SInce wee are sure that there is a spiritual death of the soul let us make sure a spiritual resurrection too Audâ—cter dicam saith St. Jerome I say confidently however God can do all things hee cannot restore a Virgin that is â—aâ—n from it to Virginity again hee cannot do this in the body but God is a Spirit and hath reserved more power upon the spirit and soul than upon the body And therefore I may say with the same assurance that St. Jerome doth no soul hath so prostituted her self so multiplied her fornications but that God can make her a Virgin again and give her even the chastity of Christ himself Fulfill therefore what Christ saith Joh. 5. 25. The hour is coming and now is c. bee this that hour bee-thy first resurrection bless Gods present goodness for this now and attend Gods leisure for the other resurrection hereafter and then doubt not but what glory soever thou hast had in this world glory inherited from noble Ancestors glory acquired by merit and service glory purchased by money and observation what glory of beauty and proportion what glory of health and strength soever thou bast had in this house of clay the glory of the latteâ— house as it is Hag. â— 9. shall bee greater than of the former Qui peacat quatenus peccat sit seip so detetion Clem. Alex. IN every sin a man falls from that degree which himself had before In every sâ— hee is dishonoured hee is not so good a man as hee was impoverished hee hath not so great a portion of grace as hee had infatuated hee hath not so much of the true wisdome of the fear of God as hee had disâ—armed hee hath not that interest and confidence in the love of God that hee had and deformed hee hath not so lively a representation of the image of God as before In every sin wee become prodigals but in the habit of sin wee become bankrupts afraid to come to an account A fall is a fearful thing that needs a raising a help but sin is a death and that needs a resurrection and a reâ—â—rection is as great a work as the very Creation its self It is death in semine in the root it produces it brings forth death it is death in arbore in the body in its self death is a divorce and so is sin and it is death in fructu in the fruit thereof sin plants spiritual death and this death produces more sin obduration impenitence and the like Transeant injuriae plerasque non accipit qui nescit Seneca HEe that knows not of an injury or takes no knowledge of it for the most part hath no injury But alas how many break their sleep in the night about things that disquiet them in the day too and trouble themselves in the day about things that disquiet them all night too Wee disquiet our selves too much in being over tender over sensible of imaginary injuries They that are too inquisitive what other men say of them they disquiet themselves for that which others would but whisper they publish and therefore that which hee adds there for moral and civil matters holds in a good proportion in things of a more divine nature in such parts of the Religious worship and service of God as are not fundamental non expâ—dit omâ—â—â— videâ—e non omnia audire wee must not too jealoussy suspect nor too bitterly condemn nor too peremptorily conclude that whatsoever is not done as wee would have it done or as wee have seen it done in former times is not well done Antequam unlneramur monemur Origen BEfore our enemies hit us God gives us warning that they mean to do so When God himself is so â—ar incensed against us that hee is turned to bee our enemy and to fight against us it was come to that Isa 63. 10. when hee hath bent his bow against us as an enemy it was come to that in the Prophet Jeremy Law 2. 4. yet still hee gives us warning before-hand and still there comes a lightning before his thunder God comes seldome to that dispatch a word and a blow but to a blow without a word to an execution without a warning never Cain took offence at his brother Abel the quarrel was Gods because hee had accepted Abels sacrifice therefore God joyns himself to Abels party and so the party being too strong for Cain to subsist God would not surprize Cain but hee tells him his danger Why is thy countenance cast down Gen. 4. 10. You may proceed if you will but if you will needs you will lose by it at last Saul persecutes Christ in the Christians Christ meets him upon the way speaks to him strikes him to the ground tells him vocally and tells him actually that hee hath undertaken too hard a work in opposing him This which God did to Saul reduces him that which God did to Cain wrought not upon him but still God went his own way in both to speak before he strikes to lighten before hee thunders to warn before hee wounds In Dathan and Abiâ—ams case God may seem to proceed apace towards execution but yet it had all these pauses in arrest of judgement and their reprieves before execution yet when Moses had information and evidence of their factious proceeding hee falls not upon them but hee falls upon his face before God and laments and deprecates in their behalf hee calls them to a fair trial and examination the next day Tomorrow the Lord will shew Numb 16. 5 and they said Wee will not come vers 14. Then God upon their contumacy when they would stand mute and not plead takes a resolution to consume them in a moment and then Moses and Aaron return to petition for them vers 25. And Moses went up to them again and the Elders of Israel followed and all prevailed not and then Moses comes to pronounce judgement These men shall not dye a common death and after and yet not presently after that hee gave judgement execution followed vers 31. God opened his mouth and Moses his and Aaron his and the Elders theirs before the earth opened hers In all which wee see that God alwayes leaves a latitude between his sentence and execution which interim is sphaera activitatis the sphere in which our repentance and his mercy move and direct themselves in a benign aspect towards one another Vili vendimus coelum glauci more Christiani sumus Tertul. HOw poor a clod of earth is a Mannor How poor an inch a Shire How poor a span a Kingdome How poor a pace the whole world and yet how prodigally wee sell Paradise Heaven Souls Consciences Immortality Eternity for a few grains of this dust What had Eve for heaven so little as that the Holy Ghost will not let us know what shee had nor what kinde of fruit yet something Eve had What had Adam for heaven but a satisfaction that hee had pleased an ill wife as St. Jerome states
the most sinfull part of man for it is onely sin that pitches and defiles the soul and makes it combustible which otherwise would never burn if all the fiery Artists of Hell did blow the bellows Now just such is that fire which conscience kindles upon the breach of integrity to wit a fire that burns inwardly and consumes the marrow of the bones and drinks up the spirits The Arrows which conscience shuts in upon a man upon the breach of sincerity are such as pierce principally the spirit As long as Job was patient under Gods hand hee felt the Arrows of the Almighty onely without him as I may say to wit in his body in his children and substance but when hee brake out and cursed his day hee presently complains that hee felt the Arrows of God within him and that the poyson of them drank up his spirits Job 6. 