he gives charge in the Comedy ubi hic respicit illi continuò respiciunt watching his eye and commanding the execution of his Laws In a word the King is sent from God à quo est secundus post quem primus from whom he is the second and after whom the first and the lower Governours are sent from the King who hath power from God thus to send them Their Sheaves must stand round about and make obeisance to his Sheave the Sun and the Moon and the Stars must yield submission to him ut supereminenti as to one supereminent and all men must yield obedience to the Governours and Magistrates as to God's indeed for so they are called but missis ab eo as sent and deriving their power from him who is supreme And in this eminency the King stands pro omnibus supra omnes for all and above all Nor can any hand depose or draw him lower None can draw him from that pitch and height where God hath placed him but he is still Supreme as over the People so over the Priest Nor doth the Water of Baptisme wash off his ointment He is not less a King because he is a Christian but then Supreme when he makes himself a Servant to all The Holy Ghost hath thus stiled him And it may more truly be said of the words of God then of the words of Consecration Id operantur quod indicant They work that which they signifie and make him Supreme who they stile so Supreme in temporal things to appoint Officers to send out Governours and Supreme in spiritual to punish them that do evil and encourage them that do well He is bound indeed sceptra subjicere Christo to lay down his Scepter at the foot of Christ to serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of his life to punish wickedness and vice and to maintain Gods true Religion and Virtue But all this I am sure cannot amount to this least he should come down a step lower and yield to that spiritual power of the Pope who pretends to direct and guide but will at last devoure his temporal and disrobe the King because he is a Christian This were to make his Supremacie not a priviledge but a bare title to be play'd withall and tossed from Gloss to Gloss from distinction to distinction to call him Supreme as they did that Pope Boniface who had indeed but a hard and unpleasing countenance Therefore though the high Priest turn Polititian and take up two Swords at once the Spiritual and the Temporal and by the Word of God will make himself a God to set up Kings and depose them at pleasure yet the King is in his Zenith in that pitch of Majesty in which the hand of God hath placed him and the Nobles and Magistrates which he sends forth circle and compass him about as a ring using his power to defend his Power holding up his hands as Aaron and Hur did the hands of Moses ruling under him and for him and keeping him still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Supreme above both Priest and People And to the King as Supreme and to the Governours as sent by him we stand here commanded to submit our selves Which is the Duty and comes next to be considered To submit our selves is a hard Duty from which our very nature is a verse Not to do what we would and to be subject to whom we would not is a hard saying and few there are can bear it Such is the perversness of our dispositions that we would do many things which we omit were they not tendred unto us under the high terms of a command And this Indisposition of our minds this Unwillingness to be brought under though many times it hinders our submission yet when we subdue and master it it crowns our Obedience We had need therefore of these remembrances which may kill this humour in us and make us obey not grudgingly but with a willing mind For this Submission how harsh soever the name sounds is that by which we purchase our liberty And as it is perfect freedom to serve God so is it no impeachment to our Liberty to submit our selves to the Magistrate but we are then most highly exalted when we couch and lye down at his feet Dementia est potiùs trahi quà m sequi It is a kind of madness when Authority speaks to hold back and withdraw our selves to be drawn rather then to follow and to submit rather upon the noyse of the whip than of the Law We may perhaps think it a gay and pompous thing to sit in the Throne or Seat of Justice from thence to breath forth words of power to say to one Go and to another Come to shew what wonders we can work with a frown to send forth Edicts and promulge Laws This may fill the minds of those whose eyes dazle at the beams of Majesty But it is no paradox to say that there is as great glory in Obedience For he who subjugates his Will to the lawfull commands of others hath set up a throne within himself and commands that which no King can force nay he sets up a tribunal in his Soul and passeth sentence upon the Judge himself and shews that he is as able to obey as the other is to command He who is thus a servant is the Lords freeman and he who can thus obey is his own King and Judge Now this Submission consists not in the casting-down of the eye or in the bend of the Knee onely but in the yielding up and surrendry of the whole man Of the Hand not to lift it up against that Power which is Gods and which if we do not submit will crush us to pieces To say Hayle master to the Magistrate and then to oppose him is but Judas-like to kiss Authority and betray it To say with the Church of Rome O King live for ever and yet to strike at his Crown and Dignity is to leave him a Crown indeed but made of thornes and to make his Power more irksome than Subjection To stand up against those Governours which are sent and not to give them their due honour because they are not Caesar is a breach of the same Law and a flat defiance of the King onely one removed and at the second hand And as we must submit the Hand and not lift it up so must we also the Tongue This member is very apt to swell and lift it self up and speak proud things It will sooner blaspheme than pray because Prayers are troublesome being to be utter'd with an humble and submissive voice but Rayling and Liberty of language seem to place me above my Betters make me Superior to my Governours a King of Kings and a Lord of Lords Now this liberty of the Tongue is well-near as dangerous as that of the Hand For no sooner hath Discontent breathed it self forth but it infects like the Plague because it commonly meets with those
a Good name but will wallow still in their own mire And therefore you may observe it Matth. 4. that the Devil sets not upon our Saviour with Lust or Luxury or Covetousness or any such vulgar and inferior vice but carries him to an exceeding high mountain and from thence shews him the kingdome of the world to see whether he will stoop at the prey Secondly It is a vice to which the world is much beholding and therefore finds more countenance then any Look upon the works of mens wits their Books and Writings look upon the works of mens hands their Charity and Alms-deeds and Hospitality and we shall quickly discover that Honor and Desire to transmit their names to posterity have been in many for to say in all were the greatest uncharitableness in the world but in many they have been the chiefest fires to set these alembicks a work We will not now dispute the truth of that which the Schools teach That Evil could not subsist if it were not founded in Good but we may be bold to say that this evil of Ambition could hardly subsist if it were not maintained and rooted in Virtue Other weeds will grow of themselves finding matter within us to feed and nourish them Murder is but the ebullition of our Choler Luxury a very exhalation of our Flesh Lust boyles in our very bloud But this vice like unto Ivy or Woodbind will hardly grow unless it fix it self upon the Oke upon some strong and profitable matter If you see Absalom in Hebron paying his vow it is to gain a kingdome If 2 Sam 15. 7. the Pharisee fast and pray it is to be called Rabbi if he gives alms it is with a trumpet If Simon Magus desire to turn Apostle it is to be some great one If Diotrephes be of the Church it is to have the praeeminence Last of all it is a vice which amongst many men hath gained the reputation of Virtue And if it be not a virtue saith the Orator yet it is many times the cause of it Ambition and Aemulation have ever been accounted the nurses of wit the kindlers of industry the life of studies and the mothers of all famous actions And this is it which hath raised their price and estimation But it here falls out as it doth with bodies which are nourisht with unwholsome meats They are in a short time corrupted with diseases and dye by those meats they lived on Wit and Industry which are mainteined by these vices do at last run to ruin by those vices which maintein them How many an alms is blown away with the breath of the Trumpet How many a Prayer is the shorter for its length is not heard for its noyse and is lost in the open streets How many a Fast is buried in a disfigured face How many a Good deed had been registred in heaven if it had not been first written on the walls But as we read in the Historian that Thievery and Piracy were so commonly practised amongst the Grecians that men made publick profession of them neither were they taken to be vices so we find it by daily experience that Ambition is so like to Virtue that the world hath even taken her to be one and made much of her and extolled her because she is so common Disciples themselves will be talking of Kingdomes and Greatness will be asking the question Who is the greatest in the kingdome of heaven And yet it is as impertinent a question as could have been put to Christ And of this we are to speak in the next place But first we will draw such inferences out of that which hath been spoken as may be useful for our instruction And first if we look back upon the Disciples we cannot but look into our selves and seeing what it was that kept them so long from the true knowledge of the Messias who had been so long with them with whom they ate and drank and conversed and whose miracles they were eye-witnesses of we cannot but search and ransack our inward man empty it of all extravagant and heterogeneous matter dispossess it of every evil spirit of every carnal conceit which may shut out Christ sweep and garnish it that the Truth may enter and dwell there Prejudice puts â—ut the eye of our Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Opinion is a great retarder of proficiency it being common to men to be jealous of every word that breaths in opposition to what they have already received as of an enemy and though it be truth to suspect it because it breaths from a contrary coast Moab is setled on his lees hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel therefore his Jer. 48. 11. taste remained in him and his sent is not changed He hath ever the same taste and the same sent and this makes every thing promises and threatnings judgments and blessings doctrines and miracles relish and taste and sent as he doth He is the same under the rod and the same under blessings the same in a calm and the same when it thunders He is setled on his lees and no change can change him It is a world to see what power Prejudice hath to change the face and countenance of objects and shape them like unto it self It makes a shadow a man and a man a hobgoblin it mistakes a friend for an enemy It puts horror upon Virtue and makes Vice it self of a ruddy countenance It makes God the Author of sin and the Devil a worker of miracles It makes the Prince of peace a man of war beholds a poor Christ and makes him a King receives him in the form of a servant and builds him a Throne dreams of Kingdomes in the house of mourning and of triumph in persecution makes Christs Humility an occasion of pride makes a new Religion a new Christ a new Gospel and thus gropes at noon-day is deaf to thunder is surly against good counsel and thrusts him away that gives it is an enemy to a friend is a fiery furnace to devour those that minister unto it When God opens the gates of heaven this shuts them when he displayes his rayes of mercy this puts them by when he would enter this shuts the door when he is ready to let fall his dew this will not suffer him to be good unto us will not suffer him to bless will not suffer him to teach will not suffer him to save us This killed the Prophets and stoned them that were sent This whipped and spet upon and crucified the Lord of Life himself For all mistakes is from the Eye all error from the Mind not from the Object If the Eye be goggle or mis-set if the Mind be dimm'd with Malice or Ambition and Prejudice it puts upon things what shape it pleaseth receiveth not the true and natural species they present but views them at home in it self as in a false glass which renders them back again as it were by reflexion which
