attributes he hath he is called the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4.13 the Spirit of Grace of Love of Joy of Zeale for where he worketh Grace is operative our Love is without dissimulation our Joy is like the joy of heaven as true though not so great our Faith a working faith and our Zeal a coale from the Altar kindled from his fire not mad and raging but according to knowledge he makes no shadowes but substances no pictures but realities no appearances but truths a Grace that makes us highly favoured a precious and holy Faith full and unspeakable Love ready to spend it self and zeal to consume us of a true existence being from the spirit of God who alone truly is but here the spirit of Truth yet the same spirit that planteth grace and faith in our hearts that begets our Faith cilates our Love works our Joy kindles our Zeal and adopts us in Regiam familiam into the Royall 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 sometimes when they should not asking questions of such a Teacher was a seal to the promise a good assurance 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 Omnis veritas all truth should be brought forth and unfolded to them and have the vayle taken from it and be laid open and naked to their understanding Let us then look up upon and worship this spirit of Truth as he thus presents and tenders himself unto us as he stands in opposition to two great enemies to Truth as 1. Dissimulation 2. Flattery and then as 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 comes And 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 brings in the Divel in Samuel's mantle and an enemy in the smiles and smoothness of a friend it speakes the language of the Priest at Delphos playes in ambiguities promises life As to King 〈◊〉 who a 〈…〉 slew when death is neerest and bids us beware of a chariot when it means a sword No this spirit is an enemy to this because a spirit of truth and hates these in volucra dissimulationis this folding and involvednesse 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 he speaks are like him and speak the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3.12 in the simplicity and godly sincerity of the spirit not in craftinesse not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 handling the Word of God deceitfully 2 Cor. 4.2 Eph. 4.14 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in the slight of men throwing a Die what cast you would have them noting their Doctrine to men and the times that is not to men and the times but to their own ends telling them of Heaven Wisdom 1.5 when their thoughts are in their purse This holy spirit of Truth flies all such deceit and removes himself far from the thoughts which are without understanding and will not acquit a dissembler of his words there is nothing of the Divels method nothing of the Die or hand no windings nor turnings in what he teacheth but verus vera dicit being a spirit of truth he speaks the truth and nothing but he 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 the inseparable mark and character of the evill spirit qui arridet ut saeviat who smiles upon us that he may rage against us lifts us up that he may cast us down whose exaltations are foiles whose favours are deceits whose smiles and kisses are wounds for flattery is as a glasse for a fool to look upon and so become more fool than before it is the fools eccho by which he hears himself at the rebound and thinks the wiseman spoke unto him and it proceeds from the father of lies not from the spirit of truth who is the same yesterday and to day and for ever who reproves drunkennesse though in a Noah adultery though in a David want of faith though in a Peter and layes our sins in order before us his precepts are plain his law is in thunder his threatnings earnest and vehement he calls Adam from behind the bush strikes Ananias dead for his hypocrisie and for lying to the holy Spirit deprives him of his own Thy excuse to him is a libell thy pretence fouler than thy sin thy false worship of him is blasphemy and thy form of godlinesse open impiety and where he enters the heart Sin which is the greatest errour the grossest lye removes it self heaves and pants to go out knocks at our breast and runs down at our eyes and we hear it speak in sighs and grones unspeakable and what was our delight becomes our torment In a word he is a spirit of truth and neither dissembles to decieve us nor flatters that we may deceive our selves but verus vera dicit being truth it self tells us what we shall find to be most true to keep us from the dangerous by-paths of errour and misprision in which we may lose our selves and be lost for ever And this appears is visible in those lessons and precepts which he gives which are so harmonious so consonant so agreeing with themselves and so consonant and agreeable to that Image after which we were made to fit and beautifie it when it is defaced and repaire it when it is decayed that so it may become in some proportion measure like unto him that made it for this spirit doth not set up one precept against another nor one text against another doth not disanul his promises in his threats nor check his threats with his promises doth not forbid all Feare in confidence nor shake our confidence when he bids us feare doth not set up meeknesse to abate our zeale nor kindles zeale to consume our meeknesse doth not teach Christian liberty to shake off obedience to Government nor prescribes obedience to infringe and weaken our Christian liberty This spirit is a spirit of truth and never different from himself never contradicts himself but is equall in all his wayes the same in that truth which pleaseth thee and that which pincheth thee in that which thou consentest to and that which thou runnâ—st from in that which will rayse thy spirit and that which will wound thy spirit And the reason why men who
the truth as it was first delivered and are upon that account to be received as faithfull sayings of all men other are more forced and therefore Rejectaneous and unprofitable as begetting more heat then love and raising more noise then devotion besides these there be conclusions in point of discipline and Church-Policie in the defence of which we see much dust raised by men of divided minds and apprehensions and many times both parties well-neer smothered in the buzzle For though discipline government be necessary yet the best forme that was ever drawn cannot be absolutely necessary because it cannot alwaies find place vvherein to shew it self and the holy Spirit of God never laid an absolute necessity but on those things which as the Stoicks speak are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are within our reach and power or which we may do or have when we will it is necessary to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ but it is not necessary to be under this or that discipline though the best further then in affection and desire for in the midst of the changes and chances of this world we cannot be what we would nor be governed as we please We see well enough for it is as visible as any thing under the sunne that the sword which hath no edge or point against the essentiall parts of Religion with which we may be certainly happy and without which it is most certain we cannot as it makes its way dictates and appoints what it please with a non obstante notwithstanding all contrary constitutions though never so ancient and discipline is either quite cut off or else drawn out with the same hand which did form and shape the Common-wealth We have seen what a flow of troubles and dispute in matters of this nature hath passed on and carried away with it our Peace and Religion it self and then left it as it were upon the sands to shift for it self in the breasts of some fevv vvho by divine assistance are able to raise and cherish it up to some grovvth in themselves vvithout these helps and advantages and to give it a place and povver in them even in the foulest vveather being forced to be their ovvn bishops and priests vvhen the hand of violence hath buried those their Seers either in silence or in the grave We have seen Religion made an art and craft and that vvhich vvas first set up to uphold and promote it strook at and trod upon as the onely vvorme vvhich did eat it out we have seen the axe laid to the very root of it by those sonnes of thunder and noise vvhich is heard in every coast vvhich these clouds hang over we cannot but observe vvhat art diligence hath been used vvhat fire and brimstone hath been breathed forth to cast it dovvn we needed no perspective to look through the disguise under vvhich they vvalk or to behold vvith vvhat slight and artifice they vvrought themselves into the hearts of the people vvho are never better pleased then vvhen they are led as beasts to the slaughter and do flatter and pride themselves most vvhen they are under the yoke We see it hath been the work of an age to shatter and then blow away that form of Pollicie in the Church which shewed it self to the Profit and admiration of the best in so many and was the fairest bulwark the Church had to secure her from the Incursions of Schisme Heresy and Prophanenesse of which if we had no other argument the frenzie of this present age the wild Confusion and medley of the Sects and Factions which we see may be an unquestionable