4. All that which before hee felt without was nothing to that which hee now felt within upon his spirit As the torments which damned wretches shall suffer in their bodies are nothing to those which shall continually flye up and down in their souls So David after hee had made breaches in his integrity God filled his loynes with loathsome diseases but this was nothing to speak of God made things strike into his heart and then hee roared I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart David felt pains gather about his heart and then hee cryes out The heart is the mark that God principally aims at when a Christian hath turned aside from his upright course other outward parts hee may hit and deeply wound but this is but to make holes into the heart where the seat of unsoundness that principally offends him is The Fire which Conscience kindles it may flash forth into the eyes and tongue and hands and make a man look fearfully speak desperately and do bloodily against the body but the heat of the fire is principally within in the furnace in the spirit it is but some sparkles and flashes onely that you see come forth at the lower holes of the furnace which you behold in the eyes words and deeds of such men Invidia est vitium permanens Aristoteles ENvy is a long lived thing it will live as long as there is any marrow in the bones It will hunt a David long through Ziph En-gedi many Wildernesses though never so long it will finde a Dart to throw at a David till it hath killed him or stabbed it selfe Envy fights desperately and unweariedly it will never give over as long as there is breath it will eat no bread till it hath done its work killed a Paul or sterved it self Envy is all spirit all evill spirits move it is a spirit of the right breed for the Devil it will fight and fight till death it will work to the utmost vires as long as nerves and sinewes binde bones together it is everlasting burning which nothing will quench but its own blood Ab extremis miseriae quies Seneca I Would speak to such from this sentence which are quite undone which have lost all mony and joy too which have many sufferings upon them for Christ but can make no joy out of them Surely I can guess your pain you are blinde you know not who hath stript you not when hee will return it again It is impossible for a man to joy under long suffering unless a man can look to the end of it This makes heavy afflictions light long afflictions short to look where they end Our light afflictions which indure but for a moment work about a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory Long-suffering is but a moment when compared with eternity of glory The great Heaven at a distance makes a little heaven at present a heaven in hell to that soul which hath it in its eye As those lower heavens give a great lustre and vigor at a distance to beholders and raise much so doth the Heaven of heavens It is a heaven to behold heaven afar off where ever the body bee It was Canaan to Moses to see Canaan afar off The fight of the end shortens the way suffering is deadly long when a man can see no end when a man is in darkness and can see no light it is hard to bring the soul to joy in such darkness A man must look upon affliction from one end to the other that would fetch in joy to his soul from suffering At one end of long suffering for truth is a father at the other end a reward which if seen well will make the longest suffering very short and very sweet Media gratiae ordinem creationis subeunt Aquinas THe means of Grace have the order of Creation stamped upon them Christ the great Wheel that turns all other wheels of our salvation is made unto us what hee is and made of God Who of God is made unto us Wisdome Righteousness c. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Christ is a full sea indeed but not a drop to us but as made of God So wee are made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the spirit Could such a poor man as I by speaking a while to the ear turn the heart from sin to Christ did not a creating blessing sit on my lips Divine institutions have the formality of a creation in them because they have what they have and doe what they doe from supreme power onely above all cause and reason Therefore are Institutions and means of Grace not so much as mentioned Col. 1. 11. Giving thanks to the Father who hath mâ—â—e us meet to bee partakers of that inheritance of the Saints in light Onely the Father is here mentioned Means are so beside likelihood and reason to so noble an end as to make and fit souls for heaven Giving thanks to the Father who hath made c. None else worthy to bee so much as mentioned in this noble work Alterius perditio sit tua cautio Isidor FOr the wickedness of them that dwell therein it is that a fruitful land is turned into a wilderness saith David Psal 107. And the Heathen Historian saith little less when hee tells us that the ruine and rubbish of Troy are set by God before the eyes of men for an example of that rule that great sins have great punishments But now say the Learned not to bee warned by others is a sure presage of ruine Scipio beheld and bewayled the down-fall of Rome 〈◊〉 the destruction of Carthage And when Hannibal was beleagureing Saguntum in Spain the Romans were as sensible of it as if he had then been beating upon the walls of their Capitol A storm oftentimes begins in one place and ends in another When the Sword rides Circuit as a Judge it is in Commission Ezek. 14. 17. And when I begin saith God I will make an end 1 Sam. 3. Wee cannot but fore-see a storm unless
Catholique Divinity OR The most Solid and Sententious Expressions of the Primitive Doctors of the Church With other Ecclesiastical and Civil Authors Dilated upon and fitted to the Explication of the most Doctrinal Texts of Scripture in a choice way both for the matter and the language and very useful for the Pulpit and these Times By Dr. Stuart Dean of St. Pauls afterwards Dean of Westminster and Clerk of the Closet to the late K. Charles LONDON Printed for H. M. and are to bee sold by Timo. Smart at his shop in the Great Old-Bayly near the Sessions-house 1657. To the Reader YOu may by these few sheets understand in some part that great benefit of humane Learning how serviceable it may bee made for Divine For as the Badger-skins and Goats-hair were made use of for the service of the Tabernacle in the Jewish Church So may the Endowments of prophane Infidel-Philosophers Orators and Poets bee imployed for the service of the Christian And indeed the Arts are but as hand-maids to Divinity Look but back upon those two famous patterns of Jewish and Christian Divines Moses learned in all the wisdome of the Egyptians and St. Paul wise in all the learning of the Grecians a great Artist and a good Linguist Now to what purpose both those gifts unless improved to a further end then they were first intended namely to make Greece and Egypt Proselites and to teach those Nations Christianity from the grounds and principles of their own learning And thus Reader mayest thou make use of this Book if a Minister for thy Pulpit if a Lay-man for thy practice As for the Author hee is too well known to bee praysed by a private Pen onely thus much take notice in his behalf that these were onely some loose scattered sheets of his Juvenilia by which you may guess what his full grown elaborate peeces will bee when ever it shall please God to instruct these ignorant Times with those his most learned Productions Till when I am Thine in all Christian service H. M. Catholique Divinity OR The most solid and sententious Expressions of the Primitive Doctors of the Church c. Quà m malè est extra legem viventibus quicquid meruerunt semper expectant Petronius FAt Swine cry hideously if but touched or medled with as knowing they owe their life to every one that will take it Tyberius felt the remorse of conscience so violent that hee protested to the Senate that hee suffered death daily Whereupon Tacitus makes this good Note Tandem-facinora flagitia in supplicium vertuntur as every body hath its shadow appertaining to it so hath every sin its punishment And although they escape the lash of the Law yet vengeance will not suffer them to live as the Barbarians rashly censured St. Paul Act. 28. quietly at least Richard the Third after the Murther of his two Nephews had fearful dreams and visions insomuch that hee did often leap out of his bed in the dark and catching his sword which alway naked stuck by his side he would goe distractedly about the chamber every where seeking to finde our the cause of his own occasioned disquiet It is as proper for sin to raise fears in the soul as for rotten flesh and wood to breed worms That worm that never dyes is bred here in the froth of filthy lusts and flagitious courses and lies gnawing and grabling upon mens inwards many times in the ruffe of all their jollity This makes Saul call for a Minstrel Belshazzar for his carowsing cups others for other pleasures to put by the pangs of their wounded spirits and throbbing consciences Charles the fourth after the Massacre of France could never endure to bee awakened in the night without Musick or some like diversion hee became as terrible to himself as formerly hee had been to others but above all I pity the loss of their souls who serve themselves as the Jesuite in Laucashire followed by one that found his glove with a desire to restore it him but pursued inwardly with a guilty conscience hee leapes over a hedge plunges into a Marle-pit behinde it unseen and unthought of wherein hee was drowned Vestium curiosit as deformitatis mentium morum indicium est St. Bernard OUr first Parents who even after the Fall were the goodliest creatures that ever lived went no better cloathed than with leather no more did those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11. 