TWO SERMONS PREACHED BEfore the Kings most excellent Majesty in the Church of BEAULY in Hampshire. The first, the last of August. The second, the 9 of August. BY CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON Doctor of Divinity. LONDON Printed for Edward White dwelling at the little North door of Paul's at the sign of the gun, 1609. To the right honourable Henry, Earl of SOUTHAMPTON, Baron of TICHEFIELD, Knight of the most honourable Order of the Garter, and Governor of the Isle of WIGHT. BEhold (right honourable) the Sermons now published, which were pronounced by your Lordship's appointment, in a very sacred presence. The gracious allowance which then they received from a royal divine, giveth me hope that they will not be unwelcome to the Church, entertaining all meditations with facility, that advance Christ, her Bridegroom, Patron, and delight. What was intended in them to this purpose, he knoweth best that knoweth all things: If any thing be attained, that shall always be ascribed thankfully to his goodness, and submitted willingly to her censure. With this obedience I have determined to live, and desire to die. In the mean time, they come abroad under the pass also of your Lordship's authority, as of my honourable Magistrate. Were they just volumes, and of any great request, your Lordship were more than worthy of them, for that heroical zeal wherewith you have adorned our little Sarepta. Now making scarce a pamphlet, they are the less worthy of a noble patron: But I have had true experience that your Lordship accepteth the poor endeavours of our ministery above their worth. Therefore recommending them to your Lordship's good favour, and your Lordship to the riches of God's blessing, I take my leave with reverence, and will rest Your Lordship's most affectionately devoted, CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON. A SERMON PREAched before the King at BEAULIE in Hampshire. ROME 10.4. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth. IT is not unknown unto you, that the Doctrine of free justification is the principal subject and matter of this Epistle. The jews, whom the Apostle spoke of in the beginning of the Chapter, were afraid to come to this righteousness of Christ, lest they should be injurious to the Law, and offend God, that had commanded it so seriously to the Fathers. The Apostle answereth, that this their fear proceeded from ignorance of God's righteousness, and their own Law: and addeth a reason in these words of my Text; For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Quicquid est veteris Testamenti, Christum sonat: All the Old Testament (as Augustine says) sounds of Christ. The Ceremonies are nothing but figures of him: he is the kernel of the promise; they are all in him Yea and Amen; and without him no promise hath accomplishment. He is the life and soul, and perfection and end of all the Commandments. And therefore he that hath Christ, and holdeth him by faith, hath all that the Law requireth in precepts, offereth in promises, and shadoweth out in types and figures. The points in this text are considerable: 1 The prerogative that Christ hath above the Law: he is the end of the Law. 2 The benefit thereof: for righteousness. 3 To whom this benefit pertains: to every one that believeth. Excellent things are spoken of the Law. If thou wilt enter into everlasting life (saith Christ unto a Lawyer) keep the Commandments. So saith Moses; Denter. 6 Behold, this shall be our righteousness before the Lord our God, If we take heed to all these Commandments, to do them. Whereby we may perceive, that fair and large promises are annexed to the Law. What is fairer than righteousness? What larger than everlasting life? But they are conditional, and not absolute: Si potes dicere, Feci quod iussisti, potes itidem dicere, Red quod promisisti: If thou canst say, I have done that which thou commandest, thou mayst well say, Give me that thou promisest. On the other side, if the Law be not observed, and that exquisitely too, the threats thereof are all as terrible. Cursed is every one that abideth not in all that is written in the Law, to do them. Hard conditions, of doing, and doing all. And if you please that we shall enter into the question, whether we can perform the Law, or not; Paul answereth, that it is a matter not of difficulties; Rom. 8, for that might be compassed with endeavour, but of impossibility; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; that which was impossible for the Law to do. And he giveth a reason thereof in the former chapter: The Law is spiritual, and I am carnal. Now these two be contraries. For the flesh evermore lusteth against the spirit: Galat. witness the same Apostle, not in words only, but in true experience also. For he felt a Law in his members rebelling against the Law of God, and leading him captive. When this elect Vessel, and great Apostle, after he was regenerate (for the unregenerate feel no such strife) found this long distance between the Law and his own affections; and such defects, that for horror thereof he cried our, O miserable man that I am! may we attend any good performance or complement of the Law in others? Steven challengeth the whole Nation of the jews; Act. 7. You have received the Law, and have not kept it. His words carry the strength and sinews of an argument. That which is not kept, cannot justify: But you have not kept the Law: therefore what boast soever you do make thereof, that you received it from GOD, that it was published by Angels, and given to the Fathers, yet doth it not justify; it gives you no prerogative. They could not answer this with reason, and therefore fell into passion and outrage: the text saith, When they heard these things, their hearts burst asunder, and they gnashed upon him with their teeth: Manifest evidence of conviction. Act. 15. Peter calleth the keeping of the Law, an importable yoke, and contesteth against those which urged the performance thereof for justification, that they laid a task upon the necks of their brethren, which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. If the Law could be performed, why doth Peter call it an importable yoke? If it cannot be performed, why is righteousness sought or placed in it? For it is not the hearing or having, but the doing of the Law, that justifieth. Sin (as john defineth it) is a transgression of the Law: And do not all men sin? It were a sin for any man to say, he hath no sin: and if we confess our sins, what do we confess, but that we are transgressors, and not performers of the Law? Shall we put the matter to a trial, and let all the saints in heaven and earth pass upon the jury? O Lord, let them be demanded here in thy presence, if it were by their works, or fulfilling of the Law, that they were justified. Have they not all with one voice returned their verdict? Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the praise, for thy loving mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Where is james, or john, or one of the sons of thunder, to set forth the dreadfulness of the Law? For I am scarce able to give you a taste thereof; but by a little you can conceive the rest. Look then to the concussion of the Israelites, 19 and 20. chap. of Exodus, when the Law was established, they came with great endeavour, in fasting, sanctifying, and preparing themselves: yet when they beheld with what majesty and terror it was published, how the mountain smoked, the thunders roared, the lightnings flashed, the trumpets sounded, and the earth trembled; they cried out, We shall die, we shall die. And this was no vain fear, but a true sensible feeling of the rigour and severity of the Law. Come then ye justiciaries, that are so foolishly zealous of the Law: Compare yourselves, not with yourselves (for that may prove to be a false measure) but compare yourselves with these Israelites; and that is no disparagement. They were afraid of the Law, when it was published; and how dare you presume, when it is exacted? They could not endure the proclamation of the Law; And will you abide the execution? Upon what confidence? Are your works answerable to the exquisite trial thereof? Alas, alas, I will not abase them with such terms as the Scripture would afford: But make them as glorious as you can; cover them with grace; derive them from the holy Ghost; dip them and die them in the blood of Christ; apparel them with all the jewels, attire, and habiliments, that the Church of Rome hath bestowed upon them: yet you shall find them but hay, chaff, and stubble, that will be devoured in the fiery trial of the Law: you shall find them but human righteousness: you shall have no more use of them in the business of justification, than David had of Saul's armour, when he went to encounter with Goliath. It made a show to others, but hindered David, that he could not go with it. Such poor helps, and no better, have all they that establish their own righteousness, and are not subject to the righteousness of God. I can resemble the Law to nothing better, than to the man in the Gospel, that would be brought to no