born of the spirit is spirit And herein is the excellency of those Comforts which we gather in this Paradise the Word of God above those we rake up in the wilderness the vain and vast inventions of the world First they are more general As the light they shine from one end of the world to the other upon the whole Microcosm the whole little world of Man upon the whole mass of Evil and body of sin Nothing no evil is hid or removed from the light and influence of them They reach David in his flight and they reach him in his bed of tears They refresh the Lazar at the Gate and they refresh the Sinner at the mouth of Hell They raise us from the dunghill and when sin hath taken hold of us they lift up our head Some faint and shallow comforts even the Heathen found out and that but for some miseries but here is an amulet against all These comforts do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ruine round the whole army of miseries and defeat them all A wounded spirit who can bear And a wounded spirit what Philosopher could ever cure What Gilead what balm had they to heal it Being without this Word they were without God in the world They hung as it were upon a cross tormented as it were between these two Fear of punishment and a miserable Ignorance how to avoid it between some light and utter darkness The medicine which must cure a wounded spirit is to be found not in schola Platonis in Plato's School but in portica Solomonis in the Porch of Solomon in the Temple in the Word of God where he is manifested in whom all the treasuries of Comfort and Peace are hid the Mediatour Christ Jesus Rom. 5.10 who died to reconcile us to God Secondly comforts drawn from Scripture are solid and true being built upon a surer foundation upon the unchangeable and everlasting will of God who as he hath made us fit for such impressions obnoxious and liable to all those evils which either he sends or permits to fall upon us so he hath also fitted and proportioned a salve for every sore a remedy for every evil and hath made our selves the elaboratories and assemblies to extract and distill them He hath made us both the patients and physicians and hath directed us to this Garden of Eden this fruitful seed-plot the Scripture even to this Tree of Life whose leaves are to heal the Nations The Philosophers Comforts were like their Virtues faint and void of life but paper-comforts begotten either by meditation or by a continual habit of sufferings by abandoning all natural affections by comparing a less evil with a greater They had lost something but retained something still by comparing of Times the present with the future It is now evil it will be better and so leaping over their misery and carryed beyond it on the wings of Hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a word by Example by the End by fatal Necessity by Continency and Chance which are but idols and so Nothing in this World These were their Topicks a thin and bare shelter for a man to repose himself in when the Storms of misery beat upon him But the Word of God which is his Will and Mind evermore attended with his Omnipoteny chafeth them all away as the Sun doth a mist pulls out the sting of Death and the sense of every evil makes Afflictions the messengers and angels of God sent and commanded and directed by him swayed and governed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his hand of Providence 1 Cor. 10.13 which first tempers them to our strength and then maketh them as the weapons of righteousness to destroy Sin and such evils as prevent a greater evil for we are therefore chastned that we may not be condemned 1 Cor. 11.32 and lastly makes them in this span of time this moment work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory These are the Divine Topicks or rather Demonstrations The Goodness the Wisdom the Providence of God are Premisses aeternae veritatis eternally and unchangeably true And out of them if we depend upon them we can draw no other Conclusion but Comfort Other comforts are but phantasmes and apparitions these are Angels Others are but as lightning dammicant exstinguuntur they are exstinguisht in the very flash These are those Everlasting Burnings which never go out Others are as deceitful as the Serpent which suggests them like the forbidden fruit We take them that we may not dye and we dye by taking them But these are as God himself True as he is true and lasting as he is lasting Other waters soone are turned into bloud but this reteins both its colour and nature and springs up into everlasting life And thus you see what a store-house of Comfort what a paradise the Scripture is But yet we must be very careful how we gather Comforts from thence and how we apply them And we must fit and prepare our selves to receive them The Wisdom of God is the best guide but it will not sustein him who delights to walk in slippery places The Providence of God reacheth unto all but it will not protect him who loveth danger His Mercy is over all his works but it will not cover a stubborn unrepentant sinner As Jehu said to Jorams Horsman What hast thou to do with peace So what comfort can the foolish man find in the Wisdom the careless in the Providence or he that is cruel to himself in the Mercy of God yet God remains still the same the wise the provident the merciful God the Holy One of Israel When we need Comfort here it is to be found but it will not fit every one that needs it It is the property of men in any perplexity to seek for ease and comfort si non inveniant facient if they find none they will frame some to themselves and cull out that part of Scripture which will not fit them as men in distress will lay hold on that which will not help them There be very few Rachels in the world that will not be comforted the most either seek out false Comforts or apply true ones falsly and so make that their poyson which well and rightly applyed would have been an antidote Judas would not make use of rich and pretious balm of Mercy yet how many misapply it and so break their necks and forfeit their souls and fall into the same place into which he did Many will not say what St. James says they ought to say If the Lord will we will do this or that and yet will do what the Lord hateth upon this presumption that he wills it How many walk safely under the Canopy of Gods Providence and how many doth their Presumption tumble down when they think they are under it How many will not be wise nor provident how many are ungracious upon no other motive then this that Gods Wisdom and
can imagine there can be any man that can so hate himself as deliberately to cast himself into hell and run from happiness when it appeareth in so much glory He cannot say Amen to Life who killeth himself For that which leaveth a soul in the grave is not Faith but Phansie When we are told that Honour cometh towards us that some Golden shower is ready to fall into our laps that Content and Pleasure will ever be near and wait upon us how loud and hearty is our Amen how do we set up an Assurance-office to our selves and yet that which seemeth to make its approach towards us is as uncertain as Uncertainty it self and when we have it passeth from us and as the ruder people say of the Devil leaveth a noysome and unsavoury sent behind it and we look after it and can see it no more But when we are told that Christ liveth for evermore and is coming is certainly coming with reward and punishment vox faucibus haeret we can scarce say Amen So be it To the World and the pomp thereof we can say Amen but to Heaven and Eternity we cannot say Amen or if we do we do but say it For conclusion then The best way is to draw the Ecce and the Amen the Behold and our Assurance together so to study the Death and the Life the eternal Life and the Power of our Saviour that we may be such Proficients as to be able with S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 3.11 to meet the Resurrection to look for and hasten the coming of the Lord when his Life and Eternity and Power shall shine gloriously to the terrour of those who persecute his Church and to the comfort of those who suffer for Righteousness sake when that Head which was a forge of mischief and cruelty and that Hand which touched the Lords anointed Psal 105.15 and did his Prophets harm shall burn in hell for ever when that Eye which would not look on vanity shall be filled with glory when that Ear which hearkned to his voice shall hear nothing but Hallelujahs and the musick of Angels when that Head which was ready to be laid down for this living everling powerful Lord shall be lifted up and crowned with glory and honour for evermore Which God grant unto us for Christ's sake A SERMON Preached on Whitsunday JOHN XVI 13. Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come he will guide 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 memorial of his Coming a memorial of that miraculous and unusual sound Acts 2.2 3. 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 the holy Ghost came then in solemn state upon the Disciples in a manner seen and heard so he cometh though not so visibly yet effectually to us upon whom the ends of the world are come that we may remember it though not in a mighty wind yet he rattleth our hearts together though no house totter at his descent yet the foundations of our very souls are shaken no fire appeareth 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 descendeth both as an Instructer and as a Comforter secretly and sweetly by his word characterizing the soul and imprinting that saving knowledge which none of the Princes of this world had not forcing or drawing by violence but sweetly leading and guiding us into all truth In the words we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Epiphany or Apparition of the blessed Spirit as Nazianzene speaketh or rather the Promise of his coming and appearance And if we will 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 40.7 For in the volume of the book it is written of him that the Spirit of the Lord should rest upon him Isa 11.2 and I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh Joel 2.28 Christus Legis Spiritus Sanctus Evangelii complementum Christ's Advent for the fulfilling of the Law and the Spirit 's for the fulfilling and compleating of the Gospel Christ's Advent to redeem the Church and the Spirit 's 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 Isa 61.2 Luke 4.19 to preach the acceptable year of the Lord and the Spirit to interpret it For we may soon see that the one will little avail without the other Christ's Birth Death and Passion and glorious Resurrection are but a story in Archivis good news sealed up a Gospel hid till the Spirit come and open it and teach us to know him and the virtue and power of his resurrection and make us conformable to his death Phil 3.10 This is the sum of these words And in this we shall pass by these steps or degrees First we will carry our thoughts to the promise of the Spirit 's Advent the miracle of this day Cùm venerit When he the Spirit of truth is come in a sound to awake the Apostles in wind to move them in fire to enlighten and warm them in tongues to make them speak Acts 2.2 3. Secondly we will 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 pronoun ILLE when He 2. nomen Naturae a name expressing his Nature He is the Spirit of truth and then we cannot be ignorant whose Spirit he is In the second we shall find nomen Officii a name of Office and Administration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a leader or conducter in the way For so the Holy Ghost vouchsafed to be the Apostles leader and conducter that they might not erre but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep on in a straight 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 of the large Extent of this Lesson 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He leadeth into all truth Thirdly of the Method and Manner of his discipline It is a gentle and effectual leading He driveth us not he draweth us not by violence but he taketh us as it were by the hand and guideth and leadeth us into all truth Cùm venerit ille Spiritus veritatis First though we are told by some
abettor nay as a principal in those actions which Nature it self abhorreth and trembleth at is worse than out of errour to deny him For what a Spirit what a Dove is that which breatheth nothing but gall and wormwood but fire and brimstone What a Spirit is that which is ever pleading and purveying for the Flesh which is made to bear witness to a ly Petrarch telleth us Nihil importunius erudito stulto that there is not a more troublesome creature in the world than a learned fool So the Church of Christ and Religion never suffered more than by carnal 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 wickedness not only with greediness but cum privilegio with priviledge and authority which whilest others doubt of though it be not only an errour but blasphemy yet parciùs insaniunt they are not so outragiously mad Yet we must not put the Spirit from his office because dreams or rather the evaporations of mens lusts do pass 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 goeth 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 appear in a double shape and proportion geminae Thebae gemini soles two Cities and two Suns for one but I cannot hence conclude that all sober men find it 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 fundamental truth this were 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 means to try and distinguish the Spirits instructions from the suggestions of Satan or from those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those mishapen lumps and abortive births of a sick and loathsome brain or from our private humour which is as great a Devil John 14.1 Beloved saith S. John 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 chairs and dictate magisterially what they please in the name of the Spirit when themselves are carnal And he giveth a rule by which we should try them v. 2. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God that is Whosoever striveth to advance the Kingdome of Christ and to set up the Spirit against the Flesh to magnifie the Gospel to promote men in the wayes of innocency and perfect obedience which infallibly lead to happiness 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 Joh 14.3 and so draw us to him that where he is there 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 praiseworthy under feet to make way for mens unruly Lust to place it more delicately to its end they that magnifie Gods will that they may do their own these men these spirits cannot be from God Matth. 7.20 By their fruits you shall know them Their hypocrisie as well and cunningly wrought as it is is but poor cob-web-lawn and we may easily see through it We may see these spiritual men sweating and toyling for the flesh these spirits digging in the minerals and making haste to be rich Though GLORIA PATRI Glory be to God on high be to the Prologue to the Play and what doth an Hypocrite but play yet the whole drift and business of every Scene and Act is to draw and conclude all in this Acts 19.25 From hence we have our gain The Angel or the Spirit speaketh first and is the Prologue and Mammon and the Flesh make up the Epilogue Date manus Why should not every man clap his hands Surely such Roscii such nimble cunning Actours deserve a Plaudite By their fruits you shall know them What Spirit soever they have it is not of God Nothing more contrary to the flesh than Gods Spirit therefore he cannot lead this way nor can he teach any thing that may flatter or countenance it There is nothing more against his nature Fire may descend the Earth may be removed out of its place Nature may change her course at the word and beck of the God of nature but this one thing God cannot do He cannot change himself nor can his Spirit breath any doctrine forth which savoureth of the World of the Flesh of Corruption Therefore we may nay we must suspect all those doctrines and actions which are said to be the effects and products of the blessed Spirit when we observe them drawn out and levelled to carnal ends and temporal respect For sure the Spirit can never beat a bargain for the World and the Truth of God is the most unproportioned price that can be laid out on such a purchase When I see a man roll his eyes compose his countenance order and methodize his gesture as if he were now on his death-bed to take his leave of the world when I hear him loud in Prayer and as loud in reviling the iniquity of the times when I see him startle at a misplaced word as if it were a thunder-bolt when I hear him cry as loud for a reformation as the Idolatrous Priests did upon Baal I begin to think I see an Angel in his flght and mount going up into heaven But then after all this exstatical devotion after all this zeal and in the midst of all this noyse when I see him stoop like the vulture and fly like lightning to the prey I cannot but say within my self Oh Lucifer Isa 14.12 15. Son of the morning how art thou fallen from heaven how art thou brought down to the ground nay to hell it self Sure I am the Spirit of truth looketh upward moveth upward directeth upward to those things which are above and if we follow him neither our doctrine nor our actions will ever savour of this dung So then we see this inconvenience and mischief which sometimes is occasioned by this doctrine of the Spirit 's Leading is not unavoidable It is not necessary though I mistake and take the Devil for an Angel of light that the holy Ghost should be put to
yet are themselves still as greedy and rapacious as before They take up the Cross but it is to lay it on other mens shoulders They follow Christ but as Peter did afar off or rather as the Jews to crucify him They fight against the world that is against one another who shall possess it For even this we do not do not fill our coffers but in the name of Christ and Religion They lay hold on Christ but it is to carry him along with them to promote and further their designes They love him it is plain they do and yet give him not a cup of cold water when he beggeth at their door They love him as they do one another till it is put to the trial They are adopted but not of his family regenerated but are liker the Father of lies then him they pretend to They are called and converted for they know the very hour 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 it is the world still James 3.6 Sen. Controv. even a world of wickedness As the Oratour 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 cross 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 are words of holy Writ the language of the Spirit of God and they are all full and significant nor can I give you a fairer interpretation of my Text He that denieth himself walketh in Christ He that loveth Christ walketh in him he that is adopted regenerate converted walketh in Christ But this is too general and I see but ill use made of these excellent expressions They should make us better but through our own wilfull folly they make us worse For we may shape our selves how we list in our phansie and be quite the contrary We will therefore interpret this Walk in Christ by that of S. Paul Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called 1 Cor. 7.20 Grot. in loc Where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was called pointeth out and designeth 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 break Relations or to disturb Common-wealths not to shut up the Tradesmans shops not to block up the sea to the Merchant not to take the Husband man from the plough I may do all these and yet deny my self and take up the Cross and fight against the world Or rather I cannot do all these unless I do the other I cannot abide in one calling as I should unless I walk worthy of the other not be a good Merchant unless I be a good Christian that we doubt not nay but not walk in Christ unless we walk in our Calling The life saith S. Paul Gal. 3.2 which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God that is Those things which I do pertaining to the flesh and which this natural and mortal life requireth as to eat drink converse with others and to seek my meat by the sweat of my brows which may seem to have no relation to a spiritual 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 Star and my Compass 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 natural and civil actions as far as they are capable of honesty or dishonesty pertain or have reference to Faith For although Christ's Religion do not necessitate or compel 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 fair correspondency and obedience to Reason and the Will of God the Faith and Religion of Christ being practical and having that force and efficacy which may be shewn and manifested in all the civil actions of our life As the Jewish Rabbines report of the Manna the children of Israel ate in the wilderness that it had this wonderful property Wisd 16.21 that it would fit it self to every mans tast look what viand or meat it was that any was delighted with it would in tast be like unto it so doth Christianity like that 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 several Churches and tell me What is there delivered the Foundation first laid but an Art of governing our selves and of conversing with men 1 Cor. 7.21 Or there it is Art thou called being a servant Eph. 6.9 Art thou called to be a Servant Serve as in the sight of Christ Art thou called to be a Master Remember thou hast a Master in heaven Art thou a Husbandman Religion will hold the plough with thee Art thou a Trades-man It will buy and sell with thee Art thou a Scholar It will study with thee If thou go into the Vineyard Matth. 20. it will bear the heat of the day with thee till the evening and then pay thee thy wages If thou sell it will oversee thy weights and measures If we bargain it will remember us that we defraud not one another 1 Thes 4.6 This counsel was given to the Thessalonians who were most of them men of Trade and Merchants When we speak Ephes 4.25 it biddeth us cast away lying Thus doth Christian Religion spread its beams through every corner of the earth shining upon us at every turn and every motion waiting upon us in every condition of life keeping every man within the bounds of his Calling and of Honesty And whilst we follow this light walk within these bounds stretch not as S. Paul speaketh 2 Cor. 10.14 beyond measure beyond our line we may be truely said to walk in Christ Therefore to make some use of this let us not deceive our selves and think we never walk in Christ but when we walk to Church to hear some news of him that when we have shut him out of our houses and shops we shall be sure to meet with him again at Church If we never serve him but in his own house we have some reason to
hopes or satisfie his lusts or justifie his anger or answer his love or look friendly on that which his wild passions drive him to Opinion is as a wheel on which the greatest part of the world are turned and wheeled about till they fall of several waies into several evils and do scarce touch at Truth in the way Opinion buildeth our Church chuseth our Preacher formeth our Discipline frameth our Gesture measureth our Prayers methodizeth our Sermons Opinion doth exhort instruct correct teach and command If it say Go we go and if it say Do this we do 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 buildeth 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 Acts 26.9 12 14. saith S. Paul and what a whirlwind was that thought It drove him to Damascus with letters and made him kick against the pricks Psal 74.6 Shall I tell you that it was but Phansie that in Davids time beat down the carved works with axes and hammers that 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 Phansie and to deal with it as mothers do 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 Phansie sporteth and pleaseth it self with vain and aery speculations let us suspect and quarrel them and by degrees present unto it the very face of Truth as the Stoick speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epictet sift and winnow our imaginations bring them to the light and as the devout Schoolman speaketh Gerson resolve all our affectual notions by the Accepistis by the Rule and so demolish all those idoles which our Passions by the help of Phansie have set up For why should such a deceit pass unquestioned why should such an imposture scape without a mark 3. But now if we may not walk SICVT VISVM EST as it seemeth good unto us yet we may SICVT VISVM EST SPIRITVI SANCTO as it seemeth good to the holy Ghost Yes for that is to walk 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 learned a cursed art to set them at distance and when the Word turneth from us and will not be drawn up to our Phansie to carry on our pleasing but vain imaginations we then appeal to the Spirit we bring him in either to deny his own 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 witness a lie This we would do but cannot For make what noise we will and boast of his name we are still at Visum est nobis it is but Phansie still it is our own Spirit not the holy Ghost Matth. 24.24 1 John 4.1 For as there be many false Christs so there are many false spirits and we are commanded not to believe 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 layeth claim to it and the Enthusiast layeth 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 forged in that shop of vanities their Phansie Idem Accio Titióque Both are alike in this And if the Pope could perswade me that he never opened his mouth but the Spirit spake by him I would then pronounce him Infallible and place him in the Chair 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 Impostours 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 pretense of the Spirit If I be a Zelote what dare I not do And when I presume I have the Spirit what dare I not say What action so foul which these may not authorize what wickedness imaginable which these may not countenance What evil may not these seal for good and what good may they not call evil 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 transformed into Angels of light and burning Seraphim and have led men upon those Precipies into those works of darkness which no night is dark enough to cover I might here much enlarge my self for it is a subject fitter for a whole 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 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 Eternal happiness is a fair sight and spreadeth its beams and unvaileth its beauty to win our love to allure and draw us And if it draw us we must up and be stirring and walk on to meet it What that devout writer saith of his Monk Climacus 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 hangeth upon him and cloggeth and fettereth him which having once shaken off he not onely walketh but runneth the wayes of Gods commandments Psal 119.32 Rom. 13.13 Again let us walk honestly as in the day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as becometh Christians in our several stations and conditions of life and not think Christ dishonoured if we mingle him with the common actions of our life 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 grossness of the subject and matter they work on may seem to have no savour or relish of that which we call Religion Be not deceived He that thus taketh him in is a Priest and a King the most honourable person
we know he was but a man and we know he erred or else our Church doth in many things It were easie to name them But suppose he had broached as many lies as the Father of them could suggest yet those who in their opinions had raised him to such an height would with an open breast have received them all as oracles and have licked up poison if it had fallen from him For they had the same inducement to believe him when he erred which they had to believe him when he spake the Truth We do not derogate from so great a person we are willing to believe that he was sent from God as an useful instrument to promote the Truth But we do not believe that he sent him as he sent his Son into the world that all his words should be spirit and life John 6.63 that in every word he spake whosoever heard him heard the Father also Thus ye see how Prejudice may arise how it may be built upon a Church and upon a person and may so captivate and depress the Reason that she shall not be able to look up and see and judge of that Truth which we should buy I might instance in others and those too who have reformed the Reformation it self who have placed the Founder of their Sect as a star in a firmament and walk by the light which he casteth and by none other though it come from the Sun it self Who fixing their eye upon him alone follow as he led and in their zele and forward obsequiousness to his dictates many times outgo him and in his name and spirit work such wonders as we have shrunk and trembled at But manum de tabula we forbear lest whilest we strive to charm one serpent we awake an hundred and those such as can bite their brethren as Prejudice doth them I shall but instance in two or three prejudicial opinions which have been as a portcullis shut down against the Truth The first is That the Truth is not to be bought nor obtained by any venture or endeavour of ours but worketh it self into us by an irresistible force so as that when we shall have once got possession of it no principalities or powers no temptation no sin can deprive us of it but it will abide against all storms and assaults all subtilty and violence nay it will not remove though we do what in us lieth to thrust it out so that we may be at once possessours of it and yet enemies to it Now when this opinion hath once gained a kingdome in our heads and we count it a kind of treason or sacrilege to depose it why should we be smitten Isa 1.5 why should we be instructed any more Argument and reason will prove but paper-shot make some noise perhaps but no impression at all What is the tongue of the learned to him who will hearken to none but himself We talk of a preventing Grace to keep us from evil but this is a preventing ungracious perversness to withhold us from the Truth For when that which first speaketh in us which we first speak to our selves or others to us who can comply with that which is much dearer to us then our selves our corrupt humour and carnality when that is sealed and ratified for ever advice and counsel come too late When Prejudice is the onely musick we delight to hear what is the tongue of Men and Angels what are the instructions of the wise but harsh and unpleasant notes abhorred almost as much as the howlings of a damned spirit When we are thus rooted and built up in errour what can shake us It is impossible for us to learn or unlearn any thing For there is no reason we should be untaught that which we rest upon as certain and which we received as an everlasting truth written in our hearts by the finger of God himself and that as we think with an indeleble character Or why should we studie the knowledge of that which will be poured by an omnipotent and irrefragable hand into our minds Who would buy that which shall be forced upon him When the Jew is thus prepossessed when he putteth the Word of God from him Acts 13.46 and judgeth himself unworthy of everlasting life then there is no more to be said then that of the Apostles Lo we turn to the Gentiles Another Prejudice there is powerful in the world somewhat like the former namely a presumption that the Spirit of God teacheth us immediately and that a new light shineth in our hearts never seen before that the Spirit teacheth us not onely by his Word but against it That there is a twofold Word of God 1 Verbum praeparatorium a Word read and expounded to us by the ministery of men 2. Verâ—um consummatorium a Word which consummateth all and this is from the Spirit The one is as John Baptist to prepare the way the other as Christ to finish and perfect the work It pleaseth the Spirit of God say they by his inward operation to illuminate the mind of man with such knowledge as is not at all proposed in the outward Word and to instill that sense which the words do not bear Thus they do not onely lie to the holy Ghost but teach him to dissemble to dictate one thing and to mean another to tell you in your ear you must not do this and to tell you in your heart you may to tell you in his proclamation Matth. 5.21 you may not be angry with your brother and to tell you in secret you may murder him to tell you in the Church Matth. 21.13 you must not make his house a den of thieves and to tell you in your closet you may down with it even to the ground Juven Sat. 8. Inde Dolabella est atque hinc Antonius inde Sacrilegus Verres From hence are wars contentions heresies schismes from hence that implacable hatred of one another which is not in a Turk or a Jew to a Christian For tell me What may not they say or do who dare publish this when their Phansie is wanton It is the Spirit when their Humour is predominant It is the Spirit when their Lust and Ambition carry them on with violence to the most horrid attempts It is the Spirit when they help the Father of lies to fling his darts abroad It is the Spirit It is indeed the Spirit a Spirit of illusion a bold and impudent Spirit that cannot blush For when it is agreed on all sides that all necessary truths are plainly revealed in Scripture what Spirit must that be which is sent into the world to teach us more then all In a word it is a Spirit that teacheth us not that which is but that which our Lusts have already set up for truth A new light which is but a meteor to lead us to those precipices those works of darkness which no night is dark enough to cover Such a Spirit as proceedeth
