Gal. 5.16 the flesh and the lusts therof disobedient to Gods Law and resisting his spirit Saint Paul cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.1 Sinne that cleaues so fast so fast that it cannot be loosed from vs a conceptione ad funus saith Saint Bernard though we bee working on it and weeding out of it from the beginning to the end of our life Epiphanius hath an excellent resemblance of a Fig-tree getting into a Wall Heres 64. and spreading his rootes therein which well may it bee pruned yet can it not be vtterly kild except the stones bee taken asunder and the Wall new built againe Euen so is this natiue corruption rooted in vs that vntill our dissolution we shall not be rid of it The same God that left the Canaanites in the Holy-land to exercise the Israelites leaueth also Originall sinne in vs thereby to trie how we will serue and obey him vntill death we shall haue some thing which we must alwayes watch resist keepe downe mortifie if we doe not God will humble vs therewith and wee shall receiue many a foyle thereby Dauid had triall hereof and so haue others had also euen all the sonnes of men more or lesse I except not Ieremie nor Iohn the Baptist though the Aduocates of Rome confounding the gifts of Edification with the gifts of Adoption would priuiledge them from the common condition of the sonnes of Adam But let vs not forget no more then King Dauid doth this fountaine of temptation which in those that are of age will neuer bee idle it will find vs worke either of triumph if we get the vpper hand of it or of complaint with Saint Paul Rom. 7. if it proue too hard for vs. Verse ◠You haue heard King Dauids acknowledgement I come now in a word to speake of his Plea His Plea is for Pitie but he maketh the motiue thereunto to be the displaying of his Miserie and this he doth in the first word Behold wherein he doth not so much informe God as humble himselfe God cannot be ignorant of that which man knowes but he is pleased that man should in his deuotion expresse vnto him how feeling he is and how desirous to bee vnburdened of that which brought him to offend God But we must obserue that there is a double Ecce or Behold a Carnall or a Penitentiall whereof the one extenuates the other aggrauateth the sinne The Carnall mans Ecce Behold commeth out thus I haue done ill what then Vitijs nemo sine nascitur what needeth so sharpe a reproofe All men are ill by nature if all what blame deserue I Wee would detest a debter who by his vnthriftinesse hath brought ineuitable beggerie vpon himselfe or a diseased person that by ryot hath ouerthrowne his body if either of them should bee so senselesse of his woefull case as not to blame himselfe and deplore his state with a longing desire and earnest endeauour to be rid therof And may we then brooke such Apologies of prophane men that haue runne so farre in debt vnto God and haue made themselues such spirituall Lazars through sinne Farre be it from vs to thinke that Dauid did so excuse himselfe to God No but as a discreet Patient who throughly had searched into his own disease and desired to bee wholy cured he openeth his sore to the bottome and concealeth nothing from his Physician He that desires to be freed from his Actuall but to continue his Originall sinne desireth onely to put off one punishment that he might deserue another But a true Penitent desireth so to be forgiuen that he may bee preserued from offending againe We commend Prisoners for their wisdome who knowing they are guiltie more wayes then one desire that all the Indictments may bee brought in against them before the Verdict passe vpon them that so they may be throughly discharged And hee that Arraigneth himselfe before the barre of God should not leaue any thing vnrepented of whereof he knoweth himselfe guiltie nor conceale any part of his miserie that needeth the helpe of Gods mercie the rather because wee need not doubt least the multitude of our miseries should tire or ouerburthen Gods mercie happily it may bee so with men he that will forgiue seauen will hardly be brought to forgiue Seuentie times seauen faults but with God it is farre otherwise in whom the sight of miserie especially if it bee presented with Penitencie the greater it is the more compassion it moues What a miserable case was Adam in Euen in that woefull case which I haue described vnto you in this Text yet no sooner came he into Gods sight but God was so moued that he was pardoned before he was doomed and the iust doome was made very tolerable by the mercifull pardon After God had drowned the old World what moued him to be more tender towards the new Gene. 8.21 but the pitie that hee tooke vpon this natiue corruption The euill frame of the Heart of man Excellent is the place of Ezekiel where the Church is represented weltring in her Bloud when no eye did pitie her God said that then was the time of his loue hee said vnto her liue Verse 13. yea he said vnto her when shee was in her bloud liue Ezek. 16. King Dauid Psal 103. Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that feare him Verse 14. but marke what a reason he giueth Hee knoweth our frame he remembreth that we bee but dust Doth God pitie the miserie of man when there appeareth no Penitencie in him and will hee reiect him when it doth appeare No penitencie maketh miserie to pierce more deepely the tender bowels and compassions of God Wherefore let our Behold be exprest by the sorrow which we conceiue for our sinfull corruption and wee shall find that nothing can more effectually moue commiseration But I must end We are at length come to the depth of King Dauids ingenuitie and certainely in repentance a man can goe no farther The first confusion whereunto a penitent sinner may put himselfe is to bring his sinne before the eye of his owne conscience Dauid did so vers 3. The second is to haue it published before men as in the solemne Satisfactions made to the Church Dauid did so as appeares in the Title of the Psalme The last is to present it before God to draw Gods eyes to behold as well our Originall as our Actuall sinne In the first selfe-loue will diminish much of the shame and our communion in the same corruption doth much impaire the second but there is nothing can lessen the third so pure so vnpartiall are the sacred eyes of God so that Dauid could not be more humble more could not bee expected vnto a full Repentance Saint Ambrose vpon this Consideration hereof breaketh out into these words quis tanto affectu agit paenitentiam where shall a man finde his parallell suscepit personam generis humani sayth Saint Austin
Penitent did both couples are alike neere kin and so in true iudgement your case is as his was neither skilleth it that you tooke her not to wife but abused her body onely for if you abuse her body whom you may not take to wife your fact is nothing the lesse Incest your marying would haue argued a resolution to continue the Incest You haue committed complicatissimum peccatum a very manifold sinne there is in it Fornication you knew her body without mariage Adulterie you knew her your wife being liuing Incest you knew such a person as you could not match with by any dispensation from man neither from GOD was there euer any granted Wonder not then that the Apostle doth not onely expresse but amplifie also this sinne The first amplification is in regard of the haynousnesse of it it was not so much as named amongst the Gentiles Mistake not the words it is not meant that the Gentiles neuer were infected with this sinne in the entrance and close of the 18 of Leuit. it appeareth that the Aegyptians from whom Israel then came and the Canaanites whose Countrey they were to possesse were foully stayned therewith and thereupon did GOD take an occasion to lay the prohibition thereof vpon the Israelits Leu. 20.23 that they might not follow the corruption of those Gentiles But Saint PAVL meaneth that euen such as were but onely Gentiles haue out of the light of reason detested and forbidden it which appeareth in their Morals Lawes and Histories the iniquitie thereof being euident not onely out of the Law of MOSES but of nature also otherwise the Canaanites could not in equitie haue beene punished for being guiltie of it And no maruell if the Heathen detested it when the verie beasts doe abhorre it Lib. 9. cap. 47 ARISTOTLE in his Historie of liuing Creatures hath written of a Camell and a Horse which were brought to their dammes but no sooner did they discerne them by falling off of the cloathes which had beene cast vpon them to conceale them but that the Camell was presently so enraged that he kild his keeper and the Horse left not running vntill he had broken his necke The phrase of the Apostle is remarkable that which was not so much as named amongst the Gentiles was done by a Christian whereas the rule of pietie is that those sinnes should not be so much as named amongst Christians which are done by the Gentiles Christians should not walke as other Gentiles doe because they know GOD and are brought so neere to GOD as to be heires by hope of the Kingdome of GOD finally they haue as many tyes layd vpon the lusts of their flesh as they haue prerogatiues vouchsafed to their bodyes whereas the Gentiles they know not GOD theyare aliens from his couenant yea they worship the Diuel which is an impure Spirit and therefore no such wonder if they be giuen ouer to filthy lusts but Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se Crimen habet quante maior qui peccat habetur It is verily a pittifull case when sinne groweth to that heighth in the children of GOD Ezech. 16. as that Iuda iustifieth Israel and both iustifie Sodome when Christians become worse then Heathens in their liues and conuersations You that are the Penitent take this to heart and measure the burden of your conscience thereby The second amplification of the sinne is from the notoriousnesse thereof it is commonly reported the sin is so publike that it cannot be coloured that it needeth no proofe all the world taketh notice of it This is a faire ground of a censure secret sinnes the Church doth not iudge it leaueth them to GOD to mens consciences but notorious sinnes must not escape vnpunished they are ripe for Iudgement when their infamie draweth them to light Cap. 20. Sinnes in generall are called Workes of darknesse but especially the sinnes of Incontinencie IOâ— obserued it and the more foule the Incontinencie the more closely vseth it to be carryed and the more it feareth to be discouered So that for a worke of darknesse to be notorious argueth the impudencie of the sinner Esay 3. it was that for which GOD challenged Israel They declare their sinne like Sodom they hide it not shame and feare are both cast off when sinne hath an Harlots forehead Because you the Penitent haue committed a grieuous sinne and the cry thereof is come into the eares not of GOD onely but also of his Church it was meet you should be made a penitentiall spectacle meet that your sinne should be not onely exprest but amplyfied also and that in regard of the haynousnesse and notoriousnesse thereof otherwise we should deserue the blame which St PAVL layeth vpon the Corinthians that did neglect to censure the Incestuous person in their Church Of their neglect in censuring such an offendor let vs see first the cause and then their fault the cause was first too much selfe-conceipt they were puft vp Instatio is presumptae either innocertiae or scientiae men are puffed vp with a presumption either of their owne holinesse as the Pharisee I thanke God I am not like vnto other men c. or of their guifts of edification as here the Corinthians which you perceiue by former Chapters The first kind of presumption maketh men too forward vnto separation ouerweening of holinesse will bid men stand farther off I am more holy then thou but ouerweening of other guifts is ambitious of followers it will beare with all faults so it may be admired Certainly this puffing vp breeds much confusion in the Church our owne times testifie But because that point is not to this Penitents case I passe it ouer onely giuing this note by the way that none are more proud then they which know themselues least they boast when they haue cause to blush yea and GOD doth often permit grieuous fals in them or amongst them to take downe such vaine mens pride This first cause which I called selfe-conceipt bred another cause which I called too little fellow feeling they sorrowed not Seldome shall you haue a proud man compassionate he is so taken vp with the contemplation of his owne worth that he doth not heed other mens cases no wonder therefore if he mourne not But it beseemes Christian pietie to bewayle other mens fals First because of our reference to them they are members of the same body with vs and how should one member not feele the wound which is giuen to another The mysticall body of Christ ought not to be worse disposed then is the naturall body of man Secondly because of our danger from them for at least their guilt toucheth vs a murderous hand maketh the whole man goe for a murderer and one wicked member of the Church maketh all the Church goe for guiltie vntill it haue cleared it selfe as we learne by the expiation of the vnknown murder Thirdly there is a scandall that their sinne bringeth vpon all
vntill the tenth Generation but against Incest he is more seuere Deut. 271 for he would not onely haue a generall curse pronounced against it whereunto he commanded all the people to say Amen but touching the Moabites and Ammonites the first spawne of Incest that we find in the Scripture though they were the posteritie of LOT whom GOD loued for AERAHAM's sake Deut 23. yet doth he command that they shall not enter into the Congregation of Israel for euer Israel is forbidden to seeke their peace at any time RVBEN is a second example marke what his owne Father IACOB said of him when he blest the Patriarkes Ruben thou art my first borne my might Gen. 49. the beginning of my strength the excellencie of digniâ—â—â— and the excellencie of power these were the preeminences of his birth-right but he forfeited them all for Incest as appeares in the verie next words of his Father Vnstable as water thou shalt not excell because thou wentest vp to thy Fathers bed then defiledst thou it He went vp into my couch A third example is ABSALON he abused his Fathers Concubines therefore he came to an infamous end he was hanged by the haire of his owne head he dyed childlesse and so his name did rot Leu. 8. The Land of Canaan spued out the old Inhabitants for Incest and GOD threatneth the destruction of Israel for that a man and his sonne would goe in to one maid Amos 2. By GODS Law no lesse then death was the punishment of Incest Leu. 10. The Lawes of the Land are more mercifull vnto you the Penitent that suffer you to breathe and leaue you to the censure of the CHVRCH But if you mind what you haue heard touching that censure and drinke in St AVSTINS conceipt therof you shall find cause enough to feare and freedome from death may seeme vnto you worse then death But yet your case is not desperate for there yet remaines one point in the Text which may yeeld a mitigation to your feares and a consolation to your Soule The censure is not mortall but medicinall as appeares in the end whereunto the censure serues Now a medicine you know doth first paine then it doth ease yea it doth therfore paine that it may ease so doth this ghostly censure it serues for the destruction of the flesh there is the paine but there followeth ease vpon it the spirit shaâ— be saued First of the paine As the flesh signifieth sometimes the substance sometimes the corruption of the outward man so may the destruction signifie either the mortalitie or the mortification thereof mortalitie if the censure proceed from the power which is proper to an Apostle but if it signifie the power which is common to Bishops with the Apostles it noteth mortification it signifieth the crucifying of the flesh with the lusts thereof the putting off the old man and the dying vnto sinne And indeed this we intend by our Ecclesiasticall censures We intend that you should root out the sinne for which you doe penance and so destroy your flesh This is painfull to flesh and blood but vt valeas multa dolenda feres you must brooke the paine that you may enioy the ease that followeth thereupon the spirit shall be saued The spirit noteth the soule or the grace thereof the sauing of the soule is the preseruing of grace therein if the soule loose grace it looseth it selfe in regard of all well-being and it were much better for it not to be at all then to be without grace so that the saluation of our spirit is no small part of our happinesse Which must the rather be esteemed because if our spirit fare well it will make euen the flesh that is destroyed in regard of the corruption to be farre better in regard of the substance for it shall be purged from dead works to serue the liuing GOD. But when shall we reape this easâ— out of paine In the day of our Lord Iesus Christ Though a peniten euen in this life shall find some case in his Conscience yet the full benefit of Ecclesiasticall censure is reserued to the day of the Lord because all this life we must be mortifying our flesh especially enormous sinners must be so imployed the greatest of their ease in this world must haue a mixture of paine but in the day of the Lord they shall haue ease without all delay But what day of the Lord is meant here Euerie mans particular day of death or the generall doomes day An account must be made at both and if we vse the Ecclesiasticall censure well we shall find that this Iudgment preuents that this temporall the eternall For as CHRIST at his first comming came not to destroy but to saue so his Ministers that dispense the Gospel vse their power not to destruction but to edification But I thinke the day of the Lord signifieth properly the last day CHRIST will publikely manifest before the CHVRCH tryumphant the effect of the Keyes which he hath committed to his Ministers to be exercised publikely in the CHVRCH militant he will then reueale how all stand bound in Heauen which were neuer loosed on Earth and all whom the CHVRCH hath loosed in Earth shall then appeare to be loosed in Heauen I end The successe which St PAVL had when he inflicted this sentence was that the Corinthians became verie sensible of their fault and the Incestuous person of his St PAVL himselfe doth witnesse this 2 Cor. 7. where he amplyfieth both their godly sorrowes and his congratulating indulgence towards them both Oh that like successe might blesse my paines that I may giue as good a testimonie to this Congregation for their hatred of sinne as St PAVL gaue to the Corinthians and to this Penitent the like mittigation of his Censure as St PAVL to that Incestuous person So may this penitentiall sheet of his be turned into a white robe of righteousnesse his teares into ioy and all we that are humbled for him in the Church militant be with him exalted in the Church tryumphant Amen A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHVRCH OF WELS AT WHAT TIME TWO DID PENANCE FOR INCEST A MAN AND HIS WIVES DAVGHTER LEVIT 20. VERSE 14. Likewise if a man taketh a wife and her mother this is wickednesse they shall burne him and them with fire and there shall be no wickednesse amongst you NO sooner doe you heare this Text but I am ure you vnderstand this spectacle you vnderstand what sinners these persons are what doome this Law doth passe vpon them And indeed their sinne and Gods doome are the maine parts of my Text. But more distinctly In the sinne we must note first the fact then the haynousnesse thereof The fact is vnnaturall adulterie Adulterie because one man taketh more women then one that is plaine adulterie And this adulterie is vnnaturall because there is the neerest reference betweene the women the one a Mother the other her Daughter to take two
is the chiefest and to be vsed Contra Luxuriam which is not the least of those seuen Deaths Heads When we looke vpon the Deluge of Sinne wee find that all the fountaines of the deepe the bottomlesse Pit are broken open and the streames thereof drowne many Soules in perdition yet amongst them there is none more vniuersall none more preualent then is this Sinne of Luxurie Desire you a proofe You shall haue a short but yet a pregnant one Men are turned into Women and Women into Men. Anatomize that Carrion well may you find more certainely you can find nothing worse therein There is nothing worse then this preposterous Vnreasonablenesse and vnreasonable Preposterousnesse Well what then is the Remedie Surely I know none better then that old one practised by the Church and therefore haue I chosen to recommend vnto the World this Penitentiall and shall be glad if any that is bewitch with that pleasing poyson may bee cured hereby This Psalme was occasioned by a wanton Man and Woman and therefore the better fitting to our Wantons of both Sexes and I doubt not but the most monstrous Changeling if hee meditate sadly hereon may bee brought to change againe but for and to the better I meane hee may resolue to turne from his Sinne and turne vnto God To worke this shal be my endeauour and to this end will I bend the Exposition of this Psalme Let vs come then to it There are two meanes of Instruction Rules and Examples a Rule is more apt to make a man wise but to make a man good there is much more power in an Example an Example is not onely a quicker but also a more quickning course Of Examples some are onely reported some are represented also the force of a Report is very great yet comes it far short of that which proceedes from a Representation for wee are much more affected with that which wee see then that which we heare this was the ground of instituting Tragedies and Commedies or to speake more to our purpose of those seuere Penitentiall Formes practised in the Primitiue Church Now the Doctrine of Repentance is in this Penitentiall deliuered not in a Rule but in an Example in an Example not reported but represented Ambrose therefore a Latine Father cals it Monumentum A liuing Portraiture of a Penitent Chrysosome a Greeke Father cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A speaking Image it doth so eye vs that it cannot but affect vs affect vs not Sensually as dead Pictures doe but Morally as a reflecting Example that transformes into it selfe all those that doe discreetly behold it Certainly if any this kind of Instruction will worke vs and worke Repentance into vs. Touching then this Vertue of Repentance wee may learne heare Whence it springs and What it is The Fountaine of it is opened in the Title but the Nature of it is vnfolded in the whole Body of the Psalme The Title doth set before vs a Person and his State the Person is Dauid for this is a Psalme of Dauid But the words must bee resolued into more then appeare for Dauidis is as much as a Dauide and de Dauide Dauid was the Author and Dauid is the Argument of it with his owne Pensil doth he draw this Picture of himselfe He represents Himselfe two wayes Cadentem Resurgentem in the State of a Sinner and the state of a Penitent In the state of a Sinner he confesseth that he went went into Bath sheba in the state of a Penitent in the other words Where you haue the Meanes by which he was brought to Repentance and the Successe of those Meanes The Meanes are Nathan the Prophet Nathan King Dauids subiect but as a Prophet he was the Embassador of God the King of Heauen had his Leidger with that King on Earth Neither doth the holy Ghost only mention the Meanes but giues vs also to vnderstand the needefulnesse and the powerfulnesse thereof the needefulnesse in the word Venit Nathan came to Dauid Dauid neuer sought to Nathan we are as carelesse to returne as wee are gracelesse to goe from God it is needefull therefore that God seeke vs that wee may seeke to him otherwise we will not nay we cannot The Meanes is no lesse powerfull then needfull that is intimated by After that that is after he had committed his Sinne. Sinne doth not only wound to death but disenable also to rise there from for the holy Spirit of Discipline will flie deceipt Wisd 1.5 will not abide when vnrighteousnesse commeth That which we cannot doe lying in the dregs of sinne God doth supplie by the Ministrie of his Word the Ministerie of his Word is the Meanes to worke Repentance Reade this truth in the Successe of those Meanes The Successe was King Dauids speedie and sollemne Conuersion speedie no sooner did Nathan reproue him but he gaue glorie vnto God he acknowledged his sinne and penned this Psalme Neither was his Conuersion only speedie but solemne also hee deliuered this Psalme to the chiefe Musician he would haue it published in the Church the Church to be a witnesse vnto his Conuersion I haue broken vp the Title and poynted out the Particulars to the fuller vnfolding whereof let vs now so listen that we may by Gods grace be led onward some steps in our owne Repentance The first thing that offers it selfe is the Person One Person is both Authour and Argument of this Psalme and when we consider the Argument we may wounder at the Author wounder that there should bee found a man so humble as to record his owne so notable defects But yet such Ingenuitie though neuer so distastfull to flesh and blood hath beene found in manie worthie Children of God especially in those that haue beene chosen to be Penmen of the Scripture they report as sincerely their owne faults as their vertues no lesse Gods Reproofe of them then his Fauours towards them such Ingenuity wee finde here in King Dauid But it was not only in King Dauid Moses went herein before him so did Samuel also Saint Mathew followeth them so did Saint Paule none of these spared themselues neither were they ashamed to record the errors of their life to record them I say which is much more then only to acknowledge them though the acknowledgement be publike They obserue not amisse who herehence gather That the Scriptures are diuine because the Penmen thereof are so vnpartiall such dealing is vnlikelie to come from flesh and blood whereupon it followeth well that they wrote as they were moued by the Holy Ghost 1. Pet. 1.22 Our lesson is the Humilitie of a Publican sauoureth much more of Gods Spirit then the Pride of a Pharisee and if wee desire either to resemble these worthies in our Persons or that our words should bee conformable to the Holy Canon wee must indite no lesse Penetentials then Panegyricks and make Remembrances of our Sinnes aswell as of our Vertues Certainelie
the partie offended must not bee omitted certainely King Dauid in his Exemplarie Confession doth not omit him hee doth not forget to expresse whom hee had wronged Against thee onely haue I sinned and which is more whom he had contemned I haue done this euill in thy sight But more distinctly In the Confession that concerneth the partie wronged you shall find something that is common to all sinners Tibi peccaui I haue sinned against thee must euery one say for whosoeuer sinneth sinneth Against God but here is some thing also proper Tibi solj peccauj Against thee onely haue I sinned can none say but a King because there is none aboue him but onely God and therefore none but God can challenge him As this must bee obserued in the Confession of the partie wronged So in the Confession of the same partie contemned we must obserue first what contempt is in generall it is Malum facere coram oculis not onely to wrong a partie but to wrong him to his face Secondly how this contempt in speciall is aggrauated two wayes 1. by the eye of the partie offended Oculis tuis for Gods is no ordinarie eye 2. by the sinne wherewith that eye was prouoked Malum hoc the sinne committed was no ordinarie sinne These are the particulars which I meane to handle on this Text wherfore I resume them that I may runne them ouer briefly and in their order First then the whole Text is an amplification of sinne in regard of the partie offended and the partie offended maketh it plaine that there is Impietie in the sinne Persons with whom we conuerse are some our equalls some our superiours if equalls and we offend them the offence is properly called Iniquitie as taxing the vnequall dealing of equall persons But if the persons be superiours and be offended then the offence is properly called Impietie because all superiours are instar parentum either they are or they are vnto vs instead of our Parents Now the vertue which must moderate our carriage towards our Parents is called Pietie and therefore is our misbehauiour towards them no lesse then Impiety And if they deserue this Censure that offend the Fathers of their flesh how much more is it due to them that offend the Father of their Spirits Hâ—b 1â— Seeing the fathers of our flesh challenge our Pietie in regard that they represent vnto vs the Father of our Spirits therefore it belongeth much more vnto him whom they represent whereupon it followeth that to offend him can be no lesse then Impietie and Impietie will proue a naturall propertie of sinne But let vs come to the Branches of the Confession The first is that which toucheth the Person as he is wronged and here I told you wee finde some thing that is common to all sinners Tibi peccaui all sinners must say that when they sinne against whomsoeuer they doe sinne they sinne against God I will make it plaine by foure euident Reasons The first is taken from that which we abuse in sinne All Creatures as they are made by God so doe they still belong vnto him so that wee cannot abuse them but in them we abuse him Euery man may perceiue this in his one familie he that wrongeth a wife in the wife wrongeth the husband the abuse offered to a child redoundeth to his Father yea a Master an owner is feeling of whatsoeuer hurt is done either to the Seruant or else to his goods And shall we thinke then that any creature can be violated the Creator not touched therewith all Adulterers Murderers whatsoeuer Malefactors must remember they abuse the Creator while they vse his Creature amisse A second Reason is this that wee cannot abuse nor wong others but withall we abuse our selues much more that which we do to them is but Iniurie but that which we doe to our selues is Deprauation wee corrupt our selues with sinne when wee doe vnto them onely a wrong Now the reference which our selues haue vnto God maketh the deprauing of our selues an offence against him we are not our owne 1. Cor. 6. Psal 100. 1. Cor. 6. 1. Pet. 1. 1. Cor. 6. Psal 132.14 God hath made vs and not we our selues yea we are bought with a price euen the precious bloud of our Sauiour Christ yea the Holy Ghost by Christ hath made vs a Temple vnto himselfe and we are vouchsafed to bee his resting place for euer Looke how many references we haue vnto God so many waies doe wee offend him when wee imploy our selues in sinne By Creation we should beare the image of God and what an abuse is it of his Image by sinne to transforme it into the Image of the Diuel By Redemption we become the members of Christ and how doe we vilifie him when we make them members of an Harlot we are vouchsafed to be temples of the Holy Ghost was Christ so offended with the abuse of the materiall Temple when the House of Prayer was made a Denn of Theenes Mat. 21.13 and thinke you that the abuse of the Spirituall doth nothing concerne him Certainely his Spirit must needs be grieued therewith A third Reason is this The naturall duties that we owe man to man and Creature vnto Creature are imposed vpon vs by a Law and that Law is Gods we swarue not from our duties but we breake his law And if we breake his Law how can we but offend him especially seeing his Law is the Image of himselfe of his Being and of his Doing in it wee haue a tast of his Holy Nature and of that which is remarkable in his owne workes Now what Lawmaker will endure that his Law shall be broken especially whereas he imposeth no other Law on his Subiects then on himselfe and that Law requireth nothing but an outward Resplendencie of an inward Glory that we should let our light shine before men Mot. 5 that they may see our good workes and glorifie our Father which is in Heauen the breaking of such a Law must needs offend the Sacred Lawmaker A fourth Reason is the Blasphemie of the wicked occasioned by sin They that know not the true God measure him by that which they see in his Seruants thinke that as they are so is he impotent in Affections impure in Conuersation hereupon do they open their mouthes against Heauen Nathan toucheth this in his reproofe of Dauid the Iewes are often by the Prophets taxed for giuing this occasion of Blasphemie and the Christians had wofull proofe of it in the Primitiue Church witnes the strange imputatioÌ„s that the Heathen did cast vpon the Christian Religion whereof a man may finde more then enough in the Heathenish writings of those times Neither do we want proofe in these daies the barbarous crueltie of the first Inuaders of the Indies how did it cause those Infidels to blaspheme the name of Christ what infamie is dayly cast vpon the Reformed Religion by the aduerse party whose chiefe
repaire to him and none but he must be our Physitian He cureth but how Per auditum by the Eare. Wee haue two Rationall Senses and contentions haue beene made about their precedencie the bookes that are giuen vs to studie will easily resolue the doubt they are Gods workes and his words if the sight of his workes might haue recouered vs we should not haue needed the Preaching of his word but the infirmitie of the former is argued by the supply of the later and whatsoeuer Philosophie thinkes Diuinitie must hold that wee are beholding much more to our Eare then to our Eye for Sauing wisedome when I name the Eare I meane the bodily the Enthusiasts haue an Eare but it is onely for Gods spirit but we must haue an Eare for Gods ministers for ordinarily God dispenseth not the Comforter but by their ministerie Fead Iob. 33. And this is the highest commendation of sacred Orders and that which must worke the greatest reuerence of the people towards them for that God conueieth heauenly treasure by these earthen vessels 2. Cor. 4.7 and into their hands hath put the power of the Keyes yea to their tongues hath he in a maner tyed the efficacie of his word they bind and loose mens soules they open and shut vnto them the King dome of Heauen They doe it did I say rather God doth it by them so are we taught by my Text God must make Dauid to heare it is not enough that God send his word and great be the number of Preachers God must breath also with his spirit 1. Cor. 37. and when Paul hath planted and Apollo watered he must giue the increase Acts 16.14 if God doe not then open the Heart as hee did Lidia's we may be no better then Francis Spera whose bones being broken with the conscience of his sinne he could not be cured because the many exhortations that were giuen vnto him by the words of men could haue no entrance into his Heart there wanted there the spirit of grace therefore we must with Dauid begge that God would make vs heare But I hasten to the last point you haue heard who giues the Physicke you must heare what Hope there is that Dauids petition will succeed there appeareth good hope good hope in the phrase for it is not onely Supplicatorie but Assertorie I obserued the like vpon the former Verse I will not repeate it But there appeareth more hope in the contexture for there Dauid is confident that the medicine shall not bee applyed in vaine the bones that thou hast broken shall reioyce so it is in the Originall marke an excellent difference betweene Gods children and others Reprobates in such a case Optare possunt sperare non possunt they may wish themselues in a better case but they cannot hope for better but the children of God when their bodies are euen brought to the graue and their soules to the gates of hell yet will they trust in God and trust to see the louing kindnesse of God in the land of the liuing We doe not belieue that the Sunne hath lost his light though the skye be ouer-cast with clouds Read Psal 77. neither will we thinke that God hath forgotten to be gracious euen when hee layeth deadly strokes vpon vs. The Chaldee Paraphrase obserues not onely a Reall ioy of the broken bones but a Vocall also not onely shall our soules be comforted and our bodies with our soules but out of the sense hereof wee shall breake forth into the Praises of God we shall praise our God with ioyfull lips Finally marke the method the sorrow of the Inward man casteth the Outward into a Consumption so likewise the Outward shall partake of Consolation if so be Consolation by the Eare be distild into the Inward Caro vt Cor no lesse the flesh then the spirit being quickned shall reioyce in the liuing God I conclude all As we are all subiect vnto sinne so are we not free from the distresses of Conscience When we are put to it let vs heare what the Lord will say for he will speake peace vnto our soules if our sorrow be godly let vs not be without hope Blessed are they that mourne so for they shall be comforted let vs rest assured that though Wee sow in teares yet we shall reape in ioy the Lord will turne our captiuitie Psol 12â— he will sill our mouthes with laughter and our tongues with songs AMEN PSAL. 51. VERS 9. Hide thy face from my sinnes and blot out all mine iniquities THe remedie that King Dauid sought in this Penitentiall was answerable to his distresse That which distrest him was sinne whereof the onely remedie is grace The sinne as you haue oftentimes heard was two fold first that which himselfe committed and secondly that which hee inherited from his parents he seekes a remedy for both in Grace You haue heard that it yeeldeth a remedy for the sinne which himselfe committed for the Impietie thereof by Expiation and by Consolation for the Malignitie that is therein It followth that now you heare of the remedy which Grace doth yeeld to the sinne which he inherited from his parents that is a Natiue Euill we commonly call it Originall sinne Grace cureth this partly by Forgiuing and partly by Regenerating forgiuing of the sinne and regenerating of the sinner These two points are commonly knowne by the names the first of Iustification the second of Sanctification of Sanctification by regenerating our sinfull nature you shall heare in the next Verse on this Verse I must speake of Iustification from by Forgiuenesse of originall sinne To come to the breaking vp of the Text there is something therein implyed and something exprest that which is implyed is Gods Prouidence that which is exprest is Gods Indulgence of Gods Prouidence we haue here intimated two Acts his Eye seeth all things and all things are recorded by his Hand Did hee not See all things it were needlesse to pray Hide thy face and it were as needlesse to pray Blot out were not all things recorded by his Hand such prayers must needes presuppose those workes Besides this Prouidence of God so implyed the Text will teach vs the Indulgence of God which is here fairely exprest for the better vnderstanding whereof I will open vnto you first the suite that King Dauid maketh for it and then the possibilitie that there is of his obtaining it In the suite wee shall see how answerable his desire is vnto Gods worke Gods worke is to See and Record and his desire is that hee would not See hide thy face that he would cancell blot out But in the prayer we must more-ouer marke 1. to what 2. how farre he would haue his desire extend To what not to his person but to his sinnes hide thy face not from me but from my Sinnes blot out not mee but mine iniquities Hee restraineth then Gods acts to their proper obiect But hauing so restrained them he
part of the commaundement there is perfectio viatoris and comprehensoris Perfectio comprehensoris the perfection of a man when hee commeth to heauen will bee this saith Saint Austin Non concupiscet hee will not there couet at all couet any thing against the prescript of Gods Law But wee may not exspect to haue that perfection in this life because God is pleased euen in his best Children to continue here Luctam inter spiritum carnem a conflict betweene the flesh and the spirit Onely in Baptisme hee taketh away reatum Concupiscentis and regnum Concupiscentiae those that are regenerated are not guiltie because sinfull Concupiscence is or stirreth in them neither doth Concupiscence continue her soueraigntie ouer them So that God vnto their perfection in the Church militant requires onely of his Children vt post Concupiscentias ne eant that they take no care for the flesh to sulfill the lusts thereof Rom 13 14. Rom 8. v. 1. And there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus that walke not after the flesh but after the spirit which is Saint Pauls conclusion vpon the conflict described Rom. 7. and he shewes plainely that hee would haue it vnderstood of the New and Old mans Conflict not of reason and sensualitie as the Arminians And can men performe so much as in the Apostles words is required The Romanists say they can but they say it vntruely For this contention of the spirit and the flesh is not duellum but Bellum it is not a single combat but a plaine warre And you know there is great ods betweene these for in a single combat a man is to ward but one and bee hath but one to wound But in the warre in a pitch't battaile Singuli pugnant contra omnes omnes contra singulos euerie man must take care of all his enemies that are in the field For there is not one of them but may giue him a wound eminus or cominus either buckling with him or striking him from aloofe So that when he gardeth his head from one another may smite him at the heart when he maketh all sure before he may be smitten behind or he may be pierced in the sides As hee is thus encumbred in the defensiue so is he in the offensiue also he may not thinke himselfe safe so long as any one of his enemies doth liue Behold here a liuely Image of the militant Souldiers of Christ they haue not to doe with one but with many enemies the flesh the world the diuell And these haue vnder them many desperate Souldiers The flesh as many as wee haue senses and affections parts of our bodies and powers of our Soules The world as many as there are creatures And the diuell is a Prince of many legions Wee must withstand them all and that at all times and not onely withstand them but also stand against them at all times wee must looke to be set vpon by them and we must set vpon them A very hard taske Pluribus intentus minor est ad singula sensus saith the prouerb and the more our strength is distracted by many the lesse must it needs be against any one Were I onely to defend my eye happily I might make my part good against the lust thereof but at the same instant that I turne them away least they behold vanitie I am assaulted with an itching in my eare that is exposed to flatterie Put the case I bestirre my selfe so well that I keepe the enemie out of both those inlets he will giue mee a fall by my tongue he will cast some firie Dart into that it shall be set on fire of Hell as Saint Iames speaketh to slander to blaspheme Iames 3.6 to speake some idle or euill words Neither are my hands secure at the very same time from being sollicited with briberie or vnto bloudshed It were infinite to goe ouer all the powers of my Soule all the parts of my body they are all at once and euer in the same danger and must all at once and euer be put vnto the same labour both defensiue and offensiue Adde hereunto three great disaduantages of the spirituall warfare aboue the corporall for in the corporall warfare as there are many enemies so those against whom they come being many distract them that they cannot all fall vpon one but in the spirituall warre it is not so all our spirituall foes at one time may set vpon euerie one of vs yea they neuer goe a sunder for our flesh euer ioyneth with the world and the diuell with them both The second disaduantage is that whereas open hostilitie in earthly warfare is not alwayes accompanied with treacherie in the spirituall it is For our selues hold secret intelligence with and yeeld assistance to our ghostly enemies we betray vnto them a propension that we haue to be conquered And when the battle ioynes our members become weapons of vnrighteousnesse and with our owne lusts wee fight against our owne soules The third disaduantage is that in earthly warfare when the souldiers come to execution they spare none and they goe vpon a good principle shall I spare his bloud that will be euer ready to spill mine 1. Sam. 15. Reg. 20. Saul in sparing Agag and Ahab who spared Benhadad were taxed and punished for their foolish pittie But of this foolish pittie there appeares too much in our spirituall warfare for if God bring the world vnder vs yea and our flesh too we are afraid to be hard hearted to either of them wee hold it too much spiritualtie to crucifie the world and wee hold it too much inhumanitie to crucifie our owne flesh And by reason of this indulgence euen when they are foyled they are still in heart still in hope to recouer the masterie and bring vs vnder againe This being the condition of sinfull man the Schoolemen hold that no man in the state of grace is of sufficient strength to ouer come all sin though they adde that there is no one sinne which hee may not ouercome they speake of actuall sinnes and they speake truely if they bee vnderstood of that which a man may doe For if a man be tempted vnto any sinne if hee pray vnto God for grace and make vse of that grace which God doth giue him hee may with-hold his consent and choose whether he will act it and if he doe consent and act it hee is without all excuse Tertullian hath a prettie simile when two striue oftentimes the one ouercommeth the other not because the conquerour was the stronger but because he that is conquered was the more cowardly and such cowards the best of men doe proue very often in their spirituall war are But it is in vaine to dispute what may be done by grace against all sin or any one sin otherwise then to shew al mens frailty For the least of the two was neuer so done as that any man can truely boast of perfectio
