that where the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there we are to understand the Person of the Holy Ghost yet we rather lay hold on the pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When He the Spirit of truth shall come He shall lead you which pointeth out to a distinct Person If as Sabellius saith our Saviour had onely meant some new motion in the Disciples hearts or some effect of the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been enough but ILLE He designeth a certain Person and I LLE He in Christ's mouth a distinct Person from himself Besides we are taught in the Schools Actiones sunt suppositorum Actions and operations are of Persons Now in this verse Christ sayth that he shall lead them into all truth and before he shall reprove the world v. 8. and in the precedent chapter he shall testifie of me v. 26. which are proper and peculiar operations of the blessed Spirit and bring him in a distinct Person from the Father and the Son And therefore S. Augustine resteth upon this dark and general expression Lib. 6. De Trinit Spiritus S. est commune aliquid Patris Filii quicquid illud est The Holy Ghost communicateth both of the Father and the Son is something of them both whatsoever we may call it whether we call him the Consubstantial and Coeternal communion and friendship of the Father and the Son or nexum amorosum with Gerson and others of the Schools the essential Love and Love-knot of the undivided Trinity But we will wave these more abstruse and deeper speculations in which if we speak not in the Spirit 's language we may sooner lose than profit our selves and speak more than we should whilest we are busie to raise our thoughts and words up to that which is but enough It will be safer to walk below amongst those observations which as they are more familiar and easy so are they more useful and to take what oar we can find with ease than to dig deeper in this dark mine where if we walk not warily we may meet with poysonous fogs and damps in stead of treasure We will therefore in the next place enquire why he is called the Spirit of Truth Divers attributes the Holy Ghost hath He is called the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4.13 the Spirit of Grace Hebr. 10.29 c. For where he worketh Grace is operative our Love is without dissimulation Rom. 12.9 our Joy is like the joy of heaven as true though not so great Gal. 5.6 Isa 6.6 Rom. 10 2. our Faith a working faith and our Zeal a coal from the altar kindled from his fire not mad and raging but according to knowledge He maketh no shadows but substances no pictures but realities no appearances Luke 1.28 but truths a Grace that maketh us highly favoured a precious and holy Faith 1 Pet. 1.7 8. full and unspeakable Joy Love ready to spend it self and Zeal to consume us Psâ—l 69.9 of a true existence being from the Spirit of that God who alone truly is But here he is stiled the Spirit of Truth yet is he the same Spirit that planteth grace and faith in our hearts that begetteth our Faith dilateth our Love worketh our Joy kindleth our Zeal and adopteth us in Regiam familiam into the Royal family of the first-born in heaven But now the Spirit of Truth was more proper For to tell men perplext with doubts that were ever and anon and somtimes when they should not asking questions of such a Teacher was a seal to the promise a good assurance that they should be well taught that no difficulty should be too hard no knowledge too high no mystery too dark and obscure for them but All truth should be brought forth and unfolded to them and having the veyl taken from it be laid open and naked to their understanding Let us then look up upon and worship this Spirit of Truth as he thus presenteth and tendereth himself unto us 1. He standeth in opposition to two great enemies to Truth Dissimulation and Flattery By the former I hide my self from others by the later I blindfold another and hide him from himself The Spirit is an enemy to both he cannot away with them 2. He is true in the Lessons which he teacheth that we may pray for his Advent long for his coming and so receive him when he cometh First dissemble he doth not he cannot For Dissimulation is a kind of cheat or jugling by which we cast a mist before mens eyes that they cannot see us It bringeth in the Devil in Samuel's mantle and an enemy in the smiles and smoothness of a friend It speaketh the language of the Priest at Delphos As to King Philip whom Pausanias slew playeth in ambiguities promiseth life when death is neerest and biddeth us beware of a chariot when it meaneth a sword No this Spirit is an enemy to this because a Spirit of truth and hateth these involucra dissimulationis this folding and involvedness these clokes and coverts these crafty conveyances of our own desires to their end under the specious shew of intending good to others And they by whom this Spirit speaketh are like him and speak the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 1.12 in the simplicity and godly sincerity of the spirit not in craftiness 2 Cor. 4.2 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 handling the Word of God deceitfully not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4.14 not in the slight of men throwing a die and what cast you would have them not fitting their doctrine to men and the times that is not to men and the times but to their own ends telling them of heaven when their thoughts are in their purse Wisd 1.5 6. This holy Spirit of Truth flieth all such deceit and removeth himself far from the thoughts which are without understanding and will not acquit a dissembler of his words There is nothing of the Devil's method nothing of the Die or Hand no windings or turnings in what he teacheth He speaketh the truth and nothing but the truth and for our behoof and advantage that we may believe it and build upon it and by his discipline raise our selves up to that end for which he is pleased to come and be our Teacher And as he cannot dissemble so in the next place flatter us he cannot This is the inseparable mark and character of the evil Spirit qui arridet ut saeviat who smileth upon us that he may rage against us lifteth us up that he may cast us down whose exaltations are foils whose favours are deceits whose smiles and kisses are wounds Flattery is as a glass for a Fool to look upon and behold that shape which himself hath already drawn and please himself in it because it is returned upon him by reflection and so he becometh more fool than before It is the Fools
yet the wrath of God was more visible to him than those that do who bear but their own burthen whereas he lay pressed under the sins of the whole world God in his approaches of Justice when he cometh toward the sinner to correct him may seem to go like the Consuls of Rome with his Rods and his Axes carried before him Many sinners have felt his Rods And his Rod is comfort his Frown favour his Anger love and his Blow a benefit But Christ was struck as it were with his Ax. Others have trembled under his wrath Psal 39.10 but Christ was even consumed by the stroke of his hand Being delivered to God's Wrath that wrath deliverth him to these Throws and Agonies delivereth him to Judas who delivereth nay betrayeth him to the Jews who deliver him to Pilate who delivered him to the Cross where the Saviour of the world must be murthered where Innocency and Truth it self hangeth between thot Thieves I mention not the shame or the torment of the Cross for we Thieves endured the same But his Soul was crucified more than his Body and his Heart had sharper nails to pierce it than his Hands or Feet TRADIDIT ET NON PEPERCIT He delivered him and spared him not But to rise one step more TRADIDIT ET DESERVIT He delivered and in a manner forsook him restrained his influence denied relief withdrew comfort stood as it were afar off and let him fight it out unto death He looked about and there was none to help Isa 63.5 even to the Lord he called but he heard him not Psal 18 41. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He roared out for the very grief of his heart and cryed with a loud voyce My God my God Matth. 27.46 why hast thou forsaken me And could God forsake him Psal 38.8 When he hung upon the cross did he not see the joy which was set before him Yes he did Heb. 12.2 but not to comfort but rather torment him Altissimo Divinitatis consilio actum est ut gloria militaret in poenam saith Leo By the counsel of the Godhead it was set down and determined that his Glory should add to his Punishment that his knowledge which was more clear than a Seraphins should increase his Grief his Glory his Shame his Happiness his Misery that there should not only be Vinegar in his Drink and Gall in his Honey and Myrrhe with his Spices but that his Drink should be Vinegar his Honey Gall and all his Spices as bitter as Myrrhe that his Flowers should be Thorns and his Triumph Shame This could Sin do And can we love it This could the Love and tht Wrath of God do his Love to his Creature and his Wrath against Sin And what a Delivery what a Desertion was this which did not deprive Christ of strength but enfeeble him with strength which did not leave him in the dark but punish him with light What a strange Delivery was that which delivered him up without comfort nay which betrayed and delivered up his comforts themselves What misery equal to that which maketh Strength a tormenter Knowledge a vexation and Joy and Glory a persecution There now hangeth his sacred Body on the cross not so much afflicted with his passion as his Soul was wounded with compassion with compassion on his Mother with compassion on his Disciples with compassion on the Jews who pierced him for whom he prayeth when they mock him which did manifest his Divinity as much as his miracles Tantam patientiam nemo unquam perpetravit Tert. de Patientia with compassion on the Temple which was shortly to be levelled with the ground with compassion on all Mankind bearing the burden of all dropping his pity and his blood together upon them feeling in himself the torments of the blessed Martyrs the reproach of his Saints the wounds of every broken heart the poverty diseases afflictions of all his Brethren to the end of the world delivered to a sense of their sins who feel them not and to a sense of theirs who grone under them delivered up to all the miseries and sorrows not only which himself then felt but which any men which all men have felt or shall feel to the time the Trump shall sound and he shall come again in glory The last Delivery was of his Soul which was indeed traditio a yielding it up a voluntary emission or delivering it up into his Fathers hands praevento carnificis officio saith the Father He preventeth the spear and the