NINE SELECT SERMONS Preached upon special occasions in the Parish Church of St. Gregory's by St. Paul's. By the late Reverend JOHN HEWYTT D. D. Together With his public Prayers before and after SERMON. LONDON Printed for Henry Eversden at the Greyhound in St. Paul's Churchyard, and Tho. Rooks at the Holy Lamb, at the East end of St. Paul's near the School. TO The Right Honourable LADY, THE Lady Mary Hewyt, Relict of the late Reverend JOHN HEWYT, D. D. Madam, THe principal intent of our publishing these ensuing Sermons, is no other than Edification: and for the avoiding all suspicion of being accounted spurious and illegitimate; we have assumed the boldness to dedicate them to your Ladyship, with a confident hope of your Honourable Protection; and that whereas heretofore they have been beneficial to his Auditory, they may now prove no less successful to the intelligent Reader; it being pity the Works of so Famous and Eminent a Divine, should be raked up in the embers of Oblivion: And though they have no other Original than the Pen of a ready Writer; yet such diligent care hath been employed in emitting them to the World, that we doubt not, but you will conclude, we have endeavoured the perpetuating the memory of your Pious Consort: For here lurks no Snake under these Verdant Herbs, nor Poisonous Serpent under these Fragrant Flowers; in this enclosed Garden grows no Root of Schism, no slip of Error, no fruit of Disobedience; but within this pleasant Grove are such variety of refreshing contentments to be found, as may delight your Ladyship amidst your more Solitary Cogitations; and yet these are but parts of that Image which ere long we hope to erect, and in a larger Volume. We shall crave leave to (as we do at present) subscribe ourselves, Madam, Your Ladyships humbly devoted Servants, H. E. T. R. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER. Courteous Reader, IT was not popular applause, nor private interest, that induced us to expose these ensuing Discourses to public view; but only an ardent desire to draw a Landscape of the reverend Author's abilities, and though but in Transitu, to give a dark representation of that glorious light, which continually, with unwearied beams did radiate the Souls of his faithful Auditory. They are but the shadows of a faithful life; therefore be not displeased to find them fall short of the living Voice: such curious pieces cannot be drawn without the concurrence of sable lines; so that if thou find them halt, and only with a crooked finger to point at the Author's stile, be not discouraged thereat, nor with a prejudicated opinion deem this naked Babe illegitimate, because destitute of a Patron; for thou wilt find assuredly, they are the true offspring of that worthy Parent, and want only the Father's hand to lead them into, and preserve them from a captious world. Lay aside all partial interests, and we are bold to presume, that thou canst not but with unspeakable profit give them perusal: we are sensible of the many calumnies that will be cast upon our persons for this innocent work, having already in part undergone the reproach of some malicious tongues, who have endeavoured to render the Sermons abortive, and ourselves contemptible in the eyes of a deceived multitude; nor are we able to divine what acceptance they will gain at the hands of any. But we question not (ingenious Reader, whoever thou art) but that thou wilt love the picture for the persons sake; and wilt impute whatever defect shall be found therein, to the want of the Author's pen, and not the ignorant or willing mistake of the Perusers thereof; for they are notes taken by the pen of a ready Writer, the swiftness of whose motion is able to overtake the most voluble tongue: yet thou canst not but know, that sometimes the smallest hair interposing itself will make a breach in the fullest sentence, thereby interrupting the perfect sense; therefore our care hath been extended to the utmost, that no remarkable fault might appear obvious to the most critical Reader; still endeavouring, that those sacred truths which formerly have been beneficial to the intelligent Hearers, when preached by the reverend Author, may now prove advantageous to the eternal welfare of every Soul that shall peruse them; which is the earnest desire of, Reader, Thy unfeigned Friends and Servants, H. E. T. R. A Table of the Titles and Texts of the Sermons contained in this Book. MErcy and judgement, 2 Sermons. Page 1. 28. Psal. 130. v. 3. If thou Lord wilt be extreme, etc. A Nativity Sermon, page 62. Saint Luke 2. v. 7. And she brought forth her firstborn son, etc. A Funeral Sermon. p. 81. 1 Cor. 15.19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ. Testis Fidelis, or the faithful witness. Five Sermons upon 18. St. john v. 37. To this end was I born, etc. whereof 1. Upon St. Thomas day, p. 106. whereof 1. Upon Christmas day. p. 126. Three more upon the same Text on several occasions. Dr. Hewit's public Prayer before Sermon. O thou that hearest Prayers, unto thee shall all flesh come, for our help standeth in thy name (O Lord) which hast made heaven and earth, we beseech thee therefore, let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be now, and evermore acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer. O Most glorious and most powerful Lord God, whose dwelling is so far above the highest heavens, that thou humblest thyself but to look upon the things that are in heaven, and that are in earth; thou art omnipotent and omnipresent, dost whatsoever thou wilt, both in heaven in earth, in the sea, and in all deep places; thou art about our beds, and about our paths; thou spyest out all our ways, understandest all our thoughts long before we thought. O Lord, when we look up unto thee, and consider thee, to be a God of so pure eyes, as that thou canst not behold iniquity without indignation and wrath; and when we look within ourselves, and see that world of corruption that lieth hidden in our breasts, and those innumerable acts of transgressions that have stained both our persons and our lives; we cannot but be confounded and ashamed before thy face, and are not able to open our mouths; for our sins witness against us, and our iniquities are as sore burdens too heavy for us to bear, they cry up to heaven for vengeance against us, and it is of thy infinite patience and long-suffering towards us, that thou hast not long since poured upon us the Vials of thy wrathful indignation, nor sentenced us to the pit of eternal destruction. Lord, who can tell how oft he offendeth? The sinfulness of our natures, the sins of our lives, the sins of our souls, and the sins of our bodies, our secret and whispering sins, our crying and open sins, our idle and wanton sins, our presumptuous and deliberate sins, the sins we have committed to please our selves, and the sins we have committed to please others; the sins we have committed in our own persons, and the sins we have occasioned others to commit; the sins we know, and the sins we know not; the sins that we have so long striven to hid from others knowledge, that we have even now hid them from our own memories; these, O Lord are more in number then the sands upon the Sea shore, or the Stars of Heaven which cannot be numbered. We have sinned against the light of Nature, and against the light of Grace, against thy Law, and against thy Gospel, against thy Promises, and against thy Threats, against thy Mercies, and against thy Judgements, against all vows, and promises, and resolutions of better obedience, against the reproofs of thy word, against the many motions of thy good Spirit in our souls, against thy Fatherly admonitions, against thy loving corrections, against the many fearful examples of thy Judgements, against the infinite obligations of thy favours, and against the checks of our own consciences. These things have we done, and because thou held thy tongue, we have also thought wickedly, that thou art altogether such an one as ourselves, or that either thou dost not see, or dost approve, or wilt not severely punish the crimes that we have so long doted on. If thou Lord God, shouldest be extreme to mark what is done amiss, Lord, who is able to abide it? but with thee there is mercy, and with thee there is plenteous redemption, and thou desirest not the death of him that dies, but rather that be should turn from sin and be saved; and seeing that without thee it is not possible for us of ourselves to be able to please thee; Lord, turn us to thee, and we shall be turned, for thou art the Lord our God; Draw us, and we shall run after thee, draw us by the cords of love, and with the bands of loving kindness; work powerfully upon our spirits by thy holy Spirit, work- contrition in our hearts, and godly sorrow for all our sins, even a sorrow to repentance, and repentance to salvation never to be repent off. Break these hard and stony hearts of ours by the hammer of thy word, mollify them by the oil of thy grace, smite these rocky hearts of ours, by the rod of thy most gracious power, that we may shed forth rivers of tears for all the sins we have committed; Lord, make us grieve because we cannot grieve, and to weep because we cannot weep enough. O that thou wouldst humble us more and more under the true sight and sense of all our ungodliness, of all our wickedness, and of all our unworthiness. And O thou Father of mercies, have mercy on us, O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us; thou that takest away the sins of the world, take away the world of our sins; they are too heavy (O Lord) for us to bear, thou only art able to bear them, and thou didst bear all our sins upon thine own body upon the tree; O thou that wast wounded for our sins, and bruised for our transgressions, we beseech thee, let the chastisement of our peace be upon thee, and do thou by thy stripes heal us. Hid us most gracious Redeemer, hid us from the wrath of God, in the glorious scars of those meritorious wounds which thou didst suffer for us, and by the virtue of them create peace in heaven for us, by reconciling the Father to us; And O thou that wast our Saviour on earth, we beseech thee, be thou our Advocate in heaven; be thou our Highpriest, still offering up thyself a Victim to the Father for us, and besprinkle us with thine own most precious blood, that through that blood of sprinkling, our persons, our services, and the desires of our souls may be acceptable to the Father. Be thou our King, set up thy throne in our hearts, dismantle, and disgarison all the strong holds, and fortifications of sin, that sin may no longer have dominion over us, but do thou rule, and overrule us, enable us to do thy will, writ thy Commandments in our hearts, and thy Statutes in our inward parts, put thy fear into our souls, that we may fear thee, and love thee, and diligently live after thy commands; Be thou our Prophet leading us into all truth. Oh do thou inform us and teach us the way wherein we should go, and do thou guide us by thine eye, be thou the voice behind us, still directing us, this is the way, walk in it, guide us by thy counsels here, and hereafter receive us unto thy glory. And O Holy Spirit the Comforter, do thou help our infirmities, and with thy unutterable groans, make intercession for us. And thou that workest both to will, and the deed in us of thine own good pleasure, put into our hearts good desires, and let the continual assistance of thy grace help us to bring the same to good effect, plant in our souls the love of thy name, graft in our hearts true Religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of thy great mercy keep us in the same so long as we have to live; make us to love that which thou commandest, and to desire that which thou hast promised, that among the sundry and manifold changes, and chances of this mortal life our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found. And thou that shedst the precious ointments of thy grace upon all thy faithful people, O do thou open the eyes of our souls that we may see thee who art invisible, that beholding thy glorious (but invisible) presence in all our actions, we may be so awfully affected towards thee, that whether either the Devil shall tempt us, or the world shall allure us, or our own carnal lusts and sinful affections shall incline us to commit any wickedness; thy Holy Spirit (O Lord) may in all things so direct, rule, and overrule our hearts, and awaken our consciences to ask us, How shall we dare to commit any wickedness and sin against thee? Gracious God, keep us from sinning against thee, though it were to gain the whole world, for it will not profit us to gain the whole world, and lose our own souls; help us rather, we pray thee, to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, and to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure. Help us to eschew, and decline all the occasions, all the opportunities that have betrayed us unto sin, and to hate the very garments spotted with the flesh. O Lord, with what affliction soever thou shalt punish us, do not punish us with spiritual judgements and desertions, give us not over to our own hearts lusts, to our own vile, lewd, and corrupt affections, give us not over to hardness and impenitency of heart, but make us sensible of the least sin; and give us thy grace to think no sin little committed against thee, our God, but that we may be humbled for it, and repent of it, and reform it in our lives and conversations; and keep us from presumptuous sins, O let not them get the dominion over us, but keep us innocent from the great offence, O Lord our strength, and our Redeemer. And sanctify unto us all thy methods and proceed with us, fitting us for all further tribulations and trials; whatsoever thou in thy divine pleasure shalt be pleased to impose upon us, give us patience, and constancy, and resolution, and fortitude to undergo it, that though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we may fear no ill, knowing that thou, O Lord, art mercifully with us, and that with thy rod as well as with thy staff thou wilt support & comfort us, and that nothing shall be able to separate us from thy love which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. For whose sake we beseech thee, be thou merciful, as to us, so to all mankind, we are all, O Lord the work of thy hands, gracious God, if it be thy will make us all the sheep of thy pasture, thou hast made us all of one common mould, Lord, if it be to thy glory, make us all partakers of one common Salvation; but inspire continually thine universal Church, with the Spirit of truth, unity, and concord; and grant that all they that do confess thy holy name may agree in the truth of thy holy word, and live in unity and godly love. Thou hast promised, O Lord, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against thy Church, perform we beseech thee, thy most gracious promises both to thy whole Church, and to that part of it, which thou hast planted and now afflicted in these sinful Lands, and Nations wherein we live. Arise (O Lord) and have mercy upon our Zion, it is time that thou have mercy upon her, yea the time is come, for thy servants think upon her stones, and it pities them to see her in the dust. Lord maintain thine own cause, rescue the light of thy truth, from all those clouds of errors, and heresies which do so much obscure it, and let the light thereof in a free profession break forth and shine again among us, and that continually even as long as the Sun and Moon endureth. To this end, bless us all, and above us all bless all those to whom thou hast given a right for to govern thy people; Lord, enable them with thy power (as well as thou hast invested them with authority) to govern the people committed to their charge, in peace, wealth, and godliness. And thou in whose hands are the hearts of all men, and turnest them which way soever thou wilt, turn the hearts of the disobedient, that the streams of their obedience may run within its proper channel, and all flow to the ocean of thy glory. And bless thy Church with Pastors after thine own heart, that they may feed thy people with knowledge and understanding; that they may teach thy way unto the wicked, and convert sinners unto thee, and in all things, and above all things they may seek thy honour, and glory. And for the continuance of thy Gospel among us, restore in thy good time to their several places and callings, (and give grace, O heavenly Father, to) all the reverend Fathers of the Church, and other Orthodox Clergy, that they may both by their life and Doctrine, set forth thy true and lively word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments; let thy blessing be upon the labours of all those whom thou hast commissioned to preach thy word as this day to thy people; be with me the meanest and unworthiest of all thy servants; O that thou wouldst work wonderfully in me, for me, and by me, make me a happy instrument of much glory to thy name, and of much good to thy Church and people. And to all thy people every where, give hearing ears, understanding hearts, conscientious souls, and obedient lives, especially to this Congregation here present, that with meek hearts, and due reverence they may hear and receive thy holy word, truly serving thee in righteousness and true holiness all the days of their lives. And we beseech thee, of thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and secure all those that in this transitory life, be in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity; these especially that are commended to our devotion, we humbly recommend to thy Fatherly goodness, those whom thou hast visited with thine hand upon the bed of sickness, O Lord look down from heaven, behold; visit, and relieve those thy sick servants, look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy; give them comfort and sure confidence in thee, defend them from the danger of the enemy, and keep them in perpetual peace and safety through Jesus Christ our Lord. Hear us Almighty and most merciful God, and Saviour, extend thy accustomed goodness to those thy servants who are grieved with sicknesses, visit them O Lord, as thou didst visit Peter's wives mother, and the Captain's servant, so visit and restore unto those sick persons their former healths (if it be thy will) or else give them grace so to take thy visitation here upon earth that after this painful life ended, they may dwell with thee in life everlasting. And for those thy handmaids that draw near to the time of their travel, thou who art the presant help in the needful time of trouble, stand by them, and save them, preserve them in the danger of Child-bearing; make them joyful Mothers of gracious Children, bring them to thy holy Baptism, bring them up in thy holy and true Religion, till thou finally bring them to thine everlasting kingdom. And accept of the thankful hearts of those thy servants, whom thou hast delivered from the great pain and peril of childbirth; grant, we beseech thee most merciful Father, that they through thy help may both faithfully live, and walk in their vocations according to thy will in this life present, and also may be partakers of everlasting glory in the life to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And whoever else desire our prayers (thou knowest all their names, and all their several necessities) whether at Sea or at Land, in this. Land, or in others; Lord we humbly recommend them all unto thee, beseeching thee, to visit them with thy salvation, and according to the desire of their souls, as it shall be for thy glory, and their eternal good, Lord grant them their heart's desire, and all for Jesus Christ the righteous sake, in whose blessed name and words, we further call on thee, as he himself hath taught and commanded, and encouraged us in his holy Gospel, saying, Our Father, etc. SERM. I. PSAL. 130. v. 3. If thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it? I Will sing of Mercy and of Judgement (saith the Kingly Prophet,) the two everlasting Arms, O Lord, by which thou upholdest and suppottest the beings of mortal Creatures; the two everlasting wings by which the eternal majesty of Heaven covers immortal Spirits with unspeakable goodness, which like the two Cherubims seated upon the Ark of God's glory, cast continually their unspotted eyes upon the rotten rags of Humane frailty, aiming still at man's felicity; How else could dust and ashes expect continued life from such dry bones as was, and is still, the foundation of man's body? for should Heavens propitious eye glance forth nothing but renewed smiles upon our actions, and mercy always sit hover over our Tabernacles, we should quickly ingulf our spirits in the bottom of miserable security; or on the contrary, should but the direful hand of Omnipotency itself draw forth his glittering sword against our weak resistance, unto what a paralytic posture would such an appearance strike us, as coming from him whose very breath can speak us into nothing? Oh then with what bowed knees and humble hearts should every soul of us kiss the very remembrance of a jesus, coming not only to save them that believe, but to work a present reconcilememt betwixt the Justice and Mercy of God the Father? that now the one as well as the other, or rather with united consent both together may conspire and join issue in the great work of man's redemption: for could your drowsy spirits but lend an ear to the pleasant dialogue that continually passes betwixt these glorious Attributes, now you should hear Justice calls for the Sanctuaries balance to weigh all the actions of the sons of men, and with a Mene, Mene, Tekel, etc. find such dusty performances, of no validity in Heaven's account; and so poor we, being in Adam wilfully lost, are now necessarily fallen short of immortal bliss. Thus is our sentence irrecoverable, and no door of hope left for our escape, till Mercy, that eternal beam of love, stand forth, and present the all-sufficient merit of a dying Saviour, as full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world; pleading that faithful covenant made by Justice itself, that whosoever believes shall not perish, but have everlasting life: Which faith is the golden pillar that bears up the stately structure of man's everlasting glory; the only hand by which the promises of a better life are made ours; the sure entail, by which the inheritance purchased in common is become mine, in particular; it is the only voice by which holy David could make an echo that would reach from the lowest deeps to the highest Heavens; Out of the deeps have I called unto thee O Lord; Lord hear my voice, as you may see, verse the first of this Psalm: nay, it is the very nerve and sinew of all pious Devotion; for if you peruse the whole Psalm, you will find it is nothing else but a rehearsal of religious petitions, and serious exhortations. In his petitions you'll find his soul big with holy affiance, spiritual confidence, grounded on God's word promising, and his own Experience tasting. In his Exhortations, like a faithful Physician he prescribes nothing but what is attested to with his own and others Probatum est: making mercy both the beginning and the end, the principal and the final cause of Happiness; but in both he keeps the eye of humility placed upon the rags of man's unworthiness, as justly demeriting eternal wrath, were God exact in remunerating our actions; for so he closes up the sum of his requests in the words of my Text: If thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord who may abide it? In which words please to consider two general parts. 1 An antecedent, in these words; If thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss. 2. A Consequent, in the other words; who can abide it? Or if you will, look on them. 1 In the Thesis. 2 In the Hypothesis. 1 In the Thesis; wherein you have God's extremity in punishing. 2 In the Hypothesis; There you have man's misery in suffering. And now my Text in its situation is not unlike a pleasant Grove, presenting to your view variety of pleasant Trees; each bough thereof being richly laden with delicious & goodly fruit, not only delightful to the eye, but beneficial to the Taste: or if you will, your Conceptions may behold most costly Arras, enriched with the lively story of God's bounty and man's felicity mutually interwoven in the same piece; but if you list to change the scene, and have the true parts more nearly acted, you may gain a precious interview of God's omnipotency displayed in its several Dispensations, and management of Humane affairs, where Justice and Mercy, the twins of royalty, discovering on the one Hand Gods free benevolence in bestowing, and man's utter unworthiness for so large a guerdon; on the reverse parts, your sight is presented with the Almighty's just severity in punishing, together with man's reaping misery, the true fruit of his sin. In fine, that I may unbowel this sacred writ, take the substance thereof distilled into these four observations: 1 It's the Corruption of man's nature to do amiss. 2 God is not always extreme to mark and punish what's done amiss. 3 God can when he pleases be extreme in marking and punishing what is done amiss. 4 If God be extreme in punishing, man must needs be extreme in suffering. These are the four streams that naturally run their division from this pleasant spring, that voluntarily tenders its silver drops to refresh the heart of every pious Christian; which makes me beg your patience and zealous attention, whilst in order I make these glorious truths to pass before the spiritual eye of your intelligent souls. And first of the First, namely It's the corrupt nature of man to do amiss. As its the nature of man to be doing, so it's the corruption of that nature to be doing amiss; and though God see and observe all the actions of discomposed and distempered man, yet it's only the obliquity of those actions his severity intends to reward with punishment: for every action simply considered in itself is good, and no way meriting unspeakable torment; but every such action contracts eternal guilt, as performed by and prersisted in of sinful man, whose customary nature and natural custom is to do evil; for as things are in being so they are in operation: Can a man gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thissles? saith our Blessed Saviour. Or, can any man bring a clean thing out of an unclean? was the question put by holy job. Ever since man eat the forbidden fruit, man himself hath become a barren tree, and cumbered the ground; for ever, since man voluntarily fell, man hath been under a necessity of sin, a necessity, I say, proceeding not from God's peremptory decree but his feeble and corrupted will; for its a voluntary necessity; should I set open the door of this defiled cage and present to your view the misery, lapsed man's unhappiness hath reduced him to, or give you but a glimpse of those polluted birds whose habitation is in the house of every soul by nature; or but read a Lecture of man's depraved condition, I could do it in no other language, then that of Esay, from the sole of the foot even unto the Head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores, etc. Esay, the 1 c. & 6. v. so total a defection hath seized upon our nature that not now the pool of Bethesda, or the waters of jordan must be washed in to heal our Leprosy; but the fountain of life set open by a crucified Saviour to wash and bathe our sinful souls for sin and for uncleanness; yea so foul is our Crime, that it hath made man out of order both in Soul and Body; His very spirituals are much carnalized; look upon him in his soul, and that you'll find is amiss and very much disordered. 1 In the understanding, which is the eye of the soul, is there not much dimness contracted? & if the light that is in us, be darkness how great must our decay in sight needs be? What St. Paul saith of the Gentiles is true of every one of us by nature, in Eph. 4.18. having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts: and until he, the power of whose death, tore in pieces the Temples veil, rend the vail of ignorance from off our rocky hearts, we did abide benighted with the black clouds of sin and rebellion, it being just with the Almighty either totally to Eclipse, or finally to withdraw that spiritual light our wills voluntarily cast away, as being puffed up with an overweening conceit of being made like Omnipotency itself in the knowledge of good and evil. Such towering thoughts being likely to lead to no other place but that of darkness, yea and that irremediless too, without the assistance of that true light graciously promised to enlighten every soul that cometh into the world; for our nature hath not only led us from the way of truth, but the best discerning our souls have is only to find ourselves involved in misery and a total deprivation of good. So that you see our understanding can only let us know ourselves miserable, but can no way relieve us. 2 The will is perverse, and utterly unconformable to the law of God: the relish of Eves forbidden fruit is still fresh on the palate of every son of Adam, delighting to go astray rather than follow the strait rules of God's command, so that he puts his people to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and since he cannot affright us with our dangerous estate nature hath left us in (by its unskilful choice,) he would feign convince all men of their extreme madness, putting the question with a quare moriemini? Why will ye die O house of Israel? Ezek. 18.31. and the more folly you will find lodges in the heart of every man who wilfully turns off from the truth of God's law, if you but seriously consider that his inducement thereunto arises from no experienced comforts he ever found in those gilded vanities, which most account the world's pleasures, or fleeting trifles which are reckoned for profit; for we have all good reason to believe Solomon's knowledge, who distilled all the quintessence of sublunary beings into his own cup of delight, and what's the sum total at the foot of this account? you may take it in his own language, I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun, and behold all is vanity and vexation of Spirit, Eccles. 1. ch. 14. vanity in their being, and vexation of spirit in their operation, for they are no other but pricking goads, and stinging thorns in the sides and hands of him that enjoys them; so that by this time you may well sit down and take up a lamentation both on the behalf of yourselves and others, that so great folly should be entailed upon your actions, as voluntarily to run from the strait path that leads to eternal life, and wilfully to follow the perverse guidance of your own unbounded appetite; & seeing therefore there is so much evil in vice, and so great glory in virtue, that even wicked men would appear godly, Sejanus, incipiente adhuc potentia, bonis consiliis notescere volebat. Tacit. Annal. l. 4. p. 116. that Sejanus (himself whilst a young courtier) took care for nothing but to grow famous by his integrity; let us all learn this pious prudence to run with speed to heavens merciful throne, and with uncessant cries beg that our crooked man's will may be made strait by the guidance of God's commands. 3 Our affections are placed upon wrong objects, (for its the object and the end, together with the manner of performance, which makes every action either good or evil;) we covet our own pleasure and are unsatisfied without it, though the purchasing thereof cost us no less than the loss of God's heavenly countenance; such fools have we made ourselves, that our chief delight is folded up in the enjoyment of a few transitory beings, forgetting the only Jewel which the world's treasure is of too mean a value to make purchase of; for as one saith Well, no glory that's woven in the finest tapestry of this world, but will lose colour, decay and perish, whereas saving grace and the knowledge of jesus Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a possession for eternity;) and we are so wedded to our carnal interests, that we cannot endure to have mention made of their removal, and are so besotted with their imaginary beauty, that we seek to cover all their deformities; dealing with our affectionate lusts as the painter did with Antigonus, who had but, one eye, he drew his picture imagine lusca half, faced, and so buried the deformity out of the beholder's sight; We usually present our seeming contents with the fair face of outward joy, while in the mean time we draw a curtain before their cloven foot and stinging tail; such is the unhappiness our first parent's folly hath reduced us to, that we naturally choose the evil and let pass the good; court the shadow, and let the substance flee away: Greedy affection was the inlet of our sin and misery, and still the same porter keeps open the doors for our unruly appetites. With how much eagerness therefore should we endeavour to get our desires and affections placed upon their proper object? that so they may attain the truest end, by the rightest means, and not rest contented with a few lifeless wishes and cold desires, which at the best (as one saith well) can gain but this mean character, (bene cogitare est bene somniare) a good thinker is but a good dreamer, whose awakened sight serves only to let him see he hath but the cloud instead of juno; therefore above all things it teaches us the truth of this lesson, that needs must men do evil whose very affections are wrong placed: Our souls being amiss we must needs do amiss, for man is borne to evil as naturally as the sparks fly upward, saith holy job; for the best of men without renewing grace are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, men of perverse and depraved minds; till then all we preach or learn, is but as new wine put into old bottles, whose strength their weakness cannot contain: or as a new piece in an old garment; it may help a little to patch up our lives and actions, but at length that natural acquired knowledge which with much study, labour, and sorrow we have obtained, will but aggravate our sins, and make the rapture of our consciences the more desperate and wide, therefore while others sit mourning over the loss of some terrene bliss, which perhaps was gone before truly enjoyed, let us bewail the true depravation of that real goodness once given to the first, and now proffered us by believing in the second Adam. It were folly beyond compare for rebels to imagine that a pardon can be merited by resistance; such sturdy oaks must be cut down, not bowed; and cannot we make the case our own? drawing this sure conclusion, that while at enmity with God no peace of conscience, no joy in the Holy Ghost; and that we are traitorous rebels beyond all contradiction and dispute. For there is a double rebellion: 1 Of the soul against God, Rom. 3.10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, etc. and likewise he goes on, showing the totality of this rebellion, verses 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. drawing up this conclusion ver. the 16. destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known, there is no fear of God before their eyes. When once the reigns of loyalty are laid in the neck of licentious liberty, there can be expected nothing but ruin and calamity; you have already seen the defection that reigns predominant in the three principal faculties of every unregenerate soul; from which it must necessarily follow, if the streams abound with so much pollution, the fountain and spring must needs overflow with corruption; it is the unsanctified heart that occasions all unnatural heats and quarrels against God and his righteous Law; Whence come wars and fightings? (saith S. james;) come they not hence? 