sold an infected house And indeed I might tell you that Truth is a virtue like unto the Plague which will not onely destroy us but make all that know us to shun us I might shew you that the retinue which usually wait upon her are Sequestration Nakedness Disgrace Persecution the Sword and Death it self Bona mens si esset venalis non haberet emtorem saith Seneca And we find it true that Truth is so dangerous and troublesome that if she were to be sold in the market she would hardly meet with a chapman But when I present the Truth as a dangerous displeasing costly thing I intend not like the Spies to bring up an evil report upon that good land Nâ—mb 13.32 as if it did eat up the inhabitants and so to dishearten any man from the pursuit of Truth No the land is pleasant and fruitful flowing with milk and honey go up and possess it But as Antigonus when he heard his soulders murmure because he had brought them into a place of disadvantage having by his wisdom freed them from that danger and brought them to a fairer place where they might hope for victory Now saith he I expect ye should not murmure but praise my art that have brought you forth into a place so convenient So if any under the conduct of Truth be at any time in great streights and difficulties let him but possess his soul with patience under the leading of the same Truth and he shall at last be brought forth into pleasant and delightful places even into the paradise of God For as our Master Aristotle speaketh of Pleasures that if they did but look upon us when they come to us as they do when they turn their backs and leave us we should never entertain them so may we on the contrary say of this Truth If we saw the end of it as we do the beginning we should run after it and lay hold on it with restless embraces For though at the first meeting we see nothing written in her countenance but Wo and Desolation yet if we spend our time with her we shall find her to be the fairest of ten thousand And it is the wisdom of God to place the greatest good in that which to flesh and bloud hath the appearance of the greatest evil And when the beauty and glory of Truth is once revealed unto us the horrour of it will scarce appear or if it do but as an atome before the Sun And now to shew you the fairer and better side of Truth I might tell you Prov. 3.18 14. Matth. 13.46 that She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her that The merchandise of her is better then the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof then fine gold that she is that rich Pearl in the Gospel that She is that Girdle Ephes 6.14 cingulum omnium virtutum as the Father speaketh It not onely girdeth and enricheth the man as Faithfulness shall be the girdle of his reins but also confineth Virtue it self Isa 11.4 and keepeth it within the bounds of moderation whereas Falshood is boundless and infinite and passeth over all limits I might tell you further that Truth is a Pillar and such a one as is both a Pillar and a Foundation too For though we read that the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth 1 Tim. 3.15 yet she is such a pillar as those were in the Temple of Diana which being tied to the roof were upheld by the Temple and not the Temple by them For indeed it is the Truth that upholdeth the Church and not the Church the Truth further then to present and publish it If you take truth away the Church will not be invisible onely but nothing We believe One Catholick and Apostolick Church but that which maketh her One and Catholick and Apostolical is the Truth alone For what Unity is that whose bond is not Truth And how is that Catholick which is not and that which is not true is not at all is but an Idole and so nothing in this world Or can we call that Apostolical where Truth it self is anathematized and shut out of doors No. It is this saving Truth which maketh the Church one Catholick and Apostolick without which they are but bare and empty names without which all that we hear of Antiquity Consent Succession Miracles is but noyse but the paintings of a Church but the trophees of a conquered party but as the vain hopes of dying men or indeed but as flattering Epitaphs on the graves of Tyrants which dishonour them rather then commend them As it was said of Pallas Epitaphium pro opprobrio fuit His glorious Epitaph did more defame him then a Satyre Yea yet further I might tell you how that in some sense that may be spoken of this Truth which was spoken of Christ himself John 1.3 That all things were made by it and that without it not any thing was made that was made not any thing that concerneth our everlasting peace It is it that sealed the promises signed the New Testament and made it Gospel finished our faith gathered the Church upheld it militant and will make it triumphant But all this is too general To make this Truth therefore appear to be a precious merchandise indeed let us consider that 1. It is fit and proportionable to the Soul of Man which is made capable of it and is but a naked yea which is worse a deformed thing till this Truth array and beautifie it is under want and indigence till this Truth enrich and supply it till it give wings unto it as Plato saith wherewith it may lift up it self aloft and flie from the land of darkness to the region of light Whilest our soul receiveth no impressions whilest it doth no more but onely inform the body whilest it is simplex as Tertullian speaketh qualem habent qui solam habent is but such a soul as those creatures have whose soul serveth onely to make them grow and be sensible so long in respect of outward operation we little differ from the Beasts of the field When instead of this Truth it receiveth the characters of darkness the spots and pollutions of the world when it is nothing else but as a table written with lies we are far worse then the brute Beasts When we savour of the things of God Matth. 16.23 our Saviour hath given us the name we are as Devils But when the soul is characterized with the Truth when the true light shineth in our hearts we are Men we are Saints and shall be like unto the Angels the soul is what she was made to be a receptacle and temple of God and destined to happiness Now in Christ Jesus that is in this Truth ye Eph. 2.13 who sometimes were far off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are made nigb by the bloud of Christ and behold those things which concern your happiness
world then a learned fool So the Church of Christ and Religion never suffered more then from carnal men who are thus Spirit-wise For by acknowledging the Spirit they gain a glorious pretence to work all wickedness and that with greediness which whilest others doubt of though their errour be dangerous and fatal yet parciùs insaniunt they cannot be so outragiously mad But yet it doth not follow because some men mistake the Spirit and abuse him that no man is taught by the holy Ghost 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 for one and two Suns for one Can I hence conclude that all sober men are blind Because I will not learn doth not the Spirit therefore teach And if some men take Dreams for Revelations must the holy Ghost needs loose his office This were to run upon the fallacy non-causae pro causâ to deny an unquestionable and fundamental truth for an inconvenience to dig up the Foundation because men build hay and stubble upon it or because some men have sore eyes to pluck the Sun out of his sphere This were to dispossess us of one evil Spirit and leave us naked to be invaded by a Legion To make this yet a little plainer We confess the operations of the Spirit are in their own nature difficult and obscure and as Scotus observeth upon the Prologue to the Sentences because they are quite of another condition then any thought or working in us whatsoever imperceptibiles not to be suddenly perceived no not by that soul in which they are wrought In which speech of his doubtless if we weigh it with charity and moderation and not extremity of rigour there is much truth Seneca telleth us Quaedam animalia cùm mordent non sentiuntur adeò tenuis illis fallens in periculum vis est The deadly bitings of some creatures are not felt so secret and subtle a force they have to endanger a man So on the contrary the Spirit 's enlightning us and working life in our hearts can at first by no means be described so admirable and curious a force it hath in our illumination Non deprehendes quemadmodum aut quando tibi profuit profuisse deprehendes That it hath wrought you shall find but the secret and retired passages by which it wrought are impossible to be reduced to demonstration We read that Mark Antony when with his Oration he shewed unto the people the wounded coat wherein Caesar was slain populum Romanum egit in furorem he made the people almost mad So the power of the Spirit as it seemeth wrought the like affection in the people who when they had heard the Apostles set forth the passion of Christ Acts 2. and lay his wounds open before their eyes were wrapt as it were in a religious fury and in it suddenly cryed out Men and brethren what shall we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Text They were stung and as it were nettled in their hearts Now this could not be a thing done by chance or by any artificial energy and force in the Apostles speech this I say could not be For if we observe it Christ was slain amongst them and what was that to them or why should this hazard them more then the death of many other Prophets and holy men who through the violence of their Rulers had lost their lives And what necessity what coactive reason was