However mean and abject his condition were that cannot make you to despise him who from that must needs reflect how dear you were to God when for your sakes meorly he became so mean and abject He became poor saith S. Paul that you through his poverty might be made rich He was made the Child of Man that you might be made Sons of God it was to pay the price of your Redemption that he so emptied himself thus he valued you and men do not despise meerly because and by those measures that they are esteem'd these are not the returns of love its passionate obliging ravishing effects do not use to be thus requited this his great descent cannot occasion your fall who know he descended only to assume you up to glory But 't is worth inquiry why since it was certain that for this this Child should be the fall of Israel that for this they would reject him and the meannesse of his condition would prove an unremoveable obstruction to their belief as it is to this day Why yet he would choose to be born in a condition so in the utmost extream to his own nature so all contradiction to his Divinity and so seemingly opposite to the very end of his coming The Jew indeed will find no excuse for his Infidelity from this condition For whatever that were yet those Miracles that made the Devils to confesse him brought conviction enough to make Jews inexcusable And it was obvious to observe that He who fed five thousand with five Loaves and two Fishes till they left more than was set before them needed not to be in a condition of want or meanness if it were not otherwise more needful he should not abound God that when be brought this first begotten Son into the World said Let all the Angels of God worship him might have put him into an estate which all Mankind most readily would have done homage to As easily have drest his Person with a blaze of Pomp and Splendor as his Birthday with a Star if there had not been necessity it should be otherwise And such there was For when the fulnesse both of Time and Iniquity was come when Vice could grow no further but did even cry for Reformation and when the Doctrine that must come to give the Rules of this Reformation was not onely to wage War with Flesh and Blood with those desires which Constitution gives but which perpetual universal Custom had confirmed and which their Gods also as well as Inclinations did contribute to which their Original sin and their Religion equally fomented for Vice was then the Worship of the world Sins had their Temples Theft its Deity and Drunkennesse its God Adultery had many and to prostitute their bodies was most sacred and their very Altar-fires did kindle these foul heats whence Uncleannesse is so often call'd Idolatry in Scripture And besides all this when all the Philosophy and all the power of the world were ingag'd in the belief and practise of this and resolv'd with all their wit and force to keep it so When it was thus the Doctrine that must come to oppose controul reform all this must come either arm'd with Fire and Sword design to settle it self by Conquest or come in a way of Meeknesse and of suffering The first of these Religion cannot possibly design because it cannot aim to settle that by violence which cannot be forc't and where 't is force is not Religion One may as well invade and hope to get a Conquest over thoughts and put a Mind in Chains and force a man to will against his will All such motives are incompetent to demonstrate Doctrines for however successful their force proves yet it cannot prove the Doctrines true for by that Argument it proves that Religion that it settles true it proves that which it destroyes was true before while it prevail'd and had the Power Had this Child come so he had onely given such a testimony to the truth of Christianity as Heatbenifave had before and Turcisme hath since He might indeed have drown'd the wicked World again in another Deluge of their own Blood But sure never had reform'd it thus Therefore that Religion that must oppose the Customes and the Powers of the World upon Principles of Reason and Religion must do it by Innocence and Patience by doing good and which was necessary then by consequence as the world stood by suffering evil parting with all not only the Advantages but the Necessaries of this life and life it self too where they stood in competition and were inconsistent with mens duties and their expectations And by this means they must shew the world that their Religion did bring in a better hope than that which all the profits pleasures glories of this World can entertain and flatter Thus they did and thus they did prevail For the first Ages of the Church were but so many Centuries of Men that entertained Christianity with the Contempt of the World and Life it self They knew that to put themselves into Christ's Service and Religion was the same thing as to set themselves aside for spoyl and Rapine dedicate themselves to Poverty and Scorn to Racks and Tortures and to Butchery it self Yet they enter'd into it did not only renounce the Pomps and Vanities of the World in their Baptism when they were new born to God quench their affections to them in those waters but renounc'd them even to the death drown'd their affections to them in their own heart blood ran from the world into flames and fled faster from the satisfactions and delights of Earth than those flames mounted to their own Element and Sphere In fine they became Christians so as if they had been Candidates of death and onely made themselves Apprentises of Martyrdom Now if it were not possible it should be otherwise than thus as