which commend us to God are as the branches and veins and Holiness as the blood and juice to make them live I do not intend to compare them one with the other because all are necessary and the neglect of any one doth frustrate all the rest And the Wise-man hath forbid us to ask why this is better then that for every one of them in his due time and place is necessary It hath been the great mistake and fault of those who profess Christianity to shrink up its veins and lop off its branches contenting themselves with a partial Holiness Some have placed it in a sigh or sad look and called it Repentance others in the tongue and hand and called it Zeal others in the heart in a good intention and called it Piety Others have made it verbum abbreviatum a short word indeed and called it Faith Few have been solicitous and careful to preserve it in integritate tota solida solid and entire but vaunt and boast themselves as great poficients in Holiness and yet never study to be quiet have little peace with others yet are at peace with themselves are very religious and very profane are very religious and very turbulent have the tongues of Angels but no hand at all to do their own business and to work in their calling And therefore we may observe that the Apostle in every Epistle almost taketh pains to give a full and exact enumeration of every duty of our lives that the man of God may be perfect to every good work 2 Tim. 3.17 He teacheth us not onely those domestick and immanent virtues if I may so call them which are advantageous to our selves alone as Faith and Hope and the like which justifie that person onely in whom they dwell but emanant publick and homiletical virtues of common conversation which are for the edification and good of others as Patience Meekness Liberality and Love of quietness and peace My Faith saveth none but my self my Hope cannot raise my brother from despair yet my Faith is holy Jude 20. saith S. Jude and my Hope is a branch and vein of Holiness and issueth from it But my Patience my Meekness my Bounty my Love and Study of quietness and peace sibi parciores forìs totae sunt Ambros exercise their act and empty themselves on others These link and unite men together in the bond of Love in which they are one and move together as one build up one anothers Faith cherish one anothers Hope pardon one anothers injuries bear one anothers burden and so in this bond in this mutual and reciprocal discharge of all the duties and offices of holiness are carried together to the same place of rest So that to Holiness of life more is required then to believe or hope or pour forth our souls or rather our words before God It is true this is the will of God but we must go farther even to perfection and love the brethren and study to be quiet for this also is the will of God and our sanctification What is a Sigh if my Murmuring drown it What is my Devotion If my Impatience disturb it What is my Faith if my Malice make me worse then an infidel What are my Prayers if the Spirit of Unquietness scatter them Will we indeed please God and walk as we ought We must then as S. Peter exhorteth adde to our faith virtue to our virtue knowledge 2 Pet. 1.5 c. to knowledge temperance to temperance patience to patience godliness to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love or as S. Paul here commandeth not onely abstain from fornication from those vices which the worst of men are ready to fling a stone at but those gallant and heroick vices which shew themselves openly before the Sun and the people who look savourably and friendly on them and cry them up for zeal and religion even from all animosity and turbulent behaviour we must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 study to be quiet and be ambitious of it Thus our Apostle bespeaketh the Thessalonians We beseech you brethren that ye increase more and more and in the words of my Text that ye study to be quiet and do your own business and work with your own hands as we commanded you In which words first a Duty is proposed Study to be quiet Secondly the Means promoting this duty are prescribed causae producentes and conservantes the causes which bring it forward and hold it up laid down 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do your own business 2. work with your own hands The former shutteth out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all pragmatical curiosity and stretching beyond our line and that compass wherein God hath bound and circumscribed us the later 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all unactiveness and supine negligence in our own place and station The third and last part makes this a necessary Study and bringeth it under command you must do it as I commanded you Or because to be quiet is here proposed as matter of study we will consider 2. the Object or thing it self in which our study must be seen and it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quiet and peaceable behaviour 2. the Act which requireth the intention of our mind thoughtfulness and a diligent luctation and contention with our selves We must make it our study 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be ambitious of it 3. the Method we must use We must meddle with our own business and work with our hands 4. the Warrant of this method I have commanded it And of these we shall speak in their order First to be quiet is nothing else but to be peaceable to keep our selves in an even and constant temper to settle and compose our affections that they carry us not in a violent and unwarranted motion against those with whom we live though they speak what we are unwilling to hear and do what we would not behold though their thoughts be not as our thoughts nor their wayes as our wayes though they be contrary to us that there be 1 Cor. 12.25 as S. Paul speaketh no schisme in the body but that the members may have the same care one of another that we do not start out of the orb wherein we are fixt and then set it on fire because we think it moveth disorderly but that we look on all with a charitable and Evangelical eye not pale because others are rich not sick for our neighbours vineyard not sullen because others are chearful not angry because others are weak not clouded with envy and malice because others in some respects outshine us 1 Tim. 2.2 but as S. Paul speaketh leading a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty for the Gospel of Christ hath left us no other eye but that of Charity to look abroad with that the peace of God rule in our hearts Col. 3.15 to the which also we are called in one body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
God's benefits whether Beauty or Wit or Riches or Health is to make them benefits indeed But if we turn them into wantonness they will be turned into judgements we shall be the verier fools for our Wit the poorer for our Riches the more deformed for our Beauty the more despicable for our Power our Health shall be worse then a disease and Miracles themselves shall stand up to condemn us But if we behold that is consider them they will be as the influences of heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defluxions from God himself distilling upon us to refresh and quicken us and make us active in those duties which return them back again with praise unto their Fountain And in the strength of them we shall walk on from faith to virtue from virtue to knowledge from knowledge to temperance from temperance to patience till we are brought into the presence of God who is the giver of all things In a word If we thus behold and consider God's benefits we shall sin no more nor shall a worse thing come unto us Which is our third and last part and cometh next to be handled The Fifth SERMON PART III. JOHN V. 14. Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee MAN hath not found out more wayes to destroy himself then God hath to save him You shall find God's preventing mercy his following mercy Psal 59.10 Psal 23.6 Psal 119. Psal 6.2 his reviving and quickening mercy his healing mercy Here they are all even a multitude of mercies Healing Preventing Following and Reviving Here I told you is 1. Misericordia solicita Mercy sollicitous to perfect and complete the cure The healing of this impotent mans body was but as a glimmering light as the dawning of the day Mercy will yet shine brighter upon him 2. Misericordia excitans Mercy rousing him up to remember what he was by the pool's side and to consider what he now is in the Temple And these two we have already displayed before you 3. The last now sheweth it self in rayes and light and full beauty Misericordia praecipiens Mercy teaching and prescribing for the future I may call it a Logical Rational Concluding Mercy making the miracle as the Premisses and drawing from it Salvation as the Conclusion Behold thou art made whole Therefore sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee The words are plain and need not the gloss of any learned Interpreter And we find that those lessons which are most plain are most necessary as those things which are most common are most useful When we are to build an house we do not go to the mines for gold or to the rocks for perle but to the quarry for stone Corn which feedeth us groweth almost in every field and Sheep which clothe us grase in flocks upon the mountains But those things quibus luxuria Pretium fecit which would be of little esteem did not our luxury set a price upon them are remote and in a manner hidden from us and we find them out with labour and hazard of our lives So it is in spiritual matters Those truths which are necessary lie open and naked to the understanding so that he that runneth may read them But more abstruse and subtle speculations as they are not necessary so are they set at distance and are hard to find out For it is not Curiosity but Humility that must build us up in our most holy Faith And yet the plainest truths in Scripture require our pains and labour as much as the obscurest We may observe that in the winter-season when the Sun is far removed from us we lay our selves open and walk the fields and use means to receive the light and heat of it but in the summer when it is almost over our heads we retire our selves and draw a curtain to exclude both light and heat The same behaviour we put on in our Christian walk When the Sun of righteousness cometh near us and shineth in our very faces we run with Adam into the thicket and hide our selves in excuses but when he withdraweth and as it were hideth himself and will not tell us what is not necessary for us to know we gaze after him and are most busie to walk where we have no light The obscurer places in Scripture are like unto the Sun in winter We delight to use all means to gain the light and meaning of them But the plainest are like the Sun in summer They come too near our Zenith their light and heat offend us they scald and trouble us by telling us plainly of our duty and therefore we use art and draw the curtain against them to keep off their heat As we have heard of the people of Africk that they every morning curse the Sun because the heat of it annoyeth them These plain words of the Text are a notable instance For to defeat the true meaning of them what art do we use what curtains do we draw When we should sin no more we question the possibility of the precept and whether there be any such estate or no As if Christ did bid us sin no more when he knew we could not but sin again and again And then we multiply our sins as we do our dayes and make them keep time almost with every hour and moment of our life And to this end we draw distinctions before the words to keep of their light SIN NO MORE that is Not unto death or SIN NO MORE that is Not with a full consent Not without some reluctancy or strugling of conscience And now where is this Text Even lost and swallowed up and buried in the glosses of flesh and bloud We may we think observe it and yet sin as oft as the flesh or the world shall require it Let us then take some pains to raise the Text from this grave and take off those cloths in which it is enwrapped let us draw it from those clouds and curtains wherewith it is obscured In the course of our speech we shall meet with some of them Now we shall take the words in their natural meaning as they lie And in them you may observe 1. the Prescript or Caution Sin no more 2. the Danger of not observing it If we sin again a worse thing will come unto us And by these we may try our selves as the Eagle doth her young ones If with open eyes w◠can look upon the Text as it lies in its full strength and meaning then are we of the true airy but if we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we be weak sighted and cannot endure the light and heat of it we may then justly suspect our selves to be but bastard and counterfeit Christians First of all we shall consider how far the words Sin no more do extend and stretch themselves secondly the Possibility of keeping of them The first is a consideration of some consequence that we may not violate the word of God nor do the Scripture any
so urgent for the fourth If we could prevail with men to abstain from fleshly lusts which fight against the soul we should bring in that Reverence which doth preach and promulge that abstinence If we were glorious within our clothing also would be wrought gold If the power of Godliness had once filled the Heart it would evaporate and breathe it self forth and command the Head the Hand the Eye the Knee Where true Devotion is the Text the Gloss and Commentary is outward Reverence which is as inseparable from Religion as Light is from the Sun When all flesh had corrupted its wayes when the wickedness of men was great upon earth then brake in this Deluge of profaneness and the Ark the Church floateth upon the face of it with some few persons who strive to save themselves from such a froward generation When Covetousness came in gravely in the mantle of Religion and with a broom in its hand to sweep and purge the Temple every thing it swept out though Gold was but rubbish and filth and went under the name of Superstition But it did not sweep so clean but it left some riches that is some Superstition behind and to rid that remainder away it blasted those harmless and useful Ceremonies that outward Reverence which the Saints and Martyrs of the purest times made their badge and cognizance to distinguish them from Infidels and Atheists And not content to pluck off the visour it mangled the very face of Religion and left no more sign of devotion in men then in the pillars of the Church which are present both alike the one as reverent as the other And it is no wonder that men should cry down outward Worship when they have in their doctrine given so deep a wound to Religion it self For these Spiritual men are they who have published it to the world and left it upon record to all posterity That the foulest sins quae culmen criminum tenent which sit at the top and are the ugliest in appearance as Adultery Murther and the like are so far from endangering the elect that they advantage them rather That a man may make himself the member of an harlot and yet remain a member of Christ still When we hear this the other petty cracks need not astonish us That Bishops are the limbs of Antichrist Priests the Locusts of the lowest pit the remembrance and honourable mention of the Saints Superstition and bowing and kneeling Idolatry I say we need not wonder at this For as old Cato when the women of Rome brake in tumultuously into the Senate to hinder the promulgation of a Law which was enacting there to restrain their luxury told the Senators that this was their fault and they might blame themselves for if they had taught their wives modesty at home they should not have seen them so bold in the Senate-house so all that Irreverence which we see in the house of God is not kindled as we may think from that false fire of Irregular zele but this Irregular zele this false Fire is struck out of the flint out of an hard and obdurate heart not to consume the Zelote but his brethren not to eat up himself but devour others and so make way