he designed Lawgiuer to Israel or rather Referendarie of that Law which himselfe would giue vnto them And hee graced him two wayes First in comming to him and not vnto them so saith the Text I will come to thee Moses was vpon the hill the people in the bottome now the Cloud came downe but to the top of the hill not into the bottome wherein there was no small grace done to the person of Moses in the sight of all the people God vouchsafed his presence only to him and not to the people The second grace is yet greater that in the hearing of the people God would speake with him for it is not here said that God did speake with them But that wee mistake not this grace which is done to Moses and giue him more honour then hereby was by God intended towards him we must obserue that though here we find no mention of Gods speaking with the people but only of his speaking with Moses yet Deut. 5. verse 5. Moses himselfe saith that God talked also with them and here we reade that God so talked with Moses as that he talked in the hearing of the people When here wee reade of Gods talking with Moses only without any mention of Gods talking with the people hereby the Holy Ghost intends to honour him with the Mediatour ship of the Old Testament that honour which Saint Paul giueth him when hee saith The Law was giuen by Angels in the band of a Mediatour But where Moses saith Deut. 5. that God talked with the people there the Holy Ghost would teach vs that God intended the Law to the people And out of both places compared together it followeth that the Law was committed to Moses to the end that the people might receiue it from him not only as hee should deliuer it in the two Tables but also as he should report vnto them by word of mouth And because they were to receiue Gods Law as he should report it that they might be sure hee brought them nothing but that which hee receiued from God therefore God vttered the Law to him in their hearing Whatsoeuer commeth from a man as a meere man will hardly worke vpon the conscience because of that knowne principle Omnis homo mendax men haue their errors and their priuate ends therefore their proiects are entertained with iealousie that they mistake or intend their owne good but if a Law be once knowne to be Gods pleasure we readily submit because we know he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee can neither deceiue nor bee deceiued and hee hath absolute power to command Vpon this principle those famous Lawgiuers amongst the Heathen did make it their first labour to perswade their people that they had familiar colloquies with some diuine power by whom they were directed in their Law-giuing Minos with Iupiter Lycurgus with Apollo Numa with Aegeria c. Mahomet could neuer haue made his Alcoran so currant but by that notorious imposture of a Doue which had beene taught to come familiarly to his eare and which to the people hee pretended to bee the Holy Ghost Heretikes old and new haue had their Enthusiasticall guides Papisticall pretended apparitions and reuelations are much of this kind abuses of that sacred principle But to the point when God would establish the Canon both of the Old and New Testaments by two demonstrations hee shewed that they came from him the one of Miracle the other of Oracle So did hee establish that which the Church receiued by Moses First hee gaue him power to worke many Miracles which was a second proofe that he came from God for no man could doe
there is neuer a particle that I haue insisted vpon that is not fit to augment the grieuousnesse of the iudgement the iudgement which casteth a sinner out of the presence of God I should here take leaue of this point but that I cannot leaue out a good note of Cassiodores Cuius faciem timet eius faciem inuocat a strange thing two verses before he prayed Hide thy face c. and here he prayeth Cast me not out from thy presence hath the King forgot doth he contradict himselfe by no meanes marke his words and see a difference in the things wherof he speaketh Russinus the same difference which before I obserued out of Ruffinus when hee prayeth Hide thy face he limited his petition to his sinnes but here hee commeth to speake of his person and conceiueth a contrarie prayer Hide not thy face from me we must euer pray that our selues may be still in Gods gracious eye and we must pray also that his reuengefull eye be neuer on our sinnes I haue done describing the first punishment which is the Reiection I come now to the second which is the Depriuation And here wee must obserue first whereof we are depriued of the holy spirit and what is that that which maketh all Saints All Saints day this very day is a sacred memoriall of the gift If I said no more you might reasonably conceiue it but it is sit I speake more happily you will vnderstand the day better The Holy spirit as I told you is Gods Liuerie his Cognizance Iohn 14.16 none haue it but they that are his Christ tels vs so I will pray the Father and hee shall giue you another Comforter euen the spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receiue because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but yee know him for he dwelleth in you and shall be in you But to what end there are two principall vses of the Holy spirits inhabitation he is vnto vs the Oracle of God leading vnto all truth without whom we cannot perceiue the things of God yea they will be foolishnesse vnto vs but if we haue him 1 Ioh. cap. â— 1. Cor. 2. wee haue an vnction that will teach vs all things yea we can search the deepe things of God King Dauid had him in a double sort an Ordinarie vnuailing his eyes that hee might see the wonderfull things of Gods Law an Extraordinarie illightning him to fore-tell secrets of the Kingdome of Christ which were then yet to come The Chaldee Paraphrase and many of the Fathers vnderstand the holy spirit in this later sense for the Spirit of prophesie That is true which they say but it is not enough King Dauid had also the spirit of adoption and he doth not forget that in his prayer against depriuation Yea he must be thought principally to ayme at that for by the other gift wee may serue God on earth but without this we shall neuer goe to Heauen for so saith Christ Mat. 7.24 Many shall say in the last day haue we not prophecied in thy Name but they shall be answered depart from me you workers of iniquitie I know you not Therefore no doubt but King Dauid had an eye to that oracle which wrought in him a sauing faith and did as wee must feare to be depriued of that As the Holy spirit is an heauenly oracle in our Heads so in our Hearts it is an heauenly fire God who instituted sacrifices to be offered by the Church would haue them offered with no other fire but that which should be sent by him from Heauen yea the vsing of strange fire was capitall as appeares by the storie of Nadab and Abthu That type doth informe vs of a greater truth it teacheth vs wherewith spirituall sacrifices must be offered vnto God The first sacrifice spirituall must be a patterne to all the rest Christ by his eternall Spirit offered himselfe vnto God wherewith his propitiatorie therewith must our Eucharisticals be offered Saint Iude speaketh it plainely we must pray in the Holy Ghost The gift you see what it is but you doe not yet fully see what is the worth of it that I gathered out of tuus it is not onely a holy spirit but also the spirit of Gods holinesse or Gods holy spirit Our soule in vs is a spirit and we loue it so well that Sathan said not vntruely skinne for skin and all that euer a man hath will he giue for his life the Angels are yet better spirits 2 Pet cap. 2. higher in dignitie then Men their titles as Saint Peter affirmes confirme it Psal 103. and the Psalmist saith that they exceede in Power and we haue reason to respect them because they pitch their Tents about vs Psal 91. yea God hath giuen a charge vnto them ouer vs to carrie vs in their hands that we dash not our feete against a stone But there is a spirit beyond both these euen the spirit of spirits without whom the former cannot bee and from whom they receiue whatsoeuer good they haue hee is the fountaine of being and wel-being to them both If wee loue our owne soules and the safegard of Angels be deare vnto vs how should we loue Gods holy spirit that is so farre beyond them in infinitenesse of power and excellencie of being yea without whom they cannot be nor stirre without his command The phrase doth not onely import that the Spirit is Gods but also that it is the spirit of that which is most desireable in God that is his Holinesse which doth much improue the gift when the liuerie that it giueth vs and whereby he would haue vs knowne to be his doth make vs partakers of this Diuine attribute wherein to resemble him should bee the highest ambition of a reasonable soule But I will not wade farther in vnfolding the gift what hath beene said is able to make vs sensible of their losse that are depriued thereof especially when I shall haue added thereunto the Manner of losing which I called a depriuation The word is rendered vulgarly take not away But this taking away hath two remarkable things in it it is a taking backe of that which was giuen and a leauing vs not so much as any relique of the gift In regard of the first some render it Ne recipiaâ— take not home againe in regard of the other Ne spolies strip mee not altogether so the Arabicke I will touch a little at both of them First at the Taking backe Hee that loseth what good he had is much more sensible of the losse then if hee neuer had it hee that was borne sickly and hath a long time languished in a disease is not so much pained as hee that being healthy and strong is shaken with a feauer or tortured with some ache Pouerty and disgrace are more bitter heart-breakes to them that haue liued in plenty and honour then they can bee to him who was neuer of better condition then a begger or
finde wee haue not lighted vpon that which should giue vs content as we may gather out of the Preachers censure Vanitie of vanities and all is but vanity when wee come to grace there wee rest St. Austine giues the reason of it Fecisti nos Domine propter te irrequietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te and K. Dauid expresseth it most passionately Psal 73. Whom haue I in heauen but thee and there is none vpon earth that I desire besides thee my flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for euer And no wonder for nothing can giue constant content but that which is verum and summum bonum that which is good indeed and is our soueraigne good these are found only in God none finde them but they that partake of him Secondly the same grace that doth sistere appetitum doth also explere as it doth giue vs content in that we desire no other thing so of that only we may haue our fill Other things are not onely worse than that wee principally desire but they are lesse and we therefore doe loath them not because they are not good at all for they are the creatures of God and they are made for our vse but because they beare not proportion vnto our desire when we haue them we finde a great want of something else besides them let a man haue all the riches in the world all the honour yea all the wisedome they will not satisfie him yea let euery power haue his distinct obiect yet they will not satisfie him There is a common obiect that they all desire and which onely can fill them the desire of them all and that is Grace Grace is the fulnesse of God as the Apostle cals it Ephes 3.19 and the Prophesies of grace doe promise fulnesse Ieremie 21. God will not onely prepare a table for vs but our cup shall ouerflow Psal 23. here we hunger and thirst for a time but if grace be our portion we shall be satisfied and we shall be admitted to the tree of life and drinke our fill of the riuers of Gods pleasure But I told you that this which you haue heard is nothing else but a Periphrasis of the Spirit for the filling grace is nothing else but the Holy Ghost This day as we read Acts 2. when hee came he filled and filled not only with the Type but also with the Truth That you may vnderstand this you must obserue that as Christ our Passeouer was sacrificed iust at the time of the legall Passeouer and as he became the first fruits of them that stept rising that very day that the first fruits were offered euen so the Spirit was giuen vpon the very same day when God with his owne mouth pronounced the Law in the hearing of the People the mysterie whereof was this that man can neuer haue the benefit of the Law but by the grace of the Spirit iustifying him by faith and making him a new man But by the Spirit we must vnderstand not only the grace but the person also or else it will neuer fill For as the corne that is sowne is but a small graine but being watered with the dewe of Heauen and comforted with the Sunne it comes to a full eare euen so grace when it beginnes in man it is very scant there must bee some bodie to foster and cherish it that it may come to perfection and that is the Spirit And herein appeares a difference betweene Adam created and Adam restored Adam created was furnished with grace and being so furnished was left to himselfe whereupon he quickely became an vnthrift and brought to nought that portion which he receiued of his heauenly Father but being restored he is better prouided for hee hath the person of the Spirit bestowed vpon him as a liuing roote so that although hee haue his Winters and his Autumne he doth not alwaies spring nor is alwaies loaden with good fruit yet he hath life in the roote which will shute forth againe and he that seemes to be dead will reuiue and like corne that stockes better when it is nipt with frost will afterward beare the more fruit You haue heard the Gift what it is now heare of the Giuer and the Giuer is Christ Christ is the Giuer of the Spirit duplici iure originis meriti in that the Spirit doth proceede from him so he is said to bestow him because ordo ad extra is answerable vnto ordo ad intra He hath also a right by merit he deserued in doing the worke of a Redeemer to haue the bestowing of the Spirit in this later sense must wee vnderstand it in this place and of this sense in the next part of the text And here we must consider the difference betweene the Hebrew of the old Testament and the Greek of the new Accepit dona saith the Psalmist Dedit dona saith the Apostle They are easily reconciled if you marke Christs second power of giuing the Holy Ghost for Accepit quae daret accepit ex merito quae daret ex arbitrio therefore St. Austine saith well Vtroque verbo altero Prophetico Apostolico altero plenissimus sensus redditur The Apostles are the best Commentators vpon the Prophets and when we parallel texts that are found in both wee must not oppose the one to the other but expound the one by the other which we may safely doe because in vtroque est diuini sermonis auctoritas as the same Father speaketh Seeing then Christ receiueth what he giues receiues of his Father what he giues to vs these words must be vnderstood of Christ incarnate as God he could not receiue because he had all things wherefore if he receiue it must be as he became man so indeed he was Christus anointed and his name was as an oyntment poured out Cant. 1. the precious oyntment poured on his head ran downe vnto the very skirts of his cloathing hee was made the Sonne of righteousnesse and became the father of lights precious promises are giuen vnto vs by him and of his fulnesse we all receiue grace for grace Finally we must marke that though hee receiued as he was Incarnate yet he giues as he is God for though Accipere be meriti humani yet Dare is potestatis diuinae though in neither giuing nor taking wee must seuer the person yet must wee in eyther obserue which nature is principally respected As Christ is the giuer of the Spirit so doth he giue him discreetly and vniuersally discreetly for he giues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee keepes a measure in his giuing There is this difference betweene the Head and the Body of the Church the Head hath the Spirit without all measure but the members of the Body haue it in measure neither doth this argue any impotency in Christ the Giuer but his wisedome It is true that as it is in Christs power to giue or not