evidence And now we have seen it laid levell with the ground All this we have seen but yet we do not see that discipline which did emulate and heave at it and was placed in equipage with the Gospel of Christ we do not see that which was so much extolled as yet set up in its roome Nay we scarce see any thing left but the Idea of it which they still carry with them with expectation and great hopes vvhich prophesy to them the building up of this second Temple of this new form which might it obtain would they say be far more glorious then the first All this art and endeavour hath been used to make them great and supreme on earth the one half of which might have wrought out a Crown for them in a better place For that may be had if we will and if we be faithfull to the death it will fall upon our heads But in what ground our lines will fall or how they will be drawn out is a thing so far out of our reach and power that no humane providence can design and mark it out Day unto day teacheth us and the experience of all ages hath made it good that they who like not what is but onely what they would have and propose it to themselves and others do many times open and pave a faire way to it and walk forward towards it as full of hope as desire and yet when they are come so neer as even to touch and lay hold of it may see it removed as far from them as before and their hopes in their blossome and glory to fall off may live to see themseves in umbrage under a more mild and friendly toleration and behold that past by and sunk lower which they so longed to see in that height which might amaze and awe all about them and bring them in that harvest which was already gathered in their expectation I should be unwilling to stir the blood or draw upon me the displeasure of any who have cast in their lot with those who have been earnest in such a design and I have no other end but this to shew the vanity and deceitfulnesse of such attempts and how dangerous and vexatious a thing it is to drive so furiously after that which hath come towards us so often and then turned the back which we overtake and lose at once For it is so in the world and will be so even till the end of it that which is mutable in its own nature may and will be changed nor is there any thing certain but Piety and blisse the vvay and the end And therefore those things which are not so essentiall to Religion as that she cannot stand without them and are essentiall onely when they may be had being exemplified and conveyed to us by the best hands must not take up all that labour which we owe to the heat of the day and those duties of Christianity which are the summe of all and for which the others were ordained When they may be had we must blesse God and use them to that end for which they were given and when a stronger then we comes upon us and removes them look after them with a longing eye and bleeding heart follow them with our sorrow and devotion use all lawfull and
the hazard of their own soules and of that which should be as deare to them the peace of the Church Be not then too inquisitive to find out the manner of this union for the holy Father seales up thy lips that thou mayst not once think of Asking the question Just Mart. and tells thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thou art not like to meet with an answer and what greater folly can there be then to attempt to do that which cannot be done or to search for that which is past finding out or to be ever a beginning and never make an end Search the scriptures for they are they that testifie of him testifie that he was God blessed for evermore that that word which was Godw as also made flesh that he was the Son of God and the Sonne of man the manner how the two Natures are united is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil ib. unsearchable unfoordable and the knowledge of it if our narrow understandings could receive it would not adde one haire to our stature and growth in Grace that he is God and man that the two Natures are united in one person who is thy Saviour and mediator is enough for thee to know and to rayse thy nature up to him Take the words as they lye in their Native purity and simplicity and not as they are hammered and beat out and stampt by every hand by those who will be Fathers not Interpreters of Scripture and beget what sense they please and present it not as their own but as a child of God Then Lo here is Christ and there is Christ this is Christ and that is Christ thou shalt see many images and characters of him but not one that is like him an imperfect Christ a half Christ a created Christ a fancied Christ a Christ that is not the Son of God and a Christ that is not the Son of Man and thus be rowled up and down in uncertainties and left to the poore and miserable comfort of Conjecture in that which so far as it concerns us is so plain and easie to be known Doe thoughts arise in thy heart do doubts and difficulties beset thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Justin Martyr thy Faith is the solution and will soon quit thee of them and cast them by thy Faith not assumed or insinuated into thee or brought in as thy vices may be by thy education but raised upon a holy hill a sure foundation the plain and expresse Word of God and upheld and strengthned by the Spirit Christian dost thou believe Thou hast then seen thy God in the Flesh from Eternity yet born Invisible yet seen Immense and circumscribed Immortall yet dying the Lord of life and Crucified God and man Christ Jesus Amaze not thy self with an inordinate feare of undervaluing thy Saviour wrong not his love and call it thy Reverence why should thoughts arise in thy Heart his power is not the lesse because his mercy is great nor doth his infinite love shadow or detract from his Majesty for see He counts it no disparagement to be seen in our flesh nor to be at any losse by being thus like us our Apostle tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was a Decorum in it and it behoved him to be like unto his Brethren Debuit It behoved him That Christ was made like unto us is the joy of this Feast but that he ought to be is the wonder and extasy of our joy that he would descend is mercy but that he must is our astonishment Oportet and Debet are binding termes and words of Duty Had our Apostle said It behoved us that he should be made like unto us it had found an easy belief the debuit had been placed in loco suo in its proper place on a sweating brow on dust and putrefaction on the face of a captive All will say it Behoved us much but to put a Debet upon the Son of God to make it a Decorum a beseeming thing for him to become Flesh to be made like unto us to set a Rubie in Clay a Diamond in Brasse a Chrysolet in baser Metall and say it is placed well there to worry the Lambs for the Wolf to take the Master by the throat for the Debt of a Prodigall and with an Oportet to say it should be so to give a gift and call it a Debt is not out usuall language on earth on Earth it is not but in Heaven it is the proper Dialect fixed up in Capitall letters on the Mercy Seat the joy of this Feast the Angels Antheme Salvator Natus a Saviour is born and if he will be a Saviour an Undertaker a Surety such is the Nature of Fidejussion and Suretiship debet he must it behoveth him as deeply engaged as the party whose surety he is And let us look on the aptnesse of the meanes and we shall soon find that this Foolishnesse of God as the Apostle calls it is wiser than men and this weaknesse of God is stronger than men 1 Cor. 1.25 that the oportet is right set For medio existente conjunguntur extrema if you will have extremes to meet you must have a middle line to draw them together and behold here they meet and are made unum one Ephes 2.14 saith the Apostle the proprieties of either Nature being entire and yet meeting and concentring themselves as it were in one person Majesty puts on Humility Power Infirmity Eternity Mortality by the one he dyes for us by the other he riseth again by the one he suffers as Man by the other he conquers as God in them both he perfects and consummates the great work of our redemption And this Debuit reacheth home to each part of my Text to Christ as God The same hand that made the vessell when it was broken and so broken that there was not one sherd left to fetch water at any pit to repaire and set it together again that it may receive and contain the water of life ut qui fecit nos reficeret that our Creation and Salvation should be wrought by the same hand and turned about upon the same wheele Next we may set the debuit upon his person and he is media persona a middle person and the office will best fit him even the office of a Mediator and then as he is the Son of God who is the Image of the Father and most proper it may seem to him to repair that Image which was defaced and well neere lost in us For we had not onely blemished this Image but set the Devils face and superscription upon Gods coyne for Righteousnesse there was Sin for Purity Pollution for Beauty Deformity for Rectitude Perversenesse for the Man a Beast scarce any thing left by which he might know us venit filius ut iterum signet the Son comes and with his blood revives again the first character marks us with his owne signature imprints the Graces of