hand of the executioner and giveth up the ghost What should I say or where should I end Who can fathome this depth The Angels stand amazed the Heavens are hung with black the Earth openeth her mouth and the Grave hers and yieldeth up her dead the veyl of the Temple rendeth asunder the Earth trembleth and the Rocks are cleft But neither Art nor Nature can reach the depth of this Wisdom and Love no tongue neither of the living nor of the dead neither of Men nor Angels is able to express it The most powerful eloquence is the threnody of a broken heart For there Christ's death speaketh it self and the virtue and power of it reflecteth back again upon him and reacheth him at the right hand of God where his wounds are open his merits vocal interceding for us to the end of the world We have now past two steps and degrees of this scale of Love with wonder and astonishment and I hope with grief and love we have passed through a field of Blood to the top of mount Calverie where the Son of God the Saviour of the World is nailed to the cross and being lifted up upon his cross looketh down upon us to draw us after him Look then back upon him who looketh upon us whom our sins have pierced and behold his blood trickling down upon us Which is one ascent more and bringeth in the Persons for whom he was delivered First for us Secondly for us all III. Now that he should be delivered FOR VS is a contemplation full of delight and comfort but not so easie to digest For if we reflect upon our selves and there see nothing but confusion and horrour we shall soon ask the question Why for us Why not for the lapsed Angels who fell from their estate as we did They glorious Spirits we vile Bodies they heavenly Spirits we of the earth earthly ready to sink to the earth from whence we came they immortal Spirits we as the grass withered before we grow Yet he spared not his Son to spare us but the Angels that fell he cast into Hell 2 Pet. 2.4 and chained them up in everlasting darkness We may think that this was munus honorarium that Christ was delivered for us for some worth or excellency in us No it was munus eleemosynarium a gift bestowed upon us in meer compassion of our wants With the Angels God dealeth in rigor and relenteth
and for the advantage of those things which are necessary that are already under a higher and more binding law than any Potentate or Monarch of the earth can make The acts I say of Charity are manifest But those of Christian Prudence are not particularly designed Prudentia respicit ad singularia because that eye is given us to view and consider particular occurrences and circumstances and it dependeth upon those things which are without us whereas Charity is an act of the will And here if we would be our selves or rather if we would not be our selves but be free from by-respects and unwarrantable ends if we would devest our selves of all hopes or fears of those things which may either shake or raise our estates we could not be to seek For how easy is it to a disingaged and willing mind to apply a general precept to particular actions especially if Charity fill our hearts which is the bond of perfection Col. 3.14 Rom. 13.10 and the end and complement of the Law and indeed our spiritual wisdome In a word in these cases when we go to consult with our Reason we cannot erre if we leave not Charity behind us Or if we should erre our Charity would have such an influence upon our errour that it should trouble none but our selves 1 Cor. 13.7 For Charity beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things This is the extent of the Spirit 's Lesson And if in other truths more subtil than necessary we are to seek it mattereth not for we need not seek them It is no sin not to know that which I cannot know to be no wiser than God hath made me And what need our curiosity rove abroad when that which is all and alone concerneth us lieth in so narrow a compass In absoluto facili aeternitas saith Hilary The way to heaven may seem rough and troublesome but it is an easy way easy to find out though not so easy at our first onset to walk in and yet to those that tread and trace it often as delightful as Paradise it self See God hath shut up Eternity within the compass of two words Believe and Repent which is a full and just commentary on the Spirit 's Lesson the sum of all that he taught Lay your foundation right and then build upon it Because God loved you in Christ do you love him in Christ Love him and keep his commandments than which no other way could have been found out to draw you neer unto God Believe and Repent this is all Oh wicked abomination whence art thou come to cover the earth with deceit What malice what defiance what contention what gall and bitterness amongst Christians yet this is all Believe and Repent the Pen the Tongue the Sword these are the weapons of our warfare What ink what blood hath been spilt in the cause of Religion How many innocents defamed how many Saints anathematized how many millions cut down with the sword yet this is all Believe and Repent We hear the noyse of the whip and the ratling of the wheels and the prancing of the horses The horseman lifteth up his bright sword and his glittering spear Nah. 3.2 3. Every part of Christendome almost is a stage of war and the pretense is written in their banners you may see it waving in the air FOR GOD AND RELIGION yet this is all Believe and Repent Who would once think the Pillars of the earth should be thus shaken that the world should be turned into a worse chaos than that out of which it was made that there should be such wars and fightings amongst Christians for that which is shut up and brought unto us in these two words Believe and Repent For all the truth which is necessary and will be sufficient to lift us to our end and raise us to happiness can make no larger a circumferance than this This is the Law and the Prophets or rather this is the Gospel of Christ this is the whole will of God In this is knowledge justification redemption and holiness This is the Spirit 's Lesson and all other lessons are no lessons not worth the learning further than they help and improve us in this In a word this is all in all and within this narrow compass we may walk out our span of time and by the conduct of the same Spirit in the end of it attain to that perfection and glory which shall never have an end And so from the Lesson and Extent of it we pass to the Manner and Method of the Spirit 's Teaching It is not Raptus a forcible and violent drawing but Ductus a gentle Leading and Guiding The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall lead Which implyeth a preparedness and willingness to be led And the Spirit that leadeth us teacheth us also to follow him not to resist him that he may lead us Acts 7.51 Eph. 4.30 1 Thes 5.19 2 Tim. 1.6 not to grieve him by our backwardness that he may fill us with joy not to quench him that he may enlighten us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stir up his gifts that they dye not in us Now this promise was directly and primarily made to the Apostles whose Commission being extraordinary and their Diocess as large as the whole world they needed the Spirits guidance in a more high and eminent manner gifts of Tongues and diversities of graces which might fit them for so great a work that as their care so their power might be as universal as the world And yet to them was the Spirit given in measure and where measure is there are degrees and they were led by degrees not straight to all truth but by steps and approaches S. Peter himself was not wrapt up as his pretended Successor into the chair of Truth to determine all at once For when Pentecost was now past he goeth to Caesarea Acts 10.11 34. and there learneth more then he had done at Jerusalem seeth that in the Sheet which was let down to the earth which he heard not from the Tongues and of a truth now perceived what he did not before that God was no accepter of persons that now the partition-wall was broken down that Jew and Gentile were both alike and the Church which was formerly shut up in Judea was now become Catholick a Body which every one that would might be a member of Besides though the Apostles were extraordinarily and miraculously inspired yet we cannot say that they used no means at all to bring down the blessed Spirit For it is plain they did wait for his coming they prayed for the truth and laboured for the truth they conferred one with another met together in counsel deliberated before they did determin Nor could they imagin they had the Spirit in a string and could command him as they please and make him follow them whithersoever they would And then between us and the Apostles there
it self and worketh on insensibly but most strongly and certainly to our ruine And then it appeareth more ugly and deformed to God's pure and all-seeing eye who never hateth an oppressour more then when he seeth him at the Altar and is most offended with that fraudulent man who is called Christian We read in the Historian when Nero had but set his foot into the temple of Vesta he fell into a fit of trembling facinorum recordatione saith Tacitus being shaken with the remembrance of his monstrous crimes For what should he do in the Temple of Vesta who had defiled his own mother And how shall we dare to enter Gods courts unless we leave our sins behind us How dare we speak to a God of truth who defraud so many Why should we fast from meat who make our brethren our meat and eat them up At that great day of separation of true and false worshippers when the Judge shall bespeak those on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you the form or reason is not For you have sacrificed often you have fasted often you have heard much you were frequent in the Temple and yet these are holy duties but they are ordinata ad aliud ordained for those that follow and therefore are not mentioned but in them implyed For I was hungry and you gave me meat I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was naked and you clothed me sick and in prison and you visited me Then outward Worship hath its glory and reward when it draweth the inward along with it Then the Sacrifice hath a sweet-smelling savour when a just and merciful man offereth it up when I sacrifice and obey hear and do pray and endeavour contemplate and practise fast and repent And thus we are made one fit to be lookt upon by him who is Oneness it self not divided betwixt Sacrifice and Oppression a Form of godliness and an habitual Course in sin Dissembling with God and Fighting against him betwixt an Hosanna and a Crucifige Professing Christ and Crucifying him In this unity and conjunction every duty and virtue as the stars in the firmament have their several glory