that begun in Moses in darknesse in the Chaos and it ends in Saint John in clearnesse in a Revelation Here is the compass of all time as time was distributed in the Creation Vespere mane darknesse and then light the Evening and Morning made the Day Mystery and Manifestation make the Text. The Doctrine of the present Season is Mortification Humiliation and the experience of the present Place where we stand now in Court is that the glory of the persons in whose presence we stand occasions Humility in us the more glorious they are the humbler we are and therefore to consider Christ as he is received into glory is as much the way of our Humiliation and Mortification as to consider him in his Passion in his exinanition At least how small account should we make of those things which we suffer for Christ in this world when we see in this Text that in the describing the History of Christ from his Incarnation to his Ascension the Holy Ghost pretermits never mentions never seems to consider the Passion of Christ as though all that he had suffered for man were nothing in respect of that he would suffer if the justice of God had required any heavier satisfaction The Text then is a sufficient Instruction to Timothy to whom this Epistle is sent and to us to whom it is sent too that thereby we might know how to behave our selves in the House of God which is the Church of God the pillar and ground of Truth as is said in the verse immediately before the Text to which the Text hath relation we know how to behave our selves in the Church if we know in the Text that such a Mystery of godlinesse there is and know what it is Our parts therefore are but two Mystery and Manifestation In the first the Apostle proceeds thus First he recommends to us such Doctrine as is without controversie and truly there is enough of that to save any soule that hath not a minde to wrangle it self into Hell And then he sayes that this Godlinesse though it be without controversie yet it is a Mystery a Secret not present not obvious not discernable with every eye It is a Mystery and a great Mystery not the greatest but yet great that is great enough he that knowes that needs no more And then for the second part which is the manifestation of the Mystery we shall look upon that by all those beams which shine out in this Text Abortu ad Meridium from Christs East to his Noon from his first manifesting in the flesh to his receiving into glory Part I. First then he proposes Doctrine without controversie for Quod simpliciter predicatur Augustine credendum quod subtiliter disputatur intelligendum est That which Christ hath plainly delivered is the exercise of my Faith that which other men have curiously disputed is the exercise of my understanding If I understand not their curious disputations perchance I shall not be esteemed in this world but if I believe not Christs plain Doctrine I am sure I shall not be saved in the next It is true that Christ reprehends them often Quia non intellexerunt but what Scripturas legem because they understood not the Scriptures which they were bound to believe It is some negligence not to read a Proclamation from the King it is a contempt to transgresse it but to deny the power from which it is derived is treason Not to labour to understand the Scriptures is to slight God but not to believe them is to give God the lye he makes God a lyer 1 John 5.10 if he believe not the Record that God gave of his Son When I come to heaven I shall not need to ask of S. John's Angel nor of his Elders Ubi Prophetae ubi Apostoli ubi Evangelistae where are the Prophets where are the Evangelists where are the Apostles for I am sure I shall see them there But perchance I may be put to ask S. Paul's question Ubi Scribae ubi Sapientes 1 Cor. 1.20 where are the Scribes where are the Wise men where are the Disputers of the world perchance I may misse a great many of them there It is the Text that saves us the interlineary glosses and the marginal notes and the variae lectiones controversies and perplexities undo us the Will the Testament of God enriches us the Schedules the Codicils of men begger us because the Serpent was subtiller then any Gen. 3.1 2 Cor. 2.3 he would dispute and comment upon Gods Law and so deceiv'd by his subtilty The Word of God is Biblia it is not Bibliotheca a Book a Bible not a Library And all that book is not written in Balthazar 's character in a Mene Tekel Upharsim that we must call in Astrologers and Caldeans and Southsayers to interpret it That which was written so as that it could not be understood was written sayes the text there with the fingers of mans hand It is the hand of man that induces obscurities the hand of God hath written so a man may runne and read walk in the duties of his calling here and attend the salvation of his soul too He that believes Christ and Mahomet indifferently hath not proposed the right end he that believes the Word of God and traditions indifferently hath not proposed the right way In any Conveyance if any thing be interlin'd the interlining must be as well testified have the same witnesses upon the Endorsment as the conveyance it