vncharitablenesse in our supernaturall cognation Naturall brethren maligne each the other either because the affection of Parents is vnequall or because they shall not haue equall part in the Inheritance but GOD embraceth all his children with the same loue and they are all called to be heires of the same Kingdome therefore they should all haue alike tender bowels one towards another As the name of Brethren calleth for compassion so doth the name of spirituall also by spirituall is ment he that is strong in Faith and hath not yeelded to temptation he that is led by the Spirit and hath not fulfilled the lusts of his Flesh the more he is so spirituall the more compassionate he must be Greg. Mag◠Vera iustitia compassionem habet falsa indignationem It is a shrewd argument that our righteousnesse is pharisaicall and not Christian if we rather insult then shew pittie who more spirituall then GOD then Christ then the Angels The best of men cannot match the meanest of them in the holines of Spirit and yet the Angels reioyce at the conuersion of a sinner Luke 19.7 and how doth Christ the good Sheepeheard take comfort in the recouerie of the lost Sheepe And as for GOD you read his disposition in that countenance and cheere wherewith the Father receiued his prodigall child Where there is lesse kindnesse there is lesse of the Spirit as in the Diuell who calumniateth amplyfieth sinnes aggrauateth Iudgements and we are too like him if our bowels be crueltie You see who must shew compassion and read their duties in their names But if their names will not worke enough the ground that the Text addeth inforcing this dutie doth more strongly presse them and the ground is considering thy selfe least thou also be tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our eies happily are watchfull but are more fixed vpon others then vpon our selues we take delight to pry farre into other mens faults and a pleasing thing it is to flesh and blood to be learned in such arguments But it is but a propertie of Vultures and Rauens that quickly sent carrion and hast vnto it the Holy Ghost here taketh off our eyes from other obiects and fastens them vpon our selues we are the book which our selues should most study we should know none so well as our selues But when we are brought so farre as to study our selues we study like the Pharisee read nothing in our selues but our owne perfections if GOD hath giuen vs any guifts we need no spectacles to read it the characters are alwayes of the largest sise yea we oftentimes read more then is written and giue thankes to GOD for that which he hath not bestowed or not bestowed in that measure which we suppose we haue Because of our ouer great docilitie to study this argument the Scripture passeth by it and reads vs another lesson the lesson of our infirmities looke we must vpon our selues yea and to our selues also but that which we must behold and heed is least thou also be tempted Consider Quia homo es habens naturam mutabilem saith THEODORET No man in this world is so spirituall but he is also carnall St HIEROME with this Text censured the Heretickes of old and we may censure some that liue at this day who thinke that a righteous man is such a tree as can beare no bad fruit but posse peccare is the portion of euerie mortall man and he that standeth may fall for we all walke in the middest of snares Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod haec est euen he that hath ouercome temptation knowes how hard a thing it is to be tempted And if it be hard then should not we be hard hearted towards them whom it foyleth Which obseruation is not vnnecessarie because our nature is as prone to rigor as it is to sinne we are to haue an eye to both and indeed nothing will make vs sooner auoid the temptation vnto rigor then the acknowledgment that our felues are prone to sinne it is St AVSTINS rule Nil sic ad misericordiam inclinat ac proprij periculi cogitatio he that knowes he may need mercie hath a good inducement to shew mercie Wherefore as to the comfort of the Penitent I may promise her that her teares are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though she sow in teares Basil she shall reape inioy so let me aduise you to forgiue and it shall be forgiuen vnto you He that is mercifull doth good to his owne soule saith SOLOMON Prou. 11. Ecel 8. Eph. 4. Colos 3. Wherefore despise ye not a man returning from his sinne be courteous one towards another and tender hearted forgiuing freely as God for Christ sake forgiueth you St PAVL doth teach vs this lesson in this Text the Text is documentum exemplum the matter of it informeth vs yea the phrase is a good patterne vnto vs in deliuering an argument of mercie he vseth not a word that doth not sauour of mercie Homo noting the pronesse of our nature to sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the occasions of sinne praeoccupatus the surprisall all in fauour of the Penitent And what meaneth the name of Brother Spirituall the Spirit of Meeknesse Consider thy selfe Thou mayst be tempted Are they not as water cast vpon the fire of our zeale to temper it if it grow too hot Then looke we on the words all call vpon vs that as we are eye witnesses and eare witnesses of this Penitents confession contrition so we should let GOD and the Angels see how full we are of compassion Compassion that must moue vs all to pray to GOD for her that God by the power of the keyes may loose her from those bands wherewith her sinne her crying sinne hath tyed her God heare vs and worke by vs and in vs that she may be fully restored and her fall may make vs all to beware Amen Blessed are the mercifull for they shall find mercie A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHVRCH OF WELS AT WHAT TIME A MAN DID PENANCE FOR INCEST WITH HIS WIVES DAVGHTER 1 CORINTH 5. VERSE 1 c. 1 Jt is reported commonly that there is fornication amongst you and such fornication as is not so much as named amongst the Gentiles that one should haue his fathers wife 2 And ye are puffed vp and haue not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from amongst you 3 For J verily as absent in body but present in spirit haue iudged already as though J were present against him that hath so done this deed 4 Jn the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ 5 To deliuer such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saued in the day of the Lord Jesus THE present occasion led me to this Text and this Text that I haue read vnto you well fitteth
not to bee that they are they are in a much worse state and therefore are set forth in a baser resemblance they are but like chaffe that is driuen by the wind Strange doctrine the whole Text is a verie Paradox A Paradox is a truth which crosseth the common opinion of the truth of this Saying there can be no question seeing it is Gods Word but sure I am that the state of the Vngodly is commonly taken to bee much better if any surely they in this life seeme to be that Blessed Tree I haue seene saith Dauid the vngodly in great prosperitie Psal 89. and flourishing like a greene Bay tree In the second of Esay they are compared to the Cedars of Lebanon and the Okes of Basan and what a goodly Tree was Nebuchadnezzar so he is compared Dan. 4. where wee read that his top reached vp to Heauen his Branches spread to the ends of the Earth he was full loaden with fruit and all the birds of the aire did harbour in his boughes and yet the Holy Ghost saith Non sic impij the Vngodly are no Trees no Blessed Trees How then shall we proue this truth We must helpe our selues out of another Psalme The sonnes of men of low degree are but vanitie Psal 62. and men of high degree are but a lye All is not gold that glisters neither may wee mistake a painted face for Natiue Beautie He that goeth to a Play shall see on the stage Kings and Queenes and other Personages of worth in outward shew whereas indeed the persons that acted them are base and mercenarie fellowes And this world is but a great stage and the wicked are but personated Actors or Players not one appeares as hee is Or to follow the Similie of Trees which God himselfe is pleased to vse Deut. 32. the wicked are compared vnto the Vines of Sodome and Gomorrah that beare grapes in shew but the iuyce of them is nothing but gall and bitternesse yea it is deadly poyson They that write the Historie of that Countrey obserue that the fruit thereof makes great shew but when men come neere it and touch it it resolues altogether into Cinders which hapily the Wise Man meaneth when he saith that there grow Plants bearing fruit which neuer come to ripenesse Wisd 10.7 Euen such is the prosperitie of the wicked faire in shew nothing in substance The reason is plaine For seeing God onely is good and nothing good farther then it partakes of him Vngodlinesse that separates from God must needs depriue of Good and he is but a verie wretch that hath whatsoeuer else is called good if he haue it without God yea he is more wretched by so hauing what he desires then by wanting it It is Saint Austins note and there is good reason for it euen that Aphorisme in Physicke Corpora corrupta quo magis nutris eo magis laedis Hee that giueth a sicke man whatsoeuer he cals for may hapily please his taste but hee will surely encrease his disease Honour pleasure wealth make vngodly men vnhappily happy so that if you looke vpon them with the eyes of faith and not with the eyes of flesh and bloud you will acknowledge this to bee true though strange The vngodly are not what they seeme to be they seeme to be happie but indeed they are vnhappie Two wayes vnhappie For first you must strip them of true Blisse Non sic they are not like the Blessed Tree then must you cloath them with their contempt they are like the chaffe I need but touch at the former You will easily conceiue that Branch of their Miserie by measuring the Priuation by the Habit and you must iudge of the want by the desireablenesse of that which they doe want 1. God takes care of the blessed Tree Of a Tree of the field a wild Tree he maketh it a Tree of the Orchard a planted Tree Non sic impij No such care taken for the vngodly they are as Out-lawes left to themselues to grow on in the corruption of their Natures 2. The blessed Tree is planted by the Riuers of Waters it is set where it cannot want Iohn 4. 2. Cor. 12.9 on euery side it is supplied with abundance of iuice If God as the Husbandman take care of any Christ will be vnto him a Fountaine of liuing Waters his Grace will bee sufficient for him Non sic impij they drinke little of Christs spirit as they are little husbanded by Gods care 3. The blessed Tree as it receiues Good so it yeelds good againe For first it proues well it yeelds kindly Fruit. Non sic impij their Fruit is not theirs but it is the fruit of him that sets them on worke that is of the Diuell For marke The naturall fruit that our Vnderstanding should beare is Truth and that our Will should beare is Good The very Philosophers haue taught vs that Truth is the naturall Obiect of the Vnderstanding and Good of the Will but our Vnderstanding bringeth forth Lyes to deceiue vs and our Will Sinnes to giue mortall wounds vnto vs Iohn 8.44 if we bee Vngodly And what are these but the fruites of the Diuell who is a Lyar and a Murderer from the beginning 4. The blessed Tree brings forth not only kindly but timely Fruit also His good deedes are as seasonable as they are Vertuous Non sic impij The Scripture especially the Prouerbs teacheth vs that the wicked are peruerse they are peruerse in that they doe not onely what they should not but also when they should not they will feast and be frolicke Esay 22. when they should humble themselues before God and when they should be ioyfull and cheerefully serue God then will they bee discontent and fall to their teares as the Iewes when after their returne from Babylon they laide the foundation of the Temple In the Booke of Numbers you shall find Ezra 3. that when God would haue had the Israelites enter into Canaan then they would backe againe into Aegypt and when God would not haue them goe then they would needs hasten into Canaan 5. The blessed Tree beares not onely Fruit but Leaues A good man cloatheth his good deeds with good Circumstances Non sic impij If happily an vngodly man vndertake a good matter he wil marre it in the manner of doing of it if he giue he will doe it churlishly if he reproue hee will doe it vncharitably if he Pray hee will doe it hypocritically finally whatsoeuer hee doth he will doe it vntowardly and so his Good doth no good and so proues no Good at all 6. Finally the blessed Tree is as well approued as it proues well When a good man doth good it pleaseth God and it profits men and they haue Comfort of it themselues Non sic impij God abhorreth them as being vnlike vnto him and to men they are as odious as they are mischieuous Finally they can take litle true content in themselues
calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is that which executeth what the commanding part resolueth The word in the Originall signifieth either Directum or Erectum that which keepeth right forward or standeth vpright The actiue power of our soule is subiect to two defects it may straggle out of the way through rashnes or stagger in the way through faintnes while we are in the way allurements of diuers kinds draw vs into by-pathes we are set vpon by the crafty serpent and if that succeed not then with terrors wee are startled and made either to come to a stand or else to march cowardly The cure of all this is a right Spirit when God is pleased by grace to set strait steps vnto our feete and strengthen our feeble knees so that wee step not aside out of the way nor halt in the way our Spirit is directus it keepes good correspondency with our iudgement and executeth no more then it hath in charge and it is also erectus it bends no more then our affections doeâ— whether it pursue or encounter any thing resolued vpon by the soueraigne part it sheweth continually a religious stayednesse Finally whereas grace maketh a double cure one on our Heart and another on our Spirit and the regeneration of our Spirit is but an attendant vpon the regeneration of our Heart wee may not diminish the number of the parts nor inuert the order but when wee will trie our selues whether and how farre wee are regenerated wee must looke into our inwards see how we finde our selues there but specially to these fountaines of life the Heart and the Spirit see whether grace command in the Heart before the Heart command and that it may season our workes well whether it selfe bee seasoned first with grace and hauing taken this suruey of the Heart wee must come on to the Spirit and see whether our execution be as holy as our resolution if grace preserue vs from mis-guiding allurements and support vs against disheartning affrightments then is our Spirit as right as our Heart is cleane both are regenerated by the Spirit of grace The Fathers vnderstand here a double grace not onely the grace of Regeneration whereof you haue heard but the grace of Prophesie also wherewith King Dauid was endued as appeare in his Psalmes wherein are many excellent Prophesies It was no small griefe vnto him to haue that diuine influence suspended and to haue withdrawne from him those heauenly Reuelations therfore they conceiue the words thus Dauid desired a cleane Heart that so hee might haue a right Spirit for Blessed are the pure in heart they shall see God saith Christ Mat. 5.8 Wis 1.1.5 and the holy spirit of discipline will not abide in a soule when vnrighteousnesse commeth in The holy spirit of Prophesie is long since ceased and wee cannot be depriued of that which we neuer had but of this we may be sure that sin in our heart doth not a little bleare our eyes when we come to consider of Gods truth in his word and endeauour though not our selues to be yet to vnderstand those that were vndoubted Prophets But enough of Regeneration so farre as this Text doth teach vs what it is I come on to shew you briefly the last point of the Text which is Whence it proceeds It proceeds from God of him King Dauid beggeth it Create in me a cleane heart O God and well may he aske it of him for God doth promise the gift of this grace A new heart will I giue you and a new spirit will I put into you saith God Eze. cap. 36. and S. Paul in his Epistles doth often direct his prayers for these vnto God â—t how then doth Eze. c. 18. bid vs make vnto our selues new hearts and new spirits and Moses in the Law Deut. 10. bids vs circumcise the fore-skin of our hearts Surely not to note our power but our want that out of the conscience thereof we should seeke vnto the father of Lights from whom commeth euery good and perfect gift Iam. 1.17 Or if it be to note any power of ours it is but power to vse the outward meanes but the effect wished hath a higher cause which is the Spirit of God And indeed the true cause why the Holy Ghost speaketh so differenly sometimes calling vpon vs and sometimes willing vs to call vpon God is because Gods inward worke is seldome without our outward though the honour which God doth to the vse of the meanes must not derogate ought from Gods totall producing of the effects The more to be blamed is the Church of Rome who by aduancing the meanes impaire that honour which is due vnto God Let it stand then for a grounded Truth that Regeneration is the gift of God As it is Gods gift so it is no ordinary gift of his it is a worke of his great might and of his great mercy of his great might for it is a Creation Creation is either to make something of nothing or at least if that whereof it is made be something yet that thing hath no disposition to become that which it is made if you looke to the gift that is giuen by Regeneration surely that is made simply of nothing it is an effect that proceeds immediately from the Spirit who hath nothing out of which to worke that effect but his owne almighty power for non educiturè potentia naturae nature sendeth forth no such fruit If you looke vpon the Person that receiueth the grace then also Regeneration will proue to be a Creation for so farre is he from being disposed fitly to receiue grace Rom 8.7 Is 11.6 that hee is naturally opposite vnto it the wisedome of the flesh is enmity against God so saith the Apostle and the Prophet will tell vs that regenerating is like the changing of the nature of Tygers Lyons and Wolues c. a hard worke Saint Austin goeth so farre that hee thinketh it a harder matter to bring a sinner accustomed to an euill course into a right way then to create a world especially to bring him to entertaine the Christian faith which is foolishnes to the Gentile and a stumbling blocke to the Iew. The more absurd is the patronage of free will in the case of new birth the very word Creation doth refute it 1. Cor. 1.23 2. Cor. 5. Eph. 4. which Saint Paul vseth more then once and thereby both Testaments put vs in mind that wee can doe as little towards our spirituall creation as we could towards our naturall in regard of both we may vse that of the Psalm It is God that hath made vs and not we our selues both waies made vs by the power of a God Neither is it onely a worke of great power but of great mercy also that is intimated by the word Renew pulchre dixit innoua saith S. Chrysostome it is well said renew the house was built before which sinne ruined and grace doth re-edifie and indeed that this
