body to life againe as Peter did Dorcas Acts 9. but it was a greater power for a dead body to raise up a dead body to life as the bones of the dead Prophet Elisha the dead man that was cast in haste and by chance into his grave 2 Kings 13.7 but it was the greatest power of all for a dead man to raise up himselfe unto life againe and so did Christ and so did never any but Christ neither shall any ever doe it againe he onely had power to lay downe his life and he onely had power to take it up againe Iohn 10. and he rose againe from the dead nunquam moriturus never to dye any more death hath no more dominion over him so then I may truly say with Saint Austine Non babuit divinitas quò se demitteret humiliùs neque habuit humanitas quò se attolleret altiùs the Godhead could not possibly descend any lower then to take the weake nature of man and the manhood could not possibly ascend any higher then to be united personally unto the Sonne of God And so I come to the power of Gods Grace which is made perfect in the weaknesse of mans sufferings here in this life which is my second point Which that you may the better understand I will shew you how the power of Gods grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of mankinde and of the weakest of mankinde and in the greatest sufferings that the weake nature of man can beare I will touch upon all the severall kindes of weaknesse vvherein the power of Gods grace is made perfect And first this power of Gods Grace is perfected in the weaknesse of mankinde no creature under heaven is capable of Gods Grace but only man men made of flesh and bloud made of dust and slime sinfull men have this treasure of Gods Grace in vasis testaceis in earthen vessells that the excellency of the povver may be of God and not of men 2 Cor. 4.7 We are cophini seminis coelestis the baskets vvherein the seed of Gods word is put vvhich is able to save our soules vve are the cabinets wherein the pretious jewells of the blessed Spirit of God are kept and what singular lights of Grace hath God made many men in the knowledge of his sacred Word in vvorkes of piety and charity and in holinesse of life 2. This power of Gods Grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of young children for unto many of them God gave wisdome before years and grace before discretion and the Spirit of God before the understanding of a man Daniel a young youth inspired by God convinced and condemned to death the two lust-breathing Elders for their false witnesse against chaste Susanna and Samuel a younger then he in his little coat ministred before the Lord being girded with a linnen Ephod unto whom the Lord revealed himselfe in a vision and told the young childe what he meant to doe against old Ely the Priest for the iniquity of his house but children younger then these cried in the Temple when Christ came into it Hosanna to the sonne of David which when the chiefe Priests and Scribes heard and saw they said unto Christ in a mocking manner hearest thou what these say and Jesus replied unto them yea have ye never read out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise Matth. 21.15.16 which words cannot be meant of babes and sucklings in Christ as many Divines would have them for it is no wonder that they being of yeares doe praise God but they are to be understood of babes and sucklings in nature as Calvin rightly expounds and so they agree very well with Christs answer to the mocking Priests and Scribes as if he should have said it is no wonder that little children that can speake and goe up and downe doe praise God when as out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings who cannot goe nor speake God hath perfected his praise but when and how this was so I can better beleeve then understand and more easily admire then expresse Thirdly the power of Gods Grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of the weaker sex of mankinde you shall finde in the Old Testament as many holy women as men and in the New Testament as many women beleevers as men and in the Church Calenders as many women Saints and Martyrs as men who shall be renowned in the Church for their faith holinesse and other Christian vertues as long as the Gospell shall be preached in the world and Christ appeared first after his resurrection unto women and by them declared his resurrection unto men dum Apostoli dubitant faeminae credunt saith Saint Ierome and while the Apostles were incredulous the women beleeved thus hath God shewed the strength of his Grace in their infirmity and the power of his Spirit in the weaknesse of their nature that they should glory not in themselves but in the grace of God and in his mercy and goodnesse Fourthly the power of Gods Grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of the lowest condition of men in the weaknesse of ignorance basenesse and poverty there are three things which the world admires Wisdome Power Riches all which God neglected in the calling of men to the Gospell of Christ in the infancy thereof for not many wisemen after the flesh not many mighty not many noble were called at the first but God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the vvise and God chose the weak things of the vvorld to confound the mighty and base things of the vvorld