for Covetousness and Sacriledge those ravenous wolves to divide the spoil Oh what a Zele is that which is the issue of Covetousness and Oppression Like mother like daughter as the Prophet Ezekiel speaketh We see those goodly Mannors those Honours and Riches which Law and Justice hath set out of our reach and then our heart is hot within us and this fire burneth and we call it Zele And with this we can draw them near unto us and make them ours nay justifie Oppression it self and make it Law cry down Ceremony and Reverence as dogs bark at the Moon call it Superstition and know not what it is For when we are asked what Superstition is we are struck dumb This is Superstition that is concluded that is it is we know not what It is very hard one would think that there should be no use of the members of the body but in sin that Devotion should be shut up in the inward man and when it commandeth the Hat the Hand the Eye the Knee it should lose its name and be called Idolatry that the Body should be all motion in civil worship change and vary it gestures bow and cringe and tremble before that mortal whose breath is in his nostrils and in those offices which are due to an eternal God should be a statue 'T is true indeed Devotion and all other virtues are principally in the mind but they are evermore consummate by outward acts The Philosopher vvill tell us Virtutis tota laus in actione consistit that the vvhole praise of Virtue is in action For what habit is that which produceth no act What Liberality is that which never stretcheth forth the hand What Temperance is that which putteth not the knife to the throat What Fortitude is that which beateth down no strong hold What Patience is that which beareth nothing And then what Devotion is that which is dumb nay which is dead and moveth neither hand nor foot Habet de suo anima cogitare velle cupere disponere saith Tertullian The Soul hath from it self to Think to Will to Desire to Dispose sed ad perficiendum operam carnis exspectat but to complete and perfect these it calleth for and expecteth the help and aid of the Body What Musick is that that is not heard What an artificer is he that hath no hand That art deserveth not the name which endeth in it self For every Habit as it is an act in respect of the power from whence it came so is but a power or faculty in respect of the act Certainly that Devotion is but a phansie which never speaketh nor boweth nor falleth down and worshippeth It is of good useth which Irenaeus observeth Alia Deus mandat principaliter alia per consequentiam There be some duties which God doth more principally enjoyn others but by necessary consequence The purity of the heart he first looketh upon and then the gracious effects of it made visible in the flesh and outward man My son give me thy heart that is the first But My son give me thy hand and knee and as David speaketh every member that thou hast this also is the voice and command of God If you ask where God doth expresly command this ceremonious and outward worship I answer It was not necessary God should For even Nature it self commandeth it and common Reason which is a Law within us may teach us that that Body which is God's should bow before him And if peradventure God hath not expresly commanded it yet virtually and in the general he hath Abel offered a sacrifice to the Lord and the Text saith that the Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering But that God commanded him to bring an offering Gen 28.
conditions of life to all sexes to all actions whatsoever It may be fitted to Riches as well as to Poverty it will live with Married men as well as with Votaries it will abide in Cities as well as in a Cell or Monastery Why should I prescribe Poverty I may make Riches my way Why do I enjoyn Single life I may make Marriage my way Why should I not think my self safe but when I am alone I may be perfect amidst a multitude Whether in riches or poverty in marriage or single life in retiredness or in the city Religion is still one and the same And in what estate soever I am I must be perfect as perfect as the Evangelical Law requireth In every estate I must deny my self and take up the cross and follow Christ I fear this tying Perfection to particular states and conditions of men hath made men less careful to press toward it as a thing which concerneth them not For why should a Lay-man be so severe to himself as he that weareth a gown Why should a Knight be so reserved as a Bishop It is a language which we have heard But I conclude this with that which the Wise-man spake on another occasion Say not thou Why is this thing better then that For every thing in its time is seasonable Poverty or Riches Marriage or Single life Solitude or Business And in any of these we may be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect For conclusion then Let this perfect Law of Christ be alwayes before our eyes till Christ be fully formed in us till we be the new creature which is made up in holiness and righteousness Let us press forward in whatsoever state we are placed with all our strength to perfection from degree to degree from holiness to holiness till we come ad culmen Sionis to the top of all Art thou called a Servant Be obedient to thy Master with fear and with singleness of heart as unto Christ Art thou called a Master Know that thy Master also is in heaven Let every man abide in that calling wherein he was called to be a Christian and in that calling work out Perfection Place it not on the Tongue in an outward profession For the Perfect man is not made up of words and air and sounds If he be raised up out of the dust out of filth and corruption it must be in the name that is in the power of Christ. There be many good intentions saith Bernard and it is as true There be many good professions in hell Place it not in the Ear. For we may read of a perfect Heart but we have not heard of a perfect Ear. If there be such an attribute given to it it is when it is in conjunction with the Heart Faith cometh by hearing It is true it cometh The perfect man may pass by through this gate but he doth not dwell there Neither place it in thy Phansie The Perfection which is wrought there is but a thought but the image of Perfection the picture of a Saint And such Images too oft are made and set up there and they that made them fall down and worship them Neither let us place it in a faint and feeble Wish For if it were serious it were a Will but being supine and negligent it is but a Declaration of our mind a Sentence against our selves that we approve that which is best and chuse the contrary turn the back to heaven and wish we were there It was Balaam's wish but it was not his alone Oh let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his And let us not interpret Scripture for and against our selves and when we read BE YE PERFECT make it our marginal note Be ye perfect as far as you are able as far as your lusts and desires and the business of this world will permit That is Be ye imperfect I will not say If one of our Angels and such Angels there be amongst us but If an Angel from heaven bring such a Gloss let him be Anathema Neither let us because we are taught to say when we have done all that is commanded us that we are unprofitable servants resolve to be so unprofitable For we are taught to say so that we may be more and more profitable For it is not the scope of that place to shew us the unprofitableness of our Obedience but rather the contrary Beacuse when we have made ready and girded our selves and served it shall be said to us also Luk 17.8 that we shall afterward eat and drink Much less doth it discover our weakness and impotency to that which is good and our propensity to evil For the Text is plain We must say this when we have done all that is commanded us And if we have done it we can doe more Nor is it set up against Vain-glory and Boasting but against Idleness and careless neglect in preforming that which remaineth of our duty Because that which remaineth is of the same nature with that which is done already as due to the Lord