God upon us makes us current money and that his Father may know us and not cast us off for refuse silver shewes him his face Lastly it reacheth the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the assimilation it self and layes hold on that too made like he was and debuit he ought to be so to satisfie in the same nature which had offended carnem gestare propter meam carnem to take flesh for my flesh and a soul for my soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to purge and refine me in my own to wash and cleanse the corruption of my flesh in the immense Ocean of his Divinity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all things to be made like unto his Brethren Debuit looks on all his Godhead on his Person on his Assimilation God no Man or Angell The second person in Trinity not the Father or the holy Spirit made like unto his Brethren his bare naked Divinity though it might have saved us yet it was not so fit and at too great a distance for us Debuit slumbers every storm answers every doubt scatters our feares removes our jealousies and builds us up in our most holy faith Though he be God though he be the wisdome of God though he be the Son of God yet debuit he ought to be made like unto us to restore his Creature to exalt his Nature and in our own shape and likeness in our own flesh to pay down the price of our Redemption So then debuit fieri here is an aptnesse and conveniency but debet he ought vox ista importat necessitatem it behoved him implyes also a kind of necessity That God could be made like mortall man is a strange Contemplation but that he would is a rise and exaltation of that but debuit that he ought superexalteth that and sets it at a higher pitch but that he must be so that necessity in a manner brings him down were not his love as infinite as his power would stagger and amaze the strongest faith who would believe such a report But he speaks it himself and it was the fire of his love that kindled in him and then he spake it with his tongue oportet he must die and if die be born not onely is but would not would but ought not ought but of necessity must be made like unto his Brethren I say a strange contemplation it is for there need no such forcible tye no such chaine of necessity to hold him libere egit what he did he did freely nothing more free and voluntary more spontaneous then this his Assimilation for as if he had slacked his pace and delay'd his Fathers expectation and not come at the appointed period of time he suddenly cryes Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me that I should doe thy will oh God Psal 40.7.8 vers he calls it his desire and he had it written in his heart T is true libere fecit this condescension this his assimilation was free and voluntary with more cheerfulnesse and earnestnesse undertaken by him then 't is received now by us it is our shame and sinne that we dare not compare them that he should be so willing to be like us and we should be so unwilling to be like him but if we look back upon the precontract which past between his Father and him we shall then see a Debuit a kind of necessity laid upon him our Saviour himself speaks it to his Blessed mother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 2.49 I must go about my Fathers businesse we may measure his love by the Decree that is we cannot measure it for the decree is eternall before the foundation of the world was laid was this foundation laid an everlasting foundation to lay Gold and Silver upon all the rich precious Promises of the Gospel to lay our obedience and conformity to him upon and upon them both upon his love and our obedience raise our selves up to that eternity which he hath purchased and promised to all his Brethren that are made like unto him Infinite love eternall love that which the eye of Flesh may count a dishonour was his joy his perfection his love which put a Debuit upon him a necessity and brought him after a manner under the strict and peremptory Terms of an obligation under a necessity of being borne a Necessity of obedience a Necessity of dying Debuit taketh in all and presenteth them to our Admiration our joy our love our obedience and Gratitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every way and in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren The application We have now run the full compasse of the Text and we find our Saviour in every point of it similem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like in all things and now to apply it If Christ be like unto us then we also ought to be like unto him and ought to have our Assimilation our Nativity by the way of Analogy and by the rules of proportion answerable to his For to this end was he made like unto us you will say That he may save us nay but that he may present us to his Father by the virtue of his assimilation made like unto him for without this he cannot save us Behold here am I and the Children which thou hast given me Holy as I am holy Just as I am just Humble as I was humble A man conformable to Christ is the glory of this Feast Father I will that they whom thou hast given me and he gives him none but those who are like him may be where I am Heaven hath received him and it will receive none but those who are like him not those that name him not those who set his name to their fraud to their malice to their perjury to their Oppression not those many Antichrists whose whole life is a contradiction to him All that he requires at our hands all our Gratitude all our duty is drawn together and consists in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be like unto him To be like unto him why who would not be like unto him who would not be drawn after his similitude Like him we all would be in his Glory in his Transfiguration on mount Tabor oh by all meanes build us here a Tabernacle but like him in the cratch like him in the wildernesse like him in his daily converse with men like him in the High priests Hall like him in the Garden like him on the Crosse here we start back and are afraid of his countenance In humility in hunger in sweat in colours of Bloud few there be that would be thus drawn But if we will be his Brethren this is the copy we must take out these be our postures these our Colours bathed in his Bloud t is true but withall bathed in the waters of Affliction bathed in our own teares and bathed in our own Bloud we meet and cope with the Devil in this our
powerfull Lord shall be lifted up and crowned with glory and honour for evermore Which God grant c. HONI â—…T QVI MAL Y PENSE A SERMON Preached on Whitsunday JOHN 16.13 Howbeit when He the spirit of truth is come he will lead you into all truth WHen the spirit of truth is come c. and behold he is come already and the Church of Christ in all ages hath set apart this day for a memoriall of his coming a memoriall of that miraculous and unusuall sound that rushing wind those cloven tongues of fire And there is good reason for it that it should be had in everlasting remembrance For as he came then in solemn state upon the Disciples in a manner seen heard so he comes though not so visibly yet effectually to us upon whom the ends of the world are come that we may remember it though not it a mighty wind yet he rattles our hearts together though no house totter at his descent yet the foundations of our souls are shaken no fire appears yet our breasts are inflamed no cloven tongues yet our hearts are cloven asunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every day to a Christian is a day of Pentecost his whole life a continued holy-day wherein the Holy Ghost descends both as an Instructer and a Comforter secretly and sweetly by his word characterizing the soul imprinting that saving knowledge which none of the Princes of this world had not forcing not drawing by violence but sweetly leading and guiding us into all truth When He the spirit of truth is come c. In which words we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Epiphany or Apparition of the blessed Spirit as Nazianzen speaks or rather the promise of his coming and appearance and if we well weigh it there is great reason that the Spirit should have his Advent as well as Christ his that he should say Lo I come Psal 40. For in the volume of the book it is written of him that the spirit of the Lord should rest upon him Es 11.2 and I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh Joel 2.28 Christus legis Spiritus Sanctus Evangelii complementum Christs Advent for the fulfilling of the Law and the Spirits for the fulfilling and compleating of the Gospel Christs Advent to redeem the Church and the Spirits Advent to teach the Church Christ to shed his blood and the Spirit to wash and purge it in his blood Christ to pay down the ransome for us Captives and the Spirit to work off our fetters Christ to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and the Spirit to interpret it for we may soon see that the one will little availe without the other Christs Birth his Death and Passion Chists glorious Resurrection but a story in Archivis good newes sealed up a Gospel hid till the Spirit come and open it and teach us to know him Phil. 3.10 and the vertue and power of his Resurrection and make us conformable to his death This is the summe of these words and in this we shall passe by these steps or degrees First carry our thoughts to the promise of the Spirits Advent the miracle of this day cùm venerit when