that where the article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there we are to understand the Person of the Holy Ghost yet we rather lay hold on the pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When He the Spirit of truth shall come He shall lead you which pointeth out to a distinct Person If as Sabellius saith our Saviour had onely meant some new motion in the Disciples hearts or some effect of the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been enough but ILLE He designeth a certain Person and I LLE He in Christ's mouth a distinct Person from himself Besides we are taught in the Schools Actiones sunt suppositorum Actions and operations are of Persons Now in this verse Christ sayth that he shall lead them into all truth and before he shall reprove the world v. 8. and in the precedent chapter he shall testifie of me v. 26. which are proper and peculiar operations of the blessed Spirit and bring him in a distinct Person from the Father and the Son And therefore S. Augustine resteth upon this dark and general expression Lib. 6. De Trinit Spiritus S. est commune aliquid Patris Filii quicquid illud est The Holy Ghost communicateth both of the Father and the Son is something of them both whatsoever we may call it whether we call him the Consubstantial and Coeternal communion and friendship of the Father and the Son or nexum amorosum with Gerson and others of the Schools the essential Love and Love-knot of the undivided Trinity But we will wave these more abstruse and deeper speculations in which if we speak not in the Spirit 's language we may sooner lose than profit our selves and speak more than we should whilest we are busie to raise our thoughts and words up to that which is but enough It will be safer to walk below amongst those observations which as they are more familiar and easy so are they more useful and to take what oar we can find with ease than to dig deeper in this dark mine where if we walk not warily we may meet with poysonous fogs and damps in stead of treasure We will therefore in the next place enquire why he is called the Spirit of Truth Divers attributes the Holy Ghost hath He is called the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4.13 the Spirit of Grace Hebr. 10.29 c. For where he worketh Grace is operative our Love is without dissimulation Rom. 12.9 our Joy is like the joy of heaven as true though not so great Gal. 5.6 Isa 6.6 Rom. 10 2. our Faith a working faith and our Zeal a coal from the altar kindled from his fire not mad and raging but according to knowledge He maketh no shadows but substances no pictures but realities no appearances Luke 1.28 but truths a Grace that maketh us highly favoured a precious and holy Faith 1 Pet. 1.7 8. full and unspeakable Joy Love ready to spend it self and Zeal to consume us Psâ—l 69.9 of a true existence being from the Spirit of that God who alone truly is But here he is stiled the Spirit of Truth yet is he the same Spirit that planteth grace and faith in our hearts that begetteth our Faith dilateth our Love worketh our Joy kindleth our Zeal and adopteth us in Regiam familiam into the Royal family of the first-born in heaven But now the Spirit of Truth was more proper For to tell men perplext with doubts that were ever and anon and somtimes when they should not asking questions of such a Teacher was a seal to the promise a good assurance that they should be well taught that no difficulty should be too hard no knowledge too high no mystery too dark and obscure for them but All truth should be brought forth and unfolded to them and having the veyl taken from it be laid open and naked to their understanding Let us then look up upon and worship this Spirit of Truth as he thus presenteth and tendereth himself unto us 1. He standeth in opposition to two great enemies to Truth Dissimulation and Flattery By the former I hide my self from others by the later I blindfold another and hide him from himself The Spirit is an enemy to both he cannot away with them 2. He is true in the Lessons which he teacheth that we may pray for his Advent long for his coming and so receive him when he cometh First dissemble he doth not he cannot For Dissimulation is a kind of cheat or jugling by which we cast a mist before mens eyes that they cannot see us It bringeth in the Devil in Samuel's mantle and an enemy in the smiles and smoothness of a friend It speaketh the language of the Priest at Delphos As to King Philip whom Pausanias slew playeth in ambiguities promiseth life when death is neerest and biddeth us beware of a chariot when it meaneth a sword No this Spirit is an enemy to this because a Spirit of truth and hateth these involucra dissimulationis this folding and involvedness these clokes and coverts these crafty conveyances of our own desires to their end under the specious shew of intending good to others And they by whom this Spirit speaketh are like him and speak the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 1.12 in the simplicity and godly sincerity of the spirit not in craftiness 2 Cor. 4.2 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 handling the Word of God deceitfully not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 4.14 not in the slight of men throwing a die and what cast you would have them not fitting their doctrine to men and the times that is not to men and the times but to their own ends telling them of heaven when their thoughts are in their purse Wisd 1.5 6. This holy Spirit of Truth flieth all such deceit and removeth himself far from the thoughts which are without understanding and will not acquit a dissembler of his words There is nothing of the Devil's method nothing of the Die or Hand no windings or turnings in what he teacheth He speaketh the truth and nothing but the truth and for our behoof and advantage that we may believe it and build upon it and by his discipline raise our selves up to that end for which he is pleased to come and be our Teacher And as he cannot dissemble so in the next place flatter us he cannot This is the inseparable mark and character of the evil Spirit qui arridet ut saeviat who smileth upon us that he may rage against us lifteth us up that he may cast us down whose exaltations are foils whose favours are deceits whose smiles and kisses are wounds Flattery is as a glass for a Fool to look upon and behold that shape which himself hath already drawn and please himself in it because it is returned upon him by reflection and so he becometh more fool than before It is the Fools