that commandeth it as our first obedience when you have gone thus far you have done nothing unless you go further When you have laboured in the heat of the day it is nothing unless you continue till the evening Something you have done which is commanded behold God commandeth more and you must do it Continue to the end and then he will bid you sit down and eat He that beginneth and leaveth off and bringeth not his work to an end he that doeth not all hath done nothing Thus let us make forward to Perfection and not faint in the way Let us not be weary of well-doing as if we were lame and imperfect but let us press forward to the end stand it out against tentations fight against the principalities and powers of this world and resist unto bloud Let us make up our breaches and strengthen our selves every day take in some strong hold from the adversary beat down the flesh and keep it in subjection that it may be a ready servant to the Spirit weaken the lust of the eyes humble our pride of life and abate the lust of the flesh be more severe and rigid to our fleshly appetite and never leave off whilest we carry this body of sin about us And then as S. Peter exhorteth let us give diligence to adde to our faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and let these abound in us more and more that we be not barren and unfruitful And when we have thus begun and prest forward though with many slips and failings which yet do not cut us from the covenant of grace nor interrupt our perseverance and at last finished our course we shall come unto mount Sion and to the City of the living God and to an innumerable company of Angels and to the spirits of just men
another mightily and doth sweetly order all things For which way can frail Man come to see his God but by being like him What can draw him near to his pure Essence but Simplicity and Purity of spirit What can carry us to the God of Love but Charity What can lead us into the courts of Righteousness but Justice What can move a God of tender mercies but Compassion Certainly God will never look down from his Mercy-seat on them that have no bowels In a word what can make us wise but that which is good those virtues Temperance Justice and Liberality which are called the labours of Wisdome Wisd 8.7 Hebr. 6.5 What can bring us into Heaven but this full tast of the powers of the world to come So that there is some truth in that of Gerson Gloria est gratia consummata Glory is nothing else but Grace made perfect and consummate For though we cannot thus draw Grace and Glory together as to make them one and the same thing but must put a difference between the Means and the End yet Wisdome it self hath written it down in an indeleble character and in the leaves of Eternity That there is no other key but this Good in the Text to open the gates of the kingdom of Heaven and he that bringeth this along with him shall certainly enter Heaven and Glory is a thing of another world but yet it beginneth here in this and Grace is made perfect in Glory And therefore in the last place God's absolute Will is not only attended with Power and Wisdome but also with Love And these are the glories of his Will He can do what he will and he will do it by the most proper and fittest means and whatsoever he requireth is the dictate of his Love When he sent his Son the best Master and Wisest Lawgiver that ever was on whose shoulders the government was laid Isa 9.6 he was ushered in with a SIC DILEXIT So God loved the world John 3.16 God's Love seemeth to have the preeminence and to do more then his Power This can but annihilate us but his Love if we embrace it will change our souls and angelifie them change our bodies and spiritualize them endow us with the will and so with the power of God make us differ as much from our selves as if we were not annihilated which his Power can do but which is more made something else something better something nearer to God This is that mighty thing which his Love bringeth to pass We may imagin that a Law is a mere indication of Power that it proceedeth from Rigour and Severity that there is nothing commanded nothing required but there is smoke and thunder and lightning but indeed every Law of God is the natural and proper effect and issue of his Love from his Power it is true but his Power managed and shewn in Wisdome and Love For he made us to this end and to this end he requireth something of us not out of any indigency as if he wanted our company and service for he was as happy before the creation as after but to have some object for his Love and Goodness to work upon to have an exceptory and vessel for the dew of Heaven to fall into As the Jews were wont to say propter Messiam mundum fuisse conditum that the world and all mankind were made for the Messias Psal 2.7 whose business was to preach the Law which his Father said unto him and to declare his will And in this consisteth the perfection and beauty of Man For the perfection of every thing is its drawing near to its first principle and original The nearer and liker a thing is to the first cause that produced it the more perfect it is as that Heat is most perfect which is most intense and hath most of the Fire in it So Man the more he partaketh of that which is truly Good of the Divine nature of which his Soul is as it were a sparkle the more perfect he is because this was the only end for which God made him This was the end of all Gods Laws That he might find just cause to do Man good That Man might draw near to him here by obedience and conformity to his Will and in the world to come reign with him for ever in glory And as this is the perfection so is it the beauty of Man For as there is the beauty of the Lord Psal 27.4 so is there the beauty of the Subject The beauty of the Lord is to have Will and Power and Jurisdiction to have Power and Wisdome to command and to command in Love So is it the beauty of Man to bow and submit and conform to the will of the Lord for what a deformed spectacle is a Man without God in this world Eph. 2.12 which hath Power and Wisdome and Love to beautifie Beauty is nothing else but a result from Perfection The beauty of the Body proceedeth from the symmetrie and due proportion of parts and the beauty of the Soul from the consonancy of the will and affections to the will and law of God Oh how beautiful are those feet which walk in the wayes of life How beautiful and glorious shall he be who walketh in love as God loved him Eph. 5.2 who resteth on his Power walketh by his Wisdome and placeth himself under the shadow of his Love And thus much the substance of these words affords us What doth the Lord require Let us now cast an eye upon them in the form and habit in which they are presented and consider the manner of proposing them Now the Prophet proposeth them by way of interrogation And as he asked the question Wherewith shall I come before the Lord so doth he here ask what doth the Lord require He doth not speak in positive terms as the Prophet Jeremiah doth Ask for the old paths Jer 6.16 where is the good way and walk therein Isa 30.21 or as the Prophet Isaiah This is the way walk in it but shapeth and formeth his speach to the temper and disposition of the people who sought out many wayes but missed of the right And so we find Interrogations to be fitted and sharpned like darts and then sent towards them who could not be awaked with less noyse nor less smart And we find them of diverse shapes and fashions Sometimes they come as Complaints Psal 2.1 Why do the heathen rage sometimes as Upbraidings How camest thou in hither Matth. 22.12 2 Sam. 2 22. Matth. 22.18 sometimes as Admonitions Why should I now kill thee sometimes as Reproofs Why tempt ye me you Hypocrites And whithersoever they fly they are feathered and pointed with Reason For there is no reason why that should be done of which Christ asketh a reason why it is done The question here hath divers aspects It looketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forward and backward It looketh back upon the
