prophecie but a dark mystery what is eloquence but untunable musick what is munificence but prodigality what is martyrdome but a rash and unadvised slaying a mans self Without love they may all hang down in their own weaknesse and infirmity and therefore Saint Paul tells us We know but in part and therefore prophecie but in part We know but in part that 's the first and I fear the time will suffer me to go no farther We know but in part Take knowledge to be what you will take it at the largest extent the wisest men on earth those that have been in the uppermost chambers of Divinity and sounded the depths of all Learning yea that have gone round all humane Learning they know but in part Some things there are that we know not and there are some things we know but in part and what we know objectively it may be full but subjectively it is weak First some things we know not as the Essence of God instant in things past and to come we cannot know it it is not fit for our understanding Who knows what God did before the world Who knows when the Angels were created who knows we may collect and conjecture but who can positively affirm it who can tell whether the Sun before the Stars were created did rise and set or no those are beyond our knowledge We know not the end of the world when all things shall be out of date when the tongue shall be tied up from prophecying in this world when faith shall be turned into feeblenesse and hope into quaking and that when hope shall quake love shall stand still when the rest faint and vanish This is confirmed in the words neer the Text and in the words of my Text. The Argument stands thus That which is but in part cannot last But knowledg is but in part and faith is but in part For we know but in part and we prophecie but in part And beloved if so be these Preachers you have heard have faln short in any particular in the prosecution of their Text and if I as I know I must being weary of proceeding and I undervalue my own thoughts neither will I be so in love with the brood of my own brain as to trouble you and my self long with it but onely in behalf of all the Ministers that have preached and of my self that we know but in part and prophecie but in part The head and tongue divide the Text the head is like unto Heaven that doth disperse abroad its light and influence by the tongue and the tongue it is a many-stringed instrument whereby we do praise God Here 's the knowledge of the head the tongue but that this tongue may be tied up from self-commendation therefore we come to the ignorant terms of antipathy as Why doth the Load-stone draw Iron to it what answer can we give but that it is the quality as much as to say I do not know And so for the times to come it is not for us to know the times of God Prophecies are best understood in the fulfilling of them there are many things God hath left to his own Cabinet-Councel and we must not intrude into them Secret things belong to God but revealed things to as and to our children And secondly our knowledge is but imperfect in respect of the object We see but through a glass darkly and imperfectly First what can we say or know of God Damasin saith he is not an essence or substance he is somewhat above we do not know what to call him bring in a contribution of all kind of language there 's too much inability to expresse the nature of Almighty God our knowledge of God rises not by adding to it but as a statue rises by cutting somewhat from it and we know him by an imperfect knowledge We see the Sun in a dim kind of way we see but the back-parts of God as we see a man that is past we have but a glimpse of it And so for the Trinity the Father Son and holy Ghost three Persons and one God it is a mystery that made Hillary cry out and fall back and go again and say there 's a stupidity in my understanding I know not what to say and therefore the Nicene Fathers would not have the words of Essence used they thought there was more in God And so for the Decree of God how far is it beyond our knowledge How unsearchable are his Judgments they are past finding out And if you cannot finde out the reason of Gods decrees see the reason of it it is well for you to be of his Court though not of his Councel His decrees may amaze a man to consider them read but Saint Pauls discourse how shall we puzzle and gravel what shall we say more then this I will not say Do thou reason the case how thou wilt Ego credam I will believe And then fourthly for the Creation of the world what a vast difference is there between nothing and something We may believe there is a Creation but we cannot grasp it in our understanding And then in the fifth place the prophanation of sin That God should create us so holy that the body should have no sin in it and yet there should now be sin in both body soul we know it But how do we know it Come to the Person and Offices of Christ that he that was the Ancient of dayes should dye that he that was the mouth of his Father and the Word should not speak this is a mystery and great is the mystery And then again the mystery or our bodies that our bodies should be destroyed that they should be turned to ashes or cut in pieces and one piece many miles from another and yet the same body to arise gloriously We may believe it but we are not able to conceive it Now to the joyes of Heaven Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the