The treasures thereof are infinite the minerals thereof are rich assiduè pleniùs responsura fodienti The more they are digged the more plentifully do they offer themselves that all the wit of men and Angels can never be able to draw them dry But even this Word many times is but a word and no more Sometimes it is a killing letter Such vain and unskilful pioneers we are that for the most part we meet with poisonous damps and vapours instead of treasure I might adde a third Teacher Christ's Discipline which when we think of nothing but of Jesus by his rod and afflictions putteth us in remembrance that he is the Lord. This Teacher hath a kind of Divine authority and by this the Spirit breatheth many times with more efficacy and power then by the Church or the Word then by the Prophets and Apostles and holy Scriptures For when we are disobedient to his Church deaf to his Word at the noise of these many waters we are afraid and yield our necks unto his yoke All these are Teachers But their authority and power and efficacy they have from the Spirit The Church if not directed by the Spirit were but a rout or Conventicle the Word if not quickned by the Spirit a dead letter and his Discipline a rod of iron first to harden us and then break us to pieces But AFFLAT SPIRITUS the Spirit bloweth upon his Garden the Church and the spices thereof flow And then to disobey the Church is to resist the Spirit INCUBAT SPIRITUS The holy Ghost sitteth upon the seed of the Word and hatcheth a new creature a subject to this Lord. MOVET SPIRITUS The Spirit moveth upon these waters of bitterness and then they make us fruitful to every good work In a word The Church is a Teacher and the Word is a Teacher and Afflictions are Teachers but the Spirit of God the holy Ghost is all in all I might here enter a large field full of delightful variety But I forbear and withdraw my self and will onely remember you that this Spirit is a spirit that teacheth Obedience and Meekness that if we will have him light upon us we must receive him as Christ did in the shape of a Dove in all innocency and simplicity He telleth us himself that with a froward heart he will not dwell and then sure he will not enlighten it For as Chrysostom well observeth that the Prophets of God and Satan did in this notoriously differ that they who gave Oracles from God gave them with all mildness and temper without any fanatick alteration but they who gave Oracles by motion from the Devil did it with much distraction and confusion with a kind of fury and madness so we shall easily find that those motions which descend not from above are earthly sensual and devilish that in them there is strife and envying and confusion and every evil work but the wisdom which is from above from the holy Ghost is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated James 3. full of mercy and good fruits Be not deceived When thy Anger rageth the Spirit is not in that storm When thy Disobedience to Government is loud he speaketh not in that thunder When thy Zele is mad and unruly he dwelleth not in that fiery hush When the faculties of thy soul are shaken and dislocated by thy stubborn and perverse passions that thou canst neither look nor speak nor move aright he will not be in that earthquake But in the still voice and the cool of the day in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the calm and tranquility and peace of thy soul he cometh when that storm is slumbred that earthquake setled that thunder stilled that fire quenched And he cometh as a light to shew thee the beauty and love of thy Saviour and the glory and power of thy Lord. And though he be sole Instructor yet he descendeth to make use of means and if thou wilfully withdraw thy self from these thou art none of his celestial Auditory To conclude Wilt thou know how to speak this language truly that Jesus is the Lord and assure thy self that the Spirit teacheth thee so to speak Mark well then those symptoms and indications of his presence those marks and signs which he hath left us in his word to know when the voice is his For though as the Kingdom of heaven so the Spirit of God cometh not with observation yet we may observe whether he be come or no. Remember then first that he is a Spirit and the Spirit of God and so is contrary to the Flesh and teacheth nothing that may flatter or countenance it or let it loose to insult over the Spirit For this is against the very nature of the Spirit as much as it is for light bodies to descend or heavy to move upwards Nay Fire may descend and the Earth may be moved out of its place the Sun may stand still or go back Nature may change its course at the word and beck of the God of Nature but this is one thing which God cannot do he cannot change himself nor can his Spirit breathe any doctrine forth that savoureth of the World or the Flesh or Corruption Therefore we may nay we must suspect all those doctrines and actions which are said to be effects and products of the blessed Spirit when we observe them drawn out and levelled to carnal ends and temporal respects For sure the Spirit can never beat a bargain for the world and the Truth of God is the most unproportioned price that can be laid out on such a purchace When I see a man move his eyes compose his countenance order and methodize his gesture and behaviour as if he were now on his death-bed to take his leave of the world and to seal that Renouncement which he made at the Font when I hear him loud in prayer and as loud in reviling the iniquities of the times wishing his eyes a fountain of tears to bewail them day and night when I see him startle at a mis-placed word as if it were a thunderbolt when I hear him cry as loud for a Reformation as the idolatrous Priests did upon their Baal I begin to think I see an Angel in his flight and mount going up into heaven But after all this devotion this zele this noise when I see him stoop like the Vultur and fly like lightning to the prey I cannot but say within my self O Lucifer son of the morning how art thou fallen from heaven how art thou brought down to the ground nay to hell it self Sure I am the holy Ghost looketh upward moveth upward directeth us upward and if we follow him neither our doctrine nor our actions will ever savour of this dung Remember again that he is SPIRITUS RECTUS a right Spirit as David calleth him Psal 51. not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 winding and turning several wayes now to God and anon nay at once to Mammon now glancing
Gospel And the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a two-peny Feast Our comfort it is that it is not so it is but like it at the most And it is not like it neither This likeness is not in truth but opus intellectûs a resemblance made up in the brain of those whom all the world knows are none of the wisest unless it be in their generation Sure every gesture that will bear a resemblance is not Popery It is not so because we have so drawn it in our phansie because we make it so and because we will have it so for our own ends For thus every man may be an Idolater whom we mean to strip John 7.24 our Saviours counsel is Judge not according to the appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the face and countenance of things For how easie is it to paint and present them as we please Many times an evil eye makes an evil face puts horrour upon Religion it self and where Devotion shines out in the full beauty of holiness draws a Pope or a Devil As Charity covers a multitude of sins so doth Malice cover a multitude of vertues with the black mantle of Vice she covers Devotion with Phrensie Honesty with Folly and Reverence with Superstition and that onely is seen which may at once offend and delight the mocker O what a scandal is a College or a Church what an abomination are holy things when they are sought for as a prey But commonly Scoffers have ill luck for though they would hide themselves in noyse and formality yet are they seen well enough in their furious march to the Honors and Wealth of this world and can bring but slender evidence to confirm what they say Though they lift up their voice and speak never so loud They are drunk This is superstition These are Idolaters When this is spoken they have no more to say and they need not say more For if they be backt with Power though Reason and Argument forsake them you shall be forced to take them at their word Quà m sapiens argumentatrix videtur sibi ignorantia humana Good God! what subtile disputers do Ignorance and Malice account themselves for these are disputers of this world where Phansie goes for Reason Humour for the Spirit and a Scoff for an impregnable argument where we see ridicula potiùs quà m firma tela weapons to be laught at rather then to be feared rather bulrushes then spears syllogismes truly destructive which may ruine us indeed but can never convince us may shake our estates and lives but not our faith These are drunk This is Superstition What should we say even lay our hand upon our mouth with Job and proceed no further We see here S. Peter takes no great pains to avoid these scoffers he useth no convincing demonstrative argument but onely a probabili He tells them it was not probable they should be drunk so soon at such a feast at the third houre of the day The Philosopher will tell us Non est disputandum cum quovis every man is not to be disputed with For that which should free some from err our confirms them in it Nothing will be restrained not any thing will be cut off from them which they imagine to do When you undertake Pertinacy you do but beat the air Nazianzene observes that Christ himself did not give an answer to every question We will then answer the scoffers of these times as S. Peter did these here with a non probabile It is not probable that a reverent gesture or some few ceremonies should reconcile him to Rome whose doctrine is orthodox that a knee make him superstitious who is devout in his heart It is more probable that it is Reverence rather then Superstition Devotion rather then Idolatry Or if it were not apparently probable yet where no evidence is brought to the contrary there true Christian Charity which is no scoffer we may be sure is very active to make and frame such probabilities Sperat omnia credit omnia saith the Apostle if she be not certain for the best she will not be certain and positive for the worst if she be not certain yet she will hope and believe that all things are well Nor will she cry Superstition at the sight of reverence nor Idolatry at the mention of an Altar Charity that never fails will never fall at the bowing of a knee nor will ever conclude so absurdly These men fall down and worship therefore they are idolatrous no more then thus These men are full of new wine when at that time there was none to fill them To conclude then These scoffers are dead and Lucian is dead and Julian is dead and are gone to their place yet the Spirit breathes still and the Church of Christ stands firm upon the same foundation The blessed Spirit though he be grieved yet cannot be destroyed though he be quenched yet it is but in scoffers Magna vis veri impelli potest exstingui non potest Great is the Truth and at last it prevaileth you may oppress it you cannot exstinguish it All the power and rage and malice of bloudy hypocrites can never so chase it away but it will find some humble and devout hearts to dwell and rest in As Fire cast into the Water is streightway put out saith Tully so scoffs and detraction and wilfull and malicious misinterpretations soon vanish into nothing Crepitant solvuntur These hailstones rattle for a while on the house-top and make a noise and are then dissolved into air Suppose a man of fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is S. Chrysostoms resemblance should fall into a field of stubble of flax or straw he can receive no hurt but must needs shew his force and activity and consume whatsoever is combustible before him Shall Flax or Straw stand up against Fire This man of fire cannot suffer by such thin materials which are as fewel to nourish and uphold him What can they do If they venture they destroy themselves Beloved every Apostle of Christ every true Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of fire Scoffs are but straw Detraction but as flax which coming too near him can consume themselves or as Thorns crackle a while and make a noise in this fire and no more And when the day of lustration shall come when that day shall come which is spectaculum as Tertullian calls it the great spectacle of the world when all things shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked and anatomized as a beast cut down the back then all thoughts shall be discovered all veils removed all visours pluckt off Then spiritual Joy shall not be madness the Breathings of the Spirit shall not be the ebullitions of men distempered with wine nor true Honesty folly nor Reverence superstition Then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato calls it or rather this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This unusual behaviour of wise and spiritual men which is so
narrow understandings could receive it would not add one hair to our stature and growth in grace That Christ is God and Man that the two Natures are united in the Person of thy Saviour and Mediatour is enough for thee to know and to raise 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 phansied 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 poor and miserable comfort of conjecture in that which so far as it concerneth us is so plain easie to be known Do thoughts arise in thy heart do doubts and difficulties beset thee doth thy wit and thy reason forsake thee and leave thee in thy search at a loss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Justine Martyr Thy Faith is the solution and will soon quit thee of all scruples 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 express 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 yet circumscribed Immortal yet dying the Lord of life yet crucified God and man Christ Jesus Amaze not thy self with an inordinate fear 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 less because his Mercy is great nor doth his infinite Love shadow or eclipse his Majesty For see he counteth it no disparagement to be seen in our flesh nor to be at any loss by being thus like us Our Apostle telleth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was a Decorum in it and it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren That Christ was made like unto us is the joy of this Feast but that he ought to be so is the wonder and extasie of our joy That he would descend is mercy but that he must descend is our astonishment Oportet and Debet are binding terms words of duty Had the 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 as much But to put a Debet upon the Son of God and make it a beseeming thing for him to become flesh to be made like unto us is as if one should set a Rubie in clay a Diamond in brass a Chrysolith in baser metall and say they are placed well there as if one should worry the lambs for the woolf or take the master by the throat for the debt of a Prodigal and with an Opertet say it should be so To give a gift and call it a Debt is not our usual language On earth it is not but in heaven it is the proper dialect fixed in capital letters on the Mercy-seat It is the joy of this Feast the Angels Antheme SALVATOR NATVS 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 he is as deeply engaged as the party whose Surety he is And oh our numberless accounts that engaged God! Oh our prodigality that made him here come sub ratione debiti Adam had brought God in debt to death to Satan to his own Justice and God in Justice did ow us all to the Grave and to Hell Therefore if he will have us if he will bring his children unto glory he must pay down a price for us Heb. 2.14 he must take us out of his hands who hath the power of death if he will have his own inheritance he must purchase it And let us look on the aptness of the means and we shall soon find that this Foolishness of God as the Apostle calls it is wiser than men 1 Cor. 1.26 and this weakness of God is stronger than men and that the Debuit is right set For medio exsistente conjunguntur extrema If you will have extremes meet you must have a middle line to draw them together And behold here they meet and are made one The proprieties of either Nature being entire yet meet and concentre as it were in one Person Majesty putteth on Humility Power Infirmity Eternity Mortality By the one our Saviour dyeth for us by the other he â—â—seth again By the one he suffereth as Man by the other he conquereth as God by both he perfecteth and consummateth the great work of our Redemption This Debuit reacheth home to each part of the Text First to Christ as God The same hand that made the vessel when it was broken and so broken that there was not one sherd left to fetch water at any pit ought to repair and set it together again that it may receive and contain the water of life Qui fecit nos debuit reficere Our Creation and Salvation must be wrought by the same hand and turned about upon the same wheel Next we may set the debuit upon Christ's Person He is media Persona a middle Person the office therefore will best fit him even the office of Mediatour Further as he is the Son of God and the Image of his Father most proper it may seem for him to repair that Image which was defaced and well near lost in us We had not onely blemished God's Image but set the Devil's face and superscription upon God's coyn For righteousness there was sin for purity pollution for beauty deformity for rectitude perversness for the Man a Beast scarce any thing left by which God might know us Venit Filius ut iterum signet The Son cometh and with his blood reviveth the first character marketh us with his own signature imprinteth the graces of God upon us maketh us current money and that his Father may know us and not cast us off for refuse silver sheweth him his face Indeed the Father and the holy Ghost dignified the Flesh but took it not filled it with their Majesty but not with their Persons wrought in the Incarnation but were not Incarnate As three may weave a garment and but one wear it as Hugo And as in Musick saith St.
Echo by which he heareth himself at the rebound and thinketh the Wiseman spoke unto him Flattery is the ape of Charity It rejoyceth with them that rejoyce and weepeth with them that weep it frowneth with them that frown and smileth with them that smile It proceedeth from the Father of lies not from the Spirit of truth Hebr. 13.8 who is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Who reproveth drunkenness though in a Noah adultery though in a David want of faith though in a Peter His precepts are plain his law is in thunder his threatnings earnest and vehement What he writeth is not in a dark character Thou mayest run and read it He presenteth Murder wallowing in the blood it spilt Blasphemie with its brains out Theft sub hasta under sale He calleth not great plagues Peace nor Oppression Law nor camels gnats nor great sins peccadillos but he setteth all our sins in order before us He calleth Adam from behind the bush striketh Ananias dead for his hypocrisie and for lying to the holy Spirit depriveth him of his own Thy excuse with him is a libel thy pretense fouler than thy sin Thy false worship of him is blasphemy and thy form of godliness open impiety And where he entereth the heart Sin which is the greatest errour the grossest lye removeth it self heaveth and panteth to go out knocketh at our breast runneth down at our eyes and we hear it speak in sighs and grones unspeakable and what was our delight becometh our torment In a word he is a Spirit of truth and neither dissembleth to deceive us nor flattereth that we may deceive our selves but verus vera dicit being Truth it self telleth 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 appeareth and is visible in those lessons and precepts which he giveth so agreeable to that Image after which we were made to fit and beautifie it when it is defaced and repair it when it is decayed that so it may become in some proportion and measure like unto him that made it and then so harmonious and consonant and agreeing with themselves that The whole Scripture and all the precepts it containeth may in esteem as Gerson saith go for own copulative proposition 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 Fear in Confidence nor shake our Confidence when he bids us fear doth not set up meekness to abate our Zeal nor kindleth Zeal to consume our Meekness doth not teach Christian Liberty to shake off Obedience to Government nor prescribeth Obedience to infringe and weaken our Christian Liberty This Spirit is a Spirit of truth and never different from himself He never contradicteth himself but is equal in all his wayes the same in that truth which pleaseth thee and in that which pincheth thee in that which thou consentest to and in that which thou runnest from in that which will raise thy spirit and in that which will wound thy spirit And the reason why men who talk so much of the Spirit do fall into gross and pernicious errours is from hence That they will not be like the Spirit in this equal and like unto themselves in all their wayes That they lay claim to him in that Text which seemeth to comply with their humour but discharge and leave him in that which should purge it That upon the beck as it were of some place of Scripture which upon the first face and appearance looketh favourably upon their present inclinations they run violently on this side animated and posted on by that which was not in the Text but in their lusts and phansie and never look back upon other testimonies of Divine Authority that army of evidences as Tertullian speaketh which are openly prest out and marshalled against them and might well put them to a halt and deliberation stay and drive back their intention and settle them at last in the truth which consisteth in a moderation betwixt two extremes For we may be zealous and not cruel devout and not superstitious we may hate Idolatry and not commit Sacrilege Gal. 5.1 1 Pet. 2.16 stand fast in our Christian liberty and not make it a cloak of maliciousness if we did follow the Spirit in all his wayes who in all his wayes is a Spirit of truth For he commandeth Zeal and forbiddeth Rage he commendeth Devotion and forbiddeth Superstition he condemneth Idolatry yea and condemneth Sacrilege he preacheth Liberty 1 Cor. 12.4.8 9 11. and preacheth Obedience to Superiours and in all is the same Spirit And this Spirit did come and Christ did send him And in the next place to this end he came to be our Leader to guide us in the wayes of truth to help our infirmities to be our conduct to carry us on to the end And this is his Office and Administration Which one would think were but a low office for the Spirit of God and yet these are magnalia spiritûs the wonderful things of the Spirit and do no less proclaim his Divinity then the Creation of the world We wonder the blind should see the lame go Matth. 11.5 the deaf hear the dead be raysed up but doth it now follow The poor receive the Gospel Weigh it well in the balance of the Sanctuary and this last will appear as a great miracle as the former And this Advent and Coming was free and voluntary For though the Spirit was sent from the Father and the Son yet sponte venit he came of his own accord And he not onely cometh but sendeth himself say the Schools as he daily worketh those changes and alterations in his creature These words Dicit Mittam ut propriam autoritatem ostendat Tum denique veniet quo verbo Spiritûs potestas indicatur Naz. Orat. 37. to be sent and to come and the like are not words of diminution or disparagement He came in no servile manner but as a Lord as a friend from a friend as in a letter the very mind of him that sent it Which sheweth an agreement and concord with him that sent him but implyeth no inferiority no degree of servility or subjection Yet some there have been who have stumbled at the shadow which this word hath cast or indeed at their own and for this made the holy Spirit no more then a Creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a supernumerary God brought in to serve and minister and no distinct Person of the blessed Trinity But what a gross error what foul ingratitude is this to call his goodness servility his coming to us submission and obedience and count him not a God because by his gracious operation he is pleased to dwell in men and make them his tabernacle Why may we
according saith S. Paul to my Gospel This is the Lesson the Spirit teacheth Truth Let us now see the Extent of it It is large and universal The Spirit doth not teach us by halves teach some truths and conceal others but he teacheth all truth maketh his disciples and followers free from all errors that are dangerous and full of saving knowledge Saving knowledge is all indeed That truth which bringeth me to my end is all and there is nothing more to be known I determined to know nothing but Christ and him crucified saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 2.2 Here his desire hath a Non ultrá This truth is all this joyneth heaven and earth together God and Man mortality and immortality misery and happiness in one draweth us near unto God and maketh us one with him This is the Spirit 's Lesson Commentum Divinitatis the invention of the Divine Spirit Faith is called the gift of God Ephes 2.8 not onely because it is given to every believer and too many are too willing to stay till it be given but because this Spirit first found out the way to save us by so weak a means as Faith And as he first found it out so he teacheth it and leaveth out noâ—hing not a tittle not an Iota which may serve to compleat and perfect this divine Science Psal 139.16 In the book of God are all our members written All the members yea and all the faculties of our soul And in his Gospel his Spirit hath framed rules and precepts to order and regulate them all in every act in every motion and inclination which if the Eye offend pluck it out if the Hand cut it off Rules which limit the understanding to the knowledge of God bind the will to obedience moderate and confine our affections level our hope fix our joy stint our sorrow frame our speech compose our gesture fashion our apparel set and methodize our outward behaviour Instances in Scripture in every particular are many and obvious The time would fail me to mention them all In a word then this Truth which the Spirit teacheth is fitted to the whole man to every member of the body to every faculty of the soul fitted to us in every condition in every relation It will reign with thee it will serve with thee it will manage thy riches it will comfort thy poverty ascend the throne with thee and sit down with thee on the dunghill It will pray with thee it will fast with thee it will labour with thee it will rest and keep a Sabbath with thee it will govern a Church it will order thy Family it will raise a kingdome within thee it will be thy Angel to carry thee into Abraham's bosome and set a crown of glory upon thy head And is there yet any more Or what need more than that which is necessary There can be but one God one Heaven one Religion one way to blessedness and there is but one Truth and that is it which the Spirit teacheth And this runneth the whole compass of it directeth us not onely ad ultimum sed usque ad ultimum not onely to that which is the end but to the means to every step and passage and approach to every help and advantage towards it and so uniteth us to that one God giveth us right to that one Heaven and bringeth us home to that one end for which we were made And is there yet any more Yes particular cases may be so many and various that they cannot all come within the compass of this Truth which the Spirit hath plainly taught It is true but then for the most part they are cases of our own making cases which we need not make cases somtimes raised by weakness somtimes by wilfulness somtimes even by sin it self which reigneth in our mortal bodies and to such this Lesson of the Spirit is as an Ax to cut them off But be their original what it will if this Truth reach them not or if they bear no analogy or affinity with that which the Spirit hath taught nor depend upon it by any evident and necessary consequence they are not to be reckoned in the number of those which concern us because we are assured that he hath led us into all truth that is necessary Some things indeed there are which are indifferent in themselves quae lex nec vetat nec jubet which this Spirit neither commandeth nor forbiddeth but they are made necessary by reason of some circumstance of time or place or quality or persons for that which is necessary in it self is alwaies necessary and yet are in their own nature indifferent still Veritas ad omnia occurrit this Truth which is the Spirit 's Lesson reacheth even these and containeth a rule certain and infallible to guide us in them if we become not laws unto our selves and fling it by to wit the rules of Charity and Christian Prudence to which if we give heed it is impossible we should miscarry It is Love of our selves and Love of the world not Charity or spiritual Wisdome which make this noyse abroad rend the Church in pieces and work desolation on the earth It is want of conscience and neglect of conscience in the common and known wayes of our duty which have raised so many needless Cases of conscience which if men had not hearkened to their lusts had never shewn their head but had been what indeed they are nothing The acts of charity are manifest 1 Cor. 13. Charity suffereth long even injuries and errours but doth not rise up against that which was set up to enlarge and improve her Charity is not rash to beat down every thing that had its first rise and beginning from Charity Charity is not puffed up swelleth not against a harmless yea and an useful constitution though it be of man Charity doth not behave it self unseemly layeth not a necessity upon us of not doing that which lawful Authority even then styleth an indifferent thing when it commandeth it to be done Charity seeketh not her own treadeth not the publick peace under foot to procure her own Charity is not easily provoked checketh not at every feather nor startleth at that monster which is a creation of our own Charity thinketh no evil doth not see a serpent under every leaf nor Idolatry in every bow of Devotion If we were charitable we could not but be peaceable If that which is the main of the Spirit 's lesson did govern mens actions Psal 72.7 there would be abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth Multa facienda sunt non jubente lege sed liberâ charitate saith Augustine Charity is free to do and suffer many things which the Spirit doth not expresly command and yet it doth command them in general when it commandeth obedience to Authority Which hath no larger circuit to walk and shew it self in than in things in themselves indifferent which it may enjoyn for orders sake
