at Mass or shrift thinks all so well with him that he may fairly step out of the Church to the next Bâ—othel-House at least rest in opere operato a sin which many better men are in part too often overtaken with whilst they too much rest in the duty of praying hearing receiving though they meet but little with Christ in them The very sin of the Jews in 1. taking up Ordinances of our own and 2. taking up with the outward enjoyment even of Christ's Ordinances 2. Which for the second thing propounded to shew the unreasonableness of it the Apostle here calls loss and dung And well he might upon these following Considerations if they be equalled with preferred before or set in opposition to Christ 1. And the first is taken from the uncertainty of their continuing or abiding by us or we by them It 's true indeed in the blessed effect and fruit of them if whilst enjoyed we have gained Christ by them they will abide with us for ever as the Cordial will be to chear us when it may be the Cup is taken away from us and that is only because Christ lives and abides by us But they will not so always Not in Heaven no Ordinances there where it will be our happiness most fully to enjoy his presence to Eternity Thou wilst say no need of them there but there will here And art thou sure thou shalt enjoy them here always May not the Ark be taken from thee as once from Israel 1 Sam. 4. or thou from the Ark as David was often The Priests were not suffered to continue by reason of death Hebr. 7. 23. Your fathers where are they and do the Prophets live for ever Zech. 1. 5. That Minister under whose Ministry thou sometimes satest with great delight and it may be restedst too much in may die or be taken away The Shepherd may be smitten and the sheep scattered and then whither wilt thou cause thy sorrow to go to find sustenance to live on when thy life as Jacob's in Benjamin's is wrapped up in his life how sad will the cries of the famished infant be when pluckt from the dead Nurses Breast which sometimes it sucked so sweetly and in this famine of the word as in that of Jeremiah in his Lamentation the tongue of the sucking Cap. 2. 11 4. 4. Child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth and the sucklings swoon in the midst of the streets of the City Or should the Minister live and thou too the ark not taken yet thou taken from the Ark by sickness with Hezekiah imprisonment 2 King 20. 1 8. with Jeremiah Cap. 36. 5. by banishment as David and then if he then envieth the sparrows that might Nest by the Altar whilst himself sits alone as a sparrow on the house-top or like a Pelican Psal 84. Psal 102. 6. in the Wilderness or an Owl in the desert pants like the Hart Psal 42. 1 2 3 4. after the Water brooks whilst his tears are his drink and he poureth out his soul when he thinks how sometimes he had gone with the multitude to the house of God from which he is now banished and in that distance with a long look looketh toward it from the Mount Hermon and the Hill Mizzar i. e. from every higher Mountain and little lower Hillock that he might get a look thitherward from and this only for want of the Ordinances when yet by his former improving of them he had with him the God of Ordinances How sad and sinking will thy moan be in the like or indeed far worse Case when through thy former negligent non-improvement of them thou wantest both them and him too Will they not then be loss when they are now lost and with them Christ also who otherwise than best Minister never dieth but ever liveth Heb. 7. 24 25. otherwise than best Ordinance would never have left thee or suffer thee to be pluckt from him who would in the most barren Wilderness as he did Israel have fed thee with hidden Manna Revel 22. 17. and as to David Psal 42. made even thy tears thy bread to comfort thee in the darkest Prison shone into thee as to Paul and Barnabas Act. 16. 25 26. in Banishment have more than preach'd to thee as to St. John in Patmos Revel 1. 9. and on thy Death-Bed instead of the Sacrament been thy viaticum 2. But secondly suppose Ordinances should be continued to thee and thou to them they will be loss because at least at best thou wilst be no true gainer by them if as the Apostle here speaks thou dost not gain Christ with them At best they are in themselves but means and media habent amabilitatem à fine they have all their desireableness and goodness from the end without the enjoyment of which by them frustrà omnia they are wholly vain useless idle or rather the use of them is a trouble and not a benefit for what is Paul and what is Apollos but Ministers by whom you believed 1 Cor. 3. 5. and if but Ministers it was but to minister Christ to you and what was John Baptist than whom there was none greater that was born of a woman saith our Saviour but a friend only of the Bridegroom John 3. 29. Not to wooe for himself but to bring Christ and thy Soul as his Spouse together And what are best Ordinances at best but the Bed of loves as some expound that in the Canticles Cantic 1. 16. 3. 1. But what is the Bed of loves if the Spouse find not her beloved there For all that she goeth up and down as a desolate Widow saying But saw you him whom my soul loveth Cant. 3. 1 3. It is Christ in a word in a Sacrament in any Ordinance that the chast Spouse desireth to meet with and seeks after whom if she findeth not though she enjoy them she hath but the Casket without the Jewel the Field but not the Pearl and if he be all in all then Col. 3. 11. Philip. 3. 2. all these and all else without him are nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Circumcision but a cutting and mangling of the flesh and that 's all Prayer without Communion with Christ in it but a meer lip-labour Sacraments but empty Ceremonies and hearing listning to as empty a sound The less is Grace beholden to Pelagian See Dr. Wards Clerum and Arminian Divinity which placeth all the efficacy of it in the bare proposal of Doctrine which without the Spirits inward teachings will prove wholly ineffectual for it 's not the breads touching of the skirt of the Priests Garment that will make it holy but on the contrary any unclean bodies touching it makes it unholy Hagg. 2. 12 13. and so any unsanctified Souls conversing with holy Ordinances rather pollutes them than receives sanctification or other blessing by them Without Christ they are loss because thou losest that
if we look to it may be the glorious Mansions of the Blessed God to dwell in and which to be sure we must dwell with either in weal or woe to Eternity Had we nothing else to say these two words might heighten our Souls worth and should our care in possessing of them 1. They are the purchase of the Blood of the Son of God And shall we trample under foot his Blood in so neglecting our Souls which were purchased by the Blood of the Shepherd of Souls 1 Pet. 2. 25. 2. And this that they might be holy and glorious Temples for the Blessed Spirit of God O then be sure to keep possession for so happy a Guest that the Devil may not prove an Intruder And thou that wilt be stiff and earnest and peremptory to maintain thine Interest in what thy Father or Friend left thee do not so under-value either thy Saviour or thy Soul as not to keep possession of that which He at so dear a rate hath purchased Our Souls should be precious that were purchased by Blood so precious Let that be said to every incroaching Enemy what Jephtah said to the invading Ammonite Judg. 11. 23. The Lord hath dispossessed the Amorites before his People and shouldst thou possess it And let their resolution ver 24. be ours Wilt thou not possess that which Chemosh thy God giveth thee to possess And so Whatsoever the Lord our God hath given to us that will we possess Our Souls he first made Jer. 38. 16. which we afterward lost which he repurchased by the Blood of his Son and restored to us to be kept as an everlasting pledg of his Love and therefore whatever else we lose look to it that we here keep possession But to the quickening of our care herein I need not seek for more particulars to set forth the Soul's worth than what I there propounded 1. Such as the saving and possessing of it 1. Crowns all other Enjoyments Wisdom with an Inheritance doth well Eccles 7. 11. but if mens sana in corpore sano it 's much better It was a Solomon's happiness that amidst all his delights of the Sons of Men his Wisdom also remained with him It 's an happy saving Bargain indeed if a Man especially in losing times when he saves his Estate and his Life can save his Soul too without which a Man with all his other Gettings and Enjoyments is but like a dead Body stuck with Flowers or as a Room round-about-hung and richly furnished and nothing but the dead Master's Hearse in the midst of it 2. Countervails all other Losses David's Mouth praiseth God with joyful Lips though in a dry and thirsty Land when his Soul is filled with marrow and fatness Psal 63. 1 5. And though he was for the outward Man at a weak pass yet it was a sufficient support that God had strengthned him with strength in his Soul Psal 138. 3. Though I possess months of vanity Job 7. 3. and with him be ejected out of all if yet in possession of my Soul I am no harbourless Object Though the invading Enemy hath quite broke down the Fence and laid all open and waste yet as long as with the Christians in Justin Martyr we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When they have possessed themselves and taken away all with them if they have left but a good God and a good Conscience a Soul and a Saviour it 's but the Casket that 's lost the Treasure is saved and lends them a Key for Paul's Riddle of having nothing and yet possessing all things In this sense dum Anima est spes est as long 2 Cor. 6. 10. as my Soul is mine own I am not only in hope but in possession No cause to faint though the outward Man perish if the inward Man be renewed 2 Cor. 4. 16. nor to complain if the same hand that casts the Christian's Body to the Beasts casts his Soul at the same time into his Saviour's Bosom Paul meant not to kill but to cure the incestuous Person when he would have him delivered even to Satan to the destruction of the flesh if his Spirit may but thereby be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5 5. and that will make amends for all Thus we see that the saving and possessing of the Soul crowns all Enjoyments more than Countervailes all other losses 2. But on the contrary the loss of it 1. Compleats all other losses and miseries and makes them utterly undoing David speaks of his Enemies spoiling of his Soul as their greatest cruelty and his chiefest misery Psal 35. 12. The Prophet Lam. 3. 65. when he had given that heavy blow that made the heart ake Lord give them sorrow of heart he strikes the Nail to the Head when he adds thy Curse unto them O woe unto thee thou hast added grief unto thy sorrow Jer. 45. 3. and a curse to both when by thy riotous unclean or otherwise vicious courses thou hast lost it may be thine Estate thy good Name the health and strength of thy Body and which is worst of all thy Soul and all Undone wretch It was a desperate prodigal expense which all the Money in thy Purse and thy whole other Substance could not discharge but thy Soul also must go in to pay the reckoning Thy Saviour's Soul being heavy to the death was more sad than all his bodily Mat. 26. 38. Sufferings and that thrust which lets out the heart-blood of thy Soul is far beyond all other Wounds and makes them deadly To see an Enemy in the Habitation is one of Eli's sorest Afflictions 1 Sam. 2. 32. and to be a possession to Enemies is Edom's heaviest Cursé Numb 24. 18. but not so heavy as to see an Enemy possessed of this inward Mansion The loss of the Soul compleats all other losses and miseries 2. Cannot be made up and recompenced with all other Gains and Enjoyments The round World is but a Cipher to it For what is a Man profited if he should gain the whole World and lose his own Soul saith our Saviour Matth. 16. 26. He that tenders a whole World makes a great offer but he that loses his Mar. 8. 37. Soul for it sustains a greater loss for that World which cannot satisfie the desires of a Soul before it be lost cannot satisfie for the loss of a Soul when it is And therefore the rich Man Luke 12. 19 20. was but a Fool for all his Riches and the Hypocrite Job 27. 8. is brought in as a desperate Fool for all his Gain when God took away both their Souls How miserable when dead to have so many Friends to accompany the Body to the Grave and Devils only the Soul to Hell such Funeral Pomp and Tombs He that hath lost his Soul is a poor undone Man though with the Young Man in the Gospel he have never so great possessions Mat. 12. 22. For a Silk Stocken will not cure
study Christ but as hard as many a close student doth other Arts and Authors But to devour them without any hungring appetite after him is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a false appetite is extream unworthy and ill in it self and shews that we are very ill affected For our better help herein to these Caveats let me add these 3. directions 1. Study other Books but especially the Scriptures for they are they which testifie of me saith our Saviour John 5. 39. other Authors may afford thee some light but it 's the law of God that issues forth the light of life to convert the soul Psal 19. 7. other Books may help to make us wise for the World but the Scriptures only wise to salvation 2 Tim. 3. 15. David was a very wise man but he acknowledgeth himself beholden to Gods Testimonies for it Psal 119. 98 99. and Solomon who is accounted the wisest sends us to his Books for it Prov. 1. 1. to 6. he saith it must be digged for Prov. 2. 4. but the Scripture is the field which you must dig in if ever you find this Pearl Matth. 13. 44. His was too bold a word when he added Non in flore Patrum aut Carie Scholasticorum for whatever rotten stuff there may be in some of the latter yet I am sure there is much of Christ to be found in the former But yet as I would not have Abulensis dispute so long as to forget his Creed so nor other greatest Students in their well-furnished Libraries to want a Bible as they say some have or to study either Fathers or Schoolmen more than the Scriptures as it may be too many do One said that Aristotles Ethicks was the Schoolmans Body of Divinity How truly I say not but it 's too true that time was when skill in a Romish Missal and some old Liturgy was more in request than readiness in the Scripture but sure Christ was less known both then and now too when by our Anti-Scripturists their spirit not Gods is so cried up that the Scriptures are decried and H. N. his blasphemy revived with whom to be Scripture-learned is a terminus minuens or title of disgrace But for us that would not be so over-wise but wise to sobriety and salvation as the wise men had their Star Matth. 2. so let the holy Scriptures be ever ours to lead us to Christ And for this purpose let us be careful and conscionable in a constant reading of them as also in a diligent attendance upon the Ministry of them For wisdom is by instruction Prov. 1. 3. Asaph was in a mist till he got into the Sanctuary to know his way Psal 73. 16 17. and the Spouse is directed to the Shepherds Tents if she would find her beloved Cant. 1. 8. And this though we be never so able and wise For wisdoms Proclamation is not only who so is simple and he that wanteth understanding let him turn in hither as Prov. 9. 4. But Hear my words O ye wise and hearken unto me ye men of understanding Job 34. 2 10. The wisest may hear and increase knowledge Prov. 1. 5. 9. 9. especially in the knowledge of Jesus Christ the oldest and wisest may yet live and learn it being the fault of those foolish women not that they were always learning but that they never took out their Lesson in coming to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. 3. 7. learn out of Scripture though we our selves be never so learned And this even of those that are weak and it may be in respect of our selves unlearned who yet in some things may be better informed and experienced Thou who in a strange place wilst sometimes ask and learn the way of a simple man or a young Child disdain not to learn more of Christ of the simplest though thou beest a man of God yet herein according to that in the Prophet let even a Child lead thee Thus study other things but the Scriptures most Isa 11. 6. 2. Study much but pray more for this wisdom must be got by asking James 1. 5. as it must be digged for Prov. 2. 4. so it must be cried after v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou must give or as some render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philosophare coelum intuens it consecrate thy voice in loudest cries and earnestess prayers for such a Boon Solomon the wisest man that ever was came to it this way 1 King 3. 9. And David that was little short of him at least in this part of Divinest Learning Psal 119. 98 v. 12 13. 64 66 68 108 124 135. Ps 25. 7. 27. 11. 86. 11. 143. 10. 99 100. yet how often in that and other Psalms doth he pray and beg for teaching Daniel must not lie groveling Dan. 8. 18 19 10. 9. but Zechariah must look up Zech. 1. 18. and Ezekiel must be lifted up Ezek. 8. 3. 40. 2. if he would see a Vision and John must come up to Heaven if he would have a Revelation Revel 4. 1. Brightman prayed much when he commented on that Book and I believe they that pray most have most of Christ revealed to them All here is not gotten by poring on a Book but more by looking upward God is the Father of lights James 1. 17. Christ the true light John 1. 9. 8. 12. Ille lux nos lumina dicimur ut oculi lumina and the Holy Ghost is the spirit of wisdom and Revelation Ephes 1. 17. It 's he that sometimes blinds and hides and that can alone Rom. 11. 7 8. Job 17. 4. open Luke 24. 45. and enlighten We want it and it 's in his hand alone to give it And therefore because it can neither be wrested or bought it must be prayed out of it Study much but Psal 51. 6. Exod. 36. 2. 2 Chron. 1. 10 11 12. pray more 3. Lastly Study well but live better And that 's the best course to know most of Christ in a saving way Aristotle could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In foul water you cannot see your own face nor the face of Christ in a foul Conscience The Sons of Belial knew not God 1 Sam. 2. 12. nor do they desire it Job 21. 14. nor shall the wicked understand Dan. 12. 10. and so they leave off to be wise and to do good together Psal 36. 3. but as in one place Augustin in Joan. Tract 2. John 6. 69. its said Nisi credideritis non intelligetis so in another it s added Nos credidimus cognovimus we know by believing and as Jonathan did we see by tasting 1 Sam. 14. 29. Psal 34. 8. And so knowledge and sense are joined together Phil. 1. 9. Non enim haec lectio docet sed unctio non litera sed spiritus non Eruditio sed Epist 108. exercitatio saith Bernard The Romans were filled with goodness and knowledge together Rom. 15. 14. And therefore would we know Christ 1. First make
are Gods Institutions and therefore called Ordinances as ordained by him and therefore also it was that when our Saviour had instituted them Matth. 28. 19. go and teach and baptize he addeth v. 20. that he would and that to the end of the world have all observed that he had commanded c. because he had commanded them And if the Rechabites did so adhere to Jer. 35. 6 c. their fathers commands the several Sects of Philosophers to their Masters Dictates and others to their Institutes should it not shame us Christians to sleight our Fathers Our Lord God and Saviours Institutions If he who resisteth a civil Ordinance of God receiveth damnation Rom. 13. 2. then he who sleights a spiritual and more Divine Ordinance will not go scot-free Were we not too proud in over-valuing our own fancies and conceits and too disingenuous and undutiful to sleight that which we ought most highly to reverence This only that they are the Institutions and Ordinances of our Soveraign Lord and dear Saviour might make way for their best esteem and welcome without any Letters of recommendation because his Ordinances 2. Because ordained for all for the best to be brought on and to be carried on to everlasting life by No saith the Enthusiast either only for the Non-Age of the Law in which they were to be taken heed to as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts 2 Pet. 1. 19. then they shall no more teach every one his neighbour c. Jer. 31. 34. nor need they that any man should teach them when they have an anointing which teacheth them all things c. 1 John 2. 27. Or if for any under the Gospel only for Babes and Punies who have need of milk of such festukes in their hands that live by faith which must have the hand-hold of a word or for darker times or at most as * Epist Anno 1529. Swenkfield and * Free Grace pag. 150. Bâ—ight Star Cap. 11. 12. Saltmarsh say for the flesh the outward and old man of a Christian which is to be dealt with by Preaching and Symbols But to the inward and new man all means and ordinances are annihilated and he seeth God without means whatever faith may require yet under the Regimen of the Spirit no such need as no need of Star-light when the Sun is up as in the New Jerusalem no Temple found Rev. 21. 22. nor need of Sun or Moon to shine in it when the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof v. 23. This in a more full audience lately hath been discussed and determined In Comitiis 1659. and therefore needeth less now to be said to it Only if you please this 1. As to the difference between the time of the Law and the Gospel It was indeed then darker than when under the Gospel the day star was risen But I pray Remember It arose in the Ministry of the Gospel and therefore did not disannul it And although not so great need of teaching now as they then had and so in that comparative sense only the Prophet said they should not teach one another yet I hope Christ under the Gospel appointed Pastors and Teachers and them to continue teaching to the end of the world till we all come to a perfect man Matth. 28. 20. Ephes 4. 11 12. 2. Although some Gospel-Times may be more illuminate and perfect than others yet the Scripture Word and Ordinances are for the most perfect as long as we live by faith it must be by a word and the Apostle intimates to us we shall live here by faith till in heaven we do by vision 2 Cor. 5. 7. And if by the new Jerusalem be meant Heaven it 's true there will be as no Temple so no Ordinances But if a more glorious Constitution of the Church upon Earth No Temple signifieth no humane Constitutions nor legal Ceremonies no Jewish Temple which they yet expect but pure Divine Worship and Ordinances which Ezekiel according to the times he prophesied in foretold and expressed by Temple-worship Chapters 40 41 c. and Ordinances 3. And for Persons Although in Gospel-times some may attain to a greater comparative perfection than others yet when I read that the Scriptures are able to make even the Man of God perfect 2 Tim. 3. 16. I shall not aspire here to any higher perfection I hope the most sublimate and perfect here will not I am sure they should not be wise above what is written 1 Cor. 4. 6. And whatever men talk of the Regimen of the spirit the spirit of God himself hath fore-told and fore-prophesied and that of best Gospel-Times that the Word and Spirit shall go together Isa 59. 21. and although they that have received the Spirits Unction need not that any should teach them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but as that anointing teacheth 1 John 2. 27. that is they by the Spirit being enlightned and established in the Gospel-Truth which they had heard from the beginning v. 24. that had been preached to them they were antidoted against the poisonous Doctrines of Anti-Christs and Seducers of which the Apostle there speaks v. 18 19 22 26. So that they needed not theirs no more than we that are by the Spirit rooted in written and preached Gospel-Truths stand in need of Enthusiasts contrary Doctrines or inspirations yet not but that they still needed further illumination and confirmation by the Gospels dispensations Else why should the Apostle in that very Epistle So Bellarmin de verbo Dei lib. 3. cap. 30. still further preach to them and instruct them And as Beza well observeth He is so far from by those words annulling either Ministry or Ministers that he could not well more highly commend them in that he shews by the assistance of the Spirit and the Blessing of God upon them their hearers were secured against all the Stratagems of Seducers which we also might be if we kept close to such Ordinances 4. Which have their operation not only on the outward and old man of a Christian but as the Apostle saith and Gods people by frequent and happy experience feel reach the Soul and Spirit Hebr. 4. 12. and build the whole man up to an everlasting inheritance Act. 20. 32. It 's well they will acknowledge an old man in them so it seems there is some flesh and they are not all spirit But however it 's by the word that we are sanctified John 17. 17. and sanctification reacheth soul and spirit as well as body 1 Thess 5. 23. This is and hath been the good old way in which the most eminent sober-hearted Christians have gone before us to heaven far exceeding our high flown sublimates in real godliness who ever acknowledged Gods Word and Ordinances not only milk for Babes but strong meat for strongest Christians and therefore should be highly prized as
