distinctly exprest the name of God is put for the Father as God hath not given the Spirit to Christ by measure Iohn 3 34. and Because ye are sonnes God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father Gal. 4.6 Yet though our love be terminative in God the Father it belongs to all the rest opera ab extra as well as adextra are indivisa I will not farther amplifie it onely take notice that all three persons are remembred in my Text and in this place God doth signifie the Father But I descend more particularly to the love of God Love is either active or passive Passive is that whereunto wee are brought by faith Active is that wherein wee are exercised by our most holy faith The Passive Love is that wherewith God loveth us the Active is that wherewith wee love GOD The Passive makes us children of GOD the Active doth manifest us to bee such the Passive is first in nature and the Active followeth long after for the Passive is eternall the Active in time the Passive is infinite as is God the Active finite as is man the Passive most perfect according to the perfection of GOD but the Active defective according to those defects which accompany this mortall condition even of a regenerate man Both these loves are here meant wee must labour to keepe our selves in both First In the Passive love Deus non deserit nisi deseratur The stile of God is often repeated by Moses and the Prophets A a Deut. 7 9. God that keepeth his Covenant and the Apostle sayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b 1. Cor. 10.13 God is faithfull The matter of this Covenant are the c Esai 55.3 faithfull mercies of David and our Saviour saith d Ioh. 13.1 Whom he loveth he loveth to the end Therefore God saith unto the Iewes e Esai 50.1 Where is your Mothers Divorcement whom I have cast off Or who is the Creditor to whom I sold you Alluding to two Causes of the Wives miserie by the Husbands default Want of Love or Want of Abilitie now he answereth that both these Causes are in us For your iniquities are you sold and because of your transgression is your Mother forsaken If our God dislike us or reject us we must seeke the Cause in our selves it is our fault if we abide not in the Passive Love Secondly Yea and in the Active too We must love God Appreciativè Intensivè Affectu Effectu First Appreciativè Love God above all things and in all a Matth. 10 37. He that loveth Father or Mother more then me is not worthie of me b Psal 73.24 Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desiro in comparison of thee c Psal 45.11 Hearken O Daughter and consider and incline thine eare forget also thine owne People and thy Fathers House so shall the King have pleasure in thy beautie Secondly Intensivè with all thy might and strength Affectu Effectu d Psal 103.1 Prayse the Lord O my Soule and all that is within me prayse his holy Name And e Psal 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord which I will require even that I may dwell in the House of the Lord c. But God may renew the Complaint of the Prophet f Esai 1.21 Civitas sancta facta est Meretrix g Hos 7.16 Ephraim is like a broken Bow c. and that of the Psalmist h Psal 78.9 Their heart was not upright within them and that in Hose i Hos 11.12 Ephraim compasseth me with Lyes c. But how shall we keepe our selves in this Love of God There are two meanes first by not committing what we should not doe secondly nor omitting what we should doe You may perceive by the a Mat. 12.43 c. Parable of the uncleane Spirit how he kept possession of the man while he was in the state of sinne and also how he returned when being freed from sinne he did not furnish himselfe with Grace b Rom 13.10 Love is the keeping of the Commandement and every Commandement hath an affirmative part and a negative part the one against omission and the other against commission and the rule of the Apostle is c Rom 13.12 We must cast away the workes of Darknesse and put on the Armour of Light This Talking Age is much troubled with an inquisition Whether a justified man may fall wholly from Grace and whether he may fall finally I will not dispute either my Text leads me to warne you not to fall onely these two points let me observe First The least shrinking from God should be very grievous to a true Child of God David bemoaned his absence from the visible Arke but marke upon what grounds O Lord of Hostes Psal 84.1 how amiable are thy Tabernacles my soule longeth yea and fainteth c. You see that the sense he had of the sweetnesse of the favour of God made him bemoane himselfe that was banisht from the Tabernacle of God how much more should he have bemoaned himselfe if God had forsaken his person that it should no longer be the House of God Secondly Nemo repente fuit turpissimus God departeth from this our Temple or us rather his Temple as he departed from the Temple of Ierusalem Ezechiel shewes how First he rose and went from betweene the Cherubins and from the Mercie-Seat that is out of the most Holy Place then rested a while in the second Roome which was the Holy Place then came he neerer Altare Holocausti and then tooke his flight The parts of man most aptly resemble these parts of the Temple of God Our Heart is Sanctum Sanctorum where Christ dwells as in his proper place and the first Grace that failes us is a good Conscience Yet men may retaine the knowledge of God and be able to retaine good from evill as shee did Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor But continuance in sinne will even darken the Principles of Truth and men may be so obdurate as to oppose themselves against Gods Precepts Then is God driven into the Court the open Court where men in policie and for worldly respects conforme themselves to that which they neither love nor beleeve I will be no mans judge but I would to God we would every man judge himselfe and consider how farre he is gone from God I doubt he will be found in more mens heads then in their hearts and yet more in mens faces then in their heads I would to God there were not infinite that have set their faces against Heaven c. I conclude this point with that of Saint Paul Heb. 3.6 Christ is as the Sonne over his owne House whose Household we are if we hold fast that confidence and that rejoycing of hope to the end Take heed therefore Brethren 12.13.14 lest at any time there be