is not the first time that we are beholding to Gods grace the very word Regeneration may teach we had this cleane heart and right spirit when we were first created for wee were created after Gods image sinne lost it grace restored it now you know that if a Tenant forfeit his Lease and a Land-lord after re-entry restore it to him againe this is a worke of his goodnesse which is more then a worke of his ability for many are able and doe it not therefore if any being able doe it the inducement is not his ability but his goodnesse the like must we conceiue of God it was his pittying mercie that imployed his almighty power to repaire what we had ruined to recouer what we had lost to restore what we had forfeited a cleane heart and a right spirit Finally both the creating and the renewing are actus continui workes that God neuer intermitteth otherwise we should quickly come to nothing or rather which is worse then nothing become fire-brands of hell for wee dayly forfeit by sin and God may daily take aduantage of our breach of his Couenant Adde hereunto that our Regeneration is not in facto but in fieri and therefore needeth a perpetuall influence and supportance for this cause though Dauid were now in the state of grace yet doth he begge grace of God though God had created in him a cleane heart yet doth he desire that God would create a cleane heart in him and though he bad renewed in him a right Spirit yet doth he pray that God would renew a right Spirit within him so doth he wisely prouide against forfeitures and religiously beg the increase of that which he had receiued But I conclude sicut rogauit Dauid it a debet vnusquisque nostrûm saith S. Hierom Dauids prayer is a praier that beseems vs all we all beare about vs a body of sin and we should all desire that it might be abolished We should indeed but who doth who doth enquire into the vncleannesse of his heart and the crookednesse of his spirit or who taketh notice whether there be in him at all any part of Regeneration nay who doth shew that there is any Nazianzene Oratione 43. writing de Encaeâ—ijs doth giue a good obseruation how a man should know whether his heart haue any part in this Creation or his spirit in this Renouation yesterday thou wert a time seruer to day thou art not ashamed of thy Sauiour Christ yesterday thou didst affect the praise of men to day thou settest more by an honest life yesterday thou wert delighted with vain spectacles to day thou art giuen to diuine meditations c. if thou find such a change Haec mutatio dextrae excelsi God hath put to his mercifull power to make thee a new man if it be otherwise with thee and the day following find thee as bad as thou wert the day before thou hast no part in Regeneration A fearfull case because the Psalmist mouing the question to God Psal 24. Who shall ascend into the mountaine of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place answers Euen he that hath innocent hands and a pure heart Wherfore be ye renewed in the spirit of your minds put on the New-Man Eph. 4.25 which after God is created in righteousnes true holines or because this is a worke too hard for any one of vs Let vs euery one pray with K. Dauid in this place Create in me a clean heart ô God renew a right spirit within me AMEN PSAL. 51. VERS 11. Cast mee not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from mee KIng Dauids desire set forth in the first part of this Psalme is that hee may be restored vnto and preserued in the state of grace How he desires to bee restored you haue hitherto seene you haue seene how hee sueth first in generall that Gods Mercie would relieue his Miserie Gods great mercy his deepe miserie Secondly in speciall how hee brancheth his owne sinne and Gods grace hee confesseth sinne which himselfe committed and that which he inherited from his parents and hee beggeth a two-fold grace that the cure may be proper to each kind of sinne finally he would not haue a plaister narrower then his sore nor a medicine that could not throughly remedy his disease Thus he desires to be restored But to be restored is not enough a Penitents desire must carrie him farther for how shall it appeare that hee doth vnfainedly sorrow for sinne and affect goodnesse except he be as desirous to continue in as to bee brought vnto the state of grace 〈◊〉 Pet. 2. Nay Saint Peter will tell vs that it were better neuer to haue knowne the way of righteousnesse then after wee haue knowne it to returne like dogges to our vomit and like swine to our wallowing in the myre Wherefore the second desire was necessarie for King Dauid and must bee exemplarie vnto vs. Let vs come then to it It is set downe in this and the following Verse and conceiued in a double prayer first in deprecation and secondly in supplication a prayer against that which King Dauid deserued and a prayer for that without which King Dauid could not perseuere we will meddle now onely with the former prayer But in the passage I may not forget a good note of Saint Bernards where he commends King Dauids method Serm. 3. de Penticost and obserues that after hee hath prayed Create in me a cleane heart O Lord renew a right spirit within me he prayeth seasonably Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me When we offend we fall into sinne and out of fauour and when we repent wee must not desire to be receiued into fauour vntill we are first acquitted from sinne otherwise wee shall betray that we wish there were no Sanction of the Law but as for the transgression of the Law we are not much moued therwith wheras the least sinne must be more irkesome to a repenting soule then the most grieuous punishment But let vs breake vp this prayer wherein I will note two things 1. the Manner and 2. the Matter the manner is a prayer against the matter is that which King Dauid deserued Now that which he deserued comprehends two fearefull iudgements 1. Reiection and 2. Depriuation I will cleare these two tearmes vnto you While we are in the state of grace wee haue communion with God and God hath communion with vs God receiueth vs into his family and we attend him we weare his liuerie and are knowne to belong vnto him the first giueth vs free accesse vnto his presence and the second is a participation of his holy spirit Sinne as much as lieth in it dissolues both these communions for we deserue by it first that God discharge vs of his seruice giue vs no longer place in his family which is that which I called Reiection Secondly we deserue that God take from
this solemne time All Saints day and of the blessed Sacrament which wee shall now receiue and my Text is well fitting to them both to the time for turne the deprecation into a supplication and what will it sound then but King Dauids desire to continue a Saint What is a Saint Is it not a person that is vouchsafed to attend the presence of God And is furnished with the holy Spirit of God And he that prayeth Take not from mee thy holy Spirit cast mee not out of thy presence what doth hee desire but this Lord continue mee what thou hast once made me let me euer bee a Saint And now you see how true that is which at the entrance I obserued my Text is a Prayer for perseuerance in grace it was King Dauids Prayer it must bee the Prayer of All Saints I hope wee are all such and that wee may neuer be other let vs timely pray against those fearefull iudgements of spirituall reiection and depriuation pray so we must and that wee pray not in vaine loe yonder is a gracious answere to our Prayer wee shall find it at the Table of the Lord that I may touch at the Sacrament as I haue done at the time Would any man be sure that hee is of Gods Family What better euidence can he haue then that he is fed at Gods Table Certainly hee is not cast out that is allowed his Ordinarie there Doth any man desire to continue in him the possession of Gods Spirit Loe yonder is the fuell that feeds that heauenly fire the bread the drinke are both Spirituall they are pledges they are Conduits of the Spirit of God the Spirit will neuer faile them that worthily doe partake of these And why it is Christs Spirit and where Christ is his Spirit must needes goe also But yonder is the fariest picture that euer was made of Christ goe to it receiue it that thou maist become one with it and it with thee so shalt thou be euer sure euer to be of the familie of God thou shalt stand before his presence thou shalt euer weare his liuery and keepe possession of his spirit Feare not thou hast Christ promise Iohn 6. Him that commeth to me I will not câ—â—â— forth and God hath said Heb. 13. I will neuer leaue thee nor for sake thee Onely le◠〈◊〉 not be senselesse of our danger nor carelesse of these good meanes LOrd our sinnes are many they are great but thou hast giuen Dauid a prerogatiue beyond Saul to the Family of Dauid beyond the Family of Saul to true Penitents beyond gracelesse Sinners Vouchsafe vs all to be such Penitents that we may enioy there prerogatiue when we sinne let vs not forget to returne in time and that we be not swallowed vp of these fearefull iudgements of reiection and depriuation heare vs graciously when we cry humbly Cast vs not away from thy presence and take not thine holy Spirit from vs. PSAL. 51. VERSE 12. Restore vnto me the ioy of thy saluation and stablish me with a free Spirit KIng Dauids desire to bee continued in the state of grace is conceiued in two Prayers one against that which himselfe deserued another for that without which hee could not perseuere I haue alreadie opened the former Prayer I come now to the later This later Prayer then that you may the better vnderstand I will obserue therein what King Dauid beggeth and of whom That which he beggeth is a restitution and a confirmation restore stablish Wee must moreouer obserue in the restitution whereof it is and in the confirmation wherewith it is wrought The restitution is of a comfortable sense of Gods grace Gods grace is noted by saluation whereof the comfortable sense is ioy The Confirmation is wrought by a generous disposition the disposition is meant in the word Spirit which that it may be generous must be free Such a comfortable sense and such a generous disposition are the two supporters of perseuerance by them are the children of God continued in the state of grace But whence doe they get them Surely only from God it is he that withdraweth in displeasure and therefore it is hee that in mercie must restore the comfortable sense as our being so our well being subsists only in him and therefore only by him can we be confirmed therein therefore King Dauid desirous to speed of these meanes of perseuerance seeketh them where they may be had hee beggeth them at the hands of God These are the contents of this text which I will inlarge and apply in their order But in the passage I may not forget to obserue vnto you that for obtayning perseuerance the deprecation will not suffice without a supplication it is not enough to be freed from the impediments except wee bee vouchsafed the meanes of perseuerance put the case our Master should neuer in this World turne vs out of his Family which is the Church nor strip vs of his Liuerie which is his holy Spirit yet if wee bee not prouided of meanes heartning and exercising vs in this seruice better neuer to continue then to continue so in that blessed societie The vnprofitable seruant that hid his Talent in a Napkin abode in the house with his fellowes that were more thrifty 〈◊〉 25. and emplyed their talents to their Masters aduantage but at the reckoning day that idle one was cast into vtter darknesse there to weepe and gnash with his teeth when his fellowes vpon their better account did enter into their Masters ioy God hath done vs all this fauour as to continue our entertainment in the Church we must not neglect our employment in his seruice if wee doe well may Gods fauour increase our paine wee must neuer looke that it will yeeld vs comfort For perseuerance is not a bare continuance in Gods Church and participation of his gifts it requireth that wee make vse of it and aduance his glorie This by the way let vs come now to the particulars whereof the first is saluation The Fathers by this word vnderstand our Sauiour Christ and indeed old Simeon calleth him so in his Song taking Christ in his armes he speaketh thus to God Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace for mine eyes haue seene thy saluation and saluation is included in the Name of Iesus therefore in the Kings Bibles the Latine hath the Name of Iesu insteed of saluation Acts. 18. â— Saint Peter in the Acts telleth vs that there is no other name vnder Heauen by which we may be saued but only the Name of Iesus he is that salutare Dei so often remembred in the Prophets and the sauing grace of God mentioned in Saint Paul Titus 2.11 But we must not vnderstand only the person by this name saluation but also the fruit that springeth from him spirituall and corporall The spirituall I haue handled vpon former Verses it is the discharge from the guilâ— from the corruption of sinne sinne which
dung whose labour is only to make themselues euerlasting fuell for hell God regardeth them accordingly and they receiue as little of this ioy of saluation as they would seeme to want it But if wee meane to receiue wee must first feele that we doe want and our want must be declared as King Dauids was in this supplication restore For God then begins to take pittie when men are brought to the knowledge of their wants yea he giueth men a sense of their want before he vouchsafeth a supply thereof But redde doth not only imply a sense of want but a remembrance also of that which sometimes we had It is a good thing for a man to bee feeling of his want but there is no small accesse made vnto that gracious sense if we apprehend withall that our want proceeds from our owne vnthristinesse that what wee want wee had and that it is through our owne fault that we are brought vnto this want And indeed if euer wee be in want we want through our owne default for God made vs perfect and we became not naked but by eating the forbidden fruit and since that time men haue beene more or lesse vnthriftie and haue mispent the portion which God hath giuen them Therefore wee must not come to God with the simple Verbe da that imports only that we are in want we must vse the compound redde we must confesse our selues Prodigals that is the right voice of a Christian Penitent But whereto shall we apply this restore To the saluation Or to the ioy Distinguish Quod fieri debet quod fit our deseruing and Gods dealing and the answere is plaine no doubt wee forfeit our saluation God might strip vs of it if hee did reward vs according to our sinnes Gods Couenant is like a lease that hath a clause of re-entrie but leaueth a power in the Land-lord to vse extremitie or deale mercifully with his Tenant God is vnto his children as a kind Land-lord vnto bad Tenants he doth not take forfeits as often as we make them hee doth not re-enter vpon our Tenement nor strip vs of our saluation we are often damnable yet we are not damned Notwithstanding hee doth not suffer vs to scape scot-free when he doth not take the forfeiture hee taketh à nomine poenae he doth inflict some penaltie yea and that a sharpe one too for he taketh euen from his dearest children the ioy of their saluation hee casteth them into sad moodes hee afflicteth them with heauie hearts when they looke vpwards they see cloudes cast ouer Gods countenance and cannot but sorrow for it when they looke downe they see Hels mouth gaping for them they cannot but tremble at it such agonies ouertake them and make them smart for their sinnes wherewith they offend God agonies I say of sorrow and feare Take a similitude from the Sunne which may make a day or a Sunshine day while it is aboue our Horizon it is often day when the Sunne doth not shine but thicke clouds breathed from the earth make a sad skie as if it were night yet cannot we say the Sunne is gone downe euen so many times are we in the state of saluation the Sunne is with vs wee are children of the day yet haue wee no ioy of our saluation our Sunne doth not shine wee haue no cleere day But from King Dauid you may learne that to bee sure of saluation will not content a religious heart except hee may haue the ioy thereof also I conclude this point let vs take heed that pleasure strip vs not of pleasure worldly of heauenly let vs not grieue God lest he grieue vs grieue him with sinne lest he grieue vs with sorrow for we see in King Dauids example that God inflicts such penalties and if at any time we suffer so for our desert let vs not continue stupidly in this distressing want but importune him with King Dauids Restore Restore mee to the ioy of thy saluation And so much of the first part of the supplication I come now to the second from the Restitution to the Confirmation Stablish me with a free spirit Where first we must see what spirit is here meant There is a spirit in man and there is a spirit of God some vnderstand the one some vnderstand the other I wil ioyne both together For indeed the attribute belongs to both Gods spirit is free and so is mans but Gods by nature mans by grace couple Gods Spirit vnto mans and then you shal find the saying of the Apostle true Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is libertie 2. Cor. 3. Rom. 8. Iohn 8. for it is the Spirit of adoption and if thereby the Sonne of God make vs free then are we free indeed Therefore I told you that here by the Spirit I vnderstand our disposition But this disposition of ours must bee considered as it is by nature so it is seruile as it becomes by grace so it is free I called it a generous disposition and indeed so the word signifieth But to open it a little more fully Iohn 8. ver 34 we learne of Christ that sinne maketh a slaue it appeareth plainly in that which we call free will and the attendants thereon Freewill is resolued into the iudgement wee passe vpon things and the choice wee make according to the iudgement now no man hath a more slauish iudgement then a wicked man for sin blindeth his eyes what he doth not desire he doth not beleeue and you shall seldome see a man possest with any enormous sinne in whom affected ignorance is not euident yea sinne maketh him put that out of all question which if he would vse his owne iudgement hee would find had no credibilitie Had it not beene for this seruilitie of iudgement Pharaoh could neuer so long haue held out against Moses Israel haue murmured so often against God Scribes and Pharisees haue so fearefully blasphemed our Sauiour Christ the Church of Rome so shamefully withstand the truth and Atheists so prophanely scoffe at the reproofe of their sinnes not one of these many leud ones which hath not a seruile iudgement Neither hath seruilitie taken possession only of our iudgement but of our will also wee can make no better choice then our iudgement will giue vs leaue if that be seruile this cannot be free Not free Nay it were well if it were no more seruile then our iudgement but indeed it is much more for how often doe we see what we should doe and yet to please sinne chuse to doe the contrarie Whether we be regenerate or whether we be vnregenerate for the text is vnderstood of both by seuerall Diuines we may say with the Apostle Rom. 7. I see a Law in my members rebelling against the Law of my mind and carrying me captiue vnto sinne we haue vncircumcised hearts and doe resist the Spirit of God Take an example or two the Pharisees could not denie the Resurrection of Christ the