other song, than to those sad and unwelcome tunes of Solve quod debes. Oh Lord, who can abide the harshness of those sharp notes! Who shall ever be able to satisfy the rigorous exactions of such an unmerciful Creditor! When the Law shall require the uttermost farthing most imperiously, and we not able to answer one for a thousand tolerably: you can easily conceive, what heavy sentence, what loathsome prison, what tragical pains, what weeping and wailing, what gnashing of teeth, what unquenchable fire, what ever-gnawing, and never-dying worm, must follow necessarily. What then? Is the Law idle? or is God altogether rigorous, that proposeth a Law which cannot be performed? Neither of both. God made a Law like unto himself: holy, because he is holy; pure, because he is pure; perfect, because he is perfect; eternal, because he is eternal: and added that condition also which a great Lawgiver requireth in all Laws: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: He made it possible, for that integrity of nature wherein God created us. For God made man right. If that possibility be now taken away from the Law; if our nature be wounded; if it be disabled; if our fathers have eaten sour grapes, and all our teeth be set on edge; if we have lost that integrity that GOD gave unto us; let him be free: for he is light, and in him dwelleth no darkness: let us not charge him foolishly, but condemn our own prevarication justly. For so it was, as if a man should leave a great sum of money to one whose estate was then good, and sufficient to make restitution: if afterward, through prodigality, riot, or unthriftiness, he misspent or wasted his estate, and left himself no means of repayment, can either the accusation of the creditor's cruelty, that demands nothing but his own, or the excuse of the debtors inabilities, be just? Even so the Law was proposed to man, created after the Image and similitude of God, with perfect righteousness, and true holiness, and endowments, to perform the same. If afterward we have misspent our patrimony, and wasted our father's substance, with the prodigal son; if we have cast ourselves into the hands of thieves and cutthroats, that have bereaved us of all means to give satisfaction; we may deplore our own infelicity; we cannot except against God, or his Law, Was it not possible? Grant this, and then you discharge God from all imputation: deny it, and then you infringe, abate, and detract from Adam's perfection, which the Scripture celebrateth. Thus you see, that the Law was possible: but it is now made weak by our flesh, which is restive, wayward, refractory, and yet the instrument wherewith the Law doth work. As for example, The Law would have God to be loved above all things: The flesh says she is nearest and dearest to herself. The Law would have the flesh brought into subjection, and crucified: The flesh is like Diotre●hes, that loves to have the pre-eminence, and will carry no cross, but as Simon of Cyrene did, to crucify another, and not himself. Dalila never practised more treacherously between Samson and the Philistines, than every man's own flesh doth against the Law of God, with the capital enemy thereof; discovering who thirsteth with covetousness, who swelleth in pride, who burneth with lust, who pineth away with envy: and then the serpent that is more subtle than all the beasts that GOD created, when he ploweth with every man's heifer, doth easily dissolve their riddles. Omnes amici, omnes inimici, omnes necessarij, omnes adversarij, omnes domestici, nulli pacifici: All the affections of the flesh be friends, and all are enemies, all necessary, and all adversary, all domestical, none peaceable. And is it possible that we should fly to the mark of righteousness, or to the end of the Law, when our feathers are thus glude together with bird-lime? Ah proud and wayward flesh! Why dost thou spurn, and lust, and murmur against the Law? If it humble thee for a time, is it not because it would advance thee for ever? Go too Agar, submit yourself to your mistress Sara: suffer the law: endure the rod and ferula of the schoolmaster; or rather, labour together with it, that thou mayst also reign with it. But the belly hath no ears; and in vain do we here look for that which is due elsewhere, and in another place: here we do fight, we do not triumph. And I would to God we did fight manfully; for than we shall be sure of conquest at the last. One thing is certain, that our whole battle is like to that of Gedeons' in the book of judges. These earthen pitchers that we carry, must be broken, before we can win the field. As long as these houses of clay be whole, look for no perfection to hold correspondency with the law: look for nothing but imperfections to frustrate the law of her end. Put off the old man, and put on the new: wash away all bird-lime of concupiscence: crucify your earthly members: tame the flesh, & bring it into true subjection; that the law may say, go, and it goeth; come, and it cometh; do this, and it doth so: than you shall find no defect in the law. O that all weakness were so taken away from this sinful flesh of mine! O that all the sores thereof were in this sort healed! Should not I then run the way of the Commandments? But this the law cannot do: it rather discovereth them, and aggravateth their sin, and makes it out of measure sinful: not unprofitable; for if the disease were light, it would be contemned: then remedy would not be sought, and so no cure. Lex data est, ut gratia quaereretur: gratia data est, ut lex impleretur. I remember the story of Elizeus in the book of the Kings. He was a Prophet, and prophesied, as well by his deeds, as in his words. The Shunamites son was dead; it was told the Prophet; he sent his staff by his servant; Go lay it upon the child's face; but the dead received no life. The Prophet knew what he did, that the staff would not be sufficient, and therefore came himself. The law is like to Elizeus staff: though it were appointed, and Elizeus sent it to give life, yet did it not give life. For if there had been a law that could give life, than righteousness should have come by the law. Now we are all like to the Shunamites child, dead in sin. Come then Elizeus, and raise the dead: send not thy staff by any servant: but come thyself. Come, come, O pitiful and sweet Samaritan, heal this poor hurt creature; power in wine and oil. The Priest saw it, and passed by: the Levite looked upon it, but no offices of the law had compassion. Come therefore, come courteous Samaritan; for there is mercy with thee. Bind up my sores, set me upon thine own beast: but leave me not with any Host or Innkeeper. For whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth that I desire, in comparison of thee. Numquid possunt sanare languores meos? Therefore take charge of me thyself. Say unto me (o thou preserver of mankind) say unto my soul, I am thy salvation: but say it so that I may hear. Open me the gates of righteousness, and I will enter therein, That which the law could not do, because it was made weak through our flesh, God sent his son to do. He sent Christ to be the end of the law. He sent no servant about it. Moses indeed was faithful in all his house, but his tongue was heavy, and not eloquent enough to treat of such a cause. Esaies' lips were unclean; jeremy was a child, and could not speak; all the Prophets were tonguetied; and the Angels themselves were unable to entertain the matter for us. When Angels were fallen, could Angels mediate their own restitution? Then can they never be competent for us, that were insufficient for themselves. To be umpire between God and man, to make appointment and transaction of their differences, to sustain the wrath of the one, and the miseries of the other (and that a mediator must do) is certainly beyond the capacity and compass of every creature. Verily none but God can plead with God: the son with the father: God merciful, with God just: God pleased, with God offended. May I crave your honourable leave and patience, to inform you of a sharp contention? and it shall not be impertinent to this business that I treat of. Truth and righteousness contend for the punishment of mankind with peace and mercy, pleading for his deliverance. Whole Adam (saith justice) must die, because whole Adam hath offended. And if regard be not had of my sister truth and myself, yet may not the word be infringed that is gone out of the mouth of God, In what day soever thou shalt eat of this fruit, thou shalt die the death. Mercy maketh answer, that if the matter should go so, and no commiseration taken, but that whole mankind must be condemned, then why were Peace and I brought into the world to be cut away so soon again? Reply was made by Truth, that Mercy had zeal indeed, but not according to knowledge. For in pity towards mankind, she is cruel to justice and me that are her sisters; desiring to have him spared, and us abolished. For it is not possible for us to consist without this punishment. The controversy is difficult, and happily some do wish for Solomon to decide it. But a greater than Solomon was