and for the advantage of those things which are necessary that are already under a higher and more binding law than any Potentate or Monarch of the earth can make The acts I say of Charity are manifest But those of Christian Prudence are not particularly designed Prudentia respicit ad singularia because that eye is given us to view and consider particular occurrences and circumstances and it dependeth upon those things which are without us whereas Charity is an act of the will And here if we would be our selves or rather if we would not be our selves but be free from by-respects and unwarrantable ends if we would devest our selves of all hopes or fears of those things which may either shake or raise our estates we could not be to seek For how easy is it to a disingaged and willing mind to apply a general precept to particular actions especially if Charity fill our hearts which is the bond of perfection Col. 3.14 Rom. 13.10 and the end and complement of the Law and indeed our spiritual wisdome In a word in these cases when we go to consult with our Reason we cannot erre if we leave not Charity behind us Or if we should erre our Charity would have such an influence upon our errour that it should trouble none but our selves 1 Cor. 13.7 For Charity beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things This is the extent of the Spirit 's Lesson And if in other truths more subtil than necessary we are to seek it mattereth not for we need not seek them It is no sin not to know that which I cannot know to be no wiser than God hath made me And what need our curiosity rove abroad when that which is all and alone concerneth us lieth in so narrow a compass In absoluto facili aeternitas saith Hilary The way to heaven may seem rough and troublesome but it is an easy way easy to find out though not so easy at our first onset to walk in and yet to those that tread and trace it often as delightful as Paradise it self See God hath shut up Eternity within the compass of two words Believe and Repent which is a full and just commentary on the Spirit 's Lesson the sum of all that he taught Lay your foundation right and then build upon it Because God loved you in Christ do you love him in Christ Love him and keep his commandments than which no other way could have been found out to draw you neer unto God Believe and Repent this is all Oh wicked abomination whence art thou come to cover the earth with deceit What malice what defiance what contention what gall and bitterness amongst Christians yet this is all Believe and Repent the Pen the Tongue the Sword these are the weapons of our warfare What ink what blood hath been spilt in the cause of Religion How many innocents defamed how many Saints anathematized how many millions cut down with the sword yet this is all Believe and Repent We hear the noyse of the whip and the ratling of the wheels and the prancing of the horses The horseman lifteth up his bright sword and his glittering spear Nah. 3.2 3. Every part of Christendome almost is a stage of war and the pretense is written in their banners you may see it waving in the air FOR GOD AND RELIGION yet this is all Believe and Repent Who would once think the Pillars of the earth should be thus shaken that the world should be turned into a worse chaos than that out of which it was made that there should be such wars and fightings amongst Christians for that which is shut up and brought unto us in these two words Believe and Repent For all the truth which is necessary and will be sufficient to lift us to our end and raise us to happiness can make no larger a circumferance than this This is the Law and the Prophets or rather this is the Gospel of Christ this is the whole will of God In this is knowledge justification redemption and holiness This is the Spirit 's Lesson and all other lessons are no lessons not worth the learning further than they help and improve us in this In a word this is all in all and within this narrow compass we may walk out our span of time and by the conduct of the same Spirit in the end of it attain to that perfection and glory which shall never have an end And so from the Lesson and Extent of it we pass to the Manner and Method of the Spirit 's Teaching It is not Raptus a forcible and violent drawing but Ductus a gentle Leading and Guiding The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall lead Which implyeth a preparedness and willingness to be led And the Spirit that leadeth us teacheth us also to follow him not to resist him that he may lead us Acts 7.51 Eph. 4.30 1 Thes 5.19 2 Tim. 1.6 not to grieve him by our backwardness that he may fill us with joy not to quench him that he may enlighten us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stir up his gifts that they dye not in us Now this promise was directly and primarily made to the Apostles whose Commission being extraordinary and their Diocess as large as the whole world they needed the Spirits guidance in a more high and eminent manner gifts of Tongues and diversities of graces which might fit them for so great a work that as their care so their power might be as universal as the world And yet to them was the Spirit given in measure and where measure is there are degrees and they were led by degrees not straight to all truth but by steps and approaches S. Peter himself was not wrapt up as his pretended Successor into the chair of Truth to determine all at once For when Pentecost was now past he goeth to Caesarea Acts 10.11 34. and there learneth more then he had done at Jerusalem seeth that in the Sheet which was let down to the earth which he heard not from the Tongues and of a truth now perceived what he did not before that God was no accepter of persons that now the partition-wall was broken down that Jew and Gentile were both alike and the Church which was formerly shut up in Judea was now become Catholick a Body which every one that would might be a member of Besides though the Apostles were extraordinarily and miraculously inspired yet we cannot say that they used no means at all to bring down the blessed Spirit For it is plain they did wait for his coming they prayed for the truth and laboured for the truth they conferred one with another met together in counsel deliberated before they did determin Nor could they imagin they had the Spirit in a string and could command him as they please and make him follow them whithersoever they would And then between us and the Apostles there
is a main difference nor can we expect an ocular and visible descent Therefore if we will be taught by the Spirit we must use the means which the same Spirit hath prescribed in those lessons which he first and extraordinarily taught the Apostles and not make use of his name to misinterpret those lessons or bring in new of our own and as new so contrary to them For what is new must needs be contrary because he then taught all truth and what is more then all is nothing what is more then all truth must needs by a lye Nor did he lead them into all truth for themselves alone but for those who should come after them for all generations to the end of the world He made them Apostles and sent them to make us Christians to make that which he taught them a rule of life and to fix it on the Church as on a pillar that all might read it that none should adde to it or take away from it Eph. 2.20 And for this they are called a Foundation and we are said to be built upon them Jesus Christ being the head corner-stone But this we could not be if their testimony were so scant and defective that there were left a kind of necessity upon us to hew and square out what stones we please and lay new ones of our own to cast down theirs withal and to bear up whatsoever our insolent and boundless lusts will lay upon them And now what is become of my Text For if this be admitted we cannot say the Spirit led them For what leading is that which leaveth us so far behind at such a distance from the end thâ—â— in every age the Spirit must come again and take us by the hand and draw us some other way even contrary to that which he first made known And what an all is that to which every man may adde what he please even to the end of the world For every mans claim and title to the Spirit is the same as just and warrantable in any as in one And when they speak contrary things the evidence is the same that is none at all unless this be a good Argument He hath the Spirit because he saith so which is as strong on his side that denyeth it upon the same pretense Amongst the sons of men there are not greater fools then they who have nothing to say for what they say but That they say it and yet think this Nothing enough and that all Israel are bound to hearken to them as if God himself did speak This is an evil a folly a madness which breatheth no where but in Christendome was never heard of in any other body or society but that of Christians Though many Governours of Common-wealths did pretend to a kind of commerce and familiarity with some God or Goddess when they were to make a law yet we do not read of any as far as I remember that did put up the same pretense that they might break a law but when the law was once promulged there was nothing thought of but either obedience or punishment But Christians who have the best Religion have most abused it have played the wantons in that light in which they should have walkt with fear and trembling finding themselves at a loss and meeting with no satisfaction to their pride and ambition to their malice to their lusts from any lesson the Spirit hath yet taught have learnt an art to suborn something of their own to supply that defect and call it a dictate of the Spirit Nor is this evil of yesterday nor doth it befall the weakest onely But the Devil hath made use 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 Corporeity of the Soul by Scripture Post Ioannem quoque prophetiam meruimus consequi c. Tertull. de Anim. montanizans flyeth to private Revelation in his Book De anima Non per aestimationem sed revelationem What he could not uphold by reason and judgment he striveth to make good by Revelation For we saith he have our Revelations as well as S. John Our sister Priscilla hath plenty of them and trances in the Church She converseth with Angels and with God himself and can discern the hearts and inward thoughts of men S. Hierome mentioneth others Contra Libertin and in the dayes of our forefathers Calvine many more who applyed the name of the Spirit to every thing that might facilitate and help on their design as Parish-priests it is his resemblance would give the name of six or seven several Saints to one image that their offerings might be the more I need not go so far back for instance Our present age hath shewn us many who though very ignorant yet are wiser then their teachers so spiritual that they despise the word of God which is the dictate of the Spirit This monster hath made a large stride from foreign 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 Madness our Malice our Violence our implacable Bitterness our Railing and Reviling must all go for Inspirations of the Spirit Simeon and Levi Absalom and Ahithophel 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 go he is their leader though it be to hell it self 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 near as dangerous That the Spirit doth not spirare breath 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 leadeth 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. Orat 37. Quis vetâ—rum vel recentium adoravit Spiritum quis or avit c. Sic Macedoniani Eunomiani Ibid. an ascriptitious and supernumerary God I might say more dangerous For to confess the Spirit and abuse him to draw him on as an accessory and
silence Though Corah and his complices perish in their gainsayings Jude 11. yet God forbid that all Israel should be swallowed up in the same gulf Samuel ran to Eli 1 Sam. 3 5-10 when the voice was God's but was taught at last to answer Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Though Ahab had many false Prophets 1 Kings 22. yet Micaiah was a true one And though there be many false Teachers come into the world 1 Joh. 4.1 yet the Spirit of God is a Spirit of truth and he shall lead us into all truth And that we may follow as he leadeth we must observe the wayes in which he moveth For as there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a way of peace Luk. 1.79 so there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wayes of truth and in those wayes the Spirit will lead us 2 Pet. 2.2 I may be in the wayes of the wicked in the wayes of the Gentiles and profane men in my own wayes in those wayes which my Phansie and Lust have chalked out on that pinnacle and height where my Ambition hath placed me in that mine and pit where my Covetousness hath buried me alive and in these I walk with my face from Jerusalem from the Truth and in these wayes the Spirit leadeth me not How can he learn Poverty of spirit who hath no God but Mammon and knoweth no sin but Poverty How can he be brought down to obedience and humility who with Diotrephes loveth to have the preeminence 3 Joh. 9. and thinketh himself nothing till he is taller than his fellowes by the head and shoulders How can he hearken to the Truth who studieth lies And do we now wonder why we are not taught the truth where the Spirit keepeth open School There is no wonder at all The reason why we are not taught is Because we will not learn Ambition soareth to the highest seat and the Spirit directeth us to the ground to the lowest place Love of the world filleth our barns and the Spirit pointeth to the bellies of the poor as the better and safer granaries My private factious Humour trampleth under foot Obedience to superiours because I my self would be the highest and challenge that as my peculiar which I deny to others but the Spirit prescribeth Order Doth Montanus lead about silly women and prophesie doth he call his dreams Revelations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb l. 1. c. 21. Contr. Valent. c. 4. Eusebius telleth us that the spirit which led him about was nothing else but an unmeasurable Desire of precedency Doth Valentinus number up his Aeones and as many Crimes as God's Tertullian informeth us that he hoped for a Bishoprick but being disappointed of his hopes by one who was raised to that dignity by the prerogative of Martyrdome and his many sufferings for the Truth he turned Heretick Doth Arius deny the Divinity of the Son Read Theodoret Lib. 1◠c. 2. and he will shew you Alexander in the chair before him Doth Aerius deny there is any difference between a Bishop and Presbyter The reason was he was denied himself and could not be a Bishop so that he fell from a Bishoprick as Lucifer did from Heaven whose first wish was to be God and whose next was That there were no God at all From hence those stirs and tumults in the Church of Christ those storms and tempests which blew and beat in her face from hence those distractions and uncertainties in Christian Religion that it was a matter of some danger but to mention it This made Nazianzene in some passion as it may seem cry out Orat. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I would there were no precedency no priority no dignities in the Church but that mens estimation did only rise from virtue but now the right hand and the left the higher and the lower place these terms of difference have led men not into the truth but into that ditch where Errour muddeth it self Caeca avaritia saith Maximus Covetousness and Ambition are blind and cannot look upon the Truth though she be as manifest as the Sun at noon It fareth with men in the lust of their eyes in the love of the world as it did with the man in Artemidorus who dreamt he had eyes of gold and the next day lost them had them both put out Now no smell is sweat but that of lucre no sight delightful but of the wedge of gold By a strange kind of Chymistry men turn Religion into Gold and even by Scripture it self heap up riches and so they lose their sight and judgement and savour not the things of God but are stark blind to that Truth which should save them But now grant that they were indeed perswaded of the truth of that which they defend with so much noyse and tumult yet this may be but opinion and phansie which the Love of the world will soon build up because it helpeth to nourish it And how can we think that the Spirit led them in those wayes in which Self-love and Desire of gain drive on so furiously Sure the Spirit of truth cannot work in that building where such Sanballats laugh him to scorn Now all these are the very cords of vanity by which we are drawn from the Truth and they must all be broken asunder before the Spirit will lead us to it For he he leadeth us not over the Mountains nor through the bowels of the earth nor through the numerous atoms of our vain and uncertain and perplext imaginations but as the wisdome which he teacheth Jam. 3.17 so the method of his discipline is pure peaceable gentle without partiality without hypocrisie and hath no savour or relish of the earth For he leadeth the pure he leadeth the peaceable he leadeth humble In a word he leadeth those who are lovers of peace and truth And now to draw towards a conclusion You know the wayes in which the Spirit walketh and by which he leadeth us Will you also know the rules we must observe if we will be the Spirit 's Scholars I will be bold to give them you from one who was a great lover of truth even Galene the Physician Who though an heathen man yet by the very light of Nature found out those means and helps in the pursuit of humane knowledge which the Spirit hath set down in Scripture to further us in the search of Divine Truth They are but four The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Love of Truth the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Love of Industry a frequent meditation of the truth the third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Orderly and methodical proceeding in the pursuit of Truth the last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exercitation our conformity to the Truth in our conversation This gold though brought from Ophir yet may be useful to adorn and beautifie those who are the living Temples of the holy Ghost 1. First Love is a passion imprinted in us to
man else They leap over all their Alphabet and are at their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their end before they begin They are at the top of the ladder before they have set a foot to the first step or round They study heaven but not the way to it Faith but not Good works Repentance without a Change or Restitution Religion without Order They are as high as Gods closet in heaven when they should be busie at his foot-stool They study Predestination but not Sanctity of life Assurance but not that Piety which should work it Heaven and not Grace and Grace but not their Duty And now no marvel if they meet not with saving Truth in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this so great disorder and confusion No marvel when we have broke all rules and order and not observed the method of the Spirit if the Spirit lead us not who is a Spirit that loveth order and in a right method and orderly course leadeth us into the truth 4. The last is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exercitation and Practice of the truths we learn This is so proper and necessary for a Christian that Christian Religion goeth under that name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Al. Strom. l. 4. and is called an exercise by Clemens Alexandrinus Nyssene Cyrill of Hierusalem and others And though they who lead a Monastical life have laid claim to it as their own they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet it may well belong to every one that is the Spirit 's Scholar who is as a Monk in the world shut up out of it even while he is in it exercising himself in those lessons which the Spirit teacheth and following as he leadeth Which is to make the World it self a Monastery A good Christian is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by this dayly exercise in the doctrines of the Spirit doth drive the Truth home and make it enter into the soul and spirit Talis quisque est qualibus delectatur Inter artificem artificium mira cognatio est Anaxagoras said well Manus causa sapientiae It is not the brain but the hand that causeth knowledge and worketh wisdome And true wisdome that which the Spirit teacheth consisteth not in being a good Critick and rightly judging of the sense of words or in being a good Logician drawing out a true and perfect definition of Faith and Charity or discoursing aptly and methodically of the Lessons of the Spirit or in being a good Oratour setting out the beauty and lustre of Religion to the very eye No saith the Son of Sirach Ecclus. 34.10 He that hath no experience knoweth little Ex mandato mandatum cernimus By practising the command we gain a kind of familiarity a more inward and certain knowledge of it If any man will do the will of God Joh 7.17 he shall know the Doctrine In Divinity and indeed in all knowledge whose end is practice that of Aristotle is true Those things we learn to do we learn by doing them We learn Devotion by prayer Charity by giving of alms Meekness by forgiving injuries Humility and Patience by suffering Temperance by every-day-fighting against our lusts As we know meat by the tast so do we the things of God by practice and experience and at last discover Heaven it self in piety And this is that which S. Paul calleth doctrine according to godliness We taste and see how gracious the Lord is 1 Tim. 6.3 Psal 34.8 1 Joh. 1.1 we do as it were see with our eyes and with our hands handle the word of truth In a word when we manifest the Truth and make it visible in our actions the Spirit is with us and ready in his office to lead us further even to the inner house and closet of Truth He displayeth his beams of light as we press forward and mend our pace He every day shineth upon us with more brightness as we every day strive to increase He teacheth us not so much by words as by actions and practice by the practice of those virtues which are his lessons and our duties We learn that we may practice and by practice we become as David speaketh Psal 119 99. Psal 19.2 wiser then our teachers To conclude Day unto day teacheth knowledge and every act of piety is apt to promote and produce a second to beget more light which may yet lead us further from truth to truth till at last we be strengthned and established in the Truth and brought to that happy estate which hath no shadow of falshood but like the Spirit of Truth endureth for evermore The First SERMON PART I. MICAH VI. 6 8. v. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God Shall I come before him with burnt offerings c. v. 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Psal 4.6 THere be many who say Who will shew us any good saith the Prophet David For Good is that which men naturally desire And here the Prophet Micah hath fitted an answer to this question He hath shewed thee O man what is good And in the discovery of this Good he useth the same method which the Philosopher doth in the description of his moral Happiness First he sheweth us what it is not and then what it is And as the Philosopher shutteth out Honour and Riches and Pleasure as being so little necessary that we may be happy without them so doth the Prophet in the verses going before my Text in a manner reject and cast by Burnt-offerings and all the cerimonial and typical part of Moses Law all that outward busie expensive and sacrificing Religion as no whit esseâ—tial to that Good which he here fixeth up as upon a pillar for all eyes to look upon as being of no great alliance or nearness nor fit to incorporate it self with that Piety which must commend us to God And as a true Prophet he doth not only discover to the Jews the common errour of their lives but sheweth them yet a more excellent way first asking the question Non satis est reprehendisse peccantem si non doceas recti viam Colum. de Re Rust l. 11. c 1. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams Whether Sacrifice be that part of Religion with which we may appear and bow before our God and be accepted and then in his answer in the words of my Text quite excluding it as not absolutely necessary and essential to that which is indeed Religion And here the Question Will the Lord be pleased with sacrifice addeth emphasis and energy and maketh the Denyal more strong and the Conclusion in the Text more positive and binding then if it had been in plain terms and formally denyed Then this Good had been shewed naked and alone and not brought in with
Goods which are of no value whilst they are in our hands and never estimable but in his whose they truly are all ill materials to make a pillow to rest on In a word in this our irregular motion we look tovvard the rising Sun and travel tovvards the West vve run from the shade into a tempest vve seek for ease and rest and have thrust our selves into the region of Noise and Thunder and Darkness Ask those boysterous and contentious spirits which delight in war ask the Tyrants of the earth those publick and priviledged Thieves ask those who wade to their unwarranted desires through the fortunes and bloud of others and see how they are filled with horrour and anxiety how the riches which they so greedily desired have eaten them up Behold them afraid of their fortunes of their friends of themselves even fainting and panting on the pinnacle of State ready to be blown down with every puff of wind as busie to secure their estate as they were to raise it and yet forced to that unhappy prudence which must needs endanger it Behold one slain by his friends another by his sons a third by his servants and some by their very souldiers who helpt to raise them to this formidable height Look over all the Tragedies which have been written scarce any but of these Ad generum Cereris sine caede vulnere pauci Descendunt Juven sat 10. Few of them have brought their gray hairs unbloudy to their grave And if this be to be quiet we may in time be induced to believe that Rest and Peace may be found even in Hell it self This then is not the way If we will reach home to the end we must choose that path which leadeth unto it This is not the Apostle's method No saith S. Paul Rom. 12.4 We have many members in one body and all members have not the same office Having therefore different callings and different gifts and different places to move in let every man wait upon and move in his own for there he may be quiet and no where else Let the Lawyer plead and the Divine preach let the Husbandman plough the earth and the Merchant the sea let the Tradesman follow his trade let the Magistrate governe and let all the people say Amen Let all men make good their place and every man do his own business and so rejoyce together in the publick order and peace And as Cuiacius that famous Lawyer in France Papyrius Massonâ—us in Elog. illust Viror in vita Cuiacii when he was askt his opinion in points of Divinity was wont to give no other answer but this Nihil hoc ad edictum Praetoris This which you ask me hath no relation to the edict of the Praetor so when any temptation shall take us and invite and flatter us ire in opus alienum to put our hands to another mans work let us drive it back and vanquish it with this considerate resolution That it is not amongst the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is none of our business no more pertaining to our calling then Divinity doth to the Edict of the Praetor And then as we confine our selves to our own calling so let us be active and constant in our motion in it and as it followeth in the Apostles method let us shake off Sloth and work with our hands Which is next to be considered For indeed Idleness is the mother and nurse of this pragmatical Curiosity Mostell Haec mihi verecundiam virtutis modum deturbavit saith he in Plautus This taketh off our blush and maketh us bold adventurers to engage our selves in other mens actions When the mind of man is loose not taken up and busied in adorning of it self then Dinah-like it must gadd abroad to see the daughters of the countrey Gen. 34.1 and mingle it self with those contemplations which are as it were of another tribe and nation meer strangers unto her It is the character of the strange woman That she is garrula vaga Prov 7.11 loud and ever stragling devium scortum as Horace calleth her her feet abide not in her house Lib. 2. od 11. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. 7. c. 3. saith Aristotle He that will be idle will be evil and he that will do nothing will do that he should not And the reason is given by the Stoick Mobilis inquieta mens homini data est The mind of man is full of activity ever in motion and restless now carried to this object and anon to that It walketh through the world and out of the world and is not at rest when the body sleepeth And if it do not follow that which is good it will soon fasten to that which is evil For it is not as a wedge of Lead but of the nature of an Angel which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 8. Polit. c. 6. cannot sleep As Aristotle spake of Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it cannot rest and be quiet And therefore the same Philosopher much commendeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Archytas his rattle as a profitable invention for being put into the hands of children it keepeth them from breaking vessels of use So this restless humour is made less hurtful by diversion And such a course God and Nature may seem to have taken with us not to dull this activity in us but to limit and confine it As God hath distributed to every man a gift so he hath allotted to every man a calling answerable to that gift that every man being bound to one may have the less scope and liberty to rove and make an incursion upon another mans calling This is a primordial Law of as great antiquity as the first man Adam That we must work with our hands For God will not every day work miracles for us and send us as he did the Israelites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Basil speaketh food without the labour of plowing and sowing Every Dew will not bring us Manna nor every Rock yield us water No In the sweat of thy brows thou shalt eat thy bread was a command as well as a curse and God hath so ordained it that by fulfilling the command we may turn the curse into a blessing We are not now in Paradise but as our first Father after he had forfeited it mundo dati quasi metallo De pallio Psal 24.1 115.16 as Tertullian speaketh condemned to the World as to the mines to labour and dig and so find that treasure we seek for As Heaven so the Earth is the Lords and he hath given them both to the sons of men The food of our souls and the food of our bodies are his gift and he giveth them when he revealeth and prescribeth the means how we shall procure them For the one he hath given us Faculty and Will for the other Strength and Appetite Neither will the Heavens bow themselves down to take