joyes that are there The eye can see far and the ear can hear far the one can see the lightning afar off and the other hear the thunder yet eye and ear are both dull and heavy if you bring them to the consideration of this thing here are things unutterable I was rapt up into the third Heaven saith Saint Paul and I saw things that were unutterable And so for the Scriptures though in all things necessary to salvation the Scriptures are plain and evident but take many places of the Scripture how far remote are they from our understanding what great mysteries are there One being asked what God was took first a day then two then three dayes then four and so the farther he went to search the more he was plunged So in the Scriptures some places are plain a Lamb may feed in them In prophecies we fix upon one man he must be the deliverer we see him taken from the world
leave granting till Abraham did leave asking It may be if he had come to lesse God would have spared them he did so in another place If there be but one to stand in the gap I will spare them Look upon Manasseh a most abominable Idolater who cut Esau in pieces with an iron sawe and made the streets of Jerusalem to run with bloud yet when he prayed unto God God did forgive him Mary Magdalene that had seven Devils she washed our Saviours feet with the hairs of her head that had been nets to catch fools bestowed that costly ointment which she had used upon her self upon Christ Christ accepts of it he applauds it he rewards it he is prone unto mercy and more prone unto mercy then unto judgement The Prodigal son when he returns home to his Father his Father runs and meets him when he was afar off and he doth not strike him or chide him but he falls upon his neck puts his ring upon his finger The Shepherd when he findes his sheep that was lost he doth not beat it but he laies it upon his neck Thirdly consider the circumstances of this mercy Consider first who it is that doth forgive Who why the God of Heaven and Earth he that hath Vials of wrath in his hand and could pour them upon us we that are his inferiours and his enemies we though we do bear with our superiours we will trample upon our inferiours but God doth not so Thirdly Consider what God in mercy doth forgive us and that is sin Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sin is pardoned David doth not place his blessings in his Beauty he was ruddy of complexion nor in his government though he was a great King nor in his preferment he was taken from the sheep to be head over Israel But here is his happinesse Blessed is he whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sin is pardoned Nay how often doth God do this seven times no but as often as Christ commands us to forgive our brethren seventy seven times as often as we forgive our brethren so we offend not out of malice but return and repent God will have mercy on us There went but one word to the making of the world but there go many to the saving of a soul 1 Pet. 1.8 And now judge and examine if you can imagine what a depth and height there is in this mercy of God I come to the Application in brief and so to put an end to this Sermon This may be an Antidote a Preservative against desperation unto poor dejected souls and disconsolate sinners that God is as merciful as just and delights more in mercy then in justice What a precious balsome is this for a wounded sinner And consider first that desperation it is most injurious unto our selves a wound that cannot possibly be healed by us If a Chirurgeon laies on a plaister and we cast it away what hope is there of cure for us And if God sends us the comforts of the Gospel and if we sit down sullen and cast them away what comfort can we have Desperation is compared to a beast with horns it pushes against mercy What for a man to despair of mercy is it but to spill his bloud upon the ground or to throw it in the air with Julian or to hang it on a Tree with Judas that God should drink to us in a cup of salvation and we to pledge him in a cup of damnation that is derogatory from God The Devil comes to us and sayes Thy sins are too great the mercies of God are too precious for thee shall we believe that lyar rather then he that sayes I have been wounded for you I will take your sins upon me and heal you Will you make God a lyar and the Devil true Secondly look upon the steps of desperation the several steps of it he did name divers * Ingratitude Infidelity steps but insisted only upon this to wit Presumption The wicked man begins in presumption but ends in despair When their flatteries have touled them a long time on and perswaded them that their case is good at last their souls are stifled with the consideration of their sins by presumption what more contrary and yet presumption it is the very rode way to desperation If I am abroad long either in the Sun or in the Snow my eyes will be so dazeled I shall hardly see When I have been in the glorious Sun-shine of the mercy of God in the Halcyon dayes of prosperity I cannot taste any thing but of a Saviour A presumptuous man is like unto one that is asleep upon a rock and dreaming of a rock of Pearl suddenly starts up and falls into the Sea Take heed the Devil do not finde you upon this pinacle upon presumption and so cast you down to eternal destruction Shall I be bold and presumptuous