37 And surely however our condition and calling afford us better array and the Vulgar like a Pohemian Cur fawn upon every good suit purpuram magis quam dominuâ— colunt yet wee must take heed that pride creep not into our cloaths those Ensignes of our sin and shame seeing our fineness is but our filthiness our weakness our nastiness It is a sure signe of a base minde to think hee can make himself great with any thing that is less than himself and win more credit by his garments than his graces St. Peter teacheth women 1 Pet. 3. 3. to garnish themselves not with gay cloaths but with a meek and quiet spirit and not as those mincing Dames whose pride the Prophet Isaiah inveighes against as punctually as if he had viewed the Ladies Wardrobes in Jerusalem Rich Apparel are but fine covers for the foulest shame the worst is Natures garment the best but follies garnish How blessed a Nation were wee if every silken suit did cause a sanctified soul or if wee could look upon our cloaths as our first Parents did as love-tokens from God Quicquid propter Deum fit equaliter fit St. August IT is said in the seventh of Gen. vers 5. That Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him Where the word All is a little word but of a large extent hee doth not his Masters but his own will that doth no more than himself will A disspensatory conscience is an evill conscience God cryes to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee will have universal obedience both for subject and object Wee must bee intirely willing in all things to please God or wee utterly displease him Herod did many things and was not any thing the better Jehues golden Calves made an end of him though hee had made an end of Baals worship Hee that doth some and not all Gods will with no desire and affection at least doth but as Benhadad recover of one disease and dye of another yea if hee take not a better course with himselfe hee doth but take pains to go to Hell Then shall wee not bee ashamed when wee have respect to all Gods Commandements Psal 119. 6. Sordet in conspectu judicis quod fulgâ—â— in conspect â— operantis Gregor GOd can finde flaws in that for which wee may look for thanks This makes Nehemiah crave pardon of his zealous Reformations and David cryes out Enter not into judgement with thy servant O Lord for no flesh is righteous in thy sight Yee are they that justifie your selves
the sonnes and daughters of Adam doe possesse For look upon Kings and Conquerors I will not tell that many of them fall into the condition of servants and their subjects rule over them and stand upon the ruines of their Families But let us suppose them still Conquerours and the greatest that ever were yet whatsoever tempts the pride and vanity of ambitious persons is not so big as the smallest star which wee see scattered in disorder and unregarded upon the pavement and floor of Heaven And if wee would suppose the Pilmires had but our understandings they also would have the method of a mans greatness and divide their little Molehills into Provinces and Exarchats And if they also grew as vitious and as miserable one of their Princes would lead an Army out and kill his neighbour Ants that hee might reign over the next handfull of a Turf but then if wee consider at what price and with what felicity all this is purchased the sting of the painted Snake will quickly appear and the fairest of their fortunes will properly enter into this account of humane infelicities Proper a vivere singulos diâ—s sâ—ngulas vitas pâ—â—a nihil interest iâ—â—â—diem sâ—culum Sence HEe that would dye well must alwayes look for death every day knocking at the gates of the grave and then the gates of the grave shall never prevaile upon him to do him mischief This was the advice of all the wise and good men of the world who especially in the dayes and periods of their joy and festival egressions chose to throw some ashes into their chalices some sober remembrances of their fatal period Such was the black shirt of Saladine the Tombstone presented to the Emperour of Constantinople on his Coronation day the Bishop of Romes two reeds with flax and a wax taper the Egyptian Skeleton served up at feasts These in their semblances declare a severe counsel and useful meditation and it is not easie for a man to be drunk with joy or wine pride or revenge who considers sadly that hee must ere long dwell in a house of darkness and his body must bee the inheritance of worms and his soul must be what he pleases even as a man makes it here by his living good or bad I have read of a young Hermit who being passionately in love with a young Lady could not by all the Arts of Religion and mortification suppress the trouble of that fancy till at last being told that she was dead and had been buried about fourteen dayes hee went secretly to her vault and with the skirt of his mantle wiped the moisture from the carkass and still at the return of the temptation laid it before him saying Behold this is the beauty of the Woman thou didst so much desire and so the man thereby overcame his inordinate passion and if we make death as present to us our own death dwelling and dressed in all its pomp of fancy and proper circumstances if any thing will quench the heats of lust or the desires of money or the greedy passionate affections of this world this must do it Non expectavit Christâ—â—â—â— Saul 〈…〉 in media insaâ—iâ— superavit Chryfost VVHen Saul see Act. 9. 4. was yet breathing forth slaughter then came a voyce saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou meo Then when hee was in the height of his fury Christ laid hold upon him And this for the most part was Christs method of curing Then when the Sea was in a tempestuous rage when the waters covered the ship and the storm shaked even that which could remove Mountains the faith of the Disciples then Christ rebukes the wind and commands a calm then when the Sun was gone out to run his race as a Gyant then God by the mouth of Joshuah bids the Sun stand still Then when that unclean spirit foamed and fumed and tore and rent the possessed person then Christ commanded them to go out Let the Feaver alone say our Physitians till some fits bee passed and then wee shall see farther and discern better but Christ in the Text above itayes not till Saul being made drunk with blood was cast into a slumber but in the midst of his raging fit hee gives him physick in the midst of his madness hee reclaims him Then when his glory was to bring them bound to Jerusalem that he might magnifie his triumph and greatnes in the eye of the world then then sayes Christ to this tempest bee calm to this unclean spirit come out to this Sun in his own estimation go no further Non in fine sed in principio conversus latro Cyril IF thou deferrest thy repentance till the last because of the Theefs example thou deludest thine own soul the Theef was not converted at last but at first as soon as God afforded him any call hee came but at how many calls hast thou stopped thine ears that deferrest thy repentance Christ said to him This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise When thou canst finde such another day look for