alone without the works of the Law So St. Paul assures us But however a duty it is and a necessary duty necessary even to life unless no duty be necessary or Solomon here be deceived For this is the whole duty of man Justification indeed is that act of God which by remission of Sins through Christ puts men into the state of Life here and gives them right and title unto Life eternal hereafter And though therefore an estate attainable by the Gospel only not by the Law which all have transgressed yet is it most true that so long as any shall continue wittingly and deliberately to transgress the Law they are not capable of this or any other benefit of the Gospel The Gospel it self and whole Scriptures are clear in the point Now then saith even St. Paul on whom they rely speaking of the time of the Gospel now then there is no condemnation and no condemnation is full justification but to whom to them that are in Christ Jesus but who are they that follow which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit If any man walk otherwise he hath nothing to do with Christ If we say we have Communion with him and walk in darkness we lye saith St. John and do not the truth 1 John i. 6. He that loveth not his Brother that is one of those that according to him walks in darkness and as he wants light so life too he hath no life abiding in him yea manet in morte he remains in death 1 Joh. iii. 14. And what is said of one Sinner is true of all for be not deceived neither Fornicator Adulterer unclean person or covetous or any other the like hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ. As little therefore in justification which is the estate of life and hath right to that inheritance no marvail therefore if St. James be bold to conclude in terms clean contrary Ye see then that by works a man is justified and not by faith only James ii 24. Indeed much stir hath been about the seeming differences between these Apostles He said not amiss Meum Tuum are the common Barrators of the world and Faith and Works seem no less to have broken the peace in the Church The points have been beaten so long as some think it time now they were beaten even out of all discourse But the truth is they are some of the noblest that our Faith doth yield and unto the Christian Religion of all other most essential though most abused as discovering the necessity of the Gospel and invalidity of the Law with the main differences and union too of both Law and Gospel And peradventure are not driven so home as they might be unless by very few unto their just and right issue even unto this day If any thing lead the way unto that it must be the perfect reconciliation of these two which by divers ways and distinctions hath been attempted on either side but not I suppose with so good success as may fully satisfy for in this I take it Iliacos intra muros peccalur extra To distinguish of the Law Ceremonial and Moral as some do supposing that St. Paul excludes the works of the Ceremonial Law and St. James requires those only of the Moral is to no purpose for clear it is as the Sun that St. Paul excludes both for he disputes against Jew and Gentile but especially the works of the Moral Law as that which is broken by all and therefore cannot justify any Neither will it be more available to distinguish with others of works preceeding faith works of Nature and such as follow and are effects of faith works of Renovation and grace for St. Paul utterly rejects from the ability of justifying all works whatsoever whether before faith or after it because the Law being once broken no after-observance can so satisfy for the breach but that it will still condemn all those that shall stand at that Tribunal The distinction then of works not prevailing others fall to distinguish of justification and indeed that is the right way if it be rightly done The Romanists according to the Council of Trent make it twofold a first and a second justification From the first St. Paul removes works and St. James they suppose requires them only to the second But they are frustrate in both distinction and application too for since their second Justification is but the increase and augmentation of that Righteousness which is infused in the first they cannot be two justifications since more or less will not afford a specifick difference or numerical either And were they two yet the works which St. James requires he requires for necessary unto the first justification as well as the second for he doth instance in Rabab not justified before by their own confession And the works which St. Paul removes he removes from the second justification as well as the first as first or last never to be found in any And therefore he makes his instance in Abraham that was justified long before even that time of his instance The distinction of justification in the obtaining and of justification already obtained is much after the same manner and is choked utterly with the self same answer Others on the other side distinguish Justus factus from Justus declaratus of justification before God and justification in the Eyes of men St. James's words they refer unto this and St. Paul's to the former but most erroneously also for nothing is plainer than that both of them speak of justification in the sight of God St. James as well as St Paul for he plainly denies salvation unto faith if not accompanied with works with an interrogation Can thy faith save thee and proves too that it cannot as being a dead faith and the faith of Devils and such sure can justify neither with God nor man sooner indeed with men than with God That way therefore which is most general and hath been thought the best peradventure because the subtlest is to distinguish between the act of justifying and the Subject or Person to be justified St. James as is supposed requiring only the presence of works in the Subject which St. Paul removes only from the Act and is but thus in other terms Fides sola justificat sed fides quae justificat non est sola This may have a promising look but will not satisfy neither but is out too and that on both sides for St. Paul clearly removes the works he speaks of from the Person to be justified as well as from the act that doth justifie non operanti to him that worketh not but believeth on him qui justificat impium that justifieth the ungodly And St. James requires the works he speaks of no less than faith unto the Act as well as in the Subject His words are express ex operibus by works a man is justified and not by faith only Why but how then
shall they be reconciled surely no way so well as by looking unto their different intentions from whence it will appear that St. Paul removes works all works from being the things that do justifie and St. James requires them only as conditions and qualifications upon which we are justified For the purpose of St. Paul is by the breach of the Law to demonstrate the necessity of the Gospel that that only is the power of God unto Salvation for since all the world stands culpable before God it follows of necessity that either we must perish without remedy or else be justified by a Gospel of mercy which he well terms the justification of faith in meer opposition to works all works even faith it self as the things which may be thought to justify Now St. James intent is only to vindicate this wholsom and necessary Doctrine from the abuse of Heretical Spirits whose evil words had at once corrupted both St. Pauls meaning and their own good manners affirming that since works could not justifie no works were necessary and therefore it mattered little to observe the Law it was enough only to believe the Gospel Against these dissolute Epicures this Apostle as St. Augustin observes wholly directs his dispute the purpose whereof is not to place justification in the works of the Law for in many things saith he we offend all and if but in one yet are we guilty of the whole but only to shew that unless the works of the Law though formerly broken do come at length to accompany our faith we can never be justified by any grace of the Gospel So then if we divide rightly according to these intents we must distinguish of