how when from â—ence and by whom they were brought into our Church in a meere opposition and contempt of the Booke of Common-Prayers But why then brought in and why still continued in contempt of that I acknowledge I understand not for if we looke into the Order Method and Disposition of that Booke we shall finde it sweet and harmonious if into the sufficiencie of it rich and full for what thing is it thou would'st name in thy Prayers whether it bee by the way of Confession or thy sinnes or of Thankesgiving for Benefits received or of Petition for the future but thou mayst furnish thy selfe with there more perfectly lively and more compendiously exprest then all thy wit can possibly contrive They went both to pray And whether went they Why into the Temple Private Prayers are good thy Closet-Devotions when none are admitted into the Dialogue but onely God and thine owne Soule are good and acceptable to the Lord the Prayers of thy Family are pleasing to God too but the publike Prayers of the Congregation which are put up to God in the Temple in the place dedicated to his Worship are more pleasing more availeable for we know that he has promised his presence in a more especiall manner where two or three be gathered together which place may bee most fitly interpreted of the gathering together of the Congregation in Gods House For a Family cannot proproperly be sayd to be gathered together because they are but as one body which is compact and contiguous which needs no gathering A Gathering does presuppose things that are scattered and separated But now the Pharisie and the Publicane must here shake hands and it is to bee fear'd that they will never meet againe no not in Heaven FINIS THE SECOND SERMON Continuing the Discourse upon the same words The Pharisee stood I This is done like himselfe indeed he comes into the Temple to Worship and when he is there he stands He is too good it seemes to bow his Knee before the Lord. Thus did not MOSES and AARON who fell both upon their Faces before the Lord. Numb 16. Saying O God Numb 16. the God of the spirits of all flesh hath one man sinned and wilt thou be wroth with the whole Congregation Thus did not DANIEL who in his 6. Chap. no lesse then three times every day was downe upon his Knees praying to God Thus did not CHRIST himselfe who in the 22. Luke 22. of Saint Luke Kneeled downe and prayed And yet this sinfull proud Pharisee a worme of the Earth he comes into the presence of the Lord and out-faces him as it were in his owne House stands in a peremptory confidence of his owne merits with a daring countenance a stretched-out Necke and a Knee stiffer then the Pillers of Heaven for IOB tels us in his 26. Chap. That they tremble and quake at his reproofe O that we had not too many such Pharisees now adayes who come into the Church stiffe as the Pillers which underprop it For whom they reserve their Knees I cannot tell certaine I am they are very sparing of them towards God and whether the Lord has deserv'd to have their Knees or no I will put it to their owne judgement Hee made our Bodyes as well as our Soules and sure we owe him Reverence with them both But our bowing before the Altar towards the East end of the Church troubles our standing Pharisees very much If I could suppose that their prejudicate opinions would give them leave to hearken to reason I should endeavor to give them what satisfaction I am able The first thing then which they must grant whither they will or no is That God must bee worshipped with the Body as well as with the Soule And therefore that Argument is but frivolous to say that God is a Spirit and he must bee worshipped in Spirit and in Truth It is true God is a Spirit and he must be worshipped in Spirit but how Fundamentalitèr non exclusire Fundamentally the Foundation of thy worship must bee layd in the Spirit without which all the bowing in the world I acknowledge is worth nothing in the Eyes of God but not exclusively excluding the bodily Worship Nay it is impossible that thou shouldst worship God in Spirit and in Truth except it bee also exprest in the body never tell me of thy inward and bare Spirituall worship Can precious Oyntment be conceal'd Can fire in the midst of combustible matter lye hid The Body is but the Instrument and Servant of the Soule and followes her Dictates This being granted the next thing we must force yee to grant is that this bodily Worship is to bee given especially in the Church for therefore come we to Church and therefore were Churches built for the Worship of God Now what is Externall worship The Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comming from the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Congeniculo vel in genua procumbo to bow or to fall downe upon the Knees will tell us And yee shall finde that in most places where the vulgar Latine Translation renders it Adoravit it is as much in the Hebrew as Incurvatus est he was bowed or hee was bended in his body To Worship then outwardly is to boâ— the Knee or the Body and this ought to bee done and this ought to bee done in the Church especially But why then towards the East I will strive to satisfie yee in that too I hope yee will yeild that if we doe it at