such another mercy a day that cleft the Grave-stones of dead men a day that cleft the Temple its self a day that the Sun durst not see a day that saw the Son of God may wee not say so since that man was God too depart from man There shall bee no more such dayes and therefore presume not of that voice bodie this day thou shalt bee with mee if thou make thy last minute that day though Christ to magnifie his mercy and his glory and to take away all occasion of absolute desperation did here call the Theef unto him when hee was at the last gasp Novit Deus vulnerare ad amarâ—m August THe Lord and only the Lord knows how to wound us out of love more than that how to wound us into love more than all that to wound us into love not onely with him that wounds us but into love with the wound its selfe with the very affliction that hee inflicts upon us The Lord knows how to strike us so as that wee shall lay hold upon that hand that strikes us and kiss that hand that wounds us Ad vitam interficit ad exaltationem prosternit saith the same Father No man kills his enemy because his enemy might have a better life in Heaven that is not his end in killing him It is Gods end who therefore brings us to death that by that gate hee might lead us into life everlasting Ask of mee saith God to Christ Psal 2. 8. and I will give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance Now how was Christ to use these Heathen when hee had them Why thus Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron and break them in peeces like a Potters vessel Now God meant well to the Nations in thus breaking and bruising them God intended not an annihilation of the Nations but a reformation for Christ asks the Nations for an Inheritance not for a Triumph therefore it is
to consider Gods miraculous deliverances of other men in other cases or whether wee understand it according to the general voyce of Interpreters i. e. bee content that there remain in thy flesh matter and subject for mee to produce glory from thy weakness and matter and subject for thee to exercise thy faith and allegiance to mee still these words will carry an argument against the expedience of absolute praying against all temptations For still this gratia mea sufficit will import this amount to this I have as many Antidotes as the Devil hath poysons I have as much mercy as the Devil hath malice There must bee Scorpions in the world but the Scorpion shall cure the Scorpion there must bee temptations but temptations shall adde to mine and to thy glory And therefore is it conduceable to Gods purposes in us which is the rule of all our prayers to pray utterly against all tentations as vehemeutly as against sins God should lose by it and wee should lose by it if wee had no tentations For God is glorified in those victories which wee by his grace gain over the Devil Salvus factus â—s 〈◊〉 nihilo non de nihilo tamen Bernard THou bringest nothing for thy salvation yet something to thy salvation nothing worth it but yet something with it Thy self hath a part in those means which God useth to that purpose thy self art the instrument though not the cause of thine own salvation Thy new creation by which thou art a new creature i. e. thy regeneration is wrought as the first creation was wrought God made heaven and earth of nothing but hee produced the other creatures out of that matter which hee had made Thou hadst nothing to do in the first work of thy Regeneration thou couldst not so much as wish it but in all the rest thou art a fellow-worker with God because before that there are seeds of former grace shed in thee Nullâ â—o Deus perinde atque corporis aerumna conciliatur Nazian A Moâ—â—ning spirit and an afflicted body are great instruments of reconciling God to a sinner and they alwayes dwell at the gates of Atonement restitution and Bonaventure in the life of Christ reports that the holy Virgin mother said to Elizabeth that grace doth not descend into the soul of a man but by prayer and affliction Besides a delicate and prosperous life is hugely contrary to the hopes of a blessed eternity And certainly hee that sadly considers the portion of Dives and remembers that the account which Abraham gave him for the unavoidableness of his torment was because hee had his good things in this life must in all reason with trembling run from a course of banquets and faring deliciously every day as being a dangerous estate and a consignation to an evil greater than all danger the pains and torment of unhappy souls So then hee that desires to dye well and happily above all things must bee carefull that hee do not live a soft delicate and voluptuous life but a life severe holy and under the Discipline of the Gross No man wants cause of tears and daily sorrow Let every man consider what hee feels and acknowledge his misery let him confess his sin and chastise it let him long and sigh for the joyes of heaven let him tremble and fear because hee hath deserved the pains of hell let him commute his eternal fear with a temporal suffering preventing Gods judgement by passing one of his own let him groan for the labours of his pilgrimage and the dangers of his warfare and by that time hee hath summed up all these labours and duties and contingencies all the proper causes instruments and acts of sorrow hee will finde that for a secular joy and wantonness of spirit there are not left many void spaces of his life Nemo mala morte unquam moriebatur qui libenter opera charitatis exercuit St. Hieron THis the Father with all his reading and experience verifies I do not remember to have read that any charitable person ever dyed an evill death and although a long experience hath observed Gods mercies to descend upon charitable people like the dew upon Gideons fleece when all the world was dry yet for this also wee have a promise which is not onely an argument of a certain number of years but a security for eternal ages Luke 16. 9. Make yee friends of c. When faith fails and chastity is useless and temperance shall bee no more then charity shall bear you upon wings of Cherubims to the eternal Mountain of the Lord. I have been a lover of mankinde and a friend and merciful and now I expect to communicate in that great kindness which hee shews that is the great God and Father of men and mercies said Cyrus the Persian on his death-bed Now I do not mean this should onely bee a death-bed charity any more than a death-bed repentance but it ought to bee the charity of our life and healthfull years a parting of a portion of our goods then when wee can keep them when wee cannot then kindle our lights when wee are to descend into our houses of darkness or bring a glaring torch suddenly to a dark room that will amaze the eye and not delight it or instruct the body but if our rapers have in their constant course descended into their grave crowned all the way with light then lâ—t the death-bed charity be doubled and the light burn brightest when it is to deck our Herse Prima quae vitam dedit hâ—ra carpsit Seneca VVHen Adam fell then hee began to dye the same day so said God and that must needs hee true and so it must mean that upon that very day hee fell into an evill and dangerous condition a state of change and affliction then death began i. e. the man began to dye by a natural diminution and apâ—ness to disease and misery his first state was and should have been so long as it lasted a happy duration his second was a daily and miserable change and this was the dying properly This appears in the great instance of damnation which in the stile of Scripture is called eternal death not because it kills of ends the duration it hath not so much good in it but because it is a perpetual infelicity change or separation of soul and body is but accidental to death Death may bee with or without either but the formality the curse and sting of death i. e. misery sorrow anguish dishonour and whatsoever is miserable and afflictive in nature that is death Death is not an action but a whole state and condition and this was first brought in upon us by the offence of one man But now though this death entred first upon us by Adams fault yet it came nearer unto us and increased upon us by the sins of more of our forefathers For Adams sin left us in strength enough to contend with humane calamities for almost a thousand years