4. james 1. viz. from a lusting and unsatisfied principle that hath taken possession of our souls? for ever since man eat of the forbidden fruit the envious one hath endeavoured to steal the seed of God's grace out of his heart, that so he might with greater freedom have the larger room wherein to sow his own Tares; so that no way can peace be expected from us, but by true contrition, and holy submission; to carry our dead souls in the arms of faith to Jesus the only true mediator, and beg of him to take away the partition-wall which our sins had erected; that so our reconciliation being wrought by him, we may have strong consolation through believing. 2 As there is a rebellion of the soul against God; so, secondly, it follows, that there is a rebellion in the senses against the soul, Rom. 7. c. 21. I find then a law, that when I would do good evil is present with me: and if the great Apostle found such struggle within his sanctified spirit, what reason sure have we to make complaint, whose senses are continually boiling up with fiery passions and enormous lusts? as might easily be made appear, would your patience grant me the liberty but to particularise, and show you how each sense apart hath joined in conspiracy against the soul: and I'll begin 1 With Hearing, that once heavenly organ, whose delight was in nothing, when created, but to hear the heavenly Anthems the glorious Choir of Angels continually sing with changeable parts, and unspeakable ravishment, in praise of their and his Creator; or to receive the lively oracles, and upright rules of life, from the mouth of God himself: but alas, no sooner had the soul sinned then the ear was stopped from the former glorious sounds; and that voice which before was pleasant to Adam innocent, is now terrible and intolerable to the same person naked: and what is now our employment, but to listen after those things rhat cannot profit, or else to attend to that which will certainly bring punishment? The most heavenly charmer with all his melting rhetoric cannot unstop the ear of an obdurate impenitent, but he will persist in the harkening to those diabolical lectures, whose doctrine is deceitful, and application damnable; whose propositions are to teach us to sow the seeds of sin, and Uses, to persuade us to reap the fruits thereof. That this is a truth beyond control I need fetch no further arguments than your own sad experience, whose daily practice bespeaks the woeful knowledge you have thereof. 2 The sense of Seeing also is not without its interest, in complotting how by rebellion to ruin our souls. Indeed I find it sometimes the threatening of God's angry curse as the punishment of a rebellious people, that seeing they may not see, lest they should be converted and live, Esay 9.10. though for the most part it is the subject of his complaint against both Prince and subjects, Priest and people, as you may see at large up and down that prophecy, that by a kind of spiritual adultery, the sight of men is divorced from that object which is best: and do we not find, that these optic nerves of ours which were made only to be the recesses of glorious and immortal objects, are by us made the casements and inlets to all kinds of folly? & madness that now our blear eyes are either offended with every beam of light, the sun of righteousness darts upon us (so miserable is the decay of our sight in respect of its noblest capacity and operations) or else in its luxuriancy and wantonness runs out, glaring upon vain and unprofitable things, to the breeding of base disorder and unreasonableness in our minds: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Chrysost. wicked men are unreasonable men: are they not without understanding that work wickedness? saith the Psalmist, Psal. 14.14. such is the extravagancy of our natural sight, that it for the most part makes way to the blindness of our spiritual sight. 3 Smelling; which once was like that of a pleasant field which the Lord hath blessed, is now by sin become abominable, to God and nauseous to ourselves, we lost the savour of that good ointment for which the Virgin daughters of Zion should love us; Cant. 4.11. our smell is now become earthy, and by a sinful dejection we bend our souls downwards, for having in Adam lost the smell of those garments, more pleasant than that of Lebanus, we are now with holy job content to sit and enjoy the savour of a dunghill; there is a filth, and stench remaining in the heart and conscience of every impenitent sinner, that the sweet perfumes of a pure mind and upright spirit, which continually refresh the heaven-borne souls, are foreign, and have no alliance to them whose minds are o'erwhelmed with the turbulent cares of a tossed world, whose impatient billows serve but to force them so much the nearer dangers brink: therefore let no man please himself in any sensual enjoyments, for they are the wicked man's portion; and as we are unwilling to undergo they smart, so let us refuse their seeming pleasure, lest we find such gilded pills to be but the forerunner of a bitter potion. 4 Tasting comes in also for its share in the unprofitable merchandise sin hath brought poor man as the return of all his unlawful actions; indeed it's holy David's Exhortation that we should taste and see how good the Lord is; but happy is the man that hath so much wisdom, for we are so vitiated with the practice of evil, that we have no palate at all to relish heavenly food, minding rather to patch up our decaying carcases, which are daily veterascent and mouldering away, than the taking hold of any opportunity that may lead us to partake and taste of those immortal joys whose duration runs parallel with eternity; Temptations to evil always appearing big with a promising fruition of pleasantness: so that with Eves deceived eye, we are often prevailed with to try and taste their goodness, fleeing from all holy consultation, till with her we pay no less than the smart of a troubled mind for the satisfying of an unbridled lust. I question not but your own experience can sadly witness the truth of this assertion, that impatient and immoderate desires after carnal pleasures always return laden with the intolerable burden of grief and sorrow. 5 Touching; which is the fifth sense that suffers with us and for our transgression, evil appetites being borne do also grow up with us; the consideration whereof induced me the rather to stretch the line of your patience to a particular enumeration thereof, that so beholding our vileness we might be brought to consider, that the sins of our bodies and senses, such as are lusts, will whither in time, and decay of themselves; but sinful habits, and spiritual wickedness, which vitiate and corrupt the mind (except in this life they be put off by grace) will continue to infect and oppress our souls to eternity; of how much concernment than is it for us all to lay hold on those things that will stand by and witness for us in a day of trouble? We see the drowning man will catch at a straw, rather than let pass any thing that with safety may bring him to the shore; and ourselves are curious, and careful to lay hold on those means that will either purchase or preserve temporal safety; oh why then should we not be as wise for our spiritual estate, to lay up treasure where neither moth nor rust can come, to decay or lessen it? In a word, by all that hath been said, it plainly appears that the subject of sin is the soul, and the body is the instrument that subject works by; therefore sin is said to reign in our mortal bodies: so than the proposition is true not only of them that with Ahab sell themselves for sin; making merchandise of that invaluable gem, which a righteous man would purchase with the loss of life itself (could any thing but the blood of God make redemption thereof) or them that make a league with sin and death; but even the saints of God also make too true a proof of this assertion: Holy David, a man after Gods own heart, is sometimes found following the devises of his own, though his freedom therefrom cost him no less than a bedewed couch, or broken bones; such fruit must all the sowers of sin expect to gather. Nay holy job gives the same testimony against himself, in 9 job 20. If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me; If I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. And if the task would not procure wearisomeness to your patience, I might in tracing holy ground, present you with variety of examples out of sacred Writ; Lot was no sooner delivered from devouring fire, but himself presently burns in unnatural lust: Noah hath not long escaped the floods of waters, but himself is drowned in a deluge of wine; and he that was to be the rock upon which Christ will build his Church, he himself falls from the spiritual rock Christ Jesus; and if this be done in the green tree, what will come of the dry? that are no sooner tempted, but yield, assaulted, but embrace it, like the willing bulrush continually sink into its nourishment the filth and mire of a roaring sea; so that the Pelagians impeccant purity, and the Donatists unspotted sanctity, are but Apocryphal, and will never be inserted into the Christians Creed, for we must say with holy David, in the words of my Text, If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, Lord, who can abide it? And the reasons of it are clear. 1 Because not only our nature alone is found active in evil, but it hath drawn in the will and affections also to be its companions in sin; a truth which but now I have preached to your ears, my whole time for the most part hitherto being spent in the narration of our corruption both in soul and body, of the rebellion of each against other, and both against God; so that if we eye ourselves as the objects of God's anger, nothing but everlasting destruction can be expected; the soul sins, and the sin is conveyed thereunto by the organs of the body, which by a free consent are joined in rebellion against the Father of lights; whose vengeance, if severe in reckoning, must be expected to destroy us. 2 Because its easier in itself for man to do amiss than to walk uprightly; for there must be the concurrence of all circumstances to denominate an action good, whereas the defection and want but of one will make it become evil. Our very conception is in sin, therefore needs must there be facility for us to do amiss; we need run no further then little infants, who are but ourselves multiplied, for example in this kind, how much difficulty and industry is required to work in them one moral action that may bear the name of goodness? when, on the contrary, great restraints and much severity can scarce withhold them from multiplied acts of evil: Nay, that you may as soon bind a wolf with the guts of a tender kid, as seek to bridle an impenitent wretch with the cords of love, for by nature we are all King Solomon's fools, who make it our pastime to do evil, but to do good have no understanding. 3 That perfect symmetry of righteousness that obtaineth life, if there be found therein but the obliquity of one act, the demerit thereof will be eternal wrath; so saith St. james 2. chap. 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and offend in one point, is guilty of all. Good reason then have we to stand in awe and sin not, to watch over our ways, and be circumspect: a little leven will leven the whole lump; the smallest sin unrepented of is able to damn us, and the least law transgressed is sufficient to procure our damnation, whereas Christ's infinite merit only can obtain our salvation; for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God, St. james 1.20. By all which you cannot but understand the truth of our assertion, namely, it's the corrupt nature of man to do amiss; together with the reasons thereof. I shall briefly make some application to ourselves, and so in order pass on to the second doctrine propounded. Use. 1 Fall down to prayer, and cry out with holy David, Enter not into judgement with thy servants O Lord, for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified; if in the gold of Angels there was much dust found, if those pure spirits were charged with folly, what extremity of madness, and intolerable ire may we expect as the wages of our unrighteousness? For if thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss, who can abide it? you have seen the doctrine cleared, let us a little apply it, and so pass on to the last conclusion. Application. Oh consider this ye that forget God, lest he destroy you, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you. Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea? Jeremiah 5.22. fear not them that can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell; saith our Saviour, 10. S. Mat. 28. for patience provoked turns to the greatest fury, and when the malevolous planet of God's anger shall fall upon our heads, like the flying roll in the 5. of Zach. it will dread nothing, but everlasting destruction. Oh how should all our pulses beat at the remembrance of God's wrath for sins! how contracted our span of of time, and how trembling should our clay cottages appear! how much better were it for us to measure out the ground by our length before him, and in humility to kiss the rod, then with impudent foreheads to stand it out against his vengeance? how should we with speed lay hold and fix upon all means that may bring us near unto himself? how willing should we be with the silken cords of his favour to be led to repentance, seeing he is so loath to be severe, and waits that he may be gracious to us? and withal considering that if God be extreme in punishing, man must needs be extreme in suffering: which brings me to the fourth and last conclusion. That if God be extreme in punishing, man must needs be extreme in suffering. When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, thou makest his beauty to consume like a moth, saith holy David Ps. 39.12. But it were well if only his beauty were gone, and his outward comeliness done away; but he adds as a greater misery, every man is but vanity, and every way miserable; for what happiness can be expected when God's heavenly countenance looks with anger upon us? for who can bind up that which God in wrath lays open? who can speak peace to that soul whom he afflicts? or if he withdraw, who can comfort us? and who can abide his justice when he is severe, and looks upon us with the eyes of fiery indignation? surely none; for then the body will but begin the pain of the soul, and the soul endure the grief of both, than you may hear the Shunamites child cry out, my head, my head; holy David complains that his heart is melted like wax before the sun; than it is that king Asa is sick indeed from head to foot; that holy job is sitting upon the dunghill, and cursing the day of his birth; then, oh then indeed it is that King David cries out, his strength is dried up like a potsherd, and that he is become like a Pelican in the wilderness; there you shall hear Hezekiah chatter like a crane, and mourn like a Dove: for when God is extreme in his judgements, man must needs be miserable in suffering, even in the outward man; and yet all these are but the beginning of sorrow (as our Saviour saith) in comparison of those calamities that will overtake us, when our breath shall be turned into sighs, our eyes into fountains of tears, and our hearts like mournful harps, shall be hung upon the willows of contrition, and our organical music into the voice of them that weep; all which are but as so many doleful witnesses of our sufferings, when God shall come to visit for our transgressions; so that you see the doctrine cleared, and the truth thereof in lively examples illustrated. One word of application, and then my whole discourse shall be concluded. Application. Oh be astonished and wonder at the rich mercy of God, all you that go on in an uninterrupted course of sinning; that God hath not long since made you the subjects of eternal wrath; oh let the greatness of his patience encourage you not to go on, but repent of your sins, lest your destruction come unawares as an armed man, and there be none to deliver you. Let me therefore exhort all men to make their peace with him betimes, before death makes a separation between them and their chiefest happiness; before your souls be swallowed up in misery, and drowned with an overflowing deluge of useless tears (the only Emblems of a too late repentance) which shall never be wiped off with the smallest remnant of mercy, or drunk up with the least sponge of pity and fatherly compassion; for then the Lamb slain for the redemption of your souls repenting, will be found no less than judah's Lion enthroned, to condemn both soul and body for wilful and impenitent sins; so that we must all conclude with the words of my Text, If thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord who may abide it? Regi seculorum immortali & invisibili, soli Deo honour & gloria, Amen. SERM. II. PSAL. 130. V 3. If thou Lord be extreme, etc. Introduction. THe glory of the Shepherd is the thriving of the Sheep, as Saint chrysostom saith; and the fatness of Christ's Lambs, is the strength of their graces; by the one the outward man is refreshed, but with the other, the inward spirit is rejoiced, and in both the glory of God is highly exalted: Heavens spotless eye endures not to behold leprous Souls with any other look, besides that of vengeance; nor can the Creature ever expect to see its Creator's face, without a renewed mind; For without Holiness no man shall ever see God, Heb. 12.14. We are but stubble to his consuming fire, so that while we are in a state of sinning, we are liable to damnation, Heb. 10.13. It being a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, whose just severity will wound the hairy scalp of such as wilfully go astray: why then should we be so stupidly ignorant as to pass on in a way of sin, casting all fear of danger behind us, as if we were able to encounter devouring fire, or dwell with everlasting burning? especially when we consider but our own frame, we cannot but know we are but dust, and that which is our mould will soon decay; and withal remembering our time is but short, and the word, red rationem, backed with a Thou fool, may this night be given suddenly; and then assuredly as the tree falls, so it lies; and in the same condition must we appear at God's Tribunal. Oh then with what circumspection should our actions be performed, lest any evil or vicious habits should square themselves to join with us in our holiest Oblations! because we pretend service to him whose power in a few words can write great Monarches into trembling, and can make a hair, Adrian 4. or the kernel of a raisin as mortal as a Goliahs' spear; and can with ease blow down our bubbling lives into nothing; for the time is coming, when not astuta verba, but pura corda, (as Saint Bernard saith) not fair words, but honest hearts will prevail and commend us to him who judgeth all things; for he will infatuate all fallacious wisdom and self-destroying wit; For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickedness, nor shall any evil dwell with thee, saith holy David, Psal. 5.4. So that Holiness is now the only path that leads weary and wand'ring souls to the Paradise of Celestial Bliss; all other ways being severely kept against us by the flaming sword of God's irreconcilable anger and hatred against sin and sinners; for no unholy thing shall enter (much less remain) in the Holy City; all such shall be cast out, Rev. 21.27. A good nature, like a shallow brook, may empty itself into the narrow river of Humane love; but perfect Holiness, and real Sanctity is only that noble stream which carries the soul to Heaven, and loses it in the Ocean of infinite Bliss. You may for a time sport yourselves with the fire of lustful pleasures, but ere you are ware, the flame thereof will not only sing your gilded wings of ambitious desires which so long bore you up with the breath of popular applause, but also consume your soul and body in endless woe and misery; for when God shall come in flaming fire, he will render vengeance to all that are ungodly; not enduring longer to have the cry of our sins to come up before him: and therefore holy David well considered this Meditation, when he broke forth with the words of my Text: If thou Lord will be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord who may abide it? In which words we have already considered two general parts. 1 An Antecedent. 2 A consequent. Or if you will, here is 1 The Thesis. 2 The Hypothesis. In the first you have God's extremity in punishing. In the second you have man's misery in suffering, for he saith: If thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord who may abide it? From which sacred concession, we have enedavoured to wind up the sum and substance of holy David's intention into these four bottoms or doctrinal conclusions, viz. 1 It is the corruption of man's nature to do amiss. 2 God is not always extreme to punish man when he hath done amiss. 3 God can when he pleases be extreme in punishing man when he hath done amiss. 4 If God be extreme in punishing, man must needs be extreme in suffering. Thus far our general division hath had its equal course; and our progress in the dispatch of these truths hath but quitted the first, and made entrance upon the second, which together with the two latter, acompanied with your patience, shall at this time terminate my hours discourse. And that I may with the more benefit to your understanding proceed therein, I shall only lead your memories back to the second conclusion, namely Doct. 2 The mercy of God is such, he will not always be extreme to mark what's done amiss. Examples of God's patience and long forbearance have not where such lively representations as in ourselves, whose unconsumed lives are nothing else but a series of continued mercy; nor is there any rational account to be rendered for the same save only that it is the good will of him that dwelleth in the bush, whose glory is not to be given to another; and that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, etc. Which he doth 1 For his name sake, Exodus 34.6. 2 For his nature's sake, which is always prone to show mercy. 3 For his glories sake, and that 1 In general. 2 In particular. 1 In general, it is the constant language of holy Scripture, as you have already heard. 2 In particular, he is not extreme for his Glory sake, which is great in many respects. I In respect of his judgements, for they are his strange work, and never had he felicity in executing the same, but with an unwilling willingness is always constrained to visit for the sins, whether of nations, cities, or particular persons; witness his sending the Gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, his low condescension to Abraham, when he became Advocate for Sodom; and his own tears over jerusalems' approaching ruin; yea and witness the repentings that were kindled in his bowels for revolting Ephraim: but mercy is his delight, because he waits to be gracious. 2 Great in respect of time, for the mercy of God endures for ever, in Ps. 136. As his power is unlimited, so neither can bounds be set to his mercy; sun and moon, heaven and earth, these all have their periods, but the rich treasure of God's mercy shall have no end: I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad, saith holy David. Ps. 119.96. All the attributes of God like himself are from everlasting to everlasting. 3 Great in extent of place, for his mercy reaches unto the clouds, Psal. 36.6, 7. Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens, and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, thy judgements are as a great deep; Lord, etc. God's extended grace makes its full appearance not only in delivering from danger, but in supplying our wants; not only in saving our bodies from temporal evils, but in redeeming our souls from eternal damnation, for with him is great deliverance. 4 Great in extent of plenty, for God is rich in mercy; Eph. 2.4. But God (saith the Apostle) who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he loved us, etc. as if St. Paul had spoke his mind in larger phrases thus; You are poor and needy, you want blessings temporal and spiritual, and know not whither to flee for succour and supply, so that the narrowness of your hearts imagines Gods free hand is straitened; but let no such scruple bear rule in your minds; for with God is so great a treasure of grace as never can be exhausted, such riches of mercy as can admit of no decrease; for God is rich in mercy, and great in love; yea and he accounts it his glory to pass by iniquity, transgression and sin. O then who would not be in love with him that is so lovely in goodness? who would not in want flee to him for salvation, who is so rich in mercy, that he sent his only begotten Son into the world, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life? john 9.15. 5 Great in respect of his works; for his mercy is over all his works. If you survey Gods curious architecture in creating of the world, you'll find mercy communicating its goodness to poor man, in making him possessor and Lord of so rich a dominion; nor were the hands of mercy bound up by man's rebellion, or consumed by the Angel's flaming sword, but it took its proper seat to make restauration of his own most glorious Image in the death of his beloved Son, which is and will be manifested to the whole world; the Gospel of the ever-blessed jesus being that holy city set upon a hill, unto which all nations are invited to come and make their habitation; each word of truth made manifest before us being a particular call to every individual son of Adam to come and embrace him, the power of whose resurrection will raise their dead souls from a state of sin to newness of life: and thus hath mercy rid triumphant through the whole proceed betwixt a faithful God and a rebellious creature. 4 God is not always extreme to mark what is done amiss in respect of his Saints & elected ones, for they are his beloved, and his delight, for whose sake alone the foundations of the earth are kept firm, and not thrown into the midst of a bottomless sea: God is not willing (to use holy Abraham's expostulation) to destroy the righteous with the wicked; no, for ten sake destruction shall not fall upon a people or city: & if any doubt the truth of this assertion, let them but peruse the 12. chap. of Genesis▪ where they shall find the great unwillingness the father of compassions doth express to go about the destruction of that sinful city with righteous judgement, which to him is accounted a strange work▪ nay it shall go well with Potiphars house and Pharaohs court also, if upright joseph dwell therein: He'll defer his plagues to another generation rather than his children should suffer; or else, which is far better, they shall be taken away from the evil to come, that their blessed eyes may never see what utter ruin divine vengeance doth bring upon a sinful people; therefore for his elect sake he will not always be angry. 5 In respect of the reprobate he is not always extreme to mark what they have done; and that upon a twofold account: 1 To let them see their just condemnation. 2 In respect of judgement. 1 To let them see the justice of their condemnation, that though he hath long spared them, and given them space and opportunity to repent, yet they have chose their own destruction by a wilful impenitency; nay God complains in the Prophet Esay, All the day long have I stretched out my arm to a rebellious people, etc. (but saith he) I will not always keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, Esa. 65.9. their continued rebellion it makes God ingeminate his threatened severity, which though he be loath to execute, yet he will not always be silent, abused patience turning into the greatest fury: witness his passionate compassion over sinful jerusalem, whom thus he speaks; Oh jerusalem, jerusalem, which killest the Prophets, and stonest them that were sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not? There is their times for repentance, but now upon their neglect and abuse thereof must needs follow God's severest vengeance: for so it follows, Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, etc. Luke 13.34, 35. Yea, thus he dealeth with jezabel herself, that mother of Fornications; I gave her space (saith the merciful God) but she repent not, therefore behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds, and I will kill her children with death, Rev. 2.21, 22. By all which (as in a crystal mirror) you may clearly see the sad event which continually attends an impenitent state; God's mercy affords us space, and leaves us without excuse, but his Justice will certainly punish us if we repent not. 2. In respect of Judgement; shall I call it a mercy to the wicked, that God suffers them to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? had it not been a greater mercy rather to have cut them off by shortening of their days? for by it surely something had been substracted from their torments, which is proportioned to, and measured out by their sins: but that God should in Judgement spare them, to prosper in sin, that they may sin themselves finally into perdition, and spare them that the sin may grow as old as the sinner, that he may go into his grave with bones full of sin: though, on the one hand, their length of days shows Gods unwearied patience, yet, on the other hand, it gives full proof of their final intolerable misery. God then is not always extreme in punishing of sin, and that in respect of Judgement to the persons guilty; he will not presently destroy the Amorites, though their sins come up with a loud cry before him; no, there is a measure of sin to be filled up as well by Nations as particular persons, before the decree go forth, and Judgement come upon a Land, to the utter ruin thereof; nay, a Nation may be arrived to the very Zenith of Sin, and yet Judgement not immediately follow, witness jerusalem, (and oh that England might not be brought in for a testimony also! I mean as not deserving what she did) for they had committed the greatest of sins, in not only slaying the Prophets, stoning them that preached repentance unto them, but also in killing the Lord of Glory; and yet God spared that rebellious City forty two years after; which shows that God is not always extreme with them that are come to the Zenith of sin. Oh therefore let jerusalems' space of repentance move us to turn unto the Lord with speed, lest we also perish in our sins, and there be none to deliver; For God will make his power known that his name may be declared throughout the earth, Rom. 9.17. Thus in respect of Sinners unconverted, of Saints that are converted, and of Reprobates that will not be converted, God is not always extreme to punish. And so I have done with the second conclusion, and shall only make a little Application thereof to ourselves, and so pass to the third observable in the Text. Application. 1. Admire the riches of God's mercy, that he always punishes not according to our sins, and is not always extreme in observing when we have sinned: mercy it was that the Almighty at first did make man, who stood in no need of the best of Creatures, and their most pious services; but greater mercy, that the Holy One should not utterly destroy man when he had sinned, and that his patience should forbear destroying sinful flesh; a God of so pure a nature that he cannot behold sin without hatred, and yet a God of so rich mercy, that he saves the soul when it hath sinned, proclaiming himself to be the Lord, gracious and merciful, passing by iniquity, trangression and sin: the consideration whereof made S. chrysostom cry out, Lord, what am I to thee, that thou shouldest command me to love thee, and when I love the not thou art angry, seeing its misery enough not to love thee; and when I sin and run from thee, yet thou waitest still to be gracious to me, and leavest no means unattempted that may make me love thee? And Saint Austin I remember hath this expression, God, (saith he) is weary of our sins, and is pressed with them as a cart heavy laden with sheaves; and why doth he not rid himself of us who sin wilfully in contempt of him, but casts our sins behind his back, as if no dishonour were done to his Holy Name by them? Why doth he thus (saith that holy Father, expostulating with himself) but merely because he will not be extreme with us? O therefore admire the riches of God's mercy, who gives you space to repent, and by no means wils your death. Oh I beseech you then, if you expect that God should make your souls incessantly happy in his eternity, be you holy (in tua aeternitate, as Saint Bernard saith) in thy limited and short eternity, that so you may come to see, not his footsteps or back parts, but his glorious face, by an immediate intuition of his Majesty: O think with yourselves how your souls shall then be filled with glory and happiness! O praeclarum & invidendum spectaculum! Oh what a sea and inundation of unspeakable Joy must needs flow in upon the Soul! and will you not stand and admire the riches of that grace which gives you space and means for the obtaining of so great a blessing? 2 This may move every one to begin, and, if begun, to increase their repentance; the Lord is ready to forgive, and with thee is mercy (saith the verse following my Text) therefore shalt thou be feared. Our sacrifice and propitiation can be nothing as from ourselves, its only Jesus Christ the righteous that can satisfy Gods offended justice for our sins; For if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, jesus Christ the righteous, 1 John 2.1. This is that pearl of great price which hath redeemed us from our Sins, this is the Propitiation with which God is well pleased, and is now become, not our angry Judge, but reconciled Father; for were he a Judge, and not our Farher, he would be extreme to mark our actions; and were he severe, and not merciful, we could not stand before him; But with thee is mercy that thou mayst be feared, Psal. 130.4. And in his Beloved he is now made one with us; the partition-wall which sin had erected, by his suffering is now destroyed and broken down, that so we may now come with boldness to the throne of Grace, having an High Priest pleading continually for us, and one who knows what it is to bear our sins, and endure our sorrows. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness▪ and put on the whole armour of light, that so we may be able to stand in the evil day. But withal, let us take heed of taking occasion to live in sin because God is merciful, and because he is gracious, to turn that grace which should save us into wantonness; this is to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, and to lay upon ourselves a mark of reprobation: for though it be true of our God what Benhadad's servants said of the Kings of Israel, we have heard that they are merciful Kings; so you may say, if we sin, yet our God is merciful to forgive; and so sin, that grace may abound: do not thus deceive your souls; for the same God that is a merciful Father to true Penitents, is also a jealous Lord over wretched sinners, and will, like jehu, drive on his Judgements furiously against rebellious sinners, and will wound the hairy scalp of all Impenitents. Behold therefore the goodness, and the severity of God; severity to them that go on in sin impenitently, but goodness to them which truly repent, Rom. 11.22. Oh therefore let me persuade you whose souls as yet sit in darkness, and in a state of sin, to awaken yourselves out of this woeful security; consider, if thou turn to the Lord with all thy heart, and truly art sorry for thy sins, consider I say, he is ready to forgive, and waits that he may be gracious to thy immortal Soul for which Christ died: but on the other hand, if thou continue in sin, know assuredly, thou vile impenitent, he will come in flames of fire, to revenge himself upon thy implacable and immalleable heart: Oh therefore, while it's called to day, harden not yourselves against his fear, but get your peace made with him ere it be too late: and you that have already begun, do you persevere unto the end, that so you may receive that crown of Life which shall never be taken from you, for he will not always be extreme with you; and yet severe with those that continue in sin, because when he pleases, he can be extreme to mark what is done amiss: and that brings me to the third Observation. Third Observation. That God can when he pleases be extreme in punishing man when he hath done amiss. The will and the power of God in themselves are the same, though to our corrupt understandings they seem distinct, because our irregular wills are confined by a limited power; and though God may do what he will with his Creatures, because he is Omnipotent, yet when they have sinned, he doth not always will their destruction, because he is merciful; his Omnipotent and executing power being always limited by the will of mercy, when he comes to deal with sinners for their transgressions, though God when he list can be extreme to punish. See the proof of this: 1. A priori. 