rude barbarisms had exempted them from the number of civil Common-wealths who did not deserve the name of people not of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without either Article or Adjective such as no body could point at with an Article or construe with an Adjective such as seem here to be excluded out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that yet one would think includes all Such as if you were to number up all the world you would leave out them to these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to uncover and shew 'um to the world and out of their thick darkness to light them the way unto salvation Which brings me to the benefits together with the parties Light and Glory Light to the Gentiles Glory to Israel A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of the people of Israel I keep Gods method Fiat Lux begin with light Gen. i. 2. I need not tell you 't is a benefit Truly light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is says the Preacher Eccles. xi 7. and Mordecai joyns light and gladness together Hest. viii 16. So salutare letificans it is salvation that brings joy and gladness with it 2. Light of all motions has the most sudden it even prevents the subtilest sense And was it not so with this salvation When all things were in quiet silence and that night was in the midst of her swift course thine Almighty word leapt down from heaven out of thy Royal Throne Wisdom xviii 14. Salutare praeveniens vota Salvation that prevents our dreams and awakes our slumbering consciences 3. And when our eye-lids are past those slumbers then Lighten mine eyes O Lord that I sleep not in death Those dark chambers have no lights A light to lighten them a light to shew my self to my self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reveal my inmost thoughts to shew me the ugly deformity of my sins will be a blessing Lumen revelans tenebras no dark-lanthorn light a light to shew us the darkness we are in our Salutare dispergens tenebras salvation that dispels the horrid darkness 4. And to do that the enlightning of the medium is not sufficient In conspectu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just before us it may be and the windows of our eyes damm'd up against it A light then to pierce the Organ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into it it must be Lumen penetrans oculum salvation not only presented to the eye but to the sight the eye fitly disposed to behold it 5. Every enlightning will not do that It must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light of revelation No other will serve the turn not the light of nature not the dictates of reason not the light of moral vertues or acquired habits but something from above something infused such as comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divine inspiration What light else no remedy but buried we must be in everlasting night Scriptures or revealed truth the revelation of Iesus Christ must save whoever shall be saved No man can come to me except the Father draw him St. John vi 44. No man lay hold upon the Name of Iesus or salvation but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Lumen divine revelationis salvation by the glorious light of Divine Revelation 6. There is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet wants an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Revelation that wants a Revelation such as St. Iohns a dark one This an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lightsome one such as Revelations are when Prophesies are fulfilled of things past not things to come Lumen Revelationis revelatae a light of salvation as clear as day 'T is time now to ask whither it is this light and revelation lead us I shall answer you out of Zacharies Benedictus S. Luke i. 79. They guide our feet into the way of peace Send forth thy light and thy truth and they shall guide me Psal. xliii 3. So David guide me whither Psal. lvi 13. To walk before God in the light of the living One light to another the light of grace to the light of glory So Lumen dirigens or salutare pertingens ad coelum salvation leading up to heaven Sum up all Salvation to make us glad a light a light to comfort not a lightning to terrifie The lightnings shone upon the ground the earth trembled and was afraid no such no lightning Nor St. Paul's light a light to blind but to give light nor to play about the medium only but to open and dispose the weak dim eye Not by a weak glimmering of nature nor by a dusky twi-light but by a clear Revelation not an ignis fatuus to misguide us out of the way into bogs and quagmires but to guide us to peace and to salvation Lastly not a light to any to see only that they are inexcusable ut essent inexcusabiles that seeing they might see and not understand a light to light 'um down to Hell that they might see the way down through those gloomy shades with more ease horrour and confusion that 's the event indeed sometimes the end never but thither upward from whence it comes to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the beginning of the Text to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the end And can your thoughts prompt to your desires any greater benefits can you wish more And yet if we but consider in what plight the parties were upon whom the rays of this light shone the salvation will seem more beneficial They were in darkness and could any thing be more welcome to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death then a light to lighten That was the miserable case the Gentiles now were in Neither have the Heathen knowledge of his laws 't was so in Davids time and so continued on till this days rising Sun scattered the Clouds and now the case is altered Dedi te in lucem gentium fulfilled in his time The Gentiles now enlightned Enlightned what 's that Those that are baptized are said to be enlightned Heb. x. So the Gentiles enlightned will be in effect the Gentiles baptized Baptized they may be with water and they had need of some such cleansing element to wash their black dark sullied souls but there is another Baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire fire that 's light so to be baptized with light will be with the Holy Ghost 'T was heavy midnight through the world Iudea was the only Goshen the land of light till he that was born this day breaking down the partition that divided Palestine from the nations gave way for the light which before shone only there to disperse its saving beams quite through the world Then did they whose habitations were pitcht in the region of death whose dwellings in the suburbs of Hell see a marvellous great light spring up that 's salus personis accommodata salvation fitted to the parties Fitted and tempestively too to them