there to make them believe that He was to save and redeem them who not long since had cruelly crucified him Dic Quintiliane colorem What art was there what strong bewitching power that should drive the people into such an ecstasie Or what could this be else but the effect of the operation of the holy Spirit which evermore leaveth the like impressions on those hearts on which he pleaseth to fasten the words of the wise Eccl. 12.11 which are like unto goads quae cum ictu quodam sentimus saith Seneca we hear them with a kind of smart as Pericles the Oratour is reproved to have spoken so that he left a sting behind in the minds of his Auditory And this putteth a difference betwixt natural and supernatural and spiritual Truths We see in natural Truths either the evidence and strength of Truth or the wit and subtilty of conceit or the quaintness of method and art may sometimes force our Understanding and lead captive our Affections but in sacred and Divine Truths such as is the knowledge of the Dominion and Kingdom of Christ the light of Reason is too dimme nor could it ever demonstrate this conclusion Jesus is the Lord which the brightest eye that ever the world had could of it self never see Besides the art by which it was delivered was nothing else but plainness and by S. Paul himself the worthiest Preacher it ever had except the Son of God himself it is called the foolishness of preaching But as it is observed that God in his works of wonder and his miracles brought his effects to purpose by means almost contrary to them so many times in his persuasions of men he draweth from them their assent against all rule and prescript of art and that where he pleaseth so powerfully that they who receive the impressions seem to think deliberation which in other cases is wisdom in this to be impiety But you will say perhaps that the holy Ghost was a Teacher in the Apostles times when S. Paul delivered this Christian axiom this principle this sum of Christianity when the Church was in sulco semine when the seeds of this Religion were first sown that then he did wonderfully water this plant that it might grow and increase But doth he still keep open School doth he still descend to teach and instruct us on whom the ends of the world are come Yes certainly he doth For if he did not teach us we could not vex him if he did not work in us we could not resist him if he did not speak unto us we could not lie unto him He is the God of all spirits to this day And uncti Christians we are And an anointment we have saith S. John and whilest this abideth in us we need not that any man teach us for this unction this discipline this Divine grace is sufficient And though this oyntment flow not so plenteously now as of old yet we have it and it distilleth from the Head to the skirts of the garment to the meanest member of the Church Though we be no Apostles yet we are Christians and the same Spirit teacheth both And by his light we avoid all by-paths of errour that are dangerous and discern though not all Truth yet all that is necessary They had an Ephah we an Hin yet our Hin is a measure
is somewhat without that hath either flattered our sense or complied with our reason The effect doth in some sort demonstrate the cause And the cause of Joy is the union and presence of some good And as the cause is such is the effect as the object is such is the joy If our joy spring from the earth it is of the same nature earthy muddy gross unclean Eccl The Wise-man calleth it madness But if it be from heaven and those things which are above it is bright serene and clear What is it then that maketh David so glad that he thus committeth his joy to a Song and publisheth it to the world The next words tell us Something that he heard the voice of a company earnest in expectation and loud in expression hasting and even flying to the service of God and to the place where his honour dwelleth They said unto me We will go into the house of the Lord. Now if ye look upon the object so divine and consider David a man after God's own heart ye cannot wonder to find him awakening his harp and viol and tuning his instrument of ten strings to hear him chanting his Laetatus sum and to see him even transported and ravished with joy So now you have the parts of the Text 1. David's Delight 2. the Object or Reason of it In the Object there are circumstances enough to raise his joy to the highest note First a Company either a Tribe or many of or all the people They said unto me So in another place he speaketh of walking to the house of God in company Psal 55.14 A glorious sight a representation of heaven it self of all the Angels crying aloud the Seraphim to the Cherubim and the Cherubim echoing back again to the Seraphim Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth Secondly their Resolution to serve the Lord dixerunt they said it And to say in Scripture is to Resolve We will go is either a Lie or Resolution Thirdly their Agreement and joynt Consent We This is as a Circle and taketh in all within its compass If there be any dissenting unwilling person he is not within this Circumference he is none of the We. A Turk a Jew and a Christian cannot say We will serve the Lord and the Schismatick or Separatist shutteth himself out of the house â—f the Lord. We is a bond of peace keepeth us at unity and maketh many as one Fourthly their Chearfulness and Alacrity They speak like men going out of a dungeon into the light as those who had been long absent from what they loved and were now approching unto it and in fair hope to enjoy what they most earnestly desired We will go We will make haste and delay no longer Ipsa festinatio tarda est Speed it self is but slow-paced We cannot be there soon enough Fifthly and lastly the Place where they will serve God not one of their own chusing not the Groves or Hills or High-places no Oratory which malice or pride or faction had erected but a place appointed and set apart by God himself Servient Domino in domo sua They will serve the Lord in his own house They said unto me We will go into the house of the Lord. Thus much the Object affordeth us enough to fill such an heart as David's with joy Now let us look upon the Psalmist in his garment of joy And we may observe First the nature of his Joy It was as refined as spiritual as heavenly as its object What they said was holy language and his Joy was true and solid the breathing and work of the Spirit of truth Secondly the Publication of it He could not contein himself Psal 39.3 but his heart being hot within him he spake with his tongue and not content with that he conveyed his speech into a song He said it he sung it he committed it to song that the people being met together at Jerusalem might sing it in the house Lord. I was glad when they said unto me We will go into the house of the Lord. These are the Parts and of these we shall speak in order We begin with the Object for in nature that is first We cannot tell what a mans Joy is till we see what raised it The Object therefore of David's joy must be first handled Therein the first circumstance is That there were many a Company that resolved to go into the house of the Lord. v. 4. The tribes go up saith the Psalmist even the tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel that is the people of Israel go up according to the covenant made with Israel Psal â—8 11 And The Lord gave the word great was the company of those that published it He speaketh as if there were some virtue in Number And so his son Solomon Two and if two Eccles 4.9 then certainly many are better then one Yet such an imputation lieth upon the Many that peradventure I might well have omitted this circumstance Non tam bene cum rebus humanis agitur ut plures sint meliores The world was never yet so happy that the most should be best 1 Cor. 1.26 Not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called saith St. Paul And Many are called saith Christ but few are chosen Matth. 20.16 It was the Many that resisted the holy Ghost that stoned the Prophets that persecuted the Apostles It is the Many that now divide the Church that disturbe and shake the common-wealth that work that desolation on the earth What security nay what religion can there be when our estates and our lives when Truth it self must be held by Votes must rise or fall by most voices Christus violentiâ suffragiorum in crucem datus saith Tertullian This is it which layeth the cross upon us which nailed the Son of God himself to the Cross I did not well to mention it For indeed it is the errour not of the Church of Rome alone but of all others also to judge of the Church by the multitude of Professours as the Turk doth of an army by its number nec aestimare sed numerare not to weigh and consider what the professours are but to number them And they have made Multitude a note of the true Church As if to shew you the Sun-rising I should point to the West or where there are but a few cry out Behold a troup cometh Matth 7 14. Luk. 13.23.24 Our Saviour saith there are few that shall be saved But say they if ye will know the true Church indeed behold the multitudes and nations behold the many that joyn with her that fall down and worship her Every faction striveth to improve it self Every Heretick would gain what proselytes he can Every Church would stretch forth the curtains of her habitation All would confirm themselves in their errour by the multitude of those who are taken in it Cùm error singulorum
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
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