no sadder sight in the World than to behold such a triste bidental such an Heaven-struck forlorn-Sinners grown blind by seeing the light and deaf as they that dwell near the out-falls of Nilus by hearing a more pleasing sound even the word of life more filthy for washing more barren or rather fruitful of poysonous weeds for watering and more desperately and irrecoverably sick by the best Physicians greater care of the Cure so that it cannot be written on his door The Lord be merciful to him It 's pity you say that fair weather should do any hurt but a thousand pities to see a miserably blinded sinner to go into everlasting darkness by the light of the Sun shine of the Gospel to see an unruly stray Sheep that would not be kept in the Shepherds Fold in the Wolfs or Lions mouth dragged through all mire and dirt into his Den and there to be devoured Seest thou this thou seest a miserable forlorn Sinner whom the good Shepherds Rod and Staff could not keep in to be fed in green pastures and led by still waters now forsaken of God like another Cain or Judas made sensless and obdurate in sin and dragged into the pit-fall of Hell to his everlasting destruction 3. Which is the third and last particular before mentioned that eternal wrath and judgment that irrecoverable loss which such Sinners in another World procure to themselves by their abuse of Ordinances when they have not gain'd Christ by them Of all others the Sinners in Sion shall be most afraid when it shall once come to dwelling with devouring fire and everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. Then Capernaum that in enjoyment of Ordinances was once lifted up as high as heaven shall be thrown as low as hell Matth. 11. 23 24. nay to the lowest depths of it where Sodom and Gomorrha's fire shall be more tolerable this furnace being heated seven times hotter whilst the breath of the Lord as a stream of brimstone shall kindle it Isa 30. 33. Mark 9. 43. 45. that Tophet intolerable that fire unquenchable when the sometimes sweet breathings of the gospel-Gospel-Spirit and Word and Ministry shall blow it up and keep it burning to Eternity Oh! No Condemnation to Gospel-Condemnation No wrath so fierce as that when after grace turned into wantonness patience shall be turned into fury How low low will that for-ever-lost Soul be sunk that in those unsupportable torments shall everlastingly have time and cause to think and say How shall I ever escape that have neglected abused despised so great Salvation That of all other aggravates and perpetuates such mens damnation Gospel-Grace and Ordinances which are the Key to open Heaven to Believers lock up neglecters and despisers in the Prison of Hell and roul the heaviest stone upon the mouth of the bottomless pit the unsupportable weight whereof will not only prevent all removal or escape but above all things will pinch and press and sink them down to Eternity Then they will be fully convinced of the truth of the point in hand that all things are loss and dung in comparison of Christ when they shall sadly but unprofitably and despairingly say Oh of how much greater worth is Christ above all other comforts even best Ordinances when notwithstanding them for want of him we are now everlastingly lodged and tormented in Hell whereas had we by the enjoyment of them come to have gained and enjoyed him we had with him in Heaven been happy for ever Which in the Application of it should most seriously advise and Use perswade us in our due both estimate and abearance both to Christ and his Ordinances respectively 1. And first for Ordinances as the former part of the point called upon us highly to prize them and diligently and constantly to attend upon them so what hath been said in this latter should with all sadness warn us 1. Not to rely on or to rest in the bare enjoyment of them 1. They may do us no good therefore rest not in them for as we have heard as they may be so should we thus do certainly they will be empty and at best we shall get no good by them Circumcision is nothing 1 Cor. 7. 19. The Letter without the Spirit signifieth little and the best Ordinances without Christ as to our Salvation will prove just nothing They are indeed in themselves and by God's Institution Wells of Salvation but to us in the issue they will prove but dry empty Cisterns if this water of life be not conveyed to us by them and therefore in this our journeying to Heaven let us not take up and dwell in our Inne and although the way of Ordinances lead thither yet if we sit down in our way we shall never come to our journeys end In this therefore follow the Psalmists example Psal 121. who when in the first verse he had said I will lift up mine eyes to the Hills of Zion and Moriah the seat of God's Ordinances as Interpreters expound it from whence cometh my help as though he had said too much of them or any Ordinances that his help should come from them as it were correcting himself in the second verse he presently adds my help cometh from the Lord which hath made Vide Augustinum Tract â— in Joannem mox ab initie Heaven and Earth It 's God and Christ only who made Heaven and Earth that can create the fruit of the best Ministers lips to be peace to his people Isa 57. 19. and therefore some Expositors read that first verse of the Psalm interrogatorily should I lift up mine eyes to the Hills as though from them should come my help The lifting up of eyes and soul in Scripture-Phrase expresseth not only delight and desire but expectance and dependance and then although we should come to Ordinances with encouraging expectations of help from God in them yet should we thus lift up our Eyes to the Hills themselves to the highest towring Eloquence or most raised abilities or most sublime piety of the Ministers that we most admire so as to expect saving help from them No. Alas Either They or at least the Event will tell thee that they are but empty Cisterns and dry Breasts which cannot afford the least drop but what Christ the fountain hath put into them and it may be out of thy experience thou maist be able to say to thy self that thou never wentest away more empty and less satisfied than when not making out after Christ in way of a Carnal-Creature-confidence thou expectedst most from them Though thou beest therefore on the Mount of Transfiguration where Christ was Matth. 17. 4. transfigured but they were not Do not sit down with Peter and say It 's good to be here unless Christ be there and in such pure glasses thou seest the face of Christ and art changed from glory to 2 Cor. 3. 18. glory into the image of Christ by the spirit of Christ sit not down satisfied That
together and now gotten into a wild Wilderness and having lost the right path we irrecoverably lose our selves and are ready to seduce others in numberless by-cross-ways and like so many crooked lines drawn off the Center cross and cut one another or a routed Army run either singly or in some small parties this way and that way justling and treading down each other as well as others who come in their way but yet think that the course which they take is the only way to their own and others safety And thus from these and other such like grounds too many do and we are all too apt to betake our selves to such Sects and to think to commend our selves to God in so doing Which was the second thing I propounded Paul sometimes counted this to be gain But now that he is grown wiser he reckons it as well as other things but loss yea and dung that he might gain Christ 3. Which was the third thing propounded and chiefly intended in the Text and Point That this being of or adhering to any Sect or Party is not that which we should take up with or rest in Whatever vain men say or think it 's not the being wrapt in a Friars Cowl that will either Cure the sick mans Body or save his Soul not being of this or that Sect or Party that will dub or Canonize thee a Saint or make thee meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light that we must be beholding to Col. 1. 12. Christ only for in compare with whom this especially had need be accounted loss and dung and indeed it 's no less than a dishonour to Christ that such dung should come into comparison with him And therefore I must say less in this kind of this particular than of all that hitherto I have compared with Christ or hereafter shall compare with him for in those other particulars there is otherwise much at least some good but in this of following and maintaining of Sects nothing that is pleasing to God and that therefore should please us And what comparison should we then make of Light with Darkness of Christ with Belial will this sect-following justifie and commend us to God or may it be compared with Christ which 1. Is so directly opposite to Christ the Prince of Peace and the spirit of Christ and the Gospel of Peace one body one spirit one hope one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all So many unities and yet universals that it comes to one and all makes a Catholick Vnion which therefore the Apostle calls for in the same place whiles he exhorts us to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of Peace Eph. 4. 3 4 5 6. More in so few words could not be said nor more Emphatically And must Christ then be divided into Parties 1 Cor. 1. 13. and his seamless Coat rent into pieces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens Romanus piously Cant. 6. 8. bemoaneth however we may pride our selves in it yet it 's truly filthy and unworthy of Christ and a true Christian conversation Though there be fourscore Concubines of such as do not so sincerely profess Christ and Virgins without number that make no Cant. 6. 8. profession of love to him yet his Beloved is but one And that one should not prove many Straight lines drawn from the centre to the circumference never cut one another and therefore if we so part as to cross and clash the cause must needs be that either we do not truly centre in Christ or that there is some lesser or greater obliquity that we are not right either in heart or life judgment or practice Such secting I may without affectation say is a dissecting and mangling the body of Christ and therefore very much against Christ and the Spirit of Christ 2. Contrary also to God and his Law and that many ways for if where strife and division is there be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every evil work as the Apostle saith Jam. 3. 16. in this one offence as it 's usually said of the first Adam's there 's at once a violation and breach of Gods whole Law I insist not in particulars as idolizing our selves or others against the first Commandment and setting altare juxta altare our threshold by God's against the second c. In general I say If love be the fulfilling of the whole Law this is so destructively opposite to love that it 's a perfect evacuating of it By which we are at odds not only with God and our brethren but oft-times even with our selves and our own judgments and consciences which men often cross that they may comply with a party to which they are captivated as Lactantius said of Tully Verùm haec non Ciceronis culpa est sed sectae Thus Lib. 2. cap. 9. such breaches at once snap all asunder And whilst they cry up their own opinion and way if that be Tom 6. de Haeres haeres 54. ut asseveraret quod nihil cuique obesseâ— quorumlâ—â—er perpetratio perseverantia peceatorum si hujus quae ab illo docebatur fidei particeps esset but believed and followed by themselves and their followers a broad way is set open and liberty indulged to trample upon all other Commandments as Eunomius in Austin gave out That the commission of or perseverance in any sin could not hurt that man that would but entertain the faith which he taught as our later Libertines and Antinomians make the worst sins none but only the sense of them and sorrow for them Hence Arch-Hereticks though some few as Pelagius especially at the first were more sober and seemingly religious yet have been observed usually to be very abominable and scandalous in their practices exemplified if not exceeded in our Ranters and other Sectaries railings cursings stark-naked obscenities which Grace could not name and even Nature would cover and blush at A manifest heavy judgment of God upon them written with a Sun-beam had they not unmann'd themselves putting out their own eyes and debauched their very natural consciences But Lord whither do we not run when thou leavest us As this is another manifest Judgment of God upon them that as by these Sects they cut themselves off from others so very often they cannot keep long together amongst themselves O Lord divide their Psal 55. 9. tongues prayeth David against his enemies and it 's that which God most justly inflicteth on these Babel builders What divisions See Socrates l. 5. c. 21 23 24. Graec and subdivisions are they mouldred into and what deadly irreconcileable feuds and animosities amongst themselves do they often fall to Thomists with Scotists and Jesuits against Dominicans Seculars and Regulars and one Sect against another till at last See Watsons Quodlibets Judg. 7. 12. 1 Sam. 14. 20. Ezech. 38. 21. when others could not
do it they destroy each other whilst Midian-like every mans sword is sheathed in the bowels of his brother So in the Psalm before-cited Divide O Lord and destroy Division and destruction go together or one followeth upon the other Brethren in evil Gen. 49. 5. are scattered asunder v. 7. on which Matth. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fit punishment for dividers See Boyse in locum Grotius well noteth Mala coitio divisione punitur by Gods hand or the Magistrate's or rather than fail by their own Or whatever they do to one another I am sure the Church and people of God deeply suffer by them as by these their impieties furies and divisions partly grieved and offended in themselves and reproached by others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the former Pag. 61. 1 Cor. 1. Clemens to the Corinthians whom Paul had before much blamed for their divisions and it seemeth they yet continued in them that Clemens after him upon a new breach saw cause to take up the same complaint and we now as much as he that our Sects and divisions give Papists Atheists and Infidels too much cause to laugh and blaspheme that either our Christ is not that Christ which the Gospel holds forth or that we are not true Christians and so make some to fall off others to doubt and therefore cannot but make all that are truly grounded grieve and mourn in secret And good reason For unless God please timely to heal these breaches they will not stay here but division will end in dissolution A Church as well as a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand Planks Mat. 12. 25. joyned together make a ship but if once dis-joyned they make a shipwrack Julian knew this too well and therefore that he might the easier undo Christianity he not only tolerated but somented Ammia◠Marcellin lib. 22. the differences of Christians These * Lib. 8. c. 1. Eusebius observeth were the inlet of Persecution upon the former flourishing Primitive Churches from enemies without God keep such from us without whilst we are so bickering within amongst our selves and so dum singuli pugnant omnes vincuntur The Devil and his Instruments are not grown so drowsie as not to watch such advantages But should they sleep these intestine Convulsions and Ruptures within our own bowels may be likely to prove deadly For Faction useth to be fierce and enmities and scuffles upon the account of Religion most bloody and the Scripture joyneth such ugly pairs as these are together Whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness as you know whose now are their feet are swift to shed blood and destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known Rom. 3. 14 15 16 17. The Jews after their Captivity in Babylon were much cured of their former Idolatry but then especially sprung up their several Sects of Sadducees Pharisees and their several Schisms and Parties and so at last it was the Sectary not the Idolatrous Jews that crucified our Saviour God grant that whilst we are or have been reforming Popish Idolatry Christ and his Church do not suffer by our Schisms and that whilst all Parties are tolerated all at last come not to be utterly ruined Oh therefore that once we might be taken off from that which Vse keeps us so off from one another and that we might be effectually disswaded from resting in that which so much dissettles all from thinking to commend our selves to God by Sects and Parties which make us so ridiculous to Enemies so displeasing to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianzen Orat. 14. pag. 218. and all that are truly Godly so unlike yea contrary to Christ and the Spirit of the Gospel and the holy and happy Communion of the Saints the true Professors of it that once there might be no divisions amongst us but that we may perfectly be joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment This is that which Christ begged of God in his most divine prayer before his Passion Joh. 17. and on which he so much insists v. 11 21 22 23. Paul for the Romans Rom. 15. 5 6. and most passionately beseeches the Corinthians for in the beginning of his first Epistle to them Chap. 1. v. 10. and calls upon them and God for in the close of his second Epistle to them Chap. 13. v. 11 12 14. as the both Alpha and Omega of his desires and their happiness That which he injoyns and commands with most conjuring perswasives If there be any consolation in Christ Oh how sweet If any comfort of love how great If any fellowship of the Spirit how intimate and obliging If any bowels and mercies how large and tender in Christ to us and should be in us one towards another Phil. 2. 1 2 3. That which he chides for the want of 1 Cor. 1. 11 12. c. which he takes pains to heal between a Master and a fugitive servant in the Epistle to Philemon and between Euodias and Syntyche two weak women who were fallen out either between themselves or both of them with the Church Phil. 4. 2. and was the breach between two such sorry women or a master And his untoward servant so great a matter as the great Apostle thought it not below him and that when he was writing the Canonical Scripture to take pains to compose as it were on purpose to leave it upon record that it might lye before us as the Canon and Rule of our practice and that the most spiritual amongst us might not think it unworthy of them to restore such dislocated joynts in the spirit of meekness And shall the best of us then think Gal. 6. 1. our selves too good to stoop to such a service Oh remember that whereas we have but two Sacraments they are both tesserae vincula unitatis and therefore the Apostle puts both together in one verse Whatever we are or however otherwise differenced whether Jew or Gentile and they were at odds enough Bond or Free and they are at a sufficient distance yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are all baptized into one body and all made to drink into one spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. Baptized and made to drink there are the two Sacraments and when once and again he saith We all he tells us that by both we all are but one yea made one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concorporated into one body and as it were identified into one spirit by an happy unio animarum and shall we be divided between whom there is so inward and so firm an union of the same spirit that animates and enacts all Oh no let it never be or if it have been too long let it never be more But as in the body of the Universe though there be various multiplicities of creatures yet because spiritus intus alit magno se corpore miscet all Aeneid 6. are kept in a perfect harmony
and as Macrobius out of Plato observeth Sâ—mn Scip. l. 1. cap. 6. though the four Elements be divers and have opposite qualities and so are at odds one with another yet God in his wisdom hath so order'd it that every one of the four Elements have two qualities and so although with one they fight against each other yet by the other they are linked together to a likeness and consistency as water being cold and moist and the Earth cold and dry though in moisture and driness they are opposite yet both agree in coldness and so in the rest of the Elements ut per tam jugabilem competentiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foederari possint so and much rather in the Body of Christ though there be much variety in the members and that if not better looked to may be occasion of too much opposition yet in that they are by one spirit united unto one head and by reason of many other ties and ligaments they have much more to unite and keep them together than there can be to disunite and pluck and keep them asunder It should make us do our utmost to endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace But because it 's the God of Peace and Love who only can make us to endeavour and then make our endeavours successful to so glorious an end and because he may be sooner intreated than froward man be perswaded I end this particular with Noahs wish and prayer Gen. 9. 27. The Lord perswade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem that our many Sects and Schisms being abandoned and all our rents and breaches made up once at last our Jerusalem may be builded as a City that is compacted together even a Psal 122. 3. Isa 33. 20. quiet habitation a Tabernacle that neither shall be taken down nor any of the Cords thereof broken SERMON X. ON PHILIPPIANS 3. 5 6. THIS is the first Particular which from these words As Touching the Law or the Sect I was of a Pharisee That it is not the being of any Sect or Party that commends us to God or is to be rested in no not though never so learned for such was that of the Pharisees who had their name of Pharisees from their greater skill in explaining the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Josephus expresseth it and therefore were accounted De bello Judaico l. 1. c. 4. amongst their chief Doctors and opposed to the rude ignorant multitude as John 7. 49. Have any of the Rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him But this people who knoweth not the Law are cursed The Jewish Jesuits I called them as for their pretence of greater sanctity so for their either real or pretended knowledge and learning above others And Paul had been one of these and if you consider what is said of him in Scripture or what even Porphyrie thought of him or what he speaks of himself Gal. 1. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he profited in the Jews Religion that is as some expound it in the study and knowledge of the Law and Jewish In Judaicae Religionis notitiâ sive legis studio Grotius Religion above many his equals in his own Nation that he was * Acts 22. 3. 5. 34. brought up at the feet of Gamaliel the great Doctor of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 institutus accuratè as the Tigurine rendreth it most exactly instructed in the Law of his Fathers yea and in other humane literature above all the rest of the Apostles as his disputes and writings testifie I say If you consider all this you will conclude that as he was a Pharisee so one of the highest form amongst them for parts and sufficiencies And therefore when he was but a young man made use of by them as a fit Act. 9. 1 2 3 14. 22. 5. 26. 10 12. and choice instrument for their purpose And yet though he was a Pharisee and such a Pharisee both for his Order and his personal accomplishments so knowing and eminently learned yet this he valueth not himself by nor rests in but counts it also loss and dung that he might gain Christ Whence This Note ariseth That it is not our greatest parts or learning Note 2. either natural or acquired abilities that can so commend us to God that we may rest in them but they also are loss and dung in comparison of Christ and are so to be accounted by us that we may gain Christ And of this now I cannot say as I did of the former that it is of little or no worth No. Next under Christ and his Grace above all things in the World of greatest Excellency Solomon who had most of it can best tell us the true worth of it and he saith that Fools indeed despise wisdom and hate knowledge but Pro. 1. 7 22. he calls them fools for it But for his own judgment it 's positive that Wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excells darkness both Eccles 2. 13. in its own nature and for the admirable usefulness of it which the ignorant fool whilest in the dark perceiveth not but when he once cometh into the light is made sensible of as theâ— frantick or deadly sick man as long as such feels not his malady till he begin to recover out of sickness and madness and then he begins to discern the difference Scientia Deorum vita They accounted it the life of their Gods and it 's indeed a bright beam of heaven This transcendent worth of knowledge and learning learned men usually know too well whilst they little know themselves and therefore as the Apostles word is swell in pride and are puff'd 1 Cor. 8. 1. up with the conceit of it that like Saul they are higher by the head than all their Neighbours and so do tanquam ex alto despicere 1 Sam. 10. 23. all others as their underlings nay lift up themselves against Christ himself his Truth ways and Ordinances as poor low things too inferior for their Altitudes to stoop to A Psalm of David a dull piece to an Ode of Pindar A Believer an half-witted crackt brain Simplician To such Preachers as to the Athenians are but vain bablers Act. 17. 18. it's the foolishness of preaching and therefore they think they more wisely spend their 1 Cor. 1. 21. time in reading of a Book than in hearing of a Sermon Yea Christ himself though the Wisdom of God to the learned Greeks is no better than foolishness 1 Cor. 1. 23. as to the Jews he was a stumbling block And therefore they thought their saying Have any of the wise Rulers or the learned Pharisees believed in him laid a sufficient block in the way for any that had wiâ— in their heads ever to have a purpose in their hearts to come to him And such thoughts it 's likely enough our learned Paul had of Christ whilst he continued a Pharisee
of all our moral 1 Cor. 3. 11. qualifications and performances but so as to be the Corner-stone too to go up to the top of the building that so our foundation may be laid surer and our building raised up higher For sine Christo omnis virtus in vitio est and so in getting up to heaven by Hieron in 3 ad Galat. this Jacob's Ladder let the foot tread the rounds let us work and walk in Gods way but withal let the hand before lay hold as it usually doth in going up a Ladder the hand of faith I mean withal first lay hold of Christ and his Righteousness for our justification That the principle may be more noble not the Spirit of a man but of Christ as a man seeth and heareth as a bruit doth but not from a brute but a rational Soul which riseth higher than a bare sensitive Creature can attain to so I would have a Christian be sober just temperate as the most compleat Moralist can be but this from the spirit of Christ and not only from a bare spiritless dull morality and so as according to his higher well-head and principle to rise higher to those more noble spiritual operations of Gospel-faith and love which such a pure moralist is so far from attaining to that he doth not so much as think fit to desire or endeavour after but rather to despise and hate This premised I come more particularly to shew the true value and worth of morality in a vertuous and blameless Conversation 1. It 's the honour of humane Nature a chief part of our humanity whereby we are men yea though not the chief yet the more visible part of the image of God wherein at first we were created and what of this kind is in any of us since our fall are as usually they are taken some of the rudera and broken pieces of that first goodly building Which were they wholly demolished and quite rased out of us we should cease to be our selves to be men and degenerate into the sensuality and ferity of brute Wild-beasts immanitate omnem humanitatem repellente as Tully Offic. lib. 1. Notanda est Dei humanitat Calvin in Dan. 10. 13. speaks for humanity in the true sense and common use speaks something of erudition gentleness virtuousness and that not only in Heathen but even in Scripture Language in which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 virga hominum plagae humanae the rod of men and the stripes of the Children of men 2 Sam. 7. 14. have something of gentleness and moderation i. e. of humanity in the true sense of that phrase Premunt ità ut non comprimant And therefore I Sanctius in loc must needs say to you be sober chast just vertuous if you would be men not Beasts not Devils 2. But secondly there is more than humanity something Divine in it as being the product of a more common and inferiour working of the spirit of Christ some dimmer and cooler rayes of the sun of righteousness as he is the light which enlightneth every man that cometh into the world John 1. 9. as he said nec Hieron in Gal. 1. quenquam sine Christo nasci How often doth Austin call these lower workings the gifts of God and if Polemon by hearing of Xenocrates of a drunkard prove sober ne id ipsum quod melius in eo factum est humano operi tribuerim sed Divino He accounts it a Divine work to make only a moral change and reformation It 's a special gift of God qui dona sua prout ipse judicaverit hominibus magna magnis parva largitur parvulis as Bede In 1 Cantic speaketh Gods largess Some kind of fruit of the death of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to restrain sin as the word signifieth Dan. 9. 24. part of the preventing restraining grace of the spirit of Christ And therefore such a gift of God is not be sleighted Nay such a part of the purchase of the bloud of Christ and the work of his spirit is duly to be valued 3. Thirdly As being absolutely necessary for humane Society and our quiet and orderly living and conversing in the world for were not men hereby civilized and the rage and violence of lust restrained take away once justice and temperance morality indeed humanity from humane Society how would it come to homo homini lupus and in stead of a Society of men what herds of brutes and wild beasts even of Devils in an hell let loose should we see in the world What some Romanists unhappily R. Thomson Elench cap. 2. pag. 18 19. made the Emblem of Bellarmine a Tiger held in a chain with this motto Solve me videbis qui siem Let me but loose and you shall see what an one I am would be too sadly verified of us all if once by God or Man let loose and it should be said of us as once of Ephraim Ephraim is joyned to idols let him alone Hos 4. 17. it would not come to so good as was said of Naphtali that he was a hind let loose that gave goodly words there would Gen. 49. 21. but few good words and fewer good deeds proceed from us no nor so good as what was said of Ephraim that he was a wild asse alone by himself Hos 8. 9. though that would be wild enough Jer. 2. 24. but yet with less hurt and mischief to others and our selves than when we should see what horrid metamorphoses of creatures in the shapes of men into brutes for sensuality ravenous beasts of prey for bloud and violence yea incarnate devils for pride malice and blasphemy partly of our selves and partly from Satans temptations this would come to and as in our dayes we see our Ranters and other Enthusiasts devesting themselves of all morality civility yea even humanity are fast posting to For the preventing of which God the most holy and wise Governour of the world as sometimes in a way of outward afflictions he hedgeth our way with thorns Hos 2. 6. to keep us from treading down all bounds and running into all excess of riâ—t Ephes 4. 19. with greediness so also by inward common workings of his spirit he doth not only lay checks and restraints upon our unbridled spirits and lusts but also composes and regulates our tempers and carriages that we may live at least like men civilly and orderly one with another This Austin in several places especially in his books contra Julianum Epist 5. lib. 4. c. 3. hujus tantum temporis vitam fteriliter ornavit de voc gent. c. 7. Epist 130. Prosp contra collatorem cap. 22. 26. Fulgent de incarnat c. 26. observeth in the vertues of the Heathens the Romans and others that they attained to a moral and vertuous deportment ad mores civitatum concordiamque populorum temporalis vitae societatem praesentis vitae honestatem as he and Prosper express
