of themselves but he that thus findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it The loss of our lives for righteousness sake is a purchase Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven For this Stephen was stoned Paul beheaded the Martyrs tortured So persecuted they the Prophets which were before you In the next place as a good Cause so a good Life doth fit and qualifie us to suffer for righteousness sake Non habent martyrum mortem qui non habent Christianorum vitam saith Augustine He dieth not the death of a Martyr who liveth not the life of a Christian An unclean beast is not fit to make a sacrifice Nor will the crown of Martyrdome sit upon his head who goeth on in his sin It is to the wicked that God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes and What hast thou to do to suffer for them For he that suffereth for them declareth them Therefore S. Augustine calleth the Donatists who in a perverse emulation of the glory of the true Martyrs leapt down from rocks and flung themselves into the water and were drowned sceleratos homicidas wicked homicides and unnatural murtherers of themselves What Cyprian speaketh of Schism is as true of other mortal sins not repented of Non Martyrium tollit not Martyrdom it self can expiate or blot it out For can we think that he that hath taken his fill in sin all his life long and still made his strength the law of unrighteousness should in a moment wash away all his filth and pollutions baptismo sanguinis with his own bloud It may supply for those other pious souls who were never washed in the other laver that of Baptism because persecution or death deprived them of that benefit for what cannot be done cannot oblige But how a man should draw out his life in an open hostility to Christ and trifle with him and contemn him all his dayes and then before repentance and reconciliation which indeed is in the very act of hostility bow to him and die for him I cannot see Take S. Pauls black catalogue of the works of the flesh Adultery Gal. 3. fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murthers drunkenness revellings and not one of these but will infringe and weaken the testimony of any man and render him a suspected witness in our Courts on Earth And shall the truth of Christ stand in need of such Knights of the post who will speak for her when they oppose her Take that bed-roll of wicked men which the Apostle prophesied should come in these last and perilous times 2 Tim. 3 1-5 Lovers of their own selves Covetous Boasters Proud Blasphemers Disobedient to parents Vnthankful Vnholy Without natural affection Truce-breakers False accusers Incontinent Fierce Despisers of those that are good Traitors Heady High minded Lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof and may not the Gospel be ashamed of such Professors and Martyrs as these Or shall we look for heaven in hell and hope to find a Martyr amongst a generation of vipers Or is he fit to be advocate for any truth who hath the faith of Christ with respect of persons Then we shall have factious Martyrs seditious Martyrs malicious Martyrs profane Martyrs sacrilegious Martyrs And if these be Martyrs we may say of them as Tertullian did of the Heathen Gods Potiores apud inferos There be honester men in hell then these No a good Cause and a good Life must be our conductors to the Cross must lead us by the hand to the fiery trial must as it were anoint us to our graves and prepare us for this great work Otherwise whatsoever we suffer is not properly Persecution but an execution of justice It may be here perhaps demanded What then shall he do who having fettered himself in the snare of the Devil hath not yet shaken it off by true repentance whose conscience condemneth him of many gross and grievous sins which yet himself hath not condemned in his flesh by practising the contrary vertues What shall a notorious sinner do if he be called to this great office if his fortunes and life be brought in hazard for the profession of some article of faith or some truth which he believeth is necessary to salvation What shall he do being shut up between these three a bad conscience assurance of that truth he professeth and the terrour of death Shall he hold fast the truth or subscribe to the contrary Shall he suffer without true repentance of his former sins or repent of the truth which he professeth Shall he deny against his conscience what he knoweth to be true or shall he suffer and comfort himself in this one act as a foundation firm enough to raise a hope on of remission of sin Here is a great streight a sad Dilemma like that of the servant in the Comedy Si faxit perit si non faxit vapulat If he do it he may perish and if he do it not he may be beaten He may suffer for the truth and yet suffer for his sins and if he do it not he hath denied the faith and is worse then an infidel But beloved this is an instance like that of Buridan's ass between two bottles of hay knowing not which to chuse an instance of what peradventure never or very seldom cometh to pass We may suppose what we please we may suppose the heavens to stand still and the earth to move and some have thought so we may suppose what in nature is impossible And this if it be not impossible yet is so improbable that it hardly can gain so much credit as to win an assent For that he who all his life long hath cast Christ's word 's behind him should now seal them with his bloud that they are true that a conscience so beaten so wasted so overwhelmed with the habit of sins should now take in and entertain a fear of so little a sin as the denial of one truth in respect of the contempt of all that he that hath swallowed this monstrous camel should strain at this gnat that he that hath trampled Christ's bloud under his feet should shed his own for some one dictate of his is a thing which we may suppose but hardly believe Or tell me Where should this sting and power of conscience lye hid Or can conscience drive us to the confession of one truth which had no power to withhold us from polluting our selves with so many sins Holding faith saith S. Paul 1 Tim. 1.19 and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made ship-wreck So near an alliance there is between Faith and a good Conscience that we must either keep them both or lose them both Faith as Saint Paul intimateth in that Text is as the
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
drop a penny We wast away and sicken and make our will and seal it and doubt not but the Spirit will do his office and seal our redemption At last the rich man dyeth and is buried and some hireling will tell you The Angels have carried his soul into heaven A strange conceit Luke 16. and if true of force to pluck Lazarus out of Abrahams bosome and to bring back Dives through the gulf and place him in his room But if this be not true may it never be true Onely let us not deceive our selves but search and try our hearts and root out all such vain and groundless and pernicious imaginations which may be raised up in time of prosperity and multiply like flyes in the Sun Let us not seek our peace in those false fictitious spurious deceitful Goods but in the true and full and filling Good the Good here in the Text. And because God hath fitted and proportioned it to us let us fit and apply our selves unto it And since he hath built us up after his own Image let us adorn and beautifie it with Justice and Mercy and Humility and not blur and deface it with the craft of a Fox the lust of a Goat and the rage of a Lion For what should the mark of the Beast do upon the Image of God Again being fitted to us and to all sorts and conditions of men Let young men and maids Psal 148.12 13. old men and children Scribes and Ideots noble and ignoble Priest and people cleave and adhear to it and so praise and magnifie the name of the Lord Sic laudant Angeli for so the Angels and Arch-angels praise him And thirdly being lovely and amiable let us make it our choice and espouse our wills to it love and embrace it not kiss and wound it approve and condemn it worship it in our hearts and persecute it in our brethren And since it is a filling and satisfying good here let us let down our pitchers Isa 12.3 and draw waters out of this well of salvatien even those waters which will sweeten our miseries and give a pleasant tast to Bitterness it self To conclude Behold here is the object that which is Good fair and beautiful to the eye Jer. 5.1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see if you can find a MAN and he is the spectatour and cannot but see it But what went you out into the wilderness to see Matth. 11 7-9 saith our Saviour Why the eye is never satisfied Pro. 27.20 and all would go out to see Some would see soft Raiment Eccl. 1.8 4.8 and that you may see on every back Some gaze upon Beauty and that is a burning-glass to set the Soul on fire Others love to see the redness of the Wine Prov. 23.31 20.1 Look not on it saith Solomon It is a mocker Some would behold a shew of Pomp and Glory and we see though Justice can never fail but hath the best even when she is worsted yet Injustice hath had more triumphs then she When Julius Caesar triumphed over his countrey and when Pompey rid in with the spoils of Asia the ceremony and the pomp and the glory was the same But the eye with which we behold these spectacles is not fit for this object We have another eye a spiritual eye we call it the eye of our Reason and we call it the eye of our Faith This many times is but as an eye of glass for shew but no use at all and serveth to hide a deformity but not to see with But if it be a quick and living eye then here is a fit object for it worth the looking on in which we may see all other things in a fairer dress in a celestial form in the beauty of Holiness being made useful and subservient to it like that Speculum Trinitatis that feigned Glass in which they tell us he that looketh seeth all things If wee see not this object then are we blind 2 Pet. 1.9 or if not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purblind not seeing afar off those things which are laid up in heaven for those who look upon this Good and love it and then I am unwilling to say what we are but certainly we are but infidels And indeed there is something of Infidelity in all our aversions and turning away from this Good For what is the reason that covetous men make Riches an idol and sacrifice to their own net but want of faith and their distrust in God For when God doth not answer their desires 1 Sam. 28. Adv. Judaeos c. 1. Praeesset eis bubulum caput c. they run with Saul to the Devil at Endor or with the Israelites in a pet chuse to themselves bubulum caput as Tertullian expresseth it a Calves head to be their leader I say there is a degree of Infidelity in all these aversions from this Good All that can be said is but what many say within themselves after they have consulted with flesh and blood that this Good is not shewn so clearly nor made so plain as it is said to be which is indeed to remove thei◠own prop and pillar to demollish their own Idol and to drive Faith quite out of the world Believe they do in God yet will not trust him And they are perswaded of the truth of things not seen yet will leave the pursuit of them to follow vanity because they are not seen He hath shewed thee O man what is good and wilt thou not believe him Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance of things not seen and though they be not seen yet they are evident the Means evident and the End as evident as the Means in our sad and sober thoughts when we talk like speculative men as evident as what is open to the eye But such an evidence we have which a Covetous man would soon lay hold on for a title to a fair inheritance and the Ambitious for an assignment of some great place For if such a record had been transmitted to posterity if the Scripture which conveyeth this Good had entailed some rich Manour or Lordship upon them it should have then found an easie belief and been Gospel a sure word of prophecy unquestionable undoubtable like the decrees of the Medes and Persians which must stand fast for ever and cannot be altered For too many there be who had rather have their names in a good leaf then in the book of life And this is the reason why we are so ignorant of that which is Good indeed and so great Clerks in that which is called good but by the worst why we are so dull and indocil in apprehending that wisdome which is from above and so wise and witty to our own damnation why we do but darkly see this Good which is so plainly shewn unto us What shall we say then Nay what saith the
telleth us that we have not received the spirit of bondage to fear again but the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father And it is most true that we have not received that Spirit for we are not under the Law but under Grace we are not Jews Rom. 6.14 but Christians Nor do we fear again as the Jews feared whose eye was upon the Basket and the Sword who were curbed and restrained by the fear of present punishment and whose greatest motives to obedience were drawn from temporal respects and interests who did fear the Plague Captivity the Philistin the Caterpiller and Palmerworm and so did many times forbear that which their lusts and irregular appetites were ready to joyn with We have not received such a spirit For the Gospel directeth our look not to those things which are seen 2 Cor. 4.18 1 Cor. 12.31 but to those things which are not seen and sheweth us yet a more excellent way But we have received the Spirit of adoption we are received into that Family where little care is taken for the meat that perisheth where the World is made an enemy John 6.27 Matth. 6.34 Phil. 2.12 where we must leave the morrow to care for it self and work out oâ—â— salvation with fear and trembling Psal 56.11 where we must not fear what man but what God can do unto us observe his hand as that hand which can raise us up as high as heaven and throw us down to the lowest pit love him as a Father and fear to offend him Psal 2.12 Luke 1.74 love and kiss the Son lest he be angry serve him without fear of any evil that can befall us here in our way of any enemy that can hurt us and yet fear him as our Lord and King For in this his grant of liberty he did not let us loose against himself nor put off his Majesty that we should be so bold with him as not to serve but to disobey him without fear Nor doth this cut off our Filiation our relation to him for a good son may fear the wrath of God and yet cry Abba Father 1 John 4.18 But then again we are told by S. John that there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear All fear he excepteth none no not the fear of punishment L. de fugâ in persecutione I know Tertullian interpreting this Text maketh this fear to be nothing else but that lazy Fear which is begot by a vain and unnecessary contemplation of difficulties the fear of a man that will not set forward in his journey for fear of some Lion some perillous beast some horrible hardship in the way And this is true but not ad textum nor doth it reach S. John's meaning which may be gathered out of Chapt. 3. v. 16. where he maketh it the duty of Christians to lay down their lives for the brethren as Christ laid down his life for them And this we shall be ready to do if our Love be perfect cast off all fear and lay down our lives for them For true Love will suffer all things and is stronger then Death Cant. 8.6 But Love doth not cast out the Fear of Gods wrath for this doth no whit impair our love to him but is rather the means to improve it When we do our duty we have no reason to fear his anger but yet we must alwayes fear him that we may go on and persevere unto the end He will not punish us for our obedience and so we need not fear him but if we break it off he will punish us and this thought may strengthen and establish us in it Hebr. 4.1 Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of us should come short of it But we may draw an answer out of the words themselves as they lie in the Text. For it is true indeed Charity casteth out all fear but not simul semel not at once but by degrees As that waxeth our Fear waineth as that gathereth strength our Fear is in feebled Et perfecta forà s mittit When our Love is perfect it casteth Fear out quite If our Sanctification were as total as it is universal were our Obedience like that of Angels and could never fail we should not then need the sight of heaven to allure us or Gods thunder to affright us But Sanctification being onely in part though in every part the best of Christians in this state of imperfection may look up upon the Moriemini make use of a Deaths-head and use Gods Promises and Threatnings as subordinate means to concurre with the principal as buttresses to support the building that it do not swerve whilst the foundation of Love and Faith keep it that it do not sink A strange thing it may seem that when with great zeal we cry down that Perfection of Degrees and admit of none but that of Parts we should be so refined sublimate as not to admit of the least tincture admission of Fear Now in the next place as Fear may consist with Love so it may with Faith and with Hope it self which seemeth to stand in opposition with it First Faith apprehendeth all the attributes of God and eyeth his threatnings as well as his Promises God hath establisht and fenced in his Precepts with them both If he had not proposed them both as objects for our Faith why doth he yet complain why doth he yet threaten And if we will observe it we shall find some impressions of Fear not onely in the Decalogue but in our Creed To judge both the quick and the dead are words which sound with terrour and yet an article of our belief And we must not think it concerneth us to believe it and no more Agenda and credenda are not at such a distance but that we may learn our Practicks in our Creed God's Omnipotence both comforteth and affrighteth me His Mercy keepeth me from despair and his Justice from presumption But Christs coming to judge both the quick and the dead is my solicitude my anxiety my fear Nor must we imagine that because the Faith which giveth assent to these truths may be meerly historical this Article concerneth the justified person no more then a bare relation or history For the Fear of Judgment is so far from destroying Faith in the justified person that it may prove a soveraign means to preserve it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Basil speaketh to order and compose our Faith In Psal 32. which is ready enough to take an unkind heat if Fear did not cool and temper it In Prosperity David is at his NON MOVEBOR I shall never be moved Psal 30.6 Before the storm came Peter was so bold as to dare and challenge all the temptations that could assault him ETSI OMNES NON EGO Matth. 26. Although all men deny thee yet not I yet was he puzled and
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
Heraclitus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dark and obscure Behold the fountain's head is open and the streams flow sweetly why do we not tast The Truth is exposed to the sun and the people why do we not buy Luke 1.78 The day-spring from on high hath visited us why are we still in darkness Is it not dulness of understanding but pride and sloth that keepeth us ignorant We are not too weak but we are too wise to learn It is a good saying of the Rabbines Error doctrinae pro superbia reputatur To erre where the Truth is so manifest is a sign of pride and they who thus mistake consult not with the Truth but with flesh and bloud Rom. 13 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers is a Text plain enough and yet we see many times Faction go for Faith and Rebellion for Religion Phil. 2.12 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling is as plain yet Fear is acccounted Diabolical and a dead Faith the onely foundation 1 Pet. 2.16 Vse not your liberty as a cloak for malitiousness Who is such a child in understanding as to number this among those things which are hard to be understood and yet how many have wrested it to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 or hath the seditious boutefeu any other garment to cover him but his Christian Liberty when he steppeth forth in fury to break the bond of Peace This maketh many religions and no religion Self-conceit and a desire to seem wise headeth one sect Covetousness another Ambition a third and this plain and easy Truth is left behind to feed a little flock Talk what we will of Priests and Jesuites of Hereticks and Schismaticks it is Mammon and the Love of the world and Pride that make proselytes and where the first seduce a thousand these last seduce ten thousand for in this we cannot be deceived unless we first love the cheat And therefore as we must not take falshood for truth so we must be carefull not to take those truths for necessary which are not so The Truth was never more sincere and pure then while it was contained all in one Creed and that a short one as Erasmus saith When there were more the practical knowledge of it was less When this merchandise was spread abroad and divided into many parcells it was less seen S. Paul calleth it (a) Rom. 12.6 the proportion of faith (b) 2 Tim. 1.13 the form of sound words (c) Tit. 1.1 the truth which is after godliness To believe in God to love him to obey him To deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tertullian speaking of these is bold to pronounce Nihil ultrâ scire est omnia scire To know nothing beyond or more then this is to know all that we should know And if we did but practise this we should have less noise and trouble to know what it is we ought to practise If we did walk according to this rule peace would be upon us Gal. 6.16 and mercy and upon the Israel of God But the great neglect of that integrity which should distinguish Christians from the world hath brought in that deluge of controversies which hath welnear covered and overwhelmed the face of the Church What malice what defiance what digladiations what gall and bitterness do we see amongst Christians What ink what bloud hath been spent in the cause of Religion How many innocents have been defamed how many Saints anathematized haw many millions cut down with the sword And yet this is all Believe and repent Oh what pitty is it that this royal Truth should be lost amid the noise and tumults which are raised for truths not necessary that the foundation should be cast down and buried in the outworks that true Piety should be trod under foot in the scuffle for that which is not essential to it and hath no more of it then its name To conclude this point Ye see the merchandise what that Truth is ye are to buy 1. It is fitted and proportioned to your souls Do ye fit and apply your souls unto it Oh what a poor deformed thing is a soul without it a representation of a damned spirit 2. It is fit for all sorts and conditions of men Therefore let old men and children scribes and idiotes Trades-men and Scholars come to this market for it is the next way unto heaven 3. It is comely and amiable Let us therefore make it our choice espouse our wills unto it love and embrace it not kiss and wound it nor worship it in our heart and persecute it in our brethren What madness is it to leave this Horn of beauty and to joyn with a fiend or a monstre 4. As it is lovely in it self so it giveth a loveliness to all other gifts blessings and endowments whatsoever Why should thy Money perish with thee Why should thy Wit in which thou delightest thy Strength whereof thou boastest yea thy Hearing thy Fasting thy Praying perish with thee Why should all thy virtues be as a cloud and as the early dew fall and go away Why should all thy good be good for nothing 5. Lastly it will put thee to no expense Then thou hast no excuse for thou carriest the price about with thee Come therefore and buy it without money or money-worth And then thou needest not ask with the Lawyer in the Gospel Luke 10.25 What shall I do to inherit eternal life for thou hast the price in thine hand This Truth is it the price of the kingdome of heaven and with it thou shalt purchase glory and immortality and eternal life The third point that offereth it self to our consideration is That the Truth must be bought It will not be ours unless we lay out something and purchase it Buy the Truth If ye look into the holy Scripture the shop where it is to be had ye shall find it ever carrying its price along with it Under what name soever it goeth the price is as it were written upon it John 6.27 If it be called that meat which endureth unto everlasting life the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 labour for it If it be called salvation the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 magìs operamini work more intend and double your labour Phil. 2.12 work it out If it be called the faith as it is Jude 3. the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must earnestly contend for it And the Apostle biddeth us beware that we be not wearied and faint in our minds Heb. 12.3 start back fly off and offer no more because the price is so high Here is care required and labour working and doubling our work contention and perseverance till the last minute All which we give out of our proper substance For when we lay them out we spend our selves We do not stumble upon this Truth by chance as we may sometimes upon a Pearl or a piece of
were by the voice of the cryer and if thou wilt have it thou must buy it Ye see that Truth is a rich merchandise and that it must be bought Now in the next place we must know what it is to buy it As in all purchases so here something must be laid down And though we cannot set a price upon the Truth worthy of it it being in it self unvaluable and all the world not able to weigh down the least grain of it yet something there is which must be given for it The very heathen thought nothing to dear to purchase it amongst whom we read of some who flung away their goods and riches and bid defiance to pleasures ut nudam veritatem nudi expeditÃque sequerentur saith Lactantius that being stript of all they might meet with the naked Truth and embrace her So highly did they value the Truth that therein they placed their summum bonum their chief happiness If ye ask what the price is ye must give the answer is short Ye must give your selves Ye must lay down your selves at the altar of Truth and be offered up as a sacrifice for it Ye must offer up your Understandings fit and apply them to the Truth Ye must offer up your Wills and bow them to it Ye must strip and empty your selves of all your Affections at least be free from the power of them For the Affections raise a tempest in the soul and make it swell as stormy winds do the sea so that the Mind can no more receive the Truth then the troubled waves can receive and reflect the image of our face Not onely the seeds of moral conversation those practick notions with which we were born but also those seeds of saving Truth which we gather from the Scripture and improve by instruction and practice are then most obscured and darkned when pleasures and delights take possession of our affections As we often see in persons sore distempered with sickness the light of their reason dimmed and the mind disturbed by reason of vitious vapours arising from their corrupted humours so it is in the soul and understanding which could not but apprehend the Truth being so fitted and proportioned to it as ye have heard if it were not dazled and amazed with impertinent objects and phantasmes that intervene if the affections did not draw it to things heterogeneous and contrary to it Being blinded hereby it beholdeth all objects through the affections which as coloured glasses present all things much like unto themselves Thus Falshood getteth the face and beauty of Truth and that appeareth true which pleaseth though it hurt For the Affections do not onely hinder our judgment but prevent and preoccupate it Truth is plain and open to the eye but Love or Hatred Hope or Fear coming in between teach us first to turn from it and after to dispute against it The Love of our countrey maketh Truth and Religion national and confineth it within a province The Love of those whom our worldly affairs draw us to converse with shutteth it up yet closer and tieth it to a city to an house And to put off this Love we think is to wage war with Nature The Love of riches formeth a cheap and thriving Religion The Love of honour buildeth her a chair The Love of pleasure maketh her wanton and superstitious That which we Love still presenteth it self before our eyes and thence we take materials to build up that congregation which alone we think deserveth the name of a Church So that if we never beheld the face of the men yet by the form and draught of their Religion we may easily judge which way their affections sway them and to what coast they steer And as Love so Hatred transformeth not men alone but also the Truth it self and maketh it an heresy though in an Apostle yea though in our Saviour Luke 16.13 No man can serve two masters is as undeniable a principle as any in the Mathematicks yet because Christ spake it the Pharisees who were covetous derided him Luke 16.14 Micaiah was a true Prophet but Ahab believed him not because he hated him 1 Kings 22.8 How many Truths are condemned by the Reformed party onely because the Papists teach them And how many doth that Church anathematize because the Protestant holdeth them Maldonate in his Commentary on the Gospel is not ashamed to profess of an interpretation of one passage there that he would willingly subscribe and receive it as the truest had it not been Calvin's And have not we some who have condemned even that which is Truth and which is delivered in the language of Scripture and in the very same words upon no other reason but because it is still retained in the Mass-book As Tacitus speaketh of an hated Prince Inviso semel Principe seu bene seu malè facta premunt when a person is once grown odious in our eyes whatsoever he doth or saith whether good or evil whether true or false is as odious as he If an enemy do it the most warrantable act is a mortal sin and when he speaketh it the Truth it self is a lie All the argument we have against it is the person that speaketh it for we will not use his language As it is said of Marius that he so hated the Grecians that he would not walk the same way that a Greek had gone though it were the best Further we must lay down at the feet of Truth our Fears For Fear is the worst counsellor we can have Nunquam fidele consilium dat metus saith Seneca It never giveth us true and faithful counsel but flying from that which we fear it carrieth us away in its flight from the Truth it self Perjury is a monstrous sin of that bulk and corpulency that we cannot but see it yet Fear will lift up our hands and bind us to that which we know to be false and within a while teach us to plead for it Fear saith the Wise-man Wisd 17.12 is nothing else but the betrayer of those succours which Reason offereth When we are struck with Fear we are struck deaf and will neither hearken to our selves nor to seven wise men that can render a reason Prov. 26.16 This made (a) Gen. 3.8 10. Adam hide himself This sealed up the lips of (b) John 12.42 many chief rulers among the Jewes so that though they believed on Christ yet because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue And this opened the mouth of Peter to deny him He that is afraid of what evil may befall him is not a fit merchant to buy the Truth For though he have the price in his hand Prov. 17 16. he hath no heart to it A blast a puff of wind will drive him from this market And as Fear so Hope will soon betray and deceive us The Hope of honour of profit of favour of
so few instances of Retractation but a Augustine one among the Antients and of later dayes b Bellarm. one more but such a one as did but like some Plumbers make his business worse by mending it So harsh a thing it is to the nature of Men to seem to have mistaken and so powerful is Prejudice For to confess an Errour is to say we wanted Wit And therefore we should flye from Prejudice as from a Serpent Gen. 3. For it deceiveth us as the Serpent did Eve giveth a No to Gods Yea maketh Men true and God a lyar and nulleth the sentence of death You shall dye the death when this is the Interpreter is your Eyes shall be opened and to deceive our selves is to be as Gods knowing good and evil And it may well be called a Serpent for the biting of it is like that of the Tarantula the working of its venome maketh us dance and laugh our selves to death For a setled prejudicate though false opinion may build up as strong resolutions as a true Saul was as zealous for the Law as Paul was for the Gospel A Heretick will be as loud for a fiction as the Orthodox for the Truth the Turk as violent for his Mahomet as a Christian for his Saviour Habet diabolus suos Martyres For the Devil hath his Martyrs as well as God And it is Prejudice which is that evil spirit that casteth them into the fire and the water that consumeth or drowneth them 1 Sam. 15.32 that leadeth them forth like Agag delicately to their death And this is most visible in those of the Church of Rome We may see even the marks upon them Obstinacy Insolency Scorn and contempt a proud and high Disdain of any thing that appeareth like reason or of any man that shall speak it to teach and recover them Which are certainly the signes of the biting of this Serpent Prejudice or as some will call it the marks of the Beast Quà m gravis incubat How heavy doth Prejudice lye upon them who are taught to renounce their very Sense and to mistrust nay to deny their Reason who see with other mens eyes Apul. De mundo and hear with other mens ears qui non animosed auribus cogitant who do not judge with their mind but with their ears The first prejudice is That theirs is the Catholick Church and cannot err and then all other search and enquiry is vain as a learned writer observeth For what need they go further to find the truth then to the high Priests chair to which it is bound And this they back and strengthen with many others of Antiquity making that most true which is most antient Quintil. And yet omnia vetera nova fuere that which is now old was at first new And by this Argument Truth was not Truth when it first began nor the Light Light when it first sprung from on high and visited us And besides Truth though it had found professours but in this latter age yet was first born because Errour is nothing else but a deviation from the Truth and cometh forth last and layeth hold on the heel of Truth to supplant it Besides these Councils Which may err and the Truth many times is voted down when it is put to most voices Nazianzene was bold to censure them as having seen no good effect of any of them And we our selves have seen and our eyes have dropped for it what a meer Name what Prejudice can do with the Many Nunquam tam benè cum rebus humanis agebatur ut plures essent meliores Sen. de Clement 1. and what it can countenance And many others they have of Miracles which were but lies of Glory which is but vanity of Universality which is bounded and confined to a certain place With these and the like that first prejudice That the Church cannot err is underpropt and upheld And yet again these depend upon that Such a mutual complication there is of Errours as in a bed of Snakes If the first be not true then these were nothing and if these pillars be once shaken and they are but mud that Church will soon sink in its reputation and not fit so high as magisterially to dictate to all the Churches of the world And as we have set up this Queen of Churches as an ensample of the effects of Prejudice so may we hold it up as a glass to see our own She saith we are a Schismatical We please and assure our selves that we are a Reformed Church And so we are and yet Prejudice may find a place even in the Reformation it self Rome is not only guilty of this but even some members of the Reformation who think themselves nearest to Christ when they run farthest from that Church though it be from the Truth it self And this is nothing else but Prejudice to judge our selves pure because our Church is purged to be less reformed because that is Reformed or to think that Heaven and Happiness will be raised and rest upon a Word or Name and that we are Saints as soon as we are Protestants Almost every Sect and every Faction laboureth under this Prejudice and feeleth it not but runneth away with its burden And too many there be who predestinate themselves to Heaven when they have made a surrendry of themselves to such a Church to such a company or collection nay sometimes but to such a man I accuse not Luther or Calvine of errour but honour them rather though I I know they were but men and I know they have erred or else our Church doth in many things and it were easie to name them But suppose they had broacht as many lyes as the Father of them could suggest yet they who have raised them in their esteem to such an height must needs have too open a breast to have received them as oracles and to have lickt up poyson it self if it had fallen from their pens since they have the same motive and inducement to believe them when they err which they have to believe them when they speak the truth and that is no more then their Name Orat. pro Muraena Tolle Catonem de Causa said Tully Cato was a name of virtue and carried authority with it and therefore he thought him not a fit witness in that cause against Muraena for his very name might overbear and sink it Tolle Augustinum de causa Take away the name of Augustine of Luther and Calvine and Arminius for they are but names not arguments There is but one Name by which we may be saved Acts 4.12 And his Name alone must have authority Hebr. 12.2 and prevail with us who is the authour and finisher of our faith VVe may honour others and give unto them that which is theirs but we must not deifie them nor pull Christ out of his throne to place them in his room Of this we may be sure There is
not there cannot be any influence in a Name to make a conclusion true or false And if we fix it in our mind as as in its firmament it will sooner dazle then enlighten us Nor is it of so great use as men may imagin For they who read or hear can either judge or are weak of understanding To them who are able to judge and to discern Errour from Truth a name is but a name and no more and is no more esteemed For they look upon the Truth as it is and receive it for it self But for those who are of a narrow capacity and fail in their intellectuals a Name will sooner lead them into Errour then into Truth or if into Truth it is but by chance for it should have found the same welcome and enterteinment had it been an errour for the Names sake for a Name is their rule and not the Thing All they now gain is that having such a leader they shall fall with more honour into the ditch It will be good then to be wary and watchful against our selves and so to deprehend our selves and not to love our selves so as to be the greatest enemies we have not to take that upon trust to which we entrust our souls and on which we depend as our surest guide to that happiness which now our hope and expectation looketh on but to try and examine even the Truth it self and to know what ground we stand on whether our foundation be firm and sure whether that which we have been taught be not now to be unlearned whether we have not took up that which we should have run from delighted in that which we should hate loved that which we should have feared been too long familiar with that which will undo us whether our natural temper and complexion education and custome have not carried us so far from our selves with that swift but insensible motion that we had no leisure to look back and consult with our Reason which was given us for our best help and guide whether Delight or Profit or Honour or Security did not make up our Creed for us whether in our pursuit of the Truth they were not the only lure which we did strike upon and now adhere as to the Truth it self It will be good thus to try and examin every conclusion which we have made our rule to let one day teach another Maturity oversee and judge our greener years and the wisdome of Age correct the easiness of our Youth Reason recognize our Education Consideration controll Custome Judgement censure our Delight and the New man crucifie the Old In a word to think that we may have erred and not to be so wise as because we are deceived to be so for ever Of this we may be sure for it is obvious to our eye that our Education can be no forcible motive to bind us everlastingly to any conclusion For our pupillage doth too often most unfortunately fall under such tutours as instill not any principles into us but their own which are not alwayes true but more often false being such which they also took up upon trust from their instructours And then Custome prevaileth more in evil then in good and in those wayes in which the Flesh is carried on with a swinge and violence then in those in which we use to move but heavily And there be a thousand false fires at which we kindle our Delight and there can be but one true one And therefore in these conclusions which we our selves deduce and draw out of known principles in which all agree and in which our first judgement is our last we must be free and disengaged not in subjection to any man or any thing not under the aw of our first Instructours or of Custome or of any Name under the Sun or of our Satisfaction and Delight which we so often misplace or of Profit and Advantage which name we commonly give to that which undoeth us Nor must we be so positive so wedded to our own decrees as to be averse and strange when a fair overture is made of better because having no surer conduct then these it is more probable we should err then judge aright and from hence Errour hath multiplied it self and is that monster with so many heads even from this presumption in men That they cannot err and we see many most conclusive and confident in that which they have but lightly lookt upon and never came so near as to survey it and so discover what it is For if men were either impartial to themselves or so prudently humble as to hearken to the judgement of others and to try and examin all the Prince of this world and the Father of lies would not have so much in us nor should we be in danger of so froward a generation If men were not so soon good they would not be so often evil if they were not sure they would not err and if they were not so wise they would not be so much deceived Nor doth this submission and willingness to hear Reason blast or endanger that Truth which Reason or Revelation hath planted in us but improveth it rather to a fairer growth and beauty as we see Gold hath more lustre by its trial And this readiness to hear what may be said either for or against it is a fair evidence that we fell not upon it by chance nor received it as we do the Devils temptations at the first shew and appearance but have maturely and carefully deliberated and fastened it to our souls by frequent meditation and are rooted and establisht in it Neither doth it argue any fluctuation or wavering of the mind or unfixedness of judgement For mutatio sententiae non est inconstantia saith Tully to disannul a former judgement upon better evidence is not inconstancy nor doth he stagger in his way who followeth a clearer light And had not Tully forgot himself and what he here said which may well go for a rule he would not have made it a part of that elogy and commendations which he giveth to another Oratour Nullum verbum emisit quod revocare vellet Quae laus credibilior est de nimio fatuo quam de sapiente perfecto August Epist 2. 1 Thess 5.21 that he never spake word which he would recal which in S. Augustines judgement is truer of a fool then a wise man for who more positive and peremptory then fools who being what they are will be ever so No to be willing to hear to learn to prove every thing is the stability rather and continued act of reason It is its natural and certain course to judge for that which is most reasonable And the Mind in this doth no more wander then the Planets do who are said to do so because they appear now in this now in that part of the heavens but yet keep their constant and natural motion Thus it entertaineth Truth for it self nor suffereth Errour to
them were not an act of our Faith but of our Knowledge Therefore Christ shewed not himself openly to all the people at his resurrection Tert. Apol. ut fides non mediocri praemio destinata non nisi difficultate constaret that faith by which we are destined to a crown might not consist without some difficulty but commend it self by our obedience the perfection and beauty whereof is best seen in making its way through difficulties And so Hilary Habet non tam veniam quà m praemium ignorare quod credis Lib. 8. De Trin Not perfectly to know what thou certainly believest doth so little stand in need of pardon that it is that alone which draweth on the reward For what obedience can it be for me to assent to this That the whole is greater then the part that the Sun doth shine or any of those truths which are visible to the eye What obedience it is to assent to that which I cannot deny But when the object is in part hidden in part seen when the truth we assent to hath more probability to establish it then can be brought to shake it then our Saviour himself pronounceth John 20.29 Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed Besides it were in vain he should afford us more light who hath given us enough For to him that will not rest in that which is enough nothing is enough When God had divided the Red sea when he rained down Manna upon the Israelites and wrought many wonders amongst them the Text saith For all this they sinned still Psal 78.31 and believed not his wondrous works The Pharisees saw Christ's miracles yet would have stoned him They saw him raise Lazarus from the dead and would have killed them both The people said He hath done all things well Mar. 7.37 John 7.48 yet these were they that crucified the Lord of life Did any of the Pharisees believe in him We might ask Did any of his Disciples believe in him Christ himself calleth them Fools and slow of heart to believe what the Prophets had foretold Luke 24.25 Their Fear had sullied the evidence that they could not see it the Text sayth they forsook him and fled Matth. 26.56 And the reason of this is plain For though Faith be an act of the Understanding yet it dependeth upon the Will and men are incredulous nor for want of those means which may raise a faith but for want of will to follow that light which leadeth unto it they do not believe because they will not and so bear themselves strongly upon opinion preconceived beyond the strength of all evidence whatsoever When our affections and lusts are high and stand out against it the evidence is put by and forgot and the object which calls for our eye and faith begins to disappear and vanish and at last is nothing Quot voluntates tot fides saith Hilary So many Wills so many Creeds For there is no man that believeth more than he will To make this good we may appeal to men of the slendrest observation and least experience we may appeal to our very eye which cannot but see those uncertain and uneven motions in which men are carried on in the course of their life For what else is that that turneth us about like the hand of a Dial from one point to another from one perswasion to a contrary How cometh it to pass that I now embrace what anon I tremble at What is the reason that our Belief shifteth so many scenes and presenteth it self in so many several shapes now in the indifferency of a Laodicean anon in the violence of a Zealot now in the gaudiness of Superstition anon in the proud and scornful slovenry of factious Profaneness that many make so painful a peregrination through so many modes and forms of Religion and at last end in Atheists What reason is there There can be none but this the prevalency and victory of our Sensitive part over our Reason and the mutability yea and stubbornness of our Will which cleaveth to that which it will soon forsake but is strongly set against the Truth which bringeth with it the fairest evidence but not so pleasing to the sense This is it which maketh so many impressions in the mind Self-love and the Love of the world these frame our Creeds these plant and build these root and pull down build up a faith and then beat it to the ground and then set up another in its place James 1.8 2 Tim. 2 8 A double-minded man saith S. James is unstable in all his wayes Remember saith S. Paul that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised up from the dead according to my Gospel That is a sure foundation for our faith to build on There we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fair and certain pledges of faith as it were a commentary upon EGO VIVO or as so many beams of light to make it open and manifest to every eye which give up so fair an evidence that the malice of the Jew cannot avoid it Matth. 28.13 Let them say His Disciples stole him away whilest their stout watchmen slept What stole him away and whilest they slept It is a dream and yet it is not a dream it is a studied lye and doth so little shake that it confirmeth our faith so transparent that through it we may behold more clearly the face of Truth which never shineth brighter than when a lye is drawn before it to vail and shadow it Matth. 28.6 He is not here he is risen if an Angel had not spoken it yet the Earthquake the Clothes the Clothes so diligently wrapt up the Grave it self did speak it And where such strange impossibilities are brought in to colour and promote a lye they help to confute it Id negant quod ostendunt They deny what they affirm and Malice it self is made an argument for the truth 1 Cor. 15.5 6. For it we have a better verdict given by Cephas and the twelve yea we have a cloud of witnesses above five hundred brethren at once who would not make themselves the fathers of a lye to propogate that Gospel which either maketh our yea yea and nay nay or damneth us Nor did they publish it to raise themselves in wealth and honour For it teacheth them to contemn these matters maketh Poverty a beatitude and sheweth them a sword and persecution which they were sure to meet with and did afterwards in the prosecution of their office and publication of that faith Nor could they take any delight in such a lye as would gather so many clouds over their heads which would at last dissolve in that bitterness that would make life it self a punishment and at last take it away And how could they hope that men would ever believe that which themselves knew to be a lye These witnesses then are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many and beyond exception