to be most in number But there are two cautions to be obserued in this boundlesnesse of the Church One concerning the bound lesnesse thereof in regard of place Another concerning the boundlesnesse thereof in regard of time Touching the former whereas the Church is said to spread it selfe ouer the whole world we must not only vnderstand it de generibus singulorum not de singulis generum in all nations but also obserue that Christ which hath Ius ad omnem terram hath not at the same time Ius in omni terra the proprietie of all is his but he taketh possession of it successiuely and by parts As the scope of the Sunne is all the world and yet at one time the Sunne doth not shine in all parts thereof it beginneth in the East and passeth to the South and so to the West and as it passeth forward bringing light to one place withdraweth it from another so is it in regard of the Sunne of Righteousnesse the easterne Countries the foutherne haue had his light which now are in darknesse for the most part and we that were more northerly doe now enioy the clearest noon-tide but the Sunne beginneth to rise to them in the West and it is too plaine that our light beginneth to grow dimme it is to bee feared that it hasteneth to their Meridian and whether after their noone it will then set God knoweth The cause hereof is not lest we mistake in the Sunne of Righteousnesse as the cause why all haue not light at one time is in the corporall Sunne The corporall Sunne cannot at one time illighten all the Sunne of Righteousnesse can But for the sinnes of the people the Candlesticke is remoued and giuen to a nation that will beare more fruit We interpose our earthlinesse between our selues and the Sun and so exclude our selues from the beames thereof A second caution concerneth the time The peace and the gouernement are said to be euerlasting But they may bee considered in fieri or in facto when they are once consummated they shall bee continued for euer but while they are in fieri the rebellion of the flesh against the spirit interrupts the gouernment and the conscience of sinne within and the crosse without interrupt the peace Yet both are lasting pro modo viatoris in the roote though not in the fruite the principles of obedience which are repentance and faith by which wee recall our selues and the principles of peace which are faith and hope by which we pacifie our selues inwardly and patiently sustaine what befals vs outwardly continue for euer yea and disobedience repented of maketh vs more obedient and the interruption of peace breedeth vs more peace more peace inwardly we haue the lesse we haue outwardly and after our reconciliation with God we do more comfortably enioy the light of his countenance but when wee are comprehensores then our Obedience shall bee entire and our peace be full and both without end The last note is that which is the life of all to wit the vse that wee must make of it Although we cannot say of a body consisting of heterogeneous parts that Eadem est ratio vnius omnium yet when it consists of homogeneous parts wee may say it truly I cannot say that my hand is my head or my head is my hand or that in the one I see the nature of the other but whereas of flesh euery part is flesh in the least part I see the condition of the whole The Church hath a double consideration so farre as these children are subiects of the Kindome they are all homogeneous parts but as they haue seuerall functions so they are heterogeneous parts We haue not all the same graces of edification but the same graces of adoption we should all haue though we be not all Prophets all Apostles all workers of Miracles all Pastors yet are wee all children of God seruants in his house subiects in his kingdome euery man so farre is a little catholicke Church at least should bee And wee should all try our selues by the rules of my Text whether we find in our selues the gouernment of Christ in our voluntary subiection to him the peace of Christ in his comfortable influence into our consciences Wee must try how these things increase in vs how we daily profit in both And we should profit so farre as that no part of our body norpower of our soule should be withdrawne from Christs gouernment there should bee no part or power of eyther that doth not partake of the sweetnesse of his peace They should doe so and euery day should they doe it as they must exclude Christ from no place so must they exclude him at no time But alas many of vs are no subiects at all wee are sonnes of Belial few of vs growing subiects but Catholickesubiects there are none on earth for how many holds hath Sathan in vs in our bodies and in our soules out of which we keep Christ the lawfull owner of them And for Time it were well if we paid a tenth part therof vnto Christ but we afford him not so many houres as we do yeares vnto the Diuell We are like vnto the image in Daniel which had a golden head siluer shoulders brazen thighes feet of clay and iron the lower the worser and we the longer we liue commonly the worse wee are the first time wee come to Christ we are at the best How it is with particular persons let euery man aske his own conscience Certainly it is so with whole Churches what zeale what charity was there in the dayes of the Apostles but it was of no long continuance The Fathers that write of the persecutions say That God sent euery one of them to correct in his Church the decay both of zeale and charity When the Gospell reuiued with vs those that are old may remember how religious this Kingdome was both within the Church and without and what a friendly conspiracie there was between true deuotion and honest conuerfation But may not Christ say now to vs as he said to the Church of Ephesus I haue somewhat against thee Reu. 2. because thou hast left thy first loue Nay rather may not he repeat the words which hee sent vnto the Church of Sardis I know thy workes Reu. 3. thou hast a name that thou liuest but art dead Certainely true Piety true Charity is dead amongst vs. I conclude all with Christs exhortation Reu. 2. Let vs remember from whence wee are fallen and repent and doe our first workes lest he come vpon vs quickely and remoue our Candlesticke out of his place because we doe not repent O Lord that hast vouchsafed to place thy Gouernement amongst vs and with this Gouernment to giue thy Peace we beseech thee that hast planted them so to water them that both may grow in vs and let vs set no bounds to that which thou wouldst haue boundlesse Let not our whole Church let not any member
Zorobabels Temple But that place must be considered not in its meanenesse as it was built by the Iewes but as it was furnished with that glorie whereof heretofore you haue heard that house so adorned was to bee the place of peace Salomons Temple was a place of peace but his peace was but a type it was a worldly peace Zorobabels Temple is also a place of peace but his peace is the truth that answered the former type the peace thereof is heauenly that Temple which had but the type of the glorie had no more but the type of the peace and the truth of the peace rested there where the truth of the glorie was So that there is an emphasis in the words this place the holy Ghost giueth thereby the Iewes to vnderstand that it was not the former but the later Temple whereunto God intended the peace which he promised to Dauid 2 Sam. 7. 2 Chro. 22. Isay 25. 26. and all the promises of peace in the Prophets were to be referred thither this Ierusalem was to answer vnto her name and to be indeed the vision of peace But I told you heretofore that Zorobabels Temple was to be vnderstood not only literally but mystically and so it signifieth not onely that materiall house but also the Christian Church peace is annext vnto this peace Extra Ecclesiam non est salus No saluation without the Church and therefore no peace he shall neuer haue God for his Father that hath not the Church for his Mother In our Creed wee place the holy Catholicke Church and Communion of Saints before the remission of sinnes and life euerlasting As the soule doth not quicken other parts than those that are vnited to the body no more doth the spirit of God giue his blessing of peace to any that are distracted from the body of the Church This must be obserued against all Schismaticks that doe excommunicate them selues and disorderly persons that are iustly excommunicated by the censure of the Church all these while they continue in that state though they doe not lose ius ad pacem yet they doe lose ius in pace though they doe not lose their interest in yet they suspend the benefit of that peace and their state is vncomfortable though it be not irrecouerable And they which follow negligently the assemblies of the Church doe not a little defraud themselues of this peace for they must seeke it chiefly by prayer in Gods house and there doth God dispence it by the mouth of his Ministers I will giue you only two proofes the one our of the Old Testament when the sacrifices were ended which were typicall prayers Num 6.25 Aaron is willed to dismisse the people with these words The Lord blesse thee and keepe thee the Lord make his face shine vpon thee and be gracious vnto thee the Lord lift vp the light of his countenance vpon thee and giue thee peace A second proofe wee haue in the New Testament where the Church doth solemnely vse those words of the Apostle when after the Liturgie it dismisseth the people The peace of God which passeth all vnder standing keep your hearts and mindes c. And what better inuitation can wee haue to repaire often to the Church than this blessing of peaceâ— foure-fold peace which is there daily offered vnto vs and may bee receiued if we come and come prepared for it I say prepared Before you heard that the peace commeth to the house but as it is furnished with the glorie where there is none of the glorie there can be none of the peace therefore wee must prepare these Temples of our bodies and soules by entertainement of the glory that they may be made capable of the peace The Apostle speaketh plainely Rom. 5. Wee must bee iustified by faith before we can haue peace with God Esay 32. If iudgement dwell in the wildernesse and righteousnesse remaine in the fruitfull fielde the worke of righteousnesse shall bee peace 1 Cor. 2. and the effect of righteousnesse quietnesse and assurance for euer God doth annoint vs before he doth establish vs. St. Austin hath a witty conceit vpon the words of the 85. Psalme Righteousnesse and Peace haue kissed each other Duae sunt amicae Iustitia Pax c. Righteousnesse and Peace are two fast friends happely thou wouldest gladly enioy the one but thou wilt not bee perswaded to performe the other for there is no man that would not willingly haue peace but all are not willing to worke righteteousnesse yet be thou assured that if thou dost not loue peace's friend which is righteousnesse peace will neuer loue thee for righteousnesse and peace doe kisse each the other 2 King 9. You know what Iehu answered the King of Israel when he asked him Is it peace Iehu what peace can there bee so long as the whoredomes and witchcrafts of thy mother are so many So may we reply to euery soule vnquiet soule that enquireth after peace Looke for none where there is sinne Well may there bee the enemie assaulting and daily sounding alarums but this securing peace which is Gods garrison cannot bee there So long as the Iewes serued God their enemies could not inuade their borders Exod 34. but then the Temple was exposed to the enemie when the Prophets could not reclaime them from sin It is a good conscience that is a continuall feast You haue heard seuerally of the Peace and the Place you must now heare ioyntly of their knitting together who knits them and How He that knitteth them is God in Christ God is the God of peace so the Apostle calleth him Phil. 4.19 and the Prophet tels vs that he creates light as well as darkenesse and Elihu is so bold as to say Iob 34. that if God giue peace none can hinder it But as God giueth it so hee giueth it in Christ for it is his worke to make peace the Prophet Esay cap. 9. vers 6. calleth him the Prince of peace his true members are Sonnes of peace his Apostles Messengers of peace and his doctrine is the Gospell of peace all the foure specified degrees of peace were wrought by him First he tooke away the guilt of our sinne Esay 53. The chastisement of our peace was layd vpon him For he that knew no sinne was made sinne for vs that wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. Secondly hee hath kild the worme for being iustified by faith in him our heart condemnes vs not and we haue confidence towards God so that we can come with boldnesse vnto the throne of grace Thirdly the Law of the spirit of life that is in Iesus Christ doth free vs from the Law of sinne and death Rom. 8. It mortifieth it subdueth the old man and maketh vs walke not according to the flesh but according to the spirit Finally he putteth an end to that discord that is betweene man and man The Prophets foretold that when hee
with it And indeed they may easily ouercharge vs as appeareth in the next reason the reason of our prayer The spirit is wilâ—ing but the flesh is weake I will not trouble you with the diuers sense that is put vpon these words the best and the most agree that these two words note the two parts of a regenerate man the spirit noting the New and the flesh the Old man and so this passage agreeth with the like Rom. 7. the phrases themselues doe giue vs to vnderstand that our willingnesse to serue God is not from Nature but from Grace and our backwardnesse is not from Grace but from Nature If these two parts do not concurre the spirit the flesh the flesh may plucke backe as much as the spirit putteth forward yea and though they doe concurre yet the spirit is too quicke for the flesh and will venture farther than flesh dares to follow Tertullians rule is true that these words import Quid eui subijci debeat whether of the parts should haue the command but all goeth not as it should because one part is inabled to will but the other is not inabled to obey therefore St. Hierome saith well Quantum de ardore mentis confidimus tantum de fragilitate carnis metuamus we must not suppose we can doe all we would but we must pray that the spirit that is well disposed may also bee strong to subdue the flesh as by watching the flesh is dis-inabled to sinne so by praying is the spirit inabled to rule But more distinctly First touching the willingnesse of the spirit there is great difference betweene the habit of grace and the vse thereof though wee be well qualified with the habit yet except God excite and assist wee make little vse thereof Now the willingnesse of the spirit here meant is the ability of a regenerate man without the assistance of God and we must pray for the latter because without it the former will auaile but little As for the weaknesse of the flesh it must be vnderstood with a restraint ad bonum for to resist it is strong enough strong enough to resist the spirit but weake to resist temptation And why the Tempter offereth to the flesh if it yeeld that which the flesh naturally desireth and if it yeeld not he threatneth what the flesh naturally abhorres corporall comfort is that whereafter the body doth long by nature as by nature it doth Ioath the losse thereof The Tempter therefore hath an easie conquest vpon the flesh except Gods hand goe with it in vaine is it countermanded by the spirit many wofull examples haue the Primitiue Churches of this frailty of our nature and euery day is too fertill in spectacles hereof if the Tempter set vpon the flesh he will easily carry vs away though not without some contradiction of the spirit And here we see the fountaine of all our sinnes of infirmity the roote of them is this oddes betweene the flesh and the spirit and this is the whetstone of Prayer the best men if they be buffeted with the messenger of Sathan as Saint Paul was their best remedy is that which Saint Paul vsed Prayer vnto God whose Grace onely can be sufficient for vs 2. Cor. 12. â— and whose strength is made perfect in our weaknesse If this lesson be necessary for those that haue some inward alacrity how much more for them that are altogether drowsie if the best must pray in conscience of their infirmity how feruent in prayer should they be that feele not in themselues that forwardnesse of grace how earnestly should they pray O God make speed to saue vs O Lord make haste to helpe vs I conclude all This whole Text is a lesson of modesty and calleth vpon vs to worke out our saluation in feare and trembling seeing it is God that worketh in vs both to will and to doe not that wee should wauer in our faith but that we should not presume vpon our owne strength remembring that it is an easie matter to vow much while we are on the shore whereof we will be little mindfull when wee be ouertaken at sea Many faire flowers shoote forth when the Sunne shineth which come to nought if they be nipt with a Frost we may not presume that we will be more constant than the Apostles let their weaknesse teach vs to be humble lest if wee promise more than we performe Christ taxe our pride and vpbraid our weaknesse the Tempter will euer set on vs therefore let vs neuer cease to Watch. But the more wee finde out our danger by Watching the more let vs flye to God in Praying that the same God which hath giuen vs a willing spirit may also giue vs obedient flesh that both may hold out in the day of Temptation so shall they both reioyce in the liuing God reioyce here while they sticke fast vnto Christ notwithstanding the Crosse and reioyce hereafter when both comming out of all tribulation shall from Christ receiue an immarcescible Crowne THE SECOND SERMON On Good-Friday MARKE 14.35.36 And he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the houre might passe from him And hee said Abba Father all things are possible vnto thee take away this Cup from mee neuerthelesse not that I will but what thou wilt IN the history of Christs Crosse which wee commemorate this day there are two remarkable parts first a feeling representation thereof which Christ made vnto himselfe and secondly a constant perpession thereof when it was imposed by others The first may bee called Propassio and the second Passio there went a Crosse before the Crosse a fore-Crosse before the after-Crosse a rationall before the sensitiue Christ wrought a smart in himselfe before hee was stricken by others This feeling representation this fore-hand Crosse this selfe-affliction is the argument of those words that now I haue read vnto you The whole Tract is conceiued in forme of a prayer and indeed it is an Offertory prayer Christ by prayer sets the stampe of a sacrifice vpon his death and turneth his suffering into an offering In this Prayer wee are to obserue the circumstances that attend it and the substance of it The circumstances are two when and where when he prayed timely he prayed before he suffered he armed himselfe before he came vnto the conflict But where in a priuate place that hee might more freely poure forth his soule to God he withdrew himselfe from all company of men In the substance of the Prayer wee must see first to Whom it is directed and secondly What is expressed in it It is directed vnto the Father and there is reason it should be so directed by him was the Crosse ordained therefore a prayer against the Crosse must be directed vnto him But as he to whom Christ directed his prayer is his Father so in directing of it he doth expresse the behauiour of a Childe The behauiour of a childe is
vncharitablenesse in our supernaturall cognation Naturall brethren maligne each the other either because the affection of Parents is vnequall or because they shall not haue equall part in the Inheritance but GOD embraceth all his children with the same loue and they are all called to be heires of the same Kingdome therefore they should all haue alike tender bowels one towards another As the name of Brethren calleth for compassion so doth the name of spirituall also by spirituall is ment he that is strong in Faith and hath not yeelded to temptation he that is led by the Spirit and hath not fulfilled the lusts of his Flesh the more he is so spirituall the more compassionate he must be Greg. Mag◠Vera iustitia compassionem habet falsa indignationem It is a shrewd argument that our righteousnesse is pharisaicall and not Christian if we rather insult then shew pittie who more spirituall then GOD then Christ then the Angels The best of men cannot match the meanest of them in the holines of Spirit and yet the Angels reioyce at the conuersion of a sinner Luke 19.7 and how doth Christ the good Sheepeheard take comfort in the recouerie of the lost Sheepe And as for GOD you read his disposition in that countenance and cheere wherewith the Father receiued his prodigall child Where there is lesse kindnesse there is lesse of the Spirit as in the Diuell who calumniateth amplyfieth sinnes aggrauateth Iudgements and we are too like him if our bowels be crueltie You see who must shew compassion and read their duties in their names But if their names will not worke enough the ground that the Text addeth inforcing this dutie doth more strongly presse them and the ground is considering thy selfe least thou also be tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our eies happily are watchfull but are more fixed vpon others then vpon our selues we take delight to pry farre into other mens faults and a pleasing thing it is to flesh and blood to be learned in such arguments But it is but a propertie of Vultures and Rauens that quickly sent carrion and hast vnto it the Holy Ghost here taketh off our eyes from other obiects and fastens them vpon our selues we are the book which our selues should most study we should know none so well as our selues But when we are brought so farre as to study our selues we study like the Pharisee read nothing in our selues but our owne perfections if GOD hath giuen vs any guifts we need no spectacles to read it the characters are alwayes of the largest sise yea we oftentimes read more then is written and giue thankes to GOD for that which he hath not bestowed or not bestowed in that measure which we suppose we haue Because of our ouer great docilitie to study this argument the Scripture passeth by it and reads vs another lesson the lesson of our infirmities looke we must vpon our selues yea and to our selues also but that which we must behold and heed is least thou also be tempted Consider Quia homo es habens naturam mutabilem saith THEODORET No man in this world is so spirituall but he is also carnall St HIEROME with this Text censured the Heretickes of old and we may censure some that liue at this day who thinke that a righteous man is such a tree as can beare no bad fruit but posse peccare is the portion of euerie mortall man and he that standeth may fall for we all walke in the middest of snares Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod haec est euen he that hath ouercome temptation knowes how hard a thing it is to be tempted And if it be hard then should not we be hard hearted towards them whom it foyleth Which obseruation is not vnnecessarie because our nature is as prone to rigor as it is to sinne we are to haue an eye to both and indeed nothing will make vs sooner auoid the temptation vnto rigor then the acknowledgment that our felues are prone to sinne it is St AVSTINS rule Nil sic ad misericordiam inclinat ac proprij periculi cogitatio he that knowes he may need mercie hath a good inducement to shew mercie Wherefore as to the comfort of the Penitent I may promise her that her teares are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though she sow in teares Basil she shall reape inioy so let me aduise you to forgiue and it shall be forgiuen vnto you He that is mercifull doth good to his owne soule saith SOLOMON Prou. 11. Ecel 8. Eph. 4. Colos 3. Wherefore despise ye not a man returning from his sinne be courteous one towards another and tender hearted forgiuing freely as God for Christ sake forgiueth you St PAVL doth teach vs this lesson in this Text the Text is documentum exemplum the matter of it informeth vs yea the phrase is a good patterne vnto vs in deliuering an argument of mercie he vseth not a word that doth not sauour of mercie Homo noting the pronesse of our nature to sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the occasions of sinne praeoccupatus the surprisall all in fauour of the Penitent And what meaneth the name of Brother Spirituall the Spirit of Meeknesse Consider thy selfe Thou mayst be tempted Are they not as water cast vpon the fire of our zeale to temper it if it grow too hot Then looke we on the words all call vpon vs that as we are eye witnesses and eare witnesses of this Penitents confession contrition so we should let GOD and the Angels see how full we are of compassion Compassion that must moue vs all to pray to GOD for her that God by the power of the keyes may loose her from those bands wherewith her sinne her crying sinne hath tyed her God heare vs and worke by vs and in vs that she may be fully restored and her fall may make vs all to beware Amen Blessed are the mercifull for they shall find mercie A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHVRCH OF WELS AT WHAT TIME A MAN DID PENANCE FOR INCEST WITH HIS WIVES DAVGHTER 1 CORINTH 5. VERSE 1 c. 1 Jt is reported commonly that there is fornication amongst you and such fornication as is not so much as named amongst the Gentiles that one should haue his fathers wife 2 And ye are puffed vp and haue not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from amongst you 3 For J verily as absent in body but present in spirit haue iudged already as though J were present against him that hath so done this deed 4 Jn the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ 5 To deliuer such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saued in the day of the Lord Jesus THE present occasion led me to this Text and this Text that I haue read vnto you well fitteth
the present occasion for we haue to doe with a sinne and a censure euen such a sinne and such a censure as is contained in this Text. The sinne is first exprest then it is amplyfied It is exprest first in regard of the kind it is fornication secondly in regard of the degree that fornication is Incest yea it is Incest of the worst sort that a man should haue his fathers wife The Incest being so bad it is not onely exprest but also amply fied in respect first of the haynousnesse it was such as was not so much as named amongst the Gentiles secondly in respect of the notoriousnesse the fame thereof spread farre and neare it is commonly reported Now sinnes call for censures great sinnes for seuere censures they doe but the Corinthians were deafe they heard not they were not moued with the cry of this sinne though it were verie loud they sinne in not reforming sinne St PAVL therefore telleth them whence their sinne sprang and wherein it stood It sprang from too much selfe-conceit they were puffed vp and too little fellow-feeling for they sorrowed not from these roots sprang their senslesse carelesnesse they put not away from them the man that had done the sinne But St PAVL had a more quicke eare and a more tender heart as a lawfull superiour he supplieth their negligence and censureth the incestuous person whom they spared as it appeares in the rest of the Text wherein we see what the censure was and whereunto it serueth The censure was Excommunication but it is set out in very high termes for it is called a deliuerie vnto Satan the words imply more then they expresse Excommunication consists of two parts a priuatiue and a positiue an excommunicate person is excluded from the Communion of Saints and subiected to the Prince of Darknesse the latter part is here exprest but the former is presupposed and is therefore omitted because it was mentioned before in the Corinthians fault this is the censure which St PAVL inflicted And the inflicting of it is performed by two acts the first is St PAVLS he doth iudicially pronounce it in his owne person But here is some thing markable in his person which is said to be absent and present wheresoeuer he was as an Apostle he was neuer out of his Dioces neither was any of his Dioces any where out of his reach for though he was absent in his body yet was he with them in his spirit Vpon these prerogatiues of his person though he were as farre off as Ephesus is from Corinth yet did he giue sentence against the incestuous Corinthian so saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue already iudged What he pronounceth iudicially that doth he require the Corinthians to denounce solemnly this act is implyed when as St PAVL would haue the man excommunicated at Corinth he would haue it there denounced that himselfe had excommunicated him And he would haue it denounced solemnly First In regard of the place for he would haue it done in the face of the Church the Corinthians being gathered together and his spirit with them Secondly He would haue it done solemnly in regard of the proceeding for he would haue it done with the authoritie and by the efficacie of our Lord Iesus Christ with his authoritie in his Name by his efficacie by his Power So that although St PAVL haue a hand in this censure and the Corinthians also yet would he haue neither of them reputed other then Delegates from and Instruments of Christ he giueth the warrant and he maketh good the censure Lay all these parts of the doome together and you will find that it is tremendum iudicium a very dreadfull sentence for how dreadfull a thing is it for a man to be cast out of the Church To haue him that hateth him made Lord ouer him I meane Satan To haue this done by an Apostle In the assembly of the whole Church Authorized by Christ and by Christ inabled to inflict this censure Certainly this must needs be a most dreadfull Iudgment you would thinke him that is vnder it to be a most forlorne wretch But yet despaire not of him the last clause of my Text will tell you that the sentence is not mortall but medicinall Now you know that a medicine hath two properties first it doth paine then it doth ease and if you will beleeue the Prouerbe Nulla medicinat'am est salutaris quà m quae facit dolorem the more it doth paine the more it will ease Certainly it fareth so with a ghostly medicine it doth paine it serueth for the destruction of the flesh but it will ease thereby the spirit shall be saued And this saluation you shall then feele when it is most behoofefull in the day of the Lord Iesus Christ We beleeue that he shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead and thrice happy may an enormous sinner thinke himselfe if he can haue boldnesse then to stand before the Sonne of Man And herein standeth his hope that this Iudgment will preserue him from that this lesser from that greater this temporall from that eternall if an enormous sinner make that vse of it which Christ intendeth So that these last words must be marked as a mitigation of that sharpnesse which was in the sentence and a consolation of the true Penitent And so haue you the briefe of my Text. That we may all be fore-warned and this Penitent recouered let vs in the feare of GOD listen to that which shall now be farther but briefly obserued and applyed out of this both sinne and censure I begin with the sinne the kind of it is fornication Fornication though it be often vsed to note the vnlawfull coniunction of single persons which otherwise may lawfully marrie yet doth the word import properly the generall nature of all incontinencie or vnlawfull coniunction the sinfulnesse whereof that I may the better set before you I must first acquaint you with certaine vndeniable principles The first is That though it be common to man and beast to couple male and female in their seuerall kinds for procreation yet because the body of a man is inhabited by a reasonable soule euen these sensuall acts should be reasonable by participation reason should haue such power ouer the body that a man should not come vnto this coniunction out of a disorderly lust but a regular couenant not aduenturing vpon it but admitted thereunto by Marriage he must testifie that he is a man and not a beast The second principle is The same reason of state that preseribeth proprietie in all other things doth require it especially in the choyce of mates in those which are to come together so neere as to become one flesh for proprietie is the whetstone of loue and care neither of which would be so great as they should be except they were grounded in wedlock in which is a mutual appropriating of the wedded bodyes each to the other whence it is that
King Dauid did so witnesse this Title wherein he sets forth himselfe Cadentem Resurgentem first taking a grieuous Fall and then recouering himselfe by Grace First Let vs see his Fall that is noted in these words Hee went in to Bathsheba Few words but they summe vp a large Storie you may reade it 2. Sam. 11. That Chapter is a full Commentarie vpon this short Text and if we scanne it we shall finde that King Dauids Fall was Complicatissimum Peccatum a sinne of many roots There are three Heads wherunto all sinne is reduced 1. Impuritie 2. Iniquitie 3. Impietie and they met all in this Fall of Dauid first Impuritie for the first degree of his sinne was Incontinencie hee defiled his Soule with vnchast lust and his Body with an vnlawfull Copulation a foule sinne so to abuse a Member of Christ 2. Cor. 6. and to polute a Temple of the Holy Ghost To couer this Sinne hee fell into another he fell into Iniquitie It is Iniquitie for a man to take his Neighbours Wife but for a man that hath many to take his Neighbours Wife that is contented with one for a King to take his Subiects Wife a Master the Wife of his Seruant a Master and a King liuing at home lying at case to take a Wife of that Subiect and Seruant who is aduenturing his Life spending his Bloud in the defence and for the Honour of his Maister and Soueraigne Certainely this is haynous Iniquitie But what an Accession is there made vnto it if it bee couered with a treacherous Murder of that person to whom such wrong is done and Dauid so couered his Iniquitie First he assayed the Murder of Vriahs Soule by making him drunke when that would not doe what he intended then doth he plot the Murder of his Bodie he maketh him carrie Belerophons letters treacheorous letters against his owne life yea Letters that added treason vpon treason for they made Ioab the Generall to betray the life of Vriah his resolute souldier and for his sake the liues of many others fearefull Iniquitie But we haue not yet sounded the bottome of this Fall these two Roots of bitternesse haue a third wrapt about them Impuritie and Iniquitie are accompanied with Impietie So we learne from the mouth of the Prophet God was despised in his Commandement and the Enemies of God were occasioned thereby to Blaspheme for the reproach of an ill life redounds vpon the God whom we serue who is by Infidels supposed to be an Abetter of such Courses 1. Sam. 4.4 2. Sam. 11.11 But there is a speciall reason of Impietie in this Fall You must obserue that the Arke of the Lord was often carried forth in the Warres of Israel and God so present as he was now gaue them Victorie in Battell if the Israelite was foyled the Enemies grew insolent not onely against those whom they foyled but also against the Lord whom they thought to bee foyled by their Gods in them Thereupon they did magnifie their Idols and villisie the Lord of Hosts This may you obserue in the Philistines 1. Sam. 4. and in the storie of Balthasar Dan. 4. So that the treacherous aduantage that was giuen to the Enemie must needs open their mouthes to Blasphemie and so make King Dauid guiltie of Impietie Impietie against God that so often so many waies had deserued better of King Dauid Put all these together and you will confesse that Saint Chrysostome sayth truly that this was Flendum Naufragium a woefull wracke of so goodly a Vessell The more shamefull are the Talmudists that would free the King in this fact from Sin flatly against King Dauids owne Confession and the Prophet Nathans challenge yea so farre was this from being no Sinne that all his other Sinnes are as none in comparison of this You may gather it from the Testimonie of the Holy Ghost 1. Kings 1â— Dauid turned not aside from any thing that God commanded him all the dayes of his life sauing onely in the matter of Vriah the Hittite You haue heard of a foule Fall wherein many enormous Sinnes goe chained together There is one thing more in the Storie which I may not omit and that is How Dauid fell into this Sinne. Surely by ease and Prosperitie whiâ—â— he was persecuted by Saul while he fought the Battells of the Lord hee walked vprightly towards God and Men no sooner had God giuen him rest but you see what comes of it The Naturalists obserue well that the Northwind is more healthfull though the South bee more pleasant the South with his warmth raiseth vapors which breed putrefaction and cause diseases the North with his cold drieth those Vapours vp purging the bloud and quickning the Spirits Aduersitie is vnpleasant but it keepeth vs watchfull against Sinne and carefull to doe our duties whereas Prosperitie doth flatteringly lull vs a sleepe that the enuious Man may haue opportunitie to sow tares and choake the good Seede of Gods Grace In pace amaritudo amarissima Esay 38.17 it neuer goeth worse with men spiritually then when they finde themselues corporally best at ease Iesurun waxed fat and kicked Deu. 32 1â— he for sooke God which made him and light lie esteemed the Rocke of his Saluation How wicked the Sodomites were we reade Gen. 18. but Eze. Chap. 16. tells vs the cause therof was fulnesse of Bread and Idlenesse Tunc cum maesta fuit defensa est Ilion armis Militibus grauidum laeta recepit Equum Most surprizes of Citties haue fallen out vpon the secure riot of the beseiged our soules are neuer freed from the seige of the Compassing Lyon but he neuer gets so great an Aduantage against vs as when hee maketh the least shew of an Assault Solomon in greatest glory was in his greatest danger the woefull euent proued it too true It was a wise pollicie of Epaminondas then to bee Sentinel when the Cittizens were at their Bacchanalls and when wee haue the world at will it is good prouidence then to looke most to our waies And why King Dauids Fall is a good Reason It may seeme strange that a man such as Dauid was so indowed so blessed that he was a Man after Gods owne Heart and the Penman of the Holy Ghost that such a man so good a man should take so great so dangerous a Fall But the best men are men and their falls doe testifie of what Tree they are Branches by nature they spring from old Adam he is their Roote all though by Grace they are grafted into Christ yet during this life all the sowre iuice deriued from the former stocke is not cleane dried vp in them it yeilds forth many shootes those loaden with many Clusters of bitter Fruite And what doth this preach vnto vs but that Admonition of Saint Paule Let him that stands take heede least he fall 1 Cor. 10.11 for if the greatest Worthies haue beene Spectacles of humaine frailtie who may presume
a passing of our bounds Our lusts are apt to range and exceed God sets bounds vnto them by his Law hee would hold them in but it will not be we are Sonnes of Belial we will beare no yoake we breake Gods bands and cast his cordes from vs. Psal 2. The first euill of sinne is it maketh a lawles man and who doth not know that liueth in a society what an vnhappie libertie the lawles haue But why will man be lawles forsooth he thinkes that the more hee hath his will the more hee shall compasse his owne ends he thinks so but it proues not so that appeares in the next name of sinne that is Chata 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and noteth a shooting cleane besides the Marke When wee become Masterles the vpshot of our endeauour is to mistake euill for good and reape woe where wee looked for rest The wicked Wisd 5. confesse this truth and all Histories are but Chronicles of it they testifie that lawlesse men haue finally missed of that whereat they aymed yea that they haue therein bin deceiued most wherein they seemed vnto themselues to haue succeeded best And doth not this Name of Sinne then argue a sinner to be a Wretch But that which is the height of Euill in Sinne is noted in the third word Gnaon Peruersenesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And indeed Sin is nothing but the peruerting of a Creature God made the Great and the little World to set forth his owne Glorie but sinne turneth both to his dishonour God made the little World to be Lord ouer the great and Sinne turneth the Lord into the Seruant and the Seruant into the Lord God made Man a Consort for Angels Sin doth range Man with the Feinds of Hell Finally God made Man after his owne Image Sin doth change him into the Image of the Diuell most wretched peruersnesse Now seeing this threefold Euill is found in sinne as the Names thereof giue vs to vnderstand we cannot doubt but Sinne doth make a Miserable Man hee that is infected with it will confesse it though he be a King Certainely King Dauid doth He was at this time a King a victorious a glorious King obeyed by many Nations abounding in al kind of worldly prosperity Add thereunto that same gracious Entaile of his Crowne sent vnto him from God 2. Sam. 7. the verie crowne of blessings But see being stung with the Conscience of Sinne hee is sensible of none of these neither doth hee finde Comfort in any of them notwithstanding all these he confesseth himselfe a Wretch Wherein wee may obserue by the way the difference betweene the iudgement of flesh and blood and of a Child of God concerning that which maketh Happie the one placeth it in the Things of this life the other in the Peace of God And indeede so long as it is not well betweene God and vs all the World can giue vs no Content the consciousnes of sinne if we haue as feeling hearts as King Dauid had feeling the mischieuous nature of sinne wee will account our selues but Wretches and wee will with him fall to our Miserere mei Haue Mercie vpon me c. which is the second part of my Text. The Correlatiue of Miserie is Mercy as there were no neede of Mercy were there no Misery so because there is Miserie there is a remedie prouided for it and that is Mercy The Verbe doth properly signifie Be gracious to mee Grace is free loue so teacheth Saint Austin Non est gratia vllo modo si non sit omni modo gratuita that fauour deserueth not the name of Grace that can be either merited or requited But yet there are two sorts of this Grace one Quae datur non merenti another Quae datur immerenti The first was the Grace of Creation it proceeded from the free Goodnes of God for there was no possibilitie of Mans Deseruing before hee had his Being therefore was his Being a guift of Grace The second is the Grace of Redemption this proceeds also from Gods free Goodnesse this was vouchsafed to Man when he deserued the contrary he deserued eternall Death but God vouchsafed him eternall Life This speciall kind of Grace is called Mercy Therefore considering the Argument the Translator did not amisse in restrayning the amplitude of the words and rendring it Haue Mercy for Euangelicall Grace is Mercy and it is such Grace that is meant in this place But this Mercy is considered either in Affectu or Effectu as it is in God or as it manifests it selfe vpon Man The Remedy of Misery is Mercie but that Mercy must containe not only a Gracious disposition towards man but a powerfull operation vpon him God must be well affected so as that Mans state also may be altered In Miseries plea for Mercie these two cannot be seuered without Impietie or Blasphemie 1. Blasphemie for Sin Compassion are incōpatible if the one be not conceiued as the remouer of the other but he doth not so conceiue them that looks only to the Affection looketh not also for the Action of Mercy therefore he blasphemes the Author thereof Secondly there is Impietie in it for it argueth that a Man would be free from Gods displeasure but he would not part with that which offends his pure eyes Hee loueth to be a sinner And this is plaine Impietie But what are the effects of Mercy euen as many as are the euills of Sin In sin then there are two Euills the Guilt and the Corruption thereof the Guilt is resembled to a Debt 〈◊〉 1◠indeed it is a plaine Debt a double Debt for in euery sinne that wee commit we grow in arrerages vnto God in regard of the duty which wee owe him and God growes in Arrerages vnto vs in regard of the punishment that is due vnto vs. Now of these debts God keepeth a Booke all our misdeeds are recorded before him 〈◊〉 5. and of these Bookes there is mention made in the Reuel where the Soone of Man is represented vpon his Tribunall iudging all the World according to those things that are found in the Bookes that are open before him As in regard of the Guilt Sinnes are compared to Debt so in regard of the Corruption they are compared vnto Staines Staines of all sorts to Froth to Foame to Scumme to Drosse to Mire to all sorts of diseases and impurities of the flesh And indeed how can they bee other seeing they are the insection that wee receiue from the vncleane Spirit This being briefly obserued Let vs now consider of Dauids Prayer his Prayer for the Affection and Operation of Mercy First for the Affection in these Words Miserere Haue Mercy The Affection is the Roote from whence springs the Operation wee learne it in another Psalme Psal 80. Cause thy face to shine and we shall be saued therefore he doth well to make sure of that first because no hope of the other if hee speede not