in heaven may be of some good use but such in our brains will never light us thither Let therefore such Spanish Alumbradoes or English Illuminates please themselves Casaubon Enthusiasme p. 131. in such fantastical attainments On the contrary let it be the care of every one that would prove a substantial Christian by all good means to attain to a solid judgment of saving truth and not rest there neither but because Theologia is not scientia speculativa but practica and because in Scripture-use verba sensûs affectum effectum connotant words of knowledge and sense imply affection and Divinity is an art of living and not only of bare knowing as many of us as would be solid Divines and substantial Christians as the lamenting Churches eye affected her heart Lament 3. 54. so let our knowledge effectually press on to earnest affection and real action which leadeth on to the other two Heads before mentioned 2. And as concerning our hearts and affections two things also either fall short of or come cross to that substantialness which is to be expected from them whom Christ causeth to inherit substance 1. The first is a weak faint listlesness and deadness in the out-goings of our souls to Christ an heartless velleity a wishing and a woulding rather than any true and hearty willing Balaam's wishes Numb 23. 10. the sluggards desires half desires which in Gods account are Prov. 21. 25. none as Gods people when with a weaned remisness they close with the things of this world they rejoice as though they rejoiced not 1 Cor. 7. 30. So when our desires and affections to Christ do so freeze in our bosoms they come short of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Est in the Text they are and they are not When we say and profess that Christ is such solid food his flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meat indeed and we bring such flashy desires and such faint appetites to him what do we but make men believe that either he is not found food or at least that we have but sick stomachs He not substance or we not substantial Christians 2. But Secondly There is another distemper in this kind which wanteth not for strength but yet in substance The wind no solid substantial body yet may be very violent and impetuous such a flatulency there is in many mens spirits which makes a shew of a great deal of real zeal and strength of affection for God and Christ and yet is nothing but an empty swelling tympany an impetuous violence to prosecute our own desires opinions and wayes and to bear down whatsoever rather displeaseth us than what offendeth God Such was Jehu's zeal and 2 Kings 10. 16. Luke 13. 14. the Ruler of the Synagogue his indignation and the more to discover the unsubstantialness of it it 's usually not about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weightier things of the law and such as concern the substance and power of godliness but about circumstances and externals or other less and lighter matters as it was with the Pharisees about their Mint and Anise and Phylacteries and so now is with the Papists about their Ceremonies and Traditions and with many amongst us about some niceties in Church government and outward forms and other curious Punctilioes which are at a great distance from the heart and soul and substance of Religion Here we have heat enough and too much a feverish heat but not kindly and natural fire but such as proves wild-fire making a blaze in lighter straw but such as putteth all into a combustion Oh beware of such a dangerous mistake as to take the violence of an unmortified passion for the power and substance of saving grace And therefore if ever we would attain to solid and substantial evidence of it our contrary care and effectual indeavour must be 1. Contrary to that coolness and indifferency of our affections to Christ to rise up to more strong and earnest outgoings of our Souls after him such as the Scripture expresseth by hungrings and thirstings and longings breathings breakings pantings and faintings after God not a faintness of indifferency but a fainting upon our being spent in eagerest pursuits of what we cannot fully overtake that it cometh not to I am and I am not but as Christ named himself I am so with truth and reality I can eccho back Exod. 3. 14. again and say Lord I am I am really and in good earnest with strongest bâ—nt of my Soul I am for thee and so indeclinably and earnestly move towards thee that I shall not be quiet till I rest in thee I do not measure substance by quantity nor judge of truth of grace by the degree though some now will needs wholly place it in it There is the true essence and substance of a man in a weak Child and weak desires after Christ may be true and serious if this weakness be occasioned from other hinderances and not from an indifferency but still giving Christ the Soveraignty But yet such weakness should not be rested in but over-grown and more strong and earnest workings of the heart to be grown up to if we would have more real and substantial at least more sensible evidences of the life and power of godliness 2. Nor must we satisfie our selves with this There was strength enough and in some respects too much in that impetuous flatulency of some men's spirits which was the second miscarriage before noted But therefore contrary to it our care must be if we would have evidence of true solid substantial godliness that this strength of passion do not only bluster towards others but that it produceth real and substantial effects in our own hearts and that we find and feel it so doing for as they are wont to say that Tactus est fundamentum vitae sensitivae so real felt inward effects in the Soul are surest evidences of a true spiritual life also such as were before-mentioned in the doctrinal part of this point as substantial and real effects and operations of Christ in us are to this purpose to be really felt and expressed by us A serious and hearty making out after Christ indeed and in good earnest working that really in us which Nature cannot effect and hypocrisie but ill favouredly counterfeit which may evidence to others as least to our selves that God is in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a truth as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 14. 25. really changing our hearts and powerfully mortifying our lusts that we may be not as that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2. 18. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free indeed as it is John 8. 36. substantially satisfying the vast desires of our Souls and thereby evidencing that Christ is to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only sawce as he is to Hypocrites and many Politicians but meat indeed And as substantially supporting and comforting us in greatest exercises and faintings either in life or death a
should here labour for an enlarged heart and when others enlarge theirs as Hell Hab. 2. 5. we should ours as the expansum of Heaven Christ and Heaven-ward The more we move towards the Earth the more we are straitned He that here promiseth to fill our Treasures would not have us spare his cost but bids us open our mouth wide Psal 81. 10. even widen and enlarge our hearts to their utmost extent and capacity that we may not only taste of his Goodness but take in as much of it as we can As the Prophet bad the Widow borrow Vessels and not a few 2 King 4. 4. and the water-pots were to be filled up to the brim when Christ was to work the miracle John 2. 7. Let the everlasting doors of our Souls be set wide open when it is this King of Glory who is to come in He that hath received most of Christ Psal 24. hath not enough and he who here thinks he hath received enough hath as yet received nothing Our largest draughts are but tasts and those tasts should but quicken the appetite Indeed our Saviour saith that he that drinks of the water that he will give him shall never thirst John 4. 14. But that is Not after other things but yet the more after more of himself not with a feverish hellish thirst as the rich man in those flames and as some Souls here in an hellish anguish but yet with an heavenly enlargement of desire after that which he finds so sweet and hath not yet enough of After fullest in-flows here our emptiness is not perfectly filled nor his fulness exhausted but after fullest communications the thirsty Soul saith Lord one drop one draught more and Christ as the Widow 2 King 4. 6. saith Bring me yet a Vessel and prove me if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out such a blessing that there shall not be room to receive it Mal. 3. 10. Let not the thirsty Earth cease gaping the thirsty Soul craving yet more and yet more till it be filled with all the fulness of God till that as it is in the Text he hath filled our Treasures Ephes 3. 19. 3. How fully should we rest satisfied with Christ alone Will he fill us And would we have any more Doth he fill our Treasures and that with himself and can we desire any thing better or more precious O Naphtali satisfied with favour and full with the Blessing of the Lord said Moses in his blessing of that Tribe Deut. 33. 23. and O blessed Soul say I though thou beest a Naphtali a Wrestler and in never so great conflict as that name signifieth how full may thy joy be How full of comfort if full John 16. 24. 1 John 1. 4. of Christ Though never so empty of other comforts nay though never so full of outward miseries though as it was with the Psalmist thy body be filled with loathsome Diseases Psal 38. 7. and thy soul exceedingly filled with the scorn and contempt of the proud Psal 123. 4. yet if thou beest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the old word was Plenus Deo Full of God and his Spirit if Christ do but fill thy treasures how shouldst thou rejoice in the Lord and joy in the Hab. 3. 17 18. God of thy salvation though there be no herd in the stall nor meal left in the empty barrel no nor oyl in the cruse yet what a feast of fat things full of marrow art thou entertain'd with Isa 25. 6. whilst thou feedest on Christ How doth thy Cup with David's run over when he fills it When God had said I have replenished every sorrowful soul Jer. 31. 25. the Prophet in v. 26. immediately adds Vpon this I awaked and behold my sleep was sweet to me If God please but to undertake from himself in Christ to fill up whatever our dish cup purse or heart wants of full should it be in the darkest night of all wants and miseries and we know not how dark ours may yet prove yet truly our sleep in them might be sweet and our Souls brim-full of comfort And therefore it is our duty as well for our own comfort as for the more full manifestation of his Glory to make up all our wants out of him our emptiness with his fulness Whilest led by sense and not supported by faith this is a very hard Lesson as it was for Moses to believe that Israel's whole Camp should be victualled and filled with flesh for a whole month in a Wilderness and for Philip Numb 11. 21 22. to conceive how so many thousands should be fed in a desert place with five barly loaves and two small fishes In such straits wants John 6. 5 7 8. desertions we cannot believe that Christ will that he can relieve and supply us But O fools and slow of heart to believe where is our faith Is it Christ the Wisdom and Power of God the Amen the faithful and true witness who here promises that he will fill our Treasures and can he not or will he not fulfil his word Though we wrong our selves let us not wrong Christ too If thou canst not believe that he can fill thee thou makest him an empty Saviour If not to fill thy treasure thou sayst he is but a poor Christ If not a friend in the want of a friend and habitation when thou art thrust out of Doors if not all in the want of all thou indeed makest him nothing and he will be nothing Gal. 5. 4. at least not what he truly is and what he here truly promiseth thee and that is to fill thy treasures 4. This might call upon us to follow God fully Numb 14. 24. and to stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God Col. 4. 12. Numb 32. 11. 1 King 11. 6. that our duty and his mercy may hold some proportion 5. But I end all with that which the Text affords And in it we find that all this of Christ's making us to inherit substance and to fill our treasures is promised only to them that love him The love of Christ As it is the condition of the thing promised or rather of the persons to whom it is promised so it is and should be the effect of it when enjoyed For if Christ do all this for us then to love him for it is a very easie demand I am sure but a very poor requital The things promised fall nothing short of perfect happiness Perfecta beatitudo Cartwr They were solid substantial reality an everlasting perpetuity and over-flowing fulness and plenty And what is Heaven more Did they all meet in any earthly commodity that it were a solid staple commodity and such as would last and were there enough of it we should not wish more it would not want high prizers and many buyers Christ we have heard is all this And therefore methinks it would be very hard if he may
material Body of Christ and so become Christiferi and Christo concorporei Christ being concorporated with them as the food is with the body for so they will expound those words of our Saviour John 6. 56. He that cateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him But although in the due receiving of that Sacrament we spiritually by faith are made partakers of whole Christ and so far as saving grace is conveyed to us in the use of it we may be truly said by it as by other Ordinances to be made partakers of that which the Apostle here calleth the Divine Nature yet 1. He speaketh more generally of it here than to be restrained to the effect only of that Sacrament 2. And more spiritually than to understand any such gross absurd and blasphemous commixture and concorporation of Christ's Body with ours so as to be this partaking of the Divine nature 3. Others therefore more rightly and properly interpret it in reference to the Holy Ghost and so C. à Lapide saith we are made partakers of the Divine nature not only accidentaliter as we are by the spirit of God and the work of his grace indued with Divine Qualities and Graces wherein especially the image of God consists and so by those Divine Lineaments drawn by the finger of God which are a shadowy representation of his glorious being and holiness we are made conformable to him and as Children like unto our Heavenly Father But he would have it also understood substantialiter that we Bonavent 1. Sent. dist 14. a. 2. q. 1. Thom. p. 1. q. 43. ar 3. 6. Vasquez Valent Suarez de Deo c. l. 12. c. 5. n. 11 12. are substantially also made partakers of the Divine nature in that the very person of the Holy Ghost is united to us and dwelleth in us as in his Temple substantially and personally novo modo and so in a manner deifieth us This he proveth out of others of their Authors Nor do I deny but that some of our own * Mr. Downham Mr. Cotton Vt in perfectis sima amicitiâ necessaria est amici praesentia Divines though I know none of them that expounds this Text of it do yet hold that not only the grace but even the person of the Holy Ghost is in an especial manner in Believers who is therefore as they conceive said to be given to them 1 John 3. 24. 4. 13. Rom. 5. 5. to be and to dwell and to abide in them John 14. 16 17. 1 Cor. 6. 19. and such like But although I fully believe these Scriptures and therefore subscribe to what Lombard lib. 1. dist 14. proveth out of Antiquity that the Holy Ghost himself is given to and dwelleth in believers yet as concerning that novus modus which they speak of I must confess my own ignorance as not knowing how the Holy Ghost being God and so in his Essence substance and person alike every where should in that respect be more present in believers than elsewhere but only in a more gracious and glorious presence of manifestation of himself to them and operation in them unless they would have the third person hypostatically united to believers as Christ's humanity was to the second person which Lapide's words seem something to sound like to when he saith that the Holy Ghost personally dwells in the righteous Soul which I suppose he meant not of a personal union but only an union of persons of the person of the Holy Ghost dwelling there not as though it were so personally that the spirit and the believing Soul were one person as it was with Christ's humanity in its hypostatical union with the second person of the Blessed Trinity which yet he there compareth this to and to my apprehension doth but nicely distinguish it from it whilst in that personal Union in Christ of the second person with the humanity he makes the bond and tye to be modus substantialis but in this personal Union of the third person with a believer the tie is grace as a quality But I leave these niceties which many a gracious Soul in which the Holy Ghost dwells by his grace cannot conceive and therefore troubleth not it self with It 's sufficient for my present purpose that he confesseth this grace of the spirit to be the medium vinculum causa of this personal indwelling of the spirit in us and therefore it is that as the spirit by his grace dwelleth in us we are made partakers of the Divine nature And this fitly leads me to that which undoubtedly and if not only yet is most fully and properly intended and held out by this Expression Partakers therefore we are of the Divine Nature See Forbes of justification Cap. 8. p. 23 24 25. Id praestant Christi beneficia illud maximè quod sumus filii Dei See Bellarmin de justific l. 2. c. 5. Quomodo autem c. 1. In and by the grace of Adoption and Sonship for by Adoption being called to the fellowship of Christ in his Sonship what he is by nature we are made by grace viz. the Sons of God and so Christs father is our father and his spirit our spirit and consequently the nature of all three being but one is in this relative sense communicated to us we as Sons having our subsistence from the Son who is one with the Father and we in our manner and measure one with them both even the Children of God and so partakers of the Divine Nature So Athanasius * Orat. 4. contr Arrium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by being partakers of the Son of God members of his body of his flesh and of his bones as the Apostle expresseth it Ephes 5. 30. we become thereby partakers of God and of this he addeth this Text is to be understood But as we are the Sons of God upon a double Title both of Adoption and Regeneration for whom he adopts to be Sons John 1. 12. he begets as Sons v. 13. so we are made partakers of the Divine nature upon a double interest as relative in adoption so 2. Positive and inherent in Regeneration and it carried on in sanctification and this I conceive here especially understood So Nazianzen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 4â— Deiformes effecti Cyprian de singul Cleric Deiformi conversatione Idem de unctione Chrismatis S. 3 Deifico studio Idem de aleatoribus S. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Tom. 1. de lib. arbitrio Vt in his nos filios ejus veréque Deos praestemus Bucer in Rom. 2. Concil 2. pag. 120. Calvin Beza Piscator Lapide Amesius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are made partakers of the Divine nature by partaking of the Holy Spirit as Athanasius in another place expressâ—th it de S. Trinit dialog Tom. 2. p. 164. whilest by the operation of the Divine Spirit in heart and life we are made like God in the one bearing his image
〈◊〉 may ever have the upper hand Prefer Jerusalem above our chief joy Psal 137. 6. Love all men as men as the Prophet saith Hide not thy self from thine own flesh Isa 58. 7. but yet so as to love them most with whom we have one and the same spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. Honour all men but especially Love the brotherhood 1 Pet. 2. 17. Let at least humanity prevail with us to esteem and love all that with us partake of humane nature for so far we love our selves but so as to put more abundant honour on them who are made partakers of the divine nature for so we shall love God in them SERMON XVIII ON 2 PET. 1. 4. BUT that We may have this honour and love it will be Preacht at St. Maries June 21. 1657. Vse 3. required that we examine our selves whether we have attained to this true ground of it this truly honourable state of being made partakers of the divine nature Wherein that consists hath already in the general been declared in the former doctrinal explication the main of it was that divine grace was this divine nature Pelagius heretically called humane nature grace we may piously and truly call saving grace divine nature to be Godly is to be God like God is holy just wise good spiritual heavenly and it is his very nature to be so And he that is of such an heavenly spirit and carriage although nil humani à se alienum putat yet totus divinitatem spirat though otherwise he be a poor weak man subject to humane infirmities yet by this his conformity to God he is raised to divine perfection As the eye of faith under all that bloud and spittle saw on our Saviours face his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God full of grace and truth John 1. 14. so the same eye under the mean outside of him who hath filled out of Christs fulness his measure of grace and holiness even grace for grace beholdeth with awful reverence and complacential love bright rayes and reflexions of divinity In his heavenly discourse it saith Non vox hominem sonat there is more than a man God speaks in him as Junius thought In ejus vitâ of that poor godly man who was one means of turning him from his Atheism And when it beholds his holy and heavenly conversation though it do not say with the Lycaonians Acts 14. 11. that Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men yet though but an Idiot he will report that God is in him of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. But enough of this in general Let us rather for our better direction consider some particular properties of this Divine Nature by which it may be discovered and manifested some from that it 's called Nature and some from that it 's stiled a Divine Nature 1. Nature is an inward inbred principle In natural bodies it 's ordinarily defined to be principium motûs quietis and so this Principium motûs intrinsecum Aquin. 1. 2 ae q. 10. a. 1. corp divine nature in a gracious spirit is an inward principle of power and act the spring that in this divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sets all the wheeles a going like the spirit of the living creatures in the wheels Ezek. 1. 20. In this sense our Saviour saith that the water which he giveth to the thirsty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall be in him but what a well of water springing up to everlasting life John 4. 14. not a Cistern which hath all its water from without put into it It is so indeed as it hath all from God but in regard of outward supplies such a well it is that hath such a spring in it as from it self is continually bubbling and springing up to everlasting life It 's no artificial engine to spout out that water which it had not of its own but a true natural fountain that poureth out of what springeth up in it self Jer. 6. 7. as in the creation the herb brought forth seed and the tree fruit after its kind Gen. 1. 12. from its innate seminal vertue its inward natural temperament and constitution and the stone moveth down to the center and the sparks fly upward from their Job 5. 7. natural propension nature being that ingenita rei vis potentia quâ ipsa à seipsá movetur so in this new creation where there is a Divine Nature there is something within not only a blaze in the lamp but also oyl in the vessel Matth. 25. 4. an inward principle which sets the soul in motion to God and heaven these divine sparks naturally fly upward as it 's said of Timothy Philip. 2. 20. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did genuinely and naturally care for the things of God and his Church and Job said of himself that the root of the matter was in him Job 19. 28. contrary to what is said of the stony-ground hearer that he had not root in himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 13. 21. which is the broad difference between a true born child of God and a formal hypocrite the one flutters and makes a great stir in the things of God but God knows and he himself knows and feels there is no inward vital principle that sets him on work nothing from within unless vain-glory or other finister â—imes and intentions which are only corrupt nature but usually all is from without either the applause or frowns of men and the one as the wind drives about the millsails which else would stand still and the other as those Trochlerâ— or water-works force the water upwards which else would lie below or fall downward But O friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he laid of Plutarch the dead statue which he could not make stand by it self there must be something within that goes to a divine nature an inward principle of Divine life and love which without these pullies and plummets sets the wheels of the soul on going God-ward Doth not even nature it self teach you saith the Apostle in that case 1 Cor. 11. 14. and doth not the Divine nature it self where-ever it is in truth from an inward principle and pondus animae prompt and incite and carry you out towards God in communion with him and obedience to him as Act. 18. 5. it 's said of Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was pressed in spirit occasioned by the Jews obstinacy but there was a spirit within him that pressed him to it But here take a double caution when I speak of this inward principle it is not with our Enthusiasts so to cry up a Christ within them as to cry down a Christ without them indeed without them because never truly in them Christ indeed dwells in our hearts but it is by faith Ephes 3. 17. and that is both brâ—d and fed by his word and ordinances Rom. 10.