self had When there are traditions in the Church as declaratory traditions there are they must have the same witnesses they must be grounded upon the Word of God for there onely is truth without controversie Pilate ask'd Christ Quid veritas what was truth John 18.38 and he might have known if he would have staid but exicit sayes the Text there He went out out to the Jewes and there he could not finde it there he never thought of it more Ask of Christ speaking in his Word there you shall know produce the Record the Scripture Jude 1.3 and there is Communis salus I wrote unto you of the common Salvation What 's that Semel tradita sides sayes that Apostle there The Faith which was once delivered to the Saints where semel is not aliquando once is not once upon a time I cannot tell when but semel is simul once is at once The Gospel was delivered all together and not by Postscripts Thus it is If we go to the Record to the Scripture and thus it is if we ask a Judge I do not say The Judge but A Judge for the Fathers are a Judge a Judge is a Judge though there lie an appeal from him And will not the Fathers say so too Quod ubique quod semper that 's common salvation which hath bound the Communion of Saints that which all Churches alwayes have thought and taught to be necessary to salvation Ask the Record
ask that Judge and it will be so and it will be so if you ask the Counsel on the other side Ask the Council of Trent it self and the Idolaters of that Council will not say that our Church affirmes any Errour neither can they say that we leave any truth unaffirmed which the Primitive Church affirm'd to be necessary to salvation For those things which the Schoole hath drawn into disputation since as their form is in the beginning of every question to say Videtur quod non one would think it were otherwise if when they have said all I return to the beginning again Videtur quod non I think it is otherwise still Must I be damned The evidence for my salvation is my Credo not their Probo And if I must get Heaven by a Syllogism John 10.29 my Major is Credo in Deum patrem I believe in God the Father for Pater major the Father is greater then all And my Minor shall be Credo in Deum Filium I believe in God the Son Qui exivit de patre he came from God And my Conclusion which must proceed from Major Minor shall be Credo in Spiritum Sanctum I believe in the Holy Ghost who proceeds from Father and Son And this Syllogisme brought me into the Militant Church in my Baptisme and this will carry me into the Triumphant in my Transmigration for doctrine of Salvation is matter without controversie Myster But yet as clear as it is it is a Mystery a Secret not that I cannot see it but that I cannot see it with any eyes that I can bring Mat. 16.16 not with the eye of Nature Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee sayes Christ to Peter not with the eye of Learning Thou hast hid these things from the wise sayes Christ to his Father not with the eye of State that wheresoever I see a good Government I should presume a good Religion for we do not admit the Church of Rome and yet we doe admire the Court of Rome nor with the eye of a private sence 2 Pet. 1.20 for no prophecy of any Scripture for Quod non nisi instinctu Dei scitur prophetia est that which I cannot understand by reason but by especiall assistance from God all that is Prophecy No Scripture is of private interpretation I see not this mystery by the eye of Nature of Learning of State of mine own private sence but I see it by the eye of the Church by the light of Faith that 's true but yet organically instrumentally by the eye of the Church And this Church is that which proposes to me all that is necessay to my salvation in the Word and seals all to me in the Sacraments If another man see or think he sees more then I if by the help of his Optick glasses or perchance but by his imagination he see a star or two more in any constellation then I do yet that starre becomes none of the constellation it addes no limb no member to the constellation that was perfect before so if other men see that some additional and traditional things may adde to the dignity of the Church let them say it conduces to the well-being not to the very being to the existence not to the essence of the Church for that 's onely things necessary to salvation And this mystery is Faith in a pure conscience 1 Tim. 3.9 for that 's the same thing that is called Godliness in this text and it is to profess the Gospel of Christ Jesus sincerely and intirely to have a conscience testifying to himself that he hath contributed nothing to the diminution of it that he labours to live by it that he hopes to die in it that he feares not to die for it This is Mysterium opertum apertum 2 Cor. 4.3 Col. 1.26 hid from those that are lost but manifested to his Saints It is a Mystery a great Mystery that 's next not that there is not a greater Magnum for the Mystery of Iniquity is greater then the Mystery of Godliness Compare Creeds to Creeds and the new Creed of the Trent Council is greater by many Articles then the Apostles Creed is Compare Oathes to Oathes and Berengarians