XVI SERMONS Preached in the University of OXFORD, AND AT COURT. BY RICH. GARDINER, D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to King CHARLES deceased. Together with his SERMON Preached in Bow-Church London, on the Anniversary Meeting of Hereford-shire Natives, June 24. 1658. We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, 2 Cor. 4.2. Meum esse est Fore. LONDON: Printed by James Cottrel, for Joseph Barber at the Lamb, and Samuel Speed at the Printing-Press in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1659. To the Religious READER. IT hath pleased the Powers, under which the Doctor is permitted to breathe, to shut up his Tongue in silence, in reference to the solemn way of interpreting and applying sacred Writ: But he is not denied the liberty to hold forth a Transcript of what he formerly taught and preached, as authorised and assigned to that great work by his high Calling. If thou conceive it comes abroad without the accustomed Verdure and Vigour, impute it to an unavoidable fatality: He hath been so worried, that 'tis much if any signal evidence of a strengthened Understanding be left to know him by. Yet I am secured by knowing Judgements, thou wilt, in this, find verified, Afflictio dat Intellectum, his manifold pressures have improved and sanctified his Intellectuals, causing him to make Mary to take upon her Martha's duty, speculative Knowledge to join hand in hand with practical and moral, whereby in entertaining Christ, both choose the better part. He was loathe to condemn it to obscurity, or to leave it as a Posthumous Issue, jest a Collector of Manuscripts, blundering on it, might produce it into light with a Nickname, Nocte pluit tota. since Bathyllus presumed to own that approved Distich, composed, not subscribed, by Virgil, his living contemporary: Or jest a Legerdemain Brachygrapher might altar and disguise it with a new-fangled Mode, and so vend it; as the Indigent deal with the ductile Limbs of their Younglings; first distorted and cripple them; than expose them to public view for a future Livelihood. Another incitement for the publication, is to manifest the gross scandal, raised by errand Preachmenters, who groan it out to their seduced Proselytes, that Christ (alas!) was not rightly known among us, till the Chariot and Horsemen of their Israel opened the way for his passage. And why? because, so they feign, self-preachers sent from the Universities, not from God, filled the ears of the Court and Country with well-sounding words, with neat delicate streams of Wit and human Learning, not aiming at the Souls health. If the thick Mists and Clouds of Faction have not quite darkened their Right Eye, the inward of the Soul, herein, as in other of his unanimous fellow-servants Pulpit-labours, they may brightly behold the Lord of Glory reaching out his Golden Sceptre of Grace and Mercy to the poor in Spirit; shaking his Iron Rod of Terror and Vengeance, to crush and beaten down every high Imagination exalted against Obedience to his Gospel. Here's no pillow sown under the Elbow of a Court-Favorite, Blastus; a temporising Orator, Tertullus; a popular Mechanic, Demetrius, the turbulent Silver-smith; or of any other ring-leading Artificer: But the purity of Evangelical Verities, is carried on without connecessary quirks and quiddities, in a clear clean perspicuity; unless they will have nothing plain, but what rankly savours of downright rude uncouth slovenly Expressions. The chief points of each Sermon are necessary heads of Christian Doctrine. The Nature and Offices, the Sufferings and Death of Christ, his Precepts, Promises, and Threats, are zealously declared and pressed home to the Conscience, convincing the World of Sin, of Righteousness and Judgement. Maligning Spirits may surmise the end of this Impression to be whatsoever distempered Fancy may suggest: The true Verdict, which I am to give in, is, if according to the Author's supplications offered at the Throne of Grace, the Holy Ghost shall work so effectually with these his Endeavours, as to make them subservient Instruments of reconciling any one to God in Christ; his intent or scope is accomplished, his joy, his glory and crown achieved. He will be bold to say he hath well laboured in the Word and Doctrine, as a Workman that needed not to be ashamed; being assured, according to the gracious promise, he shall have this inch, this minute of a toilsome time, outweighed by the Eternity of blissfulness. Having opened the Purport, the Tenor and Substance of my Commission, thou mayst on easy terms take the whole home, at leisure peruse it seriously, and make thy own eyes witnesses of the Truth thus asserted by Thy, BIBLIOPOLA. ERRATA. PAge 2. line 20. read named. p. 3. l. 3. r. out of. p. 4. l. 3. r. fired. p 89. l. 19 after wonderfully, insert, Esay believed in the Lord; but it was when he saw him sitting on a high throne. p. 96 l. 29. r. transcendent. l. 33, 34. r. recalcitrating, p. 118. l. 6. r. Heir. p. 131. l. 17. r. Mankind. l. 26. r. ear. p. 132 l. 17. r. touched. p. 138. l. 13. r. passing. p. 147. l. 10. r. dram l. 25. r. me. p. 151. l. 23. r. Maids. p. 162. l. 17. r. loca. l. 18. insert Hall. p. 163. l. 9 r. Murena. p. 175. l. 28. insert on. p. 182. l. 19 r. presumption. p. 209. l. 7. r. ne'er. p. 211. l. 31. deal first but. p. 154. l. 24. r. filth. p. 295. l. 7. r. endure. Luke 13.23, 24. v. Than said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the straight gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. IN a disputing Age, it will not be unseasonable to handle a questioning Text; either for the reproof of Curiosity, or for satisfaction of doubt. These words evidently branch themselves into a Question, an Answer, and a Reason. The Question is in the beginning; Than said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? The Answer follows; And he said to them, Strive to enter in at the straight gate. And this is the Reason; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Of these, and their subdivided particulars, in order. In the Question you may observe the party ask, the manner, and the matter. The party ask is an Individuum vagum, a certain uncertain Inquisitor, one without a name, Than said ONE unto him. When a Question is asked of our Saviour, which carries some weight, or tends to needful Instruction, the name of the Proposer is registered together with the proposal. Thus John is on the file for ask, Art thou He that should come? Matth. 11.3. Caiaphas is not forgot, for ask, Art thou the Christ? Matth. 26.63. Pilate is recorded, for ask, Art thou the King of the Jews? Matth. 27.11. Nicodemus is nor unmentioned, for ask, How a man could be born again? John 3. But this Question in the Text being more curious than necessary, and tending to I know not what purpose, is asked by I know not whom; for he is not vouchsafed the grace of being name. Not particular is specified in holy writ, that made the Interrogatory, or moved the Quaere. From whence I infer, that such as pry into God's secrets, are less in his books than they that follow the duties commanded. For needless curiosity of the brain, robs the heart of that intention, and devotion, which aught to be placed on matters more pertinent. Why shouldst thou or I be inquisitive after the number of those shall be saved? It more concerns us to lay our hands on our own breasts, to inquire strictly whether we found in our hearts those heavenly graces to which God hath annexed his saving promises, the more to assure ourselves that we are Christ's, translated out the power of darkness to his marvelous light. Be not than addicted to vain prating people, who, as the Apostle speaks, 1 Tim. 6. Know nothing, but dote about questions, and strife of words, and things which have no pith in them, whereby ye can reap no profit, but whereof cometh envying, raylings, evil surmises, froward disputations of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth. And so from the person ask, I proceed to the manner, which in appearance is dutyful; it gins with Lord. Than said one unto him, Lord. The name of Lord is most precious, and holy; it sounds well in godly conference: whensoever it comes forth, it promiseth a religious, and wellweighed speech; and therefore it aught so to be placed, and used, that the matter may fitly become so high a Name. But yet we found that all curious novelties, and strange reaches, howsoever devised, and broached, are wrongfully entitled to God's honour, that by his great Name they may get honour to themselves. What vain fancy, or project; what heresy, or commotion, hath ever been set on foot without the pretence of God's glory? Sometimes his Name is quoted impertinently in senseless talk, which occasions a cold respect of his omnipresent, though invisible Majesty. Sometimes he is lewdly called on, which breeds offence. Sometimes he is praised for prospering downright sins, which in time he will punish: And the griping worldling will not stick to say that God hath greatly blessed his estate. Not to run too far of, I do not think this question in the Text of sufficient piety to follow the Name Lord; which gives me occasion to complain of this so specious abuse. You call me Lord, or Master, saith our Saviour, and so I am, John 13. if than I be your Lord, where is your service? Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father, which is in Heaven, Math. 7. Let Lord, and service; more obedience, and lesle questioning, go together. Whatsoever the question be, as what it is, we shall partly see anon, the formal, outward reverence of this Inquisitor, serves well to convince some rude, undisciplined Christians, who in most religious duties are most negligent, undecent, and profane; who, when they speak of God, yea when they speak unto him, show less manners, (I cannot say religion) than they would to an honest man. First, coming into his house not reverently, as into a King's chamber, but heedlessly, as into an Inn; than praying, or babbling with a vagrant eye, with one knee, and one elbow, perhaps with a long side, leaning like a dead pourtraicture on a Tombstone. Let such learn of this Questioner to say Lord mannerly. Now to the question itself, Are there few that are saved? Some have thought that after a certain revolution of date and punishment, all shall be saved. Some think just half; colouring their opinion, I cannot say proving it, with certain parabolical allusions, and semblances, which to them seem demonstrations: As because Isaak had two sons, one of whom God hated, and the other he loved: or because two women shall be grinding at a mill, one taken, and the other left: or in regard Saint Paul hath said, As in Adam many are made sinners, so in Christ many are made righteous, Rom. 5. Or in consideration that the right and left hand (on which all at last shall be ranked) are both of a size; and so they part stakes betwixt heaven and hell. These proofs need no answer. Some think a few only shall be saved, so few, that they can almost tell who they are. These stile themselves the beloved of God, his chosen, and dear children, drawing all God's promises only to their own behoof, reprobating all others; and whatsoever is spoken against them, is spoken against God, These are so selfconceited, that they confine God's mercy to their own acquaintance. Thus the Donatists, or they of Donatus party, so spiritually covetous, as if it would do them little good to sit in Abraham's bosom, unless they saw many a Dives in hell. Their arguments for their paucity are these, drawn from the words of our Saviour, first in a seeming parallel to my Text, Mat. 7.14. Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that found it. Again, in the 12. and 22 of St. Luke, Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. And Matth. 22.14. Many are called, but few are chosen. Now if the flock be little, and the number few, all they that follow any kind of Sect, think themselves to be the only men. I conceive we should like rather this opinion than any of the former, because men prove it worst by their lives. A modern Light holds forth a Tenet, Joseph Alford Treat. of Christ triumph. that the number of the Elect is not inferior to the damned; urging withal, that they who entertain such narrow conceptions of the heavenly Kingdom, as if it were open but to few, do not advance God's Majesty, but diminish it; not magnify his goodness, but disparage it. For in this rather (saith he) is the mercy of God manifested, that when in justice he might have damned all, he destinated some to punishment, but more to salvation. And so those Texts which tell us few are saved, and few found the way to eternal life; he refers not to the fewness of the Elect, but of believing Jews at Christ's first coming to them; as if such speeches were directed only to the contemporary Jews, in regard in the second verse, Luk. 13. 'tis the reply of those Jews, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets, as if that should advantage them. Whereupon he gives this exposition of my Text. You demand of me (saith Christ) whether few be saved, but I admonish you not to trifle away time in such questions, but let there be a holy Contention among you with all celerity to enter in at this door of my Gospel; for the time is very short in which you have a capacity of faith to obtain the Kingdom of God. Now the remissness, the laziness of these Jewish people was so great, that few of them indeed did believe his Gospel, and thereby few at his first manifestation in the flesh did enter by the true gate, Christ Jesus. In these discrepant applications of Christ's answer here, I will not impose a necessity of belief on any. And because the faithful, be they never so many, are few in respect of our Saviour's bowels, who would that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, 1 Tim. 2. or in respect a multitude of all Nations, which no man could number, stood before the Throne with Palms in their hands, Revel. 7. I leave it, as 'tis here, undecided. For what can this further my Salvation, to know how many else shall be saved? Hath our heavenly Father but one blessing? Is not his house large enough? are there not many mansions? Such a needless enquiry is like many other concerning God's Counsel, as, What he did before he created the world, Where hell shall be: How mankind should have increased, and been disposed, if Adam had stood in his innocency: Whether Gods decree be absolute, or conditional: When, and upon what considerations he elected: Whether there be Scientia media, a divine foreknowledge of future events upon such conditions as never come to pass? There are a sort of men who make it their only Religion to inquire of what Religion God himself is; who in stead of following their own duties, dive into the Office of God. Such is the knowledge which puffes up, and butts against love, which edifies. Such questions of supernatural Genealogies, or Genealogies of questions, be superfoolish; away with them. So I hasten to the answer of our wise and blessed Saviour, He said to them, Strive to enter in at the straight gate. First of the manner, than of the matter. It was but one proposed the question; Christ replies to the rest who stood by, they being all concerned therein. Besides, the manner of his answer is not direct to the quaere, which shows he did not much like it; but to the ground thereof. He answers like himself, who is even the Discerner of hearts, and can see to what conclusion the thought would bend. He that moved the question, was haply touched with a spice of pride, rejoicing within himself that he of the few was one, and taking delight in the exclusion of others. Otherwise, if many should be saved, he had a mind perchance to live idle, and secure, hoping to thrust into heaven amidst the multitude. Soft, our Saviour teacheth him his duty, that so he may be one of the few; and in stead of resolving, gives him an answer like that which he gave to Peter, being inquisitive about John, What's that to thee? follow thou me, John 21. Please not thy fancy, whosoever thou art, in reckoning thyself one of the few; nor rest secure, in counting upon many, but strive thyself, as thou art bid. It is the holy Ghost's usual method, in answering to impertinent questions, to begin at the end, and to tender to prying speculation a precept for practise. So when the Herodians asked Christ whether it were lawful to pay tribute to Caesar; he refers them to the inscription of the coin, and bids them give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Matth. 22. So when the Disciples asked concerning the end of the world, he answers, Let no man deceive you, Matth. 24. When the question arose, Who should be the greatest? He told them, The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship, but ye shall not do so, Luk. 22. Still their answer is their duty. But when duty is the question, the answer is plain, and direct: As, when the people asked the Apostle John, What shall we do? He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, Luk. 3.11. When the Publicans ask the fame, 'tis, Exact not more than what is appointed you, Luk. 3. When the Soldiers demand in like manner, so he answers, Do violence to no man, accuse none falsely, be content with your wages, Luk. 3. 'Tis clear, he prefers doing before disputing. No doubt but our Saviour could have answered exactly to this question in the Text, for he knows his own, all his Members are written in his book. If we by our Anatomy can reckon up all the parts, all the bones, the veins, the sinews, and muscles of the natural body, Matth. 10.30. Christ could surely tell all the Members of his mystical body; yea and all the hairs on each of their heads. He speaks plainly in the formentioned 7 Chapter of Matth. that those which enter in at the narrow gate are but few: but here, to meet with a curious brain, with a proud or sluggish heart, he conceals that answer, and puts of the Questioner with his duty: Strive to enter in at the narrow gate; which is the matter now to be pressed upon you. We may not think to get a place in Heaven as we do a prize in a Lottery; first ask whether there be many, or few chances? than put in our hands, and draw our Fortunes. Not, we must work out Salvation; it will cost us labour, and sweat, and striving to extremity. The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Strive till ye fall into an agony, and sweated as well in receiving redemption, as Christ did with giving it. For it cost our Redeemer a combat with Satan, an Agony within himself, a wrestling with death, before he could set up the prize for us to run at. Wherhfore we cannot do lesle than run, and thrust hard when we come to the goal or gate. The Kingdom of Heaven is gotten by violence; we cannot obtain a blessing, unless with Jacob we wrestle for it. And indeed, the word here is borrowed from Champions, or wrestlers. Before the combat, incredible was the care and strictness of temper in those Olympian Agonists, who for certain months before, cleansed their bodies with physic and diet, poised the condition of weather with helps of art, wore their apparel by rule, had their bread weighed, their drink measured, their sleep stinted, oftentimes breathing themselves, and trying their abilities, to prepare way for victory. Can we do lesle in our spiritual course for an infinite prize, a crown immeasurable, a Kingdom immortal? Than having physick'd your souls with the Cup of Christ, be sure ye keep yourselves clean and temperate. No beast, nor unclean thing might approach the Holy Mount on earth where the Law was given, Exod. 34.3. How than shall men turned to beasts by uncleanness, or worse than beasts, by stupefying and sense-confounding excess, be admitted into the Heavenly Mount, reserved for the Children of Grace, who practise their spiritual strength with chaste good works, and examine their parts inwardly before the last stiff wrestling at heavens straight gate? But what means this Metaphor of entering at the straight gate? It shows the difficulty of entrance; we must therefore use the same endeavour spiritually for admittance into Heaven, as we do corporally for entrance through a narrow passage, (i e.) we must stoop, and lessen ourselves, by abating and casting of all those cumbrous impediments, which swell us up, and lets our ingredience. Such are these: pride, which advanceth the head; covetousness, which buncheth the back; and intemperance, which blows up the belly. The man must be extenuated, and freed from all these encumbrances, that will get through this gate, which is therefore called narrow, because we must narrow ourselves. The house of God on earth may be conceived a resemblance of his heavenly palace; for in most of our Churches the door we commonly enter in is low, and little; this answers to humility. None should pass through with stuff, or carriage; this answers to the banishing of worldliness. When we come thither, we use commonly to come cleanly, and fasting; this answers to chaste and sober temperance. Concerning the lessening of ourselves by humility, our Saviour hath given the size of a little child for our measure; except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the heavenly Kingdom. Whosever shall humble himself as this little child, shall be greatest, Matth. 18. Nothing hinders humility so much as pride of spirit, presumption on God, or out selves: pride of dressing, or pride of precedence, hinder too, but not so much. The one is a toy; the other the Apostles once had, and unlearned; Luk. 22. but pride of Spirit was proper to the Pharisee; without this, he might have entered in; for surely that Pharisaical Sect had more than ordinary righteousness, but they loved to show it, to boast, and stand upon it, and to condemn all others. This is a stiff pride, and hard to be removed, because they that have it applaud themselves, and think they do well. This is the pride of Lucifer, uho appears as an Angel of Light; and they that have it, come very near, yet cannot get through. Sometimes they can put in their heads by Speculation, but their backs will not bow, that their feet may come along. Sometimes a foot is in by practice; but while they keep their heads aloft, and gaze on the mysteries of the structure, they get a knock on the head, and fall back to the world. Concerning abdication, or contempt of the world, particularly of uncertain richeses, 1 Tim. 6.17. our Saviour hath said, Matth. 19 It is hard for a rich man to enter in the Kingdom of Heaven, Matth. 19 v. 23.24. & vers. 14. 'tis harder for him than for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle. On the contrary, make ye friends of the unrighteous Mammon, Luk. 16.9. that they may receive you into everlasting tabernacles. The poor, which are in before, will give a hand unto you. They have told Christ of their friends on earth, and Christ takes notice of them. Wherhfore the soul must be lessened, and purged from all these gross humours, and fardels of fleshliness, otherwise the gate of Heaven, though wide enough for thousands to enter at once, will contract itself like a shut-purse, and be found too narrow for one unreformed sinner; yea, though that sinner make a fair show of Sanctity by much religious dispute, and search of heavenly things; for, as it follows, many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Is not this our Saviour's promise, Seek, and ye shall found; knock, it shall be opened? Matth. 7. How than can any that seek be denied entrance? Surely, because they do not seek to the purpose, and after a right manner. They seek inquisitively, not dutifully; rather to know the Secrets of God, than to fulfil his Commands: or perhaps they seek faintly, with a wand'ring intention, and careless cessation; if they found not presently, they give over their search; they may knock once, or twice on their breast, but softly, as upon felt, and so give over before they be heard. Therefore the Apostle having said in the third to the Colossians, and the first verse, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Seek earnestly to found the things above, for that's the extent of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the second verse, he changeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and says, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, mind heavenly things. Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a general word, comprehending the operations as well of our will, as of our understanding; yea in the Scripture 'tis most commonly applied to the affections, which are peculiar motions of the will: so that our last English translation, to show the right manner in seeking, hath well rendered it, Set your affection on the things above. For to seek with love and duty, to seek from the heart, is only effectual. Any other search, whether by speculation, talk, or questioning, is but formal, vain, and frivolous. For heartless enquirers seek entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, as into a public spectacle; thither they come, and make a proffer; but seeing a thrust at the door, away they pass. The difficulty of obtaining, rebates the edge of endeavour. Such a Seeker was the young man in the Gospel; he sought indeed to enter, but how? by ask a question, What shall I do? Matt. 19.16. Do was the best question could be asked; yet little available, because the answer was not followed; for having great possessions, and being told, vers. 22. Thou shalt cell all, and give to the poor, he went away forrowful, and displeased. If Heaven might be purchased at an easy rate, there would be many more merchants than there are; wherefore our Saviour puts the man to the Test, whether he loved God best of all, by a proposal of foregoing that, which was dearest to him; whereunto if he had willingly condescended, as Abraham did to the sacrificing of his only son, perhaps the will had been accepted instead of extreme performance. But howsoever, he that loves any thing more than Christ, he that will not forsake Father or Mother, Wife or Child, Brother or Sister, to gain him (witness Christ himself) is not worthy of him. Matth. 10.37. Shall I say than, He that will not forsake his dear sin, or rather, he that prefers Heaven itself before Christ, is unworthy of him, and Heaven? You may hear God himself complaining of these vain unserviceable seekers, Isa. 58.2. for indeed they are but hypocritical sinners; They seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a Nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the Ordinance of their God; they ask of me the Ordinance of Justice: but what follows? Still the old custom: They seek to know, not to follow: and what avails to see, and not to walk; to stand, and not knock; to hear, and not obey; to say, and do not? You may found by experience, that true effectual seeking, requires the diligent employment of two parts, the eye, and foot; the one to look out, the other to follow after: That answers to speculation, the other to practise. He that is wholly taken up with speculation, may see Heaven afar of, as Moses saw the Land of Canaan from Mount Nebo, Deut. 32. but thither he cannot come without religious practice. Be not than curious in enquiring what needs not, whether, or how many others shall be saved: this is to be busybodies, or, as the word originally imports, Bishops in another diocese, 1 Pet. 4. which the same Peter would not have Christians to be; but strive earnestly, and faithfully, to do what God requires, that yourselves may obtain salvation. Be careful truly and obediently to follow, and walk in that path, which will, though narrow, lead you to eternal life. Endeavour to be holy, as ye affect to be happy, for than surely you shall be both holy and happy; than shall grace end with you in glory: and as here ye live the lives of the Saints, so hereafter ye shall possess the joys of the Saints in the Kingdom of Heaven: which God of his mercy grant unto us, through the merits of his Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Amen. John 2. v. 11. This beginning of Miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee; and manifested forth his glory, and his Disciples believed on him. THE first Chapter records the Nativity of Christ: SERM. II. now after his birth follows his life, the things that Jesus began both to do, and teach; and these are not less than Miracles, or words able to work them; but the virtue of every power is made most apparent by action, for which respect the Evangelist in the 1 of the Acts, v. 1. hath placed our Saviour's doing before his teaching: for unless his works had made way for his words, the people's belief had come but slowly on. Mark than how holy History hath registered his Miracles from the beginning. This BEGINNING of Miracles, etc. From which Record you may observe the Miracle itself, it was the turning of water into wine; than the Circumstances: 1. The Author, it was wrought by Jesus. 2. The time, it was the first, or the BEGINNING of his Miracles. 3. The place, it was wrought in CANA of Galilee. Than the manner, it was glorious, for thereby he manifested forth his glory: and lastly, the effect, which was belief; his Disciples BELIEVED on him. Of these in the order proposed. The turning of wine into water is familiar amongst us, but the turning of water into wine deserves the name of a Miracle. 'Tis easy to make worse of better, but not to make better of worse: easy to spend, and waste, but not to provide, and gather. But you may say, We found it common in Nature, that water soaking into the root of the tree, is turned into the blood of the grape, and so becomes wine; and, which is most difficult, that God himself should convert water into wine, or 'cause a vine to do the same. Indeed every work of Nature, if duly considered, hath a greater expression of power than a Miracle: 'Tis more to make an eye, than to cure the blind; to frame a joint, than to bid the lame walk; to screw an ear, than to open the deafs hearing; or to mould a man out of nothing, than to raise the dead. Nevertheless, a work cut of ordinary course, though of lesle power, more takes our gazing wonder, because lesle obvious. Ignorance mixed with some parcel of knowledge, is the Mother of Wonder. Howsoever, we are rightly taught hereby to magnify God in all his works, which we daily behold; for there is more excellent art in making the poorest bramble, or thistle, than in building the goodliest Palace of the earth; as Solomon in all his Royalty was not apparelled like the Lily of the field, Matth. 6. Next, this urgeth us to use God's Creatures reverently, and temperately, because it hath sometimes cost him a Miracle to call wine out of water; yea, and water out of the rock. All the wit of man cannot make a drop in time of necessity, nor procure by the friendship of Abraham the moistening of his tongue, Luk. 16. Pharaohs Magicians, Exo. 7. could turn water into blood, so can murderers, and the destroyers of mankind, they can turn whole Rivers; but to convert water into wine, and make it fit for the use of man, this is the work of him that turns wine Sacramentally into his own blood. God by turning and returning of water into wine, and wine into his own blood, hath double sanctified the use thereof. Blessed be He, who hath given us the same plenteously to enjoy, and reverend be we in using it decently. The quantity of water here changed by computation of the firkins which the 6 pots held, was near about two hogsheads: The Miracle afforded no more at a great meeting, at a solemn marriage, where one Guest brought 13, or 14. in his company. For there was Jesus, and his Mother, and his Disciples. From hence we may learn to propose a fit measure, both at the time of jollity, and ordinary refreshing. This for the substance of the Miracle; the circumstance next following, is the Author Jesus. That's the Son of God, and Saviour of Man, the Lord of Lords, and Head of all Powers; by his word all things were made, and by his word alone he could have soon converted, or confounded the whole world. Nevertheless such as He was, he sought to raise faith, and win obedience rather by his goodness, than by his greatness; not by his rod, but by a beneficial Miracle; that so the mighty may be brought to descend to the weakness of their underlings by gracious dealing. If they be heads, not to tread on their feet, but to tread with them, to show and guide them, to move and direct them. If they be Masters, to govern sweetly; if Fathers, to provide lovingly; if Teachers, to instruct mildly; if Rich, to sustain charitably; to rule by example of works, as well as by rigour of words; not so to load the back with justice, as to leave the belly empty of mercy; but after God's Method, to join the rod and the staff in comforting. Our Jesus being the Son of God, showed whose son he was by his work, a work far exceeding the skill of Carpentry, not forming the vessel, but enriching it with liquor; his Father makes the vine, and he therefore the wine, which issues from the vine. If you would demonstrate yourselves to be children of your heavenly Father, imitate his works, his goodness, his beneficence and mercy. Our Jesus being the true Vine, John 15.22. presented the fruit of the vine in this Miracle: Can you think to be branches of the same vine, not yielding fruits answerable? Every tree that doth not bring forth good fruit, shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire, Matth. 7. The next circumstance is that of time. This was the first, the beginning of Christ's Miracles. Was it so? I thought his very Incarnation had been the Miracle of all Miracles, the foundation of all the rest. And so it was indeed; but this was the first outward Miracle, which he wrought Extrase, without, upon other Creatures. That the word was made flesh, was the beginning of humiliation; but that water was turned into wine, was the beginning of Exaltation. That the word being made flesh was born of a Virgin, a Miracle absolutely the first, this redounds to the honour of Virginity, which whosoever truly keeps, works a prime miracle on himself; but that the word turned virgin-water into wine at a Wedding, the first outward Miracle, it redounds to the honour of Marriage, which next to virginity is the most honourable estate. But why was this the first outward Miracle? You may suppose these reasons. The coming of Christ was tidings of joy, Luk. 2. of great joy, which should be to all people; therefore a Miracle of Wine, whose property is to make glad the heart of man, was a fit entrance to begin this time of joy. For indeed, if we dive into the mystical sense, this turning of water into wine, is the turning of tears into joy at the marriage of Christ and his Church. Further, This beginning suits well with the order and progress of Christ's Miracles: first, you see he gins with change of the Creatures made for the use of man: than he proceeds to the change of man's body; as you have heard how he made the dumb to speak, the blind to see, and the lame to walk; than in the last rank of Miracles he changeth the soul, both by effusion of his blood, and infusion of his spirit. All that I shall here apply is this: First, that the thought hereof be entertained with joy, and thankfulness. Secondly, that we answer this beginning of Christ's Miracles with some answerable beginning in ourselves concerning the Creatures: For the turning of water into wine, let us begin a Counter-miracle, turn wine into water, the excess of it into tears of repentance, the abuse into the use of sobriety; than we may found in the next turn the form of the body to be wonderfully changed, the dumb in a spiritual sense will be enabled to speak, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the lame to walk. Than at last we may attain to the greatest change of the soul, by renewing the Image of Christ, by proceeding from ignorance to knowledge, from unrighteousness to righteousness, from profaneness to holiness, daily growing up from grace to grace till we end in glory. Now having measured the circumstance of time, I arrive to the circumstance of place, which is Cana of Galilee. This beginning of Miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth zeal, or emulation, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 revolution, or turning about to the first point where motion began: put both names together, they signify the zeal of a Convert; which aught to exceed in the service of that God, whom formerly ye forsook. Thus under the name of the place, is couched the condition, which belongs to the people of God, zeal after conversion. Harken to me ye that seek the Lord; look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged, Esay 51.1. even to the Lord your Maker and Redeemer; look unto him, and turn unto him with zeal of service: Yield yourselves unto him, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness unto God. Know you not, whose servants you are, him ye obey? as therefore ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness, Rom. 6. The heart of a zealous convert is a fit seat for Christ to begin Miracles. Galilee in the 4. of St. Matth. and originally in the 9 of Esay, is called Galilee of the Gentiles, because it stood on the confines, bordering upon them; and in regard of the Babylonian captivity, it was mixed with the Gentiles. And surely the Gentiles may well labour in zeal, and conform themselves to the name of Cana, it shall well become them: for God hath estranged himself from the Jews, and sent salvation upon the Gentiles to this purpose, that by them he might provoke the Jews to jealousy, Rom. 11.11. And so saith God himself, I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish Nation, Deut. 32.21. Such were all the Gentiles, not a people, but foolish Nations; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a confused multitude, before Christ reduced them to order, by working Miracles. But now the prophecy of Esay began to take effect, I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, to a Nation that was not called by my name, Esay 65. and v. 1. And why? because, as it follows, I have spread out my hands all the day long to a rebellious people. Wherhfore it concerns us Gentiles, to whom God hath revealed himself, to be zealous, and emulous in holy duties, as well to excite the Jews, as also to confirm our own election: If the branches were broken of, that we the wild Olives might be grafted in the true vine; know, that because of unbelief they were broken of, and that thou standest by faith: Be not highminded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed jest he also spare not thee, Rom. 11.19. We Gentiles were formerly but as dogs, unworthy to lick up the crumbs that fell from the childrens table, Matth. 15. and yet behold the children are discarded, and the table is left to us. Let us not than like dogs return to our vomit, preferring uncleanness before the mystery of holiness, and losing the relish of heavenly food for dross and filth. Take heed, ye that condemn the Jews for crucifying our Saviour, jest ye do worse, by making his passion, and the richeses of his mercy, to be of no effect. It is remarkable how Jesus, being the Saviour of all, divided his presence, and the means of Salvation, betwixt the Jew and Gentile. He was born at Bethlehem in Jewry, but he lived at Nazareth, at Cana, and Capernaum of Galilee: he suffered death at Jerusalem; but being risen again, he went into Galilee, to declare his resurrection, Mark 16.7. The Jews had the custody of Divine Oracles, they had Moses and the Prophets, more worthy of belief than one sent from the dead, Luk. 16. The Gentiles had only the book of Nature; therefore at Jerusalem Christ taught in the Temple, but in Galilee he wrought Miracles: there he bestowed his words, as to men of more understanding; and here his works, as to men of grosser capacity; there faith was to enter by the ear, and here a door was opened by the eye. To either place our common Saviour was not defective, but applied means of conversion most answerable to both. Thus the Cornerstone lay in the midst betwixt both side-walls, the Jews, and the Gentiles; the same Mediator, who joined God and Man in one Person, Heaven and Earth in one league, sought also to join the Jew and Gentile in one Church. Thus like the Sun he illustrates both hemispheres, and so divides his course, that the whole world may be cherished by his beams. Now for our parts, we have the means of conversion vouchsafed to both; we have the words which he preached at Jerusalem, we have the works he wrought in Galilee; and we know the truth of them as well as most of the Inhabitants of Cana; for all were not present, the greater part were satisfied with Relation: Than what hinders our belief? and if we believe, what hinders our duty? Let us show our faith by our works, by obedient conformity to his precepts, and by newness of life. Observe further, that Galilee was contemptible in the esteem of the Jews, and was accounted a place from whence no good could ever come. Likewise Julian the Apostate, thought to disgrace Christians, by calling our Saviour himself, and all his believers, by the name of Galileans. Wherhfore Christ, who came to relieve the distressed, and to raise the lowly, honoured this place with the first of his Miracles. This teacheth us neither to despise others, nor to despair of ourselves, be the present condition never so poor, and low. When God seems to be farthest of, even than he is nearest at hand, as loving to show his strength in weakness, his mercy in misery. Though Cana doth likewise signify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reed shaken with wind, yet let us raise our meditations with this, that the reed stands up, when the sturdy oak is thrown to the ground. In such preservation, and providence, the glory of God appears most manifest. So I proceed to the glorious manner of working this Miracle: He manifested forth his glory. Glory is the excellence of Majesty, the light and lustre of surpassing virtue, and therefore most proper to God, the fountain of all virtue and power. Such brightness cannot be concealed: the cloud of human flesh, and form of humility, wherein the Godhead of Christ was clothed, could not long obscure his Majesty, but upon occasions it must needs break forth. They are his own words, No man puts a light under a bushel; Luk. 11.33. the true Light, which lightens every man into the world, gins at length to display his beams. And because glory is no private object, but conspicuous to public view, therefore our Saviour took this time for his Miracle, when a numerous assembly were met together at a Marriage-feast. The Sun was not made for the eye of a single Spectator; particular persons must not expect a Miracle for personal reasons, or private respects, but content themselves with the general course of providence. Now if the manner of the Miracle be rightly considered, this work, this beginning of Miracles, did most gloriously declare the power of his Godhead. For by his own Command, without any borrowed power, the same word, which made the Elements, was able to turn and change them how he list: yea, without a word spoken, his will was sufficient; the substance created by him, felt his influence, and obeyed. For we found nothing spoken to the water, but only this to the servants, Fill the water-pots, and now draw forth. None could do this in such a manner, but God himself. Now to apply these observations; 'tis said, Exod. 34. That the glory which shone on Moses, made the face of Moses to shine; the light, which is darted on the wall, causeth the wall to reflect a second light. It is than our duty, since the glory of Christ and his Gospel is risen upon us, to manifest the same by actions of light, according to that of the Prophet, Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, Esay 60.1. Weak as we are, we have a way of manifesting God's glory too, even by good works; Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven, Matth. 5. The Image of the Original may be conveyed hither and thither by several glasses; Christ bears the Image of his Father, and we of Christ; a Christians good life is the reflex of God's glory, which we must endeavour to manifest. Again, Christ presented his Miracle before a multitude, so must our good be diffusive, ready to be extended to many, even as many as occasion shall require, and ability will permit. The Sun is not exhausted by casting his beams on every side: no more should we grow weary of diffusing righteousness on every object, both by deed, and example. The stock of virtue is ever increased by spending. Lastly, since God is the sole worker of Miracles, and glory is his peculiar, which He will not give to another, we aught nor to appropriate the lest beam thereof to ourselves in any of our works, but to attribute the whole to God, the prime Author of all. For where is the wine of the vessel without the vine, the water of the Conduit without the Spring; or the shining of the wall without the light of Heaven? Herod after his rich decking of raiment, and language, was struck by a hand invisible, and eaten up with worms, because when the people heaped upon him divine applause, he gave not the praise to God, Act. 12. Not unto us, Act. 12. not unto us, O Lord, but to thy Name be glory for evermore. I now come to my last point, the effect of this miracle: His disciples believed on him. Miracles, and belief are mutual Relatives, eyeing each other as the cause and the effect: so that Miracles are for belief, as the cause for the end; and readiness of belief invites Miracles, as the end draws on the cause: Unless you see wonders, saith our Saviour, ye will not believe, Joh. 4. These are the most effectual works of faith; & on the other side, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God? So he speaks to Martha about the raising of Lazarus, Joh. 11.40. Necessary Miracles are never wanting to confirm belief. Human Nature in this depraved condition, is nothing so apprehensive of truth, as it is greedy of good, and regardful of power; from whence it comes, that hearing of God's word is lesle taking than seeing of his works; especially with men of hard hearts, and dull capacities. A wicked and adulterous Generation, is altogether set upon signs. What sign showest thou? v. 18. is frequent in the mouth of the learned Jew, though best acquainted with divine Oracles. But how came Christ's own disciples to be of this condition? you must have them excused, because they were simple and ignorant men, newly taken up by the Sea-coast in Galilee, and had not been long with their Master. Wherhfore our Saviour according to his continual goodness descends to human infirmity, and initiates the faith of his Church with Miracles. And I dare say that Miracles are not yet so ceased, but even to this day, if the Gospel were now to be planted in a place where it hath not been already rejected, God would harken to the voice of his Agent, and confirm his words with signs from Heaven. Since than we know by ourselves what is most prevalent in the conversion of a sinner, or unbeliever, let us be ready to afford that to others, which ourselves have sometimes needed: Let us imitate the method of Christ; and though we cannot turn our brethrens by showing Miracles, let us come as near as we can, and second good words with exemplary good works. This is the way to be Subsaviours, Petty Mediators, and Factors for Christ. Than the Lords Minister best follows the Text, when his life comments upon his Doctrine, and makes a visible repetition at home of what he delivered in the Church. Likewise works are honest Laymens' Sermons, they preach with their hands, and not with their tongues,, and by the plenty of righteousness there lies a tongue in every finger. It was the Caveat of the blessed Mother, to the servants of this feast, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And it shall be mine to you; See that ye do what our Saviour commandeth, that so ye may keep the perpetual feast of a good conscience, and found the water of tears and heaviness, turned into the wine of joy and gladness; which may never be consumed, but last like the widow's oil, till ye come to the place of joy everlasting; whither God of his mercy bring us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Luke 7. part of the 47. verse. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven her; for she loved much. THE Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Word of Comfort, because it treats of a welcome Subject, our delivery from the bonds of sin. It is again a plausible Theme, in regard of this inference, for she loved much. Of all passions, that of Love commands attention; it is the Idol, to which the tongues and pens of most men do sacrifice their labours. And therefore the current of my discourse is only to draw the stream of affections into its clear and native channel; to altar their object, and better their intent, and that by advancing this glorious example of blessed Mary Magdalene, whose singular love to Christ, made the sweet savour of her Name more precious than her ointment, for it endures until this day; and so changed the hue of her blushing sins, that though they were of a crimson dye, yet she became all over as white as snow. Her forepast crimes had now ceased to call into her face her conscious blood as a witnessing tincture of her guilt. The Judge himself hath pronounced it, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much. In which Epiphonema, or quick-close, we may behold the unparallelled love of the one unto the other. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; there's Christ's love to her. For she Loved much; there was her love to Christ. Herein only was the difference: Mary's love to Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, due debt; Christ's love to her is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, grace, and favour. It's out of his free gift that her many sins are forgiven her. He loved her first, and so in a correspendent tune she echoed her due affection unto him. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, this illative For here in this Text, shows (as anon shall be proved) that her love was the effect, not the cause of her forgiveness. And so I divide the whole into a benefit, and a thanksgiving. The benefit includes first the matter itself, forgiveness of sins. Secondly, the extent of the gift; her many sins are forgiven. In the thanksgiving, you may be pleased to observe in what the substance of her thanks did consist, it was in Love; For she Loved: Than the degree and measure thereof: it was no faint, no perfunctory affection; it was fervent, and exuberant, she loved much. But in the first place, the matter of the benefit requires my narration, and craves your patience. HER SINS are forgiven HERALD Forgiveness of sin is the greatest boon the miserable man can obtain, because none can bestow it but he, who is the absolute Benefactor in man's Salvation. As for us, we are all crazed and crippled in our fall in Adam; and how can one cripple help another? We than received such a crack, that none can newcast us, and restore us to our primitive integrity, but he that first moulded us. Our wound admits such infinite dimensions, that it requires an infinite Redeemer to prepare a sufficient plaster. The Almighty restrains this prerogative as proper and peculiar to his own throne, placing it as the most eminent of all his titles, and esteeming it the chiefest Flower of his Crown. When Moses did supplicate that he would deign him that honour as to show him his Glory, I will show thee my Excellency, saith the Lord, Exod. 33. And what is it? even his grace, mercy, and bounty. In the next chapter He is proclaimed JEHOVAH, gracious, merciful, rich in kindness, forgiving INIQUITY, TRANSGRESSION, and SIN. He insists upon it, as delighting therein; and expresseth it with a triple emphasis, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; that no obliquity, whether in thought, word, or deed, may seem to escape the bounds of his Royalty. Rich in kindness, as if the richeses of his grace were in this one Act above others most diffused. And indeed we found it so: for his mercy, whose object is our iniquity, outshines all his works. His Omnipotency demonstrates him to be an awful God, his mercy exhibits him an indulgent Father, and that encourageth us to tread within his Courts, and to approach near his presence. Forgiveness of sins, entitles us to a higher estate than we were first born to; for by our Creation we were but men; by our Remission we become Saints. And so happy we, that have been once wretched; Hence is it that 'tis the task, the scope, the whole business of a Christian: we cannot well live without daily food, far lesle can we live without daily forgiveness. And therefore our Saviour, who in the one Petition taught us to pray, Give us this day our DAILY BREAD; in the very next he instructs also to ask, and FORGIVE us our trespasses. The Angels are Creatures more excellent than ourselves in Nature; and yet by this boon of forgiveness, we far surpass some of them in condition. For they having neither Devil without, nor flesh at home to seduce them, when they once fell, fell eternally, being not so much as vouchsafed that small courtesy to be pitied. But man having his innocence stolen from him, and his overthrow occasioned by another's treason, the Son of God was moved in compassion to come down into the world; and not only so, but to lay down his own life at the stake for the life of man, which was forfeited. He was so zealous of our remission, that when our many sins like so many talents of Lead had sunk us deep as hell itself, he than stripped himself of his robes of Majesty, and cast himself into the Main, to raise us up again. I have heard 'tis the method of the Court to chastise the faults of Princes in their Pages, whom they best love, that by smarting for their offences in their other selves, they may the more willingly amend them in their own selves. But here the Prince himself, the only Son and Heir of the celestial Diadem, endures the discipline of the lash, that his servants, his bondslaves, may be forgiven. Methinks we should be not lesle affected herewith, than Naaman was, when Elisha healed him of the leprous disease that clothed his body. 2 Kin. 5. For when he felt his flesh to come again like the flesh of a child, as the Text phraseth it, he devoutly honoured the Prophet as a Father, and rejoiced at his second nativity. Greater reason have we to feed ourselves with true joy, and to magnify the God of Israel, who cleanseth our diseased souls from a fouler leprosy, healing our old sores by forgiving our sins past: and the better to keep us clean, the sink being thus emptied, he instils into our hearts more sovereign Spirits, that so we may be secured not only from a present, but a future danger. Neither doth this gracious dealing derogate from his justice; for though his Edict be out against sin, yet it doth not so bind his hands that he cannot seal a pardon. He that transgresseth a King's Law by Felony, is to fulfil the Law in the penalty of death. And yet the King, who ratifies the Laws validity, can soften, and take of, as he pleaseth, the edge and rigour of those Laws, to which he puts the Fiat for their constitution. Neither is punctual execution essential to the Law, but the power of execution. If Sovereign Powers may laudably use their liberty in freeing of Delinquents; much more may the King of Kings dispense with his own Ordinance. The demonstration of his revenging justice springeth not from the necessity of his Nature, but from his voluntary disposition; He being Agens Liberrimum. And though sin, as sin, hath an outward disagreement, and be evil in itself, yet it hath no inward repugnancy, it is not absolutely evil to the Almighty, in as much as he is not the worse for the being of it, but is able, were he pleased to show his power, to turn it to his Glory. Be not than dismayed in regard of the vast dimensions of thy numerous sins. Saint John in his first Epistle, and first chapter, certifies us, that the blood of Christ doth cleanse us from ALL our sins; and so are not able to shut out a good heart from God, which can but gasp for mercy as a dry land doth where no water is. He cast out of this convert in the Text, seven devils as easy as one, and so he canceled with the same facility her greatest bonds, as he did her smallest bills. We acknowledge the Devil to be chained to everlasting torments; yet not so much for his many sins, as for his continuance therein, for his abode and dwelling in those tents of Kedar. If it were possible he could break of that accursed league, his chains would be dissolved, and himself Fixed into a Saint. It is well observed how our Saviour was contented to descend according to the flesh, as well of Rahab a Harlot, Tamar an incestuous person, as of the holy Patriarches; that where sin did abound, grace might overflow. This one instance, Marry Magdalene, may serve for all, whose many and manifold sins were quite forgiven. Touching the person of this sinner, she was indeed a Noble Woman; Magdalena, a Magdalo Castro. but virtue is not entailed to descent; it doth not still run in a blood: hers was corrupted, she being more noted for the eminency of vice, than of parentage. In plain terms, she was Prostibulum, an unchaste Lady, a common Courtesan: Consueverat Peccatrix appellari. Her usual appellation was Peccatrix, Mary the Sinner; all her senses and affections wholly taken up with pernicious pleasures. In vita Magdal. Her eyes enchanted with lascivious objects, her ears charmed with scurrilous talk, her smell filled with artificial perfumes, her arms heated with wanton embraces; by which means she became not beset only, but possessed with a heptarchy of soul spirits, not less than seven being the settled inmates of her heart. And yet behold a strange alteration! this strayed sheep is returned, this prodigal child reclaimed; Marry Magdalene hath escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler, she hath dislodged that unclean Legion, which so wasted her Spirit; her body and soul not more a Dungeon, but a Palace, even a sanctified Temple of the Holy-Ghost. Where are now those Barbarians, that will censure Saint. Paul a Murderer, Act. 28. if the Viper be not speedily shaken from his Hands? Where are the Pharisaical Spirits, that will pass their judgement upon any soul but their own? a crooked Plant is not forthwith to be broken, it may be straightened for a better use: He runs far, that never turns. God hath his own times and hours, and moments, for the Conversion of a Sinner; and so it becomes not us altogether to condemn any man, seeing there's hope of every one's Forgiveness, whose Repentance is not yet cut of by Death. Tom. 5. p. 63. sup. Tu Pet. I am sure Saint Ambrose doubts not to affirm, That Peter, by his fall, found more grace than he lost, his Faith being stronger after, than before. I speak not this to encourage secure Libertines, who feel no remorse for their Sins, leaving Repentance to their Deathbed: To such as these, I must tell another Tale. An account that is long overpast, in the end becomes difficult to be finished: Even so it will be with him, who wilfully suffers his debt of Sin to multiply, and the reckoning of his Transgressions to run on; in the end, his own wickedness shall reprove him. The Lord, saith Jeremiah, shall draw him out of his lurking holes, and present him naked to Judgement: And than with what confusion and astonishment shall he that was prodigal of the time of Grace, Chap. 2. come forward unto judgement? My intent, by proposing the Pattern of this Convert, is only to strengthen the bruised Reed, whose humbled spirit trembles at God's Indignation. First than, show me Mary Magdalen's Confession, her hearty Contrition; make it appear, that thy soul is furnished with her Grace, that thy Love to Christ is steady and unfeigned; and than my soul for thy safety, I dare secure thee of Remission. And so we are brought directly to this Inference, For she loved much. This Particle for, doth not infer that her love to Christ was the cause of her forgiveness; but that it was a certain proof and sign of her pardon, because, or, in that, she loved much: the words immediately following in the Verse, make the measure or degree of our love to Christ, to arise from the measure of his gracious Remission towards us. To whom little is remitted, saith our Saviour, he loves little; and so to whom much is forgiven, he loveth much. The forgiveness of her Sins going before her love, must needs be the cause of her Love; and not her Love the cause of her forgiveness. The same is manifest in the Parable or Similitude of the two Debtors, from the 40 to the 43 Verse, where 'tis set down, that abundance of Love in the greatest debtor, proceeded as an effect of the greater sum forgiven by the Creditor. The ambiguous Inference thus explained, we may learn from this happy soul, how to place our Love aright; not on some poor Creature, unworthy to be sought, insufficient if obtained; but upon the greatest, wisest, best, and fairest Object, even upon the Lord our God, whereby we enjoy all Joy for ever by mere loving. The Nature and Property of Love, may be expressed in this Breviary: Love is the imperious Sovereign of Affections, yea, the sum of them, they are all reduced to it: For Love, when it longs for the thing loved, is than desire; when it hath the thing loved, it is than joy; when it flies from that it affects not, than 'tis fear; and when it feels what it not desires, it is sadness. Thus all the Affections, Desire, Joy, Fear, and Grief, are included in Love. So than, if we love God, we will desire to enjoy him; and having enjoyed him, we will rejoice to keep him; and feeling him to leave us, we will grieve at his absence. Again, Love is so transcendent, that it speaks with the tongue of every Virtue: Bounty is Love, as it is beneficial to the Indigent; Grace is Love, as it gives good things freely. Our Saviour makes Love the Cognizance of his Disciples; the Apostle styles it The accomplishment of the Law, and bond of perfection, which linketh us to God, and God to us: we are far from him, if we love him not; with him, if we love him: Animus est ubi amat, non ubi animat; the soul being more where it likes, than where it lodgeth; rather where it loves, than where it lives. We find, in the History of this religious Penitent, that Love acquitted her thanks to God, discharged her reckoning, sanctified her actions, and covered a multitude of Faults. But because Love generally delivered, doth not illustrate how she particularly loved, we will draw closer to the Point, and try her Deeds by the Symptoms and Properties of true Sincerity; that so it may appear her words were not smooth and sergeant, but the trusty Messengers of her settled Affection to her Saviour. The first property of Love, is a fervent and longing desire to enjoy that which is beloved. This first Step we may trace in her timely hasting to the Tomb, where when she found her Lord removed, every part of her became an Eye; and every thought, a look. Indeed, Peter, the Disciple that is said to love Christ best, and John, the Disciple best beloved of the Lord, ran too; but their Devotion was sooner out of breath. For when they had seen what she had said, they stayed not, but suddenly retired, and shrunk away. She stands to it; her disconsolate heart still throbbing and panting, sighing and enquiring until she found him, whom her zealous soul most desired. Neither was this thirst of his presence descried only in her early visits at his Grave where he lay, but it was discovered also in her former intrusion into the Pharisee's house, where he sat at repast. She would not expect his coming forth, as knowing nice Ceremonies of behaviour to savour more of the Courtier than of the Christian. These airy and windy Circumstances of worldly carriage, ofttimes withstand the solid purchase of the Soul, and quencheth the alacrity of the Spirit. And so the importunate Demeanour of this bold, yet religious Guest, received not a check, but a welcome. We cannot be unseasonable in pressing our Redeemer at midnight, before the morning-watch; he neither slumbers nor sleeps. We may approach near him at the very Table; it is his meat, saith Saint John, Joh. 4.34. to do the will of him that sent him. And yet her approach was humble; she came quivering behind him, who saw her well enough; Exod. 33. accounting it with Moses, grace abundant to see the back parts of God's Glory. She looked not so high as his hands, but in decent obeisance fell at his feet, as resolving now to tread wholly in her Saviour's steps. Learn than out of this Property of Love, to crave no other solace of Christ, but Christ himself, in whose presence is fullness of joy. Away with all dulness and coldness in God's Worship; Mary's fervour is the best temper. For he that is all Spirit, will not take pleasure in the drowsy and heavy Service of a Sluggard. Why did he ordain the neck of the consecrated Ass to be broken, rather than offered up in Sacrifice? Was it not to intimate, That he cannot brook our heaviness and tardiness in serving him, of which the Ass hath ever been a Hieroglyphic? The second Property of LOVE, is a quick obedience, and forward care to follow Christ. Her speedy renovation was a lively expression of this sprightly quality. A Lebete Phiala, of a Cauldron seething and boiling with lust, she became a Crystal Vial of pure Chastity. Quot membra, tot holocausta; every member that before served Sin, is now turned a holocaust, a sweet Sacrifice. And that her Zeal within might want no pregnant signs without, the fire of her Devotion melts her soul into floods of water, like a flash of lightning seconded with a storm of rain, as if she meant to overwhelm her spiritual Pharaoh in her own salt Sea of Tears. Her heart, which before her Conversion was the Fountain of mischief, returns her now a Medicine; and her eye, which let in vanity, lets it out again, by making her Tears as it were, a second Font, wherein she was renewed from the guilt of her Offences. And having prostrated herself at Christ's feet, she delights in kissing them; her kisses being holy Interpreters of her devout acknowledgement, that it was his feet which guided her in the way of peace. The better to declare how she held nothing too good in the Service of so good a Master, she wipes them clean with the principal Ornament of her head, the flaxen Towel of her hair. Those dishevelled locks, whose curious dress were before laid out as enticing Nets, to catch the lose Beholders, are now religiously dedicated to dry his feet, from whose paths they had so often digressed. Her Diligence waited on him, not lesle when he was interred, than when he was alive. For though Joseph and Nicodemus had already bestowed an hundred pounds of Myrrh and Aloes for his embalming, yet she prepared her Spices, and provided her Ointments too. Not that she undervalved what they had done, but because Love persuaded she was to do all herself. Upon guests that his doleful Coarse was surprised by others, how did her resolute fervour exceed her Sex? She woos and strives to win the supposed Gardener, with Titles of Honour, SIR, LORD, if you have taken him hence, tell me where he is; Ego illum tollam, I will bear him away. Timorous Joseph of Arimathea, came secretly to Pilate for fear of the Jews, and begged his body: But she endued with Judiths spirit, cannot be daunted with difficulties, nor appalled with impossibilities. She thought her Love the complearest harness, the surest shield, and therefore she begs not help, but maugre all their Opposition, Ego tollam, I will bear him away. By this second Property, we may remember, that the value of Christian Love, is to be tried by the same Touchstone as holy Mary's was, not by words, but by obedience. Joh. 14.23. If any love me, saith Christ, he will keep my Commandments. The Jews called him King, and bowed their knees before him; but they defiled his Face with Spittle, and threshed his cheeks with blows. And what are they but degenerate, not freeborn Christians, who call Christ Lord, and bow their knees before him, yet crucify him, and trample his blood under their feet, by adhering to their impieties? What is this, but with Judas, to kiss him, and betray him? We make his Sceptre a Reed, when we yield him no sway over our Affections, when his just Commands are more questioned than obeyed. The last Property of Love, Philip. 4. is Bountifulness; Love, saith the Apostle, is bountiful: This caused our Convert not to come niggardly, and . She would not visit her Lord without a Present, without a Pledge of her homage and better meaning. The largeness of her heart honoured him with the best she had, and bestowed a sumptuous Ointment on the Lords Anointed. An Ointment so precious, that Judas, the Bearer of the Purse, repined with a quanto melius? how much better had this been sold for three hundred pence, and the price thereof employed to the necessities of the poor? Yet her modesty rated it not so high, as that she durst pour it on his sacred Head: she esteemed it but good enough to anoint his hallowed feet. It is true, that in nothing, Job 22. as Job saith, can a man be profitable to the Almighty: and so the richeses of the Spikenard could not add any sweetness to him, who is nothing but sweetness itself; yet he graciously accepts her little Mite, as a lively Symbol of her greater thankfulness, and entertains her small Box of Ointment, as a recompense for that saving Oil, which He, the good Samaritan, infused into her soul. This last Property of Christian Love, discovers the Hypocrisy of those who would be religious without Charges. They are like the Figtree in the Gospel, which had fair Leaves, but not so much as one Fig to give to Christ in his hunger; having the show of Godliness, but denying the Power; talking of a flourishing Church, and yet endeavouring to deprive the Church of her ancient Patrimony; devouring Tithes, because they will not have the Lords Ministers meddle with that themselves Nickname Worldliness: A Patron scarce passing away a thin Parsonage, without a Reservation of his own Tithes. Some of these may be seen garnishing their private Dwellings, and yet contented that God's House lie naked, and more vile than some of their meanest Offices; and all for fear of bringing in their own Chimaera of supposed Idolatry, when indeed their Covetousness, as 'tis 3 Coloss. and their stubbornness, 1 Sam. 15. are the main mischievous Idolatry. Apol. cap. 39 But what saith the ancient Father, Tertullian? Pietas est pro pietate sumptus facere: True Christianity thinks it cannot be at too much cost with God. For he is more delighted with Abel, sacrificing the best; than with Cain, serving him with the worst: with Aaron, in a decent Vestment; than with a Novelist, standing before him in a slovenly Coat. The outward respects of reverence, are still accounted Pledges and Arguments of our Piety and inward Devotion, that with Mary Magdalene we love him much; which is the degree of her Affection in this Adverb much, for she loved much. She did not love moderately or remissly, that were a plain sign of too much undervaluing and neglect; she loved earnestly and extremely. Other Objects may, God cannot have excess of Love. Tell me what pitch of Affection doth the Natural Man reserve for his Mammon, for his Herodias; the same, in a far exceeding intention, did she confer upon her Saviour. How could she love him too much, who, in regard of the beams of his Grace, which he vouchsafed to cast upon her, deserved the best, yea, all, and a Thousand times more than all? The precept is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength; which Saint Austen expounds of Supereminent and overflowing Love, that if any other thing offers itself to be loved of us, it should be carried along, and made to run together with us, to the Love of God. Springs and Brooks run back into the Main; and so the lest Rivulet of Affection, aught not to be drained any other way than to him, of whom, and from whom, are all things. It's an ungrateful ground, that like an unbottomed Gulf, swallows and returns not; whereas a clean, and well-planted Soil, renders much fruit for the many showers did fall upon it. Gracious Mary had her heart refreshed and watered plentifully, and so her thankful soul proved fruitful in good works, and brought forth a delightful harvest, for she loved MUCH. I need not insist upon this Point: Her several Actions before expressed, do abundantly testify the eminent measure of her Affection. You might see it in her Spices which she brought to Christ alive, and at his grave. Neither was the Period there; her thankful and obedient heart followed him even beyond death. The Legend quotes Egesippus and Josephus Testimonies, how after his Ascension from the Mount of Olives, she sequestered herself from all the world, and led a solitary life in the Wilderness; where, if their account be right, she sighed away full thirty years in mourning for his absence. We read, that the East-gate in Ezekials Temple, was ever shut, Ezek. 44.2. because God went once through it: so her heart was shut to all Objects whatsoever, and left open only to retain her all-sufficient Redeemer. The steel of the Mariner's Card, when it is once touched with the LOADSTONE, is reported ever after to bend, and look towards the North. And so she, having her soul touched with the sanctifying Spirit of God, had her Cogitations only directed to him. For the measure of Loving God, is to Love him, saith devout Bernard, De diligen. Deo. without measure, (i e.) with all possible perfection that a Creature can attain unto: Nothing can fill the print of the Wax, but the Seal that made it; nor any thing satisfy the Soul, but he who first created it. Hence is that of Saint Austen, Domine fecistinos ad Te; Lord, thou hast made us for thyself, Et irrequietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in Te; and our heart is unquiet, till it rests in thyself. Faith and Hope shall cease, and like shadows fly away; but Love mounts to Heaven; and the greater it hath been here, the higher in degree it shall be there; the wider entrance, and happier entertainment it shall find with the Society of the Saints and Angels, with the Beatifical Vision and Fruition of the undivided Trinity. Now blessed be the Lord, that leaves us not so deeply engaged, but hath taught our poverty a short and ready way how to satisfy so infinite a Creditor. It is not rich and sumptuous Presents, nor any worldly advantage, which he considers, that so our outward wants may not dishearten our often endeavours in the discharge of our Duty. He expects our tribute at home, and within us; the service of our thanks being to be presented by no other Present than Love. So that we may as well deny ourselves, as to be wanting in the performance of our love to him, who is the God of Love, the Father, the Son, the Holy-Ghost; whose Grace, Love and Communion, be with you always. Amen. Gal. 5. v. 24. They that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. SERM. 4. IT aught not to seem strange, that a Preacher of the Gospel, being an Embassdor of Peace, should come as a Herald, to denounce War: it was so from the beginning: The very God of Peace proclaimed War betwixt the seed of the Woman, and the seed of the Serpent; The Substantial Word of God, professed he came into the world to make division betwixt the Father and Son, the Mother and the Daughter. And the Apostle in the Text, sets every man at variance with himself, to make division betwixt the Flesh and Spirit. This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Duel, or Conflict in our own Breasts, is good, and Christian indeed. For when we turn the greatness of our courage to the subduing of our inward Corruptions, we make a holy peace with God, and bring ourselves within the Line of Communication with his Saints. They which are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the corruptions and lusts. In which Proposition, we may consider how the persons are qualified, and who by a more peculiar appropriation, are stamped with the Character of those which are Christ's. Secondly, The religious duty wherein they are exercised, shadowed in the Metaphor of crucifying; and here's their evidence and assurance, they have crucified. Thirdly, The Subject, or matter of this crucifying, and that's the whole body of sin, both in the outward and inward man. They have crucified the flesh; there the outward man is disciplined, his sensual Delights and Pleasures being castigated, and fastened to Christ's Cross. They have crucified the affections and lusts; there the inward man is rectified; the rebellious stubbornness of the will, the exorbitant thoughts of the mind, the extravagant desires and motions of the heart, being regulated, and brought in obedience to the Law of the Gospel. We are to begin with the pruning of the luxuriant flesh. They that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh. 'Tis too evident: 2 Pet. 3.6. Saint Peter hath rightly observed, That some wrested his brother Paul's doctrine to their own damnation: for because 'tis said in the first verse of this Chapter, Christ hath made us FREE, and we are not under the Law, verse 18. the Antinomians, Libertines, and others, catechise the pure Saints of their lewd Sect, that they may break the Law without sinning; in regard being not under the Law, they are not guilty of aberration from it, and so not of sin: But the Apostle checks those presumptuous enemies of sound Doctrine, making it clear, vers. 13. that the liberty he cried up, doth not intent licence; nor his walking freely in the Spirit, make way to wander loosely in the flesh. The satisfaction of Christ, frees from the tyrannical yoke and curse of the Law; from the rigid performance of Circumcision, and other Bondages of the Law, 1 and 2 verses; but it voids not Obligation of personal obedience to the Law, as 'tis a rule of life, in the 13 and 14 verses. The end of our Redemption is not looseness in practice, but a happy service: we gain an easier Master, no licentious disorder; yea, rather by the Gospel of Christ, our burden is increased, a greater task is added. For whereas the Law says, Thou shalt not commit adultery, the Gospel says, Mat. 5.28. Thou shalt not look, nor think lasciviously. And indeed, all the sacrifices, all the sacraments, all the purge of the Law, did but represent the new Covenant of Christ, the crucifying of ourselves, and our cleansing through his blood. The shell of Ceremony we have thrown away, but the kernel of Moral and Christian Duty couched under it, we still retain. We cast of the body of sin, which defiled the body of flesh; and instead of cutting away the foreskin of that member which execures the act of lust, we prune the heart, See Coloss. 2.18. where rotten desires are conceived; or, as in my Text, we crucify the flesh, (i e.) we mortify the fleshliness of the flesh, with the Affections and Lusts. To this purpose, and in this sense, God's Elect are said to derive their Race and descent from Christ. They which are Christ's, are the same Spirit with him, 1 Cor. 6. and so are engaged to proceed in a professed hostility with the flesh, without Truce or Cessation. For the Spirit is in such a direct Opposition to the Flesh, Rom. 8.13. that 'tis written, If ye walk after the flesh, ye shall dye: and therefore Judas concludes, that the fleshly have not the Spirit, vers. 19 They which are Christ's, are dead to sin; how than can such walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the way of sinners? Again, They which are Christ's, are adopted and regenerated, engrafted and rooted in him. Now what a perverse Consideration were it, to imagine the end of these improvements, and super-endowments to be, that this seed, that this offspring of God, should spread forth, & be pampered with the Delicacies of the flesh, since the putting on of Christ is an inhibition to make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof? Rom. 13.14. which verse is a good comment on this my Text. It doth not absolutely forbidden to make provision, but so as to fulfil its lusts. And thus the Apostle's crucifying the flesh here, intends not the destruction of the body, but the ruin of those corruptions which have entrenched and encompassed in the soul. For flesh is not taken in this place for Caro carnis, for that which is the Substance of the flesh. Indeed, there were Heretics called Patriciani, who held Man's flesh was not made of God, but of the Devil; which caused some to dispatch themselves, to cast of the flesh. But we know the flesh, in itself, like all the works of God's hand, was good and perfect; Christ himself hath assumed it. But by flesh, the Apostle means Caro peccati, the body of sin, the depraved will of the flesh, the general corruption of nature, which hath so scattered its poison through the soul, that the powers, which should command, are turned to obey their Servants. Notwithstanding this manifest truth, there was an ancient Heresy, which being grounded upon the literal and violent sense of our Saviour's Counsel, that if the eye or hand offend, would have, without a Metaphysical knife, Mat. 18.9. or mystical abstraction, the one really to be cut of, and the other pulled out: whereas the right meaning of those words, intimates nothing but the death of sin in those parts, without the ruin of the parts themselves. It is the usual practice in progress of War, to destroy the pertinacious refractory Inhabitants, but to spare the Country; as Israel must not let the Canaanites live, yet they may live themselves in their cities. Wherhfore I cannot think any man so imperfect, whose natural Logic teacheth him not to abstract the sin from the subject, and discreetly to distinguish between the soundness of the member, and the putrefaction. Be it our study to root out, and utterly banish these inordinate qualities of the flesh, so that we maintain the substance; and in purging malignant humours, do not rashly violate the life of nature, wherein we shall show ourselves like wise Householders, that pull not out the teeth of their cursed MASTIFFS, but break them; as unwilling to loose that which is useful, where the inconvenience alone, may safely be removed. It is a Position born with us, That no man hates his own flesh; which Religion seeks not to take away, but to reform. It was God's own ordinance, that we should glorify Him in our BODIES: which injunction would be impossible, if by unnatural and too cursed usage, we should humble them to the grave. For saith David, Psal. 6.5. In death no man remembers thee: and who will give thee thanks in the pit? Let than the Body have its due respect, but still with relation to the soul's health; since otherwise, excess of affection is not Love, but dotage; and the feasting of the body, the famine of the soul. For though the Devil himself be all spiritual wickedness, yet he hath not a more officious Engine to catch our souls, than the wantonness of the flesh. The flesh is his access, to work the admittance of his suggestions: So that the world, and the usurping god of this world, could do nothing, or very little, unless they ploughed with our own Heifer, and suborned our flesh against us. The nineteenth verse of this Chapter, gins with a large Catalogue of the works of the flesh; I cannot run over each particular, I will touch the principal, which I conceive to be gluttony and drunkenness. The one was the first sin which appeared before the Flood; the other, the first after the Flood. Lot, who was newly delivered from the flames of incestuous Sodom, through distemper of a contrary element, fell into incest. Noah, who had lately escaped the deluge of the whole world, was drowned in a Cup, when the Vine, which his hand planted, supplanted the Husbandman, and exposed him to the mockage of his wicked Sons. The Assyrian Monarch, 1 Kin. 20.16, 20. Benhadad, who was guarded by a Troop of Kings, and thought to have taken all his Enemies alive, was suddenly defeated, and surprised, when Wine had given him the first overthrow. For that which is taken into the Body, enters not in vain, but is conquered, or conquers: if it conquers, than the meat feeds on the Eater, the drink swallows the Drinker: To him the Props of life become the Instruments of death. And here I cannot but observe how drunkenness, of all other Vices, most takes the Devil's part; for whereas God gave this Pledge, that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpent's HEAD; this sin, as it were in a natural revenge, strikes at the head of Man. You may see the malice of it; it wounds the head, and trips up the heels. And now since such decays, ruins and vengeance be the wages of fleshly excess, methinks I hear a voice from the Spirit, cry, Crucify, crucify the flesh. The better to understand the Congruity of the Metaphor, let's examine the Analogy betwixt mortifying the flesh, and crucifying it. First, the Cross is a most cruel and accurate torment. A torment, which being seated in the hands and feet, parts most sensible of pain, by the multitude of nerves there united, makes the anguish also more eminent. Such should be the death of sin in us all, a death without mercy or remorse; A death as zealously executed, as willingly deserved: For if our transgressions would plunge us in the depth of destruction, all pity shown to them, is cruelty to our own Souls. Save these Traitors from the Gibbet, and instead of acknowledgement, they will be the first Enemies that wound us. Impiety knows not how to be grateful, nor will it ever enter into a wicked heart, to repay the debt of thanks. Saul lost both his life and honour, 1 Sam. 15. in sparing Agag, a man appointed to dye: And can we expect a better reward for the flattery of our sins? If they first nailed our Saviour to the Cross, themselves have taught us our duties how to entertain them; And how's that? as Esther served Haman, by hanging them on their own Gallows. It cannot but argue us no friends of Christ, who are in peace with his Enemies, which so often as we fond pamper, we endeavour to renew the bitterness of his passion, and put him to a second shame. As there's no true friendship among the wicked; so to live friendly with wickedness, is not love, but conspiracy. A strange conspiracy, wherein man is lost by his own treachery; and by mis-applying his kindness, laid open to endless injuries. To produce sin than, is dangerous; not to murder it when 'tis born, is deadly. The simple Commission, may be a work of infirmity; but not to chastise it severely, is wilfully to maintain it. The second Congruity between mortifying and crucifying, is this: The Cross was a lingering punishment, which depriving the Malefactors of breath by degrees, made them feel distinctly the decay of life, and number the express minutes of their passions, like so many Sands stealing away from their Hourglass. Is not this the very course, and ordinary state of mortification, wherein sin expires not with one breath, nor is the benefit of sanctification heaped on us all together? Sin is not so weak an Inmate, as to be thrust out of doors with ease; it both crept into us, and will departed with leisure. The Moon decreaseth not all in one night, neither doth the swiftest Ebb post away in an instant. All Fruits have some days to whither in, before there can be a season to fall. In like manner, man's limited nature is not capable of such vast and unruly strides, as suddenly to mount from the bottom to the top, from corruption to grace. What though God by his Omnipotency can in the strictest point of time, as easily cast out seven Devils as one? yet it pleaseth him in these actions, to descend to the weak ability of his Instruments, and to perform what they can, not what he is able to do. Let's not howsoever be discomforted with the tediousness of this fight. A slow victory, is better than an eternal Servitude; and our liberty will appear far more grateful, by how much it was purchased at a dearer rate. The last Similitude betwixt our mortification and crucifying, is, That as in crucifying no part escaped suffering, so we must suffer no sin to escape crucifying. God, who freely remits our offences, and without exception cancels the general debt, will not accept a lame and imperfect repentance. That all transgressions may be forgiven, all must be crucified. For how can we serve God with a whole heart, when one Closet is reserved for a bosome-sin, when God is put to part stakes with the Devil in us; one eye being cast up to Heaven, and the other slyly glancing on a viler Object? I have heightened this meditation to the utmost in the general; I shall now apply it more particularly to those, who are Christ's appropriated FLOCK. For the adopted Sons of God in all points, as far as they may, aught to resemble the natural Son, and tread the same path which he hath scored out. As Christ therefore suffered the death of the Cross for sin, so must they crucify sin, and dye to it. Was the Cross a lingering, painful, and torturing death? Let it not seem grievous to us, with striving and struggling, with Gall and Vinegar, with pricking and piercing, and with other tortures of tedious Combat, to subdue our Affections, and part by part to crucify the body of Sin. Were his Temples torn with a Crown of Thorns? Let it not seem harsh to set ourselves against the thorns of the flesh, which goad our sides. Were his hands and feet so fast nailed to the Tree, that they were stopped and disabled from use and motion? It must be the care of those which are Christ's, to restrain their hands from Oppression, their feet from bloodshed, their tongues from falsehood, their throats from excess, their eyes from adultery, and all their members from the motions of unrighteousness. Our Saviour endured the pangs of the Cross, till the close of death; It is likewise our part, never to cease from curbing rebellious affections, till they be quite dead, till the Serpent hath no strength to move his Tayl. For they who find comfort in Christ, rest not in a bore believing Christ was crucified for them, but do truly feel that they are crucified with him, the motions of sin working not so strongly in their members, to bring forth fruit unto death, Rom. 7.5. Than we are truly Christ's, most dear allied to him, when we resemble his Virtues, when our actions speak us to be his. He will be read as well in our manners, as in our names; if we can gladly wear his Livery, we must not be slack to perform his Service. True Catholic Religion, is not a Doctrine of ease; it teacheth that no corrective Discipline can be great enough to prevent the out-breaking of Nature's Corruption. Indeed, the Penance we put the body to, is overhasty, and it lasts not long. Our Tears, if any, dry straight; our Prayers, if many, are quickly thought tedious; our Fasts, but loosely kept; our Chastisements, too slight to master our sturdy and obstinate Inclinations. But there have been Worthies, who have not spared to use all the means of humiliation, which a Creature is piously capable of. I keep under my body, saith Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 9.27. so our English renders it; but 'tis more powerfully significant in the Original, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Apostles word imports, I BEATEN down my body, as it were with Blows and Clubs; to note his strictness in keeping under the obstinacy of natural Corruptions. Some have become like Bottles in the Smoke, Psal. 119. watered their couch with their Tears, grown stiff in their knees, by praying and fasting. I have read of others, who steeped their Bread in Lie, that they might eat Ashes with the Prophet. Christian Charity believed this Vexation of body and spirit, was used as a means to advance them in their way to God: They thus macerated and wore out themselves with a strict austerity, that by weakening the Body, they might strengthen the soul. If the Romanists severity to their own flesh, assiduousness at their Orisons, frequent inflictions of Penance, joined with a Submissive readiness to renounce their Errors upon clearer Illumination, were true effects and Fruits of a well-guided Zeal for displeasing their Redeemer, and not practised in a colour, pretence, and advantage of Religion; these so qualified Castigations of themselves, may be, for any thing I yet know to the contrary, acceptable in the sight of God; in regard no exactness, no purity, not contending to perfection, can be too much pursued in true Religion. They who are singled out for Christ's pure Service, aught to be men separated from the world, though within the world; not dwelling on the Earth, but passing through it; so estranged from covetousness, that they scarce use necessaries; so far from lust, that they feel no flesh; so free from contentions, that they are not engaged by desires; so set on their journey's end, that they scarce carry the eye of passengers, or cast a glance to any delightful prospect. To such, if any such there be, the world is crucified, and they to the world; sin hath no lively operation in them, no dominion over them. And so I proceed from the outward to the inward man; from the crucifying of the flesh, to the mortifying of the affections: They which are Christ's, have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. First than, all unbridled passions are to be subdued to the yoke of Christ: for by their over-eager Excursions, men are so discomposed, that they discern nothing clearly, do nothing orderly, but become utterly unfit for holy actions. See'st thou a man wanton in joy? As Aesop's Crow lost his Morsel when he endeavoured to sing; so through secure jollity, he suddenly loseth that, which maketh him rejoice. Is any other cast down with immoderate grief? he not only quells the spirit, which should work a remedy, but doubles his loss, by throwing himself after it. Some are so transported with anger, as if they took part with their Adversary to vex themselves; so impetuous in their hatred, that they avoid the good for the evil, by hating the person for the vice. Again, many had never been hurt, if they had not feared; and others had been welcome to their desires, had not rash boldness cast them on needless dangers. But may not the desires, intentions and thoughts be free? Not: The Law of the Gospel takes hold of them too, as well as of our deeds. These Cockatrices are to be killed in the very egg, before they increase, either in age or danger. The Desire, the Plot, the Thought, of any iniquity, is as odious to God, as if it were actually done. For 'tis done in his eye, when 'tis but thought. Christ looks not so much at the Accessary, as the Principal; to the evil action, as to the mischievous intention. To a Sovereign, the intent of Treason is as mortal as the Act; and so the malicious thought of a deliberate Slaughter, which is the Mother, is to the All-Holy, murder too, as well as that act of Slaughter, which is the Daughter. Our Saviour is so taken with the inward part, the affection of the heart, that he judgeth both of good and evil actions according as that is well or ill affected. Let the outward Conversation be what it will, yet if a man regard iniquity in his heart, he will not hear him. For gravius est diligere peccatum quam facere; it's a worse token of an evil man, to love sin, than to commit it; because Commission may be out of a violent temptation, and straying infirmity; and so not so much the sin of ourselves, as of those remainders of sin, which devil within us. But our Love is all our own; Satan can but offer a temptation, the heart itself must love it. As than God in mercy accounts the good will for the deed, in regard where there is a willing mind, there will certainly be all answerable endeavours to execute that will, and to reduce it to act: so he esteems the deed nothing without the william. Public shows of Religion, by coming orderly to Church; outward postures and services of the body in the Temple, are not otherwise pleasing to the Searcher of hearts, than as they serve to express the inward Devotion and Elevation of the soul. For men may haply come to Church, and there device how to undermine it; serve God, and rob him at once. And therefore the worship which stands in the appearance of a bore outside, in stead of honouring God, doth much derogate from his honour, as giving him the eye of an Idol, unable to see; or at most the eye of a Creature, which can reach not further than the Superficies, or Skin of an action, without discerning the heart. It had need than be part of our Petition as well as David's, Cleanse us, Lord, from our secret faults, and wash, as well our hearts from carnal affections, as our flesh from evil actions. We confess, O God, to our own shame and confusion, that our back-slidings be many, our iniquities do testify against us; yet Thou, who art the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble; show not thyself, we beseech thee, a stranger in the Land where thou delightest to devil; but do away our transgressions for thy Names sake: and that we may not transfer this Christian duty of mortification from ourselves wholly to others, grant, that by thy saving Grace, we may be enabled to crucify and subdue our own pride, envy, malice, and covetousness; to endeavour in all sincerity, our own particular Reformation; and from the ground of our hearts, utterly to abandon each beloved sin, that so thou mayst own us for thine, and we may make our daily approaches to thee, as to a gracious God, and most merciful Father, in and through Jesus Christ, our only Advocate and Redeemer. Amen. Coloss. 1. vers. 20. And (having made peace by the blood of his Cross) by him to reconcile to himself, by him, I say, whether things in Heaven or Earth. THE high Excellency of Christ, SERM. 5. imposeth silence, and makes adoration our safest Eloquence; which caused me in my passage on the former verse, not to dive into the depth of his fullness, jest my weakness might seem to bring up the lighter things of the Schools, and let the weighty sink. My walk was but near the shore, my approach did but touch the confines. The matter was divided only into two parts; fullness of union, and fullness of unction: yet it might justly seem a work of no mercy, no use to us, were those prerogatives sealed only for himself; had we no share in them, any one might say, as the Tribes to Rehoboam, What portion have we in David? 