and they make the Israelite the Christian a child of light But if we divide them or set up some few for all the easiest and those which are most attempered to the sense for those which fight against it and bring in them for the main which by themselves are nothing if all must be Sacrifice if all must be Ceremony and outward Formality if this be the conclusion and sum of the whole matter if this be the body of our worship and Religion then instead of a Blessing and an Euge we shall meet with a frown and a check and God will question us for appearing before him in strange apparel which he never put upon us Zeph. 1.8 question us for doing his command and tell us he never gave any such command because he gave it not to this end Will he be pleased with burnt-offerings with Ceremony and Formality He asketh the question with some indignation and therefore it is plain he will not but lotheth the Sacrifice as he doth the Oppressour and Unclean person that bringeth it We see then that we may yet draw it nearer to us that there was good reason why God should thus disclaim his own ordinance because he made it for their sakes and to an end quite contrary to that to which the Jew carried it We see the Prophet might well set so low an esteem upon so many thousand rams because Idolaters and Oppressours and cruel blood thirsty men offered them We see Sacrifice and all outward Ceremony and Formality are but as the garment or shadow of Religion which is turned into a disguise when she weareth it not and is nothing is a delusion when it doth not follow her For Oppression and Sacrilege may put on the same garment and the greatest evil that is may cast such a shadow He that hateth God may sacrifice to him he that blasphemeth him may praise him the hand that strippeth the poor may put fire to the incense and the feet that are so swift to shed blood may carry us into the Temple When all is Ceremony all is vain nay lighter then Vanity For in this we do not worship God but mock him give him the skin when he looketh for the heart we give shadows for substances shews for realities and leaves for fruit we mortifie our lusts and affections as Tragedians die upon the stage and are the same sinners we were as wicked as ever Our Religion putteth forth nothing but blossomes or if it knit and make some shew or hope of fruit it is but as we see it in some trees it shooteth forth at length and into a larger proportion and bigness then if it had had its natural concoction and had ripened kindly and then it hath no tast or relish but withereth and rotteth and falleth off And thus when we too much dote on Ceremony we neglect the main Work and when we neglect the Work we fly to Ceremony and Formality and lay hold on the Altar We deal with our God as Aristotle of Cyrene did with Lais Clem. Alexandr 3. Strom. who promised to bring her back again into her country if she would help him against his adversaries whom he was to contend with and when that was done to make good his oath drew her picture as like her as art could make it and carried that And we fight against the Devil as Darius did against Alexander with pomp and gayety and gilded armour as his prey rather then as his enemies And thus we walk in a vain shadow and trouble our selves in vain and in this region of Shews and Shadows dream of happiness and are miserable of heaven and fall a contrary way as Julius Caesar dreamed that he soared up and was carried above the clouds Suet. Vit. C. Caesar and took Jupiter by the right hand and the next day was slain in the Senate-house I will not accuse the foregoing Ages of the Church because as they were loud for the ceremonious part of Gods worship so were they as sincere in it and did worship him in spirit and in truth and were equally zealous in them both and though they raised the first to a great height yet never suffered it so to over-top the other as to put out its light but were what their outward expressions spake them as full of Piety as Ceremony And yet we see that high esteem which they had of the Sacraments of the Church led some of them upon those errours which they could not well quit themselves of but by falling into worse It is on all hands agreed that they are not absolutely necessary not so necessary as Mortifying of our lusts and denying of our selves not so necessary as actual Holiness It is not absolutely necessary to be baptized for many have not passed
of Eden Gen. 2 10 11 12. to water the dry places of the earth There you shall find gold and good goldâ—bdellium and the onyx stone all that is precious in the sight of God and man But the heart of an Unjust man is as a rock on which you may strike and strike again but no water will flow out but instead thereof gall and wormwood blood and fire and vapour of smoke The tender mercies Joel 2.30 Prov. 12.10 the bowels of the wicked are cruel Their kisses are wounds their favours reproches their Indulgences Anathema's their bread is full of gravel and their water tainted with blood If their Craft or Power take all and their seeming Mercy their Hypocrisie put back a part that part is nothing or but trouble and vexation of spirit Thus do these two Branches grow and flourish and bring forth fruit and thus do they wither and dye together And here we have a fair and full vintage For indeed Mercy is as the Vine which yieldeth wine to chear the hearts of men Judg. 9.13 15. hath nothing of the Bramble nothing of the fire nothing that can devour It yieldeth much fruit but we cannot stand to gather all I might spread before you the rich mantle of Mercy and display each particular beauty and glory of it But it will suffice to set it up as the object of our Love For as Misery is the object of our Mercy so is Mercy the object of our Love And we may observe it is not here to do mercifully as before to do justly and yet if we love not Justice we cannot do it but in express terms the Lord requireth that we love mercy that is that we put it on wear it as a robe of glory delight in it make it as God doth make it his our chiefest attribute to exalt and superexalt James 2.13 and make it triumph over Justice it self Justice and Honesty give every man his own but Mercy openeth those treasuries which Justice might lock up and taketh from us that which is legally ours maketh others gatherers with us and partakers of our basket and bringeth them under our own vine and fig-tree Et haec est victoria This is the victory and triumph of Mercy Let us then draw the lines by which we are to pass And we shall shew you Mercy 1. in the Fruit it yieldeth 2. in its Root first in its proper Act or Motion casting bread upon the waters Focl 11.1 1 Sam. 2 8. Psal 113.7 and raising the poor out of the dust secondly in the Form which produceth this Act or the Principle of this Motion which is the Habit the Affection the Love of Mercy For so we are commanded not onely to shew forth our mercy but to love it What doth the Lord require but to love mercy c. We begin with the first The proper Act of Mercy is to flow and to spend it self and yet not be spent to relieve our brethren in misery and in all the degrees that lead to it necessities impotencies distresses dangers defects This is it which the Lord requireth And howsoever Flesh and Blood may be ready to perswade us that we are left at large to our own wills and may do what we will with our own yet if we consult with the Oracle of God we shall find that these reciprocal offices of Mercy which pass between man and man are a debt that we are bound as much to do good to others as not to injure them to supply their wants as not rob them to reach forth a hand to help them as not to smite them with the fist of wickedness Isa 58.4 Luke 16.7 And though my hundred measures of wheat be my own and I may demand them yet there is a voice from Heaven and from the Mercy-seat which biddeth me take the bill and sit down quickly and write fifty Do we shut up our bowels and our hands together Behold habemus legem we have a Law and the first and greatest Law the Law of Charity to open them It is true what we gain by the sweat of our brows what Honesty and Industry or the Law hath sealed unto us is ours ex asse wholly and entirely ours nor can any hand but that of Violence divide it from us but yet habemus legem we have a Law another Law which doth not take from us the propriety of our goods but yet bindeth us to dispense and distribute them In the same Court-roll of Heaven we are made both Proprietaries and Stewards The Law of God as well as of Man is Evidence for us that our possessions are ours but it is Evidence against us if we use them not to that end for which God made them ours They are ours to have and to hold nor can any Law of man divorce them from us or question us For what Action can be drawn against want of Mercy Who was ever yet impleaded for not giving an almes at his door What bar can you bring the Miser to Who ever was arraigned for doing no good But yet in the Law of God and in the Gospel of Christ which is a Law of Grace Matth. 25.41 c. we find an Action drawn de non vestiendis nudis for not clothing the naked not feeding the hungry not visiting the sick I saith Nazianzene could peradventure be willing that mercy and Bounty were not necessary but arbitrary not under a Law but presented by way of counsel and advice for the Flesh is weak and would go to heaven with as little cost and trouble as may be but then the mention of the Left hand and the right of the Goats and the Sheep of the torments they shall be thrown into not who have invaded other mens goods but who have not given their own not who have beat down but who have not supported these Temples of the Holy Ghost this is that which striketh a terrour through me and maketh me think and resolve that I am as much bound to do acts of mercy as I am not to do an injury as much bound to feed the poor man as I am not to oppress and murder him To shew Mercy to others is not an Evangelical Counsel it is a Law Therefore as Homer telleth us that men did not call some things by their proper names for the Gods had other names for them Iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chalcidem homines Cymindim Dii vocant and he speaketh of a certain bird so when we call that ours which our net hath taken in our wit and industry hath brought it unto us we speak after the manner of men we speak the language of the world the dialect of Mammon but when we call them ours and make them ours for the use and benefit of others we do à Christo discere disciplinam as Tertullian speaketh we speak in the language of our Saviour in that phrase and sense which God and