other was but a shadow Which must the rather be noted because the Holy Ghost doth often times taxe the Iewes for either wholy diuorcing the Morals from the Ceremonialls or for that they were at least preposterously zealous preferring the Ceremonials before the Morals but our rule must bee to obserue whatsoeuer God commands but so that we value euery thing according to the rate which God sets vpon it we are freed from the Ceremoniall Law of Moses yet are we not left altogether without Ceremonies for we haue Sacraments in participating whereof we must obserue Saint Ambrose his rule We must not neglect the visible Signes wherewith God sustaynes our Faith yet must we pierce farther into the inuisible grace and that must be the principall comfort of our Soules So likewise in prayer we must fall low with our bodies but much lower with our Hearts lift vp our eyes but soare higher with our Affections in a word Hoc oportet facere illud non omittere neglect not Ceremonies but intend Moralities chiefly in all the seruice of God But whereas I told you that the sense of these words is double Ceremoniall and Morall before I can informe you in the Morall I must first resolue you what is the Ceremoniall sense And here wee find not all agreed some finde the Ceremonie in the booke of Exodus some in Leuiticus C. 12.22 some in Numbers In Exodus we read that the Children of Israel were commanded to sprinkle their dore-posts with the blood of the Paschall Lambe that so when the punishing Angel came to destroy the first borne of Egypt he might passe by them Chrysostome apprehends that King Dauid in these words prayeth against Gods wrath and desireth by such a sprinkling to bee sheltered from that And indeed though God forgaue Dauids sinne yet did hee by Nathan foretell That the sword should neuer depart from his House 2. Sam. 12.10 therefore well might he deprecate plagues But though wee find mention of Hysope in that Law yet none of sprinckling the person but the dore-postes nor finally any mention of purifying but of preseruing Therefore other of the Fathers find this Ceremony in Leuiticus 14.4 in the Law of clensing the Leper And surely the words of my Text speaking rather de malo culpae then poenae as appeareth by those Phrases I shall bee cleane I shall be whiter then snow may haue good cognation with that Ceremony the rather because the Fathers not vnfitly make Leprosie a liuely representation of the nature of sin But in that Ceremony though Hysop were vsed for clensing of the Leper yet the clensing of the Leper there was declaratory rather then operatory wherupon S. Hierome doth parallel it with the absolution of the Priest who doth not remit sin but declare that it is remitted of God As the Priest saith he did not make the Leper cleane but vpon examination pronounce him to be cleane But my Text speaketh not of a Declaratorie onely but an operatorie Purification Ciâ—â—l 〈◊〉 wherfore we must seeke farther into the booke of Numbers in the 19. thereof wee shall sinde a Ceremonie that exactly sitteth my Text sitteth it in the phrase as they that are skild in the Originall doe know and sitteth it in the matter as you may perceiue if you reade the Chapter there God commandeth the burning of a red Cow slaine by the Priest Vâ—â— 6. with which was to be burnt Scarlet Cedar wood and Hysop and of the ashes which came hereof and running water was to be made a holy water wherewith hee was to be purisied that touched the dead Vâ—â— 18. a clean person taking Hysop dipping it in the water and sprinkling it vpon the vncleane C. 9.13 Saint Paule to the Hebrewes moralizing that Ceremonie speaketh thus if the bloud of bulls and goates and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the vnclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the Eternall Spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serue the liuing God Out of which words we may learne to giue a true Commentary vnto this Text and obserue a good correspondency betweene the Ceremoniall and the Morall part thereof Which that we may the better do obserue that the whole Text is a Petition wherein wee must obserue first seuerally what King Dauid beggeth and of whom then ioyntly how confident hee is of the successe of his Petition which he maketh to that person That which he beggeth is Purge Wash the person to whom he directeth this Petition is God for to him he praieth but he would haue him doe this through Christ for Christ is meant by Hysop If God grant this request as he doubteth not but that hee will grant it for it is Prophetica or atio he prophesieth in praying he then vndoubtedly assures himselfe of a double effect that shall be wrought vpon him Innocencie I shall be cleane and Beautie incomparable Beautie I shall bee whiter then Snow Let vs looke into these particulars and carrie along the Ceremoniall with the Morall First then see what he beggeth purge wash but these words presuppose some thing that is not here exprest and that is from what he would be purged and cleansed Read the 19. of Numbers there you shall see the Ceremonie it was from the impuritie that was contracted from touching the dead and this impurity did exclude them from accesse vnto the Tabernacle Saint Paul Heb. 9. teacheth vs the Moral of this Ceremonie Vers 14. and that the touching of the dead did figure our intermedling with dead workes that is sinnes for they that are infected with them are sayd Ephesians 2.5 to bee dead in them and our Sauiour meaneth as much by the Prouerbe Let the dead burie their dead Mat. 8.22 And indeed Sinnes are fitly termed dead workes Iâ—b 1. for they had their originall from him that hath the power of death that is the Diuel Heb. 2.14 and they are in vs the sting of death so venoming our vnderstanding 1. Cor. 15.16 and our wil that they bereaue vs of the Life of God to whom we liue only by the true knowing of him and louing him as we ought finally Rom. 9.23 the wages of Sinne is death and death in sinne bringeth vpon vs death for sinne the spirituall death in this world an euerlasting in the world to come As hee that hath to doe with sinne hath to doe with Death so hee that hath the contagion of Death cleauing to him is vnfit for the House of the liuing God for that is the House of the liuing for God by Couenant is not the God of the Dead but of the Liuing Mat. 22.32 they that are planted in the House of the Lord saith the Psalmist shall flourish in the courts of our God Marke then in what case a sinner is Psal 92.13 Iob. 2.4 in the state
calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is that which executeth what the commanding part resolueth The word in the Originall signifieth either Directum or Erectum that which keepeth right forward or standeth vpright The actiue power of our soule is subiect to two defects it may straggle out of the way through rashnes or stagger in the way through faintnes while we are in the way allurements of diuers kinds draw vs into by-pathes we are set vpon by the crafty serpent and if that succeed not then with terrors wee are startled and made either to come to a stand or else to march cowardly The cure of all this is a right Spirit when God is pleased by grace to set strait steps vnto our feete and strengthen our feeble knees so that wee step not aside out of the way nor halt in the way our Spirit is directus it keepes good correspondency with our iudgement and executeth no more then it hath in charge and it is also erectus it bends no more then our affections doeâ— whether it pursue or encounter any thing resolued vpon by the soueraigne part it sheweth continually a religious stayednesse Finally whereas grace maketh a double cure one on our Heart and another on our Spirit and the regeneration of our Spirit is but an attendant vpon the regeneration of our Heart wee may not diminish the number of the parts nor inuert the order but when wee will trie our selues whether and how farre wee are regenerated wee must looke into our inwards see how we finde our selues there but specially to these fountaines of life the Heart and the Spirit see whether grace command in the Heart before the Heart command and that it may season our workes well whether it selfe bee seasoned first with grace and hauing taken this suruey of the Heart wee must come on to the Spirit and see whether our execution be as holy as our resolution if grace preserue vs from mis-guiding allurements and support vs against disheartning affrightments then is our Spirit as right as our Heart is cleane both are regenerated by the Spirit of grace The Fathers vnderstand here a double grace not onely the grace of Regeneration whereof you haue heard but the grace of Prophesie also wherewith King Dauid was endued as appeare in his Psalmes wherein are many excellent Prophesies It was no small griefe vnto him to haue that diuine influence suspended and to haue withdrawne from him those heauenly Reuelations therfore they conceiue the words thus Dauid desired a cleane Heart that so hee might haue a right Spirit for Blessed are the pure in heart they shall see God saith Christ Mat. 5.8 Wis 1.1.5 and the holy spirit of discipline will not abide in a soule when vnrighteousnesse commeth in The holy spirit of Prophesie is long since ceased and wee cannot be depriued of that which we neuer had but of this we may be sure that sin in our heart doth not a little bleare our eyes when we come to consider of Gods truth in his word and endeauour though not our selues to be yet to vnderstand those that were vndoubted Prophets But enough of Regeneration so farre as this Text doth teach vs what it is I come on to shew you briefly the last point of the Text which is Whence it proceeds It proceeds from God of him King Dauid beggeth it Create in me a cleane heart O God and well may he aske it of him for God doth promise the gift of this grace A new heart will I giue you and a new spirit will I put into you saith God Eze. cap. 36. and S. Paul in his Epistles doth often direct his prayers for these vnto God â—t how then doth Eze. c. 18. bid vs make vnto our selues new hearts and new spirits and Moses in the Law Deut. 10. bids vs circumcise the fore-skin of our hearts Surely not to note our power but our want that out of the conscience thereof we should seeke vnto the father of Lights from whom commeth euery good and perfect gift Iam. 1.17 Or if it be to note any power of ours it is but power to vse the outward meanes but the effect wished hath a higher cause which is the Spirit of God And indeed the true cause why the Holy Ghost speaketh so differenly sometimes calling vpon vs and sometimes willing vs to call vpon God is because Gods inward worke is seldome without our outward though the honour which God doth to the vse of the meanes must not derogate ought from Gods totall producing of the effects The more to be blamed is the Church of Rome who by aduancing the meanes impaire that honour which is due vnto God Let it stand then for a grounded Truth that Regeneration is the gift of God As it is Gods gift so it is no ordinary gift of his it is a worke of his great might and of his great mercy of his great might for it is a Creation Creation is either to make something of nothing or at least if that whereof it is made be something yet that thing hath no disposition to become that which it is made if you looke to the gift that is giuen by Regeneration surely that is made simply of nothing it is an effect that proceeds immediately from the Spirit who hath nothing out of which to worke that effect but his owne almighty power for non educiturè potentia naturae nature sendeth forth no such fruit If you looke vpon the Person that receiueth the grace then also Regeneration will proue to be a Creation for so farre is he from being disposed fitly to receiue grace Rom 8.7 Is 11.6 that hee is naturally opposite vnto it the wisedome of the flesh is enmity against God so saith the Apostle and the Prophet will tell vs that regenerating is like the changing of the nature of Tygers Lyons and Wolues c. a hard worke Saint Austin goeth so farre that hee thinketh it a harder matter to bring a sinner accustomed to an euill course into a right way then to create a world especially to bring him to entertaine the Christian faith which is foolishnes to the Gentile and a stumbling blocke to the Iew. The more absurd is the patronage of free will in the case of new birth the very word Creation doth refute it 1. Cor. 1.23 2. Cor. 5. Eph. 4. which Saint Paul vseth more then once and thereby both Testaments put vs in mind that wee can doe as little towards our spirituall creation as we could towards our naturall in regard of both we may vse that of the Psalm It is God that hath made vs and not we our selues both waies made vs by the power of a God Neither is it onely a worke of great power but of great mercy also that is intimated by the word Renew pulchre dixit innoua saith S. Chrysostome it is well said renew the house was built before which sinne ruined and grace doth re-edifie and indeed that this
is not the first time that we are beholding to Gods grace the very word Regeneration may teach we had this cleane heart and right spirit when we were first created for wee were created after Gods image sinne lost it grace restored it now you know that if a Tenant forfeit his Lease and a Land-lord after re-entry restore it to him againe this is a worke of his goodnesse which is more then a worke of his ability for many are able and doe it not therefore if any being able doe it the inducement is not his ability but his goodnesse the like must we conceiue of God it was his pittying mercie that imployed his almighty power to repaire what we had ruined to recouer what we had lost to restore what we had forfeited a cleane heart and a right spirit Finally both the creating and the renewing are actus continui workes that God neuer intermitteth otherwise we should quickly come to nothing or rather which is worse then nothing become fire-brands of hell for wee dayly forfeit by sin and God may daily take aduantage of our breach of his Couenant Adde hereunto that our Regeneration is not in facto but in fieri and therefore needeth a perpetuall influence and supportance for this cause though Dauid were now in the state of grace yet doth he begge grace of God though God had created in him a cleane heart yet doth he desire that God would create a cleane heart in him and though he bad renewed in him a right Spirit yet doth he pray that God would renew a right Spirit within him so doth he wisely prouide against forfeitures and religiously beg the increase of that which he had receiued But I conclude sicut rogauit Dauid it a debet vnusquisque nostrûm saith S. Hierom Dauids prayer is a praier that beseems vs all we all beare about vs a body of sin and we should all desire that it might be abolished We should indeed but who doth who doth enquire into the vncleannesse of his heart and the crookednesse of his spirit or who taketh notice whether there be in him at all any part of Regeneration nay who doth shew that there is any Nazianzene Oratione 43. writing de Encaeâ—ijs doth giue a good obseruation how a man should know whether his heart haue any part in this Creation or his spirit in this Renouation yesterday thou wert a time seruer to day thou art not ashamed of thy Sauiour Christ yesterday thou didst affect the praise of men to day thou settest more by an honest life yesterday thou wert delighted with vain spectacles to day thou art giuen to diuine meditations c. if thou find such a change Haec mutatio dextrae excelsi God hath put to his mercifull power to make thee a new man if it be otherwise with thee and the day following find thee as bad as thou wert the day before thou hast no part in Regeneration A fearfull case because the Psalmist mouing the question to God Psal 24. Who shall ascend into the mountaine of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place answers Euen he that hath innocent hands and a pure heart Wherfore be ye renewed in the spirit of your minds put on the New-Man Eph. 4.25 which after God is created in righteousnes true holines or because this is a worke too hard for any one of vs Let vs euery one pray with K. Dauid in this place Create in me a clean heart ô God renew a right spirit within me AMEN PSAL. 51. VERS 11. Cast mee not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from mee KIng Dauids desire set forth in the first part of this Psalme is that hee may be restored vnto and preserued in the state of grace How he desires to bee restored you haue hitherto seene you haue seene how hee sueth first in generall that Gods Mercie would relieue his Miserie Gods great mercy his deepe miserie Secondly in speciall how hee brancheth his owne sinne and Gods grace hee confesseth sinne which himselfe committed and that which he inherited from his parents and hee beggeth a two-fold grace that the cure may be proper to each kind of sinne finally he would not haue a plaister narrower then his sore nor a medicine that could not throughly remedy his disease Thus he desires to be restored But to be restored is not enough a Penitents desire must carrie him farther for how shall it appeare that hee doth vnfainedly sorrow for sinne and affect goodnesse except he be as desirous to continue in as to bee brought vnto the state of grace 〈◊〉 Pet. 2. Nay Saint Peter will tell vs that it were better neuer to haue knowne the way of righteousnesse then after wee haue knowne it to returne like dogges to our vomit and like swine to our wallowing in the myre Wherefore the second desire was necessarie for King Dauid and must bee exemplarie vnto vs. Let vs come then to it It is set downe in this and the following Verse and conceiued in a double prayer first in deprecation and secondly in supplication a prayer against that which King Dauid deserued and a prayer for that without which King Dauid could not perseuere we will meddle now onely with the former prayer But in the passage I may not forget a good note of Saint Bernards where he commends King Dauids method Serm. 3. de Penticost and obserues that after hee hath prayed Create in me a cleane heart O Lord renew a right spirit within me he prayeth seasonably Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me When we offend we fall into sinne and out of fauour and when we repent wee must not desire to be receiued into fauour vntill we are first acquitted from sinne otherwise wee shall betray that we wish there were no Sanction of the Law but as for the transgression of the Law we are not much moued therwith wheras the least sinne must be more irkesome to a repenting soule then the most grieuous punishment But let vs breake vp this prayer wherein I will note two things 1. the Manner and 2. the Matter the manner is a prayer against the matter is that which King Dauid deserued Now that which he deserued comprehends two fearefull iudgements 1. Reiection and 2. Depriuation I will cleare these two tearmes vnto you While we are in the state of grace wee haue communion with God and God hath communion with vs God receiueth vs into his family and we attend him we weare his liuerie and are knowne to belong vnto him the first giueth vs free accesse vnto his presence and the second is a participation of his holy spirit Sinne as much as lieth in it dissolues both these communions for we deserue by it first that God discharge vs of his seruice giue vs no longer place in his family which is that which I called Reiection Secondly we deserue that God take from
true the soueraigne good There is one thing moreouer meant by this phrase which is peculiar vnto Dauid and doth somwhat concerne all those that are in authority 1. Sam. ca. 16 and that is an heroicall spirit Numb 11. God gaue him one when hee anointed him first to be King so did he vnto Moses Exod. ca. 19. and the Elders which were chosen to assist him Though euery child of God must by a noble spirit testifie his parentage and that Kingly degree whereunto he is called of God yet they that are set ouer others must haue a principall spirit in a higher measure answerable to their charge must their gifts be seruilitie beseemes none lesse then those who are appointed guides to lead others out of thraldome The next point is King Dauids prayer vphold or stablish His late wofull experience had taught him that he was labilis and fragilis that he was apt to take a fall and with the fall a bruise therefore hee had good reason to pray God to hold him vp to strengthen him yea the best are mutable creatures as they were made of nothing so of themselues they would turne to nothing againe Therefore hee that standeth must pray that he may not fall that his house rest not vpon the Sands to be blowen downe by the winds or borne downe by the Waues but vpon a Rocke which will hold out against them both Secondly this word importeth that he that hath recouered a fall Clem. Alex. Stromat lib. â— desires that he may no more relapse Vilificat libertatem qui iterùm vult amittere it is a shrewd argument that he setteth light by a free spirit that doth not desire as well for to keepe it as for to haue it and the desire for to keepe it doth argue at how deare a rate we set it Thirdly Saint Bernards rule is true Quae modo sunt modo non sunt is qui verè est non acceptat nec in caducis istis potest vera aeternitas sibi complacere Vertue be it neuer so eminent pleaseth not God except it bee lasting he will haue euery one striue to resemble him as well in constancie as in sanctitie Finally this comfortable sense and generous spirit are the two supporters of perseuerance for what should moue him to fall from God that is heartned with the comfortable sense of Gods fauour and established by a generous spirit to doe him seruice Therefore Gregorie the Great giueth vs a good note In 〈◊〉 Psal that if wee meane to perseuere wee must take heed that we doe not seuer these Solet quibusdam contingere c. it falleth out too often saith he that men luld a sleepe with the ioy of saluation forget how feeble their knees are and begge not to be held vp with a free spirit and so slip before they are aware wherefore he addeth Ita me correctum sac gaudere de veniâ vt tamen nunquam desinam esse suspectus de culpâ Let me neuer so ioy in the pardon of my sinnes as that out of the consciousnesse of my owne frailtie I should not desire to be strengthned against sinne The last thing I noted vpon this Text is Who is the giuer of these gifts and it appeareth to bee God for to him King Dauid prayeth and what better proofe then that euery man seeketh it of him and thanketh him Serm 6. Dei onâ—â—e 〈◊〉 Cap. 6. 1. Cor. 1.31 if that he haue it What meane we saith Saint Cyprian by all the Lords Prayer Nisi vt in eo quod esse cepimus perseueremus Whereunto agreeth Saint Augustine and the Apostle telleth vs that he that glorieth must glorie in the Lord Vntill we come to God we can find no ground of stabilitie how glorious were the Angels in Heauen How holy was Adam in Paradise Both left vnto themselues are monuments of the frailtie of a creature If they how much more we that come so short of their gifts Wherefore God hauing shewed vs how little stedfastnesse there is in the foundation of nature Psal 94. buildeth vs vpon a surer foundation he buildeth vs vpon himselfe Hee is become our refuge and the strength of our considence And as he only can establish vs with a free spirit so only he can restore vnto vs the ioy of his saluation The earth may breath forth vapours and intercept the sun-shine but not the Earth but the Sunne it selfe must dispell those vapours that with his brightnesse hee may cheere the earth againe our sinnes may cloud the light of Gods countenance only Gods mercie can make it breake through that cloude and shed a comfortable influence into our soule I say only God that for sinne withdrew it from vs. It is not meant that hereupon we should grow idle but wee must not ouer-value our endeuours Heb. 3.12 wee must take heed that our Lampes goe not out That there be not in any of vs an euill heart of infidelitie to depart from the liuing God Psal 127. we must gird vp our loines and we must watch But yet wee must still remember that Except the Lord build the house they labour but in vaine that build it except the Lord keepe the Citie the watchman waketh but in vaine Tutiores saith Saint Austin Esay 46. Viuimus si totum Deo damus non nos illi ex parte nobis ex parte committimus wee are most secure while we value our owne endeauours at nought and giue all the glorie of our stabilitie to God Heare yee me O house of Iacob and all that remayne of the house of Israel which are borne of mee from the wombe and brought vp of me from the birth therefore vnto the old age I am the same euen I will beare you vnto the hoarie haires I haue made you I will also beare you and I will carrie you and I will deliuer you If God put his feare into our hearts we shall not depart from him if hee keepe vs none shall be able to take vs out of his hand Reade Colos 1. Philip. 1. I conclude though we can say with Saint Paul 2. Tim. 4. I haue fought a good sight I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith hence-foorth there is laid vp for me a Crowne of righteousnesse which God the righteous Iudge shall giue me at that day yet let vs with the foure and twentie Elders Cast downe our selues and our crownes before him that sitteth vpon the Throne and the Lambe saying Reue. 4.4 Prayse and honour and glorie and power be vnto him that sitteth vpon the Throne and to the Lambe for euermore AMEN PSAL. 51. VERSE 13. Then will I teach transgressors thy wayes and Sinners shall bee conuerted vnto thee WHen I brake vp the first part of this Psalme I told you that it was a Vow and therefore obserued therein the parts of a Vow a Desire and a Promise for when a man voweth there is something that he
conuerted thereby and let vs each hasten other in our returne toward thee Let vs be carefull to saue not our selues onely but others also that each may bee the others ioy when we shall both be presented spotlesse and blamelesse at the appearing of Christ. PSAL. 51. VERSE 14. Deliuer me from bloud guiltinesse O God thou God of my saluation and my tongue shall sing aloude of thy righteousnesse THe religious seruice which King Dauid vowed is the Edifying of others and the gâ—â—rifying of God how he will edifie others you haue heard and are to heare how he will glosie God God may be glorified either in regard of the particular sauom hâ— sheweth vs or the generall worth that is in himselfe Dauid promiseth to glorifie God in both respects At this time my Text doth occasion me to speake of the former wherein I will obserue first a spirituall Pange haâ—ouer taketh his Deuotion and then the Deuotion it selfe In the Pange we shall see what he seeleth and to whom he slieth he feeleth a sting of Conscience a remorse of Bloud-guiltinesse and being pained herewith he seeketh for ease he crieth Deliuer But he seeketh discretly and ardently discretly for he seeketh to him that can Deliuer to the Lord who is interested in the consciences of his creatures and as he can so he will he is the God of his childrens saluation This is his discretion which he warmeth with Zeale hee is earnest in his petition which you may gather out of the doubling of the name of God Deus Deus salutis meae Hauing thus ouercome the spirituall Pange that interrupted him hee falleth to his Deuotion wherein you must marke first the argument that he insisteth vpon and that is God Righteousnesse Secondly the manner how he doth extoll it which is publike and cheerefull publike for hee will vtter it by his tongue cheerefull for his tongue shall sing aloude These bee the particulars which wee must now looke into farther and in their order And first of spirituall Pangs in generall King Dauid had a pardon of this sinne particularly besides a generall promise that God would neuer withdraw his grace from him and yet we find him here perplext and distrest in conscience Though I did on a former Verse touch at the reasons hereof yet will it not be amisse that I a little farther enlarge this point There can be no doubt but Gods truth is infallible he cannot denie himselfe hee will neuer recall his word but yet Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis the vertues wherewith we entertaine Gods promises are as wee are imperfect because we art partly flesh and partly spirit our faith is not without doubting if their be imperfection in our faith which is the foundation of our spirituall life our Hope will be answerable it will not be without distrusting neither will our Charitie be better we cannot so loue but we will feare And why Could we cast our eyes onely vpon God his goodnesse must needes appeare wonderfull and so leaue a kind of amazednesse in vs neither can we easily beleeue that he should vouchsafe such fauor vnto man but we more often cast our eyes vpon our selues vpon our wickednesse whereby we haue broken Gods lawes vpon our vnthankfulnesse which haue set light by Gods blessings and this is able to stagger our faith much more especially when the Serpent shall plie vs with the representation of Gods iustice thereby indeauouring to ouer-whelme our Meditations vpon his mercies and shall presse vnto our conscience the imperfection of our faith hope and charitie so farre as to perswade vs that they haue no truth at all Here-hence spring those spirituall pangs in so much that euen in those which by grace haue giuen sinne a deadly wound you shall perceiue many pangs as it were of spirituall death and as men that are recouered out of an Ague haue many troublesome grudgings thereof that disquiet them not a little euen so Penitents aster enormous sinnes must looke for many a smarting twitch of the worme of conscience But to leaue spirituall Pangs in generall and come to that which in particular is toucht here in my Text he feeles are morse of bloud-guilâ—inesse the euill he feeles is exprest by the name of blouds so the word is in the originall and is vsed to note either our originall corruption or actuall sinne King Dauid in the former part of this Psalme confesseth both that sinne that he inherited from his Parents and that which hee contracted himselfe therefore of the Interpreters some pitch vpon the former and some the later Saint Austin pitcheth vpon the originall sinne and supposeth that Dauid was moued with remorse of his corrupt nature which is the cause of all sinne and indeede they that are borne in Concupiscence are said to be borne of flesh and bloud 1. Cor. 15. and Saint Paul meaneth that wee must put off that before we can be fully blest when he saith that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of heauen Finally it is that where at God pointeth Ezek. 16. when he speaketh thus to the Church When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine owne bloud I said vnto thee in thy bloud Liue. The reason of the phrase is because Vitaest in sanguine as the law speaketh the animall life subsisteth in the bloud and the abundance of bloud is the fuell of concupiscence whereupon some coniecture not improbably that to note this the legall expiation of sinne was made by the effusion of bloud Some goe not so farre as originall sinne but vnderstand the word of actuall which is the fruit of originall and because of actuall sins some are by Diuines called spirituall some carnall spirituall such as mooue from and are transacted principally by the reasonable faculties of the soule and haue but sequelam a concomitancie of animall carnall those that are suggested from and acted by the animall soule principally and haue but a concomitancie of the rationall by blouds they vnderstand that later kind of sinne And indeede such were the sinnes whereof King Dauid had now remorse his Adulterie his Murder both sprang from bloud adulterie from bloud luxuriant which made him transgresse in his concupiscible facultie murder from bloud ebullient which made him transgresse in his Irascible facultie The word Sanguines being plurall is by the Fathers obserued to note plentie and varietie of sinne some in one word parallell it with the first verse of this Psalme where Dauid mencioneth all his Iniquities and then there is a Synecdoche in the word species progenere the carnall sinnes put for all kind of sinnes which some resolue into sinnes past present and to come But it is best to keepe our selues vnto the Argument of that storie whereunto this Psalme alludes and then Varietie shall note Adulterie and Murder and Plentie shall consist in the many murders that followed the adultery Vriah was treacherously slaine and that he might be slaine treacherously many others
will not despise that in the word there is a Litote there is more meant then is exprest for the Holy Ghost meaneth that this morall seruice doth speed of both the effects of Sacrifices it yeeldeth a sweet sauour vnto God and he doth gratiously accept it it proueth a sauour of rest into man and his soule doth feele the comfort of it Finally out of the maine branches of the text wee will draw two Paradoxes First A broken and contrite heart are Gods Sacrifices therfore this is a Religious man-slaughter Secondly God doth not despise a broken and a contrite heart therefore God is neuer better pleased with vs then when we are least pleased with our selues You heare whereof I shall speake that you may learne to serue God truely by that which shall bee spoken listen to it diligently and with a religious eare Before I fall vpon the particulars I may not omit to shew you the coherence of this verse to the former the former did shew of how little worth Ceremoniall worship is this sheweth the great worth of the morall And well is this clause added vnto that for it is not enough to know what we must not doe in Gods seruice our chiefe care must be to know what we must doe what good will it doe mee to know that Turkes Iewes Infidels worship they know not what they know not how it must be my comfort to know the true God to know how to worship him as I ought The ground is cleare Negatiues are but to attend Affirmatiues and God doth not reward the forbearance of euill but the doing of Good forbearance doth hold backe the impediments that would hinder vs in our way but wee must not only auoid them but also goe the right way if wee will come to our iourneys end In a word our abilities are bestowed vpon vs not only to decline euill but also to doe good But to the Text. The first thing that I obserued was wherin morall seruice stands it stands in the humiliation of the inward man the inward man is here pointed out by two names the spirit and the heart How these words differ all are not agreed vpon a former verse I haue said something of them but in this place I thinke they note one and the selfe same reasonable soule as it vndergoeth a diuers consideration It hath a prerogatiue aboue the soule of a beast in that it can subsist though it be seuered from the body and so it commeth neere vnto the nature of Angels and with them communicateth in the name of Spirit which is a substance endued with vnderstanding and will But besides this separate Being it hath another which you may call coniunct it inhabiteth in and manifesteth it selfe by the body quickning and guiding our senses and our affections hence it is denominated from the body from the principall parts wherein it doth reside from none so often and so aptly as from the Heart which is the the principall seate thereof Neither is it without cause that the reasonable soule is remembred vnder both these names the Holy Ghost thereby giuing vs to vnderstand that whether we consider the powers of the soule inorganically as vnder the name of Spirit or else Organically as vnder the name of Heart either way considered they must be humbled wee must humble no lesse the superiour then the inferiour faculties of our soule for sinne hath infected both A second thing that wee must marke is that in our seruice God calleth not for Nostra but Nos not our Goods but our selues and to this end did hee command the people to put their hands vpon the Sacrifices to signifie whom it did represent and to accompany the Offering of the sacrifice with a zealous deuotion to testifie that themselues were to haue a feeling of that for which the beast was offered And indeed it was fit that he should offer himselfe that had offended that hee might feare to offend when hee saw that hee must smart if a beast onely should die and the paine there of might rid a sinner of his guilt few would forbeare sinne if any thing make them feare it is this that they must beare the burden of sinne themselues Secondly as wee must offer our selues so that which of our selues wee must offer is the better part our Spirit our Heart In all the Legall Sacrifices God reserued the Inwards to himselfe his meaning was to point out the parts which he desireth in vs hee desireth our Inwards they must be presented in our Sacrifice 1 Tim. 4.8 the Apostles rule is bodily exercise profiteth litle certainly very litle of it selfe it hath all his commendations from the Heart and the Spirit But there are two distinct reasons why these parts are principally required in morall seruice the first is because they are freest from hypocrisie Ier. 3.10 God cannot endure that we should turne vnto him in mendacio dissemblingly Now Simulation and Dissimulation are manifest in our body for we can personate therein whom we will we may so bee mask't as that no body shal know who we are but in the inward man we are our selues wee can there seeme no better nor no worse then we are there doth God behold vs and hee doth iudge of vs thereby A Second reason is the preualencie of those parts they haue the greatest hand in our sinne and must beare the greatest part in our repentance other parts and powers partake of sinne but by contagion which they contract by their attendance vpon the Spirit and the Heart attend then they must in repentance but the principall penitents must be the Heart and the Spirit vpon whom they attend But enough of the parts which must bee humbled Let vs now come to the humiliation of those parts they must be broken they must be contrite Betweene these wordes there is no great difference for Contrition is a breaking very small and the breaking here meant is a shiuering the English to shiuer commeth from the Hebrew here vsed which is Shauar and you know that to shiuer a thing is to breake it all to pieces Or if you will put a difference betweene the wordes then the first may note the beginning and the other the consummating of this humiliation as you know a thing may be first grosse bruised and that is breaking and then it may bee pounded all to pouder and that is the contrition of it But how doe these words agree with the former by the Heart and the Spirit you vnderstood the reasonable soule and hath the soule any parts can that bee turned into dust Surely no therefore these words are figuratiue they are resemblances borrowed from corporall things which doe most liuely set before vs the humiliation that is spirituall But it is a question whence these wordes are borrowed some fetch them from husbandry some from masonry either of them hath a faire ground in the Scripture They that fetch it from Husbandry for Ieremie and Hosea speake of
the detestation of sin committed for how can a man more clearely expresse that he doth abhorre his own wickednesse then by so breaking and afflicting of his owne both Heart and Spirit if he make them suffer for it it is an vndoubted signe that hee doth detest it A second thing required is that a man returne to God and that also is insinuated in a broken and contrite heart for seeing it is the hardnesse of heart that did shut God out what is the breaking of the heart but the letting of him in Yea this breaking and contrition being borrowed from the Sacrifice there was no incensio sine ascensione as the corporall so the spirituall fire doth not burne but it doth ascend therefore fitly doth the Holy Ghost call the Altar vpon which the Sacrifices were offered Misbach Gnoloth the Altar of Ascensions that is the Altar of burnt Sacrifices that doe ascend because all such morall worship imports a mans religious disposition to be reconciled vnto God Hitherto we haue spoken of the humiliation of a broken and contrite heart but we haue spoken nothing of the workemaster who it is that can so humble both the Heart and Spirit Hee seemeth not here to be exprest and yet it is fit he be knowen and if we enquire we shall find that there is a double Author The principall one is God It is a good Rule of Saint Austins De fide ad Petr. c. 31. firmiter tene neminem hic posse paenitentiam agere nisi quem Deus illuminauerit gratuità misericordià conuerterit Saint Paul warranteth this Rule the seruant of the Lord must in meeknesse instruct those that are contrary minded 〈◊〉 2.25 and see if God peraduenture will giue them repentance But it is true also that the Heart and the Spirit that is broken and contrite hath a hand in its owne breaking and contrition of it selfe our owne vnderstanding doth discouer our sinne and our owne heart doth melt it selfe vpon the sight thereof yea it would be no vertue of ours were it not produced by our owne reasonable faculties It is true that the Crosse sometimes and sometimes discontent worldly discontent because things goe not with vs as flesh and bloud desireth or spirituall discontent because the worme of Conscience doth bite vs and giueth vs no rest doe oftentimes humble vs but these things make not vp our broken and contrite heart except we be as well actiue as passiue therein As Christ in his so we in our Sacrifices must be Sacerdotes Sacrificium we must be both the thing that is offered and the offerers we must as willingly humble our selues as be deeply humbled But here we must obserue a good Rule of Saint Bernards when we say that this humiliation is from God 〈…〉 Arbiâ—â— and from man from Gods Grace and mans freewill we doe not meane that these are co-ordinate but subordinate Non partim gratia partim liberum arbitrium Grace and freewill doe not share the worke betweene them sed totum singula peragunt each of them doth performe the whole worke Grace doth it wholly freewill doth it wholly sed vt totum in illo sic totum ex illâ As the whole humiliation is immediately wrought by the freewill of man so is the freewill of man inabled thereunto by the Grace of God Grace determineth the wil if not physically at least morally But to conclude this poynt We often read in the Prophets that God doth threaten he will conterere peccatores crush sinners all to pieces Saint Basil telleth vs that there is a remedy against it that is contrition is to be opposed against contrition In â—say 13. if we will humble our selues God will neuer humble vs. I haue dwelt long enough in opening our morall seruice I come now to shew you how it is esteemed Here the first thing that I find is that what was denyed to the ceremoniall is yeelded to the morall seruice First there it was denyed that God doth require that but here it is affirmed that God requireth this for a broken and contrite heart is Gods Sacrifices And see here at first we meere with a rubbe for in corporall Sacrifices a man might not offer that which was broken or bruised Leuit. 22. it should seeme that in spirituall he may But the reconciliation is easie for those Sacrifices did principally note Christ who was without all blemish before he was offered and yet being such he was broken for our sinnes my Text doth not compare man to the Sacrifice before it was offered though we should all striue to be as good as we may when we present our selues to God but the comparison is of man to the sacrifice after it is offered and then it may without fault bee broken yea it is brought thither to the end that it may be broken neither except it be broken is it any Sacrifice But to the maine point I told you there are two propositions in these words the Sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite heart First That God which careth not for the slaughter of beasts requireth the mortification of men that is the slaughter which he requireth therfore is the name Seuach giuen vnto it which signifieth a beast slaine And this bringeth vs on to another note concerning a broken and a contrite heart and that is Our humiliation is the slaying of the beastiality of our nature And indeed euery lust is a very beast and for them doth the Holy Ghost call men by the name of many beasts sometimes swine sometimes dogges sometimes foxes hee that doth abolish these lusts doth slay so many beasts A second proposition is That one mortification of man is to God insteed of all the sacrificing of Beasts All that were required to reconciliation or all simply surely we may vnderstand it both wayes It may be Sacrifices if it comprehend onely the Expiatorie and Dedicatorie as it doth so farte as God requireth these from vs and accepteth vs in Christ for he requireth no other Expiation of vs then a godly sorrow detesting sinne neither doth he expect any other Dedication then that wee be wholly conuerted vnto God and I shewed you how both these are represented in the broken and contrite heart Will you extend it to all Sacrifices you may Abulens in Exod. Tom 2. p. 131. for all had some reference to Reconciliation euen those which seeme to haue least the Votiue and Eucharisticall for though their principall ends were to acknowledge or obtaine some blessing of or from God yet the manner of the sacrificing so farre as it was common to the Sacrifice for sin did withall deprecate Gods wrath and acknowledge that sinne made the offerer vnworthy as well of that blessing which he had receiued as of that which he begged Which must bee obserued because this broken and contrite heart looketh to the praise of God which Dauid not many verses before promised he would shew forth And
indeed a repentant confession is in the Scripture called a giuing glory vnto God Finally these broken Spirit and heart are the Sacrifices which God calleth for for he is a Spirit and what can be more sutable vnto him then that which is spirituall therefore euer in the legall hee did ayme at the spirituall as you may gather out of the new Testament the Gospell is set forth in termes of the Law to preach is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to play the Priest Rom. 15.16 the people conuerted are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sacrifice and Oblation the skilfull handling of the Scriptures 2. Tim. 2.15 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly to diuide the Word yea Heb. 4. the Word it selfe is by Saint Paul said to bee sharper then any two edged sword or Sacrificers knife piercing euen to the diuiding asunder of the soule and the Spirit the whole passage is full of sacrificing phrases I may not omit one thing wee are called a spirituall Priesthood 1. Pet. 2 5. yea the whole body of the Church is so called a Priest must not bee without his Sacrifice and here are the Sacrifices which God will haue euery one offer euen euery lay man may offer these Sacrifices vnto God We may nay we must offer them but how will God accept them surely very well A broken and a contrite heart God will not despise Men vse to make little account of yea they make themselues sport with those that are broken hearted and of a contrite Spirit that mourne like doues and lament in the bitternesse of their soules Dauid complaineth in his Penitentials yea our Sauiour Christ himselfe in the 22. and other Psalmes that when they were humbled then they were derided And indeed in the iudgement of flesh and bloud these things seeme to be of no value they seeme to be contemptible but he that doth vse them shall finde that he shall neuer be confounded of God Ioel. 2 13. the reason wee haue in Ioel rent your hearts and not your garments c. for the Lord is gratious mercifull long suffering Esay 24. c. he will not breake a bruised reed nor quench smoking flaxe hee that would not despise Ahab in his humiliation nor Manasses will much lesse despise a Mary Magdalene a Saint Peter a Publican verily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will neuer set them at naught But the word hath in it a Litote more is meant then is exprest God is so farre from despising that he maketh great account thereof I told you that it is vouchsafed the double effect of Sacrifices First it yeeldeth a sweet smell vnto God Luke 15.7 for there is ioy in heauen for one sinner that repenteth yea more ioy then for ninety and nine that need not repentance and in the Prophet Esay 66. to this man will I looke euen to him that is poore and of a contrite Spirit C. 57. and trembleth at my Word Secondly it yeeldeth a smell of rest vnto man for so we read in Esay I dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit to reuiue the spirit of the humble and te reuiue the heart of the contrite ones De interiore domo c. 37. Saint Bernard coupleth them both together Animam poenitentiae lachrymis afflictam Spiritus Paracletus libenter consolatur frequenter visitat ad veniae fiduciam plenè reformat Therefore let vs learne of Saint Austin this good lesson Aug. cont 5. Hereses quaeramus lapidem quo percutiatur incredulus percussus quassetur quassatus comminuatur comminutus in puluerem conuertatur conuersus in puluerem compluatur complutus seratur satus ferat fructum non quod igne absumatur sed quod in horreo condatur But I may not dwell longer hereon There are two other notes which I drew the one out of Gods desire of the other out of his delight in these Sacrifices I call them Paradoxes And so indeed they seeme to flesh and blood God requireth a broken a contrite heart and spirit as his Sacrifices then there is a certaine religious man-slaughter And so there is a man may holily kill himselfe breake his heart and crush his spirit as it were to dust Mat. 5.29 but this must be done not corporally but spiritually as elsewhere we are willed to plucke out our offending eyes and cut off our offending hands we must mortifie not our nature but the corruption that cleaueth to our nature such slaying God allowes for indeed it is a quickening life in sinne is death and the death of sinne is life The second Paradoxe is That we neuer please God better then when we please our selues least seeing God doth not despise a broken and a contrite heart for we are full of imperfections of which God would haue vs rid our selues therefore he is glad when he seeth vs play the good Husbands weeding our fields good Physitians purging of our corrupt humours carefull not to foster or fauour ought that may offend him or cause our owne ruine Now this we cannot doe without much disquieting and afflicting of our selues omnis medicina salutaris facit dolorem our corupt nature will repine at such alterations But to draw to an end What our Sauiour Christ said when he went to raise Lazarus this sicknesse is not vnto death that must wee conceiue of all those whom we see to haue broken and contrite hearts Mat. 17. rather as he that was to be dispossest was immediately before the diuell came out miserably torne and turmoyld and euen left for dead vntill Christ put out his hand and raised him vp safe and sound Euen so shall wee feele the greatest conflicts with sin when we are euen ready to be set free by grace Saint Austin setteth himselfe out for an excellent monument hereof in his Confessions Secondly seing God is delighted with this Sacrifice we are forbidden to despaire of our owne vnworthines as to presume of our righteousnes this Text doth warrant vs this comfort when in these fits wee seeme to be furthest from God God bringeth vs then nearest vnto himselfe for this pang is a fore-runner of health but senslesse sinners haue no part in this consolation Thirdly God in this morall seruice hath equalled the rich and the poore hee doth hereby take off their eyes from their worldly estate wherein they differ and sixeth them on that wherein they are equall In these Sacrifices the poore may bee as forward as the rich and if there bee any disaduantage it is on the rich mans side for he thinking that hee hath something to giue besides himselfe doth giue himselfe to God the lesse specially in this kind of seruice which rich men desire not to bee acquainted with God herein taketh downe their pride because he passeth by all their wealth and setteth his estimate vpon humiliation As for the poore that hath nothing to giue but himselfe God