the spirit of truth comes in a sound to awake them in wind to move them in fire to enlighten and warm them in tongues to make them speak Secondly consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the work and employment of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall lead you into all truth In the first we meet with 1. nomen personae if we may so speak a word pointing out to his person the demonstrative pronoune ille when he shall come 2. Nomen naturae a name expressing his nature he is a spirit of truth and then we cannot be ignorant whose spirit it is In the second we shall find Nomen officii a name of office and administration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word from whence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a leader or conducter in the way for so the Holy Ghost vouchsafed to be their leader and conducter that they might not erre but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep on in a strait and even course in the way And in this great office of the Holy Ghost we must first take notice of the lesson he teacheth it is Truth Secondly the large extent of this lesson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he leads into all truth Thirdly The method and manner of his discipline which will neerly concern us to take notice of it is ductus a gentle and effectuall leading he drives us not he drawes us not by violence but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word here he takes as it were by the hand and guides and leads us into all truth Cùm venerit ille spiritus veritatis When He the spirit of truth c. And first though we are told by some that where the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added to fo there we are to understand the person of the Holy Ghost yet we rather lay hold on the pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ille when he the spirit of truth shall come he shall lead you which points out to a distinct person For if with Sabellius he had onely meant some new motion in the Disciples hearts or some effect of the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been enough but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He designes a certain person and ille he in Christs 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 sayes that he shall lead them and before he shall reprove the world and in the precedent chapter he shall testifie of me 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 rests upon this dark and generall expression The Holy Ghost communicates both of the Father and the Son is something of them both whatsoever we may call it whether we call him the Consubstantiall and Coeternall communion and friendship of the Father and the Son or with Gerson and others of the Schools Nexum Amorosum the Essentiall 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 Spirits 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 walking below amongst those observations which as they are more familiar and easy so are they more usefull and take what oare 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 instead of treasure We will therefore in the next place enquire why he is called the Spirit of Truth for divers
of it in all ages as of the fittest Engine to undermine that truth which the spirit first taught Tertullian as wise a man as the Church then had being not able to prove the Corporiety of the soule by scripture flyes to private Revelation in his Book De anima non per aestimationem sed Revelationem what he could not uphold by reason and judgment Post Ioannem quoque prophetiam meruimus conscqui c. Tertull. de Anim c. ix montanizans he strives to make good by Revelation for we saith he have our Revelations as well as Saint John Our sister Priscilla hath plenty of them her traunces in the Church she converses with Angels and with God himself and can discerne the hearts and inward thoughts of men Saint Hierome mentions others and in the dayes of our fore-fathers Calvin many more Calvin contra Libert who applyed the name of the spirit to every thing that might facilitate and help on their designe as parish priests it is his resemblance would give the name of six or seven severall Saints to one image that their offerings might be the more I need not goe so farre back for instance Our present age harh shewen us many who have been ignorant yet wiser then their Teachers so spirituall that they despise the word of God which is the dictate of the spirit for this monster hath made a large stride from forreigne parts and set his foot in our coasts If they murder the spirit moved their hand and drew their sword if they throw down Churches it is with the breath of the Spirit if they would bring in parity the pretence is the Spirit cannot endure that any should be supreme or Pope it but themselves our humour our madnesse our malice our violence our implacable bitternesse our railing and reviling must all go for inspirations of the spirit Simeon and Levi Absolon and Achitophel Theudas and Judas the Pharisees and Ananias they that despise the holy Spirit of God these Scarabees bred in the dung of sensuality these Impostors these men of Belial must be taken no longer for a generation of vipers but for the scholars and friends of the holy Ghost whatsoever they do whithersoever they goe He is their leader though it be to hell it felf May we not make a stand now and put it to the question whether there be any holy Ghost or no and if there be whether his office be to lead us Indeed these appropriations these bold and violent ingrossings of the blessed Spirit have I fear given growth to conceits well neer as dangerous that the spirit doth not spirare breaths no grace into us that we need not call upon him that the text which telleth us the holy Ghost leadeth is the holy Ghost that leads us that the letter is the spirit and the spirit the letter an adulterate piece new coyned an old Heresie brought in a new dress and tire upon the stage again that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a strange unheard of Deity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ascriptitious and supernumerary God Nazianz Or. 37. Quis veterum vel recentium adoravit spiritum quis oravit c. sic Macedoniani Eunomiani Ibid. I might say that it is more dangerous than this for to confess the Spirit and abuse him to draw him to as an accessary and abettor nay as a principall in those actions which nature it self abhors and trembles at is worse than out of errour to deny him For what a Spirit what a Dove is that which breathes nothing but gall and wormwood but fire and brimstone what a Spirit is that which is ever pleading and purveying for the flesh what a Spirit is that which is made to bear witnesse to a lie for as Petrarch tells us Nihil importunius erudito stulto that there is not a more troublesome creature in the world than a learned foole so the Church of Christ and Religion never suffered more than by carnall men who are thus spirit-wise for by acknowledging the Spirit and making use of his name they assume unto themselves a licence to do what they please and work wickednesse not onely with greedinesse but cum privilegie with priviledge and authority which whilest others doubt of though it be not onely an Error but Blasphemy yet parciùs insaniunt they are not so outragiously made But yet we must not put the spirit from his office because dreams or rather the evaporations of mens lusts do passe for revelations or say he is not a leader into truth because wicked or fanatick persons walk on in the wayes of Errour in the wayes of Cain or Corah and yet are bold to tell the world that this spirit goes before them The mad Athenian took every ship that came into the harbour to be his but it doth not follow hence that no wise and sober merchant knew his own To him that is drunk things appeare in a double shape and proportion Geminae Thehae gemini soles two cities and two suns for one but I cannot hence conclude that all sober men do so nor can I deny the Spirits conduct because some men wander as they please and run on in those dangerous by-paths where he will not lead them this were to deny an unquestionable and fundamentall truth for an inconvenience to dig up the foundation because men build hay and stubble upon it or because some men have sore eyes to pluck the Sun out of its sphere It were indeed dangerous to teach that the spirit did teach and lead us were there not meanes to try and distinguish the Spirits instructions from the suggestions of Satan or those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those mishapen lumps and abortive births of a sick and loathsome brain or our private humour which is as great a Divel Beloved 1. Epist of St. John c. 4. v. 1 2. saith S. Joh. 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 chaire and dictate magisterially what they please in the name of the Spirit when themselves are carnall And he gives the rule by which we should try them in the next verse Every spirit that confesseth Jesus is the Lord is of God that is whosoever strives to advance the Kingdome of Christ and to set up the spirit against he flesh to magnifie the Gospel to promote men in the wayes of innocency perfect obedience which infallibly lead to happinesse is from God every such inspiration is from the spirit of God for therefore doth the spirit breath 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 then those inspirations which bring in God to plead for Baal which cry up Religion to gain the world which tread down peace and charity and all that is praise-worthy under feet to make way for