For if Christ dealt so graciously with those that came dissemblingly to learne of him what confidence may wee haue that hee will answere vs if in singlenesse of heart and humility of spirit wee open vnto him the scruples of our conscience and desire his resolution no doubt but hee that biddeth vs to seeke Math. 7.7 will helpe vs to sinde and we shall receiue of him that biddeth vs aske and hee that biddeth vs knocke will open vnto vs. But this poynt of answering questions in Diuinity deserues to bee stood vpon a little longer and our iudgement set right that it erre not herein Wee must then learne of the Preacher that There is a time to speake and a time for a man to hold his peace Chap. 3. this distinction in the Prouerbs is fitted vnto answeres Answere not a foole according to his foolishnesse lest thou be like vnto him answere a foole according to his foolishnesse Chap. 26. lest hee bee wise in his owne conceipt So that there is a time when a mau may answere a question and a time wheu a man may not answere it and how shall wee bee able to distinguish these times Surely the time when wee may not answere is knowne either by the question or by the questionist If the question be either friuolous or curious it must haue no answere for wee must not feed mens either idlenesse or saucinesse Tit. 2 Touching friuolous questions wee haue S. Pauls rule foolish questions auoid And for curious questions we haue our Sauiours example Ioh. 21. Christ bad Peter follow him Peter asked Christ what shall Iohn doe Christ taketh him short What is that to thee follow thou mee If wee looke into the Schoolemen and the Casuists wee shall find that their wits haue beene idly busie yea and often wickedly too in answering such questions as were very vnfit to bee demanded yea the resolutions vpon Cur and Quomodo Why and How in debating articles of Faith beyond the bounds which are set downe in the Scripture haue bred the greatest distraction in Christendome while each side with words and with bloud shed maintaineth his determination of that poynt which if it had neuer beene heard of the Christian Faith had beene neuer a whit the lesse sound and the Communion of Saints had beene preserued Aug. expla 56. Take this then for your first rule that if a question bee either not behoouefull or aboue our reach it must receiue no answere nay ordinarily we must not giue answere to them that study questions which nothing concerne their calling especially if neglecting theirowne dutie they are too inquisitiue after that which concerneth other men The world is much sicke of this disease and you shall heare oftner of idle and curious questions then of those that concerne the health of mens soules and the ordering of their calling Christians are herein as ill imployed as were the Iewes Though there bee no defect in the question yet there may bee in the questonist in regard of his ill disposition bee it Obstinacie or Impietie though his question bee good hee deserueth no answere An Hereticke saith Saint Paul after one or two admonitions auoid 〈◊〉 3 10. knowing that such a man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he carrieth his doome in his owne bosome and doth wilfully withstand the truth he must not bee answered because of his obstinacie Math 7 Touching Impietie wee haue Christs Rule Giue not holy things vnto dogs and cast not your pearle among Swine lest they trample them vnder their feeet and turne againe rent you yea prophane Atheists moue questions touching God or sacred things which they disbelieue that they may therewith make themselues wickedly merry our silence must take from them all occasion to blaspheme and such questionists must receiue no answere Truth is neuer mute for want oâ— arguments of defence but sometimes silent out of holy wisedome whereas falshood hath nothing in reason to reply but yet it will be euer prating To our purpose then the premises conclude that it will be time to speak and that wee may answere though it bee a foole so the question bee profitable and the questionist be not prophane But Chrysostome setteth downe the two vsefull ends of our answere Hom in Math. 26. when we answere a foole it must be either for the publique confusion of proud folly and to make Pharisaicall spirits see they know not what they thinke they know or for the edification of the standers by those which with meeknesse will receiue the truth we may not suffer such to continue perplext through ignorance At these ends did Christ ayme in his Answere And so haue I sufficiently shewed you why Christ doth vouchsafe an answere though he that moued the question came as a Tempter Let vs now come on to the Answere that Christ vouchsafeth whereof the first branch is Thou shalt loue Wherin I will open two points 1. What is enioyned and 2. to Whom That which is enioyned is Loue and he that must loue is noted in this word Thou Chap 6. in Deuteronomie you shall find that this Thou is Israel Loue is in the number of those things quae melius sentiuntur quam verbis exprimuntur man may better feele then say what it is yet this is out of all question that it is an Affection and whereas our affections are either sensuall or rationall Loue is found in either of them There is a sensuall Loue wee see it in Beasts they loue their mates their of-spring their benefactors But wee haue not to doe with this loue farther then to note that this in man though it bee not the rationall loue yet should it be guided by the rationall And were it so as commonly it is not as appeareth by the enormous wantonnesse and monstrous lusts that haue beene that are in the world men would not proue themselues to bee worse then beasts as euery where they doe Coâ—â—dies Tragedies other Poems haue too much of this stuffe and it is the argument of two many true Histories This Loue if regulate though it bee not illicitus amor yet doth it not rise to the pitch of that Loue which is commanded here â—ut the Loue here meant is that which is in vs as we are reasonable creatures or rather religious as appeares after in Thou The Diuines commonly call it Charitie and so will I for distinction sake Though I hold that the exception of the Rhemists taken to the word Loue in our Translations is but a meere Cauill and I could easily proue it such To vnderstand what this Rationall Loue or Charitie is we must remember what God said when he had made Adam It is not good for Man to be alone let vs make him a helpe like himselfe For though that be spoken of Mariage-Charitie yet doth it containe the ground of all other For euen by the law of creation euery man is subiect to some want the supply wher of
one thing more which I may not omit concerning the nature of Charitie and that is the Constancie thereof Loue is strong as death Iealousie is cruell as the graue Cant. chap 8. the coles thereof are coles of fire which hath a most vehement flame many waters cannot quench Loue neither can the flouds drowne it if a man would giue all the substance of his house for Loue it would be contemned Abhorret vera Charitas omnia distrahentia pereat qui inter nos dissidium volunt Wee must not bee like little children that loue to day and hate to morrow nec ita amare ut aliquando osuri manente bonitate non exigente superiore lege aut patriae aut religionis I haue competently opened vnto you the nature of Charitie But you must obserue that whereas there are two things in it the qualitie and the exercise thereof Bernard it is not the qualitie but the exercise that commeth vnder the commandement Vbicunque in Scriptura dilectio requiritur non tam extgitur dilectio affectus quam Charitas operis Gal. 5. Deut. 10. the qualitie is the gift of God for hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charitatis efficax it is hee that maketh men to bee of one minde and circumciseth mens hearts that they may loue and Charitie is the fruit of the Spirit And the Spirit doth worke it in our hearts not only by mouing without qualifying them as Peter Lumbard erroniously thought hee improueth our Charitie too farre but the Loue of God is powred abroad into our hearts by the holy Spirit Expla 11 ad Carth. substantialis Charitas dat accidentalem as S. Bernard speaketh God which is Charitie giueth vnto man the gift of Charitie But when we haue receiued the gift of God wee must employ it wee must not receiue the grace of God in vaine As in nature so in grace wee haue our abilities for action and the Parable will tell vs what will bee our doome if wee hide our Talent But the Commandement is affirmatiue and therefore tenet semper but not ad semper wee must neuer be without a louing disposition yet are we not bound to manifest it but as occasion shal be offered vs. Yet must we take heed that we neither will nor do ought that is contrary vnto Charity You haue heard What is giuen in charge you must now heare to Whom this charge is giuen Thou shalt loue and this Thou is Israel so wee read in Moses Hearken O Israel Thou shalt loue Deut. 6. It is giuen then to the regenerate for Israel is a name of the Church of those that were in couenant with God and had in their flesh the seale thereof Without the Church is the Kingdome of Satan and where Satan raigneth there Satanisme that is hatred is there can bee no true Charitie Iohn 13.35 Christ telleth vs it is the badge of his followers By this shall all men know that you are my Disciples Cant 2 4. if yee loue one another In the Canticles it is called the Banner of the Church now you know that the Banner keepeth euery Souldier to his owne station and so strengtheneth the whole by euery ones good order And wee neuer breake our ranke in the Church militant and hazard the whole by our disorder but wee doe it through want of Charitie What is spoken to the whole Church euery member must take it to himselfe and vnderstand himselfe in the word Thou Saint Paul hath taught vs that hatred and Charitie distinguish carnall and spirituall men 1. Cor. 3. by Charitie Saint Iohn telleth vs it is knowne that wee are borne of God 1. Ioh. 3.10 Sola Charitas diuidit inter filios Regniaeterni Austin de Trinit silios perditionis saith Austin wee haue no assurance that wee shall bee Saints in heauen except wee entertaine the Communion of Saints on earth if in this life wee delight in hatred after this life wee shall bee ranged with those which are hatefull But whose charge is this who is hee that commands Thou shalt loue surely it is Gods charge hee layeth this commandement vpon his Church Doe you heare it and not wonder at it God is a Soueraigne Lord hee may giue what Lawes please him vnto the Creatures which hee hath made yet see how gracious hee is hee will lay no other charge vpon his Church then that which may bee performed by loue then which kind of command nihil facilius nihil foelicius none can bee more easie Chap. 38. c. none can be more happy nothing more easie for what difficultie can there bee in Loue If God should come vpon a man as he did vpon Iob and presse him to reueale all the secrets of the Creation and prouidence much more if hee should bid him open the mysteries of the Kingdome of Heauen hee might answere Alas Lord I am an ignorant man If hee should bid him build such a Temple as Salomons was and furnish it with so many instruments and ornaments of gold and of other precious stuffe hee might say alas Lord I am a poore man If hee should bid him goe and roote out all Infidels from the face of the earth hee might answere alas Lord I am a weake man And so to many like commandements hee might plead some excuse But when God saith Thou shalt loue no man hath any excuse to plead but the malignitie of his owne nature yea no man comes to Heauen that did not loue though many poore ignorant weak ones c. come there A poore man may loue as well as a rich an ignorant as a wise a weake as a strong especially seeing though Charitie consists of beneficentia aswell as beneuolentia good deeds aswell as good will yet there is a dispensation allowed for want of good deeds ◠Cor. 8. if a man haue a good will For hee is accepted according to that which hee hath not according to that which hee hath not So that although God hath dispensed his temporall blessings vnequally yet the spirituall he will haue common vnto all I meane those which are the Graces of Adoption amongst which Charitie is a chiefe one and by it though there be otherwise great distance betweene man and man yea the Creator and his Creature yet may they easily bee brought together Neither is Loue onely an easie worke in it selfe but also it doth facilitate other things our doing our suffering both are made easie by Charitie Let a man attempt any thing whereunto hee hath no minde and it groweth presently tedious but Loue takes away all bitternesse of paine It was a painfull life that Iacob liued vnder Laban as he sheweth in Genes Gen 29 vers 20. 31. yet the seauen yeares that hee serued for Rachel seemed to him but a few dayes for the loue that hee had vnto her The like we may obserue in all sorts of men that are affected with any kind of