and things which are despised did God chuse and things vvhich were not to bring to nought things that were that no flesh should glory in his presence 1 Cor. 1. Deus ab infirmioribus incaepit and therefore Christ chose to be his Apostles no disputing Logicians no witty Poets no eloquent Orators no subtlie Mathamatitians no deep Philosophers no wise States-man no mighty Princes but poore simple and unlearned fishermen and by them he drew whole nations of men into the net of the Church scientia piscatorum stultam fecit scientiam Philosophorum saith Saint Ambrose the preaching of Christ crucified not by great scholars but by ignorant men not with wit and eloquence but with simplenesse and plainnesse not pleasing to flesh and bloud but contrary to nature and reason and therby to perswade Orators and Phiosophers and the mighty men of the world yea the very enemies and perfecutors of Christian Religion in the height of all their menacies and most cruell torments to beleive and to imbrace the Gospell of Christ and in so short a time too declared plainly to all the world that the power of Gods grace was made perfect in the weaknesse of ignoance basenesse and poverty And all this was done thus that the conversion of the world unto Christ might not be ascribed to the wisdome of man but to the power of Gods grace But there are
glory or to put any confidence in dust What miraculous things did God worke by Moses rod a plaine sticke a Shepheards staffe which hee carried in his hand the wildernesse to rule his sheep with which Moses afterward called virgam Dei the rod of God Exod. 4.20 and all this was to shew the power of Gods hand in the weaknesse of a small contemptible piece of Wood. When the walls of the City of Jericho fell downe flat onely with the blast of the trumpets of Rams hornes and with the shout of 〈◊〉 people Ios 6.20 Was not the power of Gods arme shewed in weaknesse It had been an easie matter for Samson alone in his great strength quickly to have killed many thousands with a sword in his hand but when hee slew a thousand men onely with the jaw bone of an Asse which he found by chance and all before he cast it away out of his hand Iudg. 15.15 Then God shewed indeed the strength of his owne arme in weaknesse VVhen Elias with his mantle divided the waters of Jordan hither and thither and made a dry vvalke for himselfe and his servant to passe thorow the River 2 King 2.8 and when the bones of Elizeus raised a dead man unto life againe 2 King 13.21 vvhose corpse vvas cast in hast into the Sepulchre of the Prophet and that as soone as ever the dead body did but touch the dead Prophets bones did not God manifest the power of his hand in the vveaknesse of those things God made young Daniel and his three companions fairer and fatter in flesh vvith nothing but pulse and water then all the children of their sort were with the daily provision of the Kings meat and of his wine Dan. 1.15 The New Testament affords as many demonstrations of this maxime as the Old how that God hath perfected the power of his Arme in poore inconsiderable and contemptible things by the touchonly of the hem of Christs garment all diseases were perfectly cured Matth. 14.36 nay with handkerchers that were brought from Saint Pauls body not onely diseases but evill spirits departed from men Acts 19.12 nay with the very shadow of Peter passing through the streets of Jerusalem sicke folke were healed Acts 5.15 Nay more God hath shewed the power of his hand in the weaknesse not onely of contemptible but also of contrary things for Christ opened the eyes of one that was borne blinde with clay and spittle Iohn 9.6.11 enough to have put out his eyes if he could have seene well before nam lutum sputum quid adoculum saith Saint Austine And here by the way I cannot but observe how the Papists abuse and dishonour this power of Gods hand by transferring the honour due to God unto the weaknesse of the creature by their grosse superstâ—tion and idolatry in the veneration and worship of reliques and unto their superstition in practice they adde error in doctrine for they teach that there is an inherent vertue in those things wherein God once shewed the power of his hand whereas indeed there is none at all no more then there is in a course canvasse bag after the gold is all powred out And unto their errour they adde imposture for they deceive people with counterfeit reliques and unto their imposture they adde filthy lucre for the great Demetrius of Rome and his craftsmen make great gaine by their reliques And unto their cursed gaine they adde their temptations of Gods power by their superstitious addresses unto their reliques expecting miracles and cures and helpes from them But I leave them with their reliques and proceed to shew you how God hath not onely perfected the power of his arme in the weaknesse of the creatures below man but also and especially in the weaknesse of man himselfe Who would ever have thought that Moses an infant exposed to destruction in an arke of bulrushes should afterwards have beene the deliverer of all Gods people Who would ever have imagined that Ioseph being sold for a bond-slave to strange Merchants should afterwards have beene Lord over all Aegypt VVho would ever have believed that David the youngest of his fathers