all we must needs doe it with our faces pointed to one particular place and why to that place rather then to an other the reasons are excellent and they be reasons which the Primitive â—nes â—ad The Heathens were all great worshippers of the Sunne and therefore they us'd to worship towards the East the place of the Sunnes Rising where their God appear'd to them first in the Morning But the Lord because he would not have his people the Iewes to imitate the Heathen therefore by his command the Arke was set in the West part of the Tabernacle and afterwards of the Temple when it was built in the holyest place of all And Aquinas gives another reason which he calles the Figurative reason and it is this Because the whole State of the former Tabernacle was ordain'd to signifie the Death of CHRIST and this is figured out unto us by the West according to that in the 68. Psalme Sing praise unto Him who rideth upon the Heavens as upon a Horse For so it is in the English but the truth of the Interpretation according to the Originall is Qui ascendit super occasum Dominus nomen illi Who rideth upon the West the Lord is his Name Who rides upon the West that is who tryumphs over Death signified by the West the place where the Sunne sets And indeed if yee observe yee shall finde almost all the Ceremonies all the Sacrifices of the old Law
his Nobles his servants though yee have not yet I hope yee have fancies to conceive it And without all doubt wee shall account him the most honourable amongst his Princes whom wee behold the neerest to the person of the King and whom the King peradventure admits to goe in rancke with himselfe Now all the Fathers the Patriarches and Prophets of the old Testament did walke before Christ our great and eternall King who came in solemne Procession into the world a spectacle to men and Angels and all the rest of his Court of his Traine who have lived since his Incarnation have followed after him And therefore of Abraham who was one of the Pracurfores of the fore-runners of Christ saith the Lord in the 17. Gen. 17.7 of Gen. 1. I am God all-sufficient walke before me and be upright And Hezekiah praies unto the Lord Isay 38.3 and saith in the 38. of Isay ver 3. Remember I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth But concerning those in the new Testament we shall finde the phrase altered Sequimini me follow me To Peter and Andrew in the 4. of St. Matthew Follow me and I will make â—ee fishers of men To Matthew sitting at the receipt of Custome in the 9. of his Gospel Follow mee and he arose and followed him and to us all in the 9. of St. Luke ver 23. If any man will come after mee let him deny himselfe and take up his Crosse and follow me But the holy Baptist was neither of the company that went before nor that followed Hee was the end of the old Law and the beginning of the new All the Prophesies of Christ before his comming runne in this straine Veniet Rex ecce Dominus veniet the King will come behold the Lord will come So Isay David and the rest All they who have writ of him since say Venit Rex misit Deus Filium suum The King is already come God hath sent his Sonne into the world But St. Iohn the Baptist who was à latere regio waited upon the body of his Prince and was never found farre distant from him to shew the greatnesse and the honour which Christ vouchsafed him in permitting that neernesse to his owne Person his voice is neither with the Prophets hee will come nor with the Apostles hee is already come but like the Index in the margent of a booke holding out his finger hee points to him and saith Ecce agnus Dei qui tollit peccata mundi Behold the Lambe of GOD which taketh away the sinnes of the world Great hee was also in his death being a Martyr dying for the Testimony of the Truth and after all these greatnesses on earth for never was there man who had so many and so great Testimonies given him wee cannot choose surely but beleeve that he must needs be great also in his glory But I finde some small difference amongst Expositors concerning this greatnesse of Saint Iohn which they will have to be not a greatnesse or rather majority of Prophecy or revelation but of holinesse And it is occasioned by the doubtfulnesse of the exposition of those words of our Saviour in the 11. of St. Matthew named to yee before Mat. 11.11 I say unto yee that amongst them who are begotten of women arose there not a Greater then Iohn the Baptist The quarrell although it bee of no great moment is betwixt no meane Authors no lesse then St. Ierome and St. Chrysostome both ancient learned and religious Fathers and it is this St. Ierome by these words There hath not arose a greater then Iohn will by no meanes have it to follow that therefore Iohn was greater then all the sonnes of men but that which naturally followes from hence saith he is that none of the sonnes of men were greater then Iohn And so by his rule although none arose greater then Iohn yet there might be some who were his equalls But Saint Chrysostome in his 27. Homily in that which is called His imperfect worke upon Saint Matthew contends and mee thinks very subtlely and strongly to prove from hence that by naturall consequence St. Iohn the Baptist must needs