Spirit the sword of the Word both are Swords both powerful The Sword was insigne magistratûs an ensign and badge of autority put into the hand of Kings and Emperours when they put on their robes their purple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Princely and peculiar vestiments to work obedience in the people and to win reverence from the subject nè orederentur esse privati saith Aquinas lest the people should mistake them and esteem them as private men as fit to feel a sword as to bear one Not to be too anxious in cutting out our way and making our passage the Civilians will enform us that the word Sword is not taken meerly pro telo for a material sword but that it includes merum imperium the Right of drawing the sword that vindicative and coactive Power pressing on and breaking through the strongest opposition battering down tumults sedition disorders and making way to the peace of the weal-publick Well then we see a coercive and restraining power a Sword there is For the Almighty teacheth not Man only by his immediate Wisdome nor guideth him alone by his invisible finger but with a finger hath drawn out many visible copies of his words and works that Man may even see and feel and handle those instructions which may make him wise so neither doth he govern the world alone by his immediate unapprehensible Power by that fulness and infiniteness which he is but he also derives a power conveys an instrument le ts fall a Sword to be employed in the very eyes of men But in the next place a Sword is but a dead instrument able of it self to produce no effect all you find in it is an aptness and disposition to obey the force and virtue of the agent Goliah's sword if Abimeleck wrap it up in a linnen cloth behind the Ephod what is it what doth it But let David take it to pursue the Philistines there is none to that Therefore St. Paul not only shews the Sword but also points out to the hand that bears it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince the Judge the Magistrate he is the Swords-man But now the Sword is in the Hand what must our expectation wait for Doth it come forth against an adversary or will it strike at randome Omne instrumentum disponitur ad virtutem agentis say the Schoolmen The instrument obeys the agent A Sword it is and there is much in the Hand that bears it He may latch it in the side of Innocency and wound Justice her self Naboth may lose his vineyard and life too John Baptists head go off and St. Paul be smitten against the law I say the Sword neither hurts nor helps It is the Hand that doth it We must then in the next place fix up the Motto engrave St. Pauls NON FRUSTRA upon the Sword and then strike he must or else he doth but bear and in the right place too and our fear is vanisht We may now behold the Magistrate placed as he should be in his proper place in the midst between the Offender and the Innocent looking upon both To the good the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a Sword but fear not thy innocency hath made him that beareth it both thy friend and champion But if thou hast done evil the dialect is altered and he speaks in thunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fear it is a sword and terrible So then we have here wrapt up the Power and the Subject the Instrument the Agent and the End Autority granted confined and directed a Sword committed born and used The parts then are these and by these lines we are to pass First we must place the Sword and fasten it too in its proper place the hand of the Magistrate Secondly we must joyn the NON FRUSTRA to the Sword and that will bring us in the Third place to the most proper and peculiar work of the Magistrate to his prime care That he beareth it not in vain Of these in their order He beareth the sword That is his Autority his Commission For of God it cannot in strict terms and properly be said that He beareth a sword God is Omnipotency and Aeternity and Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sea of essence saith Nazianzene and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sea of power but the Magistrate is the channel and conveyance of the rivulet God giveth the Power the Magistrate hath it God lendeth the Sword the Magistrate bears it Autoritas dicitur de diplomate principis manu obsignato Autority presumes a Commission And though Ambition as one observeth hath presented this Power under divers forms and complexions of Popularity Aristocrasy and Monarchy which is the fairest and compleatest piece yet the Commission and seal is still the same For behold him who beareth this Sword and is invested with this power and you shall see him sealed and that Divinâ manu with the very finger of God The Kings broad Seal what is it The matter is wax a small piece of money will buy a greater quantity But having the image and superscription of my Prince it is either my Pardon or my Liberty or my Charter or my Possessions So the Magistrate what is he Behold the Man my fellow dust and ashes of as near alliance to the Worm and Corruption as my self Nay behold a sinful man of as near kin to Adam as my self And yet he awes me and he bounds me and he keeps me in on every side One monosyllable of his turneth me about and is my motion If he say Go I got If he say Come I come If he say Do this I do it For he is sealed and hath the image and superscription of the Deity And as we say that Laws are numismata reipublicae the Coin the Money in which we may behold the face and the livelyhood of a Common-wealth so is the Magistrate numisma Dei a piece of Coin taken out of Gods Mint We need not ask whose image or superscription he hath for he hath Gods And though he bear the Sword yet he had it from Him who is said to bear all things And Heb. 1. 3. being thus armed like to God himself he keeps every wheel in its due motion every man in his right place the master on horsback and the servant on the ground and where Impudence encreaseth he checks it with a Friend sit down lower He keeps the hands of the ungodly from the white hairs of the aged and the teeth of the oppressor from the face of the widows He lays his hand upon the orb of that Common-wealth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it move not incomposedly and unsteddily And in this he doth give unto God those things which are Gods his own coin his own image not clipt not dasht not defaced a powerful Just man the fairest picture and representation of his Master But though God hath conveyed his Power and given his Sword yet he
lusts And if there be aged men amongst them you may soon discover that their greatest wisdom is their grey hairs And will Peace rest upon these It will rest as soon in a whirlwind or in St. Judes cloud without Water or in St James wave of the Sea tossed up and down with every wind But I forbear for I list not to be too particular We read in our Books of one Timotheus an excellent Musician that he was wont to require a greater pay from those who had been taught by others before than from those who came unto him rude and untaught And his reason was Dedocendi officium gravius prius quà m docendi That it was a greater task to unteach them what they had already ill learnt and a necessity to be done before he could teach them his skill Beloved it is so with those who are to instruct others in the way of Peace Geminatur onus Whatsoever their reward is their burden is doubled It is not only enough to say Peace be unto this House but they must cleanse and purge the house that Peace may enter It is not enough only to salute but they must make way for the Salutation The Jew must be untaught his beggerly elements and rudiments of the world before he can be taught and instructed for the kingdom of Heaven His Ceremonies and the Law must be rased out before he can be the Apostle of Cbrist before the Gospel of Peace can be written in his heart The Gentile must be untaught those lessons which even Nature is ashamed of before he can receive the doctrine of Grace The Carnal man must learn to crucifie the flesh before he can become spiritual False principles must be destroyed before you can build up true ones in their place Whilst we please our selves in the errors of our life whilst we rejoyce in our selves and as the Apostle speaks measure our selves by our selves we are not fit for this Evangelical Salutation Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ No These strong holds must be pulled down these imaginations cast to the ground and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God every thought must be brought into captivity 2 Cor. 10. 