a twofold justification by Innocence and by Pardon for it must be either by works or by mercy a legal justification or an Evangelical And of two sorts of works subservient unto these several justifications and of two sorts of ways by which they do justify Works of Perfection and perpetual perfection that inherently justifie and formally in strictness of Law but are excluded by St. Paul as no where found in any and works of Renovation after the breach of the Law required by St. James in every one that expect the justification of the Gospel Those works perfectly keep the Law and never break it These keep the Law sincerely but after it is broken They justifie therefore in themselves and by their own worth These not so but because found in none but sinners prepare only and qualifie for the justification of Christ They justifie these obtain justification That strictly the justification of works this properly the justification of faith which is their fountain And faith alone alone without these may justifie yea cannot justifie with them for such works evacuate faith as not needing it which is St. Pauls doctrine But faith alone without these cannot justifie yea without them is not faith not a true and a living faith which is St. James his assertion And in this Reconcilation doth appear the reconciliation and opposition too of both Law and Gospel Faith and works how they conspire and meet how they jar and refuse to mingle For the justification of the Law evacuates Christ who then died in vain as St. Paul speaks For there needs no Saviour where there is no sin And the justification of Christ disanulls again that of the Law as arguing it to be broken yea and the condemnation of the Law too notwithstanding the breach So they contradict and dissolve one another But what the Gospel excludes by remission of sins it closeth withal again by the manner of remitting Never pardoning offences till they be first forsaken and men return again to the observance of the Law nor yet continuing that pardon longer than they shall continue to observe it saying unto none but the penitent Thy sins are forgiventhee nor yet unto them without saying also Sin no more lest a worse thing happen unto thee So the terms stand thus No condemnation from the Law though broken whensoever we return to observe it and until we do observe it no grace or mercy by the Gospel and so they meet and are reconciled For so far the Gospel doth establish the Law yea and farther for it not only requires but gives grace for the performance of that it doth require even the observance of the Law And this reconciliation St. Paul himself the great urger of the opposition every where doth acknowledge for they are his own words not the hearers but the doers of the law shall be justified And that the law is done by faith is evident for faith worketh by love and love is the fulfilling of the law So the Apostles are both met St. James requires Faith and Works St. Paul a working Faith working by love and that even all the Commandments of God not so as to justifie in themselves but only to qualify for the justification of Christ. The Commandments therefore are no freewill offering at pleasure no voluntary duty of gratitude only but a duty necessary unto our justification here and eternal wellfare if any be necessary For this is the whole duty of mâ—n Why but yet for there is no end of wrangling though this wrangle shall end all though a duty now and a necessary yet since the Gospel affords a Mediator were it never so due the debt we hope may be paid by another that is our Surety and that surety is Christ who hath exactly kept the Law and is made unto us Wisdom Justice Sanctification and Redemption so saith the Apostle But no surety in this kind That which is the duty of Man is every Man 's own duty and must be performed in his own Person True indeed it is Christ our Lord fulfilled the Law exactly but that we may break it in our selves and yet at the same time fulfil it in him that is our Mediator this I take it is not so true The Apostle saith indeed that he accounted all things loss and dung too that he might be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which is of the Law but the righteousness which is of God by faith Yea farther that God made him to be sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him but yet this righteousness of God is not to be taken for Gods own righteousness but only as he said in the former place for the righteousness which is of God by Faith which righteousness includes both justification which is imputative and sanctification which is inherent but yet neither in St. Paul's sence is our own because not of the Law but of grace and mercy by the faith of Christ. Be it then that Christ is made unto us Justice and Sanctification both yea Wisdom and Redemption also yet not all after one and the same manner Wisdom he is made because he hath revealed his Fathers will Redemption because he hath appointed a day to vindicate his Children
out of the hands of corruption into liberty which is glorious Justice because he hath offered up himself a Sacrifice for sin but Sanctification because he hath given us his Spirit Christ therefore unto us is all these but yet not all these by imputation for then his Wisdom should be imputed too yea and even the redemption of our bodies from the grave imputative also Indeed we can dream willingly of nothing but imputation All seems nothing worth unless Christ did so do all for us as we may not have any thing to do for our selves I doubt we may come in time to conceive that he did believe and repent for us too for these are his Commandments and so believe only this that neither Faith nor Repentance are in our persons necessary For if Christ as a surety hath absolutely undertaken any thing for us we like the scape-Goat must go free upon his performance The same debt may not with justice be required of the surety and principal too if so then do what we list all things are done to our hands already O this were to be a gracious Saviour to purpose if we might take our pleasure ryot in Intemperance and Luxury and withal have his Abstinence and Moderation imputed to us be beheld of God at the time as no less Temperate and Chaste than Christ himself Were it not glad tidings a Gospel indeed that we might be Feasting Carousing Swearing Drinking and yet under the eye of God at the same instant as if we were Watching Fasting Praying Weeping even with Christ himself in the Garden As though God beheld Men through Christ as Men do other things by a perspective which representeth them to the Eye not in their own colours but in the colour of the glass they pass through No God is not deceived with shadows neither doth Christ cast any such He takes not good for evil nor yet evil no not for Christs sake ever for good And let not us be deceived with vain shews neither The truth is it is well that upon our Repentance we are justified by imputation we shall be too putative if we conceipt an imputed sanctification too for two such imputations will not well agree together one of them will be needless ever or impossible for justification that is remission of sins is it self sufficient without imputation of farther sanctity because as St. Austin hath it Omnia ut fact a deputantur quando quod factum non est ignoscitur And perfect sanctification imputed on the other side will leave no room for remission or imputative justification so Christs death might have been spared since we should then be saved by his life for what use may there be of his blood for Remission so long as beheld in his righteousness that never sinned If no sinner he needs no pardon if he need a pardon he must of necessity be beheld as a sinner and therefore Remission of sins and perfect Righteousness are opposite forms that cannot at the same time possibly be imputed unto the same person for they expel and shut out one another Let it suffice then that our blessed Lord vouchsafed to shed his blood for our sins let us not therefore suppose that we are not bound to forsake them ourselves that were to shed his blood afresh and crucifie him again as the Apostle speaks But as he did that for us which