needs be full of that Full 5. with the fulness of Riches too the unsearchable riches of Christ says St. Paul Eph. iii. 8. so full that we can find out no bottom of it come to no end of it unsearchable His fulness 6. was the fulness of Glory too we saw it says St. Iohn two verses before the Text such a glory as of the onely begotten Son of the Father and that sure is all the fulness of God Yet to put all out of doubt this fulness was the fulness of the God-head too expresly all the fulness of it and all of it bodily too says St. Paul Col. ii 3. Bodily how 's that why that 's full in all dimensions in all dimensions of a body length and breadth and heighth and depth the length and infinity of his Power the extent and breadth of his Love the height and eminency of his Majesty the depth and unfathomedness of his Wisdom all met together in Christ. 3. Nor will this seem strange at all if we consider for our third point in this fulness how and in what respect 't is his and 't is his both as he is God and as man He could not be thus full as I have told you unless he were God could not have the God-head dwell in him bodily unless God were in the body unless he were incarnate God Nor could other kinds of his fulness be in him unless he were man He could not be a full and sufficient Sacrifice and so offered for one had he not been man nor a perfect High Priest to mediate for us if not taken from among men the great promise that contains all the rest that of the seed of the Woman could not have been fulfilled would not have had its fulness from him but as man The very attribute of fulness speaks him God none full but God no fulness or satisfaction but in him yet some kinds of his fulness evidence him man are not the fulnesses of God as God but as God made man and so the Evangelist by the Context delivers it as the fulness of the word made flesh of the eternal word becoming man This fulness is the fulness of Christ and Christ is both God and Man so the fulness of both 4. And such a fulness that none runs over anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows that 's fulness but that 's not all so above them too it is as it runs down upon his fellows he is not full only for himself for us it was that he was born that he was given that he was anointed that he was full full of grace and full of truth and full of glory that we might be fill'd with grace and truth and glory He indeed is the head that was anointed with oyl but that head is ours the Church is the body upon which it runs down from the head 5. And that not to the near parts alone to the beard or shoulders but even to the skirts of the garment it runs so full it runs Ex hoc omnes all the members nay all the clothes not only those that are true members of the Church but even those who have but an outward relation to it all that have but an external right or adherence as skirts and clothes have yet some benefit of this oyl of this fulness of his Christ is no niggard his fulness nothing so stinted as some narrow and envious souls will have it here 's enough for all enough for the whole world to take and yet leave all full still You may light a thousand candles at one and yet the light of it no way lessened by it You may fill a thousand worlds if there were so many from his fulness and yet he never a whit the less full Take all you can cope all that will nay all that are or shall be here 's still for all as much as at the first O the depth of the riches of the fulness of Christ I could fill the hour I could fill the day I could fill all the remnant of my days with the discourses of it and should I do it I could yet say nothing of it near the full but be as far from sounding the depth of it at the end as I was at the beginning I pass therefore to that which we can better comprehend easier reach our filling out of this fulness the second general 2. Our filling is here said to be receiving Be our fulness never so great it is no other we have received it all Alas poor things we have nothing of our selves What hast thou that thou hast not received says the Apostle 1 Cor. iv 7. Is it grace that grows not in our gardens it comes from Paradise what we have is transplanted from thence Is it nature why that too is received We did not make our selves we received as well our natural as our spiritual endowments from him that made us Is it glory why God calls it his glory a thing he will not share but by beams and glances What should I now mention worldly Riches Estate and Honour they are too evidently received to be denied they are so 'T is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich Prov. xx 22. so Riches are received I shall deliver him and bring him to honour says God Psal. xci 15. so Honour is received And the earth hath God given to the children of men Psal. cxv 16. so our Estates and Lands every Clod and Turf of them is received For the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof and from his fulness we receive of it what we have Enough this to humble us for if thou hast received it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not 't is St. Paul's inference upon it Thou hast no reason to boast thy self O man thy Honour thy Riches thy good Parts thy Graces they are not from thy self thou didst but receive them thou hast nothing of thine own why art thou proud And 2. if all received all we have nothing but so many receipts look we then well to our accounts they are things we are to reckon for we had best see how we expend them that at the general Audit we may give up our accounts with joy To do so 't will be convenient to think often of our receipts our own poverty and indigence a third business we may learn hence to grow sensible of our emptinesses and necessities that we are a meer bill of receipts so much received to day so much yesterday so much day by day item our souls item our bodies item our health item our wealth and so on ward nothing but received and without receiving nothing Upon this reflection upon our own vacuities we cannot 4. but open our hearts to receive our hands to take any thing from his fulness to supply us to desire to have them fill'd our selves fill'd out of his fulness something thence to make us full 2. Yet 2. we must not expect to be so
