the meanest office the conveiance of the smoak And yet it is the highest part of the building and overtops the whole frame And as a Feather is a light substance and of little or no worth save onely in estimation and yet placed above the head Just so the most wicked and unworthy amongst men are exalted and advanced to the highest pitch of earthly dignity (q) Minut. Foelix Octavius pa. 15. ut in pluribus nescias utrum sit corumi detestanda pravitas an optanda foelicitas said Minutius Foelix That it is hard to say for the greater part whether a man should rather detest their impiety or envie their felicity There is a double Abyssus or unfadomable depth in religion 1. The depths of predestination or God's eternal decrees and counsels 2. And the depths of his temporal providence in the administration of the world whereof this is one the growth of these Tares the outward prosperity of the wicked And may justly moue us to take the Apostles exclamation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the depth And if we will give credit to St. Austin (r) Revera nullum mare tam profundum est quam est cogitatio rei ut mali floreant boni laborent Nihil tam altum ubi naufâ—agat omnis insidelis Aug. in Psal 91. there is no se a so deep as to dive into the serious consideration of the flourishing state of sinners and the calamitous condition of the Saints And in this sea every unbeliever makes ship wrack This was it that caused many to turn downright Atheists and to say in their hearts there is no God Others to prove gross Idolaters and to imagine a plurality and a multiplicity of Gods A good and a bad And that the Book of Exodus was no part of Canonical Writ nor inspired by a good God for that it makes report of the misery of the Israelites in the wilderness (Å¿) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leontius de Sanctis It is not the part property of a good God to bring his people out of Egypt and to afflict and correct them after their deliverance Yea this was it that well neer tript up the heels of David though a strong a stout Saint And so far nonplu'st and posed holy Jeremy that he was very earnest to enter the lists of disputation with God himself Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgress Jer. 12.1 Here the Israelites make the Bricks and the Egyptians dwell in the Houses David is in want and Nabal abounds Sion is Babylons Captive what hath God nothing in fore for Joseph but the sticks for Isaiah but a saw will not Elish adorn the Chariot better then the Juniper Tree will not John Bâ—â—tists Head become a Crown as well as a platter But mull his head be needs tript oft with Herodias heels what may we inser from hence but the positive conclusion of the Psalmist Psal 58.11 Vveril there is a reward for the righteous in the life to come when God will render them good measure pressed down shaken together and running over into their bosome Luke 6.38 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good measure for the nature of the reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pressed down for the matter like unto corn in a Bushel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shaken together for the manner of it even as corn which couches so much the closer for the shaking whereof Husbandmen are very careful in the delivery of their corn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 running over for the measure as a vessel that is brim full runs over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into their bosome that so they shall be experimentally sensible in their own hearts of God's bounty in their retribution What other inference can any man draw out of the former premises But that there is such a reward for the righteous And that the present prosperity and felicity of the wicked as it is temporal for the nature so it is but temporary for duration Though the Tares grow yea overgrow the good corn yet it is but until the Harvest And that is the fifth point that naturally and necessarily follows and treads upon the heels of the former 5. The Fifth Proposition The time and term of the flourishing estate of the wicked untill the harvest which is both a note of determination and termination Till then it doth not end before Till then it doth not continue after What this Harvest is our blessed Saviour the best Expositor of his own Text resolves us in the Sequel of the Chapter The Harvest is the end of the world verse 39. which is here compared to a Harvest and that in Three respects 1. Propter Segetis desectionem 2. Propter Segetis collectionem 3. Propter Segetis Trituram 1. For the cutting down of the corn 2. For the gathering in of the corn 3. For the threshing out of the corn And this threefold resemblance betwixt the Harvest and the end of the world sets forth unto us a double and different estate of the godly and the wicked A double state of the godly and wicked 1. The one of utter ruine and destruction of the wicked under the similitude of the cutting down and threshing out of corn who shall then be cut down with a sharp sickle of his just vengeance and beaten in pieces as corn that is threshed by the instruments of indignation 2. The other of quiet repose and rest the safety and security of the godly under the Parable of gathering in of corn who in this Harvest shall be gathered out of the world and gathered into their Fathers House the repository of Heaven wherein there are many mansions even as corn in the time of Harvest is gathered into the Barn As therefore there is a confused mixture a cohabitation an equal or rather an unequal growth of Tares wheat in the field of the world So shall there be a general Harvest of good bad at the end of it That law which God