2. A posteriori. 1. A priori; The power of God is infinite, and that infinity of his is omnipotent; as he can make a Genesis to give being, so also an Exodus to destroy that being; as there is in him a power to create, so an infinite justice to destroy that creation when made: though he create light out of darkness, because he is the parent of Infiniteness, so also is he Omnipotent, and can when he pleases will the new light into its ancient state of darkness; the same Word that gave the world a being, can carry her again to the grave of destruction, leaving her in the same confused Chaos which his merciful goodness at first found her in; and the same six days which passed away in building of her up (if it so please him) with as much facility may take it down, though his excellent Mercy will have no less than six thousand years to bring a period to the same, as most learned interpreters expound the words of Saint Peter, 2 Pet. 3.8. So that a priori you see there is power enough in God, not only to be angry with, but infinitely to punish the sins of his people. 2. A posteriori: Who sees Nabuchadnezzar grazing like an Ox, and acknowledges not God's Power to be Infinite, and can do with ease what seemeth good in his sight? who sees Belshazar in the midst of his carousing cups weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary, and found too light, and acknowledges not his Justice? who sees Goshen full of light, and Egypt covered with thick darkness, and acknowledges not an Infinite Deity? Examples are most profitable illustrations of his power in dealing with the sons of men, and in this case are almost infinite. What son of Adam is there that knows not of his father's fall, and the dreadful curse the just consequent thereof? In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, Gen. 2.17. and it was surely performed; witness cain's inability to bear the loud cry of his brother's blood; I'm justly cursed by his Father, as the reward of his shameful action; Esau sadly, and too late seeking a sold Blessing; the flames of provoked fire licking up sinful Sodom; the earth of herself making a grave for Corah and his wicked Complices; the great deeps swallowing up Pharaoh and his Host, as the just avenger of his intolerable Persecution. But these are but temporal evils; but there are eternal miseries; for when he is extreme, his eyes shall not spare his enemies. But you'll say, what means this? Can God destroy that which he hath made? Can he that delights in man, destroy or despise the works of his hands? Will he pluck down with one hand what but now he built? And can he laugh when their fear comes, who hath sworn he delights not in the sinner's death? Nothing less; yet we must not say with job, I am righteous, though he hath condemned me; for shall not the judge of all the earth do right, and glorify himself in, and upon his Creatures? For if we go astray, he must and will hedge up our way with thorns. Though it is true, God afflicts not willingly, yet he doth, and will punish the sons of men when they sin and wilfully go astray; and that for these reasons: 1. To remove that grand idol which men make, and set up in their own hearts, that God is all mercy, and will not punish, or all love, and cannot endure to afflict his people: deceive not yourselves with such vain delusions, for the soul that sinneth that soul shall surely die, Ezek. 18.4. As sure as there is a God that mercifully saves them that repent, so sure will the same God infinitely punish them that continue in sin; as it is his Mercy that offers, and invites us to accept of Salvation, so also will it be the office of his Justice infinitely to punish all those that refuse to come when called by his Word and Spirit. Remember the story of the great Supper, and Gods severe answer to them that would not come when invited: I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my Supper, S. Luke 14.24. though God spare us for a time, yet he will send forth judgement unto victory. 2. To remove the Atheism that lodges in men's hearts, of no revenging Justice; that men live and speak as if there was no God, uttering that in words and actions which holy David's fool entertained in his heart; that men being to think there is no God, because they see no fearful examples of his Justice set before them in the destruction of his enemies; that the wickeds prosperity in evil makes him boast himself, and despise his Maker. I remember Saint Austin brings in the proud man, speaking thus; when he was at peace, and no disturbance injured him, saith he of himself, if I had nothing worth despising I should be a God; blasphemously imagining God were ignorant of that which men call contempt: but faith the Father, It was not long ere I saw the same wretch cast down with utter amazement by a small clap of thunder: when God did but seem to cloth himself with the garment of vengeance, he presently fell down with humble obeisance. Therefore God will sometimes be extreme in punishing, that he may rescue the glory of his justice out of the hands of the wicked. 3 Such is the nature of sin, it justly provokes God to be extreme, because 1 It's a transgression of his righteous law; and if earthly Monarches punish their rebels with temporal, well may the Lord of Heaven and earth reward his traitors with eternal death; if temporal magistrates are so tender of their precepts, that they esteem each breach thereof as an injury done to their persons, well may the Father of spirits cast away with scorn all those that are found fighters against his commands .. But that's not all; for 2 Every sin is not only a transgression of God's law, but it's an injury offered to his sacred person; there being no act of evil wherein our whole man deliberately concurs, but it is as much as in us lies to dethrone the Majesty of heaven, and if it lay in our power also, to ungod the sacred Trinity; an action which my soul trembles to think of, much more to utter; and were it not that I might leave the impression thereof so deep as to embitter sin unto you, I should not have named it. But that's not all, for 3 Every sin is so much the greater, because it is committed by persons that have received all sorts of kindness, and are under all manner of obligations to the contrary; therefore well may God be extreme for sin, when found in them that are engaged to the contrary. 4 Such is the nature of God's justice that it requires exact and equal proportion of punishment to the sins that have been committed; now every sin is of an infinite duration, for did the sinner always live, he would for ever be guilty of sin; therefore it is but just the punishment should be infinite also; for if God reward us with glory (if we serve him) above our deserts, can we condemn him for but rewarding us according to our faults? and if he do spare us, and not inflict the extremity of his justice, it is because his mercy intercedes, that glorious attribute wherein is his chief delight: but God will sometimes be extreme to punish, because the nature of his justice is such as that it will proportion its punishment to our deserts, and that with speed too; for the time draws near, when God will come to judge the earth righteously, and the nations with his truth, Psal. 96.13. He will try all things (as the refiner) by fire, which will discover and make legible that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the blind and subtle characters of men's thoughts and actions, which before could not be read or perceived; and all this by the power of his righteous judgement, and the unerring law of his revealed will, those righteous statutes, the breaking whereof will make the wicked call to the mountains to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb, when he shall come in flaming fire to render vengeance upon all ungodly and impenitent sinners; whose destruction is of themselves, their sins being the measure of his punishments; for he will reward every man according to his works, whether they be good or whether they be evil, for with him is no respect of persons; for as suffers the peasant, so shall the Princes of the earth, if found in their impenitency; if their steel melt before his fierceness, what shall man do whose clay-cottage continually sticks in the mire of sin? Oh sit down then, and hang your mournful harps upon the willows of contrition, cast away from you all terrene hopes of comfort, which at last, like Egypt's reeds, will prove no further useful, then with sorrow to pierce your troubled sides; lean no longer upon the staff of your own understanding, lest your falling thence become irrecoverable; but betake yourselves with true and pure devotion to that golden mercy-seat, whence none ever returned empty that sought aright; for there is no armour able to resist or divert Gods severe judgements but pious prayers and fervent ejaculations; and no doubt but if you thus do, but he who lends an ear to the cry of speechless blood, will not turn it away from the voice of your petitions, especially if put up in the name of him, whose employment it is to propitiate for the sins of the whole world; you must needs confess yourselves sinners, and if living and dying such, you may be sure the end thereof will be eternal misery; Therefore it's every man's great concernment, as he would escape the last, to provide against the former; and the sooner the better, because we know not how soon our accounts will be demanded, and God come with, ah thou fool, this night shall thy soul be taken from thee, etc. Therefore to day while its called to day let's hear his voice, and not harden our hearts against him. 2 Seeing none can say his heart is clean, and all have reason to say, every one is more righteous than we; Oh than what fountains of tears should we shed, if possible, to bathe our sinful souls in, and baptise ourselves anew in penitential tears! not that the water alone hath any cleansing virtue in it, (for the very springs must be purged by the rock Jesus Christ) yet contrition is ofttimes an inseparable sign of being cleansed; for when sins by us are truly repent of, God's favourable eye of compassion looks on those sins as if they were never committed; and where our sins look as red as crimson, we must endeavour to have our tears as white as snow, that falling sincerely from the eye of a true penitentiary they prevail with the father of mercies to pass over our souls when his judgements begin to be executed; so than we must put off the redness of guilt, that so we may be clothed with the white robe of innocency, by getting our sins and iniquities blotted out. But do not deceive yourselves, it is not a seeming holiness, or appearing innocency, acquired by our own strength, that will avail us; such weak lights are easily blown out and extinct by the gust of every temptation; or like the costly gilt of a well-tuned instrument, appearing pleasant while such, but when once the strings begin to jar, the impatient hand with fury casts both them and all its beauty from it, as if no such loveliness had ever there been found. Therefore above all things 'tis our concernment to make sure work in the things of eternity, not taking them upon trust, or others credit, but our own experience, not fearing others so much as our own eternal weal; for there is nothing hath been so much the bane of Christian community, as an overweening conceit of our own sanctity, saluting every man with a Pharisaical Stand off, I am more holy than thou, disdaining to think any are so high in Christ's esteem as ourselves; whereas our truest glorying is only in the cross of Christ, and an humble heart, which in the sight of God is of great price: For if thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss, who can abide it? And this brings me to the second observation propounded, namely, That the mercy of God is such, he'll not always be extreme to mark what's done amiss. Mercy is God's proper work, it is that wherein his chief delight doth rest: what was reported of Dionysius the Emperor, and left upon record for his eternal fame, viz. that he wept when he came to subscribe his name to condemn a man, as being loath to dip his finger in the blood of his fellow-creature; is much more true of the Father of Mercy: witness those tears that dropped from the eyes of our Saviour over impenitent jerusalem, a sad presage of approaching ruin, and yet a true symptom of his unwillingness to put the same in execution, though they were already come to the Zenith of impiety, killing the King of Glory, and the Saviour of the world; and though but beholding this at a distance, such was his mercy that it made him weep. Mercy is an attribute that of itself properly belongs to God; justice is as it were by accident, because of man's evil; therefore is he said to wait to do the one, but sparing in execution of the other; yea he is unwilling to execute determined wrath; therefore he saith, how shall I give thee up O Ephraim? and, I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, etc. Hos. 11.8, 9 therefore, he that hateth nothing that he hath made, will not always be extreme with what he hath not made, lest with it he destroy the work of his hands: for the mercy of God is exercised towards man as considered in a twofold capacity. 1. As a sinner. 2. As his creature. 1. As a sinner; that he may do away his sins, Isa. 43.25. he makes open proclamation thereof; I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins: so willing is God to free the sinner from mistaking the person, that he ingeminates the word, as if he had said, if thou art unacquainted who it is that must do away thy sins, know that it is I, I, who am thy maker, and put thee in a blessed condition whence thou fell; and it is I who again will restore thee and send a pardon in the name of my Son and thy Jesus. 2 Mercy is exercised about him as his creature, to receive him into favour, not to punish him above measure, though he be out of measure sinful: Isa. 46.9. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else, I am God, and there is none like me. That God punishes sinful man, is the act of his justice; that he is not severe in punishing, is an act of his mercy; yea so loath he is to be cruel, that he would have his creatures put him in mind of his mercy, as if nothing so much delighted him as to have his servants to think and believe him to be merciful; for so you read, Put me in remembrance, let us plead together, declare thou that thou mayest be justified, Isa. 43.29. wherein he that runs may read this sacred truth, that God is not always extreme to mark what is done amiss, but is full of compassion. And this he doth 1. For his name's sake, which in holy Moses stile is no other than the Lord, the Lord, God merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, Exod. 34.6. And that the power of this glorious name may never fall, nor the remembrance thereof fail in the hearts of the sons of men, he will still go on to make his merciful name in much glory, in much majesty to pass before them; for all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, Ps. 26.10. For though many sorrows shall be to the wicked, yet he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about. Ps. 32.10. He is only the God that heareth, and can answer prayer, therefore to him must all flesh come: it is his glorious name alone which is as an ointment poured out, the excellency of whose favour perfumes the hearts of all that love him; whose very go rejoice the morning and evening seasons. Other names and titles may give us free passage among the sons of men, and get or lose their favour; but it is only the name jehovah, who is mighty to save, that can give us a name to live when dead in sin; whose goodness crownes not only the years, Ps. 60.11. but the hearts of his people with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And so I pass to the second ground of mercy. 2. For his nature's sake, whose very property is to have mercy; therefore when God in mercy spares his people from demerited wrath, he compares himself to a father, vailing his compassion under that tender relation; but when justice can no longer spare but by being injurious to its honour, by the provocation of our sins calling for vengeance to be poured upon our persons, than he represents himself like a woman big with pain, and travailing with grief (if I may so speak) to bring forth that just ire he hath been long in conceiving. Yea mercy appears and is seen in hell itself, because though he punish to extremity of time, yet not to a fullness of horror, in intention of torment; whereas justice, like the harlots, will have the sinner divided soul from body, to be different sharers in eternal misery. Let thy laws (O Lord) be writ in bloody characters upon the sinner's head, is justices language, that so he may eternally wound the hairy scalp of him that hath wilfully gone astray: but mercy, like the true mother, continually cries, spare the child (Lord) and save the sinner from eternal woe; and at length this mournful voice proves effectual in the ears of Heaven, and with jacob, obtains the blessing; for indeed mercy is the true mother of our lives, which else had long since been a sacrifice for our sins, had not the scape-goat carried them away into the land of forgetfulness, and by becoming a victim for the same, buried all our transgressions in his grave, that so they may never be able to rise in judgement, either against our persons or our services; whose very nature it is to become an advocate for rebels, and like an affectionate surety pay the debt, that so the debtor may go free: and this he doth, not for our righteousness, or any merit that is to be found in us or our performances, but for his name and nature's sake. And so I pass to the third ground of mercy, namely 3. For his glories sake. For his glory, 1. In general. 2. In particular. First, for his glory in general, that being the utmost my limited time and your patience will give leave to discuss, reserving the more particular parts, together with the dispatch of the two last doctrines, to our second part of this discourse: but I say 1. Generally, and in that I shall only but point you to those excellent graces wherewith he is pleased to furnish the hearts of the sons of men, that thereby they may become vessels fit for the master's service. God is delighted with showing compassion; and mercy is so joined to his nature, that he would have it wrought in, as well as bestowed upon us, that in this glorious attribute we may again bear his heavenly image: to that end sometimes our trials are made the subject for his love to work on; at other times he presents others misery as the opportunity for our mercy; and therein he calls out our faith, to believe that he who hath inclined our hearts to pity others, will show abundant compassion to us; our hope, that God will deal no worse with our souls then he hath commanded us to use the soul of our brother; and lastly, he calls our charity to exercise its benevolence, knowing that besides the hundred-fold which in this life we shall receive for one drop of cold water bestowed in his name, and given for his sake, we shall receive in the life to come a crown of righteousness which shall never be taken from us; for his mercy is over all his works, else should we be soon consumed: which made holy job cry out, Remember I beseech thee that thou hast made me as the clay, and wilt thou bring me unto dust again? Job 10.9. and again Job 7.17, 20. What is man that thou shouldest magnify him, and that thou shouldest set thy heart upon him? I have sinned, what shall I do u●to thee O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee? etc. Once for all, take it in the 14. chap. 2. vers. and so on, Man cometh out like a flower, and is cut down, he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not; and dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgement with thee? as a leaf also is he blown away with every wind: so is our soul tossed with various temptations, sometimes with the east wind of presumption, on the contrary, with the west of despair; now hurried with the north of rage, by and by carried away with the southwind of lust: thus like a tennis-ball is poor man racketed from one temptation to another, till at last he hazard eternal ruin; reeling from one extreme to another until he fall into perpetual misery. Therefore to conclude, let me implore every soul that expects and looks for eternal life, (as who doth not?) to get cleansed from all your iniquities, whether secret or open, latent or revealed, before you come unto the brink of misery from whence is no return; before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains wherein is no security: let no iniquity ever have any more dominion over you, get all your actions salted with true grace, that God may smell a sweet savour in your holy devotions and pious services, knowing that your best performances are but gilded appearances, and glittering abominations, if God should with severity inspect them: so that we must all say with holy David in the words of my Text, If thou Lord shouldst be extreme, etc. FINIS. SERM. III. LUKE 2.7. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swadling-clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn. Introduction. GOd is a most pure Act, never was he idle, but always in being, even when this world was not in being; he was in himself love, and nigh enough to himself; yet when he was so, he thought of some eminent act of bounty wherein to produce an Idea of his goodness, and accordingly wills thought to himself of showing mercy to mankind; for yet he would do good to all: therefore all his ways are good, his being and well-being envied as yet by none, no not by Satan, the first parent of malice, and grand enemy both of God's unspeakable glory and man's eternal felicity, not enduring to entertain the least thought of seeing humane nature deified; yet God, to show the freedom of his love, in rich mercy stamps his own Image upon man, for it was his goodness as well as his power▪ that he made us good as well as men; but what was at first made good we soon made sin, for God made man upright, but he hath sought out many inventions: so that had not God redeemed us, we had been miserable to all eternity; much rather had our souls not been, than not be happy. When man was made holy, and had sinned, though such iniquity deserved the ruin of what he was before, having defaced that image, yet God is prone to mercy when provoked: goodness would rescue that part of himself from ruin; for scarce one had sinned, but one was promised to save, the Son of God was promised and presented to the Patriarches, being revealed to them by his promises, and foretold by his Prophets, that God would send his Son; he saw a fit vessel wherein he would enclose his son (viz. the Blessed Virgin) and therefore he sends his Angel to provide a lodging, telling her that she was highly honoured of God, Luke 7.3. and she shall conceive in her womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call his name jesus; that God would give him a name above every name, and of his kingdom there shall be no end: she examined, and believed the Angel's Message, and and was found with child of the holy Ghost, Luke 1. the power of the highest over-shadowing her. But lo she is summoned to another travel, for there is a decree from Augustus Caesar, and behold she takes no small pains to obey; for though her appearance might have been excused, yet she would not disobey the lawful magistrates command, the custom of women is on Mary; but alas, desolate Virgin, she is driven to that pass, that having no room in the inn, necessity compels her to make a chamber of the stable, and to turn the manger, (the place wherein is laid the food of beasts,) into a Cradle, the now only receptacle for the bread of life, and at once both mother and midwife; for she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swadling-clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn. In which words consider with me these four general parts. 1 A Virgin's travail. 2 A mother's tenderness. 3 A child's poverty. 4 The people's inhospitality. 1 A Virgin's travail: She brought forth her firstborn son. 2 A mother's tenderness: She wrapped him in swadling-clothes. 3 A child's poverty: laid in a manger. 4 The people's inhospitality: There was no room in the Inn. I begin with the first. 1. The virgin's travail: she brought forth her firstborn son. Wherein consider 1. The person, she. 2. The birth, brought forth. 3. The fruit, her firstborn child. 1. For the woman, she was a virgin, but what, a virgin to bear, to bring forth a son? a wonder; and she herself cries out, I know not a man; well might the Prophet jerem. say, Behold a Virgin: and the Prophet Isai. likewise, yet she is the same, Isa. the 7.14. vers. but that Christ was conceived of the holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary, is an article of our faith, not of our understanding; best known is the manner to him that hath the power; virgins are not usually pregnant, yet the spirit engenders flesh, we take it not from his nature but power; the Holy Ghost produces the man Christ not of himself, but by his power: Christ begotten of himself as one with the Father, sending him on the great errand of man's salvation; for all the three Persons in the sacred Trinity have a share in this great work, the Father begetting, the Son begotten, and the Holy Ghost produced him at the fullness of time: I call the Holy Ghost Father, as his shadow; the virgin his mother as his substance, or the matter of his person, whereby he is called the son of man, that by this means he might be joined to our nature, and so become surety for us: as for example, we christians are born of water & of the spirit, & are not called the sons of water, but of the spirit, because of the spirit we are made one with Christ, and are thereby become the sons of God, that Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost and of Mary is most certain, but for our sakes called the son of Mary, and not of the Holy Ghost, yet hath the son an equality with the spirit, and is perfect God as well as man, therefore is it that the Holy Ghost concurs with Mary in the conception, both agree to make Christ, but not one way; for 'tis his the shadow, hers the substance; hers the carcase, his the quintessence: how could it be but a holy thing, being of the Holy Ghost? though she had sin, yet Christ took none from her, because he would expel it from her; for had Christ been born of an Harlot, of Mary Magdalen, yet she could not have contaminated his integrity, but commended his power and mercy; he could have sanctified the most sinful person and unhallowed womb. Being conceived of the holy Ghost, he took our flesh, but not our corruption; can the sun shine untainted on the dunghill? much more can the sun of righteousness appear in our clay without contagion; can we suspect a deity to receive a contagion from humanity? for he was born of a Virgin, etc. Though a Virgin, yet espoused to a man, that Christ might be josephs' supposed son, Esa. 7.19. and joseph be Christ's supposed father; he chose one that was a Virgin, that the Jews might see their prophecy fulfilled in him, the true Messiah; and that they should not suppose him the son of an Harlot, he was born of an espoused virgin, that marriage might be honourable to all; 2 Cor. 11.2. for a virgin shall conceive etc. And thus, the Church bears us as chaste virgins to Christ the espoused head. There was no need of the Elders of the City to judge of her purity, for she was no Harlot, but one under espousals, 22. Deut. 15. and yet not a wife, but a virgin, for as yet she had not known man, St. Luk. 1.34. Marry brought forth Christ, for she brought forth; which brings me to the second thing. 2. The birth, she brought forth; when the fullness of time was brought to the period, he that made time was in time, he that created the world came into the world, he that brought forth his mother was born of his mother: the Angels wonder at the incarnation, every good spirit groans to see this glorious wonder brought forth; now or never truth flourishes out of the earth, and righteousness out of the womb of the mother: he that stepped from heaven into the womb, stepped into the earth out of the womb; he that at the first creation made man without a mother would not now make God-man without a mother; the Creator makes use sometimes of a creature to produce his omnipotency, and who cannot admire such purity, virginity, in such pregnancy? that the fruit of her body should ripen, and yet a virgin, a maiden bringing forth what was not begotten, but made, and yet not created, but begotten; well might it be a virgin in whom it was made, and a God by whom it was begotten. Add to this, that the begetting not the birth dishonours the party among men, whose conceptions are in sin; but here the begetting brings honour to the party both in the conception and birth, because begotten from above: the flesh of man is not of man, but of the mother, and the flesh of Christ God-man, is not of man, but a virgin, that none should dispute his humanity; and yet begotten not by man, but of the Spirit, that none might question his Deity. Therefore let us not dispute how begotten of a virgin, considering his power; for I cannot believe him man without a mother, and I cannot believe him God if I do not believe his virgin-mother. The virgin did breed by her own, but unusual way of conception; if we believe not the Father begets him without the help of the wife, we shall not believe he was born of a mother without the help of a husband; she was a virgin, and brought forth her firstborn son, which brings me to the third particular. 3. The fruit, her firstborn son; her firstborn, because none before; not that she had any after, but as it is firstborn of many brethren, not by nature but adoption, so the firstborn of his mother, and the first-begotten of his Father; and all, that the begotten of men might become the sons of God; that we cannot boast as we are natural, but as made the adopted sons of God. It was once the saying of an Heathen Philosopher, that he thanked God because he had made him a man, and not a beast; because he was made man, and not a woman. Indeed nature did make man above the woman, but grace preferred the woman: it is our honour and happiness that God hath made and saved us by himself; it made the holy virgin say, I will sing and rejoice in God my Saviour, and yet her son, a son in several natures, a son equal with God, and like to his mother; so truly God as ever, as truly man as now he began to be; God before all time, and man in time; a son he was, yet motherless, because begotten, and not born; a man and fatherless, because borne and not begotten. One denies that he is God, another denies that he is man; one will have him man indeed, but God apparent; another will have him God; but man in show; one calls him mere man, yet deified; another a mere God, but carnal, one the word transubstantiate to flesh; another spirit in the likeness and similitude of flesh. O the blindness of men! because they conceive him not to be as he is, they will have him to be as they imagine. But we shall take the wary Christians way, that will not utter any thing besides the worth of his humanity, besides his divinity; and they will confess him as truly man as God, for he was born of the Virgin Mary; she brought forth her firstborn son. From hence learn Use. 1. Our nature dignified. 2. Our Saviour humbled. 1 Our nature dignified; what an honour is it to be dignified above the Angels, and the natural Son of God thus becoming the son of man? Our nature though it be base by degeneration, yet it is noble by his regeneration; he dignified us with his nature: as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God: Though many stand upon their blood, as if true nobleness consisted in that which is derived from man to man; but all is fetched from Christ; and, not my blood, but Christianity makes me noble said that worthy Emperor Constantine: here is comfort that God is not ashamed to call us brethren; and that 2 ways. 1 By right of propriety; so we have interest in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 2 Of nearness, and that in relation to Christ, for he is of kin to us; for they that are sanctified and he that sanctifieth are all one: Christ is both our father and brother, our father as God, our brother as man; and what an honour and comfort is it to us to be brethren unto the son of God? that we that have the earth for our mother should have the God of heaven for our father? and will he deny us any thing that hath given himself to be our father, and his son to be our brother? he that hath given us Christ he will not deny us any thing; he that hath given marks to redeem us will he not crown us? shall we doubt to receive any good from him, in regard Christ is our brother, in that he took our nature upon him? for he was born of the Virgin Mary; for she brought forth her firstborn son. And why should we then debase ourselves to lusts, and give ourselves to unworthy lovers, the lusts of the flesh, the vanities of the world, or Satan's temptations? we are made heirs of God, and coheirs with Christ, let us walk as the children of the light, as the redeemed one's of God, and such as Christ will own to be his brethren. 2 Christ humbled; what a wondrous abasement was this of Christ, that he that enjoyed the height of Divinity, should yet be the lowest of our nature? that the Word should be incarnate, should be borne? that the great God should become a child? that the Ancient of days should become an infant of one day? that the Almighty jehovah should become the weakest of men, yea even as a child? that glory should be so humbled that God should become man? this is the wonder of wonders, a miracle placed upon pinnacle of admiration that he whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain▪ should be laid in a manger: The inhabitants of the earth wonder to see a new star, much more to see a new sun on earth; he was accounted, yea was, equal with God, yet made himself of no account in taking our form; he made himself like to us by a willing humiliation. It was the saying of a Father, Whether can be most, to pity him that he was so, or admire him that he would be so? that he would so descend to come in person, was a wonder, but that he should come in the wants and weaknesses of a child, that might have come in the glory of God, is above all wonder: and we are not more beholden to him that he came, then that he should so come; he must be nothing that would be made like us; he made himself of no reputation, not of his declining power, but of his inclining mercy: it was the goodness of God that he would not be glorious, rather than not profitable, and therefore the more and greater was his humility in debasing himself to us, the more should we magnify him: not any thing of his, but ours was the unworthiness: And if our Saviour humbled himself thus, are not we yet humbled? our thoughts cannot be too meanly conceited of ourselves, since our Saviour was so low and vile; the very heathen cannot debase us so low as the earth did God, who likened himself to us: let us compare ourselves to nothing; he was called the son of man born of a pure Virgin; what should we call ourselves? worms and no men, and say to corruption, thou art my mother, since Christ was thus borne; for she brought forth her firstborn son. And so I come to the second general, the mother's tenderness. 