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to things hoped for but the words rather respect the severall faculties of our soule then the quality of those things that are the object of these faculties and so you may learne by the words of Gods covenant â—â—r 31.33 This shall bee the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel I will put my Law in their inward parts So he saith in generall and then descends to particulars I will write it in their hearts and will bee their God and they shall be my people this respects the will and the affection embracing it as good and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest this agrees to the understanding resting on it as true And agreeable hereunto is that of Saint Paul Eph. 3.14 For this cause J bow my knees unto the Father of our LORD Iesus Christ that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory Rom. 1.17 to be strengthened with his might that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith c. He saith in the heart and will not in the understanding only For indeed this is the faith whereby the just man doth live therefore the seat of it must be in the heart And this faith is distinguished from the faith of those impure persons of whom Saint Iude speaketh in this Epistle that they turne the grace of God into wantonnesse verse 4. Rom. 1. â—8 1 Pet. 2.16 and Saint Paul that they detaine the truth of God in unrighteousnesse and Saint Peter that they abuse their Christian libertie as a cloake of maliciousnesse But our Faith lodgeth Christ in the Sanctum Sanctorum the most holy Person in the most holy place yea and there doth Faith conceive and bring forth Charitie which sanctifieth every Morall Vertue unto an heavenly end And finally by Faith it comes to passe that Gods Commandements are not grievous unto us We are not like that man that went away heavie Matth. 19.21 when he was willed to forsake all and follow Christ but like Abraham Genes 4. readie at the call of God to forsake our Countrey and our Fathers House though we know not whither we shall goe Matth. 26.39 Heb. 10.7 and with our Saviour Christ we say Not my will but thy will be done I am readie to doe thy will O Lord. By this qualifying of our Vnderstanding and Will we perceive the reason why Atheists and Epicures beleeve and regard so little Heaven and heavenly things Their Vnderstanding and Will are earthly they make Reason the Iudge of the Articles of their Faith and Concupiscence makes the choise of their happinesse But I hope none of us have I could wish none of us had so learned Christ though it is true that the life of very many of us savoureth little of a most holy Faith Most holy Faith There are three degrees of Faith Holy more holy most holy First That Faith that can remove Mountaines cast out Devils fore-tell Secrets c. is an holy Faith for it is inspired by the Holy-Ghost 1 Cor. 13.2 but it is onely in regard of the Graces of Edification notwithstanding which Christ will say to such Matth. 7.23 I know you not depart from me ye workers of iniquitie Secondly There is a second Faith more holy Heb. 6.4 5. by which men being inlightened and partakers of the heavenly gift are made partakers of the Holy-Ghost and have tasted of the good Word of God and of the powers of the World to come and yet fall away againe Their Graces indeed are in nature the same with the Graces of Adoption but they never entertained them absolutely but conditionally so farre as they might enjoy them with the profits and pleasures of this life being readie to forgoe them rather then to hazard Earth to gaine Heaven 2 Pet. 2.21 It had beene better for them never to have knowne the way of Righteousnesse then after they know it to turne from the holy Commandement given unto them and like a Dogge to returne to their owne Vomit or like a Swine to their wallowing in the Mire Thirdly finally the last degree of Faith is that which is the most holy Faith which is not onely a Grace of Adoption but also free from all condition we captivate thereby our wit simply to Gods Word and yeeld our will without exception to Gods pleasure This is a saving Faith and of this that of the Prophet is true Aâ—ak 2.4 The just shall live by his Faith His Faith So it must be saith Saint Iude Ed fie your selves in your most holy Faith I need not say much of this having alreadie proved unto you that Faith belongs as well to the Will as the Vnderstanding for nothing is more ours then that which hath gotten possession of our Will the Will being that which commands all that is within us and seasoneth whatsoever proceeds from us The generall Promises of God worke not that Peace which passeth all understanding which must keepe our hearts and minds in Christ Iesus Phil 4.7 but it is the appropriating of them to our selves when the faculties of our soule can say Christ died for our sinne Gal 3.13 1 Joh. 1 7. Christ was made a Curse for us The bloud of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all our