established with Noah after the flood as an unchangeable a perpetual ordinance in the course of nature Seed time and Harvest shall not cease so long as the earth remaineth Gen. 8.22 The very self-same law hath God enacted with the sons of men touching the dispensation of his justice in the distribution of rewards and punishments There shall be a Harvest for both and that proportionable to the different nature and quality of the seed wherein whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap He that sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption And he that sows to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.7 Hail then ye servants of the Lord cheer up your drooping and dismayed spirits lift up your hands that hang down and your weak knees ye that now eat bread of affliction and drink the water of affliction with Micaiah that eat ashes for bread and mingle your drink with weeping after the manner of David Ye that now sow in
and precious And ye as lively stones be made spiritual houses 1 Pet. 2.3 4. He whom the Prophet Daniel compares to a stone cut out of the mountain without hands either in regard of his eternal generation of the Father or his temporal birth of his Mother He whom David foretold to be the head stone of the corner being highly exalted by his Resurrection and Ascension Him doth Saint Peter term an elect and precious and living stone having life in his own person even as the Father hath life in himself John 5.26 And the Church of God lively stones as being quickned by â—â—s spirit Stones not by propriety of nature such as sabulous Antiquity dreamed of that Pyrrha by casting of stones changed them into men Behold here a more strange Metamorphosis yet far unlike that of Medusa so famous among the Poets men turn'd into stones Nor yet stones for their inbred folly and senselesness of disposition such as the Philosopher stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likened to stones in a double propriety one stone upon another But by a borrowed similitude and resemblance both in regard of their absolute and relative property 1. The absolute property which is the solidity and firmness of their faith 2. The relative property and that is their aptness and appliableness unto building And or such materials doth God make up a spiritual house and out of these stones he raises up children unto Abraham First stones are a hard and tough and well compacted substance This is the absolute property of the faithful Their absolute property to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 steadfast and immovable and though their outward man is but weak and feeble neither is their strength the strength of stones as holy Job too too passionately complains Job 6.12 yet hath their inward man the strength of flinty stones and is so far from yielding to the surious stroaks of temptation and affliction that it forcibly resists these Hammers and beats them back with violence For God who promises to take away the stony heart out of the midst of his people Ezek. 36.26 bestowes upon them in stead thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Paul stiles it Col. 2.5 A firm solid and stony faith And howsoever it may and will be fiercâ—ly assaulted yet it shall not be fully foiled and vanquished pressed but not oppressed (g) Concuti potest non excuti Tertul. shaken and yet not shaken off What though the most pompous and stately Temples are turned topsie turvy and laid level on the ground with the sudden blast of a terrible earthquake and their place knows them no more yet shall these spiritual Temples be as mount Sion which cannot be moved but standeth fast for ever Psal 125.1 Let stones fall out of the building and moulder away into rottenness as being subject to a kind of mortality and corruption Mors etiam saxis nominibusque venit Yet as for these living stones Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die It is our Saviours determinate assertion and peremptory promise John 11.26 Thus are the faithful stones in the absolute property their stedfastness and continuance Secondly The Saints of God are Stones for their relative property Their relative propertie their usefulness and appliableness unto Building Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius Temples are not framed of beggerly stuff and rude materials neither are common pebbles and unhewen stones as are all natural and carnal men meet to join with Christ the chief corner stone in whom all the building coupled together groweth to a holy Temple in the Lord Eph. 2.21 This Temple consists only of choice and precious stones so is Christ entitled by Saint Peter And such are all believers who have obtained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the like precious faith whereof Saint Peter speaks There is not the meanest Christian but after a sort shares in Saint Peters priviledge and is placed as another Peter in this edifice wherewith though not whereupon Christ builds his Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 16.18 Not the power and policy of the Devil symbolically set forth by the gates of a City which was antiently the seat of Counsel and Judgement in the time of peace and hath been alwayes the place of strength and fortifications in the time of war Yet neither shall the cunning straingems or stoutest opposition of these gates of Hell nor the gates of (h) Vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nusquam in sc riptura unicus modo lecus excipiatur insernum significat sed sepulchrum vel hominis vita functi statum conditionem Camer Myr. Evang. in Mat. 16.18 Death as Cameron expounds the place the domineering Tyranny of the Grave which deraint our bodies as close prisouers for a time