and dare not abide the answer Audire nusquam veritatem regium est We think it a goodly thing to live as we list without check or reproof and never be told the truth For Truth is sharp and piquant and our ears are tender Some Truths peradventure are musick to the ear but strike not the heart Others are harsh and ill-sounding and when we hear them we entreat they may not be spoken to us any more as the Israelites did when the Law was promulged with thunder and lightning and the mountain smoked we remove our selves and stand afar off But that we may not seem to do as Pilate did ask what Truth is and then go our way let us a little recount what kinds of Truths there be in the world that so amongst them all we may at last single out that which here by Wisdome it self we are instructed to buy And indeed Truths there are many kinds First there are Truths proper to the studies of great Scholars and learned men truths in Nature in the Mathematicks the knowledge of natural causes and events of the course of the Sun and of the Moon and the like These we confess are excellent truths and they deserve to be bought though we pay dear for them With these truths God was pleased supernaturally and by miracle to endow King Solomon 1 Kings 4.33 when he gave him the knowledge of Beasts Birds Creeping things and Fishes of Stones and of Plants from the Cedar in Lebanon to the Moss that groweth upon the wall Yet this is not that Truth which we are here commanded to buy Again there are many excellent Truths concerning the preservation of our Bodiess which are also well worthy to be bought Health is the chief of outward blessings without which all the rest lose their name For present all the glory and riches and pleasures of the world to a sick person Eccl. 30.18 and what are they but as the Wise-man speaketh like messes of meat set upon a grave for he can no more tast and relish them then a dead man sealed up in his monument Therefore as the same son of Sirach saith Eccl. 38.1 honour the Physician with the honour due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him for the Lord hath created him The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth and he that is wise will not abhorre them 4. Yet the skill of the Physician is not that Truth that Solomon here biddeth us buy Further yet there are many necessary Truths which concern the making and executing of Laws and the government of Commonwealths and Kingdoms By these the world is ordered peaceably and every wheel made to move in its proper place Without these Commonwealths would become as the hills of robbers Innocency alone would prove but a thin and weak defense in the midst of so many several tempers and dispositions as we daily encounter These Truths therefore are worth the buying also With skill in these did God honour his Priests under the Law Mal. 2.7 The Priests lips were to preserve such knowledge and the people were to seek the Law at his mouth and he was ordained to judge betwixt cause and cause betwixt man and man But neither yet is this the Truth here recommended to us We may descend lower yet even to the very Plough and find many useful conclusions and truths in Husbandry and Tillage whereby food and rayment and other necessaries for the body are provided without which we could not subsist Of these truths God professeth himself the Authour For the Prophet speaking of the art of the plough-man telleth us that his God doth instruct him to discretion and doth teach him Isa 28.26 c. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing-instrument neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cumin but the fitches are beaten out with a staff and the cumin with a rod. Bread corn is bruised c. This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working Yet neither is this nor any other of these truths that Truth which is here meant For first all these Truths concern onely those particular persons whose breeding and vocation calleth them to them All are not to buy them but ii tantùm quibus est necesse such whose education and occasions lead them to them If all were one member saith S. Paul 1 Cor. 12.19 where were the body If all men were subtile Philosophers or skilful Physicians or learned Lawyers and Politicians or painful Husbandmen the world could not well subsist Again all are not fitted for every truth for every calling All if they had a heart thereunto Prov. 17.16 yet have not a price in their hand Every Philosopher is not fit to hold the plough nor every one that handleth an ox-goad to be a Physician nor every Physician to plead at the bar These arts seem to be of a somewhat unsociable disposition and a very hard thing it is for a man to learn and practise perfectly more then one of them for the mind being distracted amongst many things must needs entertain them but brokenly and imperfectly Sic opus est mundo and