there; yet that could not hold them from bitterness, till Peace had reproved both sides, and told them, that contention was unbeseeming virtues and sisters. All this while the judge was stooping down, and writing upon the ground. The tenor of his writing was this, as Peace did read it: The one side says, that all mankind must die, or else Righteousness and Truth cannot live: The other side says, that in case mankind die, Mercy and Peace must perish with them. This is my sentence: Fiat mors bona, & habet utraque pars quod petebat. All wondered at the wisdom and integrity of the decision. But the remedy was as hard as the disease. That death should be made good, it was impossible, unless such a one should undertake the business, that was not indebted to death. And where should he be found? Verily none can give aid, but he that gave counsel. And so they had recourse unto the son of God, who turning to his father, said, Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not have, but hast fitted me up a body for this death. In the volume of thy book it is written of me, that I should fulfil thy will. O my God, I am content to do it. So he put his own decision in practice. Then Mercy and Truth met together; Righteousness and Peace kissed each other. He was that ladder that jacob did see joining heaven and earth together. Where the law ended in cursing and imprecation, because it was not observed, there Christ began, and redeemed us from the curse of the law, and was made a curse for us. He did herein as in the matter of Tribute, when it was demanded; although he were free as the son of a King, yet because we will leave none offence, Go Peter, take this piece of twenty pence, and pay for me and thee. O bone Domine jesu, O good Lord jesus, wilt thou indeed pay for thee and me? for that which thou saidst unto Peter, thou sayest unto every one of thy Church: take it, and pay it for thee and me. And for the●e the payment is soon made, because thou wast born, free. But my sin is great; and is not my redemption plenteous? I have transgressed the whole law; and have not I fulfilled it too a little? But the reward of sin is death; and is there any gall of bitterness in that cup whereof I have not tasted? Wherefore was all this done? Was it for myself? I will not be a witness in mine own cause. Ask mine enemies that were chief actors in the business. They will not be partial. Did not Pilate pronounce from his tribunal, that he found no cause of death in me? Was not this a part of Caiaphas' censure, that it was expedient that I should die for the people? Take him then, good Christian brother, and pay for thee and me. He is the first fish that cometh from the sea of death. Verily, the first begotten amongst the dead. Open his life and death, and whatsoever punishment ye find in the one, or righteousness in the other, take it all, and pay it for thee and me. What, both death and life? Is not the one of them sufficient? There is a rule, that the law doth bind either to obedience, or to punishment. So if the one of the disiunctives, or the other, be performed, the law is satisfied, and come to her end. This rule hath place in human laws amongst light offences. There, if the law cannot have obedience, it hath some satisfaction by punishment: but than it writes, Contented, and not Pleased. For the chief end whereunto all laws do aim, is to have obedience, and thereby to make men good, which cannot be done in human laws, when the offence is general, and the punishment capital. In the law of God, especially concerning the business of justification, the rule of disiunctives hath no place. This law hath not her end, unless she be contented and pleased too. Contented, for the sins that we have committed; and pleased, with the obedience that is required. Christ is the end of the law: therefore he hath performed both. Well might the law be contented with the death of Christ, because there was as much atrocity in that, as in the sins of the whole world. I willingly use this reason now, to give you to understand, that I concur not with their opinion, that think, if the son of God had shed but one drop of blood, it had been price enough for all our sins. I doubt whether the law would have been contented with one drop of blood. Ought not Christ to suffer all these things, and so to enter into glory? Was not the whole burnt offering a figure of his sufferings? And that must be all consumed. I look into the counsel of God, what was there set down for satisfaction of the law. And I carry and give such reverence to the wisdom and justice thereof, that whatsoever is wanting of that which is there set down, I verily believe to be insufficient. I look to the fact of Christ. Exinanivit seipsum: He emptied himself. And I am loath to believe, that either the father was so prodigal of his sons life, or that the son was so careless of his own blood, that he would have powered out all, if one drop might have served the turn. Admit this, and then Christ died in vain. But every thing that the son of God did, was of infinite value, for the dignity of his person. The dignity of his person is great, and hath goodly use: but it may not be stretched too far, lest the buffets that he received on his face be reckoned price enough for our redemption. Hydra peccati uno icta non tollitur: Then monster of sin will not be slain with one blow. He made us indeed at a moment, and with great facility: for he spoke the word, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created. But did he redeem us so soon? No, no; it cost him three and thirty years work, and O Lord, what labours! What sorrows! What watchings! What hunger! What thirst! What temptations! What prayers! What strong cries! What groans! What indignities! What scourge! What agonies! And after all these, what a bitter death! I dare be bold to say, that there was as much atrocity in all these, as in the sins of the whole world. And therefore the law might well be contented, for matter of punishment, with the death of Christ. Dubitas quod dabit tibi bona sua, qui non dedignatus est susciperemala tua? Add then hereunto his perpetual obedience to the law of God, never intermitted in the whole tenor of his life: and then Christ is the end and perfection of the law: he hath contented it, and pleased it too. He died indeed upon the Cross, and in my nature, and for my sins of human infirmity But he brought withal such a troop and legion of virtues to his Cross, as might well give righteousness to the whole world. Time will not serve to rehearse every one: but the virtues wherewith he adorned the four corners of his cross are so conspicuous, that I cannot omit them. Supereminentior est charitas: Love takes the highest place, and is set on the top of his cross. Maiorem charitatem nemo habet: None can have greater love, than to lay down his life for his friends: None verily but he himself, that laid it down for his enemies. On the right hand of the cross he set obedience, whereof he was so respective, that he did choose to lose his life rather than his obedience. And if obedience were better than sacrifice, when the chief worship of God was in sacrifice, as Samuel telleth Saul, and yet that obedience was commanded, & human obedience; how pleasing was the divine obedience of the son of God, that was never commanded, always voluntary, always indebita? Patience standeth at the left side: As a sheep led to the slaughter, so opened he not his mouth: he opened it not in outcries or imprecations; he contended not with them in revenge or malice, but in piety: they refused him, and he died for them: they contended with Pilate, when he would have delivered him, Crucifige, crucifige, Crucify him, crucify him: and he contendeth with his father when he had just cause to destroy them, Pater ignosce, pater ignosce: Father forgive them, father forgive them. He regarded more that he died for them, than that he died by them. In the bottom of his Cross he placed humility, the foundation of all virtues, that if we will not learn to be humble in the schools of men, we may now practise it by the precedent and pattern of an humble God. His quatuor v●rtutum gommis ditavit trophaeum Crucis. When he had thus enriched the four corners of his Cross, he placed himself in the midst of all, no more now as a stone of offence, but as a loadstone to draw all the world unto it. So he says, Ego si exaltatus f●ero, omnia traham ad meipsum. Draw us, O Lord, unto thee, and we shall run in the savour of thine ointments. Cover us with the mantle of thy righteousness, which is the true wedding garment, that when the Bridegroom comes to take view of his guests, we may not be cast out into utter darkness, but sit with thee, eating and drinking at thy table in thy kingdom. Hitherto ye have heard Christ's prerogative, and the benefit thereof. The last point remaineth, to whom this benefit belongs: to every one that believeth. Why then say the Jesuits, the promises of Christ are conditional, as well as the promises of the Law? The law says, Do this, and live: Christ says, Believe only, and all things are possible to him that believeth. here is a condition in the one, as well as in the other. If time would give me leave, I could show that the promises of Christ are absolute, and without condition: but let us now admit that they are conditional, as well as the promises of the law: yet have we many advantages in this condition of Christ, that are not in the law. 1 Is it not much easilier to believe the promises of the one, than to do the works of the other? 