sinnes Let the Church of Rome rest in her Catholike Faith and proceed no further our comfort and confidence is the same that was Saint Pauls Gal. 2.19 20. I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live to God I am crucified with Christ but I live yet not I but Christ that liveth in me and in that I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith in the Sonne of God who hath loved me and given himselfe for me And indeed if we should onely assent unto Gods Truth wherein should our Faith differ from the Faith of the Devils in Hell who doe also beleeve and assent unto the object ratione essentiae benevolentiae divine but without any application and so the more knowledge the more paine But we must observe that it is one thing to hold that â—here is such a speciall Faith another thing that every â—an which conceits it hath such a speciall Faith We doe â—ot patronize the erroneous conceits of men but mainâ—aine the Truth of God in whom we find that Maxime â—ncontrollable That because we are Sonnes Gal. 4.6 God hath sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Sonne that cryes Abba Father They that are Sonnes have the Spirit but we presume not to determine who are Sonnes Let every man examine himselfe as Saint Pauls directs 2 Cor. 13. and so let him judge whether his be a most holy Faith for by this we know saith Saint John that Christ abideth in us 1 Joh. 3.24 even by the holy Spirit which
the fabricke of Moses his Tabernacle and of Solomons Temple which did but figure corporally what is to bee understood spiritually even those vertues that are requisite for the building up of us and those vertues are expressed in my Text Faith Charity and Hope Saint Jude hath so distinguished and digested them We must begin at faith Domus Dei credendo fundatur saith Saint Austin The first stone that must be laid in this pile is faith Heb. 11.6 Saint Pauls rule is peremptory Oporter credere Hee that will make his first approach to God Rom. 8.7 must believe and without faith it is impossible to please God We are by nature refractary The wisdome of the flesh is enmity against God It is not subject to the law nay it cannot be subject untill saith come whose propertie it is to cast downe our imaginations 2 Cor. 10.5 and every proud thought that is exalted against the knowledge of God and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Hereupon is that saying grounded Ante fidem nulla praecedunt dona ex eâ omnia procedunt Faith is the first grace of adoption that we receive from God which makes us capable of all other graces peculiar to the children of God Our lesson is we can never begin so much as to affect Heaven much lesse resolutely forsake the world to gaine Heaven except our soules bee enlightned and established by true faith But it is not every faith will serve the turne it must be a most holy faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Etymologists Holy is as much as Not earthly and that is most holy which is least earthly To discerne by this rule a most holy faith wee must further observe that a divine faith comprehendeth two things The Word of God and our beliefe therein which you may easily perceive by the description of Saint Paul Heb. 11.1 Faith is the ground of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seene Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 note our beliefe and the strength thereof like as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the conditions of the Word of GOD which is the matter and measure of our beliefe Now our Faith is said to be most holy in respect of both these of Gods Word and of our beliefe First of Gods word and that whether we respect the matter which is the word or the author which is God 1. The matter is most holy nothing earthly for it comprehends such things as neither a 1 Cor. 2.9 eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor could enter by these senses into the heart of man b Ioh. 6.63 The flesh saith our Saviour profiteth nothing because the words that God speaketh are spirit and life They are celestiall and heavenly words they are c Mat. 13.11 the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven yea the d Matt. 13.31 Kingdome of heaven it selfe And to speake to the phrase of building e Exod. 25.40 See saith God to Moses that thou make all things according to the patterne shewed thee in the Mount There was no plot to bee found below for the Tabernacle no nor of the Temple the fashion whereof King David received from Heaven which by the way may make us doubt Quest whether that costly description thereof which out of Vitruvius and other Architects Mathematicall principles Villalpandus and Dradus have lately made be as true as it is learned as judicious as it is painefull But to the purpose The ignorance of this absolute holinesse of the matter of GODS word made the Iewes to conceive carnally of the worship of God and of the kingdome of Christ dreaming that the first had no more in it then the ceremonie and that the second consisted in worldly pompe and glory And the now Church of Rome hath slipt into both these errours Their superfluous and superstitious rites have at least in practise not only darkned but even abolished many in heavenly truth and insteed of an ecclesiasticall hierarchie provided for the quiet and decent ordering of the Church they have forged a terrestriall monarchie to the bane of both Church and Common-wealth Our lesson therefore must be that howsoever the things of God are expressed in phrases fitting the capacity of men yet wee give them no earthly tincture for so they will cease to be fit matter of the most holy faith of a Christian