by pure persons yet not onely no acceptance and blessing but an uncomfortable breach Even that soul shall bee cut off from his people vers 20 21. Sacramenta sunt fodinae gratiae dispositio est vasculum gratiae promajore dispositione affectu tuo majorem gratiam reportabis Euseb FIll the mens sacks with food as much as they can carry sayes Joseph to his Steward Gen. 44. 1. Look how they came prepared with Sacks and Beasts so they were sent back with Corn The greater and the more Sacks they had prepared the more Corn they carry away If they had prepared but small Sacks and a few they had carried away the less A prepared heart is a vessel that shall bee filled at the Sacrament Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Psal 81. 10. Now the more or less the heart is prepared the greater or lesser is the vessel According to the size and capacity of the vessel shall it bee filled Fill such mens hearts with spiritual blessings with vertue from Christ with the comforts of the Holy Ghost sayes the Lord at the Sacrament fill them with spiritual food as full as they can hold as much as they can carry What a sweet comfort is that Who desires not to carry away from the Sacrament as much as may bee Then bee careful to prepare our hearts and prepare them to the purpose the larger is our preparation the larger is our vessel the larger our vessel the larger is our largess and dole at the Sacrament If wee carry not away as much as wee would it is our own fault that by preparation wee did not furnish our selves with a more capacious vessel The poor pittances that many go from the Sacrament withall make them droop when they are gone They may thank themselves for if Josaphs brethren had brought small Sacks they could not have carried away much corn out of Egypt Let men come with hearts so prepared as they should and they shall bee laden and filled with as much as they can carry Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis Aristotle SAcraments work according to that disposition wherein they finde such as receive them Such as are the receivers so prove the Sacraments unto them It is in this case as it was with the woman under jealousie and suspicion of uncleanness drinking the cursed waters Numb 5. 27 28. And when hee hath made her to drink the water then it shall come to pass that if shee bee defiled c. Look then as the woman was such was the work of the water If shee were clean the water did her no hurt nay it did her good shee conceived seed shee became fruitfull but if shee were defiled and unclean it wrought with a mischief Her belly did swell her tâ—igh did rot and shee became a curse It is so in receiving the Sacrament As men are that receive it so is the work and efficacy of it either for good or hurt either for bain or blessing if a man bee prepared with repentance and so bee clean then the Sacrament brings a blessing it makes a man fruitful But if a man bee defiled and unclean as every impenitent sinner is then it banes and mischiefes him hee proves a more rotten and wretched sinner than before An unwholesome and diseased stomach that every food it receives it alters and rather nourishes the disease than the body and turns wholesome nourishment to matter of grief and vexation So an impenitent soul coming to Gods Ordinance in its fins and defilement doth but turn the wholesome nutriment of the Sacrament to the feeding of its disease and the increasing of its own sorrow and mischief as the water that made the clean woman fruitful made the unclean woman swell and rot God curses the Sacrament to an impenitent defiled person and so makes a sad breach upon him instead of a blessing Pertunte sole pereunt omnia Seneca FOr a man to bee stupid and senseless under corporal afflictions argues a very ill temper of spirit but for a man to be stupid and senseless under spiritual afflictions under such a spiritual affliction as this the loss of the Son the loss of Christ as a Comforter argues a very ill temper of spirit indeed Strive therefore O deserted stupid soul to affect thine heart throughly with thy loss thou hast lost more than Job when hee had lost children substance health honours and friends nay thou hast lost more than if thou hadst lost this world nay thou hast lost more than if thou hadst lost thy life which is of more worth than the world thou hast lost Christ which is richer than the world and sweeter than thy life What an infinite loss were it to this world to lose the Sun It were at once to lose all Pereunte sole pereunt omnia for all things serviceable for the use of man depend upon the motion and influence of that glorious body What a loss then is it to the lesser world to lose Christ the Son of Righteousness It is to lose all good at once for soul and body All graces close and wither when Christ departs as all fragrant flowers when the Sun withdraws his influence And when these flowers wither in the soul a man is a moving dunghil that stinks in the nostrils of God and man where ever hee comes A man that hath lost Christ may truly say as shee when the Ark was lost That his glory is departed As the Sun in the glory of the greater World So Christ the Son of Righteousness is the glory of the lesser world to wit man Thou hast lost that in the world that is more worth than the world and which all the world can never help thee to Thou hast lost that which would make the worst condition in this life a Heaven whereas the best without it is but a Hell thou hast lost that which would have been to thy soul a continual feast whereas now thy soul is in a continuall famine and leanenesse Thou hast lost thy spirits and thy soul as in a dead-palsie so that thou art a living dead-man fit for no spiritual service Thou hast lost thy head thou hast lost thy eyes thou hast lost thy hands thou hast lost thy cloathing nay thou hast lost thy best Father thy best Husband thy best Friend all all this and much more comfort is Christ to man Thou hast great reason then O deserted soul to lay to heart thy loss Ignis focalis immateriale non urit Aristoteles THe sorrows of Hell are such as principally torture the spirit The fire which wee make can onely burn and torture the bodies of men because this onely of man is material immaterials as the souls of men are our fire cannot fasten upon but that strange fire which God hath kindled in Hell for all that disobey him burns the souls of men though immaterial substances Nay so strange is that fire that it burns these immaterial substances most fiercely as being
wee bee like those in St. Bernard Qui festueam quaerunt unde oculos sibi erâ—ant that seek straws to put out their eyes withall If wee break not off our sins by repentance that there may bee a lengthning of our tranquility a removal of our Candlestick may bee as certainly fore-seen and fore-told as if visions and letters were sent to us from heaven as once to the Church of Ephesus God may well say to us as to them of old Have I been a wilderness unto Israel a land of darkness or as Themistocles to his Athenians are yee weary of receiving so many benefits by one man Bona a tergo formosissima our sins have long since solicited an utter dissolution and desolation of all and that wee should bee made an heap and an hissing a waste and a wilderness Quod Deus avertat Hoc scio me nihil scire Socrates CHrist thought St. John worthy to lay his hand on his holy head in Baptisme who thinks not himself worthy to lay his hand under-Christs feet The more fit any man is for whatsoever vocation the less hee thinks himself Who am I said Moses when hee was to bee sent into Egypt whereas none in all the world was comparably fit for that Embassage Not onely in innumerable other things am I utterly unskilful faith St. August but even in the holy Scriptures themselves my proper profession the greatest part of my knowledge is the least part of mine ignorance I in my little Câ—ll saith Jerome with the rest of the Monks my fellow-sinners dare noâ— determine of great matters This is all I know that I know nothing said Socrates and Anaxarchus went further and said Ne id quidem scire quod nihil sciret that hee knew not that neither that it was nothing that hee knew This is the utmost of my wisdome said one that I see my self to bee without wisdome And Si quando fatuo delectari volo non longè mihi quaerendus est me video saith Seneca if I would at any time delight my self in a fool I need not seek far I have my self to turn too Thus the heaviest ears of corn stoop most towards the ground Boughs the more laden they are the more low they hang and the more direct the Sun is over us the less is our shadow so the more true worth there is in any man the less self-conceitedness and the lower a man is in his own eyes the higher hee is in Gods Surely the Baptist lost nothing by his humility and modesty in the third of St. Matth for our Saviour extols him to the multitude Mattb. 