old Oath in the Roman Church that he must sweare to the Frangitur teritur that he broke the flesh of Christ with his teeth and ground it with his jawes and the new Oath of the Council of Trent that he must sweare that all those subtill Schoole-points determined there in which a man might have believed the contrary a few dayes before and yet have been a good Roman Catholick too are true and true de fide so true as that he cannot be saved now except he believe them to be so the Berengarians Oath and the Trent-oath have much more difficulty in them then to swear that K. James is lawful King in all his Dominions therefore exempt from all forreign jurisdiction over him There is a Mystery of Iniquity declared in a Creed of Iniquity in an Oath of Iniquity greater then the Mystery of Godliness but yet this is great that is great enough he needs no more that hath this saith with a pure conscience he need not go up to heaven for more not to a Vice-god to an infallible Bishop of Rome Deut. 30.12 he need not go over-sea for more sayes Moses there not to the hills beyond-sea nor to the lake beyond-sea for God hath given him his station in a Church where this Mystery is sufficiently declared and explicated The Mystery of Iniquity may be great for it hath wrought a great while 2 Thes 2.7 Jam operatur sayes the Apostle in his time the Mystery of iniquity doth already work and it is likely to work still It is but a little while since we saw it work under ground in the vault But if as hath been lately royally and religiously intimated to us all their insolency have so far infatuated them In Parliam as to think themselves at an end of their work and promise themselves a holy-day our assurance is in this Pater operatur adhuc ego operor Joh. 5.17 sayes Christ My Father works yet and I work and if amongst us the Father work and the Son work for all the vain hopes of some and the vain feares of others the Mystery of godliness will stand and grow Part II. Now how far this Mystery this great Mystery this Mystery without controversie is revealed in this Text we are to look by the severall beames thereof of which the first is Manifestatus in carne God was manifested in the flesh Coeli enarrant sayes David The heavens declare the glory of God Psal 19.2 and that should be the harmony of the Spheares Invisibilia conspiciuntur sayes Saint Paul Invisible things of God are seen in the visible Rom. 1.20 and that should be the prospect of this world
by the King to wait upon my L. of Doncaster in his Embassage to Germany First Sermon as we went out June 16. 1619. SERMON XX. Rom. 13.11 For now is our Salvation nearer then when we believed THere is not a more comprehensive a more embracing word in all Religion then the first word of this Text Now for the word before that For is but a word of connexion and rather appertains to that which was said before the Text then to the Text it self The Text begins with that important and considerable particle Now Now is salvation nearer c. This present word Now denotes an Advent a new coming or a new operation otherwise then it was before And therefore doth the Church appropriate this Scripture to the celebration of the Advent before the Feast of the Birth of our Saviour It is an extensive word Now for though we dispute whether this Now that is whether an instant be any part of time or no yet in truth it is all time for whatsoever is past was and whatsoever is future shall be an instant and did and shall fall within this Now. We consider in the Church four Advents or Comings of Christ of every one of which we may say Now now it is otherwise then before For first there is verbum in carne the word came in the flesh in the Incarnation and then there is caro in verbo he that is made flesh comes in the word that is Christ comes in the preaching thereof and he comes again in carne saluta when at our dissolution and transmigration at our death he comes by his spirit and testifies to our spirit that we die the Children of God And lastly he comes in carne reddita when he shall come at the Resurrection to redeliver our bodies to our souls and to deliver everlasting glory to both The Ancients for the most part understand the word of our Text of Christs first coming in the flesh to us in this world the latter Exposition understand them rather of his coming in glory But the Apostle could not properly use this present word Now with relation to that which is not now that is to future glory otherwise then as that future glory hath a preparation and an inchoation in present grace for so even the future glory of heaven hath a Now now the elect Children of God have by his powerfull grace a present possession of glory So then it will not be impertinent to suffer this flowing and extensive word Now to spread it self into all three for the whole duty of Christianity consists in these three things first in pietate erga Deum in religion towards God in which the Apostle had enlarged himself from the beginning to the twelfth chapter of his Epistle And secondly in charitate erga proximum in our mutual duties of society towards our Equals and Inferiors and of Subjection towards