second Apol c. 4. Lycurgi leges emendatae saith Tertullian Lycurgus his Laws were so imperfect so ill fitting the Commonwealth that they were brought under the hammer and the file to be beat out and fashioned in another form more proportionable to that body for which they were made were corrected by the Lacedemonians Which undervaluing of his wisdom did so unman him that he would be a man no longer but starved himself to death Vetus squalens sylva legum edictorum securibus truncatae the whole wood of the old Laws now sullied and weakned with age was cut down by the edicts and escripts of after-Emperours at the very root as with an ax All of them are in the body of time and worn out with it either fail of themselves or else are cast aside humane Laws being but as shadows cast from men in power and when they fall to the ground are lost with them and are no more to be seen Gel. Noct. Att. l. 20. c. 1. nec uno statu consistunt sed ut coeli facies maris ità rerum atque fortunae tempestatibus variantur nor do they remain in one state but alter as the face of the Heavens and the Sea now smile anon frown now a calm and by and by a tempest Now the strong man saith Do this anon a stronger then he cometh and I forfeit my head if I do it Laws are too oft written with the point of the sword and then the character followeth the hand that beareth it Thus it is with the Laws of men But the Laws of this our Law-giver can no more change then he that made them No bribe can buy out their power no dispensations wound them no power can disannul them but they are the same Dispensationes vulnera legum and of the same countenance They moult not a feather they alter not in one circumstance but direct the obedient and stare the offender in the face and by the power of this Lord kindle a hell in him in this life and will appear at the great day to accuse him For we either stand or fall in judgment according to these Laws In a word humane Laws are made for certain climates and fitted to the complexion and temper of certain Commonwealths but these for the whole world Rome and Brittany and Jerusalem all places are bound alike and as his Dominion so his Laws reach from one end of the earth to another And these which he publisht at the first are not onely Laws but promises and pledges of his second coming For he made them not for nought but hath left them with us till he come again in glory to judge both the quick and the dead according to his Gospel Besides the Laws of men are too narrow and cannot reach the whole body of Sin cannot comprehend all not the inward man the thoughts and surmises of the heart no not every visible act Leges non omnia comprehendunt non omnia vetant nec absolvunt Sen. they forbid not all they absolve not all Some irregularities there be which these Laws look not upon nor have they any other punishment then the common hatred of men who can pass no other sentence upon them then this That they dislike them and we are forced to leave them to the censure and anger of the Highest saith Seneca Quoties licet non oportet Every thing that is lawful for me to do is not fit to be done And his integrity is but lame that walketh on at pleasure and knoweth no bounds but those which the Laws of men have set up and never questioneth any thing he doth till he meeteth with a check is honest no further then this that he feareth not a prison nor the gibbet is honest because he deserveth not to be hanged How many are there who are called Christians who yet have not made good their title to that honour which we give to a just man How many count themselves just men yet do those things which themselves if they would be themselves would condemn as most unjust and do so when others do them and how many have carried so much honesty with them into hell The Laws of men cannot reach home to carry us to that height of innocency to which no other Law but that within us might lift us up But the Laws of this Lord like his Power and Providence reach and comprehend all the very looks and profers and thoughts of the mind which no man seeth which we see not our selves which though they break not the peace nor shake any pillar of the Commonwealth for a thought troubleth no heart but that which conceiveth it yet stand in opposition to that policy which this our Lord hath drawn out and to that end for which he is our Lord and are louder in his ears then an evil word in ours and therefore he looketh not onely on our outward guilt but also on the conscience it self and pierceth to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit and regulateth the very thoughts and intents of the heart which he looketh upon not as fading and vanishing characters in the soul but as killing letters imprinted and engraven there as S. Basil speaketh De virgin as full and complete actions wrought out in the inward man S. Bernard calleth them passivas actiones passive actions which he will judge secundum evangelium according to these Laws which he hath published in his Gospel Secondly that he is a Lord appeareth by the virtue and power of his Dominion For whereas all the power on earth which so often dazleth us can but afflict the body this woundeth the soul rippeth up the very heart and bowels and when those Lords which we so tremble at till we fall from him Matth. 10.28 can but kill the body this Lord can cast both soul and body into hell nay can make us a hell unto our selves make us punish and torment our selves and being greater then our Conscience can multiply those strokes Humane Laws have been brought into disgrace because they had not power enough to attend and hold them up and even the common people who fear them most have by their own observation gathered the boldness to call them cobwebs for they see he that hath a full purse or a good sword will soon break through them or find a besome to sweap them away What speak you of the Laws I can have them and bind them up in sudariolo saith Petrus Damianus in the corner of my handkerchief Nay many times for want of power victae leges the Laws must submit as in conquest and though they have a tongue to speak yet they have not a hand to strike And as it is in punishment so it is sometimes in point of reward Men may raise their merit and deserts so high that the Exchequer it self shall not find a reward to equal them We have a story in our own Chronicles of a Noble-man who
God This added to the rest maketh up a number an account Without this our joyning with such a body or company nay our appearing in his Courts our naming him and calling upon his name are but cyphers and signifie nothing It is not the Church but the Spirit of Christ and our own consciences which can witness to us that we are inhabitants of the new Jerusalem and dwell in Christ We read Gen. 45. that when Jacob had news that his son Joseph lived his heart fainted for he believed them not but at the sight of the chariots which Joseph sent to carry him his spirit revived So it is here When we shall be told or tell our selves for our selves are the likeliest to bring the news that we have been of such a Church of such a Congregation and applaud our selves for such a poor and unsignificant information bless our selves that the lines are fallen unto us in so goodly a place Psal 16.6 when we shall have well looked upon and examined all the priviledges and benefits we can gain by being parts of such a body all this will not assure us nor fix our anchor deep enough but will leave us to be tossed up and down upon the waves of uncertainty fainting and panting under doubt and unbelief For to recollect all in a word our admiring the Majesty of Christ our loving his command our relying on his protection and resting under the shadow of his wing again our sense and feeling of the operation of the Spirit of Christ by the practick efficacy of our knowledge the actuation and quickning of our faith and the power of it working an universal constant sincere obedience these are the chariots which Christ sendeth to carry us out of Egypt unto our celestial Canaan And when we see these and by a sweet and well-gained experience feel the power of them in our souls then we draw neer in full assurance then we joyfully cry out with Jacob It is enough then we know that our Joseph is alive and that Christ doth dwell and live in us of a truth And now to conclude and by way of conclusion to enforce all these to imprint and fasten them in your hearts what other motive need I use then the thing it self Christ in Man and Man in Christ For if honour or delight or riches will move us here they are all not as the world giveth them but as Truth it self giveth them A sight into which the Angels themselves stoop and desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 To be in Christ to dwell in Christ if a man did perfectly believe it of himself that he were the man non diu superstes maneret said Luther he would even be swallowed up and die of immoderate joy Here now is Life and Death set before us Heaven and Hell opened to our very eye If we do not dwell in Christ if we be not united to him we shall joyn our selves with something else with flesh and blood with the glory and vanity of the world which will but wait upon us to carry us to our grave feed us up and prepare us for the day of slaughter Oh who would dwell in a land darker then darkness it self who would be united with Death But if we dwell in Christ and he in us if he call us My little children and we cry Abba Father then what then Who can utter it The tongue of Men and Angels cannot express it Then as he said to the Father All mine are thine and thine are mine so all his is ours John 17.10 Col. 1.24 and all ours is his Our miseries are his and when we suffer we do but fill up that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ He is in bonds in disgrace in prison with us and we bear them joyfully for we bear them with him who beareth all things Our miseries nay our sins are his He took them upon his shoulder upon his account He sweat he groned he died under them and by dying took away their strength Nay our good deeds are his and if they were not his they were not good Hebr. 13.15 for by him we offer them unto God by his hand in his name He is the Priest that prepareth and consecrateth them Our Prayers our Preaching our Hearing our Alms our Fasting if they were not his Nazianz. were but as the Father calleth the Heathen mans virtues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fair name a title of health upon a box of poison the letter Tau written in the forehead of a reprobate Again to make up the reciprocation as all ours are his so all his are ours What shall I say His Poverty his Dishonour his Sufferings his Cross are ours Yes they are ours because they are his If they had not been his they could not be ours none being able to make satisfaction but he none that could transfer any thing upon man but he that was the Son of man and Son of God His Miracles are ours for for us men and for our salvation were they wrought His Innocency his Purity his Obedience are ours For God so dealeth with us for his sake as if we were innocent and pure as if we our selves had satisfied Let S. Paul conclude for me in that divine and heavenly close of the third chapter of his former Epistle to the Corinthians Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods And if we be Christs Rom. 8.17 then we be heirs joynt-heirs with Jesus Christ As he is heir so have we in him right and title to be heirs and so we receive eternal happiness not onely as a gift but as an inheritance In a word we live with him we suffer with him we are buried with him we rise with him and when he shall come again in glory we who dwell in him now shall be ever with him even dwell and reign with him for evermore The Sixteenth SERMON PART I. EZEKIEL XXXIII 11. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes For why will ye die O house of Israel WE have here a sudden and vehement out-cry Turn ye turn ye And those events which are sudden and vehement the Philosopher telleth us do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 leave some notable mark and impression behind them An earthquake shaketh and dislocateth the earth a whirlwind rendeth the mountains and breaketh in pieces the rocks What is sudden at once striketh us with fear and admiration Greg. in loc Certainly reverenter pensandum est saith the Father This call of the Prophet requireth a serious and reverent consideration For if this vehement ingemination be not sharp and keen enough to enter our Souls and divide asunder the joynts and the marrow here is a Quare moriemini a Reason to set an edge
remedio laboramus By our own folly and the Devils craft our disease doth not hurt us so much as our remedy Repentance which was ordained as the best Physick to purge the soul is turned into that poyson that corrupteth and killeth it What wandring thought what idle word what profane action is there which is not laid upon this fair foundation Hope of pardon which yet will not bear up such hay and stubble We call Sin a disease and so it is a mortal one But Presumption is the greatest the very corruption of the blood and spirits of the best parts of the soul We are sick of Sin it is true but that we feel not But we are sick very sick of Mercy sick of the Gospel sick of Repentance sick of Christ himself and of this we make our boast And our bold relyance on this doth so infatuate us that we take little care to purge out the plague of our heart which we nourish and look upon as upon Health it self We are sick of the Gospel for we receive it and take it down and it doth not purge out but enrage those evil humours which discompose the soul John 13.27 We receive it as Judas did the sop we receive it and with it a devil For this bold and groundless Presumption of pardon maketh us like unto him hardeneth our heart first and then our face and carrieth us with the swelling sails of impudence and remorselessness to an extremity of daring to that height of impiety from which we cannot so easily descend but must fall and break and bruise our selves to pieces Praesumptio invericundiae portio saith Tertullian Presumption is a part and portion and the upholder of Immodesty It falleth and careth not whither it ruineth us and we know not how it abuseth and dishonoureth that Mercy which it maketh a wing to shadow it It hath been the best purveiour for Sin and the kingdome of Darkness We read but of one in the Gospel that despaired Matth. 27.5 Acts 1.25 and hanged himself and so went to his place but how many thousands have gone a contrary way with less anguish and reluctancy with fair but false hopes with strong but feigned assurances and met him there Oh it is one of the Devils subtilest stratagemes to make Sin and Hope of heaven to dwell under the same roof to teach him who is his vassal to walk delicately in his evil wayes to rejoyce alwaies in the Lord even then when he fights against him to assure himself of life in the chambers of death And thus every man is sure The Schismatick is sure and the Libertine is sure the Adulterer is sure and the Murderer is sure the Traitour is sure they are sure who have no savour no relish of salvation The Schismatick hath made his peace though he have no charity The Libertine looketh for his reward though he do not onely deny good works but contemn them The Adulterer absolveth himself without Penance The Murderer knoweth David is entred heaven and hopeth to follow him The prosperous Traitour is in heaven already His present success is a fair earnest of another inheritance That God that favoureth him here will crown him hereafter Every man can do what he list and be what he list do what good men tremble to think of and yet fear not at all but expect the salvation of the Lord first damne and then canonize himself For the greatest part of the Saints of this world have been of their own Creation made up in the midst of the land of darkness with noise with thunder and earthquakes We may be bold to say If Despair hath killed her thousands Presumption hath slain her ten thousands Foolish men that we are who hath bewitched us that we lay hold on Christ when we thrust him from us make him our own and appropriate him when we crucifie and persecute him every day that we had rather phansie and imagine then make our election sure that we will have health and yet care not how we feed or what poison we let down that we make salvation an arbitrary thing to be met with when we please and can as easily be Saints as we can eat and drink as we can kill and slay Good God! what mist and darkness is this which maketh men possessed with Sin that is an enemy ready to devour them to be thus quiet and secure Could we or would we but a little awake and consult with the light of our Faith and Reason we should soon let go our confidence and plainly see the danger we are in whilst we are in our evil wayes and find Fear tied fast unto them So saith S. Paul But if you sin Rom. 13.4 fear Christian Security and Hope of life is the proper and alone issue of a good Conscience through faith in Christ purged from dead and evil works If we will leave our Fear Hebr. 9.14 we must leave our Evil works behind us Assurance is too choice a piece to be beat out by the phansie and to be made up when we please at a higher price then to be purchased with a thought It is a work that will take up an age to finish it the engagement of our whole life to be wrought out with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 not to be taken as a thing granted as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so set up as a pillar of hope when there is no better basis and foundation for it then a forced and fading thought which is next to air and will perish sooner The young man in the Gospel had yet no knowledge of any such Assurance-office and therefore he putteth up his question to our Saviour thus Good Master Matth. 19.16 Mark 10.17 what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life He saw no hope of entring in at that narrow gate with such prodigious sins And our Saviour's answer is Keep the commandments that is Turn from thy evil wayes Be not Envious Malitious Covetous Cruel False Deceitful Despair is the daughter of Sin and Darkness but Confidence is the emanation of a good Conscience What Flesh and Blood maketh up is but a phantasme which appeareth and disappeareth is seen and vanisheth so soon gone that we scarce know whether we saw it or no. There can be no firm hope raised but upon that which is as mount Sion Psal 125.1 and standeth fast for ever which is our best guard in our way nay which is our way in this life and when we are dead will follow us Eras Adag Nothing can bear and afford it but this Vnum arbustum non alit duos erithacos Sin and Assurance are birds too quarrelsome to dwell in the same bush Therefore if you sin fear or rather turn from your evil wayes 1 John 3 21. and then you shall have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 boldness and confidence towards God We must therefore sink and fall low and mitigate our voice
apart for this holy use yet we must be careful that we attribute no more unto them than Christ the Authour doth We must not suffer our eyes to dazle at the outward Elements nor must we rest in the outward Action For this were in a manner to transsubstantiate the Elements and bring the Body and Bloud of Christ into them which nothing can do but Faith and Repentance This were to make the very action of Receiving opus privilegiatum as Gerson speaketh to give it a greater prerogative than was ever granted out of the court of Heaven This were to rest in the means as in the end and at once to magnifie and profane it This were to take it as our first parents did the Apple that our eyes may be opened and then to see nothing but our own shame This were to eat and to be damned But this we shall not need to insist upon For it is sufficient to point out to it as to a thing to be done And that we may do it besides the Authority and Command and Love of the Authour we have all those motives and inducements which use to stir up and incite us unto action even then when our hands are folded and we unwilling to move as 1. the Fitness and Applyableness of it to our present condition 2. the Profit and Advantage it may bring 3. the Pleasure and Delight it carrieth along with it 4. the Necessity of it which are as so many allurements and invitations as so many winds to drive us on and make us fly to it as the Doves to their windows Isa 60.8 And first it fitteth and complyeth as it were with our present condition blanditur nostrae infirmitati and even flattereth and comforteth and rowzeth up our weakness and infirmity As our Saviour speaketh upon another occaâ—â—on John 12.30 2 Cor. 5.7 This voyce this institution came for our sake We walk by faith saith the Apostle Et hoc est nostrae infirmitatis saith the Father and this is a sign and an argument of humane infirmity that we walk by faith that God can come no nearer to us nor we to him that we see him onely with that eye which 1 Cor. 13.12 Gen. 2.18 c. when it is clearest seeth him but as in a glass darkly And therefore as God sent Adam into the world and gave him adjutorium simile sibi a help convenient and meet for him so doth he place us in his Church and affordeth us many helps meet for us and attempered to our frailty and humane infirmity He speaketh to our Ear and he speaketh to our Eye he speaketh in thunder and he speaketh in a still voyce He passeth his promise and sealeth and confirmeth it He preacheth to us by his word and he preacheth to us by these ocular Sermons by visible Elements by Water to purge us and by Bread and Wine to strengthen us in his grace and omitteth nothing that is meet and convenient for us When God told the people of Israel that he would no longer go before them himself he withall telleth them he would send his Angel which should lead them and when we are not capable of a nearer approach he sendeth his Angels his Word his Apostles his Sacraments which like those ministring Spirits Hebr. 1.14 minister for them who are heirs of salvation And not content with the general declaration of his mind he addeth unto it certain seals and external signs that we may even see and handle and tast the word of life 1 Joh. 1.1 And as it was said by Laban and Jacob when they made a covenant Gen. 31.48 c. This stone shall be witness between us so God doth say to thy soul by these outward Elements This covenant have I made with thee and this that thou seest shall witness between thee and me Do thou look upon it and bring a bleeding renewed heart with thee and then do this and I will look upon it Gen. 9.16 as upon the Rain-bow and remember my covenant which was made in the blood of my Son I thus frame and apply my self to thee in things familiar to thy sight that thou mayest draw nearer and nearer to that light which now thy mortal eye thy frailty and infirmity cannot attain to And shall we not meet and embrace that help which is so fitted and proportioned to us Secondly Profit is a lure and calleth all men after it And if you ask with the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What profit is there Rom 3 1â—2 we may answer with him Much every manner of way For what is profit but the improvement of our estate the bettering of our condition As in the increase of Jacobs cattel the doubling of Jobs sheep as when Davids sheep-hook was changed into a scepter here was improvement and advantage And this we find in our spiritual addresses in our reverent access to this Table a great improvement in some thirty in some sixty in some an hundred fold Mark 4.20 a Will intended a Love exalted our Hope increased our Faith quickened more earnestly looking on God more compassionately on our Brethren more Light in our Understanding more Heat in our Affections more Constancy in our Patience every vitious Inclination weakned every Virtue rooted and established What is but brass it refineth into gold raiseth the man the earthy man to the participation of a Divine nature And shall we not be covetous of that which is so profitable and advantageous Thirdly Pleasure is attractive is eloquent and pleadeth for admittance Who will not do that which bringeth much delight and pleasure when it is done And here in this action of worthy Receiving is not that short transitory Meteor the flattery and titillation of the outward man but that new heaven which Reason and Religion create in the mind Isa 9.3 the joy of the harvest as the Prophet speaketh Psal 126.5 for here we reap in joy what we sowed in tears the joy and triumph of a Conquerour for here we tread down our enemy under our feet the joy of a prisoner set at liberty for this is our Jubilee And such a joy the blood of Christ if it be tasted and well digested must necessarily bring forth a pure refined spiritual heavenly joy Pretious blood saith S. Peter 1 Pet. 1.19 not to be shed for a trifle for that joy which is no better then madness and the blood of an immaculate Lamb not to be poured forth for a stained wavering fugitive joy for a joy as full of pollution as the World and the Flesh from whence it springeth Bring but a true tast with thee a soul purged from those vitious humours which vitiate and corrupt it and here is not onely Bread and Wine Psal 4.7 but living Bread Bread that putteth gladness into the heart more then Corn and Wine can Here is Christ here is Joy here is Heaven it self And shall we not do that which filleth
in Scripture words of Command and Duty carry with them more then they shew and have wrapped up in them both the Act and the End and are of the largest signification in the Spirit 's Dictionary To HEAR is to Hear and to Doe To KNOW is to Know and to Practice To BELIEVE is to Believe and to Obey The Schools will tell us FIDES absque addito in Scriptura formata intelligitur Where Faith is named in Scripture without some addition as a dead Faith a temporary Faith an hypocritical Faith there evermore that Faith is commended which worketh by Charity And so to shew or to preach the death of the Lord is more then to Utter it with the tongue and Profess it For thus Judas might shew it as well as Peter thus the Jews might shew it that crucified him Thus the profane person that crucifieth him every day may shew it Yea Christ's death may be the common subject for discourse and the language of the whole world Therefore our shewing must look farther even to the end For what is Hearing without Doing What is Knowledge without Practice What is Faith without Chariâ—y What is shewing the death of the Lord if we do it not to that end for which he did die Our hearing is but the sensuality of the ear our Knowledge but an empty speculation our Faith but phansie and our shewing the death of the Lord a kind of nailing him again to the cross For to draw his picture in our ear or mind to character him out in our words and yet fight against him is to put him to shame We must then understand our selves when we speak to God as we understand God when he speaketh to us and in the same manner we must shew him to himself and the world as he is pleased to shew and manifest himself unto us Christ did not present us with a picture with a phantasm with a bare shew and appearance of suffering for us Nor must we present him with shadows and shews And what is God's shewing himself Psal 80. Thou that sittest between the Cherubims shew thy self saith the Psalmist shine thou clearly to our comfort and to the terrour of our enemies God manifesteth his Power and breaketh the Cedars of Libanus He maketh known his Wisdom and teacheth the children of men He publisheth his Love and filleth us with good things His Words are his blessings and his demonstrations in glory He speaketh to us by peace and shadoweth us by plenty and our garners are full And see how the creature echoeth back again to him The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-work Day unto day uttereth welleth out speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge God's language is Power God's language is Love and God's language is Hope God planted a vineyard Isa 5. that expresseth his Power and built a tower in it and made a wine-press therein there is his Love and he lookâ—d for grapes there Hope speaketh for he that planteth planteth in hope He spake by his Prophets he spake by his judgments and he spake by his mercies but still he spake in hope for he doth neither shine nor thunder but in hope This is the heavenly dialect and we must take it out We must not speak as one that beggeth on a stage but as he that beggeth on the high way naked and cold and pinched with hunger Verba in opera vertenda By a religious Alchymie we must turn words into works and when God speaketh to us by his Prophets answer him by our obedience when he speaketh to us in Love give him our hearts and when he looketh for grapes be full of good works This is Christ's own dialect and he best understandeth it and his reply is a reward But from shews and words he turneth away his ears and will not hear that is for still in God's language more is understood then spoke he will bring us to judgment And now we see what it is to shew the death of the Lord not to draw it out in our imagination or to speak it with the tongue but to express the power and virtue of it in our selves to labour and travel in birth till Christ be fully formed in us till all Christian virtues which are as the spirits of his bloud be quick and operative in us till we be made perfect to every good work And thus we shew his death by our Faith For Faith if it be not dead will speak and make it self known to all the world speak to the naked and clothe him to the hungry and feed him to those who erre and are in darkness and shine upon them This is the dialect of Faith But if the cold frost of temptations as S. Gregorie speaketh hath so niped it that it is grown chil and cold and can speak but faintly if we have talked so long of Faith till we have left her speechless if she speak but imperfectly and in broken language now by a drop of water and now by a mite and then silent shew the death of Christ onely in some rare and slender performance behold this is your hour and the power of light this your time of receiving the Sacrament is the time to actuate and quicken your Faith to make it more apprehensive more operative more lively to give it a tongue that it may shew and preach the wonderful works of the Lord. And as we shew the Lord's death by our Faith so we shew it by our Hope which if it be that Hope which purifieth the heart will awake our glory the Tongue If it be well built and underpropped with Charity it will speak and cry and complain And the language is the same with that of the souls under the Altar How long Lord Rev. 6. How long shall the Flesh fight against the Spirit How long shall we struggle with temptations When wilt thou deliver us from this body of death When shall we appear in the presence of our God Though we fall we shall rise again Though we are shaken we shall not be overthrown Though thou killest us yet we will trust in thee This is the dialect of Hope And here at this Table we must learn to speak out to speak it more plainly to raise and exalt it to a Confidence which is the loudest report it can make Thirdly we shew and preach the Lord's death by our Love Which is but the echo of his Love And we speak it fully as he doth to us fill up the sentence and leave not out a word make it manifest in the equality and universality of our obedience as he offered up himself a full perfect and sufficient sacrifice for us Quicquid propter Deum fit aequaliter fit Our love to Christ must be equal and like himself not meet him at Church and run from him in the streets not embrace him in a Sermon and throw him from us in our conversation not flatter him with a peny