yet see a little one step farther See and learn Is Christ our Saviour here a Child see then that we become like little children in humility and innocence we shall not see Heaven nor him in it else he tells us S. Mat. xviii 3. Is he so little let not us then think much to be accounted so to be made so Is he content to lie in his Mothers lap let not us grudge then if we have no where else to lie than upon our Mother earth Is he content to partake our weaknesses let not us then be impatient when we fall into sicknesses and infirmities Is he a Child to be adored and worshipped let us then be careful in all places and at all times to adore and worship him Will he accept our presents let us present our Souls and Bodies and Estates and all to his service lay all our treasures at his feet worship him with all that is precious to us think nothing too precious or good for him In a word is he to be found is he so easie to have access to Call we then upon him whilst he is near and seek we him while he may be found seek we him how he will be found for always he will not nor every way he will not Follow therefore the Wise mens steps so soon as ever the Day-star arises in our hearts so soon as ever any heavenly light of holy inspiration shines into us begin we to set forward get we out of our own Countries from our sins arm our selves against all temptations against the pleasures the perfumes and spices of Arabia Faelix of prosperity and honour against the sandy Desarts of Arabia Deserta against driness and dulness commonly the first temptations that we meet with in our way to Christ that make us to have little or no relish of it against the rocky and thievish passages of Arabia Petraea against the rocks of temptations and afflictions against the subtleties and treacheries and violences of the suggestion of ill companions wherewith the Devil doth way-lay us Get we up to Ierusalem the Holy City enquire we there of the word of God and at the mouth of the Priest which God hath said shall preserve knowledge for others good what-ever for his own Ask I say and enquire there how we shall find out Christ rejoyce we ever in the light of Heaven walk by it make much of it of all holy motions and inspirations continue in it and let neither the tediousness of the way nor the frailty of our own flesh nor any stormy or tempestuous weather any cross or trouble nor any Winter coldness of our own dull bosoms nor sometime the loss even of our guides those heavenly and spiritual comforts which God sometimes in his secret Wisdom withdraws from us nor any carnal reason or interest deter us from our search after this Babe of Heaven after Christ the Saviour but go on constantly and chearfully through all these difficulties to the House of God to the Church of Christ then shall we be sure to find him find him with his Mother our souls find him our affections embrace him then will he be exalted in us and exalt us from this House the Church Militant below to that above the Church Triumphant in the Heavens this Child make us grow from grace to grace till we come to the perfect stature of himself here of Grace and hereafter of Eternal Glory THE SECOND SERMON ON THE EPIPHANY St. MAT. ii 10. When they saw the Star they rejoyced with exceeding great joy IOY and great joy and exceeding great joy What 's the matter truly no great matter one would think only a Star appearing Who is it then that are so much rejoyced at it may we not call their wisdom into question their joy into dispute For the men they were Wise men I can tell you ver 1. Wise men from the East great Wise men and for their rejoycing 't is the wisest action they ever did because it was the best sight they ever 〈◊〉 the luckiest Aspect they ever beheld in Heaven the happiest Star that thus led them out of the region of darkness into the land of light that thus conducted them to Christ's abode and presence the greatest reason in the world to be glad at Ye hear much talk of a late Star or Comet and much ado about it but no great joy as I can hear It comes they tell us upon a sad errand is sent to us with heavy tidings no such but is that I believe though I have no confidence of their wisdom that pretend to tell us its intent and business But those They in the Text I know were truly wise because the Letter tells us so especially guided and directed into the knowledge and meaning of the Star they are so glad at And the Star comes with the best news that ever came is but a Ray of the Star of Iacob the Morning-Star to usher in the Sun of Righteousness or our usher to him Other Stars do commonly but befool their Students delude their observers and make them sad This makes us wise and glad and glad to salvation too The other too often tend from Christ cause men to forget him take away the faith and trust that is due to him to put it to a wandering Planet its Aspect and Position This brings us to him brings us to Iesus and his holy habitation And because it does so we will look upon it and be glad follow it and be exceeding glad For to us still the Star shines and we may see it in the Spirit in the spiritual sense and meaning And indeed that 's the best the only seeing The eye of sense could not in these Magi that saw it then in being cannot in us that see it now only in the notion work the joy the Text expresses There was an inward light that made the outward then so comfortable the meer light of a Star though never so glorious could never else have done it cannot now if it should appear again It was some internal light and revelation then concerning it made them so glad will make us as glad as they if we so look upon it as well as they And they and we are but the same of the same stock and kin Gentiles both both equally concerned in the Star and in the joy they only the first-fruits we the lump they saw it in the heavens we see it in the word a thing as clear and firm every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it as the heavens and we as much reason as they had to be glad So both the sum and division of the Text will be comprehended in these two particulars The ground of their joy and ours and the extent of it The ground and occasion of their joy and ours what they did then what we are still to rejoyce in When they saw the Star they rejoyced when we see it we must do so too The extent and measure of this