the Text wee sound another merit and that is meritum dignationis the interest therein vouchsafed vs. Were there none but meritum dignitatis there were ground enough of our loue but this meritum dignationis the interest that we haue doth quicken vs to take notice of the worth that is in the thing Euery man naturally loueth that which is his owne and if the thing bee good it doth him the more good to looke vpon it Let a man walke in a faire Meadow it pleaseth him but it will please him much more if it bee his owne his eye will be more curious in prying into euery part and euery thing will please him the better so it is in a Corne field in an Orchard in a House if they bee good the more they are ours the more contentedly doe they affect vs for this word meum is suauissima amor is illecebra it is as good as an amatorie potion Then marke put tuus to Dominus and if so bee the Lord be louely how much more louely should hee bee in our eyes if hee bee our Lord and doth appropriate that infinite good that hee hath vnto vs hee holdeth of none but of himselfe and who would not ioy to bee owner of that good which is independent Hee is whatsoeuer heart can desire and who can but reioyce in hauing him in hauing of whom wee can want nothing Put tuus to Deus and see how it doth improue the motiue of loue there also Had wee nothing to doe with so tender hearted a Father so sweet natured a Sonne so gracious a Comforter as is the holy Spirit we could not but loue them if we did know them But when wee doe heare that these bowels of the Father doe yearne vpon vs that wee are the Spouse whom the Sonne of God doth wooe and that the holy Ghost vouchsafeth to make his Temple of vs how can wee bee but loue-sicke how can our Hearts choose but melt and our Affections gaspe and bray like the Hart after those Persons which haue in them so strong so manifold persuasions to loue But alas wee that in regard of our carnall loue are easily transported by any seeming good are altogether senslesse when wee are sollicited by our spirituall good so senslesse that God is passionate in his Prophets when hee doth taxe our more then bruitishnesse herein Isay 1. Hearken O heauen heare O earth for the Lord hath spoken I haue nourished and brought vp children and they haue rebelled against mee the oxe knoweth his owner and the asse his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider Ier. 3. Can a mayd forget her ornaments or a bride her attire yet hath my people forgotten me dayes without number Wee doe loue our corporall benefactors at least while they are doing vs good but our spirituall benefactor wee forget euen while hee is doing vs good for when is hee not doing it wee cannot looke vpon our soules our bodies our state but wee see the perpetuall influence of his goodnesse and yet Tuus worketh little here and though God vouchsafe vs a great interest yet are wee little moued therewith Wee can loue a man in whom there are so many defects to allay the regard of his goodnesse and from whom we may receiue as much wrong as fauour how much more should we loue God in whom there is no defect and from whom thou canst receiue nothing but good I haue shewed you the reason of loue which is included in the name it followeth that I now come on to the dutie that is required and that is Loue. Wherein we are first to obserue that God speaketh not vnto vs as vnto seruants but as vnto friends hee would not haue vs in his seruice expresse a spirit of seruitude in feare but of adoption in loue hee would not bee feared as a Lord but loued as a Father O derint dum metuant is a Tyrants voyce God will haue all his seruants ingenuous hee will haue our seruice as naturall as is our allegiance Wherein the King of Heauen giueth a good patterne to all Kings and Gouernours in earth Though God hath qualified vs many wayes to doe him seruice yet doth hee in this word diliges Loue shew what hee doth principally respect and his eyes are vpon nothing so much as our Loue not on our wit our wealth our honour c. yea all other things are valued according to our Loue and without Loue they are nothing worth And why Loue is that which setteth all a worke for he that loueth will keepe Gods commandements hee will doe no euill But wee may not forget that seeing this Loue hath for its obiect him that is so farre aboue vs wee must not seuer it from Reuerence which must qualisie the loue which we owe to our Superiors in expressing our affection wee must not forget our distance yea and our feare in regard of our flesh may bee seruile to awe it and keepe it downe though it must bee also filiall in regard of the spirit to keepe it in heart I should now if the time would giue leaue shew you how those things that are required in loue must be applyed vnto this obiect The first propertie of Loue is Vnion and we should endeauor to become one with the Lord to bee transformed into him and as neere as a Creature can partake of his Creator partake of the diuine nature Wee should desire Vnion also with God with God the Father by Adoption with God the Sonne by a spirituall Wedlocke with God the holy Ghost by entertaining him as his Temple wee should so grow one with all three persons From this Vnion our Loue should come on to a Communion Communion in that infinite good which you heard is in the Lord for though Vnion bee a great aduancement of our Nature yet doth our comfort stand in the Communion neither did God euer intend the Vnion but for the Communion As wee must haue Communion with the Lord so with God also as Children wee must communicate in the inheritance of our Father as a Spouse in the honour and state of a Bride-groome as the Temple in the ornaments and endowments thereof Yea in this Communion there must appeare Beneuolentia Benesicentia there must appeare an intercourse of good will and good deeds betweene the Lord God and vs otherwise wee doe not loue as wee should This is not all the seate of Loue must be exercised also the Heart for the loue of God must bee free God doth not respect forced Loue. The Minde God will bee knowne before hee is loued and hee will haue them that loue him to meditate vpon him hee will not regard an vndiscreete Loue. Thy Soule must bee exercised if thou dost not long after him earnestly and take sweet content in him thou dost not loue Finally thy Courage must bee employed thou must bee as resolute to compasse this spirituall Vnion and Communion as carnall wooers are
directed hereby will returne a true verdict and indict vs of no lesse sinne then we haue committed Thirdly as a man must conuict himselfe according to the Law so according to the Law must hee doome himselfe acknowledge whatsoeuer is due to a wretched sinner what place what state what worme what fire what losse what paine that all these are due vnto himselfe this Intrinsecall consideration of the Law must euery one haue that will obserue Gods Couenant But he must not rest here he must come on to the Extrinsecall the supernaturall Power of the Law whereat the Lawgiuer did finally aime man finding no innocencie in himselfe must seeke it in Christ hee must vnload his conscience vpon the propitiatorie Sacrifice and wash his garments white in the bloud of that Lambe through confidence in Christs death hee must insult against that death which is the wages of his sinne Rom 6. Finally what was impossible for the Law by reason of the weaknesse of his flesh Rom. 8. this must be his comfort that God sending his owne Sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh that the righteousnesse of the Law might bee fulfilled in vs who walke not after the flesh but after the spirit You see what it is to keepe the Couenant of God I may not omit the reason why God calleth it his Couenant and the reason is twofold First because we being inferiours and enemies could not prescribe any Articles to God but were to take such as he was pleased to prescribe both to himselfe and vs so that though there be two parties to the Conenant yet is there but one that proscribes And we may well be content with it for being in that case that we were in wee could not haue wisht for so much as God hath done for vs. A second Reason is because in point of Religion couenanting with any other is forbidden God brooketh not that he hauing appropriated himselfe as it were vnto vs wee should communicate vnto others the honour that is due to him The Couenant of God is of the nature of those leagues which require intire offensiue and defensiue seruice we must haue to doe with no others but for the Lord and in the Lord. I draw to an end Let vs lay together the two parts of the Text and so you may learne two good lessons That which in the former part is called Gods voice is in the later part called Gods Couenant the later name sweetens the former the first is imperious the second is gratious and who would not heare that voice the argument whereof is nothing but Gods wonderfull fauour though the pride of our nature be impatient to be commanded yet can it not chuse but take it for a great honour that wee are contracted with by the Soueraigne Lord of Heauen and Earth that we are contracted with about our heauenly aduancement and our euerlasting emolument Our second Lesson is That seeing to heare Gods Voice is to keepe his Couenant the breach of our dutie is not only Sin but Persidiousnesse our euill deseruing of God is aggrauated by Gods well deseruing of vs which we should well obserue for if we haue not lost all ingenuitie the due consideration hereof will worke in vs the deeper remorse for sinne past and be vnto vs the stronger preseruatiue against sinne to come Adde a third Lesson that hearing the Voice is put before keeping the Couenant because that is a meanes vnto this for we cannot keepe Gods Couenant but by the grace which we receiue by hearing his Voice I will end with the Prayer of King Dauid TEach me Psal 119 33 34 O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it vnto the end giue me vnderstanding and I shall keepe thy Law yea I shall obserue it with my whole heart The fourth Sermon EXODVS 19. VERS 5 6. Then shall yee be a peculiar treasure vnto mee aboue all people for all the earth is mine And yee shall be vnto me a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation IN the message which God sent by Moses to Israel testifying vpon what tearmes he would couenant with them there are as heretofore I haue obserued two remarkabe points the first teaching What God doth require the second What God doth offer And these points must be considered first in themselues wee must see what they meane then betweene themselues we must see how the one depends vpon the other I haue handled the first of these points I haue shewed you what God requires of Israel he requires their absolute obedience and their constant fidelitie that they heare his voice indeed and that they keepe his Couenant It followeth that I now come on to the second point that I shew you what God offers and that which he offers vnto Israel is a gracious Prerogatiue A Prerogatiue is some great good vouchsafed vs wherein wee exceed others and in Gods offer there is a manifold good contained This good is first specified then it is amplified In specifying it God doth first resemble it he telleth the Israelites they shall bee a pecullar treasure Then he brancheth it into a double blessing an eminencie of their state They shall be a Kingdome of Priests and a Sanctitie of their persons They shall be an holy Nation These blessings so specified are also amplified in the words Eritis mihi yee shall be to me It is a great blessing to be a peculiar treasure to be a royall Priesthood to be an holy Nation but to he any of these how much more to bee all these vnto God doth not a little improue our blessing You see the Good is great which they are vouchsafed But wee doe not yet see that the hauing of it is a Prerogatiue It becomes then such if it be not a common good and if therein wee goe beyond others and such is Israels blessing that which God will vouchsafe them to be they shall be aboue all other Nations The offer you see doth containe a Prerogatiue But this Prerogatiue is moreouer Gracious gracious whether you respect the Receiuer or the Giuer the receiuer vos yee persons of no worth the giuer God that hath no want all the earth is mine in so litle worth of theirs and lesse want of Gods to honour them so farre must needs be a worke of Grace I haue laid before you Gods offer All Saints day it deserues your attentiue listning vnto it the day which we solemnize putteth vs in mind of our interest therein and wee may become all Saints because this gracious Prerogatiue is offered to vs all Wherefore that we may partake it let our diligent eares quicken the desire of our hearts to entertaine these particulars which I shall now vnfold vnto you briefly and in their order I begin with the Prerogatiue The Good therein offered is first resembled vnto a peculiar treasure Of the goods which a man hath if a man haue much goods
Esay 6. Esayes lips were touched with a coale from the Altar before he could receiue his message When we come before God wee must endeuour to bee like vnto him Leiuit 11.44 Holy as hee is holy for God is a God of pure eyes Habak 1 13. and can behold no iniquitie such as bee wicked cannot stand before him Wherefore clense your hands Iames 4.8 yee sinners and purge your hearts yee double-minded If he that was inuited to the mariage was challenged for wanting his wedding garment how shall God take it at his Spouses hand if she come vnprepared We reade Ezech. 16 how God trimmed her against that day the day of Espousals and how he will trimme her against the mariage day we may reade Reuel 21 But I cannot stand to amplifie these things To draw to an end I will put you in minde to doe that to a good purpose which you vsually dâ—e You put on cleane linnen your best clothes and how often doe you looke in a glasse to see that all bee handsome before you shew your selues in the Church to your Neighbours I was about to say that they may see how gay you are but I will hope in Charitie you doe it out of good manners to God You that will not come slouenly before your betters should doe well not to come stouenly before the Lord of Heauen and Earth But remember that God that approueth this outward decencie requireth the inward much more he will haue you lift vp to him not only cleane hands but pure hands also hee will haue you not only to heare his Word Luke 8. v 15. but also to receiue it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into an honest and good heart A neat outside and a slouenly inside is like a painted sepulchre full of dead mens bones And most Churches are full of such painted sepulchres They are a generation cleane in their owne eyes but not washed from that filthinesse Prou. 30. I wish better to you and I hope better of you Therefore I exhort you I exhort my selfe in the words of the Prophet Esay Goe out of her expounded by the Apostle 2. Cor. 7. or briefly in the words of the Apostle Let vs clense our selues from all vncleannesse both of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of God And that this exhortation may succeed with vs no worse then Moses did with the Israelites for they did as they were commanded Verse 14. and obserued the first stipulation 1. Thess 5 23. Verse 5. The very God of peace sanctifie vs throughout in spirit soule and bodie and keepe vs blamelesse to the comming of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ At what time hauing had our fruâ— here in Holinesse our end shall be euerlasting life This God grant vs for lesus Christ his sake To whom c. Blessed are the pure in heart 〈◊〉 8. for they shall see God The ninth Sermon EXODVS 19. VERS 12.13.21.24 12. And thou shalt set bounds vnto the people round about saying Take heede to your selues that yee goe not vp into the Mount or touch the border of it whosoeuer toucheth the Mount shall surely be put to death 13. There shall not a hand touch it but he shall surely be stoned or shot through whether it be beast or man it shall not liue when the Trumpet soundeth long they shall come vp to the Mount THat branch of Gods order which prepared the Israelites â—o receiue the Law required their Puritie and their Modestie I spake last of their Puritie I come now to speake of their Modestie It is deliuered in those words that now I haue read vnto you Therein we must obserue that Moses had his charge and the Israelites had theirs Moses charge is to make a fence betweene the people and the Hill hee must set bounds round about the people The Israelites charge is they must not breake through the fence made by Moses They must not goe vp into the Mountaine The Israelites must not But they are diuided into common People and the Priests the Prohibition is laide vpon them both vpon the People in this 12. verse and in the 24. verse it is laid vpon the Priests Moses is to bid both take heede vnto themselues Neither to themselues onely but to their beasts also they are put into the number verse 13. Besides this in the Prohibition the text doth lead vs to consider the stricktnesse wherewith the Israelites were to obserue it and the sharpnesse of the punishment which they were to vndergoe if they presume to violate it The stricktnesse is great for they might not transgresse the bounds set them either Cominùs that is at hand by so much as touching the border making the very first and least approach vnto it there can be no lesse then touch and the first touch is in the border As they must not transgresse Cominùs so must they not Eminus aloofe they must not gaze on the Hill and you know the eye can goe whether the foote cannot come God will haue the first Inlet and the first Out-let of sinne to be heeded And hee will haue them both heeded vnder a Paine a sharpe Paine it is no lesse then death the Transgressour must die But obserue touching this death that it is such as is inflicted vpon an execrable thing and the doome thereof is vnpardonable See both these points in the text First the execrablenesse of the Transgressour all must abhorre him for No hand may touch him and yet all must be against him for they must stone him with stones or shoote him through with Darts And he that dieth so dieth as an execrable thing He that Transgresseth must die that death without remission Moriendo morietur he shall certainely die Non viuet he shall not liue both phrases are peremptorie they leaue no place for pardon Not for the pardon of any one for the text saith Quicunque Whosoeuer shall presume to transgresse be hee of the People or bee he of the Priests be he a reasonable creature or be he a beast the doome is vnchangeable They must die Die certainely for though they scape the hands of men yet they shall not scape God will breake out vpon them as we read verse 24. especially vpon the greatest of them which are otherwise most likely to scape He will breake out vpon the Priests Finally obserue that the charge of the Israelites is often repeated and limited to a time you haue it in my Text and you haue it againe and againe in the 21 22 23. and 24. verses what God will haue carefully obeyed of that he will haue vs often remembred But our obedience is limited Though in morals our dueties are euerlasting yet our ceremonials doe last but for a time When the Trumpet soundeth long then the Israelites may goe vp into the Mount You haue heard the particulars whereof I meane to intreate on this text they all Preach vnto vs Modestie to bee
Malum culpae and Malum paenae Sinne and the wages thereof hee telleth them that they were free from neither deepe in sinne for they were a generation of Vipers in danger of the wages of sinne which is the wrath to come In danger they were of it and yet they were not aware for Who had forewarned them to â—ite from the wrath to come No master as yet had taught them that leison So he opened their case But here to haue ended his Sermon had beene to leaue them to an vn 〈…〉 end euen to desperation but hee doth not leaue them so as 〈◊〉 would haue them throughly to vnderstand their owne case So doth 〈…〉 prescribe them a good course his words are plaine but 〈…〉 of them is darke by a few propositions I will make it 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 was to haue a double being in the Couenant an here 〈…〉 the hereditarie was nothing but the birth-righ which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad rem be that lineally descended from Abraham might claâ—me to bee admitted into the Couenant which God made with him The posseâ—â—orte consisted in his personall grace which gaue him Ius inre when hee did not onely descend from Abraham according to the flesh but communicated also with him in the graces of the spirit These two beings in the Couenant were to concurre in euerie Iew and they could not bee scuered without danger danger not to the Couâ—nant but to the Iew. Now marke Saint Iohns words hee sheweth that the Iewes did separate the Personallgrace from their Birth right wherefore he calleth vpon them to remedie that bring forth fruites worthy of Repentance This is the Personall grace which Saint Iohn will haue the Iewes adde to their Buth right and which hee telleth them they cannot separate without danger danger to themselues not to the Couenant To themselues Begin not to say with your selues We haue Abraham to 〈◊〉 father We haue Abraham to our father is too single a plea it pleadâ—â—h onely the birth right God can deriue that vnto others without 〈◊〉 This Couenant he can raise children vnto Abraham of the verie steres And he can â—ustly according to his Couenant reward you as you deserue roote you out of that family Now â—â—the 〈◊〉 c. You see what is the substance of this Scripture and the 〈◊〉 that I shall handle thereon not all at this time but so many as the time will permâ—â— Consider what I say and the Lord giue vs vnderstanding in all things I begin at the persons and of them first consider the Number the naâ—â—â— great a Multitude in the originall it is Multitudes Saint Matthâ—â— conâ—â—â—imes it by particularising the seuerall companies But whereas the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie either the qualitie or the quantitie of persons the qualitie and so is vsed for the vulgar people whom in English wee call the Multitude or else may signifie their quantitie here it is taken not for qualitie but quantitie For the persons are many in number Ierusalem came out all Iudaea came out and so did all the confines of Iordan Matth. 3. so saith S. Matthew and he saith also that amongst them that came out there were more then vulgar persons for there were Pharisees Saduces Antiq. lib. 3. cap. 14 de Bellâ— Iudaic. lib. 2. c. â— persons of principall note amongst the Iews as appeares not only in the Gospel but also in Iosephus And of those there came a great many so many as that some would haue the word Multitude in Saint Luke to be restrained vnto them according to the direction of Saint Matthew in whom this sharpe Sermon seemeth to be made onely vnto the Pharisees and Saduces But because hypocrisie might bee common vnto more we will take the words at large and concerning the Multitude obserue this that though they had lost the true knowledge of the Messias yet the hope of a Messias they had not lost they hearkned diligently after him Their calamitie sharpned their desire such was their miserie vnder the Romanes that no person either seditious or superstitious promised newes of the Messias but he was flockt vnto by men of all sorts we haue a touch at it in the Acts but in Iosephus it is deliuered more at large Acts 5. The same God that in punishment of their grosse mistake of the Messias suffered them to bee abused by Impostors honoured the comming of the true Messias with resort of no small numbers to his harbinger And this agreeth well with those titles that the Scripture giueth vnto Saint Iohn he is called the voice of a crier he was heard farre and rowsed many he was a burning Lampe he shined cleare and drew many his doctrine his life were both such and so powerfull as be seemed the harbinger of Christ that harbinger that was to take vp many lodgings for him by them Saint Iohn preuailed And Ministers must herein imitate him and the people must imitate these multitudes they must learne of them to come forth And so from the persons I come to their disposition They seeme well disposed first in their Paines they came from home vnto Saint Iohn and some of them came somewhat farre The principle is good and ancient that men that will serue God must goe from their owne home though a man may serue God at home yet the sollemne place of worship was commonly distinct from the priuate home so was it euen in the dayes of Adam as Bertram obserueth it is more cleare in the dayes of the Patriarches but most of all in the time of the Tabernacle and Temple to say nothing of the Synagogues and the most Christian Emperours did not disdaine to come into publique assemblies of the Church As Religion grew cold so priuate Oratories were â—rected at first onely for Kings afterward for Peeres and now scarce any man of more then ordinarie ranke that must not haue a Church in his owne house Men thinke themselues too good to sort with the common assembly But though their bee a subordination of States in the Common-weale yet this subordination ceaseth when we come into the Church where all should alike bow and pray heare and obey as hauing but one God one Sauiour one Faith one Hope and all these farre from respect of persons whereupon Saint Paul grounded his exhortation Heb. 10 15. which I also renue vnto you Forsake not the assembly as some doe In a word wee must goe out to Saint Iohn Baptist not from our home only wee must goe from our state also these Iewes did goe out from their houses indeed but not from themselues and so their paines was rather great then good not like Abraham that did not only come out from his fathers house but from his Idolatrie also especially if wee come to receiue sacred things wee must forsake our former euill wayes Let vs vs see their pretence That cannot be disliked they went to be baptized Baptisme was a Sacrament wherewith God began the New
God then it can be by any man The second difference is in the measure a double measure of the stroake and of the time Touching the stroake Nazianzen obserues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naziá Orat. 15. p. 228. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in this world God doth allay his seueritie with mercie but they that shall be punished in the world to come shall drinke the very dregges of the cup of his wrath the iudgements in this life are but the smoke of wrath the preface vnto torments such stripes as Schoolemasters giue vnto little children that learn their A.B.C. But the iudgments in the world to come they are more then smoke they are the flaming fire it selfe read Mal. 3.4 they are more they the preface to torments they are the torments themselues so we read of the rich Glutton that he was in the torments Finally they are more then childrens smart they are the stripes of the oldest Truants such as are prouided for the Deuill and his Angels Eâ—eck 8.18 Then God will deale in his furie his mercie will not spare neither will hee haue pitie and though they crie in his eares with a loud voice hee will not heare them If any bodie desire to know more of the measure of the stroake let him reade the Prophets they are copious in amplifying the terrour of the Lords Day Besides this measure of the stroake there is a measure also of the time for in this world afflictions are but momentanie in the world to come they are eternall here heauinesse may continue for a night but ioy commeth againe in the morning as God doth not suffer all his indignation to arise so is he very quickly reconciled so quickly that it scarce can be remembred that he was offended certainly it is too vsually forgotten But in the world to come wrath is permanent Affliction as Nahum speaketh ariseth not the second time the worme neuer dieth neither doth the fire euer goe out This being the oddes in the measure it proueth that in comparison that which is inflicted in this life deserueth not the name of wrath especially if you adde the third difference the difference in the End Saint Austine doth giue vs a distinction of wrath Conâ— 2. â—â— Psal 58 â—a consunâ—ptiâ—nis Ira consummationis and telleth vs that there is a wrath consuming and a wrath consummating a wrath which God inflicts to make men the better and a wrath which God inflicts therewith vtterly to destroy men that is the wrath which he inflicteth in this life and this is the wrath which hee inflicteth in the life to come And indeed God in this life doth not punish man but the Deuill God reserueth mans punishment to the life to come The corruption that is in our nature is the Deuils possession in working out that God worketh out him and it is his intent to worke him out his stroakes here are like a physicall potion giuen to a sicke bodie not to abide in him but when it hath drawne vnto it selfe the matter of his disease to be cast out againe with the humour that did offend him This is the true end of Gods chastisements in this world But it is as true that this physicke doth not alwayes sort this effect the fault is not in the potion but in the stomacke that taketh it if the stomacke haue strength to make vse of the potion then doth it recouer thereby but if it want strength then doth the potion increase the peccant humours and augment the patients disease The wicked for want of grace are the worse for their punishment it proueth vnto them wrath of consumption but they that haue grace are the better wrath to them is better then laughter as the Preacher speaketh because by the sadnesse of the countenance the heart is made better â—celes 7. and chastisement bringeth forth the quiet fruit of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 yea Maior ira quädo Deus non requirit Saint Austine obserues well God is most displeased with vs in this world when hee is displeased least and his long patience here doth prognosticate his heauier vengeance hereafter it maketh it suspitious that we are bastards and no sonnes if seeing such is our infirmitie that wee cannot but sinne wee bee not timely reclaimed by chastisement of sinne But to shut vp this point that which proceedeth from loue and is executed with so tender a hand to so good a purpose as is our perfection doth not deserue the name of wrath this name belongeth more properly to that punishment which proceedeth from Gods hatred and is executed without mercie to the eternall destruction of man and that is The wrath to come therefore is the day thereof properly called The day of wrath and the persons that suffer then are properly The vessels of wrath In the number of which that we may not be we must harken to the Remedie And the Remedie is flying flie from the wrath to come if the Remedie be flying then there is no standing to it no trauersing of our indictment no bribing of our Iudge no priuiledge of our persons no reliefe from our strength no standing to it by these or any other meanes we must flie But flying is either corporall or spirituall the corporall will be attempted it should seeme so by Christs relation in the Gospel and Saint Iohn saith in the Reuelation Reuel 6 that Captaines and rich men and great men shall flie to the rockes to the hils and desire to be couered to be hid from the wrath of the Lambe but all in vaine for they are reiected by rocks and hilles And indeed whether should they flie then when all the world becommeth Gods jayle and euery creature becommeth his jaylour yea the showre that doth attend Christs comming to judgement is a showre of snares Psal 7. Amos 5.19 and the Prophets Amos especially doth excellently shew the vanitie of this flight It shall be as if a man did flie from a Lion and a Beare met him and he runneth from the Beare vnto a wall and there a Serpent biteth him that is whithersoeuer he turne he shall find those that will seize vpon him he cannot possibly escape not by flying corporally He must then flie spiritually and indeed it is spirituall flight that is the Remedie But what is spirituall flight Surely wee must conceiue and bee in trauell with amendment of our liues and neuer stop vntill we haue brought forth a compleate spirit of saluation that is we must flie from sinne and flie vnto grace in both which consisteth the flight from wrath Quem poenit et peccati iram Der mortalem facit Lactantius de ira Dâ—â— Hee that iudgeth himselfe in this world he whose heart is prickt with remorse of sinne whose heart trembleth melteth and is broken with the feare of Gods wrath hee that singeth the song of mercie and layeth hold vpon the Mercie-seat desiring
to loose all those that will make vse of the flight amongst which these Iewes were none For who hath forewarned you saith Saint Iohn vnto them Before I come to the question I must a little describe the persons they were Sadduces and Pharisees There are but two extremities of Religion into which men run Superstition and Atheisme these fell the one that is the Pharisees into the one extremitie and the other that is the Saduces into the other extremitie Now sinnes are of two sorts some whose nature is in opposition to the flying from the wrath to come and some which are such as they doe not exclude the same A Drunkard an Adulterer a Murderer are grieuous sinners and in danger of the wrath to come but the Principles are not corrupted vpon which the forewarner must worke when hee perswadeth then to flie they doe beleeue the iudgement to come and in cold bloud will easily belieue that there is euill in their liues therefore vpon such good counsell may worke and wee see daily that many such are reclaimed But there are many whose sinnes are opposite vnto this counsell of flying either because they thinke there is no wrath to come as the Saducee or that they are out of danger of it as the Pharisee vpon such it is hard working Now come to the question Who hath forewarned you I am not ignorant that sundrie Writers ancient and later suppose that this is Quaestio admirantis and make Saint Iohn Baptist who receiued all others quietly when these persons came to stand amazed and wondring Is it possible hath Gods grace preuailed with Saduces with Pharisees and will they also bee Christs Disciples Is Saul among the Prophets Can hee that thought there was no Hell be brought to flie from Hell and hee that thought himselfe righteous prouide against the Iudgement day Surely such examples are rare not that God doth not yeil◠some to shew nothing is impossible to his grace but he yeildeth but few because men should take heed of such sinnes and wee see by experience how Pharisaisme in Papists and in Atheists Saducisme frustrate the labours of many painfull Forewarners the corrupt Principles of their conscience hinder their preuayling Who forewarne them to flie from the wrath to come But I take the Question rather to bee Negatiue and that as Christ often so Saint Iohn here doth detect their hypocrisie and telleth them that they aimed little at that which was intended by Baptisme The Kingdome of God happily in their sense they could bee content to enter into by the Baptisme of Saint Iohn for their Messias was to bee a worldly King or if so be they thought vpon wrath which they desired to escape it was wrath present not wrath to come the wrath of men not the wrath of God they would shake off the yoke of the Romanes they feared not the paines of Hell when they perceiued that Saint Iohns Baptisme sorted not with their desire it is obserued that they despised it to their destruction and when Christ asked them Whether it were of heauen or of men they durst not answere him from Heauen least Christ should come vpon them with Why did you not then belieue it Adde hereunto that it is not likely Saint Iohn would haue reproched them with these words generation of Vipers had there not bin hypocrisie in them I conclude then that the Question containeth a negation and that S. Iohn herein doth set forth the second euill of these Iewes They wanted meanes of forewarning which might apply to them the Remedie which God hath appointed against the wrath to come Matth. 21. v 25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 31. p. 501. Nazianzen obserueth well It is not the Nation but the disposition that maketh a Pharisee euery Countrie may haue Pharisees and Saduces for it is not the name of a Nation but a conuersation and therefore this question may concerne vs and we must inquire into our selues whether wee haue either a Pharisees or a Saduces disposition And indeed wee shall find too many of both Heretickes Atheists vpon whom Forewarners cannot worke and if we be better disposed wee must acknowledge Gods great mercie that as hee hath appointed wrath so hee hath appointed a Remedie wee must learne both of our Forewarners and so learne both that we be the better for them and scape the vengeance that is to come The summe of all is sinnes and punishments are not inseparable God hath set a space betweene them and appointed a Remedie to the one for the auoyding of the other for the knowledge hereof hee referres vs to our spirituall Pastors and we must take heed we haue neither Saduces nor Pharisees eares which may make vs vncapable of their forewarnings O Lord that hast appointed Forwarners to thy Church so blesse their paines that they may fixe our thoughts on and resolue our reason of that wrath which is to come not only the sight of it but also the flight from it Let vs not despise the riches of thy goodnesse forbearance and long-suffering nor with hard and impenitent hearts treasure vp vnto our selues wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. Eccles 18. but knowing that thy goodnesse leadeth vs to repentance let vs so thinke vpon the wrath that shall be at the end that we may flie from sinne to grace and so bee thought worthy to escape this euill and stand in the last day with comfort before the Sonne of man stand for euer to giue glorie vnto thee the Father of mercie through Iesus Christ our only meanes to obtaine this mercie in the Communion of the holy spirit who only teacheth vs to make the right vse of this mercie Amen The third Sermon LVKE 3. VERSE 8. Bring forth therefore fruites worthy of Repentance SAint Iohn Baptist hath in his Sermon hitherto shewed the Iewes of their bad case in regard both of sinne and woe If he had here ended he should rather haue seemed to bee a minister of Moses then an harbinger of Christ and although happily he might haue awakned the worme of Conscience to bite them with the terrours of the Law yet should hee not haue answered his fathers prophecie by giuing light to them that sit darknesse Luke 1. and in the shaddow of death and guiding their feete into the way of peace wherefore to shew that hee came indeed in the spirit of Elias and meant to turne the hearts of the fathers towards their children Malachi 4.6 and the children towards their fathers before the Lord came and smote the earth with cursing as he vnpartially gaue the Iewes to vnderstand the euill of their case so doth he carefully endeauour to set them in a better course The ground and scope of his words is in effect this Euerie Iew is to haue a double being in the Couenant an hereditarie a possessorie in that he is the of spring of Abraham he hath a title to the promises but possession of that whereunto
must not onely cease for to hate him but beginne to Loue him also Secondly Christ founded both these partes in our Redemption for Hee dyed and rose againe Saint Paul telleth vs there is a morall in that mysterie it lessoneth vs to dye vnto sinne and to rise vnto righteousnesse finally the Sacrament of Baptisme which in the Scripture is called the Baptisme of repentance Symbolically preacheth both vnto vnto vs the dipping into the water and the taking out of the water what doth it figure but the drowning of sin and the recouering of a sinner The vse that wee must make hereof is that we must not onely desire to be rid of the vncleane spirit but also to be possest of the holy Ghost if wee doe not change one for the other we are not changed so fully as we ought to bee and we must feare his doome out of whom the vncleane spirit was cast in the Gospell whom because the holy Ghost succeeded not the foule spirit repossest the person with seuen worse then himselfe Matth. 12. and made the latter end of that man worse then his beginning And thus much of the nature of Repentance which is the first worke Gods worke which changeth vs from bad to good not onely cleansing sinne but also giuing grace I come now to the second worke which is mans worke in handling whereof we must consider the Order and the Nature of it A word of the order Gods worke goeth before mans man could neuer doe good if God did not first make him good as truely as the dew doth first fall from heauen before there can bee fatnesse in the earth Psal 1. euen so must Gods grace change man before any alteration will appeare in the conuersation of man the tree must be planted by the Riuers of waters Ephes 2.10 before it can bring forth her fruites and we must bee Gods workmanship created vnto good workes before we can walke in them Wee must not therefore take such pleasure in beholding the Tree bee it neuer so richly loaden with fruites as to forget the roote which yeeldeth the iuice without which the Tree could beare no fruit we must so regard mans worke that wee giue the precedencie alwayes to Gods and acknowledge this to bee the off spring of that but enough of the Order I come now to the Worke which is bearing of fruites That which is here called fruites Acts 26. is called workes whereby we gather that good workes are fruites and indeed onely good workes deserue this name for if Saint Austins definition bee true Fructus est quo quis cum gaudio fruitur That is fruit which a man may with comfort enioy how should sinne be reputed fruites Who can take any content in it Not the sinner himselfe for though it be sweete in his mouth as Iob speaketh yet when it commeth downe into his maw Iob 20. it turneth into gall of Aspes Deut 22. well doth Moses compare it to the fruites of Sodome and Gomorrah for as the Booke of Wisedome describeth that fruit faire on the out side but the in-side nothing else but cinders euen so the appearance of sinne is pleasant but the substance of it is very vnsauorie If onely our lustes should be iudges howsoeuer at first they taste it as fruit yet euen they also loath it if they bee long vsed to it but if they swallow it and find no offence in it as too often they doe yet when it commeth to our conscience and thither sooner or later it must come Saint Pauls question will then come seasonably Tom. 6.21 What fruit had yee then in those things whereof yee are now ashamed Sinnes then may not passe for fruits fruits properly so called this title belongeth only to good workes they are fruits indeed they may say as the Vine in the Iudgess They cheare God and Men Chap. 9. God taketh delight in them they are to him a sacrifice of a sweet smell yea hee taketh as much content in them as if he did feed vpon them we learne it in the fiftieth Psalme Thinkest thou saith God that I will eat Buls flesh and drinke the bloud of Goats Offer vnto God praise and call vpon his Name in denying the former he acknowledgeth the later to be his food not that God is the better for ought we doe but so is hee pleased for to honour our workes as the Angels that came to Abraham did partake of his meâ—te not to refresh themselues but to doe him honour As God accepts them for fruits so are they fruits vnto men also vnto others and vnto our selues but with this difference that whereas God was not the better for them men are other men by our good workes are either brought to goodnesse or confirmed therein and as for our selues wee grow thereby in grace and fauour with God and feele more comfortable ioy in our owne soules therefore well may good workes beare the name of fruits And I the very name of fruits distinguishing good workes from bad containeth a good motiue to doe well and forbeare sinne for Who would labour for nought and spend his strength in vaine being not to haue so much as his labour for his paine for he must write vpon his wages not only vanitie but also vexation of spirit And againe Who would bee wearie of well doing that knoweth his labour is not in vaine but that in good time he shall eate the fruit of his labours O well is hee and happie shall he be But wee must marke that our worke is called fruit and not flowers not but that the flower goeth before the fruit but it is the hope of the fruit that maketh the flower to bee esteemed and God counteth that flower little worth that neuer commeth to be fruit we see this in the parable of the seed where that ground only goeth for good in which the feed giueth not ouer vntill it be fit for the Barne and hee that puiteth his hand to the Plough saith Christ in the Gospel Luke 9 6â— and looketh backe is not fit for the Kingdome of Heauen I obserue this the rather because here we may see many faire flowers which in their youth shew good effects of their Gouernours care and paines who no sooner are set at libertie as too often they are before the flowers become fruit but they wither and faile neither Church nor Common-wealth nor themselues are the better for their breeding whom I would haue to carrie this Lesson with them That Goodnesse is not a flower it is fruit and they must aswell ripen as blossome otherwise it will appeare that God in them hath done his worke but they come short of their owne Neither is Goodnesse only called Fruit in the singular number but the word is plurall our worke is many workes wee must beare Fruits we must as the Apostle speaketh be fruitfull in all good workes Col 1.10 The soule of a man is but one but