5. unto the obedience of Christ Scio quibus viribus opus sit saith St. Augustine I know what power it must be that must perswade proud men that Humility is a virtue And I know what power it must be that must perswade a carnal man that there is no peace but where the spirit fights and overcomes the Flesh But non aliter haec sacra constant This Salutation will not pass where this preparation is not made This Peace will not enter into that Soul where there are tumults and thunders noyse and destruction Never did any plant grow up and flourish in the field of the Church which was not ramus propendens as Nazianzene speaketh of his Father a branch or bough hanging over and looking that way Nor doth Gods saving Grace bring Peace till his exciting and preparing Grace hath made a way for it When we are Sons of Peace when we have some title to the inheritance of Peace when our hearts are hammer'd and softned and subjugated when we are willing hearers then this Salutation is brought home to our doors and Peace will enter and rest upon us If the son of peace be there your peace shall rest upon him if not it shall return to you again And so I pass to my last Position That though it do not rest yet it shall not be lost but shall return to those that publish it The word is spoken the Salutation past Peace be to this house On the sons of peace it will rest but on others it will not And this is enough to take the word out of the Disciples mouths and stop the message for there is in every one of us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of flitting humour which will not hold out long but faints and falls to the ground at the sight of some gross event which may fall out What plow the winds and sow the rocks bring Peace to them who will not receive it bring it thither where it will not rest Who would willingly be employed in such a Message For all this the word must be spoken and the Salutation given And that no groundless fear may seal up the Disciples lips they are told that even there where the Salutation will not rest it is not lost but will return again as David Psal 35. 13. spake of his prayer for his malicious enemies Though peradventure it do not prevail yet it will return into their bosom And this is it which stays and upholds us in the performance of all the duties of our life the Assurance that nothing that we do is lost Commonly upon a pretense of doing little Good we affect a kind of intempestive prudence and unseasonable discretion in performing that little good we do which shews it self in us like the Sun in winter long ere it arise and quickly gone We are unwilling to bear the Salutation and at the first rub and opposition we are weary of it If all be not Sons of Peace we will no longer be preachers of Peace But this Return of the Salutation adds spirit and courage to us and makes us venture into every house even into his who is an enemy to Peace First then for our comfort lost this Salutation cannot be For every good deed pays it self in the very doing And therefore saith the Orator Interest omnium rectè facere It concerns every man to do his duty and when he can reap no other fruit to content himself with the very doing of it Do not say the Word is cast away because it met not with a son of Peace It cannot be spoken and cast away For when it is spoken all is done Fac quod debes eveniat quod vult it is an Arabick Proverb Do that which thou shouldest and let the Event be what it will In the second place to do our duty is all that is required at our hands We are but to plant and water the increase is from another hand We can but say Peace be to this House It is not in our power to make it rest there Laus imperatori victo A skilful and wise Captain may deserve high honour and commendations though he fall before his enemy and an Orator may be famous for his eloquence though his Client be condemned The Philosopher in his Topicks will tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is not exacted from an Orator that he perswade but that he frame those arguments and motives which are perswasive nor of a Physitian to heal those who are ill affected but to prescribe those medicines which are soveraign If the earth be brass we cannot say the dew of Heaven hath no virtue nor if we put out our eyes can we say the Sun doth
in every part and then write underneath THIS IS A CHRISTIAN Hitherto the Devil will suffer us to name Christ if we will but name him For by this he hath advantage and our guilt is encreased Reatus impii pium nomen saith Salvian Nothing condemns an evil man more then a good name A common thing it is in the world to prefix a fair and promising title to books of no worth And this art the Devil is busie to teach us to put a trick upon God and deceive him with a fair title page He cares not how glorious the frontespiece be so the work be course Look into the book of a formal Christians life and you shall find many leaves but blanks a great part of his life lost in sleep some blurred and blotted with the Love of this world some leaves polluted with Uncleanness others stained with Bloud You shall see it full of Soloecisius of gain-sayings and contradictions of Christ Only there is a fair title page and the name of this Book is THE CHRISTIAN SOULDIER And therefore one rule of our Enemy is to begin with us to entangle us at our first setting out He deals with us as we are commanded to deal with him As we are to break his head to suppress the beginnings of Sin so doth he break ours and suppress the beginnings of Goodness For in the second place the one will encrease as well as the other Festucam si nutrias trabs erit si evellas projicias nihil erit If you nourish a mote it may become a beam but if you pluck it out presently and cast it from you it will be nothing This evil thought may grow up to Murder but if you check it it is nothing So this good thought may be Religion but if the Devil stifle it it will be nothing These beginnings may bring-on perfection but if you stop them they are nothing This grain of mustard-seed this little grain this least of seeds if you suffer it to grow may become a tree but if you choak it at first it is nothing Nihil est fertilius sanctitate Nothing is more fruitful and generative then Goodness For God doth not set us upon vain and fruitless designs he sets us not to plow the winds or cast our seed upon the barren rocks he doth not tie us by a blind obedience to water a dry stick but as the Prophet David speaks our line is fallen unto us in a pleasant place and we have a goodly heritage a fruitful soyl where every seed may increase into many ears of corn and every eare multiply into a harvest where increase makes us more fruitful where the liberal soul is made fat and Prov. 11. 25. he that waters is watered again Every good thought may beget a good Intention every good Intention may raise it self up to the strength of a Resolution every Resolution may bring on Perseverance every good Action looks forward to another and that to a third Patience begets experience Experience Hope Hope Confidence As it was said of Alexander Quaelibet victoria instrumentum sequentis that every conquest he made made way to a second So every step we make makes the way more easie every conquest we gain over Satan enables us to chase him again If we overcome him in our Creed and believe against all temptations to Infidelity we may overcome him also in our Decalogue and bring forth fruits worthy amendment of life against all temptations to Profaneness He that names Christ may believe in him and he that believes in him may dye for him He that gives a peny to the poor may in time sell all that he hath and at last lay down his life for the Gospel And therefore in the last place timet nè virtus convalescat the Devil is unwilling to suffer Goodness to gather any strength lest when it is grown up and settled and establisht in the heart it may prove too hard a matter for him to remove it lest what he might at first have stoln away as a Serpent he shall not be able to take from us though he come like a Lyon For as it is in Sin so is it also in Goodness It grows up by degrees Our first onset is with some difficulty we are almost perswaded to be Christians After some bruises and some recoveries some slips and some risings some struglings and some victories the way is more pleasant and at last we run the way of Gods commandments and make haste to Happiness as to our center That Fasting which was my melancholy is now my joy that Reproof which was a whip is now as oyl that Prophet whom I persecuted is now an Angel What doth God exact at our hand saith Salvian but Faith and Chastity and Humility and Mercy and Holiness quae utique omnia non onerant nos sed ornant all which are not as burdens to oppress us but as rich jewels to adorn us What doth Christ require but those things which are convenient and agreeable with our nature the love of God and the Love of men And certainly the custom of doing good if it be equal to the custom in evil is far more pleasant Far more content is to be found in virtue then in vice more pleasure in temperance then in surfetting more complacencie in justice then in Partiality more delight in piety then in lust When I have raised my self so high as to delight in the dictates of Nature and in the precepts of the God of Nature then I may look into my heart reflect upon my self with joy and say I am a man and I perswade my self that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now I can labor in his hard work and my labor is my joy Those virtues which seem to run from me are my familiars my friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil my possessions which none can take from me Non videtur perfectè cujusquam id esse quod casu auferri potest say the Civilians We cannot be said to have sure possession of that which may be taken away by some chance What we are surely possessed of we can hardly lose And such a possession such an inheritance is true Piety when we are once rooted and built up and establisht in it It is a treasure which no chance can rob us of no thief take from us A habit well confirmed is an object the Devil is afraid of O the power of an uninterrupted obedience of a continued course in the duties of holiness it is able to puzzle the great Sophister the great God of this world Deorum virtus naturâ excellit saith Tully hominum industriâ Nature confirms virtue to the Gods but Industry to Men. The Gods cannot possibly be otherwise then good and
venture so often at the needless eye A strange thing it is that men should be so bold to attempt that which before they attempt they know impossible We will struggle no longer with these practises The Stoick said well Non debet excusationes vitio philosophia suggerere It is never worse with Philosophy then when she is made in suggest excuses for Sin And it hath been alwayes the bane of Divinity to make Reverence and Respect a pretense for Blasphemy Those Arians did less hurt saith St. Ambrose who denyed the Divinity of the Son because they would not believe it than those who in civility denyed it because they would not make him subject to concupiscence as Man For these men colendo Deum violant violate the honor of God which they pretend they tender and never wrong him more than with reverence and a complement Impossible it is that God should withdraw his presence from any thing because the very substance of God is infinite He filleth heaven and earth and yet he takes up no room in either His Substance is immaterial pure and so incomprehensible in this world that although no part of us be ever absent from him who is present to every particular thing yet his presence we discern no further than only that he is present which partly by reason but most perfectly by faith we know to be most certain He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 open to our sight that we may see him and yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lyeth hid in darkness as in a Pavilion that we may believe more than we see He doth not fill the world as Water or Ayr or the very Light that he should fill the lesser part of the world with the lesser part of himself and the greater part with a greater proportion Novit ubique totus esse nullo contineri loco He is every where yet included in no place He comes to us but not recedes from where he is nor when he with-draws doth he forsake the place to which he came saith St. Augustine Deus est intra omnia non tamen inclusus extrà omnia sed non exclusus infra omnia sed non depressus supra omnia sed non elevatus God is within all things yet not shut-up he is without all things yet not excluded he is above all things yet not exalted and he is below all things yet not depressed From the Infinity of his Substance follows necessarily the Immensity I fill heaven and earth saith God St. Augustine in his Confessions considered the World as a Sponge which the Jer. 23. 