2 Again, the law is stoical and curious, not content with our endeavours, unless we have done all, and done it most exactly. Christ is mild and gentle; he striveth not, lifteth not up his voice, quencheth not smoking flax, bruiseth not a shaken reed; but entertaineth every true faith, though it be as little as a grain of mustard seed, though it be never so unperfect. 3 The law is solitary, teacheth us what to do, but giveth us no means to do it: whereupon the Apostle calls it a dead letter. Christ is never solitary, but accompanied with the grace and influence of his holy spirit, which he sends into our hearts, to illuminate, to regenerate, & to give us faith to comprehend him. And therefore when he giveth us the condition which he requireth of us, his condition is most gracious, and the condition of the Law is grievous. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. If Christ be the end of the law to every one that believeth, than did he not fulfil the law for himself, but for those that do believe. As he was God, he was not subject to the law, and as he was man also, he was Lord of the law. Duplici iure (says Bernard) filius Dei regnum possidet coelorum. Semel quia filius; 2. quia passus: atque hoc secundo modo nihil illi fuit opus, mihi autem dedit, & omnibus credentibus: The son of God hath two titles and rights to the kingdom of heaven: The first is by inheritance, because he is son; the second is by acquisition, because he suffered: of this second title he had no use or need himself, but hath given it to me, and all that believe. This will easily be yielded, that he suffered for us; but the other point is controverted, that he fulfilled the law for himself, and for his own righteousness. As God, he needed not; and as man also, he was Lord of the Sabbath. The son of man is Lord of the Sabbath, and so consequently of the whole law. Eadem est ratio partium & totius. If Lord of the law, as man, than needed he not to be subject: but he made himself. So the Apostle writeth to the Galathians: but he addeth the reason of Christ his subjection; that he might redeem us that were under the law. When the human nature in the very moment of conception thereof, was united inseparably to the Godhead, what felicity did it want in that union, which might be supplied by his actual righteousness, & fulfilling of the law? What, was not the law to be performed of every man? or was not Christ a man? The law verily was enjoined to every human person; but Deus verbum (as Augustine says) non suscepit personam, sed naturam hominis: and this nature having no subsistence at any time of itself, but assoon as it began to be, it was personated, as they say in the schools of the divinity, could not be brought into necessary subjection of the law, without manifest injury to that person that sustaineth it. Piscator. Others write, that Christ must fulfil the law, to make himself a meet high Priest: and they do not consider his native innocency that he brought with him into the world, which being never te●erated, was sufficient to qualify him to the office of Priesthood. Was he not by that native integrity, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners? And these be all the qualities that the Apostle to the Hebrews requireth in his high-priesthood. Seeing then he had all these by the sacred conception, which we profess, I may conclude, that all which he did beside in fulfilling of the law, was as the text noteth, for righteousness to every one that belleeveth; and as it is in 8. Rom. that the exquisite righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. joh. 17. So he says himself; E●o procis sanctifica meipsum: It is for them, and not for mine own behoof, that I sanctify myself. As it is in a glass, that hath not his brightness and reflections for himself, but that others may have the use and benefit of it; so is Christ the end of the law for righteousness, not to himself, or for his own benefit, but for the use and commodity of every one that believeth. Thus I have delivered you Christ the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. He is a high Priest, according to the order of Melch●sedeth. And we read nothing of the exercise of that Priesthood, but only that he blessed Abraham; to give us to understand, that the whole Priesthood of jesus Christ doth consist in blessing. Hold him therefore, and let him not go, until he have given you a blessing, which he hath already graciously begun here in this world, and will multiply it above all that you can desire in the Kingdom of Heaven. Whereunto we do all with heart and voice say, Amen. Even so be it, Lord jesus, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest one God blessed for ever. FINIS. A SERMON PREAched before the Kings most excellent Majesty in the Church of BEAULY in Hampshire. john 1. chap. last verse. Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man. WOrds of great asseveration, and therefore of great importance. What can more import us, that were exiled out of Paradise, and beequeathed to the earth, than to have heaven open? that were sequestered and retired from the society of Angels, than to have their sweet haunts again, and their ministry too? than to have ingress and egress, and familiar intercourse with God? Placet cunctis s●curitas, sed ei magis qui timuit, lucunda omnibus lux est, B●r●ar. in Cantic. ser. 68 sed evadenit de potestate tenebrarum incundior. Transisse demorte ad vitam, vitae gratiam duplicat. Safety is pleasing to all, but more to him that was afraid. Light is comfortable to every man, but more to him that is escaped out of the power of darkness. To have p●s●ed from death to life, makes the grace and benefit of life to be double. This verily is greater than that which moo●d Natha●i●l first to believe. He thought it a great matter for Christ to see him under the fig tree, and s● it was indeed miraculous, to see a man absent beyond all reach and compass of human eyes; yet a thing that the son of God had communicated to others, that did the like. Elizeus sitting at home within doors, did see Gebezi his servant taking bribes of N●man the Sirian in his journey. But the opening of heaven, the carriage of us to God, and the whole business of a mediator, promised in these words of my text to a true Israelite, is of more consequence and difficulty, not communicated to Patriarch, Prophet, Apostle, Martyr, or any Saint, but reserved only for the son of God, as a mark of his sovereignty. Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter shall you see heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man. He alludeth to that which jacob did see in a dream: Genes. 28 A ladder stand upon the ground: the top did reach to heaven: the Angels of God did go up and down by it, and the Lord was at the top thereof. A man's dream should not be registered for perpetual memory, if it did not contain some notable mystery. Hic habent & somnia pondus: In such cases dreams also have their weight. The ladder here representeth Jacob's journey. He was then going to his uncle Laban. The Angels are his guard, ascending to protect him outward; descending to be his guides back again: and the Lord was at the top of the ladder, as a gracious moderator of both Lo then a comfortable safe-conduct for a traveler. And because our whole life is a very pilgrimage, for we have no certain place of abode, but we travel and seek for it in Jerusalem that is above; the son of God here under the imprese and hieroglifique of Jacob's ladder, doth promise us his means and mediation: and that is the matter that now we shall treat of. Wherein he doth not draw us along with naked hopes, but first of all consigneth the certainty of his promise with the religion and solemnity of an oath, Verily, verily: so the Apostle calleth this sacred asseneration. When God made the promise unto Abraham, Heb. 6. and had no greater to swear by, he swore by himself: How? Verily I will bless thee. And here is the same form. Therefore Christi juramentum est sidei nostrae fundamentum; We have Christ his oath for the foundation of our faith. The word or God is as certain as his oath: he is not as man, that he should lie, Num. 23. nor as the son of man, that he should repent. Heaven and earth may pass, but no word of God falleth to the ground: all his promises are Yea and Amen. So that for the thing itself, such religious contestations needed not: but his oath is added (as the Apostle saith) that we might have valid●m consolationem, Hol. 6. strong consolation. He seeth the darkness of our minds, the levity of our affections, the manifold sleights wherewith Satan doth abuse us. Sometimes by aggravating our sins, he