17. 1 Pet. 2. 2. 2. Nor is it to strike down such poor Christians as are already sinking by reason of inward faintness I acknowledge that in the new-born babe through weakness of nature this pulse may be weak and in the grown Christian through accidental corruptions and temptations there may be obstructions and interruptions but then the man is the more sick for it and nature thus oppressed if it be Divine struggles and groans the more under it when the man of God cannot do the good that he would he cryeth out of himself as a wretched miserable man for it Rom. 7. 18 24. though the root of the matter be in him as it was in Job yet sometimes it may be under-ground and as seed sown under a great weight of earth that keeps it under but it works and works and at last peeps out and then sprouts and springs apace such an inward principle there is in nature and such also in the soul that is made partaker of the divine nature in its outgoings to that which grace hath made connatural to it 2. Hence in the second place from this inward principle natural motion of it self is ready and free not forced or violent With what inward freedom doth my heart go out to him whom I naturally love and with what a free source doth the fountain cast out or as the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the active form signifieth empty her waters that naturally flow from it And A free spirit Psa 51. 12. how willing a people are God's in the day of his power Psal 110. 3. and our Saviour sheweth that as free a current floweth from this fountain of life when in the place before quoted he John 4. 14. saith that his Spirit and Grace shall be as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a well of water so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aquae salientis of water springing freely fully spouting yea leaping up to everlasting life No need of pumping and pulling How naturally doth such a Soul fall into thoughts of God and desires after him O! never more free than when it can run in this Channel most freely Or if at any time as too often it is this current be hindred or dammed up what a complaining murmur may you hear though without murmuring against God and how may you see it though not rising and swelling in discontent and pride yet running over in tears of true repentance And therefore for trial know that a constant As Hos 11. 7. bent to backsliding from God and total averseness from God and the things of God speaks plainly either a Devilish temper or at best corrupt nature And although as in some cases in a mans body there may be listlesness where there is life so an auk backwardness may and often doth consist with the Divine Nature yet it 's but as life in such a weak sick body in which nature is oppressed Grace is but weak or weakned the man of God in such a case stands in great need of cure and relief that his Soul may freely breath and go out to God as Davids did naturally to his Son Absalom 2 Sam. 13. 39. 3. As natural actions and motions are free so thereupon they are not irksome and grievous but pleasing and delightful How merrily doth the wheel run down the Hill from its natural propension And with what delight doth the Scholar plod even on those harder studies to which he is naturally affected The generous Wine with a kind of jollity and tripudium mantles and sparkles upward when in Solomon's phrase it moves it self Pro. 23. 31. Psal 19. 5. Psal 119. 32. aright and the Sun in its natural course rejoiceth as a mighty man to run his race but not so much as the man of God when his heart is enlarged to run the ways of Gods Commandments The generous spiritual Christian never thinks he mounts so right or with more delight than when he sparkleth and moveth upward How merrily doth this sweet Bird sing when it moves upward and soars aloft in Divine Meditations Prayers praises and such like more pleasing uninterrupted outgoings of the Soul to God! yea what melody in the heart doth it make both to God and it self in its sweet sad notes whilest it is tugging in the snare below 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have a complacency and take pleasure in infirmities reproaches persecutions distresses for Christs sake saith Paul 2 Cor. 12. 10. it's the same word that God the Father said of his Son when he said he was well pleased in him Matth. 3. 17. as though with the like natural complacency that the Father embraced Christ the same doth his servant from the instinct of this Divine nature welcom even heaviest sufferings for Christ With what delight doth this Scholar in Christs School who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read these hard Chapters with which he is so naturally taken for all delight and pleasure ariseth from the sutableness of the faculty and the object and therefore where a law of commands without doth so naturally suit with a law of love within us how doth it hug and embrace Then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I consent and approve for my judgment Rom. 7. 16. and for my affections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 22. I delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man and when it is so within the heart then I delight to do thy will O my God Psal 40. 8. then it 's meat and drink to do the will of God Matth. 11. 30. 1 John 5. 3. John 4. 34. the yoke is easie and the burden light and no command grievous no task but a recreation no distastful Medicine but pleasing food which the palate relisheth and the stomach naturally closeth with I confess the Child is weak and may not be so well able for the time to digest so strong meat and the man of God may be sick and then it may not go down with so much delight Weakness or distemper may sometimes weaken and hinder this actual complacential rejoicing as sickness or a cut finger may take off the Musician from actual playing on his instrument wherein yet he habitually much delighteth but then that sickness maketh him more sick to think of it Where there is habitual delight such actual indisposition causeth actual and hearty grief for it and so this grief for the presence of the contrary impediment proclaims aloud what love he bears and what delight he hath in that from which he is hindred And this sufficiently enough distinguisheth in this Case the true Divine Nature from a counterfeit form of Godliness the one saith with them Mal. 1. 13. Behold what a weariness is it But the other cryeth out oh how weary am I A genuine Child of God crieth out of himself and his own uncomfortable weariness in that which he so naturally loveth and delighteth in bewails his being so weakned and hindred as the
of their recoveries The Sheep may fall in the dirt but it 's the unclean Swine that continueth to lie and wallow in it The seed of God may sometimes be 1 Joh. 3. 9. under-ground but if it abide in us as the Apostle speaks it will at last get up and out again As there is hope of a tree though when cut down the root thereof wax old in the earth and the stock thereof die in the ground that through the scent of water it will sprout again and bud and bring forth boughs as a plant as Job speaks cap. 14. 7 8 9. So even a plant of righteousness may sometimes be so nipt and blasted that all may seem to be dead but being planted by the river implanted into Christ by the scent of water from this Divine nature and supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ after such a nipping Winter doth recover again its verdure in the spring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle of his Philippians Cap. 4. 10. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care hath flourished again Not like Jude's trees twice dead and pluckt up by Vers 12. the roots and so even dead without possibility of after-growth Till Nature be quite spent and extinct which the Divine Nature never can be it hath an inward natural Balsam in it which helps on its cure and recovery and as long as there is any breathing of the Divine Spirit it will at last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir up that 2 Tim. 1. 6. grace which seemed to be raked up under the dead ashes and blow it up into a brighter flame And therefore after such falls and stumbles labour we to express this Divine nature by these happy As corrupt nature breeds these decayes so let this Divine nature work these recoveries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. advers Colot as Cyprian Ep. 2. ad Donatum Quod sentitur antequam discitur after recoveries Nor doth it only play such after-games but is much discovered by its forehand quickness Grace is preventing as well as subsequent And this adds A seventh particular Nature hath its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sympathies antipathies its hints instincts and impetus which antevert the Acts of Reason prevent discourse and deliberation At the first blush the heart closeth with this thing or person before it can think why and riseth up in abhorrency and loathing of that other when it cannot tell wherefore Non amo te Volusi nec possum dicere quare It 's so with the Divine Nature It doth abstain and on the sudden start back 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the very first appearance of evil 1 Thess 5. 22. quicquid malè fuerit coloratum as Bernard phraseth it Some expound it of matters of Doctrine De Considerat lib. 3. and so the good Womans Spirit rose against false Doctrine preached though she could not say it was so some understand it of practice and so the chast Soul hates even the garment spotted with the flesh Jude v. 23. is troubled sweats and faints at the first appearance of it as some naturally do at the presence of that against which they have a secret Antipathy On the contrary at first sight or speech by an unio animarum closeth with persons of the same spirit and things that are as it were connatural before it hath time or leisure to give a rational account of it I know the word of God must be the standing rule both of our Faith and practice and am far from indulging the wild phansies and the sudden violent impetus of rash inconsiderate men and yet in some cases give much to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and propendency as also to the aversation of the spirits of sober godly men especially if of all or most as having in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something of the workings of this Divine Nature in them which anticipates their discourse and as John out-ran John 20. 4. Peter is got out before they can come to any deliberate resolution By its nature the Lamb dreads the Wolf when so young that it cannot discern him and we should discover more of this Divine Nature if by the divine instinct of it we can loath sin when we are otherwise so weak or surprized that we have not time or Nature doth act always as high as it can and then how high should this Divine Nature carry us ability to make a deliberate judgment of it 8. As Nature sometimes anticipates Reason so this Divine Nature always exceeds and goeth beyond that which is only humane Divinity is above Humanity Grace above Nature A Christian is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bare man but more than a man And therefore to have or express no more than what Nature can work or natural men by other helps can attain to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk as men with the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 3. terminus minuens or as Cap. 6. 7. he calls the like it 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a defect in which we fall much short of and below that which a man or God that is made partaker of the Divine Nature should arrive at and come up to For as man by nature and kind is and acts above other creatures so a Christian man should even above himself as a man and above other men that want that Divine Principle The widwives once said that the Hebrew women were not as the Egyptian women Exod. 1. 19. And truly the men of God should not be as other men I mean not more proud and froward and worldly but more holy and humble and unblameable than other men Samson the Nazarite became then only like another man when his locks were shaved off and the Spirit of God departed from him Judg. 16. 17 20. But as long as the sanctifying Spirit acts and abides in us we are true Nazarites as by our holy Vows separated to God so we should be though not wholly separated yet very much distinguished from other ordinary men Christ expects from us a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where much is given much is required and more than a Divine Nature could not be given therefore there he requires most Mat. 5. 47. something singular eminent and transcendent a proportionable distance from others in our lives which may answer that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we expect to be fixed between them and us after our deaths Luc. 16. 26. Contarenus de Justificat makes the comparison of the manners of a Rustick and of a Citizen or Courtier and a like difference he saith there is between the carriage of an earth-born sinner and a Saint made partaker of the Divine Nature The Sons of Princes should not be in the garb of Peasants children but that comparison is too low Between Nature and Grace there should be a more vast distance A Child of God should be as much above a natural man as heaven is above the
spirit of God could effect it for so that particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As by the spirit of the Lord signifieth causam congruam dignam tantae transformationis as C. à Lapide rightly observeth All cometh to this and all fully to my present purpose That now when God is in Christ so fully as I may say exhibited and exposed to our view and in the Gospel so clearly manifested and held forth to us He expecteth and where grace prevaileth he thereby effecteth such a change and transformation that we are not like our former selves but are molded into his likeness and having laid aside our corrupt nature we are made partakers of his Divine Nature This is or should be according to Paul's doctrine there the effect of the Gospel and as Calvin observeth upon my Text according to Peter's doctrine here when he saith that the exceeding great and precious Gospel-promises are given to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by them we should be partakers of the Divine Nature He telleth us this is the end of the Gospel Notemus hunc esse Evangelii finem ut aliquando Deo conformes reddamur id verò est quasi Deificari that at last we may be conformable to God which is as it were to be Deified or as our Apostle phraseth it to be made partakers of the Divine Nature Which whilst we are so plentifully partakers of the Gospel we should be exceedingly ashamed of that we so far fall short of it which yet the very Heathens so much aspired to who fell so short of us as thus in pattern so 2. In principle for as our pattern is more clear so our principle is more high This conformity to God in true Christians you heard from 2 Cor. 3. 18 is from the spirit of the Lord whilst by the spirit of Christ inlightning and regenerating we are renewed after the Image of God Col. 3. 10. As also from faith in Christ laying hold of thâ—se exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel and on Christ in them from whose fulness alone God would have us receive grace for grace grace in us answerable and conformable to grace in him and so to be partakers of the Divine Nature Now this faith these promises this Christ and this spirit of Christ those Heathens and their most â—â—â—limate Philosophers were utter strangers to him they knew not to him by faith they went not nay out of themselves they went not but to their Philosophical moral considerations and their purgative vertues to which they ever joyned their heathenish idolatries and superstitious lustrations and sacrifices With Porphyrie to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 charms and sorceries as utterly inconsistent with the Divine nature as the true God is contrary to a vain idol and therefore it is no wonder that it was so wofully deformed a deiformity which they arrived at how trimly soever their admirers do trim it up and turkess it And therefore when there is so much more light and power in the Gospel when our both pattern and principle so far every way exceed theirs Surely God cannot but expect that it should be another-kins likeness to him that we should attain to than what they arrived at And on the contrary let us sadly think what a shame it is to us and to the Gospel too that when there is so much of God in it there should be so little in us who profess it That when we read David's Psalms and the other Prophets writings in the old Testament we should find so much light and life that they both breath and express so much of God in them and we so little so that in truth although as Eusebius observeth they were not called yet indeed they were the true Christians and many of us are really as much without God as we are strangers from that Commonwealth of Israel Especially that even Heathens should herein exceed us that they should so honourably speak of that God whom we so blaspheme that they should express more of God by the twilight of nature than we in the sun-shine of the Gospel that Erasmus should so hardly forbear to pray to Socrates as a Saint whilst many who are named Christians may without breach of charity be called Atheists that any of us should have upon us such black marks of the Devil when on many of them we may discover though ruder yet very lovely characters and lineaments by the help only of their natural Divinity of the Divine nature which we who have better means in all reason should be more possessed of SERMON XX. ON 2 PET. 1. 4. AND should it be here asked what those means are which Quest we should make use of whereby to attain to this high honour and happiness I must answer that all that we of our selves can do as to any Ans inward worth or efficacy operative of so great an effect is just nothing We that can do nothing to make our selves men surely can do as little to make our selves men of God can less concur to the producing of this Divine nature than we did to our humane both are a Creation and therefore the work of God only but yet so as we are to make our addresses to him for the one now that we have a natural being which we could not for the other when he had none And here as the Divine nature essentially considered in God is common to all thâ—â—hree persons so this communicated symbolical Divine nature in us is the common work of them all and therefore to them all we are to make our applications for it 1. To God the Father who as he is Fons Deitatis and communicates Means that Divine nature to the Son and the spirit so he is Fons Gratiae and through the Son by the Spirit imparts this Divine nature to all his children It was his breath that breathed into Adam at first that soul in which especially was his image and it must be his breathing still that must breath into our hearts that divine grace in which consists that his image renewed and this Divine nature God our Creatour is the Author of this new Creature And here the means of it on our parts is by humble and earnest prayer to breath after him for it as the dying man gaspeth for breath that is going away or rather as the dry earth gapeth for heavens rain and influence which it wanteth and so in this systole and diastole upon the out-breathing of our souls and desires followeth in God's way the breathing in of this Divine breath of life the quickning spirit by which we are made spiritual living souls In this case it was said of Saul Behold he prayeth Acts 9. 11. For although it be true that the prayers of the wicked whilst they purpose to go on in sin are an abomination to the Lord Prov. 28. 9. And as true that the prayer
and that where he may be seen in Providences Ordinances in Word Sacraments and although thy case be ill afflicted and tossed with tempests scorched with heat and spent with thirst yet leave not seeking till there you find him to be all this in the Text even an hiding-place from the wind So first as such seek him As such when found trust and rest and glory in him and improve Vse 2 him Thou mayest then cry aloud thy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found him whom my soul loveth and that as these comparisons express it every way happily for Christ was born in Bethlehem Ephrata Mic. 5. 2. The first word whereof signifieth an house of bread and the other fruitfulness There 's therefore no starving or pining there In thy Fathers house there 's bread enough yea and physick enough too for every disease as St. Ambrose fully on Psal 119. 57. those words Portio mea Domine O Lord thou art my portion And indeed a naked Christ is Portion enough besides all other Bequests and Legacies To this purpose it 's worth the marking that Psal 81. 8. God seems to make way to speak of some great matter which he would with greedy attention have listned to Hearken O my people and I will testifie O Israel if thou wilt hearken unto me as though some great promise were to follow and so there doth but what is it see vers 9 10. That there shall be no strange God amongst them besides him as though he by himself were all-sufficient enough and Abraham's exceeding great reward without them So happy every way thou art if thou hast him but more happy if every way we could improve him for as God would have none of our parts and abilities lye idle so neither would he have any thing in him that we have interest in not improved And therefore seeing Christ and Godliness are profitable for all things we should in greater and lesser wants and evils improve Christ and have recourse to him that even to us and in our particular whether inward or outward blusterings and thirstings and faintings we may find him as an hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the storm that thy thirsty soul may find him rivers of waters in that dry place and thy tired-out spirit the shadow of a great rock in a weary land This the Application of what Christ is to us For that other what it cost him First see thy sin in the sufferings of thy Saviour what he did Vse 1 endure thou shouldst have done And therefore sinful soul look upon thy Christ arraigned condemned whipt cursed crucified and say all this I should have been Tua O gulosa gula c. as he saith Drunkard it was thy sugred cup that made Christ drink Gall and Vinegar Proud haughty one it was thy pride that hung thy Saviour between thieves thy gayness proud Peacock that crowned him with thorns It was the wantonness of thy flesh that pierced thy Saviour's with nails and tore it with whips and therefore when thou seest thy Saviour's blood arise in his wounds let thine in an holy blush arise in thy face and say all this blast and storm which the roof endured and all that scorching heat which the rock is beaten upon with was procured by my sins and had not Christ interposed had certainly lighted on my person and therefore I 'l first loath both But secondly the more love him yea more than our selves saying with Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Christ as my sins so my love was crucified and by way of thankfulness though it never be a requital I 'l interpose my dearest right hand to save my Head from wounding The servant shall willingly put his own body between his Master and the thrust to save his dishonour who by so doing hath himself saved his soul even by being an hiding-place from the wind a covert from the storm rivers of waters in a dry place the shadow of a great rock in a weary land Tibi Domine Jesu SERMON XXVIII JOHN 5. 14. At St. Paul's Decemb. 27. 1646. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the Temple and said unto him Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee THe prudent Physician 's care is not only perfectly to Medicinae partes duae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cure the present disease but withal to prevent an after-relapse which otherwise might prove more dangerous and accordingly the Lord Jesus our Phaebus Medicus the Son of righteousness that hath healing in his wings in the beginning of the Chapter comes as a loving Physician to the Pool of Bethesda as to a publick Hospital of impotent diseased people vers 2. and of all the multitude he most graciously visits one that had most need of pity and help whose disease Interpreters Dulcis medicus in viset Nosocomium prae caeteris maxime laborantem conceive was most dangerous and for time grown Chronical the Text saith of thirty eight years continuance vers 5. drooping Christian die not of despair for thou shalt not of thy disease though never so desperate if Christ undertake the cure for him he healed vers 7 8. for his body and so much was wrought on his soul that from Bethesda's Porch v. 2. he was now got to the Temple in the Text most likely to return thanks to God Vt mos erat Luc. 18. 10. Act. 3. 1 8. Grotius for his recovery but his Saviour was not as yet savingly made known to him And therefore to perfect the cure in healing his soul and to prevent a relapse of both soul and body into a worse malady he casts about there the second time to meet him and after his cure prescribes him a Diet this Recipe Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee In which words two things are implied and two things injoyned The first thing implied in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sin no more was that after his recovery without better care taken he was in danger to sin again The second this that if he did revolt to his former sin he was in eminent danger to relapse into a worse malady in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. lest a worse thing come unto thee Whereupon the two things prescribed and injoyned and the first a means of the second are 1. A serious consideration of the Mercy he had received in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold thou art made whole 2. A studious care that he would avoid the like sin if he would not incur a greater danger in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee Like as the Angel charged Lot now gotten out of Sodom to flie for his life and not look back lest Vengeance should overtake him Gen. 19. 17. Or as if the Physician before spoken of should say thus to his Patient whose wantonness or