urge and carry us on toward the Truth It is the first of all the passions and operations of the soul the first mover as it were being a strong propension to that we love And it is fitted and proportioned to the mind seeking out means and working forward with all heat of intention unto the end It is eminent among the affections calling up my Fear my Hope my Anger my Sorrow my Fear of not finding out what I seek yet in the midst of fear raising a Hope to attain to it my Sorrow that I find it not so soon as I would and my Anger at any thing that is averse or contrary at any cloud or difficulty placed between me and the Truth The love of Christ saith S. Paul 2 Cor. 5.14 constraineth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a resemblance taken from women in travel Love constraineth urgeth me worketh in me such a desire as the pain in travel doth in a woman to be delivered For do we not labour and travel with a conclusion which we would find out and what joy is there when we have like that of a woman in travel when a man-child is brought into the world If ye love me keep my commandments John 14.15 saith Christ If ye love me not ye cannot but if ye love me ye will certainly keep them Will you know the reason why the wayes of Truth are so desolate why so little Truth is known when all offereth it self and is even importunate with us to receive it There can be no other reason given but this Our hearts are congealed our spirits frozen and we coldly affected to the Truth nay averse and turn from it This Truth crosseth our profit that our pleasure other Truths stand in our light and obstruct our passage to that we most desire S. Paul speaketh plainly 2 Cor. 4.3 4. If the truth be hid it is hid to them that perish In whom the God of this world hath so blinded their mind that the light of this truth should not shine upon them If we have eyes to see her she is a fair object as visible as the Sun If we do but love the Truth the Spirit of Truth is ready to take us by the hand and lead us to it Hebr. 10.38 but those that withdraw themselves doth his soul hate 2. In the next place the Love of Truth bringeth in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 1.2 a Love of Industry If we love it it will be alwayes in our thoughts and we shall meditate of it day and night Gen. 29.20 To Love seven years are but a few dayes great burdens are but small and labour is a pleasure when we walk in the region of Truth viewing it and delighting in it gathering what may be for our use we walk as in a paradise Truth is best bought when it costeth us most it must be wooed oft and seriously and with great devotion As Pithagoras said of the Gods Non est salutanda in transitu it is not to be spoken with in the By and passage it is not content with a glance and salutation and no more but we must behold it with care and anxiety make a kind of perigrination out of our selves run and sweat to meet it and then this Spirit leadeth us to it And this great encouragement we have In this our labour we never fail of the end we labour for But in our other endeavours and attempts we have nothing to uphold us under those burdens we lay upon our own shoulders but a deceitful hope which carrieth us along to see it self defeated and the frustration of that hope is a greater penalty and vexation than that pains we undertook for its sake How many rise up early to be rich and before their day shutteth up are beggers How many climb to the highest place and when they are near it and ready to sit down fall back into a prison But in this labour we never fail the Spirit working with us and blessing the work of our hands He maketh our busie and careful thoughts as his chariot and then filleth us with light Such is the privilege and prerogative of Industry such is the nature of Truth that it will be wrought out by it Never did any rise up early and in good earnest travel towards it but this Spirit brought him to his journeyes end Prov. 2.4 5. If thou seekest her as silver saith the wise man if thou search for her as for hid treasures which being hid we remove many things turn up much earth and labour hard that we may come to them then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God In this work our Industry and the Spirits help are as it were joyned and linked together You will say perhaps that the Spirit is an omnipotent Agent and can fall suddenly upon us as he did upon the Apostles this day that he can lead us in the way of Truth though we sit still though our feet be chained though we have no feet at all But the Proverb will answer you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God will you may sail over the sea in a sieve But we must remember the Spirit leadeth us according to his own will and counsel not ours As he is an omnipotent so is he a free Agent also and worketh and dispenseth all things according to the good pleasure of his will Eph. 1.5 And certainly he will not lead thee if thou wilt not follow he will not teach thee if thou wilt not learn Nor can we think that the Truth which must make us happy is of so easie purchase that it will be sown in any ground and as the Devil's tares Matth. 13.25 grow up in us whilest we sleep 3. The third rule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Method or an Orderly proceeding in the wayes of Truth As in all other Arts and Sciences so in spiritual Wisdome and in the School of Christ we may not hand over head huddle up matters as we please but we must keep an orderly and set course in our studies and proceedings Our Saviour Christ hath a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seek ye first the kingdome of God Mat. 6.33 and in that Kingdome every thing in its order There is something first and something next to be observed and every thing to be ranked in its proper place The Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews telleth us of principles of doctrine Hebr. 6.1 which must be learned before we can be led forward to perfection Heb. 5.13 14. of milk and of strong meat of plainer lessons before we reach at higher Mysteries Nor can we hope to make a good Christian veluti ex luto statuam as soon as we can make a statue out of clay Most Christians are perfect too soon which is the reason that they are never perfect They are spiritual in the twinkling of an eye they know not how nor no
Faith so is Faith the foundation of an holy Conversation In this we edifie our selves and in this we sustain and uphold others In this we stand and in this we raise up others From Faith are the issues of life from Faith as from a fountain flow those waters of comfort which refresh the widow and the fatherless and that water of separation which purifieth us Numb 31.23 and keepeth us unspotted and white as snow But our Apostle mentioneth none of these and I will give you some reason at least a fair conjecture why he doth not First here where S. James telleth us what pure Religion is he doth not so much as name Faith For indeed Faith is the ground of the whole draught and portrayture of Religion and as we observe in it in pictures it is in shadow not exprest but yet seen It is supposed by the Apostle writing not to Infidels but to those who had already given up their names to Christ Faith is like those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Mathematicks which Tully calleth initia Mathematicorum beginnings and principles which if we grant not we can make no progress in that science S. Paul calleth Faith a principle of the doctrine of Christ Heb. 6.1 And what necessity was there for my Apostle to commend that unto Christians which they had already embraced to direct them in that wherein they were perfect to urge that which they could not deny not deny nay of which they made their boast all the day long No S. James is for Ostende mihi He doth not once doubt of their faith but is very earnest to force it out that it may shew it self by works Then Faith is a star when it streameth out light and its beams are the works of charity Then Faith is a ship when pure Religion is the rudder to steer and guide it 1 Tim 1 19. that it dash not on a rock and be split Then Faith is the soul of the soul when by its quickning and enlivening power we run the wayes of Christs commandments Purè credunt pure ergo vivant pure ergo loquantur saith the Father Their belief is right therefore let their conversation be sincere No other conclusion can naturally be deduced from Faith and of it self it can yield no other And this it will yield if you do not in a manner destroy it and spoil it of its power and efficacy For what an inconsequence is this I believe that Christ hath taught me to be merciful Luk. 6 36. 