bodie nor with our substance He shall have neither our goods nor our knee but likely we put it off He shall have our soul why this is only to give God his thirds as a reverend Father saies to compound like Bankrupts and give him two parts less than we owe him and yet we look for ten thousand times more than He owes us We have some that are to be suspected for a kind of Sadduces among us that believe no resurrection of the body else they would never palter with discipline but be more forward in the prostration and worship of the bodie than the Church could be to command them Some have given a great blow to this duty by harping upon the bare words of S. John and not digesting the true meaning of his Text Joh. iv 23. The hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth Mark the occasion why this was spoken and the words precedent The woman of Samaria moved a doubt whether God was to be worshipped at Jerusalem as the Jews taught or at Mount Girizin as the Samaritans taught Now the Samaritans worshipt God falsely they worshipt they knew not what says Christ The Jews held strictly to Moses Law and observ'd figures and shadows of things to come which were all to give place and vanish upon the incarnation of our Lord. Now it is easie to discern the substance of our Saviours answer what it is to serve God in spirit and truth Truth is opposed to the false superstition of the Samaritans Spirit is opposed to the Jewish figures and sacrifices And Christ tells the woman God will neither be served any more after the Samaritan way or Jewish way but after the newness of the Gospel The hour cometh and now is when ye shall neither worship the Father in this Mountain nor at Jerusalem but they shall worship him in spirit and truth Do these words exempt the worship of the body nothing less The word spirit is not taken there for the soul divided from the body signifying only an internal act of the spirit but for all manner of virtuous actions as well external as internal which proceed from the grace of the Holy Spirit being acceptable to God because the Holy Spirit brings them forth not because they are figures of things to come I will sing with the spirit says St. Paul 1 Cor. xiv 15. and yet singing is a bodily action He did worship in spirit when he said For this cause bow I my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Ephes iii. to come to a point Remember therefore how we adore God in spirit when we adore him with those outward gestures of the body to which we are stirred up by the Spirit of truth And so much of the first member of my Text which I laid out to be handled by it self the Lord God is to be worshipped The next duty is the other Pillar of Religion which upholds the Church of the Elect the Lord God is to be served By worship you know already we understand all humble outward devotion and reverence Now by service you must conceive the inward conformity of the heart to all duty and obedience The will of the Lord is revealed to us two manner of ways Either as he doth promise us blessings and benefits and assures us great rewards in the Kingdom of heaven Or as he doth stipulate and covenant with us what we shall do to obtain his favour In the former respect as he hath given us the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth most liberally and as he doth promise greater fruits of his mercy most graciously we fall down and worship him for his benefits but as he doth condition with us to do somewhat for his sake that he may leave a blessing with us we serve him faithfully and bind our inward faculties our soul and our mind to be prompt and ready to execute all obedience That you may the better compose your hearts to attend Gods will in all things and to serve him I will supply your knowledge with these few motives following First There is no other Lord beside our God properly called 1 Cor. viii Though there be that are called Gods as there be Gods many and Lords many that is by opinion and nuncupation but to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him And again Eph. v. 4. One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God who is above all and through all and in you all Super omnes dominio per omnes providentiâ in omnibus justificatione Above all by his Dominion through all by his Providence in all by sanctifying us with his grace and justifying us from sin He that is subject to none inferiour to none independent of himself in all his power He may well be called a Lord and such a Lord deserves to be served Petty Magistrates hold of Princes favours and Kings hold their tenure under God Therefore some of the Roman Emperours having the perceivance that they could command nothing absolutely if he that sate above the heavens did stop it they would not be called Domini because themselves were servants in relation to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords therefore their circumscribed power did not answer the title When the Scripture brings in the most High the saying is Haec dicit Dominus Thus saith the Lord. If we would examine this after the stile of man you would say Lord of what Why universal Lord without any particular designment Specifications to be Lords of this or that are earthly phrases are notes of minority Attalus the Martyr was askt what name that Lord had whom he served Says he Qui plures sunt nominibus discernuntur qui autem unus est non indiget nomine Where there are many Lords they must be distinguish'd by their properties but what need that Lord a name for distinction who is the only Ruler by himself without any equal or partner in his dominion now since we must serve for sin hath brought servitude into the world whom would a man choose to serve but that only Lord to whose sheave all other sheaves do bend and who only hath authority Secondly In all service you will consider in what state and place it puts you Do so in this and spare not But let St. Peter be the Judge 1 Epist ii 9. Ye are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people There is royalty in the very service Cui servire est regnare To do him service is a Kingly Ministry Nay there is more in one of our Church Collects in one Line of it than in the most Augustious title of a King God whose service is perfect freedom A King may be so much subject to naughty passions as he shall be in vile thraldom to his own sensualities and so
from thence he assists his Sacraments sanctifieth his Ministry gives grace unto his Word And if they did not escape who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn from him that speaketh from Heaven Secondly Our Jerusalem is above not only in the Head but in the Members I do not say in all the Members for the Church is that great House in which are Vessels of honour and dishonour Terms of Excellency though indistinctly attributed to the whole are agreeing oftentimes only to the chiefer or more refined part Some there are in this Body whom though we salute not by the proud word of their Sublimity yet in true possession which shall never be taken from them they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that are above Witness that the Angels make up one Church with us being the chief Citizens that are reckoned in the triumphant part fellow Servants with us under one Lord adopted Sons under one Father Elect under one Christ This is the language of the Scripture and surely Members of one Mystical Body for the same Jesus is the Head of all Principality and Power Colos ii 10. Of this Family also are the Saints departed even all those holy Spirits that obey God in heavenly places and do not imitate the Devil and his Angels This is that Church which hath neither spot nor wrinkle for when I speak of such a Church says St. Austin in his retractations I mean none but those in Heaven After these that make the front and first File of our March there are many among us I trust who have their part in this description Jerusalem which is above the Elect of God the Church invisible invisible I say not for their persons but for their qualites for who can see who hath an internal union with Christ the Head Who can tell whether this or that may be filled with his Grace and quickned with his Spirit Cusanus says very well that there is no certain judgment to be made by the outward fruits who are living Members of the Church but in Infants that are newly baptized With the mouth we confess the truth but with the heart man believes unto righteousness and only God can see the heart But these whose integrity their Master knows and loves no matter in what base condition they wander here they are greater by far than the ungodly that over-peer them in promotion they are above indeed for they are as high as the pinacle of blessedness and their names are written in the Book of Life for their sakes God hath dropt down the beautiful style of Jerusalem upon the Houshold of Christ but without these no name were so fit for it as Sodom or Samaria Such as will wrangle where no occasion is offered have carped at this as if we removed all from the Church but such as are Israel in occulto and have their sins forgiven in Christ It was never our meaning neither can we help it but that we must keep communion with all those that profess the common Faith But if the Church had known Hypocrites it had not admitted them into the Portion of the Lord or else it had excluded them Et quid prodest non ejici coetu piorum si mereris ejici says St. Cyprian What the better is it for an Hypocrite that he is not cast out of the Congregation since he deserves to be cast out he may abide with us in the outward Society of them that call upon Christ praesumptivè non veraciter as Spalatensis says because we presume he is faithful though indeed he is the Child of the Devil numero non merito he makes up one of the Multitude that go in the broad way he is none of the few that strive to enter in at the steight gate he keeps the formality of a Christian with others beneath he perteins not to Jerusalem which is above Thirdly We have obtained this dignity to be ranked as them that are above because our calling is very holy He hath saved us and called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. i. 9. called to Doctrin which is above which flesh and bloud did not reveal but the Father that giveth wisdom plentifully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Theophilact upon my Text God did preach the Gospel from on high with his own voice for take a Breviary of it and it is no more but that which he said from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased We are called to obey the truth by illumination from above from thence is sent the spirit of them that are baptized the spirit of the Apostles and Martyrs the spirit of Bishops and Doctors the spirit of all those that have lived in the Truth and shed their bloud for the Truth 's sake We are called to that Religion which consists in celestial Functions in Faith and Hope in Prayer and Charity not in a Religion which presseth them down that observe it with an insupportable weight of Shadows and Ceremonies but the hour is come when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth Beware of those of the Concision says St. Paul and among bad marks which they carry this is the conclusion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they mind earthly things that is they are pleased with carnal Ordinances with these low and beggerly Observations of the Levitical Priesthood but immediately turning himself to the Fundamentals of the Gospel and the practice thereof says he nostra politeia our way of serving God our manner of worship is in Heaven So Bernard says that the Synagogue moved in a low Orb. But Solomon speaking of the New Testament says Quae est ista quae ascendit Cant. iii. 3. Who is she that cometh up from the Wilderness perfumed with mirrh and frankincense with all the powders of the Merchant Above all we are called to holy actions which savour not of mans passions and purposes but are qualified from above Our fortitude is heavenly fortitude our temperance heavenly temperance our liberality to the poor heavenly liberality but the moral deeds of the Heathen living out of the Church that had the best gloss upon them were smutcht with some bad vapour below and every grane of vertue that grew out of their stalks did abound with the chaff of vanity And what exceeds all that I have said beside to make our calling heavenly and holy God is so gracious to those things which are done in the Church in the name of his Son that where an unfit instrument may seem to marr all by his extravagant profaneness by his impenitent conscience nay by his heretical pravity yet Christs presence and assistance are not wanting to his Word and Sacraments but their efficacy is free and current to the people though they be performed by a crooked and an adulterous Generation As the Posterity of Jacobs Handmaid had a Princedom among their Brethren in the Land of Canaan
boni nostri An infinite perfection of excellency on which all things do depend for their first being and for their last happiness So St. Austin Haec est religio Christiana ut non colatur nisi unus Deus quia non fecit animam beatam nisi unus Deus Religious prostration seeks out no object but such as can make the soul blessed for ever and that is the only Lord. St. Hilary In maledicto est religio creaturae All Religion done to a Creature is accursed That Weather-cock Spalatensis after much search in antiquity confesseth that Nazianzen in the Greek Church Gregory the Great in the Latine Church knew of no other Religious Worship but that which is called Latria the veneration of God Nay their great Schoolman Aquinas I will make him the Judge against himself Religio est virtus exhibens famulatum Deo in iis quae specialiter pertinent ad Deum Religion is a vertue which doth perform all Ministry to God in those duties which peculiarly belong to God Go now and say against all these reasons and testimonies there is some kind of Religious Worship pertaining to a Creature I have heard some interpret it thus it is not denied but we are to give honour to the blessed Angels and Saints yes verily God forbid else Then they encroach that we are taught by our Religion to give them that honour therefore that honour which we do give them is Religious A most unlearned Assumption Religion teacheth the Children to honour the Parents yet it is not Religious honour but Civil that is given to our Parents Religion teacheth a Mariner or Plowman to follow his Calling diligently yet those are not religious but worldly businesses Religious Worship is the actus elicitus the immediate act which flows from Religion but all other honest civil Offices are actus imperati à latria Actions wherein Religion governs us and teacheth us but they are not properly called religious In a word no such excellency can be apprehended in a Creature to have religious honour done unto it for Religion binds the soul for ever to that it worships and that is only to God Therefore I conclude the first Dogmatical part of my Text that Christ included all kind of religious honours exempted none when he said Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve And when the Pontificians profess to ascribe a Religious Dulia but no Latria to a Creature their Practice and their Doctrine cannot agree if they yield Religious Worship of what kind soever to any thing save unto the Lord our God if it be not Idolatry it is gross Superstition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The glory of a pious heart be given to God alone and not to God and the ever blessed Virgin joyned together as the Jesuites generally conclude all their Books with that Blasphemy There is more of my task behind though but little of it can be spent in this hour to demolish the errors of them that have offended against this Imperial Law Thou shalt worship c. Sundry false opinions have beaten upon these words as upon an Anvil open enemies and deceitful friends have risen up against it Some are totally some in half some are quarter Idolaters but the least corn of that sin is as heavy as a Milstone to plunge them without repentance into damnation In many of the Errors to be refuted I will be at a word and dispatch in some I will insist the longer where I find them worth my labour Those transgressors that worship not God alone are of three sorts The first are such as make another God than the Lord of heaven and earth in their own heart and worship that invention The second are they that kneel unto the true God and yet reserve some part of Religious Worship for his glorified Creatures as the Blessed Virgin the Angels the Saints both living and departed both themselves and their very Reliques shall have some part of their Adoration Thirdly Beside the honour which they give to the invisible God they find out a way to worship him in visible works of their own hands in Images in the figure of the Cross in the Elements of the Lords Supper All these are Aberrations for there is but one truth against them all Thou shalt worship the Lord c. First God loseth all his honour at their hands that frame a new God in their own heart and do all their service to it like the Ephesians that hallowed no other power in heaven and earth but a Goddess of their own acceptation Great is Diana of the Ephesians This is the most gross Idolatry of all other which professeth not the true God one whit and professeth that to be a God which hath no subsistence but the Metal of Gold or Silver or any other stuff upon which the Artist exercised his invention This is the foul and apparent transgression of the first Commandment but to worship the true God in a manner contrary to that he hath commanded in a piece of bread or in an Image is Idolatry by reduction and against the Second Commandment But the transgression of the Heathen was most vicious that knew no God but the works of their own hands The Scripture says they sinned more grievously that worshipped Baalim than they that worshipped the true God in Jeroboams Calves For Jehu called the Israelites that worshipped God in those Calves the worshippers of the Lord. But when Ahab was not content with that sin but was seduced by his Wife Jezabel who came of the Idolatrous Zidonians says the Lord as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat he went and served Baal and worshipped him 1 Kings xvi 23. It is more pestilentious you see to worship a stark Idol than to worship the true God in an Idol though both are abominable But I will not speak of that stupid Idolatry of the Heathen whose own folly hath laught it out of the world if the workman could have put life into his work the Statue would have worshipped him for making it All those puppit Gods are faln down like Dagon of the Philistins and the Jewish Writers observe well that Dagons feet and hands were broken off from his body Partes adorationis abscissae sunt The Philistins worshipped that stock with their bended knee and their hands lifted up therefore the Idol lost his hands and knees Furthermore Dagon fell down upon his face Non tantum jacens sed super os jacens ut videretur adorare arcam Domini He was laid in a posture as if prostrate before the Ark of God as if the Heathen and all their vain inventions should be turned into the praise of the true God Worship him all ye Gods I will close this Point with a Paradox They which most abhor all Pictures and Images at this day they which hate them more than they should do even in