if we neglect it not will prove our justification so we through his assistance must do this for our selves otherwise we shall want our sanctification and wanting it want the other also That indeed is the meer act of God but on those that are qualified for it This proceeds from God and his grace but is the true duty of man and which gives him his qualification and in man therefore it must inhere for the righteousness of justification is perfect but not inherent but the righteousness of sanctification now inherent but not perfect hereafter in that glory whither it leads us it will be both perfect and inherent yea inherent perfect and perpetual also Rightly therefore to conclude all this righteousness of the Commandments the duty of man still and since Faith is included in it as being now commanded as rightly the whole duty of man That duty which doth accomplish his election for if any man purge him self from these things he shall be a vessel unto honour fulfils the end of his Creation created unto good works that we might walk therein makes effectual the Divine Vocation for we are called unto holiness is it self our sanctification for the Commandment is holy and just and good procures our justification they wrought righteousness and gained the promises and lastly leads into Glory for they that have their fruit in holiness have their end everlasting life That fruit here this blessed end hereafter the God of Glory grant unto us all in his Kingdom even for Jesus Christ his sake the righteous To whom with the Father and the holy Spirit c. Amen A SERMON OF CHRIST'S Coming to JUDGMENT SERMON III. Upon MATT. XVi. 27. For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels And then he shall reward every man according to his works I Left untouched in my former Text the second reason wherewith Solomon ends his Book and confirms his Conclusion of Fear God and keep his Commandments which is this For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil And now for variety sake I have chosen to prosecute the same subject not in Solomons words but in our Saviour's for these are infer'd unto the same end and much too after the same manner In the verses precedent What shall it profit a man saith Christ to gain the whole world and lose his own sâ—ulâ— or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul As if he had said Gain any man what he list or what he can be it never so much for the world indeed runs all after gain and never enough yet if by this means he come at last to lose his own Soul there is no profit in it He will still be a loser by his gain Or on the other side lose in this life whatsoever he hath or may lose Pleasures Profits Honours or any thing else even Life it self yet if in the loss of all other things he may preserve and gain his own Soul he will be a winner even in his losings To keep his Soul he can part with nothing that is too dear or if he would part with his Soul he can receive nothing that is dear enough for what can either way be of sufficient value to make a just exchange for the Soul But yet so it is small things are given in exchange for great and according to the momentany works and behaviour of men here so shall their Souls be gained or lost eternally hereafter For the son of man c. The words deliver
desire and intention of a farther renting to animate our mutinous contenders and egg on their contentions that look that way I hope there are no such crafty Interlopers as he terms them that put in their stock among the brawling Bankers help to trouble the Waters supposing in time to make another good fishing for themselves Though it is to be feared some Consciences there may be in the world extensive enough and patent to swallow even a Cathedral on the top of an Abby and never trouble the Stomach of it much with the digestion neither It little matters for Sacriledge they abhor Idols and that is sufficient But this appertains not so properly unto Ambition as unto Avarice the second of these earthly affections but no less contentious and turbulent than the former The Apostle well terms it radix omnium malorum the root of all evil and especially so it is by being the root of dissention for where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work This therefore a second Parent and Nurse too of this viperous brood of errour and contention For what a multitude of erroneous but gainful pardons and dispensations purgations and expiations of sin what indulgences to commit or else to continue in manifest wickedness what translation of other mens merits on those that want of their own and the like hath this affection conceived and brought into the world and that not for morsels of bread or handfuls of barley only as that Prophet but all like Judas for pieces of Silver Such Silverlings what are they indeed but Judas's quaestui habentes pietatem saith St. Paul to Timothy that make other mens goodness their own gain yea and their wickedness too Both are equally the Churches Treasure that may not be dispensed nor these purged without money So that Purgatory is but a Subterraneous Vault digged only to come at a Mine and that ignis fatuus though it be but fantastical and imaginary yet it serves turn to melt Bullion into his Holinesses Mint more abundantly than any Princes fire else that is real And therefore it is not to be wondred at if much stir be made and many bellows ever blowing to keep it from going out On the other side are there not others to whom the Apostle long since prophesied that speak perverse things to draw Disciples after them out of whom they suck no small advantage such as can lead silly women Captive laden with sins and divers lusts that like their fore-Fathers the old Pharisees can creep into Widows houses and devour too under pretence of long Prayers that can teach the Son of a profelyte to say unto the Father or rather the Wife Corban unto the Husband if not a proselyte as themselves Nay until they become such that neither the one nor the other hath any just title unto his own goods which therefore may be purloyned from them with a good Conscience if it be to supply the necessity of the Saints the right owners of them Is not this likewise as the same Apostle Veritatem cauponari to make merchandise of the Gospel of truth or rather of their own fancies and falshood Against all which questuous errours of such sheepskin'd Wolves on either side when the true and faithful sheepheard shall oppose himself when these Flints and this Steel begin to knock and collide together out fly the sparks of dissention that inflame presently and set the world in combustion Hence Luther stoutly opposing the Marts and Markets of the Roman Indulgencies and whipping those buyers and sellers out of the Temple first began that battery which since we see hath made such a wide breach in the very Towers of their Babel But these wars and contentions are sensual saith St. James as well as earthly and sure pleasure is of little less power with us than profit And whether we take it strictly for the concupiscence of carnal things or more generally for a desire of sinning freely and without sting of Conscience hath her part in these Tragedies and brings not a little oyle unto the flames of contention For this affection finding the doctrine of the Cross grievous unto it whose chief desire it is to injoy the delights of this life and from them to pass into the joys of a better hath for this purpose sought out Doctors such as may comply with her desires and it seems hath found them too and that by heaps so saith the Apostle they heap up unto themselves Teachers after their own Lusts. I confess I should not a little admire why the Romanist that is so strict in discipline should yet in life be as loose as any whence it should be that pressing the necessity of good works so vehemently in their Doctrine few men yet seem to want them or commit the contrary with less trouble to their Conscience did not their enormous dispensing with Oaths of fidelity and horrible Incests their supplying of some mens empty Lamps with other mens Oyl their enlarging of Veâ—al Sins and their easiness of Absolution in such as are Mortal and serving others