man 2. As the matter is most holy so is the Author too for hee is God and not man Betweene God and man there is this difference Rom. 34. that God is truth and every man a lyar Every man if but a meere man may deceive or be deceived but neither of these are incident to God neque actu neque potentiâ God doth not he cannot lye God is not he cannot be deceived Therefore the highest commendation of a good man is that hee speakes in veritate mentis without simulation or dissimulation without equivocation or mentall reservation the praise due to God is that he speakes in certitudine veritatis his word must stand Psal 12.7 it is tried to the uttermost it is as silver tried seven times in the fire There is no terrestreitie in him we may securely trust him Vpon this ground it is agreed betweene us and the Church of Rome First That that whereon our faith must finally resolve is Gods Word Secondly That what this word is we must receive from the Church Thirdly That the Church hath no power introductory but declaratory Fourthly That in this declaratory power the Church proceeds not by immediate revelation but by ratiocination if it expound verbum scriptum and for verbum non scriptum which they obtrude to be a successive tradition even from the Apostles it is a forgery of their owne braine Fifthly That in the ratiocination wee must proceed by two meanes Analogy and Antiquity Sixthly That Analogie is either of the faith comprehended in the ancient Catechisme ever taught in the Church and gathered out of evident places of Scripture and it comprehends the first and undeniable principles of faith or of the Text by the coherence of antecedentia and consequentia by the proprietie of the phrase and Seventhly That antiquity is the decision of counsels or commentaries of Fathers agreeing betweene themselves and delivering the doctrine of the Church in their times Eightly That in the using of these meanes the Church hath a promise that Gods spirit will direct it not simply but if it bee assembled in the feare of God without prejudice or partiality of faction Mat. 18.20 Where two or three be gathered together in my Name saith Christ I am in the midst of them so that they cannot erre damnably or misleade the people This we say and yet they say we build on private spirits We denie not private spirits discretion but these are the grounds of our definition And here we
in any of you an evill heart and unfaithfull to depart away from the living God Exhort one another dayly while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sinne For we are made partakers of Christ if we keepe sure unto the end the beginning wherewith we are upholden We have heard that we must profit and persevere but it is hard to goe on and he that is constant must endure many a conflict therefore Saint Iude adviseth us to seeke helpe and to be of good hope First To seeke helpe Praying in the Holy-Ghrst God saith Saint Austin doth not command impossible things but bids us facere quod possumus petere quod non possumus So that if we want Jam. 4.2.3 we have it not saith Saint Iames because we aske not or if we aske and have it not it is because we aske amisse Saint Jude therefore directs us to aske and not to aske amisse for we must pray in the Holy-Ghost Saint Chrysostome excellently comparing mans Spirituall Birth with his Naturall observes That in his Naturall Birth he comes into the World naked indeed but with Hands that are apt in time to make Clothes to cover him Armour to defend him Food to sustaine him and whatsoever else is requisite Even so saith he the abilitie of a man received in his Spirituall Birth is very small but he is endued with the Grace of Prayer and that is Organum Organorum By it a man obtaines from God whatsoever is desirable by a Child of God Psal 127.1 It is true that except the Lord build the house he laboureth but in vaine that builds and except the Lord keepe the Citty he waketh but in vaine that watcheth Mat. 7.7 but Petite et dabitur Aske and have seeke and find knocke and it shall be opened unto you It is the saying of Gregory the great Precibus insistenduÌ„ non tantùm ut justè vivamus sed dum iustè vivimus Our progresse and our perseverance must be the one furthered the other supported by prayer for as Solomon speaketh The way of a righteous man is like the light which shineth more and more untill the perfect day Prov. 4.18 but there must be a perpetuall influence into the aire from the Sun to cause continue the light thereof otherwise both would faile So except the grace of God be with us and abide in us we cannot proceed wee cannot persevere Now this grace is had by prayer Iames. 1.5 Jf any man want wisedome saith Saint Iames let him aske it of God Which Christ taught us as Saint Cyprian well observes Cyprian in Orat. Dom. when he willed us to pray Hallowed be thy Name thy kingdome come thy will be done His verbis saith hee quid aliud petimus nisi ut in eo quod esse coepimus pâ—rseveremus but few make that use of it the reason followeth because they pray not in the holy Ghost In the holy Ghost Intellige locutionem evitabis blasphemiam saith Saint Austin Mistake not that thou blaspheme not Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8.15 He that said the spirit cries Abba father saith in another place The Spirit is he by whom we crie Abba Father so that Clamans is as much as Clamare faciens This praying in the holy Ghost must be expounded by that Rom. 8.26 The Spirit helpeth our infirmities But observe further that to pray in the holy Ghost is to pray by his direction in his word and by his inspiration in our heart 1. By his direction for we must pray according to his will