before King James I. Vpon Amos ix 2. Though they dig into Hell thence shall my hand take them p. 742 II. Vpon Acts xxviii 5. And he shook the beast into the fire and felt no harm p. 752 II Sermons preached at Whitehall upon Gen. v. 24. And Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him p. 762 Upon the same p. 771 III. Sermons preached at Whitehall upon Gen. viii 20 21. And Noah builded an Altar to the Lord and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered burnt offerings on the Altar And the Lord smelled a sweet savour p. 780 Upon the same p. 789 Upon the same p. 798 II Sermons preached at Whitehall upon Gen. xix 26. But his Wife lookt back from behind him and she became a pillar of salt p. 896 Upon the same p. 815 A Sermon preached at Whitehall upon Numb xxi 7. Pray unto the Lord that he take the Serpents from us p. 823 A Sermon upon Joshua xxii 20. And that man perished not alone in his iniquity p. 831 A Fast Sermon preached at Whitehall upon Nehem. i. 4. And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven p. 849 A Sermon upon Prov. iii. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee p. 862 II Sermons concerning the Rechabites upon Jer. xxxv 6. But they said we will drink no wine p. 873 II Sermons preached at Whitehall upon John iv 13 14. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst p. 483 Upon the same p. 902 III Sermons preached at Whitehall upon John vi 11. And Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks distributed to the Disciples and the Disciples to them that were set down and likewise of the fishes as much as they would p. 911 Upon the same 921 Upon the same 931 A Sermon preached at Whitehall upon St. Lukes day upon Acts xi 26. And the Disciples were called Christians first in Antioch p. 941 A Commencement Sermon preached at Cambridge upon Acts xii 23. And immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory p. 952 III Sermons preached at Whitehall upon Gal. iv 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all p. 964 Upon the same 973 Upon the same 983 II Sermons preached upon All Saints day in Holbourn I. Upon Rev. vi 9. I saw under the Altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the Testimony which they held p. 992. II. Vpon Rev. vi 10. And they cried with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judg and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth p. 1003 AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE and DEATH OF THE AUTHOR THE Son of Sirach a renowned Preacher in his Generation has given us counsel to commend Famous Men and our Fathers of whom we are begotten and in the close of his excellent Book has presented us with a large Catalogue of them together with an Encomium of their Actions whose remembrance sayes he is sweet as Honey in all Mouths and pleasant as Musick at a Banquet of Wine St. Paul has directly imitated the Son of Sirach and enumerated many antient Heroes not without a due Commemoration and farther given us a Precept To remember our Governors or Guides in the Christian Faith holy Bishops and Martyrs after their death as appears plainly by the following words whose faith follow considering the end of their Conversation Accordingly in the Primitive times the Bishops of Rome took care that the lives and actions of all holy Men and Martyrs especially should be recorded For this purpose publick Notaries were appointed by S. Clement say some though Platina first ascribes their institution to Anterus whose Records were far more large than the present Roman Martyrology or that of Bede and Vsuardus or the Menologue of the Greeks which for the most part contain only the Names and Deaths of the Martyrs but those were a Narrative of their whole Lives and Doctrines and Speeches at large their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 famous Acts and Sufferings for the Christian Faith which were also read sometimes in their Religious Assemblies for the encouragement of others and are said to have converted many to the Christian Faith But these long since perished through the malice and cruelty of Dioclesian in those fires which consumed their Bodies and their Books together Afterwards when Christian Religion reflourished the Christian Church resumed these Studies again St Ambrose did right to the memory of Theodosius Paulinus of St. Ambrose Nazianzen to Athanasius St. Hierom to Nepotian Possidonius to St. Austin Amphilochius to St. Basil St. Hierom and Gennadius wrot of all Ecclesiastical Writers and illustrious men in the Christian Church from the beginning of it to their own times And after all these there wanted not Martyrologers and Writers of Lives but such as perhaps we had better have wanted than enjoyed their Writings insomuch that a great Lieutenant under the Papal Standard durst affirm that the Stories of the Heathen Captains and Philosophers were more excellently written then of Christs own Apostles and Martyrs For those were done so notably that they were like to live for ever whereas the lives of many Saints in the Christian Church were so corruptly and shamefully penn'd that they could no way advantage the Reader so that at this day we have two things to bewail not only that we have lost the true reports of the Primitive Christians but likewise that the lives of the Saints we have remaining have not been written by Saints and true men but by liars who have stufft their fastidious Writings with so many prodigious Tales as are more apt to beget infidelity than faith and all honest and judicious men are ashamed and grieved to read them For my own part I intend not in this tumultuary haste to write an absolute Life of the Author or recollect all his Actions praise-worthy but only for satisfaction of some importunate friends to represent quaedam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some few Memoirs and Passages of his Life which I have received from his Lordships most intimate acquaintance and for the most part from his own reports Tecum etenim longos memini consumere Soles and in them am resolved to sacrifice to Truth and not to Affection to the glory of God and not to humane fame to write nothing false or fictitious nor things true in an hyperbolical and flaunting manner as in a Panegyrick but only a Breviary of his most active and industrious life where the truth shall be recited without false Idea's and representations and his Lordship made to appear what really he was both in his Divine vertues and humane passions
It is a wonder how many learned men did acquiesce in this opinion as if none were like it Whereas cui bono to what end should two Evangelists spend such pains to describe both the legal and the natural line of Joseph and in the mean time the family of Mary should be forgotten by whom only it may be demonstrated that according to the Scripture Christ was of the house of David 3. The safest opinion and without any intricacy is that Joseph was the true Son of Jacob but the Son-in-law of Heli by the marriage of the Virgin Mary so the Virgin being the Daughter of Heli and Heli being of the stock of Nathan the Son of David the truth lifts up its head against all adversaries that Christ was of the lineage of David If any one dislike this as Calvin doth because Sons-in-law are called Sons I reply why not as well as Daughters-in-law Daughters Ruth xviii And if you will admit of the acuteness of Gomaras all is salved he doth enlarge the parenthesis Luke iii. 23. Jesus began to be about thirty years of age being the Son of Heli For that which comes between is a parenthesis being as was supposed the Son of Joseph but being the Son of Heli c. This reading hath my great approbation Heli being Christs Grand-father by the Mothers side and by this reading it is as clear as the light of the Sun that Christ was of the house of David Pardon me if I have troubled you with a genealogy at other times I will forbear but it is proper to this day Now I will end all with the use and fruit of his birth all this salvation this mighty salvation raised up to the admiration of heaven and earth all is for us and hath c. But for this word all the rest were loose this girds about us nay it fills our bosoms with it The Devils renounced his coming into the world What have we to do with thee says Satan Mat. viii 29. The good Angels had joy derived unto them through his Birth but neither glory nor salvation they were ours because he is ours because he is our horn of salvation But in what capacity doth Zachary take him to be his first as a Jew for it was fit that salvation should first be offered to them that were the natural branches Secondly As a Priest salvation came to the Priesthood out of the house of David that is the protection of the Church by God and the King Thirdly and principally as a man who is a sinner that had need of a Mediator For God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lover of all mankind He excludes only those that include not themselves Want of Faith causeth that he that is born to all is not born to all Unto us a child is born says Isaiah c. 9. and he directs his message to King Ahaz a man of great iniquity but Christ was born for him as likewise he was born unto Zachary a just man and one that lived most unblamably The sinner that hath done very wickedly by faith in him and by repentance he may be saved the good man that lives obediently and devoutly without him he cannot be saved Finally since this horn of salvation is raised up unto us let us lay hold of it and fasten upon it Vtamur nostro in utilitatem nostram let us use him for our best behoof and draw the proper extract out of him I mean salvation He is ours by being made flesh and blood we shall be his by renouncing flesh and blood he is ours by his natural generation we are his by spiritual regeneration he is ours his Body and Blood are ours in the Holy Sacrament we shall be his both body and soul by receiving those mysteries worthily that is faithfully thankfully charitably penitently devoutly Amen THE THIRTEENTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION MAT. ii 1 2. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem Saying where is he that is born King of the Jews For we have seen his Star in the East and are come to worship him THe Nativity of Christ was that wonder which came to pass this day but how he was revealed and known of them that sought him is the use of the day for Christ was born that he might be found And that is the cause that the manifestation of his birth is joyned together with his birth and more copiously handled a great deal both by St. Matthew and St. Luke by St. Luke how the Shepherds were sent to find him in a Manger by St. Matthew how the Sages of the East were admonished to come from a far Country that he might be known unto them God could have brought it to pass that the blessed Virgin should have been delivered as she travelled to Bethlem either in the Wilderness or in the Forest of Lebanon where none should have been the wiser but loe this had been contrary to his own work of grace to fold up his mercy in darkness when light was come into the world Therefore he call'd so many witnesses about him after such a manner with such new and over-natural signs that his Nativity was as publick as Angels and Stars and Jews and Gentiles could make it The Angel sent the Shepherds out of the fields to enquire him as if he would have the whole Country of the Jews flock thither The Star called the Wisemen out of the East to come and worship him as if the heavens would invite all the Gentiles to resort to him thither God diffused the tidings that his Son was born both to common places such as Bethlem and the Stable and to holy places such as the Temple at Jerusalem where Simeon and Anna confessed him to be the light of the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel Mark it Beloved so long as the Witnesses came to worship him so long as those that had him in their arms praised the Lord and blessed the day they saw him so long he was manifested more and more But instantly he sate in a cloud as soon as Herod sought to kill him then he drew back the light by which he was known and hid himself in Egypt If then we are now met together with such faith as is fruitful to yield him honour and worship and praise and glory some strange Star will rise in our hearts and make it easie to find him out then those mysteries of my Text shall be opened to us how he was first revealed to the Gentiles hearken then to that story which hath been so precious with the Church in all Ages and begins as I have read unto you When Jesus was born in Bethlem c. Each of these verses contain a several portion of matter to be handled by it self the one concerning the doings the other concerning the sayings of the Wise-men first you have their Journey and then their Errand
this blessed time loe there is Christ 4. Behold a Table prepared for us of which food Christ hath spoken it This is my Body which is given for you and this is my Blood Which is shed for you and loe there is Christ O Lord entertain thy faithful servants at that heavenly banquet and make us partakers of the benefit of thy Nativity Circumcision Passion Resurrection and all other fruits which thou hast ordained for our salvation Amen THE FIFTEENTH SERMON UPON THE INCARNATION MAT. ii 2. Where is he that is born King of the Jews For we have seen his Star in the East and are come to worship him FRom two several Prophets and both of them Kings I collect two things of much praise in a wise man First Solomon says Sapiens diriget gressus suos A man of understanding walketh uprightly or ordereth his steps aright Prov. v. 21. Secondly David says A good man guideth his words with discretion Psal cxii 5. So that I find by both these put together that Wisdom consists in these two Points to order our ways and to order our words with understanding After this manner did these Wise-men in my Text whose matters are come the third time to be handled before you They spared not to make a difficult journey in the hardest time of the year to seek out Christ so devoutly they guided their ways and they did not forbear to confess Christ before ever they saw him and to tell Herod to his face there was another King of the Jews so much greater than he that not men but the very Stars were subject unto him nor should the people where he was born only do him homage but the remotest strangers of the world came to worship him So with their words they glorified God as much as with their journey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom Mark the magnanimous vertue of these men that so tedious a journey should not detain them from coming nor such a Tyrant as Herod deter them from speaking so adventurous in their way as to be commended and using such liberty of speech as much more to be approved I have cast the words you know into a method of Treatise before fitting several parts to the chief days of the late Feast You may remember I made three Points of consideration out of the Text in all I observed the journey of the Wise-men as they were holy Pilgrims the words which they spake as they were Christian Orators and the occasion of both The occasion is the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the King that found us work on Christmas day it was proper for it Secondly Their person and their journey come after Behold Wise-men came from the East to Jerusalem that subject belonged to Twelfth day as you call it or the feast of the Epiphany and then I dispatcht it Now follows the oratory or speech of these Eastern Embassadours in the last place and that will come out of season at no time Where is he that is born c. From hence you may note for our order of proceeding that the Wise-men make one question and give two assertions The question was Vnâ—m necessarium more necessary than all other questions they could make were they never so wise Where is he that is born King of the Jews The assertions they lay down are thus First what God had wrought for them We have seen his Star in the East Secondly What God had wrought in them And are come to worship him Where is he that is born King of the Jews So stands the question but are they aware in what times and before whom they ask it Herod had begg'd away the Jews Kingdom from them tried all courses to settle it in his own Race that it might never return to a Jew born the most suspicious man that ever I read of lest by some secret practice or open violence his Kingdom should be taken from him and are these Wise-men that come to pull the Lion by the beard and to tell Herod to his face they come to worship one that was born King of the Jews Neqâ—e vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solidâ Can they bring forth their Message And will it not put them out to deliver it before such a man of bloud I believe that our Wise-men now adays would have been more reserv'd But to come to a point I will not deny but these Sages thought their tidings would have been receiv'd with great gladness but put it to the true exigent that they found it otherwise and that all Jerusalem was troubled with their news Do you find that they faultred for fear or went from their word Nothing less but continue in it to hear what the Synod of Scribes would say upon it and if the Lord had not warned them in a dream they had return'd back to Herod to tell him they had found the Babe and they had worshipt the true King of the Jews and let him do his worst The love of God constrained them and they must speak though if God had not prevented it had brought mischief upon their head True wisdom I see is no such cautilous thing as the World takes it for no such politick head-piece that will keep silence for its own safety though truth and religion and all good Government suffer for it The Son of Syrach was an Oracle of prudence in his time and this is his counsel Refrain not to speak when there is occasion to do good and hide not thy wisdom in her beauty Eccl. iv 23. He that hath proceeded to the complete act of Martyrdom to lay down his life for Christs name the Learned in all Ages have promised them rewards of great consequence as that Martyrdom hath in effect the whole Sacrament of Baptism in it and infers remission of sins Origen set the opinion on foot which all the Shcool-men have followed But the Scripture on which they ground is as comfortable for them that confess Christ to their great peril as for them that lose their lives in that quarrel Mat. x. 32. Whosoever shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven Christ will confess him to be his and receive him for his whosoever shall bear his name before Princes though it be to his own hazard and calamity Then it remains that these persons deserve the stile of Wise-men who took courage against the clamor of Jerusalem and the frown of Herod and confidently confest the Lord saying Where is he that is born the King of the Jews And as this resolution of theirs is to be extolled so the knowledge wherewith they were illuminated is to be admired that these Philosophers of the East strangers to Jerusalem strangers to the Law of God should give our Saviour the true stile of a King and of a King though but newly born They did not mean