me up as it were in opposition to the world and the counsels of the world and so layeth me open to scorn and hatred to misery and poverty Or more plainly this If being an Apostle of Christ I should yet please men attemper my doctrine to their tast and relish whatsoever I call my self yet certainly I shall in no degree approve my self to be the servant of Christ And in this sense if we view the form and manner of the words they are at the first sound but a meer supposition of S. Pauls but if we hear them again and well observe and consider them we shall find them to be a Satyre and bitter reprehension of those false Apostles who did mingle and confound Christ and the Law and of all those who shall leave the truth behind them to meet and comply with the humours of men I say a plain and flat redargution but clothed in the garment and habit of a hypothetical proposition Nobis non licet esse tam disertis It is not for us Latines to be thus elegant The Latine Poet speaketh it of himself but indeed lasheth that too much liberty which the Greeks assumed to themselves And If I yet pleased men is as a finger pointing out to the false Doctours who were pleasers of men Again as it is an artificial Reprehension so if you shall please to look upon it intentively you shall find it to be a Rule and Precept For as some Commentatours on Aristotle have observed that his rule many times is contained and lieth hid in the example and instance which he bringeth as when he giveth you the instance of a Magnificent man you shall there easily discover the face and beauty and full proportion of Magnificence so what S. Paul speaking of himself laieth down as a Supposition is indeed a Rule and Precept And this which hath been observed of Aristotle is the constant method of the holy Ghost That which is brought for instance is a Precept When Joshua speaketh of himself Josh 24.15 I and my houshold will serve the Lord he draweth the character of a good Master of a family When Job saith I put on righteousness and it clothed me Job 29.14 Psal 6.6 he fitteth a robe for a good Magistrate When David saith I water my couch with my tears he hath presented us with the most lively picture of a Penitentiary My meat is to do the work of him that sent me John 4.34 are the words of our Saviour in S. Johns Gospel and as they lie seem to be but a bare narration but they are a command and speak in effect thus much unto us that as to him it was so to us it must be even meat and drink to do the will of our Father which is in heaven And here If yet I pleased men I were not the servant of Christ S. Paul speaketh it of himself but it is a command given to all those who have given up their name unto Christ and every man may make this deduction to himself That to please men and to serve Christ are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incompatible and cannot stand together That the best way to keep Christs livery on our backs is not to be so much slaves unto men as to please them And then these three things are wrapt up in this Supposition 1. our Apostles Purgation of himself That he is no pleaser of men 2. a sharp Reprehension of men pleasers 3. a flat Command against it Or thus Here is something implied and something plain and positive That which is implied is That most men are willing to be pleased That which is plain and positive is That there be others that will be too ready to please them And then the parts will be three We shall discover 1. the humour of desiring to be pleased and the danger of it 2. a humour which is ready to meet and answer the other an art and readiness of pleasing others of knowing their tast and palate and dishing out instructions with such sawces as shall delight them of making addresses to them in that shape and posture which they most love to look upon and are ready to welcome and reward and 3. last of all the huge distance and inconsistency which is between these two the pleasing of men and the being a servant of Christ And of these we shall speak plainly in their order And first we need not doubt that most men desire to be pleased and it may seem a needless labour to go about to prove it For do but whisper do but breathe against their humour and you have made a demonstration that it is so S. Paul indeed maketh it his wonder v. 6. I wonder that you are so soon removed And we might well wonder at his wonder but that his miror carrieth with it more of reproof then admiration For the consideration of this humour this desire to be pleased taketh off our admiration And when we have discovered this we cease to wonder though we see men transplant themselves out of a goodly heritage into a barren soil from the Gospel of Christ which bringeth salvation but withal trouble to the flesh to another Gospel which is no Gospel but excludeth both in a word to see men begin in the spirit and end in the flesh Omnis rei displicentis etiam opinio reprobatur saith Tertullian The very thought of that which displeaseth us displeaseth us almost as much as the thing it self For indeed it is nothing but thought that troubleth us and it is not the matter or substance of Truth but Opinion and our private Humour which maketh Truth such a bitter pill that we cannot take it down It was the usual speach of Alexander the Great to his Master Aristotle Doce me facilia Leave I pray you your knotty and intricate discourses and teach me those things which are easie which the Understanding may not labour under but such as it may receive with delight And it is so with us in the study of that Art of arts which alone can make us both wise and happy We love not duros sermones those hard and harsh lessons which discipline the flesh and bring it into subjection and demolish those strong holds which it hath set up and in which it trusteth A Parasite is more welcome to us then a Prophet He is our Apostle who will bring familiar and beloved arguments to perswade us to that to which we have perswaded our selves already and further our motion to that to which we are flying We find almost the parallel in the 30 of Esai 10. v. of those who say to the Seers See not and to the Prophets Prophesie not unto us right things speak unto us smooth things prophesie deceits men who had rather be cosened with a pleasing lie then saved with a frowning and threatning truth rather be wounded to death with a kiss then be rowsed with noise rather die in a pleasant dream then be awaked to
in the world Behold the Profane Gallant who walketh and talketh away his life Malunt Remp. turbari quà m comam Sen. who divideth himself between the comb and the glass and had rather the Common-wealth should flie in pieces then one hair of his periwig should be out of its place whom we bow and cringe and fall down to as to a golden Calf I tell you the meanest Artizan that worketh with his hands even he that grindeth at the mill is more honourable then he Take the speculative phantastick Zelote the Christian Pharisee that shutteth himself up between the ear and the tongue between hearing much and speaking more and doing contrary the worst Anchorete in the world bring full of oppression deceit and bitterness I may be bold to say The vilest person he that sitteth with the dogs of your flock Job 30.1 Phil. 3.18 is more honourable more righteous then he and of such as these S. Paul spake often and he spake it weeping that they did walk but walk as enemies to the cross of Christ. Let then every man move in his own sphere orderly 1 Cor. 7.20 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 Authour of our Walk let us take him along with us in all our wayes Heb. 12.28 hearken what Christ Jesus the Lord will say that we may walk before him with reverence and godly fear Psal 85.8 Exod. 37.9 Not SICVT VIDIMVS as we have seen but look we upon one another as the two Cherubims 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 Nor SICVT VISVM FVERIT as it shall seem good in our own eyes for nothing can be more deceitful then our own thoughts Nor SICVT VISVM SPIRITVI S. as every Spirit may move us which we call Holy for it may be a lying spirit and â—ead us out of our way into those evils which grieve that blessed Spirit whose name we have thus presumptuously taken in vain But SICVT ACCEPIMVS as we have received Christ Jesus Let us joyn example with the Word and it will be no more as a meteor to mislead us but a bright morning-star to direct us to Christ Correct our Phansie by the Rule and it will be sanctum cogitatorium an alembick an holy elaboratory of such thoughts as 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 shall enlighten thee Matth. 3.11 John 16.13 and the Spirit shall purge and cleanse thee and lead thee into all truth The Spirit shall breathe comfort and strength into thee in this thy walk and pilgrimage and thou shalt walk from strength to strength Psal 84.7 from virtue to virtue even till thou come to thy journeyes end to thy Father's house to that Sabbath and rest which remaineth to the people of God Hebr. 4.9 A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL Sir George Whitmore Knight Sometime Lord Mayor of the City of LONDON Who departed this life Decemb. 12. 1654. at his house at Bawmes in MIDDLESEX PSAL. CXIX 19. I am a stranger in the earth hide not thy commandments from me THis Psalm is a Psalm of David So S. Augustine and Hilary and others or gathered by him or out of him And it is nothing else but a collection of Prayers and Praises a body of devout ejaculations which the Greek Fathers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lively sparkles breathed forth from a heart on fire and even sick with love And they fly so thick that observation can hardly take the order of them The method of Devotion followeth and keepeth time with the motion of the Heart which is as various and different as those imprâ—ssions which Joy or Grief Fear or Hope make in it Which either contract and bind it up and then it struggleth and laboureth within it self and conceiveth sighs and grones which cannot be expressed or breaketh forth into complaints and strong supplications v. 39. v. 77. Take away the rebuke that I fear Let thy tender mercies come unto me that I may live and the like or else dilate and open it and then it leapeth out of it self and breatheth it self forth with exultation and triumph in songs of praise and Hallelujahs v. 57. v. 97. v. 72. O Lord thou art my portion O how I love thy Law The Law of thy mouth is better unto me then thousands of gold and silver In this verse which I have read unto you and chosen as the fittest subject for this present occasion the Heart having looked abroad out of it self and reflected back into it self draweth out in it self the Picture of a Stranger or a Pilgrime and having well lookt upon it with the serious eye of Contemplation which is the heart of the Heart and the soul of the Soul having surveyed the place of its habitation how frail and ruinous it is as a tent subject to the winds beat upon by every storm and at last to be removed it goeth out of it self and seeketh for shelter under the shadow of Gods wing sendeth forth strong desires for supply and support in hoc inquilinatûs sui tempore as Tertullian speaketh in this time of its so journing and pilgrimage for that supply which is most answerable to the condition of a stranger upon earth and which may best conduct him to the place for which he was born and bound He asketh not for Riches they have wings Prov. 23 5. and will fly away and leave him in his walk or if they stay with him they will but mock and delude him Not for Honour that is but a breath but air and may breathe upon him at one stage and at the next leave him but never forward him in his way Not for Delightful vanities these are but ill companions and will lead him out of his way The best supply for a stranger here upon earth is from heaven from the place not where he sojourneth but to which he is going the best convoy the will and commandments of God the word of God the best lantern to his feet Psal 119.105 Whilest these are in his eye and heart he shall pass by slippery places and not fall he shall pass through fire and water he shall walk upon the Lion and the Asp Psal 66.12 91.13 he shall meet with with flattering objects and loath them with terrours and contemn them use the world as if he used it not be in poverty 1 Cor. 7.31 and yet not poor in affliction but not distrest in many a storm and pass through and rejoyce in it live in the world and
you what it was that made John a burning and what a shining light And here I need not tell you that he was a Prophet and more then a Prophet He was fibula Legis Evangelii as Tertullian calleth him the hasp which tied together the Law and the Gospel the middle Prophet which looked back upon the Truth obscurely shadowed in figures and types and looked forward on Christ that at the very voice of Christ's mother he sprang in his mother's womb prophetavit antequam natus erat and was a Prophet before he was a man Our Saviour here calleth him a burning light Supernatural illumination might have been enough to have made him a light to others but not to burn in himself Even Saul was amongst the Prophets and Caiaphas did prophesie and Baalam fell into a trance saw the vision of the Almighty took up his parable and breathed forth a prophesie a prophesie of as large a compass and extent as any we find in Scripture and yet he loved the wages of unrighteousness Even these were moved by the holy Ghost and spake as they were moved but were not holy men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil but the word of Prophesie came unto them by way of dispensation not for any purity or worth of theirs but for the present exigence and occasion and the instruction of others He that opened Balaams eyes opened also the Asses mouth to rebuke him All these may be called lights but we cannot say they burned or if they did not with any fire from heaven For Knowledge whether natural or supernatural whether gained by way of conclusion out of premisses or by the evidence of the things themselves or by Divine inspiration and extraordinary radiation is not alwaies accompanied with this heat and fire because the acts or reception of the Understanding are rather natural and necessary then arbitrary and the mind of man cannot but receive the species and forms of things as they are presented and imprinted either by the object it self or by a Divine supernatural hand In a word if the Truth open and display it self the Understanding cannot but receive it If the Spirit come upon Saul he must prophesie These radiations and flashes of light upon the Understanding do not alwayes make us burn within our selves but many times are darted on us when there is a frost at the heart when we are bound up and sealed as it were in our graves in a kind of Lethargy without heat or activity Every knowing man doth not love the truth which he knoweth nor is every Prophet a Saint Scire nihil aut parùm operatur ad virtutem saith the Philisopher Knowledge of it self bringeth no great store of fuel to this fire nor doth it conduce to the essence of Virtue For we do not define Virtue by Knowledge It may direct and illuminate but it doth not alwaies warm us it may help to fan this fire but it is not that heat with which we burn What is it then that made John Baptist and maketh every righteous man a burning light Not the Knowledge alone though it were supereminent but the Love of Truth For the Understanding is at best but a Counsellor to the Will It may call upon me to awake and I fold my arms to sleep It may speak as an oracle of God and I reject its counsel It may say This is the way when I run counter It may breathe upon my heart and no fire burn But when the Will is so truly affected with the Truth as to woo and imbrace it when I am willing to lay down my life for it then there is a fire in my bones and this fire doth melt me and this liquefaction transform me and this transformation unite and marry me to the Truth And this is that fire with which we burn which maketh this holy conflagration in us And indeed it hath the operation of Fire For first as Fire it is full of activity nor can any thing withstand its force It hath voracitatem toto mundo avidissimam as Pliny speaketh It is the most devouring thing in the world Nihil tam ferreum quod non amoris igne vincitur saith Augustine There is nothing so hard or difficult which it doth not overcome It esteemeth iron as straw and brass as rotten wood Be it Service it is a glorious liberty Be it seven years it is but a few dayes to Love Be it Disgrace it enobleth it Be it Poverty it enricheth it Be it Torment it sweetneth it Be it Death for the Truth 's sake it is made advantage and gain O beloved that the voice of power so soon shaketh us that the glittering of a sword the horrour of a prison a frown so soon loosneth our joynts abateth our courage that we either halt between God and Baal or plainly fall from the Truth is because we are but coldly affected to it If this fire were kindled in us it would make Persecution peace enlighten a prison and make Horrour it self an object of glory and joy That which is a tempest to others to them that love is a pleasant and prosperous gale Secondly as Fire it is very sensible and maketh us even to burn within us and to be restless and unquiet for the Truth 's sake Inquies animus ipso opere pascitur as Livy spake of himself It is fed with what it doeth and as that restless element it either spreadeth or dieth It is kindled from heaven and will lick up all the water all contrary matter 2 Cor. 5.13 as the fire did which Elijah called down Whether we be besides our selves or whether we be sober it is for the Truth 's sake Love urgeth and constraineth us driveth us upon the pricks upon any difficulty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Gordius the Martyr in Basil What loss am I at that die but once for the Truth In labours more abundant in stripes above measure in prison more frequent saith S. Paul And could he do no more Yes he could Vbi historiam praestare non potuit votum attulit What he could not do to fill up an history he supplieth with a wish and maketh it his prayer for the good of the Church Rom. 9. to be cut off from the Church pro Christo non habere Christum for Christ's sake to be separate from Christ And to speak truth in this Love differeth from Fire Fire will die if it want fuel but Love will live in that breast where it was first kindled and where it meeteth not with matter to work upon it burneth the more for want of it When it cannot fight with the Philistine not encounter Satan with his fiery darts not slight him in the pomp of the world not contemn him in his terrours it striveth and strugleth with it self and supposeth and frameth difficulties Nihil imperiosius charitate Nothing is more powerful nor commanding then Love And yet when it hath done all supposed all it is content
neither with possibilities nor events sed plus vult posse quà m omnia it would do more then it is able more then all more then it doeth more then it can do And then tell me what a spark is our Love Christ indeed came to kindle it but it is scarce visible on the earth Last of all as Fire Love ascendeth and mounteth upwards even to the Holy place to the bosome of God himself It came from heaven and towreth towards it For he that abideth in love dwelleth in God and God in him saith S. John Here it is as out of its sphere and element and never at rest nor at home but in God In a word where this love is there is the good will of him who dwelt in the bush Where this love is there the lamp burneth and all is on fire Amor fons caput omnium affectionum saith Martin Luther Love is the source and original of all other affections It setteth our Anger on fire and putteth the spear into Phinehas his hand It setteth our Sorrow a bleeding and maketh rivers of water gush from our eyes It maketh our Fear watchful that we may work out our salvation with trembling It exalteth our Joy Oh how I rejoyced saith David when they said unto me We will go into the house of the Lord It raiseth our Hope even to hope above hope It mixeth and incorporateth it self with every passion Our Love with Anger is Zeal with Fear Jealousie with Hope Confidence with Sorrow Repentance and with Joy it is Heaven And thus by the Love of the Truth the man of God is made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostom speaketh a man of fire conquering all difficulties and consumed by none He standeth in the midst of scoffs and derision and detraction and of all temptations as in the midst of a field of stubble or dry flax or straw and is not hurt at all They that come near him do but sindge and torment themselves as thorns crackle and make a noise and vanish into smoke and the man is safe Such a burning light such a man of fire was John the Baptist who bare witness to the Truth and for the love of the Truth lost both his liberty and his life who preached it in the womb and preached it in the wilderness who preached it by living and preached it by dying and preached being dead S. Chrysostom telleth us that he spake most when his head was off In a word the love of Truth did so enflame him that he may seem what the Rabbies phansie of Elijah in whose spirit he came to have sucked not-milk but flames of fire from his mothers breasts And so much for his Burning Now in the next place as he burned with the love of Truth so he shined also by the manifestation of it which was as the spreading and displaying of his beams As he was hot within so he was resplendent without As he had this fire within himself so there was a scintillation and corruscation on others And it was visible in his severity of life in his raiment in his fasting in his doctrine in his boldness in reprehending the Pharisees and Saduces in his laying the axe to the very root of the trees in fulfilling of all righteousness For we must not conceive of this fire as S. Basil phansieth of the elementary fire that God did divide and sunder the two qualities of Heat and Light of Burning and Shining and placed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the burning quality in hell where the fire burneth but shineth not and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shining quality in heaven which shineth but burneth not This was but a phansie though of a learned and judicious man No where this fire is there will be light nor can we sever them The Knowledge indeed of Truth many times breatheth in no other coasts then where it was conceived may dwell in a cloister or a wilderness in men qui non possunt pati solem multitudinem who cannot walk the common wayes Saints indeed in private but of no publick use but yet even here is some light in the wilderness in a cell or grott But when to the Knowledge of Truth we have added the Love of Truth our heart will wax hot within us and the fire will burn and we who before was possest with a dumb spirit do speak with the tongue yea cannot but speak the things which we have heard and seen then we cannot contain our selves within our selves but have those glorious eruptions then we shine upon others who burn in our selves As the heat is such is the light as the burning within such the shining without When we shine alone in mere out-ward performances in the pomp of devotion in the rolling of the eye in the lifting up of the ear in the motion of the tongue in the extermination of the countenance it is but a false and a momentary light but as the light of a glo-worm in the night which proceedeth from some other cause not from heat It may be a flash of Ambition or some scintillation of Vain-glory or the very sparkles of Faction and like lightning dum micat extinguitur it is extinguished in the very flâ—sh When we burn alone when we cast not forth beams but breathe forth hail-stones and coals of fire when we wax hot as an oven but cast forth no light at all when we lash the iniquities of the times and are our selves those fools on whose back the whip should be laid when we cry down sin and are men of Belial when all the heat is for Religion and all the light we see is Faction and Rapine it is too plain that we burn but we are set on fire by hell For if the heat be kindly the light will be glorious If it be from heaven it will not feed it self with earth and the things of this world If our light be manifest and permanent if our light so shine that men may see it and for it glorifie the Fountain of light it must needs proceed ab intimo pleno fervore devotionis from this inward burning from this true and full heat of Devotion Where there is heat there is light and where there is light there is heat And these two Heat and Light seem to contend for superiority Quo calidior radius lucidior The more hot the beams are the more light there is And this Light reflecteth upon the Heat to make it more intense and the Heat hath an operation upon the Light to make it more radiant and by a reciprocal influence on each other they are multiplyed every day My Love of the Truth spreadeth my Holiness and maketh it known unto all men and my holy Conversation dilateth and improveth my Love of the Truth My Love of the Truth maketh me increase and abound more and more and the nearer I draw to perfection I do the more and more love the Truth The more I burn the
wherein Sin and Satan have laid us For this is the end of both For this end Christ suffered and for this end he rose again For this end he payed down a price even his bloud to strike off those chains and bring us back into the glorious liberty of the sons of God to gain a title in us to have a right to our souls to guide them and a right to our bodies to command them as he pleaseth But though the price be payed yet we may be prisoners still if we love our fetters and will not shake them off if we count our prison a paradise and had rather sport out our span here in the wayes of darkness then dwell for ever in the light Christ hath done whatsoever belongeth to a Redeemer but there is something required at their hands who are redeemed namely when he knocketh at our graves and biddeth us come forth to fling off our grave-clothes and follow him not to stay in our enemy's hands and love our captivity but to present our selves before our Captain and shew him his own purchase a soul that is his and a body that is his a soul purged and renewed and a body obedient and instrumental to the soul both chearful and active in setting forth his glory This is the conclusion of the whole matter this is the end of all not onely of our Creation which the Apostle doth not mention here although even by that God hath the right of dominion over us but also of our Redemption which is later and more special and more glorious as one star differeth from another in glory Take all the Articles of the Creed take Christ's Birth his Death his Resurrection his Glory is the Amen to all Take all God's Precepts all his Promises and let them stand as they are for the Premisses and no other Conclusion can be so properly drawn from them as this That we should glorifie God The Premisses are drawn together within the compass of the first words of my Text EMPTI ESTIS PRETIO Ye are bought with a price and the Conclusâ—â—n in the last ERGO GLORIFICATE Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's So the Parts you see are as the Persons are the Redeemer and the Redeemed two 1. a Benefit declared Ye are bought with a price 2. a Duty enjoyned Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's The first remembreth us what God hath done for us the second calleth upon us to remember what we are to do for him to give unto God those things which are God's to glorifie him in our body and in our spirit which are God's These are the parts and of these we shall speak in their order First of the Benefit Ye are bought with a price This Purchase this Redeeming us supposeth we were alienated from Christ and in our enemy's hand and power 2 Tim 2.26 in the snare of the Devil and taken captive by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken by him as it were in war And indeed till Christ bought us his we were even made servants to him as servants use to be venditione by sale and jure belli by right of war We had sold our selves as S. Paul speaketh unto him sold our birth-right for a mess of pottage sold our selves for that which is not bread for that Pleasure which is but a shadow for those Riches which are but dung for that Honour which is but air Every toy was the price of our bloud He opened his false wares and we pawned and prostituted our souls and gave up our hope of eternity for his pianted vanities and a glittering death His was but a profer and we might have refused it But we believed that Father of lies and so gave up our selves into his power and his we were by bargain and sale And as we were his by sale so we were his in a manner by right of war For he set upon us and overcame us not so much by valour as by stratagem by his wiles and devices as S. Paul calleth them For not onely the Sword but those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Polybius speaketh deceits and thefts of war work out a way to victory And he that faileth in the battel is as truly a captive when art and cunning as when force and violence maketh him bow the knee and yield This our enemy setteth upon a soul as a soul with forces proportioned to a soul which cannot be taken by force no though he were ten times more a Lion more roaring then he is He hath indeed rectas manus some blows he giveth directly striking at our very face And he hath aversas tectásque others he giveth cunningly and in secret But when we see the wounds and ulcers which he maketh we cannot be ignorant whose hand it is that smote us He is that great invisible Sophister of the world saith Basil He mingleth himself with our humour and inclination and so casteth a mist before us and cloudeth our understanding that we may be willing to lay hold of Falshood for Truth of Evil for Good and by a kind of legerdemain he maketh Vertue it self promote sin and Truth errour And as there so in his wiles and enterprises ipsa fallacia delectat we are willing to be deceived and taken because the sleights themselves are delightful to us The Devil's Temptations are in this like his Oracles full of ambiguities And as Demosthenes said of Apollo's Oracle that it did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak too much to the desire and mind of Philip so do these flatter each humour and inclination in us and at last persuade us that that which we would have true is true indeed And thus do we give up all into the Enemies hands and are taken captive and brought under the yoke sub reatu peccati under the guilt of sin which as a poisoned dart sticketh in our sides and galleth and troubleth us wheresoever we go I canâ—ot better call a bad conscience then flagellum Diaboli the Devil's whip with which he tormenteth his captives and maketh large furrows in their soul As the Roman lords did over their slaves in terga cervices saevire imprint marks and characters and as the Comedian speaketh letters on their backs so doth this laniatus ictus wounds and swellings and ulcers He is not so much a slave that is chained to an oar as he that liveth under a bad conscience Now empti estis From this slavery we are redeemed by Christ For being justified by faith we have peace with God and the noise of the whip is heard no more Next we were sub dominio peccati we were under the power and dominion of Sin so that it was a Tyrant and reigned in us If it did say Go we did go even in slippery places and dangerous precipices upon the point of the sword and death it self Like that evil spirit in the Gospel it rendeth and teareth us