which is expressed in his word The sweete odours of incense were Gods owne prescript 1. Cor. 2.1 1. and nothing sacrificed but what God commaunded quis novit mentem Dei nisi spiritus Dei Therefore hath Christ himselfe given us a forme of prayer wherein all our requests are comprehended 2. By his inspiration Interpellator pro me tuus saith Saint Hillary inenarrabilia a me tibi loquitur it makes intercession for us saith Saint Paul Rom. 8.26 with sighes and grones that cannot be expressed Not our words but our sighes are audible in the sacred eares of God for Wordes are for men but thoughts are for God and how can we lift up pure hands if the holy Ghost doe not season them from our hearts The Spirit therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helpes our infirmities 2. Tim. 2.8 when he powreth into us the spirit of grace and prayer Our lesson is that we remember the old verse non vox sed votum non chordula Musica Sed Cor Non clamans sed amans pollet in aure Dei The true worshippers do worship God in spirit Ioh. 4.24 and in truth and if we draw neere God with our lips and are farre from him in our hearts our prayer will as little mov him as we are moved with it To conclude I wish that we may so pray that we may say with David Psal 66.18 Blessed bee God that hath not put backe my prayer nor hid his mercie from me And surely if God hath not removed our prayer he will not remove his mercie for we shall looke for the mercie of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternall life Looking for the mercie c. We have hitherto been kept to our worke but now are we come to our wages great wages for so little worke for doeing our duty eternall felicity The comparison is very uneven I am perswaded saith Saint Paul that the afflictions of this life Rom. 8.18 are not worthy of the glory that shall be reveiled And our light afflictions which are but for a moment 2. Cor. 4.17 worke for us a farre more excellent and eternall weight of glory But God knowes we have an envious eye when we see the prosperity of wicked men in this world Psal 37. 73. we thinke much of it Therefore hee bids us to looke off from the world and to looke to him to compare that temporall life which men live here with that eternall which wee expect herafter the longitude of the one with the brevitie of the other the latitude of the one with the beggerie of the other the depth of the one with the superficiallnesse of the other and then we shall see the difference betwixt them which may move us with Saint Paul to count all things losse and dung for Christs sake with Moses to preferre the afflictions of Gods people before the pleasures of Pharaohs Court Phil. 3.8 Heb. 11.25 Hebr. 11.8 Hebr. 12.2 with Abraham to forsake our owne Country in hope of a better and finally with Christ himselfe to endure any crosse in this world for the joy that is set before us So then our hope is of eternall life But that life is to be obtained of mercie looking for the mercie of our Lord. c. Eternall life if ye looke to the person of Christ obtaining it of God is the reward
To walke is to proceed not with feete but with affections for as the earth is the middle place so our birth is the middle way betweene hell and heaven and because our soule is an active substance it never maketh a stand we ever move on either in the broad way to hell or the narrow way to heaven Solomon teacheth it by a resemblance the way of righteous men is like the morning light which shineth more and more untill the perfect day but the way of the wicked is darkenes like the evening twilight that thickeneth more and more untill the midnight that is they goe on in darkenesse untill they come to utter darkenesse To walke on then in darkenesse is to proceed in wickednes But because Magistrates doe sustaine a double person one as they are men the other as they governe men wee must consider what is their especiall wickednesse not as they are men but as they governe men Governours as the Scripture speaketh must be light of the eyes breath of the nostrills and confidence of the hearts of the people A good Magistrate must be a refuge against the wind and as the shadow of a mighty rocke in a weary land that is the good of the land must be procured and the evill removed by them But had Magistrates are compared to nets and snares which serve to ensnare and take the people to bryars and thornes which serve to spoile and fleece the people to wolves and to lyons which murder and devoure the people In a word the three maine sinnes which the Scripture doth condemne in Magistrates bee First their wilinesse Secondly their covetousnes Thirdly their blood thirstines The summe then of the third defect is that bad Magistrates whose care should bee to provide for the common weales happinesse are commonly ring-leaders unto the greatest wickednes purposely gladly and obstinately given over unto sinfulnesse And this of the three defects the Magistrates ignorance negligence and want of conscience I come to the second point The second point opens the danger of the state in these wordes All the foundations of the land are shaken Corporations are commonly resembled to buildings because as buildings so corporations must have their parts united and the whose supported otherwise either of them would be easily dissolved and subverted The foundations of a land are those things which doe establish a land In a Christian Common weale the foundations are double one as it is a Church of God the other as it is a societie of men First as it is a Church of God the foundations are threefold First God Secondly Christ Thirdly the holy Spirit God for in him we live move and have our being Act. 17.28 Exo. 3.14 Rom. 11.36 God is called IEHOVAH because he is of himselfe and every other thing is of him by him and for him so if there be no God there can be no world It is then the foolish Atheist that saith there is no God Psal 14.1 Mal 4.1 2. 