Ishmael Thus by looking on the Persons in the Text you may plainly see the face and condition of the Church and that no priviledge she hath can exempt her from persecution This will yet more plainly appear from the very Nature and Constitution of the Church which is best seen in her blood when she is Militant Which is more full and expressive then any other representation or title that she hath The Church of Christ and the Kingdomes of the earth are not of the same making and constitution have not the same soul and spirit to animate them These may seem to be built upon Air they are so soon thrown down That is raised upon a holy Hill These have a weak and frail hand to set them up and as weak a hand may cast them down That is the work of Omnipotency which fenceth it about and secureth it from Death and Hell These depend upon the Opinions upon the Affections upon the Lusts of men which change oftner then the wind upon the breath of that monster the Multitude which is any thing and which is nothing which is it knoweth not what and never agreeth with it self is never one but in a tempest in tumult and sedition That is founded upon the eternal Decree and Will of God and upon Immutability it self and shall stand fast for ever These when they are in their height and glory are under uncertainty and chance The Church under the wing and shadow of that Providence which can neither erre nor miscarry but worketh mightily and irresistibly to its end His evertendis una dies hora momentum sufficit These are long a raysing and are blown down in a moment But the Church is as everlasting as his love that built it In a word these are worn out by Time The Church is but melted and purged in it and shall then be most glorious when Time shall be no more I know well Persecution appeareth to us as a Fury sent from hell and every hair every threat is a snake that hisseth at us but it is our Sensuality and Cowardise that whippeth us Yet the common consent of all men hath given her a fairer shape and they that run from her do prefer the suffering part And as our Saviour said Acts 20.35 It is more blessed to give then to receive so is it vox populi the voice of the People though they practice it not It is better to suffer then to oppress Even they who have the sword in their hand and breath nothing but terrour and death will rage yet more if you say they persecute you and either magnifie their cruelty with the name of Justice or else seek to perswade the world that they and they alone suffer persecution Every man flieth persecution and every man is willing to own it The Arians complained of the cruelty of the Orthodox and the Orthodox of the fury of the Arians Epist 48 68. Vos dicitis pati persecutionem saith Augustine to the Manichees You say you suffer but our houses are laid wast by you You say you suffer but your armed men put out our eyes You say you suffer but we fall by the sword What you do to us you will not impute to your selves but what you do to your selves you impute to us Thus it was then And how do we look back upon the Marian daies as if the bottomless pit did never smoke but then And are not they of the Romish party as loud in their complaints as if the Devil were never let loose till now We bring forth our Martyrs with a faggot on their shoulder and they theirs with a Tiburn-tippet as Father Latimer calleth it and both glory in Persecution We see then every party claimeth a title to Persecution and counteth it honour to be placed in the number of those that suffer And indeed Persecution is the honour the prosperity the flourishing condition of the Church for it maketh hâ—r indeed visible Nazianzene I remember calleth it the Sacrament and mystery of blood a visible sign of invisible grace where one thing is seen and another thing done where the Christian suffereth and rejoyceth is cast down and promoted falleth by the sword to rise to eternity where Glory lieth hid in Disgrace Advantage in Loss and Life in Death a Church shining in the midst of all the blackness and darkness and terrours of the world Epist 20. â—â— Floridi Martyres they are called by S. Cyprian But this you may say is true if we take the Church as Invisible made up of Sheep onely as Collection of Saints To speak truly Charity buildeth up no other Church For all she beholdeth are either so or in a possibility of having that honour though the eye of Faith can see but a small number to make up that body But take the Church under what notion you please yet it will be easie to observe that Persecution may enlarge her territories increase her number and make her more visible then she was when the weather was fair and no cloud or darkness hung over her that when her branches were lopt off she spread the more that when her members were dispersed there were more gathered to her that when they were driven about the world they carried that sweet-smelling savour about them which dtew in multitudes to follow them that in their flight they begat many children unto Christ Apolog. Crudelitas vestra illecebra est sectae saith Tertullian In the last place As it was then so it is now S. Paul doth not say It may be so or It is by chance but so it is by the Providence of God Provedentia ratio ordinis rerum ad finem Aquin. which is seen in the well ordering and bringing of every motion and action of man to a right end which commonly runneth in a contrary course to that which Flesh and Blood humane Infirmity would find out Eternity and Mortality Majesty and Dust and Ashes Wisdome and Ignorance steer not the same course nor are they bound to the same point My wayes are not your wayes nor my thoughts yours Isa 55.8 saith God by his Prophet to a foolish Nation who in extremity of folly would be wiser then God Mine are not as yours not such uncertain such vain such contradictory and deceitful thoughts but as far removed from yours as heaven is from the earth God hideth himself under a veil Deus tum maximè magnus eum homini pusillus tum maximè optimus cum ho â—ini non bonus Tert l. 2. adv Marcion c. 2. and is merciful when he seemeth angry and just when in outward appearance he favoureth oppression he shadoweth us under his wings when we think he thundreth against us and raiseth his Church as high as heaven when we tremble and imagin he hath opened the gates of hell to devour her Were Flesh and Blood to build a Church we should draw our lines out in a pleasant place It should
out of which we shall have neither power nor will to come that it is a leading sin the forerunner to the sin against the Holy Ghost which shall never be forgiven And shall we yet delay Mat. 12.31 We have been taught that it is high presumption to leave Christ working out his part of the covenant in his blood once shed for us Non expectat Deâ—s frigescentes senectâ—â—is annos nec â—mortuam jam per aetatem vitiorum consâ—etudinem Vult longi pâ—aelii militem Hilar. in Psal 118. Beth. and interceding for us for ever and wilfully to neglect our part and drive it off from time to time from the cheerfulness and vigour of youth to the dulness and laziness of old age to withered hands and trembling joynts to weak memories heavy hearts and dull understandings to unactive amazedness to the Would but Cannot of a bedrid-sinner then to strive against Sin when we are to struggle with our disease then to do it when we can do no thing and when we cannot finish and perfect our Repentance to fill and make it up in a thought or sigh in a faint and sick acknowledgement which are rather sad remonstrances against our former neglect and delay then infallible testimonies of demonstrative declarations of a wounded and broken heart This we have been told and shall we yet delay In brief we have been taught that Delay if we cut it not off betimes will at last cut us off from the Covenant of Grace 2 Cor. 1.20 that it will make the Gospel as killing as the Law the promises which are Yea and Amen Hebr 12.19 nothing to us that it will make a gracious God a consuming fire Psal 115.17 Agens poenitentiam reconciliatus cùm sanus est postea bene viveus securus hinc exit Agens poenitentiam ad ultimum reconciliatus si ecurus hinc exit ego non sum securus Aug. Hom. 41. and Jesus a destroyer That a dying man can no more turn to God then the dead can praise him That after we have thus seared our consciences and drawn out our life in a continued disobedience the Gospel is sealed up and concerneth us not at the hour of death who would not lay hold of one hour of our life to turn in That such cannot go the same ordinary way to heaven with the Apostles and Martyrs and the souls of just men made perfect with those who put off the old man and put on the new with those who escaped the pollutions of the world and were never again entangled in them but are left to that Mercy which was never promised and which they have little reason to hope for having so much abused it to their own perdition All that can be said is scarce worth their hearing Non dico Salvabuntur non dico Damnabuntur We cannot say they shall be saved we cannot say they shall be damned They may be safe but of this we cannot be sure because we have no revelation for it but rather for the contrary Onely God is not bound to rules and Laws as Man is no not to his own but keepeth to himself his supreme right and power entire may do what he will with his own take that for a Turn which he hath not declared to be so and do that which he hath threatned he will not do But it is ill depending upon what God may do For for ought that is revealed he will never do it He will never do it to him who presumeth he will because he may and so putteth off his Turn and Repentance to the last leaveth the ordinary way and trusteth to what God may do out of course He will never do it to a man of Belial who runneth on in his sins yet looketh for a chariot to carry him into heaven We have no such doctrine nor the Church of Christ Her voice is Turn ye now at last will be too late This is the doctrine of the Gospel But yet the judgement is the Lords All this we have heard and we cannot gainsay or confute it And shall we yet delay Certainly if we know these terrours of the Lord and not turn now we shall hardly ever turn If we hear and believe this and do not repent we are worse then Infidels Our Faith shall help the Devil to accuse us and it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrha then for us If we hear this and still fold our hands to sleep still delay if this noise do not stir and move us if this do not startle us in our evil wayes we have good reason to fear we shall never awake till the last Trump till that day till the last day which is a day of Judgement as this our day is of Repentance We say we believe that now heaven is offered and now we must strive to enter in we say we pray for it we hope for it we long for it If we do then Now is the time Festina fides alacris devotio spes impigra saith S. Ambrose Epist c. 