thus Divine Providence hath ordered it But the Truth here is of a more pliable nature and therefore the commandment is given to all All must buy it It is put to sale and proferred to the whole world to him that sitteth on the throne and to her that grindeth at the mill to the Husbandman in the field to the Philosopher in the Schools to the Physician in his study and to the Trades-man in his shop No man of what calling or estate soever is unfit for this purchase The poorest that is may come to this markets and find about him money enough to purchase the commodity Yea let him go whither he will and live amongst what people and in what part of the world he please whether at Jerusalem or amidst the tents of Kedar in the city or in the wilderness he shall still find himself sufficiently furnished for this bargain And that he buyeth serveth both for this world and the next it will prove both a staff and a crown it will direct his feet in his pilgrimage and crown his head at his journeyes end All the other Truths I reckoned up to you as they may be bought so also they may be sold and forgone Yea there may come a time when they must all give place to the Truth in my Text and become the price for which it must be bought and be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loss and dung Phil. 3.7 3. that we may gain it as S. Paul speaketh of his skill and forwardness in the Jews religion in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus But though those Truths continue with us all our life yet at last they will forsake us Who will look for a Philosopher or a Physician or
the Truth hath no power at all over us we may look upon our selves as Temples dedicated to the Truth and yet we put it far from us These two evil Spirits then we must cast out before the Spirit of Truth will enter into us I shall now therefore shew the horrour and danger of them both that ye may eject them and so become fit merchants of the Truth I. Praejudicium est quod obstat futuro judicio saith the Civilians Prejudice is that which hindreth and keepeth off any further and future judgment It hath alwaies Pertinacie to accompany it which as a rock beateth back all those batteries which Reason can make The mind is so setled upon one conclusion that it looketh upon all others as false though they be true Dan. 6.8 12. Our own sentence is like the Law of the Medes and Persians unalterable We are resolved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Philosopher speaketh to hold fast our conclusion against all the strength of reason and argument that can be brought to the contrary This is in effect to do what the Spies did who were sent to view the land of Canaan Numb 13.32 to bring up an evil report of the Truth that we dare not venture to buy it this is to condemn the Truth and suffer no advocate to stand up and speak in its defense Nor indeed do we lie and labour so much under the rage of our Affections as under the tyranny of Prejudice For our Affections most commonly are blind and so without prejudice When they carry us along with violence we do not judge but chuse Vnicuique sua cupiditas tempestas est Every mans inordinate desire is not onely a wind to drive him forward but a tempest to wheel and whirl him about from errour to errour till a spirit of giddiness possess him that he cannot discern any thing as it is And as according to the common saying nulla tempestas diu durat no tempest is long but soon breatheth it self out so is it here the cloud of Passion is quickly blown over Gen. 27.41 44 45. Gen. 33.4 and then the eye is clear In his Wrath Esau will kill his brothor Jacob but when time had turned his fury away he became a brother again and ran to meet Jacob and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and wept Then he would shed his brothers bloud now his own tears David's Lust brought him to a forbidden bed but the voice of a Prophet maketh him wash it with tears Fear made Peter deny and forswear his Master but the crowing of a cock and a look from Christ make him deny his denial and weep bitterly What is done out of Affection we do we know not how we do it and the greatest reason we have many times is because we do it If in passion we pass any judgment it is not long-lived but wasteth and decayeth and dieth with the passion But Prejudice is a rooted and lasting evil an evil we are jealous of because we think it good we build upon it as upon a foundation and he that but breatheth upon it that but looketh towards it appeareth as an enemy that cometh to dig it up Sometimes indeed Prejudice is raised in us by the Affections sometimes the Affections intermingle and interweave themselves with it but commonly the Affections come in the rear of Prejudice and follow as its effects and help to strengthen it We love him that is of our opinion because it is ours and we hate him that contradicteth it Upon the same reason we are afraid of every profer angry at every word that is spoken against it And this gathereth every conventicle mouldeth every sect coineth every heresy This is that Sword which our Saviour speaketh of Matth. 