the highest heavens for evermore The Sixteenth SERMON PART II. 1 COR. VI. 20. For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's THese words are a Logical Enthymeme consisting of two parts an Antecedent Ye are bought with a price and a Consequent naturally following Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are God's God's by Creation and God's by Redemption the Body bought and redeemed from the dust to which it must have fallen for ever and the Soul from a worse death the death of sin from those impurities which bound it over to an eternity of punishment and therefore both to be consecrated to him who bought them How God is to be glorified in our spirit we have already shewn to wit by a kind of assimilation by framing and fashioning our selves to the will and mind of God He that is of the same mind with God glorifieth him by bowing to him in his still voice and by bowing to him in his thunder by hearkening to him when he speaketh as a Father and by hearkening to him when he threatneth as a Lord by hearkening to his mercy and by hearkening to his rod. For the Glory of a King is most resplendent in the obedience of his subjects In a word we glorifie God by Justice and Mercy and those other vertues which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defluxions and emanations from his infinite goodness and light In a just and perfect man God shineth in glory and all that behold him will say that God is in him of a truth The Glory of God is that immense ocean into which all streams must run Our Creation our Redemption are to his glory Nay the Damnation of the wicked at last emptieth it self and endeth here This his wisdom worketh out of his dishonour and forceth it out of blasphemy it self But God's chief glory and in which he most delighteth is from our submissive yielding to his natural and primitive intent which is that we should follow and be like him in all purity and holiness In this he is well pleased that we should do that which is pleasing in his sight Then he looketh with an eye of favour and complacency upon Man his creature when he appeareth in that shape and form which he prescribed when he seeth his own image in him when he is what he would have him be when he doth not change the glory of God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things when he doth not prostitute that Understanding to folly which should know him and that Will to vanity which should seek him nor fasten those Affections to the earth which should wait upon him alone when he falleth not from his state and condition but is holy as God is holy merciful as God is merciful perfect as God is perfect Then is he glorified then doth he glory in him Deut. 30.9 and rejoyce over him as Moses speaketh as over the work of his hands as over his image and likeness not corrupted not defaced Then is Man taught Canticum laudis nothing else but the Glory and Praise of his Maker Thus do we glorifie God in our spirit Now to pass to that which we formerly did but touch upon Man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made up of both of Body and Spirit and therefore must glorifie God not onely in the spirit but in the body also For such a near conjunction there is between the Body and the Soul that nothing but Death can divorce them and that too but for a while a sleeping-time after which they shall be made up into one again either to howl out their blasphemie or to sing a song of praise to their Maker for evermore If we will not glorifie God in our body by chastity by abstinence by patience here we shall be forced to do it by weeping and gnashing of teeth hereafter It is true the body is but flesh 2 Cor. 4.11 yet the life of Jesus may be made manifest in this our flesh It is but dust and ashes but this dust and ashes may be raised up and made a Temple of the holy Ghost a Temple in which we offer up ch 6.19 not beasts our raging lusts and unruly affections nor the foul stench and exhalations of our corrupted hearts but the sweet incense of our devotion not whole drink offerings but our tears and strong supplications such a Temple which it self may be a sacrifice a holy and acceptable sacrifice Rom. 12.1 post Dei templum sepulcrum Christi saith Tertullian and being a Temple of God be made a sepulchre of Christ by bearing about in it the dying of our Lord Jesus For when we beat it down and bring it in subjection when we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep it chast and pure quench those unholy fires which are even ready to kindle and flame up in it bind and tye it up from joyning with that forbidden object to which its bent and natural inclination carrieth it when we have set a watch at every sense at every door which may be an in-let to the Enemy when we have learned so far to love it as to despise it to esteem of it as not ours but his that made it to be macerated and diminished to be spit upon and whipt to be stretched out on the rack to be ploughed up with the scourge to be consumed in the fire when his honour calleth for it when with S. Paul we are ready to offer it up then is the power of Christ's death visible in it and the beauty of that sight is the glory of God First we glorifie God in our bodies when we use them for that end to which he built them up when we make them not the weapons of sin but the weapons of righteousness when we do not suffer them to make our Spirit and Reason their servants to usher in those delights which may flatter and please them but bring them under the law and command of Reason Touch not Taste not Handle not which by its power may check the weakness of the Flesh and so uphold and defend it from those allurements and illusions from that deep ditch that hell into which it was ready to fall and willing to be swallowed up Now saith S. Paul vers 13◠the body is not for fornication It was not created for that end For how can God who is Purity it self create a body for uncleanness Not then for fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the body Who made it as an instrument which the mind might use to the improvement and beautifying of it self as a vessel to be possest by us in holiness and honour 1 Thes 4.4 his Temple and thy vessel his Temple that thou mayest not profane it and thy vessel that thou mayest not defile and pollute it nor defile thy soul in it For this kind of
crop and harvest of our Devotion This is truly cum parvo peccato ad ecclesiam venire cum peccatis multis ab ecclesia recedere to bring some sins with us to Church but carry away more for fear of the smoke to leap into the fire for fear of coming too near to Superstition to shipwreck on Profaneness for fear of Will-worship not to worship at all like Haggards to check at every feather to be troubled at every shew and appearance to startle at every shadow and where GLORY TO THE LORD is engraven in capital letters to blot it out and write down SUPERSTITION I see I must conclude Beloved fly Idolatry fly Superstition you cannot fly far enough But withal fly Profaneness and Irreverence and run not so far from the one as to meet and embrace the other Be not Papists God forbid you should But be not Atheists that sure talk what we will of Popery is far the worse Do not give God more then he would have but be sure you do not give him less Why should you bate him any part who giveth you all Behold he breathed into you your Souls and stampt his Image upon them Give it him back again not clipt not defaced but representing his own graces unto him in all holiness and purity And his hands did form and fashion your Bodies and in his book are all your members written Let THE GLORY OF GOD be set forth and wtitten as it were upon every one of them and he shall exalt those members higher yet and make thy vile Body like to his most glorious body In a word Let us glorifie God here in soul and body and he shall glorifie both soul and body in the day of the Lord Jesus The Seventeenth SERMON PART I. 1 COR. XII 3. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost THat Jesus is the Lord was seen in his triumph at Easter made manifest by the power of his Resurrection The earth trembled the foundations of the hills moved and shook the graves opened at the presence of this Lord. Not the Disciples onely had this fire kindled in their hearts that they could not but say The Lord is risen but the earth opened her mouth and the Grave hers And now it is become the language of the whole world Jesus is the Lord. All this is true But we ask with the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What profit is it What profit is it if the Earth speak and the Grave speak and the whole World speak if we be dumb Let Jesus be the Lord but if we cannot say so he may and will be our Lord indeed but not our Jesus we may fall under his power but not rise by his help If we cannot say so we shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fall cross with him nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak the quite contrary If we cannot call him Lord then with the accursed Jew we do indeed call him Anathema we call the Saviour of the world an accursed thing Si confiteamur exsecramur If we confess him not we curse him And he that curseth Jesus needeth no greater curse We must then before we can be good Christians go to school and learn to speak not onely Abba Father but Jesus the Lord. And where now shall we learn it Shall we knock at our own breasts and awake our Reason to lead us to this saving truth Shall we be content with that light which the Laws and Customs of our Country have set up and so cry him up for Lord as the Ephesians did their Diana for company and sit down and rest our selves in this resolution because we see the Jew hated the Turk abhorred and Hereticks burned who deny it Shall we alienis oculis videre make use of other mens eyes and so take our Religion upon trust These are the common motives and inducements to believe it With this clay we open our eyes thus we drive out the dumb Spirit And when we hear this noise round about us that Jesus is the Lord our mouth openeth and we speak it with our tongue These are lights indeed and our lights but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deceitful My Reason is too dim a light and cannot shew me this great conjunction of Jesus and the Lord. Education is a false light and misleadeth the greatest part of Christians even when it leadeth them right For he that falleth upon the Truth by chance by this blind felicity erreth when he doth not erre having no better assurance of the Truth then the common vogue He walketh indeed in the right way but blindfold He embraceth the Truth but so as for ought he knoweth it may be a lye And last of all the greatest Authority on earth is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a faint uncertain and failing proof a windy testimony if it blow from no other treasury then this below No we must have a surer word then this or else we shall not be what we so easily persuade our selves we are We must look higher then these Cathedram habet in coelo Our Master is in heaven And JESUS IS THE LORD is a voice from heaven taught us saith the Apostle by the holy Ghost who is vicarius Christi as Tertullian calleth him Christ's Vicar here on earth and supplieth his place to help and elevate our Reason to assure and confirm our Education and to establish and ratifie Authority Would you have this dumb spirit dispossessed The Spirit who as on this day came down in a showre of tongues must do it Would you be able to fetch breath to speak The holy Ghost must spirare breathe into us the breath of spiritual life inable us by inspiration Would we say it we must teach it If we be ignorant of this the Apostle here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would have us to understand that No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost And now we have fitted our Text to the Time the Feast of Pentecost which was the Feast of the Law For then the old Law was given then written in tables of stone And whensoever the Spirit of the living God writeth this Law of Christ THAT HE IS THE LORD in the fleshly tables of our hearts then is our Pentecost the Feast of the holy Ghost then he descendeth in a sound to awake us in wind to move and shake us in fiery tongues to warm us and make us speak The difference is This ministration of the Spirit is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaketh far more glorious And as he came in solemn state upon the Disciples this day in a manner seen and heard so he cometh though not so visibly yet effectually to us upon whom the ends of the world are come Though not in a mighty wind yet he rattleth our hearts together Though no house totter
furta fidei the thefts and pious depredations of Faith But that Faith should be idle or speechless or dead is contrary to its nature and proceedeth from our depraved dispositions from Love of the world and Love of our selves which can silence it or lull it asleep or bury it in oblivion Thus we may have Faith as if we had it not and use it as we should use the world as if we used it not or worse abuse it not believe and say it but believe and deny it not believe and be saved but believe and be damned For the Devil can haereticare propositiones make propositions which are absolutely true heretical Believe and be saved is as true as Gospel nay it is the Gospel it self but by his art and deceit many believe and are by so much the bolder in the wayes which lead unto Death believe Jesus to be the Lord and contemn him believe him to be a Saviour and upon presumption of mercy make themselves uncapable of mercy and because he saveth sinners will be such sinners as he cannot save because they believe he taketh away the sins of the world will harden themselves in those sins which he will not take away Many there be who do veritatem sed non per vera tenere maintain the Truth but by those wayes which are contrary to the Truth make that which should confirm Religion destroy Religion and their whole life a false gloss upon a good Text having a form of godliness but denying the power of it crying Jesus is the Lord but scourging him with their blasphemies as if he were a slave and fighting against him with their lusts and affections as if he were an enemy sealing him up in his grave as if he were not that Jesus that Saviour that Lord but in the Jews language that deceiver that blasphemer But this is a most broken and imperfect language And though we are said to believe it when we cannot believe it to have the habit of Faith when we have not the use of Reason and so cannot bring it forth into act as some Divines conceive though it be spoke for us at the Font when we cannot speak and though when we can speak it we speak it again and again as often almost at we speak Lord Lord though we gasp it forth with our last breath and make it the last word we speak yet all this will not make up the Dicere all this will not rise to thus much as to say JESUS IS THE LORD Therefore In the third place that we may truly say it we must speak it to God as God speaketh to us whose word is his deed who cannot lie who Numb 23.19 if he saith it will doe it if he speak it will make it good And as he speaketh to us by his Benefits which are not words but blessings the language of Heaven by his Rain to water the earth by his Wool to clothe us and by his Bread to feed us so must we speak to him by our Obedience by Hearts not hollow by Tongues not deceitful by Hands pure and innocent Our heart conceiveth and our obedience is the report made abroad And this is indeed LO QUI to speak out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make our works vocal and our words operative to have lightning in our words and thunder in our deeds as Nazianzene spake of Basil that not onely Men and Angels may hear and see and applaud us but this Lord himself may understand our dialect and by that know us to be his children and accept and reward us In our Lord and Saviour's Alphabet these are the Letters in his Grammar these are the Words Meekness and Patience Compassion and Readiness to forgive Self-denial and Taking up our cross This must be our Dialect We cannot better express our Jesus and our Lord then idiomate operum by the language of our works by the language of the Angels whose Elogium is They doe his will the Tongue of Angels is not so proper as their Ministery for indeed their Ministery is their Tongue by the language of the Innocents who confessed him to be the Lord not by speaking but by dying by the language of the blessed Martyrs who in their tumultuary executions when they could not be heard for noise were not suffered to confess him said no more but took their death on it And this is truly to say Jesus is the Lord. For if he be indeed our Lord then shall we be under his command and beck Not a thought must rise which he would controll not a word be uttered which he would silence not an action break forth which he forbideth not a motion be seen which he would stop The very name of Lord must awe us must possess and rule us must inclose and bound us and keep us in on every side Till this be done nothing is done nothing is said We are his purchase and must fall willingly under his Dominion For as God made Man a little World so hath he made him a little Commonwealth Tertullian calleth him Fibulam utriusque substantiae the Clasp or Button which tieth together two diverse substances the Soul and the Body the Flesh and the Spirit And these two are contrary one to the other saith S. Paul are carried diverse wayes the Flesh to that which is pleasing to it and the Spirit to that which is proportioned to it looking on things neither as pleasing nor irksom but as they may be drawn in to contribute to the perfection and beauty of the soul Gal. 5.17 They lust and struggle one against the other and Man is the field the theatre where this battel is fought and one part or other still prevaileth Many times nay most times the Flesh with her sophistry prevaileth with the Will to joyn with her against the Spirit against those inclinations and motions which the Word and the Spirit beget in us And then Sin taketh the chair the place and throne of Christ and is Lord over us reigneth as S. Paul speaketh in our mortal bodies If it say Go we go and if it say Come we come and if it say Doe this we doe it It maketh us lay down that price for dung with which we might purchase heaven See how Mammon condemneth one to the mines to dig for metalls and treasure for that money which will perish with him See how Lust fettereth another with a look and the glance of an eye and bindeth him with a kiss which will at last bite like a serpent See how Self-love driveth on thousands as Balaam did his beast on the point of the sword And thus doth Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6.12 Lord it and King it over us And in this bondage and slavery can we truly say Jesus is the Lord when he is disgraced deposed and even crucified again Beloved whilest this fighting and contention lasteth in us something or other will lay hold on us and draw us within its
And by the light which shineth in his works in thy self and in his word quasi porrectâ manu as Lactantius speaketh as with a hand stretched out he beckeneth to thee to raise thee from the dust and out of thy bloud that thou mayst lift up thy head to look up and seek him who is so manifest to the eye and so willing to be found For in the next place as God is an object to be sought so he is the sole and adequate object of our desires For howsoever they may wander and with the Bee seek honey on every leaf and plant yet they are unquiet and restless and never satisfied but in God Therefore as he hath graciously condescended to open and discover some part of his beauty and majesty that we might love him and fall down and worship him so he hath also made the mind of man a thing of infinite capacity utterly unsatiable in this world There is not any finite thing which can possibly give it full content Covetousness is not filled with riches Ambition is not dulled or taken off with honours nor Lust quenched with pleasure These daughters of the horse-leach when they are full and ready to break still cry Give Give Hoc habent non respiciunt They never look back upon what they have but still drive forward for more If these things were fit objects to seek they would no doubt do what at first sight they promise satisfie the desire But Desire maketh haste and flyeth towards them and when it hath overtaken them is as restless as before Sitis altera crescit Still as one desire is satisfied another ariseth Nay the same desire multiplyeth it self We wander from one object from one vanity to another and many times back again unto the same and that befalleth us which befalleth unskilful builders quibus sua semper displicent ut semper destruant quod semper aedificent who are alwayes displeased with what they do and what they build they destroy and then build again We will and we will not and we will again and indeed know not what to will Or it fareth with us as it doth with some men who have queasie stomachs our appetite cometh by eating majora cupere ex his discimus the obtaining of some is the way and means to desire more Now we cannot think that this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this infinite appetite of a soul is a thing that befalleth us by chance For then certainly it would not be alwayes nor would it be in all For those things saith the Philosopher which fall out alwayes or for the most part cannot be casual but have set and constant cause And if this vast appetite be not casual and by chance then it must needs be implanted in the soul by God himself And if so then it must necessarily have something to which it tendeth For it is a known axiom in Philosophy Deus natura nihil frustra faciunt God and Nature make nothing in vain Look into the body of man so many parts so many passages so many desires yet none of them in vain He that hath made hunger hath made bread to stanch it he that hath made thirst hath made drink to quench it he hath fitted some object to every look and inclination to every motion and desire And we cannot think but that the same God hath proportioned something to this infinite Thirst and Hunger in the soul to allay it Which if we cannot find here neither in the seat of Honour when it is built highest nor in our barns and granaries when they are most filled nor in the field of Pleasure when it yieldeth most variety neither in the Throne nor in our Treasures nor in Dalilah's lap seeing the whole world is not large enough for the heart of man nor can afford any thing that can fill it though we walk about it and double Methusalah's age nay though we should not end but with it we shall be forced to confess that we must seek satisfaction somewhere else even in God who can alone satisfie this infinite appetite of our souls in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore So having presented to you the true Object and shewed you what you must seek to wit God alone I pass to the Act to teach you what it is to seek him which is my next part Seek yee the Lord. Having discovered the beauty and majesty of the Object one would think our desire should be on the wing nor should there need the voice of a Prophet to quicken us and bid us seek him The Prophet David Psal 24. telleth us there is a generation of them that seek the Lord. Some seek him in lectulo in their bed have peradventure a pleasant dream of God talk much of him as men may do in a dream and when judgement shall awake them behold it was but a dream to be interpreted as dreams use to be by contraries Some seek him in plateis in the wide and open streets think to find him with ease with hearkning after him but then it followeth quaerunt sed non inveniunt eum they seek him but they do not find him Some seek him and sit still and gaze some seek him and gad and wander some seek him and are unwilling to find him as St. Augustine in his Confessions telleth us that he prayed to God against sin but was afraid God should hear him too soon especially in the sin of lust quam malebat expleri quà m extingui which he had rather should be satisfied then quenched Every man is a severe Justitiary against another mans sin but a patron and protector of his own Sin oh it is an ugly monster and every man is ready to fling his dart at it Sin it is that for which the Land mourneth by which the Church is rent and the whole world put out of frame This the worst sinners breathe forth with as much ease as they commit sin But In my rebellion saith the traitour In my lust saith the wanton I◠〈◊〉 oppression saith the covetous In this sin the Lord be merciful to mâ—â—â— mâ—â—â—ful unto me though I love it and love to commit it Some sin or other there is to which our natural temper and complexion swayeth us which we can willingly hear reviled and which we can disgrace our selves and yet are unwilling to leave it behind us when we seek Nay we may say as the Disciples did to Christ in the Gospel A multitude there be that throng and press upon God as if they could not overtake him soon enough How doth their zeal wax hot as an oven how do their words fall from them not like dew but like hailstones and coales of fire how do they mourn for Zion and cry down the iniquities of the time when no mans iniquity cryeth louder for vengeance then theirs how do they monopolize the Spirit appropriate Assurance of salvation and
and so make our seeking a free-will-offering a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour unto God and make it evident that we understand the language of his benefits the miracle which he worketh which is to cure our blindness with this clay with these outward things that we may see to seek him And this is truly to praise the Lord for his goodness Psal 107. Hos 3.5 this is to fear the Lord and his goodness to bear our selves with that fear and reverence that we offend not this God of blessings Negat beneficium qui non honorat He denieth a benefit that doth not thus honour it and is contumelious to that God that gave it Ingratitude is the bane of merit the defacer of vertue the sepulchre the hell of all blessings for by it they are turned into a curse It loatheth the land of Canaan and looketh for milk and honey in Egypt Oh beloved dare we look back upon former times What face can turn that way and not gather blackness God looked favourably upon us and we lifted up the heel against him He gave us light and we shut our eyes against that light He gave us wealth and we abused it to pride and avarice and vanity He made us the envy and we were ambitious to make our selves the scorn of all nations He gave us milk and honey and we turned it into gall and bitterness He sent the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth the blessings of the right hand and of the left plenty and peace the one we loathed as the Jews did their Manna the other we abused He sent peace and we desired war He broke the sword and we furbished it He placed and setled us under our own vines and figtrees and we were in trouble till we were in trouble till we were in a posture of war He spake to us by plenty and we answered him by luxury He spake to us in love and we answered him by oppression He made our faces to shine and we ground the poor's He spake to us by peace and we beat up the drum He spake to us in a still voice and we defied the Holy one of Israel Every benefit of his spake Give me my price and lo instead of seeking him running from him instead of sanctifying his name profaning it instead of calling upon his name calling it down and forcing it to countenance all the imaginations of our heart which have been evil continually This was the goodly price that he was prized at of us Zech. 11.13 And then our Sun did seem to set our day vvas shut up that Now that Then had its end vvhat can vve expect but that the next Now the next time he should come in thunder give us hail for rain and flaming fire in our land But such a Then such an opportunity we had and thus we lost it And if we have let slip this time of peace this acceptable time yet at least let us seek him now when if we seek him not we shall find nothing but destruction seek him in the storm that he may make a calm call upon him in our trouble that he may bring us out of our distress Seek him now when our Sun is darkned and our Moon turned into bloud when the knowledge of his law and of true piety beginneth to wax dim and the true face and beauty of religion to wither when the stars are fallen from heaven the teachers of the truth from the true profession of the truth when the powers of the heaven are shaken when the pillars of the Church are shaken and broken asunder into so many sects and divisions which is as musick to to Rome but maketh all walk as mourners about the streets of Jerusalem vvhen RELIGION vvhich should be the bond of love is made the motto in our banners the title and pretense of vvar the nurse and fomenter of that malice and bitterness vvhich putteth it to shame and treadeth it under foot Novv vvhen the sea and waves thereof do roar vvhen vve hear the noise and tumult of the people vvhich is as the raging of the sea but ebbing and flovviâ—g vvith more uncertainty and from a cause less knovvn vvhen nation riseth up against nation and kingdom against kingdom nay vvhen kingdomes are divided in themselves in this draught and resemblance of the end of the vvorld vvhen he thus speaketh to us in the vvhirlvvind vvhen he thus knocketh vvith his hammer vvhen he calleth thus loud to us to seek him vve should novv bovv dovvn our heads and in all humility ansvver him Thy face O Lord will we seek Matth 18 7. For as our Saviour speaketh of offences so may vve of these afflictions and terrours vvhich God sendeth to fright us It must needs be that they come not onely necessitate consequentiae by a necessity of consequence supposing the condition of our Nature and the changes and chances of a sinful vvorld but necessitate finis in respect of the End for vvhich they are sent for vvhich God in vvhose povver both men and their actions are doth not onely not hinder them by his mighty hand but permitteth them and by a kind of providence sendeth them upon us partly for our tryal but especially for our amendment that finding gall and wormvvood upon every pleasure and vanity of the world finding no rest for our feet in these tumultuous vvaves vve may fly to the Ark and seek him vvith our vvhole heart For vvhen neither the oyl of God's grace vvill soften and supple our stony hearts nor his Word vvhich is his sword pierce them when we cannot be restrained by the â—piâ—it of meekness then Cedo virgam then he cometh with his rod that if we will not make our selves the children of perdition the smart of that may drive us unto him And certainly if afflictions work not this effect they will a far worse If they do not set an end to our sin they are but the beginnings of punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene a prologue to that long and lasting Tragedy the sad types and fore-runners of everlasting Torments in the bottomless pit As yet they are but an argument of Gods love the blows of a Father to bring us to his hand O felicem servum cujus emendationi instat Dominus cui dignatur irasci saith Tertullian O happy servant whom the Lord is carefull thus to correct whom he loveth so well as to be angry with him to whom he giveth so great honour and respect as to chastize him But if we lose this affliction make no advantage of it lose that profit which God intendeth by it then he is no longer a Father but a Judge and this punishment is no longer Correction but Execution He hath spent his rods and now he will take his axe in hand and as the Prophet speaketh he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease Dan. 9.27 and for the over-spreading of abominations he shall make