because God is merciful Shall I cut and gash my self because a good Chirurgeon lives where I live Shall I use spectacles to go over a Bridge to make the Bridge seem better and so perish Look not upon the mercy as if it were greater then it is no as God is merciful to penitent so he is just to impenitent sinners And so this reverend Father of our Church who was in Heaven while he was on Earth preached against those two main enemies of our salvation Desperation and Presumption His words were all excellent of the justice and mercy of God and the merits of our Saviour But what will become of all this what comfort springs from the mercy of God from the forgivenesse of sins unto us if our hearts our thoughts creep still on the ground if we be taken up with Earthly things and prefer riches and honour before God and therefore came to the chance of our fourth and last Divine to draw up our hearts sursum corda unto Heaven If you look for mercy lift up your hearts where it is to be had wherefore should we look down or kill flies any longer our conversations must be in Heaven if our hearts be in Heaven This was the bag out of which he did fetch treasure new and old precious treasure A Sermon Preached by Doctor Wesphale at the Spittle on Wednesday in Easter week PHILIPPIANS 3.20 21. But our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who shall change our vise bodies that they may be like unto his glorious body according to that mighty word whereby he is able to subdue all things THE words may be read two wayes either For our conversation is in Heaven or But our conversation is in Heaven If For our conversation is in Heaven it is an argument to inforce a duty set down in the seventeenth verse That we should not minde the things here below for Saint Paul and the rest of the Saints have their conversation in Heaven If you will read it but then there 's another
and the work left undone The best Comment upon prophecies is the fulfilling of them Look upon some other Texts of Scripture What should they do that are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not up again Because of the Angels the women must be modest Saint Austin did not know it and that 's in regard of the Scripture We know but in part Thirdly in regard of the subject what we know we know after an imperfect partial fashion and therefore it is Beloved that Faith should be embraced by us because we believe that we cannot understand Hence it is that we have but an opinion of many things in the world If there were certain knowledge what needed opinion Fourthly because we do admire all things there 's no admiration but where there wants understanding Thus it is in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 displayed unto you I might proceed further in several kindes of knowledge among Heathens and Christians among Heathens they do worship an unknown God there was an Altar in Athens dedicated with this Inscription To the unknown God Acts 17. They do worship they know not what as our Saviour speaks to the Samaritan woman You worship you know not what and they do feel and grope after God if perhaps they can finde him There was one Antonius that having read Platoes Works of the Immortality of the soul and having often read them used these words Nescio c. I know not how but when I am reading I give assent when I have laid aside the Book all slips from me so doting is our knowledge for the earthly man the carnal man discerns not the things that are Gods nay for the best they see but through a glass they see but in part Thus you see the points laid open unto you I will bring it home to your Consciences a little in the application and then I shall conclude Some there are that do oppose this truth others that pervert it Some there are that oppose it and those are our adversaries the Romanists First in setting up the infallibility of the Pope and secondly in crying up the Fathers and the Councels for our Faith How can this be but false if this be true that we know but in part First therefore for the infallibility of the Pope who will sit like an Emperour and take up any controversie Beloved we know controversies on foot which he cannot decide between the Franciscans and Dominicans about the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and the like either he cannot or dares not end them for fear of losing either side but we know but in part Have not some of their Popes been pronounced Hereticks by General Councels and yet these men must know all things One of them could not read Saint Matthews Gospel and yet these must be saved they would pluck out their own eyes and see by other mens and how can this be if as Saint Paul saith we know but in part And then again they will cry up the Fathers and Councels but when all is done they do but abuse us and the Fathers will be found to erre when all comes to light Were there not some of them that held dangerous and Heretical opinions But I am loth to uncover our forefathers nakedness If I must I will take you off from adoring it rising up to it and too much reverencing it Cyprian was for rebaptization Saint Austin was once of opinion that children should receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper as well as others of age and Origen was of opinion that Spirits had hands and flesh and eyes and Justin Martyr but I rather cover them in silence but that the