24 infinite sea of Gods Essence did compass and fill Trismegistus conceived that God was a Sphere or Circle cujus centrum est ubique circumferentia nusquam whose Center is every where and Circumference no where which doth most fitly express it For there is not the least particle of this sphaerical world but it is supported by the unity of Gods Essence as by an internal Center and yet neither the circumference of this world nor any circumference which we can conceive can circumscribe his essential Presence so as we may say Thus far it reacheth and no further And this is it which the Schools do mean when they say that as Gods Essence susteins and upholds all things so it doth also contein and compass all things which either are or may be not corporally but spiritually as Eternity doth all times There is no part of the Heaven there is no part of the Earth in which God is not according to his Essence and out of which he is not according to his essence in qua non est totus extra quam non est totus as they speak Cùm dicitur totus esse in mundo denotatur non aggregatio partium sed privatio diminutionis saith Parisientis When God is said to be all in every place we understand not any aggregation of parts but privation of diminution so that his Essence without any diminution or division is in every place The Angels are not circumscribed yet being finite treasures they are said to be in uno loco quod non sint in alio saith Aquinas no otherwise in one place but in that they are not in another and cannot be every where Homo cum alicubi est tum alibi non erit saith Hilary lib. 8. De Trin. When a man is in this place he cannot be in that Infirma ad id natura ejus ut ubique sit qui insistens alicubi sit For his nature is uncapable of being every where who is conteined any where Deus autem immensae virtutis vivens potestas quae nusquam non adsit nec desit usquam But God who is a living Power of immense virtue is so present to every place that he is absent from no place Who insinuates himself by those things which he hath made ut ubi sua insint ipse esse intelligatur that where the works of his hands are he may be understood to be there also Therefore as he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Infinity exceeding all essence so he hath also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Essence present every where and yet in no place As he is eternal so he is omni-present As Seneca saith excellently Nulla immortalitas cum exceptione est nec quicquam noxium aeterno Immortality is not with exception nor can any thing destroy that which is eternal so may we Nulla infinitas cum exceptione No Infinity admits of exception For that which is infinite must needs be immense nor is it so in one place that any other place is excepted but it is so within all things that it conteins them and so without that it concludeth and compasseth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Athanasius speaks within all things yet not included in any thing God then is in heaven but not so that his Majesty is confined to that place For the heaven even the 1 Kings 8. 27. heaven of heavens cannot contain him The subject is of a high nature and the way rough and rugged but we have paced it over with what smoothness and plainness we could You may perhaps bespeak me as Alexander did his Master Aristotle Doce nos facilia teach us those things which are easie Multa inutilia inefficacia sola subtilitas facit The subtilty of the matter and the obscurity of the delivery make many things want their efficacy It is so in Divinity as well as Philosophy I confess it But yet our discourse cannot be plainer than the subject will permit And I am sure no auditory should be unfit for such a lesson because I know this lesson is not unfit for any auditory Aristotle was wont to divide his lectures into Acroamatical and Exoterical Some of them conteined choice matter which he privately read to a select auditory others of them but ordinary stuff and were promiscuously exposed to the hearing of all that would come But it is not so in
beat down our body and wage war with our appetite We may say of the Law of Moses as St. Paul speaks of the yearly sacrifices It did not make the commers thereunto Hebr. 10. 8. perfect but left behind it still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conscience of sins not only ex parte reatûs a conscience which did testifie that they had sinned and affright them with the guilt but ex parte vindictae a conscience which not only questioned their sins but there attonement also Therefore Chrysostome on that place will tell us In that the Jews did offer sacrifice it seemeth they had a conscience that accused them of sin but that they did it continually argued they had a conscience which accused their sacrifice of Imperfection The Law of Faith which is the fundamental Law of the Gospel is expunctor legis totius retro vetustatis blots out these Laws and whatever Antiquity did write down as a Law in her tables Quicquid retrò fuit aut demutatum est ut circumcisio aut suppletum ut lex reliqua aut impletum ut prophetia aut perfectum ut fides ipsa Whatsoever was in times past was either changed as Circumcision or supplyed as the rest of the Law or fulfilled as Prophesies or made perfect as Faith it self I should detein you too long in this argument should I draw a comparison between each particular constitution By the very nature and quality of the Laws you may easily descry a main difference between these Kingdoms The Laws of Christ are unchangeable and eternal but all humane constitutions are temporary and mutable Those which are written in the Body of the Law by the Civilians are called LEGES PERPETUAE Laws unchangeable but after Ages have seen the countenance of some altered and others quite rased out Legum medelae pro temporum moribus pro rerumpubl generibus pro utilitatum presentium rationibus mutari solent flecti nec uno statu consistere sed ut coeli facies maris ita rerum fortunae tempestatibus variari But the Laws of the heavenly Kingdome are eternal written in our souls by the King of Souls from the beginning The second head wherein the difference of this Kingdome from others is seen is the Power of it which is extended not to the body alone but to the soul also Other Kings may lay the whip on the back but this rips-up the very bowels other Kings may kill the body but this can cast both body and soul into hell Many times it is wisdom in Kings not to punish because of the multitude or power of offenders Nescio saith an heathen man in the Historian an suasurus fuerim omittere potiùs praevalida adulta vitia quam hoc assequi ut palam fiat quibus vitiis impares simus Sins many times do reign amongst men and spread themselves so far and wide that no strength of the Magistrate is able to supress them and therefore many times it is our best wisdom to let such sins alone lest by going about to amend them we betray our weakness and shew that the Law it self may have a bridle put into her mouth that offenders may ride her as they please It is not so in this Kingdom God can never be out-braved by any sin be it never so universal Be the offenders never such Giants never so many he is able to chain and fetter them even with a word He that sits on the throne and he that grinds at the mill to him are all one And as a thousand years with him are but as one day so a thousand a million a whole world of men with him are but as one man And when he shall sit to do judgment upon sinners all the world shall have before him but one neck and he can strike it off at a blow When I mentioned the power and virtue of this Kingdome you might expect perhaps that I should have said something of the power and efficacy of Grace because this Kingdome is called the Kingdome of Grace And indeed herein is a difference between this Kingdome and others Magistrates promulge laws threaten bind the tongue and hand but have no influence nor operation on the hearts and wills of men But in this our spiritual Kingdome the King doth not only command but gives us his helping hand that we may perform his command Et quomodo fulgur nubes disrumpit as Cyprian speaketh as lightning suddenly breaketh through the cloud and at once enlightens and amazes the world so the coruscation and splendor of Gods Grace doth at once illuminate and dull the eye of our understanding Nescio quomodo tangimur tangi nos sentimus we are toucht with this sudden flash we know not how and we feel that we are toucht but it is not easie to discern how Non deprehendes quemadmodum aut quando tibi prosit profuisse deprehendes That the power of Gods Grace hath wrought you shall find but the secret and retired passages by which it wrought are impossible to be reduced to demonstration We must confess that by nature we are blind and Grace is the eye by which we see we are lame and Grace is the staff by which we walk we are dead and Grace is the breath by which we live As man upon earth is composed of Body and Soul so in respect of this Kingdome he admits of a new composition of Man and the Spirit of Grace But we must remember it is a Kingdome we speak of and Christ is a King not a Tyrant Now the Philosopher will tell us Rex imperat volentibus tyrannus nolentibus That in this a King and a Tyrant differ that the one ruleth his subjects with that wisdom and temper that they are willing to obey the other makes them obey whether they will or no. Beloved Christ is a King in this respect He will not rule us against our will Nemo se ab invito coli vult No man will take a gift from an unwilling hand And dost thou look that the King of heaven and earth should force thee to allegiance Some have made it an observation That before Christs resurrection he was obeyed by those that served him against their will and so was served but to halves but under the Gospel he gathers unto him populum spontaneum a willing people that still be ready to do his will All this is from Grace thou wilt say It is true But not of Grace so working as to force the Will For as God is powerful and can do all things so is he wise too and sweetly disposes all things accomplishing his will by those means he in his eternal wisdom knoweth to be best using his power as a King but not violence as a Tyrant Wilt thou then sit still and not set thy hand to work upon a phansie that God doth not send thee grace Wilt thou not hearken to the voice of thy King speaking within God unless he