be greater then all that were begotten of women To give yee his owne words Cum tanta sit Iustitiae altitudo ut in illa nemo possit esse perfectus nisi solus Deus c. Seeing that so great is the height of Justice or righteousnesse that it is a thing impossible for any but God to be perfect in it I thinke saith our Father that although according to the pâ—rblinde judgement of men wee may guesse at an equality in the sanctity of severall Saints yet in the all-discerning Eye of God in the Divine scrutiny and this is Gods censure of Iohn and not the opinion of men it is impossible but there should bee a difference in degrees of sanctity and righteousnesse From whence it followes saith Saint Chrysostome that if none arose amongst the sonnes of men who were greater then Iohn then Iohn must necessarily be the greatest of all the sonnes of men For we are to consider of the way to Heaven as of a narrow passage cut in the side of some steepe and rigid mountaine to the Top of which we are to travaile which passage is so strait Sâ— â—n hâ— Gâ—spel that it will not admit two a breast and therefore there can be no equality in ranke or line Narrow is the way that leadeth to life and fewe there be that finde it Say then of any one that travailes that strait way that there is none before him and this speech necessarily implies that he is before all and all behinde him And the reason is Non datur alia linea nisi sursum deorsum Because there is no right hand or left hand line given here but onely the line of upwards and downe-wards As it is in the faces of men Thou mayest travaile the whole world over ere thou finde two faces which answer one another directly in all parts I will not deny but thou mayst pick out one who may have a lippe or an eye or a cheeke or some particular grace of carriage like to an other but that two should agree so in all parts that a judicious eye should not distinguish was never yet heard of So it is in the soules of men they may in some graces in some peeces of Sanctity seeme to goe hand in hand but it is impossible they should be equall in all things And where there is a difference there must needes be degrees majority and minority And this is the ordinary excuse which they of the Church of Rome doe make for that Chorus which they commonly sing in their private Masses to any of their Saints Non est inventus similis illi qui conservaret legem Excelsi His like is not found who keepes the law of the most High And this they sing to any of their meaner Saints I will give
glory Grant this O Father for Jesus Christ his sake our only Mediatour and Advocate Amen THE SIXTH SERMON PREACHED Upon Palme Sunday LVK. 19. Ver. 41. 42. And when he was come neere he beheld the Citie and wept for it Saying O if thou hadst knowne even thou at the least in this thy day those things which belong unto thy peace but now are they hid from thine eyes ANd when he I am already stopt and arrested here by wonder nor can I go any farther in repeating this verse untill I have quieted my selfe by asking our Evangelist the same question which the Eunuch did Philip in the Acts Of whom speakes he this of himselfe or of some other man What Hee is this in my Text who comes neere unto the Citie beholds it and then weepes I should conjecture by the tenour of the precedent verses that it was Christ who is here meant for we reade there at the 35. verse So they brought him to Iesus and they cast their garments on the Colt and set Iesus thereon and as he went in the next verse and in the next to that and when hee was come neere to the going downe of the mountain and so the current of the same relatives runnes on in a faire and undisturbed Channell untill it falls into this Ocean here in my Text into this Sea of teares which are wept for the Citie And when he was come neere he beheld the Citie And might I goe no farther but stay here it would prove a very easie matter to perswade mee that this hee here hath relation to that Iesus there but when I begin to sound the next word and wept I am againe at a stand For what construction what agreement me thinks is the best Grammarian in the world able to make betwixt those two words Hee and wept may easily stand together but Iesus and wept Certainly they are tearmes incompatible for can God hee who is the Creatour of all the world can he mourne if griefe and teares which are the effects of griefe be nothing else but the fruits of sinne how is it possible that he should either grieve or weepe then who is free from all sinne But I must quietly subscribe unto this holy Truth for St. Iohn who was called the Divine amongst the Apostles hath taught me not to seperate those things which God hath joyned together who in his 11. Chap. ver 35. like a holy Priest who knits the hands in Wedlock hath married those two words together without the interposition so much as of a syllable to forbid the Banes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iesus wept Wee are satisfied then now concerning this Hee in my Text so that wee may goe on unto his Progresse or the three steps his compassion takes towards the Citie And so the Text dividing it selfe to our hands We have First Christs Appropinguat or his venit He came neere Secondly