2. Pet. 3 9 10. that neither good nor evill proceed from God that if any of the wicked are preferred of God there is no reason why wee should looke for a Iudgement day of God The second foundation is Christ who of God is made unto us wisedome righteousnesse 1. Co. 1 30. sanctification and redemption And it is the voyce of the superstitious Papist that perverteth this wisedome of God by coupling traditions with the word of God this righteousnes by sorting their merits with the precious bloud of the Sonne of God this sanctification by presuming of their perfections greater then they can bee attained unto by the law of God this redemption by their purgatory Esay 28.16 1. Cor. 3.11 Eph. 2.5 18 1. Pet 2.4 5 a place wherein themselves doe shut and from which they doe loose men without warrant of the word or concurrency of the worke of Christ First the onely Redeemer granted to the Church of God and secondly the onely foundation of those living stones whereof consisteth the spirituall house of God we must be founded not on this but on the former faith The third foundation is the Spirit Col. 1.8 which they have of God which are called to bee sonnes of God by this Spirit they live by this Spirit they are led by this Spirit they bring forth fruits and are imployed in workes such fruites and such workes as God hath commanded and by which the Church may be benefitted Eph. 3.16 17. 1. Tim 6.18 19. Saint Paul tells the Ephesians Chap. 3. that they must be founded in love and wisheth Timothy that hee exhort men that they be ready to distribute and communicate laying up for themselves in store a good foundation against the time to come These three foundations of the Church have a mutuall collection for the second cannot be without the first nor the third without the second For God was in Christ redeeming us and from Christ wee receave that Spirit which sanctifieth us we must hold them joyntly as one because we rase all if we deny one The second foundation is of the common weale and that is also three-fold the person of the Prince the execution of justice and the care of the common good the persou of the Prince must be naturall God by his Prophet Jeremy Chap. 30. promising to returne the captivity of Iacobs tents Ieâ— 30.18 and to have compassion of his dwelling places addeth that the City shall bee founded upon her own heape that the place shall remaine as aforetime the people shall bee founded as before time for their noble ruler shall be of themselves Deu. 17.15 and their Governour proceed from amidst them In the Law God commanded the Israelites If they chuse a King they shall chuse one of their owne brethren The reason why the Israelites resolved jointly to take David for their king 2 Sam. 5.1 is because they were his bones and flesh there must be a naturall conjunction where wee looke for a naturall affection Grafts doe alter their stockes in nature for sweet fruite graft into a sowre stocke doth not yield fruit answerable to the sowre juice which is naturall to the stocke But it is not so in Policy the Prince which is the stocke will communicate the nature of his owne juice unto his people which are to him as grafts Our Chronicles to seeke no further record wofull experience hereof in the sundry alterations in this state by Picts and the Danes the Saxons and the French yea although by counterfeit pedegrees they doe pretend themselves to be naturall yet when occasion serves they will betray themselves to bee unnaturall Herod burnt all the genealogies thereby to recommend himselfe for a naturall Iew. But Flavius Josephus history is proofe enough that hee is but at unnaturall Iew. Physitians teach that herbes and plants though they bee wild yet if they bee naturall are more wholesome and Soverain then herbes and plants set by the Gardiner which are caused
stickes not to say Regis admirabilem gloriam effecit splendidiorem he was a King admirable for his vertues but more admirable for his repentance as it was a stranger sight to see a King of Ninive come downe from his Throne clothed in sackcloth and sit in ashes then King Solomon sitting upon his Throne and speaking parables unto the Queene of Saba Behold then whom God chose to be a Patriarch to whom he gave a name like one of the great ones like that of Abraham he entered into a Covenant with Abraham and he entred into a covenant with David he sware to Abraham and he sware to David and he sware unto David as unto Abraham concerning his issue The fruit of his body Children are called fruit of their Parents body to note that they are only fathers of their flesh they have another namely God which is father of their spirits Saint Paul teacheth it and the use of it Heb. 12. Heb. 12.9 And this checkes their opinion that will have soules propagated no lesse than bodies I will not trouble you with such an unnecessary dispute Rather this I note that whereas every mans first desire is immortality because hee cannot in this world attaine it hee offereth supply thereof by his posterity This phrase then promiseth solatium immortalitatis a kind of immortality Our mortall part the Sonne of Syrach doth excellently set forth Chr. 30.4 A man that hath issue though he die yet he is as though hee were not dead for hee hath left one behind him that is like him Jn his life he saw him and had joy in him and hee was not sorry in his death neither was hee ashamed before his enemies And why