2 The mother's tenderness; she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swadling-clothes. She wrapped him; that custom was the office of a midwife, the visitation of friends and kindred; among those many women in Bethlehem, was there no tender mother to afford Mary the office of common civility? none to consider the wants of a necessitous Virgin? among the many that gave to Caesar was there none to give to God the things of God? Never was heavenly majesty invested in so homely a throne; Christ was now first borne, that we might be borne again; he became an infant in us that we might become men in him; he was now straitened to a span of mortality, that we might be enlarged to immortality; his mother now embraces him in her arms; she laps him not in a fine mantle, for what cares he to be gorgeous that cares not to be glorious? his rags they were pure, & clean, though poor and mean; so soon as we had sinned we could be clothed; but so soon as he was borne he began to be miserable, he was wrapped in swadling-clothes; Christ was wrapped in our clothes, to procure a blessing for us: though God made us naked and innocent, yet we presently made ourselves nocent, and we had not been clothed, had we not blushed; what was there in Christ that he should be clothed, and thus clothed? surely no unrighteousness of his procured it but Christ was covered with these, only for our sakes, whose sinful nakedness wanted the covering of his righteousness. O the vanity of men much more of Christians! Christ took our clothes to take our sins, yet we see not our sins in the vanity of our clothes; we accounted it our ornament to be clothed, and yet so full of poverty and indigency in ourselves that all we have is either from the earth, or from the beasts that inhabit therein; it was sin that brought us to borrow of the earth and beasts; it was sin that made us thus shamefully clothed, to cloth our sins; and why should we be proud in the gayest clothing, since it is but a remembrance of sin? why should we trim and deck ourselves, when Christ coming to save us, was wrapped in swadling-clothes? Necessity of clothes speaks us men and the decency of them speaks us Christians; Christ was wrapped in swadling-clothes, and laid in a manger. And so I come to the Child's poverty, viz. 3 She laid him in a manger. God brought forth man like a King, and placed him in Paradise, but he brought forth God-man like a beast, in a stable, and laid him in a manger; Christ was abased as to a beast, left all honour as to understanding, that he might restore them to spiritual wisdom who by sin were become like the beasts that perish. Christ came to restore man, and therefore would become one with the lowest of men, that none might come short of salvation. O silly creature, know thy master, the Lord of honour is now companion of beasts; obey him then in his humiliation, that hath disobeyed him in his glory; what can we behold in this his abridgement, but the contemning of the pride and the glory of the world in his sanctified humility? why should Christ be thus low and mean, but to teach us to prise nothing but heavenly things? To Apply this. If our Saviour did so humble himself to this mean condition, how low should we humble ourselves before him? did the Son of God abase himself to misery and death, that he might exalt us to glory and life? therefore why are you lifted up? While Christ was vile thou wert raised up; though Christ was patiented, thou art full of impatient malice; he embraces where thou despisest; thou likest not the taste of delicates, yet he sucked a poor woman's breasts; thou grudgest thy finest apparel, he contented to be in clouts, he was (though a King, though a God) borne in a stable, laid in a manger; to teach thee, that where thou art, thou should have nothing to regard or be proud of either in thyself, or thine enjoyments. For what was there about thee O blessed Jesus, but poverty was visible in it? a poor carpenter, and a desolate Virgin; and perhaps the beasts were thy only companions: what was magnificent there but that which was noisome, and by the presence of Christ was made pure? a dark dungeon by this bright sun becomes full of light; the rags that wrapped him were more precious than raiment of purple, the clouts that comforted him were of more value than if made of the finest and most gorgeous linen. O Lord, our hearts are by reason of sin become dens, caves, and stables of uncleanness, oh that thou wouldst sanctify and beautify them by thy glorious presence! they cannot be happy or blessed one minute without thee, yet shall be as thou art, if thou comest but into them: but alas! we are many of us, as the Bethlemites that would not entertain Christ in the inn; for there was no room for them in the inn. Which brings me to the 4 thing, viz. the people's inhospitality. 4 There was no room for them in the Inn. What? was the suddenness of the journey any cause of the virgins speedy travail, or her sudden travail rather a cause of the Bethlehemites' uncharitableness? poor virgin, and yet happy mother of so blest a babe, she comes too late to be lodged in the Inn, that came too soon to be entertained of her kindred; but too late for the Inn, and all the room was taken up before she came, and therefore must be in the stable: rather than an honest traveller will be burdensome, the meanest room to his humility shall be great satisfaction: indeed some had their delicates, and fed only for wantonness, though she wants necessaries; the Carpenter that had built many a house, now wants a house wherein to rest himself and almost wearied traveller; contentedly accepting the beasts for his companions rather than want a lodging: just so the God of heaven and earth having left heaven, was glad to shroud himself in this clay of ours; joseph came to his City, and the Citizens received him not, because they knew not that the Lord of glory was with him; thus the Ox knows his owner, and the Ass his master's crib, but Israel did not know, the Bethlemites did not consider, Esay 1.3. Whom have you rejected you Bethlemites? Will ye rather reject God in a stranger, then entertain a stranger for God's sake? What, do you throw God into a stable? Know you not that out of you shall come the ruler of Israel? Mich. 5.2. And are you so stupidly ignorant, that now you will lose the accomplishment of that promise? How unlike art thou to Bethlehem, the house of Bread; in regard thou neither afford him house to harbour, nor bread to secure him? But alas! woe unto us, we censure thee O Bethlehem, but if we had lived in thy days we should have been worse; and now can expect nothing but that Bethlehem should rise up in Judgement against us, for in this she is more righteous than we; for Christ came but once to them, and in humility, but he comes often to us in power, and we regard not. How often doth he knock at the door of our hearts by his Word, and by his Spirit, yea and that until his head be filled with dew, and his locks with drops of the night? but we will not entertain him. O! if those rude heaps have had the dust of his feet shaken against them for their inhospitableness, how shall these hard hearts of ours that will not receive him be ground to powder, Matth. 21.24. when that great millstone shall fall upon us for our hardness and impenitency? do not your hearts tremble to hear the sad doom? I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not: therefore ye shall go into everlasting punishment, S. Mat. 25.43, 46. With what sadness of countenance shall we hear this woe denounced, and that by Christ himself? and certainly without repentance it will be our portion: how then should we pray, oh that our hearts were worthy the harbouring of so rare a guest! With what diligence and care should we sweep our houses, set open our doors, and make us in a readiness when we heard of some earthly monarch that were coming to us? and thus we should by repentance and holy devotion prepare our hearts, that they may be meet Tabernacles for him, and labour to get all those graces his Spirit confers on those that love him; that so our Lord might not come before expected, nor pass by uninvited, but freely turn unto us, and dwell by Faith in us, that we may dwell in him by the same Spirit; that Christ dwelling in us here, we may dwell with him for ever hereafter, In whose presence is fullness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore. A Funeral Sermon. SERMON IU. 1 COR. 15.19▪ If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. THere is a time to be born, and a time to die, saith Solomon, Eccles. 3.2. And the day of a man's death is better than the day of a man's birth, for he is born to misery and trouble, as the sparks fly out of the fire; but by death he is delivered out of the misery of this sinful world, to enjoy true bliss and happiness: therefore, why should we hang down our heads like a bulrush, and afflict our souls? or rather, why should we not, were it not that we know that God will give us beauty for ashes, Isa. 61.3. and the spirit of joy for the garment of heaviness; or give us the felicity of his chosen, and make us rejoice with the gladness of his people? or with S. Paul, 1 Cor. 15 32. Why should I fight with beasts at Ephesus, or contend with unreasonable men? Why should I subdue the beastly lusts of the flesh, or overcome sinful corruptions, or rather, not run to all excess of riot, were it not that after this life there is laid up a crown of glory, 2 Tim. 4.8. which God will give to them that love and serve him? Why should we arraign and judge ourselves, for to bring these days to an end, were it not, that upon this moment hangs eternity, which we shall be possessed of when death shall be swallowed up of victory, 1 Cor. 15.54. and mortality shall put on immortality? or why should we account all things loss and dung for the excellency of Christ, Phil. 3 8. but that besides the hundred-fold which we shall receive here below, God will reckon us among his precious Jewels? Why should we not embrace liberty and freedom, rather than abide a furnace of trials, were there not the Son of God to comfort us, and a fiery Chariot whereby to escape the fire that never goeth out? And who can dwell with everlasting burning, or who can abide with devouring fire? Isai. 33.14. Why should we not be discouraged at the death of friends, and with great despondency hang down our heads in discomfort, when we see the lives of our relations are cut off, and withal remember that we ourselves must shortly turn to dust, were we not assured, that he who out of stones can raise up children unto Abraham, Mat 3.9. will from among these stones raise us again, and give us a crown of righteousness? And set this crown aside, well may the world think Christians the most miserable. Take away the hope of a better life; I say, take away the hope we have in Christ of a better life, and we are so, since we are miserable, and outwardly most miserable: For if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. In which words be pleased to consider these two general parts. 1. Our happiness inferred. 2 Our misery supposed. 1. Our happiness inferred, that in this life we have hope of another life; If we have hope only in this life. 2 Our misery supposed: Otherwise we are of all men most miserable. In the former general consider with me these particulars; 1. The termination of this happiness, We. 2. The foundation of it, and that is in Christ. 3. There is the common term, where the one hath interest in the other, and that is in Christ, even hope, which is twofold; 1. In this life. 2. Not in this life only. In the second general, there is our misery supposed; and therein consider two things. 1. The extension of it, all men miserable. 2. The intention of it, we the most miserable. If we invert the order of the words, we may draw these Conclusions: 1. From the extension, all men miserable; Con. 1 That all men are of themselves miserable. 2. From the intention, we the most miserable; Con. 2 That Christians in this life, are outwardly most miserable. We are of all men most miserable. 3. From the subject, with the common term we may note; Con. 3 That the misery of a Christian is taken away, by the hope in Christ. 4. We may observe from that, that he hath it not only in this life; Con. 4 That a good Christian hath not only hope in this life, but in a better. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are, etc. So that here are the two Vessels spoken of by the Prophet, Jer. 18.4. The first was marred, and another made in its stead, here is the one Vessel of sorrow, the other of joy; or a miracle answerable to that in the Land of Cana, Joh. 2 7, 8. where water was turned into wine; the water of misery turned into wine of Consolation, to make glad our hearts: or here are as it were two affections struggling the one with the other, Gen. 39.25, 22. (like Jacob and Esau in the womb) Misery and Happiness; this world being as the place assigned for their production, misery first comes forth, like Esau, red and all hairy; and after it Happiness comes like Jacob, and supplants it; so in respect of the life hoped for, while we are here upon earth, happiness supplants misery, and gets the start of it; though all men are miserable, and Christians in this life the most miserable, yet by the hope in this life which they have of the hope of the life to come; the misery is taked away: For if in this life only, etc. I shall follow the parts of the Text according to the order I drew the Conclusions, and begin with the first of them: namely, 1. That all men are of themselves miserable. Conclusion. 1 That it is so, whose own experience doth not testify it? misery is an argument of our being▪ for whether you consider the objects, the Soul, or the Body, you must conclude with holy Job, that our souls are poured out of us; job 30.16. or with the Prophet David, The days of affliction have taken hold of us; for we have found, those very things wherein our happiness consisted, to have proved either broken reeds, or miserable comforters. For, 1. We are at a loss at the happiness in the intellectual man; here our misery is ignorance; or our unhappiness is that we are not absolute, or not fully restitute and restored. 2. The whole body is yielding to distempers and troubles; and that in the affections common or appropriate. Common. 1. Common, and Here, all those qualities that conspire to the good of the whole yield to a general distemper: Or, Appropriate. 2. Appropriate, and here man must fully join himself to misery, for there are several kinds of misery, proportionable to his several degrees of knowledge, and that also to his several years or ages, as infancy, childhood, youth, middle age, decaying age, old age; and for which of these is there any Balm in Gilead, any releasement from all trouble? For look 3. On all those outward, now if not utterly passed, yet far-spent days, in collection of which, all the good that is found therein what of it can satisfy an immortal soul, or comfort it? Since he that had experience most of all doth conclude, that the chief are no better than vanity, and the best vexation of spirit, Eccles. 2.11. We find it by experience all men are miserable. The goodness of a thing rests in the content and permanency of it; yet how short are all earthly things in their durance, yielding to change even while we enjoy them? as holy David, Psal. 30.6. I said in my prosperity I shall never be moved. And holy Job said, I shall die in my nest. Job 29.18. Yet holy David he found his thoughts deceived, which made him complain, Thou didst turn away thy eyes, Psal 30 7. and I was troubled; and holy Job experienced no less, When I looked for peace, Job 30.26. and quietness, than came trouble. Such are the troubles of this life, though they seem like a river of oil, smooth and pleasant, yet they prove like the waters of Marah, bitter; Exod. 15.23. or like those of Jericho, salt and unsavoury; or if they are delightful, and at that present be what they seem, yet at last they prove a trouble; thus is man most miserable, and sometimes even in his best contents. But what means this? Can the goodness of God estrange itself? or ●s his mercy clean extinct? surely neither, he hath made nothing in vain: or can the God of nature, who made all things for the use of man, can he so far estrange himself in any thing, as to deny the participation of it to his image? no not in any wise. There was a time when piety and perfection were concentric in the same person, when love and hatred dwelled not in the same tabernacle: there was a time when happiness was as perfect as man's innocence, when freedom from sin and punishment were equal: when heaven dwelled on earth, and did communicate the Image of God unto Man, vindicating him from misery; man was not born in sorrow, nor had iniquity as yet dominion over him, felicity and blessedness being then the companions of his life; as yet the days of affliction had not taken hold of us, or our sorrow overtaken us, nor did it, till abominable man had drunk iniquity like water, which like a merciless deluge drowned every faculty both of soul, and body: Man was not miserable till man had ploughed iniquity; and sown wickedness, and then no wonder if sorrow springs out of the dust; for now man is born to sorrow as the sparks fly upwards; as will appear à majore ad minorem & àminore ad majorem. 1. A majore ad minorem, from the greater to the lesser: Christ knew no sin, yet he was a man of sorrow▪ the imputation of our sin, made him the heir of our sorrows, he being the Surety for man, he paid the debt when the Principal went free, which brought him to that pathetical exclamation, Lament. 1 12. Behold, if ●ver sorrow was like unto my sorrow. Thus the Son of God for man became miserable, and not only did man by sin bring sorrow upon his Redeemer, but also upon himself and the whole creation too, as will appear. 2. A minore ad majorem, from the less to the greater: The creatures which were not capable of sin, but being subject to man, are made liable to suffering; The creature is made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by constraint, Wherefore the whole Creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, etc. Rom. 8.20, 22. How much more Man is become miserable, for whose sake the whole Creation became miserable? Misery is the common condition of this life; though grace raise the soul to a higher contemplation, which often mitigateth and easeth the bitterness of the trouble; yet notwithstanding it often cometh to pass that through the inequality of sufferings in this present life, she and all her followers must wear garments of a deeper black, than the rest of her sons: for if others have their cups filled up to the top with bitter afflictions, these filled with the dregs; if one be scourged with whips, the other with Scorpions; if they partake of common afflictions, good men must be most miserable: which brings me to the second conclusion; 2. That Christians in this life are outwardly Con. 2 most miserable. V●rtue hath such power over the soul of man, could it be seen, it is so pure it would ravish the beholder with admiration, that it is strange how it comes to pass, though grace be but virtue sanctified, and raised to contemplation, that she that commends her better part, is so far from having that respect due to her, that she is made the heir of sorrows, and wicked men like the unjust servants (in the Gospel) conspire her death and utter extirpation. It is strange to see the Sun cursed for its heat, the most innocent to be least secure in this life, where they must expect sorrow and trouble; 2 Tim. 3.12. For all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution: and that either inwardly, or outwardly: 1. Inwardly, while the godly cry out with holy David, Psal. 120 5. Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell in Mesech, etc. or with just L●t (while in Sodom) who complained that his righteous soul was vexed with the unclean conversation of the wicked, 2 Pet. 2.7. hearing the sacred Name of God blasphemed with oaths, and seeing the consent of ungodly men. And 2. Outwardly; and that either secret, or manifest 1. Secret, witness the low esteem and base value the world rate God's Jewels at; 1 Cor. 4.13. accounting them the filth, and off scouring of the world. 2. Manifest; and that in words, behaviour, or actions. 1. In words, thus Tertullus called Saint Paul a babbler, a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition, Act. 24.5. And Ahab called Elijah, him that troubled Israel, 1 King. 18.17. Psal. 69.12. 2. In behaviour; and thus the drunkards make songs of David; and even Christ himself is derided; the Jews mock him in his Prophetic Office, saying, Prophesy who smote thee, St. Mat. 26.68. The Soldiers mocked him in his Priestly Office, bowing their knees, and worshipped him, St. Mark. 15.19. Herod mocked him in his Kingly Office, when he put a purple robe on him, and plaited a crown of thorns on his head, and all in scorn to his sacred person, St. Mat. 27.29. 3. In actions; and here what mischiefs are not executed, while wicked men's heads are plotting against the Lords peculiar people? Their foul suggestions create ways to disturb them, that we cannot conclude that Homo est homini Deus, that man is to man a God, unless we believe there are two Gods, a good and a bad; what then? Est homo homini daemon, is man to man a devil? not so good; That Kingdom that is divided against itself cannot stand, Mark. 3.24. saith our Saviour; the Kingdom of Satan remains and stands, and therefore that Kingdom is not divided: how then? Est homo homini lupus, is man to man a wolf? not so good neither; wolves pray not on wolves, the savage wild beasts do not devour & pray on their own kind: but what then? Homo est homini homo, man is to man a man, and what creature doth man more mischief than man? Dan. 3.27. See the fire less cruel to the three Children, and the hungry Lions more merciful to Daniel then were their accusers; Dan. 6.22. the earth more pities Abel in opening her mouth to receive his blood, than was Cain his brother which slew him; and wherefore slew he him, but because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous? 1 Joh. 3.12. So though at the very first you see man walking from the womb to the grave, giving up that breath he first drew into misery, yet here you have mischief more active, though the wicked shall subtract from the number of the days of the godly, it is but to increase his miseries; and though they breviate the Text, it is he that comments upon it; yet here is the comfort, though in his way from Jericho unto Jerusalem he fall among thiefs, Luk. 10.30. and they wound him, and leave him half dead, yet the pious Samaritan his Saviour, takes care of him, poureth in Wine, to make glad the heart, and Oil, to make him cheerful, which are the true effects of a faithful soul in greatest miseries and extremities, which he receives by hope in Christ: For, Con. 3 3. The misery of a Christian is taken away by the hope in Christ. Yet mistake not, it is not for all trees to heal the bitterness of the waters of Marah, Exod. 15.25. nor all meal to heal the deadly pottage; it is for every hope, out of the eater to bring forth meat: it is a riddle (a good Samson puts forth) of too sublime a nature for carnality to unfold, it is a mystrey so divinely pleasant and delightful, that none can declare but they that plough with Christ's heifer, Judges 14.18. Indeed wicked men may presume, and by the help of their own abilities, think to find perfect freedom, but their expectation shall fail, and their hope be cut off, Job 8.14. only those are they that receive comfort, that have the God of Jacob for their help. Now in what part of the soul Hope is seated, is disputable, it matters not whether or no it be referred to the Will, seeing it extends to the object he desires; and that hope is properly taken not to be a passion, but a habit infused by the Spirit of God into a Christian; which I take to be not the soul of a man, but the affections thereof; for faith that proceeds from hope, and hope that relies on righteousness, not that our unrighteousness can expect any thing from God, (this would include presumption, or merit) but by it we wait for the Righteousness of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the object of our hope two ways. 1. Inclusively. 2 Exclusively. 1. Inclusively; and that two ways. 1. Including as the end, all the persons of the sacred Trinity; and 2. All the Attributes of God. 2. Including the less principal objects of our hope, the graces of the Holy Spirit, by which salvation is revealed to the soul. 1. Including as the end, all the persons of the sacred Trinity, for Christ is called the Hope, not of parts but of persons; all those acts of grace that are from God returned, are terminated in the Essence of the Sacred Trinity; as we believe in God, and we love God, and hope in God, without determining any person, or secluding any; though the soul look diversely, as in himself, and so loves God because he is the chief good; and faith unites the Soul to God, as the principle of good, & hope (the souls anchor) depends on his purity: though all seem diversely, yet they all meet in this God, therefore he is called the God of hope, Rom. 15.13. & Jer. 14.8. and that not as the efficient cause working this grace in our hearts only, but as the final cause to which it moves, expecting to enjoy the presence of God, which is the fullness of joy for evermore, Psal. 16.11. 2. Including all the Attributes of God; for these are they on which our hope takes hold: nay, they are his very being, which we may safely fly to, and that for any good we expect to receive from God, he having put them as the horns of the Altar; for hope analogically takes in all the attributes of God, and is the Horns of that holy Altar which by grace is erected in the heart of every true believer; as holy David said, God is his shield, his fortress and deliverer, yea and the Horn of his salvation also, Psal. 18.1. For you may in sacred Writ find pregnant examples of God's Saints which have particularly committed themselves to his several properties; as Jacob to his Truth, Gen. 32. the three Children to his Omnipotency, Dan. 3.17. the two blind men to his Goodness, St. Mat. 20.30. the father of the Lunatic to Christ's Power, St. Luke 9.38. the Leper to Christ's Will▪ Saint Mark 1.4 2. Including the less principal objects of our hope, by which salvation is declared to the Soul▪ Threefold hope. so it flies to God with a threefold hope, 1 With hope in the promises of Christ. 2. Of the Graces of Christ. 3. In the merits of Christ. First in the promises of Christ; for, in him they are yea and amen, 2 Cor. 1.20. and these promises of Christ may be considered two manner of ways: 1. Absolutely. 2 Conditionally. 1. Absolutely, as the promise of the Messiah, Isai. 28.16. Or, 2. Conditionally, and that Legally and Evangelically; 1. Legally as the promises which annex eternal life to the condition of perfect Obedience, which was at first made with Adam in a covenant of Works under the Law; but here 2. Evangelically we have annexed Hope of entering Heaven, as our Fathers entered Paradise, and that to the Evangelical condition of Faith; for it is a far greater privilege to be brought like sons into the father's house, only upon such conditions as we know are already performed by our Surety, and wants only the act of Faith to make them ours▪ then with a servile spirit continually to be enslaved to that bondage from which we can never free ourselves, which is much more likely a beggarly receiving, than a working hand. But, 2. Hope in the Graces of Christ, 1 Pet. 13. Hope, that's the grace that is offered to you and brought to you, for by grace ye are saved, Ephes. 2.8. Nor doth this diminish any thing in Christ, when the object upon which our Anchor lays hold, is only Christ Jesus our Lord; for we can do nothing by our act of hope but only when grace is propounded as subordinate, and the means to the other; we may fix both in Christ, the principal help to attain Eternal Life; it is Christ that can bring a Soul to that happiness he desires, and grace that is the instrument and agent towards attaining it. 3. Hope in the Merits of Christ whereby to attain Heaven; prayer is hope interpretative, this hope is the root of prayer, but the Merits of Christ is the ground; we pray for what we hope, and hope what we pray for shall be granted through the Merits of Christ; without this Faith would be deperateness, and hope presumption; our prayers without the eye of faith would be but blind; though we had this hand, we should but be weak without this staff of hope; the merits of Christ would be but to us as unrighteousness: prayer is the Dove sent out of the Ark; hope the wings that help her in her speedy flight, and both return empty except they come with a leaf from that branch that is plucked from the merits of Christ; faith is the hand of the soul, prayer the sinews, and hope the nerves that act in this conveyance; but without the merit of Christ all will be but like a brandished weapon, clashing against the brazen pillars of our own created confidence, this verily must be the support of our devotions, that we may pray for what we hope Christ hath merited, which consists in justification, sanctification, and glorification. 1. In hope of justification, viz. pardon of sin, remission and freedom from punishment. 2. Hope of grace, for sanctification, whether it be the inward favour of God, as the Apostles blessing, when he saith, the grace of our Lord jesus Christ be with them, or the habitual grace of God's spirit, which is daily given us, till we become perfect men, and the hope of glory answerable to glorification. 3. Hope in glorification, where we expect to be made happy in that estate, where shall be no intermissions of joy, or periods in our felicity; where faith shall triumph in vision, and hope in fruition, and that to all eternity. Thus Christ is the object of our hope inclusively. 2. Exclusively, Christ the obect of hope, and that, 1. In respect of the creature. 2. In respect of ourselves. 1. The creature: for what good is there in the creature without, or ourselves within? for do men gather grapes of thorns or figs on thistles? What folly were it for him, in the next danger of drowning, to catch hold of a twig, that might get to the rock or the shore, which might secure him? yet such is the folly of vain hope, that neglects the rock of salvation and trusts to the creature, that is but as a rush and a flag within the water. 2. Excluding what good there is in ourselves, for though in regard of naturals our wants are great, yet in regard of spirituals they are much greater, we by our fall were cast out of the Paradise of God's favour into the field of danger, where was nothing to move compassion but pollution in our own blood; but when we were so, he passed by, and said Live, he washed us in the laver of regeneration, and made us comely by his imputative righteousness, and clothed us with sanctifying grace, and shall we now play the harlot, and bestow any thing upon another which belongs to him? it is no other than dividing the living child with Christ, he will have none of our divided hope, or distrusting faith: where grace is feeble, the soul often hangs in suspense between hope & fear; for had it but once convinst the soul of the object, he would not any longer trust to himself, which breeds distraction, which is but as a broken reed, but he that trusts in me (saith the Lord) shall possess the land, & inherit my holy mountain, Isa. 57.13. so that now we have found the rock of salvation on whom we may build without fearing to be removed, though the winds blow and the tempests rise, we shall but slight and scorn all their foaming rage; the hope of future good will out-ballance all the present misery, this sustaining hope will either lessen the burden of our miseries, or add to our strength to bear them; so that although all helps may seem gone, no remedy but the ready miserable destruction of despairing; though we cannot see when any good shall come, jer. 17.6. Yet all these evils laid in the balance of the Sanctuary are too light to stand in competition with the hope in Christ: nay every true hope is then most strong when most opposed; every affliction is advantageous, making their hope more quick; the fire proves more intense, when it's laboured, to be extinguished by cold elements, such is the nature of this grace of hope, every affliction recovers her life and heat, which before were raked in the ashes; she gives wings to the souls flight, every blustering wind helps her in soaring upward; here we have her got to the hill from whence she expects salvation, here we have her like Samson carrying the gates of Gaza; not only helping a Christian to bear crosses with patience and resolution, so as she can sing in prison, but with the Angel to St. Peter, it opens the gates of the city, and makes all work together for good to them that love God; so that the misery of a Christian is taken away by the hope which he hath in Christ, which hope brings me to the fourth conclusion. That a good Christian hath not only hope in this life, but in a better; which hope is twofold. 1. The lower, in this life. 2. The upper, not in this life only: For if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable. 1. A Christian hath hope in Christ in this life, though Heaven be the chief place of hope, yet earth is for the exercise of that hope, in this life is the proper time of getting it as being necessary for the whole, there it hopes for the manifestation of all the promises, and here nature gives leave in the journey to prepare for the land of safety; nor could a Christian bear up against the storms and billows that arise and molest him in his passage through this world, but for the hope of coming home to that place in Heaven which is prepared for him, and no other comfort in the danger of the way, but in coming to our country, where we shall be absent from the body, but present with the Lord, doth support them: the Saints are Strangers and Pilgrims, and have here no abiding city; thus did the Patriarches cheerfully cast of all earthly comforts for the obtaining of the holy rest and glorious promises which by faith they saw afar off, and by hope enjoyed them, this hope served them in the valley of tears to revive their strength, or like the honey on jonathans' rod, to open our eyes to behold our comfort, in the object of true delights which is Christ Jesus our Lord, for it is ordinary for every thing to desire its own content, as the rule in nature teaches; for the very plants will not be wanting to the creatures in things necessary to their being, so it is the rule of the God of nature, to be wanting to his creatures in any thing that tends to their well being; witness the free Ordinary which the fowls of the air daily feed on at God's table; & if his goodness be extended to meaner creatures, shall it be straightened to you? or rather he that hath given you all things for this present, will he be wanting to you for the things that pertain to a future life? he hath given extraordinary deliverance in peril, rescued you from the power of thousands by despicable hands: it is true we cannot conclude the love of God from outward prosperity, they are not essential to make up happiness, but because of the promise of this life we may wait for the manifestation of his goodness in these outward things; suppose God deny the lesser, and give us the greater, that he stop the springs below, that the springs above may run the faster; he makes them that are his children often to possess the sins of their youth, and the wicked that are prepared for destruction to take the wall while the heart of the godly are sunk down; what shall we say with holy David? verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency; Ps. 83.13. verse, nothing less; for the best of our hope survives the worst of our sufferings; though when ye look on a Christian in the outside, you may see him miserable, but look upon him in the hope that he hath in Christ, and you see him secure, he is happy though that hope may be crossed; for here is the comfort that a good Christian hath hope in Christ not in this life only, and that in two things: 1. The less proper place for the exercise of the act of Hope. 2. The more principle Object of it. 1. The less proper place for the exercise of the act of Hope; for when the Soul departing from the Body shall come to her country, and be possessed of the fruition of God, which she panted after, she in herself doth not hope, because the things hoped for are present, and because of the special union of the Soul with Christ, yet still there is hope in Heaven, for the full manifestation of the promises: For the Souls under the Altar cry, how long Lord, holy and true? etc. Rev. 6.9, 10. But that which the Souls in Heaven have simply, and in regard of the happiness they enjoy is not hope, for hope that is seen is not hope; for there it is not faith but vision, and not hope, but fruition; yet in some sense, they wait for the accomplishment of all the Divine promises: for the difference lies in these respects following: 1. That above it differs from that below in degrees of Excellency; that here below is grounded on Faith, which beholds the promises of God darkly, but that above is grounded on a clear sight, and a perfect vision. 