profit or pleasure how doth the couetous man toyle himselfe out of the Loue of money the ambitious out of the Loue of honour the faulconer the Huntsman out of Loue of their sports Guesse by them how cheerefully wee would bee doing good if wee were prepossessed with Loue for Loue sweetens all paines yea guesse by Lust what Loue can doe that goeth vpon much surer grounds Loue doth not onely facilitate our doing but our suffering also out of loue to their wiues and children what hunger what thirst what wounds doe Souldiers endure But beyond all goe the sufferings of the Martyrs of whose wonderfull patience and constancie therein you can giue no other reason but Loue They loued not their liues vnto death Gal. 5. because they did loue to keepe Gods commandements I begin now to vnderstand S. Paul against Loue there is no Law for though there were no Law yet he that loueth would readily obey hee needs no other obligation 1. Ioh. 5. â— to whom to doe his dutie is a very pleasure I now begin to vnderstand Saint Iohn The commandements of God are not grieuous for griese and loue cannot stand together it is rather a griefe not to doe that which our soule doth loue You see then that God could not prouide an easier commandement for vs then Thou shalt loue And could he haue prouided a happier No verily for though amor bee sui praemium it carrieth contentednesse in the very nature of it yet as if that would not satisfie all the requisites vnto felicitie are distinctly ascribed vnto it Whereof the first is freedome of Spirit hee in whom Charitie is hath exchanged the spirit of bondage for the spirit of Adoption then which there cannot bee a more ingenuous a more free spirit So that whereas no obedience pleaseth God but that which is voluntarie it is Charitie that maketh vs such seruants as God requireth A second requisite vnto felicitie is store or plenty of prouision and what better purueyer can we haue then Charitie Looke how farre it extendeth so farre it enritcheth for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looke how many friends so many supplies wee haue of our wants and if all men were true friends Hom. 5. adps â—ul Astiâ—ch no man could want that which another man hath The last requisite is securitie and there it no guard to the guard of Loue for by Charitie it commeth to passe as Chrysostome wittily obserueth that one man is as many men as he hath friends whether you respect acquisitionem bonorum or depulsionem malorum so many paire of eyes to watch for him so many paire of hands to defend him so many paire of feete to trauell for him so many heads to aduise tongues to speake hearts to encourage and what better munition would a man desire God commends Charitie when he vouchsafed to heare Iob for his friends and in the 41 Psalme shewes that nothing is more detestable then treachery in friendship Would time permit me I should shew you that there is nothing like vnto Charitie that doth proue a man to be a man and turne a man into a God Some guesse that Homo hath his name from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to note that hee is a sociable Creature but it is out of question that Ratio and Oratio were giuen him for this purpose that men might haue communion one with another Take Charitie out of his tongue what is it but an vnruly euill as Saint Iames calleth it full of deadly poyson a world of wickednesse a firebrand of hell that is able to set the world on fire Take Charitie out of the reason of a man then that will proue true which God told Noah The frame of the thoughts of the heart of man are onely euil and that of Ieremie The heart of man is deceitfull aboue all things and desperately wicked So that you may seeke a man and not find him in a man if Charitie be away But season him with Charitie and then shall you see the excellencie of a man his tongue will be a tree of life and the issues of life will come out of his heart as Salomon teacheth in his Prouerbs I told you that Charitie doth also turne a man into a God for God is Charitie and hee that dwelleth in Charitie dwelleth in God and God in him Therefore Christ commending Charitie giueth this reason that wee may be like vnto our Father in Heauen It is not without cause then that Saint Iames calleth it the royall Law of liberty and Saint Paul the supereminent way Other gifts saith Saint Austin are giuen by the Spirit but without Charitie they become vnprofitable Vbi Charitas est quid potest obesse Vbi non est quid potest prodesse In God it was Charitie that set the rest of his Attributes on worke when he made when hee redeemed the world and our abilities will all bee idle except they bee set on worke by Loue and if Loue stirre all will come plentifully from man as they doe from God Finally as Charitas is omnium hominum so omnium horarum locorum nunquam nusquam excluditur Which cannot be said of any other affection there is no man that may not loue and that at all times and in all places Wherefore God hath laid this fundamentall Law Dilige then which there is no more excellent gift and it is the immediate ground of Pietie the roote of all morall vertues and Theologicall also as hereafter you shall heare and heare that hoc vnum necessarium LEt vs now beseech the God of Loue so to sweeten our nature with his holy spirit of Loue that being rooted and grounded in this fundament all Law all our workes may be done in Loue. AMEN The third Sermon MATT. 22. VERSE 37. With all thy Heart and with all thy Soule and with all thy Mind OVt of those first words of this Verse Thou shalt Loue you haue beene taught What it is to Loue and who it is that is bound to obserue this vertue We must now come on and see in the next place what is the seate of Loue and in my Text we find that it is pointed out in three words the Heart Cap. 12. Cap. 10. the Soule the Mind Moses Deuter. 6. and out of him S. Marke and Saint Luke adde a fourth which is Strength The words may be taken confusedly or distinctly Confusedly and so they will teach vs onely in grosse the seate of Loue. Distinctly and so they will shew vs that these parts which are the seate of Loue are ordinate and subordinate Ordinate ad intra as Loue must be within vs and ordinate ad extra as Loue must bee employed without vs. Subordinate for one of the parts is imperatiue or definitiue the other are Imperatae definitae And out of altogether wee shall learne that Charitie is a Catholike and transcendent vertue I purpose to handle these words both wayes as they are taken confusedly and as they
grant that we may so profit thereby that whensoeuer God giueth any signification of his accesse to vs we may bee affected with a religious feare toward him that so keeping this manner by the helpe of our Mediatour wee may giue him a blessed meeting Come we then to the first particular the circumstance of time It was the third day the third after their comming vnto mount Sinai but the fiftieth after their comming out of Aegypt Which you may gather if you adde hereunto the time specified in the first Verse of this Chapter there you read that they came to the Hill the first day of the third moneth Now the moneths of the Iewes being Lunarie and reckoned from one coniunction to another in vulgar computations are reckoned to consist of thirtie dayes one with another though in the exactnesse of Astronomie it bee somewhat otherwise this being knowne we must calculate thus The children of Israel came out of Aegypt the fourteenth Moone as they call it that is the fourteenth day of the Lunarie moneth so that of the first moneth they spent seuen teene dayes on their way for so many there are from foureteene to thirtie inclusiuely Adde hereunto the whole second moneth which consisteth of thirtie dayes and seuenteene and thirtie maketh fortie seuen whereunto if you adde the three dayes which they had beene now at the Mount your number will be iust fiftie So that the Law was deliuered the fiftieth day after the celebration of the Passeouer You may not thinke this note ouer-curious it is of speciall vse in comparing the new Testament with the old The truth did exactly answere vnto this Tipe and Whitsuntide keepeth the same distance from our Easter Christ the true Passeouer was offered for Vs to deliuer vs from the slauerie of sinne death and Hell at the season of the yeare wherein the Passeouer was offered for the Redemption of the Israelites out of the Aegyptian thraldome And at that time in which God deliuered the Law vnto the redeemed Israelites hee gaue the spirit which is the life of the Law vnto the redeemed Christians That spirit which is the finger of God to write the Law in the fleshly Tables of our hearts which the I sraclites long before receiued written indeede with the finger of God but in no better then the two Tables of stone So that that we enioy the truth whereof they had the Type Vnderstand me de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the formall administration of this first Couenant Colos 2. v. 14. which did containe onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle calleth it mans Obligation what dutie hee owed what punishment he deserued These be the things that are principally represented in the forme of this first couenant And therefore doth the Apostle call it the ministrie of the letter and of death 2 Cor. 3.6 in opposition to the second Couenant which hee calleth the ministrie of the spirit and of life Otherwise wee may not denie that the Patriarches had the spirit of Grace also though not dispenced by the forme of the old Couenant yet whereunto the old Couenant led them as a Schoolemaster making them sensible of their miserie it made them seeke vnto Christ for remedie But I haue touched at this point once before therefore I will dwell no longer on it Onely take this note that as Whitsontide followeth Easter so doth Sanctification follow after Iustification whom God redeemeth to them hee giueth his Law and he doth sanctifie all those whom he instifieth He that keepeth one feast must keepe both because he that hath one hath both these gifts I need not speake of the Morning which shewed Gods exemplarie forwardnesse for this blessed meeting which we shall doe well to follow as Dauid did Psal 130 Enough of the time I come now to the signification of Gods readinesse to come I told you it was full of state the harbingers come before to prepare Gods place Mortall Princes come not to great assemblies to Parliament to the throne of Iudgement to the ratifying of Leagues Act. 25. ver 2â— but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a great deale of pompe If euer they then shew their royaltie they make it appeare that they are neither beggerly nor contemptible nor vnable to reuenge themselues they make shew of their glorie and their power There is reason for it for the vulgar that haue no iudgement of true Moralitie are held in from disrespects to their Gouernours by these ceremonies and the attention of their eares is kept waking by such amazing of their eyes and discreete Policie doth this way make them obedient beyond their vnderstanding God taketh the same course and sheweth not himselfe vnto his people but with much ceremonious Maiestie at this meeting which did partake of these three kinds of assemblies For it was a Parliament it had the Image of an Assises and therein was the coniugall league confirmed betweene God and Israel I shall touch at all three I might lead you to behold this in his appearing to Abraham Gene. 25. when he entred into Couenant with him where the thicke darknesse the smoaking furnace the fire goe before him 1. King c. 19. his apparition to Elids which was attended with an Earthquake a whirlewind and a fire too None so stately Cap. 4. so ample as that which is described by Ezechiel and Daniel except happily that in the Reuelation I omit many others it is enough in these to let you see that it was vsuall with God to shew himselfe in state to send his harbingers before him The reason whereof is to worke a due respect towards his sacred Maiestie you are taught it plainely in the Psalmes Giue vnto the Lord O yee mightie giue vnto the Lord glorie and strength giue vnto the Lord the glorie due vnto his name worship the Lord in the beautie of holinesse The reason followeth in the Psalme and it is taken from these harbingers of God the Thunder and the Lightning you may read it at your leasure I call these the harbingers of God because we may not grossely conceiue 〈…〉 lib 2. 〈◊〉 â—â— that God is like vnto any of these Saint Austin hath refuted that dreame and indeed it is the seed of Idolatrie They are but the attendants vpon God his guard you may call them or you may call them his hoast they are the instruments of his Power he was pleased to vse them to set forth his state both in Mount Sinai as we read here and in Mount Sion as wee read Act. 2. the place paralell to this But I will keepe my selfe to mount Sinai I told you then that the harbingers here specified were dreadfull dreadfull some to the eare some to the eye The eye and the eare are the best Intelligencers of the reasonable Soule the quickest of apprehension and truest in their information And therefore when God will worke our heart he worketh it by these and in these you shall first
the Trumpet sounding in his eare Surgite mortui venite ad iudicium I will not stand to allegorize the two siluer Trumpets still sounded while the Sacrifice was burning at the Altar Verse 7. I will only bid you remember Saint Iudes note of Sodome and Gomorrah whose perpetuall burning God hath left as a remembrance of the euerlasting fire of Hell Some are yet more desperate and call for the Day of the Lord Let it come Let vs see it as you may read in the Prophets Foole hardie wretches that desire that which they will neuer be able to endure Luke 23.30 Vpon the first ouerture of it their hearts will faile them they will bee at their wits end they will call to the Hils and Rockes to couer them The Kings of the earth the great men the mightie men bond and free all sorts of men shall then crie out The great day of the Lambes wrath is come Reue. 6 1 Pet. 4.18 and who is able to stand And indeed If the righteous scarcely be saued where shall the wicked and vngodly appeare But to leaue them The last obseruation that I will giue vpon this dreadfull state shall be That wee are much bound vnto God that wee liue not vnder the Old Testament but vnder the New that God hath brought vs not vnto Mount Sinai but vnto Mount Sion Where God appeares in our nature and commeth meeke and in the forme of a seruant so sensible of our infirmities that hee cryeth not Esay 42.2 his voice is not heard in the street hee will not breake a bruised reed nor quench smoking flaxe He putteth vpon vs a light yoke and an easie burden his doctrine is a Gospel their feet are beautifull that bring it Esay 52 â— 7 this yeara is an yeare of Iubile his Trumpet soundeth nothing but deliuerance his Light is comfortable like the Sunne Psal 45.2 Cant. 5. v. 16 for he is the Sonne of Righteousnesse his lips are full of Grace his Mouth is most sweet In this Hill all things are louely there is nothing dreadfull at all And why God hath giuen vs the Spirit of Adoption which is the Spirit of Loue Rom 6 2. Tim 1. and of a sound minde so that wee can indure the very top of Mount Ston whereas they could not endure the bottome of Mount Sinai Time will not giue me leaue to pursue this comparison you may amplifie it out of Saint Paul 2. Cor. 3. Heb. 12. And if you will haue it to the full you must paralell the whole Oeconomic of the New Testament with that of the Old Only let me giue you this note for a farewell to this point That as the Patriarkes that were brought vnto Mount Sinai did beare themselues out vnder those terrors by casting their eyes forward vnto Mount Sion the place of comfort So wee lest we grow carnally secure during our abode at Mount Sion and surfet vpon the comforts thereof must cast our eyes backward vpon Mount Sinai and rowse our selues with the terrours thereof The solace of Sion is to none so pleasant as to him that commeth newly from Sinai their soules doe best rellish the Gospel whose consciences haue first sinarted from the Law or that haue beene exercised by that hopefull feare the point that commeth next to be handled in my text Hopefull feare then is the impression that was made on the Israelites by the dreadfull Harbingers of God First Feare Feare is argued from quaking For wee vsually say that men quake for feare And indeed what is quaking of the bodie but a consequent of feare in the soule For the spirits are conueyed by the arteries the sinewes and the veines into the outward parts to sustaine confirme them inable them to their functions and the vitall parts send them forth abundantly while themselues are secure But while we are or suppose our selues to be in any great danger all those forces repaire vnto and endeuour to safegard those principall inward fortresses especially the heart Whereupon the outward parts being vnfurnished fall as it were into a shaking Palsie and so Quaking is a consequent of feare But let vs fit this impression vnto the apparition and so you shall find that it followeth thereupon If there were nothing in these Harbingers but an Image of Gods Maiestie yet you shall not find in all the Bible that euer any man had any extraordinarie glimpse of Gods glory that did not vpon the apprehension thereof become as it were dead and giue himselfe ouer for a dead man Reade the storie of Gedeon and Maneah in the Booke of Iudges and of the Prophets whose inspirations were accompanied with Visions Ezechiel Daniel others the generall rule is Si te nouerim Domine me ipsum nouerim I shall neuer know how vile how fraile I am by any thing so well as by presenting my selfe before the glorious Maiestie of God Let vs descend to the second Image that is to bee beheld in these dreadfull Harbingers the Image of the Law and let vs see how that worketh feare The Image of the Precept I told you it is scarching and you cannot therewith search a man but you make him feare Aske Saint Paul he tried it and will tell you so he found by surueying himselfe That the Law was spirituall and hee was carnall and out of a sensible acknowledgement that his strength was nothing proportionable to the Law 〈◊〉 7. 〈◊〉 19. he brake out into those passionate words O wretch that I am who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death King Dauid surueyed the Law and the excellent properties of the Law but what is the vpshot of his meditation Euen this Who knoweth how oft he offendeth Lord cleanse me from my secret faults keepe thy seruant from presumptuous sinnes lest they haue dominion ouer me And verily no man can behold himselfe in that glasse and consider what manner of person he is but hee will bee driuen to that prayer in the last Penitentiall 〈◊〉 143 Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant O Lord for in thy sight shall no flesh liuing be iustified The Precept then maketh afraid And doth not the Sanction also Certainly it doth The Prophets that had a sight of God armed with vengeance against sinners how doe we find them affected and affrighted Câ—ap 6. Esay saw the Lord sitting vpon a Throne high and lifted vp his traine filled the Temple aboue it stood the six winged Seraphins c. it is a Vision of iudgement and it made Esay crie out Woe is me for I am vndone 〈◊〉 3.2.16 c. Habakuk had a Vision of the like argument which he describeth more at large and heare what was the effect When I heard it my belly trembled my lips quiuered at the voice rottennesse entred into my bones Psal 119 Dauid confesseth of himselfe My flesh trembleth for feare of thee O Lord and I am afraid of thy iudgements But you will say