knock as Fortune is said to have done at Galba's gates till he be weary Wilt thou not move unless with the hand of violence he drive thee before him Wilt thou still be evil and pretend he will not make thee good What a dishonor is this to thy King to entitle him to thy disobedience and make him guilty of that treason which is committed against himself Beloved this is to be ignorant of the nature of this Kingdome and injurious to the King himself and the highest pitch of rebellion to make him if not the author yet the occasioner of it No he helps us he doth not force us He leads not drives us He works in us but not without us For these two Grace and Free-will are not co-ordinate but subordinate Non partim gratia partim liberum arbitrium saith St. Bernard Grace and Free-will do not share our obedience between them sed totum singula peragunt but each of them doth perform the whole work Grace doth it wholly and Free-will doth it wholly sed ut totum in illo sic totum ex illa as it is wholly wrought by the Free-will of man so is the Free-will of man wholly enabled thereunto by the Grace of God which helps to determine the Will Attribute what you will to Gods Grace every good work and word and thought You cannot attribute too much you cannot attribute enough But when you have set God at this height in that proper Zenith where his natural Goodness hath placed him oh then draw him not down again to the mire where you ly wallowing to be partaker with your filth Do not weaken him by giving him an attribute of Power Say not when he doth not reign in your hearts that it is because he will not The voice of his Psal 77. 18. thunder is in the heaven The Vulgar renders it VOX TONITRUI IN ROTA The voice of his thunder is in the wheel It is heard of men who are willing to walk in the wheel and circle of Discipline and Virtue which have their thoughts collected and raised from the sensual vanities of this word And then by the power of this voice by the Power of Gods Grace like a wheel they are rowled about and are lifted up and do touch the earth but in puncto as it were but in a point having not the least relish of the world And this is the power and virtue of the Kingdome of Grace We pass now to the third head of difference which consists in the Compass and Circuit of this Kingdome which is as large as all the world In this respect all Kingdomes come short of it every one having its bounds which it cannot pass without violence A foolish title it is which some give the Emperor of Rome as if he had power over the most remote and unknown people of the world Bartolus counts him no less than an he etick who denies it But his arguments are no better than the Emperors Title which is but nominal They tell us that he calls himself MUNDI DOMINUM The Lord of all the world and that Rome hath the appellation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the whole world given it by Writers of latter times So the Poet Orbem jam totum victor Romanus habebat But these are but hyperboles spoken by way of excess and excellency So Jewry is also called in Scripture For Jerusalem is said to be placed in the midst of the earth that is in the midst of Judaea as the City Delphi is called orbis umbilicus the Navel of the world because it is scituate in the midst of Greece But without hyperbole Christ is the Catholick and universal Monarch of the whole world He seeth and ruleth all places All places are to him alike We need not vow a pilgrimage to Rome or to Jerusalem we need not take our scrip and staff to go thither De Britannia de Hierosolymis aequaliter patet aura coelestis The way to this Kingdome is as near out of Britanny as out of Hierusalem saith St. Hierome to Paulinus Totius mundi vox una CHRISTUS Christ is become the language of the whole world The Prophets are plain the Psalms full of testimonies In thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed saith God to Abraham Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance Psal 2. 8. and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession saith God to Christ The Gospel must be preached to all nations saith our Saviour But as the Sun hath its race through all the world but yet doth not shine in every part at once but beginneth in the East and passeth to the South and so to the West and as it passeth forward it bringeth light to one place and withdraweth it from another so is it with the Sun of righteousness he spreads his beams on those who were in darkness and the shadow of death and makes it night to them who had the clearest noon Not that his race is confined as is the Suns but because of the interposition of mens sins who exclude themselves from his beams And now to proceed to our fourth head of difference As this is the largest of all Kingdomes so it is the most lasting Other Kingdomes last not Quibus evertendis una dies hora momentum sufficit Though they have been many years a raising to their height yet a day an hour a moment is enough to blow them down and lay them level with the ground And while they last they continue not uniform but have their climacterical years and fatal periods Though they grow up like the tree and be Dan. 4. strong and their height reach unto heaven yet there may come an Angel some messenger from heaven and hew down the tree and cut off his branches and scatter his fruit and not leave so much as the stump of its root in the earth Justine hath calculated the three first Monarchies and Sleidan all four and we have seen their beginning and their end But the God of heaven hath set up a Kingdome which shall never be destroyed and it shall break to pieces and consume all those Kingdoms but it self shall stand fast Dan. 2. 44. for ever We will conclude with the Riches of this Kingdome If Money were virtue and earthly Honor salvation if the Jasper were holiness and the Sapphire obedience if those Pearls in the Revelation were virtues then that of our Saviour would be true in this sense also The Kingdome of heaven would be taken by violence The Covetous the Ambitious the Publicanes and Sinners would all be candidati angelorum joynt-suiters and competitors for an angels place Behold then in this Kingdome are Riches which never fail not Money but Virtue not Honor but Salvation not the Jasper and the Sapphire but that Pearl which is better than all our estate For God and the Saints when they speak of Profit and Gain take it not in that
stand upright at the great day of tryal Neither did these monsters only blemish this doctrine but it received some stain also from their hands who were its stoutest champions Not to mention Clemens Alexandrinus Theophilus Cyprian Hilary and others St. Augustine that great pillar of the truth and whose memory will be ever pretious in the Church though he often interpret the word Justification for Remission of sins yet being deceived by the likeness of sound in these two words JUSTIFICARE and SANCTIFICARE doth in many places confound them both and make Justification to be nothing else but the making of a man just So in his Book De Spiritu Litera c. 26. interpreting that of the Apostle Being justified freely by his grace he makes this discant Non ait PER LEGEM sed PER GRATIAM He doth not say by the Law but by Grace And he gives his reason Ut sanet gratia voluntatem ut sanata voluntas impleat legem That Grace might cure the Will and the Will being freed might fulfill the Law And in his Book De Spiritu Gratia he saith Spiritus Sanctus diffundit charitatem quâ unâ justi sunt quicunque justi sunt The holy Spirit powers out his love into our hearts by which Love alone they are just whosoever are just And whosoever is but little conversant in that Father shall soon observe that where he deals with the Pelagian he makes the grace of Justification and of Sanctification all one Now that which the Father says is true but ill placed For in every Christian there is required Newness of life and Sanctity of conversation but what is this to Justification and Remission of sins which is no quality inherent in us but the act of God alone As therefore Tully speaks of Romulus who kill'd his brother Peccavit pace vel Quirini vel Romuli dixerim By Romulus his good leave though he were the founder of our Common-wealth he did amiss So with reverence to so worthy and so pious a Saint we may be bold to say of great St. Augustine that if he did not erre yet he hath left those ill weighed speeches behind him which give countenance to those foul mishapen errours which blur and deface that mercy which wipes away our sins For Aquinas in his 1 a 2 ae q. 113. though he grant what he cannot deny because it is a plain Text That Remission of sins is the Not-imputation of sins yet he adds That Gods wrath will not be appeased till Sin be purged out and a new habit of Grace infused into the soul which God doth look upon and respect when he forgives our sins Hence those unsavory tenets of the Romish Church That Justification is not a pronouncing but a making one righteous That inherent holiness is the formal cause of Justification That we may redeem our sins and puchase forgiveness by Fasting Almes-deeds and other good works All which if she do not expose to the world in this very garb and shape yet she so presents them that they seem to speak no less so that her followers are very apt and prompt to come towards them and embrace them even in this shape And although Bellarmine by confounding the term of Justification and distinguishing of a Faith informed with Charity and a Faith which is not and by putting a difference between the works of the Law and those which are done by the power and virtue of the holy Spirit and by allotting no reward but that which is freely promised and promised to those who are in the state of grace and adoption though by granting that the Reward doth far exceed the dignity of our Works he striveth to bring the Church of Rome as near to St. Paul as he can and lays all the colours he hath to make her opinion resemble his yet when he tells us that the Good works of the Saints may truly satisfie the Law of God and merit eternal life when he makes our Satisfaction go hand in hand with Christs and that Fasting and Prayer and Alms are satisfactory not only for punishment but for all punishment and which is more for the guilt it self he hath in effect unsaid what formerly he had laid down concerning the free Remission of our sins and made so wide a breach between St. Paul and their Church as neither St. Peter nor all the Saints they invocate are able to close In a word he speaks as good sense as Theodorus Antiochenus doth in Photius his Bibliotheca who makes a twofold Forgiveness of sins the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those things which we have done the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Impeccancie or Leaving off to Sin So that we may say with Photius What this Forgiveness is or from whence it is is impossible to find out No doubt God taketh notice of the graces he hath bestowed on his children and registreth every good work they do and will give an eternal reward not only to the Faith of Abraham the Chastity of Joseph the Patience of Job the Meekness of Moses the Zeal of Phinehas the Devotion of David but even to the Widows two mites cast into the treasury to a cup of cold water given to a thirsty Disciple Yet most true it is that all the righteousness of all the Saints cannot merit forgiveness And we will take no other reason or proof for this position but that of Bellarmins Non acceptat Deus in veram satisfactionem pro peccato nisi justitiam infinitam God must have an infinite satisfaction because the sin is infinite Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Shall I bring the merits of one Saint and the supererogations of another and add to these the treasury of the Church All these are but as an atome to the infinite mass of our Sin Shall I yet add my Fasting my Alms my Tears my Devotion All these will vanish at the guilt of Sin and melt before it as wax before the Sun We must therefore disclaim all hope of help from our selves or any or all creatures in earth or in heaven It is only the Lamb of God who taketh John 1. 29. away the sins of the world the Man Christ Jesus is the only Mediatour between 1 Tim. 2. 5. God and Man He alone is our Advocate with the Father and the 1 John 2. 1 2. propitiation for our sins His bloud cleanseth us from all sin In him we have 1 John 1. 7. Eph. 1. 7. Eph. 3. 12. redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of sins In him we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him In his name therefore who taught us thus to pray let us put up this Petition Forgive us our debts and our prayer will be graciously heard and we shall be accepted in the Beloved Eph. 1. 6. all our Debt will be remitted through the merits of our Surety who hath