the world stood then it was necessary that the Captain of Salvation should lead on go before this noble Army of Martyrs if it were necessary that they must leave all who followed him then it was not possible that he should be here in a state of Plenty Splendor and Magnificence but of Poverty and Meannesse giving an Example to his followers whose condition could not but be such To give which Example was it seems of more necessity than by being born in Royal Purple to prevent the fall of many in Israel who for his condition despis'd him I am not so vain as to hope to perswade any from this great Example here to be in love with Poverty and with a low condition by telling them this Birth hath consecrated meannesse that we must not scorn those things in which our God did choose to be install'd that Humility is it seems the proper dresse for Divinity to shew it self in But when we consider if this Child had been born in a condition of Wealth and Greatnesse the whole Nation of the Jews would have received him
God and consequently heir of Gods possessions which his Faith gives him a prospect of how will he look down on the tempting glories of this World on all that makes it gratefull and desirable as upon abject things and sleight and undervalue whatsoever worldly men poor Souls do fear or hope or long for and pursue The Mathematicks say that the whole Globe of Earth to one that looks upon it from the Firmament is but as a point and sure it is demonstrable it must be so And then how low and how contemptible must it needs seem to him that looks on it as from the Region of the Blessed from Gods Mansion and when his Soul having defecated and freed it self from all earthy muddy gross affections and become expedite and light expatiates through those unbounded unfathom'd extensions of Heaven and glory and looks upon all as his own that he is very shortly to come take the full enjoyment of and hath already seisin of it by his Faith how will he despise those narrow those ridiculous bounds which the great ones of this World with Fire and Sword contend for when he sees this little poynt half cover'd with the Sea almost as much too hid from us and not to be discovered by our arts or industry of that which is much Desart some parts Frozen some burnt up and not inhabited and then the little remnant of this poynt to be the strife and the vexation of Mankind while multitudes of Nations tear one anothers bowells spill the Blood and Souls of Myriads for some little patch or other of it and those that are not doing so yet in their sphere too they oppresse deceive do any thing to get and all the rest are in perpetual hurry of vexatious employments or of toylsome pleasures or of ruining vices Will he not look on this more unconcern'd than we do on the busie labours of a little World of Ants about a Mole-hill which Philosophers compare us to The spectacle is much more to be pitied indeed the crowds and Squadrons of those Ants though they should have as many traverses and walks as men have they have not Soul enough to have their guilt Probably had they Humane understandings they would then divide their Mole-hill into Empires would be false and treacherous to one another Cheat Defraud Oppresse and Murder one another for the greater share and had they Reason they would be more Bruits than now they are but Pismires For Beasts have lesse folly too because they are not Men. But he whose Faith mounts him to Heaven his Birth-place where he nestles in the secret Bosom of his Father he needs not be concern'd in any of the carriages of this World he is above them all without the sphere of their attraction or magnetisme without the dangers of temptations from them The World is but as his slave and it hath no command upon him he treads it all under his feet and therefore certainly hath overcome it the Condition and degree of which Victory is the next and last thing we are to enquire into If you ask the Stoick who is this great Conquerour that overcomes the World he will answer somewhat to this purpose It is not any of those great successful Robbers that with Armies forrage Nations it is not he that peoples the whole Sea filling it with his Navyes nor he that sets his Confines on the remotest parts of the Inhabited World that can call all his own that the Sun views so that it shines not out of his Dominions But the Man that hath conquer'd his own Inclinations to the things below he that hath rais'd his mind above the Crosses or Contents of this World that can march among them both dreadlesse and unconfus'd the man whose Soul is nothing dazled by the brightnesse of VVealth it shall not blind his Eyes but through the varnish or the glory that the shine of it does shed he can discover and will hate an evil action he that can severely look on all those blandishments that Prosperity furnishes and decks out pleasure in and can sit continent and abstemious in the midst of its delights that when it is all Halcyon day with him nothing but Sunshine and he swims in the calm streams of flowing Plenty is not melted by one or other does not become loose and dissolute at all the man also that is not shaken by the tumults of adversity when like an Earthquake she renverses all his mind then stands unmov'd that does not so much suffer as receive and welcome all that happens as if he would not have it happen otherwise In a word it is the man that hath rais'd his mind above all casualties the man that does but remember that he is a Man that is considers if he do abound and the world prostitute it self to his Delights that this cannot continue long or if the World conspire to make him miserable remembers that he is not so except he think he is so a man greater than his perils stronger than his desires And thus far the Stoick's Wiseman is victorious Christs Believer goes a little farther That man hath the World Subject to him but the Christian does not stay at that he must not treat it as a Subject but a Traytor one whose Service is Conspiracy that does attend on us onely to watch and to betray us to know our weak part and to storm us there Therefore as the Lord commanded Israel concerning Amalek that did by them as the World doth with us in our journey to Canaan comes upon advantages and smites the feeble Deut. 25. 