His videt And beheld the City Thirdly His Lachrymatur super illam and wept for it For as for the next verse that belongs to this last part being nothing else but those singultus lachrymae those teares and abrupt sobs which Christ did sigh out over the Citie Or else if yee please thus The first of these verses doth containe in it a three-fold streame or river arising from the Mount of Olives the place whence Christ did set forth upon his journey towards the Citie The first of which is this Hee came neere Which running on calmly for a while in a smooth course looses both it selfe and its name in a greater which is the second And beheld the Citie which doth not long enjoy its rougher Channell but presently that is drowned too in a farre greater then it selfe And wept for it which third immediatly also like a narrow Sea pent betweene two Mountaines disburthens it selfe in a Cataract into this Ocean in the following verse O if thou hadst knowne even thou at the least in this thy day see what abruptions be here One high comming wave following upon the neck of another those things which belong unto thy peace I have lost my selfe againe Praeruptus aquae Mons a mountaine of Sea broke loose from the watry Continent hath made one of Neptunes Quos ego's an Aposiopesis in my Text But now are they hid from thine eyes Which is the fluctus decumanus the tenth and greatest wave which seemes to threaten nothing but shipwrack and destruction But I will leave this turbulent Shore and walke a while by the pleasant and quieter banks of the Rivers And the first in order is Christs appropinquat hee came neare What Christ doth here to this sinfull City of Jerusalem God doth daily unto the sonnes of men who remaine obstinate in their sinnes Hee drawes neare unto them in offering them mercy and forgivenesse Hee drawes neare to them in his Word read and preached hee drawes neare to them in the administration of his Sacraments whilest miserable and blinded Man neglects his visitations Now wee know that we cannot name this word appropinquat hee came neare unto the City but wee must presently imply that there was once a distance betwixt this Hee and that City So in like manner was there once a distance betwixt God and us Not on Gods part for hee is every where and with his glorious presence fills the whole world If I ascend into Heaven thou art there saith David if I lie downe in Hell thou art there also let mee take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the Sea yet thither shall thy hand leade mee and thy right hand hold mee No the distance the separation is on our parts who like the Prodigall sonne having received our Portion of our Father doe goe in longinquam regionem into a farre Countrey not that any Countrey can bee farre to God qui coelum tenet palmo terram pugillo who holds the Heavens in his Palme and the Earth in his Fist but we are said Peregrè proficisci to goe a farre off as Cain was said to goe out from the presence of the Lord. Upon which saith St. Ierome Sciendum non locorum spatiis sed affectu aut esse nos cum Deo aut ab eo decedere We are said to be present with God or to depart from him not in regard of place but according to our affections And that Conjunctive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which St. Luke hath in this Parable Cap. 15. ver 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there hee spent his goods living riotously amongst the Greekes doth sometimes carry with it the force of a reason as if hee had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hee went into a farre Country for there he spent his Goods living riotously making the latter nothing but a reason or interpretation of the former And indeed Sinne is nothing à posteriori but an estranging of us from God Depart from me I know you not saith Christ in the 7. of S.
Aristotles answer who sayes that Iustice and Equitie doe not Discrepare in genere sed gradu quodam they are not contrary but doe onely differ a little in degree Equitie making up what the Law in it selfe was deficient in being as I sayd before onely universaliter loquens able onely to speake generally and not to every particular case in which cases equity interprets the Law not opposes it but what is more then all this we have the example of God himselfe for it In the day that yee eate of that Tree yee shall dye the death There was the Law which he gave to our first Parents this Law was presently broken But does God now deale with them according to the strict sentence of this Law No. Out of his infinite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his admirable mercy whereas hee might have justly slaine them presently he suffers them to live that they might have a space for Repentance The like are frequent in the Scriptures nay the whole world is nothing else but a great Booke full of the like examples For alas should the Lord have executed the strict rigour of Iustice upon every one of us we had beene carryed immediately from the wombe of our Mother unto the Grave I am not so farre a Patron for mercy that I desire Iustice should any whit suffer No I subscribe to that voyce Fiat Iustitia Let Iustice be done though the world parish but yet with Aristotles