John should leap at the presence of our Saviour in his mothers womb and though it were an extraordinary case yet it demonstrates that the Holy Ghost can inhabit in a babe that is yet unborn or newly brought forth into the world Choose ye which of these opinions you will or choose ye neither and only be contented to believe concerning little ones that theirs is the Kingdom of heaven and therefore they ought to be baptized for unless ye be born again of water and the holy Spirit ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven That is the stop of the first general Point the circumstance of time 1. Then when the people were full of repentance and did yearn for grace 2. Then when they began to conceit too much of John that he was the Christ 3. Then when our Saviour was of the ripe age of Priesthood and had seen thirty years in the world Then came c. It is time now to draw forward to the next general circumstance after what manner our Saviour would be baptized with the Baptism of John The Point is full of much matter even as Jordan it self in the time of harvest But I will obey the limits of the hour and handle two things briefly making my self your debter for the rest as God shall give occasion to pay it I frame therefore two questions on this sort 1. Upon what ground John did begin this new ceremony of Baptism never heard of before 2. What was the dignity or if you will call it so what was the vertue of Johns Baptism I address my self to the former To bring a new institution into the Church nay to bring in a new Sacrament of repentance for remission of sins this was more strange than if a new star had appeared in the Firmament What a confidence was in this great Prophet to call all Judea and the Regions round about unto him to receive Baptism And yet no print or footsteep in all the Law of Moses where such a Ceremony was commanded Nay if they had mark'd it it was to break the staff of the Law of Moses for upon the entertainment of a new Ceremony never heard of before it did betoken that old Rites and Customs were in their declination and near unto abolishing Besides is it not very strange that the learned Priests the wrangling Pharisees the ignorant people all with an unanimous consent should submit themselves to this new Ordinance and yet such an Ordinance as was confirmed by no miracle from heaven for John wrought no miracle the true wonder was that so many thousands should flock after him to be baptized without a miracle Yet the truth is that the most strict defenders of their own Law and the best Interpreters of it did not gainsay the new use of Baptism as unlawful for the Pharisees sent unto John and asked him Why baptisest thou if thou be not that Christ nor Elias nor that Prophet They do not quarrel the Ordinance of Baptism but what authority John had to baptize Two things are to be observed out of the forenamed Text for our satisfaction One that it was not belonging to the Office of any Priest or Prophet in the Old Testament to baptize unto remission of sins Another thing is that the Jews expected the washing of water to cleanse them from their sins under the Kingdom of Christ as S. Hierom thinks they collected it Isa iv 4. The Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion as who should say Circumcision was a seal upon Male children only the water of regeneration under Christ shall belong to Females also Again Ezekiel speaking of the blessings that shall abound in Christ Chap. xxxvi 25. seems clearly to express this new Sacrament Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness Moreover I cannot say whether the Rabbies of deep learning had the knowledge to understand that their Forefathers were by a figure baptized in the red Sea and in the Cloud which went along with them in the Wilderness So St. Paul expounded it by the Spirit of God But the Pharisees and it seems all the people were perswaded that when the Messias came they should be baptized for the remission of their sins either by himself or by some great Prophet who should be his Associate Therefore if John were the Christ they confess he may baptize or if he were Elias he might baptize For Malachy foretold Chap. iv 5. Behold I will send Eliah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Or if he were that Prophet he might baptize not any Prophet inspired from God that is not the meaning but the same whom Moses speaks of Deut. xviii 15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken The Jews had no particular name for this Prophet the plain meaning is that Prophet is Christ himself Now Johns answer to the Pharisees was twofold what he was not and what he was He denies that he was the Christ or Elias himself who shall come perhaps before Christ as an Apparitor at the day of Judgment or that Prophet Then they object that he must not baptize nothing must be innovated in the Church without divine authority but they wilfully forgat what he said he was The voice of a Crier to prepare the ways of the Lord why co jure as the fore-runner of Christs Kingdom he betokened a new work was beginning and a new Ceremony of grace appointed and he baptized as many as came to Jordan and did confess their sins Praecursionis ordinem servavit nascendo baptisando says Gregory he shewed himself to be Christs Harbinger that went before him in Birth in Preaching and in Baptism Now ye see by what priviledge John did quite alter the old Mosaical Rites and began to baptize and I cannot omit how graciously by these means God did turn their superstition into a blessing To begin with the heathen who perceived in natural causes that water gives growth to Plants and Seeds and fecundity to all things but they forgat God who made it a fruitful part of nature and conceited that there was somewhat divine in that Element more than in any other not could they be contented to rest upon that which every man knows that a clean river would wash the dust and sweat from their body but were so foolish to souze themselves every morning thrice over head and ears in some pure Fountain as if it had some inherent vertue to cleanse the filthiness of their souls The Pharisees being more superstitious in their generation than any other Jews followed the heathen close Mar. vii 3. They eat not except they wash often if they come from Market except they wash they eate not and therefore they quarrel some of the Disciples that they eat with defiled that is with unwashen
in domo charitatis in a charitable Hospital family every man hastened to a good work as if he had flown like a Dove Was not Paul a brave wing'd Apostle that traversed much of Asia and preacht the Gospel in every place from Jerusalem to Illyricum Seventhly The Doves eyes are fixt upon the Rivers of waters Cant. v. 12. some say out of vigilancy to espy therein the gliding of the Kite that flies above and to save it self So the spiritual man looks backward to the first waters wherein he was dipt to the Vow which he made in Baptism There he remembers his Garment was made white and he must not stain it for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not only to wash away filth but to give tincture or colour to that which is died So in Baptism the foul spots of iniquity are taken forth and by sanctification a clear gloss is set upon our soul It was the exhortation of old at Baptism Accipe vestem candidam immaculatam c. Take this white garment pure and undefiled it was their Ceremony to put on such and keep it undefiled against the day of the Lord. Et grege de niveo gaudia pastor habet says Lactantius The Shepherd rejoyceth to see the fleeces of his Lambs fair and unspotted These are pennae deargentatae as the Psalmist says the Doves wings are silver wings and if they be bright Silver here it will be changed into a better Metal hereafter a Crown of Gold whose wings are silver wings and the feathers of Gold Lastly As it was toucht before in the days of Noah the Dove was a presager of a better world to come and in this Text likewise it is Nuncia futuri seculi the happy annuntiate that there is a better world to come when these evil days of sin and misery are ended So we are sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise which is the earnest of our inheritance the Spirit is a pledge of that possession which is purchased for us in the Kingdom of heaven whither he bring us c. THE SIXTH SERMON UPON THE Baptism of our Saviour MAT. iii. 17. And loe a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased SPeak O Heaven and hearken O Earth unto the word of the Lord. The Earth must keep silence and give ear when God is his own Orator himself and utters his pleasure with his own voice As it is usual when some great Palace is raising fron the Foundation that the Master of the Possession will lay the first stone with his own hands So the Church being to be built up again in the New Testament not upon the foundation of Works but upon Faith not upon Moses but upon Jesus Christ Loe the mighty God publisheth the first tidings of reconciliation from his own mouth and himself in the Prophet Isaiahs Phrase doth lay in Sion a chief corner stone elect and precious for the Foundation which sustains the whole body of the Saints is no other but such as is contained in that brief Proclamation which I have read unto you This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Some of the Fathers very aptly call the Text Gods ample testimonial given to his Son that the world might receive him gladly being about to preach the glad tidings of salvation Moses you know would not offer himself to the Children of Israel to be the means that should release them from Pharaohs bondage before he had a token of Credence who did send him to the People and the Lord said unto him Thou shalt say I am hath sent me unto you So our High Priest and anointed Saviour would keep that form to have a clear testificate to commend him to the World Now a Dove was but a dumb shew and might be interpreted many ways wherefore an articulate and a majestical voice was heard from heaven which would pierce the ears of all that were gathered together and could not be mistaken In that nature therefore as a Testimonial given to him that was now about to be the great Preacher of righteousness I will divide the Text 1. The Person that did bear witness it is the Father 2. The manner how he testified to the honour of his Son by a voice Loe a voice 3. The authority of that voice which was every way to be accepted because it was from heaven 4. The Person to whom the witness is born to a Son This is my Son 5. What is witnessed of him in respect of himself that he was beloved This is my beloved 6. What is witnessed of him in respect of our consolation that he is filius complacentiae in whom and through whom the Father is well pleased That is to say not only beloved in himself but procures us to be beloved likewise for his sake for all that by Baptism have put on Christ are unto God as Christ himself is Filii dilecti complacentes Sons beloved well pleasing So the Text is our Saviours Testimonial and our own Consolation And loe a voice c. The Father is become a witness to glorifie his Son that is the first consideration to be made upon my Text. The Spirit hath done his part before now the voice the Father is come to perfect this great solemnity and so the justice of God agrees with his own Law Ex ore duorum aut trium testium Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established was ever any truth so strongly confirmed so undeniably maintained that the Father which made all things should ratifie it sensibly in the audience of men Never was it heard of but only in this case which is the top of all truth that Jesus was the Son of God Other truths we are well perswaded of which come from the light of reason or from the testimony of man yet reason may be blind and man may err but it is impossible that God should lie Heb. vi And admit it to be good for who can controul it that the Prophets and Apostles were inspired from God so that the contents which they have written are certain and infallible then his divine wisdom which gave them that instinct whatsoever he utters immediately from himself it may well stand upon comparisons that it is much more infallible So St. Hierom distinguisheth between that truth which is increate and which is infused and participate that the truth of the Saints is called a lie in respect of that verity which abideth in the Father Yea let God be true and every man a liar in which words says he it is implied that God alone is true even as he alone is said to have immortality for although he hath communicated immortality to Angels and to the souls of men yet it is not their own immortality but his love and favour to give it to them So the Prophets and holy men were inspired with true knowledge yet it was not their own truth
but his illumination Wherefore the Church by way of external testimony was ever the best approved and most faithful witness of Christ yet this testimony so much beneath his Person were unauthorized and fruitless but that it is always governed by the inward Spirit of the Father Aquinas in a certain Sermon upon the Pentecost hath drawn up those things which bear witness of Christ into a certain number and that the verdict is given from twelve the most principal things in the world God the Father in this Proclamation God the Son in his own Confession God the Holy Ghost in the Dove-like Apparition the Angels at his Nativity the Saints that rose from the dead the Miracles which he wrought the Heaven which was darkned at his Passion the Fire when he sent the Comforter in that Element upon his Disciples the Air when he commanded the winds to be still the water when he made the Seas to be calm the Earth when it shook and quak'd at his Resurrection and lastly Hell it self when the Devils did acknowledge him calling him Jesus of Nazareth and saying We know thee who thou art But above all this testimony in my Text enforceth credence upon us more than any other as St. Ambrose thinks Si dubitatur de filio paterno non creditur testimonio If there be any spice of unbelief in your heart run hither to take it out for will you not take the Fathers word for the excellency of his Son that this is the Sacrifice in whom he is well pleased Shew us thy Father says Philip and it sufficeth Joh. xiv 8. Much more resolutely might the Church say Let us hear thy Father and it sufficeth We ask no surer warrant to confirm our faith For as Abraham answered the rich man concerning his brethren that did not believe If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one arose from the dead So I may say to all that receive not the faith If they will not believe the Father in whom all the treasures of knowledge are hidden then they may question if there be light in the Heavens perspicuity in the Air life in their own souls every thing that flesh and bloud can alledge must be dark and doubtful to their capacity God spoke from above through the air and it received his voice and when he speaks in our hearts shall not we receive his testimony Thus St. Ambrose in a sweet strain upon it Credidit mundus in Elementis credat in hominibus credidit in exanimis credat in viventibus credidit in mutis credat in loquentibus The rude Elements of the world were taught to admit the doctrine of Faith then much more let men embrace it inanimate things took the Symphony from the Fathers mouth let things which live much more receive it the dumb things of nature were taught to embrace the voice let those things which have tongues much more praise God for glorifying his Son To the upshot of the Point I add this and have done John Baptist did bear witness to our Saviour but his witness was too mean for so great a Person Quo ad nos in regard of our apprehension the testimony and approbation of holy men is a great matter but in regard of the honour of Christ it was fit that the Father who is coequal should testifie of the Son and so doth the Son of the Father which is excellently knit up in one Text Joh. v. 32. There is another that beareth witness of me and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true So by the voice of the Father we know the excellency of the Son and by the preaching of the Son we know the truth of the Father This is their mutual testimony In the second place the manner follows how the Father testified to the honour of his Son and that is by a voice Every Creature whether it live or whether it be inanimate every season of the year every blessing for our use that the earth brings forth though it be dumb yet I am not ashamed to say that it speaks aloud how there is a God that made us and preserved us To this purpose St. Paul spake to the Lycaonians Actc xiv 17. The living God left not himself without witness in that he gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Since therefore all the Elements continually are dumb witnesses of the glory of God how easie is it for the Father Almighty to put a tongue into the air and make it speak I will not argue upon the strict terms of Logick how this can be called a voice being not uttered by the Throat and Palate and other Instruments of a rational Creature God is a transcendent above all the Arts in the world and many things proceeding from him are not to be examined by such rules this I may definitively say it was sonus articulatus an articulate intelligible sound of words as if it had come from the tongue of man And I would pass by this Point but that two things come in my way 1. How properly the Father is known by a voice 2. How well it expresseth the comforts of the Gospel Upon the first the School doth distinguish Efficientia vocis erat à totâ Trinitate declaratio spectat ad solum patrem Every effect belongs equally to the whole Trinity therefore this voice was as well the work of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as it was of the Father For so St. Austin beat down the blasphemy of the Arians who taught that the Father gave some honour to the Son which he had not nay says he Ille transeuntium verborum sonus non sine filio factus est alioquin non omnia per ipsum facta sunt That transient voice which was intended to glorifie the Son was made by the Son otherwise the Scriptures had not said All things were made by him and without him nothing was made But though the efficiency of the voice be common to every Person of the Trinity yet the signification of it was appropriated to the Father for he said the word and by it he made the worlds he spake and all things were created The Lord said indeed let the Firmament be made let the light be made and all things else not by oral prolocution but by the Decree of his holy will and as one said Facilius est Deo facere quam nobis dicere God can sooner make all things visible and invisible than we speak of it therefore the Phrase runs as if all things were existent at the uttering of a word And I know not if any similitude do speak that ineffable mystery of the Holy Trinity better than this from the manifest pronunciation of a speech wherein are these three things together which cannot be parted The voice begets a word spoken and there is truth in that word which was spoken by the voice