1 Kin. 12. we have no inheritance, no part in him. And therefore for the assurance of our faith, the Apostle soars higher, and contemplates the richeses of the Father's mercy in the face of the Son, as it shines and reflects upon us. To what end hath the Father given all things into the hand of Christ? Why is he thus replenished with all Treasures? Is it that he might keep and hoard it up for himself? Not: All his goodness hath relation to our profit; All power is put into the hands of the Son of God, that he might dispense it the better for the sons of men. It pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness devil, that he might be able, saith the Text, to reconcile us unto the Father, and all things to himself, both things in Heaven, and things on Earth, by the blood of his Cross. In which words, you may observe the act, one in substance, though various in the phrase; to set at peace, to reconcile: The Person to whom reconciliation is made, to himself: The Object, All things in general: The distinction of their particular places, Things in Heaven and on Earth: The material, or meritorious cause, by him, Christ, the second Person: The Means, by blood; and therein the difference; it is not every sprinkling, nor every effusion of blood, but by his blood shed on the Cross. I begin with the first part, as it lies couched in this Proposition: It pleased the Father, by him, or by Christ his Son, to pacify, or reconcile to himself all things. God is so well pleased with this Act of reconciling, that though the disobedience of our first Parents made him to come as a Judge, Gen. 2. & 3. pronouncing condemnation, You shall dye the death; yet as a Father, willing to re-establish them, he repeals the Sentence, and breaths again into their dead Trunks, that breath of life, The seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents Head. So unnatural it is to him to destroy his own Workmanship, that he prepares the plaster before we have the wound, our recovery before our fall; the dispossessing them of the earthly Paradise, estated them in the heavenly. The one served as a Nursery, not that they might grow there still, but that from thence they might be transplanted to the other above, where they shall abide for ever. And the better to secure us of our Restauration, it pleased the Almighty to show the experiment in his own Person, by knitting and marrying in love, two natures most unequal, the Divine and the Human. For as in the beginning he took clay to created us, so afterwards he assumed flesh made of clay, to reconcile us. The Wax receives not the impression before applied to the seal, not more could the weakness of our flesh reassume the characters of God, did not God honour and embrace this weakness of our flesh. He which raiseth another fallen, must stoop himself to do the courtesy. Man was fallen, and without recovery, had not God bowed the heavens and come down; had he not poured out himself, that all might partake of his fullness. Neither Moses, nor the old World, sent us relief: the Man which fell betwixt Jericho and Jerusalem, might have bled to death, for all the Priest and the Levite: nothing but despair, until the good Samaritan came. So was it with the World until Christ came, all looked another way. The Prophets looked over it, the Law through it; the eye of the Prophets was fixed on the remedy, but applied it not. The hand of Moses was too rough for the wound; the Oil he poured in, was but Vinegar at the best: the Law may show us the way, but lend no strength to walk in it: He alone that is the true Light, can guide us; He who is the Way itself, can lead us; He that is the very Door, can give us a lawful entrance into our eternal Canaan. For though God hath given power to his Ministers, by applying the means, and by way of message, to pronounce our Salvation, nevertheless the full and absolute authority remains in his own hands; and who shall wrist it from him? To grant a temporal, is an inseparable Jurisdiction of Princes; to assure us of everlasting pardon, is a privilege due to none but to the King of kings. Their weak remission releaseth from the guilt in this life; but where the Lord vouchsafes to show mercy, the iniquity is quite done away, the debt canceled for ever. Wherhfore to prevent all encroachment, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by him, I say, by him to reconcile, is doubled, and repeated. For He, which is the sole Maker of the Law, admits no Partner in freeing the Transgressor of the Law. Neither is any Creature capable of that glorious prerogative, which so nearly concerns the Divine Majesty. Indeed, the first Adam could take God from us; only the second Adam can restore God to us. The holy Man, 2 King. 4. being to perform that great task, first sent his Servant and his Staff to work the cure; but there was not the lest spark of heat before Elisha himself came: before he stretched all parts upon the Child, his mouth to his mouth, his eyes to his eyes, his feet to his feet; there was neither voice nor hearing to be discerned. The sad mishap of this Child, is the general fate of all us, Children of wrath, all dead and rotten in our sins, Slaves to sin, and Enemies to God; who notwithstanding sent his Servants, the Patriarches, the Prophets, and his own Law to school us; but we were lost, and would not be found. The Exhortations and Precepts, though charmed never so wisely, were too weak to free us from that spiritual Bondage, and to restore us to our primitive integrity: Neither breath in our Nostrils, nor thanksgiving in our mouths, until Christ came, who not only applied himself to us, his arms to our arms, his body to our body, his feet to our feet; but took on him our nature, and clothed himself with our flesh, that so by his Incarnation, he might take from us what to offer to God for us in his Passion. So that to pacify and reconcile, is the special work of the Son of God. See with what compassion he speaks to Jerusalem; Luk. 13. Jerusalem, and O Jerusalem; I would gather, and how often would I gather thee; gather thee as a Hen, and as a Hen her Chickens, her Chickens under her Wings. The Devil disperseth, Christ gathers; Christ gathers as a Hen, Satan disperseth as a Lion; Christ under his Wings, the Devil within his Jaws. We are all by nature disjoined from God, with the Prodigal, wand'ring from our Father's House, and scattered like sheep in the Valleys of death. Christ calls us, and draws us home; removes that which did separate, and abolisheth the enmity betwixt God and us. Zacharias was stricken dumb, when our Saviour was to be born, Luk. 1. in token that the Law was to be silent when the Gospel of Reconciliation was to be preached. As the Woman's Accusers brought her to Christ, and afterwards dropped away, leaving none but them two alone; Joh. 8. (Remansit magna misericordia, & magna miseria) saith Saint Austin, There remained no Body but Misery and Mercy together; so when the Law had frighted us with the Rod of Terror, it at last brings us to Christ, the Prince of Peace; and there we found God pacified, and the Delinquents reconciled. It's well noted, Quòd amat medium Mediator Dei & hominum: The middle Person in the Trinity, the Mediator 'twixt God and Man, loves always the middle part, that he may the better aid and help all parts. When he was born, he was in medio jumentorum, in the midst of the beasts: When he was twelve years old, he was in medio Doctorum, in the midst of the Doctors: When he taught, he stood in medio discipulorum, in the midst of his Disciples: When he died, he was in medio Latronum, in the midst of the Thiefs: Now he is in Heaven, he is in medio Angelorum, in the midst of his Angels; And yet also in medio Christianorum, in the midst of us Christians gathered together in Unity. Mat. 18.20. For wheresoever two or three are gathered in my Name, there am I in the midst of them. In the Morning of the World, he was not so familiar with his people; safety and danger were than on equal terms; there was power to stand, but no stay to recover the foot that was once falling. Deliverance was afar of, and the promised Messiah either not apprehended, or at lest beheld through Types and Shadows; weak Objects to raise them to an assurance of faith, or make them hope for redress, when the disease seemed to outvie the Remedy. But when God made himself acquainted with our infirmities, he than shown himself the great Physician of our souls, and by a fellow-feeling of some weaknesses, freely delivered us from all. Happy were those that than needed a Physician; the sick were in better case than they which were sound: For to them, even to the weak, to them which were without, and to the lost, was he sent, to be a Reconciler. Come than, and see how gracious the Lord is, that breaks not the crooked Plant, but streightens it for a better use, and so frames us in a new Mould, that whereas before we tremble at the partial examination of our own Conscience, we may appear before his Tribunal with boldness. For by our Reconciliation, we become Saints; whereas by our Creation, we are made Men: as if the pardon of sin were a light matter, unless the Sinner were improved with it. In regard this boon of Reconciliation is of such an excellent nature, venerable Bede accounts more honour doth redound to God, Restauratione Hominum, quàm creatione Angelorum, by restoring of man that fell, than by Creation of the Angels: Yea, the Conversion of a Sinner, 12ae q. 11. art. 9 saith the Schoolman, is a more glorious work than the Creation of the World; because the one is transient, the other permanent. Labour than to be in the number of true Converts; for if we come near to God, not being by him reconciled to him, we shall come as soft Wax to the scorching flame, and as stubble to the devouring fire. For every sin, as it is a transgression, is against the Majesty of God himself; and so our Reconciliation is to be made by him, I say, by him, to himself. He is the Centre, to which all hearts move: the mind is still fluctuating, unsettled; no true tranquillity, no peace, until we be reconciled to him. As in a Circle, the more the Lines drawn from the Circumference come near the Centre, the more they unite; the further they go from the Centre, in which they are united, the more they run out one from the other: So when we run forth from our Father, into our own Exorbitances, than we are one disjoined from the other; but when we keep to Christ, the nearer we come to him, the more we all unite. For it pleased the Father, by him to reconcile all things, both of things in Heaven, and things on earth: wherein the Object, with the particular places for our Reconcilement, is expressly mentioned. As God is most good, so his goodness most diffusive, whose plenteous redemption descends like the morning-dew, not to be shut up in a narrow family, not more than those fattening drops can be confined within a certain Region. Hence the Evangelist, Joh. 1.9. calls Christ The Light, which enlightens not a few, but many; nor many, but all, even every one which comes into the world. And yet according to the various Disposition of the World, the Light doth variously enlighten the World. We see Light pass through Glass and Crystal, and yet 'tis withstood by the Earth, which is lesle solid, lesle hard, because the base vile Earth may not admit those pure beams of Light: So neither can Jesus Christ, the Supernatural, Divine Light, enter into the soul which is not washed and cleared by repenting Tears, and by the fire of the Spirit cleansed from the sordid Scurf and Corruption of the flesh, which as earth adheres to the Soul. Let us than draw near to him in grace, and so we shall draw near to him in Glory. He will be with us in his protection on earth, and in felicity in heaven. Who sees not how the Apostle knew not any member belonging to Christ's Reconciliation, but either in Heaven or on Earth? For the building of the material Temple, the stones were either hewing or polishing in the Mountain, 1 Kin. 5. or transported and laid in the Temple. So it is with us, who are made ready like lively stones, for the Celestial Jerusalem; either we are squaring and fitting here, or else by glorious Conjunction, laid on Christ the Cornerstone in the Heavenly places. Epist. ad Macar. Saint Austin once said it, and the Church accounts it Orthodox, When the time is fulfilled, the Combat ended, the race run, Quisque id habebit, quod in hac conquisivit, every one shall have that which he hath gained in this life. Hic vita aut amittitur, Ad Demetriad. aut tenetur, cries Cyprian; Here if we miss, we miss for ever. Bernard scoffs at some misbelievers, Qui expectant salutem in medio Gehennae, In Cantic. Serm 51. quae facta est in medio terrae; which wait for Salvation amidst hellish receptacles, which was wrought in the midst of this Terrestrial Globe. And therefore 'twas a fond Charity in Origen, to imagine the wicked Angels should at last be savingly purified. For they fell without a Tempter, and so shall not receive the benefit of a Redeemer. Neither Devil without, nor flesh at home to seduce them; whereas man's Innocence was stolen from him, and his overthrow occasioned by another's treason. Yet as the reprobate Angels are in such a misery, that they cannot be recalled; so the Holy Angels are in that perfection of happiness, as they cannot fall: and if so, the Office of a Reconciler may seem fruitless to both; He cannot help the one, nor better the other. It's true, the blessed Angels need no Reconciler in regard of Redemption from sin; for by the power of their Nature, wherein they were created, they are able to execute whatsoever it be, in which it shall please God to prove their obedience. Yet their peace was not perfect, until they were made sure of perseverance, which was only by Christ. They had not that grace by Creation: for the fall of some of them, shows that by their own nature their will was mutable; and therefore saith St. Bernard, Qui crexit hominem lapsum, dedit Angelo stanti●è caderet; In Cant. Serm. 22. the same Jesus, which raised up man, when he was fallen, confirmed the blessed Angels that now they cannot fall. They have gained than by Christ a more perfect adhering to God; by Him they are confirmed in goodness, and freed from defection. The text saith they are reconciled by Christ, in that they are made friends with us on earth, with whom before they were at open enmity. For seeing they have Idem velle & Idem nolle with the Almighty, their will always concurring with his will, they cannot choose but love those, on whom their Lord and Master shall cast a gracious eye. Yea their love in this kind is so excessive, that they will refuse no Office, be it never so mean, for them who are translated out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of light. They will become their Nurses, and carry them in their hands, Psal. 91. They will be their guard, and pitch their Tents about them, Psal. 24. So that of their protection we be sure; but of their number, whether one, or more, it's questioned by more than one. Jacob, Gen. 32. saw a whole Host of Angels environing him. The like did Elisha's servant about the Prophet, 2 King. 6. Yet in the 10 of Daniel, the whole Kingdom of Persia had but one Angel-Guardian, Daniel 10. The ancient Fathers were of opinion, that ordinarily one Angel is assigned to every one as his Custos, and Tutor; but in extraordinary exigents, whole hosts of Angels are made Assistants to them, whom he hath reconciled to himself by the blood of his Son's Cross. But seeing this mystery is unrevealed in the Scriptures, it shall content us, that He, who makes his Angel's Ministering Spirits, hath not only broke down the partition-wal betwixt heaven and earth, but hath given commission to those glorious Spirits, who are his own near favourites, to wait on us, and to keep us in all our ways. And so I am fallen on my last part, the Means whereby this reconciliation is wrought, the blood of his cross. It is in vain to dispute what God could have done; he was able by other means to save the world, for he might out of his absolute power not have punished sin; the demonstration of his revenging justice springing not from the necessity of God's Nature, but from his voluntary disposition. Yet when once he determined that his Justice should take revenge, if by breach of Covenant it be wronged, he could not set us free from punishment, but so as his injured justice might be satisfied. Hence it is that the Scripture so frequently affirms, It was meet and necessary that Christ should be consecrated through suffering; Luk. 24. Heb. 2. that He should suffer, and so enter into his glory. All the typical sacrifices prefigured this. The Passover must be killed, before Israel could be delivered; so Christ aught to be slain, before we be reconciled. The blood of the sin-offering (what beast soever it was) was to be poured out; so the blood of Christ, the true sin-offering, was to be shed; for without shedding of blood, no reconciliation, Heb. 9 Tract. de diligen. Deo Well therefore might Holy Bernard say, that our renovation cost God more than our first creation. Semel, & tantùm dicendo fecit; in Reficiendo fecit multa, & pertulit dura. In the first, He breathed life into the Face of MAN; in the Second, he breathed out his own life, to redeem that man. The world is said, Psal. 83. to be made by God's fingers; but the Redemption of man is said to be wrought by the Arm of God, as requiring more strength. He hath showed strength with his Arm, Luk. 1. saith the blessed virgin: God created the whole universe with his bore word; He spoke the word, and they were made: But our renovation spent many a word, many a deed, many a tear; yea, the heartblood of his only begotten Son. For though sin be soon acted, and with delight; yet 'tis long in cleansing, and full of pain. We may confess the truth there of in our own experience; we see it here in our blessed Saviour. There were not two days, nor (as some conceived) two hours wasted, in eating that Sugared Poison, which diffused its rancour throughout the whole outward and inward man, and brought a most fearful death on all our Members. Thus easily, thus speedily destroyed; but we could not be restored to life again without unconceivable torment, without Christ's Blood, and that gushing and streaming from every part of his Sacred Body. So that it may be truly said, Copiosa apud Eum Redemptio, our Redemption by Christ is plentiful, and made complete by the shedding his blood upon the cross even to death. Hereupon, because the cross was the Instrument of man's Redemption, the Altar of that great Sacrifice, and the Ladder by which Christ ascended into Heaven; the Primitive Church held it in high estimation, using the formal or transient sign on the forehead, as a badge of their profession; thereby testifying their faith, and manifesting to the Heathen that they were not ashamed of their crucified God. Upon this ground was erected in their public places, the permanent and material Cross, to serve for a Trophy and monument of the exaltation of Him that died for our Salvation on the Cross. Your very Ensigns, your flags and Colours in the camp, what are they but crosses wrought with Gold and Silk? we behold the sign of the Cross naturally form in a Ship, when she is born with swelling Sails, and rides with her Yards outstretched: when a man, spreading his arms, adores God with pure devotion, the sign of the cross is there also. So that on this sign natural Reason doth build, and Religion casts no neglect on it. Yet this caution is to be observed, that we attribute no Divine worship to the Cross, nor repose any hope of Salvation in the bore sign, but as Saint Ambrose says of Helen, We adore the King of Heaven, and not the wooden Cross. It should be our care to see that the cross of Christ be not made of no effect; for if he died thereon to break down the Partition-wal, and to slay hatred; shall enmity and discord live when he is dead? Shall he be Nailed, and shall not our vile affections be Nailed down with him? If God be slow to Anger, and swift to Mercy, you aught to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. We are members of one and the same Body, whereof Christ is the Head; we must therefore be so affected each to other, as we see the members are: They envy not one another, but communicate each with other; they are so far from retaliating, that if one foot strike the other, it will not strike again, but bear the infirmity with no lesle affection than before. Let us remember Him, who hath thus remembered us, as not to spare his own Blood to reconcile us. And seeing He alone is the way for us to walk, the truth to direct us, the life to refresh us; we must fly to him by Him, building our nests in the clefts of the Rock, in the wounds of his Body, that He may be an Antidote to us, who was wounded for us; that his Blood may not cry for vengeance, but for remission, and for reconciliation of all things to himself, both of things in Heaven, and things on Earth: Which God of his infinite mercy grant, through the same Jesus Christ. Amen. Luke 23. vers. 42. And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy Kingdom. SERM. VI MY text is part of a Tragedy; the Scene, mount Calvary; the Action, crucifying; the Words, reviling; the Applauses, Tears; the Catastrophe, or end of all, Jesus of Nazareth hanging on the Cross between two thiefs. One of them with a tongue set on fire from hell, belcheth out his blasphemy, If thou be Christ, the Son of God, sent from the Father to save mankind, than save thyself, and us. The other had his tongue and his heart, his outward and inward man, Baptised with the Holy Chost, and his own Blood; and therefore, as if he had been ravished into Paradise, and there bore a part in that Celestial harmony, (Thou art the King of Glory O Christ, thou art the everlasting Son of God) with Admiration of Soul, and in the language of the Saints, thus besought his Heavenly Majesty, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. In which Pithy and pious Ejaculation, may it please you first to take notice of this Petitioner, and than of his Petition. The Petitioner is brought in masked under the veil of an Indefinite Pronoune, Herald The person to whom he commenceth his suit, is directly expressed to be jesus: [He said to jesus.] In the Petition, you have his confession. First, he gives witness to Christ's Deity, in this Compellation, Lord. Secondly, He acknowledgeth Christ's regal Sovereignty, in attributing to him a Kingdom: and Lastly, he believes his own Souls glorious Immortality, in that he seeks to be remembered when Christ came into his Kingdom. I will begin with the Petitioner; And He said. I may not be so forgetful of your patience, and the time, as to waste any of it in making a busy enquiry, and as it were a Hue and Cry after this person: Let it suffice, my Evangelist tells you in general, he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Malefactor: St. Matthew and the other, style him more particularly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a thief, a common Robber, one that did often provoke heaven; and yet He said to Jesus, Lord, remember me. He was now but returned from his many outrages by the highway, and yet he dared to set afresh on him, who was the Highway itself. He had scarce wiped his mouth, or washed his hands from his late impieties; and yet here, by a new and strange kind of robbery, he is not afraid to steal Eternity. It may well be said, that Heaven is gotten by Violence, when thiefs break through, and steal it. I am much taken up with admiration, when I reflect upon the quality of this person: for what is more worthy of wonder and astonishment, than that a thief should have a better knowledge of Christ upon the Cross, than his disciple had when he sat with him at Supper? That a thief should have a more eminent degree of faith, than the Patriarch Abraham, the Father of the faithful, than Moses, than the Evangelical Prophet Esay, than his own Apostles, to whom it was given by the grace of Dispensation to know Christ, and the Mysteries of his Kingdom? Abraham believed in the Lord, Gen. 12.1. but it was when he was so much honoured as to have God himself to be his own Messenger, Gen. 3.4. and to parley with him from Heaven. Moses believed in the Lord; but it was when he appeared to him in the midst of a fiery bush wonderfully. The Apostles believed in the Lord; but they were eye-witnesses how his miracles posed nature, and that all the Creatures did homage to him as to their Creator. These were easy tasks of faith: But this Petitioner believed in the Lord, when which way soever he looked about him, his eyes could not meet with any thing but horror and misery. He doth not supplicate to jesus, sitting at the right hand of his Father; So he is crowned with Majesty: nor unto jesus judging the quick and the dead; So He is attended with Angels, and Archangels: but when he see his side, hands and feet all bleeding, his face ghastly; his head drooping, and his Soul heavy to the death, even than he said to Jesus, Lord, as if he had been lifted upon the Cross to overlook Christ's debasements, and to make a show openly that his faith should outvie his sense. Lorinus upon the first of the Acts, citys many who believed that this Malefactor, hanging on the right hand of our Saviour, had his body overshadowed with Christ's shadow, so that the virtue of this shadow procured his conversion. As if the feeble glimmering light, and weak beams which he saw, made him guests at the glory which is above. But this misconceit is wide, and empty of truth, a shadow without substance. For if Christ was crucified at the sixth hour, as Saint john relates, and from the sixth hour to the ninth there was darkness over all the Earth, and Christ died at the ninth hour; how could this sinner receive any shadow, when there appeared no light? 'Tis most true, this extraordinary confession was principally caused by the powerful operation of God's Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord shall come upon him, and he shall be turned into another man. It was spoken of Saul, who had a flash of the Spirit passing by him. 1 Sam. 10.6. Give me a man whom the Spirit of God throughly Sanctifies, he shall feel in himself strange alterations, his spirit renewed, his will reform, his whole Body and Soul transformed into the Image of Christ. Look upon the Apostles; Idiots, and become Learned; Ignorant, and speak with all tongues; Fugitives, and turn Martyrs; deny him, and persecute him, and yet gloriously dye for him. Wherhfore it becomes not us to pronounce condemnation upon any man; for whiles he So journes here, he is recoverable by future amendment. How know we whether God will temper him anew, and stamp him into goodness? A wasteful child may be called home, and unlive his misspent youth; the Daystar may arise in his heart, who now walks in darkness, the Devil's mask. Cinis fit vitrum; out of the dusky ashes may be made bright Glass; he that is a wild Olive to day, to morrow may be grafted into a better stock: Exod. 7. Aaron's Rod, though changed into a Serpent, was turned again into a Rod bearing blossoms and fruit. Our rash falls may prove profitable, and make us more safe from falling. God can take occasion to magnify his glory from our sins, as well as from our Innocence. I hope I shall not offend to say, If the putrified Sores of sin had not smelled rank in David's Nostrils, the Church had wanted many of his Psalms. Marry Magdalen had never loved so much, if her pardoned sins had not been so many. I trust there's none will so loose himself, as to imagine that I propound this Pattern to encourage vice. This were to make me a Factor for Satan, whose Chief bait is to entangle and beguile our Souls, by the train and flourish of example. He will suggest that Abraham was an Idolater, Paul a persecutor; Marry Magdalen a Courtesan; and Semel insanivimus omnes; the just man falls seven times a day, and yet he will rise again. For by this Sophism he backs the licentious Libertine, who little suspecting in so fair a semblance a treacherous Simon that should gull him, sings a Requiem to his Soul, the Devil bearing him in hand he may at his pleasure give the hand of parting to all those inordinate Superfluities of naughtiness, wherein he now embaths himself, and that at the last. Gasp, a Lord remember me will snatch at Christ, and make him his own. Thus being blinded with sensuality, while his soul cleaves to the midst of his mirth, his unwelcome end steals unlooked for; he's sucked into the gulf, and in a moment goes down into the pit. To prevent which destruction, Saint Bernard's rule is to be applied to our hearts, Infidelis est fiducia, quando in spe peccamus; it is not faith, but presumption, when we continued sinning with a conceit of impunity or pardon. The truth of this Converts humble acknowledgement, and hearty confession, must be evidenced, before we can partake of his joys in Christ's Kingdom. And so from the porch, or entrance of the Text, let's go in, and behold the beauty and glory therein contained. And He said to jesus, Lord. jesus is the name of his person, the name brought from Heaven, the name wherein He was promised, and so long expected on the earth, that the jews might hear, and their ears might tingle: Him, whom you have slain, and crucified, this jesus is the Lord. Now as jesus is the name of pity, and that wins us to love him; so Lord is the attribute of Majesty, and that moves us to fear him. First, jesus, and than Lord: for if we are not confident of his mercy, how shall we tremble to approach his glory? 'Tis true, what St. Austin saith, Coelum non esset coelum, nisi ibi Iesus esset; Heaven would be no heaven to us, had we not there a jesus: And 'tis as true, that jesus could not be a jesus, were he not Dominus, a Lord. For without the Godhead, the Manhood of Christ were not a sufficient foundation of faith: the Divinity doth support, enable, and deliver the humanity. So that Optimus and Maximus, Jesus and Dominus, Mercy and Truth, hath Kissed each other, and by a mighty hypostatical union, met in one person, The name of Lord is a name of power; and therefore when God said, Exo. 6. I will bring you into the Land which I swore I would give you; all the assurance which he made is, I am the Lord: Again, I will pass through Egypt the same night; still the fiat is, I am the Lord, Exo. 12. This occasioned Abulensis to put a kind of Divinity in the very name: non est significativum, sed operativum; it doth not barely signify, as other feeble expressions do; it hath as it were a Sovereign power engraven in it; it worketh, it effecteth: For by the name of the Lord, the very false Prophets were able to give sight to the blind, feet to the Lame, and to expel Devils. Peter in the depth of his distress cries, Save Lord, or else I perish: As if the name of the Lord had been the sweetness of his Soul, and the very health of his Bones. The general acclamation of the people is, Hosanna, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. So that Dominus, when 'tis put absolutely, is of the same extent with Deus. Upon this ground, the Septuagint doth ever tender the name jehovah by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Lord. And thus much some of the Heathen seemed to conceive. For as Domitian was the first Emperor that assumed this high and awful name Lord; so Suetonius observes, that he not sooner styled himself Dominus, but he called himself Deus too; Dominus Deus noster Domitianus, our Lord God Domitian. Indeed Tertullian in his book Adversus Hermogenem, curiously distinguisheth betwixt the name of God and Lord. The name of God, saith he, being Nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an absolute, essential Name, attributed to him in regard of his being, was always immanent in himself, before there was either time, or any creature. But the name Lord being Nomen potestatis, Nisi ex quo esse caeperunt in quo potestas domini agert. a name of power with relation to his creatures, could not be applied to him until he had actually produced those transitive and foreign works, wherein his power was to be exercised. Which assertion hath text for it; for if you look into Genesis, you shall find that Dominus, Lord, is not where set down before all the Works of Creation were particularly effected. Hence it is, Dixit Deus, God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Vidit Deus, God saw the light that it was good. Fecit Deus, God made the Great light to rule the Day, etc. But when the Creation was perfected, than, and not before, Dominus Deus dixit: The Lord God said: And the Lord God took the Man, whom he had made: And the Lord God commanded. But with submission to that Learned Father, I cannot well yield, that therefore Christ aught not to be styled Lord from all times, because the Creatures, in respect of whom this appellation Lord pertaineth to him, were made in time. For although those things whereof he is Lord, were not from all Eternity; yet he had the Right of Authority over them, even before the Foundation of the world was Laid; and he is Lord from all Eternity, even of all things; from whom, and by whom, other Lords have their being. But most pregnant it is for our purpose, that this Name Lord, whether it were given before all times, or in time, is a Name of infinite power, and transtendent Sovereignty; and therefore by it is deciphered Christ's Deity. He was no temporal Lord; where was his Dominion? Now was that Prophecy fulfilled, A worm and no man. He was trod upon by the recacitrating, contradicting jews; and yet retorted nothing, but Pater ignosce: Father, forgive them. Saint Paul shall end the controversy, who 1 Cor. 2. makes it a mark whereby all Christians are described, They are such as call on the Name of the Lord jesus Christ. In the 42 of Esay, the blessed Trinity seems to be jealous of this Name; I am the Lord (so runs the Proclamation) this is my Name, and I will not give it to any other. I confess that his Vicegerents, as he suffreth them to share with him in his highest title, so have they some resemblance of this Chief prerogative. For they also, out of the slime of the Earth, and from the dunghill, can raise an ignoble vapour, and place it in the highest region of power and Authority; and if their heat be stirred up against it, yea but a little, they can again dissolve it, and throw it down headlong, making the end worse than the beginning. But as they cannot make the basest thing in the world, so can they not annihilate, or nul the lest particle they find Created. And howsoever they seem to have power of life and death over their subjects; yet in as much as their hearts are in God's hand, and He ruleth them as seemeth best unto him, they can neither quicken whom God would have depressed, nor depress any, whom God would have raised up. So that we may truly say, and sing, Who is like to thee, O Lord? Glorious in thy Saints, admirable in thy Majesty, working wonders; among them all, there is none like to thee. But Christ's Deity is confessed not only by this compellation Lord, but partly by the nature of his request. And so I proceed from the circumstance of the person, to the Matter of his Petition, Remember me. What a sudden familiarity is here with God Spes bont et considentia plus valent quam medicina. I have read ('tis Galen's observation) that a good conceit, and strong confidence, ofttimes proves more Sovereign than the physic. And therefore they who writ of that renowned Macedonian Alexander, do more wonder, quòd ausus est aggredi, quàm quòd vicit; at his great attempts, than at his happy Conquests: Grant his courage, and you will yield him Victorious. So my thoughts are more amazed at the boldness of his Petition, than at its good success. Lord, remember me: What shall the Lord remember, if he remembreth thee? shall he remember how thy Soul is foul with rapine, yea bloody with murder? shall he remember how thou sold'st him to death by thy sins? These cry as high as heaven, and so must press thee as low as hell. Take a view of thy whole life, and thy guilty soul will cry out, Lord, let not the remembrance of me be revived, but rather, let me be folded up in the darkness of oblivion. For among other punishments of sin, this is not the lest; it makes God's presence terrible to us. Indeed Adam in the state of Innocence had such a Paradise, that he walked with God without fear, but being galled with sin, he runs up and down like a Hart with an arrow in his side. So Peter, Luke 5. cries out, Departed from me Lord, for I am a sinful man. The sight of his sins made him fear, jest if he should be so near Christ, he should awake him to revenge. But this Petitioner feels himself most miserable, and yet he will remit nothing of the height of his thoughts; he trusts God as omnipotent, and most merciful, and so lets him take the charge of the success; He holds his conclusion, in spite of all premises; and looks into heaven through hellish pains. Such is the nature of true Sons of Abraham, they consider not their own unworthiness so much as Christ's boundless mercies, which assure them he never so Shuts up his loving kindness in displeasure, but at any time they who hunger and thirst after remission, may find ease for their Souls. For our Lord and Saviour never destroys any thing he made, without a kind of pain and reluctancy; grieving as often as he is forced to procure grief to any. How often would he have gathered the obstinate jews, and covered them under his Wings! and when they would not come in, how did their disobedience compel him to scatter them? He is slow to anger, and swift to mercy: Fingens plasmata, antequam faciens vulnera, as Evagrius sweetly speaks; providing the remedy before he inflicts the wound. So that the petition is the same, which the Prophet makes, Psal. 23. Remember thy tender mercies, O Lord, and thy loving kindness; remember not the sins of my youth, but according to thy mercy remember me for thy goodness sake, O Lord. Saint Austin rightly catechiseth, In Dominum non cadit oblivie; such a slippery inconstancy as forgetfulness cannot be ascribed to God. Aquinas puts it Inter actus Deo inconvenientes, among those acts which are incompatible with a Deity. Yet as the just be had in his perpetual remembrance, so God is said, Psal. 10. to forget the wicked. But this forgetting is effectus Irae, non defectus memoriae; a note of punishing, not of his not remembering. The sum than is, Memento mei is all one with Nè excludas me. Let me not be condemned, O Lord, let me not wholly be excluded from thee: I have followed thee with thy Cross, let me follow thee with thy Palms: I have pledged the bitter potion of thy Cup, and drank of thy Vinegar and Gall; let thy mercy afford me some nem Wine with thee in thy Kingdom. And this is observable out of the very words: It is not Memento actionum mearum, but Memento Mei; he saith not, Remember my works, or regard my merits; but Remember my Person, remember Me. There's no condignity, or congruity of merit, answerable to that precedent sin, which is put back by our Judge, that it go not before us to Judgement; nor to that present grace he distils upon us, nor to any of that future glory which God hath treasured up in Christ for us: Dignatio est Christi, non dignitas Christiani; Eternal life is only the gift of that God, whom to know to be the only true God is eternal life. Doth the wall parturire radium, bring forth the light, which it reflects? Doth the Conduit-pipe created that water it conveys? Not more can man, who is a tottering wall, an empty cloud, challenge God for those graces, which flow from him to Mankind. Holy Bernard's saying is most orthodox: Sufficit ad meritum, scire non sufficere meritum; Our best Knowledge is to acknowledge our errors; and our fairest righteousness, to confess we are altogether foul and unrighteous. For there is not any thing in our actions, which can make us acceptable to God; 'tis only the acceptation of our Persons through jesus Christ. But where would this poor Soul be remembered? Not in this present life; he is weary of that, his thoughts soar higher: It is Cum veneris in regnum tuum, when thou comest into thy Kingdom. Had this faithful Confessor consulted with flesh and blood, he would have been judged to rave, in ascribing a kingdom to one so wretchedly crucified. He saw the skin of our Saviour Pearled with blood, his tottered Body black and blue with stripes and wounds: And are these Inducements to argue Christ a King? If a King, where's his Throne? where's his Sceptre? Is the Cross his Throne? are the nails his Sceptre? The brainsick jews, led only with things visible, could not discern how a Man of sorrow could set up a Kingdom of Glory, and therefore impudently deny Their Prophecies of Our Christ. But the veil is taken away from our eyes, the stumbling-blocke is removed; and 'tis the height of our Comfort, to confess it best becomes the Majesty of our Redeemer to manifest his power rather by weakness than strength, by baseness than glory. It more adorns his crown and dignity, to conquer his Foes by stripping himself of all worldly means, than by investing himself with imperial force. Had he come with more strength, the lesle had been his Victory; the more pomp he had exhibited, the lesle he had declared his Godhead. Yet they are not wanting, who publish abroad that the Apostles did not sin when they thought Christ's Kingdom should be temporal; So Salmeron affirms: Tom. 4. Tracd. 37. Lorin in 4. Act. Mendoz. in 1 K. c. 2. Franciscus and Alphonsus Mendoza are of opinion, that Christ had Dominion, and the prerogative of a temporal King, most truly and properly in each circumstance. But I conceive they diminish the Lords honour, in going about thus to increase it. For 'tis most certain, that the Kingdom of David and Solomon, from whom they derive our Saviour's pedigree, was utterly extinct and demolished in Jechoniah. Jer. 22. makes this clear: There shall not be a man of his seed, which shall sit on the Throne of David, or bear rule any more in judah. So that the actual exercise of this temporal Dominion, is not to be ascribed to him by the title of Succession, much lesle by that of Election. For in joh. 6. when they would have made him King, he withdrew himself, and fled into the mountain: The Jews were so far from giving their Vote and Suffrage, that they cried, We have no King but Caesar. Lest of all was he to claim it by force of Arms, or dint of Sword. His stile is Princips' pacis, the Prince of peace. And it was a presage of his Birth, that they should break their Swords into Mattocks, their Spears into Sythes; and himself denied his being king of this World. We acknowledge, regnavit Dominus, the Lord reigneth; at regnavit à ligno, but he reigned from the tree. The Lords Anointed, Christ, the Redeemer, is Ruler, but his Government is upon his Shoulders: His Sceptre is a Sceptre of righteousness, his Throne on the Earth is in the hearts and consciences of the faithful, who have union with him here, and by him shall have communion with the whole Trinity in Unity hereafter in the Heavenly Kingdom. I could live and die in contemplation of this kingdom above, wherein we shall see that we love, and love that we see; and love the more that we see. For the measure of the blessed shall be Full, heaped up, shaken together, and running over. Running over in God, shaken together in man. It's true, some Glory in this Kingdom is given excellenter, as the School speaks, more to one than to another; yet shall nothing be Singulariter, more in any one that it not in another One shall so have the gift of glory lesser than another, that he shall also have this gift, not to covet any more Glory. For what can be more, than to have all the good that we will, and to will nothing that is not good? Consider this, you that forget God, and remember your Redeemer: what though all of us be in this case of the thief on the Cross? Nos quidem just, we have deserved death, even everlasting death; yet having Christ, we may challenge all things, even heaven itself. For having given us his son, Rom. 8.32 how can he deny us any thing? So reasoneth the Apostle. Now that our souls may be saved by our Interest we have in Christ, let us continually remember his Doctrine, which forewarns us, that 'tis to no purpose though we say Lord, Lord, doubling, and trebling it too, Math. 7.21. if we be not diligent to do him true service, Pou. 23.26 whom we style Lord. My Son, give me thy heart, cries the Spirit by the mouth of Solomon: for in the hearts of men is the Throne of God's Kingdom; and except he reign in our hearts while we are in the Church Militant, we shall never reign with him in glory in the Church triumphant. The old saying cannot be too often repeated; The thief saved on the Cross, was one, that none should despair; and 'twas but one, that no Licentious liver should presume. Therefore O God, though we have rob thee of thy glory, yet remember to make thyself glorious in us, now thou art in thy Kingdom of Glory. The poor thief on the Cross craving thy remembrance when thou camest into thy Kingdom, obtained thy infallible promise of taking him with thee into thy Kingdom. Behold, now thou art in thy heavenly Kingdom, and we here on this earthly vale of misery; we beseech thee graciously to remember thy unworthy servants, and let our Souls in affection, and in our conversation, be now, and ever in heaven; that so when thou shalt translate us hence to thy celestial Mansions, with Angels, and all glorified Spirits, we may break out into those Songs of Joy, and voices of exultation: Glory, and Praise, and Honour, be to him that sits on the Throne, and to the Lamb, for evermore. Amen. Ephesians the 1. Beginning with the later part of the 19 verse. According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, in the Heavenly Places. SERM. VII. THe Act of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, is the precedent and exemplary cause of our reviving. An Exemplary cause, not as if we are raised to the similitude thereof; for Christ risen, but saw no corruption in the grave: Our Bodies, or, if you will, our Carcases, shall rise again; but the corruption of the flesh, the rottenness of the Bones, the dust and ashes, or rather nothing, whereinto we must be dissolved, is incident to us all. Christ's rising and ascending are exemplary, because ours hath its inchoation or beginning in His; nay it hath its perfection and consummation in him, before it be begun in us. For the Apostle in the second chapter of this Epistle, and vers. 6. is confident to affirm, that God hath already raised us up with him, and set us in the highest Heavenly places. So that even now we have a sure, though not a full possession of that glory, which hereafter shall be revealed. Against this principal hold of our belief, the cunning malice of Satan hath raised more perverse opposites than against all the rest of the building. And therefore jest flesh and blood meeting with so many difficulties and contrarieties, should sink into despair, and tremble to fight under the Lord's Banner, Saint Paul fastens upon the mighty power of God; and to make sure the point, betakes him to his Orisons, from the sixteenth verse, to this of my Text, to induce thereby a persuasion, that the Almighty works in those which believe, with the same force and efficacy as he did work in Christ: So that if we be not raised from the dead, Christ is not risen; and if we shall not be there where Christ sits at the right hand of his Father, 'tis not true that He sits, as it is expressed. For he risen not for himself, but for us; He ascended up on high, and led Captivity Captive, not for himself, but that he might be our High Priest, and make intercession for us in the Heavenly places. This is the sum and scope of the whole verse: but that I may speak not lesle fitly than truly, I restrain my Meditations to the later part, as to the Cardo or the Basis both of the time and Text. Wherein you have the Efficient cause, The mighty power of God: the declaration, or operation of this Power, in that it worketh: the subject, or person in whom it wrought, Christ. The manner of this working; and that's twofold, described by a double Act, and both miraculous; When he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand. In the first act, consider the estate from whence he was raised; From the dead: In the second act, his Supereminent exaltation; and set him at his own right Hand: and lastly, the place of this exaltation, in the Heavenly places. According to the mighty working of his power, etc. The verity of God's promise, and his ability in performance, are the principal Pillars which support and sustain a Christians confidence: So that not without just cause, after we have made confession in our Creed, that we believe in God, we add in the next place, that he is Almighty; for if this ground be once shaken, neither Earth, nor Heaven, nor Men, nor Angels, can yield us any hope, or life, or consolation. Our Preaching is in vain, your faith vain, you are yet in your sins, they which are asleep in Christ are perished. Wherhfore Abraham, to show his affiance in Gods mighty power, considered not his own body how it was dead, he regarded not the deadness of the womb of Sara: Nay, when the heavy mandate to sacrifice his only Son Isaac did seem to contradict the promise, that in Isaac's life all the Nations should be blessed; yet the Patriarch, under hope, did believe above hope, quia Fidelis est qui promisit, because Faithful is he that promised, Heb. 10. and not only so, sed quia potens est qui promisit, because He that promised is able to do it, Rom. 4. Holy David is so resolute, that though he walk in the midst of the shadow of death, he would fear no evil; Psal. 23.4. and why? because thou, even thou, who art Omnipotent, art with me. Hence is it that the glorious Martyrs of the Church regarded not the cruelty of Tyrants, the lancing of the Sword, the torture of the Rack, the scorching of the Fire, nor the loss of Life. They rest on the mighty Power of God, not fearing what man can do. Why did not the fire consume those three thrust into the fiery Oven? was it not hot enough, or did it not burn, when the very Flames did lick up the Tormentors which put them in? Why did the Sea so spy the Lord? why ran it back, as afraid, and became a wall to Israel, and yet ran together again to drown Pharaoh, and his whole Host? Why did not the Lions in their Den rather snatch Daniel before he came to ground, than lie still before him as Lambs, & not Lions? But this, that water may not wet, though it be a great Sea; fire may not burn, though it be a flamingfire; many Lions, many hungry Lions may not touch a silly man, when the all-commanding power of God requires a strict obedience. In Logical and natural things, Ratio facit fidem, Reason causeth us to assent and believe: but in Divine and Supernatural, Fides facit Rationem, faith commands our Reason. So that Credendum est, as Tertullian speaks, quia est incredibile; we must believe, because it seems to us incredible, and not to be believed: Ratio enim facti est Potentia Facientis; for in things of wonder, the reason of the work is the power of the Worker. In our contemplations of the blessed Trinity, the feeble brain of man apprehends it as an impossibility, that there should be a Plurality of persons, and yet no distinction of Essence; that there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. that the Father should be another Person from the Son, and the Son another person from the Father; and yet both so One, that they are the very Oneness and Unity of nature. But Saint Austin makes the Identity of substance an argument against Maximinus, an Arrian Bishop, to prove God to be Omnipotent: Otherwise, where is the Omnipotency of the Father, if he could not beget to himself such a Son as is Coëssential with him? So that the assurance of this mighty power, is the Fortress of God's truth. It is strange to sense, that a Virgin chaste should bring forth a Son; but not to be doubted, considering the working of God's mighty power. For He, which could make Aaron's Rod to bud, and Sara's womb to conceive, is able also to make a Virgin fruitful. The Schooses distingnish the Power of God into his absolute, and ordinary, or actual power. The absolute Power of God extends itself beyond his will, even to things infinite: For by it he could have made a stone on the ground, a Star in the Sky: a Reptil, or silly Worm of the Earth, a glorious Angel in the highest Heaven. But here, if ever any where, a Gnat may better swim, than an ox wade; a simple Ignorance being preferred before an indiscreet knowledge. For it were but a presumptuous folly to search the depth of those Secrets, which are reserved for the most High. The actual power of God is limited, being of the Latitude and extent with his william. By it he can do nothing but that which out of his most free purpose he determined, and did foresee He would do. I do not love to enter into these high and secret Mysteries: only for the comfort of our Souls, and confirmation of our faith, give me leave to observe In transitn, in the very passage to my Text, that the goodness and power of God is still manifested and discovered to us, as it wrought in Christ: ACCORDING to the working of his mighty Power, which he wrought IN CHRIST. The Name of Christ is not the Name of God: He is the Anointer, Christ the Anointed. Yea, the Name of God were a Name full of horror and terror unto us, were it not for the Name of Christ. Caelum non esset caelum, nisi ihi esset Christus Jesus. Heaven were not to us a heaven, had we not there an Anointed Saviour. For the benedictions of the Gospel are first directed and made to Christ; and than by consequent, to them who are in engrafted into Christ. He is the Angel of the Covenant, in whom all the promises are yea and Amen. Look upon the external or transient works, and you shall find them openly proclaim and pronounce God's Glory; but so, as they were done in Christ. The Heathen dreamt of so many Guides of Nature, as they saw there were kinds of things natural in the world. But to us there is one only worker of All in All, alone to be adored and honoured by all for ever. The Creator made the whole world, not with hands, but by the word: The Scripture herein is plain; All things were made BY HIM, both visible and invisible. And that we may know the heavenly Arch which is erected over our heads would quickly loosen and dissolve itself into a disordered and confused Chaos, Joh. 1.3. nay would be annihilated, and brought to nothing, did it not receive its stability from Christ; the Apostle, in Col. 1.17. is most emphatical, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, All things consist in Him: Portans omnia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, bearing up all things by his mighty Word. Heb. 1.3. Whereby 'tis clear, that the conservation of the world is for the sake of Christ. The whole Book of God puts us in mind how we had utterly disabled our Nature to fulfil that Law, which was delivered as an Instructor concerning the mystical way to Salvation; and therefore our Sovereign good, which we desired naturally, must now be attained supernaturally by Christ. When all the floodgates of God's indignation seemed to be set open against us, our affliction and calamity being as unsupportable as death; than it pleased his tender mercy to be led as a Sheep to the slaughter. Nay, He was the Paschal Lamb slain before the beginning of the World, in his Father's Secret decree; for his blood Prius profuit quam fuit, was effectual before it was actual. I should want both breath and time, if I went about to describe unto you how mightily God wrought in Christ's Doctrine. At the first it seemed absurd, and contemptible, the Professors being reputed the Off-scouring of the Earth; but at last, it forced their violent persecutors to become their humble Orators, and to request that of them, as an especial favour, which before themselves scorned to grant. Run over the Circle of Christ's life, and wind up the whole thread of it, you shall behold every where the Power of God as it wrought in Christ; sometimes in curing diseases, and anon in casting out whole Legions of Devils. To instance in one for all, Remember an Army of unvictualled people said and Satisfied in the Wilderness, with the Poor provision of five Loaves and two Fishes, Inter secantes dexteras crevit Ceres, as Prudentius elegantly sings. A strange, and new Creation! The bread and fishes increase and multiply in the hands of the Eaters; the Fragments and remainders proving greater than the Feast. All these things, which the power of God wrought in Christ, are glorious, and full of wonder: but that the Sepulchre should yield him up, and the clouds receive him; that his dead body should rise out of the lowest Grave, and ascend to the highest Heaven, is a miracle of miracles, at which the Angels stood amazed. And so I come to the two special Acts of God's power, as it follows in the Text, When he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places. Christ's Resurrection assures us of the fruit of his Ascension; it is the