limitation Equitie does not any way change oppose or alter that Ius naturale that naturall justice but having degrees it mittigates the strictnesse of the Law where the Law-giver has not left any thing exprest I have showne yee thus farre what this Veyle is and the necessity of it to be over the face of MOSES the Civill Magistrate I will now descend to the manner both of the framing and wearing it And because the wearing of it belongs to the Magistrate upon the Bench onely the framing of it to many and divers kinde of people I will follow a while the Particulars These five severall sorts of men then doe concurre to the framing or making of this Veyle The Accuser Witnesse Iury-man Advocaâ—e or Pleader Officer I can but touch upon them and first for the Accuser whether in Iudiciall Controversies or in causes criminall who brings the materials for this Covering Let him take heed that he be not found a rayser of false reports a speaker against his Brother Psal 50. And one who slandereth his owne mothers Sonne For be sure then that the Lord will goe on with the 21. verse And will reproove thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done We know one of whose greatest and most glorious Titles it is to be called the Accuser of the Brethren and know that whoever he be that participates in the Action must also have his share in the Name and afterwards inherit the punishment too If thou wilt doe the workes exercise the Trade of the Divell which is to accuse falsely expect no other recompence but the reward of the Divell which is to perish utterly But what is it to accuse falsely Not onely Struere de proprio calumnias Innocentiae to create a false report upon an innocent person meerely of our owne heads which the Oratour calls vernaculum crimen a domesticke crime such a crime as is borne with us at home in our owne breasts and has no being but there Such an one was that of Iezebels where it was Naboths Vineyard that had blasphem'd and not himselfe but also to aggravate a small crime and so to blow it up into a quantity when through the multiplying-Glasse of a little glozing Rhetorick they can make an Ant seeme an Elephant which was so common amongst the Roman Pleaders that CICERO calls it Accusatoria Consuetado the Custome of the Accusers And it is to be wish'd that it was not too frequent amongst our Word-Merchants who sell ayre and Syllables as men doe horses in a Faire he who bids most is the welcommest man be the Cause what it will An other way of accusing falsely is when thou tel'st the Truth though it bee nothing but the Truth with a wicked intent ayming to doe mischiefe So Doeg though he told Saul nothing but the truth concerning Ahimelech the Priest his releeving of David yet because his intent was ill and he was prickt forward by mischiefe to make that narration we shall finde DAVID Psal 52. Branding him with the Title of a Lyer Thy tongue imagineth wickednesse and with lyes thou cuttest like a sharpe Razor 2. The Witnesse is the next in ranke And let him onely know this that as hee is here brought to beare witnesse against his Neighbour so shall his owne conscience one day be brought to beare witnesse against him which if it finde him peccant shall never leave calling and crying in the cares of that great and righteous Iudge untill hee have passed that irrevocable Sentence against him In what a desperate condition then are all they who make no more of bearing false witnesse against theyr Neighbour I and in taking the just and powerfull Iudge of all the World to record that their false Calumniations are Truths then that Emperour did of cutting off the heads of Poppies O consider this you who are to lay your hands upon the Booke It is not the abatement of the thirtieth part of a Fine when you depose in your Landlords cause nor the Summering of a Horse or a Cow it is not the countenance of the best man as yee call him that is the richest man in the Parish who if thou swearest for him lustily and to the purpose and commest to him beforehand to know of your good Master what it is that will doe the deed peradventure will when thou hast drawne Gods curse upon thee so by thy perjurie that thou art not able to live honestly adventure his credit with the two next Iustices to make thee an Ale-house-keeper and so thou shalt live upon the sinnes and intemperance of the People curst both of God and men Alas it is not this nor greater things then these thou shalt gaine by thy oath which can lye in ballance against the displeasure of so great and righteous a God whom thou as much as in thee was hast endeavour'd to make a mocke of 3. And for the Iurer almost the same admonition will serve for him Thou shalt not follow a Multitude to doe evill Exod. 23. When thou takest thy oath consider with thy selfe whether it be upon the life or estates of men thou goest that thou swearest to bring in thy verdict as thy conscience shall dictate to thee according to truth and Iustice Thou art not bound to follow the first man like horses in a Teame because hee has the fayrest Feather in his Crowne because he has beene an old Iury-man and has layd many a poore Cleargy man on his backe has got himselfe a name amongst the easie swearers of the Laitie No