drowneth us in a very hell of desperation: sometimes bewitching us with a persuasion of righteousness, he carrieth us above the clouds in pride. Cui nomina mill, mill nocendt arts. The son of God, the wisdom of his father, that of love gave himself for us, and had experience both ways, of the adversaries practices, and our infirmities, to help all, and to put us out of doubt, Tertull. interposeth an oath, jurat Deus, capit sibi credi. O beatos quorum causa Deus curate! Et o miserimos si nic iuranti Deo credimus! God sweareth, than he desires to be believed. O happy men are we for whom God sweareth! And o thrice unhappy if we believe not God when he sweareth! The attestation of the son of God teacheth us, that in the business of our salvation, and in the promises of Christ, we should not be Academies. They were a kind of Philosophers (you know) that would not be certain of any thing, but doubtful and uncertain in all things; and that uncertainty is not suitable with our promises. Sic oportet credere quomodo certi sumus de vis●ilibus, & adhuc amplius: Hic enim aliquando erratur, id est, in his quae videntur; illic autem, nequaquam: We ought to be as sure in our faith, as we are in the things that we see, and more too: for in these things there is deceit, that is to say, in the things that we see: but in the other none at all. Is it possible that God should become a changeling? that his purpose should be frustrate? his power infringed? his decree reversed? his providence deceived? that the merit of Christ should be evacuated? the authentical seal of the holy Ghost canceled? and the oath of the son of God to be of none effect? All this assurance we have. And if none of these be possible, let the Romanists disable them all with their Academical doubtfulness; when as in the mean time they applaud themselves, sacrifice to their own net, and burn incense to their yarn: but let them elevate the promises of Christ with their uncertain hopes, and ratify their own traditions with great assurance: josua and his house will firmly believe that which the son of God hath sworn solemnly. And here is no arrogance, but devotion: to believe that which is promised so seriously, is not presumption, but faith: we know whom we believe, and are certain that he is true in his promises, and most mighty in his performance. We boast not of ourselves, or of any thing that we can do: but we boast in the lord Securus gloriatur qui gloriatur in Domino: Bernard. He boasteth safely, that boasteth in the Lord. And upon this assurance we go on. Hereafter ye shall see. This hereafter seems to exclude the former world from the benefit that is here promised: as if there had been no gate of heaven open until the death and resurrection of Christ. So the Church of Rome hath imagined; and therefore during this Interim, the Catechism published by Pius Quintus, according to the Decree of the Tridentine Council, bestoweth all the souls of the faithful that departed under the Old Testament, either in Abraham's bosom, where they were discharged of all pains, and yet held from the sight of God: or else in Purgatory, where they had sensible pains, and the lack of God's presence too. Catechismus ad Parocheos, pag. 74. Antequam ille moreretur & resurgeret, Coeli portae nulli unquam pat●erunt: sed piorum a●mae, ●ù● è vivis excessissent, vel in sinum Abrahae deferebantur, vel, quod etiam nunc iis contingit quibus aliquid dilu●dum & persoluendum est, Purgatorij igne expiabantur. I will not absolutely disavow Purgatory but learned antiquity hath taught me, that it must have place here in this world whilst men are alive, and not in another place or world, alter they be dead. Choice. in Mat. hom. 75. Neque gubernator postquam nau● me●sa est, neque medicus postquam aegrotus obijt, quicquam tr●dess● potest: Neither can the governor after the ship is suake, nor the Physician after the sick is dead, Hieron. in Psal. 105. avail. Hic misereri potest poenitentis, quia ibi judex est non miseric●rs: here he may have pity on them that repent: in the world to come he is a judge, not a pardoner. Come foolish Virgins, Matt. 25. and persuade the Catholics by that which befell unto yourselves, that all preparation after death is idle and unprofitable. In the mean time we will search (if you please) what allowance the Scripture giveth to fire for purging of sins. The only place that is alleged with probability, 1. Cor. 3. is that which the Apostle writeth; The fire shall true every man's work, of what sort it is. That shows that there is a probatorie, but proves not any Purgatory fire. Thorough this fire of probation all manner of works and workmen must pass: and the masters of Purgatory (you know) will not allow that any of their saints or excellent workmen should be once cinged. And therefore this fire of trial makes nothing for their Purgatory. The true Purgatory of Christians is the blood of jesus Christ, which quencheth every adversary fire, and purgeth us from all our sins. When the Centurion pierced his side, there came out water and blood, to show that it was no common and ordinary blood that came from jesus Christ, but such as had a cleansing virtue. O Lord purge us herewith, and we shall be clean: wash our robes in the blood of this Lamb, and we shall be whiter than snow. Surely he that is so washed already, needs not the mathematical fire of Purgatory, but is clean throughout. And he that is not washed with the blood of Christ, shall never be cleansed, but tormented for ever in real fire. Seeing then that the fire of Purgatory is to some men needless, and to all other helpless, I wish better to this sacred presence, than to hold you any longer in the smoke of that which is fruitless. Abraham's bosom is a place of more contentment. And who would not be with the father of the faithful? But if the Church of Rome will have it to be no more than a place discharged of sensible pains, where they were nevertheless suspended from God's presence; I see no great matter that can be in it to allure us. But none can speak better to the quality and condition of Abraham's bosom, than Abraham himself. And he bids the rich glutton remember that he in his life time received pleasures, Luke 16. and Lazarus likewise pains: now therefore he is comforted, and thou art tormented. In suspension there is anxiety, and no comfort, especially when the suspension is from the fruition and sight of God. Augustine writeth of his friend N●bridius that was dead and in Abraham's bosom; Con●ess. li. 9 cap. 3. I am non ponit aurem ad os meum, sed spirituale os ad sontem tuum, & bibit quantum potest sapientiam pro aviditate sua, sine sine foelix: If he that is in Abraham's bosom, drinketh at the well head, puts his mouth to the fountain of life, and hath happiness for evermore, as Augustine writeth, then is it not a place of retreat, of suspension, of an Interim, but of present and actual possession. Hierome equalleth the Fathers of the old Testament in reward with us: Contra Iouinia●, l. 2. Quis ignorat sub altera dispensatione Dei, omnes sanctos eiusdem juisse meriti cuius nunc Christiani sunt? Who knoweth not that all the saints which were under the Old Testament, had the same reward which Christians have now? And if they had the same reward then that Christians have now; whence comes this difference, that the gate of heaven is open, to us, and shut upon them? that assoon as we fail, they receive us into everlasting Tabernacles? Luke 16. Luke 23. Revel. 14. Into Paradise the same day? Into blessedness instantly? and they of the Old Testament are delayed until the resurrection of Christ? are, without any warrant at all so uncourteously sent to Abraham's bosom, and that unto Utopia? It cannot be for that the work of Christ's redemption was not performed at the time of their death: For albeit, that work was fixed to the fullness of time: Before, his hour was not come: Then, he would not admit of any tergiversation. Shall I not drink of the cup which my father hath given me? Yet was the power of that work, and the virtue of his redemption, extended from the beginning of the world unto the end thereof. He entered but once to the Sanctuary of heaven, but he found eternal redemption. And how can that which is eternal, be limited or restrained to future times? Doth it not comprehend all times? Yes verily, and it is a transcendent above them all. Was not the lamb slain from the beginning of the world? And is it possible that a Sacrifice of such price, so offered, and so accepted, should not be of present efficacy? Prius eius mors profuit quam fuit: Bernard. It satisfied God, redeemed man, opened heaven, and put the whole kingdom of Satan into combustion presently. So Christ's Hereafter in this text is no limitation of time, as if heaven had not been penetrable before his death and resurrection. But this Henceforth implieth the accession that is given to out sight by the ministery of the Gospel. Henceforth ye shall see. That which the Fathers hoped for, that we do see: and the passage unto heaven is made much more conspicuous by the light of the New Testament. We have Christ borne