first degree of his exaltation: and therefore fix your thoughts a while upon his rising from the dead, it being the Praecursor, and Forerunner to his Session at God's right hand. It was altogether requisite that our Saviour should rise from the dead; for though our redemption was purchased by his death; yet unless he had rose again to apply it, no benefit had redounded to us; for all that, we might have perished. And indeed, we could never hope that any power was able to Mary again those Souls and Bodies, betwixt which nature had pronounced an everlasting Divorce, were it not that the Apostle hath made Christ our Head's rising an undoubted evidence that all his dead Members shall rise too. As in Adam all died, so in Christ all shall be made alive, 1 Cor. 15.22. The dead in Christ shall rise, 1 Thes. 4.10. To magnify the transcendent work of our Resurrection, the Apostles, when they were confirmed in this main Article of faith, and had seen how Christ had perfected the work of Redemption, did constitute a new Sabbath, quia minus est creâsse, quàm reparâsse mundum; because 'tis a lesle work to created a World out of nothing, than to renew a world when it is fallen into that which is worse than nothing. I confess, there is not a leaf in the whole book of nature, wherein he that listeth may not read sufficient motives to induce his assent to this truth: Cur enim de hominibus diffiditur, quod fieri in lignis videtur? For seeing 'tis yearly done in the grass of the field, in the Corn that is sown, in the seed of the trees, and wood which groweth; why should we distrust, or once doubt the like of men? Of all the signs and Types of Christ's Resurrection, that of Ionas is the most lively figure: Devoravit, possedit, ejecit; the Whale swallowed him, retained him, and cast him out again. So was the Son of Man in the heart of the Earth, and the third day he arose again. To silence all cavils concerning rising in the same Individual, numerical body, Christ's body in the Grave is kept free from all putrifying alterations; there was no need to recollect any dispersed matter; his body shifts not its shape into various and unsearchable changes, but the trusty Earth returns it again in the very same shape it was commended to her trust. And to satisfy all doubt, he is zealous to assure their eyes and hands: Behold my Hands and my Feet, Luk. 24.39 'tis I myself; Handle, and See; a Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have. This is it, which makes Saint Paul say, Rom. 14. He was DECLARED to be the Son of God, by the resurrection from the dead; So evidently declared, that there is not a Didymus, which knows it, but must cry out, My God, and my Lord. Neither is it any diminution of Christ's Glory, in that 'tis said the Power of God raised him; For God here is not to be taken Personally, but Essentially. Saint Austin's rule of the Trinity passeth for good and currant; Vbi unus, ibi Trinitas, Deus unus; where One is, All be. The Father doth all things, by the Son, in the Holy Ghost. The Son is not lesle Omnipotent than the Father: For though he hath both Essence and power from the Father; yet as his Essence is natural to him, in regard he hath it by generation; so is his Power natural also: and therefore Hilary's form of speech is, The Son doth all things, and is mighty, not of himself indeed, but by himself: Whatsoever the Father doth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very same the Son doth, Joh. 5. He had power to lay down his own life, so he had power to take it up again. This made him tell the jews, that though they destroyed the temple of his Body, yet in three days he would build it up again: And not long after, He raised it to such a height, that it did not only touch, but sit in the highest Heaven, even at the right hand of God, which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Supereminent degree of God's Power, which He wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set Him at his own right hand. To Sat, is a sign of tranquillity: the right hand, as it is a Name of dexterity, so it is of dignity. The right hand of God is a Name of Power and Majesty; the Heavenly Places, are the chief City of the great King of Glory. It is than a happy Resurrection so to be raised, a blessed Session so to be placed. Christ, while He So journed on the Earth, was still in motion; he had not whereon to rest his head; and was it not good reason, that having ended this troublesome Pilgrimage, he should now sit down, and have a Quietus est in his own home? The holy Spirit it is styled the Finger of God; Christ, the hand of God: And yet while he was conversant among Men, He disrobed himself of all honour, being esteemed an outcast of the people. But being raised in triumph, and having made his enemies his Footstool, he will now be Glorified with that Glory, which he had with his Father from the beginning of the World. He will now keep his residence in God's Presence Chamber, in the Heaven of blessed Angels and Spirits, to whom the Almighty reveals himself in the abundance of his Glory. I should ill husband's my time, and much trespass upon your patience, if I went about to prove how the right or left hand being parts, and that material, cannot properly be attributed to the pure and simple Essence of God: Sufficient it is for our purpose, that this sitting at the right hand of God, is construed in Heb. 1.3. by sitting at the right hand of the Throne of Majesty. In 1 Cor. 15. instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Apostle useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he must Reign. In Luk. 22. it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the right hand of Power. To go not further than my Text, so soon as 'tis said, And set him at the right hand of God in Heavenly places; he presently adjoins, by way of explication, Far above all Principalities, and Powers, and Might. This occasioned Aquinas to observe, that the sitting of Christ at the right of God, consisteth in three things: In his Eminency of heaven, whose glory he doth enjoy; in his Pre-eminence of the Angels, whom he excels in Dignity; and with his Coemenincy with the Father, with whom He is equal in Majesty. But whether this imperial power over the creature, this advancement to the Throne of God, this communication of the Divine attributes, be the right or claim of Christ as he is God, or as he is Man, or as he is both God and Man, the fury of controversy, wherewith the Text Laboureth, commands me now to inquire. Christ, as he was the Word, had Equality of Dominion with the Father from all eternity; but as he was the Word Incarnate, or manifested in the flesh, this prerogative of fitting at the right hand of God was a Consequent of his Ascension. It cannot be denied, being Hair of all things, it was meet he should be before all, who are but parts of his Inheritance; and seeing he was invested with the exuberance and excellency of endowments more than any other, it was requisite he should have the first place before all other: From the Instant of his conception, his Soul, as the School teacheth, enjoyed the blessed Vision; but while God was clothed with the veil of flesh, and compassed with the shadow of death, quievit Deitas, saith Irenaeus, the Deity lay hid, and would not discover its whole virtue; and so by a voluntary minoration, and exinanition of himself, he sequestered and laid aside his right of Precedency and Sovereignty. But so soon as He ascended, the Godhead openly dispersed its Beams, and shined clearly in the Manhood, exalting it above all things created, and dignifying it with as much Majesty and Honour as possibly it could contain. The Apostle goes further; for in 1 Tim. 3. he dares to tell us, that God is received up into glory. And indeed, to speak properly, Christ, as he was the Word, had his Omnipotent Power in himself: during the time of mortality, as it were a Sword in a sheath, he could not draw it out at the Commandment of the flesh, but than only when it pleased the Father. For we read, that in some places He could not do many miracles. Joh. 11. At the raising up of Lazarns, he was glad to pray to his Father that he might exercise his Authority over death. Being ready to suffer, and so also to rise again, his Prayer was, Father, glorify me with that Glory which I had with thee from the beginning of the world. Joh. 17.5. He prayed not this as bore Man; for he had not really that glory which he desired, from the beginning of the world, as he was Man; but as the natural Son of God. And he dispossessed himself of the same, not as he was Man, but as he was the Son, being in the Form of God. We may therefore safely reassume that saying of Saint Paul, 1 Tim. 3.16 God is received up in glory. For it was at his ascension that Christ, as he was the Son of God, had the Rule and authority over the creatures restored, though not bestowed. And it was at his ascension that Christ, as he was Man, had this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bestowed, though not restored; The Son by a voluntary dispensation, emptied himself, and relinquished his right in the time of his humiliation. The Father by a voluntary dispensation, resigned to the Son the actual execution of all power, upon this his ascension. The Lutherans will have Christ's placing at the right hand God, to be an elevating of his human nature to a true and real use of the Divine attributes; so that by virtue of this exaltation, the humanity is become Omniscient, and Omnipresent, not lesle properly than the Deity. This opinion, or rather blasphemy, makes in Christ not an Union, but a mixtion, and confusion. For the Rule is ancient, and orthodox; Where two natures are conjoined, those things which are proper to one, cannot really be communicated to another. Otherwise this Session would nullify the essential properties of Christ's Body, and so it should not be glorified, but abolished. It is true, the right hand of God is every where; but 'tis a Sophism to hold that which sits at the right hand to be every where. His Rule and Dominion is in every Place, but his presence in respect of his Manhood is not in every Place. For a Spiritual Substance hath a larger circuit, and is extended farther than a corporal. The Beams of the Sun are inseparably united with the Body of the Sun, and yet the Body is not wheresoever the Beams are: The whole Divine Nature of Christ is inseparably united to the human, and yet it is not consequent that where the one is, the other must needs be. For although the Total Deity be in the Humanity, yet it is not there, as I may say Totally, because it is wholly in the humanity, and wholly out of the humanity. So that the WORD is somewhere where the Flesh is not, and yet the Word is everywhere God and Man. We may see in a Circle all the lines equally drawn from the circumference to the Centre, but we know the centre is not wheresoever the Lines are; & yet we cannot conclude that the lines of the Circle are anywhere, whereas they are not in the centre. The truth is the same in the point in hand, though the manner be different. For Christ according to his Deity is really every where; but according to his humanity, He sits only at the right hand of God in the Heavenly Places; and wheresoever Christ is, there is He both God and Man. So that the ground of the Lutheran Error is their supposing a false effect of the Session and personal Union. For the Manhood of Christ exalted into Heaven, is not made equal with the Father, but advanced above the Creature. When King Solomon caused his Mother to sit at his right hand, did he give her an Equality in his Government? And yet we may religiously affirm, that the humanity of our Saviour now sitting at the right hand of God, in a sort, in some acception, reigns with equal power and Majesty with God; that it is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent, Non in Abstracto, sed in concreto; not formally, as it is in itself; but as it is in the Word, whereunto 'tis personally united; because through the hypostatical union, it can be not where severed from that nature, which in itself is infinite. And so Christ in his two natures is and works every where in a diserse manner, and by mixed actions: as God by essential presence; as man, by virtual co-operation with that which is essentially every where present. Hereupon we may in every place approach his Throne with boldness, the pity and compassion of his Manhood still closing with the strength and might of his Godhead. The distinction may be learned from Christ's own mouth in Matth. 8. All thing are given TOME; not to my humanity, but to Me. His Body than is not otherwise omnipotent, and omnipresent, than as it is in the WORD, which is truly omnipotent, and omnipresent really. The words of my Text give an overthrow to any contradicting Spirit: And set Him at his own right hand, in the Heavenly Places Certainly, these Places signify nothing but a place limited for the extent of it; so that 'tis a sufficient reason; His body is ascended, and sits at the right hand of God in the Heavenly places, therefore he is not corporally present here below. The Mansions of God's House are many; and this is employed in the plurality, Places: but what the joys of these Heavenly places are, or how the degrees are unequal, Profecto in me totum non intrabit, Aust. truly it will not wholly enter into us by knowledge that we may apprehended it; Sed ego in illud totus intrabo, but we shall wholly enter into it by fruition, that we may enjoy it. Wherhfore comfort ye, comfort ye, you which long for the coming of Christ; Eundem habituri estis judicem, & Advocatum; He shall judge you, that died, and risen again, and took possession of heaven for you. What if it be said, No man ascended into heaven, Eph. 4.10. but He that descended, the son of Man, which is in Heaven? shall we therefore despair? Not, but we will hope so much the more: Licet enim solus intrabit, for though He alone shall enter into heaven, at profecto Totus intrabit, yet he shall enter whole, and entire. Bern. A bone of him shall not be broken; Psal. 34.20 Joh. 19.36. we are Bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh; He is the Head, we the Members; the one is not found in the Kingdom without the other. For the body of Christ is not like to that hideous Image whose head was Gold, and feet Clay; Dan. 2.32, 33. our Glorious Head must also have glorified Members. And now me thinks I see our Saviour not riding upon the Wings of the wind, or making the clouds his chariot, but sitting on his Throne of Majesty, and advanced in the highest Heavenly places; and Satan, and sin, and death, trod under his Feet. And now behold how the whole Host of Heaven stoopeth, and doth homage to him, and every knee boweth before Him, Both of things in Heaven, and things in the Earth, and things under the Earth, and every Tongue confesseth that God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, hath worthily super-exalted him. Let every one than that hath any consolation in Christ Jesus, rejoice, and sing out thanks unto God, who hath given us Victory through Christ Jesus our Lord. For it is the Lamb that is worthy to receive Power, and Richeses, and Wisdom, and Honour, and Glory, and Praise, for ever and ever. AMEN. Matth. 9.20, 21, 22. And behold, a Woman which was diseased with an issue of Blood twelve years, came behind Him, and touched the hem of his Garment. For she said within herself, If I may but touch his Garment, I shall be made whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. SERM. VIII. CHRIST came into the world not for himself, but us; his Errand being not his own, but our advantage; which made the Evangelists to observe, that he kept no long residence any where, but coasted from place to place, to seek and save that which was lost. The chapter prefers a bill of his several Cures; this in the Text is remembered as eminent among the rest, and that's the reason 'tis ushered in with a note of attention and admiration, behold. The better to lodge the argument in your minds, give me leave to chalk out the whole, part by part, observing the infirmity of the Woman, and therein the qualy, a Bloody issue; the continuance thereof, which was of no lesle standing than Twelve years; the means she used as a rescue from the danger, expressed in a double act, She came behind him, and touched the hem of his Garment: The Motive, and that was a persuasion of Christ's Power to do her good; For she said within herself, If I may but touch the hem of his Garment, I shall be whole. Than follows the exceeding richeses of Christ's goodness; first, in his gesture, He turned him about to see her; than in his Words, partly cherishing her, and said, Daughter be of good comfort; partly commending her, thy faith hath made thee whole. So that we may consider here a weak Woman, a strong faith; a bashful means, a prosperous cure. To this end I would bring you likewise, and therefore I will try to lead you orderly in her steps, beginning with the notice of her person; Behold, a Woman. A Woman, first, and so more subject to shame, and fear: a diseased Woman; what makes she than abroad, in a throng too? Diseased with an unclean issue of Blood, Leu. 15. and therefore unfit by the Law of Moses to touch or be touched by any creature, under peril of uncleanness. How if some zealous jew should have known, and spied her there? Besides, her disease had stayed upon her twelve years; enough to denote to the censorious, a Divine Judgement on her, and God's dereliction of her. She had wearied all Physicians, She; and they were alike weary, for she had emptied her purse. What cure could she now hope for, Mar. 5.26. unless her desperate case had made her malicious to infect others? An Anchorites hole might seem fit than a public assembly. Soft, hold! This is every man's own case; for the Woman in Scripture usually represents the whole Church, the Spouse of Christ, whereof we are Members. Her womanish affections of shame, and fear, may justly be ours; for we also are diseased, and yet we venture abroad into the Toss of the world, and are still in a throng. The weak flesh is pressed with the world before, with necessities behind; with the Devil on that side, and the malice of men on the other: Diseased we are all with shameful uncleanness; our Blood runs out, by running the ways of perdition. If every man's disease were successively written in his Forehead, we might all in turn seem unworthy of company; the Pharisee himself with all his purity and holiness, not excepted. Thus we languish in Soul, not for twelve years only, but for most part of our life. The Physicians, which are the Divines, be they never so good, never so many, cannot cleanse us. Though we spend all our treasures, will and working, labour and wit, sense and reason, and whatsoever we can bring to submit to our Teachers and Reformers, for bettering our estate, we do but linger out, and cannot by such means attain to perfect health, not more than this weak Woman. In that the ground of this Woman's disease was her own blood, I observe, how sin breeds so great a disorder, that it raiseth a commotion in our very Principles, turning the blessing into a curse, the nutriment into the punishment. For what's more usual, than to see those, who give way to the fury and frenzy of their passions, to ruin their Bodies by their very strength? It being just with God to chain a man in his own fetters to entrap him in his own snare. So that it behoves us not to Riot and Frolic away our natural abilities; jest what is ordained for our safety, becomes an Instrument of our misery. Again, did the Prodigal flux continued venting twelve years? Learn, that 'tis the Lord's method to cloud his face towards us for a while, to withdraw things most desired, that our confidence may be approved, when we trust He can as well help without the means, as by them. The impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda, was departing thence eight and thirty years: It cost him many a deep sigh and salt tear, long looking, and as much longing, and yet not prevailing, till the appointed period was at hand. The Crooked Woman, Luk. 13. was doubled and bowed together by the Spirit of infirmity eighteen years (a tedious space to be detained in the throws of fear and doubt) but after long search, and much ado, Christ made her straight. It's plain in john 11. ver. 33. that our Saviour's compassionate Soul was touched with remorse for the Agonies of Lazarus; yet he estranged himself from him, and suspended his relief. He prepares not to visit him, till Misery itself spoke, and the loss was manifest. Joh. 11.17 Lazarus must be interred, before he be recovered; cast into a dead sleep, before he goes to wake him up, that so their unexpected contentment might be greater than their former complaint. Saint Austin will have all this to be done in a Mystery, to no other end, but that such, who have deadened all their faculties to spiritual Actions, should not despair, as if the Tree of Life was not to be recovered; but when Sin is waxed to the height, expect a Conversion, and not a Confusion. God ofttimes abides the extremity of evil; expects Ungodliness to the utmost; and than to magnify his Mercy, he hath Compassion. Complainest thou with that devout Father, of thy imbred inveterate Vices, against which thou hast often resolved, Modò, and modò, Now I will leave them, now I will utterly relinquish them; and yet they keep thee Prisoner still, pleading Prescription for their hold? For all this, give not thyself over, where thy Physician doth not; but know, that Christ came to cure, not only green Cuts, small Scars; but deep and inveterate Wounds, Diseases of eight, twelve, of as many years old as thy life can bear date. They mistake the good pleasure of God, who confine it to the narrow Circumstances of Time and Persons. With him all things are not only alike possible, but easy. He is able to refine pure Gold from base Metal, to sift out fair Wheat from course Bran; to make the Prodigal of Nature, a Miracle of Grace; the Child of wrath, the Son of God. He can work it out of the very Flint; Mat. 3.9. as well of stones raise Children to Abraham, as of Jews; and, though the Point be difficult, at the last gasp, take the prey out of the Lion's Mouth. I speak this, that no disconsolate Soul should go dropping, and hanging down the head with Spira the Italian, who, as it were, drew the Indentures, set the seal to his damnation; made his own Hell, through a treacherous persuasion: He was one among others, to whom God never intended a power to believe, nor a Christ to believe in. Our safest course is not to stand out by multiplying Rebellions, but upon remorse of Conscience instantly to come in. last: Is her case so near like ours? than let us consider it more tenderly. Alas, poor woman! Who is this, whom her genuine blood, her natural infirmity, and oginal sickness, hath brought to death's door streights of unclean languishment? Who is this so defiled with corruption, so tainted with secret sores, that Art could not cure her, nor the Law suffer her to pass for clean; yea, whom the Law prohibited from the Temple, from all sacred things, esteeming all things polluted which she touched? This is even the Church, stained with the first Man's Transgression, originally corrupted, wounded, and weltering in her own Blood. if we look nearly, we shall found her to be more especially the Church of the Gentiles: For in the same Gospel, under the person of of the Ruler's Daughter, the Church of the Jews is otherwise specified: To her cure Christ was travelling, who says, I am not sent but to the lost Sheep of the House of Israel, Mat. 15.24. But by the diseased woman, secluded from the rites of the Synagogue, is meaned the people of the Nations, not descended from the Patriarches, not sanctified by the Law, nor glorified in the Prophets. This part of Mandkind, striving to cure the corruption of Nature by human skill, did more increase it: for strictness of discipline did only draw forth the blood of the Offenders, but could not stop it. The Jews enjoyed the Saviour's corporal presence; the Nations only heard of his Fame passing by, and therefore came behind him, (that is) they followed him in aftertimes, by the tract of the year, being glad to touch his garment, to feel him in the Sacrament by the touch of Faith. The Ruler's Daughter, and under her the Synagogue, is said, verse 18. to have died; die she must to the Law, and perish according to Nature, that so she may be raised to life through Faith in Christ; though most of the Jews, even to this day, Mar. 3.35. will not believe it, saying, Trouble not the Master, for the Damsel is dead; they will not accept of Christ's coming, they have death in their Mouths, and refuse the hope of the Resurrection. But the unclean woman, and under her the Corporation of the Gentiles, creeps to receive the comfort of the Gospel, hopes for health by touching Christ's Garment, which is the Garment of Righteousness. Now, Men and Brethrens, since you know what this woman is, or rather, what yourselves are, take it for no shame this once to follow a woman. So, for your Example, I proceed from the weak person, to her strong Faith, evidenced in two Acts, Accessit, Tetigit, she came behind him, and tuched the hem of his Garment. She did well to come; for if we would have any thing with the Lord, it's all the reason that may be, that we come unto him; we have need of him, not he of us. But when was it that she came? that's expressed in the former verse, even than, when he was in the way to the Ruler's House. A time, one would think, not very congruous to facilitate a suit. Had she consulted with her carnal Counsellors, those friendly enemies would have wished her (forsooth) to be more mannerly than to press him while he was in the heat of other employments; for such an unseemly preposterousness was not like to compass any thing. But let them construe her meaning as they will, she will not intermit this opportunity. She had heard how our Saviour proclaimed openly, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will ease you; Mat. 11.28. and so feeling the burden of her own grief intolerable, she thought it would be deemed pride or neglect, not to come, being thus invited; rudeness, and not civility, not to do as she was bid. Neither height, nor depth, nor Principalities, nor Rulers, could separate her from the Lord of Health. She overlooks all dissiculties, and swims out of these intangling Weeds, to lay hold on Christ, though the Monster-headed multitude stood in the way, like so many Bears and Lions, to intercept her passage. This woman's forwardness in coming to Christ for her bodily health, checks our supine negligence in flying to him for our souls health. Away than with these nice Circumstances of worldly carriage, which abate the fervour of Zeal, and by unnecessary delays, withstand, if not ruin our Conversion. In things which must be done, it's good to be speedily rosolute; for having once neglected the first motions of Grace, and suffered them to dye issueless, we may wait long enough before the opportunity of a second call encourageth us. Over-shamefastness is an unprofitable Virtue in a Beggar, whose importunate demeanour may well be excused by his necessity, and his earnestness deserves rather pity than a check. All places are of alike access to God: in what place soever we come unto him, in bed, or up; in the field, or with this woman in the road, we shall be sure to have Audience. Yet, though she boldly entered, her courage was quickly dashed; for when she came in presence of him, whom she was to petition, her Conscience was touched with Modesty; and that Disease, which brought her thither for her help, made her likewise to fear her Helper, and to come behind him. Timorous Woman! What could there dismay thee? Thy Saviour, in shape a man, in the lowest Ebb of fortune, in company with Sinners; and yet, with a dejected Countenance, comest thou behind him? Dost thou tremble to behold God in the back of Man? The weakest sight fears not to gaze on the Sun's Glory through another body; yet so tender was the Eye of her Faith, that she durst not behold this Son of Righteousness to his Face, though the Lustre of his Godhead was than involved in the Cloud of our humanity. In this her posture, we may all behold the Cowardice of guilt, and of a stained Conscience: For sin is in the Soul, what the Disease is in the Body; shame and fear inseparately waits upon both. Adam had not sooner experience of evil, but became acquainted with fear: Gen. 3.10. I heard thy voice in the Garden, and was afraid: He runs behind. Who would not fear to sin, which makes us thus afraid? Magnum supplicium peccare, etsi non puniamur; sin itself is a dreadful sting. This pensive woman durst not come into the presence of Christ, for shame of her uncleanness; and the consideration of this her impurity, made her to eat the eyes of the people, fearing that they also would repel her; being by sentence of Law debarred from company. In this mournful grief, she placed herself behind him, hoping secretly to steal her health by a touch, and so be gone. We stand in a miserable and hard condition, I needs must say; for while natural infirmities eggs us on to sin, inbred shame keeps us of from Confession; what we fear not to do, we blush to speak; and yet perhaps have a great desire to be cured. This was the woman's case; she was troubled with a bashful Disease, and therefore desired to be cured in secret. The first happiness is, not to fall into the shame of sin; the next, is to find a covered remedy, according to that, Psalm 31. Blessed is the man, whose iniquity is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. Howsoever, to fly the Physician, whose virtue must cure us; to conceal the Malady from him, who at first sight cannot choose but know it, is unprofitable Modesty. Though we come with shame, yet come we must, and creep after this afflicted wretch, though it be behind him. Which posture of hers, shows she was quickened with a good measure of the Spirit, otherwise, how should she be persuaded Christ to be so holy and powerful, as to heal by the lowest means, that if behind him she came, so near as his hem, she should receive her health from him, or at lest from God working in him? No ground in Nature could 'cause this persuasion; the Rules of Physic prescribe either some inward receipt, or outward application, without which, no disease is curable; for what Physician can cure with a touch? No doubt though this woman could have proceeded not further than to the mere motion of Spirit (which Christ understood as well as the touch of his Garment) that alone without any corporal application, would have been effectual; for so the Faith of the Centurion, prevailed for his Servant, though absent, Mat. 8.13. As thou believest, so be it done unto thee: And the Faith of the Syrophenician, Mat 15.28. Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt: And the faith of the Noble man for his Son, John 4.50. who was cured on the self same hour. If thus the faith of one prevailed for another, the Master for the Servant, the Mother for the Daughter, the Father for the Son; much more might this woman's faith have been successful for herself. Approximation of Spirit, is stronger than that of the Body. Nevertheless, having gotten the opportunity (which is never to be neglected) she would satisfy the Spirit in the behalf of the body, with some bodily Medicine, though not powerful in itself, yet some way sacramental, able to convey health by the Mercy of Christ, though not to give it. For what was it she desired? merely the touch of his Garment: She said within herself, If I may but touch his Garment, I shall be whole. Well far a good heart yet: though she had little blood in her body, she had spirit in her heart still; after so much vain cost and labour, she was not so desperately gone, but that she could yet think of a Remedy. Think she could, but durst not speak out: Thought was loud enough in the Ears of God, from whom she expected cure; and therefore within herself she said: but if she spoke out one word of her infirmity in the ears of men, she feared a repulse and punishment from Jewish Rigour, where upon she said no further than within herself. Poor soul! how was she distracted in Mind? how was she driven by necessity, and divided in Thought? If the strength of Faith do best appear in opposing difficulties, behold, an unvanquished Faith, not broken by a Conflict of Thoughts, not crushed by a War of afflictions, though as violent as two contrary Winds wrestling in the Air, or two headlong Rivers justling in the Sea. Necessity of her danger drove her forward, shame of unworthiness kept her back; health she desired, but feared the censure of the Law; she saw a way to cleanse herself, but it lay through the pollution of others; she was confident of the Master's gentleness, but she doubted the Rigour of the standers by: she would receive the benefit of cure; but therewithal to cast an aspersion of uncleanness on the Giver, would be a grief. If she spoke her case, she proclaimed her unfitness; if she held her peace, she needs must suffer: if she stayed to deliberare, the swiftness of Christ's passion would cut of opportunity. Thus her bad cause fought with her faith, fear with hope, shame with desire, manners with necessity. How could she reconcile these contraries? how find a covert, in public? secrecy, in a multitude? speak, and hold her peace? how get health, and save her modesty? receive a benefit, and do no injury? touch, and not defile? In all this storm of perplexity, she fainted not, still she had somewhat to say, A woman for that; but yet, liek a wise woman, she said it within herself. In great extremities, the force of grief turns counsellor, necessity becomes a Doctress, and sickness finds a Remedy to itself. This Woman, by the working of Faith, thought on a way how to salve all; her life, her Modesty, the Master's Reverence, and the People's purity: and that was by shooting with white Powder, by speaking inaudibly, by whispering aloud unto God, both below and above the Ears of men; by saying within herself. Where she might not approach in body, thither she stole in heart; she came to the heavenly Physician, by a secret passage of Spirit, while with the open appearance of flesh, she kept aloof. Happy woman in this, who among the multitude, knew how to be alone with Christ, and found a passage, which none could stop! This was the woman's behaviour, and this must be ours in like necessity. When our fortunes are enclosed with calamity, when the body is beleaguered with sickness, or the soul with torment of sin; when we can gather no help, either from ourselves or Friends, from Doctors or Pastors, when sentence is death, and judgement is pronounced by all our miserable Comforters, and we are banished from the Church and all Assemblies; yet still there's a Temple in the heart, and a spark of Divinity there lodged, which finds access unto God. Say our Misery be so tyrannous, that we may not speak and vent our grief in words, (the common ease of those that be helpless) there is yet a tongue in the heart, which may grow hot with Communication; there's the Dialect of Spirits; the Language which hath best audience in Heaven, is there spoken. Suppose the heart itself be perplexed and troubled with doubt, we must yet believe against threatening, hope against hope, cast about again and again, never leave saying, and assaying within ourselves, till a glimpse of comfort shall appear like the breaking of daylight in fearful darkness. This weak woman's Faith was implicated with much doubting; yet Christ entertains her trembling confidence with such a gracious gesture, as he turned about, and seeing her, said, Daughter be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole: [hath made thee whole] Here's a full tide of matter ready to rush in, and overflow; and I cannot, without much perplexity to myself and you, make my passage through: I will therefore withdraw, and retire till a more useful season be administered. To the immortal, eternal, invisible, only wise God, Three in Persons, One in Essence, be all Honour and Glory, from Generation to Generation. Amen. Matth. 9.22. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole. SERM. IX. JEsus turning about, and seeing her, doth not infer she was undiscerned of him before; for neither distance of place, nor obscurity of the conveying Means, nor interposition of objects, could let our Saviour from looking on her. He, to whom all things are diaphanous, saw that soon, which was hid from him. His eye is all penetrable, à tergo & à front, as well behind as before. He perceived not according to the appearance of her face, but according to the disposition of her mind; he beheld what she did in the withdrawing room of her heart, her desire had as articulate a sound in his ear as her speech, and thence the Holy Ghost his Language is, ver. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, She said within herself, because he heard her heart outspeak her tongue. It is true, Christ demanded Mar. 5.30. who it was that touched him, yet the question was not made as if he were ignorant of her person, but that her confession might publish to others what himself fore-knew. He demanded that her faith might be confirmed her insidility removed which occasioned her to think she might be healed by stealth; our Saviour not knowing it. For those words in Lu. 8.47. When she saw she was not hid, implies she thought she might be hid; a trespass against his omniscience. Besides, the Quere was expedient, because thereby she might be brought to an open acknowledgement of the miracle, for the strengthening of the Ruler's faith, encouraging him to believe that Christ could cure his Daughter as well as this Woman. And that the benefit might be more diffusive, he changed his Posture, used an Interrogatory, cast his eye upon her, the better to commend her to the multitude, as an example of imitation: So that Grace went along with his look, for so soon as he beheld her he breathed consolation, and said, Daughter. It could not choose but be a singular comfort to this distressed woman, who, as the other Evangelists hath recorded, was now fallen down trembling at our Saviour's feet, to hear herself termed by the appellation of Daughter. For, as we are the children of God, we have claim to the Kingdom of Heaven, Christ himself becomes our Brother, He the child of God by nature, we by Adoption. Now what bond of love is so strict as that betwixt the Father and the Child? Mercy, and bounty are the Characters of a Father: And these are so transcendent in our heavenly Father, that the Prophet Esay, chap. 49. gives the prerogative to him. She might therefore secure herself of his bounty; For if they that be evil can give to their Children good gifts, How much more shall the Father, which is in Heaven give so to her his Daughter, Matth. 7.11? And than she needed not mistrust his mercy; For even as a Father pities his own children, so is the Lord merciful to his, Plas. 103. The proof whereof we may behold in this gracious speech, Be of good comfort. You may know the Lord by his Walk, it is in the Cool; and by his voice, it is in a soft wooing Idiom, Gen. 3.8. and subsequent verses. Those sons of thunder may be of Moses fiery train, they are not fit Disciples for the Messiah. The Lord stands not now on mount Sinai with burning fire, and dismal darkness, but on mount Zion, speaking to us, not by the terrible trumpet, but by the meek Mediator of the New Testament, alluring with mercy, and comfort, not affrighting with terror, and Judgements: It is the peculiar dignity of Christ's coming to Solace, and make glad the heart. If the law make the heart as Mount Sinai covered with darkness, his Gospel calms and lightens it presently. He did not shake, but settle the weak, unstable Ground of this Woman's faith. 'Tis not the part of a discreet Physician to administer corrasives to a feeble Patient, whose natural temper and vigour is not able to overcome so forcible a prescript: And he is no good Physician of Souls that comes in a whirlwind, and a tempest against a dejected Sinner. They likewise are too simple, who think, because they are Christians, they must affect a grim austere carriage or deportment, a demure composed countenance like an Image. What is a Christian but his Mirth? his joy in the Holy Ghost, with melody in his heart to the Lord? Wherein doth the Kingdom of heaven consist but in joy? Rejoice in the Lord, saith Saint Paul, and again I say rejoice, Philip. 4.4. Let the righteous be glad, and rejoice before God, Psal. 68.3. For the Father of consolation may justly withdraw his refreshing comforts from such as do not cheerfully rely on his gracious providence. And indeed the Holy Ghost, who is the Comforter, seldom rests on a lumpish Spirit. It seems the Prophet Elisha thus conceived it: for in 2 King. 3.15. he called for music to cheer his Spirits before he was fit to receive the Spirit of God. Let others than number life by the hours, I shall measure it by cheerfulness, as I would money, not by tale, but value. My Saviour is my Pattern, who exhilarated this pensive Woman, saying unto her, Be of good comfort, Thy faith hath made thee whole. Her faith is here evidently augmented by modesty and humility, as indeed it is always, the distance of the Patient, and the lowliness of the desired medicine attributes the greater power to him that should cure. You shall find great difference betwixt the faith of the Ruler, and of this poor Woman, because the one was led by his learning, the other by her virtue. The Ruler besought our Saviour for his Daughter openly to his Face, the Woman came secretly behind his back, as not worthy to appear before him. One prayed him to come and visit Luk. 8.41. as if God were not always, and every where present, but must change Places, and make journeys. The other thought it good manners to come herself: the one being learned in the law, prescribed a Legal form of cure, the Imposition of hands, Come and lay thy hands on her, vers. 18. as if man were necessarily to be cured, as he was first made, by God's handy Work. Nothing would serve him but the hand: The other trembled in touching his Garment, yea the hem of his Garment, the lowest inch, acknowledging his power to lie there as well as in his hands. Behind she came, not thinking to decline the eye of Christ, but the eye of man; for man useth to abhor all sores, but God loves to cleanse them. She could not hope to be cured in such a manner, unless she believed the Physician could see in secret, and hear in Silence. In God there is neither behind, nor below: the body of Manhood hath parts, the Godhead is purely simple, the same on every side, and eye all over; the power whereof is neither diminished in Manhood, nor degraded in the Skirt of the garment. Thus, after a modester way, she presented herself to the eye, which she seemed to decline: by the back she came to the face, by the outward garment to the breast within, by the garments him to the top of the head. Chrysolo. Manu vestimentum, fide Deum; the garment she touched with her hand, and God with her faith. I may be bold to aver, that by a modest belief in means so weak and remote she far outpassed not only the Ruler, but the Apostles themselves, who too much doted on bodily evidence. Thomas the Apostle would not believe Christ was risen, Joh. 20.25. unless he lay his hand on his side, and thrust his finger into the wound; as it were compelling his Saviour to suffer once more after his resurrection. But this meek Woman was satisfied with the lowest, and most outward token of cure, not considering the garment so much as the Wearer, contenting herself with the farthest Beam of an infinite Majesty, because it cannot faint by degrees, nor grow weak by distance, nor be defiled by her unclean touch. For if the Sun by fingering dung with his Beams can suffer no pollution, much lesle the Sun's Inlightner. And if our Physicians think it no disgrace to handle a sore, but an honour to cure it, surely the Heavenly Physician is strong of the same mind, because he came from Heaven not only to heal our bodily wounds, but to cure the sin of the Soul: Sin itself when it turns to a wound, that is, when it hangs upon us against our wills, and is not embraced, than it moves not his anger, but his pity; the sinner shall be punished, but he that is sore and sick of sin shall be cured. This made the Woman so confident as to draw near, and yet in the manner of her approach she did not forget her modesty; she came behind silently, touched his garment gently, and reverently, the hem of it right humbly; the lest sense of Grace, the lowest drachm of mercy, would suffice her. She came like a religious Thief, stealing favour, enriching herself without her Master's detriment, not choosing, but taking that which was next at hand, laying hold on no more than what she might carry away with the Owners leave, and assistance. The words in the Text afford no colour, not the lest touch that any part of Christ's garment could work miracles. First, it is not thy Touch, but thy Faith hath made thee whole. Euk, 8, 46. the Sovereign Power is attributed to his Person, not to the hem of his vestment; and therefore Christ there said, that virtue proceeded not out of his garment, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, out of one. Salmerons conceit is wide, that the God of Nature might give as well the virtue of healing to that coat of his, as to the Loadstone a natural efficacy of attracting Iron. For if it were as natural for Christ's Coat to heal, as for the Loadstone to attract, than the virtue should have shined, it should have been conspicuous not lesle at one time than another. It would have been inherent, inseparable from the garment: And so the Soldiers, which parted it, the people which trod on it, aught to receive some benefit as well as the Woman. But no powerful influence was derived to them; the Lords own words are partly interrogative, Who is it that touched me? Luk. 8. v. 45. And partly positive, Some one hath touched me, v. 46. which made the Disciples, as if they had been posed, to reply to him: Thou seest? the whole multitude throng thee, and yet askest thou who touched thee? Gregory the Great tells us, it is no Paradox in Divinity to say they thronged him, and yet they did not touch him. For many pressed him with their bodily presence, who never touched him with their hearts, because in their devotion they were merely absent from him: The hand of the Soul, and not of the body, apprehends and toucheth Christ for our good. It was not the fingering of his garment, but her faith which went along with her finger that touched him to make her whole. But admit she was healed by the touch of Christ's garment, the Rule of the School informs us, Privilegia personalia non trahuntur in exemplum, Personal privileges, are not to be patterns of imitation. And therefore, though it pleased our Saviour to use some external signs and rites in curing the infirm, yet we have no commission that we should do the like by touching of Relics. What if the dead man, which touched the bones of Elisha, was restored to life, 2 King. 13. and many were healed of their diseases, at the monuments of Martyrs, the Devil, as Saint Jerome tistifies, roaring and yelling in those hallowed places? Yet this was not done that any should put confidence in their relics, but it was the pleasure of the Almighty by these testimonies, which than were needful, to commend to us the Doctrine, and faith of his Servants. It was not because Elisha's bones had any power in them to revive the dead, but the Lord did raise from the dead him as touched those dead bones, to declare the Holiness of his Prophet. Neither is it a well weighed reason, because heretofore miracles were wrought at the Saints shrines, therefore now we should expect the same. Nascenti Ecclesiae data sunt, non constitutae; they were not dispensed to those which believed, but believed not. At the first planting of the Gospel; God wrought by the hands of Holy men to establish the authority, and to gain credit to the Gospel, than newly published, and not to accompany their Relics in these Sunshine days, the sound of the Gospel being already gone into the uttermost parts of the World. So that concerning miracles now much bragged of, I may say, as Saint Austin sometimes said of the miracles of the donatists, aut sunt figmenta mendacium hominum, aut portenta fallacium Spirituum; they are either the bold inventions of Juggling Impostors, or the vain delusions of infernal Spirits. For this particular of my Text we have it written, it was not the manual touching of his garment, but the spiritual touch by faith which made her whole; Thy faith hath made thee whole. Had our Saviour said, my Power hath made thee whole, he had magnified his own virtue, but not commended to her the means to make use of it. And therefore to show how he esteems of faith above all other graces, he empties himself to fill it with honour, saying, Thy Faith hath made thee whole. It is without all question, that the Power of Christ wrought the cure effectiuè, as the Prime Agent, yet hath faith concurred dispositiuè, the Patient was uncapable of her health without the performance of this condition by the work of the Holy Ghost in her. For though his saving power be ineffably great, yet he hath made an order modo ordinario, ordinarily it shall extend to none but such as are believers; the effect is known only in them; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is Saint Marks phrase, Mark. 6. v. 6. He could not do any powerful work in his own Country, in respect of their unbelief, that put the Obex, and made the dam. My intent is not to afflict your Ears with a long wound discourse concerning Faith: Let who will find leisure to wove a curious Spider's Web, in differing a former and a later Love in God; I desire not more leave than to tell you in a word, that I conceive Love in God to be one most simply, as himself is most simply One, Entire, and Radical in Christ, accounting it with Luther, on the Galathians, a horrible thing once to think on God, without Christ. As for those fruitless Contentions about Faith and Works, if moderate men had the steering of them, there would not be so much ado. This we safely say, Than only they are themselves, when they are together: For Works without Faith, make but a Pharisaical Hypocrite; and Faith without Works, styles thee a Carnal gospeler. I confess, their Functions be divers, yet they must devil both in one Soul, as Mary and Martha did in one House. It is fit, that every thing doth stand in its proper Charge and Office, yet must every thing need, in some respect, the Society of an other. A Queen, though in her State and Royalty she be alone, goes not without her Train, her Mayors of Honour. We may observe it in Nature: The Root sucks of the Ground, the Body receives of the Root, the Branch takes of the Body, and the Fruit shoots out of the Branch; These successively accompany, and go together: So Faith grounds upon Christ's Passion, that gives the Sap of Love, and Love blossoms forth in Works. In Faith than, be constant; in Love, fervent; in Works, diligent. By Faith in Christ, this feeble woman is cured in a minute, whom human Art could not recover in twelve long years. This Example shows, it is likely our own fault, or our own neglect, that we lie so long languishing under such tedious infirmities, when Faith, and obvious, or easy endeavour, can cure so quickly; For the Virtue of Christ, may now be touched as well in his Sacrament, as heretofore in his Garment: His Divinity is still as near, and his Appendices nearer. Christ is not wanting to us, but we to him, and ourselves. Do you wonder that the woman was cured by the touch of Christ's Garment? It might