the like take off that admiration Not that I dislike the distinction of Mortal Sins and Venial rightly stated or yet the use of dispensation in the Church much less of Absolution but only the abuse of these things which yet I think are more abused by particular Persons sensual Priests and presumptuous people than by the general Doctrine of that Church though so abused also And I would we had no abuses tending that way at home For some there are so strict in profession and yet withal so dissolute in their Doctrine and the unavoidable inferences of it as would make a man admire on the other side why they should not either teach as they profess or else profess plainly as they teach such as can distinguish also of Venial and Mortal Sins but in another manner not from the Nature of the Sin but the Condition of the Person The best works they can do are deadly unto some whilst the deadliest iniquities they commit shall be but Venial in the mean time unto themselves as not making any breach between God and their Souls even then when they commit them yea as pardoned with a non obstante before they are committed such as having no part of true righteousness in themselves yet even then by Faith and Faith alone may have the Merits imputed and Righteousness too of another such as can actually commit Mortal iniquities and yet at the same time remain still habitually Righteous such as can exclude good works from the gaining of their justification and when they have gained it can lose it no more by any works that are evil such as need not care what sins their flesh committeth so long as they act them not without some reluctancy of the spirit For so sin the godly and since no Reprobates have any commerce with the internal motions of the Spirit as being altogether flesh they can even from
tryal of that fire which will prove whether they are Gold or Stubble or else dispure them so calmly as neither peace be disturbed nor charity destroyed according si non sententiis saltem animis if not in opinion yet in love and affection And for these regards and many more indeed any but that of imputation is justly termed his Righteousness the Righteousness of God It is that Image of the Father the chief lineaments of that similitude of God wherein we were at the first formed and whereunto we are still created Created unto good works that we might walk in them Eph. ii 10. It is the end and purpose of the Sons Redemption That we being delivered from the hands of our enemies might serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives The intent and effect of the Spirits vocation for we are called not to uncleanness but to holiness and that not outwardly only by the word but inwardly by the power of the Holy Ghost cleansing from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit that he may purge unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works yea it is I say not the form that doth justify in it self but the quality that only can qualifie for justification and entitle unto it as it is taken for remission of sins in Christ. Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right unto the tree of life Revel xxii That tree of life is Christ in whom without Righteousness no Man hath any right who came by water and blood saith the same St. John elsewhere first cleansing and then pardoning For as he doth sanctifie as well as justifie so I take it he doth first sanctifie before he justifie and no longer justifie than he doth sanctifie Lastly it is the direct and unavoidable means though not merit of glorification without holiness no man shall see God nor any enter into the Kingdom of God So many ways is it the Righteousness of God and so many ways no less necessary for Man as being indeed All in All the fulness of the Law the full effect of the Gospel the substance of Gods revealed will in both This is the will of God even your sanctification But what then becomes of Faith for this seems to be altogether work Is that nothing unto the way that leads unto the Kingdome Surely yes much every way but yet without Righteousness not any thing For Faith is not opposite to Righteousness but a part of it the very fountain or root from whence it is immediately derived For true Faith is ever that of the Heart not of the Brain and with the heart man believeth unto righteousness It is neither Faith nor Works apart and severed that can do us good but Fides operans a working faith faith working by love and love is the fulfilling of the law saith the Apostle This is that active Faith so much magnified in the xi to the Hebrews by the power whereof those Worthies there of whom the world was nor worthy besides many other great things especially wrought righteousness and gained the promises v. 33. And to these and the like Worthies it is that that Angel points in the Revel Hi sunt These are they that keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Iesus To shew that none keep his faith as they should that do not keep his Commandments Revel xiv 12. Indeed it is the keeping not the believing of the Faith that is available I have kept the faith saith St. Paul henceforth is laid up for me Corona Justitiae a Crown of righteousness Faith kept is Righteousness and such faithful righteousness only it is that shall be crowned at last Righteousness therefore the only way unto the Kingdom and so by all those that would come thither of all things else and in all regards most especially to be sought for with their best strength and utmost endeavour For it is not quaerite but primum quaerite not seek only but seek ye first The last point but must be briefly handled though indeed it hath two points As First hath a double signification for it either respects time or earnestness of intention And in both regards for time and intention of travel we are to seek and first to seek the righteousness of God if we desire to enter the Kingdom of God The actions of Piety and Righteousness are the highest and noblest operations of the Soul and therefore of more worth They run cross and counter to the bent of our corrupt affections and so of more difficulty than may be lightly and easily archieved Indeed facilis descensus averni it is a descent down the hill the swing of our own corruptions can carry us headlong thither but the way of life is on high said King Solomon Virtue must upwards and hale the heavy body after it climb Hills and craggy Mountains hic labor hoc opus this is not without sweat and difficulty But notwithstanding all difficulties virtus aut inveniet aut faciet viam The spirit of God by the power of that almighty faith to which all things are possible will and must break through them all To do good and suffer evil to deny our selveâ— and take up the Cross to â—ubdue lusts and root out affections and the like till it come to that point these are justitiae culmina the heights and steps of righteousness and up we must though like Ionathan and his Armoâ—bearer we creep on all four hands and knees for it on the knees of humble and fervent prayer but using the hands too faithful and diligent endeavour And therefore it is not every cold and careless seeking that will be sufficient The way is narrow and the gate strait contendite intrare strive saith our Saviour for many shall seek seek negligently and shall not be able to enter Nay more than strive and struggle too I press hard saith the Apostle for the price of the high calling which is in Christ Iesus He well knew that though no Man be Crowned unless he strive for it yet that every striving doth not presently gain the Crown nisi legitimè certaverit unless he strive as he ought And therefore he fought not as those that beat the air but as he that means to conquer for even this Kingdom is not gained but by conquest The Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force In this point we need not fear offending in excess Modus amandi Deum est sine modo amare the measure of loving God is to love him without measure In opinions indeed and disputes that have their extreams moderation may be good and commendable disputants in heat and passion supposing they are never far enough asunder till both be equally sundred from the truth and then in this case to halt as they say between two opinions may be to walk most uprightly but no such here to halt between two Masters between God and Mammon God and