round about you in arms as we have seen in Germany and other places Men and Brethren I may speak to you of the Patriarch David Acts 2.29 who is dead and buried and though we have not his Sepulchre yet we have the memory of his Mercifulness remaining with us to this day And I ask Had not he Zeal Yes and so hot and intensive that it did consume him Psal 119.139 and yet but three verses before Rivers of waters ran down his eyes And this heat and this moisture had one and the same cause because they kept not thy law in the one because they forgat thy word in the other which is the very same We much mistake if we do not think there may be a weeping as well as a burning Zeal Indeed Zeal is never more amiable never moveth with more decorum nay with more advantage both to our selves and others then when Mercy sendeth it running down the cheeks We cannot better conclude then with that usual advice of Bernard Zelus absque misericordia minùs utilis 46. S. in Cant. plerumque etiam perniciosus c. Zeal without Mercy is alwaies unprofitable and most commonly dangerous and therefore we must pour in this oyl of Mercy quae zelum supprimat spiritum temperet which may moderate our Zeal and becalm and temper our spirit which may otherwise hurry us away to the trouble of others and ruine of our selves but it cannot do so if Mercy be our Assessour To conclude Let us therefore cast off every weight Hebr. 12.1 let us empty our selves fling out all worldly lusts out of our hearts and make room for Mercy Let us receive it naturalize it consubstantiate it as the Greek Fathers speak with our selves that we may think nothing breathe nothing do nothing but Mercy that Mercy may be as an Intelligence to keep us in a constant and perpetual motion of doing good that it may be true and sincere and sweeter to us then the honey or honey comb and so be our heaven upon earth whilst we are here that peace may be upon us Gal. 6.16 and mercy even upon all those who love Mercy who are indeed the true Israel of God The last Branch is our humble Walking with God And that we shall lay hold on in our next The Sixth SERMON PART VI. MICAH VI. 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God WE have already gathered fruit from two of the Branches of this Tree of Life this Good which God by his Prophet hath shewed us in the Text. We have seen Justice run down as waters Amos 5.24 and Righteousness as a mighty stream as the Prophet speaketh And we have seen Mercy dropping as the dew on the tender herbs Deut. 32.2 and as rain upon the grass We have beheld Justice filling the hand and Mercy opening it Justice fitting and preparing the hand to give and Mercy stretching it forth to clothe the naked and fill the hungry with good things Justice gathering and Mercy scattering Justice bringing in the seed and Mercy sowing it in a word Justice making it ours and Mercy alienating it and making it his whosoever he be that wanteth it We must now lay hold on the third Branch which shadoweth both the rest from those blasts which may wither them those storms and temptations which may shake and bruise them from Covetousness Ambition Amos 5.7 Pride Self-love Self-deceit Hypocrisie which turn Justice into gall and wormwood and eat out the very bowels of Mercy For our Reverent and humble deportment with God is the mother of all good counsel the guard and defense of all holy duties and the mistress of Innocency By this the Just and Merciful man liveth and moveth and hath his being His whole life is an humble deportment with God every motion of his is Humility I may say his very essence is Humility for he gathereth not he scattereth not but as in Gods eye and sight When he filleth his garners and when he emptieth them he doth it as under that all-seeing Eye which seeth not onely what he doth but what he thinketh The Christian still moveth and walketh with Psal 116.18 or before his God not opening his eyes but to see the wonders of his Laws not opening his mouth but in Hallelujahs not opening his ears but to Gods voice not opening his hand but in his name not giving his Almes but as in the presence of his Father which seeth in secret Matth. 6.4 and so doing what he requireth with fear and trembling Humility spreadeth and diffuseth it self through every vein and branch through every part and duty of his life When he sitteth in judgment Humility giveth the sentence when he trafficketh Humility maketh the bargain when he casteth his bread upon the waters Eccl. 11.1 his hand is guided by Humility when he boweth and falleth down before his God Humility conceiveth the prayer when he fasteth Humility is in capite jejunii and beginneth the fast when he exhorteth Humility breatheth it forth when he instructeth Humility dictateth when he correcteth Humility maketh the rod whatsoever he doth he doth as before or under or with the Lord. Humility is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all in all In a word Singularum virtutum proprii actus say the Schools Virtues both Moral and Theological like the celestial Orbs have their peculiar motion proceeding from their distinct Habits and Forms but Humility is the Intelligence which keepeth and perpetuateth that motion as those Orbs are said to have their motion held up and regulated by some assistent Form without And now being here required to walk humbly with our God it will not be impertinent to give you the picture of Humility in little to shew you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 summarily and in brief what it is and so we may better see in what this our walking humbly consisteth And indeed we look upon Humility as we do upon a picture Mirantur omnes divinam formam sed ut simulacrum fabrè politum mirantur omnes as Apuleius speaketh of his Psyche Every man doth much admire it as a beautiful piece but it is as men admire a well-wrought statue or picture every man liketh it but which was the lot of Psyche no man loveth it no man wooeth it no man desireth to take her to his wife Yet it will not be a miss to give you a short view of her And the Oratour will tell us Virtutis laus omnis in actione consistit Every virtue is commended by its proper act and operation and is then actually when it worketh Temperance doth bind the appetite Liberality open the hand Modesty compose the countenance Valour guard the heart and work out its contrary out of the mind And Humility worketh out every thing that riseth up 2 Cor. 10.5 12.20 every swelling and tumour
a sigh or a feigned and formal confession so far we are content to humble our selves And this we may deplore with tears of bloud but cannot hope to remove though we should speak with the tongue of men and Angels since it hath taken such deep root in the hearts of men that they who cry down this Expecting of grace and Fighting against grace and who had rather see a fair shew of it in their lives then in their Panegyricks and would think it a more delightful sight to see them grow in grace then commend it and resist it are themselves cryed down and counted bringers in of new doctrine and enemies to the Grace of God because they would establish it And so the Drunkard may swill his bowls and chear up his heart in the dayes of his youth and expect that happy hour when Sobriety and Temperance shall possess him unawares The Oppressour may grind the face of the poor more and more since God's Grace is sufficient to melt his heart He may hope he may be honest one day who as yet resolveth to be a knave He that is turbulent in all his wayes who like a Haggard checketh at every feather and is troubled with every gust of wind nay with every breath may imagin that Grace will soon settle and compose his mind that Content and Peaceableness will one time or other suddenly fall upon him as a sweet and pleasant sleep He that hath a high look and a proud heart may be brought down and humbled in the twinckling of an eye And what is this but to cast away the Grace of God as S. Paul speaketh to turn it into wantonness as S. Jude to make it nothing else but a pretense and excuse to prolong our time in the tents of Kedar to encourage us to sport it on in our evil wayes like the wild asse