according saith S. Paul to my Gospel This is the Lesson the Spirit teacheth Truth Let us now see the Extent of it It is large and universal The Spirit doth not teach us by halves teach some truths and conceal others but he teacheth all truth maketh his disciples and followers free from all errors that are dangerous and full of saving knowledge Saving knowledge is all indeed That truth which bringeth me to my end is all and there is nothing more to be known I determined to know nothing but Christ and him crucified saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 2.2 Here his desire hath a Non ultrá This truth is all this joyneth heaven and earth together God and Man mortality and immortality misery and happiness in one draweth us near unto God and maketh us one with him This is the Spirit 's Lesson Commentum Divinitatis the invention of the Divine Spirit Faith is called the gift of God Ephes 2.8 not onely because it is given to every believer and too many are too willing to stay till it be given but because this Spirit first found out the way to save us by so weak a means as Faith And as he first found it out so he teacheth it and leaveth out noâ—hing not a tittle not an Iota which may serve to compleat and perfect this divine Science Psal 139.16 In the book of God are all our members written All the members yea and all the faculties of our soul And in his Gospel his Spirit hath framed rules and precepts to order and regulate them all in every act in every motion and inclination which if the Eye offend pluck it out if the Hand cut it off Rules which limit the understanding to the knowledge of God bind the will to obedience moderate and confine our affections level our hope fix our joy stint our sorrow frame our speech compose our gesture fashion our apparel set and methodize our outward behaviour Instances in Scripture in every particular are many and obvious The time would fail me to mention them all In a word then this Truth which the Spirit teacheth is fitted to the whole man to every member of the body to every faculty of the soul fitted to us in every condition in every relation It will reign with thee it will serve with thee it will manage thy riches it will comfort thy poverty ascend the throne with thee and sit down with thee on the dunghill It will pray with thee it will fast with thee it will labour with thee it will rest and keep a Sabbath with thee it will govern a Church it will order thy Family it will raise a kingdome within thee it will be thy Angel to carry thee into Abraham's bosome and set a crown of glory upon thy head And is there yet any more Or what need more than that which is necessary There can be but one God one Heaven one Religion one way to blessedness and there is but one Truth and that is it which the Spirit teacheth And this runneth the whole compass of it directeth us not onely ad ultimum sed usque ad ultimum not onely to that which is the end but to the means to every step and passage and approach to every help and advantage towards it and so uniteth us to that one God giveth us right to that one Heaven and bringeth us home to that one end for which we were made And is there yet any more Yes particular cases may be so many and various that they cannot all come within the compass of this Truth which the Spirit hath plainly taught It is true but then for the most part they are cases of our own making cases which we need not make cases somtimes raised by weakness somtimes by wilfulness somtimes even by sin it self which reigneth in our mortal bodies and to such this Lesson of the Spirit is as an Ax to cut them off But be their original what it will if this Truth reach them not or if they bear no analogy or affinity with that which the Spirit hath taught nor depend upon it by any evident and necessary consequence they are not to be reckoned in the number of those which concern us because we are assured that he hath led us into all truth that is necessary Some things indeed there are which are indifferent in themselves quae lex nec vetat nec jubet which this Spirit neither commandeth nor forbiddeth but they are made necessary by reason of some circumstance of time or place or quality or persons for that which is necessary in it self is alwaies necessary and yet are in their own nature indifferent still Veritas ad omnia occurrit this Truth which is the Spirit 's Lesson reacheth even these and containeth a rule certain and infallible to guide us in them if we become not laws unto our selves and fling it by to wit the rules of Charity and Christian Prudence to which if we give heed it is impossible we should miscarry It is Love of our selves and Love of the world not Charity or spiritual Wisdome which make this noyse abroad rend the Church in pieces and work desolation on the earth It is want of conscience and neglect of conscience in the common and known wayes of our duty which have raised so many needless Cases of conscience which if men had not hearkened to their lusts had never shewn their head but had been what indeed they are nothing The acts of charity are manifest 1 Cor. 13. Charity suffereth long even injuries and errours but doth not rise up against that which was set up to enlarge and improve her Charity is not rash to beat down every thing that had its first rise and beginning from Charity Charity is not puffed up swelleth not against a harmless yea and an useful constitution though it be of man Charity doth not behave it self unseemly layeth not a necessity upon us of not doing that which lawful Authority even then styleth an indifferent thing when it commandeth it to be done Charity seeketh not her own treadeth not the publick peace under foot to procure her own Charity is not easily provoked checketh not at every feather nor startleth at that monster which is a creation of our own Charity thinketh no evil doth not see a serpent under every leaf nor Idolatry in every bow of Devotion If we were charitable we could not but be peaceable If that which is the main of the Spirit 's lesson did govern mens actions Psal 72.7 there would be abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth Multa facienda sunt non jubente lege sed liberâ charitate saith Augustine Charity is free to do and suffer many things which the Spirit doth not expresly command and yet it doth command them in general when it commandeth obedience to Authority Which hath no larger circuit to walk and shew it self in than in things in themselves indifferent which it may enjoyn for orders sake
silence Though Corah and his complices perish in their gainsayings Jude 11. yet God forbid that all Israel should be swallowed up in the same gulf Samuel ran to Eli 1 Sam. 3 5-10 when the voice was God's but was taught at last to answer Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Though Ahab had many false Prophets 1 Kings 22. yet Micaiah was a true one And though there be many false Teachers come into the world 1 Joh. 4.1 yet the Spirit of God is a Spirit of truth and he shall lead us into all truth And that we may follow as he leadeth we must observe the wayes in which he moveth For as there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a way of peace Luk. 1.79 so there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wayes of truth and in those wayes the Spirit will lead us 2 Pet. 2.2 I may be in the wayes of the wicked in the wayes of the Gentiles and profane men in my own wayes in those wayes which my Phansie and Lust have chalked out on that pinnacle and height where my Ambition hath placed me in that mine and pit where my Covetousness hath buried me alive and in these I walk with my face from Jerusalem from the Truth and in these wayes the Spirit leadeth me not How can he learn Poverty of spirit who hath no God but Mammon and knoweth no sin but Poverty How can he be brought down to obedience and humility who with Diotrephes loveth to have the preeminence 3 Joh. 9. and thinketh himself nothing till he is taller than his fellowes by the head and shoulders How can he hearken to the Truth who studieth lies And do we now wonder why we are not taught the truth where the Spirit keepeth open School There is no wonder at all The reason why we are not taught is Because we will not learn Ambition soareth to the highest seat and the Spirit directeth us to the ground to the lowest place Love of the world filleth our barns and the Spirit pointeth to the bellies of the poor as the better and safer granaries My private factious Humour trampleth under foot Obedience to superiours because I my self would be the highest and challenge that as my peculiar which I deny to others but the Spirit prescribeth Order Doth Montanus lead about silly women and prophesie doth he call his dreams Revelations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb l. 1. c. 21. Contr. Valent. c. 4. Eusebius telleth us that the spirit which led him about was nothing else but an unmeasurable Desire of precedency Doth Valentinus number up his Aeones and as many Crimes as God's Tertullian informeth us that he hoped for a Bishoprick but being disappointed of his hopes by one who was raised to that dignity by the prerogative of Martyrdome and his many sufferings for the Truth he turned Heretick Doth Arius deny the Divinity of the Son Read Theodoret Lib. 1◠c. 2. and he will shew you Alexander in the chair before him Doth Aerius deny there is any difference between a Bishop and Presbyter The reason was he was denied himself and could not be a Bishop so that he fell from a Bishoprick as Lucifer did from Heaven whose first wish was to be God and whose next was That there were no God at all From hence those stirs and tumults in the Church of Christ those storms and tempests which blew and beat in her face from hence those distractions and uncertainties in Christian Religion that it was a matter of some danger but to mention it This made Nazianzene in some passion as it may seem cry out Orat. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I would there were no precedency no priority no dignities in the Church but that mens estimation did only rise from virtue but now the right hand and the left the higher and the lower place these terms of difference have led men not into the truth but into that ditch where Errour muddeth it self Caeca avaritia saith Maximus Covetousness and Ambition are blind and cannot look upon the Truth though she be as manifest as the Sun at noon It fareth with men in the lust of their eyes in the love of the world as it did with the man in Artemidorus who dreamt he had eyes of gold and the next day lost them had them both put out Now no smell is sweat but that of lucre no sight delightful but of the wedge of gold By a strange kind of Chymistry men turn Religion into Gold and even by Scripture it self heap up riches and so they lose their sight and judgement and savour not the things of God but are stark blind to that Truth which should save them But now grant that they were indeed perswaded of the truth of that which they defend with so much noyse and tumult yet this may be but opinion and phansie which the Love of the world will soon build up because it helpeth to nourish it And how can we think that the Spirit led them in those wayes in which Self-love and Desire of gain drive on so furiously Sure the Spirit of truth cannot work in that building where such Sanballats laugh him to scorn Now all these are the very cords of vanity by which we are drawn from the Truth and they must all be broken asunder before the Spirit will lead us to it For he he leadeth us not over the Mountains nor through the bowels of the earth nor through the numerous atoms of our vain and uncertain and perplext imaginations but as the wisdome which he teacheth Jam. 3.17 so the method of his discipline is pure peaceable gentle without partiality without hypocrisie and hath no savour or relish of the earth For he leadeth the pure he leadeth the peaceable he leadeth humble In a word he leadeth those who are lovers of peace and truth And now to draw towards a conclusion You know the wayes in which the Spirit walketh and by which he leadeth us Will you also know the rules we must observe if we will be the Spirit 's Scholars I will be bold to give them you from one who was a great lover of truth even Galene the Physician Who though an heathen man yet by the very light of Nature found out those means and helps in the pursuit of humane knowledge which the Spirit hath set down in Scripture to further us in the search of Divine Truth They are but four The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Love of Truth the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Love of Industry a frequent meditation of the truth the third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Orderly and methodical proceeding in the pursuit of Truth the last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exercitation our conformity to the Truth in our conversation This gold though brought from Ophir yet may be useful to adorn and beautifie those who are the living Temples of the holy Ghost 1. First Love is a passion imprinted in us to
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
nature which do not deserve the name of questions because they cannot be resolved or are resolved with so little profit as concerning the state of the Dead which they could not or would not discover who were raised from it of the nature of Hell-fire when it should be the study of our whole life to be those New creatures who shall never know it of the condition of Infants that dye in the womb of Gods Decrees and the order of them of his Omnipotency Omniscience Omnipresence which we as boldly speak of as we do of the Virtues in Aristotles Morals as if we did see him as he seeth us and did know him as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 Many more Questions there are and to these many Cases of conscience which do rather perplex and rack the Conscience then guide and settle it and too many which as the Apostle speaketh of Fornication and Vncleanness Eph. 5.3 are not fit to be named amongst us Poteramus has horas non perdere The time which hath been spent in the discussion of these might to speak no more have been bestowed with more advantage to the Church and the common cause for I do not see how they come within the compass of this Good or have added one hair to its perfection For what need this loss of oyl and labour this stir and noise Why should this Curiosity spread so as to be as universal as the Church it self when all that God will shew or that concerneth us to see is drawn up within the narrow compass of this one word that which is Good Would you view it in its particulars I need not send you to those many Creeds framed at sundry times and in divers manners Quò plus est dogmatum hòc uberior est haeresium materia Nunquam fuit sincerior castiorque Christiana fides quà m cùm ilâ—o uno ecque brevissimo Symbolo contentus est orbis Erasm Guliel Varamo Archiep Cant. Praefat. ad ep Hieron For Erasmus will tell us that Religion was never more sincere and uncorrupt then when they used but one Creed and that a short one S. Paul calleth it the proportion of faith Rom. 12 6. that proportion which we must not come short of nor exceed the form of sound words 2 Tim. 1.13 which hath no corrupt doctrine mixed with it and the truth which is after godliness Tit. 1.1 which is therefore shewn that we may be just and merciful and humble Who knoweth not what it is to believe in Christ * Tit. 2 12. to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts What Oppressour knoweth not what Justice is and who more ready to demand it What Tyrant is not ready to beg Mercy at his need Who is so puffed up as to be quite ignorant what Humility is Who understandeth not our Saviours Sermon on the mount where this Good in the Text is spread and dilated into its several parts And to know these is to know all that should be known And did we practise what is easie to know we should not thus trouble our selves and others to know what to practise The antients use to say The way to knowledge is easie to them who are desirous to be good nor was this light ever hid from those who did delight to walk by it The Law is light saith Solomon and to say it is not visible when it is held forth Prov. 6.23 is to deny it to be a light For God therefore sheweth it that it may be seen He hath shewed thee O man c. God hath shewn us 1. all those things which concern us 2. all that we can apprehend all those truths of which we are capable And these two are alwaies in conjunction and have a mutual aspect one on the other What concerneth us that we can apprehend and what we can apprehend that concerneth us The mind is large enough for that which will better it and that which will better it is obvious to the Mind As S. Paul speaketh Whatsoever things are true Phil. 4.8 whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue any praise these are within the compass of this Good here in the Text and are set up and pointed to by the finger of God for all that are men to look upon But now it may be asked If the object be so fair and visible how cometh it to pass it is hid from so many eyes that there be so few that see it or see it so as to fall in love with it and embrace it For as the Prophet asketh Who hath believed our report so may we Isa 53.1 Who hath delighted in this sight I must therefore call your thoughts to look upon the Spectatour as well as the Object the Man as well as the Good If it be good it was shewn to the Man and if he be a Man he can see it He hath shewed thee O man what is good This word Man runneth through every vein of the Text He was built up to be a spectatour of this great sight The Man it is to whom the Law is given and if he be a man he cannot but behold it for when he seeth it not he doth exuere hominem put off the Man quite devest himself of Reason and become like to the beasts that perish Many hindrances there may be to keep this object from our eyes that we do not rightly judge of this Good in which the Man is lost and swallowed up in victory Isidore of Pelusium hath given us three 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Narrowness of the understanding and judgment 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sloth and neglect in the pursuit of it 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Improbity of mens manners and a wicked and prophane conversation First Narrowness and defect in the understanding is an evil incident but to a few For how can the Understanding be too narrow to receive that Good which was fitted and proportioned to it If it will receive Evil it will receive Good For there can be no reason given why it should be as the needles eye to Piety and Holiness and a wide open door of capacity enough to let in a legion of Devils No this befalleth none but those who know it not indeed and yet shall never be questioned for their ignorance Non est dementia quae est in hominis potestate Quint. declam 348. as natural fools and madmen which bring that disease with them into the world which they can neither avoid nor cure and of which the cause cannot be found out saith the Oratour And these men come not under the common account nor are to be set down in the roll and catalogue of Men. Pet. Faber adel 124. Furiosus pro absente saith the Law Wheresoever they are they are as absent and whatsoever they do they do as if they did it
not aside neither to the right hand nor to the left Though these fell into many sins which yet notwithstanding they might have avoided for why might they not by the same assistance fly one sin as well as another yet they kept the Law though not so exactly as God required yet so far as that God was pleased to accept it as a full payment In that hot contention betwixt the Orthodox and the Pelagians when the Pelagians to build up Perfection in this life brought in the examples of the Saints of God who either had not broke the Law of God in the whole course of their life or if they did did return by Repentance and afterwards in a constant obedience did persevere unto the end they found opposition on all hands not one being found who would give this honour to the best of Saints But where they urge that this Perfection is not impossible where they speak not de esse but de posse and conclude not that it is but that it may be so not that any man hath done what God requireth but that he may S. Augustine himself joyneth hands with them Non est eis continuò incautâ temeritate resistendum c. We must not be so rash as unwarily to oppose them who say Man may do what God requireth Si negaverimus esse posse hominis libero aerbitrio qui hoc volendo appetit Dei virtuti qui hoc adjuvando efficit derogabimus August De peccat meritis Remis l. 2. c. 6. For if we deny a Possibility we at once derogate from Mans Will which may incline to it and from the Power and Mercy of God who by the assistance of his Grace may bring it to pass So that the great difference between them may seem to be but this The one thought it possible by the power of Nature the other by the assistance of Grace which is mighty in its operation and may raise us to this height if we hinder it not for every stream may rise as high as its spring Cum Dei adjutorio in nostra potestate consistit saith S. Augustine often It is in our power to do what God requireth with the help of Grace God requireth nothing above our strength and certainly we can do what by him we are enabled to do Hom. 2 6 12 16 27 c. When Julian the Pelagian a young man of a ready and pleasant wit urged S. Augustine with his own Confession and that he did but dissemble when with so much art and eloquence and such vehemency of spirit he perswaded men to the love of Chastity if they could not though they would preserve and keep themselves undefiled Lib. 5. cont Jul. Pelag. c. ult S. Augustine maketh this reply Respondeo me fateri sed non sicut vos I confess they may preserve their virgin but not as you would have it by their own power but by the help of Gods Grace which must make them willing and with his help they may And what need there then any further altercation Why should men contend about that in which they cannot but agree Why should they set themselves at such a distance when they both look the same way There are but few and I am perswaded none that do so far Pelagianize as to deny the Grace of God And then when God biddeth us Do this he that shall put the question Whether it be possible to be done hath no more of Reason or Revelation to plead for him then the Pelagian had For with him the Law can be kept neither without the help of Grace nor with it and so it must lose its name nor is it a Law for what Law is that which cannot be kept I know it was a Decree of a Council at Carthage That every man ought to pray to God to forgive him his trespasses That he ought to speak it not as out of humility but truly and I think there are scarce any that will not willingly subscribe to it but this Decree may be as unchangeable as those of the Medes and Persians Yet I do not see any necessity of fixing this doctrine of the Impossibility of doing what God requireth on the gates of the Temple or proclaiming it as by the sound of the trumpet in the midst of the great congregation For this Petition is put up in especial relation to sins past For Nè peccemus is in order before Si peccemus 1 Joh. 2.1 We are first commanded not to sin and then followeth the supposition If we sin So that these two Sin not and If you sin make up this Conclusion We may or we may not sin rather then this It is impossible to keep to Laws So then this Petition may be said humiliter humbly and veraciter truly in respect of sins past but it is neither Truth nor Humility to make God a Liar in calling upon us to do that which he requireth when he knoweth we cannot do it to make him a Tyrant in cripling us first and then sending us about his business in giving us Flesh which the Spirit cannot conquer in letting loose that Lion upon us which we cannot resist in leaving us naked to those Temptations which we cannot subdue No 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful and true and will not suffer us to be tempted above our strength will not let in an enemy upon us which with his assistance which is ready if we refuse it not we connot overcome Psal 103.8 And he is gracious and merciful if in the midst of so many enemies we chance to slip and fall with Jonathan in these high places to reach out his hand and lift us up again 2 Sam 1.25 but with this Proviso that we look better to our steps hereafter For he knoweth of whom he requireth it even of Men and he considereth us as Men and remembreth whereof we are made Psal 103.14 He doth not require we should be as just and merciful as he is God may give us his strength but he cannot give us his arm to be as just as he This is more impossible then that which is most impossible it is impossible to think it Nor doth he look that our obedience should be as exact as that of the Angels quorum immortalitas sine ullo malorum metu periculo constat whose happiness is removed from all danger or fear of change saith Lactantius But he requireth an obedience answerable to our condition which may consist both with Sin and Errour into which Man as Man may sometimes either through inadvertency or frailty fall and yet do what God requireth But then if this doctrine were true That we are fettered and shackled with an Impossibility of doing what God requireth as indeed it hath neither Reason nor Scripture to countenance it yet sure it cannot without danger be so rudely and with such zeal and earnestness publisht as sometimes it is nor can it savour of that
observe that most of those precepts delivered there tend to Honesty and Sincerity of conversation with men Blessed are the merciful Blessed are the peace-makers Be not angry Let your Yea be yea and your Nay be nay These short precept leave no room for Fraud and Deceit for that which is called Dolus malus when our Yea is Nay and our Nay Yea one thing is said and another meant one thing is pretended and another done The Apostles are frequent in urging this duty For Christianity was so far from disannulling those precepts of Morality and mutual conversation which the Philosophers by the light of Nature delivered and transmited to posterity that the ancient Christians as learned Grotius observeth Proleg ad 1. de Jure belli pacis though they were not devoted to any one Sect of them yet observing that as there was no Sect which had found out all truth so also there was not one of them which had not discovered some did take the pains to collect and gather into a body what was here and there diffused and scattered in their several writings and did think this a fair commentary on the practick part of the Gospel and a sufficient expression of that discipline which Christians by their very title and profession were bound to observe You may read them in the Philosophers but they are the precepts of Christ And this is the true face of Christianity See Serm 20. For no other foundation can any man lay then that which is laid Christ Jesus 1 Cor. 3.11 Now every foundation should bear something not Wood and Hay and Stubble but Gold and Silver and Pretious stones Fraud and Violence and Injustice cannot lye upon that foundation which is laid in Truth and in Mercy and in Justice 2 Cor. 5.21 nor upon that Saviour who knew no sin who had this Elogium from his very enemies Mat. 7.37 Joh. 18.38 19.4 6. That he had done all things well and that there was no fault to be found in him No upon this foundation you must lay such materials as are like unto it Innocency and Truth and Righteousness That these might grow up and flourish amongst the sons of men Christ watered them with his blood which was shed for the Oppressour that he might be merciful for the Dissembler that he might speak truth for the Deceitful person that he might be just in all his wayes and righteous in all his dealings for the Violent person that he might do no more wrong And if it have not this effect it is his blood still but not to save us but to be upon us to our condemnation For it is strange that Christs blood should produce nothing but a speculative and a phansied and an usurped faith a faith which should keep those evils in life which he dyed to take away a faith which should suffer those sins and irregularities to grow and grow bold and pass in triumph which he came to root out of the earth and to banish out of the world Hebr. 11.1 Faith is the substance and expectation of a future and better condition but we do not use to expect a thing and have no eye upon the means of attaining it Can we expect to fly without wings or go a journey without feet No more can we hope ever to enter those heavens wherein dwelleth Righteousness if we have no other conduct but Faith Faith so poorly and miserably attended with Fraud Deceit Injustice and Violence For who shall dwell in the holy hill Psal 15. He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart He that doth no evil to his neigbour that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not It is strange then that there should be so many Oppressours in the world and so many Saints that so many should forfeit their Honesty and yet count their Election sure that they who are like enough to do as the Jews did crucifie Christ if he were on the earth should yet hope to be saved by his blood For if you should ask me what the true property of a Christian were Faith alway supposed which is the ground and foundation of all I could not find any virtue which doth more fairly decipher or more fully express him then Sincerity and Uprightness of conversation Which saith Climachus Seal Paradisi grad 1. is virtus sine varietate a virtue which is ever like unto it self and maketh us so which doth not look divers waies at once both towards Samaria and Jerusalem doth not profess a benefit when it studieth ruine cloath hatred with a smile and a purpose to deceive with fair language and large promises make up words of butter which at last prove to be very swords but is like the Topaz Si polis obscuras if you polish it you obscure and darken it but if you leave it as Nature presenteth it it casteth the brighter lustre And if you ask me the embleme of a Christian Matth. 10.16 our Saviour hath already given one the Dove whose feathers are silver white not speckled as a bird of divers colours whose eyes are single and direct not leering as a Fox nor looking divers waies animal simplex non felle amaâ—um non morsil us saevum saith Cyprian an innocent and harmless bird no bird of prey without gall not cruel to fight having no talons to lay hold on the prey so far from doing wrong that he knoweth not how to do it Quintilian observeth Lib. 1. Insti c. 14. de Grammat off Inter virtutes Grammatici est nescire quaedam that it is to be summed up amongst the virtues of a Grammarian to be ignorant of some particular nice impertinences So is it a part of a Christians Integrity and Simplicity not to be acquainted with the wiles and devises and stratagemes of the world to be a non proficient in the Devils Politicks to hear the language of the children of this world as a strange tongue and understand it not not to know what cannot make him better and may make him worse not to know that which we may wish buried in oblivion and darkness never to be seen or known of any For what glory can it be to be well seen in the arts of Legerdemain What praise is it to be that which I cannot hear from others with patience an unjust and deceitful and dishonest man For to conclude this it is far worse to do unjustly then to be reproached for doing so far worse to be dishonest then to be called by that name far worse to be a thief or a traytour then to be hanged for it For between the evil of Action and the evil of Passion there is no comparison The evil of Passion may have a good end it may be medicinal cure the sinner if not set an end to his wickedness but the evil of Action hath no end but damnation no wages but death and that too hath no
but once and shall never see again acteth over those sins which he shall never bring into act delighteth in that which he shall never enjoy robbeth and slayeth and rideth in triumph on a thought and so leaveth his God who gave him this power and faculty to a better end then to wallow in this mire and to be enslaved to the drudgery of so vile an imployment Yet too many are willing to perswade themselves that God neither seeth this nor regardeth it that a Thought is such Gozamour of so thin an appearance that it escapeth the eye and so they set up a whole family of thoughts in their mind and dally and delight themselves with them as with their children And yet this is the ground of all evil and evil it self wrought in the Soul which worketh by its faculties as the Body doth by its members the Eye and the Hand And thus it may beat down Temples murder men lay Kingdoms level with the ground And it groweth and multiplieth reflecteth upon it self with joy and content omnia habet peccatoris praeter manus and hath all that maketh a sinner but Hands But though Men see not our thoughts for this is a Royal prerogative yet they are visible to his eye who is a Spirit And they that look upon them as bare and naked thoughts and not as complete works finisht in the soul know not themselves nor the nature of God and therefore cannot be said to walk with him Rom. 16.17 To conclude then These walk not with God let us therefore mark and avoid them The Presumptuous daring sinner walketh not with him but hideth himself in his Atheistical conceit That because Man cannot punish God doth not see The Hypocrite cometh forth in a disguise and acteth his part and because Men applaud him thinketh God is of their mind as the Pantomine in Seneca who observing the people well pleased with his dancing did every day go up into the Capitol and dance before Jupiter and was perswaded that he was also delighted in him The Apologizer runneth into the holes and burrows of excuses and there he is safe for who shall see him The Speculative sinner hideth himself and all his thoughts in a thought in this thought That Thoughts are so near to nothing that they are invisible That Sin is not sinful till it speak with the tongue or act with the hand But the eye of God is brighter then the Sun and his eye lids will try the children of men Psal 11 4 as the Goldsmith trieth his gold in the fire and will find out the dross which we do not see And if we will not walk with him but walk contrary unto him Lev 26 21 23 c. he will also walk contrary unto us He will see us and not see us know us and not know us Habemus nescientem Deum quod tamen non nescit l. 9. de Trin. saith Hilary God will seem not to know that which he doth know and his ignorance is not ignorance but a mystery For to them who walk not with him humbly now the Word will be at the last day Matth. 25.12 I know you not then God will keep state and not know and acknowledge them This pure God will not know the Unclean this God of truth will not know the Dissembler this strong and mighty God will bring down the Imperious offender this Light will examine thoughts and excuses will fly before it as the mist before the Sun But then Psal 1.6 The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous saith the Psalmist and those that do justly and love Mercy and walk as under his all seeing eye with humility and reverence he will lead by the hand go along with them uphold and strengthen them in their walk shadow them under his wing and when their walk is ended know them as he did Moses Exod 33. Numb 12. Mal. 3 17 above all men And seeing his own marks upon them beholding though a weak yet the image of his Justice and his Mercy upon them he will spare them as a father spareth his son that serveth him He will know them and love them know them and receive them with an EVGE Well done good and faithful servants Matth. 25.21 23. You have embraced the Good which I shewed you done the thing which I required of you you have dealt justly with your brethren and I will be just in my promises you have shewed Mercy and Mercy shall crown you you have walked humbly with me I will now lift up your heads and you shall inherit the Kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world Matth. 29.34 The Seventh SERMON GAL. IV. 29. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit even so is it now IN these words the Apostle doth present to our eye the true face of the Church in an Allegory of Sarah and Hagar of Ismael and Isaac of mount Sinai and mount Sion Gal. 4.24 Which things are an allegory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It speaketh one thing and meaneth another and carrieth wrapt up in it a more excellent sense then the words at first hearing do promise Take the full scheme and delineation in brief 1. Here is Sarah and Hagar that is Servitude and Freedom 2. Here are two Cities Jerusalem that now is the Synagogue of the Jews and that Jerusalem which is above the Vision of peace and mother of all the faithful For by the new Covenant we are made children unto God 3. Here is the Law promulged and thundred out on mount Sinai and the Gospel the Covenant of Grace which God published not from the mount but from heaven it self by the voice of his Son In all you see a fair correspondence and agreement between the type and the thing but so that Jerusalem our Mother is still the highest the Gospel glorious with the liberty it brought and the Law putting on a yoke breathing nothing but servitude and fear Isaac an heir and Ismael thrust out the Christian more honorable then the Jew The curtain is now drawn and we may enter in even within the veil and take that sense which the Apostle himself hath drawn out so plainly to us And indeed it is a good and pleasing sight to see our priviledge and priority in any figure to find out our inheritance in such an Heir our liberty and freedom though in a Woman Who would not lay claim to so much peace and so much liberty Who would not challenge kindred of Isaac and a Burgessship in Jerusalem It is true every Christian may But that we mistake not and think all is peace and liberty that we boast not against the branches that are cut off Rom. 11.18 Paul bringeth in a corrective to check and keep down all swelling and lifting up of our selves the adversative particle S E D But as then so now We are indeed
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sit as judge for so the word signifieth being in its native propriety spoken of the Judge in the Olympick games Let Peace rule in your hearts let it have this office let it be the onely judge to set an end to all controversies Let it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stand in the midst between two contrary sides and draw them together and make them one be a mediatour between the offense that is given and the smart that is felt command our Patience against the injury awaken it to conquer and annihilate the other and so bury it in oblivion for ever That we may better understand we must sever Peace from that which is like it For Likeness is the mother of Errour Hence it is that there be so many lovers of Peace and so little of it in the world Hence it is that when Ambition and Covetousness harrass the earth when there be wars and rumours of wars when the Kings of the earth rise up when the people are as mad as the Sea when it rageth when the world is on fire yet there is not one that will be convinced or perswade himself that he ever raised one spark to kindle it It was a just and grave complaint of S. Hierom Non reddimus unicuique rei suum vocabulum We are guilty of a dangerous misnomer and do not give every thing its proper name We think we study quietness when we are most bent to war and ready to beat up the drum Alii dominationem pacem appellant Some call Tyranny Peace and nothing else and think there is no peace unless every man understand and obey their beck unless all hands subscribe to their unwarrantable demands Quiet they are and peaceable men when like a tempest they drive down all before them To him that tyrannizeth in the Common-wealth he is Rebel that is not a parasite and to him that Lordeth it in the Church he that boweth not to every decree of his as if God himself had made it is an Heretick a Schismatick an Anathema Then it is peace and not till then when every look and word every lye of theirs is a law Others call even Disobedience it self peace and are never quiet but with their Quod volumus sanctum est but when they are let loose to do what they please They are filii pacis the children of Peace when they dig her bowels out as the Donatists in S. Augustine who were the greatest peace-breakers in the world yet had nothing so much in their mouthes as the sweet name of Peace And how is she wounded by those who stand up in her defence We call that Peace which hath nothing of it but the name and that too but of our own giving and esteem our selves as quiet and peaceable men when we are rather asleep then settled rather sensless and dead then delighting our selves in those actions which are proper to us in that motion which tendeth to rest rather still and silent then quiet bound up as it were with a frost till the next thaw till the next fair weather and opportunity as fair and then we spread abroad and run out beyond our limit and bounds nor can we be conteined or kept in them Again others there be such as Tacitus speaketh of who are solâ socordiâ innocentes who are very quiet and still and do little hurt by reason of a dull and heavy disposition and therefore saith Tully removent se à publicis negotiis step aside and remove themselves out of the publick wayes withdraw themselves out of the company and almost out of the number of men who do no harm because they will do nothing whose greatest happiness is nihil agere nihil esse to do nothing and to be nothing Honestum pacis nomen segni otio imposuit Tacit. de Turpiliano Annali 14. whose souls are as heavy and unactive as those lumps of flesh their bodies and so raise no thoughts but such as lye level with their present condition and reach not so high as to take in the publick interest who know not what to think and so care not how unevenly or disorderly the course of things is carried along so it be not long of them being as much afraid of action as others are weary and sick of rest as unwilling to put forth a hand to support a shaking and falling Common-wealth as others are active and nimble to pull it down Nay some there are of so tender and soft disposition ut non possint in caput alterius nè testimonium dicere as the Oratour observeth in Seneca's Controversies that they cannot be brought to bear witness to that truth which may endanger the life of any man so heartless that they cannot speak the truth having so much of the Woman and the Coward that they know not how but count it as a punishment to be just and honest men May we not take these now for quiet and peaceable men No. These are not quiet for they never studied it And the Oratour will tell us Mores naturâ non constant There is more required to the composing of our manners and the raising and fixing this virtue in our mind then that which the hand and impression of Nature left in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene Orat. 31. For those inbred dispositions those natural virtues do not reach home Who thanketh Fire for its heat or Water for its moisture or Snow for being cold or the Sun that it doth shine And may we not truly say of these low and tender dispositions whom no disorder can affect no violence move that they are Lambs that is have as much quietness as Nature instilled and put into them Again as there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a natural quietness so there may be also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a constrained quietness wrought in us by necessity the quietness of Esau which would last but till his fathers funeral the quietness of an Ammonite under the saw or harrow 2 Sam. 12.31 the quietness of Goliah when his head was off And indeed this forced quietness is like that of a dead man of whom we may say Quiescit He is at rest and quiet because he cannot move Absalom and Ahitophel Theudas and Judas Catiline and Cethegus and all those turbulent Boutefeus which History hath delivered to the hatred and detestation of posterity were as quiet before Opportunity and Hope set their spirits a working as now they are in their urns or graves Much quietness the world hath yielded of this kind Many men have been quiet against their wills have stood still because they were bound hand and foot or as little able to break forth into action as those that are Whilest Authority was too strong for them and held them in they were as silent as the night but when the reins were slacked and the bit out of their mouthes as raging as the Sea and as loud as the noise of many waters Georg.
Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 11. Noct. Attic. c. 16. De Tranq c. 12. which Gellius confesseth he cannot render no not obscurely in many words Seneca inquietam inertiam an unquiet and troublesome sloth by which we run up and down and never abide at one stay but like men which run in hast to quench a fire shoulder every one we meet and tumble down our selves and others in the way Sticho act 1. sc 3. and so fall together Curiosus nemo est quin sit malevolus saith he in Plautus Curiosity is the breath of Malice and is mischievous And Mischief provoketh Wrath and Injustice and Mischief on the one side and Impatience and Wrath on the other meet and strive and struggle together and in the contention either one or both are lost And therefore Plato telleth us De Repub c 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to meddle with our own matters and not to busie our selves in other mens is that which we call Justice for by this we leave to every man that which is his untoucht and preserve to our selves that which is ours that is we are just to others and just to our selves we do not trouble and disadvantage other men in their station and defend our own But when we fly out and pass beyond our bounds we are not what we should be but carry about with us a world of iniquity Our thoughts are let loose full of desire and are doubled upon us full of anxiety and when we gain most we are the greatest losers We are injurious false deceitful we are oppressours thieves murderers usurpers we are all that in our selves which we condemn in others For this is the seminary of all those evils which are sent forth as so many emissaries to break the peace of Church and Common-wealth And therefore not onely Religion but Reason also not onely Christianity but even Nature it self hath copsed and bound us in from flying out and hath designed to every man his proper business that he may not stray nor wander abroad First Christianity is the greatest peace-maker and keepeth every man to his own office if Ministery to wait on his Ministery if Teaching Rom. 12.7 to teach if Trading to follow his Trade if Government to rule with diligence if Service to be obedient with singleness of heart Eph. 6.5 Every man hath his gift and every man hath his measure and proportion And as it was in the gathering of Manna he that hath much hath nothing over Exod. 16.18 and he that hath little hath no lack Every mans place is the best for there is no place either in Church or Common-wealth which is not honourable and a great honour it is to serve God in any place 1 Cor. 15.41 One star differeth from another star in glory but in its proper sphere every Star shineth but out of it it is either a Mass or lump or nothing It is true indeed Gal. 3.28 in Christ Jesus there is neither high nor low neither rich nor poor Psal 49.2 no difference between the Noble and the Peasant Exod. 11.5 between him that grindeth at the mill and him that sitteth on the throne because his spiritual graces are communicated non homini sed humano generi not to this man or that to this calling or that but to as many as will receive them to all the world And every man that is Christs servant is a Peer a Priest and a King And when he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead he will not pardon this man because he was a King nor condemn that man because he was a begger For neither was Dives put in hell because he was rich nor Lazarus carried into Abraham's bosome because he was poor neither was Nero lost because he was an Emperour nor Paul saved because he was a tent-maker But yet for all this he hath made up his Church and formed Common-wealths not of Angels but of Men who live in the world and so under order and government and hath assigned every man his place and calling which every man would keep and make good every man would be quiet and in peace the Church would be as Heaven it self all glory and all harmony and the Common-wealth would be a body compact within it self never fly in pieces but last for ever and flourish in it self being subject to no injury but that of Time or a greater and overpowerful forrein force For that conceit of a designed Period and a fatality hanging over every body Politique which at last sinketh it down and burieth it in that ruine upon which another is raised is generally believed in the world but upon no convincing evidence having neither Reason nor Revelation to raise it up to the credit of a positive truth For That such a thing hath been done is no good Argument that it shall ever be so Though God hath foretold the period and end of this or that Monarchy yet the prophesie doth not reach unto all And he himself hath given us rules and precepts to be a sense and hedge about every Common-wealth which if we did not pluck it up our selves might secure and carry along the course of things even to their end that is to the end of the world But this we talk of as we do of many other things talk so long till we believe it and rest on our bare guess and conjecture as on a Demonstration But the truth is we are our own fate and destiny we draw out our thread and cut it We start out of our places and divide our selves from one another and then indeed and not till then Fate and Necessity lye heavy upon a Kingdome and it cannot stand Christianity bindeth us to our own business And till we break loose till some one or other step out of his place from it there is peace we are safe in our lesser vessels and the ship of the Common-wealth rideth on with that smoothness and evenness which it hath from the consistencie of its parts in their own place Gal. 3 28. For though all are one in Christ Jesus yet we cannot but see that there is a main difference between the inward qualification of his members and the outward administration and government of his Church In the Kingdomes of the world and so in the Church visible every man is not fit for every place Some must teach some govern some learn and obey some put their hand to the plough some to this trade some to that onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle speaketh Polit l. 6 c. 5. those who are of more then ordinary wit and ability must bear office in Church or Commonwealth One is noble another is ignoble one is learned another is ignorant one is for the spade another for the sword one for the flail or sheephook another for the scepter Plin. Epist. And such a disproportion is necessary amongst men
reipub ut quis re suâ bene utatur Private diligence is a publick good and the careful managing of every mans estate is advantageous to the whole And last of all he robbeth his own soul of the service and ministery of his body which was made a servant to it He robbeth his soul of his soul of all the power and activity it hath which serveth for no use but to carry him to a feast and from thence to his bed where he lyeth the picture and representation of himself of what he was when he was awake And he will be yet more like himself when he is in his grave For here he is but a walking talking breathing shadow nay dead compassed about with stench and rottenness whilst many evil spirits hover over his grave many temptations are ready to seize on him and we may say of him as Seneca did of his friend Vatia Epist 55. Hîc situs est In this world he doth not live but is buried I might here bring to this bar those cloystered Monks and Friars who leave the World as men do Virtue and Learning not because they loath and detest it but because the way thereunto is hard and rugged leave the World to enter into a Paradise where all things grow up of themselves Of many of them that of Martine Luther who was himself once a Monk is true Monachos ignavia fecit Idleness hath made more Monks then Religion who leave not the World for Christ but shadow themselves under their Coul and his Name that they may the more quietly enjoy it But to pass by these as none of the Horizon a sort of Christians there are and they think themselves of the best sort We may call them Monks at large as idle as they but not cloystered up Who though they labour for the things of this world because they love them well yet look not upon their labour as any acceptable service to God but break it off many times most unnecessarily and leave their duty behind them to go up with the Pharisee into the Temple not to pray but to hear a Sermon and then return back to their shop and commend and confute it hear and do not but do the contrary They call it Devotion but it is the Itch and Wantonness of the Ear which wasteth their Devotion and sometimes their estates This they delight in and this is their Religion nothing but words and noyse To this they sacrifice their time which is due to their calling and then too oft redeem it with fraud and cousenage which hath so often been presented to them as the gall of bitterness even in the dish which they love The word of God can we hear it too oft Yes if we do not practice it or if we practice the contrary if we can go from the Mount and break the Law whilst yet the thunder is in our ear I may ask with the Apostle Is all the body Hearing Doth all Religion dwell in the Ear Nay 1 Cor. 12.17 I will add further Doth all Religion consist in Prayer For what I must answer these men as S. Augustine did the Monks in his time are we not bound alike to all the precepts of God De Oper. Monach or may we lay out all our time in the performance of one duty and leave none for the rest Shall the Ear rob the Tongue and the Tongue the Hand Shall one duty swallow up another Si ab his avocandi non sumus nec manducandum est If we may not sometimes break off our devotion we must break another precept which bindeth us to work with our hands Sudaus messor psalmis se avocat curva attundens vites falce vinitor aliquod Davidicum canit Hieron Marcell And yet we need not so break it off but that we may carry it along with us even carry the savour of it which may mingle it self with the actions of our calling and so perfume them and make them pleasing and acceptable to God Arator stivam tenens Hallelujah cantat saith S. Hierome The Husbandman may pray and praise the Lord and sing an Hallelujah at the plough-tail and so may the Smith with the hammer in his hand And certainly if we would entertein them Religion and Devotion would wait upon us even in our shops and be the best attendants we have would make us honest and make us rich Palladius in his Lausiaca telleth us of a certain virgin who said seven hundred prayers in a day Take the gloss in the margent for it much took me when I first read it Decem orationes constitutae publicis rebus occupato non minoris pretii sunt quà m tercentum nihil agentis Ten prayers saith the Gloss made by a man imployed in publick affairs or in his own private calling are of as high an esteem and of force as available as three hundred conceived or uttered by him who doth nothing but pray I may be bold to adde He that heareth but one Sermon and meditateth thereon and repeateth and acteth it over in his life labouring painfully and honestly in his calling is more pleasing and acccptable to God then he that neglecteth his calling and if it were possible in one weak heareth an hundred And if you will not take my word I doubt not but you will give some respect to S. Augustines reason Citiùs exauditur una obedientis oratio quà m decem millia contemptoris One prayer of an obedient man who walketh in his calling according to the rule shall be sooner heard of God then ten thousand from him who maketh his Diligence to keep one commandment a priviledge and warrant to break the rest For what folly is it ut quod bonum est frequentiùs audiatur ideò facere nolle quod auditur under pretense of having time to hear to take no time at all to practice that truth which is heard But the devout Sluggard may perhaps find something in Scripture which may serve him as a pillow to sleep on For as the Covetous person can cull out certain thrifty Texts to countenance his Covetousness as that 1 Tim. 5.8 He that provideth not for his family is worse then an infidel and Let not him that laboureth not eat 2 Thess 3.10 Matth. 6.25 34. John 6.27 De Jejunio so hath the Idle and negligent person his as Take no care for the morrow Take no care for your life Labour not for the meat that perisheth Thus as Tertullian speaketh they can draw the Scripture either way ut haec restringere fraenos illae laxare videatur either to give a check or to let loose the reins to Idleness and Sloth But the Scripture is truth in every part and one part cannot contradict another For we may work with our hands and yet care no more for the morrow then if it were no part of time then if it were nothing and for ought we know it is so for who can say
come VENIET Come he will Et hoc satìs est aut nescio quid satìs sit as P. Varus spake upon another occasion This is enough or we cannot see what is enough But nothing is enough to those who have no mind nor heart to make use of that which is enough To them enough is too much for they look upon it as if it were nothing Therefore Christ doth not feed and nourish this thriftless and unprofitable humour but brideleth and checketh it putteth in his Prohibition not to search after more then is enough NON NOSTIS HORAM You know not the hour is all the answer which he who best knoweth what is fit for us to know will afford our Curiosity For what is it that we do not desire to know Sen. de vit Etat c. 32. Curiosum nobis Natura dedit ingenium saith the Philosopher Nature it self may seem to have imprinted this itch of Curiosity in our very minds and wits made them inquisitive given them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eye which never sleepeth never resteth upon one object but passeth by that and gazeth after another That he will come is not enough for our busie but idle Curiosity to know we seek further yet to know that which cannot be known the Time and very Hour of his coming The mind of man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Enormi otiosae curiositati tantum decrit discere quantum libuerit inquirere Tert. de Anima c. ult restless in perpetual motion It walketh through the earth sometimes looketh upon that which delighteth it sometimes upon that which grieveth it stayeth and dwelleth too long upon both and misinterpreteth them to its own impoverishing and disadvantage Perrumpit coeli munimenta saith Seneca It breaketh through the very gates of heaven and there busily pryeth after the nature of Angels and of God himself but seeth it not entreth the Holy of holies and there is venturing into the closet of his secrets and there is lost lost in the search of those things of times and seasons which are past finding out and are therefore set at such a distance that we may not send so much as a thought after them which if they could be known yet could not advantage us It was a good commendation which Tacitus giveth of Agricola In vitae Agricola Retinuit quod est difficilimum in sapientia modum He did what is difficult for man to do bound and moderate himself in the pursuit of knowledge and desired to know no more then that which might be of use and profitable to him Which wisdome of his had it gained so much credit as to prevail with the sons of men which would be thought the Children of Wisdome they had then laid out the precious treasure of their time on that alone which did concern them and not prodigally mispent it on that which is impertinent in seeking that which did fly from them when they were most intentive and eager in their search If this moderation had been observed there be thousand questions which had never been raised thousand opinions which had never been broacht thousands of errours which had never shewn their heads to disturb the peace of the Church to obstruct and hinder us in those wayes of obedience which alone without this impertinent turning our eye and looking aside will carry us in a straight and even course unto our end Why should I pride my self in the finding out a new conclusion when it is my greatest and my onely glory to be a New creature Why should I take such pains to reconcile opinions which are contrary My business is to still the contradictions of my mind those counsels and desires which every day thwart and oppose one another What profit is it to refute other mens errours whilst I approve and love and hug my own What purchase were it to find out the very Antichrist and to be able to say This is the man All that is required of me is to be a Christian What if I were assured the Pope was the Beast I sought for He appeared in as foul a shape to me before that title was written in his forehead For I consider more what he is then what he is called And thousands are now with Christ in heaven who yet never knew this his great Adversary on earth And why should I desire to know the time when Christ will come when no other command lieth upon me but this to watch and prepare my self for his coming when all that I can know or concerneth me is drawn up within the compass of this one word Watch which should be as the centre and all other truths drawn from it as so many lines to bear up the circumference of a constant and a continued watch Christ telleth us he will come Hoc satìs est dixisse Deo and this is enough for him to tell us and for us to know he telleth us that we cannot know it that the Angels cannot know it that the Son of man himself knoweth it not that it cannot be known that it is not fit to be known and yet we would know it Some there have been who pretended they knew it by the secret revelation of the spirit though it were a lying a spirit or a wanton phansie that spake within them For men are never more quick of belief then when they tell themselves a lye and yet the Apostle exhorteth the Thessalonians that they be not shaken in mind 2 Thes 2.2 nor troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from him as that the day of Christ is at hand Others call in tradition Others find out a mystery in the number of Seven and so have taken the full age of the world which is to end say they after six thousand years And this they find not onely in the six moneths the Ark floted on the waters Gen. 8.4 and its rest on the mountains of Ararat in the seventh in Moses going into the cloud and the walls of Jericho falling down the seventh day Exod. 24.16 18. but in the seven Vials and the seven Trumpets in the Revelation Josh 6. Such time and leasure have men found perscrutari interrogare latebras numerorum to divine by Numbers by their art and skill to dig the air and find pretious metal there where men of common apprehensions can find no such treasure inter irrita exercere ingenia to catch at atomes and shadows and spend their time to no purpose For Curiosity is a hard task master setteth us to make brick but alloweth us no straw setteth us to tread the water and to walk upon the wind putteth us to work but in the dark And we work as the Spirits are said to do in minerals They seem to dig and cleanse and sever metals but when men come they find nothing is done It is a good rule in Husbandry Columel and such rules old Cato called oracles Imbecillior
esse debet ager quà m agricola The farm must not be too great for the husbandman but what he may be well able to manure and dress And the reason is good Quia si fundus praevaleat colliditur dominus Because if he prevail not if he cannot manage it he must needs be at great loss And it is so in the speculations and works of the mind Those inquiries are most fruitful and yield a more plentiful increase which we are able to bring unto the end which is truly to resolve our selves Thus it is as a little plot of ground well tilled will yield a fairer crop and harvest then many acres which we cannot husband for the Understanding doth not more foully miscarry when it is deceived with false appearances and sophismes then when it looketh upon and would apprehend unnecessary and unprofitable objects and such as are set out of sight Res frugi est sapientia Spiritual Wisdome is a frugal and thrifty thing sparing of her time which she doth not wantonly wast to purchase all knowledge whatsoever but that which may adorn and beautifie the mind which was made to receive Virtue and Wisdome and God himself To know that which profiteth not is next to ignorance But to be ambitious of impertinent speculations carrieth with it the reproch of folly Hom. 29. adv calumn 8. Trin. What is it then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Basil speaketh to seek with such diligence for that which is past finding out And first the knowledge of the hour of Christ's coming is most impertinent Acts 1.7 Psal 31.15 and concerneth us not It is not for us to know the times As our dayes so the times are in God's hand and he disposeth and dispenseth them as it pleaseth him fitteth a time to every thing which all the wisdome of the world cannot do Thou wouldst know when he would take the yoke from off thy neck It is not for thee to know That which concerneth thee is to possess thy soul with patience which will make thy yoke easie Thou wouldst know when he will break the teeth of the ungodly and wrest the sword out of the hand of them that delight in blood It is not for thee to know Thy task is to learn to suffer and rejoyce and to make a blessing of persecution Thou wouldst know when the world shall be dissolved Why shouldst thou desire to know it Thy labour must be to dissolve the body of sin and set an end and period to thy transgressions Thou wouldst know what hour this Lord will come It is not for thee to know but to work in this thy hour and be ready and prepared for his coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The present the present time that is thine and thou must fill it up with thy obedience That which is to come of what aspect so ever it be thou must onely look upon and consider as an help and advantage to thee in thy work The Lord will come speaketh no more to me then this To labour and sweat in his vineyard till he come All the daies of my appointed time will I wait Job 14.14 saith Job There is a time and an appointed time and appointed by a God of eternity and I do not study to calculate or find out the last minute of it but I will wait which is but a syllable but of a large and spreading signification and taketh in the whole duty of man For what is the life of a Christian but expectation of and waiting for the coming of the Lord David indeed desireth to know his end and the measure of his dayes Psal 39.4 but he doth not mean so to calculate them as Arithmeticians do to know a certain and determined number of them so to number them as to tell them at his fingers ends and say This will be the last but himself interpreteth himself and hath well explained his own meaning in the last words Let me know the measure of my dayes that I may know how frail I am know not exactly how many but how few they be let me so measure them that I may know and consider that they are but few that in this little time I may strive forward and make a way to eternity This was the Arithmetick he desired to have skill in It may seem a paradox but there is much truth in it few men are so fully resolved of their mortality as to know their dayes are few We can say indeed that we are but shadows but the dreams of shadows but bubbles but vapours that we began to die before we were born and in the womb did move and strive forward towards the gates of Death and we think it no disparagement because we speak to men of the same mold who will say the same of themselves and lay to heart as little as we But should we pass over Methusalem's age a thousand times yet when we were drawing even towards our end we should be ready to conceive a possibility of a longer race and hope like the Sun to run the same compass again And though we die every day yet we are not so fully confirmed in this that we shall ever die Egregia res est condiscere mortem saith Seneca The best art is the knowledge of our frailty and he must needs live well who hath well learnt to die And egregia res est condiscere adventum Domini Ep. 26. It is a most useful thing to have learnt and well digested the coming of the Lord. For we cannot take out this as we should but we must be also perfect in those lessons which may make us fit to meet him when he cometh The hour of his coming is lockt up in the treasury of his Wisdome and he hath left us no key to open it that we might not so much as hope to find it and so mispend our thoughts in that which they cannot lay hold on and which should be fastened on the other to advance and promote our duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fix that well which is present here lay out all thy store all the powers of thy soul Whilest it is time whilest it is day whilest it is thy day make ready for his coming For secondly though it be in the future tense VENIET he will come though it lie hid as it were in the womb of Time and we know not when it will be brought to birth yet at this distance it looketh upon us and hath force enough in it self to work that fear and caution in us which the knowledge of the very hour peradventure might not do We say we believe it and that is enough And some have given Faith the preeminence above Knowledge and count the evidence we have by Faith clearer and more convincing then that we have by Demonstration But if it were not yet even that which is but probable in other things doth prevail with us and is as it were principium motus the
heart Take that Zeal which consumeth not our selves but others about us this fire is not from Heaven nor was it kindled by the Father of lights That hand which is so ready to take a brother by the throat was never guided by the Authour of our Religion who is our Father That tongue which is full of bitterness and reviling Isa 6.7 James 3.6 was never toucht by a Seraphin but set on fire of hell These are not Religions before God and the Father But this Religion TO DO GOOD and TO ABSTAIN FROM EVIL ex alto originem ducit acknowledgeth no Authour but the God of heaven hath God and the Father to bear witness to it was taught by the Prophets thundred out by the Apostles and by Christ himself who is the Authour and Finisher of our Faith and Religion Hebr. 12.2 This may serve first to make us in love with this Religion because it hath such a Founder as God the Father who is wisdome it self and can neither be deceived nor deceive us Men and brethren Acts 13.26 whosoever among you feareth God to you is this word of salvation sent sent to you from Heaven from God and the Father In other things you are very curious and ever desire to receive them from the best hands What a present is a picture of Apelles making or a statue of Lysippus Not the watch you wear but you would have it from the best artificer And shall our Curiosity spend it self on vanities and leave us careless and indifferent in the choice of that which must make our way to eternity of bliss Shall we make darkness our pavilion round about us and please our selves in errour when Heaven boweth and openeth it self to receive us Shall we worship our own imaginations and not hearken what God and the Father shall say What a shame is it when God from heaven pointeth with his finger to the rule HAEC EST This is it that we should frame a Religion to our selves that every mans phansie and humour or which is the height of impiety every mans sin should be his Lawgiver that when there can be but one there should be so many Religions arbitrary Religions such as we are pleased to have because they smile upon us and flatter and bolster up our irregular desires a hearing Religion and a talking Religion and a trading Religion a Religion that shall visit the widow and orphan but rather to devour then refresh them Behold and look no farther God the Father hath made a Religion which is pure and undefiled to our hands Therefore as Seneca counselleth Palybius when thou wouldst forget all other things cogita Caesarem entertain Caesar in thy thoughts so that we may forget all other sublunary and worldly I may say Hellish Religions let us think of this Religion whose Authour and Founder is God whose wisdome is infinite whose power uncontrollable whose authority unquestionable For talk what we will of authority the authority of Man is like himself and can but binde the man and that the frailest and earthliest part of him onely God is Rex mentium the King of our minds and no authority in heaven or on earth can binde or loose a Soul but his who first breathed it into man Come then let us worship and fall down before God the Father the Maker both of us and of our Religion Again if S. James be canonical and authentick if this be true Religion then it will make up an answer sufficient to stop the mouth of those of the Romish party who are very busie to demand at our hands a catalogue of Fundamentals and where our Church was before the dayes of Reformation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the Proverb These and such like questions they put up unto us as Archytas did his rattles into childrens hands to keep them from doing mischief that being busie and taken up with these we may have less leisure to pull down the idoles of Rome or discover her shame Do they ask what truths are fundamental Faith supposed as it is Here they are Charity to our selves and others Nihil ultrà scire est omnia scire To know this Tert. De prascript is to know all we need to know For is it not sufficient to know that which is sufficient to make us happy But if nothing will satisfie them but a catalogue of particulars They have Moses and the Prophets they have the Apostles Luke 16.29 and if they find their Fundamentals not there in vain shall they seek for them at our hands They may if they please seek them there and then number them out as they do their Prayers by beads and present them by tale But if they will yet know what is fundamental in our conceit and what not they may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 draw out with both hands For first let them observe what points they are in which we agree with their Church and if they be in Scriptu e let them set them down if they please as fundamental in our account And on the other hand let them mark in what points we refuse Communion with them and they cannot but think that we esteem those points for no Fundamentals And again do they who measure Religion rather by the pomp and state it carrieth with it then the power and majesty of the Authour whose command alone made it Religion ask us where our Religion was in the dayes before there was a withdrawing from the Communion with that Church we may answer It was here in the Text. For HAEC EST this is it And if they further question us where it was professed we need give no other reply then this It was professed where it was professed If it were not professed in any place yet was it true Religion For the Truth dependeth not on the profession of it nor is it less truth if none receive it But professed it was even amongst them in the midst of them round about them But wheresoever it were this was it This was true Religion before God and the Father To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep our selves unspotted from the world To conclude then Men and Brethren are these things so Is this onely true Religion To do good and to abstain from evil What a busie noise then doth the world make for Religion when it offereth it self and falleth so low offereth it self to the meanest understanding the narrowest capacity and throweth it self into the embraces of any that will love it Littus Hyla Hyla omne sonabat Religion is the talk of the whole world it is preached on the house-tops and cryed up in the streets we are loud for it and smother it in that noise we write for it and leave it dead in that letter to be found no where but in our books we fight for it and it is drowned in the blood that is spilt and S. James's that is Christ's Religion is
the patients though the world perhaps cannot distinguish them and Death it self which is a key to open the gates of hell to the one may be to the other what the Rabbines conceive it would have been to Adam had he not fallen but osculum pacis a kiss of peace a gentle and loving dismission into a better state To conclude this then A people a chosen people a people chosen out of this choice Gods servants and friends may be smitten Josiah may fall in the battle Daniel may be led into captivity John Baptist may lose his head and yet we may hold up our Inscription DOMINVS EST It is the Lord. Let us now a little see what use we may make of this doctrine And first since the judgments of God are many times powred out upon whole nations without respect and beat upon the righteous as well as the wicked let us not be rash either to judge others when the hand of God hath touched them or to flatter our selves when he seemeth to shine upon our tabernacle For the hand of God may touch may strike down to the dust whom notwithstanding he meaneth to lift up to the highest pitch of happiness and he may shine upon the tabernacle of others when he is coming towards them in a tempest of blackness and darkness For though affliction be often the punishment of sin yet it is not alwaies so There were worse sinners then those Galilaeans whose bloud Pilate mingled with their sacrifices Luke 13. and they were not the greatest sinners on whom the tower of Siloa fell Good and bad may fall together in the battle and they may survive and escape the edge of the sword who amongst the bad were the worst The sword as David said 2 Sam. 11.25 devoureth one as well as another But what it was that did put an edge to the sword and strength to the hand of the enemy can be certainly known to none but God whose providence he moveth by is like the light he dwelleth in so past finding out that no mortal eye can reach and attain it I will not be so bold as to make Prosperity a sign of a bad man or Affliction and Poverty of a good For in whatsoever estate we are we may work out our salvation Abraham the rich man was in heaven Luke 16. and the poor man in his bosome Through Afflictions if we bear them and through riches if we contemn them and so make them our friends we may enter into the kingdome of heaven But it will be a part of our spiritual wisdome to be jealous rather of the flatteries of this world than of its frowns because the one maketh us reflect upon our selves the other commonly corrupteth and blindeth us and where Affliction slayeth her thousand Prosperity we may justly fear killeth her ten thousand It will be good indeed when calamity seizeth upon us to seize upon our selves to judge and condemn our selves to say This Fever burneth me up for the heat of my lust This Dropsie drowneth me for my intemperance This Lethargy is come upon me for my forgetfulness of Gods commands and my drowsiness in his service And here if I erre the errour is not dangerous but advantageous for this errour leadeth me to the knowledge of my self But when the like calamities befall others to draw the same inference and positively to conclude the same of them is boldly to take the chair and deliver my uncharitable conjectures for the oracles of God The messenger that brought the sad news That Israel was fled before the Philistines 1 Sam. 4.7 said no more then what was too true but had he also inferred that the Philistine was better then the Israelite or that God did favour him more then the other he had brought the Truth to usher in a lie he had related that which he knew and affirmed that which he could not know For Israel may fly before the Philistine and yet God is not the God of Ekron but of Israel In the second place as we must not be rash to judge others when they are cast down so must we not be ready to flatter our selves when some kindly gale of prosperity hath lifted us up above our brethren or to make Prosperity a mark of a righteous person as they of the Papacy do of the true Church For this were indeed to set Dagon above the Ark to plead for Baal to consecrate every sin and make it a virtue to place Dives in Abraham's bosome and Lazarus in hell to prefer Mahomet before Christ to pull Christ out of his kingdome the Martyrs out of heaven and to pluck the white robes from those who were sealed and who washed them white in the bloud of the Lambâ— this were to countenance Nimrod Rev. 7.14 and Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander and all the priviledged thieves and robbers of the earth This were to countenance all the oppressours and murderers of the world who have been so unhappy as to be happy in bringing their bloody purposes to an end For though good intents may have an happy end yet those arts are much to be suspected which have nothing else to commend them but prosperity and good success A conquerd Israelite is not alwaies so evil as a victorious Phelistine For if Prosperity were an argument under the Law which yet it was not for who then more fat more lusty and strong then the wicked yet I do not see how it can be so under the Gospel where affliction is not threatned but promised nay given To you it is given to suffer for Christs sake Phil. 1.29 where Persecution cometh forth with a crown on her head Blessed are ye when men persecute you And indeed this conceit of temporal felicity thwarteth the scope and primary intent of the Gospel which biddeth us look upon our actions with no other perspective but the rule and in respect of our conformity to that count all the prosperity in the world as dung For if I be an adulterer can impunity make me chast if I be a murderer shall that be my sanctuary If I be an oppressour can my gathering of riches make me just If I do that which Nature and Religion forbid and a Heathen would tremble to think on shall I comfort my self that it is done without sin because I have done it without controll Let us not deceive our selves When we have plunged our selves in sin and are fast in the devils chain prosperity and good success will prove but a weak deceitful ladder to climb up by into heaven For let us on the one side behold the Israelite flying before the Philistine For ought we know he may be flying also from his sin unto his God Let us behold the four and thirty thousand dead in the field and can we think that they all together fell into hell because they all together fell in the battel Or shall we call the Philistines the people of God because they vanquisht
was to put all to the sword and the event was he spared one too many 2 Sam. 1. for one of them was his executioner God biddeth us destroy the whole body of sin Rom. 6.6 12. to leave no sin reigning in our mortal bodies and if we favour and spare but one that one if we turn not from it will be strong enough to turn us to destruction Again it is Obedience onely that commendeth us to God and that as exact and perfect as the equity of the Gospel requireth and so every degree of sin is rebellion God requireth totam voluntatem the whole will for indeed where it is not whole it is not at all it is not a will and integram poenitentiam a solid entire universal conversion True obedience saith Luther non transit in genus deliberativum doth not demur and deliberate I may add non transit in genus judiciale It doth not take upon it self to determine which commandment is to be kept and which may be omitted what is to be done and what to be left undone For as our Faith is imperfect if it be not equal to the truth revealed so is our Obedience imperfect when it is not equal to the command and both are unavailable because in the one we stick at some part of the truth revealed and in the other come short of the command and so in the one we distrust God in the other we oppose him What is a Sigh if my Murmuring drown it What is my Devotion if my Impatience chill it What is my Liberality if my Uncleanness defile it What are my Prayers if my partial Obedience turn them into sin What is a morsel of bread to one poor man when my Oppression hath eaten up a thousand What is my Faith if my Malice make me worse then an Infidel The voice of Scripture the language of Obedience is to keep all the commandments the language of Repentance to depart from all iniquity All the Virtues in the world cannot wash off the guilt of one unrepented sin Mic. 6.7 Shall I give my first born for my transgression saith the Prophet the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Shall I bring the merits of one Saint the supererogations of another and add to these the treasury of the Church Shall I bring my Almes my Devotion my Tears All these will vanish at the guilt of one sin and melt before it as wax before the Sun For every sin is as Seneca speaketh of Alexander's in killing Callisthenes De Benef. crimen aeternum an everlasting sin which no virtue of our own but a full complete Repentance can redeem As oft as it shall be said that Alexander slew so many thousand Persians it will be replyed he did so but withal he slew Callisthenes He slew Darius it is true and Callisthenes too He wan all as far as the very Ocean it is true but he killed Callisthenes And as oft as we shall fill our minds and flatter our selves with the forbearance of these or those sins our Conscience will check and take us up and tell us But we have continued in this or that beloved sin And none of all our performances shall make so much to our comfort as one unrepented sin shall to our reproch And now because in common esteem One is no number and we scarce count him guilty of sin who hath but one fault let us well weigh the danger of any one sin be it Fornication Theft Covetousness or whatsoever is called sin and though perhaps we may dread it the less because it is but one yet we shall find good reason to turn from it because it is sin And 1. Every particular sin is of a monstrous aspect being committed not onely against the Law written but against the Law of Nature which did then characterize the soul when the soul did first inform the body For though we call those horrid sins unnatural which S. Paul speaketh against Rom. 1. yet in true estimation every sin is so being against our very Reason which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very first law written in our hearts Or. 34. saith Nazianzene Sin is an unreasonable thing nor can it defend it self by discourse or argument If heaven were to be bought with sin it were no purchase for by every evil work I forfeit not onely my Christianity but my Manhood I am robbed of my chiefest jewel and I my self am the thief Who would buy eternity with sin who would buy immortality upon such loathsome terms If Christ should have promised heaven upon condition of a wicked life who would have believed there had been either Christ or heaven And therefore it is laid as an imputation upon Man Solum hoc animal naturae fines transgreditur No Creature breaketh the bounds and limits which Nature hath set but Man And there is much of truth in it Man when he sinneth is more unbounded and irregular then a Beast For a Beast followeth the conduct of his natural appetite but Man leaveth his Reason behind which should be more powerful and is as natural to him as his Sense Man Psal 49.20 saith the Prophet David that understandeth not is like to the beasts that perish And Man that is like to a beast is worse then a Beast No Fox to Herode Luke 13.32 no Goat to the Wanton no Tiger to the Murderer No Wolf to the Oppressour no Horseleach to the Covetous For Beasts follow that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instinct of nature by which they are carried to the object but Man maketh Reason which should come in to rescue him from sin an instrument of evil so that his Reason which was made as a help as his God on earth serveth onely to make him more unreasonable Consider then though it be but one sin yet so far it maketh thee like unto a Beast nay worse then any though it be but one yet it hath a monstrous aspect and then turn from it 2. Though it be but one yet it is very fruitful and may beget another nay multiply it self into a numerous issue into as many sins as there be hairs of thy head It is truly said Omne verum omni vero consonat There is a kind of agreement and harmony in truths And the devout Schoolman telleth us that the whole Scripture is but one copulative proposition because the precepts therein contained are many and yet but one many in regard of the diversity of those works that perfect them yet but one in respect of that root of charity which beginneth them So peccatum est multiplex unum There is a kind of dependency between sins and a growth in wickedness one drawing and deriving poyson from another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Epiphanius speaketh of Heresies Haeres Basilid as the Asp doth from the Viper which being set in opposition to any particular virtue creepeth on and multiplieth and gathereth strength to the endangering of
fell back at two or three words from a silly maid To keep us from such distempers it will be good to set Gods judgments alwaies before our eyes And as Faith so Hope which is as the blood of the soul to keep it in life and cheerfulness may be over heated Our Expectation may prove unsavoury if it be not seasoned with some grains of this salt and Hope like strong wine may intoxicate and stupify our sense if as with water we do not mix and temper it with this Fear Therefore the Prophet David maketh a rare composure of them both TIMENTES CONFIDITE Ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord As if where there is no Fear Psal 115.11 there were no confidence And without Fear there would be a strange a taxie and disorder in the soul and our hope would breath out it self and be no more Hope but Presumption Navigamus saith S. Hierom spei velo We hoyse up the sayls of Hope Now if the sayls be too full there may be as much danger in the sayl as in a rock and not onely a Temptation but our Hope may wreck us Then our Hope sayleth on in an even course when Fear as a contrary wind shortneth and stayeth her Tert. de Idol c. ult then inter sinis scopulos she passeth by every rock and by every reach tuta si cauta secura si solicita safe if wary and secure if solicitous To recollect all and conclude Thus may Fear temper our Love that it be not too bold our Faith that it be not too forward and our Hope that it be not too confident It may make our Love reverent our Faith discreet and our Hope cautelous that so we may go on in a straight and even course with all the riches and substance of our Faith from virtue to virtue from one degree of perfection to another I made Fear but a buttress Tertullian calleth it fundamentum De cultu Foem c. 2. the foundation of these three Theological virtues Faith Hope and Charity And when is the foundation most necessary Not when the timber is squaring and the walls rising but when it is arched and vaulted and compact by its several contignations and made into an house Then if the foundation be not sure mole suâ ruit not the rain and the wind the floods but even it s own weight will shake and disjoynt and throw it down When we are shaped and framed and built up to be Temples of the holy Ghost then Ecclus. 27.3 if thou keep not thy self diligently in the Fear of the Lord in the Fear of his displeasure and his wrath and in the fear of the last account this house this Temple will soon be overthrown For as the Temple was said to be built in great joy and great mourning that they could not discern the shout of joy for the noise of weeping Ezr. 3.12 13. so our spiritual building is raised and supported with great hope and great fear and it may be sometimes we shall not discern which is greatest our fear or our hope But when we are strong 1 Cor. 12.10 then are we weak when we are rich then are we poor when we hope then we fear and our weakness upholdeth our strength our poverty preserveth our wealth and our Fear tempereth our Hope that our strength overthrow us not that our riches begger us not that our hope overwhelm us not Quantò magìs crescimus tantò magìs timemus the more we increase in virtue the more we fear Thus manente timore stat aedificium whilst this butteress this foundation of Fear lasteth the house standeth Thus we work out our salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 I speak not this to dead in any soul any of those comforts which Faith or Love or Hope have begotten in them or to choke and stifle any fruit or effect of the Spirit of love Phil. 1.9 10. No I pray with S. Paul that your love may abound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet more and more but as it follows there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in knowledge and in all judgment that you may discern things that differ one from another a phansie from a reality a flash of Love from the pure flame of love a notion of Faith from true Faith and Hope from Presumption For how many sin and yet how few think of punishment How many offend God and yet call themselves his friends How many are wilfull in their disobedince and yet peremptory in their hope How many run on in their evil wayes and leave Fear behind them which never overtaketh them but is furthest off when they are nearest to their journeys end and within a step of the Tribunal For that which made them sinful maketh them senseless And they easily subborn false comforts the weakness of the flesh which they never resisted and the Mercy of God which they ever abused to chace away all fear and so they depart we say in peace but are lost for ever For as the Historian observeth of men in place and authority Curtius de Alexandro Cùm se fortunae permittunt etiam naturam dediscunt when they rely wholly upon their greatness and authority they lose their very nature and turn savage and quite forget that they are Men in like manner it befalleth these spiritualized men who build up to themselves a pillar of assurance and lean and rest themselves upon it They lose their nature and reason and forget to fear or be disconsolate and become like those whom the Philosopher calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because their boast was they did not fear a thunder-bolt Fear not them that can kill the body Matth. 10.28 Isa 53.1 Psal 29.5 Psal 72.18 saith our Saviour Whom do they fear else Who hath believed our report or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed That arm which breaketh the Cedars of Libanus in pieces that arm which onely doth wondrous works is ever lifted up and we sport and walk delicately under it when we tremble and couch under that which is as ready to wither as to strike Behold dust and ashes invested with power behold Man who is of as near kin to the Worm and Corruption as our selves and see how he aweth us and boundeth us and keepeth us to on every side If he say Do this we do it We subscribe to that as a truth which we know to be false we make our Yea Nay and our Nay Yea we renounce our understandings and enslave our wills change our Religion as we do our clothes and fit them to the times and fashion we pull down resolutious cancel oathes we are votaries to day and break to morrow we surrender up our souls and bodies we deliver up our Conscience in the midst of all its cryings and gain-sayings and lay it down at the foot of a fading and transitory Power which breatheth it self forth as the wind whilst it seeketh