ambitions If the greater Peers among the people instead of being Gods and common Fathers unto their Country prove Wolves unto their brethren and like Pikes grow great and vast by eating up the Fry that is round about them donec Serpens serpentem devorans fiat Draco If instead of benign and benevolent Stars they shall be of a sowr and Saturnian Aspect only blasting whatsoever comes within the sphere of their activity or else but of a Mercurian concurring influence good with the good and bad with the bad not as justice but as affection and faction shall lead them then no marvel if mighty men come at length to be mightily tormented But if these Noble Persons shall be truly Noble indeed and as God hath termed them Gods and Fathers unto their Country If like Job they shall deliver the poor and such as have none to help from those that are too mighty for them break the jawes of the wicked and pluck the spoil out of their teeth until the blessing of them that are ready to perish come upon them for it If the Prince that is supream be not a disturber like Nimrod but rather as Solomon Princeps pacis a King of peace nourishing his people like David with a perfect and upright heart and ruling them prudently with all his power If his moderation be known unto all and his Piety unto God and goodness no less exemplary than his Virtue then undoubtedly both he and they and all such Mighty men in this great day shall be as mightily honoured when he that hath made you Rulers of his people set you here in the seats of Justice as on the throne of David shall then advance you higher take you up even upon his own throne in the Clouds as being in the number of those Saints that shall be Assessors there and with Christ as the Apostle tells us to judge the world whilst those mighty and glorious Monarchs that once so much troubled the earth and other Princes Great men and Favorites of the world shall now stand like poor worms beneath you at the Bar nudo latere palpitantes sententian◠aeternae mortis expectantes naked and quaking as St. Hierome speaks under the sentence of eternal death Where now are all their Dignities and Titles their Pomp and former Splendor how is it vanished Alas all these things accompany none any farther than the grave but their works these follow after unto judgment where according to their works they shall be now rewarded which is our last point And then be shall reward every man secundùm opera sua according to his works This as it is the latter part of my Text so is it the most substantial but withal the most troublesome for here we seem to meet with nothing but difficulties There are but three words in it And whether we look on the opera which is the main or the sua that adheres or the secundùm that hath reference unto both Objections we shall find and some of them difficult enough even in all three Set the Accent first upon the opera for that as I said is the main and we shall no sooner do it but the objection is instantly emergent for if Men shall be now judged with precise respect unto their works since none are so wicked but have some good deeds nor any so righteous but have many sins how should it come to pass that either any should escape Condemnation or if some do why should not all escape it for all are sinners But this knot may well be dissolved without any great labour For though works at that day shall be judged of as good or evil precisely according unto that Law which they have transgressed yet the men whose they are shall be sentenced for these works not according to the law but with reference and respect unto the conditions of the Gospel for God shall then judge the secrets of all hearts saith St. Paul secundùm evangelium meum according to my Gospel And according to the Gospel the same works are not always of the same condition with reference to reward and punishment but according to the repentance of the person or his falling from it do receive ever a new qualification The Schools therefore do accordingly distinguish of opera mortua and mortifera viva and mortificata and rediviva too of dead works and deadly of living and mortified and reviviscent also Works morally good but not done with any Pious or Spiritual intention they account dead works as lyable neither to reward nor punishment Works morally and mortally evil these are mortisera deadly Works that draw death and destruction after them works of Faith and Charity in the converted Soul these are opera viva living works and such as have title unto life everlasting but both these latter may be mortified and both after mortification revive again when the sinner repents him of his Sins all his former wickedness is forgotten and when the penitent man returns again to his Sins none of his former righteousness shall then be remembred And as men do ebb or flow in their true repentance so their sins or their good deeds do either revive or mortifie and the mortification of the one is the reviving ever of the other And for this reason saith our Saviour in the Revelation Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to render unto every man not as his works but in the singular as his work shall be For according unto this one work of repentance either his sin or his righteousness hath the predominance and shall be accordingly rewarded by him who will now reward every man in this sence according to his works But yet since this Judgment proceeds in mercy and according to the Gospel why are we not said to be rewarded according to our Faith rather than according to our works As though works where the Gospel is revealed were of any validity without Faith or Faith any way rewardable farther than it is operative and fruitful in works But besides this is a day of universal reckoning not confined within the precise latitude of that revelation every man without exception must now come to his account and what every one is bound to account for according to that and to that only he shall be sentenced New the Gospel of Christ hath not been revealed unto all but the notions of good and evil are implanted in Nature and men are to be judged of and accepted too according to what they have not according to what they have not as our Saviour speaketh And therefore the Faith of the Jew was not required of the Gentile neither yet the Faith of the Christian at the hands of the Jew The Law of Nature indeed binds all but positive Laws those only to whom they are given And thus much seems to be both Law and Gospel That no man give an account but for the Talents that were delivered him For God is no such
hard man as that lazy fellow in the Gospel would make him to reap where he did not sow or else like Pharaoh requiring his Brick where he doth not afford Straw for the making Not therefore according to the Faith which they knew not but according to the good and evil which they knew so shall all be judged by him who now comes to reward every man according to his works From the opera now if we come to the sua remove the Accent thither we shall but remove from one difficulty to another For some there are that have no works of their own How many that die as soon as born and not a few before and both before they have done either good or evil for which they may be rewarded It may be said peradventure that yet even these have one work of their own for being all in Adams loins when he sinned his Sin by virtue of the first Covenant becomes theirs and theirs therefore by St. Paul it is expresly termed in quo omnes peccâ—verunt in whom all have sinned This is right and hath nothing but truth in it if we consider only the Nature of the first Covenant and go no farther than so But farther I suppose we are to go for since there is a second Covenant passed and the second as the Apostle to the Hebrews and reason it self will tell us must disanul the fâ—rst A second strucken even with the same Adam and in him we all were at the transaction of the one as well as of the other and reputed in his loyns when he was restored as well as when he fell for