1 Tim. 4.8 as my heavenly Father is merciful that Charity hath the promise of the world to come Therefore I will shut up my bowels This I am sure is one part of our belief if it be not our Creed is most imperfect and yet such practical conclusions do our Avarice and Luxury draw Our Faith is spread about the world but our Charity is a candle under a bushel O the great errour and folly of this our age which can shew us multitudes of men and women who as the Apostle speaketh are ever learning 2 Tim. 3.7 and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth who have conned their Creed by heart but have little skill or forgot the skill they have in the royal Law who cry up Faith as the Jews did the Temple of the Lord Jer. 4.7 Ch. 2. v. 17 20 26. and are very zealous for it yet suffer it to decay and waste till it be dead as my Apostle speaketh eat out the very heart of it by a careless and profane conversation as the Jews with their own hands did set fire on that Temple which they so much adored And this may be a second reason why S. James mentioneth not Faith in his character of Religion The power and efficacy of Faith having been every where preached-up men carnally minded did so fill their thoughts with the contemplation of that fundamental virtue that they left no room for other virtues not so efficacious indeed to justifie a sinner yet as necessary as Faith it self they did commend and extoll the power of Faith when it had no power at all in them nay which is the most fatal miscarriage of all they did make Faith an occasion through which sin revived which should have destroyed in them the whole body of sin Rom. 6.6 it being common to men at last to fix and settle their minds upon that object which hath been most often presented to them as the countrey peasant having heard much talk of the City of Rome began at last to think there was no other city but that If we look forward to the second chapter of this Epistle we shall think this more then a conjecture For there the Apostle seemeth to take away from Faith its attribute of saving Can faith save a man What an Heretick what a Papist would he be that should but put up this question in these our dayes wherein the SOLA JVSTIFICAT hath left Faith alone in the work of our salvation and yet the Question may be put up and the Resolve on the negative may be true Faith cannot save him certainly that saith he hath faith and hath not works Thus though S. James dispute indeed against Simon the Sorcerer and others as we may gather out of Irenaeus yet in appearance he levelleth his discourse against Paul the Apostle For Not by works but by faith saith S. Paul Not by faith but by works saith S. James and yet both are true the one speaking to the Jews who were all for the Law the other to those Christians who were all for Faith To these who had buried all thought of Good works in the pleasing but deceitful contemplation of Faith our Apostle speaketh no other language but Do this and exalteth Charity to the higher place that their vain boasting of Faith might not be heard For Faith saith he hath no tongue nay nor life without her And thus in appearrance he taketh from the one to establish the other and setteth up a throne for Charity not without some shew and semblance of prejudice to Faith For last of all to give you one reason more Faith indeed is naturally productive of Good works For what madness is it to see the way to eternity of bliss and not to walk in it Each article of our Creed pointeth as with a finger to some virtue to be wrought in the mind and published in the outward man If I believe that Christ is God it will follow I must worship him If he died for sin the consequenee is plain enough We must die to it If he so loved us the Apostle concludeth We must love one another Charity is the proper effect of Faith and upon Faith and Charity we build up our Hope If we believe the promises and perform the conditions if we believe him that loved us and love him and keep his commandments we are in heaven already But yet we may observe that the
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
his face as if he saw the face of God himself Even I saith S. Paul please all men in all things not seeking my own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I please them the same word with that in the Text. And in another place I am made all things to all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am made 1 Cor. 9.22 19 I even frame and fashion and force my self to it Though I am free I make my self a servant I undergo all the humility the drugery the hardship of a servant To the Jew I became a Jew that I might gain the Jew 20 And you have an example of it Acts 21.23 26. To those that are under the Law as under the Law to the Gentiles who were not bound to Moses Law as a Gentile To them that were without Law as without Law 21. as we find Acts 17.22 A Christian Proteus that wrought himself into any shape which might bring advantage to them who beheld him He was a Jew to the Jew to make him a Christian to them that were without Law as without Law to confirm them in the truth of the Gospel to them that were weak as weak to make them strong as all things to all men not to fill his purse but to gain their souls to cut of Circumcision by permitting Circumcision to converse with the Gentile and passing by to throw down their Altar by the inscription Acts 17. and by THE VNKNOWN bring them to the knowledge of the living God by being without the Law bring the Gentile to the grace of the Gospel and thus cedendo vincere by seeming to yield to overcome And this is not the pleasing of a Parasite but of an Apostle and careful Father even that discretion and wisdom which Quintilian commendeth in a Schoolmaster whose duty it is non statim onerare infirmitatem discentium sed temperare vires Lib. 1. Inst c. ◠not presently to overburden the weak capacity of Novices but to temper and moderate his own strength and consider not what he can teach but what they can learn with Jacob to lead his flock on softly lest they die Gen. 33.13 14 Besides the act it self was not unlawful because the Synagogue was indeed dead but not yet buried but to be buried with honour And it was Judaeis factus tanquam it was onely amongst the Jews For what himself did amongst the Jews at Jerusalem he reproveth S. Peter for doing it amongst the Gentiles at Antioch Gal. 2.11 14. Nihil Paulo indignum quod efficit Deo credere saith Hilary That which bringeth a Jew or Gentile to Christ may well become S. Paul an Apostle of Christ When we so please men that we please God also we cannot please them enough But when the case was otherwise when the Truth and honour of God were in hazard then S. Paul is in a manner Saul again Acts 13.11 1 Cor. 5.5 and breatheth forth threatnings and slaughter He striketh Elymas the Sorcerer blind delivereth up the incestuous Corinthian to Satan and when they are puffed up is ready with his goad to let out the wind cometh toward them in that imperious strain What will ye shall I come unto you with a rod which I am sure 1 Cor. 4.18.21 are not pleasing words but quae cum ictu quodam audiuntur such as are heard with a kind of smart and leave impression behind them Quà m exserta acies macherae spiritualis as Tertullian speaketh How naked and keen is the edge of reprehension In faciem impingit he striketh them on the face in os caedit he beateth them on the mouth jam vero singulari stylo figit and sometimes pointeth them out as a mark and darteth his reprehension and sticketh it in them What then would he do if he lived now and saw what we see Thus you see both these are true We may please men Ex Deo magis quam in contumeliam Dei hominibus placendum Hil. in Psal 52. and we may not please them We must please them and we must not please men if we will be the servants of Christ For if you please you may conceive that relation betwixt God and Man which is betwixt our Reason and our Sense Now Sin may seem to be nothing else but the flattery of our Sense because when I break the Law my will stoopeth down to please my Sense and betray my Reason But yet when I please my Sense I do not alwayes sin For I may please my Sense and be temperate I may please my Eye and make a covenant with it I may please my Tast Job 31.1 and yet set a knife to my throat Prov. 23.2 I may please my Sense and it may be my health and virtue as well as my sin So in like manner to please men against God is the basest flattery and S. Paul flingeth his dart at it but to please men in reference to God is our duty and taketh in the greatest part of Christianity For thus to please men may be my Allegiance my Reverence my Meekness my Longanimity my charitable Care of my Brother I may please my Superiour and obey him I may please my obliged Brother and forgive him I may please the poor Lazar and relieve him I may please an erring Brother and convert him and in thus doing I do that whch is pleasing both to God and Man What then is that which here S. Paul condemneth Look into the Text and you shall see Christ and Men as it were two opposite terms If the Man be in errour I must not please him in his Errour for Christ is Truth If the Man be in sin I must not please him for Christ is Righteousness And in this case we must deal with men as S. Augustine did with his Auditory when he observed them negligent in their duties We must tell them that which they are most unwilling to hear Quod non vultis facere bonum est saith he That which you will not do that which you are afraid of and run from that which with all my breath and labour I cannot procure you to love that is it which we call to do good That which you deride that which you turn away the ear from with scorn that which you loath as poyson that which you persecute us for Quod non vultis audire verum est That which you distast when you hear as gall and wormwood that which you will not hear that which you call strange doctrine Lib. 7. de Reutr fort c. ult that is Truth As Petrarch told his friend Si prodesse vis scribe quod doleam If you will profit and improve me in the wayes of goodness let your penne drop gall write something to me which may trouble and grieve me to read So when men stand in opposition to Christ when men will neither hear his voice nor follow him in his