10. Ep. 82. Faith is on the wing and carrieth us along with the speed of a thought through all difficulties through all distasts and affrightments and will not let us stay one moment in the house of vanity in any slippery place where we may fall and perish Devotio est actualis voluntas prompte faciendi quae ad Dei cultum spectant Aquin 22. q. 82. art 1. Praepropera velocitate pietatis pene aute coepit perfectus esse uam disceret Pontius Diaconus de Cypriani vita Devotion is full of heat and activity and Hope that is deferred is an affliction If we are led by the Spirit of God we are led apace drawn suddenly out of those wayes which lead unto death called upon to escape for our lives and not to look behind us and as it was said of Cyprian we are at our journeys end as soon as we set out God speaketh and we hear he begetteth good thoughts in us and we nourish them to that strength that they break forth into action he poureth forth his grace and we receive it he maketh his benefits his lure and we come to his hand he thundereth from heaven and we fall down before him In brief Repentance is as our Passeover By it we sacrifice our heart and we do it in the bitterness of our soul and in hast and so pass from death to life from darkness to light from our evil wayes to the obedience of Faith and God passeth over us seeth the blood our wounded spirits our tears our contrition and will not now destroy us but seeing us so soon and so far removed from our evils wayes will favour us and shine upon us and in the light of his countenance we shall walk on from strength to strength through all the hardship and troubles of a continued race to that rest and peace which is everlasting Thus much of the first property of Repentance
They had a full harvest we our sheaf yet our sheaf may make an offering Though our coyn be smaller yet the same image and stamp is on them both and the Spirit will own us though we weigh less All this is true But yet I must still remember you that whilest I build up the power of the Spirit I erect no asylum or sanctuary for illusions and wilful mistakes and when I have raised a fort and strong-hold for sober Christians I mean it not a shelter or refuge for mad-men and phantasticks God forbid that Truth should be banished out of the world because some men by false illations have made her factious or that Errour should straight be crowned with approbation because perhaps we read of some men who have been bettered with a lie The teaching of the Spirit it were dangerous to teach it were there not means to try and distinguish the Spirit 's instructions from the suggestions of Satan or the evaporations of a sick and loathsome brain or our own private Humour which is as great a Devil Beloved 1 John 4.1 saith the Apostle believe not every spirit that is every inspiration but try the spirits whether they be of God for many false prophets are gone out into the world that is have taken the chair and dictate magisterially what they please in the name of the Spirit when themselves are carnal And he giveth the rule by which we should try them Vers 2 Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God that is Whosoever striveth to advance the Kingdom of Christ and to set up the Spirit against the Flesh to magnifie the Gospel to promote and further men in the wayes of innocency and perfect obedience which infallibly lead to happiness is from God that is every such inspiration is from the Spirit of God For therefore doth the Spirit breathe upon us that he may make us like unto God and so draw us to him that where he is we may be also But those inspirations which bring in God to plead for Baal which cry up Religion to gain the world which call their own discipline Christ's Discipline which he never framed and spurn at his to maintain their own which tread down Peace and Charity and all that is indeed praise-worthy under their feet to make way for their unguided lust to pace it more delicately to its end which sigh out Faith and Grace and Christ like mourners about the streets which attend a funeral when the World and Satan hath filled their hearts and thus sow in tears that they may reap the profits and pleasures of this present world with joy which magnifie God's will that they may do their own these men these spirits cannot be from God By their fruits ye shall know them For their hypocrisie as well and cunningly wrought as it is is but a poor cobweb-lawn and we may easily see through it even see these spiritual men sweating and toiling for the Flesh these Saints digging in the minerals labouring for the bread that perisheth and making haste to be rich For though many times their wine be the poison of dragons and their milk not at all sincere yet they are not to be bought without money or money-worth Though GLORIA PATRI Glory to God on high be the Prologue to the Play for what doth a Hypocrite but play yet the whole drift and business of every Scene and Act is chearfully to draw altogether in this From hence we have our gain The Angel speaketh the Prologue and Mammon and the Flesh make the Epilogue Date manus Why should not every man give them his hands Surely such Roscii such cunning Actors deserve a Plaudite By their fruits ye shall know them For what though the voice be Jacobs Ye may know Esau by his hands What though the Devil turn Angel of light Ye may know him by his claws by his malice and rage For how can an Angel of light tear men in pieces By their fruits ye may know them So ye see this inconvenience and mischief which sometimes is occasioned by the Doctrine of the Spirit 's Teaching is not unavoidable It is not necessary though I mistake and take the Devil for an Angel that the holy Ghost should be put to silence Though Corah and his complices perish in their gainsayings yet God forbid that all Israel should be swallowed up in the same gulf Samuel runneth to Eli 1 Sam. 3. Vers 9. when the voice was God's but was taught at last to answer Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Though there were many false Prophets yet Micaiah was a true one Though there be many false Prophets come into the world yet the Spirit of God is a Spirit of truth and is not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our chief but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our sole Instructor Our last Part In which we shall be very brief We are told in the verse next after the Text There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit And we may say There are diversities of teachers but the same Spirit because be the conveyances and conduits never so many through which the knowledge of our Lord Jesus is brought unto us if the Sririt move not along with it it may be water indeed but not of life Because all means are but instrumental but He the prime Agent we may well call him not onely the chief but the sole Instructor The Church of Christ is DOMUS DOCTRINAE the House of learning as it is called in the Chaldee Paraphrase and COLUMNA VERITATIS 1 Tim. 3.15 the Pillar of the truth because it presenteth the knowledge of Christ as a Pillar doth an Inscription and even offereth and urgeth it to every eye that it may not slip out of our memories and SCHOLA CHRISTI the School of Christ in respect of his Precepts and Discipline Such glorious things have been spoken of the Church But now methinks this House is ruinous this Pillar shaken this School broken up and dissolved and the Church which bore so great a name standeth for nothing but the walls A Jesuite telleth us that at the very name of the CHURCH hostis expalluit the Enemy that is such as he called Hereticks did look pale and tremble But what is it now amongst us Nothing or but a Name and in truth a Name is nothing And that too is vanishing for it is changed into another And yet it is the same for they both signifie one and the same thing So prevalent amongst us is that Phansie and Folly which is taken for the Spirit A Church no doubt there is and will be but we onely see it as we do the Church Triumphant through a glass darkly Or she may be fair as the Moon clear as the Sun but sure she is not terrible as an army with banners Secondly the Word is a Teacher And Christ by open proclamation hath commanded us to have recourse unto it
The treasures thereof are infinite the minerals thereof are rich assiduè pleniùs responsura fodienti The more they are digged the more plentifully do they offer themselves that all the wit of men and Angels can never be able to draw them dry But even this Word many times is but a word and no more Sometimes it is a killing letter Such vain and unskilful pioneers we are that for the most part we meet with poisonous damps and vapours instead of treasure I might adde a third Teacher Christ's Discipline which when we think of nothing but of Jesus by his rod and afflictions putteth us in remembrance that he is the Lord. This Teacher hath a kind of Divine authority and by this the Spirit breatheth many times with more efficacy and power then by the Church or the Word then by the Prophets and Apostles and holy Scriptures For when we are disobedient to his Church deaf to his Word at the noise of these many waters we are afraid and yield our necks unto his yoke All these are Teachers But their authority and power and efficacy they have from the Spirit The Church if not directed by the Spirit were but a rout or Conventicle the Word if not quickned by the Spirit a dead letter and his Discipline a rod of iron first to harden us and then break us to pieces But AFFLAT SPIRITUS the Spirit bloweth upon his Garden the Church and the spices thereof flow And then to disobey the Church is to resist the Spirit INCUBAT SPIRITUS The holy Ghost sitteth upon the seed of the Word and hatcheth a new creature a subject to this Lord. MOVET SPIRITUS The Spirit moveth upon these waters of bitterness and then they make us fruitful to every good work In a word The Church is a Teacher and the Word is a Teacher and Afflictions are Teachers but the Spirit of God the holy Ghost is all in all I might here enter a large field full of delightful variety But I forbear and withdraw my self and will onely remember you that this Spirit is a spirit that teacheth Obedience and Meekness that if we will have him light upon us we must receive him as Christ did in the shape of a Dove in all innocency and simplicity He telleth us himself that with a froward heart he will not dwell and then sure he will not enlighten it For as Chrysostom well observeth that the Prophets of God and Satan did in this notoriously differ that they who gave Oracles from God gave them with all mildness and temper without any fanatick alteration but they who gave Oracles by motion from the Devil did it with much distraction and confusion with a kind of fury and