10.34 35 36. that divideth a man from his father and the daughter from her mother and maketh enemies of those who are of a mans own houshold This is that East wind which bringeth in those Locusts that cover the face of the Church Exod. 10 13 15 and make it dark and eat up all those fruits which we should gather Prejudice then doth suppose Judgment Judgment doth in a manner form it otherwise it could not be Prejudice Nor do we understand by Prejudice all judgment made and passed before-hand in the mind For such judgment may be true as well as false Nor would we so free the mind from Prejudice as to leave it unsetled and in doubt determining and concluding nothing For this were to cast out the soul it self by depriving it of Reason and Judgment which is the prime act and proper effect of Reason without which it cannot be an humane Soul We leave the mind free to judge but not so to dote on and deifie its own decree and determination as to fall down and worship it so to favour and fix upon it so to stand to it as to stand strong or rather stubborn against all those reasons that are fit and ready and may be brought to oppose and demolish it Nor do we hear mean those conclusions which are known and assented to as soon as they are tendred and presented to us which with their light overcome us and make us yield at the first sight as That we ought to worship God live honestly injure no man give every one that is his be grateful to our benefactors honour our parents and the like For here Prejudice hath no place In these our first judgment is our last because it must needs be right Once we determine and proceed no further But we understand those deductions and inferences which we make when we apply those known truths to particular practice which peradventure we may do with diligence and with the help and advice of others and yet not so build and establish our conclusions as to make them necessary everlasting and indisputable For a man may dishonour God when he thinketh he worshippeth him one may oppress his neighbour and call it justice be profane yet canonize himself for a Saint conclude one beholding to him whom he injureth be disobedient to his parents and think he honoureth them lift up his heel against his patrone and yet perswade himself that he exactly observeth all the rules of gratitude Here Prejudice may come in and be as a veil before our eyes that we cannot see the Truth which we should buy for our use which must needs withdraw it self when we worship our own imaginations when we conclude and rest upon that judgment as right which we have preconceived when we set up those reasons which peradventure we framed when we consulted with flesh and bloud against all that can be said to the contrary and precondemn all other judgment as false because it steppeth from this and cannot agree with it Suppose the first judgment in these be true yet is it no derogation from the Truth in this kind to be put to the question 2 Cor. 13.5 If we be in
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
it is not written Jacob set up a pillar and poured oyl upon the top of it and called it the house of God But we do not read that God ever spake to him concerning the erecting of that pillar Let us stand to Calvin's judgment in this and he with many is an authour one of ten thousand He in the fourth Book of his Institutions and tenth chapter proveth that Bowing of the knee in the service of God is of Divine authority by no other argument then S. Paul's general rule 1 Cor. 14.40 Let all things be done decently and in order For saith he in that DECORUM which is here prescribed is included Adgeniculation He might have added the Uncovering of the head which is of the same nature and by which we acknowledge our subjection and dependance both in civil religious worship What talk we of an express command There were never yet any boggled at this or were afraid to be reverent who were not bold enough to beat down all before them which stood between them and their ends and break those commands which are as express and manifest as if they had been written with the Sun-beams Truly religious and not reverent You might as well say A man without a soul Neque vera neque falsa religio sine ceremoniis consistit saith S. Augustine against Faustus the Manichee So necessary is Ceremonious and outward worship that neither true nor false Religion can subsist without it I might here much enlarge my discourse but the time is spent and I fear your patience Therefore instead of pressing you with argument I shall put up but this request to those who are so scrupulous of a bare head or a bended knee in the house of God That they would in their retirement commune with their own hearts and ask themselves the question What is the principal motive of that their too-familiar and bold deportment Whether it be indeed Religion that maketh their knees as the knees of the Elephant and putteth them in the same posture at Church which they use in a Theatre and maketh them more bold with their God then with their fellow-Dust and ashes Or whether it may not be Pride and then why should Pride set her foot within God's Sanctuary Or Phansie or Humour and what is a phansiful and humorous worshipper Or a Custom ill taken up and which hath no more to speak for it but that it is taken up and what custom is that in religious worship which destroyeth it In a word Whether Reverence and Devotion be not better seen in those expressions and gestures which are proper to it and best shew it forth then in those which are more then probable arguments against it and openly deny it If men would truly ask this question and impartially answer themselves I think the Preacher would have less reason to open his mouth again in the defence of God's glory nor should we see that profaneness and irreverence which that Church we call the whore of Babylon blusheth at nay for I mistook rejoyceth in and proclaimeth to all the world that having no reverence we have no Church so that one is bold to tell us we worship not God but the Devil And indeed we cannot deny but some such there are amongst us who place religion in irreverence and think themselves never more devout then when they are most profane They call it their familiarity and fellowship with their elder Brother little considering that