his Topick and hopeth it will melt him he beggeth of into compassion and yet he hath not power to unfold his hands to work that he may need no relief Grace soundeth in every ear and every ear is delighted with it and it is to them as the sound of a consecrated Bell is to the superstitious and they conceive it hath power to drive the Devil out of their coast whilst they not fall but run into those temptations which they might have overcome by that Grace they talkt of What speak we of these Even they who have a great name for learning and are of the first rank and file have not brought it forth â—o the Sun and to the people in that simplicity and nakedness that upon the first sight they may say This is it Sometimes it is an infused Habit sometimes it is a Motion or Operation sometimes they know not how to distinguish it from Faith and Charity It is one and the same yet it is manifold It exciteth and stirreth us up it worketh in us and it worketh with us it preventeth and followeth us And thus they handle Grace as the Philosophers do the Soul they tell us what wonders it worketh but not its essence they tell us what it doth but not plainly what it is But let us take it in its most plain and vulgar sense for that special and supernatural assistance which promoteth and upholdeth us in that course and those actions which carry us on to a supernatural end but not shut out that Grace of God by Christ Jesus by which we are justified which in Scripture is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Grace and favour of God and in most places is opposed to the Works of the Law nor those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those gifts and graces as Quickness of wit Depth of understanding and the like nor Gods Mercies by which we are so often intreated nor his promises which do even woo and allure us nor any beams of the glory of that Gospel which are all agents and instruments in working us out a crown in bringing us to that end for which we were made and designed And he that shall look back upon these cannot conceive that God will shorten his hand and be deficient and wanting to us in that help and assistance which is fit and necessary for us in this our race that he will speak to us by his Son speak to us by his blood speak to us by his mercies speak to us from heaven and then leave us as the Ostrich doth her young ones in the sand open to injuries and temptations naked and without help to defend us against that violence which may tread us to death This certainly cannot consist with his Justice and his Goodness Rom. 8.32 who having given us Christ will with him give us all things for how should it be otherwise saith S. Paul who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not Jam. 1.5 saith S. James To pretend a want of Grace and assistance from God what is it but to cast all our imperfections upon him as well as upon Adam as if we sinned and were defective in our duty not through our own negligence and corrupt and perverse wills but because God refused to give us strength to do it gave us a Law and left us in fetters bid us go and meet him in our obedience 2 Sam. 19.26 when we were as lame as Mephibosheth and had no servant to help us as if the heavens were as brass and denied their influence and God did on purpose hide himself and withdraw his grace that we might fall from him and perish And therefore Hilary passeth this heavy censure upon it Impiae est voluntatis It is the sign of a wicked heart and one quite destitute of those graces and riches which are the proper inheritance of believing Christians to pretend they therefore want them because they were not given them of God A dangerous errour it is And we have reason to fear it hath sunk many a soul to that supine carelessness and deadness from whence they could never rise again For this is one of the wiles of our enemy to make use not onely of the flying and fading vanities of this world but even of the best graces of God to file and hammer them and make them snares and so work temptations out of that which should strengthen us against them Faith is suborned to keep out Charity the spirit of Truth is named to lead us into errour and the power of Gods Grace hath lost its authority and energy by our unsavoury and fruitless panegyricks We hear the sound and name of it we bless and applaud it but the power of it is lost not visible in any motion in any action in any progress we make in those wayes in which alone Grace will assist us It floateth on the tongue but never moveth either heart or hand Non est bonae solidae fidei omnia ad voluntatem Dei referre ut non intelligamus aliquid esse in nobis ipsis Tertull Exhort ad castitatem For do we not lie still in our graves expecting till this trump will sound Do we not cripple our selves in hope of a miracle Do we not settle upon our lees and say God can draw us out wallow in our blood because he can wash us as white as snow Do we not love our sickness because we have so skilful a Physician and since God can do what he will do what we please This is a great evil under the Sun and one principal cause of all that evil that is upon the earth It maketh us stand still and look on and delight in it and leave it to God alone and his power to remove it as if it concerned us not at all and it were too daring an attempt for us mortals the sons of Adam to purge and clense that Augean stable which we our selves have filled with dung as if Gods Wisdom and Justice did not move at all and his Mercy and Power were alone busie in the work of our salvation Busie to save the adulterer 1 Cor. 6.15 for though he be the member of an harlot yet when God will he shall be made a member of Christ to save the seditious for though he now breath nothing but hail-stones and coals of fire yet a time will come where he shall be made peaceable whether he will or no to save them who resolve to go on in their sin for God can check them when he please and bring them back to obedience and holiness in a word 2 Pet. 2.3 to save them whose damnation sleepeth not I may say with the Father Vtinam mentirer Would to God in this I were a lier But we have too much probability to induce us to believe it as a truth that they who are so ready to publish the free and irresistible power of God's Grace and call it his honour dishonour him more
by them who will receive her nor dwell with those persons which contemn her nor save those who will destroy themselves To conclude this He is most unworthy to receive Grace who in the least degree detracteth from the power of it And he is as unworthy who magnifieth and rejecteth it and maketh his life an argument against his doctrine saith Grace cannot be resisted and resisteth it every day He that denieth the power of God's Grace is scarse a Christian And he is the worst of Christians who will not gird up his loins and work out his salvation but loitreth and standeth idle all the day long shadoweth and pleaseth himself under the expectation of what God will do and so turneth his grace into wantonness Let us not abuse the Grace of God and then we cannot magnifie it enough But he that will not set his hand to work upon a phansie that he wanteth Grace he that vvill not hearken after Grace though she knock and knock again as Fortune vvas said to have done at Galba's gate till she be vveary hath despised the Grace of God and cannot plead the vvant of that for any excuse vvhich he might have had but put it off nay vvhich he had but so used it as if it had been no Grace at all They that have Grace offered and repel it they that have antidotes against Death and vvill not use them can never ansvver the expostulation Why will ye die And certainly he that is so liberal of his Grace hath given us knovvledge enough to see the danger of those vvayes vvhich lead to Death And therefore in the next place Ignorance of our vvayes doth not minuere voluntarium make our sin less vvilful but rather aggrandize it For first vve may if vve vvill knovv every duty that tendeth to life and every sin that bringeth forth death 2 Cor. 2.11 We may know the Devils enterprises saith S. Paul And the ignorance of this findeth no excuse when we have power and faculty light and understanding When the Gospel shineth brightly upon us to dispell those mists which may be placed between the Truth and us Sub scientiae facultate nescire repudiatae magìs quà m non compertae veritatis est reatus Hil. in Psal 118. then if we walk in darkness and in the shadow of death we shall be found guilty not so much of not finding out the truth as of refusing it as Hilary speaketh of a strange contempt in not attaining that which is so easily atchieved and which is so necessary for our preservation I know every man hath not the same quickness of apprehension nor can every man make a Divine and it were to be wisht every man would know it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not for him that thresheth out the corn to resolve controversies or State questions But S. Peter requireth that every man should be able to give an answer 1 Pet. 3.15 a reason of his faith And if he can do that he knoweth the will of God and is well armed and prepared against death and may cope with him and destroy him if he will And this is no perplext nor intricate study but fitted and proportioned to the meanest capacity He that cannot be a Seraphical Divine may be a Christian He that cannot be a Rabbi may be an honest man And if men were as diligent in the pursuit of the truth as they are in managing their own temporal affairs if men would try as many conclusions for knowledge as they do for wealth and were as ambitious to be good as they are to be rich and great if they were as much afraid of Gods wrath as they are of poverty and the frown of a mortal this pretense of want of knowledge would be soon removed and quite taken out of the way Tit. 2.11 Acts 17.30 For now the Grace of God hath appeared unto all men and commanded all men every where to repent and turn from their evil wayes What apologie can the Oppressour have when Wisdome it self hath sounded in his ears and told him Lev. 19.18 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self for even flesh and bloud would soon conclude that no man will oppress himself What can the Revenger plead after the thunder Rom. 12.19 Vengeance is mine What can the Covetous pretend when he heareth Go sell all and give to the poor What can the Seditious say Matth. 19.21 when he is plainly told He that resisteth shall receive damnation Rom. 13.2 Can any man miss his way where there is so much light to direct him when he brought a great part of his lesson along with him into the world which he may run and read and understand How can he there erre dangerously where the Truth is fastned to a pillar where there is such a Mercury to shew him his way And therefore in the second place if we be ignorant it is because we will be ignorant If we could open a window into the breasts of men we should soon perceive a hot contention between their Knowledge and their Lusts strugling together like the twins in Rebekah's womb till at last their Lust supplanteth their Knowledge and gaineth the preeminence Nolunt intelligere nè cogantur facere saith Augustine They will not understand their duty lest that many draw upon them an obligation to do it nor will they see their errour because they have no mind to forsake it For their Knowledge pointeth towards life but not to be attained to but by sweat and blood which their Lust loatheth and trembleth at And therefore this knowledge is too wonderful for them Psal 139.6 nay it is as the gall of bitterness unto them As Nero's mother would not suffer him to study Philosophy quia imparaturo contraria Suet. Nerone c. 25. because it prescribeth many moral virtues as Sincerity Modesty and Frugality which sort not well with the Crown and must needs fall cross with those actions which Politie and Necessity many times ingage the Monarchs of the earth so do these look upon the Truth as a thing contrary to them as checking their Pride bridling their Malice bounding their Ambition chiding their Injustice threatning their Tyranny and so they study to unlearn suppress and silence it and will not hear it speak to them any more but set up a Lie first the childe then the parasite of their Lusts and enthrone it in its place to reign over them and guide them in all their waies I remember Bernard in one of his Sermons upon the Canticles telleth us that he observed many cast down and very sad and dejected upon the knowledge of the Truth not so much for that it did shew them the danger they were in and withal an open and effectual door to escape but that it choaked the passages and stopped up the way to their old asylum and sanctuary of Ignorance For Truth is not onely a light but a fire to scorch and burn
enemies we have who are our own seducers our own deceivers our own parasites our own murtherers soon pleasing our selves and afraid of that truth which may displease us receiving the kiss of flattery as a debt ready to take names and titles which are not due unto us and never thinking of any change to the better quia nos optimos credimus because we believe our selves to be good in the highest degree And the reason is plain For it is not with the soul as with the body saith Theodoret. The diseases of the body for the most part steal upon us and invade us against our will but the maladies of our soul are voluntary Those besiege us as enemies but we set open the gates to the other as to friends Nor are we so jealous of the one as of the other which maketh them the less visible and our search and examination more necessary Omnem corporis calorem calumniamur We are jealous and suspicious of the least heat we feel in our bodies and call it a Fever we muster up all our forces we diet our selves we ask counsel of the Physician But sin moveth and reigneth in our hearts is obeyed and bowed to and served and yet not seen Who maketh any provision against Sin Who seeketh any antidote or preservative against the plague of the heart We wallow in our own bloud as on a bed of roses Prov. 23.34 We lie down in Sin as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea or on the top of a mast in the greatest danger and perceive it not We swill down Sin and think no more of it then the drunken man when he hath slept out his wine thinketh of what he hath spoken or done Vers 35. They have stricken me shalt thou say and I was not sick they have beaten me and I felt it not When shall I awake I will seek it yet again The drunkard after his sleep calleth again for his liquor We are various and manifold in our wayes and every day most unlike our selves now lifted up with pride anon cast down vvith sorrow now presuming anon despairing now triumphing anon howling the same men but never our selves driven on as by so many contrary vvinds into the same gulf of destruction And all this for vvant of due and frequent examination of our selves For from this proceed first Ignorance secondly Self-love thirdly Pride and Pertinacy comes fomes ignorantiae the daughter and nurse of them both Which carry men blindfold in dark and slippery places now casting them into the water and then into the fire driving them on against every rock and stone of offence and at last dashing them to pieces From this I say proceedeth 1. Ignorance the worst kind of ignorance ignorance of our selves a false persuasion that all is well because we cannot see what we want For what though I knew not any truth in Philosophy What though I knew not many truths in Divinity What though I knew not the natural causes and events of things the course of the Sun and the Moon This ignorance can lay no imputation but on those who profess those Arts. But to be a stranger at home to draw that curtain which hideth me from my self to be going with the fool to the stocks when I think I am in the way to honour to have an host of enemies a legion of Devils within me and entertain them as friends to be a forward Scholar foris in the things of this world and a non-proficient in conclavi in the closet of my heart to know all things but those which most nearly concern me and to study every man but my self is the grossest and most dangerous Ignorance in the world not ignorantia purae negationis an ignorance unavoidable but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ignorance which proceedeth from a depraved disposition wrought in us by some sophism and delusion by a careless and customary embracing of appearances for truths and catching at shadows whilst we mind not the substance Whilst we neglect that candle within us and the light of Scripture with which we should survey and try our wayes there must needs follow that darkness which will cover the face of the soul and we must walk in darkness as S. John speaketh and not know whither we go Sometimes Sin clotheth it self with excuses sometimes with the mantle of Vertue it self Every sin is a little sin a sin of infirmity a sin with half a will compensativum peccatum a sin to a good end which will expiate the sin and make it a vertue We sin and know it not or we know it but will not understand it And at last the heaven is black with clouds and it is night with us and we see no sin at all Phrensie is zele because it is like it Faction is Christian animosity because it resembleth it Sacriledge is true devotion because it cometh with a besome to sweep away those things which Superstition hath abused and whatsoever the Devil's claw doth is done in nomine Dei in the name of the Lord of hosts In this night of Ignorance we cannot do the thing that is right because we cannot see our selves but even these palliations and excuses which aggravate our guilt are made current and authentick and taken for vertues For In the second place from this root of bitterness springeth up that noisom and venemous weed of Self-love which spoileth us of all our crop and harvest making our heaven as brass and our earth as iron our intellectuals stupid and our wills perverse so that we become deaf to the Truth and to the wisest charmer and will sooner hearken to a false Prophet that will become our Advocate and plead for us and acquit us then to seven nay seventy times seven men who can render a reason Prov. 26.16 Caro quotidianis adulationum cuneis appetit constipari saith Gregory Flesh and bloud could not subsist nor stand out against the Spirit of God and the power of the Gospel if it were not compassed about and shadowed with troops of such flatteries as these of pleasing but false comforts which at last will fail and never lead us into everlasting habitations I charge you O you daughters of Jerusalem O ye Prophets of the Lord that you stir not up nor awake this Self-love till she please There is no milstone nor adamant more unyielding to the stroke of the hammer then the heart of man once possessed with love of it self Do you check it It will revile you Do you prophesie evil unto it It will imprison you Do you condemn it It will murther you Do you bring a trumpet A whisper is too loud Do you speak of danger Security is its cushion and it resteth and sleepeth upon it and dreameth of Paradise in the very chambers of Death 2 Tim. 3.1 Our blessed Apostle S. Paul foresaw this and prophesied of such perilous times and but that I love not to speak evil of
To whatsoever it turneth it self it turneth from that which it first lookt upon and loseth one engagement in another because it cannot fit and apply it self to both How then can one and the same man bestow himself upon Christ and upon the World It is not with the Will and Affections as it is with the Intellectual faculty The Understanding may easily sever one thing from another and understand them both nay it hath power to abstract and separate things really the same and consider them in this difference but it is the property of the Will and Affections in unum ferri se in unitatem colligere to collect and unite and become one with the Object Nor can our Desires be carried to two contrary objects at one and the same time We may apprehend Christ as righteous and holy and the World and the Riches of it as Vanity it self but we cannot at once serve Christ as just and holy and love the World and the vanities thereof Our Saviour telleth us we shall love the one and hate the other lean to the one and despise the other If it be a love to the one it will be at best but a liking of the other if it be a will to the one it will be but a velleity to the other if it be a look on the one it will be but a glance on the other And this Liking this Velleity this glance are no better then Disservice then Hatred and Contempt For these proceed from my Understanding but my Love from my Will which is fixed not where I approve but where I choose It is easie to say and we say it too often for the Divil is ready to suggest it It is true we set our affections upon things below but yet so that we do not omit the duties of Divine worship We are willing to please men but we doubt not but we may please Christ also We are indeed time servers but we are frequent hearers of the Word We pour oyl into our brothers ears but we drop sometimes a peny into the Treasury Thus we please others and we please our selves we betray others and are our own parasites But Christ is ready to seal our lips with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No man can serve two Masters So that you see what a weak foundation that Hope hath which is thus built up upon a divided Love and Service It is built in the air nay it hath not so sure a basis it is built upon nothing it is raised upon Impossibility Secondly the Servant must have his eye upon his Master and as he seeth him do must do likewise Isai 62.10 Now Christ is called Gods Servant and he broke through Poverty Disgrace and the terrours of Death it self that he might do his Fathers will omitted no tittle or Iota of it But he that would not break a bruised reed shook the cedars of Libanus pronounced as many woes to the Pharisees as they had sins called Herod Fox pluckt off every visour plowed up every conscience and thus shook the powers of Hell Joh. 6.38 and destroyed the Kingdome of Satan for he came not to do his own but his Fathers will Look upon his acts of Mercy even them he did not to please men De Trin. l. 2. Non habent Divina adulationem saith Hilary His Divine works his works of Love and Compassion had nothing of Flattery in them Joh 8 50. He did them not as seeking his own glory For he had a quire of Angels to chant his praise He did them not to flatter men For he needed not that which is ours Psal 24.1 50.12 for the world was his and all that therein is Power cannot flatter and Mercy is so intent on its work that it thinketh of nothing else To work wonders to please men were the greatest wonder of all And thus should we look upon him and teach our brethren as he wrought miracles not for praise which may make us worse not for riches which may make us poorer then we were 2 Cor. 2.10 5.20 but beseech them in Christs stead and in the person of Christ and speak like him in whose mouth there was neither flattery nor gâ—ile speak the truth though it dispease speak the truth though the Heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing speak the truth though for ought we know it may be the last word we speak speak the truth though it nayl us to the cross where we shall most resemble him with this title THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST as his was THE KING OF THE JEWS He that taketh nothing but his name that serveth the world that flattereth when he biddeth him rebuke and pleaseth others when they displease Christ is not his servant but his enemy one of those many Antichrists or if his servant such a servant as Peter was when he denied him as Judas when he betrayed him And he will take it for more disservice to betray him in his members then in his person and is troubled more at the sight of those wounds which were made in his mystical body then he was at those which were made in his flesh He willingly suffered the pains of death that they might not die Isa 53.7 Himself was lead to death as a sheep to the slaughter and opened not his mouth Acts 8.32 Acts 8.3 9.4 but when he saw havock made of his Church he cryed out Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And in this every false Teacher is worse then Peter when he was at the worst every flatterer is worse then Judas every seducer is worse then the Jews when they nayled Christ to the cross For lastly Servus pro nullo est A Servant is nothing is no person in law hath no power of his own Servitus morti aequiparatur say the Civilians A Servant is as a dead man and cannot act nor move of himself but is actuated as it were by the power and command of his Lord and Master and never goeth but when he saith Go never doth but what he biddeth him do and doth not interpret but execute his will Non oportet villicum plus sapere quà m dominum saith Columella It is a most unfit and disadvantageous thing for the Farmer or Husbandman to be wiser then his Lord. For when the Lord commandeth one thing and the Servant thinketh it fitter to do another the crop and harvest will be but thin And it is so in our spiritual Husbandry It savoureth of too much boldness and presumption for the Servant to be wiser then his Master and there will be but small increase when the Master calleth for the whip and the Servant bringeth the merry harp and the lute when he calleth for a talent to reckon but a mite and when he writeth an hundred to take the bill and set down fifty It is the greatest folly in the world to be thus wise when wisdome it self prescribeth when he condemneth the Love of
c. Christ may seem to walk with us when he is not in all our wayes And as in dreams we seem to perform many things we do all things and we do nothing Nunc fora nunc lites laeti modò pompa theatri c. Auson Ephem we plead we wrestle we fight we triumph we sayl we fly we see not what is but hath been or should be done and all is but a dream So when we have made a phansiful peregrination through all the pleasant fields and rivers of milk through all the riches and glory of the Gospel and delights which it affordeth when we have seen our Saviour in his cratch led him to mount Calvary beheld him on his cross brought him back with triumph from his grave and placed him at the right hand of God we may think indeed we have walked all this while with Christ but when our conscience shall recover her light which was darkned with the pleasures and follies of this present life when she shall dart this light upon us and plainly tell us that we have not fasted with Christ that we have not watched one hour with him Matth. 26.18 Acts 10.38 Gal. 5.24 Hebr. 6.6 Rom. 13.14 that we have not gone about with him doing good that we have loved those enemies which he came to destroy that we have been so far from crucifying our flesh that we have crucified him again to fulfill the lusts thereof that the World and not Christ hath been the Form which moved us in the whole course of our life behold then it will appear that all was but a dream Foolish men that we are who hath bewitched us We dispute we write books we coin distinctions we study for the Truth we are angry for the Truth we lose our Peace for the Truth we fight for the Truth we die for the Truth and when all is done upon due examination nothing is done but we have spun a spiders web which the least breath of Gods displeasure will blow away We have known the way and approved it have subscribed that This is the way but have made no more progress towards our journeyes end then our picture hath we have but dreamt of Life Psal 23.4 Isa 9.2 and are still in the valley of the shadow of death And now what saith the Scripture Awake thou that sleepest Ephes 5.14 that dreamest and stand up from the dead Let us not please our selves with visions and dreams with the suborned flattery of our own imaginations Let us not think that if we seek the way and like it and speak well of it we are in heaven already or have that Hope that well grounded never-failing Hope which may entitle us to it Why should such a thought arise in our heart a thought that maketh us worse then fools or mad-men and will keep us so courting of sin labouring in iniquity and with greediness working out our own destruction a thought that shutteth out God and maketh an open entrance for a legion of Devils and then welcometh and attendeth them For all the sins which the Flesh is subject to or the Devil can suggest may well stay and find a place of rest with such a thought Why should we please and loose our selves in such a thought See here is water what doth let me to be baptized Acts 8.36 said the Eunuch to the Philip. Here is light what hindreth that we do not walk in it Behold Heaven openeth it self and displayeth all its beauty and glory why do we run from it Knowledge directeth but we will not follow Knowledge perswadeth but we will not hearken Knowledge commandeth but we rebel We are illuminated we profess we know Christ but we will not be sanctified Tit. 1.16 For by our works we deny him Our knowledge followeth and pursueth us we cannot shake it off it staieth with us whether we will or no it goadeth it provoketh it chideth it importuneth it triumpheth within us but yet not over us because those vanities which we are too familiar with will not suffer us to yield We cannot be ignorant of what we know but we are too often unwilling to do that of which we cannot be ignorant Our Self love undoeth us and our own Will driveth us on the rocks whilst the light within us pointeth out to the haven where we should be And the Knowledge within us which did exhort instruct and correct is made a Witness against us Luk 12.47 48 Matth. 4.16 and a Judge to condemn us to more stripes then they shall feel who had not so much as a glance of light but did sit in darkness and in the shadow of Death Let us then not fly but walk not hover aloft in the contemplation of what is to be done but stoop down and do it subdue our Will to our Knowledge our Sense to Reason Let us learn to walk and by walking be more learned then before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 3. For Practice saith Nazianzene is to Knowledge what Knowledge is to it a foundation As we build our Practice upon Knowledge for we must know before we can walk so we raise our Knowledge higher and higher upon Practice as Heat helpeth Motion and is increased by it and the torch burneth brighter being fanned by that air which it inlightneth Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is revealed to them that fear him and his covenant to give them more understanding saith David Let us then joyn 2 Pet. 1.6 8. as S. Peter exhorteth with Knowledge Temperance and with Temperance Patience and with Patience Godliness And these will make that we shall neither be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idle and not walk nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk but to no purpose unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ For to joyn these two Knowledge and Practice and to abound more and more is to walk in Christ And thus we see a Christian mans life is not an empty and aery speculation a Sitting still or Standing but a Walk Let us now in the second place see wherein this motion or Walk principally consisteth And you may think perhaps that I shall now point out to the Denial of our selves Matth. 16.24 shew you Christ's Cross to take up and bid you follow him bid you fight against the World and all that is in the World the lust of the flesh 1 John ◠16 the lust of the eyes and the pride of life bid you lay hold on Christ love Christ be adopted be regenerate be called and converted With these generalities the Religion of too many is carried along not with the thing it self but the name And with these names and notions they play and please themselves as the silly Fly doth with the flame of the taper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till they lose their wings and feet and become but a body a lump that can neither walk nor move They deny themselves with an oath and
Second Edition LONDON Printed by Tho. Roycroft for Richard Marriott MDCLXXII TO THE Right Honourable Sir ORLANDO BRIDGEMAN Knight and Baronet Lord Chief Justice of His Majestie 's Court of Common Pleas. RIGHT HONOURABLE THis Book cannot fail of Noble Patronage when Your Lordship is but given to understand that it is an Orphan of Mr. Farindon's whose fatherless Children have had so comfortable experience of Your Goodness And we hope this Address will meet with favourable acceptance since we can assure Your Lordship that it is in pursuance of the Reverend Author's intention Who hath been often heard to say that if he lived to publish any thing more in print he would inscribe it to You as an expression and testimony of that high veneration and gratitude which he ow'd to that charitable Hand which in the late bad times had been a succourer of many of his persecuted Brethren and of himself also Go on Sir to be truly Honourable by being truly Religious and still deserve the blessing of the Clergy and the prayers of the Fatherless Then as God hath graciously heard them for your advancement upon earth He will hear them also for your eternal advantage Which is Sir the hearty prayer of Your Lordships most humble Servants John Millington the Authors Executor John Powney the Authors Executor To the Reader READER THese Sermons of that Eminent and Learned Preacher Mr. Farindon had been in thy hands long before this if the Reverend and worthy Person who first undertook the publication had not been forced to lay the Work aside that he might the better attend some publick and weighty occasions Now thou hast them carefully and faithfully set forth And if our pains herein as we hope give thee content we shall be encouraged to take the like in perusing the rest of the Author's papers and publishing such as we shall conceive worthy of his name and thy reading Farewel and pray for Thy servant in Christ Jesus Anth. Scattergood D. D. A TABLE directing to the TEXTS of Scripture handled in the following SERMONS SErmon I. John 5.35 He was a burning and a shining light and ye were willing for a season to rejoyce in his light Serm. II. Matth. 5.4 Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Serm. III. John 5.14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the Temple and sayd unto him Behold thou art made whole sin no more least a worse thing come unto thee Serm. IV. John 5.14 Behold thou art made whole Serm. V. John 5.14 Sin no more least a worse thing come unto thee Serm. VI. Luke 6.24 But woe unto you that are rich for yee have received your consolation Serm. VII 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Serm. VIII 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves c. Serm. IX Col. 3.2 Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth Serm. X. Prov. 23.23 Buy the truth and sell it not also wisdom and instruction and understanding Serm. XI Prov. 23.23 Buy the truth c. Serm. XII Matth. 5.10 Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Serm. XIII Philipp 3.10 11. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead Serm. XIV Acts 1.10 11. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing into heaven this same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven Serm. XV. 1 Cor. 6.20 For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Serm. XVI 1 Cor. 6.20 For ye are bought c. Serm. XVII 1 Cor. 12.3 Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Serm. XVIII 1 Cor. 12.3 Wherefore I give you c. Serm. XIX Isa 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Serm. XX. Matth. 6.12 And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Serm. XXI Matth. 6.12 As we forgive our debtors Serm. XXII Psalm 122.1 I was glad when they sayed unto me let us or we will go into the House of the Lord. Serm. XXIII Psalm 122.1 I was glad c. Serm. XXIV Matth. 6.33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Serm. XXV Matth. 6.33 But seek ye first c. Serm. XXVI Matth. 6.33 But seek ye first c. Serm. XXVII Matth. 6.33 But seek ye first c. Serm. XXVIII Galat. 6.7 Be not deceived God is not mocked For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Serm. XXIX Galat. 6.7 Be not deceived c. Serm. XXX Thess 4.18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words Serm. XXXI Thess 4.18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words Serm. XXXII Acts 11.13 14. And they were all amazed and were in doubt saying one to another what meaneth this others mocking said These men are full of new wine Serm. XXXIII Luke 11.27 28. And it came to pass as he spake these things a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked But he said Yea rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it Serm. XXXIV Luke 11.27 28. And it came to pass as he spake these things c. Serm. XXXV Colos 3.1 If then you be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Serm. XXXVI Philipp 1.23 For I am in a streight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Or For I am greatly in doubt on both sides desiring to be loosed and to be with Christ which is best of all Serm. XXXVII 1 Cor. 11.1 Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ Serm. XXXVIII Prov. 28.13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Serm. XXXIX Matth. 24.25 Behold I have told you before Serm. XL. Luke 18.12 I fast twice in the week I give tythes of all that I possess Serm. XLI James 1.25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed Serm. XLII James 1.25 But whoso looketh c. Serm. XLIII James 1.25 But whoso looketh c. Serm. XLIV James 1.25 But whoso
you what it was that made John a burning and what a shining light And here I need not tell you that he was a Prophet and more then a Prophet He was fibula Legis Evangelii as Tertullian calleth him the hasp which tied together the Law and the Gospel the middle Prophet which looked back upon the Truth obscurely shadowed in figures and types and looked forward on Christ that at the very voice of Christ's mother he sprang in his mother's womb prophetavit antequam natus erat and was a Prophet before he was a man Our Saviour here calleth him a burning light Supernatural illumination might have been enough to have made him a light to others but not to burn in himself Even Saul was amongst the Prophets and Caiaphas did prophesie and Baalam fell into a trance saw the vision of the Almighty took up his parable and breathed forth a prophesie a prophesie of as large a compass and extent as any we find in Scripture and yet he loved the wages of unrighteousness Even these were moved by the holy Ghost and spake as they were moved but were not holy men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil but the word of Prophesie came unto them by way of dispensation not for any purity or worth of theirs but for the present exigence and occasion and the instruction of others He that opened Balaams eyes opened also the Asses mouth to rebuke him All these may be called lights but we cannot say they burned or if they did not with any fire from heaven For Knowledge whether natural or supernatural whether gained by way of conclusion out of premisses or by the evidence of the things themselves or by Divine inspiration and extraordinary radiation is not alwaies accompanied with this heat and fire because the acts or reception of the Understanding are rather natural and necessary then arbitrary and the mind of man cannot but receive the species and forms of things as they are presented and imprinted either by the object it self or by a Divine supernatural hand In a word if the Truth open and display it self the Understanding cannot but receive it If the Spirit come upon Saul he must prophesie These radiations and flashes of light upon the Understanding do not alwayes make us burn within our selves but many times are darted on us when there is a frost at the heart when we are bound up and sealed as it were in our graves in a kind of Lethargy without heat or activity Every knowing man doth not love the truth which he knoweth nor is every Prophet a Saint Scire nihil aut parùm operatur ad virtutem saith the Philisopher Knowledge of it self bringeth no great store of fuel to this fire nor doth it conduce to the essence of Virtue For we do not define Virtue by Knowledge It may direct and illuminate but it doth not alwaies warm us it may help to fan this fire but it is not that heat with which we burn What is it then that made John Baptist and maketh every righteous man a burning light Not the Knowledge alone though it were supereminent but the Love of Truth For the Understanding is at best but a Counsellor to the Will It may call upon me to awake and I fold my arms to sleep It may speak as an oracle of God and I reject its counsel It may say This is the way when I run counter It may breathe upon my heart and no fire burn But when the Will is so truly affected with the Truth as to woo and imbrace it when I am willing to lay down my life for it then there is a fire in my bones and this fire doth melt me and this liquefaction transform me and this transformation unite and marry me to the Truth And this is that fire with which we burn which maketh this holy conflagration in us And indeed it hath the operation of Fire For first as Fire it is full of activity nor can any thing withstand its force It hath voracitatem toto mundo avidissimam as Pliny speaketh It is the most devouring thing in the world Nihil tam ferreum quod non amoris igne vincitur saith Augustine There is nothing so hard or difficult which it doth not overcome It esteemeth iron as straw and brass as rotten wood Be it Service it is a glorious liberty Be it seven years it is but a few dayes to Love Be it Disgrace it enobleth it Be it Poverty it enricheth it Be it Torment it sweetneth it Be it Death for the Truth 's sake it is made advantage and gain O beloved that the voice of power so soon shaketh us that the glittering of a sword the horrour of a prison a frown so soon loosneth our joynts abateth our courage that we either halt between God and Baal or plainly fall from the Truth is because we are but coldly affected to it If this fire were kindled in us it would make Persecution peace enlighten a prison and make Horrour it self an object of glory and joy That which is a tempest to others to them that love is a pleasant and prosperous gale Secondly as Fire it is very sensible and maketh us even to burn within us and to be restless and unquiet for the Truth 's sake Inquies animus ipso opere pascitur as Livy spake of himself It is fed with what it doeth and as that restless element it either spreadeth or dieth It is kindled from heaven and will lick up all the water all contrary matter 2 Cor. 5.13 as the fire did which Elijah called down Whether we be besides our selves or whether we be sober it is for the Truth 's sake Love urgeth and constraineth us driveth us upon the pricks upon any difficulty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Gordius the Martyr in Basil What loss am I at that die but once for the Truth In labours more abundant in stripes above measure in prison more frequent saith S. Paul And could he do no more Yes he could Vbi historiam praestare non potuit votum attulit What he could not do to fill up an history he supplieth with a wish and maketh it his prayer for the good of the Church Rom. 9. to be cut off from the Church pro Christo non habere Christum for Christ's sake to be separate from Christ And to speak truth in this Love differeth from Fire Fire will die if it want fuel but Love will live in that breast where it was first kindled and where it meeteth not with matter to work upon it burneth the more for want of it When it cannot fight with the Philistine not encounter Satan with his fiery darts not slight him in the pomp of the world not contemn him in his terrours it striveth and strugleth with it self and supposeth and frameth difficulties Nihil imperiosius charitate Nothing is more powerful nor commanding then Love And yet when it hath done all supposed all it is content
neither with possibilities nor events sed plus vult posse quà m omnia it would do more then it is able more then all more then it doeth more then it can do And then tell me what a spark is our Love Christ indeed came to kindle it but it is scarce visible on the earth Last of all as Fire Love ascendeth and mounteth upwards even to the Holy place to the bosome of God himself It came from heaven and towreth towards it For he that abideth in love dwelleth in God and God in him saith S. John Here it is as out of its sphere and element and never at rest nor at home but in God In a word where this love is there is the good will of him who dwelt in the bush Where this love is there the lamp burneth and all is on fire Amor fons caput omnium affectionum saith Martin Luther Love is the source and original of all other affections It setteth our Anger on fire and putteth the spear into Phinehas his hand It setteth our Sorrow a bleeding and maketh rivers of water gush from our eyes It maketh our Fear watchful that we may work out our salvation with trembling It exalteth our Joy Oh how I rejoyced saith David when they said unto me We will go into the house of the Lord It raiseth our Hope even to hope above hope It mixeth and incorporateth it self with every passion Our Love with Anger is Zeal with Fear Jealousie with Hope Confidence with Sorrow Repentance and with Joy it is Heaven And thus by the Love of the Truth the man of God is made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostom speaketh a man of fire conquering all difficulties and consumed by none He standeth in the midst of scoffs and derision and detraction and of all temptations as in the midst of a field of stubble or dry flax or straw and is not hurt at all They that come near him do but sindge and torment themselves as thorns crackle and make a noise and vanish into smoke and the man is safe Such a burning light such a man of fire was John the Baptist who bare witness to the Truth and for the love of the Truth lost both his liberty and his life who preached it in the womb and preached it in the wilderness who preached it by living and preached it by dying and preached being dead S. Chrysostom telleth us that he spake most when his head was off In a word the love of Truth did so enflame him that he may seem what the Rabbies phansie of Elijah in whose spirit he came to have sucked not-milk but flames of fire from his mothers breasts And so much for his Burning Now in the next place as he burned with the love of Truth so he shined also by the manifestation of it which was as the spreading and displaying of his beams As he was hot within so he was resplendent without As he had this fire within himself so there was a scintillation and corruscation on others And it was visible in his severity of life in his raiment in his fasting in his doctrine in his boldness in reprehending the Pharisees and Saduces in his laying the axe to the very root of the trees in fulfilling of all righteousness For we must not conceive of this fire as S. Basil phansieth of the elementary fire that God did divide and sunder the two qualities of Heat and Light of Burning and Shining and placed the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the burning quality in hell where the fire burneth but shineth not and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shining quality in heaven which shineth but burneth not This was but a phansie though of a learned and judicious man No where this fire is there will be light nor can we sever them The Knowledge indeed of Truth many times breatheth in no other coasts then where it was conceived may dwell in a cloister or a wilderness in men qui non possunt pati solem multitudinem who cannot walk the common wayes Saints indeed in private but of no publick use but yet even here is some light in the wilderness in a cell or grott But when to the Knowledge of Truth we have added the Love of Truth our heart will wax hot within us and the fire will burn and we who before was possest with a dumb spirit do speak with the tongue yea cannot but speak the things which we have heard and seen then we cannot contain our selves within our selves but have those glorious eruptions then we shine upon others who burn in our selves As the heat is such is the light as the burning within such the shining without When we shine alone in mere out-ward performances in the pomp of devotion in the rolling of the eye in the lifting up of the ear in the motion of the tongue in the extermination of the countenance it is but a false and a momentary light but as the light of a glo-worm in the night which proceedeth from some other cause not from heat It may be a flash of Ambition or some scintillation of Vain-glory or the very sparkles of Faction and like lightning dum micat extinguitur it is extinguished in the very flâ—sh When we burn alone when we cast not forth beams but breathe forth hail-stones and coals of fire when we wax hot as an oven but cast forth no light at all when we lash the iniquities of the times and are our selves those fools on whose back the whip should be laid when we cry down sin and are men of Belial when all the heat is for Religion and all the light we see is Faction and Rapine it is too plain that we burn but we are set on fire by hell For if the heat be kindly the light will be glorious If it be from heaven it will not feed it self with earth and the things of this world If our light be manifest and permanent if our light so shine that men may see it and for it glorifie the Fountain of light it must needs proceed ab intimo pleno fervore devotionis from this inward burning from this true and full heat of Devotion Where there is heat there is light and where there is light there is heat And these two Heat and Light seem to contend for superiority Quo calidior radius lucidior The more hot the beams are the more light there is And this Light reflecteth upon the Heat to make it more intense and the Heat hath an operation upon the Light to make it more radiant and by a reciprocal influence on each other they are multiplyed every day My Love of the Truth spreadeth my Holiness and maketh it known unto all men and my holy Conversation dilateth and improveth my Love of the Truth My Love of the Truth maketh me increase and abound more and more and the nearer I draw to perfection I do the more and more love the Truth The more I burn the
the infusion of Grace I know it was decreed at the Council of Carthage and other Councils 1. That every man ought to say Forgive us our trespasses 2. That he ought to say it not for others alone but for himself also 3. Not ex humilitate sed vere not out of humility confessing what they were not but truly what they were And all these Decrees may well stand and be as unchangeable as those of the Medes and Persians and pass for everlasting truths and yet no necessity of fixing up this doctrine of the Impossibility of not sinning on the gates of the Temple and proclaiming it as by the voice of a trumpet in the midst of the Congregation This doctrine is the sweetest musick flesh and blood can hear This sounding in the ears of men which delight in wickedness lulleth them in a pleasant sleep till they dream for they dare not speak it that they are bound to that Law which they are made to break and that it is one part of their duty to sin It is most true and if we deny it the truth is not in us that we have all sinned But who ever read in the Scripture that we cannot but sin We are bound to ask forgiveness of our sins and that veraciter truly because as S. James speaketh in many things we offend all But this petition is put as in relation to sins past not in relation to sins not yet committed unless conditionally onely And who will build a supposition upon that which infallibly will come to pass Nè peccemus is in order before Si peccamus We are commanded first Not to sin and then followeth the supposition If we sin So that NE PECCEMUS and SI PECCAMUS That we sin not and If we sin make up this one conclusion That we may or may not sin And this suiteth best with the Precept or Command Sin not at all and this in the Text Sin no more with our Promise made in Baptism where we solemnly bid defiance to the World the Flesh and the Devil and with our Prayer for forgiveness which we cannot accent and pronounce as we should but with a firm resolution to sin no more For how dareth he ask pardon for his sins who is resolved to sin again and again upon hope of pardon So then we may truly and humbly beg pardon of sins past But it is neither Truth nor Humility to make God a liar who proposeth himself a pattern of Perfection Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect to make him a Tyrant in first crippling us and then sending us about his business in commanding us to do what he knoweth cannot be done in giving us that flesh which our spirit cannot conquer in letting loose that Lion whom we cannot resist in laying us naked to those temptations which we cannot subdue No. 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithful saith S. Paul who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able above that which he will make us able if we seek him It is not said God is merciful or God is gracious as being a more indifferent and arbitrary thing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is faithful So that we cannot bring in a Necessity of sinning without prejudice to the Truth and Sincerity of God But then as God is faithful and true not to let in an enemy stronger then his Grace can make us so is he also gracious and merciful si peccemus if we sin if in the midst of so many enemies inter tot errores humanae vitae if in such slippery ground we step aside and fall as Jonathan in the high places to reach forth his hand and lift us up again But with this proviso That we look better to our steps and be more careful how we walk hereafter The one keepeth us from presumption the other from despair For we do not ask forgiveness of our sins upon these terms that we cannot but sin but we beg pardon with this promise that we will sin no more But further yet if this doctrine were true That Sin is absolutely unavoidable and that we are so fettered and shackled with an impossibility of performing our duty that the Grace of God cannot redeem us as indeed it hath neither Reason nor Scripture to countenance it yet sure it cannot be but very dangerous to tell it in Gath and publish it in Askalon to urge and press it to the multitude who are too prone and ready to make an Idol of that Serpent which is lifted up to cure them Omnes homines nostris vitiis favemus quod propriâ facimus voluntate ad Naturae referimus necessitatem saith S. Hierome We are all too apt to favour and speak friendly to our sins and are glad when we cannot but sin that we may sport and play in the wayes which lead unto death and sin with less remorse and regret Gaudemus de contumelia nostra We make that our triumph which is our shame proclaim our Will as innocent whilest we arraign our natural Constitution and lay all the guilt on a fatal Necessity of sinning We are indeed bound to acknowledge our sin and without it there is no remission but a bare acknowledgement is not enough We are ready to say We have sinned and ready to say We cannot but sin that we may sin again We are ready to acknowledge our sins especially in a lump and body Oh would we were as ready to forsake them This thought of the Not-possibility of avoiding sin followeth us I fear in all our wayes and standeth between us and those sins we have left behind us And if at any time we cast an eye back upon them we look on them with favour through this imagination of Weakness as through a pane of painted glass which discoloureth them and maketh the greatest sin appear in the hue and shape of a sin of Infirmity Then those Furies of lust are not so terrible those monsters of sins are not so deformed those sins which devour have not a tooth For how should they feel a bruise who are so just as to fall and sin not seven but seventy times seven times in a day To conclude this Let us take Christ's words as near as we can as they lie They are plain Sin no more And they were no Prescript at all if there lay upon us a necessity of sinning again if by the power of Christ we could not quit our selves of those sins which cannot consist with the Gospel and Covenant of Grace This Doctrine concerning the Possibility of keeping this Prescript of Christ men that are willing to sin are not willing to understand Flesh and bloud runneth from it as from an errour of a monstrous shape and that they may be yet more wicked they count it as an heresie But flesh and bloud shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven And we cannot think but our Saviour meant as he spake and would not have laid it