the world to put in immoderate and yet keep no moderation in our Love when he forbiddeth us to be angry to lay hold of that without a cause and yet suffer every breath to raise a tempest in us when he saith Swear not at all to perswade men to swear and swear again though it be against a former oath when he biddeth us pray for our enemies to be so bold as to curse our friends and our brethren It is a great and dangerous folly thus to trifle with our Master and delude his Precepts And what do we with these distinctions and limitations and mitigations but shake Christs livery off from our backs and thrust our selves out of his service And then tell me whose servants are we Quot nascuntur domini For this one Master whose service we have cast off how many Masters and Tyrants do we serve servants to the Flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof servants to Covetousness which setteth us with the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood and drawers of water Josh 9.21 condemneth us to the mines and brick-kiln servants to Ambition which will carry thee from ste◠to step from degree to degree till thou break thy neck servants to Pleasure which like the Egyptian thieves will embrace and strangle thee and servants to other Men would that were all nay but to other mens Wills and Lusts which change as the wind now embracing anon lothing now ready to joyn with that which in the twinkling of an eye they fly from Et quot nascuntur domini How many Masters must thou serve in one man servants to their Lusts which are as unsatiable as the Grave servants unto Errour which is blind and to Sin which is darkness it self even mancipia Satanae the bondslaves of Satan with Canaans curse upon us A servant of servants shall he be Gen. 9.25 NON SVM SERVVS CHRISTI I am not the servant of Christ is Anathema Maran-atha the bitterest curse that is For conclusion then Let them who are set apart to lead others in the wayes of Truth and Righteousness take heed they lead them not in the wayes of Cain and take from them their spiritual as he did from his brother his temporal life Let them who subscribe themselves Your servants in Christ In every Epistle thus they write be careful to make it good that their Epistle prove not a complement and their subscription a lye Athen. Deipn l. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scire uti soro Let them who do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit their conversation and doctrine to the times and so make them worse who force the word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak in favour of Philip or any great Potentate as he was who make it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a buskin to be pulled on and fit any design any enterprise let them remember what they are called and what they call themselves the Servants of Christ of that Christ who will one day call them to an account require the bloud of those vvho are under their charge at their hands call upon them as Augustus Caesar did upon Quinctilius Varus Quinctili Vare redde legiones Give an account of your Stewardship Where are the Legions those souls vvhich I committed to your hands the souls of them you betrayed to the World and left them Mammonists the souls of them you betrayed to Pride and made them factious the souls of them you betrayed to Discontent and made them seditious the souls of them you betrayed to Cruelty and made them murderers Luke 11.51 Their bloud vvill be upon you and verily it shall be required of this generation 1 Cor 6.20 And let them vvho are taught remembring that they are bought with a price and are the servants of Christ cleave fast to him and not be driven from him vvith every vvind of doctrine not judge of the doctrine by the person but of the person by his doctrine In Christianity saith S. Hierom Non multum differunt decipere decipi There is no great difference betvveen these tvvo To take a cheat and to offer one for both are deceived and both perish The one cometh vvith a veil the other is vvilling to draw it over his face The one putteth out the others eyes and the other is willing to be blind and both rejoyce at the vvork both cry So so thus we would have it When vve see so many so diffident in all things but that which should fit them for happiness taking nothing upon trust but the doctrines of men Jude 16. when we shall see them have mens persons in admiration and their eyes dazle at every mushrome in Divinity that groweth up in a night when we shall see them debauch their Reason and deliver up their Understandings and Wills to a Face to a Voice to the Gesture and Behaviour and Sleight of men when every empty cloud that cometh towards them shall be taken for heaven and he that speaketh not so much reason as Balaams Ass shall be received for a Prophet when men are so enclined so ready so ambitious to be deceived we need not wonder to see so many blind Bartimeus's in our streets who grope at noon day and stumble at every straw that blindness is happened to Israel that Truth is become a monster and Errour a Saint that the Pharisees have more Disciples then Christ Men and brethren what should I say Why should you desire to be pleased If we thus please you we damn you Why should we study to please you If we study to please you we damn our selves It is not your favour your applause which we affect We know well enough out of what treasury those winds come and how uncertainly they blow One applause of Conscience is vvorth all the triumphs in the vvorld Bring then the balance of the Sanctuary the touch-stone of the Scripture If our Doctrine be not minus habens be not light but full vveight if it be not refuse silver but current coin and bear no other image but of the King of Kings even for the Truths sake for our common Masters sake whose servants we are 1 Pet. 2.1 2. Jam. 1.21 lay aside all malice and guile and hypocrisie and with the meekness of a new-born babe receive it that you may grow thereby But if nothing yet be Truth which doth not please you then what shall we say but even tell you another truth Vero verius most true it is You will not hear the Truth And therefore in the last place let us all both Teachers and Hearers purge out this evil humour of pleasing and being pleased and let us as the Apostle exhorteth Hebr. 10.14 Ephes 4.25 consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works Let us speak truth every one to his neighbour For we are members one of another It is an errour to think that the duty of Admonition is impropriate and perteineth onely to the Minister
preferment Balaam's reward 2 Pet. 2.15 Jude 11. will make us leave the wayes of Truth and run after his errour For this taketh us from our selves enslaveth our understandings and alienateth our minds that we dare not venture and bid frankly for the Truth nay we will not admit it nor hearken after ought that is displeasing to those Balaks who can promote us to honour Numb 22.17 37. Thus we see daily the power of a mortal man is more prevalent then that which we so magnifie the Grace of God and the Court gaineth more proselytes then the Church mens religion being drawn by their hopes not of Eternity but of Riches which have wings and of Honour which is but a breath Prov 23.5 Magnus Deus est Error as Martine Luther speaketh Errour is the great God of this world and Hope waiteth upon it to bring in multitudes for reward whilest Truth with all her glorious promises Luke 12.32 findeth but a little flock For thus do those fools argue Why should we despise so good a friend who can raise us from the dung-hill and make us hold up our heads with the best and follow such a guide as Truth which will lead us upon pricks into prison unto the block This is the Sophistry of our worldly Hopes and it easily deceiveth us who are far sooner convinced with false shews then with the real arguments and enforcements of Truth Besides this we look upon it as a kind return and a piece of gratitude to joyn in errour with them who feed our lusts to make them our prophets who have made themselves our patrons to have the same authours of our faith and of our greatness and with the same chearfulness to receive their dictates and their favours The world is full of such parasites Phil. 3.19 whose belly is their God whose Hope looketh downward on the earth and so keepeth them from the sight of the Truth who cannot see a sin or an errour in them that pour down these fading and perishing graces on them For if they should grant they erre in any thing they might be brought at last to fear that they erre also in this in doing them good and heaping benefits upon them Thus do our hopes blind us And therefore if we will purchase the Truth we must cast them away And yet Beloved we need not cast our Affections quite away They are implanted in us by the same hand which set up a candle Prov. 20.27 as the Wise-man calleth the light of Reason in the soul And God hath placed them in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in such order that they may be very usefull and advantageous to us They may indeed as ye have heard be powerful to withdraw us from the Truth and they may also be serviceable and instrumental to promote it Wherefore the Apostles counsel is that we crucifie the affections Gal. 5.24 2 Cor. 10.5 not quite extinguish them that we bring them into a glorious captivity and obedience to the Truth I may buy food with a piece of gold and I may buy poyson I may surrender my affections to Errour and I may bestow them on the Truth And happy is that man who is ready thus to spend and to be spent 2 Cor. 12.15 For he who thus spendeth himself he who thus wasteth and tameth his affections doth not quite lose them but loseth onely that of them which would destroy him Therefore in this negotiation we must observe the method of Socrates and drive out one love with another and one hatred with another supplant one hope and chase away one fear with another First Love is a