that is the perpetual nature of Gods Covenants Vobis liberis vestris Deus tuus seminis tui And sure if we make our stay in the old Testament the Father must have come in his own glory the Son of man could never have come in the glory of the Father to render unto every man his own works for had he not first been our Mediatour he had never been our Judge Now therefore we are to look up unto him contemplate the person before whose seat of Judgment we are to appear even Christ our blessed Lord that innocent Lamb that was slain from the beginning that Lamb of God which by his blood being slain took away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that sin of the world in the singular and other such singular sin of the world but there was not any And for this cause is rightly termed Adam secundus a second Adam a second through whom all receive justification unto life that became lyable unto death and condemnation in the first This is our Judge even the Author of the second Covenant who therefore will not sentence men as those Apostate Angels strictly after the Law of the first but as St. Paul speaks secundùm Evangelium meum according to my or rather his own Gospel Before this Judge when St. Paul cites every man he assures us no man shall answer but for what himself hath done or be rewarded with punishment but as my text hath it secundùm opera sua according to his own works and those his own not because acted in the loyns of another but because done in his own body for so saith St. Paul expresly and purposely it seems to prevent the interpretation we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things done in his body or rather not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some of the best Copies read and ancient Fathers cite and the vulgar doth render propria Corporis the proper things done in the body This therefore will not satisfy the doubt and were it admitted would yet satisfy but on one part the part that perish still the difficulty would remain how those on the other side that are saved by Sacrament should be rewarded with heaven secundum opera sua according to their own works But not to meddle any farther in this matter the truth is and it is the fullest answer I can give it That we may not measure such ignorant Innocents either always by the common rules of doctrine or at any time by the general precepts of duty For those the Scriptures are usually spoken of and these perpetually directed unto none but the full-grown and adult as they that alone are capable of them The not observing whereof is the chief cause I conceive of the great variety of opinions and intricate difficulties which this point of Infants hath begotten Some excluding them utterly from this day and seat of judgment because without Works either good or bad to be then discussed Others admitting of their presence there but yet neither among those on the right hand or yet on the left and so not liable to either of these two grand Sentences which shall then be pronounced A third sort subjecting them unto a Sentence and of these some unto such a Sentence as shall carry them to beatitude but in a Paradise apart others conveying them thence directly to heaven A fourth sort even to Hell and a fifth unto a middle state a condition between both But yet among all these varieties this is remarkable not any one of the Antients was ever so severe unto any of these whether baptized or otherwise as to cast them into that nethermost Hell and those torments which he suffers there of whom our Saviour said it had been better for him if he had never been born No not that learned and holy man who was esteemed durus Infantum Pater of all others a hard Father unto infants for even he though he placed them in a Region of Hell yet in such a tolerable condition therein as it were better for them to be even there than not to be at all August lib. 4. cont Julian cap. 8. But for my part I determine nothing amidst so many doubts and distractions 't were best leave them to stand or fall to their own Master especially since my Text which speaks of works rewardable like other general Scriptures doth not as I said concern impotent and ignorant Infants but grown Men knowing and operative for whoever of such receives the Kingdom of Heaven must receive it meerly as an Inheritance without any respect of works They are exempted from such common rules and so not included in this every man here that shall now be rewarded secundùm opera sua according to his own works And now in the last place let us come to this secundùm the first of the words and then sure we shall find our selves in no less streights than any of the former yea ut unda undam so one doubt and difficulty seems here to drive on another For first since the good shall now be rewarded ultra meritum beyond their merit and the evil citra condignum short of their desert which is a Maxime in Divinity they may well be rewarded for but not
entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it For even those Jews had a promise of Canaan and in it of the eternal rest whose Carcasses notwithstanding for their disobedience fell short of it in the desert and God sware in his wrath they should not enter into his rest And therefore though the passion and death of Christ be absolute and in it self belonging to all yet there may be but a few to whom the good and benefit of it shall redound For remission of sins doth not immediately flow from his blood without intercedent obedience in us the next effect of it is not presently Salvation but a way and means whereby non obstante justitiâ without any impeachment to his justice we may now attain unto Salvation It doth not instantly convey us again into Paradise but only gives us the word whereby we may if we will safely and without impeachment pass the Angel and his flaming Sword that guards the entrance thither so that by it non solvitur omnibus captivitas sed solvitur omnibus captivitati necessitas though all be not actually loosed from Captivity yet all are loosed from the necessity of Captivity as the late and learned Writer of the Pelagian Story The gates of Brass and bars of Iron are smitten in sunder and so a way opened unto the Captives who notwithstanding if they be so far enamoured with their misery and captivity may for all that lie still in their Prison It is a potion for the good of all that are sick sed si non bibitur non medetur if it be not faithfully drank it shall never effectually cure saith◠Prosper And therefore we need not be anxious or doubtful on Gods behalf but only careful and solicitous for our selves what he hath promised in Baptism that he for his part will not be wanting sure he will never break in his Supper He will not fail to perform his promise if we but seriously bewail the breach of ours It is a Spiritual Banquet whereunto there never came any sorrowful and hungry Soul that ever departed empty And therefore let us draw near in full assurance of Faith no way wavering for he is faithful that hath promised saith St. Paul And as he is faithful that hath promised yet because he promiseth nothing here but to the faithful we must bring this with us though it be not of us a living Faith that only can work Repentance from dead works not to be repented of And this Faith only once thoroughly rooted begets that other confidence and fullness of Faith the Apostle speaks of which if it hath any other Parent is illegitimate ill born and falsly termed Faith when the true Father's name is Presumption And for this cause those that the Apostle exhorts to draw near with full assurance of Faith he thus qualifies having a true heart an heart sprinkled from an evil Conscience Then we go on rightly and orderly when we come not to the confident faith but by the penitent and as we go from faith to faith here so we shall appear before the God of Gods in Sion hereafter if therefore our heart within be true an upright within us if by a deep and entire Repentance it be sprinkled from an evil Conscience let us draw near in full assurance of faith as being most confident that our lips do not more truly drink the fruit of the Vine than our Souls do the blood of our Saviour the effect and merit of his blood whereby that which before was but sprinkled shall now be drenched and thoroughly cleansed from all the stains and impurities of Sin Our heart is ready O God our heart is ready only come thou and dwell in our hearts purge them and cleanse them wholly with thy blood and being cleansed keep and preserve them by thy Spirit spotless and blameless until the day of thy second coming in the Clouds with Glory That we who receive thee with fulness of faith now may stand before thee with the same confidence then and be received by thee and with thee into those eternal habitations at the right hand of God where is fulness of joy an pleasure for evermore To whom with thee and the Holy Ghost three Persons c. Amen Laus Deo in aeternum THE WAY TO HAPPINESS SERMON VII Upon MAT. vi 33. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you IT is a part of our Saviours Sermon in the Mount and the conclusion of a larger discourse in the precedent Verses whereto it refers And indeed it is or should be the Conclusion of all our discourses For all are little material and to no purpose unless they tend unto this issue The Kingdom of God and his righteousness Let us hear the Conclusion of all saith Solomon of all not only discourses but humane endeavours upon Earth Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of man The second Solomon infinitely wiser than that first strikes here but on the same string though by his double touch it receives an air and relisheth more evangelical Unto the Righteousness of God adding the reward of it the Kingdom of God That so the works which the Law requires might be rightly wrought in the hope and faith of that immortality and glory which the Gospel proposeth However then we busy our selves about many things this is that unum necessarium the one thing that is necessary able to resolve Parmenides his Riddle Unum omnia one thing necessary wherein all necessaries are included whatsoever is necessary for the body or the soul whatsoever concerns either imployment here or felicity Eternal hereafter the whole perfection of man and the whole goodness of God If these things be all all these are enclosed in this one this one little exhortation Seek ye first c. The communication of divine goodness besides that of hypostatical union particular and supereminent hath generally but three degrees of participation Nature Grace and Glory And here they are all three either in their utmost extent or in their highest exaltations First all the necessaries of Nature pertaining to the body but slightly indeed inferred as deserving our least and slightest care These things shall be added unto you but though slightly yet fully All these things all that are requisite shall be added Secondly the utmost improvement of Grace that cannot farther adorn and beautify the Soul than with the righteousness of God His Righteousness And lastly the highest degree of glory nothing can be higher than participation with God in his own Kingdom The Kingdom of God The less marvel therefore that our search and travel for these these latter yea our utmost industry and endeavour be so carefully called led upon and inculcated with a Quaerite and a Primum quaerite seek and first seek Seek ye first the Kingdom of God c. Wherein the division is as plain as the
sins now or the Kingdom of Heaven hereafter thou art more than faithful even foolishly presumptuous yet in the promises which pertain unto this life we are all for the most part though Christians in profession yet in truth and practice gross and palpable Infidels Thou beginnest thy Creed with I believe in God the Father Almighty wherein thou dost acknowledge him thy Father and therefore willing Almighty and therefore able to relieve and succour thee in all thy wants and distresses but from the teeth outwards for let want or distress approach though but afar off how art thou presently perplexed what anxious and heart-breaking care doth instantly vex and discâ—ciate thy very Soul how are thy thoughts lost and distracted this way and that and every way searching and bending thy will upon all humane helps and succours that may be imagined with such fear and distrust as if there were no God in Heaven or providence of his upon earth Tell him how of his Father Almighty that knows whereof he shall need and will not fail if he first seek his kingdom and the righteousness thereof to add and supply all other things that are necessary and you shall give him as much comfort as if you had cast water in his Shooes He is clear out of his belief now and Pater noster too when if you shew him the plain Text in Mat. Take no care that is no anxious and solicitous care what you shall eat or wherewith you shall be cloathed or in David do good and verily thou shalt be fed he will sooner laugh at their promises than believe them Nay which is strange a Man whom God hath well blest that hath 〈◊〉 want within ken nor likely to have any yet scrapes and scratches on every side as if poverty were coming on him like an armed Man as Solomon speaks who if urged to relieve the necessities of his poor Brother without a small piece of Silver though the King intreat and the King of Heaven command and his Ministers perswade yet it may not be wrâ—ng from him He can presently cast doubts who knows whether himself or his Children may not live to want Shew him the promises of God in the Scripture assuring the contrary that it shall be a means to prosper and multiply the rest tell him that of the Wiseman Cast thy bread upon the waters and after many days thou shalt find it or that of another be that giveth to the poor lendeth unto the Lord yet nothing can move him which manifestly argues either he doth not believe God when he says it or at least not believe he is a good paymaster yet this Man thinks he hath Faith nay many of them are so far from relieving as they can find in their hearts to oppress and grind those that are poor enough already and as if they conceived that honest courses and Gods blessing on them were too weak means to provide sufficiently for themselves and Children they can shift and shark project and undermine screw themselves into testaments and deceive trusts buy over their Brothers head that imploys them for himself and use all their wits and fraudulent devices to compass an estate and root their possession in it for ever madly supposing to establish their Generations by those ways for which God never fails as he every where threatens to weed them or their posterity out of the Inheritance so purchased it being his glory ever to destroy the wisdom of the wise and to ruine the house built in fraud or on the ruines of others For the hope of the wicked saith Job is as the spiders web cunningly spun out with a great deal of labour all night and suddenly swept away in the morning What Faith then is there in this or indeed what is it else but a wild branch of meer Gentilism and infidelity if not absolute Atheism For did he truly believe God or his comminations it were not possible one that loves his Children so well could run so direct a course to destroy them But assuredly he doth not believe and whatsoever we pretend yet for the most part we secretly say in our hearts with that Fool in the Psalm if not there is no God yet at least there is no knowledge in the most high or else with those wicked ones in Job tush God careth not circa cardines coeli perambulat his walk is about the hinges of Heaven he doth not trouble himself to behold or regard the things upon Earth Do not suppose I wrong you search your own Consciences truly and I believe the best of you all will find even this infidelity lurking in them For wert thou absolutely assured in thy Soul of the omniscience and omnipresence of the Lord didst thou faithfully believe that he is every where and beholdeth every action and operation of thine though never so secret that he is about thy path and about thy bed and spyeth out all thy wayes and seeth thy thoughts more clearly than thou thy self how were it possible for thee in his presence and under those eyes so often and deeply to dissemble with thy Brother with thine own heart and with God himself Couldst