shall neither be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idle and not walk for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk but to nopurpose unfruitfull in the knowledge of Jesus Christ For to joyne these two Knowledge and Practice and to abound more and more is to walk in Christ Thus much of the first 2 Part. And thus wee see a Christian mans life is not as empty aery speculation a sitting still or standing but a walke Let us now in the second place see wherein this motion or walke principally consists and you may think perhaps That I shall now point out to the Deniall of our selves shew you Christ's Cross to take up and bid you follow him to fight against the World and all that is in the world the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eyes Joh. 1.2.16 and the pride of life that it is To lay hold of Christ to love Christ to be Adopted to be Regenerate to be called and converted for with these Generalities the Religion of too many is carried along and not with the thing it self but the Name and with these names and Notions they play and please themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the silly Fly doth with the flame of the Taper till they loose their wings and feet and are but a body a Lump that can neither walk nor move They deny themselves with an Oath and yet are themselves still as greedy as rapacious as before They take up the Crosse but 't is to lay it on other mens shoulders they follow Christ but as Peter did afarr off or rather as the Jews to crucify him They fight against the world that is against one another who shall possesse it for even this we doe not doe not fill our coffers but in the name of Christ and Religion They lay hold on Christ but 't is to carry him along with them to promote and further their designes They love him 't is plaine they doe and yet no give him a cup of cold water when he beggs at their doore They love him as they doe one another til 't is put to the Tryall They are Adopted but not of his family Regenerated but are liker to the Father of lies then him they pretend to They are called and converted For they know the very houre and moment of time when they heard the voice and said Amen to it Lord what a noyse have these Phrases these words made in the World and yet 't is the world still even a world of wickednesse Sen. Centrov As the Orator said of Figures possumus sine his vivere we may live and be saved with less noise for all these signifie but one and the same thing To deny our selves to take up the Crosse to follow Christ to fight against the world to lay hold on Christ to love him to be Adopted Regenerated and Converted all is no more then this to believe in Christ and to be sincere upright just and honest men Yet these words and words of Holy writt the language of the Spirit of God and they all full and significant nor can I give you a fairer Interpretation of my Text He that denies himself walks in Christ he that loves Christ walkes in him hee that is Adopted Regenerate Converted walks in Christ but this is too generall and I see but ill use made of these excellent expressions which should make us better and through our own wilfull solly make us worse for we may shape our selves how we list in our Fancy and be quite the contrary we will therefore interpret this walk in Christ by that of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 7.13 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was called Grot. in loc points out and designes as a Learned man hath observed the time of his Heavenly Calling and so both callings are made compatible and friendly linkt together my condition of life in this world and my calling to a better my being a part of the Common-wealth and my being a member of Christ For Christ came not to breake Relations or to disturb Common-wealths not to shut up the Tradesmans shop or block up the Sea to the Merchant nor to take the Husband-man from the Plough and I may doe all these and yet denie my self and take up the Crosse and fight against the world or rather I cannot do all these unlesse I doe the other not abide in one calling as I should unlessed walk worthy of the other not be a good Merchant unlesse I be a god Christian that we doubt not nay but not walk in Christ unlesse we walke in our Calling The life saith Saint Paul which I now live in the Flesh Gal. 2.20 I live by the Faith of the Son of God That is Those things which I do pertaining to the flesh and which this naturall mortall life requires as to eat drink converse with others and to seek my meat by the sweat of my browes which may seem to have no relation to a Spirituall life I do them in the Faith of the Son of God For in all these things I have alwayes an eye to the rule of Faith I make that my starre my Compasse to steer by and my care is to make every action of my life in my temporary conformable and consonant to my heavenly calling And the reason is plain for even our naturall and civill Actions as farr as they are capable of honestie or dishonesty pertaine or have reference to faith for although Christ and his Religion do not necessitate or compell men to engage in this or that particular Action or calling yet notwithstanding it is a rule sufficient to govern and direct us in any to keep us in a faire correspondency and obedience to reason and the will of God the Faith and Religion of Christ being practicall and having that force and efficacy which may be showne and manifested in all the civill Actions of our life Wisd 16.21 As the Jewish Rabbies report of the Manna which the Children of Israel did eat in the Wildernesse that it had this wonderfull property that it would fit it self to every mans tast and look what Viand what meat it was that any was delighted with it would in tast be like unto it so doth Christianity like this Manna doctâ quadam mobilitate by a certain secret force apply it self to every Tast to every Calling Read the Sermon on the Mount and those Epistles which the holy Apostles sent to severall Churches and what is there delivered the Foundation first laid then an Art of Governing our selves and conversing with men Art thou called to be a Servant 1 Cor. 7.21 Or there it is art thou called being a servant Eph. 6 7. serve as in the sight of Christ Art thou called to be a master Remember thou hast a Master in Heaven Art thou a Husband-man it will hold the Plough with thee Art thou a
sicuts all other Rules whatsoever and bids us beware of men beware of our selves and try every spirit for it is not sicut vidimus as we see others walke nor sicut visum est as it may seem good in our own eyes for no man more ready to put a cheat upon us then our selves nor sicut visum est spiritui as it may seeme good to every spirit for we are too prone to take every lying spirit even our owne which is but our Humour or Lust for our Holy Ghost what Saint Iohn said of Antichrist may also be said of the spirit we have heard that the spirit shall come and behold now there are many spirits the world is full of them so that there are as many Rules almost as men by which they walk severall wayes but to the same end pressing forward to the delights and glory of this world nothing doubting of their right and title to the next thus joyning together God and the World as Iulian the Apostate did his own statues Naz. Orat. 3. Invect prior and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may be worshipt both together None of these will fit us but sicut accepimus as we have received from Christ and his Apostles which is the onely sufficient Rule to guide us in our walke And first not sicut vidimus as we have seen others walke no though their praise be in the Gospel and they are numbred amongst the Saints of God For as St. Bern. calls the examples of the Saints condimentum vitae the sawce of our life to season and make pleasant what else may proue bitter to us as Iobs Dunghill may be a good sight for me to look upon in my low estate and his patience may uphold me Dauids Groanes and complaints may tune my sorrow Saint Pauls labours and stripes and Imprisonment may giue me an Issue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 10.13 a way a Power to escape the like Temptation by conquering it I may wash off all my Grief with their Teares wipe out all disgrace with their contumelies and bury the feare of Death in their graves so they may prove if we be not wary venenum vitae as poyson to our life and walke For I know not how we are readier to stumble with the Saints then to walke with them Readier to lie downe with David in his bed of lust then in his Couch of teares Readier to deny Crist with Peter upon a pretense of frailty then to weep bitterly out of a deep sense of our sinne In the errors and deviations of my life I am Noah and Abraham and David and Peter I am all the Patriarchs and all the Apostles but in that which made them Saints I have little skill and lesse minde to follow them It will concern us then to have one eye upon the Saint and another upon the rule that the Actions of good men may be as a prosperous Gale to drive us forward in our course and the rule the Compasse to steere by for it will neither help nor