tota plena te saith holy Augustin Confess l. 10. c. 28. There 's no grief in him when he is all in God he hath a lively life of it when he can sit so near the Fountain of Life as to be filled with the blessed inflowes of it If David cannot tell how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity you had Psal 133. 1. need of the tongue of an Angel and not mine to tell the unutterableness of that delight and Joy when Children and Father Spouse and Husband Head and Members cleave together in closest Union And if Honour use to go in the first rank of the World's excellencies Honorificum then he that 's nearest to God must needs herein have the upper hand Our blessed Saviour is exalted to highest Honour in that he is at the right hand of God and then sure that soul is no base one that lies nearest to the heart of Christ Seemeth it a small thing to you said Moses to Korah that the God of Israel hath brought you near to himself in the Ministry of the Tabernacle Numb 16. 9. in which respect Nazianzen highly extolls the now despised Ministry and Chrysostom lifts it up above Crowns and Scepters but how much more honourable is it to draw near to God in saving Grace than in that Sacred Office which sometimes they that are most unworthy climb up to They were the Grandees of Persia who sat next to the King and saw his face Esth 1. 14. May I never affect greater Grandure in this World than in nearest approaches to see the face of God in Christ though the great ones of the World set me under their footstool I might add a word of Beauty which according to the Hebrew Honestum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 24. 16. phrase hath a kind of goodness in its comeliness But even that is when the parts of the body are joyn'd together amongst themselves and all united to the head which if parted or dislocated occasion horror rather than delight But O the ravishing Beauty of Christ mystical when from him and with him the whole body is fitly joyned together Ephes 4. 16. when met together to meet with Christ they are the Beauty of Holiness Psal 110. 3. This made Moses's face shine when he talked with God Exod. 34. 29. This encompasseth the Saints in their approaches to Christ with rayes of Divine lustre that they need not be beholden to the Limner or Painter for a painted glory Though the Moon be at the full of her light and beauty when she is in furthest opposition to the Sun yet our Full is in our nearest Vnion with the Sun of Righteousness I forbear further instances But that you may further see how good it is to draw near to God give me leave to propound these two convincing Arguments That 's indeed good and good to me that makes me better but so Argument 1 do not the profits pleasures honours and the rest of those things which the World calls good A man may be extremely bad with them and too often whilst they prostitute his body and debase his mind is made the worse by them But was it ever so by our humble drawing near to God Doth it not elevate the mind The soul is then in Apogaeo 2 Cor. 3. 18. enlarge the heart innoble spiritualize and by a Divine Metamorphosis transform the soul into the Image of Christ in its nearer approaches and interviews Intellectus fit idem cum objecto The understanding is made one with him in its Divine Contemplations and love makes him one with it in its cordial embraces not in H. N. his mad phrase Godded with God but yet in the Apostles 2 Pâ—t 1. 4. divine expression made partakers of the Divine Nature Here 's cure by coming near and touching Luke 8. 44. Healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. Life and Joy in his Presence Psal 16. 11. The Prodigal dare not be so bad as he would be unless he run far from his Father's house And that tells you the good child is better Luke 15. 13. for keeping in his Father's presence When we keep near to God Heaven is not only near to us but Heaven is in us we then have not only heavenly Joyes but also heavenly Hearts and is it not good to be there and therefore to draw nearer And again good to draw near because best when nearest and Argument 2 worst when farthest off 1. First best when nearest Angels and Men by nature the best of God's Creatures because in nature they are nearest to him and most resemble him and are capable of communion with him Of Angels they are the good ones that continually behold him Maâ—th 18. 10. and they the best that are nearest and therefore the chief of them are wont to be called Assistentes Of Men as first when was Adam best when now created and enjoyed converse with God or when fallen and then run away from him Of all Men the Saints that are most honoured by him are a people near unto him Psal 148. 14. their first beginning to be well being when at first in conversion they begin to turn towards him and how well are they never better than when in the exercise of Grace performance of service in Meditation Prayer Word Sacrament in doing nay though it be in suffering they can get nearest to him let it be upon the Canon's mouth saith the soul that is truly touched if I may but so make my approaches to my Lam. 3. 25 26 27. God Let my Father whip me if whilst he so doth he takes me into his Arms. The Child is not afraid in the dark if then he have his Father by the hand nor is David in the valley of the shadow of death if his good Shepherd be with him Psal 23. 4. The whole World is not worth a Dungeon's light and a Prison's inlargement when Christ shines in and his Spirit sets the soul at liberty to go out to him The Martyr is not bound when tyed to the stake his soul is upon the wing to take her flight to her Saviour It seems then that it is so good to draw near to God that in so doing the Serpent hath lost it's sting the Lion is become a Lamb the Gridiron a bed of Roses Darkness is no Darkness Psal 139. 12. the worst evils are not themselves It s good to be afflicted tormented to suffer to dye good to be to do to suffer any thing if thereby we â—e set nearer to Christ who is all in all But how good then when in a better conditon when once come nearest in Heaven's full vision and perfect communion there and so to be with Christ what saith Paul of it he wants words and yet multiplies them it 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multò magis melius Comparative upon Comparative which riseth higher than a Superlative It 's much more better even
badness stands in need of his goodness yet my baâ—sness and guiltiness had need stand off from that greatness This bottomless Ocean will drown me and although the nearer to this Sun the more warmth and light yet in such nearer approaches that heat will melt my waxen wings and that light will dazle and put out my weaker eye True in our bold and curious approaches Prov. 25. 27. Scrutator Majestatis opprimetur à gloriâ But in our humble addresses we shall find it far otherwise viz. God to be bonum conveniens atque ità maximè appetibile so good as most sutable to our desires and wants Partly as in his own infinite sweetness and condescension he stoops so low that the lowliest heart may freely draw near and touch the top of his golden Scepter as noblest Princes have given freest access to their meanest Subjects His greatness no obstruction to his goodness But principally and to us by our sin estranged from him only as in Christ our Emmanuel God with us we come to have near and close Communion with God in him an holy God and sinful man were at an unapproachable distance But therefore our Saviour God-man came between us a Mediator that we who were afar off may be made near by the bloud of Christ Ephes 2. 13. That as the same Israelites whom the brightness of Moses his face drave away Exod. 34. 30. when he had put a Vail on it drew near to him Verse 31 32 33. So the same sinner who must keep aloof off from his Majesty especially as he looks out in a fiery Law need run far away to escape his wrath and curse Deut. 33. 2. as now he hath put on the Veil of his flesh may safely and comfortably approach and have blessed Communion with him and experimently say with the Psalmist that it 's good to draw near to him SERMON XXX PSAL. 73. 28. At St. Maries Sep. 9. 1649. But it is good for me to draw near to God THe second ground whereof is taken from the Nature of Reas 2 This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text is alone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God Almighty is only God All-sufficient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God of himself and therefore alone Self-sufficient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hath so his Being from himself that all else have their beings from him the Creature in General which at best is but a depending being not sufficient in and of it self for its own Happiness and therefore must go out of it self to find it in another which ultimately nay immediately is God only Now that it may have it of him it must be some way or other united to him and so from a natural Tendency proportionably to the nature of it looks and moves towards him and as it can draws near and cleaves to him according to that of the Psalmist The eyes of all wait upon thee Psal 145. 1 15. As the Vine to the Elm and the Ivie to the Oak how fast doth it clasp and cleave How doth it insinuate Like the Rivers to the Ocean or Ezekiel's Cedar-branches to the great Eagle Chap. 17. 6. The Soveraign Lord and Creator leaving in the most perfect Creature some defect either for being well-being or continuing in both that it may have recourse to Him for a supply as the Child that cannot defend or it may be carry it self on its own Legs when left crieth to the Father Well were it if we could cry more after ours for that might make God draw near to us when we cannot to him What a dark frozen thing is such a Northern Clime where the Sun's Light shines not and whither its warm Beams reach not But what a very nothing is every thing without a God creating and supporting it The very Chaos could not continue in its imperfect confused being without the Spirit of God brooding upon Gen. 1. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it And therefore when we see the Flowers opening to the Sun and the Birds in Winter-Season flying away into warmer Countries they tell us that as we are Creatures for our being and well-being it 's good to draw near to God and teach Confess lib. 13. cap. 8. us to make Austin's Confession Male est mihi praeter te non solum extra me sed in meipso omnis mihi copia quae Deus meus non est egestas est Lord without thee how ill would it be with me And that not only in regard of what 's without me but also within me Without thee my greatest Plenty is errant Beggary and therefore such a poor Creature stands in need to dwell near to such a Good Neighbour to be warmed by his Fire and fed at his Table Lord it 's good for me to beg an Alms at thy Bethesda though I creep on my Knees to get as near as I can to thee And this the rather if in the third place we consider the Reas 3 Nature of Man as in himself and in reference to God in a special manner made by him and for him and therefore unquiet Fecisti nos ad te irrequi etum est cor nostrum doneo requiescat in te Augustin Confess 41. c. 1. See Dr. Field of the Church lib. 1. c. 1. and restless till it return to him The right Line is turned into a Circle in which the Line is so reflected that in its return it stays not till it return from whence it first came Of a Spiritual Immortal and Understanding Soul of vast apprehensions and desires Of a Sociable Nature pity it should not have acquaintance with God If not good for Adam to be alone without a Meet-help 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 18. as always before him with whom he might be made one flesh How ill to be without a better help nearer at hand with whom he may be made one Spirit Made after Gods Image Gen. 1. 26. and therefore best when he can come nearest to that first and best Copy With an understanding Soul Job 35. 11. And therefore the more he knows the more he understands his own Dependency and therefore seeth a greater necessity of drawing the nearer to the Fountain of his Being and Welfare Of a Capacious Apprehension which nothing but this Primum Verum can fill and therefore wearys himself Eccles 12. 12. in an endless search after Truth in several Arts and Sciences The World is set in his heart Eccles 3. 11. but it 's but little that he can attain Job 26. 14. and not without a great deal of difficulty is tired out in gathering up the Rays of Light and Truth which Scattered as Israel over Egypt to gather stubble this Sun hath scattered among the Creatures but is not satisfied till he find them all and more than all in himself This is eternal Life to know thee and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ John 17. 3. In the
Study of the Creature is a toilsome task Eccles 1. 18. It 's in the near Vision of God which the understanding of a Man doth fully acquiesce in and so Intellectus est in quiete And as he is of a Capacious Apprehension which nothing but this Primum Verum can fill So he is of a large heart and vast desires which nothing but this Summum bonum can satisfie God only being El Shaddai Exod. 6. 3. Gen. 17. 1. The God All-sufficient either to his own or our Happiness Whence it is that when the Soul is once put off from him Per devia errans like the evil Spirit in the Gospel Mat. 12. 43. goes through dry Places seeking rest and finds none till with the Psalmist he looks Home-ward to God and saith Return unto thy rest O my Soul Psal 116. 7. Sometimes as Solomon in Ecclesiastes he seeks and searcheth for what may satisfie him in the Creature and what content it can afford and as there was no Nation and Kingdom in which Ahab did not hunt for Elijah 1. Kings 18. 10. and yet he could not be found So there is no Creature in or under Heaven which in this busie search is not as it were unlapt and ransacked if possibly by the Profit or Pleasure of it content may be found lapt up in it This busie Bee sits and sucks on every Flower and like a Chymist makes Extractions of all sorts out of all things if from any from all he might gain such an Elixir as may serve his turn But the deep saith it is not in me In all the inferiour Creatures Adam could not find a Meet-help Gen. 2. 20. It 's pity that in any he should meet with his Happiness Solomon when tired out with this wild and eager pursuit is glad at last to turn in to God Let 's hear the conclusion of the whole Matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole of Man Eccles 12. 13. all one with this in the Text It 's good for me to draw near to God But before that when vain Man hath been wearied out in seeking that in the Creature which will not be found before he will draw near to God with Saul he will rather apply himself to Satan and dig as deep as Hell to find it trying whether that may be overtaken in a way of sin which could not be met with in the lawful Content of the Creature and here he runs counteramain Hell-ward till he hath quite wearied himself in that Course Isa 57. 10. adds Drunkenness to Thirst and Thirst to Drunkenness when he hath been most drunk yet thirsts the more and the more he drinks the more he thirsts most unhappy in that he seeks the Living amongst the Dead mistakes Misery for Happiness and Hell for Heaven But it 's this Good that he looks and gropes for though now Blind-folded and turned off from God he goes a quite contrary way But yet as Austin well observes Mali propterea sunt mali ut sint In Psal 118. 1. boni nempe beati The wickedest Men do ill that they might fare well It 's a Goodness and Happiness that they make after It 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which they Sacrifice a Deity which they serve unhappy in this that they grasp the Cloud for Juno in their Hunting after the vain Creature and worship the Devil instead of the true God 1 Cor. 10. 20. in their thus questing with open Mouth after sinful Contentments but yet whilst misled with these fowl Errors they bear witness to this Fundamental Truth that whilst they so eagerly but in vain pursue such false Goods they plainly say that it 's good to draw near to the True so that the Man hath lost himself when he hath lost this Principle is rather a Beast or a Devil than a Man that in Profession and Conversation will not say that it 's good to draw near to God Especially if we consider that new Nature which God works Reas 4 in the new Creature the holy frame of a Godly heart As those Men whose hearts God had touched followed Saul the Lords Anointed 1 Sam. 10. 26. So those blessed Souls which Christ that true Loadstone hath indeed touched whilst it draws they run after him Cant. 1. 4. Such Divine Sparks must needs move upward to their proper Element as the Virgula Divina bends that way that the Mine lieth And this 1. Partly from the inward Instinct of that Divine Nature which they partake of which makes them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle's 2 Pet. 1. 4. word is Phil. 2. 20. even naturally care for the things of God and propend towards him which appears by this that whilst with others Trahit sua quemque voluptas Ad unum omnes All of them though of never such different Ages Parts Conditions nay though of quite contrary Tempers and Dispositions otherwise yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one joynt consent look and according to their several abilities draw towards God as near as they can The Swallow doth not more naturally flie to the Saladine when hurt or the Chicken run to the Hen when in danger than a Right-born Heir of Heaven to God his Father The new-born Babe crys and the dying Christian now breathing out his Soul gasps and breaths after him The one in the beginning of his Race thinks it long till he comes at him the other almost at the end of his with Paul Phil. 3. 13 14. the further he goes makes the more haste to him in several Paths but all in one Road God-ward the one though he hath not yet had such experience of him yet thinks how good it were if he could get near him the other upon his long experience thinks it best to keep close to him when in Affliction he accounts his Presence more than all other things that he wants and when in Prosperity he values the same Presence above all else that he enjoys I might Instance in many other Particulars But these may suffice to shew that amongst never so many Discords they yet altogether make up this Harmony and from the general Instinct of that new Nature all cry out with the Psalmist in the Text It 's good for every one of us severally for all of us the whole Chorus joyntly to draw near and keep close to God 2. But especially upon their deliberate Resolutions upon long trial and experience they thereby come more fully to know what they have found good to apply themselves to they cannot but conclude that it 's best to draw near to God At their first Conversion they were sufficiently convinced of Hos 2. 6 7. Jer. 3. 22 23. the Vanity and oft-times of the Mischief of all other Applications of the Creatures utter Insufficiency for any saving Good to them John Baptist that made way for Christ in their hearts cried All flesh is grass Isa 40. 6. The first saving Breath that breathed Life into
them blasted the Creature to them As soon as they began to live to God the Flesh was mortified and the World crucified But further In their after frequent Experience they have been herein more confirmed that when their Souls have gone out to any Creature to support them they find the best so weak that they cannot or nothing in comparison of God not at all without God Father and Mother cast off when God alone takes up Psal 27. 10. and therefore Cease from Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils for wherein is he to be accounted of Isa 2. 22. And for others so bad that if they could they would not so that oft-times they are the worse the nearer they come to them The Reed breaks and pierceth the Hand when leaned upon for support Ezek. 29. 6 7. the Briar scratcheth and pricks when gone to for shelter They get as much good by applying themselves to them as Joseph did by going to his Brethren or the Levite by turning in to Gibeah Of all others Gen. 37. the Godly are deserted by Friends and pursued by Enemies and they themselves a poor shiftless helpless People and therefore it 's good for the Conies that feeble folk and so much hunted to make their Houses in the Rock Prov. 30. 26. It 's good for the Vine so unable to subsist of it self and so much pluckt by others to clasp fast to the Elm For me that am plagued all the day long and chastned every morning as the Psalmist said of himself v. 14. for me at least it 's good to draw near to God This by experience they find and therefore as Joshua said to Israel If it seem evil to you to serve the Lord chuse you whom you will serve but I and my House will serve the Lord Josh 24. 15. So will every right-born Heir of Heaven however others take offence and go away Joh. 6. 66. yet when asked Whether they also would go away v. 67. with Peter be ready resolvedly to answer Lord to whom should we go Thou hast the words of Eternal Life and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ c. ver 68. We know and have found and felt what thou art in thy self and what thou hast been to us in our keeping close to thee and therefore there 's no talking or thinking of leaving thee The faithful Soul from the very Heart saith what the Psalmist v. 25. expresseth Lord whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth that I desire besides thee And therefore when others v. 27. by their dear-bought experience find at last nothing but destruction is gained by being afar off and going a whoring from thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod ad me spectat I that know this and have had experience both of the mischief of my being estranged from thee and of the blessing of keeping close to thee I must hold to it and shall ever by the Grace of God bide by it that it 's good for me to draw near to thee Which teacheth us with all humble thankfulness to think Vse 1 and acknowledg how good God hath been to us in giving us Jesus Christ by whose Mediation alone we may have this access and without which as we now are it would be as good for us to draw near to God as for a guilty Malefactor to the Bar of an angry Judge or for Briars and Thorns to a consuming fire Isa 27. 4. for so God is to Sinners out of Christ Heb. 12. 29. And then Who among us is able to dwell with devouring fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. His Majesty is so infinitely glorious that as the Apostle speaks he dwells in Light unapproachable 1 Tim. 6. 16. His Holiness so impatient of sinful defilement that he cannot endure to behold it Hab. 1. 13. so that even the impudent sinner gets as far as he can out of his fight that he may more freely commit it Isa 29. 15. and the humbled blushing sinner cannot stand before him by reason of it Ezra 9. 6 15. His Justice is so strict and his Wrath so dreadful as makes Adam when now under guilt hide himself Cain run out of his Gen. 3. Gen. 4. Luke 18. 13. Rev. 6. 15 16. presence the poor humbled Publican stand afar off and the forlorn damned Souls at the last day desire Mountains and Rocks to fall upon them rather than he should see them and as Basil thinks wish rather to lie still in the Prison of Hell than to be brought out before him to his Judgment-Seat How awful is that sad word of God's being sanctified in them that draw nigh to him Levit. 20. 3 And how dreadful is that Threat of God's drawing near to Judgment Mal. 3. 5 And can it then be so good to draw near to such a God so glorious and terrible I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord said the Rom. 7. 25. Apostle in alike case and so doth the faithful Soul in this I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Through him my Propitiatory I find my Judg on a Mercy-Seat and so it 's good to draw near happy that we may and more happy if we will It was he that engaged his heart to approach to God Jer. 30. 21. That Son of Man that drew near to the ancient of days Dan. 7. 13. and so brings us with him as Joseph did his Brethren into the Gen. 47. 2. King's presence As our near Kinsman taking our Nature into the nearest Vnion of his Person so as in this Glass we see the Glory John 1. 14. Heb. 2. 14. of God so refracted and attempered to our weakness that instead of being oppressed with it we are changed into it 2. Cor. 3. 18. By our blessed Emanuel God is so with us as that we may have free and near access to him Whilst his Holiness and Obedience become a Vail to cover our Defilement And his Blood hath so fully quenched the fiery Indignation of his Father's Wrath that we who by the Law are kept at a distance afar off Exod. 20. 18. 24. 2. have by the Gospel of Christ brought to us a better hope by which we draw nigh to God Heb. 7. 19. And what now remaineth but that seeing it is so good to draw Vse 2 near to God we be all exhorted in his fear to be so good to our selves as to keep no longer at a distance Let Strangers yea Enemies draw near and let Friends draw yet nearer Let not our sins any longer separate us and then let not unbelief dishearten us Remember that as on the one side the Spirit and the Bride say came and he that beareth saith come viz. in the desires and out-goings of their Soul to Christ so he on the other side in his desire of their union with him ecchoeth back again And he that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the
Paradise Haec est maxima merces interminabilis is the highest Point of the Alcoran's Divinity I omit to shew how in point of honour and preferment in which the ambitious place the highest pitch of their happiness such statelier Plumes lure high-soaring Spirits how Beauty draws after it many Men's eyes the loving Wife the pleasant Child the faithful Friend take our very hearts and that too often from God In company and enjoyment of them our Souls are so snatcht to them so immersed do so dwell in them that we are ready to sit down and say with Peter and more inconsiderately than he it 's good to be here rather than to advance on and with the Psalmist in the Text to say It 's good to draw near to God 2. Which is the other part of our sin namely our Aversio a Deo our froward aversness and awke hanging off from God as from the greatest Stranger or worst Enemy So false-hearted that after fair Advances we often draw back in a sly retrograde Motion Heb. 10. 38 39. So peevish that when he reacheth out the hand we pluck away the shoulder Nehem. 9. 29. when called to him we run the faster and farther from him Hos 11. 2. So proud that we are Lords and will not come at him Jer. 2. 31. So profane that we are either afraid or ashamed to be near him and therefore such bid the Almighty depart Job 21. 14 15. and the Prodigal gets himself into a far Country that so he might be further out of his Father's fight and so with more freedom satisfie his lusts and will rather join himself to a Farmer to feed Hogs and to be fed with Husks than to come home to his Father to have Childrens Bread any way rather than home and Sub oculo Catonis Cupiditas junxit porcis a patre piissimo quem sejunxit Chrysolog Serm. 1. any thing rather than a Father's presence Fond desperate Soul Nescis temeraria nescis Quem fugias ideoque fugis Didst thou but know what thou leavest thou wouldst draw nearer and what thou pursuest thou wouldst stand further off Will a fainting Man leave the Snow of Lebanon And shall the cold flowing Waters be forsaken Jer. 18. 14. Do not such Shadows the faster thou pursuest them fly the faster from thee Like the foolish Boy running after the Bee to catch it sequendo labitur assequendo laeditur Have not all such things which draw out thy Soul so after them as to withdraw it from God have they not either a Wing to fly away that thou never overtakest what thou seekest or a sting to hurt thee when thou hast overtaken them that thou gettest more hurt than good by them Is not Dina ravished thy Soul abused and defiled by such out-gaddings Is not I say not Health Estate Esteem but it may be thy Life thy Soul lost in such ramblings and which is worst of all and above all God lost too Cain went out of the presence of the Lord but he thereupon dwelt in the Land of Nod as a trembling amazed vagrant Wretch in a most unsetled condition ever after Gen. 4. 14 16. Jonah also fled frrom the presence of the Lord but a tempestuous Wind is sent out with Hue and Cry after him and when laid up in the close Prison of the Whale's belly he then confesseth he had forsaken his own mercy The Prodigal went into a far Country but the further from his Father the nearer to Ruine Though we are studious to put far from us the evil day Amos 6. 3. Yet as the Lord liveth there is but a step between us and death as long as we keep at such a distance from the God of our Salvation mischiefs then near at hand to come and irrecoverable when come It 's said that Laish had no Deliverer because it was far from Zidon Judg. 18. 28. But who will be thy Deliverer when Enemies are near Ezek. 9. 1. Death near Psal 107. 18. Judgment near Heb. 10. 25. And thou further from God In this case H. de S. Victore tells us what In Psal 63. Men usually betake themselves to Aliis in necessitate bonum est consilium suum aliis in prosperitate bonum est gaudium suum mihi unicum bonum est adhaerere Deo In Prosperity they think it 's good for them to betake themselves to their delights and in straits to their shifts But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This one direct course of drawing near to God will be of more use than all their other Shifts and Applications Illos consilium non liberat gaudium non conservat as the same Author there adds all other nearest and dearest Friends may fail us may not come at us Nehem. 4. 19. may cast us off as Psal 27. 10. It 's God only drawing near that must relieve us And then wo to us if he only draw near to us as an Enemy or Judg as Mal. 3. 5. to take vengeance not to rescue us as our best Friend And therefore in the last place this is of special use for direction Vse 5 1. Of our Judgment in a right estimate of true goodness which most Men are inquisitive after It 's the Voice of Nature Who will shew us any good Psal 4. 6. and yet which very few are well resolv'd in according to that of Solomon Who knoweth what is good for Man c. Eccles 6. 12. But the Psalmist affords a full Answer to both those great Questions when after a long and strong debate in the foregoing part of the Psalm he concludeth It 's good for me to draw near to God and by good as we have shown he meaneth the prime and chiefest and best Good mihi quidem optimum so the Arabick hath it Now then primum in unoquoque genere est mensura reliquorum The first and chiefest in every kind is the Rule and Measure of the rest Let this therefore be the Standard by which we always measure the goodness of every thing that we most value and set the highest price on and let this be the Rule which in such prizings we go by that that is indeed good by which we are drawn near to God and that best by which we get nearest My God is my goodness Psal 144. 2. and therefore that only at least that principally I must call good by which I am drawn nearer to God Indeed because Bonum Ens convertuntur we are ready to call any thing good and because finis bonum convertuntur accordingly every thing is good at least in our eyes which either is an end we aim at or a means conducing to it And so as the Apostle said in another kind There be Gods many and Lords many but to us there is but one God 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. So there are many things which in Scripture-phrase and ordinary use are called good a good Day good Company a good Work or Employment and so of the rest But in a