passion imprinted in the soul for this end that it may be fixed on the truth And when once it is so it will be restless and unquiet till it have purchased it It will overcome all difficulties it will meet the Devil in all his horrour it will meet him in his armour of light and pass through all to this mart Nor is there any thing that can hinder it or keep it back Rom. 8.38 neither death nor life nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come No Love beareth us and carrieth us aloft over all as it were on the wings of the wind and bringeth us to the Truth Let us so love the Truth that we buy it and so buy it that we love it the more These two are alwaies in conjunction as the Heat and Light of the Sun The hotter the Sun-beams be the more light there is so the more heat there is in my Love the more bright is the light of the Truth and the more this light shineth the more servent is my Love The love of Truth and the Truth which we love are mother and daughter each to the other mutually begetting and bearing one another We speak of traffick and it is Love alone that maketh all the bargains that are made For who ever yet bought that which he loved not and can there be too great a price set upon that we love if we truly love a thing what will we not give for it As we deal with our Love so let us also with our Hatred Why should I hate any man who am my self a man But then to transferre my hatred from the person to the Truth and to revile it for his sake cometh near to that which we call the sin against the holy Ghost The Truth is the same in whomsoever it be and ought to be received for it self Else we must blot out one article of our Creed for the Devil himself confessed Jesus to be the Son of the most high God Mark 5.7 The Truth rather should force us to the love of the man then our hatred of the man make us enemies to the Truth It is true Though Socrates be a friend and Plato be a friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ethic. l. 1. c. 4. yet the Truth is to be preferred before them both And it is as true Though Socrates be an enemy and Plato an enemy yet the Truth whosoever professeth it is still to be accounted a friend Whether in Heretick or Orthodox whether in Papist or Protestant whether in Arminian or Calvinist the Truth is ever the same And he who cannot look through all these impertinent considerations and by-respects will prove as great an enemy to the Truth as those he condemneth He who casteth a veil of his own working over his face cannot behold the beauty of Truth cannot see to buy it If we will buy the Truth we must learn to hate this Hatred and to fling it out we must learn to abstract the man from his opinion what he saith or holdeth from what he appeareth to us For while we judge of things by the person whom we first hate and then draw him out in our minds in a monstrous shape Virtue and Truth in him will appear to us under the same loathed aspect yea Scripture
afraid of any neglect any as if it concerned us not Why should we take any Truth down by halves To instance in the sum of Religion Matth. 5.48 Our Saviour commandeth Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect but how easily do we perswade our selves that we have nothing to do with this precept how perfunctorily do we look upon it what tricks and devices do we seek to shift it off withall It may be but a Counsel we think Or if it be a Precept it is in Perfection as in Baptism Votum sufficit A wish a desire is enough God will favour our weak endeavours nay approve our negligence Hence we make no progress in the waies of piety dwell and delight in errour and neglect that Truth which might save us Quis haec instituit Tropica Christ I am sure never set up these Tropicks Do we preach to you Christian Liberty Ye kiss our lips and are ready to cast it over you as a cloak of maliciousness 1 Pet. 2.16 But do we then go about to take it from you when ye make so bad use of it and to put your wedding garment about you even Charity which should bound and confine your Liberty Then we are looked upon with an eye of contempt as bringers-in of new doctrine Do we build up to the Saints of God assurance of salvation Ye are in heaven already For when this news is brought every man almost is a Saint But do we tell you that this Assurance is no arbitrary thing to be taken up at pleasure but the offspring and fruit of something else do we beseech you not to deceive your selves do we tell you what ye call Assurance may be a groundless phansie carnal security or stupefaction Behold then your countenance is changed and we are not the same men nor our feet so beautiful as before And the reason hereof is Because we love no more Truth then is for our turn Perfection we will learn but not learn to be perfect Freedome we like but not to be restrained Assurance we will build upon but not build up an assurance Thus far we will go but proceed no further take the Truth as the Devil urged Scripture by halves take that part of it which complieth with and flattereth our distempers and neglect and never seek into the rest veritatem summâ terrâ quaerere seek for the Truth in its top and surface but never dig deep for it for fear of raising up against our selves noysome damps and poisonous fogs from this rich mine of Truth And thus we may be enemies to the Truth when we think we love it and though we do not bid open defiance to it yet be at as sad a distance from it as they that do For to defie the Truth and not to care for it differ not so much but that they both end in the same fatal ignorance and both leave us in the dark To conclude Let us offer violence to our selves and redeem our selves from these Let us moderate and regulate our Affections and take from them all the strength they have to hinder us in our purchase Let us remove all Prejudice that we may be fit to judge aright of all things And let us not harden our hearts when Truth is ready to make its impression in them nor yet have little heart to it which is in effect to harden our hearts For Truth will neither dwell with him who shutteth it out nor yet with him who maketh no preparation to receive it neither apply it self to our Pride nor to our Sloth neither enter a man of Belial nor a lukewarm Laodicean Till the mind be clear of these no light can enter till the heart be disburdened of these it is an hard and an heavy heart not fit to be lifted up unto the Truth Thus much of the Impediments to be removed It behoveth us in the next place to consider what Helps the God of Truth affordeth us for the obtaining of the Truth and to make use of them There be indeed many but I shall name but three 1. Meditation or a fixing of our thoughts upon the Truth a continual survey of the beauty of it a recollecting our selves a renewing the heat and fervour that is in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Philosopher Meditation is a kind of augmentation or growth This will make the Truth more visible and clear and more appliable then before The Word written is but a dead letter the Word spoken is but a sound but Meditation maketh it of energy and force to quicken and enliven us It is like those Prospectives which this later age hath found out whereby we discover Stars which were never seen before and in the brightest stars find spots otherwise not to be discerned By Meditation we see Christ at the right hand of God and the glory and riches of the Gospel By it we behold the World lothsome which before we doted on God's Statutes most delightful which before we abhorred Afflictions profitable which before we trembled at By it we find out the plague of our hearts and the leprosie of our souls which before appeared to us as spots as nothing This help we have by Meditation 2. Prayer Oratio viam ostendit nos deducit saith Bernard Prayer sheweth us the way and leadeth us along in it It draweth down grace to supply the defect of nature it calleth for strength and wisdome to resist and overcome temptations it procureth the assistance of the Spirit to relieve and uphold the infirmity of the mind it carrieth us on chearfully to this Mart so that neither hopes nor fears can turn us out of the way Certainly Prayer for the Truth can never return empty seeing it asketh that which God is most ready to give which he putteth to sale continually Cic Orat. de arusp resp The heathen Oratour could discover so much Faciles sunt preces apud Deos qui ultra nobis viam salutis ostendunt When God calleth us to him and we desire to come near him we pray for that which he would have Prayers may be heard and rewarded and yet not granted Non tribuit Deus quod volumus ut tribuat quod malumus saith Hierome God doth not give us what we will that he may give us that which is better Our prayers for temporal blessings may seem to be but spiritual flatteries wherein we speak God fair for our own ends Like Quadrigarius his darts Gell. l. 9. c. 1. our prayers if shot upwards fly more sure to the marke but if downwards at our own ends seldome hit Exauditur Diabolus Matth. 8.31 32. 2 Cor. 12.8 9. non exauditur Apostolus The Devils had their request granted yet we read that the Apostle was denied But he that prayeth for the Truth prayeth in the name of Christ he that desireth that which appertaineth to salvation Joh. 16.23 orat in nomine Salvatoris prayeth in the name