under the earthen bars of rottenness and corruption and so some what avails but shall not be able to prevail against it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he descants upon the place So sure and permanent is this building that it is stronger then death it self so indissoluble is the conjunction so entire the union of the several stones with the foundation that the very name of Christ is applied communicated to his Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Paul in the Apodosis of the similitude 1 Cor. 12.12 The bond and ligament of which union is the spirit of God on his part and faith the means on ours which in regard of the office of being instrumental in joining us to Christ the foundation it is sometimes honoured with the name of a Foundation Faith is as the foundation saith Saint Chrysostom other graces are as the upper part of the building (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost And as Faith is the bond of our union with Christ so is Charity of our communion and fellowship with our brethren For Hard with bard stone with stone will never make good wall as it is in the Italian proverb But Charity must come betwixt and as a spiritual kind of mortar both join and bind them fast together And as in a building each (k) Vnusquisque lapis portat alterum portatur ab altero Luther in Galat. stone supports and bears up another So must we bear up one anothers burden as Saint Paul adviseth in the case Gal. 6.2 who are lively stones of the same mystical Temple Thus have we taken a survey of the several parts of the foundation and the walls of this structure and had a cursory and short view of the means both of the framing and of the coupling and conjunction In all which appears the formality of the Comparison Ratione edificationis the Church is Gods Temple in regard of the building So is it likewise in the second place Ratione inhabitationis the proper use and habitation Ratione usus in habitati onis God hath a three-fold Temple For God hath a three-fold Temple or place of residence whereof the
portion by the eternal decree of Gods election and choice being only Aliquorum it can neither consist nor yet be conceived or imagined without a refusal That same negative Act of Praeterition or Reprobation God freely denying grace and justly passing over the remainder Thus Saint Paul restraines to a definitive number Rom. 8.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom be predestinate them also he called Quos praescivit saith the Apostle so that it is Electio personarùm non qualitatum An absolute no respective decree either grounded or occasioned by any motive condition in the object of foreseen faith and perseverance Nor is it an universal or general election which is quite repugnant to the nature Quos praescivit saith the Text Hos non alios those alone and no other as Augustine toucheth upon the place Secondly In the meritorious Efficacy of Christs Redemption the Church is separated unto holiness in the meritorious Efficacy of Christs Redemption who though he gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransom for all men 1 Tim. 2.6 A propitiation for the sins of the whole world 1 John 2.2 if we take an estimate of the greatness of the price and sufficiency of his death and passion Yet doth he lay down his life for his sheep and hath purchased the Church with his own blood Acts 20.28 in respect of the force and efficacy of his death and the property of redemption Poculum immortalitatis habet equidem in se ut prosit omnibus sed si non bibit non proficit saith Prosper excellently And did all men drink of the blood of Christ then should they have eternal life John 6.5 Thirdly the Church is separated from the world in the actual vocation and conversion In the actual vocation and conversion for though God imbraced and clasped it in the arms of his mercy from all Eternity And loved it with an everlasting love Jer. 3.3 by way of benevolence Yet neither doth the purpose of Election which is an immanent act in God confer ought upon the partie that is predestinate nor the vertues of Christs Redemption avail any whit to the justification and acceptation of the person Nor doth God respect and tender the Church with the love of complacency and contentment until he be pleased actually to call it out of the power of darkness into his marvellous light And hereby it becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 populus evocatus a people called out from amidst the sons of men by the powerful attraction and energy of the spirit and by the subordinate ministry of the Word and Sacraments In all these respects the Church is Holy by Separation Secondly this Temple and Church is holy in the Consecration In the Consecration being dedicate to God by baptism which though it be no Physical instrument that conveies grace by any natural force efficacy yet is it signum figillum both by representation and assurance doth establish and confirm it And as many as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 And from hence arose that antient custom in the Primitive Church of clothing the baptized with white apparel Fulgentes animas vestis quoque candida signat Lactantius Who were therefore stiled Candidati the Sunday after Easter whereon this Sacrament of Baptism was solemnly administr'd for the whole year took the denomination of Dominica in albis and was term'd White Sunday that so both the name of the day the bright colour of their garments might clearly signifie set forth the unspotted innocency of their profession the spiritual purity of their conversation Thus is the Church holy by consecration Thirdly it is holy in the practical use and exercise In the Practical use and exercise The