be so easily, for you may read, in the fifth of the Acts, vers. 15. that the sick were laid in the streets, to be cured by the very shadow of his Apostle Peter. See Mat. 17.20. To remove a Sin, or a disease by Faith, is nothing so hard, as to remove a Mountain. I shall not strain the Allegory, in applying it to an humble invasion of Mercy, when we lie sick under a like Flux of sin, for it fuits naturally. The Garment of Christ, is an Emblem of his Humanity, wherewith the Godhead is said to be clothed, and habited, Philip. the second; He was found in Habit as a Man: And this Habit of his Humanity, is the Conduit of his Mercy, because in the Flesh, he reconciled the World to himself: so that to touch his Garment, is to lay hold on his Mercy. So much God himself hath signified in the sixteenth of Ezekiel, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood: I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live: and, as it followeth, I spread my Skirt over thee. Than the hem of his Garment, signifies the precious Drops of our Redemption, which ran down like Aarous Ointment from his wounded Head, to the Skirts of his clothing: Or, if you will, it signifies the Dew of Grace descending from the top of Christ's Divinity, to the touch of his lowest Members on Earth. Wherhfore, from the touch of this Woman, you may gather these Lessons. A repairing to Christ for Mercy, though our sinful Sores, our bloody Fluxes, and frail Diseases, run upon us never so grievously: For the Son of Man came not to destroy, but to save sinners. Next, Humility in our approach, esteeming ourselves far unworthy to stand before him, who are so defiled in our own corrupt sight, and in the sight of equal sinners. The Crumbs of his Table, the Hem of his Garment, his Shooe-latchet, the lest of his Mercies, is too good for our Betters. Lastly, a submissive Confidence in those Conveyances of Mercy, which lie next before us, though they seem never so common, and despicable in human sight; such are the Elements of water and wine in the Sacraments, the foolishness of preaching the Gospel. Naaman, 2 Kings 5.10. must purge his Leprosy in Jordan, though the River of Damascus be as good: Joash, 2 Kings 13.11. must smite the Assyrian, by smiting the Ground, though the blow touch not the Enemy. Our Saviour was pleased to cure the blind with Clay and Spittle, though both seem hurtful to the sight. What should we look for Extraordinary Revelations from Heaven? are not these easy and simple Conduits of Grace, which convey so great benefit, sufficient Miracles? We must not consider the quality of the Elements and Organs, but the Virtue of him, whose Ordinance hath given them a Supernatural use, when rightly they are performed. Remember the Example of this woman, who desired only to touch his Garment, saying than, I shall be whole; and as she believed, so it came to pass; by Faith in CHRIST, she is cured in a trice. To conclude: When we feel Christ to be touched by us to the purpose, Let's come forth, and appear before men, that Glory may be given to the Author. For our Saviour's intent, by enquiring after her Person, (whom he needs must know, seeing he was not ignorant of the secret Fact) was this: To publish the work, and to set it forth for God's Honour, and the Spectators Instruction, that all might partake the benefit of the recovery, which one had gained. We therefore, who have gotten health to our souls by touching Christ with a lively Faith in his sacred Ordinances, do pour out our Hearts, and all that is within us, in giving thanks unto thy Name, O Thou most Highest. Thou hast made us glad through thy Works, and we will rejoice in giving Praise for the Operations of thy Hands; We will be telling of thy loving Kindness early in the Morning, and of thy Truth in the Night-season: We will declare thy Name to our Brethrens, and in the midst of the Congregation we will fall down and Worship thee, crying with a loud Voice, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb: Blessing and Glory, and Wisdom, and Thanksgiving, and Honour, and Power, be to our God for ever, and ever. Amen. Mat. 26. Last part of the last Verse. And he went out, and wept bitterly. SERM. X. PRAYERS and Tears have ever been accounted the Church-Weapons against all the Enemies of her Peace and Prosperity. We are here met this day, to celebrated it, as it aught to be, with Weeping, Mourning, Fasting, and Praying, that the Cry of our Supplications and Tears, may outcry that of our Sins, and derive a blessing to this Monthly Fast: To help so Religious a Work, I have chosen a Text, which (without affectation to use the Apostles words, Phil. 2.10.) holds forth a Lesson of Saint Peter's Contrition: it being my duty to tell you, how the Lord expects, that Peter's humiliation should be a Motive of our Reformation, which consists in being ashamed and confounded, that we should sin against so good a God. The case in brief, was this: The Apostle justly feared he had not only kindled the Fire of his Master's Wrath by denying him, but fuelled it too, by forswearing him; and therefore, that he might not fall into that Fire, which will hereafter prove unquenchable, he doth here quench it with his Tears; and jest the Lord should set his misdoings in order and battle array before his Face, he makes haste to prevent the thunder of his Anger, by punishing in himself the Offence he had committed; that so God, who was injured by him, might he righted on him; and this was the cause, HE WENT OUT, AND WEPT BITTERLY. Wherein we may observe the quality of the person formerly offending, Peter, an eminent Apostle; the manner of his Conversion, couched in these two Circumstances, went out, and wept: The going out argued, that he loathed the lewd Company of the sinful; his weeping, is an evidence that he abhorred his own sin. And here we have the order and process of his Renovation; First, he went out, and than wept. And secondly, so soon as he went out, he wept. In the last place, is set down the great Measure, and high degree of his sorrow, he wept bitterly. It is remarkable, that the infirmities of Peter, are more upon the file, than any of all the Apostles, as if his Lapses were left as Cautions, that none, in a puff of Pride, should soar aloft above others, in regard of priority. In his frailty, we all may behold, as in a Mirror, the plain image of our own imbecility. For if the Lion be vanquished, what shall become of the little Lamb? Green Wood will warp and shrink, if seasoned Timber hold not out: slender Trestles must give way, when stronger Pillars bend. If Peter, whose Faith was supposed to be strong as a Rock, did notwithstanding waver, and reel to and from like a rolling Stone, it behoves us to look to our feet, which stand upon a more slippery ground. Indeed, it is the delusion of the seducing Spirit, to propose the exorbitances of God's Saints, not for our humiliation, but imitation, as if we could hid our wickedness under the Veil of their holiness. Hence was it, that the gods of the Gentiles were for the most part found criminous, that men might thence think they sinned by Authority: and having known by long experience how much he hath thrived by this Project, he still keeps it up, he's most busy in sifting Peter, in laying open to the Eye the imperfections and blemishes of those, which are above us, that so the eminence of their Persons, may make good their Vices, and draw their Examples into Rules. To which purpose, the self same Text which forbids sin, shall, by his mis-applying Sophistry, maintain us in sinning: Because Peter fell so heinously, his Example shall make the secure Sinner to hug all superfluity of naughtiness, and to run on in the same excess of riot, deceiving his own Soul. But his fiery darts do sometimes more heal than hurt; the remembrance of his former Wiles, work in the penitent, a detestation of his hellish practice; and makes his profane delight, his godly sorrow. Thus Hell helps to Heaven, the Devil against his will turns Physician to Peter: for the foil he received, resolved him into sanctified Tears, so that he gained more by weeping, than he lost by sinning. The Church reads his Story, as a Rule of Circumspection, and not of Presumption; as an Argument of Fear, and not of boldness in sinning; as a Motive to his Repentance, and not to his denial; for to this end it follows, he went out. He did well in going out; company doth hinder us to parley with our sins, and to enlarge our Meditations. There's no such time for a man to reconcile himself, to make his own Atonement and peace with God, as when he is alone; than he may fully bewail and bemoan, even beshrew and shrive himself unto the Lord. Therefore, holy men of old, when they went about to make a fearch, and as it were a quest of inquiry throughout the sinful corners of their Conscience, still retired themselves, coveting to be alone, and sequestered from the Crowd. Isaac, when the evening drew nigh, went out alone into the Fields, and poured forth his Orisons, Gen. 24. Ionas, preparing himself to mourn, sits not still, but went out of the City, and being alone, freely disburdened his breast into the Bosom of God, Ionas 4. When was it that Jacob wrestled with an Angel, and prevailed for a blessing, but being solitary, private, and left alone? Gen. 32. when Gods will was that Abraham should have the Execution of certain Ordinances, which himself had appointed, he caused him first to remove out of his Country, and to separate from the Distractions and disturbance of worldly Conversation, Gen. 12. He took Moses up to the top of Mount Sinai, and strictly commanded that none should presume to approach the Mount, while he vouchsafed to common with him, Exod. 19 How often did our Saviour withdraw himself from the multitude, and went out into the Mountains, the Deserts, and such solitary places, to pray unto his Father? Wherhfore, when God stirs thy heart, and makes it in a weeping case, (that is) apt, and inclined to shed Tears, with Peter, go out into some convenient place, which may witness thy Tears, as well as it hath done thy Sin; and where thou mayst freely vent thy sorrow and Contrition, without fear or suspicion of vainglory, without interruption or avocation from those sad and serious Contemplations, which make thy soul to bleed within. So Joseph, Gen. 42.24. when his affection was inflamed towards his Brethrens, makes haste to get himself into a private room, where this passion of love might more freely vent itself. It cannot be denied, but such, who can well away with a solitary kind of life, have many opportunities to serve the Lord, which others have not; and have not many imperfections of the World, which others have. This made divers voluntarily to relinquish their Crown, their Sceptre, their Royal Robes, and to dedicated themselves to a Cloister's privacy, that they might live, as they thought, more acceptably to God. Yet I would not have you so to come out of Company, that you make a sullen segregation from all Society, as Ermites' do in their Caves and Dens; for Temptations are, and may as well be, in the Deserts, as in public Places. Christ being alone in the Wilderness, and fasting too, was tempted, Mat. 4. So that 'tis impossible for a man to avoid Temptations, yea, though he went out of the World, except he left his heart behind him also. Gratian says well, Non loco, vel ordines, Creatori nostro nos proximos faciant: Distinct. 40. c. Non Loca. There's no one Calling, state or condition of Life, that simply of itself, doth engratiate us with our Maker; but the answer of a good Conscience, is that which procures his Favour: He that hath a daily care to preserve this, may live as well in a City, as in a Cell. For a lesser stick may fire a Billet, and the poorest good Companion will do thee some good. But the place Peter quitted, was not the Temple, but the High Priests; he broke not company with those who professed Christ, but with such as persecuted him; it was from them he went out. And it was high time he should so do; for himself is a sad instance, how meetings and manners do often assimilate and sympathise. When Augustus perceived grave Senators talking with Livia, but riotous Youths with his Daughter Julia, he concluded, saith Suetonius, the one to be light, and the other stayed. Can any one continually handle Pitch, and yet have none cleaving to his hands? It was an extraordinary Commendation which Tully gave to Murana, that living among the luxurious Asians, he was not infected with their effeminacy. Laus illi tribuenda est, non quòd Asiam viderat, sed quòd in Asia continenter vixerat. Ulysses is urged as a rare Precedent of temperance, that he kept himself sober in Circe's Cellar. And 'tis one of the pious Eulogies of the Church, that she flourisheth like a Lily among Thorns, Cant. 2. because they are but few that are entire and whole, able to stand upright amidst the sharp pressures of a crooked Generation, as Lot in Sodom, or like Fish in the salt Sea, that can retain their sweetness even there: 'Tis a matter of as much difficulty to live innocently among evil doers, as to swim against the violence of a stream. Metaphys. l. 1. c. 16. Aristotle notes it of his Master Plato, That abiding long with the Pythagoreans, he learned of them many erroneous Opinions. Julian, in profession, sometimes a Christian, by conversing with Libanius and Maximus, Sozomen. l. 5. c. 2. became an Apostate. The Hebrews, dwelling among the Idolatrous Egyptians, which worshipped an Ox, saith Herodotus, L. 2. did imitate them so near, that they worshipped a Calf; and pitching but a while in the plain of Moab, they sacrificed to Baal-Peor, and eaten the offerings of the Dead. This made Saint John so cautelous, Joh. 2. Ep. 1. 1. v. 10, 11. that in his second Epistle, he will not allow so much time as may serve to salute, or bid a dangerous Heretic good speed, jest by using that sign of familiarity towards him, we be partakers of his sin, and so consequently of his punishment. As is his precept, so was his practice: for coming into a bath, and spying Cerinthus in the same, he suddenly, saith Eusebius, Elb. 3. leaps back, crying to his Associates, Let's go hence, jest the bath fall on us, while the Enemy of God's truth is with us. Lot is to hasten out of Sodom, if he will not be burned; and Peter must come out of Caiaphas' retinue, before he can come to himself. For though it be not shame to deplore our sins in the appearance of men, so long as we do it not that it may appear to men; yet Saint Paul's Decorum, 1 Cor. 14.40. Let all things be done DECENTLY and in order, will the better dispose us to Devotion. In the great mourning of Jerusalem, Zachary tells us, Zach. 12.22. That the Family of every Tribe was set apart, and their Wives apart. My soul, saith Jeremiah, Lamentations the eighth, shall weep for them in secret places. I pour out my heart by myself, saith the Psalmist, Psalm 42. The man truly humbled, is described in the third of the Lamentations, to sit alone, and to keep silence: for good Motions are restrained and quenched in the stir and noise of much people. It is as clear as the Sun, that a solitary and private place, is the fittest to work us to Compunction: We see the effect of it in Peter; for so soon as Christ's gracious look called him home again, he demurred not longer, but at once left his sinful company, and his own sin too. True Repentance is early,, not dilatory: A green Wound is to be taken in hand presently; for if it be suffered to fester and wrankle, the Cure will not prove so easy. Hence is it, when a true Penitent is throughly awaked, as Peter here, he's forthwith struck with a holy horror, he presently bestirs himself, never suffers his eyes to sleep, nor his Eyelids to slumber, till he hath made his peace with God by serious humiliation. The survey and view of his sin, works in him a reformation of his Life, which the Baptist calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The worthy fruits of Repentance; it brings him to such an Indignation and Zeal, that he is much troubled in his deportment. We may behold it in this humble Penitent: for so soon as he set foot in the Palace, he hastes back into the Porch; and at last, finding no resting place there, he went out, and wept; which is the sign of his Conversion. There's nothing doth purchase God's favour, more than the Tears of Contrition; for though they are not meritorious causes, yet they are pregnant signs of Grace, and sanctified means to compass God's Mercy in on every side. The Lord accepted the Offering of Eliah, drowned in waters, when he would not look upon the Oblation of Baal's Priests, though it was sowzed with their own blood, 1 King. 18. And so the sacrifice of a broken and weeping heart, is more pleasing in his sight, than the giving up our bodies to the Sword. In the Creation, the Holy-Ghost lay, and in a holy sense brooded on the waters. In the new Creation of a Convert, the same holy Spirit moves still on the waters of Repentance. He makes such an account of them, that he puts them up in his Bottle, writes them in his Notebook, as it seems by the Psalmist; so many Tears, for so many Sins, now discharged and crossed. It is not Heresy to say, That so often as we bemoan our sins, so often we are rebaptised; our own tears are the Element to purge the stains of pollution. When all Flesh was corrupted, God sent the water of that great Flood upon the earth, as a Remedy to cleanse it: and if we let the Flood of relenting Tears to overflow our hearts, it will mortify all carnal Concupiscence, and make fruitful the barren Field of the Soul: so that tears are as necessary to Christians, as the Waters to the Earth. A Land that's never watered, brings nothing forth but Weeds and Thistles; and the Soul will be unfruitful in good works, which is not watered with these natural showers. Our Saviour tells us, Luk. 18.17. Unless we be as little Children, we shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. You know that Children have no other Weapon to defend themselves withal, but Tears; and with those likewise must we be armed, if we will prevail against the Adversary. Pharaoh was drowned in the water of the Sea, and we have no other Ocean to overwhelm our spiritual Pharaoh in, but our own salt Sea of Tears. David was a Miracle in weeping, he mingled his Drink with his Tears; he did so drench himself therein, that he made his Bed swim in Tears; he was so affected with grief, that he changed even the course of Nature, delighting in no society, but compared himself to a Pelican in the Wilderness, Psa. 102.6. whose nature is ever to have Tears trickling down her Bill; to an Owl of the Desert, and to a Sparrow that sits alone upon the house top. 102.7. A man would think Jeremiahs' head was all on fire, and that nothing could quench it but a torrent: O, saith he, Jer. 9.1. that my head were waters, and mine eyes a Fountain of tears! We shall not find in any of the Evangelists, that Christ laughed at any time, but of his weeping we have often mention. He bedewed the way before us, to signify that he treads just in his steps, who carries always the sorrow of his bitter passion before his eyes; which is my last part, he high degree of Peter's grief; in that he twept bitterly. Those bitter Tears, must needs flow out of the bottom of a heart throughly broken; they did testify he went out, to speak in his own terms, 2 Pet. 3.9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to retire to Repentance. Gall and Vinegar was our Saviour's bitter Potion on the Cross; and the same, in a mystical sense, must be ours, if we will crucify the old Man. Hence it is, we read in the Scripture of (a) Lu. 18. knocking our stony hearts, of (b) Jer. 31. smiting the Thigh, (c) 2 Sam. 13. tedring the hair, wring the hands, (d) Joh. 3. putting on sackcloth, (e) Job 42. strewing Ashes, (f) Dan. 16. howling, and lying on the ground. For these significant Rites and Ceremonies, express true Repentance; which, if they be used in sincerity and simplicity, and not in a superstitious, dissembled, perfunctory Hypocrisy, will be powerful with the Almighty. A penitent sinner is to use severity against himself. Holy Bernard says truly, In quantum non peperceris tibi, in tantum Deus tibi parcit: In how little thou dost spare thyself, by so much the more God will spare thee The coming of the Lord into our humbled Souls, may be resembled by his appearance to Eliah. First, there came a mighty strong Wind, 1 King. 19.15. etc. that rend the Mountains, broke the Rocks: After the wind, came an Earthquake; after that, a fire; and last of all, came a soft and still voice. So the Lord appears to the mortified Christians; First, by the Wind of his Wrath, breaking his Spirits; than by the Earthquake of his Indignation, shaking his Soul; than by the Fire of his displeasure, smoking his Conscience: but in the end, by the still Voice of his Mercy, he refresheth his drooping heart. It is not erroneous Doctrine, to say, We must, after a sort, be in hell, before we can be capable of Heaven: That is, in the hell of an ashamed, affrighted, and confounded Conscience, before the Lord will speak unto us, that he is our Redemption. 'Tis recorded of Christ, that in the days of his Flesh, he offered prayers and supplications, with strong cries and tears, Heb. 5. He did not only cry, but strain himself with vehemency; that we might know, it is not the faint, but the violent bitter cry, which layeth hold on Heaven. Peter did abound in sobbing and lamentation, Lament. 2. letting tears run down like a River: Yet, as one saith of his weeping, Invenio quòd flevit, non invenio quid dixit: Though I find he wept, I do not find what he said: his tears did supply the defect of his speech, they were more energetical, more persuasive, than any words. These are the best Orators to pled and intercede for Remission before the Throne of Grace, like rain, they penetrate more profitably, by falling without noise. If any find himself to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of such a dry brawny temper, that he's unapt to weep: if his eyes be like to the Mountains of Gilboah, on which neither Dew nor Rain did fall; yet let him cry with his heart, and that will be Taciturnitas Clamosissima, a silence that speaks loud in the Ears of our Redeemer. The groans of the poor Publican, pierceth Heaven more than the noise of the talking Pharisee. When Israel, at the Read Sea, was environed with Enemies behind, with Rocks and Hills on each side, the Text saith, They made a doleful howling to the Lord, but Moses held his peace: yet in the issue, Populus clamabat, & non audiebatur; tacebat Moses, & audiebatur; the people cried, and were not heard; Moses held his peace, and was heard. Why dost thou cry unto me? saith God, Exod. 14. v. 15. when he uttered never a word, nor made any noise we read of, only his heart cried, and that was it the Searcher and Observer of hearts listened unto. So that the compunction of the fluent melting heart, is absolutely necessary to unfeigned repentance. To this contrition in heart, the School adds confession in word, and satisfaction in work. Take away the Leven of Popery from those two acts (that is) their absolute necessity, and dignity of merit, and for aught I yet see, we go so far: confession to the Lords Minister, the Archbishop Usher admits in some cases, as Medicinal, not as Sacramental. In answer to a Jesuit. Such as cannot quiet their own breasts, must be pressed to unbosom, and uncase their conscience; to open and discover their spiritual wounds to their ghostly Physician, for their further Instruction. When the Sinner can find no ease at home, what should he do but use the best means he can to find it abroad? Yet a Penitent which confesseth his faults daily in humble supplications, that shows his groans, and sends up Lamentations from the depth of the Soul to God alone, who seethe the things that are in secret; If he reform his Excesses, and cease from his former sins for the time to come, no necessity can absolutely bind such a one to bring himself upon the stage, or to confess each particular to a Priest for obtaining remission. His remedy is within himself; his own internal repentance will gain him access to his Saviour. As for Canonical satisfaction, the Church in the days of Yore had power to proportion penance according to the quality of the offence. See Caranza, c. 31. or 37. The primitive discipline did thus measure the delinquents humiliation during the time of their enjoined punishment: some were called Andientes, because they might only stay the Sermon. Concil. Agath. Con. Nice. Cypri. l. 3. Others were styled Orantes, in that they might be present at the Prayers, but not at the Eucharist. If any in the time of persecution had denied the faith, though it were much against their will, yet they were to undergo a bitter penance, and that was to continued three years at lest. Some had it prolonged ad Magnum Diem, even till the hour of their death, as appears Can. 6. council. Ancyrani: our Church of England allowed greater mitigation and relaxation from the former severity, condescending, like an indulgent Mother, to the weakness of her children, jest some should rather hazard the loss of heaven, than endure such a rigour by a public acknowledgement of their transgressions. And herein the proceeding was prudent: Gratian. 1. dist. de pan. for apud Deum non tantùm valet mensura temporis, quàm doloris; God regards not the Length but the Strength of our repentance; not the Time, but the Truth of our contrition. Yet the Ecclesiestical Story presents some to our view, who voluntarily afflicted themselves in a great measure, and high degree, by watching whole nights, lying on the hard earth: which being used without any superstitious opinion of merit, or satisfaction, I cannot disallow. Irenaeus tells us of a Woman seduced by Mark the heretic, L. 5.8.27. which did so bewail her offence, that her life and laments did end together. Natalis, the heretical Bishop in Eusebius, puts on Sackcloth, and ashes, and falling down before the feet of the Bishop with uncessant tears, and sighs, implores a pardon. L. 3. c. 11. Ecebolius in Socrates Prostrates himself to the feet of the Passengers, crying, Tread me, tread me under your feet; for I am the unsavoury Salt. L. 1. de panit. c. 16. Saint Ambrose gives us a Catalogue of many, who macerated and withered their cheeks with weeping, and by continual abstinence made their living bodies the very image of Death. These did conform themselves to the place of their habitation; & seeing the world was nothing else to them but the valley of Bochim, of Weepers, like mournful Doves, they spent their lives in relenting tears, that thereby they might discharge and blot out the bill and hand-writing, which was on record against them. Thus I have given a rude draught of the limbs and branches of the unfallible signs of an unfeigned humiliation. But what of all this? What is my Illation? It is the same, which Saint Austin infers upon that to the Romans. For where the Apostle says, Rom. 8.28. All things work together for the best to those that love God; the holy Father is bold to conclude, Etiam peccata, Domine; yea even our sins, Lord, do that too. For do they not make for our good, when thereby we become more humble, more devout, more wary in our conversation? Saint Ambrose observes, that Peter's faith was stronger after his fall, than before; as a broken bone well set, is the faster. Hence it is that the Angel's triumph with such an exceeding joy for the conversion of a notorious sinner, because such a one effectually reclaimed, becomes more displeased, more fallen out with himself for his sins than any other. None more fearful of relapses, none more careful and sincere in God's service than he. The Soul of jonathan was not so knit to David, as his is to the son of David. The general drift and desire of his heart, is in nothing willingly to sin against God, but in every thing to approve himself before him. Upon this ground Bernard makes repentant eyes the Angel's Cellars, and penitent tears their sweetest Wines, because they make them glad for the benefit which thereby accrues. Therefore for the comfort of true penitents, Christ after his resurrection appeared first to Mary Magdalen, and to Peter, who of grievous sinners proved the soundest converts. The one never left mourning for her sins till she left the world; and the other, as 'tis storied of him, every night about the crowing of the cock, did rise, and pray with continual tears. The holy Apostles fluxed eyes should be Sermons unto ours; and his weeping for his denying, must put us in mind of our denials. For not to yield obedience to what we know, what else is it than in effect to deny Christ? If ever you will allot a time of tears, begin now while it is day, jest darkness overtake you, and there be none to help you. In these sad days of humiliation, every eye should shed forth tears, and all faces gather blackness; that as we have spent our first days in sin, so may we our last in sorrow. Is not wrath gone forth from the Lord, when the Dove, with the Olive-Branch, is flying from us? Who can wash his hands from those sins, which have brought a public calamity upon himself and others? And therefore we should be deeply affected with the smart of the Land. He that looks on sin, in the mildest notion of it, shall find in it plentiful matter to fetch tears; but he that weighs it more narrowly in the Balance of the Sanctuary, and takes a view of all such passages as add to the heinousness of it, what is it that can turn his eyes into a Fountain of tears, if this doth it not? when a man weighs with himself, that he hath grieved the good Spirit of God, provoked so merciful a Saviour as Christ is, displeased so loving a Father as God hath been to him, that he hath sinned against the experience and effects of Mercy, against the reluctancy and checks of his own Conscience, against his own Vows and Resolutions to the contrary; how should this make his heart to bleed within? Add hereunto, how at such a time when thou wert in the Act of uncleanness, of drunkenness, and the like, the just God might have sent thee to Hell in the very Act; he might have made thy tongue to rot, the last Oath thou didst vainly swear. Many in hell have not sinned the sins we have done; and so we might have been howling and yelling in everlasting burn at this instant, did not God's pure Mercy deliver us. As than Elisha threw Salt into the waters, Kin. 2.21. to make them sweet, so let us season our prayers with salt tears, to make them savoury to the Lord. Give us, we beseech thee, holy Father, the Springs above, and the Springs beneath; the Springs of the heart, and the Springs of the eyes, to weep bitterly and uncessantly for the sins of our Souls; that so, having our measure of tears here, we may be freed from them without measure hereafter, and be received into those ineffable Joys, which neither Eye hath seen, nor Ear hath heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man to conceive. Grant this, good God, we beseech Thee, for Jesus Christ's sake, our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen. Heb. 12. first part vers. 6. Whom the Lord Loves, he chastens. SERM. XI. THe exigents of this life, were at the first only the wages of sin: but God's gracious mercy, which brought honey out of the Lion's breast, Judg. 14. turned also our wounds into a Plaster, and made that the remedy, which he ordained to be the smart of our offence. Nor aught it seem strange that God's visitation should produce effects so mainly different, since the very same meat in a wholesome body, turns to pure and solid nourishment, which in a distempered stomach increaseth the malignant humour there predominant. Howsoever than these benefits which redound to us by the severity of God's justice, may seem to be bestowed with a frowning countenance, yet the event will show them wholesome arguments of his favour; For whom the Lord loves he chastens. In which position are three points remarkable: First, The means, which the divine Majesty useth to prove who be His; and these be Chastisements. Secondly, the persons towards whom he useth these means, Whom he Loves, his Sons: Lastly, The duty and practice how to demean ourselves in this trial, following by way of consequence; and that must be done in a patiented submission to the will of God, since his chastisements are effects of his love. I begin with the means, together with the prime Author and disposer thereof, namely the Lord, HE chastens. The Preacher hath observed long since, That the race is not to the Swift, nor the battle to the Strong, nor favour to men of Knowledge. Eccles. 3. And is there no complaining in our streets, that they who are but Gregarii ordinis, meanly gifted, to our thinking, are exalted, when others of known abilities are kept low? In regard of this seeming confusion in the dispensing of earthly moveables, the Stoiques Dreamed all things to be governed by Fate, or Distiny; the Epicures and Poets attributed the Sovereignty to Chance or Fortune. But these pre-conceits were fictions and fables; the only wise God makes himself the prime Author of all those pressures, which are incident to those that are near and dear unto him. Hence is it that the prophetical writings seldom mention an affliction, but the Author is annexed, I the Lord have done it. In Amos 3. he makes it his business to persuade it. All things, saith the son of Syrach, are double, one against another, ch. 42.24, 25. and that for the good of one another. V 25. Thus the dulness of cold serves to qualify and mitigate the eager activity of the heat. If fullness hath closed thy eyes against the Divine light, scarcity is at hand to open them, and to abate that tympany of pride, which posterity hath engendered. To this end, I 〈◊〉 the Almighty, form the light, and created the darkness, Esay 45. This was Typified in Ezechiels vision, chap. 1. For when he saw the Majesty of God after the appearance of a Man, there were four Wheels which moved before him, thereby signifying there's nothing done within the compass of the round world, but the eye of God's providence appears in it. If He pronounce Fiat, or Corruat, help, or hurt, both Heaven and Earth obey him, As a handmaid looks to the eye of her Mistress. Indeed we read, chap. 19 v. 1. of Job, there came a great wind from the Wilderness, which so smote the four corners of the house, where Iob's Children were Feasting, that it fell on them to their ruin: but the Psalmist declares it is the Lord which brings the winds out of his treasures, Psal. 135.7. Doth David's enemies compass round about to devour his Soul like a Lion that is greedy of his prey? Psal. 17.5. Yet in that very Psalm, where he prays against them, he acknowledgeth them to be the Sword of the Lord, and the men of his hand, v. 13. 14. Howsoever, that Innocency should every where be marked out to misery, at this the Saints have often not marvail'd, but stood amazed. But marvel not at it, the doors of the Israelites were all besprinkled with blood: affliction and sorrow are the marks of the best, Greg. Et licet occultum sit cùm bonis malè eveniat, & malis benè; though it be a secret misery, that the good are distressed, and the ill prospero; yet 'tis a greater secret, and God works more against course and kind, when ill men are molested, and the good prospero. Whereas we read, Psal. 2. Osculamini filium, kiss the Son (i) do honour and homage to the Son of God, some tender it apprehendite disciplinam, apprehended his discipline, obey his ordinances, submit to his corrections: For to say truth, a man can hardly attain to a well-setled peace, till he hath been some way disciplined by the hand of Heaven. It is not the method in God's School, to bring us to Heaven by ease, and flattery; there's no passage form interrupted joys on earth, to those permanent felicities which are above. For the way we must tread is spread with thorns, not roses; the gate we are to enter is narrow, and requires our earnest endeavours to pass through it with a religious violence. For if it were convenient that Christ should first suffer, and than enter into his Glory; aught not we to take the like pains, and so follow him? You would think it a strange Soloecism, that the General should lead the way with sighs and groans, and his wanton Soldiers dance after him: that a sick and tormented head should be furnished with a pampered body, with soft & delicate members. Mat. 16.24. He that will be my Disciple, saith Christ, must take up his cross, and follow me. You see upon what conditions we are entertained; not as idle drones to lay all on his neck; our own shoulders must smart also, and we take up his cross, and follow him. Fellow him, not to jerusalem in triumph, but to the fatal Garden, where he was arrested; and if he yet call, to mount Calvary, where he was crucified. God deals with us here, as we do with our own clotheses, which we cut out into several small parcels, before we make up into an entire and complete garment: What than if our heavenly Father suffer us to be torn and rend asunder? It is the better to fit us for that heavenly Robe, that our mortality may the easier put on Immortality, and our Saviour raise us to a second being, when he sees us shattered into our first dust. They who in ordinary races contend for masteries, harden their bodies by a strict diet, submit themselves to a severe discipline, and with delight abstain from those meats which flatter their palates. They are daily exercised, vexed, weakened; and the more oppressed with labour, the greater hope they conceive of victory. It cannot than be, that Christ should so much neglect his own Champions, as to leave them softened and broken with sloth, who are to wrestle not with men or beasts, but with Principalities, and Powers, and spiritual wickedness, and those in high Places. jerom is peremptory, Non potes transire à delitiis ad delitias, we must not think to pass from the delights of this world directly and immediately to the joys of the next. The children of Israel had many wind and turn, much encumbrances by deserts and Serpents, before they came to the Land of Canaan. This typified our passage to the Canaan above. For the weakness of our nature is such, that we grow proud, and thereby endanger the loss of ourselves, if we overmuch taste of God's bountiful favours. After that our Saviour had commended Peter, Mat. 16.17. saying, Blessed art thou Simon, for flesh and blood hath not revealed that unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven; Presently he became so hot and forward on this favour, as quickly after he would needs seek to hinder our Redeemer from his passion; presuming to say Master, Vers. 22. pity thyself, this shall not be unto thee. And so when Moses see it pleased God to talk familiarly with him, he could not contain himself from further presumption, but enters into these words; I beseech thee show me thy Glory, Exod. 33. To humble us than, and to bring us to the knowledge of ourselves, we are made weak, our bones are often vexed, and bitter Wormwood is mingled with our honey; we being like a Damask-Rose, sweeter in the Still than on the Stalk. God's hand strikes his peculiar adherents like the Launcer of a Surgeon, not to let out the Soul, but the imposthumed blood. His stripes carry along a Sovereign healing Balsam: And so much is employed in the orginal word of my Text; for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, being derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, notes such a discipline, which a tender parent lays upon his dear child, and that is more to instruct than correct. Man being in honour, hath no understanding, saith the Prophet David: Psa. 59.20. the same tune is sung by the Son of David, The prosperity of fools destroys them. Prov. 1. But a wiser than Solomon, entitles his patient's heirs of eternal Blessedness. No marvel than if the benefit be so great, that God bestows it only on whom he loves, and admits none into the number of his Sons, but whom he chastens. And so I proceed to the persons towards whom he useth these means of Chastisements, Whom he loves. God's love is very large, and therefore the better to understand it, we must see how it is distinguished. There is his General, and his Special love: By his General love he loves the universality of the creature; for to love, is nothing but to will well, and to do well to any. Now God's goodness is over all; for every thing hath life, motion, and being from him. He preserves the very beasts. Psal. 36. But this manifold kindness, which he extends to all indifferently, is so short of that special love wherewith he embraceth the elect in Christ, that when Saint Paul comes to consider it, he raiseth his stile, as wanting a word sufficient to express it: in Ephes. 4.7. 'tis styled great love, rich mercy, yea and more, the exceeding richeses of his Grace. In Eph. 3. 'tis described to be a Love incomprehensible; for in ver. 9 'tis said to Surpass knowledge. Hence is it that the Psalmist compares it to the love of a Father, the Prophet Esay prefers it before the tender bowels of a Mother, and the Apostle in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Text confirms this singular and superabundant love of God. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vald●, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, acquiesco; which instructs us, that God in the love of his Church finds a complacency, or well-pleasingness, an oblectation, delight, or contentment. According to that in Zephany 3.17. The Lord will quiet himself in the love of his Church, he will rejoice over her with joy. Nor aught it to stagger flesh and blood, that God suffers his Church to be so tormented, if his entire love towards her be so great; for affliction is the trial of a Christian: It is without Heresy, a true Purgatory on earth, wherein good men are purified. For though fire consume straw, it purgeth Gold; and that calamity which confounds the wicked, doth but refine the godly. It strengthens and confirms them, as blasts of wind increase the flame; and like Antaeus in the Fable, the oftener cast down, the greater courage is regained. There's nothing more unhappy, than a man perpetually happy; It's a sign such a one is contemned of God as a coward, and unfit to war under his Banner. Alexander the great made choice of the Stipendiarii his PENSIONERS, 〈◊〉. l 1 for his prime Soldiers in his Persian expedition. And thus those who are Gods Pensioners, enriched with his continual favours, are chosen to be his Triarii, his courageous and constant Soldiers in the Church Militant; who when they are bruised and crushed in the outward man, are yet so sound in the Inner man, that like a firm Tower they stand unshaken for all the Devils battery. To these are committed the hardest and most dangerous exploits, & so they cannot but count themselves honoured by the Lord of Hosts, who elects and esteems them worthy for the noblest enterprises. This is no new art: for if we run over the list of Saints from the beginning of the World, we shall find God adopts none but such as know how to be Wretched. In the first of days, rather than righteous Abel shall not suffer, a Brother will be his executioner. Abraham, the friend of God, must first be banished from his own Country, before thought fit to be a Citizen of Heaven. Is not Jacob persecuted by Esau, as if affliction came by inheritance? Is not Joseph also sold by his Brethrens? Moses not sooner leaves the Court of Pharaoh, but the world leaves him: what armies of mischief begirt him, when once it appeared he made religion his profession? David a man after Gods own heart, fought as many Battles with afflictions as with the enemies of Israel. The pursuit of a cruel Master, the unnatural rebellion of a Son, the apostasy of friends, and his own foul enormities, were means quick enough to keep him from worldly content, and to rank him in the first place with those, who became Worthies by affliction. If we proceed, we may behold that royal Prophet Esay divided with a Saw, Jeremy at once slain, and buried in a shower of stones; Daniel, who fed their Souls with the word of the living God, made a prey for Lions: and to conclude, what corner of the world is not made famous by the several martyrdoms of the Apostles? So that I may truly call tribulation the Physic of good men, which keeps them from the surfeit of Spiritual pride, and vain confidence in their own ghostly strength. In their afflictions they will seek me diligently, saith God himself, Hosea 5. For when they feel the heavy hand of God, and severely smart under his Rod, they are brought to an acknowledgement of their sins, from which they might think themselves free, did not some chastisement put them in mind of their desert. Besides, should the ungodly live always in prosperity, it might be thought they loved Heaven for their own ease, and served God more for his reward, than honour. So Satan objected against job, that he loved God because he gained by him, job 1. But affliction makes it appear, that their worship is not grounded upon temporal respects, when they can adore him in the bed of sickness as cheerfully as in the greatest calm of fortune; and are so far from tying their duties to his outward respects, that in a downcast estate they can renounce themselves for him, who by withdrawing his hand seems quite to have forsaken them. Again, should Christians want afflictions, their virtue would want matter to feed upon; and like an active fire sadly decay, if the fuel be once substracted. Should they continually enjoy an interrupted felicity, what would become of their fortitude, humility, patience, which had they not an Adversary to grapple with, would be buried in sluggishness? No Rose springs without a thorn; and moral Philosophy teacheth us, there's no virtue but hath a double vice to encounter with. They say the Eagle exposeth her young ones to the trial of the Sun, the Goldsmith descries the Metal by the Touchstone, and God approves or rejects his servants as commended by adversity. Are not the hottest Spices brayed in a Mortar, that they may yield a more fragrant smell? And do they not press the fairest and ripest Grapes, to bring forth their sweetest juice? Ripe and full Ears are smitten with the Flail, to beaten the corn out of them, and the corn is grinded to make Flour. Whereupon Saint john professeth, chap. 16. In mundo pressuram habebitis: though ye be Gods chosen, ye shall have pressures and grievances in this world, that God may be glorified amidst your cheerful sufferings. The Physician permits to those, whom he despairs to recover, a liberty of their desires; but where hope of amendment may encourage his proceed, bitter potions are there administered, and the intemperate long of an unruly appetite most severely kerbed: The beasts which are ordained for Slaughter, we permit freely to range in the fruitfullest pastures, little regarding the extraordinary thriving of those we accustom to Labour. Fruitful Vines are cut, and Pruned, and dressed, while the luxurious branches of the barren are reserved only for the fire. Do not than repined to see the wicked flourish; they are men quite given over by the Physician of their Souls, and left to a reprobate sense; they lie in Hell like sheep, Psal. 49. and may fitly be compared to the unhappy figtree in the Gospel, not worth the care of manuring, but subject to the final curse, and utmost neglect of the Husbandman. What than if the God-forsaken-man spreads out his Plumes, and seems to check the Sun in glory? Vice loves to seem glorious, yea more to seem than to be: And indeed it had need to have some pleasure here, which hath nothing but woe hereafter. The world loves the vicious, and so will not punish them; God loves them not, and therefore scorns to chasten them. He will not use the Rod where he means to use the Sword, nor will he destroy the body where he means to destroy the inward man. What remains than, but that we endeavour to bring forth the fruit of tribulation, which is a patiented submission under the hand of God, since his Chastisements are effects of his love, the last part, by way of Consequence? The Lord chastens whom he loves, therefore submit to his Chastisements. One would think there needs no great persuasion to patience, where Chastisements are the effects of Love; but rather as the Species or Image which issues from the Countenance into the Glass, is reflected into the eye of the Beholder: so God's love to us, should beget in us a love, which is reflected upon him, the Author of all love; yea, Love itself. When the Heathen judged the Christians unhappy, because they suffered poverty, spoil, exile, and the like; Saint Austen answered, Now surely their case were miserable, if they could be carried any whither ubi Creatorem suum non invenirent, L. 1. de Civ. Dei. where they might not found their Creator's loving Protection. But so long as God's favourable Presence is with them, they cannot be unhappy: His torments are certain benefits, and a sure way to Heaven. Hereupon Saint Paul accounts his afflictions not lesle than the very dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in his and our body, 2 Cor. 4.10. Indeed, when I recount all his sufferings, and peruse the large Catalogue of them under his own hand, 2 Cor. 11. In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more plenteously; in perils in the City, in perils in the Wilderness, in perils among false Brethrens; Good God how many men, how many holy Paul's seem there to be presented to me? is it possible one man should sustain an army of afflictions? or, that one soul should encounter so many Crosses? Yes, what cannot he endure as Christ's Beloved? what cannot he do in the power of him that doth all things? in the Virtue of Christ's Death, Saint Paul can tyre and weary out his Torments. He can prevent the fury of Death, by dying to himself; and by mortifying his own flesh, like a dead Carcase, become insensible of a second pain. Hence it is, that the Primitive Martyrs looked on Tyrants, Lions, Devils, with undaunted Countenances, walked through Gaols, Gives and Hells, without startling; yielded their Limbs to be mangled, their Joints to be racked, their flesh to boiled in scalding Oils, and embraced Death with Cheerfulness: they considered not quam poenam habuerunt in flagello, what smart they endured in the scourge; sed quem locum in testamento, but what right and interest they had in their heavenly Fathers William. And therefore, if God wounded them, they counted his Wounds the Wounds of a Friend, tending to their good. If he put them to the Sword, they embraced that as an occasion of everlasting victory, being fully persuaded that Death would be to them an entrance to Life, and a passage to Immortality. They remembered to their Consolation, that when Steven was stoned, he saw Heaven opened, and Christ at the right hand of his Father, ready to receive him. When Elisha was beset with the Assyrians, he saw a Hill of fiery Chariots in his Defence; and so, recording Gods unchangeable promises, they reckon all the perplexities of this life, and the extremities of death itself, to be but as Elisha's fiery Chariot to carry them to Heaven, or like Lazarus soars, to sand them to Abraham's Bosom. Thus did holy chrysostom comfort himself, when the Empress Eudoxia breathed out threaten and slaughters against him. If, saith the good Father, Chrysos. Epist. ad Cyriamon. she'll banish me, let her use her pleasure; the earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof. If she'll throw me into the Sea, let her; I remember Ionas. If she'll cast me into the Furnace, I have the three Children encouraging my patience. If she'll expose me to wild Beasts, I remember Daniel, cast to the Lions in the Den. If she'll stone me, I have Steven the Proto-Martyr for my Leader. If she'll take of my