The Scripture saith so and we by too sad and frequent Experience find it so On Gods part with whom no Evil dwells 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Bazil speaks Smoak and ill Savours drive not Doves and Bees more away than our lothsome Pollutions do the Holy God In Scripture we find that it makes him forsake Jer. 23. 33. and depart from us Hos 9. 12. even quite cuts off his Soul from us Luxata est anima mea a te Jer. 6. 8. Insomuch that the Holy Ghost makes account that whilst we go on in our sins it 's our meaning and intention at least Intentio operis if not operantis that we should have God gone from us according to that Ezek. 8. 6. Son of Man seest thou the Abominations that the House of Israel committeth that I should go far from my Sanctuary As he plainly saith that he would have that Guest gone who entertaineth him with that which he knoweth his Stomach riseth at only to look on So blessed a Guest is God that he thinks he deserves a better Welcome and therefore makes haste away from such an unkind Entertainment That for his part And for ours it makes the Estrangement mutual as God saith Zech. 11. 8. My Soul loathed them and their Soul also abhorred me Sets us as far from God as it doth God from us For Instance it makes us 1. Unfit that we may not Unfit for the Begger with his Rags and Filth to press into a King's Presence-Chamber But more unfit for the more polluted Soul to come near before those purer Eyes that cannot endure to look on such Filthiness A Miriam if leprous her Father spits in her face and thrusts her out of the Camp Numb 12. 14. We cannot stand before thee because of this Ezra 9. 15. 2. Guilty that we dare not draw near Makes Adam hide himself from God in the Bushes as an unhappy Child when in fault from his angry Father's presence 3. Weak lame and blind nay quite out dead that we cannot And therefore they that were dead in Trespasses and Sins must be quickened Ephes 2. 1. If ever they that were afar off come to be made nigh by the Blood of Christ ver 13. 4. Peevish and froward that we will not We are Lords we will come no more at thee Jer. 2. 31. And therefore our Saviour imputes it to the Jews perverse Will that they do not come unto him that they might have life John 5. 40. There is not more in God that by reason of our sin we fear than what naturally we dislike and hate we fear his Power and Wrath and that makes us run from him We loath his Holiness and Righteousness and commanding Authority and that makes us more averse and sets us off further from him Great Sins like violent Blasts blow us far from God on the sudden and lesser sins by little and little work us off more insensibly as it is with a Ship whose fest is loosed every Wave puts off a little more from the Shore till it hath quite lost the sight of Land and is at last sunk in the depth of the Sea * With God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zech. 13. 1. A defiled Soul is like a Woman put away for her uncleanness or as a Man thrust out of the Camp for his Leprosie If ever therefore we would indeed draw near to God we must put away a perverse Lip Prov. 4. 24. for God cannot endure to come near so stinking a Breath And listen to that Counsel which Zophar gives to Job Chap. 11. 14. If iniquity be in thy hand put it far away and say unto it Get thee hence as it is Isa 30. 22. or as 2 Sam. 20. 20. Far be it far be it from me The Loadstone draws not the Iron when rusty nor were the Virgins admitted to Ahasuerus his Company till after a twelve-months perfuming and purifying Esther 2. 12. The like course God prescribes for our nearer approaches So the Apostle Jam. 4. 8. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you But mark what follows Cleanse your hands and purifie your hearts Till then God stands off at a distance from the lothsom sinner Isa 1. 10 to 16. But do but wash and make you clean and then come now and let us reason together v. 16 18. If we would draw near to God we must leave our sins behind us But for positive means and helps 2 Positive 1. There is a drawing near to God in Place and Office to Magistrates Jer. 30. 21. and so Ministers Numb 16. 9. are said to come near to God as menial Servants are near to a King who daily stand before him and minister unto him But I insist not on this only let me hence take occasion to mind such whom it concerns as of their Advantage so of their Engagement that Ministers and Scholars who by their Calling and Employment have the honour and benefit of a nearer standing to God would by it labour for the happiness of a saving Approach that they never make good that blunt if not profane saying The nearer the Church the further from God that the more like to God we are in Knowledg we come not nearer to the Devil in Malice and Wickedness The Eye in Heaven and the Heart in Hell what a real Soloecism They of old were wont to sacrifice in their high Places as taking the advantage of the Ground to be nearer Heaven It were well that from our higher standing our Souls could take a better rise for an higher flight to get the nearer to God It 's good not more profitable than seemly for me a Minister a Scholar to draw near to God 2. There is also a drawing near to God in Profession according to that Jer. 12. 2. Thou art near in their Mouth but far from their Reins Pity that the Heart should be so far from the Tongue and yet farther from God Christ desireth to lie next the Heart though he would also have the Mouth kiss him in an outward Profession 3. There is also a drawing near to God in his Ordinances Psal 65. 4. 2 Chron. 29. 31. Mihi vero accedere ad cultum Dei bonum est so the Chaldee They are the Bed of Love it was called the Ark of his Presence Israel met with him at the door of the Tabernacle and he spake with them from the Mercy-Seat David accounts himself driven from God when banished from his Courts and therefore he faints and longs for them and him together Psal 84. 2. Nor is God more absent now from Gospel Ordinances in which Christ and his Spirit are more fully and comfortably present Christ is there present in the midst of his Servants and the happy Soul that finds there the powerful impressions of God upon it reports that he is amongst them of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. As on the contrary the woful experience of our
bodily Life Your Souls your selves your outward Life Patience as a sure guard keeps you in possession of all A word for natural Life which I exclude not in reference to 1 Life vers 18. they should not perish and here patience is a preservative As God gives us possession of it so patience helps to Doct. 1 keep it So we find in Scripture meek Moses and patient Job long-liv'd whilst bloody and violent Men live not out half their days Psal 55. 23. As stormy Winter days use to be short whilst it 's long before the Sun set in a serene calm Summer's day The Prophet said In quietness and confidence shall be your strength Isa 30. 15 and thereby also their safety whilst frowardness and hastiness makes haste only to destruction Job's Wife when she said Job 2. 9. Curse God and die spake truth when she gave bad counsel for it's curse and die there 's but a step between discontented cursing and dying But if there be any such thing in this frail fading World as via recta ad vitam longam which the Title of his Book promiseth amongst other Vertues and Graces Patience must be one of our Guides and Companions and this whether we consider either God or others or our selves First For God we read that with the froward he will deal Reas 1 frowardly Psal 18. 26. but he delighteth to beautifie the meek with Salvation The Lion of the Tribe of Judah tears his Prey when it struggles and resists but spares it when it lies quiet and prostrate so that if you be weary of your life you may go to it at sharp but if you mean to save it your wisest way is to submit and quietly to lay down your Weapons Crudelem medicum c. The unruly impatient Patient makes his Physician cruel and the Child's strugling doth but increase his stripes whilst a quiet kissing the Rod oft saveth the whipping Our God is our Physician and Father We provoke him to Wrath when we are provoked to impatience by what-ever correction is inflicted by him But it 's meet to be said to him by every dutiful Child and in such a Child's Language I have born chastisement and I will not offend any more if I have done iniquity I will do no more Job 34. 31 32. and that 's the way to prevent a second bout With the Bird of Paradise by a meekned moan to mourn it self out of the Snare not with the wild Bull in the Net Isa 51. 20. to tumble and rave and so the more to entangle himself in the Snare When God hears Ephraim bemoaning himself Ephraim hears God comforting him and telling him that he is his dear Son and pleasant Child that ever since he spake against him he did earnestly remember him that his Bowels were troubled for him and that he would surely have mercy upon him Jer. 31. 18 19 20. Whilst we frowardly struggle 1. our Hearts fret against God and 2. we would be our own Saviours and both these betray us to danger But by a patient lying under God's hand as we acknowledg his Sovereignty and righteous Proceedings so we resign up our selves to him who hath a surer hand than ours to keep that wherewith it is betrusted And thus Patience helps to hold our Souls in Life first in reference to God And secondly in reference to other Men whom we are at a Reas 2 contest with and it may be in danger of for with them though froward Solomon's observation holds good A soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger Prov. 15. 1. As the soft Wall damps the fiercest Shot whilst the clashing of two earthen Pitchers breaks either one or both Fatigatur De Patient c. 8. improbitas patientiâ tuâ saith Tertullian Patience either wins or wearies the most enraged Enemy so that either he will not or he cannot hurt How easily doth the weak Man when provoked by patient forbearing prevent his own mischief Whilst the passionate Male-content either by busie busling begins the Quarrel or by giving the second stroke makes the Fray and both ways as the furious Horse rusheth into the Battel and so too often sins against his own Life But were there none other to hurt us yet impatience can Reas 3 make our selves to be our own Executioners Whether Achitophel was strangled with an Halter or suffocated with some Humors raised by his grief some of late dispute The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie both But which soever of them it was I Henisius Grotius am sure his impatience of a neglect was the cause of it in him as in both kinds it hath been with divers others Impatience of Pain Poverty Disgrace and the like hath proved in this unhappy World one of the great Apollyons and Abaddons chief Engines in murdering not onely others but our selves also What sudden Inflammations what pining Consumptions Frenzies Lethargies and other splenetick Distempers hath it cast many a Man into and so betrayed them sometimes to more gentle and lingring sometimes to more sudden and violent deaths and that sometimes by their own hands Passions with a witness which make both Body and Soul joint-sufferers like blustering storms that dash these frail Vessels against the Rocks or like roaring and riotous Guests and Inmates that set on fire and pull down those Houses of Clay which they are in present possession of But on the contrary A patient or cool Spirit as Solomon phraseth it Prov. 17. 27. how timely doth it prevent these sparks from kindling or happily quench them when they begin to flame by composing the mind that it dare not quarrel with God nor pitch the Field with a Man 's own self and so quiets the Body that it either prevents Bodily Distempers or helps to bear them quietly that they do not prove deadly whilst the unruly sick Man by raving and tumbling kills himself another more patient by being quiet doth sopire morbum and by lying still makes haste to his recovery Possess but thy Soul with Patience and it Patientiae infirmum non extendit Tertul. c. 15. Centrae infirmus qui impatiens est ipsâ impatientâ—â citius devolvitur in mortens Cerda in locum will keep thee in longer possession of the frail Tabernacle of thy Body Indeed short-winded Men are soon at their Journies end but they that are longer breathed are so more ways than one able through many difficulties to run a longer race and at last in a late evening of a long day come to the end of it in peace Discontents I confess may be long-liv'd but so usually are not froward impatient discontented Men. But when the Psalmist tells us that the Meek shall inherit the Earth * Psal 37. 11. that Phrase expresseth as a surer title so a longer continuance and thus as our Souls are sometimes put for our Lives even so by our Patience we are kept in possession of them So 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I said some read it you may you shall And therefore for the Application 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the common Vse reading is Christ here commands us to endeavour that we may possess our lives in Patience At the best we are but Tenants at will and if some of us consider our Ages and others our Weakness and all of us the perilous Times we are cast into we may well think that our Leases are fast hasting to an expiration What Man therefore is he that desireth Life and loveth many days let him seek peace saith the Psalmist Psalm 34. 12 13 14. and let me add Patience for Patience is one of the best Preservatives Prayers and Tears were wont to be the Churches best offensive Weapons and Patience one of the chiefest Defensives Not by Might nor by Power but by my Spirit saith God when he stiles himself the Lord of Hosts Zech. 4. 6. And truly the Spirit of Meekness and Patience hath in it the Spirit of a Conqueror As therefore Christ our Lord vanquished the Devil not by fighting Qui pro nobis mundum vicit non aâ—mato milite sed irrisà cruce Austin in Psal 62. ad finem but by dying so our way to overcome the World and save our lives is rather by patient yeelding and suffering than by peevishly contending I mean not by a base unworthy complying with Mens sins but by a generous suffering of their rage and ever with a silent and meek submission to the righteous Judgment of God Yea in the way of thy Judgments have we waited for thee O Lord said the humbled Church Isa 26. 8. And waiting as it implyeth a still and quiet attendance so with God it ever finds at last a gracious acceptance Thou wilt never bid that Beggar stay and wait whom thou at last intendest to send away empty much less will God make thee content quietly to wait whom he intends to send away discontented by wholly frustrating thee of thy Expectation The prudent shall keep silence in that time for it is an evil time saith the Prophet Amos 5. 13. How evil our times are I need not say and therefore if we would shew our selves prudent and wise for our selves as we love our lives let us keep silence and that 's the Expression which in the Old Testament Patience is usually and almost only set out by Not a malicious silence as Absalom's was 2 Sam. 13. 22. whereby we bite in for the present but lie in insidiis to watch opportunities of mischief and revenge but a shamefaced silence in sense of our own confusion and guilt an humble meek silence not murmuring against God's dealings or an angry clamouring at evil Mens proceedings but a quiet submitting to his hand and a patient enduring as long as God continues it of their oppressions saying if any thing with the Church I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have Micah 7. 9. sinned against him or rather with our Saviour though led as a Sheep to the Slaughter and as the Lamb before the Shearer so Act. 8. 32. open we not our mouths as Paulinus to his Friend Nos taceamus Epist 1. ad Aprum istis loquentes ad Dominum silentio humilitatis voce patientiae tunc ipse qui invictus est pugnabit pro nobis vincet in nobis So the dumb Dove's mourning in a far Country was heard and she delivered if you compare the Argument and the 56th Psalm together And Christ the meek silent Lamb though slaughtered yet shortly after was raised from the dead to whom if we be Unisons in this sweet still-Musick we shall for certain have our lives for a prey either preserved or restored either kept from death or if the two Witnesses be now to be slain shall have part in a better Resurrection For so if we should take the word in the Text for our lives so it holds good that by our patience we may and therefore ought to possess our Souls But take the word Soul in its more proper signification for 2 Soul that nobler part of Man and so most understand our Saviour's meaning when he here saith In your patience possess ye your Souls In which words we have these two Particulars considerable 1. That it 's our duty to possess our Souls 2. That Patience is one special means to keep this possession As always so especially in evil and perilous Times for such Doct. 2 our Saviour here speaks of whatever else we are deprived or thrust out of our great care and endeavour must be to possess our Souls Whatsoever the force be we must stand to it and keep possession Above all keepings keep thy Heart saith Solomon Prov. 4. 23. And keep thy Soul diligently saith Moses Deut. 4. 9. Take heed to your Spirit saith the Prophet Mal. 2. 15. And so here In your patience possess ye your Souls saith our Saviour A dear and great Pledg it is which both God and his People do mutually betrust each other with and both to our present purpose They him looking at it as their Jewel and considering their own weakness and heedlessness leave it to be kept in his safer Hand That we may possess it as the Child gives the Mother that it would have kept we put it into God's Hands to keep it for us And so it 's Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1. 12. his Depositum which he leaves with God And our dying Saviour when now to be dispossest of his Life that he might keep possession of his Soul saith Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Luke 23. 46. And he them it being one of his chief Master-pieces and Possessio siduciaria therefore as soon as it comes out of his hands he commends it to every Man's best care as a great Talent which he betrusts us with and will have at last a strict account of At our Birth sent out from him and in Death Eccles 12. 7. again to return to him that he may have an account how it hath been abused or improved whether kept or lost When thrust out of this House of Clay whether we have not lost it and it Heaven For so this possessing of our Souls includes a double care and endeavour 1. That it be not utterly lost 2. No nor so Distempered and Disguised that neither we nor it be our selves 1. First I say our care must be so to possess our Souls that they be not utterly lost for so the Scripture speaks of losing the Soul Mat. 16. 26. And what is quite lost is then out of our possession And on the contrary that in Matthew He that endures to the end shall be saved Chap. 10. 22. and this of the Text In your patience possess ye your Souls are by learned Interpreters Grotius Brugensis made Parallel so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to possess the Soul and to save
of possessing the Soul betrays and enslaves it that it 's no more it self than the Galley slave his own Man The Coolest Spirit in its own Cause is warm in God's as we see in meek Moses Exod. 32. 19. Nor did Christ speak Contradictions Rev. 2. 2. when he said of the Church of Ephesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know thy patience and that thou canst not bear them which are evil But what cannot Patience bear Any thing for God but nothing against him It 's Impatient of that for which God is angry 2. There is a second kind of Patience which may be called Natural arising from the natural Constitution of the Body or Mind as in a Disease of the Body as a Lethargie or Palsie that feels nothing or from a natural Dulness and Brawniness that is not so sensible of pain and pressure as in the Brawniness of the Hand or Foot in an Ox patient of labour and the dull Ass under a heavy burden Or from the hardiness of the Body patient of Cold and other outward Grievances and from the courage and valour of the Mind patient of wounds and hardship But this is Tolerance rather than Patience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it will not possess the Soul 1. In greatest Extremities if long continued The Ox that stands the Butchers stroke with his Ax twice falls flat at the third The Brawn when cut through to the quick proves sensible And Saul though a Stout Man at last falls all along 1 Sam. 28. 20. 2. This Stoutness though it indure pain yet not disgrace but Christian patience can Acts 5. 41. 3. There is that which I called a Moral Patience such as the Though Aristotle counts it but a Demivertue Heathen Philosophers and the Stoicks especially gloried of by which they will tell you they attained to such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a tranquillity of Mind that no Injury could betide them See Seneca lib. Quod in sapientem non cadit injuria Maximus Tyrius dissert 2. Nothing could trouble them but that like the upper Region they were always serene Homines quadrati which way soever pitcht stood immoveable But as their wise Man was a Notion rather than a Reality so this steady evenness of Mind was sooner to be found in their Books and Disputes than in their Lives and Practices especially when it came to a pinch indeed in the Storm when the poor Skipper was chearful their great Philosopher's heart sunk within him The more Wise and Knowing they were the more sensible they were of their Danger and being always proudly conceited of their own Worth the more fearful they were of their Loss and so the more erect they stood upon their Tip-toes the more flat they fell under that burden which they cold not undergo As Saul higher by the Head than others when such a weight fell upon them with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they fell all along and there was no spirit in them 1 Sam. 28. 20. for although in ordinary cases the spirit of a Man can bear his Infirmities Prov. 18. 14. yet in extraordinary Stresses and Exigencies it 's not a natural Stoutness nor a moral Composedness of spirit but only Christian Faith and Patience that will be able to keep it up from sinking so that it 's indeed a great commendation of patience as Tertullian observes that these Heathen Grandees affected the Counterfeit of it as the chief piece of their Bravery yet in truth as Cyprian affirms it was only Insolens affectatae libertatis audacia De bono patientiae Affectatio caninae aequantmitatis a stupore formata Tertull. exerti seminudi pectoris inverecunda jactantia A vapouring humour rather than any solid settlement of Spirit because upon no good foundation Blown up by Pride in themselves and heartned by Applause of others and so not able to keep possession of the soul in all Emergencies though it may be sometimes parient of Loss and Pain yet usually impatient of Disgrace so that if cut in that Vein none bled more deadly 4. There is a Legal Patience such as the Law requires or rather which the Legal Paedagogie trained them up unto which I think Tertullian somewhat too boldly under-values nay accuses as that which trained them up to a kind of Revenge in allowing to take Eye for Eye and Tooth for Tooth c. Though And so Grotius often speaks that was in a way of Publick Justice and not of private Revenge Sure I am the Law of God was Holy Just and Good and could they have kept it it would have kept them so as to have possessed their Souls with patience This defect was not in the Law but them that lived under it in degree not in kind And accordingly Job then whom Chrysostom calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 6. p. 590. Fortissimus athleta Dei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the Apostle held forth to the whole World now in the time of the Gospel as a Mirrour of patience James 5. 11. And truly when we read and think of Abraham's faith and Job's patience and Moses his meekness c. the Eminency of some of them then may justly cast shame on the Deficiency of many of us now that their Twilight should out-shine our Noon-day as though they had lived under the Grace of the Gospel and not we who fall so exceedingly short of that Conformity to the Law which some of them in a greater measure attained to But yet to my purpose that of Illyricus is observable Quomodo autem V. T. Hebraei hanc patientiam vocant ignoro nec etiane locum novi ubi describatur Patience is seldom mentioned in the Old Testament and they scarce have a proper Name for it but when they speak of it most commonly make use of the word Silence to express it as though for the most part of Men it was then more rare and less known under the Law than it is or at least should be now under the Gospel And therefore although it was a great measure of Patience which the Lord enabled some of the Faithful then unto when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. when they were Stoned and Sawn asunder and Tempted c. Heb. 11. 36 37. Yet it was nothing to that which many Christian Martyrs by the Grace of the Gospel were raised up to under heavier Sufferings 5. And therefore in the last place it 's Christiana Patientia Gospel-Christian Patience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signanter dictum Your patience yours as Apostles as Followers as Servants of Jesus Christ by which when you are forced it may be to let all else go you may even then keep possession of your Souls Nothing else can do it But that can That whereas Impatience usurps a domineering power over the Man according to that of Tertullian speaking of Adam Facile usurpari ab impatientia caepit c. 5.