it quickeneth a bodie consisting of many different members all which it setteth on worke the eye to see the eare to heare the foot to goe c. euen so though the grace of God which is the soule of the soule of man be but one yet doth it animate the whole man and doth as truly communicate good manners to the parts as the Soule doth Life Titus 2. The grace of God which bringeth saluation vnto all mâ—n teacheth vs to denie all vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present world Ephes 6. hereupon Saint Paul biddeth vs put on the whole armour of God and to cast away all workes of darknesse and in another place Whatsoeuer things are iust whatsoeuer things are holy Rom. 13. Philip. 〈◊〉 whatsoeuer things are true whatsoeuer things are of good report thinke vpon these things Wee must haue not only a disposition to doe well but remember that wee are to doe well more wayes then one The same God that commandeth one vertue commandeth all and he will not haue any part or power of man exempted from his seruice Which must bee heeded by vs because there are few that are of Saint Pauls minde Philip. 3 13. to forget those things that are behind and make forward no sooner haue wee brought forth one good worke but we fall in loue with that and there take vp our rest and thinke that may serue insteed of all suffering Gods graces to be idle which are aswell able to make a chastâ—cie as a sober tongue and an obedient eare as a diligent hand Much more good might come from euery man if he did not thinke hee did good enough therefore let vs remember that nothing must bee accounted enough that is lesse then all and that wee set not straighter bounds to our duties then those which are in Gods Law But we haue not now to doe in generall with good workes my text restraineth me to workes of repentance I come then nearer to those And although I hane alreadie opened vnto you the nature of repentance yet must I wade a little farther in it and branch it as it were into its kinds The Law of God hath two parts the Precept and the Sanction The Sanction sheweth vnto vs the danger of sinne obliging vnto punishment from which wee are not free but by Iustification and this Iustification is attended with Repentance Repentance that looketh vnto the guilt of sinne which cleaueth vnto the Act thereof This Repentance is that which is practised in the times of Humiliation when we deprecate Gods wrath which is vpon vs or hangeth ouer vs by reason of enormous sinnes of the whole state and of particular persons 〈◊〉 2. Ionah 3. such is that which is called for in Ioel and whereof wee haue the practice in Ionah The Primitiue Church was well acquainted with it as appeareth by the Ecclesiasticall storie the Canons of the first Councels the writings of Tertullian Origen Cyprian and others our Church taketh notice of it in a part of the Liturgie and wisheth the publike restitution of it Tantae seueritati non sumus pares But it is rather to bee wished then hoped for Notwithstanding what is not done in publike by malefactors should be supplied by better obseruance of those dayes which are appointed weekly and of those weeks which are appointed yearely to be Poenitentiall to be dayes and weekes of Fasting and Praying Wee cannot denie but crying sinnes are daily committed and therefore Gods wrath might daily bee inflicted The way to stay it is to shew that wee are not guiltie thereof and as he is not guiltie by the Law of man which had no hand in sinne so by the Law of God none goe for not guiltie except they doe expresse a penitent sorrow that any should bee so wretched as to commit the sinne You remember how one Achan troubled all Israel and his sinne is layed to all their charge Ioshua the seuenth and they were all made to sanctifie themselues from that sinne and how the vnknowne murder was expiated wee reade Deut. 21. there must bee a feeling in vs of other mens sinnes a religious feeling seeing thereby they put not only themselues but vs to in danger of Gods wrath and therefore though our conscience haue no speciall burden of its owne yet must it haue of others and endeuour to ease both it selfe and the whole state thereof And how may priuate men better doe this then by those solemne acts of Humiliation the only attonement which by faith in Christ we can make with God But Saint Pauls complaint may be renewed 1. Cor. 5. It is reported commonly that there is fornication wee may adde Murder Adulterie and any other enormeous sinne the seates of Iudgement can witnesse that our Land is fertile of all sorts but as Saint Paul said so will I all men are puffed vp and who doth sorrow The emptinesse of our Churches vpon Fridayes and Wednesdayes and other Fasting dayes sheweth how litle feeling there is in vs of the crying sinnes of our State It were well if we had some feeling of our owne But where is that Drunkard where is that Adulterer where is that Murderer where is that Blasphemer that Vsurer that Oppressor that commeth into Gods House bathed in his teares broken in his heart stript of his pride humbled in his bodie and making a reall crie for mercie in the eares of God No wee come not so farre as a vocall our tongues crie not God bee mercifull to mee a Sinner which is but the voice of man much lesse doe our sighes doe it which are the voice of Gods Spirit we shame not to sinne Regis admirabilem virtutem fecit multò splendidiorem c. but to repent wee are ashamed Ashamed of that whereof we should glorie surely Theodoret thought better of King Dauids repentance when he pronounced of it There were many Heroicall vertues in King Dauid but for none is he so illustrious as for his repentance so much more illustrious by how much it is a rarer thing to see a King come from his Throne clothed in sackcloth sitting in dust and ashes feeding vpon the bread of sorrow and mingling his drinke with his teares then to see him in state either vttering Prouerbs like a Solomon or triumphing ouer his foes as at other times he also did Stultum est iâ—e eo statu viuere in quo non audet quis Mori or doing any other act in the maiestie of a King But most men are ashamed of this glorie and chose rather to glorie in their shame vnto whom I will vse Saint Austines words It is grosse folly to liue in that state in which a man would bee loth that death should take him hee addeth That the man which dareth goe to bed with a conscience charged with the guilt of one enormous sinne is much more desperate then he that dareth lie vnarmed with seuen
If you looke to the Patriarkes that liued before him they had the same Couenant in substance but in ceremonies and circumstances wherwith God was pleased to cloth his Couenant Abraham did excell them As for the Patriarkes that succeeded though they did partake of all that Abraham had yet this was Abrahams aduantage that God first gaue these things to him and onely confirmed them vnto them Gene. 26. In Matth. â—ap 〈◊〉 Hom â— operis imperfectâ— Decimae Deo sacra and that too for his sake But to speake more distinctly Chrysostome obserues that which is cleare 1. Cor. 1. that Abraham was the tenth from Noah and that God tooke him out of that prophane age and place wherin he liued as his owne portion for the tithe is sacred vnto God Noah was such a tithe before in whom God began the new world Abraham was then a person sacred vnto God Not onely so but consecrated also by God himselfe for Eusebius in his Chronicle obserueth that Abraham was the first Prophet to whom the Sonne of God appeared in the shape of a man Cui verbum dei appaâ—uit in sigura humana at what time he inuested him with the Patriarkship Now of a person so sacred so consecrated we must looke to heare of some thing more then ordinarie and indeed Saint Austin telleth vs that whatsoeuer the Scripture reporteth of Abraham it is Factum prophetia Tom. 10 Sermane de tempore 72. a propheticall fact it concerneth not only the time present but the time to come as well his as him But two things principally set forth Abrahams prerogatiue the first is that his family was to bee the depositarie of Gods Couenant the second is that his vertues were to be exemplary to the whole Church Touching the first the Promise is plaine that in his seed all Nations of the earth shall be blessed the Prophets vsually meaning the Gentiles call them Israel Rom. 11. and the Apostle saith that the branches of the wild O liue must bee engrafted into the true it is not enough that the partition wall is broken downe but we must bee incorporated into the same body for God is not pleased that any shall ordinarily be saued except he bee of Abrahams family Secondly of those which are of Abrahams family it is not Gods pleasure that any should bee saued that doth not exemplifie Abrahams vertues in his life Tom. â— Serm 42 in Gen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iohn 8 for Abrahams vertues were to bee exemplarie of his vertues in generall S. Chrysostome obserueth that any man might take a patterne of any vertue from him for they were limmed with liuely colours in him But of his vertues Saint Paul doth especially insist vpon his Faith S. Iames vpon his Charitie our Sauior Christ vpon both both are sauing vertues and no hope without them of entring into Abrahams bosome This may well goe for a third prerogatiue of Abraham that the place of Blisse beareth his name and that our best fare in heauen is to be guests at the same Table with him to bee blessed with blessed Abraham but no hope I say to attaine this but by conforming our liues to Abrahams in such a faith as worketh by charitie Therefore Gregorie Nyssen calleth him viam fidei the path of saith Orat in Basil lib 4. c. 38 De Ciutt Dei lib 16 cap. 16. Irenie saith that his Faith was prophetia sidei Ambrose that hee was Forma credentium but Saint Austin obserueth well that which commeth yet nearer to my Text Duplex prophetia facta est Abrahae carnalis spiritualis He was a most noble Patriarke corporally but spiritually hee was much more noble yea whatsoeuer he was corporally was but a Type of that which he was spiritually obserue in the points of his prerogatiue the Sacrament a pledge of Gods Couenant the sacrifices Types of his vertues in both the thing corporall was but a Type of a better thing of that which was spirituall The last thing which I obserue concerning Abraham is Gregorie Nyssens note P. 250. Abraham had a carnall and a spirituall generation or off-spring whereof the carnall was to continue but during the old Testament but the spirituall was to last vntill the end of the world It is an errour of the Iewes to thinke that Circumcision must bee Catholike both in time and place for when the spirituall seed came then the carnall was to cease and with the carnall the Character thereof so doth Epiphanius call Circumcision In a word Christ when he came changed not the Couenant but the Sacrament that so although carnall children cease yet spirituall might continue vnto Abraham Hauing thus farre opened vnto you the prerogatiue of Abraham it is time that we now come to speake of the errour of the Iewes In handling whereof for more breuitie and greater perspicutie I will branch by branch carie along the answere with the obiection Let vs come then to their Ignorance Whereof the first branch is the mayming of the truth they vnderstood the prerogatiue of Abraham onely according to the flesh and not according to the spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill Alexand. in Amos cap â— Though in their Synagogues they doe boast of foure things first their Birth-right secondly their Circumcision thirdly their Lawe and fourthly their Countrie and mis-vnderstand them all yet doe they glorie most in their Birth-right and that they vnderstand worst It is true that euen according to the flesh no nation may compare with the Iewe in Nobilitie â—of parentage none euer sprang from such worthies as they doe Saint Paul doth them but right when Rom. cap. 3. cap. 9. hee acknowledgeth their preheminences therein to say nothing of that which we find in the Prophets And certainely it is in it selfe a great blessing to be borne of worthy Parents because it is a Monument of Gods fauour to a family but vnto vs it is no blessing except we communicate in their vertues For there are certaine notes by which euerie liuing thing must bee knowne notes stamped in the body and notes stamped in the soule lineaments and qualities of which the qualitie doth morally denominate rather then the lineaments Take for example a sheepe or a Wolfe they haue outward shapes and inward qualities whereby they are distinguished the qualitie of the one is meekenesse of the other is rauenousnesse when wee come to consider whether either of the se be such as he should bee we find that either of them may degenerate either in the lineaments or in the qualities in the lineaments for a sheepe may happily haue the shape of a wolfe and yet retaine the meeknesse of a sheepe a wolfe may haue the linearnents of a sheepe and yet retaine the rauenousnesse of a wolfe It is not the lineaments of either but the qualities that will giue them their name Doth reason acknowledge this in beasts and shall not Religion acknowledge it much more in
description of God you must obserue that of his Prouidence there are two parts the first is the blessing of his creatures especially man the second is the Inquirie how these creatures vse his blessings this later point concerneth my Text. As then no Husbandman is so carelesse as hauing planted an Orchard not to looke into it and see the successe of his paines no more is God Esay will teach vs that the Husbandmans discretion commeth from the Lord of Hosts which is wonderfull in counsell and excellent in working neither is there any perfection in man which is not much more eminent in God Wee may not then dreame that wee hold of God without account or impeachment of waste wee owe our apparence both at his Court and at his Audit hee taketh his times for both or not to goe from our Parable the sonnes of Adam haue no exemption seeing their Father had none God placed him in Paradise and came into Paradise to suruey him and the Fig-tree that grew in the Vineyard was surueyed by the Lord thereof And let this suffice touching the first Person and the resemblance that is made of him The second Person is Man But as the description of God doth shew vs rather what God is to vs then what hee is in himselfe so in the description of man the chiefest consideration is what hee is to Godward not what he is Wee haue here then to doe with not simply a man but a member of the Church the Law speaketh to them that are vnder the Law Now of a member of the Church wee haue here an excellent resemblance hee is resembled to a tree bearing fruit 〈…〉 73. 〈◊〉 5. The Church is likened to a Paradise which is full set with fruitfull trees As God in the Creation made the whole world but of a part of the whole made Paradise so hath hee selected his Church out of a whole masse of the sonnes of Adam and calleth it his Orchard and of this Vineyard or Orchard the members of the Church are trees euery member is a tree though he be called sometimes by the name of a branch for euerie branch is potentially a tree a tree growing in a tree You may perceiue it by the litle shoots that wee take to inoculate and many branches that bored or otherwise planted take root in the ground although while they are but branches they doe not immediately root in the ground euen so euery member of the Church seeing he hath no communion with God but by the mediation of Christ is but a branch yet seeing Gods promises are made both to him and his 〈…〉 Cap. 52. and others may spring from him he is not vnsitly compared to a tree But it is to a tree that beareth fruit whose inward vertue manifesteth it selfe by outward workes As a tree that sucketh nourishment from the ground spendeth part of it in sustayning it selfe and when it is sufficed therewith worketh the rest of the juice vnto fruit so should the members of the Church themselues bee the better for the Grace which they receiue and doe good to others also they must beare fruit Fruit is significantly expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Athanas Tom. 1. Serm. de 〈◊〉 ment Gen. v. 9. for the likenesse of leaues doth often deceiue the ouer-seer but when the profit of the doctrine doth shew it selfe in workes then it appeares who is a sincere faithfull man and who is an Hypocrite Adde hereunto that though great is the ornament of leaues yet their best commendations goeth no farther then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pleasure it doth not come so farre as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meat But out of the ground of Paradise God made to grow euery tree that was both pleasant to the sight and good for sood and such a tree must our tree be But euery tree by nature is a fruit tree Gen. 1. v. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God that made all made no other Saint Basil hath obserued it and because some trees make shew of the contrarie he giueth vs a distinction of secret and open fruit with one of which euerie tree is furnished And indeed seeing euerie tree hath seed according to his kind it hath fruit because naturally the seed is included in the fruit and followeth the condition of it being as that is either secret or open Seeing then euery tree beareth fruit to beare fruit is not enough wherefore there is another word added it must beare good fruite there are trees of the field and trees of the Orchard both beare fruit but the fruit of the field tree feedeth only beasts and birds only the fruit of the Orchard-tree yeildeth sustenance for man There must bee some difference betweene them that are within the Church and them that are without as betweene Orchard and Field trees the fruit of the one and the fruite of the other they without the Church fructifie for the Deuill and the World but the members of the Church beare fruite to God and good men as it is intimated by the Vine Indges 9. by the Figge by the Oliue vnto which trees the godly are compared Marke then that the difference betweene the trees of the Field and of the Orchard is not the bearing and not bearing of fruit in bearing fruit the natiue and the satiue both agree but it is good and bad fruit that doth distinguish them And this distinction is necessarie because it is possible that trees of the Orchard should become as bad as the trees of the Field and why since the fall of Adam they are all grafted trees and you know that a grafted tree may shoot out either out of the wild stocke or out of the sweet graft and it is a speciall care of a good Husbandman to cut off still all the shoots of the stocke that the graft may prosper the better Origen obserueth well wee haue inward trees a Good and a Bad we haue the flesh and the Spirit Habemus aâ—bores internas bonam malam â—nâ— cuit Gal. 5. and Saint Paul telleth vs that both these haue their fruits To beare good fruit then is to walke in the spirit and not to fulfill the deeds of the flesh Here is no species of good workes set downe neither intend I at this time to fall into the common place of good workes a former clause of my text gaue mee occasion to speake heretofore of them Nazian Zen hath a good Epitome of that argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 1. p 555. in two words of good workes there must be Varietie and Plentie But I may not forget that there were two speciall trees in Paradise the Tree of the knowledge of good and euill and the Tree of Life Lib. 2. ad Autoluc God forbad the one and permitted the other Theophilus Patriarch of Antioch giueth the reason and it is that God would haue vs captiuate our wits to his wisdome and for knowledge bee
they may be saued But if looking into our heart wee find sauing grace there for Gods Spirit doth witnesse vnto our spirit that wee are the children of God when we contemplate in our selues this second Act of Election we haue reason to thinke our Prerogatiue much more improued by how much an inward is better then an outward Iew the Circumcision of the spirit better then the Circumcision of the flesh to be baptized with the Spirit better then to be baptized with water to eate Panem Dominum eate the flesh and drinke the bloud of Christ better then to eate only and drinke only Sacramentall Bread and Wine finally to be a doer is better then to be a hearer of Gods Word The farther Christians goe beyond Christians in these gifts the better must they thinke their state and these spirituall differences betweene man and man better then whatsoeuer other differences there may be found betweene them Although the world vseth to bee little sensible of this greater good but most sensible of the lesser wealth honour c. wherein euerie man thinketh it a great matter to bee aduanced aboue his Neighbours When wee looke vpon the second word in the definition of the Church that is God wee see to whom wee are beholding for our aduancement and to whom wee must giue the glorie of it the glory of the first Act of Election Dauid concludes the remembrance thereof with Prayse yee the Lord Psal 147. And of the second Act also the glorie must be giuen vnto Him for so doe the Angels the Beasts the Elders c. after they haue mentioned it Reuel 5. Reuel 5. If the question be moued Quit te discreuit Who hath differenced thee our best answere will bee I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord and let him that glorieth glorie in the Lord. I told you I haue not to doe with the whole Church but with that part which is militant for such are the Elect which are on the Earth Heauen is the place for our Crowne Earth for our Crosse where Michael and the Dragon stroue there must their Angels striue also and the heele of the womans seed must bee bruised in the same place where it must breake the Serpents head The Fathers doe wittily obserue that the Church came out of Christs side when he died as Eue out of Adam when he slept Now out of Christs side when it was pierced issued Water and Bloud Monuments of our two Sacraments which remember vs that we must drinke of the same Cup whereof Christ dranke and be partakers of the same Baptisme wherewith he was baptized euery one must take vp his owne Crosse and follow his crucified Sauiour Saint Austine is resolute Ad Bonifacium Comitem Si Ecclesia vera est ipsa est quae persecutionem patitur we are bastards and no sonnes if wee suffer not for Christ and suffer we cannot but on earth for when wee part from the earth wee part from our enemies the Flesh the World and the Deuill flesh and bloud cannot enter into Heauen Satan is cast out thence and the world shall then bee vnto vs as if it were not therefore the Church Peregrinam agit in terris she is here a Pilgrim here she is like the desolate widdow here shee grieueth for the wickednesse of the world and because she is not alike wicked with them therefore doth the world implacably worke her woe Read this dayes Epistle Wisdome â— In this militancie of the Church the Elect of God become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they find that they need and they seeke for helpe the word implieth asmuch The Church is compared vnto a Doue for her simplicitie and for her meeknesse shee is compared vnto a Lambe As a Doue she is nothing suspicious for Vt quisque est vir optimus ita difficillimè credit alios esse improbos Good men looke to find plaine dealing as themselues deale plainly As a Lambe the Church is as apt to be a prey as shee is not apt to prey vpon any shee is a fit subiect for the Shearer and the Slaughterer though it selfe be harmelesse and vsefull Looke vpon the enemies of the Church they are the Serpent and the Lion The Serpent is full of fraud fraud which circumuenteth our wits with sophistrie and transporteth our affections with vanitie coloured and blanched with a shew of Truth and Good The Lion is full of Crueltie and delighteth in bloud watchfull vpon all opportunities and neuer giuing ouer the least aduantage And the instruments of the Serpent and the Lion I meane wicked men are Serpentine and Lion-like deceitfully compassing their owne end and spending their power only in crueltie This hath beene the cariage of the enemies of the Church euer since God put enmitie betweene the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent But it was neuer more remarkable then in Popish Equiuocation and that which they call their Holy Inquisition the very markes of the Beast and by them they make their nearest approaches to that Father of Lâ—â—s and that ancient Murderer sure I am they haue cut the heart strings of all both Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall true Policie The Church being thus besteed when from her enemies she reflects her eyes vpon her selfe findeth her owne inabilite her need of succour and as the Apostles in their perill so she in hers cals for helpe Helpe Lord or else we perish so said they so saith shee And my text telleth vs that she hath recourse vnto God Psal 121. I lift mine eyes vnto the Hils saith Dauid from whence commeth my helpe Our helpe standeth in the Name of the Lord who hath made Heauen and Earth Psal 46. and God is our refuge and strength a very present helpe in trouble And see how full the helpe is He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High Psal 9â— shall abide vnder the shadow of the Almightie the whole Psalme is an excellent commendation of the Churches choice but specially that Verse Verse 13. Thou shalt tread vpon the Lion and the Adder the yong Lion and the Dragon shalt thou trample vnder feet though we be as simple as Doues yet God is able to make vs as wise as Serpents and hee will make vs confident as Lions though of our selues wee be as meeke as Lambes And why we haue a Serpent to oppose vnto a Serpent euen him that was figured by the Serpent whom Moses lifted vp Christ the wisdome of God him we haue to oppose to the groueling Serpent that feedeth vpon earth and earthly men If you be stung by this latter Serpent doe but looke to the former and you shall presently bee healed for hee is able to take that craftie one in his owne wilinesse Wee haue a Lion to oppose vnto a Lion the Lion of the Tribe of Iuda to the roaring Lion and out of the eater he can draw meate by death he ouercame him that had the power
commeth from Edom and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Thankesgiuing in the Reuelation But I draw to an end The conclusion of all my Text is this If at any time wee bee distressed and not relieued the fault is not in God it is in vs for our Deuotion is tired ouer-soone wee are all modicae fidei men of little faith and though the spirit be willing yet the flesh is weake and the weaknesse of the flesh preuaileth more then the willingnesse of the Spirit Wherefore we must all pray vnto God to giue vs the Spirit of Grace and Prayer ANd Lord we beseech thee helpe our vnbeliefe and increase our faith yea Lord pray thou that our faith faile not and the more thou doest exercise our patience the more earnest let vs be for thy deliuerance deliuerance from our corporall deliuerance from our spirituall foes that well ouercomming our Militancie here on earth we may bee Triumphant with the Saints in Heauen where wee shall turne our Prayers into Prayses and sing day and night honour prayse strength and power bee vnto him that sitteth vpon the Throne and to the Lambe for euermore AMEN SVNDRIE SERMONS DE TEMPORE PREACHED VPON SEVErall Occasions by the Right Reuerend Father in God ARTHVR LAKE D. of Diuinitie Lord Bishop of Bathe and Welles LONDON Printed by R. Young for N. BVTTER 1629. יהוה EIGHT SERMONS ON THE NINTH CHAPTER Of the Prophecie of ISAIAH ISAIAH 9. VERS 6 7. For vnto vs a Childe is borne vnto vs a Sonne is giuen and the gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders and his Name shall bee called The wonderfull Counsellour The mighty God The euerlasting Father The Prince of Peace Of the increase of his Gouernment and Peace there shall bee no end vpon the Throne of Dauid and vpon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it with Iudgement and Iustice from henceforth euen for euer The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall performe this THis is the first Lesson appointed for this Morning Prayer and appointed fitly For the Argument well fits the Time We are now met to praise God for the Morning of the Church Zacharie Luke 1. doth so call the Birth of Christ saying The day spring that is the Morning from on high hath visited vs Yea Christ himselfe Reuel the last vers 16 doth call himselfe The bright Morning starre And verily his Birth was the most blessed Morning that euer the Church saw whether you respect the Night that went before or the Day that followed after it was the blessedest Morning that euer the Church saw The Night was long and darke a Night of want of warre so wee reade in the last of the former and the first verse of this chapter But the Day that followed was a cleare and lasting Day a Day of haruest a triumph Day so we are taught in the foure verses that goe immediately before my Text. A great alteration Who could worke it who could turne that night into this day what Sunne shone forth in so great strength In such a case man was like to moue such a doubt therefore the holy Ghost hath resolued it and his resolution of that doubt is my Text. Loe here is one that can vndertake that work who he is How excellent he is we are taught here and that in regard of his Person and of his State For of his Person here are the Natures wherein it subsisteth here is the People to whom it belongs It subsists in two Natures 1. The Nature of Man Hee is a Childe 2. The Nature of God Hee is the Sonne The Person subsisting in these two Natures belongeth vnto whom To Vs was hee borne he was giuen to Vs saith the Prophet Esay and Esay was a Iew. Christ then belongeth to the Iewes though the Iewes must not bee vnderstood according to the flesh but the spirit To these Iewes was he vouchsafed by taking and giuing Natus he tooke his nature from them and Datus what he tooke he with aduantage bestowed vpon them But of what degree was he amongst them here commeth in his State He was a King The Gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders The Gouernement that was Royall for verse 7. it is called The Throne The Kingdome of Dauid He shall sit vpon that and that is the Gouernment that shall bee layd vpon his shoulders And happy are the People that haue such a King You will confesse it if you consider his Excellencie The Excellencie both of his Person and of his State Of his Person that appeares in his endowments Of his State that appeares in his managing thereof The Endowments of his Person are Royall Reade his Titles He shall bee called and what he is called that he certainely is Hee shall be called by those names that expresse such vertues as most beseeme a King our King For a King ouer and aboue the Vertues which are common to him with his Subiects must haue more than ordinary Wisedome and Power And see this King is called for his Wisedome The wonderfull Counsellour for his Power The mighty God But mistake not his Kingdome it is not of this World He that is our King is The Father of Eternity that is Of the World to come And as his Kingdome is not of this World so is not the condition of his People worldly it is Peace and Peace is not the portion of this world but of that which is to come Our King is the Prince of this Peace You see how the Person is endowed and thereby how excellent the Person is There is an Excellencie in his State also it appeares in the Effect in the Cause The Effect for of this Kingdome there are no bounds and the felicitie of the Subiects is also boundlesse so saith the Text Of the increase of his Gouernment and Peace there shall be no end Such an Effect must haue an answerable Cause it hath Iustice and Iudgement are the Pollicie of this State with these as a wonderfull Counsellour he doth order as a mighty God he doth support his State And he doth it vncessantly From henceforth and for euer As the Effect so the Cause this is eternall therefore that These Truthes concerning Christs Person and State are not onely affirmed in the body of the Text but also assured in the close thereof Much you haue heard and yet no more than shall bee He that hath promised can doe it such is his Power Hee is the Lord of Hosts Nay hee cannot but doe it such is his Loue for his Loue is Zeale So concludes the Prophet The zeale of the Lord of Hosts shall performe this You haue heard the summe of this whole Text and therein see a most exquisite picture of our Sauiour Christ certainely it is the fullest the liueliest that euer the holy Ghost in so few words exprest in any part of the Old Testament For here Christ is not only drawne from top to toe but drawn also with those varieties that befell him from eternity to eternitie
true Oliue is the Iew and if the Gentile partake of the fatnesse thereof he must be grafted thereinto and become a Branch of that Oliue To the Ephesians more plainly more fully he maketh the receiuing of the Gentiles into the Church to bee an admission into the Couenant into the Common-wealth of Israel Ephes 3. a becomming one body with them But as the Gentile becommeth a Iew so is it not a Iew according to the flesh but according to the spirit A Sonne of Abraham he is but a spirituall Sonne the partition wall is taken downe yea the Arke it selfe is remoued Ieremy 3. and the Ceremonies which cloath the Religion of the Iewes cease they are not imposed vpon the Gentiles Yea the Iew himselfe becommeth a Gentile the Iew I say becommeth a Gentile carnally as the Gentile becommeth a Iew spiritually Of the ten Tribes it is most cleare that after their Captiuity they neuer returned and there is no such Nation to be heard of in the world they are mingled with other Nations and become Gentiles according to the flesh And as for the other two Tribes that made vp the Kingdome of Iuda many thousands of them were conuerted to the Christian Faith in the daies of the Apostles and yet there is not extant any Nationall Church of them neither was there long extant any they also are become Gentiles according to the flesh And God that buried the bodie of Moses so that it could not be found lest the Iewes should commit Idolatry with that body whereby God had wrought so great Miracles seemes also to haue as it were buried so many Iewes as became Christians by mingling them with the Gentiles lest that superstition which hath besotted the Gentiles to goe a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land should haue wrought more strongly in making them dote vpon that holy people But God hath turned all the world into a Canaan hath of all Nations compounded the Israel of God Of a truth saith St. Peter I see there is no respect of Persons with God but in euery Nation whosoeuer beleeueth and feareth God is accepted of him There is neyther Iew nor Gentile Graecian nor Barbarian bond nor free but all are one in Christ all are contained vnder this name Vs. In the Prophet vpon this ground Israel seemes to note the Gentiles Ezek. 37. when both Iuda and Israel are remembred to bee conuerted to God and the whole house of Iacob You see of what Nation the People is now see of what Condition Borne to Vs giuen to Vs. And who are we for whom God hath done this Gifts are bestowed vpon Persons eyther for their worth or for their need For their worth and so they are Munera honoraria they are presented in dutifull acknowledgement of their worth whether it be worth of vertue or worth of degree For their need and so they are Munera eleemosynaria conferred out of a pitifull compassion of others wants This gift is not of the first kinde it cannot be Honorarium There was no worth in vs which God should honour with this gift bestowed vpon vs. Our degree was of no regard our vertue of much Iesse the former was none in comparison and the later was none at all It must then be Munus eleemosynarium and indeed so it was the Scripture so speaketh of it Through the tender mercy of our God the day-spring from on high hath visited vs so saith Zacharie And St. Paul Tit. 3. After the kindnesse and loue of our Sauiour towards man appeared not by workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but of his mercy he saued vs. And indeed it was a worke of great mercy For whereas there is but duplex malum malum Poenae and malum Culpae a double euill of Sinne and Woe we were plunged deepe in both deep in Sin deepe in Woe To pity him that is deep in woe is not strange it seemeth to be the proper act of Mercy but pity towards Malefactors the Philosophers acknowledge none No man say they pitieth a Thiefe when he goeth to the Gallowes or a Murderer feeling the stroke of Iustice how much lesse would they pity them if the sinne were against themselues and that committed by a Vassall against his Lord a Vassall that had receiued much fauour against his Lord from whom he receiued it In such a case they acknowledge no pity Yet this is our case and we haue found pity so great pity that Christ was borne for Vs and Christ was giuen vnto Vs. So that of this pity as well Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely the Cause but the Occasion must be found in God It is cleare that the proper Cause is the goodnesse of God and it is as cleare that the occasion also must bee fetched from him Were there onely malum Poenae in vs there might bee found in vs an Occasion of Mercie but seeing there is also malum Culpae there cannot but bee an Occasion of Iustice Our double Euill worketh a double Occasion and so maketh Mercie and Iustice as it were to striue in God And indeed both take their occasions Natus satisfied Iustice for a Person came forth that was able to giue full satisfaction vnto Iustice but Datus satisfied Mercy because this Person was freely bestowed vpon Vs. So that if we put Borne for Vs and Giuen to Vs together we see the sweet Harmony that is in the Quire of Gods Attributes None singeth alone they concent together yet so that some one doth most loudly speak the praise of God and in our case Mercy reioyceth ouer Iudgement For though our sinnes haue occasioned Iustice and therefore Christ was borne for Vs that he might satisfie that iustice that was too heauie for vs yet our Woe occasioned Mercy which gaue Christ vnto Vs that in our own Person we might enioy the Blessings of God We are borne for our selues that we may liue and haue all the comfort of our life present to come blessings which we wanted and by which when we receiue them our state is the better It is not so with Christ he was borne for others not for himselfe and giuen to others not to himselfe for what wanted he whereof he needed a supply Hee was in the forme of God and what good is there that is not in the Nature of God which is the ouerflowing Fountaine of all good Looke vpon the State of Christ this Point will appeare clearly No man will doubt but his Birth was for the good of others that considereth that his glory is not his owne but ours He sitteth indeed at the right hand of God and is lifted vp aboue all Angels and Arch-angels and euery Name that is named in Heauen and Earth in this World and that which is to come but what gaineth he by it who was from eternity most high in the glory of his Father Christ himselfe affirmeth it Iohn 17. Glorifie mee O Father with that glory
was stung by the Serpent so in Paradise was hee cured by the seed of the Woman The Patriarchs in their order Heb. 11. not onely knew but felt the vertue of this Childe this Sonne St. Paul comprehends it in a short Rule Iesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for euer Hee was a Lambe slaine not onely borne from the beginning of world Neither onely did the efficacie of his person worke but in a sort his presence also was vouchsafed vnto the world It is an ancient opinion of many of the Fathers and not a few of the worthiest late Diuines approue it that all apparitions of God in the Old Testament were of the second Person In the eighth of the Prouerbs himselfe saith that his delight was to be amongst the Sonnes of men Yea and to say nothing of other shapes how often did hee appeare in the shape of a man which apparition the Fathers call Praeludium incarnationis It was a faire intimation of that which in time hee should bee for euer after hee had once taken vpon him the nature of man which death it selfe should neuer seuer from him O Lord that wouldest not only become Man but also bee Gods gift to Man thou which wert before all time wouldest be bestowed in time bestowed vpon Iewes bestowed vpon Gentiles and make them both one Israel of God Notwithstanding there was nothing in them to demerit thee much in them to prouoke thee yet hast thou out of thine own goodnesse so tendered Man as to satisfie thy Iustice that it might bee no hinderance vnto thy Mercy but that thy Mercy might remedy both our Woe and Sinne We beseech thee that wee may all be new borne by vertue of thy Sonnes birth and giue our selues to Thee as he is giuen to Vs that so we may be in the number of those which with the Prophet may say Tovs a Childe is borne to vs a Sonne is giuen Which grace he vouchsafe vs that is giuen vnto vs To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be giuen all honour and glory now and for euer Amen THE THIRD SERMON The Gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders THe Doctrine of this Scripture containes the Truth and Excellencie of Christs Person and State Of the truth of Christs Person I haue already spoken and shewed you both the Natures wherein it subsisteth and the People to which it belongs The Natures wherein it subsists are two The Nature of God and of Man which haue a most streight vnion in one Person and yet without the least diminution of eyther nature This Person belongs vnto the Iewes not according to the flesh but according to the spirit euen to the whole Israel of God which consists of beleeuing naturall both Iewes and Gentiles To this People doth Christ belong But of what degree is hee amongst them For euery companie that consists of many persons if they bee incorporate hath men of sundry degrees by the Ordinance of God and the common rules of discretion there are superiours there are inferiours some which command some which are commanded Of which ranke is our Sauiour Christ Of the highest it appeares in his State The Gouernment shall be vpon his shoulders Although then the Scripture affirm that Christ appeared in the forme of a seruant and himself said That he came not to be ministred vnto but to minister et must we not mistake his Ministery was not of the foote but of the head it was not an obeying but a commanding Ministeric The Head ministers and so doth the Foote in our body naturall but they minister not both alike The head ministreth to the foote by way of commanding the foote ministreth to the head by way of obeying Christs Ministery was of the former not of the later kinde his Foes and his Friends in the Gospell both salute him by the name of Rabbi or Rabboni which is by interpretation Master And our Sauiour Christ telleth his Disciples in St. Iohn You call me Master and Lord and you say well for so I am And elsewhere he calleth himselfe The Heire of the Vineyard The Lord of the Sabaoth The Name of Christ or Messias is a most cleare proofe hereof for none were anointed but to be superiours and the Acts which Christ did exercise beare witnesse hereunto which were all of them eyther Propheticall when hee taught or Priestly when hee sacrificed or Kingly when hee wrought Miracles These bee the things which were done by him and the Gospell relates no other kinde of acts or at least none in comparison And all these are commanding acts they are acts of a Superiour exercised in the dayes of his flesh in the dayes of his greatest humiliation So that the forme of a Seruant and the ministring of Christ shew that he had not the attendance for worldly respect that was due to such a Superiour hee had not so much as a house to hide his head in much lesse had hee any Princely pompe But they deny him not to haue been a Superiour they deny him not that which was giuen him in my Text and my Text giueth him the State of a Superiour To come then vnto it There are two things to bee obserued in the words 1. Of what sort the Gouernment was 2. and Wherewith Christ did sustaine it The Gouernment was of the best sort it was Regall it appeares in the next Verse where Christ is said To sit vpon the Throne of Dauid And this Gouernment he sustaines by his owne carefull Power for it is layd vpon his shoulders These two Points we must at this time looke into briefly and in their order I beginne with the Gouernment If wee looke backe to the Story of Genesis we shall finde that when God promised Isaac which was a Type of Christ he changed both his Fathers and his Mothers name shee was called Sarai but God new named her Sarah which is a Princesse and Abram was new named Abraham a Father of many Nations And me thinks when I reade these words here in the Prophet and those that follow wherein Christ is described I see the application of those names to this Person I see the Principality I see the Posterity I see in Christ the truth of Sarah and of Abrahams name And surely the word which here signifieth Gouernment hath great affinity with the name of Sarah But of Gouernments some are subordinate some are absolute Some so command as the Centurion in the Gospell I am a man set vnder authority though I haue diuers vnder mee and I say to one come and hee commeth and to another go and he goeth But some so command as Salomon speaketh of a King against whom there is no rising vp whose Lawes must not bee disputed on earth and his Commandements bee obeyed by all that are his Subiects Christs Gouernment is not of the subordinate but the absolute sort it appeares by the Throne by the Kingdome vpon which he sitteth places of absolute power especially if