2. That hope below is attended with sighs and sadnesses, that above without sorrow, all sighing and sorrow being removed from their hearts, whose tears are wiped away with the light of God's Countenance. 3. This below hath weaknesses and imperfections, but that above is a confirmed hope, thus our hope, even to the day of Judgement shall not be abolished in Heaven, in regard of Essence it remains, but in regard of weaknesses, it ceases. For till God's promises be accomplished there, is yet hope in exercising that act, that may bring us to the enjoyment of the highest manifestation of Divine Love. 2. The more principal objects, not in this life only, that is not only for the things of this life, but the things of a better life; for though hope looking to God, it refers to the things of this life for subsistence, yet it chief respects the things of the other life, the resurrection of the flesh, etc. other hopes may promise eternal, but will but serve as fig leaves; other hopes may bring to the fruition of what we hope for, but cannot give satisfaction; but such is the excellency of this hope, as it will supply so much as faith can believe, or hope desire: so that, as it would be desperateness to cast away this anchor, so again madness to cast it off as needless: the Saints which should be climbing Heaven, it would be folly for them to ply this hope about this life, when we may have it about a better; to hope in this life only is unchristian, and less than Christianity will not give us the hope of an eternal life: to follow Christ only to get possession of outward comforts, is but to starve our souls while we feed our bodies with the loaves of pretended Sanctity; for he that will be Heir to Christ's Kingdom, must expect to be crowned with thorns, temporal felicity having no entailment upon his discipleship, persecution being their portion, and their sufferings part of their triumph. So that each true Believer must join in the Chorus, with the song of Saint Paul, pathetically expressed in the words of my Text: If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. FINIS. A SERMON ON St. THOMAS Day. SERMON V. St. JOHN 18.37. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth, etc. Introduction. Envy and Malice, the inseparable companions of a vicious heart, are always in unwearied motion until they have found out some convenient means whereby to bring about their abominable ends; and rather than be disappointed of unhallowed thoughts, or wicked words, they will not cease to speak evil of the way of truth; yea (by them) those are accounted enemies that speak the truth: thus wicked Ahab salutes the Prophet Elijah, Have I found thee O my enemy? 1 Kings 21.20. So that it seems he accounted that holy person no less than his souls adversary for telling the truth; so persecuted they the Prophets of old; and the malice of men and devils have been so persecuting in all ages, that the Church hath not found where to rest, for the Saints wandered up and down afflicted and tormented; yea, they wandered about (saith the Apostle) in sheepskins and goats-skins▪ etc. of whom the world was not worthy, Heb. 11.38. And in this the Disciple was not before, or above his Lord, for no better entertainment had Christ himself; and he is pleased to say, To this was I born, & for this cause came I into the world, etc. Which words have a double aspect, and janus-like appear with a double face, the one looking upon Christ, the other upon Christians; the one concerns our Saviour, the other respects ourselves: For, 1. If you respect the day, so they look at Christ, not only as this is the Lords Day, but as it is the Advent-Sunday, instituted for the Advent, or coming of Christ in the Flesh. 2. It looks upon Christ as coming in his Ordinances and administrations to his people. 3. It looks upon his coming in gracious visitations, as on this day by his power coming to deliver the Church Militant from sin and misery to be a Church triumphant in glory; and thus my Text hath reference to the several come of Christ. But that's not all; the words not only concern Christ, but they have reference unto Christians also, and that in a threefold respect; for they eye all the errors and mislooking of the times. 1. They look upon the gross opinions of those that say the Sceptre of Christ, and the power of earthly Kings stand in opposition one to another, and thereupon cry down all rule and all authority, saying like the heathen, Let us break their bands in sunder, etc. Psal. 2.3. It is true, Christ had the Title of a King, yet neither that, nor himself made any impeachment of Caesar's Laws; and though he denied not himself to be a King, yet he refused to dethrone Caesar; for he saith expressly, my Kingdom is not of this world: So then, you see he is not in opposition to the Kings of the earth, he came not to take away earthly Kingdoms, but to give an Heavenly Kingdom; and therefore he saith, Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, etc. We must obey the temporal Lord for his sake who is the Heavenly Lord, for they who yield not obedience to temporal Kings for Christ's sake, (who hath commanded it) have as yet made no glorious entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven; for love to Christ, and submission to Caesar may and do dwell together in the same heart. 2. The words look upon men's works as they are Christians, who in defence of lawful Superiors with their swords in their hands, had rather die fight, then betray their liberty by a cowardly resignation of their lives and fortunes; and also as Christians they have learned of Christ their Head, to pay Tribute where lawfully it is demanded; for if any might have rebelled, and refused the same, none more lawful and able than our Saviour, who could at his pleasure command more than twelve legions of Angels to assist him, and could command all the treasures of the earth as King and Lord thereof; yet refused the glory of the one to pay lawful tribute, and the innumerable force of the other, that with silence he might answer Caesar's Deputy, for he came to bear witness of the truth; and he will rather lose his life then his obedience. 3. That none that would be thought a Christian, might think himself unconcerned, the words look upon all men, but especially upon those that in pretended religious, yet persecuting times, are ready to betray the truth, rather than stand against all the opposition that arises from men and Devils; for why should not Christians be as ready to defend truth, as others are to oppose it? Christ Jesus, the Captain of our Salvation hath led us the way; for when all conspired against him because he spoke the truth, yet was he with his life ready to justify the truth, saying, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, etc. In which words consider these two general parts: 1. An Engagement. 2. A Design. 1. An Engagement; he was born, he came into the world. 2. A Design; to bear witness to the truth. But since the end and the Object denominate every action, here is 1. The action; Christ's incarnation. 2. The end; to bear witness. 3. The Object, the truth; to bear witness to the truth. Or if you will, take them in this order: 1. The end, and that pointed at, and pointed out. 1. Pointed at; for this cause, and to this end. 2. Pointed out; by being born and brought into the world. 2. The action; to bear witness. 3. The Object, the truth; to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, etc. But since the end is first in intention, though last in execution, I shall begin at the end, yet the right end, and that pointed at; for this cause, and to this end came I into the world, etc. The lives of most men are misspent only for want of a certain end to run at, because they shoot their arrows, and know not at what mark they level, and direct their proceeding by they know not what rule; therefore it is that they reach not to perfection, and end not in comfort. Some level at the right end, but level amiss: To level without an end were folly, to a false end, were loss; true Christians only find the right way, for a wise Christian amidst the many changes of this mortal life, still presses on to one steady end by holy endeavours; for the more he is unshaken in his resolutions, the nearer he cometh to the great exemplar of life, Christ Jesus, who stood firm unto the end, and continued steadfast in the truth, witnessing the same with the loss of his most precious life, as himself affirms, To this end was I borne, etc. It would be both needless and unprofitable for me to undertake the calculation of our Saviour's Nativity, or to make a discovery unto you of those signs which did accompany it in a most miraculous manner, or to tell you the wonderful effects thereof set down in the Gospel; which though they were above the ordinary course of nature, yet you must know, that those Celestial constellations did not contribute any thing to the producing of that glorious Birth, but only in an admirable and unusual manner were made to bear witness unto this great truth that is in my Text said to be born, that he also may give testimony to the truth. Indeed there is a no less impious than foolish Proverb taken up by men in the world, upon the event of any action or thing, to lay the cause thereof upon the Stars and Planerary influences; and thereby men think, when guilty, to excuse themselves, saying, a fatal necessity brought it upon me, or they were compelled to it, saying irreligiously, I was born to this, or the Stars designed me to it; as if some necessity did draw men to sin, as if the Stars were the causes of men's iniquity; yet of the two those are better (though justly to be condemned also) that would excuse themselves by laying the fault upon the influence of malignant Planets, or their own corrupt nature, than those that infer the cause from a necessity in the peremptory decree of Almighty God, as if Holiness itself should take pleasure in making men criminal. Such a principle imbibed, is enough to bring a man to that opinion of the Stoics at least; if not to think that there is a good and an evil God, yet that the one Almighty Essence acts as if he were divided, by saying, though God would have men otherwise then they are, yet he hath decreed a certain end of misery to the greatest part of men, without any respect of good or evil in their persons; and so make the evil actions of men determined by God's Decree: and what will this come short of them that attribute the good actions of men to a good God, and their evil actions to an evil God? Yet those Stoics that make two Gods, and these Planetists that lay the fault of their actions upon the Stars, are much better than those that say all things are absolutely necessary, and that all their ends are undeterminable by any actions of men whether good or evil; it will be better to raise the evil accidents from an evil then from a good God. But that we are under a fatal decree of necessity as to event, or that we were born to commit this or the other evil, we utterly deny; and that, 1. First, by considering the evil consequences that will follow upon asserting a peremptory decree; for if God's peremptory decree hath designed sin to come into the world, than men sinne not in deed, but in opinion only; necessity hath no law, and where necessity bears sway, there the will hath no power, and so man becomes equal with the beasts of the field, with the Lion, whose unbridled appetite cannot be restrained by the rigour of the severest law; and the reason is, because they cannot upon admonition do otherwise, they cannot use principles of reason; and therefore is it that mad men and children are under no law, because not capable of rational actions, for no man is commanded to do those things necessity requires; as for example, no man is bidden to eat, drink, and sleep, because these actions, and affections are necessary for the preservation of life; the will may govern, but not suppress them: indeed charity is of necessity; whether it be considered as a free principle within▪ or without; and we are careless of those things that are without, if necessity have no law; for if actions in themselves have no law, than they are not sinful, for where no transgression of the law is, there can be no sin, & if all things be ruled by destiny, than they are of necessity, and so by consequence our actions are neither good nor bad in themselves, but only are good or evil, as esteemed by us, and in our opinion; and if it be so, then to what purpose was the Son of God made man, and so became a sacrifice for sin? to what end are exhortations, and means used to hinder men from sin, if they are but fancies? a Christians calling and Christ's dying are mere fables, if sin be not sin; if sin be nothing, it matters not, let men live how they list; and whither tends this principle, but to the subversion of all religion? when a man lays the ground of all his actions upon the peremptory decree of Almighty God. 2. Consider, this belief clearly takes away a man's conscience; for why should men strive to hinder sin, or make conscience of what they do, when they are persuaded there is a necessity of sinning lies upon them? and why should a man weep and mourn for that evil for which there is a necessity he do commit it? as it must needs be, when a man's sins are his destiny, and not any thing in himself the cause thereof: therefore if it be so, if sin be not at all ours, but of destiny, or upon an inevitable decree, than all our tears and repentance are spent in vain▪ and when once this principle is throughly entertained, religion cannot long continue, therefore how cautious should we be of harbouring such principles? much better were it for us to reflect upon ourselves as the only cause and instruments of sin; and be always afraid lest God's just punishments should unavoidably overtake our evil actions; and in this moderate sense fear makes a man apprehensive of a Deity, always unwilling to offend him, and ever careful to keep a good conscience, which the contrary opinion will lead a man to destroy. 3. It takes away the guilt of sin; for whatsoever is fatal, cannot be justly punished, because those sins for which men are justly rewarded with punishment, must be concluded to have been within their power to have avoided them; but fatal actions are not so, neither can any man be temporally or eternally punished for those actions which he was born to commit; for for a temporary offence which a man could no way avoid, no eternal punishment can justly be inflicted, the imbecility of his power justly reprieving him from the sentence of condemnation; and as no eternal, so no temporary judgement can belong unto them, for if magistrates thought men's offences unavoidable, they would think it bootless to punish them; but we see Judges punish men for offences, because they know men have a power to refrain from breaking the law, having daily experience, that fear of punishment hath kept men inoffensive: but on the other side, if the offender should think the offence for which he stands convicted to have been his destiny, whether it be murder, rebellion or acts of treason, and other villainies, etc. and that they were committed by the necessity of a decree, and that to this end he was born, than he would and might very well plead innocency, and complain he was unjustly punished for that which he had no power to refuse, so that you see such a principle as this, will be the dissolution of all government both temporal and spiritual; for how can it stand with the justice of God to punish man, yea to destroy to eternity both soul and body, for the breaking of that law which he never had power to keep? nay more, to punish him for that evil which he could not avoid; because his peremptory decree from all eternity had reprobated him unto it: and if this be true, that tribunal would not be just, where the sentence of everlasting fire shall be pronounced against a man for that very action in which he was merely passive, having no power to avoid it; this were to make God unjust in his proceed with mankind, for the recompense of good or evil cannot be given to good or evil, that are so, not freely, but of necessity, for where necessity is, there is no place for retribution. And therefore how vain and simple are we in our thoughts, words and actions, when we place men's Nativities under fatal constellations, or their actions under a peremptory decree, when as God hath given men liberty to live freely under his righteous judgements? It were injustice in God to punish such that he had first made such; therefore a point of ignorance & madness for any that believe the resurrection of the dead, and the day of judgement, where God will render to all according to their works, for him to say, that there is a destiny lies upon their actions; for how can true faith and piety stand to this monstrous assertion? But, 4. If this were so, than all the whole life of man would be but a destiny, all our imaginations would be destiny, and all the several changes and events that fall out in a nation or kingdom would be but by chance, and a kind of fatal necessity, if there were truth in this opinion, and so we should do just nothing; for if it be God's decree to purpose sin within; and an necessity rule us without; to what purpose were preaching and hearing if men be not capable of exhortation? all such means are in vain, and will never convert a sinner: or to what end is duty pressed▪ and men called upon to repent, to get grace, to be meek and humble? yea why are there promises made in Christ Jesus through believing that we may obtain remission of sins, if that be a truth, which some affirm, that the peremptory decree of Almighty God rules all, and that to this or that end men were born? And if laws do nothing, wherefore were they made? wherefore were Ordinances prescribed, if they contribute nothing to help us heaven-ward? and why is it that ministers accommodate themselves by meet words, fit to work on men's understandings and affections, and with the reasonableness of Christian religion labour to captivate their wills, to bring them under obedience, if by a peremptory decree, which is unalterable, they are designed to another end? wherefore are the promises of mercy, and the threats of eternal judgement made use of, if there be no power in man that is capable of persuasion, and that will admit of a change from evil to good? I am sure such a tenant is none of the doctrine of the holy Catholic Church, for St. Austin pronounces them accursed that say any man is predestinated to sin; and we do pronounce such accursed, if any such there be; and many there are amongst us that say all events are from necessity: so that by this time you cannot but see how irrational and unchristian it is for a man to lay the cause of all his actions upon God's peremptory decree. And so I have done with that error, and come now to the other opinion, which will have all actions regulated by the influence of stars. And here secondly, we utterly deny that any action is brought about or necessitated by the influence of stars, or in respect of any fatal constellation; for though it be true, that there are infinite of heavenly bodies, conformable to the inferior creatures, and that there are some particular planets, which have special influence upon, and domination over some particular climates over which they are placed, and therefore it is that we read of the sweet influences of Pleyades, and of Mazzoroth in his season, Job 38.31. and the whole heavens shall hear the earth, Hosea 2.21. so that we see there is a correspondence held between the stars above, and the creatures below the firmament, though some are destructive in their courses, and fight against their enemies; thus the stars in their courses are said to fight against Sisera, Judg. 5.20. and hence it is said, there is a heavenly vessel that empties itself into the lower vessel, and that every herb discovers itself to be useful for this or that part of man's body, by the similitude which it carries unto that part for which it is medicinal; and that every one hath governing from its proper star, that every thing living hath a starry influence upon it, and that there is not a man, beast, or stone, but hath influence from the stars: now granting all this to be a truth (as it is the opinion of some) yet it will be still found an infallible assertion, that though all the stars at once were malignant, they could not force any man to sin, their malevolous aspects cannot compel any man to commit iniquity: indeed by the fall of Adam our nature was corrupted, and so the creature became subject unto vanity, yet as we recover ourselves from destruction in the second Adam, they lose that power of vanity, and so by consequence no means can be the cause of sin in respect of a fatal constellation: but to say we were born during the predominancy of such or such a Planet, and our guidance in the way to eternal life is from God alone is a most certain truth; for the sun and Moon which are the great luminaries of heaven and earth, can do no more by their power towards our good or evil estate, than a lame man can help himself to walk that hath no legs; nay the Angels in Heaven can do no more than wish and long for the prosperity of Gods chosen. Therefore how much of vanity is there in those minds who impute that power to celestial creatures, which God never intended they should possess? for take them at the best, and they are but such instruments as can do nothing without him, that doth whatsoever he will both in Heaven and in Earth, the Sea and all deep places. We must not when we do that which is evil lay the charge upon God, or the Stars, or the Angels, who are the instruments that act those Stars. 1. We must not lay the blame on God; Let no man say when he is tempted he is tempted of God, etc. St. James 13.13. No, let no man say he hath caused me to err, or that it is through the Lord that I fell away, for he hath no need of the son of man saith the son of Syrach, Ecclesiasticus 15.11, 12. For the Lord hateth all abomination; so contrary is sin unto his Holiness, that his eyes are upon them that fear him; and they that truly love God, will do his will, and obey his Commandments; for they know that God's Justice hath no need to advance its glory by the destruction of their lives. Nor 2. Can any man justly impute his sins to the holy Angels; for it is the property of them to hearken to the voice of God, and always to be doing of that which is good: O praise the Lord ye Angels of his, ye that excel in strength, ye that fulfil his commands, and hearken unto the voice of his words, Psal. 103.20, 21. Therefore certainly, they that fulfil Gods command, and hearken to his voice, will be fare enough from causing others to commit that which they hate, especially in the Children of God, for whose sakes they are made ministering Spirits. But then some will be ready to excuse themselves, and lay the fault upon the Devil and his evil Angels: it is true, the Prince of the Air rules in the children of disobedience; but it is as true, they give up themselves unto him, their lusts first ruled in their members, before Satan got domination over their hearts; they are taken captives at his pleasure, but they first give up themselves willingly to be captivated, they are willing to lie under the yoke of Egyptian bondage, nor care they for other freedom then what the service of sin will allow of; and therefore our Saviour tells the Jews, You are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. The lusts of your father you will obey; you have a lust to do whatsoever he wills, and your will is bend to do whatsoever your lust dictates; and yet men would fain make God the author of their evil, as if he had decreed that to come upon them which they cannot refuse. To this end (saith St. Austin) evil men lay not the blame of their vicious actions upon their evil nature, but upon the Stars, or on God's peremptory Decree; whereas what is sin, is voluntary, and what is not voluntary is not sin. Saint Paul saith, Ye have yielded your members servants unto sin. So that we must not lay the fault upon the Stars, but upon our own perverse wills; for though the Stars do draw vicious passions, as in melancholy hearts, in some anger, and in others wanton love, etc. And though by nature we readily yield to those influences, yet there is power in grace, which is able, and doth break in every regenerate man the power of the Stars: But if we give up ourselves to sin, we must needs yield unto those evil passions, whereas a wise man, even by his very reason, will domineer over the malignant influence of any Star; and though the corruption of our nature, or the evil influence of the Stars, may incline us to any kind of vice, as lying, stealing, to commit adultery, etc. yet as we are rational creatures we may and aught to strive against them, labouring to get power from above to assist us: and to that end is it that we are born again by holy Baptism; for this cause came we into the Christian Church, that we might no longer live after the lusts of the Gentiles which know not God, but that we forsaking the lusts of the flesh, following godliness with the greatest eagerness, and sharpest conflicts that a renewed heart can use against stubborn and rebellious flesh, that our whole man may be wound up to so high a pitch of Piety, that in righteousness and godly sincerity we may perfect holiness in the fear of God, and in our several stations follow God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God, etc. Ephes. 5.1, 2. And so I have done with the end as asserted, To this end was I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, etc. The next thing in order to be handled, is the Action, viz. To bear witness: For so saith our Saviour, To this end was I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. FINIS. A second NATIVITY SERMON. SERMON VI. St. JOHN 18.37. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Introduction. AN imprudent discourse attended with ambitious thoughts, was the first occasion of Adam's misery; and the mercy of God in making the New Covenant, is the principal cause of the Serpent's ruin; whose mischievous head was early broke by the promised Seed (the true Messiah) whom the Patriarches foresaw, and the Prophets foretold: The Patriarches foresaw him, Genesis 49.10. The Prophets foretold him under divers representations, Esay, Esay 7.14. Jer. 23.5. Dan. 9.25, 26. Zachary 6.12. Haggai 2.7. by the Emanuel; jeremy, the Branch; Daniel, the Messiah; Zachary, By him that riseth on high; Haggai, The desire of all Nations. That God should be Incarnate, that sinners should be saved, that a despicable man should save a World, was thought so incredible, that the Prophet Esay cries out, Who hath believed our report? (which was in time fulfilled, But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, etc. Gal. 4.4.) though the news was true, and proclaimed from Heaven by an Angel, and that of great Joy, for that on this day was born a Saviour Christ the Lord; what was in the Prophets prophesied concerning his coming, was by himself fulfilled in time; what they pointed at, he pointed out, and by a Miracle shown it to the Wise Men, saying, Where is he that is borne King of the jews? for we have seen his Star in the East, and we are come to worship him, St. Matthew 2.2. Yet when he came to his own, they received him not, but rejected the counsels of God, as they did that slew the Prophets, who declared the coming of the just One; for when he was come, he was forced to be gone, and fly for the safety of his life into a foreign Country, to avoid the fury of that mighty Nimrod, whose pretended worship was only the dark vizour of an inhuman murder; disguising his wicked purposes under the beautiful mask of a desired amity: no wonder therefore, that there are some amongst us that call themselves Christ's, when there are those that call themselves Christians, that would, and do disown Christ's Nativity; and this old Simeon (by inspiration) calculated at his Nativity, saying, This child is set for a sign which shall be spoken against, St. Luke 2.34. And wicked people make it good, as if he had not been foretold by Prophets, nor come into the world in the fullness of time at an appointed day; and that for us men, and for our Salvation, Christ came down from Heaven, and was incarnate in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary: it is a work that many would not believe, saith God, Hab. 1.5. which was fulfilled, Acts 13.41. Behold ye despisers, and wonder, and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall not believe, etc. For so would they have hindered the Author and finisher of our Faith from working that which he had wrought, and what God had set down should be done which w●… accordingly fulfilled, that he should not be borne, but to witness to the truth 〈◊〉 he himself saith so much of himself, To this end was I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. In which words you may remember I have formerly observed these three parts. 1. An Action. 1. The End. 3. The Object. 1. The Action, Christ's Incarnation; He was borne, he came into the world. 2. The End; and that pointed at, and pointed out: 1. Pointed at; To this end, and for this cause. 2. Pointed out; To bear witness. 3. The Object was the truth; To this end was I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, to bear witness to the truth. And since the end is the first thing in the intention, though last in execution, I did begin with the end Pointed at, and that was to this end, and for this cause: But I shall now proceed to the proper work of this day, Christ's Nativity; I was born, I came into the world: and here at the first step of our discourse, we are plunged into an unfathomed depth of mystery; for this he that was here borne, is the same he that calls himself I am that I am, Exodus 3.14. That Socinian that saith he was not very God, is a blasphemer; I am that I am, it is the Name of God, whose Essence is from everlasting to everlasting, and to be born notes his humanity; and how this work was, that he that is I am should be borne, and close with the Deity, tongue cannot express, and heart cannot conceive; we can conceive how nothing is but what is in and of ourselves, and not that neither but with much imperfection; for the first of us that was so desirous of knowledge, left us nothing but a penury of what we were; and if we know not ourselves, we cannot possibly conceive how God was made man, and at the same time remain incommunicable; or how he being incommunicable, did vouchsafe to partake of humane Nature; yet thus was Christ both God and Man in the same person; as man he had a mother that bore him, and as God a Father that begat him: but who can without admiration speak of such a Son, or tell of such a generation, that was like both, & yet like neither? like neither; for consider him as Man, and so he hath no similitude of an ineffable Essence; look upon him as God, and so he bears no proportion with the Virgin's Womb; and yet like both; as God, like his Father, as man, like his mother; God and yet the son of a woman; Man, and still the Image of his Father, and that from Eternity, being without beginning of days, or end of time; God's Son and Motherless, a Virgin's Babe and Fatherless; without a Father as borne of a Woman, and without a Mother as begotten of God: Thus was he God and motherless, as begotten and not borne; a man and Fatherless, because borne and not begotten; we must believe both beyond enquiry, because more is possible with God then is conceivable with man, and divine Mysteries should persuade us to believe that they are undoubted truths, though our reason cannot comprehend them; for what we cannot understand by believing, we must believe beyond understanding; and of all the divine Mysteries, this of our blessed Saviour's Incarnation especially, whose very mystery heightens Faith to no less than a Miracle; and where a Miracle is wrought wonder must needs be created, and both these two meet in this one act of Faith, exercised about the hypostatical union; for believing we wonder, and marveling we believe, and make our blessed Saviour's Incarnation the object of both; we believe what we marvel at, and yet wonder at our Faith, still doubling the Miracle by marveling that we can at once both wonder and believe: it is a wonder, and yet this wonder is the object of our Faith; for how can we do less than marvel, when we consider that on the Father's side he should be God and no man, on the Mother's side man and no God, and yet both God and Man? For Eternity had begotten man but once, because begotten from Eternity; his Father begot him equal to God, his Mother bore him like to Man; he was man besides God, and therefore Man and no God, and yet God and Man, for when he was made man he ceased not to be God which he was before: like as the Sun loseth not its brightness, though shadowed in the clouds; so not Christ his glory, though obscuted in flesh, he was not so conceived in his Mother as to be separated from his Father; Christ was not less equal to his Fathet by being like his Mother; the Word was made flesh, St. John 1.14. and not less Word than Flesh, by an assumption of the flesh, not consumption of the Word; the Word that God by flesh did present to our sight was real Flesh, and was not less God still; for he is no less God now that he is clad in humane clay, then when only clothed with deified Glory; he remains God and Man in one person, very God and very Man in one singular subsistence, he took the person of Man, and the substance, by converting the person to his proper being; and that this may not altogether seem strange to your understandings, please to turn your eyes inward, and an example thereof will be presented; for if man hath the life of Plants, and the sense of Beasts, and both in conjunction with the reasonable soul in an individual being, why may not Christ take the Soul of man into union with himself, and yet consist in his Divinity, making a Trinity in the union of his Person? For as he was God and Man in the humane nature, he consisted of a Deity, a soul and a body, there a Trinity in unity, here unity in Trinity; he was one person not divided, a person of the Trinity distinguished, not divided; for every person in the Sacred Trinity is perfect God, distinguished into persons, but not divided in substance, for all take propriety each with the other; the Father God, the Son God, and the holy Ghost God, and yet not three, but one God, as we are taught by the holy Catholic Faith to believe; yet that God might redeem us from our iniquities, he that was perfect God equal with the Father, took upon him our flesh, and therefore it is that God was said to suffer what man himself should have borne; only here is the admired union of natures, but not natural of persons, But what were the reasons why he whose name is I am should be borne, so as to say of himself, To this end was I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, to bear witness to the truth? 