of his Saviour and therefore cannot be denied Earnest Prayer for the Truth seasoneth the heart and maketh it as the Father speaketh exceptorium veritatis a fit receptacle of the Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Angel to the Centurion Acts 10.4 Thy prayers are come up for a memorial before God It is an illusion to the Incense under the Law Our Prayer first ascendeth as incense and cometh up unto God as a sweet-smelling savour and then down cometh an Angel the Truth to tell us so to assure us that our suit is granted Our Prayer ascendeth and in its ascent raiseth up the heart to heaven where it entreth the treasury of God and obtaineth this Pearl I will not say with some that Prayers do this ex opere operato by the very repetition by numbring them out by tale as they do their beads This hath too rank a savour Yet I know not how after the heat of devotion and fervency of Prayer there follow those holy fires and strange and glorious irradiations and illuminations which present and shew themselves to us in our search of Truth When by Prayer we have as it were reposed and lodged our souls in the bosome of our heavenly Father there are presently poured back upon us even in the midst of our common actions celestial and divine cogitations and the image and copy of our devotions is still obvious to our eye and followeth us whithersoever we go Our Prayers are as Musick in the ears of the most High and our improvement and encrease in knowledge is the resultance And as he that hath looked on the Sun with a steady eye hath the image of the Sun presented to him in every object which he beholdeth so he that fixeth his thoughts on God and is as it were lift up near near unto him by true devotion must needs find light in all his waies and feel the efficacy of his prayer in his daily conversation 3. Exercise and practice of those Truths we learn Without this Prayer doth not ascend as incense from the altar but as common smoke and hath no sweet savour at all Without this Meditation is but the motion and circulation of the Phansie the business or rather idleness of that sort of men who come into the market onely to look on and gaze the mind flieth aloft but like those birds of prey which first towre in the air and then stoop at carrion But the practice of the Truth we know doth fix it to us and make it as it were a part of us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Stoick speaketh driveth the doctrine home Eccl. 12.11 as a nail fastned by the Masters of the assemblies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Philosopher What we learn to do we learn by doing One act of Charity prompteth me to another One denial to my appetite draweth on another and that a third and at last I put on resolution and am rigid and obstinate to its solicitations One conquest over a temptation strengthneth me for a second As it was said of Alexander Quaelibet victoria instrumentum sequentis Every victory he got made way to another so every step in the waies of Truth bringeth us not onely so far on our way but enableth us with more strength to go forward and the further we go the more active we are He that giveth a peny to the poor and inureth his hand to giving may in time sell all that he hath Matth. 19.21 and at last lay down his life for the Gospel Aude hospes contemnere opes Virg. Aen. 8. It is but putting on courage and attempting it which is the fairest bidding for the Truth and then we who see it but through a cloud darkly 1 Cor. 13.12 through a cloud of Affections through a cloud of Prejudice yea through darkness it self an inward detestation of it shall with open face 2 Cor. 3.18 as the Apostle speaketh behold the glory of it and be changed into the same image from virtue to virtue from profers to resolutions from beginnings to perfection even by the power of that Truth which we behold And this is truly to buy the Truth to buy it not for ostentation but for use to buy it not to be laid up in a napkin Luke 19.20 but to demonstrate its activity against all illusions that they deceive us not against all occasions that they withdraw us not and against all temptations that we be not led into them And thus as it is with the Angels Contemplation shall not hinder but promote our Obedience and our Obedience exalt our Contemplation and by working by the Truth we shall more nearly behold the copy by which we work and be more familiar with it To conclude These things we must lay down and these means we must make use of if we intend to purchase the Truth and make it our possession And now ye see what it is to buy the Truth I now pass to the negative part of my Text Sell it not And this may serve for my Conclusion For one contrary interpreteth another If to buy the Truth be to seek and draw it to us for our use then to sell it must needs be to put it from us to give it up to our Passions our Prejudice our Distast or Malice and so to alienate it that it shall be as a thing that concerneth us not of no use to us at all Venditio omnem contractum complectitur saith the Civile Law And in this sale there is a contract with our Affections and Lusts with the World with every Trifle and Vanity which is in effect a contract with the Devil himself By this we part with all our right and title and fling it from us Now as the buying of the Truth of all bargains is the best because whereas in all other bargains let them be driven how you can the gain of one party is loss to the other in this bargain there is onely gain and no loss at all the buyer gaineth and yet no seller loseth so the sale of the Truth of all bargains is the worst and the most foolish For in other sales however somebody ever loseth yet somebody getteth what the seller loseth the buyer getteth but when the Truth is sold there is nothing but mere loss no man is no man can be the better for the sale of the Truth Vendentem tantùm deserit minuit Onely the seller groweth the worse there is no buyer groweth the better When Ahab came to Naboth to procure from him his vineyard Give me 1 Kings 21.2 saith he thy vineyard and I will give thee for it a better vineyard then it or I will give thee the worth of it in money See here three mighty tempters the King Money and Commodity whereof which is the strongest it is hard to determine the weakest of them prevaileth with most men Notwithstanding Naboth holdeth out against them all v. 3. The Lord
well observeth that none can tast and judge of that sweetness which Truth affords but the Philosopher because they want that organ or instrument of judgment which he useth And that organ which he useth cannot be applyed by Covetousness Ambition and Lust which are the onely Jacobs staves the Many use to take the altitude of Truth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Philosophers instrument is Reason So in Divine mysteries and miracles we cannot reach the sense and meaning of them we cannot raise our selves to them without an humble pure free and unengaged spirit which is the best instrument of a Christian When our tast faileth us and we cannot distinguish that which is sweet from that which is sowre nor relish meats as they are it is a sure symptome and indication of some a crasie and distemper in the body and when Gods blessings and graces are not relisht when his Manna is Gall when we cannot digest his Miracles we may be sure the Soul wants that temper and disposition which is salus nay anima animae not onely the health but the very soul of the soul Indeed Reason might have taught these men that this was a miracle For rude and illeterate men to speak on a sudden all languages was more then all the Linguists in the world could teach And I persuade my self that from no other principle arose that question of those amazed doubters vers 12. What meaneth this But to read the riddle we must plow with another heifer then Reason To dive into the sense of the miracle can proceed from no other Spirit then that whose miracle it was even him who enlightens them that sit in darkness and who makes the humble and docile soul the seat of his habitation both his School and his Scholar Reason is a light but obnoxious to damps and fogs and mists till this great Light dispell and scatter them Julian was a man as well furnisht with natural endowments as any Emperour of them all yet we see he used it as a weapon against the Truth and wounded Religion more with his scoffs then with his sword His Comical part saith the Father wss far worse then his Tragical When he had received his deaths wound as some have thought by a dart from Heaven he confest that wound came from the hand and power of Christ and he did it in a phrase of scorn VICISTI GALILAEE The day is thine O Galilean Indeed the greatest scoffers at Religion have been men for the most part eminent in natural abilities whose Reason notwithstanding could not shew them their own fluctuations the storms and tempests of their souls she being eclipsed with her own beams Passions and private concernments make her not a servant but an enemy to the Truth not to give sentence for but to plead against it nay to make it ridiculous Some think these mockers here were Pharisees the great Doctours and interpreters of the Law And of them the question was asked Do any of the Pharisees believe in Christ And the reason is most pregnant for though the acts of the Understanding be natural and not arbitrary and though it apprehend things necessarily in those shapes in which they are represented yet when a perverse Will rejects those means which are offered when by-respects call loud upon us to be heard then the mist falls and Darkness is as a pavilion round about us then the object is removed out of sight or appears in that false shape which must needs deceive us by pleasing us because it is that shape which we our selves have given it From hence it is that as it is in the deformity of the body so it is also in that of the soul Nothing is so deformed in