though it be not necessary yet is it very probable For these two To be covetous or luxurious or wanton and To be ready to forgive Cannot lodge in the same breast For we see Prodigality as well as Covetousness is the whetstone to our Anger and makes it keen and sharp The wisdom which is from above is first pure then peacable gentle easie to be entreated full of good fruits saith St. James And the Charity which forgiveth trespasses beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things and doth nothing unseemly For the mind of the compassionate is like the Heavens Semper illic serenum est There is continual serenity and a perpetual day there He is as Wax fit to receive any character or impression of Goodness and retain it He is a fit object for Gods benefits to work upon He is melted at the light of Gods countenance and yields at the very sight of his hammer And if the beams of that light his sweet insinuations and instructions fall upon him they fall not as upon a wave of the Sea tost with the wind and carried about where the impression must needs be flitting and vanishing and the reflexion wavering and unequal but as upon a still and quiet cloud the reflexion is equal and glorious And this reflexion is nothing else but the image of God according to which we are renewed In our Compassion and Long-suffering in our Forgiveness of our brethren we present unto God his own image monetam ipsius inscriptam nomine hominem misericordem a merciful man a piece of mony taken out of his own mint stampt with his own mark and character with his own image and superscription And when he makes-up his jewels his special treasure as the Prophet Malachy speaks he will acknowledge them for his own and will spare them as a man spareth his own son which serveth him Then Mercy shall rejoice and triumph against Justice and open the gates of heaven to those who opened the bowels of Compassion to their brethren Then for that Charity which covered our brothers trespasses we shall have a robe of righteousness to cover ours for curses we shall have blessing for a prison heaven and for disgrace a crown Then we shall feel the power of this virtue and how prevalent it is with God Then as we have manifested our selves to be his children by performance of this Condition so will he manifest himself a Father in removing our transgressions from us as far as the East is from the West And as a father pitieth his children So will the Lord pity those who have been pitiful and merciful to their brethren Now to this Father of mercies the God of all comfort be all honour and glory for ever The One and Fourtieth SERMON PART I. MATTH VI. 13. And lead us not into tentation but deliver us from evil BEfore we make a full discovery or enter upon a just exposition of this Petition we shall first observe the order and connexion which is between these two between REMITTE Forgive us our trespasses and NE INDUCAS Lead us not into tentation as Travellers which hasten to their journeys end yet take notice of every remarkable object in their way After we have deprecated the greatest evil that evil of Sin which entitleth us to an everlasting curse we here deprecate the least evil even the occasion of evil which may lead unto it And being unfettered by a plenary indulgence from a merciful Father we are afraid of those shackles with which we were formerly bound FORGIVE US OUR SINS Hoc omnia optanda complectitur This comprehends all the happiness of a Christian This is the centre wherein all our hopes and desires are at rest What can a Christian desire more Yes unum adhuc superest there is one thing more Not to sin any more to abstein from all appearance of sin and as good Captains use not to be so confident of a truce of that peace of conscience which is sealed unto us by Remission of sins as not to prepare our selves for war quod etiamsi non geritur indictum est which though battle be not offered is denounced against us And this is the condition of every Christian He must leave off sin before he can be forgiven and when he is forgiven he must fly from it as from a Serpent which hath stung him startle at the very sight and thought of it prepare and arm himself against those tentations which may engage him and make him stand in need of a second Forgiveness which may wheel and circle him about from the love of Sin to the desire of Pardon and from Pardon to Sin again till he can neither ask pardon nor sin any more In this order these two Petitions stand Remission of sins goes before but is not alone It is first REMITTE Forgive us and then NE INDUCAS Lead us not into tentation REMITTE is not all all is not Forgiveness We must pray also to be strengthned against tentations plead at the barr for this consequent Mercy that takes away sin and co-operate with preventing Mercy which may quite abolish it And with these we shall exercise your Devotion at this time First before Remission before we are reconciled to God we are no better then the Devils mark at which he shoots his fiery darts We are a prey for this Fox and this Lion who will first deceive and then devour us Though we avoid divers tentations though we yield not when he flatters in some pleasing allurement though we tremble not when he roars in the terrours of some biting affliction though we stand strong against all his assaults yet those sins which we have already committed will sink us Not that I think that all the actions of a person not justified are sins or that in this state he can do nothing which can please God or be accepted with him or that his best works are venial sins as Luther or an abomination unto God as Calvin hath taught that his Prayers his Alms his Patience his Meekness his moral Honesty are mortal sins as the Schools too boldly have determined that whilst he remains unreconciled he offends God not only by his sins but by his virtues by Temperance as well as by Riot by Hearing the Word as well as by Contemning it by doing Good as well as by doing Evil. For he who hath publisht the rule and as it were imprinted his will in his Law cannot be offended with that action which is answerable to that rule He who hath endued us with Reason cannot be displeased with his creature when he doth operam dare rationi as Augustine speaks make use of that talent which he hath given and walk by that light which he hath kindled in his soul For what is our Reason but a portion from Gods Divine Wisdom a beam from his infinite Light which he hath given us not only to procure those things which are necessary for the uses of this life but
unpleasing sound but if we will attend and hearken to them they are sermons and instructions and they may serve to order and compose rotam nativitatis the whole wheel of our nature And first they work upon the Understanding part to clear and enlighten that We see not only seeds of moral conversation those practick notions which were born with us but also those seeds of saving knowledge which we gather from the Scripture and improve by instruction and practise never so darkned and obscured as when Pleasures and Delights have taken full possession of our souls And as we see in sick and distempered men that the light of their reason is dimmed and their mind disturbed which proceeds from those vicious vapors which their corrupt humors do exhale it is so in the Soul and Understanding which could not but apprehend objects as they are and in their own likeness as it were not dazled and amazed with intervenient and impatient objects and phantasms but being blinded by the God of this world it sees objects indeed but through the vanities of the world which as coloured Glass present the object much like unto themselves Sin hath now the face and beauty of Virtue Envy is emulation Covetousness thrift Prodigality bounty the Gospel a promulgation of liberty and a priviledge to sin Things now appear unto us as upon a stage in masques and vizards and strange apparel Now when the hand of God is upon us when to expel that sin which a delightful tentation hath occasioned he maks us feel the smart of one quite contrary and to drive out that which entred with delight he sends another with a whip when this cross tentation hath cut of all hopes of enjoying such pleasing objects as have taken us up the Understanding hath more liberty then before to retire into it self and begins evigilare to awake as a man out of sleep and to enjoy a kind of heaven and serenity which before did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Platonicks speak sleep in a hell of confusion and darkness Now the seeds of Goodness being freed from the attractive force of allurements begin to recover life and strength and sprout forth into those apprehensions which bring with them a loathing of that evil which before they converst withal as with a familiar friend And anon every sin appears in his own shape Envy is Murder Covetousness Idolatry Prodigality Folly and the Gospel a Sanctuary not for Libertines but Repentants In my prosperity I said saith David I shall never be moved Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled I cryed unto thee O Lord Psal 30. 