Sopita ratione excitato fomite quoquo vult hominem versat Cerda I say Impatience usurps over the Man and then betrays all On the contrary Patience keeps all the Soul at least above all in a quiet possession and accordingly Albertus Magnus makes Prudence and Patience those two Wings of the great Eagle by which the Woman Rev. 12. 14. fled into the Wilderness and was nourished from the Face of the Serpent And that 's the Truth which I am now to prosecute In which I shall 1. Explain what I mean by this Gospel-Christian Patience 2. Wherein it may be said to keep us in possession of our Souls 3. How it doth it And then 4. Conclude with a short Application 1. For the first What Patience is was shewed before and I now only mind you that it relates 1. Either to God according to that Psal 37. 7. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him when it neither swells nor sinks under his Hand but silently waits his pleasure 2. Or to Man according to that 1 Thes 5. 14. Now we exhort you Brethren be patient to all Men. But it 's called Gospel-Christian-Patience as it is found in a Christian now in the time of the Gospel And this 1. As he is directed and animated by the Example of Christ for he hath also Suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2. 21. viz. in patient Suffering as it is ver 20. his Steps having troden out to us a Path that we need not be at a loss in the most unknown Way and if the Souldier be heartned by his Fellow-Souldiers courage and company as Paul said many of the Brethren waxed bold by his Bonds Phil. 1. 14. then sure by looking to Jesus the Captain of our Salvation enduring the Cross end despising the shame we may well run with patience the Race that is set before us Heb. 12. 1 2. and without danger or distraction follow on when our Abimelek our Father-King for Christ is both hath Marched before and given us that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do as I have done as that other Abimelek did Judg. 9. 48. 2. As enabled by the Grace and Spirit of Christ according to that Col. 1. 11. Strengthened with all might unto all patience and Long-suffering with joyfulness but is is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to his Glorious power and that Power the more Glorious in that out of weakness they have been made strong as the Apostle speaks Heb. 11. 34. The fearfullest and every way weakest Ages Sexes Constitutions have oft in suffering Times been enabled with most Courage and Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostom speaks which plainly manifests that it was Christ's Spirit that kept them so in possession of their own And if the strong Man armed keep his Palace all is in peace Luke 11. 21. If the Spirit of the Almighty God undertake to keep possession who shall be able to make an Ejectment It 's a deadly aking Head that is distracted if God with his own Hand do but hold it It is an over-grown Burden that sinks me if underneath be an everlasting Arm. Such a Back of Steel will sufficiently strengthen a very weak Bow Though Paul be nothing yet by Christ strengthening him he can do yea and suffer Phil. 4. 13. all things 3. As heartned by the Comforts of the Spirit of Christ for the Joy of the Lord is our strength Neh. 8. 10. Farina in olla Meal in the Pot that takes away the deadly intoxicating bitterness of it Vinum in pectâ—re the Cordial that Antidotes these Animi deliquia these Swoonings and sainting Fits according to that 2 Cor. 4. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as we have received Mercy we faint not such sweet Morsels strengthen the heart that it can go on in its work and way and not sink under its burden Thus we had Patience and Joyfulness joyned together Col. 1. 11. as mutually begetting and strengthening each other Patience much furthering our Joy So the Apostle we rejoyce or glory in Tribulation if it work patience Rom. 5. 3. And so Tetullian speaks of a Sagina voluptatis of Patience fatting Saginari voluptate patientia voluit Christus Cap. 5. Assideat Cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soul with delight and brings it in as the sick Man's Nurse that sits by him and cherisheth him And Joy much strengthening and confirming our patience whilst sense of Mercy drowns the sense of Misery makes the Martyr lie quietly on the Grid-Iron when it is with delight as on a Bed of Roses Whists and silenceth all discontented complaints of Pain Loss Disgrace c. whilst he is sensible of the saving health of God's Countenance can rejoyce in his spiritual Gains yea and can Glory that he is accounted worthy to suffer Shame for the Name of Christ with them Acts 5. 41. When this Candle of the Lord shines upon our head and heart we Job 29. 3. are able with Job to walk through darkness even dance in the dark without stumbling And then with more ease lie down quietly and sleep sweetly in the darkest Night Thus Patience animated by the Example of Christ and spirited by the Grace and Comfort of the Spirit of Christ becomes true Christian Patience Which was the first thing propounded and so as such in most troublesome Times helps us to possess our Souls 2. But wherein doth that consist Which was the second Particular I answer especially in two things viz. 1. In so keeping the Soul that it be not at last utterly lost 2. That for the present whatever the occasion be it be not so Disguised and Distempered but that it may be it self and we still our own Men. This was shewn in the general in the former Point And now in the second we are particularly to shew that Christian-Patience is able to do both these 1. Patience keeps possession of the Soul in taking care that it be not lost and perish eternally So that we find that patient continuance in well-doing ends in eternal Life Rom. 2. 7. And the Apostle Heb. 10. 36. saith that we have need of patience that after we have done the Will of God we may receive the Promise There is absolute need especially in evil Times that the Soul be possessed with patience if it would at last be possessed of Glory as will clearly appear from the contrary Take an impatient Man and let him meet with Trials and Exercises and he presently chuseth Sin rather than Affliction as the phrase is Job 36. 21. He cannot Suffer and therefore he must Sin nor is there the most dreadful and damning Sin which in that fright and hurry he will stick at or set him at a stand but over Hedg and Ditch though with never so many break-neck Falls to his Soul that he may but escape that outward danger that he is more afraid of Cyprian in his Book De bono
the Text In your Patience possess ye your Souls Superaddenda Should our Spirits sometimes grow hasty and not willing patiently to wait God's leasure Consider 1. That God's Retribution will be full 2. The day of it certain Hab. 2. 3. Heb. 10. 36 37. 3. Though it stay yet let this stay our Stomachs That necdùm vindicatus est ipse qui vindicat Christ himself who hath been more wronged than we and who will at last fully vindicate both himself and us is not yet righted but to this day he waits till his Enemies become his Footstool Heb. 10. 13. And therefore be not so bold to desire that the Servant should be served before his Lord Nec defendi ante Dominum servi irreligiosa inverecundâ festinatione properemus Cyprian S. 15. Dr. Hammond on Matth. 10. Annot. f. makes not this a Precept but an Assertion or Prediction that there was no such way to keep or preserve their lives from that common destruction coming on the People of the Jews as persevering faithful adhering to Christ Patient Men are the only Free-holders Their Comforts forfeited to God their Lord Who can best keep them for them Surrendred by them Purchased by Christ And as the Philosopher's Scholar who having given himself to his Master to teach him when taught was by his Master given back again to be his own Man SERMON XXXIV GEN. 49. 18. I. Sermon Preached at St. Maries in Stur-bridg fair time Sept. 8. 1650. I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. THe dying Swan's Song though now found to be a Fable Brown's vulg Errours yet if moralized of a dying Christian may oftentimes prove a real Truth for whereas the dying Man's Breath useth to savour of the Earth whither he is going the believing Soul then especially breaths Heaven to which it is then ascending Some Books which contain Apophthegmata morientium tell us how when their Tongues Mylius faulter in their Mouthes they are wont to speak Apophthegmes but in God's Book we find them uttering Oracles What a sweet Breath and Divine Air was that in old Simeon's Nunc Dimittis Paul's farewell-Sermon Acts 20. had such a ravishing Luke 2. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in it that they could not then hear it without weeping nor can some yet read it heedfully with dry Eyes Above all in that ultimum vale of our Saviour's to his Disciples before his Passion John 14. 15 16 17. The Sun of Righteousness a little before its setting shone out most Gloriously This in the New Testament And for the Old what heavenly strain 's do you meet with in Hezekiah's ultimus singultus Isa 38. in David's verba novissima 2 Sam. 23. in Moses his Songs a little before his death Deut. 32 and 33. and in Jacob's before his as in this whole Chapter so especially in this Text in which the Divine Soul as the Bird before fainting in the snare breaks through it in an abrupt expression and having got it self a little upon the wing as it were on the sudden bolts up Heaven-ward in this Divine Ejaculation I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. Here in Jacob's blessing of Dan we find it but how it should come there what coherence it hath with the foregoing words that 's the question and some think a difficult one So Pererius Quae occasio hujus abrupti sermonis c. Calvin Perobscura est haec sententia multiplex interpretandi ejus ratio Some satisfy themselves with this that the Spirit of God will not be tied to our Artificial Methods as too low and pedantick for him to be confined to who both acts and speaks like himself like a God i. e. with greatest freedome And therefore as his Illapses are sudden and his impulses strong Act. 2. 2. so the ventings of them answerable as the Spirit gives utterance v. 4. and it may be never more abruptly than when those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 11. are utterred and so the Soul now full of God and breaking for the longing it hath to him as Psal 119. 20. cannot always keep rank and file but breaks out to him and is glad to get to him though not in a methodical way And so it is in all strong workings of Passion Love Fear Joy and Desire c. Expressions sudden abrupt for so Passions are and their Expressions accordingly So Judg. 5. 10. on those words Then shall the People of the Lord go down to the Gates Mais thus Videtur hoc hiare c. ut pote ex affectu dictum affectus enim non servat ordinem sed plerumque evagatur In such a rapture Jacob's Soul might here be caught snatcht to God without being led to him by coherence or the thred of the foregoing discourse Zuinglius thinks that this Text might be versus intercalaris and only added to make up the verse in this Divine Poem Others rather think that after the manner of weak fainting vide Pareum Oleastrum old Men or sick Men who are wont whilest they are speaking sometimes out of faintness and sometimes out of devotion to pause and to interpose sighs and prayers so old Jacob here spent with speaking relieves his spent Spirits or rather pours out his fainting Soul into God's Bosom in this parenthetical ejaculation I have waited for thy Salvation O Lord. But the first verse of this Chapter tells us that the whole is Prophetical of what was to befal them in the latter days And accordingly some apply it to Judas whom they make Ambros de benedict Isidore Gregor Moral 34. that Serpent in the way in the foregoing verse Others to Antichrist whom so many of the Ancients thought should be of the Tribe of Dan and that Jacob foreseeing what havock he should make of the Israel of God as they expound the former verses cries out in this for Christ and his Salvation But this conceit of this Dan-Antichrist with due Reverence to those Ancient Authors by some of even the Papists themselves is held * Tostatus uncertain by others of them †Oleaster Bellarmine acknowledgeth this Text doth not evince it de Pontif. Rom. lib. 3. c. 12. fabulous and therefore seeing they are sick of it we have no cause to be fond of it To omit other particulars I insist on these two that Jacob 1. Foreseeing both the sins and miseries which his other posterity and especially this Tribe of Dan should fall into by Faith looks up to God for Salvation and Deliverance which was especially effected by Sampson a Judg of that Tribe and he very fitly compared to that Serpent in the way and Adder in the path c. 2. And yet foreseeing notwithstanding this that Sampson should dye and Israel should lye under captivity and affliction and so Sampson's but an half-Salvation he did but begin to save Israel Judg. 13. 5 After the manner of the Prophets who See Junii Annot. in loc Christ as Sampson conquered
to Christ and Heaven To this purpose God even in Paradise would have some Trees Sacramental and Mystical that Adam in that Garden might rise higher than Philosophical speculation and not perish by a Tree of Knowledg but be fed and live by a Tree of Life And for this end likewise Christ as he useth so many Parables and spiritualizeth outward things so he is set out by the Name of some of the Chief and Choice of all kinds of Beings The Angel of the Covenant amongst the Angels the Sun and Morning-Star in the Heavens The Rock and Precious Stone among the Inanimates The Vine and Apple-Tree amongst Vegetables and both Lion and Lamb amongst Sensitives And so of the rest that as Quaelibet herba Deum so in every Creature we see and feel after and find Christ and that as all of them were Acts 17. at first made by him so by all we might be led to him Which therefore in the last place is that which we should all be seriously exhorted to Vse 3 1. That we would not have our desires terminated and so take up with any or all such outward Mercies and Salvations which in the World we may be entertain'd with but still to seek on till we find a better Saviour and Salvation which we may safely and quietly rest in as Joseph and Mary stay not with their Kinsfolk and Acquaintance till they find the Child Jesus Luke 2. 44 45 46. and mean while they seek him sorrowing ver 48. The Beggar that is ready to die for Hunger though he have never so much else given him if not Food waits still as wanting that which he came for and had most need of When Christ said to the Blind-man What wilt thou that I shall Luke 18. 41. do unto thee His answer is Lord that I may receive my sight A Sinner that hath his Eyes so far open as to see Christ's Worth and his own want of him would have said Lord that I might receive Thee A poor Believer hath a further and greater Errand to Christ than for Corn and Wine or outward Safety and Prosperity which those in Hos 7. 14. howled upon their Beds for He hath a Soul to be both saved and satisfied and nothing can do either of them but Christ only O that we had such hungring thirsting desires after him that nothing might stay our Stomachs without him much-less take away our Stomachs as too too oft they do from him Nor is this all that Speech of Jacob calls upon us for not only not to be taken off or hindred in the out-goings of our Souls to Christ by being satisfied with those outward Mercies and Deliverances But 2. By them as Helps to be drawn out and raised up in our desires after him It 's great Mercy if by any means our Hearts may be led out to him though they be the Horrors of Conscience that prick us the Terrors of the Law that whip us outward Wants that drive us or Dangers that affright us It 's well if any thing will bring us even Chains of Affliction will draw us to him but yet not so well as if they were those Cords of Love If we might be preserved in Sugar rather than in Brine If comfortable Supplies and Deliverances be not as Seats to sit down but as Foot-stools to get up to Christ by In times of Want and Danger to seek Christ may be rather to seek our selves than him and to make our selves our End when we only make use of Christ as a means to it Such may be shaken off with Jephtah's check Ye did thus and thus unto me and why are you come to me now that ye are in distress Judg. 11. 7. more out of love of your selves than to me And the like also may be said if In times of enjoyment of Mercy and Deliverance we rejoyce in God and seem to love and praise him This also may be Self-love rather than the Love of God They might rejoyce in God's great Goodness Neh. 9. 25. who yet did not serve him in his great Goodness ver 35. And he might say Blessed be God for I am rich Zech. 11. 5. who yet never truly praised him This may be but their following of Christ for Loaves John 6. 26. as the Roman Emperours did Populum annonâ demereri Heinsius Exercit. But thus to love God and Christ in his Mercies that He is the Oyl of Gladness swimming on the top of all that we are no way satisfied with them without him and best satisfied when we enjoy Him in them and by them this shews the ingenuity of our Love and that it 's not the World or Self but Christ that is the Object of it That as Paul said to his Corinthians I seek not yours but you so it is not our selves but Christ that we 2 Cor. 12. 14. love and desire and not his Portion but his Person and not so much Man's as his Salvation And therefore to conclude as in all our gettings we are to get Wisdom Prov. 4. 7. So in all our seekings let us seek after Christ And in and above all our Enjoyments let us enjoy and eye Him As Jacob here in Sampson's salvation had a further longing look at His. And so Hannah 1 Sam. 2. in a Samuel looks at a Saviour And therefore as it hath been observed by some her Song at his Birth and Mary's at the news of Christ's in many Passages of both very much agree and are perfect Vnisons And this further that Song of Hannah will to our present purpose inform us that the Eying of Christ in all other Mercies will 1. Make little Mercies great As the Diamond adds Value to the Brass-Ring And the Figure added makes empty Cyphers vastest Numbers And so you shall observe that Hannah in that Song for her gaining a Son and prevailing against her Adversary Peninnah as concerning their Houshold-talk and Womens Brabbles speaks of greater Matters carries it in a very high Key in the strain of a Triumphant Song of some glorious Conquerour And such indeed Christ was whom she in that looked at and where ever Faith seeth him it seeth Magnum though in Parvo which will make little Mercies great 2. Will not be they never so great let the heart rest in The greater Light dims the lesser them which would be a dangerous Disease of a vain love-sick Soul like those Obstructions in the Body when those Vessels that should convey Spirit and Nourishment to the other parts stop and intercept them by the way but like the Tennis-Ball toucheth upon the Ground yet thereby rebounds upward so it from the Earth mounts up Heaven-ward as Jacob here from deliverance by Sampson riseth up to Christ's Though Sampson as the Serpent by the way so bites the Horse heels that his Rider falls backward and so he is saved from him yet that 's not enough not all that he looks for And therefore he adds I have waited for
because a Servant is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rational tool in his Master's hand to be ad nutum Domini resigning up our Reason to his Wisdome and our Will to his Commands doing it willingly chearfully fully without contradiction or exception Frequently and sadly thinking of our Account Heb. 13. 17. which will be very great when we have so many besides our selves to reckon for and yet most certain and cannot be avoided Luk. 16. 2. Matth. 25. 19. And yet comforting and encouraging our selves in a faithful and joyful expectation and assurance of a faithful and bountiful Act. 13. 36. Lord's reward From Enemies Strangers yea from Fellow-Servants it may be envy and hatred derision opposition and the greatest injuries and mischiefs they can reach us but what 's all this to our Master's last Euge well done good and faithful Servant enter into thy Masters Joy Thus much of your Office as in reference to God in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You are but his Servants 2. Secondly Consider it in reference to his People so you by it are made Rulers of his houshold In which words two things 1. The place it self It 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers of the houshold 2. The Institution of it and the investiture or putting them into it in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath made or constituted Ruler of his Houshold I shall briefly touch upon both 1. For the Place or Station Rulers of God's Houshold as he 2 Chron. 31. 13. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ruler of the House of God I confess the word is not here in the Original as it is there but 1. The Phrase in this place implieth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over the Houshold i. e. in place of Rule and Superiority over the Houshold as Gen. 41. 43. its said Pharaoh made Joseph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over all i. e. as our English rightly expresseth it Ruler over all the Land of Egypt according as it 's expressed Act. 7. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Other places in plain words and full titles express it where they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 5. 17. 1 Thes 5. 12. Heb. 13. 7 17 24. Act. 20. 28. words partly in Scripture and partly in other Authors given to Princes in Common-Wealths to Generals Captains in Armies to Governors in Families in all which there is an authoritative power of Rule and Government over them that are set under them They are called Rulers and that word commands Obedience Fathers and that speaks Authority Elders and such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a Senate hath power Were it but only Shepherds and Stewards as he that is here Act. 20. 1 Cor. 4. 1. called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in Luke called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that tells that although like the Centurion Matth. 8. 9. they be under a Superior Authority yet as such they have others under theirs Called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 13. 34. but not taken for an ordinary Porter but servus atriensis a Steward that hath the Keys of all as Isa 22. and yet as Porters to let in and keep out of the House of God and from his Table Eveâ—â—â—ey who most of all raise up the Authority of the whole Church as the immediate and first Subject of Church-power as totum and finis do freely grant the Exercise of that Power in some things as only vested in the Officers and in some other things in them especially But the Duty of this place especially of this day is not to dispute Controversals but to exhort and urge Practicals And therefore in that God by this Office hath advanced you Vse 1 so high as to set you over his Houshold Be exhorted so far to know your Place and the dignity and worth of it as not to be ashamed of it nor to be babished in the Execution of it Take heed of such an height of spirit as to grow proud of it of which by and by but yet pray and labour for such a generous magnanimity of Spirit as may in some measure answer the worth of it and may help you with a Holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a free boldness of Spirit to manage it Great Men expect it in their Stewards and the great God requires it in his This Masculine Ingenuity was in Jehoshaphat in his Temple-work It 's said his Heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord 2 Chron. 17. 6. and Nehemiah that unwearied and undaunted Repairer of Jerusalems ruines when the breaches were many and the rubbish that hindred their work much the strength of the Labourers little and yet decaying and the scorns insolencies and oppositions of Enemies very great and yet increasing how did he by Faith and Prayer raise up his own Spirit and by encouraging both Words and Actions endeavour to do as much for his Fellow-Labourers Chap. 4. and 6. Tricubitalis Paulus a low little Man for stature of Body and yet for lowliness of heart yet lower in his own Eyes less than the least of all Saints Ephes 3. 8. yet there was magnum in parvo With what an Heroick Spirit doth he carry on the work of his Ministry How doth the little Man stand as it were on Tiptoes when the Pride and Malice of false Apostles and others would have debased that Fastigium Apostolicum with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I magnify mine Office Rom. 11. 13. Yours is nothing near so high yet whilst it is over God's Houshold too high to be trampled upon by the foot of Pride which yet it is and will on purpose be more if Enemies once perceive that their Scorn and opposition can baffle you into a degenerous Despondency whom this height of your Office should set above any such Indignities A Luther's Courage with a Melancthon's Meekness make between them a fit temper for a right Church-Man Although what I have herein said perhaps is not enough to raise some of our Spirits yet it may be to some is too much who will think I preach that Pride which out of their Charity they say we will practise And therefore because it is a Duty of Humiliation we are now upon I shall rather press Humility And that as from the former Particular because by our Place Vse 2 we are Servants so also even from this because that by it we are set over Gods Houshold For though the Station be High yet be not high-minded but even therefore the rather fear Lower thy Sail the higher the Wind is In Ezekiel's Vision we read the Rings were so high that they were dreadful Chap. 1. 18. As the higher we are the more we tremble when we look downward The height and weight of your Places though it may make an empty pragmatick spirit Proud yet when well considered strongly engageth them that are better advised to be Humble Watchful Fearful As for Instance Are we over Gods Houshold 1. It