for they that trust in the Lord are like vnto mount Sion which shall neuer be remoued LOrd guide vs by thy Counsell support vs by thy Power that wee be neyther circumuented nor quelled but by thy direction and protection we may escape both the craft and the force of all our Enemies So shall we euer glorifie thee as our admirable Counsellour and our most mighty God THE FIFTH SERMON The euerlasting Father the Prince of Peace THe Excellencie of Christs Person consists in the indowments thereof which are Regall but Spirituall That they are Regall appeares in his two first titles whereof I haue already spoken and that they are Spirituall it will appeare by the other two whereof I am now to speake Whereof the first sheweth that Christs Kingdome is not of this world He is the Father of eternity the second sheweth that the condition of his people is not worldly Christ is Prince of Peace To begin with the first In the Originall the first of these two titles is so exprest as I haue read it The Father of eternity And the words beare a double sense for either Aeternity is made the Attribute of the Father and so by an Hebraisme The Father of eternity is no more than the eternall or euerlasting Father so some Translations reade it or Aeternity may note that which is subiect to the Father and so the title imports that he is a Father of eternall things and so some Translations reade The Father of the world to come We need not to bee troubled with this variety for the words will beare eyther Translation and both these things concurre in the same person He that is the euerlasting Father is a Father of euerlasting things We will therefore handle both and first shew you that Christ is an euerlasting Father The phrase doth distinguish betweene our Father and our Father the Father of our flesh and the Father of our spirits of whom St. Paul speaketh Heb. 12. Of these two the first is Temporall the other is Aeternall that the first is but temporall wee may gather out of the fift of Genesis where are reckoned vp the longest liued Fathers that euer were in the world but of them all it is said that they begat children and then they dyed they left their children to the world And as they so their posterity come within the compasse of that of Iob Man that is borne of a Woman is but of a short time or as Dauid speakes His dayes are but a spanne long When he hath serued his course he goeth the way of all flesh and sleepes in his graue Neyther is he temporall only in regard that he must dye but also in regard that his affection is mutable Some parents destitute their children inforced by death but not a few put off the affection of Fathers euen in their life and they in that respect also may be termed but temporall Fathers Our Sauiour Christ speaking of the later times telleth vs that the Father shall rise against the Sonne as the Sonne against the Father Saint Paul speaking of former times Rom. 1. amongst other wicked ones reckoneth vp persons that were without naturall affection and it were an easie matter out of Histories to report that many haue dis-inherited many haue murdered many haue deuoured their own children so farre vnnaturall haue they beene In opposition vnto these two cases which apparantly conclude that the Parents of our flesh are temporall temporall in regard that they are mortall in their nature and temporall in that they are mutable in their affections our Sauiour Christ is termed an euerlasting Father death cannot take him from vs for euen in his death wherein notwithstanding his abode was so little that hee saw no corruption the hypostaticall Vnion which made him a father did not cease And as for his affection it is immutable Whom he loueth hee loueth vnto the end of the perpetuitie of his being excellent is that place Esay 63. Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of vs and Israel acknowledge vs not Thou O Lord art our Father and our Redeemer thy name is from euerlasting And touching the perpetuity of his louing the Church there speaketh also Looke downe from heauen and behold from the habitation of thy holinesse and of thy glory where is thy zeale and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercy towards me 〈◊〉 9. â—â—al 27. are they restrained No they cannot bee restrained For as God in this Prophet speaketh elsewhere Can a Mother forget her child If she can yet will not I forget thee saith the Lord And King Dauid When my father and my mother forsooke me the Lord tooke me vp This is the reason why our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell biddeth vs Call none father vpon earth for that we haue but one father which is in heauen hee liueth when the other dye and when the other hateth he continueth his loue and therefore is deseruedly called the euerlasting Father Two good Lessons are implyed herein the one teaching Piety the other Charity We are taught Piety when we are taught that he whom we obey is our Father for if I be a Father saith the Lord where is mine honour Mal. 1. and Moses to Israel Deut. 32. Doest thou so reward the Lord O thou foolish people and vnwise is not he thy Father that made thee c. And as the very name of Father teacheth Piety so doth the name of Euerlasting teach it much more St. Paul argueth so Heb. 12. If so bee wee honoured the fathers of our flesh which are mortall as is our flesh how much more should we honour the father of our spirits which is immortall as is our spirits Great reason haue we to reuerence this Father that neuer ceaseth to be our Father that hath prouided that euen when we lose our fathers we should yet stil haue our Father haue him for our Father which is the Father of Orphanes It is no small comfort nor weake pillar of our faith that we neuer want a Father yea our double birth readeth vs this Lecture For as we come out of our mothers wombe by the help of our mortall Parents so to signifie that we haue immortall parents we are then borne againe in the Churches wombe Neither doth this title teach vs only Piety but Charity also charity one towards another For whereas our mortall parents extend their consanguinity and affinity but to a few this euerlasing father extends his vnto all Malachy worketh vpon this Haue we not all one Father Cap. 2. wherefore then do you iniury one to another The blood should neuer be cold seeing wee are all kinne in the first degree all brethren sonnes of one father euen of him that is here called the euerlasting father But how commeth Christ to be called father who otherwise is called our brother he being the sonne of God and God being his father as hee is ours If you respect the Communion of
and giue the world a good testimonie that we are the subiects of the Prince of peace I will set God before mine eyes and I will try how mine eyes can behold God and if I finde that mine eye delights to behold him that his countenance puts gladnesse into my heart when I doe behold him I am sure we are at Peace For were wee not eyther I haue no eyes and doe not see him or when I doe I shall be confounded with the sight of him I will open mine eares and I will heare God in his Word and if when I heare him the Law of his mouth is sweeter vnto mee than hony and the hony combe I know we are at peace were we not I must needs be like Adam heare and fly And if in the dayes of my mortality I can attaine this Peace of Perfection I doubt not but in the dayes of my immortality I shall attaine vnto that higher peace the peace of Retribution all teares shall be wiped from mine eyes all sickenesse from my body all blindnesse from my vnderstanding all vntowardlinesse from my will This ciuill discord of the flesh and the spirit and that greater betweene my conscience and God how much more these lesser discords that are between me and other men shall fully cease and be abolished for euer the Prince of Peace shall consummate my peace And so haue you those two titles of Christ which shew that we must vnderstand spiritually those two former titles which you heard before doe royally belong vnto him I should now farther shew you that the Scripture giues Christ many names because one or few cannot fully expresse him or at least we cannot fully sound the depth of that name when it is giuen vnto him The name of Iesus is a rich name and so is the name of Christ the vsuall names by which our Sauiour was called but the riches of those names are vnfoulded vnto vs in these particular titles and wee must take these as Commentaries vpon those for as it is in the eleuenth of this Prophecie The spirit which rested vpon Christ was manifold how manifold the holy Ghost doth there describe in abstracto but here to like purpose he speaketh of Christ in concreto The time will not suffer me to parallel these and the like places this is our Rule That as our nature delights in variety so there is a variety in Christ to giue full content vnto our nature and wee must not lightly passe by any one of his titles seeing euery one of them promiseth so much good vnto vs. O Lord that being my Lord art pleased to be my Father such a Father as that I neede not feare that I shall euer be an Orphan and hast prouided me an inheritance that shal be as lasting as my selfe that when all other fayle mee shall bee enioyed by mee an inheritance most comfortable because therein consists my Perfection and thy Retribution the Retribution of glory wherewith thou dost crowne the Perfection of grace grant that I neuer want that piety which I owe vnto my Father that charity which I owe vnto my Brethren Let my heart goe where my best treasure is and let that peace which passeth all vnderstanding haue the vpper hand in me Let me feele it let me practise it so in heart that I may haue the fulnesse of both sense and practice of it in the Kingdome of Heauen Amen THE SIXTH SERMON Of the increase of his Gouernment and Peace there shall bee no end vpon the Throne of Dauid and vpon his Kingdome to order it and to establish it c. IN Christ whom the Prophet describeth here vnto vs I obserued a double excellencie one of his Person and another of his State The first I haue already handled I come now to the second the excellencie of the State Which stands in a boundlesse growth of the Kingdome and a constant policie of the King that is the effect wherof this is the cause But more particularly in the effect obserue that there is a growth the Prophet calleth it an increase a growth of the gouernment and a growth of the peace both partake of the same increase And the increase of both is boundlesse there is no end of it no bounds of place it ouerspreadeth all no bounds of time it endureth for euer the word beareth both Of this effect or boundlesse growth of the Kingdome the cause is the constant policie of the King Which consisteth in the exercise of his two roy all indowments of his wisedome Hee shall order and to order is nothing else but to employ that wisedome which Christ hath as a wonderfull Counsellour of his power He shall support and to support what is it but to employ his power the power that he hath as he is a mighty God hee employeth them both his wisedome his power But they may bee employed eyther well or ill according as the rule is by which they proceed Christ employeth them well his rule is good it is iudgement and iustice he cals all to an account and measures to all as they are found vpon their triall This is the policie And herein he is constant he continueth it without ceasing from henceforth euen for euer So that of the euerlasting effect there is an euerlasting cause You see what is the summe or substance of this second excellencie but that you may see it better let vs runne ouer the parts briefly and in their order And first we are to obserue how answerable the excellencie of the state is to the excellencie of the person one goeth not without the other Christus naturalis will haue Christum mysticum conformable vnto him the body to the head Where he vouchsafeth an vnion of persons he vouchsafeth a communion also in the dignity of the persons It appeares in the name he is called Christ which is annoynted with oyle of gladnesse and we are called Christians we partake of the same oyle His name is but an oyntment poured out as it is in the Canticles Cap. 1.3 poured out like that precious oyle vpon Aarons head which ranne downe to the skirts of his garment Cap. 60. All Christs garments and the Church in Esay is compared to a garment smell of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia as it is Psalme 45. This is taught by diuers Similies Of the wiues communicating in her husbands honour and wealth The branches partaking of the fatnesse and sweetnesse of the roote The members deriuing of sense and motion from the head So that our King is not like the bramble that receiueth all good and yeelds none to the state but hee is like the Fig-tree the Vine the Oliue they that pertaine to him are all the better for him they are conformable to him if he haue an excellencie they shall haue one also A good patterne for mortall Kings and Gouernours who should herein imitate the King of Heauen that as when a man seeth an excellent work he ghesseth that the
the Iewes and vs we haue enuious eyes and ambitious hearts we would not only be great but greatest we would not willingly that any should bee in better case than our selues Gods promise then goeth very farre which hee maketh to the Iewes and in them to vs when hee saith that they shall not onely haue great glory but also great in comparison in comparison to that which was very glorious So that if fertilior seges est c. and wee couet after the best gifts 1 Cor. 12. the very phrase did put them and doth put vs in minde how deeply they were wee are bound to God for the honour that hee did them in Christ 1 Reg. 8. and doth to vs. we should both ioy more therein than euer the Israelites did at the dedication of Salomons Temple But wee must not mistake and vnderstand the comparison made betweene the Old and the New Testament in an anabaptisticall sense as if they in the Old Testament had only corporall glorie and they in the New Testament spirituall the glory of both is spirituall But theirs of the Old Testament was veiled with ceremonies ours in the New Testament is vnueiled they had Christ but they saw him not but through sacrifices and darke rites but we with open face doe behold the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. therefore the Apostle teacheth Ephes 2. that of two we are made but one new man and Rom. 11. we are grafted into that â—liue from whence they sprang Secondly we must distinguish the meanes as they are offered of God and as they are receiued of men the glory of the New Testament is greater in regard of the meanes offered of God Blessed are the eyes that see that which you see saith our Sauiour Christ to his Apostles Luke 10.24 and the eares that heare that which you heare for I tell you many Kings Prophets and righteous men haue desired to see those things which you see and haue not seene them and to heare those things which you heare and haue not heard them But in regard of entertainement of the meanes the glory of the Patriarches faith vnder the Old Testament may well bee thought to haue equalled if not to haue gone beyond the glory of most of their faiths that liue vnder the New And why the darker their meanes were the stronger was their faith that built vpon them and our faith though in worke equall is in worth vnequall because our meanes are clearer clearer than was afforded any of those Worthies which are chronicled Heb. 11. Whereupon will follow a third thing which is that seeing in heauen men shall fare not according to the meanes which God affordes them but according to their vse of the meanes we may not so aduance the glory of the New Testament aboue that of the Old as to thinke that in the life to come all that liue vnder the New Testament shall haue precedencie of all those that liued vnder the Old Well it will bee with many if not most of vs if wee may haue a place in Abrahams bosome and sit down with him and with Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdome of God I haue done with the points of my Text as they were to be opened seuerally I haue shewed you what Christ can doe what he will doe it remaines that in very few words I shew you what instructions they will yeelde vs if we ioyne them both together Obserue then that the Prophet doth first set downe Christs power and then his will in so doing the holy Ghost doth helpe the infirmities of men Were we such as wee should bee wee would neuer question Gods promise through doubt of his power But the best of Gods children haue taken exception to Gods promises and exprest their distrust God promised Abraham a childe in his old age Gen. 18. Sarah laugheth at that and obiects her dead wombe and Abrahams decrepit bodie God promised Moses that the children of Israel should eate flesh a moneth together in the wildernesse Num. 11. Moses thus reasons against God The people amongst whom I am are sixe hundred thousand footemen shall all the flocks and the heards be slaine to suffice them c. You will not wonder to heare a Prince of Samaria dis-beleeue the vnexpected plenty promised by Elizeus 2 King 7. nor Ahaz distrusting the despaired deliuerance of Ierusalem from the armies of the King of Israel and Syria Esay 7. It is not strange to see flesh and bloud so backeward in beleeuing God seeing they which are a good part spirit are not so forward as they should bee It is not then without cause that the holy Ghost prefixeth Christs power before his will lest the ignorance of the power should make vs thinke that the Prophet doth lauish in expressing his will Wherefore the holy Ghost taking vs for no better than we are encourageth vs to hope well of Christs promise out of the consideration of his sufficiencie And this is the reason why the first Article in the Creede is prefixt before all the rest it preuents the scruples that would rise in our distrustfull nature A second instruction that the coupling of Christs power and his will will yeelde is that Christ doth giue his gifts not according to the narrownesse of our desires but the width of his owne power St. Paul Ephes 3. telleth vs that Christ is able to doe exceeding abundantly aboue all that wee aske or thinke and here the Prophet telleth vs that he is willing to deale so The Iewes would haue had a Temple glorious but they did not wish it more glorious than that of Salomon Christ will haue the glory of the later house greater than that of the former Abrahams wish was Oh that Ismael might liue in thy sight God heard him and promised to multiply Ismael exceedingly but he added a promise of an Isaac too Gen. 17. in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed and whose off-spring should multiply as the sand of the sea and the starres in the firmament which are innumerable Salomon begged onely wisedome 1 King 3.11 God gaue him that in the highest degree but ouer and aboue and that in no low degree he heaped vpon him honour and wealth How many came to Christ for the helpe of their bodies and beyond their desire went away cured in their soules If wee in our prayers make the like triall of Christ wee shall finde no worse successe I will conclude all with two good remembrances taught vs by King Dauid The first is grounded vpon the consideration of Christs power When wee cloathe the naked feede the hungry doe any good deede giue any thing to any good vse we must with that religious King confesse 2 Chro. 29. Omnia exmanu tua accepta offerimus tibi Wee haue nothing which wee haue not receiued and we could not haue offered it to him except he had first bestowed it on vs for the siluer is his
came the Nations should beat their swords into plough-shares Esay 21 and their speares into pruning hookes Nation shall not lift vp sword against Nation neyther shall they learne warre any more cap. 11. the same Prophet by an allegorie doth elsewhere teach that where Christ commeth and is entertained he doth ciuilize the most barbarous Nations The Wolfe shall dwell with the Lambe the Leopard lye downe with the Kid the sucking childe shall play on the hole of the aspe and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice denne they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters couer the sea Worthily therfore doth the Apostle call Christ our peace whose kingdome is righteousnes Ephes 2.14 Rom. 14.17 peace and ioy in the holy Ghost Moreouer obserue that to whom we owe our glorie to him wee owe our peace the blessings of God doe much affect vs as being good but except we haue securitie in the possession of them wee lose most of our content for it is a great accession to miserie once to haue been happy and plus refert vndè quà m quò cadas he that taketh a downe-fall from an high place is more sensible of that which he hath lost than of that which he suffers Therefore the addition of peace vnto glory doth import no small comfort which Esay also foretold cap. 4. Vpon all the glory shall be a defence The Apostle speaketh significantly Phil. 4.7 The peace of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall bee as a Court of guard to keep our hearts and mindes in the state of grace whereunto we are brought by Christ They that are rich and are to conuey their goods by sea or land haunted with theeues pyrants doe thinke themselues to be so much more or lesse bound to those that will secure their passage as their goods are more or lesse precious Goods of greater price than is the glorie of the house before specified there cannot be how great then is our debt vnto Christ who safe conducts vs with our glorie through the wildernesse of this world maugre the might and malice of the Serpent and the Lion of all our deadly foes You haue heard who settleth the peace in the place you must now heare how Hee giueth it And it is truly tearmed a gift for whereas there are two kindes of peace one made betweene parties whereof each is able to make good his quarrell against the other yet they are contented to auoyde trouble to agree vpon reasonable conditions the other kinde of peace is that which a conqueror out of his goodnesse vouchsafeth to persons subdued which are at his mercie and whom by the law of armes he might make slaues Our peace is of this later sort we all deserued to bee captiues to the diuell for wee were all become children of wrath by Adams sinne Ephes 2.3 When we lay thus weltring in our bloud no other eye pitying vs then God said vnto man Thou shalt liue Ezech. 16. Hee gaue him this peace therefore is peace a free gift Neyther a free gift onely but a stable also they are not induciae but pax not a cessation from armes for a time that admitteth a returne to warre againe but a reconciliation for euer a couenant of salt Gods mercie shall not depart and this couenant shall not be remoued Esay 54.10 Ezech. 37. Prou. 1. v. vlt. You haue heard what the peace is the place where it resteth by whom and how they are ioyned together what remaineth but that euery man enquire whether he haue this peace or not in this enquirie we must proceede ascendendo not descendendo the lower must assure vs of the vpper degree The abolishing of the guilt of our sinne is the darkest branch of our peace which wee know onely by faith But for the triall of this point of faith we must haue recourse to our conscience and inquire what peace we find there For the peace of our conscience is the looking glasse of that peace which we haue with God if we finde none there we haue none with God and we may be sure we haue it with God if we finde it truly there Truely I say for a man may be deceiued in the triall of his conscience many haue quiet consciences but it is because they are seared Wherefore we must looke one steppe lower and iudge of the second degree of our peace by that which we finde in the third we must see it in our mortification and subiection of the flesh to the spirit for iustification which doth quiet the conscience is inseparable from sanctification which doth reforme our nature Finally to remoue all doubt concerning sanctification we must looke to the effects thereof for a good tree bringeth forth good fruit and our conuersation will testifie our sanctification if our deeds be seasoned with charitie the spirit of God doth rest in our soules This inquirie is most behoofe full in these daies wherein more talke of peace than doe partake thereof partake I say of that true and full peace which here is meant by Haggai Yet lest men stumble by ouer great curiosity and dis-hearten themselues for the diuell is apt to make men as well despaire that they haue not peace when they haue it as to presume that they haue it when they haue it not wee must distinguish inter pacem viatoris and comprehensoris the peace of the Church militant and that of the Church triumphant Touching the Church militant it hath outward crosses and inward conflicts We doe not alwaies apprehend the light of Gods countenance it is often ouercast and hee is despleased with vs but it is as a father with his childe of whom the Poet Sit licet in natos facies austera parentum Aequa tamen semper mens est amica voluntas Therefore the cloud will dissolue and the light will cheere vs againe The worme is not so dead but if we sinne it will giue vs a remembrance a happy remembrance for it awakeneth vs to repent and beleeue which so soone as we doe the smart is at an end The law of our members will often times rebell against the law of our mindes and carrying vs captiue vnto sin will make vs cry out with St. Paul Rom. 7. O wretch that I am who shall deliuer mee front this body of death but the conclusion is comfortable Thanks be to God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Finally very often when we speak vnto men of peace they will prepare themselues to war for except we will riot communicate with them in their sin they will hate vs so that we must redeeme our inward peace with an outward war In this case let it be our comfort that much happier is the war that keeps vs close to God than that peace which will separate vs from him Psal 23. Though I walke in the middest of the valley of
they are raised thereby The Motiues are her state considered first in it selfe and that first in what termes she standeth with God good termes Highly fauoured The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very word calleth for Ioy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are as neare in nature as in name Grace is the seed of Ioy we learne it in the 86. and 87. Psalmes Light is sowne for the righteous and ioyfulnesse for them that are true hearted But the Rhemists interrupt vs and quarrell with our translation they would haue it full of grace And doe wee deny it we doe not our Liturgie refutes them in the Gospell wee reade it Haile full of grace wee confesse the Syriac agreeth with it and that the Fathers haue it so and did not they abuse it still might it goe so but the abuse is grosse and to shew that the aduantage thereof is not in the originall words the Church not without cause hath recourse vnto the fountaines and therehence doth discouer how weake the hold fast is which they take vpon their translation For Full of Grace are doubtfull words there is Grace of acceptance and Grace of inherence whether is here meant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheweth that the Angell meant the former Neither doe wee onely say so but themselues also yea the very Iesuites themselues most deuoted to the Virgin Mary confesse that the word so signifieth and must be so taken here the more inexcusable is the Rhemists slander But you will say they include Grace of inherence also Doe wee deny it God forbid we confesse St. Austins rule to be true Vasa quae creatrix sapientia format vt sint adiutrix gratia implet ne vacua sint God that with the holy oile annointed the Tabernacle before he entred to dwel within it did no doubt sanctifie the Virgins person whom he did destinate to be his sacred Temple But the question is concerning the Measure In the measure we say that they exceed their Church exceeds If the Councell of Basil and the Councell of Trent deliuer the Doctrine of their Church they exceed in the measure both of her grace and glory Of her Grace freeing her very conception from sinne contrary to the iudgement not onely of the Fathers but also of their best Schoolemen St. Bernard hath written a very learned Epistle against it Epist 174. ad Canonicos Ludgnnenses Neither doe they lauish onely in their Doctrine of her Grace but of her Glory also and in this much more dangerously euen so much more dangerously as the danger of Idolatry exceedes the danger of Heresie especially this Idolatry because it includes that Heresie They then hauing so farre aduanced the Virgin in the opinion of her Grace doethereupon proportion vnto her such a degree of Glory as that seeing Christ is Head of the Church she must be the Necke and as no influence commeth from the head into the body but by the necke so no grace is communicated to the Church but by the Virgin Mary Are you not amazed when you heare it certainly you would bee if you read the prayers which they make to her euident arguments that they doe beleeue it and foule Idolatry staines all their prayers wherein they doe expresse it I would they would behold themselues in the Collyridian Heretickes and apply vnto themselues that doome which Epiphanius passeth vpon them Heres 79. But I forget my promise I said I would rather edisie you with the truth than refute errour wherefore leauing them let vs come to better matter Ioy is an effect whereof the Angell will haue the Virgin to looke vnto the cause the cause may be looked for either in her selfe or in God or as I spake before in Grace of Acceptance or Inherence It is plaine by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Angell guides her eyes to looke on the former not the later to looke vpon the fauour she findeth rather than the indowments which she hath Angels fall and Mans also was caused by their desire to ioy in themselues for selfe-loue bred their Apostasie And though since the Fall man haue little cause to fall in loue with himselfe yet is hee not free from danger if in himselfe hee will finde the ground of Ioy for he is through the sight of his imperfection as much in danger to despaire as through the sight of his perfection hee was to presume the perfections of the best though they be such as are not void of comfort yet because they haue intermingled many imperfections that comfort must needes haue a mixture of much discomfort entire and solide ioy cannot be found there Wherefore St. Anstins confession must be the confession of vs all Beata vita est saith hee speaking vnto God gaudere ad te de te propter te if we will ioy wee must lift vp our soules as high as God and in our ioy couple nothing with God we must be induced vnto ioy by no other end but to expresse our thankfulnesse for the mercy of God this is the true motiue of entire and solide ioy But a little farther to open it this word doth eleuate the ioy to that degree which beseemes a Christian man there are other obiects which vsurpe falsly that which belongs vnto God Carnall pleasures are the first vsurpers and many rest vpon them they rellish nothing but their meates their drinkes and sensuall lusts whose ioy if it be any it is but gaudium animalis there is nothing that can giue content vnto a man in such a ioy because these pleasures are common to vs with beasts Rationall indowments eyther of the vnderstanding or of the will furnished with liberall arts or morall vertues are the second vsurpers indeed their title vnto ioy is much better than the former yet their plea is but weake Salomon hath censured knowledge as vnfit to breed ioy in that short saying Qui addit scientiae addit dolori And as for Morall Vertues Eccles 1.18 destitute of Grace what ioy can there be in them which the Fathers haue iudiciously censured to be no better than splendid a peccata So that the ioy promised by this vsurper if it be any it is but gaudium hominis the ioy of a naturall man and therefore as imperfect as is his nature The third vsurper goeth a degree higher and that is Inherent Grace whose plea is so probable that it perplexeth many a man and yet it is but an vsurpers plea because of the rebellion betweene the flesh and the spirit and the often ouerthrowes which the spirit receiues in vs from the flesh and what ioy can there be in the midst of so many foyles in him that daily receiueth so many wounds so that ioy if there be any it is but the Pharisees ioy that thinkes of himselfe better than he should and so doteth vpon the little good he hath that he obserues not how much more there is which he should haue
more tentations no more foyles no more reproches euea when we shall fall asleepe we may lay our selues downe in peace and take our rest for Christ which only can will make vs dwell in safety As securely as himselfe rested in the graue so shall our flesh rest in hope there is the first taste of our victorie But when wee awake wee shall drinke our fill of it and shall with the Saints in the Reuelation yea in this Chapter insult and say O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victorie Thankes bee vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through Iesus Christ our Lord. But he is Typus not only victoriae but vitae also and that of grace and glorie Fulgent p. 714. Of grace in Baptisme and of glorie at the last day so the Fathers distinguish Resurrectio carnis Christi gratiam nobis corporalis spiritualis resurrectionis attribuit it raiseth out of both sleepes the spirituall and corporall and they doe it by the direction of St. Paul for he makes him a Type of both but in a different fashion Of the first he is Typus analogicus of the second exemplaris Wee are buried with Christ in Baptisme that as Christ dyed and rose againe from the dead so should we walke in newnesse of life Rom. 6.3 Christ then in his Resurrection doth first preach vnto vs rising from sinne And indeed if the name Christus did imply the cause of his Resurrection the name of Christians must imply the cause of ours no hope of an answerable resurrection if we haue not a part in the vnction for the first resurrection doth fit vs for the second If we haue saith St. Paul Phil. 3 our conuersation in heauen we may looke for our Sauiour which shall change our vile bodies and make them like vnto his glorious body This all should thinke vpon that little intend the first and yet looke for the second Resurrection whereas a spirituall body can be the Tabernacle of none but a spirituall soule and wee must feele the answer of a good conscience to Godward before we can bee begotten to a liuely hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ Nyssen de opif. hom c. 22. yea wee must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foretaste glorie by the vse of grace And if a man haue the Spirit of grace Theophylact comforts him well Ne angaris animo quod mort ali corpore cinctus sis c. bee not disheartned when thou lookest vpon thy house of clay the Spirit of life that is in Iesus freeth vs from the Law as of sinne so of death for if the spirit of him that raised Iesus from the dead dwell in thy mortall body he that raised Iesus from the dead will also quicken thy mortall body by the spirit that dwelleth in thee Rom 8. There is one thing more noted by the first fruits Leuit. 1. they were put on the Altar but not burnt to note that they were ready for God without fire The Crosse of Christ hath made an end of all affliction there remaines nothing for vs but acceptation that wee bee presented vnto God in his Temple and receiued into those heauenly Tabernacles These be the things that the First fruits doe teach and whereof we may not doubt for therefore the Fathers tell vs that Christs resurrection is not only Auspex and Examplar but also fidei iussor Theodoret. yea chirographum nostrae resurrectionis they make a faire demonstration of it Primitiae habent cognationem cum vniuerso eo cuius sunt Primitiae the first fruits and that whose first fruits they are must needes be of the same kinde The cognation then is betweene Christs manhood and ours in that he opened vnto vs the new and liuing way Heb. 9. Non est dubit andum de consortio gloriae sicut non est dubit andum de consortio naturae And therefore the Fathers in the Primitiue Church testified their faith by standing vpright this day and many following daies while they prayed not onely to remember themselues whither their desires should tend but also to testifie that this day is quodammodo imagoventuri saeculi a representation of our blessed rising from the dead It is true that as the Easter first fruits were presented before those at Whitsontide so God hath put a distance between Christs resurrection ours we must stay our time yet the first fruits wils vs to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee as sure as if wee were already risen The last note that I will giue vpon Primitiae is that they are Primitia dormientium the first fruits of them that slept the same flesh awakes which slept that first slept in sinne and then for sinne And is not this a wonderfull mercie This flesh if you looke to the basenesse of it how much more if to the sinnefulnesse may seeme vnworthy of so great glorie but God doth vouchsafe it and leaues vs to stand and wonder at it He that could haue created new bodies chooseth rather to repaire our old that this our vnworthinesse might the more commend his goodnesse hee will make these quondam Iustfull eyes itching eares bloudy hands c. fit to doe him seruice in the kingdome of Heauen But it is time to conclude I will shut vp all with a few admonitions that spring from the Text. There is in euery man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a naturall querulousnesse against death This Text will silence it for the remembrance of the Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athanasius speakes furnisheth vs with a shield to quench that fiery dart it will make vs resolue that death is better than life because the passage to a better life For the Resurrection is Pascha Transitus death is not meta but via not our iournies end but the passage thereunto but it is to them that are Christians that are according to the inner man Temples of the holy Ghost for where grace is Leo de Pasch Serm. 13. there is the passage vnto glorie Quare appareant nun◠quoque in Ciuitate sancta i.e. in Ecclesia Dei futurae Resurrectionis indicia quod gerendum est in corporibus fiat in cordibus Let our renued hearts bee vnto vs a pledge that our bodies shall be renued But grace must be Paschall transitus sine reditu wee must so rise from sinne that we returne not like dogges to our vomit 1 Pet. 2. and like swine to our wallowing in the myre Serm 10. de Pasch St. Bernard complained of many in his dayes Qui sacram Domini Resurrectionem Paschae priuabant nomine to whom it was not Transitus but Reditus that though they kept the Feast for a day and did partake the Sacrament also yet after all this turned as good fellowes as euer they were before I would it were not so with vs also That it is so with the vulgar people the Tauernes can witnesse that are neuer better furnisht
place of mortality But enough of the place Christ ascended not onely in place but in state also in a blessed place he had a blessed state and his state is reduced to two branches Glory and Power for he sate downe on the right hand of God and the right hand of God singifieth both first glory They that come neare in place to the person of a King come neare also in glory and dignity vnto him St. Paul saith he was receiued vp into glory Dauid Psal 8. he was crowned with glory and worship The Author to the Hebrewes he is set downe at the right hand of Maiesty farre aboue all powers and principalities hauing a Name giuen him aboue all names And this is opposed to the forme of a seruant which Christ tooke in the dayes of his flesh while hee was in the world he emptied himselfe of glory and made himselfe of no reputation becomming as the scorne of men and out-cast of the people not a house to hide his head but after the Resurrection he appeares in another habit In the first of the Reuelation and other passages of that Booke Iohn saw him as the King of Glory and the Fathers interpret those words in the Psalme Be opened O ye gates and be ye lifted vp ye euer lasting doores and the King of glory shall come in of the Ascension of Christ and entring into his glory for then did he lift vp himselfe aboue the Heauens and his glory aboue all the Earth As his state was full of glory so was it also of power for all power was then giuen vnto him both in heauen and earth and all knees bowed vnto him all things were put vnder his feet and he became King of kings and Lord of lords Heb. 4. yea he heares vp all things with the word of his power it usharper than any two-edged sword The Psalmist compares it to sharpe arrowes Psal 45. he hath an tron scepter in his hand wherewith he breakes the wicked as a Potters vessell finally he reignes in the middest of his enemies And this power is opposed to that weaknesse wherein he appeared in the dayes of his flesh the condition of that time is amply set downe Esay 53. wherein you shall see nothing but passion and subiection and the Gospell confirmes that Prophesie wherein you shall finde that from the day of his birth vntill the moment that he gaue vp the ghost Christ endured as if hee were the subiect of euery wicked mans blasphemous tongue or bloudy hands but the case is now altered for his enemies are now the patients and he the agent they are subiect vnto him and hee can as hee will bridle and crush them for his Kingdome is ouer all This is the summe of the Exaltation of Christs person and our nature in his person for hee made vs sit with himselfe in heauenly places that will appeare better in the second part of the Triumph Wherein I noted two particulars the first was that the monuments of the Conquest did attend the chariot of the Conquerour Incedunt vinctae longo ordine gentes Quam vartae linguis habitu tam vestis armis to this allude these words He led captiuity captiue and indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes that which is taken by force 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ was the Lyon of the tribe of Iudah and Esay cap. 63. he is described as a glorious Conquerour Shah the prey be taken from the mighty or the captiuity of the iust be deliuered Thus saith the Lord the captiues of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be deliuered Esay 49. Christ the stronger man entered the strong mans house he bound him he rifled him But St. Austin on these words obserues a distinction of captiues and captiuity In Psal 67. Austin on these words obserues a distinction of captiues and captiuity there is inuolunt aria captiuit as and voluntaria whereof the former is misera the later faelix the fiends of Hell were taken captiues Christ triumphed ouer them and made a shew openly of them and the children of God were taken captiues Col. 2. 1. Pet. 2. 2. Cor. 10. for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a purchased people And St. Paul tels vs that the weapons of his spirituall warfare are mighty through God to the pulling downe of strong holds casting downe imaginations and euery high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captiuity euery thought to the obedience of Christ The children of God are deliuered from captiuity but to continue captiues still for they must take vpon them Christs yoake and they must account themselues not their owne but his The very same doth St. Paul meane Rom. 6. when he saith that of seruants of sinne we are made seruants to righteousnesse for servus and captivus are Synonoma's But betweene these captiues there is this difference that the first are vnwillingly captiues and in their captiuity are miserable for they are reserued in chaines of darknesse for the iudgement of the great day and they take little content in this thraldome But as for the children of God they are glad that they haue so changed their Master and well they may be for they are made happy by the change for their seruice is perfect liberty and what can our heart more desire In this difference captiuity being vnderstood of both sorts it is true that they attend Christs chariot the wicked vincti as Prisoners the godly coronati as being Conquerours for what Christ did hee did for them and there is a sense thereof in euery one of them But how is this true that eyther the one or the other are so captiues seeing this our Apostle in this very Epistle doth tell vs Cap. 6. that we striue not with flesh and bloud but with powers and principalities and spirituall wickednesse in heauenly places We must therefore obserue that Christ hath taken away from Sathan two things ius in nos and dominium in nobis His right vnto vs hath Christ taken away absolutely in his owne person for Christ hath the keyes of death and hell and Sathan cannot stirre but when and as farre as Christ giues him leaue As for dominium in nobis Christ hath taken that away by putting his spirit into vs and thereby mortifying the old man but yet so that wee still consist as well of the old as of the new the flesh rebels against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh Thus Christ is pleased to exercise vs that wee may imitate his Triumph and by experience of our trampling vpon Sathan be vndoubtedly assured that Christ hath bruised his head St. Paul was buffeted by a messenger of Sathan he prayed and Christ answered him My grace is sufficient for thee my strength is made perfect in weaknesse If we would but resist the Deuill he would fly from vs if we would resist I say stedfast in faith
in Baptisme which is a conformitie to Christ dying and rising from the dead In a word all Christs commandements are eyther affirmatiue or negatiue In regard of the affirmatiue wee must imitate Dauid a man after Gods owne heart Acts 13. who did facere omnes voluntates Dei doe all that which God would haue him doe And touching the negatiue wee must imitate the same Dauid who saith of himselfe that All wicked wayes he did vtterly abhorre Psal 119. If thus we liue we shall doe as we pray Gods will in earth as it is done in heauen But who can doe so it is more than is possible for this fraile life wherefore we may vnderstand All two manner of wayes secundum partes and secundum gradus According to the parts of our duety wee must omit no part but must exercise our selues in euery thing which Christ requires As for the degrees though we must striue to attaine the highest yet if we reach not so farre we must not despaire Austin Quisquis non potest implere quod iubet Christus amet eum qui impleuit in illo implet that which was impossible for the Law by reason of the weaknesse of our flesh Rom. 8. God sending his sonne in the similitude of our flesh for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh that the righteousnesse of the Law might bee fulfilled in vs Cap. 19. which walke not according to the flesh but according to the spirit Hitherto you haue seene how the Minister must praeire praecepto lead the people by good Instruction now see in a word how hee must lead them by good Example The commandements that Christ gaue he gaue to the Apostles meaning that they should make vse of them themselues as well as perswade the people to it St. Paul vnderstood it so who saith of himselfe 1 Cor. 9. I beate downe my body and bring it vnder lest when I preach vnto others my selfe become a Reprobate and biddeth Timothie bee an example to his flocke we must not be like Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 23. that bound heauie burdens and layd them vpon the peoples shoulders whereat they would not lift with one of their fingers It is too foule a reproach for a Minister so by his liuing to contradict his preaching as to deserue to be replyed vnto in that Prouerbe Medice cura teipsum and so destroy more than he can build This dishonour I wish you to auoyd And so at length I haue done with the Charge come we now to the Comfort That I told you standeth in the powerfull and perpetuall presence and assistance of Christ Christs presence is noted by Ego vobiscum I am with you which doth shew vs the truth of Christs name Immanuel God with vs Mat. 1. Esay 8. the Holy Land was called Terra Immanuel the Land of God is with vs and because that was but a Type look into the place where God put his name Ezekiel in the vision of the new Hierusalem telleth vs that the name of that Citie is Iehoua shamma Cap. 48. Dominus ibi the Lord is there both in the new Testament and in the old that saying of Wisedome in the Prouerbs cap. 8. is receiued My delight is to be with the sonnes of men But how can Christ which is ascended into heauen be with them vpon earth the name of Christ containeth the Manhood as well as the Godhead now the Manhood is finite therfore cannot be both in Heauen Earth True the Manhood cannot but the Man may No man saith Christ Iohn 3. ascendeth vnto heauen but hee that descended from heauen the sonne of man which is in heauen this Christ spake when he was vpon the earth If the sonne of man could bee in heauen while Christ was on the earth surely the sonne of man may bee on the earth while Christ is in heauen We must vnderstand it of the Person which is but one though two Natures subsist therein and both natures concurre in the production of the seuerall workes of the Mediator in a manner which wee cannot conceiue But we must take heede of the Lutherans racking of this conceipt who would make the Humanitie of Christ to haue a double existence one finite which they call Physicall the other infinite which they call Hyperphysicall which distinction is such as I thinke themselues doe not vnderstand I am sure they doe not expresse it so that it may bee conceiued no more doe Papists that to beare out Transubstantiation haue coined the like But to leaue them Christ that is man is present euery where though not in his Manhood yet in his Godhead If this bee too obscure take a plainer manner his Presence by his Holy Spirit Misit Vicarium spiritum sanctum as Tertullian speaketh If I go not away saith Christ the Comforter will not come Iohn 14. but if I goe I will send him to you from my Father and where the Spirit is there is Christ St. Iohn teacheth vs so By this wee know that he abideth in vs by the Spirit that he hath giuen vnto vs. 1 Epist 3. But it is not a bare presence that we haue to doe withall I told you it is a powerfull presence the word Ego I must bee vnderstood with an Emphasis I that haue all power giuen mee both in heauen and earth that haue ouercome the world in my owne person and in my own person cast out the Prince of this world that haue all iudgement giuen vnto me from the Father whom all the Angels doe worship And indeede the Presence of such a person was behoofefull whether you respect those to whom they were sent or that which they were to doe the Apostles though they carried heauenly treasures it was but in earthen vessels themselues were but plain men of no great parts nor parentage in outward shew likely not only to be scorned but also to be persecuted when they had deliuered their message the Dragon and all his Angels were like fiercely to oppose them ea Christ told them that he sent them as sheepe amongst wolues And how vnlikely might they thinke themselues to preuaile with all sorts of men and perswade them to forsake their Idolatry and turne to God to beleeue in Christ crucified take vp their crosse and follow him The vndergoing of such a danger the compassing of such a designe require a powerfull Presence without which the Apostles would neuer haue ventared to vndertake their charge When God bid Moses goe to Pharaoh and command him to let Israel goe out of Captiuitie how doth he excase himselfe dis-inable himselfe what adoe hath God with him nothing could put him in heart but Ero tecum I will be with thee Exod. 3.12 that so emboldned him that being but a single and a silly man at least the companie that hee tooke with him were of no great regard yet they ventured into Pharaohs Court into his presence and without feare of him or his greatnesse deliuered