he left behind him an avenger against his enemies and one that should shew favour to his friends Good cause therefore why another Psalme of degrees tels us that Children are an inheritance of the Lord and the fruit of the wombe is his reward As are the arrowes in the hand of the strong man so are the children of the youth Blessed is the man that hath his quiver full of them Surely for a King to have his quiver empty is no small curse God himselfe hath spoken it Ier. 22.30 O earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord write this man and that man was Iechonias the King write him I say destitute of Children a man that shall not prosper in his dayes and what is that but that he shall be cursed he addes the reason for there shall be no man of his seed that shall sit upon the Throne of David or beare rule any more in Judah Esa 38.14 King Ezekiah when he was but threatned it confesseth thus he chattered like a swallow mourned like a Dove And what said Abraham O Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I goe childlesse and loe the servant of mine house shall bee mine heire Happie then was David and so every one of Davids ranke is happy that hath a fruitfull Vine and Olive branches round about his Table Of whom we may truly say Vno avulso non deficit alter Aureus et simili frondescit virga metallo But marke the King was busie to build Gods house and see how God answers him promising the building of â—â—e Kings house God requites a building with a builâ—ing There is a very apt allusion in the word upon which the sonne of Syrach also playes when he saith that â—hildren and the building of a City make a perpetuall â—â—me how much more if they be a royall off-spring that â—e destined to sit upon a Throne And God promiseth â—avid sons for this honourable end To sit upon his Throne It appeares among the buildings of Solomon and in the Chronicles of other Monarchs that the King had a seciall publike seat wherein he was placed when he possessed himselfe of his kingdome and afterwards sate as in his proper seate the Scripture cals it solium Regni as if a kingdome and the Throne were inseparable So that this phrase doth signifie insigne Regni an essentiall an incommunicable rite of a Kingdome This seate is incommunicable the Altar and the Throne saith one are â—â—th proper the Altar to God the Throne to the King The pride of usurping the Throne will as hardly be brooâ—ed by a Soveraigne on earth as the usurping of the Altar will be borne by the Lord of heaven Therefore Pharaoh though he did highly advance Ioseph added Only in the Kings Throne will I bee above thee As it is incommunicable to others so is it essentiall to a King In regard whereof Saint Peter calls Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supereminent supereminent in the Throne But wherein stands this supereminency surely in state and power In regard of the state it is called solium gloriae 1 Sam. 2.8 Pro. 20.8 and in regard of the power solum judicij These two must not be severed A King must in state ascend above all that hee may be the more respected when he doth command God himselfe that did often shew himselfe as a King did shew himselfe in that Majestie that hee alloweth unto Kings The places be knowne in Ezechiel Daniel Revelation I need not quote them But solium is therefore gloriae because judicij The state is to countenance the power it must not be only a Throne of glory but of judgment too Nazianzene hath an apt description of Kings they are persons saith hee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are not be without a paire of scales in their hands in imitation of God of whom the Psalmist saith Thou sittest iâ— the Throne that judgest righteously And such a Throne indeed was King Davids At Ierusalem are Thrones for Judgment even the Throne of the house of David In such a Throne should the sons of David sit they were to 〈◊〉 but God would set them there It is superfluous for me to remember you that Promotion commeth neither from the East nor from the West 〈◊〉 from the North nor from the South It is God that take downe one and setteth up another Which is evident by the Prophesies of alterations in the most eminent Monarchiâ— of the world As for the Anabaptists that admit no Soveraigne title in a Christian Common-weale upon a falâ— ground that it is a fruit of Adams fall which ceased us on the Redemption by Christ it is enough to touâ— their ignorance not distinguishing between Directâ—â—â— and Coercive power The later is made necessary by sin the former is as naturall as sociablenesse is to man Tâ—â— Romanists detest Anabaptisme but they cherish a mâ—sterie of iniquity that may not be indured by this peculiar of God I will set them For in their Pontificale Remanum they insert such clauses as have within late yeere given occasion of Rebellion in this land Rebellion justified at the Barre upon this ground that the King is 〈◊〉 King till he be anointed In that booke as it is reformâ— by the