our Superiours in which that twelfth chapter and this to the eitghth verse is especially conversant And then thirdly in sanctimonia propria in the works of sanctification and holiness in our selves And this Text the Apostle presents as a forcible reason to induce us to that to those works of sanctification because Now our salvation is nearer us then when we believed Take then this now the first way of the coming Christ in person in the flesh into this world and then the Apostle of directs himself principally to the Jews converted to the faith of Christ and he tels them That their salvation is nearer them now now they had seen him come then when they did only believe that he would come Take the words the second way of his coming in grace into our hearts and so the Apostle directs himself to all Christians now now that you have bin bred in the Christian Church now that you are grown from Grace to grace from faith to faith now that God by his spirit strengthens and confirms you now is your salvation nearer then when ye believed that is when you began to believe either by the faith of your Parents or the faith of the Church or the faith of your Sureties at your Baptism or when you began to have some notions and impressions and apprehensions of faith in your self when you came to some degrees of understanding and discretion Take the word of Christs coming to us at the hour of death or of his coming to us at the day of Judgment for those two are all one to our present purpose because God never reverses any particular judgement given at a mans death at the day of the general Judgment take the word so this is the Apostles argument you have believed and you have lived accordingly and that faith and that good life hath brought salvation nearer you that is given you a fair and modest infallibility of salvation in the nature of reversion but now now that you are come to the approches of death which shall make your reversion a possession Now is salvation nearer you then when you believed Summarily the Text is a reason why we ought to proceed in good and holy wayes and it works in all the three acceptations of the word for whether salvation be said to be near us because we are Christians and so have advantage of the Jews or near us because we have made some proficiency in holiness sanctimony or near us because we are near our end and thereby near a possession of our endless joy and glory Still from all these acceptations of the word arise religious provocations to perseverance in holiness of life and therefore we shall pursue the words in all three acceptations In all three acceptations we must consider three termes in the Text First Quid salus what this Salvation is that is intended here Part. 1. and then Quid prope what this Distance this nearness is and lastly Quid credere what Belief this is So then taking the words first the first way as spoken by the Apostles to the Jews newly converted to the Christian Faith salvation is the outward means of salvation which are more and more manifest to the Christians then they were to the Jews And then the second Term Nearness salvation is nearer is in this That salvation to the Christian is in things present or past in things already done and of which we are experimentally sure but to the Jews it was of future things of which howsoever they might assure themselves that they would be yet they had no assurance when And therefore in the third place their Believing was but a confident expectation and faithfull assenting to their Prophets quando credidistis when you believed that is when you did only believe and saw nothing First then the first Terme in the first acceptation Salvation Salus is the outward means of salvation Outward and visible means of knowing God God hath given to all Nations in the book of Creatures from the first leaf of that book the firmament above to
by diversion when Saul pursued David with the most vehemence of all 1 Sam. 23.27 a messenger came and told him that the Philistines had invaded his Land and then he gave over the pursuit of David Really great admirably strange things did God in the behalf of his children for the destruction of his and their Idolatrous enemies But yet were they ever destroy'd totally destroy'd they were not The Lord left some Nations says the Text there without hastily driving them out neither did he deliver them into the hands of Joshuah Judg. 2.23 The Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day says that holy story and so did other Nations with the other Tribes in other places 1.21.28 They were able as we are told there to put the Canaanites to Tribute but not to drive them out to make Penal Laws against them but not to deliver the Land of them Now why did God do this We would not ask this question if God had not told us ut erudiret in iis Jerusalem 3.2 that the Enemy might be their Schoolmaster and War their Chatechism that they might never think that they stood in no more need of God The Lord was with Judah saith the Text so far with him 1.19 as that he drave out the Inhabitants of the Mountain but yet would not drive out the Inhabitants of the Valley Sometimes