sonnes of whom little or no account at all was made and therefore his father brought him not with the rest of his brethren to the sacrifice but left him in the field with his sheep I say who would ever have beleeved that hee should have beene called immediately from following the Ewes great with young and have beene annointed King over Israel and have changed his shepheards crooke for a royall Scepter but this was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes And we have seene by experience that God hath raised up meane mens sons to be very great instruments of his glory both in Church and Commonwealth according to the saying of David God raiseth the poore out of the dust and the needy out of the dunghill that hee may set him with Princes even with the Princes of his people Psal 113.7.8 But the power of Gods arme was then made perfect indeed in the weaknesse of man beyond all admiration in the resurrection of our blessed Saviour from the dead Cumfactor mundi factus est in mundo when he that made the world was made in the world when the Potter was made of his owne clay when he that is immense was shut up in the Virgins wombe when the ancient of dayes was not a day old when eternity beganne in time when the Word was made Flesh an infant and could not speake when the incarnate God God and Man in one person did hunger and thirst and was weary and slept and wept and was sorrowfull and suffered paines and was crucified and dyed and was buried then was he Deus verè absconditus a hidden God indeed as the Prophet speakes Esay 45.15 then was the power of his arme hidden in the weaknesse of man But when he rose againe from the dead then was he declared to be the Sonne of God with power Rom. 1.4 then was the power of his arme made perfect manifested and openly shewed in the weakenesse of flesh When Christ was dead and laid in his grave and the stone was sealed ne mors exire aut vita intrare possit as Chrysologus irronically speakes of the chiefe Priests and Pharisees least death should chance to steal out or life happen to creep in the Divells thought all was cock sure they did even laugh to themselves and dance as it were upon the Sepulchre for joy singing their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and triumphant songs surely he is now so low that he can never rise againe then even then did he rise againe from the dead and perfect the power of his arme in the greatest weaknesse of humane nature Gemina virtus revixit praedixit saith Chrysologus here was a double power he did not onely rise from the dead but he foretold that he would rise It was a great power for a living man to raise a dead
those now who misunderstanding this text and other Scriptures of the like nature affirme that as simple and ignorant men did heretofore without any learning or premeditation at all preach and expound the mysteries of God by the power of Gods Spirit so simple and ignorant men may do the like now and why because the power of Gods Spirit is the same still that it was and bloweth where it listeth and therefore may be perfected as well in their weaknesse now as it was in the weaknesse of others in former times but this is no good plea and therefore they that put the spirit to this now deceives themselves and tempt the power of Gods blessed Spirit for there is a great deale of difference in the times God gave the gifts of illumination and of knowledge to simple and ignorant men by inspiration extraordinary and miraculously in the infancy of the Gospel and it was fit for those times for the reason before mentioned but now in a fetled Church such miracles are ceased and God gives divine knowledge and understanding unto men by labour industry and study but God doth still make perfect the power of his grace in the weaknesse of simple and unlearned by bestowing upon them the spirit of regeneration and sanctification and therfore the most simple and illiterate man alive may beleeve as well and as much as the greatest Clerk in the world and he that weareth the linnen frock may be as holy as he that is brought up in scarlet feedeth delicatly and the mayd servant that is behind the mill yea the beggar that imbraceth the dunghill may bee as rich in faith and in grace as he that sitteth in a throne of glory Fifthly the power of Gods grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of temptations And to apply the medicine to the malady this was the Apostles case God suffers his children to come many times in their temptations ad ripam unto the very brinke of dispaire and perdition and then the power of his grace helps them for God is faithfull and will not suffer us to bee tempted above our ability but when the temptation is at the highest then he will make a way for us to escape 1 Cor. 10. God permits Satan to tempt us and his temptations are the soarest of all but he will not suffer him to overcome us latrare potest mordere non potest saith Saint Augustine Hee thinkes by his temptations to breake us and to take us and hold us captive at his will but indeed hee takes himselfe in his owne Gins The more weight is laid upon an Arch the stronger it is and the winds which shake the trees makes them faster at the rootes Satans temptations like bellowes blow and kindle that holy fire that is within our breasts