17 18 19. Therefore said the Lord remember what Amalek did to thee by the way how he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee even all that were feeble behind thee when thou wast faint and weary therefore thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven c. So must we also with the VVorld put all to death not spare the best and goodliest as Saul did yea more put all to the pomps and cruelties of Death as Gideon us'd the men of Succoth tear their flesh with thorns and bryars or as David us'd the Ammonites put them under Sawes and Iron Harrows so the Christian must serve the VVorld VVhat ever instruments of tyranny that us'd upon his Saviour on the Crosse those he most exercise on it again those Thorns those Nayles that Spear he must employ like Gideon's Bryars and like David's iron Harrows it must be Crucified and then he is a glorious Conquerour Gal. 6. 14. God forbid that I should glory save in the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby the World is Crucified to me and I unto the World He that does march under the Banner of the Crosse that Conquering Ensign as he thereby declares himself upon such terms of enmity with the VVorld that he does look upon himself as one despis'd by it counted as an accursed thing for so was that that was
Crucified as it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on the Tree So also he does look upon his Standard as the instrument of Execution to the VVorld on which it must be Crucified unto him and so it is He is so taken off from finding any stirring delights in the glories of it that he accounts it a dead thing that hath no more attraits than a Carcasse yea he does look upon this World as on a detestable and accursed thing as it was indeed whose Thorns and Briars do not onely scratch and tear and do it most when we embrace it most but also are a Refuge for the cursed Serpent to lurk in and add his Stings to their sharps that Devil Serpent that was doom'd into it and is alwayes in it and then most when it is most Paradise Now he that hath thus us'd the World he that hath nail'd it to the Crosse of Christ hath overcome the World Should we now cast an eye at once upon our selves and that which hath been thus deduc't tracing all back again then First it would appear so evident that I were vain if I should stay to prove that those which have such desires to any of the profits heights or pomps or any dear thing else whatever of this World as that they are impatient if they miscarry in them and full of strange complacencies if they do answer their desires these have not overcome the World to any such degree For had I overcome and Crucified it sure I should not be so affectionate as to desire court and pursue what I had Executed I should as soon adore the Paintings of my Enemies Tomb embrace and make love to his Carcasse And were I Crucified to it had I but one Thorn of my Saviour's Crown struck through my head but one Nail in my Foot of those that nayled him to his Tree were my Soul fastned to a Crosse how were it possible I should run gadding after the gay follies of the World hasty in my desires of it Nor could I be impatient if the World do not answer my desires and expectations disquieted and discompos'd if I be disappointed when any thing in it is not subservient to my heights and I misse of those respects I lookt for were the World vanquisht Crucified to me should I look for services from my dead Enemy whom I had slain or be troubled if the person on the Crosse did not do fitting reverences to me or be impatient if I had not respects and the Attendances of Pomp from one upon the Gibbet or if I were Crucified to it certainly these heats would not warm the dead these are none of the troubles of an Executed person when he is rackt upon that instrument of Death he is not grieved because the Nayles were not of Silver the Spears head not bright or the Crosse was not hung with Arras And suppose it were sure I were very weak if I should please my self with that and let Such poor contents thrust out all the just sadness of my Sentence and demerit And yet it is as strange to find delights in having any of the Worlds advantages and pride my self in the possession if I be Crucified to it But much lesse is it Crucified to them that will do actions of injustice for the sake of any of the pomps or profits of the VVorld there are that grind and screw and rack all that they have to deal with others that deceive and rob in Vizours plunder in the disguises of fair words and of false arts Some that dresse their Pomps in none of their own trappings such as they never mean to have a right to because they never mean to satisfie for them if they can avoid it they furnish the grandeur of their own condition with the goods of others which they never care to make their own by any recompence at least not in such wayes and seasons as the needs of those that own'd them and the rules of Justice