6 7 8 and unto the Lord I made my supplication It is strange saith Calvine that God should enlighten Davids eyes by hiding his face without the light of whose countenance even Knowledge it self is no better than Darkness But we find it most true that when one temptation doth infatuate a contrary is brought-in to make men wise Secondly the Will of man as it is a free so is a perverse and froward faculty and many times Planet-wise moveson in its own way contrary to the strong circumvolution of the First mover But the Temptations of the left hand serve to settle its irregular motion and to make it wait upon Reason For having followed the deceitful allurements of the World and finding gall and bitterness upon every seeming delight having found death in the Harlots lips and misery in every way she wandered she begins to renounce her self and though she be free to every object yet she fastens her self on one alone and hath her eye alwayes upon the Understanding as the eye of the hand-maid is upon the eye of the mistress who directs her Lastly Tentations may have their operation on the Memory and revive those decay'd characters whether of Gods blessings or of our own sins and bring those sins which did lurk in secret into the open light How soon when we are at quiet and ease do we forget God how soon do we forget our selves How many benefits how many sins are torn out of our memories Who remembers his own soul in this calm or can think that he hath a soul Who thinks of Sin in Jollity So that it may seem to be a kind of tentation to be long free from tentation We read in the book of Genesis that Joseph's brethren made no scruple of the sin they committed against him for fourteen years together but being cast into prison they presently call it to mind and that upon no apparent reason We are verily guilty concerning our brother and therefore is this distress come upon us Beloved afflictions are to us à memoriâ and though they be tentations to distrust and murmuring yet they may prove and so they are intended like Joseph unto his brethren remembrancers to us to remove the callum the hardness of our consciences and make them quick of sense that we may ab ipso morbo remedium sumere force a remedy from the disease and make even Sin advantageous to us by removing it out of the Affection where it playes the parasite and fixing it in the Memory where it is a fury where it is as operative to destroy as it was in the Affection to increase it self To contemplate Sin and to view the horror of it and the hell it deserves is enough to break our hearts and bow our wills and to make us hate and detest Sin more than Hell it self Again in the third place this exercise in tentations doth not only draw us to repentance for sins past but also serves as a fence or guard to those virtues and saving graces which make us gracious in the sight of God it doth temper that portion in us which is the Spirits that it prove not more dangerous and fatal than that of the Flesh For as Bernard discanteth upon Porphyrie's definition of Man HOMO EST ANIMAL RATIONALE MORTALE Man is a rational but mortal creature The Mortal saith he doth temper the Rational that it do not swell and the Rational strengthen the Mortal that it do not weaken and dead our spirits And therefore St. Augustine was bold to pronounce that it was very happy for some men that they did fall in tentations For Pride which threw down the Angels from heaven will grow not only upon Power and Beauty and Pomp of the world but upon the choicest virtues and like those plantae parasiticae those parasitical plants which will grow but upon other plants it sucks out the very juice and spirits of them and is nourisht with that which quickens those virtues and keeps them alive When we have stood strong against temptations quâdam delectatione sibimet ipsi animus blanditur there ariseth in our soul a kind of delight which doth fâ—â—tter and tickle us to death Fovea mentis memoria virtutis saith Gregory Too much to look back upon our beauty and too steddily
the Schools call them these airy speculations these faint endeavours of the thoughts will not make it up These are strivings rather than resistings similes conatibus expergisci volentium as Augustine speaketh like to the turnings and liftings of men who would awake but that sleep is so heavy on them that they cannot They resist and fall off awake and fall down again upon their pillow fast asleep some sparkles some scintillations and the business of the mind We may consent for all these and joyn with them after we have bid so many defiances to them That which makes up our consent is a strong and undaunted Resolution upon no parley upon no terms to admit them though they flatter yet to stand out though they threaten yet to stand out though they come in a low voice or though they come in the whirlwind and earthquake though they promise kingdoms or threaten death not to consent In this case what is fully resolved is done already Quicquid imperavit sibi animus obtinuit The mind of man is of that power as to create that which it commands it self If it lay upon it self the strictness of Temperance it hath set-up that virtue in it self If it command Chastity it is an Eunuch for the kingdom of heaven Whatsoever it will it doth whatsoever it purposeth it hath In a word if we truly resolve we shall never give consent and if we give consent we may be sure that we did never truly resolve For to speak truth the reason why tentations are so importunate can be no other but this That we make them so and by our indifferency and irresolution prepare a way for them and even invite them to come on and do as the Aequi told the Romans ostentare bellum non gerere rather denounce war against them than wage it vow against them profess against them bid them open defiance but never resolve to keep them out And this is the great error of our lives this is the shame of a Christian Souldier to beat his brains and exercise his thoughts in these vain ventilations and flourishes in big words and loud defiances in promises and vows as the children of Ephraim to be ready harnessed to talk of the Sword of the spirit and the Shield of faith and the Helmet of salvation and then turn Psal 78. 9. back in the day of battel Nihil indignius quà m consumi virtutem ubi non potest ostendi saith the Historian There is nothing more unworthy a souldier than to wast and spend his strength in those low imployments where it cannot be shewn The strength and virtue of a Christian is most seen in a firm resolution which makes quick dispatch and at once puts the enemy to flight It is no more but Nolle Not to be willing to consent and the victory is ours and the Temptation overcome nay put to confusion and annihilated is no more a tentation There is no delight in Pleasure no beauty in Riches no loveliness in Honour no horror on Afflictions no terror on Death If you ask how you may conquer them I will give no other answer than Aquinas did to his sister SI NOLIS You have done it already if you will not consent But yet in the next place though the Will be of greater activity than all the Temptations of the world yet it is a faculty seducible and which may be swayed and bowed to incline to that object which it loathed Nor is there any clock which is carelesly lookt unto so loose and disordered in its wheels and parts and indication of the hour as is the Will if it be not carefully watched sometimes pointing to this and sometimes to that and then running back again to that point where it was before Therefore our safest course is to be indeed alwaies ready prepared to the battel but not to provoke the enemy to fight fugiendo pugnare to fight flying and by removing our selves at such a distance that no dart of Satan may reach us to fly from Tentation as from a Serpent tanquam à facie aspidis as from his gaping mouth and deadly poyson tanquam à facie to fly not only from its poyson and sting but from the very face and sight of it and as St. Paul exhorts to abstain from all appearance of evil not only from 1 Thess 5. 22. those gross and palpable tentations but from the very phantasmes and apparitions the very image of them non à vero tantùm sed à picto malo to detest Sin not onely in the deformity of it but in the very representation and to hate it even in a picture Therefore St. Hierome counsels Eustochium that she should not have access into Noble-mens houses nor often see that by the contemning of which she was a virgin Disce saith he in hac parte superbiam Sanctam Learn in this respect a holy pride and vouchsafe not to converse with them whose pomp and glory may bewitch thee to a liking Scito te illis esse meliorem Know thou art far better than these Nazianzene tells us of his mother Nonna that she would not give her hand to a heathen woman though she were of alliance to her not salute her non commune saledere not eat or sit at table with her Cyprian Epist 77. laies it down as his opinion That we ought not to feast or talk with Schismaticks but be separate as far from them as they are from the Church Tertullian though he permits Christians to live with the Heathen yet he would not have them die with them licet convivere commori non licet And therefore he interdicts them the feasts of shews of the Ethnicks Nay so scrupulous is he in removing the occasions of sin and every thing that may prove a tentation that he doth blame not onely the making of Idols but the very art of the Statuary as unlawful and proceeds yet further to inhibite Christians from being Schoolmasters because they must be forct to mention the names of the heathen Gods although indeed this they must have done if they had preached against them and scarce any makes more frequent mention of them than himself I do not propose these as patterns or ensamples for us to follow nor do I know any warrant to do it but only I commend unto you the reason which made the Fathers so scrupulous Which was nothing else but the danger they conceived to be in the very representation of Sin For it is not safe to give place to the devil but to keep him off at such a distance that as Eph. 4. 27. far as we can he may not tempt us not to retreat or shun the combat when he assaults us but yet not to call for it Equà m parvis veniunt summa mala principiis How great a matter doth a little fire a very spark kindle What great evils have been raised from very small beginnings What danger in a look in a glaunce of the