either understand Religion or practice it that God still allows us the glory of these Stars though one differing in glory from another that he hath not yet totally darkned our heaven upon us nor removed our true lawful and faithful Pastors clean away that we wander not from Sea to Sea and from the North even to the East that we run not to and fro to seek the Word of God to see a Star and cannot find it but have them yet standing over us and directing us It will be a thousand to one but we miss of Christ when we lose this Star a thousand to one that we go into the wrong house instead of his when we lose our Bishops and Teachers the days we now see tell us so already For his House being undoubtedly the Church and the Church not to be seen or found but by the light and brightness of successive Bishops and Ministers who are the Churches glory and its Crown and joy nothing but sad and giddy errors can be expected where they are not A third Star is the Word of God and there first the sure Word of Prophecy a light as St. Peter stiles it shining in a dark place to which he tells us we do well if we take heed 2 Pet. i. 19. Then secondly the sure Promises of the Gospel of Grace and Truth and Pardon the comfortable and glorious light by which we are led to the knowledge of Christ full glad and merry with the hopes of such pardon and forgiveness of such grace and favour A fourth Star is inward Grace the light of the holy Spirit by which we are not only led to the place of this new-born Child but this Child it self even new-born in us This is a Star that rises in the very heart the Day-star rising there 2 Pet. i. 19. without which we should sit in perpetual shades the day never dawn upon us All the former Stars good Examples and Instructions and spiritual Predictions and Promises Pastors and Teachers can teach little without this Star St. Paul may plant and Apollos water and no increase the Preachers speak and preach into the air nothing stay behind good example be spilt as water on the ground divine Prophesies and Promises only strike the outward ear to little purpose all of them together unless the Spirit speak within and warm and lighten the soul with its fiery tongue and comfort it vvith invvard light and heat Hence is the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory which the Apostle speaks of 1 Pet. i. 8. A fifth Star which is heavenly glory a bright morning Star it is that Christ promises to give him that continues and holds out unto the end Rev. ii 28. I will give him the morning star that is eternal life the Star of glory This is a Star will shew us Christ as he is bring us to him not in his Cradle but in his Throne not in his Mothers lap but in his Fathers bosom A Star that will lead us both here and hereafter to his presence Here the great Star that most surely brings us and most effectually perswades to Christ and Christian Piety is the hope of Heaven the promise of Glory In the strength of this hope we suffer any thing for him we hunger and thirst endure cold and nakedness poverty and scorn whips and fetters halters and hatchets racks and tortures ignominy and death whilst this Star seems to open heaven unto us thus it brings us to him here and hereafter it fills us with the beatifical vision of him for ever I need not tell you this is a very sufficient ground of the greatest joy it self being almost nothing else And yet there is a sixth Star the Star that was foretold should come out of Iacob Num. xxiv 17. I am the bright morning Star Rev. xxii 16. I Iesus says he himself am the root and off-spring of David and the bright and morning Star He the Star that leads us to himself his own beauty the great attractive to him his mercy the sure convoy to himself his humility his being the root so low and humble the conduct to his Highness his Incarnation and Nativity his becoming the off-spring and Son of David being made man the only way above all to bring us unto himself Here 's the ground the very ground indeed of all our joy and comfort that he thus came into the World to save Sinners thus clouded his eternal brightness his starry nature his glorious Godhead with the dark rays of flesh and matter appearing at best but as a sublunary Star the Doctor and Bishop of our souls that we might so the easier come unto him and be comforted not confounded in his brightness Thus we have multiplied the Star in the Text by the perspective of the Spirit into Six or shew'd you the six spiritual rays which issue from it which reach to us and even shine God be thanked still though that be gone or shut up in the Treasuries of the Almighty all of these signal grounds of true Christian joy Good Examples good Teachers a good Word of God the good Spirit of Grace the good hope of glory the good of goods our good and gracious Saviour so good Stars and so good occasion of rejoycing that there can be no better 3. And yet a degree may be added from the third Consideration of the time when this Star appeared Indeed it had long before this day been seen had led the Wise men all the way comforted and cheer'd them up all their long journey through only at Hierusalem there it left them there where one would think the Star should shine the brightest But 1. What need Star-light when the Sun of righteousness is so near Or what 2. should need a Type when the Substance was so hard by Or what necessity 3. of a Star when they were now in a surer and brighter light so says St. Peter 1 Pet. i. 19. the Law and Prophets at hand to point out him they sought Or how 4. should we expect any special favour from the God of Heaven while we stay in Herod's Courts in Satan's territories in wicked company Or why 5. should we think the Star should stay upon us when we leave it That God should help us when we as it were renounce his direction to enquire for mens Go to the Iews and Herod for it How should we but lose God's grace if we neglect it 'T is the great ground here then of their rejoycing that after they had lost it they here recover it that they are now got out of Herods Court a place of sin and darkness and are now refresh'd again with the heavenly Light No joy in the World like that of recovering Heaven when it is almost lost No joy to the womans for finding again the Groat that she had lost No rejoycing like the Shepherds for the lost sheep when he has found it The joy reacheth up to heaven says Christ the very Angels rejoyce