we are then most familiar with our God when we stand at an humble distance that not Presumption and Boldness but Modesty and Humility draw us near unto him that when we are united to him we must tremble before him that our kissing him is our worship that when in all humility we serve him then he will gird himself and come forth and serve us and embrace us as his friends for being his servants For our familiarity with God is our subjection and submission to his will which maketh us one in Christ and God as the Father is in him and he in the Father What John 17.21 shall we be so familiar as to neglect God so familiar as to sit in his throne so familiar as to defie him to his face Think what we please and please our selves if we will in these our Seraphical or rather Diabolical imaginations A devout soul and a lofty eye a high look a stiff knee a withered hand a covered head a careless gesture or rather a careful and affected irreverence are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cannot meet together are as inconsistent as fire and cold It is not possible that this fire should burn within us and our reverence be so congealed and bound up as with a frost Beloved the time was when heaven was thought a purchace when Devotion came forth in this dress multo deformata pulvere with ashes sprinkled on her head and her garments rent and that was called the purest time They had their genuflexions their incurvations of their body which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the name of that Repentance which they exprest I might tell you they signed themselves with the sign of the Cross and by that sign when they were led muzzled to execution made confession of their faith They presented themselves at Church as before the Throne of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us stand decently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us stand before God with fear and reverence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us stand wisely and soberly and with great care and vigilant observation But the face of Christendom is much altered and the hour is come when men will not worship God but in spirit and truth which they cannot do especially in publick unless they worship him with the body also Our Holiness is in the inward man so inward that prohibet extraneum it forbiddeth all outward worship Had Nazianzene's mother devout Nonna lived in these days what a superstitious Papist had she gone for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to honour and reverence the holy consecrated things with an humble and silent admiration never to turn her back to the Communion-Table nay not to spit upon the pavement what a piece of ceremonious and needless curiosity would this have been taken for in these days Not turn the back to the Communion-Table we dare sit upon it Be reverent in the Temple No make it a Market-place to bargain in a Theatre to swagger in to make our selves a spectacle but not in S. Paul's sense to God to men and to Angels here to display our colours to try our Titles to blazon our Arms. What was Religion and devout Reverence in the first age in this latter age must needs go for Superstition and Idolatry Many of our women are too spiritual to be like Nazianzen's mother Nonna Pardon the nearness and like-sounding of the words sure I think some Nunn she was And this is it saith S. Ambrose which blasteth and spoileth the whole
treadeth under foot from fear of the Law when we should have no other law but Piety That which is born of the flesh is flesh saith our Saviour John 3.6 Nor can the flesh work in us a love to and chearfulness in the things of the Spirit The flesh perfecteth nothing contributeth nothing to a good work Nor doth any thing work kindly till it come to perfection Perfection and Sincerity work our joy In Scripture we find even inanimate and senseless things said to be glad when they attain unto and abide in their natural perfection a Ps 19.5 The Sun is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race b Ps 65.12 â—3 The little hills rejoyce on every side The valleys are covered over with corn they shout for joy they also sing Prata rident So Solomon c Prov. 13.9 The light of the righteous rejoyceth because it shineth clear and continually The blessed Angels are in a state of perfection and their motion from place to place the Schools say is instantaneous and in a moment as sudden and quick as their will by which they move Therefore they are drawn out with wings Isa 6. and said to go forth like lightning Which signifieth unto us their alacrity speed in executing all God's commands Their constant office is to be ready at his beck and they ever have the heavenly characters of his will before their eyes as a Father speaketh And such also will our activity and chearfulness be in devotion and the service of God if we be thus animated and informed as it were with the love thereof if our minds be shaped and configured to it as S. Basil saith If either the Word or the Sword either the power of the truth or calamity and persecution hath made it sweet unto us and stirred up in us an earnest expectation and longing after it then IBIMUS We will go go with chearfulness to the house of mourning and sit with those who are in the dust go to that Lazar and relieve him to that prisoner and visit him to our friends and counsel them to our enemies and reconcile them with the Jews here go to the Temple to the Church and pray for the Nation Joel 2.17 and say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thine heritage to reproch go and fall down and worship him yea go to the stake and dy for him Psal 39.3 When this fire burneth within us we shall speak with the tongue and that with a chearful accent IBIMUS We will go into the house of the Lord. And so we are fallen upon our last circumstance 5. The place of their devotion the house of the Lord. When a company go to serve the Lord they must needs go to some place For how can they serve him together but in a place Adam and his sons had a place Gen. 4.3 4. The Patriarchs had a place altars and mountains and groves In the wilderness the people of God had a movable Tabernacle And though Solomon said that a Acts 7.48 1 Kings 8.27 God dwelleth not in temples made with hands yet b Acts 7.47 Solomon that said so built him an house And the work was commended by God himself not onely when it was finished and brought to perfection but even while it was yet but in design and was raised no further then in thought The Lord said unto David 2 Chron. 