Head, let her take it, I have the Baptist for my pattern. If she'll strip me of my Goods, let her dispose of them; Naked came I out of my Mother's Womb, and naked shall I return. O, what a rare Virtue was it, thus to conquer himself, that misery might not conquer him! How doth this cheerful Resolution of that precious Saint, check our cowarcise, who cannot endute in cold blood to loose a Limb with patience, nor abide the short displeasure of some few odd minutes, without thinking presently of Rebelling, or running away so soon as called to the field. To prevent such an indiscretion, let us consider there's no greater sign of discretion and grace, than to smart patiently and contentedly, to rest our hearts in the Justice and Wisdom of God. For to struggle with afflictions, doth the more entangle ourselves; and, as it falls out with the Bird in the snare, it works rather our Captivity than Enlargement. Our Saviour, when he suffered that cruel shameful Death on the Cross, might have redeemed himself by descending from the Tree; but he choosed rather to exercise his patience, than to show the greatness of his power: thereby lessoning us, that Sufferings are greater trials than Actions. If than the Lord shall 'cause the Sun to go down upon thee at Noon, as Amos phraseth it, sending affliction in the midst of thy prosperity; if poverty come upon thee like an armed man, startle not at it; if naked, be not dejected; thou art than blessed, being miserable; and approved of God, though thus loathsome. When the Angel of the Lord saw Josuah the high Priest stand before him in filthy Garments, he caused them to be taken from him, and to be clothed with change of raiment, Zach. 3. The more destitute you are, the more conformable you are to the Author and Finisher of your Faith, who, at his birth, had no better Cradle than a Cratch; in his middle age, without a house to put his head in; and at his death, had not so much ground as would serve for the length of his body, but Joseph of Arimathea is feign to put him in his own Sepulchre. Is a malicious false gloss cast upon thy sincere Intentions, and public Actions? Consider, the best cause doth not always found the best patronage. Marry Magdalen's admirable Zeal, is with Judas, lose prodigality. Good Saint Paul, that heavenly Apostle, who, as Maximus speaks, learned among the Angels, what he should preach among men; who broke many a quiet sleep, to break the word aright to his people; for all his Graces and Labours, is hated, and esteemed an enemy by his own Galatians; and yet, not long before, they were ready to pull out their eyes to do him service. Is thy good name blasted with the malignant gusts of detraction? Behold, saith the Prophet, Isaiah the eighth, I, and the Children whom the Lord gave me, are as signs and wonders in Israel; yea, as Monsters, not worthy to live, Zachariah the third. Christ before you, and for you, tasted the bitterness of this Cup. What say the Jews of him? He is a Samaritan, and hath a Devil. Is Jobs Cross strange and extraordinary? his own Friends judge him a transgressor. What remains than, but that in the extremity of all Outrages, which can be committed against our upright deal, we earnestly endeavour to obtain a firm persuasion of God's special Favour to our innocent persons; and than the sense of his gracious presence, will soften and sweeten all our disquiet. David, in Ziklag, was at a low Ebb, 1 Sam. 30. his Estate gone, his Goods spoilt, his House burned; he was stripped of all outward Comforts, the Enemy had got into Possession; the loss of their Children had so embittered the People, that they talked of stoning David, verse 6. yet, saith the Text, He encouraged himself in the Lord his God; he comforted his heart in the spring of comfort, steeled and confirmed it with this Conclusion, That the Lord of Hosts, the God of the Armies of Israel, was more able to help him, and fight his Battles, than his greatest Enemies were able to dismay him. And according to his Confidence, was his success; for there we read in the end, he recovered his Losses, and quite subdued his Foes. And therefore, amidst all your sores, think not on your own wounds, but your Redeemers: If Satan, by his Emissaries; should destroy your bodies, he hath done the like to your Lord and Saviour; Phil. 1.29. and to you 'tis given, not only to believe in Christ, but to suffer for his sake. Tertullia's advice shall close up all. Learn to love and imitate the patience of God, who delays to revenge your Sins; and the patience of Christ, who suffered for your Sins. Endeavour to repay him that obedience which he hath discharged for you; offer to him the patience of Soul, and the patience of the Body, who expect from him in the general Resurrection, a happy Reunion of Body and Soul: Which God mercifully grant us in his due time, through the Merits of Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Amen. 2 Cor. chap. 7. vers. 1. Having therefore these Promises, dearly Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit, perfecting Holiness in the fear of God. SERM. XII. EVery Christian consists of a double person, a carnal and a spiritual; both which are compounded of so divers and contrary Elements, that though they are joined in the same Breast, yet, like Jacob and Esau in the Mother's Womb, they there struggle for the Victory: so that these Words present a Duel betwixt the Soul and the Body; the success of which Combat determines that great Controversy of Man's Salvation. If the Soul subdue the rebellious Flesh, than are we redeemed from the slavery of sin, the Laws Bondage, and are made Heirs of God's promises in Christ. The better to prevail, the antecedent part of my Text removes the evil; the conclusion persuades to perfection. The manner of the Motive is by way of Compellation; dearly Beloved: the ground of it, Evangelical Promises, having these PROMISES. And here the Apostle makes us joint Purchasers with himself; having, or WE having, there's our interest and just claim; let us cleanse, that's the propriety of the work; ourselves, there's the propriety of the persons; from filthiness, the matter to be wrought upon; and that in the full latitude, from ALL filthiness, even of the flesh and spirit, the parts and faculties which are infected. Lastly, our continual progress therein, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. But before I enter into this large field of matter, give me leave to salute you in this Compellation, Dear Beloved. Religion doth not make men rude, but civil; the Church hath its Ethics, as well as the School; good Language is not confined to the Court, we should hear it from the Pulpit; for it is not Apostolical, if we quote a Text to usher in a Libel. Hath Saint Paul a Doctrine to be settled in the minds of a multitude? Is he to pierce a heart that is sealed up with hardness? his Pen lies not steeped in Wormwood, he comes not in a Tempest or Earthquake; but in a modest, quiet, and mild temper, sweetening his words, and preparing their Ears with I BESEECH you Brethrens, by the mercies of God, Rom. 12. I Paul myself BESEECH you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, 2 Cor. 10. As an ambassador of God, I BESEECH you in Christ's stead, that ye be reconciled to him, 2 Cor. 5. And seeing we have these promises, DEARLY BELOVED, let us cleanse ourselves. If at any time he's compelled to let fall a few drops of severity, even that little Gall is mingled with much Honey; that bitter water, issues out of a sweet Fountain; every reprehension of his, proceeds from a loving affection. Well may this form and stile of preaching, be the Apostles in imitation, when it was the Blessed Trinitie's in example. God the Father, came in a soft and still voice; God the Son, figured himself not as a Tiger, but a Lamb; God the Holy-Ghost, appeared not in the shape of a Vulture, Ep. 84. but a Dove. Leo the great, gives the reason, Plus agate cohortatio quàm Commotio, Plus charitas quàm potestas: Violence is no good Instrument to win an assembly; that doth rather exasperated than reform. Bitter Pills are used to be administered in sweet Syrups, without any loss of their Virtue or Operation; and I never heard that the influence of a gentle persuasion, was any disparagement or prejudice to the cause. So that captare benevolentiam, to work a man's self into the good liking of his Auditors, is a rule not only prescribed for the Orator, but Divine too. The case is the same in both, because if they like not the Man, they will not care for the Matter. Wherhfore Saint Paul doth not mean we should speak slovingly, when in the first to the Corinthians, he renounced the enticing words of man's wisdom; for who sees not that an uncouth and bald expression, misshapes good matter, and in stead of edifying, deafs men's ears? The Apostle denied, That by the strength of their own Eloquence, they had strength to win souls to Christ; but yet himself accounted and used the beauty of speech, as a help to our Conversion. And so, from the Porch and Entrance of my Text, let's go in and behold the Building. From this Compellation, Dear Beloved, we may observe who are included within these Promises; and they, upon the first view, appear to be no other than We, WE having, or seeing WE have. Faith and Charity keep a different Dialect; the voice of Faith is Ego, I, with an appropriation to ourselves; the Language of Charity is Nos, We, with a Communication to others: It seeks not her own, 1 Cor. 13. Now as Charity knows no bounds, so Nos no restriction. It is Nos in the largest Latitude, and utmost extension, as it comprehends Jews and Gentiles. We hold not in special, but in common; and so we are not to straighten and contract our Saviour's Bowels, when he hath enlarged them; nor to make an enclosure of these Promises, which he hath laid open: to day, and yesterday, and from the beginning of the world he hath been liberal unto all. In Paradise, there was a Tree of Life, as well as of Knowledge. Ever since, as there hath been a Law to instruct, so there hath been provided a Tree of Life too, that man might eat of it, and live for ever; even the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world. Our first Parents had the Redeemer assured by the promised Seed of the Woman; Enoch, the seventh from Adam, remembered it: those were called the Sons of God, which could not be but by Grace; the Law made them not Sons. After the Flood, Noah, with his little Family, offered Sacrifice; which was a Type of Christ. All our Fathers did eat the same spiritual Meat, and they drank of the same spiritual Rock, and that Rock was Christ. It was prophesied long before he came, that all flesh should see the Salvation of God, Leu. 3. After he was come, the Apostles, at the day of Pentecost, were accommodated with all Tongues, that Christ, by them, should be conveyed to all Nations. Seeing than he hath vouchsafed the ordinary Means of Salvation to attract all, Go, and preach to ALL nations; so it runs in the Commission; and daily invites All to embrace them: without question both Jews and Gentiles have a Right and Title to these Promises. The King, in the Parable, Mat. 22. bids ALL to the Marriage; his will was, none should be debarred, but such as cared not to bring along with them their Wedding-Garment: So the great King of Heaven, invites every one to the Marriage of the Lamb; he admits All to his heavenly Table; he rejects none but only such, who undervalue, and cast behind them, the All-healing Robe of Christ's Righteousness. If the Redeemer of Mankind, when he saw us weltering in our own blood, drawing in corruption faster than our breath, had cast his saving Mantle short of the mark, as being unwilling to cover the skirts, as well as the head of prevaricating Adam, the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, the Plaster had been lesle than the wound; and the sight of such a Medicine might have made the case more lamentable; and in stead of curing, enraged the diseased. But to prevent all querulous murmuring, it pleased our Saviour to be made a little lower than the Angels, that he might taste death for every man, Heb. 2.9. For he would have no man to perish, but that all should come to Repentance, 2 Pet. 3. not casting away any until there be no remedy; and that's chronicled too, 2 Chron. 36.13. See D. Prof. Rep. ad Object. Vincen. So that their blood may be on their own heads, and destruction from themselves. Indeed, Job tells us, That the Ostrich leaves her Eggs in the earth, and forgets that the foot might scatter them, or that the wild Beasts might break them, Job 39 She shows herself cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; and is without fear, as if she traveled in vain. But our Maker is of a melting disposition, grieving so often as he is forced to procure grief to any; which makes him to exemplify his Compassion, by parallelling it to a Hen, Mat. 23. a Creature most affectionate to her brood: the wings of his Mercy being always displayed to hid every one from the day of wrath, unless it be them, the full measure of whose iniquity makes them desperately to cry out, 1 Kin. 12. What portion have we in David? we have no Inheritance, no part in him. Hence it is, that in the second to the Hebrews, he is said to take upon him the seed of Abraham. Our seed is apprehended, that part which is common to us all, that part where we began to transgress, that so the gift might not be personal, but redound to all. And yet, though he took on him our seed, notwithstanding it is styled The seed of Abraham. For albeit Adam's flesh is united, yet Abraham's seed is named; as if mankind than began, when Faith began to flourish. None could carry away the Name in the generation of Christ, before the Father of the Faithful: So that Abraham stands for a whole world; I am the God of Abraham. He took upon him the seed of Abraham, that the world might know thereby how the promise was not made to his flesh, but to his Faith. And therefore, though these promises in Christ are unfeignedly proclaimed to All; yet, because not truly apprehended by All, the participation is not all alike. See D. Pros. Resp. ad c. 5 Gal. & add c. 7 & 9 Gal. & c. ● ad ob Vin. If you have an intuitive eye on the Oblation itself, Dr. Prosper will have that to be for the whole world; but if you reflect on the inestimable estimable benefit, that's found only in the Elect. And why? The world lying in wickedness, would have none of it; so that in his sense, the Saviour of the world could not but affirm, that he came to save only the sheep that were lost of the house of Israel, all others despising the richeses of his Goodness. He graciously wooed, they gracelesly rejected him. Nevertheless, he died not altogether in vain, though his Death proved not their Life, not more than he can be said in vain to have created to everlasting bliss, the Angels that fell; it being the Wisdom of the Lord hereby to make manifest, that the default was not on his part, but on their own neglect and contempt of his Cross: some putting him away quite, others confessing him with their mouths, but not permitting him to reign in their hearts. Our Lord, by uniting to his person that nature which is common to us all, and suffering death for the same cause, whereunto we all hold up our hands, and pled guilty, may truly, saith Prosper, Pros. ut supra. be called the Redeemer of the world. But in regard All do not taste the fruit of his passion, the benefit accrues to them, concerning whom it's written, That the Prince of this world is cast out; they alone applying his Merits to heal their Miseries. For as the Cup of Salvation is fruitless to him, the faith of whose soul is not open to receive it; so likewise is Christ's Oblation. Upon this Argument, the Apostle enforceth his Exhortation; Seeing we have not any bore or naked Title, but our Tenure is in the validity of these Promises; seeing we boast to have the life of grace in us, which the disinherited have not, let us cleanse ourselves. And surely there's not a stronger Motive to stir up our practice of this Duty, than these few words, that we challenge an interest in these Promises. If entitled to Christ, where than is his Character? where's the Discipline of Christ? Superficial sanctity, and titular respects, make us not better than some Apothecary's Boxes, whose glorious inscriptions, and varnished outsides, are inwardly stored with nothing but hypocrisy and emptiness. These Promises are singular Promises, and worthy God's performance only. Who would have thought that the Red-Sea could have been divided? the weak water, which is moved with a Feather, should serve as a pavement to walk upon? that the Snn should stay his Course, as it were forgetting his going down? that water should abundantly stream from the flinty Rocks? These the Almighty promised; and according to his Promise, effected. Seeing than we have these singular promises, let US cleanse ourselves. These promises, are special Promises; God rules us not as Pharaoh ruled Israel, with a Rod of Iron, toiling them in their task of Brick, and allowing no Straw; but he commends our well-doing, and helps us to do it. He infuseth his assisting Grace, to keep us from the danger of a relapse; and strengtheneth the weakness of our Nature, which upon every temptation is ready to start back. And when all that is done, is done by our native Allegiance; yet his liberal bounty surpasseth our conceiving; when for a broken service on earth, he makes a promise of Heaven. Seeing than we have these precious Promises, let's be sure to cleanse ourselves; for no unclean thing enters into the heavenly gate. These promises are most certain Promises, as proceeding from his immutable william. Hence it is, that although Flesh and Blood, in our best Contemplations, meet with many difficulties, and reason and sense apprehended many impossibilities; yet, under hope, we believe above hope, and give God the glory. Abraham considered not his own body, how it was dead; he regarded not the deadness of Sarahs' Womb; nay, when the heavy Mandate to kill and sacrifice his only son Isaac, did seem to contradict the promise, That in Isaac all the Nations should be blessed; yet the Patriarch believes beyond all impossibilities, resting on this sure foundation, and unmoveable, Faithful is he which promiseth, Heb. 10. And thus the true seed of Abraham, do not stagger at the horror of their separation, nor the ugliness of death, nor the corruption of their flesh, nor the rortenness of their bones, nor the dust and ashes whereinto they must be dissolved; they anchor and fasten on this ground, All these promises are certain, they are yea and Amen. In the horror of the Grave, they are the seed of Immortality, which is sown with us, and makes us hope to spring up anew to eternal Glory. Now as these promises are most certain, as arising from his will; so they are unfeigned, and voided of all Sophistry, as proceeding from his Verity. The promises of the world are smooth and sergeant; fair in pretence, empty of performance. They are but skindeep; put them to the Piercer, make trial of them, they are without blood. They gnaw on the bark, there's no sap in them; it being the Compliment of too many, to promise' any thing for present satisfaction. The Tongues of a great part, are tipped with Italianism, you must not show yourselves so rude, as to entertain their courtesies; for they, like to our Oarmen, look one way, and row another. I remember Barclay, in his Icon Animorum, relates how the Italians, when they are most offended, will make the largest tenders of humanity; that so, by the privilege of friendship, they may the more subtly work their revenge. But our Lord God is not carried away with any fluctuation, but remains continually firm upon his Square. He urgeth, and seriously presseth, to an acceptance of his willing proffers: To this end he stretcheth out his hands all the day long, sends forth his messengers early and late, to convince sinners, to terrify and shame them out of their sinful courses. Peter, 2 Epist. 3 chap. 9 vers. abundantly testifies it: First, Negatively, The Lord is not willing that any should perish; having no primary intention, or antecedent thought of their destruction, before they give occasion. Than he proves Affirmatively, That the will of God hath a positive act in procuring their Salvation; because he wills that all should come to repentance. Well might he say, saith Bernard, That he will not the death of a sinner, who died himself to save sinners. In the 23 Chapter of this prophecy, vers. 11. He protests, and confirms it with an Oath, to make his promise more firm and stable; As I live, saith the Lord, I do not delight in the death of the wicked: Yea, rather than he will fail in his purpose of doing his people good, he falls to expostulations, urgeth them to give any colour of reason, why they will rather perish in sin, than be reconciled to him: Why will ye dye, O house of Israel? Is there no hope? will ye not return? will nothing prevail with you? no means? no promises of saving mercies? no threaten? no judgements? will ye not enter into Covenant with me? why will ye not? Why will ye dye, O house of Israel? So in the sixth of Micah, and the third, O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? come and testify against me. As if the Lord had said, What could I have done more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? I have offered Mercy, and it hath been refused; gracious helps and means, and neglected; blessings, and not regarded: I have waited for your Conversion, and ye have not returned. And what is there in all this, that makes you so unwilling to lay down your weapons of Rebellion, that ye have taken up against me? And jest some should charge God foolishly, that his promises are but shadows, like to man's impostures, in the 25 verse, he justifies himself and his deal with them: Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? And indeed, seeing a double heart, which harbours honey in the mouth, and gall in the breast, is abominable before him; how can it be thought he should promise' one thing, and will the contrary? Non mutat voluntatem, sed vult mutationem, as Saint Austin expresseth it; De civ. Dei. he doth not change his will, but wills a change; the alteration is not in the Disposer of the thing, but in the thing disposed of. And therefore, when Saint James calls him The Father of Lights, he presently adds the propriety of the Sun, that fountain of Light, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of change. Indeed, the Moon altars nothing, but she is first altered herself: if she 'cause a flux and reflux of humours below, she waxeth and waneth in her light above. But the Sun, which so turneth the hue of all this lower world, continues still the same; and when it scorcheth most, is ne'er the warmer. So the Lord, upon some occurrences, changeth his Creatures, continuing himself unchangeable. Doth he promise' Life, and yet inflicts Death? That promised Blessing, was upon condition of our obedience; so that if we perform not the condition, no marvel if we fail of these promises. Seeing than we have these unfeigned promises, let us not be wanting to ourselves, but let us fall to our work, which consists in the Act of Renovation, Let us cleanse. You see the Connexion and Dependence of the words; it is not, Having these promises, let us defile ourselves, but, let us cleanse ourselves. The Liberty of a Christian, implies not looseness, but holiness. These promises are the ground of our Obedience, and Obedience is the first step to the Throne. It is the true Badge and Cognizance of a Christian; it was Christ's in Example, it must be ours in Imitation. It is the King's Highway to Heaven, the way beaten out unto us by the Kings own Son; with whom, if we will reign, we must cleanse ourselves, and crucify the old man within us; with a godly revenge, executing those Offences which would have condemned us. We are to put of the old man, as we do our Garments, orderly, and by parts; now cleansing one sin, than another, until we have freed ourselves from their accursed League. All the Levitical cleanness under the Law, the washing of the Priests, cleansing of the people, of the Altar, the Temple, the Gates and Entrances of their Houses; What were they, but so many mysteries of their purifying from the turpitude and deformity of sin? God requires the same of us in substance, which was prefigured in these Ceremonies. The Altar is our heart; the House of the Lord, our bodies and souls, which are the temples of the Holy Ghost; the People and Gates, are we here assembled, whom of no people, he hath made a people, that we should be holy as he is holy, sanctifying our Affections and Actions, which are the Gates and Doors through which the Spirit of Grace is to go in and out. Christ hath not redeemed us to be altogether sedentary, dull and lazy; but to be Operative, and furnished with good works. It is true, God gives the Ability; yet he will have us to make use of it. He will not take all the pains himself, and leave us idly to depend on him. For to sit ourselves down, and lay all on the Divine Providence, is just the sluggish Knave in the Fable; who, when his Cart was overthrown, would needs have his God Hercules come down from Heaven, to raise it up again, whiles himself would be Spectator, and give aim. The Members of Christ are not Stocks and Stones, insensible, without studying of goodness; they are not Ficulnus, inutile lignum, like the Image of Baal, and the Stump of Dagon; they will not suffer the Graces they have received, to sleep in them, but will put their hands to the plough, and labour in the Vineyard. We acknowledge the necessity of preventing Grace, for the Inchoation or beginning of what is good: we believe there must be his Co-operating Grace, to assist our well-doing; and his subsequent Grace, to perfect this mundifying or cleansing work. For it lies not in man's will, nor in his running; but in the Mercy of God, the only Sufficient and Efficient cause of Renovation to Life eternal. Therefore, saith God to his people, Isai. 43. I, even I am he, that puts away thy Iniquity for my own sake. I, with an Ingemination; even I, excluding all other means; for my own sake, removing all other Motives: Yet, without we both will and run, we shall not obtain the Reward. The Lord, saith Prosper, Pros. Res●. ad c. 8 & 5 Gal. offered Salvation to Jerusalem, not for their own deservings, but of his Mercy; yet they obtained it not, because they would neither will nor run. The Scribes and Pharisees despised God's Counsel; but they would neither will nor run, but kept still their old pace, and so they perished, the Kingdom being taken from them, and given to such, as by Grace, both will and run, and bring forth the fruit thereof. Up than, sluggish soul; arise, thou that sleepest, unfold thy hands, and gird they self to the Battle: behold, thy Enemy hath entrenched thee, thy flesh hath compassed in thy soul; and now the only means to subdue it, is to purge and cleanse all peccant humours. The very word doth import, that the Apostle intends not the destruction, but the obedience of the body; that as the body received life and motion from the soul, so it might return a willing service. For God, who requires our bodies as a reasonable and living Offering, means not we should destroy them in our humiliation, or with a careless disrespect, choir put of man, to become Christians. It is only, let us Cleanse ourselves. And thus I am fallen on the proper Object of this Act of Renovation, Let us cleanse OUR SELVES. The world is full of cleansing and scouring the spots and stains it finds, but the spite is, it works not on the right Object, Ourselves. Men run with open Mouths to reprehend the say, Vix. satis apertum os. Sallust. and to reform the deeds of others; they think their tongues too backward in uttering what they have coriceived, and under colour of rectifying and reducing each aberration to the primitive integrity. A foul practice, under a fair pretence. If things be thus or thus ordered, what's that to thee? There are imperfections and defects enough in thy own bosom. How many are the corruptions exalted against obedience to be subdued? how many infirmities to be bewailed? But it is the distemperature of minds discontented at any thing present, to be always discussing what they observe without, seldom or never taking a diligent survey of their own weaknesses that are within. They are want to have Lyncean Eyes to others; more eyes than the Leopard hath spots, not a more shall escape their censure; but as blind as Moles to themselves, more blind than Bartimeus, which knew not Men from Trees. They cannot see beams at home; the reason is, because they are in love with the property of the eye, which sees all but itself. Indeed, the eye sees itself; yet not per lineam directam, but by reflection: so they see their own enormities, yet not per radios directos; but per ambages, & circumloquia. Neither will they see them so, till judgements force them, till they be brought upon their knees. Pharaoh, in the eighth of Exodus, becomes somewhat tractable; but it is when a storm drives him to it. Balaam, in the twenty second of Numbers, bows, and gives good words; but it is when danger is near him, otherwise they will disguise their impiety. But such as these, are reproach enough unto themselves; and seeing they make Scripture a witness of their folly, we will pass them over with a Sponge. It shall be our care to dive into our own breasts, to sit in the Watchtower of our own hearts, viewing and rectifying the relapses and declinations of ourselves. If aspersions be cast upon our best Actions; what a joy will it be, that we should be guilty of Goodness, and be made to commit Charity? Thus the Disciples of Christ knew nothing of the State, they studied themselves, saying, Master, is it I? Mat. 26. Not, Master, is it He? The disciples of Saint John ask, Master, what shall we do? not, What shall they do? We must obey some, hear others, love all, cleanse ourselves. The summons shall be, Give an account of thy own stewardship. Peter therefore, when he would be smattering in beloved John's affairs, receives from our Saviour no other answer but this, What is that to thee? Joh. 21. It may be that sharp reproof made St. Peter give charge against busy meddlers, as against theft and murder: No man must suffer as a Thief or Murderer, nor as a busybody, 1 Pet. 4.15. Well may they be coupled; for many times these Polypragmatiques are their own civil murderers. A prying Eye, and a busy Hand, hath commonly an unquiet heart. And thus, having endeavoured to purge out this Itch of Curiosity, which, like a troublesome Thorn, lay in the way, our passage will be more clear from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, which is the task, together with the parts and faculties infected. You see my Matter; but where is the time to deliver it? May it please you to suspend your Royal Patience till the next Opportunity, and we will give you an account of all. In the mean time, let us not hue out unto ourselves, Cisterns that will hold no water; but let us have recourse to the fountain of Living waters, of which, whosoever drinks, shall never thirst after the impurities of the flesh, but shall have the world crucified to him, and himself unto the World. Let us pray with holy David, Wash us, O Lord, again; and again wash us through from the pollution of the flesh and spirit. 1 Thes 5. Now the very God of peace sanctify us throughout, in spirit, soul and body, and keep us blameless to the coming of our Lord; that so, having our fruit here in holiness, our end may be everlasting Life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 2 Cor. chap. 7. last part vers. 1. — From all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. SERM. XIII. THis later part doth search the sore: a difficult work; it being not contracted to any one special part, but extended from the Crown of the head, to the sole of the foot. The virulent matter hath diffused its rancour through all the Veins and Nerves of the body; nay, it runs from the outward to the inward man, the Spirit hath drunk up its Venom. Not only the Flesh, but the Spirit, is to be cleansed from filthiness; which is the matter to be wrought upon, and that in the full extent, From ALL filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit. And lastly, this purifying act without interruption, is to be in a continual progress, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The ugliness of sin appears by the several Names and Characters wherewith 'tis branded in the Scriptures. In the sixteenth of Ezekiel, it's compared to the pollution of a new born Child. In the thirty sixth Chapter, the same Prophet likens it to the impurity of a removed woman. In the first of John, to the rottenness of man in his grave. David, viewing the deformity of his sins, roars for the disquietness of his heart, finds no rest in his bones; which made him implore the Lord to cover them, and blot them all quite out. It is too manifest, that many harbour some one corrupt affection as their darling; and because they are fortified against the assault of all others, they make fair weather withal, and think all is well with them. The starved Niggard, falls foul upon the full Epicure, and the Epicure jeers the Niggard. The Covetous counts himself a good Christian, because he is not deboshed, not given to licentiousness. And the Voluptuous would be esteemed a good Christian too, in that he abhors all wretched fordidness. This party, and delicate obedience, supplicates to God for a dispensation in Naaman's form: When I bow my knee to Rimmon, said he; to Mammon, saith the Covetous; to Bacchus, saith the Riotous; to Venus, saith the Libidinous; to Mars, saith the Furious; God be merciful to me in this. But the true Convert is at defiance with each sin; he remembers how Herod, a man that never knew the power of goodness, in many things heard John Baptist gladly; yet, in one thing, he would be Herod still, in his filthy incest he would be no Changeling. Whereupon, the regenerate Christian reserves no peculiar Closet for any bosom sin; for he considers, if we leave but one inlet of out souls open to folly, Satan, that old Serpent, who lies in ambush for all advantages, may as well by that, creep in, to our perdion, as by many apparent breaches. The Ship may be sunk by some little insensibleleak, as well as by the violence of the waves breaking in upon it. The lest drachm of poison is enough to infect the soundest Constitution. One prevailing Disease, may kill the body, as well as many: so one Dalilah, one corrupt lust adhering to us, will destroy both body and soul, not lesle than a multitude of sins: the reason is, because the lest sin is as mortal in its nature, as the greatest. Hence it was, that Christ suffered exactly in every part, and rose again completely with all his parts, to show that we also, who are Christ's, should be throughly mortified to sin in all parts, and cuickned to righteousness in every point. The body is not sound, so long as the remainder of a Disease nestles in it; no more can our souls be clean, if one corner be left unswept. In the natural body, if one part be exceeding hot, and the rest exceeding cold, it is a symptom of some distemper within; but if there be an equal temper of heat throughout, than all is well. So it is in the spiritual man; if our blood shall rise at the hearing of an Oath, and yet can be content to cheat our neighbour; that's a sign all is not well within, because true obedience must be in all integrity. For seeing the Almighty made every part and faculty of our bodies and souls, and used no partner in the work, he will never admit the Devil as a Cope-mate to part stakes with him; but like the true Mother of the Child, will have all or none. Thus we read that Christ cast out of Mary Magdalene seven Devils, Mar 16. he left not one: he cast a Legion of Devils out of another, not one was left behind; Mar. 5. to lesson us wholly to put of the old man, and whatsoever hath any affinity with sin and Satan, as the Romans expelled the whole Race of the Tarquins out of Rome. Our purgative therefore must be general, from ALL filthiness, and that of the flesh and spirit, which are the parts so much infected. The flesh is sometimes taken in Scripture for the general Mass of Corruption, as it is repugnant to the Law. So the Apostle, in the fifth to the Galatians, reckons Pride, Envy, and such like, among the works of the flesh: yet flesh here, passeth for that other part, which, with the soul, builds up the whole Man, in regard 'tis put directly opposite to the Spirit. And well it may be so put; for this pollution of the flesh, which cleaves to the substance as Chaff to the Wheat, hath depraved our whole Nature; and so, not our hands only, but our hearts too; as well the inward man, as the outward; the inside, not lesle than the outside, must be cleansed and purified. I find it storied of devout Anselm, how, on a certain time, he cast his eye on a Shepherd's Boy; who, having caught a Bird, tied a stone to the leg, by which means the Bird could not sooner mount and soar aloft, but the stone drew her down again: And so that holy Archbishop, having a sympathy or feeling of human infirmities, fell a weeping, and condoled the miserable state of Man by Nature, who could not sooner by pious Contemplations endeavour to ascend into heaven, but his Corruptions forthwith enforced him to the earth. The noisome steam and exhalations of our sensual affections, cloud the rational faculty or power of our Reason, and so damps the clearness of her operations. It's worth the while to eye the order of the words, Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness: First, of the flesh; than of the spirit, the rebellious motions of the flesh being the matter and fuel of sin. Our flesh is both our worst, and nearest enemy; and the worst, because our nearest. Well may the whole life of Man be called a continual warfare here on Earth, since every one carries his greatest Adversary in his own bosom. And upon very good ground is Heaven said to be got by violence, when our own flesh, like a ponderous and massy weight, is repressing us from aspiring thither. I cannot now wonder, that Saint Paul, as one amazed and much astonished, breaks forth into this passionate exclamation, Rom. 7. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Seeing the Law of the Members hinders the good which we would do, and drives us to the evil we would not do. Now if it much humbled Abraham to remember he was but dust and ashes; Gen. 18.27. far more it should humble us, knowing we are much worse, lumps of sin and corruption: Our bodies and souls being not better than Sterquilinium super sterquilinium, one dunghill tumbled upon another. As for those wrangling disputes, Whether the first motions of the flesh be formally or materially, properly or improperly sins, let them take their rest; it's truly concluded on all sides, and every one must be abundantly sensible, that they are foams peccati, the Matter, the Tinder, Womb of all ungodliness; and therefore are absolutely to be kerbed, not once to be admitted, or at lest presently expelled. Elias cloud was but a little one at first; 1 Kin. 18. yet afterwards it became a covering for the whole heaven. And so the smallest spark of ill motions, may burn into a vast flame. For sin is of a spreading Nature, it never stays where it gins. Give but the lest Serpent room for his head, and he will easily wind in his whole body. The heart being once defiled, we yield our members weapons of uncleanness to uncleanness; so fruitful and teeming a Mother is the inbred Concupiscence of our inordinate Nature. When sinful motions spring up, use them as Hercules used the two Snakes, strangle them in the Cradle, in the swathing band, in the very beginning. Two main enemies to this Act of Renovation, or cleansing the lusts and vicious habits of the flesh and spirit, are intemperate Eating, and immoderate Drinking. For the body carries the soul, as the Horse the Rider; which, if too wantonly fed, will either run away, or dangerously throw him. A surfeited and unruly body, is no habitation for the soul; but a prison, a place only to enclose the spirit, not to entertain it. When the belly is fullest, there is most room for Satan; because the soul is never more fraught with sin, than when the fleshly Epicure is most distended with meat. Let him be glutted, and all the day after will serve for nothing but to sin, or at lest to sleep in. To this purpose Satan set on Jobs Children in the place of their banqueting, and made their Table their Snare, their Dainties their Bane. Let not us than improve sin by the same trade our first Parents purchased it, by eating; for the time will come, when God will destroy the belly, and the meat; when the very flesh, so carefully maintained, will serve for nothing but to maintain the Worms that destroy it. The other Capital Vice which crosseth Mortification, is immoderate using of Drink▪ They are both near of blood: For what is a Clutton, but Qui mensuram stomachi non novit, who delights in nothing but eating and drinking? Would you know why the Sunday is better known to the Drunkard by the Alehouse, than the Church? The Devil hath taken possession in his swinish breast; and that makes him still run headlong to those waters. It is true, Judith 13.2. that Judith killed Holofernes; but we read that the wine began his death. It were good than to harken to Saint Peter's prescription, Be sober, 1 Pet. 4.5. and watch. The better to prevent the like incursions upon the whole man, the Forts and bulwarks of the soul, the exterior senses, are to be well manned and kept safe. The ear and the eye are the two special inlets to all Treasons and Conspiracies against the flesh and the spirit. It is hard to say where lies the more danger: sure I am, the lower house masters the upper; the Law of the members exact obedience of the Law of the mind, the flesh of the Spirit. Job, in his twelfth Chapter, makes the ear the Taster of the soul, as the mouth is for the belly; as if no word went down to the heart, but what the ear approves. Now, if the heart be full, the mouth must vent, if not run over; and if the tongue be wide, the ear will be wide too. This makes profaneness, which is a pain to the Christian, a pastime to the Carnal, because we delight to speak of those things whereof we delight to hear. Hence is it ' that the Tale-teller, and the Tale-receiver, are of as near confederacy, as the Thief and the Receiver, inseparable companions, sworn brothers. In Cant. Devout Bernard makes no more difference betwixt them but this; the one carries the Devil in his Tongue, the other in his Ear. Take than Saint Luke for your Counsellor, Luk. 8.18. who bids you take heed how you hear. For seeing Nature hath left the ear without any door or stop, the lest sound which approacheth those trenches, may be admitted without resistance. If it be not a clear sound, than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, rottenness of speech is like to convey corruption of manners. But upon better view, we find the eye the arrantst traitor; the easiest entrance for assaults against the flesh and the spirit, lies that way. The eyes are the windows of the soul; and if the windows be not shut close, or well guarded, access will be wrought for dangerous Enemies. It may be questioned, whether ever sin had took footing in the world, had it not crept in by the windows of the eye? That which first induced Eve to taste the forbidden Fruit, was this: She saw 'twas goodly to the eye. What brought Achan into destruction, but the waving up and down of his Eye? So soon as he saw the Wedge of Gold, and the Babylonish Garment, his desires were inflamed, and steal he must. Who knows not that David's eyes were a burning-glass to set both body and soul in Combustion? For collecting the beams of Bathsheba's shining beauty, he was set on fire with that was precious in her. And so, by the sparkling lure of the eye, Bathshcba lost her honour, and Vriah his head. I could show you how we read in Saint John, of the lust of the eye; in Saint Peter, of the adultery of the eye; and how Solomon, forbidding to look on the wine while it is read, and sparkling in the Cup, intimates there is a drunkenness of the eye. And though it was Seneca's reproof, an Apostle might have owned it, Etiam oculis gulost sunt; it may be truly said, that, in some sense, there is gluttony in the eye. Such a Mass of Corruption lies lurking in the little Orb of the Eye: Job 31. so that Jobs resolution may be ours, which is to make a Covenant with our Eyes, not to take in these treacherous Temptations, jest the alluring blandishments of the flesh, which pass through the eye, do quench the spirit. For as there are carnal delights, wherewith the body is chief infected; so there are the spiritual impurities wherewith the spirit is defiled. Illa majoris sunt infamiae haec culpae; carnal sins bring greater infamy and shame unto men, but the spiritual leave a greater blot imprinted within. Those make men like Beasts, but spiritual uncleanness make men like Devils. Therefore let's cleanse our selus from all filthiness, not only of the flesh, but of the Spirit, which is the other part put opposite to the flesh. Here the Curiosity of the School is much troubled, how the Soul, being a Spirit, and so immaterial, can receive contagion from the Flesh. Much puzzling there is in losing the knot, in determining the Controversy. Aquinas, as I conceive, is most satisfying; who, 1a 2ae q. 83. Artic. 13. seating the subject of sin in the body and soul united, imputes all that is amiss to the Agency of the Spirits, hurrying in the seed. For these Spirits, saith he, being of a middle nature, betwixt the body and soul, and withal, the Instruments of Generation, do instantly convey the Species or Impressions of sinful imaginations from the Parent to the Child, whereby all the faculties are suddenly depraved. But what need all this ado? We are sure we are fallen into the puddle and filthy sink of sin; let's strive more how to get out, than inquire how we fell in. It is a plain case, that Pride, Envy, and the like, are the Biles and Ulcers of the Soul; and therefore the Imposthumation must be lanced, the cure must be endeavoured. The first turpitude of the Spirit, which comes to be cleansed, is Pride. It was so bold as to intrude into heaven, and thence threw an Angel into hell. This should abate the Crest, and reverse the Arms of the highest Spirit; for if God spared not his Angels, he will not spare the best of men, who are but dust and ashes, if their attempts be proud. Pride would be perking in Paradise, and forthwith Adam was cast out. Mount not than aloft like an Eagle, Desiit esse quod erat, quia voluit essc quod non erat. but consider our first Father lost the perfection of being innocent, by aiming to be transcendent. It would set up its plumes in the Court, and so turned King Nabuchadnezzar a grazing. They than that are sibi ipsis suffeni, smoothers to themselves, forgetting their Nature and their Maker, must know this, Homo esse perdidit, quia se ultra hominem estimavit; he became a Beast, that would needs be more than a Man. Of the same wing with Pride, is the towering Vice of Envy. This is a destroyer, a murderer from the beginning. Saint Basil saies, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, are as like in Nature as in Name. They are Correlatives, slaughter being Envies intimate and Familiar. Cain first envies his Brother, than slew him. Envy is rightly called toxicum charitatis, the bane of Charity: for whereas Charity causeth us to rejoice at the happiness of one another, this makes his Neighbour's welfare, the envious man's Disease. It excires them in whom it reigns, to deal with their brethrens as the Jews did with Christ; who, when they came to speak of his miracles and glorious works, were very remiss and sparing; than they concealed his Name, Hic Homo, this FELLOW doth many Miracles, John 11. But when they wrote the Title of his feigned Crime upon the Cross, there most maliciously they published his Name. Hic Homo would not serve the turn; but Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews; and that in three famous Tongues, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; written too in Capital Letters, that all men might run and read it. Yet of all Vices, this of Envy seems the justest, in that it brings along with it its own Vengeance. For the envious man, because he cannot consume another's heart, most viperously devours and eats out his own: like unto a Bee, who stinging another, loseth at once her own strength and life: Or like to Flies; who, while they strive to extinguish the light of others, torment and burn themselves in the flame. Therefore God should do great injury to the envious, if he placed them in Heaven, where is nothing but Joy. For prosperity being the Object of Envy, it would increase their sorrow. Rightly than is hell allotted for such Vipers, where they shall see nothing they may envy at. The safer to steer our course amidst these corruptions of the flesh and Spirit, Saint Paul, in the fifth to the Galatians, brings a Catalogue of spiritual fruits against the works of the flesh. The fruit of the spirit, saith he, is love, joy, gentleness, faith, temperance, and the like; in which fruits, if ye abide, ye shall never fall, but be partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the pollutions which are in the world, through lusts, 1 Peter, Epist. 