comfort me to say I shipwrackt with a Saint My Brethren saith Saint Iames have not the saith of Christ in respect of Persons Iam. 2.1 for it is too common a thing to take our eye from the rule and settle it upon the Person whom we gaze upon till we have lost our sight and can see nothing of man or infirmity in him His virtue and our esteeme shines and casts a colour and brightness upon the Evill which he doth upon whatsoever he saies though it be false or does though it be irregular that it is either lesse visible or if it be seene commends it self by the person that did it and so steales and wins upon us unawares and hath power with us as a Law Could St. Augustine erre There have been too many in the Church who thought he could not and to free him from error have made his errors greater then they were by large additions of their owne and fathered upon him those mishapen Births which were he now alive he would startle at and run from or stand up and use all his strength to destroy Could Calvin or Luther doe or speak any thing that was not right they that follow them and are proud of their Names willing to be distinguish'd from all others by them would be very Angry and hate you perfectly if you should say they could and we cannot but be sensible what strange effects this admiration of their Persons hath wrought upon the Earth what a fire it hath kindled hotter then that of the Tyrants Furnace Dan. 3. for the flames have raged even to our very doores Thus the Examples of good men like two-edged swords cut both wayes both for good and for bad and sinne and error may be conveighed to us not onely in the Cup of the Whore but in the Vessells of the Sanctuary They are as the Plague and infect wheresoever they are but spread more contagion from a Saint then from a man of Belial in the one they are scarce seene in the other they are seen with horror in the one we hate not the sinne so much as the person and in the other we are favourable to the sinne for the persons sake and at last grow familiar with it as with our freind Nihil perniciosius Gestis sanctorum Luther de Abrog priv Miss said Luther himself There is nothing more dangerous then the Actions of the Saints not strengthened by the Testimony of Scripture and it is farre safer to count that a sinne in them which hath not its warrant from Scripture then to fix it up for an ensample for it is not good to follow a Saint into the Ditch Let us take them not whom men for men may Canonize themselves and others as they please but whom God himself as it were with his owne hand hath registred for Saints Sampson was a good man and hath his name in the catalogue of beleevers Numb 25. Phinehas a zealous man who staid the Plague by executing of judgement but I can neither make Sampson an argument to kill my self nor Phinehas to shed the blood of an Adulerer Lib. 2. de Baptismo q 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.24 Saint Basil observes that amongst those many seeming contradictions in Scripture one is of a fact or worke done to the Precept The command is Thou shalt not kill Sampson killed himself Phinehas with his speare nailes the adulterous couple to the earth but every man hath not Sampson's spirit nor Phinehas commission The Fathers rule is the rule of wisdome it self when we read in Scripture a fact commended which falls crosse with the Precept we must leave the Fact and cleave to the Precept for examples are not rules of life but provocations to good works sicut vidimus as we have seene is not a right sicut sicut Elias like as Elias but not to consume men with fire like unto Peter
but not to cut off a mans eare and like unto Saint Paul but himself corrects it with another sicut 1 Cor. 11.1 sicut ego Christi as I am unto Christ Secondly But in the next place if not sicut vidimus as we have seene others then not sicut visumfuerit as it shall seem good in our own eyes for fancy is a wanton unruly froward faculty and in us as in Beasts for the most part supplies the place of reason vulgus ex veritate pauca Pro Rose Comaedo ex opinone multa aestimat saith Tull. the Common people which is the greatest part of mankinde are lead rather by Opinion then by the truth for vulgus is of a larger signification then we usually take it in because they are more subject and enslaved to those two turbulent Tribunes of the soul The Irascible and Concupiscible Appetite and so more opinionative then then those who are not so much under their command It is truly said Affectiones sacilè faciunt opiniones our affections will easily raise up opinions for who will not soon fancy that to be true which he would have so which may either fill his hopes or satisfy his lusts or justifie his anger or answer his love or look friendly on that which our wild Passions drive us to Opinion is as a wheele on which the greatest part of the world are turned and wheeled about till they fall off severall waies into severall evills and doe scarce touch at Truth in the way Opinion builds our Church chuseth our Preacher formeth our Discipline frameth our gesture measureth our Prayers Methodizeth our Sermons Opinion doth exhort instruct correct Teaches and commands If it say Goe we goe and if it say Doe this we doe it we call it our conscience and it is our God and hath more worshippers then Truth For though Opinion have a weaker Ground-work then Truth yet she builds higher but it is but Hay and stubble fit for the fire Good God what a Babel may be erected upon a Thought I verily thought saith Saint Paul and what a whirlwind was that thought Act. 26.9 which drove him to Damascus with Letters and to kick against the pricks Shall I tell you it was but Fancy that in Davids time beat downe the carved works with Axes and Hammers It was but a Thought that destroyed the Temple it self that killed the Prophets and persecuted the Apostles and crucified the Lord of life Himself And therefore it will concern us to watch our Fancy and to deal with it as Mothers doe with their children who when they desire that which may hurt them deny them that but to still and quiet them give them some other thing they may delight in take away a Knife and give them an Apple so when our Fancy sports and pleaseth it self with vaine and aery speculations let us suspect and quarrell them and by degrees present unto it the very face of Truth as the Stoick speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epict. fist and winnow our imaginations bring them to the light and as the devout Schoolman speaks resolve all our effectuall notious by the Accepistis Gers by the Rule and so demolish all those Idolls which our Passions by the help of Fancy have set up for why should such a deceit pass unquestioned why should such an Imposture scape without a marke Thirdly But now if we may not walke sicut visum est as it seemeth good unto us yet we may sicut visum est Spiritui sancto as it seemeth good to the Holy Ghost Yes for that is to walke according to the rule for he speaketh in the word and to walk after the Spirit and to walk by this Rule are one and the same thing but yet the World hath learn'd a cursed Art to set them at distance and when the Word turnes from us and will not be drawn up to our Fancy to carry on our pleasing but vaine imaginations we then appeal to the Spirit wee bring him in either to deny his owne word or which in effect is the same to interpret it against his own meaning and so with Reverence be it spoken make him no better then a Knight of the post to witnesse to a lie This we would doe but cannot for make what noise we will and boast of his Name we are still at visum est nobis it is but Fancy still 't is our own spirit not the Holy Ghost For as there be many false Christs so there are many false spirits and we are commanded not to beleeve 1 Joh. 4.1 but to try them and what can we try them by but by the Rule and as they will say lo here is Christ or there is Christ so they will say Lo here is the spirit and there is the spirit The Pope laies claime to it and the Enthusiast laies claim to it and whoso will may lay claim to it on the same grounds when neither hath any better Argument to prove it by then their bare words no Evidence but what is forg'd in that shop of vanities their Fancy idem Actio Titioque both are alike in this And if the Pope could perswade mee that â—e never open'd his mouth but the spirit spake by him I would then pronounce him Infallible and place him in the chaire and if the Enthusiast could build me up in the same faith and belief of him I would be bold to proclaim the same of him and set him by his side and seek the Law at his mouth would you know the two Grand Impostors of the World which have been in every age and made that desolation which we see on the Earth They are these two A pretended zeal and a pretence of the spirit If I be a Zealot what dare I not doe and when I presume I have the Spirit what dare I not say what Action so foule which these may not authorize what wickedness imaginable which these may not countenance what evill may not these seale for good and what good may they not call evill oh take heed of a false light and too much fire these two have walkt these many Ages about the Earth not with the blessed Spirit which is a light to illuminate and as Fire to purge us but with their father the Devil transform'd into Angels of light and burning Seraphins but have led men upon those Precipices into those works of Darknesse which no night is dark enough to cover Conclus 1. I might here much enlarge my selfe for it is a subject fitter for a Sermon then a part of one and for a Volume then a Sermon but I must conclude And for conclusion let us whilst the light shineth in the world walk on guided by the rule which which will bring us at last to the holy Mount For objects will not come to us but have onely force to move us to come to them Aeternall Happiness is a faire sight and spreads its beames and unvailes its beauty