I had pity on thee This is the natural and most necessary inference that can be drawn from these premisses What a sick soul then is that which when Mercy overshadoweth her bringeth forth a monster breathing forth hail stones and coals of fire even that cruelty which devoureth those she should foster This is the most false illation can be made For God freely profereth remission of sins to work in us the like mind and affection and pardoneth all by proclamation that we may forgive one another To conclude this It is with this great example of God's Goodness to us as it is with his Word and Spirit and other benefits They are powerful to work miracles to heal the sick to give eyes to the blind to give life to the dead to remove mountains any difficulty whatsoever but they do not necessarily produce these effects because there still remaineth an indifferency in the will of man and a possibility to resist It is the office of the Spirit to seal us to the day of our redemption and he is powerful to do it but he doth not seal a stone which will take no impression or water which will hold no figure His Word is his hammer but it doth not batter nor soften every heart How often is his Word in their mouth how often do they publish his mercies his wonderful mercies to the world whose very mercy notwithstanding is cruelty His Benefits are lively in themselves but dead and buried in an ungrateful breast Therefore to make his Mercy efficacious to let it work what it is very apt to work let us not onely hear God when he speaketh to us by it and go out to meet him when he cometh towards us by his exemplary goodness put off our shooes from our feet at the appearance of this great light to wit all our turbulent motions beat down all the contradictions of our mind and take the veil from before our eyes that we may discern his Mercy as it is working remission of sins but withall planting that love in our hearts which must grow up to shadow all the trespasses of our brethren And this power and influence the Mercy of God hath to work in us the like softness and tenderness of heart to others if we hinder it not if Covetousness and the Love of the world and that False love of our selves and other vile affections stand not up and oppose it We must now in the next place weigh the Force and Power which our forgiveness of our brethren hath to move God to shew mercy unto us And indeed it may seem to have some causality in it For as I told you the SICUT in S. Matthew is ETENIM in S. Luke as we forgive saith the one for we forgive saith the other But indeed they are both one and ETENIM is no more then SICUT And it is observed that this conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it carry with it the appearance of a Causal yet both in the New Testament and in humane Authours serves sometimes for nothing else but to make up the connexion For take Compassion and all the vertues which are commended to our practice take that Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law yet all will not make up a Cause either efficient or formal Rom. 3.24 of Remission of sins which is the free gift of God But because our Saviour hath told us that if we forgive men their trespasses our heavenly Father will forgive us we may say it is a Cause a cause so far as without it there is no remission of sins For though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains though I give my bread to the poor and my body to be burnt yet if I have not charity if I do not forgive my enemies there is no hope of remission Or it is as I told you causa removens prohibens a cause in this respect that it removeth that hindrance that obstacle that mountain which standeth between us and the Mercy-seat For God's Goodness is larger then his Beneficence He doth not do what good he can he doth not do what good he would because we are uncapable He doth not shine in full beauty upon us because we are nothing but deformity We will not suffer him to be good we will not suffer him to be merciful we will not suffer him to wipe out our sins by forgiveness we set up our rampiers and bulworks against him and our Malice is strong against his Mercy But so far it is a cause and may be said to produce it as the effect is commonly attributed to such causes which though they have not any positive causality yet without them the effect cannot be accomplished Thus Blessedness is placed as a title and inscription upon every vertue Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are the merciful Every vertue maketh us blessed but not every vertue without all So naked and destitute is every vertue if it be not accompanied with all nor is any vertue truly a vertue if it do not savour and relish of the rest For it is universal obedience that God requireth at our hands And though forgiveness of sins go as it were hand in hand with every vertue yet it is so in every vertue that we cannot find it but in all We are baptized for remission of sins We believe to remission of sins We forgive that our sins may be forgiven Yet none of these are available alone not Baptism without Faith nor Faith without Love The profession of Christianity taketh in all that is praise-worthy all vertues whatsoever As the Oratour telleth us that to his art of Oratory not onely Wit and Pronunciation and Command of language but also the Knowledge of all the arts are necessary quae etiam aliud agentes ornat ubi minimè credas excellit which adorneth our speech when we do not intend it and is a grace which sheweth it self in every limme and part of it and is very eminent where we do not see it So though the habits of Vertues be as distinct as their names yet they all meet in that general Obedience and Sanctity of life which denominateth a Christian And there is not any vertue but hath some appearance and is in part visible in every one My Christian Fortitude sheweth it self in my Temperance my Temperance in my Bounty my Faith in my Charity and my Charity in my Hope And as in an army of men though the Captain and Leader be commonly entitled to the victory yet was it vvrought out by the several and particular hands of every common souldier and by the united force of the vvhole battalion so that vve truly say All did overcome and Every one did overcome So vve may attribute Remission of sins to every vertue vvhich vve can never obtain but by the embracement and practice of them all Our Saviour's words then If ye forgive ye
word which is a work which will break forth into action a word like unto that of God who spake and it was done Psal 33.9 Psal 62.11 who speaketh and repenteth not God hath spoken once that is immobiliter saith a Father His word is immutable IBIMUS We will go Here is their Resolution a strong will begotten of Love vehemens bene ordinata voluntas a vehement and well-ordered will Lord Psal 26.8 I have loved the habitation of thy house saith the Psalmist This is invictissimè constantissimè velle as S. Augustine speaketh a preserving and unconquered will a resolution taken up once for all not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Stoicks speak an assent that it is fit so to do but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an active motion by which the mind is carried along and in a manner forced to that it desireth a full perswasion as that of Abraham Rom. 4. as that of S Paul Acts 21. who Rom. 4.21 Acts 21 11-14 though he was so sure to be bound and put in fetters by the Jews at Jerusalem yet he would go up thither and by no arguments nor intreaties nor tears be persuaded to the contrary as that of Martine Luther who would enter the city Wormes though every tile on every house were a devil as that of the blessed Martyrs whom neither threats nor flatteries could at all work upon but their firm and setled purpose of mind added strength to the weaker part animated and quickned and as it were spiritualized their bodies and made them subservient and ministerial to bring their resolution into act Hence in a manner they suffered as if they suffered not They seemed to be ignorant of their stripes senseless of their wounds unconcerned in their torments Death appeared to them in as fair a shape as Life it self yea was desired before it This is it we call Resolution to will and do or to will which is to do For quicquid imperavit sibi animus obtinuit Whatsoever the mind commandeth it self whatsoever it resolveth on is as good as done already For when we have looked upon the object and approved it when we have beheld its glory and confirmed our selves in the liking of it when we have cast by all objections which flesh and bloud may bring in of danger or difficulty when we have fastned the thing to our soul and made it as it were a part of it when it is become as Christ saith our meat John 4.34 then there is such an impression of it made iâ—â—he heart such a character as is indeleble and we are as violently carried towards it as an hungry man is to his food and refreshment neither difficulty nor danger neither principalities nor powers neither life nor death can so stand between as to keep us from it My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed saith David Psal 57.7 and then he cannot but sing and give praise The heart being fixed to the object carrieth it about with it is joyned to it even when it is out of sight when at the greatest distance Finis operi adulatur The end we propose and the glory thereof doth give light and lustre to our endeavours yea and cast a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and loveliness even on that which would deterre us from it and leaveth not in us the consideration or memory of any thing besides it self This is Resolution This maketh an IBIMUS We will go significant without this we cannot clearly pronounce IBIMUS we cannot truly say We will go into the house of the Lord. Such a resolution David here observed at least supposed in the people of Israel For whether the Ark were to be setled or the Temple to be edified or re-edified any of these might well stir up a desire in them and a resolution to see it done For the Ark was a Sam. 4.21 22. Psal 78.61 the glory of Israel and b Jer. 7.4 The Temple of the Lord was a frequent and solemn word in their mouthes they c Psal 44.8 made it their boast all the day long their long absence therefore could not but whet their desire raise their expectation fix and setle their will and make them impatient of delay Oh when shall we appear in the presence of God! When shall we go into the house of the Lord Thence we heard the oracles of God There is the mercy-seat There we offered sacrifices and burnt-offerings There we called upon God's name There are set thrones of judgment the thrones of the house of David There the glory of the Lord appeared and made it as heaven it self We will go This was their Resolution We now pass to behold 3. Their Agreement and joynt Consent Which is visible in the pronoun WE We will go Much hath been said of Pronouns of the power and virtue of them of Meum and Tuum what swords they have whet what bloud they have spilt what fires they have kindled what tumults they have raised in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene How long shall we hear in the Church these quarrelsome words Mine and Thine My understanding and Thy understanding My wit and Thy wit My preacher and Thy preacher My Church and Thy Church It is not Mine or Thine but Ours WE is a bond of peace and love that tieth us all together and maketh us all one We are all Israelites we are one people we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-citizens and members of the same body We have one Law one Temple one Religion one Faith one God one Heaven cur non omnes unus dicantur saith Origen and why may not all then be one Yes we are all one And there is as great unity between us if we be of the same body saith Cyprian as there is between the beams and the Sun between rivers and their fountain between branches and their root WE taketh in a whole nation a whole people the whole world and maketh them one DECERNIMUS We decree We ordein is taken for a word of state and majesty but it is indeed a word of great moderation and humility an open profession that though Princes command yet they do it not alone but by the advise and counsel of others For in making a Law the King and his Counsel are but one So WE maketh Manasseh and Ephraim all Israel all the Tribes one WE maketh a Common-wealth and WE maketh a Church Though there be Lords and peasants Pastours and people Acts 1.15 though the number of the names together be an hundred and twenty yea many millions yet WE by interpretation is but one 1 Cor. 12.8 c. To one is given the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge to another faith to another the gifts of healing to another the working of miracles c. But it is by one and the same Spirit And as there is but one Spirit so there is but one Christ and in
and he reflecteth a blessing upon me Quod est omnium est singulorum That which is all mens is every mans and that which is every mans belongeth unto the whole Proprietas excommunicatio est saith Parisiensis Propriety is an excommunication When I appropriate my devotion to my self I do in a manner thrust my brother out of the Church nay I shut my self out of heaven I at once depose and exauctorate both my self and him Nay I cannot appropriate it for where it is it will spread It is my sorrow and thy sorrow my fear and thy fear my joy and thy joy Ye see here the Tribes go up to the house of the Lord with joy and this joy raiseth another or rather the same a joy of the same nature in David At the very apprehension of it he taketh down his harp from the wall and setteth his joy to a tune and committeth it to a song I was glad when they said c. And thus I am fallen upon 2. The second thing observable in the Psalmists joy the Publication thereof He setteth it to Musick he conveyeth it into a song and as the Chaldee Pharaphrast saith Adam did assoon as his sin was forgiven him he expresseth sabbatum suum his Sabbath his content and gladness in a Psalm that it might pass from generation to generation and never be forgotten but that this sacrifice of thanksgiving which himself here offereth might still upon the like occasion be offered by others unto the worlds end and that the people which should in after-ages be created might thus praise the Lord. Thus David hath passed over and entailed his joy to all posterity This is thanks and praise indeed when it floweth from an heart thus affected when it breaketh forth like light from the Sun and spreadeth it self like the heavens and declareth the glory of God Gratè ad nos beneficium pervenisse indicamus effusis affectibus saith Seneca Then a benefit meeteth with a greateful heart when it is ready to pour forth it self in joy and the affections not being able to contain themselves are seen and heard shine bright in the countenance and sound aloud in a song Certainly Gratitude is neither sullen nor silent Saul's evil melancholick Spirit cannot enter the heart of a David nor any heart in which the love of God's glory reigneth At the sight of any thing that may set it forth the pious soul is awaked and the melancholick and dumb spirit is cast out Psal 47.1 4. nor can it return whilest that love is in us When God hath chosen our inheritance for us then O clap your hands all ye people shout unto God with the voice of triumph To draw towards a conclusion By this rejoycing spirit of David's we may examine and judge of the temper of our own If we be of the same disposition with him no sight no object will delight us but that in which God is and in which his glory is seen We shall not make songs of other mens miseries nor keep holiday when they mourn We shall not like any thing either in our selves or others which dishonoureth God's name Prov. 2.14 In a word we shall not rejoyce to do evil nor take pleasure in the frowardness of the wicked But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our whole life will be one holiday one continued Sabbath and rest in good Of what spirit then are they who rejoyce not in their own miseries but in their sins who take great delight and complacency not onely in the calamities but also in the falls and miscarriages of others especially if they cast not in their lot and make one purse with them Prov. 1.14 who as Judas did carry their religion and their purse in the same hand whose religion is in their purse and openeth and shutteth with it who that they may triumph in the miseries rejoyce first in the defects whether seeming or real of their dissenting brethren Every man that looketh towards Jerusalem Luke 9.53 and will not stay with them at their Samaria must be cast out of doors Criminibus debent hortos praetoria campos They owe their wealth and possessions shall I say to other mens crimes no they owe them to their own For a great sin it is to delight in sin but to make that a crime which is not a sin is a greater What is it then to turn piety it self into sin To call an asseveration an oath is a fault at least And then what is it to call devotion superstition the house of God a sty and reverence idolatry Yet if these were sins why should my brothers ruine be my joy Why should I wish his fall delight in his fall follow him in his fall as the Romanes did their sword-players in the theatre with acclamation So so thus I would have it We cannot say this proceedeth from piety or is an effect of charity 1 Cor. 13.6 For Charity rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth Charity bindeth up wounds doth not make them wider And when people sin Charity maketh the head a fountain of tears but doth not fill the mouth with laughter Charity is no detractour no jester no Satyrist it thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13.5 it is not suspicious It cannot behold a Synagogue of Satan in the Temple of the Lord nor Superstition in a wall nor Idolatry in reverence This evil humour indeed proceedeth from Love but it is the love of the world which defameth every thing for advantage laugheth at Churches that it may pull them down maketh men odious that it may make them poor and dealeth with them as the Heathen did with the first Christians putteth them into bears skins that it may bait them to death This certainly is not from David's but from an evil spirit Nor can it be truly termed Joy unless we should look for joy in hell and content in a place of torment Rejoycings and jubilees of this sort are like unto the howlings of devils In the Devil there cannot be joy My drunkenness cannot quench the flames he burneth in my evil conscience cannot kill that worm which gnaweth him my ignorance cannot lighten his darkness my loss of heaven cannot bring him back thither Should he conquer the whole world he would still be a slave But yet in the Devil though properly there be no joy there is quasi gaudium that which is like our joy in evil which we call Joy though it be not so And it is in him saith Aquinas not as a passion but as an act of his will When we do well that is done which he would not and that is his grief and when we sin we are led captive according to his will and that is his joy 2 Tim. 2.26 And such is the joy of malicious wicked men for whom it is not expedient nor profitable that those who are not of the same mind with them should be good and therefore against their will And to this
there been no Sin there had been no Hell at all And therefore as it resembles it so it tends to it as naturally as a Stone doth to the centre Against the righteous the gates of Hell will not open but they are never shut to the wicked ever ready to receive him and take him in as his due and portion For again is it not fit that they who have made an agreement with it that with their words and works have called it to them that have studied and laboured for it all their life long that have made it their business that have broke their sleep for it that have had it in their will and desire should at last be thrown into that place which they have chosen and which they have made such hast to all the daies of their life Is it not fit that what they sow that they should also reap You will say This is impossible impossible that any man should will it should desire it should be ambitious of that place of horrour and count it a preferment But beloved as much as it may be this is the case and condition of every obstinate and unrepenting sinner For he that counts Sin a preferment must count Punishment a preferment too which can no more be separated from Sin then Poyson from a Serpent When thou first sinnest thou bowest towards Hell when thou goest on in thy sin thou runnest to destruction and to die and to be in Hell are the same period and term of thy motion Prov. 8.36 When thou lovest Sin thou lovest Death When thou drawest in Sin as the Oxe doth water thou drawest in the flames of Hell When thou thinkest thy self in Paradise thou art falling into the pit of Hell The Philosopher gives the reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The beginning is from thy self if therefore the end is from thy self the cause is from thy self and therefore the effect is from thy self For will any man say that the Glutton is sick the Wanton rotten the Sluggard poor against his will when they greedily do those things which naturally bring along with them Sickness Rottenness and Poverty Will you say he had a mischance that wilfully leapt into the Sea We will Death we love Death nay further yet exsultamus rebus pessimis we rejoyce to do evil Prov. 2.14 We are in an exstasie transported beyond our selves in our third heaven as S. Paul was in his we talk of it we dream of it we sweat for it we fight for it we travell for it we embrace it we have a kind of exsultation and jubilee in Sin And what is this but to hoyse up our sails and make forward towards the gulf of Destruction and the bottomless pit So that to conclude this by the Justice of God by the Providence of God by our own Wills as by so many winds by the tempest of our Passions as well as that of Gods Wrath we are driven to our end to the place prepared and fitted for the Devil and his Angels and for all those who have loved their tentations and embraced them with more affection then they have the oracles of God For if we thus deceive our selves and mock God God will mock us to our own place Still it is What a man soweth that shall he also reap We will but look back and so hasten to our journeys end adde one word of application and so conclude And 1. that we be not deceived let us as S. Augustine exhorts operam dare rationi let us therefore diligently observe the dictates of Reason and be attentive to the Spirit speaking in the Scripture not neglect the light of the one nor quench the heat of the other The Scripture cannot deceive us but when we are willing to deceive our selves When we are averse from that it bids us love and place our love where it commands our hatred then we are not interpreters but fathers of the Word as he spake of Origine and put what shape and sense we please upon it Nor can we urge the obscurity of the Text especially in agendis in matters of practice for I never thought it a matter of wit and subtilty to become a Christian And if we weigh the plainness and easiness of Scripture and the time and leisure which most have but mispend upon their lusts and the world I might bespeak them as Chrysostome bespake his auditory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What need have you of a preacher For why should our Wit serve us rather to make us rich then good Why may we not try out as many conclusions for saving Knowledge as we do for Riches and Honour and the things of this world 2. Let us not seek death in the errour of our lives Let us not plunge our selves in errour and then study to believe that which we cannot believe without fear and trembling Let us not present God unto us in a strange and aliene shape in that monstrosity which we affect and so make him like unto our selves Quid tibi cum Deo si tuis legibus What hast thou do with God if thou wilt be thy own Lawgiver and wilt live and be judged by no other Laws but those which thy self makest This is indeed to take the place of God whilst we give him but the name Oh beloved it is ill trying conclusions with him who tryeth both the heart and the reins From him no cloud can shadow us no deep can cover us no secret grot or cave can hide us And if we act by our own laws yet we shall be judged by his And what paint soever we put upon our sins he that numbreth the stars will number them all and call them by their right names What we call Religion shall be with him Profaneness What we call Faith with him shall be but Phansie What we call the Cause of God shall be the cause of our Damnation Quantas cuncque tenebras superfuderis Deus lumen est Cast what mists you will build what labyrinths you please God is Light and will find out thy Sin that monster that Minotaur Be not deceived God is not mocked but is rather more jealous of his Wisdome then of his Power At the very sight of Sin his Anger waxeth hot but when vve vvould hide our sin from his sight his Jealousie burneth like fire For he that sinâ—eth dallieth with God's Power but he that palliateth his sin playeth with his Wisdome and tryeth whether he can fraudulently circumvent and abuse him He who sinneth would be stronger then God but he who shifteth a sin into the habit of Holiness by a pretense would be wiser then God potior Jupiter quà m ipse Jupiter Then vvhich no impiety can be greater 3. And last of all let us remember the end When vve sow look forward toward the Harvest Say vve vvithin our selves What may this vvhich I now sow bring forth Will Light grow up here and Joy or shall I reap nothing but Darkness and Corruption
such comfort to be lookt for This affords us no other strength and supply then that of Grace nor arms us against any enemies but those of our soul It makes us valiant not against our enemies according to the flesh but against Impatience and Distrust and Murmuring which fight against our peace By this we are exalted and even triumph over those enemies which tread us under their feet This is all our strength all our artillery and this is enough For though God help us not but leave us under the harrow and to the will of our enemies yet he is still a God of consolation He is thy Physician why then shouldest thou be turned after thy own way and method who art never better pleased then with that which will hurt thee Behold he hath shewn thee a more excellent way a way to find comfort not by the removal of the thorn but by keeping it in thy flesh not by taking away the cup of bitterness but by sweetning it by helping thee when thou hast no help and delivering thee when he doth not deliver thee He hath broke open the Treasury of comfort he hath opened the fountains above he will comfort thee with his Truth his word is Truth This is his way This is his method and it will be our greatest wisdome to observe it Wherefore comfort you one another with these words In General with the Word of God For the Scripture is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common shop of comfort and here thou maist buy it without money or money worth Here thou maist buy it and if not here thou wilt never find it That comfort which thou gainest out of other shops out of that shop of vanity the World or that shop shadows thy own Phansie or that shop of lyes the mouth of the Parasite is but vain but vanishing but false wares Bestia pharmacopolae that Julian the Pelagian upbraids St. Augustine with like that beast the Apothecary promised his patient of wonderful virtue which before the morning came had eaten up her self All these comforts dye in themselves and out of them when they perish nothing is begot but wo and bitter lamentation A man in trouble which stands in need of this physick is as a bowed wall and tottering fence and nothing can comfort him but that which can settle him When we have wearied our selves in vain wrackt our imaginations busied our thoughts studied remedies we still remain in our shaking and trembling condition Call in all the glories of the world invent instruments of musick like David bring the merry harp and the lute these may refresh us for a while but the evil spirit will come again upon us as it did upon Saul These are but weak props to uphold and settle a tottering fence Let us call in the arm of flesh make use of our own strength That may ruine us But Wisdom is better then Strength Eccles 9.16 call in that This is but sensual and earthly and will soon moulder away All our turning of devices will be but as the potters clay which will break and crumble between our fingers We shall kindle a fire and be compassed about with the sparks Isa 50.11 and walk in the light of our own fire and then what shall we have We shall lye down saith the Prophet in sorrow Upon these we walk as on the Ice magis tremimus quà m imus and do rather tremble then go Now we lift up our selves upon them and anon we fall and are bruised upon them they glide away from us and they can neither settle us nor we fix and be settled upon them That on which we must settle as in our place of rest must be it self immoveable And no such thing is to be found in the world in this shop of change where every thing is in a continual flux whose very being is hastning to its end toties mutata quoties mota changed almost in every motion the same and not the same fitting to day and contrary to morrow comfort to day and bitterness to morrow now an Oracle and anon a lye a displeasing killing lye now the joy and anon the anguish of the heart now makeing it leap and next morning turning it into a stone Why should we seek for the living amongst the dead Why should we cheapen certainty in this shop of change Why should we seek for Constancy in a decaying world Why should we seek for ease in that which is and whilest I say so is no more Why should we seek for true and substantial Comfort in a region of shadows This is to disquiet our selves in vain to make us Gods of clay to go before us which will moulder and fall to nothing in our hands to loose all comfort in the seeking it Quaerite quod quaeritis sed non ubi quaeritis as Augustine Seek that you seek for Consolation but not where you seek it in the world in the inventions of men which are more mental then themselves But we may hear of it in Ephrata or we may find it in the fields of the wood in the City of woods where the Ark was and the Testimony we may find it in the Word of God which is as mount Sion and will stand fast for evermore For again as our Saviour tells Nicodemus John 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh is of the same nature fading and mortal and that which is born of the spirit is spirit is heavenly and divine So whatsoever is of God all those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those emanations and defluxions from him savour of him of his Wisdom of his Goodness of his Immortality His Word is an Incorruptible word which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1.23 It is from an immortal God and leads to immortality His Hope is a lively Hope quickning us to Eternity his Joy such as no man can take away John 16.22 his Peace a lasting Peace lasting as long as the Moon endureth Psal 72.7 his Promises and so his Comforts Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 All other comforts are of the earth earthy of a fading and perishing condition As our Thoughts they perish with us nay they perish before us as shadows falling with those bodies that cast them as Bubbles raised out of our flesh blown up and lost as very Nothings as our selves But the Comforts of God have their rise from eternity and so have a solid constant being subject neither to wind nor tempest to the injuries neither of Times nor Men but in the pit and in the gulph of sorrows they boy us up and lift us above them that we can walk upon the surging waves and not sink for fear As they spring from immortality so they grow up and are ever green they begin in time and never end but are carried on along in the infinite and immense gyre and circle of Eternity That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is