confirm delusions but to testifie to truth and innocency therefore if he did provoke him to turn stones into bread it would be for a true testimony that he was the very Son of God If he do this miracle and be not the Son of God the eternal truth should confirm a lie which is impossible This was Satans cunning Philosophy and now you see the very nerves of his Argument Let me draw out one Corollary for your Instruction The first part of Satans engine was ut cognosceret to prove God a liar if he could I heard a voice say you are the beloved Son of God but are you so indeed This desire to litigate and quarrel with Gods truth made him fall into a strange doting ignorance almost incredible in so intelligent a substance What he that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a most vast capacity of understanding because of his spirituality and so many thousand years experience He that thought he could open the market of knowledge and sell what he pleased to our first Parents Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil that he should stagger and for a long time mistake the very foundation of all truth that Jesus was the Son of God Is not this passing wonderful Why this comes of it when any will bend their wits to object against the plain truth when it is manifest then God requites their iniquity with this dulness 2 Thes ii 1. For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie Strong delusion we read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so St. Paul and I had rather translate it the efficacy of errour Tentation is from the enemy the efficacy of Tentation is not from him but in the power of God So falshood is from the Devil but the efficacy of falshood that this error should prevail to seduce the Reprobate that is in the hand of God For if the efficacy and event of error were from the Tempter nothing would help us but that all men should be deluded The event and prevalency of errors comes from Gods permission upon them that would not obey the truth Let me put this now into your mind it is the fashion of the World to have mens persons in admiration some are carried away with the opinion of their learning and good life that walk not after the wholsom Injunctions of the Ceremonies and Discipline of our Church as Salvianus says very well Tantùm dicta existimant quantus est ipse qui dixit nec tam considerant quid legunt quà m cujus legunt They measure truth not in it self but by the opinion of him that defends it nor so much consider what it is they read as whose it is they read Purge out this leven I beseech you and remember when men would expound all things by their own private spirit God will turn their good gifts into vanity Likewise if some others stand upon it that there is no sort of Learning but abounds in the Church of Rome and why should not the most Learned wear the Garland Let them know this is as foolish an inference well considered as his in the Proverb that the Peacock must sing best of all birds because it had the fairest train Julian the most learned Emperour Galen the most learned Physician Porphyry one of the learnedst Philosophers all were Atheists and without God in the World The Novices of the Roman Colleges are sworn to particular opinions and to a particular belief and then study their course of Divinity to maintain it So it comes to pass They study to maintain a lye as Satan did against Christ and thereby they are catcht in strong delusions And let this suffice for the first general part of the Text That one end of these words which Satan cast forth was ut cognosceret to learn more perfectly that which he mistrusted before that Christ was the eternal Son of God And because he had more Hooks than one to his Angle remember that beside his curiosity to explore him his words likewise are full of malice to corrupt him Command that these stones be made bread The boldest and most flagitious attempt that ever was to make Christ sin Murdering of Sacred Princes devices to blow up the Majesty of an whole State conspiracy to root out whole Nations endeavouring to burn up an whole Empire with Nero betraying Christ himself to be crucified with Judas all these ugly sins not only single but put all together have less horror and impiety in them than this attempt to lie in wait to draw sin and impurity from the most pure God We cannot compare Satan so well as with himself therefore I go further the great rebellion of Lucifer for which he was first cast out of heaven made him not so guilty of high disobedience as this Proposition did to tempt Christ to Gluttony and Infidelity His first presumption is collected out of these words of Isaiah I will be like the most High but this presumption hath more rancor in it by far the most High shall fall into wickedness and be made like unto me Ero similis altissimo I will ascend as high as the glory of God so the evil Angel coveted his own perfection in excess but Altissimus erit similis mihi I will bring down the most High to trespass as I have done that is to covet Gods imperfection The very Angels are not pure in his sight says Job now this was the Devils practical gloss neither shall he be pure in the sight of the Angels But how foolish is the Serpent become the subtillest of all Creatures how foolish is he become because he will not understand the truth of God O Lord thou art purer than the heavens thou art Justice and Righteousness and Innocency it self and therefore the Church doth sing a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to his honour Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts One Scripture says he cannot lie another Scripture that he cannot deny himself and another that he cannot be tempted Where was Satans prudence to make an impossible motion How had he forgot his cunning to pump for an iniquity out of the Well of everlasting purity Some pretension yet there was for this plot and some hope no question as the Jews cloak'd their own malice before Pilate with this excuse Had he not been a Sinner we had not brought him unto thee so there was some likelihood to make him offend as it appeared to Satan and surely thus he collected it If Joseph who was espoused to Mary be his Father I shall prevail whatsoever is born of flesh is flesh whatsoever is begotten by carnal generation is conceived in sin But if it be true that the Angel said unto Mary the Holy Ghost should over-shadow her yet the will of every man if he be true man is indifferent and apt of it self to turn to evil as well as good Now perhaps it was not
as is derived from a Soul that is perfectly beatified Moses his face did shine like a God when he came down from the Mount yet it was ab externo colloquio because he had been a Companion with God Christs face did shine ab innatâ gratiâ potentiâ not because he was the Companion of God but because he was very God and was the fountain of all grace and beauty to communicate it to others Neither was St. Stephens irradiation any more than a preparative of the Resurrection and a declaration of his innocency to make the Council afraid of wrong judgment all that lookt upon him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel But that which hapned to our Saviour was not from an external gift as Stephen saw Christ standing at the right hand of God but from an internal influence and emanation of the Deity Moses and Stephen were but Passengers and not to be compared in any sort of excellency with their Lord who was God and Man Yet by the dispensation of the Divine Power it was not such a total illumination in Christ as results from the Soul unto the Flesh when both shall come to appear before the living God The reasons are very full and home for the proof 1. The Soul in the state of eternal happiness shall derive amiable splendour to all the outward parts of the Body but no further In this present case the very garments were changed into such an outward gloss as the like was never seen Therefore this must be some brightness created for this instant by the Deity 2. Splendour is but one of the Ornaments of a glorified Body when the Soul doth transfuse the benefits of beatification into it it shall be a Spiritual Body it shall be nimble to pass from place to place like an Angel or like a thought likewise it shall not be obnoxious to death or dolour where were these Because therefore this was but a partial not a total glorification it flowed not from the Soul 3. It was not so large not so complete a claritude and beauty as will adorn the Lamb of God hereafter but a pittance and measure attemper'd for their weak reception that should see it His face did shine like the Sun What but like the Sun so much is promised to the faithful that they shall shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of his Father And think you that the Lord is not greater than the Servant and shall much excel that proportion of glory which we expect Therefore Lyra sayes this was an Ornament of the same true glory which we shall have hereafter quantum ad essentiam sed non quantum ad modum it had the very essence and truth of such illuminated brightness as the righteous shall have in Paradise but it had not such an ample measure and proportion 4. To make it sure and uncontradicted that this was not like to that glory which shall be derived from the Soul in eternal joy that is dos connaturalis this is passio transitoria Then it shall be a natural endowment never to be separated away Now it was but a transient passion soon on and as soon off again even as soon as ever the voice from Heaven had spoken Permanency unchangeableness never altering Eternity are so proper to future blessedness that without them it is not to be imagined St. Paul was elevated by the Divine grace to see and hear things unutterable in this rapture that is as I believe he saw the very Divine Essence in a short prospect and away yet Paul by this exceeding favour was none of the Beati till after his dissolution none of the Classis in St. Matthew Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God quia beatitudo denotat permanentiam Beatitude is not the participation of the best thing in the World for a little time but for ever and ever THE SECOND SERMON UPON The Transfiguration LUKE ix 29 30 31. The fashion of his Countenance was altered and his Raiment was white and glistering And behold there talked with him two wen which were Moses and Elias IN a well laid description an Artist represents things that are absent so verily so lively as if they were before us As Scaliger says of Virgil he did not read it in his verses but did even see the Mountain Aetna belching out fire and impestred with smoke and vapour But no Art so powerful in mans Writings to call back things that are done and past and to cloath them with such significant words as if they were before us like to the Pen of the Holy Ghost Do but observe for our present instance how St. Matthew began to delineate the beauty of Christ transfigured how St. Mark added fresh colours to make it appear more excellent and then how St. Lukes Pencil cometh after all and finisheth the Picture and you will say upon attentive heed these are not words which we read but even Christ himself in his Majestique glory St. Mathew begins thus His face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light Doth not this call the Idaea of your Lord into your mind as if your eye beheld him He said much for the face St. Mark speaks loftier for the Garment His raiment became shining exceeding white as snow so that no Fuller on earth can white them Then St. Luke neither compares him to the Sun above nor to the Snow beneath but says enough to make us conceive that positively it was a greater splendor than could be likened to any created thing The fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering A vegetous faith is able to say unto a Mountain be removed into the Sea and it shall be removed much more is it able to carry the soul into the highest heaven into the presence of God by such a stedfast apprehension as it cannot judge it self whether it be in the body or out of the body Thus let every mans faith say at this time unto his Soul be thou removed into Mount Tabor thrust in with Peter and James and John perswade thine heart thou seest as much by relation as ever they saw by apparition there is thy Saviour having laid down the austere front of a Judge and looking like a specious Bridegroom The fashion of his countenance was altered c. Now that you may hear things laid down in order for a stay to your memory you will grant unto me that there are two things which make a spectacle to be wishly look'd upon Res mirae personae miâ—ae strange and uncouth things strange and unexpected persons Come therefore and see most rare things in the first part of my Text Christ even now an object in which you could discern nothing but poverty and humility Momento turbinis and as quick as a flash of lightning He hath put on such a countenance and such apparel as the clearest day light and the driven
fullonicant ingeniis suis says Origen Hereticks set a bright gloss upon their false opinions they in his construction are those Fullers upon earth that would make their doctrine if it were possible as white as truth but if you pattern it with the Scripture you shall see it colours not with that spiritual light which comes from Christ That Doctrine which hath the simplicity of the Spirit without the knotty entanglements of mans wit that which says let God have the glory but to us belongs shame and confusion of face That which impresseth humility into the thoughts zeal and devotion into the heart all manner of vertue into the practice This is that true light which comes from heaven no Fuller upon earth none that sit in the pestilent Chair of deceitful tongues can make a thing so white and every one that is of the truth loveth the light and hateth darkness And so far upon this admirable vision His countenance was altered and his rayment white and glistering These were res mirae strange and uncouth things the next general part of the Text doth handle personas miras strange persons whom a man would not expect in that place and at that time Behold there talked with him two men which were Moses and Elias If any of the people had been by that took him to be Elias or Jeremias or one of the old Prophets they should have seen a difference in this Vision between the head and the feet between the Lord and his Servants For surely some of the old Prophets two for all and those whom the Jews did most admire came upon this Theater to be seen that Christs glory might appear the more Let the eyes of Peter look upon them together and see if Christs glory be not far exalted above all the Saints Quantùm lenta solent inter viburna cupressi Among the Gods there is none like unto thee O Lord Psal lxxxvi 8. Non in Angelis coelestibus seu in altissimis says the Chaldee Paraphrase not among the Angels nor among any of the blessed souls that live in the highest places Was this such a business to be taught will some men say to bring the dead out of their graves Can any mistake that the honour of Christ is far exalted above all his Servants For to which of the Angels did the Father say at any time Sit thou on my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstool Beloved are there none that keep the festival days of the Saints with more devotion and observance then the first day of the week for ever to be sanctified because Christ rose from the dead on that day Do they not make more Pilgrimages and Vows to some Patrons of their own invention who have been but men Are not there more Temples erected in their name More costly Ornaments bestowed upon their Images More Prayers poured out unto them than to Christ himself And had I not need to remember you that two men who were now glorified talked with Christ upon Mount Tabor that they might appear like little stars obscured before the greatest Planet Moses did but verifie in person what he had taught in a Song before Who is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods Who is like unto thee Exod. xv 11. I adjudge it for another reason that two men beatified came to talk with him because he would not seem to ingross the light of glory to himself without derivation to others It is not a treasure to be reserved unto himself but a communicable donative The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Joh. xvii 22. As a seed-corn is fruitless unless it die and bring forth stalks of Wheat so Christ compares himself to such a grain of Wheat which must die to bring forth much fruit or else it abideth alone as if all were marred unless we were accommodated by his fruitfulness The Kings honour is in the multitude of his people the joy of the Father is in the Olive branches round about his Table The glory of the woman is for the children to grow up and call the mother blessed The felicity of these consists herein to have some that are partners of their felicity But God is all-sufficient to contemplate his own glory though he had never made the world he did not make man to praise him as if he wanted voices to magnifie his name and make him God Yet he is pleased to express his love so far that his honour should be alone unless the goodly fellowship of Saints and Prophets were round about him Except a seed-corn fall into the ground and die it abideth alone Joh. xii 24. Lord why dost thou esteem thy self alone and heaven to be solitary without us But O man how canst thou be without him in thy heart on earth that would not be alone without thee in heaven Behold when he brought down heaven upon earth in his own body two of the Elect brought down their glory to the Mountain to assist him His own Disciples were yet but earth and corruption and therefore incapable of such illuminated brightness till the time should come to be translated out of the prison of mortality And Angels were not fit to be his Compeers at this bout because he manifested the glorification of the flesh which pertains not to Angels but to Men. None of the living would serve the turn to appear with him in Majesty they were not supernaturalized to undergo it nor any of the Angelical Order they were not of the right Predicament two men came down unto him who had been exalted into Heaven and now I will shew with what great congruity these two men who were Moses and Elias But to omit nothing which is fit to be observ'd I will make three general heads of this matter 1. Whether all Elias and all Moses did appear both body and soul 2. From whence they came to be Parties at the celebration of this great Miracle And 3. If I can reach so far Why they became the representative persons for the whole Body of the Saints in Heaven To the first that these two Witnesses presented themselves in bodily shapes there is no wit so scrupulous I think that can make a question of it for S. Matthew says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these men were seen of Peter James and John Then they were heard talking and by their talk discover'd to be those grand Prophets as I will shew hereafter They talked as men to men vocally not in an intellectual fashion as spirits do And the Apostles in their extasie mentioned the making of Tabernacles to shrowd them in but a Tabernacle is a Coverture for a Body and not for a Spirit The controversie doth not consist in this therefore I pass it over That which hath caused diversities of judgments to arise is herein what manner of Bodies these were wherewith Moses and Elias were cloathed to attend the Transfiguration of Christ I will make bold to remove