made steward of Gods house a disposer of the secrets of the Kingdome of God an Oecumaenicall both Steward and Disposer Et ad haec quis idoneus No man that is not qualified by grace and by grace not only called but inabled thereunto as St. Paul was that was not only an Apostle but had also Apostolicall gifts But I said I would haue an eye to this present occasion wherefore I will enlarge this point as fitteth the present Auditorie The grace of a Minister is eyther inherent or assistant the first giueth Abilitie the second Authoritie by grace inherent hee vnderstandeth the Scripture by grace assistant hee hath power to retaine and remit sinne Of these two graces both are requisite to the being as it were of a Pastor there should be a sufficiencie in him vnto whom authoritie is giuen and hands should not be imposed on them which haue not a competencie of gifts And yet it falleth out too often that through the ambition of ignorant men and ouer-facilitie of those that haue power to lay on hands many weake yea wicked ones are honoured with that sacred calling whereunto themselues are no meane dishonour who in regard of the grace of inherence cannot say with St. Paul by the grace of God I am that I am inward grace in this kinde they haue plainely none I would they would redeeme this shame and not liue to bee scandalls of our Church But the sinne of such doth not impeach their power they are true though they are not fit Ministers Which must bee considered by those which factiously refuse or scrupulously forbeare to be Sheepe vnder such Shepheards or to communicate with them in sacred things although hee come short in regard of grace inherent yet God is not wanting to him in regard of grace assistant whether he dispence the Sacraments according to Gods ordinance or present according to the ordinance of the Church the peoples deuotion vnto God And let this suffice touching St. Paules Endowment I come now to his Employment And here I told you first that St. Paul did not neglect Gods gifts Gods grace bestowed vpon him was not in vaine Vaine is eyther emptie or idle emptie is that which hath a shew but no substance idle is that whose efficacie is not answerable to its abilitie The grace that St. Paul had was neither way vaine for he had Gods spirit indeed not in shew onely and his deeds did beare witnesse that Gods spirit was in him In this place the Apostle meaneth not so much emptinesse as idlenesse for though whatsoeuer is emptie must needs be idle yet whatsoeuer is idle is not emptie otherwise there could be no sinne of negligence whereof notwithstanding there is too much in the world Negligence of both kinde of graces of the grace of Adoption which is common to all the Church for how many be there whose vnderstanding God illightneth with the knowledge of the truth that neuer make vse of it in ordering of their liues but liue as if they knew neyther Creede nor ten Commandements how many good motions doth God kindle in the hearts of many a man who notwithstanding liueth frozen as it were in the dregs of his owne impure lusts and those good motions set him not a whit forwarder towards heauen Nay as water that hath beene warmed is apt to bee bound faster with the frost so after-lusts are the more violent by reason of former good motions But this is a foule neglect of Gods good gifts Wherfore let me remember you all in the Apostles words to follow his good example not to receiue the grace of God in vaine St. Paul did not the more grace he had the better he liued and so must we if there be light in vs it must shine forth from vs and they must feele the heat of our inward zeale that conuerse with vs outwardly in the world In a word wee must all walke in that spirit by which wee liue they that boast of Gods gifts let them shew the effects of them for I haue chosen you saith Christ that you may goe and beare fruit Gods grace that makes vs other men must make vs also profitable men As none of the Church must neglect the grace of Adoption so must not the Ministers neglect their grace of Edification they must not hide their talent consult with flesh and blood bee disobedient to the heauenly visions they must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stirre vp the grace of God blow off the ashes that would ouer-cast it sound the trumpet and giue timely Alarums be instant in season and out of season being salt wee must euer be seasoners of the world being light we must euer be dispelling the darkenesse of men being Architects wee must euer be building of Gods house being Husbandmen wee must euer bee labouring in Gods field finally being Shepheards we must euer be attending on Christs flocke so was St. Paul so must we Otherwise Gods grace is bestowed on vs in vaine our conscience cannot yeeld vs this good testimonie which St. Paul giueth here vnto himselfe it will rather challenge vs of our neglect and the grieuousnesse of our neglect will bee answerable to the gifts which wee receiue from God And God knowes there is too much of this neglect of our calling in many at whose hands God will require the blood of many perishing soules But I will dwell no longer vpon this first branch of St. Paules employment St. Paul did not neglect the gifts of God but vnto his vse of them there concurred more workers than one he doth specifie them and the preheminencie of eyther of them The workers are two St. Paul and Gods grace And here I must put you in minde that though in our first conuersion we are only passiue yet being conuerted we become actiue also God onely maketh vs new men but being new he will haue vs make vse of our new vnderstanding and our new will and our new affections he will haue vs vse them all And it were grosse for vs to neglect our selues when God hath giuen vs abilities which we may employ yea honoured vs so farre as to enable vs to work out our saluation and walke the waies that leade vnto eternall life neither doth hee euer deserue to come there that will not set forward that way And yet many such wretches haue you that leaue themselues to be carried to heauen by God while they giue themselues ouer-securely to fulfill their owne wicked lusts that hope well of God but themselues doe no good at all And as there bee such carelesse Christians so are there carelesse Ministers also who presuming vpon dabitur in illa hora do all things extempore preach pray and what not as if premeditation and studie did not concerne them but the spirit of God would alwaies supply them and giue them an extraordinarie abilitie But this is grosse presumption and dangerous also euen the high way vnto Enthusiasme Anabaptisme and all those mischieuous Sects the
the Sunne a God and giue the price of the Creatour vnto his creature whereas they should haue argued from it vnto him and conceiued the eminencie of his goodnesse from whom such good things did proceed And wee shall not be farre from Idolatrie if the comfort of peace and Religion affecting vs our hearts ascend no higher then the immediat cause thereof which is our King and wee doe not giue glorie vnto God which out of his loue to vs hath set him vpon the Throne if we doe not discerne that The Lord hath made our Day What our sinnes were that might haue hindered it I need not tell you the Pestilence that did attend the dawning of the Day was an intimation from God how vnworthie wee were but his pleasure was that we should fall into his hands not into the hands of our enemies For as we were vnworthie so they were inraged witnesse their treason that immediatly was discouered manifold plots of treason but all defeated by the prouidence of God Wherefore we must say not only that wee haue a Day but also that the Day which we haue was made by the Lord and conclude Not vnto vs O Lord not vnto vs but vnto thy name be prayse Deus fecit is not enough to the making of a Festiuall the Church must come in with Haec est dies when God goeth before in working something in the Time the Church must not bee behind in giuing the due estimate to the time we must not esteeme all dayes alike when God doth not worke alike vpon all But nothing is required of vs to the making of a Festiuall but only acknowledgment of Gods Worke take a view of all the Festiuals of the Iewes you shall find that they did no more no more then commemorate that on such a day God did doe such a worke And the Christian Church hath trod the very same steps and hath not thought it fit to suffer any of the remarkable workes of God to passe vnregarded whether they concerne the whole Church or any particular State they haue stamped vpon the time of those workes Haec est Dies This is not a day to bee forgotten and therefore haue enioyned the Anniuersarie Commemoration thereof Yea and euery priuate Family and person that hath receiued any extraordinarie blessing from God may make vnto himselfe such an Aniuersarie and refresh the memorie of that time wherein God hath done him some great good And let this suffice for the discreet distinction of times Let vs now see how religiously we must solemnize them Though to the making of the Day no more be required of vs then this acknowledgement Haec est Dies This is the Day yet to the vsing of it more is required here wee must consider What must be done and How That which must be done I reduced to two Heads First we must take full comfort in the Day and secondly pray for the happie continuance thereof In expressing the comfort the Psalmist vseth two words which are fitted to the two principall parts of man his bodie and his soule so the vse of them in the Originall Language teacheth and Venerable bede doth so distinguish them Exultemus corpore laetemur animo let the bodie as it were dance for ioy and the soule reioyce Both partake of the Day the bodie principally of the Ciuill Day and of the Spirituall Day the Soule is the principall partaker yet so as that each in either doth congratulate the other if the Day bee Ciuill the soule congratulates the bodie the bodie which is exultant for his day if the day be spirituall then the bodie congratulateth the soule the soule that is gladded at the heart for her Day So then the bodie cannot exult but the Soule will bee glad neither can the soule be glad but the bodie will exult there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the word Nos let Vs Exulte let Vs reioyce noteth that what is proper to either part redounds to the whole person And the Holy Ghost in coupling of both these words doth put vs in minde that neither part must be wanting in performing of this worke because either part doth share in the Day and so you shall find that King Dauid doth oftentimes rowse his soule and rowse his bodie also to performe this Eucharisticall Sacrifice he remembreth Carnem Cor his flesh and his spirit his glorie that is his tongue and all that is within him And no maruell for he would recommend himselfe as well to God as to men and wee must thinke that our workes of Pietie are imperfect if either part be wanting But as when the Moone and the Sunne doe meet aboue the Horizon and each doth contribute his light to the making of a Day the light of the Moone is not sensible in comparison of the light of the Sunne so should the impression which is made by worldly things which are as changeable as the Moone be dimme or darkened as it were by the impression made by spirituall things which are more constant then the Sunne And the ioy of our bodies must so be tempered as may not hinder the predominant gladnesse of our soule all the world must see that though wee prize both the Dayes the ciuill and the spirituall yet the rate which we set vpon the spirituall doth infinitely exceed that which wee set vpon the Ciuill If this lesson were well learned the world should not haue so many wofull experiments of those who being put to their choice whether they will lose had rather enioy the ciuill day with the losse of the spirituall then by sticking to the spirituall hazard the ciuill but we must chuse rather to be glad in soule then exult in bodie if we cannot doe both together But whether we doe expresse our comfort by one only by the bodie or also by the soule we must keepe both parts vnto their proper Obiect that is to the Day though wee expresse our affections by meats drinkes triumphs and other solemnities yet may we not while we signifie our ioy by them exulte or ioy in them And yet behold the most part of men little thinke on the Day their thoughts and senses are taken vp for the most part with the Accessories eating drinking c. they doe these things more freely and are more frolicke then ordinarie the state of the Common-Weale or of the Church commeth little into their thoughts it is not much remembred at their Feasts To remedie this the Church hath appointed that we should begin this solemnitie in the Church there first heare in how good case we are and breake forth there into spirituall prayses and thankesgiuings and make a religious acknowledgment of our blessed Day Of our blessed Day but not forgetting the Author thereof God that hath made vs such a Day No hee must bee the principall Obiect of our reioycing If wee exclude him or giue him not the first place we shall not be farre from the sinne of the
that we should bow before him the knees of our hearts no lesse then the knees of our bodies when we lift vp our hands vnto GOD we should lift vp our Soules also and our eyes should not behold Heauen but our faith should pierce vnto the Throne of GOD. Finally there is no Ceremoniall Law which should not attend some Morall as the shadow doth the body or the body should the soule the Sonne of SYRACH hath made a whole Chapter that teacheth this Lesson But the Iewes put a sunder what GOD had conioyned Cap. 35 they shewed much zeale for the Ceremoniall but were carelesse of the Morall Law expressed much submission of their bodyes but little deuotion of their Soules and drew neere with their lips but their hearts were farre from God Of this GOD complaineth ESAY 1. and doth passionately vary tearmes to expresse his dislike thereof they solemnized their Feasts and offered Sacrifices and assembled themselues in his House Esay 1 But what saith GOD To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices Who required your presence to tread in my Courts I hate your solemne Feasts The cause of all is Your hands are full of blood In the last of ESAY GOD is much sharper He that killeth an oxe is as if he slew a man Cap. 66. he that sacrificeth a lambe as if he cut off a dogs necke he that offereth an oblation is as if he offered swines blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol Marke the Reason They haue chosen their owne wayes and their soule delighted in their owne abominations You see then that in seruing GOD we may offend him grieuously if we seuer those things which he hath coupled for our seruice then will be plaine hypocrisie and Hypocrifie is by a Prouerbe noted to be double iniquitie And iustly is it so noted for therein we do first Interpretatiuè deny that GOD is the Searcher of the heart in that we doe not approue our heart to him Secondly we doe expresly preferre the Diuell before GOD in that we giue the better part I meane our Soule to the Diuell and reserue onely the worser part that is our bodyes for GOD. This should all that present themselues in GODS House seriously thinke on especially you that make shew of a solemne Penitent but such a shew as betrayeth that there is no broken heart within you nor contrite spirit seeing there appeareth so little euidence thereof in the outward man Be you assured that so repenting for sinne you doe but add vnto your sinne you are a transgressor of the Law in regard of your Separation of the Ceremoniall from the Morall Law But there is an other transgression of the Law which is the direct and immediate violation of the Morall part thereof This is the greater sinne and doth more apparently deserue such a name for the former though it be a sinne yet it is a cloaked sinne it maketh some faire shew in the eyes of men how vgly soeuer it is in the eyes of GOD but this walketh vnmasked and appeareth as it is Secondly the former is Malum quia prohibitum euill vpon no other ground but because by a positiue Law it is forbidden it is onely extrinsically euil the other is prohibitum quia malum by no meanes to be done though there were no positiue Law that did forbid it the euill thereof is intrinsicall for it is the violation of the Image of GOD according to which man was made and according to which he should liue In the particular Case that concernes this Penitent GOD that gaue a rationall facultie vnto the soule of man whereby he should order the sensitiue in the vse thereof would haue a man shew himselfe to be better then a beast And how doth a man differ from a beast that hath vnbridled lusts and neglect not onely sacred wedlocke but the degrees of Affinitie and Consanguinitie within which GOD and Nature require that his lusts be stinted This should you that are the Penetent seriously thinke on and measure the grieuousnesse of your sinne by this these things as well the transgression of the Morall as the seperation thereof from the Ceremoniall But the grieuousnesse of sinne is argued not only from what is done but also from the doing of the same Aliud est peccare aliud peccatum facere saith St AVGVSTINE It is one thing to sinne another thing to be giuen ouer to sinne and his distinction is not idle for it is grounded not onely vpon St IOHNS phrase 1 Iohn 3. but also vpon St IAMES his gradation Men are first inticed by their lusts Cap. 1. then lust conceaueth and brings forth sinne and sinne being perfected brings forth death and this perfecting of sinne is properly the doing of sinne All men sinne but they that haue grace take heed of doing sinne feare and shame are both shaken off by those that goe so farre they endeauour not so much as to hide their sinnes Of these Iewes our Psalme saith They sate they spake they ran they wrought euill they consented one with another and were professors of a wicked life And little better is the case of this Penitent who for many yeeres hath openly in the eyes of the world notwithstanding the clamor of many that iustly did detest it liued in abominable Incest which doth much aggrauate his sinne There is a third Aggrauation in my Text taken from the Person that doth commit the sinne Thou hast done these things And the circumstance of the Person doth much improue the foulenesse of a fault No man should sinne against GOD but they that are most bound should forbeare most Now the Iewes had a double Obligation one by Nature the other by the Couenant They were GODS Creatures and GOD vouchsafed to contract with them Not to performe the dutie which we owe especially when we haue solemnly vowed it maketh vs guiltie in a high degree And euerie one within the Church if he doe sinne is so farre guiltie his Vow in Baptisme will presse him no lesse then the Condition of his Nature And this must you that are the Penitent ponder in your Soule that you may answerably hereunto feele the burden of your sinne I doe not amplifie these things without Cause they must be the rather marked because the deeper the Iewe was in guilt the greater was GODS Patience Notwithstanding their double offence their Seperation and Transgression their double Obligation of Nature and Vow their double sinning in that they did not onely act but professe sin yet did GOD hold his peace he proceeded not against them but with great Patience GODS Patience is noted by his Silence the word signifieth to be deafe and dumbe and putteth vs in mind of a double voyce a voyce of sinne and a voyce of Iudgement That sinnes haue a Voyce you may read Gen. 4. where ABELS blood doth cry and in the Storie of Sodome Gen. 18. the voyce of whose sin came vp to
this word imports is That the sinnes which we entertaine for friends shall suddenly turne to be our foes they shall appeare as an Army furnished with the instruments of Death So we learne of St PETER Brethren I beseech you 1 Pet. 2 11. as strangers and pilgrimes abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule We thinke that by them we sight against GOD but GOD is impenitrable the arrowes that we shoot rebound backe and wound our selues And no maruell for sinne is the sting of death and we cannot commit sinne but we receine that sting and when GOD shall come against vs as Iâ—HV against IEZEâ—EL and call who is on my side who Our owne sinnes 2 King 9. as her Eunuches shall stand out and at his command cast vs downe to be trampled vnder feet and to be made meat for Dogges to be insulted vpon by the Fiends of Hell and to be gnawne on by Death But where shall this martialling be Surely in our owne bosome in our owne conscience that shall then be a true and a cleare glasse representing our sinnes and representing them armed against vs. And this shall adde much to our miserie it shall not be then with vs as it is in this world here we behold our naturall face in a glasse Iames 1. and by and by goe away and forget what manner of person we were but this glasse shall still be before vs and our eye shall still be on it And why It is nothing but the worme that neuer dyeth we can no more be rid of it then we can be rid of our soule the Conscience is an essentiall power of the Soule and this worme by an irreuocable decree is made a perpetuall companion of a guiltie Conscience the wicked shall carrie it with them from the Iudgement-Seat and shall keepe it with them so long as they shall burne in the flames of Hell This is a powerfull Motiue and should worke in you that are guiltie a care to disarme so powerfull an Enemie to plucke out the sting before the wound be vncurable so many sinnes as remaine vnrepented of are as so many treacherous Souldiers howsoeuer they doe now speake friendly to you yet when they are least feared they will giue deadly strokes you shall feare them when you shall haue no remedy against them What I say to you I say vnto all nay GOD himselfe saith it in the close of this Psalme Heare this all ye that forget God Iewes and Gentiles whatsoeuer you be if you be adulterers drunkards vsurers blasphemers any way wicked liuers Consider this saith GOD least I suddenly take you away and there be none to helpe you for if we be guiltie of such sinnes and encourage our selues in them by base conceipts of GOD GOD will not faile to reproue vs and marshall such wickednesse before vs to conuict vs thereof and confound vs therewith God giue vs all timely repentance that we may preuent so fearefull a vengance Amen Πάντοτε δόξα Θηῶ. A SERMON PREACHED AT St ANDREWES IN WELLS A WOMAN DOING PENANCE FOR INCEST GALATH. 6. VERSE 1. Brethren if a man be ouertaken in a fault you which are spirituall restore such a one in the spirit of meekenesse considering thy selfe lest thou also be tempted WE are all compounded of the Old and New man and euerie one feeles the solicitations of both These solicitations exercise both our head and our heart our head to discerne betweene them our heart to make a good choyce vpon a right iudgement And that we make such a choyce it should appeare in our works they should argue the death of concupiscence and the life of grace in that we beare fruit not to the Flesh but to the Spirit Now the fruit of the Spirit is either pietie or charitie it testifieth that our selues are carefull to be good and being good we are not vnrespectiue of others Not of them that are good for it keeps vs from being ambitiously insolent not of them that are bad for it makes vs compassionately mercifull The exercise of this last branch of charitie the opening of our tender bowels towards such as offend is the Argument of these words which I haue now read vnto you Here we haue Offendors described and Compassion enioyned Offendors not of all sorts but such as ought to be the subiect of Compassion Offendors that are ouertaken in a fault we are enioyned to shew Compassion to these to restore them in the spirit of meekenesse And touching this Compassion we are moreouer taught First who must shew it and secondly what must moue them therunto They that must shew it are here called Brethren and spirituall each name importeth a reference they haue vnto the Offendor the first a reference of their persons they are their Allies and therefore may not shut their bowels against them the second of their guifts the better they are the more good they must doe such are the persons that must shew compassion And they must be moued thereunto out of an apprehension of the common danger danger is common to all Thou mayst likewise be tempted and no man must be vnobseruant hereof he must consider his owne selfe So haue you the contents of this Text which I meane now farther to enlarge as this spectacle doth occasion and shall be most behoofefull for vs all I begin first at the description that is here made of an Offendor where you shall see first his fault and then the cause thereof The fault is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fall a fall taken by stumbling The fall is not corporall but morall yet by a corporall you may vnderstand a morall fall for he that falleth in regard of the sight of his body commeth lower and withall ordinarily taketh a bruise euen so is it in a morall fall GOD by Creation made a man dominum socium If you looke to this visible world he made him dominum as it appeareth Genes 1. where Soueraigntie is giuen ouer the Beasts Birds Fishes and euerie other Creature made for the vse of man But if you looke to the inuisible world then was he to be Socius a confort with the Angels in the blessed state of Heauen Yea in this Microcosme the Fabricke of the nature of man which is as it were an Epitome of these two other worlds the better part had the guidance of and commanded ouer the worse the Soule ruled the Body But so soone as man sinned he came downe domintos became servus and these base creatures began to tyrannize ouer vs who were ordained their Lords hence goods meats drinkes and other corruptible things are become Idols and we fall downe and worship them and what will not a man doe transported by the vanity of this world As for the societie we had with Angels the blessed Angels of Heauen we haue lost that and are become the Serpents brood not onely Beasts but also Diuels Finally Earth hath gotten the vpper hand of Heauen the Body of the
can be no fit obiect for compassion which is the next point of the Text. Touching which compassion we are here taught that it is a restoring of a Penitent in the spirit of meekenesse Meekenesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arl. Eth. lib. 4. cap. 5. and a meeke man is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle doth not forbid Anger but commendeth indulgence there is a rod and a spirit of meekenesse that for the impenitent but for the penitent this And certainly without meekenesse there is little good to be done with Penitents for generosus est hominis animus magis ducitur quà m trahitur especially in reformation of the inward man where not so much coaction as perswasion preuaileth therefore if any thing will win the wayward it is meeknesse so thought St AMBROSH Tolle hominem a contentione audacia et habebis eum subiectum by meeknesse the prince of this world is soonest ouerthrowne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is likely to recouer a patient soonest that handleth him gentlest Now if it be so in reclayming of a sinner that meekenesse is so requisite how requisite is it in dealing with a penitent sinner If St BERNARDS practise be commendable in iudging of sinne either to excuse the fact or say the temptation was verie strong how tenderly must we respect the humiliation of a sinner And take heed of a pharisaicall pride which satiateth its owne vncharitablenesse vnder pretext of censure and proceedeth contrarie to GODS rule vltra rather then citra condignum with the most when it should be with the least St PAVL did remember and so should we all that we are the seruants of that GOD which desireth not the death of a sinner Members of that SAVIOVR which will not breake a bruised reed nor quench smoaking flaxe Finally Temples of that Holy Ghost which is tearmed in my Text the Spirit of Meekenesse And indeed this vertue is a graffe not of nature but of grace and it argueth the Spirit dwelleth in vs when such fruit springeth from vs. Yea our whole soule must become meekenesse and this vertue must take vp euerie power thereof For such phrases are emphaticall and note not onely the originall but the extent of a vertue it doth argue that the whole inward man should be seasoned with it and concurre to the acting of it But the Spirit of Meekenesse must not be seuered from restoring for compassion should not cherish sinne but rectifie a sinner otherwise it is curdelis misericordia it is as if you should take a man that with a fall hath broken a ioynt and lay him downe vpon a soft bed but not take care to set his ioynts this were to leaue him in perpetuall torture or at least a maymed creature the righteous must smite but their stripes must be a precious balme the Church must censure but it must be for correction not destruction a sinner must be restored to that from which he is fallen It is an error long since condemned in the Nonatians who thought that the Church had no power to restore belieuing Penitents to restore them to that state wherein they were before their fall the very words vsed in my Text refuteth them which comming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying compleate and perfect and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comming from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nuper sheweth that it signifieth a perfect restitution vnto that which the person was before The fall did disgrace and disable so the restoring must recouer inwardly and outwardly inwardly in the peace of conscience and new strength to resist sinne outwardly in the Communion of Saints and the participation of sacred things and charitable society in the course of life In regard of all these the person must be as if he had neuer fallen Finally this restoring in the Spirit of Meekenesse must be without respect of persons and without exception of faults so saith the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he be a man that hath fallen Happily we can be contented to shew meekenesse to our kinred our friends not to strangers with whom we haue no such acquaintance But we must exclude none that may be ouertaken and any may be ouertaken that is a man Saint AVSTIN and other of the Fathers worke vpon the name man and shew that implyeth frailtie according to the Prouerbe Gen. 6.9 Humanum est errare and indeed the Scripture is cleare for it the frame of the imaginations of the heart of man is euill and that from his youth continually As we may exclude no person so must we except against no sinne If a man be ouertaken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in any kind of sinne our bowels must not be straighter then Christs merits what his blood hath cleansed the Church may not hold vnpardonable therefore ouer great austerie was well condemned in the Councell of Nice which left power in the Bishops vpon iust cause to mittigate the penance which was enioyned by Canons with great seueritie to the terror of the wicked You haue heard what compassion must be shewed the Text moreouer teacheth who must shew it and vpon what ground Touching the partie that must shew it St HIEROME hath a good rule on this Text Homo potest se in voraginem perditionis conijcere non potest sine auxilio se eripere we may cause our owne ruine of our selues but vnto our restitution we need the helpes of others of others amongst whom we must acknowledge an Agent and the Instruments the chiefe Agent is GOD he onely blotteth out all our offences as himselfe speaketh in ESAY and it is He that healeth all our infirmities Ps 103. yet he is pleased to vse means or instruments and they are of two sorts medium impetrationis and medium operationis that is the Church offended this is the Minister In publike scandals GOD ouer and aboue the teares and sighes of the penitent will haue the whole Church to mediate and deprecate his wrath and he will haue the Minister spondere veniam to promise pardon and absolue in his name so that this Text implyeth a power which GOD hath giuen both the Pastor and People inabling each in his order to forgiue sinnes according as we are taught Math. 18. But marke here the words whereby these persons are described least they be proud and suppose their compassion to be arbitrarie which they may shew or withhold at their pleasure they are taught the contrarie by their names which testifie that it is necessarie for them to shew compassion The first name is Brethren Esay 58.7 this name implyeth an argument of compassion for a man may not turne away his eyes from his owne flesh this is true if he were but a naturall man but the spirituall cognation is greater and therefore bindeth more strongly by how much we owe more regard to our supernaturall then to our naturall Father Adde hereunto that their is no shew no pretence of
of their profession GODS Name is blasphemed by it And lastly Iosu 7. vengeance by the sinne of one man commeth vpon a whole Church one ACHAN troubleth all Israel Ier. 9. These considerations should draw teares from euerie mans eyes it should make vs wish with IEREMIE that our heads were full of waters and our eyes a fountaine of teares Ps 11 9. Our eyes with DAVIDS should gush out with riuers because men keepe not Gods Lawes Neither should priuate men onely so lament but the whole Church also you haue a patterne in the storie of NABOTH 1 King 21. it was pretended that NABOTH blasphemed GOD and the King and thereupon the whole Citie proclaimed a Fast the like we read Esdras 9 and 10 of a publike lamentation for the sinne of some of the people These reasons and examples must worke in vs and force vs to weep for the grieuous sinne of a brother We must weepe yet here we must not stop not wèeping was the cause of the fault but it was not the fault of the Corinthians their fault was as St PAVL telleth them that they did not put away the incestuous person Christians as they must be sorrowfull to see grieuous offendors so must they be zealous for their chastisement if they haue sufficient power and faire proofe otherwise they make the sinne their owne But if so be the proofe be not full Ambr. or they haue no lawfull authoritie to chastife then it is sufficient for them to mourne I shall fall vpon this point againe when I come to the censure therefore I will say no more of it here Onely I must put you that are the Penitent in mind that if others must be so sorrowfull for you then must you be sorrowfull for your selfe and you must be as carefull to rid your selfe of sinne as we must be to rid the Church of a sinner But let vs come at length to the Censure St PAVL as I told you had a more quicke eare and a more feeling heart then the Corinthians had he proueth it true which else-where he affirmeth of himselfe Who is weake and I am not weake Who is offended and I burne not ◠Cor. 11. Yea he seemes to disproue the common Prouerbe Segnius irritant ammos dimissa per aures quam quae sunt oculis commissa fidelibus for what the Corinthians neglected hauing it in their eye with that he was much disquieted though he had notice of it onely by his eare and therefore doth he censure it as appeares in the last part of the Text where you shall see what the censure was and whereunto it serued The censure is Excommunication but it is exprest in verie high and fearfull termes it is called a deliuerie vnto Satan The words imply one thing and expresse another for Excommunication consisteth of two parts a priuatiue and a positiue the priuatiue is that which seperateth from the Communion of Saints and separation presupposeth a former Communion The Article of our Creed teacheth vs that there is a Communion of Saints there is an inward and an outward communion inward by Faith Hope and Charitie outward in the participation of sacred things in the visible assembly From the inward none is separated but by himselfe falling from his Faith Hope and Charitie and so depriuing himselfe of the bond of Vnion which is the Spirit of GOD. From the outward none should be separated except he first doth separate himselfe from the inward and doth also manifest that separation to the scandall of others and dishonor of Religion The man that goeth so farre in separating himselfe by sinne the CHVRCH must separate him by censure Iude 2 Thes 3. 1 Cor. 5. We must hate the garment spotted with the Flesh We must not keepe companie we must not eat with those that are inordinate we must not let the world thinke that Christianity doth allow of such sinnes The Aduersaries are apt enough to traduce vs without a cause how much more if there be a cause The impurities of old Heretickes were layd to the Christians in generall and now the Anabaptists and Familists are made our staines there may be some colour of casting such shame vpon vs if we endure such persons therefore we must put them away from amongst vs they must vndergoe the priuatiue part of Excommunication Besides this priuatiue part which is implyed in the censure because mentioned before there is a positiue part which is here exprest it is the deliuerie vnto Satan The phrase hath in it some thing proper to an Apostle and some thing common to all Bishops It was proper to the Apostles so to deliner vnto Satan as that he should haue power ouer the incestuous persons body to torment him and such power the Apostles not onely had but executed as appeares in the stories of ELYMAS ANANIAS and SAPHIRA They could strike men with death they could possesse them with as well as dispossesse them off foule Spirits And of this power doe many of the Fathers vnderstand these words and the like which we read 1 Tim. 1. But besides this power there is another common to all Bishops with the Apostles which is to expose the Soules of those which are obstinate sinners to the malice of the Prince of Darknesse by suspending them from the preseruatiue against it which is the visible Communion of Saints for the inuisible will not hold long if the visible be iustly with-held because extra Ecclesiam non est salus Satan raigneth and rageth in them and on them that are excluded from the Communion of Saints A word here to you the penitent consider with your selfe how bitter banishment it is to him that dwelleth in a goodly Countrey hath a good house faire possessions and those well stockt and stored yet he must part with all these And hereby guesse you at the euill of the priuatiue part of Excommunication for a Christian within the CHVRCH is in the Kingdome of Heauen he is of the Houshold of GOD he is Owner of those greene pastures and waters of comfort which are mentioned Psal 23. he is prouided plentifully of all ghostly food and rayment If the losse of those corporall things be grieuous how grieuous must the losse of these spirituall be And touching the positiue part of the Excommunication suppose that he that were banished were also put into the hands of a Tyrant and he that hated him should be made Lord ouer him should haue power to vse him as a Slaue and afflict him with tortures you would thinke his case much more miserable and yet is it not so miserable as his which is deliuered ouer to Satan vsed by him onely to serue filthy lusts and daily to breed new matter for the vexation of his owne Soule yet this was to be the case of this incestuous Corinthian And you deserue that it should haue been your case both of you being such impure persons to whom should you be committed but to
the vncleane Spirit I goe on This censure which you haue heard of was inflicted by St PAVL and the Acts of inflicting it are two first it is pronounced by himselfe iudicially and then he requireth that it be solemnly denounced by the Corinthians First touching his owne iudiciall pronouncing here is something remarkable in his person for he was absent and present absent in body present in Spirit There is a morall rule contained in these words and a miracle The morall is this distance of place doth not extinguish the relation that is betweene persons though a King and his Subiects a Master and his Seruant a Husband and his Wife a Father and his Child be farre a sunder yet may they giue order one to another concerning their affaires so may a Pastor to his CHVRCH Especially an Apostle might who wheresoeuer he were was neuer out of his Dioces for his Dioces reached ouer all the world and so St PAVL being at Ephesus in Asia was in regard of his relation at Corinth also which is in Europe thus was he present euen when he was absent These words containe also a miracle Papae quanta est virtus doni saith St CHRYSOSTOME What a strange guift of the Spirit was this which maketh men that are a sunder to be together and informeth men of those things which are done a farre off so that none of his Dioces could any where be out of his reach Such an assistance of the Spirit had ELIZEVS 2 King 5. 8 who being in Israel could tell what was done in the King of Syria's bed-chamber and being in his owne chamber saw GEHEZI take bribes of NAAMAN when he was farre out of his sight Such a guift had St PAVL and thereby could be present where he was absent as he speaketh here and he tels the Colossians Cap. 2. that when he was absent yet he did he hold their order and stedfastnesse of their faith in Christ as his knowledge so also his power reached to any distance for the punishing of offendors This being obserued concerning his person we are now to see his worke he doth pronounce iudicially I haue iudged already Where we must first obserue that when Iurisdictions are subordinate if the inferiour be carelesse the superiour must take cognizance of the disorder and supply the others negligence otherwise Churches and Common-weales will come to confusion this is the course that St PAVL taketh in his place Secondly the word iudging doth import that he did not deale passionately or rashly but aduisedly and as beseemed a Iudge he tryed the cause by the Law of GOD and doomed not what he found not forbidden therein And indeed Apud Deum non sacerdotis sententia sed reorum vita quaeritur there must be some generall Law which men are bound to obey and mens liues must be tryed by that Law and as they are found so they must be censured otherwise GOD doth not regard he doth not approue the censure Last of all marke that St PAVL doth not onely say I haue iudged but I haue iudged already he doth not put off his iudgement vntill he commeth to Corinth but proceeds without delay you shall find the reason in the Preacher cap. 8. Because sentence against an euill worke is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sonnes of men is fully set in them to doe euill a timely chastisement of one is a soueraigne preseruatiue of many You haue heard how iudicially St PAVL pronounced the sentence the next thing that you must heare is that he requires the Corinthians to denounce it solemnly he will that they haue a hand in it partly to redeeme their negligence and partly to expresse their detestation of sinne in both respects it was behoofefull that they should denounce what he had decreed denounce it by the mouthes of their Pastors as what is decreed by vs in the Consistorie is published by the Minister of the Parish where the sinner dwelleth whom our Decrees concerne But to denounce is not enough they must denounce it solemnly First in regard of the place it must be done in the face of the CHVRCH You being gathered together and my spirit with you that is in the presence of the chiefe Pastor and all his Flocke at Corinth Notorietas facti must haue notorietatem iuris Deut. 29. a publike sinne must haue a publike doome that others may behold and beware But this is done tantum conscia Ecclesia the Congregation is but witnesse to the doome not Iudge of the fact the power of the Keyes is giuen to the CHVRCH quoad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not quoad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it may haue the benefit of them not the managing the managing is committed onely to the Pastor as appeares Math. 16. and Ioh. 20. As the denouncing must be solemne in place so must it be in proceeding also for they must proceed cum potestate potenti â with the Authoritie and Efficacie of our Lord IESVS CHRIST St PAVL doth pronounce the Corinthians doe denounce neither of them must arrogate more to himselfe then is committed to him in regard of Authoritie they are but Delegates in regard of Efficacie they are but Instruments of CHRIST he is the Author and Actor of the Censure so that the proceeding must not be in mans name or with mans power but in the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ and with the Power of our Lord Iesus Christ This maketh the proceeding to be solemne in deed CHRIST is present at it his Commission is our warrant and his cooperation maketh good our censure Whose soeuer sinnes ye remit Iohn â—â— they are remitted vnto them and whose soeuer sinnes ye retaine they are retained Whatsoeuer ye bind on Earth it shall be bound in Heauen So that we must doe all ad nutum summi Pastoris as we are directed and authorized by the chiefe Pastor And you that are the Penitent must heare and feare the sentence as if it came from CHRIST's owne mouth and were to be performed by CHRIST's owne hand Put all the parts of the censure together and you will confesse that it is horrendum iudicium for you must set before your eyes Heauen and Hell the blessed state of those that are in the one the woefull state of those that are in the other then behold a man taken out of the blisse of the one and throwne into the woe of the other by an Apostle and in the presence of all the Saints nay by CHRIST himselfe by his voyce by his hands you must suppose that all this is done Contra Aduer sarium legis Lib. 1. cap. 17. St AVSTIN when he considered it thought it was grauius quam gladio feriri c. much more grieuous then to be beheaded burned stoned c. Many euidences there are of GODS seueritie against impure lusts Deut. 23. as namely he would not that a bastard should come into the Congregation of Israel