the one but some man loves and dotes upon it as we read of one that did love and imitate the distortion of his friends countenance so nothing is so false in the other but some man hath put it into his Creed as it was noted of the Philosophers the great Wisards and Clerks of the world that there was no opinion so absurd and dissonant from reason that found not amongst them some to defend it who would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keep the conclusion and maintein it against all evidence whatsoever The miracle here was done before the sun and the people yet Malice could find nothing but matter of mirth in it They did not onely deny but slight it against evidence as clear as the Day it self Now that men bear themselves so stiff upon their opinion beyond the strength of evidence is from the Will over-laid with Passions Hence proceeds the strength of Faction in all decisions the continuance and growth of Errour this is it which enlarges the courtains of its habitation every man supplying by his Will what is wanting in his evidence Hence it is that the most plain truths meet with contradiction that great plagues are called Peace that absurdities are reverenced that miracles are ridiculous that most things are unlike themselves and appear in new shapes every day and seldome in their own Hence is all errour all misprision all derision all blasphemy Hence Evil is good and Good evil Truth falshood and Falshood truth that which is not worth a thought is deified and that which is Divine is contemned With this fire from hell were these scoffers enflamed and whilst this fire burned they spake with their tongues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Others mocking said These men are full of new wine And so we come to our last part to examine the Mock it self This was not onely a Scoff but an Accusation And the Oratour will tell us that there be divers reasons which make men take upon them the person of an Accuser Sometimes Ambition draws the libell sometimes Hatred sometimes Hope of reward And if we enquire what moved the Scoffers here to lay this foul imputation on the Apostles Oecumenius will tell us that it was nothing else but Perversness and Aversness of disposition which commonly takes non causam pro causâ and indifferently passeth censure upon any cause or do cause at all And this is bred by Opinion and not by Truth If they understood not when the Apostles spake how could they say they were drunk and if they did understand why did they scoff They were men setled in the very dregs of Error and Malice and having taken up an opinion they would not let it go no not at the sight of a miracle Could that Fire be from heaven which must consume the Law Can that Wind blow out of Gods treasury which scatters their Ceremonies Can those Tongues be toucht with a coal from the altar which prophesie against the Altar Do you wonder At what do you wonder It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the gibbrish of men cupshot When the fit is over and their heads composed they will be silent enough and speak neither Greek nor Persian but be as very idiots as before Perniciosissimum humano generi
Christ strive to make every man he sees a disciple Abraham as he was called faithful Abraham so made himself the father of the faithful and did command his children and his houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord which was to beget them in the Lord. Joshua and his houshold will serve the Lord. David having tasted how gracious the Lord was calls others to make trial and drink of the same cup. This is the good mans nay the Angels Jubilee to see others turn unto the Lord. The weeping Prophet wished his head a fountain of tears when men dishonoured God by their rebellion Moses wish was that all the people could prophesie One Prephet draws on a goodly fellowship of Prophets one Apostle a glorious company one Saint a noble army For when the spirit of Holiness whose operation is like that of Fire is hot within men it spreads it self violently like that element which hath voracitatem toto mundo avidissimam as Pliny speaks is a restless element and either spreads or dyes Grace being kindled from the Father of Lights from him who is Light it self takes in others and licks up every thing about it as the fire did which Elias called down from heaven S. Paul being inflamed with this heat what would not he do what would not he suffer He would spend and he spent he would offer up himself a sacrifice for the Philippians he would stay on earth when he desired to depart he would abide in the flesh an irksome thing to one so spiritualized and now ready to put on the crown which was laid up for him he would retire for a while even from Joy it self that the Philippians might become what he was truly stiled the Servants of Jesus Christ We may think it perhaps a strange sight to see so great an Apostle so filled with revelations one that had been in the third Heaven to be now in such a strait one that had received the Truth neither by men nor of men but by the revelation of Jesus Christ to doubt and to be ignorant what to do But thus to be at a stand and in doubt thus to consider both conditions of this and the next life and then to conclude against himself for the Glory of God and the Salvation of his brethren could not but proceed from a most heroick and divine Spirit a Spirit that had subdued the Flesh nay conquered it self and preferred the Glory of God before his own Will though regular and warrantable the same Spirit which was in Christ qui quod voluit effici id ipsum concedi sibi non voluit as Hilary speaketh who would not have that granted which he would have done I say none but those who have such a spirit are subject to such a doubt none but those who are thus free are brought to such a strait They who are fleshly and wordly-minded the children of this world are so wise indeed in their genaration that they are never thus perplext they never demur or doubt with S. Paul they are never shut up in his strait No as they have not tasted of the powers of the world to come so it is not in all their thoughts Nusquam aqua haeret they never stick or are in perplexity but are sudden and positive and soon conclude for themselves Here here let us build us a tabernacle Here amidst the fading pleasures and flying vanities of this world here amongst shadows and apparitions amongst those killing tentations which we love amongst those occasions of evil which we will run and meet and embrace in the midst of all the snares the Enemy can lay which we delight to be caught in and look upon our fetters as ornaments Here let us dwell for ever for we have a delight therein What is the Glory of God unto us who thus glory in our own shame What will we do to save our brothers Soul who so prodigally prostitute our own Not a spark of the fire in us which was in S. Paul no trouble no doubt in us not the least consideration of God our selves and our brethren And thus we pass on securely wantonly delicately not fearing the bitterness of death never in any strait till we are shut up in that prison out of which we shall never come out And this is the most pleasing and the most sad condition we can fall into This security is our danger This lifting our selves up is our ruine A diligent troubled perplexed Christian shall find light in darkness resolution in doubting and a way to escape in the greatest streit To conclude this If the same mind were in us which was in S. Paul if the same mind were in us which was in Christ Jesus we should then look upon our calling to be Christians as the most delightful and the most troublesome calling We should not hope to pass through it without rubs and difficulties without doubts and disputings in our selves We should compare one thing with another often put up questions and have fightings and struglings in our selves We should desire that which is best for our selves and conclude for that which is best in the sight of God For this we must do even sometimes curb and restrain our selves in our lawful desires and when we set forth forth for the Glory of God leave them behind us stay his leisure to do him service deny our selves in our own desires desire to put off the flesh and yet resolve to abide in the flesh lay down all our wills and desires and bow to the will and Glory of God With S. Paul here we may retein both a resolution to glorifie God in our mortal bodies and a desire to be loosed and to be with Christ cheerfully entertein the one and yet earnestly desire the other They were both here in the Apostle and the same Love was mother and nurse to them both I am in a great strait It was Love perplext him and the Love of Christ raised up this desire to be with him For I am in a great strait desiring to be loosed and to be with Christ. And so we pass from S. Pauls Doubt to his Desire And indeed had be not been in this strait he had not had this desire which nothing can raise up but the Love of God and his glory This Desire carries nothing in it that hath any opposition to the will of God It is not wrought in us by Impatience or Sense of injuries for the Christian hath learnt to forgive them Not by Contumelie and Disgrace for the Christian can bear contumeliam contumeliae facere and so fling disgrace upon Contumelie it self It is not the effect of any evil for the Christian can overcome evill with good The Stoicks indeed thought quaerendam potiùs mortem quà m servitutem ferendam That the best remedy for Slavery Contumely or a tedious Sickness was to force the Soul from the body which was now become a prison and place of torment to it And in