of man be risen from the dead In the fourth general member of the Text as they were enjoyn'd so my Text says they kept secrecy they told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen When I first entred upon this part of the Gospel I told you that the Latin Churches keep an annual Feast in memory of the Transfiguration upon the sixth day of August for this reason the Transfiguration it self fell out in the beginning of the Spring a few weeks before our Saviours Passion The three Disciples which saw it being admonished to be private in that which they had seen till more convenient time confessed it not in five moneths following unto their fellow Disciples and then made a solemn publication of it upon the sixth of August which day thereupon had some sacred honour done it Obedience is a virture of great necessity even in the smallest things and they that are subject to obey must not examin with what little prejudice a small command may be broke but rather consider with what great ease it may be kept Things forbidden says the School are of two sorts Quaedam prohibentur quia mala quaedam sunt mala quia prohibentur some things are absolutly evil in themselves and therefore are prohibited as Murder and Adultery some things are prohibited by just authority and therereupon respectively become evil as the eating of the forbidden fruit in Paradise if God had not expresly prohibited that Tree to man it had been no sin to taste of it So our Saviour made that sinful by his command which otherwise had been harmless to be spoken of if he had not encharged his Disciples to obsequiousness and they performed that secrecy which they undertook not envying their Brethren the relation of the things which they had seen but observing that time of restraint which their Master had prefixed And thus they reap praise even out of their infirmity that although they were unfit to speak of such transcendent miracles as yet yet they knew their duty to hold their peace Dearly Beloved the wonderful works of our Lord were never brought to pass to be hid like a Candle under a Bushel and to remain alwayes undiscover'd no it was Pauls defence before Felix and Agrippa that every thing which belonged to Christ was advanced to the open view These things sayes he were not done in a corner The Heathen had their sacra Cereris Eleusinia non divulganda the Ceremonies and Rituals of Ceres never to be divulged the more shame for those Idolaters to have such filthy abominations in their Temples which they durst not publish Christ did only sequester his secrets for the most apt times of manifestation Dies dici eructat verbum one day certifieth another Time is the most prudent Master in the world In those days appointed for silence Peter and John and James did shut up the secret committed unto them but only in those times and now it is left to be preached to all Nations as to you at this time ever since the Resurrection of the Son of God The Catechumeni in the Primitive Church that is the novice Christians instructed in the Rudiments of Faith and not yet baptized were not permitted to be present in the Church at the celebration of the Lords Supper such as are baptized have admittance to partake of all Mysteries when they can examine themselves because they are baptized into the Faith of his Resurrection And yet there is a Veil drawn before our eyes till the times of great accomplishment I mean the Resurrection of the body then we shall be filled with the glory of the Lord which shall enlighten us to behold all things that conduce to our eternal happiness AMEN FOUR SERMONS UPON THE PASSION OF OUR SAVIOUR THE FIRST SERMON UPON THE PASSION MAT. xxvii 24. I am innocent of the bloud of this just Person see you to it AS Pilate sate in Judgment upon our Saviour so are we met together this day to sit in judgment upon Pilate The Ruler marveled when his Prisoner stood before him and said nothing for himself But now is the time to speak it was Christs good pleasure to leave his cause to be defended by us who should live in after Ages and wheresoever the Gospel is preached throughout the world the Word doth testifie now in every mans mouth Christ is pittied and Pilate is censured When they reach'd a Reed unto our Saviour they put an Emblem in his hand says St. Hierom that their own infamy should be endited against them to after Ages Calamum tenet in manu ut inimicorum sacrilegium scriberet The Reed was in his hand to pen the sacriledge of his enemies But Pilates crime shall be the least part of our Meditation that which I would require to be the fruit of your attention is to beware of committing the same faults which we tax in another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reproach retorted upon our selves is a double infamy For as the Orator said of the Faction of Augustus and Antony when Caesar was treacherously slain Tyrannus occidit tyrannis vivit the Tyrant was suppressed but not the Tyranny so when Pilate shall have sentence against him we must every man also arrain his own infidelity which thinks it self innocent of the bloud of Christ or else I must tell you plainly that you do condemn the Hypocrite and acquit Hypocrisie He that says he did not crucifie Christ is his greatest crucifier he that will confess that they were his blasphemies which spat upon his face his Briberies that nailed his hands to the Cross his gluttony and drunkenness that gave him Gall to drink his wrath and malice that pierced him in the side his disobedience against Magistrates that bruized him in the head his wanton Apparel that stript him of his Robe he that will not only die with Christ in his arms as old Simeon did but acknowledge that Christ died by his arms he shall find peace at the last and righteousness with the God of his salvation What became of our Saviours Reed and of his Robe we find in holy Scripture they were taken from him by the Souldiers but it is not written whether any man took up the Crown of thorns as if that were our share or any mans else who is goaded with true compunction And to say truth all the sins which we do commit let us make the best of them are but thorns and briers but if we confess them in humility and ask pardon in tears and contrition then they are corona spinea a crown of thorns Before I begin either to judge Pilate or to examine our selves I must tell you of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a figure of confusion which is most proper to the Devils Rhetorick For in one and the same breath nay in the self-same period he will do three divers things Lie and tell truth and Prophesie Lie like himself tell truth like a believer and Prophesie
four times and no less they did most grosly abuse that Talent which the Lord had given them 1. They gave Judas thirty Pieces of Silver to betray his Master 2. They were at charges to bribe a Multitude with swords and staves to take our Saviour in the Garden 3. They set a Watch to look to the Sepulchre expence was drawn from them for that use And 4. They gave large money to have the Souldiers say as it is in my Text His Disciples came and stole him away by night Pecuniam quae in usus templi data fuerat vertunt in redemptionem mendacii says St. Hierom which I would English They took a part of Gods portion to see the Devil One says that this is a note of the Antichrist Proditur venturus armatus pecuntis a Tradition goes that he shall be full of money able to bribe abundance to take his part so that they shall maintain falshoods and errors against their own conscience Not unlikely to be true and I am sure the mystery of Antichrist began betimes even on this very day and let us all take notice of it to whom the Resurrection of our Saviour is sweet and precious what an horrid and Antichristian sin Bribery is both in the Giver and in the Taker that the Devil did fly to that sin rather than any other thereby to subvert the glory of God and the dearest consolation of all Christians the Resurrection of Jesus As Brimstone will smell in Wollen so all sorts of Bribery intended to the prejudice of truth and innocency smell of that abominable corruption which put the Chief Priests and the Souldiers into this deep confederacy that shall be succinctly handled now I have made the rest that follows more easie to be understood by opening the condition of the persons that carried the plot between them The way of the Confederacy follows by putting a forged Tale in the Souldiers mouths they must say any thing that the Priests suborn Say ye There is a threefold lie says St. Austin 1. Vain Fiction which doth neither harm nor good Quod fit merâ mentiendi libidine a mere trick of scurvy custom without any bad intention yet this is a sin 2. There is a lie which hurts one party to help another and that is a greater sin than the first 3. Tale est quod nulli prodest obest alicui there is a lie which is pernicious to some and beneficial to none that is worst of all such stuff was this that was perswaded to the Souldiers Roman Souldiers were wont to be commended for their fidelity above all Military men in the world In Rom. militibus rarò fides suit desiderata They were very trusty and true in the praise of all Histories and God gave them grace to bring truth with them as far as from the Sepulchre to the Council Chamber of the High Priests but there they lost it there they were bought out of it and to this day the Jews if they could would make us unsay all the truth that we tell them O beware of such as turn away their ears from the truth and give heed unto Fables especially note those for the enemies of Christ like these in my Text that will hire others to forge to dissemble to forswear these are they that drive the Devils Market and they must look for the reward from him he is their father the father of lies and liars But what reward shall be given thee thou false tongue Even mighty and sharpe Arrows with hot burning coals We detest Baudes and Pandars very justly the wicked dealers for other mens filthy Lusts Ought not they to be as much detested I think they ought that are other mens hirelings and Instruments to vent their falshoods and dissimulations Anthimus Bishop of Nicomedia was enquired after to be put to death for being a Christian and being found had the courtesie offered him by the Serjeants that they would tell the Tyrant that sent them they could not find him they were resolved to be so kind and Anthimus had his leave to make an escape but the thing wrought in his conscience and rather than they should tell a lie for his sake he went after them and offered himself to suffer death But Sisera was not so streight-laced as we use to say he would have been content nay he desired Jael If any of the Persuers askt for such a man to say no man was there This is the case which of all others may seem most plausible whether one might be entreated to tell an untruth lawfully to save the life of another that is followed by an enemy St. Austin quickly resolves it you must not do a wicked thing to save your own life much less doth it urge you to corrupt your own soul to save another mans body So he doth extoll Firmus Bishop of Tagastum Firmus nomine firmior voluntate into whose house a fearful person fled for fear of Assassinates and being asked for him Respondit nec mentiri se posse nec hominem prodere he answered he must not lie and he would not betray a man to them that thirsted for his bloud and from this answer he would not be beaten with many wounds O take not away from me thy truth says David not Eloquence nor a shrill voice like a Symbal nor a musical warbling as sweet as a Syren none of these are the honour of a mans lips truth goes beyond them all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Synesius A word truly spoken is nobly born falshood and lies are beggarly begotten that is either out of foolish easiness or out of fear or out of base reward as when the Souldiers had the Bribe in their hand they must say any thing that was put into their mouths Say ye Say ye Why let such as they are talk their pleasure But who would believe them A lie hath a kind of croaking harshness in it at any time especially from such reporters as these I am induced to suppose that the High Priests were half jealous of them that all was not Gospel which they related about the Angels appearing and the body risen and would they have the people trust them more than they did But here was Gods judgment upon that stiff-necked Nation though these were heathen men without God in the world vile Mercenarie witnesses of no credit yet their tale was received of the Jews as if Moses had brought it and it is reported commonly to this day says St. Matthew If St. Matthew meant at that day when he wrote his Gospel that was eight years after says Theophylact. Justin Martyr says that in his days more than an hundred years after it was taken up among the Jews for a true story and that they wrote Letters to their Countrimen over all the world to assure them it was so and no otherwise But in holy Scripture that phrase to this day notes the durance and long continuance of a thing
opened that the Word should run swiftly throughout all the world when good tidings were diffusive great joy unto all people The sound came flying upon the wings of the wind that there was neither Speech nor Language upon the earth but their voices were heard among them The Law made a great din when it was published there came thunder with it and the noise of a Trumpet louder and louder Yet this noise was spread in the Desart of Sinai in a desolate and uninhabited Region But this sound which hapned when the Gospel was authorized to be preached in every Nation it had audience in the most populous place of all Judaea in the City of Jerusalem As who should say it was a communicable sound which should be received into the Imperial Cities of all Kingdoms I draw this only observation from it to your holy practice that the Lord loveth fragorem vocis not a whispering silence but an exalted voice a loud exclamation to praise him Open confession of Gods name is an effect individually connex'd with a true lively faith so says David Psal cxvi I believed and therefore I spake There are three things hateful to God which jar against it 1. Hypocritical profession when the protestation of the mouth is not rooted in the heart 2. Abnegation of the Faith whether they deny the truth for fear or for resolved Apostasie 3. There is another way to sin against the confession of the Faith and that is malum silentium not to glorifie God openly in our profession when it concerns his honour in whose person the Psalmist speaks I kept silence yea even from good words but it was pain nay it will be pain and grief unto them St. Paul complains of those Christians that were of Rome in his days that none would openly declare themselves of his side in the time of persecution At my first answer none stood with me but all forsook me I pray God it may not be laid to their charge 1 Tim. iv 16. The Lord would not have it lurk only in the secrets of our breast that we are Christs Disciples but that it should resound abroad to his glory for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation And let Gods service be performed on all sides on the Priests part and on the peoples with fervor and strength of voice like the sound of many waters You may pray tacitly in the heart but sure the holy Spirit came not from heaven like a vehement sound to teach you to fumble in the mouth and scarce to open your lips when you are in Prayer Prayer is a calling upon God Call upon me in the time of trouble Psal l. Nay a roaring for very disquietness of heart says the same Prophet in another place Our humble Petitions are called Vituli labiorum Heb. xiii Their lips will offer their sacrifice aloud if the true incense of zeal do burn within for our Saviour says Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh A troubled soul I grant it sometimes cannot utter it self sometimes a dumb-born Prayer is very powerful as Hannah the Mother of Samuel is the great instance of it but in the ordinary way assuredly the more strength of voice we put to our Supplications the more we shake off the drowsiness of the flesh the more we stir up the grace of the holy Spirit which loves that the Eccho and chearful sounds of the voice should ascend up to heaven But the Scripture doth not leave at this that there came a sound from heaven it goes further and tells us the manner of the sound that it was like unto that noise which is caused by a vehement wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the wind had blown but it was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Oecumenius that you might not imagine the holy Spirit to be a corporeal breathing like the vaporous substance of the wind therefore the quasi is very significant that it had but the similitude of the wind Yet it is very inquirable why like that more than any thing else If we had been left to guess what sound it was why might not we have imagined it to be the purling of some soft streams Or the humming of Bees about their Hive Or the voice of harpers playing with their harps Rev. xiv 2. None of those it was but as the fragor of the wind And when God declares his vertue in some sensible object you must perswade your reason there is some great relation between the sign and the thing signified Did not our Saviour illustrate unto Nicodemus our Regeneration or new Birth from the blasts of the air Joh. iii. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the voice thereof and knowest not whence it cometh or whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit Yet more feelingly when he did infuse into his Apostles the power of the Holy Ghost bequeathing them that great Sacerdotal priviledge Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained Was it not conveyed by blowing upon them like the wind by insufflation Joh. xx 22. He breathed on them and saith unto them receive ye the Holy Ghost Now I will tell you together where both the mystery and the use of it do consist First As the breath which we send forth comes from the warmth of our Lungs and of our bowels within so the Spirit proceedeth from the substantial love of the Father and of the Son What was the meaning then of that sensible expiration But that as the breath which he vented out came from his Humane Nature so the Holy Ghost which he breathed on his Disciples came from his Divine Nature And this must follow to give it you by the way that Christ is very God for who but God can communicate the Holy Ghost For it was Gods Promise that He and none but He would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh Isa xliv And it stands as well proved that the Holy Ghost is God for the prime and supreme power to remit sins is the Holy Ghosts he was given to the Disciples for that end and none can forgive sins but God alone Secondly Christ communicated his spiritual gifts by breathing to shew that he even the same Lord was the Author both of our temporal and eternal life For in the Creation the Lord breathed into mans nostrils the breath of life Gen. ii 7. But this life shall pass away and the body shall crumble into dust Why behold the breath of the Lord will go forth again to cause a joyful Resurrection as it is in the Prophets vision of the dry bones Ezek. xxxvil 5. Thus saith the Lord unto these bones Behold I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live Yet if this body wherein sin reigns and inclines it only to
of Gerar and if you dam and stop up the windows of your breast as the Philistines did the Fountains let us call them as he did The Wells of hatred and contention Gen. xxvi There was great devotion no doubt in the Vigils of the Primitive Church praying and singing Psalms in the dead hours of darkness as if they were prepared to meet the Bridegroom at midnight but because this custom smelt of too much secresie it was wisely left off as an offensive Ceremony And that all may be done in the face of the Congregation though we allow and exhort you unto private Prayer in your secret Chambers yet the chief part of the Liturgy I mean the Lords Supper it is a Communion of Saints and but in case of sickness or extremity never to be dispensed in private Families And now I pray you call to mind the bloudy conjuration of this day to whose secresie those desperate Pseudo Catholicks swore even at the Table of the Lord. Was not Religion turned topsie turvy when those sulphurious traitors and their Father Jesuits turned the Communion of our Saviour to a non-communion to link and combine themselves in eternal silence That Sacrament of Charity the strongest tie of love that ever God made became an Oath to unite the malice of Satan Sweet Jesu thy side was opened to let out that bloud which they dranke down to close up their sin in darkness Thy body was exalted on high upon the Cross that the world might look upon thy sufferings which they broke and took secretly as if it were to be buried for ever and should never rise and appear in glory And thus they thought to carry their stratagem as the High Priests Servants did when they blinded our Saviour and smote him saying Ariolare nobis quis te percussit prophesie if you can who they were that smote you down It was commended for plain dealing in Agesilaus that he was wont in his travels abroad to take up his lodging in the Temple where he lighted as if he that revealed himself to men by day would not conceal himself to the very Idols by night Alas how can they expect to shine hereafter like stars in glory that are openly seen whose actions are as unknown to the world as hidden qualities Or how can they make St. Pauls word good that the vail is taken away under the Gospel that have taken away all knowledge from the people and instead of explicit faith profess mystery For if ever false wares were sold to ignorant people under dark lights the Lay part of Rome have been so abused the Jesuites shall carry it for the best Juglers that ever practised Such tricks are pretended to enthrall their Novices in belief that if you resolve their cause into the last principles the unnurtured people have nothing but Templum Domini for their share First Every Prayer they say it is a Creed somewhat indeed they mutter in an unknown tongue but for ought they know instead of a Prayer it may be a Blasphemy And is not that Religion maskt in secresie Yet if the Church doth not teach them explicitly the Word of God will teach them to pray but as the Spirit said to Christ so do they to the Scriptures Quid nobis tibi What have we to do with thee thou Book of God It were as good for the Philistins to bring the Ark into the house of Dagon 1 Sam. v. And is not that imperfect Religion maskt in secresie Well fare the Fathers yet they talk'd of them much to much purpose indeed when like the Feast of King Saul many Guests are there but Davids place is empty Index expurgatorius hath left the Parable behind and spung'd out the Moral As when one painted a Cock untowardly says Plutarch to his no great commendation his Friends advised him to drive away all true Cocks from comming near it so Falshoods are maintained and Truth must not stand cheek by soule in the Fathers and is not this Religion maskt in secresie Well though the Doctrine of the Fathers be brew'd and spoil'd with their compositions yet hold fast your Traditions say the Tridentine Bishops and all is well And how came they do you think into credit No question says Salmeron but our Saviour delivered them to St. Peter in the forty days between his Resurrection and Ascension No question but Salmeron can never prove it and is not this Religion maskt in secresie Nay says Melchior Canus Hereticks may be busie with other proofs yet the Schoolmen will stand the shock against all incursion of Adversaries Those are of good use many times but many times and perchance more often the winding stairs where you are still going down from conclusion to conclusion and never see the bottom and is not all this Religion maskt in secresie The sum of the first part of my Text is this in the actions of the wicked there is nothing but labour in the undertaking and shame which makes them dig to shrowd themselves Now I come to their object ad inferos fodiunt Though they dig into Hell c. The Souls of wicked men and evil Angels says St. Austin have these three qualities Rationem passibilitatem aeternitatem and all these blessings turn to a curse 1. They have reason to be apprehensive of misery 2. Obnoxiousness to passion that they may feel the smart of misery 3. Immortality that they may groan in endless misery O ye transgressors of Gods Law can you deny that you have knowledge what are the sufferings of damnation Why God hath given you reason are you not sensible that sometimes in this life you find a torture in your soul Why but God hath made you sensible and passive Why are you so wilful O ye desperate ones to cast Heaven at your back and when Hell is before you and the eternity of damnation to out-stare the Devil and dig into his Kingdom Mark how Hell it self cannot open its mouth so wide as the wicked would have it they dig a bigger pit to enter in Non expectamus tentationem in multis sed praevenimus says St. Austin We are in many things of our own accord so hasty to do evil that we do not wait for bad suggestions but even prevent tentations All Nations whom thou hast made shall worship coram te before thee O Lord says David Psal lxxxvi .9 If you look upon God your faces shall shine with innocence like Moses in Horeb Stephens at Martyrdom or our Saviours at his transfiguration And then you must not dig downward but say to the Tempter get thee behind me Satan and leave it to treacherous men to beat their brains out with knocking their heads against the gates of Hell Vultures ad odorem putredinis statim convolant incorruptum corpus non attingunt says Plutarch Vultures will flutter about a putrified carkass but they have nothing to do with that which is clean and sincere Therefore Idolaters are in their right way and
mans excogitation is frivolous Indeed Ceremonies for the most part are unprescribed that particular Churches may be their own carvers in them only let them beware that they use their liberty discreetly But the offering of burnt Sacrifices is a matter of substance how came this into Noahs heart to do it By divine information certainly At some time about the beginning of time God did appoint a form of Religion to Adam and his Posterity which in the Breviary of the Book of Genesis is omitted which Lesson was read to Cain and Abel from whom they undertook the solemnity of Sacrifice and the Candle was lighted from hand to hand till the Tradition came safe to Noah Or thus very briefly Which God did deliver to Adam which Adam did commit ro Jared he to Methusalem which Methusalem did commend to Noah Never imagine that they were appointed precisely about the food of their body that is in the Letter of the Book and no instruction delivered for the food of their Soul That were such an omission that the worst Lawgiver would prevent much more the wisest The Lord did set his holy Patriarchs in order from succession to succession till the Law was written to communicate true Religion And it is St. Hieroms rule Omne verum à quocunque dicitur à spiritu sancto est Every mouth that speaks truth speaks it from the Holy Ghost From Abel downward all those whose Oblations had a sweet savour offered by Faith if by Faith then by Precept and Instruction for Faith comes by hearing Rom. x. 17. Sacrifice then was that Divine Worship which God revealed did please him that was the general approbation I do not say that every time they kept that duty they had need of a new and a special Commission St. Ambrose says that Noah did this good work of his own genius and not by any new particular Commandment Qui debitum gratiae ut à se exigatur expectat ingratus est A man must not stay after he hath received a benefit till God say unto him thank me now for such thankfulness were ingratitude Yet St. Ambrose hath far more voices against him than of his part that this holy Father had special directions for the solemnizing this Sacrifice and that expresly it was revealed unto him upon the taking in of seven of the clean beasts into the Ark Gen. vii 2. Of clean beasts by sevens that three Pairs were for propagation and the single odd one the seventh of clean Beasts and clean Fowls the celebs animal the pure Creature which mixt with no female was to be dedicated in an whole burnt-offering to the Lord. And then this example will so little favour Will-worship that it utterly beats it down the invention of man had so little hand in it that it was Scientia à Deo indita an inspiration immediately put into the Prophet by the will of God The reason why the bloud of Beasts was poured out to the Lord and well accepted of him will be ripe to be rendred by and by when I have first shewn in a word that Religion did never discord from it self by mutation of times The Saints in all Ages had the same Faith the same Worship the same Hope and expectation Pietas ante legem in lege post legem piissime sibi concordat Piety in the Law before the Law and since the Law is constantly the same and did never vary Mark therefore from this Text that the Levitical Ordinances of Moses in many things are but a renovation and amplification of Ceremonial Customs before the Law I said in many things that I might not fall into the same error with them who have overlasht that all the Ceremonial Law was in use and practice with the Patriarchs and that Moses did but compile and gather it up into a body If these men had been askt where they did read of the Levites and all the ritual Orders of the Priesthood before Moses where concerning the trial of Leprosie of Jealousie and an hundred things more I know they must be gravell'd and could not answer Nay in the next Chapter and the third verse says the Lord to Noah Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you but many living things were prohibited to the Jews in the Law of Ordinances that they should not eat them But this ground I know cannot be shaken that many parts of the Ceremonial Law had clear passage in the Church presently after the Floud long before they came forth in Moses name And the whole Moral Law was acknowledged to be just and righteous even from the beginning of the world Sacrifices Altars distinction of clean from unclean abstaining from bloud and things strangled Vows the Brother to raise up seed unto the Brother that died without Issue these are all purely Ceremonial and yet in practice before ever Jacob went down into Egypt and that was 210 years before ever the Levitical Institutions were enacted And that all the Ten Commandments were ingrafted in the good seeds of nature there are such evident examples for them in all the book of Genesis that it will be less tedious for you to ruminate upon them than for me to remember them But as a Book which is ill set forth or rare to be had is sometimes reprinted again in a good Edition by them that are careful to propagate Learning So those things Moral and Ceremonial which were in use before were revived again when the Law was committed to Writing and called the Scripture partly because the Age of man grew short and the Tradition of Religion through the more hands it went was the more corrupted and because the Devil did superseminare in corde scatter so many Tares among the Wheat that the pure Law was scarce to be found in mans heart and partly men were grown so guilty of the Law that they would not look into their own hearts where they found thoughts accusing them Facti sunt fugitivi à cordibus suis says St. Austin they shunned to look into their own knowledge and conscience which did condemn them therefore it was necessary to have the Law written that it might come unto men since men did run from it But the effects and grounds both of Ceremonial Sacrifices and Moral Precepts were in force from the beginning And we may say with Solomon There is no new thing under the Sun that which is called new hath been already of old time which was before us Eccles i. 10. And because all things which are written are written for our instruction I will spare some time to shew that it concerns us even after the cessation of all Sacrifice to learn why the Lord would be honoured with the bloud of beasts and with the fat of Sacrifices One of the best and choicest of the Fathers thought it such a gross kind of serving of God to kill Oxen and Sheep and throw their flesh into the fire such a tyrannizing over the