death we sate in before St. Luke i. 78 79. His is the only time the time of the Gospel the only time of salvation Here it began and hence now it goes on 2. for ever for St. Iohn calls it Evangelium aeternum Rev. xiv 6. the everlasting Gospel the salvation not to end even with the world to the end of it sure to continue Moses his Law had but its time and vanished and whilst it had could not pretend so far as to make it day cloud and shadows and darkness all the while The times of the Gospel are the only lightsome day and a long one too it seems for our Sun has promised still to shine upon us and be with us ever to the end of the world St. Mat. xxviii 20. But some more remarkable points of this time there are we must confess that of the Apostles was 2. the very especial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intended here the Now in the Text When the time of acceptation was at the fullest when whole families together Acts xvi 34. and xviii 8. thousands at a clap Acts ii 41. whole Towns and Countries came thronging in so fast as if this very now were now or never when Handkerchiefs and Aprons and the very shadow of an Apostle carried a kind of salvation with them Acts v. 15. and xix 12. when there was not only a large way opened for all sinners to come in but all ways and means made to bring them in when there were fiery tongues both to inflame the hearts of the believers and to devour the gain-sayers when there was a Divine Rhetorick always ready to perswade Miracles to confirm Prophesie to convince miraculous gifts and benefits to allure strange punishments to awe sinners into the obedience of Christ and the paths of salvation when the time of that great deliverance too from the destruction of Ierusalem and the enemies of the Cross of Christ so often reflected on through Saint Paul's Epistles was now nigh at hand and the fast adhering to Christ the only way to be accepted and taken into the number of such as should be saved from it Yet 3. this Now is not so narrow but it will take in our times too 'T is true those of the Apostles were furnished with greater means and power yet ours God be thanked want not sufficient We have the Word and Sacraments and Ministers and inward Motions daily calls and ready assistances of the Spirit It may be too somewhat more than they a long track of experimental truths and long sifted and banded reasons and an uninterrupted Tradition and a continued train of holy and devout examples a vast disseminating the Christian Principles and the perpetual protection of them we have to make them more easie to be accepted and tell us that 't is Now still the day of salvation And yet 4. even both in our times and the Apostles there has been a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some signal and peculiar time cull'd out of the rest and set apart for this Reconciliation the great affair that sets the Ecce upon it If I tell you but of St. Augustin's Tota Catholica Ecclesia or St. Leo's Institutio Apostolica or St. Ieromes Secundum traditionem Apostolorum or St. Ambrose's Quadragesimam nobis Dominus suo jejunio consecravit for this holy time we are in the time of Lent that they all call it Apostolical at the least and St. Ambrose fetches it from our Lord and consecrates it from Christ himself and that it was always purposely designed for the time of reconciling sinners and all the offices belonging to it I shall need say no more to prove this Now in the Text is not ill applied when applied to this very time Most reasonable it is 1. that some such there should be design'd some time or days determined for a business of so great weight we are not like else to have it done we would be apt enough to put it off from time to time and so for ever Were there not some set days I dare confidently affirm God would have but little worship paid him thousands would never so much as think of Heaven or God And if it be reasonable some time be set us there is 2. no time fitter than where we are 't is the very time of the year when all things begin to turn their course when Heaven and Earth begin to smooth their wrinkled brows and withered cheeks and look as if they were reconciled 'T is the spring and first-fruits of the year which upon that title is due to God and fittest to be dedicate to his Service and the business of our souls 3. 'T is the time when the blood begins to warm and the contest is now in rising between the Flesh and Spirit which now taken up at first and quell'd may be the easier reconciled to peace and the body subdued into obedience to the soul and so Gods grace not received in vain 4. The spring in which it is 't is tempus placitum the pleasant time o' th' year fittest then to fit with the tempus placitum in the Text fit to be employed to set our selves to please God in to make it perfectly such And sure we cannot be displeased that the Church 5. has thought so too chosen it as the fittest Surely it is or should be the more acceptable for that And if this time besides has all times in it that Solomon himself could think of Eccles. iii. 1. It must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too every way acceptable and all of them it has 1. There is says he a time to be born c. and so goes on this is both a time to be born in and a time to die in Lent a time to die unto the world and to be born and live to Christ. 2. 'T is a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted to plant vertue and to pluck up vice 3. 'T is a time to kill and a time to heal to kill and mortifie our earthly members and to heal the sores and ulcers that sin hath made by a diet of fasting and abstinence 4. 'T is a time to break down and a time to build to break down the Walls of Babilon the fortresses of sin and Satan and to build up the Walls of the New Ierusalem within us 5. 'T is a time to weep and a time to laugh to weep and bewail the years we have spent in vanities and yet rejoyce that we have yet time left to escape from them 6. 'T is a time to mourn and a time to dance to manifest our repentance by some outward expressions and thereby dispose our selves every day more and more for Easter Joys 7. 'T is a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together to remove every stone of offence and as lively stones to be built up as St. Peter speaks into a spiritual house 8. 'T is a