1. To make God and Man one by atonement; and therefore it was necessary he should be of both natures, whose office is to reconcile both persons. 2. He was to do that for us which was impossible for man to do, and to suffer what was unmeet for God to undergo; and that he might both do and suffer for us he took the blessed Virgin Mary for his mother, that from her he might receive a body capable of suffering; but it was his Divinity which enabled his Humanity to suffer what our Souls deserved. 3. He was to undergo for an infinite offence, for man had sinned, and none but God could satisfy for an infinite offence, it being reasonable that the same nature that broke the Law should pay the Debt; and therefore it was necessary for him to be God as well as Man, that did undertake to make God and Man to be reconciled and made one. 4. Had he been God and not Man, man could not have been redeemed; had he been only man and not God, the Devils would have boasted; but he was both God and man, that our redemption might be finished, and the Devil's malice silenced: whence wisely was our redemption shared between God and man, because the arbitrement was such, that a mere man could not undertake to appease a God offended neither one nor the other nature would have, or could have relieved us single, because he must be God that will be mediator from God to man, and he must be man that he may be an intercessor to God for man: and this mystery though our reason cannot fathom, yet our belief must reach it, our faith must believe what our hearts and tongues cannot express, & our faith is then proficient when it hath attained so high, and not before; for we can say more by silence then by words, & when we find him in our souls by Hallelujahs and praise, we shall then know thee O Saviour, not for thyself, but ourselves, and it is our faith to believe that as thou art so shall we be, though not so fully: therefore let every one make it his request, O that thou wouldst come down from heaven, and dwell in our hearts by faith and love, who out of love to mankind came in flesh, when faith and truth were banished out of the earth; and that thou shouldst so come as to say, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, etc. And so much may suffice for that part of his incarnation, the end of his coming. I now come to that of his Nativity, his coming into the world, and here three things are to be considered. 1. The Dignity of his person. 2. The Humility of his condescension. 3. The Place of his entertaintainment. 1. The Dignity of his person, in that he was the Son of God. 2. The Humility of his condescension, in that he would cloth himself with the rags of our mortality. 3. The Place, unworthy of his innterment, being the world. Of these in their order. 1. The Dignity of his person, and that as he is the Son of God by nature, and as in his Birth the most noble person that ever was; on the Father's side he is God, very God, the very God of one substance with the Father, as you have heard, and which to deny is no less than blasphemy, for when he calls God Father, the jews knew that thereby he made himself equal with God, St. John 10.33. He as God's Son was always with the Father, and so everlastingly great as he was God; and not only so, but he was full of dignity on his Mother's side, as he was descended from the Patriarches, and Royal Kings of judah; so he was a Prince renowned. 1. For his authority, because he doth what he will, both in heaven and in earth, Psal. 13.5, 6. in the sea, and in all deep places. 2. For his power, St. Mar. 4.41. he commands the wind, and the waves, and they obey him. 3. For the largeness of his dominions, heaven and earth is his, Psal. 72.8. and the fullness thereof; his dominion is from one part of heaven and earth unto the other. 4. For multitude of Subjects; Angels, Saints and Kings, yea and those that depose Kings are his Subjects, either voluntarily or against their wills, for he sits down among the Gods. 5. For lasting, his Dominion is everlasting, and he shall reign over the house of jacob for ever, Psal. 16.11, 6.7. and of his Kingdom there shall be no end, St. Luke 1.33. 6. For fullness, In his presence is fullness of joy etc. 7. For subduing of enemies; Bring those my enemies that would not that I should reign over them, etc. St. Luke 19.27. But why go I about to describe that which is infinite, or blazon the glory of a power that is incomprehensible? It made holy David cry out, Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him, etc. Psal. 8.4. Man is as a thing of nought, for when he was not guilty, being innocent, and had not sinned, he could merit no favour; but when he was guilty, and by sinning had deserved not to be what he was before, yet then, God to show the freeness of his mercy, that he who had made the world for man, would not make man for nothing, and though his Image was defaced by him, yet he would not have it ruinated; that goodness that planted him in uprightness, would not have him presently destroyed when found in wickedness; no, he was prone to mercy, though provoked to wrath by beholding that in man which his infinite Power never created; and therefore to this purpose he came into the world, 1 St. John 3.8. that he might destroy the works of the devil. To apply this. Since God was pleased so to honour us, as not to redeem us with corruptible things, 1 St. Pet. 1.18. as silver and gold, nor with the blood of bulls and goats, nor the power of men and Angels, but by the death and passion of his own Son, St. John 3.16. of his own Substance; If God so loved us, that he gave his only begotten Son for us, why should we think any thing too much for him, or through the ambition and pride of our hearts, think ourselves too good to serve him, or imagine we can be happy without him? Or on the contrary, let us not suppose our sins to be more and greater than he is able or willing to pardon: since God is pleased to send his Son to redeem you, why should you think yourselves too good to serve him? let the beasts be sensual, and the devil's wicked, why should you be scornful, or so far degenerate, as to do any action that may entitle you to the insensibleness of the one, or to the loss of the other? to be ungrateful to the God of Heaven is impious, therefore bear yourselves worthy of the Favourites of Heaven, since God's Son came into the world to redeem you. And so I come to the second thing noted in his coming, namely The humility of his Condescension. If love to the Father, and respect to our souls, became to the Son of God so strong and powerful an inducement, as to cause him to humble himself so far, as in his own person to come and bear witness to the Truth, than thou art inexcusable O man, that sees the Truths of God opposed, his Worship repressed, his Ministers suppressed, and dost not what thou canst to maintain the truth; for every one, in his proportion and degree, to this end is born, and comes into the world, that he, after the example of his Saviour, should bear witness to the truth. And so I come to the Nativity itself, Christ's coming into the world. Came into the world. We read in Scripture of a threefold coming of Christ. 1. Imperiously, To give the Law. 2. Graciously: To give the Gospel. 3. Gloriously: When he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. The first was to the world the second in the world, and the third will be at the end of the world. In the first, he came as a God. In the second, as a Saviour. In the third, he will come like a judge, to require an account of every man, for every particular action, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. His first coming under the Law in Levitical types is not here intended, but the coming mentioned in this place is his second coming, when he came as a Saviour to give the Gospel; Christ Jesus, who is God-man, thus came into the world, and because as God he is omnipresent, some will have his presence in every place, and his being in every thing; 'tis true, he was with us before he came to us, but that God that is omnipresent, and fills all places, yet hath divers tranmsissions in Scripture; Heaven is his place or throne of glory, and earth his footstool; but he is said to come to us, when he manifests himself to us after a new manner, and this coming of his is by an act of new Mercy; he that is all Mercy, now vouchsafed to his Creatures a new way of coming, such as was never manifested before, for he came to the old world in types and figures, he was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world, when the Elect was, Christ was there, not only as the second person in the sacred Trinity, but as a Propitiation for man; in short, he always came in purpose, he early came in the Promises, and he successfully came in the fullness of time; the Promises could not be frustrated, and the Prophets could not be mistaken; he is given to us in the Gospel, and married to us by his Spirit, having assumed our flesh in the blessed Virgin; and that he should thus come to us was great humility from sitting in Heaven and hearing the Choir of Angels singing his praises, working wonders in heaven and in earth, etc. yet he forsook all this to find us out, who were rolling in clay; for when he came to glorify our nature we were in trouble, we could be found in no condition but that of misery, when he bowed the heavens and came down, he then turned the name of Majesty into Pity, his Glory into Humility, and laying aside his Glory, he leapt from that his Greatness, and came and dwelled among us, clothed in flesh: indeed had he come in the form of an Angel, that had been condescension; or but to our flesh, or had he but come to the circumcision of his flesh, that had been a large extent of his love, for his circumcision was no other than the shedding of his most precious blood, one drop whereof would have been sufficient for the ransom of a world; but he took upon him the form of a servant, and that to wash his Disciples feet, which was a step lower for God to tread; nay lower than that, he humbled himself to the death, and that of the cross, 2 Phil. 8. where he found his enemies to be his Judges, and those that hated him, falsely to accuse his sacred Works; but both divided, for there you have one drawing up a charge against his life, and here another answering for his life; here one proclaiming his innocency, there another crying out, he is guilty; yet notwithstanding, amidst the many divided tongues there are found some united hands to slay him. Indeed the Atheists scoff at this, saying, shall we begin our Religion at a Babe in the manger? or believe in him whose poverty was so great, that to pay tribute for his allegiance, was fain to be obliged to a Fish for money? whose penury necessitated him to beg for a living? who was hungry, and thirsty, and sleepy, and sorrowful, yea so despicably mean and contemptible, that his own kindred was ready to lay hands on him, as one out of his wits? and he complained for want of lodging, esteeming himself more despicable than the foxes of the earth, or the fowls in the air: this was the esteem, or very little better, which the world had of him, of whom they were altogether unworthy, not considering why he so came, for he came to be thus mean, that we might become honourable; therefore did he come to be killed by sinners, that sinners might live in his death; to die for them, that they might die to sin; and though they now crucify afresh the Son of God by their iniquities, yet a time will come when they will be glad of the saving virtue of one drop of that blood which they now disgrace. To apply this. If the Son of God came in such humility, as to humble himself to come into the world to die for us; why should we disdain to do our friends good, though never so mean, even to the degree of a servant, seeing that when the Son of God came to redeem us, he did it in the form of a servant? Again, why should we think ourselves too good to serve our brethren, since Christ disdained not to wash his Disciples feet, showing himself in nothing so much as in humility? And what doth this teach us, but to lay a foundation for greater glory? that we beginning in humility here, may be raised to glory hereafter; for he that is low shall be exalted, and in his humility is a follower of him that came to the place of his reception in the lowest form: which brings me to the third particular, namely, The place of his entertainment, the World. And it is taken two ways: 1. Either for the frame of this vast Globe. 2. Or for the Inhabitants thereof. But I understand it here for the fabric of this vast earth, which is too mean, and altogether unworthy to entertain him, nay it is not of capacity to do it, for how should this great house hold his glorious Majesty, when the Heaven of Heavens is not able to contain him? It was humility for him to come into this world, and yet he came to the world to show his humility, for the Word was made flesh, St. John 1.14. and dwelled among us, etc. and he abhorred not the Virgin's womb, though a simple Lady; I mean simple in respect of outward glory or worldly riches, for so poor she was, that at her Churching she was necessitated instead of a Lamb to offer a pair of young Pigeons; and though he did seem to straiten himself at his conception, because he had little room in the womb, yet he was more straitened at his birth, for there was no room for him in the Inn; which shows the greatness of his love to us, that our blessed Saviour will want room on earth, rather than we shall want Mansions in heaven: the blessed Virgin is driven to so great necessity, that her chamber must be in the stable, her bed no better than that of straw, and the glorious Babe lodged in no other cradle, but that of the manger. Never was Glory in so homely a place before: God at first brought forth man like a King, and placed him in Paradise, to rule over the Beasts; but God is brought forth man in the place of beasts. See then vile man, who it is whom thou hast neglected in Heaven, by sinning on earth? the Lord of Men and Angels is now made the companion of Beasts, because thou hast made thyself like the beasts that perish; how canst thou not admire at the low condescension of thy Saviour, that he should so come into the world, and be born of such mean parents, and in so base a place as is a stable; and that which is worse, to be laid in a manger also? O the height and depth of the love of the Son of God Who would not fall into admiration to see God in a manger? God is in his holy Temple, what shall he descend? Yea we believe him when he said he would do so; and now that he hath so done, who can forbear loving of him? view him in the manger, and there you see him become food for beasts, for men who are transformed by beastly lusts; and yet he will be found in the Temple also, that so he may gather both great and small: he is meat for strong men, yea, and he will be milk to the little ones also; and unless every one of us become as little ones, St. Matt. 18.3. we shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven: he was born that he might have us born again; he was wrapped in swadling-cloths, to teach us, that we should not despise men how mean soever in appearance; and in a stable, to show his communicableness to all persons; he was laid in a manger, not for food to the beasts, but for bread to men. Indeed as he is God he gives fodder to the cattle of the earth, and the fowls in the air, for he feeds the young Ravens; but it is only unto men that he gives himself as bread; and in a mystery was he found in a stable, to show us, that as men became beasts by their fall, so he was found among the beasts, that he might be food for all, and that beastly man might find and taste the bread of life: he will also become bread, that so we may indeed eat his flesh and drink his blood. St. John 6.55. Therefore since Christ came in such elements; hence learn Use. That none but clean beasts must eat of such food, and none but such truly can do it: those that consider not what is really the body and blood of Christ, eat not bread, and drink not wine, 1 Cor. 11.29. but eat and drink their own condemnation; but they that by a true and lively faith do eat and drink the body and blood of Christ spiritually in the blessed Eucharist, do truly fulfil the great end of his coming into the world, for thus he came and was born that we might reap the benefit of his life and death; and he came so meanly, that his poverty might enrich us, so lowly that his humility might strengthen us; and though we disdainfully neglected the means of our salvation, yet he took care of us before all time, and manifested his love in coming to us in the fullness of time. Ttherfore to wind up all, Praise thou the Lord O my soul, Ps. 103.1, 2, 3, 4, etc. and all that is within me praise his holy name. Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thy iniquities, and healeth all thy infirmities; which saveth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindness; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles: for he will not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities. Testis fidelis OR A faithful Witness. SERMON VII. St. JOHN 18.37. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Introduction. THe words of my Text are like the eye of a well-drawn picture, that still which way soever you go, looks towards you; for which way so ever you consider the words they still have reference to all the parts, and circumstances of Christ's coming in the flesh; if you look upon his conception, which coming was foretold by an Angel as witness thereof, S. Luke 1.31. yet there it was but the preparation to that coming which is in my text, (viz.) his Nativity, which is not left without a witness neither, in that St. Stephen, one of the twelve, who was to testify of him, is joined next unto the birthday of our Saviour, he being the first that suffered for him, and therefore called by the Holy Catholic Church St. Stephen's day; but that Protomartyr who here is a witness to that witness in my Text, did witness what the great witness did both do and suffer; but that this truth might be established by more than a single testimony, our Mother the Church doth celebrate St. john's day, in commemoration of that beloved Disciple, whose faithful affection begot in him an eagle's eye, wherewith to behold those glorious mysteries which none else of all the Disciples, were able to reveal; and that we might not be without occasions of stirring up our affections also, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, and here is the only begotten Son so loving that he gives himself for us: and as his Disciples testified the truth of Christ living and dying; so the innocent babes slain for his sake by cruel Herod, did witness to the truth, not by speaking but by dying: but he who is the great witness both by speaking & dying did bear witness for us, while himself was an infant, antedating his cruel passion by a bloody circumcision, instituted as a pledge of our interest in his covenant, which was wonderfully effected by his own person when manifested in the world: hence the Epiphany is famous for the wise men, who first made discovery of this blessed babe by the guidance of an unusual light: and here now is that star of jacob, which leads to the rising in his birth; and by this was the King of the Jews first found out, that afterwards by his people was betrayed into the hands of enemies to be condemned as a malefactor, and as an enemy to Caesar; and that with the greatest formality of justice, being brought before a Precedent, and arraigned for his life; and yet notwithstanding their malice and cruelty, he still asserted his innocence, though he knew he should die for it, and therefore he saith, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness of the truth. Look upon the words once more, and they present you with the faithfulness and constancy of our blessed Saviour's testimony, even then when he was deserted by his most intimate friends and servants; and at that time especially, wherein (as man) he stood most in need of them, being now had in examination before the Judgement-seat of Pilate; wherein you have fulfilled that saying of his, that he came to his own, and his own received him not. Nay, he was so far from being received by them, that he was forsaken by all, despised of most, and pitied by few; and yet herein also he came to do his Father's will, by a willing death witnessing to that truth which some had foresworn, and others denied, saying, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. In which words you may remember I have observed these parts: 1. An action. 2. An end. 3. The object. 1. The action, he was born, he came into the world. 2. The end 1. pointed at. 2. pointed out. 1. Pointed at, to this end and for this cause. 2. Pointed out, to bear witness. 3. The object, the truth. And whereas the end in every action is first in intention, though last in execution, I did begin with the end, the right end and that pointed at, To this end and for this cause, etc. and I came to the second thing, namely 2. The action which was Christ's incarnation and his coming into the world; To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world: and come now to the third thing; the end of the action, wherefore he came, and why he was born; and that is 3. The object, the truth, to bear witness. And to bear witness to the truth: and in this third part there are two things considerable, 1. The end. 2. The object. The one in reference unto Christ, the other unto Christians. 1. In reference unto Christ as the primary intention of them; and so the words concern our Saviour, as he was a witness unto the truth in his own person. 2. In the extent of them, so they concern us, for we also are to bear witness to the truth; and as in the testimony of our Saviour, so in ours, there must concur to demonstrate our fidelity, 1. The end. 2. The action. 3. The object. For we are in our particular station to bear witness to the truth as well as others; for Christ in all the ages of the world hath still had some faithful servants to witness for him, though they continually met with opposition. For though under the Law witness was given unto him at divers times, and in sundry manners, etc. yet not only the vain errors of the Gentiles, but also the careless perverseness of the jews, led multitudes of people into a disbelief of God himself, and the truth of our blessed Saviour's coming into the world; insomuch that the Prophet Esay saith, Who hath believed our report? Esay 53.1. Yea, the people changed the truths of God into lies, and caused the way of truth to be evil spoken of; endeavouring by all means, if possible, to banish truth out of the earth; but notwithstanding all their malicious oppositions, the truths of God were not left without record, for there is not any one person in the Sacred Trinity, but bears witness to the truth; for there are three that bear record in Heaven, The Father, the Word, and the holy Ghost, and these three are one, St. John 5.7. The Father promising, the holy Ghost preparing, and the Son assuming, or taking what was so prepared for him, that he himself was a witness of himself; for so he saith, I am one that bear witness of myself, St. John 8.18. The way to the truth, and the truth of the way, and the life of all came to witness to them both; yet you find him saying, If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true, St. John 5.31. Places seemingly contradictory, and yet easily reconciled, if truly considered: for in the one he spoke to those that acknowledged no more in him then Humanity; in the other he discovers his Deity, and equality with the Father, showing his submission to him as man; that though in the one they would not, yet by the other they may be convinced. And since Christ as man was without error, and could not be guilty of falsehood, than it is not true to affirm Christ's witnessing to the truth is invalid, as the jews supposed; for though what he spoke was truth in itself, yet in their acception it was not so accounted; and though that truth most times is suspected which barely testifies of itself; yet it could not be so imputed unto Christ, because he is light itself, and light helps to discover both itself and others; and therefore it must remain a truth, that Christ's coming into the world was to bear witness to the truth, both In Words and Works. Christ Jesus our Redeemer bare witness to the truth 1. In Words; his words were such as the jews were convinced by them, For they conclude, never man spoke like him, St. John 7.46. his words were of such energy as that they proved all his actions authentic. 2. In his works; he testified of the truth, in so much that his very enemies said, when Christ comes will he do more miracles than those which this man hath done? St. Joh. 7.31. and since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind, Saint John 9.32, 33. for if this man was not of God he could do nothing: therefore when St. john Baptists Disciples came with this message, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another, he saith no more than Go tell john what things you have seen and heard, how that the blind see, the lame walk, etc. Saint Luke, 7.22. and presently that precursor knew by his works that it was no other than the Messiah: nor did he only testify by saying and doing, but also by suffering and dying; for rather than truth shall suffer, he will die, and not one drop of blood shall be left in his veins, rather than the least part of truth shall want a testimony; for he came to bear witness to the truth, and by dying gave testimony to the truth. And so I have done with the first, namely the end; and I come to the second thing, viz. 2. The object, the truth. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Truth is threefold: 1. There is the truth of God's promises concerning the Messiah. 2. The truth of the Substance, whereof the Types were but shadows. 3. The truth of the Doctrines delivered to the people. 1. The truth of God's promises concerning the Messiah, he was promised in the beginning of time to him that was to be the Father of all living; for when God had made man a living Soul, and man by sin had made himself a dying body, than was the promise of a quickening spirit, Gen. 3.15. She that was accursed for eating the forbidden fruit, shall now be blest in the fruit of her body. 2. As God promised him to the father of all living, so to the father of the Faithful, Gen. 15.18. and it was to procure our good; For in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed▪ Gen. 18.18. In him we have freedom from misery, and fullness of glory, and by him we have interest in glory, and comfort in calamity. 3. God promised Christ by the Prophets, and not only that he should, but how he must be borne: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, & bear a Son, and call his name Emanuel, Isa. 7.14. How he should die; After threescore and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, Dan. 9.26. How he should rise again; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thy holy one to see corruption, Psal. 16.10. Thus the Prophets foretold the incarnation of Christ, together with the several gradations thereof: but if you please we will once more consider the Messiah, as chalked out in the Old Testament, you find him promised, Gen. 22.18. then promised to be of the tribe of judah, Gen. 49.10. his conception, birth, death and passion at large set down by the Psalmist in the 22. Psal. his being derided at, and lightly esteemed, his being a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, expressed in the 118. Psa. nay foretold to be of the body of Mary, Isa. 7. etc. Hath God spoken, and will he not do? no, he spoke that he might do it, yea he came to bear witness of his promises, that they might have a consummation, not a consumption; for as God promised, and the Prophets foretold, so he was looked for in the beginning; and in the fullness of time he came, because so promised; for the promises are the most and best part of his word: we expect nothing but promises, and of all the promises, none but Christ; for it is his mercy, not our deserts, that all the promises are in Christ yea and amen. Thus you see the first truth demonstrated, the truth of God's promise in sending the Messiah. 2. The truth of the substance, whereof the types and figures under the law were but shadows: how many things were there that presented Christ? nay, in every thing where and when was not Christ prefigured? each promise and prophecy speaks nothing foretold which he did not fulfil and do, that the shadows might yield to the substance, that the types might have accomplishment as well as abrogation, Christ came into the world; all the types end in him, He came to witness to the truth. 3. The truth of doctrines of faith and manners. 1. For the doctrine of faith, take this instance; the Prophet Isa. hath foretold, that those that sat in darkness have seen a great light, Isa. 9.2. and Saint john saith, this is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, St. John 1.9. indeed concerning the doctrines of faith, there were divers in the world, some were false, and some likely, but the most true; the first two were they of the Philosophers, the third of our Saviour; and how false they of the Philosophers were, is obvious to most, for they often changed the truth of God into lies, and truth was vanished from those children of men; some of them fancied many gods, some believed no God at all; some granted an eternal being but no providence; and some a providence, and yet did attribute all to fate; but Christ came to maintain a Trinity of persons, and that in a divine Essence, and that he takes care of the whole world, and doth not necessitate any man's actions by a fatal destiny. And not only were there errors in men's judgements, but 2. In their manners and ways: how great the errors of the Philosophers were, is well known to those that are and have been conversant in their writings; and not only they, but the Rabbins of old under the law, taught against literal hypocrisy, that no obedience is profitable, if it be not in observation of the whole Law; and that not then neither, but when only in the letter, and to man's appearance: but Christ when he came, he required truth in the inward parts, and what they stood for in the letter he required in the spirit, expounding their doctrine more strictly, saying, It hath been said of old, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgement; but I say unto you, whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement, as is set down the 5, 6, 7. chap. of Saint Matthew. Christ came to witness to the truth, and did witness to it in his Sermons, Judgements and Censures, Answers and Reproofs. 1. In his Sermons; that his adversaries could not but pass this censure of them, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth. St. Matthew 22.16. 2. In his judgements and censures; for how did he use in reading, pleading, and deciding, to demonstrate his faithfulness? you have the full story of the first of these in Saint Luke 7.4. and so on, concerning his willingness to forgive the greatest debt: an example of the second is pregnant to this purpose, when he defended the pious woman against his Disciples for anointing his Head with preous ointment Saint Matthew 26.10, 11, 12, 13. You have his faithfulness in the third, when against the Scribes and Pharisees, he became an advocate for himself, to defend that true power which the Father had committed to him, Saint john 8.12. and so on. 3. In his Answers and Reproofs; in his answers, though they were many times in silence, yet he convinced them by saying nothing; and in his reproofs how true? for when he spoke, they were such as never man uttered, for faithful, seasonable, and meek, never expressing any seeming passion but once, in purging the Temple of those buyers and sellers, who had made his Father's house a place of Merchandise, and instead of the house of Prayer, had turned it into a Den of Thiefs: indeed he spared neither friend nor foe; for when he reproved his Disciples, Saint Luke 9.46. upon their contention for greatness, he did it in meekness, by the innocent similitude of a Child, ver. 48. When to the Pharisees, he said, Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead men's bones: he did it in faithfulness, St. Matthew 23.27. And even of Herod he said no less, nor shown he any fear of his power; for he said, Go ye, and tell that Fox, behold, I cast out Devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected, Saint Luke 13.32. whereby you see, he always bare witness to the truth; and wherein else should we follow his example? for every one, is obliged in word and work, in life and in death, to bear witness to the truth, every man in his place and calling. Indeed there is a special duty lies upon Magistrates, and all public Officers, that they in their several spheres, move exemplarily towards the mark of truth; but most of all, upon the Ministers of the blessed Word and Sacraments; for that which is laid upon on them by way of obligation, is double, because they come into the world, the Church, as members thereof, and Officers therein; and that extraordinarily as called thereunto, inwardly, by the Spirit of God, and outwardly sent by those, that have power in the Church, lawfully to commission them thereunto; and then they are obliged also to bear witness to the truth; as common Christians in their degree, that they may bear witness to the truth, in excellency of goodness following the excellency of all good, that good man, God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who left us his example as a pattern to imitate; who was full of Humility, strong in beloeving, wonderful in patience, rich in love, and in all a pattern of Holiness: and it is the highest reason imaginable, that we should imitate him whom we pretend to worship, being careful that we bring no dishonour to his name, by doing what he did not, or in refusing to do what he did and commanded; but rather looking upon him as the author and finisher of our Faith, we may be engaged to run (as he did) with patience the race that is set before us, taking all manner of encouragement from him; that so if we are unable, or unwilling to follow Christ in his Word commanding, yet we may do it by his Word directing. And what though Christians meet with unreasonable deal from men? yet they must not turn away their ears from hearing, nor their tongues from speaking, nor their lives from suffering for the truth, if called thereunto: for since they were borne for this end, to follow the great exemplary who died for witnessing to the truth, they must not basely decline it; for he himself saith, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, etc. And so I have done with the words in their primary intention, as they concerned our Saviour; and come now 2. To the extension of them, as they concern us; for since Christ in the whole course of his life is presented as a pattern of Holiness, we that profess ourselves to be Christians, our eyes must so look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith, that we should follow his steps, and as he did, so we should bear witness to the truth: and to this end were we borne, and for this cause came we into the world, that we should bear witness to the truth. And so I begin again with The act, to bear witness. For though all the Sacred Word be called a testimony, because sufficient to bear witness to itself; yet God will have every truth of his established by the mouths and lives of Christians also; and for this cause, besides others, came Christ into the world: yea Christ, who is the Word and Truth itself, took the witness of others to himself, and joined himself to their witness; for the whole sacred Trinity bears record of his truth, 1. The Father, and that to the Saints of old, he did then bear witness of him; the substance whereof was audibly delivered in that voice, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him, St. Matthew 17.5. 