a Lawyer or an Husbandman in the grave But the Truth here as it must be bought so it must never be sold by us It will not leave us at our death but lie down with us in the grave and rise up with us to judgment At the last day it will be our Advocate or our Judge and either acquit or condemn us If now in this our day we lay out our money our substance that is our selves upon it then in that terrible day of the Lord it will look lovelily upon us and as the bloud of Christ doth speak good things for us But if we place it under our brutish desires and lowest affections it will help the Devil to roar against us and he who now hindereth our market will then accuse us for not buying Christ himself is not more gracious then this Truth will be to them that buy it But such as esteem it trash and not worth the looking on to them shall it procure tribulation and anguish to them the Sun turned into darkness and the Moon into bloud the whole world on fire the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God shall not be so terrible as this Truth And now before I was aware I have told you what the Truth here is that we are to buy Shall I say with the Poet cujus non audeo dicere nomen that I dare not utter its name It hath no name Men it seemeth have been afraid to speak of it and therefore have given it no name The Wise-man here in the Text bestoweth on it certain titles calling it Wisdom and Instruction and Vnderstanding but all these do not fully express it being words of a large signification and comprehending a multitude of other Truths beside it Will ye know indeed what this Truth is It containeth all those Precepts and conclusions that concern the knowledge and service of God that conduce to virtue and integrity and uprightness of life and that are carefully observed by all quos Deus in aeternae felicitatis exemplis posuit whom God meaneth to bring to endless felicity and to place among the ensamples of his love If this Truth doth not manage and guide the Will then our passions those pages of opinion and errour will distract and disorder us Lust will inflame us Anger swell us Ambition lift us up to that formidable height from whence we must needs fall into the pit But the Truth casteth down all Babels and casteth out all false imaginations which present unto us appearances for realities yea plagues for peace which make us pour out our souls on variety of unlawful objects and pitifully deceive us about the nature and end of things What a price doth Luxury set on wealth and how doth it abhor poverty and nakedness What an heaven is the highest place to Ambition and what an hell disgrace though it be for goodness it self How doth a jewel glitter in the eye and what a slur is there on virtue What brightness hath the glory of the world and how sad and sullen an aspect have Religion and Piety And all this is till the purchase be made which our Text commendeth No sooner have we bought the Truth but it discovereth all pulleth off every masque and suffereth us no longer to be blinded and beguiled but sheweth us the true face and countenance of things It letteth us see vanity in riches folly in honour death and destruction in the pomp of this world It maketh poverty a blessing misery a mercy a cottage as good as the Seragglio and death it self a passage to an happy eternity It taketh all things by the right end Exod. 4.4 and teacheth us how to handle and deal with them as Moses taking the serpent by the tail had it restored to its own shape In a word the Truth here meant is that which S. Augustine calleth legem omnium artium artem omnipotentis artificis a Law to direct all arts an Art taught by Wisdom it self by the Maker of all things It teacheth us to love God with all our hearts to believe in him and to lead upright lives It killeth in us the root of sin it extinguisheth all lusts it maketh us tread under foot pleasure and honour and wealth it rendreth us deaf to the noyse of this busie world and blind to that glaring pomp which dazleth the eyes of others Hâc praeeunte seculi fluctus calcamus It goeth before us in our way and through all the surges of this present world it bringeth us to the vision and fruition of him who is Truth it self Therefore this concerneth us above all other Truths yea others are of no use at all further then by being subservient to this they help us to our chief end our union to God who is the first Truth and our communion with him If I know mine own infirmities what need I trouble my self about the decay of the world If the word of God be powerful in me what need I search the secret operations of the stars Am I desirous to know new things The best novelty is the New creature What folly it is to study the state and condition of the Saints and in the mean time to take no pains to be one to be curiously inquisitive how my soul was conveyed into me and wretchedly careless how it goeth out to dispute who is Antichrist when I my self am not a Christian to spend that time in needless controversies in which I might make my peace with God to be more careful to resolve a doubt then to cure a wounded spirit to to maintain my opinion then to save my soul to be ambitious to reconcile opinions which stand in a seeming opposition and be dull and heavy in composing my own thoughts and ordering my counsels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aescl yl Not he that knoweth much but he that knoweth that which is useful is wise Why gaze we on a bugle or piece of glass when we are to bargain for a pearl for that Truth which doth alone adorn that mind which was made not to joyn with shadows and phantasmes but to receive wisdom and virtue and God himself Thus I have given you some kind of view of the merchandise and shewed you in general what the Truth here meant is Now that it may appear unto you the more desirable and more worth the buying in the next place I will discover the nature and quality of it Neither will I do as those are wont who expose their wares to sale over praise the commodity so to kindle the buyer and make him more easily part with his money or else shew it by an half-light but I will deal plainly with you according to that Law of the Aediles or Clerks of the market in Rome by which he who sold any thing was to disclose to the buyer what fault or imperfection it had If he were selling an house wherein the plague was he was to proclaim Pestilentem domum vendo that he
as those do who are brought near and even united to the thing that they would have 2. At this is proportioned to the Soul so it is to every soul to all sorts of men It equally concerneth all of what calling or condition soever It is a merchandise which cannot be bought by a deputy cannot be recovered by a proxy Like the Sun it looketh upon all and must be looked upon by all It is fitted to all and bindeth all And therefore the buying of it the study of it and of every branch of it concerneth you who are our hearers as much as us who teach it It is not of so large a compass but the narrowest understanding may contain it God will not shut us out of heaven because we cannot untie every knot and answer every doubt I never could think it a matter of wit and subtilty to become a Christian There is saith S. Hierome sancta rusticitas a kind of holy plainness and rusticity simplicitas idiotarum amativa as Gerson speaketh a simplicity of the unlearned which is full of love and affection which like men at distance from that which they desire look more earnestly towards it Numb 11.29 It is to be wished indeed that all the Lord's people were prophets for knowledge is a rich ornament of the soul But he that doth not attain deep knowledge with the wisest may attain true happiness with the best as a man may put into the haven in a small bark as well as in an Argosie Mark 12.42.44 He who giveth all that he hath for the Truth though it be but two mites his serious but weak endeavours shall be sure of a good penyworth He that buyeth what we can shall have enough And therefore it is fitted to all to all nations to all sexes to all ages to all tempers and constitutions to the Jew and to the Gentile to the bond and to the free to the Scribe and to the idiote to the young and to the aged None so much a Jew so much a slave so dull and slow of understanding none so much a Lazar so much a Barzillai so over run with sores or decrepit with age but he may buy the Truth Freedom and slavery circumcision and uncircumsion quickness and slowness of wit youth and age in respect of this purchase are alike 3. As it is fitted to all so it is lovely and amiable in the eyes of all even of those who will not buy it What amiable and not be desired Yes it is so in this spiritual Mart. We can conceive it good and refuse it we can behold its beauty and not woo it we can say it is a rich pearl and yet prefer a pebble on the beach before it say How amiable are the courts of Truth and yet never enter them For in this Knowledge and Desire do not alwaies meet but the Will oftentimes planet-wise slyly creepeth on her own way contrary to the strong circumvolution of the First mover the Understanding pointeth one way and the Affections sway us another The Understanding looketh upon Truth as a prize yet the Will rejecteth it as a vanity the Understanding judgeth it to be the best good yet the Will turneth from it as from the worst of evils The good that I would Rom. 7.19 that is which I approve that do I not But in our temporal affairs these faculties of the soul are seldom at variance but profit and advantage of this kind we seek with all our soul with all our heart with all our understanding But for this heavenly commodity though we have not an heart to buy yet we have an head to judge of the worth and value of it .. Even the fool in this is as wise as Solomon and can say that this Truth is more precious then rubies Prov. 3.15 But as they who knew the judgment of God Rom. 1.31 that they who commit all unrighteousness are worthy of death did not onely do the same but had pleasure in them that did so on the other side many who know this Truth to be the best merchandise do not onely not traffick for it themselves but are enemies to them that do and hinder and persecute them all they can are angry at them that do what themselves judge to be best And this is the glory and triumph of Truth Matth. 11.19 that she is justified not onely of her children but of her very enemies that she striketh a reverence in those that neglect her is magnified by those who revile her and findeth a place in their breasts who suppress her When the poor merchants of Truth are proscribed and her children appointed to die then doth Truth hold up her sceptre in the very inward parts of the raging persecutours and forceth them to condemn themselves for condemning them to honour those whom they have delivered to shame and death and in their heart to null that sentence which their fury and sensuality have put in execution And thus we retain in publico sensu in the common stock of Nature enough to discover what we should buy But to venture and traffick to spend and lay out our selves upon it is the work of that Grace which subdueth the Flesh to the Spirit and crucifieth the Affections and Lusts which have more power upon the Will then the Reason and may dim the eye of the Understanding but never quite put it out For who ever was so much a traitour as to condemn Fidelity What adulterer did ever yet write a panegyrick on Uncleanness Who was ever so evil as to commend evil Who did ever so ill govern his life as not to wish he might die the death of the righteous Num. 23.10 When evil is laid to the charge of wicked men they count it an heavy charge and therefore to shift it off are fain to run themselves within the danger of a worse and to call evil good Psal 14.1 53.1 and good evil Which yet they do but say in their heart as the Fool doth in the book of Psalms that there is no God They do not think but say it in their heart say it by rotâ— as that which they would have to be truth but know to be false 4. Yet to raise the price of this jewel higher know that if we buy not the Truth not onely our wealth and riches but even the goodly and gracious endowments of our souls also are nothing worth For want of this one purchase where is the rich Glutton now nay where is the scribe 1 Cor. 1.20 where is the wise where is the disputer of this world What a poor Worse then nothing is a rich Atheist or an honourable Hypocrite What speak we of Riches and Honour Virtue it self is of small use if it take not this Truth along with it We are taught by Divines that by the fall of our first parents we did utterly lose some things and though other excellent things do still remain
Gold All the things under the Moon are as changeable in their approches in their acquisition in their loss as that planet is Sometimes we must travel and hazard our lives for them sometimes we find them and they are even flung upon us We are wont to call such as are suddenly made rich the Children and Favourites of Fortune But in this market Fortune and Chance have no hand at all she can neither help nor hurt They who come to this Emporium or Mart know not the face of Fortune neither when she smileth nor when she frowneth but leave her behind them when they beat this bargain Nay they know her to be nothing They place their hopes neither upon Chance nor upon Necessity If Truth were brought to us any of these wayes we could not be said to buy it Do I buy that chain which I am forced to wear or that pearl which lying in my way I do but stoup for and take up I cannot think that ever Heaven did open it self and take in those who never thought of it nor that any Saint did stumble on it and enter by chance Luke 15.4 If the Truth be found it is found as the lost Sheep was we go after it and sweat and labour and search for it till we find it They were the Pharisees of old that brought Fate in and a Necessity of all events And they may well bear the same name who though they abhor the word yet countenance the thing it self and leave the Truth and all Virtues else as it were upon the cast of a die For with them we neither do nor suffer any thing but we are born and bound to it And they run upon the same absurdity which the Pharisees did attribute all to Fate and Destiny or to that which is in effect the same and yet believe a Resurrection leave us in the chains of Necessity and yet promise life to all that buy the Truth and threaten death to all that sell it make us necessarily good or evil and yet the objects for Rewards and Punishments to work upon But this fatal Necessity doth overthrow it self For if it lead or force all things to their end if it work all in us then it worketh this also That we cannot believe it And it is necessary I should deny this Necessity for I was destined to pronounce against Destiny and my fate it is to acknowledge no such thing as Fate No the Truth is established as the heavens that it cannot be moved And as it looketh toward Eternity so there is a setled and eternal course by which it is conveyed unto us Wisdome hath set it out to sale not left it in the uncertain hands of Chance nor in the infallible conduct of Fate and Destiny She standeth by the way in the places of the paths Prov. 8.2 Isa 55.1 but her voice is Come and buy It is true Truth as well as Faith is the gift of God But first every gift is not received or if it be yet he that received it might have refused it and so Necessity hath no place and a gift it is though it be not received as a Pearl may be a merchandise though it be not bought Truth is the gift of God a light kindled by him and set up in the firmament of his Church and there it shineth though men turn not their eyes that way but fix them on the earth Ephes 2.8 Faith had been the gift of God though all the world had been infidels The Civilians tell us there is a twofold Donation pura and conditionalis There is an absolute gift which the giver bestoweth to no other end but to shew his bounty he giveth it because he will give it And there is a conditional gift which exacteth something from him who must receive it It is here Do ut des I give thee this that thou mayest give something for it And such a gift is Truth such a gift is Heaven We are Men to woo and draw the Truth and not Statues to have it engraven upon us and then remain as little moved with it as insensible of it as if we were stones We read of infused Habits and though those texts of Scripture which are brought to uphold them are not so sure and firm a foundation that they may stand there unshaken yet because the opinion is so generally received we are not over-ready to lay it by But if they be infused as they are infused into us so they are not infused without us They are poured not as water into a cistern but into living vessels fitted and prepared for them For if they were infused without us they could never be lost If we did not buy the Truth we could never sell it If Wisdome were thus infused into us we should never erre If Righteousness were thus infused the Will would ever as an obedient handmaid look up upon that Wisdome and never swerve or decline from it If Sanctity were thus setled on the Affections they could never rebel The Understanding could never erre for this Wisdome would ever enlighten it the Will could not be irregular for this Righteousness would alwayes bridle it the Affections could not distract us for they would ever be under command For as they were given without us so bringing with them an irresistible and uncontrollable force they would work without us But we shall find that all these are conditional gifts and that according to the method of Truth it self we cannot receive till we ask nor find till we seek Matth. 7.7 Psal 24.7 â— nor enter the everlasting gates of Truth till we knock And those who follow this method the Truth hath its proper and powerful operation in them It is their viaticum provision for their way meat to feed them and nourish them up to an healthful constitution And it is a garment to clothe them and to defend them from those poisonous blasts and breathings of their spiritual enemy which might annoy and distemper them But in those who fancy to themselves a large and supernatural pouring in when they receive nothing nor do any thing that they may there is no room for Truth for they are filled with air with their own flitting imaginations And if the Truth do enter it entereth them not as Truth but is wrested and corrupted and made the abetter of a lie Scripture is either mangled by them or put upon the rack used as Procrustes used his guests either cut off in some part of it or stretched too far It lieth in their stomack like an undigested lump and is turned into a disease It is like a garment not well put on it sittteth not well upon them they wear it and it becometh them not They wear it either for shew to take the beholder or as a cloak of maliciousness to deceive and destroy him We may observe that that which is so easily gotten and beareth onely the name of Truth is more busie and operative
many times then that which we gain by lawful and prescribed means then that which we buy For it moveth like a tempest and driveth down all even the Truth it self before it Look over the whole catalogue of the sons of Belial and take a view of all the turbulent spirits that have been in the world and ye shall find the most of them to have been Enthusiasts pretenders to an unsought for and suddain revelation most wicked because so soon good and extremely ignorant because wise in an instant James 3.17 But the Truth which is from above and is not thrown down but bought from thence is pure and peaceable and easie to be intreated full of good works and without hypocrisie And it self is conveyed into us the right way so it ordereth every motion and action regulateth the whole progress of our life and maketh it like unto it self That may seem an harsh saying of Metellus Numidicus and had a Christian Divine uttered it Gell. lib. 1. c. 6. he had gone for a Pelagian His demum Deos propitios esse aequum est qui sibi adversarii non sunt Dii immortales approbare virtutem non adhibere debent It is a kind of justice that God should be favourable to those who are not enemies to themselves God sitteth above as one that hath set us our task and observeth our hands and doth not do all himself But his reason certainly is orthodox Quid nos à Deo diutiùs exspectemus nisi errationibus finem faciamus What can we expect from the God of truth if we still follow lies and will make no end of running from the truth God hath so ordered that nothing of great moment can be suddenly done Every work must find us fitted and prepared or else we shall find it will fly out of our reach Hence the Philosopher giveth this reason why there be so few wise men Quia pauci Sapientiam dignam putant nisi quam in transitu cognoscant Because the most have so low an opinion of the Truth that they think her not worth saluting unless it be by the by The reason why men know not the Truth is because they reverence it not but think it is a wind which will blow when they list that it will enter them without entreaty become theirs when they please yea whether they will or no. This is the cause why Truth which is the best merchandise is so seldom bought and phansies of our own are entertained in its place Hence it is that all our silver is dross our coyn counterfeit and our actions bear so little of the image and face of Truth upon them that To be merciful is but to fling a mite into the treasury To fast is to abstain for a day To pray is but to say Lord hear me or which is worse to multiply words without sense To love the Truth is but to hear it preached To be a Christian is onely to profess it To have faith is to boast of it To have hope is to say so and To be full of charity is but to do good to our selves These graces we deny not are infused yet they are gained encreased and confirmed in us by care and diligence Faith cometh by hearing saith the Apostle Rom. 10.17 We cannot but observe that in our greener years we are catechized and instructed and in our riper age when reason is improved in us we look over our evidence again and again and by the miracles and innocency of our Saviour and by the excellency of his doctrine and by the joynt testimony of the Apostles and the huge improbability that they should deceive us Jude 20. we are built up and building implieth labour on our most holy Faith which worketh by Charity Gal. 5.6 When that Faith which is not thus bought but is brought in without any motives or inducements without study or meditation which is not bought but created by our selves and so is a phansie rather then Faith bringeth forth nothing praiseworthy is not a foundation of good works but a mere pillar of our own setting up to lean upon and to uphold and comfort a spirit that would otherwise droop when we have committed evil If mens Faith did cost them more sure they would make more use of it then they do And for Hope What is it but a conclusion gathered by long experience by curious and watchful observation by a painful peregrination through all the powers of our soul and an exact search of all the actions of our life which if answerable to the Truth produce a firm Hope if not our Hope we may call an anchor Heb. 6.19 but it is of no more use then an anchor painted upon a wall or rather it is not an anchor but a rock at which we may shipwreck and sink I might instance in more For thus it is in all the passages of our life There is nothing wrought in us but with pains at least nothing that is worth possessing Nay those evils which we should dispossess our selves of do not alwayes enter with ease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostome Even the things of the Devil are not attained without labour and cost How laborious is thy Revenge how busie thy Cruelty how watchful and studious thy Lust what penance doth thy Covetousness put thee to And if our vices cost us so dear and stand us at so high a rate shall we think that that Truth will run after us and follow us in all our wayes which bringeth along with it an eternal weight of glory Can a negligent and careless glance upon the Bible can our airy and empty speculations can the wantonness of our ear can our confidence and ignorance straight make us Evangelists Or is it probable that Truth should come è profundo putei out of the bottom of the well and offer her self to them who stand idle at the mouth and top of it and will let down no pitcher to draw it up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Olymp. od 5. as Pinder speaketh Labour and cost wait still upon the Truth Nor will she visit and abide with us unless these usher her in and attend upon her Like Jabez Truth is most honourable but we bear it with pain 1 Chron. 4.9 In a word Truth is the gift of God but conditional given on condition that we fit our selves to receive it It cometh down from heaven but it must be called for here on earth Think not it will fall upon thee by chance or come to thee at any time Eccl. 11.9 12.1 if not in the dayes of thy youth yet in the evil dayes and the years in which thou shalt have no pleasure that it will offer it self in thine old age on thy bed of sickness that it will joyn and mingle it self with thy last breath and carry thy soul to happiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now is the market now is the Truth set to sale as it
the faith yet we may examin our selves 1 Pet. 3.15 and be ready alwaies to give an answer to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us If the Spirit be of God yet it may be tried whether it be of him or no. 1 John 4.1 Every thing of this nature may be brought to the trial 1 Thes 5.21 that we may hold fast that which is good But then if it be true yet it is not alwayes so certain as those speculative conclusions and known principles which none ever yet denied who had but so much reason as to prove him a man To be deaf therefore to all other information under pretense of infallibility to shut out a clearer light upon presumption that he is fully enlightned already ejus est qui mavult didicisse quà m discere is the property of him alone who loveth his credit more then the Truth and counteth it a disgrace or punishment to learn any thing In conclusions then of this nature the mind must ever be free and disengaged not so wedded to its own decrees as to be averse and strange when a fair overture is made of better For I may erre as well as judge aright For how hath Errour so multiplied and whence proceed the greatest part of the errours of our life but from this presumption That we cannot erre If men were either impartial to themselves or so humble as to hearken to the judgment of others the Prince of this world would not have so much in us nor should vve be in danger of so frovvard a generation If men vvere not so soon good they would not be so often evil Nor doth this vvillingness to hear reason blast or endanger that Truth vvhich Reason and Revelation hath implanted in us nay it rather vvatreth it and maketh it flourish For vvhen hath gold a brighter lustre then vvhen it is tried And this attentiveness and submission to what may be said either for or against it is a fair evidence that we fell not upon it by chance but have fastned it to our soul by frequent meditation and are rooted and established in it Neither doth it argue any fluctuation or wavering in the mind or unfixedness of judgement For he doth not waver who followeth a clearer light and better reason and cleaveth unto it Mutatio sententiae non est inconstantia saith the Oratour To disanul a former judgment upon better evidence is not inconstancie it is the stability rather and persevering act of Reason its certain and natural course to judge for that which is most reasonable And the mind doth no more waver in this then the Planets do erre or wander which are said to do so because they appear now in this now in that part of the heavens but yet they keep their constant and natural motion For this entertaineth Truth for it self and suffereth not Errour to enter but under that name and when Truth appeareth in glory in its rayes and beams in that light which doth best discover it chaseth Errour away as a monstre and boweth to the sceptre of Truth It is never so wedded to Errour though never so specious as not to be ready to give it a bill of divorce when Truth shall offer it self to its embraces But it may be said That the mind must needs waver and be lost in uncertainties because it strugleth as yet with doubts and knoweth not whether there may not be better reasons brought then those which she hath already signed and subscribed to I say this is not true Nay rather the mind doth therefore not waver or fluctuate because it doth not know it For till it do know that better reasons can be brought it is bound to that conclusion which for ought yet appeareth hath the best to confirm it Any evidence is the best till a better be brought And until a better be brought it is not Prejudice to lay claim to the best We are yet in via in our way we yet dwell in houses of clay and tabernacles of flesh we struggle with doubts and difficulties Errour and Misprision are our companions here In many things we erre all and in many things we erre in which one would think it were impossible to mistake and are never more deceived then where we think our selves infallible God alone hath this prerogative Not to erre To see all things exactly with a cast of his eye and ad nudum as the Schools speak naked as they are Our knowledge in comparison of his is but ignorance We have need of instruction upon instruction Isa 28.10 13. Psal 19.2 precept upon precept line upon line and that day unto day every day should teach us knowledge That knowledge and certainty we have is such as we are capable of and such as is available to that end for which we were made sufficient to entitle us to happiness but is not like that in God but rather an uncertain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or kind of doubting in comparison of his infallibility Our certainty is such as the wisdome and goodness of God hath fitted to our condition in this life and it is then in its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perfection when we give diligence to use those means that are afforded us that we may judge rightly of all things when we judge according to that light and evidence which sheweth it self and judge not otherwise till a clearer light appeareth Thus S. Paul was a Champion of the Law and after a Martyr of the Gospel Thus he persecuted Christians and thus he died a Christian Thus St. Peter would not converse with the Heathen Acts 10. as polluted and unclean and thus he after looked upon them as purified by God preached to them and baptized them This hath brought into the world all those Recognitions Retractations Recantations which are not onely as confessions but triumphs over a conquerred errour rejoycings and jubilees of men who had sat in darkness but have found the light He who is not fitted and prepared for better information and will not yield upon surer evidence but so magnifieth the impressions that were first made in his mind as to rest upon them as infallible maketh himself aut Deum aut bestiam as the Philosopher speaketh either a God or a beast and the more a beast by making himself as God undeceiveable and that cannot erre for so as a beast he lieth under every burden every errour though it be so gross and mountainous as to press him to death In a word he that doth not empty his mind of Prejudice that doth not expectorate and drive this evil far from him is not fit to be a purchaser of the Truth Dedocendi officium gravius prius quà m docendi Our first task and hardest is to unlearn something that we have been taught and after with more ease we shall learn better We must first pluck up the weeds that Truth may fall as in good ground
we know he was but a man and we know he erred or else our Church doth in many things It were easie to name them But suppose he had broached as many lies as the Father of them could suggest yet those who in their opinions had raised him to such an height would with an open breast have received them all as oracles and have licked up poison if it had fallen from him For they had the same inducement to believe him when he erred which they had to believe him when he spake the Truth We do not derogate from so great a person we are willing to believe that he was sent from God as an useful instrument to promote the Truth But we do not believe that he sent him as he sent his Son into the world that all his words should be spirit and life John 6.63 that in every word he spake whosoever heard him heard the Father also Thus ye see how Prejudice may arise how it may be built upon a Church and upon a person and may so captivate and depress the Reason that she shall not be able to look up and see and judge of that Truth which we should buy I might instance in others and those too who have reformed the Reformation it self who have placed the Founder of their Sect as a star in a firmament and walk by the light which he casteth and by none other though it come from the Sun it self Who fixing their eye upon him alone follow as he led and in their zele and forward obsequiousness to his dictates many times outgo him and in his name and spirit work such wonders as we have shrunk and trembled at But manum de tabula we forbear lest whilest we strive to charm one serpent we awake an hundred and those such as can bite their brethren as Prejudice doth them I shall but instance in two or three prejudicial opinions which have been as a portcullis shut down against the Truth The first is That the Truth is not to be bought nor obtained by any venture or endeavour of ours but worketh it self into us by an irresistible force so as that when we shall have once got possession of it no principalities or powers no temptation no sin can deprive us of it but it will abide against all storms and assaults all subtilty and violence nay it will not remove though we do what in us lieth to thrust it out so that we may be at once possessours of it and yet enemies to it Now when this opinion hath once gained a kingdome in our heads and we count it a kind of treason or sacrilege to depose it why should we be smitten Isa 1.5 why should we be instructed any more Argument and reason will prove but paper-shot make some noise perhaps but no impression at all What is the tongue of the learned to him who will hearken to none but himself We talk of a preventing Grace to keep us from evil but this is a preventing ungracious perversness to withhold us from the Truth For when that which first speaketh in us which we first speak to our selves or others to us who can comply with that which is much dearer to us then our selves our corrupt humour and carnality when that is sealed and ratified for ever advice and counsel come too late When Prejudice is the onely musick we delight to hear what is the tongue of Men and Angels what are the instructions of the wise but harsh and unpleasant notes abhorred almost as much as the howlings of a damned spirit When we are thus rooted and built up in errour what can shake us It is impossible for us to learn or unlearn any thing For there is no reason we should be untaught that which we rest upon as certain and which we received as an everlasting truth written in our hearts by the finger of God himself and that as we think with an indeleble character Or why should we studie the knowledge of that which will be poured by an omnipotent and irrefragable hand into our minds Who would buy that which shall be forced upon him When the Jew is thus prepossessed when he putteth the Word of God from him Acts 13.46 and judgeth himself unworthy of everlasting life then there is no more to be said then that of the Apostles Lo we turn to the Gentiles Another Prejudice there is powerful in the world somewhat like the former namely a presumption that the Spirit of God teacheth us immediately and that a new light shineth in our hearts never seen before that the Spirit teacheth us not onely by his Word but against it That there is a twofold Word of God 1 Verbum praeparatorium a Word read and expounded to us by the ministery of men 2. Verâ—um consummatorium a Word which consummateth all and this is from the Spirit The one is as John Baptist to prepare the way the other as Christ to finish and perfect the work It pleaseth the Spirit of God say they by his inward operation to illuminate the mind of man with such knowledge as is not at all proposed in the outward Word and to instill that sense which the words do not bear Thus they do not onely lie to the holy Ghost but teach him to dissemble to dictate one thing and to mean another to tell you in your ear you must not do this and to tell you in your heart you may to tell you in his proclamation Matth. 5.21 you may not be angry with your brother and to tell you in secret you may murder him to tell you in the Church Matth. 21.13 you must not make his house a den of thieves and to tell you in your closet you may down with it even to the ground Juven Sat. 8. Inde Dolabella est atque hinc Antonius inde Sacrilegus Verres From hence are wars contentions heresies schismes from hence that implacable hatred of one another which is not in a Turk or a Jew to a Christian For tell me What may not they say or do who dare publish this when their Phansie is wanton It is the Spirit when their Humour is predominant It is the Spirit when their Lust and Ambition carry them on with violence to the most horrid attempts It is the Spirit when they help the Father of lies to fling his darts abroad It is the Spirit It is indeed the Spirit a Spirit of illusion a bold and impudent Spirit that cannot blush For when it is agreed on all sides that all necessary truths are plainly revealed in Scripture what Spirit must that be which is sent into the world to teach us more then all In a word it is a Spirit that teacheth us not that which is but that which our Lusts have already set up for truth A new light which is but a meteor to lead us to those precipices those works of darkness which no night is dark enough to cover Such a Spirit as proceedeth
agents Nor can he who maketh not use of his Reason on earth be a Saint in heaven We are rewarded because we chose that which right Reason told us was best And we are punished because we would not discover that evil which we had light enough to see but did yield to our lusts and affections and called it Reason The whole power of Man is in Reason and the vigour and power of Reason is in Judgment Man is so built saith S. Augustine ut per id quod in eo praecellit attingat illud quod cuncta praecellit that by that which most excelleth in him Reason he may attain to that which is the best of all eternal happiness Ratio omnis honesti comes est saith Seneca Reason alwaies goeth along with Virtue But when we do evil we leave Reason behind us nor is it in any of our waies Who hath known the mind of the Lord at any time Rom. 11.34 or who hath been his counseller It is true here Reason is blind Though it be decked with excellency and array it self with glory and beauty Job 40.9 10. it hath not an eye like God nor can it make a law as he or foresee his mind But when God is pleased to open his treasury and display his Truth before us then Reason can behold apprehend and discern it and by discourse which is the inquisition of Reason judge of it how it is to be understood and embraced For God teacheth not the beasts of the field or stocks or stones but Men made after his own image Man indeed hath many other things common to him with other creatures but Reason is his peculiar Therefore God is pleased to hold a controversie with his people to argue and dispute it out with them and to appeal to their Reason 1 Cor. 11.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judge within your selves To judge what is said is a privilege granted to all the children of men to all who will venture for the Truth It is time for us now to proceed to the other hindrance of Truth Therefore II. We must cast away all Malice to the Truth all distasting of it all averseness from it Certainly this is a stone of offense a bulwork a mountain in our way which if we remove not we shall never enter our Canaan that floweth with milk and hony we shall never take possession of and dwell in the tabernacles of Truth Now Malice is either direct and downright or indirect and interpretative onely And both must be laid aside The former is an affected lothing of the Truth when the Will affecteth the ignorance of that which is right and will erre because it will erre when it shunneth yea hateth the Understanding when it presenteth it with such Truths as might regulate it and divert it from errour and this to the end that it may beat back all remorse silence the checks and chidings of Conscience and slumber those storms which she is wont to raise and then take its fill of sin lie down in it as in a bed of roses and solace it self and rejoyce and triumph therein Then we are embittered with hony hardened with mercy enraged by entreaties then we are angry at God's precepts despise his thunder-bolts slight his promises scoff at his miracles Then that which is wont to mollifie hardeneth us the more till at length our heart be like the heart of the Leviathan as firm as a stone Job 41.24 yea as hard as a piece of the nether mill stone Then satis nobis ad peccandum causa peccare it is a sufficient cause to do evil that we will do it And what impression can Truth make in such hearts What good can be wrought upon them to whom the Scripture attributeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.28 a reprobate mind who have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reverberating mind an heart of marble to beat back all the strength and power of Truth unto whom God hath sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thes 2.11 Rom. 1.18 strong delusion that they should believe a lie who hold the Truth in unrighteousness and suppress and captivate it that it cannot work its work who oppose their Wrath to that Truth which perswadeth patience and their Lust against that which would keep them chast who set up Baal against God and the world against Christ Eph. 4.19 These are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 past feeling and have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4.18 they have their understanding darkned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For wickedness by degrees doth destroy even the principles of goodness in us Hos 4.11 blindeth our eyes and taketh away our heart as the Prophet speaketh and maketh us as if we had no heart at all Either 1. by working out of the understanding the right apprehension of things For when the Will chuseth that which is opposite to the Truth non permittit Intellectum diu stare in dictamine recto it swayeth the Understanding taketh it off from its right dictates maketh it deny its own receptions so that it doth not consider that which it doth consider it averteth and turneth it to apply it self to something that is impertinent and maketh it find out reasons probable or apparent against that Truth which had its former assent that so that actual displacency which we found in the entertainment of the contrary may be cast out with the Truth it self We are willing to leave off to believe the Truth that we may leave off to condemn our selves When this light is dim the Conscience slumbreth but when it spreadeth it self then the sting is felt In our ruff and jollity we forget we have sinned but when the hand of vengeance removeth the veil and we see the Truth which we had hid from our eyes then we call our sins to remembrance and they are set in order before us Where there is knowledge of the Truth there will be conscience of sin but there will be none if we put that from us Or else 2. positively when the Will joyneth with Errour and embraceth that which is evil and then setteth the Understanding on work to find out the most probable means and the fairest and smoothest wayes to that which it hath set up for its end For the Understanding is both the best and the worst counseller When it commandeth the Will it speaketh the words of wisdome giveth counsel as an oracle of God and leadeth on in a certain way unto the Truth But when a perverse Will hath got the upper hand and brought it into a subserviency unto it then like the hand of a disordered dial it pointeth to any figure but that it should Then it attendeth upon our Revenge to undermine our enemy it teacheth our Lust to wait for the twilight it lackeyeth after our Ambition and helpeth us into the uppermost seat it is as active
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
forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee Beloved the Truth is our lot our inheritance Agnoscite haereditatem in Christo saith the Father Acknowledge and keep the inheritance ye have by Christ not Peace onely but Truth also which is the mother of Peace Let no temptation though as strong as the King as Money as Profit make us yield to the sale of it but let our answer be like that of Naboth God forbid that we should give away the inheritance of Christ God forbid that when the World proferreth fairly to us we should give it for a smile or when our Lusts solicit we should give it up to satisfie them or when the Persecutor breatheth nothing but terrour we should sell it to our fears and at every question that is asked us deny and forswear it God forbid we should sell it as bankrupts do their lands for want or as wantons do for pleasure or as cowards do for safety or as Esau did his birthright for hunger or as the Patriarchs sold Joseph for envy For this were to sell our selves for that which is not bread Isa 55.2 Let the Truth be like the Land of promise which might not be sold for ever Levit. 25.23 because it was the Lord's and so Truth is the Lords and to be destitute of the Truth Ephes 2.12 is to be without God in this world Let us therefore love the Truth and keep it and hold it fast and we shall find the merchandise thereof better then the merchandise of silver Prov. 3.14 and the gain thereof then fine gold Isa 23.8 The merchants hereof are princes and the most honourable traffickers of the earth even Kings and Priests unto God The Lawyers question to Christ was Revel 1.6 What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life Matth. 19.16 17. The answer whereunto is Keep the commandments that is being interpreted the Truth for they both interpret each other This is the price of eternity With this in our hearts in our inward parts but made manifest by our hands in our outward actions we draw near unto happiness in full assurance of faith With this we purchase peace here for it is one seal to the covenant of peace and it shall open the gates of heaven and give us possession of the kingdome of peace with the God of Truth and Peace for evermore Which God grant Amen The Twelfth SERMON MATTH V. 10. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven THis is the last Beatitude of the eight and looketh back upon all the rest For by this the Christian is brought to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his height and perfection being never nearer heaven then when he is trod under foot upon earth never more righteous then when he suffereth for righteousness never more glorious then in his bloud The first seven consist in action Where we may behold the Poor man fighting against the Pomp of the world the Mourner slighting of Pleasure the Meek subduing his Anger the Just man hungring and thirsting after righteousness feeding on it himself and commending it as the best food to others working it himself and promoting it in others the Merciful binding up wounds and scattering his bread the Pure man washing his hands in innocency and clensing his heart and the Peace-maker closing up every breach and tying the bond of love at peace with himself and all men drawing all men together as far as in him lieth to be of one mind and one heart This last which I now propose unto you consisteth in passion in a willingness and readiness of mind to suffer for all these And this is the seal and ratification of the rest an argument a protestation a demonstration that the rest were in us of a truth And as the first fit us for the last so this declareth and manifesteth the first Then we may know we are righteous when we are ready to suffer for righteousness sake then our Love is made known when we bear about with us the marks of the Lord Jesus For it is a higher degree of perfection to suffer for doing of good then it is to do it In the first we stand out against our selves in the last against our selves and others In the first we fight against our lusts and affections in the last against principalities and powers against fire and sword against the king of terrours Death it self Greater love then this hath no man John 15.13 that a man lay down his life for his friends And therefore Aquinas telleth us that this last Beatitude carryeth with it the perfection of all the rest For he that to nourish and uphold the rest is ready as S. Paul speaketh to spend himself and to be spent to lose his own head and life rather then one hair one tittle or Iota should fall from them doth manifest to God and proclaim to the world that he hath discovered beauty and glory and a heaven in them that his body and goods and life laid in the scales are found too light in comparison of them that they are of no use unless it be to make up a sacrifice to be offered for them When we are willing to part with our goods when we can leave the pleasures which last but for a season and go into the house of mourning when we can chase away our anger and make it set before the Sun when we can make righteousness our daily bread and long for it more then for the honey or the honey comb when we have melting and compassionate hearts when we have clean hearts unspotted of the world when we are at peace with all men and strive to make all men at peace with one another we have made a fair progress in the waies of righteousness But nondum ad sanguinem Hebr. 12.4 we have not yet resisted unto bloud When we can lay down our lives for righteousness sake when we can do that which is just and suffer for that we do then have we crowned the rest and fitted our own heads for a crown of glory He that can suffer what the rage of man or Devil can inflict rather then let go his righteousness he maketh it plain that it is his possession his inheritance his life fastned to his soul never to be divorced his honour when he is in disgrace his riches when he hath not a hole to hide his head in his tabernacle in a storm his delight in torment and when the sword shall part the soul from the body ascending up to heaven and accompanying it to the place of bliss For when the man is killed the Saint is gone home and is escaped to the holy hill In this relation and dependance doth this Beatitude stand with the rest If we be not righteous we cannot suffer for righteousness sake and if we be truly righteous Persecution is a
evidence or confirmation at all And therefore saith Tertullian Christ shewed not himself openly to the people after his resurrection ut fides non mediocri praemio destinata difficultate constaret that faith which is destined to a crown might not consist without some difficulty but commend it self by our obedience Nec tam veniam quà m praemium habet ignorare quod credis Not perfectly to know what thou believest doth so little stand in need of pardon that it will procure and bring with it a reward What obedience is it for a man to assent to this That the whole is greater then the part That the Sun doth shine or to any of those truths which are so visible to the eye that they force the understanding and leave there an impossibility â—o dissent But when the object is in part hidden and in part seen when the truth which I assent to hath more probability to speak for it and persuade it then can be brought to shake and weaken it John 20.29 then our Saviour himself pronounceth Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed Again it were in vain that Christ should thus visibly every day shew himself We have Moses and the Prophets We have the testimony of his Disciples who saw him ascend And if we will not believe them neither would we have believed if we had been with them on mount Olivet and seen him received up into the cloud For if we will not believe God's word we should soon learn to discredit his miracles though they were done before the Sun and the people God rained down Manna upon the Israelites For all this they sinned still and believed not his wondrous works The Pharisees saw Christ's miracles yet would have stoned him The people said He hath done all things well yet these were they who crucified the Lord of Life And the reason is plain For though Faith be an act of the Understanding yet it dependeth upon the Will Whence it cometh to pass that many men build up an opinion without any basis or foundation at all without any evidence nay against all evidence whatsoever Quot voluntates tot fides So many Wills as there are nay so many Humours so many Creeds there be For every man believeth as he will I dare appeal to men of the poorest observation and least experience What else is that which turneth us about like the hand of a dial from one point to another from one persuasion to a contrary What is that that wheeleth and circleth us about that we touch at every opinion and settle on none How cometh it to pass that I now tremble at that which anon I embrace though I have the same evidence that that is not Perjury to day which was so yesterday that that is Devotion and Zeal now which from my youth upwards to this present I branded with the loathsom name of Sacrilege How is it that my belief shifteth so many scenes and presenteth it self in so many several shapes Beloved it is the prevalency and victory of our Sensitive part over our Reason that maketh so many several so many contrary impressions in the mind Self-love and the Love of the world these frame our Creeds these plant and build these root out and pull down build up a belief and then beat it down to the ground and then set up another in its place For commonly we believe and disbelieve for the same reason We are Atheists for advantage and we are Christians for advantage We embrace the Truth for our profit and convenience and for our profit we renounce it and we make the same overture for heaven which we do for destruction will believe any thing for a truth that flattereth our humour and count that Truth it self a heresie that thwarteth it In a word that we believe not the Truth is not for want of evidence but for want of will Last of all the knowledge a Christian hath of these high mysteries can be no other but by Faith Novimus si credimus Christian dost thou believe Thou hast then been at mount Olivet and seen thy crucified Saviour ascend into heaven With S. Stephen thou hast seen the glory of God and Jesus standing at his right hand And though thou canst not argue or dispute though thou canst not untie every knot and resolve every doubt though thou canst not silence the Jew nor stop the mouth of the unbelieving Arheist yet qui credit satis est ei quod credat there is required of thee no more then to believe and to believe is salvation One man saith the Father hath faith another hath also skill and ability to stand out against all the world and comâ— forth a defender of the faith another is strong and mighty in faith but not so able with art and skill to maintain it The one is doctior non fidelior The one hath advantage and preeminence over the other in learning and knowledge but not in faith may be the deeper scholar but not the better Christian may be of necessary use titubantibus to men who doubt but not credentibus to those who stand fast in the faith and liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free Both have the same evidence and it may be as powerful in the one for practice as it is in the other for speculation and argument We know those who saw Christ suscitantem mortuos raising up men from the dead believed not when he believed and confessed him who saw him pendentem in ligno hanging on the cross Surgunt indocti Simple and unlearned men take the kingdom of heaven by violence when the great Rabbies stand below and make no approch Illi ratiocinentur nos credamus Let the wise and the scribe and the disputer of this world argue and doubt our rejoycing is in our faith Let them dispute we will fall down at this great sight Let them reason we will believe not onely that this Jesus was thus taken up but that he shall come again Which is another article of our Creed and our last part and must now serve onely for conclusion And it is good to conclude with comfort And VENIET He shall come again was not onely a Resolve but a Message of comfort by two Angels who stood by in albis in the colours of joy to comfort the Disciples who were now troubled and did stoop for heaviness of heart because Christ was taken away He shall come again Prov. 12.25 was that good word which did make their hearts glad made them return to Jerusalem as Christ ascended into heaven in Jubilo in triumph But now it may be a word of comfort yet not unto all that shall hear it That which is comfort to one may be a sentence of condemnation to another The VENIET He shall come again may open as the heavens to receive the one and as the gates of hell to devour the other For what is a promise to him that is not partaker of