you that are the Penitents that it doth not you should not be here to doe penance if you had such doome as GODS Law requireth you are therefore bound to thanke GOD for the clemencie of the State and make good vse of this time of grace remembring that though you scape the corporall fire there is another fire which you haue cause to feare which St IVDE telleth vs was figured out in the perpetuall burning of Sodome and Gomorrha the fire of Hell and assure your selues that if the Land of Canaan spued out those impure persons Heauen will receiue no such and if they that transgressed MOSES Law perished ciuilly without all mercie most wofull shall their destruction be that are reserued for that fire which shall deuour the aduersaries the fire of Hell You shall doe well therefore to quench that fire before you come at it and there are three waters with which you must quench it The first is the water of your teares you must imitate King DAVID who all the night long washt his bed watered his couch with his teares there he sinned and there he bathed himselfe so must you But mans teares are too weake a water to wash away either the guilt or staine of sinne which are the fewell of that fire you must therefore moreouer vse two other waters the water of CHRISTS blood to wash away the guilt and the water of his Spirit to purge out the corruption of your sinne If you make good vse of these three waters that fire will neuer seize on you otherwise assure your selues that though we spare you GOD will not spare you he will one day punish you most seuerely And it were good that our Law did not spare so much as it doth considering the growth and ouer-spreading of impuritie It were to be wisht that our temporall Sword did strike as deepe as the Sword of MOSES did it may when it pleaseth the State and it shall not doe it without example of other Countreys Or if that may not be obtained at least it were to be wisht that the old Canons of the CHVRCH were reuiued and ghostly discipline exercised more seuerely for certainly the scandall is great which such sinnes bring vpon the CHVRCH and they that slander vs without a cause when they haue iust cause how will they open their mouthes against vs Our care then should be to stop their mouthes but principally we should prouide that there be no wickednesse amongst vs which is the end of the doome and the last point of my Text. I will touch it briefly The Iudgement was seuere but it was necessarie Necessarie for the State which is to preserue it selfe free from guilt there must no wickednesse be amongst you No wickednesse that is impossible in this world for viuitur non cum perfectis hominibus they that haue most of the Spirit haue some-what of the Flesh and the Field of GOD till haruest will haue Tares as well as good Eares and the good eares will haue chaffe as well as good graine and the good graine will haue bran as well as flower We may not looke then for any State wherein there is no wickednesse The Law therefore requireth onely that there be Nullum scelus no haynous wickeduesse no tantum scelus as the Vulgar speaketh enormous transgressions there must be no crying sinnes the State must haue a vigilant eye vpon such sinnes and execute vengeance vpon notorious sinners they must not be amongst vs. But they will the Serpent will be in Paradise yea Lucifer was in Heauen the Arke had a CHAM and amongst CHRISTS Disciples there was a IVDAS Be then they will amongst vs. But the meaning of the Law is they must not be indured by vs they must not scape vnpunished if they doe they will proue contagious such sinnes are like fretting Gangreenes they are like vnto Leauen they infect all about them and if they doe not infect they will make guiltie and for sparing such a one GOD will not spare a whole State And there is good reason for Qui non vetat cum potest iubet GOD taketh them for abettors that will not when they may reforme inordinate liuers Therefore the State must put away from amongst them such inordinate liuers 1 Cor. 5. Hierusalem below must as neere as may be be like vnto Hierusalem aboue Apoc. 22. of that aboue St IOHN saith Extracanes impudici no vncleane person commeth thither neither must any be indured here so soone as they appeare they must be made expiatorie Sacrifices and their death must free the State from guilt But I draw to an end A word to you that are the Malefactors Origen Ad paenitentiae remedium confugite qui praeuenti estis tam graui peccato Seeing you haue beene ouertaken with so foule a fault neglect not the remedy which GOD hath left you heartie and vnfained repentance for your sinne the rather because you haue to do with a most mercifull Iudge who doth not onely moderate the punishment but commute it also commute the punishment which you should suffer in Hell with a punishment which the CHVRCH inflicteth here on Earth Consider the qualitie consider the quantitie of these different punishments and you will confesse that it is a most mercifull commutation Cast then your eyes backe and consider what you haue done how haynous your offence hath beene and cast your eyes forwards likewise and consider what you haue deserued how great a danger you haue incurred by inioying a short and beastly pleasure Thinke vpon both these often and thinke vpon them seriously so shall you yeeld GOD the greater glorie for the mercie which he vouchsafeth you and he shall worke the greater comfort in your soules by assuring you of the remission of that sinne wherewith you haue so greatly prouoked him And to vs all this I say Eligamus priùs affectus castigare quà m propter ipsos castigemur Let vs plucke out our eyes cut off our hands rather then by retayning them to be cast into Hell-fire Let this spectacle remember vs often to set before vs the shame of the world and the horror of a guiltie conscience which befall enormous sinners in this life And if that will not hold in our corrupt nature let vs set before vs the neuer-dying Worme the euer-burning Fier Or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let vs begin here our life in chastitie Nazian that we may one day be in the number of those Virgins that follow the Lambe whether soeuer he goeth Reuel 14. And let Magistrates and Ministers both be iealous ouer the State with a godly iealousie that as by the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments it is espowsed to one Husband 2 Cor. 11. so it may be presented as a chast Virgin vnto CHRIST when those heauenly Nuptials shall be solemnized wherein standeth our euerlasting happinesse This God grant for Jesus Christs sake by the operation of the Holy Spirit To which one
into the Congregation of Israel vnto the third generation Cap. 3. The Booke of Wisedome amplyfieth this point the children of Adulterers shall not come to perfection and the seed of the vnrighteous bed shall be rooted out the like you may read Eccl. 23. but because those Bookes are Apochryphall Cap. 31. ◠here what IOB saith of Adulterie It is a sinne to be condemned it will deuour vnto destruction and it would root out all my posteritie And no wonder that GOD dealeth so with Bastards for which of vs if he haue Land entailed entailes it otherwise then vpon heires lawfully begotten If we thinke Bastards vnworthy to inherite our Lands here on Earth shall GOD thinke them worthy to be heires of the Kingdome of Heauen I will not condemne all Bastards to Hell I know IEPHTA found fauour with GOD and so no doubt haue many others but that commeth to passe by GODS extraordinarie mercie ordinarie Promise we haue none that they shall doe well Yea obserue and you shall find that they seldome keepe a meane if good verie good and if they be bad they are verie bad and parents of such children haue reason rather to feare the worst then hope the best for though GOD at after-hand doth often pardon sinnes yet before-hand he giues no encouragement to sinners You that are the Penitent take this to heart your second match being plaine Adulterie the children borne in such wedlocke must needs be bastards and being Bastards they are not the holy seed yea they are a seed that is cursed so cursed for your fault that as much as in you lyeth you strip them of all blessings on Earth and in Heauen they are fauoured by the Law neither of God nor men And so great wrong done to them should goe to your verie heart you haue sinned against your children not onely against your owne body And let this suffice concerning the doctrine that is in the Prophets Sermon I come now to the exhortation which he deduceth therefrom The exhortation is double according to the double respect which we owe. The first is to our selues keepe your selues in your Spirit or take heed to your Spirit We must take care of our whole man the outward and inward for touching the outward the Apostles rule is 1 Thes 4.4 1 Cor. 3. 1 Cor. 6. We must keepe our vessels in honour we may not defile the Temples of God We may not take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of an Harlot we must be chast propter carnem Christi as IGNATIVS speaketh because we are bone of Christs bone and flesh of his flesh But as we must take care of our bodyes so must we much more take care of our soules for it is in vaine to keepe the body chast and to retaine an adulterous heart for an adulterous heart though it be peccatum sine teste it hath no man to witnesse it yet is it peccatum Athanasius God will doome it for sinne Yea if a man stop not lust in his heart Math. 15. he will not be master of it in his body for ex abundantia cordis out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaketh out of that commeth Adulteries and Fornications But qui adinngit Spiritui adimit carni the better the Soule is the better will the body be therefore is temperance properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a keeping of a man in his right wits because so long as a man hath his wits about him he is master of his lusts but no sooner hath Dalilah brought that Sampson asleepe but the Philistims will be vpon him and depriue him of his strength he will be ouertaken with this lustfull Epilepsie and prophane the Temple of the Lord. But to open this point a little farther we must obserue that as we haue sensuall and reasonable faculties so it was Gods pleasure that those actions which are Elicitae or come naturally from the sensuall faculties should also be imperatae ordered and limited by the rationall therefore is the rationall facultie called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the guid and gouernour of our life and he deserues not the name of a man whose sense is not subiect vnto reason But the Spirit doth not onely note the reasonable soule but in an argument concerning the CHVRCH it meaneth that Soule as it is regenerated by Grace and then it putteth vs in mind that the care of our Soules must be more then reasonable it must be spirituall and not onely the best wit of man which is corrupt as appeares in the vnchast chastitie of the Heathen but the sanctifying Grace of God must set bounds to our lusts which will suffer them to passe no farther then they are allowed by Gods Law A man is an excellent creature if he be but a man if he keepe his reasonable Spirit how much more excellent would a Christian man be if he could continue a Christian and preserue in himselfe the Spirit of Grace I may not omit the word keepe it willeth vs to set a watch because we are apt to run riot whether the Spirit signifie Reason or Grace we must watch If reason we must watch that we admit not into our imaginations nor suffer our wits to discourse vpon lustfull fancies we liue in the middest of temptations and none are more insinuating then those that are pleasurable we must take heed therefore that our reason be not betwitched by them they will cunningly euchant vs and transforme vs into beasts before we are aware wherefore we must keepe a watch ouer our Reason and not onely ouer Reason but ouer Grace also that we grieue not the Holy Spirit that we quench him not that we doe not dispite him Ephes 4.30 ◠Thes 5.19 for the Holy Spirit of discipline will not abide in a Soule that is disposed vnto sinne Adspicis vt veniant ad candida tect a columbae the doue-like spirit delighteth to dwell in doue-like persons himselfe being chast in those that are chast Wherefore we must keepe our spirits that for our vnchastitie the Spirit of God forsake vs not You haue the first branch of the exhortation the second followeth This biddeth vs be carefull of that respect which we owe vnto our mate Let no man deale treacherously with his wife A wife a little before my Text is called a mans companion and the wife of his couenant Now you know that fraud in fellowship is abominable especially if that fellowship be established by couenant as wedsocke is and no fellowship vpon straiter couenants then wedlocke for therein there is a double couenant pactum hominis and pactum Dei the persons contracting doe plight their faith each to other that is pactum hominis Then God he commeth in as a partie to knit the knot and will haue this mutuall stipulation made in his sight and in his name so that both stand bound to God not onely to themselues neuer to loose this knot till death them
vpon whom this Law was made blasphemed but in his rage as appeares yet he dyed for it Wonder not at GODS seueritie he measureth no more to himselfe then he doth to Parents Exod. 21 to Magistrates He that curseth his father and his mother the parents of his flesh must be vsed so and shall not he be vsed so much more that curseth the Father of his Spirit He that speaketh euill of the Ruler of the people must be vsed so and shall not he that speaketh euill of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords The comparison maketh Quicunque in GODS case to be most iust To which root we shall refer your Blasphemie that are the penitent I know not in charitie we hope the best we hope that it commeth from a mixture of grosse ignorance and vnruly passions for these doe rayse euill thoughts and murmurings That it doth so let it appeare in your repentance St Paul in conscience of his Fall by ignorance gaue himselfe no better a title when he had occasion to mention it then Maximus peccatorum the most grieuous of sinners euen when he lead a most holy life he could not forget his fall in the hight of GODS grace And of St Peter the Ecclesiasticall Storie reports that at the crowing of the Cocke the Remembrancer of his Fall euerie night during his life he did wash his bed and water his couch with his penitent teares GOD make you so mindfull and so sorrowfull otherwise you will betray that your Blasphemie sprang from malice and then be sure that the same GOD that commanded such seueritie to be executed here on earth will himselfe execute much greater vpon all those which through irrepentance goe to Hell Yea haply he may euen in this world make you a Spectacle of a forlorne wretch to the terrour of others as he did Sennacherib Hercdot â—â—b 8. vpon whose Statua there is this Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let euerie one that looketh vpon me learne to be godly Such a Spectacle I say may he make you if by often recounting and bewayling of this crying sin you doe not quench the fire of his wrath and preuent his iudgements For God will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his Name in vaine The last point is that it must be done without all indulgence Moriendo morietur he shall surely dye surely be stoned We may not with Eue turne surely into ne fortè lest the Diuel worke vpon vs and we prouoke GOD as Saul did in Agags case and Ahab in Benadads You haue heard the Law A word of those to whom it was giuen and so I end In the entrance of my Text you find that it was giuen to the Israelites the Israelites were the people of GOD and surely it concernes them if any to be most zealous of his glorie who is their Glorie But did it concerne them onely Then it is dissolued because their Common-weale is at an end Take therefore a Rule That if a Law which in the institution thereof was Nationall to the Iewes in the equitie of it be Oecumenicall euerie Christian nation is bound to giue it a Reuiuor though they may varie the punishment as they find it expedient for their State And indeed this hath receiued such a reuiuor in most Christian States Iustinian the Emperour of Constantinopâ—e made it capitall The wise Gothes inflicted an hundred stripes for it and in disgrace shaued the delinquents head and beard and imprisoned him during life Fredericke the Emperour cut out the tongue of all that offended in this kind St Lewis of France caused their tongue to be bored with a hot Iron wishing that his owne tongue might be so vsed if euer he did blaspheme Philip of Vuloys caused their lips to be slit And touching our owne State I haue nothing to say in excuse thereof for that it hath all this while left this sinne onely to Ecclesiasticall censure and hath not prouided some corporall punishment for it but that of Solon who being demanded why he made no Law against Parricide answered that he thought none in his Common-weale would euer be so impious to commit it So I thinke our State thought there would neuer rise such lewd persons amongst vs But seeing there doe it is high time we had some sharpe occasionall Statute to represse them If holy Iob were so carefull to sacrifice for and sanctifie his sonnes ne fortè lest peraduenture they had sinned with what zeale should we be stirred vp when we see the fact is most apparent I conclude Let all Blasphemie be put out of all our mouthes yea and hearts also and let vs pray GOD to set a watch before our lips and keepe the doore of our mouthes that his grace may rule in our hearts that he may be our feare and his prayse may be our talke that praysing him here on Earth we may be admitted into the number of his Saints which with heart and voyce prayse him for euermore in Heauen A penitent Prayer for a Blasphemer MOST Sacred and most dread Almightie Euerlasting God to whom the Angels continually doe cry Holy holy holy Lord God of Hoasts the glorie of whose admirable and comfortable wisedome reacheth from one end of the world to another mightily and sweetly ordereth all things J the vnworthiest of men the most grieuous of sinners humbly sorrowfully prostrating my deiected disconsolate both soule and body before thy holy eyes pray that the sighes and groanes of a broken and contrite heart may not be excluded from thine offended eares Lord J haue beene deepe in the gall of bitternesse and in the bond of iniquitie Sathan hath filled my heart therewith and out of the aboundance thereof my tongue hath sent forth many flashes euen of the fire of Hell as a brood of the Serpent J haue set my mouth against Heauen J haue blasphemed the holy the reuerend Name of my God and vilified his vnchangeable vnchallengable Prouidence Haddest thou dealt with me as I deserued fire and brimstone from Heauen should haue consumed me or the Earth should haue gaped and swallowed me downe quicke into the pit of Hell J deserued to be made a spectacle of thy iust vengeance that gracelesse wretches seeing my iudgement might feare my offence J confesse this ô Lord J confesse it vnfainedly penitently but woe is me if J haue no more to confesse but these my euill deserts Thy long-suffering towards me putteth me in better hope yea this medicinall confusion whereunto thou now puttest me puts me in good hope that thou hast not forgotten to be mercifull vnto me neither hast thou shut vp thy tender mercie in displeasure Lord J doe not despise this goodnesse of thine that leads me to repentance that workes in me remorce of conscience And from that penitent Blasphemer that proued a most worthy Apostle from his mouth doe J take vnto my selfe that saying worthy of all men to be receiued That Iesus Christ came into the world to saue
so administred are that which the Scripture calleth temptation which though naturally they light vpon the outward man yet doe they formally aime at the inward man Examples you haue in the two principall temptations registred in the Scripture that of the first Adam Gen. 3. and that of the second Adam Math. 4. in both which you may behold the Serpents engines which were arguments and occasions which more or lesse are practised in all temptations and learne vs all this caueat to haue an eye to our vnderstanding and our will how they are wrought by how they entertaine these either arguments or occasions But of temptations there are two sorts as they proceed from two different Authors which aime at different ends The one Author is GOD the other is the Diuel each vseth a temptation but the common distinctions vsed by the Fathers shew how vnlike their ends are For the ones temptation is probationis the other is seductionis we owe a dutie to GOD GOD in tempting doth but discouer our performance of it the Diuel he laboureth to peruert vs and corrupt whatsoeuer inclination to obedience there is in vs. Examples are verie frequent that open this distinction I will instance but in one GOD called vpon Abraham to sacrifice his sonne Isaack the end of that commandement is reuealed plainly by the Angel shewing that GOD would haue the world to see that Abraham held nothing so deere vnto him which he would not yeeld readily vnto GOD The Diuel he tempted vnto the same worke as it appeares in those that offered their children vnto Molos but he did it to make men no lesse impious against GOD then vnnaturall to their owne children so that looke what difference there is between etheriall and elementall heat whereof the one is vegetiue the other destructiue when it lighteth vpon hearbes and plants the same is there betweene the exploratiue and seductiue temptation when it lighteth vpon the wits and wils of men St Paul Ephes 4. cals the seductiue by significant names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the exploratiue is resembled to the Touchstone to the pounding of Spices the breaking of the boxe that containes sweet Oyntments the fire that tryeth Gold But we haue not now to doe with seduction but with probation it appeares in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I told you was the note of difference whereby St Iames doth restraine this temptation to that which maketh tryed men But of this there are two kinds for GOD tryeth by prosperitie or aduersitie when our worldly state is at best we are euen then put to the Touchstone and GOD tryeth what manner of persons we are the storie of Salomon is a cleere proofe but we haue not to doe with this temptation neither Our temptation is that which bringeth a rich-man low it is the temptation of aduersitie St Peter calleth it a fierie tryall St Paul Hebr. 12. brancheth it into two parts shame and the Crosse whereof the one disgraceth our person the other strips vs of our goods and life these both befell CHRIST and they are the portion of Christians We haue examples enough Hebr. 11. but we will not fall vpon the common place onely these things I will briefly note First that when we are in aduersitie we must not thinke that GOD delights in affliction but in probation were it not to proue his children he would not lay the Crosse vpon them Secondly this proofe doth not presuppose his ignorance but mans GOD knew what would be in vs before euer he made vs but we are not so well as we should be knowne to our selues much lesse to others lest we or they should be deceiued GOD bringeth to light the secrets of our heart and maketh vs reueale them in our eyes when they are sollicited by Adulterie in our eares when they are sollicited by vaine-glorie in our hands when they are sollicited by briberie finally in euerie part of our body yea and of our soule too he maketh vs reueale to others or our selues what lurketh in the deceitfull and intricate laberinth of our hearts Thirdly GOD will not be deceiued by painted sepulchers neither will he receiue counterfeits into Heauen he doth therefore timely vnmaske them here on earth and shew whether euerie man appeare in his owne likenesse whether he be a Meteor or a true Starre whether he be fruit of Sodome or of Paradice whether he be an Angel of light indeed or onely by a metamorphosis this is implied in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecel 27. and this is the end for which GOD tryeth vasa figuli probat fornax et homines iustos tentatio tribulationis our temptation is nothing else but the bringing of vs to the Touchstone This is the note of difference which must be coupled with the temptation that we may haue the proper obiect of Christian patience But the obiect is not enough without the subiect come we then to that the subiect is man Blessed is the man the word in English may reach all men and indeed patience is a vertue that is required in all and all sorts of men are in other passages of Scripture exhorted thereunto Euerie man must be salted with this fire and euerie sacrifice seasoned with this salt Marke 9. St Ambrose hath a good Simile drawne out of this word Salt which is that salt is no more requisite to keepe flesh from putrefaction then tribulation is to keepe man from sinne and a man must cease to be a member of CHRIST that will not in a persecution be conformable vnto him seeing this is an vndoubted rule that thornes grow not more naturally from the ground to make Adam eat his corporall bread in the sweat of his browes then calamities spring from earthly men to make the children of GOD to eat their spirituall bread in the bitternesse of their soules Nullus sieri potest Abel quem Cain malitia non persequatur St Paul hath a generall rule Gal. 4. speaking of Ismael and Isaack As he that was borne after the flesh persecuted him that was borne after the spirit so is it now yea it will be so euen till the worlds end But my purpose is not to extend St Iames his word beyond his meaning as he hath limited the Text so will I the Commentarie the word by which he notes the subiect is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which notes no common man but one of more then ordinarie place and worth it is more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Hebrew Ish is more then Adam for Ish and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe often note a great or a noble personage and that here the word is so to be taken it is plaine for it is a relatiue that calleth backe to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in the tenth verse This man here is he which before was called the rich-man rich not in a vulgar sense but in the language of the Holy Ghost who by Rich vnderstandeth Noble
therefore hath in the Liturgie restored it to its natiue puritie Onely it were to be wished that so farre as the Church allowes it we would practise it for I am perswaded that many liue and dye in enormous sinnes that neuer made any vse of it nor receiued any comfort from the power of the Keyes The confessing to the Lord doth not exclude confessing vnto man so the due limitation be obserued But enough of the Confession There is one point more to be obserued before we come to the Successe and that is that this confession of King Dauid was onely in purpose he was come no farther then dixi a sense he had of his sinne but he was not yet come so farre as to vtter it though he was disposing himselfe thereunto But dixit was not onely verbum oris but cordis also promptitudinem alacritatem hoc verbo notat saith St Bernard he was willing and ready to make his confession he adds Saul dixit peccaui sed quia non dixit antequam diceret corde priusquam ore as King Dauid did non audiuit Deus transtulit pecâ—atum tuum he heard not so good newes from Samuel as King Dauid did from Nathan The Lord hath put away thy sinne The lesson rising hence is pij non trahuntur ad Tribunal Dei sed sponte accedunt knowing that there is no shelter against GOD but onely in GOD we must preuent our summons and resolue vpon a voluntarie apparance Finally putting the Purpose to the Confession we see that the children of GOD vse not to continue in their sinnes but so soone as they are roused the principles of grace doe worke and they humbly shreeue themselues to GOD. And so haue you the first maine point in this Text which openeth vnto vs King Dauids Practise I come now to the Successe thereof which is the forgiuenesse of the sinne Where we may first see the difference betweene Triâ—unals on Earth and the Tribunall of Heauen On Earth Non est confessi causa tuenda rei Confession is the cause of condemnation it is not so at the Tribunall of GOD there though it be not the cause as Papists straine it yet it is the meanes of absolution Whereby you may perceiue that the word here vsed is a phrase of the Gospell and not of the Law For iudgements of men tread the steps of the Law of GOD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no reliefe for a poore sinner to be found in the Law he that will haue it must seeke iâ— in the Gospel And yet the word here vsed is borrowed out of the Law but it is the Ceremoniall Law and the Ceremoniall Law is if not wholly yet for the most part Gospel But more distinctly to handle this point We must obserue the Matter forgiuen and the Manner of forgiuing The matter forgiuen is the Iniquitie of his sinne It is disputed what is meant here by â—â—â—quitie whether culpa or poena Some vnderstand poenam and thinke that an allusion is made in this word vnto the message of Nathan wherein GOD doth remit the heauiest stroke of his wrath but yet retaines some part in punishing the child and permitting Absolon to rebell and abuse king Dauids concubines so Theodoret Deus non condigna poena Dauideni puniuit Some vnderstand culpam and will haue this phrase to be an amplification of that as if Superbia defendens or Taciturnitas celans or Impietas contra Deum assurgens or some such great guilt were meant by this phrase But as I doe not censure these opinions which may well stand So I thinke the phrase lookes backe vnto that word which was in the Confession The sinne confessed was Peshang and this is but an analysis of this word for Gnaon Catai what is it word for word but the peruersenesse of my aberration Catah is an aberration from the Scope or Marke whereat we ayme all men ayme at felicitie but most men stray from it because they are not led by that Law that guides vnto it the violating whereof is called Catah But some doe stray out of meere ignorance and they onely breake the Law some out of stubbornnesse which will not submit themselues to the Law-giuer these mens sinne is called peruersenesse which GOD is said here to forgiue So that Dauid did not confesse more against himselfe then GOD includes in his pardon well may GOD exceed our desire he neuer doth come short thereof if it doe concerne our spirituall our eternall good as he doth exclude no sinner that doth confesse so doth he except against no sinne that is confessed You haue heard the Matter of the pardon now heare the Manner And the manner makes the Remission answerable to the Confession The Confession had an inward sense and an outward euidence so hath the Remission For GOD spake the word by Nathan to resolue king Dauids faith but he also gaue a tast of his truth by working ease in King Dauids heart Both are included in the word but specially the latter for Nasa signifieth to vnburden as if the soule were burdened with sinne And indeed sinne is a burden a burden as King Dauid else-where speakes too heauie for him to beare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heauier saith Chrysostome then any lead And no wonder For if euerie euill doe make a heauie heart much more spirituall euill cloggeth the Spirits makes a man sincke inwardly and bow outwardly you can haue no better character of such a deiected soule then that which we find in the penitentiall Psalmes It is verie true that many walke lightly and skip frolickly as if they bare no weight though they be fraught with sinne but the answer is plaine Nihil ponderat in loco suo while sinne resides in that part which commits the sinne it giues such content to the concupiscence that dwels therein as being the desired obiect thereof that it presseth not at all neither is it euer burdenous till it be brought vnto the conscience which onely hath an eye to discerne it a scale to weigh it and a sense wherewith to iudge of that weight and when GOD inhibendo with-holding those vanities which hinder the conscience from weighing and exhibendo putting the whole measure of sinne into the scales doth rouse vs then the most carelesse and the most senslesse shall be driuen to acknowledge that indeed it is a great burden But the penitents comfort is this that as he feeles it so he hath one by whom he may be eased of it the putting on the hands vpon the Sacrifice did ceremonially testifie as much but the morall thereof is in St Iohn Behold the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world Qui tollit a plaine translation of Nasa But CHRIST speakes it more plainly Mat. 11. Come to me all ye that labour and are heauie loaden and I will ease you Where also we find that it is the Lord onely that forgiueth sinnes They spake truly in the Gospel that excluded all
mind my countrie and reioyce in my hopes These things I would doe but by reason of my paine I cannot doe What remaineth then but that I desire release and thou denie not my desire I make my suite as one that desireth to speed passionately feelingly â—pray but my prayer is a Crie and my crie is powred forth not onely by my tongue but also by mine eyes Behold Lord a true Penitent whose voice is not onely verball but reall and canst thou stop thine eares against such words can thy relieuing hand forbeare to succor when it is importuned by such deeds thou that hast opened my mouth vouchsafe to open thine owne eares and let the fountaine of mercifull comfort streame downe vpon him from whose eyes thou hast drawne flouds of Teares speake comfortably to him that speaketh penitently to thee and deale graciously with him that prostrateth himselfe humbly before thee So shall I willingly be a soiourner in earth that I may be a Citizen of heauen a stranger to the world that I may be a friend of God the ease that thou giuest me shall encourage me in thy seruice and I will liue so heare as hee that shall not liue long And because I shall when death commeth bee no more a mortall though neuer so worldly a happie man I will endeauour that I may be by thy grace an immortall an eternall blessed Saint A Meditation vpon Psalme 63. VERSE 1 2. 1. O God thou art my God early will I seeke thee my Soule thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a barren and wearisome land where no water is 2. So haue J appeared before thee in thy Sanctuarie that I might see thy power and glorie O Lord I want I seeke reliefe to whom shall I come but vnto God And with thee I dare be bold thou art my God there is store in God and my want cannot be relieued but by his store I am in a wildernesse for what is this world but a wildernesse Nay my selfe am a wildernesse what is a wildernesse but a drie earth which tireth those that passe through it And what is the cause It hath no water no water to quench the traueilers thirst no water to make fruitfull the soile that it may beare foode to sustaine his hunger no water which may inable the earth to become greene or be imbellished with flowers the sight wherof may ease the wearisomnesse of the traueller that languisheth and fainteth through thirst and hunger This is the state of a wildernesse and in such a wildernesse am I drie and wearie no moysture no strength and why I haue no fountaine I haue spent that moysture which I receiued from thee Thou madest me a greene tree but I am become drie withered no fruit no leaues no sap as farre spent as was the prodigall Sonne and all by sinne And yet sinne doth not leaue me it turmoiles me still and my bloud being spent my spirits wasted the bloud and spirits of grace and goodnesse now I faint now I am wearie And gladly would I recouer some strength euen as gladly as the prodigall child would haue fed vpon Huskes but he found none that gaue him And here in my wildernesse I find no waters except they be the waters of Marah so bitter they cannot be drunke or of Iericho so bad that they will make the land barren of such Waters I haue springs enough Euerie outward sense and euerie inward my vnderstanding my will are fountaines of such waters fountaines that streame forth and moisten my whole man yea and turne the whole man into a dead Sea This goodly as it were Garden of the Lord which was set euerie where with trees of life I meane my bodie and soule inwardly and outwardly representing the Image of God what are they now but euen as the dead Sea And what are all the fruites thereof but euen as Sodome I want not waters then but sweete waters the want of them maketh me a wildernesse fruitlesse and yet fruitfull fruitfull in rootes of bitternesse in thistles in briers the fruits of a cursed soile But fruitlesse am I in whom groweth neither the Lilly nor the Rose neither is my life innocent nor my heart patient I am as indisposed to suffer for well-doing as to doing well But as for these better plants the Vine that cherisheth God and man the Oliue by which they are honoured both and the sweete figtree that groweth in Paradise they grow not in my soile drie soile that hath no sap of that kind And yet a soile in husbanding whereof I tire my selfe and therefore well may I call it a wearisome soile all the fruit it beareth is but vanitie of vanities and all my comfort is but vexation of spirit Seeing this is my case where lies my comfort The comfort of my Soule the comfort of my bodie both are a wildernesse But neither would bee so the thirst of my Soule the desire of my flesh my drie my tired soule and flesh speake their wants and speake more audibly then can my words what I want what I beg The thirst is mine but that I thirst it is thy gift O Lord the desire is mine but that I doe desire O Lord it commeth of grace it is thy holy spirit that teacheth me this language which can be learned in no other schoole And why Lord hast thou taught it me Is it not because I should speake to thee That my drougth should speake my wearinesse should crie That both should aske of the Lord raine For with thee is the well of liuing waters it is thou that turnest a wildernesse into a standing water and drie ground into water springs Vnto thee then come I O Lord that onely art able to relieue me because thou art a God of power and no lesse willing then able because thou art my powerfull God Euen thou O God that art three in one and one in three O God the Father I come to thee and in the bowels of a Father thou canst not reiect me thou art my God I haue no other God then hee that is my Father O God the Sonne I come to thee thou canst not refuse him whom thou hast made thy brother thou art my God I haue no other God then hee that is my Sauiour O holy Ghost I come to thee wilt thou despise him whose comforter thou hast vouchsafed to bee thou art my God I haue none other God then he that is my Comforter A threefold cord cannot be broken and how should I faile that haue this threefold stay Let me be a wildernesse a drie a wearisome wildernesse was it not this God that of the Chaos vnshapen and emptie Chaos made this solid this beautifull fabricke of the world And cannot be transforme my wildernesse into a paradise Yea the waters of the Sanctuarie no sooner entred the dead Sea but they became liuing waters all things presently liued in it and the Tree of life grew plenteously all along the bankes of it
sinne hath abridged what had no bounds it hath brought our life within a short compasse it is measured by dayes and dayes are aâ— the first so the least part of Time which thou hast made And these dayes are not infinite in vaine should a man desire to number that which cannot bee numbred Iacob said his dayes were few Dauid that his were but a span long Saint Iames that no mans life is more lasting then a bubble a man would thinke a litle Arithmeticke would cast vp so small an account a man seemes to need no better a master then a man for what man is he that is ignorant of this principle That man is mortall and that it cannot be long before he returne to dust And yet Moses that was learned in all the sciences of the Aegyptians amongst which Arithmeticke was one desireth to learn this point of Arithmetick onely of thee O Lord why Is it because as Iob speaketh thou hast determined the nuÌ„ber of his dayes Would Moses haue thee reueale to euerie man the moment of his end Such speculations may wel beseeme an Aegyptian an Israelite they doe not beseeme Thy children O Lord know that it is not for them so to know times and seasons which thou keepest in thine owne power and are a secret sealed vp with thee we should not prie into that counting house nor curiously inquire into that summe It is not then a Mathematicall numbring of daies that Moses would be schooled in but a morall he would haue God not simply to teach him to number but to number so and so points out a speciall manner a manner that may bee vsefull for the children of God And indeed our petitions must beare this mark of profitable desires and we should not aske ought of thee but that by which if we speed wee may become the better he that so studieth his mortalitie learnes it as he should and it is onely thou O Lord that takest him out such a lesson But what is the vse O Moses that thou wouldest haue man make of such a knowledge Euen to applie his heart vnto wisedome O happie knowledge by which a man becomes wise for wisedome is the beautie of a reasonable soule God conereated him therewith But sinne hath diuorced the soule and wisedome so that a sinfull man is indeed no better then a foole so the Scripture calleth him and well may it call him so seeing all his carriage is vaine and the vpshot of his endeauours but vexation of spirit But though sinne haue diuorced wisedome and the Soule yet are they not so seuered but they may be reunited and nothing is more powerfull in furthering this vnion then this feeling meditation that wee are mortall For who would not shake hands with the world that knows we must shortly appeare before God Yea who would not prouide for that life which hath no end that seeth that this hastneth so fast vnto an end Finally who would suffer the arrowes of Gods wrath that summon vs vnto Iudgement to passe vnregarded seeing the due regard thereof is able to turne a Tribunall into a Throne of grace Surely affliction if we discerne the hand that infflicts it is the best schoole of wisedome yea of the best sort of wisedome the wisedome of the heart it turneth knowledge into practise and maketh vs more tender hearted then we are quicke sighted it doth not onely discerne that God is a consuming fire but melts at the very sight of him it doth not onely know that Gods word is a hammer but feeleth the force thereof in a broken and contrite spirit it conceiue feares so soone as it heareth threats and is no sooner touched but it is reclaimed And this is Wisedome the true wisedome of a mortall man whose best helpe against mortalitie stands in the awful regard of Gods offended fauour Seeing then O Lord this is the fruit of that desired knowledge and hee is best seene in the length of his dayes that is most humbled with the sense of thy wrath and he needs least to feare death that doth as hee ought most feare thee vouchsafe to bee his master that desireth to bee thy scholler and let grace teach what nature doth not discerne that I moulder into dust because I corrupt my selfe with sinne so shall I bee wearie of my naturall folly that negotiates for death and affect true wisdome that is the Tree of life with this I shall endeauour to furnish not onely my head but my heart also and that which now is the seate of deaâ—h shall then become the receptacle of life that life which beginnes in thy feare which is the onely in-let of euerlasting ioy A Meditation vpon Lament 5. VERSE 21. Turne thou vs vnto thee O Lord and we shall bee turned renew our dayes as of old WEe are mutable and what wonder Seeing we are creatures we cannot know that we were made of nothing but wee must acknowledge that to nothing we may returne againe and indeed thither we hasten if we bee left vnto our selues For marre our selues we can but we cannot mend our selues wee can dedestroy what God hath built but we cannot repaire what we doe destroy Wretched power that is onely able to disinable vs and hath no strength but to enfeeble him whose strength it is I read of Adam the first monument of this vnhappie strength but I may read it in my selfe I as all his sonnes inherit as his nature so this selfe ruining power But when experience hath made me see how valiant I haue been against my selfe inflicting deadly wounds precipitating my person and misguiding my steps I become disconsolate and helplesse in my selfe what then shall I doe To whom then shall I seeke To the fiends of hell that sollicited me to sinne To the worldly vanities by which my lusts were baited Well may they adde to my fall raise mee againe they cannot they will not such euill trees beare no such good fruit and if they did they would rather haue me a companion in their sinne and in their woe then seeke to free mee from or ease me in either of them But happily the good Angels as they are more able so they are more willing to pittie to relieue mee but they behold thy face O Lord and stirre not but when thou sendest them and they only to whom thou sendest can be the better for them these heauenly spirits that attend thy Throne moue not but at thy becke and doe no more then thou commaundest I see then that if I stray it is thou that must fetch me home it is thou Lord that must lift me vp when I am slipt downe to the gates of death and my wounds will be incurable if thou bee not pleased to heale me Thou Lord hast made me know in what case I am and onely canst redresse my wofull case I seeke to thee and to thee onely To thy wisedome I commend my head illighten it shew me thy way thou that of nothing