or the wanton heifer Oh 't is a dangerous thing to attribute so much to Grace as to make it void and of no effect to cry up its power and be unwilling to feel it to say it can do that which we will not suffer it to do It is the constant voice of Scripture to commend God's Grace but withal to awake our industry to encourage us with the sight of so sure a guide and then bid us Vp and be doing God beseecheth us to be reconciled and commandeth us to reconcile our selves His will is that we should be saved and his will is that we should work out our salvation He persuadeth us to be patient and he persuadeth us to possess our souls with patience Where we are told that he worketh in us both to Will and to Do Phil. 2.13 it is given as a reason why we should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 MAGIS OPERARI work more strenuously and intentively AUGESCERE IN OPERE as some increase and abound in our work Grace is a good wind to drive us on but must not be made a pillow to sleep on Humbled God would see us and he enjoyneth us to humble our selves S. Ambrose speaketh it plainly Non vult invitos cogere he will not save us against our wills And if we stand out and will not he cannot save us Non vult importunus irruere he breaketh not in by violence but when he entereth he calleth thee to open And this maketh our Humility voluntary that thy Will may lead thee and not Necessity draw thee A forced Humility is but Pride in a chain and a stubborn heart with a weight of led upon it Pharaoh's Humility Zech. 5. driven on with an East-wind and compassed with Locusts Ahab's Humility at the sound of the Prophet's thunder For here is the difference The righteous fall to the ground the wicked are tumbled down Their Humiliation is like Haman's going before Mordecai not like David's dancing before the Ark like the submission of a condemned man to the block which upon refusal he had been dragged to There is saith the devout Schoolman Humilitas poenalis and Humilitas medicinalis Humility which is not a virtue but a punishment and Humility which is not a punishment but a medicine Humility which is gall and wormwood and Humility which is an antidote When the vial is broken upon my head it poisoneth me but when I temper it my self and take it down it is a cordial The Gospel our Saviour calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a yoke and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a burthen a yoke which if we yield not our necks will break them and a burthen which if we bow not under will sink us but when Humility beareth it it is easie and when it weareth it light To be humbled then is not enough we must humble our selves and take some pains to do it Not enough to be on the ground unless our hand hath thrown us down Not enough to be in sackcloth unless we have put it on Not enough to be crucified unless we crucifie our selves Take them both together Be humbled and Take pains to humble your selves and you have crowned S. Peter's Exhortation We come now to our second Consideration and must shew you Wherein this Humbling of our selves consisteth The Oratour will tell us Virtutis laus in actione consistit Every virtue is commended by its proper act and operation and is then actually when it worketh And thus S. Paul exhorteth Timothy 1 Tim. 4.7 to exercise himself unto godliness which is learned by doing it and Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to exercise the soul Every virtue is seen in its proper act Thus Temperance doth bind the appetite Liberality open the hand Modesty compose the countenance Valour guard the heart and Humility work its contrary out of the mind every thing that riseth up every swelling and tumour of the soul 2 Cor. 12.20 The Apostle calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 puffings up for Riches or Learning or Eloquence or Virtue or something which we admire our selves for the elation and lifting up of our mind above it self 2 Cor. 10.14 the stretching of it beyond its measure setting it up against the Law against our brethren against God himself making us complain of the Law start at the shadow of an injury commit sin and excuse it making our tongues our own our hands our own our understandings our own our wills our own leaving us Independents under no Law but our own Psal 131.1 Prov. 16.18 The Prophet David calleth it the highness or haughtiness of the heart and Solomon the haughtiness of the spirit which is visible in our sin and visible in our apologies for sin lifting up the eyes Psal 10.4 and lifting up the nose as the phrase signifieth lifting up the head making our neck brass as if we had devoured a spit as Epictetus said I AM AND I ALONE is soon written in any man's heart and no hand but that of Humility can wipe it out For the mind of man is much subject to these fits of swelling Humility our
I had pity on thee This is the natural and most necessary inference that can be drawn from these premisses What a sick soul then is that which when Mercy overshadoweth her bringeth forth a monster breathing forth hail stones and coals of fire even that cruelty which devoureth those she should foster This is the most false illation can be made For God freely profereth remission of sins to work in us the like mind and affection and pardoneth all by proclamation that we may forgive one another To conclude this It is with this great example of God's Goodness to us as it is with his Word and Spirit and other benefits They are powerful to work miracles to heal the sick to give eyes to the blind to give life to the dead to remove mountains any difficulty whatsoever but they do not necessarily produce these effects because there still remaineth an indifferency in the will of man and a possibility to resist It is the office of the Spirit to seal us to the day of our redemption and he is powerful to do it but he doth not seal a stone which will take no impression or water which will hold no figure His Word is his hammer but it doth not batter nor soften every heart How often is his Word in their mouth how often do they publish his mercies his wonderful mercies to the world whose very mercy notwithstanding is cruelty His Benefits are lively in themselves but dead and buried in an ungrateful breast Therefore to make his Mercy efficacious to let it work what it is very apt to work let us not onely hear God when he speaketh to us by it and go out to meet him when he cometh towards us by his exemplary goodness put off our shooes from our feet at the appearance of this great light to wit all our turbulent motions beat down all the contradictions of our mind and take the veil from before our eyes that we may discern his Mercy as it is working remission of sins but withall planting that love in our hearts which must grow up to shadow all the trespasses of our brethren And this power and influence the Mercy of God hath to work in us the like softness and tenderness of heart to others if we hinder it not if Covetousness and the Love of the world and that False love of our selves and other vile affections stand not up and oppose it We must now in the next place weigh the Force and Power which our forgiveness of our brethren hath to move God to shew mercy unto us And indeed it may seem to have some causality in it For as I told you the SICUT in S. Matthew is ETENIM in S. Luke as we forgive saith the one for we forgive saith the other But indeed they are both one and ETENIM is no more then SICUT And it is observed that this conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though it carry with it the appearance of a Causal yet both in the New Testament and in humane Authours serves sometimes for nothing else but to make up the connexion For take Compassion and all the vertues which are commended to our practice take that Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law yet all will not make up a Cause either efficient or formal Rom. 3.24 of Remission of sins which is the free gift of God But because our Saviour hath told us that if we forgive men their trespasses our heavenly Father will forgive us we may