presently be your master These bodies of ours are at the best but Gibeonites And if we come to terms of truce with them it must be but as Joshua did with the Gibeonites that they may be our bond slaves hewers of wood and drawers of water our Almoners to distribute our bounty our servants to bear our burthens to sweat to smart to pine away that the Soul may be in health For what was noted of Caligula is true of our Body It is the worst master and the best servant And as S. Paul at first was the greatest persecutor of the Gospel of Christ yet afterwards proved the greatest propagator and preacher of it so the Body that presseth down the soul may be disciplined and taught to lift it up to carry it along to act with it in the way of righteousness That Body which is a prison may be a theatre for the Mind to shew it self in all its proper operations That Body which is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sepulchre of a dead soul may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Temple wherein we may offer up sacrifices of a sweet-smelling savour unto the Lord. That Body in which we dishonoured God stood out against him and defied him may bow and fall down before him and glorifie him When the Body is subject to the Soul the Sense obedient to Reason and the Will of man guided by the supreme rule the Will of God not swerving either to the right hand or the left then every string is in its right place then every touch every action is harmonious then there is order which indeed is the glory of the God of Order In the third place as the Body is thus hewed and squared and made up a Temple of God so is it also made fit to be a sacrifice When it is purged and disciplined and subdued then is it best qualified for that lavacrum sanguinis to enter the laver of persecution and to be baptized with its own bloud and being now taken out of the mouth of the roaring Lion by the same power to tread him under foot nec solùm evadere sed devincere and not onely to escape his paws but to overcome him Let us phansie as we please an easie passage to the Tree of life we shall find there is a flaming sword still betwixt us and it Let us study to make our wayes smooth and plain to Happiness yet we are all designati martyres no sooner Christians then culled out and designed to Martyrdom And if there were no other prison yet the world it self is one and we are sometimes brought out to be spit upon sometimes as Samson to make men sport sometimes to be stripped and not pitied sometimes to the block or to the fire sometimes to fight with beasts with men more savage then they Our prison is not so much our custody as our punishment and we are in a manner thrown out of it whilest we are in it and whilest we are in it we suffer For to glorifie God is to speak the truth of him and to speak the truth of him many times costeth us our tongues and our lives John Baptist may speak many things to Herod and Herod may give him the hearing but if to the glory of God he tell Herod that truth which above all it concerneth him to know this at the first shall lose John his liberty and at the last his head Nay our Saviour Jesus Christ to discharge his message faithfully to bear witness to the Truth and glorifie his Father must be content to lay down his life The Truth of God by which he is most glorified like the Tyrant's fiery furnace scorcheth and burneth up those that profess it hominem martyrem excudit forgeth and fashioneth the man into a Martyr He that endureth to the end glorifieth God and is glorified himself Nec aliud est sustinere in finem quà m pati finem To endure to the end is nothing else but to endure the end We all speak it often Glory be to thee O Lord and the calves of our lips are a cheap and easie sacrifice For we speak it in the habitations of peace But should we hear the noise of the whip should Persecution rush in with a sword in her hand Deficient vires nec vox nec verba sequentur our heart would fail us and we should not have a word to speak for the Glory of God Would any take in Truth and Sword and all into his bowels Would we so glorifie God as to lay our Honour and Life in the dust We do not well consider what the Glory of God is and yet it is the language of the whole world and the worst of men speak it as well as the best the Hyeocrite loudest of all You may hear it from the mouth of the bloud-thirstty man and it is more heard then his Murther which maketh the greatest noise in the other world But it is not done in a word or a breath For then God might have a MAGNIFICAT from Hell Even the Devils may cry Jesus thou Son of the living God It is not to enter his house with praise and his courts with thanksgiving No not to comprehend with all Saints what is the length and heighth and depth and breadth of his Greatness to know that it is in breadth immense in height most sublime in length eternal in depth unfoordable No not to suck out ubera beata praeconii as Cassiodore calleth the Psalms those breasts which distill nothing but praise No A MAGNIFICAT an EXSULTATE a Triumph a Jubilee will not reach it Then we truly glorifie God in our body when we do it openly when Persecution rageth when the fire flameth in our face when the Sword is at our very breasts Then to speak his glory when for ought we know it may be the last word we shall speak to profess his name in the midst of a crooked and froward generation to defend his Truth before Tyrants and not be ashamed to be true Prophets amongst a thousand false ones to suffer for his name's sake this is to glorifie him in our body And these three Chastity Temperance Patience present our bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service For good reason it is that we should be chaste for he is pure that we should fast and afflict our bodies for it is a lesson which he taught us himself in our flesh that we should offer up our bodies for him whose body was nailed to the cross for us A chaste body a subdued body a body ready to be offered up is his Temple indeed the place where his glory dwelleth And now we pass to a fourth the Glorifying God by those outward Expressions which are commanded by the Spirit but performed by the Body alone glorifying of him by our Voice and Gesture and reverent Deportment by our outward Worship And indeed if the three first were made good we need not be
crop and harvest of our Devotion This is truly cum parvo peccato ad ecclesiam venire cum peccatis multis ab ecclesia recedere to bring some sins with us to Church but carry away more for fear of the smoke to leap into the fire for fear of coming too near to Superstition to shipwreck on Profaneness for fear of Will-worship not to worship at all like Haggards to check at every feather to be troubled at every shew and appearance to startle at every shadow and where GLORY TO THE LORD is engraven in capital letters to blot it out and write down SUPERSTITION I see I must conclude Beloved fly Idolatry fly Superstition you cannot fly far enough But withal fly Profaneness and Irreverence and run not so far from the one as to meet and embrace the other Be not Papists God forbid you should But be not Atheists that sure talk what we will of Popery is far the worse Do not give God more then he would have but be sure you do not give him less Why should you bate him any part who giveth you all Behold he breathed into you your Souls and stampt his Image upon them Give it him back again not clipt not defaced but representing his own graces unto him in all holiness and purity And his hands did form and fashion your Bodies and in his book are all your members written Let THE GLORY OF GOD be set forth and wtitten as it were upon every one of them and he shall exalt those members higher yet and make thy vile Body like to his most glorious body In a word Let us glorifie God here in soul and body and he shall glorifie both soul and body in the day of the Lord Jesus The Seventeenth SERMON PART I. 1 COR. XII 3. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost THat Jesus is the Lord was seen in his triumph at Easter made manifest by the power of his Resurrection The earth trembled the foundations of the hills moved and shook the graves opened at the presence of this Lord. Not the Disciples onely had this fire kindled in their hearts that they could not but say The Lord is risen but the earth opened her mouth and the Grave hers And now it is become the language of the whole world Jesus is the Lord. All this is true But we ask with the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What profit is it What profit is it if the Earth speak and the Grave speak and the whole World speak if we be dumb Let Jesus be the Lord but if we cannot say so he may and will be our Lord indeed but not our Jesus we may fall under his power but not rise by his help If we cannot say so we shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fall cross with him nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak the quite contrary If we cannot call him Lord then with the accursed Jew we do indeed call him Anathema we call the Saviour of the world an accursed thing Si confiteamur exsecramur If we confess him not we curse him And he that curseth Jesus needeth no greater curse We must then before we can be good Christians go to school and learn to speak not onely Abba Father but Jesus the Lord. And where now shall we learn it Shall we knock at our own breasts and awake our Reason to lead us to this saving truth Shall we be content with that light which the Laws and Customs of our Country have set up and so cry him up for Lord as the Ephesians did their Diana for company and sit down and rest our selves in this resolution because we see the Jew hated the Turk abhorred and Hereticks burned who deny it Shall we alienis oculis videre make use of other mens eyes and so take our Religion upon trust These are the common motives and inducements to believe it With this clay we open our eyes thus we drive out the dumb Spirit And when we hear this noise round about us that Jesus is the Lord our mouth openeth and we speak it with our tongue These are lights indeed and our lights but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deceitful My Reason is too dim a light and cannot shew me this great conjunction of Jesus and the Lord. Education is a false light and misleadeth the greatest part of Christians even when it leadeth them right For he that falleth upon the Truth by chance by this blind felicity erreth when he doth not erre having no better assurance of the Truth then the common vogue He walketh indeed in the right way but blindfold He embraceth the Truth but so as for ought he knoweth it may be a lye And last of all the greatest Authority on earth is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a faint uncertain and failing proof a windy testimony if it blow from no other treasury then this below No we must have a surer word then this or else we shall not be what we so easily persuade our selves we are We must look higher then these Cathedram habet in coelo Our Master is in heaven And JESUS IS THE LORD is a voice from heaven taught us saith the Apostle by the holy Ghost who is vicarius Christi as Tertullian calleth him Christ's Vicar here on earth and supplieth his place to help and elevate our Reason to assure and confirm our Education and to establish and ratifie Authority Would you have this dumb spirit dispossessed The Spirit who as on this day came down in a showre of tongues must do it Would you be able to fetch breath to speak The holy Ghost must spirare breathe into us the breath of spiritual life inable us by inspiration Would we say it we must teach it If we be ignorant of this the Apostle here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would have us to understand that No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost And now we have fitted our Text to the Time the Feast of Pentecost which was the Feast of the Law For then the old Law was given then written in tables of stone And whensoever the Spirit of the living God writeth this Law of Christ THAT HE IS THE LORD in the fleshly tables of our hearts then is our Pentecost the Feast of the holy Ghost then he descendeth in a sound to awake us in wind to move and shake us in fiery tongues to warm us and make us speak The difference is This ministration of the Spirit is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaketh far more glorious And as he came in solemn state upon the Disciples this day in a manner seen and heard so he cometh though not so visibly yet effectually to us upon whom the ends of the world are come Though not in a mighty wind yet he rattleth our hearts together Though no house totter
at his descent yet the foundations of our souls are shaken No fire appeareth yet our breasts are inflamed No cloven tongues yet our hearts are cleft asunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every day to a Christian should be the day of Pentecost the Feast of the holy Ghost We may now draw the lines by which we are to pass and take our Text into those material parts it will afford And they are but three 1. the Lesson we are to learn To say Jesus is the Lord 2. the Teacher the holy Ghost 3. his Prerogative he is not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our chief Instructer but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our sole Instructer Not onely none to him but none but him Without him all other helps are obstacles all directions deceits all instructions but noise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle None can say Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost Of these parts in their order In the first part we must consider first What the Lesson is secondly What it is to say it The Lesson is but short Jesus is the Lord but in it is comprised the sum of the whole Gospel Here is JESUS a Saviour and DOMINUS the Lord And as they are joyned together in one Christ so no man must put them asunder If we will have Christ our Saviour we must make him our Lord And if we make him our Lord he will then be our Saviour Now to hear of a Saviour is Gospel the best news we can hear Gospellers we all would be and when this trumpet soundeth then Hear O Israel is a good preface and we are willing to be attentive But the Lord is a word that startleth us that carrieth thunder with it calleth for our knee and subjection As if we were again at mount Sinai and the mountain smoking we remove our selves and stand afar off A Saviour is musick to every ear but a Lord is terrible In the first and best times of the Church the first and greatest labour was to win men from Idols to the living God to teach them to love that Name besides which there is no other name under heaven to be saved by No strife or variance then unless it were whose zele should be most fervent whose devotion most intensive who should most truly serve him as a Lord whom they believed to be their Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onely Piety and Profaneness divided the world But when the Church had stretched the curtains of her habitation and peace had sheathed the sword which had hewen down thousands that professed the Gospel and sealed their Profession with their bloud then arose hot debates and contentions about the Person of Christ his Godhead and his Lordship were called into question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DOMINUS DOMINICUS the Lord but half a Lord The word indeed S. Augustine himself had used but after retracted it Some would mak him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a mere man adopted to the participation of Divine honour Some contracted him some divided him like men who had found a rich Diamond and then fell to quarrel what it was worth In all ages Christ hath suffered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 12.3 the contradictions of sinners For every sinner standeth in a contradiction to Christ not onely Judas who betrayed him to the Jews and the Jews which crucified him but the sinner who for less then thirty pieces of silver selleth and betrayeth him every day Not onely the Heretick who denieth him to be the Lord but the Hypocrite who calleth him Lord Lord and doeth not his will the Wanton who betrayeth him for a smile the Covetous that giveth him up for bread for that which is not bread the Ambitious that selleth him for breath for air and the Superstitious that selleth him for his picture for an Idol which is nothing For we know saith S. Paul that an Idol is nothing in the world Every sin every sinner is a contradiction to this Lord. Not onely Judas and Christ and Pilate and Christ are terms contradictory but the rich man and Christ the profane person and Christ Not onely they that persecute him but even they that fight for him not onely they who say he is not the Lord but they who cry Lord Lord may stand at as great a distance from him as that which is not doth from that which hath a being For in this respect they are not they have no Entity at all They have nothing of Christ nothing of his Innocency his Meekness his Goodness And as an Idol is nothing in the world so are they nothing in the Church All the being they have is to be without God in this world which is far worse then not to be How many give to themselves flattering titles They call themselves the Regenerate the Elect the Children Servants Friends of this Lord when they are but contradictions to him as contradictory to him as Nothing is to Eternity as that which is worse then Nothing is to Goodness and Happiness it self To this day there are that make his Honour not their practice but dispute and whilest they are busie to set the bounds of his Dominion let Jesus slip and lose him in controversie Nor did ever Christian Religion receive more wounds then from them who stood up as champions in her defence who let go the Law in the bold inquisition after the Law-giver and forget the service which they owe by putting it too often to the question How he is the Lord. For the greatest errour is in our practice and as it is more dangerous so it is more universal Salvian will tell us of the Arians in his time Errant sed bono animo errant non odio sed affectu Dei They erred indeed but with a good mind not out of hatred but affection to Christ And though they were injurious to his Divine Generation yet they loved him as a Saviour and honoured him as a Lord. But we are more puzzled in agendis quà m in credendis in our Practicks then in our Creed and are sick rather in the heart then in the head Preach the Gospel we are willing to hear it and we kiss the lips that bring it But let Christ speak to us as a Lord Keep my commandments we are deaf and place all Religion in bringing the very principles of Religion into question and make that our argument which should be our rule Or if we give him the hearing the Good news hath swallowed up the Law the Gospel our Duty and Jesus the Lord. The truth is our Religion for the most part wanteth a rudder or stern to guide and carry us in an even course between Love and Fear between God's Goodness and his Power As Tully said Totum Caesarem so we Totum Christum non novimus We know not all of Christ When we hear he is a Saviour we fetter our selves the more And when we are told he is a Lord
furta fidei the thefts and pious depredations of Faith But that Faith should be idle or speechless or dead is contrary to its nature and proceedeth from our depraved dispositions from Love of the world and Love of our selves which can silence it or lull it asleep or bury it in oblivion Thus we may have Faith as if we had it not and use it as we should use the world as if we used it not or worse abuse it not believe and say it but believe and deny it not believe and be saved but believe and be damned For the Devil can haereticare propositiones make propositions which are absolutely true heretical Believe and be saved is as true as Gospel nay it is the Gospel it self but by his art and deceit many believe and are by so much the bolder in the wayes which lead unto Death believe Jesus to be the Lord and contemn him believe him to be a Saviour and upon presumption of mercy make themselves uncapable of mercy and because he saveth sinners will be such sinners as he cannot save because they believe he taketh away the sins of the world will harden themselves in those sins which he will not take away Many there be who do veritatem sed non per vera tenere maintain the Truth but by those wayes which are contrary to the Truth make that which should confirm Religion destroy Religion and their whole life a false gloss upon a good Text having a form of godliness but denying the power of it crying Jesus is the Lord but scourging him with their blasphemies as if he were a slave and fighting against him with their lusts and affections as if he were an enemy sealing him up in his grave as if he were not that Jesus that Saviour that Lord but in the Jews language that deceiver that blasphemer But this is a most broken and imperfect language And though we are said to believe it when we cannot believe it to have the habit of Faith when we have not the use of Reason and so cannot bring it forth into act as some Divines conceive though it be spoke for us at the Font when we cannot speak and though when we can speak it we speak it again and again as often almost at we speak Lord Lord though we gasp it forth with our last breath and make it the last word we speak yet all this will not make up the Dicere all this will not rise to thus much as to say JESUS IS THE LORD Therefore In the third place that we may truly say it we must speak it to God as God speaketh to us whose word is his deed who cannot lie who Numb 23.19 if he saith it will doe it if he speak it will make it good And as he speaketh to us by his Benefits which are not words but blessings the language of Heaven by his Rain to water the earth by his Wool to clothe us and by his Bread to feed us so must we speak to him by our Obedience by Hearts not hollow by Tongues not deceitful by Hands pure and innocent Our heart conceiveth and our obedience is the report made abroad And this is indeed LO QUI to speak out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make our works vocal and our words operative to have lightning in our words and thunder in our deeds as Nazianzene spake of Basil that not onely Men and Angels may hear and see and applaud us but this Lord himself may understand our dialect and by that know us to be his children and accept and reward us In our Lord and Saviour's Alphabet these are the Letters in his Grammar these are the Words Meekness and Patience Compassion and Readiness to forgive Self-denial and Taking up our cross This must be our Dialect We cannot better express our Jesus and our Lord then idiomate operum by the language of our works by the language of the Angels whose Elogium is They doe his will the Tongue of Angels is not so proper as their Ministery for indeed their Ministery is their Tongue by the language of the Innocents who confessed him to be the Lord not by speaking but by dying by the language of the blessed Martyrs who in their tumultuary executions when they could not be heard for noise were not suffered to confess him said no more but took their death on it And this is truly to say Jesus is the Lord. For if he be indeed our Lord then shall we be under his command and beck Not a thought must rise which he would controll not a word be uttered which he would silence not an action break forth which he forbideth not a motion be seen which he would stop The very name of Lord must awe us must possess and rule us must inclose and bound us and keep us in on every side Till this be done nothing is done nothing is said We are his purchase and must fall willingly under his Dominion For as God made Man a little World so hath he made him a little Commonwealth Tertullian calleth him Fibulam utriusque substantiae the Clasp or Button which tieth together two diverse substances the Soul and the Body the Flesh and the Spirit And these two are contrary one to the other saith S. Paul are carried diverse wayes the Flesh to that which is pleasing to it and the Spirit to that which is proportioned to it looking on things neither as pleasing nor irksom but as they may be drawn in to contribute to the perfection and beauty of the soul Gal. 5.17 They lust and struggle one against the other and Man is the field the theatre where this battel is fought and one part or other still prevaileth Many times nay most times the Flesh with her sophistry prevaileth with the Will to joyn with her against the Spirit against those inclinations and motions which the Word and the Spirit beget in us And then Sin taketh the chair the place and throne of Christ and is Lord over us reigneth as S. Paul speaketh in our mortal bodies If it say Go we go and if it say Come we come and if it say Doe this we doe it It maketh us lay down that price for dung with which we might purchase heaven See how Mammon condemneth one to the mines to dig for metalls and treasure for that money which will perish with him See how Lust fettereth another with a look and the glance of an eye and bindeth him with a kiss which will at last bite like a serpent See how Self-love driveth on thousands as Balaam did his beast on the point of the sword And thus doth Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6.12 Lord it and King it over us And in this bondage and slavery can we truly say Jesus is the Lord when he is disgraced deposed and even crucified again Beloved whilest this fighting and contention lasteth in us something or other will lay hold on us and draw us within its
on heaven and having an eye fixed and buried in the earth And that he is a Spirit of truth And it is the property of Truth to be alwayes like unto it self to change neither shape nor voice but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak the same things He doth not set up one Text against another doth not disannul his Promises in his Threats nor recall his Threats in his Promises doth not forbid Fear in Hope nor shake our Hope when he biddeth us fear doth not command Meekness to abate my Zele nor kindle my Zele to consume my Meekness doth not preach Christian Liberty to take off Obedience to Government nor prescribe Obedience to infringe and weaken my Chiristian Liberty Spiritus nusquam est aliud The holy Spirit is never different from it self never contradicteth it self And the reason why men who talk so much of the Spirit do fall into so gross and pernicious errours is from hence that they will not be like the Spirit in this but upon the beck of some place of Scripture which at the first blush and appearance looketh favourably on their present inclinations run violently on this side animated and posted on by those shews appearances which were the creatures of their Lust Phansie never looking back to other testimonies of Divine authority that army of evidences as Tertull. speaketh which are openly prest out marshalled against them which might well put them to an halt deliberation which might stay and drive back their intention and settle them at last in the truth which consisteth in a moderation O that men were wise but so wise as to know the Spirit before they engage him to look severely impartially upon their own designs as seriously consider the nature of the blessed Spirit before they voice him out for their abettor or make use of his name to bring their ends about Not to do this I will not say is the sin though perhaps I might but sure I am it is a great sin even Blasphemy against the holy Ghost But I must conclude Let us then as the Apostle speaketh examine our selves and bring our selves and our actions to trial Prove your selves and prove the Spirit Are your steps right and your wayes straight Do your actions answer the rule and still bear the same image and superscription Are you obedient to the Church and do you not think your selves wiser then your Teachers Are you reverent to God's word and receive it with all meekness without respect or distinction of those persons that convey it To come close to the Text Do you not divorce Jesus from the Lord riot it upon his mercy and then bow to him in a qualm and pinch of conscience Do you not fear the Lord the less for Jesus nor love Jesus the less for the Lord Are you as willing to be commanded as to be saved and to be his subjects as his children Are you thus qualified And are you still the same not making in your profession those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crooked and unsteddy bendings those staggerings of a drunken man now meek as Lambs and anon raging like Lions now hanging down the head and anon lifting up your horn on high at the altar forgiveness and in your closet revenge courting your brother to day and to morrow taking him by the throat Are you as ready to bow the knee in Devotion and stretch forth the hand in Charity as you are to incline your ear to a Sermon Are you in all things in subjection unto this Lord Is this proposition true and dare ye subscribe it with your bloud JESUS IS THE LORD Then have ye learnt this language well and are perfect Linguists in the Spirit 's dialect Then let the rainfall and the flouds come let the winds and waters of affliction beat thick upon us and the waves of persecution go over our soul let the windy sophisms of subtil disputants blow with violence to shake our resolution in the midst of all temptations assaults and encounters in the midst of all the busie noise the world can make we shall be at rest upon the rock even upon this fundamental truth That the Spirit is the best teacher and That Jesus is the Lord. In which truth the Spirit of truth confirm us all for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake The Nineteenth SERMON ISA. LV. 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near THE withdrawing of every thing from its original from that which it was made to be is like the drawing of a straight line which the further you draw it the weaker it is nor can it be strengthned but by being redoubled and brought back again towards its first point Now the Wiseman will tell us Eccles 7.29 That God hath made man upright that is simple and single and sincere bound him as it were to one point but he hath sought out many inventions mingled himself and ingendered with divers extravagant conceits and so run out not in one but many lines now drawn out to that object now to another still running further and further from the right and from that which he should have staid in and been united to as it were in puncto in a point and so degenerated much from that natural simplicity in which he was first made This our Prophet observeth in the people of Israel that they did their own wayes Chap. 58.13 Chap. 63.17 and erred from God's wayes run out as so many ill-drawn lines one on the flesh another on the world one on idolatry another on oppression every man at a sad distance from him whom he shoud have dwelt and rested in as in his Centre Therefore in every breath almost and passage of this Prophesie he seemeth to bend and bow them as it were a line back again to draw them from those objects in which they were lost and to carry them forward to the rock out of which they were hewen to strengthen and settle and establish them in the Lord. All this you have here abridged and epitomized Seek ye the Lord while he may be found The words are plain and need not the gloss of any learned interpreter If we look stedfastly upon the opening of them we shall behold the heavens open and God himself displaying his rayes and manifesting his beauty to draw men near unto himself to allure and provoke them to seek him teaching dust and ashes how to raise it self to the region of happiness mortality to put on immortality and our sinful nature to make its approches to Purity it self that where he is we may be also The parts are two 1. A Duty enjoyned Seek ye the Lord. 2. The Time prescribed when we must seek him while he may be found But because the Object is in nature before the Act and so to be considered we must know what to seek before we can seek it and because we are ready to mistake and to think that we
For a Debt and a Forfeiture may be paid at last and if the debtor be not able to pay he may give his service his body some satisfaction and some satisfaction is better then none But he that committeth Sin is the servant of sin for ever and can never redeem it if for no other reason yet for this alone that he did commit it For not a myriad of vertues can satisfie for any one breach of our obligation and no hand but that of Mercy can cancell and make it void If we be in debt with God nothing can quit us but forgiveness And therefore we pray Forgive us our debts And so we fall upon our next part What is meant by Remission of sins or Forgiveness of debts And here we lie prostrate before the throne of God and desire forgiveness And what that is we cannot be to seek if we consider those judicial terms which the Scripture useth For we read of a a 1 Cor. 4.4 Judge of a b 2 Cor. 5.10 judgment seat of a c Rom. 2.15 witness of a d Rom. 3.19 conviction of a e Col. 2.14 hand-writing of an f 1 John 2.1 Advocate and in this Petition our sins are delivered in the notion of debts So that when we pray for the forgiveness of our sins we do as it were stand at the bar of God's justice and plead for mercy acknowledge the hand-writing but beseech him to cancel it confess our sins but sue out our pardon that we may be justified from those things from which by the Law we could not and though we are not yet for his sake who is our Surety and Advocate to count us righteous and pronounce us innocent This is all we learn in Scripture concerning Remission of sins Et quicquid à Deo discitur totum est as the Father speaketh That which we learn from God is all we can learn But as the Philosophers agreed there was a chief good and happiness which man might attain unto but could not agree what it was so it hath fallen out with Christians They all consent that there is mercy with God that we may be saved they make Remission of sins an article of their Creed but then they rest not here but to the covering of their sins require a garment of righteousness of their own thread and spinning to the blotting out of their sins some bloud and some virtue of their own and to the purging them out some infused habit of herent righteousness and so by their interpretations and additions and glosses they leave this Article in a cloud then which the day it self is not clearer As Astronomers when a new star appeareth in their Hemisphere dispute and altercate till that star go out and remove it self out of their sight so have we disputed and talked Justification and Remission of sins almost out of sight For there is nothing more plain and even without rub or difficulty nothing more open to the eye and yet nothing at which the quickest apprehensions have been more dazled Not to speak of the heathen who counted it a folly to believe there were any such thing and could not see how he that killed a man should not be a homicide or he no adulterer who had defiled a woman quibus melius fide quam ratione respondetur whom we may give leave to reason whilest we believe It hath been the fault of Christians when the truth lay in their way to pass it by or leap over it and to follow some phansies and imaginations of their own How many combates had S. Paul with the false brethren who would bring in the observation of the Ceremonial and Moral Law as sufficient to salvation How did he travel in birth again of the Galatians that Christ might be truly formed in them And yet how many afterwards did Galaticari as Tertullian speaketh were as foolish as the Galatians How many made no better use of it then to open a gap and make a way to let in all licentiousness and profaneness of life nay went so far as to think it most necessary as if Remission of sins were not a medicine to purge but a provocative to inerease sin Nor was this doctrine onely blemished by those monsters of men who sate down and consulted and did deliberately give sentence against the Truth but received some blot and stain from their hands who were the stoutest champions for it who though they saw the Truth and did acknowledge it yet let that fall from their pens which posterity after took up to obscure this doctrine and would not rest content with that which is as much as we can desire and more then we can deserve Remission of sins Hence it was that we were taught in the Schools That Justification is a change from a state of unrighteousness to a state of righteousness That as in every motion there is a leaving of one term to acquire another so in Justification there is expulsion of sin and infusion of grace Which is most true in the concrete but not in the abstract in the Justified person but not in Justification which is an act of God alone From hence those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those unsavoury and undigested conclusions of the Church of Rome That to justifie a sinner is not to pronounce but to make him just That the formal cause of Justification is inherent sanctity That our righteousness before God consisteth not onely in remission of sins That we may redeem our sins as well as Christ we from temporal as he from eternal pain And then this Petition must run thus FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES that is Make us so just that we may need no forgiveness Forgive us the breach of the Law because we have kept the Law Forgive us our sins for our good works Forgive me my intemperance for my often fasting my incontinency for my zeal my oppression for my alms my murther for the Abby and Hospital which I built my fraud my malice my oppression for the many Sermons I have heard A conceit which I fear findeth room and friendly enterteinment in those hearts which are soon hot at the very mery mention of Popery or Merit In a word they say and unsay sometimes bring in Remission of sins and sometimes their own Satisfaction and so set S. Paul and their Church at such a distance that neither St. Peter himself nor all the Angels and Saints she prayeth to will be able to reconcile them and make his Gratis and their Merits meet in one It is true every good act doth justifie a man so far as it is good and God so far esteemeth them holy and good and taketh notice of his graces in his â—â—â—ldren he registereth the Patience of Job the Zeal of Phinehas the Devotion of David not a cup of cold water not a mite flung into the Treasury but shall have its reward But yet all the works of all the Saints in the world cannot satisfie
light to stand up against our helps and to disgrace that for which the Saints of God have offered up the calves of their lips Hebr. 13.15 the sacrifice of praise from generation to generation But when we have no peace within we trouble all that is about us When the love of our selves and of the world hath gained a throne and power within us it presently raiseth a tempest distracteth and maddeth our passions and sendeth them abroad our Anger on that we should love our Fear on that we should embrace our Sorrow on that which should make us glad our Anger on the Temple whilest our Love is carried with a swinge to the gold of the Temple And then what an unruly thing is Phansie in men who talk much and know little in men of narrow minds and heavy understandings in men who have bound their reason to the things of this world and not improved it by the knowledge of the truth What Comedies and Tragedies will it make what ridiculous but withall sad effects will it produce If this humour were general as it is in too-too many within a while we should not know where or when or what to pray we shall not know how to move our selves how to stand or go or kneel we should make some scruple and be troubled to take up a straw we should fall out with others and disagree with our selves we should to day build a Church and within a while pull it down and shortly after set it up again we should kneel to day and stand to morrow and every day change our postures and appear in as many shapes as Proteus we should do and undo and every day do what we should not do be Antipodes to all the world and which is strange to our selves also and so having been every thing at last turn Apostates first oppose the private spirit to Scripture and then as some have done of late deny it to be the word of God first wrest and abuse it and then take it quite away These are the common operations of a sick and distempered brain the evaporations of a corrupt heart Nor can we look for grapes from thorns nor for figs from thistles Matth. 7.16 It cannot be expected that things sacred should escape the hands of Violence and Profaneness till men begin to love Religion for it self and cease to think every thing unlawful that may be spoken against till they have learnt that totum Christiani that which maketh a Christian indeed learnt to subdue their affections to the truth and not to draw down the truth to be subject to their unquiet and turbulent passions When true devotion hath once purified and warmed our hearts we shall not trouble our selves or others with low and groundless questions concerning God's house Though he be indeed every where yet we shall think him more present here then in any other place more ready to shine upon us to distill his blessings as dew upon us in his own house then in our closet or shop more ready to favour the devotion of many assembled together then of one single person and yet hearing and favouring both Or if we do not think the Lord more present here then elsewhere yet we shall demean our selves as if we did think so we shall use all reverence as in the sight of God before vvhom vve present our selves vve shall use all reverence as being before the holy Angels What you will say do Angels come to Church Yes They did in St. Paul's time And certainly they do still unless we chase them away with our irreverence One argument that the Apostle useth why women should be veiled and covered in the Church and men uncovered is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the Angels 1 Cor. 11.10 Nor need we strain and study for an interpretation and say he meant the Pastours of the Church because in Scripture sometime they are called Angels Hagg. 1.13 Mal. 2.7 For this is too much forced and maketh the reason less valid and putteth the Veil upon the Man as well as the Woman Nor can we understand the evil Spirits Psal 78.49 Matth. 25.41 Rev. 12.7 9. Hebr 1.14 which are no where called Angels but with addition Nor can I see any reason why we may not understand the holy Angels to be there meant For they are ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation then doubtless they minister to us in the Church assoon as in any other place They rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner Luke 15. ◠10 then doubtless they rejoyce also at our prayers and praises in the house of the Lord. But say some the Apostle in that place exhorteth women to imitate the reverent and modest behaviour of the Angels Isa 6.2 who are said to cover their faces before the throne of God But then this again would concern Men as well as Women All will be plain if we consider that at that time it was a received custome for women to be veiled and men uncovered in the Church 1 Cor. 11.7 13. The words are plain A man indeed ought not to cover his head and Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered If the women therefore will not be covered because of men 11. let them do it because of the Angels who are sent by Christ into the congregations of Christians to take care of them to help them in every occasion and withall to observe whether they behave themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 14.40 decently and in order Here they are present in the name of their Lord here they stand as witnesses of what is done To them as to their Lord that sent them modest and reverent behaviour is pleasing boldness profaness and disorder hateful As they do their duty in ministring to us so they rejoyce to see us doe ours in serving God Why should they be grieved who are so ready to attend on us Therefore it will concern Women not to neglect or alter the custome of the Church lest by so doing they give offense to the blessed Angels who are great lovers of decency and order and make them who would minister to them to become witnesses against them upon the beck of Majesty executioners of judgement upon their heads This I take to be the meaning of the Apostle in that place Reverence is due to the house of God not onely because God is present there Ye shall reverence my sanctuarie Levit. 19.30 I am the Lord but because the Angels are present there also who are the ministers of the God of order and rejoyce in our order and are offended at the contrary Further yet a reverent deportment in the Church is necessary in respect of men Some men by their severity and eminency in virtue have obtained to themselves this privilege and prerogative that no man dareth do any evil or undecent thing in their presence Seneca saith
the glory of that to encourage us in the way Righteousness is the way and we must first know what it is before we can seek it And it is not at such a distance that we cannot easily approch it It is not in heaven that we should ask what wings we should take to flie unto it neither is it beyond the sea that we should travel for it Non nos per difficiles ad beatam vitam quaestiones vocat Deus saith Hilary God doth not hide himself and bid us seek him he doth not make darkness a pavilion about that Righteousness which he biddeth us seek but he hath brought it near unto us and put it into our very mouths and hearts and as he brought immortality and eternal life to light so he hath also made the way unto it plain and easie so that no mist can take it from our eyes but that which we cast our selves no night can hide it from us but that which our lusts and affections make It is a good observation of Seneca the Philosopher Nullius rei difficilis inventio nisi cujus hic unus inventae fructus est invenisse God hath so settled and ordered the course of things that there is nothing very hard to find out but that of which after all our labour we can reap no other fruit but this that we can say we have found it out Quod supra nos nihil ad nos as Socrates was wont to say Those curious speculations which are above us and out of our reach commonly pay us back nothing for that study and weariness of the flesh which we undergo in the pursuit of them but a bare sight and view of them which may bring some delight perhaps but no advantage to our minds As Favorinus in Gellius well replied to a busie and talkative Critick Abundè multa docuisti quae quidem ignorabamus scire haud sanè postulabamus Sir you have taught us too too many things which in truth we are ignorant of but of that nature that we did not desire to know them because they were of no use at all So many questions there have been started in Divinity which have no relation to righteousness or to the kingdom of God which we study without profit and may be ignorant of without danger And when men stand so long upon these they grow faint and weak in the pursuit of Righteousness lose the sight of that which they should seek whilest they seek that which profitteth not as the painter who had spent his best skill in painting of Neptune failed in the setting forth of the majesty of Jupiter In hoc studio multa delectant pauca vincunt as the Philosopher speaketh In the study of Divinity we may meet with many things which may touch our thoughts with some delight but the number of those is not great which will forward and promote us to our end Righteousness is the object here the way and who understandeth it not whose mouth is not full of it The very enemies of Righteousness know it well enough and bear witness to it but through the corruption of mens hearts it cometh to pass that as sometimes we mistake one object for another set up Pleasure for an Idol and Mammon for a God so we do many times not so much mistake as wilfully misinterpret that which is proposed unto us as most fit and worthy of our desires When the duty is hard and frighteth us with the presentment of some difficulty proposeth something which our flesh and sensual appetite distasteth and flyeth from then malumus interpretari quà m exsequi we had rather descant and make a commentary upon it then fully express it in the actions of our life and conversation As the Etrurian in the Poet bound living and dead bodies together so do we joyn that Righteousness which is indeed the way to the Kingdom of God to our dead and putrified conceits to our lukewarmness to our acedy and sloth nay to our sacriledge and impiety to our disobedience and want of natural affection to our high contempt of God's Majesty Or as Procrustes delt with his guests upon his bed of iron we either violently stretch it out or cut it shorter in some part or other that if our actions cannot apply themselves to it it may be brought down and racked and forced to apply it self to our actions If Righteousness excludeth Superstition yet it commendeth Reverence and even Idolatry it self shall go under that name It forbiddeth the love of the world but it biddeth us labour with our hands and this labour shall commend our tormenting care and solicitude and make Covetousness it self a vertue It dulleth the edge of revenge and maketh my anger set before the Sun but it kindleth my zeal and that fire shall consume the adversary Thus we can be righteous and Idolaters we can be righteous and Covetous we can be righteous and yet wash our feet in the bloud not of our enemies but our Brethren we can be what we will and yet be righteous and that is Righteousness not which the wisdom of God hath laid before us as our way but that which flesh and bloud shall set up with this false inscription Holiness to the Lord. And our weakest nay our worst endeavours though they stretch beyond the line or though they will not reach home but come far too short yet we call them by this name and they must go for Righteousness Not the way we should but the way we do walk in though it be out of the way though it lead to death that is the way We can take God's honour from him and do it with reverence we can be covetous and not love the world we can breathe forth the very gall of bitterness and spit it in our brother's face and yet be meek So what Hilary speaketh in another but the like case is most true Multi fidem ipsi potiùs constituunt quà m accipiunt Many there be even too many even the most who rather frame a religion to themselves and call it Righteousness then receive one What they will is Righteousness and what is Righteousness they will not cùm sapientiae haec veritas sit interdum sapere quae nolis when this is the greatest part of true wisdom to be wise against our selves against the wisdom of our flesh to condemn our appetite and our phansie of extreme folly when they put in for their share and would divide with righteousness To be wise against this wisdom is to be wise unto salvation to make haste to that object not which flattereth our sense but which is most proportioned to our reason to seek that which we would not have the streight and narrow and rugged way which leadeth to this Kingdom to seek the Truth though it imprison us and bind us to a stake Temperance though it wage war with our appetite Chastity though it shut up our eyes Self-denial though it take us from our selves and in