Simoniacal chafferings of thee as thou art either a Minister or Christian something akin to Judas selling and the Jews buying of Christ for thirty pieces of Silver and a goodly price wherewith I was prised at of them saith the Lord Zeeh. 11. 13. The Apostle would lift us up to higher thoughts when he calls the Church Officers maintenance not Wages but Honour 1 Tim. 5. 17. to be freely honorably allowed not as a recompense of their Labour but as an honorable testimony of our love and respect not as the price of the Gospel and all that either we mean to give for it or the Ministers should look at in dispensing of it There 's much more that God expects for it from the People and which his Ministers should look at in their administrations of it They are first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give the Houshold their Food in due Season 2. The second thing observable is what they are to give expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Food and Nourishment by which Hierom means Cibaria doctrinarum others verbi Sacramentorum pabulum the sacred Food of the Word and Sacraments not excluding either the wholsom Physick of Church-Censures for it's Physick as well as Food which we pray for when we begg our daily Bread Matth. 6. 11. or the due administration of any other of the parts of Church-Government for as Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feeds whilst he rules Matth. 2. 6. Kings are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so we may properly be said to Feed by Governing as well as Teaching In reference to both which Paul in his charge to the Elders of Ephesus calls upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to feed the Church of God Act. 20. 28. That 's their Task nor can you conceive otherwise if you consider 1. Either the Master of the House his Royal Bounty He would not have his Family starved and therefore takes order that they shall be fed In our Fathers House there 's Bread enough Luke 15. 17. 2. Or his Servant's Office and Duty They are elsewhere stiled Shepherds and a Pastor's work is to feed the Flock Zech. 11. 7. Nurses and they suckle and cherish their Children 1 Thes 2. 7. in the place of Luke parallel to the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stewards whose whole work both here and there is summed up in this comprehensive expression of giving Food to the whole Family And for your quickning herein the Application of this Proclaims the People of God their great need even greater of Vse 1 these Spiritual supplies than any can have of those corporal the fainting-Soul standing in more need to be plied with Promises and Incouragements than the swooning Man with Cordials the careless and foul Sinner of Threats and Admonitions than the foul diseased Body of stronger Purges and the obstiuate Sinner more to be cast out than the gangren'd Member to be cut off all of us as much and more of this Spiritual Food than any than all of us do of our Natural-Food and Job called that necessary Food Job 23. 12. and therefore no wonder if Paul said a necessity is laid upon me and wo unto me if I Preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. God and Nature is not wanting to thee in necessaries Let not Grace suffer thee to be wanting to thy charge in their necessities Christ was willing to bleed that of his Flesh and Bloud he might make the Provisions wilt not thou be willing to be at the Cost though it be of thy Sweat to set them on the Board Let thy People's hungring desires bespeak thy pity It was one of the saddest Notes in the Church's Lamentations that the Children asked Bread and there was none to break it to them Lament 4. 4. Or should their Desires be silent yet let their Wants cry for thy Compassion Cogita de cibo potu animalium tuorum saith Bernard nam esuriunt non potunt they oft are Hungry and yet so weak sullen or shamefaced that they will not or cannot ask nay which is worse inediâ langnent tamen non esuriunt they too oft are half-famished and yet are not an hungry are ready to die not so much for want of Food as of a Stomach as it is with too many of our Flock at this day And therefore in this case if in any if there be any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies let our Bowels earn over them Starved Souls will be frightful Ghosts to us when they â—â—d we at last shall stand together to give up our account and to receive our doom Let this make us think of our charge and mind our work It is to give Food to God's Houshold Which calls for a second part of our care that it be indeed Vse 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nourishing-Food that we give them If they ask Bread give them not a Stone or if Fish let it not be a Serpent Matth. 7. 9 10. in hard and harsh usages It 's Food not the Poyson of Heresies and corrupt Doctrines or destructive Administrations Your Power is given to Edification 2 Cor. 10. 3. and not to Destruction It 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solid nourishing Food not the Froth of Airy Notions or our fine-spun high-flown Speculations not the Trash Hay and Stubble of our own Fancies Humors Passions no nor the rarest Flowers of our great Readings and curious Elegancies The Sheep of Christ's Pasture use to feed on more wholsom Herbs whilst they let such Flowers stand by The Word is the immortal Seed that begets us 1 Pet. 1. 23. These too dilute to be prolifical as he of the Philosopher's Books animum non dant quia non habent and the sincere Milk Chap. 2. v. 2. to nourish us From these we can suck nothing but Wind which makes us swell and that 's all What 's the Chaff to the Wheat Jer. 23. 28. It 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the solid nourishing Bread of Life and therefore away with all such Kickshaws 3. The third thing observable in this second part is that what Matthew here calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Food Luke in the parallel place calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demensum their portion of Meat which Agur phraseth though in another sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 30. 8. Food convenient for me The same Dispensation will not either for kind or measure sute all There are in God's Family young Babes as well as grown Men. Some sick and weak others healthy and strong some sick of lighter Fevers others of more putrid it may be Hectical or Malignant That which will feed the Child will pine the Man and what 's Food to him that 's healthy may be poyson to the Sick and that which will heal a Whitlow will not cure a Gangrene As therefore God in his greater House of the World hath such both store and choise
live to our selves but to think and designe how we may live and be subservient therein to Christ His Interest should direct determine subordinate and qualify all As the Box smells of the Musk that is in it so should all our designs and undertakings of Christ and as the Artery goeth along with the Vein so should Christ with whatever our warmest Life-Bloud runneth in and therefore our thoughts should run much in this Channel Jacob said to Laban thou knowest how I have served thee but when shall I provide for my own House Gen. 30. 29 30. I have lived thus long and thus much to my self but how much mean while to Christ By all these Employments and Attainments I have exalted my self but have they been as so many under-steps to lift up Christ the more and me nearer to him I have other ways gained so much and so much but how much or rather how little have I gained to my Lord and Master by them This were a right Anagogical Sense and Interpretation of our Lives and Actions And thus to live were Christ whilst we reduce and subordinate all to him 3. And this if with all diligence and seriousness earnestness and liveliness for we do not loiter it when we labour for Life Then Skin for Skin and all that a Man hath will be give for it Job 2. 4. And so when Moses told Israel that their obedience to God's Commands was not a vain thing but it was their Life as much as their Life was worth he thinks he hath cause to bid them set their hearts to it with all seriousness Deut. 32. 46 47. and indeed Life is active and lively I am sure a Christian 's should be so if Christ be his Life for 〈◊〉 was not idle but still in his Fathers business ever going up and down doing good and Paul who Act. 10. 38. laboured as he said that the Life of Christ might be manifested in him how active and serious and unweariable was he in Christ's 2 Cor. 4. 11. service He in another sense said to the Corinthians so then Death worketh in us but Life in you but it was Ironically for v. 12. he was very far from being a dead-hearted Servant No the Life of Christ was excedingly operative in him according to that Colos 1. 29. in which almost every word hath a quick Emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereunto I also labour and the word signifieth a cutting labour striving against Dangers and difficulties as the Actors in the Olympick Games with all contention and earnestness yea this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 secundum efficacem illam vim according to the Energy and most effectual power and efficacy and that of Christ which wrought in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potenter mightily I thus to live was Christ when Christ and his Spirit thus effectually and mightily lived and wrought in him and the like he called for in others not to be slothful in service but fervent in Spirit whilst they served the Lord Rom. 12. 11. For on the contrary nothing almost is so unlike yea and contrary to Life especially the Life of Christ than a dull listless Dead-heartedness a cold benummed Frozenness or an indifferent Lukewarmness in service unworthy and falling short of that animi presentia and vigour of Spirit which was found in Heathen Worthies as in him who said se malle mortuum esse quam Curius Dentatatus non vivere that he had rather dye out-right and be dead than to be dull and rather not to live at all than not to be lively for which Drones and Dullards the Pythagoreans would have prepared a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore how much more unworthy is it for Christians who pretend to the Life of Christ whilst they say Christ is their Life to be either all amort Nabal-like through Dejections or to be dull and dead through the Lethargy of Spiritual Sloth Listlesness and Negligence to be as the Scripture speaketh either dull of hearing Heb. 5. 11. when we should be swift to hear James 1. 19. slow of heart to believe Luk. 24. 25. when we should receive the Word as they Act. 2. 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gladly or as the more noble-spirited Bereans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all readiness of mind Acts 17. 11. when the work of Christ is a weariness to us and we puff at it as Matth. 11. 30. 1 John 5. 3. under a burden Mal. 1. 13. when Christ's Yoke should be easy to us and his Burden light and no command of his grievous In a word when what is said of the wanton Widow in regard of her 1 Tim. 5. 6. wantonness may be said of us for our sloth and negligence that we are dead whilst we live But is not this to seek the living among the dead Or is the Life of Christ in this deadness whilst we thus present God with dead Hearts dead Prayers and Services Is this as the Apostle requireth to offer to him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12. 1. living Sacrifice Thus to live is it Christ Or expresseth it any thing of the Life of Christ whom the Scripture calls a quickning 1 Cor. 15. 45. Spirit not only at the last day to raise up our dead Bodies but now also by his Grace and Spirit to enliven our dead Hearts Is this any partaking of the Divine Nature which is a pure Act to be thus restive Sure those that come nearer to it give another kind of resemblance of it The Heavens in their unwearied motion and the Sun that like a mighty Man rejoyceth to run his Psal 19. 5. Race the glorious Cherubims whose pictures God would have made in his Temple delighting in them as Stella observeth as Emblems maximae velocitatis of greatest swiftness and chearfulness in his Service as also the Seraphims of burning Zeal who in Isaiah's Vision are described to have six Wings to shew saith Isa 6. 2. Cornelius a Lapide that vere obediens est totus alatus and are there said both to stand and fly to signify as he addeth that Deo adstare volare est that to stand before God as his Servants is speedily and chearfully to fly at his Commands But to come lower to them in a lower Orb who dwell in dull and heavier Houses of Clay yet if the Spirit and Life of Christ dwell there especially if with some more freedom Paul often expresses his Course by the metaphor of running which expresseth speed and earnestness and David 2 Sam. 6. 14. 16. danceth before 1 Cor. 9. 26. Gal. 2. 2. 2 Tim. 4. 7. the Ark which manifesteth his chearfulness but the words in the Hebrew are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words not so usual and one of them in formâ duplicatâ to hold forth David's extraordinary and double vigour in that Service and which signify intense strength and seriousness and therefore translated Saltabat
it self be Gain to us for then our accounts will be summ'd and made up and then Gain and Loss will best appear as Solomon said when he came to his Audit Eccles 2. 11. Then I looked on all the Works that my hands had wrought and on the Labour that I had laboured to do And that was very great as we may see in the fore-going Verses where you find him as a diligent Chymist very busie at his work to extract and gain an Elixir and Quintessence even the Spirit of whatever Contentment the whole Mass and Body of the Creature could afford But alas when all else was evaporated there was nothing left but that Caput mortuum Behold all was vanity and vexation of Spirit and there was no profit under the Sun And as little do all our great Traders and Gainers as they themselves thought that say as James 4. 13. Tomorrow we will go to such a City and buy and sell and get Gain As little profit do they find when at Death they come to their last reckoning In their life and enjoyment oft-times no other profit by what they have Gained but the beholding of them with their Eyes Eccles 5. 11. But to be sure at Death when they must leave them Riches will not profit in such a day of Wrath Prov. 11. 4 will not be able then to purchase a Freedom no not a Reprieve from Death Psal 49. 6 7 8 9. much less everlasting Life and it will be well if not Death eternal And here let me name some few things which Men usually for the present think very Gainful to them which will not at Death turn to account 1. All sins even the gainfullest Demetrius may get no small Gain by making Silver shrines for Diana his Idol and the Master Acts 19. 24. Acts 16. 16. of the Pythoniss by her divination and many others now a days by unlawful Callings and unlawful and dishonest Gains at which God as very angry * Numb 24. 10. smites his hands Ezek. 22. 12 13 27. But none of these can in themselves be true Gain which is wont to be defined to be Boni utilis acquisitio quod ad venerandi Ficinus in argumento Hipparchi Platonis Rom. 6. 23. boni consecutionem conducit It 's the acquiring of something that is profitable towards the acquisition of the chief Good But if the wages of sin be Death this must needs be quite contrary the greatest Loss loss of Peace with God in Life and the loss of God and everlasting Life at Death And then as they said Why should Dammage grow to the hurt of the King Dan. 6. 2. Ezra 4. 22. So I to thee But why should such an utterly undoing Loss grow to thy Soul Or as Paul said to them Acts 27. 10. Sirs I perceive that this Voyage will be with hurt and much Dammage not only of the Lading and Ship but also of our Lives So I must say to every such Sinner unless he strike Sail and steer another Course though thou beest now Top and Top-gallant and goest before the Wind with all Sails spread and filled with as thou thinkest a most prosperous Gale yet this Voyage will be to thy hurt and much Dammage not only of Lading and Ship of that Saburra of outward Contentments that thou art so deeply laden with and of thy Bodie 's brittle Bark but of the Life and that of thy Soul for ever Acquisivit pecuniam Augustine perdidit Justitiam lucrum in arcâ damnum in conscientiâ Gain in the Chest and Loss in the Conscience he hath gotten Money and lost Piety and Justice are sad words but sadder things Such Gainers I compare to such prodigal Unthrifts that lavish it at their Inns and what Gainers they who have got so much Mirth and good Chear Ay but Friends there is a great reckoning that must be paid before or when you go to Bed in Death which will not suffer you to sleep quietly Whilst you by these sinful means increase your Gettings you like such Prodigals run fast and deep into debt which whilst you find the life Isa 57. 10. of your hand as the Prophets phrase is that which supports you with a livelihood you are jolly and never think of it O but there will at Death come a day of payment and then a Prison out of which you will not get till you have paid the utmost farthing and that will never be and so you lie in chains of darkness to Eternity What gain by sin will you then think you have got by that of which you are then ashamed because Rom. 6. 21. by it utterly undone You may then put it all into your Eyes and be there weeping it out for ever Penny-wise and pound-foolish will be then a sad Proverb which you will be sadly thinking of when all is lost and you with it to have gained Lordships and Kingdoms by sinful ways will be found greatest loss at last They will then appear to have been the Devils gifts rather than God's and as they use to say that the Devil's Gold which he gives to Witches is found to be but leaves and trash so you will find these to be such trash as will yet make Fewel for everlasting burnings What therefore you heard out of the Prophet Ambros de Joseph lucrum pietas nescit pecuniae in quo pietas dispendium est God in anger smites his hands at we should with an holy despising with him Isa 33. 15. shake our hands of namely of the gain of oppression bribes and whatever other unlawful profits which will then prove loss with a witness No then Godliness will appear to have been profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4. 8. and although in the profession and practise of it we have met with 2 Cor. 7. 9. inward repentant grief and outward loss and mischief yet as Paul saith we shall in the upshot find that we have received dammage by it in nothing 2. Nor will all even lawful acquisitions of outward profits or pleasures or honours or the like contentments as we use falsly to call them if not better improved and husbanded make Death gainful or be gain to us then when I say not the unlawful getting or using or keeping of them for that I spake to in the former Head but the bare resting and satisfying our selves in them without making out after and sure of Christ who is both in Life and Death advantage will be the loss of our Souls and what hath a Man then gained though he had gained the whole World Matth. 16. 26. In regard of usual events in ordinary providence Solomon saith there is a time to get and a time to lose Eccles 3. 6. and all our Life should be a getting time to get Grace and Peace that so at length we may gain Glory but there is no time to lose at least to lose our Souls especially death is no such time when if they
a broken Leg nor daintiest Meat make the sick Man well nor all the choicest Extractions from the whole Body and Bulk of the Creature afford a Cordial strong enough to revive a languishing lost Soul And therefore as the Arabick Proverb adviseth Noli gemmam perdere in die festo in our greatest Feasts it would not have us lose our Jewel because it 's of such worth that all the delight we can have in the costliest Meal cannot countervail the loss of it so in all the richest of the World's entertainments let us be so merry and wise together as to be sure to look to our Jewel to our Souls the loss of which all else can no way compensate 3. As being in the last place irrecoverable When our Saviour said What will it profit a Man if he win the whole World and lose his own Soul In those words he tells us that the loss of it is inestimable But when he adds or What shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul He would thereby assure us that if after the price of Purchase which he laid down to redeem our Souls and repossess us of them they shall yet be so neglected as that they come indeed to be lost that Morgage will never be able again to be bought out No 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be given in exchange but the loss absolute and irreparable But shall then such precious Souls be lost for want of looking to pawned for Toys nay sold outright for Trifles That thou mayest take thy pleasure carest not as sometimes thou profanely sayest if the Devil take thy Soul Is not this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more sottish than the Indians exchanging Gold for Glass and more profane than Esau's selling his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage by Drunkenness Passion Drowsiness Lust putting our selves out of possession of the use of our Souls for the present or by these and such-like courses hazarding the utter loss of them for ever Should this be the sad lot of any as it will be of too many let it be of such sensual Brutes that know not the worth of a Soul that can so easily part with it of such sordid Muckworms quibus anima tantum est pro sale whose Souls serve only to keep them alive and to preserve their Bodies from stinking and who are as such something distinct from their Souls as it 's intimated of the Fool in the Gospel to whom God said This night shall they fetch thy Soul from thee Luke 12. 20. But for Christians that believe that the Blood of the Son of God was shed to save Souls for Scholars whose Souls are themselves Animus cujusque is est quisque who study the nature of Souls and therefore should know the worth of them for Divines whose traffique is in trading for Souls let us have ground to hope better things of you and such as are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that accompany Salvation Heb. 6. 9. whilst like wise Men Prov. 11. 30. you labour to win other Mens Souls be not such Fools as to lose your own It 's his Disciples and Apostles that our Saviour especially directs his Speech to in the words of the Text in which there is a double 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatever others do yet you above all in your patience possess ye your Souls SERMON XXXIII LUKE 21. 19. II. Sermon Preacht at St. Maries Cambridg Aug. 19. 1649. In your Patience possess ye your Souls TErtullian begins his Book of Patience with an ingenuous acknowledgment of his own unfitness Homo nullius boni aeger doloribus impatientiae c. And so may I well begin my Sermon of the same Argument with the like Apology but as he there adds The rich Man that so much desires health must be born with if he be speaking of it especially is his speaking help to instruct him in the Cure And therefore in the handling of this Text of Patience having dispatched the two first parts of it the last time which I called the Free-hold and the Seisin and from them held forth our duty to possess our Denotat causam instrumentalem quam necesse est pios adhibere si in calamitatibus spiritualem incelumitatem râ—tinere velint Illyricus Souls I now close with the third viz. the Tenure of it and that 's of Patience In your Patience possess ye your Souls All Graces indeed are of the Soul's Life-Guard and Faith is the Captain of them all according to that Heb. 10. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are of them that believe to the saving of the Soul But under Faith in perilous times Patience in an especial manner is here by our Saviour set upon the Guard And therefore he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c in your Patience possess ye your souls And so James 5. 8. Be ye also patient establish your hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Your Patience What 's that As they are your souls so is it your patience Yes Thus far in the general Both their 's Subjectivè but neither of them Causaliter Both Patience and Soul 's theirs but so as both from God the one from him as an Almighty Creator and Father of Spirits Heb. 12. 9. the other as a gracious Sanctifier and a God of Patience Rom. 15. 5. most patient in himself not forward to inflict any evil And the Giver of Patience to his afflicted Servants whereby they are ready to endure all according to that Col. 1. 11. Strengthened with all Might according to his Glorious Power unto all Patience and Long-suffering with joyfulness Your Patience therefore as thus 1. Subjectivè yours from God's gift in possession And 2. Specificativè yours by way of Distinction and that as some would have it from a Fourfold other kind of Patience viz. 1. Sinful 2. A Natural 3. A Moral 4. A Legal Patience 1. There is a Sinful Patience Falsa probrosa as Tertullian De patientia c. 16. calls it When Men as he instanceth are Patientes rivalium divitum invitatorum impatientes solius Dei Impatient only of Christ's Yoke and God's Commands and Chastisements But basely patient of the Tyranny both of their own and other Mens Lusts can endure nothing for God's Cause but any thing for their own for Profit Pleasure or Preferment sake can patiently here and see God blasphemed and dishonoured tamely prostitute Body Soul Conscience the Honour and Peace of them all The Parasite patient of Abuse and Scorn for his Belly-sake The Courtier can receive an Injury and give thanks for his Preferment 's sake Those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Plutarch to raise themselves make their Backs their Mistresses Footstools Even Pathici are in Authors often Patientes Happy See Cerda in Tertullian de patientia we if we were but as patient in God's Service as too many are in the Devil's drudgery But this Bastard-patience the meekest Christian Spirit is impatient of as of that which in stead