if he had pleased but to grasp the Loaves or to hold them in his Palm it was a full signification that his power and liberality were eminently met together for it is that hand which openeth and filleth all things The Apostles knew where these Loaves were forth-coming but they set not their mind upon them they would not meddle with them The People were an hungry and far from home in a desart place where there was nothing but grass Two hundred penyworth of bread perchance would have staid their stomachs and Philip thought that would be too little Howsoever they had not the money to buy it Five barly Loaves and two Fishes were all they had in store and who durst take them forth and shew them openly lest they should scramble and quarrel for them The People were ready to stone Moses and Aaron in the Wilderness when they were pinched with scarcity of food Therefore some gave counsel to send them away betimes certainly suspecting a mutiny But here is an accepit which runs cross to all their imaginations Christ betakes himself to those means which they contemned instead of dismissing the Congregation he calls them closer together instead of referring them to the Villages round about he contents them amply in that barren place Instead of the Tumult which was dreaded the issue came to great applause and admiration In all their days they had never seen such a Feast as this Table in the Wilderness where every Crum became an Handful Great things became vile and vile things became great by the dispensation of Christ In his own Person the stone which the builders refused became the head of the corner and in his own hand the Loaves which the Disciples refused became such a Banquet as never was prepared Lord take it first into thine own hand whatsoever we receive and then it will increase and prosper Give us our daily bread and if it be thy gift for no more than one day the vertue of it will last a year Labour not then so much to have good things as to have them of God As David did quickly cast up a chearful account of all his estate O Lord my God all the store that we have it cometh of thine hand 1 Chron. xxix 16. whatsoever drops from his fingers is sweet smelling Myrrh Cant. v. 5. but all false ways he utterly abhors and whatsoever comes in by fraud by extortion by cavillation it will consume away as fast as ever the Loaves and Fishes increased But surely the whole quaternion of Evangelists have set down this Preamble to the Miracle with such joynt consent He took the Loaves that it cannot choose but have some depth of observation in it St. Chrysostome hath reacht it so far that great numbers follow him namely that our Saviour did impatronize himself thereby to the work which followed and published himself from thence to be the Author of the Miracle It was alike easie to his Omnipotency to say the word and to make bread of nothing Or to take a little into his hand and to amplifie it into a great quantity Depend upon this what we have he can increase and what we have not he can create it is all one to him But by handling the lump and so giving vertue to the augmentation the People might behold him as the Fountain of all Power and Majesty and say with the Lycaonians God is come down unto us in the likeness of man Hear what that Father says more unto it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was very expedient that the People should be taught these two Articles of their belief that Christ came from the Father and that he was equal with the Father The one must be proved by power the other by holiness The one by taking the Loaves the other by giving thanks The one by doing all the other by calling upon God when he did all Put the case he had looked up to Heaven and furnished them with satiety of victuals out of nothing what would the multitude have said why this comes from above this is Gods doing and this Jesus is a Prophet that 's come from God O but can humane reason be brought to no better opinion of him 't is true whatsoever can be done they that are unbelievers may gain-say it yet to subdue all contradiction in them that are willing to obey the truth he took the bread and took the glory to himself to make every loaf content a thousand that they might cry out with the Centurion this is of a Truth the Son of God and it is no robbery to say he is equal with the Father So at Cana in Galilee he did not create wine when they wanted and supplied them out of nothing but he turned water into wine water of their own fetching as this was bread of their own bringing a pre-existent matter whose substance they knew to be vulgar and natural he wrought upon these sensible things before their eyes that they might impute the transmutation to his own Divinity Unto which of the Prophets therefore can you liken him in this Miracle Moses obtained Manna from Heaven by prayer and supplication Christ did this by his own hand The Widows Barrel of Meal did not waste nor her Cruise of Oyl fail it was Elias his prediction not his immediate operation Elisha bad his Servant set twenty barley loaves before an hundred men they did eat and left thereof yet for his own part he did not meddle with it because he would have the children of the Prophets ascribe all to the Word of the Lord they did according to that spirit upon them which was circumscribed and limited God had lent them a tongue to declare his noble acts but the hand which did all was far above the hand of power was radical in Heaven therefore this is a distinctive note to know the Master from his Servants he took the loaves He took them indeed but for justice sake it is fit to ask unde habuit from whence he had them A mean question many times hath found a grave resolution it may prove so in this Whence he had them Why some say the Disciples did own them for they answer him Matt. xiv 17. We have here but five loaves and two fishes The words bear it as if they were theirs because their Master was wont to carry them into desolate places and to detein them there all night it was their wonted providence to carry some small refection with them in their journey as it appears Matth. xvi 7. When our Saviour bad them beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Saducees they reasoned among themselves saying it is because we have taken no bread Then they had not yet usually they do not forget it and it may be this was their provision for the present season But the votes of them are more that conceive they did belong to some other In the nineth verse Andrew says there is a Lad here
which hath five barley loaves and two fishes that he did belong to him and his fellow Disciples 't is neither in the Book nor in the nearest likelihood Baronius says that it is descended by Tradition that this Lad was St. Martialis who became an holy Martyr and was Bishop of Limoges in France Whosoever the party was if it be yielded as no man can refuse it that these Viands were his own how came they into Christs hands without bargain and sale for ought we read When Offertories were frequent in the Church every Sunday a voluntary oblation presented to the Lord by all that could give then the answer to this scruple was quickly understood If this were St. Martialis piety revealed it self in him in his tender years for I may safely say he surrendred these things up unto Christ as a willing Offertory as soon as he knew that our Lord did ask for them No offices of Religion will vanish away insensibly so soon as those that be chargeable For can any man tell how free Oblations are quite laid down and disused among us unless it be at some Solemn Festivities and Magnificent Funerals no reason but that two much thrift hath marr'd our thankfulness Abel and Noah and Abraham did not forget it in those Sacrifices which they offered up unto the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of nature egg'd them on gratitude provokt them say the Clementine Constitutions to which I can give no less than the antiquity of the fourth Century The Israelites beside their Tithes and First-fruits and other Ceremonies to which they were taskt were left to their own discretion for the Choice Vow and the Freewill Offering and they perform'd it sumptuously knowing that it was a glory due to the name of the Lord to bring an offering into his House of their own accord Psal xcvi 8. The lights that shined in this piety under the Gospel was the poor Widow that cast her two Mites freely into the Corbâ—n Mary Magdalen that poured a Box of Spicknard upon Christs head of great estimation beside the Wise men of the East that cast their Gold and Myrrh before his Cradle and Nichodemus that dedicated his hundred pound weight of Aloes and Spices to his dead Body in the Sepulchre It were ostentation of reading to point to free Oblations out of Antiquity for there was no Age or Church without them Happy was he whose life was accounted so unreprovable that the Bishop would suffer him to bring a Gift to the Altar Sycophants Drunkards Whoremongers unjust Judges all scandalous persons were turned back disgracefully with their Oblation in their hand and it would not be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but such as possessed any substance by lawful increase they did voluntarily bring a Portion to the Lord to acknowledg their Tenure that they held all from him and their debt that they owed all unto him And this is pressed unto you by putting the case if Jesus took the loaves by free donation But what shall we say if he commanded them before they were offered to him Bring them hither to me so he speaks in St. Matthew By what Title did he require them be brought unto him or by what authority did he take them if another had the right possession even by that authority wherein he was invested in the dominion of all earthly things by that Prerogative whereby he sent for the Ass and the Colt when he rid into Jerusalem Bring them unto me and if any man say ought unto you ye shall say the Lord hath need of them and straight way he will send them By that propriety which he had in the Gadarens Swine by that right which he had in the Figtree which he cursed manifest signs that he did dispose of all things as he pleased without asking leave of the owners Belike say some Papalines there was a temporal Soveraignty in our Saviour over all things here beneath and this did rest upon St. Peter after him and is now immanent in St. Peters Successors all the Kingdoms of this World are theirs nec Constantinus dedit quickquam Sylvestro in strict justice Constantine gave nothing to Pope Sylvester for he was Lord of all before a poor plea for so proud a purchase And surely Pilat was more just in this point than those flattering Canonists The Jews exclaimed against our Saviour that he made himself a King Pilat could find no such fault in him but pronounced him innocent And well he might for all things were given unto him by the Father yet not by ruling all things like a King in his Kingdom but by uniting the humane nature to the Godhead and that ye doubt it not but that he had power over all Creatures as he was Man by the influence of that hypostatical union he had a name written on his thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords Revel xix 16. super femur mark that upon his thigh that is upon his humane nature Now what should I call this Dominion of Christs whereby he was made Heir of all things Heb. i. 2. Surely it surpasseth all description and it hath no name But I am sure he held it not after a Regal way as David and Solomon were Kings in Israel It was transcendent above humane Majesty commanding Men and Angels Heaven and Earth Quick and Dead things sensible and insensible yet withall he was most subject to Rulers paying Tribute to Cesar and refusing to divide a small Inheritance between them that were contentious A mystical Kingdom and not to be exprest ruling over all and yet most obedient to Magistrates commanding every thing under Heaven and yet ministring to his Servants seized of no Inheritance yet having right in every Inheritance quod de suo non habuit sumpsit de alieno says St. Austin of these Loavs he had not bread of his own but that which another had became his own there was a justice paramount wherein no mortal Creature succeeds him which gave him interest in all things Therefore without offence or injury to the owner he took the Loaves But if he had them from his Disciples amicorum omnia communia then he might usurp them without any litigious brabble moved against his power and that the possession was theirs may be as true as the contrary the truth inclines rather to that side as I conceive because our Saviour said unto them date vos illis give ye them to eat and they and none else took away the twelve Baskets of that which remained And was this the purveyance which they had made against hunger five barley loaves and two fishes little enough and coarse enough God knows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says St. Chrysostom this was the Phylosophy and austere temperance of the Disciples they abhorred luxury and superfluity Yet do you miss nothing to make up the Meal where was their drink the fish is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by our Evangelist
novitate vel obscuritate vel parvitate either it hath no glorious beginning for it is new or it cannot shew it for it is obscure or it dare not shew it for it is course and mean Now the glory which we have by Christ is amplified through these Comparisons For first Our Society began not obscurely but at Antioch the Metropolis of Syria one of the most populous and fairest Seats of the World in those days 2. The Records of it are without all exception in this indubitable sacred History 3. Neither is it a Mushrome of the field lately sprung up but it began in that Age when the Apostles of our Lord were living 4. Neither did we purchase our appellation from base and unworthy offices as by adoring the fortunes of men or by worshipping vain Gods but from the unanimity and accord which both Gentiles and Jews that believed did profess in serving the true only God and his Son by whom he made the World Jesus Christ No more then can be said then to these three Points Here are our Progenitors of worthy memory the Disciples their Title of honor and distinction they were called Christians and the place where they received it Antioch to make more of that which is so full in three parts were to make it less But of these in their order To begin with the Disciples and a little searching into them and their condition will make them known to be a noble and a numerous Society I must premise that two things had gone before which filled the Church with infinite increase of Believers First the Martyrdom of St. Stephen whereupon all that addicted themselves that way fled from Jerusalem and were strangely scattered abroad in most remoted places St. James from thenceforth calls them the twelve Tribes of the Dispersion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Peter comes to some particularities and greets them by the name of Strangers scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bythinia yet these were but a few of them in one Walk as I may say for such as write of the Conversion of Nations give a probable demonstrance that some of those dispersed Jews had crept into evety Kingdom that was habitable under the Sun And I instance in one thing especially because Baronius quotes an old English Manuscript contained in the Vatican Library for his Author that the chief adherents to Christ namely Joseph of Arimathaea Lazarus with his Sisters Mary and Martha were despitefully committed to the Seas in a Barque which had neither Oar nor Sail but Gods providence and the winds brought it safe to Marseils in France where they all landed and Joseph the Apostle of this Kingdom made a further journey into our Island And do not marvel that there should be enow to replenish all the World upon this dispersion for before our Saviour's Ascension he was seen of five hundred Brethren St. Peter's first Sermon after the coming of the Holy Ghost gained three thousand souls more The number of five thousand more were added to them by the power of his next Sermon preached in Solomons Porch Acts iv And after this St. Luke never counts how many were converted they were past his reckoning he relates the Blessing thus in the gross The number of the Disciples multiplied greatly and a great company of the Priests were obedient to the Truth Acts vi 7. You see what store of laborers here were which were all cast out of Jerusalem upon the Persecution which was raised at the death of Stephen Non dispersi sed seminati non imbecillitate disjecti sed fidei gratiâ divisi says St. Athanasius they were not turned abroad at random but sown like seed in every quarter of the earth it was not fear and infirmity but the Grace of God which divided them Well the next thing that made the Spirit of God blow like the wind in all places where it listeth was the Conversion and Baptizing of Cornelius the Italian Captain about the seventh year after the Ascension of our Saviour The baptizing of the Eunuch by Philip though he were a more honourable person than Cornelius the great Treasurer to Queen Candace yet it made no noise at all for the Eunuch though an Aethiopian and so a Gentile yet he was a Proselyte of the Jewish Religion and so no Gentile Cornelius and his Houshold were the first of meer Gentiles that received the Holy Ghost and were baptized in the Name of the Lord. The tidings hereof did quickly arrive among the Brethren in all places and the Disciples knew by that token that they might spend their labours not upon the Jews only but upon the Gentiles also You see the means by which the Evangelical Truth was advanced so did Antioch grow to be a famous Church partly by their labours who fled from Jerusalem when St. Stephen was stoned ver 19. partly by attracting great numbers of Graecians to the faith of the Lord Jesus ver 20. and these now compounded together in one Body the faithful of the Circumcision and the faithful of the Uncircumcision these are Disciples recorded in my Text. This will put it likewise from your conceit that the twelve Apostles are not meant here by the attribute of Disciples they come far short of that exceeding number of Saints that were so entitled nor yet those seventy sent by two and two to preach and to cure diseases Luk. x. for distinction sake they began to be called old Disciples in these days as Mnason of Cyprus is called an old Disciple Act. xxi 16. But according to the largest courtesie of the word those that embraced the Doctrin of eternal life and this is done with our Saviour's good leave as it is Joh. viii 31. If you continue in my word then are you my Disciples indeed Sectaries and prophane Hereticks spread their errors abroad wo unto those that give ear unto them The great Dictators of natural Sciences ground their conclusions upon Principles of reason and would attain felicity not by faith but by arguments Miserable were all those that affected to be so wise that they could not be saved they are not these Disciples But leaving these pudled fountains blessed were the true Scholars of Grace that drew their waters from the Cisterns of Christ Truth went before them as a light and Sanctity did guide them by the hand these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taught of God as the word is in St. Paul And this is consolation enough to sweeten all other misery so the Prophet cherisheth the distressed Church that it was her glory that her Children should be the Disciples of that Truth which came down from Heaven O thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted I will lay thy foundations with Saphires c. and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord Isa liv 13. How much did the Pharisees honour the poor man that was born blind when they meant to spit defiance in his face saying Thou art his Disciple Was