that deceived me every man vvould be ready to say Ah my brother or Ah his glory but vvhen it is I my self deceive my self when I my self am the cheater and the fool and never think my self vviser then vvhen I beguile my self it is a thing indeed to be lamented with tears of bloud but yet it deserves no pity at all Nulla est eorum habenda ratio qui se conjiciunt in non necessarias angustias saith the Civilian The Law helps not those vvho entangle themselves with intricate perplexities nor doth the light of the Gospel shine comfortably upon those vvho vvill not see it It is a true saying He that will not be saved must perish Dyed Abner as a fool dyeth saith David Doth this man erre as a fool erreth or is he deceived for want of understanding or because of the remoteness and distance of the object Then our Saviour himself will plead for him John 9. If you were blind you should have no sin But in the Self-deceiver it is not so His hands are not bound nor his feet tyed in fetters of brass His eye is clear but he dimms it The object is near him even in his mouth and his heart but he puts it from him The law is quick and lively but he makes it a dead letter He turns the day into darkness gropeth at noon as at midnight and turns the morning it self into the shadow of death We have a worthy Writer who himself was Ambassadour in Turky that hath furnisht us with a polite narration of the manners of the people and the customes of the places Amongst the rest he tells us what himself observed that when the Turks did fall to their cups and were resolved to fill themselves with such liquor as they knew would intoxicate and make them drunk they were wont to make a great and unusual noyse with which they called down their Soul to the remotest part of their bodies that it might be as it were at distance and so not conscious of their brutish intemperance Beloved our practice is the very same When we venture upon some gross notorious sin which commends and even sanctifieth it self by some profit or pleasure it brings along with it we straight call down our Reason that it may not check us when we are reaching at the prey nor pull us back when we are climbing to honour nor work a loathing in us of those pleasures which we are drinking down as the ox doth water we say unto it Art thou come to blast our riches and to poyson our delights Shall we now part with the wedge of gold shall we fly the harlots lips as a cocatrice Shall we lay our honour in the dust Shall every thing which our soul loveth be like the mountain which must not be toucht Avoid Reason not now Reason but Satan to trouble and torment us What have we to do with thee Thou art an offense unto us a stone of offense a scandal And now if there be a Dixit Dominus against us if the Lord say it he doth not say it if a Prophet speak it he prophesies lyes if Christ speak it we bid him Depart from us for we will be sinful men And hence it comes to pass that our errour is manifest and yet not seen that our errour is known but not acknowledged that our errour is punisht but not felt Hence it comes to pass that we regard not the truth we are angry with the truth we persecute the truth that admonitions harden us that threatnings harden us that judgments harden us that both the sunshine and the storm when God shines upon us and when he thunders against us we are still the same knowing enough but basely prostituting our knowledge and experience to the times and our lusts false to God and our selves and so walking on triumphantly in the errours of our life dreaming of eternity till at last we meet with what we never dreamt of death and destruction Read 2 Kings 8. and see the meeting of Elisha and Hazael The Text saith v. 11 12 13. The man of God wept And when Hazael askt him Why weepeth my Lord the Prophet answered Because I know the evil that thou wiâ—t do to the children of Israel Their strong holds thou wilt set on fire and their young men thou wilt slay with the sword and wilt dash their children and rip up their women with child What did Hazael now think Even think himself as innocent as those children What is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing Should the same weeping Prophet have wept out such a Prophesie to some of after ages and have told them Thus and thus you shall do actions that have no savour of Man or Christian actions which the Angels desire not to look upon and which Men themselves tremble to think on would they not have replied as Hazael did Are we Dogs and Devils that we should do such things And yet we know such things have been done I might here enlarge my self and proceed to discover yet a further danger For Errour is fruitful and multiplies it self It seldom ends where it begins but steals upon us as the Night first in a twilight then in thicker darkness Onely the difference is it is commonly night with us when the Sun is up and in our hemisphere We run upon Errour when Light it self is our companion and guide First we deceive our selves with some gloss some pretense of our own Our passion our lust our own corrupt heart deceiveth us And anon our Night is dark as Hell it self and we are willing to think that God may be of our mind well pleased with our errour Now against this we must set up the Wisdom of God Be not deceived It is not so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is not mocked saith our Apostle This I call'd the Vindication of Gods Wisdom my second part Of which in the next place The Nine and Twentieth SERMON PART II. GALAT. VI. 7. Be not deceived God is not mocked For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap HAving done with the first part of the Text a Dehortation from Errour in these words Be not deceived I proceed to the second which I call a Vindication of God's Wisdome in the next words God is not mocked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an undeniable position The eyes of the Lord saith the Prophet 2 Chron. 16.9 run to and fro throughout the whole earth Deus videt and Deus judicat are common notions which we receive è censu naturae out of the stock and treasury of Nature there being such a sympathy betwixt these principles and the mind of Man that so far forth as the acknowledgment of these will bring us the soul is naturaliter Christiana a Christian by nature it self without the help of Grace There was no man ever who acknowledged a God but gave him a bright and piercing eye This is
Father doth of Idolatry It is summus seculi reatus tota causa judicii It is a vocal crying sin which like the importunate Widow in the Gospel will not suffer the Judge to rest till he do justice This filleth the world with the evil of sin and of punishment not so much a firm opinion that God may be deceived and mocked as a bold presumption by which we make him such a God as we would have him a God that may be trifled with a God that like the Heathen Gods may be taken by the beard that those fierce astonishing speeches which we find in Scripture are but words of art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoken to affright men rather then words of intended truth which will bring effect according to their natural meaning as indulgent fathers many times threaten their children with much hard language which they never intend to make good And this conceit of Gods facility and easiness that he so quickly admits of excuse is the principal ground and occasion of all the sins in the world To make it plainer yet and point out to some particulars in which we mock God when we imagine no such thing and so to conclude this point I cannot imagine when I consider that Majesty which no mortal can comprehend that Dust and Ashes the works of Gods hand should be able to put a trick upon him and mock him This were to set his creature in his Throne and place extreme Weakness and Folly above Wisdome it self Psal 50. Thou verily thoughtest I was like unto thee saith God to the Hypocrite It was but a thought a wavering imagination which enters and goes out and never remains at one stay God is not cannot be mocked For if he had believed there was a God Diagoras himself would not have mockt him nor ever thought it possible But the truth is as the relation stands betwixt God and his creature Man is said to do that which he doth not which he cannot do to fight with him who is omnipotent to dispute with him whom we cannot answer one of a thousand to contend to grieve him who cannot be moved to weary him to press him as a cart is with sheaves who by his word made and by his word beareth all things who is to himself an everlasting sabbath and rest Non ille minùs peccat cui sola deest facultas saith the Casuist We do not do it the less because we cannot do it because we vvould do it if we could Ipsa sibi imputatur voluntas saith the Father To vvill it is to do it To look upon a woman and lust after her is to commit adultery yet the vvoman as chast as before So God cannot be mockt yet vve may mock him As in the rape of Lucrece two are in the fact yet but one as Augustine speaks committed adultery For if Tully could truly say that to resist the Law of Nature and to vvalk contrary to that light which vve brought vvith us into the vvorld is nothing less then Gigantum more bellare cum Diis to vvage vvar vvith the Gods as the Giants did then may vve as truly affirm that to dissemble vvith God to flatter him vvith our lips vvhen our heart is far from him to fall down before him in a complement vvhen vve break his laws to act our part as upon a stage to vvish he had no eye to study to believe it is to mock him To be more particular yet For yet you may ask vvherein vve mock him For vve are very slow and unwilling to believe any evil of our selves and are hardly induced to think vve ever did that vvhich vve do every day Mock God! nay God forbid And that God forbid that prayer Mal. 3.7 is but a mock God calls to the Jews Return unto me and they reply Wherein shall we return as if they never had been averse from him but had been alwayes vvith him even in his bosome And vers 8. Ye have robbed me saith God and they say Wherein have we robbed thee as if they vvere utterly ignorant of any such matter but had been vvholly imployed in bringing tiths into his store-house and meat into his house They forsook him they robb'd him and yet are innocent They did and did not and God himself is made no better then a columniator So that this position is true in this sense also God is not mocked for no man thinks no man vvill acknovvledge no man dares profess that he mocks him But vve cannot thus shake off the guilt nor put it from us For vvhen vve do those things to God vvhich vve do to men vvhen vve mock them this is enough to put us into the seat of Mockers and enroll us amongst the Mockers of God When Laban gave Jacob blear-ey'd Leah for beautiful Rachel Gen. 29.25 it vvas a mock What hast thou done saith Jacob did not I serve thee for Rachel why hast thou mocked me When Micah laid an image in the bed for David and said he was sick it vvas a mock For Saul said unto Micah why hast thou deceived me When God requires justice and righteousness and we bring him vain oblations when he calls for the heart and we lift up our voice when he calls for a working fighting conquering faith and we give him a dead faith when God calls for Faith which is a stone a corner-stone to build that Obedience upon which shall reach to Heaven and we make Faith a pillow to sleep on and sin the more securely because we believe when God bids us strengthen our hands that hang down and we open our ears when God bids us Vp and be doing and we count all done in Hearing when God calls for a New creature and we return him circumcision and uncircumcision empty sacraments and lazy formalities Deut. 15. when God requires a sacrifice without blemish and we offer up that which is lame or blind when God requires perfection and we give him our weak blind halting endeavours when God seeks a Man and we give him a picture Psal 35.16 what are we but hypocritical mockers For what are Hypocrites but Players the Zanias of Religion whose art it is to deceive who are so long conversant in outward performances that they rest in them as in the end of the Law are content with shews and expressions and at last think there is no service no religion but in these As the poor Spartan travailing into another country and seeing the beams and posts of houses squared and carved which he had never seen before asked if trees did grow so in those countries So these mockers of God these formal professours having been long acquainted with a form of Godliness sqared and carved and set out with shew and advantage considering what eloquence there is in an attentive Ear a turned Eye an Angels Tongue a forced Sigh to win applause and make them glorious in the eyes of men fall at last upon this
Gospel And the Sacrament of the Lords Supper is a two-peny Feast Our comfort it is that it is not so it is but like it at the most And it is not like it neither This likeness is not in truth but opus intellectûs a resemblance made up in the brain of those whom all the world knows are none of the wisest unless it be in their generation Sure every gesture that will bear a resemblance is not Popery It is not so because we have so drawn it in our phansie because we make it so and because we will have it so for our own ends For thus every man may be an Idolater whom we mean to strip John 7.24 our Saviours counsel is Judge not according to the appearance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the face and countenance of things For how easie is it to paint and present them as we please Many times an evil eye makes an evil face puts horrour upon Religion it self and where Devotion shines out in the full beauty of holiness draws a Pope or a Devil As Charity covers a multitude of sins so doth Malice cover a multitude of vertues with the black mantle of Vice she covers Devotion with Phrensie Honesty with Folly and Reverence with Superstition and that onely is seen which may at once offend and delight the mocker O what a scandal is a College or a Church what an abomination are holy things when they are sought for as a prey But commonly Scoffers have ill luck for though they would hide themselves in noyse and formality yet are they seen well enough in their furious march to the Honors and Wealth of this world and can bring but slender evidence to confirm what they say Though they lift up their voice and speak never so loud They are drunk This is superstition These are Idolaters When this is spoken they have no more to say and they need not say more For if they be backt with Power though Reason and Argument forsake them you shall be forced to take them at their word Quà m sapiens argumentatrix videtur sibi ignorantia humana Good God! what subtile disputers do Ignorance and Malice account themselves for these are disputers of this world where Phansie goes for Reason Humour for the Spirit and a Scoff for an impregnable argument where we see ridicula potiùs quà m firma tela weapons to be laught at rather then to be feared rather bulrushes then spears syllogismes truly destructive which may ruine us indeed but can never convince us may shake our estates and lives but not our faith These are drunk This is Superstition What should we say even lay our hand upon our mouth with Job and proceed no further We see here S. Peter takes no great pains to avoid these scoffers he useth no convincing demonstrative argument but onely a probabili He tells them it was not probable they should be drunk so soon at such a feast at the third houre of the day The Philosopher will tell us Non est disputandum cum quovis every man is not to be disputed with For that which should free some from err our confirms them in it Nothing will be restrained not any thing will be cut off from them which they imagine to do When you undertake Pertinacy you do but beat the air Nazianzene observes that Christ himself did not give an answer to every question We will then answer the scoffers of these times as S. Peter did these here with a non probabile It is not probable that a reverent gesture or some few ceremonies should reconcile him to Rome whose doctrine is orthodox that a knee make him superstitious who is devout in his heart It is more probable that it is Reverence rather then Superstition Devotion rather then Idolatry Or if it were not apparently probable yet where no evidence is brought to the contrary there true Christian Charity which is no scoffer we may be sure is very active to make and frame such probabilities Sperat omnia credit omnia saith the Apostle if she be not certain for the best she will not be certain and positive for the worst if she be not certain yet she will hope and believe that all things are well Nor will she cry Superstition at the sight of reverence nor Idolatry at the mention of an Altar Charity that never fails will never fall at the bowing of a knee nor will ever conclude so absurdly These men fall down and worship therefore they are idolatrous no more then thus These men are full of new wine when at that time there was none to fill them To conclude then These scoffers are dead and Lucian is dead and Julian is dead and are gone to their place yet the Spirit breathes still and the Church of Christ stands firm upon the same foundation The blessed Spirit though he be grieved yet cannot be destroyed though he be quenched yet it is but in scoffers Magna vis veri impelli potest exstingui non potest Great is the Truth and at last it prevaileth you may oppress it you cannot exstinguish it All the power and rage and malice of bloudy hypocrites can never so chase it away but it will find some humble and devout hearts to dwell and rest in As Fire cast into the Water is streightway put out saith Tully so scoffs and detraction and wilfull and malicious misinterpretations soon vanish into nothing Crepitant solvuntur These hailstones rattle for a while on the house-top and make a noise and are then dissolved into air Suppose a man of fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is S. Chrysostoms resemblance should fall into a field of stubble of flax or straw he can receive no hurt but must needs shew his force and activity and consume whatsoever is combustible before him Shall Flax or Straw stand up against Fire This man of fire cannot suffer by such thin materials which are as fewel to nourish and uphold him What can they do If they venture they destroy themselves Beloved every Apostle of Christ every true Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of fire Scoffs are but straw Detraction but as flax which coming too near him can consume themselves or as Thorns crackle a while and make a noise in this fire and no more And when the day of lustration shall come when that day shall come which is spectaculum as Tertullian calls it the great spectacle of the world when all things shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked and anatomized as a beast cut down the back then all thoughts shall be discovered all veils removed all visours pluckt off Then spiritual Joy shall not be madness the Breathings of the Spirit shall not be the ebullitions of men distempered with wine nor true Honesty folly nor Reverence superstition Then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato calls it or rather this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This unusual behaviour of wise and spiritual men which is so
happiness He taketh not away the first but he doth establish the second Briefly then we may observe these two parts 1. the Womans attestation 2. Christ's reply the Womans dictor and Christ's In the first Wisdome is justified of one of her children against all the gainsayings of the Jews and contradiction of sinners to the second Wisdome her self pointeth out to true happiness openeth her treasuries to all who will receive her instructions and proclaimeth an everlasting jubilee to those who hear the word of God and keep it In the handling of the former part we shall pass by these steps First we will point out the Occasion of the speach As he spake these things it came to pass Next we will take notice of the Person who took hold of the occasion and made so good use both of Christ's miracles and doctrine We find no name at all but some upon no ground conjecture that it was Martha's maid The Text saith no more but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain woman of the company but one of a multitude and that an unknown obscure woman not those learned clerks the Scribes and Pharisees Thirdly we shall propose to your Christian imitation the vehemencie and heat of her Affection Her heart was hot within her and the fire burned and at last it brast forth into a pure flame and she spake with her tongue She did not conceal and suppress her thoughts nor whisper them into the ear of a stranger but lift up her voice that the deadliest enemies of Christ even the Pharisees might hear Lastly we will weigh and consider the speach it self Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps that thou hast sucked and tender it to you as near as we can in its full weight And all these particulars will amount to this sum That a poor silly woman saw more of the excellencie of Christ then did all the Doctors and Masters of Israel These materials our first part affordeth us to work upon Now as the Woman from what she had heard and seen took occasion to magnifie Christ so from her affection and free testimony Christ taketh occasion further to instruct her Blessed is the womb that bare thee saith the Woman Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it saith Christ Which maketh our second part Wherein we shall consider 1. the Form 2. the Matter and Substance of the words For the Form some would have the words adversative others meerly affirmative Some place them in opposition to the Womans affection Others too jealous of that honour which is given to the blessed Mother of Christ make them a plain and naked affirmation willing rather that Christ's words should want of their weight then that one jote or tittle of the Womans honour should fall to the ground I will not be too solicitous to take up the quarrel between them nor indeed is it worth the while The very first words Yea rather make it plain that the Womans Blessed was defective and wanted weight aad therefore Christ who is the Wisdome of the Father filleth it up He doth not which is the best kind of redargution with any bitterness deny what she saith but by a gentle corrective setteth her at rights She commendeth and magnifieth a corporal he preferreth a spiritual birth For as there is fructus ventris the fruit of the womb so is there partus mentis a conception and birth of the mind We conceive Christ by our hearing the word but when we keep it Christ is fully formed in us and we bring forth fruit meet for repentance The Woman then commendeth one birth and Christ enjoyneth another and as Socrates taught his scholars so our Saviour leadeth the Woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from like to like from the admiration of a temporal to the knowledge of the spiritual birth from one Blessedness to another And thus the matter and substance of Christ's words affordeth us these three things 1. conceptum a kind of Conception by hearing of the word 2. partum a kind of Birth or Bringing-forth by keeping it 3. gaudium Joy after the delivery not temporal but spiritual even that Blessedness which every good Christian is as capable of as the Mother of Christ and which is laid up not onely for her who bare him in her womb but also for all those who keep him in their heart Yea rather saith Christ blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it These be the parts of my Text and of these in order Blessed is the womb that bare thee c. saith the Woman And that which occasioned and moved her thus to lift up her voice was the power of Christ's Works and Words When she saw him mighty in both when she saw the wonders that he wrought and how mightily he convinced the Scribes and Pharisees when he had confirmed his doctrine by miracles and his miracles by reason she plainly discovered the finger by which they were wrought and without any further deliberation she pronounceth him a most divine and excellent person To cure diseases with a word or with a touch to cast out devils to raise the dead could not proceed from any other power then his who doth whatsoever he will both in heaven and in earth And to this end it hath pleased God to give testimony to his truth as it were by a voice from heaven that we might believe and acknowledge that truth for the confirmation whereof such things were wrought before the sun and the people as none but God can do For what our Saviour speaketh of that voice from heaven which was as thunder John 12.28 29 30. is most true of this outward testimony This voice from heaven cometh not because of Him but for our sakes who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 24.25 slow of heart to believe and will not be induced to subscribe to the truth unless we see it written with the sun-beams unless it be made plain and manifest by signs and wonders Jo. 4.48 And such a plain and clear testimony the Jew had need of For all changes especially of Religion are with difficulty it being proper to men to be jealous of every breath as of an enemy if it blow in opposition to ought they have already received and though it be the truth to suspect it because it breatheth from a contrary coast And therefore he that will remove the mind from that which it hath once laid hold on and wherein it is already settled must bring with him more then ordinary motives and inducements even such as may work a kind of conquest upon the Understanding Now the end of Christ's coming was to make such a change to alter what long-before had been established by God himself to rent the veil of the Temple in twain to abolish the law of Ceremonies which God by the hand of Moses had given vetera concutere to sound the trumpet and with it to shake
the walls of Jerusalem to disannul the Law and to establish the Gospel magni opus moliminis an enterprise of great difficulty and therefore to be wrought with might and main by wonders and great signs As the Law was promulged with thunder and lightning so must the Gospel also by a voice from heaven even by great miracles which are the dialect and language of Power and are from heaven heavenly For in every Miracle there are two things as Aquinas saith Quod fit and Propter quod fit 1. the Thing done which must exceed the power of Nature and that order which God hath settled and established in the world and 2. the End for which it is done vvhich is alwayes supernatural for confirmation of some necessary truth Indeed if we consider the omnipotencie of the Agent properly there is no miracle at all It being as easie for the Creator of all things to alter the course of Nature as at first to establish it to bid the Sun stand still as to command it to run its race to put out the Stars as to light them in their sphears to give sight to the blind as at first to give them eyes to unloose the tongue as to make it Deus ita magnus est in operibus magnis ut minor non sit in minimis saith S. Augustine God is so great in his greatest works that he is no whit less in his least as great in the making of a Fly as of an Angel The Divine hand is alwayes like it self even in the production of those things which are most unlike But to us some works are wonderful quia inordinatè veniunt because they transcend the common course and order of things And it hath pleased God in his Divine goodness to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for our sakes and for our salvation to be various and manifold in the expression of his power and when we cannot behold him as we should in those obvious and plain but wonderful characters engraven in the book of Nature to present us with those which the hand of Nature cannot draw He openeth the eyes of the blind that we who sat in darkness may see the true light he multiplyeth the loaves that we may hunger after righteousness he maketh the dumb to speak that we may sing his praises he casteth out the devil that we acknowledge him to be God Quot miracula tot documenta Every miracle was a lesson not onely for shew but for instruction and to work in us the obedience of faith For though God alone be the Authour of our faith yet he worketh it in us by this means By his wonders as by a kind of iradiation from himself he illuminateth the Understanding and maketh the Will pliable so that we readily embrace the truth which before we were afraid of He who having been born blind received his sight John 9.30 wondred that the Pharisees should not know whence he was who had opened his eyes and thought their blindness almost as great a miracle as his recovery By this light and by the gratious and wonderful speaches which flowed from him the Woman here in the Text saw those excellencies that were in Christ and discovered him to be no common and ordinary person She made a right use of the light whilest it shone in its brightness As Christ did and spake these things it came to pass saith the Text. Her free acknowledgment did as it were keep time with the miracle for no sooner had Christ ended his speach but she lifteth up her voice Now as the Apostle saith of Abel Hebr. 11.4 this Woman being dead yet speaketh She bespeaketh us to have Christ's wondrous works in remembrance to lay hold on all occasions which may either beget or confirm our faith dum ventus operam dat vela explicare whilest the wind bloweth whilest the Spirit breatheth to unfold our sails that we may be carried on in a straight and even course to the knowledge and practice of the truth which will make us happy This is indeed to make the right use of God's works and words and to drive them to the right end Vnumquodque propter suam operationem saith the Philosopher Every thing is and hath its being for its proper operation for the work it hath to do If miracles work no alteration in us they are no miracles to us If God's words prevail not we nullifie them by our infidelity and disobedience as much as in us lieth we make the works and words of God of none effect and shorten the arm and weaken the hand of the Almighty What were all the beauty in the world if there were no eye to descry it What are all the riches of the Gospel without faith What were the greatest miracle if all the world were Pharisees Non videt qui non credit miracula saith S. Augustine To him that believeth not Miracles have lost their force and are not wonderful But ye will say perhaps that Miracles are now ceased We see no sign we behold no wonder No blind receive their sight no dumb spirits are cast out in our streets It is true nor is it necessary there should not so necessary now the Church hath stretched forth the curtains of her habitation as when she scarce had a being That watring is not requisite now she is grown and become a tree that was when she was like a grain of mustard-seed Matth. 13.31 32. Of the miracles of these times we may say what Livie saith of the prodigies of his Quò magìs credebant simplices religiosi homines eò plura nuntiantur The forward credulity of simple and devout souls hath much encreased their number The Legend had not been so full had men been slower of belief and not so ready to credit what every impostour hath been active to invent But yet though Miracles are ceased and we see no more signs though Christ cast not out devils nor raise the dead yet still he speaketh these things and still he teacheth us And we may say we see him curing diseases giving sight to the blind ears to the deaf feet to the lame a tongue to the dumb casting out devils and raising the dead because his word endureth for ever 2 Pet. 1.19 and as S. Peter saith is firmior sermo and the surest testimony we can have And if we will not believe his word neither would we believe though we saw him now raising up one from the dead Further I may say with S. Gregory Quod corporaliter tunc faciebat Christus illud S. Ecclesia spiritualiter quotidie facit What Christ did in person then he doth every day now spiritually by the Church When by our ministery the Covetous is brought to stretch forth his hand to help the poor then Christ hath recovered a dry hand when the Ignorant learn his statutes he giveth sight to the blind when we open our lips which Fear had sealed up so that we dare
speak of him before tyrants and not be ashamed then he hath cast out a spirit which was dumb But I rather keep me to the words of the Text As he spake these things Doth he not still speak the same things Hebr. 13.8 Jesus Christ is yesterday and to day and the same for ever Nec refert saith the Father per quem sed quid à quo It is not material whose tongue is made use of so it be Christ that speaketh these things And how often doth he speak these things But where is the FACTUM EST that which cometh to pass is scarcely discernable Auditis laudatis Ye hear him speak and perhaps ye commend him Deo gratias God be thanked for that yet But when this is done nothing cometh to pass Semen accipitis verba redditis Ye receive the seed of the Word and all the harvest vve see is but weeds We see it not in the extension of your hands in the largeness of your alms in the lifting up of your hands in your devotion at prayers we see it not in your reverence meekness and patience Well saith the Father Toleramus illae tremimus inter illa We suffer it and tremble at it Your words are but leaves it is fruit and encrease that we require Be not deceived Every good lesson should be unto you as a miracle to move you to give sentance for Christ against the Pharisees and all the enemies he hath against the Pride that despiseth him the Luxury that defileth him that Disobedience that trampleth him under foot Every good motion for therein Christ speaketh to us should beget a resolution every resolution a good work every good work a love of goodness and the love of goodness should root and stablish and build us in the faith In a word every DIXIT of Christ's should be answered with a FACTUM EST from us every work every word of his should be a sufficient motive and a fair occasion to us to magnifie the power of the Speaker in our souls and in our bodies and with this Woman here in the very face of the enemie in the midst of all the noise Detraction can make to lift up our voice and give testimony unto Christ who is so powerful both in word and deed And so I pass from the Motive and Occasion to the Person who from what she saw and heard gave this free attestation A certain woman of the company Here are two circumstances that may seem to weaken and infringe the testimony and take from the credit of the miracle 1. that she was a Woman and 2. that she was but one of the multitude S. Gregory will tell us MVLIER tam pro infirmitate ponitur quà m pro sexa That this word Woman in Scripture sometimes noteth the Sex and sometimes signifieth Infirmity And in the antient Comedians Mulier es is a term of reproch For as the Schoolman hath observed foeminarum aviditas pertinacior in affectu fragilior in cognitione The affections of Women commonly outrun their understanding and they are then most in flame when they have least light Again this circumstance That she was but one of the multitude might have been laid hold on by the Pharisees as an argument against Christ Might they not have reviled her as they did the man who was born blind and received his sight and said unto her Thou art but one Joh. 9.34 and dost thou teach us But such is the nature of Truth that it can receive no prejudice but will prevail against all contradiction though it have but one witness and find no better champion then a Woman Suis illa contenta est viribus nec spoliatur vi suâ etiamsi nullum habeat vindicem saith Arnobius She resteth upon her own basis and is content with her own strength which she cannot lose though she find no undertaker Truth doth not fail though a Pharisee oppose it but is of strength sufficient to make the weakest of its champions conquerer For the foolishness of God is wiser then men 1 Cor. 1.25 and the weakness of God is stronger then men Neither Number nor Sex hath so much power upon Truth as to alter its complexion Whether they be many or few weak or strong that profess it Truth is still the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one and the same hue and colour Gen. 49.19 As it was said of Gad A troop may overcome it may silence and suppress it for a while but it shall overcome at the last Yet a conceit hath possessed the world That there is a kind of virtue or magick in Number and the Truth breatheth onely in those quarters where there are most voices to proclaim it And many are so bewitched that they think it a gross absurdity for one man in the defense of Truth to stand up against a multitude and they will make this advocate because he is but one an argument against the Truth What would these men have thought of Christ had they seen him among the Pharisees or heard the shout of the people crying aloud John 18.40 Not this man but Barabbas Indeed neither the Paucity nor the Number of professours is an argument to demonstrate the Truth These pillars do not support her We have rather great reason to suspect the doctrine that is cryed up by the voice and humme of the multitude I have much wondred that they who talk so much of the Church have made this a note and mark whereby we may know it For experience hath sufficiently taught us that were it to put to the vote of the multitude we should scarce have any face of a Church at all It never went so well with the world that the most should be best Therefore S. Hierome is peremptory that multitude of associates demonstrate rather an Heretick then a Catholick We may be then well content to hear the Church of Rome boast and triumph that she hath enlarged her dwelling and spred her self from one end of the world unto the other and to lay it as an imputation upon us that our number is so small that we scarce are visible sed illos Defendit numerus junctaeque umbone phalanges The whole world is theirs praeter Italian Hispaniam totam All Italy and all Spain is theirs And besides these and many other Kingdomes which the Cardinal reckoneth up they may take-in the New world for advantage An happiness which we hereticks cannot hope for Non enim debet nunc incipere Ecclesia crescere cùm jam senuerit saith he For the Church cannot encrease now she is old and hide-bound and past growth Who would ever have thought that so sick and lothsome meditations should have dropped from so learned a pen Might not the antient Hereticks have taken-up the same plea when the whole world as S Hierome speaketh was become Arian And himself confesseth that if one province alone hold the true faith that one province may be
onely which emptieth it self to receive it Nor can we purchase the pearl a clear sight of Christ Matth. 13.46 but we must sell all that we have our wisdome our riches our nobility our self-love and our corrupt affections It is not Riches nor Wisdome that invites Christ It is not Simplicity nor Poverty that excludes him Humility and Self-denial usher him in and enter he will if we make him room He will manifest himself you see to a poor silly woman and the quick-sighted Pharisee shall not see him And the reason was because she was meek and humble did not so dote on what she had already learnt as to be unwilling to learn any more but brought a mind well prepared to receive instruction The Pharisees on the contrary were so possessed and blinded with prejudice that they saw not the virtue in Christ which was manifest to this woman It was Prejudice that shut the door against the Truth and that would by no means admit of those works which came in to bear witness to it Certainly a most dangerous disease this It maketh a man angry with his physician and to count his physick poyson it maketh him loth to acknowledge yea even to hear that evidence which may convince him This maladie is very common in the world Yea the Church is not purged from it to this day For though we have no Pharisees yet we have such qui quicquid dicunt legem Dei putant who call their very errours the law of God and dictates of the Spirit who cannot endure the least shew of opposition but like wanton lovers stick closest to their beloved errour when it is exploded Some lessons they so abhor that they cannot endure so much as the name and mention of them and is it probable they will ever come so near as to woo and buy the Truth who are afraid of her very shadow We complain many times of the weakness of our capacities of the abstruseness of the teacher and of the obscurity of the Scripture and this we think a sufficient apologie for our ignorance but none of these nor all of these will make up a just excuse The truth is we will not hear the Truth and the reason why we are no better scholars is because we will not learn If it were not so why should any truth displease us why in any dress why should we take it upon the point of a knife so tenderly as if we were afraid it would hurt us Quid dimidiamus veritatem why do we take it down by halves It is an easie matter to observe how mens countenances and behaviour yea and their affections alter in hearing of that doctrine which suteth with their humour and that which seemeth to be levelled against some fond opinion of theirs long resolved upon Their stomack riseth straight against this but the other is sweet in their mouths and they devour the whole roll though in it self it be as bitter as gall Do we preach Christian Liberty ye kiss our lips But do we bound it with Charity to our neighbour and Obedience to Goverment that note ye think is harsh and tuned too near the ruggedness of the times Do we build up to the Saints of God an Assurance of salvation ye are in heaven already But do we tell you that this Assurance cannot be had at pleasure but must be wrought out with fear and trembling Phil 2.12 Do we tell you that that which ye call assurance may be not security but stupefaction Do we beseech you not to deceive your selves Behold we are not the same men but setters out of new doctrine and verso pollice vulgi with the turning of your finger we are in the dust and stabbed with a censure He who clothed not Truth to others phantasie he who presenteth more of Truth then can be easily digested shall be shut out of doors cum veritate sua naked and destitute and shall have none but Truth to keep him company Though he speak these things even the same truth that Christ did the Pharisees will cry him down and well it is if one woman some one witness of the multitude bless his lips that speaketh it Prejudice will make a man perswade himself that is false which he cannot but know is most true That which to a clear eye is a gross sin and appeareth horrour to a corrupted mind may be as the beauty of holiness For where Covetousness and Self-love have taken up the heart and conceived and brought forth Prejudice it is an easie matter for a man to dispute himself into sin and infidelity For the phansie hath a creating power to make what shee pleaseth or what she list to put new forms and shapes upon objects to make Gods of clay to make that delightful which in it self is grievous that desirable which is lothsome that fair and beautiful which is full of horrour to set up a golden calf and say it is a God And many times habeantur phantasmata pro cognitione these shadows and apparitions are taken for substances these airy phantasms for well-grounded conclusions and the mind of man doth so apply it self unto them that what is but in the phansie is supposed to be seen by the eye of the Understanding And thus many times we place our hatred on that which we should love and our love upon that which we cannot hate enough We fear that which we should hope for and hope for that which we should fear we are angry with a friend and kiss an enemy Thus one man trembleth at that which another embraceth one man calleth that sacriledge which another calleth zeal one man looks upon it as striking at God himself another as pleading his cause one man calls it murder another the work of the Lord. What beauty can there be in Christ if a Pharisee look upon him We read of the leaven of the Pharisees and sure this is it For it leaveneth the whole lump all our opinions all our actions All have a kind of tast of it Whatsoever come in to strengthen an anticipated opinion whatsoever walks within the compass of our desires or complies with our Covetousness or Ambition or Lustful affections we readily embrace and believe it to be true because we wish it so and because it is conducible and behoofull for those ends which we have set up Every fallacy is a demonstration every prosperous event is a voice from heaven to confirm us But if it thwart our inclination if it run counter to our intendments then Truth it self though manifested with signs and wonders will enrage us and we shall first disgrace him that brings it and then naile him to the cross We see here Christ cast out a devil which was dumb and the dumb spoke and the people wondred The Pharisees saw it and the Woman saw it the one saw nothing but that which could not be seen one devil casting out another the other saw the finger and mighty power of God
but Love joynes the Will and the Tongue and the Hand together and indeed is nothing else but a vehement and well ordered will Knowledge may be but a dream but Love is ever awake up and doing 1 John 2.3 I may so know the truth that I may be said not to know it but I cannot so love the truth that I may be said to hate it For though the Scripture sometimes attributeth knowledge of the truth to them who so live as if they knew it not yet it never casts away the pretious name of Love on those who so live as if they loved it not A Pharisee an hypocrite may know the truth but it was never written that they loved it but that they loved the praise of men more then of God And this was the reason that they had eyes and saw not eares and heard not nor understood that they had tongues and spake not that they would not be perswaded when they were convinced and withstood the truth when they were overcome In a word Knowledge may leave us like unto the idoles of the heathen with hands that handle not and mouths that speak not Love onely emulateth the power of our Saviour and works a miracle casts out the spirit which is dumb For when he spake these things not the Pharisees but a woman of the company lift up her voice And thus her heart was truly affected and she lift up her voice As the Prophet speaks Jer. 20.9 The Love of Christ was in her heart as a burning fire shut up in her bones and she was weary of forbearing and she could not stay It was like that coal of the Seraphins which being laid on her mouth Isa 6.7 she spake with her tongue Now in the next place what was it that begat her love but the admiration of Christs person his power and his wisdome This was it which kindled that heat within her which broke out at her lips Plato calls Admiration the beginning of Philosophy We admire and dwell upon the object and view it well till we have wrought the Idea of it in our minds Whence Clemens citeth this saying out of the Gospel according to the Hebrew Qui admiratus fuerit regnabit qui regnabit requiescet He that at first admires that which to him is wonderful shall at last reign and he that reigns shall be at rest shall not waver or doubt or struggle formidine contrarii with fear that the contrary should be true and that that which he saw should be but a false apparition and a deception of the sight This woman here saw and wondred and loved she saw more then the Pharisees to whom a sign from heaven appeared in no fairer shape then the work of Beelzebub She saw Christs miracles were as his letters of credence that he came from God himself She had heard of Moses and his miracles but beholds a greater then Moses here For 1. Christs miracles breathed not forth horrour and amazement as those of Moses did in and about the mountain of Sinon Nor 2. were they noxious and fatal to any as those which Moses wrought in Pharaohs court and in Aegypt He did not bring in tempest and thunder but spake the word and men were healed He did not bury men alive but raised men out of their graves He brought upon men no fiery serpents but he cast out devils If he suffered the devils to destroy the hogs yet he tyed them up from hurting of men and what is a Hog to a Man In a word Moses's miracles were to strike a terrour into the people that he might lead them by fear but Christs were to beget that admiration which might work love in those whom he was to lead with the cords of men with the bonds of love All Christs miracles were benefits Acts 10.38 For he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the devil for God was with him Christs miracles were above the reach and power of Nature Nature had no hand in the production of any of them All that we vvonder at are not Miracles not an Eclipse of the Sun vvhich the common people stand amazed at because they know not the cause of it Nor is that a Miracle vvhich is besides the ordinary course of Nature For then every Monstre should be a Miracle Nor that vvhich is done against Nature for so every child that casteth a stone up into the air doth vvork a Miracle But that is a Miracle vvhich is impossible in Nature and vvhich cannot be vvrought but by a supernatural Hand 2. Christs miracles vvere done not in a corner but before the sun and the people This Woman here heard the dumb speak she savv the blind see the lame go and the lepers cleansed Miracles vvhen they are wrought are not the object of our faith but of our sense They are signs and tokens to confirm that which we must believe 3. Christs miracles were done as it were in an instant With a touch at a word he cured diseases which Nature cannot do though helpt by the art of the Physician All the works of Nature and of Art too are conceived and perfected in the womb of Time 4. Last of all Christs miracles were perfect and exact When he raised Jairus's daughter Luke 8.55 he presently commanded them to give her meat When he cured Peters wives mother forthwith she was so strong that she arose and ministred unto them Matth. 8 1â— He gave his gifts in full measure nor could more be desired then he gave And shall not these miracles and these benefits appear wonderful in our eyes Shall not his Power beget Admiration and Admiration Love and Love command our voice Shall a woman see his wonders and shall we be as blind as the Pharisees Shall she lift up her voice and shall we still keep in us the devil that is dumb It came to pass as he did and spake these things a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said And now we should pass to what she said but I see the time passeth away Let us therefore make some use of what hath already been said and so conclude And first let us learn from this woman here to have Christs wonderful works in remembrance to look upon them with a stedfast and a fixed eye that they may appear unto us in their full glory and fill us with admiration For Admiration is a kind of voice of the soul Miracula obstupuisse dixisse est saith Gregory Thus Silence it self may become vocal and truly to wonder at his works is to profess them This motion of the heart stirred up with reverence to the ears of the uncircumscribed Spirit is as the lifting up of the voice which speaks within us by those divers and innumerable formes and shapes of admiration which are the inward expressions of the soul When the soul is in an ecstasie when it is transported and wrapt up above it self