say it is a Cause a cause so far as without it there is no remission of sins For though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains though I give my bread to the poor and my body to be burnt yet if I have not charity if I do not forgive my enemies there is no hope of remission Or it is as I told you causa removens prohibens a cause in this respect that it removeth that hindrance that obstacle that mountain which standeth between us and the Mercy-seat For God's Goodness is larger then his Beneficence He doth not do what good he can he doth not do what good he would because we are uncapable He doth not shine in full beauty upon us because we are nothing but deformity We will not suffer him to be good we will not suffer him to be merciful we will not suffer him to wipe out our sins by forgiveness we set up our rampiers and bulworks against him and our Malice is strong against his Mercy But so far it is a cause and may be said to produce it as the effect is commonly attributed to such causes which though they have not any positive causality yet without them the effect cannot be accomplished Thus Blessedness is placed as a title and inscription upon every vertue Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are the merciful Every vertue maketh us blessed but not every vertue without all So naked and destitute is every vertue if it be not accompanied with all nor is any vertue truly a vertue if it do not savour and relish of the rest For it is universal obedience that God requireth at our hands And though forgiveness of sins go as it were hand in hand with every vertue yet it is so in every vertue that we cannot find it but in all We are baptized for remission of sins We believe to remission of sins We forgive that our sins may be forgiven Yet none of these are available alone not Baptism without Faith nor Faith without Love The profession of Christianity taketh in all that is praise-worthy all vertues whatsoever As the Oratour telleth us that to his art of Oratory not onely Wit and Pronunciation and Command of language but also the Knowledge of all the arts are necessary quae etiam aliud agentes ornat ubi minimè credas excellit which adorneth our speech when we do not intend it and is a grace which sheweth it self in every limme and part of it and is very eminent where we do not see it So though the habits of Vertues be as distinct as their names yet they all meet in that general Obedience and Sanctity of life which denominateth a Christian And there is not any vertue but hath some appearance and is in part visible in every one My Christian Fortitude sheweth it self in my Temperance my Temperance in my Bounty my Faith in my Charity and my Charity in my Hope And as in an army of men though the Captain and Leader be commonly entitled to the victory yet was it vvrought out by the several and particular hands of every common souldier and by the united force of the vvhole battalion so that vve truly say All did overcome and Every one did overcome So vve may attribute Remission of sins to every vertue vvhich vve can never obtain but by the embracement and practice of them all Our Saviour's words then If ye forgive ye
a manner cut us off from the land of the living and divide us from those pleasures and contents without which life it self to most men is as terrible as death The sum of all is Many call that Righteousness which is not worth the seeking which we should run and fly from Nec tamen mutatur vocabulis vis rerum as the Father well speaketh yet the name will not change or alter the nature of things no more then Socrates can be another man if we should call him Plato Since then Righteousness as it is us'd is an ambiguous term we will distinguish it that so by the many counterfeits we may at last discover the true coyn even that Righteousness which hath the stamp and image of Christ upon it and so may seek it and sell all that we have and buy it First there is justitia Philosophorum the Righteousness of the Philosophers which is nothing else but uprightness and honesty of conversation ut forìs ita domi ut in magnis ita in parvis ut in alienis ita in suis agitare justitiam as the Orator speaketh to do that which is just in great matters and in small at home and abroad in that which concerneth our selves and in that which concerneth others Without this Common-wealths are nothing else but magna latrocinia but as the mountains of prey where the stronger man bindeth and spoileth him who is not so strong as himself This Righteousness the very heathen by the light of Nature attained to Our Saviour telleth us that even the Publicans whom Tertullian ranketh amongst the heathen though many of them were Jews did love those that loved them They who made use onely of that light which they brought with them into the world did walk near unto the Truth Planè non negabimus saith the Father philosophos juxta nostra sensisse We cannot deny but that the heathen Philosophers did many things which Christ commanded And though upon an uncertain adventure and in a storm yet they did touch upon the haven which having no further light they could not arrive at Yea they did love many times Vertue for it self studium potiùs quà m fructum the study of it rather then the fruit and reputation and honour which they reaped Cato was so famous that his name became a name of Vertue rather then of a man Aristides was not just onely but Justice it self And what temperance what chastity what natural conscience of justice and honesty did adorn and beautifie not onely the writings but the lives of many of the Philosophers Yet TEKEL weigh them in the balance and they are found too light nor did all these adde one hair to their stature to bring them nearer to life and immortality If we number up all the wise precepts they have delivered all the glorious examples they have shewn and transmitted to posterity we may peradventure find enough to shame many who profess Christianity but not that Righteousness which is required of Christians and which would have raised them to the Kingdom of heaven They not being built upon the true Foundation all their Righteousness was to them but as the Rainbow before the Floud for shew and for no saving use at all For these vertues may be in those men qui justitiam nesciunt saith Lactantius who know not what true Righteousness is as they have been at all times by the help and concurrence of nature and careful education Yet this Righteousness though it come short is commended to us in Scripture Having your conversation honest amongst the Gentiles 1 Pet. 2.12 that whereas they speak against you for your profession of Christianity as evil doers they may by your good works which they shall behold and which themselves approve by the light of nature be drawn to the love of Christianity it self and so glorifie God in the day of visitation This Righteousness is not enough but this is required Absit ut sic saith S. Augustine sed utinam vel sic God forbid a Christian should stay here but would to God many Christians had attained so far God forbid it should be so but if we look upon the Many we may wish it were but so And what a sad wish is this we are put to that Christians were but as good and Righteous as Heathens Secondly there is justitia Judaeorum the Righteousness of the Jews A great part whereof I may almost say God did rather indulge then command Had they been able to bear it he had laid a far heavier burthen upon them then he did and had not their eye been so weak he had shewed them a more excellent way But as a tender Father he had regard to their persons and condition when he prescribed them that form of Righteousness and the weakness and unqualifiedness of the persons was the occasion of that defect which was in their Law Many things were permitted to them both in respect of outward impurity and inward purity of mind which afterwards God would not make lawful to those which were to fulfil all righteousness And yet between that Righteousness which he then commended and that which he after under the Gospel exacted there is no repugnancy and contrariety but diversity onely For he that did omit that which he was permitted to do did not take an eye for an eye nor a tooth for a tooth was so far from doing any thing against the Law that he did that which the Law especially intended which was not fomes but limes furoris did not nourish or provoke but set bounds to their malice Quod permittitur suspectam habet permissionis suae causam That which is permitted is to be suspected for that very cause for which it is permitted Possum dicere saith the Father Quod permittitur non est bonum I may say That which is permitted is not good For that which is good commendeth it self by its proper and native goodness as Justice Temperance Self denial and the like These are good in themselves and for themselves these tend to good these will end in good and will bring us thither through all the troups and armies of evils which may assault us in the way But that which is permitted onely supposeth some defect in those for whose sakes it is indulged Usury Revenge Divorce and the like were permitted but the reason why they were indulged is a plain reproof and accusation of them to whom they were indulged The words are plain it was for the hardness of their hearts Matth. 