6.8 Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my name thou didst well in that it was in thine heart And when Christ came he blessed in this house prayed in it taught in it disputed in it he drove the profaners out of it he spake by his presence by his tongue by his gesture he giveth it its name and in a manner Christneth it Matth. 21.13 by calling it his house and the house of prayer For though he came to strike down the Law yet he came not to beat down right Reason Though he did disanull what was fitted but for a time as Sacrifices and all that busy and troublesome that ceremonious and typical Worship yet he never abolished what common reason will teach us is necessary for all ages How could he require that men should meet together and worship him if there were to be no place at all to meet in Or what needed an express command for that which the very nature of the duty enjoyneth and necessity it self will bring in He that enjoyneth publick worship doth in that command imply that there must be a certain publick place to meet in We hear indeed Christ saying to the Jews John 2.19 Destroy this Temple but it was to make a window in their breasts that they might see he knew their very hearts 21. He bid them do what they meant to do He spake of the Temple of his body saith the Text and they did destroy both his body and their own Temple For they who had nothing more in their mouthes then The Temple of the Lord Jer. 7.4 set fire on the Temple of the Lord with their own hands as Josephus relateth And so their Ceremonies had an end so their Temple was destroyed but not to the end that all Churches and places of publick meeting should be for ever buried in its ruines before they were built That house of the Lord was dissolved indeed but at the dissolution thereof there was no voice heard that did tell us vve should build no more in any other place The first Christians we may be sure heard no such voice For assoon as persecution suffered them to move their arms they were busy in erecting of Oratories in a plain manner indeed answerable to their present estate But when the favour of Princes shined upon them and their substance encreased they poured it out plentifully this way and founded Churches in every place Nor did they think they could lay too much cost upon them none counted that wast which was expended about so good a work They built sumptuous houses for God's worship and rejoyced and after-ages applauded it both by their words and practice they magnified it and did the like Such cost hath ever gone under the name of Piety and Devotion till these later times when almost all are ready with Judas to condemn Mary Magdelene for pouring forth her ointment John 12 3-6 Churches were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Houses of the Lord and so were esteemed and not Idole Synagogues not Styes till Swine entred into them and defiled them and holp to pull them down We know God dwelleth not in Temples made with hands Acts 7.48 17.24 nor can his infinite Majesty be circumscribed we remember and therefore need not to be told that Christ said to the woman of Samaria that the hour was coming when men should neither in that mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father John 4.21 23. but should worship him
in spirit and truth But this they cannot do together but in some place and the Spirit which breatheth upon the Church will not blow it down nor the place where they meet who make up a Church We remember also that S. Paul enjoyneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that men pray every where 1 Tim. 2.8 But those words carry not any such tempest with them as to overthrow the houses of the Lord. S. Basil who had as clear an eye and as quick an apprehension as any that age or after-ages have afforded could spy no such meaning in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he doth not take-in those places which are deputed to humane and profane uses but extendeth and dilateth the worship of God beyond the narrow compass of Jerusalem to every place in the whole world It is written that all shall be Priests of God but yet it is not meant that all shall exercise the Priests office I am ashamed to exercise my self against rotten posts set up by wanton and malicious men which will fall to the dust to nothing of themselves and to spend my time and pains to beget a good opinion of the house of God in their minds who know not what to think or what they would have who fear their own shadow which their ignorance doth cast and run from a monster of their own begetting the creation of a troubled or rather a troublesome spirit and an idle brain God then hath an House and he calleth it his Nor can he be guilty of a Misnomer And if it be God's then it is holy not holy as he is holy but holy because it is his Why startle we It is no ill-boding word that we should be afraid of it Donatus the Grammarian observeth Si ferrum nominetur in comoedia transit in tragoediam that but to name a Sword in a Comedie is enough to turn it into a Tragedie I know not whether that word have such force or no sure I am there is nothing in this word Holy why so much noise and tumult should be raised about it as if Superstition had crept in and were installed and inthroned in our Church The house of God is holy What need we boggle at it or what reason is there of fear when the lowest degree of charity might help us to conclude that it is impossible that he who calleth it so should mean that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. I ask Hebr. 12.14 Is it possible that this should ever enter into the heart of any man who is not out of his wits I will be bold to say Matth. 