hoarcely as if they had lost their voice vvhen they faulter in their speech and speak in points of Divinity as Bassianus did vvhen he had slain his brother Geta ut qui malint intelligi quà m audiri as vvilling to be understood indeed but not to speak out and so cunningly disperse their doctrine that they may instruct their friends yet give no advantage to their enemies you may be sure the Heart is not warm nor really affected But vvhen vve speak vvith boldness vvhat vve have heard and seen vvhen vve cast down our gauntlet and stand in defense of the Truth against the vvorld vvhen neither Pharisee nor Divel can silence us but in omni praetorio in omni conscitorio in every judgment-seat in every consistory when Malice and Power come towards us in a tempest vve lift up our voice and dare speak for the Truth vvhen others dare persecute it it is an evident sign that a fire is kindled within us and we are warmed with it that vvith the Woman here vve see some excellencies in Christ some beauty and majesty in the Truth vvhich others do not whose lips are sealed up In a vvord to speak of Christ before the Pharisees to lift up our voice and speak of his name when for ought vve know it may be the last vvord vve shall speak to be true prophets amongst four hundred false ones vvhen the Pharisees call Christ Beelzebub to cry Hosanna to the Son of David to bless the womb that bare him and the paps that gave him suck vvhen others say he is a Samaritane and hath a devil is truly to make this devout Woman a patern to make that use of her voice which she did of Christs voice and of his miracle vvho could not contein her self nor keep silence but having received in her heart the lively character of Christs power and wisdome in the midst of his enemies in the midst of a multitude vvhen some reviled him and others vvere silent she lift up her voice and blessed the womb that bare him and the paps which gave him suck Which is her Diction our next part and should come now to be handled but the time being past vve shall reserve it for part of our task in the Afternoon The Four and Thirtieth SERMON PART II. LUKE XI 27 28. And it came to pass as he spake these things a certain woman of the company lift up her voice and said unto him Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked But he said Yea rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it WE have already handled the circumstantial parts of the Text We are now to treat of the substantial the Womans speach and our Saviours We begin with the Womans Blessed is the womb that bare thee c. And that the mother of Christ was blessed we need not doubt For we have not onely the voice of this woman to prove it but the voice of an Angel Blessed art thou among women Luke 1.28 v. 31 32. and Thou hast found favour with God and shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son even the Son of the Highest And we have her cousins testimony in the very words of the Angel Blessed art thou amongst women v. 42. and blessed is the fruit of thy womb And we have the witness of a babe unborn who leaped in the womb prophetavit antequam natus est and spake this truth when he could not speak And indeed though the womb be not capable of true blessedness which all the privileges and prerogatives in the world of Birth or Honour or Wisdome or Strength cannot reach for neither the earth nor paradise it self can bring forth this fruit of Blessedness which is onely at the right hand of God who begins it here and compleats it in the highest heavens yet to be the Mother of Christ carries with it a kind of resemblance and likeness with that which is truly Blessedness For Blessedness is a state and condition in which is treasured up all the perfection which created substances are capable of all defects and imperfections which mingle themselves with the best things here on earth and taint and corrupt them being quite removed and taken away As if we seek for Pleasure we shall find it in Heaven both pure and fine from those dregs which do here invenom and imbitter it and make even Pleasure it self tedious and irksome If you would have honour here it is without burden Here are Riches and no fear of loosing them Here is Life without vexation here is Life without end This the Womb is not capable of yet we may see a representation of it in the Womb of the Virgin in the birth of our Saviour which was not ordinary but miraculous where she that brought the Child had the joy of a Mother and the honour of a Virgin had all things but the imperfection of a Mother I will not labour in this argument Thus far we may safely go All generations shall call her blessed and while we speak of the Mother in her own language and in the language of the Son we have truth and religion on our side But yet some there be who will not venture so far and though they allow her blessed yet bogle at the Saint as a name of danger and scandal and because others have drest her up toyishly with borrowed titles they do little less then rob her of her own and take it to themselves take it from the Mother of Christ and give it to a wicked and an adulterous generation Others on the contrary side by making her more then a Saint have made her an Idole They have placed her in the House of God as Mother of the family put into her hands the keys of Mercy to let in whom she please called her the Fountain of life the Mother of the living and the Raiser of the dead written books of her miraculous Conception and Assumption and of the Power and Majesty she hath in heaven Of which we may say as Pliny doth of the writings of the Magicians that they have been published non sinu contemptu irrisu generis humani not without a kind of contempt and derision of men not without this insolent thought that men would be so brutish as to approve and such fools as to believe whatsoever fell from the pen of such idle dreamers For thus without the least help of the breath of the Spirit and without any countenance from any syllable in the word of God they have lifted the holy Virgin up and seated her in Gods throne and every day plead her title in the very face of Christendome and as Tully spake of some superstitious frantick Philosophers quidvis malle videntur quà m se non ineptos they seem to affect and hug this gross and ungrounded errour and had rather be any thing then not be ridiculous But these extremes have men run upon whilest
they neglect that rule by which they were to walk the one upon the rock of Superstition the other as it oft falls out in disputes of this nature not onely from the errour they oppose but from the Truth it self which should be set up in its place Between these two we may walk safely and guide our selves by the Womans voice and the Angels voice and call her Blessed and Saint though not God and we may place her in heaven though we set her not in the throne BLESSED as the occasion of so much good For when we see a clear and sylver stream we bless the Fountain And for the glory and quickning power of the beams some have made a God of the Sun Whatsoever presents it self unto us in beauty or excellency doth not onely take and delight us but in the midst of wonder forceth our thoughts to look back to the coasts from whence it came For Virtue is not onely glorious in it self but casts a lustre back upon generations past and makes them blessed it blesseth the times wherein it acts it blesseth the persons wherein it is and it blesseth all relations to those persons and the neerest most We often find in Scripture famous men and women mentioned with their relations Arise Barak thou son of Abinoam Blessed shal Jael be Judg. 5. the wife of Heber the Kenite David the son of Jesse Solomon the son of David Blessed was Abraham who begat Isaac and blessed was Isaac who begat Jacob and then thrice blessed was she who brought forth the Blessing of the world JESVS CHRIST a Saviour Therefore was Barrenness accounted a curse in Israel because they knew their Messias was to be born of a woman but did not know what woman should bring him forth Again if it be a kind of curse to beget a wicked son or as Solomon did the foolishness of the people Eccl. 47.23 The Historian observes that many famous men amongst the Romans either died childless or left such children behind them that it had been better their name had quite been blotted out and they had left no posterity And speaking of Tully who had a drunken and a sottish son he adds Huic soli melius fuerat liberos non habere It had been better for him to have had no child at all then such an one Who would have his name live in a wanton intemperate sâ—t who would have his name live in a betrayer of his countrey in a bloudy tyrant If this curse reflect upon those who have been dead long ago and is doubled on the living who look upon those whom they call affectus their affections and caritates their love as their greatest grief and torment then certainly a great blessing and glory it is for a parent to have a virtuous child in whom he every day may behold not onely his own likeness but the image of God which shines in the face of every looker on and fills their hearts with delight and their mouths with blessings If it be a tyrant a Nero we wish the doors of his mothers womb had been shut up Job 3.10 and so sorrow and trouble hid from our eyes Ventrem feri saith the mother her self to the Centurion who was sent to kill her Strike strike this cursed belly that brought forth that monster But if it be a Father of his country if it be a wise just and merciful Prince if he be a Titus we bless the day wherein he was born we celebrate his Nativity and make it a holy-day and we bless the rock from whence he was hewen the very loynes from whence he came And therefore to conclude this we cannot but commend both the Affection of this Woman and her Speech the one great and the other loud For the greatness the intention of the affection is not evil so the cause be good and it cannot move too fast if it do not erre If the sight of virtue and wisdome strike this heat in us it is as a fire from heaven in our bowels And such was this womans affection begot in her by Wisdome and Power and both Divine It rose not from any earthly respect secular pomp or outward glory but she hearing Christs gracious words and seeing the wonders which he did the fire kindled and she spake with her tongue And she still speaketh that we may behold the same finger of God as efficacious and powerful in Christ to cast out the devil out of us the devil which is dumb that we may speak his praises and the devil that is deaf that we may hearken to his words the devil that is a serpent that we may lay aside all deceit the devil that is a lyon that we may lay aside all malice the devil that wicked one that we may be freed from sin that so we may put on the affection of this Woman and with her lift up our voice and say Blessed is the womb that bare Christ and the paps which he sucked And further we carry not this consideration We come next to our Saviours gentle Corrective IMO POTIUS Yea rather And this Yea rather comes in seasonably For the eye is ready to be dazled with a lesser good if it be not diverted to a greater as he will wonder at a storm that never saw the Sun We stay many times and dwell with delight upon those truths which are of lesser alloy and make not any approch towards that which is saving and necessary we look upon the excellencies of Christ and find no leisure to fall down and worship him we become almost Christians and come not to the knowledge of that truth which must save us and make us perfect men in Christ Jesus The Philosopher will tell us that he that will compare two things together must know them both What glory hath Riches to him who hath not seen Virtue as Plato would have her seen naked and not compassed about and disguised with difficulties disgraces and hardships What a brightness hath Honour to bind that hath not tasted of the Favour of God What a Paradise is carnal pleasure to him that a good Conscience never feasted What a substance is a Ceremony to him that makes the Precepts of the Law but shadows How doth he rely on a Priviledge who will not do his duty How blessed a Thing doth she think it to bring forth a Son that can work miracles who knows not what it is to conceive him in her heart who can save her Therefore it is the method of Wisdome it self to present them both unto us in their just and proper weight not to deny what is true but to take off our thoughts and direct them to something better that we may not dote so long on the one as to neglect and cast off the other From wondring at his Miracles Christ calleth us to the contemplation of the greatest miracle that was ever wrought the Redemption of a sinner from his Miracles to his Word for
I need not be large in their character you may know them by their language I fast twice in the we e. They fast and they pray and they hear and they believe and they are assured of heaven They are and they alone The rest stand before them as Publicans or excommunitate persons Can any good thing can any Prophet come out of Nazareth Can any know any good or do any good that is not of that faction Enlarge thy phylacteries if thou canst thou Pharisee and paint that sepulchre of rotten bones vvhich thou art vvith more art and coriosity then these blow thy trumpet louder or draw thy face to more figures then these Lord what is now become of Religion It was placed in judgment and mercy it is now managed with cruelty and craft It vvas committed to every nation and all people it is now shut up in a party It vvas seated in the Will and Understanding it is now whirled about in the Phansie It vvas a wedding-garment it is now made a cloke of maliciousness It vvas once true He that loved Christ and kept his commandments was his Disciple but he is now no good Christian who is so if he be not so after such a mode and such a fashion We see it in the Church of Rome No salvation out of her territories God grant vve feel it not nearer home Beloved he that shall look abroad and vvell consider the conversation of many may be tempted perhaps to an unworthy thought that either there is no Religion or that Religion is nothing For vvherein is it placed In a Fast and that to our ovvn vvills in Hearing and that but vain in Prayer and that many times but babling in Faith and that but dead in Formalities and Shews It s sound is gone through the earth and it is lost in the noise Religion vve fight for and Religion vve fight against Religion vve extoll and Religion vve shame We cry it up and tread it under foot and are never less religious then vvhen the Pharisee speaketh vvithin us and telleth the vvorld and maketh it known to all the people that we are so Non apparemus mali ut plus malignemur We will not appear evil that vve may do the more evil seem very good that vve may be vvorse and vvorse Let us take an Inventory of our Jewels and our best things let us set down our virtues We fast vvith all our sins about us full of iniquity and many times feed it vvith a fast We fast and make it a prologue sometimes to a Comedy sometimes to a Tragedy and at once call down judgments and deprecate them humble our selves before God and provoke him We hear and that is all and vvould to God that vvere all But here that curse is upon it Deut. 28.38 We carry much seed out but gather little in We hear much and remember little and practise less nay vve practise the contrary to that vvhich vve heard vvith so much attention and delight We pray for one thing and desire another We make it a trade a craft and occupation to take indeed a pearl but not the kingdom of heaven I but vve believe I am unwilling to say Faith is a ceremony but in many it is not so much and signifieth nothing at all a meteor hanging in the phansie vvhich portendeth nothing but sterility and barrenness rather a scutcheon for shew then a buckler to quench a fiery dart We call Christ a foundation and we build upon him We lay our cruelty upon him who was a Lamb our malice upon him who prayed who died for his enemies our pride upon him who made himself of no reputation our hypocrisie upon him who was Truth it self and our rebellion upon him who was a pattern of obedience We believe in Christ and crucifie him again For this the wrath of God is revealed from heaven Rom. 1 1â— because we hold the truth of God in unrighteousness For this his Anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still not so much for the breach as for the contempt of his word and commandments not so much tor our offending him as for our dallying with him not so much for our sin as for our hypocrisie not onely for our obedience but for our hearing not onely for our defects but for our devotion not onely for our infidelity but for our faith not onely for our intemperance but for our fast For what can provoke God more then to see such pearls trode under foot by swine I do not mention paying of tithes for neither the Law of God nor of man can defend them nor any thing else that looketh like a prey And therefore for conclusion let me bespeak you as Christ did his Disciples Take heed of the leven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie Luke 12. for it will leven and sowre the whole lump the whole body of your Religion taint and poison your Fast frustrate your Hearing turn your Prayer into sin make your Faith vain and leave you in your sins The One and Fortieth SERMON PART I. JAMES I. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed THere is nothing more talked of then the Gospel nothing more wilfully mistook nothing more frequently abused The sound of it is gone through the earth is heard from the East to the West but men have set and tuned it to their own lusts and humours No Psalm will please us but a Psalm of Mercy For Judgment is a harsh note Mercy and Judgment though David put them together in his Song with us are such discords that they yield no harmony Mercy and Judgment Law and Liberty though they may meet and delight us though they must meet to save us yet we set them at distance cleave to the one and hate the other please and delight our selves under the shadow of Mercy till Judgment falleth upon as a tempest to overwhelm us loose our Liberty in our embraces forfeit Mercy by laying hold of it and the Gospel of Christ is made the Gospel of man nay saith S. Augustine Evangelium Diaboli the Gospel of the Devil himself This our blessed Apostle had discovered in the dispersed Tribes to whom he wrote That they were very ready to publish and magnifie the Gospel that they loved to speak of it that they loved to hear of it that they were perfect in their Creed that Faith was set up aloft and crowned even when it was dead that they did believe and were partial that they did believe and despise the poor that they did believe and blaspheme that worthy Name by which they were called And therefore to draw them back from this so dangerous a deviation Vers 19. he exhorteth them first to hear the word of truth that he disliketh not but then secondly to receive it into their hearts
Powers and Principalities Laws and Precepts and all that is named of God Ambition maketh Laws Jura perjura Swear and forswear Arise kill and eat Covetousness maketh Laws condemneth us to the mines to dig and sweat Quocunque modo rem Gather and lay up Come not within the reach of Omri's statutes of humane Laws and you need not fear any Law of Christ. Private Interest maketh Laws and indeed is the Emperour of the world and maketh men slaves to crouch and bow under every burthen to submit to every Law of man though it enjoyn to day what it did forbid yesterday to raise up our heads and then duck at every shadow that cometh over us but we can see no such formidable power in the Royal Law of Christ because it breatheth not upon it to promote and uphold it but looketh as an enemy that would cast it down biddeth us deny our selves which we do every day for our lusts for our honour for our profit but cannot do it for Christ or for that crown which is laid up for those that do it Thus every thing hath power over us which may destroy us but Christ is not hearkned to nor those his Laws which may make us wise unto salvation For we are too ready to believe what some have been bold to teach that there are no such Laws at all in the Gospel Therefore in the last place let us cast this root of bitterness out of our hearts let us look upon it as a most dangerous and baneful errour an errour which hath brought that abomination of desolation into the world and into the lives and manners of Christians which have made them stink amongst the inhabitants of the earth amongst Jews and Pagans and Infidels which tremble to behold those works of darkness which they see every day not onely done but defended by those who call themselves the children of light Because in that name we bite and devour one another for this they despise the Gospel of Christ because we boast of it all the day long and make use of it as a Licence or Letters patent to be worse then they riot it in the light beat our fellow-servants defraud and oppress them which they do not in darkness and in the shadow of death The first Christians called the Gospel legem Christianam the Christian Law and so lived as under a Law so lived that nothing but the name was accused But the latter times have brought forth subtle Divines that have disputed away the Law and now there is scarce any thing left commendable but the name A Gospeller and worse then a Turk or Pagan a Gospeller and a Revenger a Gospeller and a Libertine a Gospeller and a Schismatick a Gospeller and a Deceiver a Gospeller and a Traitor a Gospeller that will be under no Law a Gospeller that is all for Love and Mercy and nothing for Fear I may say the Devil is a better Gospeller for he believeth and trembleth And indeed this is one of the Devils subtilest engines veritatem veritate concutere to shake and beat down one Truth with another to bury our Duty in the Good news to hide the Lord in the Saviour and the Law in the covering of Mercy to make the Gospel supplant it self that it may be of no effect to have no sound heard but that of Imputative righteousness From hence that irregularity and disobedience amongst Christians that liberty and peace in sin For when Mercy waiteth so close upon us and Judgment is far out of our sight we walk on pleasantly in forbidden paths and sin with the less regret sin and fear not pardon lying so near at hand To conclude then Let us not deceive our selves and think that there is nothing but Mercy and Pardon in the Gospel and so rely upon it till we commit those sins which shall be pardoned neither in this world nor in the world to come Nemo promittat sibi quod non promittit Evangelium saith Augustine Let no man make the promise larger then the Gospel hath made it nor so presume on the Grace of God as to turn it into wantonness so extol it as to depress it so trust to Mercy as to forfeit it but look into the Gospel and behold it in its own shape and face as pardoning sin and forbidding sin as a royal Release and a royal Law And look upon Christ the authour and finisher of our faith as a Jesus to save us Psal 2. and a Lord to command us as preaching peace and preaching a Law Rom. 8.3 condemning sin in his flesh dying that sin might dye and teaching us to destroy it in our selves In a word let us so look into the Gospel that it may be unto us the savour of life unto life and not the savour of death unto death so look upon Christ here that he may be our Lord to govern us and our Jesus to save us that we may be subject to his Laws and so be made capable of his mercy that we may acknowledge him to be our Lord and he acknowledge us before his Father that Death may lose its sting and Sin its strength and we may be saved in the last day through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Two and Fortieth SERMON PART II. JAMES I. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed THat the Precepts of the Gospel do bind us as Laws ye have heard already and how the Doctrine of the Gospel is a Law We must in the next place see how it is a perfect Law And first That is perfect saith the Philosopher cui nihil adimi nec adjici potest from which nothing can be taken and to which nothing can be added Such is the Gospel You cannot adde to it you cannot take from it one lota or tittle If any shall adde unto these things Rev. 22.18 God shall adde to him the plagues that are written in this book And if any shall take away from them God shall take away his part out of the book of life There needeth no second hand to supply it and that hand deserveth to be cut off that shall corrupt or alter it For look upon the End which is Blessedness There you have it drawn out in the fairest lines that flesh and bloud can read in as large a representation as our humane nature is capable of Then view the Means to bring us to that end They are plainly exprest and set out there in such a character that we may run and read them open to our understanding exciting our faith raising our hope and even provoking us to action There is nothing which we ought to know nothing which we must believe nothing which we may hope for nothing which concerneth us to do nothing which may lift us up to happiness and carry us to the end but it is written
made perfect where we and every thing shall be made perfect where there is perfect Love perfect Joy perfect Happiness for evermore The Four and Fortieth SERMON PART IV. JAMES I. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein be being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work this man shall be blessed in his deed THese two dayes we have been treating of the Perfection of the Gospel called by S. James a perfect Law And yet there remaineth something to be said The rules and orders which Christ hath given us to observe are plain and easie and open to the understanding Adblandiuntur nostrae infirmitati They friendly walk hand in hand with the weakest to lead him to his journey's end How readest thou Canst thou keep the commandments Or hast thou kept them from thy youth Wantest thou yet any thing Then repair to some further rule For us we may well presume we have done enough when we have done what our Law-giver requireth For Christ did make Laws for his Church as Phaleas in Aristotle did for his Common-wealth who took good order for preventing of smaller faults but left way enough to greater crimes No he strook down all digged up all by the roots both the cedars and the shrubs both the greatest and the smallest He laid his ax to the very beginnings of them and would not let them breathe in a thought nor be seen in a look Nor did he like that famous Grecian painter begin his work but die before he could perfect it It were the greatest opposing of his will to think so He left nothing imperfect but sealed up his Evangelical Law as well as his Obedience with a Consummatum est What he began he ever finished In a word His will is most fully and perspicuously expressed in his Gospel But yet to urge this home this giveth no encouragement to contemn those means which God hath reached forth to direct us in our search For as we do not with the Church of Rome pretend extreme difficulty of Christ's Law and upon this pretence strike the Scripture quite out of the hands of the Laiety and occupy their zeal with other matters as Archytas did children with rattles to keep them from handling things more precious so do we require an exact diligence both in reading the Scripture and also in asking counsel of gray hairs and multitude of years of men of learning and understanding whom God hath placed over them in his Church And if the great Physician Hippocrates thought it necessary in his art for those who had taken any cure in hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to ask advice even of ideots and unexpert men much rather ought we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ask counsel of God by prayer and meditation and of those whom God hath set up to teach us those things which concern our everlasting-peace The Gospel as it is said of the Civil Law Vigilantibus scriptum est is written to watchful and industrious men Though the lessons be plain yet we see many times Negligence cannot pass a line when Industry hath run over the whole book Nor can we think that that Truth which will make us perfect is of so easie purchase that it will be sown in any ground and like the Devil's tares grow up whilest we sleep S. Hierom speaketh of some in his time qui solam rusticitatem pro sanctitate habebant who accounted rusticity and ignorance the onely true holiness and called themselves the scholars of the Disciples who were simple and unlearned fishermen quasi id circo sancti sint quòd nihil scirent as if their ignorance were a good argument of their piety and they were therefore holy because they knew nothing I cannot say that such we have in these our dayes No They are not such who profess ignorance but are as ignorant as they could be and profess it not yea they stretch beyond their line and exalt themselves to teach even their Teachers Like the Lilies of the field they labour not they study not and Solomon with all his wisdom was not so wise as one of these Some crum falleth from their master's table Some empty and unsignificant passage they catch at from some Doctor and Preacher that pleaseth them and whom they call theirs as well they may for he bringeth them lettice fit for their lips and theirs let him be And this filleth them so full more then the whole loaf of another and it runneth out at their mouth in some censure of those Truths they neither do nor will understand But bring them to the trial and you shall find them as well skilled in the Truth and Gospel as poor Mycillus in Lucian was in coins who knew not whether a peny were square or round But even these know more of the will of Christ then they put in practice Faith It is their common language Religion They talk of nothing more The Truth of Christ They fight for it Piety It dwelleth with them Purity It is their proper passion or essence rather Honesty of conversation Justice and Integrity The truth is we have just cause to fear they do but talk of it But I am willing to take my hand from this sore And I did but adde this to the rest as a necessary caution that we might not neglect this light which shineth in our faces and pointeth out to our journey's end even to Perfection Now if you ask to how many degrees this Perfection may be intended the answer is easie Our Perfection hath no NON ULTRA in this world nor is he a good Christan who striveth not to be best Nec est periculum nè sit nimium quod esse maximum debet There is no danger of excess in that which can never be great enough They who ask what degrees of Perfection are sufficient think they may sit down and rest in any think any holiness sufficient to bring them to the sight of God But a Christan's Perfection must not be measured by the ordinary standard by some scant and thrifty measure It must be large and liberal heaped up and thrust down measured out not by the King's shekel but by the shekel of the Sanctuary which was double to the other When our Saviour giveth a Law unto our Lust he restraineth not onely Adultery and Fornication and the rest of those grosser sins but telleth us that the Sanctitie of a Christan suffereth not so much as a lascivious look in the eye or a wanton thought in the heart When he rectifieth the vice of our Speech he forbiddeth not onely profane Oaths impure language and the like but censureth every Idle word so that a Christian can scarce breathe without danger Where he prescribeth unto us a measure of Patience he not onely forbiddeth all Revenge but every contumelious word every angry thought and setteth us at such a distance from Anger and Revenge as that he commandeth us to pray for those that curse
be a sanctuary to such as dwell not in Christ 320. How much it concerneth us to try whether we dwell in Christ and Christ in us 321. By this mutual union all His become ours and all ours his 321 322. ¶ Christ must be looked upon and considered not in part but wholly 394. What it is to consider Him as our Priest Prophet King 492 493. What it is for a Christian to remember Christ aright 463 c. The mistake of the world in the manner of receiving Christs Person 523. as great in respect of his Doctrine 524. ¶ Christ was wont to draw his discourse from some present occasion 309. The Scope of his Sermon on the mount 560. He cured mens bodies and purged their souls 572. The end of his Miracles 572 c We must by no means defeat him of his end but cooperate with him 575. Many talk of Christ and profess to follow him but few walk as he did 518. 520. His Example is to be followed by us 510. v. Servant This is the principal standard Rule by which all are to be examined and according to which all are to be squared 1026 1027. Wherein Christ is not to be imitated by us 1026. wherein he is 1027. ¶ We ought to think of Christ's second coming 235. He shall though most put it out of their Creed certainly come to judge all 237. He knoweth mens hearts and all things 277 573. He was despised of old by most forgotten now 237. Why he delayeth his coming 238 239. Christ's second coming is an object for our Faith to look on 240. 735. for our Hope to reach at 242. 736. and for our charity to embrace 242. 736. It will be not for carnal but spiritual and heavenly ends 243. 954. It will be for the Advantage of Angels Men and other Creatures 245 246 His judgment will not be like ours but according to truth 247. The precise time of his coming not to be enquired after nor to be known 248 c. 737. What use we ought to make of the uncertainty thereof 250. 738. It is enough to know Christ will come it concerneth us not to know when 251 252. 737. It is better for us not to know it 252. No reason why either good or bad should know it 252. If the wicked knâ—w the very hour they would be never the better 253. Christ's coming will be sudden 254. When-ever he cometh let him not find us ill employed 254 255. What inferences Flesh and Bloud draw from the doctrine of Christ's coming 256. The belief of Christ's second coming affordeth unspeakable comfort to the godly but the contrary to the wicked 952. Why he foretold the signs of his second coming 1042. How the sight of such signs should work upon us 1045. v. Signs How to prepare our selves to meet our Lord at his second coming 1049. Though Christ deliver-up his Kingdome and be subject to the Father yet his Dominion is everlasting 235. 240. ¶ The doctrine of the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness grosly mis-interpreted and misapplyed 870 c. 993 994. He came to make us happy which neither Nature nor the Law could do for us 716 717. He hath freed us from the guilt and power of Sin 1097 1098. from the rigour of the Moral and the servitude of the Ceremonial Law 1098. Many have a bare speculative knowledge of Christ which availeth nothing at all 723 c. What it is for us to be crucified with CHRIST and to rise again with him 725. Christendome v. View Christian and Christianity A good Christian who 68 69. 78. Every man may be a Christian 661. v. Truth Many would go for Christians that are nothing less 319. The end of Christianity is to draw our hearts from earth to heaven 645 c. 649. v. Religion Popery But alas how many Christians walk quite contrary 652. How Christian Religion is degenerated 915. 1071. The bare name of Christian will do us no good 291. v. Formality Hypocrisy Profession Sin in a Christian is far worse then in a Turk or a Jew 417 418. The sins of Christians cause Christianity to be evil spoken of 913 914. 1071. Christians who live unchristianly are guilty of the bloud of Jews and Pagans 914. 1071. It is not the name of Christian or of Christ that will save us if we dishonour it 915. How strangely most Christians mock God and contradict themselves 921. Christianity maketh a man not morose and sowre but sweet and tractable 504. It doth not discharge us from subjection to our Superiours 639 1102 1103. It is both the most delightsome and the most troublesome calling 1011. A Christian is both the freest and the most subject creature in the world 638. 1101. A true Christian is firm and constant 1111 1112. A strong Christian and a weak one described 458. Christmass-day the great metropolitane feast of the year 1. The antiquity of this anniversary solemnity 2. Church a word much abused 149. Many fruitless disputes about the Ch. 10â—8 Church magnified unreasonably by the Papists 680 601. Prosperity not a mark of the true Ch. 191. 295-298 It is always one and the same how 175. 696. never exempted from persecution 175 c. 709. subject to change 190. What alterations we have had in our Engl. Ch. 191. Of how different constitution Christ's C. is from the Kingdoms of the earth 188 710. It is not our joyning to this or that particular C. or faction rather but our dwelling in C. that can make us Christians 320 321. v. Congregation No discipline so essential to the Church as Piety 320. We must not make the World a platform of the Ch. 191. How the Ch. is to deal with her enemies 194. Of the povver God hath left in his Ch. 225. v. Common-wealth Church vvhy called Catholick 233. v. View How the Church is the pillar and ground of truth since the Truth is the pillar of the Church 600. Even Three make a Church 837. Yea One 836. Churches antiently used 847. how far necessary 581. 846 847. how holy 581 582. 847 c. They should not be abused but used to the right end 582. How vve ought to honour them 849 850. It is an horrible shame that our houses should be trim and Churches ruinous and sordid 850. How the Devotion of the antient Christians in building and adorning of Ch. shameth the neglect of our age 850. Though it be pious to build and beautifie Churches yet in case of necessity Churches may be stripped to relieve the poor 851. Against such as vvould have no Churches 847. Against them that vvill not come to Church 581 c. We must go to Church not for fashion or formality but out of love 853. How devout persons behave themselves in the Ch. 854 855. 857. 864. Reverence is due in the Ch. upon several accounts 857 858. None quarrel at Churches but the proud and Covetous 856. City v. View Col. i. 24. 638. iii. 12. 279. Comely Our first thought
must not be apt to suspect others but we cannot be too suspicious of our selves 624. Swearing The Lawfulness of S. is a point but sparingly to be taught 618. T. TAutologies Their use in Scripture 342 Temperance v. Sobriety Temporal things v. Spiritual and Worldly They are given by God to uphold the Body 896. also to be instrumental to the Soul 897. Why Temporal blessings are not so oft mentioned in the N. T. as in the Old 899. To whom the right of these belongeth 900 God withholdeth these from us ofttimes in great mercy 902. Neither to enjoy nor to want these things is pleasing to God or profitable to us but to know how to use and how to want them 903. Tentations what and how they become prevalent 260 261. None can prevail over him who is watchful 259. The beginning and progress of T. 261. 270. T. are not onely occasions but also Arguments 261 262. Some work upon us with a smile 262. others with a frown 263. T. may be in the Senses yea in the Mind without sin 264. and in the Phansie 265. That we may overcome the Tempter let us compare the apparent good he offereth with that which is real 269. T. must not be slighted nor dallied with 270 T. work according to the humours and tempers of men 376 377. 601. We must not thrust our selves upon T. 1118. Tertullian pretended Revelation for justification of his errours 62. Thales 415. Themistocles 216. 1 Thess ii 10.119 2 Thess iii. 10.222 Thieves A Thief who 220. Petty Thieves are oft snapt-up but the greatones none dare meddle with 133. Thoughts are not free but as visible to God's ey as Actions 172. Good Th. are to be cherished 361 362.798 799. Evil Th. are but should not be very active and powerful 362.798 Th. how wavering inconstant 596 Our Th. when overbusied about some lesser good should be diverted to that which is necessary and saving 988 989. Threatnings and Promises sense-in Precepts 398. v. Rewards God threatneth that he may not punish 323 324. Thurisicatores 1121. Time is nothing to God nor in it self 238. 1043. With God there is no difference of T. but all things are present 1043. Times are not for us to know 250. Better to spend the present T. well then to busy ones thoughts about the future 250 251. How very little of our T. is spent in spiritual exercises 271. Time must be taken while T. serveth 355. v. Opportunity There is a T. when a man shall not be able to repent 359 c. 794 c. v. Repentance Nations have their set T. and so have particular persons 359 360. 795 c. Very good to think every day hour moment our last 361. The present T. is the proper season to turn to God in 361 c. 366 c. It is a part of Prudence to make choice of fit Times and seasons 1002. There is no T. amiss to turn unto God 1002. 1 Tim. ii 8.847 ¶ v. 8.222 2 Tim. i. 12.314 ¶ ii 5.282 ¶ iii. 10.222 ¶ 16 17.1073 ¶ iv 3.876 Tit. ii 11.584 Titus the Emperour 's worthy saying 279. Tongues Of the gift of T. at Pentecost 956. There is an harmonie between the Heart and the Tongue 976 977.983 Trades many unnecessary unlawful 219. Tillage and Husbandry the first T. 219. Motives to industry in our T. 521 522. v. Calling Worthy Persons have not disdained mean T. 522. The honest mean Trades man is more honourable then the profane Gallant 528. What Tullie thought of those Trades-men that buy to sell again 655. Traditions how magnified by the Church of Rome 1079 c. Traditores 1121. Transsubstantiation v. Lord's Supper Triall v. Examination Tribute how sordidly raised by some Princes and States 131 132. Trinity why not plainly discovered to the Jews 349. Trust Bad bold men were they who said We will trust God with our souls rather then Men with our estates and lives 673. Why men trust in the Creature for health wealth victory not in God 783 784. Truth It s Authour and effects 57 58. Why so few learn it 65. Four rules for the atteinment of it 66 c. Worldly men take Divine Truths for mere speculations 113 T. is the most offensive thing in the world 187. 656. 659. How it is persecuted by the world 187. Love of the T. maketh a man ready to suffer for it 192 193. 550. God is then most glorified when we lay down our lives for the T. 754. Curious enquiry after things impertinent hinder our finding-out of the T. 248. To press some Truths is sometimes more dangerous then to maintein some errours 349. The worst hearts have some seeds of Divine T. 371. T. is hated by most because like a Satyre it lasheth them 438. 498. v. Errour T. must be taught received without mixture addition subtraction 506 507. That Errour is most dangerous that cometh nearest to the T. 507. T. is to be spoken whatever cometh of it 510. 982 983. T. is seldome welcome unless we like him that teacheth it 534 535. T. is still the same whether she have many advocates or none yet we have need of light to discover it to us 547 548. 971. v. Knowledge Love of the T. resembled to Fire 550. v. Love T. striketh a reverence into those who neglect it 553. 662 1125. T. is to the Understanding as Colours to the Ey or Musick to the Ear 554. T. is a purchase all may all ought to buy 657. 661. What the Truth Prov. xxiii 23. is and how much it benefiteth us 658 c. No Truth so necessary to be known by us as that 659. It s transscendent excellencie 660. It is proportioned to the Soul of Man yea of every man 661. v. Piety It is lovely in the eyes of all even of theirs who oppose it 662. Without this Riches moral Virtues outward Performances will nought avail us 663. On what terms the T. is to be purchased 664. T. is easy and plain to all but such as will not learn 664 665. T. was never more pure then while it was conteined in one short Creed 665. T. will not be had by Fate or Chance we must bestow great pains for it 666 c. Why so few make this purchase 668. How highly some Heathens valued T. 670. We must part with our corrupt Affections as Love Hatred Fear Hope for the Truth 670 c. Yet these are not to be quite parted with but made serviceable to promote the T. 672 c. If we will buy the T. we must cast away all Prejudice 675 c. 974. v. Prejudice T. is not prejudiced by the antiquity of Errour 681. If we would get the T. we must not tie our belief to any man or to any Church 686. but make use of right Reason in the business 686 687. If we will buy the T. we must cast away all Malice to it 688 c. We must receive it not by halves but whole and entire
into the Memory where it is as operative to destroy as it was in the Affection to increase it self For but to remember sin and to contemplate the horrour of it and the Hell it deserveth is enough to bow our wills and break our hearts and lay them open that they may be fit receptacles of comfort He were a bold sinner that durst look his sin full in the face Now affliction and mourning bring us to this sight wipe off the paint of Sin strip her of her scutcheons and pendants of her glory and beauty and shew her openly in all her deformity not with Pleasure and Honour and Riches but with the Wrath of God Death and Hell waiting upon her that we may defie and mortifie Sin and then triumph over it And then we are brought back from the valley of the shadow of death into green pastures and led beside the still waters the waters of rest and refreshing for God is with us and his rod and his staff with which he guideth us comfort us as it is Psal 23. And now in the last place you see the rock out of which you must hew your Comfort even out of Sorrow it self Or you may see Joy and Comfort shoot forth from Mourning as lightning from a thick and dark cloud Or rather this Consolation ariseth not so much from Affliction and Mourning it self as from the cause of it Sometimes we mourn in prison and in torments for righteousness sake And there cannot be a greater argument out of which we may conclude in comfort then this that at once we are made witnesses and examples of righteousness at once glorifie God and purchase a crown of Glory for our selves And thus comfort is conveyed to us through our own bloud Sometimes we suffer disgrace and loss of goods because we had rather be poor then be as rich and evil as they that make us poor and sit in the lowest form then be higher and worse This troubleth us and this comforteth us For thus to be poor is to be in the Rich mans bosome thus to be in the dust is to be in Heaven Sometimes we mourn as under the rod and are brought to Affliction as to a School of discipline And if we can read and understand the mystery of Affliction as Nazianzene calleth it if we can see mercy in anger a Father in a Lord if we can behold him with a rod in his hand and healing under his wings and so learn the lesson which he would teach us learn by poverty to enrich our selves with grace by disgrace to honour our selves by imprisonment to seek liberty in Christ if we can learn by those evils which can but touch us to chase away those which will destroy us if we can be such proficients in this School this also may trouble us and this will comfort us If we hearken not to the rod it may prove a Scorpion But if we thus bow and kiss it it will not onely bud and blossome as Aaron's did but bring forth the sweet fruit of Consolation And thus this miracle of Consolation is wrought in us first by the power of God's Grace which maketh his smitings healings and his wounds kisses and then by a strong actuating and upholding our Reason in the contemplation of God's most fatherly power and wisdome which will check and give lawes to the inferiour powers and faculties of the soul and draw them in obedience unto it self that all melancholick fancies may vanish all sensual grief may be swallowed up in victory in this in the content and rest we find in the end which we obtain or for which we suffer and mourn So the blessed Virgin had comfort even when she stood by the Cross vveeping and her soul was filled with it even then when it was pierced through as with a sword In a word mourning is a remedy and all remedies bring comfort And this is of the number of those remedies quae potentiae suae qualitate consumptâ desinunt cùm profuerint which having consumed and spent its virtue vanisheth away and leaveth to be when it hath wrought its just effect For he that is comforted feeleth not what he feeleth but his contemplation carrieth his mind to heaven when his senses peradventure labour under those displeasing objects which are contrary to them At the same time Moses may be in the Mount and the common people rebell and commit idolatry below At the same time the Martyr may roar on the rack and yet in his heart sing an hymn of praise to the King of Glory Reason may so far subdue the Flesh as to make it suffer but it cannot make it senseless for then it could not suffer then it were not flesh Affliction will be heard and felt and seen in its violent operation seen in its terrour heard in contumelies and reproaches and felt in its smart but in all these the Spirit is more then conquerour and delighteth it self with terrour feedeth and feasteth on reproaches and findeth a complacency in smart and pain it self And then when we are under the rod and suffer for sin and not for piety as sensual grief may occasion spiritual so spiritual sorrow and displacency hath alwaies comfort attending it For sorrow and comfort in course affect the soul and with such dispatch and celerity that we rather feel then discern it The devout School-man giveth the instance in the quavering and trembling motion of a Bell after the stroke or of a Lute string after the touch and observeth such an Harmony in the heart by the mutual touch of Sorrow and Comfort And David hath joyned them together in the second Psalm Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling When Affliction striketh the heart the sound will end in Joy and Comfort will be the resultance Mourning is a dark and melancholick thing and maketh a kind of night about us but when the Spirit saith Let there be light there will be light light in the Understanding rectitude in the Will order and peace in the Passions serenity in the Soul sin not in the Affection but in the Memory where it is kept to be whipt and crucified health in the Soul strength in our spiritual Pulse chearfulness to run the wayes of God's commandments the best and onely comforts in the world true symptomes of a spiritual health and fair pledges and types of that everlasting comfort which the God of all consolation will give to those who thus mourn in Sion For conclusion to apply all to our selves in a word I need not exhort you to hang down the head and mourn and walk humbly before your God Behold God himself hath spoken to us in the whirlwind He hath spoken in thunder and shaken our Joyes beat down all before our eyes in which our eyes took pleasure and of which we could say we had a delight therein He hath shaken the pillars of the earth He hath shaken the pillar of Truth the Church He hath shaken
every house for what house what estate tottereth not He hath shaken our Confidence We dare not trust others we dare not trust in our selves because we do not trust in him He hath shaken our Resolution We know not what to determine we know not what to think He hath shaken our very Hopes Not a door as the Prophet speaketh non ostiolum spei not a wicket of hope can we see to enter at And need I now use any other art or eloquence or any other Topick to move you to sorrow What need the tongue of men and Angels when the very stones do speak When all about us is thus shaken can we settle and rest upon our lees When Jerusalem is so low on the ground it is time to hang up our harps and sit down and weep Behold the land mourneth Jer. 14. and the gates thereof languish The Church mourneth her very face is disfigured Religion mourneth being trod under foot and onely her name held up to keep her down All that we should delight in mourneth and shall we chant to the tune of the viol Shall the Covetous still hug himself at the sight of his heaps shall the Ambitious deifie himself in his Honour shall the Wanton still crown himself with roses shall every man sport and play in his own cock-boat whilst the ship of the Church is tempest beaten and driven upon the rocks Have ye no regard all ye that pass by the way to see a troubled State a disordered Church mouldred into Sects and crumbled into Conventicles Religion enslaved and dragged to vile offices true Devotion spit at and Hypocrisie crowned common Honesty almost become a reproach and the upright moral man condemned to hell Can you behold this which the Angels desire not to look on but turn away their face which God himself is grieved at and pressed under as a cart is with sheaves When the bleeding wounds of the Church and Religion it self open themselves wide when our Miseries bespeak us when our Sins bespeak us when every evil is so powerful an oratour when our Miseries cry aloud and our Sins cry louder can the apple of our eye cease and rest in this valley of Hadad rimmon in this Aceldama in this confusion Or why go we not mourning all the day long If this sight grieve us not it is an argument and it is the Philosopher's that we never delighted in the contrary that we loved our selves and not the publick that we cryed up the Church as the Jews did the Temple but cared not for it that Religion was onely written in our banners whilst we fought for our selves that we spake for Order but rejoyced not in it that we prayed for Peace but delighted in War And this Consequence is natural and will necessarily follow For that which we love is either our joy or our grief Whilst it is present it filleth us with joy and then when it is taken from us it must needs leave us in sorrow I might here inlarge my self but I must not be too bold with your patience I shall say as our Saviour said Lift up your eyes and look upon the fields Look every where about you send your eyes far and near and you shall see horrour and amazement and distraction motives enough to melt you and your selves the most miserable objects of all if you do not mourn and weep over them Look then upon them and do not doubt of God's providence He that suffereth is malus interpres Divinae providentiae the worst interpreter of a thousand and his Providence is like it self in those effects which seem to us most disproportionable Tunc optimus cùm tibi non bonus Then he is most good when his goodness seemeth not to be extended unto thee most just when sinners flourish and good men are opprest then caring for his vineyard when he letteth in the wild bores to spoil it Again do not murmure nor repine For in these calamities and miseries of the world we hang indeed as it were upon a cross but our Saviour hangeth by us If we bespeak him churlishly as one of the Thieves did our Saviour will give us no answer but if we mourn before him and humbly intreat him then shall we hear that comfortable reply Now you are on the cross but you shall be with me in paradise Let us not tempt God as the Jews did in the wilderness nor murmure as some of them murmured For then those evils which appear as Serpents to us will devour us But let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the Altar let the people take up a Lamentation let us all bawail our sins and that desolation which nothing but our sins could make upon the earth and in this our humility in this day of our mourning rouse up our drooping spirits with this Christian resolution even with this Here in this house of mourning will we build up a Temple for the Holy Ghost here in this dungeon purchase our liberty here in this Golgotha crucifie our lusts and overcome the world here in this disorder compose our affections in this confusion make our peace here even in this Common-wealth make our selves Citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem here in the ruines of a Church marry our selves unto Christ here amongst scorpions and draggons fit our selves for the company of Angels be miserable and mourn to rejoyce for ever Thus Blessedness and Consolation shall compass in the man of sorrow on every side who is troubled on every side but not distressed perplexed but not in despair cast down but not destroyed And thus blessed are they that thus mourn The Angels are their servants to convey their tears God is their Treasurer to keep them in his bottle and the holy Ghost is their Comforter Their sighs are the breath of heaven their tears the wine of Angels their groans the Echo of the Spirit of Grace Who will lead them to the living fountains of the waters of comfort and will wipe all tears from their eyes and bring them to the presence of the God of consolation where there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore The Third SERMON PART I. JOHN V. 14. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the Temple and said unto him Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee GLorious things are spoken of our Saviour Jesus Christ yet all come short of his glory S. Peter in his Sermon to Cornelius comprehendeth all in this that God anointed him with the Holy Ghost Acts 10.38 and with power and that he went about doing good As he cured mens bodies of diseases so he purged their souls of sin and he was miraculous in both The one he did by his word and in an instant the other by his word too but by degrees making use of one miracle to further another beginning the cure of the soul by giving health to the body in