reverent hearing of the Word the devout administration of the blessed Sacraments And above all affectionate fervent Prayer This is the service of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereunto his house is assigned and dedicated in a special manner My house shall be called the House of Prayer for all people Isa 56.7 And this is it which Christens the publick places of God's worship and gives the name unto Temples Not Concionatoria nor Sacramentaria but Oratoria houses of request and prayer As being a primary action which by an elegant Synecdoche compriseth all other religious duties that are ordered to it and derive and borrow from it a plentiful increase Thus is the Temple the Church of God in the general and each private Christian in particular the house of Prayer who prays not onely openly in the outward Temple but secretly in the (r) Vis in Temple orare de scendi in reipsum August inward Temple of his own heart And as the consecration of Temples is evermore solemnized with prayer so is every living Temple hereby dedicate unto God It was so with Saul upon the point of his conversion For behold he prayeth faith God to Ananias Act. 9.10 To ascertain him of the truth It is so with all others whose invocation and calling upon the name of God immediatly follows God's vocation effectual calling of them This is the threefold holiness of the Temple The separation The consecration The practical use and exercise These are the several limbs and members of the point like unto those dry bones in Ezekiels vision which though they are knit together by their several Sinewes yet are they not covered with flesh and skin as otherwise they might if the time would permit And least these dry bones should be utterly void of life give me leave but once more to prophesie unto them and breath a little upon them by the spirit of Application And is the Temple of God holy The Application away then with the vainglorious vaunt of Corah and his complices All the congregation of the Lord is holy every one of them and the Lord is among them Numb 16.2 These indeed are the presumptuous speeches of the sons of Corah I mean some of our own Tribe there is no distinction betwixt Elect and Reprobate Tros Tyriusque illis nullo discrimine habentur There is no certainty of grace no assurance of salvation Nemo ante obitum foelix Beleeve them who list As is the good so is the sinner And yet saith the text expresly The Temple of God is holy But who is this holy Temple Quod vos estis so it follows in the Text ye of the Clergy in a peculiar manner who serve at Gods Altar Be ye clean that carrie the vessel of the Lord Isa 52.11 Ye are not only the Temple but the Priests of the Temple and should have ingraven as it were upon your foreheads with the High Priest under the Law Holiness unto the Lord. And as he that hath called you and that not only ad salutem but officium as he is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 2. The Temple of God is holy quod vos estis Ye of
Greek Root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Scaligers Etymology And thus spake the Tribunes to their souldiers hitherto you shaladvance your march there make a stand and begin a retrait this is the order of martial discipline sure I am that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original is a military word and bred in the war implying and noting out the several ranks and places that are allotted to every private souldier and it is figuratively applied to represent and shadow forth the comely order of the Church which as our Saviour renders the similitude Cant. 6.3 is terrible as an army with banners That which a peculiar office in the service of war is to each common souldier the same is a particular calling to private Christians whereunto they stand limited and confined and as in an army such loose companions as want a station or straggle or wander from it or encroach upon anothers liberty or are notoriously debosht and riotous are all arranged upon the File 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and annumbred amongst disordered So are there four sorts of men in the Church Four sorts of disordered persons in the the Church 1. The lawless loyterer 2. The careless rover 3. The busie intruder 4. The licentious libertine Upon all which St. Paul sets his mark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God did a mark upon Cain indigitating and pointing them out to be the self same persons that must be admonished 1. The lawless loyterer The first of these and the ring-leader of the rest is the lawless loyterer men priviledged and as it were protected from all other calling then that which is so falsely called and a strain of their own invention to whom it is as great a punishment to be condemned to a setled course of life and bounded within the compass of an honest and laudable vocation as for Evil spirits to be conjured into a circle beyond which they must not pass As if the first man was justly exiled and banished out of Paradise and yet his posterity might take liberty to make themselves another Paradise thorough pleasure and delight and live without imployment The peevish Anabaptists have sweat hard to fetch up our Ministers within that number for that they labour not with their hands and they that work not must not eat That is St. Pauls order touching those that are inordinate 2 Thess 3.10 But had these men braines to discern and judge of others they would soon find in themselves that the ever working and contriving brains of our painful Ministers drop more then their fat Browes and might have learned this difference in the schools of the Heathen (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ethic. lib. 1. c. 1. That there