even the power of Gods grace let us not then be afraid of temptations For qui hortatur ut pugnemus adjuvat aut vincamus saith Saint Ambroose He that incourageth us to incounter with temptations doth and will helpe us by his grace to overcome them Et habebimus victoriam in eo quae nunquam victus est and we shall be more then conquerours through him who for our sakes was tempted and overcome that we in him might overcom also when we are tempted The arrowes which are often shot against a rock are so blunted that afterwards they can do little or no harme at all now Christ hath so blunted all the arrowes and darts of Satans temptations by his resistance that though they hit us yet they cannot hurt us Sixthly the power of Gods grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of our humiliation for our sinnes when a man is ashamed to lift up so much as his eies to heaven when a man humbles himselfe and afflicts his soule with weeping and mourning for his sinnes when a man denies himselfe and believes in his heart and confesseth that he is the greatest sinner in the world when a man judgeth himselfe not onely unworthy of the least of all Gods mercies but also most worthy of all the paines and torments in hell for offending God when a man loathes himselfe in his owne sight for the sinnes which he hath committed when a man abhorres himselfe and repents in dust and ashes Yea when a man brings himselfe downe so low that the shadow of death rests upon his eye lids and his speech whispers out of the dust as it is Esay 29.4 then doth the power of Gods grace begin to be made perfect in him then doth God come nigh to him to dwell with him and to save him for he that is on high will dwell with him that is of an humble and contrite spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the spirit of the contrite to heale his sin-broken heart and to bind up his wounds of sorrow Esay 57.18 Psal 143.3 And then what consolation in Christ what peace of conscience what joy in the holy Ghost doth the power of Gods grace presently produce in his soule which none can understand but hee that feeles and none can feele but the child of God the truely penitent sinner Peccator de peccato dolet de dolore gaudet saith Saint Augustine the penitent sinner sorroweth for his sinnes and rejoyceth in his repentance unam fudi lachrimam unam inveni consolationem I shed one teare for my sinnes and I found thereupon one comfort decem fudi lachrymas decem inveni consolationes I shed ten teares for my sinnes I found as many comforts for the same quantumcunque fuit pondus lachrymarum tantus fuit numerus consolationum and as the weight of my teares increased for my sinnes so the number of Gods comforts increased in my soule according to the saying of the Psalmist In the multitude of the sorrowes even of the sorrowes for my sinnes which I had in my heart thy comforts have rejoyced my soule Psal 94.19 Lastly the power of Gods grace is made perfect in the weaknesse of sicknesse and of all manner of sufferings unto which the weake nature of man is subject And first in the weaknesse of sicknesse When Iacob was sicke in his bed unto death and ready to give up the Ghost and when his eyes were dimme with age that hee could not see yet then did hee foresee and foretell what should befall the twelve tribes of Israel in the last daies what high and mysterious prophecies did he then deliver in the several blessings of his twelve Sons and with whatstrength of words you may reade in the 29. of Genesis When Iob was smitten with sore boyls from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head when he sate down among the ashes and scraped himselfe with a potsheard when his skin was black and broken and his bones were burnt with heate when he could not swallow his spittle and when he took his flesh in his teeth when the poisoned arrowes of the Almighty dranke up his spirits and his reines
were cleft asunder when his breath was strange to his owne servants nay to his owne wife when his sighes were the musicke to his meate and his rorings were powred out like water then behold the power of Gods Grace was perfected indeed in weaknesse then ecce Margaritae in sterquilinio behold what inestimable pearles were found upon the muckhill what an eloquent and divine Preacher Iob was upon the dunghill what celestiall sermons did he then make of Gods power of his providence and of his Iustice of mans misery the shortnesse of this life and the resurrection after death all as full of sweet and heavenly consolation as his body was then of loathsome sores Anima morbo affecta Deo propinqua What Angelicall meditations what divine raptures what heavenly ejaculations what strong consolation what powerfull exhortations what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full assurance of faith what victories over temprations what swanlike songs what longings to be dissolved and to bee with Christ what imbracements of death have many heart-sick and dying Christians shewed upon t heir beds and dying Christians shewed upon their beds of languishing by the power of Gods grace even to the admiration of the standers by according to the saying of David Psal 138.3 In the day when I cried unto the Lord he indued my soule with much strength with what strength but onely