madness so we shall easily find that those motions which descend not from above are earthly sensual and devilish that in them there is strife and envying and confusion and every evil work but the wisdom which is from above from the holy Ghost is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated James 3. full of mercy and good fruits Be not deceived When thy Anger rageth the Spirit is not in that storm When thy Disobedience to Government is loud he speaketh not in that thunder When thy Zele is mad and unruly he dwelleth not in that fiery hush When the faculties of thy soul are shaken and dislocated by thy stubborn and perverse passions that thou canst neither look nor speak nor move aright he will not be in that earthquake But in the still voice and the cool of the day in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the calm and tranquility and peace of thy soul he cometh when that storm is slumbred that earthquake setled that thunder stilled that fire quenched And he cometh as a light to shew thee the beauty and love of thy Saviour and the glory and power of thy Lord. And though he be sole Instructor yet he descendeth to make use of means and if thou wilfully withdraw thy self from these thou art none of his celestial Auditory To conclude Wilt thou know how to speak this language truly that Jesus is the Lord and assure thy self that the Spirit teacheth thee so to speak Mark well then those symptoms and indications of his presence those marks and signs which he hath left us in his word to know when the voice is his For though as the Kingdom of heaven so the Spirit of God cometh not with observation yet we may observe whether he be come or no. Remember then first that he is a Spirit and the Spirit of God and so is contrary to the Flesh and teacheth nothing that may flatter or countenance it or let it loose to insult over the Spirit For this is against the very nature of the Spirit as much as it is for light bodies to descend or heavy to move upwards Nay Fire may descend and the Earth may be moved out of its place the Sun may stand still or go back Nature may change its course at the word and beck of the God of Nature but this is one thing which God cannot do he cannot change himself nor can his Spirit breathe any doctrine forth that savoureth of the World or the Flesh or Corruption Therefore we may nay we must suspect all those doctrines and actions which are said to be effects and products of the blessed Spirit when we observe them drawn out and levelled to carnal ends and temporal respects For sure the Spirit can never beat a bargain for the world and the Truth of God is the most unproportioned price that can be laid out on such a purchace When I see a man move his eyes compose his countenance order and methodize his gesture and behaviour as if he were now on his death-bed to take his leave of the world and to seal that Renouncement which he made at the Font when I hear him loud in prayer and as loud in reviling the iniquities of the times wishing his eyes a fountain of tears to bewail them day and night when I see him startle at a mis-placed word as if it were a thunderbolt when I hear him cry as loud for a Reformation as the idolatrous Priests did upon their Baal I begin to think I see an Angel in his flight and mount going up into heaven But after all this devotion this zele this noise when I see him stoop like the Vultur and fly like lightning to the prey I cannot but say within my self O Lucifer son of the morning how art thou fallen from heaven how art thou brought down to the ground nay to hell it self Sure I am the holy Ghost looketh upward moveth upward directeth us upward and if we follow him neither our doctrine nor our actions will ever savour of this dung Remember again that he is SPIRITUS RECTUS a right Spirit as David calleth him Psal 51. not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 winding and turning several wayes now to God and anon nay at once to Mammon now glancing
in evil as from Gods Grace in good proceed both the Will and the Deed. For when this Persuasion is wrought in us when by degrees we have lessened that honour and detestation of Sin which God hath imprinted in the mind of every man when we have often tasted those delights which are but for a season when this false inscription From hence is our gain hath blotted out the true one The wages of Sin is Death for we seldom take down this sop but the Devil enters when either Fear of inconvenience or Hope of gain hath made us afraid of the Truth and by degrees driven us into a false persuasion and at last prevailed with us to conclude against our own determinations and to approve what we condemn then every part of the body and faculty of the soul may be made a weapon of unrighteousness then we rejoyce like giants to run our race though the way we go be the way that leads unto Death Good Lord what a world of wickedness may be laid upon a poor thin and groundless Persuasion What a burden will Self-deceit bear What mountains and hills will wilfull Errour lie under and never feel them Hamor and Shechem must fall by the sword Gen. 34.26 and their whole city must be spoyled and what 's the ground Nothing but a mongrel Persuasion made up of Malice and Religion vers 31. Should he deal with our Sister as with an harlot Joseph must be sold and what 's the reason Behold the dreamer cometh Absalom would wrest his fathers sceptre out of his hand What puts him in arms Ambition and that which commends Ambition a thought that he could manage it better Oh that I might do justice King and Nobles and Senators all must perish together at one blow For should Hereticks live Holy things must be devoured For should Superstition flourish Such inconsequences and absurdities doth Self-deceit fall upon having no better props and pillars to uphold her then open Falshood or mistaken or misapplied Truth For as we cannot conclude well from false premisses so the premisses may be true and yet we may not conclude well For he that saith Thou shalt not commit adultery hath said also Thou shalt not kill He that condemns Heresie hath made Murder a crying sin He that forbids Superstition abhorreth Sacrilege All that we call Adulterers are not to be slain All that we term Hereticks are not to be blown up All that is or seems to be abused is not presently to be abolished For Adulterers may be punished though not by us Hereticks may be restrained though not by fire and things abused may be reserv'd and put to better uses And yet see upon what a Nothing this Self-deceit upholds it self For neither were they all adulterers that were slain by those brethren in evil nor were they Hereticks who were to be blown up nor is that Superstition which appears so to them whom the prince of this world hath blinded Oh what a fine subtle webb doth Self-deceit spin to catch it self What a Prophet is the Devil in Samuels mantle How do our own Lusts abuse us when the name or thought of Religion is taken in to make up the cheat How witty are we to our own damnation O Self-deceit from whence art thou come to cover the earth the very snare of the Devil but which we make our selves his golden fetters which we bear with delight and with which we walk pleasantly and say The bitterness of death is past and so we rejoyce in evil triumph in evil boast of evil call evil good and dream of paradise when we are falling into the bottomless pit Secondly this Self-deceit which our Apostle forbiddeth hath brought an evil report upon our Profession upon Christianity it self there having scarce been found any of any Religion who have so wilfully mistaken and deceived themselves in the rules of their Profession as Christians Christianity is a severe Religion and who more loose then Christians Christianity is an innocent Religion and full of simplicity and singleness and who more deceitful then Christians The very soul of Christianity is Charity and who more malitious then Christians The Spirit that taught Christianity came down in the shape of a Dove and who more vultures then Christians What an incongruity what a soloecism is this The best Religion and the worst men Men who have learnt an art to make a Promise overthrow a Precept and one precept supplant another sometimes wasting and consuming their Charity in their Zeal sometimes abating their Zeal with unseasonable Meekness now breaking the second Table to preserve the first and defying the image of God in detestation of Idolatry now losing Religion in Ceremony and anon crying down Ceremony when all their Religion is but a complement Invenit diabolus quomodo nos boni sectationibus perdat saith Tertullian By the deceit of the Devil we take a fall many times in the pursuit of that which is good and are very witty to our own damnation What evasions what distinctions do we find to delude the precepts of our Saviour and his Apostles As it hath been observed of those God-makers the Painters and Statuaries of the Heathen that they were wont to paint their Goddesses like their mistresses and did then think them most fair when they were most like that which they most loved so hath it been with many professors of Christian Religion they temper the precepts of it to their own phansie and liking they lay upon them glosses and interpretations as it were colours to make them look like unto that which they most love So that as Hilary observes quot voluntates tot fides there be as many Religions as there be Tempers and Dispositions of men as many Creeds as Humours We have annuas menstrnas fides We change our Religion with our Almanach nay with the Moon and the rules of Holiness are made to give attendance on those sick and loathsome humours which do pollute and defile it If I will set forth by the common compass of the world I may put in at shore when my vessel is sunk I may live an Atheist and dye a Saint I may be covetous disobedient merciless I may be factious rebellious and yet religious still a religious Nabal a religious Schismatick a religious Traytor I had almost said a religious Devil For this saith S. Paul the name of Christ is evil spoken of that worthy Name as S. James calleth it by those who by our conversation should be won to reverence that Name For this that blessed Name is blasphemed by which they might be saved Omnes in nobis rationes periclitantur that I may use Tertullians words though with some change We are in part guilty of the bloud of those deceived Jews and Pagans who now perishing in their errour might have been converted to the faith had not the Christian himself been an argument against the Gospel It might well move any man to wonder that well