do require they cramme and sauce their Dishes with the vital Blood indeed of those who starve for want of and who own all that which does provide them their excesses Now would a man do this to entertain and feed and dresse the Carcasse of his vanquisht his dead Enemy would he be so vain so guilty to provide to deck the Crosse on which he Crucified his Foe least of all would he retrench from the proportions of Charity or Piety deny the calls of Mercy and compassion or Religion for his profits sake or to furnish out the trains of Pomp take the Lords portion to serve the dead World with If it were overcome and Crucified they would not feed it with hallowed things and the Poor's portion is such nor rob the Altar to give it excesses take Consecrated things to make a cursed Carcasse gay and proud strip Christ's Body starve their Saviour so He does interpret to deny a portion to the naked and hungry to make pomps and Ryots for an Executed World In any of these cases he is far from being overcome And if so the Second Proposition will apply it self to such and must conclude they have no Faith for if they had that were a victory and however goodly they pretend they are but Infidels But it may be they will boldly own the Consequence for now adayes it is not gentile to believe any thing of Christ's Religion And sure 't is for the Reputation of the gallantry and courage of our love unto this World that when the covetousnesse of the Gadarenes would not suffer Christ in their Coasts and for their Swines sake drove him out when that of Judas would not let him be upon the Earth but for thirty Silver pieces did betray him up to Death that of this Age proceeds and will not let him be in Heaven neither but it scoffs him thence and his Faith from the Earth And because they like this VVorld so well they will not suffer there should be any other It is not my part to Combat these I undertook onely to shew a way to overcome the World if they will not use it let them enjoy their Bondage And yet without all doubt these candidates of Infidelity and Atheisme have faith enough to do the work in good degree for certainly ther 's none of them but does believe but he shall dye and it is easie for his Faith to look through that thin vapour which our life is stiled by to the end of that small span and there see a Bed though gay now and soft as the sleep and sins it entertains then with the Curtains close the gayety all clowded in a darknesse such as does begin the desolatenesse of the Grave if you draw the Curtain to his Faith it sees a languishing sad Corps which nothing in the world can help or ease foreshrowded in his own dead hue himself preluding to his winding-sheet in which within a little while he shall be cast from the society and sight
of men and shall have nothing else of all his VVealth and Pomp To see all this is no great monstrous difficulty for his Faith Now though while he is in his prosperity and health and the world serves every of his desires and if I should tell him all his superfluities all that is beyond a meer convenience are but empty things meer shadows of delight that onely mock his fancy should I tell him that the silver furnitures of his Tables and those more wealthy shining ones those in his Cabinet and the Silken ones of his Rooms and the more exquisite pieces of rich Art which people must have skill to understand the pomp of must have been the Disciples of the Pensil to discern how they do serve Pride tell him these are phantasmes onely dreams of pomp advantages no where but in imagination I shall not perswade him but he will despise me But then if he will ask his Faith how all these will look to him in the state which is now before his thoughts what his opinion of them will be then he knows he may as well go to his pictures now and entertain his Mirth and Luxuries with them and hearken to their painted sounds and dine upon the images of Feasts as hope in that sad hour from all his VVealth to find content or ease though his hand sweat under the weight of winter jewells they will not heal one a king joynt His plate the greatest Ryot of his Table will not make one morsell tast savory yea more he knows that then all the worldly uses of these superfluities such as satisfying curiosity and emulation and the estimation of the World to be the talk of people and the like these will appear most evidently to be insipid things meer conceits of delights things of which there can be no reall enjoyment or advantage any time And if it then appear evidently that in themselves they are so then they are so alwayes and a constant Contemplation of that time will make them alwayes seem so So that a Faith that cannot see into another World that will but look through this must needs take off our hearts from the entanglements of those advantages when it appears how small a thing can dash them all so as that we cannot enjoy them while we have them and that the enjoyment of them while we do is but imaginary And really when we consider how unquiet and disturb'd a thing man is except he raise himself above the power of all these how till the mind escape out of the whirle and circuit of the Worlds allurements it cannot but be in perpetual agitations at every ebb or flow of things without there is a tyde within of swelling or sinking affections every change abroad does make a change of thoughts and of designs crosse Accidents have crosse Passions and I am as much an Universe of various thwarting contradictious affections as the world is of motions How the Beasts are free serene and quiet Creatures in comparison for they not