they are raised thereby The Motiues are her state considered first in it selfe and that first in what termes she standeth with God good termes Highly fauoured The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very word calleth for Ioy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are as neare in nature as in name Grace is the seed of Ioy we learne it in the 86. and 87. Psalmes Light is sowne for the righteous and ioyfulnesse for them that are true hearted But the Rhemists interrupt vs and quarrell with our translation they would haue it full of grace And doe wee deny it we doe not our Liturgie refutes them in the Gospell wee reade it Haile full of grace wee confesse the Syriac agreeth with it and that the Fathers haue it so and did not they abuse it still might it goe so but the abuse is grosse and to shew that the aduantage thereof is not in the originall words the Church not without cause hath recourse vnto the fountaines and therehence doth discouer how weake the hold fast is which they take vpon their translation For Full of Grace are doubtfull words there is Grace of acceptance and Grace of inherence whether is here meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheweth that the Angell meant the former Neither doe wee onely say so but themselues also yea the very Iesuites themselues most deuoted to the Virgin Mary confesse that the word so signifieth and must be so taken here the more inexcusable is the Rhemists slander But you will say they include Grace of inherence also Doe wee deny it God forbid we confesse St. Austins rule to be true Vasa quae creatrix sapientia format vt sint adiutrix gratia implet ne vacua sint God that with the holy oile annointed the Tabernacle before he entred to dwel within it did no doubt sanctifie the Virgins person whom he did destinate to be his sacred Temple But the question is concerning the Measure In the measure we say that they exceed their Church exceeds If the Councell of Basil and the Councell of Trent deliuer the Doctrine of their Church they exceed in the measure both of her grace and glory Of her Grace freeing her very conception from sinne contrary to the iudgement not onely of the Fathers but also of their best Schoolemen St. Bernard hath written a very learned Epistle against it Epist 174. ad Canonicos Ludgnnenses Neither doe they lauish onely in their Doctrine of her Grace but of her Glory also and in this much more dangerously euen so much more dangerously as the danger of Idolatry exceedes the danger of Heresie especially this Idolatry because it includes that Heresie They then hauing so farre aduanced the Virgin in the opinion of her Grace doethereupon proportion vnto her such a degree of Glory as that seeing Christ is Head of the Church she must be the Necke and as no influence commeth from the head into the body but by the necke so no grace is communicated to the Church but by the Virgin Mary Are you not amazed when you heare it certainly you would bee if you read the prayers which they make to her euident arguments that they doe beleeue it and foule Idolatry staines all their prayers wherein they doe expresse it I would they would behold themselues in the Collyridian Heretickes and apply vnto themselues that doome which Epiphanius passeth vpon them Heres 79. But I forget my promise I said I would rather edisie you with the truth than refute errour wherefore leauing them let vs come to better matter Ioy is an effect whereof the Angell will haue the Virgin to looke vnto the cause the cause may be looked for either in her selfe or in God or as I spake before in Grace of Acceptance or Inherence It is plaine by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Angell guides her eyes to looke on the former not the later to looke vpon the fauour she findeth rather than the indowments which she hath Angels fall and Mans also was caused by their desire to ioy in themselues for selfe-loue bred their Apostasie And though since the Fall man haue little cause to fall in loue with himselfe yet is hee not free from danger if in himselfe hee will finde the ground of Ioy for he is through the sight of his imperfection as much in danger to despaire as through the sight of his perfection hee was to presume the perfections of the best though they be such as are not void of comfort yet because they haue intermingled many imperfections that comfort must needes haue a mixture of much discomfort entire and solide ioy cannot be found there Wherefore St. Anstins confession must be the confession of vs all Beata vita est saith hee speaking vnto God gaudere ad te de te propter te if we will ioy wee must lift vp our soules as high as God and in our ioy couple nothing with God we must be induced vnto ioy by no other end but to expresse our thankfulnesse for the mercy of God this is the true motiue of entire and solide ioy But a little farther to open it this word doth eleuate the ioy to that degree which beseemes a Christian man there are other obiects which vsurpe falsly that which belongs vnto God Carnall pleasures are the first vsurpers and many rest vpon them they rellish nothing but their meates their drinkes and sensuall lusts whose ioy if it be any it is but gaudium animalis there is nothing that can giue content vnto a man in such a ioy because these pleasures are common to vs with beasts Rationall indowments eyther of the vnderstanding or of the will furnished with liberall arts or morall vertues are the second vsurpers indeed their title vnto ioy is much better than the former yet their plea is but weake Salomon hath censured knowledge as vnfit to breed ioy in that short saying Qui addit scientiae addit dolori And as for Morall Vertues Eccles 1.18 destitute of Grace what ioy can there be in them which the Fathers haue iudiciously censured to be no better than splendid a peccata So that the ioy promised by this vsurper if it be any it is but gaudium hominis the ioy of a naturall man and therefore as imperfect as is his nature The third vsurper goeth a degree higher and that is Inherent Grace whose plea is so probable that it perplexeth many a man and yet it is but an vsurpers plea because of the rebellion betweene the flesh and the spirit and the often ouerthrowes which the spirit receiues in vs from the flesh and what ioy can there be in the midst of so many foyles in him that daily receiueth so many wounds so that ioy if there be any it is but the Pharisees ioy that thinkes of himselfe better than he should and so doteth vpon the little good he hath that he obserues not how much more there is which he should haue
with it And indeed they may easily ouercharge vs as appeareth in the next reason the reason of our prayer The spirit is wilâ—ing but the flesh is weake I will not trouble you with the diuers sense that is put vpon these words the best and the most agree that these two words note the two parts of a regenerate man the spirit noting the New and the flesh the Old man and so this passage agreeth with the like Rom. 7. the phrases themselues doe giue vs to vnderstand that our willingnesse to serue God is not from Nature but from Grace and our backwardnesse is not from Grace but from Nature If these two parts do not concurre the spirit the flesh the flesh may plucke backe as much as the spirit putteth forward yea and though they doe concurre yet the spirit is too quicke for the flesh and will venture farther than flesh dares to follow Tertullians rule is true that these words import Quid eui subijci debeat whether of the parts should haue the command but all goeth not as it should because one part is inabled to will but the other is not inabled to obey therefore St. Hierome saith well Quantum de ardore mentis confidimus tantum de fragilitate carnis metuamus we must not suppose we can doe all we would but we must pray that the spirit that is well disposed may also bee strong to subdue the flesh as by watching the flesh is dis-inabled to sinne so by praying is the spirit inabled to rule But more distinctly First touching the willingnesse of the spirit there is great difference betweene the habit of grace and the vse thereof though wee be well qualified with the habit yet except God excite and assist wee make little vse thereof Now the willingnesse of the spirit here meant is the ability of a regenerate man without the assistance of God and we must pray for the latter because without it the former will auaile but little As for the weaknesse of the flesh it must be vnderstood with a restraint ad bonum for to resist it is strong enough strong enough to resist the spirit but weake to resist temptation And why the Tempter offereth to the flesh if it yeeld that which the flesh naturally desireth and if it yeeld not he threatneth what the flesh naturally abhorres corporall comfort is that whereafter the body doth long by nature as by nature it doth Ioath the losse thereof The Tempter therefore hath an easie conquest vpon the flesh except Gods hand goe with it in vaine is it countermanded by the spirit many wofull examples haue the Primitiue Churches of this frailty of our nature and euery day is too fertill in spectacles hereof if the Tempter set vpon the flesh he will easily carry vs away though not without some contradiction of the spirit And here we see the fountaine of all our sinnes of infirmity the roote of them is this oddes betweene the flesh and the spirit and this is the whetstone of Prayer the best men if they be buffeted with the messenger of Sathan as Saint Paul was their best remedy is that which Saint Paul vsed Prayer vnto God whose Grace onely can be sufficient for vs 2. Cor. 12. â— and whose strength is made perfect in our weaknesse If this lesson be necessary for those that haue some inward alacrity how much more for them that are altogether drowsie if the best must pray in conscience of their infirmity how feruent in prayer should they be that feele not in themselues that forwardnesse of grace how earnestly should they pray O God make speed to saue vs O Lord make haste to helpe vs I conclude all This whole Text is a lesson of modesty and calleth vpon vs to worke out our saluation in feare and trembling seeing it is God that worketh in vs both to will and to doe not that wee should wauer in our faith but that we should not presume vpon our owne strength remembring that it is an easie matter to vow much while we are on the shore whereof we will be little mindfull when wee be ouertaken at sea Many faire flowers shoote forth when the Sunne shineth which come to nought if they be nipt with a Frost we may not presume that we will be more constant than the Apostles let their weaknesse teach vs to be humble lest if wee promise more than we performe Christ taxe our pride and vpbraid our weaknesse the Tempter will euer set on vs therefore let vs neuer cease to Watch. But the more wee finde out our danger by Watching the more let vs flye to God in Praying that the same God which hath giuen vs a willing spirit may also giue vs obedient flesh that both may hold out in the day of Temptation so shall they both reioyce in the liuing God reioyce here while they sticke fast vnto Christ notwithstanding the Crosse and reioyce hereafter when both comming out of all tribulation shall from Christ receiue an immarcescible Crowne THE SECOND SERMON On Good-Friday MARKE 14.35.36 And he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the houre might passe from him And hee said Abba Father all things are possible vnto thee take away this Cup from mee neuerthelesse not that I will but what thou wilt IN the history of Christs Crosse which wee commemorate this day there are two remarkable parts first a feeling representation thereof which Christ made vnto himselfe and secondly a constant perpession thereof when it was imposed by others The first may bee called Propassio and the second Passio there went a Crosse before the Crosse a fore-Crosse before the after-Crosse a rationall before the sensitiue Christ wrought a smart in himselfe before hee was stricken by others This feeling representation this fore-hand Crosse this selfe-affliction is the argument of those words that now I haue read vnto you The whole Tract is conceiued in forme of a prayer and indeed it is an Offertory prayer Christ by prayer sets the stampe of a sacrifice vpon his death and turneth his suffering into an offering In this Prayer wee are to obserue the circumstances that attend it and the substance of it The circumstances are two when and where when he prayed timely he prayed before he suffered he armed himselfe before he came vnto the conflict But where in a priuate place that hee might more freely poure forth his soule to God he withdrew himselfe from all company of men In the substance of the Prayer wee must see first to Whom it is directed and secondly What is expressed in it It is directed vnto the Father and there is reason it should be so directed by him was the Crosse ordained therefore a prayer against the Crosse must be directed vnto him But as he to whom Christ directed his prayer is his Father so in directing of it he doth expresse the behauiour of a Childe The behauiour of a childe is
to giue so hee may giue as much or as little as hee will for hee may doe what hee will with his owne but hee doth not onely follow his Will but the counsell of his Will as this Apostle teacheth vs Occumenius and the counsell of his Will or his Wisedome doth respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the endowment of the Church As in our body naturall God hath ioyned beauty and commodity in framing the limmes so that euery one hath that proportion as is most comely and vsefull so the Church though vna yet is varia though it be but one body yet hath it diuers members and though the one body be quickned with the same spirit yet in euery member the spirit doth varie his gifts and the Church thereby is the more beautified and benefited so that no man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficient of himselfe but hee is thereby vrged to desire the Communion of Saints wherein stands our mutuall comelinesse and comfort Seeing then Christ giues as hee thinkes meete euery man is bound to thanke him for that which hee hath and enuie must not make him murmure for that which hee hath not It is absurd for a man to dislike with the dispensation of Christ it is as if the members of the body should grudge that they haue not the endowments each of the other wherein if God should satisfie them the deformity and discommodity which would follow would quickly make them weary of their desires Though Christ be thus discreet in giuing yet is hee kindly bountifull also for he giues to euery one St. Ambrose hath a good rule In donis officiorum diuer sitas est non Naturae all drinke of the same spirit though they drinke not the same draught As in our naturall body there is no member that liues not by the soule no more is there in the mysticall Bodie any member that liues not by the Spirit Christ will haue euery one haue some token of his loue and will haue euery one stand the Church in some stead The Church I say for the particle All is limited by Vs. There are gifts that are bestowed vpon all the world as wee acknowledge in our daily grace The eyes of all things looke vp vnto thee O Lord and thou giuest them their meate in due season thou openest thy hand and fillest with thy blessing euery liuing thing Psal 145. but the graces here meant are the peculiar of the Church you heard it in the Gospell this day The spirit is such a thing as the world cannot receiue but the Church seeth and knowes him and he shall abide with her for euer for it is onely the Church that can say The Let is fallen to her in a faire ground she hath a goodly heritage But the gifts that as vpon this day descended on the Apostles were visible gifts and they had corporall effects speaking in diuers languages casting out diuells curing of diseases treading vpon serpents c. these gifts we haue not how then haue we the spirit that descended this day Gregory the Great answereth well Thou hast it though it appeare in another sort Thou canst not speake diuers tongues but of what Nation soeuer thou art thou canst speake the language of Canaan and it is as great a miracle that all Nations vnderstand the same heauenly language as that the same person should speake all languages Thou canst not cast out Diuels out of mens bodies but out of their soules thou mayst and cure the diseases of their soule though thou canst not the diseases of their body yea bruise thou mayst the old Serpents head though thou canst not safely tread vpon a Snake In a word thou mayst doe many things inuisibly and spiritually which are not inferiour to those things which the Apostles did visibly and corporally and doubt not but if thou beare the fruit of the Spirit the Spirit of Christ doth rest vpon thee And if wee doe solemnize the memory of Saints how much more should we solemnize the memory of the Sanctifier wee are all bound to keep this day holy to the Lord because this day the Lord gaue that gift which doth concerne vs all Wherefore let vs all say BLessed be the Lord God euen the God of our saluation hee daily loadeth vs with his gifts euen the spirituall gifts of Grace Hee that giues them fill vs with them that as we are called to be so we may be indeed comely and profitable members of the mysticall Body of Christ and liue for euer conformable to our Head Amen THE SECOND SERMON On Trinity Sunday at an Ordination of Ministers EPHES. 4.11 He gaue some to be Apostles some Prophets and some Euangelists and some Pastors and Teachers THE passage of Scripture contained from the 7. to the 17. Verse doth informe vs of the reasons which perswade Christians to agree in Gods truth These reasons are two drawne the one from the meanes whereby the other from the end for which the Church receiues the spirituall gifts of God The meanes is Christ And touching Christ St. Paul teacheth vs in this passage what he doth and what right he hath to doe it That which hee doth is expressed three wayes but all yeeld but one sense 1. He giues grace 2. He bestowes gifts 3. He fils all things that is his gift is a filling grace Grace is a free gift a gift Donum non salarium not an hyre of our labour but an argument of Gods fauour And this gift is free it is grounded vpon no obligation all gifts of men are in part due as the reciprocall between equals for loue challengeth loue or those that are not reciprocall between vnequals be they Honoraria or Eleemosynaria whereof the inferiour oweth the former to his superior in acknowledgement of his eminency and the superiour owes the latter vnto his inferiour out of a fellow-feeling which hee must haue of his wants but Gods gifts can neither bee deserued nor requited neither doth he finde ought worthy his regard in vs neither doth any danger of his moue him to commiserate vs His gift then is absolutely free But this is common to the gifts as well of Creation as of Redemption but the Scripture restraines the word Grace vnto the gifts of Redemption which are not onely non debita but indebita whereof God owes vs no one but he owes vs the contrary that is plagues and therefore hee doth giue not only non dignis to those that are without all merit of good but also indignis to those that are full of the merits of sinne The word then is plainly Euangelicall and signifieth such blessings as accompany the New Testament those blessings are most properly termed Grace This grace hath a power to fill which no other thing hath and it fils sistendo and explendo desiderium it fixeth our wandring desires so that we desire no other obiect and this is able to satisfie to the full and satisfie the whole man Now