he hath given to us You see the Grace is most heavenly and our proprietie therein most comfortable but we have it not all at once we rise by many degrees therefore we are willed not onely to build but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to build upon The phrase doth containe a double sense either that we must rest our selves upon our Faith or that we must goe on in Faith The first implyes a comparison betwixt Faith and other Vertues whereon we cannot so securely build as we may on Faith for Faith correlatively understood as in this argument it is doth comprehend Christ in which sense we say we are saved by Faith that is by Christ layd hold on by Faith and so to build on Faith is to build on Christ and Christ is the Rock whereon is built the Church 1 Pet. 2.4 Matth. 16.18 as the Fathers out of Saint Peter expound that of Saint Matthew Yea Saint Paul calleth him the Foundation and the Chiefe Corner Stone Eph. 2.20 So that though Grace inherent faile us yet Christ imputed will ever support us so that the Gates of Hell shall not prevaile against us And unto this the Church of Rome doth yeeld For Bellarmine teaching that we have a double Title to Heaven one by Adoption in Baptisme the other by Merit by fulfilling the Law of God resolves finally Bellar. de Iustif l. 5. c. 7. That to avoid Vaine-glory and for the uncertaintie of our Merit it is the safest course to rest our selves upon the first Title which is nothing else but to build on Faith But the words also beare a second sense and that most proper in this place which is that we must goe on in Faith for no mans Faith is perfect at the first there is duplex perfectio essentiae molis vir enim non est magis homo quam puer licet sit maior In Baptisme when we receive the Grace of Adoption our Faith hath perfectionem essentiae but not molis we are truly fideles faithfull members though but modicae fidei of weake Faith and therefore Saint Peter wills us 1 Pâ—t 2.2 as new-borne Babes to desire the sincere Milke of the Word that we may grow up thereby Our Lesson then is that we must be like Saint Paul a Phil. 3.13 Brethren I count not my selfe that I have attained but one thing I doe I forget that which is behind and endeavour my selfe unto that which is before Our Faith must dayly b 2 Thess 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till it become such as Saint Peter describes c 1 Pet. 1.7 much more precious then Gold tryed in the fire like a d Eph. 6.16 shielâ— of proofe that can quench all the fierie darts of the Devill till we are so e Iam. 2.5 rich in Faith as Saint James speaketh that we thereby can f 1 Ioh. 5.4 overcome the World and become g 2 Tim. 2.21 vessels of honour fit for the Palace of God I say that our selves may be such Vessels for Saint Iude bids us to build up our selves Mater Ecclesia c. saith Saint Austine Our Mother the Church in Baptisme doth lend us when we are infants other mens feet to come other mens mouthes to speake yea and other mens hearts to beleeve but when we are come to age we must use our owne and that not for others onely but for out selves It is true that no man can procreate himselfe or quicken himselfe being dead but being procreated and quickened he can feed and encrease himselfe As it is in Nature so in Grace no man can give himselfe a spiritual being or repaire it if it be lost but having received it he is to cherish it and to proceed therein Yea although God have appointed Pastors 1 Cor. 3.9 10. whose Title is to be Architech and Builders of his Church yet is every Christian man to be a Labourer in this Building A Labourer I say but noâ— an Architect he must take his directions from them how to worke himselfe fit to sort with the other parts of the Church I say againe to work himselfe not others for that is the charge of the Pastor and Magistrate the Pastor by spirituall means the Magistrate by corporall both prescribing to all others that are but labourers in their severall places every one to attend his owne worke in the Church Or if they will cast their eye on others it must be like the Wiseman in the Proverbs Pro. 24.30.31 32. I passed by the field of the sloathfull and by the Vineyard of the man destitute of understanding and loe it was all growne over with thornes and nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof was broken downe Then I beheld and considered it well I looked upon it and received instruction Cant. 1.6 The Spouse in the Canticles complaines The sonnes of my Mother were angry with me they made me keeper of the vines but I kept not mine owne Vine The world is very busie and this age findes many faults and indeed there are very many to be found but few there are that see their own Wee can say Brother let mee plucke out the mote that is in thine eye when we deserve to heare Thou hypocrite plucke out first the beame that is in thine own eye Mat. 7 4 5. Rom. 2.1 Luk. 19.22 for thou that judgest another condemnest thy selfe and Ex ore tuo judicabo te serve nequam c. With God there is no respect of persons nor no exception of sinnes Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things Keepe your selves in the love of God From profiting come we to persevering for according to that of Cyprian fides non accepta sed custodita vivificat And indeed he hath profited well that will persevere For perseverance imports that we have cast our accounts and set up our rest it argues that we are resolved de fine though we have not passed so sarre as we should in medijs ducentibus ad finem And indeed the greatest cause of inconstancy is an irresolutenesse about the end which makes men passe as Salomon did Eccl. 2. he reports it himselfe in the booke of the Preacher from knowledge to pleasure from pleasure to wealth c. till at the last he found it true that the end of all is Eccl. 12.13 feare God and keepe his Commandements for this is the whole duty of man Such a resolution of the end doth hearten us to persevere in persecution of the meanes till we have attained the end And therfore when Christ asked his Dâ—sciples upon occasion that many revolted from him Will ye also goe away Saint Peter answered Master Job 6.68 69. to whâ—m shall wee goe thou hast the words of eternall life And we beleeve and know that thou art Christ the Son of the living God In the love of God Note that where the three persons are