but Love joynes the Will and the Tongue and the Hand together and indeed is nothing else but a vehement and well ordered will Knowledge may be but a dream but Love is ever awake up and doing 1 John 2.3 I may so know the truth that I may be said not to know it but I cannot so love the truth that I may be said to hate it For though the Scripture sometimes attributeth knowledge of the truth to them who so live as if they knew it not yet it never casts away the pretious name of Love on those who so live as if they loved it not A Pharisee an hypocrite may know the truth but it was never written that they loved it but that they loved the praise of men more then of God And this was the reason that they had eyes and saw not eares and heard not nor understood that they had tongues and spake not that they would not be perswaded when they were convinced and withstood the truth when they were overcome In a word Knowledge may leave us like unto the idoles of the heathen with hands that handle not and mouths that speak not Love onely emulateth the power of our Saviour and works a miracle casts out the spirit which is dumb For when he spake these things not the Pharisees but a woman of the company lift up her voice And thus her heart was truly affected and she lift up her voice As the Prophet speaks Jer. 20.9 The Love of Christ was in her heart as a burning fire shut up in her bones and she was weary of forbearing and she could not stay It was like that coal of the Seraphins which being laid on her mouth Isa 6.7 she spake with her tongue Now in the next place what was it that begat her love but the admiration of Christs person his power and his wisdome This was it which kindled that heat within her which broke out at her lips Plato calls Admiration the beginning of Philosophy We admire and dwell upon the object and view it well till we have wrought the Idea of it in our minds Whence Clemens citeth this saying out of the Gospel according to the Hebrew Qui admiratus fuerit regnabit qui regnabit requiescet He that at first admires that which to him is wonderful shall at last reign and he that reigns shall be at rest shall not waver or doubt or struggle formidine contrarii with fear that the contrary should be true and that that which he saw should be but a false apparition and a deception of the sight This woman here saw and wondred and loved she saw more then the Pharisees to whom a sign from heaven appeared in no fairer shape then the work of Beelzebub She saw Christs miracles were as his letters of credence that he came from God himself She had heard of Moses and his miracles but beholds a greater then Moses here For 1. Christs miracles breathed not forth horrour and amazement as those of Moses did in and about the mountain of Sinon Nor 2. were they noxious and fatal to any as those which Moses wrought in Pharaohs court and in Aegypt He did not bring in tempest and thunder but spake the word and men were healed He did not bury men alive but raised men out of their graves He brought upon men no fiery serpents but he cast out devils If he suffered the devils to destroy the hogs yet he tyed them up from hurting of men and what is a Hog to a Man In a word Moses's miracles were to strike a terrour into the people that he might lead them by fear but Christs were to beget that admiration which might work love in those whom he was to lead with the cords of men with the bonds of love All Christs miracles were benefits Acts 10.38 For he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the devil for God was with him Christs miracles were above the reach and power of Nature Nature had no hand in the production of any of them All that we vvonder at are not Miracles not an Eclipse of the Sun vvhich the common people stand amazed at because they know not the cause of it Nor is that a Miracle vvhich is besides the ordinary course of Nature For then every Monstre should be a Miracle Nor that vvhich is done against Nature for so every child that casteth a stone up into the air doth vvork a Miracle But that is a Miracle vvhich is impossible in Nature and vvhich cannot be vvrought but by a supernatural Hand 2. Christs miracles vvere done not in a corner but before the sun and the people This Woman here heard the dumb speak she savv the blind see the lame go and the lepers cleansed Miracles vvhen they are wrought are not the object of our faith but of our sense They are signs and tokens to confirm that which we must believe 3. Christs miracles were done as it were in an instant With a touch at a word he cured diseases which Nature cannot do though helpt by the art of the Physician All the works of Nature and of Art too are conceived and perfected in the womb of Time 4. Last of all Christs miracles were perfect and exact When he raised Jairus's daughter Luke 8.55 he presently commanded them to give her meat When he cured Peters wives mother forthwith she was so strong that she arose and ministred unto them Matth. 8 1â— He gave his gifts in full measure nor could more be desired then he gave And shall not these miracles and these benefits appear wonderful in our eyes Shall not his Power beget Admiration and Admiration Love and Love command our voice Shall a woman see his wonders and shall we be as blind as the Pharisees Shall she lift up her voice and shall we still keep in us the devil that is dumb It came to pass as he did and spake these things a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said And now we should pass to what she said but I see the time passeth away Let us therefore make some use of what hath already been said and so conclude And first let us learn from this woman here to have Christs wonderful works in remembrance to look upon them with a stedfast and a fixed eye that they may appear unto us in their full glory and fill us with admiration For Admiration is a kind of voice of the soul Miracula obstupuisse dixisse est saith Gregory Thus Silence it self may become vocal and truly to wonder at his works is to profess them This motion of the heart stirred up with reverence to the ears of the uncircumscribed Spirit is as the lifting up of the voice which speaks within us by those divers and innumerable formes and shapes of admiration which are the inward expressions of the soul When the soul is in an ecstasie when it is transported and wrapt up above it self
in the Gospel as it were with the Sun-beams S. Paul giveth it this character that it is profitable that is 2 Tim. 3.16 17. sufficient for doctrine which is either of things to be believed or of things to be done for reproof of greater and more monstrous crimes for correction of those who fall by weakness or infirmity for instruction in righteousness that those who have begun well may grow up in grace and every vertuous work that the man of God may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect and consummate throughly furnished unto all good works Take him in what capacity you please there in the Scripture in the New Testament especially yea and in that alone he may find what will fill and qualifie him and fit him in every state and condition Take him in the worst condition as an unbeliever there is that will beget faith and form Christ in him as wavering in the faith there is that will confirm him as believing and fallen into errour or sin there is that will restore him as rooted and built up in Christ there is that will settle and establish him as under the cross there is that will strengthen him as crowned with peace there is that will crown that crown and settle it on his head as in health there is that will make him run the wayes of God's commandments as in sickness there is that will tune his grones and quicken him even when he is giving up the ghost as a King there is that which will manage his sceptre as a Subject there he may learn to bow Take him as a Master or a Servant as Rich or Poor as in prison or at liberty living or dying there he shall find what is necessary for him in that condition of life even to the last moment and period of it and not onely that which is necessary but under that formality as necessary so fitted and proportioned to the end that without it we can never attain it They that lay hold of it shall have peace with God and they who despise it shall have a worm ever gnawing them These shall go away saith our Saviour into everlasting punishment but the righteous who look into this perfect Law into life eternal Will you behold the Object of your Faith There you shall see not onely a picture of Christ but Christ even crucified as S. Paul speaketh to the Galatians before your eyes Will you behold that Faith which shall save you There you shall behold both what she is and what wonders she can work Have you so little Charity as not to know what she is There you may see her in every limb and lineament in every act and operation which is proper to her her Hand her Ear her Eye her Bowels There you may see what is worth your sight Et quod à Deo discitur totum est We can learn no more then God will teach us When we affect more and pour forth all the lust of our curiosity to find it out we at last shall be weary and sit down and complain that we have lost our labour For thus Curiosity which is a busie Idleness punisheth it self as a frantick person is punished with his madness Quicquid nos beatos facturum est aut in aperto est saith Seneca aut in proximo Whatsoever can make us happy is either open to the eye or near at hand We will instance but in one and that the main point Justification because the Church of Rome hath set it in the front of those points of doctrine which are imperfectly or obscurely delivered in the Gospel and therefore require a visible and supreme Judge of controversies to settle and determine them It is true indeed The Gospel hath been preached these sixteen hundred years and above and many questions have been started and many controversies raised about Justification For though men have been willing to go under the name of Justified persons yet have they been busie to enquire how Justification is wrought in them They are justified they know not how Many and divers opinions have been broached amongst the Canonists and Confessionists and others Osiander nameth twenty And there are many more at this day And yet all may consist well enough for ought I see and still that sense which is delivered in Scripture as necessary remain entire For 1. it is necessary to believe that no man can be justified by the works of the Law precisely taken And in this all agree 2. It is necessary to believe that we are not justified by the Law of Moses either by it self or joyned with Faith in Christ And in this all agree 3. It is necessary to believe that Justification is by Faith in Christ And in this all agree 4. That Justification is not without Remission of sins and Imputation of righteousness And in this all agree 5. That a Dead Faith doth not justifie And here is no difference 6. That that is a Dead faith which is not accompanied with Good works and a holy and serious purpose of good life And in this all agree 7. Lastly that faith in Christ Jesus implieth an advised and deliberate assent that Christ is our Prophet and Priest and King Our Prophet who hath fully delivered the will of his Father to us in his Gospel the knowledge of all his precepts and promises Our Priest to free us from the guilt of sin and condemnation of death by his bloud and intercession Our King and Law-giver governing us by his Word and Spirit by the vertue and power of which we shall be redeemed from death and translated into the Kingdom of heaven And in this all agree Da si quid ultrà est And is there yet any more All this which is necessary is plainly delivered in the Gospel And what is more is but a vapour from Curiosity which when there is a wide door and effectual is ever venturing at the needles eye This is so plain that no man stumbleth at it But those interpretations and comments and explications which have been made upon this nihil ampliùs quà m sonant make a noise but no Musick at all nec animum faciunt quia non habent nor can they add spirit to us in the way to bliss because they have none And as we find them not in the Scripture so have we no reason to list them amongst those doctrines which are necessary As to instance for the act of Justification what mattereth it whether I believe or not believe know or not know that our Justification doth consist in one or more acts so that I certainly know and believe that it is the greatest blessing that God can let fall upon his creature and believe that by it I am made acceptable in his sight and though I have broke the Law yet shall be dealt with as if I had been just and righteous indeed whether it be done by pardoning all my sins or imputing universal obedience to me or the active
the greater the burthen A greater tribute is due unto Love then to Fear And our Saviour hath proposed it as an everlasting Truth That to whom much is given of him much shall be required And therefore he hath left these precepts more heavy on the back of Christians then formerly upon the Jews Not that the Law of Moses was not perfect in its kind and in it self but that it was less perfect then the Gospel So that what Christ brought in non adversario sed adjutore praecepto not by an opposite or contrary but an helping precept destroyed not what God esteemed as best then to be done but took away that which he permitted to be done only for a time It was no sin for a Jew to hate his enemy or in some case to take revenge at least it was not imputed as a sin not but that it was far better and more acceptable to God to have done otherwise but because God was pleased so far to indulge to their present condition and the hardness of their hearts as not to propose it under the commanding terms of a Law But Christ as he is more indulgent to us in giving his graces so he is less indulgent to us in giving his graces so he is less indulgent to us in exacting his Laws And that Christ doth not permit so much unto us is plain by the EGO VERO But I say uuto you By which he did not only clear the Law from those false glosses with which the Scribes and Pharisees had corrupted it but added something to it not to contradict but perfect it For had he meant to have expunged the false glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees no doubt he would have mentioned them whom he so often taxed by name And had it been their leaven he would have done what he often did injoyned his Disciples to beware of it Besides the Scribes and Pharisees were not of so long standing as Josephus thinketh This Sect had not its beginning long before Christ And it is probable that when the gift of prophesie ceased then men who were ambitious of a name and reputation did seek to gain it by severe discipline and austerity of life which might lift them up as high in the opinion of the people as the foretelling of things to come did the Prophets before them But I say unto you implieth then an addition to the Law of Moses or to that sense in which the Jews understood it and to which they were bound Let the Apostle conclude for me The Law made nothing perfect Hob. 7.19 brought none to that true and inward sanctity But if any attained to it they owed it not to the Law but borrowed it as it were from the grace of the Gospel But the bringing in of a better hope did by which we draw nigh unto God The Jews were under tutors and governours in bondage under the elements of the world but at the appointed time our Lawgiver brought us Laws from heaven out of the bosom of his Father and shewed us yet a more perfect excellent way I might here inlarge my self but we will only draw down all to our selves by application so conclude And if the Doctrine of the Gospel be a perfect Law of abundant power and sufficiency to bring us to our end then we may pass a censure upon those who argue it of great imperfection and therefore are bold to add to it or call it a dead letter and so receive it not as a Law but make one of their own as those of the Church of Rome and the Libertines or as they call themselves Spiritual men And we may observe that though they look several wayes yet they both tread their measures alike and finding themselves at loss finding no satisfaction in the Gospel to their pride and ambition to their malice and lust and feeing they cannot draw it to their part will put up and suborn something of their own to supply that defect Both agree in this to make something besides and above the Scripture the rule of their faith and actions But some difference and dissimilitude there is between them The Libertine layeth a foundation for a loose inconstant and uncertain Religion the Church of Rome for an ingrossed impropriated and tyrannical Religion For what the inward Word is to the Libertines that to those of the Romish faction are Traditions and the Autority of the Church The inward Word is common or rather proper to every particular man hath no other word without it self to regulate it and therefore is free for every man And so we may have as many Religions as there be several senses and inward words as they call them spoken or conceived And so there be as many Religions as there be men Proveniunt oratores stulti novi adolescentuli Young men and maids old men and children I may say fools and mad-men may hear this word or rather speak this word to themselves and so set up a Religion Again the Autority of the Church and Traditions being carried on by themselves and looking on no outward Word as a common rule to try them by put out the eyes of every private man devest him of his reason and judgement and leave him in the dark that he may be subject unto that Church alone and seek light from her as from the greatest luminary altenis oculis videre alienis pedibus ambulare see with her eyes and observe her steps and follow her precisely though it be in those paths which lead to the pit of destruction The Libertine attributeth it sometimes to one man the Papists to the Church and when the accounts are cast up that is but one man Both agree in this that they challenge to themselves infallibility in judgement We have a Revelation saith the one We have Traditions saith the other and a Church that cannot err The inward word saith the Libertine The Church the Church the oecumenical Catholick Church saith the Papist These are their spels and charms with which they take the simple and unwary people who are carried about with every puff of doctrine and are alwayes ripe and fitted for a cheat qui quod vident non vident who will not see what they cannot see who receive every novelty as an oracle every new phansie as the dictate of the Spirit and never bless or applaud themselves more then when they are deceived In a word The Libertine maketh as many Popes as there be men who pretend a skill in this Pythonick art and ventriloquy who can hear their lusts and passions speak within them and say it is the voice of the Spirit who do not stay till the third call but at every motion of the Flesh at every whirl of their Phansie are ready to answer Speak Lord for thy servant heareth And thus every man be a Pope But the Papists erect but one and set him in his throne to whom all other men must bow as to the Head
and Monarch of the Church who hath full and absolute power to determine of those things which concern our peace and to judge the Law it self to discover its defects and to supply and perfect it And here upon this foundation what a Babel of confusion may be built Upon these grounds what errour what foul sin may not shew its head and advance it self before the Sun and the people and outface the world With the one Scripture is no Scripture but a dead letter And with the other it hath no life but what they put into it With the one it is nothing and with the other it is imperfect which in effect is nothing For what difference in matters of this nature and in respect of a Law between being nothing and not being what it is For to take away the force of a Law is in a manner to annihilate it With them as Calvin speaketh of those in his time St. Paul was but a broken vessel John a foolish young man Peter a denier of his Master and Matthew a Publican And the language of ours at this day is little better And with the other they are little less For when they speak plainest they teach them how to speak And now that which was a sin yesterday is a vertue to day vertue is vice and vice vertue as the one is taught within and the other is bold to interpret it The Text is Defraud not thy brother The inward Word biddeth thee spoil him The Text is Touch not mine anointed By the autority of the Church thou mayest touch and kill him And let me tell you the inward Word will do as much Deceit Injustice Sacrilege Rebellion Murther all may ride in in triumph at this gate for it is wide enough to let them in and the Devil together with all his wiles and enterprises withall his most horrid machinations He did but mangle and corrupt the Scripture to make a breach into our Saviour These take it away or make it void and of no effect to overthrow his Church Must the Church of Rome be brought in like Agrippa and Bernice in the Acts with great pomp and state with Supremacy and Infallibility Then Peter is brought out and his Rock nay his Shadow to set out the Mask and the Autority of the Church leadeth him on And they open their vvardrope and shew us their Traditions such deceitful ware that we no sooner look upon it but it vanisheth out of sight Again must some new phansie be set up which will not bear the light of Scripture but flieth and is scattered before it as the mist before the Sun Must some horrid fact be put in execution which Nature it self trembleth at and shrinketh from and which this perfect Law damneth to the lowest hell Then an inward Word is pretended and God is brought in to witness against himself to disanul his own Law and ratifie the contrary to speak from heaven against that which he declared by his Son on earth to speak within and make that a duty which he openly threatned to punish with everlasting fire What is become now of our perfect Law It is no Law at all but as the Son came down to preach it so there is a new holy Ghost come into the world to destroy it Which is to do worse then the Jews did For they only nailed Christ's body to the cross these crucifie his very mind and will Which yet will rise again and triumph over them when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to his Gospel For what man of Belial may not take up this pretence and leave Nature and Grace Reason and Religion behind them and walk forward with it to the most unwarrantable and unchristian designs that a heart full of gall and bitterness can set up Ahithophel might have taken it up and Judas might have taken it up even parricides have taken it up And if every inward persuasion the off-spring of an idle phansie and a heart bespotted with the world be the voice of God then Covetousness may be a God and Ambition may be a God and the Devil himself may be a God For these speak in them these speak the word which they hear which because they are ashamed to name they make use of that Name which is above every name to usher in these evil spirits in which Name they should cast them out In the name of Piety what is this inward Word this New light It may be the echo of my lust and concupiscence the resultance of an irregular appetite the reflexion of my self upon my self It is the greatest parasite in the world For it moveth as I move and sayeth what I say and denieth what I deny As inward as it is its original is from without The Object speaketh to the Eye and the Eye to the Heart and the Heart hot with desire speaketh to it self A rent and divided Church will make up my breaches A shaken Commonwealth will build me up a fortune A dissolved College will settle me in an estate And I hear it for I speak it my self And it is the voice of God and not of man Of this they have had sad experience in forein parts in both the Germanies and in other places And we have some reason to think that this monster hath made a large stride and set his foot in our coasts But if it be not this it is Madness Nay if this Word within may not be made an outward word it is Nothing For this Word within as they call it bringeth with it either an intelligible sense or not intelligible If it bring a sense unintelligible and which may not be uttered and expressed then it is no Word or the Word of a fool that uttereth more then his mind and speaketh of things which he knoweth not For what Word is that which can neither be understood nor uttered But if it bear a sense intelligible then it may be received of the understanding and uttered with the tongue and written in a book and then the same imputation will lye upon it which they lay upon the outward Word that it is but an ink-horn phrase And written with ink it may be For with amazed eyes we have seen it written with bloud I am even weary of this argument But men have not been ashamed openly to profess what we blush within our selves to confute And this Word within this loathsom phansie this Nothing hath had power to invenom the Word of life it self and make it the savour of death unto death For conclusion then Let us not say Lo here is Christ or Lo there is Christ Let us not frame and fashion a Christ of our own For if he be of our making he is not the Son of God but a phantasm And such a Christ may speak what we will have him speak to our hearts our lusts our vices Such a Christ will flatter us deceive us damn us But let us behold him in
heaven We will therefore proceed to the next point the Meanes we must use to remain in this Law of liberty And 1. we must not forget what we hear 2. we must do the work We shall but lightly touch and paraphrase them and so draw towards a conclusion I. That vve may remain we must not be forgetful hearers For as it is true qui obscurè loquitur tacet he that speaketh darkly or as S. Paul speaketh in an unknown tongue is as if he were â—umb and silent so he that heareth and forgetteth is as if he were deaf Both fall short of that end for which Speech and Hearing were ordained This is to take up water in a sieve to let in and out nay to let in and loath and in this reciprocal intercourse of Hearing and Forgetting to spin out the thred of our life and at the end thereof to look for Blessedness which is due onely to the doing of the work This is to give the Law of Liberty no more space to breathe in then from the pulpit to our pew from the Preacher's mouth to our ear No If we vvill remain in it we must hear and not forget that is we must remember it bind it as a sign upon our hand and as frontlets between our eyes which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unmoveable write it on the posts of our doors Deut. 6.8 nay write it in our hearts and by continual meditation make it more visible more clear more appliable then before make that which written iâ— but a dead letter or spoken is but a sound of power and energy to quicken and enliven us make this Law as powerful as the voice of God when he teareth the rocks and breaketh the cedars of Libanus mighty through God to cast down imaginations and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of it self And this is to look upon it as the Priest did upon his Breast-plate upon the Urim and Thummim to direct vvhat to do and vvhat not to do when to go out against the enemy and vvhen to shun him when to encounter a temptation vvhen to flye from it Thus vve set it up in defence of it self set it up against that alluring Vanity which may steal away our Love against that Doubt that Suggestion vvhich may enfeeble our Hope against that Temptation vvhich may shake our Faith and so keep us in it keep us in all our vvayes that we forsake not our station This is to hear indeed Audire est aedificare saith Augustine To hear is to build up and settle our selves in this Law of Liberty Mens videt mens audit as Epicharmus said It is the Mind that seeth and the Mind that heareth Without it the Eye it self is blind and the Ear deaf of no use at all when they end in themselves II. We must not onely hear the Word and remember it but do the work by a religious Alchymy verba in opera vâ—rtere turn Words into Works that they may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words quickned and enlivened with action And this will make our soul like unto the Law signe and characterize it with it this will drive it home as a nail fastened by the Masters of the assemblies make it enter the soul and the spirit the joints and the marrow This is as the Philosopher speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to try and exercise the mind by frequent actions or as St. Paul to exercise our selves unto all godliness 1 Tim. 4.7 Et quantum valet exercitatio as Aeschylus cried out at a sword-â—â—ght O the force and power of practice and exercise The people are troubled and the wounded man is silent As Experience is a multiplication of particular remembrances so is a Habit which is a second Nature a body as it were made up of many actions Piety and Religion is increased and confirmed by use And as the painful Bee in opere nascitur is bred in the honey it maketh so is Goodness raised and exalted in the work that it doth Every good act is a degree to another Every portion of Grace is generative nourisheth it self and if it be not hindred begetteth a numerous issue Patience begetteth experience experience hope hope Rom. 5.4 confidence As it was said of Alexander Unaquaeque victoria instrumentum sequentis Every conquest he gained made way to a new one so every step we make in the way to happiness bringeth us not only so far in our way but enableth us with strength to go forward The further we go the more active we are He that denieth his Hunger will not hearken to his Lust He that is harsh to his appetite in one request will more easily put it off in a second He that strugleth with a temptation now will anon chase it away He that is liberal to the poor may in time sell all that he hath and at last lay down his life for the Gospel Some we see there be who for want of exercise and experience are shaken with every wind with every breath with shews and apparitions and are overthrown with a look either of allurement or terrour who know not what temptations mean and so suffer them to work and steal nearer upon them till they enter into their souls nay they are ready to tempt Temptation it self and greedily invite that to them which will destroy them Others there are who by frequent exercise and assiduous luctation and striving with themselves have gained such an habit of Piety and so subdued the Flesh to the Spirit that they find no such great difficulty in the combat but rejoyce as mighty men to run the race To them Musick is a sound and no more Gold but a clod of earth Beauty bur a vanishing colour They look upon shining temptations and are not taken upon the blackest temptations and are not dismayed but stand and remain in that Law of Liberty to which they were called free from the guilt of sin and so free from the dominion of sin that they slight its terrours and deny its flatteries defie and keep it out not only when it threatneth but when it fawneth and beggeth an entrance Such is the power of this spiritual Exercise such advantage we have by our continued obedience and doing the work The Hebrew Doctours have found out a double Crown Auditionis and Operis one for Hearing another for the Work I would not the Ear should lose its ornament yet sure Obedience and the Doing of the work have the especial promise of the crown It is S. Paul's doctrine Not the hearers of the Law are just before God Rom. 2.13 but the doers of the Law shall be justified For conclusion then Beloved let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and let us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 patiently remain in it Let us not give it a lodging in the hollow of the Ear for so it will not long stay with us but the next