thou imagine a window in thy bosome and thy Neighbour permitted now and then when thou dreamest not of it to look in upon thy impure and fraudulent thoughts and see how thy cogitations are busied how would thy Soul shame and blush to be taken tardy in such base and unworthy imployments which yet thou canst freely exercise and continue without any trouble or interruption at all though God himself and his pure eyes behold them whereunto thy breast is transparent as glass and more open than the air what doth this shew but that thou believest it not for to believe his presence truly and so much contemn it is meerly impossible It is beyond imagination to conceive were thy Faith firm in this point how it possibly can be that the sight of God and his holy Angels should not deter thee not only from thinking but from acting those secret works of darkness which the coming in but of a little child can utterly interrupt and hinder Of necessity thou must be driven to confess either that thy Faith is asleep and thou dost not believe it or thy reverence utterly dead that thou esteemest of a child more than thy Maker Assuredly could we fortify our perswasions but in this one Article of Faith and strongly apprehend the truth of it nothing could be of greater power to purge our hearts and our hands too from all evil and uncleanness Thus if thou carefully examine thy faith by the effects and judge of it as thou shouldst by thine actions for the tree is known by her fruit thou wilt easily find notwithstanding thy former conceipt of thy self how full of infidelity thy false heart is and how little thou believest either threats or precepts or promises or providence or any thing else sincerely and as thou shouldest Well therefore it would
he doth not sow and requiring a law at their hands to whom he gives no ability for performance In Gods name therefore and mans too let us be content to speak as the Scriptures do which in this here and more than a thousand places besides do seriously urge and necessarily require the observance of the Law and keeping of the Commandments which St. John tells us through the grace of Christ are not grievous neither Such as will needs speak otherwise that they may not be kept either for any time or in any action let them take heed lest they open gates unto impiety and like those Spies in the 13 of Numbers discourage the hearts and weaken the hands of the people of God yea let them beware lest they cast dishonour too as on God himself so especially on the blessed Spirit that inhabits and Christ Jesus our Lord that dwells in his Saints if all yet can produce in any not any thing but sins Much better therefore it were to leave disputing and give good ear to that of our Saviour He that breaketh the least of these Commandments and teacheth others so to do shall be least in the kingdom of heaven that is as some interpret shall least of all others enter into that Kingdom For what is this indeed but to withdraw men from their duty and teach them disobedience for even duties cease to be due whensoever they begin not to be possible But this is every mans constant duty and the whole duty of every man the invincible reason wherewith Solomon here backs his conclusion and withal confutes this opinion Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is c. The Reason is strong and full three degrees or ascents there are in it First a Duty and Secondly universally of all men the duty of man and mans universal duty and Thirdly the whole duty of man And though there be diverse inventions sought out many turns and wrenches made to slip this duty yet one of these three or other will meet with and refel all our devices For they that scruple at the conclusion as impossible evince that they will not stay there but be as apt to quarrel with the duty at least as not simply necessary a duty peradventure in the rigid exaction of the Law and of such as are under it as they were to whom Solomon spake this but we are under the Gospel dead unto the Law that we might be married unto one even to Christ our Lord and our life what then hath this legal duty of Commandments to do with us or we with it since we are mutually dead one to another Yet be we under what times we will or states either so long as we lose not our humanity so long as we cease not to be men under any as being not really dead but morally so long it will have to do with us for this is a duty not of some times and persons but universally of man Neither were they simply under the Law to whom this was spoken led indeed they were by the oeconomy of the Law but yet under the promise and promised seed and were saved by the Gospel as we now are though the Gospel not so distinctly believed then as now it is Neither indeed they nor any people else under Heaven since that promise The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head are so meerly under the Law either of Moses or Nature but that if they do their duty keep the Commandments which they have and glorify God according to their knowledge they may for ought I understand be saved too by the Gospel which they knew not for even the Gentiles so doing their incircumcision shall be counted for circumcision as the circumcision otherwise is esteemed but as incircumcision In that day when God shall judge the secrets of all hearts not simply by the Law but according to my Gospel saith the Apostle Rom. 2. And indeed this is the only reason why this duty continues still to bind because men are not under the Law simply but under the Gospel for that is the state only of Devils whose doom is sealed and though the law of their nature cannot be abrogated as being a branch of eternal equity yet they seem not to be lyable unto any mens punishment for the breaches of it now because not capable of any reward for the observance The Gospel therefore doth not evacuate as St. Paul speaks but establish the Law since every man is therefore bound in duty unto the Law because not absolutely excluded from all benefit of the Gospel But we who are under the fulness of this Gospel are in a fuller manner tied and in an higher degree unto the observance of the law than any people else before that fulness came as being bound now by the special coming of the Holy Ghost to keep the Commandments not in the oldness of the letter which as it seems was sufficient whilst the Heir was but a Child and in minority but in the newness of the Spirit for the Spirit it is which gives life and vigour unto the Commandments as being the very strength and power of all lively performance And therefore our Saviour though he came with Gospel in his mouth yea was the Gospel himself yet think not saith he that I came to dissolve the law I came not to dissolve but to fulfil it And that we may know the true fulfilling of it if we think to enter into life belongs to us as well as the entire and perpetual unto himself after he had vindicated the Text of the Law from the corrupt glosses of the Scribes and Pharisees and set it forth in the highest perfection if not added perfections above the Law and beyond that which was said unto them of old he closeth up all at last with this conclusion He that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him unto a wise man What then though being dead under the law we become through the favour of the Gospel to be dead also even unto the law yet it is but to the condemning power the killing letter of the law that so we might be married unto Christ our life since the end of this marriage is but to bring forth fruit unto God as St. Paul in that place and that in the newness of the spirit which is not sure to break but to keep with more exactness the Commandments of God This therefore a duty still the duty of Jew and Gentile and Christian too universally of all mankind For this is the whole duty of man c. But though a duty not only in Solomons time but even now under the Gospel yet for all that it may be but a voluntary duty a freewill offering indeed of thankfulness and gratitude or so but not a necessary duty necessary unto life Our life in this World is our justification in Christ and Christ and justification too we have them both by faith and by faith