11. And there are that doubt not to affirm where they have it I know not that for his humility on earth hee is dignified with that that place in heaven from whence Lucifer fell Sure it is that hee that humbleth himselfe shall bee exalted If men reckon us as wee set our selves God values us according to our abasements The Church was black in her own eyes fair in Christs Ignis congregat homogenea segregat heterogenea Aristoteles IT is one and not the least property of the Holy Ghost to assimilate and make men like it self As fire turns fuell into the same property with its self so doth the blessed Spirit inform the minde conform the will reform the life transform the whole man more and more into the likeness of the heavenly pattern it spiritualizeth and transubstantiateth us as it were into the same image from glory to glory as the Sun the fire of the world by often beating with its beams upon the pearl makes it radiant and orient bright and beautiful like it self And this is the property of the Holy Ghost as well as of fire congregat homogenea segregat heterogenea it unites men to Saints and separates them from sinners For what communion hath light with darkness It maketh division from those of a mans house if not of his heart and yet causeth union with Gentile Barbarian Sâ—ythian if truly Christian Coloss 3. 11. Oh therefore get this fire from heaven so shall you glorifie God Matth. 5. 16. and bee able to dwell with devouring fire which hypocrites cannot do Isa 33. get warmth of life and comfort to your selves give light and heat to others walk surely as Israel did by the conduct of the pillar of fire and safely as walled with a defence of fire and if any man shall hurt such fire shall proceed out of their mouths to devour them So that a man had better anger all the Witches in the world than one of those that are baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire especially if they bee much mortified Christians such as in whom this fiery spirit hath done with the body of sâ—n as the King of Moaâ— did with the King of Edom Amos 2. burnt its bones into lime Mali in area nobiscum esse possunt in horreo non possunt Augustinus THe wicked may bee with us in the Floor they cannot in the Garner For there shall in no wise enter into the City of the Lamb any thing that defileth or that worketh abomination Heaven spewed out the Angels in the first act of their Apostacy and albeit the Devil could sâ—â—ue himself into Paradise yet no unclean person shall ever enter into the Kingdome of heaven without shall bee dogs and evill-doers no dirâ—y dog doth trample on that golden Pavement no dross is with that gold no chaffe with that wheat but the spirits of just men made perfect amidst a Panegâ—ris of Angels and that glorious Amphitheatre Heb. 1â— 22. In the mean while Dei frumentum ego sum may every good soul say with that Father I am Gods wheat And although the wheat be as yet but in the ear or but in the blade yet when the fruit is ripe hee will put in the sickle because the Harvest is come and gather his wheat into his Barn into his Garner Fider famem non formidat Bernardus IF bread fall feed on faith Ps 37. 3. So Junius reads that Text. Jehosaphat found it sovereign when all other helps failed him 2 Chron. 20. 6. and the captive Jews lived by faith when they had little else to live upon and made a good living of it Hab. â— â— To this text the Jews seem to allude in that fiction of theirs that Habbakkuk was carried by the hair of the head by an Angel into Babylon to carry a dinner to Daniel in the Den. It was by faith that hee stopped the mouths of Lions and obtained promises Heb. 11. and by faith that one in Queen Maries dayes answered her Persecutors If you take away my meat I trust that God will take away my stomach God made the Ravens feed Elias that were more likely in that Famine to have fed upon his dead carkass and another time caused him to go forty dayes in the strength of one meal Faith fears no famine and although it bee but small in substance and in shew as the Manna was
such bitter lamentation My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee What may the cause of all this bee Alas all this was for our sins It was not Judas nor the Jews nor Pilate nor the Souldiers but they were our sins thy sins my sins that put the Son of God to all this sorrow Wee wee and none but wee were the evill beasts that devoured this Joseph Our sins were so hainous and had so provoked the Justice of God that there was no way to satisfie Gods Justice to appease his wrath and to make our atonement but by the precious blood of the Son of God crucified on the Cross And shall I now see my sins lye so heavy upon him as to make him sweat blood shall I see him even squeezed under the huge weight of my sins shal I see my sins crown him with thorns nail his hands and feet to the Cross gore his side with a spear with an unpierced heart Oh the deep sorrow that our hearts should bee filled withall when wee see Christs body bruising and bleeding upon the Cross It should bee with us then as it was with them Zech. 12. 10. They shall look on him whom they have pierced And how shall that sight affect them And they shall mourn and bee in bitterness for him as one that mourns for his onely Son as one that is in bitterness for his first born How bitterly will such a man mourn so bitterly shall they mourn when they look upon Christ whom they have pierced And great reason for is it not a matter of greater sorrow to pierce the onely Son of God the first born the first begotten from the dead than to lose one onely or first begotten son So here when wee look upon Christ whom wee have pierced this sight should fill our hearts with bitterness should make our hearts full of sorrow Not onely with an Historical sorrow or a sorrow of natural compassion when wee hear or see some sad or sorrowful event this is nothing but with a practical sorrow with an unfained sorrow of heart that wee by our personal sins have had our hands imbrued in the blood of the Son of God that our sins envenomed those thorns those nails that pierced him and by their venome made them put him to such bitter torment have wee hearts conformable to Christ on the cross Thou beholdest a broken Christ thou beholdest a bleeding Christ behold him therefore with a broken heart with a bleeding heart with a pierced spirit So behold Christ on the cross as the Virgin Mary beheld him there And how was that Woman sayes Christ behold thy Son How did shee behold him Simeon tells her Luke 2. 