understanding many objects consequently have few inclinations and their satisfactions very obvious whereas the Comprehensive mind of Man that looks into a world of things and out of them creats a world of temptations finds out varieties of Pleasures or of Profits and then starts as many eager affections in himself to pursue them his copious understanding does but procure him various lusts and his reason does but make him sagacious in searching out occasions of disquiet Nor is it possible it should be otherwise for while my inclinations are chain'd to those external movements and my slavish mind attends upon those inclinations I must needs suffer as many servitudes as the world hath changes of temptation And then putting these two Considerations together how unsatisfying and how uneasie too it is to be engaged in the Advantages of this World which are meerly Dreams of good things that disturb our rest and make our sleep unquiet with the working of Imagination yet do but delude the Appetite and we find we have had nothing when we awake sure if I thought there were no other World yet would I not be greedy after the great things of this when 't is more easie far to want them here would I indulge my self the sensuality of a Contented mind the luxury of an ataraxie of an indifference as to all these things of being quiet and untroubled by not having them free from the hurry and disorder of them The Moralists did so account it certainly when they call'd this living according to our Nature as if all the other were a Violence upon us and upon the same ground they accounted it not hard to overcome the Alurements of this World it was onely not to invade and use a force upon themselves and vanquish their own natures And sure we that are Christians and are so no farther than as we have this Faith here in the Text we must not count it hard we who have the Revelations and Example of the blessed Jesus all that he hath done to make it easie now saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Courage for I have overcome the World They are but broken forces we are to resist we have the Strengths of Heaven on our side and therefore sure we may adventure to encounter them and if we do begin to faint we have an Almighty Captain of Salvation and if we have but Faith to lay hold on him and be not false to our own selves but keep our hold if we be foyled Christ must be vanquisht too and we may fear impossibilities as well When those poor Heathen marcht on naked had none of our weapons to assault the World or to defend themselves had neither Sheild of Faith nor Helmet of Salvation no Sword of the Spirit the Word of God and yet master'd it in great degrees shall we that are harnessed turn our selves back in the day of Battel and confute this Scripture and make good that they do overcome the World most easily who never heard that Jesus was the Son of God 'T is not onely base for us to faint most who have most advantage but it is a contradiction for them to be overcome that have the Victory Now this is the Victory that overcometh the World even our Faith the Victory that overcomes both Worlds indeed it tramples upon this and lays hold upon that to come out-doing what S Paul sings of it in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11. His Heroes through Faith subdu'd earthly Kingdoms but by Faith we overthrow the Kingdom of the Prince and God of this World and the Kingdom too of the Almighty suffers violence from it and our Faith takes that by force forces even a right to it By it they stopt the mouth of Lyons in the Wildernesse by it we stop that roaring Lyon's mouth that compasses the Earth seeking whom he may devour by it they quencht the violence of Fire we the Everlasting burnings by that Women received their dead
with which the World assaults us in our course of Duty Thus the Crosse of Christ first shews us the necessity we have to renounce and Crucifie the World But to encourage and enable us to do so it does also shew us Secondly the certainty of a good issue in the doing it assures us that those who deny themselves forbidden satisfactions here that will be vertuous maugre all the baits and threats of Earth will embrace duty when it is laden with a Cross although so heavy as to crush out life and kill the body assures us that those lose not but exchange their lives shall save their Souls and that there is another World wherein their losses shall be made up to them and repaired with all advantage To the truth of this the Crosse of Christ is a most pregnant and infallible testimony For as by multitudes of Miracles Christ sought to satisfie the world that he was sent from God to promise all this and justified his Power to perform it by experiment raising some up from the dead so when they said he did his Miracles by Beelzebub he justified it further with his Life affirming that he was the Son of God now 't is impossible but he must know whether he were or no and consequently sent and able to do all he promised and resolv'd to do it also for our more assurance in himself that he would raise himself up from the dead within three dayes and saying this when he was sure he should be Crucified for saying so and sure that if he did not do according to his words he must within three dayes appear a meer Impostor to the world and his Religion never be receiv'd Now 't is impossible for him that must needs know whether all this were true or no to give a greater testimony to it than his Life For this that Blood and Water that flowed from his wounded side upon the Crosse which did assure his Death is justly said to bear witnesse to his being the Son of God and consequently to the truth of all this equal to the testimony of the Spirit whether that which the Spirit gave when he came from Heaven down upon him in his Baptisme or the testimony which he gave by Miracle for there are three that bear witnesse upon Earth the Spirit the Water and the Blood Thus by his Death Christ did bring Life and Immortality to light his choosing to lay down his own life for asserting of the truth of all this was as great an argument to prove it as his raising others from the dead and Lazarusâ—â— empty Monument and walking grave-cloathes were not better evidence than this Crosse of Christ. 