are inward and immanent operations of the mind wholly terminated within itself as well as transient actions and manuary works that leave an impression in the outward matter yea had they plowed with St. Pauls Heyfer they might then find out this riddle it may be they can plow indeed and do nothing else yet know not what belongs to the spiritual tillage to Gods Husbandry as St. Paul terms the Corinthians and as our famous Bishop Grosthead sometimes answered an undeserving suitor for a benifice That if their plow was broken it were great pity but they should have a new one but as for a cure of souls they are unfit and altogether unworthy (k) Ne edentium dentibus edentult invideant Nec ocâ—los caprarum Talpae contemnant Hieron Epist ad Rom. let not them then that want teeth envy those that eat therewith nor contemn the eyes of goats if themselves be Wants and Moles as Hierom admonisht Calphurnius How much better might these curious and prying spies that come to oversee the weakness of the Land have spent their busie search elsewhere and found fit matter for their observation And least it should be thought that this lawless loyterer were as rare among us as a needy begger in Israel and that our Countrey were as well cleansed of these wild creatures as long since freed of Wolves two kinds of men here cross my way which I cannot but take notice of and these as different in their profession as near a kin in their condition both which may be justly challenged 1. The lazy Monk Two sorts of lawless Loyterers 2. The sensual Gallant The Papists must needs own the one and I know not well how the Protestant should wash their hand of the other 1. I begin with the lazy Monk and sluggish Friar The lazy Monk into whom the souls of the antient Cretians seem to have re-entred having left their first habitation as if St. Paul had prophesied of the one in the discription of the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being very difficult to conceive how he should pencil and draw a picture in every joint and limb so like themselves and yet never mind the pattern Their bellies indeed may be thought nimble at their meat and are alone exercised with labour when the rest of the members take their ease and be they never so slow they are most sure and fail not to do their work And to those four devouring creatures rehearsed by Solomon Prov. 30.16 The Grave and the barren womb the earth that is not filled with water and the fire that saith not it is enough A fifth may be added as insatiable a cormorant as any of the former and that is the belly of the Monk and this above all other is quick of hearing and cannot endure to be spoken against or have the copy once questioned which was one of the grand and capital faults committed by Luther at the first Dresserus An. â—al Scul pag. 45. that he presumed to lift at the Popes triple Crown and to pinch the Monks belly as Erasmus some what pleasantly answered the Duke of Saxony These these are the abby lubbers and stalled bulls of Bashan that live mued up in their private cells and cloisters as Beares in a frank and sit hooded all the day as so many birds of prey And all this they do under the foulded coule of piety and devotion and the most sad pretence of stern mortification observing fat fasts and lean prayers as Ientilet complained of old pining themselves into lard and beating down their Bodies till their girdle crack And in the midst of their gourmandising they thus cry out Heu quanta patimur pro amore Christi O what great matters do we suffer for the name of Christ And were they such as they fondly profess themselves men wholly sequestred from the world by an over rigorous austere course of life and utterly devoted to religious contemplation they were no way justifiable or excusable for who hath required them at your hands nor can they be warranted in this kind whose thoughts are so swallowed up in the general consideration of Christianity and profession that in
nimirum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui salutem dedit He saves who gives life to the Dead Secondly Salvation is a Dignity and high Priviledge in the several degrees and steps of it 1. In the inchoation and beginning 2. In the consummation and perfection First Salvation is a dignity and high priviledge in the inchoation and beginning of it A dignity and high priviledge The foundation whereof is laid in this world but the roof set up in another Who hath saved and called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. 1 9. Salvation and calling go hand in hand In the inchoation and beginning and effectual vocation is the first fruits the earnest the Livery and seizin of our salvation This day is salvation come to thy house saith Christ to Zachous Luke 19.9 That man who is not saved in this life by receiving Christ into his heart as Zacheus into his house shall never be saved in another by being received into those eternal habitations Secondly In the consummation perfection Salvation is a dignity and high priviledge in the consummation and perfection An aggregation of all good a confluence and affluence of all comforts and contentments The making us free Denizons of the new Hierusalem the possessors of the highest Heavens the linking us in society with Saints and Angels the beatifical vision of God and divine transformation into the image of his glory Salvation is one of Saint Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 12.4 It is all we can conceive and utter and all we cannot conceive and utter coelum non patitur hyperbolem the highest hyperbole cannot reach the highest Heaven We can never speak enough or too much of it As therefore Gregory Nyssen treating on the Preface in the Lords Prayer Our Father which art in Heaven wisht himself wings wherewith to mount and fly a pitch proportionable to the height of the Argument So were there need of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 winged words in preaching of salvation to soar a loft according to the sublimity of the matter And as Hierom reports of the Monks in Egypt that when they heard any mention of the Kingdom of Heaven and of the glory of the world to come they all stole a secret sigh and lifting up their eyes to Heaven repeated the words of the Psalmist Psal 55.