this filling grace is nothing else but the Holy Ghost But by the Holy Ghost we must vnderstand not onely his gifts but also his person both are bestowed on vs the gifts to qualifie vs and the person to continue and increase these qualities in vs. And herein stands a great difference betweene Adam created and Adam redeemed Adam had rich gifts but hee had not the promise of the Spirit to perpetuate his gifts but we haue in Christ And indeed Christ is the Giuer St. Paul saith so but the Psalmist makes him a Receiuer they are easily reconciled for he receiued that which he gaue Therefore Christ here is vnderstood as hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and Man hee receiued as Man that which he gaue as he was God And he gaue this discreetly according to a measure not his power but his wisedome moderated his gift and his wisedome had an eye to the comelinesse and commodity of his mysticall Body the Church And although he gaue discreetly he gaue vniuersally to euery one is his grace giuen euery member hath a marke of his fauour and hath some gift wherewith he may stead the Church And thus farre we came the last Sabbath in opening what Christ doth we must now goe on and see another point herein contained in this 11. Verse Christ giues grace but hee giues it not without meanes for hee giues Ministers And of these Ministers this Verse doth shew vs the different degrees and the common originall the different degrees for some are Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists c. the common originall for Christ giues them all Of these points God willing briefly and in their order First then Christ that is our means vseth means himself giues grace before he giues grace To vnderstand this we must obserue a distinction of grace There is grace of Adoption and grace of Edification the first makes Christians the second maketh Ministers Christ giues the latter that by it he may giue the former The Ministers Calling then stands in grace of Edification that is in ability to bring others to the state of Christians Christ could doe it of himselfe he that at first made man after his Image could repaire that Image againe in man And that he can doe it he sheweth plainly in those whom he first cals and maketh meanes to call others of these wee haue patternes Adam Abraham the Apostles So that though causa salutis be coniuncta yet it is arbitraria the vse of meanes in our saluation is not necessary but voluntary no Minister may dreame that Christ doth vse him because he needs him he must rather acknowledge how much he is bound to Christ that he vouchsafeth to vse him though he hath no need of him He doth honour him with the name of a Co-adiutor and fellow-labourer in the whole course of mans conuersion Ministers beget vs to Christ they nourish vs in Christ they binde and loose our soules they open and shut Heauen and in a word they saue All these things Christ doth by them and the people must acknowledge causam coniunctam the co-operation of the Minister with Christ St. Paul doth excellently expresse it by the resemblance of an Epistle written whereunto he compares the Corinthians 2. Cor. 3. and makes the author thereof the Spirit and himselfe Hee vseth another similitude of Husbandry 1. Cor. 3. whereunto concurreth God and himselfe The foolishnesse of Preaching and the demonstration of the Spirit goe together and Faith is wrought by Gods Word but as it is heard from men The people then may not seuer these they may not looke for inspirations from heauen without preaching on earth nor thinke that preaching on earth will preuaile without inspiration from heauen But causae coniunctae are eyther coordinatae or subordinatae they are both of equall power or one hath soueraignty ouer the other Christ concurres with man and man with Christ But farre be it from vs to thinke that their power is equall in this businesse no Dominium est Christi Ministerium hominis Christ is Lord man is but the seruant and therefore whatsoeuer man doth he must doe according to his instructions he may not presume to doe more or lesse Balaam could tell Balaac so and St. Paul deliuers nothing but what be receiued of the Lord. We may not make new Articles of Faith nor institute new Sacraments we may not publish any other Couenant betweene God and man than our Master is pleased to enter into nor set to any other seales than his The Angels behold Gods face alwayes to direct their seruice and Christ did not his owne but his Fathers will when hee was on earth and shall man arrogate more vnto himselfe No he must still remember his subordination and venter no farther than he hath commission I haue not yet opened enough the inequality betweene Christ and vs in this worke for indeed a Minister is not only a subordinate cause but also no better than an instrument the efficacy of all that hee doth proceedeth from him that vseth it Other Soueraignes giue their charge and leaue their seruants to vse their owne faculties in dispatch of their businesse and the worke is no greater than their faculties can compasse the Embassadors and Commissioners of Princes beare witnesse to this truth according to their weaknesse or wisedome doth their errant speede But it is not so in that worke wherein Christ and the Minister concurres it is true that the Minister must vse the vttermost of his endeauour and husband his talent to the best aduantage but his planting his watering his watching his building is of little force except the worke be set forward with a stronger hand except Christ giue increase there is an inward influence which is soly Christs and produceth the Heauenly light and life In regard of this Ministers are but Imagines as Saint Ambrose speaketh in Psal 38. they do but outwardly delineate and represent in the Word and Sacraments what Christ doth powerfully worke by his Spirit So that the Minister seeth how farre hee is employed and how short hee comes in this worke of equality with Christ And seeing Christ will haue our ministry vsher as it were his efficacy and will haue the people to reuerence our words if they meane to bee partaker of his workes Chrysostome speaketh not amisse when he saith that we doe in potestate seruire so serue our Master that we haue authority ouer the Church and so we need not be ashamed nor may be contemned whose seruice is so honourable And thus much in generall of the calling of the Ministry I come now to speake of their degrees And here we must marke that they haue all a degree aboue others but yet they differ in degrees betweene themselues grace of Adoption is common to all the Church not so grace of Edification the Apostle implyes it in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 restraining the later grace to some few And indeed if all should haue
could professe their Faith The Ancients write much de Catechumenis worth our reading and imitating in the same case and of those adulti or Persons come to the yeares of discretion must you vnderstand all those rules in the Scripture which require those acts of the reasonable soule Faith Hope and Charitie before admission into the Church of whom yee may require one you may require all and of whom you may not require all you may require neuer a one But Christ doth not here prescribe who shall be baptized but How At least Christ doth not forbidde them to be baptized which are not taught but commands them that are taught to be baptized Children of the faithfull must bee baptized vpon another ground they are not increduli they haue no actuall vnbeliefe neyther can they Ponere obicem resist the grace of the Spirit or make themselues vncapable thereof Secondly they are foederati they are in Gods Couenant by meanes of their Parents whom when God receiued into the Church he receiued them with this Promise Ero Deus tuus seminis tâ—ui So then there is an obligation that lieth vpon children by a natiue allegiance vnto God the Vow that their Sureties make for them is not arbitrary but necessary and he is bound to make it good aswell as a childe vnder age is bound when hee commeth to age to satisfie his Tutor for whatsoeuer hee reasonably doth expend vpon his health foode apparrell and whatsoeuer else the child did owe himselfe by the Law of Nature and of Reason See then is the child on his part so bound vnto God in his infancy and is not God bound vnto the child by his Promise euen in the same infancie to giue him the grace of his Couenant and the Minister in his Name to seale vnto the childe the assurance thereof by the Sacrament Surely hee is otherwise the stipulation is not mutuall And take away this what is the prerogatiue of a Christians childe beyond the childe of a Turke or Infidell To thinke there is none is impious and besides this they can name none As then Kings giue vnto their naturall subiects euen so soone as euer they are borne the benefit due vnto subiects though they expect their personall Homage till they come to yeares of discretion so doth God deale with the new-borne subiects of the Kingdome of heauen And as it were very hard for a King to put a childe borne vnder his allegiance out of the protection of his law till he is of yeares to doe his owne Homage and take his Oath so standeth it not with the goodnesse of God to with-hold the benefit of the Sacrament from him whom he hath taken to bee his childe till he can with his owne voice professe that hee doth vow himselfe to bee such Nay as in the Primitiue Church many together with holy Orders receiued the qualities fit to discharge the calling though others were qualified before they were ordered euen so in Baptisme some receiue the grace of Faith Hope and Charity by the Sacrament as infants though those which are come to yeares of discretion must bee in some sort seasoned with them before they are baptized But the time biddeth mee end and reserue what I haue farther to say vpon this Text till some other time Wherefore LEt vs pray God that the Pastors may so teach and the People so learne that both doing their duety in the Kingdome of Grace may receiue their reward in the Kingdome of Glory from him that hath all power both in Heauen and Earth This he grant into whose Name wee are baptized the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost To this one God in three Persons be rendred all honour and glory now and for euer Amen THE SECOND SERMON MATTH 28. Vers 20. Teaching them to obserue all things whatsoeuer I haue commanded you And lo I am with you alwayes vnto the end of the world Amen THis Text with the former Verse doth containe Christs right to send and his sending of his Apostles Hee had good right to send because hee is Soueraigne Lord of all the World Hee sendeth them with a common charge and comfort Their charge is to goe through the whole world to endeauour to conuert all both Iewes and Gentiles vnto Christ If in doing their errand they speed with any they are first to consecrate them vnto God by Baptisme and then to conforme their liues vnto the Gospell This is the summe of the common charge Their common comfort standeth in the powerfull and perpetuall presence of Christ Christ promiseth to be with them Hee will be with them that hath all power hoth in heauen and earth And hee will neuer forsake them he will be with them alwaies or with their successors Hee will bee with them vntill the worlds end Vpon this comfort they must sixe their eyes Loe or Behold and their hopefull prayer must desire this Amen These be the particulars whereinto heretofore speaking vnto you vpon a like occasion I brake this and the former Verses I then handled Christs right to send I haue opened vnto you the large Diocesse ouer which the Apostles were set you haue seene how they must endeauour their conuersion and last of all I opened vnto you the manner of consecrating beleeuers vnto Christ farther I could not goe at that time except I would trespasse too much vpon your patience I purpose now God willing to goe on and goe through with the particulars which remaine vntoucht Of the Charge then there remaines one point to be handled and that is the conforming the liues of beleeuers vnto the Gospell of Christ The Apostles are willed to teach beleeuers to keepe all things whatsoeuer Christ had commanded his Apostles In which words I will obserue vnto you these two things first whereunto the seruice of a Minister is resembled to the office of a Schoolemaster the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alludes thereunto and they must proceed in this manner they must praeire verbo exemplo by word and by deed Christs word for they must teach them to doe all whatsoeuer Christ hath commanded but the deedes must bee their owne for Christ hath layed his commandements immediately vpon the Apostles to do all things which I haue commanded you But let vs open these points a little more fully first the resemblance of a Minister to a Schoolemaster The resemblance is very fit The first name that euer was giuen vnto Christians was the name of Disciples that is Schollars wee finde the name in the former Verse implyed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make Disciples Now if the beleeuers are Disciples then the Pastors are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Masters of those Schollars they are appointed to instruct them and so the most renowned of the Fathers are in the writings of the Fathers oftentimes termed But that which I will obserue vnto you that are to be ordered is from Schoolemasters to learne a point of discretion they