3. Once more this Crosse not onely proves the certainty of a future state but does demonstrate the advantage of it and assures us that it is infinitely much more eligible to have our portion in the life to come than in this life That to part with every thing that is desirable in this World rather than to fail of those joyes that are laid up in the other that to be poor here or to be a spoyl to renounce or to disperse my wealth that so I may lay up treasures for my self in Heaven and may be rich to God never to taste any one of these puddle transient delights rather than to be put from that right hand where there are pleasures for ever more to be thrown down from every height on Earth if so I may ascend those everlasting Hills and mount Sion that is above that this is beyond all proportion the wisest course it does demonstrate since it shews us him who is the Son of God who did create all these advantages of Earth and prepare those in Heaven and does therefore know them both Who also is the Wisdom of the Father and does therefore know to value them yet for the joyes that were set before him choosing to endure the Crosse and despising the shame On that Beam he weigh'd them and by that his choice declar'd the Pomps of this World far too light that exceeding and eternal weight of Glory that the whole Earth was but as the dust upon the Ballance and despis'd it and to make us do so is both the Design and direct influence of the Cross of Christ. But as at first the Wise men of this World did count the Preaching of the Crosse meer folly to give up themselves to the belief and the obedience of a man that was most infamously Crucifyed and for the sake of such an one to renounce all the satisfactions suffer all the dire things of this Life and in lieu of all this onely expect some after Blessednesses and Salvations from a man that they thought could not save himself seemed to them most ridiculous So truly it does still appear so to the carnal reasonings of that sort of men who have the same objections to the Crosse of Christ as it would crucify the World to them and them to it as it would strip them of all present rich contents and give them certain evils with some promises of after good things which they have no tast for nor assurance of Now this being in their account folly then the contrary to this they must think wisdom as it is indeed the Wisdom of this World which Wisdom since it does design no further than this World and hath no higher ends than Earth and its Felicities it must needs put men upon minding the acquist and the enjoyment of these Earthly things for that is onely to pursue and to atchieve their ends to catch at and lay hold on their felicity and accordingly we see it does immerse them wholly in those cares So that it is no wonder if their God and Religion can get no attendance from them it being most impossible they should when Mammon hath engaged them in the superstitious services of Idolatry and when they sacrifice their whole selves to pleasure and make their bodies the burnt offerings of their Lusts and when Ambition even while it makes them stretch and climb and mount causes them also to fall low prostrate make their temper nature stoop lye down to every humour and to every vice they think themselves concern'd to court and please And though a man would think these so great boundlesse cares are very vain and foolish upon several accounts for common sense as well as Scripture does assure 〈◊〉 that this life and the Contents of it do not consist in the abundance of the things that we possess that it is all one whether my draught come out of a small Bottle or an Hogshead 〈◊〉 the one of these indeed may serve excesse and sicknesse better but the other serves my appetite as well the one may drown my Vertue but the other quenches thirst alike And every dayes experience also does convince us that the least crosse accident pain or affliction on our persons or some other that is seated neer our hearts or the least
distinct every one cannot beat up the Corner or be a pillar and foundation-stone much less can every one place it self in the Ephod assume to be one of the Vrim and the Thummim-stones and there break out in Oracles and give responses and every rubbish stone set it self in the Mitre and shine in the head ornaments as if it were one of the precious stones of Sion In fine to speak now out of Metaphor not only the transactions of the Text which is a precedent for men to commission such and such but also all Scripture rules direct a Choice and where there is Election there is also dereliction and both evince a separation And if all the Nations in the World have had their distinct Officers for Religion and as it were to signalize the separateness of their function in many Nations they did live apart from Men The Priests had their adyta as well as the Deities dark solitary Groves were made choice of not so much for the God as for his Officers