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Orat. 17. Quis dabit mihi pennas sicut columbe Oh that I had the wings of a Dove then would I fly and be at rest Even so the devour meditation of that great salvation presented and held forth in the Text should work as vehement a desire in us to flye unto Heaven not with the wings of a Dove but with the most ardent affections and extatical raptures which are the wings of the soul that so we may have a full fruition and enjoyment of it Thus have you heard the specification and appropriation of the object and what it is We must work out our own salvation But least I should seem to leave so mysterious and sublime a point so excellent and so necessary a Truth like unto Ezekiels dry bones without life and breath Give me leave to prophesie to these dry bones and breath upon them once more with the spirit of Application And to collect and gather from hence a threefold Corollary and Conclusion 1. By way of supposition 2. A threefold Corollary or conclusion By way of inference 3. By way of exhortation First seeing it is salvation that is here recommended by the Apostle First by way of supposition as the reward of our obedience And salvation is an immunity and freedom from the state of sin and misery We may from hence observe That all men by nature are at a loss and in a destitute and desperate condition For as the Apostle reasons the case 2 Cor. 5 14. We thus judge that if Christ died for all then were all dead Had not we been dead in trespasse and sins there had been no outward cause or motive reason in the object That the Captain of our Salvation and Lord of Life should purchase our life with the price of his own death had not we been the lost Sheep and the lost Groat in the Parable there had been no need for Christ to go after that which is lost and to seek diligently till he find it This was the end of his coming into the world as himself professes Luke 19.10 The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost Salvation necessarily presupposes and implies a loss on our part sins guilt and a just obligation to wrath to come And as we are lost in our selves so must we find our selves to be such in our own apprehension We must be deeply sensible and throughly convinced of our woe and wretchedness we must hunger and thirst after Christ's righteousness and even look and long for his salvation Being ready to sink into the bottomless gulf of dispair each one in his own person must cry out with Saint Peter Matth. 14.31 Lord save me Being tempested upon the Sea of God's fierce wrath and the ship of our souls well neer covered and overwhelmed with the stormy waves of his indignation we must go unto Christ awake him with the importunity of our prayers and say in the language of Christ's Disciples Matth. c. 8. v. 25. Lord save us we perish Secondly If it be a Christians task and charge to work out his salvation A second Corrollary by way of inference Then may we from hence deduct and infer That it is lawful to doe good out of hope of reward as an incentive of desire and duty and a spur unto diligence An Argument that God propounds and holds forth in the School of Christianity Even as prudent Schoolmasters are wont to train up and draw on their younger Scholars with fair and gentle promises Pueris dant crustula blandi Doctores elementa velint ut discere prima Horat. Serm. lib. 1. Satyr 1. * Licet omnium consensu in operibus temporalibus spectare temporalem finem ut pharmacum sumerigratia sanitate arare serere spe fructus percipiendi currere vel decertare in stadio causa chrinendae victoriae Cur igitur non liceat in opere spirituali in cursu certamine ab ipso Deo proposito ad pramium supernae vocationis attendere Bellarm. de Justit lib. 5. cap. 8. It is not only lawful but laudable and in some sort necessary to have respect and reference to the fruition of our own happinesse as the guerdon of our labours even as he that runs in a race hath his eye full fixed on the Garland and the most generous souldier in the hottest shock the most fierce and fiery encounter hath his thoughts prepossessed and swallowed up in the hope of victory For salvation being the End of our operation as Saint Peter speaks of it 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your faith the
tears shall reap in joy ye that now go forth weeping and it matters not though the seed time be somewhat moist so the Harvest prove dry and carry precious seed shall return with joy and bring your sheaves with you Psal 126.5.6 What though the light of God shines bright and cleer upon the forehead and about the Tabernacle of the wicked while ye in the mean time are hanged up like Bottles in the smoak and cast into by-corners like the shreds of a a broken pot They sing to the Lute and see their children dance before them whereas your hearts are heavy in your bodies as lead your sighs beat as thick as a swift pulse and water your couch with your tears They wash their paths in butter and their Tables are full furnished day by day But earth and ashes are your bread yet comfort your selves ye seed of the righteous with the setled expectation of a Harvest wherein ye shall rejoyce according to