to win our love and allure and draw us and if it draw us we must up and be stirring and walke on to meet it Climachus what that devout Writer saith of his Monk is true of the Christian he is assidua naturae violentia his whole life is a constant continued violence against himself against his corrupt nature which as a weight hangs upon him and cloggs and fetters him which having once shaken off he not onely walks but runns the wayes of Gods Commandements Conclus 1. Secondly let us walke honestly as in the Day walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as becommeth Christians in our severall stations and conditions of life and not think Christ dishonoured if we mingle him with the common Actions of our life For we never dishonour him more then when we take him not in and use him not as our guide and rule even in those Actions which for the grosnesse of the subject and matter they work on may seem to have no favour or rellish of that which we call Religion Be not deceived Maâ—um Rempturb â—i quam comam â—…ec he that thus takeâ—… him in is a Priest a King the most honorable person in the world Behold the profane Gallant who walks and talks away his lâ—…e who divides himself between the combe and the glass and had rather the Common-wealth should flie in pieces then one hair or his Periwig should be out of its place to whom we bow and cringe to and sail down to as to a Golden Calf I tell you the meaness Artizan that works with his hands even he that grindes at the Mill is more honourable then hee Take the speculative Phantastique Zealot the Christian Pharisee that shuts himself up between the eare and tongue between hearing much and speaking more and doing contrary the worst Anchoret in the world being full of Oppression deceit and bitterness I may be hold to say The vilest person he that sits with the doggs of your Flock is more Honorable more righteous then hee and of such as these Saint Paul spake often Philip. 3.18 and he spake it weeping that they did walk but walke as Enemies to the Cross of Christ Let then Every man move in his owne Sphere orderly abide in the Calling wherein he is called and in the last place That we may move with the first mover Christ the beginner and Author of our walke Let us take him along with us in all our waies Hearken what Christ Jesus the Lord will say That we may walk before him with Reverence and Godly feare not sicut vidimus Heb. 11.28 as we have seen but look upon one another as the two Cherubims 1 King 6. touching and moving one another but with the Ark of the Testimony in the midst betwixt us and by that either inciting or correcting one another in our walk Secondly not sicut visum suerit not as it shall seem good in our own eyes for nothing can be more deceitfull then our own thoughts nor sicut visum spiritui not as every spirit may move us which wee call Holy for it may be a lying spirit and lead us out of our way into those evills which grieve that Blessed Spirit whose Name we have thus presumtuously taken in vain But let us walk as we have received him let us joyn example with the word it will be no more as a meteor to mislead us but a bright morning Starr to direct us to Christ correct our fancy by the rule and it will be sanctum cogitatorium a Lymbeck an holy elaboratory of such thoughts which may fly as the Doves to the windows of heaven and last of all try the Spirit by the word for the word is nothing else but the breathing and voice of the Spirit and then thou shalt be baptized with the Spirit and fire the Spirit shal enlighten thee and the spirit shall purge and cleanse thee and lead the into all truth shall breath comfort and strength into thee in this thy walk and pilgrimage and thou shalt walk from strength to strength from virtue to virtue even till thou come to thy journeys end to thy Fathers house to that Sabbath rest which remains to the Children of God THE FOURTH SERMON JOHN 6.56 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him THese words are our Saviours and it was usuall with this our good Master by those things which were visible to the eye to lift up his hearers minds and thoughts to spiritual and Heavenly things to draw his discourse from some present occasion or businesse in hand He curseth the fig-tree Math. 21.19 Sterilitas nostra in Ficu Luke 11. which had nothing but leaves to correct our sterility and unfruitfulnesse at the table of a Pharisee upon the sight of the clean outside of his cup he discovers his inward parts full of ravening and wicknesse At Jacobs well Iohn 4. he powreth forth to the woman of Samaria the water of life After he had supped with his disciples he takes the cup and calls the wine his Blood John 15. and himself the true Vine Thus did Wisdom publish it self in every place upon every occasion The well the Table the High-way side every place was a Pulpit every occasion a Text and every good lesson a Sermon To draw down this to our present purpose In the beginning of this Chapter he worketh a miracle multiplyes the loaves and the fishes that the remainder was more then the whole a miracle of it self able to have made the power of god visible in him and something indeed it wrought with them for behold at the 24. v. they seek him they follow him over the Sea They ask him Rabbi when camest thou hither at the next verse but our Saviour knowing their hypocricy answers them not to what they ask but instructs them in that they never thought on Verily verily you seek me not for the miracle but the loaves v. 26. But behold I shew you yet a more excellent way I shew you bread better then those loaves better then Moses his manna behold I am the bread of life v. 48 and my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed v. 55. and he commends it unto them by three Virtues or effects 1. That it fills and satisfies which neither the loaves nor Moses his manna could do For he that cometh to me that devoteth himself to me shall never hunger and he that beleeveth in me shall never thirst v. 35. 2. It is a living bread v. 51. a bread that gives life which Moses manna could not do but was destroyed with them that ate it in the wildernesse v. 49. 3. That it was bread which had power to incorporate them to embody them to make them one and give them union and communion with the Lord of life in the words of my Text He that cateth my flesh and drinketh my blood that is as Christ himself
hugg themselves in it are very weak even Children in understanding Gerson the devour Schoolman tells us Mulieres omnes propter infirmitaetem consilii mâ—jores nostri in Tutorum potestate esse voluerunt Cicero pro Mutaena it is most commonly in Women quarum aviditas pertinacior in assectu fragilior in cognitione Whose affections commonly outrunne their understanding who affect more then they know and are then most enflamed when they have least light and it is in men too and too many who are as fond of their groundless Fancies and ill-built Opinions as the weaknesse of that sex could possibly make them are as weak as the weakest of women and have more need of the bitt and Bridle then the Beasts that perish what greater weaknesse can there be then to follow a blind guide and deliver our selves up to our Fancy and affective Notions and make them Masters of our Reason and the only Interpreters of that word which should be a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathes For if we check not our Fancy and Affections they will run madding after shadows and apparitions They will shew us nothing but Peace in the Gospel nothing but Love in Christianity Nothing but Joy in the Holy Ghost They will set our Love and Joy on Wheeles and then we are straight carried up to Heaven in these siery Chariots One is Elioas Another John Baptist Another Christ himself If the Virgin Mary have an Exultat they have a Iubilee If Saint Paul be in the Spirit They are above it and right Reason too and the Spirit is theirs if he put on that shape which best likes them If he be a Spirit of Counsel we are his Secretaries of his Closet and can tell what he did before all Times and Number over his Decrees at our Fingers ends If a Spirit of strength we bid defiance to Principalities and Powers If a Spirit of Wisedome we are filled with him the wise-men the sages of the World though no man could ever say so but our selves If a Spirit of Ioy we are in an Extasy if of Love we are on fire But if he be Spiritus Timoris a Spirit of Feare there we leave him and are at Ods with him we seem to know him not and we cannot Feare at all because we are bold to think that wee have the Spirit 'T is true whilst we stand thus affected a Spirit we have but 't is a Spirit of illusion which troubles and distorts our Intellectualls and makes us look upon the Gospel ex adverso situ on the wrong side on that which may seem to flatter our infirmities but not on that which