which Saint Iames condemnes yet Christ blameth their vnderstanding because it did not guide their heart aright wherein hee implyes that they are ill aduised and that they would not haue done it i◠they had better considered of it by which it appeares that Estis is taken for Esse debetis you are is put for you ought to be for they were not what they should be That will appeare better in Christs more distinct Reproofe The Sonne of man is not come to destroy but to saue mens liues which words may haue a threefold sense The first is to distinguish Iesus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 each answereth his name The one destroyeth the other saueth The Apostles must not turne the Sauiour into a destroyer that is to parallel Christ and the the Deuill And this sense is implyed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are Coniugates with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A second sense there is wherein this phrase distinguisheth betweene Christs first and second Comming and sheweth that though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ shall come for to destroy when he commeth to iudgement yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee was not alreadie come but to saue Therefore they were not to confound these two Commings and to doe Acts of the later at his first Comming when he commeth not only to giue himselfe for men but expects their repentance also The last sense is an opposition of Christ to Elias each is to answere his Name Elias his name signifieth The power of God and indeed all the time of his Ministerie what was it but a manifestation of Gods wrathfull power in executing vengeance vpon sinners his words his deeds runne all that way But Christs Name was Iesus and Iesus is a Sauiour God hath not sent his Sonne to condemne but to saue the world and it is a true saying That he came into the world to saue sinners Therefore as King Dauid answered the sonnes of Zeruia when they would haue had him slay Shimei 2. Sam. 19. because he cursed the Lords Anointed What haue I to doe with you yee sonnes of Zeruia that yee should this day bee vnto me as Satan Shall there any man die this day in Israel So doth Christ coole his Apostles and shew that their desire must be correspondent to the end of his Incarnation Yea the very phrase Filius Hominis imports a tendernesse in Christ Chap. 2. Saint Paul obserues it in the Hebrewes He became man that he might be a mercifull High Priest And this sweetnesse of his nature and mildnesse of his spirit was signified both by the title of a Lambe which was giuen him at his death and the shape of a Doue which lighted on him at his Baptisme And indeed what likelihood that hee would burne a Towne of the Samaritans for not receiuing him that prayed for Hierusalem euen when the Iewes were readie to crucifie him yea Father forgiue them was his reuenge when they scoffed him hanging on the Crosse Christ that came to saue all sorts of people was pleased to suffer wrong of them all that so none should thinke they deserued better then other There were then but three sorts of people in the world two extremes Iewes and Gentiles and one composed of them both Samaritans The Iewes and Gentiles euill intreated him at Hierusalem the Samaritans vpon his way thither Christ was bitter to none of them but let them all haue proofe of the meeknesse of his spirit though his Disciples were not so Peter was busie with his sword at Hierusalem and Iames and Iohn are desirous to haue fire at Samaria But as at Hierusalem hee shewed Peter so here at Samaria hee sheweth Iames and Iohn the errour of their zeale and learneth them this lesson which Nazianzene hath in his Tetrasticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Most sweet is this assertion of Christ and it is the chiefest comfort of our soules for if thou Lord marke what is done amisse O Lord who shall abide it Surely if our Master were as apt to smite as his seruants Chrysost de Anathemate our Lord as his Ambassadours if Christs Anathemaes were as quicke as mens what would become of the world what combustions what destruction should we see But God bethanked it is not so And wee shall doe well to learne of him especially Pastors must learne to be like the great shepheard of our soules Christ doth not only disproue in Words but in Deeds also They went vnto another Village Hee taught his Disciples before so to doe If they persecute you in one Citie flie to another The Precept wrought not In Tetrast he giueth them a Patterne Facile est verbis philosophari doce me vitae tuae exemplo for as Nazianzene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And indeed whereas Christ was not ignorant before hee sent how the Samaritans would vse him yet was hee pleased to haue a repulse that he might teach his Disciples how to beare it for Christs life no lesse then his doctrine was a Gospel and hee instructed no lesse by his Deeds then he did by his Words and he taught no lesson more then he did Patience But I haue stood long enough in opening the meaning of this text Let me come now to the principall vse which I intend to make of it which is twofold The first is to ground thereon a good resolution of conscience The second to stirre vs vp vnto thankfulnesse for our wonderfull deliue rance For the Case of Conscience we must obserue That generous minds vndertake not detestable facts except their Conscience first be poysoned Secondly that the Diuell is not contented that we sinne in Passion for so in cold bloud wee might retract and take a better course hee desireth therefore that we may be wicked habitually so he shall be sure to haue vs his at all times and that wee will neuer sticke at the most hellish attempts For if the conscience be once so seasoned that it will take euill for good and good for euill the Angell of darknesse rule therein transformed into an Angell of light this false light will so possesse our vnderstanding that the most hellish darknesse of our affections shall neuer be discerned by vs yea the worse wee are the better wee shall please our selues for euery man resteth secure in the testimonie of his owne conscience and he questioneth no farther then to resolue that The Gunpowder Traitors before they were deliuerered of that Monster had scruples whether it were lawfull They consult their Ghostly Fathers for it is a common rule Histiaeus vestem consuit quam induit Aristagoras as the Persian in Herodotus speaketh of the Samianes reuolt no treacherie without a Priests head who worketh notwithstanding by other mens hands they are put out of all doubt that such attempts are so farre from being sinfull that they are meritorious If any man doubt that this is their doctrine let him
Quo modo how this Sacring was performed it was performed Signo visibili verbo audibili with a visible signe and an audible word The Signe commeth first in the Text we are told what it was and what it ment It was the shape of a Doue and by it was ment the Spirit of God But touching this Signe wee learne here moreouer Vnde and Quo Whence it came where it pitcht whence the Heauens were opened vnto him and the Spirit of God descended where it pitcht the Spirit that descended lighted on Iesus You see what was the Visible signe A visible signe of it selfe is but a dumbe shew it may amaze it cannot instruct therefore it must bee illustrated and it is here illustrated by an audible word the word is called Vox de Caelo a voyce from Heauen and it was fit it should be so for from whence came the vision from thence was the Reuelation for to come the vision was from Heauen therefore the Reuelation thereof also But this is not all that we learne here concerning the word goe on and you shall finde Cuius and de quo who it is that vttereth it and of whom He that vttereth it is not exprest but fairely implied in Filius meus my Sonne Iesus could not be the Sonne but of GOD the Father therefore is it GOD the FATHER that speaketh the word And the word that he speaketh concerneth Iesus it teacheth vs first What he is to God the Father and secondly What he doth for vs. He is neere because the Sonne and deare because his beloued Sonne adde to both the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Sonne that beloued Sonne and then he will prooue neere and deare indeed From him that is so great with God we may not exspect small matters that which hee doth is answerable to that which hee is he doth that which neuer any other person could doe he propitiateth GODS wrath and by him we finde grace in the eyes of GOD These blessings of IESVS are contained in the last words In whom I am well pleased There is one Point more All this commendations that is giuen vnto IESVS referreth to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This this person that is in the middest of you that maketh so little shew and is so little regarded is hee whom I so esteeme and vpon whom depends your soueraigne good I will not you may not for his Humilitie defraud him of his Glory You haue seene a glimpse of the Sacring of Christ though I should not yet the Text would require you to entertaine it with your best regard for the visible signe the audible word both are prefaced with a particle of attention Loe loe the Heauens were opened Loe a voyce from Heauen the word doth summon your eyes your eares to behold to attend these holy Mysteries And I pray GOD so to sanctifie your eyes and your eares that while I take a sunder this Text and shew it you more fully in the parts the blessed Trinitie may vouchsafe by them to instill into you some fructifying drops of our blessed Sauiours heauenly Vnction Amongst the particulars where-into I resolued the Text the first was the circumstance of Time when CHRIST was baptized CHRIST was baptized before he was Sacred hee was receiued into the new Couenant by Baptisme before hee became a dispenser thereof And the Church neuer thought it fit to swarue from so good a Patterne and conferre Holy Orders vpon any that was not first incorporated into the Church Yea it hath alwayes gon for a grounded truth that it is Baptisme that maketh a man capable of other Holy rites and that being vnbaptized he is vncapable of them Secondly the circumstance of Time doth notifie the kinde of grace that was figured in the descension of the Doue he descended not in but after the Act of Baptisme Had hee descended in the Act it might haue beene thought that onely Gratia gratum faciens the grace of regeneration or sanctification had beene represented by the Doue but descending after some farther kind of grace is more ouer intimated What that grace was let vs breifely inquire Some fetch hence the Originall of Confirmation and suppose that Christ the Head confirmed himselfe here vnto his Body the Church So that as in the Church Baptizati recipiunt spiritum sanctum they that are first baptized are after confirmed so CHRIST would be confirmed after hee was baptized There is no doubt but the Right of confirmation is Apostolicall notwithstanding the friuolous exceptions that by some are taken to it and it may passe inter pie credibilia that CHRIST did vouchsafe in his owne person to sanctifie that as hee did many other sacred rites of the Church But yet it may not be denied that ouer and aboue here is ment another kind of grace a grace that is not common to euery member of the Church as the grace of confirmation is but peculiar vnto a publique Person such as CHRIST was now called to be And therefore I call it Sacring grace such a kind of grace seemeth to be intimated by the circumstance of Time The second circumstance is that of Place the Place was where CHRIST stood after he came out of the water that was the banke of Iordan which St. Iohn calleth Bethabara the very name doth containe a Monument of the children of Israels first passage there into the land of Canaan and then the Place is not without a Mysterie the choice thereof giueth vs to vnderstand that the Historie of Iosua was performed in Iesus that the waters of Baptisme were become a passage from earth to Heauen from the condition of Nature to the condition of Grace and that euen while wee liue in this vaile of miserie we are thereby enrolled among the Saints Adde hereunto that Bethabara was now a place of great concourse Hierusalem Iudaea all the Regions about Iordan and all sorts of men resorted thither to be baptized of Iohn and it was meete that so great a worke as CHRISTS Sacring should be performed in a great assembly Yea all the remarkeable manifestations of our Sauiour his Miracles his Sermons his Death c. are noted to haue beene publike they were not as St. Paul obserues to King Agrippa done in a corner the vnbeleeuing Iew or other that doubts or disputes of their truth is by the circumstance of Place conuicted to doe it out of affected ignorance And let this suffice for the circumstance I come to the substance of the Sacring where first wee must see who it is that was sacred Wee finde that it was the same Person that was baptized the Sonne of God clothed with the nature of man Where note that Iesus had two Abilities an Actiue a Passiue one to giue another to receiue the Spirit hee that was able for to giue was contented 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the diuine dispensation and humble condition whereunto for our sakes hee submitted himselfe to receiue the Spirit And indeed
Inauguration though it did not then make him but declare him to bee the King the Priest the Prophet of his Church But a little farther to enlarge this point distinguish Signum and Signatum In regard of the Signe the Holy Ghost came now vpon Iesus that he might point him out to St. Iohn Baptist for had not the Doue pitcht vpon IESVS the voyce from Heauen might haue beene misapplied but the signe put it out of all question who was meant If you looke to the thing signified then doeth St. Ierome giue a most comfortable note The Holy Ghost lighted vpon Iesus that he might inure himselfe more familiarly then before to dwell with the sonnes of men and make them new creatures for as St. Austin thinketh CHRIST did now vouchsafe to prefigure his Church wherein those that are baptized receiue the Holy Ghost and CHRIST receiued the Spirit aboue measure that of his fulnesse wee might all receiue grace for grace which S. Iohn seemeth to confirme when he saith that he descended and stayed vpon him in the signe vntill the word was spoken but in the grace vntill the worlds end Vntill the Worlds end shall CHRIST be those Oliue trees in Zacharie which feed the lights that burne in the house of GOD for he was anointed not onely Prae but Pro consortibus suis not onely aboue but also for his Church And although in the members of the Church grace may ebbe and flow yet in CHRIST is it alwayes constant and at the full Finally note the improouement of CHRISTS honour it was great when the Heauens opened and the Angels ascended and descended vpon him but when the Heauens opened and the Holy Ghost descended vpon him then was his honour much more great I haue done with the Visible signe and come now to the Audible Word The signe had beene but a dumbe shew without the Word for those signes that are sacred doe not signifie Natura sua by their owne nature but Diuino Instituto by diuine Institution and who knows it but hee that commands it and by his Word informes vs of his purpose Therefore GOD neuer appoints any Visible signe but hee addeth an audible word as appeares in Sacrifices and Sacraments which had precepts and promises annext shewing their vse and effects This light added to those shadowes did guide men to see their reference and correspondency the neglect whereof caused the carnall Iew and causeth the superstitious Papist to maime the mysteries of Religion and feed vpon beggerly rudiments and emptie ceremonies If wee will bee truely and fully religious wee must ioyne both and let both worke in their order our thorough edification But marke that the signe was from Heauen and so is the word from Heauen also and GOD is Author of both of the Vision and of the Reuelation no man may presume to be farther of GODS counsell then he is admitted or to fasten commentaries vpon his Texts without his instruction I should tire you and my selfe if I should shew you how Iewes and Christians haue lost themselues in such presumptuous contemplations But I rather chuse to impart vnto you the correspondency of the Gospel to the Law At the giuing of the Law there was Vox de coelo a voyce heard from Heauen so is there also at the deliuery of the Gospel that did containe a breife of the Law and this of the Gospel But there was moreouer this difference betweene the voyces the first was the voyce of Sinai the second the voyce of Sion De Baptismo Christs the first was a dreadfull but the second was a still voyce St. Cyprian concerning this second voyce mooueth this question Was there euer heard such a voyce before Whereunto the answere is ready certainely neuer so sweet so gracious a voyce you will confesse it when I haue shewed you whose and of whom the voyce was It was the voyce of GOD the FATHER Hoc non ego dico saith St. In c. 3. Lucae Ambrose when thou hearest these words This is my welbeloued Sonne c. know that it is not I who speake them to thee neither hath any man spoken them no nor GOD by an Angel or an Archangel Sed ab ipso Patre vox caelo demissa significauâ—t it is the FATHER himselfe that by a voyce doth notifie this vnto thee The Father I say for suppose by the Ministry of an Angel the voyce were framed yet certainely it was vttered in the Person of the FATHER Matth. 11. the Text doeth plainely intimate it in the words My Sonne But our Sauiour CHRIST doeth elsewhere confirme it with an vndeniable reason No man knoweth the Sonne but the Father and to St. Peter affirming Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Matth. 16. hee replieth Flesh and blood hath not reuealed this vnto thee but my Father which is in Heauen Many testimonies went before concerning CHRIST of the Wisemen of the Shepheards of the Angels but none euer came neere this if we receiue the testimony of men of creatures the Testimony of GOD of the Creator is much greater What shall I say then to these things but onely exhort you in the Apostles words Heb. 12. See that you refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turne away from him that speaketh from Heauen especially when he vttereth so comfortable and gracious words as are those Thou art my Sonne Some difference there is betweene the Euangelists in relating the words some making GOD to speake vnto Christ some to the Hearers concerning CHRIST but the reconciliation is easie for euen when GOD bends his words to CHRIST his meaning is not to informe CHRIST of that which he already knoweth but to instruct vs in that which it is fit for vs to know as CHRIST elsewhere and in another case obserues This voyce came not because of mee but for your sakes so S. Austin doth well reconcile the Euangelists Iohn 12. But let vs come to the contents of the voyce Decensensu Euangâ—â—â—â— Iâ—b 2. cap. 4. That which the FATHER speaketh is concerning his Sonne he tells vs What hee is to Him what he doeth for vs first what he is to Him Filius and Dilectus his Sonne D. Baptis Christ â— and his Beloued Duo grata vocabula saith St. Cyprian two most contenting words specially if you adde the article to either of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Sonne is more then an ordinary Sonne and this Beloued is more then ordinarily beloued Tertullian de Trinit Looke vpon the words a sunder first the Sonne Christ was the Sonne of God two wayes considered Principalitas nominis Filij est in Spiritu Domini qui descendit the chiefe reason why Christ was called the Senne of God is because hee is God of God Light of Light begotten of his Father before all worlds but Sequela Nominis istius est in