the joy of Harvest as the Prophet Isaiah speaks yea comfort ye comfort ye your hearts against the Fret of the ungodly the present prosperity of the wicked Learn to laugh them to scorn after the example of the most high for that you see that their day is coming Psal 37.13 when it shall be verified of them which the Prophet affirms of Babylon Jer. 51.33 The daughter of Babel is like a threshing floor The time of her threshing is come yet a little while and the time of her Harvest shall come It is Gregories speech in his morals upon Job occasioned by an elegant and exact description of the happiness of the ungodly Job 21. from the 6. to the 13. verse (t) Greg. in Job O Job bene enumer asti vitam impiorum dic finem quaeso Thou hast set forth to the life the life of the wicked Tell us I pray thee what is their end And he supplies and furnisheth himself with an answer out of the next words They spend their days in wealth and suddenly they go down into the Grave v. 13. If any propound and move the like question that have hitherto heard of the growth of these Tares and are pensive and disconsolate at the hearing of it dic finem quaeso what is the end of these Tares and what abides them in time of Harvest let such take their answer from the mouth of Christ in the words after the Text. And in time of Harvest I wil say to the reapers Gather ye fâ—râ— the Tares and bind them in sheaves to burn them This is their end An end without end and so I am fallen upon the Sixt and last point 6. The Sixth Proposition The true and proper reason of the being growth and continuance of the wicked and that is Christ's rance and toleration Suffer both to grow together This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or suffer hath a double reference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or suffer hath a double reference First to Christ the Housholder or owner of the field who utters the words Suffer and therein presents himself as a precedent and pattern for their imitation Secondly the servants of the Housholder who complained of the springing up of the Tares Master sowed â— thou not good seed in thy field from whence then hath it Tares ver 23. And so it serves as a rule of instruction to suffer them after his example First this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or suffer hath reference to Christ the Housholder First to Christ the Housholder or owner of the field The will of God is as single and simple as his nature yet is it expressed and signified by general signs as both Lombard and Aquinas teach 1. His precept councel and operation in respect of good 2. His prohibition and permission of Evil So that sufferance is an act of God's will concerning sin which he neither commands nor counsels nor brings to passe But prohibits and yet gives way to both at once Of all the mysteries of Religion Praecipit ac prohibet permittit consulit implet there is none more intricate and involved There is not a more vexed question and disquisition than that which respects Gods concourse in sinful actions wherein there is equal danger of running into each extreme either by laying an attainder upon divine justice who is purity and holiness it self and is not a God that loveth wickedness as David speaks Psal 5.4 as if he were any way guilty or accessory to our sins or by charging and challenging of Gods providence as if he were a bare spectator and over-seer who by his All-seeing Eye did only foresee things to come but by any active power did no way interpose and intermeddle in our affairs And the reconciling of both these together the clearing Gods Justice and Providence in this particular is a point of no less difficulty than importance And this one word in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or suffer doth compromise the difference and as an indifferent Vmpire or Moderator equally determines and states the question for both attributes For first Christ suffers these Tares not involuntarily or against his will which would argue either ignorance or impotency and want of power but in a voluntary and willing manner concurring as an universal cause to the sustentation of the creature to the natural being of their sinful actions though not to the moral defect and sinfulness And yet ordering their sins to his own ends the manifestation of his glory both of his Justice and Mercy by his over-ruling and all-disposing providence Secondly though Christ suffers yet he only suffers the children of the wicked he doth not inwardly excite and move them unto sin not outwardly prescribe and command it in his word not operatively effect or work nor approve and allow it being once committed All which are so many arguments of the holiness of his nature and the exquisiteness of his Justice Christ suffers the Tares willingly and therein gives testimony to his Providence but he only suffers he is not the Author that shews his Justice If then we desire and seek resolution in the point touching the proper and direct cause of evil we shall not find it like unto the River Nilus the head whereof could not be discovered Nor need we rack and torture our thoughts with Saint Austin in a busie and too too curious inquisition which moved him to turn Manichee But we may resolve it into the liberty of mans will as the only impulsive and effcient cause of his own sin void indeed of any inward principle of corcuption and endowed with sufficiency of gifts and abilities to resist temptation and yet mutable in his state and condition into the wily subtilty and spiteful malice of the Devil as the procatartical and moving cause outwardly inviting and inveagling him with his suggestions And into the free pormission of the will of God leaving man in the hand