35. That a sword should passe through her soul then did a sword pierce through her soul when shee beheld him pierced on the cross that sight was a sword through the heart of her So when we see him pierced it should bee as a dagger in our hearts Oh wretch that I am that my sins have been thorns on his head nayls in his hands and feet a spear in his side Lord saith David when hee saw the people slaughtered by the Angels sword Loâ— I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these sheâ—â— what have they done So let every one say Loe I have sinned I have done wickedly but this innocent and immaculate Lamb what hath hee done It is I that have sinned and it is thou O Lord that hast smarted It is I that have sinned and it is thou O Lord that hast suffered It is I that have put thee to all these sorrows my oaths my uncleannesses my lusts my covetousness my drunkenness these were the Judassâ—s that betrayed thee these were the Jews that crucified thee Lord I have eaten the sowre grapes and thy teeth were set on edge Lordâ— I played the theef and thou restoredst the things theâ— tookest not Quid tam ad mortem quodnon Christi morte salvetur Bernardus HE was wounded for our transgresâ—ions with his stripes wee are heated Isa 53. What sweet comfort may faith retch hence Look upon the wounds of Christ on the Cross as on the Cities of Refuge where the pursued soul by the avenger of blood may flye for safety and sanctuary Indeed I am a grievous sinner I have wounded my conscience with my transgressions but behold my Saviour here wounded for my transgressions I have cause to bee troubled in my conscience for the wounds my transgressions have made therein but yet my confcience needs not sinke in a despondency of spirit whiles I look at these wounds of Christ here bee wounds for wounds healing wounds for stabbing wounds curing wounds for killing wounds Hee was wounded for our transgressions what wound so deadly that may not or cannot bee healed by his death and wounds What comfort is here for faith in the wounds of Christ crucified They pierced my hands and my feet Psal 22. They pierced his side with a spear and there came out water and blood nay there comes out of these wounds honey and oyl unto faith By these passages may our faith suck honey and oyl out of the rock and may taste and see how good and sweet the Lord is The nayls the spear the wounds all preach unto faith a reconciled God That God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself The Lords bowels are laid open by these wounds so as through them wee may see the tender bowels of his mercy and so as through them mercy flows from those bowels unto us Oh my Dove that art in the clefts or holes of the rock Cant. 2. 14. Some of the Ancients understood those clefts of the rock the wounds of Christ in which the Dove the Church hides and shelters her self However it may bee alluded to that should bee our work of faith when it sees those clefts of the rock opened like a Dove to betake her self thereunto for shelter and security against all fears and distresses that wrath and guilt may put the conscience to Do any fears of wrath trouble thine heart Doth any conscience of guilt disquiet thee with the fears of hell Why now for thy comfort behold the holes in the rock where thou mayest bee sheltered Dwell now in the Rock and bee like the Dove that makes her Nest in the side of the holes mouth Jerem. 48. Nessel thy soul in the clefts of this Rock See and fully beleeve thy peace to bee made with God in Christs blood and look upon him wounded for thy transgressions with such a faith as may fill thy heart with an holy security against all such fears Hannibal vel victor vel victus nunquam quiescebat Augustinus THe Devil left not our Saviour at the first and second temptation this Master-flye Beelzebub though beaten away once and again yet returns to the same place Hee solicits and sets upon our Saviour again and again as Potiphars wife did upon Joseph for all his many denials and is not onely importunate but
makes men do as God did when hee repented him Gen 6. 6. 7. And it repented the Lord that hee had made man on earth and it griâ—ved him at his heart But that was not all And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast c. for it repents moe that I made them Nay repentance in man goes further one Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and hee was spared from the common destruction but hear not one lust or sin findes grace in the eyes of a man that truly repents but all must bee drowned in the flood of the tears of Repentance It is with a man that hath the griefe of true Repentance as it was with Nehemiah Neh. 13. 7 8. I came to Jerusalem and understood of the evill that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in repairing him a Chamber in the Courts of the house of the Lord and it grieved mee sore But hee rests not there but goes further therefore I cast forth all the houshold stuffe of Tobiah out of the Chamber What should Tobiah do with a Chamber there Therefore he not onely outs Tobiah but out goes all his stuffes too So doth repentance when it considers all the evill that Satan and corruption hath done and how they have taken up Chambers in the heart that should bee the house of God it is grieved sore and thereupon it outs Satan and all his stuffe neither Satan nor his stuffe shall bee chambered there any longer So doth repentance dispossess Satan of the soul as Christ dispossessed his body of him Mark 9. 2â— Thou dumb and deaf spirit I charge thee to come out of him and enter no more into him So repentance cast Satan and filthy abominations out of a man that they enter no more they are cast out for ever Tears of repentance are not onely wetting but washing tears Isa 1. 16. Wash you make you clean Davidâ— tears wash his couch Psal 6. and so much more wash himself Baptisme is called the Baptisme of repentance Luke 3. 3. In Baptisme there is a washing away of sin And how is Baptisme the Baptisme of repentance If in repentance there were not the doing away of sin If a man could shed a sea of tears yet if hee do not drownd his sin in that sea what were hee the better If a man should weep his eyes out yet if hee weep not his sins out to what purpose were it Wheresoever repentance is there must necessarily follow this forsaking and casting off our sins Try therefore thy repentance by this consider what have thy sins thy beloved sins been is thy drunkenness with loathing and indignation forsaken are thine oaths uncleannes covetousnâ—s curses c. with loathing and indignation abandoned It is a good sign but how idlely talk they of repentance who because they have blubbered out a few tears think all is well when yet they still live and lye in their sins and hold them as fast as ever the Mariners when they found out Jonas yet fain they would have saved him wondrous loath to cast him over-board Many see their sins and know them to bee dangerous sins but yet exceeding loath to shake hands with them loath to throw them into the sea but will rather adventure their own casting away than cast them over-board Never deceive thy self therefore though thou hast sighed cryed prayed begged mercy yet if still thou live and go on in thy sinful courses there is no truth of repentance in thee Dives in Evangelio damnabatur non quia abstulerat aliena sed quod non donaret sua Anselmus EVery Christian ought to imitate the high pattern of his Creator whose best riches is his bounty Hee that hath all gives all reserves nothing In our creation he gave us our selves in our redemption hee gave us himself and in giving himself for us gave us our selves again that were lost Onely good use then commends earthly possessions and hee alone knows the true use of the unrighteous Mammon that receives it meerly to disburse it For what commendation is it to bee the keeper of the best earth that which is the common coffer of all the rich Mines the earth wee do but tread upon and account vile because it hides those treasures whereas the skilful Metallist that refines these precious veyns for publick use is rewarded and honoured If therefore your wealth and your will bee not both good if your hands bee full and your hearts empty you deserve rather pity than commendation and may bee said to have riches indeed but neither goods nor blessings your burthens being greater than your estates and your selves richer in sorrows than in mettals And this was the rich Gluttons case in the Gospel who was damned not for taking away any thing from poor Lazarus but because hee relieved not his wants It is reported of Warram Archbishop of Canterbury being on his death-bed sent his steward to see what store of corn was in his Treasury