may cure them and as Tully told his friend That he did not know Totum Caesarem all of Caesar so we know not totum Christum all of Christ wee know and consider him as a Saviour but not as a LORD wee know him in the Riches of his Promises but not in the Terror of his Judgements know him in that life he purchas'd for Repentant sinners but not in that death he threatens to Unbeleevers For to let passe the Law of works Heb. 12.20 we dare not come so neere as to touch at that for we cannot endure that which was commanded Let us well weigh and consider the Gospel it self which is the Law of Faith was not that establish'd and confirmed with promises of Eternal life and upon penalty of Eternall Death In the Gospel we are told of weeping and gnashing of Teeth of a condition worse them to the a Mill-stone hanged about our necks and to be throwne into the bottom of the Sea and by no other then by the Prince of Peace then by Christ himself who would never have put this feare in us if he had knowne that our Love had had strength enough to bring us to him And therefore in the Tenth of St. Matthews Gospel at 28. verse he teacheth us how we shall feare Rectâ methodo he teacheth us to be perfect methodists in Fear that we misplace not our Feare upon any Earthly Power he sets up a Ne Timete Feare not them that can kill the Body and when they have done that have done all and can do no more and having taken away one feare he establisheth another But feare him who can both cast Body and Soul into Hell fire and that we might not forget it for such troublesome guests lodge not long in our memory he drives it home with an Etiam Dico Yea I say unto you feare him Now Him denotes a Person and no more and then our feare may be Reverence and no more It may be Love it may be Fancy it may be nothing but qui potest is equivalent to quia potest and is the reason why we must feare him even because he can punish And this I hope may free us from the Imputation of sinne if our Love be blended with some Feare and if in our Obedience we have an eye to the hand that may strike us as well as to that which may fill us with good things and if Christ who is the Wisedome of the Father think it fit to make the Terror of Death an argument to move us we cannot have Folly laid to our charge if we be moved with the Argument Fac Fac saith Saint Austin vel timore poenae si non Potes adhuc amore justitiae Doe it man Doe it if thou canst not yet for Love of Justice yet for fear of punishment I know that of Saint Austin is true Brevis differentia legis Evangelii Amor Timor Love is proper to the Gospel and Feare to the Law but 't is Feare of Temporall punishment not of Eternall for that may sound to both but is loudest in the Gospel The Law had a whip to fright us and the Gospel hath a Worm to Gnaw us I know that the Beauty of Christ in that great Work of Love the work of our Redemption should transport us beyond our selves and make us as the Spouse in the Canticles is said to be even sick with love but we must consider not what is due to Christ but what we are able to pay him and what he is willing to Accept not what so great a Benefit might challenge at our hands but what our Frailty can lay downe for we are not in Heaven already but passing towards it with Feare and trembling And he that brings forth a Christian in these colours of Love without any mixture of Feare doth but as it was said of the Historian votum accomodare non historiam present us rather with a wish then an History and Character out the Christian as Xenophon did Cyrus Non qualis est sed qualis esse deberet not what he is but what he should be I confesse thus to fear Christ thus to be urged and chased to Happinesse is an Argument of Imperfection but we are Men not Angels We are not in heaven already we are not yet perfect and
same sinners we were as wicked as ever Our Religion puts forth no thing 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 shoots forth at length and into a larger proportion and bigness then if it had had its natural concoction and ripened kindly and then it hath no tast or rellish but withers and rots and falls off And thus when we too much dote on Ceremomy we neglect the maine work and when we neglect the work we fly to Ceremony and formality and lay hold on the Altar we deale with our God Clem. Alexande 3. strom as Aristotle of Cyrene did with Lais 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 gayetry and gilded armor as his prey rather then his enemies and thus we walk in a vain shadow and trouble our selves in vain and in this Region of shews and shadows dreame of happinesse and are miserable of heaven and fall a contrary way as Julius Caesar dream'd that he soared up Suet. Vit. C. Caesar and was carryed above the clouds 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 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 errors 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 the mortifying and denying of our selves not so necessary as Actuall holinesse It is not absolutely necessary to be baptized for many have not passed that Jordan yet have been saved but it is necessary to have the Laver of Regeneration and to clense our selves from sin It is not absolutely necessary to eat the Bread and drink the Wine in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper for some crosse accident may intervene and put me by but it is necessary to feed on the Bread of Life as necessary as my meat to doe Gods will True Piety is absolutely necessary because none can hinder me from that but my selfe but it is not alwayes in every mans power to bring himselfe to the Font or approach the Lords Table All that can be said is That when they may be had they are absolutely necessary but they are therefore not absolutely necessary because they cannot alwaies be had and when they stretcht beyond this they stretcht beyond their line and lost themselves in an ungrounded and unwarranted admiration of these Ordinances which whilst we look upon them in their proper Orbe and Compasse can never have honour and esteem enough They put the Communion into the mouthes of Infants who had but now their Being and into the mouthes of the Dead who had indeed a BEing but not such a Being as to be fit Communicants and Saint Austin thought Baptisme of Infants so absolutely necessary that Not to be baptized was to be Damned and therefore was forced also to create a new Hell that was never before heard of and to find out mitem damnationem a more mild and easie damnation more fit as he thought for the tendernesse and innocency of Infants Now this was but an error in speculation the error of devout and pious men who in honour to the Author of the Sacraments made them more binding and necessAry then they were and we may learn thus much by this over-great esteem the first and best Christians and the most learned amongst them had of them that there is more certainly due then hath been given in these latter times by men who have learnt to despise all Learning and whose great devotion it is to quarrell and cry down all Devotion who can find no way to gain the reputation of Wisdome but by the fierce and loud impugning of that which hath been practiced and commended to succeeding Ages by the wisest in their Generation by men who first cry down the Determinations of the Church and then in a scornfull and profane pride and animosity deny there is any such Collection or Body as a Church at all But our Errors in Practice are more dangerous more spreading more universall For what is our esteem of the Sacraments more a great deale then theirs and yet lessE because 't is such which we should not give them even such which they whom they are so bold to Censure would have Anathematized We Think or Act as if we did that the Water of Baptisme doth clense us though we make our selves more Leopards fuller of spots then before That the Bread in the Eucharist will nourish us up to eternall life though we feed on husks in all the remainder of our dayes We baptize our children and promise and voew for them and then instill those thriving and worldly principles into them which null and cancell the vow we made at the Font hither we bring them to renounce the world and at home teach them to love it And for the Lords Supper what is commonly our preparation A Sermon a few houres of meditation a seeming farewell to our common affaires a faint heaving at the heart that will not be lifted up a sad and demure countenance at the time and the next day nay before the next day this mist is shaken off and we are ready to give Mammon a salute and a cheerfull countenance the world our service to drudge and toyle as that shall lead us to rayle as loud to revenge as maliciously to wanton it as sportfully to cheat as kindly as ever we did long before when we never so much as thought of a Sacrament And shall we now place all Religion nay any Religion in this or call that good that absolutely good and necessary for which we are the worse absolutely the worse every day Well may God ask the question Will he be pleased with this Well may he by one Prophet ask who hath required it and by another instruct us and shew us yet a more excellent way It was not the error of the Jew alone to forget true and inward sanctity and to trust upon outward worship and formality but sad experience hath taught us that the same error which misled the Jew under his weak and