with the strength of grace in his soule But questionlesse many of you that heare mee here this day have both seene these powers of Grace in them whom God hath brought low by sicknesse and also have felt the like in your own soules when the hand of God hath beene upon you and therefore I need not presse this point any further And this power of Gods Grace is not oney made perfect in the weaknesse of sicknesse by also in the weaknesse of the greatest sufferings of man When my Father and my Mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up saith David Psal 27.10 that is when the neerest and dearest friends that we liave in this world either wil not or cannot come to helpe us when there is no man to comfort us then doth the power of Gods Grace begin to shew it selfe in us no distance of place no close prison no disconsolate dungeon no Guard no lockes no iron gates can keepe the power of the blessed Spirit of God the Comforter from us but he will come in to us wheresoever we are as he did unto Ionas in the belly of the Whale And if God shew the power of his Grace in the weaknesse of men when they suffer for their sinnes how much more will he shew the same when they suffer innocently and without cause but above all when they suffes for Gods cause and for the Gospells sake as the Martyrs did who when they heard the noise of whips and other instruments of cruelty prepared for them though they heard sweet and heavenly musicke founding in their eares who kisted and imbraced the stakes whereat they were burnt playing with the flames and trying the power thereof beforehand as that blessed Protestant Mattyr Archbishop Cranwer did who burned his recanting hand in the fire before his sould ascended towards heaven in the flames who laughed bloud-thirsty Tyrants to scorne even to their faces despising their cruelties while they were more wearied in devising new exquisite torments and practising strange kinds of deaths upon the Martyrs then the Martrys were in induring them yea while the tormentors were more vexed at the patience comfort courage faith and joy of the Martyrs then the Martyrs were with their tortures And what was the reason of all this why because the power of Gods Grace was made perfect in their weaknesse Et vilis est omnis poena ubi virtus Dei est gloriae culestis expectatio and all kinds of torments and of deaths are despised and contemned where the power of Gods Spiritis and the expectation of heavenly glory And here I pray see the difference betweene the sufferings of Christ and the sufferings of the Martyrs of Christ when Christ suffered his soule was heavy unto death Deus subtraxit protectonem sed non dissolvit unionem God did not dissolve the union of the divine and humane nature but only withdrew his protection so that hee cried out upon the Crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me which was not vox desperantis the voice of one despairing for he called him his God twice together but vox admirantis the voice of one admiring that God this Father should with hold all the sweet influences of his heavenly assistance from him in his greatest extremity no helpe no ayd no succour no comfort at all then from heaven but the humane nature of Christ was then left naked to it selfe there was none to comfort me said David in the person of Christ Psal 69.21 none at all neither man nor God neither creature nor Creator but Christ as man was left alone to himselfe and all this was done that our Saviour might fully satisfie the justice of God for our sins But contrarily now the Martyrs of Christ went joyfully to their deathes because as their torments increased upon them so the power of Gods grace incleased in them and the more their sufferings did abound the more did Gods comforts superabound in them But if Almighty God had withdrawne the beames of his gratious assistance from them but a little while yea if God had but turned away his face from them but a moment they would not only have been troubled as the Psalmist speaketh but they would have trembled and their knees would have smitten one against another at the sight of an officers halbart bart and at the apprehension of death they would have sunke downe presently into the very gulfe of despaire And so I come to the third consideration of his power which is the power of Gods glory and this glorious power of God is made perfect in the weaknes of corruption consumption and as it were annihilation of bodies by the renovation of the creatures generally for the creature it selfe shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Rom 8.21 but especially the glorious resurrection of our bodies at the last day according to the working of Gods power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe Phil. 3. And in this weak base and ignominious condition of our bodies after death shall the power of Gods glory be made perfect yea though our bodies make such a strange and long Pilgrimage thorow corruption unto nothing as S. Cyrill speakes of though they bee devoured of fishes and those fishes be eaten up of men and those men be turned into dust and that dust be scattered by the foure winds yet god can picke up all our parts againe and give every one his owne body redhibentibus ea ignibus undis alxis ferarum lactibus piscium ipsorum