Gospel And the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a two-peny Feast Our comfort it is that it is not so it is but like it at the most And it is not like it neither This likeness is not in truth but opus intellectûs a resemblance made up in the brain of those whom all the world knows are none of the wisest unless it be in their generation Sure every gesture that will bear a resemblance is not Popery It is not so because we have so drawn it in our phansie because we make it so and because we will have it so for our own ends For thus every man may be an Idolater whom we mean to strip John 7.24 our Saviours counsel is Judge not according to the appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the face and countenance of things For how easie is it to paint and present them as we please Many times an evil eye makes an evil face puts horrour upon Religion it self and where Devotion shines out in the full beauty of holiness draws a Pope or a Devil As Charity covers a multitude of sins so doth Malice cover a multitude of vertues with the black mantle of Vice she covers Devotion with Phrensie Honesty with Folly and Reverence with Superstition and that onely is seen which may at once offend and delight the mocker O what a scandal is a College or a Church what an abomination are holy things when they are sought for as a prey But commonly Scoffers have ill luck for though they would hide themselves in noyse and formality yet are they seen well enough in their furious march to the Honors and Wealth of this world and can bring but slender evidence to confirm what they say Though they lift up their voice and speak never so loud They are drunk This is superstition These are Idolaters When this is spoken they have no more to say and they need not say more For if they be backt with Power though Reason and Argument forsake them you shall be forced to take them at their word Quà m sapiens argumentatrix videtur sibi ignorantia humana Good God! what subtile disputers do Ignorance and Malice account themselves for these are disputers of this world where Phansie goes for Reason Humour for the Spirit and a Scoff for an impregnable argument where we see ridicula potiùs quà m firma tela weapons to be laught at rather then to be feared rather bulrushes then spears syllogismes truly destructive which may ruine us indeed but can never convince us may shake our estates and lives but not our faith These are drunk This is Superstition What should we say even lay our hand upon our mouth with Job and proceed no further We see here S. Peter takes no great pains to avoid these scoffers he useth no convincing demonstrative argument but onely a probabili He tells them it was not probable they should be drunk so soon at such a feast at the third houre of the day The Philosopher will tell us Non est disputandum cum quovis every man is not to be disputed with For that which should free some from err our confirms them in it Nothing will be restrained not any thing will be cut off from them which they imagine to do When you undertake Pertinacy you do but beat the air Nazianzene observes that Christ himself did not give an answer to every question We will then answer the scoffers of these times as S. Peter did these here with a non probabile It is not probable that a reverent gesture or some few ceremonies should reconcile him to Rome whose doctrine is orthodox that a knee make him superstitious who is devout in his heart It is more probable that it is Reverence rather then Superstition Devotion rather then Idolatry Or if it were not apparently probable yet where no evidence is brought to the contrary there true Christian Charity which is no scoffer we may be sure is very active to make and frame such probabilities Sperat omnia credit omnia saith the Apostle if she be not certain for the best she will not be certain and positive for the worst if she be not certain yet she will hope and believe that all things are well Nor will she cry Superstition at the sight of reverence nor Idolatry at the mention of an Altar Charity that never fails will never fall at the bowing of a knee nor will ever conclude so absurdly These men fall down and worship therefore they are idolatrous no more then thus These men are full of new wine when at that time there was none to fill them To conclude then These scoffers are dead and Lucian is dead and Julian is dead and are gone to their place yet the Spirit breathes still and the Church of Christ stands firm upon the same foundation The blessed Spirit though he be grieved yet cannot be destroyed though he be quenched yet it is but in scoffers Magna vis veri impelli potest exstingui non potest Great is the Truth and at last it prevaileth you may oppress it you cannot exstinguish it All the power and rage and malice of bloudy hypocrites can never so chase it away but it will find some humble and devout hearts to dwell and rest in As Fire cast into the Water is streightway put out saith Tully so scoffs and detraction and wilfull and malicious misinterpretations soon vanish into nothing Crepitant solvuntur These hailstones rattle for a while on the house-top and make a noise and are then dissolved into air Suppose a man of fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is S. Chrysostoms resemblance should fall into a field of stubble of flax or straw he can receive no hurt but must needs shew his force and activity and consume whatsoever is combustible before him Shall Flax or Straw stand up against Fire This man of fire cannot suffer by such thin materials which are as fewel to nourish and uphold him What can they do If they venture they destroy themselves Beloved every Apostle of Christ every true Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of fire Scoffs are but straw Detraction but as flax which coming too near him can consume themselves or as Thorns crackle a while and make a noise in this fire and no more And when the day of lustration shall come when that day shall come which is spectaculum as Tertullian calls it the great spectacle of the world when all things shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked and anatomized as a beast cut down the back then all thoughts shall be discovered all veils removed all visours pluckt off Then spiritual Joy shall not be madness the Breathings of the Spirit shall not be the ebullitions of men distempered with wine nor true Honesty folly nor Reverence superstition Then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato calls it or rather this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This unusual behaviour of wise and spiritual men which is so
together as a scroll he shall be received into those new heavens wherein dwelleth righteousness and when all is dissolved and the world is at an end he shall live and reign with him who made it and who dissolved it world without end To vvhich blessed estate he bring us vvho hath foretold these things Jesus Christ the Saviour of the vvorld The Fortieth SERMON LUKE XVIII 12. I fast twice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess A Vain boast of a proud Pharisee vvho cometh into the Temple not as a petitioner but as a Herald and openeth not his defects but proclaimeth his worth If vve view him vvell vve shall find him faulty in each part of his prayer He beginneth vvith thanks God I thank thee but it is thanks reflecting upon himself The Pharisees as Josephus observeth did not deny the Divine assistance did not shut out God quite but attributed the first and most to themselves they acknowledged common blessings vvithout relying on peculiar mercies and did rather plead before God's throne then sue before his mercy-seat So our Pharisee here prayeth not as if he desired to be heard but as one that exacted vvhat vvas due to his merit Quod justitia aedificaverat superbia destruebat saith Paulinus What his seeming righteousness had built up his pride and vain-glory pulled down to the ground In the progress of his prayer he expresseth contempt of his brother I am not as this Publican as if the defect of the one did enhance the vvorth of the other and that Publican the sinner did adde to the merit of this Pharisee the boaster In the conclusion in the vvords of my Text like Solomon's fool he commendeth himself and that too but for the shell and outside of a religious act I fast twice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess We have here a catalogue of sins not committed and of good duties performed but if we cast it up we shall find the sum to be nothing a catalogue drawn out by pride and vain-glory and coloured over and guilded by hypocrisie You would think indeed you saw a true Israelite in whom there is no guile but pull off the visour and you shall see a Pharisee break open the painted sepulchre and you shall behold nothing but dead mens bones and rottenness and corruption In the Text vve have two things to consider the Person and his Performances the person triumphing in his acts and the acts reproching the person He did more then vvas required fasted twice in the week and gave more in tithes then the Lavv exacted even of mint and cumin and of all that he possessed and yet vvas a breaker of the Lavv. He did more then he ought yet came short of vvhat he ought Jejunia ut beneficia he urgeth his fastings and tithings as benefits and behold they are turned into sins I fast I pay tithes is not a commendation but a libel in the mouth of a Pharisee Or if you please we shall take the words 1. in the form and manner in which they are proposed and he speaketh them Church-wise in the form of a prayer 2. in the substance and matter of them and there we shall discover three notorious vices Pride drawing on Vain-glory and both ushering in Hypocrisie and out of them we shall draw some conclusions which may be useful for our observation First I fast twice in the week Were we not told in the Text that he went up into the Temple to pray this language of his could not be thought a prayer The stile is too lofty against the very nature of Prayer For whether we take Prayer to be an ascent or the mind unto God or a religious affection and breathing of the soul in all its defects and necessities in all its returns and acknowledgments to God for Prayer doth as if were divide us from our selves layeth us on the ground in dust and ashes So low fell Abraham Gen. 18. And David when he spake to God could not but cry out Who am I 2 â—om 7. or what is my father's house When the soul looketh towards Majesty the rayes of it beat her back upon her self there to behold her own emptiness and vileness Take Prayer I say how we please we cannot draw it to make it fit the Pharisees speech here I fast twice in the week Hoc faciebat ut orans apud se esset saith the Father He drew not nigh to God but dwelt in the vain contemplation of himself and looked upon his performances as it were through a multiplying glass