and full grown: they had him too, but hidden in the seed of Abraham, in the loins of David, in the womb of a royal Virgin; Esa. or if a child were borne unto them, yet was he wrapped up in the swaddling clouts of the law. Vel●m pendebat in templo, Aug. ne templi secreta panderentur; cruce autem Domini velum cons●iss●m est, ut paterent. The veil did hang in the Temple, that the secrets of the temple might not be published: but at the death of Christ this veil was rend, that all within might be visible and manifest. Thorough this veil jacob did see a ladder, that reached up to heaven: here is yet obscurity enough; the Angels went up and down: What is that to us that be men? What shall we do with a ladder, when the gates of Heaven be shut against us? when there be Cherubin's, and angry Porters, and a fiery sword to keep us out? Who shall open us the gate? Who shall remove the Cherubins? Who shall take away the fiery sword? If you will be pleased to look upon this Hereafter in the New Testament, Jacob's veil is rend, that you may see all things plain, heaven open, the Angels ascending and descending upon the son of man. If they go up and down upon the son of man, than Christ is the ladder that reacheth up to heaven: he is the way that carrieth us to that high Country: The Lion of the Tribe of juda is our Convoy, stronger than the armed man: our guide hath the key of David, openeth, and no man shutteth. I have enough, says jacob; joseph my son is yet alive; I will go see him over I die. We also have enough, and more than jacob had: therefore go masters, go, that we may see him too. Chap. 2. The spouse in the Canticles compareth him to a Roe, or a young Hart: Behold, he cometh leaping by the mountains, and skipping by the hills: he is the son of God, and thereby higher than the highest heavens: that is beyond our reach. For God dwelleth in light that none can come near to. Therefore because he would be low enough for us, he became man also, and stood upon the ground. He took nor the Angels; he came leaping by those mountains, and skipping by those hills: but he took the seed of Abraham, and desired to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a lover of men rather than a lover of Angels. He professeth it in the 8. of the Proverbs: My delight was to be amongst the sons of men. I had thought, O Lord, that thy delight had been amongst the Host of Angels: but seeing that of thy pitiful clemency, and admirable be dignity, thou makest it thy delight to be amongst the sons of men, I will not interrupt thy pleasure, but pray for thy prosperity: Good luck have thou with thy delight, O thou most mighty. Now if you ask me why he took our nature, and not the Angels that were fallen as well as we, Multum est à me, abyssus est, profundum Crucis est: The Well is deep, and I have not any thing to draw withal. If it were, lest Angels might so be thought to restore themselves, because of their excellency, we must commend the wisdom of his providence. If it were, because man did not sin of malice, Bernard. and without enticement, as the Angels did; but in a kind of weakness, and by their instigation; we magnify his judgements, that are examplerie upon the principal, and favourable to us poor seduced accessories. Paulin. Epist. 4. Criminosius est decipere, quam decipi, & peccatum excogitare, quam facere. I● it were, Athanas. because all mankind was lost through Adam's prevarication, but not all the Angels in Lucifer's Apostasy; we praise his goodness, that would not quench our spark. Let curious men discuss the causes, it is fittest for us to admire the work: Let them dispute, and let us cry, O altitudo! O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉! Rom. 11. O the height and depth of God's judgements! O the love of God towards mankind! Lord what is man, that thou art so mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Iac●bs ladder reached up to heaven, but it stood also upon the ground. Such must the mediators condition be. Aug. Confess▪ lib. 10. cap. 42. The mediator between God and man must have something like unto God, and something like unto man; lest if he were altogether like unto men, he should be a stranger unto God; or if he were like to God every way, he should then be far from men, and so no mediator. The son of God appeared to Adam after his fall: and the man ran away, and hid himself in the trees of the garden: here was nothing but the terror of a judge, no flesh taken, no placability of a mediator: He appeared many times to the fathers in human shape, to give them a taste of his future incarnation: here was great contentment, if it might have had continuance: but he laid down that shape again. When the fullness of time came, he combined the godhead and our nature so firmly together, with the glue of his person, that man could never fly from God again, and God would never be severed from man. Bernard. Opus sine exemplo, gratia sine merito, charitas sine modo. A work that cannot be exemplified, grace that was never merited, and love unstinted. An admirable conjunction, wherein God was made man, sinners righteous, and our judge becomes our advocate. So now I will deliver him unto you as the ladder that jacob did see: high enough, because he was God; low enough, because he was man; strong enough to carry us to God, because of a judge he is become an advocate; and of perpetuity, because the personal union cannot be dissolved. Some doubt may be of his breadth. I am not sent (he saith) but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That is too narrow for us that be Gentiles, But understand it of order, and not of election, that he was sent to the jews first, that they might have the precedence and first fruits of his ministery: and then you shall find this narrowness temporary. For after he had performed all things, and was risen again, when the maturity of time was come, he dilated his bosom to receive us Gentiles, and made himself a passage broad enough for all the world. It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant, Esa. 4●. to raise up the Tribes of jacob, and to restore the desolations of Israel: I will also give thee a light to lighten the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation to the ends of the world. Behold the breadth, and height, and length, and depth; lo all the dimensions of a perfect and accomplished ladder. Search now, and run thorough heaven and earth in your thoughts, and you shall not find any other n●me, wherein all these properties do concur and meet together, save only in the person of jesus Christ. The other two persons that are in heaven, the Father and the Holy Ghost, could not be incarnate & made low enough also for the office of a mediator, without manifest solecisms and incongruity. How far unbeseeming had it been the greatness of the Father, if the Son or Holy Ghost had sent him? Therefore as the first person in order, and fountain of all divinity, he did abide in his majesty, and sent the Son: And Father and Son both sent the Holy Ghost, not to be incarnate, for so there must have been two Sons; one Son of God in Heaven, and another Son of m●n in earth, and not one Son in both: And then we should confess and worship, not a trinity, but a quaternity of persons: which God keep far from the saith of Christians. Why then doth Christ call the Holy Ghost an advocate? Al●um Pa● m●da● vobis: I will give you another Advocate. And Paul doth second that translation when he saith, Rom. 8. The Spirit doth make intercession for us with sighs and groan as that cannot be expressed. Yet there be two differences that make the mediation of the Son of God eminent above all the groans of the Holy Ghost: the one for the time, the other for the manner. 1. The Son of God maketh intercession for us before the wrath of God be appeased: the groans of the Holy Ghost come after. 