19.8 Sunt aliqua quae non oportet fieri etiamsi licet could the Heathen say There be some things which we may with more commendations omit then do though they be lawful to be done This Righteousness then of the Jew will not reach home unless we can imagine that the business of a Christian is to seek after shadows and ceremonies and to rest in that which nothing but weakness and imperfection nay nothing but hardness of
assimilation to and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our union with God in whom alone those two powers of the soul those two horsleaches which ever cry Give give the Understanding which is ever drawing new conclusions and the Will which is ever pursuing new objects have their eternal Sabbath and rest Hic Rhodus hic saltus This is the end and this is the way Our Saviour here seems to make two Hearing and Doing but indeed they are but one and cannot be severed for the one leads into the other as the Porch into the Temple It is the great errour of the times conjuncta dividere to divide those duties which God hath joyned together to have quick ears and withered hands to hear and not to do to let in and let out nay to let in and to loath And in this reciprocal intercourse of hearing and neglecting many spin out the thread of their lives and at the end thereof look for Blessedness And certainly if Blessedness would dwell in the ear there would be more blessed on earth then in heaven And if an open ear were the mark of a Saint what great multitudes how many millions are there sealed to be kept unto salvation But to hear is not enough and yet it may be too much and may set us at a fadder distance from Blessedness then we had been at if we had been deaf Our Ear may turn into a Tongue and be a witness against us For that plea which the hypocrites make Lvke 3.26 We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets is a libel and an accusation and draws down a heavier sentence upon them For he bids them depart from him who would work iniquity after they had heard him in their streets Blessed are they that hear the word of God reacheth not home and therefore there is a conjunction copulative to draw it closer and link with Obedience Blessed are they that hear the word of God AND keep it So this conclusion will necessarily follow That Evangelical Obedience and the strict observation of the doctrin of Faith and Good works is the onely and immediate way to Blessedness For not the hearers of the word but the doers shall be justified Rom. 2.13 saith S. Paul And indeed there is no way but this For first God hath fitted us hereunto For can we imagine that he should thus build us up and stamp his own image upon us that we should be an habitation for owls and Satyrs for wild and brutish imaginations that he did give us Understandings to find out an art of pleasure a method and craft of injoying that which is but for a season Was the Soul made immortal for that which passeth away as a shadow and is no more or have we dominion over the beasts of the field that we should fall and perish with them No we are ad majora nati born to eternity and in our selves we carry an argument against our selves if we keep not Gods word Indeed Faith in respect of the remoteness of the object and its elevation above the ken of Nature may seem a hard lesson yet in the Soul there is a capacity to receive it and if the other condition of Obedience and Doing Gods will did not lye heavy upon the Flesh the more brutish part we should be readier scholars in our Creed then we are If we could hate the world we should be soon in heaven If we would imbrace that which we cannot but approve our infidelity and doubtings would soon vanish as a mist before the Sun Augustine hath observed in his book De Religione that multitudes of good moral men especially the Platonites came in readily and gave up their names unto Christ But the Agenda the precepts of practice are as the seed and the heart of man as the earth the matrix the womb to receive it They are so proportioned to our Reason that they are no sooner seen but approved being as it were of neer alliance and consanguinity with those notions and principles which we brought with us into the world Onely those are written in a book these in the heart At the most the one is but a Commentary on the other What precept of Christ is there which is not agreeable and consonant to right Reason Doth he prescribe purity The heart applauds it Doth he bless Meekness The mind of man soon says Amen Doth he command us to do to others as we would others should do to us We entertain it as our familiar and contemporary Doth he prescribe Sobriety We soon subscribe to it for what man would profess himself a beast And hence it comes to pass that we see something that is good in the worst that we hear a panegyrick of Virtue from a man of Belial that when we do evil we are ready to maintein it as good and when we do an injury we call it a benefit For no man is so evil that he desires not to seem good There is saith Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the the Soul of man a natural distast of that which is evil But Virtue though it have few followers yet hath the votes of all Temperance the drunkard will sing her praises Justice every hand is ready to set a Crown upon her Head Valour is admired of all and Wisdome is the desire of the whole earth So you see Gods precepts are proportioned to the Soul and the Soul to God's precepts which hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a formative quality a power to shape and fashion and to bring forth something of the same nature a creature made up in obedience in holiness and righteousness Christs exhortation to Prayer begets that devotion which opens the gates of heaven his command to take up the cross begets an army of martyrs his command to deny our selves lifts us up above our selves to that Blessedness which is everlasting Secondly as the precepts of Christ are proportioned to the Soul so being embraced they fill it with light and joy and give it a tast of the world to come For as Christs yoke is easie but not till it is put on so his precepts are not delightful till they are kept Aristotle's Happiness in his books is but an Idea and Heaven it self is no more to us till we enjoy it The precepts of Christ in the letter may please the understanding part which is alwaies well affected and inclinable to that which is apparently true but till the Will have set the Feet and Hands at liberty even that which we approve we distast and that which we call honey is to us as bitter as gall Contemplation may delight us for a time and bring some content but the perversness of our Will breeds that worm which will soon eat it up It is but a poor happiness to think and speak well of Happiness as from a mount to behold that Canaan which we cannot enjoy A thought hath not strength and wing enough to carry