we Christians The two strivings Theirs express ours understood they strive for masteries yet not they only but we also The diet or preparing for it much alike they are temperate in all things yet not they alone but we must too they do it but we do it too or should so by the Apostles similitude The two Crowns the one corruptible that 's theirs the other incorruptible that 's ours both expresly mentioned and compar'd And by comparing them together we shall see the great obligation that lies upon us to be temperate in all things that is as you shall see anon to do all things whereby we may come at last to obtain this incorruptible Crown of glory I begin with the two Combatants the one is any man the other any Christian the first is a man and no more the other has a relation to Christ added to him That man that every man striveth for the mastery to outgo his fellow some way or other is from his very nature there is a kind of natutural contention thence in every body to be some body more than ordinary If this contention were placed upon good things or things worth the striving for it were happy for us But if we have no better assistance than from nature we fix it upon Games and Sports Vanities and Trifles 't is them we only strive about there lies our business and our study 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one of us is no better strive and study for nothing else and yet vain men that we are we trouble and toil our selves as much about such nothings as if they were all we could desire all we could do It being then so natural and necessary a condition to every one of us to be striving for somewhat or other to aim at some exâ—â—â—ence or other to be better than our neighbours in some way or other It were to be desired that this desire and earnest pursuit were pitched right 'T is so in the other of the two Combatants the Christian. He indeed is the only man that strives for the mastery All others strive for that only which is but slavery when all is done We We Christians alone strive for that which is mastery and excellence The more men strive for earthly things the more are they brought under the dominion of them the greater is their vassalage and brings them no better but to cry out with Paul in the person of the unregenerate man Rom. vii Who shall deliver me from this body of death 'T is Gods service only that is perfect freedom we are then only free when we are free to righteousness then only masters when we can command our selves For an ille mihi liber videatur cui mulier imperat c. says the Heathen Orator Can you think him to have got the mastery whom vanity commands whom his Lusts give Law to who can neither go nor come eat nor drink wake nor sleep work nor play speak nor do desire nor think but what they would have him Ego vero istum non modo servum sed nequissimum servum etiamsi in amplissimâ familiâ natus sit appellandum puto I truly says he again think he is not only a servant but a drudge be he who he will of never so honourable a Family I add be his victory never so great and notable in meer vain and corruptible things They do but press him down the more and subject him to vanity and leave him groaning under the bondage of corruption The master over these is the true Christian only who by his faith and resignation conquers all his conquests gets the better both when he overcomes and is overcome both when his enemy oppresses him as well as when himself subdues him who makes all things serve his triumph every thing enhance his glory also things work unto his good advance his Crown All else are but the slaves of their conquests meer drudges to an empty name an airy title And 2. if we take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for one that strives or fights none so truly does it as the Christian. All else do but beat the air fight with nothing in comparison their combates are not only meerly vain vain scufflings with air and wind to no purpose in the world but the very things and enemies they encounter are at the best but men whose breath is in their nostrils lighter than the very air and vanity it self if we believe the Psalmist Psal. lxii 9. and what great conquest over such 'T is the Christian that fights indeed that combates enemies indeed Principalities and Powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places enemies strong and mighty that go invisible and strike and wound us when we see them not that fight with us out of high and almost inaccessible places of defence that have all possible advantage over us These are enemies if we talk of enemies to fight with indeed The enemies worldly men so tremble at are but bragadochios to these all their force and power but weakness if compared with the powers of hell and darkness This is fighting to fight with these to fight with devils and sins and lusts and thus the Christian is the only fighter the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 none but he And if I may have leave to expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one in an agony as sometimes it is none fight to agonies like Christians they come even to the fiery trial even unto bloud even unto death They did not so in the Olympick Pythian Nemaean or Isthmian Games they were but Games and Sporâ— to the Christian Combate that fights often to the death must havtis ways that intention not to give over for death it self but continue constant to the end So here we have in this first point even the mastery amongst them that strive for mastery that they strive for things not worth the striving for that they strive indeed for slavery not Mastery that they scarce do any thing worth the name of striving or fighting that theirs is but play and sport in comparison of the Christian Combatant and yet for all that a great deal they do for the victory in these petty trifles they wrastle and cuff and leap and throw and run and try all their strength and powers And 't is worth the while to see whether we strive and contend as much in our real Christian combate in a case vvorthy of the vvhile and labour That vve are novv to do secondly to compare our strivings theirs and ours the Grecian and the Christian exercises Five several exercises or kinds of striving for the mastery there was in those Corinthian-games Wrestling Cuffing Quoiting Leaping Running All these answered in our Christian course and exercise 1. Wrestling Wrestling against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places says St. Paul Eph. vi 12. Wrestling secondly with God in prayer as Iacob did Gen. xxxii 24. 2. Cuffing and buffeting