2. The Word; he did bear witness to himself, when he said, I am from him, and he hath sent me, Saint John 7.29. And 3. The holy Ghost in Scripture testifies of him; yea all the Scriptures, St. john 5.8. And all the testimonies therein that speak of him, whether it be by way of promise, or prophesy, you shall find them all meeting as so many lines in this one centre, Saint Luke 1.31. Yea, the Scriptures of the New Testament especially clearly set down all the parts of his incarnation, both as to the divine and humane nature. 1. His Nativity, Saint Matthew 1.18. 2. His Majesty, 1 Saint john 1, 2, 3, 4. 3. His Life, in the story of all the Gospels. 4. His Death, St. Mat. 27.35. Saint Mark 15.24. Saint Luke 23.35. Saint john 19.18. 5. His Resurrection, Saint Luke 24.1. etc. 6. His Ascension into Heaven, Acts 1.10. Nay, Saint john Baptist was sent before him as a witness to prepare his way, and to bear witness of that light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and that all men through him might believe, Saint John 1.6, 7. For truth mus● have its testimony from Heaven, and by the Scriptures, besides the witness of men; and that for these reasons: 1. Because that man is such a flatterer of his own reason and knowledge, that he is apt to have a better conceit of himself then Divine rules and principles; he thinks to guide himself well enough without the assistance of Almighty God; and therefore it is that many are so studious to find out some unheard of thing, and endeavour to make themselves the authors, and inventors of something that may make them seem wiser than their brethren, and at last to lay aside the rules of God, as if they knew what was fit and better for them then he: and much, if not all of this is to be found in those innovations, and reformations which have been made upon the worship, and service of God; men have itching ears, devising new opinions, and professing extraordinary lights and revelations, such strange stuff as our Fathers never knew, nor we ever heard of before; and being Authors thereof themselves, they highly extol their own conceptions, looking upon well-ordered and religious discipline as no better than popish zeal, and superstitious worship; proceeding even to the questioning of the Truths of God, and the Principles of Christian Religion, whether plainly or covertly laid down in his holy Word. 2. Nothing is more loud than errors, and the more false the matter, the more loud the clamour, getting more voices for its entertainment than truth can find; for every illiterate tongue is ready to cry out, Great is Diana, and with the noise of their new erected goodness, quite stop their ears against all religious serving of the true God; yea, we find this project to have been practised of old, where we read of their inhuman zeal in burning their children, and making them pass through the fire to Moloch; & that the people might not be incensed against them for their cruelty, nor themselves moved to pity, they had the noise of Instruments to drown the cries of their children, that their voice might not be heard. And in allusion to this I may say, that the loud cry of error and heresy may be so great in a Nation, that the voice of one man or more that is faithful, and would plead in defence of truth, cannot possibly be heard, but may be overborn by a multitude; because each man will have his vote, and as much, if not more, talk than he; yet know this, that one Micaiah speaking from the Oracle of God, is better than many Balaams offering sacrifices, and cursed devotions from enchanted Altars; whose great conspiracy is only to work the ruin of God's people: yea such is the wickedness of ungodly men, that if a Micaiah speak the truth, he must presently suffer, and be buffeted on the cheek with a contumelious reproof; saying (as that wicked one did) Which way went the Spirit of God from me to speak unto thee? 2 Chron. 18.23. the truth is, none are more ready to boast of the Spirit of God, than they that have it not. 3. The wickedness of men's lives is such, that God's glory loses much honour by them, and therefore he is pleased to vindicate himself by bearing witness to the truth by his own Word; Many, saith St. Peter, shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, 2. St. Peter 2.2. not so much neither by the blasphemy of tongues, and Jewish calumnies, as by those that have the confidence to call themselves Christians; the wickedness of whose actions causeth Gods glorious Name to be dishonoured, and those sacred Truths (that aught to be prized and valued above gold and silver, or any earthly treasure) so much as in them lies, is disgraced by their unholy conversations, who prefer lying vanities before them; the consideration whereof should make those that are Christians indeed to defend truth against the loud noise of errors, and preserve it against the malice of those that study nothing so much as to contradict it; for this end are we made Christians, for this cause do we receive a second birth, for this end are we made members of the holy Catholic Church, namely, that we should defend the Truths of God with our lives and estates: though it must be granted, that truth lies not within the power of men, or the malice of Devils, that they should harm it; Truth is not less glorious in itself for being contradicted, but only in the world's estimation; Truth is of the nature of God, whose Glory is not capable of augmentation or diminution, though God is said to be glorified by his creatures serving of him now you must not suppose it to arise from any addition we can make to his Glory, but only a satisfaction he is pleased to take in beholding our obedience to his Will; for though we be never so wicked, yet we must continually conclude, thou art holy, O thou holy One of Israel, that art the same for ever and changest not: and as is God himself, the same is his Truth, whose Excellency lies in this, that it is unchangeable in its being, it is that Verity unto which nothing can be added or substracted; for if the one were found, the other would necessarily follow, as we find it by daily experience, that those things that may be extended may also be contracted, and where there is room for addition, there will be also place found for substraction; but God and his Truth can have nothing added or taken from them; the highest part of our greatness being unable to reach the lowest part of his Glory, and when we have said all that can be expressed, we can say nothing more than this, that he is infinite; for when we magnify God, we only express him great, but do not thereby make him great; when we blaspheme him, we endeavour our utmost to lessen his Glory, but no harm can we do thereby to him, though very much to ourselves, by increasing our own misery; and when we praise him, it shows our endeavours to make him great, but nothing is added to his Greatness by our exultations: when we oppose his Power, it is not he, but ourselves that receive damage by the same; so likewise when we witness to the Truth, it is not God, but ourselves that are made the better by our fidelity; for the Truth makes us free, when in witnessing we confess with our lips, & profess in our lives that Divine Truth. Thus to give testimony (indeed) to that Truth will save our souls from death eternal, and bring them to the possession of Glory everlasting; for it is Truth that will bring benefit unto us, and not we to the Truth; but the aim of Almighty God, in calling us to be his Servants and Ministers, is, that we should be honoured by witnessing to the Truth, for the Truth of God is not the greater by it, but only appears the more glorious in us; the better we are made by the Truths of God, the more glory we bring to the God of Truth: There are two things, the apple of a man's eye, and the Christian Religion, which of all things in the world are the most tender, and which may be easily offended, the one with a mote, the other with a scruple; therefore it concerns us, as we are men, to preserve the one, and as we are Christians to beware of the other, lest through our unholy conversations the way of truth come to be evil spoken of. Indeed it is every man's duty to know truly what may, and what must not be done, when persecutions arise; and accordingly there are four things principally considerable and necessary respecting Truth. 1. Light. 2. Dissimulation. 3. Similation. 4. Denial. 1. Light to discern truth from falsehood. 2. Dissimulation of the truth. 3. Similation of falsehood: Or, 4. Denial of the Truth. 1. If personal persecutions arise, than light is necessary to direct a man whether it be lawful for him to fly, or to stand still and undergo the cruelty of his adversaries; indeed our Saviour saith, When one is sought he must fly from one city to another, St. Matth. 10.23. but he means of a personal persecution, when a man hath no public charge committed to him, than he may lawfully fly to secure himself; but if otherwise he have a charge under him, as suppose him a Minister of the blessed Word and Sacraments, than he must defend his Flock, for the Church must not be forsaken for the fear of undergoing the wrath of men, lest his flight should betray them to errors and heresy; for when a common persecution of the Sheep and the Shepherd comes both together, it is altogether unlawful for a Shepherd to fly: A good Shepherd lays down his life for his Sheep, saith our Saviour, St. john 10.11. and though a man may use all lawful means to preserve his life, when a single persecution arises, as by flight, or other ways; yet it is not so when it comes against both the Shepherd and the Flock; for a Shepherd by dying or suffering for them may preserve his Flock from ruin: I say, than a Shepherd should rather choose to have his own body mangled alone; or if that will not satisfy their rage, then willingly and cheerfully he must make one with the butchered Flock, rather than leave his Sheep in the way of persecuters cruelty. And therefore I wonder not at the just retaliation of God's Vengeance upon those, who for self-preservation dissemble the truth: and that brings me to the second thing considerable; 2. Dissimulation▪ whether it be of men, or of truth; if understood of men, than it is an hiding or diminution of such a man that is sought for, and inquired after by persecutors, as if he were not in being, or as if such an one never had been; and thus to do is unlawful: so likewise in matter of truth and faith, as it is lawful for a man not to detect himself, but to carry himself as purely from the blood of all men, so likewise to preserve his own, so far as self-preservation brings no dishonour to God and his Truth; for what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth like a good Disciple of Jesus Christ: though it is true indeed, sometimes we find in the holy Scriptures, that men have taken the safest way they could to come to Christ, as Nicodemus did when he came by night, in St. john 3.26. and likewise joseph of Arimathea came secretly to beg the body of jesus for fear of the jews, St. john 19.38. and though, I say, we find so much done in holy Writ, yet it was through the greatness of their infirmities; for the one being a great man, a Ruler in Israel, and the other a Counsellor, they should have been as exemplary as their places, for the better encouragement of others to seek after life, it being the glory of such persons to attract goodness as well as greatness. Indeed I grant, that the best of Saints want not their infirmities, and that the best Christians cannot keep in such a resolution, as may enable them always to be in a readiness to suffer; for we are commanded to be innocently serpentine, and serpentinely innocent; yet thus much I do affirm, that no man can keep himself a true Christian, that is either ashamed or afraid to be thought a Christian; for our Saviour saith, He that is ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory, St. Luke 9.26. And though the Apostle saith, If thou hast faith have it to thyself, Rom. 14.22. as if a man might conceal his faith▪ nothing less, for he speaketh it not of those things which we are to believe as necessary unto salvation, but of those things which are in different in themselves, & may or may not be done, as they please or displease our brethren; such a faith a man is to keep to himself: but a faith that contains those things which are necessary unto salvation he ought not, nor can he, if a real Christian, conceal it in times of persecution or suffering, for in so doing he brings himself to lose his interest in the Promises which are made ours in Christ Jesus, only upon the condition of continuing steadfast in believing unto the end. 3. Similation, which is a fiction in faith; and another demonstration of a thing than it is in itself; and for a man to counterfeit any thing in, or against, true Religion or the Truths of God, to save himself in time of persecution, is altogether unlawful. Scotus saith, When a man hath a sign of another thing which he is to do, besides that which is before him, and it proves not a sign, but he knows it to be really the thing itself which he is to do, then, though an ignorance of what the sign intended might have excused him before, because he did not understand the meaning thereof; yet now that he is sure it is the thing itself, the mistaking or leaving out but of one circumstance may make the whole action sinful, there being no excuse to be drawn for the same, either from the goodness of his person now, or the holiness of his former life, that can make good, or fill up what was wanting and defective in his actions. Nor is David excusable in feigning himself mad before the people, 1 Sam. 21.13. though he was a man after Gods own heart: No, much more is commendable the saying of old Eleazar, when at the command of Antiochus, all were to die that would not eat swine's flesh, and when he had eaten it, or at least seemed to eat it (for he spit it out again) and repenting, came of his own accord to the torment, choosing to die gloriously, rather than live stained with such an abomination; therefore saith he excellently, when persuaded by friends to bring flesh of his own, and make as if he obeyed the King in eating the flesh taken from the Sacrifice; It becomes not one of my years to dissemble; for then any young person may think that I, being fourscore years old and ten, were now gone to a strange Religion; and so they, through my hypocrisy, and desire to live a little time, and a moment longer, should be deceived by me, and so I get a stain, and make my old age abominable: and though I should at present be delivered from men, yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty, neither alive nor dead: 2 Maccab. 6.19, 20, 21. When it once comes to this straight, that we must either deny the truth, or fall under the sword of persecution, we are rather to die in, or for the Faith, then forsake it: and as we may not, for the saving of our lives, do that which is unlawful; much less must we free our goods from danger by similation, or making a lie; we must not similate good into evil, nor truth into falsehood, by wicked words or works; nor seem to do good when we intent nothing less, because of the lie which will lie upon us, and we shall be guilty of, for so doing; and withal, because there is a lie in deed as well as in saying, and neither is allowable in any man, under what pretence soever, though the doing thereof were to save his life; For we must not do evil that good may come thereof, Rom. 3.8. 4. Denial of the truth, and that either by subscribing against it, or by doing that in our lives and actions which is directly opposite unto it; for there is a double denial of truth: 1. In Faith. 2. In practice. 1. In Faith, for the love of pleasures. 2. In Practice, for fear of pain. 1. In Faith; Some have made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, 1 Tim. 1.19. and the reason is given in 2 Tim. 3.4. why they so did; it was because they were lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. And as they for love of worldly pleasure, cast away truth of Faith: So 2. Others for fear of pain have done it in fact, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, etc. 2 Tim. 3.5. And in words profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, Titus 1.16. being reprobate to every good work, etc. But besides this denying of truth in faith and practice, there is also a denial of the truth in judgement, and this admits of divers degrees. 1. Apostasy, when men fall from truth into sinful errors. 2 When they revile the truth by evil speeches: Thus wicked men detect themselves to be enemies to that truth which with their tongues and hands they violently oppose. 3. The sin (also) against the holy Ghost, comes in under the notion of a sinful, Apostate, and reviling judgement; and that appears 1. In matter of Faith. 2. In matter of Fact. 1. In matter of Faith, when men fall off from the truth of Faith; first forsaking of it, then denying, and at last blaspheming the truths of God, and continuing in that blasphemy; this is to sin against the holy Ghost in matter of Faith. 2. In matter of Fact; and that is, when men do those things which are utterly contrary to the revealed will of Almighty God, and obstinately persist in the same: this is to sin in matter of Fact against the holy Ghost; for every action that dishonours God, and heartens others to do the like, is to deny the truths of God; therefore it concerns every man to look to himself, and make a curious examination by what hath been said in reference to his words and works, that so he may not be found guilty of those errors and crimes which the works and words of our Saviour eminently convince of; for we are obliged, though with the loss of our lives, to bear witness to the truth; for to this end were we born, regenerate, made Christians, came into the world, the Christian Church, that we both in our words, in our works, in our lives, by our deaths, if called thereunto, should bear witness to the truth. And so I have done with the act, Bear witness. To this end was I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Testis fidelis: OR, The faithful Witness. SERMON VIII. St. JOHN 18.37. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. THe lives of most men are misspent; it being only they who have a certain end of their actions, that shall attain to the right end for which those actions are designed, namely, the glory of God, and their own salvation; some there are that shoot at they know not what mark, they direct themselves to an universal scope, not minding, or regarding the particular tendency of their do; hence it is that they arise not to perfection, they continue in that evil which ends in discomfort; some level at the right end, but levelly amiss, wanting prudence and discretion rightly to manage their actions, so as may best direct to the true end of their creation: It is only true Christian wisdom that shows the right end, and certainly finds out the way thereunto; and a wise Christian, amidst the many changes of this life, continually presses to one end, with reverence and respect, still setting his resolution in all his ways, if possible, to get near to the great centre; who when he was summoned unto death, and betrayed thereunto by his seeming friend, yet steadfastly asserted the end of his life, saying, To this end was I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. In which words I have already observed these particulars: 1. An Action. 2. An End. 3. The Object. 1. The Action, he was born, he came into the world. 2. The End, and that Pointed at, & Pointed out. 1. Pointed at, to this end, and for this cause. 2. Pointed out, to bear witness. 3. The Object, the truth: To this end was I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, etc. I have traversed over all the parts of my Text, in the primary intention thereof, as it concerned our Saviour, and have entered upon the two last parts, as they concern us, in the extension thereof, and have insisted upon the former of the latter parts; namely, To bear witness. I shall now come to the third and last thing The Object, The truth. To this end was I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Truth is the first thing in intention, though last in enjoyment, as being the end of all; and he that would be happy in the end, must lay hold of truth in the beginning: it was a question too good for a to ask, What is truth? St. John 18.38. because his jesting speech shown he never intended a sober inquiry after it: and besides, the Schools have wearied themselves in their Questions raised about the power, and Infiniteness of God, as distinguished into parts, how all could be in one, and yet that one in all; so as that it is distinguished into past present and future, and so he hath a time of giving and receiving. Thus the body of the Sun contains all light essentially in itself, and when communicated to the Moon and Stars, it is still the same, though multiplied. So is truth, according to the divers acceptations of it; for as it is considered in itself, so it is one entire being; but as embraced by several apprehensions, it is divided, though in itself still the same; and this truth is that light which is really one in all; yet so, as this one light gives information to several capacities: For 1. There is essentially, a cause of light in the understanding; and this the Schools call the first light; and this you may understand, to be as the light in the Sun, when entire in itself, and uncommunicated to the lesser and inferior Globes. 2. There is a formal light, and that consists in the exercising the dictates, and right informations of the understanding; and therefore Saint Austin rightly defines truth when exercised, to be the creature of an enlightened understanding; and this created truth is called, a life exemplary from the increated truths of God: and this is as the light of the sunbeams to the moon and stars, etc. or the diffusions of truth, from the understanding received into all the parts and faculties of the Soul, together with the affections which are as the lesser stars: but besides this, there is also a secondary light, conformable to the thing expressed; and this, whether it be in the mind, or in words conceived, or uttered, it must first suppose a form of knowledge, received by the apprehension of a man, according to the will of God; and these two do but differ as the understanding, to the thing conceived; which in itself is so necessary, that without it no Salvation can be received. But then this truth, as it may diversely be distinguished, is not to be the object of our Faith, so as that without the knowledge thereof we cannot be happy; for there are truths natural, and truths theological; but those truths which we are called out principally to witness unto in speaking and doing, by words and works, are theological; and that is, those truths that are declared in the principles of divine Scriptures; and they are the Scriptures of truth, the law of truth, the word of truth, that necessarily call for our testimony, together with all those doctrines of Faith and manners therein expressed, as they are reduced from errors; for every divine truth laid down in Scripture, or drawn from Scripture, is that the subject we are to bear witness unto; and this is the truth, that contains in it the doctrine of Faith and manners, the one in words, the other in works; so as that we, in testimony of words and works, should bear witness to the truth. 1. We must bear witness to the doctrines of Faith, by the testimony of our words; as with the heart man believes to righteousness, so with the tongue confession is made unto Salvation. Rom. 10.10. What we believe in our hearts, we must confess with our lips, and in Saint john 1.20. St. john Baptist confessing himself not to be Christ, it is clear, he denied not the truth, but only that he was not the Christ; but he that confesses not the truth openly, denies Christ in that place where God hath set him, whether he be considered as a private man, or a Minister; as a Minister, he denies Christ in words, who is guilty of abusing the Scriptures by false glosses, for the countenancing of rebellion or error, either against God or man. He denies Christ as a private man that omits to do what God wills, as well as by doing of that which he nills; you find this in the song of Deborah, though they denied not to go out to battle, yet because they stood still, and appeared not for Israel, it is said (by the Angel of the Lord) Curse ye Meroz, curse them bitterly, because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the mighty, Jud. 5.23. and wherever there is truth of faith in the heart, there will be confession of God in the mouth: for confession is an act of faith, I believed, therefore have I spoken, etc. he forsakes the truth, that doth not profess it in words and works; therefore let not any man think, that only silence, where the truths of God are to be manifested, will argue his consent; for they that will bear witness, must confess the truth indeed: there is a confession which is only by constraint, even the Heretics and hypocrites do so, they will confess truth, but they do it with equivocation; for if it be from their minds, it is extorted, or if otherways they do it, it is from conviction of conscience; so we find the Egyptian sorcerers confessed, it was the finger of God, when they saw no likelihood of longer deceiving the people; for we find by experience, that those that will not voluntarily and freely, shall be driven by constraint to confess the truth: thus Balaam shall bless those people for nothing, he was formerly hired to curse. But though some speak well of goodness against their wills, and by constraint, yet a voluntary acknowledging of the truth best becomes a Christian; therefore saith Saint Peter, sanctify the Lord in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to any man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, 1 Saint Peter 3.15. But further, it is not enough to witness a good confession, though before a Pilate, when brought thereunto as a Malefactor, but also as a free Christian, thou art bound to profess the truth openly, not only against persecutors, and Schismatics, but also against Heretics, and all others whatever▪ that say, or do any thing that we know is contrary, or against the truth; when we see men bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, as Saint Peter saith 2 Pe. 2.1. then take heed lest our silence at those be found to give occasion to men of corrupt minds to say, lo here is Christ and there is Christ, as some have blasphemously done, and I know you are not ignorant (of that which I tremble to speak) that there are those that call themselves God, the Lamb of God, and the Virgin Mary, etc. But I fear they are no better than Magdalen but before her conversion; and whence hath this proceeded but from the unholy conversations of men, silently suffering the glorious name of Almighty God to be blasphemed? and now that this wickedness is already come to so great a fullness, shall I hold my peace? no, rather shall my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, then with silence I suffer such blasphemy to go unreproved; the watchman ought always to be in readiness to give the alarm when he sees the enemy approach, lest his silence incur the guilt of the people's blood, if shed through his default: and that minister that holds his peace, when errors and heresies begin to destroy the Church, and servants of God, doth by that his silence give consent to their destruction; and their blood, if they die in their sins, will God require at his hands, Ezek. 33.8. and woe unto that man that suffers his flock to be scattered by his neglect, and so they become meat to all the beasts of the field, Ezek. 34.5. for when once the flock is scattered they must needs be devoured by the wild beasts of the Forest; and our Saviour tells us plainly, that the Talon which is not improved in God's service, shall be taken away from him, and given unto those who have better deserved it, Saint Matt. 25.28. noting thereby unto us, that we are to improve all the gifts and graces that are in us, for the best advantage both of our own, and other souls welfare, lest God charge the loss of any soul upon our account; for certainly if any perish through our default, the blood of that man shall be required at our hands; and woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel, saith Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 9.16. that is, surely (above all others) my condition will be extremely sad, if through my neglect of faithful declaring the mind of God, any poor soul miscarry: and as it was the condition of that great Apostle, so is it of every minister of the Gospel, for we kill those souls, we see going to destruction through ignorance, or otherways, and do not admonish them: therefore it is that St. Paul saith, he kept nothing from the people of God that was for their good, which makes him truly to boast that he was pure from the blood of all men, Acts the 20.26. and he himself gives a reason of his pureness, because he had declared unto them the whole counsel of God, v. 17. therefore it concerns all the Ministers of the Gospel that are faithful to deliver their message truly, not withholding from the people any thing of the whole counsel of God▪ for the unwarned sinner shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will be required at the watchman's hands; therefore saith the Lord, Ezek. 33.8. If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his evil way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hands: and for us to be guilty of silence, when any of our brethren go astray, is no other than bringing their iniquities upon our heads, who are set to watch over their souls; and seeing it is so necessary a duty to warn people of their sins, to this end do I come to wait upon you, that I should bear witness to the truth, by telling you of those evils that will certainly follow upon unholy walking, and sinful apprehensions, either of God or his truth, and Ordinances; for to this end came every man into the world (but Ministers especially) that in words they might bear witness to the truth; and not only in words, but 2. In works also, we must witness to the doctrines of faith by doing, for the testimony of the life in action, and the hand in communicating, is far more effectual than the mouth can express; and not only must we by holy actions do that which may convince and strengthen them that are with us, but also by communicating the truth in writing to those that are absent from us; for the pen conveyeth to many, the tongue but to a few: and therefore the Church of God hath in all ages made provision accordingly; to this end were those six general Counsels held, at Nice, Trent, etc. besides, we find the enemies of the truth are busy, and careful to instruct their followers, by all ways and means that may make them able to defend error and heresy: and therefore it would be a shame to Christianity, that our zeal should not be as great to defend the truth, as the malice of wicked ones is to destroy it. O let it never be said of us, that we are so careless of men's souls, that we never endeavoured to arm them against the errors that rise up in opposition to the truth, but suffer the adversaries thereof to get advantage against them, and so by our negligence and remissness, the undervaluers of truth come to prevail. O let it never be spoken, (to our reproach) that they that make it their business to speak evil of God and Godliness, are more industrious to promote error and heresy, than we are to manifest the word of truth in sincerity: rather let us lift up our voices like trumpets (and tell judah of her sins, and Israel of their transgressions) then suffer ourselves to be meal-mouthed, and afraid to speak against error and heresy, though we should meet with it in robes and gorgeous apparel; for an unfaithful minister is like an unjust judge; which cannot but condemn himself, while he passeth sentence upon others. But then, 3. If our active testimony by words and works be not received, than our passive testimony, in suffering for the Truth, must not be denied; for it is a Christians duty, both to do (and if God call for it) to die for the truth; yea, though the world should condemn us of folly for becoming Martyrs to rescue Truth from the snare of the wicked, and our cheerful contests for the same be laid upon us by wicked and unregenerate men, as a mark of contradiction; yet let us not be discouraged therewith, as knowing, that thereby we do but fill up the sufferings of our blessed Redeemer, who will have us to contend earnestly for the faith, though it be sometimes not without loss of goods, estate, yea and suffering of pain, imprisonment, loss of blood, and that in great abundance, but also by death itself. For it is a Tyrant's way, to torture Christians by cruel usage, and at last destroy them: yea such hath been the lot of God's Saints in all ages, thus to be persecuted and destroyed; for the Prophet Elijahs must be in danger, the Ieremies in prison, the Disciples lose their goods, and the holy Confessors pay their tribute of allegiance to Almighty God with pain, and the Martyrs with their lives; and though these afflictions may seem terrible to Christians to suffer for the Truth, yet the highest of them is no more than lawful, and necessary if called thereunto; for the pious hearts of true Christians have always thus testified to the Truth, witness Saint Paul, What mean you to weep and break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but to die at jerusalem, for the Name of the Lord jesus, Acts 21.13. and Acts 20.24. He saith elsewhere, Neither do I account my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. It is remarkable to consider the way which Almighty God took to support his Disciples and Servants, in despite of the wisdom and malice of the jews, for the planting of his Church in Christianity, that it will appear almost incredible to hear what were the afflictions of the Church, how intolerable her sufferings, that had they not had one to support them who was Almighty and All-sufficient, it had been impossible they should have continued steadfast; but they had not only the inward support of the Spirit to strengthen, but the outward example of our Saviour's Passion to encourage them unto a conformity to him, both in doing and suffering; and so nearly did the Saint's copy out one another's lives, that their spirits were seemingly converted into one another's bodies, and one would have thought that the dying blood of the one was infused into another's veins; for no sooner was one cut off by the hands of cruelty, but God presently inspired another with faith and patience to witness to his Truth, and the torturing of the body made but the mouth speak the louder in witnessing unto the Truth. So that by what you have already heard you may see Christian Profession is no secure kind of living; for he that believes in Christ, must be no niggard of his life for the Truth, when God calls to bring him home by death. Indeed it is yet our happiness, that in these cloudy days we are not brought to the fire and faggot for the trial of our faith; God only knows when, and upon whom that heavy lot must fall, and in what manner it will come; this we are not able to demonstrate, but by the lukewarmness of most men's zeal in the truth of Religion; it is to be feared, that when those days do come, that many will turn from Christ rather than burn for the Truth, because it appears, that many untrained souls are so wedded to their lusts, that they had rather lose their interest in God's love, then forgo one darling sin: many do so love the works of vanity, that they have made shipwreck of faith, and turned their ears unto fables; and when you shall read, or hear of these, then may you imagine those locusts are come upon the earth, spoken of by St. john in the 9th of the Revelation 8, 9 verses, which had power to torture men, and like Scorpions with their power able to sting them to death; then beware, lest you be led into the errors of the wicked, 2 St. Pet. 3.17. but be you established in the known, acknowledged and established Church of England; which I dare be bold to say, for doctrine and discipline is more purely true, and truly pure from errors, than any Christian Church or Congregation whatsoever; and shall be ready to prove them so, when occasion shall call me thereunto; for the Truth of God will remain pure, notwithstanding the malice of gainsayers, and therefore we should defend it with all our might, for the Truth will spread itself, though there be no other place but Pulpits to declare it in, nor no other witnessing but by preaching, nor no witnesses but Prophets; but yet many in their lowest condition have yet highly exalted God, by a faithful testimony to his Truth; and though this life be encumbered by sickness and infirmities, yet this readiness to suffer shall be able to silence any gain-sayer: when thou art not able to witness much, because of thy weakness, yet do as much as thou canst, do your best, and God will accept it, though mean, if from a willing mind; for it will be nothing to suffer by martyrdom, when we consider it is for so great a prize, as is the Truth of God, and will be to our souls, if we continue steadfast therein: for still, in every age, God will keep some defenders of the Truth; and why may not we be the persons? therefore should God call us to it, and we refuse to suffer for the Truth, it would be but a just judgement for God to take his Gospel from us, and give it to a more faithful people; for so the Apostles were commanded to serve the jews, Acts 13.46. the Truth of God, in the House of God had dwelled among us for many years together, in much serenity, till of late years it hath been tossed upon the troubled waters; therefore let us in our words and works witness to it, lest he take it from us also, and give it to others that will give it better entertainment than we have done. Therefore let all of us make it our prayer unto Almighty God: Oh Lord, rather let our hearts witness to the Truth, that thy Truth may witness unto us; then by our not witnessing for thee we come to be destroyed by thee: let thy Truth dwell with us here, that we may dwell with thee hereafter. Brethren, let not your faith be shaken or moved by tribulations, or any kind of sufferings whatsoever, knowing this, that after you have fought a good fight, and kept the faith, there shall be laid up for you (and all other his faithful Servants) a Crown of righteousness, which the righteous judge shall give you at that day, 2 Tim. 3.7, 8. and to this end were we born, and for this cause we all came to the Christian world, the Church of God, that we, in our estates and callings, lives and deaths, should bear witness to the truth. Testis fidelis: OR, The faithful Witness. SERMON IX. St. JOHN 18.37. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. THe pattern of all Precedents, and the life of all that is good in man, is the God in man, the man in God, the man Christ Jesus, who in his birth was a pattern of humility, in his life of innocence, in his death of patience, in all a pattern of holiness: as it is the marrow of Religion, to worship God in spirit and Truth, and to serve him with truth in the inward man; so the iniquity of a Christian consists in not doing what he did, or not doing what he commands; for as he did endure the contradiction of sinners, in witnessing to the Truth, so should Christians; and though they meet with unreasonable deal from men, yet they should undergo all with patience, for since Christ was a pattern of goodness, we must so look to jesus in our lives, that we should bear witness to the Truth; for to this end were we, as well as he, born, and for this cause came we into the world, etc. In which words I have already observed these three things: 1. An Action. 2. An End. 3. An Object. 1. The Action, He was born, he came into the world. 2. The End Pointed at. and Pointed out. Pointed at, for this cause, and to this end. Pointed out, to bear witness. 3. The Object, The Truth. I have discoursed over all the parts of the Text as they concerned our Saviour; and came to the two last parts, as they generally concern us, and dispatched the act, & the end of Christ's coming into the world, & shall now go on with the last part of the Text, The object, the truth. And shall show 1. What it is, so as that it is distinguished into past, present, and future: truth is as the sun, which hath an intrinsecal light in itself; and as in the sun, so there is an essence of light in the understanding, and this is as the light of the sun uncommunicated. But 2. There is an light communicated to other things, which in their beings are no other than uncreated truths of things, and these are divided from the created truths of God, and are as the light of the sun to the moon and stars; and then there is a proposition following the thing expressed, which is no other in being, but the thing itself, and is demonstrated in the truth, by a double application to the thing expressed, and which is conceived in the mind by word, and in the understanding by knowledge; and this is as the light of the sun communicating itself to this region of the lower air, and this hath multiplicity of acts, derived from the matter conceived; and accordingly we must distinguish truth into these four parts: there is a divine, historical, moral, and civil truth, though especially the divine truth is that which is to be witnessed unto; though the other in a subordinate manner are to have their attestation also, yet divine truths most of all, whether we consider them as Principal, or Less principal. 1. Principal, and they are the Scriptures of truth, the law of truth, and the word of truth. 2. The less principal, are the necessary conclusions, which upon inferences are deduced from those grounds; therefore every parcel of truth, whether it be Scripture, or deduced from Scripture, is to be the sub●ect matter of a Christians testimony, and these are they which we are to witness unto, and comprehend the truth of faith and manners, which is to be witnessed unto both in words and works: I have spoken of the doctrine of faith formerly, and shown that we are to witness to it by doing and suffering, and if God call us thereunto, by dying also: I shall now come to the Second branch, which contains these divine moral truths, that are for the regulation of our lives laid down in the Scriptures of the old and new Testament; there God's law is the truth, and the truth of the Gospel is that law whose precepts and promises we are to imitate. It was a custom among the heathens, to derive their laws from their Gods, giving them names accordingly: but we that are Christians have our law from the true God, who is the author of truth; The law was given by Moses, but Grace and truth came by jesus Christ, Saint john 1.17. where you see the truth of salvation is ascribed to the Gospel; and that which we are to consider, the end of Christ's coming into the world for, is, that it was not to give new laws, but to fulfil the old law: for we find not the form of the new Testament to carry in it the authority of a law, but only the precepts thereof to be brought in occasionally by our Saviour, in a way of interpretation, exhortation, and also by application, but not in a way of constitution: therefore saith our Saviour, think not that I came to destroy the law and the Prophets, etc. Saint Matt. 5.17.18. It is not that I come to take away the law and the Prophets, but rather to fulfil them; this is that law which is the rule of men's actions, written First by Moses, and Then by the Prophets. It is to be understood of all the law, as it was given unto the Jews, and others, whether they were men just or unjust; but especially unto the Jews, in a more ample translation then to other people: the law of works, it is true, was abolished by our Saviour's coming; but the law of doctrines, and rules of holy living, given by Almighty God in the Mount, though these were in some sense perfected by bringing in the substance, (for the shadows fly away when the substance appears,) yet I say, this law is not disannulled, but perfected in such a manner, that it is now become the perfect rule of Christian piety, whatever the Antinomians say in opposition thereunto, as that it was nailed to the Cross of Christ, and so abolished by his death; but it is evident to the contrary, that still the whole commanding power remains, because the whole world shall be judged by the law, and word of truth, for every man shall be judged according to his works, Rev. 2.23. and we are to bear witness to this truth, by the testimony of our hands and tongues, our words and works: of our tongues, and that two ways; Both by speaking the truth to the religious, and also by defending of it against the erroneous. 1. By speaking of the truth to the religious, though they know it already, yet that they may be established in the truth; and therefore holy David makes it his prayer to get direction from God, how to be enabled to walk in the truth of God, under divers denominations; Psalm 119. sometimes he prays to be directed in the law of God, verse 18. sometimes in the statues of God, ver. 26. sometimes in the judgements of God, v. 7. sometimes in the truth of God, ver. 43, sometimes in the word of God, ver. 17. and sometimes in the Ordinances of God, v. 91. thereby giving us to understand that in the most confirmed Saints there is still so much of corruption, that if left to themselves, they will be in danger of relapsing; and therefore saith St. Paul to his Ephesians, who were great Christians, Let no man deceive you with vain words, etc. Ephes. 5.6. intimating, that there was a possibility for them to be led away with the error of the wicked, for what Saint Peter long since foretold, is in our days found too true, as there were false teachers among them, so there should be amongst us that shall deceive many, etc. 2 St. Peter 2.12. though indeed he tells us, that they were the unlearned and the unstable that wrested the Scriptures to their own destruction, ch. 16. yet he admonisheth the faithful that they should not be led away by the errors of the wicked, 2 St. Peter 3.17, 18. and St. Paul saith, if he, or an Angel from heaven, should come and offer any other doctrine let him be accursed, Gal. 1.8. which implies that there would some come which would offer another doctrine, and that to the eminent Christians of Galatia: and if it were possible the very elect should be deceived, so saith our Saviour, Saint Matth. 24.24. therefore I say in a matter of so high concernment as divine truth is, we cannot do better than to confirm and bear witness to the truth, as by speaking of it to the religious, so Secondly, by speaking of it against the erroneous, passing the sentence of condemnation upon them that contradict the Scriptures, that by it we may confirm the truth to the faithful, by confutation of the opposite errors with the holy Scripture, which is the word of truth; and as it is the will of God, so the rule of righteousness, and they that will rove from this rule of truth are erroneous, whether it be in understanding, or conversation: for those teachers that are already gone astray, and by breaking Gods commands, teach others so to do, are chief erroneous, however they may think to pacify the world, only with a bare pretence to the truth, and call the wisdom that is above, their father, thereby intending to deceive the simple with a show of relation unto Almighty God, while indeed they are the servants of the Devil; for they know that if error should come in its proper shape, it would be loathsome to every eye, but now that it comes in the name, and semblance of truth, they think none will refuse it, for many, saith our Saviour, shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many, Saint Mat. 24.5. so that you see truth is wounded by her own bow: and as jacob got the blessing in the hairy garment of Esau his elder brother, thereby deceiving his Father; so the wicked and erroneous men that are in the world, seek to deceive the Church and servants of God, in the apparel of our elder brother Christ jesus; so the Devil, that father of lies, could come and tempt our Saviour with the words of holy Scripture, for when Christ alleged Scripture against him, he did the same to our blessed Redeemer; St. Mat. 4.6. no cunninger way for Apostates to bring in others under the same condemation with themselves, then by pretending truth and piety to be the ground of their actions. The Prince of darkness will not think scorn to borrow the shape of an Angel of light, if he thinks it may prove to his advantage; and is it not a countenancing of blasphemy for any nation or people to give dispensation for all manner of heretical opinions, who are ready upon all occasions to betray the truth, and the professors thereof into a state of sin and misery? Examine but Acts 18.19. and 1 Kin. 22.20. therefore seeing the factors of Satan are ready to betray many souls to perdition, by corrupting Gods holy word, is it not time for us to snatch the sword out of their hands, and beat them with the strength and edge of those spiritual weapons, which they endeavour to wound our heads withal: for the truth is not like wax, which is made to receive the image of every fanatical brain; no, where doubts arise in the holy Scripture, they must be answered by its own spirit, and not another's. But as we must defend truth with our tongues, so Secondly, practically, by our words and works; when the doctrine of Christianity is that way of truth which is evil spoken of, and when men in profession are Christians, but in conversation are Pagans, and Papists, etc. Ro. 2.24. and St. jam. 2.7. and when that truth is disgraced by the bad lives of men, their sins become ours if we rebuke them not; therefore Saint Paul saith, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them▪ Ephes. 5.11. That tongue which rebukes not his brother when he sees him go astray, draws all the guilt of the action upon himself, and so we make ourselves sharers with him in misery; for it is most certain, he gives consent that holds his peace, and no way contradicts the action, Num. 30.4. the father by his silence at the daughter's vow is there made copartner with her; and not only the father, but the husband also, or any other person by their silence are said to give consent to the action, as appears at large in that chapter. Indeed there are two ways to keep a man from evil: The one by reproof. The other by not consenting to the action when committed. For the truth is, any Christians connivance, or evil example, (but Masters and Rulers especially) do harden the sinner's heart, and make him think well or ill of himself, according as they approve or condemn the actions they see committed by him; the truth is, the Minister's silence at the sins which he sees committed, often encourageth his people to go to hell; therefore it is St. Paul's complaint, The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, Rom. 2.24. and God himself hath commanded expressly, Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, Levit. 19.17. not to rebuke thy brother when he does amiss, is as much as to hate thy brother; therefore it is said, cry aloud and spare not, tell judah of her sins, and Israel of their transgressions; if we please men, we cannot speak the truth, and we must speak the truth, what man soever we displease. Indeed there are three things especially, which breed enmity in men against us for speaking the truth unto them: 1. Displeasure. 2. Disprofit. 3. Discredit. 1. Displeasure; for hearing of the truth only spoken many times galls some: for let but truth be rightly spoken, or seem in the application but to touch their iniquities, and they will presently, like the frantic patient, fly in the Surgeons face when he searches deep, though it be for their safety; so sometimes the least touch of truth will make men fret and fume, and vent their malice in furious words against them who do but discharge their duty, by a faithful reproof of their sinful actions. 2. If it be against their profit, or against their trade, when application of truth is so made, they cannot endure such doctrine, but presently the Minister must suffer an ejection at least for his faithfulness, and this must be done too, with the greatest pretence of Piety; for they think it no sacrilege to take the houses of God, and make them dens of Thiefs; so that you may see, and cannot but find, that many times the witnessing of the truth against that where the gain of wicked men lies, breeds in them enmity, both against the truth, and the revealers thereof. 3. Discredit; rebuke the persons that commit such deeds as are offensive to Almighty God, and presently they conclude their reputation is vanished; for they think truth no sooner beholds, then accuses their actions; and, which they account worst of all, it condemns them, and their courses; for truth hath the nature of light, it will discover all the darkness of our works, and therefore do men hate the light of truth, because their deeds are evil; for truth, in the whole tenor of it, cannot be otherwise then a revealer of evil; for though no man can hate the truth, as pleading for itself in the general; yet men do envy it, when particularly it shines upon them, and lets them see themselves; and because men would have a full swinge in their courses, therefore do they take offence at the truths of God, when manifest to their faces: but however it should not discourage any, whether Minister, or other, from the discharge of their duty, (if we do it in the discharge of a good conscience) because the world frowns upon us for so doing; knowing this for a truth, that while we bear the ill will of men in witnessing for the truth, yet we gain the good will of God. What though flesh and blood shall say, favour thyself, and comply with wicked men for thy safety? and bid thee change thy voice, as often as the men of the world their principles, and advise thee that this, or that thing is true, because the great ones will have it so? do not thou incline to any such persuasions, for Solomon saith, Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled Ox, and hatred therewith, Prov. 15.17. Which shows that the enjoyment of God's love, in the depth of misery, is more to be priced, than the greatest plenty, and the anger of God therewith. But flesh and blood will persuade to the contrary, as if truth had place, but not at all times: but our Saviour shows it is fare otherwise; for now being before Pilate, he carries the same face he had when he was in the Temple: Innocency is as meekly bold, and faithfully confident, when pleading at the bar, as preaching in the Pulpit; nor is it less ashamed of truth, because pleading before men, whose intentions are to condemn, not to applaud it for the same; our nakedness and inability to secure us from their malice and cruelty, should not▪ at all frighten us from our duty, in witnessing to the truth, but rather encourage our whole man to be employed in so acceptable a service; for we should bear witness to the truth in our understanding, opinion, practice, and in our good works; for the testimony of the tongue, without the hand, is not sufficient, profession of good works is the whole work of a Christian; and walking contrary to the truth, is a denial, or casting a soul aspersion on the truth: we should bear witness to the truth both in words and works; and it is certainly a great offence to be guilty of either, but most offence when found tardy in both; yet of the two, it is the fare greater sin to deny God in works, then in words; and that will appear, if you consider these following reasons. 1. From the Object, the greater it is that we sin against, the greater is the sin we commit; now to deny the truth, is to sin against God himself, because he is the Author of truth; therefore to work wickedness against God, must needs be most criminal, the sins against the first Table being those which especially concern him; for which cause Divines conclude him the greater sinner that is found guilty of the first, than he that offends against the second Table only; because that by the one, he is but guilty of impiety against men, but in the other of wickedness against God; the one being of defect, the other of excess: so that the Object, which is offended in the first Table, being the greater, must needs make the sin to be the more grievous. 2. From the greater evidence; he that denies the truth with his lips, as Saint Peter did, he evidently injures God and Christ; but he that by a wicked life denies the truth, and the God of truth, not only injures their natures himself, but encourageth others also to do the same, by giving them an example of wickedness: the difference, as to men, is only this; the one seems openly to deny him in words, the other with his works; the one speaks, and the other doth, evil against him. 3. The sin is greater in regard of punishment inflicted; for a fare greater punishment is imposed upon the swearer and blasphemer, under the Law, then upon him that offended man only; the denial of God in the old Law, was to suffer no other punishment then stoning to death; and the civil Law amongst us doth command, that offenders in this kind should have their tongues cut out, or bored thorough; which, it seems, was thought too gentle a punishment among the people of the jews: And if evil tongues deserve this heavy doom, what think you, is the just desert of wicked hands, and evil works? so that still it remains a truth, that he that denies God and his truth by a wicked life, is a fare greater sinner than he that doth it only with his lips: which will more fully appear, if you consider but these four grounds of sin in their several causes and degrees: 1. Consider the moving cause. 2. The voluntariness. 3. The perfection. 4. The full signification of sin. 1. From the moving cause of sin; the more forcible it is, the more grievous it will be to us after the commission thereof; for the seeming pleasures which move men to wicked lives, end in no other than real disquiet; and let the moving cause of open denying the truth be what it will, yet this is certain, the less forcible it is from any cause, the more guilt we contract by doing of it: as for example, the fear of death may sometimes make a man to deny the truth with his lips, which in many respects will receive a more favourable construction, then if with violence we should turn from professors in show, to real persecutors of the truth. 2. From the voluntariness thereof; where there is no consent of the Will the sin is little, but where there is full consent of the will, there is very much of sin, and sin is therefore sin, because voluntary; therefore he who denies the Truth only with his lips for fear of death, doth sin less than he who with a wicked life sins with a full liberty of the will, by a free consent, and unconstrained thereunto by either tyranny or self-interest. 3. From the perfection of all the parts of a man, united in full strength to resist and persecute the Truth; which very much differs from compulsion, because in the one there is a full consent of perfect parts, and in the other there is but a lame consent yielded by constraint; for he that by a Tyrant is compelled with force of punishment to deny the Truth, doth in a sort deny and not deny, he denies it outwardly with his lips, but his heart grieves inwardly for the same, because his conscience bears witness to the Truth; but he that with a wicked life is given wholly to sin, that he hath all his delights in it, that man hath made himself perfect in evil. 4. From the more full signification, we do signify more of wickedness to be in us by our works than by our words; he sits at a fare greater denial of truth, that denies it by a wicked life, than he that denies it only with his lips for fear of death; though both these are great aggravations, since in our lives, words, and works we are to bear witness to the Truth; for to this end were we born, and for this cause came we into the world, etc. Application. Our Saviour bids, Let your light so shine before men, etc. Saint Matthew 5.6. than we may hence learn, that those that should light others to Heaven by their Doctrine, must not darken their way by the evil example of an unholy life; and not only must Ministers, but people also, let the light of holiness appear visible in their lives: When God places a man (a private Christian) in the lower Orb, he puts him there to shine like a star, bright and clear in his own sphere; Christians should shine and bear witness in their lives, and be cautious how they walk, because every sin puts a dimness upon the soul, and darkness internal can expect no other but to go to darkness eternal; and therefore St. Peter saith, that our good works should make those that look on us as evil doers glorify God in the day of visitation, 1 Saint Peter 2.12. There be some that must believe in Christ throughout the world, and witness his Truth to unbelievers by a holy life; and why may it not belong to us? but if on the contrary we be found to live as they live, how shall they be brought to believe as we believe? It was the saying of a Heathen, If I did see the Christians lives better, I should think their faith better than mine. Religion and the Doctrines of Faith are often disgraced by wicked Professors, 1 Tim. 1.6, 7. the rebellion of a Christian that is a Servant, though to an Heathen Master, brings a scandal both upon God and on holy Religion: Sure I am, God and Religion is very much disgraced, and the Gospel dishonoured, and the Church of Christ abused, by the wicked lives of those that are called the Sons of the Church. Oh therefore, that by holy lives, judicious reading, faithful hearing and constant studying and meditating in the ways of God, and the Truths of God, we would make ourselves able and ready to give an account of the hope that is in us; that so both in our knowledge and practice, we bearing witness to the Truth here on earth, we may have the truth in our consciences, to bear witness to ourselves, that we are the Sons of God; that so he that ascended into Heaven to take possession of his own Glory, may in time bring us thither, who himself affirmed, and after whose example we should walk, that as he was born, and came into the world to bear witness to the truth, so we should also account of ourselves, that we were born, and that we came into the world, that we might bear witness to the truth: that we came into the world, this Christian world, to witness to the truth as common Christians; that we came into the world, the Church of God, as members thereof, to justify that faith by a holy life, unto which our parents had baptised us; still endeavouring to carry the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus, that as he did, so we came into the world to bear witness to the truth; for he justified himself before the judgement-seat of Pilate, saying in the words of my Text, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. The end of the Sermons. Dr. Hewit's public Prayer after Sermon. O HOLY, HOLY, HOLY Lord God of heaven and earth, heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory; Glory, be to thee O Lord, glory be to thee, glory be to thee, glory be to thee for all those infinite favours, which thou of thine infinite goodness hast voucsafed to us, who are less than the least of all thy mercies, for the fountain of all mercies Jesus Christ, in whom thou hast loved us with an everlasting love, before ever we or the world were made; that thou hast created us after thine own Image, and redeemed us by the blood of Jesus Christ, when we were utterly lost; that thou hast called us, with an holy calling, and in some measure sanctified us by the graces of thy holy Spirit; that thou hast spared us thus long, and given us so long, and so large a time of repentance, when as thou mightest have cut us off in the midst of our transgressions, whilst we were rebelling against thee. Blessed be thy name, O Lord, for all thy mercies vouchsafed unto us: thy mercies to allure us, thy promises to woo us, thy patience, and long-suffering towards us, to lead us to repentance, thy corrections to reclaim us, thy judgements to affright and better us; blessed by thy name for all opportunities of welldoing, for all hindrances of evil-doing, for all the good purposes and resolutions thou hast put into our hands, to draw our souls from the dregs of sin and ignorance, into the glory of thy Saints: for any assistance that thou hast given to any of us in any holy performance; for the Communion of thy Saints, the aid of their counsels, the benefit of their Prayers, the comfort of their conversations, the protection of thy Holy Angels; for all corporal, spiritual, temporal, and eternal mercies; mercies concerning this life, and mercies concerning the life to come. Blessed be thy name for thy mercies to us all the days of our lives, thy mercies unto us this present day, for the light thereof; the greater light, the light of thy truth, to shine into our souls, to guide our feet into the way of all truth: For that portion of Scripture, wherein thou hast been pleased to reveal thy self unto us at this time; Lord, though it be sown in much weakness, do thou raise it up in great power, let it not be as water spilt upon the ground, but let it be as seed sown in good ground, that it may take deep root downward in our hearts by faith, and bring forth much fruit upwards in our lives and conversations, to the glory of thy holy name, to the edification of thy Church and people, and to the salvation of our souls, in the day of Jesus Christ, to whom with thy self and holy Spirit, we desire to ascribe, as is most due, all glory, honour, power, praise, might, majesty, and dominion, now, henceforth, and for evermore, Amen. These Books following are to be sold by Henry Eversden, at the Greyhound in Paul's Churchyard. THe Universal body of Physic, In five Books; Comprehending the several treatises of the Nature of Diseases, and their causes, of Symptoms, of the preservation of Health, and of Cures. Written in Latin by that famous and learned Doctor Laz. Riverius, Counsellor and Physician to the present King of France, and Professor in the University of Montpelier. Exactly translated into English by William Carr Practitioner in Physic. An Exposition, with Practical Observations on the nine first Chapters of the Proverbs, by Francis Taylor, Minister of Canterbury: in quarto. An Exposition, with Practical Observations on the whole Book of Canticles, in quarto, by john Robotham, Minister of the Gospel. An Idea, or body of Church-discipline in the Theoric and Practic, by Mr. Rogers, in quarto. Imputatio Fidei, Or a Treatise of Justification; wherein the imputation of Faith for righteousness (mentioned in Rom. 4.5, 6.) is explained, by Mr. john Goodwin, Minister of the Gospel; in quarto. Triumvirs, or the Genius, Spirit, and Deportment of the three men, Mr. Richard Resbury, Mr. john Pawson, and Mr. George Kendal, in their late writings against the Free Grace of God in the Redemption of the World, and vouchsafement of means of salvation unto men; briefly described in their native and true colours, borrowed of themselves in their writings (respectiuly.) Together with some brief touches (in the Preface) upon Dr. john Owen, Mr. Thomas Lamb (of the Spittle) Mr. jeanes, Mr. Obadiah How, and Mr. Marchamond Needham, in relation to their late writings against the Author: in quarto, by Mr. john Goodwin. The Right of Dominions, or the Prerogative of Kings, proved from Scripture, by Dr. Welden. Lucas Ridivivus, or the Gospel-Physician, prescribing (by way of meditation) Divine Physic to prevent diseases not yet entered upon the soul, by john Anthony, Dr. in Physic: in quarto. The Tryers and Ejectors tried and cast by the Laws of God and men, by john Goodwin. Mercy in her Exaltation, a Sermon preached at the Funeral of Mr. Thomas Taylor, by Mr. john Goodwin: in quarto. Anabaptists Meribah, or Waters of Strife; being an Answer to Mr. Lamb Merchant, by Mr. Price one of Mr. john goodwin's Congregation. The natural man's case stated, or an exact map of the little world, Man, in seventeen Sermons, by Mr. Christopher Love; to which is added a Sermon preached at his Funeral, by Mr. Thomas Manton of Newington: in octavo. A Comment on Ruth; together with two Sermons, one teaching how to live well; the other minding all how to die well; by Thomas Fuller, Author of the Holy State. Gospel public worship, or the Translation, Metaphrase, Analysis, and Exposition of Rom. 12. from vers. 1. to 8. describing the complete pattern of Gospel-worship. Also an Exposition of the 18. Chapter of Matthew; to which is added a discovery of Adam's threefold estate in Paradise, viz. Moral, Legal, and Evangelical, by Thomas Brewer: in octavo. God's glory in man's happiness, or the freeness of God's grace electing us, by Francis Tailor of Canterbury, in octavo. The Lord's Prayer unclapsed, being a vindication of it against all Schismatics and Heretics, called Enthuasiasts and Fratricilli, by Harwood, B. D. The Grand Inquiry who is the righteous Man, William Moor Minister in Whaley in Lancashire. The just man's defence, being the declaration of the judgement of james Arminius, concerning Election and Reprobation. Pearls of Eloquence, or the school of Compliments, wherein Ladies, and Gentlewomen may accommodate their Court by practice, by William Elder Gent. in 12. Master Theophilus Buckworth, the true Author of the most excellent and approved Lozenges (which have wrought great and admirable effects, to the good and welfare of this Nation, until of late they have been counterfeited, which hath been a great disparagement to this Gentleman, and abuse to the people of this Island; for prevention thereof (for the future) doth expose them to sale himself, and they are only to be had at Tho. Rookes, Stationer, at the sign of the Lamb, at the east end of St. Paul's, near the School: And every paper is sealed with his own Coat of Arms. Their Properties are; A perfect cure of all Colds in general, Consumptions, Coughs, Catarrhs, Asthmaes, all infirmities of the Lungs: It is a sovereign Antidote against the Plague, and other infectious and contagious Diseases. Also he hath made these more excellent than heretofore, by adding most sovereign Spirits for the cure of those malevolent and destructive diseases, which have been of late to this City, and the whole Land. These following sold by T. Rookes. Christian Prayers, and holy Meditations, as well for private as public exercise, True Catholic, collected out of the Oracles and Psalteries of the holy Ghost, for Instruction, Devotion, by Tho. Parker, his Majesty's servant. Godly Prayers and Meditations, by john Field, D. D. Concordance of years, by Mr. Hopton. An admonition to all such as shall intent hereafter to enter into the state of Marriage godlily, and agreeable to Laws, by A. B. Cant.