noxious and malignant humor It is but a word but a syllable but as the cloud in the Book of Kings as big as a mans hand but as that anon covered all the heavens over and yielded great store of rain so may this word this syllable yield us plenty of instruction But we will confine and limit our discourse and draw those lines which we will pass by and which we will not exceed We shall shew 1. how Sin is ours 2. That all sins are ours 3. That they are only ours and lastly That they are wholly and totally ours that so we may agere poenitentìam plenam as the Ancients used to speak that our exomologesis may be open and sincere and our repentance full and compleat And of these in their order There is nothing more properly ours than Sin Not our Bodies For God formed Man of the dust of the ground de limo terrae quasi ex utero matris Gen. 2 7. saith Tertullian shaped him out of the earth as out of his mothers womb Not our Souls For he breathed into us the breath of life Not our Understandings For he kindled this great light in our souls Not our Affections For he imprinted them in our nature Not the Law For it is but a beam and a radiation from that eternal Law which was alwayes with him Quòd lex bona est nostrum non est quòd malè vivimus nostrum That the Law is just and holy and true is not from us but that we break this law this we can attribute to none but our selves Nec nobis quicquam infoelicius in peccato habemus quà m nos auctores And this may seem our greatest infelicity that when Sin lyes at our doors we can find no father for it but our selves and that we are the authors of that evil which destroys us Now this propriety which we have to Sin ariseth from the very nature of Man who was not made only Lord of the world but had free possession given him of himself and that freedom and power of Will which was libripens emancipati à Deo boni which doth hold the balance and weigh and poise both Good and Evil and may touch and strike either skale as he pleaseth For Man is not good or evil by necessity or chance but by the freedom of his Will quod à Deo rationaliter attributum ab homine verò quà voluit agitatum which was wisely given him of God but is managed by man at pleasure and levelled and directed to either object either good or evil either life or death So that it is not my Knowledge of evil it is not my Remembrance of evil it is not my Contemplation of sin nay it is not my Acting of sin I mean the producing of the outward act which makes Sin mine but my Will Voluntas mali malos efficit sed scientia mali non facit scientes malos saith Parisiensis Sin may be in the understanding and in the Memory and yet not mine I may know it and loath it I may remember and abhor it I may do some act which the Law forbids and yet not break that Law But when my Will which doth reign as an Empress over every faculty of the soul and over every part of the body which saith unto this part Go and it goes and to another Do this and it doth it when this commanding faculty doth once yield and give her assent against that Law which is just fit jam proprietas mali in homine quodammodo natura saith Tertullian then Sin is our choice our purchase our possession and there ariseth a kind of propriety and it is made in a manner natural unto us because we receive and admit it into our very nature at that gate which we might have shut against it The Adulterer may think that he is not guilty of sin till he have taken his fill of lust but that sin was his when his will first yielded An putas tunc primùm te intrare meritorium cùm fornicem meretricis ingrederis saith St. Ambrose Dost thou think thou then first entredst the stews when thou didst first set foot in the harlots house Intrasti jam cùm cogitationes tuas meretrix intravit Thou wert in already when the strange woman entred thy thoughts And when thy will had determined its act thou wert an adulterer though thou knewest no woman And St. Augustine gives the reason Nihil enim aliud quà m ipsum velle est habere quod volumus For to have that which I will it is enough to will it Villicus si velit nihil peccat saith Columella The Steward or Farmer doth nothing amiss unless he will Homo potest peccare sed si nolit non facit saith the Father Man may sin but if he sin there can be no other reason given but his Will For the Will is of that power as to entitle me to sin though I break not forth into action and when I am forced to the outward act to quit me from the guilt of sin to denominate me either evil or good when I do neither evil nor good and when my hands are shackled and bound Lucrece was ravisht by Tarquin and yet was as chast as before and the Oratour said well Duo fuerunt adulterium unus admisit There were two in the fact and but one committed adultery For natural Reason did suggest this Mentem peccare non corpus That it is the Mind and Will and not the Body which sins and where there is a strong resolution not to offend there can be no offense at all For it is not in my power what to do or not to do but it is in my power to will or not to will to make choice or refuse And therefore there is no such danger in the doctrine of Freewill as some have phansied to themselves and brought it in as an argument against it that it is dangerous For though my Will be free my Power is restrained and hath bounds set it Thus far shall I go and no farther 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Hierocles Those things which are before me I may choose but those I cannot which are out of my reach I may will the ruin of a Kingdom when I am not able to destroy a cottage I may will the death of my brother and yet not be able to lift up my finger against him My Will is illimited but my Power hath bounds And indeed it was not an argument against Freewill but a Rhetorical flourish and empty boast which we find in Martin Luther Veniant magnifici illi liberi arbitrii ostentatores saith he Let those loud and glorious upholders of Freewill come and shew this freedom but in the killing of a flea For he mistook and made our Power and Will to an act all one when it is plain and manifest that he who cannot challenge a power to kill a flea yet may put on a will and resolution to murder a
Prince Thus in all our actions the Will is all in all in those which we perfect and in those which take no effect in good and in evil in virtue and in sin For as in our diary and register of Gods deeds we may reckon not onely those which we have done but those which we would have done and put in not only those alms which our hands did distribute but those which we were willing to give and could not Plus enim metit conscientia quà m gesta saith Hilary for our Conscience may reap the fruit of more than it actually sows and applaud us for actions which were not in the compass of our power to perform So in the catalogue of our Sins we must place not only evil Actions but evil Resolutions not only Adultery but Lust not Murder alone but the Thirst of revenge not only that sin which I have committed but those which I would but could not For potest aliquis nocens esse quamvis non nocuerit Though I hurt no body yet am I not hereby justified And though the Will be frustrate yet it is a Will still ipsa sibi imputatur saith Tertullian nec excusari potest per illam perficiendi infoelicitatem operata quod suum est and having determined its act it is not excused by any intervening impediment which comes in between the outward act and the Will And being Mistress of all our actions of all our faculties she it is alone when we sin which denominates us evil In a word Though Sin gather strength from Custome yet it hath its beginning and being from the Will which doth most unhappily appropriate Sins unto us and makes them our sins And so I leave this enquiry How Sins are ours and pass to our second consideration That all sins are ours It is a frequent saying in St. Augustine and most commonly taken up by all that came after him Adeò voluntarium est peccatum ut si non sit voluntarium non sit peccatum Sin is a thing so voluntary that if it be not voluntary it is not Sin And it is true not in this or that but in all sins of what degree or size soever in sins of Malice and sins of Infirmity in sins of Ignorance and those of Subreption which steal upon us and surprize us unawares For first in sins of Malice which have neither Ignorance nor Infirmity to mitigate or allay them but are done out of knowledge and custome and proceed from a Will depraved with Hatred and Envy and Pride or some such malignant and vitious habit we may seem to have made a whole surrendry of our Will to study and contrive sin to call it unto us as the Wiseman speaks with our words and works bellum legibus Wisd 1. 16. inferre to wage war with the Law and God himself For at the first entrance of Sin we may seem to yield as some besieged Towns which are well victualled and stored upon tearms and composition Some wedge of gold some smiling pleasure some flattering honor some hopes or other we entertain before we let the enemy enter But in a while we make captivity a sport servitutem nostram quotidiè emimus quotidiè pascimus and buy our slavery at a price We become devils to our selves and fall when no enemy pursues We count liberty as bondage and like those who live in perpetual night think there is no day at all We sin and multiply our sin And what Pliny spake of Regulus is most true here Quicquid à Regulo fit necesse est fieri sicut non oportet Whatsoever we do will be done amiss because we do it Now in these sins of Malice we cannot once doubt that the Will is wanting In hac passivitate vitae in hac diligentia delictorum in this pascivity and licentiousness of life in this study and affectation of sins when we have incorporated and as it were consubstantiated them with us we may well call them ours For we have risen up early and lain down late to purchase and accomplish them And yet the Will may seem to be more strongly besieged here than when we fall by infirmity For there it was but a proffer a shew that made her yield but now she is held under by custome there the enemy put up conditions here it is Vae victis and the Will is led captive in chains Notwithstanding the sins which we now commit are most voluntary And the Philosopher gives the reason in his Ethicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Seneca renders it Principia habuimus in nostra potestate pòst ablati impetu Indeed now we are hurried about with a kind of violence but the beginning of all was in our power and we might at first have kept off that habit which now lyes so heavy upon us and in a manner necessitateth us to evil He that flings a stone hath no power to recall it but he needed not to have flung it at all He who hath contracted a disease by intemperance though he groan in his sickness yet may truly be said to be wilfully sick because his Will did embrace that which he knew was the mother of diseases And he who pretends he would leave his sin and cannot doth at once deceive and accuse himself For neither is he willing to leave his sin who continues in it and if it were true that he could not yet he must find the cause in himself which brought him under these hard terms of necessity Besides even his continuance in sin is voluntary For though it be hard to redeem himself yet it is not impossible For I cannot see how the resistance of any habit can be stronger then the Will especially when it meeteth with Gods favour and assistance to succour it Non est fortior nequitia virtute saith Seneca No habit of Vice is stronger than Virtue Quod quasi naturaliter inolevit poni potest si annitaris That which is made a kind of second nature in us may be cast off if we seriously strive So that not only these sins of Malice but even our continuance in them is free and voluntary and plainly ours If we commit them if we do not leave them because of some difficulty we cannot impute it to any but our selves The same may be said of our sins of Infirmity when not Habit or Custome not the Love of sin but Fear or Anger or some tentation of the Flesh prevails against us For the Will hath power over all these There is no Anger which it may not quench no Fear which it cannot dispel no Tentation which it may not tread under foot And to him that shall ask how he may withstand these we will give no other answer than Aquinas gave his sister when she askt him how she might be saved SI VELIT He may if he will And therefore though I call these sins of Infirmity yet I do it not upon those reasons and grounds which the Schools