by that children of Hell at least as much as themselves all this notwithstanding the painfullest of our endeavours Thus of all kind of labours the Ministers if Gods Word be not by to comfort them is in natural reason the most uncomfortable Yet 2. there is no comfort in any where he is not All mens labours have something of night and sad darkness with them where that eternal Sun-shine does not come and clear up the coasts The wicked man he toils and moils but finds no comfort the blackness and horror of his own sins continually afright him The natural man he works and labours but he finds no comfort none of his works can open him so much as a window into Heaven either to be received in or even to see into it without faith it is impossible to see comfort thence The Iew he labours and sees no comfort of his work 't is high night with him Moses veil is upon his eyes the shaddows are still upon him and he sits down in darkness The ignorant man he sees no comfort in his endeavours for he goes on and toils and moils and sees not minds not Heaven at all nor is there any labourer in the world but he that works upon Christs Word in his presence and by his assistance that meets any comfort in any thing he does The strong man has no comfort in his strength nor the rich man in his riches nor the great man in his honors all of them but a discontented crue if this Sun of Righteousnes make it not day unto them All these mens labours are in the night the night of ignorance where there is no light at all or the night of Nature where it is but star-light or the night of the Law where it is but Moon-light or the night of sin where all these little lights are dimm'd and the great one of grace put out quite There is no light in any of these to comfort us wherein to rejoyce nay all the goods of the world all that we daily strive and strein and spend our selves for cannot afford the least true comfort or refreshment to an afflicted soul for get we what we can catch what catch we may we do but toil all night and catch nothing if Christ or his grace be absent from us Our labours also are thirdly unprofitable where the darkness either drives out or admits not the bright Sun of Glory where our toil and labour is in the night 3. He that works in any of the aforesaid nights his labours profit not he shall take nothing To run through them particularly The Gentile he is the first night-worker he toils and labours and works indeed but can neither find out the knowledg of the truth nor attain the practice of true vertue finds no benefit of all his labour He walks on says St. Paul in the vanity of his mind his understanding being darkned Ephe. iv 17 18. their imaginations vain and their foolish hearts hardned Rom. i. 21. They neither know wherein consists happiness nor how to come by it Their wise men are divided in their opinions about it and themselves wholly estrang'd from it alienated from the life of God says the Apostle Ephes. iv 18. They can catch nothing with all their busie Inquisition but a meer profession to be wise and professing Rom. i. 22. they became fools a pretty catch of it 2. The Iew he labours much to as little purpose and indeed he labours in the night too for his day is none his time is past Iewish Religion dead and gone and nothing now to be gain'd by that When it was at the best with them they received not the Promise Heb. xi 39. they labour'd indeed but caught little in hand the full promise that was kept for us that they without us should not be made perfect ver 40. their burnt-offerings and Sacrifices for sin could not truly purifie them one whit all were but figures their whole Religion but one great Type of ours their brightest day but night to ours At the descending of this eternal Word was all to be perfected nothing to be obtain'd but from him and by him at whose arriving only first appear'd the day and with him the only draught worth drawing up 3. When any man is involv'd in the night of his own sins all his works also will prove unprofitable whilst he is so God will not hear him his sins they cannot profit him whatever they pretend how fair soever they promise him for what fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed Rom. vi 23. no fruit but much shame Nay his good works in that estate how fair so ere they seem will do him as little service Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burn'd and have not charity it profiteth me nothing 1 Cor. xiii 3. His prayer shall be turn'd into sin Psal. cix 7. His fastings shall not be accepted Isai. lviii 5. His very tears shall be neglected as Esau's were Heb. xiii 17. He shall get nothing by all his works all his labour but grief and sorrow for without this heavenly flame of divine Charity which is put out by sin to enlighten that night even good works themselves will gain us nothing all of them together will do us no good but as done in the faith of his Word whose Word is in the Text in the efficacy of his command at whose command Peter again lets down his net Without his Word and presence too to quicken us out of our sins 't is but toiling all night all our labours nothing else 4. No mans labours or endeavours at all can avail any thing as from themselves not only as to the gaining of an eternal reward to which they carry no proportion but not of a temporal happiness neither Except the Lord build the house their labour is but lost that built it Psal. cxxvii 1. A mans trade cannot help him Except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain ver 2. A mans vigilance will not keep him It is but lost labour that thou hast to rise up early and go to bed late and eat the bread of carefulness no care or pains can gain that man any thing whom God does not vouchsafe to prosper The race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favour to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all that is Gods Providence that by changes of times and intermixing of accidents and contingencies disposes all says the Wise man Eccles ix 11. and 't is the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich says the same good man Prov. x. 22. 't is uncomfortable being rich without that blessing 5. But above all the blessing upon our labours the Ministers labours is from God We may be instant in season and out of season reprove