hid but shewed its manifest lustre I say was never hid yet nothing repugns to the nature of a true Church but it might disappear and be enclouded from the sight of most men in mists and storms of Heresies and Persecutions Let not the Antagonists dissemble and they know the discord is at another point namely whether the main Principles of saving truth being reteined and taught famously in a Church which is otherwise very corrupt in divers Doctrins whether those that distaste and in heart renounce such over-added Superstitions are always distinct and culled out from the rest so that nominately they may be discerned from the more potent Faction We affirm and are sure of what we affirm by uncontroleable experience that the Israel of God do not always profess their Faith and Religion in Congregations apart but many times they continue in the external Fellowship and common Society of corrupt Believers and these have been so suppressed by the tyranny and subtlety of great ones who have laboured to obscure them that as for the present they have been little set by so they have had small or no reputation in History to commend their name to after Ages Much might be said and invincibly formed for this out of Ecclesiastical Annals I appeal to one Instance above their Monuments which beget nothing but humane faith The Master Builders of Jerusalem about the time of our Saviour's Incarnation reteined the sum of the Law but admixt with it most impure Divinity and partly by their cunning and partly by their supercilious Authority there was no open distinct Assembly of the People which concurred not with them Joseph and Simeon and Zachary men not carried away with their fraud were but here a berry and there a berry upon the top of a bough and if it hapned thus to Jerusalem below where lies the odds who can tell that it may not sometimes be the condition of the Christian Church which is Jerusalem from above Now far be it from this Remonstrance of the paucity and obscurity of the sincere Church as if it inclined to a schismatical disjunction Nay Simeon and Zachary had rather hold communion with the Synagogue of their times which was much departed from the Truth but then they were not compelled to subscribe to the prevailing errors of the Scribes and Pharisees Jerusalem is not Jerusalem if it be not a building well compacted together of them that hold society as much as in them lies with all those that have received the Mark of Christ in their forehead We are called a spiritual Building and living Stones 1 Pet. ii 5. Stones that lie scattered are troublesome to the Passenger and dangerous to stumble at joyn them to others for the erection of a Building and then you have employed them to their most physical property As in a Wall one stone supports another so when we cleave fast together and bear one anothers burdens God will dwell within us Where two or three are gathered together there am I in the midst of them Says Ignatius in his Epistle to the Ephesians we are Stones squared by the Line of the Holy Ghost and raised up by Charity from Earth to Heaven And when the Holy Ghost doth dispose us to supply our fit place in the Structure then we are living stones Lapides mortui nihil possunt per se nisi cadere says Hierom to that of St. Peter a dead stone hath no motion of it self but to drop out of the Wall of the House and to fall down as who should say there is nothing but decay and death in division as on the contrary there is prosperity and life in unity But as Pliny tells of Theophrastus that he taught in his Philosophy that there were some stones that by nature brought forth other stones as it is in Plants and Trees so the stones that build the Walls of this Jerusalem must bring forth that which is fit for the ornament of the Building but if they do very wicked things fitter for the Tower of Babel than for the Temple of Christ they they shall be plucked out of the Building like accursed stones upon which the spot of leprosie appeared and the Priest shall cast them into an unclean place without the City Levit. xiv 40. Jerusalem consists in external communion but they are not worthy of it And so ends the first point It was not enough in St. Pauls Judgment to denominate the Spouse of Christ from the best Habitation for earth is but earth be it never so much a selected portion therefore he carries her aloft in his praise and adds that it is Jerusalem which is above an heavenly City Heb. xii 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it had not its original here but fell down from the starry Firmament A notion fit for the most oratorious style of the Prophet Isaiah says he It shall come to pass in the last dayes that the mountain of the Lords House shall be established on the top of the Mountains To which the Rabbins give a childish interpretation that toward the time when God shall finish all things Mountains shall be piled upon Mountains Thabor upon Sinah Sinah upon Carmel and Sion upon them all as the Poets feign that the Giants threw Pindus and Pelion on the top of Ossa how low they creep in their understanding that do not stretch that description to Heaven Let such Blind-worms lick the dust as the Psalmist says but we must find out certain Raptures rather than Expositions how the Seat of Christ's Kingdom where his Servants do him homage in praise and holiness is not beneath but above First because Christ our Head is ascended into Heaven and governs all things beneath from thence sitting at the right hand of his Father As a King upon whose safety the weal of the Kingdom depends is said to carry the lives of his people with him when he adventures his person into danger so our Souls do hang upon Christ our Redeemer in him we live and move wheresoever he goes he draws us after him if he be lifted up on high so are we also by vertue of concommitancy it is his will and we have his word for it that where he is there should we be also When we pray unto him if our spirit do not issue out from us and prostrate it self before him in Heaven that Petition sollicits faintly and is not like to speed because it comes not nearer to him who is our Advocate with the Father When we come to his holy Supper unless we carry up our heart unto him by strong devotion and presume that we see that very Body which was crucified for us before our eyes we pollute the Sacrament for want of faith There are such joints and bands which knit the body unto the head as mortal reason cannot express but through faith and love we are often with him by invisible ascensions but most assured be we that there he intercedes for us
therefore whatsoever the refractory think that filled our Liturgie with Te Deums with Magnificats with Doxologies Methinks Prayer were but a drowzy thing without them When we ask any thing that we need we speak in the Dialect of men but when we send forth acclamations to the honour of Jesus Christ we speak with the tongues of Seraphims In our Petitions we may exceed and ask too much in our Doxologies we cannot exceed It agrees well to the true only God which Plato ascribed to his Idols heap what Epithets you will upon the Gods you cannot flatter them Perhaps some are of the mind of that Heathen that asked a Rhetorician to what purpose he penn'd an Oration in praise of Hercules for who did ever discommend Hercules Or if Blasphemers should detract from God his excellency it is not made less So all the invocations and Halleluja's of the Saints cannot add on Cubit not one Inch to the stature of his Majesty it is uncapable of increase and can never grow greater But will you be content to open your lips unto the praise of the Coelestial goodness if it bring your self to honour though it be no amplification to the glory of God Agreed then no man can ascribe much praise to God but out of a large capacity of faith for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost No man can speak of the King of Heaven according to his due honour but it will procreate devotion and reverence no man doth advance the name of God in the preface of his Prayer but it is a tacite Confession that he prefers the glory of his Maker before his own Necessity Behold now though Gods honour be in the state that it was before yet your soul is in a better state by Prayer and Invocation for a spiritual gift in this life is a degree to a reward in the life to come Let me not defer it any longer to speak of the ditty of that praise which the Souls under the Altar did give unto the most High And the words when they are laid together are Triga divinae gloriae as it is called a Chariot drawn by the three transcendent Attributes of the Divine Nature Who doth excel in Power but the Lord Who doth excel in goodness but the Holy of Holies And He that brings to pass whatsoever he hath spoken he must excel in truth Power belongs unto the Father for all things are by him Truth belongs unto the Son for all the shadows of the Old Law are fulfilled in him Goodness belongs to the Holy Ghost for he is the Sanctification that is diffused in our hearts Therefore more praise cannot be couched in three words than in these Lord Holy and True We wretched and ignorant sinners that utter these words with polluted lips we cannot apprehend as the Martyrs in Heaven do what an eternal weight of glory is in every one of these Syllables Yet we know that he is Lord whose authority admits no equal the Idaea of all goodness whose sanctity admits no question A Truth which is the measure of all truth whose words and statutes admit no contradiction His Dominion is so strong that it cannot be resisted his Holiness is so sincere that it cannot sin and his Truth is so firmly coupled to his Holiness that he cannot lie There is no Power but in Him for all the Foundations of the Earth are weak There is no Holiness but in him for there is none that doth good no not one There is no verity but in him for God is true and every man a lyar As for all the Gods of the Heathen there was infirmity in their protection for they had no strength Viciousness in their Sanctions for they had no sanctity Delusions in their Oracles for they were nothing but vanity To contract a world of variety which may be morallized out of this Triple Crown of God it is not to be over-passed that these are the Titles upon which the Church depends for all its blessings the Hills unto which we lift up our eyes for help Solium gubernandi altare sanctificandi cathedra docendi The Throne of his Kingdom the Altar of his Priesthood the Chair of his Prophetical Wisdom which afford unto the Church Might to protect it Grace to purifie it and Truth to direct it in all things Or observe it how the Enemies of the Church are over-matcht and trodden down by these Attributes We all know they are in three Ranks Tyrants Hypocrites and Hereticks To suppress Tyrants he is the mighty Lord for the detestation of Hypocrites he is the Holy One of Israel for the conviction of Hereticks Truth hath flourisht out of the Earth and Righteousness hath looked down from Heaven But if these be the Flowers of Christs honour if the Martyrs as some Expositors say meant of him only they are Lines which will easily I am sure meet in that Center Though once he was compassed with our infirmities yet now what Power so great as his to whom the Father hath committed all judgment What Holiness so perfect as his which challenged the censure of his Enemies Which of you can reprove me of sin Or what Truth so praepotent as out of his mouth which made his Adversaries confess Never man spake like him Not to leave this Subject without some utility to our life Are these Titles of our Father no way hereditary to us by Adoption of Sons Yes surely after the model of our earthen Vessel the compellation of Lord which is so awful and to be adored in the Supreme Majesty it claims veneration and submissive obedience to those Powers upon earth to whom God hath committed the execution of his governance The other two Attributes are not so restrictive but are the Vrim and Thummim of every Christian or like the two eyes in our head we know not which is dearest Holiness and Truth Truth is the illumination of our understanding in all points to be believed Holiness is the reformation of our will in all cases of practice Which of these can you spare and live your brains or your heart If Holiness be true there will be no Hypocrisie If Truth be holy there will be no contention If Holiness be true Zeal shall be joyned to Knowledge If Truth be holy Knowledge shall be joyned to action Where Truth is not holy Herod for the engagement of his Oath will cut off the head of John Baptist Where holiness is not true the Pharisees in defence of the Law will Crucifie our Saviour Wherefore put on the new man which is created after God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the holiness of truth or in true holiness Eph. iv 24. Forget not I pray that I said these Epithets were not only an Invocation but an obtestation also as if the Martyrs had said As thou art the Lord as thou art holy as thou art true avenge our bloud of them that
dwell on the earth Haec commemoratio est quaedam necessitas exaudiendi How can this great King to whom they supplicate choose but grant them their asking when his own Attributes intercede in their behalf How can their Enemies choose but fall before them when they sound out these awful names of God as with the blast of a Trumpet As a Christian Poet says of Satan who was cast out of the Possessed in the name of Jesus Nec fulmina verbi ferre potest that blessed word was like Thunder in his ears he could not endure the noise of it So when the men of the earth have exalted themselves To run over the Attributes of God against them is as it were to give fire to a peal of Ordnance and their Pride will totter before them Religion hath its name à religando it binds man to God and it binds God to man The Martyrs were bound by their Vow in Baptism to stand to their Faith to the death and the Lord hath bound himself by his Truth and Holiness to avenge his Saints that cry day and night unto him With much confidence may we appeal unto him in the name of the Lord. Magnum nomen sub quo nemini desperandum says St. Austin Who can be discouraged that can recite that word with a true feeling in the Preface of his Prayer It is in effect to say Rise up thou arm of the most High Isa li. 9. Stir up thy strength and come and help us Psal lxxx 2. Let all the Kingdoms of the earth know that thou art the Lord Isa xxxvii 20. It is to challenge protection from the relation which can never be dissolved as who should say Thou art our King and we are thy Subjects therefore we claim our Copy that thou shouldst guard and defend us at least that thou shouldst pluck down the arrogance of those that have offended us But what passionate Advocates are the other two sacred terms that go together with it Holy and True Which is in effect to plead Thou hast made us holy as thou art holy thou hast kept us in the truth even as thou art truth thou hast given us such gifts as are in thine own Titles therefore we are sure thou dost love us with an everlasting love thou that art holy and true wilt pluck thine arm out of thy bosom to avenge them that are holy and true against their oppressors The Holiness of God calls upon him to hate the ungodly that have devoured Jacob and laid wast his dwelling place His Truth calls upon him to put them to confusion because he hath promised to recompence them for the evil which they have done unto his Servants He that is holy cannot favour their part that are ambitious bloud-suckers invaders of the Possessions of the Innocent He that is truth it self cannot support them that are dissemblers truce-breakers full of fraud and equivocation The Holy One will be sanctified the True One will be justified the Lord will be glorified I will hold you no longer in the Porch of the Text for the Invocation is no more I come to the Prayer it self the Souls under the Altar cry out unto the Lord to judge and avenge their bloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Verb to judge may belong to the sifting of the Cause the other Verb to avenge may import the dispatch of the sentence against the Delinquents but I take them both to be an amplification of one thing urged that vengeance may fall upon the head of them that have spilt the bloud of the Saints a Prayer that a mild man perhaps will stand amazed at His Lesson is Bless them that curse you pray for them that despitefully use you Whence comes it that the Saints in Heaven take the liberty to perform Christs will not so charitably as the poor Disciples on earth But good words and all grace and piety be ascribed to the Spirits which are in the bosom of God We cannot say to them as our Saviour did to the Sons of Zebedee You know not what ye ask This is a voice which came not from Earth but from Heaven and therefore we must maintain it And it is as easie a task as a man can put his Pen to because it will admit such variety of Apology First of all Vengeance being not usurpt by the hand of a private man but prosecuted under the shelter of lawful authority like Vsque quo Domine In this place it is not unlawful It is pars justitiae punitivae a stirring up of that part of justice which distributes punishments to them that deserve them and to demand it in a regular way is in no wise rugged to the Law of charity The Schoolmen comprize the right use and the abuse of it in one short distinction Velle vindictam ad odium saturandum pessimum est ex amore justitiae bonum It is honest sometimes to claim revenge for wrongs out of the love of Justice it is abominable when we aim at nothing but to glut our spleen and hatred with the ruine of our enemy St. Austin puts it better home with two exceptions Revenge is strictly repressed in the Gospel Non ut correctionem hominum negligamus sed ne alieno malo animum pasceres not quite repressed so that offenders must not be called to account to be corrected but when a rankerous mind would be fed and fatted with the penalty of another Again says he Non ut praeterita vindicemus sed in futurum consulamus The injuries that are past and done might be friendly put up but recompence must be required sometimes that the times to come may be more peaceably ordered Many stumbled at this Doctrine because they made not a clear difference between the affections of malice and justice Origen against Celsus disputes that if is not lawful for Christians to go to war yet David praiseth God for teaching his hands to war and his fingers to fight The Manichaeans brooked not Moses for those words An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth yet he saith Thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people Lev. xix Julian charged the Christians that they were enemies to Civil Courts and all Political Orders for they held that no wrong was to be called in question And they that replied unto him defended it coldly that it was a thing adiaphorous and better let alone St. Austin in one place says that the Old Law did license the Jews to commence suits against their Enemies but it was a permission to the hardness of their hearts this mistake came upon a slip of memory for he thought there had been such words in the Text of the Old Law Thou shalt hate thine enemy Hugo taught that the Precepts of strict charity which Christ taught agreed to the suffering times of the Primitive Church but were now expired Some of the School Divines would have the Prayer for our