God does the greater work and yet leaves some lesser things undone God chooses his Matter and his Manner and his Measure and his Means and his Minutes But yet God is truly and justly said to have destroyed those Idolatrous Enemies in that he brought them so low as that they could not give Laws to the children of Israel nor force them to the Idolatrous Worship of their gods though some scattered Idolaters did still live amongst them God could destroy Nequitias in coelestibus he could evacuate all Powers and Principalities he could annihilate the Devil or he could put him out of Commission take from him the power of tempting or solliciting his servants Though God hath not done it yet he is properly said to have destroyed him because he hath destroyed his Kingdom Death is swallowed up in victory saith Saint Paul out of Ose O death where is thy sting says he Where is it Why 1 Cor. 15.5.4 Ose 13.14 it is in thy bosome It is at the heart of the greatest Princes of the earth Though they be gods they die like men O grave where is thy victory says he there Why above the Victories and Trophies and Triumphs of all the Conquerors in the world And yet the Apostle speaks and justly as if there were no death in man no sting in death no grave after death because to him who dies in the Lord all this is nothing not he by death but death in him is destroyed And as it is of the cause of Sin the Devil and of the effect of Sin Death so is it of Sin it self it is destroyed and yet we sin He that is born of God doth not commit sin so as that sin shall be imputed to him Sin and Satan and Death are destroyed in us because they can do no harm to us So the Idolatrous Nations were destroyed amongst the Israelites because they could not bring in an Inquisition amongst them and force them to their Religion And so Idolatry hath been destroyed amongst us destroyed so as that it hath been declared to be Idolatry towards God and declared to be complicated and wrapped up inseparably in Treason towards the King and the State Our Schools and Pulpits have destroyed it and our Parliaments have destroyed it Our Pulpits establish them that stay at home and our Laws are able to lay hold upon them that run from home and return ill affected to their home Let no man therefore murmur at Gods proceedings and say If God had a minde to destroy Idolatry he would have left no seed or he would not have admitted such arepullulation and such a growth of that seed as he hath done God hath his own ends and his own ways He destroyed the Nations from before the Israelites Christ hath destroyed Sin and Satan and Death and Hell and Idolaters amongst us for Gods greater glory do remain For such a destruction as should be absolute God never intended God never promised for that were to occasion and to induce a security and remove all diligence Which is our second Branch in this first part Cave tibi see take heed c. In the beginning of the world we presume all things to have been produced in their best state all was perfect and yet how soon a decay all was summer and yet how soon a fall of the leaf a fall in Paradise not of the leaf but of the Tree it self Adam fell A fall before that in heaven it self Angels fell Better security then Adam then Angels had there we cannot have we cannot look for here And therefore there is danger still still occasion of diligence Lev. 11.3 of consideration The chewing of the Cudd was a distinctive mark of cleanness in the Creature The holy rumination the daily consideration of his Christianity is a good character of a Christian 1 Cor. 12.31 Covet earnestly the best gifts says the Apostle those to whom he writ had good gifts already yet he exhorts them to a desire of better And what doth he promise them not the Gift it self but the way to it I will shew a more excellent way There is still something more excellent then we have yet attained to Non dicit charisma Chrysost sed viam The best step the best height in this world is but the way to a better and still we have way before us to walk further in Anathema pro fratribus Rom. 9.3 was but once said St. Paul once and in a vehement and inordinate zeal and religious distemper said so That he could be content to be separated from Christ Exi à me Domine was but once said once St. Peter said Luc. 5.8 Depart from me O Lord. The Anathema the exi but once but the Adveniat Regnum Let thy Kingdom come I hope is said more then once by every one of us every day every day we receive and yet every day we pray for that Kingdom more and more assurance of Glory by more and more increase of Grace For as there are bodily diseases and spiritual diseases too proper to certain ages a yong man and an old man are not ordinarily subject to the same distempers nor to the same vices so particular forms of Religion have their indispositions their ill inclinations too Thou art bred in a Reformed Church where the truth of Christ is sincerely Preached bless God for it but even there thou mayest contract a pride an opinion of purity and uncharitably despise those who labour yet under their ignorances or superstitions or thou mayest grow weary of thy Manna and smell