2. The Son of God interposeth himself as a Redeemer, with a sufficient price in his hand. In the days of his flesh he offered up prayers, and supplications, and himself too, with strong crying, & tears, and was heard because of his reverence. The Holy Ghost never offered up any thing; He comes only as a Comforter, not as a Redeemer; as a monitor to us, not as a mediator for us. He comes to help our dullness, to raise us up, to give heat to our affection's, to indite our prayers: and that also is the benefit of the Son that s●nds him. Ye have received the Spirit, whereby ye cry Abba Father, that when our prayers are conceived by the spirit, and offered by the Son, they may ever be available, and never take repulse with the Father. O quench not this spirit, grieve it not, but cherish and entertain every motion thereof. Is it not a faithful remembrancer sent us by the Son of God? Come holy Spirit, and let it be thy good pleasure to remember us in this thy favourable influence: take away stumbling blocks out of my soul, which is the kingdom of jesus Christ, that he may reign there alone as he should do. Covetousness comes and challengeth government; pride would be a king; lust says she will reign; ambition, backbiting, envy, and wrath, strive in me which of them should have the greatest sway. ay, dull and heavy creature, resist as I am able: I withstand as far as I am aided: I claim jesus to be my Lord: I defend myself for him, because I am his right: I hold him for my God, him for my Lord: Come therefore holy Spirit, and scatter these Usurpers in thy power: Draw us all after him; draw us, though we be unwilling, and make us willing: draw us that are slothful, and make us cheerful. Shed out and power forth the oil of thy gladness upon us, and we shall run in the savour of thine ointments: We are soon weary, and changeable, draw us after him, lest we begin to take our vagaries after other lovers. After other lovers! Aug. job. 10. con●es. cap. 42. Quem invenirem qui me reconci●aret ti●i? An ●undum mihi fuit ad Angelos? Qua prece? Quibus Sacramentis? Whom should I find that should reconcile me unto thee? Should I make any way to Angels? With what prayers? With what mysteries? Sure, Angels are not strong enough to carry us to heaven, and men are too weak: yet there be Giants now, as were after the flood, that having got such mortar and brick, say, Come let us build a tower, whose top may reach up to heaven: Videte quas scalas, imo quae praecipitia, ipsi sibi paraverint ad ruinam: Mark what ladders, yea rather what downfals, they have gotten themselves for their own ruin: for Angels are creatures, not able to stand of themselves, without the support and benefit of the son of God. If their ability had been sufficient, the devils would never have lost their places. The rest are called elect Angels; 1. Tim. 5. Col 2.10. Col. 1. and Christ is the ground of all election. Verily Paul calleth him the head of principalities and powers, in whom they do all consist. Berrar. in Cantic. Qui dedit ●a●so homini ut surgeret, dedit stanti Angelo ne caderet: He gave man, that was fallen, power to rise, and Angels, that stood, grace, that they should not fall: and so he was beneficial to both, raising up the one, and confirming the other. And if I should commit my cause to such an advocate as hath need of a patron himself, it were a right tower of Babel, and no scale of heaven. The holiest men in the world are too weak to carry us to heaven by their intercessions. Doth this appertain unto man, O Lord God? Adam was perfect both in body and soul, yet of too too base a condition to stand in the presence of God, without the intervention of a mediator. The tree of life, which was given him, is a clear testimony hereof. What needed he any Sacrament of Christ, if he could have stood of himself? And then me thinks it is plain enough, that seeing Adam could not mediate his own cause in his integrity, no saint, though in heaven, is able to undertake for us in this common misery. Mary began to be a mediator for wine at the marriage in Cana: but assoon as Christ repressed her boldness, she desisted soberly, and gave a wholesome charge to the waiters, which may well hold the nature of a rule amongst all posterity, to attend upon Christ alone. When the Saints themselves do send us unto Christ, shall we leave him, and in our superstitious affections hang upon Saints? If you do, look for nothing but that which happened unto Baal's Priests: They cried from the morning until the evening sacrifice, and there was neither voice, nor one to make answer, not any that regarded. Tell us, Paul, what you did think when you were in such a strait, that you knew not what to choose; whether to be dissolved and to be with Christ, which was better for your own particular; or to abide in the flesh, which was more profitable to the Philippians? Were you not then verily persuaded, that after your death the Church could make no use of your prayers? What then? Is the saints love diminished in heaven, where all their graces be increased? No sure, love falls not away: But the love of the saints in heaven is not always in action: It is there rather in Mary's contemplation, than in Martha's exercise. Or if it be in action, it is like to Peter's, when he had a taste of it in the transfiguration of Christ. The love of his brethren, was not decayed, but he was so ravished and pleased with the sight of that which was present, that he thought of nothing but the fruition thereof. Bonum est nobis esse hic; It is good being here. He thought not of his brethren that were absent: he desired but three Tabernacles for those that were present. Can the Saints that be in heaven hear our prayers from earth? Have they any dispensation of ubiquity? Have they any endowment of omni●cien●i●? Can they search our hearts? Do they see and foresee our wants? For who will commit his body to such a Physician, that knows no more of the infirmities thereof than he himself doth tell him? Can they open the gates of heaven for us? Can they conquer death for us? All this a mediator must do. Ego alium novi ●eminem qui h●c potuerit, nisi Dominum meum jesum. Qui cerse in morte vivebat, q●●p●re fractus in cruse, in divinitate stabat ●m ●a●r●, 〈◊〉, n●bis●um supplicans, in altero, cum patre propitia●s: homo manifestus, & Deus absconditus: I know not any that can do this, but only my Lord jesus that lived in death; who being bruised upon the Cross in body, stood in his divinity with the father; suppliant with us in the one, and giving a largesse to us with the Father in the other; a visible man, and a hidden God. Will you see how he did live in death? Consider then that Satan's power was not to continue longer (as Paulinus writeth, Epist. 4.) than till he had slain an innocent person therewith. Was not this liberty enough? Did he not once urge such a point against poor Adam, for eating the fruit that was reserved, because ●ee had liberty enough to eat of all the rest? And is not his own cause now like to this? Ah thou ungracious and wicked servant, I will judge thee out of th●ne ow●e mouth: Did it not suffice thee to be the minister of God's justice, to invade all that offended? If this only were permitted, oughtedst not thou to have forborn this one innocent person that never sinned? Thou hast shed innocent blood, and art now not an executioner of the Law of God, but a trespasser against it. Art thou able to reinfuse the guiltless blood into those sacred veins again, out of which thou hast presumptuously spilled it? Is thy power nothing to edification▪ but all to destruction? Know then O thou enemy, that temerity is not always fortunate: for destruction is now come to a perpetual end. Neque enim lex iustior ulla est, quam necis artifices arte perire sua. Thus you see the power of Satan dissolved by the death of Christ, not with force, but in law and justice. And what do you think of the Godhead of Christ, that hitherto was a beholder, and no actor; a judge, and no party in this business? Should not the judge of all the world do right? Or can there be any better justice, any greater right, than to restore the innocent, and to punish the wrong-doer? Even so he did. The Godhead of Christ, which was glued to his body with an inseparable union, which was with it in the grave, that it did not see corruption▪ that same Godhead did breathe the breath of life into it again, and then he was inter mortuos liber, a free man amongst those that were dead. When he had thus revived and restored the innocent, than he spoilt principalities and powers, so much more magnifically, because he pursued them into their own holds, and triumphed over them in their own Castles, of the grave and hell. It fared with them all as it did with the great sea-beast when he had swallowed up jonas. They had taken such a morsel as they could not hold, but were fain to be rid of it again. Then he took the beast, even the great Leviathan, that crooked serpent, and cast him alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Non iam Diabolum ut Leonem timemus, sed ut pellem concul●●mus: We do not now fear the Devil as a Lion, but we tread him under our feet as a case. There is no cause now that you should stand in doubt of any angry Porters, that you should be afraid of any fiery sword. Christ see Satan falling down from heaven, as if it had been lightning. Ego alium novi neminem qui hoc potuerit, nisi d●minum meum jesum: I know not any that could so have taken him away, and removed his power, but only my Lord jesus. When Christ was risen again, he made not the earth a place of his residence, but ascended to heaven as a conqueror. It is well seen how thou my King and God goest to thy sanctuary: not climbing by ladders, not hoist up by cords or pulleys, but marching valiantly in the multitude of thine own strength; thou makest the Clouds thy Chariots, and walkest upon the wings of the wind. And when he came near to the walls of that heavenly City, he did not beg or entreat an entrance by favour, but commanded it as one that had authority. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Securae estote caro & sanguis▪ coelum in capite pos●detis: aut si vos in coelo negent, negent in coelo Christum; Fear not flesh and blood: ye are now in your head possessed of heaven: or if any deny you to be in heaven, they may as well deny Christ to be there. He ●scended whole; for there was not one bone of him broken: then must his body be there too, which we are. Hominem portavit ad coelum; Aug. Deum misit ad terras; He hath both taken and given a pledge: He hath taken flesh of us, and carried it into Heaven, that Heaven now knows what it is to bear man: and he hath given us his spirit from thence, in testimony that we shall all be gathered thither. Ego alium novi neminem qui hoc potuerit, nisi Dominum meum jesum. He shall be my mediator; he shall be my ladder: If he did redeem me with the infirmity of his death, can he not make intercession for me in the majesty and glory of his life? He lives at the right hand of God, not in contemplation of his own greatness, but for the comfort and sustentation of our wants He lives for ever, to make interpellation for us: and if he were heard in the days of his flesh, because of his reverence, shall he be refused now at the right hand of God, because of his glory? Having once opened heaven, he makes it a thorough fare for our prayers to ascend, and for his benefits to descend. Amongst other things that he giveth us from thence, one is here specially mentioned in the text. The Angels of God ascend and descend upon the son of man: that is, by his appointment and authority, to attend, to guard, to comfort us poor men. Heb. 10. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth for their sakes that shall be heirs of salvation? Psal. 34. The Angel of the Lord pitcheth round about the Tents of the godly, and delivereth them. They shall bear our souls into Abraham's bosom. Luke 16. Let us use their ministry, that is glorious; leave their mediation, that is superfluous. There is another sort of Angels that ascend and descend upon the son of man. When he led captivity captive, he gave gifts unto men, some Apostles, some Prophets, some Pastors and Doctors, for the gathering together of the Saints. These are called in the Revelation, the Angels of the Churches, and here they are said to go up and down. They had not need to sit still, lest the children should call for bread, and there no none to break it unto them. We have the keys of the kingdom of heaven committed unto us. Matt. 16. Tibi ●abo claves regni coelorum. We are key-bearers to open the kingdom of heaven to you by preaching of the Gospel. This power Peter and Paul did exercise faithfully: They preached the Gospel, and in that, remission of sins, and so opened the kingdom to the believers. They never practised nor thought of such exorbitant and infinite power, as the Church of Rome doth now usurp under the colour and title of those keys, directly or indirectly to sway and to dispose of all the world. Paul never planted any such power, Apollos never watered it, and God of his great mercy, never give increase to it in these kingdoms. It is clavis errans, a false and counterfeit key: the kingdom of heaven is not opened, but shut with such keys. It is the key of the bottomless pit. Ber●ar. de 〈◊〉 ●r●t●●e, ad Euge●m. Non monsirabunt, credo, qui h●c ●icunt: They that plead this, will never be able to show where any of the Apostles did it any time sit either judge over men, or dividers of inheritances, or distributers of lands. I have read (saith Bernard) where the Apostles have stood to be judged: but they did sit in judgement of such matters I never read. Christ would not meddle with the division of inheritances. Who hath made me a judge amongst you? He disclaimeth all authority in secular affairs, and professeth that his kingdom is not of this world: Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo. He did not speak it in a corner, but before Pontius Pilate in the judgement place, where the Apostle says he made a good confession. And those things that be done in judgement, are so public, that they are intended to be done before all the world. Therefore Augustine makes Christ call all the world to record: Aud●t● Iudae● & Gentes: audi praeputium: audite omnia regna terrena; Non imp●dio dominationem vestram in h●c mundo; Hear jews and Gentiles (saith Christ) hear you that are uncircumcised; hear all ye kingdoms of the earth; I hinder not your government or authorities in this world. Compare them now together, and you shall see how the Vicars of Christ agree with their founder: Christ had no kingdom in the world, and they will have all the kingdoms of the earth: Christ would have no authority to divide inheritances, and they will have none to do it but themselves: Christ did not trouble any human government, and they will not suffer any to be quiet. Such cannot be friends of the bridegroom: they must needs be his adversaries. 〈◊〉 ●m●sp● si sunt, sed aemuli; They are not the Vicars of Christ; they are the servants of Antichrist. They go not up and down upon the son of man, but upon the man of sin. Bernard describes them lively. Inamor, & lat●rae, & volunt●ria pa●p●rtas, Epist. 4 2. haec sunt Mo●a●h●rum insignia; haec vitam solent nobilitare monas●am. Vestry autem oculi omne sublime vident; vestri ped●s omne serum ●r●m●nt; vestrae linguae in omnibus audiuntur concilijs; vestrae manus omne alienum diripiunt patrimoniam. Labour, Cloister, and voluntary poverty, were wont to be the cognisances of Monks. These were wont to commend the lives of Monks. But your eyes do now see every great sight; your feet are walking in every place of assemblies; your tongues are heard in every consultation; your hands reach at every man's patrimony. Do you then, my good friends, that are the Lords Vineyard, take heed and beware of these false Prophets, that they steal not your hearts, sheep in habit, but foxes in craft. We that are guardians of your Vines, shall, by the grace of God, weave nets for them with the threads of the Scripture: & he that is Christ's true Vicegerent, the Lords anointed, will in his princely vigilancy, catch us these foxes, these little foxes, that destroy our Vines, and make them bring small grapes. I have delivered you Christ jesus, to be a ladder to carry you to heaven: and now nothing remaineth, but to show the use of it, which I will do in a word or two, because I dare not abuse your patience longer. You shall therefore pass upon him along from step to step, until you come to the throne of grace. The first step you shall begin at his nativity, wherein, the less that he made himself in his humanity, the greater he offered himself unto you in his bounty: and the base that he was for you, the dearer he should be to you. A child was borne to us. Take then the purity that was in his birth, Esa. 9 to cover all the impurity that was found in yours. The next step that you make, is to his life, and that is broad with innocency. Innocent in his conception, because it was of the Holy Ghost; Innocent in the rest of his life, Philip. 2. for he was obedient to the father, etc. Innocent in his affections, because they were tempered to the pleasure of God; Mat. 26. Not my will, but thy will be done. Innocent in his words; Si malo locutus fuero, de malo fe● testimonium: If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. Innocent in his deeds, and so pronounced by the mouth of his judge. Innocent every way, Io. 8. Which of you can convince me of sin? In all this innocency you may say with the Spouse in the Canticles: Dilectus meus mihi, & ego illi; Chap. 2. My beloved is mine, and I am his, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh; and so we are two, not only in one flesh, but also in one spirit, which increaseth our comfort. Qui agglutinatur Domino, unus est Spiritus; 1. Cor. 6. He that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit. Hence comes that blessed interchange of endowments, that he hath taken all our sins upon himself, and given us all this his innocency. 2. Cor. 5. The third step is the satisfaction of his death; and the Apostle teacheth you, that if one be dead for all, than all are dead in that one. And it is certus sermo, a clear case, 2. Tim. 2. that if we die with him, we shall also live with him. The next step is the power of his resurrection, wherein you may say, Meum est quod cecidit, ut meum sit quod resurrexit; Aug. m●m est quod iacuit intra tumulum, ut meum sit quod as●e●dit●n coelum; That which is fallen is mine, that it may be mine which is risen again: that is mine which did lie in the grave, that that may be mine which is ascended into Heaven. The next step is the glory of his ascension, and from thence it is a ready step to pas●e unto the throne of grace, where you shall see him sit at the right hand of the Father. There I will leave you: for I know not where to leave you better, than at the right hand of God. Walk there by faith, until he bring you thither both in soul and body, that you may wa●e then according to sight and kind, to enjoy the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three persons and one God, to whom be all honour and glory now and evermore. Amen. Ber. serm. 2. in die Pentecost. Hoc autem ideo ut conceptio mea emundet tuam, vita mea instruat tuam, mors mea destruat tuam, resurrectio mea praecedat tuam, ascensio mea praeparet tuam: Porro spiritus adiwet infirmitatem tuam. (* ⁎ *) FINIS.