and when answer was brought that there was either very little or none at all the good man cried Nimirum sic oportuit that it was very fitting it should bee so For when said hee could I dye better than when I am thus even with the world Vera virtus radices agit Seneca THings have their specification from their form Christ in the soul or truth in the heart is the form of a Christian Hence is that expression Hee is a Jew that is one inwardly so hee is a Christian which hath Christ in him and hee upright whose heart is so therefore is uprightness annexed in the 94 Psal and the 15. verse to that which is its proper subject and without which it subsists not nor can to wit the heart Vpright in heart all the upright in heart shall follow righteousness A good man is called a good man as hee can derive goodness from within A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good Truth treasured up in the heart is the onely true treasure and then out of this treasure motion made to this and to that expence from hence upon God upon man this is a good man and bringeth forth that which is good an upright heart A man is noted for an evill man as evill seiseth the heart Son of man these men have set up Idols in their hearts should I â—ee inquâ—red of at all by them Ezek. 14. So to set up truth in the heart as that and onely that which I love to bow down to and bee governed by this is an upright heart It is said of the Devill that hee abode not in the truth because no truth is in him Joh. 8. 44. whilst hee was in heaven heaven was not in him but pride and that is hell where ever it is Truth in the heart and wee abide in truth that is wee walk in it and ate ruled by it Lust in the
heart and let the creature bee where hee will in heaven or on earth hee abides in this is led up and down by this and not by truth and so is called according to that which is in him and informs him a sinful deceitful hearted man There is truth in the heart â—or in the midst of the heart the expression is I think with allusion to the natural form of the heart The heart hath a tunicle and a ventricle one to cover it the other to hold life bloud and spirits and these small ventricles are in the midst of the heart and these the life of the heart Truth within the tunicle of the heart is not enough it must bee in the ventricle in the midst The expression imports thâ—s much that if truth bee not in the soul as the soul of the soul as the life bloud in the heart giving life and motion to all the soul is not healed by it of its unsoundness and so consequently no upright heart The Psalmist speaking of a righteous man saith That his mouth speaketh wisdome and his tongue talketh of judgement But is this enough to give the formality of a righteous man Many can talk very soundly and judiciously and yet very unsound at heart Observe therefore what follows where hee centers the formality of integrity the Law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide Psal 37. 31. the small lines of truth the string of the heart the Law of God a Law in and unto the heart binding and loosing that which lives as it were a life by it self continually moving when all other parts are still that this organ which makes so many steps to others and yet not making one step but in and under the Law of Truth and Christ this is an upright heart Meditatio pascit scientiam scientia compunctionem compunctio devotionom Augustinus MEditation gives a man a sight and knowledge of himself of his sins of the riches of Gods mercy in Christ and such knowledge is it which works compunction of spirit wee are to bee taken up in the duties of Thanksgiving and to bee more than ordinarily inlarged therein There is no such way to inlarge the heart in that duty as by meditation to heat and warm our hearts So Psal 104. 33. 34. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live my meditation of him shall bee sweet I will bee glad in the Lord. There is nothing so feeds spiritual joy and so maintains and holds up that holy flame that should bee in a mans heart as doth meditation that is the oyl and fuel that keeps such fire burning the sweeter our meditation is the more is the heart prepared and inlarged to prayses and thanksgivings and joy in the Lord. Therefore as in other Religious exercises so more particularly in the Sacrament one special duty to bee done is to take up our hearts with serious meditation And for the better raising and feeding this meditation it is good when wee are come to the Lords Table to do as Solomon wishes to do in that case Prov. 23. 1. When thou fittest to eat with a Ruler consider diligently what is before thee Hee adviseth it for a mans better caution if hee bee a man given to his appetite that hee may not bee desirous of such dainties as are set before him But in this case it is good to consider what is set before us to provoke our appetite and to stir up in us a longing after those dainties Consider therefore what is set before thee what is done before thee Consider the Sacramental promises the Sacramental elements the Sacramental actions Behold then and meditate what a feast God hath prepared for us and set before us such a feast as that Isa 25. 6. A feast of fat things a feast of wine on the lees c. Alas how lean are our souls what hunger-starved spirits have wee but here bee fat things full of marrow to feed and fat our lean souls How dead and dull are our hearts but here is wine upon the lees wine that goes down sweetly That will cause the lips of those that are asleep to speake that will refresh and quicken our spirits Here wee see the bread broken the wine powred out Here wee see Christ crucified before our eyes now wee see him hanging and bleeding upon the Crosse we now see him pressed and crushed under the heavy burthen of his Fathers wrath Now wee see him in the Garden in his bloody sweat Now wee may behold him under the bitter conflict with his Fathers wrath upon the Crosse Behold the man saith Pilate This is our duty by meditation to present unto our selves the bitterness of Christs passion Exod. 24. 8. And Moses took the bloud and sprinkled it on the people and said Behold the bloud of the Covenant So here Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world And behold the bloud of that innocent and spotless Lamb yea behold him now shedding his precious blood to take away the sins of the world and look upon him as the Scape-goat bearing and carrying our sins upon him Represent we unto our selves in our meditations as lively as wee are able all the sorrows of Christs passion This Christ commands and makes it one main end of the institution of the Sacrament Do this in remembrance of mee Therefore appointed hee the Sacrament that therein wee might in special manner meditate upon his passion and his love to us therein David had a Psalm of remembrance Psal 38. in the title But for the death of Christ his love in it and the benefits by it wee have not onely some Psalms of remembrance as Psal 16. 22. and 69. and others But besides the Lord Christ hath to the worlds end appointed a Sacrament of remembrance that this great work of Christs death and his infinite love and mercy therein might above all other works bee meditated upon and had in remembrance FINIS A Catalogue of such Sentences of the Fathers and other Ecclesiastical and Civil Authors as are explained and applied to the use of the Pulpit and the practice of Christians in this Book QVà m malè est extra legem viventibus quicquid meruerunt semper expectant Page 1. Vestium curio sit as deformitatis mentium morum judicium est 3 Quicquid propter Deum fit equaliter fit 5 Sordet in conspectu Judicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis 6 Bone res neminem scandalizant nisi malam mentem 7 Non omne quod licet etiam honestum est 9 Quae per rationem innotescunt non sunt articuli fidei sed praeambula ad articulos 10 Mors optima est perire dum lachrimant sui p. 12 Nemo me lac hriâ— is decoret nee funera fletu faxit cur volito vivus per ora virum 14 Ne excedat medicinâ— modum 15 Si molliora frustrà cesserint medicus ferit venam 17 Suâ sponte cadentem