3.9 that God who can raise up children unto Abraham out of stones cannot infuse holiness into stones till they be made children of Abraham I dare not shorten his hand or lessen his power yet I may say His Power waiteth in a manner upon his Wisedome and He cannot do what becometh him not He cannot do what he hath said he never will do But when Stones are piled together and set apart for his service he himself calleth it his holy place because of the relation it beareth to his service and to holiness and in respect of the end for which it was set up Holy that is set apart from common use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 10.14 common and profane signifie the same in holy Writ So the Gentiles were common and profane and the Jews were holy that is culled and taken out from the rest of the world sanctified and set apart to the Lord. For as holy a people as they were how many of them did embrace that holiness which beautifieth the inward man and might make them like to the Holy one of Israel Again SANCTUM est ab hominum injuria munitum That which is holy is fenced from the injuries of men and the hand of Sacrilege Things thus holy God looketh upon as his with an eye of jealousie And as he gave charge concerning his Anointed so he doth concerning his House Psal 105.15 Nolite tangere Touch it not And he that toucheth it with a profane and sacrilegious hand toucheth the apple of his eye and if he repent not of his wickedness God will one day put him to shame for that low esteem he had of the place where his honour dwelleth Psal 16 8. It is the end which maketh it holy and to hinder it of its end is to profane it though the pretense be never so specious What is it then to laugh and jest at this name that we may pull it down in earnest Oh trust not to a pretense And if we lean upon it whilest we deface the house of God it will fail and deceive us and our fall will be the greater for our support we shall fall and be bruised to pieces our punishment shall be doubled and our stripes multiplied first for doing that which is evil and then for taking in that which is good to make it an abettour and assistant to that which is evil which is to bring in God pleading for Baal and to suborn Religion to destroy it self Oh why do men boast in their shame What happiness can it be to devour holy things Prov. 20.25 and then be caught in that snare which will strangle them To dance in the ruines of the Church and then sink to hell Time was Beloved when this was counted an holy language and holy men of God and blessed Martyrs of Christ spake it Then it was not superstition but great devotion And no other language was heard almost till the dayes of our grandfathers But then Covetousness under the mask of false Zele which was rather burning then hot and carried with it more rage then charity swallowed up this Devotion in victory led it in triumph disgraced and vilified it and gave it an ill name Then the Devil shewed himself in the colours of light and did more mischief then if he had appeared as a roaring Lion Then the very name of holy was a good argument to beat down a Temple which must down for this because it was called so Before this There were Holy Means and they were called so the Word Prayer Sacraments Ecclesiastical Discipline and for the applying of these Means to the end for which they were ordained there were Holy Times when and Holy Persons by whom they were to be administred and there were Holy Places too or else the rest were to no purpose And holy things S. Paul calleth them 1 Cor. 9.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy things out of the holy place All these are so linked together as a chain that you cannot sever them For neither can there be Holiness without fit means nor Means administred without fit Persons nor Persons do their office but in a fit Place Holiness indeed is properly inherent in none but God Angels and Men in God essentially in the blessed Spirits and Men by participation as far as their
we were afraid of when we drink down sin for some pleasant tast it hath when we know it will be our poyson The Prophet David plainly expresseth it Nolunt intelligere They will not understand and seek God Psal 3.6 The errour then in practice is from the Will alone which is swai'd more by the flatteries and sophistry of the Sense then by the dictates of the Understanding as we many times see that a parasite finds welcome and attention when we stop our ears to seaven wisemen that can render a reason An errour of a foul aspect and therefore we look upon it but at distance through masks and disguises we seek out divers inventions and out of a kind of fear that we may not erre at all or not erre soon enough we make Sin yet more sinfull and help the Devil to deceive us Sometimes we comfort our selves with that which we call a punishment and being born weak we are almost persuaded it