retirement so that every appearance of him also was a Vision and the Priest was reveal'd as well as the Oracle and all this at the first to make a kind of sacred Pomp for the solemnity of awfulness though afterwards it often prov'd but opportunity for foul performances And if to this uniform practice of the World Gods attestation be set who order'd it in his own government not that as a Levitical or Iewish administration but it was practised amongst his own from the beginning and vvhen dominions vvere but greater families there vvere still distinct persons for the imployments of Religion that vvas the office and the priviledge of the first-born Esau vvas call'd profane for selling that birth-right of his And the vvord in the Text here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate is the same vvhich God does vvord the sanctifying the first-born for him with Exod. 13. 2. 'twere easy to deduce all this out of all ancient Jewish Records And vvhen the practice ever since hath been the same in Christs Religion after all this sure nothing else but absolute defection of the Notions of Mankind and blotting out all the impressions of Vniversal Nature and Vniversal Religion or else an absolute Command from Heaven could alter this Establishment from vvhich command vve are so far that 't is the Holy Ghost himself that said expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Separateness in Function does infer upon us a separateness in Life and Conversation and they who are thus set apart from the VVorld must keep themselves unspotted from the VVorld To separate and Consecrate are but two vvords for the same thing Separate three Cities is the Command in Deut. 19. 2. and they sanctified three Iosh. 20. 7. Our Offices assume them both and all are holy Orders Now separate and pure are both so primitive and so essential notions of holy that truly I cannot determine vvhich of them is original and vvhich secondary Our Consecration does challenge both and as vve vvill be separate in our calling so vve must be separate in our lives not conforming our selves to the VVorld for I have chosen you out of the VVorld saith Christ. A torrent licence of an Age must not carry us along an Universal Custome of the World must be no precedent and can be no excuse for us to do vvhat is irregular We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separate and that the world does such things is no more a plea for us to do so than that because the world is Common ground therefore the Church is so too fit to be put to all the uses of the field or of vvorse places Were it a reasonable argument because I see that the vvhole Countrey 's till'd vvhy should I not break up the holy places and plow the Temple Why so vve are enclos'd for God and separated for the uses of Religion and to preserve our selves pure for them Our Saviour says that the Community of Christians is a City upon an Hill and then sure the consecrated Persons are the Temples of that City the separate places of it and then as they are most in fight the Church is ordinarily the most visible building so truly he that sees one of them it should be as if he saw an open Church where there is nothing else but holy duty as if his life were Liturgy publick Service and Worship of God Hath your zeal never rose at least your indignation at the profane fury of this age which never made a stop in violation of things sacred when to its heap of other Sacriledges it added most contemptuous defilements of God's Houses making the place that Angels met us in to vvorship and God dwelt in to bless us there the place appointed for the Divinest Mysteries of our Redemption for the Celebration of Christs Agonies for the Commemoration of the blessed Sacrifice the place for nothing but Christ's Blood then to become the place of a most odious and insolent uncleanness If I had worded this more aggravatingly it had been only to infer that then to see a consecrated person to pollute himself with those black foulnesses that made Hell and made Fiends is sure a sadder and a more unhappy spectacle If an Apostle become wicked he is in our Saviours Character a Devil have I not chosen Twelve and one of you it a Devil Yea if the good Saint Peter do become a scandal tempt to that which is not good Get thee behind me Satan Christ calls his nearest Officers Stars Emblems of a great separateness those that teach them how far their Conversation should be remov'd from Earth for they are of another Orbe Heaven is the Region of Stars But they are Emblems of a greater purity there 's nothing in the World so clean as light 't is not possible so much as to sully shine it may irradiate dung-hills but they do not defile it you may eclipse a Star but cannot spot it you may put out the light you cannot stain it 'T is a vvord for God's purity only his light is glory and as his holiness is so separate that it is incommunicable so his Light is inaccessible Yet sure they that are starres in Christs right hand they do come neer and mix their light with his and they of all men must be pure and holy vvhom the spirit calls to that place as he does all vvhom he calls to that separation that he did Barnabas and Saul the Persons and the next Part Separate me Barnabas and Saul I intend not to make particular reflections upon these persons although the Character of Barnabas be registred the 11. Chap. ver 24. He was a good man full of Faith and of the Holy Ghost and the good influence that that had upon the people follows and much people was added to the Church And as for Saul though he began the Christian persecution and vvas