2. But this is not all; another stumbling block of offence is to be removed; and so much the rather, because flesh and blood either makes it a mere nothing, or so small, as they think it shall never be brought to trial; and that is the Thought of flesh and blood. Our Thoughts, indeed, are free from inquisition in the Law of Man; they are not so in the Law of God. That calls to Examination idle Thoughts, not lesle than idle words. For the intention of ill, as it is open to God's Eyes, as the ill itself; so 'tis as odious where 'tis nourished in the heart with full consent. A man may thus Think himself to hell: The reason is, because, as in actions which be good, God accepts the desire, where we want ability for the deed: so, in those which are bad, his punishments take hold of the thought, where we want means for the outward act. Our Saviour calls a lustful thought adultery: St. John styles a malicious thought murder. Well than may the Church pray, Cleanse, O Lord, the thoughts of our hearts, by the inspiration of thy holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee; for unless these thoughts be purified, there will be no progress in goodness, no perfecting of holiness in the fear of God, the last and best part, it being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the top and the compliment of all our Perfection. After our Mortification, we must not stay there, as Israel did at the foot of the hill, Exod. 19 but with Moses, ascend into the Mount of God, and improve our holiness. The Israelites gathered Manna every day but on the Sabbath; to signify, that until the everlasting Sabbath of Rest, there must be no standing still in our Christian growth. They are but Embryo's in Religion; Children, in their first Conception, who have their nourishment still sent into them without their Knowledge and will: at the best, but Babes, who are continually sucking the Milk, the first Principles. Men of a full growth, perfect Men, are to digest solid Meat, fortifying the power of Christ that is in them by spiritual exercises. They, who aim to be glorious Citizens above, proceed here, as the Sun, in a constant path, and grow in brightness till they attain the height of perfection. Boast not than of thy undaunted Faith, unmoveable Grace, for if thou dost not long and endeavour to be increased in Faith, and furthered in Sanctification; I doubt whether any spark of Faith, any atom or grain of Grace be in thee or no. That desperate saying was the Devils dictating; I am predestinated to life, and so what matters my endeavour, I am sure to be saved? For while we are Viatores, Passengers on the way, it's good providence to fear as well as to hope. I do not in this mixture of flesh and spirit, expect we should be all spiritual; that were not to be of the Church Militant, but Triumphant. Novatus and Pelagius screwed Man to such a purity, as might make him free from all weaknesses; so that when he prayed for forgiveness of sins, it was rather humiliter then veraciter, out of modesty than truth. Indeed, I read that Saint Paul, touching the righteousness of the Law, lived unrebukably, even before he was converted: men's eyes could spy no fault in him. In the first to the Corinthians, he protested that he knew nothing by himself. In the twenty fourth of the Acts, he avows to the face of his most quicksighted Adversaries, that he truly worshipped the God of his Fathers, believing all things in the Law and the Prophets, had hope in the resurrection of the dead, and laboured to keep a clear Conscience towards God and Man. In the twentieth of the Acts, he takes the Elders of the Pharisees to witness after what manner he had lived with them at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility, and with many tears; and how he passed not for Bonds and Afflictions, neither was his life dear unto him, so that he might fulfil his course with Joy. When he was now ready to be offered up, and the time of his departing was at hand, his Conscience could give him this Testimony, I have fought a good fight, and finished my course, I have kept the faith: from henceforth is laid up for me the Crown of righteousness. And yet notwithstanding all this his righteousness, in the third to the Philippians he confesseth he hath not attained to that perfection of Grace he aught to labour for. And if not so, than out of his own mouth, he was not pure from sin. For, S. Aust. to Jerom. Ep. 29. quicquid minus est quam debet, ex vitio est; what we do not so well as we aught, we do amiss. But if not Saint Paul, than who may pharisaically think himself perfect, or as the Angel of Laodicea, wanting nothing? If any should dare thus to over-value his borrowed Talents, he will show a brain as empty of understanding, as a heart of Devotion. They magnify the arm of flesh, more than reason will admit, who, because they find some passages in Scripture concerning the innocency, justice and perfection of God's Children, do simply infer, That every jot and punctilio of the Law may be fulfilled. Saint Austin gives a good Rule, Cum dicitur cujusque rei perfectio, qua in re dicatur videatur: When the perfection of any thing is named, we must consider wherein it is named. Job may be righteous, compared with whom he lived; the Publican may go to his house more justified than the Pharisee, yet not absolutely justified. The Spouse in the Canticles may be fair among Women; yet her beauty not such, but she complains of her blackness. The Gospel-purity is not here full, absolute and complete; 'tis only in part, in respect and in constancy of sincere endeavours. And therefore 'tis added, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Holiness rooted in the fear of God, doth not mix with carnal respects; it is single, not mercenary; sincere, not sergeant: Painted Rottenness, and glistering Vice, is an abomination to the Lord. And therefore, of all Nations, a dissembling Nation is styled The People of God's wrath, Isaiah the tenth, as fittest for the fire of his burning ire. That than we may not have our portion with Hypocrites, let our Hearts and Souls be purified with a sound Faith, bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of Christ, having our Minds entirely swayed with the Fear of God; making it appear by outward Expressions of Humility and Reverence, that the right Spirit of God's Fear is upon us. Now the God of Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will, that so you may be Partakers of a Glorious Inheritance among them, who have cleansed themselves throughly from ALL filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit, and purified their Bodies and Souls in the Blood of the Lamb. AMEN. Deo Gloria, mihi venia. 1 Pet. chap. 5. vers. 6. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. SERM. XIV. THe Apostle having considered in the last words of the former Verse, how the Almighty looks on the highminded as on his Opposites, whom he resists to the uttermost: and on the contrary, that he is gracious to such as are lowly in their own eyes; hereupon he strongly urgeth every one to humble himself, that he may be exalted. In the former part of my Text, which is an Exhortation, there's an Act, the Act of humbling: the Object of that Act, yourselves; humble yourselves, not others: We have work enough at home, why should we busy ourselves abroad about the weaknesses of our Brethrens? The Motives inducing this humiliating Act, are two; the one implied in the illative term, [therefore] God resists the proud, humble yourselves therefore: The order is expressed in the words which follow, under the mighty hand of God; God's hand is mighty, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. The later part, which is the reason of the Exhortation, contains the honour indulged to the truly humbled, Exaltation; together with the Author thereof prefixed, that HE may exalt you; and in the close is set down the opportunity of the time, in DUE time: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. My Theme or Subject, is Humility, a virtue more praised than practised; and yet 'tis a foundation whereon all other Christian duties are builded. That this groundwork may be well laid, we are to consider the effect which comes by it. In the precedent Verse, we are exhorted to deck ourselves inwardly with lowliness. Indeed, our translation reads, Be clothed with humility; but the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, signifies not simply clothing, but bedecking: the Apostle than esteems it an Ornament, and that so beautiful and wellpleasing in God's Eye, that he adds grace unto it; He gives grace to the humble, saith that Verse. The Scripture is copious in this point, that the heart which receives most from God, ever thinks lest of itself. It was the humble speech of Abraham, I am but dust and ashes, Gen. 18. he's made the Father of the Faithful. It was the submissive voice of Jacob, I am lesle than the lest of God's Mercies, Gen. 32. he's made his brother's lord. John acknowledgeth he is not worthy to lose the Latchet of Christ's Shoe, Luk. 3. he's made his Redeemers Baptist. The Centurion cries out, He is not worthy Christ should come under his roof, Mat. 8. his servant is restored to health: a gracious reward of his lowliness. The blessed Virgin professeth herself the Lords Handmaid, she's made the Mother of God incarnate. So true is that of Saint Austin, Qui sibi displicet, Deo placet: To fall out with thyself, is the next way to make God thy Friend. Thou shalt be so much more glorious in the sight of the Lord, by how much the more contemptible and inconsiderable thou art in thy own estimate. It was Samuel's interrogatory to Saul, 1 Sam. 15. When thou wast little in thy own eyes, wast thou not great in the eyes of God? All waters run naturally to descending places: so do the influences of supernatural graces to the lowly, who are as Valleys; not to the proud, who are as Mountains. A full Stomach will not digest more Meat: so a haughty mind is uncapable to receive any store of blessings. The Pharisee thought himself full, he went home empty, Luk. 18. One cause, saith Seneca, why men are not wise, is because they think themselves wise already; so many come not to their wished-for height, because too soon they think so high of themselves. He that will enter into a house with a low door, must first stoop; Christ is the door of Heaven; and he that will enter there by him, must of him learn to be lowly in heart, Mat. 19 Many things teach us humility: First, the Omnipotent Majesty of God, in whose sight the Stars, some translate the Angels are unclean, Job 25. and therefore there is in us a nullity, in respect of his irresistible greatness. Secondly, our Name, homo ab humo, bids us to reflect on the despicableness of our extraction, to descend in domum Figuli, where we may found Clay, or the basest of all Elements, Earth, to be the Original Matter of our first being. The consideration whereof, forced the Persian Emperor, haughty Xerxes, to pour out tears, in regard none of his formidable huge Army should be alive within an hundred years; and thereupon to proclaim himself a King of Dust, and not of Men. Again, the Contemplation of our Souls will help to humble us; the faculties whereof being sore wounded, since our fall in Adam. The best rarities we have, are but dona, God's donatives; they are given, and that ad Beneplacitum Dei, we have them not by Lease. Besides, that which we know not, is more than that which we know; if one be wise, another is wiser; and where's the more Grace, there's the more sense of the want of it; therefore no cause to glory therein. Moreover, knowledge often begets a high conceit, Scientia inflat; Humility serves as a Pin to prick that windy Bladder of Knowledge. Consider likewise how the greatness of your endowments do greaten your burden, add to your charge, and enhaunse the reckoning. For, to whom much is given, of him much is required. If thou hast five Talents, thy Lord will look for the increase of five, Mat. 25. Do not than despise others, as lacking those good parts, which you seem to have; but make yourselves equal to them of the lower sort, Rom. 12. and in giving honour ('tis not in taking honour) go one before another, vers. 10. Experience also shows, that little Keys are placed by the great; and little Pipes, with the great, make good Music: So it is in the condition of man's life, little and great, the mighty and the mean, sort well together in mutual Offices. The lest member in the body, the lest pin in the building, the lest nail in the work, hath its place and use; none are to be contemned. The favours which the humble enjoy, I conceive to be arguments to humble us. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, Mat. 5. as if it were prepared for none but such. To him will I look, even to him that is of a poor and contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my words, Isai. 66. As if God would vouchsafe none so much as a look, but the humble. What shall I say of Christ, the exemplary pattern of Humility? Did thy Prince, being Lord of Lords, make himself of no reputation? Phil. 2. Drink of the brook in the way? Psal. 111. Take the form of a Servant, and wilt thou domineeringly lord it over thy fellow-Servants? Thy Redeemers Head hanged down upon the Cross; do not though than, who art but a subordinate Member, be eager to be set up on Thrones; rather let pride have a fall, let us fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he comes to resist the proud. Humble yourselves therefore, even therefore, because God resists the proud: which is the first Motive in my Text. The Original speaks more emphatically, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God sets himself in battle array against him that hath a proud look. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is a military word, signifying in order to set against: So that the Lord doth instruere aciam, even gather an army of his Creatures against the insolent. He is not tied to vindicate his honour merely by an army of Men; he can raise an army of his lowest Creatures, able enough to confounded the proudest Pharaohs, the most deified Herod's: an army of Flies, or an army of Locusts; an army of Frogs, or an army of Lice; an army of Drops, or an army of Dust: He can raise an army against the proud out of his own Flesh; an army of Worms, or an army of spots; an army of fiery Inflammations, windy Convulsions, watery Defluxions: He can raise an army out of his own soul; an army of vain Follies, and ruinous Devices. If God be against us, who can be with us? Neither is he limited to apparent and sensible ways, he can destroy the proud by secret and hidden blows. When Nabuchadnezzar was proud of his goodly and gorgeous building, a Voice from Heaven said, Thy Kingdom is departed from thee; and presently he was exiled, and made free Denizen of the fields seven years, Dan. 4. This sin hath a long repentance. Goliath, the glory of the Philistines, was resisted only by a stone which was fling at him, and his own Sword cut of his head, 1 Sam. 11. Antiochus threatened to make Jerusalem a common place of burial for the Jews; God smote him with an invisible incurable disease in his Bowels, wherewith he was tormented till his death, 2 Machab. 9 Secondly, God resists the proud by hindering their purposes: when Zenacharib, the proud King of Assyria, intended the destruction of the Jews, God, by his Angel, slew an hundred fourscore and five thousand of his Camp by night; and only by the hearing of a noise, a blast, he was so scared, that he turned home into his own land, where he fell by the Sword of his own Sons, 2 King. 9 Saul proudly purposed David's destruction; 1 Sam. 23.27, 28. a Messenger on the sudden telled him a Rumour, that the Philistines had invaded the Land, and he turns from pursuing David. Thirdly, God resists the proud by turning their Counsels upon themselves, and ensnaring them with their own mischiefs. The proud Princes of Babylon condemned Daniel to the Lion's Den; but the Lions devoured them, their Wives and Children, Dan. 6. Lastly, God resists the proud by taking away the things whereof they are proud. The Damsels of Israel are threatened to have all their bravery and ornaments ta'en away, Isai. 3. The Cormorant, proud of his richeses, was bereaved of them, Luk. 12. So if we be proud of our strength, God will take it away by sickness; if of beauty, by an Ague or the small Pocks; if of wit, by an Apoplexy, or doting folly. It's evident, the Almighty's word stands as a Law, which saith, He that exalts himself shall be brought low, Luk. 18. He that is proud, shall come to shame; nay, to destruction, Prov. 12. And thus, from the Argument of Illation by way of resistance, I proceed to the other Motive in regard of the mighty hand of God: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. But hath God a hand? Yes: as he hath an Eye, Foot, and the like; not properly, truly and literally; but improperly, figuratively, in a borrowed sense, by way of similitude or resemblance. So the Apostle, expressing the exercise of God's supreme power, speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, after the manner of men, who are want to be humbled by the hand. So when God by his mighty power dried the Sea, softened the Rocks, turned the River into Blood, stayed the Sun, darkened the Moon, and made the whole earth to tremble; the Psalmist calls this might of his power, the might of his hand; Psal. 11●. 15. The right hand of the Lord hath brought mighty things to pass: It is the might and strength of his power, which order all things according to the Counsel of his own william. It is He who in due time will exalt us. He, not Chance or Fortune; but He, and He alone; shall exalt, not tread down; in due time, not perhaps in a time expected, but than, when it shall be more requisite, more comfortable, even in due time. Now if all true advancement be from God, he than that is exalted, and not by the Lord, is exalted with a Vengeance. Haman was so highly exalted, that he was reputed as Haman the high: but because it was not this HE in my Text who exalted him, all his honour quickly decayed; for when he expected to be raised to the high seat of Dignity, a Halter was his comfort; they hanged him on a Tree which he had prepared for Mordecai. How did Abimelech weary and waste himself in obtaining a Kingdom? but because he took not the right Method in coming to it by the Lord, the prime Author of all glory, all his pomp lay in the dust: a silly woman cast a piece of Millstone upon his head, and broke his Scull, which was the bane of all his hopeful endeavours, Judg. 9 In the eleventh of the second of Kings, Athaliah reigned. Queen over all the Land; but because the Lord set her not up, but her own bloody Ambition, by destroying the Seed royal, not long after she was slain by the Sword. Let us therefore rather want, than be great on any terms, which are not godly and righteous. It's better to endure poverty, than to be potent by parting with piety. The purchase is extremely dear, when we part with our souls in the bargain. Again, it is He the LORD which exalts; why than boastest thou thyself, sacrificing to thy Nets, as if by thy wit or worth thou couldst add one cubit to thy stature, one mite to thy millions, one grain to thy graces? Without me, saith Christ, ye can do nothing, John 15. And, without God, saith the Apostle, you can have nothing, 1 Cor. 4. What saith the Psalmist? Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: and except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen watch in vain, Psalm 127. And whom the pride of heart promoteth, though they should make their nest as high as the Eagle, the Lord will bring them down thence, Jer. 49.16. Yea, though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung, vers. 6, 7. Do not than in your endowments, say thus: I have gotten by the might of my power; but look up rather to God, who hath so poured out his blessings on us, that we should remember to give up our blessings to him, praising and magnifying his holy Name, that he may exalt you. We see in Nature, that the greatness of enjoyments infer the lowest condescensions; the more the Tree is laden with Fruit, the lower it bends to the ground. Hence it is, that many come short of honour, though it be most men's aim, because they would ascend to be honoured, without descending to be humbled. The old Romans, in building one Temple to Virtue, and another to Honour, conjoined them in such sort, as none could enter into that of Honour, except he first made a passage through this of Virtue. In like manner 'tis God's Ordinance, that none be exalted in his upper Courts, but such as contentedly submit to stoop and pass through the low wicket, and narrow door of Humility here below. This is exemplified in little and lowly David, whose Humility translated him from the Sheep-fold to the high seat of Princes; yea, of the Princes of his people. We confess, every one that is humble, doth not here with Saul, find a Kingdom, while he is seeking his Father's Asses, 1 Sam. 9 Yet many mean Apprentices, who have endured the heat of the day, and the drudgery of the night, have been advanced to the Scarlet and golden Chain of a Lord Maior; and sure 'tis within the memory of man, that poor Scholars have ascended to be Lord-Bishops. But this exaltation of the lowly, is raised by degrees; for though God be ever the same in himself, yet he is not always so in us; though he loves his beloved to the end, yet his love hath some intermission. And this he doth in his infinite wisdom; for the withholding of that we desire, increaseth our desire; the more we stay for it, the more we long after it. We commonly never know the benefit of a thing, but by the absence of it; our health would not be so much esteemed, if it pleased not the Lord we were sometimes sick. The long absence of a Friend, makes him the more welcome at his return. Thus the only wise Disposer of all things, often times delays his Mercies, substracts his Comforts, withdraws his gracious Presence, to the end we may know ourselves, and seek after him with greater fervency and devotion. The humble have their crosses, but they are only for the trial of their Virtues. What if we be humbled under the mighty hand of God? the same hand which smote us, shall make us whole, and lift us up; and that in DUE time. All things have a time, orderly things a due time. In bestowing his Mercy, the Lord regards the circumstance so well as the substance; not only in time, but in due time. That's the grace of a favour, to do it opportunely, orderly, and conveniently, in a due time. Food and Physic given in due season, prospero well; but the most necessary of these out of due time, doth hurt rather than help. God hath this gracious attribute among the rest, He is a present help in time of need, Psam 9.9. (That is) he performs it in extremity; than, when the mind of him who is in affliction, doth most greedily covet and desire it. To every thing, Eccles. 3.1. there is an appointed time; whatsoever is done, suffered, enjoyed, whether natural, voluntary, or involuntary, it hath a set time wherein 'tis beautiful and comely. And though long, yet at length every promise, every threat, every prediction, shall come to his just period and performance. So 'tis expressed in Habakkuk the second, The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it, because it shall surely come, it will not tarry. It is the madness of the world, not to stay the time God hath designed, but they must straight have their long. Good Moses was overtaken thus, expostulating with the Lord, Exod. 5. Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy Name, he hath vexed this people more, and yet thou hast not delivered thy people at all: He thought it much to expect Gods due time. In like manner the souls of those that lie under the Altar, cried, Lord, how long? thou art holy, and just, and true; dost thou not judge, avenge our blood on them that devil on the earth? Revelations the sixth. But they received answer, They must rest for a season, till the fullness of time. Nothing befalls us, but in God's time; which we must attend, not prescribe. In the one hundred twenty ninth Psalms, God suffered evil men to blow the Church, and so make long Furrows on the back of it; Yet, saith the Prophet, the Lord will cut the cords of the wicked: their plough shall have no more traces to be drawn with. The Church may be given over to be vexed and tormented for a certain season; but when the holy One hath done his work, when he hath sufficiently corrected his people to their amendment, than he breaks the cords, the traces, and bonds asunder. The Israelites groaned a long time under Pharaohs burdens; but when four hundred and thirty years were full, the period which God set, the fit time; than, upon the very same day, they were delivered, and Pharaoh utterly destroyed, Exo. 12.41. There's a clear place for this, Deut. 32.35. Where, speaking of the Enemies of the Church, 'tis said, His foot shall slide in due time. Perhaps you may complain and think it too long, but 'tis not too long; if it were any sooner, it would be too soon. In DUE time his foot shall slide: Yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry, Heb. 10. That is, he will not tarry a jot beyond the due time and season that is fittest. When blessed Mary, the Mother of the Lord, would have had him to turn water into wine, he telled her she must stay her time, for my hour is not yet come, John 2. (i) The hour wherein it might be more acceptable, and the miracle more profitable for them, for whose sakes the blessed Virgin desired it to be done. So though he exceedingly loved Lazarus, yet he would not make such haste to help him, as was desired, John 11. And why? even because he who knew all things, knew this also, That when he was dead in his grave, the time was most fit, First, in regard of God, because thereby to him would accrue the greater glory. Secondly, in respect of Christ himself, because by such an extraordinary Act, he should the more sound confute and confounded the Jews. And besides, his Disciples, through this Miracle, were the more strongly confirmed in their belief. Wherhfore, in the midst of our pressures and calamities, let us abide cheerfully, and comfortably look for God's due time. For the All-sufficient helps at a pinch; when all help fails, than is he seen. Doth Jacob want bread at home? Gen. 45. than Joseph is heard of abroad. Though he would not deliver Ionas from the tempest, Ionas 2. he did from the Whale's belly. The greater the danger was, the more his glory. The better to win you to wait God's leisure, as Abraham did, bethink yourselves how many a long look God hath made for us. Rev. 2. Hath he not stood at our Doors knocking and calling, till his head was full of dew, Cant. 5. and his locks full of the drops of the night? Forty days he stayed for Nineve, Ionas the third. Forty years for Jerusalem, Psalm the ninety fifth; and a Century for England. How much more than should we wait on him, till he will have mercy; ingeminating our prayers for help, until he heals our bones, since he hath promised that he will rise and have mercy upon Zion? Psalm 102. We now, O Lord, humble ourselves before thee, in praying to thee, and by a thankful Remembrance of thy Meritorious dying for us. Now therefore exalt us in thy strength, refresh our souls with the Comforts of thy holy Spirit, that we may glorify thy holy Name, trust in thy promises, and hope in thy Mercies, through Christ's Merits; to whom, with thee and the holy Spirit, be ascribed all Honour and Glory, be rendered all praise and thanksgiving, service and obedience, from Generation to Generation. Amen. John 1. first part vers. 14. The Word was made Flesh. SERM. XV. THese words, though few in number, are in meaning large: Take them Historically, so they are a short Creed: Take them Figuratively, so they contain the mystery of the blessed Sacrament: Take them Morally, so they sum up the practic end of all our preaching. Thus, as I conceive, they set forth unto us, a threefold Incarnation of our Saviour; His Incarnation in the Womb, in the Eucharist, in the Life of a Christian. One way he is incarnate by himself alone; the second way he is often made flesh by our subordinate Ministry, that is, sacramentally; and a third way he is to be made flesh by your tractable duty. The Historical sense I have heretofore examined, and by command, 'twas made publicly extant. Therein I shown three members growing out of the Text; the Person Assuming, the Nature Assumed, and the Manner of the Union. The Person Assuming, the Word, the second Person of the Deity; the Nature Assumed, Human, by the Name of Flesh; the Manner of Union, secretly and wonderfully wrought, not by carnal generation, not by conversion, or mixture of substance, but by mere making; The Word was MADE flesh. The sum of the first member was this: That by the Name of Word, the Son of God, or Gods inward Conception and pure Reason, was here signified; (for a Spirit hath naturally no other Son but such) and that he was signified by the Name Word more properly and personally than by any other. Moore properly than by the Name Son; for that name is common to Adam, Luk. 3.28. and doth not sufficiently distinguish from the uncleanly and material birth of Creatures. Likewise that he is named by Word more personally than by Light, Wisdom, Image, which without some further Adjunct, agrees to other persons of the Deity. From the second Member, this is the Extract, That the incomprehensible Word took Flesh to become sensible: that he so manifested himself for our Salvation, which could not be wrought by taking any but human flesh, the same that offended. Flesh, man's worse part, as well as the better, to save him wholly. True flesh, to save him indeed. Flesh in general, to save many; not flesh restrained to a particular human, but elevated to a divine Person. That such generality was most congruous with his all-spreading Divinity; that the Comfort thereof extended the Capacity of Salvation to us Gentiles and Sinners, as well as to the Jews; that flesh being so contemptible and vile, and yet taken by Christ the Natural Son of God, was also a Motive to Humility. The Contents of the last member were these; That his temporal or second Conception, was merely a making; not human generation joined with carnal Knowledge, but a secret over-shadowing and workmanship of God, joined with the Virgins: That thereby it was pure in itself, and fit to cleanse others: That this making was not conversion either of Word or Flesh, no mixture of both, but only a distinct reception of human nature, into the personal subsistence of the Deity: That there arose from this Union, an ample transfusion of Royal gifts and prerogatives, whereby the human Nature was highly advanced; and likewise by that Nature, our human Persons, who, by this means, have a near Consanguinity with God, and great hope by that Consanguinity. Thus much Historically, for your constant belief: I will now proceed to touch the same Text sacramentally, for your future benefit; for in the Sacrament also the Word is made Flesh. Word is now to be taken in another sense, not substantially for the Person of Christ, but effectively, for the word by him spoken, the word of Consecration, first pronounced by our Saviour, and afterwards by us: Or else for a further effect of that word, grace conveyed by Christ's Institution, and our Ministry, into a sacramental body. And than for the Word made flesh, you have grace made meat; grace, the beam of his Godhead in bread, the Deputy of his Flesh and Manhood; which if ye eat religiously with a believing soul, as well as naturally with a digesting body, not only as bread, but as a Sacrament, than eat and live, be as gods indeed, knowing good without evil. For than the bread is not more really converted into your flesh for bodily strength, than the flesh of Christ is truly united to your souls for the strength of the Spirit; truly united, not by the identity of Nature only, so it was before, but by lively Operation. The incarnation made the Sacrament true, the Sacrament makes the incarnation beneficial. For Sacraments are not only solemn Ceremonies, and significant Commemorations of Christ's death; but exhibitive Conduits of Life to us; through which, if they be not stopped by our own wilful or negligent faith, grace will constantly flow. Many similitudes there are betwixt these two Nativities: Though that were transacted in a Stable, and this in a temple; yet commonly in both places Christ is laid in a Manger, a dusty filthy Manger; else the beasts cannot feed about him, profane Men-beasts, barbarously sluttish through pretended purity, excessively proud through Christ's humility. As there the Word was true God, so here he is true grace; as there he was perfect man, so here he is perfect bread, bread indeed, the true staff of Life; transubstantiated into flesh, I will not say, nor consubstantiate with flesh, (for what need this?) but the body of Christ so truly present, (though I know not fully how) that you may safely call the consecrated bread, the body of Christ. Again, as the Word did not assume any particular human person, but flesh in general; so grace is here annexed to general bread; general, for the many grains whereof it was made, to signify the Unity of fit Receivers: general for the making, it may be ordinary and usual bread, to signify the indifferency of the Receivers, any Gentle of any estate, any well-disposed Christian, may come and welcome. Besides, as the Word was not converted into flesh by the Union there; so grace is not here transcorporated into bread; the mere bodily eating will not ingratiate. One touch of faith was once more medicinable, and may be still, than either was the thronging of the rude multitude to our Saviour, Mat 9 or the gross eating of him can be to you. Lastly, as the wise men came worshipping and bringing presents at our Saviour's substantial birth, Gold, Myrrh and Frankincense; so they that are wise, will reverence his sacramental birth; they will bring their Treasure of Charity to relieve his poor, they will bring the Myrrh of repentance to embalm and bury the old Man of sin; their incense of prayer and devotion, whose sweet savour may ascend up to heaven. One main difference I found: Christ was than lodged in a pure Virgin, but our vile Carcases have been deflowered or defiled with divers fleshly and worldly lusts. What shall we say than? Shall we cry out with the Centurion, Mar. 8.8. I am unworthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof? Luk. 5.8. Or with Saint Peter, Lord, departed from me, for I am a sinner? Not so, Lord; but let thy blessed Spirit joined with our own sighs, fan our inner parts; that though still unworthy, we may be somewhat more worthy of so high a Guest. If the Word be made flesh in the Sacrament: & you the receivers, than whensoever you come near, address yourselves like the blessed Virgin, while the earthly Angel thus saultes her, Luk. 1.28. Hail Soul full of grace, the Lord is with thee: Than must you necessarily stand amazed; V 30. but he proceeds, Fear not, behold, thou shalt conceive, V 31. and bear a Son, his Name is JESUS. Than put thou on the Modesty of blessed Mary; what said she? How may this be, V 34. seeing I know not a man? So say thou, Lord, how may this be, since I know thee not, not as I aught? V 35. The same answer may serve for both, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee: Than take blessed Mary's Faith, and ready Obedience, V 38. Be it according to thy word; than her humility, esteeming thyself far unworthy of such honour, V 48. and he that is mighty will regard the lowliness of his Servant; Than break out into her thanksgiving, My Soul doth magnify the Lord, V 46. and my Spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour: And be sure of her Charity, resolve to visit Elizabeth, V 40. and to live in Amity with thy kindred in Christ. This instruction in one respect is like the Ant's provision, to be laid up against another season. Providence may lay it up, but folly, I fear, will be the Keeper: what say the Many, the Multitude? It need not be used till Easter. How are we fallen from the Primitive Zeal towards this heavenly food? the time hath been when it was daily bread; and need not we pray it were permitted to be made so now? The sad face of these warring times being drawn with as deep a shadow as that. But men, for the most part; use it scarce yearly; and by their wills, take it once in an age; just when they are dying, than they call for the means of good living; and when they can sin not more; they think of repentance and pardon; so condemning all their former life, by their own judgement and act at last. But be it sadly considered; is this a sound reason to excuse our backwardness, I am not in Charity, I am clogged with weights of sin, or I have some lusts to be fulfilled? Than say likewise, I am sick, and therefore unapt to take Physic; I have soars upon me, and therefore will touch no Plaster; I am almost starved, and therefore will eat no bread: But say others, this Physic, this Plaster, and this Food, if not rightly used, is dangerous and deadly: so is prayer, so is preaching, so is thy common bread, so is every thing which God hath given for our welfare: but as evil is not to be committed for love of good; so is not good to be omitted, for fear of evil. Wherhfore invert thy frigid reason, and endeavour to draw near: do not forbear because thou art in malice, but force thyself to be in Charity, that thou mayst communicate. Do not hug thy sin, and complain it makes thee unfit, jest thou be found to prefer that sin before Christ; but rather renounce it with thy heart, and Christ is ready to be received. If still thou think thyself unworthy, know, that so to think, is the best part of thy worthiness. Let the words I have spoken concerning the enlivening of this God-uniting mystery, both excite your appetite of receiving the substance, and instruct your devotion in the manner of receiving it. Than these things which I have delivered, being rightly performed at the sacramental Incarnation, you shall soon be well gone with a third Nativity, even the Moral, which is to be ripened by a religious and dutiful practice of Christ's holy precepts. For thus in Morality, the Word is also made flesh; which is the third sense proposed. The Word, I say, is made flesh, as before substantially in the Womb, when Christ came down to us; and than effectively in the Sacrament, where he meets us half way: so now affectively in our Christian morality, whereby we travel to him; and through which he descends to the heart, and there takes deeper hold; and still by the same spiritual way, still by an over-shadowing of the Holy Ghost, and Man's obedient Faith. Take heed than how you hear, for Christ is in the Voice. As the Word in the Flesh was spiritually conceived; so now in the sound he cannot be conceived carnally, nor impregnate a heart which is filled with unclean desires. When that which you hear, is well digested, when it thrives and grows into bodily action, when the engrafted Word buds out, and brings forth fruit after the spiritual graft; than is the Word perfectly incarnate, than it hath gotten living Members masterable to the best use; eyes to look up, knees to pray, hands to give, and a mouth to praise. See that ye thus use your Members. If the Word be so prevalent in you, as to make you, subdue the unruliness of the flesh to the Governance of the spirit, to drown the habit of excess in the Cup of the Eucharist, to consume the fire of lust and the fire of stife with the fire of Devotion. If ye observe with all your power, a sober, a clean, and Virginlike behaviour, adding your Fiat and obedient consent to the Word spoken; Christ is much alike made flesh in you, as in the pure and blessed Virgin. See you strive to put this in practice. If, remembering the word of Christ, ye overcome the solicitous dotage of this world, with meditation of heavenly treasure, and proceed to make friends of unrighteous Mammon, scattering the superfluous dust of your pockets, or doales of your basket, the Word is almost literally made flesh; flesh in thy hand, flesh in him that is fed also; and He, whom thou feedest, is Christ. Me you fed, Mat. 25.35, 36. V 40. etc. Me you clothed, Me you lodged; 'twas I, saith our Saviour. And well shall ye be while this is practised. But those, thou wilt say, are tokens of a Moral, Foster-parent, not of one that brings forth Christ indeed. Be it so; yet if Christ esteemed his Moral, his Foster-Parent better than his Natural, as merely natural, do thou esteem so too. In comparison of obedient Hearers, he seems to vilify his own Mother: M●●●●. 48. Concerning her, he asks who, who she was; He seems strange to her, for our learning; but his obedient Hearers he freely acknowledgeth, V 4●. Behold my Mother, my Brothers, and my Sisters: And as Christ spoke, so blessed Mary thought of herself, according to her wont humility; for, saith the Gospel, Luk 2.19. she laid up his say in her heart. She had not so much of him already, but that she needed a further Conception: Better it was to bear him in soul, than to have born him in body. However, great resemblance there is betwixt bearing, and true hearing. Saint Paul communicates the acts of the one to the other, breeding, fashioning, travel: My Children, I am in travel again till Christ be fashioned within you, Gal. 4.19. When the Word gins to curdle, and qualms come over the Conscience, than is Christ a breeding; when godly purposes are conceived, Christ is a fashioning; when our bowels yearn with heavenly long for execution, than we are in travel with Christ; and when we come to action, Christ is delivered; yet still remaining within. Wilt thou farther know how he lives within? Even as thou dost, by Motion, Heat, and Food: By Motion upward, in love of heavenly things; downward, in fear of infernal: by Heat also, that of Zeal and Devotion: by Food likewise, continual supply of the word, which repairs what sin hath wasted; and not without a restraining digesting faculty, which turns the food to nourishment, to growth, and fruit. Yet Christ, when he was upon the earth, did not live upon the Word only, sometimes on bread. Feed him now with bread also, not only with that bread which thou receivest in the Sacrament, sometimes with that thou shoudlst give to others; to others, that thyself may'st live in Christ, and He in thee. Why did the Woman cry out, BLESSED is the Womb that bore thee, Luk. 11.27. and the Breasts that gave thee suck? What need of a Womb, when thou hast a fruitful heart? What need of Milk, when thou hast strong Meat? Or why no care but only for this Milk, the sincere Milk of the Word? Give Christ the strongest Meat a poor man can eat, feed him with such Breasts as Kings, in the sixtieth of Isaiah, are said to have, with protection of his weak, bounty towards his little ones. Beloved, there is not a woman, nor a Virgin, not nor a man here, but by some kind or other, by obeying the Gospel, may be the Mother of Christ, his blessed Mother; and, if you believe the Prophet, may have breasts to give him suck. This is easier for you to believe, than for blessed Mary the Message brought to her; you have her Example, she had none. And shall you than, all the sort of you, be Mothers of Christ? Doubt it not: Be only in some measure pure as HE, holy as HE, righteous as HE, humble as HE, charitable as HE; as HE by word and Example bids you, and Christ will grow within you. Than if his flesh be blessed, blessed shall you be, you that hear his Word, and make it flesh by doing. AMEN. S. Matthew, chap. 12. vers. 36. But I say unto you, That of every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account at the day of judgement. SERM. XVI. IN this Chapter Christ is questioned, blasphemed, and blasted with the infamy of casting out Devils by the power of the Devil. For the Pharisees, the men principally intended in the Text, had their eyes so blinded with malice, that seeing, they might not see, or at lest not acknowledge the wondered miracles of our Saviour, to proceed from the Spirit of God; Pride puffed them up with an affectation of being called Masters of Israel; and caused them, by way of Prerogative, to assume that cenforious humour of judging others, which here they put in practice upon the Judge of the whole world. The unsettled multitude was herewith amazed, vers. 23. In this Sea of distraction, jest the Church might suffer Shipwreck; Christ, in the richeses of his mercy, becomes the Pilot himself, draws the directing Compass, makes the Card they must sail by, preacheth to them what they aught to follow; and by showing the danger of a lesle sin, seeks to divert them from a greater. The drift of his Argument being this: Delude not your souls in extenuating your Offences; Obloquys so well as blasphemies, not only grossly evil, but trifling idle speeches, shall be charged upon you in the last indictment. So that in the Text is observable, a Trespass objected, consisting in single words, not simply as words, but as they are qualified, and discerned to be extravagant, IDLE words. Secondly, a process certainly to be issued forth, and an impartial Verdict to pass against them, in regard He that neither deceives nor can be deceived, expressly assures it, That they shall come to a strict account at the day of judgement, which is the time, even the last day of the world, when God's Justice shall be throughly accomplished. But I say unto you, That of every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account at the day of judgement. Christ's sayings are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Principles to be believed, not Premises to be proved: so that 'tis enough to hear from his mouth, Ego dico, I say unto you. Indeed, it's lawful to lay the positions of men in the balance of examination, that reason may be pondered and poised with reason; but this honour is ever to be given to the words of Christ, that we should say with the Centurion, Mat. 8.8. Speak the word only. Human Reasons are like Comets, not fixed in any Orb of truth; but our Saviour's Doctrine is like himself, sound and heavenly. Now though I may say with Tertullian, Uti Languentes cùm vacent a sanitate, de vonis ejus tacere non nôrant, etc. Tertull. de patien. That as they, who languish with sickness, are most prove to talk of health, not because they enjoy, but desire it: so I exhort you to a moderation, a pertinency of speech, rather as one that would have it, than as one that possesseth it. Yet because sometimes a diseased Physician may prescribe healthsome physic, and a deformed Engraver carve a fair portraiture; I trust God will bless these my weak endeavours, while for my own and your good, I have made myself a common Remembrancer to prepare our particular accounts against the coming of the Lord. But first I am to examine the Offence in its qualified Notion, which is every idle word. It's well stated by the Philosopher and Divine, that words were ordained to set forth God's glory, man's gratitude, and to keep up civil commerce. For by the use of speech, we understand each others wants; and so are accommodated mutually to communicate convenient supplies. If than our words tend not to the Love of God and our Neighbour, the Law shall judge and condemn them as a scandalous waste of that rich Talon and powerful Gift of Rational discourse. Why hath the only wise Creator locked up the Tongue in a dark hole, as in a prison; shut and barred it in with Teeth and Jaws, but to prevent impertinent idle Language? And is it not seated betwixt two sovereign parts of man, the brain and heart, that by the assistance of a right understanding, and well-ordered will, the tongue may be kept within the bounds of rectified Reason? If it break out into intemperate swearing, it fills the man with iniquity: so speaks the Son of Syrach, 23 Ecclus. v. 11. and by his bad example corrupting the Family, derives a heavy curse to his posterity. The Plague, as it follows there, shall never departed from his house. But do not I herein seem a rigid Precisian, more strict than Christ, making him to mean more than he does? Shall the God of compassion, whose mercy is over and above all his works, be so severe as to call us to accounted for these smaller trifles? If our Saviour literally signified, that our idle words, sins of so mean a quality, should be examined by such a fiery trial; how is it that St. Paul speaks to Ananias, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall? Act. 23. Doth not the Apostle's example intimate that Christ spoke here by way of hyperbole, or excess of speech, so that he strains not so high indeed, as we bear the world in hand? Surely no; for the speech of Saint Paul is no curse, but only a reprehension, conjoined with a denouncement of God's future judgement. He saith not, I PRAY God to smite thee; but only it shall come to pass, that God shall smite thee. Which, in effect, is, God will not suffer thee to escape unpunished. And therefore, because it might be objected, that David, in the 109 Psalms, almost throughout, seems to run upon Imprecations or Curses; Saint Austin answers, Many times In verbis malè Optantis, intelligenda sunt praedicta Prophetantis; Aust. in Ps. 108. That which is spoken in manner of an Imprecation, is indeed but a prediction what God in future times will do to the Enemies of his Church and Glory. Besides, The Prophets were not obnoxious, though they used Imprecations, in that they had their warrant from the Lord himself; their Commission to bless or curse, was dictated to them. As for us, obligat praeceptum generale, ubi no est privilegium speciale; having no particular dispensation, we are still obliged to bridle our tongues from scandalous words, Jam. 1.26. else our religion is vain. The everlasting Law of the Lord is, Thou shalt not raise or receive a false report, Exod. 24. In the twenty seventh of Deuteronomy, he is cursed that smites his Neighbour secretly. And Saint James chargeth us, not so much as to grudge one against another, Chap. 5.9. jest we be condemned. I grant, idle words, as every other Vice, hath a latitude and degrees: there is a word of a deep and double dye, of a full extent, commensurable with the fierceness of God's wrath; the Son of Syrach, Ecclus. 23.12. significantly terms it a word clothed about with death, the Garment sticking not so close to the body, as death doth to his soul, who usually utters it. And there be words of a lesser size, and smaller measure: In the fifth of the Proverbs, we read of Ropes, and Wain-ropes of Sin. And Isaiah the fifth Chapter, mentions funiculos vanitatis, slight cords of vanity. Of this sort is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a frivolous word, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an unsavoury speech, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saucy jesting, which is want to be nicknamed pleasant conceit. 'Tis too true, this kind of Vice is become the Mode, the Garb, the Music of these times. Men offend so considerately herein, that they think it no lesle than a great commendation to be so courtly impious. They are so much in love with this Art of sinning, that the disuse thereof is esteemed mere dulness, and want of breeding. Yet Saint Paul's Rule is, Eph. 5. that foolish talking, and scurrile jesting, should not once be named amongst us: where 'tis observable, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which the Moralist styles Urbanity, and ranks amongst Moral Virtues, the New Testament interprets direct scurrility, and brands it as a great Crime. For this facile accommodation, this sporting of a luxuriant Wit, to humour some and displease others, is no better than a breach of the sixth Commandment, in regard it prepares and often occasions effusion of blood. Hence is it, that Christ, the right Interpreter of his Father's will, gives us to understand in the fifteenth of Saint Matthew, that to be angry without a cause, to say Racha, Thou emptybrain, Thou fool, Pish, or the like unadvised terms, is sufficient to discard us from our heavenly Inheritance, if the Lord be not pleased to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to connive at it, as the Holy Ghost phraseth it in the seventeenth of the Acts, but to observe this contemptuous and provoking behaviour. The reason may be, because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, unclean, unseemly communication, abates the fervency of devotion, corrupts and deads' God's graces in us. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, scoffing neglect, slackens the heat of Charity, and unties the knot of Friendship. Flesh and Blood is most sensible of derision: how often doth David complain, he was made a scorn and byword? Saul had not many minutes of life left, yet he prayed his Armour-bearer to kill him, 1 Sam. 31.4. because he could not endure to hear the uncircumcised to reproach him in a jeering insolency. We know Rehoboam, 1 Kin. c. 12. through an unpleasing speech, lost ten Tribes at a clap. Wherhfore Saint Bernard well saith, Ser. 3. de Custod. ling. Leviter volat, sed graviter vulnerat; A term of disgrace passeth suddenly from out mouths, as lightning out of the Clouds; but like lightning, it strikes the inmost parts after a various manner. For it wounds the Conscience of him that speaks, gives scandal to those which hear, and takes away the lively heart of such as are made the Argument, the Subject of undervaluing Scoffs & Jeers. The Parthians, as Dion relates, shot Arrows against Lucullus his Soldiers with two heads, which were set on in such sort, that although they were forthwith drawn out of their bodies; yet the one point of the head would still remain in the flesh, which caused their destructions. Such Arrows are daily sent abroad by those scoffing Michols, who delight to sit in the feat of the scornful; and so perniciously are they picked and headed, that albeit they be presently recalled and drawn back; yet they often leave such a scar, such a pestilent point in the soul, that many times it bereaves it of God's favour, which is the life of the soul. What than shall be done to those calumniating tongues, which are bend like bows for outrageous lies, that they may shoot at the upright in heart, throwing dirt in the face of Authority, reviling those who aught to be obeyed for Conscience sake, traducing them to walk in craftiness, and to handle the word deceitfully; when, as 'tis in the second to the Corinthians, and in the fourth Chapter, in declaration of the truth, they approve themselves to every man's Conscience in the sight of God? Christ hath already sentenced such to be of the Devil, since his works they do. He is accustomed to deprave those, which most excel, being herein not unlike Fencers, who sometimes cunningly take aim at the Foot, when their intent is to reach the Head. So Satan, and his detracting complices, by defaming the worthiest of God's Servants, do project to bring the true worship of God into contempt, as many by blaming the Servant have sought the overthrow of the Master. The Syriack, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kerats Chald. scidit, & Syriace per metaph. accusavit. Ind nomen Syriac. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kartso Accusatio, calumnia, unde addito verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Achal, quod significat edere, Acal-Kartso, accusavit, q. d. accusationem, vel calumniam edit. Ind nomen participale 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oeel-Kartso, Accusator, Diabolus' quasi calumniis vescens. in many places of the New Testament, instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, sets down, saith Shindler, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Ocel-kartso, Accusator, quasi edens accusationem, The eater of Accusations: from which name I observe, that as the doing of his Father's will was Christ's meat and drink; so, in in opposition thereunto, to calumniate the Children of obedience, is the main Food of the Devil and his Adherents. Of all idle words, which tend not to any good, the murmuring secret Whisperer hath the most excessive number. His tongue buzzeth false rumours into credulous ears, raiseth commotions as causeless, as pernicious; makes the multitude believe there's a Snake under every Leaf; and although we protest tabulis consignatis, and confirm it by the sure testimony of an Oath, that as we have printed in our books, so we have in our hearts; yet these fame-defacing surmisers, publish up and down, that our bosom, like Rachel's tent, hath Idols hid in the Straw; or like a Philistin's Temple, hath the Ark and Dagon under one Roof. These never cease crying out to the Church, as the Devil did to Christ, Cast thyself down, humble thyself before us. The Church, albeit rend, and almost ruin'd, is yet too glorious in their eyes; it faring with these men, as with those, who standing on the earth, look up to lofty pinnacles, which still seem to waver and ●●and awry, when the defect is in their own ●●ght. The truth is, the fault lies in the discontented, selfseeking, levelling Spirits, who choose rather to scarify, than close our wounds; casting Coals, and kindling strife betwixt the supreme and subordinate, that the whole Nation may be set on flame and in Combustion. The Priests of old, caused the Oracle to answer according to King Philip's humour: These have delivered the sense of God's sure Oracles, sometimes one way, sometimes another, as the wind and tide best served to foment faction and tumult, making the spiritual Manna of the word to have a several taste, according to every man's palate, as the Rabbins said the Israelites corpora● Manna had. But the Lord, who changeth not, will not acknowledge such Changelings for his Messengers; for if we study to please men, we shall not be the Friends of Christ. I could wish all Pretenders would consider seriously, that no murmuring so secret shall go for naught; and the mouth that speaks lies, slays the soul, Wisd. 1.11. Which mischievous effects proceed not from any native disease radical in the tongue, but only by sympathy and consent with an ill disposed heart. As we see the head may suffer pain and anguish, not so much from any obnoxious quality inherent in it, as from the fumes arising out of a distempered and foul stomach. For words, as consisting of Letters and syllables, are indifferent in their own nature; they are made guilty, as they speak the temper of that breast from whence they flow. Index est Animi sermo, speech is the Character, the Stamp, the Image of the Mind; and so may justly be punished for its bad message, as a guiltless Ambassador may be evil entreated, because his Errand distasted. In respect of the concurrence and mutual correspondence betwixt the heart and tongue, our thoughts are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, words of the mind. We read in the seventh of Saint Luke, Simon said within himself; his thinking was speaking. Our thoughts indeed, for want of the tongues forming and articulating, are not audible to the ears of man; yet God understands their Language, he hears what we think. In the twenty fifth verse of this Chapter, Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said unto them: He discerns the rebellion of our imaginations, the intemperance of our affections; and if they be not razed out of the book of his remembrances, by the grace of Repentance, he will judge them accordingly. So that we had need to call our idle thoughts to examination, as well as our idle words; otherwise one day they will both be brought to trial. Before the Lord, evil thoughts are as much sins as evil deeds; as much perhaps, though not as great. Wherhfore as Christ was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities: Isa. 53. so he was delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, even for our slips, as the Original expresseth it in the fourth to the Romans, and the last Verse. This should make us tremble at God's judgements due to our very trifling lapses, since for these also our Saviour shed his precious blood: we can be so favourable to ourselves, as to think the desire only to do a good work, though there want ability to do it, is as well accepted with God, as if it were done. And we must know too, that the contrary is as true; the desire of any iniquity is as odious to the Omniscient Majesty, as the Act of Commission is. Wherhfore Saint John, 1 Epist. chap. 3. vers. 15. makes hatred of the heart, murder before God. So that our conscience should be affrighted at each petty puny offence; for one error may multiply into many. Solon, as Plutack reports, reproving Thespis a Poet, for lying in his Play, Thespis answered, It was not material to do or say such things, considering all was but in sport. Yea, but replied Solon, if we commend lying in sport, we shall found it afterwards in good earnest. Christ, who is the Word, delights in our words when they are conformable to his will; and therefore Satan, to cross him therein, makes the first open entrance into irregular courses upon trivial occasions, as idle words, which may serve to bring on, and usher in more outrageous evils. For the unclean Spirit, having once insinuated and got entertainment in ou● hearts by these slight skirmishes, he will easily introduce seven other Spirits, nay, a Legion, worse than himself. Let it than be our discretion and religion, to strangle and suppress ill motions in the womb so soon as conceived; for if we suffer them to ripen into idle words, they may prove the shame and destruction of the Speaker. To make the account exact, every farthing must be expressed; and so in the strict severity of God's Justice, not only our crying sins, but idle words, and vain thoughts, will be summed up, if they be not washed out by relenting tears. Whence 'tis clear, that the arraigning ourselves at the Bar of our own Conscience in this life, is the only way to be acquitted hereafter through our surety, Christ Jesus. For God loves to behold his Justice prevented, by our accusing and condemning ourselves, as being unwilling his last destructive sentence of execution, should be served upon our persons: yet take this Caution along also, If we call not ourselves to accounted in this time of Truce, but leave God to do it at the general Audit of all flesh, Mercy is than out of date, there's no more parleying, but utter defiance; body and soul, both will be forfeited without any Reprieve from eternal death: which refers me to the circumstance of time, when this account is completely to be made, at the day of judgement. That there shall be a general Judgement, is granted by the very Devils, who, in the eighth of Saint Matthew, are said to believe and tremble at the fearful expectation of it. The Knowledge whereof in the general is imparted to us here, that the Terror of the Lord might not overtake us like a violent storm, not to be prevented, because not foreseen. To this end the last judgement is sometimes deciphered by the name of a day, sometimes of a night. 'Tis styled A night, to exci●e our vigilancy, or watchfulness in expectation of its coming, which is said to steal upon the world like a thief in the night. 'Tis called A day, to make us blush in remembrance that our secret sins shall be disclosed, and the thoughts of our hearts revealed as clear as the Sun in his brightness shining at high noon. Again, this day of Judgement is said to be the last day: First, to demonstrate Gods fatherly Tenderness over his Elect; many of them are yet unconverted and unborn, therefore his goodness stays till their number be accomplished. The Souls of them that lie under the Altar, Revelations the sixth, did cry, How long, Lord, holy and true? dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them which devil on the earth? And answer was there made, They should rest for a season, till their Brethrens and Fellow-servants should be killed as they were. Our account is likewise posted of till the day of Judgement, to declare the bountifulness and patience of the Lord, which waits from year to year to see if at the last we will return to him in a true reconciliation. And here's great inquisition of the certain time when the Judgement-day shall be. It's common in every mouth, how the Jews had a prophecy that the world should continued six thousand years; two thousand before the Law, two thousand under the Law, and two thousand under the Gospel. Aug. lib. 20. Civ. Dei, c. 17. Many of the Fathers conjectured it so to be, because it was created in six days; strangely mistaking that phrase of Saint Peter, 2 Pet. 2. One day with the Lord is as a thousand years. Cypr. de Exhort Mart. c. 11. Lact. l. 7. Lactantius was peremptory, that the world could not continued above two hundred years in his age; but it hath lasted those two hundred, and a thousand years besides; which condemns his presumption. In our time, a Cabalistical Calculator of our own Nation, hath concluded from the numeral Letters of Elohim, that the half year after one thousand six hundred fifty two, should be the undoubted stint and period of the world's continuance, as you may find it in the thirteenth Chapter of his Book, Dr. Alabaster, entitled, Ecce Sponsus venit: And so his bolt is shot vainly. In points of this nature, 'tis good to take Saint Paul's rule, Sapere ad sobrietatem, to think soberly, Rom. 12. not above what we aught to think. Where the Holy Ghost in Scripture hath not a tongue to speak, we should have none to inquire; for if we fail in matters which are subject to sense, and have their proper causes from ourselves, what are we like to do in things which are far above the point of our Horizon? The time and season of the Lords final appearance, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the last end of the termination of the world, and all things therein, the Father hath reserved in his own power; and so it becomes not us to pry into the Ark of his secret counsel, but we must content ourselves with things revealed. Therein we may read in legible Characters, that the end of our own particular lives draws nigh; nay, 'tis like a Cloud in the Zenith, imminent over our heads, at the very point to drop down. Indeed, when I reflect on this iron age, wherein Pandora's boxes are opened to infect mankind, Satan is broke lose in glozing lying tongues, which nourish divisions from Dan to Beersheba: though I cannot say they are signs of Christ's immediate present coming to judge the universal world; yet they may presage, that the god of this world hath so puzzled the understanding of such as are seduced, that they cannot see how he projects that the particular private judgement of each soul at the day of death, may surprise them unawares to their utter ruin. Concerning the Place where the world shall be judged, I cannot conceive how it should be, Aquin. as some have imagined, in the Valley of Jehosaphat, or on mount Olivet, whence Christ ascended, or any where else on the surface of the earth. For if you allow bodies distance and place, as they must be allowed, there's no earthly place so large as to contain so many Myriad of people as shall appear in that day. But I suppose the Tribunal shall be erected in the Air, where every eye may see him, according to that of Saint Paul, 1 Thes. 4. We which remain shall be caught up also with them in the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air: and shall be ever with the Lord. There needs no question to be moved touching the Person by whom we shall be judged; for all judgement is committed to the Son, in the fifth Chapter of Saint John. And he hath commanded us to preach to the people, that 'tis He, who is ordained to be the Judge of the quick and dead, Act. 10. The title to this judgement belonged to him as the Son of God; judgement being the indelible Character of the Godhead: The power of actual execution is in him as the Son of Man; none but Christ in the flesh can instrumentally execute it. The whole Trinity, Aquin. part 2. ●. ●9 ad jus supplem. ad 〈◊〉 part In conclus. saith the Schoolman, may be said to judge by equal right of Authority; but to the Son is delivered by a peculiar propriety the promulgation of the final sentence, in regard he hath taken our nature upon him, whereby all mankind may see the Judge by whom they are to be doomed. So that Christ's coming in the Clouds, cannot choose but be a terror to the impenitent and obdurate sinners: they shall see him gloriously appear in that very flesh which they dishonourably pierced and crucified by a continual progress in their Crimes. But it shall be a jubilee and endless joy to the faithful, who shall behold him their Judge, who was their Advocate and Surety, who will quit all their scores, and free them from eternal death. Wherhfore seeing ye look for such things, 2 Ep. c. 3. be diligent, as Saint Peter exhorts, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And since our vain words are registered in the Volume of God's Book, and are like to be urged against us before not lesle an Assembly than the whole world; it behoves to take heed to our tongues, that they hale not down God's Vengeance by execrable Oaths, which to our shame and grief do daily sound in our streets as loud and terrible as thunderclaps. Let the long-suffering of God win us to renounce whatsoever hath affinity with the lest sin; remembering that if we abuse the richeses of God's mercy unto wantonness, we do but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath. For on that day, the terrible day of the Lord, the day of judgement, he will not more knock at the door of our hearts in a gentle wooing voice, but will stretch forth his mighty Arm to give the deadly stroke, the stroke of everlasting horror both to soul and body. From which the Father of Mercy shield us, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen. A SERMON Preached in Bow-Church LONDON, On the Anniversary Meeting of Herefordshire Natives, June 24. 1658. BY RICH. GARDINER, D. D. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your Servants for Jesus sake, 2 Cor. 4.5. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of that power might be of God, and not of us, vers. 7. Ad hunc stylum pio, & officioso animo, non vani Nominis appetitione, ac nugatoriae ostentationis accessi. S. August. Ep. 89. ad Honoratum. London: Printed for Sam. Speed, at the Printing-Press in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1659. St. John 19 verse 27. Than said he to the Disciple, Behold thy Mother. And from that hour that Disciple took her to his own home. GIve me leave to signify in all meekness, you are not to expect London-measure, extended prolixity; I ever minded the strength, not length of matter; my endeavours tending to speak much in little, not little in much: My discourse, I doubt not, will prove seasonable on this Anniversary Meeting, although I have not chosen, according to my want, an Argument consonant and suitable to the day. The ancient Rubric of the Church, makes the whole business of this day to be of John the Baptist: I follow not that direction now, to prevent misprision of captious times, and because I hold this Text more useful for your Audience, which treats not of John the Baptist, but of John the Evangelist; it was he to whom Christ said, Behold thy Mother; and he was the Disciple, who from that hour took her to his own home. To dispel and clear some mists hover about the Text, which otherwise may cloud and darken your understanding, consider that our Saviour was now in extremity of pain and torment on the Cross; the whole outward man was battered, and every part besieged with a distinct death; he felt his Father's Arrows sticking in his holy sides, drinking up his innocent blood for our transgressions; yet when in the midst of his Agony, he saw his dear Mother and beloved Disciple standing near the Cross, as one regardless of the Gall and Bitterness of his own sufferings, of the pricking anguish in his hands and feet by the Nails, in a sympathy his heart yearns and commiserates his Mother's misery, whose soul was now pierced with the sword of Sorrow. His Zeal had a smart sense of the wants she might be exposed to after his decease; and therefore casting a loving glance on the Virgin and Disciple, he saith to his Mother, Behold thy Son, verse 26. and here to the Disciple, Behold thy Mother. Now we are not to fasten on the Rind and Bark of the Letter; the words are to be understood in a sound sense, and cum grano salis. It cannot be conceived the blessed Virgin, blessed among women, blessed above women, should have John for the natural issue of her womb: St. Matthew, chap. 4. doth catechise us, that John was the Son of Zebedeus; but by these endearing appellations of Son and Mother, our Saviour signifies his meaning was, that Disciple should as much set by her, have her in as high estimation, as if from her bowels he came breathing into the world. Few have so learned Christ: The world abounds with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, unnatural Imps, who either support not at all the weakness of their needy Parents; or, if they have a touch of remorse, their aid is after such a penurious scant manner, that as the Orator says of the poor prisoners pittances, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it is not sufficient to keep them alive, and yet will not suffer them to dye. Excellent persons to make Scribes and Pharisees of! They taught the people to answer their indigent impotent Parents craving help in their necessity, by saying, 'Tis Corban, Mar. 7.11. (i) they had already distributed to pious and charitable uses, and so had done enough; stood discharged before God; not further thing to be required at their hands; leaving them from whom they received their lives, to starve and perish. But Christ telled them there, in stead of God's Commandments, they taught their own traditions. The Ethnics will rise up in Judgement against such flint-hearted wretches. Valerius Maximus hath set down a remarkable story of a Daughter, who visiting her Father in Prison, condemned there to dye by Famine, prolonged his life by fostering him with the Milk of her breasts; which being discovered to the Magistrate, the Result was an applause of the Daughter, and a release of the Father. Sordid-spirited, close-fisted miscreants, are to be sent to the Beasts of the Field, and Fowls of the Air, to learn Wisdom, as Job speaks, chap. 12. vers. 7. The Stork in her youth, cherisheth the old days of her Parents. It is the odious Generation of Vipers, which gnaw out the bellies of their Dams, seeking their own lives with the Dam's death. Gen. ●. 46.47. Joseph is a memorable pattern of filial observance. He in a time of dearth sent for his aged Father, gave for his convoy Wagons, and all provisions necessary for his Voyage; and being arrived in Egypt, seated him in the fruitfulest part of the Land. In the twelfth verse of the forty seventh Chapter, he nourished his Father, so we tender it; but our Translation comes short of the force and strength in the Original, he nursed his Father, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Lechem Lepi hataph. Ad os parvuli, or in os parunli panem vel cibum ingerendo; which Mr. Calvin says some expound that he said his Father, being unable to feed himself, by putting the meat into his mouth, after the usage of a Child. The interlineary Bible hath it in the Margin, quemadmodum parvulus alitur; and from thence 'tis in our English Marginal Note, nourished according to the little ones. Bellarmine, in his Opuscula, I hope you will not start at the words of an Adversary, where they have a tendency to inflame true devotion, brings in Christ thus speaking of his holy Mother: I took but one life, my human life, of my Virgin Mother; yet for that one, I gave to her three lives: I gave to her a human life, when together with the Father and the holy Spirit, I created her: For he made all things, and without him was made nothing that was made, John 1.3. I gave her the life of grace, in that I quickened and regenerated her with my Spirit. I gave to her also the life of glory, in that I died for her, to the intent she might not perish, but have life eternal. I carefully provided for her in my life and death. What a spur should this be to the naturalness of our love? 2 Cor. 8.8. How should it summon all our parts to help our Parents, as we be able, if necessity require? Though we strive to do the utmost we can do, and what we cannot do, we shall never requited the expense, the molestation, the homely offices they have sustained in our minority, nurture and education. It seems Saint John was of this persuasion; for so soon as Christ bid him to behold the Virgin as his Mother, that engaging title wrought so upon him, that like a regardful Son, forthwith he obeys the charge, and from that hour took her to his own home. [From that hour.] A right Disciple and Follower of Christ, is upon the wing for holy duties, prepared every hour; yea, on a sudden, with Samuel, 1 Sam. chap. 3. vers. 4. he answers at the first Call. When God enjoined Abraham to offer up his only Son Isaac for a offering, upon one of the Mountains, which he would show, he doth not deliberate and examine circumstances, how this could stand with the promise, That in Isaac all the Nations of the earth should be blessed; but the Text saith, Abraham risen early, he would not put it of till noon, to perform that strange astonishing Sacrifice, Gen. 22.3. When Christ called on Zacheus in the Sycamore-Tree, to come down, and to prepare for his entertainment at his own home; Saint Luke records it in the nineteenth chapter, and the sixth verse, that he made haste, receiving him not repiningly, but joyfully. Peter and Andrew upon Christ's first call, left their Nets, and immediately followed him, Mat. 4. Whatsoever thou takest in hand, instanter operare, Eccles. 9.10. straightway, quickly, instantly do it with all thy power and might; for true Devotion is of a sprightly readiness, jest its inward fervency or zeal, by delay, wax cold and neglectful. Had the Apostle made a demur, consulted with flesh and blood, the worldling would have rounded him in the ear, that this was a Legacy utterly to be rejected. Indeed, a gift of gain both hands may be open to receive, but the bequeathing a necessitous mother to your maintaining, is a business of another nature; 'tis a hard province, and who will undertake it to his certain loss? Must you of all others be commended into this charge and trouble? Such would have been the Plea of a carnal churlish Nabal. But Eagle-eyed John viewed these sublunary respects as things below him. His Devotion flies upward, looks steadfastly on the Son of Righteousness, considers he cannot do too much for such a Master, who before the rest, owned him for the best beloved Disciple; and to signify the confidence he reposed in him above all others, would trust none with the care of his Mother, but him alone. And so out of a thankful mind, even presently takes her to his custody; and that not for the date or term of set years by covenant, but freely, so long as she lived; which, if you will give credence to Nicephorus and Rome's Legend, was the space of eleven or twelve years from that hour of Christ's death. This religious fact, and continued fidelity of John, should rouse all trusties, to whom is appointed the disposing of the substance of the dead, to be constantly honest, and faithful in their trust. The neglect whereof hath cooled the Zeal of many inclined to liberality, causing them to withdraw the Oil from their shining and burning Lamps; it being voiced to be a common fault, an accustomed manner to pervert and subvert the Testators sense and meaning, whereby some designed for Executors, are reproachfully branded for Executioners of Wills. I profess in all sincerity, I never heard this renowned City tainted with such a guilt, but that you are strictly tender of the Wills, and of what is put into your hands to be kept for others; so that whatsoever is laid up in your public Chamber for pious uses, is secure and safe, fastened like a nail in a sure place, Isai. 22.23. as the Prophet phraseth it. You have given a good example, but 'tis copied out byfew. Sure this barbarous inhumanity towards the defunct, was unknown in the primitive times: Saint Paul is positive in the third Chapter to the Galatians, vers. 15. that though it be a man's Testament, yet if it be confirmed, none doth abrogate it, or add any thing to it. Read the thirty fifth Chapter of Jeremiah, and mark how God rewarded the Rechabites for their obedience to their Fathers william. I set, so speaks the Prophet, before the children of Rechab, bottles full of Wine, and said to them, Drink Wine. But they said, We will not drink wine: for Jonadab our father commanded us, saying, You shall drink no Wine, you nor your Sons for ever. Which they observed, only because it was the will of their deceased Father. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab the Son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me, (i) to be in my favour, for ever, verse ult. Labour than to keep a good Conscience, to deal justy and uprightly before God our heavenly Father, and before men in all concernments imposed upon us, and undertaken by us. 1 Thes. 4.6. What saith the Apostle? Let no man go beyond and defraud his Brother in any matter. With what horror at the day of the Resurrection shall the Child meet his Father, the Wife her Husband, one Brother and Friend another, if they have falsified the trust deposited in them? Suppose thou hast no outward Relations committed to thy charge, yet thou hast an inward man, thy Soul, to be attended and carefully looked to. If thou dost not cherish that spark of Eternity, if thou starve that particle of Divinity, the Lover of Souls will urge it as done to his own Image. Here a question is moved, why Saint John leaves his own name unmentioned. In the beginning of this verse, it is not, Than he said to ME, Behold thy Mother, but to the Disciple whom he loved; and in the subsequent words he saith not, I took her, but that Disciple took her to his own home. 'Tis conceived he omitted his Name, that his Modesty might check and kerb affectation of vain glory. Never was there more need that a Copy hereof should be drawn forth at length, than in these days. We fast, we pray; there's a great deal of preaching, hearing, making a formal glittering show of godliness in external worship; but where's the power of it? Let none as a false brother misinterpret, and so misrelate me, as if I oppose devout praying, and frequent preaching. For I should joy to see the earth full of the Knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the Sea, according to the prophecy, Isai. 11.9, that all the people be taught of the Lord, Isai. 54.13. yet let me put you in remembrance, Saint James advice is, Jam. 1.22. Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. As if he had thus enlarged himself: Your hands must be open to do, B. A. in Locum. as well as your ears to hear; doing the word must be preserved as well as the hearing it; conscience of practice is to be joined with curiosity of knowledge; for bore hearing is an illusion, a cozening yourselves. I add; 'tis no better than a thirst after a vulgar esteem, to get a Name, to be counted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not only some body, but some great one in religion. Augustus was very ambitious of preserving a Name; for he gave commission to the Praetors of Rome, not to suffer his Name Obsole fieri, to be worn out of use: he would have it kept up in grace and dignity. But what speak I of a magnificent Emperor? So great is the foolish and inconsiderate desire of Fame, that scarce a Church can be whited and adorned with two or three painted Fringes, but Parietes Medius Fidius, the walls forsooth must proclaim the Names of those small Officers in whose Wardenship 'twas so beautified; and yet all this while they were free on others cost, the stock of the Parish. To them, in another sense, may be applied that in 1 Cor. 4.7. That which thou boastest of is none of thy own: and if thou didst receive it, why didst thou glory? But seek not your own applause when you do any good. Rom. 12.8. He that gives, Rom 2. vers. last. let him do it with simplicity. Be sincere, that your praise may not be of man, but of God. Saint John, without blowing a Trumpet, took Christ's Virgin-Mother to his own home; which makes it evident she was a poor woman. One might have thought that blessed Mary, Christ's Mother, born of the blood Royal, for she was naturally descended out of David's Loins, should not be constrained to live by the Alms and Cost of a Disciple: That Joseph, her betrothed Husband, right heir to the Crown of Judah, should not be brought so low, as to be feign to labour for his living. Who sees not how appliable this Story is? But the wheel is turned, and who am I should take it in hand again? It stands with our humility and obedience, to keep the same motion with the lesser under-wheels, as the great upper Master-wheel of the whole Universe shall move us. If the Divine Providence, which ordereth all things, will hae me or thee, which whilom sat at the upper end, to come down, and sit lower, let's not expostulate, but quietly humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and in a pious resolution, say as David in a great extremity said, 2 Sam. 15. Behold, here we are, let the Lord do to us as seemeth good in his own eyes. If Royal Extractions become levelled with Joseph and Mary, in such an exinanition, I trust, without offence, I may wish they may with them possess their Souls in patience, and accounted the defalcations medicinal Diminutions. For since they are become sensible that a little contents nature, they may the better endute the want of magnificent abundance. As for the accumulation of worldly accoutrements, they serve only for pomp and state, which infer more cark, and care, and disturbing fear. Therefore, in the heaviness of dereliction, cast thy burden upon the Lord, who many times is most near us, when he seems to stand farthest of; as loving to show his mercy in our misery, his power in our weakness. The Lord's Mother here stood under, or near the Cross, destitute of all outward help; but there was a Disciple standing by, preordained to sustain her, who from that hour took her to his own home. [To his own home.] And now after all this travail and pains, I am informed my labour is lost, having framed a Castle in the Air, without any Foundation on the Earth. For in the Original 'tis simply and barely put down, He took her to his own: The bold English, who use to speak out, have in their Translation superadded house and home. The ground of this Variance is a strange long mistake of Peter's words, Mat. 19.27. because there Peter, as Prolocutor for the rest, said to Christ, We have forsaken all, and followed thee; many of the Fathers (to whom God was not pleased to reveal all Circumstances) have translated the Greek, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from its proper to an improper signification. They will not have it so understood, as if John took her to his own possession, (for by their verdict he was one of those who utterly forsook all for Christ's sake) but that he took her to his own care, to help her the best he could out of the contributions of the faithful. The Romanists, who lie at the lurch by too much subtlety, to make plain things obscure, when it conduceth to their own interest, cry up this ancient interpretation as Catholic, and the contrary as Heretical; thereby intending, from the Apostles practise, to exalt the supererogating Vow of voluntary poverty. The Anabaptists, from hence, condemn propriety of Goods, as inconsistent with, or opposite to the Gospel. So that it may seem I have undertaken a difficult province, to justify our Church in rendering Saint John's taking the Virgin Mother to his own habitation. But I doubt not to demonstrate to each discerning Spirit, that after their call to the Apostleship, John, with the rest, had a propriety in their Houses, Movables, Tenors, personal and real Estates. For though 'tis recorded they left all, yet 'twas in a qualified sense; they left not all simply and wholly, but so far, and so long, as they might be impediments to their Commission of propagating Faith in Christ, or preaching the Gospel, and no otherwise. They could at their pleasure return to the possession and use of what was theirs. This is confirmed, Mark 1.29. when they were come out of the Synagogue, Jesus entered into the house of Simon, with Andrew, James and John; where, after their desertion of all, 'tis still Simons house. So Matthew 4.14. he came into Peter's house. The better to declare his Vindication, or challenging it for his own, he entertained Christ and his fellow Disciples, with a banquet therein: So much is collected from verse 31. which testifies that his Mother-in-law, newly by him recovered from a Fever, ministered to them. After this, as a wealth Citizen of Capernaum, he paid Tribute-Money, Mat. 17.27. And which proves they meant no absolute perpetual abnegation, abjuration, or renouncing of their temporalties, but only a willing sequestration from them, during their Labours and Employments abroad for the gathering of the Saints, the enlarging the borders of the Church; Peter, Joh. 21. after Christ's Resurrection, is named to have used the Ship and Nets as his peculiar. Matthew, after his calling from the Receipt of Custom, made Christ a great Feast in his own house, Mat. 9.11. Mark 2.14. Now this Evangelist John's Fortunes were greater than his fellow Fishers; it being observed, Mark 1.20. that he had Mercenary Servants in the Ship to attend his Father Zebedee, when, on Christ's summons, he left them to wait on him. Were it not than a weak Collection, that he, of all the rest, should sacrifice to the Goddess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, devoting himself to scandalous wilful beggary, when it cannot well be conceived how he should receive and accommodate holy Mary without an abiding place, and some constant Revenue? Who sees not what a derogation it would have been to the Son of God, yea, to any of his faithful Servants, to dedicated the charge of a tender Mother to an errand needy Vagrant of small value, and little worth? This indeed had been a goodly providing for the Mother of Him, who was God Cardinal Baronius, of no small account in the Romish Hierarchy, foreseeing such a scandal, citys the Ancients asserting John to have held his house seated on the hill of Zion, and that for the nobleness of his descent, he was in great favour with Caiaphas the high Priest, to whom he made sale of his Territories in Galilee. The best Critics declare that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Greek, signify the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which always implies reality of Substance; El Betho. and with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew, that is, into his own House, and so consequently confirms John's taking her to a habitation of his own. Grotius in Locum. Neither can there any thing in Scripture be found, which on just cause may be judged to contradict the truth hereof. First, the Apostles do not relate they left all, by their example to teach us to vow mendicity, to embrace penury as a state of perfection. If it had heen so, Saint Paul, 1 Thes. 4.11, 12. verses, would not command us to work with our hands, that we may have lack of nothing: yea, if that were good Doctrine, how comes it to pass, 1 Cor. 16.2. he wills every one to lay by him in store, for the ministering to the Saints, as God had prospered him? If we may store up, and please God too, we need not to disclaim our proper Goods, but rather to preserve the materials of Charity, that the Lord may be glorified through the liberal distributions of such who are enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, 2 Cor. 9.11. Whence I conceive that a godly wise man may desire always to have all sufficiency in all things, Vers. 8. Vers. 12. as they are subservient, necessary means to undertake great matters of Religion, and to make him abound to every good work, which causeth, through him, thanksgiving to the Lord. There being certain Virtues not practiseable by the poor, as this was of John's supporting the distressed Virgin; why doth the Apostle say, Phil. 4.12. I know how to want, and how to abound? But to instruct, if it please God to exercise his patience with suffering want, he was ready to serve him in all obedience; but if it seemed meet to his divine Wisdom to furnish him with abundance, he knew how to use it to the Glory of God with thankfulness. Besides, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, who came into the world, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich, 2 Cor. 8.9. did not lead so base and sordid a life, as some pretend, but had a competency of needful provisions. For in John 13. we read it was Judas Office to keep the Bag, and disburse his Cash. The Disciple Philip, John 6. makes a demand of two hundred pence, as it were out of his Stock. In the second of John, his Disciples were sent to buy meat out of his own purse; to which end, the Disciples thought in the thirteenth of John, verse twenty nine, that Christ bid Judas to buy those necessaries they had use of against a festival day. They talked, Mat. 28. of selling the precious Ointment. All which are as Clouds of Witnesses, that the Primitive times did not hold a voluntary dereliction of worldly wealth, a state of greater perfection than others, as the Church of Rome imposeth on the World, to magnify the beggary of Capuchins, Hermits, and Anchorets. Secondly, 'tis against all reason, that the Apostles relinquished all on this respect, that 'tis unlawful to retain any thing as our own peculiar. For God hath not created man to inherit the earth in common. 'Tis registered, Deut. 32.8. the most High divided the Nations their inheritance, he hath separated the Sons of Adam. And having commanded the Land of Canaan to be divided, he gave in charge that the inheritances allotted, should not be alienated from one Tribe to another: so that several and distinct possessions are God's Ordinance. When the Children of Israel were come into the Land of Canaan, every Tribe had his possession allotted by Joshua. The tenth Commandment forbidding us to covet any thing that is our Neighbours, implies our Neighbour to have Goods peculiar to himself. Again, if such as be rich had no right in their richeses more than others, the Apostle would have so instructed them, and wished them to renounce their wealth: but his Counsel is, that they be not highminded, that they do not trust in uncertain richeses, but in the living God, 1 Tim. 6. It is not enjoying of our worldly Treasure, but our setting our hearts on it, the inordinate love thereof, to the hindrance of our service towards God, which we are utterly to forsake. If the holding of Estates in private, had displeased the Almighty, than when Zacheus, upon his receiving Christ into his house, said, Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor; Christ would have rebuked him for his possessions; but his answer was, Luk. 19 This day is Salvation come to this House. We read of others in the New Testament, who were full of goods; as Joseph of Arimathea, the Eunuch, Lydia, Tabytha, the women which followed Christ out of Galilee, Act. 21. Yet there's not any reprehension of them, or condemning any propriety they enjoyed. This Anabaptistical community, was an Opinion taught by Plato in his time. Afterwards the Heretics called Apostolici, were of the same mind, because 'tis written, Act. 2. they had all things common. But they did not consider the community than was a necessary policy, being daily in danger by tyranny, to have all seized and taken away violently. Besides, 'twas not enforced by any Law, but they voluntarily tendered what they had; which caused Peter to answer Ananias, Act. 5. While it remained, was it not thy own? That which was sold and made common, was not disposed as every one pleased, but distributed according to their several necessities. Moreover, if no single person hath any right to his Goods, what needed Naboth to keep such ado about his Vineyard? It was not Ahab, but Naboth, that on this account was in jurious, by usurping to himself what was not confirmed to him by a rightful Title. The eighth Commandment will be thought superfluous: Can we be said to steal that which I may as justly call mine, as thou thine? If propriety be not established, Alms-deeds will be useless, Family provisions needless, foreign Merchandizing quite neglected. None will expose themselves to the horrors of the depth, the insolences and violences on the Land, if He, who scarce steps out of his own Horizon, hath as much interest, and that without any charge, as the Adventurer, who ploughing up the Furrows of the Ocean, imports the advantage and gain. Hence will follow the decay of Commonwealths; for no Nation hath a full subsistency of itself; all lend mutual strength and help to each other, whereby they are supported and held up in a flourishing state. To draw to an Application, which is the quickening, as it were, the life and soul of every Sermon. To speak strictly, the propriety of earthly things is God's alone, Psal. 24.1. The earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, Hag. 2.9. saith the Lord of Hosts. He that hath transferred the right thereof on thee, expects, in the managing and usage, thou dost communicate to the necessities of the Saints. If thou niggardly lock up that which is more than thou needst, thou dost injure God's poor ones, who need more than they have. Should you say, If such a commanding Object of Charity were presented to you as Christ's distressed Mother, you would readily sacrifice your Estate to sustain her? Behold, Christ in the 12 of Saint Matthew, vers. 50. calls all those who do the will of his heavenly Father, his Mother, Brothers and Sisters: disperse out of your private store to raise a stock for relief of their wants; and with John, you have expressed an operative effectual regard of Christ's Mother. Tenacious Misers may pretend what they will; though we extol not good works so high as to make them to be the price of heaven, yet they are not to be reckoned so low, as if they availed nothing towards it. For we are God's workmanship, created unto good works, which he hath prepared that we should walk in them, Ephes. 2.9, 10. Yea, to be cold in doing good, is to srustrate the end of our Redemption. Tit. 2.14 Christ,. saith Saint Paul, gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. The rightly ordained Orthodox Ministers of the Church of England, do preach and print, that good works, in the concernments of Salvation, are necessary quoad praesentiam, non quoad efficientiam: Though God in the Act of Justification, eye them not as if they had an influence or efficacy to justify us; yet he beholds them as Concomitants and evidences of that Faith through which we are freely saved by grace. They are constant Attendants of true Faith, as Maids of Honour are of their right Queen. Up than, and be doing, and the Lord will be with you: make your Lamps to burn bright with the Oil of Chariry. For pure religion and undefiled, is to visit the fatherless and widow, and to keep ourselves unspotted of the world, James 1. To do good forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased, Heb. 13.16. So well pleased, that whatsoever ye do to one of these, he takes it done to himself, Mat. 25.45. And therefore will return it with good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, Luk. 6.38. Let this Festival meeting be like to those in the Primitive times, which were called in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, because in those Christian Love-feasts they distributed out of their fullness to the relief of their necessitous Fellow-members. In Exod. 23.15. God will have none of his people in keeping of their Feasts to appear empty before him; something must be offered, and that from a willing heart, Exod. 35.5. Gifts which are extorted, and come grudgingly, Seneca rightly calls Lapidosa beneficia, being as irksome in receiving, as bread given with greet in it, is in the eating. 'Tis the cheerful Giver God loves, 2 Cor. 9.7. The Land is full of Objects of Charity: you can scarce go up and down the streets, but you may hear many complaining they have been wounded by extravagant Thiefs, stripped of their Livelihood, and left to the wide world to sink or swim. So that there's need of many pitiful Samaritans to bind up their wounds, to pour Oil into their sores, to resent their miseries, not with the tongue-deep, empty ceremonies, Jam. 2. Departed in peace, be ye warmed, be ye full; but in doing good for them by hand and purse. For who stops his ears to their cries, he also shall cry himself and not be heard, Prov. 21.13. Dives, in his life time, regarded not Lazarus plaints, and Christ gives no ear to his howl in hell. But especially let the bowels of your compassion be stirred within you, your hands opened wide towards the Lords Ambassadors, the Disposers of his secrets, who in many places are under great suffering of much want. My Blood was ready to curdle, my Heart to bleed, Dr. Dramball, B. Berry. when a Right Reverend Overseer of Christ's Flock, a learned Champion of the Truth, published in print not long ago, he was forced to take care for his back and belly, when he should be studying the good of Souls. To come home to you: I deny not, but that this Metropolis, wherein you have improved your Estates, aught to partake of some signal token of your respect to it; yet the instinct, the Impression of Nature, will prompt you to advance the welfare of the Country of your Nativity: there your Charity should stream forth in a full source, and extend itself according to the measure of the line of your proportions. The County is of no large extent and circuit; 2 Cor. 10.13. yet 'tis greatn'd, in that it hath been the Womb of honourable Extractions. Thence descended the illustrious Cliffords, cecils, Scudamores, the very ancient Family of Croft's Knights, with others of eminent gentry. Camden. And, which accumulates its Renown, thence that famous Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury, had his Origine and Name; who, in that age wherein he lived, for his deep learning and variety of knowledge, was styled, The Profound Doctor. So excellently learned judicious Mr. Cambden expresseth it in his Britannia. Touching the said City of the Shire, may it not be said of it, as Lot did of Zoar, Gen. 19.20. It is not a little one? Yet that little one is highly magnified abroad for its prowess; it exceeds many great ones in number of well-endowed Hospitals, Monuments of Bounty and Liberality. Do not degenerate from your Predecessors, who lived before you; be as virtuous and nobly minded as they were; honour the Lord with your Substance, as far as you are able, remembering he that soweth liberally, shall reap liberally, 2 Cor. 9.6. Fill the bellies of them, who are ready to starve; cloth such who stand shivering for want of raiment; apprentice ingenious Children who want supplies to be put to Trades; and be assured, all your love will be requited and returned sevenfold into your own bosoms. He that giveth to the poor, Prov. 19.17. dareth to the Lord; and if so, be not weary of giving, and well-doing; never was any one a loser by his God. Now the Eternal, Invisible, only wise GOD, who doth all things accoridng to the Counsel of his own Will, give us Grace to be Charitable to our own Souls, by distributing out of our store to the want of others; that neither the Moat, nor the Rust, nor the Canker of our Mammon, may indite us of unfruitful engrossing the Lords Talents to Self-interest. We beseech him to enable us with contentfulness in all Estates, with cheerfulness in tribulations, with confidence in his saving help, though he should slay us; that so when we are to leave our earthly home, we may be taken into his Celestial Habitations, where with blessed Mary, devout John, and with all Gods Elect people, we shall worship and enjoy his beatifying Presence in eternal holiness and happiness: which God grant us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A TABLE of the Texts on which the precedent Sermons were preached; with the page where each gins. Serm. Page Serm. 1 Luke 13.23, 24. Page 1 Serm. 2 John 2.11. Page 18 Serm. 3 Luke 7. part of vers. 47. Page 34 Serm. 4 Gal. 5.24. Page 54 Serm. 5 Col. 1.20. Page 71 Serm. 6 Luke 23.42. Page 87 Serm. 7 Ephes. 1. ult part vers. 19 Page 105 Serm. 8 Matth. 9.20, 21, 22. Page 125 Serm. 9 Matth. 9.22. Page 141 Serm. 10 Matth. 26. ult part vers. ult. Page 157 Serm. 11 Heb. 12. first part vers. 6. Page 177 Serm. 12 2 Cor. 7.1. Page 196 Serm. 13 2 Cor. 7. ult part vers. 1. Page 216 Serm. 14 1 Pet. 5.6. Page 235 Serm. 15 John 1. first part vers. 14. Page 251 Serm. 16 Matth. 12.36. Page 264 The Sermon preached to the Hereford-shiremen on John 19.27. Page 284 Reader, Excuse me in giving Notice, that besides these there are Sermons of Dr. Gardiners, heretofore printed, on the following Texts. 1. Gen. 45. vers. 8. 2. St. John 1 chap. vers. 14. 3. Chap. 2. Matth. vers. 2. 4. Chap. 8. Rom. vers. 11. 5. 1 Ep. St. Paul to Tim. chap. 4. verse. last. Latin. 6. 1 Ep. to Tim. chap. 2. vers. 1, 2. Cooperentur in bonum. An Advertisement of Books worth buying, to be sold by Samuel Speed, at the sign of the Printing-Press in St. Paul's Churchyard. MR. Caryl his Exposition, with practical Observations on the Book of Job: In 4. Mr. Greenhill his Exposition on Ezekiel, with useful Observations thereupon: In 4. Mr. Ainsworths' Communion of Saints: In 8. — Arrow against Idolatry: In 8. Mr. Sadlers Enchiridion of the Art of Physic: In 8. A Pattern of Catechistical Doctrine, by the Reverend Father in God, Lancelot Andrews, Lord Bishop of Winchester: In 12. FINIS.