which made them seem more and greater then they were When Philip King of Macedonia laid siege to the fair city of Samos he told the citizens that he came a wooing to it but the Oratour well replied that it was not the fashion in their country to come a wooing with a fife and a drum So here we may behold this Pharisee in the posture of a beggar or petitioner going up to the Temple to pray and yet telling God he standeth in no need of him as if saith Chrysostom a begger that were to crave an alms should hide his ulcers and load himself with chains and rings and bracelets and clothe himself in rich and costly apparel as if a beggar should ask an alms in the robes of a King Job 31.27 His heart did flatter him in secret and with his mouth he did kiss his hands as Job speaketh Coming before his Physician he hideth his sores and sheweth his sound and healthful parts in a dangerous case like a man struck in a vein that voideth his best bloud and retaineth his worst And this is against the very nature of Prayer which should lay us at the feet of God as nothing before him which should raise it self and take its flight on the wings of Humility and Obedience which should contract the mind in it self and secure it from pride which should depress the soul in it self and defend it from vain glory which should so fill it that there may be no room for hypocrisie Then our devotion will ascend as incense Exod. 30.35 pure and holy seasoned with the Admiration of God's Majesty and the Detestation of our selves But if it be not thus seasoned but relish of the corruption of a hollow heart it will be but as the smoke of the bottomless pit or which is as offensive to God the breathings and evaporations of a Pharisee And so far we find this Pharisee faulty if we consider the form of his words as a prayer In the next place if we consider the matter and substance of the Pharisees words we shall find him a Devil to himself so every Proud man is saith Climacus puffed up and swelled with the wind of his own conceit Grandis tumor est sed contrarius sâ—nt that seeth all rom His veins are full but it is with bad bloud and Pride â—â— of Fight-the spirits of it which maketh
691. We must meditate on it 691. pray for it 692. and exercise practice it 693. What a foolish bargain they make who sell the T. 693 694. T. is invincible will prevail at last against all enemies 963. 966. 971 972. Why T. findeth so difficult enterteinment among men 973. Tullie Of his son 987. Of his murderer 1121. The act of that unthankful bloudy villain Popilius applied 602. Turks An odd practice they use when they are going to fuddle themselves 916. Turning is the best fullest word to express Repentance by 329. It includeth Knowledge of Sin 329. v. Repentance Tyrants v. Quiet Tyridates 583. U. UNbelief maketh men cowardly restless succourless 314. Understanding v. Will. It s proper office 337 It is either the best counseller or the worst 689. Unity and Union v. One Wicked men and Hereticks may unite and combine to disturb the peace of the Church 855 856. Unjust men are enemies to God and others but to themselves most 119 120. Unworthiness alledged by many for an excuse of their keeping away from the Lord's Supper 456 460 c. Urim and Thummim The Conscience resembled to it 330. 1037. V. VAin God and Nature make nothing in vain 786 787. Vain-glory largely described 1054. How greedily it is sought for by most 318. Valentinus 12. 65. His opinion of Ch. 8. 11. Valiant Audacious how they differ 1118. Vice is troublesome Virtue onely pleasant 113. View The Authour's View and Censure of the Court Camp Temple City Countrey Church Christendome 920. A Virgin what 282. Virginity and Matrimony laid in the balance together 1090. Perfection is not tied and married to Virginity 1090 1091. Virginity is afraid of nothing more then it self 1114. Virtue v. Sinners Virtues both private publick necessary 196. 197. 224. 667. Virtue not acquired without study and difficulty 205. 335. It is the main end Of Man and may be exercised in any estate 620. It s praise consisteth in action 630. 757. Morall Virtues without Godliness little worth 663. v. Heathen Many commend Virtue and commit Vice 690. No Virtue is truly a Virtue if alone and without the rest 831. Volusian 11. W. WAlk What it is to Walk in Christ 520 To Walk with God what 164. Four sorts of men who walk not with God 170 c. A Christian man's life is a Walk 512. 516. It supposeth Knowledge Power Will 516 c. v. Way Want is not want if we want not righteousness 903. The Godly still complain of their spiritual Wants 881 882. War and Contention how mis-beseeming Christians 60 61. War some wayes advantageous to a Common-wealth 564. Though War sometimes be lawful it is safest for some to think otherwise 618. Wars would cease if true Religion once took place 286. Wary most are in things of this life but careless of what concerneth the other 319 VVatchfulness what 257 258. It conteineth the whole duty of man 256. No enemy could be too hard for us if we vvere watchful 259 261 262. 608. That vve may be watchful we must learn to know both our selves 259. and also our enemies 260. VVe must set a watch over our Senses 264. our Thoughts 264. our Phansie 265. our Inclinations Desires 265 c. Rules to confirm us in our Watch 267 c. That we may watch we must pray that the Lord will watch over us 271. And having prayed we our selves must do our utmost endeavour 271 272. Wavering Against wavering in Religion 558. v Inconstancie Whether the Mind can be free from Wavering 678. Way The Way to heaven should be made neither wider nor narrower then it is 607. Many know the W. of life 517. and approve it 518. and think they walk in it and yet do nothing less 519. Weights and Measures by whom first found out 131. Whitmore Sir George Whitmores Encomium at his Funeral 544. Wicked None so Wicked but he desireth to seem good 991. v. Sin How VVickedness destroyeth even the principles of Goodness 688 689. It is a laborious distracting thing 927. VVicked men rejoyce in the sins and miseries of others 862 863. VVhat we are to think of God's protecting them 115. They are the fittest instruments to chastise God's people 299. v. God's people They cannot inferre from God's employing them thus that themselves are his servants 300. The consideration That God chooseth Wicked men for his executioners should make us wary not to provoke him 300. Will. The Will is free 260. She is Queen of the other Faculties 516 517. The W. may be free when the Power is limited 927. It is the beginning of good and evil 337 338. No man is good or evil against his W 584 585. The best might have been bad if he would and the worst good 586. Man's Will is the cause of Sin and Death and neither God nor the Devil 424 c. No man that hath sinned can say he willed it not 440. The W. finisheth sin but provoketh it not 260. The W. especially is turned in Repentance 336 337. The renouncing of our W. is the best holocaust 789. 790. If the W. turn the Understanding and all the other Faculties turn to their proper functions 337 338. When the W. is overlaid with Passions it cloudeth and blindeth the Understanding 959. 972 973. The W. Understanding both must be captivated 160 c. 633. There is variance often between them 662. Our W. should ever be the same with God's 305. To Will that which is good is more then to Approve 878 c. The W. passeth current with God when the Deed cannot be had 118. 149 150. 473. How God willeth what wicked men do 301. Wisdome v. GOD Knowledge Truth Be not wise in thine own conceit 160 c. 633. To be so is the greatest folly 501. The world still accounteth rich men wisest 534 535. The W. of the World how it befooleth men 904. They are not wise who are wise to do evil 131. 136. True W. is to be wise against our selves 867. Wit It s right use and its abuse 594. Woman sometimes signifieth Infirmity 971. Women of strong affections but weak understanding 393. Wonder v. Admiration Word Some Words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfit to be spoken 409. W. and Works must go together in a Christian 767 c. Good Works are our best expressions 766 c. The W. of God commended by many obeyed by few 970. slighted by Papists Libertines 1079 c. 1085. He that will not believe Christ's W. would not have believed his Works 970. The W. of God will not deceive us unless we deceive our selves first 524. The W. and Sacraments are highly to be honoured but not so as to be made the NON ULTRA of our worship 303. v. Hearing Works v. Word World God was not forced to make it nor is the better for it 404. Worldly things have no worth but what our opinion desires set upon them 32. 85. Yet with Christ they become something 32. v. CHRIST They serve both to support the outward man 896. to be weapons of Righteousness 897 898. God promiseth them to win our love to himself 899. What is the best course to get them 900. No true comfort to be found in the W. this shop of Vanity 948. Nothing in the W. no nor all of it can satisfie Man's heart 90 91. There is no proportion between any Worldly thing and the Soul 87. The W. cannot make one happy 619. nor rich 86. v. Riches He that doth most good receiveth least of this W. good is the most happy 619. With what ey we should look upon the W. 625. We should be jealous of every thing in it 541. All in this W. is deceitful 674. all vain transitory 887. v. Spiritual These things are nothing like when we have them to what they were before 888. There is great danger in seeking them 888 889. They are not to be loved 49. Love of the W. is a dangerous guide 653. 892 893. It seduceth more then all Hereticks Schismaticks 665. We cannot love the W. God both at once 509 510. 890 891. Who fittest to teach the Contempt of the W. 533 Many cry-out upon the World whose hearts are set upon it 533. The W. without us could not pollute us were it not for the W. within us 279 280. Worship Reason teacheth to set apart places for God's W. 581 582. 846. v. Church and to W. God with our bodies 756. 981. No Religion whether true or false can be without outward W. 757. Some Questions put to such as will not w. God with a bare Head and a bended Knee 757. Though inward Devotion be the chief yet outward W. must not be neglected 160-163 632-635 744 c. 755 c. 980 c. Why many are for outward W. few for inward spiritual 108 109. Outward W. when rested in is most odious to God 74 c. v. Formality Wrong He that wrongeth either God or his Neighbour wrongeth himself most 119. 125. maketh himself debtour to the wronged party 716. v. Injustice Z. Zele Our Z. should burn but with the oil of Mercy 155. v. Spirit We must be careful our Z. be rightly kindled 558 c. Speculative phantastick Z. how to be accounted of 528. Hereticks may be as Zelous as the Orthodox 679. Zeph. i. 7. 299. FINIS