blessed Spirits now inhabite those everlasting hills To put all together Thither they ascended up like clouds by the secret and spiritual operation of divine grace there they dwell like clouds their souls like the upper part of the cloud light and glorious though their bodies like the lower darkned in the grave There they move like clouds in heavenly order Thence they descend like clouds in the still showers of their happy examples that in them as in a glass we may see the power of faith the glory of their Lord who has made earth ascend beyond its nature and dwell above it And yet for all this is it but Nubem still a Cloud not a Star The Saints shall shine as stars Dan. xii 3. and methinks it being Nubem Martyrum the Martyrs flames should rise better into stars than clouds Should and shall in the Resurrection till then Nubem still some degree of darkness at least a less degree of light And whatsoever to themselves for us perhaps 't is necessary it be a cloud For had we not need of this dark word When did not God on purpose cloud their glories from our eyes were it not for this nubem this cloud that covers them man as subject to superstition as prophaness would quickly find out some excellencies for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fall down and worship Or if not necessary yet more convenient far For 1. a Star would only guide us a Cloud both guide and refresh us And 2. guide us better For Stars only appear in the night Clouds night and day we can see them so best follow them The Sun-beams put out star-light Prosperity cannot see a Star so small a glimmering ray A Cloud come it night or day in prosperity or adversity we perceive that presently so a cloud to teach us in all estates how to demean our selves like devotion in its ancient innocence Abrahams cloud when the days are calm and clear Iobs when the day is swallowed up in a tempestuous night So never destitute of a cloud 3. Clouds not Stars They are none but the Magi wise learned men can follow the Stars and their courses but every Peasant sees which way the Clouds move So if Stars they had been for none but wise learned men to follow now the poor Country man has a cloud to run by And yet how easily soever we perceive the track of the Clouds yet if there be a scatter'd multitude we are as easily distracted 'T were best to have but Nubem in the singular but one cloud 't is so Many drops but one cloud though the materials fetcht from several quarters The Martyrs all one Cloud to shew their unity all and each confessing witnessing one and the same truth for truth is but one So not St. Iudes clouds they not only empty no stillicidium Doctrinae in them no good to be learnt from them but clouds too in the Plural some moving this way some that way no constant course in division too one coursing against the other at such enmity is evil with it self 'T is only good and good men that keep together in nubem in peace and unity and by that you shall know them Be it a Cloud and but one Cloud the more probable still too small it may be to command the eye and then what are we the nearer Nubem not Nubeculam no diminutive will that do it If that will not tantam will So great a cloud Why how great So great that St. Paul ver 32. of the former Chapter tells them the day would fail him to shew them it all as if so great a cloud could not but shut up the day in darkness Our first Fathers of the World had no cloud to guide them nothing but natures dusky twilight This cloud begain to rise in the time of the Patriarchs but to appear in the time of Moses like Eliahs cloud at the red Sea went before him thence into Canaan covered the whole Land of Iudaea in the time of the Prophets So these Hebrews had cloud enough yea but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have more Even those Hebrews to whom this Epistle was sent they are in the Cloud About that time this cloud rising in the East spread its wings presently into the West and had almost in an instant fill'd up the corners of the World so that if you now ask again how great so great I cannot tell you Primitive Christians they in the number you will not wonder at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it become a cloud of Martyrs Indeed the Law of Moses had its Martyrs too Witness Isaiahs Saw the three Childrens fiery Furnace the emptied skins of the tortur'd Maccabees But since the time of Christ his servants have engrossed the name as if they only were the Martyrs and filled up tantam to the brim Their multitudes tireing the wit of cruelty and their patience overcoming it as if from the streams and rivers of their bloud heaven might now enskarfe it self in a scarlet cloud Well talk we may of Martyrum what we will yet if Nubem be not first they will be but Stultae Philosophiae all this while no better 'T is the order in the Text Nubem first then Martyrum First clouds lifted up to heaven in their thoughts and conversations and all in one the Sons of peace and unity if you can see Christ in the cloud then Martyrs if you will Schism and faction or discontented passion yield no Martyrs You shall know a Martyr by Nubem if that go first But taking Martyrs thus all are not Martyrs All died not for their faith but all are Testes Witnesses Witnesses of the Power Witnesses of the Mercy Witnesses of the Justice of God Of his Power in delivering them from sin of his Mercy in saving them from punishment of his Iustice in rewarding them with glory Witnesses to this curramus 1. to witness the possibility that this Race we are to speak of by and by may be run this Propositum the prize won for ab esse ad posse run the one they have and won the other long ago 2. To testifie the easiness that even the weaker Sex Sarah and Rahab the weakest age the three Children the army of Innocents have run it 3. To testifie the dignity that both King and Priest and Prophet David and Samuel and Daniel thought it worth the pains 4. To testifie the universal necessity all ages young and old all Sexes men and women all degrees high and low to run this race none excused And that you may not mistrust their testimony what is required to the best witness you have in them 1. That he knows what he speaks and what knowledge like theirs that speak by experience that now feel the reward of truth 2. That he will and dare speak it and these have fear'd no torments for it they are Martyrs of