Papists do incite us the Fathers were but a partial no infallible rule Again as some do oppose this point so some do pervert it So the Papists they pervert it and say Because we know but in part therefore we must have Traditions for we know but in part as Saint Paul saith In this they do but as we say bring coals to New-Castle or light a candle to the Sun by bringing their Traditions to be proved by this Scripture Secondly the Anabaptists they pervert it and conclude from hence because we know but in part therefore we will look for revelation from above and thereupon they cast by the Book of God and look for revelations from Heaven God forbid we should countenance any such spirits as these are for what is there to be known but what is fetcht out of Gods Word Thirdly others forsooth that are lazy Christians will say If I turn over the Book of God never so much I shall know but in part therefore I will know nothing at all Like little children if you take away one of their trinkets they will throw all the rest away Or because one man gives me a box on the ear therefore I will sue him and because I may not have five hundred pounds damages therefore I will have nothing at all This is like the Hangman that first blindes the malefactors eyes and then turns him off This was it made the Jews crucifie the Lord of life for had they known it they would not have done it The candle must be put out or else put into the dark Lanthorn say the Papists we must not see what mischiefs are towards This ignorance must needs be the way to Hell to utter darkness If we know but in part First let us follow men but in part Turn over Antiquity borrow authority from the Fathers they will be good moral perswasions and inductions to bring us to the truth but bring all to the Scripture weigh it by the ballance of the Sanctuary whether it be good or no. And where they speak that which is contradictory to the Word of God let us prefer Truth before the Fathers Christ saith not I am Antiquity or I am Custome but I am Truth Secondly if we know but in part let us add some cubits to our knowledge Knowledge is like unto Heaven it is very glorious if we could see it and we must first know the will of our Father before we can do it This is the first step to know what God is and to know what our selves are First begin with knowledge then go on with practice First know the truth and then adhere to it and then defend it to the death Let us add knowledg unto our knowledg but as we know but in part let us be wise also take heed of entring roughly into the cabinets of God we must not gaze too high I do not say but that we should search the mysteries of the Word of God and study them freely but what mysteries God hath reserved unto himself meddle not with them we know but in part And then again make amends for thy want of knowledg by thy faith believe if God hath said it set thy seal of faith unto it He saith Luther that will be wise in Aristotle is a fool in Christ And a Pope did once say that Piscatores and not Philosophers were to be believed they that say they know much know nothing saith Solomon and Saint Paul The emptiest hogsheads sound most and the shallowest waters make the greatest noise Non est c. This is no true knowledg but a swelling and excrescency In the sixth place we must practise what we know if we know but in part let us make amends for our partial knowledg in practising what we know and whatsoever else you know be sure to know those things that concern your eternal salvation What is it for men to be scrupulous in leaving out H in Homo and yet will take away a man This is the onely true Arithmetick to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome that 's the true Astronomy This is it indeed that we must discourse of What is it then to deserve our Supremacy in Logick to be overcome in Arithmetick to talk of Generation and have not Regeneration It is not enough to know but we must practise If you know these things happy are you if you do them Beloved how many Sermons have been lost in this place and in divers other places of this Kingdome what will you hear and devour all and bring forth no fruit at all for shame make it up by your practice he that practiseth what he knows God will make him to know more some know to instruct others that 's charity some know to practice and that 's piety some know for affectation and that 's pride Knowledge makes a man worse rather then better unless he practise Knowledg like the Unicorns horn doth well in a mans hand but ill in a beasts head A man that 's ignorant he carries Uriah's letters in his own bosome They that know and do not practise shall be beaten with many stripes What canst thou say in excuse of thy self thou seest the Sun-shine of the Gospel thou art not in darkness as many are if thou dost not practise it woe be unto thee We have had the light of the Gospel above these threescore years and what excuse can we make Lastly let us hunger and long after that place where we shall see God face to face where there shall be no darkness without nor darkness within where the walls are made of chrystal and the gates of pearl There is no need of the Sun nor of the Moon nor of the Stars God is the Light and the Lamb is the Light of it and to that place God of his mercy bring us for his mercy sake for his Sons sake and for our Saviour Jesus Christ his sake Amen FINIS