is our duty to fall Sometimes the countenance of the Law is too severe and we tremble and dare not come neer and because we think it hard to keep we are the more active to break it Sometimes we turn the grace of God into wantonness and since he can do what he please we will not do what we ought Sometimes we turn our very remedy into a disease make the Mercy of God a kind of tentation to sin and that which should be the death of the sin the security of the sinner Sometimes we hammer out some glorious pretense propose a good end and then drive furiously towards it though we perish in the way to defend one Law break all the rest pluck the Church in pieces to fit her with a new garment a new fangled discipline fight against the King for the good of the Common-wealth tread Law and Government under foot to uphold them say it is necessary and do it as if there could be an invincible necessity to sin This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Basil calleth it the Devil's mothod to bring-in God himself pleading for Baal and to suborn the Truth as an advocate for Errour For to make up the cheat he paints our errour in a new dress makes it a lovely majestick errour that we begin to bow and worship it Similitudo creat errorem Errour saith Tully hath its being from the resemblance which one thing bears to another It is Presumption but it is like Assurance It is Sacrilege but it is like Zeal It is Rebellion but it is like the Love of our country For as the common principles of truth may be discovered in every sect even in those opinions which are most erroneous so the common seeds of moral Goodness have some shew and appearance in those actions which are wholly evil There is something of Love in Effeminacy something of Zeal in Fury some sound of Fidelity in the loudest Treason something of the Saint in the Devil himself These are fomenta erroris these breed and nourish Errour in us these bring forth the brat and nurse it up S. Paul's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 certain wandring and stubborn imaginations the vapors of a corrupt heart exhaled and drawn up into the brain where they hang as meteors irregularly moving and wheel'd about by the agitation of a wanton phansie and S. Pau'ls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strong disputes and subtle reasonings against God and our own souls The Vulgar translates it consilia deleberate counsels to undo our selves We consult and advise we hold a kind of Parliament within us and the issue is we shake and ruine that State which we should establish Nor do these minuere voluntatem make our errour less wilfull but aggrandize it for of themselves they have no being no reality but are the creation of the mind the work of a wanton phansie created and set up to sanctifie and glorifie our errour There is no such terrour in the Law till we have made it a killing letter no difficulty which our unwillingness frames not no pretense which we commend not no deceiving likeness which we paint not Still that is true Cor nostrum nos decepit our Heart hath deceived us Our reason is ready to advise if we will consult and it is no hard matter to devest an action of those circumstances with which we have clothed it and to wipe out the paint which we our selves have laid on But as S. Augustine well observes Impia mens odit ipsum intellectum When we forsake our Reason and Understanding we soon begin to distast and hate it and because it doth not prophesie good unto us but evil are unwilling to hear it speak to us any more from thence we hear nothing but threatnings and menaces and the sentence of condemnation It exhorteth and corrects and instructs it is a voice behind us and a voice within us and we must turn back from the pleasing paths of errour if we listen to it Timemus intelligere nè cogamur facere we are afraid to understand our errour because we are unwilling to avoid it we are afraid to hear of Righteousness who are resolved to be unjust And what was an apologie for Ovid may be applyed to us to our condemnation Non ignoramus vitia sed amamus We are not ignorant of the errours of our life but we do love them and will be those beasts which we know must be thrust through with a dart I have now brought before your eye the Errour we must fly from and the Apostle exhorts us to make haste 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be not deceived It is tender'd as good counsel but indeed is a law For as Tertullian speaks If the ground of every Law be Reason Lex erit omne quod ratione constiterit à quocunque productum est Whatsoever Reason commends must be a law to us though it be not written in tables of stone nor proclaimed by the voice of the herald So had not this exhortatation been Apostolical yet it might well carry with it the force of a Law because nothing is more opposite to Reason then Errour I may say it is not onely a Law but compendium totius Eâ—angelii the sum of all the precepts of the Gospel or rather a â—â—â—lar to preserve them all pressing upon us a duty which if well observed will fit and qualifie us for all the duties of our life And thâ—refore what the Pope usurps upon weak grounds or none at all is the prerogative or rather the duty of every Christian in those things which concern his peace to be infallible One is no further a Christian nâ—si in quantum caeperit esse Angelus then so far forth as by casting off errour more and more he begins to have a tast of an Angelical estate And now we should descend to application And I could wish I could not apply it But if I should apply it I must make use of the Rhetorick of the antients who in a copions subject were wont to
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